Macau, Judah and Judo

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since my last post. Turns out school gets serious here once Chinese New Year passes. I've got a ton of work due this week, not to mention two tests tomorrow.

Time for a quick life update:

A few days after my return from Thailand I received a notice in my mailbox that I would have to change rooms in the next few days. The Reslife coordinators realized I must feel lonely without a roommate and wanted to make sure I didn't miss out on the experience. How thoughtful of them. It happened to be a particularly bad time to make me move to a room with a roommate, because Judah and Elie were coming to visit, and I wanted them to host them in the spare bed. I told the office I had a lot of work and asked them if I could have a week before I had to move rooms. They didn't mind.

Judah and Elie arrived on Tuesday, one day after I got back from Thailand. They stayed here for a week and it was great fun. About two hours after they arrived I insisted that we should climb the peak. I've decided that is the first thing every newcomer to Hong Kong should do. It is a good way to stretch after 13 hours on a plane, to make you tired enough to avoid jetlag and you get an incredible view of the city. The next day Judah and Elie explored Hong Kong (by which I mean they went to Kowloon and got fitted for custom suits) while I was in class. Afterwards, we packed some cloths into my backpack and headed to the ferry for a quick trip to Macau, Asia's Las Vegas.

Macau is barely an hour away by speedboat ferry, so the trip was quick and easy. We stayed at the Grand Lisboa, but didn't end up spending much time there. It seems it is hard to get up from a poker table. Quick story: When we arrived at the poker tables, we separated as there weren't enough seats for all three of us at any one table. A few hands in to my game, I was trying to figure out what the guy next to me had, as he just bet aggressively. Then, he told me. He did not mean to. He was discussing his cards with a friend standing next to him in a language he figured no one would understand. Unfortunately for him, he was not the only Israeli at the table. I couldn't help myself, and cut him off, telling him in Hebrew to fold , as I had him beat. He responded quickly, before registering a few seconds later that I spoke to him in Hebrew. After that, we became friendly, and played together for the next 3 hours, making fun of the other guys at the table.

The casino could not complain about the Hebrew, because the rest of the table was speaking Chinese. Just my luck that I sit at a random table in a casino in Macau, and I find myself siting next to an Israeli. Considering that I've seen Israelis in every city that I've been to on my trip, you'd think we are a bigger nation than we really are.

Macau, while in purpose similar to Las Vegas, is strikingly different in a few key ways. In Las Vegas, gambling is only part of the scene. People go to Vegas for the entertainment. You could spend days in Vegas, and never gamble a penny. Not so in Macau. People go there for one reason only: to make money. The casinos are all silent and serious and it is clear no one is there to drink or party. Gambling is a temporary profession for many Macau visitors, and people treat it as such. In fact, the Chinese government has been recently experiencing a real problem with high level executives and politicians trying to double and triple their organizations budgets with a quick trip to Macau.

We stayed until 10 AM, and then headed back to Hong Kong for a trip to Disney Land. I waited for Judah to come to Hong Kong before I went, because I knew how much he loved Disney, and also because I probably would have had no interest in going if Judah wasn't dragging us there. It ended up being a lot of fun, as many of the rides and shows are slightly different from in the US, and the poor English of the tour guides was hilarious. Afterwards, I showed Elie and Judah around Hong Kong a bit more. We stayed by Bruce Einhorn for Shabbat, and his family showed us a very nice time, kindly hosting all three of us in their apartment.

Saturday night, we weren't sure what to do. Judah and Elie had an early flight to Singapore , so whatever we did, they had to be awake early. What better way to ensure that you are awake than to never go to sleep? With this logic, we decided to head back to Macau for ten hours, and just play through the night. Thanks to some logistical trouble (Elie, Judah and I separated in the ferry terminal and could not find each other for about 2 hours) we didn't get to Macau until midnight. Still, we found a table at the Sands, and played until the first morning ferry at 6:30. Some of us did better than others, though it was clear Elie was the winner for the trip.

Once they left for Singapore I started focusing on school. Aside from the Rugby team, I also joined the Judo club, which is great because it is in all Cantonese, and I've been learning a lot from listening. Classes here are pretty different than at Brandeis, as they follow a modified British system here. I'll fill on more once I finish my midterms, and let you know how they go. One thing that sort of scares me. HKU as a policy that for any class over 25 kids, a belle curve is strictly enforced, and some percentage of the class is required to fail, no matter how well they do. I'm not planning on failing, but still, that is kind of intimidating.

Next week is Reading/Field Trip Week, which means another week of no classes. Most of the other exchange students are heading down to Thailand or Malaysia for the week. Not me however. My Elementary Logic professor decided to give us a test Tuesday of Reading Week, so now I can't do a long trip with everyone else. However, its not the end of the world. My new Chinese roommate is in the same class, and we've decide to take the rest of the week off and go to Guilin...oh haven't told you about him yet.

Next time. This is long enough for now, and I promise to not wait three weeks before my next posts.

PS Can anyone figure out what our special 'English' Disney guide was saying? We were with him for 15 minutes, and only recogonized the words "okay", "thank you" and "bye bye."

