All Categories - Lost in Hong Kong

Week 11-감사합니다(thank you) Korea

11/25/2017

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take one last trip to Korea before I was swamped with projects and finals. It was in the spur of the moment that I decided to buy a ticket and join my friends and I do not regret it at all. Korea was everything I hoped it to be from the cold weather I enjoy very much to the great Korean food that stuffed me full throughout the trip. This was also the first time I experience a real Fall season with colorful trees around me which was quite enjoyable to look at especially at Seoul Forest. I also got to meet up with fellow FISH scholar CIndy Phong who is currently studying at Korea University. It was great catching up with her over some dinner and desserts as it gave me a sense of familiarity while in Korea. To me, Seoul felt like it was a mix of deep culture and modernism which made such a unique and fun trip.

Here are some of the places to highlight:

Hongdae - This neighborhood in Korea is mostly known for its unique cafes, cozy galleries, accessory stores, and fashion shops which makes it a popular place for young locals and tourists alike. I would recommend to try visit one of the many unique cafes such as the Raccoon or dog cafe to sip on a nice warm drink away from the cold. I also feel it is best to visit at night as presents a more lively atmosphere. Every night there is also something happening here from cultural events to street performances which provide a lively night for anyone visiting Hongdae.
Myeongdong - This area is one of the most popular shopping districts within Korea accompanied with an array of street food. Many brand name stores can be found while shopping in Myeongdong and sometimes multiple stores for the same brand. I'm pretty sure there was a Nature Republic on every block we walked around. I would recommend coming here in the afternoon as it is when all the street food vendors come out so you can enjoy a nice warm snack while shopping! Some of my favorites I tried were Hotteok(Korean Sweet Pancake) and Gyeran-Bbang(Egg Bread).
Gyeongbokgung Palace - This palace is a popular tourist attraction as it one of the most historical landmarks within South Korea. Nearby the palace there is also Bukchon Hanok Village which resembles an old traditional neighborhood. Both places are must to visit if you intend to seeing the history and culture behind South Korea. It is also recommended to try rent a hanbok(traditional Korean outfit) for two reasons. One, It's fun to dress up with friends and take pictures. Two, you can enter the palace for free if wear this traditional outfit!

After having an enjoyable trip in Korea, I now face the trials and tribulations of awaits before me or otherwise known as projects and exams.

WEek 10 - Local leisure

11/12/2017

There is more to Hong Kong than just the busy city streets and fast paced environment that people associate with this special city. Hong Kong is home to over seven million people which is quite a lot for such a small region of the world. It is split into three main territories between Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories. Beyond the bright lights and large buildings of Hong Kong Island, there is a lot more to discover in the New Territories of Hong Kong.

One of such places that I had the chance to explore was Sai Kung. It is located on the northeastern side of the New Territories and it is mainly known for its quaint fishing villages and hiking trails. More specifically, Sai Kung Town is popular among foreigners because of the quiet and relaxing vibe of the town. The foreign influence was quite noticeable as the overall vibe of the town felt completely different from the city. Many shops and restaurants were designed to cater foreign tastes such as the style of the cafes and the food choices available within the town. Two main things that are noticeable within the town is the busy floating market of seafood supplies along the pier as well as the many dog lovers living in the town. The fish market itself is located on the many boats filled with a variety of local seafood that I had never seen before. It was if this place was separated from the rest of the world and Hong Kong. It felt nostalgic walking along the pier and feeling the trade winds hitting my face as if I was back in Hawaii. RECOMMENDATION:This town had by far the best pineapple bun I've ever had in my life. The bakery was called Sai Kung Bakery and it is quite easy to find as there is always a line for these freshly baked delicious treats.

Normally, you would have take an hour and half bus ride including switching buses and some walking, but luckily some family friends who live in Hong Kong took me along with them one weekend in their car. The drive was very nice and scenic as you drove through mountains with lush green landscapes and ocean views on the side of the road once you are almost there. It reminded me a lot of the drive through H3 back in Hawaii!
Bus Directions: Take the green line on the MTR to Choi Hung Station then take the Bus No. 1A : Choi Hung MTR Station to Sai Kung Town

WEEK 9 - Food, Friends, Fun

11/4/2017

After many weeks of exploring and eating, I wanted to share some of my favorite spots I've found since coming to Hong Kong. It is safe to say that Hong Kong is a foodie city due to the fact of all the different types of cultural foods you can find all across the city. Just to name a few, you can find many Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese restaurants if you know how to find them. A great app to download to find some delicious food is Openrice as it is the Hong Kong version of Yelp. With all that being said here are some of my personal favorites and recommendations for food in Hong Kong.

