Heading to Mainland

Sunday was a fairly low key day. I worked with my group on a presentation for most of the day. In the evening we decided to head to the night market on Temple Street. We took the MTR to Jordan Station and once there we ate dinner at a very cool turkish restaurant. I ate falafel and hummus and it was awesome. Then we finally stumbled upon the night market and did a lot of shopping. I had yet to do laundry and was running out of clothes. We were headed to Mainland on Monday and so my goal was to buy some clothes at the market. Unfortunately, most Chinese people are not built like me, so nothing really came in my size! Instead I focused on some other shopping and then we watched a huge fire erupt in the middle of the walkway when a gigantic lighter exploded on the ground. That was kinda scary but it was put out quickly. Then the groups split off and a few of us decided to stick around and drink some Tsing Taos. We sat at a little kinda shitty restaurant just so we could use the hole-in-the-floor bathroom. After that, we explored the Temple street area and we found a cute clothing store that was still open around midnight! I bought quite a few things there! It was fun. We finally made it back to the I-House kinda late and then I had to pack for our adventure into Mainland to visit the Yantian Port some manufacturing plants in Shenzhen and Guangzho.

On Monday morning early, we had to get up and catch the bus with the rest of our group to Shenzhen. We had to stop at the border of HK and the Mainland. We went through immigration and customs and then emerged in CHINA! It was so cool. From there, we hoped on another bus and met our hilarious tour guide Tom. I am pretty sure he started every sentence with and accentuated "In Chinaaa..." in an Asian/British/feminine accent. He was very knowledgeable though and we learned a lot of cool things from him. For instance the school children have to wear uniforms with red scarves to show their loyalty and respect for the government. Also, up until 1997 (I believe) the residents of Mainland China could not go to Hong Kong. Now it has changed and they can visit for about 6 days at a time. It is very interesting and something that i didnt know about before Tom informed us. Our first stop on our agenda was a group lunch. We arrived at the restaurant and quickly realized that they did not speak any English. Luckily for us, all the food had already been ordered and we spread out among various reserved tables. We were served hot tea and there was a giant lazy susan in the middle of our table. Also, I forgot to mention that when we walked in, we noticed that the back of the restaurant was lined with fish tanks filled with live fish, crab, clams more. Our lunch was served and it was crazy. It was literally like a movie. We had the most exotic looking dishes on our table. For the most part, we really had no idea what we were eating. Most of the dishes were meat... luckily for Chris and me. We survived on broccoli, cabbage, and rice. I tried the fish dishes as well. We soon discovered that all of the meals that were provided were going to be like this and so Chris and I survived on rice for most of the week. After lunch, we headed to the Yantian Port. We had a very warm welcome and learned a lot about the process of loading cargo onto the ships and exporting goods vs unloading and importing like the LA Long Beach port. I have to admit though, I think that once you have seen one port, you have seen most ports. It was interesting but kinda redundant. After our port tour,we then headed to our hotel in Shenzhen. It was five-star and really really nice. It was so randomly placed though in the middle of what seemed like an impoverished area. IT was literally right in front of a "slum" as a lot of the kids called it. It was almost as if the hotel was a barrier between the public on the streets and the slums behind the hotel. We were very hungry after our "delicious" lunch, and so we pretty much changed and headed to the hotel bar. We all ordered cheese pizzas and popcorn and shared beers bc they were 3 for the price of two. We watched a world cup game and had a nice time relaxing and talking. It was surprisingly very cheap and we hung out for a while and even Prof Hasler came and joined for a while. Then Chris, Kyle, Candice and I all watched the Butterfly Effect in our hotel room and fought the urge to fall asleep...kinda! We eventually went to bed and got ready for an early morning the next day.

A trip to the clouds!

