Christmas Eve in Hong Kong

I figured since everyone on the team will be on vacation, work will be slow, so why take vacation? I can save up my vacation for other times in the year. However, as Christmas approached, I realized why everyone leaves for home. Chatting with my friends in the US, I realized how much I miss everyone and spending Christmas in Hong Kong simply is not the same. I miss the cold weather (or at least the cold walking from inside to the car). I miss the spirit that is all around in the U.S. Here in Hong Kong, on Christmas eve, everyone is partying, bars are hopping, and it's like any other Friday evening. Less than 5% of Hong Kong children spend Christmas with their family. It just doesn't seem as big of a deal here, even though the lights and deocorations are full out (even though they are quite tacky and terrible with purple reefs and yellow lights). Fortunately, a friend invited me to join him and his friends for Christmas eve dinner. However, it's really not the same to spend Christmas with strangers you just met, no matter how friendly they are. I am grateful for the friends I have here in Hong Kong, but I miss home in this holiday season. Now I know why people return despite the lack of work. As much as I enjoyed my travels, I will look forward to the next holiday season with my family.

Christmas in Cebu

I never knew why people went to resorts. Wouldn't it be so boring to do nothing for a few days? Then, I was converted. The 3 mindless, taskless, stressless day I spent in Cebu was exactly what I needed after a few grueling months of high-octane work. Literally everyday, we spent it laying in the sun by the beach or the pool, sipping cocktails. I managed to make quite a dent on my book list by reading The Time Traveler's Wife and finishing Fathers and Sons. Great achievements given I have been wanting to read The Time Traveler's Wife since July and been waiting patiently to not rent the movie. The books definitely help me remembered that I once had outside interests other than banking.

Also, I have discovered my love for scuba diving. At the resort, I did Discovery Scuba with my friend who had a diving license. It was the single best water sports activity I have ever done. The water was crystal clear. It was so much fun looking at the different fishes, corals, and crustaceans that I did not even know the name of. Below the surface is a whole new beautiful world that I always knew existed, but never had the privilege to explore until last weekend. So enchanted by this newly found world and absolutely unable to contain myself, I have decided that I definitely want to diving license in the next few months. My friend tell me it is actually quite easy, where I just have to pass a written exam and then do 3 more ocean dives, given I have already done one in Cebu. I cannot wait. I need to now plan a vacation to Thailand or Malaysia to do that. Even though I can do the dives in New Terrorities in Hong Kong, the water is so gross that nothing can be seen underneath. That ruins the whole point of scuba diving. With the diving licenses, hopefully, I'll be able to explore the Australian coral reefs in Queensland, which is suppose to be the best scuba diving adventure in the world.

With absolutely nothing to do in Cebu, my mind slowed down as well. In Japan and Hong Kong, the hustle and bustle made me stressed. I was stressing out about all sorts of things I had absolutely no control over. However, in Cebu, my mind completely relaxed, not worrying about things that I cannot do anything about in the Philippines. Now I know why people take these total relaxation vacations without sightseeing or cultural references. It is healthy for the body to slow down now and then to rest and catch up. Good for my mental health as well.

Despite being an island paradise inside the Shangri-la resort, Philippines is a developing nation. Even in the best resort on the island, there is no wireless in the room (not even any you can purchase). The airport is basically a shack, with the most primitative immigration queue and waiting areas. The ride from the resort to the airport, there is absolutely nothing. Not even farmland. There's just small shacks and stores selling a few basic items. Going into the resort, there are bomb sniffing dogs and guards around the entire area. Tourists are cautioned from leaving the resort given the fact that they are often kidnapped for ransom. When we turned on CNN on Christmas, it reported that a church bombing on Christmas day, which is deeply saddening given the strong Catholic convictions of its people. While we are privileged enough to enjoy these vacations, it's a constant reminder of how lucky we are and how we share a responsibility to improve. Those with abilities have the responsibility.

1 month, 5 countries (at least passport stamps)

Decemeber 2010 represented the reason I came to Hong Kong, the access to new and exciting places in a short distance, broadening my horizons and shedding the image of the egotistical american with zero clue about the world. In a few short weeks in Decemeber, I managed to be in Hong Kong, Taiwan, PRC, Japan, and Philippines. While I will be writing in further details in future entries about the trips, I feel like I have experienced so much in a very short amount of time. From a further understanding of a country that I considered a rogue state most of my life to discovering the complete foreign nature of the Japanese culture to the complete relaxation state in the beach resort of Cebu. All of this done, with only 3 vacation days taken.

While close to many places in Asia, most of the places to travel would require 3 days rather than just the weekend given the flight times. Unlike London and Europe, where everything is a 2 hour flight away. Asia is significantly bigger and only a few places can be reached in a 2 hour flight. Even Beijing, which many consider possible for a day trip for business, is close to 4 hours away. I think any flight over 3 hours away would be quite difficult to make it a weekend adventure.

So next on my list to tackle in Asia: Vietnam, Australia, and Myanmar. Let me know if anyone is game!