One Dim Sum - This dim sum restaurant is well known among locals and exchange students alike as it is very cheap and delicious. If you plan on visiting Hong Kong, dim sum is a must try as it is a classic meal for anytime of the day for many locals. The average you can spend here is around 70-100HKD depending on how hungry you are. Directions- You can make your way to Prince Edward station and take exit A. You then can walk down Playing Field Road until you see One Dim Sum on the corner of a block.
Kakurega Ramen Factory - This little gem of a restaurant serves one of the best tsukemen I've ever had. If you don't know, tsukemen is referred to as dipping noodles where you dip your noodles into a strong flavor of broth rather than your regular bowl of ramen. The three different soup bases are regular, black(garlic), or red(tomato). You can spend anywhere from 89-130HKD depending on if you add extra toppings. There I was able to find this place from the recommendation of previous Freeman scholar Joann Yang(check out her blog!) Directions- You get off at Sham Shui Po at exit C1 to make your way towards Dragon Centre. The restaurant is located on the 7th floor in a little corner hidden behind all these little small stores.
All you can eat Hot Pot - Hot pot is a well known cuisine across many Asian cultures so there are many restaurants you can find to enjoy a nice meal with friends. Two hot pot restaurants I have tried so far are Jackpot and Giant Seafood Hotpot. You have around two hours to stuff yourself with all the delicious food available as well as an assortment of juices and sodas to drink. Both are quite similar in price at around 180HKD and share the same building in Jordan. Disclaimer: Many hot pot restaurants only have Chinese menus with almost no English speakers so try to find a friend who can help you order. Directions- You can get off at Jordan station and take exit C1. You walk down south on Nathan Road until you reach the end of block where the building is located.

This about sums up the more major places I recommend for anyone visiting Hong Kong as there is so much to try in Hong Kong. Next post I hope to delve into the topic of the local lifestyle!

week 8 - Mid-Journey, Mid-Terms

10/28/2017

It's hard to believe that it is already halfway through this study abroad journey as I feel like there is so much still left to do with my time here. I've come to find out that I've been counting the memories I have made rather than the time I've spent abroad. To me, Hong Kong doesn't feel like a distant place I once dreamed of living in anymore but a place I can always come back to and feel at home.

Hong Kong in some aspects are similar to Hawaii yet still so different at the same time. The most obvious difference being the constant moving city life versus the island lifestyle I'm grew up living in. At times, I miss my friends, family, and life in Hawaii, but at the same time I really enjoy the city of Hong Kong and the memories I've made with the people here as well. It is moments like these that make me really think how similar two places can be. I've noticed that both Hong Kong and Hawaii are both melting pots of people and culture. I only noticed this fact after being able to try so many different cultural foods in just this one city. People from all over the world come to work and live in Hong Kong whether it be in big business companies or small local stores. It is because of this similarity that makes me miss home but also inspires me to enjoy the rest of my time here in Hong Kong.

This midway point also means midterm week for me as I had two midterms this past week. The exams were fairly easy and my professors gave ample time for students to study and prepare ahead of time. Midterms were quite interesting by the fact I realized a couple of things about CityU courses by this time.

Every class has group work. This wasn't too much of a surprise to me initially as I expected most of my business classes to have group assignments and projects. Within the first week, most classes expect you to have formed a group of 5-10(depending on the course) by the 2nd week. As an exchange student this was quite hard as I didn't know many people by this time while local students were able to form groups of 6 or 10 very easily. Be prepared to make quick friends within the first week.
Final exams are schedules by the university. Neither you or your professor know the exam date which can be quite a hassle for exchange students. Final exams are scheduled over the course of two weeks and you are given a "reading week" to study before that time. The schedule of your exams aren't finalized and released until roughly after midterms so be prepared to plan your travel plans accordingly if you decide to travel after finals.

This past week was filled with a lot of thoughts about my time while studying abroad as well as exam material. Next week I hope to provide you with a list of reviews on some of my favorite places to eat while living in Hong Kong!

Week 7- Creativity is...

10/21/2017

The cycle of eat, school, friends, and sleep continued this past week as I enjoyed just casually progressing through the week and living life. I've found a nice group of friends to hang out and eat some great food as well enjoy spending time together. As more weeks pass by, I realize that living in Hong Kong is quite different from Hawaii, yet I enjoy the change of pace that I'm experiencing. This week's blog is going to be a little different as I want to highlight a particular event that happened this week. Particularly, an interesting guest lecture I had during my International Marketing class the other day.

