Best Live Music in Hong Kong so far

Last evening, Guy and I went out again to the Peel Fresco Cafe to the 5th Anniversary party with live music band "Soul Preacher".  This was the best live music I've seen so far in Hong Kong.  All of the musicians were American.  We had Samuel L. Jackson on the Bass and Denzel Washington on Drums haha.  They did all American covers, from classic rock to funk and blues.  Songs by Earth Wind and Fire, Lyrnryd Skynrd, Stevie Wonder, and many more.  The band was very tight and talented, all of them could have been studio musicians.  I was able to meet the bass player and drummer during their break.  The bassist was from Philly.  He had an awesome looking bass, and it turns out the guy we were sitting next to is the creator of his bass.  He runs a custom bass shop in Causeway Bay where he handcrafts them.  Exactly what I was looking for,  a domestically made in Hong Kong bass!  Anyway, its probably loads of money for it, so I doubt i'll get one anytime soon, but I definitely wanna try out one of his basses to see how they play someday while i'm here.  What a great night of music.  hope to see them again someday.  I've posted some videos of the band below for any who are interested in listening.

Came all the way to the other side of the earth to hear some southern rock.

 sweet harmonies

Great video, jam into Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers.  Solos are niceee.

A couple of clips of Superstition - Stevie Wonder

Ray's Solo

Dim Sum, Moon Cake, and Campus Police

9/28 --- This morning I woke up to meet Rong, and a few others for dim sum at a nice restaurant right here on campus.  dim sum is usually eaten around late morning/early afternoon, and it includes many different bite size foods served with tea.  All of the food was fantastic.  I wish I could have dim sum everyday.

Later that evening, after class, I went to a Mid-Autumn festival hosted by the language center.  There weren't many people there, and some of the stuff was pretty bizarre, like the chinese poetry, and learning to sing a chinese song(which was impossible).   We did however get to make chinese lanterns and eat yuè bĭng (moon cake).  Moon cake is quite good and its traditionally eaten during mid autumn festival, but supposedly its very fattening.  I doubt its any worse than eating a box of oreos or chocolate cake, or whatever else you can think of from the states.  My lantern turned out pretty bad, and everyone kept saying the guy playing guitar looked like a person riding a chicken.  Oh well, i'm no artist.

House V Festival Party

My floor's committee

9/26 --- Even though the rooms are tiny, my residence hall, House V, has the best camaraderie out of any of the halls, and has the most exciting gatherings.  This evening I attended the House V Festival Party, in honor of the coming Mid Autumn Festival.  To my surprise, I was the only international student there, even though there are a few others in my hall.  Again, the whole thing was conducted in Cantonese,  but it was still a lot of fun.  I sat with the members of my floor, and they taught me our floor shout in cantonese,(which i don't remember).  They played many interesting games on stage, and the floors would compete with each other.  One game where you had to guess which of two people had drank something gross, one where you had to transfer a piece of speghetti from person to person and make it as short as possible, and one where you had to drink some yogurt thing the fastest(refer to the picture).  It was fun getting to know the locals on my floor, and in the end I won in a raffle number drawing.  I had to go up on stage to accept the prize, which was just a thermos.  They gave me the mic, and I kinda felt like an animal in a zoo exhibit standing in front of all these local students.  I spoke english, and they had me say some phrase in cantonese, not really sure what it meant but everyone roared with cheers and applause after I said it.  Another great night in Hong Kong.

first open mic

9/25 -- This evening, my British drummer friend Guy and I went out to an open mic at the Peel Fresco Cafe out in Soho.  Its pretty far from campus, but it was worth it to play some music.  I had just bought a bass and I was looking to try it out live.  After taking a few wrong turns and getting lost, I made it to the cafe, and Guy showed up slightly later.  It was a very cool atmosphere, with red colored walls and dim lighting.  Another musician saw me with my bass and asked if i wanted to play with him.  So I set up and Guy joined in as well and we played a few covers.  The other musician was an Indian, but grew up in England, he played acoustic guitar and sang.  We then switched it up and I played acoustic and sang a few tunes, and he played my bass.  It was great fun and the crowd was enjoying it.  It ended up getting pretty late, and Guy and I had to leave before the last MTR left central station, or else we would to pay 10x the money for a taxi back to UST.  As we were about to leave, another guitarist/singer showed up and asked us to stay for one more song.  It was well worth it.  We played Just the two of us by Bill Withers and it sounded great.  I've always wanted a chance to jam on that song on bass live.  We still managed to catch the last MTR back to Hang Hau.  Great night.

Tasting Traditional Chinese Food

9/24 --- This evening I went to an event held by the Chinese Folk Art Society.  The event was entirely in Mandarin Chinese, so I didn't really understand much of what was going on.  I did have a few students translating for me, so that was helpful.  They played a few games, and then finally we got to try a bunch of traditional chinese food.  We also got to make a few of the deserts as well.  Beats me as to what any of this stuff is called, but it was good!

Victoria's Harbor @ night/ cantonese-screamo

Here's some photos to give you an idea of what Victoria's Harbor looks like at night.  These photos really can't do a justice to the beauty of the city at night.  We also saw an canto-screamo band there, but the drummer was pretty trash. 

 Canto-Screamo...#shred_video

Hiking The Dragon's Back

Rong, Emily, Sonny

On Saturday, my new friend Rong Rong, invited me to go hiking on Hong Kong Island.  Rong is from mainland China, but studies full time in France and is here on exchange for a semester like me.  She helped me plan my trip to China the night before, giving me all the insider info.  So our day started out at 730 leaving for Shau Kei Wan on the MTR.  There were four of us, Rong, her roomate Sonny from Wisconsin, her friend Emily, local, and myself.  We then took the bus to Shek O Country Park.  The views we saw along the trail were amazing, unlike any trail i've ever hiked before.

 

Stanley, where all the rich British people live

 

 

This spider was about as big as my hand, and we saw multiple of them on the trail

lunch after hike

Horse Races & Wan Chai

Horse racing is pretty big here in Hong Kong.  Its every Wednesday night.  Two international students, Soojeung and Chris, exchange student Jonas, and I took the MTR to Causeway Bay and walked to the Happy Valley Race course.  It was quite a lively environment, with people mingling on the floor between races.

Trash band ...lol

Afterwards we headed to Wan Chai and I got some pictures of the club that everyone goes to, the Carnegie.

 The next day I went back to Wan Chai to pick up my Mainland China Visa.  They charge 1100HKD for Americans, because I China hates the US, while all the other western countries only have to pay 400.  Here's some pictures of Wan Chai during the day, and some more pictures of the metro.

Shoulder to shoulder in the mtr

Jardine's Crescent, outdoor market in Causeway Bay

 I'm planning a trip to mainland China in a few weeks.  Flying to Beijing and taking a train to Shanghai to see the two biggest cities in China.