After a long semester abroad, I'm finally home again! I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to spend four months in Hong Kong. It would not have been possible without the support of the Freeman foundation and my family. It's easy to say that my semester in Hong Kong will be an unforgettable experience. I'll miss the ease of taking the MTR, the dim sum that was available at all hours of the day, and the amazing people I got to meet. I traveled more in the past four months than I have in my entire life. If nothing else, studying abroad definitely gave me the travel bug! The most surprising part of studying abroad was that it made me realize how much I love Hawaii and the life that I've built at UH Manoa. Every time that I told someone I was from Hawaii they wanted to know more about what it was like to live there, as most people had an idea of what Hawaii was like but had never been there. Talking about Hawaii made me realize how much of it I adored and how much I missed being there. I had always wanted to leave Hawaii, but then when I actually left all I wanted was to come home. Pretty funny how that worked out! I think a lot of people imagine studying abroad to be like one big vacation. I'll admit, that's kind of what I thought it would be like to. I pictured myself going out all the time and exploring the city, traveling to nearby countries every week. In reality, studying abroad is really hard! These are some tips to hopefully make it a little easier. Helpful Things I Learned Abroad 1. Take advantage of three day weekends, especially during the beginning of the semester. At HKU, most of the course load is during the last month and a half of school, so don't plan on waiting until then to travel! Three day weekends aren't super common, so make the most of the ones you have! Plan a weekend trip to somewhere nearby that you don't feel like you'd need an entire week for, like a city in China or Thailand.
2. Don't be afraid to talk to people in your classes. Group work accounted for a significant part of my grade in all of my courses. Talking to more people will help you to join a group you are confident in, who you get along well with. Group synergy is important, especially if you want a good grade. 3. Learn a little bit of the language before you go abroad. You don't need to know much, just basic things like numbers and common phrases (i.e. thank you, please, excuse me). It makes it a lot easier to order food and communicate with your local classmates. 4. Check class availability for the semester that you're attending the school to help you plan out your classes. One of my friends at HKU accidentally read the availability for the Spring semester instead of the Fall, and ended up getting rejected from most of the classes he listed because they weren't offered during the Fall semester. If you read through the availability for the right semester and check the pre-requisites to make sure you qualify (they are usually listed in the syllabus that is linked to the availability), you are more likely to get the classes that you want. 5. Take a country specific course that relates to why you wanted to go to that country in the first place. I wish that I had taken a Hong Kong history class because it would've helped me to better understand Hong Kong as my grandfather had seen it, versus the city that has replaced the Hong Kong of the past. I realized how little I actually knew when I visited the Hong Kong History Museum. Maybe for you that would be a finance class, a cultural customs class, or a food course. 6. Have fun, and don't stress out too much! I was so anxious and stressed during the last two months that I didn't go out at all! That's my biggest regret. I was so worried about my grades and doing well in my classes that I forgot to make the most of my experience. There's a lot of places that I wish I had gone, like the Tai O fishing village on Lantau Island and some of the towns in the New Territories that are a little further from the city. Don't be like me! Remember that learning doesn't just happen in the classroom - it happens in the experiences you have out of it too.
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Happy New Year from Singapore! After 4 long months of being apart from my loved ones, I finally got to see my boyfriend and family again! Once I finished my last final exam, I hopped on a plane and met my boyfriend in Osaka. We toured the Kansai region, starting in Osaka then traveling through Kobe to Kyoto, and finally spending our last day in Nara. Japan completely surpassed my expectations; I absolutely fell in love with Kyoto especially. You could walk for hours there just viewing all the different temples and shrines in the region. We did a ton while in Japan, so I won't bore you with all of the details. Below are a few of the highlights of our trip.
