A Third of the Way There

Good people of the jury,

  Today we are here to discuss some good times in Shanghai with none other than Mr. Tony G. as your council. Oh my gato what's been going on lately? How have you been? And your better half? Great to hear! So what's the latest news? That's exciting! Wow, it's been really good catching up with you, I'm so glad you're doing a bit of the talking because I get sick of my own voice... well not entirely but seriously, I like having a conversation with two or more people instead of all of the conversations I seemingly have with myself. It makes me feel a little funny in the head area. Oh and to quickly explain the title, I'm planning on heading home in April of '12 because my visa will most likely be too much of a pain to continue on for much longer than that and that will be a full year here in the mainland. I'll be home for some family weddings and then I'm off again on another adventure with a great friend.

  Well I am excited to announce that my blog has had over 1,700 page views since it's start in April and I have to say that I am really happy to have had all of this support. The numbers are all from my parents (and myself) repeatedly refreshing the page, but I still feel like it's reaching some of you haha. I have to give a shout out to my good friend Brad Vassau because I definitely know he's reading since it shows a world map of where the views are coming from and he's the only person I know who lives in Alaska... Anyway! We have some good stuff to talk about although this one will probably be more for the friends than the family with some good clubbing stories, a good time with a buddy of mine who stopped by on his way to teach English a bit to the South, hanging out with a friend from the States who has been here for almost as long as me and I guess I'll throw in some stories and pics about the kids I've been tutoring in English (for the old folks =P)

  Okely Dokely, it was midnight on a Monday's eve and the wind was calm but there was a subtle breeze flowing throughout the city like a breath from a hibernating brown bear. The phone rang with an upbeat jingle making me jump out of my seat having already been half asleep. I groggily answered with the wavering uncertainty of a guest on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire: “Hello?!” I murmured, “Dude, I think I'm close to your house” responded a familiar voice. “I'm on Caobao Road by the subway station” the out-of-breath caller said with gumption. “Ok, I'll come get you” I answered with a raspy whisper.

  I loaded up some necessary provisions and headed for the door. I was now fully awake and comprehending the situation. As I stepped outside into a wall of moisture, it hit me for the first time since we had talked about it weeks earlier, “He's here” I thought to myself, “He's made it!” I started walking at a feverish pace while expertly preparing the first of my provisions for the journey. It had begun.

  I heard voices getting louder and louder much like the roar of a drunken brawl in an old town bar at the sound of night's end. Worried that I might miss my opportunity I quickened my pace and rushed past people talking and shouting then erupting into maniacal laughter. In the distance I saw a figure that stood out like a white pearl among a murky sandbar. “Just in time” I said out loud, the first of my provisions were running low.

“CAAAAAAAMMMMMMMERRRRRRRONNNNNNNNN!!!!!” I yelled with all the air I had trapped in my lungs letting it all rush out in a matter of seconds as I held up my hand in the air displayed as my banner. I was greeted with a similar war cry and as the sound resonated through the air I knew we weren't the only ones who had heard. I could see he had brought the packages, everything was going according to plan. Knowing strange eyes were on me, I had to be quick. Using hand signals I then motioned for him to make a break for it and come to my position. The timing would have to be perfect not to be caught in a midst of chaos.

  As the traffic light turned green, my friend Cameron from CSU walked across the street making sure to look both ways and had his two bags trailing behind him. He looked exhausted. I cracked the other two beers I had brought with me and handed one of them to him while relieving him of one of his bags. “Welcome to China my man” I greeted him. It was good to see a familiar face.

  Cameron is the first well-known person that I have seen out here since my journey began. It was really good to see a familiar face and he was excited to be in China for his third time albeit he was quite exhausted as you can see from this picture here:

  His first order of business was sleeping followed by a shower in the morning to cleanse that 15+ hours of travel time feeling. Refreshed and all cleaned up his first request was to get some Xiao Long Bao, some of the dumplings I have mentioned in my earlier posts. I was very happy to oblige him and we took a stroll down the street catching up along the way and just talking like it was business as usual. Although we're both thousands of miles away from our homes, it's nice to see familiar faces and feel like for just a few moments you are back home. It was quite nice for me especially since I've been out here for 4 months and have been missing my family. Well, after we had munched on some dumplings, it was time to head back and relax because he was still quite jet lagged. I had to teach a student English for a few hours so I headed off while leaving him to the couch. When I got back, we made plans to go to a club that night with another of his friends and make it a “guys night out.” Sweeeeeeeet.

