|
< Saturday, August 24, 2002 :: 10:37 a.m. >
There I was
yesterday night, staring at my bills of 20 and 5 CAN$, and finding them
so meaningless. They feel like Monopoly bills.
Off for a 24-hour long trip, which includes 15 hour
on the plane, from Hong Kong to Newark/New York. And 5 hours of waiting
in Newark, and finally 2 hours on the flight back to Montreal. Where
are the 2 missing hours? I don't know, and I don't care. All I want is
to see my computer and my bed again.
I will miss Hong Kong, I am sure of this. I will miss
being in vacation (who wouldn't). I also miss home. - If I was the son
of a rich tycoon, I would certainly spend a week in Mtl to see everyone
and kill that feeling of homesickness, and get on the first plane back
to Hong Kong.
I finally sucumbed, and bought the Sony CD/MP3, the
same that my cousin has. It is so light... and it's been almost decade
or so that I didn't own a portable music device. Latest album I bought
was Faye Wong's 2001 eponym album. A bit like Fable, if you want my
opinion, but even better to listen (with an even more
"experimental"-type approach, what is definitely lacking in other
Chinese pop albums that I bought - Kelly, Sammi).
I might actually miss my plane. < Thursday, August 22, 2002 :: 02:23 p.m. >
I am in Macau for a one-day trip. This place is eerie. It feels like a "suburb" of Hong Kong - but where are the people?
Macau looks like.. Cuba. Or perhaps Brazil (but I've
never been there), in its quality of former Portuguese colony. Two
languages: Portuguese and Chinese. Almost no English at all. And most
of the people I see on the street are Chinese speaking Cantonese, just
like in Hong Kong. Shopping centers are deserted (at least up to where
I've been) and there isn't really sign of any interesting tourist
point, though my Lonely Planet travel guide specifically says there are some. < Wednesday, August 21, 2002 :: 12:35 p.m. >
This is
weird. It's like home-sickness, but ... I don't want to leave. Yet I
want to go back, back to the *real world*. Whatever that means.
Good news ! I got re-accepted to McGill. Now the
stupid internet-based registration system thinks my status is inactive.
"Damn you computer, no, I have been accepted, now let me register !!".
I have shopping to do now. bye bye! Back on August
24th in the evening. E-mail me for your goods. I'll need to hang out at
Chinatown for a couple of days before I get used to it...
Beijing was ... ok. Impressive for all that
communist-related stuff. I also bought some of their propaganda.
Couldnt find posters to buy, but that's my fault as I didnt really look
for that. Other than that, the temples and palaces seemed very
repetitive in style. That's what you get for not studying Chinese
history. Even the HK people found it repetitive. So what... < Thursday, August 15, 2002 :: 12:41 a.m. >
New pictures from Japan ! =) (starting a49)
Upset. Upset that I may not actually *have* something
to do next Fall. At least I wanted to get the acceptance or rejection
letter from McGill and be able to think about it while on trip. But
nothing was gotten yet, not even a waiting list letter. I can speculate
about it a lot. For example, I could say that they've rejected me, but
just *forgot* to send me a letter. You know how it feels not to know
eh?
I do have interesting stories about Japan to tell.
And I've thought about them for quite some time b/c not immediately
near a computer, over there. One: You can tell Japan is really is
really depressed economically, just by looking at the movies they play
on the airplane. Just as the American companies run their "funny"
family domestic comedies, Japan Air System (JAS - The airline we were
flying with) was playing an emotional corporate historical movie about
the inventor of the VHS. I mean, they told it in such a way that I
almost cried.
