Hong Kong, Part 1 - Colonialism and Chinese Gardens

So at the moment, I'm freezing in chilly Northern California. I will have more on this later. However, on my way here, I spent some time in the city that calls itself "Asia's Global City," Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China. I took loads of pictures, especially of the city's spectacular skyline (I will have a post just about the skyline in the not-so-distant future.)

What makes Hong Kong such an interesting place is that it was a colony of the UK from 1843 until 1997. So while you are in China when you are there, there are mixed in pieces of British influence everywhere. Most people speak Cantonese with each other, yet almost everyone, save for recent immigrants from "the mainland" (which is what they call the rest of China,) can speak English very well. There are other vestiges as well.

There's a certain nervousness in Hong Kong these days that has been present for quite some time. This stems from the fact that the region is now controlled by the Communist Chinese government. While Hong Kong enjoys a great degree of autonomy, save for the Beijing government controlling the region's defense, foreign policy, and having veto power over leaders elected by the people of Hong Kong. In 2047, this "one county, two systems," is set to expire. When one reads the newspapers in Hong Kong, especially the South China Morning Post (which, by the way, is fascinating, and was the first thing I did each morning,) you can see just how palpable this nervousness is - the opinion page especially is dominated by columns and letters opining on relations with Beijing. I am considering getting an online subscription to scmp.com.

Anyhow, there are hundreds of pictures I took, so let's get to them!

These are Hong Kong dollars. Hong Kong is perhaps the most unregulated abode of capitalism in the world. If you enlarge this picture, you will see that various banks, such as HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation, a very large international bank founded in Hong Kong,) Standard Chartered, and Bank of China, have their logos on it. Also, if you like shopping, there is no place better than Hong Kong. In fact, there are some shopping malls that are open twenty four hours.

One vestige of the colonial days - most of the place names still have very British names.

Thankfully, I did not need to visit this place.

This was in the bathroom at a Szechuan Restaurant I ate in.

There are lots of Chinese Gardens all around Hong Kong. The next series of pictures are all images from various gardens around the city. This one was at the top of The Peak, or the large mountain which dominates the city.

No terrapin in the pond!

Public garden on Hong Kong Island.

This is a garden in Kowloon.

The gardens are a good place to take a rest on hot and humid Hong Kong afternoon. This is on Hong Kong Island.

In Kowloon.

A business in the Soho district of Hong Kong.

Garden on Hong Kong Island.

Also on Hong Kong Island.

The garden in Kowloon again.

Hong Kong is much like San Francisco, in terms of terrain - many of the roads, especially on Hong Kong Island, are quite steep. These are condos on the Island.

Steep streets in the Soho district.

Looking up toward the peak, on a wet day in Soho.

In Hong Kong, as well as in Bangkok, McDonald's is trying to compete with Starbucks for the coffee market. Quite interesting - a different style for Mc Donald's.

Just in case you forgot.

14 hours hence

In fourteen hours, I will leave Thailand for the last time. I feel quite sad about this. I'll spend three days in Hong Kong with a heavy heart.
Trying to get everything packed and taken care of now. Gonna have my last dinner in Thailand soon, even though I don't really feel like eating. Then, get everything packed and ready to go.
Will post more from Hong Kong.

With an achin' in my heart

Well, my tomodachi, I have only about four days left in Thailand. I am very sad about this, as these two years, despite a few unsightly happenings, have been about as good as I could've hoped for. I am going to miss a lot of things here, and a lot of people here (although there will be a few things I won't miss, such as the traffic and the way people walk.)
I'm looking forward to having four days in Hong Kong. However, that is overshadowed by a deep sense of dread. I'm dreading the Re-entry Blues (which most people call "reverse culture shock,") which I know will be stifling for several months to come,. (See my posting from May 9, 2006, for a full explanation of the Re-entry Blues.) At the same time, I am excited to hang out with my brother, excited to dive into the Bay Area, which I'm sure I will enjoy once the re-entry blues are overcome, and excited for all of that baseball. As Robert Plant once said, "standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams, tellin' myself it's not as hard as it seems." That encapsulates my mood right now.

