go to Hong Kong

guess i’ll report back in a few weeks.

Half of my family lives in Hong Kong, and I’ve only met them a couple of times. Recently my grandmother became ill, so there is little time to save up 4k or so to take my family to see her. Don’t want to move there or anything, I would just like to see her before she passes. Such a trip is not impossible, but highly unlikely.

I am actually going to Hong Kong (and Hong Kong Disneyland – on my birthday no less!) for a week in October. Yay!

bought my plane ticket last night! April 30-May 19.

so i’m thinking 3 weeks total… first week in vietnam/thailand, second week in hong kong, tokyo, kyoto, third week beijing, then back to HK and macau before coming back to the states… is this nuts?

i gave my notice today so i’ll definitely not be working full-time come spring. looking at may. adding beijing and maybe japan and/or southeast asia…

can’t believe this has been in the works for so long… think march-may ‘08 timeframe. 95,000 united miles and counting…

i did it. i’m in hong kong. to get from the airport to my dormitory, my friend and i took the subway, and had to make 4 transfers carrying over 150lbs of luggage. it was a huge adventure. at one point, a cheap 60lb bag i had spilled open when we got off of a elevator because the zipper broke. we finally got to my dorm, dripping with sweat from the hills, humidity, and weight we were carrying. but now i’m here! i did it!

i leave for hong kong in two weeks to study! i’ll come back for summer vacation in may. i have international experience, but have never lived abroad for more than two and a half months. these past weeks have been ones filled with so many emotions that they have all jumbled up inside me. i’ve been absolutely excited about the opportuntiy, enthralled by the idea that i will get to try out a completely different life, nervous that i won’t be able to handle the struggle this will entail, and downright afraid to leave my girlfriend behind.

i’ve been asked by so many people, “why hong kong?” i usually explain that china initially caught my attention to study business in because it is becoming so important to the world economy, and that hong kong would be a naturally great place to study global business and gain an understanding of eastern culture.

it’s important to me to expand not only my horizons but also my worldview and understanding of different paradigms. i look at the world as a complex object that can only be remotely understood if one explores it from a variety of viewpoints. i completely lack any sort of understanding of the eastern cultures, and i really want to immerse myself in one.

despite my mixed feelings, i’d sum up my emotions with the first one i listed: excited. i’m ready to start a fresher, faster paced, and completely different life in hong kong. i’ll be detailing my thoughts, struggles, and ideas here on 43things. i hope some of you read it. a good adventure always makes every day fresh. and besides, they say that you gotta go there to come back.

I spent nearly a week in Hong Kong and visited some interesting things. I’d say do 1/2 tourist things and 1/2 just roaming around. Although, it was 10 years ago…it might be a totally different place now. I would recommend going to see Po Lin, largest outside buddha in the world on Lantau island. The bus ride itself is a new experience.