Hong Kong is awesome so far. The city has so much more life and energy than Singapore that the two cities can't even be compared. Not that Singapore was bad, it was just...tame.*
I'm staying in Kowloon, the area across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong Island. I met up with some colleagues from law school for dinner and saw them again for lunch today before they took off for Taipei. This evening I'm meeting up with a friend from Peace Corps who is working here in the financial sector.
I did some sight seeing this morning. I checked out a Taoist temple north of Kowloon and then visited a songbird market where I hope to have picked up some avian flu. After lunch, I took the ferry to Hong Kong island and visited a really awesome temple filled with incense coils giving off acrid smoke. I also strolled through some street markets selling freshly minted antiques.
My first impressions of Hong Kong are pretty positive. The city reminds me of a gigantic Chinatown in New York with Houston summer humidity. Enough people here speak English that I'm able to get around and get what I want (with some pointing) without any trouble. Tomorrow I head to Macau for a night. I'm curious to see how the Portuguese is and if people really speak it there or if Cantonese dominates.
*Singapore is the host of the 2006 IMF/World Bank annual meetings in October so expect to see more coverage soon. There was a story in some paper this morning about the IMF and World Bank criticizing Singapore's policy prohibiting demonstrations of more than 5 people. Singapore says that it must maintain law and order and that the policy will remain. I guess the IMF and World Bank want more protestors.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Singapore Airport
The past two days in Singapore were fine. The ethnic neighborhoods were interesting but also felt a little bit too planned. I visited Chinatown yesterday and Little India and the Arab Quarter today. I also stayed in Little India, too, and have been binging on Indian food for the past two days. I ate a lot of Indian food in Malaysia as well.
I also visited the financial district, the botanic gardens, and the shopping district of Orchard Road. Shopping was disappointing. I was looking for either cool stuff or bargains but found neither amongst the global brand designer stores that fill the shopping malls lining a few kilometers of road. The best thing I found was an Orange Julius stand. I thought they all closed; the one in Lubbock did about 20 years ago.
I'm now abusing the limited free internet access at the Singapore airport while I await my flight for Hong Kong.
I also visited the financial district, the botanic gardens, and the shopping district of Orchard Road. Shopping was disappointing. I was looking for either cool stuff or bargains but found neither amongst the global brand designer stores that fill the shopping malls lining a few kilometers of road. The best thing I found was an Orange Julius stand. I thought they all closed; the one in Lubbock did about 20 years ago.
I'm now abusing the limited free internet access at the Singapore airport while I await my flight for Hong Kong.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Tawau & Singapore
I'm going through some diving withdrawal. The past week under the sea was great, and yesterday I had to give it all up to spend an evening in a hotel in Tawau for a flight this morning.
Tawau rhymes with "bow-wow;" after walking around for an hour or so yesterday, I can also say that it rhymes with "bithole." The seafood was pretty good but not all that. The restaurant had a nice surreal vibe, with waitresses wearing the Muslim head shawl, Malaysia flags flapping all over the place in preparation for national day, Filipino beggar children, and some music channel blasting the latest Beyonce and Jay-Z video. After dinner I watched a terrible movie on HBO ("Manticore") and terribly repetitive CNN.
I left Tawau 2+ hours before my flight because the new airport is far from the city center in the middle of a palm oil plantation. With the 30 minute journey, Tawau has become one of the newest members of the taxi driver employment association.
Anyway, my flight from Tawau to Johor Bahru was fine and I arrived in peninsular Malaysia around 1:30. I took two buses to the border with Singapore and was in my hotel room by 4:30. I walked around the Bugis Street area and the colonial district this afternoon and headed down to the river. Singapore seems very clean, efficient, friendly, British, and also boring and sanitized. Tomorrow I will go in search of beggar children trying to get me to pet their donkey in the ethnic neighborhoods of Little India (where I'm staying), the Arab quarter, and Chinatown.
So Singapore got a little exciting for a minute. Some guy walked into the internet cafe and the owner started to scream at him in Hindi. I think he was banished.
Tawau rhymes with "bow-wow;" after walking around for an hour or so yesterday, I can also say that it rhymes with "bithole." The seafood was pretty good but not all that. The restaurant had a nice surreal vibe, with waitresses wearing the Muslim head shawl, Malaysia flags flapping all over the place in preparation for national day, Filipino beggar children, and some music channel blasting the latest Beyonce and Jay-Z video. After dinner I watched a terrible movie on HBO ("Manticore") and terribly repetitive CNN.
