A little description about this blog

My name is Benny Chan, Chinese, in my mid-30s. I was a foreign student in the United States for 7 years. After I finally graduated from my master's degree in June 2009, I decided that it's about time to return to my home in Hong Kong. However, instead of taking a 15 hours direct flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, I took a much longer and much more interesting detour via Peru, Chile and Australia to go home. I departed from the US on Sep 28, and arrived home in Hong Kong on Nov 26. This almost 2-months backpacking journey in its entirety has been documented in this blog, from the day I started the preparation of my return to the day I was sitting in my room in Hong Kong looking for job. It covered all the funs, problems, and emotions I had on the road, before and after the trip. I intended to keep this blog available online partly as a memory for myself, but also for those travelers who are doing the similar kind of trip or soul searching journey. Perhaps you compare notes with what I encountered.

To start reading from the preparation... HERE

To start reading from the beginning of the trip... HERE

By Day
Day 0, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11,
Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Day 22,
Day 23, Day 24, Day 25, Day 26, Day 27, Day 28, Day 29, Day 30, Day 31, Day 32, Day 33,
Day 34, Day 35, Day 36, Day 37, Day 38, Day 39, Day 40, Day 41, Day 42, Day 43, Day 44,
Day 45, Day 46, Day 47, Day 48, Day 49, Day 50, Day 51, Day 52, Day 53, Day 54, Day 55,
Day 56, Day 57, Day 58, Day 59


By Place:
- Lima, Peru | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3

- Cuzco & The Sacred Valley, Peru | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

- Machu Picchu, Peru | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3

- Puno (Lake Titicaca), Peru | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

- Arequipa & Colca Canyon, Peru | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

- Tacna, Peru | Arrival | Photo Album

- Arica, Chile | Arrival | Photo Album

- San Pedro de Atacama (Atacama Desert), Chile | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4

- Valparaiso, Chile | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4

- Santiago, Chile | Arrival: 1, 2, 3 | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4

- Easter Island, Chile | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

- Sydney, Australia | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

- Hong Kong, China | Arrival | Photo Albums: 1, 2

PDF:
Want a downloadable PDF version of the blog, shoot me an email, I will send you the link. :)

The first job interview in HK since 1999

A week from now, I will be back home in Hong Kong for a month already. It seem like it has been just a blink of an eye, feels totally weird, but at the same times, it's kind of like things around me becoming more "real". You know, at first it's kind of dreamy, am I really here? Not exactly sure what I should be doing everyday. I couldn't even get my shower pattern back on track. Sometimes I shower in the morning, sometimes afternoon, sometimes at night. There is no regularity. Be honest, I am still trying to get that fixed. I mean, I am not exactly retired and the last thing I want is allowing myself to become lazier and lazier. So a daily schedule will do me good.

Time does really fly though, I admit. It's Xmas in a week. Looks like we gonna have a cooler X'mas, "cooler" as in HK standard, which is around 50-60F. Be honest, when you don't have heater or central heating to maintain the temperature, it can be chilly. Some of my friends do use those portable heaters, but my family don't. I don't know if I really need it, I should just put on a long pant, my mom would say.

By the way, all my shipped stuffs arrived and delivered. I have found my Hong Kong identification card back. Apparently, before I went to South America, I decided that I should not be carrying so many cards and junks in my wallet, so I took everything out, including my HK ID, for whatever reasons. I wasn't really thinking straight, I suppose. Anyway, I am glad that I have found it back, and do not spend more money to have it replaced. All my CD/DVDs, books, clothes, shoes are found their home in my tiny room. You will be amazed how those 7 boxes of stuffs be putted away inside my room, and I still have a bed to sleep, a table to work and some rooms to move around in this no bigger than 7x7 sq ft room.

Yesterday, I had my first job interview. It was actually for the first application I sent out two weeks ago. They asked to fill a form and answer a few exam type kind of question (to see if I can really do statistics), and then they wanted to meet me. It was a western woman whom I met, she was extremely friendly. We actually spent the first 5 mins talking about traveling. She loves traveling too and have been to some of the places I have visited in South America. So, that was a good start. It's a really small company, only 6 persons, one of them is even located in the UK. They don't have an office, and if they will hire me. I'll be doing the work at home. That's completely new to me and I am not sure if that's good or not yet really, for a person who just says he wants some regularity. The title is business analyst / biostatistician, doing healthcare-related forecast, analysis, building models..etc. My role will mainly focus on epidemiology at the beginning. In US and Europe, there are already well-established companies doing these stuffs and have well-maintain databases built. But in the emerging countries, this area is still very much underdeveloped. So, on the surface, I really think it could be a really good direction for me to go and get myself into. But at the same time, I have no background in healthcare or even biostatistics at all. It will be a tough job to do, especially since the company is so small and have no office, you are pretty much on your own right off the back. That's my concern whether I can really meet their expectation. I mean, not trying to beat up myself, in Statistics field, I am a "fresh" graduate without any previous relevant experience. Anyway, a friend is saying I am thinking too much (do you just know me? of course I am), I should just see if they'd hire me, and then I think about I'd take or not. I guess. The woman at the interview seemed to be really happy with my academic background and previous employment references. That might be a good sign. And we talked for 90 mins! That ought to be the longest job interview I have ever had in HK.

One of my biggest problem right now is that I am not sure at all how much I should ask for. Unlike the US, it's easy to find a list of median wages or a rough guide for pretty much for all positions. Here there are some, but not a lot. Positions, confusing like "business analyst", it can be anything from an insurance salesman to an analyst in a financial institute. I don't want to be asking too high, nor do I want to get an office assistant salary and doing statistical analysis. I am not a greedy person, I just want a fair salary, whatever this position should be worth in this market then I just take it, although a capitalist society never works that way, does it? I guess I'll find out how much I am worth when I will finally find a job.

Just for the record, my last job interview in Hong Kong before this one was actually a decade ago, in 1999. I think I did ok with the interview really, partly because she was an western woman instead of a chinese woman. I am afraid of chinese female interviewers, they should be featuring in the Simpson's horrortree's episodes.

Finally, I must announce that this will be the last newsletter from my travel blog. I will set up a new blog very very soon, I am debating on the name right now, it will be about my daily life in Hong Kong, I suppose. If you are interested to still hear from this little pal of yours, please let me know. So, I'd add you on the distribution list. I will probably connect with some of you on Facebook too. For those who lives in Hong Kong, I probably won't be sending you the blog anymore. You'll probably have enough seeing me all the times anyway.

Last but not least, thank you so much for being a friend and I am glad that I have shared my South America to you all, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did. Wherever you are, keep in touch. Good luck to you all!

Photos here: Hong Kong (Misc Photos)

From a traveler to a resident

Slowly as it is, I am transforming from a traveler to a resident here at home in Hong Kong. Last night, I think it has been the first night I slept 8 hours straight without waking up in the middle of the night. Maybe I was just too tired, or I have finally started to filter out the noises, a little more everyday anyway. My room has become more livable, now I have a desk, a bookcase which I already half filled, even though my stuffs shipped from the US has not arrived yet. I have no idea what I'll do when it does, where and how to keep my stuffs in this tiny room. I'll figure something out.

Before I came back, I thought I would be very glad to eat at home, to taste my parents' cooking. But it's very strange to say, I have started to miss cooking for myself. I miss going to shop for foods in the supermarket, and prepare dinner for myself, even though I can only cook a very limited variety of things and they are not very good either. It's that autonomy in making your own decision, choosing something for yourself without compromising. I think I really miss that. I mean, I have no complaint about the food at home at all, and it's not like my parents controlling what I can do per se, but it is just different between living on your own or with a non-related roommate and living with your parents. So, I still say I'll keep my goal to move out as soon as I can afford it.

