Exchange Students' Farewell Dinner

22.04.10, Thanks Laurent for taking the pic

It's becoming more and more real.  As more and more friends leave Hong Kong, reality begins to hit and yes... exchange is almost over...

A couple of my friends organized a farewell dinner for a bunch of exchange students that we have met (and stayed in contact with) during the past 4 months.  If you thought Chinese people were loud, having 30+ English speaking friends in the corner of a Chinese restaurant is something else... haha.

(left) In front of Patrick Manson, oh how I will not miss living there. (right) Making fun of my fobbiness...

Canadians doing the moose and the beaver... haha

Had some really delicious food at this Shanghai restaurant, all for about $120HKD ($16CAD)!

Above is this "tofu pocket" dish - tofu stuffed with cabbage.  Had to order this one day in advance!

After dinner we just chilled in the area, loitered around and went to admire the Hong Kong skyline, even though many of the buildings turned off their lights by that time.  Still nice to reminisce about the good times we've had so far :)

Food buddies... thanks for getting fat with me... haha

Alter egos:  Agnes, Amy, Anita... :)

Taken on the way down an escalator.. lol!

 Near Avenue of Stars, TST

We stayed out until 2am and it was kinda hard to find a way home, especially when not all the taxis go across to Hong Kong Island where we all live.  We've heard of a 24-hour minibus from Mong Kok which is supposed to be one of the craziest minibus routes in Hong Kong (someone read it from somewhere, very reliable ya?  Unfortunately in this aspect the ride was a complete letdown - it takes the same route I take every week to MK haha.).  Ended up taking a taxi to Mong Kok and found the bus stop with a huge line, even at 2am.  Our party pretty much filled the whole minibus and the driver had to tell us to be quiet... haha!  We all got home safely in the end in our fancy clothes and sore feet :)

Really really REALLY going to miss everyone here.  I met so many awesome people and it's just unreal that we'll be leaving in a few weeks and may never see each other again.  I really think that the best part of this exchange was all the friendships that I've made... sigh... Reunion in 3 years right guys?  :)

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.

Exam Taking @ HKU

Just had my first 2 exams here at HKU. Thought I would totally bomb them but turned out okay thank God! :)

Most exams are taken in the two gyms similar to PAC in Waterloo.  The difference is that everyone is assigned a seat, which you can check in your student account online ahead of time.  They also have a list posted on the wall outside of the exam room.  I feel like exam taking is more structured and strict here - they actually have everyone's student number and seat number printed out and they compare it with your student ID card.  They also get really anal about you finding your seat number, I came into an exam 1 minute late and thought I knew the seat number but the whole row was empty, and when I went back out to check they spoke really rudely at me commenting on how I didn't check.  Hong Kong culture...

If you can see in the left picture, there's actually a person/instructor standing on the platform watching everyone during the exam.  They give them a really interesting name on the name card, something very official sounding but I can't remember at the moment lol.  There's also huge LED boards showing the time which actually really helps.  Hate it when I sit in a spot where I can't see the clock in Waterloo (especially in the SYDE room)!

Got more posts coming up, just trying to find time to write them.  There also seems to be a (flying) termite problem in my building... they keep flying, crashing, taking off their wings and running around places... and swarming.  There's also tons of them just dead on the ground/in the sink/in the shower.  Help.  :'(

For now I will leave you with a snapshot of a beautiful purple sky that I saw after one of my exams :)