^^
*Editting on July 11, 2012* Awesome time with Wendy and her co-workers. :) Two of them visited Wendy just to see me before I leave for Shanghai haha... Wendy, Becky and I went out to the arcade again that Saturday night ^^ From that, I brought back a Bloody Teddy haha... I decided to bring it to Shanghai, so it's with me all the time. :) The program was supposed to go to Macau, and it was suppose to be canceled because of a typhoon, but ended up going, which I skipped because I was too lazy to wake up at 5, make it back to school by 7 and head out to Macau at 8. But it turned out all good. :)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Day 36: Really? ._."
*Knock Knock*
*Open door*
Erin: Hey Henry, you want to go out tonight?
Me: Ehh... I think I'll stay in tonight.
Agnes: Oh, we were here to look for your roommate anyways. We know you don't go out to party.
Really? You're the assistants that were supposed to look after us for the program. You're supposed to serve as a model with leadership. I don't drink everyday of the week like you.
Is it an obligation to go to Lang Kwai Fong? Ugh...
*Open door*
Erin: Hey Henry, you want to go out tonight?
Me: Ehh... I think I'll stay in tonight.
Agnes: Oh, we were here to look for your roommate anyways. We know you don't go out to party.
Really? You're the assistants that were supposed to look after us for the program. You're supposed to serve as a model with leadership. I don't drink everyday of the week like you.
Is it an obligation to go to Lang Kwai Fong? Ugh...
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Day 35: Last Day with Dr. Luk!
Field trip early in the morning! x3 We went to TSL (Tse Sui Luen Jewellery, but no one can pronounce it, so everyone just call it TSL) main branch today. The CEO gave us a talk on the history of the company and their new innovation on their jewelry. TSL used to be a traditional goldsmith company, but with the new CEO, he wants to aim for more western and modern feel. He new innovation separated TSL from 周大福，周生生，and六福 and led the company to win many awards. They even hired a guy named Willard Wigan, a microscopic craftsman that can craft microscopic sculptures and placed it on their rings. He was awarded something by the Queen of England. Really awesome. I felt so happy when the CEO said I asked a really good question. :) Haha, I always feel that my questions are stupid and people laugh at it whenever I do ask it. But this time, it was gooood. During the presentation, the CEO said they installed WiFi in every one of their store so the guys can go online on their phone while the girl go buy jewelry haha... So I said, "Like you said, you guys installed WiFi at every store so the guy can go online while the girl buy jewelry. I've also noticed that there were no products aimed for the male population. I understand that about 90% of jewelry buyers are by the female population, but do you guys ever though of entering the male population segment?" :D But this presentation had the most Q&A because his presentation was wonderful and everyone was really interested in their innovation and great success (even though this is the only second store I've seen lol...周大福and周生生 are ALL OVER Hong Kong).
After that, we were going to head back to HKU for lunch and class at 2:30, but Mo wanted sushi really bad and we were really closed to the really cheap sushi place that Wendy brought me to. We asked for permission to go eat there and try to head back to HKU for class in time. We got the okay and went for sushi! :D It was his first time eating real sushi and first time eating sashimi! Haha... He said in UK, the sushi are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE and he has only had 7Eleven sushi which isn't real. I see that he really enjoyed it. We ended up having 20 plates = $160 + service charge to a total of $176. $85 per person which is less than US$15! :D So cheap! We were afraid there would be traffic, so we were gonna leave early, but we were full even before the time we planned to leave. We made it back to HKU with 30 minutes to spear.
After all that with the field trip and the lunch, I was too pooped to focus in class lol... It was also the last lecture with Dr. Luk. We have one more with Dr. Leung and we'll be done --> study for exam on Friday. Overall, I really enjoyed the class and he's a really good lecturer. Now I understand why HKU is one of the top schools in the world. The professors are really that great!
After class, I was debating whether to go back to auntie's house or not. I really wanted to go to H&M and get some cheap clothing and go to Mongkok to get some cheap stuff too... I ended up not going back or to H&M or Mongkok. :< I hung out in my room until people called me for dinner. We went out for dinner at a place that didn't have English on their menu! Haha... Most of us can either speak Cantonese or Mandarin, but none of us can read! Oh man... We were deciding whether to point to other people's table to order food or make up names of dishes that we knew on the top of our heads... We ended up asking if there was an English menu and luckily they do! Haha... In Shanghai, we can't do that because the English menu has prices a lot more than the Chinese menu. Overall, good dinner, good day. Came back, Skyped with Victoria <3 and now I should go shower and head to sleep. ^^; Tomorrow one lecture again, so I'll be done at 12:30. People wanted to go to Ocean Park/ Beach/ History of HK Museum... I don't know what to do, but myah...
Until next time, good night! :)
After that, we were going to head back to HKU for lunch and class at 2:30, but Mo wanted sushi really bad and we were really closed to the really cheap sushi place that Wendy brought me to. We asked for permission to go eat there and try to head back to HKU for class in time. We got the okay and went for sushi! :D It was his first time eating real sushi and first time eating sashimi! Haha... He said in UK, the sushi are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE and he has only had 7Eleven sushi which isn't real. I see that he really enjoyed it. We ended up having 20 plates = $160 + service charge to a total of $176. $85 per person which is less than US$15! :D So cheap! We were afraid there would be traffic, so we were gonna leave early, but we were full even before the time we planned to leave. We made it back to HKU with 30 minutes to spear.
After all that with the field trip and the lunch, I was too pooped to focus in class lol... It was also the last lecture with Dr. Luk. We have one more with Dr. Leung and we'll be done --> study for exam on Friday. Overall, I really enjoyed the class and he's a really good lecturer. Now I understand why HKU is one of the top schools in the world. The professors are really that great!
After class, I was debating whether to go back to auntie's house or not. I really wanted to go to H&M and get some cheap clothing and go to Mongkok to get some cheap stuff too... I ended up not going back or to H&M or Mongkok. :< I hung out in my room until people called me for dinner. We went out for dinner at a place that didn't have English on their menu! Haha... Most of us can either speak Cantonese or Mandarin, but none of us can read! Oh man... We were deciding whether to point to other people's table to order food or make up names of dishes that we knew on the top of our heads... We ended up asking if there was an English menu and luckily they do! Haha... In Shanghai, we can't do that because the English menu has prices a lot more than the Chinese menu. Overall, good dinner, good day. Came back, Skyped with Victoria <3 and now I should go shower and head to sleep. ^^; Tomorrow one lecture again, so I'll be done at 12:30. People wanted to go to Ocean Park/ Beach/ History of HK Museum... I don't know what to do, but myah...
Until next time, good night! :)
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| TSL, mainly focus on wedding jewelry! |
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| HK$200,000 iPad! O_O And diamond studded bluetooth headset... Haha |
 |
| So much gold! |
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| HK$8 per plate sushi! |
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| Mo and I after we're done x3 |
34: Field Trip x2!
Woot! ^_^ No class today! We had company visits today all day, so it was fun!
We first went to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. It was where people can buy and sell stocks. Too bad most of the trading are done online now a days, so people don't really come to this place. It serves more as a landmark rather than usage. The employee there gave us a tour of the place and taught us now to buy stocks in HK, but it was so different from the US and no one understood. It was so funny because he was explaining it on his own level and he kept telling us it's simple and we should understand haha... We don't even know how he got the numbers that he was speaking of. After he finished talking, we just went around and checked out the place.
After that, we headed for lunch at some random restaurant at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Center. I had preserved egg & pork porridge. It was okay, but not worth $38 lol...
After lunch, we had a tour around the convention center. I didn't noticed that it was such a big place until I saw the convention room empty! Last time I attended Wendy's convention, it didn't look so big because it was filled with stalls and people. The lady that presented the info to us was really bad at presenting. She basically read the PowerPoint to us. That's one thing that we were taught not to do.
After that, we were free to do whatever we want, so we followed one of our assistant to a computer mall called Golden Computer Mall in Shum Shui Po. It was kind of like Wan Chai Computer Center, so I didn't really see the point. :s This place was more focused on games and less focused on computer and phones comparing to the Wan Chai one. I ended up buying two pen for touch screen for HK$25. I kind of find it useless since I don't play Draw Something anymore haha...
At 5:30, we decided to leave. I wanted to go to Mongkok, but I was still in my dress shirt and pants for the company visit, so I wanted to head back and change out of it. When I got back, I didn't feel like going out anymore, so I just took a nap before dinner. x3 Trying to cut back on my spending, so I just got something cheap. :) Went to Wellcome supermarket and got some breakfast.
That's all for today! ^_^ Until next time, peace!
We first went to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. It was where people can buy and sell stocks. Too bad most of the trading are done online now a days, so people don't really come to this place. It serves more as a landmark rather than usage. The employee there gave us a tour of the place and taught us now to buy stocks in HK, but it was so different from the US and no one understood. It was so funny because he was explaining it on his own level and he kept telling us it's simple and we should understand haha... We don't even know how he got the numbers that he was speaking of. After he finished talking, we just went around and checked out the place.
After that, we headed for lunch at some random restaurant at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Center. I had preserved egg & pork porridge. It was okay, but not worth $38 lol...
After lunch, we had a tour around the convention center. I didn't noticed that it was such a big place until I saw the convention room empty! Last time I attended Wendy's convention, it didn't look so big because it was filled with stalls and people. The lady that presented the info to us was really bad at presenting. She basically read the PowerPoint to us. That's one thing that we were taught not to do.
After that, we were free to do whatever we want, so we followed one of our assistant to a computer mall called Golden Computer Mall in Shum Shui Po. It was kind of like Wan Chai Computer Center, so I didn't really see the point. :s This place was more focused on games and less focused on computer and phones comparing to the Wan Chai one. I ended up buying two pen for touch screen for HK$25. I kind of find it useless since I don't play Draw Something anymore haha...
At 5:30, we decided to leave. I wanted to go to Mongkok, but I was still in my dress shirt and pants for the company visit, so I wanted to head back and change out of it. When I got back, I didn't feel like going out anymore, so I just took a nap before dinner. x3 Trying to cut back on my spending, so I just got something cheap. :) Went to Wellcome supermarket and got some breakfast.
That's all for today! ^_^ Until next time, peace!
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| Really modern look of the HKEx |
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| I'm a stock broker! |
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| I teach you how to invest! |
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| The podium where the speaker introduce us about the history of the HK stock market |
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
33: Missed a Bullet!
Today was a good day. We had class in the morning and went out with Camille for lunch. She was the one in charge of this program and arranging everything, but we never got to meet her and thank her for everything. She finally took some time out to have lunch with us.
After lunch, we had a guest speaker Derek Man from The Bank of Tokyo Mitshubishi. He talked about the economy of Japan and its history of all the things that they've been through. It was really interesting. :) Even though Japan is not doing so well now a days, it still ranked 3rd biggest market in the world so it's fine.
