Macau pictorially

Macau was fun, but it's no Las Vegas. They may make more gambling revenue than Atlantic City and Vegas combined but that's cause it's the only thing to do. Vegas has all those shows and theme parks plus they speak English. Plus they have Hoover Dam. Plus you don't need six months on your passport to get in. Vegas-4 Macau-1 (for having the world's biggest casino). 

In terms of culture we saw some cool stuff and got a glimpse of China but I think Hong Kong has more to offer. Not to say I didn't have fun- thanks for taking us Graeme!  

skyline

Graeme waiting to collect his flock :) For some reason I really like this one

The crew resting up before dinner

Anna and a suit of armor + a building and palm tree

View from the ferry as we departed

These are not in order... but here is China! Note the environmentally friendly windmills

The new University they are building at Macau (what? Who told you it was a casino?! ) 

Fatty Olympic dude, love him

The facade of an old church, or a gate? I think I missed the part where they told us the purpose of this structure but I think it was important cause we had to walk up a lot of steps to get there. 

And then there were 3... we're a dying breed around here apparently- we missed you Sarah! 

So there you have it. We missed the Mosque though! 

Macao: Entry DENIED (old news)

I haven't gone running in nearly a week, but I have been literally running several times a day to keep up with Hong Kong--to catch the buses and ferries, to get to dinner dates on time, and to maximize math problem-solving time. Together, all of that has left me with little time to fill you in on the daily adventures. One that I had been particularly looking forward to was Macao, a Chinese territory outside of Hong Kong. Macao was once administered by the Portuguese, so to this day everything, including immigration forms are in three languages: Mandarin, English, and Portuguese.

Macao is mostly known for its casinos, some of which are the largest in the world. But I was excited about getting to visit the mosque, which my online sources reported sits right across from the main pier. However, after arriving in this special territory, the immigration people refused to grant me a Macao visa, even for one day because my passport is set to expire in one month. After attempted negotiations in Canto-English with bits of Spanish (I thought they might understand Portuguese's close relative), all efforts failed, primarily due to language barriers. So I was sent right back on a ferry to Hong Kong. After clear instructions involving "sit," "stay," "passport I keep," and a few other short phrases, I was placed in a front row seat under close surveillance for the one hour ride. When it was time to go, I followed my designated guard without saying a word.

He didn't seem very friendly, but I knew that he was just doing his job; and at the moment, that meant simply transporting me to the interrogation room, while acting like a tough guy. Eventually, we stood for a few awkward moments to wait for another immigration official. Unable to communicate properly in Cantonese, but wishing to improve the atmosphere, I pulled out the only thing I had in Chinese characters--a scrap of paper that transliterates to "lau lin." This is the name of the king of the king of fruit--that is, the best type of durian in the world; which I am disparately searching for to fulfill my final Hong Kong dream. The guard responded with "The best! The best! From Malaysia!" Although he couldn't explain where I could find lau lin, I instantly, gained his respect, and was transfered to the next guard with a smile.

After a few more transfers, some 'interrogations,' (that quickly became cheerful), and lots of paperwork, I was warned not to veer out of HK, re-granted my stay in Hong Kong, and set free to run to the MTR!

I was really sad to miss the Macao trip, but my experience with the immigration officials was interesting (an amalgamation of consternation and humor), and the rest of my day was relaxing--I spent it on the beach at Lamma Island. ...more to come on that later, but first I'd love to hear about Macao!

Sai Kung and Ocean Park

Last weekend, the REU ladies went to two wonderful attractions, one that seemed intended for locals and the other also for tourists: Sai Kung and Ocean Park respectively. At Sai Kung, we had trouble communicating with the boat people, but using numbers and body language we ended up taking a traditionally-designed boat an hour into the sea onto a deserted island made up of abandoned houses, water pipes, graveyards, wells, and farms. Map-less and clueless of what treasures and dangers the island might contain, we explored the land cautiously. Walking through the rubbles felt like uncovering a dead past, and I hope to do some research about the place to learn about the lively cultures that must have breathed life into that land, a long time ago.

The Boat People:
Water Caves:

Say Cheese, in Chinese!