Yes, I'm goin' to California (cue the Led Zeppelin.) Since Cali is not the East, and about as far from the East as can be, this blog needs to undergo a name change. So, since I am a huge Neil Young fan, I've decided to re-name it for what may be my least-favorite Neil Young song: "After the Gold Rush." Perhaps it's a fitting name for what will soon be a Bay Area-based blog, as that was the ultimate destination of the Gold Rush in the 1840's and 50's. I think so, anyway, and it's my blog, so that's all that really counts, right? If not, any other suggestions out there?

So, this blog is hereby renamed. May progress be hailed!

A trip to Koh Chang

So about ten days ago, I had a chance to get out of town. I'd been working my booty off, as many as 10 hours per day, and my morning class finally finished. In addition to that, my night class was canceled on both Friday and Monday. So, it was a long weekend, and I decided to go to Koh Chang (Elephant Island, ) the same place I went to see in the New Year for 2006 (see January 2006 postings on this blog.) The rainy season has arrived two months early this year (the climate is just as screwed up here as it is in the rest of the world - we had street flooding a few days ago!) , so I was a bit worried about the weather. However, despite a few downpours, it wasn't too bad, as none of them lasted more than a half an hour, other than a few in the late night or early morning. This did, on the other hand, have a bit of a negative effect on the last day, when I went on a fishing/snorkeling trip. The seas were quite heavy, and at one point, I nearly sacrificed my breakfast to Lord Poseidon - I even had my head hanging over the side of the boat! But I did get to do some good snorkeling, and I did catch a fish. The other days, I would run into the surf, get wet, come out, dry off in the sun and read Salman Rushdie, and when I was dry I just repeated the process. It was glorious. To the pics!

The moon over Koh Chang at about 5:30 am. I left BKK at 11 on Thursday night, and arrived in Trat city at 3:30 am. Hung around there for a while, took a pickup to the pier, and then the ferry to Elephant Island.

The sun rising, back over the mainland, toward Cambodia.

I may have the winner for next year's photo contest, pops! This was a guy fishing in the Gulf of Thailand as the sun was rising over the mainland. I took a lot of this guy. Pretty nice image. Lookout, Minnkota Photo Contest, 2008!

I arrived at my bungalow at 7:30 am. This was the view out my door. A massive storm was rolling in, and the air was cool. The beach was nearly deserted, the tide was low, and the surf was heavy for the Gulf of Thailand. At 7:35 am, I was in the water. At 7:55 am, I went back to my bungalow and showered. At 8 am, it started pouring, and I slept until 11. It felt absolutely glorious to have a morning like this after spending 6 weeks teaching 6 days a week. Ah, I'm gonna miss Thailand.

More views of the storm coming.

A man and his son, watching the storm roll in.

Orchid.

This is the pier from whence the fishing/snorkeling boat I was on left.

Another view.

Fog on the peaks of Koh Chang in the morning.

People snorkeling on a reef near a small island. The reefs were pretty cool, with lots of live coral, urchins, colorful fish, anemones, etc, but there were so many people snorkeling that everyone was bumping into everyone else, so it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been.

Another small island, shrouded in mist.

This is the fish I caught. I snagged him by the gill, so as I was reeling him in, he felt a lot bigger than he was. We used bits of squid as bait. This is ironic, as I had really wanted to go squid fishing, but it would have costed 2000 Baht (over $60.) Also, it could be the only time I've ever fished where the bait actually probably tastes better than the fish that was caught. This trip would have been a lot of fun had it not been for the seasickness, and had I not cut the soles of both of my feet and been sloshing around in the salty sea water. Ouch!

The guys on the ship were pulling in a net here, as you can see. There were loads of scallops, as well as some small fish, a few squid, and crab in the net. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat any of it! Bummer.

Ah, lovely.

Just before I left.

The view of the beach I was staying on, as seen from the top of the mountain. I didn't wanna leave.

Geography in Thailand

Looks like ภูมีสัษร์ (Phu Mii Sat in romanized letters) is doing well in Thailand, or at least at the Kingdom's public universities. Click here for more information.

Happy and Funny

Some shots my students sent me after my last day of class recently - this was the six day per week, four hour per day marathon, so this was indeed a happy day. Hail progress!