I bought lots of CDs in Japan, including those
someone asked me to buy ;). I feel a bit bad for this, having not
really shopped before and buying at HMV. There *are* small stores with
slightly cheaper prices (the new CDs always ranged from ¥ 2300-3000
(approx. $CAN 30-40) anyways) but I always managed to find them
afterwards. Like this time I wasn't really listening/thinking, and got
caught in renowned-for-in-HK-tours commishioned sales promoted by the
tour guide. I bought some 4 bags (somehow big) of indiv.-wrapped
wasabi-flavored cookies/dry squid for a hefty ¥ 4800 (which was
certainly worth half the price
I still don't believe the cost of living in Japan is
that high). 'thought was the OK price, but then figured out that b/c
all the others are going to Disneyland on the last day (while I was
spending my day walking around Tokyo), it was worth the extra if you
didn't have the time to shop, which I did. -- To go back to what I was
saying, I got myself some pricey but only-Japan CDs... A used Cubic U
(Utada Hikaru before her Japan release) copy of Precious, the Final
Fantasy XI soundtrack (hey btw, I've extra video games promo
flyers/booklet/books for those of you who are interested and living in
Montreal), and some that I forgot which one they were. Got myself
"Spirited Away", a Japanese cartoon by the maker of "Princess
Mononoke", which is promoted everywhere in Hong Kong, and as I've seen,
in Tokyo. So I bought the DVD over there, at for a bargain (¥4000 while
everywhere else it sells at the standard ¥4700 or with a hundred or two
less... ...)
I suddenly felt homesick while looking at the Japan
Railways tracks near Ueno station the other night. Mixed feelings. I
feel alien, "at the wrong place", yet I know that this kind of feel
isn't something which I should remediate to right away (by heading home
as soon as i can). On Friday it's Beijing, and more of this feeling
will I get. And also of guilt for spending money that isn't necessarily
mine. Tokyo really cancelled 3 previous weeks of thriftiness ^_^.
Other stories later. For now, enjoy the pics... Oh yeah, for you, I've taken one of a naked Gackt
poster. (There was one at least three times as big of him in Ginza, the
classier shopping area, but I didn't *know* it was really him at that
time o_O). < Monday, August 12, 2002 :: 03:14 p.m. >
I'm in tokyo,
and what am I doing? ... The t is extremely unsensitive - and people
are looking at me as I literally strike the keyboard for Ts (And God
knows that t's are numerous in the English language... =P)
I should go out and play instead of hitting my head
on the table for t-less words. -_- Many s taken but I am worrying over
whether or no I will have enough memory space on my disk. Woke up at
10:30 PM this morning... I am totally wasting my time in Tokyo,
Travelling alone is not fun. I don't really know how my uncles do that.
But otherwise, the nice people from HK that are on my tour wanted to go
to Disney on the free day (it's 3 days in Tokyo: 1 day in
Ginza/Ikebukuro/Shijuku, 1 free day, and 1 day in Disneyland...) . I
don' like Disney... If I am to come to Tokyo once in 10 years - once in
my life? - it won't be to go to stupid Disneyland, even if they've the
new Disney Sea theme park.
Tokyo by myself is sustainable for Japanese-ignorant
Ced, as long as I don't need to make any direct contact wih the
natives. It is a shame that I'm not an outgoing person
(Shanghai-Nanjing trip was so much, b/c with cousins...). And I am
positively sure it won't change, especially when my Cantonese isn't
half as good as I thought before coming to Asia. I can hear a deal more
of Cantonese than English in the streets of Tokyo - lots of HK tourists
it'd seem.
Good news, while my bro is Asian style back home,
here I've been dubbed museum-style. And yes, I look like a CBC too even
though my travel-wardrobe is almost exclusively bought in HK. I'm sure that even in Asia, my brother wouldn't qualify for Asian style.
Japan is crumbling down, says one of the people on my
tour-group who came here 10 years ago, Beggars, dirty strees. I mean,
even if what I/we saw was not true/general, at least the *impression*
of the country-crumbling-down is not good if a re-birth is hoped for.
Okay, the hard T is making it difficult to continue
typing -and I really should be starting to see Tokyo. The feeling of
pointlessness/emptiness... where is it? is it waiting for me at the
Canadian customs? < Saturday, August 10, 2002 :: 11:36 p.m. >
Woaw, so here
I am, Tokyo. One day in Shinjuku district, and the rest of the time
wandering around. Hong Kong feels so much like home, whenever I go on
these organized tours.
The question of children. I thought I hated children,
but actually those cousins of mine are fun to play with. Im actually in
vacation, which makes me more mollow with everything.