Curt, my roommate in Chicago, were here to visit for a weekend, we had dinner last Thursday and Saturday. It was great seeing Curt. Make me miss Chicago more, in a good way. Last night, a friend and I went to see a Volleyball match for the East Asian Games: China vs Taiwan! China won. 3 sets straight. A quick game. It is an interesting experience. Except soccer, I have never really gone to any other sport games in HK before. In US, I saw the baseball and hockey games a couple times. The difference between sport games in US and HK: in US, everyone get drunk, talk loud to each other, cheer and boo at their team at the same time, it's a social event, the sport itself is important, but there is also a social thing going on in the audience that has nothing to do with the sport. While in HK, the audience are usually more tamed, very focused in the game, and the stupid MC makes you play the silly human waves around the stadium, kind of shit. The cheers are usually positive, and no beers or nachos in the stadium.

I have officially sent out my first job application letter (email) today. It is for a Business Analyst/Biostatistician position for a healthcare forecasting company. Honestly, I doubt that I will be able to get this job, not because I don't have any experience in biostatistics or working with medical data, but it's because I haven't had a job interview for a million years, I think it will take me a few times to get back to the game. I am still reworking on my cover letter format anyway, I have a long list of sound bites that can be used to describe myself. I am trying to write a piece that is not too lengthy or self-deluding (yeah right, it's freaking cover letter!), but at the same time, have the right amount of indigents to promote myself. We'll see how it goes. But to start is the first place, I am glad the first letter is out, the next thing I'll do is to contact some employment search firms this week.

Just a head up. I probably will end this travel blog very soon, as the title suggests, I am no longer a traveler. But I will probably open and keep a personal blog, to keep a journal on my bittersweet daily life here in HK. I shall invite you to see the new site soon.

Photos here: East Asian Game

Settling in yet... not really but getting there

Been back to Hong Kong for 4 days now, I am sitting here in my living room at 2:30pm in the afternoon, waiting for the cable guy to arrive to set up the internet for me. Quite frankly, I can't wait. It will give me so much more to do in the days and nights, to research for job, to get my resume ready, to check email, or just to chat with friends. Like all technology, soon enough we become so dependent on it, now without internet for days, almost feel like I am disabled. Quite scary that way really. Want to quit it, but so hard. :)

Things are getting in places slowly, while money is drifting away rapidly. I have got a bookcase and a desk from IKEA, a coffee press from Starbucks, a new pillow and other necessities for my room, also a new cell phone number without the cell phone from One2Free. I just use my old phone from the US, do need to pay a fee to unlock it (since all phones from the US are shamelessly locked to avoid you to use other providers' sim cards, here we don't have that restriction). I need to sign a one year contract with the phone company though even though I just open an account for the number, quite annoying really. The internet should be ready today as well, it's a 2 years freaking contract. Everything requires a contract, tied you up for life if they can, a legal way to practice slavery. Now, I am just waiting for the furniture to be delivered on Wednesday and my stuffs from the US to arrive in 2 weeks. Then I should be able to begin my "new" life here.

Still haven't found a local bank to open an account. Originally, I plan to use Bank of America here, since all my money in the US side is in BOA. I thought it might be more convenient to transfer money if I have another account in their Hong Kong branch. However, turn out the retail banking sector is no longer existed in Hong Kong. They sold to some other banks, so my big plan does not work. I can still get my money from ATM machines, just need to get a couple hundreds US dollar at a time and do it for a week or two (because there is a daily limit how much you can withdraw). Then, I will deposit my money back to a local bank, I feel like money laundering, but not really, it's my own money! I try to choose the local bank carefully, since they all have fees and restrictions written in small print under the table right by the thighs. Besides, the culture here is very strange, banks often links with retailers, and they get a certain advantages at a certain places. It is quite confusing and complex if you really dig it. But for me, I just want to choose one that is not the least favorable.

After I put the furnitures up this Wednesday, I'll take some picture of my room.

Culture shock in my own country

On my first night in Hong Kong, after a long flight, I went to bed around midnight. Being in my own room, but I felt like sleeping in a strange bed. By 4:30am or 5:00am, I got awaken by the traffic noises coming in from my windows. I just lay there for a couple hours and couldn't get back to sleep. I think I have forgotten how noisy Hong Kong is. I can already foresee that I will have a week or two rough night sleeps, and then my body gets really tired, eventually I naturally adjust back to this environment. When I first moved to the US, the silence in the evenings gave ringings in my ears. After a week or two, my body started to get used to it.

I have expected that it will take me a while to get used to the pace of Hong Kong anyway, even though I lived here for 26 years before I headed to study in the US and I have still remained connections with many individuals here over the past few years. However, the lifestyle of Hong Kong is rather different than Chicago's. Perhaps in the whole world, there are really only a very few cities that can compare with the fast pace of lifestyle in Hong Kong. Grab, eat, drink, work, talk, sleep, have fun... all at once. We have small spaces, but with lots of people. When you live here, you begin to create your own space internally to get away from the white noise surrounding you.

I manage to clear up the room a bit, where has stored many "old" stuffs. Both my parents are collectors of "antiques", but not from buying, nor are they worth anything. They are the old clothing and accessories of mine or my brother's, and their own stuffs that they would never use anymore. Actually, they don't throw stuffs away. So, when I moved out, it was just perfect that an extra room became available to store the old stuffs. My old hi-fi has been disconnected and kept at some high places in the house. My room has been repainted, and stuffed with plastic boxes of sheets and old clothes, discolored or with holes. Sounds like why wasting the space, right? Yep! I know, but my parents lived through the old days when they had nothing. I understand why, and usually I just pretend I don't see the boxes, or bags or whatever it is. Only when something's really rubbish and wasting the space I want to use, I just secretly throw those things away. I used to have some hanging shelves in my room, they are all gone now. Good and bad, I guess. I have a tons of books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, and many other stuffs were shipped by ocean fright from the US back here, they will be arriving very soon. I can probably buy the right furniture to accommodate them. However, this will cost some money. Intentionally, I reserve some money from my trip to spend in Hong Kong before I will be able to find a job. I was hoping the money will last me two to three months. But now I am not so sure. We'll see about that.

Find that without my Hong Kong ID card and any local credit card, things become very very inconvenient. I have gone to the local phone company to check the contract of my home land line which has expired for my mom. It was registered with my name previously. Anyway because I am unable to show the HK ID, they cannot provide me with any information, not even with my passport where they can find the same HK ID number shown in it. They say when you registered with a HK ID, you need to show that in order to do anything with the account. It is a privacy protection thing required by the government, but it becomes very inconvenient when I happen to have lost my ID. I try to open a new cell phone account and ask about getting internet, almost everywhere everything here are using credit cards, I mean most of the stuffs, you can still pay cash, but you just don't get any specific offers, extra benefits or have limited plans or options for you to choose. One of the banks I have visited even tells me that I need a HK ID to open an account. That's a freaking joke. The others are ok with a passport. At the end of my first day, I get some idea how I am going to do about my room and check around about a few stuffs such as cell phone, internet and some furniture choices. But I haven't gotten anything or made any solid decision yet.

My goal is to get a cell phone number, set up the internet and make my room more livable within a week, so maybe I can sleep better at nights and might feel more homey here. And my other stuffs should be arriving in 2 weeks, after that, my priority will shift to finding a job. Right now, I don't even have an extra pair of pants or shoes to wear. It is hard to feel like home really, but I try. Just hope the lack of HK ID and HK credit card will not cause me too big an obstacle for the coming days.

