Departure

In 12 hours, I’ll be flying back to America. Eekk! I’m excited. My bags are just about packed, minus the last minute things, my ticket is printed, and my alarm is set for 4am (don’t worry- I have 3 alarms set- I will not sleep through them!). I think I’m ready.

When I booked my flight back in June, Orbitz told me my trip was 127 days and 128 nights. When I thought of it in those terms, day and night, it didn’t seem like a long time; 4 months seemed longer. And now, I can’t decide whether or not it seems like I just got here, or if I’ve been here forever. Looking back, I’ve done a lot. Thankfully I kept this blog because otherwise I am sure I wouldn’t remember half of my experiences. I completed everything that was on my “Things to Do in Hong Kong” list; I traveled to Thailand, Vietnam and Macau; explored as much of Hong Kong as possible and took 5 classes! I am very happy with my semester abroad; I was challenged and pushed outside of my comfort zone; I’ve learned to appreciate America more than ever before, but I’ve also gained a respect and understanding not only of Hong Kong but of many other South Asian countries. I’ve tried so many different types of food and have learned how to cook various dishes in a microwave.

 My List

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I started making a list of things that I would be ‘Taking’ from Hong Kong and ‘Leaving’ in Hong Kong. To share a few (it’s been much easier to decide what I’m leaving rather than taking, but that’s not really important as I am sure ‘Taking’ list will grow once I’m back in America)…

I will be taking my chopstick skills, a greater appreciation for the American education system (the Hong Kong education system is a completely different story- basically only a certain amount of students can continue on after a certain point, and each year that number gets smaller and smaller)

I will be leaving the shower technique (you go to the shower fully dressed, leave the flip flops outside the shower, strip inside the shower stall, hang your clothes over this bar or in a bag, shower, put clothes back on. At the beginning of the semester I just about died from heat stroke doing this, so to avoid this, I timed my showers so my roommate wouldn’t be in the room); the discussion procedures (class discussions are more of a Q&A session rather than ‘discussion’ and the local students rarely talk, so there wasn’t a lot of communication within the classes), and the acceptability of spitting/burping/nose picking in public (it’s just nasty. I’m sorry. I’ve been on the MTR and see people picking their nose with their fingers, no tissues, or people hacking up mucus on the street. Not my cup of tea). I will also be leaving the bugs. Literally, the bugs here have attacked me. Anytime I’m outside, I get about 4 new bug bits. My calves are covered in bug bites.

The bathroom and showers

There are many things though that I wish I could take: the MTR system (literally, it can get you anywhere in Hong Kong; it’s so easy, accessible and cheap. I will surely miss it.), the money (sure, the exchange rate was great, but the smallest bill they use is $10, they have a $1, $2, and $5 coin, as well as $0.10, $0.20 and $0.50 coin. Things only cost $7.90 or $8.00, not $7.99 or $7.49, it’s so much easier to deal with money without having to worry about those little cents). I wish I could take some of the food back (dim sum, this green bean and minced meat meal, the fruit desert I wrote about earlier, all so delicious and can’t be found in the States). The final thing I wish I could take is the cleanliness of Hong Kong (I am pretty sure the cleaning people collect the trash on our floor at least 4 times a day; everyday, there is a lady sweeping the leaves off the path to our hostel; the elevator and escalator handrails are disinfected at least 4 times a day. It’s crazy, but it’s so clean).

Packing...

It’s been a great semester and I am thankful for every moment over the past 4 months.

Also, I'll leave you with a comparision of the weather here in HK, Hull and Geneva...

I am going to freeze.

The Peak at Night

Monday night was Anna, Lex and Tim’s last night in Hong Kong so we, along with Ryan and YoYo decided to check out the Peak at night and grab dinner in SoHo. We left campus a little before 5 and took the MTR to Hong Kong station, where we grabbed a bus that took us to the Peak. Unfortunately, we got stuck in rush hour traffic and it took a good hour for the bus to get to the top, but it was a fun experience. 

 When we finally got to the top, we got a little lost, since the bus dropped us off in a different location, and we ended up getting separated from Tim, Ryan and YoYo. Anna, Lex and I finally made it into the Peak Terrace, where all the shops are and wandered around for a while. We stuck around to check out the light show at 8pm, but we were on the wrong side of Victoria Harbor to actually see it. So we headed to SoHo for dinner. We grabbed dinner at Jasper’s, a restaurant that had a variety of dishes- from Italian and Mexican! 