  We started with some drinks at the house then headed out to the local club by my place. It's just a short walk away and the night is a cheap one with a small fee for unlimited cocktails while the bar remains open. Well the boys and I decided to play my favorite drinking game in the whole world, Shai zi (the one I explained with dice and cups and mullarkey spouting). Soon some locals invited us to play with them and when you have six people playing simultaneously, it can get outrageously fun. I kept looking back in the club and seeing this gorgeous girl kind of dancing in place by herself with a stunning dress on and every time I looked back, I caught her eye and gave her a trademarked Tony G. smile™. She kept on smiling back at me and laughing shyly as I would return to my game not yet having summoned up enough courage to go ask her to dance.

  Well, finally after doing this for about half an hour I went up and asked her in Chinese if she wanted to dance to which she said yes and I grabbed her hand and off we went! (Uh oh is someone about to win big bucks on the Tony G. - Chinese girlfriend pool?) Well we were dancing and having bunches of fun until a girl came up and spoke a few words to her which then prompted her to wave goodbye and get down from the stage. Well what a bummer =( I went back to my buddies and played some more Shai Zi then I hesitantly looked back not knowing what to expect and I saw her again and she was giving ME a huge smile. To heck with this! I stormed up to her with a message written in Chinese on my phone basically saying I liked dancing with her and wanted her to have my phone number which she quickly recorded in her phone just before her friends grabbed her and left the club.

  Once she had left, my friends were about ready to go (the bar had closed) and we were pretty good and toasty. We decided to take off and go to a 24 hour convenience store to get a few more beers and hang out at my place while watching a movie to end the night. We were so sweaty from dancing in the club and possibly jumping a couple gates through a bus station as a short cut (I will neither confirm nor deny this) so we took our shirts off and headed down the street to the store. When we got there, we went in with our shirts off, snagged some beers, paid for them and left. The two cops that were inside at the time just looked at us with amazement and wonder as we staggered out of the shop and down the street with our shirts around our necks and our hands full of cold beers.... I love China

  The next day, Cameron and I decided to take it a bit easier since we had a pretty big night. We got some grub at my favorite local Uighur restaurant (essentially Chinese Muslim food) and then grabbed a couple of beers to stuff into my backpack and headed for one of the world's most famous embankments, the Bund. This place is awesome during both day and night and I actually give tours of it quite regularly during the day but the real time to see it is at night with ships cruising around the river and lights bedazzling the horizon of the new city across the river as well as illuminating the more classical buildings of the original site. As we walked, talked and took some sips I told Cameron just about everything I knew about the Bund essentially giving him a mini version of the tour while checking out some of the other “sights” that Shanghai has to offer as you will see below (the person taking the picture was so drunk that the camera was looking through beer goggles! Ok so not really it was just reallly humid outside and the pics were coming out quite poorly):

  Haha, have I already said I love China once in this post? Dangit... oh well, I'm keeping it in. We decided to get a pic with some cute Chinese girls and as soon as they started talking about how they were taking pictures with their future foreign boyfriends, Cameron and I were out of there! Don't get me wrong, I would be very happy with a Chinese girlfriend but there are those who are pretty much looking for the first husband they can find and foreigners make a prime target (although the jokes on them, I'm devoid of money and wouldn't even be able to buy them a nice dinner!) It was still funny and I'm trying not to imply that Chinese are gold diggers by any means but sometimes you can just tell when they know nothing about you and all of a sudden want to be your girlfriend... Anyway before I get yelled at or start a huge debate I'll drop the topic and move onto something cool like another club with my buddy Bo for his going away shindig.

  Bo took off the other day for a job in Hong Kong like I had mentioned in a previous post. So the night before he left, we decided to go out and have some fun at a downtown bar and then later downtown club to make some memories. At the bar I met a Norwegian guy who seemed interesting and he was there with a group of 30 other Norwegian students who are studying Chinese medicine. It was a good time talking with them and I have to say even though I shouldn't really be talking stereotypes in this post, their accents are quite entertaining. Well after dancing with a few of the ladies in the group, we decided to take off for a club.

  I was having a blast on stage with a few locals when Bo's girlfriend ran into some of her work friends who had a VIP bottle service table that they invited us to. Well that was quite nice of them! We hung out with them for a bit drinking the club scene's preferred dink of whiskey mixed with green tea (not a bad combo actually and it's supposedly good for hangovers) and dancing around the lounge. It was a great time and I'm going to miss hanging out with Bo but he's got a great job lined up and he's going to have a blast. So long Bo, see you in December.