After the lecture, a girl Yinne was inviting everyone to her birthday party. She was going to get some alcohol and celebrate it on the fourth floor of our dorm. Bad idea... When I heard they were going to drink, I decided not to go. Instead, I went out with some friends for dinner instead. Turns a lot of people went to her birthday party, even those that were not invited. They were blasting music, yelling really loud, and got caught because some student in this dorm complained that they were making a lot of noise. They're all in trouble for having alcohol in the dorm, so I dodged a bullet from not being there! :)
My friends and I went out for dinner at misocoollll, a Japanese urban like restaurant. Haha, really creative name but semi-expensive for the amount of food we get. Oh man, if I keep going out for lunch and dinner like this, I'm gonna go poor. :((( But the food wasn't too bad. After that, we walked around Central and went to the roof of ifc? It was too low to be the roof of ifc, so I don't know what it was. We just chilled there and took some pictures of the Kowloon skyline. Of course, Kowloon skyline is not as good as Hong Kong Island. :)
Came back around 11, took a shower and now heading to sleep. Night night until next time! :D
Monday, June 25, 2012
32: Swimming Again ^^
Didn't do much today actually, so it was relaxing. Edward went out with play soccer with his friends. Auntie, Wendy and I just chilled at home. We decided on going to swimming again today, so we headed out at 5pm to grab some food before going out to swimming. I left my swimming trunk at school, so auntie got me one of Edward's swimming shorts. It was short short short. O_O Like an underwear but a bit longer. Haha... Not used to wearing those kind of shorts. All my swim wear are beach stuff, so it was kind of weird. Turns out I don't even know how to move my leg when swimming. :P Wendy had me bring a floaty board so I can practice breathing. I was still afraid I might breath in water and choke on it, so I tried my best to learn. It was fun overall. Edward showed up a bit after we got there, so that was cool too. I weighted myself afterwards. I was 135lb haha... I'm good at maintain my weight between 135~145, constantly fluctuating. I'm 165cm tall, which is 5'4.96" without shoes. :( I'm so short! T^T Oh well, that's for not liking to drink milk when I was little lol... I was going to go back to my dorm tonight, but I decided to stay another night and go back in the morning. Partly because they would worry if I go back so late.
It was a good day, so I'm going to sleep now and head back to school for class tomorrow. :) Good night until next time!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
31: Fun Fun fun @ Lantau Island!
Happy
端午節 !
Field trip weeeee~ We had to wake up at 8 to meet up at 8:45 though lol... Too early for a Saturday! >o< But the trip was fun!
We met up at the lobby and boarded a bus to Tai O, a town on the Lantau Island. It's an island off of the New Territory. The ride was an hour. They even hired a "professional" person to speak with us about Hong Kong? I don't think he was that great, but I guess it's a job after all and he did his best. :P
Tai was
Field trip weeeee~ We had to wake up at 8 to meet up at 8:45 though lol... Too early for a Saturday! >o< But the trip was fun!
We met up at the lobby and boarded a bus to Tai O, a town on the Lantau Island. It's an island off of the New Territory. The ride was an hour. They even hired a "professional" person to speak with us about Hong Kong? I don't think he was that great, but I guess it's a job after all and he did his best. :P
Tai was
Saturday, June 23, 2012
30: Myah...
Hmmm... I really wanted this blog to be a happy one and my trip to be fun and wonderful! But there's always something that bothers me. :( Maybe I'm bad with people...
We only have morning class today, so we were done at 12:30. I was talking with the assistants after class regarding the field trip tomorrow around Hong Kong. :) When I finished talking to them, I didn't know where everyone went. I walked for a while before seeing Amanda. She's also an intern at Lenovo, but I haven't really got the chance to talk with her that much. Turns out she studies Psychology and Asian Studies at Williams College and she wants to go teach English in Japan after she graduates haha... What a fun life she's going to have. :P
Amanda was with a group of people that were going to have dim sum for lunch. I couldn't find anyone else, so I went with them for dim sum. I have already settled last night on going for sushi tonight for dinner. Calvin and Mo was excited about it, so I was looking forward for it all day.
After dim sum for lunch, we headed out to go to a temple. Apparently, some of the people in this group was a bit religious~ I told them my mom pray to the Gods every 1st and 15th of the month but that's about it lol... I went along with it. I prayed to the Gods there to protect me family and wish us all good health for the coming year, etc. etc. It was my first time getting my fortune told from shaking a cup of sticks and getting a fortune number lol... HK$30 -- I asked about family and it was actually not a lucky one. The translator said there's much argument in the family and my family should be careful about stomach and respiratory system as it might be a problem. I honestly don't believe that because there were over 20 stores of fortune readers and I'd bet everyone one of them would give a different answer. Though I could see how the argument is a bit accurate, but I doubt whatever she said was real. The rest of the group said their fortune was a bit irrelevant. One of the girl ask about love and the lady said she'll find love in mid-August lolol... After the lady told me fortune, she tried to get me into getting my life thingie "xi sun bat zhi." At first, I was like okay! Sounds fun! But when she told me it was HK$600, I was like O_O hahahaha.... No thanks! Then she tried getting me to do a cheaper one for $300 lol... But some of the people in the group really did it (as they were pretty religious). Anyways, we were getting kicked out because it was 5pm and they're trying to close.
After leaving, we went to Mongkok! This is where all the streets with the fake stuff where you can haggle price (Lady's Market/女人街)! The rest of the group was getting all these fried fish balls, chinese sausage, meat balls, seafood on stick and stuff like that, but I wanted to save my stomach for sushi!
My friends and I were planning on meeting up at 6 for sushi. One of them decided to follow an assistant to go for Korean BBQ... Turned out most of my group went with the assistant too. I was really annoyed, but I was like whatever, lets just go for Korean BBQ then... At this point, I was a bit hungry and agitated. I split up with my current group and try to find a place to meet them up. In the whole process, there was a lot of confusion and we could not get a hold of the assistant that's bringing people to the Korean BBQ place and the people that were meeting up with me didn't know how to get there either. After much complications, we finally found each other at 8pm... By this time, I just wanted to walk around Mongkok and buy food along the way as dinner. But no, Josh wants to find a restaurant to sit down and eat since we couldn't meet up with the assistant and the people with her. So I continue to go along with it. We walked for a good 30 minutes trying to find the place while I was tired, hungry, and kind of annoyed how my plans always get interrupted and never go the way that it should go (Partly because Josh acts like he's a know it all and thinks he know what he's doing).
We couldn't find the place, so we just sat down at a random restaurant to get some food because they felt bad for me for waiting for them all day and not go for sushi. By this time, I have lost all appetite for anything, so I just got plain congee and a dish of 菜心 for HK$22. The menu really didn't have any good places for congee.
We only have morning class today, so we were done at 12:30. I was talking with the assistants after class regarding the field trip tomorrow around Hong Kong. :) When I finished talking to them, I didn't know where everyone went. I walked for a while before seeing Amanda. She's also an intern at Lenovo, but I haven't really got the chance to talk with her that much. Turns out she studies Psychology and Asian Studies at Williams College and she wants to go teach English in Japan after she graduates haha... What a fun life she's going to have. :P
Amanda was with a group of people that were going to have dim sum for lunch. I couldn't find anyone else, so I went with them for dim sum. I have already settled last night on going for sushi tonight for dinner. Calvin and Mo was excited about it, so I was looking forward for it all day.
After dim sum for lunch, we headed out to go to a temple. Apparently, some of the people in this group was a bit religious~ I told them my mom pray to the Gods every 1st and 15th of the month but that's about it lol... I went along with it. I prayed to the Gods there to protect me family and wish us all good health for the coming year, etc. etc. It was my first time getting my fortune told from shaking a cup of sticks and getting a fortune number lol... HK$30 -- I asked about family and it was actually not a lucky one. The translator said there's much argument in the family and my family should be careful about stomach and respiratory system as it might be a problem. I honestly don't believe that because there were over 20 stores of fortune readers and I'd bet everyone one of them would give a different answer. Though I could see how the argument is a bit accurate, but I doubt whatever she said was real. The rest of the group said their fortune was a bit irrelevant. One of the girl ask about love and the lady said she'll find love in mid-August lolol... After the lady told me fortune, she tried to get me into getting my life thingie "xi sun bat zhi." At first, I was like okay! Sounds fun! But when she told me it was HK$600, I was like O_O hahahaha.... No thanks! Then she tried getting me to do a cheaper one for $300 lol... But some of the people in the group really did it (as they were pretty religious). Anyways, we were getting kicked out because it was 5pm and they're trying to close.
After leaving, we went to Mongkok! This is where all the streets with the fake stuff where you can haggle price (Lady's Market/女人街)! The rest of the group was getting all these fried fish balls, chinese sausage, meat balls, seafood on stick and stuff like that, but I wanted to save my stomach for sushi!
My friends and I were planning on meeting up at 6 for sushi. One of them decided to follow an assistant to go for Korean BBQ... Turned out most of my group went with the assistant too. I was really annoyed, but I was like whatever, lets just go for Korean BBQ then... At this point, I was a bit hungry and agitated. I split up with my current group and try to find a place to meet them up. In the whole process, there was a lot of confusion and we could not get a hold of the assistant that's bringing people to the Korean BBQ place and the people that were meeting up with me didn't know how to get there either. After much complications, we finally found each other at 8pm... By this time, I just wanted to walk around Mongkok and buy food along the way as dinner. But no, Josh wants to find a restaurant to sit down and eat since we couldn't meet up with the assistant and the people with her. So I continue to go along with it. We walked for a good 30 minutes trying to find the place while I was tired, hungry, and kind of annoyed how my plans always get interrupted and never go the way that it should go (Partly because Josh acts like he's a know it all and thinks he know what he's doing).
We couldn't find the place, so we just sat down at a random restaurant to get some food because they felt bad for me for waiting for them all day and not go for sushi. By this time, I have lost all appetite for anything, so I just got plain congee and a dish of 菜心 for HK$22. The menu really didn't have any good places for congee.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Day 29: ...
Haha, I totally forgot to blog on this day and forgot what happened (on July 11, 2012). So lets just pretend it was a brilliant day! :) Everyday here in HK is wonderful! I'm gonna move here with Victoria and start a life here! Maybe. :P
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Day 28: Worst Night Ever!
So today, we didn't have a second part of lecture, so we finished our day at 12:30pm. My visa finally arrived, so I told auntie that I'll go back today, pick it up and have dinner with her. When I got back to Causeway Bay, I noticed that I forgot to bring my keys and when I called auntie, she was at the hospital picking up some medication. So I decided to go eat lunch. I ended up going to Yoshinoya and ordered a mix vege beef rice bowl. The total came up to be $33 and I tried paying with my Octopus card but they don't accept it! :((( I only had $20 in my wallet, so the cashier suggested that I can get the smaller version of it. She was really nice and I think if it was someone else, they'd act like I'm wasting their time lol... So the smaller version was $15 and I added a lemon ice tea for a total of $17. It was filling nonetheless.
After I finished eating, I called auntie and she has returned back to her house. I quickly went up to meet her up because bank and post office closes at 5pm and it was already 3:45. Apparently, HKU mailed my visa with a verification required so I had to go to the postal office.
