Month: August 2006

Last night was miserable. Last night I got my roommate. But correlation does not equal causation.

The misery can be attributed almost entirely to going to bed early because I was coughing so much. I had been out and about, of course, and deserved every moment. But this was complicated by my roommate’s moving in. I told him not to worry about using the light when he needed it. I think there might have been a conversation outside about how early I go to sleep, and I thought I heard “gwailo,” but I’m hoping that’s just my paranoia talking. Even the prospect had my ire up before a new round of coughing slammed it out of me.

I don’t know much about the roommate, but I’ll lay out what I do without too badly invading his privacy—Chris is a second-year student of History here, with no interest in exchanging or business courses (unusual for Lingnan). He probably goes to sleep pretty late.

OK, that’s all I know so far.

He was busy much of today with the Hostel B O’Camp. If you’ve heard of “o’camp” many times before in various contexts (or not) and, like me, have no idea of its meaning: O’ is for orientation. It seems to involve quite a lot of shouting. Quite a lot of shouting. My guides to the room on arrival as well as Curtis, my oracle of Hong Kong wisdom, had claimed it to be riotous fun, and from what I can hear riotous is the right word. Tim, the WVU student who transferred (!) here after three years (!) with no credits transferring (!!!), over lunch, countered that his orientation experience (required since he is a “normal student” here) was not so much fun for non-Cantonese-speakers. It doesn’t matter for me since I was probably bounding across the islands if anyone ever came to ask me if I wanted to join.

Tim is a vegetarian, which is pretty challenging when the local cuisine finds a way to stash pork in almost everything. I guess keeping halal or kosher would be pretty rough too.

I have restricted myself to the Tuen Mun area… no, better, to campus, Siu Hong, and Fu Tai, at least until the travelling exchangers return, in an attempt to get rid of the cough. If it isn’t much better tonight/tomorrow—and it’s not been too bad today—I will bite the bullet and make an appointment with the doctor in Fu Tai. If nothing else (I’m pretty sure it’s a head cold) I might get some cough syrup out of the deal, since medications are included in the cost (20 HKD) of consultation. To pass the time PANIC law school applications PANIC I’m still not coming up with a good topic for my law personal statement—what in the name of bellowing is going on in the hallway?—and reading. This evening’s 250 pages of colonial Hong Kong escapism were provided by the wonderful (if self-congratulatory) Myself a Mandarin: Memoirs of a Special Magistrate, and I have a little reserve decidedly un-Chinese Faulkner and Steinbeck to provide breaks from the continued law school panic. Rumor has it that LSAC will begin electronic transmission of applications early next week.

Also next week, classes. They won’t be hard to get to, though I should scope the buildings out: some of the internal navigation is non-obvious, requiring the use of exterior lifts to reach upper floors. My student ID card should be ready Monday when Registry opens, and my HKID appointment (at which I won’t receive my card, even if everything is in order) comes a couple days later.

someone doesn’t want me to get rid of this cold. I just don’t know if it’s a PRC plot with cloud seeding, the guys who smoke in a nearby room, or the whole lot of screaming loud freshman-types that keep me up to 1:30. I miss the lifeless, socially inept vibe at Stalnaker at times like this.

OK, I get the hint—since I’ve been asked this by literally every person I’ve talked to in the States since arriving: Monday 4 September (this coming).

I’d been trying to stay in and rest in the hopes that it would wipe out my cough, but about 4:30 I decided that it would be criminal to spend such a frabjous-looking day inside. It was still hot, but there were patches of clear blue in the sky and humidity dropped briefly into the 70s (though it stayed around the 80s). After taking a shot on campus to prove I’d seen blue sky in Hong Kong (available in the campus album though no part of the campus is in the frame), I headed off to my stomping ground at Siu Hong.

There I caught a LR 610 to Melody Garden, a couple hundred metres from the “Tuen Mun Promenade” and Butterfly Beach.

Butterfly is the least toxic beach in Tuen Mun district, earning an enthusiastic “2 – Fair” grading. It still smelled a bit funny. Alongside it are various parks, public barbecue pits, and streams (of natural runoff, I hope…) and the Melody Garden, Butterfly Estate, and other housing developments. Pictures of the beach, too, are in the usual place in their own folder.

There’s not much insightful to say about the beach. It had people on it, it was a bit dirty, the weather was nice, it wouldn’t be a bad place to tan if you’re in to that, there are weird things in the water, etc. It’s a beach, and not a horrible one. I liked it OK. It’s also (in addition to edging out the other nearby beaches in cleanliness) by far the easiest one to reach from campus.

