China

I haven't written in awhile and its mainly because I was preparing for the past two weeks. It has been non-stop fun since the end of March and I am wiped out now.

The last weekend of March is the biggest weekend in Hong Kong for expats. The annual HK Rugby Sevens tournament. It doesn't matter how much you know about rugby, everyone has a blast this weekend. I was lucky enough to get some tickets back in December; they sell out in hours. I was even luckier to sell my Friday ticket for almost the amount I paid for all three days! Everyone dresses up in ridiculous costumes and sits in the stadium for about eight hours of rugby each day. It sounds long, but I never once checked the time because we were having so much fun.

As the championship was ending Sunday night, four friends of mine were landing in Hong Kong for our two week journey through China. We spent a few days in Hong Kong letting them get acclimated. Along with the six Americans, many of my friends in Hong Kong came along with us. At one time our group was 13 people.

Six of us took a train to Beijing and had an absolute blast. The rest of the group flew and we met at our hotel in Beijing. The city is so unique and hard to describe. It is a city of about 16 million people, but every place I went was as quiet and relaxed as the country side. The buildings are all painted a dull grey with black roofs, certainly an effort of the Communist cultural revolution to dull the life of the city, but I thought the color brought the city to life and gave it a warm feel.


On Easter Sunday, eleven of us piled into a mini-bus and drove three hours out to the Great Wall of China. No picture or story can describe to you the feeling of being out there. The terrain is gorgeous, the Wall massive and the hike is treacherous. Our section of the wall was a mere 500 years old compared with 2000 in other sections. We hiked 10 kilometers for four hours and never saw a soul. The pictures I took will never do this wonder justice. Truly amazing.

The final day I spent touring the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Summer Palace. The architecture is truly unique and beautiful. The size of the palaces is overwhelming. But, one can only stare at buildings for so long so we basically sat on the lake at the Summer Palace and enjoyed some beers.

After leaving Beijing, the group had been whitled down to the six Americans. Let the fun begin. Shanghai was night and day different from Beijing. Much more cosmopolitan and one of the fastest growing cities in the world. We stayed in the French Concession and marvelled at how it reminded us of the West Village. We had some great food and saw some sites like the Bund and Pudong. One night was spent with some bottles of wine atop the tallest hotel in the world, the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, on the 87th floor.

The trip across the country opened all of our eyes at how amazing this secretive society is. China is emerging with great momentum and changing by the day. I appreciate their culture at a new level now eventhough I've been in Hong Kong for seven months. I saw some amazing things and have some more great memories to share with some of my best friends.

I'm Regrettin' It

My belly is large and bloated. My stomach churns and I’m gassy. Sharp cramps shoot through my gut causing my face to cringe. You see, I have eaten at McDonald’s today…twice.

Now that you are nauseous, allow me to explain. I have had enough of my school’s Chinese food. Everyday the menu is the same, but the food only gets worse. A large plate of plain pasta, steamed broccoli, and a piece of meat that looks like fish, but tastes like chicken. Affectionately, I refer to this as fishkin.

Too much fishkin causes one to act drastically. Arriving at school this Monday morning, by stomach growled at me and my head asked for more caffeine. There is only one place to get food other than the school cafeteria and that is McDonald’s around the corner. Living in the States I never visited McDonald’s, save for an emergency. However, because of school cuisine, everyday in Hong Kong is an emergency.

As is ashamedly becoming custom, I sauntered in to the fast-food giant and ordered some breakfast. Everything went smoothly and I felt super after that steaming Styrofoam cup of instant brew.

Hours pass and now its lunch time. I stepped into the cafeteria and was immediately disgusted. My body refused to accept another helping of steamed broccoli and mystery meat. I elected to starve.

Andrew shared my feelings and mimicked a hamburger across the office. Moments later, I found myself back in line at the world’s leader in gluttony. I won’t gross you out with meal details, but let’s just say that I’ve consumed enough grease today to lube an engine.

So here I sit in agony with a double helping of McD’s in my stomach. Wise, I am not; noticeably fattening, indeed.

Hong Kongers

I have realized from living in Hong Kong that the local people here are some of the rudest people I've ever experienced. People in Hong Kong have no concept of other people and are concerned only with themselves.

Walking down the sidewalk, someone will walk right into you as if you were invisible and they never saw you. I sometimes try to get off of the subway and twenty people will shove their way into the train before I can even get off.

The best example of Hong Kong rudeness happened to me in Starbucks recently. I had been at a table for over an hour reading my book. I left to go meet someone outside on the street. In order to save my place, I left my full cup of coffee, my book and a magazine on my table. When I returned five minutes later, there was a woman sitting in my seat. I looked down at her, but she wouldn't acknowledge me. I noticed my coffee was missing and asked her where it was. She motioned to the garbage. Baffled, I just reached for my things and noticed that she had dumped her empty sugar packets and wet stir sticks onto my magazine. I lifted my magazine and let her trash fall right in front of her, but she didn't even look up. Then, I rabbit punched her and she fell directly into her steaming latte. (Not really, but I wanted to so bad.)

