Instant Karma - John Lennon

Hong Kong 2 again 054
see all photos »

Macau and Hong Kong      3-23-07

Well the mainland kicked my butt and here I am back in Hong Kong where it's finally warmed up some.  I got here with a brutal cold but all the sweating from this humidity seems to have knocked it out.  Good thing too because I did not want to be sick walking around Cambodia come Monday.  I didn't do too much these three days really.  Took a 5k Gondola ride (where was this thing during the Wall walk?) to the world's largest sitting outdoor Buddah.  Nice but what I want to know is how darn big is the world's largest indoor standing Buddah?  That night I caught the big skyline light show.  Interesting but a bit too Disneyesque (no I didn't go too HK Disneyland.  They didn't even have the Haunted Mansion ride.  What kind of Disney park is that I ask you?).  I will say this for China, they do enjoy their light shows.  Caves, temples, walls.  You name it, they've got colorful lights on it.

Hong Kong 2AGAIN 067
see all photos »

What else? Took a ferry out about an hour to Macau.  I had no idea it was another country.  Seems I heard something about Portugal giving it back to the PRC same as Hong Kong, but nooooo these two islands insist on having their own immigration stops which is wreaking havoc on my passport.  I've got like 8 dang Hong Kong stamps.  I'm going to run out of room soon if this keeps up.  Anyhow, Macau was, yawn, okay.  It was interesting seeing street signs in Portugese and Euro style buildings right next to typical Asian settings I guess.  Oh, and I saw the world's largest casino being built.  Yay.  Seems like they're going for the title of Asia's Vegas.  Macau baby, Macau!  Not.

Hong Kong 2AGAIN 087
see all photos »

So today was my very last day in China and wouldn't you know it, the sun shined, the clouds finally parted and ta-da BLUE SKY.  Thank friggin jaysus.  I've been through three weeks of clouds and LA June Gloom before but something about this country's gray smog layered dreariness was killing me.  I needed a nice day in the worst possible way and China came through for me.  At least I can leave tomorrow without that gray sour taste in my mouth, because I really want to like China.  Honest I do.

Hong Kong 2 again 030
see all photos »

So on that note I'll end things with a quick Top 10 List.  Enjoy.

Top 10 Craziest Things I witnessed in China

10. 100 Chinese tourists scoffing down crab shells and chicken feet whole

9.  Badly dressed Indian touts rudely hawking $1000 Chinese hand-tailored suits (the dichotomy tripped me out)

Hong Kong 2AGAIN 101
see all photos »

8.  Scooter Taxis - They get on the back of these crappy little motorcycles carrying anything and everything (see #2)

7-  Three Wheeled motorcycle dumptrucks

6. Sharkfin soup on every menu (infuriated me - if it was cuddly Flipper dolphin soup you think they'd get away with wiping out the top of our ocean's food chain - yeah when it comes to sharks I'm a bit green and sentimental)

5. The new Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing (wait'll you see this monstrosity)

Hong Kong 2AGAIN 097
see all photos »

4. Dried scallops in a bag, just like chips the local says as he offers me one, ummm vurp.

3. Snow on the Wall

2. A Scooter taxi with its passenger holding two pigs under each arm, one little pig in a cage, one little pig not in a cage, neither pig making it to the market I'd guess

1. A bird's beak on my plate

Macau Asian Vegas
see all photos »

PS - I finally updated all my Post Title songs to my share site.  If you want to take a listen here ya go www.mediamax.com /billb333  You might have to dig through some ebooks to get to them though.