Monday, February 29, 2016
Cecilia Rogers, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Biking – 2/6/2016
Tai Wai Village
CityU Biker gang coming at you. The village of Tai Wai was
very conducive to biking. There was a long bike path along the water connecting
Tai Wai and Tai Po village, where we were frequently passed by intense speed bikers
blasting rap music. At the bike rental station, Nancy and I tried out a tandem
bike, but failed miserably at making it very far. Then, the whole
squad hopped on our "Asia Sport" bicycles and biked of into the
sun. We biked along the river in the village the entire time with beautiful
concrete towers across the river. At one point, we found a pier with a lookout
tower at the end. Signs on the tower said no trespassing, so naturally, we had
to go up. The boys were all able to use their upper body strength to pull
themselves up, but I cannot do even one pull-up so I had to maneuver myself up
like a monkey while scaling the wall with my feet and hanging upside-down on
some bars. After finally getting up, this look out provided very nice 270
degree views of the water and bay. Shortly, we saw a boat speeding towards us
from across the bay, so we made a mad dash off of the pier and continued
on our ride. All-in-all, it took about 3-4 hours there and back. I would
definitely do this again! To finish the day, I got a big fat slab of Hot Star
chicken - a giant chicken breast butterflied to be bigger than my face,
deep-fried with the thickest breading. Both chewy and crispy. Amazing.
Chinese New Year Flower Market – 2/7/2016
Prince Edward
Chinese flowers and plants are a must for the home around
the New Year and each mean something. Orange trees are very frequent all across
homes and businesses, and were a symbol of wealthy and prosperity. My
suite-mates (The other two ladies that I share a bathroom with) graciously took
us to the Prince Edward Flower fair and pointed out many flowers and told us
their meanings (most served to bring good luck in the New Year). They also told
us that if you walk around the fair ten(?) times, you will get a significant
other. This is scientific stuff, mates. My favorite part about the fair other
than the flower section: people selling you everything you would never need. I
saw: pillows shaped as egg tarts, pineapple buns (see my 'eats' page for
reference) and soymilk; Asian-sham wow rags; balloons; minion dolls
dressed as Star Wars characters and so much more. There was also a lot of food:
frozen strawberries with a thick candy glaze, cookies, squid, meat skewer, But
at the end of the day, The real winner: FRESH GLUTINOUS RICE CHUNKS (mochi) in
crushed peanuts and sugar. I know you are not impressed but it is the most
delicious and addicting thing ever. Everyone needs to experience
it. 
Super Bowl party and Chinese New Year Parade - 2/8/2016
We started the day by waking up at 5am to watch the Super
Bowl with my exchange friends, who didn't know what the term 'tailgate' was. We
found a nice English style pub in the trendy SOHO neighborhood and watched the
game on a giant crappy projector. Sadly, in place of the anticipated
commercials, they showed a still picture of the Levi's Stadium. Boo. The hype
was not Wisconsin-gameday-level but it was still a decent time.
Afterwards, We decided it was a great move to hit Tamar
park, smack dab in the middle of a bunch of skyscrapers, overlooking Victoria
Harbor. It was a very eventful afternoon of sleeping for 3 hours in the middle
of a big patch of grass while people stared and picnicked with their KFC
buckets around us. Then we made a trip to the super cultural McDonald's to
charge our phones, which we call Mackers (thanks to my Australian friends'
slang). The McDonald's scene is very different in Asia, it is always
packed, classier, and cleaner than back in the states, and there were universal
chargers at the tables.
The parade started later in the evening. The various acts
consisted of many dancers, clowns, yoyo extraordinaires, and my fave: traditional
Chinese dragons. One dragon group consisted of a head, a bunch of LIT up
people on bikes, followed by a tail. My friends Aaron, Zach, and I may or
may not be featured in some news reporting on Chinese New Year in Hong Kong,
I'm thinking it was BBC. (Mom and Dad keep your eyes peeled). One of the main
themes of the parade was Star Wars. In order to gain hype for this Lunar New
Year, recently, the clubs around Hong Kong have been annoyingly playing the
Star Wars theme song smack-dab-in-the-middle of any song, where it makes the
least sense rhythmically. Hopefully that comes to an end. There were many
Asian people depicting the Star Wars characters, including one with skin
make-up to resemble African-American race... Not the best move but I give them
ten points for the effort. America also contributed by lending their Colts
cheerleaders. All-in-all, the parade was not as exciting as the hype made
it to be and it took about 10 minutes between each performing group, but a
definite must do when in Hong Kong. (Traditional New Years Dragon pictured
below)
Repulse Bay Beach and Chinese New Year Fireworks 2/9/2016
The day after New Years, we decided to take a day trip to
the outer village of Stanley, where I discovered the most beautiful beach in
the world. Picture it: blue sea as if someone painted it, then behind us lay
some of Hong Kong’s most beautiful (and expensive) condos. We spent the day on
the beach lounging in our swimsuits, as locals walked around us in their long
sleeves, long pants, and sun umbrellas. Opposite from American culture, being
pale is more attractive in China than being tan. They were probably appalled at
our lack of clothing. At one point, one man started taking pictures of us sun
bathing, so my friend Matt gave him the stink eye. Pictures cannot do this
beach justice, therefore, please refer to the picture below.
After the beach, we hoped on the most motion-sick-conducive
bus, then train to Victoria Harbor to see the fireworks show. We watched the
Lunar New Years fireworks from Tamar park, the same park we hung out in the
previous day. The fireworks went off above Victoria Harbor, lighting the water
up with amazing reflections.
We finished the day at a restaurant called Mak's noodles
after we saw a worn out newspaper article of Anthony Bourdain in the window. We
had to go in. Any person who gets paid to travel the world and eat is my hero
and I want to do everything that they do. This soup was hands down the best
broth I have ever had (yet).
Spring Roll Making, Family-style dinner 2/10/2016
Not everyday can be as eventful as Chinese New Years. Today
was a day of absolutely chilling out. Since all school canteens (dining halls)
were closed, Nancy and I wanted to host a potluck style family dinner with
around 8 of our friends. We decided to bring spring roll makings, but failed
miserably at showing our Korean friends authentic Vietnamese spring rolls. To
gather the ingredients, we hit up an Asian grocery store in Sham Shui Po. Upon
check-out the sassy, teenaged check out girl kept yelling at us, and the only
English that she knew was “no” and said it probably ten times to us throughout the
process. We hosted our friends in our floor’s common room and all shared the
less-than-ideal two hot plates to make our various noodles and dishes. We
decided to forgo the thin slices of BBQ pork or shrimp in a Vietnamese spring
roll and opted for already cooked crab rolls and seaweed-very Korean. The
spring rolls ended up being delicious still and we were all went away stuffed
and happy.
(I did not have a picture of the spring rolls, here is
another from Repulse Bay Beach)
Labels: 2015/2016 Semester B
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