Since the next 2-3 days are hectic as hell, and I got not clue when people will actually read this by,
Merry Christmas boys and girls!! If it's early or late, well... its the thought that counts.
So yay!!
-Bernard Giuliano Cavalcanti Dos Santos Welsh
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
hey
hey. I'm not quite dead. it's been extraordinarily hectic. Been studying, trying to be as active as i can before leaving hk, doing finals, got sick(both from a cold/cough, and vomitting in an alley in LKF(ironically because cold medecine and vodka don't mix), spent a week in a computer lab working on various projects (i'd get kicked out because they were closing, and I feel asleep in the middle of a group meeting right after finishing a program). After wednesday, i'm done with exams and the last week is going to be absolutely fucking jam packed balls to the walls and such. I got 9 days to do a lot of living, and a day in HK feels longer than normal (in a good way).
I'm leaving here the 27th, not sure when I get back. There is some voodoo going on with the international date line, so I think I get back before I leave? Meh.
Does Blacksburg have any dance clubs?
I'm leaving here the 27th, not sure when I get back. There is some voodoo going on with the international date line, so I think I get back before I leave? Meh.
Does Blacksburg have any dance clubs?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Beijing
So, I am going to be in Beijing till Tuesday of next week, and then the Saturday after that I will be in Osaka and Kyoto. This shit is going to rock.
And for Halloween, I went to LKF. It was fucking packed like crazy. I was shocked and awed. I went as Wolverine and Cameron was Cyclops, but I think the costumes were a bit too subtle. Not many people recognized it. The hair product started wearing out and I think I was channeling more James Dean than Logan.
And for Halloween, I went to LKF. It was fucking packed like crazy. I was shocked and awed. I went as Wolverine and Cameron was Cyclops, but I think the costumes were a bit too subtle. Not many people recognized it. The hair product started wearing out and I think I was channeling more James Dean than Logan.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Guilin/Xian
In mid October, I was in Xian and Guilin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilin
I got there Friday night by flying out of Shenzen. I was there with James, Wouter, Dawn, Lindsay, Dawn's roommate Shun, and Julian. We got there too late to do anything so we checked into the hostel and went looking for food. There was an amazing resturant not too far away and we got a ton of different dishes. It was pretty damn good.
Oh yeah, and as a side note, I was sort of sick. I've developed a cough (which still hasnt gone away, nearly 2 weeks later, but more about being sick later).
Anyway, the next morning we took a boat trip from Guilian to Yangshuo. It was a bamboo boat and went along the Li River. I got a few pictures of it, I'll post more later.
The scenery was absolutely amazing. It was some of the most gorgeous stuff I've ever seen in my life.
After arriving in Yangshuo, we went around and saw a few places. Alot was closed, but we saw crescent moon hill. It's a mountain/hill with a crescent moon shape cut out of it. At night, there was an absolutely amazing and crazy light show.
It was designed by the guy who did the Beijing olympics opening ceremony. I had no idea what the story was about, but it was pretty. They had hundreds of dancers and performers and used a river to perform on. And they lit up the surrounding mountains and had a lot of music. I couldn't get any decent photos because of the lighting.
Afterwards, we took the bus back to Guilin. Along the way, there was a rather interesting martial arts movie. James and I tried figuring out the story. There was a rape scene that lasted like 10 minutes, where this dude was trying to sleep with a girl who kept turning him down. And then it got progressively more and more violent till he killed her with a pillow. Aside from that, it seemed like a typical martial arts affair. Weird shit.
Woke up bright and early the next day, and went around Guilin (the flight to Xian was that night). We saw Seven Star Park, Elephant Trunk Hill, and Reed Flute Cave. There was a really cool hill in the park that goes straight up and gives you a nice view of Guilin. The cave was okay, but it was really tourisity with the way it was lit. It was more interesting if you went ahead of the tour guides so you didnt have to listen to them, and would get to see the cave with more natural lighting. One of the rock formations looks like a Lion, and I got a photo of it. THe elephant trunk hill was cool. You do a boat ride to the hill and it looks like an elephant trunk, kind of.
Funny store with the flight to Xian.
We got the airport, and I had to run to the bathroom. While I was there, everybody else did the automated check in. I followed suite when I finished, but during the time I was on the toilet, the flight got full. So, fuck me sideways.
We went to the counter and asked them about it, and they got me a seat on the flight. In first class. Boo fucking yeah. But I wasn't allowed to sit n the first class lounge. They marked me ticket to forbid me!
The flight was baller, kind of. It was short so no food. But roomy as fuck. It was nice. They had a blanket and slippers. which I stole. So now i got a Chinese airline blanket as a souvenir. I was coughing a lot so I couldn.t sleep much. Anyway, there was a video playing about swine flu. In it, they say it comes from the USA. (propaganda :P)So, here I am, the only white guy in first class and I keep coughing. I'm pretty sure they all thought I had swine flu.
So, we arrived in Xian in once piece and went to the hostel and tried to figure out what to do for the next day. So much to see and the flight was leaving the next night.
We got a tour guide and went to see as much as possible. First, there was the big wild goose pagoda. It was awesome. They had a lot of statues dedicated to different Buddhas and the architecture and statues were beautiful. They had a statue of Sanzo and a lot of monks were walking around (and PLA soldiers).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Wild_Goose_Pagoda
After that, we went on top of the Xian city wall. The original city of Xian was built within it, and anything built in the wall today cant be taller. Fun fact. I straddled a cannon. But it was awesome looking as well.
After that, we went to a work place that makes terracotta replicas. They use the same materials and firing techniques as the original ones did. It smells pretty bad, but it was cool as hell to look at. I ended up with a set of smaller replicas. I heart my army, and they are the slightly taller than Gundam models.
And then there was lunch. We went to a noodle place, and they do something quite interesting with the noodles. They are really long and thick (like a lasagna or something, except 1 meter in length). It was tasty. Laura said it looks like squid :p
And I guess we sort of saved the best for last. This was the thing i was most excited to see. The Terra Cotta ARMY!!!! YAY!
They had a movie depicting the construction, and rebellion and stuff related to the army. They had a book signing where the farmer who found the army autographed a book. I ended up getting it cause I got a thing for history.
But it was fucking awesome getting to see these things. They are OLLLD and were broken, but then painfully put back together piece by piece. It looked so cool. And getting to hear the history and seeing some of them right up close like that. I loved it. They also had a 40 ft tall Terracotta puppet. That was quite interesting.
And after that, we went to the airport and flew to Shenzen and made it back to Hong Kong by like 3 am.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilin
I got there Friday night by flying out of Shenzen. I was there with James, Wouter, Dawn, Lindsay, Dawn's roommate Shun, and Julian. We got there too late to do anything so we checked into the hostel and went looking for food. There was an amazing resturant not too far away and we got a ton of different dishes. It was pretty damn good.
Oh yeah, and as a side note, I was sort of sick. I've developed a cough (which still hasnt gone away, nearly 2 weeks later, but more about being sick later).
Anyway, the next morning we took a boat trip from Guilian to Yangshuo. It was a bamboo boat and went along the Li River. I got a few pictures of it, I'll post more later.
The scenery was absolutely amazing. It was some of the most gorgeous stuff I've ever seen in my life.
