OK. I am altering my trip rather significantly. I think. I am scrapping Europe, taking the time (4 months) and money (about half my budget) I was going to spend there and spend it elsewhere.
Four months of money in Europe is enough for 6-24 months elsewhere in the world. Yes, Europe is that expensive. This change I am not sure I am doing yet, but it is very likely: I will extend my trip from 15 months to 22, spending more time in fewer places and getting to know the culture more and take my time when moving about. With this (potential) change comes several others:
1. It no longer makes sense for me to get a round-the-world (RTW) ticket since they are only valid for a year. In addition, in the future, I will only be taking one big flight (Australia/New Zealand to South America). So, even from a cost perspective it does not make sense.
2. This relates to number 1 above. My original order of regions no longer makes sense. Starting from the "intermission" in Mexico with family from early- to mid-October, I was planning on the following basic path: Japan-South Korea-China-South East Asia-Australia-New Zealand (RTW ticket start)-South America-Europe-India-New Zealand (RTW ticket end)-Central American-Chicago. Now, assuming I do not go to Europe, the RTW ticket no longer makes sense, as discussed above, and that path does not either. New plan, starting from where I am now (Hong Kong): China-South East Asia-India-South East Asia-Australia-South America-Central America-Chicago. You are probably thinking, "How can 'South East Asia-India-South East Asia' make sense?" Well, it does, thanks to Air Asia. Flights between SE Asia and India are cheap. This path allows me to catch India when the weather does not make everything miserable.
3. Given the 7 month extension of the trip, fewer countries visited, and the over-all slowed pace of travel, I will probably pick a handful of cities and spend about a month in each. I will probably try to find a meaningless job in each of these cities. For example, I have heard that hostels in a place in China I am going are always looking for people to help out with English. Perfect. Something like that. Or, I may spend the month learning a practically useless skill like surfing when I am in Brazil. I do not know where I will stay and the decision will most likely be made by if I can find a job or if there is something like surfing that can keep me entertained in a single place for that long of a time.
If everything goes as described above, I would return to Chicago in May 2011.
On a nearly completely unrelated note, I return to China tomorrow. This means that I will not be able to post anything on this blog or have access to Facebook. I have set up a way around the blog being blocked so that I can continue to post but I have heard that my back-door method of posting is blocked as well. If it is in fact blocked and I do spend a month in the small city as mentioned above, it may be some time until I post again. So, until then, when ever that may be.
07 December 2009
Hong Kong, Part II
Ferries between Macau and Hong Kong run about every 30 minutes so there is no need to reserve in advance or plan ahead even. Just show up and purchase the ticket. The trip takes about an hour and the views nothing to speak of. Most people just nod off, including me. I had slept for no more than four hours for about a week and it was catching up with me. I arrived in HK with the intention of catching another ferry to Lamma Island to return to my Couch Surfing host's place. However, as soon as I landed I realized that the ferry from Macau that I took did not return to Hong Kong Island but rather to Kowloon, the part of Hong Kong that is part of the mainland of Asia. I took this opportunity to do some of the things I wanted to do in Kowloon. First I went through Kowloon Park, which is nice but small and commercialized. Then I went to a bespoke tailor I heard about from my family friend that I stayed with in Osaka, Japan. Sam's Tailor is famous. They have made suits for kings, queens, presidents, the richest businessmen, etc. They also serve people like me and everybody in between. I only wanted one suit and the price started off at HK$3000, which is a ton of money. We eventually agreed on a price of HK$750, which is actually considerably less than I was willing to pay. However, I learned that it would take 10-14 days to make the suit, not 3 as I was expecting, so all the negotiating was for naught and I left the store frustrated and disappointed.
I made my way to the ferry to head to Lamma Island, where I promptly went to sleep because I had a full day ahead of me. The next day me and another couch surfer tried to go up Victoria's Peak. The trouble was not with actually climbing it but with finding where to go up. We failed and he had to leave to have lunch with a friend. I walked around and ended up on the Hong Kong tram. The HK tram is probably the cheapest way to get around Hong Kong Island other than foot, but it moves slowly. It offers a very interesting perspective of the city, however, it should be done by all visitors. You move from very wealthy, up-scale areas to poor, depressed neighborhoods as fast as you can on a slow-moving tram. The poorer areas have no tourists and thus no signs in English and even more authentic (read: disgusting) food than you find elsewhere. It was nice to see and experience but part of the reason tourists do not normally visits these areas is because there is not much there.
On my way back to Central to catch a ferry to Lamma I stopped to get some dinner. In doing so, I missed the 8:30 ferry and had to wait an hour until the next one departed. I decided not to wander to far to ensure I make the 9:30 ferry so I just went across the street to the mall, IFC. Inside I went into what is obviously and over-priced, up-scale grocery just to walk around and laugh at the prices. I was just wandering around when I saw my holy grail: real pretzels. I did not even look at the price because I knew I was buying them no matter what. I opened them before I got the register and got several funny looks as I was inhaling the simple snack food.
