Oh Swine.

As widespread as the infamous H1N1 (swine) flu virus is in many countries around the world, I never really realized how serious it is until I arrived in Asia. Even with the men in bio-hazardous suites and temperature guns at the airport in China, I never even entertained the idea that one day I might be a victim of it. This belief was changed last week when four people out of the eight or nine people I usually hang out with suddenly dropped off the face of the earth in one night. I only learned later that their disappearances were due to the swine flu virus. As I learned later, cases of swine flu were appearing among the summer school students. We were having confirmed cases of it almost daily and all of them were in the building I live in. As it turns out, my sick friends either have roommates or neighbors who have swine flu. Not surprisingly, they also started to develop symptoms of swine flu. It is a scary story to tell in retrospect because we all traveled to Macau together before their symptoms started to develop and it is very possible that I came in close contact with the virus at one point or another. Luckily for me and most of my friends, we did not get swine flu. As of today, there have been 7 confirmed and 18 unconfirmed cases of swine flu. The school has taken many precautionary measures, such as a sign-in system for all residents (a joke), mandatory temperature check before classes, and frees Tamiflu, which treats and prevents swine flu. To prevent the virus from further spreading, they actually canceled all classes for next week and will be broadcasting the lectures over the web instead. I feel bad for my friends who have the virus since they are forced to stay in their room and watch as the treasured days of summer school pass them by. Fortunately for them, Tamiflu makes the virus no longer contagious after two days, which would allow them to be out and about.

Macau

I finally made my way to Macau last Sunday. Being the naïve foreigner that we were, we ignored the storm warnings thinking that we would be able to handle the tropical climate with just our umbrellas. Although both Macau and Hong Kong are part of China, we still needed our passports and go through “customs” to get to Macau. The fastest way was to rid the turbo jet (see picture), which took a little over an hour. In many ways Macau is similar to Hong Kong for it has its own currency, regional government, and local regulations. The city seemed to be a strange mix of China, Portugal, and Las Vegas. Since it was a colony of Portugal for many years, parts of it share the many characteristics of an European town, such as narrow streets that were filled with shops and tiny cafes. Many buildings have Portuguese architecture styles, especially old governmental buildings. All of us enjoyed it tremendously because at times it became hard for us to tell whether we were in Asia or Europe. We ended up eating at this Portuguese restaurant, which had surprisingly good Portuguese food.

Aside from its colonial history, Macau is also famous for its casinos. Many people refer to it as the Las Vegas of Asia for its extravagant casino and entertainment industry. Immediately upon our arrival, we were greeted with free shuttle buses that would take you directly to their respective casinos. Without hesitation, we all hopped on one of the casino buses to get to the city. The most visible and attention grabbing casino in Macau has to be the Grand Lisboa Hotel, which is a skyscraper shaped like a giant flower. In its lobby, I saw the biggest diamond I have ever seen. If my memory doesn’t fail me, I think it was at least 280 carats. Gambling was an interesting experience for me. Having already won $100 at the racecourse in Hong Kong, I was feeling a bit overconfident and lucky. I bought $100 worth of chips ($10 each on the poor people’s floor) and played Russian roulette until I lost it all. I was slightly devastated but learned of the harms of gambling.

The city overall had an atmosphere that was jaded and dilapidated. Perhaps it was because we went on a rainy day, but the old and worn out resident buildings that were spread out throughout the city made me feel like I was in the 90s again. The most impressive piece of architecture in Macau was the remains of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was destroyed in a fire started in its kitchen many years ago. Although only the front side of the building remains, one could tell from its remains that it was once a magnificent cathedral that could rival many of its European counterparts.

Studying Abroad at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

It has been five days since I arrived inHong Kong. Each day has been exciting and unique in its own ways. It’s incredibly exhilarating to be able to meet people from every corner of the world and explore this great city with them. Over the past five days, I have made friends with people fromCanada, Singapore,Switzerland, South Africa, Lithuania,China, Korea, Britain, Sweden,Norway, and the U.S. From talking with my fellow students, I’m learning a great deal about their countries and cultures. For the most part, people are here to meet others, travel, and enjoy life in general. I am spending every single day to the fullest with my new friends and we are brought closer each day by our shared passion for traveling and experiencing new things.

The school is literally built on a top of a mountain, which can be difficult when you are navigating on campus. It can be exhausting task just to go from our dorms to the train station to go to the city. The easiest way is usually the bus, which comes fairly consistently. I have not been particularly satisfied with the canteens since the food they serve isn’t great and the prices don’t exactly justify for its lack of quality. It does have a decent outdoors pool with an amazing view of the mountain, which I have not yet tried. This is surprising considering the weather is unbearably hot most of the time and the pool is the perfect way of escaping the heat.

Each day seems to go in a blur as we are constantly moving from one spot to another trying to make our ways through the dense crowd in the city. The weather has been incredibly kind to us, giving us no rains whatsoever for the past few days. We visited a few of the famous spots in Hong Kong including the Avenue of Stars and the racecourse. My group had an incredibly lucky day at the racecourse for at least one person won money for each of the three rounds of races we were there for. I had the fortune of winning $110 HK from the $10 I initially invested. Not knowing too much about what the stats and rankings all meant, we all basically placed our bet based on the horses' names. I always tried the pick the horse with the funniest name, and it worked out surprisingly well. The winning horse I picked in the second round was named “Amigo” and the horse I picked in the third round was named “Always Giggling”.

The population is incredibly dense here. Everywhere we visited seemed to be packed with people shopping, eating, and hanging out. The whole city feels like a giant mall to me with streets that are filled with shops, restaurants, and movie theaters. Everyday we go through at least 3-4 malls just to get to where we want to go.

So far our plan is to travel to Thailand for 4-5 days during our weekend here. More updates and pictures will come soon.