Knock Knock, who's there?... Asia

High Table Dinner

2009-11-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

Each floor in our student residence is considered a different hall. Each hall acts independently to plan events etc, just as if it was an entirely different residence building. Throughout the course of the year, every hall has one thing in common which is their own high table dinner. This is an opportunity for the hall members to dress up and experience a higher class western meal, complete with some wine and guest speakers. Formal attire is required, so what a more perfect time to try out our new suits from Shenzhen.

Mark and Jasper

The Swedes

Introductions (Some people are really shy)

Going out for some drinks after the dinner...

SOoo, We've been walking for a while, it's beautiful and all, but are we going to eat soon?

2009-11-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

A village on STILTS!!! The Venice of Asia!!! Tai O!! is a small fishing village on Lantau island about 15 min away by bus from the Big Buddha. This post comes about a month after the trip... we've been busy with school... so... sorry? But anyway, it was a great trip and we got to finally explore a village that seemed more or less untouched by a lot of the modernization around Hong Kong. I'll make this post short and let the pictures speak for themselves (I hope). I will just mention that while we were there we took a boat tour for $2.50US around the village and did a full circle around the area and out to the ocean. We also met on our way back an old man named Binky who gave us some kumquats he had picked and processed, and then proceeded to give us a 2 hour personal tour throughout the village even though we had just asked him where a good restaurant was. He was very nice, and spoke a lot about the history and future of the area and about his life in the village. He eventually led us to a small local restaurant where we ate some good food and relaxed after a lot of walking that day. We grabbed a late night bus and headed back home to head back to the reality of 10 hrs of school a day, away from this .

Campus Life is Crazy

2009-11-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some photo's to give you a little glimpse into our life on campus. Although our actual studio is underground, this still can give you an idea of the school itself. Their grassy area seems like a Chia pet compared to the oval at Ohio State, but honestly Im surprised that they even have even that much.

(Not) Just Another Night at Karaoke

2009-10-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

Since being in Hong Kong, we have had the fortune of being able to experience the phenomenon that is karaoke on multiple occasions. Yes, they do love it here. Our experiences have involved karaoke while eating lunch or dinner (called K-Lunch/Dinner), and other times while just enjoying it over some drinks at a local bar. This experience in particular was in celebration of one of our classmate's birthday. We call him Chu, but you can call him Jack.

We went along with 15 of our classmates to this local karaoke place called California Red. The only way that I can describe the interior is to say that it looks a lot like what I would imagine the inside of some sort of Amsterdam sex club to look like. Hallway after hallway of small soundproof rooms, each with their own TV screen and seating area, complete with dim lighting and glowing colorful walls. It is really a sight to see. There is even a small army of workers bustling between rooms to deliver food and clean the tables.

After we arrived, we all partook in the buffet dinner and let the festivities begin. They had quite a good English song selection, and Mark and I definitely tried our hands at some old classics like "Purple Rain" and "Desperado" and "In the Air Tonight", much to the displeasure of our local friends who had to endure our pitchless wailing until their songs could come back on. But just because their songs were in cantonese didn't mean they could keep the microphones from us, or keep us quiet. One of the highlights of the night came when the live Michael Jackson song, "Beat It", from one of his tours came on. Something went wrong, and no words showed up on the screen so that nobody could sing along...but nobody seemed to want to switch to the next song. Everyone in the room just became captured by the performance, even without much of Michael's vocal volume, just because it was that cool.

Needless to say, the night was pretty fun. We got to connect with our classmates even more, and I would say we will probably do it again before we leave.

Big Buddha and Ngong Ping

2009-10-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to Lantau Island to explore, it's about an hour away by ferry from the student halls so we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed out.. tired.

We made it to a small town that was full of bicycles called Mui Wo (wanted to ride them), but didn't stay to explore and instead hopped on a bus to head to the top of the mountain to see the world's largest Buddha statue. The bus rides are almost like riding roller coasters, it is as if they took taxi drivers and just stuck them in buses, but did not tell them they were driving buses. They take these tiny winding roads at 60 or 70 km/hr, weaving between bicyclists and often trying to pass other cars all the while swerving up and down these tiny roads with cliffs on the side. Sometimes we drive straight through low hanging trees and the branches smack the bus like thunder or you go over bumps and are almost thrown from your seat.. very fun stuff. After about an hour bus ride we made it to the top and piled on out to see the big guy.

