Saturday, March 31, 2007

commute

Yesterday was my last day of school presentations at HKIS. So I decided to mark the occasion by cataloguing my commute from the hotel to the school. For the past week, I've gotten up in the morning and caught a taxi like this:

Once I get a cab, I hand the driver this piece of paper, which is the address of the school in Chinese. Most drivers don't speak English, so the written address is essential.

Then I am driven through the congested city,

pass the cemetary,

and into the countryside towards Repulse Bay.

On the way, this building always strikes me. It was recently renovated, the whole pastel part was just added. The hole is built to ensure good feng shui. Apparently when a building is against the mountain a hole allows the dragon to still come out. Poetic, isn't it? However, I also heard a story that the developer saw something like this in Disneyland and just copied it for his own building. I hope that the motivation for the hole is the former, not the latter. Then I can forgive that awful peach color.

Finally, I drive pass Repulse Bay,


and up the mountain,


where I reach the Hong Kong International School. For the past 6 days, arriving there has given me a strange sense of homecoming. I'm rather sad that I won't be doing the commute again.