summer 2001======================

August.31.2001 ~

**Hello, how have you been..? Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.. for UNI-SHOCKS will "temporarily" change its base from California (U.S.A.) to Hong Kong (China)!**

I must say, the weather down here is quite humid indeed. The weather constantly changes and grey clouds lurk above the green mountains.. Dragonflies quietly hover in the air, indicating the coming of autumn... The greenery and nature of Hong Kong truly surprised me, for I imagined a busy modern metropolis.. The Chinese University of Hong Kong's campus seems to be a tropical rainforest, abundant in exotic plants, insects, and animals, having streams and waterfalls..

For the first time, I am immersed in a foreign land. I have never seen such masses of humans walking in the streets.. The people walk so quickly as if they are always in a hurry. I cannot comprehend the written language and read signs or advertisements...
Lets begin the exciting Hong Kong adventure!! Tales of mesmerizing suspense, mystery, and action!!
August 31, 2001 : "BEGINNINGS"
On August 31, 2001 (friday), all the exchange students, including me, went on the New Territories Tour. Meeting at the John Fulton Centre Parking Lot, we rode on a bus to Fanling at the Fung Ying Sin Kwun Taoist Temple.. This is my first time to a Taoist temple.. so it was very interesting.. I saw many of the people bringing big bags (as big as rice sacks!!) of fake money to burn to give to their ancestors.. Incredible.. I see my grandma burn a few stacks, but *not* big bags full.. There were also some Taoist priests(?) dressed in dark red robes and tall black hats that were walking around, praying, and chanting. Following closely behind are a drummer and trumpet player.. (Well, a blowing instrument anyway..) We took a famous photo featured in the OISP office at this temple!
Next, we went to Lam Tsuen to the Wishing Tree. This is one of the small villages in New Territories.. Many villages here are unique since in each village, everyone has the same surname! So in this particular village, everyone's surname is "Lam".. This is not so unusual... In fact, my father and grandmother came from the village of all "Fong"!! (scary, isn't it?! :D :D :D)
When we got off the bus, we were "attacked" by elder ladies selling an orange attached to what seems to be a scroll!! They cost $5HK.. I bet they make lots of money... Opening the scroll, you find out that there are many colourful sheets of paper and printed paper.. The tradition is that you write your wish and name on the paper and toss the orange/scroll in the air. If it gets caught in the tree, it means that your wish will come true!! This may seem easy, but it sure isn't! I had to throw my orange/scroll about 3 or 4 times.. by the time it got caught in the branch of the huge poor tree, the orange is bruised and bleeding, and the sheet that has my wish ripped and fell down... =_=.. Of course, my wish is too hard to come true: "Sekai Love & Peace"
The next stop was the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. This museum seems rather new since it opened in December 2000. We were given 30 minutes to look in the museum you wanted to get back to campus on bus. If you wanted to stay longer, you have to take the KCR train back to the university. Since everyone was tired, we walked around quickly and went back to the bus.. I think I should go there again on my free time.
Since it was the last day to live together with my roommates, my roommate and I decided to have a small party. We went to the local supermarket "Park N Shop" and bought some snacks, and then we went to the computer lab to check e-mail. There, we met more friends and invited them to come!
Today's vocabulary: *nagauri= bitter melon *GOOYAA= okinawa dialect for bitter melon
My roommate Reiko for some reason likes bitter melon very much and has a few keychains of a Okinawa mascot that is a GOOYAA with arms and legs. [GOYA-man]
September 21.2001 -earth- : BRIDGE, BUDDHA, "BUDA", TOILET

We signed up for the Lantau Island trip. This trip cost $160 HK. Three buses went on the trip. Some people who went were: Anjo, Tammy, Takayuki, Reiko, Izumi, Joyce... First we went to the viewing platform where you can see the Tsing Ma bridge very clearly. It is the longest bridge that holds up cars and the train in the world (i hear). Next, we rode the bus to Po Lin Monastery. The seated bronze buddha was not so impressive since I saw the huge one in China not too long ago! At the monastery, we ate a vegetarian lunch.. fish shaped taro, tofu, mushroom, chicken fillet shaped tofu sheets.. Anjo-san of course ate the most and did not stop eating!
The next stop was to Tai O fishing village. Immediately walking in the village, we smelled the stench of preserved salty fish and other things.. such as duck gall bladder, dried shrimp paste.. . Many people compare it to the smell of toilet. (=_=||) Well, I already smelled such things before.. but to see huge one meter long dried fish along with dried starfish is simply amazing! There was this so cute sea creature. Matsumoto says it is a "Helmet crab" (from looking at the photo) It is about 2 feet long and this this tail! :D :D For some reason, many stray dogs wandered the village's streets..
September.30.2001 -sun- : NO MAN'S LAND

We have no school on October 1st and 2nd because October 1st is National Day (and Mid-autumn festival) and October 2nd is the day after Mid-autumn festival (they assume that people will stay up late, so they need the day off *after* the festival!)... Even the KCR/MTR operate until 2 AM! The sad thing was that I didn't have any plans. All my friends seemed to have something planned already.. such as going to Canton or Shenzhen, "scout movement", or just have no money. So luckily I ran into my hostel neighbour. She suggested me to go somewhere.. such as even to Tung Ping Chau or "East Ping CHau" . She went there a few weeks ago.. and it costs $80HK roundtrip. I said OK, I will try! and so there we go.
I went to the harbour at around 8:30 AM to catch the 9:00 boat trip, but there was too many people.. luckily, there was a 9:45AM boat, so I went on that.
October.4.2001 -wood- : He' hebi!! OSOROSHIIIIiii~~!!

