Greetings from the future, followers of this blog.
First off, my apologies for not update this for over 2 months, but I’ve been really busy, a brief rundown of the things that I’ve accomplished since my last post:
- Trip to Thailand
- Trip to Guilin
- 8 weeks of classes
- 9000 words worth of essays
- 13 credits of classes
While it sounds like a lot, keep in mind that I was doing this while not updating my blog, a task that takes several hours for each post. You know that these blog posts take so long that I don’t even have a chance to edit them before getting posted to the internets. Instead, you get raw, unfiltered Hong Kong experiences direct from the source—it couldn’t get any more real.
Many of you thought that the blog was dead after over eight weeks of inactivity, many of you were wrong. Based on the enormous amount of mail and gifts I’ve received, I’ve decided to make my way back to blogging. You may ask, “how do I know that you won’t just leave me hanging before the end of semester?” Well, I can’t guarantee that I’ll keep you updated about everything going on; I can tell you that my classes end on Thursday, and I will have too much time on my hands, so I may turn to blogging to spend my time.
Updates should come quickly. Feverishly perhaps.
Anyways, I’m off to finals. More on what I’m doing will come soon! I promise!
Thursday, April 15
Sunday, February 28
Philippines: The Place Manny Pacquiao Is From/ Thrilla Near Manilla
So while its been almost a month, there's still a lot to talk about.
This one is dedicated to the Philippines, in particular Cebu, the island that I visited. To be fair, however, I also visited the island that Manilla was on, but it sucked-- they charged me to use their terminal- approximately 700 PHP, which is equivalent to about $15.
Anyways, I feel surprisingly good at how much I am taking from this trip. To begin, we took a red eye from Hong Kong, which left at 1:30 and arrived in a tiny airport in Cebu just after four am.
We decided to take a taxi from the airport, because despite being overcharged, it wasn't expensive either way. This is key because we were all really tired and simply wanted to find a place to stay. The initial plan was Moalboal, as referenced in my last blog post. Instead, within five minutes, the driver convinced us to go to Malapascua island, 5 hours in the opposite direction of Moalboal.
Let it be known that my roomate, David Frick (there will be a post on our awesome adventures), had turned 21 four hours ago and that to my knowledge, there was no law in the Philippines about drinking while in a car. Picture a group of 5 college aged people, crammed into a car designed for four passengers, drinking beer, and listening to Bon Jovi, Queen, Bryan Adams, and more 80's style rock (no poison). Also consider that the sun rises very early in the Philippines because it is very far east in the time zone. So we were driving up the coast of Cebu watching the entire island wake up while the sun was rising. It may have been one of the best car rides I'd ever been on. This counts as the second time I've had a beer while the sun was rising this semester.
After paying to take two (yes 2) boats to get to the island, we all crashed until about six. Dinner shortly followed, then more sleep. Malapascua was a very nice island with almost nothing to do, except scuba dive. Naturally nobody had their license on them, so instead, we all went snorkeling. We also went to the beach a ton. The sand was white, the beaches were empty, the sun was hot, and the water was crystal clear. If it wasn't saltwater, it would have easily been the nicest beach I had ever been on (that title still goes to Grand Haven, MI).
These were two of the most relaxing days I ever had, minus the fact that our room wasn't air conditioned and the temperature was very high during the day. However, after two days of enjoying the island, we decided to head back to Cebu city, which has a population of about 2 million (I've been told).
While in Cebu city, we were told that we couldn't walk anywhere (because of safety), went to the "peak" which is their own mountain which looks over a city, and relaxed in a room with A/C and HBO. We also went to see Magellan's Cross, where Magellan was killed, and a taoist temple which was awesome. The last day in the trip was reserved to a spa day, where I was not as pampered as necessary.
There are a few glaring differences between the Philippines and anywhere else.
1) There was a large industry surrounding sex tourism. Seriously, I was solicited multiple times, and the hotel we stayed at had many gentlemen who came to Cebu for one reason- sex with a Philippine woman.
2) Everything was dirt cheap. For example, I was able to have a value meal at McDonalds for about $2, our hotel in Cebu City was about $8 a night per person, and a fifth of 'rhum' cost about $1.25.
