week before classes

My second day in HK, the exchange students took a cultural day tour.  Our first stop was Man Mo Temple on Fu Shin Street.  This was a Buddhist temple and it was filled with smokey incense.  We must have appeared to the locals as a large group of tourists, given that there are so many of us exchange students.  The street was filled with many different sights, sounds, and smells.  I went into a local store and bought a power strip.  The owner gave me a 10% discount for some reason and he plugged it into the wall to show me that it worked before I payed for it.  Too bad they don't do that at Walmart.

Man Mo Temple

 

 

Fu Shin Street

 

Our next stop was the Wishing Tree at Tin Hau Temple in Lam Tsuen.  Visitors of this tree used to tie their wish to an orange and throw it on the branches of the tree.  So many wishes were made that the original tree fell over, so they now use a fake tree with plastic oranges, preserving the original tree nearby.

Wishing Tree

My year; Year of the Monkey

From there we departed to the Avenue of the Stars, similar to Hollywood Walk of Fame, only asian.  The breeze here was nice, but it was still super hot.

Our tour guide, funny lady

 

Fail - lolz

 

 

 

On our way to the dim sum restaurant for lunch we ran into this interesting sign. 

The dim sum was great.  I should have taken more pictures of the food but I was enjoying it so much :p

Soon after lunch we headed to Kowloon Walled City Park.  This park was created in place of the walled city which used to be there.

 

 

The true Steely Phil

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, we went to yet another park, Nan Lian Garden.  This garden also connected to the Chi Lin Nunnery, a Buddhist Monastery where we could hear the calming tones of a Buddhist chanter.  Photography inside the monastery was prohibited, but the statues and shrines were very extravagant.

Koi

 

 

The next day I took the time to explore the campus and meet the locals.  When looking for the music practice rooms (for some reason they were located in the athletics area...sports sports sports!), I was introduced The Band Society, a student run club where they form bands and play rock music.  Sounds like a sick club to me!  The locals were all very friendly to me in the music area. I was wearing my Foo Fighters shirt, so that was a plus. "ohh yahh foo fighter very good!" *thumb up*  I also met a nice local girl in the practice room who had just practiced her violin for 4 hours straight.  I don't think that I've ever practiced anything for four hours straight.  

Who says Hong Kong people can't rock?

 

One of the members of the band society invited me out to their concert that evening, so I went.  30HKD for loud music and all you can drink.  What a strange experience that was, but also very entertaining.  4 different bands played, and it was all rock.  Some were local and some were part of the campus.  They played American songs, like Paramore, Coldplay, and Greenday (basket case haha),  and also cantonese and japanese rock songs.  Some of the songs were originals as well as screamo.   I was the only white guy there, so i stuck out like a sore thumb but at least I still had my foo fighters shirt.  The locals really know how to rock out, they were moshing and everything!  The pictures from the concert were taken from my phone, so they dont' do a justice, but this was my first hong kong rock concert.  In the end everyone jumped up on the stage and was grabbing at the mic.

 

The following day we explored more tourists sites in Hong Kong.  Our first stop was Stanley, a nice shopping area along the coast.  I mainly hung out with Maria, her buddy Soojueng, and my new friend Alan, from Texas.  I had my first western food since leaving, an American cheeseburger.  It was another brutally hot day, but the sites were beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was Victoria's Peak, one of the best views of Hong Kong.  I'd like to come back there at night to see the light show in the city.  We took the tram down the mountain, which was almost like a roller coaster it was so steep.  None of us could get seats.  Once we reached the bottom, we headed back to campus on the MTR.  

Some of you may reocognize this from The Dark Knight

What does this sign even mean?

 

 

Very Steep

 

wtf...?

 

 Today, I went to the Clear Water Beach.  The water wasn't very clear, but the location was like a paradise.  We swam out to the end where the shark nets were.  Scary to think thats the only thing keeping them out.

 

 It was a great ending to a great week.  I've already made so many new friends from all around the world before classes have even started.  Classes officially start tomorrow, but my schedule doesn't start until Tuesday.  I'm worried about the difficulty of the engineering courses I'm about to take: OOP & Data Structures and Signals & Systems, considering this is the top ranked engineering school in Asia.  The other 3 courses I'm taking should be fairly easy though, Putonghua I, Hong Kong Society, and Modern Dictatorship, all electives essentially.  Looking forward for whats to come!