For those that do not know, I love pretzels. I once saw a Discovery Channel show about pretzels that said the average person from Pennsylvania, the state that consumes more pretzels per-capita than any other in America, eats about 2 pounds a pretzels a year. I do that in a month, often a week, with regularity. In high school, about 50% of my diet was pretzels. I eat a lot of pretzels, but outside of America and Germany, pretzels are hard to find. So, not buying them was just not a consideration and devouring them was inevitable.
On the ferry I (reluctantly) offered the pretzels to the woman, Peta (pronounced PETE) that lent me her newspaper the previous night. Soon I was offering them to all the English-speaking people in the back of the ferry plus some little Chinese kid that would not stop starring at me (he did not accept.) Lamma Island is known as an expatriate haven. This, combined with the fact that on these ferry trips, as with any common but not massive transport system (as in, the Metra in Chicago but not the CTA), you get to know the people you travel with. I just kind of happens because you are with the same people every day, often twice a day, for 25 minutes each trip and you just sort of end up talking to each other. So, on this particular trip, I was deeply ingrained in the expat-Lamma-sub-culture.
Once the ferry landed the Peta insisted she buy me a beer in exchange for the pretzels. I accepted and was soon even deeper in the expat-Lamma-sub-culture. The bar was nothing special. I was the youngest person there by about 10 years. The drinks were absurdly over-priced and watered-down. Some people were interesting others never stopped talking about themselves and were constantly looking for yo to reinforce their egos. The night went on, people were fascinated about the couch surfing. Nothing exciting.
The following day I did not leave Lamma and barely left my host's apartment. I just took care of administrative things like laundry, planning, and writing blog posts that are way too long.
The next day I was determined to finally climb Victoria's Peak. Before doing so I finally went of the Star Ferry, which is the "original" way to travel between the mainland of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Cool, but nothing out of the ordinary. From there I went to the Bird Market and Flower Market. Nothing interesting, really. Seeing all of both takes about 20 minutes. After an uneventful and disappointing start of the day I headed to the Peak with full of excitement. Of course, I was disappointed. Though not a waste of time, the Peak is not what I was expecting. The view of the city at night from the mountain and from the Peak Tram (I took it down because I could not see the path) are stunning but that is pretty much it. I may have done something wrong because getting to the top is a challenge (not physically, just finding it is complicated).
I returned to Lamma and prepared to leave HK the next day and return to China.
I made my way to the ferry to head to Lamma Island, where I promptly went to sleep because I had a full day ahead of me. The next day me and another couch surfer tried to go up Victoria's Peak. The trouble was not with actually climbing it but with finding where to go up. We failed and he had to leave to have lunch with a friend. I walked around and ended up on the Hong Kong tram. The HK tram is probably the cheapest way to get around Hong Kong Island other than foot, but it moves slowly. It offers a very interesting perspective of the city, however, it should be done by all visitors. You move from very wealthy, up-scale areas to poor, depressed neighborhoods as fast as you can on a slow-moving tram. The poorer areas have no tourists and thus no signs in English and even more authentic (read: disgusting) food than you find elsewhere. It was nice to see and experience but part of the reason tourists do not normally visits these areas is because there is not much there.
On my way back to Central to catch a ferry to Lamma I stopped to get some dinner. In doing so, I missed the 8:30 ferry and had to wait an hour until the next one departed. I decided not to wander to far to ensure I make the 9:30 ferry so I just went across the street to the mall, IFC. Inside I went into what is obviously and over-priced, up-scale grocery just to walk around and laugh at the prices. I was just wandering around when I saw my holy grail: real pretzels. I did not even look at the price because I knew I was buying them no matter what. I opened them before I got the register and got several funny looks as I was inhaling the simple snack food.
For those that do not know, I love pretzels. I once saw a Discovery Channel show about pretzels that said the average person from Pennsylvania, the state that consumes more pretzels per-capita than any other in America, eats about 2 pounds a pretzels a year. I do that in a month, often a week, with regularity. In high school, about 50% of my diet was pretzels. I eat a lot of pretzels, but outside of America and Germany, pretzels are hard to find. So, not buying them was just not a consideration and devouring them was inevitable.
On the ferry I (reluctantly) offered the pretzels to the woman, Peta (pronounced PETE) that lent me her newspaper the previous night. Soon I was offering them to all the English-speaking people in the back of the ferry plus some little Chinese kid that would not stop starring at me (he did not accept.) Lamma Island is known as an expatriate haven. This, combined with the fact that on these ferry trips, as with any common but not massive transport system (as in, the Metra in Chicago but not the CTA), you get to know the people you travel with. I just kind of happens because you are with the same people every day, often twice a day, for 25 minutes each trip and you just sort of end up talking to each other. So, on this particular trip, I was deeply ingrained in the expat-Lamma-sub-culture.
