adventures before school starts :(

So I have been trying to cram a few explorations in this weekend before I have to face the responsibility of school. Things started off a little rough...I was planning on taking a bus to a trains station on the green line. From the directions I had in my orientation packet, the bus I got on would go there and the sign on the bus said it would go there too. So I had no reason to believe I would end up somewhere else. When the bus stopped at the end of the purple line and all the passengers were getting off, I figured something went wrong. But after a little damage control and extension to my excursion, I made it to where I wanted to be.

That night, I went out to dinner with my buddy to a thai restaurant in Sai Kung that could give Taste of Thai a run for its money (although I'm sure Taste of Thai needs its money anyway after the little problem it has now...). Following dinner, we went to this chinese dessert place. They had things like ice cream and smoothie like things, but the majority of their desserts are kind of sweet, cold soups with bean pastes, fruit and jellies. I tried the Mango Glass Jelly. Here is a picture of one I found online (I need to start taking pictures of my food like somebody I know...), but it was basically a sweet, creamy milk with ice chips, a chunk of fresh mango, and flavorless, gelatinous black cubes called "grass jelly". Overall, was surprisingly good!

Today, couple of people I have metand I headed across all of Hong Kong to the Po Lin Monastery and "Big Buddha" on Lantau Island. It took about an hour to get there, but after a bus, 3 different train lines and a cable car ride up to the top of the mountain, we made it. It was quite busy since it was Sunday and part of the new year, there were many people who made the trek for religious reasons as well as many tourists. The cable car ride, while comparatively expensive (107 HKD! or approx 14 USD) showcased wonderful vistas.

The Buddha itself was pretty neat, as was the monastery. The incense at the monestary was so thick it was hard to breathe! It was kind of weird to be taking pictures while many people around us were praying to the Buddha. Another strange thing about this place is that it is relatively new...its only been around about 30 years, even the Buddha and parts of the monasteries Parts of this place seemed akin to Disney World or Six Flags...toursity and ridiculously over priced and complete with a Starbucks. All in all a good and tiring day.





More pictures of Po Lin will soon be posted on facebook albums. Due to poor lighting, the pictures are kind of yucky. Maybe I will photoshop a few of them when I have the time. I also recently posted a few more pictures of campus that I took with my phone.

First days in pictures

As promised, here some pictures.

View of the Harbor early in the morning. Due to jet lag, I woke up around 7....But this was my first view of Hong Kong in daylight.


View from campus. I told you it looks like a resort!


Basically the whole campus my dorm is the building in the foreground on the left. All of my classes are in the long building at the very top of the picture. most of the other buildings are dorms.


Hong Kong skyline at night from Victoria Peak.

View more pictures on facebook (a public link so you don't need an account or need to sign in).

First Impressions

So after a 13 hour flight to Narita, followed by another 4 hour flight to Hong Kong (in which I got sick and threw up on the plane), I finally arrived in Hong Kong. Good riddance, I say. 6 weeks of doing little to nothing does take its toll on oneself. I hope I remember how to function once school starts on Monday.

Here are some impressions I have on this city and on The Hong Kong University of Science and technology (HKUST)...in no particular order

1. It is extremely cheap to live here. My dorm for this semester cost the equivalent of about $750. That is about the same price as my collegetown apartment for a month! Granted, it is a double room with a skinnier version of a twin bed but still, it shows how outrageous collegetown living is.
   
2. It is pretty extremely cheap to eat here. Lunch today of a sandwich and tea cost about 3 dollars. A whole bowl of noodle soup with dumplings was 3 dollars as well.
3. This university is like a resort/little city. There is a supermarket on campus, 3 different banks, a souvenir shop, post office, 4 or 5 different eating options (I haven't explored them all yet), a campus bar, a mini office store, an indoor and outdoor pool, and a beach!
4. I have to take 5 different elevators to get to class. 5!!!!! Maybe Cornell should devise a system of escalators and elevators too...
5. Hong Kong is much more diverse than I thought it would be. Having gone to China where I was stared at walking down the street, I was expecting my red hair to do something similar here. But not so much. Dinner in central tonight, there were almost more non-asians than asians at the various bars and pubs. However, English is not as widespread as I thought it would be.
   
6. They have this thing called an Octopus card which is like a CTA train card, but can be used to pay for all sorts of things around the city. It's like a universal Hong Kong gift card! In the day I've had mine, I've used it for the transportation (a train, bus and ferry), printing in the library, and buying a pastry.
   
7. speaking of trains...the system here is very clean and easy to use. There re no dividors between the cars so you can stand at on end of the car and look down all the way to the other end. Kind of mind boggling when the train is moving!
8. The weather is magnificant! The few days I have been here have been 65 and sunny. It won't get much warmer than 80 until May when it will get humid with occasional rain, and perhaps a typhoon. The ironic thing is,60-65 is freezing for hong kongers, so everybody is out in their heavy jackets and boots, but they still have the air conditioning on in taxis and buildings.
   

Overall, I'm just really excited to explore and get acquainted with this area. My roomate has told me that she and her friends are planning to visit China, Vietnam and Thailand and invited me to tag a long. When else will I get to experience South East asia in such a carefree way!

Pictures to come...when I'm not so tired.