Friday, August 19, 2005

WE'RE COMING HOME

WE'RE COMING HOME!!
Today is our last day in Singapore. Meeting up for lunch to eat last minute chili crabs. Then Im headed to do some last minute shopping and checking out the Eska Bar a chilled bar that you must wear jackets in.

Meeting at the airport at 4AM tonight. Thats 3Pm Friday afternoon for you USA guys. See ya soon, Brandons coming home!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Bangkok Thailand and Kuala Lumpur

Well we finished up our summer internships last Wednesday. Let the celebration begin. We went the Esplanade, the performing arts center of Singapore, to see Dim Sum Dollies. A female comedian musical trio. It was a great performance and reflected lots of Singapore's Culture. Some of the humor we did not get at times but it was still hilarious!

The next morning we parted for Bangkok, Thailand. We took Thai Asia Air and arrived in Bangkok after an hour or so. Suites where the first thing on our agenda. We all got measured and fitted for a variety of suites. I choose a midnight blue suite with a suttle pinstripe for myself and my dad. We'll have matching suites. The prices where fairly reasonable at 112.00 US Dollars. We even got free beer and other drinks while getting fitted. I had my fair share of beers and felt really good after leaving the tailor shop. Good Story to tell when I get home! LOL

Traffic in Bangkok was horrible. The system isn't really regulated with toll roads in the downtown areas, so it is quite congested with traffic flow. Motorbikes weave in and out. It can take several hours just to go a few kilometers.

Thailand is on the Baht which is about 40 Baht to one US Dollar.

We then hit the road to Pattaya which is about 2 hours South East of Bangkok at the coast. We ate a quick dinner and then went to a Cabaret Show. This featured traditional Thai dances. The performers look like women, however they are actually men who have undergone surgery to make them female. It was quiet disturbing, yet interesting to see how good the surgery was.

We then checked into the Day-Night Hotel which appeared to be a hospital at one time. Quite Depressing! We then headed out to Walking Street to enjoy the night life. We found some Muay Thai Kick Boxing and enjoyed the show. Pattaya is known as the Sex Capital of the world due the abundance of Strip Shows, Sex Shows, and prostitution. For the parents relax, we didn't attend any of these, however we where asked and shown menus of places several times on the streets.

The next day we slept in before heading to the Thai Culture and Elephant shows. The culture show featured traditional Thai Dancers(female ones), Kick Boxing, Elephants and several other features. The Elephant show had elephants performing a variety of activities that included bowling, darts, painting, races, and others. Following the show I was picked up by the trunk of an elephant and held on to its tusks. It was an amazing experience to be picked up by such a powerful animal. I also got to hold a chimpanzee and take a picture with a tiger!

The World's Largest Restaurant during the 90s was the feature for our dinner. The restaurant was built on water and featured cement boats for the places to eat. It could seat 5000 people and has a working staff of 1000.

We then took our roadtrip back to Bangkok and checked into our Hotel called the Palazzo. When we first entered our room we smelt a very strong sewage odor. We couldn't figure it out until the next morning. This is when we saw was was adjacent to our hotel: A sewage treatment plant!

We went to a few shopping centers around the Bangkok Area. Petpong was a market sandwiched between the redlight districts. We found several deals at the area including small lighted lamps and a Buddha statue.

Sam and I got separated from the others during our shopping experience. We started looking through our stuff and found we didn't have the card with directions on getting to the hotel. The only thing we had was a pen with the name of the hotel on it. We stopped at many places asking for a phone book, but they either didn't have one or couldn't understand what we where asking for. We then saw a small police hutch and the officer spoke very little English. We communicated that we where lost and needed an address for our hotel. Luckily they had the internet. GOOGLE to the rescue! We found the address! The next thing was finding a taxi cab driver who could understand us. We jumped in the next taxi and he couldn't understand us. He took us to the nearest officer and he could read English and explained to the driver where to take us. Atleast we where hoping we where on the right track! The driver was really cool and attempted to teach us counting in Thai. He was a really nice older gentleman and we tipped him well for getting us home! What an adventure!

The next morning we went on a river boat tour around Bangkok. We saw the Royal Palace, Governmental Buildings, and the reclining Buddha Temple.

We then flew to KL or Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia. We where picked up by a sweet bus. We had a full size chartered bus for the 11 of us. The seats reclined back and even had foot rests! We where now traveling in the lap of luxury.

