祝我生日快乐!

Upon arrival at the airport Gabe and I quickly learned the perks of being “laowai” (foreigners) in a country predominantly one race. What initially struck him as terrifying, he soon learned brought about many benefits. The bus ride from the airport to the hotel gave me a chance to meet several of the students from across the United States that are also participating in the program. I think I’m very fortunate thus far, everyone in the group is extremely friendly and we seem to all be getting along well. It is the first week of course.

Well, Beijing University has its perks. With more than 40,000 of China’s brightest students, it certainly can be a bit overwhelming. When I first arrived on campus it was empty, class wouldn’t start for another week. Yesterday, students flooded the campus with parents, luggage, and enough bicycles to make the start of the Tour de France look like child’s play. All is well at school.

Dorms—well let’s just say they aren’t five-star but they are suitable and have all amenities needed, except a refrigerator, which would be fantastic. My milk is hanging out the window by a string which leads me to the point of this place is way too damn cold. After learning my lesson in 2008, I cautiously approached my bed rather than jumping on it and breaking my arm. It’s hard. Really hard. Fortunately for me, I’ll be able to sleep anywhere after these four months are up. Gabe was able to check in to the dorm/hotel with us and is living two doors down from me for the time being. It’s quite convenient. My roommate, Daniel, is a great guy; we have a lot in common—the most important being he’s Catholic. He attends Notre Dame, I’m trying not to hold that against him, and he’s from New Jersey.

Of course the day after I got here, as many of you should know, was my birthday. It was one heck of a birthday. We had about 15 people come out to dinner which was a pleasant surprise considering I just met them all. I brought them to one of my favorite restaurants in Hou Hai (后海). It’s a beautiful place with a lake in the middle now more like a huge ice rink. After getting the party started with 白酒 (bai jiu = Chinese sake), we went to a bar where I know the manager and she gave us a few free bottles of vodka and other stuff. Of course, I had a few drinks but I was fine. There was however, one friend who couldn’t handle the 白酒 quite as well as the rest of us. After leaving the bar and exploring the frozen lake, which was probably not the safest thing to be doing, we began to realize that one of us was missing. This person will go unnamed, but let’s just say he was nowhere to be found. Hou Hai has bars surrounding the entire lake; initially our idea was to leave the bar and go to a club to dance and hang out. Well the bar and the club were on opposite sides of the lake, walking around would have taken close to 30 minutes, crossing the ice, 5 minutes. No, this person didn’t fall through, but once we got to the other side of the lake, we had to retrace our steps where we found said unnamed person hunched over in a dark alley spewing wildly in all directions. Most of us were terrified, mostly because we couldn’t believe any single human being could have so much matter in a stomach that could be projectile vomited. After realizing unnamed jackass couldn’t walk more than two feet without face planting in his own vomit, it was over my shoulder they went vomiting down my back as we ran to a taxi.

Now this is where it gets really good. I should remind my audience it is my birthday and I am the one caring for said individual. Once this person couldn’t stand or mutter more than “uhhhhh,” I realized that my first experience in a Chinese hospital was imminent. How were we going to get him there? We stopped about five taxis and as soon as they saw what was left of this human being that was wasting away and they realized the chances of him soiling their car in any form was extremely high, they would speed away. That is until I offered a cab driver 300 kuai to save this persons life and drive us 10 minutes away. Friendly reminder, it’s still my birthday at this point.

Arriving at the nearest emergency room was an experience in itself. With three new friends helping me carry drunken rag doll, our bonds were formed for life. After the doctor greeted us with a chuckle, I explained to him, in Chinese, that our friend drank what seemed to be more than required for a slight buzz. The doctor had us toss him on a rolling bed as he continued to spew in all directions soiling his and everyone else’s clothes.

Of course, when entering a Chinese hospital, you must pay a fee before the doctor will look at the patient. The fee is 6 kuai, that’s about $1. They have their priorities straight. After paying the required pence, the doctor then asked me what was wrong with my friend if it wasn’t clear enough. I explained in my best Chinese that my friend drank too much and we were definitely worried that he had alcohol poisoning. He sent me with a prescription to another line around the corner where I paid 20 kuai to get the prescription and another 600 kuai for the actual medicine. It’s still my birthday. Meanwhile, unnamed friend’s face is now completely covered in vomit and moaning as if he is experiencing childbirth.

