Now that it has been a week since arriving, most of it seems to have flown by--yet at the same time, I feel like I have been here for months. I know how to get around the city, I've mastered the exchange rate and even learned how to say "Happy New Year" in Cantonese. This weekend was the Lunar New Year celebrated as one of the biggest holidays here in Hong Kong and China. Being the year of the Rabbit, many shops and business have been closed for the entire week in celebration.
In terms of travel, the school had planned a few things to get us out and about in the city. The first day of Chinese New Year we went to Lantau Island with a large group of other exchange students. Lantau Island is on the western part of Hong Kong. We traveled there by "coach" (charter bus) and took a cable car up the mountains to "big Buddha", a massive man-made tribute to Buddhism. The town where it was located was pretty touristy but they had a mini-parade celebrating the new year.
After going up the mountains, we took another coach to Tai O, a small fishing village. There we went on a small boat out in the bay. The enticing ride was purchased with the potential for a dophin citing but sadly, none were spotted. The markets around this area were amazing. Each vendor had tubs of water full of live creatures that natives would purchase fresh and eat daily. Daniel and I went by one vendor just as two 50lb fish were being brought in a killed right in front of us.
From the village we descended the mountain on a windy-two lane road. We ran into trouble when another bus was traveling up the opposite direction and almost collided with ours while attempting to turn. Needless to say, I was releived when we arrived at our last location of the day: Tsing Ma Bridge, the largest and longest suspension bridge in the world. That night we went out with new friends made from the day and stayed out entirely too late. Thank god school has yet to start.
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