DAY 1: DEPARTING SINGAPORE FOR HONG KONG

It is 8.00 am on February 4th 2008, and as I head towards Changi Airport for my flight to Hong Kong I think back to the 2 years I spent living there when I was 10 years old. It was the middle of January 1994 when my family and I moved from England to Hong Kong. My pre-adolescent impressions of HK are of polluted dirty greasy inner city streets, strange odors, and old Chinese people everywhere and I mean everywhere. (Life expectancy in Hong Kong is the 2nd highest in the world.) Lets see what has changed. But first lets check I have all my travel gear:

1. Return plane ticket with Singapore Airlines (SQ862) √
2. Element 7.75″ skateboard deck √
3. 3XL hooded ES sweatshirt √
4. Electric toothbrush with Colgate total toothpaste √
5. Filming equipment: 1 digital camera, 2 video cameras, 1 laptop. √
6. 4 day supply of boxer shorts and socks (probably not necessary) √
7. MP3 Player with newly added tracks Wyclef Jean- sweetest girl (dollar bill), Nelly-Wadsyaname, and Chris Brown- Kiss kiss √
8. $100 HK dollars spending money courtesy of LoveSkatePark (equivalent to Singapore $18) √

After 3 hours flying time I arrived safely at Hong Kong International Airport, I grabbed my suitcase and set off to the Shangri-La hotel which would be my accommodation for the first night.

Hong Kong Ollie

On the way to the hotel I felt great. I was back in Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Every street the taxi turned into was flooded with people on sidewalks going about their daily business. The temperature outside was 10 degrees Celsius and everyone was dressed in thick winter coats and boots. I immediately thought to myself, I better stock up on fox and beaver fur jackets while I am here now that LoveSkatePark has just confirmed order of 6 high power industrial size air-conditioning units. I swear the park is going to be so cold you will think you are skating in Antartica! [actually we need at least 12 but we can’t afford the electrical bills -gary]

Penguins are welcome at the park too!

After checking into the hotel room and unpacking I had my deck in hand and filming equipment in my backpack. I was ready to hit the streets when all of a sudden it started to rain. I couldn’t believe my luck.

It was my first day in Hong Kong and it was pouring with rain.

I turned on the TV and watched a Bruce lee movie that was on StarWorld. Bruce lee is from HK by the way.

Quick question who would win in a fight? Jackie Chan or Bruce lee? I’ve got my $100 HK on Jackie Chan.

DAY 2: Skate shop check outs at 8five2 and Evergreen

More rain. The trip was not looking promising but I was here to learn about HK’s skateboarding scene so I decided to visit two of Hong Kong’s most reputable skate shops.

8five2 :

With my sketchy directions printed off google I managed to navigate my way around the Hong Kong MTR (Mass Transit Railway) and arrive at 8five2. The shop’s name 852 is actually the area code for Hong Kong which is a very fun and creative idea. The shop offers a wide variety of high end street fashion apparel including skateboarding brands such as Alphanumeric, Aesthetics, Lakai, DGK and NikeSB .

The first thing that hits you when you walk into this store hidden away amongst tall Chinese skyscrapers and office buildings is loud American hip hop which must have been T.I or some other young up and coming rapper (new-money). The shop is small and cramped due to space in Hong Kong being very limited. But this adds to the shops personality and gives it a homie feel.

Brian, 8five2’s creator is a prominent figure in Hong Kong’s skateboarding scene who strives to promote the sport and increase awareness of all extreme sports here. A few years back he created his own clothing line called ‘Know1edge’ which offers a full line of tee shirts, jeans, caps, jackets, bags, belts, and even limited edition watches. 8five2 also recently had a collaboration shoe with Lakai the ‘Carroll 4 x 8FIVE2SHOP’ shoe.

Brian was out of town on business but I managed to speak to other shop staff at the store, Kenny. He told that the HK Skateboarding scene is dwindling due to a severe lack of street spots. ‘Immigration Tower’ or I.T as it is known amongst the locals was perhaps HK’s best and definitely most famous skate spot. I would compare I.T to Singapore’s Raffles Place Mrt as both of these spots were ‘meet-up’ locations where skaters could meet, skate for a few hours, and then skate to other nearby spots. I.T like Raffles place (Singapore) has been capped and is now completely un-skatable. Many skaters in HK felt as though they did not have any really good street spots left and slowly drifted out of the skateboard scene, quit, or chose to take up tai chi lessons (meditation). A similar story can be told for Singapore CBD crew’s and dedicated street skaters.

Evergreen :

Evergreen, the second store I visited has been around slightly longer than 8five2 and also plays a crucial role in keeping Hong Kong skateboarders stocked with fresh gear and crisp boards. Walking into Evergreen is a completely different experience to 8five2. The ambience is less street with new age music coming out of the surround sound speakers. On the wall is a plasma screen TV and hanging from the ceiling are 4 large model helicopters.

Evergreen like 8five2 is fully stocked with all your skateboard brands including Akademiks, fourstar, Nikesb, LRG and Adidas. Both stores have a huge collection of shoes and boards. Shoes and decks are slightly cheaper than in HK when compared to Singapore’s prices. A decks costing HK $450 or S $80 .

Lawrence the owner of Evergreen told me that business most days is slow and that the Hong Kong skateboarding scene is not as vibrant as it once was. His rationale behind this was the lack of government support for skateboarding and extreme sports in general. He compared Hong Kong to mainland China and spoke of how mainland China encourages skateboarding and is building lots of public parks. A good example of this is in Shanghai, now home to the to the world’s largest outdoor skate park. SMP as it is commonly known, holds major contests annually and attracts professional athletes from all over the world. Hong Kong on the other hand only has one very small skatepark, at Mei Foo which is not capable of international contests and was only opened 4 years ago despite the fact that skateboarding has been around in HK for the past 15 years. Furthermore, Mei Foo skatepark was only opened after local skaters pleaded and petitioned.