Day 59 : Sydney to Hong Kong

Wake up at 6:20am, I already packed most of the stuffs last night, so there is really not much to pack. Just make sure I haven't left anything behind, that's all. As usual, have some coffee and toast, take a shower before we leave the house at 8am. Take the ferry to Circular Quay where I will transfer to a train to the airport. Say goodbye to Robbie, thank him for welcoming me to his place. I am looking forward to seeing him again either in HK, Sydney or Canada if he is going to have a wedding there someday. I quite like Sydney, so I am sure I'll be back someday anyway.

I am taking a Qantas flight at noon today, there is a long line for international flights, but the line goes quicker at least. Have my bag checked, pass the customs, then I find myself a cafe to have a coffee and write my blog until boarding. The crying kids at the gate particularly annoy me, they are two brothers, one is hitting the others and telling him he is an idiot. That kids cannot be older than 3 years. The father is ordering the elder brother to stand by the wall, but he just cries his lungs out, and so does his younger brother who has just squeezed some water onto his brother's shirt before they start to fight. Both deserves some good handy spanky, in my opinion.

The flight is quite full, the attendant for my aisle is particularly absent-minded. She has forgot drinks, collecting trays for a few rows. She might as well forget where she is and start sleeping on the floor. Apart from her, the flight is smooth and the food is good. I watch a movie called Mao's Last Dancer, which Robbie just recommended me about a few days ago. It is indeed quite good, and it makes my eyes wet. It actually occurs in a moment kind of embarrassing: I am just so touched by the scene when the main character rejoin with his parents in the states, the tears are flooding in my eyes, while my kind neighbor happens to ask me if I want a piece of chocolate from her box at that time. I am like hold it, grab a piece of chocolate, say thanks, not dare to look at her. She is the friendly mom type. Another movie I watch is called The State Of Play, starring by Russell Crowe and Ben Afflick, about a political scandal, good acting but poor choice for a flight movie. After another 6 TV programs: four 30 Rock and two The Simpsons later, I literally have enough of TV and have to turn it off. Luckily, we are also arriving soon. I look out of the window, and see some green barren islands sticking out from the surface of the sea, like they have just dropped out from the sky. I can just recognize them right away, almost like the signature of Hong Kong really.

Land at Hong Kong Int'l Airport at 5:45pm, the sky is already getting dark. Just a week or two ago, it was 10C here, and now it's back to 25C, I feel kind of warm really because I carry two heavy backpacks on my back and on my front. The custom has not given me much troubles, just curious why I don't have my HK ID with me. Oh well, I just say I left it at home even though I really have no idea where it went. Walking out the airport, quite frankly, I have mixed feelings, this time is so much different than the past few times I came back from the US. I guess because this time is for permanent. I am happy to see my family and friends and feel excited about a lot of things I am going to see and do, but I know very well that starting anew is not gonna be easy, finding a job, sleeping in my old room which has long become a storage room, I need to get some new furnitures for my room like a bookshelf, a desk and perhaps a bed, also need to get a cell phone, set up internet, a bank account...etc. It will take a while, it will take a while, I keep myself. Just take one step at a time.

After all, I am home, taken a long way but here I am, back for good.

Photos here: Day 59

Day 58 : Sydney Day 4 - Manly Beach

Quite a fabulous day actually. Get up around 6 or 7am, but fall back asleep and get up again around 9:40am. Not sure if I still have jet lag or not, I do get awaken fairly early, but usually I manage to sleep an hour or two more after laying in bed for awhile. And in the daytime, I don't feel tired at all. Anyway, the weather is absolutely fab today, blue sky, not too hot, around 25-26C, with some breezes, and certainly not cold at all. I can finally go sunbathing at the beach.

I have the leftover curry chicken with rice from a few nights ago for lunch, after that, I head down to the bus stop and hop on the Bus#143 which takes me to the Manly Beach. Maybe 1:30pm, I am looking for some tanning oil in some pharmacies in Manly. I have a No.30 for my face in my bag actually, but my body below the head is all white except the arms, I want to get a No.4 or even No.2 to get some tan on my body, or someone would say I have worn an invisible vest! I have looked in two pharmacies, there are lots of 30+ tanning oil, but not many low number ones. Robbie told me once that because some many people are getting skin cancer from the sun these days, the government starts to tell people not to sunbath too much. Perhaps it's really the case. Anyway, I find a No.6 tanning oil, when I pay, the cashier gives me a warning saying that oil has very low protection and I should consider getting a higher number. Very nice of her. But I pull up the sleeve of my shirt and tell her that I need some colors on some parts of my body.

As a weekday, I am surprised to find so many people at the beach, don't people need to work here in Australia? Last Saturday, we were at the beach next to the wharf. This time, I walk to the other side of the peninsula, where the real Manly Beach is. Over at that side, the water is very wavy, many people are surfing. The beach itself is beautiful, the sand is very fine, the water is clean and in light green. I walk past the field where the kids are playing volleyball, find a place with less crowds, I lay down my Woodstock Music Festival beach towel, show off my not so sexyback, and apply the tanning oil on my body. Not exactly sure how long I do my front, about 7-8 songs, I guess, I am listening the latest album of a band called The Gossip. And then I do my back for another 7-8 songs. Front again. When I finally decide to go into the water, I have already listened to 3 albums. Enough tanning for a day. The water is very cold, but with the sun, it is ok. Only wet for a few minutes, I go back up, sit for a little bit while taking some pictures of the surfers and the cuties. Then, I pack up and leaves. It is already 5pm, I need to get home before Robbie, or he will be stuck outside of the house.

We pick up some pizza for dinner, and I watch the movie Angels and Demons on the movie channel while we are eating it. Honestly, I find the movie though entertaining but not enough wow factors, the plot and how the director handles the film is very similar to the De Vinci's Code. I mean, yeah, I am slightly surprised by the ending, but it hasn't wowed me. What really "wow" me or more like "scare" me tonight is that I cannot locate my Hong Kong identity card while I am heading home in less than 24 hours. Now I think of it, I can't recall when I saw it last either. Before I left the US, I made a copy of all my identification and I certainly didn't have it then. Hopefully, I kept it at my mom's, otherwise, I will have it replaced when I get back to Hong Kong.

Photos here: Day 58

Day 57 : Sydney Day 4 - Crow's Nest

This is an even more relaxing day, I have not actually gotten out of bed until 10am. My eyes are jammed by whatever you called it, I personally call it eyeshit. The sky is gloomy, the blinds are down, it is a perfect condition for extended bedtime. I could have slept some more if I want to, but I just take a peek at the watch, it's already 10am, so I am like: alright, alright, I'd get up. After some toasts and coffee, I take a shower. Soon, it's way past noon already, I reheat the pasta and play the Torch Song Trilogy DVD on TV while I am eating, kind of lost track how many times I have seen that movie, but probably many.

It sprinkles a little outside, I plan on staying in most of the times, but I need to go down to the supermarket to get chicken. I'd be cooking again tonight, plan to make the other dish I can do - marinated chicken with rice. Get to the supermarket, I notice there are two type of chicken thighs: cutlet and fillet, not exactly sure what the differences are, so I get them both, 2 each, not missing out anything. Turn out one with bone, one without. Oh... It's what it is, good, learn something new everyday. The pumpkin soup with ginger looks pretty good as well, so I get some of those as well. Come back, marinate the chicken, then I head out again. Robbie tells me about this arty book/CD/DVD shop in a neighborhood called Crow's Nest, there they have a lot of foreign movies, so I want to go there and take a look.

