一天

We finally made it onto the plane yesterday, and about 15 hours later we arrived in Hong Kong. The plane ride kind of sucked; because of the security issues we were ordered by the FAA to not have any electricity on the plane—this meant no movies or music for the whole flight. Megan and I both only slept for about two hours and we read a lot. She read a whole book that was about 500 pages and I studied some Chinese and read a travel book that Bryce gave me which I learned a ton from. Once in Hong Kong, we made it through immigration pretty easily, but I was really overwhelmed with the lack of English and some of the people (there was a man behind us in the immigration line who hocked a loogie on the carpet and then wiped it with his foot…it was nasty!) I got some pretty cool stamps on my passport though. After we got all of our bags, we hopped in a taxi and headed off to our hotel. The taxi was pretty small and I was afraid my luggage was going to fall out of the trunk because the man couldn’t shut it all the way. They also drive on the opposite side of the road and the drivers seat is on the opposite side so that was kind of fun. The airport is on an island so on our way into the city we got to drive over one of the biggest suspension bridges in the world, it was massive!

We checked into our hotel around 8:00pm. At first, they gave us the room 1404, but Megan and I made them give us a new room because in China four is very very bad and means death. We think that they planned on giving it to us because of my American sounding name that the reservation was made under—Megan’s mom said they would have probably never given that room to any Chinese person. Once we got to our new room though it was such a shock. At a whopping 100 square feet, we had two twin beds and a bathroom where the shower head was right over the toilet/sink. This meant that when we showered the toilet and everything in the bathroom got wet. The bathroom was probably smaller than a coat closet, and the entire room was smaller than the pantry at my house. I guess that is what you get for being on a budget during the holidays and staying at a one star hotel. After we brought all of our stuff to the room (which it barely fit) we went to the 7 Eleven—there is basically one on every corner—and bought some bottled water. We then walked around a bit in the rain and witnessed some guy trying to shoplift. This was very scary for me because I couldn’t understand the people in the store yelling “did he pay” and “police” in Cantonese. When the shoplifter tried to run pass me and the people were grabbing him it was scary.

This morning we both woke up around 4:00am and then forced ourselves to go back to sleep so the jet lag wouldn’t kill us during the day. We slept for a few more hours and then once it was light outside we planned on what we were going to do. First off, we wanted to find a new room. The one we were in smelled, and the window seals had puddles from all the condensation, and something leaked on me during the night. We called a few places in the city, and then we remembered that we could stay at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (which is where I am going to school) in Sha Tin. Shat Tin is a ways out of the city so we would have to take a train to get places. We called and booked a room and then ate some breakfast at Café de Coral which is Megan’s favorite restaurant. It was crazy how fast the service was. After breakfast we went to the 7 Eleven and Megan bought a sim card for her phone so she could make international calls. For about $68 HK (about $9 American), she got 300 international minutes and unlimited texting. When she leaves she is just going to give the sim card to me and I will just add on minutes when I need them, but now I have an HK phone number!

Moving to our new hotel was such a relief. The people at the university are so nice! We are in a suite for two nights and then moving to a room with two twin beds. The suite is a little more expensive, but it was the only room open for these two nights. We have a king size bed, a big bathroom with a tub, and a small little living room area, and it is clean! Since the university is on a mountain side, the view is amazing too! After settling in a bit, we went to the Hang Seng Bank on campus and I opened a local bank account. Then we headed to the train and met Megan’s uncle, aunt, and two cousins for a late lunch.

