Profile: Tyler-Rose Veguez
LINC Hong Kong Blog
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Blog 5
Day 8: March 22, 2009
Today, my roommate and I decided to get up early so we could pack and then really enjoy our last day in Hong Kong. We had the concierge call us at 7:30 AM, which I definitely regretted when the phone rang, but it was worth it, and both of us showered. I struggled - a lot - to fit all of my stuff into my luggage and my carry on. I eventually had to do that thing where you sit on it and zip it up, and then the zipper popped open. But I fixed it anyway! I had literally no space in my carry-on or luggage, so I just spent the morning praying it wouldn't be overweight (someone told me it was $50 if the bag was overweight, but it was only $25). Estefany and I went down to breakfast, came up to freshen up, and then took our bags down. We were the first ones to check out, so there was a bit of confusion as to where the bags were supposed to go and whatnot, but it all worked out. We were out of there by 10:00 AM.
Because I am such a Disney freak, we had to at LEAST get on the Disney MTR, which I was told is amazing. And, of course it was. The seats weren't individual metal seats, they were just big velvet couches, and the rings you hold on to were Mickey shaped. There were bronze statues of Disney characters in all of the cars and pictures of Walt Disney on the trains. The ceiling was blue with stars and the windows were Mickey shaped - ah! It was the coolest thing ever. The stop itself was, oddly, very green; all the arches and whatnot were green, with gold signs and light stairs. After the stop, we just got back on, but it was a Disney kid's dream train.
After that we met Nina and Emily back at Sogo, where I checked out the Disney store yet again. The only reason I didn't buy anything was because there was no room in my luggage. We eventually split up and Nina and I wandered around looking for some store she wanted to take a picture of, without any luck. On the way, we passed Victoria Park where all the Filipino nannies go on Sunday. It was PACKED with Filipino women and a bit intimidating, but a very memorable sight to see. I wish I had taken pictures, but that felt a bit awkward. After wandering for awhile, we finally found another MTR station (thank goodness those things are on every corner) and went back to the hotel.
Most of our remaining time in Hong Kong was spent getting massages. We went to this place in the mall that was next to our hotel and got a foot and full-body massage for about 35 or 40 US dollars. Two full hours of massage for that price is amazing and we were so relaxed! I definitely want another massage now. Then, needing a final dose of street food, we found a noodle place before we went back to our hotel to get our luggage. We ate the soup while we waited to check in at the airport, and then wandered around the airport for a few hours. It's really cool because it's huge and FULL of designer stores, including another Disney store, but its way more expensive. Unfortunately, none of us had saved any money for this part of the trip. But it was still nice to look at! Just one warning - if you buy a liquid even when you're past security (whether it's water or perfume), they make you throw it out. Apparently some guy lost the perfume he bought for his wife that way, which sucks, but it's a safety precaution so, oh well.
We finally got on our plane at around midnight Hong Kong time and flew for about twelve hours. The seats were pretty spacious this time and I got a window seat! I stayed up most of the time watching movies, since they had some really good ones. Then we finally landed at LAX at 9:15 Pacific Time, where I went through customs, got my bags, and had my mom take me to USC for a solid night's sleep.
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Blog 4
Day 7: March 21, 2009
Today we had an early wake-up call, because we were going on a cultural sightseeing trip to Lantau Island. I was really excited about the giant Buddha, which is the world's largest Bronze Buddha. So, after breakfast, we got on the bus to go to Lantau Island. It was longer than usual, but a really nice ride because we went over the bridge and got a nice view of the ocean. Then our bus stopped and we waited in line for a while to go up the elevator. When we got up to the front, we saw that we were going to be taking a sky-ride to the Buddha, which freaked Nina out because she is terrified of heights. Seven of us got in one, and it was really steady and solid so we stood up most of the ride. We went so incredibly high! It was gorgeous! There was a really long footpath below that some crazy people were walking on. We flew over the ocean and mountains and got amazing pictures of everything. Since it was still morning, there was a fair amount of fog. There was a minute where we were surrounded by fog and couldn't see anything; it was so cool and so creepy. Then we finally landed and found that we were the only group to smile for the picture they take at the end.