Take a bus, about 5 mins, I arrive at Crow's Nest. All the neighborhoods I have visited in Sydney so far are all quite eclectic, sidewalk cafes and little shops are everywhere. I walk down Willoughby Road twice and cannot find the shop. Almost give up and about to go back home, but I decide to give it one more try, I walk down the road once again but on the other side of the street. This time, I finally see it, the shop is called Title, with a tiny little storefront and in very simplistic style. I would not have spot it from the other side of the street, because it is completely hidden behind the sidewalk cafe. They have a really good collection of the arty and foreign movies, a lot of world music CDs, and those huge art books. Many items in the shop are very tempting, but they are quite expensive, so I haven't bought anything, which is good actually.

Come back the house around 4:30pm, listening to music for a while. Then, I have pretty much done nothing until 7:30pm, when I begin to cook. Watching The Nightmare Before Christmas while we have dinner. Tomorrow, the weather.com predicts for "AM Cloud PM Sun", hopefully I'll be able to go to the beach and get some tan on my body.

No photos today.

Day 56 : Sydney Day 3 - CD Shopping

Despite the fact I slept quite late last night, I have woken up rather early this morning. Robbie head out to work around 8am, I guess, I am not exactly sure actually. But after he leaves the house, I just take it easy, have some toasts and coffee for breakfast. Watch some TV, use the internet, take a shower, before I know it, it's like almost noon. So, I fix myself the leftover pasta with chorizo in melted cheese again. Well, I have enough for at least 2 days' lunches. It's good, save me money. In fact, the US dollar is so weak now, I am not sure if I should be spending much here. It is like 1 to 0.9 something from AUD to USD. The prices I have seen in shops here seems fairly high to me, like a sandwiches with chips and drink I had yesterday cost like AUD 15, a regular CD price is like AUD 22 (that's a lot for Christ's sake). Although in the states, apart from the listed price, you need to pay the tax on top of it, here in Australia, the listed price has already included the tax, so the number you see on the sticker is what you pay. I like that, nothing jumps out at you at checkout. For restaurants too, no tipping is expected. THAT is so much better.

Plan of the day is to go downtown on my own, check out some CD shops. I doesn't have to buy stuffs, just want to check things out. One or two cheap DVDs might satisfy my shopping desire, we'll see, right? So, after lunch, make sure I have the door locked and carry the "key" with me, which is the only copy, such a big responsibility, I am not sure if Robbie has put it on the right hand. Anyway, successfully get to downtown, go back to the Virgin Record Megastore, find nothing. Walk to the Oxford Street, hoping to find Central Station, which is a dance record shop that I visited 9 years ago and bought a lot of CDs as I still remember. But I walk up and down the Oxford Street and cannot find it, even though the website says it is still there. Don't know, maybe I just miss it completely?? It starts to rain when I am walking on the Oxford Street, all the clubs and bars are closed. There are some alternative clothing shops, adult shops kind of stuffs opened, but the street is rather quite in the afternoon. I walk back toward the Hyde Park, take a picture of the noisy bird on the tree. Then I go to another CD/DVD shop in World Square Shopping Center where I buy 2 DVDs. Oh well...I walk in that shop for almost 2 hours, I feel almost like a duty that I need to buy something. :P

Meet Robbie at QVB (Queen Victoria Building) around 5:30pm, we are going to have a drink with Trevor, a colleague of Robbie, who I actually met many years ago in Sydney and in Hong Kong when he came over to visit with his ex-wife and son. We go to a place called the Small Bar, quite cozy actually. I am introduced to try lemon lime and bitters, a non-alcoholic drink, I like it. Quite refreshing. It is good to meet up with Trevor again, I like him, he is a funny English guy who has lived in Australia for 27 years. We have 2 rounds of drink, while Robbie and I have an extra round before Trevor arrives. 3 rounds of drink is guarantee way for peeing all night.

I don't know, maybe it 8:30pm or so, we head the home way, pick up some Thai takeaway and eat at home while I watch a movie called The Boat That Rocked on the movie channel. The basil chicken here is very different than the one I had in the states. Honestly, I prefer the one I had in the states. Will have to try to find one similar to that in Hong Kong. Tonight, I feel very exhausted for some reasons, go to bed around 11:30pm.

Photos here: Day 56

Day 55 : Sydney Day 2 - The heat wave

Woke up 3 times to use the bathroom last night, guess I drank too much tea before going to sleep. Anyway, I get up at 9am this morning, the almost 11 hours of sleep has recharged me to my fullest energy. I don't feel tired from the jet lag anymore. However, according to the weather report, today is gonna be one of the hottest November days in Sydney in record, high at 41C. Remind you Sydney is supposed to be still in spring time. Just as a friend told me a few days ago, Hong Kong had a 10C, which I thought it was pretty unusual to get that cold in November in Hong Kong. Again, these just prove the weather pattern is so messed up by the global warming. Who knows, someday, the summer and winter in South and North Hemispheres might completely switch. We would be lucky if it is only that simple.

To start off the day, for breakfast, we eat some extra grainy toasts, coffee and I have an extra apple. Shower and get ready to go out. Our plan of the day is to go downtown, Robbie needs to show me a few things: very importantly, where the record shops are, apparently, HMV has closed their businesses in Australia, which although I am not surprised, it is still quite shocking to hear that I cannot go there anymore. BTW, is HMV in Hong Kong still operating? I hope. Luckily, there is still a Virgin Record Megastore here in Sydney, so I gotta go there. He also needs to show me where the bus station is for buses going home, and probably a place we might meet up during the weekdays after his work. Since it is so hot today, I suggest perhaps we should stay indoor and maybe go to see a movie in a theatre after downtown, or if watch a DVD at home. I would really like to see Where The Wild Things Are, but it is not released in Australia until early December. Find that Departures, the Japanese movie which won the Oscar's Best Foreign Movie last year, is still showing here. Even though I had seen it twice already, Robbie has never seen it, so I thought maybe we can go to see it. That's the original plan.

When we head to the ferry pier, we can already feel the stuffy air today, the heat is like trapped in between the heaven and the hell. But it is still bearable at the moment. Get to downtown, walk around, find the Virgin, she is so freaking expensive from the first glance, a regular CD is like AUD 22 dollars, I mean geez louise. But you never know, with me and the CD shops, I might end up finding some cheap to buy. That's a task for tomorrow. Have lunch at the basement of a mall, at a food hall, haven't been to those for ages. Gosh, I like to eat almost everything, I am not good choosing, are you kidding me? But at least I know what I am ordering. After I make my final verdict, I give my stomach a supremo chicken wrap, fries and green tea. The extra Nando's Peri-Peri hot sauce is needed to give it some kicks. Good wrap. After that, we walk by a few more CD shops. Robbie, you are such a friend! I am so tempted to buy a lot of DVDs, but I hold back. I'll do it when nobody's watching tomorrow. Hehe... since we are already past the movie schedule, I suggest that I would buy a DVD and we can watch it at home. In fact, I notice Pan's Labyrinth is quite reasonable priced for a 2DVD, I liked that movie and Robbie hasn't seen it. OK. Let's do it. We originally are walking toward the Oxford Street where the shiny happy people are. But with that heat, Robbie asks me if I still really want to go, I haven't needed to think about it, I already say, not really.

So, we hop on a bus and head home. Tonight's chef is moi. I make a super unhealthy pasta with chorizo in melted cheesesssss...of course, that is pretty much the only thing I can make that is edible. It is actually perfect, I get tons of leftover for lunches the next two days, so I can save some money and use it on CD shopping. After the movie, I am writing my blog, while Robbie is chatting with his other half online. I also jump in and say a Hello for a sec. I agreed to be the best man for their wedding, so I am really looking forward to that. I have stayed up quite late tonight, like 1:30am, guess I am slowly getting back to my old Hong Kong habit.