  So I realize I have neglected to include another friend of mine out here in a blog post and that's just rude of me! My friend Elizabeth Griffin whom I had met freshman year in college moved out here shortly after I did to teach English. We didn't really know each other very well during college and fell out of touch after that particular class but we were still acquaintances and so I'm glad that we've been able to hang out a few times. It's another instance of seeing a familiar face and being comfortable in my surroundings. We've had some good times thus far and I'm really glad that we've had a chance to rekindle our friendship and it's always funny to see who will resurface in your life later on down the road. I foresee some more good times with her and her crazy band of hooligans that are the Disney English teachers haha.

  Ok now onto the stuff about the kids I've been teaching to round off this wonderfully tangent-filled mess of letters that have been strung together. I currently have three students that I teach which range from six years old to eight years old so it's not too hard to go from lesson to lesson. One of the students is a girl named Sheryl and she can play the piano so well it is unreal! She's been playing since she was four and I dare say she will be a world sensation by the time she's 16. It's amazing to see her focus and determination when she is sitting on the bench with feet barely reaching the peddles. Good things come to those who work hard for them. I tried to get a video and pictures of her for this post but unfortunately this week's lesson was canceled due to them leaving town for a week so it'll have to wait.

  One of my other student's, Ray, is a great little kid but he has the attention span of a... a uh... well I guess a six year old boy haha. He's fun to hang out with though and playing transformers or angry birds with him is never a bore. I just have to make sure he knows how to say all of the things we're playing with in English. His family is super nice and Ray is going to be a great kid in the near future so I don't mind having to call his name every 20 seconds to make him pay attention.

  The best of the group thus far is coincidentally named Tony (I'm not stroking my own ego I swear!). I only knew the last names of the families I would be teaching until I got to their homes so after I arrived for the first time, I asked him his name and he told me that it was the same as mine. He got a kick out of that. He's a great kid and although he's a little on the no work and all play side, he picks up phrasing quite quickly and loves to ask me questions in Chinese which I then explain in English. It makes my job that much easier I guess, knowing Chinese.

  One night I showed up a bit earlier than expected and the family wasn't even home yet so it was just me hanging out with Granny who persisted in feeding me grapes and green tea. When Tony and his parents came home, they said they were going to eat and then start the lesson. Then they asked me if I had eaten yet and honestly I was quite famished but trying to be polite I told them I had eaten a bit earlier and that I was fine. Well they didn't take to that nonsense! They insisted and insisted that I eat with them. I finally caved and they pulled up a chair for me to sit in. Tony's father then proceeds to take out a bottle of China's famous rice liquor called Bai Jiu which literally means “white alcohol” and is known for being very potent. When he started pouring some into my glass he casually asked me if I knew how much that particular bottle of bai jiu costs (This is pretty common in Chinese culture, people like you to know if they're spoiling you with gifts of value). Well I had no idea so I shrugged and told him just that to which he responded: the bottle costs 300.... USD. I immediately told him to stop filling my cup (which by now was getting quite full) because I was no reason for him to open up such an expensive bottle of fine liquor. He said it was his honor and continuously would toast with me and take big swigs throughout the meal.

  Well the bai jiu is really not THAT bad but at a whopping 53%ABV it's sure to bite anyone who is bold enough to drink it straight. After ¾ of a cup of this stuff it was then time to thank everyone for the meal and move towards teaching the lesson. Great... Well the lesson actually ended up being a lot of fun and the dad kept popping in to see if I wanted more to which I responsibly and politely declined but he kept insisting that next time, he's treating me to even more of the stuff. Well, if it's after Tony's English lesson then sure but I'm not sure whose pronunciation was better that night... mine or my student's.

  Alright, I've mumbled on long enough and to be honest I feel like this post was all over the place but maybe that's the kind of spontaneity that you like. Let me know what you thought of this post and if my little story at the beginning was amusing or if you're just being nice haha. Anyway, again I must really spread my thanks to each and everyone of you who makes it this far in my posts because I know that for me it's all contextual because it's happening to me whereas some of you may get lost or become uninterested due to the fact that you haven't seen what I am seeing first-hand. I'll try to do better with pictures in the future so that you may all visualize what it's like to truly live behind my eyes but please note that everything I tell is told to the best of my ability to make you feel like you know the same people I do and have been where I've been if not in body, then at least in spirit. For those of you who have told me you live vicariously through me, I can't tell you how obliged I am to take you on a journey of a lifetime and I hope I am fulfilling my role as a guide. My love and adoration goes to all of you and for those of you who just started school, work hard and finish strong as my dad would say though I'd also like to add: make sure you have fun while doing it. Positive energy is what makes this great world go 'round.

In the words of the great Chinese rapper Tai Mai Shu:

Peace outside

Tony G.

http://s875.photobucket.com/albums/ab316/munkyguitarist/A%20Third%20of%20the%20Way%20There/

Back Home

Greetings my noble lords and ladies!

