Hailing from Hong Kong; My new hellish hectic home!

I am landed!
Boy does it feel good.
For all of you that haven't been following up on my blog or my life I just flew to Hong Kong on Sunday 12pm Pacific time from Vancouver. Why am I here you may ask? I'm here for exchange studies at the University of Hong Kong for a year and continuing on to work for UBC's Asia Pacific Regional Office also located here in Hong Kong for another year. Yes that's right two years! And yes I am a crazy bastard.
I think that in the end though that this will be an opportunity of great growth. capitalizing on the unfamiliar has always been my motto and I have gained much from this life long learning process. I want to keep the banter to a minimum to a minimum this time around so I can update you on what I've been up to.



So on friday night before I left for Hong Kong my friends helped me set up a great send off party. I reserved tables for dinner at Ebisu and promoted the night at Fabric as my going away bash. Dinner at Ebisu was awesome. Alot of my friends came out, some I haven't even seen in awhile. Stash and the guys were out to get me sloshed before I could even get to the club. From what I can recall I had a Sake-bomb, some kamikazes, some other rediculous shots, bear fuckers, and a whole lot of shit I shouldn't have downed before eating my first bite of food.


After dinner we got to the club and it was rediculously packed. So I took my girl and her friend to the front and told one of the Koo guys that I was here and he says to me, "OK, I'm doing this as a favour." I look at him like "WTF?!" and he puts me in the front of the line and not even pulling me in with the bouncers. MY NAME WAS ON THE FUCKIN TICKET! IT SAID WELDON's SEND OFF PARTY! I get in and finished swiping my ID and these to ugly mother fucking taiwanese fobs stop me and tell me to pay cover. I tell them I'm promoting and that I'm with trist. They ask me if I have a name card. "WHAT FUCKIN NAME CARD?" They said they don't have my name on the list so I ask for their manager and they tell me to CALL him myself! I grab my wallet and rip out 45 bucks for my girl, her friend and my cover and slammed it on the table and tell the fag with the stamp to give them fuckin stamps right away. I get in PISSED AS HELL! I tell all my other friends promoting that night what happened. My friend finally tells Eric the Koo manager for that night what happens and he takes me to the front to get a refund. He only gives ME a refund and not for my girl and her friend. I look at the two fags who made me pay and I point at their ugly face and said, "YOU REMEMBER MY FACE! I TOLD YOU FUCKERS! I TOLD YOU I WAS WITH TRIST PROMOTING AND YOU FUCKIN MADE ME PAY!
" They replied, "Hey man, not our fault, we didn't know!" That pissed me off even more and I said, "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKIN MORON!" and waved my hand at them like the fuckin pansies they are. I get some drinks and danced with my girl and I felt alot better after that. We go outside for a breather and I learn that Chris actually told the bouncers that "Trist" promoters weren't welcomed tonight and put my friends at the back of the line. We were beyond belief and choked at their attitude. We spent most of the smoking outside because of the rediculousness of the situation. I brought my girl home and went home myself. Other than the Koo Party fiasco I had a great night with my friends and it was hilariously fun outside the club. Nat and her friend Erica were giving us some great entertainment.

Saturday night I spent at twinkle with some friends and I will miss playing the nose game with them soooooo much. This is when I get my best laughs through the duration of my week. They gave me a surprise and I will definitely put their gift to use. I got home at 230am and finished packing and was hoping to watch the closing ceremonies of the olympics but was too tired to survive.

Sunday morning was the big day and I woke up early and zipped up my luggage. I was feeling groggy and dazed and not fully understanding what was about to happen to me. This day seemed so surreal to me. I was actually going to leave. I was off to the airport with my parents. These were the last few moments in Vancouver for me for a long time. I checked in at the JAL counter by an efficient lady. It took less then 2 minutes to finish my luggage check in and boarding pass. Vanessa came to see me off =) and we had a bit of breakfast together before I left. Boarding this plane has probably been the hardest for me. I never thought I'd say this but I will definitely miss Vancouver, because of the people that are there, the fresh air, and of course the food! I said bye to my parents and went through International departures security checks.

After various security checks I went to the departure gate of my flight and waited for about an hour. I was already feeling antsy and this never usually happens when I fly, but this time had a totally different meaning for me. My restless flight gave me signs that I was about to have 2 hard days ahead of me. I transitted through Tokyo for 3 hours and had a quick bite of Yakisoba. The Yakisoba was microwaved and full of msg but it was tastey enough to get me through. It reminded me very much of the meal I had with my God sis. No better time to reminisce than now I guess. My flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong was a bit of a nightmare and lets just say my stomach wasn't agreeing with either the flight or the yakisoba. Getting off the plane was a relief and it was great to see a friendly face as my exchange buddy, Charlotte met me at the airport. We got acquainted with each other and had a friendly chat from the Airport express MTR to Hong Kong station where we took a taxi to my hall of residence, Swire Hall. We got up the stairs and into the lobby and were greeted by a dark somber looking man. He avoided talking to me at all cost and directed most of his inquiries towards my local buddy. When I received all the paper work necessary I went up to my room. Surprise surprise someone is still in there with his stuff all over the place. I was then warned that my room mate was still in residence and that he was actually leaving for Vancouver soon. He finally showed up after awhile and I introduced myself. We got off well and helped each other up. I gave him advice about Vancouver and UBC and he helped me get started with things at HKU. I tried to get my stuff all settled down and unpacked. Took my first shower in a dorm and headed off to bed.

Today was the most hectic day in I've had in awhile. I woke up early and showered. A friend I made the night before and my room mate showed me where to go for breakfast in the morning and we all made a quick trip to the canteen. After that I went off with my friend daniel to the computer lab and soon after my buddy met us up at starbucks with her friends and her friend's buddies from Korea. We went around campus finishing our registration and picking up orientation packages. I had a fustrating moment trying to open a bank account. After that was all done we headed to Causeway bay for bubble tea and some quick shopping. We practiced our cantonese on our way their and had some hilarious moments trying to pronounce things or corrent my pronunctiations. Once we got to Causeway we went to RBT to meet up with Charlotte's friends and her buddies. We split up again to go look for cell phones for my new friend from Colorado, Daniel. He settled on a phone from Smartone. I have to tell you that cell phone plans in Hong Kong are rediculously cheap! After that rallied at Sogo Department store, a major landmark at Causeway bay and headed to a massage parlour to get some foot massages! I couldn't join them but watched as they delighted because my uncle was going to pick me up for dinner. I was picked up by my uncle in a vast street of stores and people. My uncle and my aunt took me to dinner at a Japanese restaurant that is part of the same chain of my favourite Japanese restaurant there, Itamae, but this one was called Satochi Sushi. I had my first satisfying meal in Hong Kong and from there went on to pick some goods up from my relatives. Now I'm sitting here in a boiling room writing into the wee morning. I still think of Vancouver and especially Vanessa. There were a few moments on the airplane when I was listening to an Above and Beyond song that talked about home and being half a world apart, the irony. Well for better of for worse I'm here in Hong Kong and hopefully I'll bask in it as it has much to offer me.

PS: I will be getting a blackberry here soon, so I will pin you all and we can get connected there.

From Hong Kong to Vancouver; Half a world apart but not a memory disjointed.