So Saturday morning started fairly early. We all rolled out of bed and decided to attempt to go to the beach. One of our fellow students had it all mapped out and a large group set out on the journey. We had to make about three transfers on the metro and then hopped on a metro/rail line that took us to our stop way out by the airport. This took about an hour and a half. Once we arrived and walked out of the station, we realized that we were right by the gondolas that you take to go see the huge Buddha, Ngong Ping. I suggest if you dont know what it is that you look it up because it is really cool, but it is really long and hard to explain the history and why they built the Buddha. we decided that instead of going to the beach right away that we would go see Ngong Ping. We all waited in line and then a small group decided to pay a little extra and ride in the "Crystal Cabin" gondola. Basically, this gondola had a glass bottom floor. It was well worth the extra $5 USD because 1) it was amazing and 2) we didnt have to wait in the long lines. So once we made in into our cabin, it was incredible. It was kinda scary at first but then there was an adorable little baby with us who kept jumping up and down. I realized that if she wasnt afraid then neither was I. However, in my defense it was really crazy. We rode over the ocean and then up the side of the mountain. When we got to the top we were surrounded by clouds and it got really windy and the temperature dropped. Once we finally emerged out of the clouds we looked down and saw a trail of steps leading up the mountain and also trails, one where a lady was weed-whacking (on the side of the mountain). Then we noticed waterfalls and streams and also what looked like religious shrines built into the side of the mountain. Finally, we made it to a small city that sits on the top of the mountain. Apparently, it was a small village before they built the Buddha but it has become very commercialized and is a part of the whole experience. With shops and restaurants and also history about the Buddha and the monastery that sits at the foot of the Buddha. It was beautiful. There was a huge tree that was a "wishing tree" and was where Siddhartha reached enlightenment and the cobblestone streets had flowers hanging overhead (both the tree and the flowers were fake but still very cool). This all lead up to the trail that led to the Buddha. We continued to walk among the amazing scenery and religious structures until we reached a huge set of steps leading up to the Buddha. We all meandered up the steps and took many pictures until we reached the top. Once we reached the Buddha, it was incredible. It is so huge and beautiful and the clouds were just passing right around Buddha's head and it felt so spiritual and peaceful. The Big Buddha was surrounded by many other Buddha's that seemed to be making offerings to him. We could look out and see the ocean and the sun shining below us. It was truly an unforgettable experience. We took many pictures and looked all around. You could see the top of the monastery from Buddha but unfortunately we didnt see any monks. After we left the Buddha in peace, we headed back to the village and I bought a Buddha that represents safety and luck. I love it! It looks over my bed now! (I am still trying to decide if I wanna keep it our give it to you, Mom!) After that, the crystal cabin crew hopped in the gondola and headed down the mountain, where we sat on the glass floor and discussed what it would be like if the glass suddenly wasnt there! It was pretty funny. From there, the small group that I was with decided to head to the beach that was on our original agenda. We found the bus we were supposed to take and met a very nice family that helped us and told the bus driver where we wanted to go. After the beautiful ride through the mountains we arrived at our stop and saw a cow just sitting next to the road. Haha. Then we headed down to the beach and sat up shop! Unfortunately, there was not a lot of swimming because there was a lot of trash in the water :( I did get in though briefly and Chris explored all around the beach and the little village where we were while the rest of us gossiped and discussed life as we sat in the sand. It was really fun. We saw a ton of happy dogs running on the beach and swimming in the water. The whole time we were trying to catch up with the rest of our bigger group, yet had no luck. Finally we decided we were hungry and we went to eat at an African and Mediterranean restaurant right on the water. We sat at a table in the sand and had just ordered when the rest of our group showed up. We had wonderful garlic bread and I had fish and chips. Everyone ate and had a great time talking and hanging out and then the group slowly started to get smaller and smaller and finally I found myself with Chris, Kyle and Josh (some good friends we have made on the trip). We sat on the beach and had a few beers and listened to Kenny Chesney on Kyle's iPhone. We talked about how amazing the setting was a how lucky we all are in this world. We ordered some more garlic bread and then sat there until we were basically kicked out (at which point I was the only sober one). We lost Chris' shoe in the sand and Kyle stripped down out of his bathing suit back into his shorts and accidentally showed his bare tush to the restaurant ladies who were all laughing and shouting that "they had seen his white white bottom." It was pretty funny but I felt like I had three wild children to look after. They were hellacious. Then the bus didnt stop for us and we met some crazy ladies at the bus stop. One was pretty hysterical. We finally flagged down a cab to go to the metro station, all the while Kyle keeps talking about going to Disneyland Hong Kong (which was in the area). Amazingly we made it back eventually even though I had to yell and drop a few choice words to encourage them to keep it together enough to get home. In retrospect it is hilarious but it was crazy at the time! All in all a wonderful day and also very memorable!

