Tai O

Yesterday, Lex and I went on an adventure to a little fishing village on Lantau Island called Tai O. I had heard about Tai O from a fellow Heron who spent a semester here last year. She said it was best to go later in the afternoon, around sunset, so that’s what we did. We grabbed a quick lunch by school and then started the 2-hour journey to Tai O; an hour on the MTR and then another hour on a bus. It wasn’t too bad, but it made for a long day. The bus ride went up/around/down/all over the mountains on Lantau; the roads are extremely small and the bus was a coach bus so the ride was a bit bumpy and crazy. It was quite the experience.

We arrived in Tai O around 4pm and spent our time wandering around the village. Tai O is famous for its stilt houses because the villagers don’t feel safe on the ground. We passed numerous shops selling dried fish; one even had a huge dried shark!

Various people were offering 20-minute boat tours, which brought you around the houses and then out into the open water to look for the famous pink dolphins in the surrounding area, so Lex and I decided to go on one. We went at the perfect time as well because the sun was just starting to set so I got some nice shots of the sunset. 

After the boat ride, we wandered around some more before it got dark and then headed back to campus.

3 Month Mark

So I’m a little late, but I’ve passed the 3-month mark and have less than 4 weeks left here in Hong Kong! How time flies!

Classes end this week and then come finals! I have 3 exams (one is actually this week, on the last day of class) and then one on the 9^th and one on the 13^th; a paper due the 6^th and another due the 16^th and then about 5 days to enjoy Hong Kong some more and pack. {I’m actually not worried about fitting everything in my suitcase. I am pretty sure I will have plenty of room since I don’t have 4 months of pump supplies to pack.}

I’m excited to go home. I’ve definitely enjoyed my time abroad but 4 months is the perfect length to be away.

It’s still warm here, weather wise. It’s been in the 70s for the most part; therefore, I am still in shorts and t-shirts. It will be such a dramatic change when I land in JFK on December 22 (which reminds me—Mom, you should probably bring a jacket for me since I’m pretty sure my light sweater won’t do any good!). The sudden temperature change will be crazy but I’m starting to miss wearing winter clothes.

I’m starting to get sick of rice. I never really loved white rice. At home, whenever my mom made rice with dinner she always had to make two kinds- white rice for my sisters and rice pilaf for my dad and I. I’ve always found white rice to be rather plain and dry and being here has just confirmed that. So whenever I get white rice here (which, as I am sure you expect is at most meals) I always try and combine it with some sort of sauce or main dish just to add some flavor to it. It’s been working but it’s getting kind of old. But I have discovered the art of cooking a potato in the microwave. I forgot how much I loved baked potatoes.

3 months in and I still don’t know how to walk in public though. Literally, I have no idea which side is the correct side to walk in. But it’s okay, because I don’t think the locals do either or it’s not a big deal to them because they just walk all over the place. And I am still struggling with the language barrier. There’s this one lady at the canteen who doesn’t understand English. So when she sees me in line, she usually asks the student ahead of me to wait and translate for her. It’s great and I always laugh it off. But the language situation in the classroom has drastically improved and for the better. It’s been nice being able to have discussion with the local students (even though discussions are more like Q and A’s rather than discussions).

The list that I created while driving to NYC in August, of things I wanted to see and do while in Hong Kong is slowly dwindling- just about 7 things left! But I’ve scheduled time/days for all of them. Things left to do include, but are not limited to: Macau (next weekend), Tea at the Peninsula Hotel (sometime during Finals), the Peak at night (again, during Finals), Happy Valley Horseracing (some Wednesday night?) and the Wetland Park.

AHHH! Only 25 more days! But that means I’ve been here for over 100 days already! I don’t know which is harder for me to believe- that I only have 25 days left or that I’ve been here for 102 days?

Gold Coast and Cheung Chau Island

Last Friday night I went to Gold Coast with Lex, Anna G., Anna S., and Kat. Just a bus ride away on the K51, Gold Coast is a little seaside residence with a variety of restaurants and shops. We wandered around for a bit before deciding on a Thai/Indian restaurant for dinner. I ordered a huge bowl of veggies; it was delicious. I had been craving veggies for a while and this hit the spot.