  So good to see you all back again reading my newest blog post. I don't want to make you wait in anticipation anymore so I'll spill the beans and tell you that I am back home in Shanghai and I am very happy to be back in my usual surroundings. Hong Kong was a blast (a very expensive blast) but after all of my visa issues I was ready to sleep in my own bed and see my friends that I thought I would never see again. It's also really nice to hear mostly Mandarin again. It's quite amazing how much I've assimilated to the culture and I really must say that if you are in an environment where you are surrounded by a different language, it slowly but surely creeps in and starts to all make sense. If you are learning a language there is no better way to really learn it then to hear it all the time.

  I've been busy since I got back and am glad to report that Tony G is not a dull boy after this whole ordeal. Right when I landed, we were in the middle of a typhoon warning and it was said that there was supposed to be a typhoon that would hit Shanghai pretty hard but luckily it never came. I did experience some pretty intense winds as well as some downpours that made an umbrella useless and one of those instances was on a tour where the guest and I were soaked to the bone but she had a blast as did I and she left me a nice tip for being so upbeat even with the horrible weather :)

  Have I ever mentioned how much I love people? Well I do. I'm not much of an animal lover but I will be a people person til the day I die. I mention this because the other day I was leading a tour and the group I was with were a pretty fun bunch so we got off to a great start and it was really just what I needed to help me get back into the Shanghai spirit. Well during the tour, we went into an ancient garden where several different tour companies lead tour groups so there's never a dull moment in the mixing pot of nationalities. Every time I go there something cool always happens and it usually involves singing. I'm not sure why but it happens. The last time I was there this group of Koreans mobbed us to take a picture with them to which we obliged then they started singing us a song in English that is apparently some kind of international song of peace that I had never heard of.

  Well this time I was there, there was a group of Christian Chinese tourists and they were all singing a song while getting pictures taken and they were very talented. When they finished, this group of Spaniards applauded and were yelling “OTRA OTRA OTRA” (“sing another one”)! It was great because the Spanish most likely did not understand the song's lyrics but they were just there supporting their fellow human beings and boy did the Chinese belt another one. This time when they finished EVERYONE around them burst into applause and everyone started getting pictures with everyone and it was simply beautiful. For those people that have a lack of faith in humanity, come hang out with me for a few weeks. I'll show you what you've been missing.

  Ok well the rest of this post is going to cover some good stuff so don't you fret! I finally got to see my Chinese sister and her husband-to-be and had some crazy food at my Chinese mother's house, I am currently in the process of looking for new jobs and picking up some random odd jobs here and there to keep myself entertained and explore the opportunities that Shanghai has to offer, we just found a new roommate to take the place of my roomie Bo who is moving to Hong Kong in a week, I've still been keeping pretty happy minus a bit of stress at the tour company (hence the searching of jobs), I've become an English teacher for children and I am currently in the process of writing my own book-like thingy.

  So I got to see Yue, my Chinese sister and it was nice to say hi after not having seen her for about a year. We chatted a bit and she couldn't get over how good my Chinese was. I was quite flattered because usually people say it's quite good but that's because I'm usually the first or second foreigner they've ever heard speak Chinese. With my Chinese mother and sister, they are exposed to several foreigners on a monthly basis who are learning Chinese and I'm glad to know that I'm near the top of the ladder. We waited for an hour or so munching on some watermelon until Yue's husband-to-be (I won't say fiance because he never asked her to marry him, it's just kind of implied.... ya weird I know) showed up and we sat down to eat. He's a really cool guy and we had some fun chatting back and forth and Chinese mama started dishing out some good food. She served up a cold noodle dish with a weird looking sauce on it and I was pretty skeptical. I'm usually pretty open to a lot of Chinese food but this just looked strange. I smelled the sauce that she had poured over the cold noodles and it smelled a lot like peanut butter. I asked her if it was peanut butter and she said it was and showed me how to mix up the noodles and mix the sauce evenly. Then what you're supposed to do is take all of the other regular food and put that over the top of your noodles and commence eating. It was kind of weird to eat spicy veggies and meat with peanut butter noodles but the combination was quite nice to be honest.

  This time when I was over at Chinese mama's house she told me that I was looking skinnier and that she approved. I was glad to hear this because I have been exercising a bit and I'm glad results are happening. I did hear from my local Chinese friends that it's actually good when she tells me that I'm looking fat or this is wrong and that is wrong because apparently that's how they show affection. Well in that case, she must LOOOOOOOVVE me haha. So I was glad to hear that she thinks I'm a bit skinnier now but the problem that arose from this is that she wouldn't let me stop eating! I was full and she kept snatching my bowl and throwing in some onions and meat or some more noodles or radish and of course if she puts it in my bowl I have to eat it. If I don't then I'm being wasteful and the Chinese do not take kindly to that kind of behavior! I had to keep telling her that I was full and then she insisted that she was going to send me home with a bunch of food so that I could eat it later that night in case I got hungry... oh man... she's impossibly awesome.

