Hong Kong
My friends and I decided to take a trip to Hong Kong a weekend ago because HONG KONG! This was the country that I wanted to visit the most when I decided to study abroad. Since I grew up eating Chinese food everyday, this trip totally satisfied my Chinese taste buds. We flew on Hong Kong Express and paid around $300+, it was a little last minute so it was a little pricier. Our accommodation was called Apple Inn near Tsim Sha Tsui (TST); the area was great, but the accommodation was not that great.
On our first day, we explored our area and went to a night market. I was surprised on the amount of foreigners that resided in HK. The culture in HK definitely brought me to reminisce about home. The night market was full of vendors selling small items in their stalls. We were quite tired from traveling so we decided to end the night early.
On our second day, I decided to meet with Bryce and his friend Shunzo! Bryce is also a Freeman Scholar student studying in Hong Kong. It was really nice to meet a Hawaii friend :) We decided to visit "the Big Buddha" on Lantau Island. The transportation lines there (cable car, bus, taxi) were ridiculously long. We decided to take a Taxi in the end, but we still ended up waiting for 2 hours. Although it was a little crowded and busy, I highly recommend this attraction! The Buddha was enormous and breath taking. There were also cows roaming around this area which was definitely interesting. After this, we decided end the night by going to Victoria's Peak at night to see the famous Hong Kong city view.
On our last day, we decided to go to Macau. I have been there before because my aunt and uncle resides there so I decided to show them around. It was really fun to be the tour guide instead of the tourist. Macau is a very small island, half the size of O'ahu. Our first stop was the old Taipa's village, to eat pork chop sandwiches! After eating this savory sandwich, we ate sweet yummy egg tarts. Then we took the bus to A-ma temple and explored the area as well. There is a small church located at the top of the hill that has a nice scenic view of Macau. After, I took them to the Ruins of St. Paul. We ended the night visiting casinos, what Macau is known for: Gambling. This day was a great end to a great trip outside of Korea. I learned a little more about my Chinese culture and met amazing new people!