Walking up the 268 steps to the top he really is an impressive site as he just seems impossibly large. In fact, there is a museum beneath him and you can walk up stairs to reach him and walk out of his hip and get a great 360 deg view of the surrounding area. Just near the Big Buddha is a temple that we walked over to where people were burning incense outside of, and nearby a small vegetarian restaurant. We ended up having a nice meal there with some friends we met up with and just enjoyed the clean air and great weather and views.

Afterwards we decided to head to Tai O, a small fishing village on the southern tip of the island, but we stopped off in a little Chopstick Gallery first. The post on Tai O will come a little later.

Meeting new people

2009-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

Back home it always seems forced when you try to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Too often there is some ulterior motive and not enough genuine interest or curiosity. In Hong Kong we have met loads of people through just strange and often very rewarding coincidences. Whether it is sitting in a coffee shop and someone walks up and joins you at the table to talk and learn more about you, or sitting in restaurants with a bunch of locals. Restaurants here do not divide up the seating based on groups of people, if there is a table that seats 4 and only 2 people are sitting there, you will join them. We've met handfuls of locals that once we are introduced and talk for a little often will volunteer walking us around or exploring the surrounding area. Everyone is extremely nice and helpful and just have an abundance of curiosity as well as pride for their city.

Meeting other westerners is strange too, often because their seems to be an unconscious assumption that you should already know them because they are a westerner in HK. All too often we meet new exchange students simply by waiting for an elevator or eating in a restaurant. At one point during someone will turn and in fewer words say, "You don't look like you are from here, what's your name, where are you from, we should hang out some time." And we usually agree, especially if they are girls (what?).

A good example of the randomness of meeting people was the other week when we were out during some festivities in the city with our swedish roommates. As is the custom I believe in all international friendships you first learn each others foul language and then move on to the more, I don't want to say useful... but maybe appropriate language. Anyway, we had just learned 'Visa tuttarna' or 'show me your boobs' in swedish and believed it to be hilarious. So of course we needed to practice saying it aloud or else we have a hard time remembering it and much to our surprise after saying it we saw some heads turn. There was a group of westerners sitting on some steps having some drinks and I walked over apprehensively, pointed and said, "....Swedish?" They nodded and everyone laughed realizing the situation and we ended up talking for a while and giving them suggestions for travel around Hong Kong, they were just visiting for a few days seeing the sights.

Hong Kong has been great, we are meeting fantastic and interesting people who love meeting new people, trying new foods and activities, and being in a new or old place.

Multicultural or "Multi-Culti" Night

2009-10-14T01:33:00.001-07:00

Our hall does a very good job at planning events every week for the residents. There are posters in the elevators advertising beach BBQ trips, hotpot dinners, tea receptions, etc - none of which we have ever had time to attend.

However, one of the most popular events each semester is Multicultural night. This is when all the exchange students from each country are invited to set up a booth and bring some native food to share with the visitors. There is a competition for the best booth, and after the food tasting is somewhat of a "talent show" where each country can perform something for the audience.

Some of the highlights were...
Meatballs and Absolut Vodka at the Swedish booth
Homemade apple pies and a Jeopardy game at the USA booth
Homemade Sangria served out of a giant tub for Spain
The French had crepes and wine (of course)

Mark and I had no affiliation with the USA booth, and really didn't even know who was organizing it. So much for staying involved with the homeland.

Birthday BBQ

2009-10-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

The other week, Mark and I were invited to a Hong Kong BBQ for one of our classmate’s birthday. This is a little different than the BBQ’s back home as you might imagine. We started the day meeting a lot of the students at the local train station and heading out to the New Territories. When we arrived we helped out with some of the grocery shopping at the local Wellcome store (no, that was not a typo) to pick up some drinks and snacks. We then took some taxis out to a gated community where one of our classmates lived. There were roughly 20 of us and we arrived to quite a nice house that included an entertainment room, complete with an unreal karaoke system. After playing a few games of Pictionary (it was more fun than its sounds), Wii, and some Karaoke, we headed to the roof for some food. There was a buffet of raw lamb, ribs, chicken wings, fishballs, and vegetables for us to choose from. In the center of the terrace was a brick fire pit lit with charcoal, and everyone just grabs whatever they want to cook and uses skewers to cook it.

The food was delicious, and it was great to get to know our classmates more. When we finally got around to celebrating the birthday, some of the other students had created some interesting birthday gifts to give. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Yes, that is what you think it is.

A Day Off, and the Mid-Autumn Festival

2009-10-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

Well, our day off school wasn't exactly a day off as we still had to go in and do work... BUT it meant there were lots of celebrations later on. It was China's birthday so that meant... FIREWORKS, and lots of em. It was a 23 minute fireworks display with some 32,000 rockets I believe and 400,000 people there to watch it was reported. They shot the fireworks off over the harbor and we watched from the Kowloon side, slightly behind a building or two.

