Two Weeks of Everything

So I know that I was complaining last week about being completely bored and having nothing to do in Hong Kong. Well that boredom is now over and will not return for quite a while. These past two weeks have been crazy, busy, and interesting. And is seems like the next three weeks will be much of the same.

Last week, Hong Kong had its annual book fair in a large convention center on the main island.  If you know me well, then you know that I love to read, so when I heard that Hong Kong had a large book fair I jumped at the opportunity to go. Previously, I had only been to book fairs that were sponsored by elementary, middle, and high schools, so I had no idea what to expect. I expected something large and a crowd. It was, after all, being held in a convention center. However, I did not expect it to take up almost the entire building  (which seems larger to me than any other convention center I've seen to date). There were people for miles and vendors took up almost every inch of space (although now that I think about it, that pretty much describes all of Hong Kong). For some, it may have appeared to be chaotic, uncomfortable, and frustrating. For me, it was pure bliss. I can't think of many things that can top a huge room full of books. Of course, this being Hong Kong and everything, most of the books were in Chinese. They did, however, have an entire section dedicated to book in English. This was where I hung out for about three hours. There was fiction, non-fiction, bestsellers, niche books, how-to books, tour books, anything you could imagine. I personally could have spent a fortune, but feared incurring the wrath of my parents, so I reigned myself in and limited my purchases to one book. A cookbook filled with quick recipes. Excellent for any college student attempting to cook for themselves for the first time. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I'll write when I do. Of course, I couldn't keep myself from good reading for long, so I did go to the book store today to buy two new books for my literary pleasure, The Shack and Dreams of Joy. These should last me about a week. Maybe I should invest in a Kindle or something.

Book Fair!!!

This Monday a couple of friends and I decided to check out the museums in Hong Kong. We only had a chance to go to a small part of the science museum, but what I saw was pretty impressive and really interesting. There is currently a special exhibit about Albert Einstein, his life and works. I understood the biographical part of the exhibit, much of which I did not know before. For example, I did not know that he married his cousin. Unfortunately, when the exhibit attempted to explain the theory of relativity I was completely lost. All I could figure out was that it had something about time bending space or something like that. I suppose this is why I hated physics and decided to not be a scientist. The rest of the museum was just as fun and entertaining, and a lot more easy to understand. For me, the best part is a tie between the hall of mirrors and this 3D interactive game where I got to destroy blocks with a ball. Think of it as a 3D interactive Brick game. Unfortunately, but the time I finished the game the museum was about to close. I only got to explore 3/4 of the ground floor. There are still 3 floors to go. Luckily, I got a year pass so that I can visit any Hong Kong museum I like. This includes the science, space, art, and history museum. I'm going to be so smart when I get back to the States.

The group at the museum

Last, but certainly not least, this Tuesday we went to Sai Kong, a part of Hong Kong known for its beautiful beaches. The day was perfectly warm with clear skies and puffy white clouds. Getting there took forever because it is a relatively remote part of the New Territories. We had to take two buses, a taxi, and then walk for 45 minutes before arriving at the designated beach. It was completely worth it though. The water was a perfect Caribbean blue and warm. The harbor was surrounded by verdant mountains. It looked like a post card. However, we decided that the beach wasn't enough for us. We needed something more adventurous, more daring. Something like....cliff diving. That's right everyone, I went cliff diving off of a 25 ft. high wall of rocks into a deep pool of water. It took us another 15 minutes to walk from the beach to the pools of water and waterfalls where we could dive. Let me tell you, it was not easy to get to the ledge to jump. We had to scramble across rocks that were inclined and burning hot from the sun. My legs are still burning from scaling the boulders. But the fact that I can say I jumped makes it worth it. The jump itself, however, was terrible. I've never experienced the force of water impact before, and now I understand why people would hurt themselves from jumping off of bridges. The 25 foot jump hurt, especially since I landed on the back of my thighs. They still sting. I'm not going to dive again any time soon. After the jump, we returned to the beach for a while before heading back to the main town. Getting a taxi to take us back was an interesting adventure. We actually had no idea how to get a taxi back until we asked one of the locals at the beach. We asked our friend, who's parents are Chinese so she speaks Mandarin, to ask the local how to get a taxi. We were nervous at first because we didn't know if he understood Mandarin or just spoke Cantonese. She struggled a little to get him to understand. Eventually he got what we were asking and then promptly and very clearly replied "Do you speak English?" I have to admit, it was kind of embarrassing. But we did return to the town and our dorm so everything worked out fine.

 The Beach!!!!

 Me Jumping!!!

The Group!!!!



Tomorrow, the entire group is going on a school excursion to The Peak in Hong Kong so I will have tons of new things to write about in the upcoming week.