Day 28

I leave for Beijing tonight.
My plane is at 8am tomorrow morning.

Why? It is logistically impossible for me to be on time for my flight tomorrow morning if I leave any later than 8:45 tonight (almost 12 hours in advance.) In order to get to Shenzhen where my flight is departing, I will have to take the metro to the border crossing. From there I'll immigrate into China at Lo Wu and then ride out to the airport on one of the last metro trains around 11. When I get to the airport, I'll be waiting for a while... I'll see how that turns out. I'll be back in Hong Kong Sunday night.

The reason I'm really posting is to address the goals I set last week. According to the blog schedule I was given I should have allowed more time for their fulfillment but the logistics of my trip don't fit that schedule at all. I'll probably do another update before I leave.

So:
I think I've discussed some of the cultural/political differences between the mainland and Hong Kong. The politics are more relaxed here and there's more tolerance of popular opinion. By the same token I think I am understanding more and more what I am studying and working towards as I accomplish things at my job. Working here gives me perspective about how the component parts of China's export industry work and how to enter this industry.

Honestly, I know hardly any Cantonese since being here. I speak Mandarin at work and when I buy things mostly. Or I just don't say anything. I've tried; I can say "hi", " thank you", "good morning", "bye", and "yes". Also this week I learned to count. So it's a work in progress.

The professional goals I set were addressed mostly by the first answer about culture and politics in Hong Kong. My personal involvement in international trade hasn't gone to plan yet, but the pieces are all there.

Mostly I'm just excited about Beijing. It'll be worth the (awful) trip.

Day 25

Macau was okay. Not great, but okay. I was surprised how small the island is. I took a lot of pictures; Macau's a scenic place. As I mentioned earlier Macau is famous for its casinos, but going there was a fun experience even without gambling (citation needed). When I got there, I got on a bus without knowing where it was going, got off at a place that I thought looked good, and walked across the island. It took me maybe an hour to walk around almost the entire thing. It was really scenic; the cliché saying that it's a place "where east meets west" is almost applicable. Almost. Something less appealing about the city was that it cost a triflin' $1000HK to stay in a hotel that night. As such, I got my black self back on the boat.

Moving on.
I AM GOING TO BEIJING.
Today I booked my ticket for my first trip into the Mainland: In through Shenzhen, out back to Hong Kong. The reason for this is that the fares from Hong Kong airport to get into the country are significantly more expensive because of government regulations, fees and things like that. Instead of paying another $100, I'm going to cross the border either Thursday night or Friday morning for an 8am flight (No work on Friday). My transfer will probably involve sleeping in an airport or something like that. On the positive side, I'm excited to go to Beijing, anyway. I'll get to see a few people from APSA (the program that helped me study there in 2009, and has adopted me as website poster child/model #1) and also AIESEC. I'm looking forward to going to the Capital again and enjoying the delicious baozi I haven't had for such a long time.


Yes. These awkward spaces mean that it is time for more prompted writing.

I haven't experienced culture shock. Actually I was more shocked by how un-shocking the culture was. Let me explain: In Beijing, there were no black people, hardly any white people, and driving around with a bus full of both completely alienated us from our surroundings. Of course we felt different. Here in Hong Kong, the community is (surprisingly) diverse; as I consistently point out the cultural mix here in Downtown Kowloon where I live rivals New York; really it does. That isn't an exaggeration. Tsim Sha Tsui is a micro-reflection of the immigrant communities that have made America the melting pot it is today.

...I see now that many of the questions in this week's prompt went with the assumption that I DID experience culture shock. Nice try, scoundrel.

Day 21

Today was another work day.

Yesterday there was a Typhoon Signal. This one was level three. Usually it's level one, which doesn't mean anything (I've seen it three times since I've been here) but yesterday's was supposed to be worse. It wasn't that bad. There was a lot of rain and wind and the door to my apartment was moving around on its own because of the wind outside. It's rained every day for some time now, almost a week.

This weekend I'm going to Macau (the former Portugese colony, 'gambling capital of the world') for a couple of days. I met some people when I was out last weekend that happen to be going at the same time, and someone I've known here for a while has a contact in Macau, so I'm set to go without spending a lot. I look forward to eating Portugese-style food, whatever that is. The great (not) thing about Macau is that instead of Hong Kong, where I only speak one and a half of the official languages, I can go to Macau and speak zero of them. Fact: I have never been to a country where I could not say a sentence in the official language, so this will be a first.

