Uni finally starts

I'm sorry I have been a little lazy with this blog over the last few days. I have been very busy. A lot has happended not the least being the fact that university has finally returned!! It's been a very nice few months but it is time I got the brain into gear and stop acting like I am on holidays.

The lecturers are suprisingly very easy to understand. I knew in advance that almost all of them are locals so I was hoping that I could understand them. It was a relief to find that not only was their english excellent but some of them had barely any accents at all. I've had worst lectures back home.

Anyway the last few days have been great. I have taken the opportunity to explore some of the outlying islands as well as Macau.

For all of you that don't know Macau is a former Portuguese colony which has also been returned to China and enjoys a similar status to Hong Kong in terms of political systems. Anyway Macau is currently in the process of becoming the gaming capital of the Orient and the entire territory is a construction site. It is also filled with reminents of its colonial past with lovely Portuguese buildings, tiled streets and beautiful churches. However the people as a whole are generally less wealthy then their Hong Kong neighbours and barely anyone speaks English (all the street signs are still in Portuguese). The weather was wonderful and it was nowhere as polluted as HK. We couldn't get into any of the casinos however as we were to underdressed. Probably the best cost-saving decision I made!

The next day I tagged along with a bunch of Americans to the tiny island of Cheung Chau. As the island is less then three square kilometers it is home to a few thousand people who either commute to Hong Kong everyday or irk out a living from the sea. There are no cars at all on the island so we rented a few bikes for the day and explored temples, beaches and a beachside cave which was supposedly where pirates who once operated from the island hid their treasure.

Enjoy the photos.