Some photos from across Hong Kong.

(Hong Kong, China) See the previous post about The King of Karaoke, before watching this video. Shot in Neway Karaoke in Mong Kong, Hong Kong, China, the group includes my 59-year old American parents (the stars), my brother, myself and my friends from China, Hong Kong, Cameron and the US. You have to watch it twice, because it’s funny for two reasons.

Well, in Asia, on the other side of the world, where everything is opposite—including the direction the water swirls in the toilet—there’s a bit of a difference in what is required to be considered “The King of Karaoke.”

“Meet me at the corner of Temple and Tai Chee Lo Street, near the taxi stand,” the voice on the other end of the mobile phone said in Chinese, as we wandered the narrow streets of Mong Kok, the literal beating heart of Hong Kong’s lively local youth shopping and night scene. We were in search of illegally pirated designer handbags…

With the possible exception of Jackie Chan (who most Hong Kong people have a sort of love-hate relationship with) and Yo Yo Ma (who is actually French-born Chinese, I think) most Americans can not name a famous Chinese movie star or musician. I decided I needed to fix this, at least for myself. So, I joined a few Hong Kong friends to see ‘Sammie’ live in concert.

My “To Do” list for my trip around-the-world is long, but it does not include the goal: “Shut Down A Post Office,” yet somehow as fate would have it there I was at the postal counter in the Tsim Sa Tsu district of Hong Kong nearly positioned, oblivious to me, to do just that.

When you wake up in the morning intent on joining a pro-democracy march in China, its one of those things that sounds impressive to brag home about. So, I put on my best fitting running shoes, protective long pants, and of course, grabbed my camera before heading out of the door. This is what I learned.

I received some good feedback on my post a while back about English names in China, I Bought A Camera From A Guy Named Fish. For those interested in learning more on the subject, there is a great post today on Learning Cantonese—-a blog by National Geographic Traveler columnist and travel writer Daisann McLane.

The biggest winner at this year’s Academy Awards is that Martin Scorsese finally got the Oscar he deserves. I’m totally with them on this one, but I’m a bit disappointed in The Departed as the “Best” Picture of the Year. I’m even more disappointed in my home country…

I smiled and just as I looked up, a man stepped in front of us. “Taxi! You need taxi?” he said. Taken so off guard by his abruptness and his English, we didn’t respond immediately and had only barely half-nodded, when he grabbed Erick’s luggage and started to whisk us away to what we thought was a taxi line, only to find we were about to learn our first major lesson on travel in China: “don’t say ‘yes’ to a con man.”