After arriving in Yangshuo, we went around and saw a few places. Alot was closed, but we saw crescent moon hill. It's a mountain/hill with a crescent moon shape cut out of it. At night, there was an absolutely amazing and crazy light show.
It was designed by the guy who did the Beijing olympics opening ceremony. I had no idea what the story was about, but it was pretty. They had hundreds of dancers and performers and used a river to perform on. And they lit up the surrounding mountains and had a lot of music. I couldn't get any decent photos because of the lighting.
Afterwards, we took the bus back to Guilin. Along the way, there was a rather interesting martial arts movie. James and I tried figuring out the story. There was a rape scene that lasted like 10 minutes, where this dude was trying to sleep with a girl who kept turning him down. And then it got progressively more and more violent till he killed her with a pillow. Aside from that, it seemed like a typical martial arts affair. Weird shit.
Woke up bright and early the next day, and went around Guilin (the flight to Xian was that night). We saw Seven Star Park, Elephant Trunk Hill, and Reed Flute Cave. There was a really cool hill in the park that goes straight up and gives you a nice view of Guilin. The cave was okay, but it was really tourisity with the way it was lit. It was more interesting if you went ahead of the tour guides so you didnt have to listen to them, and would get to see the cave with more natural lighting. One of the rock formations looks like a Lion, and I got a photo of it. THe elephant trunk hill was cool. You do a boat ride to the hill and it looks like an elephant trunk, kind of.
Funny store with the flight to Xian.
We got the airport, and I had to run to the bathroom. While I was there, everybody else did the automated check in. I followed suite when I finished, but during the time I was on the toilet, the flight got full. So, fuck me sideways.
We went to the counter and asked them about it, and they got me a seat on the flight. In first class. Boo fucking yeah. But I wasn't allowed to sit n the first class lounge. They marked me ticket to forbid me!
The flight was baller, kind of. It was short so no food. But roomy as fuck. It was nice. They had a blanket and slippers. which I stole. So now i got a Chinese airline blanket as a souvenir. I was coughing a lot so I couldn.t sleep much. Anyway, there was a video playing about swine flu. In it, they say it comes from the USA. (propaganda :P)So, here I am, the only white guy in first class and I keep coughing. I'm pretty sure they all thought I had swine flu.
So, we arrived in Xian in once piece and went to the hostel and tried to figure out what to do for the next day. So much to see and the flight was leaving the next night.
We got a tour guide and went to see as much as possible. First, there was the big wild goose pagoda. It was awesome. They had a lot of statues dedicated to different Buddhas and the architecture and statues were beautiful. They had a statue of Sanzo and a lot of monks were walking around (and PLA soldiers).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Wild_Goose_Pagoda
After that, we went on top of the Xian city wall. The original city of Xian was built within it, and anything built in the wall today cant be taller. Fun fact. I straddled a cannon. But it was awesome looking as well.
After that, we went to a work place that makes terracotta replicas. They use the same materials and firing techniques as the original ones did. It smells pretty bad, but it was cool as hell to look at. I ended up with a set of smaller replicas. I heart my army, and they are the slightly taller than Gundam models.
And then there was lunch. We went to a noodle place, and they do something quite interesting with the noodles. They are really long and thick (like a lasagna or something, except 1 meter in length). It was tasty. Laura said it looks like squid :p
And I guess we sort of saved the best for last. This was the thing i was most excited to see. The Terra Cotta ARMY!!!! YAY!
They had a movie depicting the construction, and rebellion and stuff related to the army. They had a book signing where the farmer who found the army autographed a book. I ended up getting it cause I got a thing for history.
But it was fucking awesome getting to see these things. They are OLLLD and were broken, but then painfully put back together piece by piece. It looked so cool. And getting to hear the history and seeing some of them right up close like that. I loved it. They also had a 40 ft tall Terracotta puppet. That was quite interesting.
And after that, we went to the airport and flew to Shenzen and made it back to Hong Kong by like 3 am.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Mainland China
A quick update. I was in Xian and Guilin over the weekend. I'll write a longer update later today. Just for now I'm posting to let anybody that reads it know I'm not dead.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
It's been a while
Lets see... Nothing overwhelmingly crazy going down at the moment.
Last weekend, I was in Shenzen. Its a city at the border of China, and a special economic region. It's something like the wealthiest city per capita in China. Its different, and very new. The city was built up in the past 20 years. It sort of lacks a cultural identity. Everything is planned relatively carefully, but it feels empty. There are massive 6 lanes roads everywhere, but never enough traffic to really occupy it. There are MTR stops, but its barely built up and a lot isnt connected. I went with Julian, James, and Wouter. It was a rather cultural, laid back weekend. Some people expected a lot of people expecting debauchery from a group of bachelors on the town.
Got there in the afternoon, and went around the main areas. Like HK, there is a lot of shopping. There was a 12 floor computer center, where I got an extra thinkpad battery for about 25$ USD. It works well so far. (Although I've killed one my right click buttons, but thats another story)
We went to dinner at a Sichuan resturant, and it was amazing. There was pork with vegtables, slices of beef, peanut chicken (which I avoided), and a spicey ass mystery soup, and really nice green beans. And for dessert, there was glutinous rice doughnuts. It was tasty.
Afterwards, we did a mini pub crawl. There was a district of bars that look it was designed by somebody that thought about Europe, but never went to Europe. There wasn irish pub, a german bavarian kind of place, an italian place on a fake mini canal, and some others. We played pool at one, which was kind of funny. The hostess asked if we wanted to play pool, and we said yeah, assuming she meant when the people playing finished. She kicked them off and gave us the table. It was awkward. Julian mentioned having a pool table at home, so James jumped onto his team. (which reminds of something else, when people here found out I could draw, one person asked if there was anything I wasn't good at (apparently I have a curious and/or impressive skill/knowledge set) and james blurted out, Sports!!!). Anyway, Wouter and I ended up beating James and Julian. Fun times. All the other guys, being of European heritage, enjoy beer. Alot. Meanwhile, I ordered a tequilla sunrise, which came out with a pink curly straw and cherries. I haven't lived it down yet. And I still want to try an appletini.
Afterwards, we went back to the surprisngly nice hostel and hung out before passing out. The next morning, Julian felt sick and took the MTR back to Hong Kong early.
Oh, and to explain how to get to Shenzen: The MTR station by me is Kowloon Tong. The green line goes to Mong Kok (the busiest district on Kowloon Island, and where you can transfer to the Red Line towards Hong Kong Island and more busy areas in Kowloon.) Its also got the light blue line, that just goes to the Chinese border at Shenzen. So, to go to China, I just hope onto the MTR and I'm at the border. I get to go through the faster resident line as well, since my student visa makes me count as an HK resident.
Wouter, James and I went to the park in Shenzen, where there is a statue of Deng Xioping overlooking the city. By the end, I felt like hell. Fuck steep ass, oddly sized stairs up a mountain. But the view was amazing, and the trip down was easier. We then went to the fake counterfeit mall, but nobody got anything. We then got some dimsum, but I felt sick and since it was getting late and we were more or less done, we went home.
Lets see, during the week, I didn't do much. I've had a cold. It's mostly been school, food, hanging out at the residence.
