DC

Most of you know that I am living in Washington, DC next semester. Syracuse University has a program there where the students live in DC and take political classes at night so they can get an internship during the day. I just accepted a job offer to work for my top choice, US Campaign for Burma! I am so excited to get an internship with an organization I really want to work for - it's a great fit for my research and career interests, and I am finally pumped about living in DC next semester, now that I have an internship I really want :)

Burma!

Last week I went to Burma, the country I've wanted to visit since I was a little kid. It was AMAZING. I went alone so I hired a guide, who was great - he spoke English really well and took me to a lot of places off the beaten tourist path, as well as some of the major attractions. I went to three cities, Yangon (biggest), Mandalay (second biggest), and Bagan (amazing archaelogical ruins). I went to factories and markets and villages, rode a boat down the Irrawaddy River and took an overnight local bus (and had to go through government security checkpoints). A lot of people were worried about me going there alone, but I never felt unsafe and I would recommend the country to anyone as an amazing destination. It has almost no tourists compared to the rest of SE Asia because of the military government, but it is relatively easy to stay in private hotels and use private travel companies and restaurants, so you can really limit the amount of money that goes to the junta. The people are amazing, and they seemed to really appreciate the fact that I came to visit - I think they like tourists because it shows that the West hasn't forgotten about them, despite the pointless sanctions that the US has put on the country. Frankly, the government is in power because of trade with China, so sanctions from the US do nothing to weaken the government and simply lessen the influence that the US has in the country. If our government didnt simply turn its back, maybe we would be able to negotiate with the military and help to get the country on the road to democracy. Anyway, that is my viewpoint - better to be moderate and make some slow progress than to be totally idealistic and just ignore one of the worst human rights violators in the world and hide under the premise of "sanctions," which are just lazy.

The country is gorgeous, the people are wonderful, and there are some truly amazing things you will never see in any other country. I took over a thousand pictures - enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027110&id=1325940161&l=50117d6704
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027123&id=1325940161&l=33702e46f9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027127&id=1325940161&l=49c89017fc
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027160&id=1325940161&l=758bd3a3f0
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027166&id=1325940161&l=85c6dca7eb

I come home in a little over a week! So excited, although I will be sad to leave my new home, Asia.

Cambodia

Last week I traveled to Cambodia with my mom. We went to Phnom Penh, the capitol city, where we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the Royal Palace, and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. This city was amazing, particularly all the bloody history from the Khmer Rouge era. I don't think there are many countries in recent history that have suffered as much as Cambodia has in the past 35 years. Then we went to Siem Reap, a town close to Angkor Wat and the hundreds of other temples in the area. We spent three days exploring the temples to the point of exhaustion, shopping at night markets, chilling by the pool, horseback riding through the countryside, being swindled by the boat people living on the Tonle Sap lake, and falling in love with Cambodia.

Pics here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026414&id=1325940161&l=de0ca8b69a
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026422&id=1325940161&l=0d0af51d4f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026487&id=1325940161&l=7ea7b4a5bb
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026504&id=1325940161&l=d576d51e61 (not done)

Early tomorrow morning I am flying to Burma and am traveling through the country for a week. Talk to you all when I get back! :)

Vietnam

I got back from Vietnam yesterday - what an amazing country! We went to Ho Chi Minh City where I saw the Cao Daism Holy See, the Cu Chi Tunnels from the war, went to the War Museum, saw the Reunification Palace, went to a huge indoor market, ate pho and goat meat, and shot an AK47 :) Then we went to the capital city of Hanoi and visited the prison where POWs were held in the War (including John McCain), saw some Chinese temples and Catholic Cathedrals, saw a water puppet show, ate gelato and shopped for warm clothes (it's cold in the north!) The next day we went on a boat trip in Ha Long Bay, where we kayaked and swam and slept overnight on the boat - it was cold and cloudy but the bay is beautiful and so strange looking. Pictures are here!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025562&id=1325940161&l=e9824e0983
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025579&id=1325940161&l=8424cf5dde
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025627&id=1325940161&l=2ee4508466
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025628&id=1325940161&l=4b9271ebf9

I have a little cold now (it was bound to happen) so I am trying to get over it by the time Mom comes out tomorrow. We have a few days in Hong Kong before going to Cambodia - I am so excited to continue exploring Southeast Asia! I never want to leave this place

Classes are Over!

This week was finals week, and yesterday was my last day of classes for the semester! Now I have six weeks off to write a paper and relax and travel and enjoy living in Asia :) I am flying to Vietnam tonight and will be there for a week - going to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. Then when I get back I have two days before Mom comes out and we go to Cambodia :)

Waterfall Hike

Hi!

This weekend I went hiking in the New Territories, which is the northern section of Hong Kong. The hike was quite challenging, about 6 hours, and we went to five different waterfalls. It was so nice to be back in the woods after spending so much time living and traveling in cities - I hadn't noticed how used to city life I got until I was back in nature! I'm pretty sore even a couple days after, but I love the fact that these amazing hiking trails through the mountains are only a 40 minute train ride outside of the city :)

Pics here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024019&id=1325940161&l=915b740ebd
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024184&id=1325940161&l=4f50340815

In less than two weeks from now I'll be flying to Vietnam!

Macau

This weekend I went to Macau with some of my guy friends. They went to go see a tennis match, but I went off on my own to explore the city. I went to the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Old Portuguese Fort, the town square and park and the Old Protestant Cemetary. Then I met up with my friends at the casinos for a night of gambling - I ended up winning $75 playing Texas Hold'em :) Pictures are here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023536&id=1325940161&l=70b72154ed
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023560&id=1325940161&l=fb6448702c

Thailand!

Hi everyone,

So this weekend I went to Bangkok, Thailand. It was my first trip ever to Southeast Asia, the region that I have been obsessed with since I starting caring about politics. It was also the first independent, international trip I have ever planned by myself. It was AMAZING.

I flew Emirates Air with my friend Spencer, who was traveling with me - I highly recommend this airline to anyone who has the option of flying it. The flight attendants were really friendly and I think they enjoyed our company - we were sitting in the very back row of the plane, so we could hear them talking about the stupid passengers who wouldn't sit down and stuff. We started talking to two of them and they were really nice - one was from Ireland, the other from Jordan. They gave us tips about where to go for food and bars and stuff. The flight was only about two and a half hours, so we landed in Bangkok around midnight on Friday.

On Friday we got up early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and took a tuk-tuk to some of the sights (Big Buddha and Gold Buddha) before we went to the Grand Palace. That place is incredible. I have never seen such beautiful, diverse architecture in one place. We spent about two hours there (despite some heavy showers) and got a lot of gorgeous pictures. After that we went to the hotel, showered, and took another tuk-tuk to a street with a bunch of restaurants. We found a streetside restaurant and got delicious curry seafood with rice - dinner and drinks for the two of us was $10 USD total :) Then we went out on the town.

The next day we got a little bit lost in Bangkok. Wandering around, we found some random temples that were definitely NOT tourist traps - one had a pen full of alligators (random), the other had a gorgeous temple with a huge golden Buddha inside. We sat there for a few minutes and then monks and nuns started coming in, and before we knew it they were all praying. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. After staying there for about an hour, we walked around some more and found a night market, where we bought lucky amulets. I also stopped at a street hawker and bought a bag of snacks - giant grilled insects. Yum! After that we went to Khao San Road, the expat bar area, and bar-hopped a little before calling it a night.

On Sunday we got up and got Thai massages (soooo nice - half hour massage for $5 USD!) before hopping on our plane. When we got to the airport, the nice lady at Emirates Air informed us that we had been bumped up to business class. We got invitations to the lounge, where we waited for our plane in style while enjoying free snacks and drinks, and then got onto the plane where we had amazing, huge, reclining, massaging seats. I will never fly economy again!

Sooo Thailand is my favorite country that I've ever been to. Everyone should go. Pics are here!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022993&id=1325940161&l=1c53ed93ee
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023064&id=1325940161&l=1ec960ffbb
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023126&id=1325940161&l=76e268bef7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023128&id=1325940161&l=f1d612e08e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023132&id=1325940161&l=bcd2524c98

I'm on a boat!

Yesterday about 30 of us rented a boat for eight hours and went around Hong Kong harbor and the outlying islands. We anchored close to a couple islands and jumped off the top of the boat, swimming in the ocean next to the boat and in to the beaches on the islands nearby. It was wicked fun!