We walked around this little shopping center and everyone went to Starbucks, which has much better food than Starbucks in the states. Everything was really cute and really touristy, with hanging Chinese lanterns, cobbled roads and, of course, over-priced souvenirs. It was really cool to look at, especially since you could see the giant Buddha in the distance. We walked through the shopping center to get to the base of the staircase. Let me tell you, 260 steps didn't sound that bad in my head, but looking at the staircase, I had a minor panic attack. But right at the top of the stairs was the most massive Buddha I had ever seen, sitting in some kind of flower. We started the hike, only having to take a couple of breaks, and finally reached the giant Buddha. It was so huge that I don't know if I can properly describe it. There were smaller statues offering gifts all around it and the view from the top was incredible. After exploring every inch of the giant Buddha level, which is really indescribable because it is just so incredibly beautiful and massive, we headed down the steps to lunch. On the way, we saw plenty of people praying to small shrines and temples, and there were chrysanthemums everywhere.
Lunch was in this huge, incredible room with a vaulted ceiling and a stage with a series of golden statues on it. It had flowers and lights hanging from the ceiling, but it had a really laid-back feeling to it - kind of like a giant dining hall. The food was all vegetarian: imitation meat, tofu, taro, etc. It was actually really good. Although I eat a lot of tofu and whatnot, I didn't expect it to be that good.
After that we went to the bus and drove to the Tai O fishing village. On the way we saw about three cows, but I didn't get pictures of any of them, which was a bit disappointing. When we got there we waited in line for a while to go on a boat ride that would take us to see the pink dolphins. William, my bus tour guide, decided to be funny and make us look spastically for dolphins, when there were none. Apparently they had been busy earlier that day but they weren't showing up by the time we took the tour. We did get a really cool look at the village and the surrounding mountains though, including a rock formation that they called "the General" because it looks like a reclining general. The houses were so interesting because they were all on stilts in the water and they were built like shacks, but they had electricity. It was so far from anything I had seen in the US; I'm glad we went. After the boat ride we walked around, looked at all the little shops and all the fish they were selling. Most of the fish I had never seen before - and I eat a lot of fish.
After walking around, we all returned to the hotel, where my friends and I found a street food stand. We got these really good lobster/crab balls that they literally deep-fry right in front of you. And egg rolls too, which we had to try since they were egg rolls in China. We got on the MTR and went to Causeway Bay for dessert; I got this Mango, Coconut liquid pudding thing, which was really good. Mango pudding is definitely one of the best desserts in Hong Kong. After that we all split up and some of us went to Sogo, which is a huge mall in Causeway Bay. The basement floor was so cool because it was just one massive supermarket. On the kid floor there was a small Disney section, but everything was SO cheap. About 25-50% of what I would have paid in the U.S. and it was stuff that was really nice that I hadn't seen before. After shopping around Sogo (I only bought some food for my Uncle), we went back to the Temple Street night market for what seemed like the millionth time. I was a really bad bargainer that night but, oh well, it was still cheap. And we realized that there was a completely different part of the night market we had never seen before.
We kept exploring and one street over there was another, wider night market. With less tourists and a lot of locals; it was really cool. Exhausted, we got some ice cream and then went to the nearest MTR station to go back to the hotel, where we talked, packed a bit, and finally went to sleep.
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Blog 3
Day 5: March 19, 2009
This was a delightfully late day; we didn't have to be on the bus until 9 something. Since we were really rested, Hong Kong University of Science Technology was definitely more fun. We toured it, which was interesting because it looked kind of like a mall, with a lot of tile and connected buildings. It had a great view of the ocean though. After the tour, which didn't take too long, we went to lunch at their dining hall type place. The food was some of the best we had in Hong Kong and the students were really nice. We met three of them, the one I talked to the most was Naomi, who was from Mainland China and spoke amazing English. She was really friendly.
