Monday, May 14, 2007  3:21 AM
Summer
Signs that I'm in the midst of summer in Hong Kong (since this is the first time I'm experiencing a change in season, the weather suddenly deserves some mention):
1) I really miss my winter outfits. 2) My suede boots have gone mouldy. 3) My room is perpetually air-conditioned and my air-conditioning bills have shot up by 300%. 4) My American friend Ly still has my scarf but I find no urge to get it back from her. 5) Summer launches are everywhere on the streets, from Mongkok to Zara - trust me, sunny yellows, olive greens, whites and royal blues are the it colours this summer. 6) My skin is getting worse. 7) Beach outings are made a sudden possibility. 8) The climb up that mountain of a hill to my room has significantly more tedious. 9) I have to add HK$2 more all the time now for cold drinks at the usual Hong Kong-style cafes because it is impossible to have hot drinks in this heat. 10) You notice all the big curly hair the girls in Hong Kong get during the winter suddenly turning straight and flat under the intense treatment of the straightening iron. Simply because big curly hair suits the trenchcoat look so much better. Who wants that mop on your head when it's already so hot? I love living in a country with four seasons. Life gets more interesting, wardrobes are allowed to expand four times the normal size and there's actually reason for weather reports. Meanwhile, my lack of updates has to do with trying to study for my literature exam tomorrow. Admittedly, studying is an almost impossible feat in Hong Kong because the mood here does not promote sitting in the library (which reeks of death) for ten hours straight. Instead, my mind is on the possibility of an overnight ktv session the night before my paper. My dad would flip. He calls me regularly to ask if I'm "shopping or studying". Most of the time, I feel sorry to tell him I'm doing the former. I wonder what his reaction would be if he finds out I'm choosing to do ridiculous posts on the weather change instead of reading my Shakespeare extracts.
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Thursday, May 03, 2007 3:59 AM
From a basement in Taipei
In Taipei, and currently sitting in the basement of the hostel we're living in with the flatscreen screening AC Milan versus Man United. Our 7-person room looks exactly out of the pages of the Ikea bedroom I've always wanted with the bright, colourful prints on its bedsheets and comforters, and round lantern-shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling.
The hostel feels exactly like home. I sleep on the lower bunk like that of my bedroom back home, and the feeling of being in that cocoon lulls me to sleep easily. And once you step out of the bedroom emerges a living room with couches, books, board games, playing cards and the flatscreen television with a collection of DVDs. For its dirt-cheap price, this is probably going to be the only place I'm ever staying when I visit Taipei.
I like the life I'm leading now, the freedom I'm getting and how much of the world I'm seeing. Staying in this place and talking to Finnish and Japanese people at 3am in the morning about the future and Singapore's government makes me feel like I'm really an adult now. And it surprised me how much stored knowledge I actually have in my head that I never make use of until I have intellectual conversations with these other backpackers.
The trip's been pretty good so far. Today was the highlight of the last three days for me with the trip up to the gorgeous Yangmingshan and running through the rows and rows of lilies. I'll do an update about the trip with pictures soon.
Currently, AC Milan leads 2-0. Two watching the game intently on opposite camps, and one not being very happy about the score. I watch this match just for Kaka.
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