Hong Kong, Traditional Chinese medicine

I think we've started to get relatively lax about updating. Part of
the problem is that when we were in Hong Kong last weekend, our
cellphones weren't getting Internet data. Anyway, here is a brief
synopsis of Hong Kong. Its a very impressive city, and sits right up
there with London and New York in that respect. Hong Kong is
definitely a really unique blend of East-meets-West. Since it was a
British colony, most people can speak English. But in the shopping,
restaurants, and culture you can find authentic Chinese, you can find
authentic Western, and you can find mixes of the two. I for one was
thrilled to have the first real burger I've had in weeks! Anyway,
there is almost too much to write and I don't really have the time
right now, but if I was going to describe Hong Kong in one world, it
would be "capitalist". There is so much emphasis on wealth
production, finance, consumption, and really there is a lot of
extravagance there as well.

Physically, Hong Kong is a very clean city, very well organized,
gorgeous buildings, and the best transportation that I've seen in any
city in the world. Its just very easy to get around, whether it be on
the subway, or the double decker buses, the light rail trolleys, ferry
across the river, and really cheap taxis. Great place to visit, not
super expensive. Additionally, just across the harbor is Macau. A
former Portuguese colony, Macau is a tiny island with 500,000 people
packed on. It is considered the Las Vegas of Asia, and has some
pretty cool historical sights to see as well. I was really hoping to
see Macau and feed my gambling addiction, but unfortunately we aren't
going to make it. We were originally going to go this coming weekend,
but then we found out that Lee's friends did not get re-entry visas,
meaning once they leave the PRC they cannot come back in. And I guess
since Macau is a special administrative region, going there counts as
leaving the PRC. So someday in the future I will definitely come
back, and Hong Kong / Macau will be a leg of that trip for sure!

We came home to Canton on Sunday night. The ride back on the bus had
to be the bumpiest ride I've ever experienced in my life. Hong Kong
is very close to Canton, but due to border crossing et cetera it is
actually kind of a pain to get there. What should take 1.5 hours
actually takes 3.5 hours. Fortunately, they are going to be building
a high speed rail between Hong Kong and Canton, which should make the
trip take all of 20 minutes. This week, Lee and I started our
traditional Chinese medicine rotation. We've seen acupuncture and
some various other techniques that we will describe in more detail at
a future date. We finish in Guangzhou this week and Lee has some
friends from Purdue flying in on Friday I think. We will spend one
more weekend here and then its off to Shanghai and the World Fair for
several days.

Cheers,
Nick