The new airport is the 3rd best in Asia. It is located about 60 miles from KL due to the development of the new Governmental City of Putrajaya. This city was started only 10 years ago and the governmental offices have relocated approximately 40% to the new area. The city has a master plan that limits commercialization and other development. The city is similar to the Washington DC Area. Each building features architecture from around the world. The buildings are quite impressive.

We then headed to our Hotel located in a quite area of KL. We went out for clubbing near the Twin Tours of KL. We went to a Thai Cowboy Club and The Rum Jungle Disco. I wasn't feeling too well due to the smoke so I sat away from the crowd and just hung out for the night.

Following the Clubbing Experience we decided to walk to the Twin Tours to see the view at night. The Tours where massive and you couldn't see the top of the buildings from the bottom due to the pinnacle shape.

The next day we went to the Malaysian Royal Palace. The palace has guards similar to those at England's Buckingham Palace. Redsuited soldiers on horses ordorn the sides of the gates. The palace use to belong to wealthiest Chinese Family in KL, when the family passed away instead of accepting the inheritance the family donated it to the Government. This building will be converted to a hotel in the next 10 years and relocated in Putrajaya.

We then took a picture with the Twin towers in the back. The day was great because the haze was gone. Indonesia has been experiencing large forest fires and the smoke has been creating thick haze around the KL area. Luckily it rained the day before knocking some of the haze away.

We then saw a War Monument dedicated to those who died during the Communist War.

A large Buddhist temple that was built into a mountain cave was the next stop. The cavern was a beautiful natural formation. 272 steps must be climbed to reach the entry of the cave! Monkeys are all around the temple waiting for food! I got some great pics of this one monkey eating peanuts!

We had some good ole American Fast Food for Lunch at Burger King and then headed to the Highlands.

You can only go so far up the mountain on a bus due to the steepness of the terrain. We then had to take the Cable Cars for 15KM. This Cable car was the longest and fastest cable car in Asia. The Highland resort area featured a Casino, Theme Parks, Video Game Arcades, and several other items of entertainment. I decided Id go to the Casino and try my luck at Black Jack. I started with 200 Ringit about 53 US Dollars, enough for 4 hands of Black Jack. I was doing horrible and went down to 50 Ringit just enough for one more hand. I decided to change tables and walk around the casino. I found an area that had 4 tables and decided this would be a good area. I sat down with my 50 Ringit Bet and let it go. Black Jack!! It was a good start. I slowly built my money up and walked away from the table with 700 Ringitt Total. WHOOP! 190 US Dollars!! It was a challenge! The weird thing about the table was that people would start betting on your cards too. Players would add money to your pot and then you would all split what you put in. I was really confused because no one spoke English around me. The Dealer could tell I was getting confused so he made the players separately stack the money so I could tell I was getting a fair deal. It was a great run and probably my best one so far!

We headed back down from the highlands! Money in Hand! WHOOP! We then went back down for dinner at the hotel. A western meal treated us with steaks, chicken, or fish, along with soup, salad, and garlic bread. It was a great treat.

Paige, Alicia, and I didn't feel up to clubbing like the rest of the group so we decided we would seek out a massage. Unfortunately everything was closed or a little too shaddy for us. We decided to go to China town right across the street from our hotel. The market here was a little bit different than the China Town in Singapore. We walked around the street which was densely loaded with shops selling wallets, watches, and DVDs. We found a DVD store which seemed to be pretty good. We all purchased some DCDs and some CDS. We found some Country Music CDS which really shocked us. We pretty much staid until the market closed around 12:30.

The next day was our Road Trip day. Instead of flying from KL to Singapore we took our private coach on a road trip. The country side is lined with Palm Tree farms. Palm is used in oils and cosmetics.

We stopped in the historical city of Malaka. This is where history starts in Malaysia. The Chinese where first to settle here and mix with the local Malays. The area was also taken over by the British and Dutch Settlements. The city features lots of historical artifacts. Malaka is really laid back town with a small town atmopshere. Tricshaws elaborately decorated line the streets waiting to give tourists rides. We saw the Junker streets selling antiques and other items. We also go to see the ruins of the old Dutch church.

After Malaka we headed back home to good ole Singapore. The drive alone was a little over 7 hours from KL to Singapore.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Phuket, Thailand

Dubbed 'Pearl of the Andaman Sea by the tourist industry, Phuket is Thailand's largest, most populous and most visited island. A whirl of color and cosmopolitanism, Thailand's only island province revolves around and thrives on tourism, but still retains a spark of the real Thailand.

