Finally- Nick Writes About Hong Kong (instead of the US)

As promised, I will deliver on the post about Hong Kong- this time with photos

But first, I'm going to describe the amazing flight on Cathay Pacific:
- The food was pretty good, while not incredible, it was clearly the best airline food I had ever had
- The service was impeccable, I was never passed up and was treated very kindly the entire flight
- I was given travel socks(?) as well as toothbrush, along with the usual blanket and pillow
- Each seat was powered
- Alcohol was free
- The entertainment was top notch- I was expecting some new movies, but the system that Cathay Pacific used was like a Video On Demand, with movies like Inglorious Bastards, District 9, and Slumdog Millionaire. While it wasn't the fact that they had so many great movies, it was that you could pause the movies to relax/ sleep. They also had an extensive collection of CD's within the console including La Roux, The Killers, and the soundtrack to Spinal Tap.

Shortly after arriving, we were placed into a hotel (where we will stay for the next 3 or 4 nights) with a random person. I must have won the awesome lottery, because my roommate happens to have relatives here, I probably won't make anything of it, but if I need a good place to get a suit, I'll know where to go. Then, a few of us went out to take a walk around the neighborhood. The verdict on the neighborhood is yet to be decided, mainly because it is really busy (nice), but we were ripped off at the diner around the corner (not nice), but we have a lot of stores surrounding us (nice), but no bars (not nice). I'll figure out whether I like (or not) it in a couple of days. The key to the neighborhood is to watch your street- it feels like the Vegas Strip almost everywhere you look, mainly because EVERY STORE USES NEON SIGNS(I carefully picked this photo out to show that I'm halfway across the world).

Aside from the crazy partying (sleep) I have been partaking in, I have visited Victoria Peak, the highest point in Hong Kong with a gorgeous view of the Hong Kong skyline, City University of Hong Kong (all one complex- still a ton of students), and my neighborhood of Yao Ma Tei- and surrounding neighborhoods of Mong Kok, and Prince Edward. (Oh and a jumbo floating restaurant- kinda touristy but cool)





The cuisine here is pretty normal, kind of like any Chinese restaurant, just with a lot more choices, better food (usually), and the main utensil is chopsticks (I've gotten better with them). Oh yeah, there are also a lot of these restaurants. Its not all Chinese/Asian/Hong Kong food though, I've seen some fast food as well, Pizza Hut is really fancy here. I'll eventually get around to eating there, but for now, I'm trying to take everything in, including by tastes.

So tomorrow, I leave for China- I'll be going to Xian, Beijing, and Shanghai. I don't know whether or not I'll have internet service, or the ability to post, while over there. I'll be gone for two weeks, so any post that I make (there will be posts-- I'm required by my class to write at least 12 pages- at least four every 4-5 days) will be retroactive to the date that I wrote it in. Hopefully I can tag some photos with the posts, but no promises. If I'm too lazy, I might just create a flckr account and post them all there for you to gawk at.

Now, I'm off into the deep abyss of mainland China, hopefully I'll meet you on the other side singing its praises. Until then, enjoy The 25th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration as well as National Dress Your Pet Day. I'll let you decide which one is more important to celebrate.

Until next time,
-Nick

New York- The Pit Stop on My Trip

Today (the first day away from St. Louis) I received a phone call at 7:30 am from the shuttle service I had reserved for Sunday. After calling super shuttle and setting the record straight, I got another phone call, this time from the driver. He informed me that I hadn't canceled and that "I better show up." I explained the situation to him, but he was really pissed, exclaiming that he had been waiting for "1 or 2 hours." This upsets me for 2 reasons:

1) I was woken from a beauty slumber a half hour too early, in the midst of a great REM cycle

2) The super (shuttle) driver was blatantly lying to me- nobody would ever wait 1-2 hours for anybody in New York- that may fly in St. Louis, but not here.

The main point I'm making is that I've found the first person who hates me on this trip, one who has my phone number. I just really hope that I don't have the same driver tomorrow, because I don't want to get crap from him about not showing up for a pick-up that I didn't schedule.

Then I finalized packing, which wasn't terrible, but my bags checked in at 44.5 lbs and 36 lbs, respectively. Leaving me only about 20 lbs to work with for the flight back to the states. (By the way, my airline, Cathay Pacific, only allows me to take 24 lbs of stuff because I'm flying with other peasants- keep that in mind when you all decide to visit me)

Upon arriving in New York City, I spent the afternoon watching TV (Blazing Saddles!) , Call of Duty, and going out to a couple of bars- not too exciting, but it works, especially because I have to get up for a flight in the morning. The most notable stories of the night include a pushy bartender who wanted us to drink more, for $7 beer. Of course neither of us accepted the offer- me because flying hungover isn't fun and my brother because he is lame/saving money. The big news of the night however came from the amazing ketchup I discovered at a bar called Pour House- sort of like a spicy tomato ketchup, which was delectable.

For all of you who were hoping to hear amazing stories of me eating Chinese with the ambassador or finding this amazing building, understand that my flight doesn't arrive there until the 11th, so I will not be able to actually blog about Hong Kong until then. This time, I can actually guarantee that I will be writing about Hong Kong the next time I post. So instead of talking about ketchup and bartenders, you'll hear some amazing tales! (unless its areally good ketchup/bartender)

To those who are choosing to follow (and actually read this blog post)I appreciate your loyalty in seeing that I am putting up useful posts. Consider this the "bad" post until I deem otherwise. I appreciate your comments, and I'm glad to see some followers (thanks, mom!).

Anyways, tomorrow is a big day, so time to sleep again! This time I'm dreaming of a safe trip to JFK, with Queen Latifah as my driver, but not dreaming of chasing down Brazilian bank robbers (what?).

The Inaugural entry

Hello everyone- friends, family, heart throbs.

Earlier this year, I was accepted into the Hong Kong program at Syracuse University. As I had always wanted to travel somewhere exotic, I chose to accept.

I've had several people ask for me to bring back souvenirs, postcards, and other stuff, but I dont think I'll be able to accommodate every request. That said, I've started this blog as a way to share my experience with anyone who wants to take part in this epic saga with me. I'm also doing this as a way to remember everything I've done.

I haven't really determined how this blog will be laid out, so bear with me through the first couple of posts (I know, they will probably suck) while I figure out the best way to put this together. Hopefully this will be some cross between entertaining and informative, but I'm not really sure.

The name of the blog, Saigon Headache, came from the idea that some people believed that I was going to Asia to find a women I'm not, by the way and that I was stricken with a case of Yellow Fever. While this is yet to be determined (I'm presuming I'll find out), that blog name was taken by this jerk who hasn't even written since October 28th. I must say though, he did beat me to the punch. Instead I turned to other names which gave the same effect. After a long time (10 minutes) on Urban Dictionary, my prime source for any slang, I discovered the term Saigon Headache. The first definition was spot on for me:

When a Caucasian person (usually male) likes a person of Asian descent (usually female); as used by MadTV alum Will Sasso.

While I don't like MAD tv as much as SNL, I was willing to go with it, espicially because of the second definition:

White men afflicted with this ailment tend to objectify all females of Asian descent. A funnier and more clever version of yellow fever

While this was a debatable definition (it only had 19 thumbs up vs. 13 thumbs down), I went with it.

Anyways, time to start packing, the trip begins soon. Expect another post within the next few days about my night in NYC, the flight on a Boeing 777, and how rough security is because of this. Who knows, maybe I'll post something about how awesome my packing skills are.
Until next time,

-Nick-