pud1m's blog

I am alive

In Japan.  There's a wireless network in our current ryokan (B&B), but I don't really have time to write a huge blog post :(  Sorry!

Got a four-hour bullet train ride tomorrow, so I may compose something then (and select some photos to upload).  The end.

Fin

With this bit of my trip, anyway.  My plane takes off from Hong Kong tomorrow morning at half ten, and I should hopefully get into Tokyo around four their time (it's another hour ahead of here).

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Not done a great deal this week - dabbled in a bit of uni, lots of sleep, and some shopping.  Got some camera bits (a flash, and a 70-200 f/4 L if you know what that is) for much cheaper than the UK prices (they're my "well done on passing your finals" present to myself), an mp3 player for my dad (he's paying), and had a look for some shoes for a guy I know - unsurprisingly, 12.5 isn't a particularly common size in China.  I also got a Department of Surgery tie as a souvenir - and Az told me that she'd laugh at me if I wore it =(  Decide for yourselves, I think it looks alright.  It's not like it's the Garrick Club or BNP crest or anything.

I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have in Japan (web cafes are fairly common, as you'd expect, but I don't know how much I'll be able to use them) so this may be the end of substantial blogging.  I'll try to check in now and again, though, to keep my audience happy.  If I can stick photos online, then I will.

Got my elective assessment forms back (bit of bother with the second one - email about it went into my Spam folder >_<) and they're full of "very good"s and Bs and Cs.  The second one even says I'm punctual...maybe they've mixed me up with one of the Germans!

Rain, rain, went away

Macau_resized04

...at long last, so I could finally make it Macau on Saturday.  I booked the ferry the night before, and was actually there early so I got the boat half an hour before I'd intended to.  The things are catamarans with maybe 200-odd seats, and can do the journey in an hour.  A quick history lesson if you don't know: Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China, same as Hong Kong, and it was originally Portuguese.  The main industry is gambling - huge casinos everywhere - and the Americans are moving in, and making the place more Vegas-like every day.  The boat terminal is at the extreme north of the main island, and I wandered down through the town to the Macau Tower.  There's a viewing deck at about 230m up, from which it's possible to bungee - I really thought seriously about doing it, but reckoned it'd be better done with some friends and the like; as we all know, I'm a total loner.

The heat was really oppressive (better than thunderstorms, though) so I had my lunch at the bottom of the tower in an effort to stay out of the midday sun for as long as possible.  Had a wrap with loads of smoked salmon and cream cheese for about £3.  Bargain!  No one bungeed off the tower while I was there, unfortunately, but it was quite cool nonetheless.  I wandered back up towards the middle of the town (the tower is right at the south of the island) with my camera and stopped for an ice lolly and some Ribena (yes, I'm twenty-two now) on the way.

(L-R): Macau to Barra: approx 6000 miles; Jorge Alvares; a sign illustrating the two languages nicely; a plant; some waterlilies outside the old Governor's residence; and the view from the observation deck up the tower.

The town centre is full of nice colonial buildings (and pretty girls in small shorts advertising the volleyball tourney that was on, but I digress) including the Leal Senado (loyal senate) from which the Portuguese used to govern.  It got the name when Macau refused to recognise the joint Spanish-Portuguese state in the 1500s and 1600s; when Portugal became independent again, the king christened it "City of the Name of God, There is None More Loyal".  Better name than "Hamilton" or "Airdrie" I guess.

(L-R) Church of Saint Domingo; just north of Largo Senado (Senate Square); Largo Senado itself; and the courtyard of the Leal Senado.

By then it had thankfully got a bit more overcast and cool, and I wandered on to the Ruins of St Paul, which is the facade of a church that burnt down in 1835.  It's quite a nice bit of stone, but thronged with tourists (myself included).  It's right next to the Macau Museum, which did quite well at explaining the history of the place.  I went up a mini-cable car (for the bargain price of 12p) to the fort and lighthouse which has guarded Macau for nearly 400 years; I reckoned Health and Safety in the UK would have a fit - plenty of big drops with low parapets.  Still, if you're silly enough to fall off it, Darwin would probably reckon it a good thing.