Well, cut me a break, I can’t be interesting every day. I’ve been trying to figure out if I want to do any traveling this week—Macau had come to mind—but I think I’ll stay fairly local for now. Since I’ve been to Central once I’d like to try to stay away until my Student Octopus comes through, so I can save on MTR fare, and Macau is so small I’d like to save it to see if any of the legion currently out of the country are interested in coming along. One or two extra people are always good to bring taxi fares down when you’re in an unfamiliar place (this is academic as I have never hailed a taxi in my life, being too stubborn). And I really should stay in bed all week and shake this stupid cough, but… maybe if it starts raining more.

Singapore looks like it’ll be around US$200 tax-in for round-trip air, so that might be a weekend (or long weekend) later on. Or maybe I want to save it as a jumping-off point for a real trip and use it as a launchpad for Malaysia. Hmm. I wish I could get a response from a travel agent about playing the PRC visa game, because Shenzhen or Guangdong (Canton) might be good weekends too (or daytrips, but if I’m stuck with a limited-entry visa I’d like to get more out of it).

7:20 this morning. I think I’m over the lag now, if not the cold. And my, it’s pretty out.

Freshmen (but not my roommate, who I guess isn’t one) moved in yesterday, meaning that I was stuck in a screaming freshman dorm for the third year of my college experience. That gets old quick, especially since (unlike last year) I can’t be the jerk and shut them up when it gets too loud. Much less understand what they’re shouting about.

Yesterday was kind of a slow day, and today might be too: I’m trying to shake this cold and not challenge my respiratory system so much. Yesterday’s big event was finding a massive box-o-junk left behind by previous WVU people, including a hot plate, around 30 hangars, and sandbox toys (among many others).

Some time this week I will head out to Big Buddha, since a group’s already been there. I don’t need them to blaze a trail, but I’d like to let my list of places to see overlap with others as much as possible, and since most of them are off in Bangkok or Hanoi today I don’t need to worry about them covering any more Hong Kong for a while. The weather looks too nice (though as always showers are forecast) to stay here today so maybe I’ll try to see something out here in the less-polluted New Territories.

I slept until 7:40 this morning, and it’s still halfway clear outside. Good start.

Well, it’s 1:20 in the morning and I’ve not been to bed yet–I made it nearly to 6 o’clock last morning too. Progress. Unfortunately I can’t sleep in tomorrow since I should be getting my roommate in the morning. I’ve been told that many exchange roommates have ulterior motives: those who volunteer to room with exchange students get (as do the exchange students) their air conditioning charges paid for.

Didn’t blog about yesterday, but there wasn’t that much to mention. I took the Light Rail into Tuen Mun Town Centre and looked around the interconnected shopping malls, park, government offices, library, post office, etc. The library thinks I’m too much of a risk until my HKID is issued. The post office, however, was happy to sell me aerogrammes at a ridiculously low HK$2.3 each.

At Fu Tai I bought a bowl (genuine non-knockoff made-in-the-USA Corelle, the better to not melt into my food), fork, spoon, and some ramen, which I’ve been burning through pretty quickly. Ramen is pretty easy to make as the local source of filtered water (meant for tea, I suppose?) is set to about 98 degrees Celsius. Drinking-temperature water is a little harder to make… right now I’m using a Rubbermaid pitcher as a relatively uninsulated but heat-resistant container. Takes a while.

This morning a big group was going to see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, but I found out that Sunday carries a 50% surcharge on Lantau transportation, so I postponed my trek to see him. I was feeling better today, so (idiot that I am) I made it worse by spending the day in Kowloon and Central. Yes, this means I did make it out to Central. I don’t think they are allowed to build anything under ten stories tall on Hong Kong island—you should look up pictures of the skyline as mine [available at the normal place] don’t do it justice.

On my way out I bought a pair of egg tarts (the Portuguese must have left a few here) in the Mei Foo West Rail/MTR station, and stepped outside to eat them. I was pleasantly surprised to find a small oasis. Hong Kong has done a very good job of stashing little parks in unlikely, soulless New Town development places.

I’m glad I’m not rich and gullible about fashion: those of you who are slaves to designer labels should get a kick from the directory of Pacific Place at Admiralty, into which I stumbled today.

The views from NWF Bus 15 to (and from) Victoria Peak were phenomenal but impossible to capture on camera. Breathtakingly breathtaking, and even better (as I’d been told) after darkness fell. I managed to be on a Star Ferry in the middle of the harbour during the 8 p.m. nightly light show, which was a neat perspective that also went uncaptured.

