Gung Hei Fat Choy!

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The past few months have been very packed, with my finals, a trip to Thailand, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and a visit from my mommy here in Hong Kong. It’s a bit overwhelming to think of writing a blog about my experiences, so to be honest I’ve decided just to put up some pictures, a few comments maybe a story or two…and that should be more than enough reading!

As I meet you all again we’ll definitely sit down and chit chat some more on what you’ve been up to and more of my crazy stories of Asia are bound to come up : )

All the best!


Cynthia

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Photos

Kho Samet Island, Thailand
In 1992, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reported that the Thai capital was one of the most air-polluted cities in the world due to the city's notorious traffic problems. Approximately one million Bangkok residents are thought to suffer from allergies, respiratory problems, and premature deaths due to air pollution. However bad it is now, the signs are improving, as the Thai government has moved to take steps to address the pollution problem.

Kho Samet
Thailand actually literally means "Land of the Free"; however, during my short stay in Bangkok and elsewhere I came to realize how much the country depends on tourism and how tourism has eroded the moral standards of the nation. Tourists come in throwing dollars and euro around, (and 1 euro can comfortably feed a local at local restaurants for a whole day). Tourism really just drives up corruption, drug abuse, prostitution (mostly male prostitutes than female) and an overall instability.

Thai Suit
Everyone in Hong Kong prefers a solid black suit. Whenever students have presentations to give, or whatever else the occasion may be, they are always in a black suit, you would think they were forced to do so but no, they all feel a black suit is superior. Interestingly, the ladies always always and I mean always wear skirt suits! Never ever pant suits and of course always black, which is quite limited in terms of choice
. I always ask why, I wonder why the conformity of it all is not dawning on them? I always tell them “sometimes it’s good to stand out from the crowd” which they agree to but yet stick to the black. Next time I have a presentation I’ll have to wear a grey pant suit; I’ll let u know how that goes. Being that I had no black suit I got one tailored for me in Thailand, it has my initial on it and everything (the only problem is that I can’t gain or loss weight)

Kanchanaburi
Water fun

Kanchanaburi, Thai
At a local waterfall we found so many Thai kids playing and having fun, it wasn't too long before we felt like big kids too and joined in...

Thailand
You would think this was a home in a village in western Africa but no, its a local village in Thailand, some locals there raise elephants.

Riding
Was scary when the elephant started climbing down a hill, but actually quite comfortable, the skin was very hard, they are very sensitive at the ears, and are quite smart. We got to feed them afterwards (they love bananas) but we missed out on giving them baths, maybe next time...

mother and baby
Since 1932, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and the King and the Royal family are regarded by all Thais with genuine respect (since they always market themselves with posters all over Thailand)

Sunset at a temple
Buddhism is the state religion of Thailand, and most of all the religions and gods in Thailand were introduced from India; Since its history, Thailand has been very linked to India, in terms of culture, history, people, etc.

Fruits
I miss the crushed fruit drinks of Thailand, they had a lot of fruits that reminded me of back home (e.g. Guava...which is also in Hong Kong)

monks at Ayuthaya
Ayuthaya, the old capital of thailand, was friendly towards foreign traders, since as early as the 1300 traders came from China, India, Japan, Persia, Iran and later on Portugal, Spain, Dutch, Britian and France. An European traveller from that period explained that he had problems with his eyes because the whole city glitered in gold and presious jewles, even the elephants slept on silk cusions and pupued in golden jars! Now its just a pile of rubble, everything has been taken away.

Church, Hong Kong
I've been really blessed, they've all become family.
1 major lesson I've learnt is to never worry and just believe that all things are possible!

Shanghai
At first, Shanghai was just a fishing and weaving village then the British, French and Japanese arrived around 1842-1895 and used it as the first major port for trading (silk, opium, etc) There were more cars in Shanghai than all of China. The foreigners had so much invested in Shanghai, in fact they owned and ran the place each country with their neighbourhood (even till today you can find the French neighbourhood, etc) so they provided protection for the city itself. They would buy opium and re-sell it to the city members most who had become addicts and then use them for cheap labour. Then in 1949 China stepped in, kicked them out and started rehabilitating the addicts (They also stepped in because they wanted to make the profit from the trading) Then in the 1990's they re-invited the capitalist back to Shanghai to make it into the city it is today; economist forecast Shanghai will overtake Hong Kong simply because it has more space (the city grows from in to out so it can keep growing, while space is a major problem in Hong Kong). Hong Kong was an economic giant in the past because China was all closed up and the only way to get access to the cheap labour commodities in China was through Hong Kong...but not so anymore.

Comments

[Princesca]

love the pic
Cynthia, I really miss you...please call me love ya P

[Aneto]

Amazing Pictures
I miss China! When are you coming down, looks like its been the experience of a lifetime - you are a superstar!