- I've learned the meaning and pronounciation of 780 chinese characters. That's 20 characters away from the official limit of 800 considered 'Intermediate' level. With the characters I know now I can read the comic books of Rin Tin Tin!
- I have fully achieved status of "in Asia". I now have 1) A hong kong ID card 2) a hong kong bank account with a rather useless debit card 3) a one year multiple entry visa to China. I'm, like, so "here".
- I have located a restaurant that serves proper frog here in Hong Kong. None of that brash, spicy stuff from sichuan, nor is the frog drowned in a rice soup. Just a really nice, pungent sauce and they serve the back as well, not just the legs.
I don't think it's a secret that I have a romantic notion of the "nomad lifestyle". It comes at a cost. I pay through the nose for rooms that are smaller than my suitcase. My insistance on making every decision at the last moment means I get overcharged when travelling- and allways the coolest parties seem to happen yesterday... But, I'm quite happy to accept this: not many people can say they their entire life is contained within a suitcase, or that they could uproot themselves from where they are living and working in 15
The last three weeks been an exercise in enduring the arse end of this lifestyle. It started well. My friend came to visit from Thailand for one night only, and it all felt very jet-set and modern. One night! How crazy! I got a sense of the darkness that was to ensue on my way to meet him at the hotel though. A mild cough. Nevermind I thought. Nevermind that I don't have any immune system whatsoever and am known for being ill in all kinds of ways. Nevermind. Well, that was three weeks of my life down the drain, spent in bed coughing my lugns up with the worst case of bronchitis ever.
Next time I start coughing early during a night of boozing, I'll go home I think.
Of course, I would never have learned all those chinese characters if I hadn't had so much time in bed. Also, I watched the full first season of Desperate Housewifes. What genious!
I did force myself out last weekend- I was about to go mad in that little cupboard of a studio that I live in. I did a park day. Went to Hong Kong park, and to Hong Kong zoological and botanical garden. Hong Kong park is quite amazing, but in the wrong way. It's totally artificial- it's fascinating in a way because it is so unapoligetic. It is obvious that the park designers felt parks should be artificial and that natural ones are just behind the times. So the whole park is full of man-made caves and waterfalls, fountains and sections of grass in regular patterns. And all to the backdrop of the towering sky scrapers. I've attached a photo of what I mean. That's a park, by the way...
The Zoological garden was much more interesting and much more serene. Most of the park was closed off (due to the bird flu maybe?) so there were not so many people. They had some cool birds in big cages, and there was even a leopard there. A bit out of place, but cool nonetheless. I've attached a picture has the leopard in the background, sleeping. And that's me in the foreground. I think you can see I've felt better...
