River crossing puzzle: you're doing it wrong

Are you familiar with the river crossing puzzles? Some variation of 3 things that can't all fit on a boat but also can't be left together on the shore. Well, I just was faced with a real world parallel. After work today I rode to the pet store to get litter, and of course I didn't have my backpack. Then I decided to get cat food as long as I was there. I already had a bag of bread and sandwich in hand, so I walked out of the store wondering how this would all work. Bike/litter/cat food/bread. Well, like a stubborn fool, I tried to ride with it all... litter pulling my arm off, cat food slipping from my grip, bread getting squashed. This is the equivalent of solving the puzzle by suggesting taking everything at once, and then sinking mid-river. When riding didn't work, I walked it, which also didn't work. I dropped everything repeatedly and then the paper bag holding my food ripped just when I was close enough to think my struggles were over. Well, they're not, because I'm typing this now from my hallway as I wait for a locksmith.  See, in that puzzle they never said anything about making sure you don't lose your keys as you overload your boat with various incompatible creatures.  Somewhere in all my foolishness I dropped my keys, and even though I retraced my meandering path just minutes later it was a lost cause.  Any of a billion people could have picked them up and thrown them away (including the people who sweep the streets by hand).  Sierra's out of town on business and nobody else has a key so now I wait for the locksmith as I hear the cats pathetically meowing to be fed inside the door.  This is not my proudest moment.

Wǒ bù zhīdào

For a couple of days last week, a hospital that we pass during lunch had a big event of some kind going on. Posters of lovely ladies, urns of flowers and a fully-uniformed brass band all completed the picture. I haven't been able to figure out what it was all for, but the odd mix was definitely amusing.

On another topic, I leave for Hong Kong today, for a five-day business trip. Troy will hold down the fort here, hopefully managing to feed himself and the cats.

Dodgeball returns

After a three week hiatus, our dodgeball league has resumed. It's the
first game for Troy, as he was in Hong Kong for the first two games.

Edit by Troy:  Ok, a little context here would probably be helpful.  Our team is named Untouchaballs, and we all have names that include "balls" and corresponding shirts.  I was going to be Chuck Balls (because I'm fierce on the court like Chuck Norris, and chucking balls is what I do), but Sierra and I opted for the darling duo of Itchy Balls and Scratchy Balls.  Dodgeball is entirely an expat affair... I doubt the young adults in China had the requisite exposure to the "sport" in their formative years.

Sierra's new ride

Just in time for her birthday, S got her bike.  We ordered this from a local shop run by a friend of ours.

Last Sunday we rode to the Huangpu river, took a ferry across, and then hung out in a big park on the other side for the afternoon.  Here's we are on the ferry with her new ride and with the new loaner I was riding.

On the ride back I snapped a short video...

I just got my bike delivered last night, so I'll have to post pics of it.  Unlike the loaner in the pics above, mine has a brake... which seems like a must to me with the chaos we encounter in the streets.  My ride is definitely not as pretty as Sierra's, but it will work well for me.

Sidewalk sights

We never know what we're going to see as we stroll from place to place. Last week, it was piles of ginger spread over the sidewalk outside a vegetable market.

Honkey Kong

There were a lot of westerners in Hong Kong last weekend for a rugby tournament.  I was back after having just been there a week earlier, and S got to see what it was all about.  Well, this weekend it was just a big party. Sierra and I did go for a stroll around Victoria Peak directly above downtown one day, but aside from that there was a lot of boozing... and not just by us.

This path wrapped around a steep hill right behind downtown Hong Kong, and when the trees opened up the view was pretty magnificent but it didn't translate well to photos because of the... "fog".  What a pity.

This crowd was full of absurd costumes, drinking, and beer throwing.  All of it was fun.

Oh, and singing.  Yes, this was a big party.

The stadium let out and the costumed masses emptied into the Sevens Village... ok, just tents with beer.

This street, a mile or two from the stadium, was just one dense mass of drinking.

Here we're in Lan Kwai Fong, which is the bar district, but we decided to just buy beers at the local 7-11 (they're all over Hong Kong and Shanghai) and drink in the street.  Everyone else already was.

Excuse me, have you seen my baaaaaah-dy?

S and I walked past a little restaurant on the way back from lunch and I saw a lady on the sidewalk out front casually waving around this goat head.  I couldn't help but double back for the photo, and she happily held it out although she shied away from the frame.  A guy next to her didn't speak much English but kept saying "beautiful".  Maybe it is in a strange way, but I wouldn't call it appetizing.  Baaah.