  So I'm currently in the process of looking for other forms of making money because recently I've realized that I've spent more money than I will probably make throughout the rest of the internship on my visa situation. I love being a tour guide so I'm trying to reach an arrangement with my boss that will enable me to still lead tours and work in the office for a day or two. My boss is not too happy with my decision and I do feel a bit bad since my family is not known for being welchers in the least bit but I also feel that the visa issue was unforeseen and I don't have much of an option at this time. I've found some work as an English tutor which isn't my ideal job but it has been really great working with little kids and the pay is pretty fantastic. I teach two hour sessions and in those two hours I make 150% of what I make at the tour company in a day. It's hard to say no to making animals out of play doh while teaching a 6 year old how to pronounce the name of the animal and then watch him smash it into a pancake - not to mention I get to make my own schedule which is nice.

  When I first moved here, I didn't know many foreigners. Maybe one at the most which was my boss. Through the tour company I actually met a nice guy named Bo who was my gateway into a huge foreign student population which was absolutely great. Bo and I ended up becoming roommates in the place I currently am and he's been a great friend through and through. He's an American and he actually went to school in Laramie, WY which is only 45 minutes away from CSU where I studied. It's crazy how small the world really is. Well unfortunately, he's moving to Hong Kong which is a bummer but I'm really stoked for him. He's got a great job lined up and he's going to have a blast but it's sad to see him go. He was the type of guy that I became great friends with the moment I met him and we've become even better friends over these past 4 months. On the bright side, when I go visit Hong Kong for New Years, I'll have a place to crash and an old friend to catch up with so that's always something to look forward to! Adios Bo, you will be missed!

  To take Bo's place, we found a half Italian half English gentleman named Giuliano and he'll be moving in within 2 weeks or so. I am pretty stoked because when we were looking for potential roommates I was doing all of the emailing since I'll be the one living with them for the next several months and most of the people who wanted to move in were over 35 and didn't want to stay for longer than a month or two which is a no-go. Then when Giuliano emailed me I was happy to see someone our age wanting to move in. He speaks a myriad of languages and hopefully I can pick up a bit more Italian from him. I can foresee some good times in the future and regardless of who I'm living with, I'm in freakin' CHINA!!!@!!! (whoops how'd that @ get into all of my !?)

  So even with the stress of a new job transition and money issues, life is good. Life is always good. I've been doing lots of thinking lately and I haven't really been soul-searching but maybe more analyzing my life from an outside perspective. It's easy to get tunnel vision when you only focus on what stresses you have in your life and what forces are against you or what problems you are having. Sometimes I feel that in order to see a situation clearly, I have to look at it from an outside perspective and pretend that I'm not me but rather a random person who knows everything about me and is on the outside looking in. It's not the easiest thing to do because you have to let go of all your personal biases and really ask yourself some questions that you MUST answer honestly. Like I said, all of your personal biases have to go out the window. It's a hard thing to do because lots of times you only see what you want to see or hear what you want to hear rather than letting everything really soak in. If you manage to do this, the results can be astounding. Everyone is there own person no doubt about it but I still feel like even though you have established your own identity, sometimes you need to make adjustments or get a tuneup. I'm not saying everyone should change who they are but rather you should always be looking towards self improvement and living the best life you can while being 100% honest with yourself.

  I've been composing a bunch of random thoughts like the one you just read into a big document lately and I think that I'm eventually going to compile it all into a book which I think might be a good book for people who are looking for something to make them feel positive about life but are to lazy to read a huge 400 page book because mine will probably only end up being 50 pages or so (I'm already on page 3, woohoo!!). However, I think I said in my first post that I didn't want to write mini novels every time I posted and look at how well that went for me. The book has a title already which is credited to my good friend Scott Flanigan but I fear that I will not be releasing much more information about it until it is nearing completion because there are still too many unknowns and I don't want to hype it up and then have it be completely different. Basically: I'm writing a book, you will all be able to read it for free, it may or may not help you live a more positive life, yes you may thank me with peanut butter m&m's.

  Well it's last call over here in Shanghai and I need to get back to my friend who just arrived yesterday on his way to a southern city to teach English but all of those shenanigans will be in my next post no doubt! As always, please send me an email, facebook message or leave a comment here telling me what you think of the post(s) and whether or not I am *insert any adjective or noun you would like here* and I will respond with words of thanks (even if you call me a doo doo head). Before I go I would like to say a big thank you to all of my friends and family who have been praying for me and thinking of me in the last few weeks during my visa perils and without all of your positive reinforcement, there never would have been a blog in the first place. Much love to all of you and make sure to take a look at yourself from the outside every now and then. What's the worst that could happen?