I probably re-aggravated my stress fracture for six months with my walking today: I got off the MTR at Mong Kok on the way in and walked all the way down Nathan Rd. to the Star pier at the end of Tsim Sha Tsui, and did the reverse on the way back. Instead of getting on the MTR there I hailed a 67X bus, which was just about as fast in the low traffic of a Sunday evening. Unfortunately, I missed out on the reprise of the Lantau Link bridge view (featured in my trip from the airport) because I was nodding off. Maybe that’s why I’m still awake now. I wasn’t back yet by the time I usually fall asleep.

I’ve just spent a bit cleaning up the nest of paper I’d started to accumulate, since the roommate is impending, and some more bits deleting lots of failed pictures, uploading the rest, and writing this. Remember that if you’re reading, it’s nice to comment once in a while so I don’t feel like I’m talking to myself (even though I am, really). IMs, e-mails, using the “comment” function itself, sending snail mail, calling my Skype or mobile… it can all be tremendously helpful. And if you aren’t reading, you’re a horrible person and I can say anything I want about you on here, because you’ll never know.

To the Nyquil again to try to free things up and get me to bed. With any luck the next blog post will not end with Nyquil, as nice as it is.

As I seem to be coming down with something (bird flu?) I’ll keep this one short. The off-campus tour went fairly well. We took the Light Rail to Tuen Mun Town Plaza and gawked a little, took it back to our local station (Siu Hong), got on West Rail there for Mei Foo where we changed for the MTR to Mong Kok. All was made easy and money slipped away at a frightening speed (not so frightening after the exchange rate) thanks to Octopus.

Ate lunch at a Japanese place—I hope not the cause of this sickness, though I don’t think dehydration or pollution are that much better options. One quirk is that free, cold, drinkable water does not exist here and as a result I’m not getting near enough—if I’m feeling well enough tomorrow I’m shopping for a water bottle that can accept the 98.5 Celsius water from downstairs. Or two.

The typhoon didn’t form, and the signal was cancelled this morning. Still a bit rainy here.

After lunch in Mong Kok I went on a rather painful search (considering the amount saved) for a phone, settling on a nice dual-band Nokia 1600 for HK$500 and a pre-paid SIM from PEOPLES. My airtime charge is around US$0.03/min with no additional charge for calling the USA. +852 6739 1405 is the number: replace the + with your international access code (011 for most US phones). Calls (especially time-zone appropriate) or international SMS will make my year.

My rates for sending SMS and for roaming are a bit less than extraordinary—my local airtime is about twice the normal charge for pre-paid here but I think the savings dialing the US will more than outweigh that.

Time to hit the Nyquil.

Today has been a day of watery adventure (rainy, sweaty, and congee). The briefings have come a bit easier, though. Signed our hostel contracts, got our student proof for Octopus, ran through the fitness center course (required, along with a payment for each use, to do anything there), learned about the library system, and that’s about it.

I ventured out to the Siu Hong West Rail / Light Rail station twice, first to deliver my Student Octopus application and then to buy an on-loan adult Octopus to tide me over until the 13 September (!) arrival of my Student one. I also went ahead and booked an appointment for my HKID at the fabulously overbooked Yuen Long office and paid my bill at the campus bank branch, so I’ve been a productive servant of bureaucracy. Today I found out that the canteen takes Octopus (octopi?), which means I may never use cash again. We’ll see.

Speaking of the canteen, I tried my luck with the Chinese breakfast today. Both Garrett and I received something we didn’t order (he went for the Western option), so our ordering was not flawless. I have no idea what my extra item was, but I can describe it: three pieces of something with a kind of gelatinous texture, possibly lightly fried, tasting vaguely of meat but (as far as I can tell) not being meat. Identifiable were the milk iced tea (what I got for just asking for an “iced drink”) and pork congee (jùk). The congee was not as smooth (nor as good) as the one I had on the plane, but still warm and filling. It wasn’t up to the level of the western breakfast (egg and chicken with black pepper sauce) I had yesterday, so I may switch back.

Our breakfasts averaged a mere HK$15.

The number 1 typhoon signal was hoisted today, and we got a little rain from the outer bands, but it’s past us (headed for Guangzhou) and unlikely to raise any higher signals.

One of the exchangers is getting together a meeting in the pool (also charged per-use… I guess it’s nicer than charging everybody the full amount as at WVU, but it creates a disincentive for students to take advantage of the resources) at 6:30 to talk about traveling. I’m not sure what the obsession with taking a huge group of Westerners somewhere is… a pair or a few people together, sure, but a horde is just begging for trouble. I may go if the rain’s off, though.