Assault in the Ladies Market

Today was a little less hectic, but it was no doubt still very entertaining.

After a late (well early for HK standards) night out, the majority of us slept in and met up around 11:30 to explore the ladies market in Mong Kok. As the 6 traveling Hoosiers, we navigated our way back on the MTR to Mong Kok and found the infamous Ladies Market on Tung Choi Street. As the only white people in the station a fellow City U student approached us and tagged along.

5/8 Hoosiers in the MTR station 

The streets of Mong Kok during the day were no different from the night. It is equally as packed at all hours.

The Ladies Market was an experience. There are hundreds of stalls basically all selling the same knock-off purses, cheap lighters, fake Beats, and random "made in China" goods. Despite the tackiness/crappy quality it is still fun to look and practice bartering skills. I'm sure eventually i'll end up buying some little trinkets.

Stalls in the Ladies Market

While bartering is fun Paul quickly learned that things can get ugly. With the intention of buying a pair of sunglasses the lady asked if he'd like to buy two for a better price. The better price being 390HK we walked away. In true bartering fashion, the lady then asked "how much you pay" and Paul said 100HK. She agreed to the price and Paul decided he didn't actually want them and started to walk away. The lady ran up, grabbed his wrist, and wouldn't let go until he paid. Paul said he only had 20HK and she said fine. When pulling out his money clip he flashed a 500HK at which point the vendor whipped out a partial 2x4 and started smacking it against a pole yelling "fook yew". Needless to stay Paul was a little apprehensive about returning to that stall again.

After some more shopping and finding Stephanie her Buddah (which Corey bartered for because Steph is just too nice), we headed back to City U's Garden Cafe for lunch. This canteen has good reviews and we were all ready for a wider scope of food options. My smoked turkey panini was delicious!

The rest of the day was more mandatory orientation events which lasted into early evening. After that I headed back with the intention of a quick nap and then joining the organized trip to the IFC building (it's in the Dark Knight), but head a bad headache and ended up staying in for some much needed sleep.

The Residence Halls

A Hotdog is a Sausage...A Bar is a Club!

Today was another full day of exploring and getting errands done.

After falling asleep without dinner the night before around 7 and waking up at 6 I was very ready for the canteen to open at 8.

I had a normal breakfast of eggs and toast. Others in the group were a little more adventurous and got the noodles with "sausage". Corey quickly discovered that in Hong Kong a sausage is actually a hotdog.

After breakfast we had a mandatory team building/orienteering activity at the university. We had to go on a scavenger hunt around the school and find certain buildings. My team finished in record time and ended up winning!

City U provided a dim sum lunch after all the running around. At the lunch we were welcomed to the university by the dean and met some other faculty. I struggled with chopsticks the entire meal...hopefully I improve soon otherwise I'm going to get very hungry!

All of the food was great but dessert was the best. I had some sort of mango sauce rolled in shredded coconut.

We cleared our plates, had a short prize ceremony (1st place got a City U shirt), and then a group of us headed out to finish some errands.

We went and got passport photos taken for our student octopus cards, signed up for organized activities (Chinese New Years party, sports on a Monday night, a hiking trip, etc.), and got a few groceries for my room from Taste.

The long day of running around was tiring but successful. I took a short nap and then got ready for the evening.

A group of North Americans (all the IU kids and some Canadians) made plans to eat at Mr. Wongs in Mong Kok and then head to LKF (the clubbing area) after.

We all met up around 7:30 with a much larger group than we anticipated (a few Frenchies, Norwegians, and Swedes tagged along too) and headed to Mong Kok on the MTR.

The walk through Mong Kok to the restaurant was unbelievable! The area has a lot of shops, a lot of people, and a lot of lights! It felt like daytime outside because the lights were so bright.

The fifteen minute walk was a sensory overload...particularly the deep fried tofu food stand (half our group including myself gagged at the smell as we walked past). Apparently the tofu is stored in feces...this is something I don't plan on trying after learning more about the cooking process.

Finally we arrived at Mr.Wongs. To our surprise it was not the name of the restaurant but instead a reference to the owner, Mr. Wong. He's a very entertaining guy who loves to joke with internationals.

For $50HK we had all you can drink beer, a makeshift table cleaned personally with Mr.Wong's spit, beautiful tarps (see the picture) that decorated the alley we ate in, and some seriously delicious food! Apparently in HK the more trashy looking the restaurant the better the food!

The walls of Mr. Wong's

I found out after eating that the broccoli we ate was stored at the back, next to the dumpster, and on the floor...but hey I'm not sick yet!

