10 highlights of my 2008

Best Thrill Ride in the foreground --
and, in the background, Best Natural Sight

In 2006 and 2007, I wrote up "10 highlights of the year" entries. Although I had intended to write my 10 highlights of 2008 before 2009 came along, certain circumstances (including my having to work on the first day of 2009 and that day falling in the middle of the week) have led to my only doing so over the first weekend of the new year. Still, better late than never, right? Well, at least I think so! Hence my going ahead and submitting my "best of" list for 2008 in this here blog post:-

1) Best Book: Once upon a time, I was an Africanist. Although that is no longer the case (along with my thinking that I'd devote my life to being an anthropologist), I actually continue to have strong, emotion-laden memories of -- and interest in -- those parts of that continent that I've spent time in. As far as Zimbabwe is concerned, I also have wondered for years now how it went from being quite a bit better off than Tanzania (where I lived for some two years) when I visited it in December 1995 to the heartbreakingly and nightmarishly benighted place that it now has been for some time. Peter Godwin's When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa (Back Bay Books, 2008) clearly explains as well as describes how the situation deterioriated while also being a very affecting history and story of himself and his family. Tragic but also not entirely without hope, this book really is a very enthralling, highly recommended read.

2) Best Concert: I feel very lucky to have been able to attend -- in a single year -- concerts headlined by such as Joanna MacGregor, Midori, her brother Ryu Goto and Trey Lee. For all of the considerable prowess of the afore-mentioned talents, however, there really is no question for me as to what was the best concert I attended in 2008; not after being witness to Yo-Yo Ma and the HKCO performing. Suffice to say that Ma is a musician who deserves his exalted reputation; with the icing on the cake being how, when performing, he seemed able to enjoy himself, the music that he was producing and the very process of collaborating with fellow musicians.

3) Best Filmophile Facility: Its theatre's screen is not the biggest in Hong Kong and there are movie fans who will scoff at its restrictions against eating or drinking when taking in a movie but the Hong Kong Film Archive is one of the greatest things in the Big Lychee as far as this film geek is considered. This not least because its programmers have allowed for me to view Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1928), Ivan the Terrible Parts I (1944) and II (1958), Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929), Zhu Shilin's Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948), The Dividing Wall (1951) and Festival Moon (1953), and so much more there in 2008 alone!

4) Best Hike: The hike from Wu Kau Tang to Sam A minimally covers a distance of 10.5 kilometers but I'm not sure whether that measurement includes the return leg back and doubt that it includes the walk to take in the Bride's Pool that my two hiking companions on the day and I decided to apend to our hike. Still, it wasn't its length alone that caused this Northeast Hong Kong hike to yield material for not one but three separate photo-essays but, rather, the number of interesting sights (like abandoned villages as well as different geographical and geological situations) that we got to view along the way!

5) Best National Cuisine: There's no denying my love of Penang food and Klang bak kut teh. Nevertheless, my favorite national cuisine in the world actually is not that of my native Malaysia but, rather, Japan. And while good Japanese food can be found in many parts of the world (including Hong Kong, as can be seen by my favorite restaurant in the territory being a yakitori-ya), my latest visit to the Land of the Rising Sun in the summer 2008 -- in particular, the experiences of partaking of such as the Genghis Khan barbecue lunch and ramen dinner in Sapporo and the evening eating marathon in the centre of the kuidaore no machi -- i.e., the city where you eat ‘til you drop that is Osaka -- that is Dotonbori Street -- served to reconfirm that Japanese food really is unparalleled in its native land.

6) Best Natural Sight: I knew things were bad but it's still pretty disconcerting to get statistical confirmation that in 2008, Hong Kong air pollution was the worst since records started being kept. Besides fears of what the air pollution will do to one's physical health, something else I've definitely noticed is how polluted air days are so gray and depressing. On a related note, I also notice how much I psychologically perk up at the sight of bright blue skies. No longer something to be granted, they now are things I truly treasure. Let's just hope that they will not be rare sights a la rainbows (or, even rarer, starry skies) in Hong Kong in 2009... :S