I left Tawau 2+ hours before my flight because the new airport is far from the city center in the middle of a palm oil plantation. With the 30 minute journey, Tawau has become one of the newest members of the taxi driver employment association.
Anyway, my flight from Tawau to Johor Bahru was fine and I arrived in peninsular Malaysia around 1:30. I took two buses to the border with Singapore and was in my hotel room by 4:30. I walked around the Bugis Street area and the colonial district this afternoon and headed down to the river. Singapore seems very clean, efficient, friendly, British, and also boring and sanitized. Tomorrow I will go in search of beggar children trying to get me to pet their donkey in the ethnic neighborhoods of Little India (where I'm staying), the Arab quarter, and Chinatown.
So Singapore got a little exciting for a minute. Some guy walked into the internet cafe and the owner started to scream at him in Hindi. I think he was banished.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Landlubber
Saturday is my last day of diving. After two dives on Sipadan, I'll head back to the rig to pack up my things. I'll wait out the remainder of my 24 hour surface interval in the exciting town of Tawau before my flight on Sunday. Apparently the only thing to do in Tawau is eat excellent sea food, so I will probably have a few dinners and then turn in.
Borneo has been good - two thumbs up. I could have planned the trip a little better and it would have helped had there not been 5 days of shitty weather, but in the end I did what I really wanted to do: hike in Mulu and dive in Sipadan. There are a few more nature-y things I would have liked to have done, like look for orangutans and pygmy elephants in the wild and climb Mt. Kinabalu, but those will have to wait until Borneo II if I ever get around to it.
I am off to the concrete jungles of Singapore and Hong Kong for the week that remains of my vacation.
Borneo has been good - two thumbs up. I could have planned the trip a little better and it would have helped had there not been 5 days of shitty weather, but in the end I did what I really wanted to do: hike in Mulu and dive in Sipadan. There are a few more nature-y things I would have liked to have done, like look for orangutans and pygmy elephants in the wild and climb Mt. Kinabalu, but those will have to wait until Borneo II if I ever get around to it.
I am off to the concrete jungles of Singapore and Hong Kong for the week that remains of my vacation.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Daily exertions
The diving remains great. So great that I decided to extend for two days through Saturday. I figure I'd rather dive at a known, awesome site than try to cram in another site in Sabah for my last two days in Borneo. This means no orangutans, but as a trusted advisor said, "you can ride the bus and see orangutans at the Dallas Zoo."
I've seen lots of stuff. On this morning's two dives the notable items were two green sea turtles mating, a leopard shark, a school of batfish, a HUGE school of jack, and some funny looking giant fish called bump fish (they have big bumps on their heads). I'm still hoping for a hammerhead shark; maybe tomorrow.
Here are some shots from the past two days:
The fancier resorts at Mabul Island
On Sipadan Island for a surface interval and snacks
Note the two distinct shades of blue in the fourth photo; that is where the drop-off is.
I've seen lots of stuff. On this morning's two dives the notable items were two green sea turtles mating, a leopard shark, a school of batfish, a HUGE school of jack, and some funny looking giant fish called bump fish (they have big bumps on their heads). I'm still hoping for a hammerhead shark; maybe tomorrow.
Here are some shots from the past two days:
The fancier resorts at Mabul Island Dive boat leaving the rig off of Mabul Island
Heading to a dive site off Sipadan Island
On Sipadan Island for a surface interval and snacksNote the two distinct shades of blue in the fourth photo; that is where the drop-off is.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Under the Sea
I spent three hours underwater today and two and half yesterday. I am slowly growing gills, as it should be. The diving here in Mabul/Sipadan is really good. The visibility is a bit reduced because of last week’s storms, but the storms didn’t reduce the fantastic amount and diversity of sea life I’ve seen. We’re still a bit limited in the dive sites we can visit because of currents, but everything seems to be calming down so hopefully more areas will be safe to dive.
