Viva Macau!

Here is the 15 second explanation of Macau: Macau lies about 40 miles away from Hong Kong and was a former colony of Portugal. It was handed back to China in 1999 and has a status similar to Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region. It has its own currency as well as its own …

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Last Day in Hong Kong (for real this time)

I got my tickets and everything is booked. Tomorrow evening I’ll be flying Royal Brunei Airlines to Bandar Darussalam and I’ll finally be out of Hong Kong. I’ve stayed here waaaay longer than I ever anticipated. Granted, I got a lot done and I probably needed to stay put for a few weeks, but I’m …

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No, Its not Bhutan, Brundi, or Bahrain. It’s BRUNEI

Still in Brunei. The internet here seems…..slow. Perhaps I got spoiled in East Asia. There are two internet cafes I’ve found, both of which take like a minute to pull up Gmail. I don’t foresee uploading photos until I can get a faster connection. I’ve also developed diarrhea and a rash on the bottom of …

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The Ecology of Urban Hong Kong

Hong Kong is to small businesses as the rainforest is to plants. I think that analogy not only captures the idea that economic and regulatory conditions in Hong Kong are favorable to business, but it also captures a very real sense of how and where businesses spring up. They pop up like plants wherever conditions …

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National Day

I am a member of Couchsurfing.com. While I have used it to get information, I have never used it to actually stay at someone’s house or to meet someone. The first person I’ve met on from Couchsurfing was Ruby, who agreed to show me around Taipei on National Day. (October 10) This is the story …

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…and the Iron Chef was Proud

I just ate what was probably the best meal I had on my trip. (if you don’t include the dinner I had at Picasso’s at the Bellagio for my send off, it definitely was). I’m not even sure what everything was. There was some sashimi, a shrimp dish in some creamy sauce, a hot soup …

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Random Thoughts on Japan

Styx needs to make a sequel to Mr. Roboto where they go find a hotel, get lunch, and take a train. Japan has beer and cigarette vending machines. A pack of cigarettes is about $2.70, which I guess is cheap. I don’t smoke. The beer vending machine is brilliant. Mothers Against Fun would never let …

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Adventures in Pooping, Vol. 1: Land of the Rising Bun

This if the first installment in what I’m sure will several posts on the bathroom habits I discover around the world. I can think of no better place to start than the place which has achieved the pinnacle in toilet technology: Japan. For those of you rolling your eyes right now, deal with it. I’m …

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Last Thoughts on Taiwan

I’ve had this sitting in an unfinished draft on my computer for several weeks now. I figure I should get it up and out before I get any farther in Asia. I don’t want to get more than one country behind or I start to forget to much. As I noted when I arrived in …

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