Offline Updates

Date: between Oct. 14 and 16
Time: I ... don't know
Location: somewhere over Japan/Russia/Koreas

This is a super long flight. Thankfully, I'm not going out of my mind yet. About 5 hours left until we land in Hong Kong.

I figured out the airline's tv system. They have about 40 channels and they all play on a loop. For 16 hours, they play the same things over and over again on the same channels. It really sucks. I've seen more than half the movies they're showing and over half the channels aren't that entertaining. I've pretty much kept it at channel 53, which is the GPS of the aircraft.

I don't remember the seats to be this cramped. I can't even stretch my legs out. I barely have room for my laptop on my lap. My mom, a regular flyer to Hong Kong, has said that either the plane is getting smaller or they're cramming more people in. I think it's the second one that's true. It's super hard to sleep in this thing.

That's not to say this whole flight is a bummer. I get free alcohol. The food isn't all that bad. *trying to think of something else ... but blanks out* ...

My mom and I already have plans. Next week, we are going on a week-long tour of eastern China with a bunch of my relatives. It should be fun.

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Date: Oct. 17

You know what sucks? I bought a universal travel adapter that my laptop AC power plug doesn't fit into. For some odd reason, the grounding third prong on the plug is too fat for the adapter. Either my plug is weird or the maker of the adapter is crazy. My cousin bought me a computer cable that hooks up to the laptop AC but has a british plug. I was just going to get another adapter but this works in my favour since I can plug this in to the adapter to switch into another country's outlet. Alas, now I can use my computer!

The WiFi here isn't as advanced as North America. The homes here mostly use cabled internet, if they can afford internet, rather than wireless. Thus, I'm out of internet for a little while.

This place has gotten much cleaner over the years. They started to supply the toilets with toilet paper. A big plus. It's still smoggy and foggy, but the air smells and feels cleaner than it did when I was back 9 years ago. It's worth it to come back. Though, the mosquitos here are vicious and won't leave me alone. If you want to come to Hong Kong, be sure to bring bug spray.

I forgot how crazy and busy Hong Kong is. The drivers here are insanely pushy. Not to mention, they drive on the left side of the road on European style roads built on mountains. About half the people drive vans and trucks, and they're everywhere. Their parking lots have spaces dedicated to large vehicles. I wouldn't want to try to drive on these roads. If I need to describe Hong Kong, it's like Toronto's Chinatown but more cramped and aggressive, and it's everywhere.

Hong Kong has so much fish. We have some sort of seafood for every meal. I had fish ball noodle soup this morning and it was so good. The fish balls here are made out of fresh fish and you can definitely taste the difference. The fish come right out of the sea and straight to the market. They're still very much alive when they're at the market. Be careful: I've seen shrimp commit suicide by jumping out of the bucket.