Hong Kong isn't Supposed to be Quiet

Greetings, blog followers! We just went into the city to get Hong Kong I.D.s, and our travels took us close to the "Occupy Central" protests. If you've never heard of them, here's a quick summary:

Hong Kong is a SAR, or special administrative region, which means it has some freedom while still being part of China. Part of the former is their ability to vote- however this is hindered by part of the latter, a policy that dictates that the candidates must be provided by China first. Since China's government is known for rewarding mostly the people who are friends with important people and not hard work- further compounded by communism- the citizens of Hong Kong are naturally resisting governmental intervention from them.

Phew. So, with all that in mind, we set out to the city and noticed a few things that had changed from being on the outskirts of a protest. Here's a handy list, because I like lists.

-We noticed someone wearing a backpack with safety goggles attached, presumably to protect against pepper spray.

-Because of the blockade set up for the protest, there were no cars around, making the area peacefully quiet.

-7-11 was nearly sold out of water, likely from protests needing fuel to stand in Hong Kong's uncomfortable sun.

-The area seemed to be less crowded than most Hong Kong areas. That, in conjunction with the quiet, made the place unusually serene for the city.

The car-free streets.

Thanks for reading!

Electron Microscopes and the Moon

Greetings, blog followers! I have more material than I expected for this post, as the iMax movie that I mentioned in the last post was fascinating! But first, a brief overview of our adventures.

We headed out into the city and ate dinner at "Life Cafe", a vegetarian restaurant centered around healthy food- in other words, my dream restaurant. Afterwards, we took the Star Ferry to the mainland side of Hong Kong, Kowloon, to catch the evening iMax show, "Mysteries of the Unseen World", at the Space Museum. We had to go when we did because the movie was only in English on Saturday and Sunday night. We've had to be more flexible here in Hong Kong than in Denver.

It was a colorful journey, since the buildings in Hong Kong turn in to light shows at night, with fantastic patterns climbing up walls everywhere. Many buildings even have animated patterns. In any case, we got to the Space Museum. We were early, so we tried out the moonwalk exhibit, which straps you into a harness to simulate walking on the moon. According to a video that was playing at the exhibit, the most effective form of movement on the moon is the kangaroo hop.

Now for the iMax. It was a long video that is hard to summarize, so I'll just provide a few facts that I found interesting.

-Not only can we see individual atoms with microscopes, we can also use the tips of these microscopes to move atoms around, creating whatever kind of structure we like.

-Speaking of atomic structures, we have created the world's thinnest substance. It is made of carbon, and it is only one carbon atom thick. The substance is as tough as diamond, and almost as flexible as rubber. When curled up into tubes, this substance forms carbon nanotubes, a possible building material of the future.

-A butterfly's wings may seem flat, but each wing is made of many, many tiny scales, and if you zoom in even farther, you can see the tiny ridges on these scales that are cells. One type of butterfly has magnificent blue wings, and this is because those tiny cells reflect only the purest blue light.

-An electron microscope is more precise than a light microscope simply because light is too big.

-A dragonfly is the world's best flyer- it can fly in place, backwards, and even upside down. This is because it is capable of moving each of its four wings independently at the same time.

Thanks for reading!

Next up: An undetermined outing! At least there is an outing.

Hong Kong High Jinks

Welcome once more to virtual Hong Kong, the Wandering Aidan blog! We're back in business. We haven't gone spiraling off on any crazy adventures yet (somewhat surprisingly), so instead I'll update you on what we've done so far.

The first point of interest was getting here. Here's the lowdown of all the bad things that happened, from the minute we set foot outside our house into the world of annoyingly annoying annoyances.

1. Car service is twenty minutes late. We call many times without receiving a response.

2. Car service is now thirty minutes late, so we call a taxi, which arrives in two minutes.

3. Our flight out of Denver is delayed twice, by a total of 2.5 hours.

4. United Airlines can't make up their mind about whether or not to switch our flight. Different people give us different information, until it is finally decided that we are staying on our delayed flight. We are reassured many times that we will have enough time to get on the next flight, and even if we don't, they will wait for us.

5. The doors to our next flight close. They don't wait for us.

6. We wait at a help desk for 45 minutes. In response to the large line of people, the desk closes early at 4:00 in the afternoon.

7. We learn that there was an empty help desk 5 minutes away that nobody mentioned.

8. We call my dad (who is already in Hong Kong) to alert him that we will be late, waking him up from a dream in which we had finally arrived and a joyful reunion had occurred.

9. We go switch our baggage to our new flight. We are directed to a United Airlines counter, where we wait for an hour to finally make some progress with our tickets.

10. We are then sent off again to an American Airlines counter, who we are told can help us. They can't. They tell us that, despite the fact that our ticket says "American Airlines", we are flying Cathay Pacific.

11. Cathay Pacific refuses to give us a boarding pass until four hours later, when the handouts officially start.

12. After twelve wonderful hours in the airport, we finally get on the flight at 1:30am!




So, that was… interesting.


Now for some background on what we're up to in Hong Kong. We're giving home-schooling a shot, and it's going surprisingly well, with only a few hitches- like the fact that my mom doesn't know Spanish. As for activities, we're going into the city this Saturday to see a science-related iMax film, but other than that, not much interesting is happening this week. I might find something to post, but don't expect much.

Thanks for reading!


Bonus: The Detention Balcony!

Here I am, in detention for attempting to take seven consecutive bathroom breaks during math. Due to the extreme heat and humidity, this would actually make a fitting punishment for any ne'er-do-wells.

Up next: Not much!