Turns out we don't even need our visa because we're not officially HKU students. We don't get our own HKU ID or anything. When I got my visa, it was valid for one entry until 06/07/2012. The fee to get the visa was printed on the ticket to be HK$160...... The freakin school charged me HK$800 to apply for me! T^T We had the option to pay HK$300 to get the HKU acceptance letter and apply for our own student visa or pay HK$800 to have them apply for us. I thought I'd be a hassle to have to go to New York, so I decided to have them do it for me. Man, they charged 2x the amount needed AND we don't need it. :( The assistants kept saying we have to enter HK with it. To be honest, if they don't say anything, I'm not going to do anything. It's another HK$400 to take the ferry to Macau and back. ._." Screw that!
After I picked it up, I had my auntie bring me to the bank again to exchange for money. I thought HK$500 would last me a whole week lololol... It lasted me 5 days before I had no money left in my wallet and $60 in my Octopus card. I was pulling it, but I made it through haha... I exchanged US$400 for HKD. The rate dropped by 0.01 so I lost $40. :( That could of gotten me a whole meal!
After exchanging, we went back home. I chilled at home while auntie went out for food. She made so much food tonight! Both Wendy and Edward came home, so we got to eat together again. :) It was so nice.
After dinner, I was getting ready to go back to my dorm. I packed everything and made sure I got my key and my dorm ID to check in. I left and caught the bus just in time when everyone was boarding. By now, it's 10:40pm... On the bus ride, I decided to take my phone out and put some music on. When I was about to get to HKU, I was going through all my pockets looking for my dorm ID and keys. I got my keys, but I couldn't find my card! O_O;; My first thought was that maybe I left it back at auntie's house, so I quickly got off the bus and called Wendy. I was afraid that if I don't catch the bus back to Causeway Bay, I'd be too late to take the bus back to HKU. Wendy said she'd call me back when she find my card, but in the end she couldn't find it even when I got back to their house. I was so upset. I even looked through the whole living room to see if I can find it. It was then my mind sparked. I took out a card from my wallet, put it against my phone and put it in my pocket. When I pulled out my phone from my pocket, my card fell out. It was then that I knew it must of fell out when I took my phone out. -_-; I tried contacting the bus office, but they were all off... Wendy just told me to sleep over and don't worry about it too much... I was really upset. If this happens in Shanghai, I'd have no where to go... I guess I can stay with Jason's friends, but that'd be weird considering that I don't even know them now. But yeah, going to sleep now... Good night until next time. :(
After I finished eating, I called auntie and she has returned back to her house. I quickly went up to meet her up because bank and post office closes at 5pm and it was already 3:45. Apparently, HKU mailed my visa with a verification required so I had to go to the postal office.
Turns out we don't even need our visa because we're not officially HKU students. We don't get our own HKU ID or anything. When I got my visa, it was valid for one entry until 06/07/2012. The fee to get the visa was printed on the ticket to be HK$160...... The freakin school charged me HK$800 to apply for me! T^T We had the option to pay HK$300 to get the HKU acceptance letter and apply for our own student visa or pay HK$800 to have them apply for us. I thought I'd be a hassle to have to go to New York, so I decided to have them do it for me. Man, they charged 2x the amount needed AND we don't need it. :( The assistants kept saying we have to enter HK with it. To be honest, if they don't say anything, I'm not going to do anything. It's another HK$400 to take the ferry to Macau and back. ._." Screw that!
After I picked it up, I had my auntie bring me to the bank again to exchange for money. I thought HK$500 would last me a whole week lololol... It lasted me 5 days before I had no money left in my wallet and $60 in my Octopus card. I was pulling it, but I made it through haha... I exchanged US$400 for HKD. The rate dropped by 0.01 so I lost $40. :( That could of gotten me a whole meal!
After exchanging, we went back home. I chilled at home while auntie went out for food. She made so much food tonight! Both Wendy and Edward came home, so we got to eat together again. :) It was so nice.
After dinner, I was getting ready to go back to my dorm. I packed everything and made sure I got my key and my dorm ID to check in. I left and caught the bus just in time when everyone was boarding. By now, it's 10:40pm... On the bus ride, I decided to take my phone out and put some music on. When I was about to get to HKU, I was going through all my pockets looking for my dorm ID and keys. I got my keys, but I couldn't find my card! O_O;; My first thought was that maybe I left it back at auntie's house, so I quickly got off the bus and called Wendy. I was afraid that if I don't catch the bus back to Causeway Bay, I'd be too late to take the bus back to HKU. Wendy said she'd call me back when she find my card, but in the end she couldn't find it even when I got back to their house. I was so upset. I even looked through the whole living room to see if I can find it. It was then my mind sparked. I took out a card from my wallet, put it against my phone and put it in my pocket. When I pulled out my phone from my pocket, my card fell out. It was then that I knew it must of fell out when I took my phone out. -_-; I tried contacting the bus office, but they were all off... Wendy just told me to sleep over and don't worry about it too much... I was really upset. If this happens in Shanghai, I'd have no where to go... I guess I can stay with Jason's friends, but that'd be weird considering that I don't even know them now. But yeah, going to sleep now... Good night until next time. :(
 |
| R.I.P. card. :( |
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Day 27: Nice Second Day of Class :)
*Editing on July 11, 2012* Bwahahaa... I forgot what happened, but it was a good day. :) Dr. Baniel Cheung was an awesome person! I'm gonna miss him. His teaching style is like no other. ^_^ I hope I can keep in contact with him.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Day 26: First Day Of Class!
Weather: Icky... Heavy rain from time to time that last for about 2minutes in 5minute intervals lol...
Yucky, we had to wake up at early today so the assistants can bring us to get breakfast and then to the auditorium where we have our opening ceremony. We had to dress formal today, but turns out it was only for taking a group picture. We had a keynote speaker for the opening ceremony Professor Edward Chen, Former Vice-Chancellor of Lingnan University. He talked about the Changing Role of Asia in the Global Economy. His talk was interesting, but he kind of bashed on the European a lot. :| He talked about the development of Asia and its rapid growth. He talked about the how China and Hong Kong grew so much in the last few years. Overall, it was really interesting lol. Choosing Accounting as my major really changed me in a whole new way. When I was little, I hated everything that had to do with business or politics related. But now, I love learning about the globalization and the impact of one country can affect the whole world. How did China and Hong Kong survive the 2008 financial crisis etc. etc. The talk was also on that as well as our lecture in the afternoon.
The program provided really fancy lunch for us, but the steak I got was half perfectly cooked and the other half completely raw on the inside haha...
After lunch, we had our first class of the program! China Economy 1, though we were just learning about Hong Kong first. I also found this really interesting! :D The macroeconomics of Hong Kong, hehe. Like I always say, I liked macro over micro, so it's all good! We see a huge trend of success and downturn of Hong Kong and how Hong Kong survived with nothing (no natural resources, no raw materials, no nothing)! Hong Kong sustained from import and export and becoming a service center for the international trading hub between Southern China and the rest of the world! :)
After class, the assistants took us around campus, but I was completely lost because we were using all these shortcuts around the school to get to the main locations. We were zigging zagging around, so I completely lost track of directions. lol... Most of the students didn't even pay attention, so myah.
After the tour, we all headed back to our dorms. The assistants wanted to go out even though it's a Monday night. ._." I guess it's normal. They're just university students like us. But it's so bad because they like to drink and shisha... Ugh, it's gonna be so bad because they're into things that I'm not a fan of. A lot of the students in this program are like trying new things to fit in lol... It's so bad... I ended up just hanging out in my room for the rest of the night. They went our to shisha. I guess I can still connect with students before and after class. I don't necessarily have to meet them all. I already met a good amount of them and they're all really awesome from all over the world. :)
I'm glad that most of the students have the mindset to save money and eat cheaper, lol. My mom was afraid that if I hold on to my money, people would say that I'm a cheapskate, but I think we're all just trying to save money. We ended up eating dinner at the school canteen (cafeteria). Pretty nice price for fried rice and noodles. HK$25~$35 per plate of food. :]
Until then, good night!
Yucky, we had to wake up at early today so the assistants can bring us to get breakfast and then to the auditorium where we have our opening ceremony. We had to dress formal today, but turns out it was only for taking a group picture. We had a keynote speaker for the opening ceremony Professor Edward Chen, Former Vice-Chancellor of Lingnan University. He talked about the Changing Role of Asia in the Global Economy. His talk was interesting, but he kind of bashed on the European a lot. :| He talked about the development of Asia and its rapid growth. He talked about the how China and Hong Kong grew so much in the last few years. Overall, it was really interesting lol. Choosing Accounting as my major really changed me in a whole new way. When I was little, I hated everything that had to do with business or politics related. But now, I love learning about the globalization and the impact of one country can affect the whole world. How did China and Hong Kong survive the 2008 financial crisis etc. etc. The talk was also on that as well as our lecture in the afternoon.
The program provided really fancy lunch for us, but the steak I got was half perfectly cooked and the other half completely raw on the inside haha...
After lunch, we had our first class of the program! China Economy 1, though we were just learning about Hong Kong first. I also found this really interesting! :D The macroeconomics of Hong Kong, hehe. Like I always say, I liked macro over micro, so it's all good! We see a huge trend of success and downturn of Hong Kong and how Hong Kong survived with nothing (no natural resources, no raw materials, no nothing)! Hong Kong sustained from import and export and becoming a service center for the international trading hub between Southern China and the rest of the world! :)
After class, the assistants took us around campus, but I was completely lost because we were using all these shortcuts around the school to get to the main locations. We were zigging zagging around, so I completely lost track of directions. lol... Most of the students didn't even pay attention, so myah.
After the tour, we all headed back to our dorms. The assistants wanted to go out even though it's a Monday night. ._." I guess it's normal. They're just university students like us. But it's so bad because they like to drink and shisha... Ugh, it's gonna be so bad because they're into things that I'm not a fan of. A lot of the students in this program are like trying new things to fit in lol... It's so bad... I ended up just hanging out in my room for the rest of the night. They went our to shisha. I guess I can still connect with students before and after class. I don't necessarily have to meet them all. I already met a good amount of them and they're all really awesome from all over the world. :)
I'm glad that most of the students have the mindset to save money and eat cheaper, lol. My mom was afraid that if I hold on to my money, people would say that I'm a cheapskate, but I think we're all just trying to save money. We ended up eating dinner at the school canteen (cafeteria). Pretty nice price for fried rice and noodles. HK$25~$35 per plate of food. :]
Until then, good night!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Day 25: Fun Always Come To An End QQ
Even though the rain was on and off all day, I had a blast with my new friends! I've met a couple more new people today. Josh, Cathy, Stefano, and my roommate Rodrigo arrived. I had a hard time sleeping last night. Maybe it's the lemon ice tea that I had for dinner last night and the cappuccino that I had for lunch lol... I ended up waking up at 7am partly because my roommate woke up really early and just started messing around and unpacking. But I also wasn't really in a sleeping mood.
Jarred, Calvin, Sixing, Stefano, Rodrigo, and I went out for breakfast. I had Chinese cabbage spare rib congee for HK$13! So cheap cheap cheap! But I think they forgot the spare rib haha... There wasn't any in the congee. Afterwards, we went to a 7Eleven and some people got their SIM cards for their phone. We then returned back to our dorm to get the rest of the girls because they were all still sleeping when we headed out for breakfast.