I dont remember my childhood so much. I just know
that my mommy spent a lot of time pampering me. But how was I as a kid?
As silent as today? Apparently, I was quite "outgoing" in my early
years. You know, the type of kid whod bounce around and stuff? ... bah,
anyways... my 100 yen/10 min is running low < Saturday, August 10, 2002 :: 01:50 a.m. >
I'm adding
new pictures... In folder "a04..." are pictures that I've forgotten
while numbering the rest of them. These were taken on Sunday, I think,
when we visited HK with my dad's cousins. After a04 are pics taken
during the week.. again, these aren't *all* the pictures I've taken (a
few hundreds so far - taking care to make my investment worth it. My
cousin bought the Sony P-9, a sexy beast of the same caliber than my
Canon S40, but a thousand buck HK $ more expensive (the quality of the
Sony videos is better, I heard)).
Pictures and videos here (new pics starting after a04 and new videos following date)
Lucky me, I get to go to Japan now... This whole trip
to Asia is fantastic, yet unexpected. Would I have thought in April
that I'd be here where I am ? I want to stay, but realistically I am
affraid to take the steps in order to do so. It would mean looking for
a job, improving my Cantonese and written Chinese for instance. I hate
McGill... they've apparently lost my application: no idea if I got
refused, nor accepted. I'm inexistant on the internet-based file, and
still no letter even if the registration period was started. This is a
worry I didn't want to have (and didn't care for much when I left
Canada, also) while on vacation.
Would like to blog at other people, but this isn't so much a regular blog as for the expected people getting to this site. ^^;; < Wednesday, August 7, 2002 :: 07:11 p.m. >
I bet I won't
realize how good/nice it is to be able to visit Asia until I get back
home to Canada. This is unfortunate. In a similar way, I feel that my
pictures are nice and plentiful, but will I regret the fact that I
won't have taken enough of them when I get back home? In this matter,
I'm estimating to 600 the number of pictures taken (and posted on the
web - if you feel interested enough by glassware, buildings and plants,
click here. These are the "raw" pics: so un-reduced and un-user-friendly.
My planned schedule is: Saturday 10 to Wednesday 14
in Tokyo; Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 in Hong Kong; Friday 16 to Tuesday
20 in Beijing; and Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 in HK(with perhaps a
half-day in Macau). This is it, two trips crammed in the last two
weeks, and then a few days before getting back "home". I don't think I
could extend my trip further, even though I'd like too. Getting a
decent job is a bit outrageous for now - and hey, where would I stay ?
I've almost always seen a greyish Hong Kong. They say
-in the news et al- that air pollution is bad. Except for the smell of
occasional sewer holes, the sight of trash on the concrete sidewalks is
quite rare. Mind you, spitting and littering and other minor hygiene
offenses are fined HK$600 (120 canadian - 80 american).
I'm gettin used to the crazy amounts of people packed
in buses, trams and subway wagons. It is becoming bearable, so much
bearable that I can no longer picture myself being alone in a subway
station at 9:00 PM, or waiting for buses more than 5 minutes. While I
love HK for all those reasons, I can also hate HK. It is unbearable to
live in a city where people stand in rows to shove flyers into your
hands, or where an army of twenty-something house vendors will crowd up
the space there is in a shopping arcade main lobby, or where your eyes
are constantly being bombarded with images of pop icons. This is enough
to drive you crazy. Consumerism to the extreme. "What use is it to have
money if it isn't to use it?" Not very different from Canada, to think
of it, but here it seems more difficult to decide to not consume. If
you manage to choose living a life of non-over-consumerism, the giant
ads on every street. will remind you that you're not welcome in this
city.
(For my own account, I've purchased 5 to 10 CDs,
without counting the VCD/CDs promised to other people. Having brought
minimal clothes, hum, indecent amount of The Gap-like clothing
(Bossini, Giordano, U2, G2000 - which are the local chain looking and
feeling like Gap, but if they were pre-Gap, as my mom pointed out to
me, this I don't know). And books, and cheap-stuff-from-China, and what
else...)