7) Best Sporting Event: No, not something Arsenal-related because 2008 has not been a particularly great year to be a Gooner. (Indeed, I'll state for the record here that the current Arsenal side is the worst under Arsene Wenger ever!) Instead, and even though I was one of those slow to catch the fever, count me as one of those eventually won over by the hype and drama of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So much so that not only did I watch more of the Olympic Games on TV than I thought I would but also ended up doing such as giving people -- and taking lots photos of -- more fuwa than I ever thought I would! ;b

8) Best Television Series: It's true enough that since moving to Hong Kong, I rarely spend time in front of the TV. Indeed, I'll go so far as to admit that I tend to only turn to the TV when I come down with a cold or the flu; and then only after I feel I've spent too many hours resting and/or reading in bed. In short, it's the rare TV show that I'll watch for its own sake. In 2008, that TV show was The Wire (in particularly, Season 5 of the series). So, now that it's wrapped up for good, would recommend suggestions as to what I should turn to next should the TV viewing bug bites once more...

9) Best Theatrical Production: There's no question that the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre's production of De Ling and Empress Dowager Ci Xi is on the old side. After all, the 2008 edition was the fourth revival of a play that was first performed back in 1998. In addition, many of its cast members -- notably its 81-year-old leading lady -- are on the... mature side. But, post catching a performance of this historical drama, can but conclude that old is gold re the production but also its wonderful star, Lisa Lu. (And yes, meeting and interviewing her most definitely was one of the highlights of my time at bc magazine -- heck, my still not too lengthy journalistic career!)

10) Best Thrill Ride: This category has more candidates than usual this year, including the world's largest ferris wheel over in Osaka and rollercoasters over in Ocean Park. But the award has to go to that which I'd also consider to be the best cable car ride I've ever gone on: Hong Kong's Ngong Ping 360 which takes passengers from Tung Chung all the way up to the Ngong Ping Plateau whose residents include that impressive statue popularly known as the Big Buddha. :)

Ocean Park (photo-essay)

Thirty years ago, my parents brought me on my visit to Hong Kong. Child that I was then, one of the places that I remember that they took me to was Ocean Park. Opened on 10 January 1977, this amusement park on Hong Kong Island (that sections of Moon Warriors was shot in!) is still going strong -- and, despite initial fears that it would be overshadowed by Hong Kong Disneyland, actually has been attracting more visitors annually than the American import.

And although I have to say that it's not been a top priority place for me to check out as an adult, this past weekend, a friend convinced me to go spend a day there with her. And sue me but I actually did end up having quite a bit of fun there (and not just with my camera either -- though, yes, I took enough photos to make me reckon that this recent visit merits a photo-essay to memorialize it)! :b

As its name suggests, Ocean Park is located
close to a major body of salt water (though,
strictly speaking, it's a sea rather than ocean)

And it does have some showcases
for marine life (like this bizarre looking creature!)
among its attractions

These days, though, its most famous attractions
are its four giant pandas -- but, alas, seriously weird
panda-corn figures like the one in the photo
were the closest I got to seeing any pandas on this visit!

Rollercoaster fan that I am though, a greater attraction
for me was The Dragon which, among other things,
gets it riders going upside down not once but thrice! ;b

To calm down after that rollercoaster ride,
my friend and I went on the sedate --
even if colorful -- ferris wheel nearby

Soon, though, it was time to go on The Mine Train:
my single favorite Ocean Park attraction
-- and yes, its close-to-the-ocean's-edge location
definitely added to this rollercoaster's thrills quotient! :)

One of my abiding childhood memories of Ocean Park
is of its cable cars -- and yes, they're still there
and really plentiful as well as
do offer a pretty scenic ride indeed! :)

I'd rather be...

Over on the Mobius Home Video Forum's Arthouse, World and Hollywood Cinema board, there currently is an active thread which solicits answers to the question "What movie could you die watching?" Maybe it's a guy thang -- and in my defence, I've noticed that thus far, every single respondent to that query has indeed been male -- but I truly can't imagine a single film that I'd like to be watching when I breathe my last breath on earth! (And yes, this really does include the wonderful -- but, still...! -- Peking Opera Blues!!)

