Tibet and Chengdu in January

So I just got back to Hong Kong from Lhasa. It's amazing how when you go from one environment to the next you suddenly realize just how much you smell. After the stuffed nose and constant smoke smell of Lhasa, it was weird to arrive back in the fairly fresh-ish air of Hong Kong and realize that I smelled an unappealing combination of  cigarette smoke and yak butter. In case you didn't know, yak butter smells a little like candle mixed with cream mixed with a tinge of rot... It's pungent none to say the least.

Lhasa was a blast! The week went by ridiculously fast. Here are details for those who are non-Chinese citizens (and those who don't have a Home Return Pass (a pass that you can apply for if you have a Hong Kong permanent residency)):

To be able to stay in Lhasa, you need a Chinese visa and then a separate Tibet permit which is a little more than 800  yuan. As a foreigner, you are also required to hire a tour guide every single day that you are there, even if you're not traveling outside of Lhasa. If you stay in the city then you're not required to see your guide every day but you still have to pay for him. A guide is 250 yuan a day while the hotel was 120 yuan. I went through Traffic Inn in Chengdu.You can actually do this entire process online! Just email Traffic Inn and they'll arrange everything.

I first stopped in Chengdu for a day. I've been there before, I went last summer for about three weeks. First thing was we got ripped off by the cab. Just as an fyi, the cab should NOT be 180 yuan, it should be around 50-60 yuan. It was freezing when we got there. Even though it wasn't below zero degree Celsius, there's a sort of insidious cold that feels like it chills right down to the marrow. It cuts through everything, no matter how bundled you are. Traffic Inn is where I stayed last year and going back, it was just about the same. The rooms all have a faint smell of smoke but the water is hot and the water pressure is great!

The day was overcast and it was amazing the huge difference between Hong Kong and Chengdu.

   

Barring the focus on appearance  in both places, there was something a bit more bleak, which is really saying something since Hong Kong can get pretty dreary on rainy and cloudy days. I also almost took a picture of a group of men playing poker but one of them was an officer and I got simultaneously shooed and hissed away. So instead, I ended up taking a photo of this:

I then ended up going on an adventure to get pirated movies since you can't really get them in Hong Kong. After walking for about half an hour, finally found it at the top of a all-in-one electronics store. They tried to sell Lost in Space in a Tron box, luckily I'm used to the Philippines so I actually got them to check and caught them in the act!

I also got some awesome hotpot!

Those are chunks of chilly butter... it was so good! The one off-putting part was that the meat was frozen so we had to chip it off the plate.

Ended up meeting with a friend that night and I tried some sort of Tibetan cheese, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was yak butter cheese? It was interesting none to say the least.

Finally, I was on my way to Lhasa! The boy and I had a couple of heart-attacks when we were getting our tickets because it turns out our travel agent booked this leg of our journey using our Hong Kong ID cards. When we got to the counter, the flight agent took a look at our passports and said, "Sorry, your passport number doesn't match the one we have on file." It was awful. I kept thinking that we'd be trapped in Chengdu and that there was some sort of government conspiracy to keep us out! Luckily, when the flight agent read out the number, I recognized it as my ID and we made it on the flight.

Touching down, I was a little worried about altitude problems but before our flight, we took some aspirin and I didn't end up having any issues with breathing or with my heart beating furiously with even the slightest bit of exertion. Having heard a lot about what has been going on in the region over the last few year, I was also worried about being stopped and brusquely questioned, since there was a huge retinue of army men outside of the entrance, but they didn't even glance our way. Our tour company had arranged for a pickup and they met us as arranged with khatas (white scarves that represent goodwill and respect). 

We stayed at Mandala Hotel right at the Barkhor, which is a huge market place around Jokhang Temple. It was frustrating since even though we specifically told the tour company that we wanted a large double bed (we told them at least three times), we ended up getting a room with two twin beds. They said they couldn't change rooms til the next day since all of the double rooms were filled up except for one on the third floor but apparently everything works upside down in Lhasa and cold rises, not heat because they said that rooms there were colder than on the second floor where we were. I can't say I was too disappointed since my heart was aching a little because of the stair climb. We ended up pushing the beds together anyways! After we settled in, we went to eat at the new Mandala Restaurant. Here are some pictures of the walk over and the view:

 After a meal of momos (dumplings filled with yak meat) and some sweet butter tea, we went for a walk around the Barkhor.  There were tons of pilgrims around..Our tour guide told us that summer is the time for work and winter is the time for prayer. The pilgrims circumambulate through the Barkhor around the Jokhang Temple. It's a circular path that's pretty easy to follow and you'll most likely be swept along by the crowd. This accrues merit and by the end of this trip, I ended up accruing a ton. There are also groups of pilgrims who stay in front of the Jokhang and pray:

They are pretty hardcore since it's so cold! Notice that they have mats on the floor and then smaller mats for their hands when they slide forward. The most dedicated pilgrims actually circumambulate the Barkhour whilst doing this act of obeisance facing forward. The extremely dedicated pilgrims do this while facing the Jokhang Temple in the center. You can still see them late at night, only then arriving back where they started. Also, whatever you do, DO NOT step over their mats while they are praying. My boyfriend accidentally did and got a clout on the shoulder. The pilgrims find this extremely disrespectful partly because feet are the lowest part of the body and are therefore considered tainted. When being swept along by the crowd, try to stay on the outer limits, just to be on the safe side.