For this weekend, I played Mahjong with Cameron and bunch of other people. I won a game. Go me.
Afterwards, I watched SGU. Cameron has been getting that and Dollhouse off of itunes, and weve been watching it. I'm fucking shocked at how good SGU is, although its definately borrowed a lot from BSG. And damn dollhouse is good. Eliza Dushku rocks and is hot. And the dude pkaying Victor is awesome as well.
And then on Sunday, I went to the Hong Kong space museum. It was cool. Alot of stuff I've already learn between other museums (Kennedy Space Center FTW, Smithsonian Air and Space/ Annex) But there were some cool activities. You can go into a harness and it simulates moon gravity. Almost everybody else was either too tall, or in a dress.
For today, its just been class and getting my group project work started. I need to talk to my counselor. After this semester, I need 22 credits. I got a lot to plan. (hopefully I can go to KIT next fall)
Also, KFC has an amazing breakfast. Chicken filet, with gravy, and eggs, and a honey biscuit, plus a drink. It was a good ass biscuit too. Im disappointed they dont have it during regular food service.
That's it for now, I got a lot of class today. I need to set up an FTP to share my pictures tomorrow, and sort out some travelin
Last weekend, I was in Shenzen. Its a city at the border of China, and a special economic region. It's something like the wealthiest city per capita in China. Its different, and very new. The city was built up in the past 20 years. It sort of lacks a cultural identity. Everything is planned relatively carefully, but it feels empty. There are massive 6 lanes roads everywhere, but never enough traffic to really occupy it. There are MTR stops, but its barely built up and a lot isnt connected. I went with Julian, James, and Wouter. It was a rather cultural, laid back weekend. Some people expected a lot of people expecting debauchery from a group of bachelors on the town.
Got there in the afternoon, and went around the main areas. Like HK, there is a lot of shopping. There was a 12 floor computer center, where I got an extra thinkpad battery for about 25$ USD. It works well so far. (Although I've killed one my right click buttons, but thats another story)
We went to dinner at a Sichuan resturant, and it was amazing. There was pork with vegtables, slices of beef, peanut chicken (which I avoided), and a spicey ass mystery soup, and really nice green beans. And for dessert, there was glutinous rice doughnuts. It was tasty.
Afterwards, we did a mini pub crawl. There was a district of bars that look it was designed by somebody that thought about Europe, but never went to Europe. There wasn irish pub, a german bavarian kind of place, an italian place on a fake mini canal, and some others. We played pool at one, which was kind of funny. The hostess asked if we wanted to play pool, and we said yeah, assuming she meant when the people playing finished. She kicked them off and gave us the table. It was awkward. Julian mentioned having a pool table at home, so James jumped onto his team. (which reminds of something else, when people here found out I could draw, one person asked if there was anything I wasn't good at (apparently I have a curious and/or impressive skill/knowledge set) and james blurted out, Sports!!!). Anyway, Wouter and I ended up beating James and Julian. Fun times. All the other guys, being of European heritage, enjoy beer. Alot. Meanwhile, I ordered a tequilla sunrise, which came out with a pink curly straw and cherries. I haven't lived it down yet. And I still want to try an appletini.
Afterwards, we went back to the surprisngly nice hostel and hung out before passing out. The next morning, Julian felt sick and took the MTR back to Hong Kong early.
Oh, and to explain how to get to Shenzen: The MTR station by me is Kowloon Tong. The green line goes to Mong Kok (the busiest district on Kowloon Island, and where you can transfer to the Red Line towards Hong Kong Island and more busy areas in Kowloon.) Its also got the light blue line, that just goes to the Chinese border at Shenzen. So, to go to China, I just hope onto the MTR and I'm at the border. I get to go through the faster resident line as well, since my student visa makes me count as an HK resident.
Wouter, James and I went to the park in Shenzen, where there is a statue of Deng Xioping overlooking the city. By the end, I felt like hell. Fuck steep ass, oddly sized stairs up a mountain. But the view was amazing, and the trip down was easier. We then went to the fake counterfeit mall, but nobody got anything. We then got some dimsum, but I felt sick and since it was getting late and we were more or less done, we went home.
Lets see, during the week, I didn't do much. I've had a cold. It's mostly been school, food, hanging out at the residence.
For this weekend, I played Mahjong with Cameron and bunch of other people. I won a game. Go me.
Afterwards, I watched SGU. Cameron has been getting that and Dollhouse off of itunes, and weve been watching it. I'm fucking shocked at how good SGU is, although its definately borrowed a lot from BSG. And damn dollhouse is good. Eliza Dushku rocks and is hot. And the dude pkaying Victor is awesome as well.
And then on Sunday, I went to the Hong Kong space museum. It was cool. Alot of stuff I've already learn between other museums (Kennedy Space Center FTW, Smithsonian Air and Space/ Annex) But there were some cool activities. You can go into a harness and it simulates moon gravity. Almost everybody else was either too tall, or in a dress.
For today, its just been class and getting my group project work started. I need to talk to my counselor. After this semester, I need 22 credits. I got a lot to plan. (hopefully I can go to KIT next fall)
Also, KFC has an amazing breakfast. Chicken filet, with gravy, and eggs, and a honey biscuit, plus a drink. It was a good ass biscuit too. Im disappointed they dont have it during regular food service.
That's it for now, I got a lot of class today. I need to set up an FTP to share my pictures tomorrow, and sort out some travelin
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
This feels familiar.
I've spent the day on campus from 9:30 AM until 9:30 pm. I do that Mondays, but I am mostly in lectures. Today was for HW, which is due at 6:30 (now its 5:48). I haven';t done that while. But here I get a break for Tai Chi Sword class. Yay. And Garden Cafe. Also, Yay.
This post is just me procrastinating.
Anywho, after class we are watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (hopefully). Tommorow also holds HW, but I think I will take a trip to Mongkok as well. I need a blanket and a towel. I'll try photoing everything and making a sort of travel photo journey.
back to work.
This post is just me procrastinating.
Anywho, after class we are watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (hopefully). Tommorow also holds HW, but I think I will take a trip to Mongkok as well. I need a blanket and a towel. I'll try photoing everything and making a sort of travel photo journey.
back to work.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Blarg.
I've been thinking about what to do for the following semesters, and I have more or less decided to to Kyushu in Japan next fall, for my last semester. I need to talk my counselors and such, and make sure I can fulfill my requirements. But its an engineering school in English, so classes shouldn't be a problem.
And I got this song from Shireen, one of the exchange students here. Its good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG8fugqFn9Q
I'm going out for dinner and then working on a lot of HW. Go me.
And I got this song from Shireen, one of the exchange students here. Its good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG8fugqFn9Q
I'm going out for dinner and then working on a lot of HW. Go me.
Visa
Fuck Visa Office. I went this morning to get a Visa, and it sucks ass for American citzens. Fucking bureaucrats or something. I wanted to get a multi entry visa into mainland china. American citzens cannot get a Shenzen visa, and they have to pay the same price for a multi entry, single, or double entry visa (about 1020 HKD), and its about double every other country's visa price. Some people here have been able to get a multi entry visa with no hassle. Just go to the office and get it, and thats it. I was told I would have to get a double entry, and then I would be allowed to get a multi entry. From what we can gather, it depends on the person and not actual law.