A weekend in HK!

So after our test on Thursday, we had class in the afternoon until 6. Which was brutal. All we wanted to do was go celebrate being finished with our exam. So, after class we rested and prepared to celebrate Thursday night in our favorite place... LKF! We headed out about 11:30 from I-house because some of our other people had to go to Sha TIn to a travel agency for a weekend trip, so we got started fairly late. At one club, I got on stage and danced while singing American songs with a Chinese band and some of my newest and closest friends (not drunk at all btw!). It was so fun... and then we ran into some ladies who were all wearing pink wigs and pink devil horns dancing in a club. We ended up talking to them and discovered that they had been in the Dragon Boat Festival the day before and were celebrating their participation and fourth place ranking! The night was fairly mild, yet fantastic like they all are here!

Friday was such an adventure. The day started out a little bit alter then normal because of the late night before. However, once awake a large group decided to head to Mong Kok to go to the infamous Ladies Market. When we first got there we actually went to yet another mall and had lunch. Chris and I are always searching for vegetarian friendly places and we found Curry in a Hurry... which was delicious. After that we played around in a World Cup promo area for a little bit and then decided to head to the Ladies Market... which was an experience. ABout five minutes in, a group of us decide to look for fake purses and find ourselves on the ninth floor of some rickety apartment building looking at a warehouse like room of fake Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and so on. Needless to say we didnt bye anything bc it was kinda shitty but the experience was fun. We headed on down through the markets and I bought a lot of goodies. You have to haggle with everyone and it is so fun but also extremely tiresome. We got to watch what seemed like a real life infomercial and a lot of the guys bought a plastic bag sealer thingy from the Billy Mays of the Ladies Market. I bought an American flag sequined dress with my friend, Eva (you know, the crazy one). After a lot of the group split off to do their own thing, Chris talked me into a foot massage and we had a wonderful time sitting in big red comfy chairs with a a black cat walking around our heads and little Asian women banging the sh!t out of our feet. It was quite an experience... not sure I would go for it again bc I kinda felt like she was mad at me... banging on my legs and heels! it was pretty comical though and it got me ready for more shopping.... kinda! I actually bought some heels right after that and changed into them. Then Chris and I headed to the SOHO area on HOng Kong Island and found this fantastic Italian restaurant. We had a wonderful and very authentic Italian dinner and listened to some great old school AMerican jams while munching on pizza, creamed spinach, and soup! We had some wine and enjoyed taking a rest before meeting the rest of our group in LFK for the USA vs. Slovenia soccer game. We found a great little Chinese bar in the party district and set up shop in a corner in front of a big screen with a huge group of our fellow classmates. Eva and I quickly changed into our American flag dresses and had some help from Dow (sp? I think!), our new friend from Thailand that we met in the bathroom, getting ready. We then all watched the game and sang Journey during a commercial, chanted USA (many times), and went crazy when we got absolutely screwed at the end with the terrible call that lost us the game! We had a blast and formed bonds with the other USA fans... it was def memorable and a once in a lifetime experience. We then hit the streets in our party dresses and got a lot of attention bc of our attire and the game! Everyone danced and mingled with new people and then we all made it safely home and prepared for our next adventure!

Dragon Boat Festival (6-16-10)

So i guess the last incident I wrote about was Macau... i have had some feedback from smothers that she is afraid about all the partying that is happening on the trip! Just imagine what I am not telling you... haha just kidding but I just wanna say for the record that Macau was crazy and a once in a lifetime experience, therefore no need to fret.

