This is a matter of grave concern for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as well, since he accepted fully the American and British rationale for the war.

In attacking Iraq without any specific United Nations resolution, the United States and Britain asserted that Iraq had to be relieved of its hidden weapons of mass destruction. To support their assertions, U.S. and British troops in Iraq are still combing the country in search of such weapons.

But two months after the fall of Baghdad, the search has yet to produce any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons-nor even any evidence that Iraq ever had such weapons.

Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, questioned the nature of the many pieces of “evidence” presented by the United States and Britain in the U.N. Security Council before the war and has noted it is quite likely that Iraq destroyed its weapons quite some time ago.

The first such “evidence” to come under scrutiny was a British government dossier that supposedly contained detailed documentation of Iraq’s WMD development program.

Released in September 2002, this dossier says Iraq sought uranium from an African nation. When the International Atomic Energy Agency analyzed the document upon which the dossier was based, however, the document itself was found to be a fabrication.

The dossier also stated Iraq had the means to deploy chemical and biological weapons “within 45 minutes.” But according to the BBC, this part of the report was “amended” by the prime minister’s office to make it more impressive, and a senior intelligence officer has admitted the fabrication.

“Completely and totally untrue,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in dismissing allegations his government had overstated Iraq’s weapons capability to justify the war. But Britain’s Parliament has decided to conduct an inquiry into whether Blair was right in deciding to wage war.

In the United States, the Defense Intelligence Agency has recently admitted having compiled a report last fall that included an analysis concluding there was no solid evidence to substantiate a claim that Iraq had chemical weapons. The Senate is looking into the accuracy of the intelligence the government was given.

President George W. Bush counters criticism from Congress and in the media by saying the war liberated the people of Iraq. He is obviously determined to justify his action, even if no weapons of mass destruction turn up.

Indeed, the Iraqi people are free of the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. But the very fact that all these questions are being raised in the United States and Britain is proof that wars must never be waged without justification. If the two nations indeed exaggerated the threat of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, it would be even more reason for the international community to be apprehensive about Bush’s “pre-emptive strike” doctrine.

On June 9, 1815, Giovanni and his wife Sarah travelled to Egypt to introduce his hydraulics creation to Mohammed Ali Pasha- who was interested in Egypt’s modernization and technological advancement. After failing, Giovanni was in Egypt without a job. After a while Giovanni met up with a British Consul General named Henry Salt, Henry convinced Giovanni to gather treasures and discover finds to send back to the British Museum.

Giovanni quickly left for Thebes to remove the colossal stone head of Ramses II to be delivered to the British Museum. Following were journeys to the temple Edfu, Philae and Elephantine. Here he also cleared the great temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. For the next three years, Giovanni would do things that few or no one had done. He was charged with the difficult task of moving the two-seated statues of Rames II. Giovanni excavated Karnak; in 1817, he travelled to the Valley of the Kings and discovered the tombs of Amenhotep III, Ramses I, Merneptah and Ay. While investigating these tombs, he spotted indications of another royal tomb near the tomb of Ramses I. He discovered the tomb of the pharaoh Seti I, Ramses I son. Buried eighteen feet below surface. He was the first person ever to take note of everything there and also make drawings of the different chambers of the tomb.

In 1918, Giovanni was the first person to enter into the second pyramid of Giza. He entered the pyramid, by using his skills to locate the entrance to the inner chambers and leaving his name on the wall of the burial chamber. Giovanni was the first ever European to visit the oasis of Siwah and identify the ruined city of Berenice on the Red Sea. He returned to England in 1819 and a year later published his narrative of ‘the operations and recent discoveries within the pyramids’, ‘temples, tombs and excavations’, ‘in Egypt and Nubia’.

In 1823 Giovanni set out for Timbuktu in West Africa. Two years later, Giovanni died at the village of Gwato, near Benin, Nigeria in 1825. He was forty-five years old. A statue of him was erected at Padua, on the 4th of July 1827. His wife displayed in Paris and London, his drawings and models of the royal tombs of Thebes.

