Hong Kong & Thailand Highlights

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Hong Kong & Thailand Highlights Sunday January 15

Let's hope that my return flight from Hong Kong isn't an omen for the coming year. It was rainy in the Kantou region today, so it was one of those landings where you don't know the ground is right there until it is, uhm, right there. That wouldn't have bothered the cabin passengers so much, I suppose, if they could have believed that the pilot did indeed know where the ground was.

We hit the ground so hard that a couple of the overhead panels (containing the lights, the seatbelt indicator lamps, and oxygen masks) popped out of place and dangled down in the row behind me. I think something went awry on the plane after the jolt, too; while we taxied normally, we had to be towed into final position at the gate.

Japan is cold, rainy, and windy right now. Nonetheless, it felt good to be "home". Living out of a suitcase for three weeks can be rough at times. Moreover, I don't like the feeling of not being able to understand anything, and in that sense, Japan was a welcome return. Just not the weather.

I'll skip the "we did this, we did that" of my trip; most of that can be seen through the photographs. However, there are a few larger thoughts that I want to address here, since no one picture can capture them effectively.

• Cantonese. Labeled possibly one of the world's most difficult languages to learn, this version of Chinese is spoken in southern China and Hong Kong. If I had only tried to learn it when I was surrounded by Cantonese-speaking people for three years straight during high school. What was I doing wasting my time chatting with Kaila and Melissa while peeling peapods? As a side note, Nancy's fake Cantonese-English accent is the best impression I've ever heard, but I suppose it's no contest because she speaks both.
• Group Travel. Our trip to Thailand was a group tour. Given that I knew nothing about Thailand and wanted a safe, secure way to see parts of it, it worked out well. Unfortunately, since you pay for a guided tour, the guides feel as though they must keep you busy 100% of the time in an effort to prove that they deserve your money. Couple this fact with the fact that it was a Chinese tour group. A bus full of Chinese people, and then Kevin and I not understanding a word that the guides were saying. I feel like I missed out on some explanations about Thai culture.
• Chinese Medicines. I don't want to hate on Chinese people, but I will say this: they love their medicines. This root cures this affliction, that food will solve this health problem. As such, since there are certain roots, barks, birds nests, and whatnot in Thailand that are cheaper than in Hong Kong, we stopped along the way every time we went somewhere long distance to have someone try to sell us health products in Cantonese.
• Thai Massage. Obviously, I didn't take any pictures of this, but I got the best two-hour full body massage ever. In the middle of said massage I had to get up and wash off the exfoliate they used...in a bath topped with fresh rose petals. Now that's what I'm talking about.
• Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an amazing place. It's definitely not that large, and the result is that everyone builds up. Near the equator, it does not really have an earthquake concern. I stayed in a sixty-three story condo building. Despite the bustling city center, you can easily take a bus to one of the beaches on the far side of Hong Kong island -- the beaches are free, the buses cost about a dollar (USD), and you can see the beauty that attracted people there in the first place. When I have a good fifty million to spare, I'll pick up a condo on the shore.

Anyway, I'm sure there's a lot more that I could say. If you're interested, send me an e-mail; I'll tell you more about whatever you ask.