Moving on... after the crazy weekend we came back for class on Monday and Tuesday. There was really nothing too exciting that happened those days except for catching up on hw and rest. There may have been a trip or two to the Sha Tin mall in there somewhere BUT Wednesday is where all the excitingness begins! It was a public holiday so we were off from school and very excited about the Dragon Boat Festival. It is a festival that takes place every year all over China. Basically I think it is a celebration of the Chinese culture and people are off of school and work and families and friends get together and eat dumplings, drink some sort of wine and race dragon boats. We headed out in the morning and despite having a test the next day (Thursday) a group of us decided that we will only be in China once for the Dragon Boat Festival and we decided to go to Stanley (an area of HK on the water that is about an hour and a half away) and experience the festival bc it is supposed to be one of the most traditional ones in HK. We rode the MTR to Central and then caught the 6x bust to Stanley. We had a beautiful and also freighting ride there. The drivers here are absolutely crazy and our bus driver was going about 60 mph around the side of these cliffs looking over the water... IN A BUS PEOPLE! Finally, we arrived in Stanley and were immediately sucked into the markets and all the shopping there. It was great. It was our fist real market experience and it was so much fun. I bought a few small gifts and practiced my haggling ( which has greatly improved since). We then headed to the waterfront and looked for boats, but all we saw were teams of people that had participated in the boat races. So we walked around and saw two people with Texas gear on. We then shared a few pitchers of beer while we walked and explored the area near the water. I bought a great dress from Korea and then we settled down for lunch at a funny little place on the water. We had a great lunch and ate, drank, and were very merry. We then decided it was time to find the boats. We headed to the other side of Stanley and were pleasantly surprised to hear chanting and drumming... that was when we knew we were in the right place. Some of us bought cool T-shirts (including me... mine is def the best!) and then we headed down to the water where we were immersed in a sea of people on the beach. There were boats lined all over the water and a man speaking over a loud speaker. We quickly made our way as close to the water/boats as possible and took a million pictures of the people dressed up in costumes (Fred and Wilma Flinstones all over one boat... etc). There were also people from all over the world. It was so cool and needless to say, the race really was not that big of deal BUT it is the celebration that counts. There were dragon heads on the ends of each boat that were blessed before the races and then the drummers on the end of each boats drummed in order to set the pace. One of my crazy friends, Eva, got on the front of one of the boats and they let her bang the drums. It was incredible. We had a great fun filled adventure. I have millions of pictures to prove it too! We then made the long journey back to the I-House where we studied and slept. I got a 100 on my test the next day so I decided that I had def made the right decision in taking the extra time, energy, and money to go to Stanley!

I am so behind!

I just wanted to update the blog to tell everyone that so much has happened in the last week or so and I am so sorry for being so behind. I dont want to miss a beat or forget anything and therefore I really need to sit down and think about everything. I am going to write tomorrow night and update everything! yahoo :)

Macau!

SO I have been trying to get to writing about Macau for quite some time now. I think that the whole experience was so incredibly overwhelming and felt so unbelievable that it is difficult to write start writing about! First of all... we had to get up very early to make the long journey to Macau. Many people just wanted to go for the day and our liaisons planned a day trip for those that wanted to just explore for one day. However, a group of us decided that we had heard such amazing/crazy things about the "Vegas of the East" that we decided we were going to pack backpacks and head over there... once there the plan was to find a hotel. So we headed out about 8:30 and caught the metro to TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) where we were told to catch the ferry. Well... finding things here are never quite as easy as they seem. We got to the ferry area and were in all the wrong places... so we had some McDonald's and stopped in a 7-11 (very frequent occurrence bc they are EVERYWHERE). Finally, Candice started asking everyone where to go and we headed in a different direction. Suddenly, I find myself on the Champs Elysees of Hong Kong. I have never been surrounded by so many amazing stores... Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Dior, Chanel.... the list goes on and on. I mean these stores are everywhere here. Who shops here? I mean really? There are more Prada's then McDonald's here I think! We manage to weave our way through the streets window shopping as we go and finally find the ferry area. We get there and find out we have five minutes before the next ferry to Macau leaves. Candice runs up to us and yells "Supply Chain (as she commonly refers to us bc of the program we are in here) we have five minutes everyone go, go, go... move!" SO naturally we follow directions and buy tickets right before walking through the gates, then we have to fill out customs forms and head through customs. We get through to the other side and this woman starts yelling at us... run, run, run... meanwhile some stragglers of our group are still in customs, so we wait for them and then all start running. I thought the terminal would be right around the corner but we literally have to run for five minutes, go up and down and from the inside finally to the outside where we board the ferry while the ticket taker man laughs at the running ants! We make it and get settled into a pretty nice ferry and head out for Macau.

