Here's the link to Part 5 ...
So, it's been more than 3 months since I returned from this trip, so some details are beginning to get a little hazy. Admittedly, this photo-journal probably would've been a smarter endeavor to begin (and finish) in the summer, while I still had time and memories were much fresher. With my graduate school work in full swing and my mind occupied on my work, I find myself with little spare time, energy, and focus to devote to this project. But I find, for the most part, that I never really did this for anyone other than myself. Sure my parents and relatives have probably enjoyed my accounts of our trip, and maybe my friends have enjoyed sharing a little bit of this experience with me, but it is for my own sake that I've started (and will eventually finish) this series.
I do it mostly because I don't want to forget the feelings I had. Even in the few short months that I've been back in the states, I've lost so much of the fervor that I had for Hong Kong and its culture. I can feel it slowly slipping away; I can feel myself slipping back into my routine. It's so important to me that I finish this journal because it truly represented the first experience I had in a long time where I felt like I wasn't stuck in place. I felt like the world had opened up in front of me, and that I could do anything and take on any odyssey. But lost in the malaise of work and life and school, I'm slowly losing that passion. So I have to write it down, I have to record it. So I can remember. But I digress...
...
At this point, we had spent a good week and a half in Hong Kong, mostly visiting family and friends, hanging out, and eating a lot. We hadn't really gone on any special trips and we hadn't gone on any special adventures; Sure it all seemed special to me, but it was only because it was a new place. If I had lived there for years, it probably would've seemed very mundane.
Something pretty mundane was taking a trip to the Hong Kong Central Library.
 |
| Just in case you didn't believe me... |
 |
| Just in case you love fountains... |
One of the stories she told was about my grandmother, her mother, and how in her older years she would go to the library every day just to read the newspaper and have something to drink. My grandparents' apartment was pretty close, and when my grandmother was in better health, she was able to make the walk at her pace. I have a decent mental image of my grandmother (mostly from pictures at this point), so it was interesting to think about her walking through the park, climbing the stairs, and sitting in the library with some hot tea to go with her newspaper.
So as we were walking around, I saw the "Mathematics and Sciences" section, and like the true math-nerd I am, I was like, "Mom, we are going there." My mom was an excellent sport, and even though she probably had little interest in what I knew I was going to look for, she went along. Naturally, as I started perusing the various titles, I found a book on Differential Geometry and decided to sit down for a quick read (Yes, naturally is the correct word.). While I was in full math-nerd mode (literally un-disturb-able), my mom found a book on teaching math and flipped through it a little. When she handed it to me, I kinda half-heartedly flipped through it, but it was a pedagogy book on teaching elementary school children, so it didn't keep my math-nerd interest.
After that super mundane trip, we had to pack our clothes and get ready to travel, because we were going to....
MACAU!!!!!!!!!
 |
| AHHHHHHHHH!!! |
I think I've stated before that I had a wish-list of things to eat while in Hong Kong. Well two of those things were roasted baby pigeon and fresh, steamed shrimp. Well..
 |
| I'm pretty sure I ate half... |
 |
| I'm pretty sure I ate.... half.... |
AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Imagine my head bobbing back and forth and my hands waving over my head (uncoordinated, of course) as I'm screaming to get the proper image.
So, since I'm the non-Cantonese speaking son of a visiting relative, our hosts were more than willing to push as much food on me as I seemed to want. This is one of those times where I sincerely do not regret taking advantage of this fact. Of course my parents were always telling me to act like an adult and eat in moderation, but I had multiple other people vigorously gesturing for me to take as much as I want (and how could I refuse such kindness?).
And this was just lunch! We had arrived pretty early, so we went shopping across the border in Zhuhai (I bought a blazer and a dress shirt), while my aunts bought fake, brand-name hand bags (yeah, I don't get it either). After that, we went to check into our hotel and get cleaned up from the travel. So when I say an abundance of opulence, I'm pretty sure our hotel and our room itself will make it clear that such may be an understatement...
 |
| oooo0o0o shiny |
 |
| There's like a 6000 inch TV on the other wall... |
 |
| Nothing says opulence like tightly packed high-rises as your view. |
 |
| Yes, that is a TV in the mirror. |
 |
| I, sadly, did not get the christen this bad boy. |
 | |
| YES, THAT IS A TV IN FRONT OF WHERE I TAKE A DUMP. |
 |
| Even the public bathrooms in the hotel are ridiculous. And yes, you stand on the metal nubs and water washes the space below the urinal so there's no annoying splatter where you stand. |
 | |
| Our hotel is the crazy, gold, torch-like building. |
Oh, and in case you were wondering, there are prostitutes in the basement, so there's that too. And before you ask, no, I did not partake. That's gross. In like seven different ways.
After freaking out for a good 10 minutes about how awesome everything was, we washed up and went to dinner. There, I met the person who was our benefactor. I'm not really sure of how his name is spelled, but it sounded like Uncle Kwan, so I'm going with that.
Now Uncle Kwan was a man in his 70s, but still a strong looking man with a deep baritone voice. I'm extremely disappointed that I didn't snap a picture of Uncle Kwan, because he was fairly imposing for a man of his advanced age, but I was too lost in the opulence to remember. He didn't seem particularly learned, and didn't have the arrogance of a man who had his position, so I wondered exactly how he had set us up with such wonderful luxuries.
As it turns out, my mother told me Uncle Kwan once worked as an adviser/body-guard for Stanley Ho. If you're too lazy to read that Wikipedia article (he has a Wikipedia article, so he must be important), I'll just tell you that he was arguably the most powerful man in Macau, owning several of the large casinos and held a vice-grip on gambling in Macau for a generation. Because of his connections with Stanley Ho, Uncle Kwan still has connections in Macau, and hence why we stayed in such luxurious and opulent conditions.
Our meal was delicious, including...
 |
| I'm pretty sure that waitress in pink is just staring at herself in the mirror... |
Peking duck! Which was amazing, as always. Even though the food was great, I actually enjoyed the conversation very much. Uncle Kwan had a very calm, engaging personality, and even though he didn't speak the best English, he still engaged me and me alone several times. He asked about what I was doing, and then seemed genuinely interested when I told him I was in graduate school to become a mathematics education researcher.
As we were leaving, Uncle Kwan took me by the arm and said, in somewhat broken English, "So, when you graduate, you come back here, ok? You find yourself a job in Hong Kong University, and you come back." That moment was probably the first time I really considered it, but I thought to myself, that would be so amazing.
Until that point, I had never considered this anything but a trip. Yes, I was getting to relive old memories, see faces I hadn't seen in over a decade, revisit my childhood and my culture. But this was the first time I ever considered that Hong Kong and China could be part of my future, not just my past. If I ever manage to finish this degree, I always thought I would just find some place to in the United States, get tenure, work there forever, teach math and math education, do some research, and be relatively happy. I never considered for a moment that I could leave so much of what I know behind and make the rest of my life an adventure in Hong Kong.
But now, as I sit here, back in the states, back with my graduate work, I can't help but want this possibility. As I put my head down and push through day after day of work and studying, what do I have to look to at the end of it? More of the same? Worse? If anything, what else could I do that could more completely break my routine?
At that moment, a thought occurred to me: No matter what I do, even if I fail or if I succeed, I can always choose to go elsewhere. I can always choose to go where I want to go. And for me, that may have been the first moment I really realized that I didn't want to stay as I am. I didn't want to do what was expected; I didn't want to do what was mundane. I wanted something new, something completely different from what I had. And even if it is just a flicker of hope, even if it is such a distant goal, I have this amazing possibility, this amazing future that could be mine.
All I have to do is choose it.