3) My more astute readers may have inferred this from the first two differences, but for those who didn't: the city was not safe I felt much more comfortable staying in at night rather than going out to be solicited or robbed.
4) The people are very nice.
5) Airports in the Philippines charge a terminal fee. This is used in the U.S., but it is included in the ticket fare. Instead, I had to drop another $20 (USD) simply to leave the country.
6) English is widely spoken in the Philippines, in fact, it seemed as though Philippine people loved Americans- I also had money though
7) Cock fighting is legal here, and I wanted to go, but apparently all the fights had ended before we wanted to go.
When it is all done, I can say that the Philippines were very nice, but that I'm glad that I visited now, rather than when I have a family. As a dive destination, I haven't seen much better, then again, I've really only been to one country in SE Asia, but the water here is very nice. I don't see myself coming back to the Philippines unless business requires me to come back, but it was fun while it lasted.
More updates about Hong Kong are on their way!
-Nick
This one is dedicated to the Philippines, in particular Cebu, the island that I visited. To be fair, however, I also visited the island that Manilla was on, but it sucked-- they charged me to use their terminal- approximately 700 PHP, which is equivalent to about $15.
Anyways, I feel surprisingly good at how much I am taking from this trip. To begin, we took a red eye from Hong Kong, which left at 1:30 and arrived in a tiny airport in Cebu just after four am.
We decided to take a taxi from the airport, because despite being overcharged, it wasn't expensive either way. This is key because we were all really tired and simply wanted to find a place to stay. The initial plan was Moalboal, as referenced in my last blog post. Instead, within five minutes, the driver convinced us to go to Malapascua island, 5 hours in the opposite direction of Moalboal.
Let it be known that my roomate, David Frick (there will be a post on our awesome adventures), had turned 21 four hours ago and that to my knowledge, there was no law in the Philippines about drinking while in a car. Picture a group of 5 college aged people, crammed into a car designed for four passengers, drinking beer, and listening to Bon Jovi, Queen, Bryan Adams, and more 80's style rock (no poison). Also consider that the sun rises very early in the Philippines because it is very far east in the time zone. So we were driving up the coast of Cebu watching the entire island wake up while the sun was rising. It may have been one of the best car rides I'd ever been on. This counts as the second time I've had a beer while the sun was rising this semester.
After paying to take two (yes 2) boats to get to the island, we all crashed until about six. Dinner shortly followed, then more sleep. Malapascua was a very nice island with almost nothing to do, except scuba dive. Naturally nobody had their license on them, so instead, we all went snorkeling. We also went to the beach a ton. The sand was white, the beaches were empty, the sun was hot, and the water was crystal clear. If it wasn't saltwater, it would have easily been the nicest beach I had ever been on (that title still goes to Grand Haven, MI).
These were two of the most relaxing days I ever had, minus the fact that our room wasn't air conditioned and the temperature was very high during the day. However, after two days of enjoying the island, we decided to head back to Cebu city, which has a population of about 2 million (I've been told).
While in Cebu city, we were told that we couldn't walk anywhere (because of safety), went to the "peak" which is their own mountain which looks over a city, and relaxed in a room with A/C and HBO. We also went to see Magellan's Cross, where Magellan was killed, and a taoist temple which was awesome. The last day in the trip was reserved to a spa day, where I was not as pampered as necessary.
There are a few glaring differences between the Philippines and anywhere else.
1) There was a large industry surrounding sex tourism. Seriously, I was solicited multiple times, and the hotel we stayed at had many gentlemen who came to Cebu for one reason- sex with a Philippine woman.
2) Everything was dirt cheap. For example, I was able to have a value meal at McDonalds for about $2, our hotel in Cebu City was about $8 a night per person, and a fifth of 'rhum' cost about $1.25.
3) My more astute readers may have inferred this from the first two differences, but for those who didn't: the city was not safe I felt much more comfortable staying in at night rather than going out to be solicited or robbed.
4) The people are very nice.
5) Airports in the Philippines charge a terminal fee. This is used in the U.S., but it is included in the ticket fare. Instead, I had to drop another $20 (USD) simply to leave the country.