Next stop was a night out in LKF. We took the MTR to central and walked to a club called Play. Some of the boys had to go and buy pants because they were refused entry in shorts but eventually we all got in.

The theme of the night was jaeger and flip cup. Five of us formed a Team North America and were ready to dominate the game.

Before playing seven of us took a quick "Hong Kong" shot and to our surprise the seven shots cost almost $100US...oops. That was definitely the first and last as apparently not everything in Asia is cheap.

We failed at flip cup (in our defense the cups are not solos and are definitely harder to flip).

Team North America 

Next stop was the 7 Eleven for cheap alcohol and then we walked the streets of LKF. We were shown a place called China Bar which was more like a club where there were crazy lights and some semi decent dance music. After a lot of dancing and a first successful night our we caught the red cab home and slept for the night!

Location:Kowloon

Left Foot In, Right Foot Out

Did you know that some Chinese believe if you enter a temple with your left foot first and exit with your right foot you are spiritually cleansed.

Today I took an organized tour through the college of business to Lantau Island and Tai O which is a small fishing village on the island.

Lantau is the largest of the Hong Kong islands and is home to the largest sitting Buddah in the world!

After an hour and a half bus ride, a short stop at Long Beach, some interesting Chinese crackers (they tasted like weird popcorn), and meeting some new exchange students we finally arrived at the Buddha.

Long Beach... A Foggy Morning 

Paul and his Chinese cracker snacks

From the bottom of the hill it didn't look very big but after climbing the steps to the top of the mountain I realized how much the giant sculpture dwarfed me!

View from the bottom of the mountain 

After a quick walk around and a climb inside the Buddah (the Buddhist relics are inside) I headed back down all the stairs to eat lunch.

                            

      


                   

 

I don't know if it was my lack of sleep or just the fact that I was extremely hungry but my chopstick skills were not up to par. I reached for a spring roll, took a bite, and the whole thing fell on the table. Despite the mishap I did not give in to eating with a fork. The dishes we were served were mainly vegetarian. I tried most of them. The only sketchy looking one was some tofu brain thing.

After lunch a few other exchange students and I went to the temple. It was so colorful! There was also a lot of incense burning in shrine type things.

After a quick walk through all the shops and a pit stop at Starbucks we got back on the bus and headed to Tai O.

John, our tour guide, instructed us not to get on any boats that take you on a dolphin tour so instead we explored all the shops and taste tested a few of the local treats.

All of the shops sold mainly fish based products. Most of which looked completely inedible! All the stalls did make for some good pictures though!

    

 The strangest item I saw for sale were raw egg yolks that had been set out to cook in the sun. I didn't try those but shortly after spotting these treats I tried a red bean dumpling and coconut dumpling.

Raw egg yolks

The red bean was not very tasty but the coconut one was surprisingly good. The sticky/fluffy consistency was a little odd but I didn't get sick and I figured I had to try something new!

Coconut dumpling

After a long day exploring we all got back on the bus and headed back to the city. I made plans to go out for dinner and drinks but ended up sleeping until morning. Hopefully I get over this jet lag thing soon!

Location:Lantau Island/ Tai O Fishing Village

I hope you get your napin

We survived day one!

After only four hours of sleep the Hoosiers met up and decided to conquer Hong Kong together.

With poor directions and no sense of direction we set out to find campus and collect our welcome packs. Every correct turn was a huge sense of accomplishment and we successfully made it to the college of business (quite quickly I might add). The strangest thing about this whole experience is that we are now the minority...as Corey, another IU student, puts it we're the Intees (international kids).

After collecting some paperwork and drinking a Ribena juice box (YAY! Loving the UK influence). We set out to get all the necessities for a five month stay. On the list was...

1. A working HK cellphone
2. An Octopus Card
3. Student ID
4. Bedding
5. Towels
6. Bathroom stuff
7. Detergent
8. Hangers
9. Bottled water
10. Toilet paper

Paul and I enjoying our Ribena

Before we could really do anything else we all set out to find some authentic HK breakfast food. With no English on the menu it was a bit of a guessing game but I managed to score some delicious beef an noodles with an egg on top and some lemon tea






We headed to Festival Walk which last a huge shopping mall and tried to find some cheap cellphones. Without much success we headed back to our dorms and kidnapped John's local roommate Ken. He was a huge help. Not only did he help us find phones, SIM cards, and the MTR station he agrees to take us to Ikea in Sha Tin.

After a long shopping trip and riding the MTR for the first time we walked back to the dorms an ate in the canteen...definitely not the best food. I did get to use some of the Cantonese that Ken taught us though. I now know how to say hello, thank you, sorry, and toilet. I'm practically fluent! Paul and I also found out that jet lag makes communication difficult. Hoping to get his "nap in" I politely offered him a "napkin". Probably was more funny at the time but jet lag will do that to you.