There is a lot to do in Phuket, and consequently, a lot to spend your money on. There are also more tourists in Phuket than on any other Thai island. Most flock to the beaches on the southwestern side, which are loaded with amenities and entertainment options.

The northern half of the island and the interior have not been swept up in the same development and offer quiet beach retreats and the chance to explore rural inland areas. In this wealthiest of Thailand's provinces, the days of ultra-cheap beach bungalows are a distant memory. But Phuket still has some of the most amazing beaches and developed infrastructure in the country.

I arrived in Phuket Friday morning before the other Aggies arrived. When I landed the resort we where staying at picked me up in a large van. The journey took about 45 minutes to get to Patong Beach. I checked into the hotel, changed into my swimming suite and then hit the beach. I walked the entire stretch of the Patong Beach. Even though the Sunami hit this island only a short 7 months ago, Phuket will be my new benchmark for judging beaches from now on. The water was crystal clear bright blue. The waves where massive and strong. The powdery sand soft to the touch. The sun was roasting, however the wind yielded a slight breeze just enough to to keep you cool. Throughout the town you can still see reconstruction and repair of several hotels and shops that where destroyed by the large wave. Talking to locals the water was higher than the first floor of most of the shops. 5000 tourists where killed on the island. That number doesn't count the local people and estimates put it over 10000 who perished in the natural disaster. The town appears to be getting back on its feet.

After walking the beach I walked along the beach front shops and purchased a stack of Phuket Postcards, some T-Shirts, and other various souvigners. I got an awesome hand carved wine bottle!! I went back to the resort and dropped off my souvigners and headed back down to the beach to spend sometime writting postcards and sleeping on the beach. I met a brother and sister from Arizona that are traveling for a whole year! Their adventures sounded truly amazing.

After relaxing on the beach I decided it was time to get a Thai massage at one of the many massage parlors. Thai massages have lots of stretching and pulling your body in different directions to relax the muscles. It was refreshing.

I then made my way back to the hotel to wait on the Aggies to arrive in Phuket. I grabbed a few Thai beers from the 7-11 and hung out at the lobby to greet my friends. They arrived around 10PM and everyone was starving. We grabbed some more beers at the 7-11. We all agreed we loved the towns that let you walk around drinking 1 US Dollars 40 ounce beers in the streets. We then made our way to a sea food restaurant where I had lobster for the first time. In the US i would have paid over 50 US dollars for the meal I had but I only spent 5 US. Lobster is so awesome!

Stephen Haynes, my clubbing and traveling buddy, and I decided to hit up the night life in Phuket. We asked the hotel where to go and we ended up being dropped off in the gay district of town. Luckily it was only one block away from the normal discos. We went to Tai Pan who advertises itself as the FBI bard or Finest Bar In Thailand Bar. We danced for a few hours and had a great time.

Sleeping in the next day was a great treat, especially since I got up at 5AM the prior morning. The free breakfast buffet was so amazing a featured an international assortment of food. They would cook you made to order omelets, French toast, and pan cakes. The spread was awesome.

Paige, Alicia, Haynes, and Myself hung out on the beach under a few umbrella and chairs just soaking up the rays. After lounging around for awhile we went walking through the shops and found a great deal on suites. I got a cashmere grey suite tailor fit and all! Haynes got a blue pin stripe that looked awesome. This was the first time I had a taylor actually do a second and third fitting. The quality was awesome.

We went swimming out in the ocean for awhile, fighting the enormous waves. It was so much fun. I have never seen such large waves! At the beach you could rent ski-dos, parasail, and many other things. We decided to go get another Massage before heading back to the hotel to clean up to go out for the night.

We found an awesome seafood place where I had Tom Yuan Soup, a spicy seafood soup. The seafood was really fresh. We walked down Balang Road a street with numerous pubs and bars, each with Thai ladies grabbing at your attempting to drag you into their bar. Thailand is notorious for what the locals call "lady boys" or transvestites. Cheap plastic surgery is the main factor. We saw some crazy transvestite at some of the bars.

We saw a Thai Kick Boxing Match at a small ring on balang road. It was intense with lots of boxing and kicking.

We had a good time and finally made our way to the Banana Disco. You paid 200 Baht or 5 US dollars entry but you received 2 free drinks! The Baht was 40 Baht to 1 US dollar. I met a cute girl from Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. We all danced with Pat and her friends and she offered to take us around Bangkok when we arrive there next week.

After several hours at the banana Disco we went back down Balang Road and checked out a few other discos. Some where ok and some not. We went to several and had a great time! We took a random motorbike taxi to get us back to the Hotel. It was an adventure in itself!