So, I had to pay extra for a visa. But that visa only works twice. And I have to pay extra again for somehting I should be able to get in the first place that works better for me. So, fuck the visa office.
And I am taking a train to Guangzhou this weekend. I got a bit of HW and an exam monday as well, but it doesn't seem that bad. Once I get the full visa, I am going to China like fucking crazy. And I might need to get another passport if mine fills up.
So, I had to pay extra for a visa. But that visa only works twice. And I have to pay extra again for somehting I should be able to get in the first place that works better for me. So, fuck the visa office.
And I am taking a train to Guangzhou this weekend. I got a bit of HW and an exam monday as well, but it doesn't seem that bad. Once I get the full visa, I am going to China like fucking crazy. And I might need to get another passport if mine fills up.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Like riding a bike
District 9 was good. love that movie.
Yesterday was quite interesting. I went to Cheung Jeu island, something like that. I completely forgot the name.
Anyway, there are no cars on the island except for an ambulence or police or something like that. You have to bike everywhere.
Oh, and so far the poeple I have been hanging out with are Dawn, Josie, and Lindsay, who are a group of Scottish girls. Wouter, a Dutch guy, Justin from Chiacago, and Julian from Deutschland. Cameron from San Fransico, Lawerence, a local student, Alexander, a scottish guy, James from the UK, Sarah and Leah from australia. The island was myself, Dawn, Josie, Lindsay, and Wouter.
Anyway, back to the bike thing. I haven't ridden a bike since living in Korea. Nearly 12 fucking years. So I am really putting to the test the age old addage that its just like riding a bike. And it look a while to relearn. There was much laughter from everybody, particularly Josie. After a while, I got the hang of riding over flat terrain.
So we rode around for a while, going through the harbor and surrounding rodes and then went to a hill. You have to leave the bike at the bottom, and then go walking up. There is a rocky beach sort of area, and very dark, very narrow cave you can explore. It was cool, we sort of in a queue and using 1 flashflight and cell phones for light. There were no lights. Every once in a while, I could hear Julian yell something out because he hit his head on something.
After the caves, we got back on the road, and this is where it got fucking ugly. Fuck. The roads go up and down a lot more, and I can barely ride a bike. And the bikes sort of suck. There is 1 gear and the brakes are pretty shit. So going down one hill in partiuclar, you could hear me yelling FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK as I went down really fast, plus the squeeling of both brakes, and my feet out the sides also trying to stop me.
I didn't crash. So go me. Or hit anybody.
This portion of the island had a lot of graveyards, and we kept riding. After a while, we got around and rode through the streets. There was a small temple that was pretty cool. No pictures were allowed, but they had some artwork, incense, and a really old sword. And outside was a basketball court where this tiny kid was like a Chinese Kobe Bryant. He kept making three pointers. We stopped at a corner store and had water, and it was fucking amazing. Rarely has water been so good.
After that, we rode along the other side of the harbor and went by a beach. There was a look out point that gave a view of the island. I didnt go because it was straight up a steep hill and we had to the bring bikes. I was fucking out of it.
So, Josie Dawn and I waited at the bottom of the hill for the others and we went back to return the bikes.
And there was lunch earlier in the day too. I forgot about that. I had fried noodles with pork. Good shit.
So we returned the bikes, and had to wait for another boat to come back. I ended up eating McDonalds since its next to the harbor and I was hungry like a wolf.
The night was the Mid Autumn Festival. I got it mixed up with Fullmoon Festival, something different. However, the Mid Autumn Festival is still celebrated during a full moon. Anyway.
You generally have lanterns, eat moon cakes, look at the full moon, and spend time with families. Local students think its boring as hell, exchange students are all giddy. Went to the Victoria Harbor for the festival, and they had a ton of displays out. Different lanterns and shows. I saw this lady that had about 15 hula hoops at once. And had a hula hoop slinky. And some random dances and stuff. It was cool. Next to the park, there is a family field kind of thing and we went out there to light the lanterns, burn candles, and generally sit under the moon light. I tried a tradtional moon cake. They look amazing, but I didn't like the taste that much. It's a bit of a running theme with desert items here, they look amazing but taste underwhelming. The best cheesecake I have had ended up being from Taste (supermarket next to school) which was a frozen sara lee cake that was imported from australia or something.
Shit.
But back on topic. The night was nice. Just sitting there, playing with fire and such. The mooncake i had was lotus seed with an egg. It's okay at first, but the egg is gross and it sits quite poorly in your stomach. Afterwards, I went to McDonalds again and took the MTR home with Lindsay. Everybody else went to a bar/club in Wan Chai (I went home around 2:30 am). And apparently they didn't return until day light.
Fun times.
My ass and nuts still hurt from that bike seat.
Yesterday was quite interesting. I went to Cheung Jeu island, something like that. I completely forgot the name.
Anyway, there are no cars on the island except for an ambulence or police or something like that. You have to bike everywhere.
Oh, and so far the poeple I have been hanging out with are Dawn, Josie, and Lindsay, who are a group of Scottish girls. Wouter, a Dutch guy, Justin from Chiacago, and Julian from Deutschland. Cameron from San Fransico, Lawerence, a local student, Alexander, a scottish guy, James from the UK, Sarah and Leah from australia. The island was myself, Dawn, Josie, Lindsay, and Wouter.
Anyway, back to the bike thing. I haven't ridden a bike since living in Korea. Nearly 12 fucking years. So I am really putting to the test the age old addage that its just like riding a bike. And it look a while to relearn. There was much laughter from everybody, particularly Josie. After a while, I got the hang of riding over flat terrain.
So we rode around for a while, going through the harbor and surrounding rodes and then went to a hill. You have to leave the bike at the bottom, and then go walking up. There is a rocky beach sort of area, and very dark, very narrow cave you can explore. It was cool, we sort of in a queue and using 1 flashflight and cell phones for light. There were no lights. Every once in a while, I could hear Julian yell something out because he hit his head on something.
After the caves, we got back on the road, and this is where it got fucking ugly. Fuck. The roads go up and down a lot more, and I can barely ride a bike. And the bikes sort of suck. There is 1 gear and the brakes are pretty shit. So going down one hill in partiuclar, you could hear me yelling FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK as I went down really fast, plus the squeeling of both brakes, and my feet out the sides also trying to stop me.
I didn't crash. So go me. Or hit anybody.
This portion of the island had a lot of graveyards, and we kept riding. After a while, we got around and rode through the streets. There was a small temple that was pretty cool. No pictures were allowed, but they had some artwork, incense, and a really old sword. And outside was a basketball court where this tiny kid was like a Chinese Kobe Bryant. He kept making three pointers. We stopped at a corner store and had water, and it was fucking amazing. Rarely has water been so good.
After that, we rode along the other side of the harbor and went by a beach. There was a look out point that gave a view of the island. I didnt go because it was straight up a steep hill and we had to the bring bikes. I was fucking out of it.
So, Josie Dawn and I waited at the bottom of the hill for the others and we went back to return the bikes.
And there was lunch earlier in the day too. I forgot about that. I had fried noodles with pork. Good shit.
So we returned the bikes, and had to wait for another boat to come back. I ended up eating McDonalds since its next to the harbor and I was hungry like a wolf.