Link to the pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022396&id=1325940161&l=464f2dd53b

Why Hong Kong is the best city in the world

http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/none/worlds-greatest-city-hong-kong-576599

Mid-Autumn Festival, Fire Dragon Dance, and Festival of the Monkey God

This weekend was huge for festivals! Last night I went to the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Fire Dragon Dance - they were amazing. For Mid-Autumn Festival we went to Victoria Park, and there were thousands of families picnicking with their lanterns, burning candles and eating mooncakes to celebrate the biggest harvest moon of the year. It was really cool to see all the people celebrating - the little kids had cute lanterns, like airplanes or hello kitty. After that was the Fire Dragon Dance, which is a tradition in the Tai Hang district of Hong Kong. One hundred years ago, the legend says, there was a typhoon and a plague in the fishing and farming village of Tai Hang and all the crops were destroyed. After that a python, the son of the dragon king, came and ate all the village livestock. To fight the plague, the village youth made a huge dragon out of straw and covered it with burning incense, dancing it through the streets for three days and three nights during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The plague disappeared, so the town reenacts the dance every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was so cool last night I'm going back again for the final night - supposedly the third night of the Dance is pretty crazy! Pictures of the Mid-Autumn Festival and Fire Dragon Dance here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021900&id=1325940161&l=016d2cc353

I also tried to go to the Festival of the Monkey God this morning, but it's really obscure, and I couldn't find it. Ended up wandering around Hong Kong for a few hours - here are my pics from that adventure:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021958&id=1325940161&l=7d9af2ab76

Also, here are pics of my new haircut!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30409522&l=9f1d8177bf&id=1325940161
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30409523&l=c3f676ec1e&id=1325940161

National Day and haircut

Hi everyone!

Yesterday was Chinese National Day, the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. We had the day off from school and went to a carnival and then to see the fireworks over the Hong Kong skyline - check out my pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021816&id=1325940161&l=4216a89e62

Afterward we went out to Wan Chai District and found a really fun bar - there was a Philipino band playing ALL my favorite bands - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Bob Marley, Radiohead, Kings of Leon, etc. I was the girl standing at the front of the stage singing along to the songs as if they were the real bands - definitely the life of the bar. I chatted with the guitarist and keyboardist between sets, and they actually dedicated a song to me by name ("This song is for our new friend Nicole") during the next set (It was Three Little Birds by Bob Marley). I was pretty excited, because I've never had a song dedicated to me by a band before. Then the keyboardist asked for my number "so we could share musicians we like." Yeah, ok. Guess I'm becoming a Hong Kong cover band groupie? The bar was so great, I ended up staying out until 5 am :-X Definitely going back next weekend!

In other news, I got my hair cut this week! I cut off about four inches, so for those of you who knew how long my hair was, it's a LOT shorter (a little past shoulder length). I also got bangs. I really like it! I love long hair, but it's hard to take care of (mine especially, it could be pretty wild). It's a relief to have hair short enough that it styles itself in the morning (not like I ever took the time to style my long hair). I'll put pictures up once I get some cute ones :) The haircuts here are great though - I paid $12 American for them to cut and style my hair to look just like the picture I brought in (a Victorias Secret model of course - my stylist laughed out loud) and they gave me a head massage too. Not to bad. I recommend getting your hair cut in Hong Kong if you are out here and are willing to take a risk with a stylist who doesnt speak English - luckily mine spoke a good amount, and understood some of the Mandarin I said to him as well. Definitely glad I brought a picture in though.

Tomorrow is the mid-autumn festival, which is a celebration of the full harvest moon. Everyone brings their lanterns to the park or the beach and eats mooncakes. Then Saturday and Sunday nights are the Fire Dragon Festival, which I'm going to, and Sunday is the Festival of the Monkey God. Pictures forthcoming!

Thailand

I just booked a weekend trip to Thailand in October! My friend(s) and I are flying to Bangkok on Thursday after class and coming back on Sunday. I'm so excited - it's my first trip to Southeast Asia, the region I have been dying to go to since forever, and it's less than a month away! I have to start figuring out what we should do and where we should go when we are there. My friend knows someone living in Bangkok too, so we will have an expat American showing us around the city. Cannot wait! Then about a month later I will be going to Cambodia with Mom - that trip is going to be amazing.

How is it that the more trips I book, the more trips I want to plan? Heading back to Expedia now to see what I can scrounge up...

English Language Mentoring

I forgot to mention that I have volunteered at the English Language Center as an English mentor - they wanted native English speakers to meet with groups of City University students each week to just chat in English and help the students to improve their English and feel more comfortable speaking with a native speaker. I met with my group this week and they're really nice - I have a girl from Hong Kong and two guys from mainland China. They were a little intimidated by me at first I think, but I took out my Chinese book and showed them what I was learning - they thought it was hysterical that I was learning such easy stuff, and I think it loosened them up about speaking with me (I told them, "your English is way better than my Chinese!") We are planning on doing different activities over the semester - playing table tennis, going out to lunch, taking a tram up to the Peak, and watching Friends. There's also going to be a BIG Halloween party, which I'm really excited about - I was really sad to be missing Halloween, so I'm glad I'll have an excuse to dress up. It will be fun to help the Chinese students dress up for their first Halloween :) Next week my group decided to play Pictionary. They don't know what they're going up against...

