Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Los Angeles!

One Year Anniversary since studying abroad

2010-09-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a little over a year since I first started my adventure studying abroad at Chinese University of Hong Kong. My hong kong friends and I met up 2-3 times this year in the States, and I try to keep in touch with my few international friends still at CUHK, namely Kevin, Alexa, and Katherine. As I peruse facebook I have noticed at least two other fb friends just recently started studying at CUHK and it makes me nostalgic yet excited for what's ahead of them. I miss you Hong Kong! May me meet again in the near future.

2010-02-27T07:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/none/40-things-eat-hong-kong-coronary-arrest-820489?pi=pi

Salsa!

2010-01-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I am currently taking Latin Dance through the UCSD Dance Department. Part of my 'homework' is to spend 4 hours outside of class salsa dancing with my fellow dancers, with UCSD Salsa club, or at any salsa club. So when I am not studying perhaps you will find me doing my salsa basics, twist, and shines at one of the following bars/lounges/clubs.

HK kids in La Jolla

2010-01-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

Some changes at UCSD since I have been gone ---
1. The Village, (transfer housing), has been completed! Walked through it the other day and it's pretty legit with 8 individual apartment complexes that are hidden from view.
2. Goody's, an on campus dining option, is also complete. Apparently the burrito bar is as good as Chipotle so I will be using my meal points there on my way to class.
3. The nearest parking structure, Pangea, has become more of a pain to park because transfers are also now parking their car there.
4. and I also feel extremely old...as I don't recognize any faces at Cafe Ventana or Ocean View Terrance (the two nearest dining halls) and therefore assume they are the freshmen.

This weekend the study abroad friends came to visit us kids that go to UC San Diego. We reminisced and caught up over some good food, hung out at Rene's at Crossroads, and visited the beach. I had --
Sushi Deli 3 - 4x4 combo, miso, salad
The Pescado Fish Market - Sea Bass Salad
Luche Libre gourmet taco shop- Surf 'n Turf Taco, horchata
Coldstone- Apple a La Mode with pumpkin ice cream substitute

I also stopped by DVC sponsored "Let's Bounce" party. The next day Manny and Jason invited me to have sunday brunch buffet at El Torito with them and some of the retired DVC members. I LOVE flan and have not had it for over six months so I think I ate about 6 little cups of it. (:

Winter 2010 Academic Weekly Schedule

2010-01-06T02:44:00.000-08:00

This is my tentative schedule thus far.

Doesn't Tuesdays and Thursday look like loads of fun?

BIPN105- Mammalian Physiology Lab

BIMM120- Bacteriology

TDMV142- Latin Dance of the World

TDMV130- Intermediate Jazz

To be back at UCSD

2010-01-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

Had my last meal with my family at Benihanas. a teppenyaki restuarant on Saturday. Spent the rest of the night and Sunday morning packing (again). This officially marks my fourth year living on-campus. I moved into UCSD International House- Asante last night. Jet lag doesn't last me a whole week but I have been on Asia Time since I have been back from Hong Kong. Yesterday I slept from 6 pm until 2 am, woke up, slept from 4-6 am and then got ready to run errands and make phone calls.

New Year's Resolution(s)

2009-12-30T23:32:00.000-08:00

some to begin with --

1. ease up on the procrastination
2. practice my Cantonese/Mandarin when possible
3. be active at least 3 times a week. let's try 18% body fat (boys don't laugh! it's normal for girls to be at 20%...which is where I am at now)
4. go to the San Diego beaches whenever possible
5. brush up on the piano
6. Read my Drug Topics magazines
7. call the parents at least once a week

To do list:
~~1. get asia calling card from baba~~
2. get into contact with HMP3 mentor
~~3. call SDCC/mesa on 1/4 for Anatomy.~~ go to Mesa 1/25, crash course
4. Call Western on 1/4
5. fix or get new IPod
6. get a new point and shoot camera
7. revive a skateboard/bike or resort to walking to class
8. check w/bio dept. for spring class schedule on 1/4
9. take new passport photos
10. print out resumes
11. watch sicko (2007) by Michael Moore
12. Human Biology --> General Biology
13. soft reserves/books/podcast

Public Transportation in Hong Kong

2009-12-29T02:03:00.052-08:00

Before returning to the comforts of driving my own car in the States I thought I would write a short exposé on Hong Kong transportation based on Wikipedia and mostly my personal experiences the last four months. Not complete yet but here is a draft for you.

University Buses- goes around the campus. Sometimes I preferred to walk.