Anyway, for the most part local Hong Kong people are intolerable. This is one of the main reasons I'm going somewhere more friendly next year, like New York!

Quotes

"Hey! That elephant just spilled my beer."

-Andrew, after an elephant spilled his beer. You only get to say that once.

Thailand

I'm back from my week long holiday in Thailand. I spent most of my time in Bangkok, but also saw Pataya and Koh Larn.

Bangkok is a great city with beautiful people and deliciously spicy food. I still feel it. I recommend that city for any traveler.

I had loads of fun and met some great people. I would rather tell you about it all in person rather than write in a blog. Please check out my pictures sometime and see for yourself.

Sai Kung

I went hiking yesterday with the Yip sisters. I couldn't remember the last time I had been out of a city setting, so the fresh air was welcomed. After a 90 minute trip out into the New Territories, we found what we thought was our trail and set off. I am just now realizing that we were on a completely different part of the trail than we thought.

Our hike was expected to be along a nice beach for a few hours, but instead we climed up and down four mountians over 11km and ascended up 400m to a peak. There were stairs along the steep parts, but they almost made it worse on my ageing knees.


Our trail ended in a great fishing village, Sai Kung. Its quite touristy, but for a reason. Along the docks there are plenty of restaurants that put their fresh catches into large tanks. When you're ready to eat, you walk over and point out what your craving. Then, the chef prepares your 'catch' however you like. The three of us easily put away a 6lb. fish, two crabs and a pound of shrimp.

All in all, the views were terrific and the setting serene. Our dinner was fantastic too. It felt great to get out of the city and hopefully I'll find some time to do some more treks.

Sick Games

I left work early on Thursday with a fever and I've been in bed for 48 hours since. I'm feeling much better now, but I'm fresh out of '24' episodes. My sinuses are also clearing and everything is coming up. I've taken a few steps to cure the boredom. I'm on my bed, window open to the cool breeze and 21 floors below is; not sure and don't want to check because...Whenever I cough something up, I spit it out the window and wonder where that gooey glob landed. Then, I write about it on the internet.

Gross? Not until you've tried it.

Mr. Jack Hammer

I remember walking down the streets of New York multiple times and feel the sidewalk begin to shake, or at my desk 21 floors up and hear the building rumble and think to myself, “It would not sadden me if I never hear the pneumatic sound of a jackhammer ever again.”

Alas, not fifty yards from my desk in Hong Kong, two 40 story apartment buildings are being constructed. Outside the school, the air is constantly filled with sound waves of whining cement trucks, swirling cranes, and of course the abhorrent jackhammer.

I am sitting in the garden on the roof of my school, trying to escape the chaos of the classroom, but even my iPod cannot rescue me from the machine gun battle that rages in the construction zone across the way. Neither can the book I’m reading which is ironically describing a scientist’s efforts to control the sound of the universe and turn all of its annoyances off. Until this fiction becomes a reality though, I won’t be able to concentrate enough to even finish the chapter.

Whoever invented this beastly tool should be imprisoned for disturbing global peace. I think his sentence should be lying on a bed with a jackhammer constantly drilling next to his head, 24/7. I doubt he would survive a week before he lost his mind and was crippled with internal tremors for the rest of his quaking days.

The rattling of the jack hammer outside or the Chinese chatter in the classroom; which one should I choose?

Attack of the Chinese Students!!!

I decided today, amid the chaos of my classroom, that a good illustration for my job would be a four-hour Chinese horror film. Imagine the constant rambling in Chinese with errant screams. Kids running around, bloody noses, people bumping into each other and falling onto their faces. Objects flying through the air, mass confusion, everyone lost in their own world and the only interaction with each other results in a fight of some sort.

Then, there is me in the middle, trying in what ever way possible to pacify the situation; urging everyone to keep calm. But no one understands a word I’m saying or even bothers to try to listen. Instead, they glance at me when I shout their name and the carry on shouting as they run across the set of this Asian horror flick. On any given day you would think that Godzilla had crawled out of Victoria harbour and was standing outside the school.

Lamma Island

I found my new getaway spot last weekend. They guys and I all retreated to Lamma Island for the laid back scene instead of the usual rush. The island is only a twenty minute ferry away, but it seems like you’re thousands of miles off. Set just to the southwest of Hong Kong Island, it is rumored to contain the earliest evidence of Chinese society from over 5000 years ago.

There isn’t much to Lamma, and that’s the beauty of it. The ferry arrives at the terminal and you follow the gangway onto the sole street on the island. Seafood restaurants are separated only by small bars and food shops. We dined on a balcony overlooking local fishing boats in the South China Sea. We ate everything from squid and garlic shrimps to ginger crab and grouper. The meal was fantastic and cheap.

Afterwards, we sat by the bay and had some drinks while playing cards into the wee hours. A hotel room steps from our table cost us each about $12 USD. In the morning, a local restaurateur cooked up an American breakfast special for us with eggs, bacon, sausage and plenty of coffee.

For about $50 USD we each had one of the best weekends we can remember in Hong Kong. Lamma is definitely a regular spot for us now to escape the ruckus that is Central Hong Kong and to relax the right way.