The next day we joined some classmates of ours to head down to Hong Kong Island and in the Tin Hau district watched the 110th anniversary dance of the Fire Dragon. It was extremely crowded when we arrived and there was lots of little festivities going on around us, but when the main attraction came everyone paid attention. It was a 210 ft 'dragon' that had thousands of Joss sticks (incense) stuck in its back as it weaved and danced through the streets to some traditional music. Very impressive and extremely fun to see this traditional festivity with some locals who we collected some joss sticks with afterwards for good fortune (you want 3 of them).

The dragon dance would last for a few hours, but in between there were other attractions, one of which was...

bagpipes?

Beside the Fire Dragon dance was a lantern festival in Victoria Park which we stopped in to walk around. It was a fun festival weekend and we got to see a lot of the local celebrations as well as have lots of moon cakes, the official desert of the holiday. It is traditionally made with an egg inside an extremely rich, filling, bread desert. They now make them in a bunch of flavors of ice cream as well.

Drew will edit this later with the necessary details. probably?

2009-09-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yes this is Drew, and I am finally editing this post to include my side of this story. I had a 3 week cultural research group project on the subject of the Qipao, which is the traditional Chinese dress. For the final presentation, my groupmates (all lovely girls) bought me my own cheongsam, which is the traditional male shirt quite often used in Chinese history (Bruce Lee was a wore them frequently). I guess the shirt got to me a little bit in these pictures.

Late Night Eats

2009-09-27T02:17:00.000-07:00

There are some great restaurants around our student halls and we keep discovering more everyday. We've had some excellent Thai and Vietnamese food, ate at a phenomenal Shanghai Style chinese restaurant where our friend Birdy ordered all the food for everyone and we all shared a great variety of stuff. A few of the food highlights here have been the food we had in Macau, a Japanese sushi restaurant we went to with a few local friends and the swedes, where the whole menu is 40% off after 9:30pm. Needless to say there was a long line out front at about 9:15, but we eventually got a table and gorged ourselves on sushi and sake, and seafood soup tea. Absolutely delicious, and very cheap thanks to the generous discount.

Another night I ventured off to a Korean Barbeque restaurant not far from the halls, where I had dinner with some additional swedes who had just arrived. We all had a great dinner, a buffet of all-you-can-eat, that included sushi, raw beef, lamb, chicken, pork, squid, octopus, oysters, ox tongue, duck gizzard, fried tofu, bok choy, green beans, mushrooms, and much more.. including jello for some reason, which seemed out of place but was nice.

Another favorite of mine, a dessert, is a fancy ice (cream) from taiwan? I believe, can't really remember right now. But it is delicious and it's a shaved ice that is folded and layered and when it melts is very similar to ice cream. You can get chocolate, milk, banana, green tea, coffee, and many other flavors of the ice cream. Then add fruit, toppings, and various other coverings to enhance your sundae. Very delicious. There are some great eats here in Hong Kong, and we are just at the tip of the iceberg.

images courtesy of swedes.

My sleep schedule is in shambles

2009-09-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

We have had a hectic week this last one, with a few projects due over the last few days and other miscellaneous things popping up. On wednesday we stayed up late finishing a project with some year 3 students for the next day. Then spent the next day up real late working on another of our design classes, and then the next night up again for another design class with year 2 students. We had a presentation saturday morning that ended up lasting 5 hrs, and everyone in year 2 was running on 2 hrs sleep, needless to say there were naps taken afterwards. Following this week of work hell we went out for a local friends of ours' birthday. We were out late, and up late and it was very fun. That very next night though I was out working on school again.

While Drew slept I had to drag myself out of bed at 3:30am and grab a taxi out to Mong Kok to go visit a secondhand market that sets up in the morning. (Quick note: even though I think walking around the city at 4-4:30am should be as expected completely empty, it was not... there were many elderly men shirtless, standing around on the sidewalks and in the streets stretching and punching the air, slapping their bellies and massaging their legs.. It was surreal, hilarious, and all in all absurd. They were out for their morning exercises.) Anyway, I found a taxi and told the driver I wanted to go to the Mong Kok Stadium - a large soccer stadium that is a reasonably well known landmark - we were driving for probably 10 minutes when he turned around and handed me the cb radio to talk to the dispatcher. I had no idea why. He was motioning me for to use it, so I said into it Mong Kok Stadium, unsure of what I was being asked to do. Then he took it back and there was much arguing between the driver and the dispatcher, and a few minutes later we pulled up to a small community soccer field that looked like it had seen better days and was in no way the stadium that seated 8500 people, instead maybe 50. He pointed at it and repeated Mong Kok Stadium, and not wanting to bother arguing I got out here and decided to find my way. It took me another 15 minutes or so to find where I was going and upon arriving I stumbled upon the markets which I had been looking for.