Macau_resized14

I got slightly lost on my way back down the hill - there was a huge ring road around the hill where the fort is, with no pavement.  I found out at my next destination the reason - it's part of the Grand Prix circuit!  Every November, the city shuts down as Formula Three, motorbikes, and touring cars come to town, and there's a museum dedicated to the race and its history.  Some of the best drivers in racing history (Senna, Schuhmacher) won here early in their career, along with some of the also-rans with no bottle (David Coulthard).  Lots of cars, ranging from the old to the new; unfortunately, the queue for the simulator was really long, and full of small children :(

Got a few decent pics of the cars, and there was a special feature on the safety team, complete with retired Porsche safety car.  Can anyone tell me the fatal mistake this über-talented, lightning-quick operation have made during their ABCDE?

(L-R) BMW M3 touring car from the late 80s (you could probably have guessed the decade from the horrendous decor); Ayrton Senna's winning car - there was a special exhibition about him; can't remember whose car this is; and the prize picture (answers on a postcard).  I was fairly exhausted by the time I was done at the museum, and starving too, so I wandered in search of a Portuguese restaurant that my guidebook flagged up as pretty good.  When I got there: it had closed and been replaced by a Chinese place, with only Chinese menus:'(  Got the ferry back instead and got a huge hoagie and mozzarella sticks from the New York Deli on my way home, before I collapsed into bed.

Sunday was a bit quieter - after a lie-in I spent the afternoon in the New Territories, which is the area north of Kowloon.  It was leased from the Chinese in 1898 for 99 years - hence the 1997 handover (Kowloon itself, and Hong Kong Island, were actually leased in perpetuity - but we couldn't really have just held onto them on their own).  Got the train from Kowloon to Sha Tin, home of Hong Kong's "other" racecourse, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (the only other uni with a medical school).  Not really much to report; had a wander round the Hong Kong Heritage Museum (pretty good, and cheap like most museums here), and took some pictures.  The hearts are on the railings outside the registry office!

Bollinger Bolshevik and proud

This week's gone fairly quickly again.  Not much doing apart from uni, really, cos it's been raining most of the time.  Played some basketball on Monday, and sampled a local pizza on Tuesday night, which had Thousand Island instead of tomato sauce.  It's an invention which I demand we export to Britain as soon as possible.  Aside from those, the usual mix of clinics, theatre and skiving has taken place.

This morning I had the hepatobiliary clinic, then caught the bus to Kowloon.  Foregoing lunch, I opted for that most British of meals - afternoon tea.  I'm a colonial sellout, I know :(

The Peninsula Hotel (five stars, opened 1928) has its own arcade of shops including Louis Vuitton, Gieves and Hawkes (from #1 Savile Row), and other similar outlets.  I had a quick wander round as I was a wee bit early - no prices in the windows, and if you need to ask how much something is, you probably can't afford it.

Having taken up my table (of four, all to myself - no sharing in this establishment, daaaahling) I selected my adversary (afternoon tea for one, with Earl Grey) and began stuffing myself with more calories than are probably required for a trek to the South Pole.  I managed everything in front of me (eventually), viz:

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Three small sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese, and ham and mustard mayo)
A sausage roll and a miniature quiche
Two scones, with clotted cream and strawberry jam
Some kind of pastry finger with a fruit filling
A small slice of fruit loaf and a chocolate truffle
Three pieces of assorted cake
A white chocolate with fondant
and two pots of Earl Grey.

Might as well get maximum value and finish the lot :D  The food, drink and service were awesome - proper leaf tea and hot water in separate jugs, replaced regularly to prevent the former stewing and the latter getting cold; the baking was all done properly; and the sandwiches were lovely - I even ate the cucumber one, which normally I would have avoided like the plague.  I disappeared to the bathroom at one point (had to sample the facilities) and found my napkin folded for me on my return.  Wouldn't get service like that at Yummy Kitchen (where I'm heading after I finish writing this, incidentally) though they do charge considerably less for their services.  While all this was going on, by the way, there was a string quartet playing from the balcony - and lots of tourists who'd invaded the lobby just to take photos.