Photos here: Day 55

Day 54 : Sydney Day 1 - 8km with the lizards

Arrive at Auckland at 4:30am local time, after an hour stopover in New Zealand, we continue our way to Sydney, Australia. With adjusting the time difference, we are landed at Sydney International Airport just a few minutes before 7am. The last time I came to Sydney was in 2000. Now, I come here again after almost a decade, just wondering what have changed over the 9 years. The staffs at the custom are as friendly, although they are quite strict about the stuffs you are bringing in the country now. One has to declare almost everything, including any any wooden articles. I have a small wooden refrigerator moai magnet from Easter Island, I need to declare that or I may be penalized for 60,000 Australian dollars.

I am the first few that comes out of the flight, my backpack also come out fast which is quite unusual. But anyway, I am glad that the whole custom process goes by smoothly. When I get through the arrival gate, I spot Robbie from a distance right away. We hug. No time no see my friend, ba..ba..ba.. We are on our way back to town, first train, then ferry. I try to pay attention to the surroundings, for the most part, Sydney is just as what I can remember. The ferry passes by the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House which is still captivating whenever you lay your eyes on it. Robbie has moved to this new apartment in Neutral Bay just two months ago, so I have no memory of this place or its neighborhood. I recognize the books on the shelves, some of the CD and DVDs though. Usually, those are the things I notice first whenever I go to someone's house anyway. I desperately need to brush my teeth and take a shower after over 24 hours without doing so. Otherwise, the neighbors would call the police complaining about the fault smelling coming out from Robbie's apartment. It's not that bad really, but I really need a shower.

After I clean myself and sit down finally, I start to feel sleepy. Oh boy, I can definitely feel the jet lag, even though it's not too bad. But it is only 9:30am. I know I must stay awake at least until after dinner, or the jet lag will really hit me hard the next few days. I tell Robbie I need to keep doing things today, just tell me to clean the kitchen, or I would feel asleep. Kindly, my host has not asked me to clean anything other than myself. Instead, we go out to have an early brunch at a restaurant called Chaos. What a name! The egg benedict is rather outstanding actually. After that and after we come back to put my laundry to the dryer, we go out to the beach side for a walk. Because I hope to get some sun tan during my time in Sydney. It's a good chance for Robbie to show me how to get to the beach. So I can go back there myself next week when he will be at work.

Although I know we are going to do a bit of walking, I do not expect it is a 8km hike on a scenic trail. I am actually not complaining at all, the Manly Scenic Walkway is really beautiful, and the more I walk, the more I am distracted from the jet lag. That's the goal. Since we really take the time, and stop here and there to sit, and/or allow me to take pictures, we probably spend 3-4 hours just walking. There are tons of lizards on the path, oh god, please help me get through this. Every single time I see one, I got surprised by it. There are a couple times I am so surprised that literally I immediately step back a few feet. Their sudden move is what freak me out. I start to make a lot of noise with my flip flop when I walk, so my little lizard friends can be aware that I am coming and start creeping away. Please... :P Apart from the lizards, I am totally devoted my attentions to the colorful stones, the green and clear sea water, the plants and other "bigger" animals like birds, and of course, the men and women on the beaches, both the cute and the ugly. Obviously, I have things to say about either of them inside when they are passing my eye sights. Oh... hello there... or ah, honey, you better put some clothes on.

Take a ferry back to downtown, then change a bus back to the Neutral Bay. I have the second shower of the day, then Robbie prepares the dinner for tonight: some salad and chicken in coconut curry with rice, which tastes pretty good actually. Although I really want to write my blog, I am really feeling the exhaustion after the long flight and the hike today. Just watch some VH1, have a cup of tea, then Robbie set up the sofa bed for me, I am asleep by 10:30pm or so.

Photos here: Day 54

Day 53 : Lost in Space

Because our flight cross the dateline, the day 53 of my trip has instantly vaporized. One thing I am sure, I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, trying to get some sleeps on the long flight. I have a bad dream actually, I dream that I get back to Hong Kong and sitting on a bus back to Aberdeen (where my parents live), when the bus passes by the harbor side where I can oversee at Ap Lei Chau (the small island across from Aberdeen, where I grow up), there is a building on fire and start to collapse, kind of like the repeating of 911, except that it happens in Hong Kong. I witness the whole thing and am stunned by the sight. When I get home, I learn that my parents are in Ap Lei Chau at the time, and I start to worry if they are ok. And I get awaken right there. I have no idea why I make such a dream, probably have something to do with that odd and twisted position I am stuck in that chair for hours as I have tried to sleep. Over all, I think I might have slept 4 hours, on and off. My lower back is killing me.

Haven't read any newspaper that I understand for so long, when I get on the flight, I pick up a New Zealand Herald at the entrance, gosh, and I read the whole thing, like I couldn't get enough of it. Have to say, I haven't felt such intellectual for quite a long time. The Kiwi sitting next to me has traveled in South America for 5 months, he also says he has not read an English paper for so long and asks me if he can read the paper too. Sure. He is heading to Melbourne. :) Anyway, although there are some turbulent here or there, the flight is smooth enough I guess.

Day 52 : Santiago - last day in South America

Check out the hotel just before noon, I leave my backpack in the hotel, then I head out to find a place to have lunch. Just walking down the street Estados where I walk by all the time the past few days, and I always notice these street vendors selling a type of drink, not exactly sure what it is called or what it is really, but on the cart, it says "Rico Mote con Huesillos Heladito", whatever that means. It looks kind of like an ice tea but have some yellow stuffs and a piece of peach in there. It is my last day here on the South America continent, I decide to give it a try, sort of the brave act of the day. Unless it gives me a bad stomach, then it will be a stupid act! Let's see, right? :P Anyway, it tastes... very interesting, very sweet, but the yellow stuffs is something I know, but we use it in the rice dumpling which we eat around the dragon boat festival. This ought to be the first time I have that in a drink and sweet too, Very strange.

I go back to the Bellas Artes area. I saw a lot of cute little restaurants having their all-tempting menu sets, given that I only understood a few Spanish words, but it sounded tempting anyway and for an affordable price. That alone is a big reason to go back. :P I walk around the whole block, trying to pick one that looks more cozy to sit down and have wi-fi to use internet, end up I pick one at the corner of a street, sitting at the sidewalk table. The menu includes a drink (coke), a salad (which I ask olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette), a main course of salmon with some purple meshed paste thingy (I know the name in Chinese, but not in English unfortunately) and at last, there is an espresso after meal as well. I am eating, while I am chatting with a friend in Hong Kong, totally enjoying myself at that environment, relax and care free. Finish my meal and having my coffee, while I continue using my laptop, suddenly one of the waitresses comes over and spit a strings of Spanish to me. I wonder if I have been sitting too long, and if she is asking me to pay or something like that. She does not speak English, so we try to understand each other with a few body motions. Turn out she worries that someone on the streets might grab my laptop and run, she suggests me to sit inside, but I have been there for an hour and a half already, I should really just finish and get ready to go to the museum, so I ask for the bill instead.

After I pay, I start to walk to the museum of Visual Art, walk too far at first, but then come back just a block away from the restaurant, the distance on the map looks much longer than it really is. The museum is closed for lunch, the staff tells me to come back around 4pm. I have an hour to kill, so I just walk around the street by the museum, where have some street vendors having some tents selling some antiques, used books kind of stuffs. Looking at those stuffs, part of me feel amazed with all those different stuffs, they looks very interesting, but then the other part of me thinks this is the same everywhere in the world, there are always someone selling junks like that and someone would go nuts about it. Like boyfriends or girlfriends, I guess, one's junk may be someone else's treasure. About 3:30pm, decide to find another cafe to sit down and get online for a while.

