Wishing That Time Would Pause

Hike on Lamma Island

Jasmine Rose Tea Grace made
me during work

For the first time today, I observed the rest holiday that Sunday is supposed to be just to reflect and also catch up on some much needed sleep (though I deeply regretted sleeping during some valuable time I could be using to explore). The past week has gone by way to fast by my standards and it kills me to think I might have to leave this place already. Thinking about it today, I became almost emotional knowing that I would have to leave my co-workers in 6 weeks. I was especially sad to think about leaving the ones who have been so incredibly helpful over the past 2 weeks- Grace, Elaine, and Jeffrey. They actually asked me if they were being a burden for showing me around too much. I almost laughed. The hearts of these people are so swollen with kindness that I have no idea how I will ever repay them.

I will pick up where I left off last time:

Gold Flecks!

Tuesday was a low key day since we were all a little exhausted from work and the weekend. I finally finished all I can possibly do on my project proposal and used my newfound free time during the rest of the week to make my Hong Kong Bucketlist to guide me through the nest few weeks. After work, Kelly, Margaux and I headed up to the SOHO area in Central and randomly came upon a cute lounge that ushered us in by their free lychee martini offer. After the free martini which had gold hear flakes in it and the complimentary strawberries and whipped cream, we wandered to Wang Fu to have the best deal for dinner we have had to date! For a big bowl of king prawn wonton soup and vegetables with oyster sauce, we only paid the equivalent of $2.50 USD each... Dad, you would be proud; no coupons even necessary.

Wednesday we headed to Wan Chai for ladies' night which this time we found ourselves with the younger crowd, finally. Carnegies, Typhoon, and Swindler's were our best bets.

Barely fitting.. Elaine's House

Thursday, my co-worker Elaine invited all of us Global Fellows over for a home cooked meal by her professional cook of a mother. I was absolutely taken aback by how much food that woman made in a kitchen the size of my bathroom in my apartment! We had delicious fresh dumplings, cucumber salad, pineapple, coca cola or pineapple jello and my new favorite dish: Fried shrimp balls. Yes, although the name suggests a not-so-appetizing food, they were so good I asked for the recipe (although they take all day to make and I would not be able to make them from the recipe written in broken English, Elaine's mom has offered to teach me before I leave). Although her mom did not know a word of English, she displayed such happiness for having us in her home, which barely could fit all of us! I am still amazed at the scale of living here. Her apartment, which is located in an older district of Hong Kong, Sheung Wan (near HKU), was about the size of one and a half hotel rooms. It amazingly houses 5 members of her family. The beds are half the size of normal twin and took up the full room, covered in bamboo- material mats for the heat. Elaine and her sister sleep in same room, the other bed is a trundle and it takes up the entire room when pulled out. Never again will I complain about my living situation. Ever.

The Backyard with the Girls

Being a tourist

Friday I found a hidden outlet mall, right next to my own work building (Pedder Building 4-6/F). Even the outlets though are more expensive than what I would pay for since it is factory designer clothing. That evening us girls had a girls night out on Kowloon with our newfound girlfriends from HKU, Stephanie and Vanessa. In Mong Kok for an anniversary party thrown by a social group Dim Sum and Then Some at the Backyard, which was fun, but kind of an older crowd; we left and Stephanie showed us around the TST restaurant and club scene. It was not your typical scene but she led us to a club called SoSo, which was overwhelmed by us white foreigners being there. They forced us to stay for a little to take pictures for club advertising. Needless to say, it was an interesting night but I don't think I will head back there...

Our Home Stop!

Saturday we woke up bright in early to finally cross the border to mainland China and have a pampering day in Shenzhen. We took a 1.5 hr MTR ride to Lo Wu, the MTR stop at the border. It was great to finally see the what I thought was non-existing countryside of Hong Kong-- one story houses, and lush green land. When we arrived and crossed through customs/immigration to Shenzhen, I could finally internalize that Hong Kong is in no way, shape, or form, China. immediately all the signs lacked English translation and any English speaking resident. Not to mention that all the buildings and cars were completely different (the cars drove on the right side again!) We wandered around and found this huge commercial center (Lo Wu Commercial Center) which had been recommended to us as the bargain/designer/fake goods hub. This center was a mall filled with designer and fake goods/ fabric being sold: clothing, watches, glasses, furniture, shoes, and our favorite-- the handbags. We made sure to request "the real stuff" and pointed to what interested us in a magazine, then since it is illegal for the vendors to keep the stolen designer goods in the building, we waited for 20 minutes as they retrieved it from some undisclosed location. After yelling and haggling intensely for an hour- walking away a few times and punching numbers into a calculator, I achieved an unheard of $26 USD for a Tory Burch handbag!

The future Jackie Chan's

Even the most asian of us stick out..

After our hard work at the mall, we were ready to meet my co-worker Grace and her two friends to lead us to a great massage place they knew of. I would have never found her had she not texted me her location in Chinese. After finding her and barely dodging the monsoon type rain, we were lead to "Happy Sun" Spa where I got my first professional massage-- 2 hours, full body, transportation from MTR station, only $26 USD. SOLD. This was no janky massage place either-- full service with sauna, showers, steam room, food if getting only some body parts massaged-- but it lacked any English speaking employees. This made it a little awkward when we found out a certain hand motion did not mean take off your clothes... luckily they yelled in time. After a great relaxing day, we rushed back on the MTR to see Afrojack who was playing at a famous club called Dragon-I. Very successful day!

Sunday I finally slept, only to venture out halfway through the day for some great traditional Dim Sum at a famous locals restaurant called Lin Heung. Although we could not read the menu, fighting the crowds of people to the dolly carts and pointing at the plates was sufficient for us to order tons of food (with some help from the kind customers we were near, pointing to foods and giving a thumbs up). It was a great meal of moon cakes, pork and shrimp dumplings, boiled shrimp egg roll, beef meatballs, sticky rice with some type of soup inside wrapped with a leaf, and vanilla cake.

Later we had some good sushi at Itacho restaurant downstairs from our apartments and discovered that the HUGE mall near our apartments has an ice rink inside....?! Can't wait to explore this and much much more! More stories to come..

WANT

NEED

Blubz Blubz Cuttlefish

At the top of the mountain

Fresh Coconut Milk!