Many markets are usually highly specialized, there is a road that sells strictly birds, another that sells antiques, and one that sells just business cards and wedding invitations. The first one I found was a flower market and at 5 am they were already in full swing setting up the stands and piling the flowers out on the sidewalk. Now, I should make the distinction that the ones above I have mentioned are legal and established.. the one I was looking for was illegal, hence the reason it sets up at 5am and closes at 7am as to avoid the police. I'm doing research for a class on an aspect of Hong Kong Culture and I was assigned Secondhand markets, which are essentially markets where poor people assemble any variety of goods from clothes to half full soy sauce bottles, toys to electronics. I had no idea what the market I was looking for was selling so when I finally found it I was more than a little surprised.

It was a highly specialized market, selling only aquarium equipment and fish food, as well as a variety of fish, goldfish and turtles. The woman selling the turtles really didn't seem like an animal lover as she treated the turtles who were in little tupperware containers as if they were dice in a yahtzee shaker. Maybe the craziest part besides the fact that they show up and dump bags and bags of goldfish all over the street to sell for 2 hrs is that there are a LOT of customers. Not only do they know about this but that it happens everyday and there is always a crowd, there is also a mad rush for the cheapest fish. They know what they are looking for as well, they come with flashlights to check the quality - but really who is buying these many goldfish, and what for?

Anyway to wrap up this long post, I guess overall even though school is consuming a bunch of our time it is offering some opportunities that we would otherwise never have been able to see or take advantage of. Hong Kong is still as exciting as ever, but right now I think I'm going to go take a nap.

Filipino Invasion

2009-09-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

There is a large Filipino population here in Hong Kong, mainly consisting of younger women. Almost all of them are employed as domestic housewives, maids, drivers, waiters etc. Basically, the jobs that the Hong Kong people themselves don't want to do. They work hard 6 days a week, and their only day off comes on Sunday. So when Sunday comes, they are everywhere. They usually crowd together in public spaces en mass to catch up/relax/play games and basically do nothing. It reminds me of school girls at recess.

I knew about this phenomenon beforehand, but I had the pleasure of stumbling upon an extremely large gathering on a trip to central. There were thousands of them, all women, and they were sitting in all groups along and in this street in Central. The city even closes down the street in anticipation of their "social time".

After that quick detour, I arrived at this really interestingly designed Starbucks. Half of the inside of the store looked like any other Starbucks, and the other half was designed to look like a historical Hong Kong Bing Sutt corner. These existed in the 40's 50's as kind of a local "soda shop". It literally translates to Ice Room, and inside people could gather and enjoy some western treats and traditional Chinese tea and coffee. The cool half was designed by a local modern/culture store called G.O.D. (Goods of Desire) - who mark is working for on his project for class. You can check out their website HERE.

The Bing Sutt Corner

You can see people taking photos in the space in the background.
Where the transformation actually begins..

Later that Night, Typhoon...

2009-09-16T08:56:00.001-07:00

Drew and I decided to head out again to see the weather... only now the winds had picked up more and it was raining.

That last post was a little premature.

2009-09-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

Well, today started off a bit windy and while we were in class we found out that we were in for another level 3 typhoon warning. That was soon upgraded to a level 8 typhoon warning, and classes were cancelled along with many businesses shutting down and people heading home. Our roommates, Janne and Rikard (the swedes), headed with me down to the harbor to see what all the fuss was about. On the way we picked up some sushi to eat on the way and down at the harbor, it is never an inconvenient time for sushi... granted it was hard to eat without losing it in the wind, but delicious.

We ended up meeting some other friends at the Harbor, a couple german guys, Martin and Clemens. The weather did not improve upon their arrival. Very fun overall - wet, windy and slightly salty. Part of the roof from the bus terminal blew off while we were standing nearby so we decided to head home shortly after, there wasn't much debate. As we left we saw some locals walking up with some beers and snacks to enjoy the weather, I guess it is still a novel experience for some - it definitely was for us.

Finally, we were getting bored with just hot, muggy weather

2009-09-11T03:31:00.000-07:00

5 degrees cooler... and is that fresh air I'm breathing?

