Disconcerting Facts About Hong Kong

Whilst I may often glorify the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, there are many disconcerting and superficial facts that foreigners ought to know.

1. It stinks. HK is a small place. Therefore, residential, commercial and industrial areas often overlap. Of course, sewerage can often be smelt, and sewage is sometimes seen, so that's where the stink comes from. Then there are the stores that sell stinky tofu. As the name suggests, it is stinky. Stinky like sewage. Stinky like rotten eggs. Personally, I don't have a problem with the smell, but that might just be the sinusitis kicking in.

2. The Si Lai's. It's hard to describe a Si Lai, but think of a middle aged Asian lady. 40 to late 50s year olds with big handbags and bulky fur coats. In Australia, the Si Lai's aren't too bad. But HK Si Lai's are just...horrifying. The latest fashion is fur boots and tights and (short) shorts/skirts and down jackets. So imagine a short, Asian lady in denim short shorts with purple tights underneath with big fluffy white boots in a pink down jacket with heavy makeup and purple highlights in a balding head. And they're really loud.

3. The Glasses Frames. It is also fashion to wear the frames of glasses. Sure, it's okay to wear it for something once off, like a silly photo or something. But you dare wear it out into the streets as a fashion item to make yourself look good? I'm sorry, sir/madam, but you look plain retarded. You might as well make one out of paper and wear it on your face. To those who wear them as part of their clothing on a regular basis, I have lost respect for you. Even if you were hot, I now disregard you. Everytime I see frames, I have the sudden urge to poke the wear in the eyes. AND NOTHING CAN STOP ME BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO LENSES.

4. Safety Goggles. They are also now a fashion item. They're not industrial safety goggles, but they're just really thick frames with really thick lenses. It's like they're afraid someone will poke them in the eyes.

5. Nighttime looks like daytime. That may be due to pollution. I am not surprised. The nightsky looks like it's always dusk. Everywhere is brightly lit. Once, I walked into the street from dinner upstairs and I thought the sun was still out but it was just the jewelery store across the road that had bright white lights. It's ridiculous. Unless you live in the woods/gutters/back alleys, there is no dark place.

Unless, of course, when you turn the lights off.

My wallet is crying

Not actually my wallet, but my mum's wallet. And the money from there is actually from my dad's wallet, which is actually from my mum's bank account which is basically my dad's bank account. Why? Because in a week and a half, I have spent about 6000HKD. That's about 750AUD. And that doesn't include food.

Oh my goodness. Food. IT IS SO GOOD HERE IN HONG KONG. EVERYTHING IS SO CHEAP. You have to be here to understand. We have 20AUD lunches for 4 people. We have 40AUD dinners for 5+ people. YOU JEALOUS? But then again, there are the overpriced restaurants. In any case, I have been having 3-4 meals a day (Waking up at 11 does not involve breakfast.) and I have been eating my mum and relatives poor, as they sometimes treat me to food. And in that time, I have gained 4kgs. I feel so fat. Thank god I can't see it and it burns quickly. I weighed my self after dinner (and after a good walk as well) and the number was so LARGE. It was worth crying. I had never seen that number before. Then I went to do some work and 2 hours later, I weighed myself again and I had lost 0.5kg.

I love this weight loss program. I must make more Physics notes and not travel near the speed of light.

I have a confession to make. I bought 4 pairs of shoes. How mildly embarrassing. Now I need to find the luggage space.

Pretty much the only reason I wrote this blog post was to get fcukyeah.tumblr updated. It's a pretty hilarious tumblr. Even though I'm in HK and don't have regular access to internet, I still keep up to date with it, even if I have to go back 6, 7 pages into the archives just to see every post. What dedication.

NOW UPDATE YOUR TUMBLR!

Hong Kong. Again.

Here I am, in HK once again. I make it sound tedious. But it is fantastic here. Escaping the Australian summer for winter. I say that's a good reason. Also because the exchange rate is excellent (1 AUD = 7 HKD. Forget about inflation.) and so is the food. Mostly because the stuff I can get here is so much cheaper. I think if I were to buy it all in Australia, I'd be losing money because the savings offset the cost of the plane ticket. Well, close enough.

I vomited on the plane. That sucks. It was in the last 10 minutes of the flight, which kinda sucks, but at least it was in the last 10 minutes so I didn't have to endure the post-vomiting feeling and be susceptible to further vomiting due to turbulence. Still. Feeling that liquid weight in your bag. Not cool. But I'm rather impressed by the bag's design. Zero leakage. Impressive.

I'm borrowing my cousins' net. Met my second eldest cousin (not sure about correct term) in 5 years. Only 2 inches or so taller, but he has a shark like face, I'll say. And he's just as cocky as my eldest cousin. Good trait to have, but not one to be on the receiving end of. It just gets annoying and hilarious.

Oh I'm getting told off for not studying in year 12. Here my cousin is talking how I should be studying right now and I should be doubling my study efforts because I am aiming for a double degree. And my mum believes him.

Oh dear.

Tired...

Firstly, thanks to Niro and Tonia for organising an awesome grade bbq, and congratulations for actually being able to pull it off. Last time I tried to organise something, it was a bit of a bitch. But then again, BBQs don't require payment so that makes things a lot easier. In any case, thanks for the bbq. I don't think the water fights were planned but that was the best bit. But being chased around is not fun. And it dawned on me that I'm rather unfit. I hate running. I'm fine with sprinting, but I hate running, if that makes sense. Long distance running sucks. To me, long distance includes anything more than 100 metres.

