allison is the coolest chick EVER!

i met allison in a salzburg, austria, hostel. she is home now, but it's still outstanding to read about all the adventures she had. she travelled for a total of 10 months, mostly alone!!! she started in hong kong, made her way thru china and most of asia, went down to australia, and worked thru eastern europe, egypt, central and western europe. she did all of this on her own money that she had been saving her whole life!!! amazing. here's an exerpt from her blog:

Why Hong Kong is different than Edmonton...
Reason 1 - You can't directly cross any streets, for example: to get to the department store that is across one street from my residence, you need to cross three streets.
Reason 2 - Everyone here is oriental (no shit Sherlock)
Reason 3 - You can write your term papers in English or Chinese
Reason 4 - There is only one campus bar in all of Hong Kong (and it isn't on my campus)
Reason 5 - Every single person here carries a cell phone, and there is at least one cell phone store on every street
Reason 6 - People ALL like cartoons, guys and girls, old and young, American cartoons and Anime
Reason 7 - The library was almost full on the first day of class
Reason 8 - They have no heat in buildings ¡V and mad air conditioning
Reason 9 - There is an ocean here
Reason 10 - They eat something called ¡§stinky tofu¡¨
Reason 11 - My cell phone has pre-programmed text messages in it including "wanna get drunk" and "wanna have fun tonight."
Reason 12 - I am of average height
Reason 13 - Random men ask you and a friend who seem to be struggling with the Chinese menu to come eat lunch with him and his family
Reason 14 - There is an excellent public transportation system
Reason 15 - Menus are written in Chinese
Reason 16 - There are "boys" and "girls" laundry rooms and you can't use each others
Reason 17 - It is humid here and you rarely see the sun
Reason 18 - Everything of mine gets stolen
Reason 19 - No locals here drink alcohol, but ...
Reason 20 - The bars stay open until 5 or 6 am (some even 7)
Reason 21 - There are flat screen TVs EVERYWHERE
Reason 22 - Students talk throughout the entire lecture (actually that sounds similar to Cohort 6)
Reason 23 - Some people wear SARS masks - especially at nicer restaurants