 Anna S. and I at dinner

After dinner, we roamed around- we explored the Gold Coast hotel and then ended up walking along the beach for a while. It was so nice to hear the waves rolling in and out; it seems like it’s been forever since I’ve heard that. We also came across a BBQ pit area, where there was a bunch of people gathered around various fire pits cooking dinner.

 Gold Coast Hotel

On Saturday, Lex and I decided to explore Cheung Chau Island, located just off of Hong Kong Island. We grabbed breakfast at the canteen before heading out to the Central Pier, where we took a boat over to Cheung Chau. 

When we arrived at Cheung Chau, I was reminded of Lamma Island- lots of bikes and seafood, but Cheung Chau had its own personality. We roamed around the island (it’s only a square mile in size) for a while and got lost numerous times. We found Pak Tai Temple early on, and had our heart set on finding and exploring Cheung Po Tsai Cave but it was impossible for us to find. In the meantime though, we walked the ‘Mini Great Wall’ and got to see spectacular views of both Cheung Chau and the surrounding water. We walked along numerous beaches as well as seafood restaurants and shops. The seafood was similar to Lamma Island, in that it was all open-air/open market.

 Pak Tai Temple

 Part of the 'Mini Great Wall'

While we were walking around we kept seeing people eating this stick of fruit. It looked delicious and we went on a mission to find it and luckily we did. Although the fruit was frozen, it took a little bit of time for it to defrost, but it was delicious and held us over until we grabbed some Mexican food in Soho later on.

Halong Bay

Sunday morning, we were off for a 2 day/1 night tour of Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Located 3 hours outside of Hanoi, we spent our days exploring the waters and a cave, kayaking, swimming, playing cards and relaxing in the sun. (It reminded me of Antarctica so much. Swap the cold and white for blue/green and sun and you have Halong Bay)
I'm going to let my pictures do the talking...

Our boat

Black and White

We explored a cave

Not a great picture, but it's the only one I have of us jumping off the boat into the water.

l

We got back to Hanoi late Monday afternoon. We grabbed a quick dinner and then met Tess for ice cream before heading to the airport. We left for Ho Chi Minh around 10pm and got there around midnight, slept in the airport and then left HCMC around 7am and arrived back in HK around 10. It was a long day, but worth it. :-)

We even found comfy massage chairs in the airport to sleep in!

Hanoi: Day 2

Saturday, we spent the day tackling Hanoi. With only one full day to explore all Hanoi had to offer, we had to pick and choose what we wanted to see the most. So we started off with my pick, the Museum of Ethnology. I first read about it on Tess’ blog and then heard about it in a few guidebooks and websites. They all raved about it so I wanted to check it out for myself. 

 The Museum of Ethnology focuses on the 54 ethnic groups within Vietnam. The museum provided different details about the different ethnic groups- from daily lives, to clothing, and food, language etc. I was amazed at how people are able to survive today- some of the ethnic groups still rely on hunting and gathering methods for food and survival! The Museum also had life-size replicas of houses of the different ethnic groups. We were able to explore the houses; they were all so different- one was about 15-20ft off the group and around 100ft tall while another was just 2 or 3ft off the group and about 100ft long. 

After the Museum of Ethnology, we took a cab to the Ho Chi Minh Complex. The museum there was closed for lunch when we arrived, so we wandered over to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. This too was closed- it’s closed every year from September to December for renovations/fixing ups (gotta keep him looking good! Haha).

 We walked to a place for lunch, in search for pho, but the café that was recommended to us wasn’t serving lunch- only tea, so we found another small café and grabbed a quick lunch before heading to a local market. This market was very different from the one we visited in Ho Chi Minh City. It was definitely geared to local people- as it barely sold any touristy things. It had three levels and was packed with people and goods. There was barely any room to walk. Needless to say, we didn’t spend too much time here.

Our next stop was Hoan Kiem Lake, one of Hanoi’s famous lakes. We walked around part of the lake- it was just around 4 or 5 so the sun was slowly setting, providing some nice pictures.

We stopped at Fanny’s, a French ice cream parlor along the lake before heading back to the hostel.

We met up with Tess and the group she is abroad with (some HWS and Union kids)again later that night before packing our bags for Halong Bay the next day.

  HWS kids in Hanoi!

Tess and I