Instead, when pondering what I'd like to be doing as -- and/or just before -- I expire, I almost immediately came up with three other hedonistic activities that I'd much rather be enacting at that point in time. And at the risk of eliciting reactions along the lines of "...And you call yourself a film fan?", here's going ahead and detailing what they are:-

1) Watching Arsenal winning an exciting plus important match. If I had to be watching something during the last seconds of my life, it'd not be a movie but, instead, a match of a game which the legendary manager of Liverpool F.C., the late Bill Shankly, was famously quoted as having said that "Football is not just a matter of life and death: it's much more important than that"! (And should there be any doubt, it's soccer we're talking about rather than that which the world beyond the U.S.A. calls American football.)

But it can't be just any match played by just any team. Rather, one of the teams -- and the winning team at that -- absolutely must be the Arsenal. As for matches, hell, if it's going to be the last Arsenal match I'll ever watch, then it had better be one which sees them doing such as finally winning the European Champions League or completing a treble comprising the English Premier League trophy, the F.A. Cup and some European trophy! (And since it's a treble that we're talking about, I actually would settle for the lesser -- though still pretty prestigous -- UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League trophy!!!)

2) Riding a roller coaster which takes me on a luxuriously long (by roller coaster standards; that is, more than 2 minutes!) ride with plenty of thrilling twists and turns. Should there be any doubt: Yup, I looooove roller coasters! Especially wooden ones like Six Flags Magic Mountain's mighty Colossus which, with their "clickety clacks", provide one with plenty of exciting sound effects to add to the overall awesome sensory -- think of such as the gusts of wind you can feel, the in-themselves- exciting visuals (or, in the case of dark, interior rides like Disneyland's Space Mountain!), etc. -- as well as adrenaline-rushing experience.

Of course, those roller coasters which incorporate a water hazard or splash into a water area are pretty cool too. (Albeit only on a hot day. Otherwise, it might present too much of a shock to the system!) So, after thinking about it some more, the ultimate roller coaster for me -- and it'd be an ultimate one, wouldn't it, given the envisioned circumstances?! -- would have to be a long wooden one that incorporates a dramatic splash into a water area and is located in a place (such as the top of a mountain or by the ocean) that presents the rider with a scenic views...that is, if they can keep their eyes open and not just fixed straight ahead for the duration of the white-knuckle ride! ;)

3) Eating my idea of a perfect meal. "And what's your perfect meal?" I hear you ask. Well, howzabout the following? First up, half a dozen very fresh plus raw and plump oysters. With just Tabasco sauce as garnish, if there's to be any garnish at all. (And for the record: The most delicious oysters I've ever had have been American ones.)

Next -- and effectively acting as the main course -- would be a plate of prime sushi and sashimi. More specifically, this selection of sushi would comprise three -- since the standard two served up in many Japanese restaurants often doesn't completely satisfy! -- pieces each of ikura (salmon roe/caviar) gunkanzushi and uni (sea urchin) gunkanzushi while the sashimi would consist of a few slices of maguro (tuna) and a couple of whole karashi-mentaiko (walleye pollack roe pickled -- and spiced -- with salt and chili powder).

Even more specifically, a bowl of miso (tofu) soup and a few piece of oshinko pickles (particularly, the neon-yellow daikon (radish) variety) on the side would be very nice. Ditto a few thin slices of the customary pink ginger to cleanse the palette as needed. Oh, and the culinary experience would be definitely enhanced if further accompaniments to this particular course would include a pint-sized glass of crisp-tasting Japanese beer (E.g., Sapporo Premium or Reserve)!

Now, since the food thus far actually has been on the light(-tasting) -- as well as raw! -- side, I should feel able to round the meal off with a dessert that's sweet, cooked and carbohydrate-y. If I'm still feeling really hungry at this juncture, I'd go for something along the lines of a traditional English pudding like rhubarb crumble, complete with lashings of custard, or an airy pavlova like the strawberry ones which one of my guardians when I was at school in England used to make.

If not, then I'd happily "settle" for a couple of freshly baked Portuguese (AKA Macanese) egg tarts -- which, by any name, have a more creme brulee-like center than their Hong Kong equivalents -- from Macau's Lord Stow's Bakery. In any case and at which point, I do believe that I'd feel like I already had died and gone straight to heaven even if, as it turns out, death's actually still some moments away... ;)