Backstory - Two guest lectures named Ron and Sharon showed up to our class and introduced themselves respectively as the producer and director of a short film in Hong Kong called Creativity Is. Our professor had invited them over as a means to learn their creative marketing process for their short film as well as give feedback on their short film. Their target audience was mainly focused on young people in Hong Kong to help change their idea on what creativity is.
Short Film - This 25 minute film is a documentary short that explores the numerous ideas of what is creativity through the minds of local Hong Kong students and six individuals - a psychologist, designer, startup entrepreneur, activist, inventor, and a yoga teacher. They share their ideas of what creativity is in Hong Kong and how they can rediscover their creativity through a different perspective. The message of the film is that creativity isn't about coming up with your own ideas but rather believing in yourself to come up your own way on how to tackle life's daily obstacles.
Marketing - What really caught my attention was their approach to market their short film project with what little budge they had. One particular example is that they made their film screenings very personal and small in unique venues to help interact with the audience to focus on getting feedback from them as well as get their message across. Every aspect of their marketing that they told us felt new and exciting as I have never heard of such creative marketing before. It was quite possibly one of the most interesting classes I'v ever attended.
Take Away - After talking to Ron and Sharon, they told us that the younger generation resonated with the film while westerners or older generations thought the idea was too simple. The reasoning is that the Asian mindset of creativity is limited by society and rules according to the six students in the film. After watching this documentary, I realized that I could connect with this idea but at the same time I understood why people might criticize this simple idea of creativity. At the end of the day, this film inspired me to become "creative" and become more confident in myself to tackle my daily life.

Follow them on their website, Facebook, and Instagram to learn more about their project.

Week 5&6 - Cold, cough, and celebrations

10/14/2017

To my surprise, I actually got sick the week during the mid-autumn festival with a small cold. For the first few days, I tried to brush it off and take the medication I brought with me from home. This didn't work however and I ended up going to see the doctor.

CityU has a medical clinic located within their university called the Young Chung Yee Health Centre otherwise known as "13 doctors" by the locals. For a standard visit it costs 150HKD per visit, but if you decide to purchase the insurance provided by CityU it only costs a simple fee of 13HKD. It may also help to call-in for an appointment if you have time as it can get quite busy of some days. In my case, I had to wait around an hour before I actually saw the doctor. I guess it was flu season? Anyways, the check up was fairly quick and short as it only took 5 minutes for the doctor to write up a prescription for me.

This however wasn't the end of my suffering as I started wheezing somehow after all that medication. My coughing became quite severe and I ended up being in the care of my auntie. I had to find a different doctor as I needed an inhaler of some sort to quell my sickness. Thankfully, she helped take me to a clinical doctor and I got better within the next two days. Moral of the story: Seek help when it is needed.

This experience also showed me something I didn't expect at the time which was the friendships I have made throughout these past few weeks. Continually, I had my friends ask if I was OK or if I needed help getting anything which was very kind and helpful. While I was resting, I was offered by my friends to buy me medication or bring me meals which surprised me quite a bit. It showed me that friendships cannot be measured by time but rather by the moments you share together. In these past few weeks I have had many memorable moments with all sorts of people and I hope remember them for the rest of my days.

Week 4 - Weekend In Taiwan

9/30/2017

This past weekend I traveled to Taiwan with my two friends Josh and Matt. Yay! Taiwan was my first trip while studying abroad and it was an adventure full of food and more food accompanied with lots of walking. I could summarize this trip into three simple words: food, language, and photography.

Food - To put it simply, the food in Taiwan was the main reason that prompted me and my friends to go on this journey together. Every day and night we filled our stomachs with all different types of street food. My favorite would have to be Taiwanese breakfast as it was so simple and consistent. A pairing of Baked Wheat Cake with Egg (Shao Bing Jia Dan) and Soybean Milk (Dou Jiang) makes a great breakfast for any day. At night, we feasted on the various foods of the night market. From giant octopus legs to stinky tofu, there was a lot to try at Taiwanese night markets. Some must haves would be Taiwanese milk tea and a black pepper bun from the Raohe night market.

