Oh, hello Hong Kong

Day 11&12  So, yesterday morning Blaine and I unfortunately overslept, and while in bed I answered sleepily to a Richard (our one new Stellenbosch chum) urging Blaine and myself to get ourselves over to Ling Ping Nunnery (we had no idea what it meant at the time). Richard (SA), Matt (SA) and Maggy (Aus) had gone to rounds but finished early. We agreed and fell out of our beds into the subway. The next moment we opened up our eyes this happened: A tranquil garden in the middle of New Territories in Hong Kong city. At first glance I really thought that I had stepped into a forest of fake trees. We got together with Matt, Richard and then all of a sudden it hit us that these trees have been concocted and contorted into these strange yet artistic forms. Believe it or not, this is a pine tree This tree sees the world from an entirely different perspective. A temple island in the midst of the concrete highrise temple This is a frikken old Boganville,...

Day 8,9&10 The reason why I have postponed this blog post for tonight was because the past 3 days have been quite similar (and I might have been a slight procrastinator). The conference Blaine and myself have been attending the Prince of Wales Chinese University of Hong Kong Head and Neck Surgery conference. The surgeries lectured on in this conference mainly circulate around cancer treatment; and as in South Africa, smokers are still the most afflicted. It felt just like class, but now the students were more knowledgeable and still they take pictures of the slides with cameras. Some things never change. The conference was filled with 200 odd renowned practitioners of head and neck surgery (specialising in ENT). Everybody was dressed in suits or smart female wear (Dresses? Skirts? I don't know these things). This was particularly visible when I realised I had pitched up on the first day in a jean. Oh well. The free food all day long was fabulous. Some dim I seem...