We headed back out after 30minutes and went to Central to get money exchange because Josh said they had the best exchange rate there. It was so funny because it's Sunday! Sunday is when all the filipino nannies get their day off so all of them meet up at Central to hang out with each other. Legit, it was PACKED with filipino women. No guys. Just women. We got lost a couple of times, but we found each other because we were all taller than them by a little HAHAHA... Or we look for the blonde hair (Kristen) hehe. After that, we went to Wan Chai Computer Center to get US->HK adapters because a lot of them didn't bring one. Only then that we remembered we totally forgot Stefano and Sixing when we went back to the dorm and left again! We felt so bad, but turns out they took a really long nap, so it was okay.
I wanted to explore the computer center some more, but Josh wanted to go to Pacific Place shopping center... On our way there, we got boba tea! ^^ A couple of them haven't tried taro before, so I got taro and they loved it when they tried it lol. The Pacific Place turned out to be a high class mall with everything really expensive. We just window shopped for a bit. Jarred had to go meet up with the HKU students to play Ultimate (disc) <-- Cannot say "frisbee" because frisbee is trademarked, so they have to call it disc lol.. Kind of like Keenex. Cathy had to go back to the airport to pick up her luggage because she took the wrong one with the same looking luggage case. That poor girl had to go all the way back to the dorm to pick up the case, and go all the way to the airport (about 2 1/2 hour ride from HKU to airport) and make it all the way back to HKU for orientation by 6pm.
Then mall was okay; fancy but nothing we can afford. They didn't know where to go, so Kristen was like lets go to that place that you said online! On Facebook, I recommended going to Chungking Mansion in Kowloon for exchange because I heard they had the best rate. We ended up going there and it's the sketchiest place on Earth! Haha... Everything there was fake products. It was like a whole new world where all the Mexicans, Middle Eastern, and Africans hang out... Kristen stayed here before because it's also a hostel upstairs. She stayed for a night and got scared and left because it's just that dirty and scary. Everything was extra cheap and everything was extra fake. But the currency exchange rate was really good. Kristen said lets go upstairs and try to check out a room to show us how it was like when she was staying here. The elevators had camera and they were being show on the first floor and all of us cracked up from watching people in the elevator hahahaha... When the elevator got to us, we had 6 people and another person got in. The elevator specifically said 7 people max, but I guess we were overweight. The elevator had a flashing sign saying overweight. None of us wanted to get out so Josh got into an argument with the other person that got on to get off. He was like, "Well, we were waiting at this elevator first, so you should get off." The person got really heated and said, "Well, if you want to talk that way, then I can't help you! Not all of you were in front of this elevator! I don't have to get off. You get off!" The argument went on for like a good minute before Calvin and I got off. The rest of the party got off and just went on the other elevator that went to the odd floors (we wanted to go to the 8th floor where Kristen lived). Lets just say it's the creepiest place ever and I would never live there even for a night.
We left after a little bit because we couldn't stand the place anymore. We headed to the Intercontinental Hotel which was gorgeous inside... That is where I saw the first Aston Martin ever in real life! Haha... Never seen this luxury European car ever. It cost over $200k US and it was sick looking. After that, we headed for the Kowloon harbor to get back to our dorm. When we got to the harbor, we kind of split up. Calvin and Josh went straight for the ferry terminal while Kristen, Sam, Rodrigo and I went to the bridge where it had a perfect view of the Hong Kong skyline. We were taking pictures until Josh called asking where we were. I told them we were taking pictures and will be coming over right away. I didn't want to ask him to come over because he scares me a little bit.
We took the ferry back to Central and took the bus back to HKU. Rest for a little bit and headed out to the orientation. Turns out the class that we're taking at HKU is with another summer program. We are going to take a two week class with the Global Business in Asia HKU summer program. They are then go to Shanghai to do another two week of group project and lecture taking for a total of HK$5500. We on the other hand will be doing a seven week internship instead of that 2nd half of lectures and project. I'd say our program is more awesome because we don't have to pay for living or classes or the ticket to Shanghai haha.
This is when my fun day went downhill. After the orientation, people were asking question and I got the courage to ask if we were allowed to record (voice) the lectures. All my life, people tell me, "There's no such thing as stupid questions. If you have a question, then another person probably have the same question." I never believed that bullshit but I asked it anyways. You know what the lecturer/director of Global Business in Asia said when answering me? "Well... If you went to class and paid attention, then you don't need to record it. You can record it with your brain." At first, I didn't really noticed how bad that sounds until people started giggling at his stupid response and I started to feel really bad... I don't know if he was being serious or not, but it made me felt uncomfortable. It's these kind of things that makes me shy and not ask questions. I don't like to put myself onto the spot where people would look at me and think, "Dam, what kind of question is that? That sounds stupid." because I do that to a lot of people too and I know how it feels (Sometimes, you do want to question why people ask such terrible questions, but I didn't think my question was half that bad).
Whatever. After the talk and question was over, I finally met the 4th Lenovo intern Amanda. We talked quite a bit along with a Global Business in Asia student that just graduated from high school. She's going to attend Williams College and Amanda is currently attending Williams College. They asked what I was up to tonight. I told them that my group of friends were planning to go to Lan Kwai Fong, but I don't know if I really wanted to go because I'm not really into clubbing and drinking kind of thing. I knew Josh was talking about this all day and how he wants to get some alcohol back to his dorm to get wasted sometime during this program, but I didn't know he was spreading this "activity" to everyone. Apparently, most of the people in both program ended up going. I originally didn't want to go, but after some peer pressuring, I wanted to just go check out the place and not go in any club. I changed and went down to the lobby, but I forgot my check out ID (we have to check out and check in every time we leave the dorm). I went back to and went back down as quick as possible, but I eventually missed the bus by like a split second. I watched it drive away. :| I was thinking, maybe I can meet them there at Central Station. So I took the next bus that went to Central but when I got there, everyone was gone. I walked around Central and started feeling really lonely. I was thinking "Oh, my friends in the US would never ditch me like that..." I started to miss home and miss Victoria. I looked out into the sea across to Kowloon for a bit and went back to the bus stop to take the bus back to HKU.
I got back and still had some time to burn before going to sleep, so I Skyped with my mom for a little bit and told my dad Happy Father's Day. Then I start to think to myself, maybe my grandma is protecting me. Maybe I was meant not to go to LKF. Either way, I was kind of glad I didn't really go. Even though I missed out on meeting the rest of the students, I saved some money! Haha... Most of them drank and smoked hookah (they call it shisha here).
Good night until next time! :)
Jarred, Calvin, Sixing, Stefano, Rodrigo, and I went out for breakfast. I had Chinese cabbage spare rib congee for HK$13! So cheap cheap cheap! But I think they forgot the spare rib haha... There wasn't any in the congee. Afterwards, we went to a 7Eleven and some people got their SIM cards for their phone. We then returned back to our dorm to get the rest of the girls because they were all still sleeping when we headed out for breakfast.
We headed back out after 30minutes and went to Central to get money exchange because Josh said they had the best exchange rate there. It was so funny because it's Sunday! Sunday is when all the filipino nannies get their day off so all of them meet up at Central to hang out with each other. Legit, it was PACKED with filipino women. No guys. Just women. We got lost a couple of times, but we found each other because we were all taller than them by a little HAHAHA... Or we look for the blonde hair (Kristen) hehe. After that, we went to Wan Chai Computer Center to get US->HK adapters because a lot of them didn't bring one. Only then that we remembered we totally forgot Stefano and Sixing when we went back to the dorm and left again! We felt so bad, but turns out they took a really long nap, so it was okay.
I wanted to explore the computer center some more, but Josh wanted to go to Pacific Place shopping center... On our way there, we got boba tea! ^^ A couple of them haven't tried taro before, so I got taro and they loved it when they tried it lol. The Pacific Place turned out to be a high class mall with everything really expensive. We just window shopped for a bit. Jarred had to go meet up with the HKU students to play Ultimate (disc) <-- Cannot say "frisbee" because frisbee is trademarked, so they have to call it disc lol.. Kind of like Keenex. Cathy had to go back to the airport to pick up her luggage because she took the wrong one with the same looking luggage case. That poor girl had to go all the way back to the dorm to pick up the case, and go all the way to the airport (about 2 1/2 hour ride from HKU to airport) and make it all the way back to HKU for orientation by 6pm.
Then mall was okay; fancy but nothing we can afford. They didn't know where to go, so Kristen was like lets go to that place that you said online! On Facebook, I recommended going to Chungking Mansion in Kowloon for exchange because I heard they had the best rate. We ended up going there and it's the sketchiest place on Earth! Haha... Everything there was fake products. It was like a whole new world where all the Mexicans, Middle Eastern, and Africans hang out... Kristen stayed here before because it's also a hostel upstairs. She stayed for a night and got scared and left because it's just that dirty and scary. Everything was extra cheap and everything was extra fake. But the currency exchange rate was really good. Kristen said lets go upstairs and try to check out a room to show us how it was like when she was staying here. The elevators had camera and they were being show on the first floor and all of us cracked up from watching people in the elevator hahahaha... When the elevator got to us, we had 6 people and another person got in. The elevator specifically said 7 people max, but I guess we were overweight. The elevator had a flashing sign saying overweight. None of us wanted to get out so Josh got into an argument with the other person that got on to get off. He was like, "Well, we were waiting at this elevator first, so you should get off." The person got really heated and said, "Well, if you want to talk that way, then I can't help you! Not all of you were in front of this elevator! I don't have to get off. You get off!" The argument went on for like a good minute before Calvin and I got off. The rest of the party got off and just went on the other elevator that went to the odd floors (we wanted to go to the 8th floor where Kristen lived). Lets just say it's the creepiest place ever and I would never live there even for a night.
We left after a little bit because we couldn't stand the place anymore. We headed to the Intercontinental Hotel which was gorgeous inside... That is where I saw the first Aston Martin ever in real life! Haha... Never seen this luxury European car ever. It cost over $200k US and it was sick looking. After that, we headed for the Kowloon harbor to get back to our dorm. When we got to the harbor, we kind of split up. Calvin and Josh went straight for the ferry terminal while Kristen, Sam, Rodrigo and I went to the bridge where it had a perfect view of the Hong Kong skyline. We were taking pictures until Josh called asking where we were. I told them we were taking pictures and will be coming over right away. I didn't want to ask him to come over because he scares me a little bit.
We took the ferry back to Central and took the bus back to HKU. Rest for a little bit and headed out to the orientation. Turns out the class that we're taking at HKU is with another summer program. We are going to take a two week class with the Global Business in Asia HKU summer program. They are then go to Shanghai to do another two week of group project and lecture taking for a total of HK$5500. We on the other hand will be doing a seven week internship instead of that 2nd half of lectures and project. I'd say our program is more awesome because we don't have to pay for living or classes or the ticket to Shanghai haha.
