再见 香港 (Goodbye Hong Kong)!!

Well, I'm officially leaving Hong Kong in the AM to head back to the wonderful US of A. The past four months have definitely been an experience of a lifetime - I've met some fabulous people here & have seen so many wonderful things! It is quite surreal to me that four months have already passed, and thank goodness I kept this blog because everything has been a total blur! I feel as if I was able to learn a lot about the Cantonese/Asian culture, especially from the local students at Lingnan who were so enthusiastic about helping me whenever needed. I've come a long way since my first day of orientation here as I knew no one & had no idea what I was getting myself in to. Yeah, I probably would have been more comfortable studying somewhere else, such as Europe or Australia, but I think being abroad is all about stepping out of your comfort zone & having to deal with a totally different culture other than your own. I have bittersweet feelings about coming home - I can't wait to see my family, friends, & doggies (I'll list some other things I'm looking forward to in a sec), but I've fallen in love with this city, especially the views of the harbor & Soho :)

When I get home, besides seeing my family, friends & doggies, I can't wait to: take a bath, drive (oh gosh!!), get my hair done, eat a big salad with olive oil and vinegar & so many other things besides rice & noodles, celebrate Christmas & New Year's (in Phoenix!!), free refills!!!, sleep in my own bed that doesn't have a one-inch thick mattress, go shopping!! (I've been deprived of Forever, Urban, and Nords), be able to walk without people pushing into me every five seconds, go back to Butler & take classes where I can understand what my professor's are saying (hopefully, haha!), not see any hanging ducks & chickens from restaurant windows, not being stared at like an alien, and I'm sure I'll find out more things I've missed once I'm back in the states for a bit :)

This past week, I've had mutliple "goodbye dinners" - most importantly, with my roommate, Corinna. Saturday night, we spent the evening in Mongkok - we ate dinner then had frozen yogurt at this famous place called "Crumbs", delicious!! I know I mentioned this before, but Corinna is a fabulous artist, so for my goodbye gift, she drew a picture of me, which was so nice of her! She did a wonderful job, & it seriously looks like an actual photo of me!!! After frozen yogurt, she took me to a type of arcade where they have a bunch of photo booths. The photo booths are different than the ones in the states because you can pick a bunch of funky backgrounds & then draw on them on a computer after you take the pictures, plus they are stickers! It was really cool, but I ruined the first few pictures because I kept looking at the screen & not the camera, dorkkk!! It was a fun "roomie" night, & I'm going to miss having her as my roommate next semester!

*Corinna's drawing of me from when I had high tea at the Peninsula :)

*Our photo stickers!

*Kat, Anna, me, & Sara having dinner at Temple Street with Kat's mom who was visiting from New York

Tonight for our last night in HK, Anna, Sara, Tim, Ryan, Yoyo, & I went to "The Peak" to see the lovely night views of Victoria Harbor from the highest point in the city. I went to The Peak during my first weekend in HK during the day, so it was great to see it at night as well. I actually think I enjoyed it more at night with everything lit up! There are also many houses in this area that are worth around $500 million USD making it the second most expensive place to live in the world! I can understand why as it'd be great to look out your window & see that view every day & night! After The Peak, Sara, Anna, and I went to have our last dinner in Soho :) It was a perfect last night for a great 4 months!

*The Peak at night

*Anna & I at our last dinner in HK

I think that's about all for my blog of my time in HK! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed sharing my experiences with you all :) I'll see most of you back in the USA soon! Goodbye Hong Kong - hope to see you again in the future!!!

More pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2102609&id=1490346167&l=65294601d7

Wetland Park, Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, & Tai Po

On Saturday, Anna, Sara, Tim, Yoyo, and I went to the Wetland Park, which is a park full of habitats designed for certain forms of wildlife, such as birds, crabs, and fish. There are multiple paths/boardwalks that allow you to get a little closer to the wetlands. In fact, one of the boardwalks was built right into the mud, so it moved a bit when walking on it - little dangerous, haha! The park has a lot of green plants and grasses, which was weird to see in Hong Kong as we're used to seeing pavement and skyscrapers everyone we turn. The park is also the home of Pui Pui, an alligator that someone was keeping as a pet in Hong Kong. When the alligator got too big, the owner let it loose, and it took multiple months to catch it, so now, it has it's own cage at the park on display for all to see!

*Bird habitat

*Pui Pui the alligator!