Having paid the bill (about £20 - think it was worth it as a one-off) I wandered out into the now-torrential rain.  I discovered, once I took the cover off it, that my brolly was bleeding - I snapped my shiny black one yesterday (my own fault for only paying £3 for it) and had procured an old red one to use.  Unfortunately it seems that it leaks bright red dye when wet, and I didn't fancy getting that on my clothes, so I had to dump it.  I got soaked through while I wandered around :(

Eventually got fed up of the rain and got a bus back home.  I don't think it's stopped raining yet, but it better do over the weekend or there'll be trouble...

Rain, rain go away

The weekend didn't really happen, thanks to the weather.  Tropical storm passed by on Friday night, and the remnants are still around, making it overcast and showery.  No lighting for a while though, gutted :(

On Saturday I got up early just to make sure that Macau was a no-go (it was) so pottered about til later when it had cleared a little.  Went to Mongkok, had a look around the electronics shops, and decided that the prices were equal or more to the place I'd been to before.  Making a shopping list of camera bits, especially now I know (1) that I've passed my exams and (2) how much student loan I'm getting this year :D

Sunday was much the same story, though once I'd got up and established that the weather was guff, I went back to bed for a while.  Got up about 1ish, got dressed and grabbed my brolly.  I spent a wee bit of time in Central swapping books in the second-hand place I found (it's awesome) and buying postcards.  If you're one of the people I love enough to send one too, you can expect it...as soon as I make it to the post office, plus whatever time the Hong Kong and UK Post Offices connive to make it take a postcard to travel 6,000 miles.

Came home and had my tea at St John's, then mostly played my PC and watched House (been procuring it from internet sources).

Today?  Today I watched some of another liver transplant.  Twenty per year, I was told, and I've seen three in a week.  Just in from playing basketball - they turn the floodlights off at 11, unfortunately.  No such restrictions on the footballers - maybe they don't trash-talk as loudly?

This week

...I have been mostly eating...Chinese food!  (well...what did you expect?)  The last five days has gone by ridiculously fast, and I only have a fortnight left in this fair city.

Monday was a bit slow, just my first day in hepatobiliary - met secretary, tried to find out who my supervisor is (and failed) and watched a few random things.  Tuesday was a bit more exciting - early research meeting (not so exciting, and yet again I worry about PhD students' grasp of simple facts, but I digress...)  The rest of my day was taken up by what's apparently the hardest, most involved procedure in the hardest abdominal surgical specialty -  a liver transplant.  The girl (27, with Wilson's disease - didn't get a chance to look at her eyes, unfortunately) was on the table by half eight, and setting up the anaesthetic gear alone took well over an hour.  In no particular order, she required an arterial line, two central venous lines, a pulmonary artery catheter, and ten syringe drivers filled with various anaesthetic goodies.

That was only the start of the medical technology.  The anaesthetists also had a cell saver (which filters red blood cells out of the waste that gets sucked out of the operating field, stops them from sticking together, and makes you a bag of packed red cells that you can infuse straight back into the patient, saving you from having to use as much donated blood), and the surgeons had an Argon Beam Coagulator - which looks like a magic wand shooting lightning.  It's a step above normal diathermy (the electrical knife that seals as it cuts) which is important as the liver is full of small blood vessels, and bleeds very easily.

While three surgeons are cutting out the old liver, the donated one (which came from someone in a road accident, I think - there were a few small lacerations on the surface) is prepared next door - vessel cut to the right size etc, all while it's kept on ice to stop it going off.  Once the diseased liver is out of the patient, they plumb the new one in.  The whole process takes 12-18 hours (I didn't stay for the full thing) because of the number of important ducts and vessels that have to be joined up.  It was quite a cool thing to observe, though, and I got two RoA boxes signed off - always a bonus.

