I arrived in Hong Kong on the 23rd and I already I love the place. It does help that I have yet again been put up by a mate (Seb, a friend of a friend) and he has been showing me the ropes.
On the first day he took me with him on a boat trip on one of his friends' junk. This is were I obtained the rather impressive sunburn mentioned in the title (fortunately/unfortunately the weather since has been a bit poo, see the typhoon mentioned in the title). From the boat I got a little look at the way the city is distributed over the islands which I think is actually quite interesting. I also met a girl, also visiting a friend, who lives in Welwyn Garden City opposite Matt Ferdenzi (a friend of mine from school) and used to run for Herts Phoenix Athletic Club.
That night they hoisted a Typhoon 8 warning that materialised in the form of a heavy storm (in fact the edge of the one that ravaged the Philippines) that raged throughout the night. The next day most things were shut but Seb and I made a trip to his football club to have a look around.
Hong Kong Football Club is quite simply, amazing. It is basically a massive social club that also has sports teams (football, rugby, hockey, tennis etc). The facilities are incredible: a beautiful artificial surface pitch, gym, swimming pool, two restaurants, bar, tennis courts on the roof and much more. Added to this it is in an awesome setting (we played a game of six-a-side surrounded on all sides by skyscrapers and wooded hills). Seb has told me that he spends most of his time in Hong Kong at the club and I wouldn't blame him.
The rest of the city is also fantastic, it is truly a world city. There is so much to do, awesome bars, restaurants etc. as well as a very cool internet café where eight of us wiled away a few hours playing Call of Duty 4. I have only been on one night out so far, although they are a few in the pipeline for the future. The cool thing about Hong Kong bars and clubs are the open bars where you pay about 13 pounds for unlimited drinks. Do not worry mother, I have shown restraint.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Like England with Parrots
I have almost reached the end of my stay in Australia, so I feel I ought to do a little summing up piece about the land of our convict cousins.
Firstly, the weather has not been all that I expected from Oz. The name 'Bullaburra' (the village in which I am staying with my cousins) means 'Blue Skies Village'. For the three weeks I have been here it could not have been more of a misnomer. Not only has the weather been bad but I arrived in New South Wales a few days after the driest May in recent history. Bah! However there are definitely positive points to Australia. I have really appreciated the abundance of exotic flora and fauna. It's difficult to imagine how strange it was for an Englishman who has spent three months in the land of brown birds and rats (Henan province) to see bright green and red parrots (Rosellas) in the garden. Then there are the marsupials which when you think about it, are just weird. They have pockets for Christ's sake!
Unfortunately the weather has somewhat hampered my ability to appreciate the Blue Mountains. For anyone who doesn't know what or where the Blue Mountains are, they are heavily gum-forested hills west of Sydney. The first crossing, to the plains inland was made in 1831 (I think) and before that many of the convicts believed that if they could cross the mountains they would reach China and freedom. Anyway, the scenery is awesome and the potential for adventure sport in the area is huge and therefore the main source of income is the tourist industry. Despite the weather I have managed to fit in a night camping, a day canyoning and plenty of walks. Tomorrow is (nearby town) Katoomba's Winter Magic Festival (http://www.wintermagic.com.au/) which promises to be a good laugh. I have been promised a heady mix of beer and hippies which can only result in fun.
My future abroad remains uncertain; the already unnecessarily stringent Chinese visa regulations have been made stricter for the Olympics so I am not sure whether I will be able to return as planned. I will fly to Hong Kong on Monday and will see what can be achieved there. But, as I am constantly reminding myself, it could be a lot worse. I have had an awesome time, with very few real troubles and I still have plenty of time before I really have to get my head down at university. Life is good (naa naa na naa naa!)
Firstly, the weather has not been all that I expected from Oz. The name 'Bullaburra' (the village in which I am staying with my cousins) means 'Blue Skies Village'. For the three weeks I have been here it could not have been more of a misnomer. Not only has the weather been bad but I arrived in New South Wales a few days after the driest May in recent history. Bah! However there are definitely positive points to Australia. I have really appreciated the abundance of exotic flora and fauna. It's difficult to imagine how strange it was for an Englishman who has spent three months in the land of brown birds and rats (Henan province) to see bright green and red parrots (Rosellas) in the garden. Then there are the marsupials which when you think about it, are just weird. They have pockets for Christ's sake!