I got back to Hong Kong from Japan in time for Christmas, which is when my brother, sister, uncle, and grandpa arrived! It was so nice to see my family again, and I was so grateful to be able to spend the holidays with them. I spent a few days showing them around Hong Kong before we traveled to Singapore, which is where we are as I'm writing this. Singapore is the most different of all of the places in Asia I had traveled and by far the most diverse. There are different sectors for different cultures (like Chinatown, Little India, Arab Quarters, etc) and tons of different types of religious centers. I had never visited a Hindu temple or a mosque before, but I was able to visit both within one day here! The architecture of the old shophouses found in many of these sectors is also the cutest thing I've ever seen. While I've loved just wandering around Singapore, there are a few must see attractions, like the merlion statue and the Gardens by the Bay. The merlion statue was lit up during the light show the night we went to see it, so it was even more beautiful than usual! You also can't visit Singapore without visiting a Hawker Center, which is like a food court for street food. My personal favorite dish was black pepper crab. Don't forget to bring napkins, hand wipes, and an empty stomach! If you happen to be in Singapore for New Year's, they do an amazing hour-long New Year's celebration light and fireworks show at the Marina. I heard that you have to get to the Marina pretty early if you want a good spot. My family and I didn't want to deal with the crowds, so we were going to head over to Gardens by the Bay East (which is across the Marina) because I read online that you can see the fireworks well and that it is much less crowded there. On our way to the gardens, we ended up finding the best spot on accident! In my opinion, the best spot for viewing the fireworks is from the highway between the ferris wheel and the Gardens by the Bay East. There were a few other people who were sitting on the ground or leaning on the rail (the pedestrian area is separated from the vehicle area). It wasn't hectic and there were no crowds, but we still had a great view of the fireworks display! There was another highway that passed directly in front of where the fireworks show was taking place, but we saw a ton of people walking down from the highway after the show was over, so it may only be a good option if you're okay with crowds. Watching the show from the highway was probably the most unforgettable New Year's countdown yet. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019!
It's that time of the semester again - final exams! I got lucky and only had two finals this semester, with short papers due in my other classes. Finals are different here in that rather than one or two study days we get a study week before finals, and the period for final exams lasts for 2 weeks instead of one. You can also technically have an exam during your study week, which is what happened for me, making the exam period more like 3 weeks. I've found this to be both good and bad: good because you have way more time to study, but bad because it drags out arguably every student's least favorite time of year. My final exams were spaced 10 days apart, so I've basically been studying for nearly 17 days straight (!!). It's a huge difference from our finals week at home. Another difference is that we won't find out our grades until the middle of January, versus the week after finals like at UH. I found out that this is the norm in most other countries, which I had no idea about!
You don't find out when your final exam is for most classes until reading week, so unlike at UH, you can't plan your classes around when finals are. I would recommend waiting until November to make any travel arrangements, or to make travel plans for after all finals are completed, because the finals schedule that is posted during reading week can be altered. This isn't very common, and it didn't happen for anyone that I know, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. If you find out that all of your classes are towards the end of the final exam period, or that you have finals that are very spaced out (like mines), then you can definitely fit in a weekend trip. This is something that I wish I did, especially because it can be nice to take a break from studying. If you are considering a weekend trip, plan it at least a few weeks in advance! Some of my friends planned a last minute trip and the airfare ended up being twice as much as it was just a week before. You can also consider traveling to Guangzhou or Shenzhen, since they're so close to Hong Kong. My friends who went to Guangzhou really enjoyed it, and they said it was easier to get around and do things than it had been in Shenzhen since it was more tourist friendly. While I didn't take any trips, I did take a fairly long bus ride to the other side of the island! At home I always go to craft fairs during Christmas time, and I wanted to continue that here. I decided to check out the Stanley Christmas Market, because I heard that it's really popular. It was also Finnish themed, with lots of Finnish food (like reindeer meatballs!). While I didn't buy much, I enjoyed the atmosphere. Stanley itself is such a cute seaside town, I would totally recommend visiting any time of year! The mall at Stanley is also dog friendly, so you're bound to see lots of adorable pups. It's hard to believe that my classes here are over! I still have one lecture tomorrow, because of a missed lesson due to the typhoon earlier in the year, but technically the lecture period is completed! I will have one final this coming Friday and one towards the end of the final schedule, on December 17. The weird thing about finals here is that they're conducted over the course of December, so you could have a final as late as December 23! You don't find out until they post the schedule around reading week, so I would recommend not making any plans for the end of the semester until then.