Chinese New Year Break -- Thailand for a week

I'm in the airport now, awaiting my flight to Bangkok from Phuket. This past week has flown by, but it definitely served its purpose. I feel refreshed, rested and ready for Hong Kong again. My first two days in Phuket I spent exploring. There were numerous local temples and markets, and gorgeous beaches everywhere. On Tuesday I began my scuba diving course. I am now a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. The course consists of five dives over two days in various conditions, as well as class time. During the course I dove 30 m (~100 ft),

at night, navigating by my own compass. On Thursday we took a boat out to Koh Racha Yai, a small island off the coast of Phuket, and checked out the reefs there. The reefs in Phuket are some of the more beautiful diving sites in the world, and its reputation is certainly well deserved. I saw lion-fish, manta rays, clownfish, starfish and an octopus. I recognized at least four or five different fish from our old aquarium, and that yellow and black eel with the weird nose who kept getting bitten by the leopard sharks. Those of you who have seen it will know what I'm talking about.

 It was an incredible experience I won't soon forget. 

The course lasted until Thursday night, at which point I left my hotel in Karon Beach and moved to nearby Patong, where the Chabad House is located. 

I spent Shabbat with 200 Israeli backpackers, a few South Africans and a pair of Americans from Teane

ck, one of whom also graduated Frisch. Shabbat was a lot of fun, and it was good to speak Hebrew

 again. Also, just by chance, Eran, was in town as well, so we met and caught up. 

After Shabbat I went out with the South Africans and a couple of the Israelis.

The South Africans currently live in Sydney, and I now have a place to visit when I'm ready for Australia. Everyone keeps telling me better to go now than later, as their summer is almost over, but I don't think I can get off anymore school for a while. Ok...Last boarding call to Bangkok from Phuket...don't yet have a plan for when I get there, but I'm sure it'll be fine...

Just arrived in Hong Kong. Had an interesting night. I arrived in Bangkok at 9:30PM, but my flight for Hong Kong didn't leave until 8:30 the following morning. At the airport I hired a driver for four hours, and arranged for a hotel near the airport. All told, a personal driver for three hours and a hotel room cost me $58. Thailand is great.

Once I sent my stuff up to the hotel room, I told the driver, Chai was his name, to show me around Bangkok. At the hotel I checked the address for Chabad, just in case. The driver was nice enough, but as we headed into town, he said "I show you everything in Bangkok. You like lady? You like drink?"
After I explained to him that I was not interested in any lady or drink, given I had to be awake at 5 AM, not to mention all the more obvious reasons, I thought it might be nice to grab dinner at the kosher restaurant, as I hadn't eaten all day. "No problem," he said, 

"But first, I show you International Minigolf and Massage Parlor." I assumed I had misheard the last part, as I couldn't understand how the two would go together. But sure enough, we pulled up to a very nice hotel, and just past the entrance was a huge minigolf course and a selection of women standing around, with numerous 50 year old+ Westerners walking by one by one, pointing to one of the women a

nd heading upstairs with her. At this point I realized that I'm not somewhere I want to be, and told the driver I needed to meet "my friend" at the restaurant in ten minutes. We left, and he spent the next five minutes explaining to me how he comes by once in a while, and his girlfriend has no idea. That's nice, I thought. As we were leaving, I realized that the reason he brought me was that if I did bring someone upstairs, he would get a bonus. Needless to say, he didn't make a penny off me. 

Soon we were in another sketchy part of town, and I was convinced that the driver was taking me again to one of his hangouts. He parked, and we started to walk around, and as we passed one bar after another, I really became suspicious. But then, out of nowhere, was the large sign of "Beit Chabad."

The Chabad House in Bangkok was very nice, and even though it was nearly midnight, there were at least twenty people hanging out. As the guard, Kobi, welcomed me, he asked if I'd eaten dinner. I hadn't, but I knew the restaurant was already closed. Kobi brought me downstairs anyway, and found me some food in the kitchen. When I left the Chabad house twenty five minutes later, I found Chai outside, sipping a mineral water Kobi gave him at no charge when he realized that the man was my driver.  When he saw the treatment I received from "my friend" with such a large restaurant near all the bars, Chai assumed I must be involved in the Mafia, and began to treat me with more respect. I didn't bother to correct him. After that, he only took me to places I asked. We went to some of the larger temples in Bangkok, though they were all closed, so I could only see them from a distance. We went to the Royal Palace, adorned as the rest of Bangkok is with pictures of the king, and then to a night market. 

At the night market I saw baby elephants walking in the street.

We went to a place to a stadium to watch a Thai Boxing match, but it had just ended. That was fine, as looking at the time, I realized

the Super Bowl was about to begin. I watched for as long as I could, until it was time to head back to the hotel, to shower, rest for a bit and head to the airport. All in all, it was an interesting night. 

I'm back in Hong Kong now, and everything is great. I was driven to school today in a Bentley. One of the guys I met at Chabad last week apparently lives pretty close to me, and he passed by as I was waiting for the bus to go to class. For all Hong Kong is a big city, non-locals tend to congregate in a few specific parts of town, and I already find myself running in to people I know on a regular basis. 

-Yoni

PS I heard Shell is having a tough year, but this is ridiculous: