Dad In Town

This week I was fortunate to have my Dad come and visit me here in Hong Kong. He got in on Saturday afternoon after a flight much like my own, no sleep. On Friday we kept things pretty quiet, just did a little exploring and acclimation with the neighborhood. Dad got to bed early, 32 hours with no sleep will do that to you. We spent the week doing the tourist things mixed in with just exploring everyday life. Hong Kong is an amazing city but in my opinion is not a city with a lot tourist draws, there are sights to see but the main draw of this city is seeing culture unlike anywhere in the world. We did do the tourist sights, we went to the top of the peak on the Peak Tram, this is probably the most well known sight in the city. Another trip we took was out to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha, this is a massive bronze Buddha that unfortunately is only 17 years old, one wishes something this awe inspiring is an ancient feat of engineering. One of the highlights of the trip out to the Buddha is the cable car ride from the Tung Chung stop on the MTR. This ride is about 25 minutes and takes you out to the relatively isolated home of the Buddha, the ride provides amazing views of some of the housing developments and more impressively views of the airport. I have not talked much about the airport and looking back on that I wish I had, this is truly one of the most underrated features of Hong Kong. In the nineties Hong Kong built and island and put a new state of the art airport there, this project was the largest engineering project of the twentieth century. Before I really start rambling I'll be more than happy to tell the story of the airport to anyone who asks, but now back to the trip. The cable car provides a view of this entire complex that takes your breath away. The Buddha itself is a massive bronze statue if Buddha sitting, this statue is so large that on a clear day it can be seen from as far away as Macau. We saw the Buddha, the peak, our next stop on the tourists list was the Avenue of the Stars, this is the walkway on the Kowloon side that overlooks the famous Hong Kong skyline. This view is very humbling, it is a very imposing skyline, some of most amazing architecture in the world is on display here and we had a prime viewing spot. Probably the last thing that we did that may fall into the tourist category is the trips to the famous markets of Hong Kong, most notably the Stanley market and the night market. These markets go on for seems like forever, filled with everything and anything. While I did not do any shopping, I like to wait until the last minute to do my shopping, last year I did my Christmas shopping on Dec. 24th. My Dad on the other hand found a plethora of things to bring home for a wide range of people, he may have stolen some of ideas for gifts but hey no worries, I'm a resourceful person. Between the markets, the Buddha and all the other sites we found time to explore and walk through all of the major neighborhoods on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. We walked more in those few days than I have in quite some time but I did get to see some of the parts of HK that many don't have the chance to see. For more on these neighborhoods ask me directly as there is to much to write about. On Wednesday night we took part in the local tradition of going to Happy Valley for the horse races, If I have not mentioned it earlier let me say it now, Happy Valley is incredible. This is a massive complex filled football (soccer) pitches and various other athletic facilities all within a horse track. The complex is set in the middle of the city surrounded by skyscrapers and apartment complexes and sticks out like a sore thumb in this concrete jungle. The Happy Valley race course has more money wagered on horses than any other venue in the world, the residents of this city love horse racing and for only $1.13 US admission who could blame them. While I do not bet on horses, not my bag, I tried one race and lost. Dad on the other hand won a little bit on our last race of the night making for a good cap to the evening. We fished of my Dad's visit to HK with a great dinner on Thanksgiving, while it was not turkey, it was great and we went to a local bar and hung with a few of the other people on the trip and just enjoyed the night. It was a great few days and I had a great time during Dad's visit and am now ready to buckle down and get some work done. I'll be home in three weeks, see everyone then

Fin

Yes, it is true. I am done with classes for the semester. This past Thursday was my final day of classes until second semester resumes back at Nova in January. For ten weeks I had class here in Hong Kong and while class can be boring and strenuous at times it was one of the more fulfilling academic periods of my life. The end of the semester came upon me and all my classmates rather quickly and we all found ourselves scrambling to finish papers and presentations for finals week, we all eventually got them done. Myself, being the worst procrastinator not named Laura Collins (Laura on the slight chance you are reading this, you and I both know it's true, I do miss you and everyone else and will see you soon) got my work done with time to spare and can now breathe easy. For those of you wondering why I am not headed home if I done with class, I will now be beginning the third module of my semester here in China, the first two being the cultural seminar and classes being the other. For the third module I will be doing independent research, the topic of my paper will be microfinance as a tool for development in Indonesia, assuming Villanova approves. Hopefully I will get to do some field research in Indonesia and see how microfinance works first hand. Any questions or comments, feel free to ask.