For lunch we went to this place where nothing was in English and I couldn’t read the menu. Megan’s family doesn’t speak English so she had to translate everything for me. Her family is sooooooo nice though, and her uncle gave me these two jade necklaces with different Chinese Gods on them. We walked around after lunch and went to a few different street markets where I bough some Pumas for about $40 that would have probably cost around $85 back in the states! We saw a lot of fake designer things which was cool, and it seemed like a lot of people liked me because I am blatantly America. In a lot of stores, they will greet you and then follow a foot behind you while you walk around until you leave. Some of the streets smell really really bad because of the “stinky tofu” that is sold by street vendors. The smell makes me want to throw up! After some more walking around we went to get some desert. I tried dao fu fa (bean curd (or tofu) pudding). It is served hot and is like the texture of pudding but sticks together like jello. You can either get it with sauce on top or just plain and put sugar on it. I got the plain one and the sugar at the restaurant was like brown sugar but yellow. Megan got the ginger and it was really spicy. I didn’t really like it and my stomach hurt a little bit afterward.

We headed back to the hotel after that and now are just hanging out. Tomorrow we are planning on getting dim sum with Megan’s family, shopping some more, maybe seeing Avatar in 3D, and watching the light show that they have every night.
I am very aware of how white I am here, and believe it or not, but I am taller then most of the people! I feel like a giant. It is going to take a little more time for me to get used to all of the staring though. Today was much better than yesterday. I am not going to lie, I was really freaked out and scared at first and almost cried because I missed home and I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. Now, I am a lot more relaxed that I am getting more familiar with the city and excited for the next six months.

Our first room.  I view from the bathroom.

Our bathroom.  You can see the shower head and the toilet paper is right next to the toilet.

Our room now.  To the left is a desk and widow with a view that you can't see in this picture.

This is one of the streets downtown.  All of them are like this but most have a lot more signs.

This is a scary Christmas decoration that was in a mall. 

Travel Day 2: Still In San Francisco

We didn’t get on our flight this morning. We got to the airport early and waited anxiously to see if we would get on standby. There were about 20 open seats so it was hopeful, but then the customer service people got on the intercom and explained that there was too much cargo and they couldn’t let anyone else on the plane because it was at its weight capacity. So it was off to baggage claim to get the checked bags. We had to wait for about two hours for our bags which sucked, but during that time we met some of the others who were trying to fly standby. We met a really nice family who was traveling to Singapore to go to a wedding, and they tried to get on the flight yesterday but there was no room. Then we heard over the intercom that the airport was declared to be in security code orange by the Department of Homeland Security. What even is code orange? I don’t think it is good because they said to call 911 if anyone saw any unattended bags.

Megan and I didn’t want to stay the night in the airport so we called our friend Vieje who lives and San Francisco but goes to the UW. He was nice enough to pick us up and spend the day with us. We spent the evening at Fisherman’s Wharf. It was a lot of fun and we all had clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls for dinner at Boudin Bakery which is famous for their sourdough bread. We also went into this store which had things specially made for left handed people! I wish I could have bought everything there! I have never seen so many pairs of left handed scissors.

We are back at Vieje’s house now where we are spending the night and then it is back to the airport tomorrow to try and get on the next flight to Hong Kong.

Fisherman's Wharf.



Me, Vieje, and Megan on Christmas.



Golden Gate Bridge.

Travel Day 1: Frisco

Megan and I have had unbelievable luck today. It started at the airport when we were checking my bags and one of them weighed 50.4 pounds and the other weighted 49.6 pounds. We didn’t have to pay any extra because together they weighed exactly 100 pounds. After going through security at the airport we saw this really cool plane with the UW logo on it, and on our flight to San Francisco, there was a baby sitting next to us who slept for the whole flight. After we landed we went to baggage claim, and my bags were the first two to come out. Then it was off to the prestigious, one star, Howard Johnson Hotel in South San Francisco.


After hanging out in our room for a little bit, we decided to take a trip downtown to get some dinner. We took the free shuttle back to the airport to catch the BART and go downtown (the BART is San Francisco’s version of Seattle’s SLUT or Monorail, but much older and louder.) When we got to the airport, we found out that to ride the BART into town it would be $16 each - round trip. That was way too expensive for us so we asked the ticket agent man if there was a bus we could take. He basically looked at us like we were crazy and so we explained that as poor college students we were not going to pay that much money so the bus was more practical. He must of thought it would be too unsafe for us or something because he then gave us an extreme one time “student discount”. After showing him our student ID’s he gave us tickets to ride the BART for $1.50 each – round trip!

