Hong Kong

We are incredibly spoiled by Hong Kong. It is a fact I am reminded of everytime I return to our hotel room. I say hotel room, I mean executive suite in the Hyatt. What is an executive suite? Well it is where all five of us guys live. Two rooms each with their own bathroom complete with large bath and rain shower. The rooms have comfy beds, a large desk, and a large television. The two rooms are connected by a common room with a couch, another Tv, and a kitchen. The best part is the view, from our window seats (where I eat my meals and drink tea) I can see the city,the mountains, and the harbour. The hotel also has a heated pool and a hot tub. I have been using the kitchen a lot. Not that there isn't good street food, I've found green peppers, eggplant, and tofu fried in batter as well as waffle balls (exactly like it sounds, balls of cooked waffle dough). But most the rest of the food is meat based. Luckily the markets sell tons of vegetables so I have been able to do stir fry, eggplant parmesion, avacado Mac and cheese, quiche, and even apple crisp. (It pales in comparison to my moms and grandmothers, but I like to try). Hong Kong itself is a special city. The train system is excellent. The people are nice, and many speak English. Everything is quick and efficient. As we are several hours ahead of everyone we constantly joke that Hong Kong is the city from the future. During the week we have been busy with class, which is the most difficult part (I'm afraid I have no talent and little interest in Chinese art). But on the weekends we take advantage of the location going on hikes all day. Last weekend I took some of the group to see Hong Kong play Guam in the opening stages of the eastern Asian cup. It was a pretty small venue, but a decent game. I was just happy to watch some football again. Its been a long time. This last weekend was possibly the best yet. On Saturday we took the ferry to Lamma island. It was first sunny day since we arrived and we took advantage of the weather. We roamed around the island, stopping to take in the views at regular intervals. Once we reached the top of the mountain we could see the whole city of Hong Kong accross the bay, settled in the mountain. Once we got back we decided to go out to celebrate the 100th day of Global. We left late with a somewhat silly plan, the last train runs at 1, so we would stay out until the first morning train ran at 6. It was fun, the night scene downtown is crazy. We got nachos at a hard rock cate. Then we went to some clubs (with me and Doug in our suits we had no issues getting in). We quite literally danced the night away. Then, tired out we found an overnight diner and I ordered a full English breakfast; eggs, toast, tea, baked beans, fried tomato, mushrooms, even veggie sausage. We returned and slept till 2. Our instructors had prepared some ice-skating at 3, so we rallied and headed to the mall. I forgot how much I liked skating. It put me in an uncharacteristically Christmas mood. I'm thankful now for all the time I spent on our frozen pond with my family. I guess years of messing around on the ice qualified me as a pretty decent skater within the group. Sudip (who was skating for the first time) and I skated the full two hours, running loops with the mountains rising in the background. When we were finally escorted off the ice my feet were killing me but I was grinning from ear to ear. I can not wait to ski in south Korea. Its been great so far and I cant wait to see what else the city has to offer. We are going to see the hobbit in three days so that makes me happy as well. Till next post. -Jordan

Thailand

Thailand was really a mixed bag. For me it unfortunately represents one of the low points for our trip. Luckily with a little help from my friends I was able to turn it around and have several great memories. Thailand was our vacation time. Some people met their parents while the rest either went to the beaches or to Chaing Mai. I, figuring I would get the most out of Thailand, went to chaing Mai. My companions flew, but I (being both cheap and harboring a distrust for small planes) made the fateful decision to take the train. The train ride stretched to be 16 hours. The beauty was lost on me as my body was racked by lack of sleep and food poisoning from the pad Thai I had consumed in the train station (one of my dumbist decisions on the trip). I had only been seperated from my global friends for 24 hours but I felt alone and wanted nothing more than to find them. I stumbled through the streets of Thailand, getting lost twice on my way to the hotel, before a kind Thai man, no doubt seeing my heavy mental and physical baggage, pointed me in the right direction. I finally found my hotel, and saw my friends sitting outside the pool. I don't know if I've ever been happier to see them. I collapsed in someones arms (Katie? Doesn't matter) while the others surrounded me, concern evident on their faces. I was sick for the next two days, rarely leaving the hotel room. After the second day I had recovered remarkably. I met my friends Drew and Emily who are on Term in Asia and were able to show me around, bringing me to the night market and showing me some of the cool parts of the city. My last full day I was finally able to take advantage of Chaing Mai. My friends and I went ziplining in the jungle with the Gibbons (my new favorite primate). It was an exhilarating time, adreneline pumping through us as we were flying through the jungles on just a thin wire. Our guides were entertaining as well and made sure we got the most out of our experience. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch and saw the nearby waterfall. When we returned I met up with my term in Asia friends again. After they left (they are living with host families and thus confined to a schedule) I met up with my global group and we went to a karaoke bar and thouroughly embarrassed ourselves singing on stage. (Note to self find and destroy those videos). Thankfully the girls had convinced me to take the plane back to Bangkok, which gave us a leisurely last morning, enjoying banana pancakes and fruit smoothies. My diet for Thailand pretty much consisted of four fruit smotthies a day as I couldn't keep down food. Not complaining at all, those fresh fruit smoothies were incredible. Once we returned to Bangkok we met up with everyone else, swapping hugs and stories like it had been five months, not five days. I had some great experiences in Thailand but was not to sad to leave for Hong Kong the next day. If nothing else being sick and alone in thailand helped me realize the value I placed on the people I am on this trip with. Jordan

India

Hello everyone, its been a long time. I wrote a blog post for Bangalore but quickly discovered it would not be published. To much transpired over that amount of time. I would need 100 posts to do it justice. It will have to be enough for me to say I owe much to the people at the ecumenical Christian center and a special thanks goes out to the kids for rekindling a enjoyment of cricket. (Which I now kind of understand.) Instead I will start in Delhi and try to catch up. In Delhi we had quite the adventure. To set the scene, it's Diwali the festival of lights where Indians celebrate the triumph of good over evil. This means the streets are crowded and the air is full of smoke from the fireworks that go off every five minutes. Lanterns fill the street. Susie and Lauren needed to fill up their phone cards to call their moms, and me (as a guy) went with. Our first attempts failed until we met an Indian man on the street. He took us to a shop that was open. It was there that Susie, who had the wrong carrier, was thinking of buying a new Sim card. Our new Indian friend advised me against it, claiming that I was being way overcharged be because of the festival. We hurriedly left the store and our hero set to work. He called his friends and sent them on their motorbike's on a journey accross the city to put money on Susie's card. It took about 45 minutes but they succeeded. In the meantime we talked to our new friend, who first claimed to work at a hotel, then a hospital, then to have just gotten his degree in accounting. It was a bit sketchy but he was getting us the money we needed. At the end of the night he offered me his motorcycle to drive, insisting my friends could ride with his friends. I had to good sense to decline but let him flag down a rickshaw (the Indian equivalent of a taxi) for us. Not only did he make sure we weren't cheated he and his two friends gave us a loud and flashy motorcycle escort all the way back to the ymca. At this point we were practically falling down with laughter. We thanked him and he road off into the night. Turned out he was alright after all. Of course the fallowing day we took a train to the Taj Mahal and Aggar fort. It is a clichéd place, but people visit for a reason. Its one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I'm afraid our instructors words feel on deaf ears as we stared with mouths with open. The tour (and more importantly pictures) took the best part of two hours. We were again reminded of how blessed we are to be on this trip. The following day we left for Thailand, very sad to be saying goodbye to India. Oh also I will never go to another mcdonalds. Call out to the McVeggie.

Jor