Current music: Ophelia by Ambulance Ltd.
Simply put, Hong Kong is extraordinary.
It's as much of a Western City that you can get in Asia, and seems oddly small, despite being one of the biggest cities in the world. I'm trying to process all of the different things we got around to doing, and we managed to fit so much into five days, while not being rushed to do anything. I would go back again in a heartbeat, but it hurts the wallet because everything has Western prices. Sometimes you've gotta suffer to have fun.
Last weekend I went back to Kenting to go camping with some friends from Tainan. I had a lot of fun, despite nearly being killed on the drive to the campsite. Once we took the train and taxi to Kenting, we had to rent scooters to go the rest of the way. I decided to get my own bike, because I assumed that I'd be leaving early. To get to the Baishan camp, we had to drive for about 20 minutes, up and down the Taiwan coast. Beautiful views, actually was a great drive on the way back, but the wind was the problem. Since I had no one on the back to balance the bike, like the rest of the crew did, my back wheel had a mind of its own and felt like pushing me toward oncoming traffic. Fun stuff. But no one died, and the actual camping bit was a very good time.
Elyssa did not go camping, as she wanted to be in Hong Kong a day early. When she lived in China, she went to Hong Kong often, and wanted to be at her favourite church for Easter Sunday. So we made a plan to meet at our hostel in Hong Kong the next day.
Current music: DNA by Starfucker
It takes about an hour and fifteen to fly from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong. I got dropped off at the Koahsiung airport on the way back to Tainan, and went through a very fast and easy security check. I landed in Hong Kong at around 8:00.
I've gotta say that the public transit system in Hong Kong is one of the easiest to navigate that I can imagine. It's been called the best subway in the world, and I believe it. It took around 25 minutes to get from the airport to town, and I had no trouble finding our hostel where Elyssa was waiting for me. It wasn't the nicest hostel in the world, but you don't stay in hostels because they are fancy. I was amazingly tired the first night, but still wanted to quest for beer and ended up finding salt and vinegar chips, which they don't have in Taiwan. So after a day of nonstop traveling, I was happy to crash.
Day 1 was spent exploring around Hong Kong. We first went to a tiny little breakfast place that Elyssa knew called the Flying Pan for a Western breakfast, and I got some delicious french toast and a ton of coffee. In order to get there, we had to go on the Travelator, supposedly the longest outdoor moving walkway in the world. Hong Kong is built on rather hilly terrain, so climbing up and down is necessary to get anywhere.
The city is situated right next to a big hill, and at the top of said hill, called Victoria's Peak, is a shopping area. You have to take a tram to get up to the top, which was super crowded, but only took about 5 minutes. The view from the top of the shopping centre was unreal, you could see the whole city, the harbor, pretty much the whole island itself.
Current music: Neon Truth by Various Cruelties
We hiked down from the top, which took awhile, mainly because we didn't know where we were going, besides down. When we got back to familiar territory, we went to a free zoo that they have in Victoria park, and saw lots of weird birds and monkeys and meerkats and lemurs. On the way home, Elyssa brought me to her favourite pub, the Hong Kong Brew House, which offers at least a hundred different types of beer from various countries. Unfortunately, no Canadian or even English beer. I think they have something against the Commonweath. But anyways. I tried many different beers and appropriately, my favourite ended up being the nerdiest beer ever: Monty Python's Holy Ail. In summary, a very fun day of exploring that made me feel right at home in Hong Kong.
I'm tired of typing, and this saga will take several posts, so stay tuned. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.
Thing I miss of the day: Driving a car. Damn near impossible here.
Out.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here...
Current music: Moniker by Bearstronaut
It's funny how quickly you can adapt to another culture just through assimilation alone. I was sitting here trying to come up with something interesting to write about, and was literally coming up with nothing. But then I thought about how different Taiwan is from Canada, and there are so many things that I could fill a post about. But these things seem so routine to me now, that they don't seem as interesting as they would to anyone who has never seen Asia.
Anyways.
My friend Jane is all excited because her parents and brother are here visiting from Calgary. They are seriously hardcore people and have been able to keep up with us at the bars. It's pretty impressive. They just all went on a family trip to Thailand after spoiling us all for a week. I got into an impromptu drinking contest with her dad Ian. Lots of fun.
After some unpleasantness with my travel agent, Elyssa and I have decided to spend our week off in Hong Kong. I leave this Sunday. I'm probably going to spend the weekend before in Kenting with Elyssa's husband Ramon and my friend Hopey. I seriously don't know what I did to be this lucky and be one cheap flight away from one of the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world. I shall post about Hong Kong when I get back on Friday. Way way way too excited.
Current music: California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas
This past Saturday was Sports Day at my school. Which meant I had to work on a Saturday. Which in truth wasn't so bad, there are totally worse ways that I could have spent a Saturday morning. We also went on another field trip today, to a zoo in Jiali. It was a weird zoo, which was more focused on bugs and creepy crawlies, but also had monkeys and llamas and crocodiles and shit. It was actually a really good time, and I got to put a big snake around my neck. My kids were screaming at me in fear, but it was a great experience. I had a good day, in summary.
I don't exactly know what my plan is for the weekend before Sunday evening, when I fly out of Kaohsiung, which is about an hour from Tainan and two hours from Kenting. All I know is I have dinner with people in an hour where we will figure out what to do. I love Kenting, and I love camping, which is what we would do in Kenting, so I hope that we get the chance to get down there.
