Looking back...

Can't believe this 5 month adventure has come to an end.  Can't believe I'm back in Canada, it kind of feels like I've never left but there's this unfamiliar feeling to this place. 

It's hard to sum up the last 5 months.  The first few weeks were pretty tough; it was hard for me to adjust to the new environment, new transportation and just not knowing anyone.  I remember going to Queen Mary Hospital and eating dinner by myself every night for a week... it was rather lonely.

Things picked up though.  After the first week we had an organized tour around HK and I got to meet tons of people there - my first Waterloo friend Karen, my first photographer friend Wei Png, the first guy I met from their to-be-boy-band Christian.  Soon after we had Karen's birthday dinner where I met fellow food enthusiasts John and Danny where we exploded over food topics during dinner.

I also remember during the first month, I explored quite a bit by myself.  I would take the minibus randomly to Central or Causeway Bay (because I didn't know how to call out the stops or tell where I was) and my adventure would be to find a bus that would bring me home.  Now if you ask me I can name TONS of buses and bus stops that can bring me home from both places, but during that month I would literally walk almost all the way home before I found a familiar bus.  Fun for the first 2 hours but tiring and frustrating by the 3rd... haha.

Chinese New Year in HK was a really good experience.  The atmosphere is really exciting and there`s lots of things to see like the parade, the huge night market and of course crazy fireworks!  It was nice to spend it with my family in Hong Kong. :)

Can't forget our Thailand trip... got to get to know people alot better and had lots of fun too!  Rode an elephant, banana boating, parasailing, 2 hour massage, insane eating.  Also got to venture off on our own during the last day and took a boat ride with the locals to the main city, saw the Grand Palace and some other main attractions.  Interestingly that day was the first day of those Thailand protests and we had no idea... glad we got home safe and sound :P

Also can't forget my Taiwan trip with Soyeon and Wendy.  Insanely fun, insanely packed itinerary, hotsprings, teahouses and tons of amazing food and scenery.  By the last night our feet hurt so much from walking that they were actually numb, we were limping back to our hostel and it took about 20 mins of lying on our beds for us to feel our feet again.  Pretty brutal but so worth it... it was such a memorable trip!

March and April were littered with shopping trips, trying to find boots, eating tons of froyo, bubble tea at Gong Cha, and just eating eating eating.  I think in March, Wendy and I was just breathing shopping and BBT during every minute of spare time.  It was intense I tell ya =P

Also just remembered volunteering at Worship Central with Jacq, The Ageless Melody CD release at The Vine and just going to The Vine Church in general.  I had such an amazing time there and it was really eye opening.  Can't wait to go back =)

Oh and at school, I took squash lessons which was apparently difficult with my short pinky, aerobics class which was super fun (think dance & exercise!), and was an English tutor for a couple kids at King's College.  Good experience overall, the boys were pretty funny :P

Although April got really busy with exams, the huge gang still got to go out to eat some good food (thanks Openrice!) and have a couple adventures.  We had an epic "final" exchange students dinner with over 30 people and we called every dinner and outing our "last" after that lol.  The most adventures came after exams though... We went to 3 or 4 destinations per day to make the most of our remaining time in HK.  We ate awesome things like High Tea at the Mandarin Oriental hotel ($50CAD for 2!), went hiking at Time Magazine's best urban hike in Asia (Dragon's Back) and chilled at some beautiful beaches.  Oh and can't forget the multiple times we had epic Mcdonalds Delivery, especially with Louise at 5am in front of the Library =D


Some other random memories:  First meeting CK and Danny during the Infernal Affairs photoshoot, Kathy and froyo/food adventures, Carmen and Chinese class, Fiona, Laura, Jenny and all the girls in our lil Monday prayer group, Connie and Louise aka Amy and Anita the A-team, 11 hours (minus 2) of Kareoke with the girls on the 2nd floor, constant attempts to go 3am dim sum with Swee Lee and Karen, Milktop ice cream obsessions - especially sesame, milk, cookies and hazelnut flavours *drool*, awesome Marketing group and our awesome presentation, and honestly the list keeps going on...

I never thought I would meet such amazing people and have such an amazing time in HK.  In the beginning I thought I would have a terrible time, with all the rude people, polluted air and stuffy humid weather, but in the end it was more than I could ask for.  I feel like I've learned alot from my time here, my Chinese reading improved (unfortunately not so much my speaking) and even my tolerance for bugs rose! =P  Glad the Internet makes it easy for us to keep in touch, just hoping that we will all see each other again soon =)

Side note: I'll probably be publishing a couple more posts on some thoughts I still have on HK.. hopefully soon!  And... even if I didn't give you a shoutout I'm still thinking of you :)

Things I'll Miss About HK (Part 2 - Gong Cha)

My favourite bubble tea chain Gong Cha: always consistent, always delicious :)  I have quite the sweet tooth so I enjoy the sweet creamy taste of Gong Cha even though most people complain that it's too sweet (you can always ask for less sweet/less ice).  There's always huge lines in front of every GC store but they're super efficient so you get your drink within 5 mins.  I'm gonna miss the cheapness of drinks in HK so much - pearl milk tea is only $12HKD ($1.6CAD) for a LARGE (not like they have small or medium sizes anyway).  My favourites are the original pearl milk tea, earl gray milk tea, and earl gray 三兄弟 (3 brothers) milk tea which includes tapioca, pudding pieces and black jelly.  -sigh-  I think I drink on average 2 per week...on top of all the milk tea I drink at restaurants lol.