6) English is widely spoken in the Philippines, in fact, it seemed as though Philippine people loved Americans- I also had money though
7) Cock fighting is legal here, and I wanted to go, but apparently all the fights had ended before we wanted to go.
When it is all done, I can say that the Philippines were very nice, but that I'm glad that I visited now, rather than when I have a family. As a dive destination, I haven't seen much better, then again, I've really only been to one country in SE Asia, but the water here is very nice. I don't see myself coming back to the Philippines unless business requires me to come back, but it was fun while it lasted.
More updates about Hong Kong are on their way!
-Nick
Monday, February 15
Chinese New Year!
Hello all!
Today is the second day of the new Chinese year, year of the Tiger. I haven't updated you on my travels lately, so let me break some stuff down for you.
- I've been to the following islands: Lantau and Lamma (also Hong Kong island, but that shouldn't count)
- I purchased a new camera, the Canon SD780, an awesome camera, which shoots video in HD, so hopefully I can post some videos soon.
- Speaking of media, I've also created a picsa page, so you can see some of the photos I've taken so far, right now: just Xian but I plan on expanding that once I get back.
- I've been through 2 weeks of classes including Mandarin, Economic Development of China, SE Asia in the World Political Economy, and Money & Banking
- I am currently on a week long break, the Lunar New Year Break.
Now many of you are wondering how I'm spending such an awesome break in an awesome part of the world. Let me tell you how-- awesomely. I'm going to be spending a week in Cebu, Philippines (Moalboal). Know what it is? I really don't either. All I know is that I got a sweet deal to stay here (about $15 USD a night) and it looks like this.
In actuality, after booking, I immediately began my research and found out that it is a diving area, with lots of quiet bars and a beautiful beach. It also has highs in the mid 80's and could rain 2 nights, but will probably be clear.
I also won't have any internet while I'm here, so I won't be able to update my blog while there, not that I'll have any time anyways. This time, however, I will take lots of pictures for you to look at.
Well, Chinese New Year has a lot in common with Valentines day:
- It is on the same day (at least this year)
- It means a lot more to have your significant others with you. In China's case, that means your family- it's a family oriented holiday, like Thanksgiving is to the US.
- You give gifts in red packages
- That may be about it, but three things is more than others.
For China, and other countries in the region, it is a huge deal-- I was even invited back to someone's home for the New Year. I had to decline because of prior travel plans (see awesomeness in the Philippines). Everyone works towards bringing something back for the holidays, and I even think that factories shut down. That way the seasonal workers can go home to their families. I'm not making this up either.
Other traditions, particularly in Hong Kong, are a parade, which wasn't great, fireworks, which I'm going to see now, and horse races, football (soccer) matches and a couple of other events, which I'll miss because I'll be in the Philippines.
The parade did feature some really cool floats and the Denver Broncos cheerleaders, but I couldn't see over the massive crowd to see the awesomeness (at points). Did I mention that it was crowded? Well, like the rest of Hong Kong, it was.
Well, look forward to the next post being about sunny Philippines, where the temperature will be a warm 85 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of the current temperature of 53 degrees in Hong Kong, or even the 20 degrees back in St. Louis. Enjoy it guys!
Until next time,
-Nick
Update: The fireworks were pretty incredible. They took place between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island (the two biggest population centers) While the streets were packed and some buildings obstructed the view, I was able to get some impressive views of the fireworks. They went off in sync and looked great. Kinda reminded me of being back at home for 4th of July...
Today is the second day of the new Chinese year, year of the Tiger. I haven't updated you on my travels lately, so let me break some stuff down for you.
- I've been to the following islands: Lantau and Lamma (also Hong Kong island, but that shouldn't count)
- I purchased a new camera, the Canon SD780, an awesome camera, which shoots video in HD, so hopefully I can post some videos soon.
- Speaking of media, I've also created a picsa page, so you can see some of the photos I've taken so far, right now: just Xian but I plan on expanding that once I get back.
- I've been through 2 weeks of classes including Mandarin, Economic Development of China, SE Asia in the World Political Economy, and Money & Banking
- I am currently on a week long break, the Lunar New Year Break.