Now, I have some goals to lay down about professional, personal, and cross-cultural development.

Some goals of mine will be:

Personal - To 1) learn and document (through my blog) the cultural and political dichotomies between the Mainland and HK, and to 2) Come back with a better understanding of what I am studying and working towards;

Cross-cultural - To 1) have a working knowledge of some basic Cantonese phrases and vocabulary, and 2) to be able to be understood at McDonald's;

Professional - To 1) Learn about international trade, and how it is conducted by companies like Interpro, where I work, and 2) to emulate those processes on a smaller scale and broker goods between countries.

Until next time.

Day 17 [+ LKF street band]

This weekend my friend got here. I have one friend in all of HK who I knew before coming here.

On Saturday we went to Lan Kwai Fong (again) and hung out with some people. I mentioned before that I met two guys from England who I didn't expect to be in HK for more than a few days; I ran into them last night, and that was crazy. They had gone to some island (I couldn't understand them, whether it was the accent or all the noise I don't know) and come back to HK for a bit. Those guys are fun. Later, also in Lan Kwai Fong, we saw a street band. I've seen the same band there for two weekends in a row. It's as though they have a tradition. Anyway, check the video out, and sorry for my singing.



This weekend was also the Dragon Boat Carnival (An iteration of a dragon boat race, but in a small area) so I stopped by that after work on Saturday. On Sunday I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. They played it in English with Chinese subtitles. It must be frustrating to have all of Hollywood come to you with subtitles rather than the original speech or even dubbing.

That's all I have to say. Soon I'm going to talk about economy and daily lifestyle here, and also 'Personal Goals for Cross Cultural Development*'.

*Not exactly a self-motivated topic.

Day 14 [stub]

Today, at 11:32 pm UTC +0800, I finally got internet in my apartment (sic).
Life is improving.

Also, it's been raining for almost a week here. The rain is similar to mexico. But that's the only part of the climate that's similar to mexico. The rest of it is hot and humid like Atlanta.

Day 12

This weekend I didn't do a lot. Three things I did do, however, were 1) see the light show, 2) decide on my favorite Indian restaurant, and 3) hang out with friends I made in the Navy. First, the HK light show was pretty cool. But maybe a little overrated. It wasn't that great but I'm glad I went.

At Chungking Mansions, where I used to live, there's a large population of African and Indian immigrants like I said before. These immigrants work in the markets around where they live; namely the bottom few floors of almost every building on Nathan Road. In Chungking Mansions, also, there are a lot of Indian 'restaurants'. It's not a restaurant, it's a 'restaurant' because the only seating at one of these places is a table with linoleum floor covering on top. But the food is great: Chicken tikka, egg roll, chicken curry, Biryani, etc. A meal there costs about $40 ($5 US). For Hong Kong, that's really cheap.

The Navy was here. They left yesterday, and have been here since Wednesday. They wouldn't say where they were going next, but they were about to finish a tour in the Gulf. Meeting other Americans who are also new in town is exciting. Exciting because, besides the people I meet (like Navy servicemen) I don't have any friends here. Being alone here is only fun for so long, which leads me to what I did on Sunday.

...

And today, Monday, I'm back at work. Nothing interesting or special has happened since then.

On the politics in HK: The whole region is very autonomous. There are protesters and dissidents just like in big American cities like New York. The police are like campus police; they aren't there to impose the will of any regime, just to make sure that people are safe and not on drugs. So the people who have complaints about the government, about Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao or Falun Gong, can do what they want and no one pays them any attention. Actually, no one really does. People in Hong Kong don't have a lot of power to put events in motion for change, because they aren't truly part of the constituencies that are governed by Beijing, and even if they were, it's only one city; and if they were, they wouldn't be able to loudly organize against their government.

Next time I write will probably be the end of this week; until then.

Day 6

Yesterday was my first day of work. It was a long day. I like my job; I have a desk and a corner and so far my work is all manageable. The company is really impressive; it’s in a big office building, with a showroom and a lot of office space. In the showroom, there are tons (thousands) of products; all kinds of things that are made in China and shipped to the United States. This company is so influential between the United States and China that it was a contractor for the Snuggie, an odd commercial phenomenon that started in 2009. The point is this company is on the map for American companies looking to source goods & production capital from Mainland China. (Everyone understands that Hong Kong isn’t a part of China proper, right?)