I feel that I am becoming awfully repetitive... The pics I posted are self explanatory of the trip for the blog-unfamiliar. < Sunday, August 4, 2002 :: 12:42 a.m. >
NEW PICTURES AND MOVIES
It's Typhoon Warning Level One in Hong Kong (Some
wind is blowing loudly outside the window at Uncle Rene's as I type).
For some reason, the next typhoon level (in order of worseness) is 3,
and then it jumps to 8 and finally to 10. At Three, it means that the
typhoon is approaching even more, and up to Eight, I believe schools
are closed. And at Ten, well, trees get pulled off, and the subway
flooded. =D
I bought some cheap CDs which I strongly believe are
pirated, due the incorrectness of the printing on the disc. Instead of
"Globe Lights 2", I get "Jlobe" with a totally incoherent drawing.
Anyways, the contents of the disc is Globe alright. And since i'm
MP3-ing the stuff, it's no big deal.
After waiting in vain for my cousins to call me, I
decided to go to the Mong Kok district again, on my own. One shopping
mall had at least one third of the tenants selling copies of music CDs,
software, VCD, DVD. Another third was porn. But that's also where you
get the cheapest legit CDs in the city.
Way too hooked up on computers. Gotta go get some fresh humid typhoonic air. XD < Saturday, August 3, 2002 :: 12:02 p.m. >
Real Internet access. Now you're talking. =D
Trips to Tokyo and Beijing, separately of course, are
being planned. Shanghai-Nanjing was tiresome, an interesting first time
in China, and the increasing impression that this country will indeed
become a great one in the near future (only if a more marketable leader
than Jiang Zemin can be found - I like Zhu Rongji's look and feel - but
hey, they're only looks). I am a bit tired of temples and shrines and
gardens. It is meaningful if you've studied Chinese history at school.
But I haven't, and it's not by lack of interest, more by lack of
opportunities. I enjoyed playing Romance of The Three Kingdoms on SNES,
and then on PC (and I've actually found #5 or 6 in the series - but in
Chinese only... maybe I'll buy it and force myself to learn Chinese to
play it ^_^) and pretty much remember the important historical details
of the era, but as far as the rest of the pre-20th century history, I
don't know much of it. And forget about literature too.
< Friday, August 2, 2002 :: 02:40 a.m. >
(Hmm, I don't
remember what I wrote back in Suzhou. I believe I was suffering from
some sort of food poisoning. ANyways, on that night getting back at the
hotel, I went back watching non-stop Chinese TV in Mandarin. And
suddenly I was alright. Lots of fun had with my cousins from France.
Especially when the others were buying massive amounts of local items -
just jade, tea, pearls, teapots, creams, lucky dragons, silk quilts,
etc. - and also when we were fooling around Hilton Nanjing)
NEW PICTURES are from 54 to a103 (obviously didnt thought that i'd had that many pics to show).
I am thinking of taking Chinese instead of Japanese
if given the choice in a near future. Learning Chinese is more easy.
China gives me the impression of a country on the rise, while Japan's a
country which future isn't as bright. Maybe if China improves on the
marketability side, it'll rise more quickly ? (and ask Chairman Jiang
to make that smile of his a bit less frozen)
I bought some Chinese cigarettes. Not for my dad: I
wouldn't want to endanger his health more than that. I checked the
contents of tar (i believe it was that - it was written in Chinese) of
the "Double Hapiness" brand (hum) and it was twice as much as the
Marlboros. Maybe could use it for pavement - but again, my parents told
me that while I was gone, the works have started at home, and we
replaced the usual asphalt pavement with bricks. Too bad.
Hong Kong feels like home after spending time in
China. Simply b/c people speak a language I understand. HK seems so
"familiar"...
It isn't that I dislike China. In fact like it. But
my knowledge of pre-20th century history is so limited and my listening
of formal Chinese isn't that good, that everything that the guides said
sounded like background noise, while I was snoozing away. That's why
I'm not so interested to go to Beijing now. If I was coming to HK every
year, sure I'd skip it this year and wait til my Chinese gets better...