Find this cafe in the side street Padre Luis de Valdivia, its setting is so my cup of tea... with vinyls, movie posters on the yellow and red walls, the table is actually a glass case where you can see through, and some foreign movie DVDs, old money, cigarette boxes...etc are nicely arranged inside. The guy is extremely friendly too. I am the only customer at first, so we talk a little bit. When I finish and pay, I give him my Chile Lonely Planet too, since there is a book shelf by the wall. It is my last day in Chile anyway, I don't need that book anymore. This seems to be the perfect place for me to get rid of it. Walk back to the Museum of Visual Art, the staff says it is still closed and I should come back at 5pm. Forget it. I try it twice already. So, I walk to another museum called Museo De La Solidaridad Salvador Allende, where is named after the former president Salvador Allende (who is the first democratically elected Marxist socialist to become president of a state). The museum is showing a lot of contemporary art works acquired during his presidency. Interestingly, the guard lady tells me no photo when I have already taken pictures of almost 90% of the museum. You are funny, lady, I thought. There is no signs though, maybe she only means the eerie room in the basement floor showing the dictator's personal effects I should not have taken any pictures.

Anyway, have McDonald's for dinner. For the past few nights, I mainly have fast foods for dinner, partly because I need to better control the leftover money, so I don't need to take out more pesos out from the bank. Get to the airport at 8:45pm, it has a long line for checking in for international flights, but I manage to get through the departure gate before 9:30pm. We start boarding around 10:50pm. I have absolutely no idea how long the flight is, but I know we will stop over at Auckland in the middle of the night before heading onto Sydney.

Photos here: Day 52

Day 51 : Santiago - a relaxing day

Does not really have any plan for the last 2 days in Santiago, just gonna lay low, take it easy. I look at my Lonely Planet guide this morning and think maybe I can go to see the Museum of Contemporary Art, I usually like that kind of museums with modern art exhibitions. Nothing's in a rush or if it is not interesting, it's no big deal either. It's near by the Cerro Santa Lucía, which was recommended to me by a Swedish woman I met on the Easter Island. So maybe I can stop by there if I have "time" left over. :P

So, I don't know, around noon maybe, I finally pull myself out the room, walk to the Plaza de Armes, where I find a place to have lunch, chicken with fries and a glass of orange juice (size grande). Then, I take the metro train to Bellas Artes, the arty neighborhood with tons with sidewalk cafes. I later find out though that I could have walked there from Plaza de Armes, just a few blocks away really. Oh well. Enter the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo with a student discount, I actually quite enjoy it. And the best of it, I can take as many pictures as I want. There are many rooms in the museum, and usually goes with a different theme in each room. In one particular room, it has theme of homosexuality or cross-dressing, I am not quite sure. But it has a time line goes all the way back to like 900 BC or something like that. Very interesting.

Cerro Santa Lucía is a small city park I guess, kind of remind me of the Hong Kong Park actually, a beautiful green land embedded in an urban area. There is a little castle in the park too, though it is closed when I are there, some film crews are doing some filming. I might end up appearing in some Latino film one day. It is around 4:00pm, I stop by a cafe, having a piece of cake and latte, using my laptop to connect to the internet. That cafe is so relaxing. I actually stay for almost an half and hour. The girl at the cafe is also talking to me. Kind of telling her where I am from, about my trip and about Hong Kong...etc. So far, honestly, I do find Chileans are quite friendly.

Walk in a supermarket as I am on my way back to the hotel. I walk every aisle as if I am in the US. I think I can live in this city, they have everything I need in the supermarket. Dinner with some takeouts in the hotel room, watching VH1. Tomorrow my flight to Sydney is scheduled for 11:10pm in the evening, so I basically have another day in Santiago. I might visit the museum of visual art and try another sidewalk cafe in the afternoon. Eat something before I'll head to the airport.

Photos here: Day 51 (Contemporary Art Museum), Day 51 (Cerro Santa Lucía)

Day 50 : Easter Island to Santiago

My last morning in Easter Island is all about shopping. My flight wouldn't depart until 2pm. So, after breakfast, I go to the handicraft market, I am really looking for a stone statue and plan to make a small decor in my room for the Easter Island. The thing is that there are many craved stone or wooden statues, available in different sizes. The bigger the more expensive, the wooden ones are also more expensive than the stone ones, the volcanic rock is more expensive than the ashy rock...etc. At moments when it involves money, I'm certainly not a size queen. Never claim to be one anyway. I am only looking for a small statue, smaller than my palm would be fine. However, I have a problem, I am out of cash, both Chilean Pesos and US Dollars. Well, the truth is that I have US$12 in my secret pocket for emergency, but I don't want to use it. So, I try to find somewhere I can use a credit card. Walk maybe 6-7 shops, nothing's really calling my name and crying out loud "Buy Me Buy Me", so I go back to the shop I got the postcards the other days. In there, I know there is a tiny stone craved moai with the topknot for CHP3000 (US$6), I planned to buy that if I cannot find anything more appropriate. So, I get the stone statue. All happy. But once my wallet is open, the money is like draining off. This silly Easter egg is kind of interesting, good for this friend; that magnet for refrigerator is cheap compared to everything else. Before I know, I get 3 things already and there are more coming...

When I get to the airport, I have to wait for 3 hours, after writing my blog entry and have nothing to do, and what do I do? ...buy a few more things at the shops at the airport. I get a nice little plate with a moai on it (so touristy I confess but it does look nice). It's for a friend of mine, who will be giving me a big help next week. And then coincidentally, the first ever printed newspaper (publication) - Premier Edition - on the Easter Island is out today, it's for CHP$1000 (US$2), with a local CD, it's CHP$4000. I get that too with the CD. Now, my task in Santiago and Sydney is to find a tube thingy so I can protect the newspaper, gonna put it in a frame or something. Maybe it will worth something many many years later. I have no idea what that tube thingy called in Spanish though, so no idea how to find it.

At 2pm, the runway is covered by fog, I hope inside, please don't let me get stuck in Easter Island. This is a bloody expensive to get stuck at. Our flight get delayed, but we do start to board around 2:30pm. The return journey to Santiago is an hour shorter than the journey coming to Easter Island, probably because of the current. I start to watch this movie call the Family Stones, a Xmas'y kind of movie starring by Diana Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney (the guy in My Best Friend's Wedding). Anyway, I am kind of enjoying it, but before the movie ends, the flight already arrives at Santiago, so I have no idea what happens at the end. Don't you get hate that? I mean, give me 15 mins more, I will be done with the movie.

Because of the time difference, when I pick up my backpack and walk out the arrival gate, it is already past 9:00pm. I have committed the stupid act of the day: withdraw money from an ATM that is not related to my bank, the transaction fee is CHP$2500 (US$5). I get the money so that I can take the cheap airport bus and the metro train to the hotel. My initial idea is to save some money by doing that. And then after I am already on the bus, I realize with that US$5 fees, I really haven't saved much. I might as well take the transfer bus (which costs only US$10) which takes me directly to the hotel quicker and more comfortable, and I can use a credit card. Dummy! Oh well, guess we often need to make an error in order to learn.

The hotel I am staying is called Hotel Paris, at 813 Paris St. I love my room, it's cheaper than the hostel I stay here last time, the room is smaller but nicer. It has a balcony, cable TV, comfortable bed and hot water. That's all I need. No breakfast included though but that's ok.

