Days 59-61: Malaysia

Batu Caves

           In Malaysia I was able to connect with a family member of a friend whose was currently living in Kuala Lumpur with his wife and kids.  They graciously offered to host me during my stay and show me some of the sites.  After the incredibly draining experience I had in Thailand, this was a welcome break.  As much as I have enjoy couchsurfing, there’s a nice comfort in staying with someone who someone you know can vouch for. 

Canopy Walk

           Jake and Teresa picked up from the train station, and took me to Batu Caves, a cave in this cliffside with a giant Hindu sculpture.  It was a relic from the days when Mayalsia used to be a Hindu country.

           Next we went to a rainforest preserve.  After a hike through the rainforest, we did a canopy walk through the trees.

           Jake offered to take me downtown to show me some more sights, but I was so exhausted I told them I was ready to go back with them.  We went for a swim in their pool and then I rest for a while and tried to figure out my travel plans in India.

Petronas Towers

Doctor Fish

           The next day I went downtown with Jake and he showed me the Petronas Towers and a couple of other sights around town.  We went through this mall and inside they tanks of fish that you can stick your feet into and the fish will suck off your dead skin.  They were called "doctor fish."  I had seen these in Cambodia, but didn't have a chance to try them, but this time we did.  It was a really strange experience  as all the fish swarm to your feet and start sucking.  It tickled a lot, and I could barely keep my feet in.  But after a while, I got used to it and it started to feel good.

The State of My Shoes

           My shoes had started disintegrating through this trip, and by Thailand they had been held together mostly by postage tape, superglue, a apple juice carton, and some wishful thinking.  While we were downtown, Jake took me to the China town market and we tried to find a decent pair of shoes for a reasonable price that would actually fit me.  It took several tries until we found one, it they weren’t really all that cheap, but it was a welcome relief to have shoes that weren’t one misstep from falling apart.

           On the last ride to the train station in Thailand, I started to have a sharp pain in my neck.  By this time in Malaysia, it was almost unbearable.  I ended up relaxing the next day because of this, and trying to recover a bit.

           Thanks to Jake and Teresa, I was able to catch up on sleep, recover and reorganize and get ready for the next step of my trip: Singapore, my last stop in East Asia.

Jake and Teresa's family and me.

Days 51-58: Thailand

View from Temple of Dawn

           After a very complicated border crossing and transfer to a new van, I was in Thailand.  The reason for the vehicle switch became obvious as suddenly traffic was on the left side.  I hadn’t expected this, almost all left-hand driving countries are former British colonies, and Thailand is known for being the only country in Southeast asia that maintained it’s independence from European powers.

           After a several hour drive, I got dropped off at a cul-de-sac in the middle of Bangkok.  I had no idea where I was going to stay tonight.  I thought I had a host lined up through Couchsurfing, but I had failed to get back to him soon enough, and he had already hosted someone else instead.

           One thing was apparent when I entered Thailand: Thailand was humid.  Vietnam and Cambodia were very hot, but it was a dry and very bearable heat, but once I crossed in Thailand, it because much more unbearable.  On top of this, I still hadn’t had a good nights rest in three nights.

           Having no idea where to go I wandered a bit, tried to connect to the cities free wifi (which is apparently full for the next two months), bought a SIM card which I couldn’t get to work, and finally bought a drink at a restaurant to use their wifi.

           Even with internet I didn’t have much luck finding a good place to stay.  I saw one with a decent fairly close and started walking towards it.  I tuk-tuk driver offered to take me to a cheap place to stay.  Exhausted and overheated, I agree.  The first place he brings me is ok, but doesn’t have internet which I kind of needed to figure out my plans.  He takes me to a tourist information place next and they say all the cheap places are full and offers me a fairly expensive place.  Next they try and up sell me into providing everything for the rest of my Thai trip.  The number they offer is incredibly higher then I had hoped to say and I try to tell them I’m not interested, but they keep insisting.  i eventually jsut give up, walk out, pay the tuk-tuk driver, and walk on my own hoping I can find a decent hotel.  After a short walk I come across one and it’s not too bad and has AC and internet, so I stay there.

