On An Aeroplane Over The Sea

From Studying Abroad in Hong Kong

This was a roller coaster at Ocean Park, a theme park in Hong Kong. Very, very tame rides. Asians frighten easily. It's science. But, the views were incredible.

This weekend I went to my first horse racetrack. The stadium is 1/4th mile long; the seats were at least half-filled the entire length. It reminded me of a casino because everyone was there to gamble and it reeked of desperation and empty hopes. There were losing betting slips scattered everywhere, and at the end of the night they came out with leaf blowers to blow them away. Many of the "professional" horse-race gamblers use hyper-obsessive techniques like monitoring the weights of the jockeys, examining how the horses walked before the race, and perusing extensive publications devoted entirely to predicting the winners of the races. From my short stay at the track, I found that there was no correlation between the favorites to win and the actual winners. But, the professionals would dismiss this as purely anecdotal.

One interesting thing is that Chinese people are afraid of the number four. If they paid attention, they should be afraid of seven, because seven eight nine. Nonetheless, there is a going theory that the number four horse enjoys abnormally good odds because even if it is a favorite to win, no one wants to bet on it.

I went to my first movie in Hong Kong. Despite the fact that people rarely hang out in their apartments and are always out shopping and eating, cinema is not a popular past-time in Hong Kong. I wouldn't be surprised if Sioux Falls, South Dakota had more theatres than Hong Kong. Anyways, one cool thing about the movies in Hong Kong is that you get to pick your seats, like you're on an airplane. I requested a window seat.

Also, they serve chocolate popcorn and fish meat balls. The chocolate popcorn is very similar to the 'Kettle Korn' they serve at fairs, in that it is sweet and salty at the same time. Pretty delicious, but I prefer salt and butter.

In other news, I changed my flights and will be spending Christmas in Colorado with my family and New Year's Eve in New York City.