Photos here: Day 50

Day 49 : Easter Island Day 3

Waken up by the cocks again at 5am, I wish I could say it's a bless but it really isn't. :P Their sounds are very strange, some sounds like they are being killed alive or the poor thing has a sore throat or something. Need a cough candy, perhaps? At least, luckily, the neighbors has been quiet this morning. So, I only need to filter out one type of sounds and try to sleep on. Get up about 7am, get myself ready, I need to have breakfast at 8:30am, get to the post office to mail the postcard, then head to the tour agency where we will start the full day tour at 10am. Breakfast with bread, butter, jam, ham & cheese, some fruit, and coffee. Breakfast has never been an important element in my life, except when I am traveling, since you never know when and where you will just have lunch and maybe even skip a lunch if necessary. So, something to stuff my stomach in the morning is important. I usually try to eat at least 2 bums.

The post office is filled with people. I notice the guys before me have the mail lady stamp on the passport. I was going to ask anyway, so now save me a question. Of course, I do that too. Got stamps for 16 postcards. I am a person who would love to share, so this precious experience in the Easter Island, of course, I need to share with lots of people. For those who will receive a postcard, lucky you, this may be the first postcard you will receive from the Easter Island, their post mark has 3 moais on it, very cool.

Got to the travel agency at 3 mins to 10am, make it just in time. I am surprised to see that my tour guide is white, I am not sure where he is from at first, but later find out that he is from New Zealand. He married to a girl from the Easter Island, and have moved here for 1 year and a half. I have no trouble understanding him of course, my tour mates today are also a group of cool people, from Switzerland, UK, France, and Canada. Speaking of countries, it's very strange, over the past 2 months, except in Cuzco and Valparaiso, I have not met a lot of American tourists around the South America continent. Perhaps South America is so close to them, and they rather go to Europe or Asia instead. I don't know. Anyway, the sky is cloudy, misty, but not raining. At least I don't need an umbrella.

We start to head south, along the rough coastline, there are a number of ahu sites and many moais. We start almost an hour later than the other tours. So, when we arrive at a site, usually the crowds have just started to leave and left us alone. I kind of like that actually. The first highlight is when we arrive at the birth place of the moais, where they made them. By the hillside of a volcano, there are some 300 moais being abandoned everywhere, some standing, some looking upwards, some laying on the stomach, and some unfinished as well. Another thing about this tour I like is that the guide is really taking the time to explain as well as letting us to wander around. Some tours like yesterday, if the guide talks longer, it jeopardizes the time we are allowed to wander around the sites. With this tour, I am gladly to say they do a good job letting the customers to see as long as they want. I really appreciate. After taking tons of pictures later, we head to Ahu Tongariki where has the famous sight of the 15 standing moais on a platform by the ocean. It is the best place for sunrise. But with this weather, there does not really have sunrise or sunset. Oh well. There is nothing I can do about it.

It is a fantastic view I must say, even though the sky is as white as a plaster wall, I still kind of lose control with the photo shooting. After touching a so-called magnetic rock which we are supposed to feel the energy coming through our bodies (I haven't felt it be honest), we arrive at our final stop of the day - Anakena beach, where has a line perfect maois welcoming the kings of the Pacific. The beach itself is quite beautiful too. At almost 4pm by the time we get there, this is the place we can find some snacks. For the whole day, we have not had lunch yet. The matter of fact is that I am running out of cash, and has been hoping we would go to a restaurant where I can use plastic. But obviously, I cannot use my credit card at the beach, I decide to skip lunch and have an early dinner instead. I am planning to have a good dinner at a French restaurant, so I hang on to my hunger and just wander away between the beach and the moais' platform. At 4:45pm, we start to head back. I am truly satisfied with today's tour. The things we visited today are what I come to Easter Island for. I hope the weather would be better, but we cannot always get what we want, I guess.

Back to town, use the internet for a bit. Then I head to the French restaurant - Au Bout De Monde, which is recommended by the Lonely Planet and a few guidebooks I have looked on the way. It is hard to say whether it is a French restaurant really, but I hear the owner speaking French and the dishes portion is not gigantic as the other meals I have. I just assume it has some French influence. For starter or drink, I have a fresh mango juice. For the main course, I have a prawns in ginger and coconut milk, which is very very tasty. I wish they have some appetizer portion stuffs, since that alone is not quite enough for my big stomach. To finish, I have a dessert, named Dame Blanche, as a big fan of Golden Girls as I am, of course, I have to try Dame Blanche, don't I? It is actually two scoops of vanilla ice-cream with some chocolate chips sprinkled on the top, and a side of a tiny little jar of hot chocolate (smokes coming off from the jar so I assume it is hot) which you can pour on the ice-cream. Though I am not a big fan of chocolate, it is still heavenly. I am kind of get the name of Dame Blanche. A white lady and you pour chocolate all over her, that is so Blanche!

After dinner, I go back to the house and finish the rest of the postcards I didn't get to finish last night. Tomorrow morning, I have about 2-3 hours to do some last minutes shopping. Since I don't have any cash left (US dollars or Chilean Pesos), I can only buy things at places where they accept credit card. I want to a small stone face statue, for which I will place in a bowl of sand, maybe find some small rocks to make a platform. That's the idea anyway. Hope I'll find something. Flight will be at 2pm, when I get back to Santiago, it will be almost 9pm in the evening. I need to find a way to get cash at the airport, otherwise I will have to take the transfer bus which will cost 4 times more expensive than an airport bus, but I can use credit card. This island has really sucked out all my money!

Photos here: Day 49 (1), Day 49 (2)

Day 48 : Easter Island Day 2

Had a rough night sleeping in my room, not because of the gecko on the ceiling, but the neighbors next door were extremely noisy, the cardboard walls did not filter out any sounds at all, I could hear everything people next door said except it was not a language I understand. The worst one was around midnight or 1am, a woman came back and she talked so loud to her friends, it sounded like she was crying or something because she was frightened due to some situation. I was so tired myself and cared less what she bumped into, I just wanted her to shut the f up. Over the course of the night, I must have got awaken by the neighbors for 3 times. At 5am, the cocks in nearby houses starts to screaming morning, reminding everybody it's about time to wake up, except those "soon to be KFC" start to scream at 5am, does not stop until like 8pm in the evening. So, you really hear cocks' coo-cooing all day long. I set an alarm for 7:20am, but because there is no mobile connection here, my cell phone clock is all messed up. I must have put am as pm when I reset the clock manually last night, that the alarm has not come on at the appointed time. Due to the disturbance over the night, I have totally overslept. When I get up, it is already 8:20am, while I am supposed to be at the travel agent office by 8:30am to see whether there is any last minute availability for today's tours.

Skip the shower, skip the breakfast, just wash my face and run to the dining room. Ask the host Tesera where the phone is, and she says the agents are closed. I convince her that I was told to call in the morning. So, she dials for me. The first agent has no answer, the other one said all tours today are full. But I am quite sure that their 9:15am tour still has room, I don't believe that it got filled up already especially when they were closed yesterday afternoon. I decide to walk to the agent to talk to them instead of explaining myself to the host and ask her to call again. The sky still sprinkles a little bit when I head out. Hurry to the travel agent, get myself successfully sign up for the morning tour. I am excited about it, at least I have a tour to go today, instead of wasting my limited time in Easter Island. But that excitement lasts about 30 mins, until the rain has started to pour down. By then, I am already back to the hostel to grab a bread to eat, standing outside waiting for the pick up van, I am wearing a pair of shorts today and my wet walking shoes without the socks. Sooner enough my shorts are all wet already because the rain comes horizontally. Anyway, at that point, I am still convinced that it is better than sitting in a hostel all day.