           The next day I slept late, catching up on needed rest, and tried to figure out my plans.  Several people along the way had recommended going to Chaing Mai, so I looked into getting train ticket to there.  But when I called I found out they were completely sold out.  I tried to find a sleeper bus, but I didn’t have much luck finding one that seemed decent and the ones I did find were already full.  After the rough rides I had just gone through, I wasn’t in the mood for more.  So I reluctantly gave up on Chiang Mai and decided to stay in Bangkok.

           After walking outside for a bit, I decided I’d spend more time in my air conditioned room.

That night I met up with some people from couchsurfing and explored the night life of Khao San road.  I thought I was near this famous tourist street, but when I looked it up it was a good 20 minute drive away.  So I walked a few blocks from my hotel, hopped into a cab and told him to take me to Khao San road.  He seems confused and double checks with me “Khao San road?” and I confirm.  He drives up half a block and says we are there.   Fortunately I think he was too confused by my stupidity to try and charge for the short fare, and I apologize and get out.  One of the guys I met there was another couchsurfing from Istanbul.  I told him about several of the other people I had surfed with had all said that Turkey was their number one destination they wanted to go to.  He said I should come, and he’d be more then willing to host me.  I told him I’d be in the area in a couple months and might just have to take him up on that.

           The next day I tried to get to the train station to get my onward train tickets to Phuket.  Thailand used to have an online service, but they stopped providing it a couple years ago, and now the only way to get a ticket was to go to the actual train station, which was a ways away.  Bangkok has a skyrail system, but it was worthless to me since it didn’t connect to where I was or to anywhere I wanted to go, so I was stuck taking the bus.  I got to the bus stop just in time to see the bus leave.  Still not getting the sim card to work, I couldn’t look up how long it’d be until the next bus would come.  After waiting a while, I finally gave up and took a cab.  Unfortunately I had timed it just in time for the evening rush hour, so it took a while and was extra expensive.

           When I finally get there, I find out all the sleeper berths are full and the only option is an overnight in a seat, no other option, I buy it.  I try to get my ticket on from there to Malaysia, but they say I have to buy that other one at that other station.

           Frustrated, I stop and after several attempts with a 7-11 I finally get the code I needed to get my SIM card to work.

Grand Palace

           By then it was dark already and I still hadn’t seen anything.  I walked the long walk back, so I would at least see something.

           The next day I got up with the resolve to see something.  It was frustrating being in Bangkok for 4 days already and still to not have actually seen anything.  I went to the most important site: the Grand Palace.  I was pretty impressed with the extreme detail that went into all the architecture there.  My ticket included a free entrance to the Queens Textile Museum, which was basically just a bunch of the queen’s old clothing, but it was air conditioned and free.  Inside they had a video showing the entire process of making silk, which was very fascinating.

Temple of Dawn

           Next I walked to another temple that was supposed to be good, but it didn’t look too impressive from the outside, similar to the Grand Palace was smaller.  But in the distance I saw a massive temple of a completely different style that I had to check out.  It was called the Temple of Dawn, and the view at the top of the very steep steps up was great, allowing you to see the river and the Grand Palace.

I still head a fair amount of time left, so I figured I check out a floating market that I had heard a lot about.  A long bus ride, followed by a long walk, and I soon learned that the floating market was only on Saturdays.  Oops.

           At some point on my train ride, my usb plug on my phone broke.  I had been able to make it work by angling it at certain angle until it would charge, but by Thailand it had completely broke, leaving me with no way to charge my phone.  This was kind of an issue since my phone had kind of been my lifeline on this trip so far.  It was my emergency line, my map, my translator, basically my way to figure out any problem that I ran into.  Without it, this trip would get a whole lot more difficult.  Fortunately I managed to find a universal battery charger at a random shop that saved the day and allowed me to at least limp by for now.

           That night I boarded the train to Phuket and after a rather sleepless night ride, followed by a bus ride and then a shuttle ride, I had arrived.

