One of the things I wanted to do this year was to improve myself as a person. This can come in terms of skills and in terms of being comfortable with myself. One of the skills I’ve wanted to learn for a while was martial arts. I’ve seen TV shows and read manga about fighting, and it was pretty neat. My dad did martial arts when he was younger. So, when my brother and I were growing up, he would show us some moves. I used to always run away from these scenarios and watch from a safe distance. As I grew older, I developed an aversion to physical contact. It’s not bad enough where I will not shake someone’s hand or hug someone if they are going for a hug, but if I can avoid it, I usually wave my hand as a greeting or farewell. So, I thought that doing a martial art where there is a lot of physical contact would be a type of immersion therapy of sorts.

The people at the class were really welcoming. They taught some techniques to get from a side control or back control position to an arm bar or choke position. Really tiring stuff and I am bruised all over. But I think that it was a good experience. At the end of the class, we had five minute “roll” sessions, which seemed to be just a free-for-all “sparring” type of thing. I totally understand how these professional fighters get so winded. Like just a minute or two of these sessions got me so tired and the partner is putting a lot of pressure on the body. Thankfully you can take breaks. I don’t plan on becoming a master jiu jitsu person, but I do think I’ll go a few more times to this class. I also may try out some other martial arts places around the area to see how I like those.

Hey, it’s your boy Jeffrey with all the covid information you need to know in order to travel to Hong Kong as of December 2022.

First, in order to get on your flight, you’ll need a GREEN QR code. You can fill out the information in https://www.chp.gov.hk/hdf/ in order to get this QR code by first selecting “Select Health Declaration Form” and filling out the form. When you finish submitting the form, you should take a screenshot or picture of the website with the QR code so you can show it to the airline attendants.

Second, in order to eat at restaurants, you’ll need a BLUE QR code. You can fill out the information in https://www.chp.gov.hk/vac-df/# in order to get the blue QR code, which is the vaccine pass. You’ll need to show this to all restaurants when you want to dine in. You can choose to download the LeaveHomeSafe mobile app from the Google Play or App Store to help you store that QR code. One thing to note is that you need at least 3 doses of a covid vaccine in order to get the blue QR code.

Great, that’s all you need to know about QR codes. In terms of the covid testing you need to do, it gets a little bit more confusing. Here’s the official guidance by Hong Kong https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/inbound-travel.html

Basically, you’ll need to take a self administered covid tests for 5 days after you arrive in Hong Kong. On the second day after arriving, you’ll need to take a PCR covid test at a government affiliated site. This PCR covid test will can be scheduled through this website https://booking.communitytest.gov.hk/form/index.jsp . In order to schedule the PCR test, make sure you have a phone that can receive text messages from Hong Kong. You’ll need to bring your identification and the PCR test schedule confirmation when you actually go to the location to get tested. The self administered testing information should be uploaded to https://www.chp.gov.hk/ecmss . You should receive an email from eCMSS@dh.gov.hk after you arrive in Hong Kong with some additional details. In that email titled “[不要回覆]關於抵達香港後的注意事項及強制檢測的規定[DO NOT REPLY]Points to Note after Arrival to Hong Kong”, you’ll find the Reference number needed for uploading your test results online. One thing to note, you’ll need to check your temperature as part of uploading your test results, so having a thermometer will be helpful. You can also buy a thermometer in Hong Kong.

Finally, it is mandatory to wear a mask in public.

For a TLDR:

GREEN QR code: needed for flight

BLUE QR code: needed for dining in restaurants

6 at home tests have to be done once per day (day 0 – day 5)

A PCR test will have to be scheduled and taken on Day 2.

Wear a mask in public places

Cool, that’s the bulk of the information you need to know as of now. Hopefully the guidelines get even easier to follow in the future!

I visited Vietnam for the first time and during the trip, I saw some “interesting” aspects of the country piqued my interest.

1. Motorbikes are popular

In Vietnam, it seems like there are a lot more motorbikes and mopeds than cars. Everyone drives motorbikes including students and adults. Motorbikes can fit up to 4 people (2 adults and 2 children). Some of the students driving the motorbikes looked pretty young, like in middle school.

I think one consequence of this is that the driving is a bit hectic. However, the people use honking as communication to let other motorists know that they intend to pass, which helps improve road safety.

2. Growing vegetables in countryside

While driving in the countryside, I noticed that the majority of the greenhouses have a roof with an opening. Imagine the roof is a semi circle – half of the roof has a different height than the other half of the roof, so the top of the building has a long opening. It seems like this may have something to do with air circulation. Another thing I noticed was that people set up makeshift gardens in their concrete driveways. They put out tarp on top of the driveway and then laid out dirt in rows. I couldn’t tell what they planned to grow in these gardens, but I suspect that they would be used to grow small vegetables, like baby tomatoes or small greens.

3. License plates have punctuation

I noticed that there are license plates that have dashes and decimal points. A few examples:

• ###-####
• ###-###.##
• ##-## ####
• ##-## ###.##

I’m not sure if there are meanings behind the dashes or the decimal points, but the dash only exists if there are 4 digits in the first section and the decimal point only exists if there are 5 digits in the second section. There is no indication for city or state as far as I could tell.

4. Pink hand soap

I feel like over half of the bathrooms I visited over my Vietnam trip had the same pink hand soap. I don’t know if they have a monopoly on the hand soap market or if this brand is just the cheapest option, but I thought it was pretty shocking.

5. Random animals walking around

During this trip, I saw a bunch of random animals walking around the streets and highway. Chicken, lizards, flies, mosquitoes, cats, dogs, oxen, and perhaps some more. Most of them seemed to just be chilling and trying to find food – these animals seemed to either be wild or stray.

Closing thoughts

I think Vietnam is a good country to visit. The food is tasty and relatively inexpensive. There are a number of activities for people to enjoy in the cities. The range of temperatures between morning and night can be large depending on where you are in the country, so looking up the weather forecast is helpful to determine how to dress for the day. One aspect I didn’t realize until this trip was that Vietnam is a large country in terms amount of land so traveling from one city to another can take a long time.

I have some more minor observations from the trip that I can talk about in the comments or in another blog post, but I think these 5 points are good enough for now.