On Wednesday, I slept though the census meeting (getting a bit bored of "relatives were informed of the grave prognosis, and the patient succumbed at...") then spent the rest of the day in the hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) clinic.  It's fairly rare in the UK (only only 1% of all cancers; it's more like 7.5% over here) due to differences in genetics and (more importantly) hepatitis infection rates.  They've started immunising all children against hep B virus which should hopefully reduce the rates of the disease.  A few patients got some fairly bad news and all of them took it very quietly - I think is just the reserved Asian personality again.  Much the same happened on Friday (see below).

Thursday was another slow one.  There's nothing on the timetable for hepatobiliary students except operating theatre all day, but the only thing on the list was a hepatectomy (liver removal - not the whole thing, I should add, just half) which (1) I've seen before and (2) is a bit dull.  I checked all the other theatre lists and there was not one thing I particularly wanted to watch - trying to catch a bit of cranial neurosurgery for interest's sake, but they didn't have a list - so I went to Starbucks and then went home.  My plans for a swim and wander round Mongkok (electronics/camera/computer shops) were destroyed by the abberant weather - in the last week, the rainy season has arrived.  Boo!

Today...today I went in for the hepatobiliary clinic - just general HBP.  A few sad stories - untreatable cancers of the liver and pancreatic head - and a few more promising ones.  Oncologists really need to learn when to stop, though - one woman was basically being used as a testing station for every type of chemotherapeutic agent under the sun, none of which has any evidence base.  Stop pouring into her veins drugs which will (1) do nothing and (2) make her feel worse, please.

I had no time for lunch - had to dash to the bank to change some traveller's cheques before the weekend, as my plan was to go to Macau on Saturday (more on that later).  The rain was torrential this morning, and waterproofs are a bit too warm, so I also purchased an umbrella.  Black, wooden handle - very City of London gent.

I got the bus back up the road and, while it wasn't too wet, it was quite windy.  I spent my afternoon watching ERCP - endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography - which is a combination of endoscopy (telescope down your throat) and radiology (X-rays).  They use a special side-viewing endoscope to find the point in the bowel where your bile ducts pour in their contribution to your intestinal juices, and then stick a tube (not the endoscope, it's far too big) up the hole.  The tube is then used to inject a dye into the bile ducts - it's radio-opaque, so if you watch on X-ray while you inject, you get an image of the biliary system.  You can find stones, cancers, strictures and all sorts with this rather clever technique - today there was one stone, one normal, and one liver cancer.

During the ERCP session, a few bleeps went off (as they always do) but one grabbed everyone's attention - the consultant's bleep went off to say that typhoon signal #8 had been hoisted!  The signals are #1, 3, 8, 9 & 10 (for historical reasons I can't be bothered to explain) and #8 is the cue for Hong Kong to shut up shop.  People leave work (the stock exchange shut 15 minutes into its afternoon session), schools close, and most public buildings shut too.  I, of course, being used to this sort of weather, decided it'd be a good idea to walk home.  I think I'd missed the good bit of the storm, as there were lots of bits of tree lying around, and my waterproofs did their job admirably - I thought the better of putting up my £3 umbrella in 30mph gusts of wind.  I was passed on the road by loads of buses with their "FULL" lights on, presumably with people heading home from work to batten down the hatches.

I made it back to St John's in one piece - it was more wet than windy, to be honest - and found the stuff I'd left to dry on the balcony a little wetter than when I left it.  I also appear to have lost a sock - I'll have a look in the daylight, but it might have been blown out to sea.  Bye bye sock!  At the minute, I'm pondering how the weather might affect my weekend plans - the Macau government's weather site is down, and the Hong Kong forecast looks pretty bleak for tomorrow.  If the #8 signal stays up, it's probably unlikely that the ferries will run, too.  Think I'll get up early, check the weather, and if it's bad I'll try and plan something indoors - might head over to Kowloon again as there are a couple of museums I could go to, lots of shops, and afternoon tea at the Peninsula if I can be bothered...

Catch-up-me-do

Alright, I know my worldwide audience is desperate for some more blogging, so here goes...