           I had made reservations at the cheapest place I could find, but unfortunently I forgot to make sure it had air conditioning.  Every place prior to this always had AC, but now when I was in a country where I really wanted it, it was suddenly an extra luxury.  The room was unbearably warm as it had no outside windows and a very ineffective fan.  At night, it was colder outside.

           The area of Phuket I wound up in was very much a tourist area, but then I’m not sure what part of the island isn’t.  I checked out the beach for a while and went for a short swim.  I hoped for cool water like all the other beaches I had been to prior, but here even the water was hot.

           The next day I took an early bus and then a two hour ferry to Phi Phi Island.  It was a small island without cars with a narrow strip in the middle of it that’s filled with shops and restaurants.  I wanted to scuba dive while in Thailand, but didn’t have much time available to try and do it unfortunately, but I managed to find a place that had a morning dive the next day that I could fit in before the ferry back off the island.

Phi Phi Island

           Unfortunately for my timing, I appear to arrived just in time for low tide, and the beach was just filled with mud and very unappealing.  I went and climbed to the look out point that gives you a good view of the island and lets you see just how narrow the middle park of the island.

That night several bars along the beach held fire shows where people would spin various burning objects, or they would have flaming limbo poles for people go under.  I walked along the beach watching the variety of shows each place was putting on.

Scuba Diving

           The next morning I went scuba diving for my first time.  It was a bit nerve wrecking at first, practicing clearing the snorkel and mask underwater.  Having to constantly equalize the pressure in your ears turned out to be the most difficult part.  Once I got used to it, it was a lot of fun.  It was amazing seeing all these sea turtles, eels, corals, and other unique aquatic life in real life, just under the water.  Between our two dives we stopped and had lunch at in enclave on a island with a beach that was filmed in the movie “The Beach.”

            Afterwards I grabbed my gear and went through the photos of the dive, thinking I had an hour before the ferry left.  Just in case, I double check the time and saw it was leaving in 2 minutes.  I rushed and packed everything up as quickly as possible and started running for the dock, which was still a good distance away.  I get there and jump on board, just as the ferry pulls out.

           I spend the next night in a nearby town called Krabi Town.  Because of the timing of the ferries and trains, I was only able to spend one night on Phi Phi, and was only in this town so I could catch my train the next day.  Having several early morning trying to get everywhere, I was incredible tired and planned on just getting a good nights rest.  But before I went to bed, I decided to check on my plans for India.  It was then that I learned that pretty much all the train tickets I had hoped to buy for it were sold out.

           Apparently trains in India sell out really soon, but they don’t open them up for purchase until two months before, which was when I was still in China and busy concentrating on making it through that.  I spent a good couple hours trying to figure out a solution before finally giving up and just going to bed as I was about to pass out.

           The next morning a took a shuttle bus to train station a few town away.  The driver dropped me off at a point, and I asked if this was the train station, and he said it was.  However, when I go inside I find it’s just a mall.  Fortunately I found someone who could point me the right way and I eventually make it.  I had been able to reserve these train tickets online, fortunately, since they are run by Malaysia.  Online it had said I could just show them my confirmation number and they would print out my ticket.  When I tried to do this, he didn’t seem to understand and made it sound like I needed to go to a different train station.  Confused I walk away and guy comes up to me asks where I’m going.  I tell him I’m going to Kuala Lumpur and he takes me to this travel agent guy.  The guy tries to sell me a bus ticket to there, saying the train is sold out.  i tell him I already have a ticket, and the original guy finally understands and takes me to a computer place where I can print it off.  I pay them, and then he brings me back and asks for money for the gas of driving me to the spots on his motorcycle.  I give him a fair amount, he insists on more.  I say no and walk away.

           On the ticket I noticed it says all times are in Malaysian time, which is an hour earlier then Thailand, meaning the train was jut about to leave.  I hurry on board and find my spot, only to wait another hour for it to actually leave.

           I sleep surprising well on the overnight train and wakeup in Kuala Lumpur next next morning.

Days 49-51: Cambodia

           My 12 hour bus ride to Cambodia ended turning into a 15 hour ride, a bit longer then I had been told and expected.  Also towards the end it turned more into a local bus, with lots of stops dropping locals off.  It was confusing not knowing how far away I was and how much longer it would be and if it was the last stop or not.  For some reason I had expected Cambodia to be this lush mountainous rainforest, but instead it was flat grasslands, like Kansas.