Mass Transit Railway (MTR)- the main mode of transportation to getting around Hong Kong. I even have my own personalized student Octopus card complete with my English name (in romanization), Chinese name (in chinese characters), and a rainbow pointing to a picture of my face. The design was somewhat reminscent of McLovin's Hawaii Driver license from the movie Superbad (2007) because of the rainbow and star design.

See the resemblance?

These are all the stops I have used. But you can usually find me at University, Tai Po, Mongkok/East Mongkok, TST, Central, and Causeway Bay.

Here's a picture of the MTR back in the day. The caption says "stop pushing or we'll fall off the train!"

Red Taxi- Serves Hong Kong Island/Kowloon. "A (red) taxi will sometimes appear with its roof light on, but with the 'For Hire' flag covered by an 'Out of Service' sign; this means they are attempting to catch a fare back across the harbour tunnel." [I think] it's good to try to catch this one if you are trying to go from the Island to the New Territories because the taxi will not charge you the second toll across the harbor for the Taxi to get back to the Island. This information especially goes for Chinese University students trying to get home after a night clubbing/drinking in Lan Kwai Fong.

Green Taxi- Serves New Territories. Some of these are conveniently parked outside University MTR Stop. If you are trying to get back to University before 12, get off at University Stop. If it is after 12, get off at Fo Tan Stop because the taxi has to make a big u-turn anyways because the main gate is closed and you have to enter through the other university entrance at central campus. I would sometimes take these after dance practice because I am too tired to walk 30-40 minutes up a hill from the very south of campus (University MTR Stop/Chung Chi Mirror Room) to the very north of campus (International House) in the middle of the night.

Blue Taxis - Serves Lantau Island. have not seen these at ALL. But then again I have only been on the Lantau Island to get to the airport.

By the way if you want the number(s) to the network of illegal discount taxis that give you 15-20% off the fare for rides over 100+ HKD send me a message.

Green Minibus. designated routes, designated timetables, designated pick-up spots, fixed fares, will take Octopus card. Drivers paid by hourly wage.

Red Minibus The red minibuses do not have designated routes, timetables, fares, takes only cash and are unregulated by the Hong Kong government therefore sketchy-ish. Drivers paid by fares so they try to haul ass and pick up as many passengers as possible. You can hail them from the sidewalk like a taxi. These little 小巴 have saved my life when I would miss the last train going down to Hung Hom because of (1) late night dance practices (2) procrastination. I usually only use this to go from University to Mongkok, then from Mongkok to Central, or from University to Wan Chai. Most of the time you will here the speed meter beeping away because the driver is way over the speed limit but neither the driver nor the passengers seem to care and you just have to get used to the beeping noise.

Border-Crossing Trains used this to go to Guangzhou once. A pleasant and extremely fast ride on the Magnetic Levitation.

Ferry- used it to go to Lamma/Lantau Island on a lame school field trip.

bicycles- Bike ride with some friends from Tai Wo to Tai Po in search of some waterfalls. Yes my pelvic bone was in pain the next day from riding the ghetto rented bike for 3-4 hours.

private car- friend driving me in his car. SO NICE to be in a car again with a bumping sound system, good music, driving fast, and looking at the Hong Kong lights at night.

Nanny Van -

double-decker Tram - took one of these to get to the airport. fun.

for more information please read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_Hong_Kong

Sinbala/Happy Hour at Yardhouse

2009-12-29T01:58:00.000-08:00

Second night back in Arcadia! Since I am relaxing at home and am accommodated with all my creature comforts I will have more time to blog. I slept my usual amount and woke up at 2 pm. Went to Sinbala, a Taiwanese Teahouse, in Arcadia with my Daddy and sister. Told my Daddy I tried some Balut in the Philippines and he points to the asian supermarket next door to where we were eating and says "Oh yeah, you can get some there." There goes me trying to tell my dad I did something exciting! DIU.

I went to the Pasadena Yardhouse with some friends today. Elisa, Cindy, Kim, Watkins, Mike, etc.I asked for a beer that wasn't dry and got Lindeman’s Framboise, a really fruity draft beer which I quite liked.Next time I want to try some of their Draft Beer Floats (served with ice cream!)

DRAFT BEER FLOATS

Young’s Chocolate Stout with vanilla ice cream

Lindeman's Framboise with vanilla ice cream

http://www.yardhouse.com

<3 Mommy

2009-12-28T18:36:00.003-08:00

Chicken congee with my mommy is the best!

oh and I was really not good about putting aloe vera on my back...so now some skin is peeling.