Thursday 2nd

Was pretty skive-tacular, to be honest.  I'd been in most of the rest of the week, so I slept in, got up before lunchtime, and jumped on a bus.  Most of the attractions around here are busiest at weekends, especially the ones for kiddies, so I decided Thursday would be a good day for a visit to Ocean Park, Hong Kong's only theme park until Disney came on the scene.  A bit tame, maybe, if you've been to Alton Towers, and it reminded me of something I'd have built in Rollercoaster Tycoon :D

The panda is the park's mascot, though whichever sculptor designed the panda lying on the watermelon needs a serious lesson in perspective, akin to Ted & Dougal's "small...far away" escapades.  Watermelons, even GM ones, are not big enough for a panda to lie on.

There were a couple of decent (if small) 'coasters, and, true to the name, one of those shows with dolphins and whatnot.  Much like the zoo I thought it was a bit of a shame that the things were in captivity, but they seemed well looked-after, and did lots of tricks, viz:

A few other cool things -  a couple of aquariums (aquaria?) including one set up as a coral reef, lots of overpriced food and drink (including McDonalds), and a snazzy gondola cable car thing connecting the two ends of the park - they were at opposite sides of a fairly big mountain. 

Ocean Park15 (Large)

Most of the place was designed for kids (unsurprisingly) but I think I did the entry fee justice.  They also have a panda enclosure, with four pandas - two adults, and a mother and baby pair.  Unfortunately, they were all asleep.  I'm really impressed by the abilities of the locals to ignore simple instructions.  The two things you shouldn't do in the panda enclosure are use flash photography, and make lots of noise.  I think it was the loudest and brightest place in the whole park (except the aquariums, where you're not meant to use flash either - never mind).

On the way out of the place, I stumbled across the Hong Kong Police College.  Not that that's anything special, except it features in Infernal Affairs.  Swifty take note - the tour of the locations has started :D

Friday 3rd

After remembering the Service Round this week, I thought it might be a good idea to actually turn up this week.  So, of course, I set my alarm half an hour late by accident, and only just made it in time.  I found another student, and Dr Wong, who's my supervisor (though I haven't seen much of him, long story).  The round was cancelled >_<  Never mind, I read a bit, and went to minor surgery for the morning.  Watched a few lumps and bumps (lipomas, naevi and a papilloma) getting chopped off, then excused myself so I could go up to Queen Mary.  On the way I found a great second-hand bookshop - a HK library card was going to cost $130, so instead I just bought two books for $72.  And I bet they'll buy them back off me too!  Sorted out my new placement on Monday, and Saturday morning's fun, in the afternoon, then just went home and read.  Watched Infernal Affairs too, so I can plan out my day of location spotting, and went to the supermarket for supplies (crisps, chocolate, and Ribena).  I'm really doing well at being a stereotypical Western fatty while I'm here.

Saturday 4th

I'd been asked to be a student helper at the local students' exam on Saturday morning.  They do mini-exams every block it seems.  This one was an OSCE, with lots of six-minute stations.  I ended up helping at the scrubbing/gowning/gloving one by setting out the equipment.  Not very exciting, I'm sure you'll all agree, but it got me out of my bed.  Spent the rest of the day between the common room downstairs lying on the sofa, and playing my laptop up here.  Again, what an exciting life I lead.

Sunday 5th

Hong Kong is actually mostly green space, believe it or not - it's just that most of the flat bits have been covered with sprawl, and anything that can be built on generally is.  There are plenty of mountains and hiking, especially in the New Territories, but that's not really achievable in this weather.  Instead, I went to Lamma, which is the third-largest island in the group (after Lantau, where the airport is, and Hong Kong Island itself).  Really nice to get away from the urban areas, and just wander about in the countryside.  I got the ferry into Sok Kwu Wan, the smaller of the two main settlements (first two photos, looking L-R) which is really just a few houses and a strip of seafood restaurants with the odd pushy salesperson ("you want seafood?  you want fish?"  ad infinitum) outside.