I had my Kung Fu club lesson today from around 7:15 - 10:00 PM. While it officially ends at 9:20PM, some nice upperclassmen told us that we can learn the Lion Dance after class if we are interested. Such nice people... They said to each other that its good since the international students have a chance to learn or see it. After class, I walked back to my hostel. I usually take this short cut through a narrow and dim stair way... Right in front of the stairs, I saw something move! Something like a thick wire!! Sn' snake!!! I almost stepped on it if I wasn't looking down.. I didn't see its head because it was moving away from the steps, but it was about 2 feet long. In the dim light, I couldn't see the color, but it is probably white, black and red... which is usually a poisonous colour! As it moved away, my bravery returned, and I took on quick step on its tail! and it swirmed!! I listened to the slithering sound in the dark shadows and waited for it to stop.. then I went down the steps carefully, but quickly..
October.6.2001 -earth- : ORIENTATION DAY FOR THE SIXTH FORMERS

Previously, I signed up to volunteer for the IASP office to help them today! Today is when junior high and high school students (or shall I say "secondary school students") come to visit the CUHK campus and for us to give them information on studying abroad. My shift is from 3-5 PM, with overtime. Before my shift, I met with my friend ol' Matsumoto, who was late for a few minutes at the train station.. Then we went to visit the booths and tables set up by various department.. Though we were no secondary students, they gave us all these information and flyers. We met Chris at the architecture department, Claire and Wahaha at the Japanese studies department, Handsome Mui (of my same hostel) at the Language studies department. Then at 12 PM we met Claire and Reiko at the train station to eat lunch. We went to the Grand Century Shopping Centre at Mongkok to eat Taiwanese lunch. I got a five smell smoked fish and noodles with cabbage and salami and a free desert: black glutinous rice sweet congee for $36HK. It was very delicious!! However, Matsumoto has this strange phobia for all things beans and glutinous rice. He even dared not to look at me eating the congee... (sweat drop rolling down)
At 3:00 PM, I went to the IASP stand on the Million People Road and started the shift. THey gave me an oversized IASP t-shirt, but I had to wear it anyway. Next, I started out passing out flyers to people. It is quite easy, but it is hard because many people just ignore you!! Anjo also volunteered, but he didn't put on any gel because of no money. So he took his hankerchef and drape it on his a bit resento hair and look like a idiot. He then try to compete with me to give out more flyers and sprang to his legs to give to cute girls. (sigh)
At 5:00 PM, we started cleaning up the place, so we had to work overtime. We later met with Takeuchi and surprise(!) sleeping Matsumoto in the computer lab. We then ate at the Benjamin Franklin Centre and went to Park n shop. -end-
October.13.2001 -earth- : CHINESE LANGUAGE CENTRE OUTING

[click] here for pictures.
October.14.2001 -sun- : THIS AINT KANSAS?!

Today, I decided to go to explore another part of Hong Kong: Causeway Bay!! I woke up late, but met Masao-san also walking down to eat lunch, so we ate lunch together. At about 3 PM, I started my journey to Hong Kong Island. I walked down the busy streets and through this narrow street (Jardines bazaar?) with many stands selling clothes, accesories, etc.. similar to Ladies Street in Mongkok. The whole place seemed to be overwhelming with Philipinos!! I may estimate that there are more Philipinos walking in the streets than Chinese!! They just hang around, sit in the stairs, have a picnic or rest under the bridge, have snacks, read newspaper.. I was shocked!
I went to a couple of Japanese Department stores: Sogo and Mitsukoshi. THen I went to Sugar Street, where there are also so many Philipinos and shops. THere are many comic or anime related shops, and used CD shops there. I got Lareine's SCREAM ($68HK), Penicillin High Velocity ($48HK), and UNICORN ($9HK). Later, I walked around and found myself in Times Square! There was a TOWER records store there, but I didn't really have time, so I decided to go find the MTR station. Although it was around 9 PM, so many people still wander in the streets!!
February 22.2002 -wood- : DRIVING THE LATE TRAIN

oh. yes, that is "hoi yeh che". Its 2:51AM and I am in the computer lab "Pik Chau lau" working on my (stupid) essay for my Chinese Literature class. I got so sleepy hungry here that I wasted probably a few hours just sitting here.. =_=|||
The other day, I read the Lai See article in the South China Morning Post newspaper. It said that a special event that will never happen again on February 20 on 8:02PM. Guess? ha!! the date is 20/02/2002 20:02 <--military time. Well that is kind of well.. stupid, but its kind of funny.