My Evaluation of Giovanni Battista Belzoni

Giovanni Battista Belzoni made many contributions towards the fields of archaeology. He made many wonderful discoveries like discovering many tombs and chambers of Seti I, Ramses I and II, Ay, Merneptah. I thought that he was smart because whenever he went to excavate, and discover something- he’d take plenty of notes about what he saw, drawing pictures as well and also drawing up a map of the tombs- which in fact today, has helped many people find their way around.

Giovanni had many talents-, which included strength-, which was useful because he could lift up tombs and open doors inside the pyramids, and also, he was smart- because really, being able to find a tomb eight feet below ground is pretty unbelievable. I found that really amazing and so well done.

Looking at pictures of his findings and reading sources after sources about this great archaeologist and his magnificent finds, I don’t think that there were any negative aspects to Giovanni’s work. There isn’t anything negative that I have read about Giovanni- that has anything negative written or said about his work. Most of the sources praise him, for his wonderful contributions into the world of archaeology.

Overall, I thought that Giovanni Battista Belzoni was a fantastic archaeologist, and without his skills and ambitions, we, today, may have never known about the tomb and discoveries he found- and for what we know- could not have been discovered. So thank you Giovanni Battista Belzoni- for discovering what you did- without your finds- ancient history [subject] would have never been the same and as interesting.

Yahoo! Search web pages: Giovanni Belzoni

http://emuseum.mnsu.edu/information/biography/abcde/elzoni_elzoni.html

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/belzoni.htm

http://www.belzoni.com/giovanni.htm

http://www.addall.com/Browse/Author/2199688-1

http://members.tripod.com/~ib205/belzoni.html

http://archaeology.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_belzonig.htm

http://www.geocities.com/vlorenzani/belzoni.htm

http://www.freeweb.hu/egyiptom/magyar/belzoni.html

http://22.1911encyclopedia.org/B/BE/BELZONI_GIOVANNI_BATTISTA.htm

http://www.slider.com/enc/6000/Belzoni_Giovanni_Battista.htm

http://www.moonstonerp.com/18th/belzoni.html

Encyclopaedia: Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopaedia- Volume 3- Belzoni

Many normal children that are pressured or feel pressured would resist to the any wishes of that is brought upon them by the person that is applying this pressure. In my opinion I think that children would learn more through a have a fun learning experience rather than being pressured into it. Mostly the parents that are applying the pressure would have communication problems as well. A parent can always misinterpret a child in so many ways. The problem is because the parents won’t listen to the child on what they have to say. In any case, parents have the authority of over the child and silence them if they are not showing any attention. Still, as any normal child would do is to show resistance and in the end the child would get punished for such actions. That is why in my opinion, each and every parent should calm down and try to listen to their child on what they have to say about the situation that is discussed. Even though the child is wrong, it can be corrected in a proper manner that the child can adapt to. If the parent starts screaming at the child or any motion of angry the child will not listen and scream back at the parent. If both the parents and child complies in a calmly manner then there will be no conflicts or any communication problems between each other. By showing how much you love the child, the child would listen more properly and love you for being so kind for listening to their side of the story.

In conclusion the parents and child relationship should be close and as lovingly as possible. In all cases of the parents and child relationship, the parents need to understand their child more than just asking questions and jumping to conclusions. The child will react much willingly on the parents opinion, only if the parents are willing to approach the problem in a calmly manner.

In general, the education in most universities does not take care specifically about the way for solving such problems, as illiteracy, poverty, epidemics and more, therefore the creation of this university could be a great idea.

For example, illiteracy is a huge problem in many countries, especially in those poor and less developed, it is necessary learn how to lead with that and find the way for reducing the amount of people who does not know how to write and read. Maybe creating an intensive campaign which shows the importance and many reasons why it is necessary to know how to read and write, the several advantages that it can give to any person and how quickly the relevance of knowing writing and reading has increase in the world, could be one way for attacking this problem. It is just an example about how people can help in something like that. Therefore it is mandatory to prepare people, giving them the right tools and knowledge for being creative, ingenious and develop ideas for solving many problems, like the example above.

