Sashimi Don in TST Salmon, Shrimp, Octopus, Scallops, the best part was the rice though, it was perfectly seasoned with vinegar First time trying bbqed squid, it actually tasted pretty good XD
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So that title actually wasn't referring to us. We're far from scary hahahaha
Since today is Halloween though, I decided to do a post about last week's visit to Ocean Park. It was my first time going there and we went for the Haunted Houses. Some of them seriously scared me a lot. The make up looked so real and the props were really well built. I can stand most things in life but horror is a different story. Though I know they aren't real, I end up getting scared anyway. And when people scream, I scream as well. In between I tried to laugh it off to stop myself from getting scared but seriously.... no more horror for another year. We all decided to dress up as zombie nurses. That part of the trip was actually the most fun. People actually thought we worked there and they asked us for pictures and they wondered if we'd do their makeup for them as well. Our's were really mediocre outfits though. We bought a last minute costume from TaoBao and smeared lipstick all over our faces and that was it. Even though it was simple, it really brought up our spirits. But seriously... no more haunted houses... "No one falls in love by choice, it is by chance. No one stays in love by chance, it is by work. And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by choice." This statement couldn't be more right. It really is through hard work that you make love last. We're far from perfect people and it really hurts sometimes but we have to do our best constantly to keep forgiving each other for our flaws. We have to constantly learn to accept new parts about each other that we learn about and we constantly have to work together to make this relationship work.
We went back for more Thai food during the same week. This time we ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice with Seafood on top and a Fried Fish in Thai Sauce. This place is seriously way too good.
Life has been seriously rough lately. I've been facing so much pressure academically and in my hunt for a summer internship. A lot of the pressure, I admit, I load onto myself. I feel like I should be accomplishing so much more but I'm being way too hard on myself. I need to slow down, breathe and refocus on my long-term goals.
After stressing the day away, JW and I decided we needed to go out for dinner in Kowloon City. I seriously love the place. There are so many food places and dessert places around. I really wanted Thai food so that's what we ended up getting. It was so good. We ordered the fried rice, the Chinese kale, and beef, pork and chicken satay. That satay sauce was heavenly. It was like a curry peanut sauce and I was legit dipping anything I could find into it. -YUM- So we've made plans to come here again. We've even planned out what we're going to order already. Till next time ~ So that actually wasn't the end of our night. We went to get bubble tea and I ordered a winter melon tea with herbal jelly. My plan to order randomly based on menu pictures has been working well for me so far. Then we found this cute little boutique that sold Korean clothes. I found a nice basic cardigan which made my night because I haven't done any real shopping in Hong Kong so far. I played badminton again after a long time. We got some good cardio in and I learned a lot from watching Holy's dad play. He's way too good, not surprising, considering he was part of the Singaporean national team. I definitely had a great time with Holy and her family after working for hours on cover letters. Dinner was amazing too. I missed eating home cooking. ^^
So we moved on to goldfish in class. I showed my dad and he named it starving goldfish =_= thanks dad....
I've watched this several times now but it seems to mean so much more as my experiences also grow.
Lately I've been stressing out over so many things. There's so much to do and just not enough time to do them (much less blog...). Between dance, volleyball, socializing with my floor mates, exploring Hong Kong, presentations, classes, mid-terms and applying for internships, I've seriously had no time for myself. All my free time goes into multi-tasking homework and researching for internships and I still don't get enough sleep. It's definitely hectic and busy but I feel like I'm accomplishing so much. It's a pretty good feeling and I'm enjoying the study abroad experience a lot.
The most productive thing I accomplished today was replace the front and back screens to my iPhone. I've loved taking things apart since I was little and even now, it's still a useful skill. Back to BB Ramen again, this time for their pesto ramen. It didn't really taste like pesto but it was pretty good. The after taste was really strong though. I tasted the "pesto" flavor for hours afterwards.
1. If you're really comfortable in the room, find a new room
2. If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room Today was the first time I noticed an alarm button in the stalls of the girl's bathroom. I remember discussing these in my Gender Studies class but I haven't noticed one till today. I don't understand why anyone would need an alarm button while using the bathroom especially in a school as safe as ours.