Pick up by the tour van, there are mostly German and Spanish speaking people, there are so many German tourists that the group has an extra German speaking guide. An Englishman and I are the only ones who speak English. The Spanish/English guide is quite friendly. She also promises me to try to find me a seat for the afternoon tour. The rain is nonstop, we are supposed to go to Ogongo, a ceremonial village and its nearby crater. We are told that it's extremely foggy at the moment, even if we go up to the Ogongo and the crater, we would see nothing. So, we end up waiting for the clouds to clear in a small museum for almost an hour. I start to wonder if it is wise to join a tour after all. We finally get out of the museum and head to the Ogongo, the so called houses looks small for anyone to stand inside, but the guide says the people in the old days often did things outdoor, the houses are mainly for cooking and sleeping. They look more like terraces from above. On one side is the cliff with the houses, overlooking the 3 tiny islands off just by the edge of the Easter Island, the other side is the crater called Rano Kau, which looks very interesting. Spend maybe an hour at Ogongo, the rain starts to come down again and the whole hill is covered by fogs. At first, we are going to make some photoing stops, but clearly it is not possible, you can barely see anything. We come back down, and we stop by a cave where has some bird drawing on the ceiling. This also ends the morning tour. I honestly feel a bit disappointed about the tour, even though the tour guide is particularly friendly to me, still, CHP18,000 (US$34) to see what I have mentioned is a bit of a waste. The rain has made things much worst of course.

The guide tells me to wait for her at the Post Office at 3pm, she'd try to find me a seat for the afternoon tour. If that plan does not work out, I am going to hike to some moais on my own (which may take 1.5 hours way up and another hour back down). At 2:45pm, after some internet, I am already standing outside the post office, the rain is the heaviest at that time, my shorts are already soaking wet. What the hell with the weather, I am thinking, and if I should just head back to the hostel and call off the day, save another US$34 for the afternoon tour, which is probably disappointing with the rain. Try to think positively, right? so I continue to wait. The tour bus arrives, and I get the front seat with the driver. So, I have a tour to go to after all. The first stop is actually the few moais I already visited yesterday on my own. This time with a story I guess. And then we see a hilltop where the topknot were made, but because of the fog and rain and it is kind of cold too, so we really have not seen much there, just a slope with some half-carved stones laying everywhere. At last, we visit the 7 moais platform which I have planned to walk to. Story in the bus and some quick pictures due to the heavy rain, then the tour ends. Another US$34 for a just about 2 hour tour. Worth it, probably not, but I do my tourist duty and see the things I should see on Easter Island. Tomorrow, a full day tour to the south coast with tons with moais. Although the weather is not promising at all, according to the guide, it has been raining like this for 5 months already, I hope I will get to see more exciting than today's tours.

Debating what to eat for dinner, have had a pasta and a green tea for $26 freaking US dollar at lunch. My cash is literally running out. I understand the island is so isolated and I haven't regretted to come here since it is such a rare occasion, but I have started to feel that the tours and the meals are a bit of a rip off here. Just think about the main costs for a 3 days trip to Easter Island: the flight US$820, the meals US$60 a day if you dine out, the tour US$60 a day not including tips, the hostel depending on how well a place you want to stay, it could cost you between US$35-300 a night. Coffee break, snacks and fruits are not particularly cheap either, one should expect to spend US$15-30 a day, not including any souvenir of course. Easily, a 3 days trip to Easter Island costs way over US$1500. And for anyone who is planning to come here, a bit of an advice, pick the dry months to come here, if there is such a thing, and find your tours ahead. Unlike other places, the tour agencies operate in a very laid back style. If you come here on a weekend, you might find it hard to find yourself a tour.

Since I want to have a good meal on the last evening here, to balance out with the budget, I go to the grocery and get myself some breads, ham and mayonnaise to make myself 3 small sandwiches, that should be enough for the night. Still have pineapple juice and banana left from yesterday anyway. My second night on the Easter Island involves a large number of postcard writing.

Photos here: Day 48

Day 47 : Easter Island Day 1 : The sky is leaking

By 7:30am, I already check in at the LAN's airport counter, I grab a bite to eat and then wait for the flight for almost 1 hour and a half. The flight journey is smooth, I watch Breakfast's at Tiffany again on the flight, well, there are 50 some movies to choose from, I thought I watch something with style. In fact, I just love that movie very much, and not bored by watching it over and over again. I thought I would always remember that, watching Breakfast's At Tiffany while I am flying to Easter Island. The 2nd movie I watch is The Devil Wears Prada, it's ok I guess, not exactly agreeing my taste, but I am not rejecting it either. With the same cast, I prefer the other movie called Julie & Julia more.

The flight journey takes 5 and a half hour, roughly 2000 miles off shore. There are 2 hours time difference from Santiago to Easter Island. When we arrive, it is exactly 1:15pm. I am welcomed by the hostel's owner with the flower necklace. The sky is very cloudy, the rain is just about the come down. The host Tesera gives me a quick town tour on her vehicle, just tell me where the groceries, post office are for instance, we see the first moai too, which is just by the town center near the sea. When we arrive at the house, the rain has just started to spill out. My room is a 3-beds room, with a private bathroom. For US$35, relatively cheap on the island's standard, I don't think I should complain about the color or the gecko on the ceiling (which I seriously hate, I am pretending it is not there right now. I am in tropical areas now, guess I can't avoid that.)

It's almost 3pm when I finally get out to find tours. I am surprised by what Tesera has told me, she says most of the business will close for Sunday (some starting from Saturday afternoon) that I may not be able to find any tour at all. With that warning in mind, I quickly search for tour agency. With only 4000 population on the island, I guess I overestimate their tourism business. There are really only 6 or 7 tour agencies. Among them, 4 has closed already when I get there, one of the opened ones has tours all fully booked, the other one is mainly for activities like horseback, hiking and diving. The last one has tour only for weekdays, so I book a tour with them for Monday. However, I find no tour for tomorrow, after I walk around town for 2 hours in the rain. I am like, are you kidding me? I am coming all the way here for nothing. The agency with fully booked tour suggests me to call another agent in the morning and see about availability. But it does not look good. If I can get a half-day tour is good enough, there is a part of the island, I think I can hike on my own since there is only one road to get there even though I do not prefer to do that. My other option is to use a private guide which will cost me a fortune. So, I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to find something in the morning. I actually inquire if I can do the horseback riding, but because of the rain, it is not possible.

After the failure with the tour hunt, I walk around the coastline in the rain and feisty winds. I do have gone back to grab an umbrella, but with that wind, the umbrella is really useless. There are a couple of pictures I looks completely stupid trying to take a picture of myself with the moais in the rain. I do find some 8-9 moais on my first day on the island though, which is kind of exciting! The food is terribly expensive, give you an idea: I have spent 60 US dollars today on foods... for some sandwiches, a lunch set, couple coffees, some bananas, and some bottle of water...etc. Almost everything on the menu, no matter how simple food it is, it costs over CH$10000, that's like US$15-20. I know this is Easter Island, but when you see your wallet shrinking 1/3 just on the first day, I am kind of worried.

Anyway, still at least 2 more full days, I will try to enjoy myself the best I can. I wish the Lonely Planet would mention about the island's businesses are closed for the weekends though, especially the important thing like tour agency. Only if I have known, I would pick a weekdays to come instead of weekends. I am also unlucky with the rain, it has started to fall down since 3-4pm, and it has not stopped since, and it is getting heavier too. My pants are all wet and so as my stuffs in my backpack. I am hoping it will stop during the night and will give me a clear day tomorrow. Otherwise, I will be stuck. Fingers cross, toes cross, everything cross... good weather.... please.

Photos here: Day 47