breathe now.
everything went so smoothly i was bored. the high point of the trip occured someplace over the north pacific ocean when i tried to eat my salad, but was stopped when my fork failed to penetrate the compact saran wrap tightly securing the dish.
hong kong is comfortable. it boasts all the ammenities of modern living: starbucks, audio cross walk signals, and even little dogs with sweaters. needless to say, i'm eager to get out in to the countryside and get my boots dirty.
this morning i walked aimlessly for a few hours. i ran into a farmers market where i chatted with a man while he pummeled, scaled and inviscerated live but definitely now dead fish. there were lots of chickens crammed into cages, too. this sight saddened me. speaking of chickens, i know some of you are fearing my exposure to the avian flu virus. the china daily reported today that two more people in china died of the flu. that puts the total number of deaths in china at a whopping 5. unless the virus mutates so that it can be transmitted among humans (which it might), i think i'll be safe.
mostly what i'm thinking about right now is how much privilige i have to be going on this trip. i picked a spot in the world and traveled to it without any problems or hassles. this is something most people in the world can't do, and i attribute this privilige largely to the societal benefits given to me because of my race, class and gender.
today i'm dedicating my exploration to all things public: public transportation, public libraries, public toilets, public universities and public parks. (oh, and by the way, the whole thing about how you're not supposed to spit in public is a total lie: i saw an elderly woman hawk a huge luggy (sp?) in a park this morning. she covered it up with her foot, but i saw).
anyhow, i decided to give hong kong more of a chance, and i plan to stay at least one more night.
next up: charlie takes a train to shenzhen and crosses into mainland china where he will begin a celebratory shopping spree in search of the bicycle that will take him three or four thousand miles to singapore (gulp).
hong kong is comfortable. it boasts all the ammenities of modern living: starbucks, audio cross walk signals, and even little dogs with sweaters. needless to say, i'm eager to get out in to the countryside and get my boots dirty.
this morning i walked aimlessly for a few hours. i ran into a farmers market where i chatted with a man while he pummeled, scaled and inviscerated live but definitely now dead fish. there were lots of chickens crammed into cages, too. this sight saddened me. speaking of chickens, i know some of you are fearing my exposure to the avian flu virus. the china daily reported today that two more people in china died of the flu. that puts the total number of deaths in china at a whopping 5. unless the virus mutates so that it can be transmitted among humans (which it might), i think i'll be safe.
mostly what i'm thinking about right now is how much privilige i have to be going on this trip. i picked a spot in the world and traveled to it without any problems or hassles. this is something most people in the world can't do, and i attribute this privilige largely to the societal benefits given to me because of my race, class and gender.
today i'm dedicating my exploration to all things public: public transportation, public libraries, public toilets, public universities and public parks. (oh, and by the way, the whole thing about how you're not supposed to spit in public is a total lie: i saw an elderly woman hawk a huge luggy (sp?) in a park this morning. she covered it up with her foot, but i saw).
anyhow, i decided to give hong kong more of a chance, and i plan to stay at least one more night.
next up: charlie takes a train to shenzhen and crosses into mainland china where he will begin a celebratory shopping spree in search of the bicycle that will take him three or four thousand miles to singapore (gulp).
posted by charlie at Thursday, January 12, 2006
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