Happy Valley

On Wednesday night my friend Mo and I went to Happy Valley Racecourse to watch the night horse racing. It was so cool! It was the first night of racing for the season, so there were a ton of people there, gambling and having a good time. We gambled a little and took a ton of pictures - I have never seen horse racing at night under lights before, and it's so cool. Anyone who has never gone has to!

You can find pictures from that night here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020758&id=1325940161&l=51f4456e27

I also took videos of the races, which you can watch here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1325940161#/video/video.php?v=1134361922336
http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1325940161#/video/video.php?v=1134363002363

Typhoon Kappu

Hi everyone,

Right now I'm sitting inside listening to the storm outside - Typhoon Kappu is supposed to hit HK directly tonight, and right now a level 8 typhoon warning has been hoisted. If it's still up in the morning classes get cancelled - so hopefully the storm lasts til morning!

My classes have been good, although we had class on Saturday this weekend to make up for a break we're having in October (I don't know why). I'm taking four classes this semester:

Chinese
Southeast Asia in the World Political Economy
Money and Banking
International Economic Relations

I really like all of them - Chinese is really fun, and I'm especially excited about the Southeast Asia class because of all the traveling I want to do there. This weekend, other than having classes on Saturday, I went swimming at the pool - everyone who knows me knows that I HATE swimming, but my friend was going and I figured I needed the exercise. After a few pointers I was even doing a passable freestyle. I think I might go back a few times this week - it's the only exercise I can do in this heat that I don't sweat in! This coming weekend I might try to explore the beaches and the harbors here, and maybe go hiking in the mountains (although I think I might just wait til the temperature drops below 90 every day!)

Zai jian! (See you soon!)

I <3 Ladies Market

Everyone,

Jump on a plane right now, fly to Hong Kong, and go straight to the Ladies Market. I am the queen of haggling and flea markets, so I was blown away this afternoon when my roommate and I went to Tung Choi Street to look for some shoes and bags. I got a wicked cute pair of high heeled sandals for $90 HKD (about $12 US), she got a bag, and we both got some tank tops and dresses for going out. I also got a gorgeous oil painting of the Hong Kong skyline - I love it. Probably going to go back tomorrow, because the dress I bought is blue and I realized once I got back that everything I own is blue. It will take some major willpower for me to not buy more! Luckily I'll be here for a few more months, so I have time to frequent my new favorite place in HK :)

First day of classes

Today was my first day of classes at City University. I had Mandarin - this is going to be interesting. I am ok with remembering words and characters, but my pronounciation is a little off. Luckily I have the class every day for two hours, so I'm hoping that means I won't forget anything. After class I went to the mall - the school's MTR stop is located in the biggest mall I've ever seen, although apparently it's pretty dinky by Hong Kong standards. The salespeople in China are a lot more attentive than in the States - every store I had three people following me, holding things up for me, and trying to wait on me hand and foot. In one shoe store, the saleswoman asked me if I was a student, and we ended up chatting for 10 minutes. People here are really friendly to foreigners, much more so than in China. In China they stare at you, but its more like you're an animal in a zoo than an interesting person.

Tomorrow I have International Economic Relations in the morning and then Mandarin in the afternoon. After that my roommate and I are going to the Ladies Street Market to buy shoes - I hope I find something cute and cheap :)

Back from Mainland China

Hello everyone!

It's been over two weeks since my last post, and I've been wicked busy traveling around mainland China. It was a really amazing experience, but I am so glad to be back! Going two weeks without access to Facebook or my blog (because the Chinese government has blocked them - apparently my blog is subversive!) was really tough, so its nice to be back in contact with everyone. I took a ton of pictures, which you can see at these links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019313&id=1325940161&l=1688ebe8c6

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019363&id=1325940161&l=1627a2d229

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019364&id=1325940161&l=a6860a5ef1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019374&id=1325940161&l=d7c7b6220f

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019375&id=1325940161&l=ddf1e9b540

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019376&id=1325940161&l=ead4aa04f8

These pictures will show you everything I did. I did way too much to recap here - seeing the terracotta soldiers, riding a bicycle on an ancient city wall, playing with kids in a village, haggling for silk and pearls in the markets, seeing the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, climbing the Great Wall, and clubbing in Shanghai. These are all the pictures I had on my camera, but my friends have pictures too that I will load later. Enjoy! It's good to be back :)

Leaving for China Tomorrow

The last couple days have been taken up with mostly administrative and orientation activities. The weather here is brutal - it's definitely hard for a Northern girl to get used to! I've been trying to get as much sleep as possible to rest up for my two weeks in mainland China starting tomorrow.