Probably should be packing...
Thing I miss of the day: bosses that are direct with you and don't have the stupid Taiwanese fear about saving face. Got into an argument with my boss this week, (everyone knows she's incompetent and she pushed my buttons on the wrong day. I have a temper...) Hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.
Excitement!!! So tired, but excitement anyways!!
Out for a week!
It's funny how quickly you can adapt to another culture just through assimilation alone. I was sitting here trying to come up with something interesting to write about, and was literally coming up with nothing. But then I thought about how different Taiwan is from Canada, and there are so many things that I could fill a post about. But these things seem so routine to me now, that they don't seem as interesting as they would to anyone who has never seen Asia.
Anyways.
My friend Jane is all excited because her parents and brother are here visiting from Calgary. They are seriously hardcore people and have been able to keep up with us at the bars. It's pretty impressive. They just all went on a family trip to Thailand after spoiling us all for a week. I got into an impromptu drinking contest with her dad Ian. Lots of fun.
After some unpleasantness with my travel agent, Elyssa and I have decided to spend our week off in Hong Kong. I leave this Sunday. I'm probably going to spend the weekend before in Kenting with Elyssa's husband Ramon and my friend Hopey. I seriously don't know what I did to be this lucky and be one cheap flight away from one of the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world. I shall post about Hong Kong when I get back on Friday. Way way way too excited.
Current music: California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas
This past Saturday was Sports Day at my school. Which meant I had to work on a Saturday. Which in truth wasn't so bad, there are totally worse ways that I could have spent a Saturday morning. We also went on another field trip today, to a zoo in Jiali. It was a weird zoo, which was more focused on bugs and creepy crawlies, but also had monkeys and llamas and crocodiles and shit. It was actually a really good time, and I got to put a big snake around my neck. My kids were screaming at me in fear, but it was a great experience. I had a good day, in summary.
I don't exactly know what my plan is for the weekend before Sunday evening, when I fly out of Kaohsiung, which is about an hour from Tainan and two hours from Kenting. All I know is I have dinner with people in an hour where we will figure out what to do. I love Kenting, and I love camping, which is what we would do in Kenting, so I hope that we get the chance to get down there.
Probably should be packing...
Thing I miss of the day: bosses that are direct with you and don't have the stupid Taiwanese fear about saving face. Got into an argument with my boss this week, (everyone knows she's incompetent and she pushed my buttons on the wrong day. I have a temper...) Hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.
Excitement!!! So tired, but excitement anyways!!
Out for a week!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways...
Current music: Raise Your Glass by Darren Criss
So, PTA went well. My kids parents actually had very few questions which was awesome and I was out of there in record time, considering I had about double the amount of parents that everyone else had.
Last weekend, I went with my friends Jane, Sonja and Amy to Kenting, which is the southern-most coast of Taiwan. Once a year in April, Taiwan has a huge festival called Spring Scream in Kenting. It's a giant thing, you have people coming from Hong Kong, mainland China and countries all over southeast Asia to come to this thing. It was possibly the best weekend that I've had in Taiwan. The atmosphere was great, the parties were awesome and the beaches are beautiful. I plan on going back there on a weekend that is not so crazy just to relax for a bit, because Kenting really is the most scenic place in Taiwan, and that is saying something.
I found out last week that I have another week-long break at the end of April that I had no idea about. So it seems that I pretty much don't work in April. But still get paid for April. Be jealous.
Current music: That's All by Doc Walker
My Philippines trip is coming together. We have decided to go to Boracay. A little touristy for my liking, but I want a simple, relaxing trip anyways. If all goes according to plan, we will leave on April 25 and come back on the 30th. We'll get to spend one night in Manila too. Excitement.
It has been getting hot. This weekend the temperature was in the high 20s. I've been spending my free time baking in the sun, so I've got a good tan going. Which rocks, because in Canada I am the whitest vampire ghost anyone ever did see.
Thing I miss of the day: sidewalks. Some places in the city have them. Most places don't.
Later.
So, PTA went well. My kids parents actually had very few questions which was awesome and I was out of there in record time, considering I had about double the amount of parents that everyone else had.
Last weekend, I went with my friends Jane, Sonja and Amy to Kenting, which is the southern-most coast of Taiwan. Once a year in April, Taiwan has a huge festival called Spring Scream in Kenting. It's a giant thing, you have people coming from Hong Kong, mainland China and countries all over southeast Asia to come to this thing. It was possibly the best weekend that I've had in Taiwan. The atmosphere was great, the parties were awesome and the beaches are beautiful. I plan on going back there on a weekend that is not so crazy just to relax for a bit, because Kenting really is the most scenic place in Taiwan, and that is saying something.
I found out last week that I have another week-long break at the end of April that I had no idea about. So it seems that I pretty much don't work in April. But still get paid for April. Be jealous.
Current music: That's All by Doc Walker
My Philippines trip is coming together. We have decided to go to Boracay. A little touristy for my liking, but I want a simple, relaxing trip anyways. If all goes according to plan, we will leave on April 25 and come back on the 30th. We'll get to spend one night in Manila too. Excitement.
It has been getting hot. This weekend the temperature was in the high 20s. I've been spending my free time baking in the sun, so I've got a good tan going. Which rocks, because in Canada I am the whitest vampire ghost anyone ever did see.
Thing I miss of the day: sidewalks. Some places in the city have them. Most places don't.
Later.
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