I passed on the restaurants, having bought a delicious lunch for a picnic.  Unfortunately, the cheap sandwich, crisps, and Ribena were enjoyed under a canopy, hiding behind a wee wall from the driving rain.  The heavens decided to open today and there were showers for a big chunk of the afternoon, so I never got my big camera out.  I promise the island was nice though.  I tried my rain jacket, and lasted about ten minutes before it was wetter on the inside with sweat than it was on the outside with rain.  Never mind.  The trail over the island took about an hour and a quarter, and you land in Yung Shue Wan, which is a bit bigger.  Again a few seafood places, couple with health food shops and veggie places - apparently the island attracted a sort of bohemian, arty crowd of westerners about ten or fifteen years ago.  The pre-1997 party spirit has died down a bit, but the influence still remains.

I got the ferry back to Central, where I had an ice cream and a wee wander round.  Thinking I might go see the Simpsons next week, assuming it's not dubbed, but I'm sure I'll be able to find the English version somewhere.  Thought about seeing Harry Potter today but managed to refrain.  Central was yet again packed to the rafters with off-duty maids, which makes wandering around difficult and a bit frustrating.  Mini-bus up the road it was, dinner, and  now off to bed to finish my book. 

Thank god for Starbucks

The one type of surgery that I haven't crossed off my hitlist yet is breast surgery - I'm trying to see a bit of everything while I'm at Tung Wah, and it was the last piece of the puzzle.  I picked a good day, too (ish) as they were doing a mastectomy (removing the breast) then reconstructing it afterwards.  More on that later.

My day began at 7:30 with the surgical census meeting.  It's a chat about all the patients who've died recently and why, so isn't exactly upbeat.  Top of today's tree was someone who had their abdomen opened six (6!) times to correct bleeding before someone decided that they should maybe call it a day.  Post-mortem found an aorto-duodenal fistula, which is an excellent way to bleed to death, particularly if no one discovers what's going on early enough.

After the meeting I was feeling extra hungry so I grabbed a caramel latte (highly recommended) and a rather stale muffin from everyone's favourite Yankee coffee chain.  Munched those on the bus on the way to Tung Wah, and wandered upstairs, where they were just finishing the first thing on the list - a quick biopsy of a breast lump.

The second operation of the day was the biggie - left mastectomy with pedicle graft reconstruction.  I really was fascinated by the way this all took place.  Three surgeons working at once - junior removing a long-standing, benign lump from the right breast; consultant breast surgeon removing the left breast, all the way down to the pectoral muscles; and a plastic surgeon removing most of the skin and subcutaneous fat of the abdomen - from just above the pubic region to just above the belly button (which was separated off the skin flap and left attached).

Once the breast surgeon had taken away all of the left breast tissue, she handed the whole thing over to plastics.  The skin and fat from the abdomen are left attached to a bit of the abdominal muscles below, which (handily) are long strips.  Then, by separating the fat and skin away from the rest of its mountings over the abdomen, and tunnelling up under the skin, and into the breast cavity, you have a free flap of skin and fat, and a passageway for it to go through.

The abdominal wall bit is then taken up through to the breast cavity, still attached to its muscle flap (the pedicle) which contains its blood supply.  The plastics man then does a lovely job of shaping the skin and fat to just the right size to fit the hole where the breast once was, and sews everything back together to give you a convincing, approximately-sized, nipple-less breast.  They used to do reconstructions with implants, which was quicker, but implants (1) fail eventually and need replaced - this woman was only 42 - and (2) look a bit rubbish compared to a normal breast.  Anyone who's seen Jordan's on page 3 will know what I'm talking about.

So, that done, you just stitch together the gigantic gap you now have in the abdomen, where the graft is taken from.  Think they took away a band of skin which was at least four inches wide at its widest point.  There's enough elasticity to make it work, and they cut a wee hole through your new tummy then stitch your belly button back into the right place - I think waking up without one would be a little bit too disturbing - and would put you in a very exclusive club, including Adam and Eve.  I also figure that, because so much skin is being taken away from your abdomen, you're getting a free tummy tuck from a consultant plastic surgeon ^__^

I mentioned the Starbucks because this beast of an operation took six and a half hours - and I didn't get any lunch.  There were probably a few opportune moments, but eating around Tung Wah isn't easy without someone who speaks Cantonese, and I was being universally ignored by the surgeons, who could have told me to disappear for half an hour.  Needless to say, my Pilgrim sandwich (turkey, stuffing, cranberry and gravy) from the American deli was a very satisfying late lunch, considering it came over 8 hours after breakfast.

