*Been A While*
Gosh... It's been a while since I posted last. A LOT has happened since my last post.
Chris extended his stay in HK and he left this afternoon. We spent these past 3 weeks exploring HK, Thailand and China. In between, we got to talk and learned more about how we feel about everything. I think we've finally come to some sort of understanding...
Anyways... We really enjoyed travelling around this part of Asia. Thailand was super fun, and I got to see Thailand and travel around like "normal" people (in Chris' words).
Koh Samet was super nice. It was laid-back and the island was beautiful. The beaches were gorgeous and the water was awesome. I got to live in a little straw hut and walk on fine, white sand every day. I rode a motorbike for the first time... and only got into 3 accidents. Thank goodness my injuries weren't serious, given the conditions I was riding in... but I imagine it was rather comical to watch my fall. On one fall, I was going uphill on really rocky terrain, along the dusty island "road" and my front wheel got stuck in a rut running up the hill. The bike kinda lost steam as it was chugging up (stupid me was riding up in 2nd gear instead of 1st)... and the bike kinda just slowed to a stop and fell over. I thought I could make it up the last little bit and didn't think to put my feet down... I fell off the bike and onto the road on my back with my head downhill. My legs got thrown over my head somehow... and I just couldn't get my legs back over, nor could I swing myself over my head. Yeah... no more motorbikes for me.
We tried to go squid fishing the next night, but after we got out to sea, we found out that a cyclone was approaching the island (which explained the huge swells). I got sick within 20 minutes of heading out and whined for another 10 minutes before Chris got the cap'n to turn the boat around. Going out on a boat again for the rest of the vacation was out of the question, except to get back to the mainland.
Hmmm.... what else happened? Oh, I visited the university that offered me the lecturer position. The job's pretty much mine, and the university is really really nice... but the pay is really dreadful. Not only is it NOT in line with what tertiary institutions usually pay in Asia, but they don't even cover medical, housing or airfare! I have NEVER heard of anything that ridiculous. And here's the best part... as a lecturer, I get paid the same amount as the Associate Professor! Isn't that ridiculous? They even wanted me to fly to Thailand AGAIN for another interview with the board... the expense of which I would foot. You've gotta be kidding...
After getting back to HK, we went up to China for a day trip. We went to ZhongShan and visited a Tea Plantation, a Wishing Tree, Dr. Sun Yet-Sen's birthplace, and a Chinese water village. It was really interesting and we shared the tour with a really interesting family.
We spent a day at Ocean Park with my cousin and my aunt. We had loads of fun, but it was horrid fighting with all the mainland tourists. They have no concept of lining up, and push and shove all the time. Apart from that though, we saw the sharks (awesome shark aquarium), the fish (incredible artificial reef they've built) and fed the sea lions (a dollar a sardine!). My seven year old cousin made me go on this ride with her... I was sandwiched between a 3 year old and a seven year old and I disguised my screaming with laughter. The ride was called "The Hopper". It's basically a ride that's like a bungee bench. You go up pretty high and it sorta bounces down. It freaked me out the first drop.... The little ones don't know fear... Hrmph.
So that's about it for now. I'll be busy the next little while, collecting stuff for my paper and trying to unpack the few boxes left here.
It's strange with Chris gone now. I don't have anyone to watch the Discovery Channel with now at night.~