Whilst looking through the copious amounts of shoes Evergreen carries, tucked away in the corner I saw a hidden gem glistening away. Yes! That’s right! It was a pair of white Tom Penny signature shoes. I used to own a pair of these when I lived in Canada and boy did they help me with the ladies. They are just so pimp I had to buy them on the spot. They cost me Singapore $110. What a steal! These shoes are no longer produced as Tom Penny now rides for Supra Footwear. Collector shit right here!

DAY 3: Skateboarding

I woke up at 10am. My bones felt cold and I needed a shower, but laziness soon set in so I decided I would just warm my body up by doing some pushups. Weariness then set in and I decided I would just eat a banana for my breakfast. Today was my last and only day to get a glimpse of what Hong Kong had to offer. Rain clouds were no were to be seen so I called Piet who would be my tour guide for the day. We agreed to meet at Admiralty MTR station at 11am sharp. Admiralty is just one MTR stop away from the apartment I stayed at during the rest of my time in Hong Kong.

The first spot Piet took me to is called Hamburger Hideout. This spot was awesome. There are marble curbs that are in near- mint condition, no chips or skate stoppers in site and I got to skate here over an hour without being kicked out. According to Piet he has never once been kicked out at this spot.

Not too far away from this spot was a public park Piet wanted to show me but as soon as we arrived a Chinese gardner accompanied by a grounds keeper told us skateboarding was not allowed.

The next spot we set our sights on was the famous MTR banks that you see in all the 411 Video Magazine Hong Kong tour videos. Actually almost every MTR roof here has a bank but the one Piet took me to is the one least likely to attract attention and the police. I thought I was going to be able to annihilate this thing since I had seen it in videos and magazines so often but the run up is pretty short, the ground sucks and well it’s just plain steep. Nonetheless, it was fun and my adrenaline was pumping after I landed a kickflip.

Our next spot was located at Kwai Hing , a bit of out of the city but we got there with no problems. The public transport in HK is really cheap and efficient. You can pretty much get to all the skate spots using the train and even head off to Shenzhen. (China’s most talked about skate spot right now). Shenzhen is the city with all those marble waves that skaters flip off. And oh, did I mention LoveSkatePark will also have one!!

Kwai Hing has smooth concrete floor, grass gaps and granite ledges. The ledges here weren’t as good as Hamburger Hideout and they had some metal hinges sticking out to separate the marble into seats but it’s still very skateable. Piet told me that I should watch out and not offend anyone around this area as the old looking buildings surrounding this spot are known to be the home of certain Hong Kong triads.

I was careful not to get in anyone’s way and I managed to have fun skating here. There is also a large 7 step and wooden handrail to skate but I didn’t want to do it because I was scared.

After Kwai Hing we decided to grab a late lunch (4pm). Expecting Piet to suggest some traditional restaurants or some ‘must try’ local cuisine I asked where we would be eating only to get the reply of “do you like McDonalds?”. So off to McDonalds we went. McDonald’s prices in HK are among the cheapest in the world. A HK$7 extra value meal is the equivalent of S$3. Everything is pretty much half the price of what it costs in Singapore and it is just as unhealthy and fattening. GREAT!

Oh, I had a double cheeseburger. I had to point to the picture of the burger and meal cause the girl serving me spoke no English at all.

After a short ride back on the MTR we arrived at MeiFoo skatepark. The park is small but has a descent array of street and vert obstacles. The two vert ramps looked abandoned and most skaters seemed to hover around the small flat ground rails and curbs. The general level of skateboarding in Hong Kong is good probably higher than Singapore’s.

CRAMP

It was getting quite late now and I had been skating for hours without drinking any isotonic drinks.

In Singapore I drink about 2 liters every time I skate. They don’t sell 100plus, my favorite isotonic thirst quencher here so I decided to just have water. Needless to say I ended up overexerting myself and became dehydrated. My potassium, sodium and calcium levels dropped and this coupled with the freezing cold weather caused my muscle cells to swell resulting in intense pain.

I was in so much pain it’s not even funny. [lol im sure i would have laughed at you -gary] At first I could feel my right knee cramping up but it didn’t hurt because it wasn’t a full cramp yet. It was just like an irritation so I ignored it and continued skating which led to me screaming on the floor in pain about 5 minutes later. My right and left knee cramped up and what followed next was unbelievable. My toes, ankle, calf and thigh all, wait my groin too!! cramped up. My entire lower body was engulfed in Cramp and all I could do was scream.

I couldn’t stretch or move because each time I tried to another muscle twitched and started to cramp. After about 40 minutes of lying on the floor with my knuckles clenched I managed to slowly hobble to the closest convenient store where I bypassed the que and purchased every kind of isotonic and thirst quenching drink sold. I also figured muffins and Oreo cookies might help restore my chemical balance.

After the park we checked out a few more spots but I was too exhausted from cramp that I had to call it a night and got on the train back to the apartment.

Day 4: The Flight Home

It was an early morning flight so I didn’t have time to skate or see anymore of the city.

Breakfast consisted of some dim sum (Yes, I didn’t forget to complete the second part of my mission) and smoked salmon. I hoped in a taxi and made my way to the airport. Within a few hours I was back in Singapore and ready to get some much needed rest.

If you want to learn more about HK’s skateboard scene then feel free to drop by Love Skate Park. I purchased a few local videos that show some of their up and coming athletes ripping up HK’s urban landscape.

*I would like to thank Piet for being an excellent tour guide and an amazing filmer.

*I would also like to thank Wallace for taking some great pictures and all the guys at 8five2 and Evergreen.

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