Almost done?

Hello all!

It's been a busy couple of weeks and hard to believe that my time in Asia is almost over. So I've managed to collect data from 695 skulls, which means I have lots of numbers to crunch when I get back to Ohio. My parents come on Monday and we're going to have dinner with my grandparents and celebrate my b-day.

There hasn't been much to report so far since all I've been doing is working everyday. Last Sunday I went to the Hong Kong History Museum to learn about my natal land and I must say that it was one of the best small museums I've been to and that's saying a lot. It was also really cheap, entry fee was only $10 HKD ($1US=$7.76). There was a special exhibit about the qipao, which is the traditional Chinese dress. Here's a picture of one of the many they had on exhibit. I'm thinking of getting one made when I go to China. Here's a picture of the bound feet shoes popular in China merely a hundred years ago (a little family history, my maternal great-grandmother had bound feet). The shoes are so tiny!
On Saturday, my aunt and cousin took me out for dinner and dessert, so I took some pictures of the dessert just for my mom. I'm happy to report they were as delicious as they looked.

Lastly, on the balcony of my dorm on clear days, I get to see spectacular sunsets over the harbour and this photo doesn't really do it justice but I'd thought I'd share it.
So that's all for now from the fragrant harbour. After Hong Kong, I'm going to travel to Xian to see the terra cotta warriors in person, which is what I'm really excited about. Then we're off to Singapore/Malaysia, so hopefully I get lots of good pictures so I can share with you all. Hope you're well and talk to you later.

My time in Hong Kong so far...

Hello all,

Sorry I've been a little AWOL but I've been busy and adjusting to life in Hong Kong. It's almost like I'm a native here since I can speak the language and understand most of the culture. It's been pretty rainy here and we've actually had flooding in the area, so that was kind of a new adventure.

Here's a picture of the dorm I'm staying at. It's pretty deserted here since it's the summer.This is the view of the bay and what I see pretty much every day. Isn't it pretty?This is the building I work in everyday at HKU.

My cousin took me to the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens where they have lots of primates on display, including lemurs, marmosets, macaques, tamarins, gibbons, siamangs, and orangutans.
My aunt, her son (my cousin) and I went to a cupcake art gallery and here are some pictures. Maybe I could do this when I get back?
They all look so yummy.
I've been having lots of dim sum here and it has been pretty good.
Well that's it for now, I'll post more when I get more pictures.

Ley ho from Hong Kong

Hello everyone,

I'm safely in Hong Kong and finally settled. I arrived on Sunday to find out that the place that I'm staying at messed up my reservations and didn't leave a set of keys for me with the security guard. Luckily I printed out a copy of my communications with the office and the guard let me put my stuff in the room. I ended up staying at my grandmother's that night because the next morning I had to go get my Chinese visa at the office closer to her house. Even though Hong Kong is a relatively small island area, it still takes a while to get anywhere. It took me a little over an hour to get from HKU to my grandmother's house. I got to have dinner with my maternal family still in Hong Kong so that was really nice.

Today I went to the Department of Anatomy to start my work. My hosts spent the whole day showing me around and going over the procedures and protocols so I get to start work tomorrow. The department is really nice and I'll be working in the gross anatomy lab which doesn't smell at all!

I haven't taken any pictures of Hong Kong yet, but I will soon. I'll include some of my remaining Taiwan pictures with this post and I'll talk to you soon!

So here we begin with the Asian obsession with Hello Kitty. This is an actual Hello Kitty gate at Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei.
This is a Hello Kitty Sweets store in Taipei where they have Hello Kitty shaped hamburgers.
This is the stained glass ceiling at the Taiwan National Museum. It was a pretty small but fascinating museum.
This is outside the National History Museum and the site of those nasty midges that bit me.
Here's a picture of the food at a good tonkatsu (Japanese fried pork cutlet) place in Taipei. There was weirdly a pig outside the restaurant which I felt a little guilty about eating pork inside the restaurant.
Here's a picture of a famous 100+ year noodle restaurant.
Here's a picture of people making Din Ta Feng's famous xiao long bao (dumplings with soup).
Here's a picture of one of the famous Maokong Tea plantations where they grow Taiwan tea.
So that's it for now. I'll write more soon.

Last Day in Taiwan

Hi all,

It's been a hectic two weeks and my last day here has been pretty relaxing. However I discovered a little biting insect that won't stop pestering me so I have over 50 bites from these tiny biting midges and they itch like hell.

Tomorrow I have a 6AM flight to Hong Kong, then I will be collecting data for 3 weeks there and my parents arrive after that.

This past week my aunt and cousin came to Taipei and we went around to see the sights. I have lots of pictures of our adventures, so I'll post some here now. Here's a picture of the MRT here in Taipei. It's really clean and cheap!
Right before they came, I went to visit the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan and took a bunch of pictures. Here are some pictures of the museum.


Here's a picture of us at a Crab Shabu Shabu restaurant, which was yummy and a lot of food.We also went to Taipei 101 one of the tallest buildings in the world.
We also hit of Yeliu Geological Park, where there are all these interesting rock formations that were formed by geological processes. This is one of two dogs kissing, can you see it?
This is the famous rock formation everyone comes to see. It's called the queen's head. The park is next to the water, so I thought I would take a picture of the park.
Here's me on a boat on the way back from the Museum of Archaeology.
Here's the first exhibit in the museum of archaeology.
Here's me in front of the museum.
After sightseeing, we would often go to night markets and get some yummy food.
This is us in front of the National Palace Museum. It's one of the alrgest museums in Taiwan.

I have more pictures to post but I'll do it when I arrive in Hong Kong. Talk to you all then!

Zoo Day

Hello all!

I had a really fun but tiring day. I finished my data collection yesterday, so I decided to do some sightseeing. Today I went to the zoo, which required me to take a train and bus. I managed not to get lost on the way there and that was awesome. The Taipei Zoo is really large and they have a lot of animals there so I spent the entire day there. There are lots of primates at the zoo and I managed to get lots of good pictures there. It was quite hot today so I was sweltering by the end of the day. I had a massive craving for french fries so I went to McDonald's at the zoo and it was delicious. Without further ado, here are some really cool animal pictures.They mist the greenery along the zoo paths every 5 or 10 minutes and I thought it looked neat.
There are lots of orchids along the zoo path so I thought I would try out the macro setting on my camera. Here are some regal looking king penguins.There were two different species of rhinos there, the regular and white rhino.There were at least ten hippos in the zoo! They are actually really active animals. There were at least three different species of zebras at the zoo. I love the giraffes. There were so many there.This is what everyone comes to the zoo to see, giant pandas! The zoo has two that were gifted from China recently. There are lots of macaques at the zoo.Here's a chimp enjoying his fruit and hiding in the shade. I love tapirs, they are one of my favorites animals at the zoo. I was bummed that I didn't get to see any elephants in Thailand, so here are some Asian elephants at the zoo. I have a lot more zoo pictures but I didn't want to overload my posts, so here's the gist of them. Tomorrow I meet my cousin and aunt in Taipei so we'll be going to see more sights. Talk to you all later!