*Entrance to the park surrounded by poinsettas :)

Today, Anna & I went to the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, which is exactly what it's called, a temple with 10,000 Buddhas inside of it. The temple is at the top of a mountain, so we had to hike up about 450 steps, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds as there were golden monk/Buddha statues lining the walk up & each one had a different pose/facial expression. To make the climb more entertaining, we took pictures mimicking some of the statues :) The temple was really neat as there were small Buddha's lining the walls of the building. It's hard to believe that there were 10,000 inside, but I wasn't going to count or anything to make sure, haha! Besides the temple, there was also a pagoda and multiple statues of I'm assuming popular figures in Buddhism religion. At the bottom of the mountain, there was a traditional Chinese cemetery, so we decided to check it out. Cemeteries here are quite different as there are no headstones. Instead, there are multiple buildings filled with little areas on the wall dedicated to the deceased person. 

*Going on up!

*Buddhas inside temple - so many!!

*Do I look like him?? hehe :)

*Cemetery buildings

After the temple, Anna & I decided to check out Tai Po Market as she had heard about it in her Chinese history class. We had no idea what it was, but quickly found out that it was a wet market upon entering the building. In HK, a wet market is when vendors sell bunches of different seafood - shrimp, fish, clams, mussels, shark, you name it! All of the seafood is live & they just hack right into it when you pick out what you want - yeah, it's as disgusting as it sounds, haha! The floor is also soaking wet because they basically just bring all of the seafood in straight from the harbor & everything is in baskets & buckets filled with water until they are sold. I don't think I'd ever want to go back, but it was an interesting sight!

*Lots of fish & shrimp!!

*Inside the wet market

Macau

On Wednesday, Sara, Kat, Anna, Mimi (Anna's friend from Taiwan), and I went to Macau (also known as the "Las Vegas of China"), which is another part of China about an hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong. Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999, so a mixture of both Portuguese and Cantonese culture is present - quite a unique mixture, no?! Unfortunately, it was raining from the moment we got there until the moment we left, but we didn't let that stop us from exploring. Macau is known as the "Vegas of Hong Kong" because many people, especially from Mainland China, visit Macau to gamble at many of the same casinos Vegas has, such as the Venetian, MGM, Hard Rock, and the Wynn. After getting off the ferry, we went to see a little bit of the Fisherman's Wharf, which has replicas of many famous places in the world, such as the Forbidden City and the Colosseum. It was pretty neat :)

*View of Fisherman's Wharf from ferry pier

*Roman Amphitheatre

After the wharf, we took a bus to the Portuguese section to see the Largo do Senado (Senate Square), which is at the center of Macau and has wavy black-and-white cobblestone walkways & colonial buildings - very pretty! Then, we visited the Ruins of the Church of St. Paul. The ruins are some steps leading to a facade with statues and engravings, which are rather intricate. The church was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in the mid-1850's, but before that, it was the largest Catholic church in Asia.

*Largo do Senado

*Me in front of the Ruins of Saint Paul

After the ruins, we stopped at the City of Dreams & Hard Rock casinos, but decided to spend most of our evening at the lovely Venetian! The Venetian in Macau is quite a bit bigger than the one in Vegas & happens to be the biggest casino in the world measuring in at 546,000 square feet worth of gaming with 3,400 slots and 800 game tables- whoa!!! The hotel is beautiful, especially the "Sistine Chapel" ceilings and the canal through the canal shops with gondolas. The gondolier's all sang "Santa Lucia" very well :) After walking around, we all tried our luck at the slot machines as none of us really knew how to play any table games. Unfortunately, I won nothing, but didn't really expect to anyways.

*Guido (loved him) and another gondolier :)

*Pretty canal shops at the Venetian

After the Venetian, we headed to the ferry piers to take our ferry back to Hong Kong, which was definitely an experience. After being on the boat for about ten minutes, all of the sudden the boat started to rock back and forth, back and forth, and it literally felt like we were going to tip over because the water was SO choppy, and it was quite windy and rainy outside as well. People were puking all around us, and I feared for my life for a few minutes, but figured they knew what they were doing and wouldn't have gone out if it wasn't safe. Then I realized that our ferry was the only one to go out into the harbor as all of the other companies cancelled their rides, which made us even more nervous, but thankfully we made it back okay! Don't ever want to experience that again - the hour ride felt like half a day, yikes!! Besides the trip back and the rain, I really enjoyed Macau, especially the contrast between the Cantonese and Portuguese culture, and I loved the Venetian as well :)

*Side note: Yesterday, I went to see the new Harry Potter as it FINALLY came out in Hong Kong - sooo good!!!

More pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2103221&id=1490346167&l=1ccb283df1

Dim sum, sushi, & "soft, soft ice"

So, I figured some of you would be interested in what most Cantonese people eat here in Hong Kong as it's usually what I eat as well :) Well, dim sum is the most common form of traditional Cantonese food, which is when people share small portions of food served on a small plate or in a steamer basket for breakfast or lunch. Some of the most common dishes are shrimp, pork, and vegetable dumplings, steamed buns, fried squid, noodles, and various forms of cakes, such as turnip and water chestnut. My personal favorites are the fried squid and water chestnut cake! My first dim sum experience was during the first day of orientation here at Lingnan when I had no idea how to use chopsticks, but I've made great gains in using them since then, haha :) 

*Sara & I at the Chinese restaurant on campus for dim sum!