The ferry took about 1 hour instead of the 30 minutes like we were told and it cost about twice as much as we were told by the liaisons... nothing is ever as it seems! But we finally get to Macau after a rocky ferry ride, and then we have to go through customs again! Our next task is to try to find a hotel! Organizing 16 people is one of the most frustrating things in the world and luckily Chris took it upon himself to start looking for hotels. We decided that all 16 of us wanted to chip in and stay in a huge suite in the strip area of Macau. We talk to a few people and look at some maps and finally decide to take the free shuttle to The Wynn Hotel. Once we get there, Chris and I go in and ask about rates and the different suites... we were trying to play it off as ridiculously spoiled young adults (some may argue that we actually are)... but we get some information and go back out to the group to tell them the prices and choices. Once again SOOOOO difficult to try to make decisions with so many opinionated young people, especially when it comes to money. Basically it was a huge cluster(insert profanity here) and security was all around They Wynn because it is so nice and luxurious. It felt like we were being watched the whole time... eventually Julie and Elizabeth head in and ask the desk people some more questions, the main one being "how many people can stay in the suite" to which the nice lady replied, "well we can't really regulate how many people stay there because it would be your suite so we cannot control how many people you let stay with you" at which point we were sold! We booked a huge suite in exclusive " Wynn Club." Chris put it on his card and everyone paid him $50 USD. The keys even had his name on them! We got into the suite and words cannot even describe how incredible this room was! We had a massage room, two bathrooms, a great view of the Macau "strip", a gigantic master bath with an incredible shower, a bar, one king size bed, electronic blinds and shades, fax machine, ipod player two big screens, and four couches with a breakfast nook! It was decorated so cool and had HUGE glass windows looking out onto the strip. Julie, Elizabeth and I jumped on the bed like monkeys, sprawled on the massage table, put on the bathrobes and took a million pictures. It was at this point that Elizabeth and I decided not to go sight seeing and decided we were going to utilize the five-star pool! Don't get me wrong, we wanna see the sights of Macau, but we are just gonna go back for a day trip another time when we dont have the most incredible service and amenities at our service!

After the initial excitement, everyone headed their separate directions. As mentioned before, Elizabeth and I went to the pool. We got there and immediately had people walk up to us and had us who we were and what room we were staying in. I had to admit I felt pretty cool that we could sign suite 1806 in the "Wynn Club." I am pretty sure we had even better service once they realized the room in which we were staying. They grabbed three towels for each of us and set us up poolside where they made little chairs for us and then brought us lunch menus... we had decided to really live it up and have lunch (and drinks) poolside! We each ordered a cocktail and caesar salad. Of course our cocktail did not come until twenty minutes after our food, but the salad was probably the best caesar I have ever had. Our drinks finally came and were very strong bc we had ordered an extra rum shot! Our waiter was so nice and spoke amazing English so it was so nice. Chris joined us a little later and we discovered Macau beer! Obviously, it was made in Macau and it was so good and CHEAP! We swam and tried to soak up the nonexistent sun (def the only thing that could have made this any better!) The pool was the most beautiful and perfect pool I have ever seen or swam in. It was lined with beautiful blue tiles and surrounded by trees and lush greens. There was a small pond area near by equipped with camel statues, a sauna, and an area of the pool that some people call an infinity pool... where the water flows over the side and looks like you are almost in the ocean! We played in the pool with my waterproof camera and took a million pics. Unfortunately our time was cut a tad bit short bc we wanted to attend the group dinner on the other island of Macau, with the people that werent staying the night and with our liaisons... mainly we wanted to go bc it was FREE! We took a taxi to the other island and ended up that we got there early... which rarely ever happens for me, so we decided to take advantage of it and explored an area that was very Portuguese and not very touristy (Macau used to be a Portuguese colony). Julie, Chris, Elizabeth and I all got Macau beer for about a dollar and walked the streets. We saw a lot of religious shrines, neat apartments and even a pet store, where they were selling pet toys, food and even did grooming. There was a cute dog in there that looked like a white schnauzer. I kept talking about it and how I wondered what it was... one of the groomers finally looked at me and said, "it is a maltese with a schnauzer haircut," in perfect English! I thought it was so cool and the little dog was so cute and friendly. We finally headed back to the restaurant and met up with the rest of the group. The manager of the restaurant, Pinocchio's, was the cutest and smallest little guy. He was so nice and very proud of the restaurant. Since, the meal was paid for and organized for a large group, the liaison ordered a lot of different dishes and then the food was eaten buffet style. When the food came out it was very interesting. We had cabbage and some strange thick soy type sauce, whole fish (eyes and all), crab hush puppy things, crab legs (which were impossible to crack open) and some other meat dishes that I did not pay attention too. It was quite an authentic experience, but let's just say that that basically means I was glad that I was kinda still full from my poolside lunch and my Macau beer!