I finally get back to the bedside and ask the doctor to please put the IV in as fast as he can. Now this tells you how much I fear the coming three months, I actually asked the doctor if he would show me how to put an IV in so if this happened in the future I could act as a corpsman until we reached friendly territory. After he said I could watch but shouldn’t try it on my own, the IV was in and the four of us who were sober felt a huge weight lifted off our soldier. Soon after, the three guys that I hadn’t really met until that night decided it would the right time to leave since the hospital was pretty cold and it was 1 am. I sincerely appreciated their help. For the next three hours, I didn’t have a chair and my jacket was pretty much used to keep the victim from experiencing hypothermia. You’re probably wondering if I have pictures of this wonderful event—the answer is a huge YES. However, without proper editing, some of them may be inappropriate for my average reader and may give the identity of this individual away. With time, they will come.

After about an hour of chatting with the 24 YEAR-OLD DOCTOR! (who, by the way, is far too young to be responsible for anyone’s life) I decided I should probably ask the doctor if he could get me a chair. Not without one more incident that I can honestly say has scarred me for life. Unnamed victim, lying on the hospital bed in the middle of the hall which is filled with upwards of 30 other groups of people, begins screaming/moaning; I don’t even know what to call it. So I responded, “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” He replied, “I have to pee, really really bad!!!! Help!” He continued, “It hurts so bad! I have to pee!”

Interjection: What on earth does one do at this point? I’m about a 5-minute sober walk from the bathroom. He clearly still is nowhere near coherency. He’s screaming in pain because his bladder has filled far beyond capacity to what I imagine looks something like a yellow balloon that is about to explode with the slightest pressure added. And guess who comes to the rescue? 24 year-old doctor with what looks to me like a blue milk carton with an oversized mouth. “What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked in Chinese. You know when you ask a question and right after it comes out of your mouth every part of you wishes you could take it back and just erase the last 10 seconds? That’s what happened. Before I knew it, I was performing a procedure I truly believed I would never, and I mean NEVER, have to perform. Between my utter disgust, unnamed belligerent’s moaning satisfaction, the doctor’s smirk, and the nurse’s near fainting at the unintentional sighting of what was happening I was truly overwhelmed by the situation and began to laugh at the complete ridiculousness of what was ensuing.

It wasn’t long after this seemingly long process that I realized I started to feel uneasy in the stomach. Was it the fact that I had just crossed a line that might be considered illegal in Saudi Arabia or the fact that the entire situation had just emotionally drained me? I don’t know, but I quickly found myself outside the hospital up-chucking in the nearest bush as I regained my senses. Many of you might think it was the result of drinking. You would be wrong. I hadn’t had a drink for more than 3 hours at this point and throughout the entire night I had about 4 drinks, total. Presumably about 10 percent of what my drunken colleague must have had to reach this point.

After returning to the bedside and being unable to look anyone in the eye, especially the tormented nurse, I quickly began to seek means of getting out of this predicament as quickly as possible. I begged the doctor to make the IV move faster. As we were speaking, the body on the bed moved and laid on top of the IV. Assuming it was ok, we continued our conversation. As I’m speaking, I caught a glimpse of something red. When I looked down to investigate, I realized that blood was quickly leaking from this individual and coalescing on the floor and the bed completely soaking unnamed individual’s clothing and bed lining. Not realizing it was just a matter of the needle being displaced, I jumped in to panic mode. Would my friend die like this? Lying in a bottom of the barrel hospital after surviving alcohol poisoning? It couldn’t be. The doctor didn’t look so worried, he just called for the nurse who couldn’t believe she actually had to approach us, and she saved the day by replacing something on the contraption. My friend had been saved—yet again.

I continued the prodding and the doctor said he would try to make it faster. After he squeezed the bag several times, which may or may not be medically accepted, I realized it was futile. I was going to be sitting there for a while. Picture the situation at hand and it will quickly make you realize the ridiculousness of the entire night. Two somewhat Anglo-Saxon Americans sitting in the halls of a Beijing University hospital with a birthday boy using his limited Chinese to save the life of a friend in need. I felt an urge to tell the doctor we were Canadian as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