Travelling sounds interesting now that I've been out
of the country by my own. I learned something... when my mom tells me
that I should go to somewhere b/c I might get lost, well then I should
go. Getting around big cities is easier than I thought. Gotta try it,..
gotta try things out. Gets the sense of adventure out of me, as cheesy
as it may sound.
Actually being away from computers appear strange. Of
course now I am on front of a computer, but I'm still only on it 3
hours in-a-row, while I could easily do 6-7 hours straight very easily.
-- Aw there you go, enough talking. No more for many days. And enjoy
the pictures !! < Sunday, April 5, 2043 :: 12:00 a.m. >
For some
reason, my site, as well as other pitas sites I visit are very slow to
load. At first thought that I was experiencing government-driven
lockdown of sites, but after it was "checked", I can now access it.
I'm in China, in the city of Suzhou, in what could be
described as an internet hole (like those you find in more
social-gaming-prone cities like Toronto - any except Mtl - at least *I*
haven't found a place yet). Famous for cute girls, as the guide and
group leader repeated again and again, but also for bridges, canals and
green spaces.
Things are a lot cheaper than anywhere else I've been
before. The internet costs 3 renmin bi / hour (a renmin bi roughly
exchanges at 5 for 1 canadian dollar, and 8.5 for 1 american dollar.
The country is way much "modern" than I've thought,
me and my westernized way of thinking. Hongzhou, the city I went before
coming here is perhaps twice as populous (1.7 million) as this one,
Suzhou, and a city which is much less densely populated than Hong Kong,
and one of the most "green" of all China (so they say).
Bought lots of CDs... or rather souvenirs. Low price,
and obviously MP3s converted to disc with photocopied, re-written in
Potunghwa booklets. More like souvenirs than actual CD I'll listen
at....
< Friday, July 26, 2002 :: 01:33 a.m. >
Already
tomorrow I'll be leaving the populous city of Hong Kong for even
greater cities: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing. Lots of things
said about the first and the last, few about the middle ones (other
than "oh it is said that the girls are pretty over there"). This trip
will last 7 days, after which I will come back to HK, and plan for
further adventures outside the Pearl of the Orient.
(I think I may've been touristic enough in the last
paragraph, and will spare you all of this kind of writing... Well,
anyways, all I can really add is that I've done a lot of shopping, but
still looking for the great thrill. Hong Kong is a good introduction to
the crowded urban areas of Asia, for it is really an hybrid of the
western and eastern worlds. Mind you, I am starting to get well
accustomed to the habits of the place. Speak loud, and learn to push
people when you need: it is one of the qualities you need to survive in
the Hong Kong Jungle. My fave movie, Chungking Express happens in Hong
Kong and the original title "Chungking Jungle" (Chongjing Simlim) had
some significance with respect to HK's nature... To be a tourist is
fine for me: not so much pressure, and the pushing and shouting is much
more a fun sport, than a harsh physical task, if you're actually living
and working in that city.)
I want to go to Japan. For a week perhaps. My Cantonese isn't go great. To sun ok la
(well, it's pretty ok, still). And I might be able to converse better
in Canto when I come back, to my mammy's pleasure. =D It's a part lack
of confidence, and another part lack of vocabulary. If you talk about
things that are usually discussed around our familial table, I
understand fine. But say if you use a more formal Canto (in stores,
guided tours), or a "personal" Cantonese (expressing deep feelings and
stuff), I would probably not be able to speak, let alone understand,
correctly.
I bought a digital camera. It's the Canon PowerShot S40...
for HK$3700, roughly CAN$750 or US$500. happy... (I believe that now
with a good zoom/closeup, and some decent reaction time between when I
press the button and when the picture *is* actually taken, the shots
will become more and more weird and numerous - I am already falling in
love with my cam)
There's people everywhere. Being from a relatively
low-density place, it's a bit special to see as many people walking at
around 9 PM, a weekday, in the "suburb", as if it were a sunny Sunday
afternoon in Montreal's downtown park. < Tuesday, July 23, 2002 :: 01:11 p.m. >
My cousins
sunded sceptical when I said to them I would like to visit the Hong
Kong Arts Museum today. Frederic said: "Mais c'est de l'art importe ici
a HK". Since I've been here, I've been much limited to looking at
building and shopping. Shopping. I hardly do any shopping, but when
you've got full of asian pop music on shelves, of course I'll do some
shopping ! I didn't buy anything yet. But I got the prices marked down
in my head.
