adventure to macau

This weekend a large group went to Macau. To give you some background, like Hong Kong, Macau is part of China but has relative autonomy in government (a special administrative region or SAR). It was previously a Portuguese colony and was handed back to the Chinese in 1999. This Portuguese influence is definitely noticeable in the architecture and cuisine. But the most famous (or infamous) part of Macau is its casinos, as it was (and maybe still is, I'm not sure) the only place to legally gamble in China. Basically, it is the Las Vages of the East. Our group visited the Venetian: it is complete with Las Vegas style oppulance with marble everywhere, muraled walls and ceilings, a huge, maze-like high end shopping mall, canals with gondolas, people in costume, and even a curving escalator! I also had my first gambling experience there. Thankfully I can say my first gambling experience was successful, as I won 10 HKD on a slot machine! (a little more than a dollar). Then again, I only bet 20 HKD. Another person on the trip won 6000 HKD (about $775)! Macau also hosts the highest bungee jump off a building. So I guess this is a place for real risk takers.

To get to Macau, you take a 45 minute, high speed jet-foil ferry. The ferry is huge, goes really fast, seems to float on the water. Parts of Macau seem almost European on the surface, but still very Chinese. But signs are sometimes written in Chinese, English, and Portuguese. Walking through the streets, there were lots of shops all different types of beef jerky. To get your attention, they would snap their tongs or hit scissors on them. I tried a sample and it was actually pretty good (and I'm still alive, so that's a good sign). The sights in Macau mostly included remnants of Portuguese culture, the most interesting of which was the ruins of an old church. Culinari-ly, we went around the world! We had lunch at this great portuguese restaurant, getting things like chorizo, Macau fried rice, charcoal grilled chicken, and great salad and bread. For dinner, we were thinking italian, but ended up eating at a Nepalese place back in Hong Kong. A lot of curries and naan, but maybe more subdued and with subtler flavors than indian food.

Overall, it was a decent trip. It was hard going with such a large group. We started off with 16, and then I ended up in a group of 8. But when the 16 of us were trying to find the right bus to get on (and then getting on it!) I was slightly embarrassed by the situation, wondering what the people around us thought of this group of obvious tourists. It was a little frustrating at times (mostly because I was the only one who came prepared with a guidebook), but was still fun. Next time I go somewhere, I need to either go by myself of with a much smaller group.

adventure in central

So after my one and only class on Thursday morning, my roommate and I headed to Central (downtown Hong Kong) to get our student train passes. She had to head back to campus, but I stuck around and did a little exploring. After getting my bearings, I headed up to the Hong Kong Park, a very nice, relatively new man made park. There is a little lake with fish and koi swimming around and turtles that were sitting on rocks sunbathing. There also is an aviary, one with caged birds and one where you go inside and walk around. Lots of colorful birds flying around! I'll have to go back with my better camera an take more pictures. I also climbed to the top of a lookout tower and got cool views of the city. The park also had a greenhouse, sculpture walk, amphitheater, and playground. It was a peaceful break from the bustling city right below.

After the park, I followed a short walk that was in a guide book. Probably the highlights of the walk were seeing the government house--this is where the head of Hong Kong lives, and the cutting edge architecture of the skyscrapers.

Here are a few pictures. More to come.



Old Government House vs. New Skyscrapers

Lake in the park

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.