This is when my fun day went downhill. After the orientation, people were asking question and I got the courage to ask if we were allowed to record (voice) the lectures. All my life, people tell me, "There's no such thing as stupid questions. If you have a question, then another person probably have the same question." I never believed that bullshit but I asked it anyways. You know what the lecturer/director of Global Business in Asia said when answering me? "Well... If you went to class and paid attention, then you don't need to record it. You can record it with your brain." At first, I didn't really noticed how bad that sounds until people started giggling at his stupid response and I started to feel really bad... I don't know if he was being serious or not, but it made me felt uncomfortable. It's these kind of things that makes me shy and not ask questions. I don't like to put myself onto the spot where people would look at me and think, "Dam, what kind of question is that? That sounds stupid." because I do that to a lot of people too and I know how it feels (Sometimes, you do want to question why people ask such terrible questions, but I didn't think my question was half that bad).
Whatever. After the talk and question was over, I finally met the 4th Lenovo intern Amanda. We talked quite a bit along with a Global Business in Asia student that just graduated from high school. She's going to attend Williams College and Amanda is currently attending Williams College. They asked what I was up to tonight. I told them that my group of friends were planning to go to Lan Kwai Fong, but I don't know if I really wanted to go because I'm not really into clubbing and drinking kind of thing. I knew Josh was talking about this all day and how he wants to get some alcohol back to his dorm to get wasted sometime during this program, but I didn't know he was spreading this "activity" to everyone. Apparently, most of the people in both program ended up going. I originally didn't want to go, but after some peer pressuring, I wanted to just go check out the place and not go in any club. I changed and went down to the lobby, but I forgot my check out ID (we have to check out and check in every time we leave the dorm). I went back to and went back down as quick as possible, but I eventually missed the bus by like a split second. I watched it drive away. :| I was thinking, maybe I can meet them there at Central Station. So I took the next bus that went to Central but when I got there, everyone was gone. I walked around Central and started feeling really lonely. I was thinking "Oh, my friends in the US would never ditch me like that..." I started to miss home and miss Victoria. I looked out into the sea across to Kowloon for a bit and went back to the bus stop to take the bus back to HKU.
I got back and still had some time to burn before going to sleep, so I Skyped with my mom for a little bit and told my dad Happy Father's Day. Then I start to think to myself, maybe my grandma is protecting me. Maybe I was meant not to go to LKF. Either way, I was kind of glad I didn't really go. Even though I missed out on meeting the rest of the students, I saved some money! Haha... Most of them drank and smoked hookah (they call it shisha here).
Good night until next time! :)
Day 23 & 24: Moved into HKU!
Haha, I totally forgot to blog on Friday, the 15th. But I really didn't do much that day. I bought new Chucks for HK$260 (US$34). I got a haircut at a place that brags about HK$50, 10minute haircut. Really quick service for those on the go. Their cut was pretty good too! So angry at American barber shops. :( Always! Always mess up! I guess they only know how to just shave it all off and keep like an inch of hair.
Saturday, it was pouring. Wendy has to attention an convention because she's in charge of promoting her Airline company. I really wanted to go check it out because I was wondering what it was that's making Wendy so tired every night afterwards haha. So auntie brought me over to the Hong Kong Convention Center. It was awesome! So much bigger and prettier than Hynes Convention Center! Turns out it was a convention on promoting all kinds of airlines, hotels, traveling agencies, etc. Wendy got us VIP passes to get in for free (HKU$20 ticket)! There were a lot of companies there! Auntie and I just walked around and collected pamphlets from every stall! Haha... There's a lot of cheap deals going all around the world; US, Africa, Guam, Korea, China, Europe, India, etc. There was also a lot of free stuff too. I played a target throwing game at a Japan stall and won a pair of wooden chopsticks (I think it's a one use one) and a phone charm. There was a stall that sold exclusive Pokemon plush from Japan! I wanted it, but they were pretty expensive for a mini plush. We were waiting for Cherry to come by but she was late because she wanted to wait for her little sisters before going. So we left early because auntie thought I have to get to school before 5pm or else people will get off work (That's what it said on the welcoming packet. Check-in between 12-5). We were in such a rush to eat lunch, go back and pack the rest of my stuff. Edward fell asleep waiting for us to get back. Auntie wanted him to help me get to HKU so I don't get lost.
We didn't leave the house until 4:15, so instead of taking the 31 minibus, we took the train and taxi. It was still pouring outside, so there's heavy traffic and I would not be able to make it there before 5. We took the train to Central and took a taxi. We were half way there on the taxi when it turned 5 and Edward was a bit freaking out. Auntie was freaking out back home to get Edward to get ready and bring me or else I'll be late. She freaks out really easily when it comes to these things when time matters. We finally found our way to my dorm by 5:15. Turns out there were still students sitting at the door signing in students in for the program. I knew they would not be leaving at 5 because there are people with different flight schedules. Auntie wouldn't believe me that we don't have to rush, so whatever ya'know lol... I got to my room and I was surprised! The rooms are huge! O_O Not as huge as my Thatcher room, but it's definitely bigger than my Van Meter room... The view is awesome too! Full view of the ocean! :] Pix at the end... I settled down, Edward went back home, and I got my courage to meet people. I knocked on the door of my neighbor and met them.
New friends: Calvin, Jarred, Stefano, Sixing, Sam, Kristen.
Kristen, Sam, Sixing, Calvin and I went out for dinner and walked around Wellcome to see if we needed anything. I got some fruits for after dinner snack. We headed back to our dorm by 10.
Turns out HKU public wifi is really slow! T_T I couldn't download anything! Dropbox is taking 1500days to sync! I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow's orientation to see if we get student login infos.
That's my night. :) I love my dorm. My roommate is Rodrigo. He's from Brazil and he's pretty cool. I can't wait until tomorrow to meet more people and go have fun!
I miss you, Victoria. <3 I wish you were here with me but I think this is a great thing for me. I need to put myself out there on my own and survive on my own. I can't just rely on friends and parents where ever I go. I love you. ^_^ I'll see you soon~
Saturday, it was pouring. Wendy has to attention an convention because she's in charge of promoting her Airline company. I really wanted to go check it out because I was wondering what it was that's making Wendy so tired every night afterwards haha. So auntie brought me over to the Hong Kong Convention Center. It was awesome! So much bigger and prettier than Hynes Convention Center! Turns out it was a convention on promoting all kinds of airlines, hotels, traveling agencies, etc. Wendy got us VIP passes to get in for free (HKU$20 ticket)! There were a lot of companies there! Auntie and I just walked around and collected pamphlets from every stall! Haha... There's a lot of cheap deals going all around the world; US, Africa, Guam, Korea, China, Europe, India, etc. There was also a lot of free stuff too. I played a target throwing game at a Japan stall and won a pair of wooden chopsticks (I think it's a one use one) and a phone charm. There was a stall that sold exclusive Pokemon plush from Japan! I wanted it, but they were pretty expensive for a mini plush. We were waiting for Cherry to come by but she was late because she wanted to wait for her little sisters before going. So we left early because auntie thought I have to get to school before 5pm or else people will get off work (That's what it said on the welcoming packet. Check-in between 12-5). We were in such a rush to eat lunch, go back and pack the rest of my stuff. Edward fell asleep waiting for us to get back. Auntie wanted him to help me get to HKU so I don't get lost.
We didn't leave the house until 4:15, so instead of taking the 31 minibus, we took the train and taxi. It was still pouring outside, so there's heavy traffic and I would not be able to make it there before 5. We took the train to Central and took a taxi. We were half way there on the taxi when it turned 5 and Edward was a bit freaking out. Auntie was freaking out back home to get Edward to get ready and bring me or else I'll be late. She freaks out really easily when it comes to these things when time matters. We finally found our way to my dorm by 5:15. Turns out there were still students sitting at the door signing in students in for the program. I knew they would not be leaving at 5 because there are people with different flight schedules. Auntie wouldn't believe me that we don't have to rush, so whatever ya'know lol... I got to my room and I was surprised! The rooms are huge! O_O Not as huge as my Thatcher room, but it's definitely bigger than my Van Meter room... The view is awesome too! Full view of the ocean! :] Pix at the end... I settled down, Edward went back home, and I got my courage to meet people. I knocked on the door of my neighbor and met them.
New friends: Calvin, Jarred, Stefano, Sixing, Sam, Kristen.
Kristen, Sam, Sixing, Calvin and I went out for dinner and walked around Wellcome to see if we needed anything. I got some fruits for after dinner snack. We headed back to our dorm by 10.
Turns out HKU public wifi is really slow! T_T I couldn't download anything! Dropbox is taking 1500days to sync! I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow's orientation to see if we get student login infos.
That's my night. :) I love my dorm. My roommate is Rodrigo. He's from Brazil and he's pretty cool. I can't wait until tomorrow to meet more people and go have fun!
I miss you, Victoria. <3 I wish you were here with me but I think this is a great thing for me. I need to put myself out there on my own and survive on my own. I can't just rely on friends and parents where ever I go. I love you. ^_^ I'll see you soon~
Friday, June 15, 2012
Day 22: Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Everyone :D
Haha, I got bored today and auntie went out early in the morning to run some errands so I started cleaning their house! x3 I cleaned up their dining table which had a lot of junk! A lot of the junk were either finished snack packets that they were too lazy to throw out or junk mails that they were too lazy to throw out. =3= Same thing goes for all around their house... A lot of junk mail that's just left here and there. I wiped down the table, chairs, floor, etc.
I had enough of cleaning at 2:30 and auntie still haven't gotten back yet, so I decided to go out to eat at the ramen place. Turns out my meal was a lot more expensive than I thought. :( I got a tampura appetizer which was more expensive than the late lunch special lolol... The bill came out $62 + 10% service fee and I tipped them to make it even HK$80 <-- Still cheaper than eating Japanese food in the US haha...
I walked around for a hour before going back home. When I got back, auntie was back already.
I chilled for a bit and continue to fix my phone because there's no easy way to hack my phone yet so I had to do some complicated stuff. :( I ended up hacking it though so it's all good.
Auntie didn't bring me to go see cou gong, so she just went out alone...
When Wendy came back, Becky called to ask if I wanted to go to the arcade again lol... Wendy and Becky are like these arcade freaks... They blow so much money into playing. x3 I asked if it was worth it to throw so much money into trying to win plushies. Their moral is that you'll feel happier winning the prize instead of buying it. I guess it makes sense. But the thing is, they know one of the employees so they can just cheat if they do lose a lot. :P
We finally beat the game that turned off on me last time. We blew a lot of money into it, but it was worth it to beat it ^^;;
That's all for today! I can't wait to start school! Good night, reader(s)!
I had enough of cleaning at 2:30 and auntie still haven't gotten back yet, so I decided to go out to eat at the ramen place. Turns out my meal was a lot more expensive than I thought. :( I got a tampura appetizer which was more expensive than the late lunch special lolol... The bill came out $62 + 10% service fee and I tipped them to make it even HK$80 <-- Still cheaper than eating Japanese food in the US haha...
I walked around for a hour before going back home. When I got back, auntie was back already.
I chilled for a bit and continue to fix my phone because there's no easy way to hack my phone yet so I had to do some complicated stuff. :( I ended up hacking it though so it's all good.
Auntie didn't bring me to go see cou gong, so she just went out alone...