Other than work I haven’t done many interesting things of late; I’ve been busy. So, this time, I’ll give more details about how I’m living here in HK. I live in Tsim Sha Tsui, in a relatively newly-opened guesthouse run by an Egyptian landlord. Like I said before Hong Kong is very diverse and very crowded. The street I live on (pictured), Nathan Road, is probably the busiest street in Kowloon. I live by Tsim Sha Tsui Station; the entrance is conveniently very close to my building. It’s also about a 10-minute walk to get to the pier. At the end of last weekend, I also went to the Avenue of the Stars nearby (see photo).

Also, at the request of my sponsors, here are some things that surprised me when I first arrived in Hong Kong. Topics written in response to prompts will be found in my blog now and again.

- When I got here, I didn't realize how many people would speak English. It's completely different from the mainland in that way. It's not much different (linguistically) than going to Europe.

- I expected the food to consist of a lot more dumplings and rice than it does. Instead, there's a lot of noodles and soup. And noodle soup. And even some noodle dumpling soup. But it isn't exactly what I'd always been told I'd eat when I went to "中国的南方".

- There is a huge Indian and African population near where I'm staying. It has left its mark on the local culture in terms of cuisine, language, and commerce (a lot of the ownership of places around me, such as the guesthouse where I am staying, is foreign.)

Day 3

Yesterday I moved. Yesterday I also fell asleep at 7pm. I was really tired. Jetlag is for amateurs but I was REALLY TIRED. So today is the third day of my being here in Hong Kong; Monday happens to be a holiday so I've been on a four-day stretch without work since I got here. Yesterday I also went to Victoria Peak. I'll probably eventually go again at night. This time, though, I didn't have anything really to do after moving yesterday, so I went then. It was a good experience. I met a guy who works at the American Consulate in Guangzhou who was from Atlanta (like me), who told me about something he had taken advantage of to get to where he was called the Pickering Fellowship. Worth a try. Also, yesterday I walked around Wan Chai on Hong Kong island for a little while. On the night before last (of day 1), I went to Lan Kwai Fong. While I was there, I asked two people that looked to be around my age what the best things around there to do were, and went around together with them for the rest of the night. I discovered that they were from the UK and visiting for a short time; it was a lot of fun hanging out with them, but they said they'd be leaving Hong Kong soon. I met some other interns that are currently graduate students at USC and some local teenagers. After going out with them for a while, I was stranded on HK Island because I stayed too late, and the ferry and metro stopped running. There are no bridges between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. None. How awful. I ended up having to take a taxi which cost HK$80. It was upsetting. Anyway, in order to keep from making the same mistake the next day, I left the island at around 4pm, and just went home. The weather here is extremely hot and humid. It's worse than Atlanta; the air is thick and humid, and the temperature coupled with the air quality (not great) make it difficult to breathe as much as I enjoy doing. Everywhere I go, I ask for some water to rehydrate before I go back out and walk some more. Because I do so much walking, having water and occasional a/c is important.

I have limited wi-fi now, having moved from Chungking Mansions to a nearby, nicer, less crowded place across the street. I start work on Tuesday.

Day 1

Day 1, a photo by printsmart102 on Flickr.

Too tired to write very much. Today I found a place to live for HK$10000 ($1300 US). I bought an octopus card for the metro. I had some bad bao zi (包子, steamed dumplings) for lunch. I'm going to have mcdonalds for dinner because I don't yet have a good sense of where the good places to eat are. Tonight I'm going to Lan Kwai Fong. This is a picture from the ferry I took across Kowloon Bay to HK island. For perspective, it cost $0.25.


My first impressions of Hong Kong are that it's diverse, gray, hot, and slightly expensive. It's very different from Beijing.

Leaving Atlanta

Leaving Atlanta, a photo by printsmart102 on Flickr.

Today, I left Atlanta with my mom. I'm going to fly through Charlotte and then Detroit. That is going to take all day, and then I'll be taking the 16-hour marathon plane ride from Detroit to HK. When I get there, I won't have any internet access. It'll be nighttime on Thursday. (For perspective, I'm leaving Wednesday morning.) I'm excited; the plane ride is going to be long but by the end of it I'll be starting in a completely new place.