Since my time here is coming to an end, I wanted to reflect upon the way Hong Kong and HKU has met my expectations and the ways in which they have surprised me. Before coming here, I expected Hong Kong to have a lot more cultural elements, both from their British and Chinese past. It's been a lot harder than I expected to find cultural experiences, as most of Hong Kong has a similar big city culture to that of New York City. I was also surprised by how difficult it was to meet local students! The language barrier is definitely part of the problem, since local students almost always talk to each other in Cantonese. It's also likely that in group projects local students won't pick you because you're an exchange student. There's a stigma against exchange students that they don't try very hard because they don't care about their grades. My finance TA, for instance, was shocked that I did well on my midterm because I'm an exchange student. Due to this stigma, finding a productive group was really difficult. It's especially stressful because group projects can make up 50% of your grade!! I would recommend being really aggressive and approaching students who you think will be good group members to join their group. This was something I wish that I had done, versus waiting to be picked or to be grouped with everyone else who didn't have a group (this is probably a sign). While it's been really cool living in Hong Kong and experiencing such a different way of life, it's also been the most difficult semester yet. I think the hardest part is that I didn't have anyone here who understood why I cared about doing well in my courses. One of the people I used to hang out with a lot told me that he felt like we were really close when I was easy-going at the beginning of the semester, but then I became "intense" as I was worried about my grades. When I got the chance to talk to other Freeman scholars, it made me feel a lot better because I realized I wasn't alone. Despite having a hard time, there are many small moments that I will treasure. One of my favorite moments was when my group for marketing was going to have a lunch meeting for our project and the two local students in our group asked if we'd want to eat off campus. They took us to a noodle shop nearby that specialized in pork chop noodles, which were so tasty! It was nice getting to know them more outside of class, and it was something I wish we had done sooner. Another fun moment was the mass dance competition, where groups from other universities around Hong Kong came to our campus to compete against our dance groups. I was shocked by how good everyone was, and by how huge the crowd was that had gathered to watch! It made me feel like I was part of HKU as I cheered on our teams. The end of the semester is almost here! Classes end in two weeks, which means I have a million group projects and papers due. Because of this, I haven't ventured out of room much recently. Luckily, Kennedy Town has tons of eateries, which means I don't need to go far to fuel up for studying! These are my favorite places to get a quick meal in Kennedy Town. Bao Dim Gui Yan If you want dim sum, but don't have time to gather a few friends and sit down for a meal, this is the place for you. I would compare it to Chun Wah Kam, but with more traditional dim sum offerings. I would recommend going earlier in the day rather than at night if you want steamed buns, because the buns do get a little stale, but they're delicious regardless. The most challenging part of ordering here is that they don't speak English and the menus are entirely in Chinese. But do not fear! Pointing at what you want works really well, and you can always Google a few dim sum names (like char siu bau for a steamed manapua). My favorites are char siu bau and ham sui gok - a deep fried mochi ball with a meat filling. North Viet Pho This is the best pho in Kenedy town, in my opinion. With both lunch and dinner sets you can get a lot of bang for your buck here. The pho is tasty and filling, and there are lots of options aside from pho if you feel like eating other types of Vietnamese food. They also make a frozen lychee drink that I highly recommend, especially in the hot and humid months! This restaurant does not do take out, as far as I'm aware, but you can order online through food delivery apps if you don't feel like dining in! It's like an upscale Bale - hard to dislike that! St. Lolan If you want fast and cheap baked goods, look no further. St Lolan is the cheapest bakery in Kennedy Town and is less westernized than the other options. You'll find Hong Kong's iconic pineapple buns (with or without a slab of butter in the middle), baked manapua with a variety of fillings, cakes, muffins, and lots of other snacks. Most baked goods are around 7 HKD, which is less than $1 USD! If you go around lunchtime, they offer mini versions of their baked manapua, so you can try many different types without getting too full. Some things to be aware of: they only accept cash and they're closed on Sundays. Bafang Dumpling I LOVE Bafang Dumpling. Their dumplings are really delicious and affordable - around $5 USD for a meal (10 dumplings + soup or a drink) or $2 USD for 5 dumplings. My favorites are the pan-fried vegetable and pan-fried pork dumplings. You can also get your dumplings