When Wendy came back, Becky called to ask if I wanted to go to the arcade again lol... Wendy and Becky are like these arcade freaks... They blow so much money into playing. x3 I asked if it was worth it to throw so much money into trying to win plushies. Their moral is that you'll feel happier winning the prize instead of buying it. I guess it makes sense. But the thing is, they know one of the employees so they can just cheat if they do lose a lot. :P
We finally beat the game that turned off on me last time. We blew a lot of money into it, but it was worth it to beat it ^^;;
That's all for today! I can't wait to start school! Good night, reader(s)!
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| The game that I got cut off playing last time! |
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| Yay! All three of us passed that level! ^_^ |
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| Becky and I owning while Wendy sobbing in the corner for losing :P |
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| She won another plushie (Goofy!) x3 Even though the whole house is full of them! |
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Day 21: Getting Ready for HKU! ^_^
Heavy rain all day and news forecast predict to be heavy rain all week...
I stayed home all day to pack up a bit for HKU and upgrade my phone to Android 4.0.4.
Rode an hour on the exercising bike. ^_^
Auntie went out for grocery today. I wanted to go so I can make sure she's safe and not slip, but she insist that I stay home. She got back fine, so that's good. :)
Today is the first day the whole family ate together since I came to Hong Kong! ^_^ Haha... Edward's always OTing, so majority of the time, it's just Auntie, Wendy and I at the dinner table. Today, Edward got back early and we had dinner together. I was really happy to be able to sit together and have dinner although all of us were too mesmerized by the TV hahaha...
Kinda nervous about starting school... HKU finally released the e-mail of all the participants to give us a chance to create a Facebook page and mingle together before starting. Turns out everyone are from highly ranked colleges around the world except me. x_x Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Oxford, Western Ontario, Dartmouth, and a bunch of others... I learn to not care about what school I'm from because I'm still just getting the same education. But being around all these smart people are kind of intimidating in my head. I hope it all works out. They all seem to be nice people on Facebook.
Good night until next time! :)
I stayed home all day to pack up a bit for HKU and upgrade my phone to Android 4.0.4.
Rode an hour on the exercising bike. ^_^
Auntie went out for grocery today. I wanted to go so I can make sure she's safe and not slip, but she insist that I stay home. She got back fine, so that's good. :)
Today is the first day the whole family ate together since I came to Hong Kong! ^_^ Haha... Edward's always OTing, so majority of the time, it's just Auntie, Wendy and I at the dinner table. Today, Edward got back early and we had dinner together. I was really happy to be able to sit together and have dinner although all of us were too mesmerized by the TV hahaha...
Kinda nervous about starting school... HKU finally released the e-mail of all the participants to give us a chance to create a Facebook page and mingle together before starting. Turns out everyone are from highly ranked colleges around the world except me. x_x Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Oxford, Western Ontario, Dartmouth, and a bunch of others... I learn to not care about what school I'm from because I'm still just getting the same education. But being around all these smart people are kind of intimidating in my head. I hope it all works out. They all seem to be nice people on Facebook.
Good night until next time! :)
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Day 20: Good and Bad~ :S
Myah... Wendy took the day off from work because she has to work on Saturday and Sunday of this week. Summer's starting so she has to go with the committee to promote promotional deals for her airline.
Although she was off from work, she still had a lot of errands to do lol... So auntie and I just company her while she did her things. We later had lunch at a ramen place which was really good unlike the instant noodle ones!
After lunch, we went back home and just chilled for a bit before going out to visit cou gong. Apparently, he has cancer and it's spreading really fast. :( He has about a year to live... I hope he's gonna be okay. He's getting his stitches off in a couple of days and he can go home after that. He was so excited that he can go home. He felt that his time at the hospital was a drag for everyone. I'm glad he was happy and not worried.
After we visit him, Auntie, Wendy, and I went swimming! ^_^ It cost HK$19 to get in and you get to swim as long as you want. We got there at 7:30 and swam for two hours. Unluckily, it started raining but we still swam. I'm still scared to breath while swimming, so I stop for air when I run out. x3 Wendy kept trying to push me to learn and she told me about how when she was little, my dad was a silly instructor that taught her to swim. He'd pretend to be holding her and just kept encouraging her to swim; even when she accidentally drank some water, he'd still tell her to continue to swim lol...
We got some carry out afterward and ate at home. I think I caught a cold from swimming because my nose has been runny since... I guess I'll be fine. x3 And I hope cou gong will be fine too...
Good night until next time!
Although she was off from work, she still had a lot of errands to do lol... So auntie and I just company her while she did her things. We later had lunch at a ramen place which was really good unlike the instant noodle ones!
After lunch, we went back home and just chilled for a bit before going out to visit cou gong. Apparently, he has cancer and it's spreading really fast. :( He has about a year to live... I hope he's gonna be okay. He's getting his stitches off in a couple of days and he can go home after that. He was so excited that he can go home. He felt that his time at the hospital was a drag for everyone. I'm glad he was happy and not worried.
After we visit him, Auntie, Wendy, and I went swimming! ^_^ It cost HK$19 to get in and you get to swim as long as you want. We got there at 7:30 and swam for two hours. Unluckily, it started raining but we still swam. I'm still scared to breath while swimming, so I stop for air when I run out. x3 Wendy kept trying to push me to learn and she told me about how when she was little, my dad was a silly instructor that taught her to swim. He'd pretend to be holding her and just kept encouraging her to swim; even when she accidentally drank some water, he'd still tell her to continue to swim lol...
We got some carry out afterward and ate at home. I think I caught a cold from swimming because my nose has been runny since... I guess I'll be fine. x3 And I hope cou gong will be fine too...
Good night until next time!
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| Yummy! And only HK$28! |
Day 16, 17, 18, 19: Guangzhou! ^_^
*Editting on July 11, 2012* Oh man, I didn't know I missed on so many days! :P But I had a wonderful time in Guangzhou with my mom's friend's son Junhao. We went around Guangzhou, watched Men in Black III, had a lot of fun. It was great. Guangzhou developed so much in the past 5 years. :) Junhao said he's going to get a job in Shanghai this summer, so lets wish him Good Luck!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Day 15: Cheap Clothing is a Lie! T_T
Auntie went out to do something and I was bored out of my mind at home, so I decided to go out on my own because I still need more clothing (mommy wouldn't let me pack so much!). It was awkward at first because I felt like I couldn't blend in into the crowd. But then again, I always felt like shopping alone was boring and retarded. :x
I first went out for food. I went to Yoshinoya again, but got noodles this time. ^_^ Also really yummy! And pretty cheap! Hehe~
After eating, I went to SOGO shopping center. It's kind of like a mall in the US, except this shopping center is 20 floors! There's floors for jewelries, electronics, furniture, house appliances, men clothing, women clothing, sports clothing, etc. everything you need! Except everything is really expensive. :( A regular t-shirt is HK$300+ and button up shirts are HK$500+... The business suits are $7000+... I got scared of the prices and left and went to Bossini instead. I've been to that store the last time I went to HK and their clothing are okay price and their style is moderate.
The thing I don't like about shopping in HK/China is that the salespeople pester you and follow you the whole time you're shopping. I think it's a cultural thing, but I find it annoying that they have to follow you around the whole time you're shopping and keep recommending things or asking what size you need until you tell them to stop or ask to try something on.
I ended up getting a button up short sleeve shirt for HK$150 (HK$30 off). That's US$20 which is about the same price. Now that I think about it, cheap clothing can't be good clothing lol... Cheap clothing in China might be really bad quality. I guess I shouldn't expect any cheap clothing though the way my mom said it, it sounded like US$5 per shirt or something.
I went back home and auntie got back already. She cooked up the rice and we headed out to visit cou gong. Came back, ate dinner and packed for Guangzhou~ ^_^ I honestly didn't know what to pack other than clothing... I guess that's fine as long as I got the necessary stuff. Good night! :)
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Day 14: Getting Ready For Guangzhou!
Weather: Sunny as nice as always ^^;
Happy IPv6! ^_^
Auntie brought me out to get my USD exchanged for RMB. She originally thought that money exchange kiosks gives the best rate and banks gives the worse because they charge a lot of fees. When we went to the kiosk nearby, the exchange rate for USD-->HKD was 7.06! O_O I was like woah! That can't be right! Last I checked, USD/HKD was 7.706... So I recommended that we go check out a bank before we do any exchanging...
So she decided to bring me to eat lunch before going to the bank. She brought me to Yoshinoya. I had the best beef rice dish ever! They flavored the beef so well! Auntie also ordered oden, but it wasn't even close to being as good as the one that Victoria's uncle makes. The miso soup that came with my rice wasn't that good either. xP But the rice plate was the best! Made up for all imperfectness. And it was pretty cheap too! HK$70!
Afterwards, we went to Heng Seng Bank to check out the exchange rate. This bank was one of the banks that people online recommended; the other place being Chungking Mansion. The exchange rate at Heng Seng Bank was 7.622! Haha... They would not do USD-->RMB, so they did USD-->HKD-->RMB. I ended up exchanging US$500 for RMB3100.00 and HKD$86.20 from the remaining $$ since they only have RMB100 bills. And since auntie has a bank account with that bank, they didn't charge any processing fee. I lost out on RMB20 comparing to the real price of the market, but that was better than the kiosks on the street... I'd be losing HKD$.60 for every dollar...
After exchanging money, we went to the market to get groceries and then went to visit cou gong. He got surgery to remove the puss from his infected area inside his body. He's doing okay now. It was just auntie and I though. Edward's always OTing and Wendy has been busy lately too due to the summer starting = more people traveling.
That's all I guess. :) Night night
Happy IPv6! ^_^
Auntie brought me out to get my USD exchanged for RMB. She originally thought that money exchange kiosks gives the best rate and banks gives the worse because they charge a lot of fees. When we went to the kiosk nearby, the exchange rate for USD-->HKD was 7.06! O_O I was like woah! That can't be right! Last I checked, USD/HKD was 7.706... So I recommended that we go check out a bank before we do any exchanging...
So she decided to bring me to eat lunch before going to the bank. She brought me to Yoshinoya. I had the best beef rice dish ever! They flavored the beef so well! Auntie also ordered oden, but it wasn't even close to being as good as the one that Victoria's uncle makes. The miso soup that came with my rice wasn't that good either. xP But the rice plate was the best! Made up for all imperfectness. And it was pretty cheap too! HK$70!
Afterwards, we went to Heng Seng Bank to check out the exchange rate. This bank was one of the banks that people online recommended; the other place being Chungking Mansion. The exchange rate at Heng Seng Bank was 7.622! Haha... They would not do USD-->RMB, so they did USD-->HKD-->RMB. I ended up exchanging US$500 for RMB3100.00 and HKD$86.20 from the remaining $$ since they only have RMB100 bills. And since auntie has a bank account with that bank, they didn't charge any processing fee. I lost out on RMB20 comparing to the real price of the market, but that was better than the kiosks on the street... I'd be losing HKD$.60 for every dollar...
After exchanging money, we went to the market to get groceries and then went to visit cou gong. He got surgery to remove the puss from his infected area inside his body. He's doing okay now. It was just auntie and I though. Edward's always OTing and Wendy has been busy lately too due to the summer starting = more people traveling.
That's all I guess. :) Night night
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| The really good beef rice bowl! Yoshi Beef Bowl |
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Day 13: Ehhh...