The following morning featured Elephant Trekking through the Jungle. We where picked up by our guides and taken about 30 minutes from our hotel. We saw many other gorgeous beaches with amazing views as we traveled.

The elephants where massive and had chairs attached to their backs where we could ride. We eventually had the opportunity to ride right behind the ears of the elephants on their bare kneck. It was so awesome! The elephant I was on decided it would splash water all over me completley soaking my shorts and shirt. The elephant then started throwing sand all over me! It was hilarious.

We then saw a baby elephant that could do all sorts of tricks. He could play the harmonica, bow, spray water, and many other tricks. We fed him bananas and took lots of pictures.

We then made our way back to town and went in for our final fitting. I also went to pick up my laundry which I dropped off a a near by hotel and got everything cleaned for about 2 US dollars.

We then had to leave our beautiful tropical island to take us back to Singapore to work for two days this coming week. Tuesday, August 9th is National day, similar to the 4th of July in the US! There will be lots of celebrations, parades, and fireworks throughout the country!

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Kok Fah Technology Farm

Kok Fah Technology farm grows leafy vegetables and specializes in Aloe Vera Production. Located off the Choa Chu Kong MRT station in the Agri-Biotechnology Park the 4 hectares farm is ran by four brothers. Sounds similar to my family with Kenneth, Leon, Gery, and my dad running the farms together. Gach, the oldest son of the second Uncle, showed me around the family farm and answered all my questions.

There are four types of farms found in Singapore: Hydroponic, Aeroponic, organic, and natural. Kok Fah is a natural farm.

The farm supplies 4000-6000 kilos of fresh leafy vegetables to the NTUC Supermarket Chain. NTUC is the government owned supermarket chain in Singapore. The farm runs the packing plant 24 hours.

The rent for a farm is 50,000 Singapore dollars per-hectares. Kok Fah is located on 4 hectacres, each owned by a different brother.

The main crop is Aloe Vera and they have a company that manufactures a Honey Aloe Vera Drink. It is sold around Singapore in large quantities. Aloe Vera can also be cooked for dessert with Rock Sugar.

Okra(Ladies Finger), Old Cucumber for soups, Spinach, Aloe Vera for drinks and desserts, Red and Green Chillis, Ruta for desserts, and Curry Leaves are a few of the crops that I saw growing.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Venting

I need to vent and this is the best way I can do it. I usually talk to vent, but the ones I care about the most are on the other side of the planet. So I choose to vent and let things go through this. I just need to get it off my chest, not for people to feel sorry for me just for my sake of venting.

Loosing a best friend while your abroad has been atrying experience. The emotional ups and downs with no one to hug you and wipe your tears away has been rough. My friend Josh was killed Sunday afternoon in a car accident due to a blown out tire that flipped his truck..... Friend....That's not a strong enough word to describe the relationship I had with Josh....Brother is more characteristic of the relationship we shared.

When I look back on my highschool career I can see the Josh's footprints left on my heart. He was there with me at band practice, loading crew, football games, solar car meetings( even the frustrating times), and BBQs. My favorite times we shared where those on my front porch, in the swimming pool at his house, or in one of our cars just cruising around Cameron. We often found ourselves shocked at how long and how indepth our conversations would run into the night! Josh loved me when others seemed to care less. I had a hard highschool career and Josh made it enjoyable for me. I was severely obese in highschool and made fun of daily. Josh showed me his love and kept my head up through most of high school. When I started loosing weight he was there encouraging me along the way and being stunned when i would come home after being away for a month or two. "You did it Man! You actually gone and done it! You proved everyone wrong and im so proud of you I cant believe it sometimes at how you've changed your appearance!" Is what I heard so often from Josh.

The last time I saw Josh was a few weeks before leaving from the US and embarking on this Journey across South East Asia. I was grilling some steaks for my parents and I called him up and invited him to sit out on the porch like old times. We talked about his job, what he was learning, and how much he was in love with Emily his finance. Josh was laying his future down and it was finally taking him places that he wanted. Josh has a knack for getting to know people, finding the good in them, and knowing what makes them tick. He had a passion for people that I found was always wonderful!!

I know that I cannot physically be there for his family, but I am there spiritually in thoughts and prayers. God has taken him to a better place. A fellow worker comforted me today and told me that God just loves him more and wanted him in paradise. I know I'll see him in paradise when my time comes. Its not that I struggle with. Its the not being there physically that i struggle with.