Now many of you are wondering how I'm spending such an awesome break in an awesome part of the world. Let me tell you how-- awesomely. I'm going to be spending a week in Cebu, Philippines (Moalboal). Know what it is? I really don't either. All I know is that I got a sweet deal to stay here (about $15 USD a night) and it looks like this.
In actuality, after booking, I immediately began my research and found out that it is a diving area, with lots of quiet bars and a beautiful beach. It also has highs in the mid 80's and could rain 2 nights, but will probably be clear.
I also won't have any internet while I'm here, so I won't be able to update my blog while there, not that I'll have any time anyways. This time, however, I will take lots of pictures for you to look at.
Well, Chinese New Year has a lot in common with Valentines day:
- It is on the same day (at least this year)
- It means a lot more to have your significant others with you. In China's case, that means your family- it's a family oriented holiday, like Thanksgiving is to the US.
- You give gifts in red packages
- That may be about it, but three things is more than others.
For China, and other countries in the region, it is a huge deal-- I was even invited back to someone's home for the New Year. I had to decline because of prior travel plans (see awesomeness in the Philippines). Everyone works towards bringing something back for the holidays, and I even think that factories shut down. That way the seasonal workers can go home to their families. I'm not making this up either.
Other traditions, particularly in Hong Kong, are a parade, which wasn't great, fireworks, which I'm going to see now, and horse races, football (soccer) matches and a couple of other events, which I'll miss because I'll be in the Philippines.
The parade did feature some really cool floats and the Denver Broncos cheerleaders, but I couldn't see over the massive crowd to see the awesomeness (at points). Did I mention that it was crowded? Well, like the rest of Hong Kong, it was.
Well, look forward to the next post being about sunny Philippines, where the temperature will be a warm 85 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of the current temperature of 53 degrees in Hong Kong, or even the 20 degrees back in St. Louis. Enjoy it guys!
Until next time,
-Nick
Update: The fireworks were pretty incredible. They took place between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island (the two biggest population centers) While the streets were packed and some buildings obstructed the view, I was able to get some impressive views of the fireworks. They went off in sync and looked great. Kinda reminded me of being back at home for 4th of July...
Sunday, February 7
Extensive Coverage of the Super Bowl (Commercials)
So being in Hong Kong and American I found myself in a predicament when I realized I had no Super Bowl party to attend this Sunday (Monday morning). Thinking fast, I began to look up bars in Hong Kong where the game could be on.
I settled on Bulldogs in Lan Kwai Fong. I had been there before and they offered a decent breakfast special to go with the game. In Hong Kong, there are a lot of x-pats, and Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) is where the bulk of them hang out. It turned out to be a pretty good experience, aside from what has now become "the usual oddities":
-Being 12 hours ahead of my hometown of St. Louis (11 ahead of my school-- Syracuse) I had to wake up at 6 am to make it to the bar in order to see kickoff.
-Instead of getting a bunch of wings/ pizza/ other "game food" I went with a hearty breakfast of eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, and hash browns
-Once the breakfast was over, I ordered beer, at 8:30 am. This almost sets the record for earliest I've drank
-The biggest difference was that the game wasn't televised on CBS like it was stateside. It was on a separate channel- ASN (All Sports Network) which isn't actually true, but it did offer coverage of NHL games (including two upcoming games featuring the St. Louis Blues) Two things made the experience entirely different with the game on a different channel.
1) The announcers were terrible, I don't know if CBS had the same announcers, but my people were crap. At least they spoke English- a problem oft encountered in an Asian country.
2) There were no commercials! The only ad's displayed during the game were promotions for other events that the ASN would cover. While nice at first, it made the game a dull without any lull in a sport setting.
I still was able to see the halftime show, just with delayed audio. The Who still rocked.
- And the Saints won.
Anyways, I went online to see the super bowl ads and I realized I missed out on a few interesting advertisements. And here are my thoughts on the best ads.
-Bud Light Voicebox
This ad only worked because T Pain made an appearance at the end, which made it Legen- wait for it- dairy
-Hundai: Brett Farve
See, its funny because Brett Farve is still playing football 10 years from now. Brilliant!
-Boost Mobile Super Bowl Shuffle:
This one is good, but not because of the 1980's Super Bowl Shuffle. I present to you, the Sex Offender Shuffle. It makes the ad so much funnier.