An abandoned jug:


Happily Exploring:
An old salt farm:


Sunday's outing to Ocean Park proved to be far more comfortably adventurous. As soon as we entered the theme park, we picked up maps and planned our day accordingly. All the signs were bilingual (including English) and even the water theatre presentation (where dolphins and seals were the actors!) was also bilingual. We rode "The Dragon," the park's biggest roller coaster, in the rain (!!!), caught the feeding of the seals, watched the dolphin show, walked through an aviary, peaked into massive aquariums of the world's sea creatures, watched the panda bears fight (or play), and enjoyed the Chinese culture apparent throughout what will soon be one of the world's most extensive theme parks. On the way back from high land to low land (the park is built on mountains), we rode in a cable car with a woman from the park's guest services, who told us that in 2012 the number of attractions in the park will double from 35 to 76.

Notice the pandas coming out of the trash can:


The real theater of the ocean forms the backdrop for this artificial theater:

This is my favorite bird! Notice that it is eating oranges, mangoes, papaya, apples, bananas, and so much good food!
A Dragon Fish:


Jia Jia, the mother panda:Silliness:

Goodbye, Ocean Park!

Da da da da da da da da BATMAN!

Does this skyline look familiar? Yesterday Kirstin and I were walking through Central when we stumbled upon this poster, looking closer (due to a vested interest in all things Batman) we realized that the skyline was none other than the one directly above our heads. When we returned home we confirmed that Batman was indeed shot in Hong Kong, so get excited! 

Something Mathematical About Life

Yesterday evening my lower left eyelid suddenly blew up to the size of an almond, accompanied by sneezes and general drowsiness. Within minutes, my REU family came to help—Claire diagnosed my case and consoled me with the fact that it would go away with time, Eugene offered medicine that “is really good,” and Anna made sure that at dinner we all practiced the chopstick rule, “black is personal,” and “brown is public,” preventing contamination. After a hearty vegetarian meal beginning and ending with Chinese soups (melon and red bean respectively) and drinks (strong green tea and carrot/orange/apple honey cocktail), my eyelid melted back to normal size, my nose stopped sneezing, and my mind thought clearly. As fast as it had come, the random affliction had disappeared.

After a night of smiles and happy thoughts over the degustation of two Japanese plums, a custard apple, a Chinese peach, a persimmon, and more, I found that such cyclical progress exists only in smooth periodic functions, such as sine or cosine. On this journey, I have sought over and over again to apply such mathematical rules to life—the goal of my project is to find a formula that will solve an integral that appears often in nature, but does not have an analytic solution. We believe that we are close to deriving a formula that will approximate the integral at an acceptable level of accuracy, but at best, what we will obtain will remain a mere approximation. After all, symbols, no matter how they are formulated cannot, with perfect precision, capture life. Neither numbers, nor words can correctly approximate the state of the soul.

But beyond such attempts to calculate and create, I believe in an ultimate peace, that from God we came, and to Him we shall return. Perhaps, something about life is periodic, like sine and cosine, and like the vanishing almond beneath my eye.

Claire, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Junk Boat Ride and Adventures in Central

Today was quite an eventful day. We were sad to see Claire leave this morning, and sorry for her loss. Kirsten and Eugene saw that she made it safely to the airport and waited with her before she went through security.

Later in the afternoon, Jason, Tim, Samantha, Kirsten, and I called it an early day and went to Victoria Harbor for a junk boat ride. We cruised around the harbor for an hour before landing in Central. The trip was calming and beautiful.

Kirsten, Samantha, and I headed up to a Chinese restaurant (found in Sam's book, of course) in SoHo. I want to commend Kirsten for being brave and ordering the pig's tongue! I had a bite and thought it tasted great.

It turns out that next to the restaurant was a reputable-looking barber shop. I got an appointment for 7:00 and said goodbye to the other girls. After my amazing shampoo, I sat down in the chair to have my hair trimmed by an "English speaking" male. Ha! Despite the language barrier, I am pleased with my new 'do. He straightened my hair as he dried it and then sprayed it so it would stay. Hong Kong, however, does not permit straight hair so I enjoyed a few moments of glamor while I was still in the shop. The whole experience cost $98. Not bad!

We miss you Graeme and Claire!

pictures from the night!