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| Tian Tan Buddha- Largest Buddha on Earth |
Fourth week in and still in denial that I will ever leave this incredible fantasy world. This week we managed to fit in at least some of our adventures we have aspired to complete by the end of our time in Hong Kong, despite the T1, T3 typhoon warnings and my lack of easy access to funds for such adventures. The week started out fairly slow since we all wanted to catch up on our lives in Hong Kong after spending a great weekend in Macau.
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| Wishing tree |
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I think one of the most valuable things I have learned so far about Hong Kong and the culture here is that respect is deeply involved in every interaction, and is a key part of life here in general. Another common theme that has really presented itself personally in my daily interactions is courtesy. As a great example, my co-workers who I have raved about in my first few blogs are truly the most courteous and respectful people I have ever met in my life, constantly trying to make sure that I am comfortable and having the most optimal experience, even if it is just telling me about a new restaurant to try, or letting me in on local secrets like delivery websites, the best places to shop that little tourists know about, and deals for our upcoming trips and adventures (Ocean Park here we come!). I do not mean to say that this is unusual to see in the United States. At my previous internship last summer in San Francisco, my boss and the people working around me in the shared workspace made a real effort to make me feel comfortable, since I was the youngest person in the office. What is different from everything I have experienced in the US is that this courtesy is found everywhere, even with people you are unfamiliar with. On Tuesday morning I went downstairs as usual, half asleep and found a small cup of coffee, with the sugar I use and cream already added waiting for me. The woman who serves coffee for the 40 floors of residents in our apartments, M-F, had already remembered me and the time I came down. THAT is what I call genuine service. Respect goes along way and really makes life a little sweeter. We learn all of this in kindergarten, but for some reason in American culture it does not stick as firmly. I can only hope to take at least this one lesson from my time in Hong Kong and spread it through displaying the same type of respect I have been given here to those in America. I don’t want to sound too flowery and bubbly, and I do admit, this respect goes out the window when people rush to work here, but for the most part, this is the only break I have seen.
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| My co-workers are generous in many ways... |
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| Hong Kong Style |
Back to this week—I was able to try some great food and drinks!.... before I came down with food poisoning Thursday night…. I have found my new favorite tea- ginger milk tea which is super spicy, but very calming to the stomach. What I love about the tea here is that even though you cannot get the typical choices for milk (milk = cream), you can choose percentages of sugar for pretty much every drink (0, 30, 60, and 100 percentages). At least healthier than America in this sense? Tuesday night we all decided to try a different cuisine than normal… Tandoor Indian Restaurant! We went to this great all you can eat buffet (perfect for my indecisive pallet), but WAY more fancy than any buffet I have ever seen.
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Indian Food- couldn't tell
you what it is, but it tasted good |
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| Shau Kei Wan branch |
The food poisoning came after I was assigned to work at the brand new Maxcolm Credit branch Thursday and Friday, in the residential Shau Kei Wan area (only 2 stops the other direction from my apartment). Unlike Central, which is somewhat of an international finance hub, Shau Kei Wan was a very quiet restaurant and very family oriented area. For the first time, I saw many homeless on the streets—strange that it is more common for homeless to reside in the residential areas rather than the city as I am used to in America. The food was very yummy and most definitely traditional. Elaine and I went to this “old school” Hong Kong style breakfast joint that served up some delicious egg sandwiches, congee (oatmeal) and coffee. I am happy to have had Elaine there to explain the menus of the restaurants there. I ended up with “car noodles” as clarified by Elaine, which was basically a wonton soup of sorts with curry sauce. Later on I made the mistake of grabbing a turkey and cheese bun from my neighborhood bakery that had most likely been sitting out all day… most definitely the culprit of my food poisoning later.
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Taiwanese Dessert- sweet
and goey |
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| "Car Noodles" |
After sleeping most of the sickness off, I was able to make it to the infamous Temple Street Night Market Friday night with the rest of our group to check out the vast array of any type of souvenir you could ever imagine. It was a little overwhelming and definitely a place I will have to come back to with a specific list of items to buy (and a price I will not go above). I went home early for our intense shopping day the next day in Shenzhen!
Still feeling a little under the weather, I managed to make it across the border yet again into mainland to haggle all day long. My sickness was immediately distracted upon arrival at Lo Wu Commercial Center. All of us girls felt like experts now as we knew what we needed, what prices we wanted, and to have no sympathy on these vendors who will make a profit off of most of these stolen goods regardless.
Essential was my first purchase—a suitcase not only for my trip to Thailand, but also to blend in with the local consumers who used this instead of bags to keep their purchases safe. I ended up with some great designer goods for my brother and Dad for their birthdays (though I don’t think they will care about the designer part), some Herve Leger bandage skirts for dirt cheap, a Marc Jacobs wallet for only 20 USD, and of course we couldn’t leave without our 4 USD mani-pedi!
Sunday was our day of enlightenment! We visited the famous Giant Buddha on Lantau Island, along with the refreshing Wisdom Path walk and the Po Lin Monastery. Everything was absolutely gorgeous and worth the cable car ride up the mountains, which only the hard-core adventurer would scale. The whole experience was very relaxing even though it was a heavily touristy area, and we ended the day with a quality American meal at the Gourmet Burger Union in SOHO. Even the burgers here are not sickeningly big and we all were very content.
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| Slideshow! |
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USC send us to Hong Kong for
a different kind of enlightenment |
I am very grateful to be back at the office in Central today! Shau Kei Wan was pretty and relaxing, but lonely with only 2 other people working at the branch. I have finally been assigned to a project that is of great interest to me and will apply what I have learned in school just this past semester. I am to do a regression analysis using the variables in the Transunion Scoring of customers to predict actual default of their customes. The reason for testing these variables, is that they believe there may be other variables for their type of customers (who must own property, but the loans taken are unsecured) that would contribute to a better model. Needless to say, Tony Lin, my BUAD 310 professor would be very proud. Thursday we head to Beijing for a few days so much to post ahead!
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| Yeah, I walked those stairs |
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| Ngong Ping Village |
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| Po Lin Monastery |
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| Just wish I could rock that stash |
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| Precious |
I think one of the most valuable things I have learned so far about Hong Kong and the culture here is that respect is deeply involved in every interaction, and is a key part of life here in general. Another common theme that has really presented itself personally in my daily interactions is courtesy. As a great example, my co-workers who I have raved about in my first few blogs are truly the most courteous and respectful people I have ever met in my life, constantly trying to make sure that I am comfortable and having the most optimal experience, even if it is just telling me about a new restaurant to try, or letting me in on local secrets like delivery websites, the best places to shop that little tourists know about, and deals for our upcoming trips and adventures (Ocean Park here we come!). I do not mean to say that this is unusual to see in the United States. At my previous internship last summer in San Francisco, my boss and the people working around me in the shared workspace made a real effort to make me feel comfortable, since I was the youngest person in the office. What is different from everything I have experienced in the US is that this courtesy is found everywhere, even with people you are unfamiliar with. On Tuesday morning I went downstairs as usual, half asleep and found a small cup of coffee, with the sugar I use and cream already added waiting for me. The woman who serves coffee for the 40 floors of residents in our apartments, M-F, had already remembered me and the time I came down. THAT is what I call genuine service. Respect goes along way and really makes life a little sweeter. We learn all of this in kindergarten, but for some reason in American culture it does not stick as firmly. I can only hope to take at least this one lesson from my time in Hong Kong and spread it through displaying the same type of respect I have been given here to those in America. I don’t want to sound too flowery and bubbly, and I do admit, this respect goes out the window when people rush to work here, but for the most part, this is the only break I have seen.
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