Living abroad makes it hard to come home at the drop of a dime. The flights are all booked and nothing is available on short term notice. I found myself experiencing emotions I've never felt before. Anger, sadness, confusion, anxiety, shaking uncontrollably. I didn't know what to do or believe. I took the day off from work and found a church. I spent the morning in Eucharistic Adoration at a local Catholic Church. It was a spiritually healing process as I just soaked up the presences of Christ holding me in his arms. I thought about all the happy times and sobbed uncontrollably during this time. Following adoration I just walked...walked, walked, and walked for over two hours just reflecting and trying to make since of it all. It was good just to have the day to myself and to start my healing process that has only begun.

Josh I will always remember you and truly miss your smile, love, passion for life, and the talks on the front porch. I know you'll be there listening when I need it the most , just like you've always been there for me in those crazy times over the past few years. Christ's love will carry you home! I will see you in Paradise Brother.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Hong Kong and Shenzhen(CHINA)

After the weekend in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China all I can say is wow. We took a 4 hour flight on Cathay Pacific Airlines on Thursday, July 28th and arrived in Hong Kong around 4:30 in the afternoon. Our tour guide Derrick took us to the Royal Pacific Hotel in Kowloon( another island around Hong Kong).

Diego, the LT Jordan Director, took us for appetizer at Hard Rock Cafe. It was good American Food for those who wanted it. Hong Kong Hard Rock Cafe was dedicated to the Beatles with a large display of all their pictures.

We then walked around the area to discover many streets of small shops selling various items from ties and shoes to house wares. I found a shop selling postcards and purchased 15. I sent them out too all for under 5US dollars. After shopping we went to a nice Chinese Food Restaurant where we ate some of the best grouper fish i've had!

Hong Kong is a mix of modern and aged buildings. Tons of sky scrapers pierce the sky, only to be minuted by the towering mountains covered in lush green forests. We took the worlds steepest tram up one mountain to the Peak Tour to see Hong Kong at night. A breathtaking scene awaited us full of lighted buildings lining the sides of the harbor. The pictures are remarkable and can be seen on the right hand side.

We got back in the nick of time to catch the last ferry across to Kowloon. It was pushing past Midnight so we decided to call it a night and get some sleep.

The next morning our Tour guide Derrick met us at the Hotel Lobby to take us on a city tour. We went to the Orchid Statue which was presented to Hong Kong by China when the British released ownership back to China in 1997. The Two ton statue is made of gold and is located at the convention center on the harbor front.

We then went to a Chinese Temple that featured a large soldier that supposedly helped to vanquish disease in the Hong Kong area.

A Buddhist temple on the beach front had many statues that are rubbed to ensure wealth and happiness.

We also went to a jewelry store tour that pretty much just tried to sell us jewelry.

Kent, Steven, and Nick where throwing the Frisbee, or flying Saucer, but it flew out into the water. There was even a sign that said no throwing of Flying Saucers on the banks. I guess Buddha just didn't like us throwing the saucers. We retrieved it later on after the tide pushed it near. Kent slipped on the pier head over hills, taking a pretty hard fall. We didn't see it happen but it sounded pretty bad from the descriptions Nick shared with us.

The wishing tree was a lame source of tourism. It featured a tree where you would throw a orange with a piece of paper tied to it and your wish would supposedly come true. This was based on a legend of a mother wishing for her son, however the location was the same, but the tree wasn't the same.

During the time on the tour our guide was really obnoxious, assumptions, and took a bad attitude with the entire group. He would not answer questions and help us in anyway. He crossed me personally twice! I asked him what local food should I eat for dinner and told oh just choose something and then just walked off! Like I know whats local and whats not here? He also didn't even tell us the procedure for ordering food and none of the people spoke English that worked in the cafeteria style shop.

Derrick then took us to the MTR to go to Shenzhen, China. He gave us the tickets and pointed us through one gate. After we all went through the gate he then proceeded to look at us and ask us why we didn't go through the stands and use the tickets. We where all like what are you talking about!!

The MTR to China took about 20 minutes. China treats Hong Kong and its self as separate countries a visa and immigration are required to travel back and forth. Shenzhen is a special economic zone, basically a location within China where capitalist markets are allowed to operate. This was started in 1980 and has grown from a small fishing village of 25000 to a large city of 7.5 million people!

To our rescue came the best tourguide of the trip, TINA!! She was so amazing and was all about what we wanted to do oun our trip to China. We arrived at the Hotel Ambassador an 8 star hotel. Because the Chinese flag has 5 stars on the flag each hotel already has a 5 star rating, so you have to go by the 6-7-8-9-10 star measurement.