Once the ferry landed the Peta insisted she buy me a beer in exchange for the pretzels. I accepted and was soon even deeper in the expat-Lamma-sub-culture. The bar was nothing special. I was the youngest person there by about 10 years. The drinks were absurdly over-priced and watered-down. Some people were interesting others never stopped talking about themselves and were constantly looking for yo to reinforce their egos. The night went on, people were fascinated about the couch surfing. Nothing exciting.
The following day I did not leave Lamma and barely left my host's apartment. I just took care of administrative things like laundry, planning, and writing blog posts that are way too long.
The next day I was determined to finally climb Victoria's Peak. Before doing so I finally went of the Star Ferry, which is the "original" way to travel between the mainland of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Cool, but nothing out of the ordinary. From there I went to the Bird Market and Flower Market. Nothing interesting, really. Seeing all of both takes about 20 minutes. After an uneventful and disappointing start of the day I headed to the Peak with full of excitement. Of course, I was disappointed. Though not a waste of time, the Peak is not what I was expecting. The view of the city at night from the mountain and from the Peak Tram (I took it down because I could not see the path) are stunning but that is pretty much it. I may have done something wrong because getting to the top is a challenge (not physically, just finding it is complicated).
I returned to Lamma and prepared to leave HK the next day and return to China.
Macau
There really is not much in Macau. There are casinos and some good food and a Formula 1 track. I think that is it. I had some good food, though I did frequent McDonald's more than I would like to admit. I ran the Formula 1 track (which is just a series of streets) best I could. And, of course, I went to the casinos.
I was meeting a guy that I might in Suzhou, China, Sanjee, who was born in Sri Lanka, grew up in Africa and New Zealand, and lives in Australia (seriously, these are the kinds of people I meet all the time). We actually played cards in Suzhou together and kept in touch. He arrived in Macau a couple of days before I did, with a net profit of HK$55 (about US$7).
Despite his warnings I decided to stay at the same hostel he was staying. In fact, his bleek descriptions of the San Va only made me more interested in staying there. The walls are basically cardboard and do not extend to the ceiling so you and easily hear eveything happening in the rooms next to you and have a good idea of what is happening throughout the hostel. If I where a real estate agent and I commissioned to sell the San Va I would use words like "charm" and "unique" and "charasmatic" in the property description.
Warning: If you are not into gambling and or are not interested in every detail of my trip, you should consider not reading the rest of this post because it will probably get pretty dull. A short summary if you are just curious about profits and losses: I lost track exactly, but I made about US$1000 net profit with one losing day. I more than exceeded my goal of making my Macau trip pay for itself (transportation, hostel, food, etc).
I arrived in the hostel, put my bags down, and immediately head to the Grand Lisboa Casino, where Sanjee told me he would be. I found it without a problem as it is just a ten minute walk down the street from the hostel and has plenty of flashing lights. I wandered around the casino a bit before finding the poker room.
A couple quick notes before I continue: casinos in Macau do NOT accept the local currency in Macau, the Pataca (MOP), which is fixed at a 1:1 ratio to the HKD (MOP1 is always exactly equal in value to HKD1). Also, the HKD is fixed at a 7.80 ratio to the USD (USD1 is always equal to HKD7.80, though the currency is allowed to fluctuate a little bit, about 7.70-7.90). Another note: all this currency conversion stuff is information I have to deal with on a constant basis. Literally all the time. USD are accepted all over the world for the most part but if you try to use them you get a terrible rate. You are constantly converting currencies in your head and are forced to round and use short-cuts (for example, blinds: HKD10/20 to USD1.5/3. It is not exact, but it is close enough for small amounts of money). Also, all dollar amounts stated for the rest of the post are in Hong Kong Dollars, unless otherwise stated. I am not going to indicate this every time or convert it for you.
I say hello to Sanjee, ask how he is doing (down a little bit), etc. The minimum stakes where 10/20, which is still the biggest stakes I have played in a casino (I have played US$1/2 in Vegas before), with a buy-in of 1000-3000. I get 2000 and sit down. Immediately I am getting above average cards and, more importantly, playing good poker. I doublt up fairly quickly and can tell I am going to make some money in the session. By the time I am finished with the session I have about 6500 in front of me and Sanjee and I go get some 30% off sushi. I use some of my profits to buy a much needed external hard drive.
We walk around for a bit, talk poker, where we have traveled since Suzhou, and all that. We return to the hostel because he wants to call it a night because he is losing and I want to put the hard drive in my room before I go back to the casino to gamble more.