So, the museum... I don't feel that Hong Kong is such
a great city for museum -or anything artistic anyways (if you exclude
pret-a-ecouter music)-... that was such a pre-conception I had before
coming here, and it revealing to be true up to now.
I went to Stanley on Sunday, which looks and feel
like Mont-Tremblant in the summer (or your favorite weekend) but with
an outdoor flea market. I hate describing places I've been to. I hate
it, and I also can't seem to have a goodenuff grasp of the English
language to write properly so you can *feel* you were with me. Other
than that, I suggest explaining my trip in pictures... I am juggling
with the idea of buying myself a brand new digital camera.Not that I
really need one, but many things makes the current one unbearable to
use (no charger, ok but lower than standard resolution, slow to react,
slow to open, flash sucks, etc). But a new one would cost $CAN 600, or
$HK 3000.
Sun returned, after a whole week of cloudy weather. I
booked my trip to China, Shanghai->some cities->Nanjing, and as
it looks, I will only be going once to China, thus skipping Beijing. I
will run out of time, so I might as well go to Japan while I've still
the time.
Talking about Japan, I finished Norwegian Wood
yesterday. You kinda knew Toru was going to get together with Midori.
But how much time would it take ?
The images of pop idols is becoming unbearable. I'll
soon be brainwashed into buying music CDs and artist-ware that I don't
need, nor want. o_O; I am also about to give in to the paper ads
handlers, ya know, those people who're in the streets and simply hand
flyers to you ? Well, in Hng Kong they're everywhere. Maybe I should
collect whatever they give me, and keep 'em as souvenirs. What a
tourist I am.. -_- hmm... < Saturday, July 20, 2002 :: 01:58 a.m. >
Am starting
to miss the emptiness of Montreal's streets. -_- Tomorrow, I'll be
heading for Mong Kok, the good bargain neighborhood of Hong Kong (which
apparently *is* also the place to go for hookers et al.)
PICTURES
Finally got access to a real computer and managed to upload a couple of pictures.
You know, being away from most of Asia's pop culture
for, say, the past 20 years before last year, have made me develop some
sort of positive prejudice towards whatever came from Asia. But
I could feel that I didn't like Cantonese Pop, from what my mother used
to listen to, or my grandparents/aunts/uncles used sang over karaoke
(it's not a myth, it does exist in PQ). And for sure, I've lots of
difficulty liking Cantonese Pop... maybe b/c of the ultra-marketable
not-really-art aspects of music (which is analogous to life per se
in Hong Kong - advertisement boards everywhere, savage market surveying
on the streets/shopping malls/museums... understand that it's not an
understatement to declare HK a city of the omnipotency of commerce...
this is one of the things I find difficult to accept - book fairs look
more like commercial fairs that the celebration of literary richness.
Anyways, I am doing some major rambling right here ^^;;).
Maybe there exists underground/non-mainstream music
in Hong Kong, songs that don't immediately create a karaoke/musicvideo
setting as a mental image right when you listen at them. However, it is
yet to be found. What's bothering me so much is also the repetition, to
the death, of such promotionnal photos you may find on the street, on
buses, on posters, etc. Most memorable: new Sammi Cheng movie, some
baby-pop duo going by the very original name of "Twins", AndY Hui's new
album "Roma", the Taiwanese boys band "F4" Pepsi ad and Aaron Kwok's
fitness ad. o_O tai sei ngo (dies watching ) OK well, guess what I'll
be doing tomorrow night ? yes, karaoke...
Ok, and to counter-balance all these negative
thoughts: well, maybe it's simply b/c I am not that familiar with
Cantonese after all. For sure, I don't understand every single word of
vocabulary coming out of their mouths.
