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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

?!

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.