A university specifically designed to prepare people for learning and developing skills to solve these important social problems definitely would be a great project that can be real if all nations agree with that and collaborate in its creation.

King frequently makes use of repetition throughout the speech, emphasising his points and shaping the rhythm of his dialog. The repetition of phrases such as “I have a dream” and “Go back to…” gives the text a certain balance, symmetry and lucidity, making it more appropriate as a speech. This repetition also contributes to the imperative nature of his statements, therefore subtending a greater influence upon the audience and making the speech more memorable.

One of the techniques employed by King to give his speech credibility and make his key points more comprehensible is imagery. His imaginative and creative use of metaphors, such as

“This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality”

and

“…staggered by the winds of police brutality”

make his assertions more explicit and accessible, an important element considering the low standard of education predominant among those in the audience. This contributes significantly to the effectiveness of the speech, and maintains the audience’s engagement.

At the time of writing the speech, King was also a Reverend, which gives him credibility as a speaker. This is evident through his use of phrases originating from the bible. His statement

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred”

is clearly drawn from:

“You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too.”

1 Corinthians 10, 26

He also uses phrases sourced explicitly and directly from the bible, including

“…and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed”

This religious derivation enhances the appeal of the speech particularly to those with an affinity to Christianity, and promotes the integrity of the content. This augments the responder’s willingness to concede the validity of the composer’s opinion.

These techniques and others are all used to promote the integrity and sincerity of King’s opinions and consequently inspire, enlighten, and convince his audience.

The policies of war communism and the New Economic Policy (NEP) had a great impact on both the peasantry and the proletariat. Both policies were a desperate attempt to preserve the revolution and this is greatly reflects the reasons why some groups were advantaged and why others were disadvantaged.

War communism was implemented as a result of the civil war. Historians such as Maurice Dobb, E. H. Carr, and Stephen Cohen — have interpreted war communism as a short-term expedient imposed on the Bolsheviks by the emergency demands of civil war and foreign intervention. According to this version, the system was never intended to last into normal peacetime conditions and had no special ideological significance. While this has since become “the standard account,” several well-informed economists writing in the 1920s, such as Boris Brutzkus and Leo Pasvolsky, viewed war communism in a much more ideological light — as an attempt to realise Marx’ anti-market socialist or communist utopia. The features of war communism were that peasant land was seized and then nationalised, however the peasant’s control. As insufficient grain was reaching the cities the government introduced grain requisition, excess food was seized with Cheka support, it couldn’t be sold for a profit. Large scale businesses were nationalised without compensation; this was extended to all business with more than ten people by 1918. All private trade was abolished, and the government controlled food with ration cards and workers were paid through food rations. Workers were told when and where to work, often working up to ten hours a day, and strikes became illegal.

The impact of War Communism was great on both the peasantry and the proletariat. Most peasants were prepared to burn their crops and kill their livestock rather than hand them over to the Cheka, however the dire consequences that resulted in doing this meant that many peasants did reluctantly hand them over. As the Cheka also took the seed grain an acute shortage of food and a great famine occurred during the period 1920-1921. Peasants resented these changes and there were many great uprisings during this period of time. This included the peasant revolution led by Antanov and the Tambok region in 1921. Peasants that did not cooperate were sent to concentration camps and labour camps. The famine of 1921 caused peasants to flee urban centres in search of food. The impact on the peasants were that their livelihood was destroyed they had no way of feeding their families and hence dissatisfaction with the government grew. A wave of strikes in Pertograd demanded the abolishment of grain requisitioning, freedom for peasant to run their own farm, a Soviet based government rather than a Bolshevik based government and amnesty for political prisoners.

War communism also caused dissatisfaction within the proletariat. They were unhappy about the extremely long working hours and the punishment they received simply for being late. Industrial production declined, as raw materials were not reaching the factories. Food shortages occurred and many starving workers went to the countryside to try and find food. Factories had to close down as raw materials and fuel was not reaching them. The disfavour towards the government by the proletariat was shown as membership of the proletariat to the Bolshevik party greatly declined during this period of time. The great number of illegal strikes and demonstrations caused Lenin to rethink his policy of war communism in order to preserve the revolution.

The solution to War Communism was done through the New Economic Policy (NEP). The NEP partly reintroduced capitalism as it was a return to small industries. The NEP abolished requisitioning, concessions were given to the Kuklas, who were allowed to sell their surplus after paying a tax, who could rent land for limited periods of time, hire labour for cultivation and choose what they grew. It was a limited return to the cash economy with cash given rather than the ticketing system in place and private ownership of factories were allowed. Small business owners (Nepman) could purchase raw materials and sell their products but the state still had control of large scale heavy industries within its central planning regime. Lenin was quick to recognise that the peasants were very important stating that “Only the agreement with peasants can save the socialist revolution in Russia” hence the policy seemed to benefit the peasants more than the proletariat, whose lives the revolution was supposed to benefit.

When firstly introduced in 1921 the NEP had no impact on the peasants as it was introduced too later for the 1921 sowing and severe droughts ruined crops in Central Russia and Volga area. This led to the great famine of 1921. However in the period 1922-1923 the harvests were so good, largely due to corn seedlings from the USA, that Russia was able to export a small amount of grain. With the new conditions peasants were able to diversify and produce vegetables and fruits. As a result of this the peasants; standard of living began to improve. However agriculture still remained primitive and inefficient as peasants did not have the capital for investment, and peasants had a tendency to hoard food until prices were higher. This meant that although initial successes had been gained by 1926 production levels were only equal to that of 1913. Hence the NEP had initial positive impacts on the peasants, however this was not so with the proletariat.

Large industry was much slower to recover from the detrimental effects of war communism as was the proletariat, who were supposed to be the beneficiaries of the October Revolution. Although major industries was owned by the government, ‘Red Mangers’ (former factory mangers) were employed to run nationalised industries. They were often brutal and caused hostility by the proletariat towards the government, as their methods seemed to be a reversal for what the revolution stood for. With demobilisation there was a surplus of labour in town which caused unemployment and low wages at a time of rising agricultural prices. Industrial prices remained low so there was little profit and consequently little investment to expand industry. In the early years the proletariat questioned the NEP more and more and they suffered while the peasantry prospered. The proletariat saw it as the “New Exploitation of the Proletariat”.

In conclusion both War Communism and the NEP had a great impact on the lives and livelihood of both the peasantry and the proletariat as described above. Whilst the NEP caused a refreshing new outlook to the peasantry after the suffering under War Communism this was not so for the proletariat. Both policies were implemented to preserve the revolution and although the initial revolution was to benefit the proletariat, the preservation of the revolution benefited the peasants.

It’s Not About The Bike

MY JOURNEY BACK TO LIFE

‘I want to die at a hundred years old with an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet, after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at seventy-five miles per hour. I want to cross one last finish line as my wife and ten children applaud, and then I want to lie down in a field of those famous French sunflowers and gracefully expire: the perfect contradiction to my once anticipated poignant early demise.’

‘A slow death is not for me. I don’t do anything slow, not even breathe.’

In 1996 Lance Armstrong, a world class American cyclist, had the world at his feet. He was ranked the number one cyclist in the world when at 24 he was diagnosed with highly developed testicular cancer. The doctors gave him less than a ten percent chance of survival, as there were also multiple tumours in his lungs and brain. After surgery and aggressive chemotherapy, which consumed months of his life Armstrong made a miraculous recovery and was determined to return to cycling.

A supportive network of friends/colleagues joined forces with his mother during and after his traumatic ordeal to comfort Lance and ensure he retained his competitive spirit. As he set out with a new team: The United States Postal Service Team in 1998 he endeavoured to re-establish himself among the top rankings in the world. He came back against the odds culminating in victory when he won the 1999 Tour de France.

This is his autobiography and it explores his physical and emotional struggles involved in the ultimate test, which is cancer. It explains his journey from an arrogant and aggressive young rider to an inspiring and admirable athlete. This is the real story where his emotions are laid raw and it aims to absorb the reader and pass on some of the valuable lessons that would benefit all our lives but was made clear by this near death experience.