I end of gambling all night. This time I lose 2000 almost right away and decide to call it a night because of the loss and I suddenly felt very tired. Upon my return to the hostel, I hear "board games being played" in the room next to me and have trouble falling asleep.
The next day Sanjee and I get to the casino in the early afternoon and start our day. He continues losing money slowly and I continue making money. He leaves at some point to get some food but I am on a rush so I do not want to leave the table. I end up getting up from the table to get some dinner around 9:30PM (in an effort to catch the 30% off sushi again, which starts at 9:30). I eat and Sanjee joins me for another break from his current losing session. We walk around again after and go back to the casino. I win more, he loses more. Sanjee was planning on leaving the casino at 5AM to catch the first free shuttle bus to the ferry pier but decided instead to leave at 1AM to catch the last shuttle because of his declining funds. (Sanjee, if you are reading this, sorry, man. I am not trying to rag on you or anything.) We say bye and will try to meet up when I am in Australia/New Zealand. I continue playing and make more money. I return to the hostel and go to sleep (at this point it was early enough in the new day that there were no "board games being played.")
The following day is my last day. I was either going to leave with Sanjee if I was losing or leave the next day if I was winning. I was winning, so I had the extra day to win more. This logic failed me completely. This final day was the only day I incurred loses.
I decided to play in my first ever casino tournament. It was a 300 buy-in starting at 2:10 in the afternoon. I got to the casino around 1 to play a little in an effort to warm up. I lost 2000 within 20 minutes. I took a breather before the tournament began. The tourney was small, only about 20 entrants and a first-place prize around 2700. Given the previous two days, I would be losing money in opportunity costs if I win the tourney becauce I could win more in that time playing in the cash games. I realized this about two hands into the tournament and immediately started trying to lose. Of course, this caused me to win. After about a dozen hands I realized I was the chip leader at the table and decide that even though I could potentially make more in the cash games I would try to win the tournament. Let me say now that I was playing some stellar poker in this tournament. I was not geting the cards I was getting the previous two days, but I was making great decisions. One hand comes to mind: I have J6 off, I hit none of the flop, get bet into, all-in. Normally this is an easy fold. However, people in Macau raise insanely pre-flop (normal pre-flop raise is 6-20x, not 3.5-5x), which creates great pot-odds later in the hand. So, the raise into me creates pot odds of about 8:1. I have an over card and two draws. I call, turn the 6 and river the J for a win. I apologize and my opponent acknowleges he did not have enough to get me out of the hand.
By the end of it, I am heads-up with a Chinese guy. I have a 2:1 chip advantage, all the momentum, and, truthfully, am a better play than my adversary. There is a bunch of raise-folding at first with few hands even getting to the flop. Eventually there is a meaningful hand. I have AQ and top pair on the flop. We get all-in. He has a pair of 5s. I am way ahead, but he rivers his 3 and all the sudden I go from up 2:1 to down 1:2. The next hand I have J10, hit top-pair (J) again, go all-in, and am called by AJ. I lose the tourney and first-place. In the end, I am pleased with my play, though I really do with I had won. Second place is not bad for my first casino tournament but I wanted the win.
Especially when you consider that I took my 1300 in tournament winnings (1000 profit) and immediately lost it playing in the cash game. After this, I went for a walk. I go back to the casino, bought in again for 2000 and was doing well. I decided that I would play until I had 6000 in front of me or 6AM or 0 in front of me, which ever came first. I was doing pretty well considering how the rest of the day had treated me and was up to about 5000 when my pocket kings got cracked around 4:30AM. I went to me hostel and slept until 10AM, woke up, ran the Formula 1 track, returned to the hostel, showered, and left Macau to go back to Hong Kong.
I was meeting a guy that I might in Suzhou, China, Sanjee, who was born in Sri Lanka, grew up in Africa and New Zealand, and lives in Australia (seriously, these are the kinds of people I meet all the time). We actually played cards in Suzhou together and kept in touch. He arrived in Macau a couple of days before I did, with a net profit of HK$55 (about US$7).
Despite his warnings I decided to stay at the same hostel he was staying. In fact, his bleek descriptions of the San Va only made me more interested in staying there. The walls are basically cardboard and do not extend to the ceiling so you and easily hear eveything happening in the rooms next to you and have a good idea of what is happening throughout the hostel. If I where a real estate agent and I commissioned to sell the San Va I would use words like "charm" and "unique" and "charasmatic" in the property description.
Warning: If you are not into gambling and or are not interested in every detail of my trip, you should consider not reading the rest of this post because it will probably get pretty dull. A short summary if you are just curious about profits and losses: I lost track exactly, but I made about US$1000 net profit with one losing day. I more than exceeded my goal of making my Macau trip pay for itself (transportation, hostel, food, etc).
