Coming Soon: NEPAL

until i can get myself organised, no pictures or updates but watch the space for some soon.

however, i am back in hong kong and it is almost like it never happened.  my life, it seems, is all about planning my next trip.  when i moved to hong kong, people said to me, "hong kong is great - you can travel so easily."  and i thought, 'how odd that a good thing about hong kong is that you can leave it easily and cheaply.  however, i fully understand the meaning of that statement now.  hong kong is like a weird bubble and in order to keep sane, leaving it is the only option.

we landed early early on monday morning and i was immediately welcomed back to the land of the (quiet possibly) most rude humans.  the nepalese were so nice, friendly and i admired their jovial dispositions and making do with what they had despite from my standards would be considered meager (i.e. no electricity for most of the day and night).

however, while reading the ft during my lunch break as i so often do, i was reading about the escalating issues in asia pacific especially in the waters and/or when it has anything military in nature.  it seems china is fighting with everyone - japan, the us for helping the taiwanese and now the filipinos.  here is a quote that i thought exemplified the culture here:  "China should take “smart and devious revenge”, advised Major General Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the academy of military sciences. He went on to demand “a tooth for a tooth from those who violate China’s interests”, suggesting his country learn from Russia and deploy missiles against America."

typical.

when i am not getting on with my family, friends, boyfriend, colleagues, etc. - i stop and ask, 'is it ALL of these people or me?  i am the only control factor in these situations so it has got to be me.'  i think its time for china to ask themselves that question.  however, sadly, i dont think they give a flying fig what the answer is.

i post this as this is the culture i live in.  it is a struggle and gives birth to all sorts of dislikes, peeves and even racial judgements.  speaking with another expat recently, living here has a tendency to make one more racist versus open-minded.  it is very much an 'us versus them' kind of mentality regardless of what side of the 'us' you land on.  it does not make it ok but there is no attempt to integrate or respect each other.  people can judge america but the america i know (i.e. manhattan) people are at the very bare minimum tolerated.  there is no tolerance here between the two tribes.  nor do i see any effort in trying to change.

dont get me wrong, there are personal friends who are of chinese background whom i care about and get on with quite well.  however, they seem to be the small exceptions to the rule.  there are billions who just seem fine with sptting at you, walking into you, shouting as loud as possible, not washing their hands after using the toilet, stabbing you in the back at work, trying to steal your mate without a blink of conscience, etc.

i think ive posted it before, but its still a winner.  one partner said to me "the chinese have a saying.  'we'd rather stab you in the back than punch you in the face.'"

glorious.