Back at home.

2009-12-27T23:07:00.005-08:00

The last week of Hong Kong chill. went indoor rock climbing. Had afternoon tea with Jenny, my friend from UCSD International House, at Mandarin Oriental. partied a bit, shopped a bit, the usual. Alexa gave me one of her extra luggage and we spent the day drinking Canadian ice wine and cleaning out my room in CUHK International House. I left some things to Alexa and Doris. Doris would be so proud of me for having my side of the room meticulously clean for once! Afterwards I split a taxi with Victoria to the airport. Andy met me at the airport to say goodbye.

I had my whole last 4 months in two big luggages (just under 23 kg each), a carry-on (20 kg, yeah I cheated...I would be mucho unhappy spending $800 HKD/100 USD checking in an extra luggage), and a big (big) purse. nice.

14 hour flight. Slept for 10-12 hours. Watched part of some Hong Kong movie "July Rhapsody." Got body checked and security checked to the maximum because of the recent terrorist attempt. My mommy, daddy, grandma, and sister met me at the LAX airport.

going to spend the night cleaning.

has it hit me yet? not quite.

My time in Hong Kong consisted of --
8/29 flight from LAX to HKG
9/30-10/4 Seoul, Korea
10/31 Halloween
11/10 Chinese University Dance Society Mass Dance performance
11/19-23 Taipei/Danshui, Taiwan
11/26 Thanksgiving
12/05-12/07 Guangzhou
12/11 last day of final exams
12/16-20 Phillipines
12/25 Christmas
12/27 flight from HKG to LAX

with going to class, clubbing, kareoking, random trips to Senzhen, and shopping in between.

P.S. it feels good to touch and smell green american dollars again. cha ching.

Sunburned and Tanned in the Winter of the Phillipines

2009-12-22T02:49:00.000-08:00

Day 1 Hong Kong - > Manila - >Kalibo - > Boracay
Santa Monica Street
exchange money
eat at Andoks
Intramuros
St. Augustin Cathedral
Manila Police
Poi dancers
ate al fresco seafood dinner on the beach
Balot (Balut)

Day 2 Boracay
Island Hopping
Snorkeling
Buffet

Day 3 Boracay
Scuba Diving
Mongolion Buffet
Talipapas Market
Boracay Police

Day 4 Boracay - >Kalibo
rolled around the shore on White Beach
collected Puka shells on Puka Beach

Day 5 Kalibo - > Manila - > Hong Kong
St. Theresa Church
Newport Casino and Resort
Jolibee's
tried to meet up with Nathan's friend but no go.

Everyday occurrences:
locals trying to rip us off
Ati beggars
"sexy dress ma'am?"
"jet ski? island hopping? atv? banana boat? sunglasses?"

p.s. Happy 冬至(dōngzhì) Festival or Winter Solstice Festival a.k.a. Chinese Thanksgiving! I wish I had some Tangyuan and Jiuniang.

Full Cup Cafe

2009-12-14T09:22:00.005-08:00

ever wonder what's in those tall forlorn-looking buildings in Kowloon? Ventured into one in Mongkok in search of Full Cup Cafe found the whole building to be 15+ floors of Hong Kong styled cafe's.

mint latte

mocha latte with coffee jelly

both with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a ice coffee stick

dimly lit, comfy couches, lamps, retro furniture, vintage collectibles on the walls, quiet, polished concrete floors, nice view of Mongkok

some of the hallways throughout the building. me gusta.

menus in Chinese (bleh) but the nice lady waiter with the tattoos down her arms and chest tried her best to translate.

Swire Island East Urban Dance Festival 2009

2009-12-12T23:23:00.069-08:00

(some cosplayers at the event)

(one of my favorite pieces from the festival "The Five Elements")

As usual the sound of construction outside my window roused me from my sleep at 11 in the morning so I decided that I would try to make it to some dance workshops I signed up for in Quarry Bay. I talked to one of the volunteers and asked where one of the performances or workshops were going to be and she pointed at a hallway where some dancers were chillin'. At first I thought it was absurd that they were going to try to dance in -- not even a room but in a rectangular hallway -- and figured that I was mistaken since it was possible some things were lost in translation as I was conversing in Cantonese. Well lo and behold a minute later the young dancers got into formation and started dancing. and moving towards the audience. so close that we had to get out of the way and refocus our attention to whereever the dancers were taking us. I was pleasantly surprised and confused that they were travelling throughout the commercial building to dance. And afterwards pranced outdoors leading us to the next performance and this continued in similiar manner throughout the rest of the festival with the last performances melding into the next in a different location.

