Marseille (Part 2)

I've been back in HK for a while now but just hasn't gotten around to publishing these posts. I actually wrote them on the train ride from Marseille back to Paris.

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After getting dehydrated on Sunday, I went back to the hotel and rested. Took the chance to Skype with Yalu and waited until the weather was cooler before heading back out. I took the tram to the Longchamp Palace. I think they were getting ready to close so I didn't see all of it. There was a choir there singing though and that was really nice. I headed back out to the port for dinner and decided I really wanted a burger. 

On Monday, I wanted to take a cruise out to see the calanques, which are these cliffs that are supposed to be really beautiful. But unfortunately, it was really windy that day and the lady at the sales desk warned me that I might get sick. I guess I could have taken the bus out to the university and hike there but I was kind of lazy in investigating this route. By the time I realized that this was feasible, it was much later in the day. After a lunch of a falafel wrap, I went to the Fort Jean. I found the fort to be very well kept. It was almost museum like with signs and explanations. The place was very clean and had really nice views of the harbor. There were a lot of passage ways and towers to explore. I just wish it wasn't so windy! I felt my bag being blown and it would have flown away if I hadn't held onto it. My bag even had bottles of water in it. 

The fort connected to the Museum of the Mediterranean by a pedestrian bridge. You end up at the rooftop terrace of the museum which had nice lounge chairs. The museum is a very nice structure. I think it's meant to be a history and culture museum but it had the looks of an art museum. The building is a box structure that has an outer walkway wrapped around it. You can get to all the floors from this walkway. The walkway is covered by the facade of the building which hangs from the main building. This outer facade is porous and lets in sunlight and wind. On top of the walkway, they've installed speakers that softly plays sounds of the Mediterranean, like the sea, people at markets, etc. So it's a really nice walk. I had a cappuccino at the ground floor and just chilled there for a while. Really wish they were more into coffee than espresso. 

I went back to rest after this and decided to check out the beach in the afternoon. I only made it to the closest beach and that was a really dirty beach. I just dipped my feet in and the water was very cool. On the way back I finally found the bus that goes to the farther beaches and it was packed with people going back to the city. I supposed that's where I should've gone. But instead I walked around another nice park.

I had waffles and ice cream for dinner. I had this ice cream in Paris, in the Galleries Lafeyette, while waiting for my friends to finish shopping. The one I had there seemed to be a lot bigger than the ones people were getting here. They let you pick 3 flavors and shape it into a flower. Maybe it was because it was less busy at the one in Paris. I thought the two scoops I got here were small too. 

I went back to the hotel before sunset this time and spent the rest of the evening skyping briefly with another friend and then reading the rest of A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's a very moving book, especially at the end where everything collided. It made me realize I know nothing about the Middle East. Some of those Afghan restaurants that I ate at back in the States must be run by people escaping the conflicts described in this book. I got the book from the Salvation Army in HK and ended up giving the book away to a lady sitting on the bench next to me at the train station. I saw that she had a bunch of magazines, some of which are in English. I think she said that she can read English. 

I think I could have done something this morning, like go see one more sight or something. But I feel very lazy these days and just spent the time packing. I've been eyeing this buffet restaurant that has a huge selection of cheeses. In Paris, because there were always at least 3 of us and we always shared our meals, every meal felt like a buffet in that we got to try out so many different things. This buffet had a pretty good selection of meats and seafood. Their food was ok, wasn't all that great. But it was fun trying out different things and eating a lot of cheese! 

Anyway, on the train to the airport now. Only have €5+ in cash. Doubt I will need anything though. Maybe a snack. I got a thing of couscous and a bottle of Vitamin water. I've been drinking all kinds of flavored waters and trying different drinks out. 

Marseille (Part 1)

I'm at the Marseille train station waiting for my train back to the Paris airport. This trip felt like it went on forever because of all the intensely packed days. I had two days of one conference, four days of another conference, and then two full days of chilling in Marseille.

Overall, I think Marseille is pretty nice. The Old Port area is really pretty with all the boats and nice view out to the Mediterranean. There are also all sorts of art pieces around since there was a cultural festival here earlier this year. But outside of the touristy parts, I thought the city was very quiet and not that clean. This is probably because I've living in HK for too long. The public transportation comes every 10 minutes and stops running at around 9pm. I got a 72 hour pass so I used a good share of it.

The BB Hotel I stayed at was not bad. It has all the standard stuff. Except I really wish I looked into hotels near the port more because that's where all the stuff is. It was kind of a pain to always be waiting for the bus. It was walkable to the port but the walk wasn't particularly nice and I wouldn't do it at night. This is a problem because most places don't serve dinner until 7 or 7:30pm and since the bus stops running at 9, dinner could be a problem. The first day I ended up having to take a really round about way to get back. Definitely used the pass enough times that day.

I arrived Saturday night from Paris and started exploring on Sunday. I didn't manage to get out of the hotel until nearly 11am and decided that the easiest way to get to the port was by metro. I had to make one transfer (there are only 2 lines). This is where I found out that the trains come only once every 10 minutes or so. It took me nearly half an hour to get to the port even though it wasn't far at all. The port was bustling with tourists. I walked around all the restaurants before deciding on a small place near one end. I had a fish filet that wasn't that great bit maybe that's because we've been having some really good food in Paris (more on that later).