Night night

Tony G.


By the way, sorry my picture selection is so poor this time around, I forgot to take pictures of my students and have been a slacker!

Hong Kong

Well I'll be darned! How're ya doin'?

  I'm back on track with my posts on my blog so without further adieu, I would love to let you know what's going to be our main focus today. I am still in Hong Kong and boy has it been an adventure! It started out with a train ride like none other I've ever experienced, a chance encounter with a mainland Chinese person, seeing a huge influence represented by the Indian population here in Hong Kong, took a stroll along an amazing harbor during the day and night, saw Hong Kong's equivalent of “Hollywood Boulevard”, took a stroll in a park, saw an old school guy fishing at the Queen Victoria Harbor, met up with my friend Ollie the Aussie for a night of fun and got to deal with my visa situation. Good grief it's quite diverse this time!

  So this trip was all pretty last minute so I didn't get to book anything in advance as far as transportation or living accommodations. I decided to travel by train to Hong Kong because it's a lot cheaper than flying and I had a pretty limited budget. When I went to buy my ticket, I asked if they had any hard sleepers available. They told me they did not and in fact they only had one type of ticket left so I bought it and went on my way. Well apparently, the ticket that I bought is literally a “no seat” ticket which means I'm shuttled in like cattle into 1 of 2 cars and have to just hang out until the end of the journey. Well that's not too bad right? Oh ya I forgot to tell you, it takes 18 hours to get to the border of China and Hong Kong.

  “Well great” I thought. “This is going to be so awful!” I started out by throwing my luggage up on the racks they had and procuring myself a nice comfortable looking spot on the floor. I snagged a plastic bag as my “seat cover”, sat down and got out a book... “it's going to be a long one.” Well it wasn't too bad after awhile since I had my own little space to kind of stretch out in and I had my iPod rockn' some tunes or reading a book. However, the train started slowing down and I thought “well there's no way we can be here already, it's only been one hour.” It turns out it was a stop on the route so more people were packed in and off we went. I wasn't too affected by this, my space was still pretty secure. Well four stops later, it was shoulder to shoulder standing and people were crammed in tighter than a can of sardines.

  After about four or five hours I was getting pretty antsy and was needless-to-say pretty miserable. Considering I was the ONLY foreigner on the train, I had a lot of people come up and speak to me in both broken English and Chinese to ask what the heck I was doing there. They called that section the “dirty ticket” section and were astounded that a foreigner would be there. I told them why I had that type of ticket and after a bit, two or three groups of Chinese passengers invited me to sit with them. Oh my gosh was I happy! They let me sit as one of them would rotate standing every 30 minutes to an hour and every time I told them to sit so I could stand for my turn they told me not to be silly. I was really amazed at the hospitality of these random people I had never met before and I was so thankful. After awhile I got up to stretch out and another group wanted me to sit with them. Considering there were three pretty girls that they wanted me to squeeze in between them, how could I say no?!

  I sat down with a few other groups throughout the trip and learned how to play a cool card game that they often play but I don't know the name of it or the exact rules but I held my own for a bit. They also offered me snacks and even though I had brought my own, they were so insistent that I couldn't say “no.” Around midnight or so they stuck me in the window seat and told me to get some sleep which I desperately needed (you see I hadn't slept the night before because I thought that I was going to get a sleeper or a seat on the train and I wanted to sleep for the better part of the trip). We all woke up around 5am or so and with only 4 hours left in the journey, we just chatted and lounged around. Most of the people got off at a stop that was 30 minutes before mine so we said our goodbyes and they said next time I'm in Shanghai they want to treat me to dinner. I'm so amazed at their kindness and will do my best to reciprocate their actions.

This picture is in the middle of the street in Hong Kong. What's the first thing you notice about it? My hint is to look at which side of the street traffic is driving on!

  When I got here, I had the address of some hostels to stay in and so I bought a subway ticket to the destination, hopped in and off I went. The subways were a bit more crowded than in Shanghai but people were more polite for the most part about getting on and off the trains. I have noticed as a whole that Hong Kong is more dense than Shanghai but it's less chaotic. In Shanghai you hear people honking 24/7 and people are always yelling and little scooters are zooming past while children are peeing on the sidewalks... wellllll Hong Kong is a bit more reserved I guess I would say. It's quite a bit more expensive to live out here than in Shanghai but surprisingly the Chinese currency is a tad bit stronger than the Hong Kong Dollar.

