Field Report 3:
Hong Kong - May 23, 1998

From my apartment in Westood, Los Angeles, CA

By Chris Kostman
 

Hello friends:

My first indoor cycling tour of Asia, well, OK, Hong Kong, is over. The trip was really productive and enjoyable and I'm really proud to be the first person to have had the opportunity to take indoor cycling to the Asian continent. (My big brother Keith took Spinning to Japan last year, but that's just three islands; I've got a toehold on the whole continent now!!! - Just Kidding!)

Since I last posted an update, I taught two more classes for the members of the Hong Kong Country Club, as well as three different Instructor Workshops: Tuesday, May 19 I led an all day Instructor Workshop for six local fitness professionals, then on Thursday the 21st I led two ongoing education modules. The first was on Indoor Cycling Biomechanics and Advanced Riding Techniques and the second was my Seven Pillars of Athletic Performance Workshop. Altogether, I trained ten new instructors to deliver indoor cycling classes in HK. It's truly a privilege to have had this opportunity and to have shared what my friends and I have created over the past two years at Bodies in Motion and elsewhere.

Plans call for a return trip in November for additional classes and workshops, as well as participating in a fitness conference and racing a triathlon in HK. I can't wait!

Linzi and I finally got see to more than just Repulse Bay and the Country Club. On Monday I taught a morning class for the members and then it was a bus ride over to Central, on the busy side of the island, then a ride on the Star Ferry over to Kowloon to see the sights. Mainly it was a foot-borne exploration of Nathan Road, where there are way too many camera, jewelry, and clothing stores. Also, great views across the water towards the island, walking past the Peninsula Hotel with five Rolls Royce in front, and more. The heat and humidity were incredible, which actually caused the insane air conditioning of the stores to practically suck us off the sidewalk. I can't imagine the energy bills these stores must have after blasting their AC so strong and leaving all the front doors wide open! It works, though, for everybody wants to retreat from the heat into the stores.

We took the Star Ferry back to the island, then a taxi around the island to Stanley Market, not far down the road from Repulse Bay. This was tourist trinket and knick-knack heaven! Just one little stall after another with hawkers selling every possible kind of doodad imaginable. My big find was a tiny little lazer beam pointer that shoots a red dot beam like half a kilometer! I mainly got it to point on slide screens when giving lectures, but I quickly found all kinds of other, entertaining uses in restaurants and other public places.

Tuesday was the first workshop, an eight hour day spent going over all the myriad details of riding and teaching indoor cycling classes. Tons of energy was expended, three classes were taught, and by the end of the hot day, I was beyond exhausted. But it was a great day and giving this workshop has become one of my more pleasing experiences in life.

Wednesday was a sleep-in day, then more touristy stuff, like taking the bus to Central, then riding atop a roof-less double decker bus through HK's really impressive Central district, then riding the Peak Tram up to the Peak. This is a train-like, cable car thing that goes from downtown straight up to the top of the Peak. It's a steep ride in a pair of cable cars, so steep that you have to lean way forward in your seat as you chug up the hillside. The views are awesome, though, and no trip to HK is complete without it. At the end of the line, at the top of the Peak, is what my host Susie Misini calls "the great wok in the sky," a wok-shaped, five level observation and entertainment center with restaurants, shops, some kind of futuristic rides and a Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium. Lunch was at the Swiss-derived Movenpick Marché restaurant. Chinese food? What Chinese food? Give me that tuna sandwich, watermelon juice, salad bar, and cake, please!

Wednesday evening we went into Lan Kwai Fong, the hip club and restaurant scene, where one goes to be seen and have expensive meals. This was a rendezvous spot (specifically, at "China," a, believe it or not, Chinese restaurant with just fabulous food) where we hooked up with my friend Ruth Hunt, a professional triathlete I've known for many years. She's a Brit who's lived in HK for 15 years and has been the HK National Triathlon Coach for the past five years or so. It's a full time post at the HK Sports Institute. As HK is to be a Special Administrative Region for 49 more years, HK will continue to have its own national teams at the Olympics and other international events. Just like those Americans in Puerto Rico race on their own national team instead of the American team, I guess. Triathlon makes its debut at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, so Ruth will be there with at least one charge representing HK.

Thursday was another class for members, then both continuing ed workshops, so it was a four class, very tiring day. But more importantly, it was a productive and meaningful day spent with a lot of really nice and motivated fitness professionals. It was also my last indoor cycling classes (#'s 913, 914, 915, and 916, to be exact, but who's counting?) until September, my first break from teaching in over three years...

All graduates of my workshops from over the past two years, including the new HK crew, will have their names listed on my website by next week. That will be part of a major revision to the site to get all in order before I head to Egypt on the 3rd of June.

The thirteen hour flight home was a time warp. We left at noon on Friday and arrived at 10:30am on Friday! So I guess a time machine only has to travel at 600 mph and head in the proper direction!

It's great to be back in LA. I've got loads to do before the 3rd, but am really excited and honored to be able to spend my Summer working with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in the underwater excavation of the Sadana Island Shipwreck in Egypt's Red Sea. Watch for email postings combined with website updates from "Out There" in the field!

All the best,
Chris Kostman

 
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