Lantau Island

Lauren and Athena departed to Hong Kong on Friday evening, so Saturday morning I was on my way to Hong Kong by myself for the first time. No worries, I even managed to make a friend. I was sketching a picture of the trash can when a Chinese lady walked up and took a picture of me and said something I didn't quite understand. I continued, then she sat down next to me and said, 'I can make a picture faster than you can (referring to her camera).' She started talking to me about her and her husband going to the MIT equivalent in Beijing, her daughter living in NY working for a bank, and another daughter going to school in Illinois. She was a nice lady who I quickly got to know a lot about. She even exchanged emails with me and told me if I was ever in Shanghai maybe I could stay at her home. There are genuinely nice people in every part of the world.

I arrived in the ferry terminal Athena and I agreed to meet in only for her to change her mind about where we would meet. In the process of trying to make these new plans, we drained the phone card. I got to the subway stop she'd told me to meet her at and bought a new sim card. After all that, we finally met up. We got lunch at a noodle place. They sat us at a booth with a young high school aged couple probably on a date. Haha...weird. It was good they were there though because we didn't know there was a hidden draw in the side of the table we were supposed to get our chopsticks out of. They showed us. Here's the food I got: fish dumplings in noodle soup with bok choy Athena and I split.

Athena and I then proceeded to the Ladies Market. Contrary to what it may sound, it's not just for ladies. They had  a lot of touristy Chinese cultural stuff along with clothes in little stalls along the streets. If you were smart you bargained...though they didn't go as low as the Pearl Market in Beijing.

I met Lauren at the ferry to Lantau around 4 and had some delicious Mango juice. It was FREEZING! It's amazing how quickly the cold has gotten to us here. I don't think it's that it's that cold, but just that the transition happened so quickly and that there is no central heating here, so you never really warm up.

We arrived at Lantau Island and met our couchsurfing host for the evening. Her name was Karen and she was a nice Malaysian woman. We walked about 20 minutes back through a very nature-y scene to her flat in this nice little neighborhood area among the mountains. We played with her fluffy pet rabbit and talked for a bit before cycling back to the pier area for a lovely Italian dinner of pizza, bruschetta, fresh squeezed OJ, and Greek salad--with legit feta! It was very delicious :) We then road along the beach in the dark and she showed us the trailhead of the mountain we would hike today.

Back at her flat we watched Dancing with the Stars and Terra Nova before crashing at an early hour for us. It felt interesting watching American TV shows in Hong Kong. Like I've said before, we're not even 100% sure our TV works.

This morning Karen made us coffee, Chinese buns with custard, fresh kiwi, a coconut tart, BBQ pork buns, and she warmed up my leftover pizza for me. It's not standard to cook for the people you host, after all you gave them a free place to stay, but I have found that a lot of hosts are just genuinely nice, giving people. It's nice when you are surfing to buy dinner for the host or bring a small gift. Lauren and I split the Italian so Karen could eat free.

This morning Lauren and I tackled the over 2 hour long trail up the mountain side and to Discovery Bay. It was nice to get the exercise, and boy did it make it seem like those 21 flights of stairs have been conditioning. The hike we took was paved with a bajillion stairs.Here's a glimpse of what it looked like--The view was incredible. This picture was probably taken about 1/4 of the way up.

Lauren and I also crossed paths with a local festival. Traditionally it seems the Chinese people will use dragon dances to commemorate an important event. The one I posted pictures of the other day was apparently for the opening of a new Columbia store in Senado.

On the other side of the mountain before we reached Discovery Bay, we came across a Trappist Monastery. Interestingly enough it was built in 1955. Those of you that know why that year is significant will agree that it's rather nifty that when I think monastery, I think Gethsemane. And all that ties in with a certain side of my family to which 1955 is an important date...aye? Here's a view of the chapel:

Lauren and I arrived in the commercial area of Discovery Bay in time for a late lunch. It seems to be a very affluent, very European influenced area. There were a lot of really nice shops like an outdoor shopping strip with nice German, Irish, Organic food, etc. We stopped at this Italian deli and split a panini on ciabatta with some fantastic type of cheese I couldn't pronounce and a Greek salad with lots of bell peppers and feta cheese. Delish!

We took the ferry back to Central to check out where the GMAT testing center will be when I finally take it, and we met Athena at the fancy grocery store to grab dinner before heading out. I got an American cinnamon roll (as their bakery called it). It wasn't as good as home...but what is, right? ;)

Tonight we came back only to turn around and surprise Athena for her birthday at Nancy's apartment. I jumped out doing the sprinkler and singing part of 50 Cents' "It's Your Birthday" song, Kyle ninja style surprised her by scaling the ceiling and jumping down....as seen here (and yes, he is above the door frame):

Great weekend full of nature and exercise! We go to pick up our Macau resident cards in the morning. There's a public holiday on Thursday and classes are over for the university---it's looking like a good and laid back week. :)