Wandering to a Serious Subject

Some people have asked me about the protests that are going on here- or rather, were going on here, as of about a week ago- and what exactly they are. Well, here's what I know…

First, I should mention that Hong Kong is technically part of China, but it is run differently- for instance, you're allowed to protest here (as evidenced by, well the protests) but not in China. Hong Kong is referred to a SAR, or Special Administrative Region. This basically means that it's halfway between China and independence.

Anyway, here's the lowdown: The protests that went on on here in Hong Kong (referred to as Occupy Central, the Umbrella Movement, or just "the protests") occurred because, despite the fact that this place's residents get their own government, they don't really have full voting rights. Instead of the U.S.'s system, in which candidates work their way up through several preliminaries, Hong Kong gets a system in which they pick between a few candidates that China selects beforehand. Worse still, the candidates selected are never pro-independence and will always support China- that's basically a selection criteria.

This issue by itself was not outstandingly threatening, but the question on the minds of the citizens was "What's next?" If they let China control their elections, will China's government step in even farther next time? Where would the citizens draw the line?

This whole mess prompted the Hong Kong citizens to set up camp in the middle of a busy street in an important area (the eponymous Central). They set up tents in a surprisingly organized fashion, with a check-in area and separate areas for entering and exiting to control human traffic. As we saw when we visited, there was a supplies tent, a medical tent, and even free rental tents for people who wanted to resist China but couldn't be there every day.

Unfortunately, the protesters were eventually forced to leave Central, so the protests failed… or did they? They spread awareness about an important issue, and had quite a spotlight for a while. In fact, they may even be influencing other places to stand up for themselves, since Macau just started a similar protest a day or two ago, and Taiwan's pro-China party just lost their election. Yay, inconvenient protests! Woohoo!

Thanks for reading!

Return of the Wanderer

Welcome back, blog followers! Wow, it's been a long time. I've been busy over here in Hong Kong- thanks to my teacher/mom- but I've managed to carve out time to go on a few trips… and to blog about them!

The highlight of our recent adventures was a one-day trip to Macau. During the first part of the trip, we toured the modernized portion of Macau. During the second part, we explored the old, colonial buildings. (What does it say about me that I enjoyed the first part more?)

Macau, Part One!

This part was arguably less interesting than the second, but we did have a few adventures. After we walked to lunch, we decided to locate the "Iceworld" exhibition that was advertised across the area. It took a long, confused walk across two floors of the building, but we eventually arrived.

Fun Fact:
Everything described above, from our hotel to the exhibition, was in the same gargantuan building. The building was so large that it created the impression of an entire city! There were even multiple hotels within the same structure.

Once we arrived at the expo, we noticed an area renting coats and winter gear just outside. We asked just how cold the exhibit actually was… and found out that it got down to -6 degrees celsius (about 21 degrees for all you fahrenheit users). Only then did we realize that there would actually be ice.

As it turns out, the entire exhibition was a collection of ice carvings centered around "Dreamworks" characters. Here's the "How to Train your Dragon" section.

"Kung Fu Panda". What looks like a temple staircase is actually an ice slide.

King Julian's throne,  courtesy of "Madagasacar".

The woman in the blue coat is not an ice sculpture. She is my aunt.

My aunt and me in an ice boat.

This is all just tinted ice. It's truly amazing what people can do with an otherwise dull material.

Macau, Part Two!

In this portion of the adventure, we experienced more of Macau's colonial side. Much of Macau is a Las Vegas-style casino-fest, but unlike in Hong Kong, many old buildings still remain intact in the old town.

 This wall is all that remains of the "other St. Paul's Cathedral". The rest of it was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon. That would actually be a pretty cool way to go if you were a building… very dramatic.

These gelatinous meat slabs were incredibly popular in the streets of Macau.

Here's an interesting blend of Portuguese and Mandarin. The sign clearly says "farmacia", which is a very Portuguese word, but it is followed by "Chun Cheong", a very Chinese name.

The pedestrian areas and town square still sport the unique Portuguese tile pattern of old.

Thanks for reading!