It was gonna be a complaining post, but I changed my mine. :) A regular resting day. Auntie complained that I walk to slow, so she didn't let me go grocery shopping with her. She came back, cooked the rice and we went to see cou gong. He's doing fine. :) Came back, dinner, sleep.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Day 12: ~_~Zzzz...
Weather: Sunny and a bit Windy
Resting day after yesterday... My arms are extremely sore and my feet still ache a bit... I found a Chinese dubbed version of Great Teacher Onizuka! I've been trying to find this for a long time~ I still couldn't find a torrent for it though... All the torrents are abandoned and no more seeders. :( I watched a couple of episodes before going out with auntie to grocery shopping. I'm starting to find her really annoying. :( Today whole day, she wouldn't stop asking me what I want for lunch. ._." I keep telling her that I'll see when we go out for lunch, but she keeps asking me... I just stopped answering after a while, but I felt bad so I just nod my head... Not only this, but even though she knows that I'm full she still make me eat stuff. She use the excuse that it's not going to taste good if it gets cold or not going to taste good the next day... At Macau, everyone made me finish whatever were leftover when we went to restaurants. I was stuffed to the max, but when they bought me the pork chop bun, auntie kept telling me to eat it immediately. After that, she did it again with the egg tarts. ._." She also kept complaining about how I'm walking so slow and not used to Hong Kong rush yet. I walk show for her... I began walking in front of her now.
We were going to visit cou gong again today, but she got lazy and said we'll go tomorrow. I took out my Nintendo DSi and started playing on it, but I just don't feel the fun in games as I used to anymore. :( I don't know what's happening to me! I don't find games fun anymore. O_O At least the ones I'm playing.... Oh well, good night for now. :P
Resting day after yesterday... My arms are extremely sore and my feet still ache a bit... I found a Chinese dubbed version of Great Teacher Onizuka! I've been trying to find this for a long time~ I still couldn't find a torrent for it though... All the torrents are abandoned and no more seeders. :( I watched a couple of episodes before going out with auntie to grocery shopping. I'm starting to find her really annoying. :( Today whole day, she wouldn't stop asking me what I want for lunch. ._." I keep telling her that I'll see when we go out for lunch, but she keeps asking me... I just stopped answering after a while, but I felt bad so I just nod my head... Not only this, but even though she knows that I'm full she still make me eat stuff. She use the excuse that it's not going to taste good if it gets cold or not going to taste good the next day... At Macau, everyone made me finish whatever were leftover when we went to restaurants. I was stuffed to the max, but when they bought me the pork chop bun, auntie kept telling me to eat it immediately. After that, she did it again with the egg tarts. ._." She also kept complaining about how I'm walking so slow and not used to Hong Kong rush yet. I walk show for her... I began walking in front of her now.
We were going to visit cou gong again today, but she got lazy and said we'll go tomorrow. I took out my Nintendo DSi and started playing on it, but I just don't feel the fun in games as I used to anymore. :( I don't know what's happening to me! I don't find games fun anymore. O_O At least the ones I'm playing.... Oh well, good night for now. :P
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Day 11: Blehhh~ =3=
Weather: Sunny and Beautiful
Party: Auntie, Wendy, Cherry, Mun Yi, Florence, Me
Location: Last Day in Macau~
Woke up at 10am to get ready to go out and go sight seeing! Mun Yi brought us out to a cafe nearby to grab some breakfast. The menu was all in Chinese, so Wendy read me most of the sandwich on the menu. 咖喱鱼片包 sounded like a good sandwich to have so I picked that one along with a lemon ice tea that came with it. Thought that it was gonna be an excitement turns out to be not so much. :< The sandwich legit have 3 slices of fish slice that we usually buy in packets and cook for dinner, a couple droplet of curry and two buns to hold it together... I was expecting to have like a special way of making these fish slices and have some tomato and lettuce, but nope, just fish slices, curry and buns. o_o The lemon ice tea was regular Chinese tea with ice and a slice of lemon. If they make the sandwich as to what I thought it would be, I think they'd make a fortune! Haha, I'm so full of myself...
After that, we took the bus to 大炮台 Fortaleza do Monte Mount Fortress. This is the place where all the churches, the wars, historical sites, etc. are located. This place has tons of history and all the architectures are really pretty. The churches are beautiful and all the building that was not torn down from the early centuries were amazing. :) There's also this one church that only has the front door left after being burn down three times yet the front entrance still stands. Next to this was the Museum of Macau. Not much is in there besides a bit artifacts and the area where all the cannons are located; where Macau used to fight their wars. After that, we went to this Portugese restaurant that was really expensive! O_O There were dishes that was $350 each... Overall, I had a lot of fun on the first part of the day.
After that, Florence bought me a pork chop bun; a really popular sandwich that's big in Macau and Hong Kong right now. Auntie was trying to force me to eat it right away saying it's not going to be good when it cools down regardless of how full I was after lunch... I ended up eating half of it before I couldn't eat anymore.
Florence had to go and Mun Yi has to get home to correct exams so we departed. We took the bus for a good hour to get to a place where they sell famous egg tarts... Hong Kong sells them too but they said the main chef works here and it's different here; taste better I guess. Once again, auntie try to make me eat one saying it's not so good afterwards. I couldn't eat anymore so I denied until she shopped. When I thought we were ready to go, they had to go back to buy 2 more half a dozen of them to bring back for Mun Yi and friends in HK so auntie and I waited outside.
After that, we took the bus back to Venetian hotel. Wendy wanted to go to this old Taipa Village place to buy famous cookies and egg rolls. Wendy and auntie got on the bus to get there, but not enough seats for Cherry and I. We decided to walk over because the next bus was in 10 minutes. We forgot to have them take the tarts onto the bus, so we walked over while carrying them.
Wendy and auntie bought some cookies and egg rolls and wanted to go back to Venetian. Once again, there were not enough seats again, so Cherry and I walked back over but this time, we had them take the bags.
After we got back, we went to the Galaxy hotel instead which is connected to the Venetian. We just browsed around and just watched people gamble. Wendy and auntie lost another HK$100 lol :( We just browsed around until we had to go back to Mun Yi's place to pick up stuff and catch the boat back to HK.
When we got back to Mun Yi's place, it was really late and we were trying to catch the 9:30 ferry, so we took the taxi to the terminal. I was looking at the timepiece and I was like O_O The price went up like $2 like every meter! Such a money maker! In a 10min ride, it already cost $37.
We got there really early cuz there wasn't a line in the passport holder line so I got in quickly. We took the ferry back and got back at 11. Everyone was tired, so we just all passed out. :)
Party: Auntie, Wendy, Cherry, Mun Yi, Florence, Me
Location: Last Day in Macau~
Woke up at 10am to get ready to go out and go sight seeing! Mun Yi brought us out to a cafe nearby to grab some breakfast. The menu was all in Chinese, so Wendy read me most of the sandwich on the menu. 咖喱鱼片包 sounded like a good sandwich to have so I picked that one along with a lemon ice tea that came with it. Thought that it was gonna be an excitement turns out to be not so much. :< The sandwich legit have 3 slices of fish slice that we usually buy in packets and cook for dinner, a couple droplet of curry and two buns to hold it together... I was expecting to have like a special way of making these fish slices and have some tomato and lettuce, but nope, just fish slices, curry and buns. o_o The lemon ice tea was regular Chinese tea with ice and a slice of lemon. If they make the sandwich as to what I thought it would be, I think they'd make a fortune! Haha, I'm so full of myself...
After that, we took the bus to 大炮台 Fortaleza do Monte Mount Fortress. This is the place where all the churches, the wars, historical sites, etc. are located. This place has tons of history and all the architectures are really pretty. The churches are beautiful and all the building that was not torn down from the early centuries were amazing. :) There's also this one church that only has the front door left after being burn down three times yet the front entrance still stands. Next to this was the Museum of Macau. Not much is in there besides a bit artifacts and the area where all the cannons are located; where Macau used to fight their wars. After that, we went to this Portugese restaurant that was really expensive! O_O There were dishes that was $350 each... Overall, I had a lot of fun on the first part of the day.
After that, Florence bought me a pork chop bun; a really popular sandwich that's big in Macau and Hong Kong right now. Auntie was trying to force me to eat it right away saying it's not going to be good when it cools down regardless of how full I was after lunch... I ended up eating half of it before I couldn't eat anymore.
Florence had to go and Mun Yi has to get home to correct exams so we departed. We took the bus for a good hour to get to a place where they sell famous egg tarts... Hong Kong sells them too but they said the main chef works here and it's different here; taste better I guess. Once again, auntie try to make me eat one saying it's not so good afterwards. I couldn't eat anymore so I denied until she shopped. When I thought we were ready to go, they had to go back to buy 2 more half a dozen of them to bring back for Mun Yi and friends in HK so auntie and I waited outside.
After that, we took the bus back to Venetian hotel. Wendy wanted to go to this old Taipa Village place to buy famous cookies and egg rolls. Wendy and auntie got on the bus to get there, but not enough seats for Cherry and I. We decided to walk over because the next bus was in 10 minutes. We forgot to have them take the tarts onto the bus, so we walked over while carrying them.
Wendy and auntie bought some cookies and egg rolls and wanted to go back to Venetian. Once again, there were not enough seats again, so Cherry and I walked back over but this time, we had them take the bags.
After we got back, we went to the Galaxy hotel instead which is connected to the Venetian. We just browsed around and just watched people gamble. Wendy and auntie lost another HK$100 lol :( We just browsed around until we had to go back to Mun Yi's place to pick up stuff and catch the boat back to HK.
When we got back to Mun Yi's place, it was really late and we were trying to catch the 9:30 ferry, so we took the taxi to the terminal. I was looking at the timepiece and I was like O_O The price went up like $2 like every meter! Such a money maker! In a 10min ride, it already cost $37.
We got there really early cuz there wasn't a line in the passport holder line so I got in quickly. We took the ferry back and got back at 11. Everyone was tired, so we just all passed out. :)
Day 10: Macau!
Weather: Sunny and Beautiful
Party: Auntie, Wendy, Cherry, Mun Yi, Florence, Me
Location: Macau!
Woke up early just so others won't have to wait for me, but end up Wendy wouldn't get up until we really have to leave! We needed to get to the ferry terminal early because the passport holder immigration line are usually really long (people from China going there to gamble!). I thought I packed everything, but ended up forgetting the camera! Wendy ended up giving me her SLR camera to take pictures.
We got to the ferry terminal at 12:30 to meet up with Cherry (Wendy's friend). None of them ate yet, so they bought McDonald's. Their sandwiches are even smaller than the ones in the US lol... The quarter-pounder (supposedly a bigger patty) had the same size patty, 3 mini strings of onion, 2 small slices of pickles, one dot of ketchup, and a piece of cheese... It was sad, but turns out the ride to Macau had food even though it's only a 1hr ride! 6hr ride from MA to CA doesn't serve food...