After falling asleep for about ten minutes, the doctor woke me up with a jolt; I think I was in combat sleep mode by this point. I jumped up expecting anything. Luckily this particular instance, it was just to inform me that the IV was empty, finally. While ripping off the tape holding down the IV, the nurse proceeded with extreme caution as if she was worried about pulling the hair from his hand and causing him pain. I laughed at the irony. A part of me wished she would make it as painful as possible. Apparently, drunken idiot was sober at this point; considering he had just been filled with close to 2000 milliliters I wasn’t entirely surprised. He woke with a jolt because the tape hurt. “Owwwwww!” Ten second pause. “Why am I in a hospital?” I didn’t know where to begin. Instead, I just told him to get up and let’s get the heck out of here. After thanking the doctor profusely, we strolled out the front door, both somewhat covered in vomit, looking like two battle-hardened vets. As we waited for thirty minutes in the 10 degree weather outside, he explained how he woke up and saw a white coat and he had just been dreaming he was laying in bed at home having the best sleep of his life and having not remembered the misery of the past 5 hours. For a second I kind of wished the tables had been turned.

As luck would have it, said friend woke up with absolutely nothing resembling a hangover. I, on the other hand, felt terrible because I was only able to sleep for about 4 hours. As I write this story, I’m sitting in a coffee shop laughing. While this story may make for a great blog post, I fully resolve to not relive it. Needless to say, my birthday prior to my first trip to the hospital was a great one. I’ve met a lot of really great people that I can see myself becoming really close to over the coming months. Many of them are from Notre Dame, which means as fans we are rivals but as Catholics we get along well.

I hope everyone enjoyed this blog. I can’t promise to make them this entertaining every time I write and to a degree I hope they aren’t this entertaining. If anyone has any questions about what’s going on just leave one in the comments section. Also, I’ll be posting another blog about school in the next couple days.

I’ll leave you with two words of advice today. First, when taking care of belligerent friends, always be well prepared for issues concerning digestive system so as not to blindside you and leave you scarred for life. Second, avoid hospitals at all cost if you yourself are the patient to be. If you’re not, make them readily accessible as we left the hospital having spent close to 1,000 kuai for 5 hours in the hospital. That’s about the equivalent of $175. I couldn’t purchase a Playstation for that price!!!!!

Cheers. 

A Great Start to A Long Haul

2.1 decades ago the world was graced with a birth rivaling that of the Great Caesar and according to many, surpassing that of Mr. Lincoln himself; while few have heard his name, all have benefited from his time on earth in some way or another. Like all great men, AJ Bayus has much to his resume—from single-handedly negotiating peace accords with the barbarian tribes of the Amazon, to saving thousands of oil-soaked seals and dolphins in the Gulf Coast during last years disaster. It was just twenty-one years and nine months ago to the day when Robin and Tony Bayus made what turned out to be the most profitable mistake of their lives.

For this unprecedented celebration in AJ’s life, I was blessed to be a part of his first two beers, shot of tequila, and shot of whiskey. Unfortunately, AJ goes to school at the University of Hawaii where he swings a bat for a living while bringing hordes of women to their knees with a quick flash of his furry chest. What this meant for me was that in order to celebrate his day of birth, I was forced to travel to Hawaii where I couldn’t leave the apartment wearing more than a bathing suit and flip-flops. It was torture. It’s hard visiting a place where the temperature varies from 75 to 85 every day during the summer, but I was a trooper and I put up with it.

Following AJ’s first few drinks, my time spent on the island consisted of eating, surfing, scuba diving WWII wrecks and fun things like learning how to pick up a car after it has been towed for illegal parking. Yea, that happened. Overall, my time spent in Oahu with AJ couldn’t have been any better. It was a great way to start my four months abroad with great people and even better weather. Thank you AJ.

Then reality hit me. I would be spending 120 days of my life living in what could be the most polluted city in the world where temperatures range from 10-40 degrees Farenheit. But before the misery began, I had one last glimpse of sunlight when one of my wonderful sisters, Janie, met me at the Seattle airport during my layover to bring Gabe and I what could be my last American lunch for a very long time. (Sidenote: Gabriel Garcia is in China with me. He will be here for the first two weeks.) After our great layover, we jumped on Hainan Airlines flight 496 for eleven and a half hours of pure misery. I’ve never experienced seats on an airplane that make you wish you were being burnt alive—a little bit of an exaggeration, I know. But seriously, they were that bad. I slept maybe 2 hours, if you call it sleep, and read the rest of the time while I complained to Gabe about my lower back.

When we arrived and picked up our luggage, it was off to Beijing University. Everyone in the program seems really nice and I’m enjoying getting to know them all. My roommate is awesome, he’s a great guy who goes to Notre Dame and happens to be Catholic (my new Church buddy). Gabe was able to rent a room in the dorm hotel three doors down from me so it worked out great. Not much has transpired other than what I’ve given above but I’ll be sure to check in regularly. Hope everyone at home is great, thanks for all the birthday wishes, I miss you all!