The BART dropped us off in the Westfield shopping mall that had really annoying escalators that rounded up about 10 stories. We then walked outside to find a place to eat and after a block of walking and seeing some sketchy people we decided to go back into the mall and eat in the food court. Right as Megan and I were taking our last bite of dinner, the fire alarm in the mall went off and a man came over the intercom telling everyone to evacuate for an emergency. We decided to just head back to the BART and go home.

Now we are just hanging out in the hotel watching “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader” and Megan is yelling at the TV. I am very tired though and will probably fall right to sleep after I track Santa with NORAD on Google.

Continental breakfast in the morning, and then off to Hong Kong! Hopefully our good luck continues!

Getting dropped off at the airport.



Bryce came to see me off!



Here we go!

Donezo

I just finished my finals! It was the best feeling to walk back home and think that the next time I will be in school will be in another country! I couldn’t stop smiling. All I need to worry about now is packing. It is weird to think that I will be bringing every single pair of underwear I own with me! I have never had to do that before…

很 忙 (Very Busy)

I have made a lot of progress since the last time I blogged! I never realized how much planning goes into traveling.

After two weeks of waiting, I got to pick up my visa! It is pretty cool; just a sticker that has some Chinese words and English words on it and it is on a page in my passport. I am still waiting to get my Hong Kong student visa: that should be coming “by courier” any day now.

So two days after we booked our plane tickets to LAX, Megan realized that our flight to Hong Kong actually flies out of San Francisco! We went online to change our tickets and saw that if you do not change them within 24 hours of purchasing them, you get charged $75 to change each ticket! We had only missed this deadline by eight hours! I ended up calling the airline and they changed our tickets for free, but it did take some tears. Now, we are flying out of SeaTac on December 24 at 12:20pm and arriving in San Francisco 2:34pm.

I called Regence and found out that my insurance plan is international so that is one less thing I have to worry about! Tuesday was my day for going to the doctor though! I learned a lot about possible sickness and diseases I could get and what to do and where to go if that happens. However, I don’t have to worry about getting polio, influenza, H1N1/swine flu, tetanus, or hepatitis A because I got immunized for all of them. My arms are still are pretty sore from all of those shots. Right now, I am working on getting immune to typhoid and started a sequence of four pills (one every other day) tonight. The doctor also prescribed to me two different types of anti diarrhea medicine and some medicine to protect me from malaria if I travel to any area where that is present.

Tonight, Megan and I booked our hotel for the time we will be in Hong Kong before I start school. We are staying at the YWCA in Kowloon where we have a private room with two twin beds and share a bathroom on an all female floor. We are both used to sharing a bathroom having lived in a sorority, and used to uncleanliness having both lived in a fraternity—hopefully the bathrooms will be clean though. Megan will be leaving on January 1 because she has to be back at the UW to start school, and I will not be able to check into my dorm until January 4. This means I will have a few days in Hong Kong all alone! I have never been anywhere by myself where I was unfamiliar with the area and didn’t know anyone. It is going to be exciting! Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I will be safe: if I get too scared I will probably just end up staying in my hotel room for three days straight.

A few hours ago, I received my tri-weekly newsletter from CUHK! It had some information about some fun attractions in the city, orientation, and a link to the site that lists all of our vacation days! If any of you are interest, the link is http://rgsntl.rgs.cuhk.edu.hk/rws_prd_life/re_menu/gn_00007052.asp . I had no idea that Chinese get a vacation day for Buddha’s birthday!
I have posted some pictures below of what my campus looks like. Also, the CUHK logo—which I think is pretty cool that their school colors are purple and gold, just like the UW!