Putting that aside, Passion by Gerard Dubois is a really good coffee and cake place. I actually went there for dinner (got the lamb stew) and the food tasted authentically European. The stew was nice and hearty and I was so full that I didn't have room for dessert. We solved that by buying several cakes for later. I just had to get the mont blanc because I love chestnut. We also got a chocolate cake, raspberry cake, and a creme brulee. This is my motivation to work hard during dance today. XD I went to Sham Siu Po again today hoping to buy a replacement screen for my phone but I couldn't find any. Instead I found this new bubble tea place that was pretty good. I got the milk tea with pudding for myself and my roommate. I'm slowly learning that there are more good tea places besides Gong Cha.
I wanted steak. Therefore I got steak. Simple as that. Lolz so it was another long but productive day. I finally got around to redoing my resume and I also completed a lot of extra work. Usually Wednesdays are a go out and play day for JW and me. We decided to stay in and do work for a change but decided to go out and get some good food if we accomplished a lot and we did!! We finished so much work that we purposely went further than usual to get food at Brezza in Tin Hau (which is by the way the best food district ever). We got this steak which wasn't as good as I hoped for but the cheese mashed potatoes under it was amazing. The prawn and asparagus spaghetti was really good though. It was extremely flavorful without being too heavy. We were pretty full afterwards but we really wanted to try this waffle place that was close by. So we also got it. It's called Lassana and it's actually on the same street as the Italian place. This is the banana and chocolate icecream waffle. It was hunourmous. Thank God we only ordered one of these. It was pretty good. The waffles were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It wasn't the best waffle I've had though and apparently they make these so much better in Korea. I guess I'll have to go to Korea if I want better waffles.
The protests in Hong Kong have been going on for a while now but I feel like I'm learning something new about it everyday. Just today, I heard a new perspective on the protest which I believe is actually quite true. It is the view that the protests are not just about fighting for democracy but that it is also about fighting for the right to preserve a difference in culture. Hong Kong politics right now is extremely complicated. Its political system and education are not those of "western democracy" (sorry if I'm not being politically correct here ahaha not really sorry). Therefore for those that are arguing that America is trying to push their democratic ideals into Hong Kong, I would tell you that that isn't true for a multiple of reasons. I don't really feel like explaining the basic principle behind the protest again but this new perspective that I heard today emphasizes the fact that Hong Kong people want to maintain not only their independence from China but also their culture. I'm not sure how many people in Hong Kong right now support the democratic ideals of this protest but I know almost all of them want to keep their identity as "Hong Kong" people rather than "China's" people. They want to maintain their own language, their own education system, their own culture and their own political system. I think this is also another reason why Chinese people from mainland in fact are against these protests. They despise this difference that the HK people are trying to maintain. There is a widespread mentality in HK people that they are superior to mainlanders. I don't agree with this mindset but I am not going to deny that this is happening here. There is nothing wrong with maintaining a difference but they should do this independently. Instead of saying they want to be different from China, they could instead say they want to maintain this, this, this or this aspects of their culture. This would reduce the friction between Chinese mainlanders and Hong Kong people and at the same time further the cause for HK people to be unique without having to put down Chinese mainlanders. >>>Here's a song from the protest that I like
Gawd I have never been so exhausted in my life. >_< After a long day of class that began at 9:30, I went to both dance practice and volleyball practice back to back. It was so tiring especially dance. It feels so good though afterwards. I just love that feeling you get after working hard and knowing you've accomplished a lot. My dancing is improving a lot since the class is so intense. Apparently HKBU has the best dancing association out of all the schools in Hong Kong. They're so good they even have major corporate sponsors backing them. Volleyball wasn't as great because I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to. There's an inherent stereotype against girls and even though the coach knew I had technique, he wasn't as willing to train me as the other guys because I wasn't as tall.... There's nothing better than dessert after practice. It was late but it was a must. Since we worked so hard, we had to get something nice as a treat for ourselves. That's mango sago up there. It's super sweet and the sago is crunchy instead of the soft ones you usually eat. The one on the bottom is sesame filled mochi covered in sesame, peanuts, and sugar. It was the first time I had it but it was really good. It was quite an eventful night because after I came back quite a lot happened that stressed me out. I got so preoccupied that I ended up cutting my finger while trying to open an avocado... Then I screamed because blood was falling everywhere. I ran to the bathroom which kinda freaked JW out. But thank God for her because she really took care of me even though blood made her squeamish. I was pretty tired after all the practice but losing so much blood on top of that made me really dizzy too. So JW and I decided to go to 7/11 and buy some food. I love the 7/11s here. You can legit get almost anything you want. That was how I ended up eating ramen at almost 3am. hahaha....But seriously it was good. I have learned the art of eating instant ramen like a pro. You buy regular ramen, kimchi and tea eggs all packaged at 7/11, add water and then wait. It is seriously the best thing ever. Too bad they didn't sell cheese because that would've tasted even better.
