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 Hong Kong

Brian Danos, 24 May 2009
 Hong Kong, Tin Hau

Rainy Sunday's

In answer to the most popular question of late, no, I have not fallen of a rock face nor have I been kidnapped by the Chinese. I have been travelling like normal as well as playing host to a multitude of guests. For those with attention spans of gnats, things are going very well and I am still loving life. For those interested in more than those just cursory details feel free to read on.

Since my last update I have continued to further settle in here and of course travel – these past months it has been mostly personal with only a few trips for work. But I am beginning to become a mini-expert in travelling into and out of Shenzhen (neighboring town just across the border into China) as flights within China are much cheaper from there versus flying out of Hong Kong. I can also now call myself an expert in how to best see/navigate Beijing in one weekend. Starting May 1st, I have been playing host to friends and family on a non-stop basis. Jen and Phil came over on the 1st and then we went straight away to Beijing as they only had one weekend here and I could not take off during the week. So in 2 days, we saw the highlights, The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Olympic stadium. Then quickly back to HK for work. Jen and Phil then spent the week doing all kinds of tourist things – I will save the description of those to maybe help entice some more of you to visit here. Well the night before Jen and Phil headed back to Jersey, my parents arrived. So for one night, there was a full house here – nothing like spending the night on a couch in your own home so all your guests have a good rest but that’s the price to pay. What is kind of ironic is that 5 people is the minimum number of people who would live in my apartment if it was rented by local people. But then again, the locals are not my size so I guess that makes more sense.

So the morning that Jen and Phil head back to Jersey, mom dad and I head on the first plane that morning out of Shenzhen heading to Xian. Keep in mind, they have been in Hong Kong for less than 8 hours and we are already on our first plane. For the first week I am pretty sure my mom did not know what day it was. After a day trip of the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an we boarded an overnight train to Beijing. So within 12 hours of being in the region, we had been travelling by bus, plane, train and a multitude of cabs. It was pretty hectic, but just the right pace to see everything we wanted to in the time allotted. Sunday, Margaret (more on her later) met us and then became our defacto guide in Beijing as she lives there and speaks Mandarin. A quick trip to the standard sights (Great Wall, Olympic Stadium, Tiananmen Square, Lamma Temple, etc) we were off and heading back to Shenzhen in order to get back to Hong Kong. So the rest of the week the parents did the touristy thing but then on Thursday they boarded a flight to Bangkok where they visited some family friends. As I have been to Bangkok multiple times, I decided to take the weekend for “me” time. It was much needed. Sunday the parents were back and then back to tour guide Brian. A quick trip to Shenzhen, the horse races some quiz nights and then it was back to Atlanta for mum and pops. I think they enjoyed it all and I hope they come back – but I am not sure if they would ever do it without me being here. Culture shock might be an understatement.

For the next part, let’s go back to July last year. I went to Croatia with Brian Bell and some other friends. Our last day there we met some girls on the beach (if you look at the pics you will see them). As one of them was moving to Beijing as I was getting ready to move to Hong Kong we kept in touch. It did take a motivational email, but I finally got up to Beijing to meet up. (April to be precise) Whatever happened, something clicked and one could say we have been dating since then. All those trips to Beijing had the extra bonus of seeing her. Of course I would love to write more, but you all probably don’t want to read that. So if you have any dying questions to know feel free to ask.

June is looking to be a busy month – I will need to go to UK to finalize the set up of a few things for business and then make a quick trip up to Sweden to do some training for a customer up there. (such a hard life, I know) At the end of June, Joey will be getting married in Atlanta so I am looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone then.

A quick shoutout – Congratulations to Jeremy and Nerissa for finally tying that proverbial knot. I could not be happier for you two and wish I could have been with you guys to celebrate this past weekend. Good luck with the move out to San Fran and I look forward to the next time we can get together.

See, rainy Sundays are good for something – I finally got time to update this blog. I hope all is well with everyone and please do not forget to drop me a line if your travel plans bring you anywhere near this region.

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