That's about it for the first leg of the journey! Stay tuned for the rest with lots more photos!

D7000 Time!

So, I am currently broke BUT I have a new D7000 and it is totally worth the penny-pinching I'm going to have to do for awhile =)

I realize that it has been a long long time since I've posted but I thought that it'd be better to wait to post good news along with the bad and the mundane.

The last month has been pretty hectic. Teaching can be both extremely rewarding and mind-numbingly painful  all at the same time. Whoever thinks that teaching is an easy job and that they can just figure it out through sheer guesswork should go and teach a class of only 9 right before winter break.... Children turn into little hyper hellions with no manners and a lot of verbal assault. Also, I'm just going to put this out there but kids that are 2 1/2 have no place in a classroom. When they cannot yet grasp a pencil and when bowel control is completely lacking, that is the time to keep them at home taped to a toilet. This is not the time to put them with other little kids where everyone is surprised by the eruption of stink that heralds a brown gift.

I have had some success though. A little boy who could not for the life of him focus on writing a single word, let alone a sentence can now sit largely unsupervised and write and illustrate an entire short story! I've realized the trick is bribery. Every kid has his/her price and it's only a matter of time before you figure it out. His was drawing. I promised him that if he wrote five good sentences, then he could draw for two minutes, et voila! Also, a little precocious genius three year old has ceased to be as frustratingly aggravating and stubborn as she used to be! She will now go almost the entire hour without saying, "no, I will not read" once and she only halfheartedly protests, "I have a cough, I have hiccups, I'm too tired!" I definitely put these in the win pile.

Now onto the truly exciting part: I have the new D7000 and it is wonderful! I love my gift of a D5000 but the D7000 has an auto-focus motor inside of it (which is so nice because it auto-focuses with my 50mm which is a pain to focus manually!). Before I purchased it, I had been worried about all these complaints that people seemed to be having but after reading Ken Rockwell's review, I put my doubts aside and it has been glorious.

I do not have any hot pixels (shiny lights that should not be in a shot) and non of my pictures are soft (unless I made a mistake). It's really solid too! I have a sizable bruise on my head because I accidentally whacked myself with it when I was taking it out of the case... It's nice having the ISO and the WB (white balance) buttons right on the outside.

Also, I just approved a comment on one of my earliest posts which brought to my attention just how very wrong and just how little I knew about cameras when I started! As a thank you and an "I'm sorry," here is the correct info:

Whenever there is a lot of light and you are manually adjusting the ISO, the ISO number should be low around 200-250 (even lower if you like). The darker a scene or area becomes, the more ISO you will have to use in order to make it lighter for your photo. If you use flash, adjust the ISO accordingly and shift it down again. When you start hitting a high ISO (past 2000-2500 and depending on the camera, maybe even higher!), you'll have a problem with noise. Noise is the grainy, kind of pixelated look that appears in the photo. If there is not much noise, then it is usually in the darker areas of the photo. If there is a lot of noise, then you can see it across the entire photo. My D5000 would have the strangest noise because I would take multiple shots under the same lighting, same ISO, same white balance but some photos would be really noisy while others were completely fine. I'm having some internet problems at the moment so I can't post examples but as soon as it's fixed, they'll be a-coming!

The D7000 has really smooth pictures but the one issue is that it forces me to step up my game! It is just such a powerful camera that if a lens isn't great or if I don't properly set up my camera, then the photos will accordingly not look the best. But if I'm able to do everything correctly, the photos are absolutely beautiful! I'm looking into getting a 35mm lens and a macro as well (probably the 105mm) but those will have to wait.

I love my job but it doesn't leave much time for photography (or blogging!) so I'm making a preemptive resolution to make more opportunities to post and to work on my photography website:

ceciliahphotography.com *no longer up*

Check it out if you haven't! Also, I'll be going to Tibet for New Years, so I'll hopefully get some spectacular shots in there!

Hope you enjoyed this =)

Picture Time: Streets of Hong Kong

Since my last post was a ton of writing, here are some photos to make up for it:

These are just a series of photos that I took around the city! I hope you enjoy them =)

Moving to Hong Kong Advice

I've traveled around the world since I was born. Living in different countries and being surrounded by people who don't speak English doesn't phase me in the least.

Or, so I thought until I moved to Hong Kong. Yes, I speak Cantonese and people here speak English fairly well so that hasn't been an issue. What has been the problem is that I never realized just how soft, all-encompassing, and secure the State Department bubble was. Sure, there's only so much you can escape your environment, even if you are spoiled with drivers and nice cars but not being confronted with poverty isn't the safety bubble I'm talking about.

