(no subject)
Well, we made it to Hong Kong, and of course as is the trend in my life, we had absolutely zero difficulty finding a hotel. It's about $15 per night for both of us, which is about the cheapest you'll find anywhere in Hong Kong.
The place in which we live is amazing. It's called the Chungking mansions, and it's among the most multicultural places I've ever been, and, as Scott puts it, "Not in the bullshit 'all of your money' way." In our hotel there are Pakistanis, Afghans, Ethiopians, Somalians, Malaysians, Indians, etc. There are places in this 15 story complex that the only way you can tell you're in China is because there are sometimes characters next to the hindi in the Indian restaurants. It's a combination between ghetto and sketchy (we're pretty sure some of the dudes in this place run hell of drugs), but I love it.
Hong Kong as a city is beautiful, but I feel mighty odd.
Some of you may remember before my first trip around the world I was deciding between doing just exactly that, or moving to Hong Kong until I could get a job, learn Cantonese, etc. At this T intersection in my life, I made perhaps the most pivotal important decision of my life. Now I feel confronted by the decisions I made: what would my life have been like if I had chosen Hong Kong? Would I have gone to AU that first year? I probably would never have met Scott, Andrew, Annie, Samii, etc. the Leo 2 crew, and then by extension never would have met Kanako or Ross kun. My relationships with both Kirsten and Liz wouldn't have happened, almost assuredly. I wouldn't have gone to South America, thereby meeting Tom and Eric who had some of the largest influences in my life. Without Scott or Andrew I may not have gone to China, or maybe I would have anyway just definitely not where I am now. That means never having met Zhaojing or Nono or any of my good friends here.
In this moment the past I could have had meets my actual past in my mind. Would I have found a job? Learned Cantonese (of course everyone speaks English)? or just given up and gone home? Where would I have lived? How would a year in Hong Kong change my views on China, my views on Asia? I wouldn't have gone to Europe or SE Asia or New Zealand. This is without a doubt the largest decision I ever made, and I can't stop thinking about what might have been.
I've got tons more to write about when I get back home, which will happen probably the second as we're running out of money! Ha ha ha.
Good to be me, though it seems entirely coincidental that I am who I am, and that it's good at all. Jesus, shut me up!
The place in which we live is amazing. It's called the Chungking mansions, and it's among the most multicultural places I've ever been, and, as Scott puts it, "Not in the bullshit 'all of your money' way." In our hotel there are Pakistanis, Afghans, Ethiopians, Somalians, Malaysians, Indians, etc. There are places in this 15 story complex that the only way you can tell you're in China is because there are sometimes characters next to the hindi in the Indian restaurants. It's a combination between ghetto and sketchy (we're pretty sure some of the dudes in this place run hell of drugs), but I love it.
Hong Kong as a city is beautiful, but I feel mighty odd.
Some of you may remember before my first trip around the world I was deciding between doing just exactly that, or moving to Hong Kong until I could get a job, learn Cantonese, etc. At this T intersection in my life, I made perhaps the most pivotal important decision of my life. Now I feel confronted by the decisions I made: what would my life have been like if I had chosen Hong Kong? Would I have gone to AU that first year? I probably would never have met Scott, Andrew, Annie, Samii, etc. the Leo 2 crew, and then by extension never would have met Kanako or Ross kun. My relationships with both Kirsten and Liz wouldn't have happened, almost assuredly. I wouldn't have gone to South America, thereby meeting Tom and Eric who had some of the largest influences in my life. Without Scott or Andrew I may not have gone to China, or maybe I would have anyway just definitely not where I am now. That means never having met Zhaojing or Nono or any of my good friends here.
In this moment the past I could have had meets my actual past in my mind. Would I have found a job? Learned Cantonese (of course everyone speaks English)? or just given up and gone home? Where would I have lived? How would a year in Hong Kong change my views on China, my views on Asia? I wouldn't have gone to Europe or SE Asia or New Zealand. This is without a doubt the largest decision I ever made, and I can't stop thinking about what might have been.
I've got tons more to write about when I get back home, which will happen probably the second as we're running out of money! Ha ha ha.
Good to be me, though it seems entirely coincidental that I am who I am, and that it's good at all. Jesus, shut me up!