steamed if you prefer that over pan-fried. I've never had a bad meal at Bafang Dumpling. Aside from dumplings, they also sell drinks. They have milk tea, soybean milk, and passionfruit iced tea, with the option to add boba or jelly (or both). I frequently stop by Bafang just to get passionfruit iced tea with jelly because it's less than $2 USD and is the perfect pick-me-up. Sweet Dreamer Dessert Dessert shops are really popular in Hong Kong, so every town will likely have multiple. Kennedy Town is no exception. The dessert shop that never disappoints here is Sweet Dreamer Dessert. Their desserts are beautiful - more like works of art than food - and affordable compared to other dessert shops. They have tons of different options to choose from, including lava cake, fancy banana splits and sundaes, waffles, and traditional Asian desserts. Many of their western desserts are paired with frozen yogurt rather than ice cream, so it feels a little healthier (even though it probably isn't). I think Sweet Dreamer Dessert is definitely worth a visit - you'll go for an Instagram photo and stay because it actually tastes as good as it looks. Winston's Coffee First things first - coffee is pretty expensive in Hong Kong compared to the US. If you're going to pay more, you might as well get high quality coffee at a place like Winson's. Winston's is an adorable coffee shop that transitions into a bar at night. While I can't speak to their alcoholic drinks, their coffee blows Starbucks out of the water in my opinion but costs around the same price. My go-to is their mocha latte, truly one of the best mochas I've ever had. When I first got it I thought the serving seemed really small, however for such a small cup it really packs a punch. If you like Morning Glass coffee in Manoa, you'll love Winston's. Bento Express When I'm knee deep in work, all I want to do is walk down the road, pick up something filling, and take it back to my room. Bento Express is my go-to on days like that. It's very similar to Aja bento, like the one in UH's campus center. I find the meat and rice combos to be comforting and I always know what to expect from them. They also have tons of sushi trays available and a few varieties of hand-rolls and musubis. The best part about Bento Express is how affordable it is - most bentos are around $5, which I think is a total steal. A-1 Bakery While A-1 Bakery's products are around twice the price of St. Lolan's, I think that they are totally worth the money. A-1 Bakery creates more Western and Japanese baked goods. It reminds me a lot of Brug bakery at home in terms of product offerings. I've loved everything that I've tried from A-1 Bakery so far. One of my favorite things to do when I need a little break is to buy one of their bread products and eat it at a bench down by the waterside (right down the road from the bakery). Two of my favorite things from A-1 Bakery are their cinnamon roll and their soft pretzel. For a perfect breakfast, you can walk down to Winston's coffee to grab a drink then stop into A-1 Bakery to pair it with a fat cinnamon roll! If you're more of an instant ramen type of student... Let me introduce you to one of my new favorite foods. It may sound strange but trust me, once you try it you will never turn back to regular old cup-of-noodle. This isn't just any type of instant ramen, this is cheesy instant ramen!!! Imagine the cheese powder from Kraft's microwavable mac-n-cheese. Now imagine if you combined that with the typical instant ramen seasoning, then added it to noodles (the water gets strained out beforehand). The result is a meal that is somehow both nostalgic and new at the same time. It's truly addicting, I could easily eat this everyday without complaint. You can buy this at any grocery store around town, often for a discount if you are willing to buy it in 3's. How could anyone not love this ingenious combo!
Transportation to the airport aside, I had amazing time exploring Seoul! Seoul is such a beautiful city, especially as the leaves began to turn colors for autumn. Below are a few highlights from my trip! meerkat cafe
Imagine a petting zoo with really cute, small animals. Now imagine that petting zoo inside of a cafe setting. That's essentially what the Meerkat cafe in Hongdae was like. When I first heard about it, and about animal cafes in general, I pictured them being regular cafes with a few animals roaming around that you could pet. While the Meerkat Cafe lived up to the animal end of my expectations, they didn't really serve any food or drinks beyond bottled beverages. There are a lot of different animal cafes in Korea; we chose to visit the Meerkat Cafe because we thought that it was more unique than the usual dog or cat cafe. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. They had the cutest racoon that did tricks and would climb on top of visitors for treats. They also had adorable wallabies that they let us feed. Of course there were meerkats, as in the cafes name, but they were far less cute than I expected. While they look sweet from afar, they can be pretty vicious! More often, they simply don't care much about people. I would recommend visiting an animal cafe in Korea (or other parts of Asia, as they're popular in Japan as well) at least once. If nothing else, you'll get some great pictures out of it!