Michael

It's the Pollution...

I'm sorry. Let it be done. It's been more than a month since my last blog posting and I realize that is an extremely long time for me to have absolutely nothing interesting to write about. I can only attribute this to one thing, the pollution. If you woke up every day and looked out your window and couldn't see more than a kilometer away from your 15th story apartment, you'd want to fall back to sleep and avoid thinking and writing as much as possible too. Almost like if you're living in Seattle! I'm about to summarize a month of living in Beijing in something you should be able to read in less than five minutes.

Beijing is mediocre. Sometimes I feel like life in Beijing is so unpredictable; one third of the time life is great, one third of the time life kind of sucks, and one third of the time it's in the middle. Right now I'd say I've reached a trough. I hope this wave will hold out for another 6 weeks. 

Since the last time we spoke, I have been to Xi'An (西安）, Tokyo（东京）, and of course all over Beijing (北京). I'll start with Xi'An. The place is probably best known for the Terra Cotta Warriors (Wikipedia them), and for good reason. The fact that one man ordered the building of thousands of life-sized clay warriors to be buried with him and that order was carried out is astonishing. Unfortunately for us, the warriors happened to be the only interesting site in the whole city. We saw several other places that would be considered "interesting" if it was your first time in China, but the fact that every important building ever built in the thousands of years of history of China looks the exact same really puts a damper on things that have a real potential for attracting people. Probably the second most entertaining thing we did was bike ride on top of the wall that surrounds Xi'An city. We were able to do it in under 4 minutes and we saw much of the modern city while enjoying the fact that everyone kept laughing as we passed by: did I mention we were riding a tandem bike with no shirt on? Other than the fact it was 95 degrees outside and humidity was that of a small bathroom with no fan after a long hot shower, it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Quick side note, I can't go without mentioning that Xi'An is flooded with pick-pocketers, all potential visitors beware.  

After what felt like the longest semester of my life, we were given a five day break in between the start of the next semester of classes. Naturally, I, along with two friends, decided to spend that time in Asia's most interesting Capital, Tokyo. Now before I went to this delightful place, I knew absolutely nothing about it. When I think of Japan I think of two things, sushi and World War II. While both extremely important in the country of Japan, they would be two of the least impressive aspects of Japanese modern culture. Our outlook out of the gate wasn't very positive, it turns out the weathermen all over the world are equally wrong, they forecasted thunderstorms every day we were there and it only rained the night we got there and the morning we left. While most of these days blended together I can tell you about the most interesting experiences we had and even post pictures below. I'll make the summary short: Bring your best walking shoes. Stay away from Shibuya at night, turns out it's the red light district. If you're a college student, never use a taxi, subways only. Choose a hostel that keeps its doors open 24 hours a day; I say this because ours was closed from 2 am to 4:30 am, this creates a huge problem, 2 am is way too early and 4:30 am is way too late to be coming home from Tokyo's nightlife. NEVER eat raw horse meat. Pull an all nighter in Raponggyi and then at 4 am catch a taxi to the fish market to see the most fascinating tuna auction on earth. Tokyo spas (onsen as they call them) are for naked people only. The only people that speak English are the Nigerians on the street who try and trick you into entering their bosses brothel. Massage in Japanese means sex. Don't trust travel guide books, talk to the locals. Every attractive girl you see walking with a man over 50 is for hire. If a girl who is way too attractive for you starts dancing with you in a club, she's trying to increase her client base. Unless you are willing to pay thousands of US dollars at a hostess bar, stay away, the rest are just brothels. Finally, don't let friends with weak stomachs eat sea urchin sushi for breakfast at 5 am. 

For the most part, Tokyo was a lot of fun, it was really hard to be in a country where we couldn't communicate with anyone other than thank you and hello and goodbye. I was able to eat sushi just about every day which was pretty much heaven on earth. The best sushi, by far, was the sushi that you eat for breakfast right after the tuna auction. It's relatively cheap and absolutely delicious. Sushi for breakfast is a little strange, but if you can get over that idea, you should definitely try it out. 