I arrived in the hostel, put my bags down, and immediately head to the Grand Lisboa Casino, where Sanjee told me he would be. I found it without a problem as it is just a ten minute walk down the street from the hostel and has plenty of flashing lights. I wandered around the casino a bit before finding the poker room.
A couple quick notes before I continue: casinos in Macau do NOT accept the local currency in Macau, the Pataca (MOP), which is fixed at a 1:1 ratio to the HKD (MOP1 is always exactly equal in value to HKD1). Also, the HKD is fixed at a 7.80 ratio to the USD (USD1 is always equal to HKD7.80, though the currency is allowed to fluctuate a little bit, about 7.70-7.90). Another note: all this currency conversion stuff is information I have to deal with on a constant basis. Literally all the time. USD are accepted all over the world for the most part but if you try to use them you get a terrible rate. You are constantly converting currencies in your head and are forced to round and use short-cuts (for example, blinds: HKD10/20 to USD1.5/3. It is not exact, but it is close enough for small amounts of money). Also, all dollar amounts stated for the rest of the post are in Hong Kong Dollars, unless otherwise stated. I am not going to indicate this every time or convert it for you.
I say hello to Sanjee, ask how he is doing (down a little bit), etc. The minimum stakes where 10/20, which is still the biggest stakes I have played in a casino (I have played US$1/2 in Vegas before), with a buy-in of 1000-3000. I get 2000 and sit down. Immediately I am getting above average cards and, more importantly, playing good poker. I doublt up fairly quickly and can tell I am going to make some money in the session. By the time I am finished with the session I have about 6500 in front of me and Sanjee and I go get some 30% off sushi. I use some of my profits to buy a much needed external hard drive.
We walk around for a bit, talk poker, where we have traveled since Suzhou, and all that. We return to the hostel because he wants to call it a night because he is losing and I want to put the hard drive in my room before I go back to the casino to gamble more.
I end of gambling all night. This time I lose 2000 almost right away and decide to call it a night because of the loss and I suddenly felt very tired. Upon my return to the hostel, I hear "board games being played" in the room next to me and have trouble falling asleep.
The next day Sanjee and I get to the casino in the early afternoon and start our day. He continues losing money slowly and I continue making money. He leaves at some point to get some food but I am on a rush so I do not want to leave the table. I end up getting up from the table to get some dinner around 9:30PM (in an effort to catch the 30% off sushi again, which starts at 9:30). I eat and Sanjee joins me for another break from his current losing session. We walk around again after and go back to the casino. I win more, he loses more. Sanjee was planning on leaving the casino at 5AM to catch the first free shuttle bus to the ferry pier but decided instead to leave at 1AM to catch the last shuttle because of his declining funds. (Sanjee, if you are reading this, sorry, man. I am not trying to rag on you or anything.) We say bye and will try to meet up when I am in Australia/New Zealand. I continue playing and make more money. I return to the hostel and go to sleep (at this point it was early enough in the new day that there were no "board games being played.")
The following day is my last day. I was either going to leave with Sanjee if I was losing or leave the next day if I was winning. I was winning, so I had the extra day to win more. This logic failed me completely. This final day was the only day I incurred loses.
I decided to play in my first ever casino tournament. It was a 300 buy-in starting at 2:10 in the afternoon. I got to the casino around 1 to play a little in an effort to warm up. I lost 2000 within 20 minutes. I took a breather before the tournament began. The tourney was small, only about 20 entrants and a first-place prize around 2700. Given the previous two days, I would be losing money in opportunity costs if I win the tourney becauce I could win more in that time playing in the cash games. I realized this about two hands into the tournament and immediately started trying to lose. Of course, this caused me to win. After about a dozen hands I realized I was the chip leader at the table and decide that even though I could potentially make more in the cash games I would try to win the tournament. Let me say now that I was playing some stellar poker in this tournament. I was not geting the cards I was getting the previous two days, but I was making great decisions. One hand comes to mind: I have J6 off, I hit none of the flop, get bet into, all-in. Normally this is an easy fold. However, people in Macau raise insanely pre-flop (normal pre-flop raise is 6-20x, not 3.5-5x), which creates great pot-odds later in the hand. So, the raise into me creates pot odds of about 8:1. I have an over card and two draws. I call, turn the 6 and river the J for a win. I apologize and my opponent acknowleges he did not have enough to get me out of the hand.
By the end of it, I am heads-up with a Chinese guy. I have a 2:1 chip advantage, all the momentum, and, truthfully, am a better play than my adversary. There is a bunch of raise-folding at first with few hands even getting to the flop. Eventually there is a meaningful hand. I have AQ and top pair on the flop. We get all-in. He has a pair of 5s. I am way ahead, but he rivers his 3 and all the sudden I go from up 2:1 to down 1:2. The next hand I have J10, hit top-pair (J) again, go all-in, and am called by AJ. I lose the tourney and first-place. In the end, I am pleased with my play, though I really do with I had won. Second place is not bad for my first casino tournament but I wanted the win.