museums
The National Museum of Korea contains artifacts from Pre-historic times through the early 1900s . If you want to learn about the history of the Korean Pennisula then the museum is a must-see. Admission is free, as are guided tours! I highly recommend a guided tour, as the museum was really overwhelming without one. We were able to join an English tour and it really added to our experience at the museum. The docent showed us pieces he felt were most significant to Korea's history and told us about the stories behind them. I felt like I learned a lot more on the tour than I would have on my own because the plaques in the museum don't explain much about the background of many pieces. The museum has many artifacts that are considered to be "national treasures", including the Pensive Bodhisattva, Full Moon Jar, and Silla Gold Crown.
I think that anyone who enjoys art will enjoy this museum. You can't take pictures of the pieces, which was actually a nice change because it forces you to focus more on the actual pieces than on getting a good photo of them. If you want to learn more about the history or meaning behind pieces, you can rent a Samsung device that acts as a guided tour. gyeongbokgung palace
You can't visit Seoul without visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace was built in 1395, during the Joseon Dynasty. However, the palace that you get to visit today was actually reconstructed in the late 20th-early 21st century after being destroyed by the Japanese twice. What surprised me most about the palace was how huge it is! There were tons of buildings, each with their own purpose, along with walled villages within the palace grounds. We only spent a few hours here, but you could easily spend an entire day traversing through the palace. There are other palaces within walking distance of Gyongbokgung as well as an old Hanok village. If you dress up in a hanbok, which you can rent from multiple shops outside the palaces, you get your admission fees waived! I would recommend dressing up because it makes the experience even more fun. It really feels like you've gone back in time. A lot of people asked us to take photos with them because we were some of the only westerners in hanboks. I think visiting the palaces was probably my favorite part of the trip!
Historical sites
Jongmyo Shrine is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, and for good reason. You can only enter through guided tours on weekdays and Sundays, but are allowed to peruse the grounds on your own on Saturdays. I really enjoyed the guided tour because I learned a lot about the Confucian influence in Korea and about the purpose of the shrine. The shrine is used to honor the deceased kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty. The spirit tablets of the deceased rulers are housed in the shrine, only brought out during the annual Royal Ancestral Rite. Like the palace, the shrine was built in the late 14th century but destroyed by the Japanese in the 16th century. It was rebuilt less than a century later. Although the shrine was relatively plain compared to the palaces, it was amazing to see how well preserved the buildings were and how you could feel that it was a sacred place.
food finds
yonsei
Where has the time gone?! It's hard to believe that reading week is here already. Reading week is essentially a fall break - a week off of school before midterms begin. I'm especially excited for reading week because my friends and I are going to Korea! I've spent most of the past two weeks getting ready for our trip. My friends and I did a lot of last minute planning - while we bought our plane tickets a month in advance, we didn't do anything else to prepare after that until this week. I highly recommend starting much earlier than we did, as by the time that we started looking for places to stay a lot of the places that were low-cost but highly rated were already completely booked. If you plan on going traveling and want to stay at a hostel, I recommend using a site like booking.com instead of Hostelworld, since booking.com usually gives you free cancellation until a week before your planned stay and often doesn't require a deposit. Another useful tool for trip-planning that I recommend is Google Maps's My Maps tool. You can view the map I made for my Korea trip below. I created four different layers and used icons to organize my map, so that I could separate locations based upon our reason for visiting. It's a great way to see where different places you want to visit are in relation to one another so that you can plan out your days.
Aside from planning for our trip, I've also spent the past two weeks working on group projects and assignments. Group projects are extremely common at HKU, especially in their business school. I have group projects in all of my classes. While it's a great way to get to know more people, it can also be really stressful trying to organize times during which everyone can meet. The groups also tend to be fairly large - I have a group of 8 in one class and 5 in another - which makes it hard to keep everyone responsible. I really enjoy the projects that we're working on though since most of them are case studies through which we get to apply what we learn in class to real situations.