After finally getting my lost bags we met up again to go and get our student IDs. Tired and cranky we made one last stop to Taste, the grocery store. We got all of the toiletries on our shopping lists without breaking the bank too much.

Lucky for Paul and I we got cheap green tea TP... Not sure what it will be like but I can only hope it improves the bathroom.

After a little unpacking and room organizing I am finally all moved into room 1404B Hall 10!

My little room!

New bedding and comforter

Our shared bathroom

Side note...the bathroom took me 15 minutes to find on the first night...who would have thought it would be in our room. I was looking for a communal one at the end of the hall!

Common ground

The view from the end of my bed!

Location:Tat Hong Avenue,,Hong Kong

Hong Kong or Bust

My day was the definition of eventful.

Who would have thought that a day where most of your time is spent sitting in an airplane seat could be stressful.

The delay from Chicago to Beijing meant that I missed my connecting flight to Hong Kong. What should have been an easy transfer of boarding cards turned into quite the debacle.

First off, the Chinese apparently do not believe in efficient customer service or working past 5PM. It took over an hour to figure out how to get to Hong Kong without having to spend the night in the Beijing airport. Luckily I made a new friend, Maggie, who was visiting her grandfather in HK and was fluent in Mandarin. I jumped at the chance of a personal translator.

We both made it on a 9PM flight to HK and arrived safely just after midnight.

Because of my late arrival, my previously arranged pick up plans were scratched and Martin and Fi worked on getting me to City U a different way. Fortunately for me they arranged a private car that took me directly to the dorms. Unfortunately for me the driver only took me and My carry on luggage... Two of my bags got lost somewhere along the way.

After a 45 minute ride Kowloon Tong (that's where City U is) I got to the check in desk and finally saw some familiar faces! Like true Hoosiers we all stick together and I walked in to find all of the IU kids ordering McDonalds for delivery. That's right...McDonalds delivers here! I arrived just in time to place my order for a second McDonalds within a 48 hour period and then took my luggage to my residence hall. I also got my first Chinese Coca Cola!




I'm in Hall 10 one of the newer halls and I have a local roommate named Jacqueline.

After a quick dinner together we all headed to bed around 3am and planned to meet at 8:30 am to conquer the first of many orientation tasks.

Location:Beijing to HK

Somewhere Over the Pacific

Somewhere over the Pacific it hit me. I just left the country for five months! I guess the nerves finally set in (don't worry mom excitement still heavily outweighs the nerves).

Although my trip may have had a few bumps in the road...for instance a two hour delay and a very good chance I miss my Hong Kong connection from Beijing I'm beyond thrilled at the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and see the famous city skyline for the first time.

So far I've watched two movies on the plane, eaten half a turkey sandwich (NOT provided by the airline), filled in my landing card, and helped my neighbor clean up a massive coke spill. Despite my eventful happenings I'm not happy to say there are still TEN hours left. I don't know how people fly this route all the time!

Just in case any of you where wondering I did purchase and eat my last American meal before leaving Chicago. Before I make the big reveal I'd like to make a few excuses for myself.

1. There were two viable (by that I mean edible) options in my departure terminal.

2. After a three week stint in England I have been craving buffalo sauce...a delicacy I know I will not have for yet another five months (hint..if anyone would be kind enough to send me a care package feel free I throw in a bottle of my favorite dipping sauce!)

3. It would be rude to not consume something iconically American before leaving the country of all countries for a whole semester.

Some of you may have guessed already but or those of you still wondering I did purchase a 10piece chicken nugget meal from the original fast food supplier...Mikey D's.




I ate it all in record time with my buffalo sauce and lots of ketchup and don't regret my decision one bit. I guess the New Years cleanse can start tomorrow.

And so it begins...

My 24+ hour journey has finally begun!

Mom and Dad dropped me off nice and early to the airport and helped me get all checked in. You would have thought that with all my travel experience no help was needed but last minute hugs were a must and who else but Dad would pay for my second bag (thanks!). Fi also played the system and snuck a few extra shoes into my bag just after it had been weighed.

With my fully stuffed duffel and backpack I said my last goodbyes and headed to security




Of course my bags were ripped apart by TSA...they just wanted to add to the experience.

No rules broken though. My camera just looked a little suspicious stuffed at the bottom of my bag.

After a quick repack I headed to my gate which of course was at the end of the concourse.

I'm now waiting to board the first of three planes today.

At least the hour flight to Chicago will be a nice warmup for the 14 hour flight to Beijing!

Location:Indianapolis Airport