Ocean Park and the Very Scary Teeth

Yes, I know...I was supposed to go to the doctor today to find out the results of my spinal tap. And yes I know, it may appear that I was avoiding the truth today when I rescheduled my appointment with Dr. Kay until next Thursday. However, I don't think I was avoiding the truth at all, I think I was living my life.

When Matt and I walked outside today, the weather was clear and gorgeous. Sunny, not too hot, not too humid. It was glorious...pretty much like any day in San Diego. The weather is exhilarating for me because we have had 4 months of interminable grayness, cold and rain. We got on the bus and I proceeded to try to convince Matt to ditch work and go to Ocean Park with me. He said no, he had a meeting with some engineers and he just couldn't do it. I was sad but pretty much accepted his response. However, I detected some hesitation in his voice when he said no, so after I got off the bus and he headed to the MTR station, I text messaged him, asking if he was absolutely sure he wanted to go to work. He said he was coming back! I was so excited! It was such a spontaneous decision! Then I remembered I had the doctor appointment, but I quickly decided to reschedule it. After all, Matt had rescheduled his meeting, right? Plus, life comes before stupid medical tests. I feel fine at the moment so I may as well do fun things.

We went on the roller coasters, checked out the aquariums and saw the pandas. It was so great! There was only one hitch in the day: most of the other visitors were from Shanghai. Shanghai is a very cosmopolitan city, so I am sure they have seen white people before. They acted like I was the first white girl they had ever seen. We were in line for the cable car and Matt left to get a drink. I was left with a group of about 6 or 7 Shanghainese men leering at me unabashedly with weird grins on their face. They had a strong stench, one that I have learned to associate with China: the smell of clothes that completely saturated with stale cigarette smoke. The men were wearing sort of cheap looking, ill fitting suits and they smelled like they had been chain smoked in but never washed for the past ten years. It is a really strong, distinctive, and disgusting smell. Although I am used to getting stared at in Asia, particularly when I was in India, it really disturbed me today. It think it was because people were staring at me in what I consider to be my "home turf", Hong Kong. I am comfortable here and don't want to be stared at constantly. Also, the men were grinning like crazy people. Let me tell you about people from the mainland: some of them have the most disgusting teeth I have ever seen. They generally seem to be back or yellow in color, they may or may not have a full set of teeth, the teeth that they DO have are usually mangled or gnarled looking in some way. The kids' teeth are fine, and the women's teeth are better than the men's. I think it has something to do with constant smoking or tobacco chewing and lack of brushing and flossing.

There must have been about five separate tours groups of people from the mainland. At one point Matt and I were sitting on a bench eating ice cream cones and a tour group walked by, it had about 45 people in it. They all had matching hats on and were following a leader with a flag. As people walked by, when they caught sight of Matt and I sitting there, they would slow down, swerve toward us, look us up and down from our head to our toes to our bags and ice cream cones. They would continue walking but would crane their necks around so that matt and I were in sight for as long as possible. Then, They would look back a few times before walking on. It was unbelievable. Every single person did it...usually while baring their teeth in something that could be interpreted as a "smile".

Sorry, this was a very cruel paragraph about Chinese people. I love them, they are very friendly and I am sure they were just interested in Matt and I and what we were doing. But it got really frustrating! Oh well...

Then Matt and I went to Stanley to have dinner. It was so wonderful! We had Spanish food overlooking the water. It was yummy, and a trio of guitar players came to our table and serenaded us. It was very romantic...they sang "Wonderful Tonight" which is one of my favorite songs. It is funny how the spontaneous things are so much more romantic to me than things that are supposed to be romantic. This whole day had a romantic feeling to it because it was unplanned and everything seemed to work out well for us...The serenade of one of my favorite songs by the water after a delicious Spanish meal was the perfect end to a great day. When Matt and I try to plan romantic things it doesn't work out so well. Like for instance, when we went to the Chedi in Phuket. Everything at the place was calculated to be relaxing and romantic, but all we wanted to do was escape to the Muay Thai boxing matches or sea kayaking!

So I guess the point of this story is that I didn't find out the results of the Spinal Tap. I will find out next Thursday.