After a busy week Ruhi and I flew down to Guangzhou on Sunday afternoon/evening. We’ve been running around a lot and I’m going to write another more detailed blog later on when I have time, but here are a few highlights from the past 3 days:

• I met Kevin Spacey on Monday afternoon.  I almost didn’t wash my hand again.
• I did some background acting/extra work behind Daniel Wu and Kevin Spacey on Tuesday evening.  I hope I don’t end up on the cutting room floor.
• I’m going to be attending a conference in the New Territories for the next 2 weeks.  Tonight was the orientation and tomorrow the sessions begin.

So, I might not be online too much, depending on our schedule.  And anytime I am online I might have to be working and can’t really blog too much.

But I’ve been taking some videos and pictures so you can look forward to things later on in the future.  Until then … bye!

Related posts:

1. Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Movie Sets (1/14)
2. Hong Kong Highlights in May

Tuesday I had a lunch meeting with a client in TST. We went to an Indian Restaurant called “Gaylord”, that had a very nice buffet. Got some good work done at the meeting and are on track with two projects. After the lunch meeting I headed to Hong Kong Island and had some pages added to my passport at the U.S. Embassy. It wasn’t just because I was running out of pages, but I plan on getting a student visa put in there before my next trip to Hong Kong so I needed space for that.

Gaylord Restaurant - TST

I did a little putting around the IFC, looking through book stores and what not, and almost went to see Sherlock Holmes but decided against it.  In the evening I headed back to TST and met up with Jack, Joanne and Boon for some evening Hot Pot.  While I was waiting for them I saw a place called “Chococat Cafe”.  I had some time to kill so thought I would go and get something to drink.

Choco Cat Cafe up in the distance

A view of TST

A bustling street in TST

It turned out that this was a pretty unique place.  When I sat down I was given a menu.  There wasn’t a huge selection, but I asked for a drink.  Then she said “Okay … lets go make it”.

Say what?  It turned out that at the Chococat Cafe you pick things from the menu and they they show you how to make it!  They have some pasta, chicken wings, salads and a few various drinks.  I got a pineapple, orange drink and so she took me behind the counter and showed me hot to make it.  I could add as much or as little of each ingredient as I wanted.  A pretty nice concept.

A view of the Choco Cat Cafe

A look at the menu

A look at my creation!

Be warned though.  If you have allergies to cats, don’t go there.  They have a few (super friendly and relaxed) cats who hang out there as well.  Not sure about the health code violations of having pets in a restaurant, but none of the customers or people working there seemed to have any issues with it.  I suppose if you have a cat in your home, then having a cat in a restaurant isn’t necessarily a huge leap forward.

Scratching Chairs Encouraged

There is one in Causeway Bay too.

Hot Pot was pretty good.  I haven’t had hot pot in a while but it was quite tasty.  And it was nice to hang out with Boon again, since I haven’t seen him in a while.

Jack and Boon at Hot Pot

J-Bird Contemplates the Menu

Wednesday it was time to head to Guangzhou.  Around 11:30 I left Tin Shui Wai, grabbed some flash cards at the stationary store, and grabbed the 276 bus to Sheung Shui and then the MTR to Lo Wu.  After a quick border cross I made my way to the Shenzhen Train Station and grabbed an express train to Guangzhou East.  I had made a reservation at a reasonably priced hotel on Long Kou Xi Lu (龙口西路) named 龙口明珠大酒店.  It was okay, but the head in the rooms was terrible and it was rather cold.

I spent the afternoon preparing for my meeting with Dayyan Eng (伍仕贤 ).  I’m helping him with a facelist to his production studio website, colordance.com, as well as his wife’s professional site, gongbeibi.com.  He was in Guangzhou directing his newest feature film, ‘Inseperable’, which stars Daniel Wu (吴彦祖), Gong Beibi (龚蓓苾) and Kevin Spacey.   You can read an article here.

Kevin Spacey

It is great to have various friend involved in such a nice project.  It is a great get for Dayyan because he is directing one of the biggest stars in Asia and it is the first time a two-time Oscar winner is involved in a Chinese production.  It is great for Dan because he will be getting some major U.S. exposure, acting across from Mr. Kevin Spacey himself, and it is great for Kevin Spacey because he gets to hang out with cool peoples in China.

The next day, before heading to the airport and catching my flight back to Xi’an, I dropped by the set to check things out.  I haven’t been on a film set in a few years — not since one of Jet’s U.S. films, come to think of it — so it was neat to be in that environment again.  I had an hour to watch Daniel’s scene.  I won’t get in to specifics, but he was in a car.  I think the most interesting part was the local Chinese Look-E-Loos who act way different than the ones in the U.S. (naturally).  Much more gawking and walking back and forth over and over again.  After I saw the same group of people walking down the sidewalk for the 10th time I was thinking “Okay — you aren’t fooling anyone.  Why are you even pretending to be busy?  You obviously have nothing else to do today …”

I got to say Hi to Dan as well, which was nice.  I’ve never actually seen him acting before so that was a change of pace.  I got to see Dayyan doing his thing too, which was also kind of neat.  It is one thing hanging out with someone socially, but when you see them in their professional environment you see a different side to their personality.

After an hour of that I caught a cab to the airport, flew to Xi’an, took the bus to Gao Xin and another bus home.  Charisse, Ruhi and I grabbed lunch at Bacchus Restaurant and then I got to bed at a reasonable pre-midnight hour.  Its nice to be home!

Back Home in Xi'an!

Related posts:

1. Hong Kong Highlights in May
2. Training with the Hong Kong Wushu Team (1/11)
3. Heading Home from Hong Kong