The night was the Mid Autumn Festival. I got it mixed up with Fullmoon Festival, something different. However, the Mid Autumn Festival is still celebrated during a full moon. Anyway.
You generally have lanterns, eat moon cakes, look at the full moon, and spend time with families. Local students think its boring as hell, exchange students are all giddy. Went to the Victoria Harbor for the festival, and they had a ton of displays out. Different lanterns and shows. I saw this lady that had about 15 hula hoops at once. And had a hula hoop slinky. And some random dances and stuff. It was cool. Next to the park, there is a family field kind of thing and we went out there to light the lanterns, burn candles, and generally sit under the moon light. I tried a tradtional moon cake. They look amazing, but I didn't like the taste that much. It's a bit of a running theme with desert items here, they look amazing but taste underwhelming. The best cheesecake I have had ended up being from Taste (supermarket next to school) which was a frozen sara lee cake that was imported from australia or something.
Shit.
But back on topic. The night was nice. Just sitting there, playing with fire and such. The mooncake i had was lotus seed with an egg. It's okay at first, but the egg is gross and it sits quite poorly in your stomach. Afterwards, I went to McDonalds again and took the MTR home with Lindsay. Everybody else went to a bar/club in Wan Chai (I went home around 2:30 am). And apparently they didn't return until day light.
Fun times.
My ass and nuts still hurt from that bike seat.
Friday, October 2, 2009
?!
Not a crazy day today, just classes and then went to central for a bit, came back because Marco (Canadian guy) invited me to dinner he cooked. Pesto and chicken pasta. It was fucking good.
Not im back in my room and about to go to the theater to see district 9 again. Yay. And damn my beard itches.
Tommorow is the full moon festival, not sure what I got planned but the MTR runs all 24 hours instead of stopping at midnight, so it should be interesting.
Not im back in my room and about to go to the theater to see district 9 again. Yay. And damn my beard itches.
Tommorow is the full moon festival, not sure what I got planned but the MTR runs all 24 hours instead of stopping at midnight, so it should be interesting.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Pole Dancing?!
Lets see... What did I do this week?
Monday night, I had class and it was loooong. Fundamentals of the internet was good. It's been by far my favorite class so far. I went to the tutorial/workshop, since I was added in the roster during the weekend, I missed it last week and was a bit confused going in. Trying to explain the situation to the teacher was a bit funny, since he misunderstood me and though I went to the lecture but didn't know he was the teacher.
So, here are a few of the habits of local students in classes here. Students will talk during class, alot. They eat full meals during class, like a bowl of noodles. They sleep alot. They never, never answer questions the teacher ask. They leave early and come in late. Now, not every student does this. And people do shit like this at home too, but it is by a signfiicantly larger amount here, and more blatant. I feel bad for the teachers.
Back to the class. I ended up answering almost every question he asked since nobody else would, and felt like a bit of a kiss ass. After that, there was the actual lecture which was back to back with the workshop. It was a lot of fun, the material is interesting and he had us do a little project. We were given fiber optic cable, and had to transmit a signal as efficiantly as possible in binary with an led along this cable. Out group ended up being the only one that transmited a 2 bit signal, so it could trasnfer 01, 10, 11, 00 in 1 signal length instead of just o or 1. I still fucked it up by mis translating the original message, but it wasn't for a grade.
Afterwards, I ended up going to mong kok for hot pot. I tried eel for the first time, it was okay. Not bad, but I wasn't amazed by it. Although beef and dumplings are awesome. I was there with Marco and a few other people I don't know. Marco is French Canadian and ended up going on the tallest bungee jump in the world during the Macau trip.
Tuesday, I went hunting for a stationary store in Mong Kok with Julian, a German guy I know here. I had the locations for 2, one was at the 608 Nathan Road (its like one the of busiest streets and packed with a lot of stores and malls) and the other was outside a train station exit. Found the 608 one, but accidently went to 680 first, which was the opposite direction. Got there, and it was just books. Not pencils/paper.
After that, went back to the MTR and tried to double check the location for the other. There are computer terminals, but little kids have a habit of standing at them for half an hour playing games. Its annoying, they were doing it another time I was in Mong Kok.
God I go there alot...
Anyway, it was outside exit E2. Went all over the road it was on (its a pedestrian street that runs parallel to Nathan Road. Turns out its sort of behind the other store. In about an hour and a half of walking, we managed to litterly go every surrounding the stationary store except for the stationary store, and then finaly found it. It was massive. You go in, and its really deep and full. Its pretty impressive. And then you go upstairs, and there is a computer floor. And then you go upstairs again, and there is a third floor with more art supplies and jumk. Except the third floor is about double the size of the other two floors combined. Yay.
-----------
Man, I had this entry saved for a while but i fucking forgot the exact sequence of days and shit that have gone in the three weeks I've been letting it sit around.
To keep my mind straight, I am trying to think of major events worth writing about:
Several random nights out/clubbing.
Highlights include following a drunk scottish friend who kept more and more alcohol while I got more an more sober. I ended up carrying him to help him escape somebody from the mafia?! Pole dancing in a club. Sad part is, I was mostly sober. Getting slapped in the face by Czech guy, getting my eyebrow cut by a friend dancing when she hit me in the face and knocked my glasses off. Getting sick in the alley. Getting sick in the taxi home (thankfully I had a plastic bag).
Other events:
Going to the beach when a typhoon started and crossing the harbor during nasty weather.
Reading a lot of books.
Being the only straight guy on several nights for dinner and video games. I wonder if the exchange girls think I'm gay since I end hanging out a lot with gay guys. Shit.
Half Price sushi. Basically, sushi bars need to sell shit since they have to toss it the next day so they sell it for half price at the end of the night. good times.
Ocean Park, a famous Hong Kong theme park. I rode the roller coster and threw up afterward. But, for the ride that you drop up and down, I was fine. i actually found it relaxing because its like falling. Crazy shit. The school ended up renting out the park for the 25th anniversary, so it was cheap and empty except for cityu people.
Playing super smash brothers.
I got a short hair cut and new glasses, my old ones broke and the hairdresser didn't speak very good english so a lot got cut off. Oh well. I'm actually pretty damn hot now. Go figure.
Uniqlo. Its the fucking coolest clothing store. It's like a cheaper version of American Apparel except they also have Anime t-shirts.
Mandarin sucks. I had a quiz that kicked my ass because the teacher used a poor recording on a listening part of the exam where we had to listen for tones, finals, and initials. Good luck hearing anything through that fucking soup of static.
Mongkok computer center: Fucking hell it was cool. Its a mall of computer parts cameras phones gadgets laptops games and so on. I love it.
Video game arcades. They rock. And they are cheaper than in the US.
People being amazed at my skills at stopping myself from drinking alot.
McDonalds delivers 24hrs for free.
I've eaten more fast food and had more soda than I do at home. Its kind of sad, but its every where.
Mango Mochi! (glutinenous rice balls with mango stuffed in them, and sprinkled with coconut)
Conversations keep turning to food. I miss cooking.
I did make taco's once though.
Diamond Hill, it was this amazingly pretty park.
The Art Museum of Hong Kong. It was fucking cool.