Lost in Translation

Despite being considered one of the most developed countries in the world, surprisingly, Japan is one of the most confusing places to be for visitors who do not know Japanese. You see, even though Japan is wealthy and considered very "western" in Asia, it's actually much less English friendly than some of the newer developed economies like China and Thailand. The subway system is not particularly easy navigate given the multipe number of carriers and much of it is in Japanese. While being Chinese helped me to understand and bettter remember the name of places, I was still very, very lost most of the time. However, I have never met such polite and friendly people as the people of Tokyo. Everyone was so nice, even if they can't speak English. One girl actually took our train ride with us to make sure we got off at the right stop.

Tokyo reminded me much of LA, given its sprawling nature. The food, however, was amazing. After going to the fish market at 5AM and tasting the sushi/sashimi, I decided I can not have proper Japanese sushi without being in Japan. The sushi we had, a simple tuna roll, melted in my mouth as I attempted to consume it. The most wonderful edible feeling I have ever had in my life.

The Japanese style was also distinguishly different. The girls wore extremely short skirts and knee-highs while shoping with their mother! There's no way I would ever allow my mother that anything more than PG-13 related is happening in my life. Maybe it's my conservative nature. However, I feel lke 16 year old girls with their mother should at least show small amount of restraint.

The best part of staying in Japan, however, is the Ryo-kan. This traditional style hotel is definitely the way to go for anyone going to Japan for a cultural experience. First, the rooms are decorated in the traditional style, with the cots on the floors for sleeping and removed during the day with the use of the low tables. Second, traditional dinner fare is included and it's absolutely delishes. Things you'll never see in a Japanese restaurant because it's too strange. Our Ryo-kan had over 10 different small dishes/courses for us. Definitely the best hotel experience of my life. Do not miss this if you go to Japan.

The Inevitable Question

On Friday night, over a couple of burgers, we discussed the successful model of life. For men, it is well laid out. They work hard, get to become an MD, and have a housewife to raise their children. We thought through all the MDs, that is exactly the lifestyle they have. For women, the successful model is less clear. The few MDs there are in banking, did they hire an army of caretakers for their house/kids? What does society actually think of that? What position is the husband suppose to have? I don't know of any female banker that is married to a stay-at-home father. So do they marry ppl with normal 9 - 5 jobs or do they marry high-powered men as well? The path is much unclear for a woman.

Coming up on 3 years of banking, I wished I knew there was a clear path for success. It does not seem like a continuation along this route is a path for success, yet it doesn't seem like anything else will be as well.

Unicef Half-Marathon

Two weekends ago, I completed one of the milestone goals before my 25th birthday. I completed a half-marathon. No walking, all running, all in 2 hours. I was actually quite pleased with the results of the half-marathon. it was definitely a very painful journey: starting with training and the actual run itself. As difficult as it was to wake up at 4 in the morning for the run, it was worth all the pain and trouble. I signed up for another one already in Jan. Wish me luck.

P.S. I would like to dedicate my run to my best friend Juliana, who got me into running by forcing me into the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC and to Robert, my associate who was kind enough to let me sleep while he worked until when I woked up at 4Am so I would able to run the race.

Weekend in Taipei

Weekend in Taipei

One of the main selling points every always talked about in Hong Kong is the ability to travel around Asia on weekends. In fact, the main airline of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific, makes it incredibly easy by providing affordable travel packages to almost all major Asian destinations together with round trip plane tickets and hotel accommodations. Last weekend, I finally took that opportunity and took a weekend trip to Taipei.

My friend and I took advantage of a Cathay Pacific Taiwan package for less than HK$3,000 (Less than US$400) and jetted off. First thing we noticed about Taipei is the air is significantly better than Hong Kong. The sky is actually blue. The transport into the city was surprisingly easy, with buses that dropped us off right in front of our hotel (San Want Hotel – I think it’s actually owned by the famous Taiwanese snack company Wan Wan because it has its mascot everywhere and its snack in the room for its guests).

While one can navigate Taiwan with just English, it is much more Mandarin/Chinese focused than Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, many people will start the conversation in English. In Taipei, even though I was with a white girl, people still started the conversation in Chinese. I kind of liked the fact that everyone spoke Mandarin and not Cantonese.

Taipei is a great place for a weekend get away. There are enough to do for a two-day adventure (but not so much that you feel like you missed out on something important). As Culture vultures, we went to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world and enjoyed a beer float on the deck. At CKS memorial, we say tributes to CKS (weirdly contributing random events to CKS but wasn’t really relevant) and almost got ran over by the changing of the guards. The National Palace Museum houses the greatest collection of Chinese art, given the KMT took everything they could with them during their escape.

Taipei is also a heaven for food. The night markets are amazing. Food stalls everywhere and everything you buy off the street is good. If I am from Taiwan, I would never want to live anywhere else given there’s nowhere else in the world that serves congealed blood, anything fried, oyster pancakes, stinky tofu, etc. Taipei really took the best of mainland and mastered it.

Partying in Taipei put Hong Kong to shame. First, the people are beautiful. Boys and girls are some of the best looking Asians around. Second, they are wild. There are more dancing on tables, free grinding and dance floor make-outs with strangers than I have seen anywhere else (including Meatpacking in NYC and Prive in HK). If you want to have a bachelor party or just a good time, Taipei is the place to be.