Why is blogspot.com in Chinese...?
So I've arrived in Hong Kong safely last night. It was a decent flight. I love how you have a selection of in-flight movies to choose from on Cathay Pacific. It was pretty overwhelming arriving in Hong Kong. It all finally sunk in when I landed on the tarmac - I was like - what the heck am I doing? Don't laugh- but I actually started to cry a bit. Not b/c I was homesick but because I was emotionally overwhelmed. Walking through the terminal - all I could think was "oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."
I was surprised to see my cousin outside the gate waiting for me. I thought that I would have to get to the city myself but she helped me find my hotel and then we went out for a late dinner and to check out the Temple St. night market. I am really grateful that she showed up.
First impressions of Hong Kong: it feels like I'm in Chinatown - a really, really big chinatown, or even Richmond. Everyone here is Chinese. Yes, I know that's obvious.... It's just sort of surreal. Lots of neon lights. Stores are opened late. Lots of tall buildings. The night market sort of reminds me of the Richmond Night Market - for those of you who have been. Lots of fake watches, fake Billabong shirts, etc.
So I got up early this morning - didn't really sleep much last night. I managed to have breakfast at a restaurant. I'm not really used to being illiterate so I had to have the waitress list the things on the menu for me in Chinese. I stopped in at three 7-11's just now to ask for the closest internet cafe. There's like a 7-11 every 2 blocks here. (I've seen 2 starbucks so far). So now I'm currently in a gaming cafe, lots of explosions from computer games going on around me, and the guy sitting next to me was staring at me typing in English for awhile. It's sort of cool being able to practice my Chinese though. I'm gonna be screwed in SE Asia though....
And I don't know why - but all the instructions on blogspot.com are in Chinese.... I hope I hit the right button to publish this...
I was surprised to see my cousin outside the gate waiting for me. I thought that I would have to get to the city myself but she helped me find my hotel and then we went out for a late dinner and to check out the Temple St. night market. I am really grateful that she showed up.
First impressions of Hong Kong: it feels like I'm in Chinatown - a really, really big chinatown, or even Richmond. Everyone here is Chinese. Yes, I know that's obvious.... It's just sort of surreal. Lots of neon lights. Stores are opened late. Lots of tall buildings. The night market sort of reminds me of the Richmond Night Market - for those of you who have been. Lots of fake watches, fake Billabong shirts, etc.
So I got up early this morning - didn't really sleep much last night. I managed to have breakfast at a restaurant. I'm not really used to being illiterate so I had to have the waitress list the things on the menu for me in Chinese. I stopped in at three 7-11's just now to ask for the closest internet cafe. There's like a 7-11 every 2 blocks here. (I've seen 2 starbucks so far). So now I'm currently in a gaming cafe, lots of explosions from computer games going on around me, and the guy sitting next to me was staring at me typing in English for awhile. It's sort of cool being able to practice my Chinese though. I'm gonna be screwed in SE Asia though....
And I don't know why - but all the instructions on blogspot.com are in Chinese.... I hope I hit the right button to publish this...
posted by John A @ 5:13 PM
3 Comments:
At 12:36 PM,
Cheryl & Darrell said…
haha. you're NOT gonna be screwed. at least in hong kong, you understand what people are saying!
At 2:30 PM,
Hillary said…
hahaha... oh, wait, you said DON'T laugh. ;-) Just teasing, sorry, I had to do it. I'll be nice in teh comment,s I promise!
I was pretty emotionally overwhelemed arriving just in Paris, and it was a relatively similar culture and I spoke the language. I can't even imagine what you're feeling. You are going to have SUCH an amazing time.
Looking forward to more updates (when you can, of course)!
At 2:33 AM,
Anonymous said…
hk is definitely overwhelming! at least you are blessed with the cooler weather right now. my friends were working that flight, i hope they were nice to you =)
try to take the star ferry at night time- that's when you really get to check out the big city lights. you can catch it at either tsim sha tsui or central. and go to a bar in lan kwai fong (central district) it's hopping over there! you'll start to notice a lot more foreigners in hk as you explore different parts (think more central location)
how long are you going to be there for? i hope you still manage to visit thailand, despite the chaos over there. i have heard that it's been a lot better.
trust me, you can get away with mostly english. but it takes some time, when i first visited a mcdonalds (which is a LOT better than ours) i had to use the menu to point. of course, you get better deals when you bargain in chinese!
have a great time!!!
take care
veronica
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