If you want to take a break from studying and projects Hong Kong has lots of outdoor adventures that are perfect for unwinding! Last weekend we made our way to Sai Wan beach in Sai Kung. Sai Kung is about an hour and a half from Kennedy Town, where I live. To get to the beginning of the hike to Sai Wan we had to take the MTR with two transfers, a bus, and a taxi. The hike itself was really easy, it was shaded by trees and the path was paved for the entire way. The views from the hike were also stunning, making it well worth the hour-long walk.
The hike ends at an adorable beach town where you can buy food, drinks, and boat tickets back to Sai Kung. If you walk to the end of the beach and hike inland for about 5 min you'll reach an adorable waterfall swimming area. It's really popular amongst college students because you can jump from the rocks into the pool. The water in the stream was really cold though, so I preferred swimming in the ocean. The beach itself was nearly deserted while we were there and seemed a lot cleaner than other Hong Kong beaches. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen and so worth the journey to get there.
Arguably the best part of the day was taking the boat back to Sai Kung. While the boat was more expensive than hiking back the way we came and taking a taxi, it was one of the most exciting experiences I've had in Hong Kong. A one-way trip on the boat was about $15 USD, so I was expecting a ferry. What we got was a small 20-person motor boat. The boat ride was not for the faint of heart or for those who easily get seasick. However if one of your favorite rides at Disneyland is splash mountain, then I can guarantee you'll find the boat ride to be worth every dollar. Sai Wan was one of my favorite adventures so far!
When I decided to go on exchange in Hong Kong it had never crossed my mind that I may need to worry about natural disasters. I certainly had never expected that one of the strongest storms ever recorded in Hong Kong would hit during my stay here. When I heard that a T10, the highest level for a typhoon, was headed our way I wasn't sure of what to do. My roommate and I bought lots of water and noodle bowls, as we were told that we would likely be unable to go outside during the storm. When Typhoon Mangkhut arrived, I watched as videos were posted to social media of cranes falling off of buildings and of windows shattering. Luckily, the storm wasn't nearly as devestating in our part of Hong Kong as it had been in others. Below are a few photos of the aftermath of the storm, when I went into town the next day. Although the storm hit on a Sunday, all classes were cancelled the following Monday because many roads had been blocked by fallen trees, making it difficult for students to get to school. Luckily, all was back to normal by Tuesday. At the end of the week, my friends and I decided to tackle Suicide Cliff. We had heard that hiking to Suicide Cliff promised beautiful views of the city, from Kowloon all the way to Hong Kong island. According to a few websites, the hike was only supposed to take 3 and a half hours. We ended up taking nearly 6 and a half hours. On top of taking much longer than expected, we also ended up getting caught in a storm on our way down! It made a daunting hike even more perilous. Although some of us slipped a few times, we were lucky that no one got hurt. Despite these unexpected hurdles, the view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking. I would highly recommend doing this hike! Just remember to pack a ton of water and to check the weather forecasts. If you go on exchange during the fall semester, you'll get to experience two holidays: the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. The Mid-Autumn Festival is kind of like Thanksgiving - the roundness of the full moon symbolizes reunion, so families celebrate together. In Tai Hang, near Causeway Bay, they hold a fire dragon dance every year. The tradition began when the village was faced with a plague, so they created a fire dragon to dispel the disease. Before the fire dragon entered the streets there were lantern displays, drumming, and a seemingly Irish river dance (it included bagpipes). At the end of the dance, they take all of the incense off of the dragon and give it out to people in the crowd. We were told that if we burned it, we would have good luck. Very close to where the dance occurs is Victoria Park, where they hold even more festivities for the Mid-Autumn Festival. There were lantern exhibits and performances across the park. My favorite part was right behind where all of this was taking place. There was a large grassy area that was filled with people, many with candles or lanterns, all spending time with their family or friends. I felt that it was the best representation of the holiday because it embodied the meaning of the holiday. I had always known about the Mid-Autumn Festival because we celebrate it in Hawaii through sharing mooncake, but I hadn't understood the