Wendy got employee discount on a package for ferry ride and tickets to the show Dancing Waters. We even got premium seating -- front seat and prior service. :] Our ride was at 2:30 and we got there at 3:30 but took me an hour to check into Macau through the immigration department~ =3=
Macau is so empty compare to Hong Kong! Macau is like, still in heavy development. There's tons of empty land. Auntie kept saying Macau is a lot prettier than Las Vegas even though she been to Las Vegas. I feel that Las Vegas is a lot more beautiful, just because all the casinos are packed together so it really illuminates brighter. But yeah, the main part of Macau is like Las Vegas, except the casinos are more spread out. The other part of Macau is like historical things.
When we got off the ferry, there were immediately free bus shuttles to casinos lol. That's like really different because where ever I go in Hong Kong, even parking is not free even if you're going to that restaurant to eat.
We took the bus to Venetian casino~ Looks exactly like the one in Las Vegas, but auntie still continue to brag that it's better looking. :P Here lies the one and only Victoria's Secret in the whole Macau and Hong Kong (There's no Victoria's Secret in HK!). I stress that because Wendy had me buy her Victoria's Secret lotion from the US because the only one in Venetian sells them for US$32 per bottle while I can get them in the US 5 for $30... lol. I also bought a really cute bag for Victoria; Japanese brand; really cute. :3
After shopping for a little bit, we went into the casino. Really bad ventilation and smoking is allowed. It's the grossiest smell ever! :( Wendy gave HK$100 to her mom to try her luck on slot machines. She won HK$7 on the first try, but eventually lost everything haha... Wendy cashed out a HK$1 check as a souvenir for me. :) Cherry tried HK$20 and I tried HK$20 and eventually lost it all. No such thing as winning when gambling. If people win so often, then the casino owners wouldn't have so much money to keep opening new ones. After that, we just walked around, watched a couple of free performances and waited until our main event of the night.
Dancing Water! ^_^ http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/
A HK$2Billion production! Our tickets were HK$860 per person (with discount. If not, $1310) and it wasn't even the best seat. :x It was a really awesome performance about an evil queen kidnapping this girl to prevent the pirate and the girl from getting together because they love each other haha. The whole performance was on stuns, acrobats, and acting on top of a pool of water with rising platforms whenever needed. It was really awesome, but it was annoying at the same time. You know how you're not supposed to record performances at some place because they don't want to lose profit? Usually, there's only a sign and that's about it. But here, they had workers hover over all the audience throughout the whole show and they'd go around everytime they suspect someone recording. They were blocking the view a lot of the time. ._. One of them even yelled at me three times because she thought I was recording. Wendy's camera was running out of battery, so there was a red blinking light on the screen. Also, I try to focus before taking pictures, so there's a red light on the camera that lights up when it's focused. The woman kept telling me to stop recording, so I got mad and just stopped taking pictures for the rest of the performance. They were doing through every aisle every time a flashy scene comes on and they start suspecting everyone recording. But yeah, it was a good performance.
Afterwards, we took the free bus back to Wendy's friend "Mun Yi"'s (only know her Chinese name) house. We met up with Florence and her boyfriend for dinner. Dinner was okay, just regular "dai pai dong." I THOUGHT we took the bus to her house, but after dinner, we walked for a good hour before getting to her house haha... She lived at 青洲坊 (Bairro da Ilha Verde); northern part of Macau. We got back, took a shower and went to sleep. The water is so dirty here they have to install sodium fluoride filters at every faucet. :s Mun Yi is a teacher at a middle school and her brother lives with her. I didn't really get to meet her brother, but he seemed cool. :P The usual now a days asian hair do~ That's all for today! Mun Yi didn't know her internet password, so I just posted something random as a place holder to post this now! ^^; *acting like I don't know what happened the next day*
Party: Auntie, Wendy, Cherry, Mun Yi, Florence, Me
Location: Macau!
Woke up early just so others won't have to wait for me, but end up Wendy wouldn't get up until we really have to leave! We needed to get to the ferry terminal early because the passport holder immigration line are usually really long (people from China going there to gamble!). I thought I packed everything, but ended up forgetting the camera! Wendy ended up giving me her SLR camera to take pictures.
We got to the ferry terminal at 12:30 to meet up with Cherry (Wendy's friend). None of them ate yet, so they bought McDonald's. Their sandwiches are even smaller than the ones in the US lol... The quarter-pounder (supposedly a bigger patty) had the same size patty, 3 mini strings of onion, 2 small slices of pickles, one dot of ketchup, and a piece of cheese... It was sad, but turns out the ride to Macau had food even though it's only a 1hr ride! 6hr ride from MA to CA doesn't serve food...
Wendy got employee discount on a package for ferry ride and tickets to the show Dancing Waters. We even got premium seating -- front seat and prior service. :] Our ride was at 2:30 and we got there at 3:30 but took me an hour to check into Macau through the immigration department~ =3=
Macau is so empty compare to Hong Kong! Macau is like, still in heavy development. There's tons of empty land. Auntie kept saying Macau is a lot prettier than Las Vegas even though she been to Las Vegas. I feel that Las Vegas is a lot more beautiful, just because all the casinos are packed together so it really illuminates brighter. But yeah, the main part of Macau is like Las Vegas, except the casinos are more spread out. The other part of Macau is like historical things.
When we got off the ferry, there were immediately free bus shuttles to casinos lol. That's like really different because where ever I go in Hong Kong, even parking is not free even if you're going to that restaurant to eat.
We took the bus to Venetian casino~ Looks exactly like the one in Las Vegas, but auntie still continue to brag that it's better looking. :P Here lies the one and only Victoria's Secret in the whole Macau and Hong Kong (There's no Victoria's Secret in HK!). I stress that because Wendy had me buy her Victoria's Secret lotion from the US because the only one in Venetian sells them for US$32 per bottle while I can get them in the US 5 for $30... lol. I also bought a really cute bag for Victoria; Japanese brand; really cute. :3
After shopping for a little bit, we went into the casino. Really bad ventilation and smoking is allowed. It's the grossiest smell ever! :( Wendy gave HK$100 to her mom to try her luck on slot machines. She won HK$7 on the first try, but eventually lost everything haha... Wendy cashed out a HK$1 check as a souvenir for me. :) Cherry tried HK$20 and I tried HK$20 and eventually lost it all. No such thing as winning when gambling. If people win so often, then the casino owners wouldn't have so much money to keep opening new ones. After that, we just walked around, watched a couple of free performances and waited until our main event of the night.
Dancing Water! ^_^ http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/
A HK$2Billion production! Our tickets were HK$860 per person (with discount. If not, $1310) and it wasn't even the best seat. :x It was a really awesome performance about an evil queen kidnapping this girl to prevent the pirate and the girl from getting together because they love each other haha. The whole performance was on stuns, acrobats, and acting on top of a pool of water with rising platforms whenever needed. It was really awesome, but it was annoying at the same time. You know how you're not supposed to record performances at some place because they don't want to lose profit? Usually, there's only a sign and that's about it. But here, they had workers hover over all the audience throughout the whole show and they'd go around everytime they suspect someone recording. They were blocking the view a lot of the time. ._. One of them even yelled at me three times because she thought I was recording. Wendy's camera was running out of battery, so there was a red blinking light on the screen. Also, I try to focus before taking pictures, so there's a red light on the camera that lights up when it's focused. The woman kept telling me to stop recording, so I got mad and just stopped taking pictures for the rest of the performance. They were doing through every aisle every time a flashy scene comes on and they start suspecting everyone recording. But yeah, it was a good performance.
Afterwards, we took the free bus back to Wendy's friend "Mun Yi"'s (only know her Chinese name) house. We met up with Florence and her boyfriend for dinner. Dinner was okay, just regular "dai pai dong." I THOUGHT we took the bus to her house, but after dinner, we walked for a good hour before getting to her house haha... She lived at 青洲坊 (Bairro da Ilha Verde); northern part of Macau. We got back, took a shower and went to sleep. The water is so dirty here they have to install sodium fluoride filters at every faucet. :s Mun Yi is a teacher at a middle school and her brother lives with her. I didn't really get to meet her brother, but he seemed cool. :P The usual now a days asian hair do~ That's all for today! Mun Yi didn't know her internet password, so I just posted something random as a place holder to post this now! ^^; *acting like I don't know what happened the next day*
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Day 9: ^_^
Productive and unproductive at the same time~ Auntie said we'll wait until 5pm to go visit cou gong, so we didn't go out until 5pm. I kind of wanted to cloth shopping, but I guess I'll have to wait until next week.
cou gong's doing fine. His fever went down and he's taking medications. I'm glad he's fine now. :)
We visit him for about an hour, but he was trying to get us to leave the whole time cuz he felt bad for having us to visit him; being a burden. :( We stayed until the nurses gave him his medication. Now I understand the need for nurses here haha... 16 patients being taken care of by 2 nurses. O_O That's like a high need for nurses... Victoria!! Haha. But the pay still can't compete with the US. :P
Auntie and I went back home and Wendy went out to eat with friends. I thought my night was over, but then Wendy called at 11pm to see if I wanted to go to the Arcade with her and her friend Becky... Apparently, they go a lot and Becky is really good at claw crane games lol. For the past two days, Wendy was complaining about losing a keychain. She wanted to go to the arcade to get that teddy keychain back lol. The arcade was right down the street. Their claw crane machines are so different from ours; it only had two claws... It took Becky a couple of tries before getting the teddy keychain and they traded in a coupon that's win one get one free. They were supposed to give the ticket before they play so if you lose, then you lose that coupon lol. But Wendy knew one of the worker there, so that employee let us get another one. Becky and Wendy go to the arcade so much, they just became friends with the employees. They had the employee help them win 2 more haha. Wendy was so happy she got the keychain back haha~ She gave Becky one and gave me one. We were playing a video game until the arcade turned off the power at 12am to kick us out. :'( We want our $6 back! I wasn't finished with the game!
cou gong's doing fine. His fever went down and he's taking medications. I'm glad he's fine now. :)
We visit him for about an hour, but he was trying to get us to leave the whole time cuz he felt bad for having us to visit him; being a burden. :( We stayed until the nurses gave him his medication. Now I understand the need for nurses here haha... 16 patients being taken care of by 2 nurses. O_O That's like a high need for nurses... Victoria!! Haha. But the pay still can't compete with the US. :P
Auntie and I went back home and Wendy went out to eat with friends. I thought my night was over, but then Wendy called at 11pm to see if I wanted to go to the Arcade with her and her friend Becky... Apparently, they go a lot and Becky is really good at claw crane games lol. For the past two days, Wendy was complaining about losing a keychain. She wanted to go to the arcade to get that teddy keychain back lol. The arcade was right down the street. Their claw crane machines are so different from ours; it only had two claws... It took Becky a couple of tries before getting the teddy keychain and they traded in a coupon that's win one get one free. They were supposed to give the ticket before they play so if you lose, then you lose that coupon lol. But Wendy knew one of the worker there, so that employee let us get another one. Becky and Wendy go to the arcade so much, they just became friends with the employees. They had the employee help them win 2 more haha. Wendy was so happy she got the keychain back haha~ She gave Becky one and gave me one. We were playing a video game until the arcade turned off the power at 12am to kick us out. :'( We want our $6 back! I wasn't finished with the game!
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| Haha, Wendy likes to edit her photos, but yeah, this is the teddy keychain~ |
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