After the restaurant, we headed back to our suite. It was at this point that we started the round of showers. Everyone wanted to shower in the crazy shower and use the "rain" shower head! It was soooo great but took forever! Everyone started to get ready and we had people using every spare inch of space to get ready.. the girls were trying to utilize every little decorative mirror and we all used the hairdryer (which is def a luxury here bc no one has one in the dorm). Then there was a line to use the air straightener that Julie, Elizabeth and I all purchased together. Basically, everyone was looking good and feeling fine... especially since this is also about the time that drinks started flowing! We had the craziest pre-party and took a million pictures in the hotel room together... yes al 16 of us! It was def the best group bonding experience yet. There were many things said and done that were quotable the next day... one being of course "what happens in Macau, stays in Macau!" We prob partied for like two hours before we even made it out of the room and it could be argued that it would have been just as fun to stay in our suite the whole night! After we finally all made in downstairs, we took a million more pictures in the lobby and then caught the showing of The Tree of Prosperity. It is really popular and def a touristy thing to do within the hotel, but it was actually really cool. There is a huge dome like thing in the ground that sits under a very ornate ceiling that has gold vines and serpenty snakes all over it. Then this music starts playing and a huge tree that changes to all different colors comes out of the dome and reaches towards the serpenty ceiling. Did I really understand it... hmmm no, but it was cool! Then we headed out onto the street and took more pictures. After which we headed to the MGM and a disco... etc the night goes on and gets more fuzzy. At some point a group heads back to the hotel while some other people do their own thing. Chris ends up donating an great amount of money to the MGM casino and others come back with crazy tales of Californians and getting lost by themselves... like I said etc... PG version! I end up scoring a great spot in the bed along with about three other people who find their drunken way there. I was def a lucky one bc someone slept of the massage table (a def score), in chairs, on the floor, couches and one legit looking cot! It was hilarious. I wish someone could have taken a picture of everyone in their respective sleeping positions! It was great.

In the morning I enjoyed an incredible five star buffet breakfast and we all tried to enjoy the hotel. We ended up making our way home from fairy tale land and it took us for forever! WE got back around 6 and left around 2 from Macau... but we made it and then had to come back to the real world of homework and dorm life! I am cutting this short bc it is Thursday and we are getting ready to go out to LFK! Gotta go... more to come soon!

The beginning of a crazy trip!

So, I know that I have def been slacking on the blog! I feel like there is always so much going on and not a lot of down time. It is great to be going and doing so many fun things and I want to take full advantage of every second… BUT now I am so behind. I am going to do my best to remember every little detail!