Yankes Win, heee Yankees Win

I'm writing this post as a very happy man, for unless you are dead to the world you will now have noticed that the Yankees have won their 27th World Series title. I woke up this morning as I have been doing for the whole series and headed to a bar in SoHo to watch the game. Myself being the only real Yankee fan on this trip, ie: I'm the only one who cared enough to watch the games, made the daily trip to The Globe (the bar)with a diehard Philadelphia fan in every sense of the term. While he might not share the same views on baseball, Marshall made a good companion for the games. We both cheered all out for respective teams, sometimes to the astonished look of other patrons, and would ridicule the international broadcasters who were the doing the game on ESPN. I must say, I really miss Joe Buck. I don't have much to say in this entry I just wanted to assure everyone that while I might not be in the country I still got to watch the series. 27 is a big number and I only expect it to get bigger. Only 4 months until spring training!

White Power?

No, now before you jump to any conclusions to what the title of this entry suggests I want to say that this is not an article concerning white supremacy or anything of negative relations of race. This is an entry about the everyday facets of Hong Kong life that find their routes deep in the history of this fought over land. Again it has nothing to do with racist views on skin color. It is a look at a piece of life that finds its origins in the history of China.

Now that I have cleared up this title I can movie onto what is really important, the story. When I arrived in Hong Kong, it was hot, sticky and humid. As I wandered the streets exploring the city I found that many people, carried umbrellas with them at all times, it didn't have to be raining or cloudy, people had them when it was hot and sunny. Day after day went by and day after day I would see people put up their umbrella when they entered the sunlight and take it down when they got to the shade, they would repeat the process over and over as they moved down the street, up, down, up, down... Seeing this I just assumed that people here preferred portable shade and never had I given it much thought after that.
Days turned into weeks and soon the umbrellas were nothing more than another obstacle in the daily commute of life. You went under them or around them when people moved too slowly and carried on about your day. In Taipei as it happened, I found myself talking with the rather blitzed Australian I had mentioned earlier in this blog and the topic of the "all purpose" umbrella came up. Now it had been almost two months since the purpose of the umbrella had entered my mind but the Aussie brought new life to the use of this object. Now, please don't think of this man, no matter how drunk he may have been, as an idiot. I know I might have shed a bad light on him earlier but he does do research at University in Singapore and has a pretty good idea about what he is talking about. He told us that the reason the umbrella was used so frequently was to keep the skin white. This tradition we were told was because back when Hong Kong had a large portion of laborers in the field the people who worked in the offices and stores wanted to differentiate themselves from the lower class of field workers. Since the laborers spent the day under the sun their skin became darker and more tan, in an effort not to be associated with this lower class the upper tiers of society did anything possible to stay as pale and white as possible, even using an umbrella at all times of the day. Hong Kong was and still is a city divided by class and those in the upper echelons want do not want to be confused with anyone considered low enough to do manual labor. In modern Hong Kong there is little to no fields to work and most work is done indoors making it almost impossible to distinguish class from skin color. This being the case one would think then that the umbrella would be an obsolete tool since everyone is essentially the same hue. It seems however though that while many people don't even know why they use the umbrella it is something that is so ingrained in the culture that people don't even know how it started, at least most don't. Upon hearing this explanation I was disappointed in myself for not taking the time to come to this conclusion on my own, I think with some real thought I would have figured out the umbrella riddle. This is a culture that was raised on "white is good" and so was ours at one time, it probably stills is to a great extent. I the U.S. however though there has been a slowly growing to what beauty is, no longer is just white. Tan, the idea that scared so many Hong Kongers is something in the U.S. that is now associated with beauty. Will Hong Kong soon follow?

A side note: this idea of white is good might not just be confined to Hong Kong; during my time in Vietnam I saw a few billboards for skin whitening cream. Now this is a country with a great deal of workers in the field and it is probably a good look at how Hong Kong was a hundred years ago.

Hope this article was satisfying, feel free to ask any questions you might have, I'd be glad to answer them.