Yet again, I have to wake up early… My dad had called his friends in China that I would be visiting. So the entire time, people were trying to come and meet up with me to treat me to food. I’m not complaining but I wish I could sleep a little more. We got dimsum at Pheonix restaurant near where my aunt lives. Hands down the best dim-sum ever. I may be Chinese but I’ve never seen some of the things they served there. The food was really good and you can tell it was specialty dim sum. The food was good but the entire time I was there, I couldn’t really enjoy myself. I’m not going to say much about the specifics. Just that I learned a lot about people and it disgusts me. We then drove to zhongshan to meet up with another one of my dad’s friends. I knew this guy and his family so it was nice just catching up with them. He is one of my dad’s oldest and closest friends. I hope one day I can also look back and still see my friends in my life. Faith in humanity restored. ^^
Overall, my trip to China was amazing. It was definitely an eye-opening cultural experience as I tried new food and things to eat. I also learned so much about my roots and gained a new appreciation for Chinese customs, traditions and familial values. I would say it was one amazing trip. So today I had to wake up really early in the morning to visit my dad’s hometown, city and province. My dad didn’t want me to forget my roots so he made sure my cousin brought me there. We drove to Taishan at 7am to my aunt’s place. We dropped off our stuff and my aunt joined us as we visited my grandpa’s old homes. We first drove to the closer one in town. It was in an older part of town. The apartments there were built for teachers because my grandfather use to be a principal. It was where my dad grew up but no one has lived there in over 20-30 years… The place was really dusty and even the interior design was that of a different generation. At first I didn’t want to visit but I’m glad I did. There’s something about being there that was really special. It felt like I was a part of history and I was seeing what it was like in my parent’s generation. My aunt went about the Chinese ritual of burning incense and other motions while I just looked around. I found an old wedding picture of my parents. That was really special. We locked up the place again and honestly, I don’t know if anyone’s going to go back there for another really long time. It’s kind of sad to think about how empty it is now and how once it was filled with people. It makes me wonder about how much was left behind, the memories, the places, and the people, when my parents moved to the U.S. Our next stop was in the rural parts of Taishan. Every Chinese person has a hometown and for my dad that was a town named 49. This is basically a little village on the outskirts of the city. Not that many people live there anymore but it’s a really beautiful place. As you drove through the gate of the entrance there was a yellow road through fields of tall grass. If you looked across the fields, it looked as if they extended forever into the mountains. The village itself is really old. A lot of houses were abandoned and left to time. Vines were growing through the rubble of some homes. The whole atmosphere of the place smelled of a past long gone. I would never be able to find my way here but my aunt knew the way so she brought us through the stone streets to my ancestral home. It’s quite a place. I think it was renovated when I was born so unlike the shorter homes around it, the place was 3 stories high with tall ceilings and rooms. But again, it was empty and dusty since no one had been there for a while. When I left, I felt both nostalgic and sad. I want to come back when I get married and visit again. This time not out of obligation to my father but rather for myself. I want to see how much I’ve changed, how far I’ve traveled, and how much I’ve achieved. But more importantly, I want to remember where my roots are and where they will always lie.
Afterwards, we all just chilled and watched some TV while drinking tea. Terry makes tea the more traditional way and he was using high-quality tea leaves. It smelled and tasted so smooth. It was morning so I finally got to look around their place. They had a killer view from both of their balconies.
After an intense day of shopping, my cousin brought us to Gudou hotspring valley. People from everywhere come here to soak in the many hot springs inside. It has legit become a resort town. We were lucky because my cousin got us VIP passes so we were pretty much soaking in peace. It felt really good to sit in the water. It was like all the tension in my body was melting away. Even though it was relaxing, sitting in there for more than 15 minutes made me dizzy. So what we ended up doing was jump from pool to pool. It was really starting to feel like a vacation. Next we headed over to a restaurant that Terry’s friend owns. It’s a local restaurant so again we had specialty Xin Hui food. There was fried noodles, beef and peppers, garlic veggies, fried beans and my favorite, tofu on a hot plate. Dang that tofu was so good… It looked like tofu puffs but it was really soft and silky tofu. There’s no better way to end a day than with traditional Chinese food. |
ShirleyAsia | Hong Kong NYC to Boston to HK
Babson Class of 2016 Work Hard | Play Hard | Sleep Hard | ~ I love the beauty in details~ Archive
June 2015
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