After the Modern Toilet, we went to a night market. It was sort of in a sketchy area downtown but I felt pretty safe since we were in a big group and a few of the people we were with grew up in Hong Kong. The night market was huge! The streets were separated by items. One street sold all kitchen things, and the next socks and, the next was something else. There was even a street that was all…bedroom toys. It was kind of gross. We were all pretty shocked.
We left the night market to go to Tsim Sha Tsui where you can see the skyline of Hong Kong Island. Every night at 8:00 they have a light/laser show. It was pretty foggy but still cool to watch. The whole show was also to music. When that was over we walked on the Avenue of Stars which is basically Hong Kong’s version of Hollywood Stars. The only ones we recognized were Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Bruce Lee. There was also a statue of Bruce Lee that Megan and I took a picture with since we are all Huskies! While we were walking along, one of the people we were with, got some cuddle fish from a street vendor. It was so good! The best way I can describe it is beef jerky that tastes like fish.
From the avenue of stars we headed off to meet Megan’s aunt and cousin where we went to dinner. In Hong Kong, most people go to dinner around 9:00pm which is pretty hard for me to get used too. We had so much amazing food! I loved the Peking duck, but wasn’t too fond of the jellyfish.
The Modern Toilet restaurant.
Light show in the fog.
With Bruce Lee.
The next day we changed rooms, for the second time. The room we moved too is just as nice but not as big and it is less expensive. After moving we went to meet Megan’s cousin for breakfast. We took the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) to Shek Kip Mei where he lives which is a huge residential area full of government housing. We had congee for breakfast which is a rice soup with pork, hard boiled duck eggs, and deep fried bread. We got three big bowls for under $6 USD! After eating, we went to a market where I saw lots of fresh food and the place where they cut the heads off live chickens and you pick your own fish from the tank. After that, I got to see Megan’s family’s apartment. Since there are so many people in Hong Kong, space is very expensive. All of the government housing is a small room for your entire family. While we were there we had some tea and Megan’s cousin wrote down all of the foods I like in characters so I know what to look for when on menus.
This day was our sight seeing day, so next we headed off to meet our American friends in Tung Chung where we took a Crystal Cable Car (a gondola with a glass bottom) to the Po Lin Monastery where the Tian Tan Buddha is. It was so foggy but it made the mountains look very cool. The fog started to clear when we got to the Buddha and had to climb up 250 stairs to see it up close. After trekking back down we hiked to the Wisdom Path. Daniel and Frances, the friends we were with, told us about this really cool thing called Atlas Quest. It is a website you go to that has clues to find hidden letterboxes in different cities. These are planted by different people all around the world, and there are even some in the states. In each box is a stamp and a log book. You can stamp something to prove that you found the letterbox and sign the log book so there is a record you where there, and you can look at all of the other people who also were there. The stamp in this letterbox was, of course, one of Buddha.
Right when we were leaving, all of the fog cleared and there was a beautiful rainbow coming from one of the mountains right by Buddha.
We were pretty hungry after all of our hiking so went back to the Tung Chung Outlet Mall (which is where the MTR stop is) and ate in the food court. We had all you can eat sushi for $88 (about $11 USD) which came with a free drink and plate of sashimi. We ate so much sushi I felt like I was going to explode. I had about 10 plates, Megan had around 15. We made sure we got our moneys worth! Daniel, the boy that was in our group, had about 30 plates! We couldn’t move after that and Megan said that she “got pwn3d by sushi” LoL.