It is the story of a journey from ill-fated beginnings promoting hard work and accomplishment, marred by devastation and suffering, through to awakening and re-invention and ultimately triumph in realising his dream of being the best in the world. It relates the realisation of mortality and the lessons learnt in the fight against it as Armstrong re-discovered himself during his journey back to life.

It is a captivating book for inspired readers, it opens your heart to those fighting cancers and makes you realise the struggles they go through. I found it very moving and stimulating, it has the power to create a determinist from an unmotivated soul; it encourages you to accomplish your own goals diminishes the immensity of your own problems.

In 410 AD the Roman legions were recalled back home to fight off the invading Italians. This is when the British defence weakened. The barbarian tribes took this oppertunity to plaunder taking with them corn, weapons and slaves. These raids were very important to the barbarians, as their lands were insufficient to live off, therefore forcing them to live off the plunder from raids.

In 449 AD, King Vortigern asked Hengest and Horsa (brothers leading a bond of Jutes) to help him fight off the Picts from the north, who were becoming a threat. Hengest and Horsa sought reinforcements from their homeland and turned against King Vortigern. This resulted in Horsa being killed and Hengest overpowering King Vortigern and setting up his own kingdom in Kent. This is when the invaders came steadily in and settled in Britain. Driving the Britons westward into modern day Wales. The barbarians came from low-lying marshes and barren lasd so the rich soils of Britain were inviting.

The Jutes ended up settling in relatively small regions, Kent, east of River Medway, southern Hampshire and the Isle of White. The Angles occupied most of the eastern side of Britain from East Anglia and the east Midlands as far north as Edinbourough. The Saxons settled in southern England, west of the Medway, in the Thames Valley and in the west Midlands around the River Avon, in Warwickshire.

Through assimilation, the Jutes gradually lost their identity as a people, and by the 8th century the term Just had almost completely disappeared from the English language. This si why we only hear of Anglo-Saxons.

The Carolingian dynasty began when Charles the Great or Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Unlike many rulers until his time Charlemagne had an interest in the arts and higher learning. Under his rule monasteries were encouraged to develop learning and the arts. I think that one of the most significant contributions of Charlemagne was the preservation of manuscripts. Monks not only copied these manuscripts carefully, but they also began illustrating them. These illustrations gave us some of the greatest art work of that time. This was a time of renewed interest in literature as well as the art styles of early Rome. Artwork began to reflect more the artists own creativity and less on what was politically or religiously correct at the time.

I wish that I could say that society as a whole has learned valuable lessons from the censorship of earlier times. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that to be entirely true. I can easily remember the horror expressed by members of my own family because I allowed my son to read Harry Potter. They were and still are convinced that he will forget about God and turn to witchcraft just because I allowed him to read those books. My family isn’t alone in this effort to censor the Potter books and films. I know that some churches have dedicated themselves to “educating” parents on the evils of Harry Potter. I was once approached in a bookstore on the release date of one of these books. The woman was determined that I understand why these books should be destroyed or at the very least kept out of the hands of “impressionable children”. In my opinion, not letting a child read a story because he may get ideas from it is ludicrous. I find it rather telling that although early Christians tried to dispense of anything pagan we have a rather thorough understanding today of pagan art and philosophy. Censorship simply doesn’t work in my opinion, but I would bet that it will still be around in one thousand years.

I was discussing this class with a neighbor not long ago and she made a comment about Humanities covering different religions. I laughed and assured her that Humanities still covered some of the world religions. Her comment to that was “I would take an F in the class before I would defile my mind reading about false religions”. This isn’t an uneducated woman, or one that I would say lacked common sense. She is however very involved in her church. She has no television because “the things on television are evil”. This is not really of concern to me other than her children have mentioned to my son that we are evil sinners and are going to go to Hell because we own a television set. At the same time, her efforts to censor what happens in my house do cause tension at times. While I am quite prepared to allow her to live peacefully with her own beliefs and practices she isn’t inclined to do the same for me. The teachings of her church have convinced her that it is her duty to God to counsel me on my sinful ways and encourage me to be a “real Christian”. She belongs to a rather small religious organization (Thank God) but I shudder to think of what could happen if the Pope decided suddenly that television was evil. Large influential groups can and do still have an impact on society as a whole.

