Voice Post

UPDATE

I found someone. Though it wasn’t love at first sight, upon further reading of the posts I discovered many interesting facts along with a bit of voice.

Most of the blogs information is in my “Profile a Blogger” post. I might as well refer to them. Natural Capital is pretty good.

One of the first posts I read by Nick Cunningham, “Sharks Gain More Protection Under CITES”, started out pretty bland. But, as the author presented facts in combination with comparisons to give the reader some perspective I was intrigued.

“Much like the slaughter of African elephants for ivory, which is just a status symbol, middle and upper class Chinese are putting many species of sharks on the path to extinction.”

Though the author of this post doesn’t say something in first person reflecting his feelings towards the people killing the sharks, it is obvious how he feels. Throughout the post he also places short 1-2 word sentences that present a bit of opinion that he has towards what he is writing about. After showing a video of a sharks fin getting cut off he says, “Grisly stuff.” Yes, it may be obvious that watching a bloody shark try to swim away without fins is “grisly”, but it works.

Both of these authors have voice! Though Duncan Gromko’s post “Palm Oil and Deforestation” may not have a intriguing title, the use of voice in the post gives perspective that could not be portrayed through any other means.

“Before I started studying forestry issues, my assumption was that timber harvest caused deforestation. It seems obvious: cutting down trees leads to less forests. But, while timber harvest does play an important role, globally it has a much smaller impact than conversion of forests to agricultural uses. To oversimplify, there is only so much arable land on the earth and, as more food is needed to feed more mouths, the forests on good land are removed to make way for fields.”

Duncan approaches his writing a bit differently from Nick. But, they both have the same voice. Before I noticed that this blog was written by more than one person, I thought all the posts were written by the same writer. Together their voice is consistent. Their emotions are always prevalent, even if it is hidden behind complex comparisons or facts given. They link effectively, while also providing visual evidence to the problem at hand.

They are concerned.

Okay. These guys are as funny/sarcastic/witty as I wanted them to be, but the wide span of environmental issues that they cover through the use of their somewhat serious/informative voice is helpful. It gives me hope that I may find something even better. 

3:30 am

Before this moment, all I knew of Hong Kong was the intro to Rush Hour 2 and Dim Sum.

It was around 11:30 pm when we arrived in Hong Kong.

We had 8 hours until our flight left for Tokyo.

The last train of the night from the airport into Sai Wan left in 15 minutes.

Sleep or eat?

We ran to exchange money.

As the train took its route, thoughts of Dim Sum filled my head. Mouth watering, pit stains growing, stomach growling. From the help of a native Hong Kong food blogger I already knew where we were going, it was just a matter of finding them.

1.     Tsui Wah

2.     San Hing

Side Note: This entry is probably starting to sound like a Foodie run. Though many of my blog posts so far have been about environmental or tourism issues that I have come upon through my travels, this one is solely about me feeding my face.

As we got off the train, and walked up the stairs to street level, it felt like we entered a scene from The Walking Dead. The TV shows’ background strings started playing in my head as we continued to walk past giant, neon lit high-rises. Wasn’t this city supposed to be one of the most densely populated in the world? All we wanted were directions. We then finally spotted someone to ask and they, thankfully, knew exactly where it was.

Tsui Wah.

We grabbed a seat in the surprisingly crowded café. Sticky Milk Buns. Yes, Sticky Milk Buns. The HK food blogger (thatfoodcray.com) said it was a must have. I saw it on the menu and pointed our order.

Toasted Brioche bread with a layer of condensed milk and butter. Though they may not seem like much, these little buns of joy brought pure happiness to our lives. And, even though they cost as much as 6 meals in Vietnam, they were truly amazing. Hi-Five thatfoodcray.com!

We then proceeded to find an open hotel where we found directions and they even got us a taxi. 

It was around 2:15 am.

San Hing.

As the taxi driver slowed down, it seemed as if he was going in circles. So, I asked if he was lost. He started laughing. We started hysterically laughing with him. He had no clue where this restaurant was. I mean he got us to Kennedy Town. But, where was 10 Hau Wo Street? He dropped us off and gave the ride to us for free. While searching for this place we then found a police man, to whom we showed the address and he smiled while pointing at a place right down the street.

As we walked in, the fluorescent lights reflecting off the steam coming from the bamboo towers of dim sum blinded us. Though no on in there spoke any English, they knew what we came for. A lady set a huge pot of jasmine tea in the middle of the table and then pointed to those same bamboo towers. Self-serve dim sum.  After a half hour of eating these shrimp, pork and chicken dumplings of heaven they gave us the holy grail of dim sum. I don’t know what they are called, but they blew my mind.

Sweet doughy outside. Yellow, cake batter, sugary sweetness inside.

3:30 am. Heaven.