Once we got the energy to move, we headed to the biggest airport in the world, the Hong Kong International Airport, to see a movie. I think it was weird that people go to the airport to see movies. There is also an entire shopping mall in the airport. We headed here with the intention of seeing Avatar f 4D…yes, 4D. 4D is 3D plus other effects such as wind, fog, bubbles, smells of food, etc. Watching 3D movie in Hong Kong is pretty typical, but 4D is special. Avatar was sold out so instead we watched this 20 minute made for 4D movie that was all in Cantonese. I, as well as two of the other people we were with, did not understand any of the movie, but we could kind of figure out what was happening since it was a kids movie. Other than that, the effects were really cool though. From the airport we hopped on a bus to Central where we walked to Lan Kwai Fong. Lan Kwai Fong is a street full of bars. Apparently, the party scene in Hong Kong is all night long and people don’t go home until 6:00am, so getting there after midnight was not unusual. We stayed just for a bit and then went home because we were all very tired. When we got back to the University, the campus shuttle was not running so Megan and I had to walk up some huge hills. I don’t know if I have already said this, but the CUHK campus is on the side of a mountain.
Tian Tan Buddha.
The letterbox I found. It was hidden under rocks and camouflaged.
Some of our sushi plates.
4D movie!
Lan Kwai Fong after a long day of being tourists.
Yesterday—New Years Eve—started out with some dim sum. Megan and I slept in until noon because we were so tired from the night before. We met her family at 2:00pm. I tried some pretty interesting things at this meal including pig stomach and a full pigeon. The pigeon was hard to eat with chopsticks, especially since I am not that good with them. I was embarrassed because every time I would try something new, everyone would watch me so they could see my reaction, and I kept dropping things. They told me to just use my hands. I’m sorry, but it is hard to pick up a pigeon with chopsticks! Good thing I will have lots of practice in the upcoming future: I have not seen one fork yet. Oh yea, but pigeon was really good!
Before we knew it, it was 4:30pm and we were still at dim sum. Megan and I had plans to meet one of her mom’s friends for dinner at 5:30pm! We left to meet her friend. Luckily she was running a little late so this gave us time to digest our lunch and do a little shopping. There are so many malls in Hong Kong; from the few days I have been here, I have learned that this city is all about shopping and eating. We ended up eating dinner around 7:00pm and then we went to get a Chinese foot massage. I don’t know if any of you watch the Amazing Race, but they did this when they were in Beijing. Chinese foot massages are known to be excruciatingly painful, but I don’t think we got the painful kind because it did not hurt that much. Our foot massages were 50 minutes long and cost $146 (about $18 USD and you don’t tip). When we were paying we saw that you could get a one hour full body massage for $168 ($21 USD) which we regretted not seeing that before or else we would have done that instead.
After leaving the massage place, we headed for Tsim Sha Tsui to welcome in the New Year. We met up with one of our American friends, his cousin who is from Hong Kong, and all of his cousin’s friends. They took us to this bar where it was all you can drink for a set price of $250 ($32 USD). I am pretty sure they do not have these types of bars in the states. Megan and I didn’t want to drink or stay there so we went to the streets and found a spot to watch the fireworks. We read on DiscoverHongKong.com the plan for this holiday: “To ring in the New Year, you are invited to take part in a synchronised community countdown by saying 'Hong Kong Happy New Year, Give Me Five!' - a celebratory gesture that symbolises joy and togetherness." (I copy and pasted that directly from the website so I know some spelling is wrong) so those were our first words of 2010. After midnight we walked as fast as we could to the MTR, but it still took about an hour to get back with all of the people traffic.
Midnight!
Megan left this morning so now I am alone. I just got done exploring campus which is huge, and I probably walked over 1000 stairs. I am feeling a little homesick, but I think a large part of it is due to the fact that I have no one to talk to and I am all alone in a place I do not know very well and I don’t speak the language. When I was walking back to my room, a taxi driver stopped and started asking me a question in Cantonese, and when I turned around and he saw I was white (or guilo meaning white ghost) he said “sorry bye bye” and drove off. It is really weird being the minority. Tomorrow, my friend Lena who I met on facebook from the CUHK Exchange Student group is flying in. We are staying together until we can move into the dorms on the fourth. I am excited not to be alone anymore!
I miss you all! For more pictures, you can look at my facebook!
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