Unfortunately, the HK$2000 per person deal was available only if we got at least 10 people. Our now-finalized group is 4 people so we're paying closer to US$350 each for the whole trip, which is still quite a reasonable price since it includes hotel, airfare, and breakfast every day. Without buying the trip package, the airfare alone is more expensive than the price we're paying. Good deal, just not the best possible deal.
We spent literally all afternoon at the travel agency working things out with the travel agent. This is the schedule we came up with:
FRIDAY
afternoon: Fly HK-Bangkok
2 hour ride to a hotel in Pattaya.
night: Lady Boys Performance. ---9 pm
SATURDAY
morning: Elephant Village.
afternoon: Koh Larn (Coral Island).
night: Night Safari in Kaho Kheow Open Zoo. (dinner included)
SUNDAY
morning: Sanctuary of Truth
pack up and move to a Bangkok hotel. (2 hour ride)
afternoon: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market
night: Suanlum Night Bazaar
MONDAY
morning-afternoon: to watch the sunrise on Wat Arun Temple, Grand Palace, Wat Pho, etc.
go back to hotel, rest and pack up.
Fly Bangkok-HK
I've asked around, and it seems that we're covering all the "first time in Thailand" must-see attractions. Obviously, there's a lot more, but we just don't have the time this go-around. Hopefully, this won't be the last time I go to Thailand, but we'll have to see about that. Anyway, we didn't finish up at the travel agency until 6:00pm, at which point all three of us were pretty hungry. We wandered over to Shatin Plaza (Chinese part of the mall) in search of some cheap eats, and ended up at Ajisen Ramen. While we were looking over the menus, I happened to glance at the window and saw Su outside! It's not often that you run into someone you know in a place that big, but I guess it does happen. Coincidentally, Su is the fourth person in our Thailand travel group. We waved to get her attention and she joined our table. Irysh and Alice wanted to try some of the signature ramen dishes, but neither Su nor I felt like gorging on heaping bowls of noodles. Instead, we ordered 2 dishes from the appetizer menu.
Spicy Sizzling Tofu:
Pan-Fried Sesame Vegetables:
Dinner was fun, delicious, and cheap--3 of my favorite things! Here's the sign for the restaurant. You can see the happy Ajisen Ramen girl everywhere in Hong Kong:
Alice and Irysh needed to go to the bookstore, and Su couldn't remember how to find the post office so we split into 2 groups after dinner. I showed Su how to get to the post office, and we stopped by Sam Bo for a small dessert. I felt so lucky getting the very last taiyaki (Japanese sweet that looks like a fish and is filled with red bean paste). It was almost too cute to eat:
It was so good to have the planning phase of the Thailand trip out of the way and to have our finalized group. At this point, we're just waiting to hear back from the travel agent about details regarding the hotel in Pattaya (we're staying in a youth hostel for the one night in Bangkok).
Wednesday was really nothing special considering that I spent the whole day studying. Although I had been preparing all along, I had my very last midterm Thursday morning at 8:30am, and it was for my "Political Economy of Southeast Asia" class. I feel like I did fairly well on it. I talked with Hong Kong Justin, who is in my class, about it later and I still feel good about it. I don't think I like this whole "relative" grading method they use over here. However, it is what it is so I can just suck it up, I suppose.
I may have had my last midterm on Thursday, but Friday was when I really got to celebrate. I met Su after Putonghua class, and we began our journey to Hong Kong Island (a.k.a. downtown). It's amazing how quickly you can make good friends. Somehow Su and I just "click," and we have an unbelievable amount of stuff in common. To me, it feels like she's a friend I've had all along but just hadn't seen in a while. Su, I'm going to miss you so much when you go to Singapore next semester! We must either Skype, or I will break down and open an MSN account. Dead serious.