Taiwanese breakfast

Black Pepper Bun

Language - While English is taught in school, Taiwan's main language is Mandarin. To recall, one of my main reasons for studying in Hong Kong was to improve my Cantonese and not so much Mandarin. Needless to say, there was a language barrier that caused some difficulty for us. While all three of us knew very little Mandarin, it wasn't enough sufficiently survive. If there wasn't some English on a menu, it was very difficult to properly order food. Thankfully, we were able to find many popular Taiwanese restaurants that offered some English. On the last night of our trip, my cousin in Taiwan was able to accompany us and take us around for the night and order food. This trip proved to me that the Chinese language can be so diverse between Mandarin and Cantonese as well as the many different regional dialects.
Photography - From street food to portrait photos, the three of us tried to capture the beauty of Taiwan through our camera lenses. One of the places we decided to explore was the town of Jiufen located on the northeastern side of Taiwan. This place provided us with many small little streets and stores to explore and take pictures. Fun fact: This town was the inspiration for Miyazaki's film Spirited Away.

Week 3 - A little bit of Aloha

9/23/2017

Week 3 offered a bit of nostalgia for me as I was able to have a little bit of Aloha in Hong Kong. Back in Hawaii, hiking was one of my favorite things to do in my spare time. I was glad to have found out that Hong Kong has many hiking trails across the city that offer spectacular views. I was also to be able to meet up with some familiar faces for some dinner.

One of the firsts things to do before studying abroad is to research all the fun activities and places to explore within your new city. For me, that involved a lot of research on food, photo spots, and hiking. After thoroughly investigating on some potential hiking spots I settled on a fairly easy hike called Dragon's Back to begin the semester. The hike is quite straightforward as the first half is a nice walk under the shade of trees while the 2nd half gave gorgeous landscape views of mountains and beaches. This experience reminded me a lot about home as my favorite part of any hike was always the view from the top. As I scaled back down the mountain I was reminded that the 2nd best part of a hike is a delicious meal waiting for me to devour.

I was able to have the opportunity to hang out with my brother as he was in Hong Kong for 24 hours before he went off to visit our family in Zhongshan. With this opportunity came another as it ended up being a Shidler reunion of alumni and current Freeman scholars studying abroad in Hong Kong! It was a small reunion as it consisted of alumnus Tony Wong Cam and Lewis Wang as well as current Freeman scholars Joshua Stefen Rasay, Momi Morgan, and myself. We all gathered for dinner at an all you can eat hot pot restaurant called Jackpot. As we filled our stomachs with delicious food, we chatted about missing Hawaii as well as all our new experiences in Hong Kong. Lewis was also able to give us some advice for Hong Kong as he is a part of the alumni association and has been working in Hong Kong since his graduation. Overall, the night was filled with nostalgia and laughter as I was reminded that Hawaii is never too far away as there is a huge network of Shidler alumni located across Asia.

Week 2 - First week of classes/Schedule

9/9/2017

As an exchange student, CityU helps pre-register and schedule your courses for you from your 10 preferred classes from when you first applied. However, they may not always plan your schedule to your personal liking. CityU uploads your schedule a week before Week 0(move-in week) to give you time to add/drop courses until the 2nd week of classes. I took advantage of this as some courses were not transferable. Eventually my schedule(below) ending up to my liking with the time and courses that I wanted.

The first week of classes were pretty relaxing as it was syllabus week, but it was my first time experiencing 3 hours for one course per week. Thankfully most professors offer a small 10-15 break at the halfway mark of class. Overall, I am enjoying the classes I have picked as I hope to learn what CityU has to offer for my education. Stay tuned for how I feel about these courses by exams!

Week 1&2 - New Faces, New Environment

9/9/2017

Whenever I find myself in a new environment or city, I always want to know my surroundings through the people I interact with or the places I explore. In this case, Hong Kong had plenty to offer as I found myself surrounded by new faces and a whole new atmosphere I haven't experienced before. Every passing hour and day I found myself learning more about Hong Kong and the people that live here.

One of the first interactions I had at CityU was with the College of Business Exchange Student Club. Before you even arrive in Hong Kong, they are constantly giving updates on exploration events and orientation details. It was through them that I was able to get a tour of CityU as well as getting to know my fellow exchange students. Through this I was able to explore my university as well as meet some new friends that will last a life time.

Another set of interactions I had was between the various people in my dorm. This is my first time living in a dorm and I can honestly say that it has been a great experience so far. One of my main reasons I came to Hong Kong was to practice and improve my Cantonese. Within my dorm, I have met so many locals to be able to help me practice Cantonese. It was refreshing to be able to have a decent conversation with people other than my relatives in another language.

With new friends and home, I have come to realize that Hong Kong is truly the perfect choice for me to study abroad. There is so much to explore and learn within this small yet populated city and I have only scratched the surface. For now, I have fully mastered the art of navigating the subway as well as engaging myself in conversations with Cantonese as much as I can communicate. I can honestly say that Hong Kong will forever have a special place in my heart as I can now call it home for these next few months.