Picture Break Time - Misc

Thailand Can Do Part II, Shall we?

View from my hotel in Pattaya, unreal

Lol.

I'm pretty sure that's doesn't say Alan, but it doesn't matter cuz I'm coming back THAILAND

Mochi is so cuteee

Every Sunday is national holiday for the filipinos maids in Hong Kong.

Finding a moment of zen away from the city

Starting from the right, baby rats, snakes, and dont want to know - HK

Still in Macau

That square in Macau, what is it called again?

Macau was cool - don't gamble it's bad...

Shit got real at HK Disneyland, these guys have cool hair

Above it all - Ocean Park

You aint know nothing about crowdedness unless u in HK - Ocean Park Halloween

Unusual sunset - roof of my hall.

Authentic experience eating/drinking with locals - Tai O

On top of the smog also in GuangZhou

On a boat in GuangZhou

DO NOT GET HAIR CUTS IN HONG KONG.

The end is near

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, be grateful to the people love you and thankful of all things you own. So today marks the end of last week of instruction and I got a final on monday. I'm glad it's all coming to an end because I can honestly say I'm ready to go home to my friends, family, and my girlfriend. I miss all you guys. Over the month of Nov I learned a great deal about How NOT asian I am compare to these real asians here in HK. I always thought my identity as "asian" when I'm in America, but here I realize that I'm more American than I thought. Asia is a place that makes you realize things, things I never realized before about life, identity and my future. I thought it'd be appropriate to take a moment here (since it's thxgiving) just give thanks to all da ppl that made my life meaningful, don't be shy here you know who you are.

Asians study so hard...well because they have to, you think your future career opportunities are shrinking in America? well, you better think again cuz the competition here is much greater and people are under much more pressure...that's why Hong Kong people are always rushing. Being in Asia observing harsh realities sometimes allowed me to have a deeper understanding for my parents, ironically when I had to turn in my EAP statement, I BSed some lines about how this experience would bridge the generational gap between me and my parents, well it actually did (kind of). I sometimes wonder why I chose Hong Kong but actually it doesn't matter where I picked and the fact I experienced some hard times here (I know hard to believe right? exchange? hard times? come on quit being a pussy go out and get drunk!) made it necessary for me to grow up.

A few words about Hong Kong Society: is Hong Kong more asian now that it belongs to China or is Hong Kong more western? I don't feel like I learned a thing about "real" Hong Kong culture per se, but I can certainly tell that Hong Kong people make clear distinction from mainland China. Hell, Hong Kong is even competing against China in the Asian games. Shit it's 4AM again, I better go sleep.

But I will certainly miss the time here with my exchange life coming to a wrap.

Suck a D

Mark Yudof puts 8% UC tuition hike to regents vote

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/09/MN1U1G8V8L.DTL#ixzz14nuwGSF3

Hey I have an idea, how about for every % increase in UC tuition, we take it out of you and your butt buddie's paychecks?

Vote? A "democratic" tool used to hide corruption? Who give you the right to vote on whether or not YOU can increase our fees? Go fuck yourselves.

couple things

Classes are officially over on the 30th, I'm wondering about how to spend the rest of my time here? Well, I'll just make a list maybe it will trigger my subconscious computer.

-explore hk, come on...not all hong kong ppl are assholes only the ones in the financial district...

-travel to some parts of China that has real culture and hopefully learn something.

-get on top and over my shit.

-spend $ frugally, which basically means not going out.

-find out what is meaningful to me.

-I need a revelation or maybe realizing that I need a revelation is already a revelation.

-maybe a backpacking trip somewhere? any suggestions?

-make global connections.

-make a mix for Taiwan, can't wait to see you baby!

Taking a little break from HK tomorrow...heading to Macau, time to ball out with my stack of 20s.

check point

I have been on exchange for exactly 2 months, the partying had slow down and I've got bunch of bullshit work that I don't care about. I'm really starting to care about how to spend the rest of my time here. I want to explore Hong Kong as I observe that all UC people go to the same places repeating the same activities while hanging out in large groups. But I'd hate to leave Hong Kong knowing places that offer the same activities that I can do back in America. So for the next two month I will make an attempt to explore some rural areas, areas that aren't in the lonely planet guide books...get off the beaten tracks...Time is ticking, new experiences are waiting, in the end the destination never matter as much as the journey. Wish me luck, and fuck school work that has no educational values, Asia's #1 you should teach people how to think not how to do work.

in Thailand, you can do...

The worst kind of addiction? Nah, the best kind.