Instead, it's the little daily details like finding housing, getting an ID card, figuring out water, gas and electricity stuff, bank account issues, whether or not ATMs are going to charge you out the @$$, and making sure you have a means of procuring large sums of money to cover you because those same ATMs have withdrawal limits and people won't accept foreign checks.

It has been a hellish experience alleviated slightly by the fact that I have family here. When you have a company or the State Department to rely on, housing is provided, they pick you up from the airport, there's a host family to welcome you, all of the rent details are taken care of, and you can easily withdraw money through the company that you work for or through the SD because they will accept American checks.

This is how I've managed to survive and find a wonderful place to live and work:

1. USE A REAL ESTATE AGENT!! I can't stress this enough! I know it seems like it's a great idea to try to find housing for yourself because then you won't have to pay the commission fee (half of one month's rent), but trust me, spare yourself the headache and find yourself a good real estate agent. I spent hours upon hours of my time poring over ads (almost got scammed too!) and it ended up coming up with nothing. Apartments are snapped up too fast in Hong Kong for you to try to find one yourself. Go to the smaller agencies because they tend to not be so narrow-minded in what you can find for your price range and the time of stay. For example, I will only be in Hong Kong for 8 months (the minimum lease period here is supposed to be one year) and my budget was 10,000hk which is apparently too low for a decent place unless you decide to live in a small studio apartment. I went to a ton of the most well known companies, who had rude and snooty agents who just shook their heads and said it couldn't be done. Well I am currently living in a two room apartment with a large kitchen, sizable bathroom, and even a bedroom that can convert into a study. If you are staying for a short amount of time in Hong Kong, try out the serviced apartments but if it's less than a year but more than 6 months, try out the smaller real estate agents.

2. Open up a bank account immediately and find a way to wire money over. The issue that I ran into here was that I had the funds for a down payment on the apartment but no feasible way to access it. In order to actually sign a contract on an apartment here, you have to have the first months rent plus about 20,000hk as a safety deposit (this is in the ballpark of $3000 ish). They don't accept American checks here and ATMs won't let you withdraw that amount. So, either find a very international bank which you can easily access or open up a bank account with a local bank and find a way to transfer the money so you can write a check.

3. Start the process for your Hong Kong ID ASAP. It's needed for EVERYTHING around here and while you can get away with using your passport for a short period of time, try to finish the paperwork for the ID card within a couple of days of your arrival because it takes a couple of weeks before it's ready.

4. The other benefit to a real estate agent, especially a good one, is that she will be able to set up your electricity, water, and gas AND have them send the bill to you in English. She will also be able to help you set up internet if the apartment you find doesn't already have it.

5. Finally, as for job stuff, I have gotten extraordinarily lucky. Exhausted from sending out inquiries on apartments (I hadn't found on yet), I decided to go on to the South China Morning Post to see the job ads. There were a few that caught my eye (all teaching English) and so I sent off my resume, not really expecting anything. Well, this all happened on a Saturday. On Sunday, the real estate agent found me my home. On Monday, I get a call from one of the companies that I had emailed and she asked me in for an interview that day. I jumped out of bed and showered and changed, I rushed over and then, after a 20 minute interview, I was offered a job on the spot! It's as an English tutor/instructor in a private company here and it's been a great first real person job so far.

That's about it on my end for now! I hope that, should you ever choose to move to Hong Kong, my experiences will give you an idea of what it's like.

Hong Kong: Scams, Action Movies and Realtors

So I've been remiss in my entries and I feel guilty. So here's an update of my dealings of late:
1. I'm in Hong Kong

2. I have no job

3. I have no permanent place to live yet

4. Due to my excessive use of lightroom and photoshop, most of what I see appears slightly washed out...

5. I am inundated with realtors

6. I haven't joined a gym but the sheer amount of walking that I do makes up for that in spades

7. I'm realizing just how bad my Cantonese has become

8. Rain boots are surprisingly warm on the inside and unfortunately retain water if water makes its way inside

9. Watched the Expendables and realized how much I miss 80s/90s action movies and their stars

10. I have been delicately navigating through the tangled webs of familial responsibility

11. I have been making friends with the local butchers in order to better photograph their ghastly wares

That's about it... the vast vast VAST majority of my time has been concerned with the whole apartment thing. I never want to do this again, little did I know just how spoiled I had been when I was younger with the U.S. Embassy finding me housing. I've thus far encountered one scam (didn't fall for it though! The woman was allegedly a Swedish nurse who lives in Spain and is engaged, about to be married, and doesn't care about the rent her deceased father's apartment would generate... I think not). A serviced apartment (hotel-like existence with furnishings and cleaning service) seems like the best bet but I just can't let go of the idea of a relatively nice kitchen in which I can help save even more money by cooking.

Other than that, I went to the Peak the other night so I'll leave you with some pretty pictures of Hong Kong's nightscape!

This last one was just to freak you out! Can you figure out what it is? Told you some of my stuff was morbid...
Write back soon-ish!