  For those of you who are baffled about why there is a different currency, let me give you a quick lesson about China and Hong Kong (if you're not baffled just look at a picture of me like I'm an idiot for underestimating you and move on to the next paragraph). So it all started way back in the mid 1800's when the British were doing lots of trade with China. The Chinese had really sought-after goods like silk, tea and porcelain. The British couldn't get enough of this stuff but they unfortunately didn't have much in return that the Chinese wanted. Because of this, the British were paying a lot of silver for all of these goods and not making any money in return. So what did the British do? What the nasty British always do! They found a way to make themselves a profit at the despair of others Muahahahahahhaa.

  The British started growing opium in India and then trading it to the Chinese and the Chinese absolutely loved it. Well, everyone except the Chinese emperor that is. The emperor had one of the shipments of opium destroyed and this prompted the opium wars between Britain and China. The British conquered all of China with just two naval ships that they sent up the Yellow and Yangtze river. The reason this was so effective was because they captured all of the emperor's tax barges and held the Chinese economy in their hands. Reluctantly but without other options, the emperor signed the “Treaty of Nanjing” in 1842 which granted the UK access to five major trading ports of China (which included Shanghai) and they also gave them Hong Kong for 150 years until it's independence in the 1990's.

  Well what does that have to do with Hong Kong today? Well since Hong Kong was British-controlled for so long, it became it's own separate entity from China and therefore became more of an international state rather than a part of China. This is why you see Hong Kong representing itself in the Olympic games and such. Since it has regained it's independence from the British, it has become an international economic center and is referred to as the “Greatest city in Asia.” So here in Hong Kong, almost everyone speaks English and there is a huge Indian population (India was also a colony of the UK for several years) which is very, very different from mainland China.

  Whew, now that you've had a Chinese history 101 class, it's time for a beer break (Not for me of course, I have to keep writing)! Ok so after I arrived to the location of the hostels that I had planned to stay at, I was looking at a map in the subway trying to figure out where to go when a nice gentleman came up to me and asked in almost perfect English if I needed help. I showed him the addresses of the hostels and he told me he was headed there himself so he would go ahead and take me. Well that was nice of him! When we got to the address, I thanked him and he told me goodbye and I walked into the building. Well the building is actually a huge shopping mall with shops and hostels all thrown in together so it took me a bit to know where I was headed. It was actually kind of funny because I met a mainland Chinese person and his wife who were looking for the exact same hostel and I thought to myself “thank goodness this person speaks Mandarin” haha. It was really funny to be thankful to hear Mandarin Chinese instead of Cantonese which is the dialect mainly spoken out here.

  Well we found a hostel that was reasonably cheap (about 40USD a night for a room with a bed, a TV, Air conditioning and a bathroom w/shower) and went ahead and booked our own rooms respectively. I thanked the man for accompanying my on the journey and we went our separate ways. I'd never stayed in a hostel before and was honestly a bit skeptical but it's actually not too bad and they're quite nice and quaint. Unfortunately I could only book a room for one night so the next day I had to ask if they had more availability. They stuck me in a worse room without a bathroom or TV but I didn't mind, there was an accessible bathroom and wifi so I was set. However, about an hour or two later they came by and told me they were going to be doing some construction and the rooms wouldn't have power for a day or two so to compensate me, they sent me down the street to another hostel and put me up in a better room for the same price. Well that worked out nicely! My dad always says that I'm the only one in the family with luck and in this instance, I'll take all the luck I can get.

  Well it was time to do some exploring. I'm here in Hong Kong and I don't want to just stay in my room all day! I took a stroll outside to take a peak at some stores and see some of the sights and I have to say that unfortunately the Indian population in Hong Kong is represented quite poorly :(. I've met some local Indians in Shanghai and they are all so kind and very heart-warming people. However out here, they are the equivalent of the Chinese people in people's square in Shanghai that come up and ask “Hello sir, would you like to buy a watch or a bag?” (That's a pretty liberal representation of their English) Out here in Hong Kong I can't walk more than 20 feet without someone coming up to me and asking me if I want to buy a watch or camera and sometimes they lean in close and say “Hasheesh?” Well at least I know when I run out of life to get high on, I can come here and get some nice locally grown Mary Jane haha.