meaning behind it until celebrating it in Hong Kong. I wish we had festivities similar to those in Victoria Park, or even just the tradition of coming together in the park to spend time with those you love under the light of the full moon. Just one week later was another holiday - National Day. National Day marks the anniversary of the founding of founding of the People's Republic of China. In mainland China it is the start of the "Golden Week", as many people have the entire week off for the holiday. In Hong Kong, we get one day off. National Day fell on a Monday this year, giving us a three-day weekend. My friend and I decided on a whim two days before the weekend began that we would go to Shenzhen, the province in China that connects with Hong Kong's border. To get to Shenzhen you can take the high-speed rail or the MTR. We took the rail going there and the MTR coming back. The high-speed rail only takes 20 minutes, although you may have to stand in line for a while to get tickets. The MTR takes nearly 2 hours, but doesn't require purchasing a ticket (you can just use your Octopus card). If you go on the MTR, you can get a 5-day visa at the border, if you don't already have a Chinese visa. I would recommend getting a Chinese visa beforehand, since the border visa is around the same cost as the 10-year visa. Before we left, we were uncertain of how we would fill three days. We hadn't heard much about Shenzhen, and it isn't a popular tourist destination. By the end of the weekend we realized that three days actually wasn't enough time. I would recommend Shenzhen for three reasons:
3. Sightseeing. There are a lot of really cool places to go in Shenzhen. My favorites were Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Splendid China Folk Culture Villages, and Dafen Oil Painting Village. Fairy Lake Botanical Garden is so much more than what it sounds like. Within the park there are hikes, a Buddhist temple, a petrified forest, a river where you can ride in a boat, and tons of plant exhibits. You could spend all day there! The entrance fee is around 20 RMB, but if you show your student ID you can get a discount. If you don't want to walk, they also have shuttles that you can buy tickets for that will take you to different parts of the park. Fairy Lake is a great option if you want to get away from the city for a little while. Splendid China Folk Culture Villages is kind of like the Polynesian Cultural Center of China. They have exhibits of how different ethnic minorities in China used to live, and examples of their cultures. I had never learned about many of these groups, so I found the experience to be really enlightening. We went in the late afternoon, so the park was relatively empty. If you go earlier in the day you can watch exhibitions and may be greeted by people in traditional attire. I would recommend going around lunchtime, as many exhibitions happen around then. The entrance fee is relatively expensive, around 250 RMB, but I thought that the experience was worth it. If you're interested in art, Dafen Oil Painting Village is a must-see. The Oil Painting Village is a neighborhood in Dafen with tons of art shops and artists. The paintings here are both original works and recreations of famous scenes. It was fascinating seeing artists work in alleys, creating beautiful pieces. Some were creating commissioned pieces, while others were creating pieces to sell to passerby. Some artists also did portrait work, with portraits so realistic that they looked like photographs. While walking through the neighborhood is like walking through a giant art gallery, most paintings here can be purchased. While it was tempting to buy the spectacular giant pieces of art that we came across, I had to remind myself multiple times that I could only take back what I could pack. One thing to note about traveling in China is that many people don't speak English. I was lucky enough to go with someone who spoke Mandarin, making the experience a lot easier than it would have been if we could only speak English. Another thing to note is to prepare for China's censored internet before leaving Hong Kong. Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and many messaging apps don't work in China. I also recommend buying a SIM card that works in China while in Hong Kong, since it's a lot easier to get there. Even though it was just a short trip, I feel that I learned a lot about traveling in other countries. I know that I'll be more prepared for future trips thanks to the lessons learned on this one.
Being from an island, one of the first things I did when I moved into Kennedy Town was find the ocean. Luckily I live only 5 minutes away from a pier that overlooks Kowloon. Even though you can't swim here, seeing the ocean is all I need for the moments that I feel homesick. Walking from the pier in Kennedy Town down to the aptly coined "Instagram pier" has become my favorite thing to do in Hong Kong. It doesn't hurt that the views are amazing as well!