-Etrade- Jealous Girlfriend
Continuing on the ads from the past couple of years, Etrade has extended its lineup to a howling baby, nice.
- Other notable ads include the one with Lance Armstrong in it, the Kia Ad: Joyride, and the Parasian Love Ad by Google
I'll be back posting about actual things about Hong Kong soon, but spending a morning enjoying pure Americania was a nice break from the orient I've become accustomed to.
Until next time,
-Nick
I settled on Bulldogs in Lan Kwai Fong. I had been there before and they offered a decent breakfast special to go with the game. In Hong Kong, there are a lot of x-pats, and Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) is where the bulk of them hang out. It turned out to be a pretty good experience, aside from what has now become "the usual oddities":
-Being 12 hours ahead of my hometown of St. Louis (11 ahead of my school-- Syracuse) I had to wake up at 6 am to make it to the bar in order to see kickoff.
-Instead of getting a bunch of wings/ pizza/ other "game food" I went with a hearty breakfast of eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, and hash browns
-Once the breakfast was over, I ordered beer, at 8:30 am. This almost sets the record for earliest I've drank
-The biggest difference was that the game wasn't televised on CBS like it was stateside. It was on a separate channel- ASN (All Sports Network) which isn't actually true, but it did offer coverage of NHL games (including two upcoming games featuring the St. Louis Blues) Two things made the experience entirely different with the game on a different channel.
1) The announcers were terrible, I don't know if CBS had the same announcers, but my people were crap. At least they spoke English- a problem oft encountered in an Asian country.
2) There were no commercials! The only ad's displayed during the game were promotions for other events that the ASN would cover. While nice at first, it made the game a dull without any lull in a sport setting.
I still was able to see the halftime show, just with delayed audio. The Who still rocked.
- And the Saints won.
Anyways, I went online to see the super bowl ads and I realized I missed out on a few interesting advertisements. And here are my thoughts on the best ads.
-Bud Light Voicebox
This ad only worked because T Pain made an appearance at the end, which made it Legen- wait for it- dairy
-Hundai: Brett Farve
See, its funny because Brett Farve is still playing football 10 years from now. Brilliant!
-Boost Mobile Super Bowl Shuffle:
This one is good, but not because of the 1980's Super Bowl Shuffle. I present to you, the Sex Offender Shuffle. It makes the ad so much funnier.
-Etrade- Jealous Girlfriend
Continuing on the ads from the past couple of years, Etrade has extended its lineup to a howling baby, nice.
- Other notable ads include the one with Lance Armstrong in it, the Kia Ad: Joyride, and the Parasian Love Ad by Google
I'll be back posting about actual things about Hong Kong soon, but spending a morning enjoying pure Americania was a nice break from the orient I've become accustomed to.
Until next time,
-Nick
Saturday, February 6
Long Overdue: Back in HK and Some Stuff About China
Nine days ago, I got back from a two week trip to China- while overdue, I'm going to summarize what happened. I won't go into detail, I'm saving those for when I get my journal's back, I'll tell you some things that I didn't include in my journals.
First off, the basics of the trip.
We went to three cities in China-- Xian, Beijing, and Shangahi.
Xian- I thought this city was crap. Located in the west (where only 280 million people live) the city reminded me of an old steel town where there wasn't much to marvel at (All I want to do on trips is marvel at stuff-- that's it). While boasting a population of six million, it seemed like everything was spread out, with no downtown district and a scattering of buildings over 20 stories. This reminded me most of an old Soviet Union city that never modernized. This makes sense because we were visiting Xian (pronounced she-an) to look at the history of China. The Terra Cotta Soldiers were really cool. Other than that, however, I saw no redeeming characteristics of Xian, except the free internet in the room, where I couldn't access any social networking website or my blog. The first morning, I looked up the weather and saw that the forecast was "smoke." By the end of my stay in Xian, I was having trouble dealing with all of the pollution. As I mentioned before, Xian will be covered in disturbing detail once I get back my journals.