Cambodia's Landscape

           I had agreed to be hosted by a middle-aged Cambodian man named Boon from couchsurfing.  I was a little nervous since I hadn’t stayed with anyone that much older then me before or with someone in a poorer country like Cambodia.  But he had offered to show me around Angkor Wat, which would have to be a much greater experience then just doing it alone.

           When the bus finally arrived, it dropped us off at this remote dark bus stop and I had no idea where to go or how to get there.  My international roaming SIM card had decided to stop working so I had no way of getting a hold of the host.  I stood there and watched everyone else leave, standing alone in the dark.  A tuk-tuk driver asked if I needed a ride, I asked if he knew where a payphone was, and he offered me his phone.  I called the host and he insisted on picking me up from the bus stop so I wouldn’t have to pay the couple dollars for the driver.  So the driver left and I continued standing alone in the dark on the side of the road as random people kept driving past, not sure who exactly I was waiting for.  I felt a bit uncomfortable and unsafe, to say the least, but I didn’t have much other choice at this point.

Boon

           Finally Boon pulls up on his motorcycle, introduces himself and has me jump on the back.  We stop at a street vendor to eat some fried rice as everything else is closed.  Then he takes me back to his place.  He lives at the back of the bank that he works at.  His place is basic, but comfortable.  His shower only works sometimes, and the rest of the time you have to shower from a bucket of water.  He has only a queen-sized mattress on the floor for us to share.  I wasn't very comfortable with this, sharing a bed with a random stranger I had just met, but I assume it was more culturally acceptable here and didn’t want to insult him by insisting otherwise, plus I’m so exhausted I don’t even care any more.  Despite my exhaustion, I didn’t sleep that well that night, just because of the discomfort of the situation.

Angkor Wat

           The next morning we got breakfast and headed to a Angkor Wat.  The one full day I had chosen to visit Cambodia ended up being a bank holiday called "Women's Day."  Since he worked at a bank, Boon had the day off and was free to show me around.  Inside, he took me to several of the ruins, and insisted on taking my camera taking lots of photos of me front of everything.

We stopped for lunch after the first couple temples and he found us a place to eat and got us the “local’s price.”

Lots of photos of me in front of things...

           The ruins were all really interesting, and each one had a unique style and purpose.  I was surprised how far away each one  Boon tried to explain some of their histories, but warned me that he wasn’t a tour guide and wasn’t able to answer all of my questions.  One of the last temples we visited was the one’s featured in one of the “Tomb Raider” movie.  The temples were overgrown by several massive trees whose roots flowed over the ruins.  This one was one of the most crowded of the temples and it was a bit frustrating getting through the crowds, especially when Boon insisted that I pose for a photo in front of every object.

           The temples also offered a ballon ride you could pay for, that I thought would offer a nice view.  So Boon drove me over, but they told us it was closed because it was too windy.

           The last stop was the Sunset Temple.  Boon said he was too tired at this point and would wait for me at the bottom.  I went up and waited at the line at the top to make it to the top of the temple.  The view from the top wasn’t all that great, and really didn’t feel worth the wait.  The better view was from the base of the temple before the line, where you could actually see the temple.

           After an exhausting day running around we went and got a traditional Cambodian meal and chatted for a while.  Despite all my paranoia, Boon turned out to be a really nice guy who I enjoyed being able to spend a few days with, and thanks to him I was able to see a lot more of Angkor Wat and Cambodia then I would have been able to without him.

           Early the next day I took a “bus” to Thailand.  The bus ended up being a van with weak air conditioning, yet another fun ride for me.

