Saturday, July 16, 2011

Food, tunnels, work, and more work

Made it to another weekend! This past week was a really long one. Monday and Tuesday were brutal, staying at work so late that I had to take a taxi back. I get to claim it back but I really rather pay for my own bus fare than stay so late.

Went on a site visit to a tunnel excavation today. The tunnel is for a high speed rail link between here and Guangzhou. They're excavating by drill and blast, which means they put in a large amount of explosives and clear out bits and bits of the tunnel at a time. We walked into the tunnel and poke around at the end, where they are installing more explosives. It was pretty cool actually. One of my coworkers commented that this is the cleanest tunnel he's ever been in. There weren't large puddles of water or mud. There was water flowing out but not too much. It was pretty cool overall. But I think I need a few years of rock mechanics and geology to really appreciate it all. I always get lost when geologists start talking.

I tagged along with one of my coworkers and a bunch of his former coworkers for lunch. I really wish my Chinese is better, specifically in the area of small talk. I find that I can do pretty well when there is a definite topic or when someone is asking me a question. But it's really hard for me to follow a conversation that is constantly drifting to different topics, like in situations where there are a lot of people. I would have been able to get to know them so much better if I could contribute to their conversation.

I was in the office for a few hours trying to figure things out for my project. I didn't make too much progress and got unmotivated at around 6pm. So I went on a hunt for a Vietnamese sandwich. I saw found two places on openrice (HK's version of yelp). One of them was in Central, so that was not an option. The other is in Kowloon but out of the way. I decided to go anyway and found the place. The tiny little shop sells 3 things, a big French sandwich, small French sandwich, and garlic bread. I got a big one, which is like 2 feet long. There is only one choice for filling, which I was disappointed about. It took me a while to get back to my place. The bread was crunchy and the spread was not bad. But I didn't think the rest of it was very good. It was $46 HKD (about $6) for a big sandwich. I didn't think I would be able to finish it but the bread is actually small. I ate the entire thing for dinner. Definitely would not be paying this price in the US. Now I guess I have to go check out the one in Central and see if that's any good. There has to be Vietnamese people in HK... right??

I also had a sudden urge to go back to that Thai restaurant just for their Thai tea. It was sooo good. But I really don't like to go over to HK Island unnecessarily. But I still have to go to Ikea to return a pot. So maybe tomorrow, I can go to Ikea, food adventuring, do laundry, go buy groceries, clean up my place, and watch a movie. Very tempted to go see Harry Potter. But I just want to watch a movie or do something that is considered "entertainment."

1 comment:

yalu said...

Man, wish you were around to go see Harry Potter with!! I guess I should see it.. mmm

Does the bus stop at a certain hour? Did you get a monthly pass or something?