If incidents like this were rare perhaps I would feel differently about organized religion. Unfortunately, I hear about similar events often. We are acquainted with a family who are devout Jehovah Witness’. Not too long ago their 5 year old daughter spoke to her grandmother about her sinful nature. Why was she sinful? Because she buys presents for Christmas and places them under a Christmas Tree. As a result of having to see that tree and those presents the family would not be visiting grandmother’s house during the holidays anymore. Needless to say the grandmother was upset and unsure of how to respond. Further discussion with the child’s parents revealed that they felt the grandmother should refrain from decorating a tree or buying presents for other non Jehovah Witness members of the family. They feel justified by their religion to attempt to wipe out decades of tradition for this family.

I have a strong dislike for anyone who tries to cram their own beliefs down my throat. Opinions are one thing, but when a person tries to influence my lifestyle because of their own beliefs I see it as something quite different. To me that is attempted censorship, and while small groups have little chance of making any real changes for most of us, they will continue in their efforts to convert the world to their own beliefs. When it comes to opinion of right and wrong many of us in today’s world behave much the way people did hundreds of years ago. I think that we will see individuals and groups trying to censor everything from reading material to works of art for a long time to come. Some of these groups may be successful in making a few things harder for us to see or hear about. They won’t wipe it out though. As I said, censorship just doesn’t work.

Alien territory

As we got off the plane, I couldn’t help notice the “new” smell of the place. My mother called it “amoy ng intsik” which was kind of like a mixture of soy sauce and fish (fresh fish, of course). I quickly knew I was in a different place because everything was in order. From the immigration line to the luggage carousel, no one was making “singit” or pushing to get to the front of the line.

At last we saw our “guide” and we proceeded to our bus. She had a very heavy accent, so we had a very hard time trying to figure out what she was trying to say. At last I heard something I wanted to hear the moment we landed… our “itinerary”. Since we booked in a “package” (which is of course, cheaper than buying plane tickets and hotel accommodations separately), we were entitled to join the travel agency’s “tours”. The guide said she’d give us the day off today, will be going to several “shopping places” tomorrow, then to Shenzhen, China the next day. I was pretty excited, being the first-time tourist I was. Not aware of the “highway robberies” (as my mother calls them) that was awaiting her. After much yada-yada-yadas, we arrived at our hotel.

We were booked to stay at the Kowloon Panda, which was located at the Kowloon peninsula just outside the New Territories. Which is by the way, far from the “commercial” areas. We booked too late and all the “cheaper” hotels in Tsim Tsa Tsui(the ultimate shopping district), were already fully-booked because it was peak season, and businessmen were pouring in because of the Trade fair.

After we settled in, my mother and I decided to do some exploring. We wanted to see what was in our neighborhood, and wanted to scout around for some good places to buy food (since hotel food is way more expensive!). We took my 8 year old brother and cousin along because we knew they’d get bored. We only walked a couple of blocks until we stumbled into a McDonalds and decided to go in since we haven’t had anything to eat since the horrible “economy-class” meal that was served to us at the plane. After getting our bellies full, we went back to the hotel and plopped down on our beds to see what was in store for us in the TV.

The Highway Robberies

Our first few days were not good ones. Even if my mother already visited HK a couple of times, she decided to join a couple of the tours for our (the first timer’s) sake. After the “blah” breakfasts at the hotel, our guide picks us up and several forms of “swindling” begin to take place. They take us to what they called “factory” outlets, which turn out to be sort of underground “fakeys”, jade, and gold jewelry depots who sell all the same things! They show “Jacky Chan’s” yacht and other blah things, then they introduce us to supposed-to-be “poor” photographers owning high tech and expensive cameras who were supposed to take “free” pictures, and then in the end, force us to buy overpriced photos mounted on plates. Then, there were also the “expert” herbal doctors who told my mother that if she doesn’t buy this and that overpriced-medicine, my brother’s asthma would never go away! If it weren’t for the big “free” lunch they gave us at TGIF and the trip to Shenzhen’s Windows of the World, I would have just stayed in the hotel all day.

