HKUPA 2008 Pan-Asian Ultimate Tournamate "Enter the Dragon"

Last weekend, I participated in my first real international Ultimate Frisbee tournament. I had played in a couple of HAT tournaments in Thailand, but this tournament had teams, not just players, from a lot of Asia's major cities (Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Manilla, etc.)

I played on Hong Kong's 2nd team, the Star Fairies (a spoof of Hong Kong's famous Star Ferry). We played in the lower division and got off to a great start, beating Kamagong (a mix of players from the Philippines, China and Korea). We lost our second game on the last point to Beijing Bang, whom we should have beaten. After that, we were outplayed or over-matched in the rest of our games, including a sound loss to Kamagong, who we had already beaten. Alas, young Filipinos stay young and fast, and old men get older and slower each day.

This photo was of a game earlier in the tournament, but it proved to be a foreshadowing of the finals, which featured Beijing Big Brother (white) and Manilla's Sunken Pleasure (orange). Sunken Pleasure had what seemed to be an endless supply of young, tan, fast and skilled players dressed like construction barrels which proved to be too much for the wily team from Beijing.

I managed to snap a shot of an amazing play called a "greatest". It is when a player is chasing down a disc that is going out of bounds or through the endzone and the player jumps into the air and in one quick motion, catches and throws the disc back into the field of play for another player to catch it. This young player manage to execute the first half of that play (as seen below), but unfortunately, an opponent snagged his improvised throw. Still it is a remarkable and difficult play to make.

One of my teammates, Bee, sporting his 'stache.

And a lot of thanks and praise to this young lady, Janice, who put the whole tournament together.

We had an Enter the Dragon tournament party on Saturday night. Everyone was supposed to dress up in something that matched the Kung Fu inspired theme. Here are two of the guys from Hong Kong Junk reenacting a scene from the movie Enter the Dragon.

Um... er... I don't really know what the Flash has to do with Kung Fu or Bruce Lee, but it was quite comical seeing him at the party. FYI, Corona appears to be the drink of choice for the speedster.

(Check out the gold shoes)

School Carnival

Last weekend, Tsung Tsin (the school I teach at), held their big school Carnival. I wasn't quite sure what to expect other than working ALL DAY.

I was actually pretty impressed with how things went. We had a big turnout and it seemed like most people enjoyed it... or at least the patrons. The opening ceremony started off with a traditional lion dance.

I was trying to snap a shot of a bunch of the students in their colorful outfits- the kindergartners are the ones in the front that look like junior crossing guards, but I actually surprised one of our kindergarten teachers (bottom left). Oops!

These are two of my students, and two of my smarter students at that. They are in different classes and are at or near the top of both of their respective classes in English and General Studies.

As a sidebar, after the carnival there was an alumni dinner (at which I was the only white guy). I'm sure you know the drill. Someone asks you to take a photo of a group of people and before you know it...

You have 5 or 6 cameras dangling from your wrist as you take a dozen of so photos.

Out and About

As you can see, I haven't been keeping up with the blog that well. Work consumes most of my weekdays, Rufina, Frisbee and rest consume the rest of the time, so I haven't take a lot of photos or posted much on my blog. Sorry.

Here are a couple of things from a few weeks ago...

Last month, my roommate David (who you might remember from Macau), had some friends come to Hong Kong for a visit. My other roommate Mike and I decided to educate these boys about some of the finer points in life. So we took a cycling trip in the New Territories from Tai Wai to Tai Po. We rented bikes and pedaled along a bike path that paralleled a river up to one of the northern cities of the New Territories. It was a nice ride, even though it was very hot and I was very sore the next day(s).

The highlight was when we found a shaded spot with a small table and busted out Catan, or Settlers of Catan for those of you who aren't familiar with the greatest board game ever.

I managed to keep my Hong Kong streak alive despite a serious threat from James and enjoyed victory on the banks of the Shing Mun River Channel as joggers and cyclist passed by us.

On another Saturday, I took Mike and James out to Cheung Chau Island. It is a small island located between the southern parts of Hong Kong's largest islands- Lantau and Hong Kong Island. A little reminiscent of Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, it has a narrow strip that connects to larger ends that with hills. The main part of the city, the port and the beach are on that little strip.

We walked down the the southwest corner to Chueng Tsai Po's Cave. He was a pirate centuries ago and it is said that he stashed some of his booty in the small cave. Alas, there was nothing left by the time we got there, so we pushed on.

We walked up a hill and found a spot overlooking the sea. Unfortunately, the audience doesn't really get to enjoy the view.

There were a few cemeteries up on the hill, most were markers for Buddhist or Taoist, but there was a Catholic cemetery also. If the plots look small, I think it is because they cremate people, so these are more like memorials or shrines to their ancestors. Recently, we had a holiday and one of the primary reasons for the festivals was sweeping graves and honoring ancestors.


For more photos from Cheung Chau Island check out Mike's Facebook album.