There were a few people inside lighting incense and leaving offerings for various deities. Many of the temples I have visited in the past have seemed like tourist attractions. They were always boisterous and full, usually only allowing people to peer in while keeping most of the worshiping spaces outside. This temple was different in that there were no areas that were off limits - you could go right up to the shrines to leave incense or to pay respects. While there were aspects geared towards tourists, such as souvenirs available for purchase, it felt more like a space for people to engage in traditional practices. I hope to go back soon after learning a little more about the temple so that I can partake in some of those practices as well. Opposite to the calm of the temple was the excitement of the horse races at Happy Valley Racecourse. My family watches the triple crown of horse racing every year on TV, so I was eagerly anticipating watching horse races in person for the first time. Although I opted not to bet on any races this time around, as I did not understand how to read the odds charts and I had not done any research regarding the line up beforehand, I still had a lot of fun. I loved the atmosphere of the racecourse. Everyone was there to have a good time and no one was a bad sport, even if they ended up losing money. It was amazing seeing how large the pot would get for each race. There were multiple races with over $30 million in bets! Spending the evening at the racecourse was a highlight of my week; I'll definitely be returning soon.
I have always taken Hawaii's beaches to granted, assuming that all beaches are made the same. I think that it's hard when you grow up only knowing one type of environment to recognize how special that environment actually is. In recent years all I've wanted to do was leave Hawaii. I was so sick of living on a tiny island. It took being away for a little less than a month to realize how lucky I am to live there. I thought that I would not get homesick, but I found myself comparing everything here to home. At Big Wave Bay all I could think about was how the sand at home was more pristine, the water cleaner and clearer. If nothing else, I'm thankful that going on exchange helped me to see my home in perspective.
I was lucky enough to have my mom and grandparents come with me to help me get settled in Hong Kong. Since they were coming too, we got to take a short family trip to other parts of Asia before I planted my roots here. We began our travels in Taiwan, a country I had never visited before! My grandpa has friends he's very close with in Taipei, so they showed us around for a few days. Of course one of our first stops was Taipei 101! Even though it was a pretty cloudy day, there were still amazing sights from the building! While Taipei is packed with buildings, it was really interesting seeing how they fit a lot of green spaces into the city. There were rooftop gardens, tons of small parks, and strips of trees planted between building or roads. It made the city seem a little less gray. Along with visiting Taipei's sites, we also went out to the countryside to eat some seafood! From Taiwan we next traveled to Hong Kong so that I could get a taste of the city. We had dinner with family members I had never met before and got a few items of business completed, like exchanging currency and visiting the place I would be staying while in school. One of the best things we got to do was visit a temple on Kowloon. My grandpa told me that his grandmother used to say that all wishes made at the temple would come true! There were a ton of people giving offerings and participating in fortune telling activities. Our next stops were Zhuhai and Macau! Zhuhai is a province in China, right across the border from Macau and just a short ferry ride away from Hong Kong. My grandpa's family use to have a village there, a few generations ago. After his great grandfather passed away, the village homes got passed down to each of his great grandfather's sons. While everyone who used to live there either moved or has passed away, some of the homes along with the rooms dedicated to our ancestors are still around today. I visited Zhuhai for the first time 8 years ago, and I was really excited to go back. Everyone says that it takes a village to raise a child - in this case it was a village for many children! Below is a photo of my ancestors who lived in the village. Zhuhai is undergoing some pretty large changes, as it will be connected to Hong Kong via a bridge as a route to Macau. Since the government and developers forsee many more people passing through Zhuhai, there's a ton of new buildings and shopping malls being constructed. Of course with construction of new things comes the destruction of old. Government surveyors are currently speaking with residents of the area our family village is in to see if they would be willing to sell their properties, since the area is old and run down. It's strange to think that the village may not exist in a few years, but I'm grateful that I got a chance to go back, pay my respects, and take photos before it is gone forever. The day after we visited the old family village, we crossed the border in Macau. Macau is fascinating because it's a mix of so many different places. Part of it looks like the other cities we visited during our trip in Asia, part looks very European because of the Portuguese influence, and part looks like Vegas! Most people go to Macau to gamble, but since I'm not old enough to do so we just went to sightsee. While we visited the extravagant casinos, my favorite part was the town square. This is where the European influence was most prominent. There were adorable buildings, cobblestone streets, and fountains! I hope that my pre-school travels are only a taste of what is to come! I can't wait to explore more of Asia!
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Emily BallBorn and raised in Aiea, HI, traveling to Hong Kong to study Human Resource Administration. Archives
January 2019
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