Exploring HK

After the first night I have slept really well and on the second night I slept like 11 hours. :) I woke really late on Tuesday and went to campus to ask about things about my courses and sign up, but person in charge wasn't there so I just wandered around for a bit.

At around 17:00 I decided to go to Mong Kok to go shopping at Naraya, a super cute and cheap handbag etc. shop. Last time I was in HK I bought two really good bags here. Now I bought one bag + slippers I use when walking at my hall floor. I also have flipflops with me, but it's bothersome to take the socks off everytime you use them, so I wanted to get the slippers. Not that stylish and almost too small even though they are size L, but they'll do. :)

Good idea to go around 17:00... The buses were full of people. :P

The bag is just big enough to fit my computer case and folder for A4-size papers. Only $134 (~13e). :)

Satin slippers. Cotton ones were too small (my shoe size is only 38/39!)...

I was supposed to meet Henna and Arttu (my friends going to New Zealand for exchange, but stopping in HK for about a week), but Henna wasn't feeling so well so we postponed our dinner plans for tonight. They have found some super good Vietnamese restaurant, so I'll looking forward going there soon. :)

Anyway, I walked a bit around Mong Kok Station area, which is full of shops... and people! I also found a place called Argyle Center, which was kind of a shopping mall, but full of tiny, tiny shops, for mostly shoes and clothes. The center had several floors (3 or 4) and had these kind of alleys going around.

Edit: Argyle Center is actually Mong Kok Center if you read the Chinese characters. No idea why the romanized name and Chinese name are different.

In Argyle Center.

Mong Kok Station crossing with lot of people

I also tried out some sort of interesting looking juice thing. You could choose which chunks, juice and jelly you want into the drink. You could choose things like mango, watermelon, aloe, kiwi, honey, coconut ect. I chose mango chunks, mango juice and aloe jelly, because I wanted some green in it. The taste was ok, but the jelly is not my thing.

Edit: No, this definitely is my thing when choosing the mango, mango & mango combination! Super good! Hui Lau Shan <3

Mango chunks + mango juice + aloe jelly.

After I came back to my hall I spend the evening photographing around the hall. So hall post coming soon with lot of pictures!

Yesterday I met with some other international students, ate with some of them at the school canteen, picked up more people and went to Viktoria Peak. We went to the Peak Tram by walking from the school and stopped on the way at the HK Zoological and Botanial Garden. The Zoological is like a mixture on free zoo and park. There were different monkeys, turtles, a huge orangutang, raccoons etc. Couldn't get good pictures because my small camera tends to focus on the cages.

A group of exchange students (the guy next to me has already been here 1 semester, but we others are new ones)

The basic tourist photo. And no, it's not foggy, I think it's pollution.

Sunset from the Peak.

We took a minibus down from the Peak. The minibus was for 16 persons and the 8 on the screen is km/h the bus is currently going. Minibuses don't automatically stop on each stop, so you you have to shout to the bus driver if you want to get off. Don't remember the phrase in Cantonese right now, even though my floormates tried to teach it to me yesterday...

Edit: The phrase is "m goi, jau lok".

Inside a minibus.

After that we decided to go to Kennedy Town to eat and took a tram there. Tram rides only costs $2.1 $2.3 no matter how far you go and you will pay when you leave the tram. Like most of the buses all trams are double deckers.

Tram. Picture I took during my 2011 HK visit.

Note to self: If you order a spicy meal in Asia, don't eat the chili peppers!

It was a short walk from Kennedy Town to the hall, but over half of the way was like 1:7 uphill! Ryan, who has been here also last semester said that everybody loses some weight in the first few weeks here and no wonder. :P Especially Hong Kong Island is really leveled so you must walk uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill and again uphill.

At the hall I spend time at our floor's common room with some of my floormates and they seem like really nice people. My roommate Alison has also arrived and seems really nice too. :)