Non Sequitur! Part Deux

The weather in here in Hong Kong seems to have settled at rather comfortable temperature that makes everyday life quite enjoyable. The weather has settled around 75 to 80 degrees during the day with low humidity. It has also become bearable here at night where before you couldn't two blocks without breaking a sweat, now it is possible to make to your final destination with only mild discomfort. People say the weather here is only going to get better and I am quite happy it is cooling down. I will say though that I miss the slow cool down of autumn and the eventual cold chills of Thanksgiving. It will be interesting stepping off the plane in December after 5 months in a relatively tropical climate, hopefully by annual adaptation to winter won't be affected and I can continue relishing in the ice cold weather that bothers so many.

The Elderly- Hong Kong is a city with a large population of senior citizens, at least my neighborhood is. While I have not spent nearly as much time in NYC as I might have liked I have noticed in my time there that there is a large population of residents over 65, maybe I'm missing something but the subway never seems to be filled with people you have to surrender your seat to or have to walk around because they are moving to slow. This may have to do with the long standing tradition of senior citizens heading down to Florida to relax and not pay as much in taxes. Yau Ma Tei is quite different; it seems that you can't go through one stop on the MTR without an elderly person looking at you coercing your seat from you. It is quite interesting to see the elderly sprinting from the door to the seat to beat the others from the generation for a spot. One thing that was mentioned to us during our orientation here is that many elderly people from greater Hong Kong and mainland China move into the city whereas in the states it would seem to be the exact opposite.

That's all I have for today's post. Hopefully more will come soon.

Vietnam

"We've realized that we're having a very difficult time finding the enemy. It isn't easy to find a Vietnamese man named "Charlie." They're all named Nguyen, or Tran, or..."