 *Vegetable & shrimp dumplings, fried rice, and bok choy

Tea is also a large part of the culture here as it's pretty much served everywhere you go. I've taken a liking to jasmine & oolong tea (I prefer them to be sweetened though), but unfortunately, I don't think my body likes caffeine very much :( When eating dim sum, the waiter will place a pot of water & a pot of tea on the table as well as an empty bowl. You are supposed to clean your spoon, cup, and rice bowl with the water or tea and then pour the dirty water or tea into the empty bowl. Also, when the people you are eating with pour your tea, you thank them by tapping your index finger once on the table if you are single or twice if you are married - quite interesting!

*Water chestnut cake - I know it looks weird, but it's actually very tasty!

Sushi is also very popular here in Hong Kong, and yesterday, Jessie from OMIP took a few of us out for sushi in Yuen Long. It was delicious and we tried SO many forms of sushi, such as california rolls, soft shell crab, tuna sashimi, fried shrimp, etc. and also an interesting roe, cucumber, and mayonnaise salad (I've noticed that they use mayonnaise a lot here for some reason). The sushi was quite a big bigger then what I'm used to in the US and the sashimi peices were never ending!

*Ha, me, Anna, Jessie, Kat, and Mimi - so full after all our yummy sushi!!

 *Cucumber salad, sashimi, shrimp tempura, and crab :)

After sushi, we went to have "soft soft ice", which is this big mound of flavored ice. I don't really know how to explain it because it's definitely different than a snow cone/slushy substance. We tried strawberry with kiwi sauce and mango "popping balls", which are little aloe balls that burst with flavor when you bite into them. It was very light and refreshing, and I'm happy that I was able to try something so different!

*"Soft, soft ice"!

Hopefully you have a little glimpse into what type of food is popular here in Hong Kong that I like, haha. There are many foods that I don't like that are quite interesting, such as curry fish balls, bird saliva or shark fin soup, and chicken feet- sounds yummy, right?! I'm really looking forward to having some "normal" food, such as salad and pasta when I get back to the states though :)

New pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2102609&id=1490346167&l=65294601d7

Tai O

Saturday, Sara & I took a day trip to Tai O, which is a fishing village on Lantau Island. Tai O is nicknamed "the Venice of Hong Kong", and I can understand why. All of the houses are built on stilts over the water & boats go through the water passages, plus there's a bridge that lets one cross over from one side to the other just like in Venice! We arrived to Tai O later in the afternoon as Sara had heard it was better to go a bit before the sunset. It was about a two hour trip - one hour on the MTR and another hour on a bus that made me sick with all of the severe turns & sudden stops going through the mountains, but it was well worth it!

*Me on the bridge :)

When we first arrived to the village, we walked through the market where people were selling all forms of dried fish - there were even 2 huge dried sharks, yikes!!! Then, we continued to walk around to take in the gorgeous views of the mountains and harbor & to look at all of the stilt houses. It amazes me how everyone there lives on stilts built into the water, & the houses are so, so small!!

*Sharkie!!!

*Stilt houses

There were multiple companies offering a short cruise through the village & then out into the sea to search for the rare pink dolphins in the harbor, so Sara & I decided to take a ride! I'm really glad we decided to do so as we were able to get closer to the stilt houses & see a great view of the sunset! Unfortunately, no dolphins though, but I know it's quite difficult to see them :( Our boat driver was hilarious & kept yelling out random things to us - at one point he kept saying "fire, fire!!" & we all got a little scared at first, but quickly realized that he was trying to show us a few houses that were burnt down, sad :(

*Gorgeous!

*On the boat!

I think Tai O was one of my favorite places I've been to in Hong Kong! How many fishing villages where houses are built on stilts are there in the world? Not that many I don't think, haha! Also, the mountains provide for a great contrast to the village :) Well, that's all for now, until next time, love you all!

New pictures to album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097293&id=1490346167&l=c0724639f1

Thanksgiving & Farewell Reception

Because all of us Americans were missing Thanksgiving back in our home towns, some of us decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner at Fat Angelo's, an Italian restaurant in Soho, since they were offering a special for the holiday :) We were served rolls, salad, turkey (since I'm a vegetarian, I got pasta with olive oil & garlic), mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing, vegetables, and pumpkin pie - it was delish! It was nice to have dinner together as we all were missing our families quite a bit :) 

*Anna G, Kat, and I at dinner :)

*Yummy!!!

*Lovely ladies at happy hour in Soho!