I went up to the Notre Dame church which was on top of a hill. The view was really nice but it was windy and hot. I think I got a bit dehydrated here and went back down after exploring.

Some pictures from this first day:

In Marseille

Last full day of vacation. Hoping to have some time to blog tonight. Going to find some brunch.

Typhoon and upcoming trip

Last week we had a T8 day. A pretty big typhoon skirted by Hong Kong and the whole city shut down for a good part of the day. The typhoon wasn't even that close to the city but it brought high winds and scattered showers. As the typhoon got closer and closer on Tuesday, we had a T1 and then the T3 signal. I think the whole city was checking the HK Observatory, which posts the official weather warnings the entire time. I had a feeling that we would get a T8 so I didn't even bothered to cook lunch for the next day. I think the T8 signal was put up sometime around midnight. I remember being woken up by sudden rain a couple of times at night. We got the whole morning off and I took the time to write entries in my training logbook. Our company's official policy is that you don't have to go to work if the signal is still in force at 12:30pm. The signal was lifted at around 2pm so I technically didn't have to go to work. I still went up to the site to take a walk around to make sure things are okay. I had to go out to buy groceries anyway so I thought I might as well. Things were not bad at site actually. The contractor's staff came to site as well and just hung around.

I really doubt we will get another one this year as typhoon season is waning. There is currently another one on the radar but it's pretty far away.Anyway, can't wait for it to actually become autumn. It's been cooler the past week after the typhoon but it's just been so humid that I'm usually soaked in sweat after making one round around the site. I've been going through multiple shirts and pants throughout the day.

I went back to the office last Saturday for a class offered by the company on making presentations. The class took the whole day, which is long but that gave a good amount of time to go through everything. I really don't like classes that have to rush through things because they don't have enough time. Anyway, this class was different from the basic presentation skills class I attended last year because this one was focused on the elements of a presentation and how to put one together. It's not really about presenting but how to capture your audience with visual aids. I like how the company hires external consultants to run these courses. These specialized consultants usually have very nicely prepared material. The course came with its own workbook, which looks like a really nice hardcover book. I thought the most interesting part of the course was thinking about how to present qualitative ideas with good visuals. Hopefully I'll have the chance to make use of all these new tools.

I managed to book my train tickets and hotel for my Marseille trip. I'm going to have some time after the conference to do a couple of day trips near Paris before going out to Marseille. I think it is definitely cheaper to travel around Asia than Europe. I had a hard time finding a non-sketchy place to stay in for Marseille. Even dorm beds in hostels were 30-40 Euros a night. Budget hotels are not really budget and had all these sketchy reviews. Hopefully the place I picked is okay.

Another Beach Day

I wanted to blog about my second beach trip this summer earlier but my phone refused to upload the pictures. Anyway, I met up with a friend for brunch on Sunday on the Kowloon side so I figured I'd take the chance to go to beaches farther away. 

I chose to go out to Lantau Island in hopes of finding a beach that is less crowded. I had planned to go to Cheung Sha beach but found that the buses going that way had a really long line. So long that I didn't even managed to find the end of the line. I decided to take the bus to Mui Wo instead. I figured that if the buses were too packed on the way back, I could always take the ferry to Central. On the way to Mui Wo, I found out that there is a beach, Pui O, on the way. Some people were getting off so I got off too. 

The beach was just what I wanted. No crowds, nice wide coast, trees for natural shade. The sand is naturally black from volcanic activities. It wasn't all black but you end up having this gray mixture. I didn't mind 

Water buffalo on the way to the beach:

 Not a lot of people and the water is really shallow. There was a lot of trees providing shade.

Dinner

Sometimes simple is the best. Thick slices of bread drenched with olive oil and topped with crushed garlic, tomato, and mozzarella cheese. I went to an upscale supermarket to get the cheese. The local ones just don't carry cheese. At this upscale supermarket, I saw some really nice tomatoes and picked up 3 of them. The price tag said $9 but I wasn't sure if that was per item or what. At checkout, I found out that it was per 100g and the total for 3 tomatoes came out to be $45 HKD ($7-8 USD)! Who buys/sells tomatoes in units of per 100 gram?? Anyway, I had them put those back and picked up some at a local supermarket on my way home. Anyway, dinner was delicious.

Keep the door open, please

I've been trying in vain for the past few days to keep our office door open. It's been raining and windy due to a typhoon passing close by. So I wanted to take the chance to leave the door open so that we can get some fresh air in. Our office at site has no windows as it is part of a semi-basement. We have a fan and AC that circulates air. But people keep closing the door when they leave!

I think part of it is because people here grew up in an environment that runs the AC 24/7 during the summer months and therefore feel that closing the door will keep the cool in and conserve energy. But I think part of it is also a cultural issue. As the site team, we're the client's representatives on site. So the contractors give us a certain amount of respect. And therefore, they feel that when they leave our office, they should close the door behind them so that we're not disturbed after they leave. I had a hard time keeping my door open back when I was in my little container as well.

I feel like in the US, there is a lot of literature telling you to keep your door open so that you seem more friendly and open to people wanting to talk about issues. I think in our main office, the directors generally keep their doors open as well but I think that might be due to the very limited number of offices and the entire office is an open plan anyway. So keeping your door closed is just not going with the open plan theme. But our staff is also a mix of local and expats. I wonder what it's like in offices with all local people. Do they keep their office doors closed all the time? Is it a cultural thing or is it really just a practical thing due to having AC?