This past week, I have been so upset because the realization that my trip is halfway over has hit. Also, I know that the second half of the trip is full of group projects, essays and finals (all of my favorite things to do in HK). I made a comment about how the trip is "half over" once and my local friend told me that it's not half over; it's half begun! He was right, because the journey is nowhere over.
The first part of my trip I had the opportunity to visit Malaysia (the country that has stolen my heart), the Philippines and explore locally around HK with all of the wonderful exchange students in this program. I adjusted to some of the food (and learned to use chopsticks), and finally figured out how to use the MTR system, even though my sense of direction still needs some work. My body realized that school is more important than sleeping in two more hours and my mind realized that there is no time to waste when in Asia.
I have two and a half months left and many more trips planned to Indonesia (with a side trip to Malaysia--of course), Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and mainland. I also have some visitors coming and I can't wait to play tour guide and watch others fall in love with the city that I fell in love with. Even though technically HK is a "small city" for being such a popular and international place, I still have so much I want to see. The weeks have been taken over by schoolwork, unfortunately, but I always have 2-3 days of the weekend to dedicate to my bucket list adventures. This past weekend I went on several "bucket list" adventures including:
The first part of my trip I had the opportunity to visit Malaysia (the country that has stolen my heart), the Philippines and explore locally around HK with all of the wonderful exchange students in this program. I adjusted to some of the food (and learned to use chopsticks), and finally figured out how to use the MTR system, even though my sense of direction still needs some work. My body realized that school is more important than sleeping in two more hours and my mind realized that there is no time to waste when in Asia.
I have two and a half months left and many more trips planned to Indonesia (with a side trip to Malaysia--of course), Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and mainland. I also have some visitors coming and I can't wait to play tour guide and watch others fall in love with the city that I fell in love with. Even though technically HK is a "small city" for being such a popular and international place, I still have so much I want to see. The weeks have been taken over by schoolwork, unfortunately, but I always have 2-3 days of the weekend to dedicate to my bucket list adventures. This past weekend I went on several "bucket list" adventures including:
- Monkey Hill-There is no way this would be legal in America. A group of my friends and I set out to find Kam Shan Country Park, which is famous for it's monkey population. The idea of Monkey Hill sounded awesome in our minds. Once we got off the bus, we saw our first monkey sitting on a bridge. We immediately started taking selfies and pictures of it. Then, when we went to pass the monkey, it literally drew back and got ready to attack. Turns out the monkeys aren't as adorable as I originally had thought. And this was ONE monkey. By the time we got to "Monkey Hill," we had lost a member of the group and I was fully prepared to die that day. We walked up the hill, as hundreds of wild monkeys walked around us. We couldn't make eye contact, stop walking or look at their babies since monkeys take these things as threats. It was terrifying and amazing at the same time.
- Lamma Island-On Saturday, a group of us headed over to the ferry pier to catch a boat to Lamma Island. We hadn't heard promising reviews but Lamma and Lantua Islands are the two largest islands in HK, so we decided to see for ourselves. Once we arrived to this beautiful island, we tried the food, explored the island (trespassing into the residential section-none of the eight of us read the sign telling us not to), and visited local stores. The island was beautiful and everyone was so friendly, but I am going to have to stick with the bright and busy city of HK.
- This wasn't on the bucket list adventures, but on Thursday I had the pleasure (heart attack) of watching our inter-hall tug-of-war competition. I didn't know tug-of-war could be so competitive. I am embarrassed/proud of how much I got into this competition. It was pretty impossible not too since the canteen where the competition was held was packed and everyone had their hall t-shirts on, their faces painted and their banners ready. It was seriously competitive but it was so much fun to see all the hall pride that everyone has. It was the equivalent of a UCF football game. I didn't participate but my hall won second runner up for girls (there was an awards ceremony).
I couldn't NOT pick a picture from Monkey Hill. This was what we were walking through (with more monkeys on the other side as well). It was absolutely terrifying, exhilarating and hilarious.