Days 40-49: Vietnam

Ha Long Bay

           The night before leaving for Vietnam, I was a bit paranoid. I had heard some negative things about Vietnam, and was starting to question my decision to travel through there. But in the end, my pessimistic expectations turned out to not be that accurate.
           I flew into Hanoi and went to my first hotel. With everything I had heard about Vietnam, I was really cautious with them and paranoid about being taken advantage. However they ended up being really nice and got me setup with an overnight tour cruise of Ha Long Bay for a decent price and even got me a free upgrade to the “deluxe package” for free.
           I was picked up early the next morning for 5-hour drive to Ha Long Bay.  Being on a fully catered cruise was a bit different experience compared to the way I had been traveling the past month, but a welcome break. The landscape in Ha Long Bay was amazing, although the weather was a bit cloudy and foggy at times, and made it hard to see the entire view.  As a part of the package, we got a tour of a large cave in the Ha Long Bay area, a stop to climb to the top of one of the islands and get a really nice view of the bay, a tour of an oyster farm, and kayaking around the bay area.  At night they set up fishing lines in case we wanted to fish for small squids in the water.
           After the cruise I explored Hanoi for a bit, had my first authentic Vietnamese meal, which was mind blowingly amazing and was by far the best meal I had so far on my journey.

Mussels Porridge
Fried Rice with Bean
Fried Crab Spring Rolls

Hoi An

           With the help of the hotel staff who gave me a motorcycle ride to the train station and lead me all the way onto the train and even showed me which bunk was mine, I was on my way on my first overnight train to Hoi An. Being able to just lie down in your bed in a train and wake up the next morning almost at your destination was really nice.
           Hoi An was a nice and peaceful small town in Vietnam, but a very tourist filled city. After settling in my hotel I rented a bicycle and peddled through the rice patty filled countryside to the nearby beach to relax for the afternoon with some random dogs that decided to befriend me.
           Since I loved the food so much in Vietnam, I decided I had to take a cooking class and learn how to make it myself. The class brought me through a tour of the food market where they pointed out all the vegetables and fruits that are unique to Southeast Asia. Next we went through and they taught us how to make vietnam style country pancakes, a fresh spring roll, a chicken dish, and beef pho. All the foods made were delicious, and at the end they gave us a cookbook for all the dishes we made. Hopefully I’ll remember how to make them by the time I make it home.
           My second day was really rainy, and let me with little to do, but despite the rain, I went and rented a motocycle for just a few dollars and drove it around, exploring the small town. I'm not sure what was going through the mind of the women I rented from, as I clearly had no idea what I was doing, having never actually driven a motocycle before. The rain made it a bit less enjoyable, but a really wanted to be able to try it here since everyone gets everywhere in Vietnam on motocycle, and trying to drive in the small town of Hoi An would be a whole lot safer then trying to do it in the chaos of the major cities.
           My train ride to Saigon was a little less pleasant thanks to an annoying loud child, but I still found it more pleasant then being stuck in a Chinese airport waiting for several hours for a delayed flight.

Lee

           In Saigon, I was able to get a free tour guide through someone who I met through Couchsurfing named Lee. He told me how he had gone on vacation to Cambodia and had such a good time, he wanted to be able to continue at home by providing a free service to other travelers to give them tour of his city. He showed me a couple of interesting churches and temples in Saigon, and brought me to several street vendors to get me local Vietnam food for pennies. One of the more interesting things we got was a sweet drink made from daisies, that was really good. He also helped me get my bus ticket to Cambodia figured out.
           Early my last day in Vietnam, I boarded the bus for an 11 hour bus ride to my next city: Siem Reap.

What I Ate in China and Taiwan

China offers a unique culinary cuisine, with numerous dishes that are considered "weird" by western standards. We tried my best to try all that China had to offer. Here are some of the dishes I ate there:

Days 35-40: Taipei, Taiwan

          After a rough start just trying to get there, I finally made it to Taipei.  In Taipei, I was able to get connected with an old connection of my parents: Linda.  Linda and her husband  Dave have been living in Taipei, Taiwan for 25 years.  They very graciously invited me to stay with them while I was there.  They picked me up from the shuttle, showed me to their place, gave me my own bedroom, and made me a sandwich.  With how I’ve been living for the past month so far, I felt downright spoiled: a real bed that wasn’t just a half inch mattress on a piece of plywood, and my own private room!  On top of that, they gave a me a set of keys to the place, so I was free to come and go whenever I pleased.