Awesome day, if a bit drawn out - almost makes me want to be a surgeon.  But then again, I have chat, and know a little bit about caring for sick people, so I'm probably not best suited for that career path.

The University of Dundee Medical School needs to chill out

...or something like that.  My elective was approved on the basis of six weeks' surgery, in a variety of specialties.  Now that I'm doing three weeks' general surgery (in a different hospital two miles away, of all the wildly remote and different places) and three weeks' hepatobiliary, they've gone off on one about not letting them know where I am, it might not be reputable, might not be safe, etc etc and so on.  It may have escaped their attention, but I'm twenty-two years old, and in one year from now might be asked to make vaguely important decisions about sick people.  I'm not in a jungle clearing, and can look after myself.  Never mind, I think it's all sorted.

This week so far has been slooooow.  Turning up for clinics that don't exist, thereby being forced to wait two and a half hours for the surgeon to show up for the next one, and being nearly two hours early for a theatre case because someone mucked up the one before andit overran, have been the highlights.  Never mind.

A few random photos which I've taken, but haven't posted yet are below for your perusal:

The first one (left) is for the plumbers engineers in the family, and is a building not far from Tung Wah hospital which is undergoing renovations.  Looks to be at least 50 storeys high, and all the scaffolding is made of (no joke) bamboo.  It's the same everywhere here, and it's held together only with plastic ties - no screws or nails.  You can see some on a slightly lower building in the foreground.

Second is a typical street in Sheung Wan, which is the area around Tung Wah.  Every second shop (at least) sells dried seafood, most importantly shark's fins for shark's fin soup.  A good bowl of the stuff apparently goes for £20, and the trade is apparently worth £220m (yes, two-hundred and twenty million pounds) every year.  The last photo on the right is the inside of one of the shops - jars full of dried examples of all sorts of seafood, including seahorses.

The pic I've missed out, well...no trip to the Far East would be complete without a picture of a moderately offensive comedy shop sign.

Weekend two

Saturday

Exam results still hadn't quite settled in when I went out and about on Saturday (after the customary long lie).  After lunch in a Mexican place (you can easily fill yourself with tacos for £3) I got the bus along to the zoo.  Haven't been to one since I was a wee boy, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed.  Thought the cages were a bit of a shame, and you couldn't really see much of what was going on.  So, instead, I went over to HK Park where they have a huge aviary, formed from a giant steel mesh.  It basically turns the place into a huge open birdcage.  Shame I don't have a long lens for proper bird photos, but it was nice all the same and nothing is behind bars :)

Nabbed a few photos of other things too - lion at the base of a memorial to the Chinese who died for the Allies, a nice panorama of the snazzy fountains, and a statue of some bloke who used to be in charge of the country - think he might have been called George?

After that I just wandered on eastwards to Wan Chai and Causeway Bay - looked at some of the shops, and took a few other pics.  Victoria Park is huge, and had five football pitches side-by-side, with basketball courts too.  I also paid a visit to the HK Central Library, which is one of the most hideous pieces of architecture ever to grace the city.  It does hold books though, which is the main thing I suppose ^__^

Jumped on the tube home (first time I'd used it) which was nice enough.  Apparently there's an extension planned out my way, but since tunnelling's not even started, I don't think I'll be able to make use of it while I'm here.

Sunday

I was all full of dead exciting plans for today, but when I woke up I felt strangely like I couldn't be bothered doing anything, so that's precisely what I did...mostly.  Went for lunch, did some washing, and played my computer.  Ventured down to Kennedy Town for a swim, too - yet another random thing you can pay for with an Octopus card.  Student rates (don'tcha just love them) were 50p for unlimited time, but since I'm REALLY bad at swimming I lasted about 45 minutes.  Good for my cardio fitness though - roll on the new season :D

Spent the evening eating, playing with the cable telly downstairs (it doesn't have Star TV, so I couldn't watch Iraq win the Asian Cup :[ ), and watching telly in my room - Harry Potter II is on :D