After lunch we went to a big classroom with all the HKUST and USC students and got into groups to discuss what Ocean Park should do to compete with Disneyland. We came up with a pretty good plan; one that I think could actually be used. We all went to the big lecture hall to present our ideas. We didn't present because compared to some of the other presentations ours was boring. It was the most realistic and most applicable, but the most boring. Hovercrafts and massive roller coasters that accompanied a film were some of the suggestions, which made the meeting really fun. Then we all got on buses with the HKUST students, and went to Ocean Park again to visit with the CEO of Ocean Park. I think all of us decided that we need to go back in about four or five years. First off, it was really cool because they were actually using most of our case study suggestions, and he showed us a few videos that showed CGI representations of the future of the park. It looks so amazing! I can't even describe it. They had it split into more defined lands and they added animals with amazing housing. Three hotels with completely different themes, one for romance, one for family, etc. The rides are more intense and better themed - I mean, this place looks incredible.
Then we had to split from our HKUST friends and go back to the hotel. We went to Mong Kok and got noodles at this really good noodle place and then went to the ladies market. I only bought one or two things. Ladies market is higher priced and the vendors are more aggressive than the sellers at the Temple Street Night Market. We went to this boba place that Naomi recommended. It was a tiny little stand, and I was surprised to find that the milk tea tasted the same as milk tea in the states. At least I know that when I'm drinking boba milk tea in the US, it's legitimate. After that, we went back to the hotel and crashed, because the next day was going to be a particularly early morning.
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Blog 2
Hong Kong Day 3: March 17, 2009
Today we went to Hong Kong's big theme park: Ocean Park. My group did its company briefing paper on it so I already knew all about the park and I was pretty excited. When we got there, we spent forever taking pictures and then went to see the pandas. The pandas were so cute! There were four of them and two of them were really active. Most pandas I've seen just sit there, but these ones were walking around, playing, eating, and legitimately posing for the cameras. Or at least it looked like they were. Afterwards, we went on the sky-ride, which was incredible. We got a gorgeous look at the South China Sea. The water was so clear that, even from way above, we could see to the bottom near the shore. I wish we could have stopped up there and just looked around for a while. When we got off we went to check out the seals. They were really active too - actually, they were fighting. It was really - well, I don't want to say cool, but it kind of was – interesting; especially since no seals actually got hurt. We went to the water ride, which is kind of a mixture of Knott's Berry Farm's the Log Ride and Disneyland's Splash Mountain, but it's all outside and you just gently go through the water until you drop. Let me tell you, Ocean Park has more escalators than a mall, because there's just so much of it. So, after going on a few escalators, we went on the mining ride, which was really fun because it literally went over the ocean. From there we went to the aviary, which was massive and filled with beautiful birds, and then we got lunch before we left.
A friend of mine actually lives in Hong Kong, so once we got back to the hotel my roommate and I called him up and asked him if he wanted to meet us. About an hour later Estefany, Jonathan, and I met up at the MTR station. We first walked around the HK stop, which is like a really cool mall in the MTR station, and got out in the IFC mall. Then we realized we had no idea how to get to our destination (Stanley Market) so we hailed a cab and they took us on this super long drive through the wilderness of Hong Kong (which is gorgeous I must say) until we finally arrived at Stanley Market. We got there right at sunset. I didn't buy anything; I just went to look at the ocean. The boardwalk was gorgeous - especially at sunset. We went and climbed on some rocks and walked around the little shops and whatnot. We were there for about two hours just exploring. Oddly enough, there are a lot of pubs there, which I found funny. After Stanley Market we went to the Avenue of the Stars. It's basically like Graumman's Chinese Theater because it has all the handprints of Chinese stars on the boardwalk. From there you get another great view of the harbor, especially when the light show comes on. The light show isn't all that amazing, but it's definitely something you should see if you ever go to Hong Kong, just because it's there and it only takes about 20 minutes. The boardwalk itself was really pretty because it was really wide and the lights kept changing color. Once the light show ended and we realized we were really hungry, we got in a cab and went to Kowloon to get dinner. Jonathan took us to this Islamic place that he knew was good. It was the best food I had had in Hong Kong. We had veal goulash, onion cakes, dumplings and wonton soup; everything was so delicious. I'm not sure what makes the food Islamic, or if it even is Islamic (just because the sign said it was didn't necessarily mean it was true), but whatever it was - it was good.