Shrimp Fishing

Boggy

          While there, I was able to meet up with a couchsurfer host named Boggy, she picked me up on her scooter and showed me the largest night market in Taipei.  Pretty much every city in China I had been in had one form of night market or another, but none of them compared to the scale of this one in Taipei.  It was like a carnival.  Besides the usual street merchants and huge plethora of street food, the market also had a variety of different carnival games.  One that we played involved trying to pick up a shrimp with a small fishing poll and put them into a bucket.  Then the ones you can get into the bucket, they’ll fry up for you to eat!  We also tried some Taiwanese specialities: oyster omelet and duck blood soup.

Oyster Omelet and
Duck Blood Soup

          Boggy also gave me a tour of her school where she was studying industrial design, where they develop concept designs with industrial applications.  Which was really interesting.

Sky Lanterns

          However, there was one main reason I decided to add a stop in Taipei: The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival.  The end of the Spring Festival is marked with an occasion called “Lantern Festival.”  In most cities in China, it is celebrated by making ornate lanterns and decorating entire cities with them.  But in a rural district outside of Taipei called Pingxi, they have a slightly different tradition: celebrators write their wishes for the new year on to a lantern and release it to float off into the air, along with hundreds of other lanterns.  The tradition is done in other locations as well, and when I was in Shanghai I was able to witness a few of them being set off, but they aren’t done anywhere near as many as they do in Pingxi.

          Linda connected me with a girl from her work, Lisi, who was also going to the festival with her friend.  We took the shuttle an hour plus drive out to Pingxi and stepped right into the madness.  It took us over an hour to get through the short distance of narrow streets packed with people all heading to the lantern festival.  The official festival involved ten coordinated releases through the night, starting at sunset.  Who got to release their lantern then was determined by a lottery.  But that was just for the official releases in the center stage, anyone could just buy a lantern and launch it themselves whenever.

          When we arrived before dusk, people were already releasing their lanterns.  Through out the night, there was a constant flow of lanterns into the sky, creating amazing patterns as the wind blew them around.  About each hour, the main ceremony would release a batch of a couple hundred lanterns all at once, flying up into the air.

          After we had gotten our fill of watching the lanterns, we went to release our own.  With a little help from Lisi and a random Taiwanese girl, I was able to write my own wishes in traditional Chinese characters.  Then we lit our lanterns and released them into the sky.

Taipei 101 Tower

          While also in Taiwan I made sure to visit the Palace Museum that holds some of the artwork that was taken from the Forbidden City to Taiwan during the revolution.  I also took a ride up to the top of Taipei Tower, formally the world's tallest building and currently the fourth tallest.  It was a interesting sensation to be at the top, and feel the building sway in the wind.

          Taiwan offered and very nice break as I prepared for the next phase of my journey: South East Asia.  I was a bit anxious about next country, Vietnam, with the negative things I had heard, and was a bit nervous the night before I left.

Days 30-35: Hong Kong

          My flight from Shanghai arrived at Szcheuan, which is across from Hong Kong in Mainland China.  I still had the directions that Xiaomin had written out for me before, that helped me figure out how to get from there to Hong Kong.

A neat and orderly queue:
how you can tell you aren't in
mainland China

          I was again kind of surprised my initial reaction to Hong Kong.  Given the british influence over the city for several hundred years, I figured it would appear more like a western city.  I was expecting another Shanghai.  But instead it felt a lot more dirty then Shanghai, and a lot more Chinese.  Yet at the same time, it was still very different from the rest of China.  The most noticeable differences was obvious once I got to the subway, and I saw something I hadn’t seen before: a queue.  In mainland China, if you leave even an inch gap in front of you, people will assume you aren’t in line and will cut you off.  This is something I noticed even before I left the U.S., when mainland Chinese would cut me off in line at the airport. 