Hating some aspects of HK doesn't make me hate the
trip. I mean, I don't think that the objective of the trip was to make
me love everything I see and experience. It's simply that after I come
back, maybe I'll see the world differently (and will have much more
stuff to use in future conversation ^_^)
I guess other details will have to wait. As for
family stuff, I've met all the relatives I should've met, and gave all
the gifts I should've given. < Thursday, July 18, 2002 :: 12:20 p.m. >
I think I did
too many things on the computer before getting myself to write this
update on my whereabouts =). I am currently at the Hong Kong Central Library, some very huge and modern building in the Causeway Bay district, where my aunt lives.
Awful lot of people around me. Guy behind me is
watching some MPEG video -obviously, I'm not the one who should be
feeling guilty for not using library property for non-academic work ^^.
I'll soon have pictures to show, provided that I find a computer to
which I can plug my digicam's memory card.
Buys:
- Music CDs: globe -Eurobeat presents-, and Coco Lee -DiscoCo
- Clothing: very cheap stuff at Giordano's (the local Gap-like store,
and mom says that Gap actually copied their style all over the world)
I walked through most of Hong Kong's \"Downtown\"
(it's downtown everyhwere) district already. (You should know that I
looked for an Internet spot since I got here, and now that I'm in front
of one, free and unlimited, I can't remember all the things I wanted to
write about while looking). I called my parents more than once a day
since I've arrived. (The city is a bit frightening (I had my
aunts/uncles, what a chance)) But don't gt me wrong - am not missing
home. I'm looking forward to doing so much over here. In a week or so,
I'll be going to China's big cities, and a bit later, I'll maybe even
go to Japan if the funds permit me.
(This is very lame, I had good ideas, but a library
isn't really the most inspiring place in the world. I read a couple of
books in the past month (considering that I haven't started AND
finished a book for a couple of years already, it's an exploit).
Coehlo's Alchemist seemed to be a very appropriate book to read before
going on a trip such as mine. I don't feel like I've strings attaching
me to the past. I feel that the more I accept that I am in a different
world, the more I'll be able to appreciate it. This was an inspiring
book. Inspiring: a word that doesn't mean much -only, an inspiration
pushes you to react, do things, in a different manner, approach.
Then I couldn't stay long away from reading books by Haruki Murakami... bought Norwegian Wood
the other day as I wandered alone in HK's Kowloon side. I do find that
the characters have sex a bit too easily, for a non-X-rated book. o_O;;
I thought that I should have a list of things about HK that hit me. But I'm running out of time. < Saturday, July 13, 2002 :: 04:55 a.m. >
Leaving in
two hours. Chatting with some friends and maybe *last* run of WarCraft
III. ^^;; Not worried, but affraid that I'm too calm (so that makes me
worried, doesn't it ?). Anyways, flight details:
Montreal-NewYork/Newark
Flight 4165
940-1110
New York/Newark-Hong Kong
Flight 99
1215-1555
I'll basically be flying *with* the sun, and at the same time losing a day to international day change line. < Thursday, July 11, 2002 :: 12:51 a.m. >
Well, two days before the departure. I'm not nervous
yet. Maybe I should be. Dad said to mom (who was helping me out to pack
my stuff): "well, looks like you're more anxious than the son!".
It's the first time I set foot on Asia. You know how
it is when your whole family comes from there, and starts yapping about
how different the culture is, how people will *act* differently, just
'cause they're living in a different millieu. I'll stay in Hong Kong
for at least the first week. Comments about HK ? It's loud, it's hot,
it's crowded. But also, oh yeah, there are lots of pickpockets, or Hongkongers are really cunning! (especially when they'll guess you're a foreigner by your lousy Chinese)..
that's mental preparation ^^;;. Not always in the [positive/optimistic]
way though... but this is the way *they* think, and I guess they're
hoping that I'll see by myself that HK isn't that bad. Yeah, and among
the warnings I received, almost everyone I spoke to mentionned how good
the food was over there. Well, I know someone who's going to be happy.
=D
top of page
|