I am very excited to leave for China tomorrow! We will go to Xian (home of the Terracotta Warriors) first, then Beijing, and finally Shanghai by train. I am excited to finally start seeing the countryside of China, as well as the major sightseeing destinations. I will be bringing my laptop, so hopefully Internet access in the hotels is good enough that I can update my blog and stay in contact with people. We shall see! I will be returning to Hong Kong on September 3, and start classes on September 7.

Better

Phew. I got the correct adaptor, so my computer works. Haven't yet been able to talk to anyone, but it's still morning in the US. I also got an international phone but cannot for the life of me figure out how to dial to the US. It's ridiculous how difficult it is to communicate internationally!

Here are the pictures I took at Victoria's Peak today. This city is AMAZING. I am dying to see the skyline at night.

Things I've learned so far:

1) 7/11 in Hong Kong is like God's gift to everyone. You can buy literally everything in 7/11 - SIM cards for your phone, booze, top ups for your Octopus card, Haagen Daas, Chinese style hot dogs - you name it.
2) Dim sum, my favorite Chinese food, means "to touch your heart," because it's so delicious
3) 30% of Hong Kong residents live in government subsidized housing
4) Chinese soap operas are very shrill and hilarious

That's all I can remember for now. I posted pictures from Victoria Peak, which you can see here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018073&id=1325940161&saved#/album.php?aid=2018073&id=1325940161&ref=mf

Tomorrow I am touring City University with my Chinese student ambassadors, Nicole and Blueky (apparently Blueky wanted his American name to mean "Blue Sky," but our language doesn't combine words the way Chinese does. So now he's stuck with the name Blueky, which sounds like a species of whale).

Super frustrated

I am so mad about the stupid converter. The adaptor/converter I brought only has two plugs, and every plug I own needs three. NO ONE here sells adaptors with three plugs. How am I supposed to use my laptop? My roommate has a mac, so I'm using her computer, but its sort of a necessity for me to have my own computer. I havent talked to anyone in like three days :(

Hong Kong is wicked hot. Apparently Hong Kong in Chinese means "fragrant harbor." It is. We went up to Victoria Peak today to see the skyline - it was amazing, and I want to go back up at night. We were taking a group picture and a bunch of Chinese people started taking pictures of us because we were a bunch of Americans together. How exciting. We went for a dim sum lunch, which is like my favorite Chinese food, and then ran errands around Kowloon Tong. I bought an international cell phone, and my new number is (852) 914-44270. I think. Let's see if it works.

I have some pretty cool/funny pictures, which I will post later (when I get actually get my own computer to work). Not really sure what I'm going to do about this. How am I the only person with this problem?

In Hong Kong

Hi everyone,

After 24 hours of traveling and a 16 hour flight, I am in Hong Kong! I am frustrated with the internet - I cannot plug my computer into the adaptors I have, so I have to buy new converters tomorrow. I also cannot seem to get in touch with anyone or check my email other than my Gmail account (for some reason Google is the only site that works?) If you have sent me emails I have not received them - I have no clue if and when the internet will let me get to hotmail, so if you want, forward your emails to naloring@gmail.com

The flight wasn't as bad as it sounds - the meals were pretty good, it was open bar, and there were hundreds of movies. The flight attendants also handed out complimentary socks (?) We had to go through thermal body imaging to get into the country but luckily none of us had swine flu. The city itself is a little overwhelming - we were walking arround at midnight on a Monday night and the streets were so bright with neon it was like daytime. Flying into the city was gorgeous - the sky and clouds and water were all this inky blue, and there were pinpricks of light from the skyscrapers and boats, and it reminded me a little bit of the Peter Pan ride at Disney World. Except with swine flu.

More to come. Hoping that tomorrow will bring a plug and better internet for my computer, and an international phone so I can call my family and boyfriend! I miss you already :(

Down to the Wire

I leave in two days! The next 48 hours will have me busy trying to pack last minute and squeezing in time with my family and Andy. Hopefully I will be able to navigate JFK on Sunday...I'm more worried about that then anything else on the trip!

Welcome - Pre-departure

Hello friends and family,

I wanted to keep you all updated with what is going on in my life, as I will be studying abroad in Hong Kong during the fall 2009 semester. This blog will serve as a travel journal of sorts, so you all can all see what I am up to, where I have gone, and how I am doing as I travel halfway around the world.

I fly to Hong Kong in two weeks - wish me luck!