Beijing- This was an awesome city. We were here for twice the time as we were in Xian, we had HBO, and the city felt cleaner- supposedly that was because of the Olympics forcing Beijing to clean up its act. Nightlife here was great-- but it felt like I could do so much in this city. Tienanmen Square was eerie. The Olympic village was awesome, however we didn't see the water cube (it was closed) only the bird's next. Great Wall was, well great, and we went on part of the original wall (which didn't have vendors) and took a toboggan ride down to the village. Something about the Great Wall that I didn't know-- it was actually built on mountains. Also, our hotel was running a sex club (not exactly, I may devote an entire post to it later). Anyways, it was very awkward because people heard "noises" in the rooms next door and people were almost denied access to the workout facility because of this den of inequity.
Shanghai- Easily the most modern city on the trip, with a new subway line coming into being every year, Shanghai is a metropolis. It was built mostly around manufacturing, with some really interesting stores. I found my first Uniqulo (kind of like an H&M for Asian people) and a Niketown. There were two other places of note. First was the dumpling restaurant where Yao Ming gets his dumplings- they were super cheap (everything in China is super cheap, but you get what you pay for-- usually) and delicious. The other thing was that two students on the trip in a matter of three days were robbed (with knives) directly outside the hotel. While it didn't have anything to do with the tour we were on, it is a word of advice to those interested in Shangahi-- be safe!
Other than that- the trip to China was interesting (enough to post 3 more posts about it). I'll catch you up on my adventures in Hong Kong soon. Also, I've created a picsa account (it is partnered with blogger) so you can see all of my incredible photos. By incredible, I mainly mean non-existent, because my camera would die whenever something cool was about to happen. With that, I'm going to buy a new camera tomorrow.
Until next time,
-Nick
First off, the basics of the trip.
We went to three cities in China-- Xian, Beijing, and Shangahi.
Xian- I thought this city was crap. Located in the west (where only 280 million people live) the city reminded me of an old steel town where there wasn't much to marvel at (All I want to do on trips is marvel at stuff-- that's it). While boasting a population of six million, it seemed like everything was spread out, with no downtown district and a scattering of buildings over 20 stories. This reminded me most of an old Soviet Union city that never modernized. This makes sense because we were visiting Xian (pronounced she-an) to look at the history of China. The Terra Cotta Soldiers were really cool. Other than that, however, I saw no redeeming characteristics of Xian, except the free internet in the room, where I couldn't access any social networking website or my blog. The first morning, I looked up the weather and saw that the forecast was "smoke." By the end of my stay in Xian, I was having trouble dealing with all of the pollution. As I mentioned before, Xian will be covered in disturbing detail once I get back my journals.
Beijing- This was an awesome city. We were here for twice the time as we were in Xian, we had HBO, and the city felt cleaner- supposedly that was because of the Olympics forcing Beijing to clean up its act. Nightlife here was great-- but it felt like I could do so much in this city. Tienanmen Square was eerie. The Olympic village was awesome, however we didn't see the water cube (it was closed) only the bird's next. Great Wall was, well great, and we went on part of the original wall (which didn't have vendors) and took a toboggan ride down to the village. Something about the Great Wall that I didn't know-- it was actually built on mountains. Also, our hotel was running a sex club (not exactly, I may devote an entire post to it later). Anyways, it was very awkward because people heard "noises" in the rooms next door and people were almost denied access to the workout facility because of this den of inequity.
Shanghai- Easily the most modern city on the trip, with a new subway line coming into being every year, Shanghai is a metropolis. It was built mostly around manufacturing, with some really interesting stores. I found my first Uniqulo (kind of like an H&M for Asian people) and a Niketown. There were two other places of note. First was the dumpling restaurant where Yao Ming gets his dumplings- they were super cheap (everything in China is super cheap, but you get what you pay for-- usually) and delicious. The other thing was that two students on the trip in a matter of three days were robbed (with knives) directly outside the hotel. While it didn't have anything to do with the tour we were on, it is a word of advice to those interested in Shangahi-- be safe!
Other than that- the trip to China was interesting (enough to post 3 more posts about it). I'll catch you up on my adventures in Hong Kong soon. Also, I've created a picsa account (it is partnered with blogger) so you can see all of my incredible photos. By incredible, I mainly mean non-existent, because my camera would die whenever something cool was about to happen. With that, I'm going to buy a new camera tomorrow.
Until next time,
-Nick
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