          I was dead tired from the all-nighter we pulled the day previous, and as soon as I got a room, I just went to bed until the next morning.  I was staying in a building called the Chungking Mansions, an old building crammed with numerous shops, guesthouses, and hostels and which getting around in is an incredible maze.  Almost every time I tried to get in or out, I’d end up getting lost with no idea how to get back.  It is kind of infamous for it’s low cost accommodations and for it’s sketchy nature.  Whenever I would tell someone I was staying there, they would make a comment about that.  However the place is supposedly very safe, and there was a pretty constant police presence there.  Not sure if that’s a good sign or not.

          Despite being the cheapest place to stay in Hong Kong, it was still surprisingly more expensive then everywhere else I’ve stayed so far, so I decided to stay with someone who offered to host me on couchsurfing.  I stayed two nights with him, but trying to live by his early morning schedule when I was forced to leave the apartment was really not working well with my now messed up sleep cycle, and returned to the mansion for the last nights.

Repulse Beach, Hong Kong

          After one sleepless night, I went to one of the beaches on Hong Kong Island.  For the first time in China, it was hot enough to go to the beach, when I was near the ocean.  The water was nice and cold, while the air was nice and warm.  Unfortunately in my rush to leave, I had forgotten to grab my sunscreen, so I tried to limit my exposure to the sun enough to not burn to badly, but then I ended up passing out on the beach for a couple hours.  Fortunately I didn’t end up burning too badly.

          After the beach, I headed to the peak, to get a view of the city as the sun was about to set.  I skipped paying for the observation deck and just went to a nearby pavilion that had a pretty much identical view for free.

          I had made an unfortunate mistake when I applied for my Vietnam visa, and ended buying my ticket to fly in a day before my visa was valid.  I only noticed my mistake when it was too late to try and fix it before I left, but was hoping I could get it solved at the Vietnam consulate in Hong Kong.  Unfortunately they weren’t able to change my visa, and I had to apply for a new one, which meant hey would have my passport until the morning I leave.  Which meant I was stuck in the Hong Kong area and wouldn’t able to visit the nearby areas such as Macau, as I had hoped.

Cyndie

          In Hong Kong I met up with a family friend, Cyndie.  Cyndie teaches english in a city in mainland China, but happened to be passing through Hong Kong on her way back from her Spring Festival break.  She has come to Hong Kong at least a half dozen times, and she told me that she just really enjoys being in the city, as it offers a nice break from mainland China.

Tai O

          With her I visited the Art Museum, the Avenue of Stars, and we spent a day doing her favorite loop around the islands of Hong Kong.  First we took a ferry and a bus ride to the small fishing village of Tai O and wandered around the stilted village and took a boat tour, then we went to the Big Buddha statue on another part of the island, and finally took a cable car ride back to the subway.

Fish Balls; Stinky Tofu; Deep-fried Intestine;
Stuffed Chilies, Sausage and Tofu; and Duck Tongue

          My last night in town, Cyndie helped take me get around the street food vendors of Hong Kong as I was resolved to try as much strange Chinese food as I could before I left China.  I tried some deep-fried pig intestine, fish balls, duck tongue, and stinky tofu.  Ever since Beijing and every city since, I had gotten a whiff of this overwhelming smell, but I was never able to locate the source of it.  I couldn’t tell if it was from a food, or something that had died, or what.  I had tried to ask various hosts, but they had all given me conflicting answers.  But thanks to Cyndie I finally found out the true source of that stench: stinky tofu.  Having smelled it everywhere, I had to try some, and it ended up tasting just like it smelled, and it ended up being the only thing in China that I tried and just couldn’t finish.

          The next day, after picking up my passport with my new Vietnam visa, Cyndie helped me catch the shuttle to the airport.  I arrived with a good two hours to spare, or so I thought.  When I went to try and get my ticket, I learned that I had somehow managed to misread my departure time and I had just missed my flight.  I tried to get them to transfer me to the next flight, but they couldn’t.  So I had to buy a last minute ticket.  I tried to find a cheap one online, but it’d be too soon to the departure time and they wouldn’t sell them.  Lacking little other choice, I was forced to buy the full price ticket (twice the price of the flight I had just missed and wasn’t able to get a refund on either) and run through security to try and catch this flight without missing it too, but fortunately with that I was finally on my way to Taiwan.