Posts Tagged ‘block’
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
The Philippines is the lone Christian country in Southeast Asia. The majority of their 75 provinces swiftly caved into Jesus when Spain embarked on a short–lived Asian experiment in the 1650’s. In spite of that, six of those provinces — within a secluded mountain–range jungle in northern Luzon — fiercely resisted Spain’s take on God. The semi–tropical Cordillera is the country’s most rugged and least populated region and is still a thorny place to plot a route and get a haircut. Native Ifugao, Igorot and other pagan tribes remained warring headhunters until the 1950’s.
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Posted in Philippine, Travel | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Having spent over two-and-a-half straight years in the Chinese mainland without leave, it was with both anticipation and apprehension that I recently crossed the southern border into Asia’s wealthiest city.
Despite its one-stop-shopping popularity with Mainland expats needing new clothes and a new visa, I truly had no idea what to expect in the former crown colony that supposedly makes even rich men feel poor. Rather terrified of exacting reverse culture shock, I saved English-speaking Hong Kong and its “One Country, Two Systems” self for the tail end of my journey across the 32 Chinese provinces.
And it is here that all my preconceptions and fears about Hong Kong were – true. To quote the under-appreciated American writer, Thomas A. Carter (me!), upon his brief sojourn in the legendary Chinese city, “I’ve never felt more poor than when I was in Hong Kong. I’ve never felt more ugly than when I was in Hong Kong.”
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Tags: advice, afternoon, american writer, anticipation, apprehension, Arrive, asian girls, awe, Awoken, backpacker, bag, Bank, beard, blanket, Blinded, block, border, boy, break, Brits, cable, capitalism, cast, cell, Central, Chase, chatter, chinese city, chinese mainland, chinese provinces, city, colony, concrete block, country, Cross, crown, crown colony, crush, culture, Dafnit, date, day, department, descend, designer, dorm, dorm room, end, English, evening, excitement, facade, fantasy, fashion, Ferry, Fieldtrip, Filipino, flock, fun, girl, glimpse, gonna, Group, hair, half, head, hentai, Hey, hippest, idea, immaculate, indian women, information, introduction, jor, journey, KCR, klick, kogal, Kok, Kowloon, land, leave, LOOOVE, Louhu, luck, Lunch, mainland, Mansion, massage, miasma, microcosm, migrant, migrant worker, Mirador, mirador mansion, Mong, morning, name, narrative, nathan road, neon, neon lights, night, nobody, outfits, parlor, Pat, Peak, Peering, peninsula, photograph, place, pollution, popularity, preconceptions, price, railway, resplendent, reverse, reverse culture shock, rich men, ride, road, Rolls, romps, room, sand, saris, self, Sha, Shek, Shenzhen, shock, side, skyline, smoke, sojourn, southern border, southern peninsula, spitting, Star, sun, Sunday, tail, tongue, tower, tram, Tsim, TST, Tsui, underground, visa, vista, weekend, worker, writer
Posted in China, Travel | Comments Off
The Philippines is the lone Christian country in Southeast Asia. The majority of their 75 provinces swiftly caved into Jesus when Spain embarked on a short–lived Asian experiment in the 1650’s. In spite of that, six of those provinces — within a secluded mountain–range jungle in northern Luzon — fiercely resisted Spain’s take on God. The semi–tropical Cordillera is the country’s most rugged and least populated region and is still a thorny place to plot a route and get a haircut. Native Ifugao, Igorot and other pagan tribes remained warring headhunters until the 1950’s.