Especially when you consider that I took my 1300 in tournament winnings (1000 profit) and immediately lost it playing in the cash game. After this, I went for a walk. I go back to the casino, bought in again for 2000 and was doing well. I decided that I would play until I had 6000 in front of me or 6AM or 0 in front of me, which ever came first. I was doing pretty well considering how the rest of the day had treated me and was up to about 5000 when my pocket kings got cracked around 4:30AM. I went to me hostel and slept until 10AM, woke up, ran the Formula 1 track, returned to the hostel, showered, and left Macau to go back to Hong Kong.
Taiwan
Quickly: Taiwan is top three on the list of countries I have been to so far on this trip (Israel and South Africa fill out the rest), and, I am unsure of where it goes in the top three. I think South Africa is "better" for people 18- to 30-years-old and the uber-wealthy that can spend weeks upon weeks on safari, but outside of those two exceptions, I think Taiwan has it beat, which would place it in the number one spot (I think), but I am not sure I am ready to do that for reasons discussed below.
I admit I am skewed because I did not spend enough time there to get bored, but I would say that is true for basically everywhere I have been so far. I only had five nights in Taiwan, I spent four in Taipei and one in Hualien. Taipei is a good city, but not as cool as Hong Kong, but still very cool.
As I write this I find myself thinking, "Why *did* I enjoy Taiwan so much?" because what I write does not make it sound so great. Most of the problem is that I am simply not articulat enough but at least part of it is just how the country feels; its vibe or atmosphere or feeling or gut or whatever word you want to use. I do not know if this is common, but when I go somewhere I get a feeling for it right away. Sometimes that initial feeling is wrong, but usually it is dead on (obviously this is partially a self-fulfilling prophecy, I know). For example, Hong Kong. I liked Hong Kong as soon as I got out of the airport but, after having spend some time there, I still like it but for reasons that have nothing to do with what I saw outside of the airport. I just had some feeling inside that told me I liked it there. I guess what I am saying is that this post will be cut off because I cannot articulate why I liked it and I do not want to write a list of things I did.
I admit I am skewed because I did not spend enough time there to get bored, but I would say that is true for basically everywhere I have been so far. I only had five nights in Taiwan, I spent four in Taipei and one in Hualien. Taipei is a good city, but not as cool as Hong Kong, but still very cool.
As I write this I find myself thinking, "Why *did* I enjoy Taiwan so much?" because what I write does not make it sound so great. Most of the problem is that I am simply not articulat enough but at least part of it is just how the country feels; its vibe or atmosphere or feeling or gut or whatever word you want to use. I do not know if this is common, but when I go somewhere I get a feeling for it right away. Sometimes that initial feeling is wrong, but usually it is dead on (obviously this is partially a self-fulfilling prophecy, I know). For example, Hong Kong. I liked Hong Kong as soon as I got out of the airport but, after having spend some time there, I still like it but for reasons that have nothing to do with what I saw outside of the airport. I just had some feeling inside that told me I liked it there. I guess what I am saying is that this post will be cut off because I cannot articulate why I liked it and I do not want to write a list of things I did.
Hong Kong, Part I
In short, Hong Kong is awesome. This might be my favorite city I have been to so far. I, and I think most Americans, if not people in general, think Hong Kong is all buildings and metropolis and steel and concrete. It certainly is those things, but outside of that small part of HK, there is loads of nature, hiking, beaches, etc. The city part of the city is probably the best example of pure capitalism in the world, but when you step out of those areas, it is complete different. It is kind of like "the other side of the tracks," expect without the negative connotation of a bad neighborhood. Just two very dissimilar places making up one place.
After arriving, I took a couple of buses to Central, which is the main hub of HK and what most people think of when they think of the city. From there I took a ferry departing from Central Pier 4 to Lamma Island, where my host, Adrian, on Couch Surfing (more on this later) lives. The ferry is about 25 minutes and provides for some nice views. Lamma Island is one of the bigger of the 270 islands that are included in Hong Kong and has gained some notoriety as a expatriate area (though there are tons of expats all over HK). The island is also known because cars are not allowed on it. There are still plenty of scooters and there are a few very narrow vehicles that are used to transport product over the island, but nothing is wider than about three feet. When I arrived my host was not home but hid a key for me so I let my self in, put my stuff down and went exploring Lammma Island. I should mention that I do not know why it is called Lamma Island. I assume, as you probably have already, that at some point lammas were used to transport product on the island. But, I completely made that up and have no idea if there is even a speck of truth to it.