Following dinner we went shopping at a large market. Knock MP3 players, cell phones, clothing, and other various items where abundant.

Tina then took us to a massage parlor where we all go Massages for US 10 Dollars. It was a good time and we all walked away relaxed. Mine wasn't too good at all because of the hardness of the massage.

We then where ready to hit the disco, but one thing was left in question. Where are the discos? How do we get there? Most of the hotel staff didn't speak English and we couldn't communicate where to go. Stephen Haynes saw a young lady who was walking on the street in front of our hotel and looked dressed to go to the disco. We communicated that we wanted to go to the disco by pretending to dance. We got the point across and we all piled into three taxis to get to the disco. It was a good adventure and we where hoping it would lead to a decent place to dance.

We arrived at Face Disco! We couldn't walk straight in, but after a 10 minute conversation that was in Chinese we finally got in. Our mystery lady got us in free!! The disco was defiantly a local hit and we got lots of stairs as we walked through the door with a group of 10 Americans. We made our way to the dance floor and hung out awhile. Our mystery lady purchased us 6 Bottled Jack Colas and we had a great time! We shut the place down at 2AM.

The next day we went to a mineral museum and learned about Chinese art. The shop also sold Antiques and several piece of jewelry. I purchased a Dark Green Jade carved Dragon boat that represents Good Health and Family life.

We then went to a silk production plant and learned about the Silk Worm Production and Fresh Water Pearls.

Next we went to Windows of the World Amusement Park. This park brings the worlds key buildings and natural land forms to China. IT is the perfect idea for an amusement park since China has strict regulations on traveling outside of the country.

We ate Hagan Datz Ice Cream at the Mix Mall, the largest Mall in Asia!

Tina then arranged for us to go to a black market shop that sold fake Louis Vutton Bags, Rolex Watches, and other items. We tried to bargain with the shop owners but none would budge. We figured the shop must be doing fairly well to let 10 Americans leave without purchasing one item.

We then bordered the train back to Hong Kong! Tina was an amazing tour guide and helped us immensely! She was so much better than Derrick! Unfortunately Derrick met us at the train station to take us back to the hotel. As usual he was rude and assumptious. This time about changing a flight. Affandi and Kent where scheduled to be on a 5AM flight Sunday morning. They asked him to check to change to the later flight, but he kept saying it was all full without making any calls. I was sitting right by him as all of this was going on. Affandi jumped on the phone and called his travel agent and they told him to skip the early flight and just change to the later flight. As this was going on Derrick kept saying the flight was full. I then decided that I had enough of this and decided to voice my opinion. I said you keep making assumptions and not calling anyone you could atleast call and check it out. We are the ones paying you for your services and you are not treating us very well at all! Affandi agreed with me as he spoke to his agent on the phone! We got all squared away and Kent and Affandi made it on the flight!


Diego met us for dinner at Ryan's American Grill and I had a large salad! It was the most vegetables Ive had in a long time! It was so good to have some healthy food for a change!

Steven Haynes and I decided to cut off from the group to cover more ground. We both thought we hadn't seen the real Hong Kong from the tour that Derrick gave us. We went to the Lady Street Market a mile long road selling all kinds of fake high priced items, t-shirts, belts, art, and other items. I purchased a shoulder strap bag to carry books around in.

We then made it to a regionally known area called....not sure on the spelling but will change when I ask. This area reminded me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Door to Door bars with different atmospheres! We bought a Carlsberg beer and walked up and down the streets and danced at a few places. The street was packed with an insane amount of people. We talked to a few people that where expatriate and we found out that this was the best time to be there because of a big celebration was going on and the drink prices where really low!

Steven and I where standing on the corner asking some people where we should go next and we found a place where bigger discos where. As we waited for a taxi a girl staring at us and makinga gauking face was in the taxi coming near us. All of a sudden this girl jumped out of the taxi and shouted Steven and we where both like WHOA! The girls name was Leany and attended a conference at Stamford University. She was from Shanghi, thousands of miles away. We where in total shock!

We then grabbed a taxi and went to a disco area that was also a red light district. We ran into the actual ladies that suggested the place and danced with them for awhile. We pretty much hopped bars all night long and ended up dancing until 4AM. We had to keep telling people no thank you as we where approached on the street.

We had an amazing time! We woke up the next mornign to a great hotel breakfast. I had an egg white omelet and tons of fruit! We went back to the ladies market for more shopping before heading home!!

It was a great weekend!!