My neck hurts. I think that's from lugging 10kgs of ice for aboput 1.5km. And my leg cramped the same day. I don't even know why. And I got a nosebleed today. That also sucks. I really should stop complaining. But I'm in a bit of a foul mood. I'm also really tired, which is leading to my foul mood. The foul mood is due to me suddenly knowing that people are doing work in the holidays and I have not done much. I have done close to none. I've just been reading the Harry Potter series and it's fun. But all these people are doing their maths and probably their science notes, etc. And I'm just sitting here blogging away (I don't have much to blog cos I haven't done much in a while. Nothing exciting, anyway) and making my muck up day costume. I'm actually making one. I hope it doens't look shit.

Yeah, so some people are being studious in the holidays, even skipping out on grade outings and I'm feeling a bit shit for it. I swear I didn't have this competitive streak within me before. This sucks. But at least I have my Harry Potter. There's still humour in the books, even though I've read them so many times, but now instead of laughing out loud, I just chuckle. And chortle. That's a word Rowling uses a lot. It's a funny word.

Chortle. Chortle. Chorrrrrtle. Ch-ortle. CHORTLE!

I think it's like "Oh hoh hoh". I've been "chortling" a lot when I'm reading HP. Especially at the dramatic irony. And innuendos. Her tone is quite simplistic. Very little descriptive imagery, I think. This is what English does to me. I don't want to analyse Harry Potter. Screw you, Advanced English.

Oh noes

There's something wrong with my nose!

Went to some physician consultant in the city today (you may have noticed my lack of presence in the school). Had the appointment because my mum was worried about my nose, which is often stuffed for 10 months every year. I didn't think it was a problem, but then again, I had gotten used to it since I was little. So anyway, I did this allergy testing where the doc put some extracts of particular allergens such as dust mites, grass, etc. and then pricks the skins to see if there's reaction. He used a control of histamine or something, and it itched, which sorta sucked. But then a reaction to dust mites and a bit of cat (not an actual cat) occured, which sucked even MORE because 1) it itched and 2) I now know I am allergic to dust mites and a bit to cats.

All the while, I was given a local anaesthetic for my nose, because the guy would then shove a camera up my nose. This camera was like those sorts of flexible wire cameras that are (obviously) flexible to go around your nose. So he put the camera up my nose without warning. At first, it was fine. There's no discomfort, until he starts going to your throat. But in general, it's really rather ticklish and the doc had to try again because I laughing the first time. Second time, I sneezed. Yeah, that ticklish feeling is the pre-sneeze feeling. But apparently, my sinuses are quite large/swollen and there is bacteria/infected to some degree. Not infected as in diseased, but there's bacteria.

So now, I have to take some meds. Only for 12 days or so. But I also have to get nasal sprays. Sigh. This won't be fun. But at least its not any worse. I mean, the doc made it sound bad, but according to my mum, I'm just worrying too much. At least I don't have to get surgery, or I don't have to do immunotherapy which requires me getting a needle every month for 3 or so years. That could be a pain. So I suppose it's still at the stage where it's controllable. And not requiring drastic measures.

What now?

Exams are over, but I ended on a bad note.
There's more time to go on outings, but Martin's overseas.
I have more time to play games, but I have an engineering report.
It's summer but it's summer. It's stinking hot. And will be stinking humid. I love heavy rain. So much more exciting than heatwaves.

My god, 4U was a bitch. That'll be the end of my rant because nobody wants to hear me whine. Well, at least that's the impression I get from people on Twitter. Twitter is so cruel...

What now? I have an engi report that I don't want to do. I have a new game (LOTR BFME) that isn't that good. I have 8 hours each day that I don't know how to burn.

This lack of anything is so painful.

Badassery

Shuester: "Glee needs YOU to be its ambassador."
Puckerman: "More like its Ambad-assador."

I'm hearing badass being said a lot these days. Including badassery. Badassery is the noun of badass. Yes, I know badass is also a noun, but I mean the noun of an adjective. Like as happiness is to happy. I'm pretty sure there's a term for it. I blame the Australian curriculum for failing to teach me/us proper use of grammar. I mean, basics, I know, but present particples and perfect something a-rather. That I don't know. I swear my mum knows more about those thing than I do. I'm afraid I may have made some grammatical errors in the previous sentences. That's a worry.

So anyway, I was trying to find some pictures of "badassery" or badass-ness. But you don't get very much. You get this American pointing a gun at you, Putin shooting a gun, Obama smoking, a chick smoking with an oxy-acetylene torch and people with tattoos. Not very badass in my opinion. But I think people try to be badass these days. They try so hard to make something spectacular and sure, sometimes they can pull it off. But the chance of failure is so high, and the level of failure is so high, it's hilarious. When people try to make spectacular moves, like sliding down handrails of staircases but then they leg/pants get caught on something and then they tumble down 20 steps, or when they try to do a 360° between the legs dunk from a trampoline but then their leg gets caught on the ring and they dislocate their knee, the failure is often more spectacular than the success.

Speaking of spectacular stuff, I touched the basketball ring! From the ground, not a chair for any of you non believers. Although technically, I haven't touched the ACTUAL ring (hard to explain), I'm only 5mm off! What an achievement. But these achievements are far greater. I especially like the little girl on the toy trike.



This is badassery to the max.
Me: Everybody sleeps in during the hols.
Person 1: Yeah me too! I sleep in a lot!
Me: When do you sleep in till?
Person 1: 8.30am

Bad. Ass. (That doesn't even necessarily mean badass anymore. It might even mean a bad ass)
Actually, that's a poor example, it's just funny.
But you know what is really badass? Blogging during assessment week.

Ladies, please, one at a time.