Lantau and GIGANTIC BUDDHA!

Oh goodness. Was it HOT. It felt like a 100 degrees out with humidity and all. It was ridiculous. So I woke up super early, at like 6 am or something ridiculous because I couldn't sleep and came out of my room. I walked down the hall and passed the common room and was absolutely in AWE of the view. I'll post it but it was amazing. Then I went down to the lobby to go on the internet. I met this Aussie, Carmen, there and we started walking towards the atrium where we would were supposed to meet up with everyone. We were early so we headed over to the cafeteria type thing (I can't remember which one...maybe LG 7 (Stands for Lower Ground 7)...I'll explain that when I post pictures of campus. They had a more western style breakfast with eggs and toast and some carnivore stuff. I didn't get breakfast but we met a couple of germans there and we had breakfast with them.

We got to the atrium and it was really cool because people were really trying to mingle with one another and get to know each other. Freshman year all over again. It was especially cool, though, because you could hear so many different languages with people talking to other people from their schools and then translating to new people. I met people from Korea, mainland China, Singapore, Germans, Austrians, Americans, Australians, Sweeds, Indians, Finish, Brits, Canadians and Italian people. I think that covers it? haha. It was amazing. A pretty spectacular day of meeting people.

We got on the bus and it felt like FOREVER until we reached Lantau Island. We switched buses like 20 times during the day (exaggeration!) and it took about an hour and a half of winding roads and major hill climbing until we got to the Buddha. It was hilarious because we turned the corner and you could just hear everyone gasp at the giganticness of it. It was beautiful up there. Indescribable. It was serene and quite up there and just beautiful. It was interesting to see peeoples interactions. I was really into looking around and absorbing it all but it seemed like alot of other people weren't as interested in that. They were just talking to each other and not really paying attention to the people walking around the base of the Buddha, praying or anything. Maybe a little bit disrespectful of us but maybe locals are used to it? Maybe people don't realize the importance of the Buddha to a lot of people. Who knows.

Anywho, we went to this monastery to have lunch. VEGETARIAN FOOD!!!! Oh my goodness, I hadn't even been in Hong Kong and I was already missing my ease of access to herbivore food. We had lunch at this monastery and there were 3 other herbivores at my table! Its awesome that I met other people in the same situation. I really thought that I would be the only one causing problems for all of my new friends. Two of the veggie eaters are Indian girls from the US (one that goes to UIUC, Trisha, and one that goes to Northeastern, Sumana) the other girl is also from UIUC and her name is Kaitlyn (that is how I imagine she spells her name). Other people that were at my table include a Brit whose family is Armenian, Erebouni, some other Americans, Rahul (a full time UST student from India) and Amanda( also a full time student, born in the US and raised in HK).

We then got on the bus and went to Tai O, a fishermen's village. Its called the Venice of Hong Kong. Its not as pretty as Venice but I still really cool. We stopped there and we went on this dolphin watching tour thing that was like 20 HKD (a little less than 3 USD) and we actually did see some, though I didn't get a picture of any of them. We explored the village a little and then went back on the boat to go to a little amusement park by the name of Noah's Ark that was kinda funny.

We got to this park and people were falling asleep on the bus and once we got there people were a little reluctant to be outside since it was so hot. I hung out with a cool group of people that included a couple girls from NYU (Ashley and Emmy), a couple Koreans, a German named Steven, Sumana and some local students. One of the best parts of this part of the trip was when we were playing with this skin crayon thing and people were writing each other's names in whatever language they spoke. So I got my name written, on my arms, in Korean and Japanese. Then we wrote things on this chalkboard in different languages (I wrote some stuff in Gujarati and Spanish...) It was surprisingly fun even though I was a little bit put off by the heat.

We got back on the bus and people kept asking me if I was going on tonight and things like that. By this time, I was EXHAUSTED-definitely a combination of jetlag and heat exhaustion and the like. So I told them just that, "I don't know just quite yet. Maybe, but I am not sure because I am really jet-lagged and so we will just have to see if I don't pass out before then" and they kept trying to get me to go and go and go. And finally the kid let go or whatever. What's funny is that, today, I found out that that specific kid, from the states, actually had fell asleep in the AC and didn't go out. Meanwhile, I went exploring with some new friends. How ironic.

Anywho, I met and hung out with my roommate when I got back and then left with Sumana, and two Koreans, Sung and Andrew, to go to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) to find atms for them, to find adapters, to grab some dinner and see a bit of the city. We went roaming around and found that the area was slightly dodgy but it was a little early to get too dodgy. We were in a group so it was a little better.

We met up with a local UST student, Koko, and we went on this wild goose chase to find an Indian restaurant which was in Chung King Mansions or whatnot. We eventually found it and it was closed so we went to this place called Skushy's Pizza place (definitely not what I anticipated eating on only the second day that I was in HK but whatever).

What was really cool was that Sumana and I found that were not only trying to learn more about Hong Kong culture and Korean culture but that they were also asking about the meanings of different things. For example, Koko asked Sumana and I what the proper etiquette for using a fork and knife (where to place it when you are finished) and we were asked what the meaning of the phrase "We have made a deal with the bank. Skushy won't cash checks and the Bank won't make pizzas" or something like that..some sort of advertisment in the restaurant.

After we finished dinner, we made our way toward the Avenue of the Stars, which has HKs famous stars and their footprints and what not. Its along Victoria Harbour and you can see the Hong Kong skyline and it was BEAUTIFUL. I took a couple pictures but they weren't that great. I am not quite sure about the settings on my camera but hopefully I can figure it out.

We got back super late and I asked Andrew to add money to my air conditioner (its a pre-pay AC..which apparently the rest of the world calls the Air Con..in case you were wondering) and then I went to sleep around 2:30.

Today, Saturday, I got up super late and uploaded pictures and then went with Sumana to get some lunch. She ended up with some sort of fish in her dish so we split mine (it was huge) which had some sort of rice in it with a sort of water soup with veggies..not the most appetizing thing in the world but it worked out. And we wandered around campus which is absolutely gorgeous and then we checked out the grocery store on campus (which I think I will be frequenting) and then played cards with Carmen, Andrew and Sung in my dorm.

We played for awhile and then went to dinner where we met up with this kid named Ray. Whats funny about this meeting is that we were walking for awhile and he had talked to just about everyone else and he got to me and he asked me where I was from and all and I said where I was from and all and had a contemplative look on his face and I asked him if he new my friend, Christina and he was flabergasted. It was really funny because I had heard, from Christina, all about Ray and how I need to meet him and all and he had heard the same so it was funny how we randomly met and were able to have common connection.

Anyway we had dinner for awhile and I met some people from Singapore who were really really nice and then here I am..starting this blog and posting and all!

I am going to go ahead and post a couple pictures on here from the last few days' adventures and then I am going to call it a night!

That was a crazy long post. Props to you if you read it all!

Miss you all!
Neesha