After much of the disappointing incidents, my mother told us we weren’t joining the tours anymore. Instead, we will be going out on ourselves to see the ‘real’ Hong Kong.

To Bargain, or not to Bargain…

First up, we went to Hong Kong’s famous night market in Mongkok. We got to ride the MTR(their subway) for the first time, and unfortunately for me, I understood why most Filipinos complain that some Chinese don’t take daily baths…

In 20 minutes, we were in our destination. The night market was of course, packed with people, mostly tourists. My brother and me decided to be buddies that night because we knew if we sticked with the older ones, we’d be getting nowhere. I could tell my brother was well at home in this “non-straight-English” speaking country. He knew his “balikong” English didn’t matter because there was no one to criticize him. He never bothered to mind his grammars, and instead, started to use a “Chinese-sounding” accent (which was, according to him, supposed to hide the fact that he’s a tourist – therefore being able to bargain more). If the salesperson told him the price is HK$60, he’d say HK$30 – in the end, he’ll get the item at HK$40. Before that night, I never knew my brother was that “barat”.

As for me, I was too timid to even ask for 1/4th of the price. I’d settle for HK$5 – HK$10 off an item. Of course in the end, my brother ended up buying more things than I did.

Our most common mode of transportation was the MTR, because it was less complicated than their buses although more expensive, another one is of course our feet. Because of this, we understood why we seldom saw overweight people in HK.

The third day, we got to visit the Hong Kong Island, which is the “classier” or “snottier” part of Hong Kong where you’ll find the Jaguar and Ferrari studios and the more expensive malls and hotels.

We take the Ferries because it’s cheaper and there’s a pier near the Convention Center (where my father was). There really wasn’t much to see in this part of HK except for the huge sports grounds and of course, Ocean Park. That is, if you’re not the outrageously rich type who can afford all those expensive malls.

“kiddie” park

On our fourth day we visited Ocean Park, with the help of a former colleague of my mother who so-kindly bought us the tickets and gave us two boxes of Mrs. Field’s muffins. We rode a double deck bus and enjoyed ourselves with the sights.

Fortunately for us, the “no-food-no-drinks” policy was not strictly implemented in our entry to Ocean Park. In true-blue Filipino fashion, we smuggled in the muffins, which of course didn’t last us the whole day. Ocean park was on the top of two mountains and we really shed-off those pounds by hiking up to get to all the rides.

Except for the Cable Cars, the Atoll Reef, the Dolphin show, and the Flamingoes – I’d recommend you’d rather go to Enchanted Kingdom… Their rides are “lamer” than I expected. I’d take the Space Shuttle anytime rather than their “Dragon”. Even my 8 yr old brother was not impressed! Then again, Ocean Park is not the essence of Hong Kong…

Farewell HK

On our fifth day we went on some more shopping sprees. We went to Sham Shui Po where my mother bought dozens of bags to sell back here in the Philippines. And on our sixth and final day, we had to pack our bags. But first, my mother had to go back to Sham Shui Po to pick up more bags to drag along with us back home.

After much packing and flattening, our luggages were finally ready (miraculously, all my mothers bags fitted in our suitcases!). We were ready to leave.

As we were waiting to board our plane, I was reminiscing on my delightful, although tiresome and sometimes annoying adventures in HK – when suddenly my brother blurted out loud that he’d ‘miss HK a lot’. Although we only stayed for six days, he “exaggeratedly” said he felt like it was his second home(he’d say that to all the countries he’ll visit…if given the funds.). How he’d miss the “larger-than-LARGE” McDonald’s food, the long walks towards the MTR stations, the kind old Chinese man selling “pansit” in the other block, and of course, the unlimited shopping destinations where he can speak “barok-English”.