Hong Kong

9/1 - 9/15
And I thought LA smog was bad...Hong Kong wins that test hands down. Bus fumes, taxi fumes, mo-ped fumes....I can barely breathe here.

Aside from the air quality, Hong Kong has been good. It's somewhat like New York...or any big city. It's interesting how international Hong Kong is. So many Chinese people from different countries with different accents, i.e. UK, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand. But when they speak Chinese...there's no accent...quite shocking to me.

At times I pretend I don't speak Chinese here. It's easier. Speaking mandarin causes confusion and questions. I think they all prefer that I speak English since my Mandarin is not the best and neither are theirs. I feel like such a fake though. Anyway, everything is pretty convenient here. There are buses that go to all areas, the MTR (train system) is clean, fast, and air conditioned, there's a Wellcome, Mannings, 7-11 on every corner, and some type of eatery every other store.

The past 2 weeks consisted of finding a travel agent to get me to Tibet and Nepal and getting my China Visa passport. Thanks to my brother, I did only minimal research on travels to Tibet and wasted much time gathering information here. Other than that I joined a yoga studio (more stories to come) and went sightseeing to the Peak, the big Buddha, Mongkok, Gui Lin Nunnery, a Monestary, and Causeway Bay. Oh and a lot of partying with my brother.

The clubbing scene is interesting...in order to get into these clubs you need to be a "member"...meaning you basically pay for a monthly membership to walk right in but you have to buy like a bazillion bottles for the table. It gets quite expensive as you can imagine. It's also a huge pick up joint....like most bars and clubs in the world...but I feel like it's more so here. The attitude is much like "don't even bother talking to me unless you're going to go home with me". Well, with Big Bro Ed watching over me and being over-protective, I might as well put a bag over my head and dance with myself in the corner. Eh, he's lightened up some, seeing that I can hold my own. He obviously doesn't know how I operate in these environments.

I was also able to hang out with a friend that moved out here but she had to leave early to NY :(. Oh and another friend just so happened to be in HK last week. More partying and eating and shopping. Seems like outside of banking, the city surrounds itself with food...or maybe that's my impression at least. I was informed of all the great food and the fantabulous chefs that come out of Hong Kong and became more aware of it.

So this will be my homebase for the next few months. I'm happy that Hong Kong is more Westernized and I don't feel THAT out of place...like if I were to stay in the remote areas of China. I'll be calling Hong Kong my home for now.