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.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Thailand is famous for its floating markets, but there are only a few remaining and they’re all about an hour outside of Bangkok. Kat and I signed up for a half-day tour through our hotel; we were picked up just before 7am on Tuesday morning. We had to pick up a few other people for the tour, and then made the hour trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.

When we arrived, our tour guide told us we would be taking a “James Bond” speedboat to the floating market; apparently it’s a similar boat to a scene in a James Bond movie, but since I’ve never seen a James Bond movie I can’t say for sure. The boat reminded me of the boats we use for crew- long and skinny, seats for about 8 or 9 people, but this boat had a motor and rudder instead oars. The fifteen-minute ride over to the market was great. We went through all these different ‘streets’ and got to see what life was like living in this area. The houses are right on the water and have steps that go right into the water. There were a handful of people on their steps doing laundry in the water. 

When we got to Damnoen Saduak, I was rather surprised. I had seen all these pictures of floating markets and well, it wasn’t exactly what I had expected. We were dropped off at what turned out to be a strip of stores and were given an hour and a half to walk around in the stores. On the other side of the water/stream, there were little stores that were reachable by boat, but you had to pay 150 baht to get over there/for a 30-minute ride. Kat and I decided against the boat ride because we figured we could get anything we wanted on this side of the stream. At one point we sat down and just observed the dynamics of the floating market. Another tourist was interested in buying some fruit from a lady who had her little shop set up in her boat on the water. The shop owner maneuvered her boat closer to the land, weighed the fruit on her little scale and gave them to the customer in exchange for money. Afterwards, the shop owner proceeded to move her boat back away from the land so other boats could get through when necessary.

After the floating market, the tour us to an elephant farm where a few people rode elephants, but Kat and I just hung out. Then we went to a wood-carving studio. This studio was amazing. We were able to freely walk around the factory and store. The factor allowed us to see the carvers at work as well as the pieces they were working on. Some of the pieces were so elaborate and intricate. We also met another traveler on our trip; he was from Liverpool and was making his way around the world. He had already been to the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and was still looking to go to Hong Kong. It was great hearing about his travels and experiences abroad.

We were then on our way back to Bangkok; Kat and I were dropped off at a shopping center by our hotel, where we proceeded to waste time before leaving for our overnight bus to Samui. We grabbed some lunch at a food court; I got pad thai- it was delicious! We wandered around the mall, did some window-shopping and spent some time looking around a bookstore before heading back to our hotel to grab our bags and go to the train station where we were meeting the bus.

•   •   •

We purchased tickets through a travel agency our first day in Bangkok for an overnight bus and boat ride to Koh Samui. We met the bus at a train station on Tuesday night; the bus was rather simple, a double decker with the first floor for VIP people, luggage and the driver while the top level was for the rest of us and just like a coach bus. The ride wasn’t too bad, took about nine hours and we stopped 2 or 3 times for a half hour each. We were dropped off somewhere around 6am and then picked up again after 8am. We were then taken to the dock and after an hour boat ride, we made it to Koh Samui. We had to bargin with the taxi drivers on a price for driving us to a hotel; even though the taxis are labeled “Taxi-Metered” they’re not. For a 2.5km ride, the cheapest taxi we got was 200 bhat, which is still less than $10USD, but expensive compared to what we were paying in Bangkok.

Upon checking in at the hotel, we were surrounded by the beautiful resort and beach. J

Festival Walk

Last weekend (I am so behind on updating) I went to Festival Walk with a few friends. It was a rainy day and as an indoor mall, Festival Walk gave us something to do while still experiencing the culture of Hong Kong.

The mall was huge. It was connected to the MTR station- there are actually a lot of MTR stops with malls connected- so we didn’t even have to walk outside. There were about 6-8 floors and hundreds of high-end stores and various eating establishments. When we arrived, we briefly walked around the mall, checking out some stores and places to eat. We came across an ice-skating rink- yes, an ice skating rink in the mall- with hundred of little Chinese kids learning to skate and taking lessons. It was amazing. We had planned on eating when we arrived and decided to eat in the food court and found seats just overlooking the ice skating rink.  For lunch I got a bowl of rice, chicken and egg. It was pretty good.

We meandered around the mall for a while. I was looking for an agenda book for school but could only find 2011 ones. We walked into a few of the higher-end stores, like Marc by Marc Jacobs, just to check out the prices.

{A note about prices- the majority of things here are cheaper than the U.S. Food is rather cheap, I've gotten meals for less than $3 U.S. but then again I've also splurged on some meals. Material goods are usually cheaper than in the U.S., but some things were more expensive, for example some of the 2011 agendas I found were more than $25USD, while in the U.S. the same one would be less than $15. The only things that I've found to be more expensive here than in the U.S. are things in the high-end stores- a few bags in Marc by Marc Jacobs were almost twice as much as they would be in the U.S.}

We found this huge department like store- they were selling everything- from food, to calendars, to umbrellas and sandals, to luggage and travel necessities, and jewelry. It was great to walk around and check everything out.

There was a grocery store that looked and smelled much nicer than the one by our school, so we checked it out before leaving. Wow. They had a great selection of American food at relatively cheap prices. It was nice walking around a store and seeing a lot of American brands.