This picture was taken on the last day, I forgot my camera when I left bangkok for pattaya. But those memories will stay with me forever. Thailand certainly put a big smile on my face.

I can see how shopping is really fun :)....include the small suitcase and the ray bans are real.

I agree. Lesson learned.

Round 4/4 eating at the best buffet in Thailand. This round is Spanish food and some thai desert. Food in HK is shit to compare to this.

Thai people are very religious, a man was beaten to death on the spot because he was trying to break this buddha,

See? Smiling.

Best Tonkatsu I've ever had in my life, for how much? 10 USD.

Nice.

This street had alot of fortune tellers, I took recommendation and went to a famous one. This was life-changing experience for me.

Getting local food, Thai food in Thailand > Thai food in America.

Thailand is also called "The land of Smile" people are very happy that you take their photos.

Touristy needs satisfied, let's move on.

This is where the king lives.

Their attention to detail is just amazing.

The Grand Palace.

you can have your own swimming pool.

you can have a nice breakfast.

religion is very important to the Thai people.

You can put a fake water fall outside of a mall connecting to a 5 star hotel.

Arrived in BKK, my host family's balcony.

Thailand Can Do

What can you do in thailand? Everything, if you are a foreigner. Thailand was easily the best foreign trip in my life. From riding elephants to jetskiing to drinking with ladyboy prostitutes, you can name it. The phrase "thailand can do" means that every time we wondered about whether or not we can do something, we did it, because in thailand you can do anything if you got $. I got seriously spoiled from this trip, and coming back to Hong Kong was quite a sad moment.

Few things I gotta say, while the older generation really looked down up on prostitution industry, I think they have been stigmatized badly. I sat down and talked with a ladyboy prostitute asked her some questions and found out actually it is not their fault that they had to prostitute themselves, even people who graduate from college can only work as a door man in a hotel, just imagine the difficulties one have to face if they don't have an education, especially if you are an transsexual. It is not easy, I blame society. Thailand was a quite visually stimulating place, but behind all of the tacky decorations, there are sufferings...a lot of it. Despite the governments' efforts, most people are very poor in thailand...I don't want to get too political about this.

I want to say big thank you to my hosts, you guys really made our trip something that we can't forget. thank you thank you.

This vacation to paradise was much needed since I'm starting to get bored of Hong Kong. Thai people were very kind and calm, they never talk loud or rush you out of restaurants, instead they smile at you and tell you to take as much time as you need. Fuck Hong Kong, that's right I'm saying it, you can take your greasy ass food and your shitty ass attitude and shove it up your ass.

The thing I loved the most was not the food, the VIP services, the crazy fun stuff; I loved the Thai people the most, I do not believe they are kind to me because I had money. Sometimes a smile from a stranger is priceless. I wish I could've stayed longer...

local flavor

?

half of the trophies they won from dragon boat race

1/3 of the Liang family , they were so friendly and funny. thx for the drinks and bbq

These are comparable to trailer houses, except they are much nicer and permanent residence. Oh, they are made out of stilt?

very old town, most of the business here is dry sea food.

There were tons of stray cats in Tai O :(

I haven't been updating as often...well I haven't been doing that much stuff. My sleeping schedule is all messed this last week, consecutive nights of sleeping at 6 AM...really need to change that. Today wasn't so bad, I escaped the city and went to Lantau Island. This time to Tai O. Old fishing village, I didn't expect much but I was really surprised at how friendly the people were. My friend and I just basically sat down with a local family and had BBQ and drinks with them. Apparently they were the biggest family in the village and they had so much pride in their dragon boat team. Hong Kong is such noisy and busy place, escaping to somewhere quiet was really nice break.

Shenzhen.

Lastly, my cousin's cat. so funny. named "Dabao"

Mexican Food?

This is like, a BBQ place. You drink beer and eat kabobs.

Night markets, very common in China.

So I was in France, Rome, Italy all in the one day?

Window of the World. Fake famous places micro-scaled.

good lookin building.

This is the entrance to Foxconn. See what I mean? You can't go in.

me and my niece, cute.

Japan vs China. Both cheaters.

This game lol. It's women only. Basically whoever can hold one liter of beer the longest with their arms straight wins.

Shenzhen has a nick name, "fake" capital of the world. Even fake lady gaga. She was singing bad romance.

I'm on a boat, I'm on a boat, take a good hard look at the mother fuking boat.

Shekou Shenzhen, an area with lotta bars and KTV

Mah boat.

View from my cousin's flat. mmm