I started off at the Quarry Bay MTR and ended up weaving in and out of the Taikoo commercial buildings Tong Chong Street and outside to the fountains and park in front of One Island East a couple blocks away.
The performers danced up the moving escalator stairs, making sillhouettes in the building windows, and ending with an outdoor performance in the water fountain. I was also really surprised at how smooth it was for the dancers to move past the audience and for the audience to instinctively give way to the dancers. The staff still had to usher people out of the way but at least no one got hit in the face (I was in Taiwan a few weeks ago and my friends and I happened to be a bboy event @ Luxy and this bboy was trying to be really cool by doing some move on the ground spinning around super close to the audience and literally landed on one of my friends, HAHA).

Overall it was an interactive, novel, and inspirational experience for me to be an audience in a site specific dance performance. Most of the performances were modern/contemporary dance but there was some: tap, drums, hip hop, photo exhibit. And I ended up skipping the workshops I was signed up for, oopsies. I have some short videos clips I want to share but once again blogspot is changing things up and I swear there is no longer a video clip icon, so until the icon appears again, I can't post.

"The focus of the dance festival in 2007 was on site-specific dance, it has proven that site-specific dance works though abstract in concept, could be equally well received with the audience. The proximity between performers and audience is uncommon to most dance festivals in Hong Kong, where audiences can only obtain a fixed view of the performance, whereas, site-specific dance helps breaking down the wall between dancers and audiences and creates a much friendlier, spontaneous and stimulating art experience." (Urban Dance Festival @ blogspot)

I spent the rest of the night in Causeway Bay shopping, eating, and taking sticky pictures with some of my exchange friends. On the way to the MTR we passed by some police, ambulance, lots of yellow tape crisscrossed everywhere, and a throng of people rubbernecking and I found out that it was another case of an acid bottle being thrown off a roof and 4-6 shoppers were hit. It seems like these acid rain cases don't faze any of the local people. I still ended up in Causeway Bay later that night singing K.

Volar's 5th anniversary & Digitalism

2009-12-08T07:11:00.001-08:00

(a post I didn't publish from last week)

Last night I decided I needed to get out of my room and take a break from essay-writing before I went crazy of isolation and start spreading rumors to dogs...

Me and a couple of girlfriends went to Volar's 5th Anniversary Party. I was pleased to hear that a DJ duo I have heard of was spinning -- Digitalism. This is my second time hearing a DJ set at a club and I think I much prefer them spinning at a festival or a rave.

The theme was neon but I think I was the only one that was aware and arrived in hot pink leggings. Or maybe it's because it was dark and I couldn't really tell what everyone else was wearing.

Me and Alexa before heading out to meet up with everyone else.

Colonial Shamian Island, Guangzhou

2009-12-07T07:30:00.001-08:00

made a random trip to Guangzhou this weekend. Need to study on for my final tomorrow morning, so here are some quick highlights:

Saturday

Tai Po Market, Hong Kong

took the magnetic levitation CRH from Senzhen, China to Guangzhou, China

Shang Xia Bei Lu

Pearl River Delta

Sunday

Shamian Park

Tao Tao Ju Restuarant

Temple of the Six Banyun Trees

Sacred Heart Cathedral

San Yat Sen Memorial

Beijing Lu

Shang Xia Bei Lu

Monday

Liu Hua Zhou Restuarant/ Lan Fa Juhk Xing - 24 hour Congee House

Liu Hua Park

Bai Yun Shan

Tai Po Market to say farewell to some friends that are heading to Vietnam/Cambodia

I was supposed to get something for my Daddy in Senzhen but we got back kind of late, sorry baba if you are reading this! I will make another trip to Senzhen soon :)

Open Rice

2009-12-04T03:42:00.001-08:00

recommended by a friend-

Asian version of Yelp

http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/index.htm

It's in Chinese so use Google translate or just base your preferences on the stars and pictures.

Charles Schwab

2009-12-01T22:29:00.002-08:00

In addition to Capital One, I would recommend getting a Charles Schwab credit card if you are planning to be in Asia, or travelling out of the USA, for an extended amount of time. 0% transaction fee, cash advance at the ATM (I think?), and part of the PLUS network.

Busted Water Pipes and Chinese Mushroom Pizza

2009-12-01T18:54:00.007-08:00

The last 3 days has been quite anti climatic. I haven't been going out in attempts to gear up for finals. So the most exciting thing thus far in the last 3 days has been ordering delivery mushroom pizza and discovering many types of Chinese mushrooms on it...