  As I got a bit further out of the downtown area, I came across a bit of an opening and intrigued, I ventured forth to take a look. It turns out that is was a harbor with an awesome boardwalk to walk along and see the amazing buildings on the other side. Along this boardwalk, they had the Hong Kong equivalent of Hollywood Boulevard where they have a bunch of plaques with the names of famous celebrities and sometimes their hand prints. I compared my hands to Jackie Chan's and they were the same! It's like it was meant to be or something, I think it's time I started learning Kung Fu! My hands were a tad bit bigger than Jet Li's but unfortunately, Bruce Lee (or “Little Dragon Lee” as the Chinese call him) didn't have his hand prints in his plaque so I didn't get the chance to compare. However, I did get this cool pic of his statue here and there is a striking resemblance!

  At night time I walked around the same area so that I could see all of the pretty lights across the harbor and get a feel for the nightlife. There was an awesome elevated viewing area above the boardwalk that practically no one was using so I went right up and enjoyed the view by myself with a nice can of Guinness. As you can see in the videos, it's quite different in both night and day.

  When I was checking out the harbor on another night (it's a nice place to go for free and it's very easy on the eyes) I saw a man with some unusual items walking up towards the railing on the boardwalk which protects you from spilling over the side into the drink. “Oh man” I thought, it's going to be another jumper episode...  Well this was actually quite the contrary. The man climbed over the railing and sat down while getting out what looked like fishing line. I saw him get out a weight and a hook and he threw it right into the water! He wasn't using a pole at all but rather slowly reeling in with his hands a little at a time. This guy was definitely old school and it was cool to see him fishing right there. I waited around for about 20 minutes but by tat time he still hadn't caught anything and my beer was just about empty and it was time to return home for some much needed rest.

  For those of you who read my last few blog posts, you'll remember good 'ol Ollie the Aussie. He was a great tour guest and now a great friend. While we were in Shanghai we had some time to hang out and talk about the world around us. When I talked to him as of late, we were talking about Shanghai and then he mentioned that he was headed to Hong Kong this week for business. Well isn't that a coincidence?! I told him I was going to be here myself and he couldn't believe it. Turns out his hotel was literally spitting distance from my hostel and so we made a plan to get together for a meal.

  Well this time when we got together, it wasn't quite as crazy as in Shanghai because we were both exhausted from a long day and an even longer week. In Shanghai I was fortunate enough to introduce him to some delicious local food and here in Hong Kong, he did the same for me. You see, Ollie's family history actually has some Cantonese lineage so he knows a bit about the language and food. We went into a restaurant that had an impressive display of roasted animals in the front window and I let Ollie do all the ordering.

  When the food came, we were obliged with a nice fried rice, a fried noodle with beef dish and an amazing dish with two types of pork. One of the types of pork was roasted and it had a bit of a crunchy crust. The recommended way to eat it is by dipping it into a bit of spicy mustard before throwing it along with a scoop full of rice right into your gullet. The other type of pork was also just as amazing but it was a BBQ'd pork that was so tender and succulent you wouldn't believe it if I could describe exactly how it was. Needless to say, I've been back to restaurants exactly like that one the last 3 nights in a row and ordered the exact same thing. It's that good.

  Well, some bad news about the visa situation. When I went to the visa office, I was turned down for a visa into mainland China because of my previous overstay. I showed them the receipt of pay for the huge fine I was dealt but it held no ground. They wouldn't even give me a tourist visa. Other options would be to go to other countries such as Vietnam or Thailand or even Cambodia to try and get one but after doing some research, if Hong Kong won't grant you one, it might only be up to your home country.

  Well great, now I may not be able to get back into mainland China and I left the majority of my stuff in Shanghai. How am I supposed to get that back? What happens to my job? My friends? My Chinese mother? Well, I have the option of coming home to the states and trying to get a visa to which I am shying away from because by the time I get back to China with a visa (if I could even obtain one) I would barely even break even at the end of my current contract. I don't want to spend all that I had saved up at home just to get me on a plane back to the states in a state of shame and wonder. So I'm deciding to check my options and I talked with my previous Chinese teacher who had a great idea: Go to Taiwan and live there for 30 days without a visa and find a job. Once you find the job, they will give you a work visa. So now I have a bunch of different possible outcomes to this situation. Boy did I get more than I bargained for when I left for China... At least there's never a dull moment am I right? I know that even though it's crazy right now, everything is going to work out just fine and you might be asking “how can you have this much optimism Tony?” Well, the sun is shining, the tunes are rocking and the world is waiting.

  I know this ending begs the question: where in the world will I be in the next few days? Will I be moving to the US earlier than expected? Will I suddenly find myself in Taiwan? Or will I be able to see my friends in Shanghai once again? You'll have to find out next time in the Wild Adventures of T-T-T-T-TONY G!

There's not much as invigorating as being lost in the world and feeling right at home.

Tony G.

Here's a link to my pics and vids: http://s875.photobucket.com/albums/ab316/munkyguitarist/Hong%20Kong/