As for our reason to go downtown, it was the usual: sightseeing. This time the destination was "Cat Street"--a nickname for Hollywood Road and Upper Lascar Row. Here's the reason for the nickname: in Cantonese, the word for "thief" is the same as the word for "rat." As a result, people who buy stolen items from the "rats" are known as "cats." Back in ye olden days, thieves would come to Hollywood Road and Upper Lascar Row to sell their stolen wares as quickly as possible. In most cases, these goods were antiques (real and fake), jewelry, or statues. Nowadays, Hollywood Road is lined with several upscale antiques shops and galleries of the look-but-don't-touch-and-definitely-don't-buy variety while Upper Lascar Row is full of small carts and stalls where you can bargain for lookalike pieces and little knick-knacks.
We rode the MTR to Kowloon Tong, then to Mong Kok, and from there all the way to Admiralty Station in Central Hong Kong Island. We walked to Pacific Place and caught the number 26 bus to Hollywood Road. As a side-note, I really don't know what I would do without the Internet. That's the only way for me to figure out how to get from one place to another. But I digress! The bus literally dropped us off here. There was no mistaking it: Hollywood Road.
We were actually right outside the first place we wanted to visit: Man Mo Temple. There are several of these throughout Hong Kong and Mainland China, but this one is the most famous. It was built in 1847, making it just about the same age as Hong Kong itself. Interestingly, it actually honors 2 separate dieties: Man Tai (文帝), god of literature, and Mo Tai (武帝), god of war. So what do a bookworm and a soldier have in common? They're both sought-out by hopeful students, especially those hoping to pass their civil examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Civil examination is, itself, an important aspect of imperial China, so I will refer you to the archives of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination. Here's the temple:
The rather gaudy sign outside didn't seem to fit:
The outside entrance:
The picture below is of the first inner chamber. I tried taking a picture from inside, but there was so much incense in the air that the camera couldn't make anything out. Both Su and I lit incense to pay our respects. I didn't give the custom 3 quick bows to the statue before planting my sticks in the incense pot.
Speaking of incense, are these not the coolest things ever? In the second inner chamber, the ceiling was lined with these beautiful incense sticks curled around wishes that people wrote on red slips of paper. Don't worry, there aren't any ghosts. Those little orbs you see everywhere are from the incense.
Now, a look around the temple:
So much good-smelling smoke:
Wishes! Always make sure to write them on red paper; it's lucky.
I can't get enough of these things:
I wonder how long it takes for the whole thing to burn away?
Some nice French guys took a picture for us when we came out:
After visiting Man Mo Temple, we continued walking along Hollywood Road and looking at the expensive antiques shops:
Cultural note: a small shrine outside your store will ensure a long-lived and profitable business. Sure, it's a little superstitious, but I guess it doesn't hurt:
Some of the pieces "for sale:"
For Su and for me, it was more like visiting museums and art galleries, which is also fine. Hollywood Road is upscale, classy...expensive. It didn't take long, however, for us to mosey on down to Upper Lascar Row. This stall was our first stop:
Now that's more like our price-range. Plus, it's obvious: this was a bargaining kind of place.
Turns out "Cat Street" actually had a good number of real cats wandering around. Here on this beautiful Halloween day, it is my pleasure to present to you Ghost Cat.
Actually, some kid ran up and pulled the cat's tail while I was taking the picture so I don't blame it for being startled. The kid was old enough to know better, by the way. He looked like he was 10 or 11 years old, and he was having a grand time aggravating those poor cats, tugging on their tails and ears, pulling their fur and holding them down to watch them try to get away. Thankfully, a woman (probably his mother) pulled him away before I had a chance to step in. Child or not, I will not tolerate someone hurting an animal. I'm not saying I would be mean to the kid, especially considering that he might not have known just how much he was bothering the cats. However, I think it's important in these situations to let the child know why he was in the wrong, and to insist that "It's time to leave the kitties alone." Of course, I don't speak Cantonese, but a lot can be achieved by cutting the kid off with a disapproving face. I've had to do that before a few times in Hong Kong when I've seen curious kids peeking into sleeping people's shopping bags on the MTR. By the way, there isn't the same attitude here as there is in America, where people get mad at you for disciplining their children. Everyone does it and the parents are usually happy to let them. It's a good way to let the kids know that, just because mommy or daddy isn't looking doesn't mean you can get away with stuff.
