The group is interesting. They are ostentatiously a hiking group and they have a web site that invites anyone along who wants to join. I think it might have been good that the hike was cancelled, I am not sure I would have been able to keep up with them, they sounded pretty serious about it. They have been around long enough they pre-date Meet-ups. So it is a mix of visitors and ex-patriots and local hiking enthusiasts that organize outings every week. Seems like a loose relationship but I can say that the ties from this group run deep: There was a couple at dinner that had met hiking and they talked about travelling to Germany to meet friends that had been in the group but moved back home there. As I started to write this I thought it was an odd way to form a social group, but then I realized some of my closest friends are the ones I play Magic the Gathering (a nerdy card game) with, and my Gin Friends. I would visit them if they left Vancouver!
In Hong Kong I had a mission to buy Veronica a purse. She sent me detailed instructions -- which was either good or means my failure will be even more pronounced. I did find two purses which I think are "OK", and will offer to buy her one in Canada if they are both duds. It is interesting that the male "purse buying for your partner" dilemma transcends cultural differences and I got a sympathetic laugh from my Chinese colleagues about it.
The last week in Shenzhen was full of social events. I had had a number of people I met say they wanted to take me out to dinner. I thought some of them were just talk but they all came through. I had some great meals there. Shenzhen is formed from immigration from all over China. From my point of view the ethnic diversity is not high and it was a bit of a shock coming from Vancouver. But if you consider people from all over China as diversity then Shenzhen has that, and certainly the food I had that last week was all very different.
My lecture series concluded and I enjoyed having the excuse to type up some notes on material I have been refining over the years. There might even be a research problem coming from some of the things I looked at on the quadrature errors from the Finite Element Method. I have a colleague that is more of a FEM expert that I am (not hard) that I contacted and will meet with her when I get back to Vancouver. I will miss the short commute to work (5 minutes walk up the hill) and the lichee park walks -- another view from them below. Because of the Chinese flag in the front, they conjectured this was a government building or official residence.
I did not do much in Hong Kong besides that dinner and purse shopping. Although the food I had in China was good I did indulge in Western food here. Yesterday it was yoghurt for breakfast, waffles and ice cream for lunch with a big cup of real coffee!, and a burger for dinner. My Hong Kong recommendations: "Burger Lab", very small place near the Jordan metro station; and "Beef and Liberty" in the airport where they have gin and tonics with both good gin and superior tonic. Because my plane is delayed, I had two! Another small tip is that if you are in the airport here through security, come and sit in the Gate 1-4 area. Lots of space, nice chairs, and plugs for your electronics. I am here right now as I write this comfortable and plugged in.