I still had some shopping to do, so we went to the Temple Street Night Market. Having someone who speaks Chinese with you gives you SUCH an edge. Jonathan definitely got me lower prices than I would have otherwise. In the night market we saw a little dessert place, where we got mango pudding (my favorite), tofu with syrup, and papaya with syrup. It was all so good. The place was this little shady place with plastic stools and tables, but it had been open for over 30 years, so we knew it was good. After a little more shopping, Estefany and I said good night to Jonathan and went back to the hotel for some sleep.
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Blog 1
March 9, 2009, Los Angeles
Wow, one more week. I remember one month ago when next Saturday seemed so far away, almost unattainable. Well, it finally crept up on me and in just a few short days I'll be on a plane to Hong Kong - one of the biggest business capitols of the world. I'm so excited to go to Ocean Park (my group, the Rabbit group, did our company memo on that business, so now I'm really excited) and to go around Hong Kong and to take a ferry or something. I'm glad Hong Kong isn't too big, otherwise I wouldn't see nearly as much as I want to. I can't wait to see the skyscrapers and to eat the food (I hear pigeon is a delicacy; who knew? It'll be interesting to try it) and meet all of the established business-people of Hong Kong and hear about them and their company.
I'm just completely excited about this whole trip and writing about it is making me even more excited. Of course, now that I'm getting ready to leave, I'm starting to freak out a bit. Do I have enough business clothes? That's definitely a no. How many casual outfits should I plan on packing? What gift should I get for the Hong Kong University student that I meet? What if I have a bad reaction to the food? I do have a fairly sensitive stomach. Am I going to make an idiot out of myself and embarrass everyone somehow? Well, hopefully not. Luckily BUAD 104 was good preparation for that sort of thing, so with that class under my belt (or partially under my belt, since I don't complete it until I return from Hong Kong) I shouldn't make a complete mess of Chinese social customs.
Actually, speaking of that class, I'm on my way there right now. Last memo due, yay! I mean, it's not like the memos were hard, it's just an extra thing I don't have to worry about. The class has actually been interesting. Last week was a real eye-opener. Edward Kelly, who lives and works in Thailand, came to talk to our group and the Santiago group about counterfeited objects and how most of the people who make these objects are child slave laborers. Well, I can tell you that I won't be buying any knock-offs in Hong Kong, that's for sure.
Before last week we also covered the economy in China. It was interesting to see how it related back to our economy and Chinese traditions and such, which are always my favorite part of traveling abroad. If you go to a country completely unlike your own and you don't learn anything about the other culture, I think that is a wasted trip. So I'm glad to be learning things about the culture before I even get on the plane.
I am bringing my laptop, if only because I take way too many pictures and I would have to buy several new SD cards. This is just cheaper; plus I can write my blog during the trip. I'm also packing the usual toiletries (including some Febreeze) and apparently my mom wants me to take a portable steamer for my suit, which is a good idea but I don't know if that will actually happen. I'm bringing about four business outfits - well, one pair of pants, one skirt, one jacket and four tops - and several casual outfits, because they said we would be able to change into our casual outfits later on in the day most days. I'll also bring one pair of flats, one pair of heels, and my tennis shoes; I also need to get appropriate socks and stockings and whatnot. My one big concern (okay, not the only one, but it is a concern) is whether or not I'll need an electricity converter. I haven't gotten a sold answer yet, so we'll see. But most of what I'm packing is pretty basic for any trip, just adding some business suits, and I'm going to try to leave space in my bag for souvenirs (I've been ordered by pretty much everyone I know to bring them back something - that's a lot of stuff). I also think I might get a guide book, so I can have ideas for my days off. Well, the next time you hear from me, I'll be in Hong Kong! Wish me luck!