As for studying in Beijing, it's not changing much. A typical weekday consists of me waking up around 7 am, studying in the lobby or cafe for an hour to prepare for my daily quiz where I have to memorize about 50 new characters, class from 9 to 12, lunch at the Japanese restaurant in the basement from 12-1, speaking with a Chinese partner from 1-1:30. Then homework until dinner time. During the weekends, we go dancing sometimes and we go watch world cup games sometimes but most of the time is filled with homework. I think my Chinese is improving but it's hard to tell. I'm able to hold conversations without stopping and asking for an explanation too many times, classes are entirely in Chinese, we aren't allowed to speak english, and I love arguing with taxi drivers about why Mao Ze Dong was not the god they think he was. It's a genuine blast.  

I guess there isn't much more to say today, life has pretty much entered a rhythm, unfortunately I hate rhythms. I am looking forward to New Zealand with my wonderful mother and getting back to SC after that. 

I have been called many things in my life, but one thing I will most certainly never be called is a "Consistent Blogger." For this I must apologize. Thank you for reading, enjoy the pictures below!

Michael

Pictures!

Click on them to enlarge if you want. 

I'd like you to meet my teacher, AKA Mao Ze Dong's younger brother. 

Me on the Great Wall at BaDaLing. I jumped over the wall that said "Do Not Go Beyond This Point". It was worth it.  

A fraction of the clay soldiers that were made for this Emperor.

Me giving a talk to Singapore students in Chinese... Well, it was more like half Chinese, half English. 

Riding tandem on the Xi'An wall. 

Dad's Visit to Beijing

My name in Tradition Characters. Simplified looks like this: 吴小龙

Can someone tell me what this flower is? Saw it in Japan, it's beautiful. 

Some Japanese people are very big fans of ours... I guess that doesn't need an explanation. 

Tokyo from a viewing Tower.

Red Bull Girls in Tokyo that speak no English!

What is more strange in this picture, the guys dressed as Greasers dancing at the entrance to Yoyogi Park or the French dude crouching dressed as a Nun?

They do this every Sunday. Yoyogi Park is a must see in Tokyo, strangest place I've been. We actually danced Salsa with several of the people who were just playing music and dancing in the middle of the park. 

Skyline in the day from Tokyo Tower. 

Skyline in Evening from Tokyo Tower.

Tokyo Tower from the base. 

The biggest Tuna I've ever seen. That one in front of that guy is at least his length without a tail and weighs twice as much. 

How Did I End Up At the UN?

Welcome back... to what just might be the most solipsistic blog in the current blogosphere. As I reached Beijing this summer I started to think about my blog and what exactly I could add to it that would make it even remotely interesting and it dawned on me--this blog is entirely about me, does anyone really care? Mom and Dad, you don't count.

So here I am, continuing my blog dismissing those thoughts and wishing upon Betelgeuse that most of you might actually care about what my life has in store for me in China.

And we begin by taking you to a far away land, formerly known as the Orient, more commonly referred to as the People's Republic of China, more commonly referred to as China, and most commonly, given the number of Chinese people in the world, 中国.

I arrived a little over a week ago in the beautiful Beijing airport. With little to do I spent most of my time in my hotel room but managed to make it out and meet some old friends from last year. I met a friend at Hou Hai, the Riviera of Beijing if there ever was one, and quickly learned the West has been influencing China a great deal. I came across several homosexual people, and what looked like a communist attempt at a strip club (no I did not enter if you were wondering). After wandering about we had some dinner and I headed back to my hotel, this repeated for several days until it came time to move into my temporary home (shout out to Carrie Underwood).

ShouDu ShiFan DaXue, 首都师范大学, Capital Normal University is where I will be living for the next two months. It has two campuses, the first is a major attraction for taxi drivers, the second is a major attraction for foreigners and was never placed on the map that is currently being used for taxi drivers, or so it seems. I am living on the second campus. Though quaint, it has more than its share of interesting features. The gym is nice, my dorm is comparable to my dorms in Boston and it's proximity to everything in Beijing is far from convenient. But hey, I'm here to learn Chinese and as we all learned from my previous times in China getting lost is the best way to put homework into practice.

USC's group currently consists of 15 students either in Chinese III or Chinese V. I am proud to say I am a representative of the minority non-asian group. A whopping four of us stand proud, ready to prove though lacking in appearance, our language skills can often compete with those that fit in simply by appearance.

Class is going well, we are swamped with homework and are being forced to memorize about 150-200 characters per week--what a blast. With the repetition of characters over the next two months, it's safe to say I will lose all feeling in my hand while simultaneously becoming closer and closer to being fluent in this God-forsaken yet beautiful language.