2009-09-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we headed up to Victoria Peak to get a little more sightseeing under our belts and see the city from a prime vantage point. To get here we had to take a bus to Central (on Hong Kong Island) and then take a tram that goes at times 45deg up the side of the mountain. Getting on the tram was a little adventure in itself because there were people from all over, tourists, that were trying to get on as well.

A little digression - in Hong Kong everything is fairly orderly, people queue up for lines and wait patiently for the subways, buses, atm's and such. We have been told though that in Mainland China it is nothing like this, there is no order, it is push or be pushed and you have to fight your way through in lines and there is no sense of personal space. It is not that they are rude, there just never was any reason to think this is impolite, it is just natural for them.

So, when we were getting on the tram we assume there were some mainlanders because it sort of turned into a free-for-all getting into the tram doors. An elderly german couple almost got knocked to the ground, we both took some shoves here and there and an elbow or two to the chest and made it on to the tram to find no seats left and only standing room. There were grooves in the ground to position your feet on so when the tram made it's steep incline you wouldn't fall over. When we made it to the top, we had to navigate through a massive mall at the top of this mountain - which is set up so you pretty much have to go through it (not unlike IKEA) before you can get outside.

Upon exiting there is a great view overlooking all of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and it was a clear day so we could see far. (We attempted to go to the peak maybe 2 other times, but it was too cloudy or smoggy out to go, there was little point in going then.) We arrived while it was still light out and stayed until it got dark - watching the light show from the opposite side this time. We met up with some other exchange students at the peak and had some dinner before heading back down. It was a full 5 degrees celsius cooler at the top of the peak than down in the city which made it very appealing for spending hot days up there. We are looking forward to coming back up in a month or two and hiking some of the trails that are accessible from the peak, it should prove to be a very nice hike.

I mean, I'll try it...but that doesn't mean I have to like it!

2009-09-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Some of our design buddies

A little friend

Mark, Drew, and Friedrich (Germany)

Pile of "ingredients"

Our first day of class was September 1st. Before the first lecture, we were introduced to our fellow peers when they came in to the studio in what seemed to us as a swarm of yelling, laughing, and general excitement. They sure are a rambunctious bunch. We all then proceded to our lecture together for the Special Design Class 400. This class involves combining all the disciplines of design into a 9 week course created to provide the students with a chance to work with on a real client sponsored project. There were at least 15 projects to choose from, and for each one there was a professor "mentor" who briefed the class on the parameters. Some of the project clients included BMW MINI, Hong Kong Transportation Department, A Hong Kong lifestyle store called G.O.D., and a headphone company.

Each student ranked their choices 1-5, and hoped for the best. We both ended up getting our first choices (BMW MINI for Drew and G.O.D. Store for Mark) and are really excited to see how the rest of the project goes.

After class, we were invited by our classmates to join them for a traditional "hot pot" dinner. This dinner is usually meant for a large group of people, and it works a little like this:
1. A large pot is put in the middle of the table on a burner. The pot is filled with two kinds of cooking oil/soup mixture.
2. The people at the table then order from a large list of both raw and cooked items which are then brought out to the table on plates.
3. When the oil boils, the ingredients are placed into the pot to cook by the people at the table
4. After the right amount of time, everyone just digs in, using their chopsticks to pull out items they want to eat. Food is continuously added to the pot as the night goes on.

Now, the words "both raw and cooked items" can include anything as simple as lettuce, to as crazy as chicken testicles. Other notable items include squid, cow stomach, corn, dumplings, fish balls, tofu, raw beef, and fried fish skins. Needless to say, the meal was delicious and we had an awesome time.

Hanging out with Locals

2009-09-08T01:27:00.001-07:00

Where did that sign tell us to go?

2009-09-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting back into the groove of blogging after a week hiatus, so bear with us.

Earlier last week we traveled with some friends to visit the Kowloon walled city park, and also temple that was near to it. This proved to be more difficult than we thought, as the park was not quite near to the metro station, and it seemed that signs that were indicating its location kept leading us on some sort of blind journey. When we stopped someone and asked where it was, he knew just enough English to inform us that it was "far away". Oh, and it was quite hot...maybe 95 but felt like 105 with humidity.

We finally found the park, and took a leisurly stroll through its many paths. The Kowloon walled city park itself used to be a lawless, ragged, slum village within the confines of Hong Kong. The slum buildings grew so tall and close together that the whole city had to be illuminated by fluorescent lights. It wasn't until the early 90's that the British and Chinese government finally decided to take responsibility and tore it down, creating a park to preserve it's legacy.