This past weekend I traveled down to Saigon to see the sights and catch up with my cousin who is spending a year in Vietnam teaching english. Four of us flew into Vietnam on Thursday night Andrew, Rodrigo, Josh and myself. We got through customs, showed our visas and headed for a cab into the city. We got into the cab around 11:30 at night and drove through what seemed to a relatively empty wasteland with the occasional motorbike passing us buy or a rare group of people looking up from the lawn chairs they were conversing from. I would later come to realize that this is not some washed up wasteland it is a vibrant city where people just happen to go to bed early. We got to bed at decent time after watching Misery the suspense thriller with Kathy Bates and James Caan. I know this point means little to most readers but I have a hard time resisting the chance to mention a movie.
We got moving Friday morning around 8 and met up with my cousin John who had taken the bus down from Dalat, a city in the hills north of Saigon. We headed out to look for a tailor for some inexpensive Vietnamese clothing, we wandered the streets searching for a good spot but were unable to find anything that fit our needs. It would later become apparent that we just happened to miss the tailors by a block or two. Since the suits were a no go we decided to head outside the city to see the Củ Chi tunnels. For those who don't know these tunnels are just a small part in the vast network that the VC used in their war against us back in the sixties and seventies. If anyone wishes to know more about how these tunnels worked and how they were used feel free to ask me with a comment or an email and would be happy to ramble on about history. Upon seeing these tunnels in person after only seeing them on TV I was amazed. These tunnels are small. I cannot reiterate this enough, if you ever see them for yourself and you climb in be prepared for a tight squeeze. We got to the tunnels and were given a tour of the grounds and given the chance to go into the tunnels for ourselves. I unfortunately was to big to fit into these tunnels, the North Vietnamese Army did not design their tunnels to accommodate a six foot two American. While I did not get into the main tunnel some of my friends did and after hearing their reactions a part is thankful to VC for making them too small for me. Upon entering the tunnel first Andrew was handed a small flashlight and told to just forward and the exit would be straight ahead. Rodrigo and John followed close behind and the lid tot the tunnel was sealed. As the tunnel lid was dropped the worker giving the tour jokingly told them to watch out for bats. As I waited at the exit yells quickly came questioning which way to go, it seems there was not just one easy way out of the tunnel but in fact two diverging paths. After finally emerging from the tunnels Andrew stated that the guide was in fact not joking about the bats and that there was a rather large population of them below the surface. Upon hearing about the bats those in the back of the pack were thankful for the pitch black that prevented them form seeing the winged beasts. After seeing the tunnels, some recreations of a VC camp and some impact craters from American bombers we were taken to the firing range. Now Mom don't be scared but I did fire my first gun, and I am 99% sure it will be the last time I fire a gun. I have never found the desire to go fire a gun strong before but when presented with the opportunity to fire an AK-47 or an M-60 I figured I would take a shot or twenty. I decided to take twenty shots from an AK-47, this being the only place in the world where I believe one can legally fire this gun which has played such a large role in the military history of the past sixty years. Upon hearing how loud a gun shot is, it leaves your ears ringing, I don't think I can imagine how loud a battle field must be with hundreds of these machines being fired. The power that these weapons exert really makes one reflect on their life. We all took our shots and got our adrenaline rush for the day and headed back to central Saigon. We hung out that night and sat at a table in a bar and observed the nightlife passing by in the streets. It was one of the more relaxing, laid back nights I have had since arriving in Asia.
The next we decided to take the self guided walking tour of the city that our Lonely Planet guidebook suggested. The tour hit almost all the major sites of Saigon from the Reunification Palace to Notre Dame Cathedral to the War Remnants Museum. It was interesting to see the view of the War from the North Vietnamese point of view. Now I'm not going to get into my view of who did what to who, that is an answer for an in person conversation. I will however mention that it was a little troubling to see the dog tags of American Soldiers for sale. I'm not sure many Veterans of the war would be thrilled to see these pieces for sale. One thing that I found interesting on the tour was the Notre Dame Cathedral, seeing a massive Gothic building built with bricks of a bright almost pinkish hue was certainly an interesting juxtaposition. The Cathedral is an interesting site in the middle of Asia and churches are not something that standout usually in this part of the world. For more details on the sights and sounds of the tour email me or ask me in person when I get home, sorry to much to share in one blog. John headed back to Dalat that evening and the four of us headed to the Rex, a hotel down the street where during the war the military gave their press briefings and Walter Cronkite reported from at times. The place was now a touristy rooftop bar with a band playing sixties favorites like Tom Jone's "Delilah." After the Rex we went to the backpacker district and hung out at a bar and talked to an Irishman who was traveling through Asia. We ended up bumping into this guy 4 more times in the next day in the half.
The next day we decided to rent motorbikes the next day and test our prowess on the congested streets of Saigon. Within the first half hour all three us had wiped out, mine was the smallest and happened on an empty street with no one else around. The other two each had more hair raising crashes but we all survived no worse for the wear. After one gets the hang of the traffic here everything sort of falls into place and you begin to move around just as the locals do. The four hours spent on the motorbikes were some of the most exciting and interesting four hours of my life. It really lets you experience life. We left Vietnam tired and beat but feeling better than we have in our past few months, it was a great trip. For those curious the quote at the beginning is from "Good Morning Vietnam"

