After a nice 14 hour flight (shorter than expected!) I arrived at the Hong Kong airport on Sunday, Jan 3 at 630am. I met up with a guy named Evan in my program to share public transportation to our hotel. After traveling in Asia only 6 months ago, I was on guard for scams and ready to negotiate for the best rate...I didn't have to do much of that at all! The public transportation system is very reliable here, and the taxi drivers have been honest meter users for the most part so far. On our ride into the city, I was amazed by the huge skyscrapers on the beautiful green mountains on either side of me. The shipping ports were filled with large cranes, boats, and more skyscrapers. I have never seen anything quite like it.
Once we arrived at our lovely 5 star hotel, of course it was too early to check in, so Evan and I roamed the streets of HK near our hotel. There is a flower market just outside which puts our Farmer's Markets to shame, several pastry shops which actually make me want to try something, and lots of hole in the wall Chinese restaurants with the usual odd smells. The more we wandered, the more of these things I noticed. One of the things I couldn't seem to find, however, was take away coffee! There are 711's here on every corner, so I went inside and pointed to a coffee cup. The women just shook their heads at me and said no. Fine. I will find a Starbucks. Well that didn't happen, but I did stumble upon a McDonald's! I ordered a black coffee 2x that morning, attempting to stay awake and avoid a major case of jet lag. The coffees here are served in a mini size. I should have known.
Monday we had a full day tour of HK, specifically the Kowloon and HK Island territories. We visited a temple and a nunnery and some markets in the morning...
Then, after a boat ride around the fishing village, we shared a wonderful dim sum lunch at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. I was so happy they asked if there were any vegetarians in the group, so I was able to partake in my first dim sum experience. They kept everything very simple for the meat eaters too because they didn't think we would appreciate all the delicacies of HK...like intestines, brain, feet, etc. Gross!
After another market visit (and some shopping, I'll admit), we went to Victoria's Peak which had great views of HK. Unfortunately we went too late in the day because the sun was gone, the clouds rolled in, and I was pretty chilly! It was still great to get the views, and then take a nice tram ride down the mountain. One of our classmates was late for our meeting point, so Craig (our professor) got angry and insisted we left him behind. Not a good way to start off the program, buddy. At least he made his way back ok! Note: Never be late to Mr. Barkac's class. Ever.
We went out to dinner for Katie's birthday (a young USD administrator and former IMBA graduate) and had some Tiger beer. It was a pretty low key night because we were a bit tired, and some people, let lagged.
Tuesday was our first day of our Negotiations class session. I'll admit that I was not looking forward to spending the day in school because I felt like I was on vacation, but once the lecture began, I actually enjoyed the class. I mean, who doesn't want to become a better negotiator?
Tonight we might look for a karaoke bar or night club because we don't have class until tomorrow afternoon...but we'll see if that really happens. We still don't really know where we are going around here. HK is huge!
I hope you enjoyed my photos, and I will post again soon. Sunday some of us might take a day trip to Macau...aside from all the gambling and casinos, there is apparently the highest bungee jumping site in the world! I'm not going to do it, but I want to be there to take pictures.
The first Cantonese phrase I learned: m'goy = thank you.
Talk to you again soon!
-Asia
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