Fireworks for Chinese National Day in the Harbor. I noticed Chinese crowds make different noises than at home. The surprise noise here is WHAAA. So everytime something happened, there would be a couple hundred thousand people yelling WHAAA in unison.
Learning about Hong Kong's cultual Idenity related to China. My roommate talked about. People here feel like they are from Hong Kong, not China. Or at least he does.
My beard itches.
I need video games. I haven't touched my psp much.
Lots of food. You very seldomly cook here, its like 30-50 HKD$ for a nice meal's worth of food, the same price as going out to dinner.
The CityU grass. Exchange students sort of congregate there after the morning.
I'll keep this up to date more and try to write more about the back log of events.
Monday night, I had class and it was loooong. Fundamentals of the internet was good. It's been by far my favorite class so far. I went to the tutorial/workshop, since I was added in the roster during the weekend, I missed it last week and was a bit confused going in. Trying to explain the situation to the teacher was a bit funny, since he misunderstood me and though I went to the lecture but didn't know he was the teacher.
So, here are a few of the habits of local students in classes here. Students will talk during class, alot. They eat full meals during class, like a bowl of noodles. They sleep alot. They never, never answer questions the teacher ask. They leave early and come in late. Now, not every student does this. And people do shit like this at home too, but it is by a signfiicantly larger amount here, and more blatant. I feel bad for the teachers.
Back to the class. I ended up answering almost every question he asked since nobody else would, and felt like a bit of a kiss ass. After that, there was the actual lecture which was back to back with the workshop. It was a lot of fun, the material is interesting and he had us do a little project. We were given fiber optic cable, and had to transmit a signal as efficiantly as possible in binary with an led along this cable. Out group ended up being the only one that transmited a 2 bit signal, so it could trasnfer 01, 10, 11, 00 in 1 signal length instead of just o or 1. I still fucked it up by mis translating the original message, but it wasn't for a grade.
Afterwards, I ended up going to mong kok for hot pot. I tried eel for the first time, it was okay. Not bad, but I wasn't amazed by it. Although beef and dumplings are awesome. I was there with Marco and a few other people I don't know. Marco is French Canadian and ended up going on the tallest bungee jump in the world during the Macau trip.
Tuesday, I went hunting for a stationary store in Mong Kok with Julian, a German guy I know here. I had the locations for 2, one was at the 608 Nathan Road (its like one the of busiest streets and packed with a lot of stores and malls) and the other was outside a train station exit. Found the 608 one, but accidently went to 680 first, which was the opposite direction. Got there, and it was just books. Not pencils/paper.
After that, went back to the MTR and tried to double check the location for the other. There are computer terminals, but little kids have a habit of standing at them for half an hour playing games. Its annoying, they were doing it another time I was in Mong Kok.
God I go there alot...
Anyway, it was outside exit E2. Went all over the road it was on (its a pedestrian street that runs parallel to Nathan Road. Turns out its sort of behind the other store. In about an hour and a half of walking, we managed to litterly go every surrounding the stationary store except for the stationary store, and then finaly found it. It was massive. You go in, and its really deep and full. Its pretty impressive. And then you go upstairs, and there is a computer floor. And then you go upstairs again, and there is a third floor with more art supplies and jumk. Except the third floor is about double the size of the other two floors combined. Yay.
-----------
Man, I had this entry saved for a while but i fucking forgot the exact sequence of days and shit that have gone in the three weeks I've been letting it sit around.
To keep my mind straight, I am trying to think of major events worth writing about:
Several random nights out/clubbing.
Highlights include following a drunk scottish friend who kept more and more alcohol while I got more an more sober. I ended up carrying him to help him escape somebody from the mafia?! Pole dancing in a club. Sad part is, I was mostly sober. Getting slapped in the face by Czech guy, getting my eyebrow cut by a friend dancing when she hit me in the face and knocked my glasses off. Getting sick in the alley. Getting sick in the taxi home (thankfully I had a plastic bag).
Other events:
Going to the beach when a typhoon started and crossing the harbor during nasty weather.
Reading a lot of books.
Being the only straight guy on several nights for dinner and video games. I wonder if the exchange girls think I'm gay since I end hanging out a lot with gay guys. Shit.
Half Price sushi. Basically, sushi bars need to sell shit since they have to toss it the next day so they sell it for half price at the end of the night. good times.
Ocean Park, a famous Hong Kong theme park. I rode the roller coster and threw up afterward. But, for the ride that you drop up and down, I was fine. i actually found it relaxing because its like falling. Crazy shit. The school ended up renting out the park for the 25th anniversary, so it was cheap and empty except for cityu people.
Playing super smash brothers.
I got a short hair cut and new glasses, my old ones broke and the hairdresser didn't speak very good english so a lot got cut off. Oh well. I'm actually pretty damn hot now. Go figure.
Uniqlo. Its the fucking coolest clothing store. It's like a cheaper version of American Apparel except they also have Anime t-shirts.
Mandarin sucks. I had a quiz that kicked my ass because the teacher used a poor recording on a listening part of the exam where we had to listen for tones, finals, and initials. Good luck hearing anything through that fucking soup of static.
Mongkok computer center: Fucking hell it was cool. Its a mall of computer parts cameras phones gadgets laptops games and so on. I love it.
Video game arcades. They rock. And they are cheaper than in the US.
People being amazed at my skills at stopping myself from drinking alot.
McDonalds delivers 24hrs for free.
I've eaten more fast food and had more soda than I do at home. Its kind of sad, but its every where.
Mango Mochi! (glutinenous rice balls with mango stuffed in them, and sprinkled with coconut)
Conversations keep turning to food. I miss cooking.
I did make taco's once though.
Diamond Hill, it was this amazingly pretty park.
The Art Museum of Hong Kong. It was fucking cool.
Fireworks for Chinese National Day in the Harbor. I noticed Chinese crowds make different noises than at home. The surprise noise here is WHAAA. So everytime something happened, there would be a couple hundred thousand people yelling WHAAA in unison.
Learning about Hong Kong's cultual Idenity related to China. My roommate talked about. People here feel like they are from Hong Kong, not China. Or at least he does.
My beard itches.
I need video games. I haven't touched my psp much.
Lots of food. You very seldomly cook here, its like 30-50 HKD$ for a nice meal's worth of food, the same price as going out to dinner.
The CityU grass. Exchange students sort of congregate there after the morning.
I'll keep this up to date more and try to write more about the back log of events.
Monday, September 7, 2009
next entry
So... Wow.
Went to a revolving resturant in a skyscraper with the exchange students. Food was nice, it was a western buffet. The cheese cake was kind of dry. Yet to find decent cheesecake, but so far the black forest cake from the cafeteria is the best (and happily the cheapest). Not as good as Laura's cakes though.
