Our second night in Wan Chai, and it might have been our first, about midnight, Leah let out a high-pitched yelp. She not only is a flincher and a jumper, she is a yelper as she flinches and jumps. Which makes me flinch and jump. The cause of her yelping? A cockroach of heroic proportions. […]

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My sports viewing day has gone from one extreme to the other. An event in which I was quite interested … to one in which I find myself completely disengaged And both on the same television network. Game 1 was the Dodgers and Phillies in the National League Championship Series. The game that was on […]

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Hong Kong, the island, is only part of Hong Kong the former British colony — and current Special Administrative Region of mainland China. A big chunk of this semi-independent mini-state is on the mainland side of the harbor. Specifically, Kowloon. I’ve been looking at Kowloon every day since I started work — because the offices […]

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So, it’s Sunday. I got out of bed and went to my cable TV and began trolling for the “random NFL game being televised in Hong Kong” … and found nothing. “Hmm,” I thought. “Maybe it’s because England is playing a World Cup qualifier. … Or maybe they chose the Boston-Tampa Bay ballgame, instead.” Only […]

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My favorite baseball team on the planet right now is the Tampa Bay Rays. Why? Because they are playing the Boston Red Sox. I am sick to death of the Red Sox. And of all sports-things-Boston. Most certainly including the Celtics and Patriots. Well, actually, I don’t loathe the franchises, in particular. Well, OK, I […]

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Went to Victoria Park here in Hong Kong today, and it is a very special place. For one big reason: The north side of Hong Kong Island is one of the most crowded places on Earth. One sprawling mass of high-rises, narrow streets and yard-wide sidewalks. Block after block of man-made structures. And then all […]

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Tell me you haven’t all done this a time or 50. You’re watching a game, and you know which team you want to win … and they get off to a good start … and you decide that your actions — at home — somehow are responsible. It’s an internalization of the panoply of superstitions […]

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We moved into an apartment this afternoon. It was pretty much a necessity, considering we had used up the seven days the newspaper had reserved for us at a nearby hotel. We now are in serious Hong Kong. Real Hong Kong. Crowded, loud, bustling Hong Kong. The Wan Chai neighborhood, to be precise. If precision […]

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The British ran Hong Kong for 155 years, but sometimes you would hardly guess it. The place seems at least as Chinese as  Beijing, where I spent three weeks in August. A bit later, after I’ve been here longer, I probably will do an entry on traces of the British Empire here. Perhaps they are […]

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After getting all smug about being able to see the baseball playoffs even over here in Hong Kong … we got to Game 4 of the Angels’ series with the Red Sox and ESPN International crapped out on me. They were showing Chelsea soccer. Against some Romanian team. I think. In one of those interminable […]

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