Tonight, OMIP hosted a farewell reception for the exchange students, & I (along with 3 other students) was asked to do a sharing of my time here, so I decided to put together a video of my memories! I think from all of the photos in the video, you can see how amazing my study abroad experience has been & how much I've seen here (& thank you to everyone who has contributed to it being so fantastic)! I'm really going to miss it here & all of the great friends I've made - we must all keep in touch & plan some reunions :) You can check out my video at this site: http://animoto.com/play/4j4ouEdC187xKSBWT3DwXw?autostart=true#

*Anna G, Tim, Sara, me, and Kat

*International & Mainland China exchange students!

 *Corinna (my roommate) & me :)

I have 3 weeks left in Hong Kong, which is extremely hard for me to believe! I am excited to get back to see my friends & family, but like I've mentioned before, I'm really going to miss it here! I definitely plan on coming back in the near future hopefully :) Only 2 days of classes left, 5 finals over the next 2 weeks, and then I'm packing my bags to head on back to the US of A! Can't wait to see you all!!

Gold Coast & Cheung Chau

Friday night, Kat, Anna S, Sara, Anna G, and I went to the Gold Coast Piazza & beach in Tuen Mun. This was our first time going there, & it's only about a half hour away from our campus by bus. The area is really pretty, especially at night - there are a bunch of restaurants in a square & it was very European-like. We had dinner at a Thai/Vietnamese/Indian restaurant & sat outside right by the coast, it was wonderful! I had some really spicy shrimp, which I shouldn't have ordered because I forgot they don't peel the shrimp for you, and it's really annoying when you have to do it yourself, haha! After dinner, we went inside the Gold Coast Hotel (very nice!!) and then walked along the beach, which was very relaxing & provided us with a great view. As we were walking, we saw a bunch of people gathered around barbecue pits cooking dinner, it looked like fun! I'm kind of disappointed we waited so long to go to Gold Coast because I really enjoyed it, but we'll definitely go back again soon :)

*Gold Coast Piazza

*Anna G, me, and Anna S

*Blurry, but view from piazza, lots of yachts!

Saturday, Sara & I took a day trip to Cheung Chau, which is a smaller island off Hong Kong Island known for its hiking & of course seafood restaurants. As soon as we got off the ferry, we decided to find the hiking trail, but the signage at the island wasn't very good, so we just kind of ended up exploring on our own. We first ran into the Pak Tei Temple, which was nice, but just like any other temple I've seen here. Then, we saw the Tung Wan beach & Windsurfing Center. *Fun fact: The Windsurfing Center is owned by the uncle of the only person from Hong Kong to ever win a gold medal at the Olympics! She won the gold in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta for windsurfing!

*Entrance to Pak Tei Temple

 *View of Cheung Chau from mountain lookout

Finally, we located the trail and started walking - there were lots of hills & steps & I quickly regretted my choice of sweatshirt & jean attire :( There was a "Mini Great Wall" once you hit one point of the trail, which I thought was funny because it was quite small! There were also these stick things every so often for you to use if a forest fire started - kind of scary, haha! We spent awhile trying to find signs to get to the Cheung Po-tsai Cave (he was a pirate that supposedly lived on Cheung Chau), but there were no signs anywhere & no one around to ask (they probably wouldn't have understood us anyways), so we just gave up. So weird that there were no signs for the main attraction on the island! Actually, in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the Asian pirate is supposed to represent Cheung Po-tsai! I heard the cave was very small & dirty anyways, so it's no big deal that we couldn't find it. Finally, we went back to the main strip of restaurants & shops & found this amazing stick filled with fruit - I think I could have ate 10 of them, haha!! I really liked Cheung Chau - it was an interesting hike & a nice getaway from HK island. Although we saw quite a few tourists, the island was definitely less touristy as almost nothing was in English & the signage on the hiking trails was lacking.

*Mini Great Wall

*Heaven on a stick :)

I officially have seven days of class left + 5  finals! Today, I had two presentations in History Through Film & Organizational Behavior, which both went exceptionally well! I had a little scare last night/cultural experience when my group & I were supposed to meet to rehearse my History Through Film presentation. It was like 10 minutes past when we had decided to meet and no one was showing up. So, I called one group member, and she told me that her & another group member wouldn't be coming. I was just like "well, you know we present tomorrow morning, right?", and she said "yeah, it'll be fine, we'll rehearse tonight." Then, I automatically thought they weren't going to know what they were doing & our whole presentation would be ruined :( However, they both knew their parts perfectly today, thank goodness, but apparently being late/not showing up for meetings happens a lot around Lingnan's campus. I told them presentations were usually a big deal in the US, but I don't think some students take things too seriously here! I'm just glad those two presentations are over & everything worked out for the best :) One more presentation to go on Friday! Well, that's about all for now, until next time, love you all!

New pictures added to album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097293&id=1490346167&l=c0724639f1