Mabul, where the oil rig platform-come-resort is stationed, is known as a “muck dive” because there is always a lot of sediment in the water and the visibility is never great. But all that sediment means bajillions of little filter feeders, reef fish, and other critters. I’ve seen several species of sponges, nudibranchs, Christmas tree worms, soft coral, and anemones, plus many types of angel fish, clown fish, pygmy sea horses, damsel fish, gobies, you name it. It is a little weird to see some of the species I used to have in my aquarium as a teenager.
Sipadan is a limestone pillar and not part of the submerged mountain range that makes up the other islands in the park. There is a wall that drops to several hundred meters, and because Sipadan is exposed to the open ocean there is an even greater diversity of marine life present. On my second dive this morning, I saw seven green turtles and a school of barracuda. I also saw three species of shark – grey reef, white tip, and nurse. And more sponges and nudibranchs and coral and soft coral and other fish and even four mermaids.
Enough of the biology lesson. I’m pretty happy with the rig. It is well equipped (even has internet), and the staff is professional, friendly, and laid back. The food is plentiful and very tasty. There is also a karaoke room, but I decline to participate. From the sun deck I can see the other (nicer, more expensive) resorts on Mabul Island itself, but I’m glad to be here b/c I’m saving some cash and there is just something cool about being on a reconverted oil platform. Plus, who needs a beach?
The other divers are in general pretty good. This morning I was with a group about my skill level (advanced open water with 50+ dives). Yesterday I was with three Japanese who have about 2,000 dives between them. They were very friendly and excellent divers. To perpetuate stereotypes about tourists of particular nationalities, each of them had a very expensive underwater digital camera and snapped away throughout the dives. It was kind of annoying, actually, b/c I was trying to commune with nature while they were shoving the macro lens in the pygmy sea horses’ faces.
Currently on board there is a film company based in Cape Town who was hired to do a promotional video for Seaventures. I’m in some of the shots, such as the lunch shot, the signing the dive log book shot, the lift going down to the boat shot, and the recently completed karaoke room bar shot. The staff easily bribed me with a beer to participate b/c they needed “more Europeans” in the frame. Their words, not mine. Look for me in a feature film in the near future.
Tomorrow, more diving.
Mabul, where the oil rig platform-come-resort is stationed, is known as a “muck dive” because there is always a lot of sediment in the water and the visibility is never great. But all that sediment means bajillions of little filter feeders, reef fish, and other critters. I’ve seen several species of sponges, nudibranchs, Christmas tree worms, soft coral, and anemones, plus many types of angel fish, clown fish, pygmy sea horses, damsel fish, gobies, you name it. It is a little weird to see some of the species I used to have in my aquarium as a teenager.
Sipadan is a limestone pillar and not part of the submerged mountain range that makes up the other islands in the park. There is a wall that drops to several hundred meters, and because Sipadan is exposed to the open ocean there is an even greater diversity of marine life present. On my second dive this morning, I saw seven green turtles and a school of barracuda. I also saw three species of shark – grey reef, white tip, and nurse. And more sponges and nudibranchs and coral and soft coral and other fish and even four mermaids.
Enough of the biology lesson. I’m pretty happy with the rig. It is well equipped (even has internet), and the staff is professional, friendly, and laid back. The food is plentiful and very tasty. There is also a karaoke room, but I decline to participate. From the sun deck I can see the other (nicer, more expensive) resorts on Mabul Island itself, but I’m glad to be here b/c I’m saving some cash and there is just something cool about being on a reconverted oil platform. Plus, who needs a beach?
The other divers are in general pretty good. This morning I was with a group about my skill level (advanced open water with 50+ dives). Yesterday I was with three Japanese who have about 2,000 dives between them. They were very friendly and excellent divers. To perpetuate stereotypes about tourists of particular nationalities, each of them had a very expensive underwater digital camera and snapped away throughout the dives. It was kind of annoying, actually, b/c I was trying to commune with nature while they were shoving the macro lens in the pygmy sea horses’ faces.
Currently on board there is a film company based in Cape Town who was hired to do a promotional video for Seaventures. I’m in some of the shots, such as the lunch shot, the signing the dive log book shot, the lift going down to the boat shot, and the recently completed karaoke room bar shot. The staff easily bribed me with a beer to participate b/c they needed “more Europeans” in the frame. Their words, not mine. Look for me in a feature film in the near future.
Tomorrow, more diving.
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