The "walled city"

After the park, we decided to call it a day. We never found the temple, but we will definitely post the trip when we do.

7-11 Club

2009-09-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Beers are extremely expensive at the clubs and many of them run around HK$65 (US$8.50). So instead of buying beers there everyone goes to the local 7-11 of which you can find anywhere because they are everywhere. You can get the same beer that you would have got in the club for around HK$8 (US$1.00) and enjoy it out on the street. We were out tonight with a bunch of exchange students from many of the different schools in the area, but mostly our school is here at the 7-11. Students from over 20 countries ranging from Sweden and Germany to Australia and Taiwan - it is quite the experience when you step back and realize you are drinking with all of these people from all over the world on a street in Hong Kong outside 7-11...

Macau Macau, Portugueasia Vegas

2009-08-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

So we left for Macau the other day for a quick one day trip to settle some visa issues. Drew and I, when we entered Hong Kong went through customs and got our passports stamped. Drew had a stamp on his student visa that stated "Journey Completed," mine did not. Initially we were worried that he had 'used up' his visa and we would not be able to leave and re-enter the country, we later found out that my visa was the one that needed to be stamped and I had to get it stamped or I would be deported, I guess. So, a good enough reason as any to leave for Macau the following day and get it stamped upon returning.

Macau is a just a little west of Hong Kong (we took a ferry ride on a Speedboat for about US$17 that lasted about an hour) and is nicknamed "The Las Vegas of the East". Years back it was controlled by the Portuguese and there is still a heavy influence of Portugal in this tiny country. The city is incredibly beautiful and strange with portuguese-esque streets and buildings, and then asian homes built on top of those, and towering skyscrapers of casinos standing behind those.

We left in the early afternoon for Macau with two other exchange students, Gavin from Scotland and Souji from South Korea. We wandered in the general direction of southwest trying to stumble upon this supposedly famous local haunt for some tasty dinner. After walking for over an hour and all of us starving we finally found it (A Lorcha), but it did not open for another half hour. We asked one of the servers up front if we could eat when it opened and they told us we needed a reservation. We asked politely if we could get said reservation, and she looked back toward a grumpy looking man in the corner and after a moment he grunted and waved acknowledging it would be alright. We finally ate, and got some delicious food - there was grilled african chicken, coconut curry chicken, pork and oysters, and baked cod and potatoes. It was a mix of portuguese and asian cuisine and worth the effort and wait as it was some excellent food.

We left A Lorcha and headed back up north to Largo de Senado (Senate Square) where they have have wavy black and white cobblestones lining the roads of colonial buildings and shops alike. Finally we entered a few of the casinos, seeing both the new and old Lisboa casinos. I gambled once and lost HK$20 on Roulette (about US$3), not a big gambling sensation, but then again I was the only one who gambled anything - everyone else kept their wallets sealed.

Another good find we had was a fish market and seeing all the people crowding around the stands. There is a video below, but there are some dead fish and guts so if it disgusts you, maybe don't watch.

There were always interesting things to notice in Macau. Walking throughout the city we noticed many signs advertising recycling and "green" thinking, exercise equipment scattered throughout parks for the public to use, giant coils of incense and offerings, lots of prayers on the streets for something we never quite figured out, and of course the architecture as well. Overall Macau was great, but a short trip and we are looking forward to going again.

First 5 days. Last 4 months.

2009-08-28T02:57:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in Hong Kong we were met at the airport by Wayne, family of a friend, and he brought us back to his home where we stayed for the next few days. Quite gracious of them to allow us to stay in their home far longer than the one initial day we had planned to stay. They had a beautiful home in between the Sha Tin and Tai Wai metro stops, both of which were only a 10 min walk away at most and were easy to access. Their house was only 3 stories tall which is very unusual for Hong Kong, most everyone lives in skyscrapers or rural shacks it seems like. Wayne and his family, Krista and one of their sons Eric, lived on the middle floor of the house. The house had a lot of history having been used as a Japanese Interrogation house during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, it had been originally built by the Portuguese? and was now owned by the Lutheran Church. Anyway, here are some pictures of the place and the surrounding houses in the small little complex. In the house there were loads of little lofts and niches built into the house, one of which we lived in for the first week.