I'll miss all the times that we grabbed a BBT before going home from Causeway.  I'll miss yelling "GONG CHA!!!" every time we spot a store on the bus or while walking around. I'll miss calling Wendy everytime I see one before going home to see if she wants one (and vice versa).

Gong Cha, you have a special place in my heart....... but I'm slightly bitter at you opening a location in Sheung Wan right when I have to leave!

Hiking Dragon's Back

Wikipedia:  The Dragon's Back (Traditional Chinese: 龍脊) is a ridge in southeastern Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, between Wan Cham Shan  and Shek O Peak. It lies within the Shek O Country Park. In 2004 the Dragon's Back Trail was selected by TIMEasia as the best urban hiking trail.

360° Panorama at the peak of the Dragon's Back trail :)

Went to check this out last week and it was absolutely breathtaking!  It was super fun with super great company, all in all a wonderful time and more good memories to add to the list =)  Prepare for a photo intensive post!

The route that we were to take; us on the MTR to Shau Kei Wan station on the Island line

Taking a minibus to Cape Collision road/Shek O road, another option is to take the #9 bus.  Oh, we saw 2 cut up pigs (and its innards on the ground) while waiting for the bus to go.... lol.  Fun times...

Start of the hike =)

Most of the hike was paved or at least had a distinct path.  Pretty easy as long as you watch where you walk.

Our first amazing view!  Yes we took ALOT of pics :P

More pics along the way...

Taking some boy-band style pics... haha

...and some jumping pics of course!

Got to the peak of this hike after about 1-2 hours!  Lovely view along the way.. we were now actually on the back of the dragon.  We actually get to walk along the 'humps' of the dragon's back.  So cool!!

Went exploring a little off the road and found this nice spot to take a break :)  Actually we took many breaks to enjoy the view :)  On the way back down to the main road I sprained my ankle and could barely walk.  Still healing one week later :(

After getting back down to Shek O road, we caught the minibus to Shek O village.  #9 also goes there.  We had lunch at this extremely local noodle place, it was quite the experience.  I found a bug in my soup... I was surprised how immune I was to these things after being here for so long. haha.

Explored the village a bit and checked out the beach.  Would be nice to come on a nice warm day :)

I really really recommend this hike!  It took about 3-4 hours total but mainly because we stopped sooo many times for pictures and just to enjoy the view.  It really didn't feel like we were in Hong Kong during the hike, even though this park was only 10 mins away from the city.

Directions:  Take the MTR to Shau Kei Wan station, exit to the bus terminus (exit A3) and take bus #9 to Cape Collision road (near a prison) or take a red minibus near the terminus.  About half way through the hike there's a path that leads you back to the main road (Shek O road I think) if you don't want to hike the whole trail.  At the end, take the #9 or minibus back to Shau Kei Wan station or continue on its route to Shek O village.

CNY in HK

Quite a late post since Chinese New Year was almost a month ago! For Chinese New Year I got a week off of school (Feb 15 - 19) which I used to hang out with my family and go out and explore Hong Kong.  Chinese New Year was unsurprisngly quite festive in HK with lots of events such as New Year flower/night market, float parade and fireworks.  Luckily I got to do all of that! 

The night market was super fun, so fun that I went twice.  I already have a post on it here.  The parade was also pretty cool, there were tons of performances and really big floats, some with huge screens playing random videos promoting the company that the float is sponsored by :P  Tons of people watching though, especially in the main "performance areas" where the floats stop and the performers do their thing there.  In the other areas of the parade route they just walk through, smile and wave.

I had high expectations for the Chinese New Year fireworks and I wasn't disappointed!  I've always heard that HK fireworks were insane and it was so worth standing in the rain for 1.5 hours for it.  There were fireworks of gold nuggets, Chinese characters, happy faces, and different types of flowers.  23 minutes of awesomeness!  Took some pics without a tripod on my DSLR, used myself and my friend as a bi-pod, pretty good I'd have to say :)  Check out all my fireworks pictures on Picasa here.

Had a bunch of large meals with my family which was delicious :) Definitely had alot of yummy meals that week, and don't forget those red pockets!  All in all had a eventful yet restful week off, we should get Chinese New Year off in Canada!