Afterwards, took the jetliner ferry to Macau and spent a night in the hotel. We saw cirque de sole, tried a bit of gambling (i lost 10 hkd of my own cash, and 3.50 of another guys at a Star Wars slot machine. So, I gambled less than 2$ us. I treated it more like a complicated arcade game, not expecting to win anything. Went to a bar in the casino (the first casino was the venetian). (didn't drink anything, just enjoyed the show) We caught the tail end of a burlesque show and a live cover band that did a bunch of songs. Afterwards, went to the Grand Lisboa to try to watch the burlesque show there, but they stopped at midnight. Most of the group I was in wanted to go clubbing, I didn't feel like it, so I ended up going to a noodle bar with another guy (Cameron, who is an exchange student who was here last semester and the guy I used 3.50 from for star wars). It was nice to get to talk to a person for an extended conversation. As much fun as all the group activities have been, I do really like getting to spend time with a small group and just talk or do something laid back. One of the only other times I got to do that was with this Canadian girl at the beach (named Lisa, haven't seen much of her since then, I should fix that). Went back to the hotel tried to find the video game room in the hotel, but it was closed. It was about 3:30 at this point, so I went to my room and read for a bit and went to sleep. Around 5:00, the guys I shared the room with came back (cameron wasn't one of them), along with the people next door. I woke up, and they wanted to go the pool in a hurry, and were all quite drunk.
Being barely awake, and extremely muddled, I thought it was okay and went along. They were drunk, I was tired. Except in the elevator, I finally fully woke up and had a thought.
Why the fuck would the pool be open at 5:00 am. Especially since the video game room was closed.
And it was closed.
Next day, we went on a tour of Macau guided by Cameron since he had been there before. It was a beautiful place. I expected it to be more like Vegas, but I got to see another side to the city. There was an old Portuguese fort, a Catholic cathedral, the remains of another cathedral, a beautiful garden, and a temple. After seeing everything ( i got a lot of pictures, I need to sort and upload them), we went back to the grand lisboa for the show.
Every 20 minutes they do a short burlesque show, it was fucking funny and bizarre and hot. Except after a while, it seemed that one of the dancers was a dude. So, imagine a few leggy Russian girls in lingerie with tails and cat ears dancing to the Final Countdown mixed with lion roars every once in a while.
(I like how I spent the same amount of space describing the show as I did all the historial sites)
Took a ferry back To Hong Kong, took the mtr kowloon tong, walked up that annoying ass hill, and here i am.
I am barely awake and have 9 hours of courses tommorow. So ffffffuck.
Went to a revolving resturant in a skyscraper with the exchange students. Food was nice, it was a western buffet. The cheese cake was kind of dry. Yet to find decent cheesecake, but so far the black forest cake from the cafeteria is the best (and happily the cheapest). Not as good as Laura's cakes though.
Afterwards, took the jetliner ferry to Macau and spent a night in the hotel. We saw cirque de sole, tried a bit of gambling (i lost 10 hkd of my own cash, and 3.50 of another guys at a Star Wars slot machine. So, I gambled less than 2$ us. I treated it more like a complicated arcade game, not expecting to win anything. Went to a bar in the casino (the first casino was the venetian). (didn't drink anything, just enjoyed the show) We caught the tail end of a burlesque show and a live cover band that did a bunch of songs. Afterwards, went to the Grand Lisboa to try to watch the burlesque show there, but they stopped at midnight. Most of the group I was in wanted to go clubbing, I didn't feel like it, so I ended up going to a noodle bar with another guy (Cameron, who is an exchange student who was here last semester and the guy I used 3.50 from for star wars). It was nice to get to talk to a person for an extended conversation. As much fun as all the group activities have been, I do really like getting to spend time with a small group and just talk or do something laid back. One of the only other times I got to do that was with this Canadian girl at the beach (named Lisa, haven't seen much of her since then, I should fix that). Went back to the hotel tried to find the video game room in the hotel, but it was closed. It was about 3:30 at this point, so I went to my room and read for a bit and went to sleep. Around 5:00, the guys I shared the room with came back (cameron wasn't one of them), along with the people next door. I woke up, and they wanted to go the pool in a hurry, and were all quite drunk.
Being barely awake, and extremely muddled, I thought it was okay and went along. They were drunk, I was tired. Except in the elevator, I finally fully woke up and had a thought.
Why the fuck would the pool be open at 5:00 am. Especially since the video game room was closed.
And it was closed.
Next day, we went on a tour of Macau guided by Cameron since he had been there before. It was a beautiful place. I expected it to be more like Vegas, but I got to see another side to the city. There was an old Portuguese fort, a Catholic cathedral, the remains of another cathedral, a beautiful garden, and a temple. After seeing everything ( i got a lot of pictures, I need to sort and upload them), we went back to the grand lisboa for the show.
Every 20 minutes they do a short burlesque show, it was fucking funny and bizarre and hot. Except after a while, it seemed that one of the dancers was a dude. So, imagine a few leggy Russian girls in lingerie with tails and cat ears dancing to the Final Countdown mixed with lion roars every once in a while.
(I like how I spent the same amount of space describing the show as I did all the historial sites)
Took a ferry back To Hong Kong, took the mtr kowloon tong, walked up that annoying ass hill, and here i am.
I am barely awake and have 9 hours of courses tommorow. So ffffffuck.
here is a copy of my first entry from hong kong
So, lets see...
Went to the night market near Mong Kok. I believe its the most crowded distrcit in the world, by population density. Its where you go to buy fake bags and shit. Ate food, met some people.
Went to a Karaoke bar. It was interesting. The guy leading the exchange students, Lorencio started the singing. He has a decent voice, but he chooses shit songs. I hate that aerosmith song from armegeddon. I tried singing beat it in front of about 100 people. Emphasis on tried. The lyrics didnt show up on the screen, and I had most of the song memorized. Afterwards, went bowling. That was interesting. I ended up playing with the most serious group of exchange students. They were there instead of Karaoke, and had been playing for a few hours before I got there. First game was shit, although in the last few frames I went from 60 something to 99 and jumped above getting last place. In the second game, I fucking dominated. By the 7th frame, I had a score high enough that more or less couldn't beat me unless they played like jesus. I ended up with 154 and the highest score of the night. Booyah.
Another night, we went out to bars. I met some more people, and learned a Hong Kong drinking game. There was a band, and we got there at the tail end of happy hour. So each person ended up with 1 drink. We sort of loitered for a while until the employees kind of gently made us leave.
Next night, was supposed to be victoria peak and the night club district, but I took a nap at 3 in the afternoon and woke up at almost 11. Fucking alarm didnt wake me up.
Another night, went to harbor to see the festival of lights. They took the tallest buildings and made them light with some music. It was okay. I was slightly disappointed with the show itself, but the view of the buildings was the bee's knees. And I got my picture with the Jackie Chan hong kong walk of stars thingy. And a bruce lee statue. Afterward, we crossed the bay and went to the red light district. A lot of prostitutes and bars...
(and when I say we during this, I usually mean the exchange students. We are sort of doing these events in groups of about 100)
Went to a mexican bar and got some surprisingly decent tex mex. And a margarita, it was kind of strong.
Another day, we went to the beach. The beaches are okay, LBI was nicer. But the water was calm, warm, and shallow. So no worries about drowning. But not very clear. Afterwards, I ended up going to dinner with bunch of girls from all over the world.
Last night, I organized a group of about 10 to see inglorious bastards. It was fun. I lost my phone in the theater, and when I tried going back for it, another movie started so I had to wait until 15 past midnight to get it.
On my own, ive randomly walked around mong kok. I found one of the largest hobby shops in Hong Kong, but was kind of disapointed by the lack of gundam models. The toys r us in festival walk had more models. (festival walk is a massive mall next to the campus, we end up going there a lot) And yes, it sort of is part of Hong Kong culture. They fucking love malls here for some reason.
