I am the luckiest girl in the world and just got back from a wonderful week in Hong Kong with my dear friend from high school, Jiwon! It's really a very daunting task to write about all the things that happened, so I think I will make a detailed list instead.
Traveled to Hong Kong by myself- I was afraid it would be a bit tricky or confusing but I had no troubles at all. The only bad thing is that it takes about three hours to get from my house in Tokyo to the airport, as I take the cheapest (and thus slowest) means of transportation. Other than that pretty easy breezy!
Met Jiwon at the airport! It was about eleven pm by the time I got through immigration, but I was so energized at the sight of my friend. It has been about two and a half years since I last saw her, and it was such a great reunion!
Went to her university, Chinese University of Hong Kong- a beautiful university on a mountain overlooking the ocean. We didn't stay in her dorm the first few nights as her roommate made a change in plans and didn't leave for home when she had originally planned, so instead we stayed at "I-house". It was really fun as there were students from America, Korea, China, HK, Japan, and even Sweden living at i-house, and really neat to talk to them. On Christmas day an American girl threw a big Christmas party, complete with roasted chicken, stuffing, meatballs, mashed potatoes, and even mac' and cheese. Needless to say, lots was eaten by moi! I had such a wonderful time getting to talk to all of the CUHK students at the party. Even more than I have felt in Tokyo, Hong Kong is a very international place. I can't place exactly what it is that makes me feel this way- perhaps because Tokyo is so homogeneous, perhaps because I was in the international dorm, but I really felt a sense of a true international community in Hong Kong.
Got to explore Hong Kong- really fun, especially one market in particular called Tai Po market. Lots of beautiful and colorful fruits, vegetables and meats (along with the occasional pair of chicken feet or ad for turtle soup!) and had so many cheap cheap CHEAP shops and stalls. For example, I bought a hat for about a dollar and a pair of shoes (I still can't believe they had my size) for about four. There was also lots of delicious street food- dim sum (dumplings..), bubble tea (cold tea with tappiocia pearls inside), and egg tarts (small tarts with an egg-custard filling) to name a few. So great!
Biggest thing that happened- I was surprised by Jiwon with the arrival of our two other Korean high school friends, Jiyoung and Hyungi! The arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday, and I had absolutely no idea they were coming! However, they were originally supposed to have come the night before, but due to poor weather in Seoul their flight left late, and they missed their connecting flight in Beijing, so they had to spend the night and leave for hk the next morning. This was a traumatic experience for both girls as Jiyoung was got sick and Hyungi couldn't sleep, so when they arrived in HK Jiyoung went to bed and Hyungi and Jiwon and I took our time walking around hong kong. I couldn't believe they came to surprise me though! It has been so long since we were all together- it was really wonderful!
I have a few other things I want to write about Hong Kong but right now my hands are very cold as I'm sitting in my host family's living room with no heat on because we're leaving in a few minutes to go to Machico-san's parents house for the new year. I'm really excited to go and will write about it when I get home!
Happy new year!
よいお年を！
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