After 5 days living there we soon realized we were quite spoiled with the ability to eat breakfast, have air conditioning, and some couches and beers to relax with. Our quality of living quickly declined when we moved into the dorms with small rooms, a/c you have to pay for, and thin mattresses. It was incredibly hot the first night as we did not have fans, or any money on our ID cards to pay for the a/c, we quickly remedied that the next day as we suffered heavily that first night trying to sleep. We share a bathroom with two other guys from Sweden, Rikard and Janne. They are fun and we have gone out to the bars with them and shared some conversation over beers. There are lots of international students living in the dorms from all over the world, and we are struggling to remember all the names. But, the dorm does provide lots of opportunities with a swimming pool, snooker rooms, gym, and yes - even a karaoke room.

The Watch Man

2009-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

When we were out the the other day with our Hong Kong friends, I told one of them, Elaine, that my watch had stopped. She seemed to know the exact place to go. What I assumed would have been an expensive watch shop, actually turned out to be this man who ran a small boxlike structure off to the side of a busy street. Apparently all he does is change watch batteries. I trusted him with my favorite watch and he had it fixed within 5 minutes, changing all 3 batteries for about $70 HK ($9US). And yes, my watch has 3 batteries. I know it's ridiculous. I just like how in Hong Kong, one man's niche is another man's business.

Just to give you an idea...

2009-08-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

Taken while crossing a street in a busy part of downtown.

Disclaimer:
Not intended for the faint of heart or those who are uncomfortable in crowded places.

Sunday in Hong Kong, crowded crowded

2009-08-23T07:04:00.001-07:00

Got cell phones today, now we are hip to the chinese technology, except ours are on the bottom of the totem poll as far as technologically advanced. We met up with Vivi, a buddy of ours from the PolyU program and got some vietnamese food for lunch. Her friend Elaine joined us and we explored Hong Kong Island for a while, getting to see what crowded streets in sweltering hot temperatures was really like.

We stopped by a local park with some beers we had bought and walked around. The park had a small zoo in it with some orangoutangs, monkeys, snakes, lemurs, and a few other animals. We hopped on the MTR and headed up to Mong Kok where there was an outdoor street market featuring tons of cheap and bargainable wares for sale. Also on the street were performers who would stand on a chair frozen and perform only when tipped, and then freeze until they were tipped again.

In Mong Kok we had our first official street food that included curry fish balls, vegetable dumplings, and beef organs (stomach, lung, intestines, and others). It was very cheap food and quite good, some of us liked certain dishes more than the others...

Finally we stopped in a local Game Station and played some arcade games. It was packed with people of all ages, some looking like they had been there longer than they may care to admit. Walking down the stairs into the arcade (yes, it was in a basement) there was a sign that stated, "No one allowed in under age of 16 or in a school uniform." It was a fun day out with Elaine and Vivi, they showed us some new parts of the city and introduced us to some new foods as well.

Quick things

2009-08-22T07:10:00.001-07:00

This girl is everywhere in a lot of advertisements, we are infatuated.

Toilets in Hung Hom MTR Station.

Guy trimming tree branches.

Soccer in the city.

Dragonfruit and Durian fruits and grocery shopping.

Lots of stairs.. from buddhism to consumerism.

2009-08-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Today we headed up North a little ways to the 10,000 Buddhist Monks Monastery, which is exactly what it sounds like. Navigating our way there was a little difficult and when we arrived there is a little tiny side path that weaves around a giant building that looks like a monastery (and is apparently mistaken for the 10,000 Buddhist Monks often) that we followed till we arrived at some steep stairs. When we started our climb there were dozens of golden statues of Monks along either side of us that just continued up as far as the eye could see. Each one was unique and we couldn't believe there were actually 10,000 but it soon became clear we were wrong. It was one of the most impressive things we have seen here and it just kept getting more impressive the further up we climbed. It was extremely humid, and we were dripping sweat soaking completely through our shirts. At the highest point there was a single giant statue that sat in the middle of a pond with a waterfall falling behind it, and behind us a view overlooking much of Kowloon. It was an extremely exhausting and amazing hike up to the monastery.

On our way down and out of the monastery we chose a small back path instead of the way we came and were weaving down stairs that ran next to small rural cottages and shanty houses. We saw a crude sign for a bookstore and decided to investigate. Needless to say we were taken aback by what we found when we were greeted by a old man who looked like a holocaust survivor who beckoned us into his "book store" which contained only 5 books, all of which he wrote himself. His english was excellent and he loved walking us around his small bare house explaining to us the "story" of his books and art which mainly focused on stars and the cosmos. He gave us each a free original calligraphy print of his and we each went ahead and bought a painting from him, and a book. He introduced us to his neighbors who had a bee farm in their back yard and we bought some honey and took pictures of the bees. They brought us into their home where we got the honey and found out they had been raising the bees for decades.