We then headed back to campus, and reminisced on our past semester. Once we got back to campus, we said our good-byes, since Anna and Lex both left Tuesday morning (it is now Tuesday night, Hong Kong time).

The Beginning of the End: Temple Street

Saturday night, I joined Lex, Anna, Kat and Kat’s mom for dinner at Temple Street. Temple Street is famous for its night market, so we decided to grab dinner before strolling through the market. While Ladies Market in Mongkok is mainly for women, as it’s mostly clothes, scarves, etc., Temple Street is the “men’s Market” and focuses on electronics, cds, videogames etc. It had a few vendors selling souvenirs and t-shirts, but not nearly as many as Mongkok. The market at Temple Street opens around 4pm and stays open until around midnight; we were there between 7 and 10pm and it wasn’t too busy, which was nice- there was actually room to walk around! 

 The entrance to Temple Street

We grabbed dinner at a restaurant on a side street. At these types of restaurants, patrons eat outside at small tables and on little stools. We shared a few dishes- sweet and sour shrimp, broccoli, some sort of noodles and veggie spring rolls. It was delicious! I will definitely miss the classic Cantonese/street food!

 Kat, Anna, Lex and I at dinner! (Lex's photo!)

We said goodbye to Kat before heading back to campus, since she was staying with her Mom and heading to India on Tuesday we wouldn’t see her again before leaving for the States. Although it was sad, we all know that since we all live relatively close this wasn’t the last time we’d see each other. We’re already planning a reunion in the future!

Walking Around Yuen Long

After taking a quick trip to an organization in Yuen Long earlier this semester for one of my classes, I’ve always wanted to go back and wander around. It seemed like such an interesting place, filled with people and activity. So Sunday afternoon, when I had nothing to do, I decided to take a stroll around Yuen Long.

This is what I found:

 

A few  fruit vendor.

Multiple meat vendors. Yep, the meat is hanging and customers just point to the piece they want and the seller puts it in a plastic bag and continues with the sale.

A bakery.

And I didn't take any pictures, but there were SO MANY people. And I was the only Westerner I saw, so of course everybody was staring at me since I stuck out like a sore thumb. Oh well. I'm glad I had the chance to go back and explore Yuen Long on my own.

Hong Kong Wetland Park

Saturday, Lex, Anna, Tim, YoYo and I explored the Hong Kong Wetland Park, just outside of Tin Shui Wai. A short ride away on the Light Rail, the Wetland Park was one of those places that is surrounded by skyscrapers but inside, it’s a completely different world. 

The Wetland is a popular sport for bird watching, and we were able to see a variety of birds. Signs told us that there were Herons in the area, but I didn’t see any. :-(

If you look really close you can see a little white bird in the middle

The Wetland Park had numerous paths that weaved in and out of different areas and habitats, allowing us to see quiet a variety of things.

We met a girl from St. Olaf’s College who is currently studying abroad- she’s on a five month program that started off in Geneva, Switzerland, continued on to Cairo, Turkey, India, Hong Kong, and will finish with Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul! We all enjoyed talking with her and exchanged our perspectives as well as various ins and outs of Hong Kong.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

After what seemed like FOREVER, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, was finally released in Hong Kong this past week. Lex, Kat, Ryan and I got tickets for a 10:45 showing on Thursday morning at Pacific Place (where we saw Eat, Pray, Love, earlier this semester).

The theater was filled with Westerners- we were actually sitting next to a group of 10-12 year old American girls who were fighting over their seats. It was so weird to actually understand other people’s conversations.

For those who haven’t seen the movie, I won’t go into details. But I will say I really enjoyed the movie as a whole and am glad I waited to see it in a theater. And I cannot wait until July to see the second part!

Macau

Wednesday morning, Lex, Kat, Anna, Anna’s friend, Mimi from Taiwan and I traveled to Macau for the day. We were supposed to leave campus at 8:30, but my old habits kicked in and I didn’t wake up until 8:38, so we got a later start. Oops.

