Doh' !#@& and I MIss White People . . . well, sort of.
This will be my last post on this particular trip. I head back home today. Sorry it's been over a week since the last post but when traveling overseas, it's hard to count on consistent web access. 7 days ago I took a trip with my my brother and his in-laws into inland Taiwan. We went to a spa like resort in the mountains for the first day and then went on a sightseeing expedition the next two. We had this crazy tour guide who drove the 6 of us around in a van and he literally made all of us car sick while going up the mountainous winding roads. I guess it's easy to get sick when you're in a van going 55 mph when everyone else only goes 25.
Regardless, I saw some pretty cool sights. Inland Taiwan is much calmer and has a much more rural atmosphere than Taipei. We were able to go to the highest mountain peak in all of Taiwan, a whole 2 miles above sea level. For comparison, Denver, Colorado, known for being high up in the Rocky Mountains, is only a mile up. The air was very, very thin of course and just taking a few steps of stairs made me dizzy and gasp for oxygen. But the view was spectacular.
We also got to see an amazing Marble Stone Gorge while coming down the mountains. The mountainous caverns resembled a mini Grand Canyon but just imagine all the rocks, hills, peaks, and plateaus being Marble stone. Quite an impressive sight. Now if you're wondering where are the pictures, well, here's where the "Doh" part comes in.
Two days later, we went to Hong Kong, and in my excitement of taking pictures on my first Bullet Train, going from the HK airport to our hotel, I left my camera on the train. Yup, I lost my camera on my first day in Hong Kong. I'm awesome!!!
This was my first time in Hong Kong and I was really looking forward to it of course and wanted to document much of the trip with pictures. Well, what was that they said about, "the best laid plans of mice and men. . ."
Anyhow, HK was great and I was very glad I went. It has a bustling nightlife for the young and the skyline at night on the pier is just amazing. The subway system works just as well as the one in Taiwan so it's easy to get around. Shopping is just as popular, albeit a bit more expensive. The prices there are just as high as it is in the U.S. And, most importantly, it's diverse in population. Here's the part where I sort of miss white people.
The diversity in HK is mostly tourist generated. But the fact that it was under British rule for 99 years helped with the ethnic mix. In Taiwan, you'll be hard pressed to find anybody other than Taiwanese or Chinese people walking around. But in HK, I encountered lots of Middle Eastern, African, European, and Mainland Chinese people. And it didn't really dawn on me that I took living in America for granted until I was in HK because the melting pot phenomenon really is a phenomenon. There are pockets of places in the world that may be ethnically diverse, but not like it is in the U.S. where I can teach at schools where the population break down can be even amongst White, Hispanic, Black, and Asian people. If you go to Japan, you'll see Japanese people. The same goes for probably 90% if not more of the rest of the world. Don't quote me on that though. I mean, think about it. Living in Southern California is kind of unique in that sense right?
I have a good friend who bemoans the fact that Americans just aren't very cultured because we know so little about other countries' existence, cultures, traditions, customs. We think America is everything and are so Western focused that we think everything else is second class. I guess my question to him would be, if you were living say, in Argentina, and surrounded by 99% Argentinians, how much of the German culture would you really know or care to find out about?
At least in Southern California, for better or for worse, we have the opportunity to mix with other ethnicities right in our own backyard. That's better than most I would say. And I guess that's why I miss White people . . . but not really.
Regardless, I saw some pretty cool sights. Inland Taiwan is much calmer and has a much more rural atmosphere than Taipei. We were able to go to the highest mountain peak in all of Taiwan, a whole 2 miles above sea level. For comparison, Denver, Colorado, known for being high up in the Rocky Mountains, is only a mile up. The air was very, very thin of course and just taking a few steps of stairs made me dizzy and gasp for oxygen. But the view was spectacular.
We also got to see an amazing Marble Stone Gorge while coming down the mountains. The mountainous caverns resembled a mini Grand Canyon but just imagine all the rocks, hills, peaks, and plateaus being Marble stone. Quite an impressive sight. Now if you're wondering where are the pictures, well, here's where the "Doh" part comes in.
Two days later, we went to Hong Kong, and in my excitement of taking pictures on my first Bullet Train, going from the HK airport to our hotel, I left my camera on the train. Yup, I lost my camera on my first day in Hong Kong. I'm awesome!!!
This was my first time in Hong Kong and I was really looking forward to it of course and wanted to document much of the trip with pictures. Well, what was that they said about, "the best laid plans of mice and men. . ."
Anyhow, HK was great and I was very glad I went. It has a bustling nightlife for the young and the skyline at night on the pier is just amazing. The subway system works just as well as the one in Taiwan so it's easy to get around. Shopping is just as popular, albeit a bit more expensive. The prices there are just as high as it is in the U.S. And, most importantly, it's diverse in population. Here's the part where I sort of miss white people.
The diversity in HK is mostly tourist generated. But the fact that it was under British rule for 99 years helped with the ethnic mix. In Taiwan, you'll be hard pressed to find anybody other than Taiwanese or Chinese people walking around. But in HK, I encountered lots of Middle Eastern, African, European, and Mainland Chinese people. And it didn't really dawn on me that I took living in America for granted until I was in HK because the melting pot phenomenon really is a phenomenon. There are pockets of places in the world that may be ethnically diverse, but not like it is in the U.S. where I can teach at schools where the population break down can be even amongst White, Hispanic, Black, and Asian people. If you go to Japan, you'll see Japanese people. The same goes for probably 90% if not more of the rest of the world. Don't quote me on that though. I mean, think about it. Living in Southern California is kind of unique in that sense right?
I have a good friend who bemoans the fact that Americans just aren't very cultured because we know so little about other countries' existence, cultures, traditions, customs. We think America is everything and are so Western focused that we think everything else is second class. I guess my question to him would be, if you were living say, in Argentina, and surrounded by 99% Argentinians, how much of the German culture would you really know or care to find out about?
At least in Southern California, for better or for worse, we have the opportunity to mix with other ethnicities right in our own backyard. That's better than most I would say. And I guess that's why I miss White people . . . but not really.
posted by Presto at 6:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home