Bangkok

Sorry for the delay in posts, it has been a busy week but I realized I needed to post this before leaving for Saigon. Last Thursday me and four guys from the Hong Kong crowd headed to Bangkok, the city where it is said, anything can be found or done for a price. We got into Bangkok found that it was hot, not surprisingly as we were much closer to the equator, but it was still an annoyance. We crammed into a cab and headed for our hotel about 40 minutes away. A quick note on being the largest of the people you’re traveling with, you always get the front when the situation calls for four in the back seat. It's nice. Upon arriving at the hotel we got settled and explored the surroundings. The hotel was situated on a canal and along the canal was a rather extensive market selling any type of fruit or vegetable imaginable. I have never seen as many pineapples in my life. The market was filled with smells I cannot and should not describe. After leaving the market we headed back to the hotel for some dinner and then got ready for the night. The day before leaving Andrew, one of the four, found out that a DJ named Paul Van Dyke would be playing at a club in Bangkok, now this news meaning nothing to me was explained as being very important. For it seems that PVD has twice been ranked the top DJ in the world and he was currently in the middle of his world tour. DJs go on world tours? So that night we headed to the show and I have to admit the guy puts on a great show, the place was filled and everyone was really into the DJ which made for quite an experience. We got home late that night and quickly headed for bed.
The next morning we got to a later start than might have been preferred but it was expected seeing as we had been out until three. We were going to the Grand Palace and hopefully some other culturally relevant sites today. One thing everyone should if they come to Bangkok is take a ride in a tuk-tuk, I won't go into much detail over what a tuk-tuk is, it has to be seen for itself, but it essentially a covered tricycle that hold three people in the back. We decided to take two of these amazing contraptions to the Palace and we were not sorry. Seeing the city from this point of view provides for a perspective that is as unique as the city itself. Upon arriving at the Palace a massive thunder hit and it preceded to downpour for about half an hour leaving us soaked wearing pants (one has to wear pants at the Palace) in a tropical city. As the sky cleared up we headed into the Palace to take in the way of life for Thai royalty. This Palace is quite the site spires covered in gold paint rise from all sides and statues of Buddha are all around. It is truly a humbling place. We spent a while in the palace exploring the grounds and watching the people pray at the temple on the grounds. After finishing up here we got back on a tuk-tuk and headed for the standing Buddha. The standing Buddha is exactly what it says, a large gold Buddha standing, that’s it, nothing more nothing less. We spent a short period of time there and then headed back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for Muay Thai. Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and it a form of martial arts that involves the use of hands, feet, knees and elbows. We went to a fight Friday night at Lumpini Stadium, we sat in the upper decks with the locals and that decision seemed to make all the difference. Upstairs with the locals we entered into a world of screaming, shouting and rapid hand signals that only grew louder and faster as the fight went on. The reason for all of this commotion is gambling. Lumpini is one of the few places in Thailand where gambling is allowed and the locals take advantage of it. Since we don't speak Thai and didn't know what the rules were about betting so we decided to just enjoy the atmosphere the gambling brought instead of taking part. This was the first time I had experienced any sort of organized fighting and it was pretty cool to see these people go at it for three rounds. We saw nine fights that night and it was well worth it.
The next morning we woke up early and headed for the Bangkok railway station. Our destination for the day was Bang Pa In, also known as the summer Palace for the royal family. The train station was old school with a large atrium and platforms leading out to old locomotives. We got our tickets and headed for the train, the train was in a word unique, it had no a/c with large open windows and oscillating metal fans on the ceiling. Luckily we got on the train 45 minutes before departure and got seats cause half an hour into to the trip it was standing room only on a hot humid Thai day. The train took about two hours, it would have been much quicker but we seemed to making stops every five or ten minutes. After a long hot train ride we hopped off at the sleepy rural town of Bang Pa In and headed for the Palace. We walked about a mile and half to the Palace rather than taking public transportation and were rewarded with a stunning home fit only for a King. The Palace had exquisitely manicured lawns with a lake in the center. My favorite part of the Palace had to be the observatory tower that gave a view over all the grounds and required you to take your shoes off before entering. After walking through the grounds and enjoying the peace and quiet we headed back to what would be another hot and crowded train. On the way back to Bangkok I was lucky enough to get a spot on the stairs off the train which meant I could hang of the edge and let the wind hit my face, I can't promise it wasn't dangerous because it was but I was careful and should be putting videos of it up soon. After we got back from Bang Pa In we decided to take motorbikes back to the hotel, it was a fast wild ride and mom I have to tell you, a motorcycle might be in my future. That night we headed to the seedier part of town to see firsthand what the famed Bangkok red light district was all about. All I'm going to say about it is that it is not for me and I find a great deal of moral qualms with the whole idea of it.
We headed home early that night and woke up early the next morning to get to Chatuchak market, arguably the largest market in the world with over 35,000 stalls and anything one could need. Products ranged from food to clothing to illegal animal trade where you weren't allowed to take pictures. The whole place is a blur of alleys and maze like hallways that can be difficult to navigate. I would not suggest anyone with claustrophobia go there. We spent the day at the market and I regret to say I could not find anything worth purchasing; tee shirts filled with innuendo are not really my thing. After the market we went back to our hotel and cleaned up, we all felt pretty grimy from spending the day soaked in sweat bumping past other people. That night we decided to splurge a little, $30, and went to a restaurant called Vertigo. Vertigo is on top of the 61st floor of a hotel in Bangkok and claims to be the highest open air restaurant in the world. The View was amazing, off in the distance a storm was going on so we watched as silent lightning flashed in the distance and we enjoyed a great dinner in an incredible atmosphere.

Bangkok is quite the city, fast, hot and willing to give you whatever you want as long as you put in the effort. It was a good experience and I'm glad to say I saw it but I don't have any urgent plans to get back there. For now there are many more places to explore and see before I start doubling up.