Life is good in China, I can't complain. I miss family and friends but I'm making plenty of the latter and don't be surprise if I come home having started a new former (totally kidding). I think I'm truly in love with this facility though. There are kids from at least 20 different countries here, the majority being Korea. I've met a kid from Iraq, several from Russia, several from Italy and too many to count from China. My favorite part is that none of these kids speak English so we all have to converse in Chinese. Picture it, myself, and American, getting to know a college student from Iraq conversing in a language from an entirely different continent than either of us were born on. It's quite the sight and really fun.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to post but I'll work on that for the next one. We plan on traveling to Xi'An in a week or two and I'll definitely have pictures from that. The Great Wall is this weekend and several other small trips in Beijing.

I look forward to reading your comments.

再见！Ciao! Goodbye!

吴小龙

香港 - Hong Kong

It’s amazing how a simple trip to another town can rejuvenate you on so many levels. What initially was a trip to refresh my 60 day limit of stay in China, turned into an incredible experience in an unimaginable city.

If you take away the Chinese characters, a street in Hong Kong could easily be mistaken for a street in Las Vegas or even New York City for that matter. Second only to American big cities, it is perhaps the most diverse city I have ever come across. Sure, the majority of the city is packed with native Chinese, but around every corner lies something from another part of the world—mosques, catholic monasteries, French restaurants, Bank of America, British trolleys, etc… It was a truly fascinating experience.

Hong Kong still baffles me when it comes to figuring out where it belongs in the Chinese system. It’s considered part of China, but when traveling there you have to go through customs and Americans don’t need a visa for entry. Chinese customs considers a trip to Hong Kong to be “leaving the country” but at the same time it’s a Special Economic Zone according to China’s government. After experiencing the city, it’s almost as if it doesn’t belong in China’s realm. Perhaps that’s why it’s considered a separate entity in many cases.

Entering Hong Kong is like entering a China that exists 20 or even 50 years from now. The Great Firewall of China, as they call it, doesn’t exist in Hong Kong. The people all speak English. Protests are supposedly quite common and legal. On one stretch of road, I think I saw a place of worship for at least all of the great world religions. Things like this are unthinkable on the “mainland.” Perhaps the most surprising difference was the incredibly progressive/liberal views towards pornography. Let’s just say Hong Kong takes it too far when following the marketing edict of “sex sells.” Comparing Hong Kong to Beijing is like comparing Las Vegas to Salt Lake City—worlds apart.

Through all the commotion in the city which seemed to last 24/7, I was able to find a Catholic church nearby my hotel. Because Hefei has no Catholic churches, it was probably the most attractive part of the whole city. I was able to catch mass both full days I was there and even made time for confession. To show how diverse the place is, there were two priests saying mass: one from India, and one from Hong Kong. The priest who heard my confession was from Spain and had been in China for 18 years, mostly Hong Kong. Needless to say, it was a much needed break.

A few good friends were able to provide me with some clutch suggestions relating to food and must-see sights. The first was the Inter-Continental Hotel. It’s ranked in the top hotels in the world, so of course I couldn’t afford to stay there, but I could afford to have some sushi at their restaurant with a view overlooking Victoria Harbor and downtown Hong Kong. Then there were the shopping areas. If I was a weaker man, I would have bankrupt my father with all the incredible deals they had going in those shopping centers. I held strong, not spending a single dollar on clothes or other merchandise. Finally, I went to see the giant Buddha statue. It was an interesting experience to say the least and I was able to ride a gondola-esque ski lift up to it at extremely high altitudes that frightened me at times.

Overall, Hong Kong was an incredible experience. Although I could probably never live there, I would recommend everyone to see it at least once. It’s beautiful and culturally rich regardless of what the British did to the place. Furthermore, it’s living proof, along with New Zealand and Australia, that outside of Africa colonialism did a lot of good. Next time you doubt that, ask someone from Hong Kong if they’d rather be living in Beijing.

‘Til Next Time Friends,

Michael

Did you think I would forget the pictures?

Had to post this one. Saint Michael slaying a Dragon! Backdrop is Hong Kong.

British spelling is like nails on a chalkboard.

Comedy

Hong Kong in the day.

Hong Kong at night. Give me a break, I had no tripod so I had to set my camera on a gate.

Shopping District in Kowloon

Way too high.

Woman praying to Buddha

Me in front of the big Buddha. I posted this for my mother so she knows I'm still alive.