We also ended up at the Nan Lian Garden and the Chi Lin Nunnery where we explored for a while and then stopped in the mall before hopping on the MTR back home. At the mall we stopped in an arcade which was as bright and loud as you would expect, and just a great experience being there.

Good Morning Hong Kong, my god you are humid.

2009-08-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

August 20th

Our first morning waking up was refreshing, and we didn't really suffer too badly from jet lag at all. We got up at 7:30ish believe it or not and played with the dogs for a while before leaving to the computer market to pick up some plug adapters. We hopped on the MTR at Tai Wai headed to Wan Chai and had to make a couple transfers because we were heading really far south onto Hong Kong Island. The trains were extremely clean with glass walls separating the trains and the passenger lines, and arrows telling where to line up to enter and exit the trains, and people actually line up where they are instructed. The trains run advertisements and TV shows on televisions in the trains themselves, and run extremely smoothly and fast.

When we reached Wan Chai station we were immediately greeted by the Wan Chai Computer Center, which is really just multiple stories of strictly computer stores, probably housing around 80 or 90 stores. You can barter for the electronics and many were fairly to extremely cheap. The shops are so crowded and an absolute maze with no windows and winding, narrow hallways that you lose yourself in easily. We kept happening back into the same stores we had been at earlier and finally got what we came for after a while of just being overwhelmed. Many of the stores in Hong Kong are based around collections of similar stores, the computer stores are an example, but also if there is a coffee shop there will be competing coffee shops right next door, or candy stores, etc.

We had our first street food after wandering around and not understanding any of the signs, we were roped in by some nice people on the sidewalk who pointed for us to sit down. Being foreign and naive we followed their direction and when the man said noodles, we said yes, when he said pork, we said yes, and vegetables, another yes. It was right after that we found out these were the only english words he knew, but we were brought out our dish of noodles, pork, and vegetables and we both enjoyed it, some to lesser degrees. Below is the menu we had to choose from.

Following our meal, which we were very thankful didn't send us running to the bathroom right after we headed to PolyU to check out the school we will be studying at for the next 4 months. We struggled a LOT trying to find out how to get to PolyU from the train station, we could see it but couldn't seem to cross anywhere because the walkways are very specific and there is never anywhere where you can just cross a street many times. Walking through the campus there were groups of kids all over, some of whom would spontaneously scream and then run around for little to no reason. We visited the design school and met the chairman of the Industrial Design department, and our first impression is that it is impressive, much more so off the bat than Ohio State.

Next we ended up visiting the Hong Kong Museum of History which was $10, and we asked for a discount with our Student cards and got it for $5. Then we realized we were talking Hong Kong dollars, and HK$5 is about $0.75. We are cheap, and we love it. The museum was impressive and afterwards we headed to the Kowloon Harbor for the light show that happens every night at 8. It's free and you watch from the harbor as the buildings on the Hong Kong Island light up and strobe to music (cheap tacky 64bit videogame music). It was not as impressive as we would have hoped, but it was crowded and it was great mixing in with the crowds. This was a long post, but it was a long day for us, and we fit a lot into it. We will update fairly often and keep you posted on our... adventures?

Setting off towards Hong Kong

2009-08-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are with the first post, and a not too exciting first day. We did not land in Hong Kong as expected because we had our first flight delayed 4 hrs in the Columbus airport, and then when we landed in Chicago we had already missed our flight and were stuck there until the next day. We ended up staying at our friend Ryan's place and went out to 'Peace' for some pizza and local beer.

The following day we arrived at the airport a little more grateful as we had been upgraded to exit row seats after a little disgraceful flirting and were far more comfortable on the 15 hr flight than we would have been the day before. We had a couple Tsingtao's on the flight over (you get free alcohol on international flights) and tried to sleep, but were very unsuccessful and instead got distracted by the terrible movies they played on the flight. Finally touching down in Hong Kong we were not very surprised by the fact that our luggage was lost, so we left and met up with family of a friend who is living in Hong Kong.

Taking the bus from the airport to our house for the night was an amazing introduction to the city with high rises and then jungle on all sides, with little fishing villages tucked away and cars and trucks weaving in between traffic. We arrived in Sha Tin and cut through the mall to a small grocery where we picked up some food for dinner. We carried it and our luggage up a weaving little back hill where there were 4 dogs to every fenced in ramshackle house before arriving at our place and meeting our own dogs that lived at the house. Gigi and Jenny, two extremely friendly dogs that have a hard time letting us leave the property because they tend to follow us out holes in the fences and then down the street to the metro. All in all a great first night.