Unfortunately the weather has somewhat hampered my ability to appreciate the Blue Mountains. For anyone who doesn't know what or where the Blue Mountains are, they are heavily gum-forested hills west of Sydney. The first crossing, to the plains inland was made in 1831 (I think) and before that many of the convicts believed that if they could cross the mountains they would reach China and freedom. Anyway, the scenery is awesome and the potential for adventure sport in the area is huge and therefore the main source of income is the tourist industry. Despite the weather I have managed to fit in a night camping, a day canyoning and plenty of walks. Tomorrow is (nearby town) Katoomba's Winter Magic Festival (http://www.wintermagic.com.au/) which promises to be a good laugh. I have been promised a heady mix of beer and hippies which can only result in fun.
My future abroad remains uncertain; the already unnecessarily stringent Chinese visa regulations have been made stricter for the Olympics so I am not sure whether I will be able to return as planned. I will fly to Hong Kong on Monday and will see what can be achieved there. But, as I am constantly reminding myself, it could be a lot worse. I have had an awesome time, with very few real troubles and I still have plenty of time before I really have to get my head down at university. Life is good (naa naa na naa naa!)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Learning Strine
Sorry, I have been in Australia for a while now but the prospect of curling up with one of the two cats in front of the fire and eating Bangers 'n' Mash was far to tempting for me to even think about blog posts.
Anywho, I have been in Oz for a week now, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The weather has been (excuse my Strine) shite, but it hasn't stopped me from spending a day canyoning in the Blue Mountains (where I am staying with my cousins) and making a flying visit to Sydney. I don't really care about the weather anyway as I am bathing in the delights of western culture. These treats range from Fish and Chips to TV programmes about super morbidly obese people in the US. I am also enjoying the quirks of the Australian vernacular. For example, were you aware that they pronounce 'Pantene Pro-V', Panteeen Pro-V. And, in regards to TV series, they do not say the series Finale but Final, weird ey? Ey/hey is another interesting linguistic tool which serves the same purpose as 'ba' in Chinese: basically it makes a statement a suggestion of a fact.
My journey down from Beijing was fantastically without hitches. The domestic flight to Shenzhen went ahead no problem and fortunately I only began conversing with the born-again Chinese lady sitting next to me just as we landed. I took the bus to Hong Kong, which involved some amusingly overly stringent border controls, and arrived at the airport with about five hours to spare before my flight. The airport was a bit of a mental place. Unsurprisingly it was a heady mix of western and oriental culture but I was truly prepared for how bizarre that would seem to me. It is difficult to explain but coming from a place where the ethnic groups are very definitely associated with a certain level of wealth (by this I mean that 95% of the Chinese people I had met had been relatively poor and for the westerners, the opposite was true) seeing this massive mix of cultures all strutting about (and buying in the duty free) in their big brands was very odd. Anyway, my flight from Hong Kong was hardly delayed by the heavy rainstorm that struck half an hour before scheduled take off, and what ensued was brilliant nine hour flight containing two very good meals and three good films.
I had better finish now as we are about to go out for a walk to make the most of this gap in the weather.
Anywho, I have been in Oz for a week now, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The weather has been (excuse my Strine) shite, but it hasn't stopped me from spending a day canyoning in the Blue Mountains (where I am staying with my cousins) and making a flying visit to Sydney. I don't really care about the weather anyway as I am bathing in the delights of western culture. These treats range from Fish and Chips to TV programmes about super morbidly obese people in the US. I am also enjoying the quirks of the Australian vernacular. For example, were you aware that they pronounce 'Pantene Pro-V', Panteeen Pro-V. And, in regards to TV series, they do not say the series Finale but Final, weird ey? Ey/hey is another interesting linguistic tool which serves the same purpose as 'ba' in Chinese: basically it makes a statement a suggestion of a fact.