Lamma Island has one main "road" (path is really a more accurate word, but it is called a road) that is only about a quarter mile long. After that there are some area that have a decent number of people but most people live close to this path and it is also where most of the shops are located. After this main path, there are other paths that are intended for walking around the island and do not have residences or shops along them. One of these paths is called "Family Path," which makes me chuckle. I walked around for a few hours until I could not see any more (very sparse lighting along all paths except for the main one) at which point I returned to where my host's apartment. After some time there I got bored and went for another walk.
Lamma Island is stunning. Most people like the view of the harbour, but it is nothing special to me. In fact, I think all the machinery gets in the way of a lot of my pictures. Other views of the water and considerably nicer and the interior of the island is loaded with lesser taken paths (compared to "Family Path," for example) and you can walk for a long time before seeing or hearing anybody else.
My host, Adrian, was hosting two others the day I arrived. One, Austin, who is also American, had been there for more than a week, but would not be there that first night because he went to some party. The other, Bastain, from Germany, would be my travel companion for the next couple of days. After some brief introductions, Adrian, Bastain, and myself promptly went to bed. The following day, Sunday, Adrian and I explored Lamma Island, this time in the daylight and I took care of several small errands I needed to do. A very relaxed but good day. Bastain and I hung out a bit and made plans for the next day.
On Monday, Adrian went to work and Bastain and I went to Hong Kong Island (where Central and several other areas of HK are located and where about 65% of the tourist sites are located). We spent the first part of the day trying to take what is supposedly the longest escalator in the world. We found one end of it, but it was moving toward us so we ascended countless steps (I lost count somewhere around 134) to the other end. Upon our arrival we noticed that it was, again, moving toward us. Needless to say, we were confused. We decided to go to the nearby Hong Kong Botanical Gardens (just OK, nothing too exciting) hoping that in the meantime it would switch directions again. After the Gardens, we returned to the escalator to discover that, much to our disappointment, it was still moving toward us. That is when we noticed the schedule of when it switches directions. We decided to descend the stairs and catch it from the beginning on the side that we were originally on. About a third of the way down we decided that the claim of the longest escalator in the world was invalid and fraudulent because the escalator is not continuous - it is broken up into several sections thus making it, in my opinion, a series of escalators rather than a single, "world's longest" escalator. As a result of this decision, the idea of riding it its entire length was no longer appealing, so we just hoped of for a bit and then got some food.
We stopped by the Chinese consulate so Bastain could apply for a visa (he is taking the same 20-hour train ride, but in the opposite direction) and explored other areas of Hong Kong Island including Admirality and Casuseway Bay, all of which are cool in their own way. Victoria Garden in Causeway Bay is particularly nice.
Austin left that day but was replaced within hours by a Polish girl, Lucy, while Bastain and I were out. The three of us went to some little-known beach the following day and explored the Kowloon part of Hong Kong (on the mainland and developed just as Central is with lots of big buildings), which is cool as well. There are a few things that I did not do in Kowloon that I still want to do and will hopefully be able to write about them in my "Hong Kong, Part II" post.
The following day I took a flight to Taipei, Tawain for a short week.
After arriving, I took a couple of buses to Central, which is the main hub of HK and what most people think of when they think of the city. From there I took a ferry departing from Central Pier 4 to Lamma Island, where my host, Adrian, on Couch Surfing (more on this later) lives. The ferry is about 25 minutes and provides for some nice views. Lamma Island is one of the bigger of the 270 islands that are included in Hong Kong and has gained some notoriety as a expatriate area (though there are tons of expats all over HK). The island is also known because cars are not allowed on it. There are still plenty of scooters and there are a few very narrow vehicles that are used to transport product over the island, but nothing is wider than about three feet. When I arrived my host was not home but hid a key for me so I let my self in, put my stuff down and went exploring Lammma Island. I should mention that I do not know why it is called Lamma Island. I assume, as you probably have already, that at some point lammas were used to transport product on the island. But, I completely made that up and have no idea if there is even a speck of truth to it.
Lamma Island has one main "road" (path is really a more accurate word, but it is called a road) that is only about a quarter mile long. After that there are some area that have a decent number of people but most people live close to this path and it is also where most of the shops are located. After this main path, there are other paths that are intended for walking around the island and do not have residences or shops along them. One of these paths is called "Family Path," which makes me chuckle. I walked around for a few hours until I could not see any more (very sparse lighting along all paths except for the main one) at which point I returned to where my host's apartment. After some time there I got bored and went for another walk.
Lamma Island is stunning. Most people like the view of the harbour, but it is nothing special to me. In fact, I think all the machinery gets in the way of a lot of my pictures. Other views of the water and considerably nicer and the interior of the island is loaded with lesser taken paths (compared to "Family Path," for example) and you can walk for a long time before seeing or hearing anybody else.
