Into Southeast Asia

Well, we’re back to summer already! The air outside is thick and humid and everyone’s back to laying out on the deck and getting sunburned. Allyn and I had to take a few moments today while basking in the sun, surrounded by the open ocean to remember that this is school. At times like this it’s way too easy to forget that we have to go to class. Life’s not too bad :)
Hong Kong is a crazy city. It would be such a great place to spend a vacation in the summer… so of course I want to come back! It has a completely different feel than the rest of China—still crowded but nothing compared to Shanghai, and definitely the most international city we’ve been to. Pretty much every sign was also in English and everyone spoke English. I felt like I saw as many Europeans as I did Chinese! So anyway, the first day I went out with Erin and Margalit to meet Erin’s two friends who are from Hong Kong. She met them in a study abroad program they did in Australia and they said they’d show us all around Hong Kong! So we met Alex and Samantha, who were soo excited to meet us and spoke perfect English. We first walked around on the island we were docked at (Kowloon) and went to the natural history museum. Then they took us to a delicioussss dim dum brunch, and I’m so glad we had them because I would’ve had no idea what to order! Dim sum is kind of like tapas, but they’re all sorts of dumplings and buns. We got some with shrimp, pork, fish, these little turnip cakes, and I ordered buns with ginger and honey inside. Everything was so good! Then Margalit decided to be adventurous and ordered duck feet… and yes they were exactly what you would imagine. Then Alex and Samantha wanted us to try all their favorite desserts so they ordered us this mango coconut soup-like stuff that had bubbles in the bottom like bubble tea. And thennn they got us this sweet red bean soup, mango jelly, and a “birthday” bun with a sweet tasting lotus seed inside. Everything is so different than what I’m used to! But luckily I’m not a picky eater so I love to try everything.
So after being filled with every kind of dumpling possible, we left Kowloon island by ferry to Hong Kong island where we walked through the Avenue of Stars, through street after street of towering skyscrapers, and then started up through the hills on the longest escalator in the world! It was never ending, and we didn’t even go all the way to the top. It was neat how the city and all the buildings are built on the hills and it just seems to go up forever. It’s hard to describe without pictures! We took a cab ride back, which literally felt like being on a rollercoaster, down to another area where all the street markets are. One entire street was like dedicated to selling pets, it was so strange. Walls were just lined with bags of goldfish and I couldn’t believe how many Chinese people were crowding around and buying them. So after shopping for a long while Samantha and Alex took us to another street that was more like a market of outdoor fast food restaurants and food vendors. We sat down at a place known for their clay rice pots and again ordered a ton of different dishes. Alex ordered these whole prawns that you snap the heads off of and suck the insides out. Then we ordered some regular Chinese noodle dishes, veggies, and clay rice pots. By the time it was dark the entire city came alive by billions of neon signs—it was definitely a sight. Exhausted from a long day of walking and eating, we said goodbye to Samantha and Alex back at our port because they had to go back to class in the morning after their long new years break. It was so nice to have local friends to show us around, because we would have never had the same experience on our own!
The next day I met back up with Allyn after her Beijing trip, and we decided to go to Lantau island to escape the city and to see the largest bronze Buddha in the world! We took a “crystal” cable car with a glass floor over the water and through the mountains of Lantau island up to Ngong Ping village, where the great Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery are. It was a pretty foggy morning so the cable cars seemed to just vanish into the distance… it was such a cool ride. At the top we walked around the cute village and then hiked the stairs to the Buddha, which was hiding peacefully in the mist. He was beautiful and then the fog began to clear so we could see the entire village below us and the mountains going on for miles. We walked back down and went in the monastery, and then hiked the “wisdom path”, which took us to this big circle of tall tree trunks sliced down the middle and carved with Chinese characters, which I assume was the “wisdom”. The entire Lantau trail goes all around the mountains and all the way back down to where the cable car starts, and apparently it takes days to hike the whole thing. I really wanted to hike back down but it takes 3-4 hours and we didn’t have time :(  soo we hiked on a few more shorter trails and then decided to take the cable car back. It was so nice to be out in the open, hiking and being away from people! I had been in the city too long… I’m so used to having my space at home.
So after a refreshing day we watched the light show that goes on every night at 8pm, which is when all the buildings on the skyline go crazy with lights and lasers and make an amaazing scene. It’s just incredible, and once again too hard to describe.
Our last day in Hong Kong I decided to go off on my own, exploring the area around the port and the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong, which happens to actually be our port terminal. We literally had to go through the mall to get on our ship. It was nice to be on my own for once, because I’ve practically never been alone on this trip! It made me realize how much time I usually spend alone and I kind of miss it haha… being with people and especially traveling with people 24/7 can get overwhelming and tiring at times. So I got to take my time and explore and shop for all the weird Chinese snacks in the supermarkets which was fun.
Hong Kong is definitely a place I’d like to spend more time in, there is so much that I didn’t do and it is supposed to be absolutely beautiful in the summer with gorgeous beaches and the best snorkeling. And even though it seems like a big dense city, right when you step outside of that there’s lots of green land, mountains, parks, and a ton of places to get away and hike.
So now I’m sitting here fresh from China and about to be in Vietnam in 6 hours!! We just had our cultural and logistical pre-port which is like a big pep-rally getting us excited for our next adventure….. and I am SO excited. Finally back to the tropical weather and to a place less developed then anywhere we’ve been so far.  I’ve heard some amazing things and I can’t wait to write about all the new experiences :)
-Michele