My journey down from Beijing was fantastically without hitches. The domestic flight to Shenzhen went ahead no problem and fortunately I only began conversing with the born-again Chinese lady sitting next to me just as we landed. I took the bus to Hong Kong, which involved some amusingly overly stringent border controls, and arrived at the airport with about five hours to spare before my flight. The airport was a bit of a mental place. Unsurprisingly it was a heady mix of western and oriental culture but I was truly prepared for how bizarre that would seem to me. It is difficult to explain but coming from a place where the ethnic groups are very definitely associated with a certain level of wealth (by this I mean that 95% of the Chinese people I had met had been relatively poor and for the westerners, the opposite was true) seeing this massive mix of cultures all strutting about (and buying in the duty free) in their big brands was very odd. Anyway, my flight from Hong Kong was hardly delayed by the heavy rainstorm that struck half an hour before scheduled take off, and what ensued was brilliant nine hour flight containing two very good meals and three good films.
I had better finish now as we are about to go out for a walk to make the most of this gap in the weather.
... and a little bit hectic in australia too
Now I'm in Bullaburra, New South Wales, staying with my aunt and her family.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Damn, She Found Me!
I'm in Beijing, and so is my Mum. I arrived from Zhengzhou on Monday with Tom and she came on Wednesday. Tom and I thought we would spend a little time here before he returned to Blighty and Mum thought it would be a good idea to try and embarrass me on a more global scale. We took the express train from Zhengzhou, which was pretty cool. It was all very civilized; fast, quite, cool and comfortable. The old man who repeatedly let his granddaughter piss in between the rows of seats spoiled it a little, but for a Chinese train journey it was remarkably painless. We have been staying at the hostel which Tom stayed at when he was here for Spring Festival. It's basically like a hotel but with more young travellers drinking beer so it is an awesome change from hanging around with middle aged Chinese guys drinking Baijiu. So far I have been out with four Icelanders, two Germans and three Americans.
Mum and I have been to say most of the sights in the city and we are going to the Great Wall at Mutianyu tomorrow. It's all pretty similar to the other places of interest I have visited in China but on a larger scale. The Summer Palace was very impressive, especially the fifty metre man- made hill complete with temple. Also we walked around the National Theatre (the big shiny egg) which was very cool. It is surrounded by an expansive moat with an infinity edge on the inside which creates a very interesting image. Unfortunately they are trying to refurbish everything in the city (I imagine for the Olympics) so everything is at it's most shiny and fake looking. You have to make quite an effort to go and find some authentic Hutongs. The vendors are as one would expect, particularly aggressive. One basically gave Mum a Chinese burn when we were trying to walk away from a negotiation for a silk scarf.
I am leaving for Oz on Tuesday which I looking forward to immensely for two main reasons. The first is that I will be able to meet Aunty Helen and all my family that I have either never seen or only seen once. Secondly, the weather. I am told that the skies are incredibly blue and that it is pretty cool, so it will be a nice change from stuffy China. I am a little worried about what Mum is going to do once I've gone, but the hostel have very helpful staff with excellent English so she should be fine.
Anyway, must go and find a tea house that is not a massive rip off. It may be a little difficult.
Mum and I have been to say most of the sights in the city and we are going to the Great Wall at Mutianyu tomorrow. It's all pretty similar to the other places of interest I have visited in China but on a larger scale. The Summer Palace was very impressive, especially the fifty metre man- made hill complete with temple. Also we walked around the National Theatre (the big shiny egg) which was very cool. It is surrounded by an expansive moat with an infinity edge on the inside which creates a very interesting image. Unfortunately they are trying to refurbish everything in the city (I imagine for the Olympics) so everything is at it's most shiny and fake looking. You have to make quite an effort to go and find some authentic Hutongs. The vendors are as one would expect, particularly aggressive. One basically gave Mum a Chinese burn when we were trying to walk away from a negotiation for a silk scarf.
I am leaving for Oz on Tuesday which I looking forward to immensely for two main reasons. The first is that I will be able to meet Aunty Helen and all my family that I have either never seen or only seen once. Secondly, the weather. I am told that the skies are incredibly blue and that it is pretty cool, so it will be a nice change from stuffy China. I am a little worried about what Mum is going to do once I've gone, but the hostel have very helpful staff with excellent English so she should be fine.
Anyway, must go and find a tea house that is not a massive rip off. It may be a little difficult.
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