Other notes:
Apparently foreign people don't see Star Wars like in the US.
Every culture but the US drink heavily and early.
People shit thier pants when they find out you can get a rifle from wal mart.
AC is fucking amazing. Its so god damn hot and humid outside. I'm getting more used to it, but when you feel AC after being outside, its heavenly. They make you pay for the electricity in the dorms. There is actually a card you can when you want to turn it on. Ive used about 30-40$ hk dollars in the past 5 days. Sadness.
They love malls.
I get started at on the trains alot.
There are a lot of 7-11.
the octopus card is godly.
H&M is the exact same in Hong Kong as it in Sweeden.
Uniqlo has gundam t-shirts
Cell phones are crazy.
Laptops are surprisingly, not that crazy.
There arent many trash bags on the street.
I like noodles.
The cheesecake from the supermarket tastes like shit.
You can get a melon that has grown to have a face for 10k HKD.
My hair does not do well in the humidity. A few minutes after flat ironing it, I could see it curling up. I need another hair cut.
CityU is small but crowded.
Everybody is scared of swine flu. They give out the masks in the front.
The night security guard for my hall is much friendlier than the day one.
Thats it for now. I'm tired and I need to go the canteen for food before class starts.
Went to the night market near Mong Kok. I believe its the most crowded distrcit in the world, by population density. Its where you go to buy fake bags and shit. Ate food, met some people.
Went to a Karaoke bar. It was interesting. The guy leading the exchange students, Lorencio started the singing. He has a decent voice, but he chooses shit songs. I hate that aerosmith song from armegeddon. I tried singing beat it in front of about 100 people. Emphasis on tried. The lyrics didnt show up on the screen, and I had most of the song memorized. Afterwards, went bowling. That was interesting. I ended up playing with the most serious group of exchange students. They were there instead of Karaoke, and had been playing for a few hours before I got there. First game was shit, although in the last few frames I went from 60 something to 99 and jumped above getting last place. In the second game, I fucking dominated. By the 7th frame, I had a score high enough that more or less couldn't beat me unless they played like jesus. I ended up with 154 and the highest score of the night. Booyah.
Another night, we went out to bars. I met some more people, and learned a Hong Kong drinking game. There was a band, and we got there at the tail end of happy hour. So each person ended up with 1 drink. We sort of loitered for a while until the employees kind of gently made us leave.
Next night, was supposed to be victoria peak and the night club district, but I took a nap at 3 in the afternoon and woke up at almost 11. Fucking alarm didnt wake me up.
Another night, went to harbor to see the festival of lights. They took the tallest buildings and made them light with some music. It was okay. I was slightly disappointed with the show itself, but the view of the buildings was the bee's knees. And I got my picture with the Jackie Chan hong kong walk of stars thingy. And a bruce lee statue. Afterward, we crossed the bay and went to the red light district. A lot of prostitutes and bars...
(and when I say we during this, I usually mean the exchange students. We are sort of doing these events in groups of about 100)
Went to a mexican bar and got some surprisingly decent tex mex. And a margarita, it was kind of strong.
Another day, we went to the beach. The beaches are okay, LBI was nicer. But the water was calm, warm, and shallow. So no worries about drowning. But not very clear. Afterwards, I ended up going to dinner with bunch of girls from all over the world.
Last night, I organized a group of about 10 to see inglorious bastards. It was fun. I lost my phone in the theater, and when I tried going back for it, another movie started so I had to wait until 15 past midnight to get it.
On my own, ive randomly walked around mong kok. I found one of the largest hobby shops in Hong Kong, but was kind of disapointed by the lack of gundam models. The toys r us in festival walk had more models. (festival walk is a massive mall next to the campus, we end up going there a lot) And yes, it sort of is part of Hong Kong culture. They fucking love malls here for some reason.
Other notes:
Apparently foreign people don't see Star Wars like in the US.
Every culture but the US drink heavily and early.
People shit thier pants when they find out you can get a rifle from wal mart.
AC is fucking amazing. Its so god damn hot and humid outside. I'm getting more used to it, but when you feel AC after being outside, its heavenly. They make you pay for the electricity in the dorms. There is actually a card you can when you want to turn it on. Ive used about 30-40$ hk dollars in the past 5 days. Sadness.
They love malls.
I get started at on the trains alot.
There are a lot of 7-11.
the octopus card is godly.
H&M is the exact same in Hong Kong as it in Sweeden.
Uniqlo has gundam t-shirts
Cell phones are crazy.
Laptops are surprisingly, not that crazy.
There arent many trash bags on the street.
I like noodles.
The cheesecake from the supermarket tastes like shit.
You can get a melon that has grown to have a face for 10k HKD.
My hair does not do well in the humidity. A few minutes after flat ironing it, I could see it curling up. I need another hair cut.
CityU is small but crowded.
Everybody is scared of swine flu. They give out the masks in the front.
The night security guard for my hall is much friendlier than the day one.
Thats it for now. I'm tired and I need to go the canteen for food before class starts.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
mexican lasagna
1 lb ground meat
1 jar of salsa
1 can of refried beans
a shit ton of shredded cheese
a few tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers
mexican seasonings
casserole dish
corn or flour tortilla
taco sauce
preheat oven to 350
dice the vegetables
cook the ground meat with the seasoning
heat the refried beans in a pot on low heat, add a bit of cheese or milk
start layering
put salsa or sauce on the bottom
layer of torilla
refried beans
cheese
meat
vegetables/sace
cheese
torilla
repeat layers as long as you got ingrediants for
for the top, end it with torilla, and then use a lot of cheese to sort of give it a crust
bake it for 20 minutes
pop that shit out and eat it
1 lb ground meat
1 jar of salsa
1 can of refried beans
a shit ton of shredded cheese
a few tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers
mexican seasonings
casserole dish
corn or flour tortilla
taco sauce
preheat oven to 350
dice the vegetables
cook the ground meat with the seasoning
heat the refried beans in a pot on low heat, add a bit of cheese or milk
start layering
put salsa or sauce on the bottom
layer of torilla
refried beans
cheese
meat
vegetables/sace
cheese
torilla
repeat layers as long as you got ingrediants for
for the top, end it with torilla, and then use a lot of cheese to sort of give it a crust
bake it for 20 minutes
pop that shit out and eat it
Frankly, I sort of wing the measurements. Eventually they will be precise, but for now its hard to fuck up.
A Pizza:
You need:
a crust
mozerlla
basil
olive oil
pizza stone
presucito(sp?) ham
roasted red peppers
pizza crust
food processor
Make basil/olive oil into pesto in the food processor, add salt and a pepper and garlic to taste.
Put that shit onto the crust like sauce
put the cheese on top
put the peppers/ham
stick it on the stone
bake that shit
eat it
A Pizza:
You need:
a crust
mozerlla
basil
olive oil
pizza stone
presucito(sp?) ham
roasted red peppers
pizza crust
food processor
Make basil/olive oil into pesto in the food processor, add salt and a pepper and garlic to taste.
Put that shit onto the crust like sauce
put the cheese on top
put the peppers/ham
stick it on the stone
bake that shit
eat it
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