Back to the cats, though:
And the little booger who was making them angry (I like children, I promise! I just like cats as well.):
We checked out all the little stalls until closing time, which was surprisingly early at 6:00--6:30pm. That's fine because we were both starting to get a little hungry. It seemed like there was a noodle shop on every corner so we found one with cheap prices and a full house--both often good indicators of a hole-in-the-wall local favorite. I had Chinese beef stew with cabbage and rice noodles:
And Su had the cabbage and fish-ball rice noodle soup:
Dinner was delicious, and the price about the same (or better) than the food on campus, which is about as cheap as Hong Kong gets. We walked around a little after eating and found out we were actually quite close to the Sheung Wan MTR Station. Therefore, we just stopped there to go home. I think it really is just about impossible to get lost in Hong Kong. There are taxis, buses, and MTR stations everywhere. You just have to look for this sign:
That's the MTR logo. It's on signs all over the place pointing to the nearest station. So, yeah, it's practically impossible to get lost when you're in the city.
On our way back, we stopped in Fo Tan for 2 reasons: (1) I wanted to show Su where to find the Dai Pai Dong, and (2) I needed to buy some groceries. So I showed her how to get to the restaurant, which I think she will try soon, and we went to the Park 'n' Shop in Jubilee Court. I got more cooking supplies and sun-dried apricots, which I have somehow become addicted to in the last month. We went our separate ways once we got back to United College, and it was already so late I just took a shower and went to bed.
Saturday was my work day. I had a lot of stuff to do so I wasn't sure I would be able to finish it. The main thing was another statistics assignment. There have been 2 so far, the first of which took me almost an entire day and the second of which took me 3 hours. The number of questions on this 3rd one suggested that I would need another entire day. Bleh. I spent the morning looking over my notes and my book to familiarize myself with the material, all in the hope that it would allow me to work more efficiently.
At noon, I took a break to cook my lunch. Everything happens super-fast in Hong Kong. The week before it was hot (around 85 degrees Fahrenheit), but this past week has been really cool, even as cold as 55 degrees Fahrenheit! My feet are freezing because I forgot to bring slippers and all my socks are too thin. I'm going to buy a pair in the next few days, hopefully before I get frostbite. Anyway, since it suddenly got cold I've been craving chili. Surprise, surprise, right? It's one of my favorite things, but I hadn't seen chili beans in any of the grocery stores. Thankfully, I finally found them in the Fo Tan Park 'n' Shop. It seemed I could at last satiate my taste buds. Well, I got the most necessary ingredients, but alas my chili is onion-less. They were sold only in packs of 3 and just half of one would do. I added extra garlic to compensate. I also didn't have any green chilies to put in. Too bad. Still, my chili was right-tasty and enough to fulfill my craving. I also have leftovers for 2 meals.
As happy as I was for chili, though, I still had my statistics assignment. Ugh. I just crunched numbers nonstop until I finished, realizing that it had in fact taken me only 3 hours to complete. With my unexpected extra time, I did research for my group presentation in management (our topic is Human Resources Management at Wal-Mart), and then read the articles for my next "Political Economy in Southeast Asia" class. Next week's topic is "Government in Business." I also have to do a small presentation the week after this coming one on the same topic, although focusing on a specific example in a country we didn't talk about too much. I have to email the outline for the presentation to my classmates 3 days in advance. Since the weekend before is when I'll be in Thailand, I'm already writing the presentation so that I can email it before I leave. I've decided to research government involvement in the Japanese postal service. If anyone has specific knowledge or recommendations on the subject, I would appreciate hearing from you!
So, long story short, I'm making good progress in working ahead before going to Thailand. After that, though, I'll probably have a little less time for fun and need to use more time to study. Don't misunderstand, I am a diligent student and have studied hard all along. However, with finals beginning (for me) on December 1st, I'm going to hit the books extra hard to make sure this first semester at CUHK leaves me on solid ground.
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