Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a City of Convergence where modern meets ancient, and East meets West. It's a city of dim sum, sweets, tea of all varieties, bright lights, drunk ex pats, 7-11s everywhere, and high humidity. I'm loving it. My Cantonese is nonexistent so I rely on Linh to get us through. Here's a breakdown of what's happened so far on our trip.
Day 1 - June 17th/18th
Lots of traveling. First Linh and I flew from Los Angeles to Narita, Japan. 10+ hour flight to Narita (Tokyo), a 2 hour layover, and a 4 hour flight to HKG (Hong Kong). The best thing about flying is lots of orange juice and a few bags of peanuts.
When we arrived we straight to 7-11 to get microwaveable dumplings. Thirty seconds and you have mini shumai dumplings. fast food Asian style. Delicious.
Day 2 - Hong Kong
First, we went to Wan Chai to enjoy a lunch. We were turned away from the Che's at the Broadway Hotel because we didn't make a reservation. The funny thing was that when I looked inside there was nobody in there! What the hell. Instead of eating, we went to an internet cafe to hang out for 30 minutes. To satiate ourselves we finally sat down to have lunch at the Hoi Tin restaurant.
Before heading to TST, chilling at the Grand Hyatt to enjoy the air conditioning was too good to pass up. The hotel lobby was impressive. Large open atrium with the 2nd floor restaurant overhanging the registration table. Live piano graces an elegant presence to top your cooling off.
The ferry from Wan Chai to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) took about 30 minutes. I will post pictures later. To get an idea of TST, imagine Beverly Hills... but in Hong Kong instead. Chanel, Gucci, Cartier, all the places I couldn't afford. Oddly enough they had an H&M for the every day person. At the mall, we found a life sized Yao Ming statue, as evidenced below.
Yao and I become friends.
Upon my return to the Central Harbor, I attempted to navigate my way back to Lan Kwai Fong (where the hotel is) through the large ITC Mall and its air conditioned walkways. Result: failure. I got us lost naturally, but somehow we managed to make our way back.
Night activities. Enter my friend Stuys. We meet up with Stuys and a bunch of her HK friends. The funny thing is that everyone here seems to have some sort of Southern California connection, sans one friend who just came back from London. Stuys' God Brother Jay took us to Beijing Club at the M88 building on Wellington. Fun times. I'll post more photos towards the end of the trip. HK people don't dance as crazy as LA people do... but still the partying had a touch of what you see in HK films.
Jeff and Stuys
Stuys and Linh
The Girls
Congratulations to the Lakers
Congratulations to the 2008-2009 Los Angeles Lakers on winning the NBA Finals.
The championship has answered so many questions this year:
- Will Phil win a 10th NBA Championship?
- Will Pau Gasol respond to his critics of being soft?
- Will Kobe finally win a championship again?
- Can the Lakers keep a lead?
- Who is Joey Buss?
Now here are some new questions for the next season:
- Will Kobe finally take care of that finger injury?
- Will the Buss family pay up for the resigning of Ariza, Odom, and/or Brown?
- Will Kobe opt out and ask for maximum money?
- How deep into the luxury tax will the Lakers go?
- Will Andrew Bynum develop into a world class Center?
I'm not going to make predictions, but I believe if the Lakers resign Odom and Ariza the Lakers will be back in the Finals next season. What I am not so clear on is who will be their opponent. My money is on Boston. I don't believe Cleveland will replicate another 65+ season or finish first in the Eastern Conference, with or without Shaq. Orlando will lose Turkoglu and lose a reliable starter in the process. Boston will keep their team intact with the rise of Rondo, Davis, and Perkins because of the injuries to Garnett and Powe this season. For this reason, Boston is actually deeper and more experienced than their 2008 squad. I wonder if the Lakers can take their supposedly newfound toughness to counter their Boston adversaries.
I like LA's chances.
Bizarro Game 3 – LAL vs ORL
Close your eyes for a second. I'm going to describe the stats of a team, and you tell me which team would win.
Your team shoots 62.5% from the field (an NBA Finals record). You have 7 more assists than your opponent. You fouled less than your opponent. If you subtract your three point field goals, you have 75 FG% from the field. Do you win?
Most likely you will say yes.
Next question, how much did you win by?
Most likely a double digit win.
Now open your eyes. Your team won by just four.
I am still confident the Lakers will take the championship this year. Orlando had all of the above mentioned going for them and 'escaped' with a win. Dwight Howard had his hand in the right place to fumble the ball of Bryant's attempt to split the double team. Gasol recovers the ball and then chooses not to call a timeout but try to dump the ball back to Bryant while on his back. Kobe Bryant shot 5-10 from the free throw line. Add all of these unlikely scenarios and I think as a Laker fan you have to look to Game 4 with excitement.
The Lakers kept up well with the Magic because of their offense. On the defensive end, you can't give anyone credit for letting your opponent torch you for 62.5%.
Fact. Lakers were still in this near the end of the game.
Fact. Lakers lost on a collection of unlikely scenarios.
Fact. Lakers will still be in it during Games 4 and 5.
Fact. Lakers will win this series in 5.
Fact. Expect articles discussing the 'what if' scenario of Courtney Lee making the Game 2 Layup and claiming this series could easily be 2-1 Orlando. Expect comments from fans saying MJ would have won this game. Expect Bill Simmons to write a retarded pro East Coast and anti-Laker article. Expect a J.A. Adande article to make you feel better after reading Simmon's garbage.