We took a boat called TurboJet from Central to Macau, which took about an hour. When we arrived in Macau, the weather was not great- cold and rainy. And it lasted all day, so it put a damper on our day, but we made the best of the day.

We explored Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, where there were these huge replicas of famous world sites, like a Roman amphitheater, a volcano, and a smaller Forbidden City. We then hopped on a bus and headed to the Portuguese side of Macau.

{Macau used to be a Portuguese colony until 1999 and is now a Special Administrative Region of China, like Hong Kong. The official languages of Macau are Cantonese and Portuguese, but many of the signs are in Portuguese, Mandarin and English and a lot of the local people speak Mandarin.}

While in the Portuguese side, we explored the St. Paul’s Ruins, as well a church, which I forget the name of…

We grabbed lunch at Pizza Hut before heading to another section of Macau, to the casinos!

Macau is known for it’s casinos and gambling; it’s nicknamed the Las Vegas of Asia, and many Chinese people go to Macau to gamble (90% of Macau’s visitors are from China!).

We were able to take a free bus service that one of the hotels/casinos offered, called ‘The City of Dreams.” The bus played music and each seat had its own mini TV, which played commercials about the casino, to get you, excited to gamble and what not (it was Macau's Party Bus).

When we arrived at “The City of Dreams” we walked around for a little bit, ended up in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel, before deciding to head over to the Venetian, or the world’s largest casino. At 546,000 square feet, 3,400 slot machines and over 800 game tables, the Venetian holds the title of the largest casino in the world. In addition, to the casino, there are hundreds of high-end shops, as well as three canals where visitors can go for a gondola ride! It was insane!!

The gondola driver singing!

We all took a chance at the slot machines- only Mimi walked away winning. We were interested in possibly checking out playing Black Jack or some other card game, but when we were informed you had to pay $300HKD to get in, we decided against it. Haha.

Trying out the slot machines!

Mimi, Anna and Kat playing a game

We wandered around the casino and hotel for quite sometime, avoiding the nasty weather outside. We grabbed a late dinner before taking the shuttle back to the ferry pier for our 9pm boat ride back to Hong Kong.

The Venetian at night

Well, the boat ride back to Hong Kong is a story in itself. It should be noted, that when I was younger, boat rides (and subways for that matter) scared me. My mom says that after I saw Titanic, boatrides were never easy for me. Somehow I got over that (e.g. Antarctica). But Tuesday night, I watched the Titanic trailer on Youtube for some reason and Wednesday night, I saw my life flash before my eyes about 5 times.

Heading home, the water between Macau and Hong Kong was so rough; the TurboJet was going a million (okay, I exaggerate) miles per hour and the boat was rocking from side to side. People were throwing up all around us, and I thought I was going to die. It was raining and you could hear the waves crashing against the boat as the boat rocked from side to side. The entire time I was thinking, “Okay, how do I get to a lifeboat,” “do I take my purse or do I leave it?” “Does China even have a coast guard?” It was insane. I was so glad to be back on land and will never get on a boat in that type of weather again.

Although Macau would have been better on a nicer day, it was still fun to explore the old Portuguese colony! 

High Tea

Saturday afternoon, Lex, Kat and I got all dressed up and headed to High Tea at the Peninsula Hotel in TST. Every day from 2-7pm, the Peninsula offers High Tea- customers get unlimited amounts of tea and plenty of little sandwiches and treats to go along with it. The Peninsula was all decorated for the holidays, with a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the lobby, where the tea is served, as well as lights, ornaments and wreaths all around the hotel. It was gorgeous and definitely got us into the Christmas spirit!

Since the hotel does not take reservations for tea, you are required to wait in line; we waited for about an hour and a half, but it wasn’t too bad. By the time we were seated, the hotel wasn’t as crazy or busy, so we were able to relax and enjoy our tea. The tea was delicious- I ordered caramel tea and loved it! The little sandwiches and treats were great and very filling!

The hotel has a line of Rolls Royce cars that pick up customers at the airport.

In front of the Peninsula

 After tea, we walked across the street to Victoria Harbor/ where the nightly light show is, to see the Christmas decorations on the buildings along the Harbor. It was a gorgeous sight to see, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before! Our whole day got us in the mood for Christmas—I just can’t believe it’s a week away!!