Last Thursday, the 10^th, was our first class day! I had to stay up really late on the Wednesday night finishing my homework and was so sleepy from jetlag. I ended up finishing my hw after working for a while with one of my roommates, Julie! We did a good job though and both got full credit! Our other roommate is our TA for the class, Elizabeth. I am not sure if I have mentioned her yet, but she is awesome and we have become really great friends! Anyway, back to Thursday... class was very interesting. Our first class of the day was from 9-1. We had a Chinese professor who lectured about Supply management in Asia. While it was a really great experience and interesting to learn about various perspectives and cultural differences, four hours is a really long time for class…. So needless to say I got a little sleepy. We had a lunch break from 1-2 and had an amazing “welcome” lunch provided by the school at a very swanky staff restaurant. The food was great and there was a great salad bar. It was our professor’s birthday and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to him with all the Chinese people watching. It was really fun and the cake was awesome! After that, we had to go back to class from 2-6 with our Professor Hasler from UT. It was soooo long and the material is flying at us so fast, but at least I find it very interesting. Our classroom is similar to the size of a HS class and the desks feel like they are for 8 year olds, but they keep it very cool and we have frequent breaks where I often buy a Coca-Cola from the machine outside with my Octopus card (card for the metro system).

After class, most of the students (or at least the ones that I have gotten fairly close to) decided to head to the Sha Tin area on the metro and go to dinner together. We arrived at the Sha Tin area and exited the metro area. We were immediately thrown into a bustling area with people everywhere and little vendors lined up along the exits of the metro. One of our friends, Kyle, bought a funny light up marker board that he loved for $5 USD (he was robbed!). It was so funny and we all kept calling it his Ipad and were fighting to get to play with it. We ventured onto the streets and came across what looked like some sort of soccer game! There were school-aged boys running around on a painted concrete soccer field. Naturally Chris was very intrigued! Somehow we decided to head back up near the metro after the soccer experience and we came across the largest mall I have ever seen. It is truly one of the most amazing malls and places I have ever been. They have everything you could ever imagine and tons of shops that span over 7 floors and many annex like areas. It is truly like a maze. I feel overwhelmed just looking at the escalators that span multiple floors and skip random levels (I have since been back about four times!). Anyway, after navigating through the mall, the group decides to eat at a fairly nice Japanese restaurant. After sitting there for a few minutes, almost the entire rest of our class comes in… including Prof Hasler and his daughter. The poor restaurant people were so overwhelmed. We all ordered at different times and it was just pandemonium. So, that is when Chris, Elizabeth and Josh (Chris’ wingman) decided to order Saki and Japanese beer to do sake bombs. It took about thirty minutes and I had already devoured my prawn tempura when the sake finally came. We enjoyed taking shots of sake and Kirin Ichiban and Asahi (Japanese beer). It was really fun and the whole group was just having a blast together and drinking and getting to know each other really well. Things were so disorganized bc of all the people and the wait staff did not speak English that well. We kept trying to order more “hot sake” and they kept bringing us beer. Prof Hasler’s daughter finally made the connection that they thought we were saying “Asahi!” It was really hilarious! At one point this young Japanese boy brought out a very odd looking dish and put it randomly on the table. We really had no idea whose it was or even what it was. Suddenly, certain parts of patty looking dish started to move. Everyone started freaking out and laughing and yelling. Once everyone settled down… my favorite little Asian girl on the trip asked in her sweet and somewhat squeaky concerned voice “Did someone order moving food?” It was by far one of the best moments of the trip so far. It may be the kind of thing that you had to be there for but everyone was rolling. It got even better when the food was finally determined to be the dish that this quiet and standoffish Japanese boy had ordered. He was trying to ask the waiter if it was alive… the waiter kept saying “no live, no live!” It was great! Def a wonderful evening and after the party kept going when Elizabeth and I went with Chris and Josh to find a liquor store. We ended up in another extension of the crazy huge mall and could not find a liquor store but we did manage to explain what a tequila shot was to some bar staff at another restaurant where they actually gave us salt and lime! It was great but we decided it was prob a good time to call it a night! We caught a cab back to the I-House where we kept trying to tell the cab driver “thank you” in Chinese… I am still not exactly sure how to say it! it was all in all a fabulous night minus the fact that Josh forgot a world cup jersey at the Chinese tequila bar which he had purchased earlier… he managed to get it back the next day though when we get back to the mall… they had actually saved it for him!