My host, Adrian, was hosting two others the day I arrived. One, Austin, who is also American, had been there for more than a week, but would not be there that first night because he went to some party. The other, Bastain, from Germany, would be my travel companion for the next couple of days. After some brief introductions, Adrian, Bastain, and myself promptly went to bed. The following day, Sunday, Adrian and I explored Lamma Island, this time in the daylight and I took care of several small errands I needed to do. A very relaxed but good day. Bastain and I hung out a bit and made plans for the next day.
On Monday, Adrian went to work and Bastain and I went to Hong Kong Island (where Central and several other areas of HK are located and where about 65% of the tourist sites are located). We spent the first part of the day trying to take what is supposedly the longest escalator in the world. We found one end of it, but it was moving toward us so we ascended countless steps (I lost count somewhere around 134) to the other end. Upon our arrival we noticed that it was, again, moving toward us. Needless to say, we were confused. We decided to go to the nearby Hong Kong Botanical Gardens (just OK, nothing too exciting) hoping that in the meantime it would switch directions again. After the Gardens, we returned to the escalator to discover that, much to our disappointment, it was still moving toward us. That is when we noticed the schedule of when it switches directions. We decided to descend the stairs and catch it from the beginning on the side that we were originally on. About a third of the way down we decided that the claim of the longest escalator in the world was invalid and fraudulent because the escalator is not continuous - it is broken up into several sections thus making it, in my opinion, a series of escalators rather than a single, "world's longest" escalator. As a result of this decision, the idea of riding it its entire length was no longer appealing, so we just hoped of for a bit and then got some food.
We stopped by the Chinese consulate so Bastain could apply for a visa (he is taking the same 20-hour train ride, but in the opposite direction) and explored other areas of Hong Kong Island including Admirality and Casuseway Bay, all of which are cool in their own way. Victoria Garden in Causeway Bay is particularly nice.
Austin left that day but was replaced within hours by a Polish girl, Lucy, while Bastain and I were out. The three of us went to some little-known beach the following day and explored the Kowloon part of Hong Kong (on the mainland and developed just as Central is with lots of big buildings), which is cool as well. There are a few things that I did not do in Kowloon that I still want to do and will hopefully be able to write about them in my "Hong Kong, Part II" post.
The following day I took a flight to Taipei, Tawain for a short week.
20 Hour Train Ride to Hong Kong
This gets its own post not only because it was basically a day of my trip but because it is an experience.
Preparing for a 20 hour train ride is not as simple as you might guess. You have very limited access to at least your biggest bag because of how it is stored. You sleep, and live, really, in a very confined area with up to 5 strangers right in the same confined area, and hundreds of other strangers on the train. You do not know if food is provided, so you have to bring enough food for 20 hours. You do not know if the train is going to be cold or hot so you have to prepare for both. You need to keep your self entertained for 20 hours, less sleep, so you have a book or two, music, etc, ready to go. And, there is a pretty decent chance you will not speak to anybody for those 20 hours because the odds of somebody knowing English are not so high.
Well, I prepared just fine. I had a bit too much food, which is better than the alternative. I was entertained adaquetly. Temperature was reasonable. And, on top of all that, in my confined area where two English people and an elderly Chinese guy that for some reason spoke perfect English. It was a good trip and time went by pretty quickly.
Unlike nearly every other train I have been on in China, I was early to arrive for this one. I did not want to even risk missing it. And I am glad I was, especially when the two English people mentioned above told me that they were supposed to be on the train to Hong Kong that left two days ago but missed it.
That said, I am fine with not taking another 20 train ride any time too soon.
Preparing for a 20 hour train ride is not as simple as you might guess. You have very limited access to at least your biggest bag because of how it is stored. You sleep, and live, really, in a very confined area with up to 5 strangers right in the same confined area, and hundreds of other strangers on the train. You do not know if food is provided, so you have to bring enough food for 20 hours. You do not know if the train is going to be cold or hot so you have to prepare for both. You need to keep your self entertained for 20 hours, less sleep, so you have a book or two, music, etc, ready to go. And, there is a pretty decent chance you will not speak to anybody for those 20 hours because the odds of somebody knowing English are not so high.
Well, I prepared just fine. I had a bit too much food, which is better than the alternative. I was entertained adaquetly. Temperature was reasonable. And, on top of all that, in my confined area where two English people and an elderly Chinese guy that for some reason spoke perfect English. It was a good trip and time went by pretty quickly.
Unlike nearly every other train I have been on in China, I was early to arrive for this one. I did not want to even risk missing it. And I am glad I was, especially when the two English people mentioned above told me that they were supposed to be on the train to Hong Kong that left two days ago but missed it.
That said, I am fine with not taking another 20 train ride any time too soon.
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