Oh and the water pipes bursted yesterday. I had to venture out to take a shower on another floor. Water's working again and hopefully it'll stay that way.

some silly conversations these past few days--

(about to go out clubbing)

1: "Is that....a sweatshirt?"

2: "YES...it's to test...how much they [the bouncers] love me...at [insert club name here]"

"he was so right about the crazy dreams [after taking melatonin], I took some to help me sleep and I woke up feriously looking through my phone for texts I thought I received"

"They are not oozing sex appeal...like at all"

"I got stuffed into a white van"

UCSD Winter 2010 and future plans

2009-11-29T20:42:00.009-08:00

notes to self.

As of today ---

enrolled

BIBC 100 Structural Biochemistry

BIMM 120 Bacteriology

waitlisted

BPIN 105 Animal Physiology Lab, waitlist 11

TDMV 142 Latin Dance of the World, waitlist 3

vague year plan --

WINTER quarter 2010

Jan 4th to March 20th

structural

bacteriology

physiology lab waitlist 11, if I don't get in take it in spring

Latin Dance 1

UCSD Spring Break from 21 to 28th

CC Spring Break March 29th April 3rd

COMMUNITY COLLEGE SPRING SEMESTER

January 25th to May 22nd 2010

Anatomy Lab (need it for grad school, not offered at SD)

Hip Hop

SPRING quarter 2010

March 29 to June 11

analytical chem Lab

Bacteriology Lab

Latin Dance 2 (or Asian Dance)

Contemporary Dance

GRADUATE! Bachelors in Biology.

SUMMER quarter 2010

Travel with the sister

plans after undergraduate really depends if I get into one of the three pharmacy schools I applied to. I only applied to California schools as I have no interest in other states (maybe New York) nor do I want to waste my time taking the PCATs.

If I don't get in I can either --

#1 work as a pharmacy technician

#2 teach English in Asia

#3 play in Asia

#4 take 8 month training program in yoga, massage, or cooking in the States

#5 bum around

Although #1 would be more impressive on my resume if I want to apply to pharmacy school again.

can I just be a hippie instead?

Candle Light Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T04:58:00.002-08:00

Ken cooking and serenading us with his guitar :)

woman got culture
she speaks like her mother
she wanna know every bit of my past
cause she lookin for the man that will teach her
no part time lover
and she been all around the world
cause that woman got culture, culture, culture
...
she wanna take some chances see new faces
go to places she has never been before
and i love how she acts around me, shes so curious
she inspires me but i dont want to make my feelings obvious
i wanna open up my book to her
so she can read about my world (and learn)
and she will never want to leave me

salad

appetizer

main entree

Asian Brady Bunch Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T04:53:00.003-08:00

too much food!

Gobble Gobble, Beer Can Turkey

2009-11-27T19:04:00.010-08:00

Home-made Beer Can Turkey by Chef Nathan and home-made mashed potatoes by Chef Kevin at 1 am in the morning. I offered my help where I could. Meaning I slept while the men cooked everything then took pictures acting like I did something.

10 pound Turkey

1 can cheap beer

1 apple

1 onion

1 potato

rosemary

italian seasoning

garlic salt

Fresh mashed potatoes

rosemary

salt

pepper

a face without freckles is a sky without stars

2009-11-27T18:41:00.003-08:00

some lyrics from Natasha Beddingfield's "Freckles" to reflect on

And im reminding myself

'cause a face without freckles is a sky without stars

Why waste a second not loving who you are

Those little imperfections make you beautiful, lovable, valuable,

They show your personality inside your heart

Reflecting who you are

Biking from Tai Wai to Tai Po Market

2009-11-27T08:10:00.006-08:00

Went on a bike ride from Tai Wai to Tai Po Market along the biking trails in the New Territories of Hong Kong today. We biked along the Tolo Harbour along with a lot of commercial buildings I have never seen before. Was probably about six miles (?) and took about 3 hours. Having not touched a bike for 4 years I almost forget the brakes were on the handle bars and reversing the pedals to break does not work here -_-. oops. The best part was when we went under a subway, it was like a gentle half-pipe (the structures that skateboarders ride on)! We didn't find the waterfalls we were looking for but we did find a waterfront so we lounged and napped a bit before we grabbed some food. Afterwards we dropped off our bikes at a sister bik shop in Tai Po.

And I wonder how many bikes get ditched or stolen each year considering that a student ID card and a phone number would suffice and there is no receipt to say you returned the bikes.