On Friday morning I woke up for class feeling just fine… despite what you may have concluded after my explanation of my previous night! We headed to class around 8:30 because it is about a thirty minute walk uphill and upstairs. It is def a good workout and wakes you up in the morning. Especially if it is raining… which is a frequent occurrence this time of year here. Class was just fine... our Prof is great and was giving us all a hard time about the sake from the night before… I will forever remain silent about whether or not he participated in the festivities! WE got out of class around 1 and had the rest of the afternoon free. We got cleaned up and then headed back to Sha Tin for dinner (again) and some shopping. I do not even want to admit that we ate at Ruby Tuesday’s but…. we did! It was a pretty funny experience bc even the “western” restaurants here have a very Asian flair. It was happy hour, so naturally we ordered some drinks. Like the sake from the night before… they took about 45 minutes for the bartender to make! It is hilarious. You will be practically done with your food before you can even think about getting your drink! After our fun dinner experience, Elizabeth and I headed to look for something in the mall. We planned to meet the group at a specific time at the MTR station but somehow we barely missed them and got left. I was a little peeved at Chris to say the least! But we ended up making it our mission to beat the rest of the “impatient” group to our destination. And we did! We both felt very accomplished! It was awesome and then we met up with the rest of the class and our trip liaisons to go see the famous Symphony of Lights. If you are on the Kowloon side, it is a lightshow that takes place across the Harbor on Hong Kong Island on all the high-rises. When we got there before the show started, it looked like a massive time square with huge neon signs and lights projecting across the water. The group got together and took a professional picture with HK Island behind us. We all paid $20 HKD (about $2.50 USD) for a cool printed picture. Soon after that, the light show started and a huge crowd formed all along the water. It was a little foggy unfortunately but still really cool and something that is a must if you go to HK bc it is very famous! After that cultural experience, we headed as a group to the Star Ferry which is also a must do here. It is a ferry ride that takes about 8 minutes to connect people from HK Island to Kowloon and vice versa. We rode the ferry together and enjoyed the amazing view of the skylines on both sides. Then we all ended up in the central area of HK Island where we made our way to the longest escalator in the world. It is really a big string of escalators that weaves its way up the middle of HK Island and is in the midst of everything. We eventually found ourselves, including Hasler and his daughter and our liaisons, right in the middle of a huge party scene with a ton of partying World Cup watchers. It was pretty funny. At some point we had lost Chris and Josh… or rather they had lost themselves… and then found out that they had made it to the main area that we were trying to find. The area is referred to as the 6^th street of HK to anyone that is familiar with Austin. Basically it is a HUGE party area with tons of clubs and bars and people winding their way through the streets. Eventually the students, sans our professor and liaisons, made it to the Lan Kwai Fong and managed to find out missing links (which seems to happen every time we get split up… we magically all find each other again, even in extreme circumstances!). I bought some Carlsberg beer, shoved it into my shoulder bag, and walked around the streets taking in all the sights and craziness, Elizabeth on my side drinking straight out of a Yellow Tail wine bottle. Eventually, we made our way to a Russian Ice bar where you walked in and had to put on big faux fur coats in order to stay warm in the “ice bar.” It was so cool and we got many great pictures in the coats and with the fake ice looking walls… it was freezing though so some people split off from the group and decided to explore the streets some more. Finally we are reconvened again and decided to head back to the Kowloon side in order to make sure that we did not miss the metro bc it closes fairly early. We all had an exciting and adventurous trip back for many reasons… including yelling at our rivals, the MPA students that are also here and are kinda rude and walking all the way from the University metro stop to the top of the mountain where our dorm is located. It took about 45 minutes to get to the top and we had a group of about 18 all following each other like little ants! It was great and hilarious! Such a memorable night and I cannot wait for my next Lan Kwai Fong experience… which I imagine will be this Thursday! Don’t judge me from the crazy beginning of my weekend… there is more to come soon with my stories from Macau… the Vegas of Asia. I am going to let you all catch up on your reading and I am going to catch up on sleep! I will write about Macau in the morning!