Hanami

Each spring in Japan brings the beautiful and fleeting sakura (cherry blossoms). Perhaps the reason they are so loved is due to the fact that they disappear so quickly. Personally, I think plum and peach blossoms are more beautiful than cherry ones, but they are beautiful nonetheless. With the blooming of the sakura comes hanami (flower viewing) parties. Once the cherry blossom forecast is set, every available weekend is set aside to have hanami parties. Anticipation runs high as well as nervousness that a rainy day or heavy wind will come by and ruin all the flowers.

Last year I got to enjoy the cherry blossoms quite a bit in various ways but only had one hanami party. Most of the flowers had been destroyed by rain when it actually came time to have the party. This year, I was in Hong Kong when they started blooming which made me feel anxious. I didn’t have enough time to appreciate them like I did last year by going to parks and whatnot just to stroll among them. However, I got one really good hanami party in this year. I would have had two really good ones if I wasn’t hung-over on the day of the second one (I’m still kicking myself over that) BUT, it was the first work enkai of the new year the night before, and that party basically makes or breaks your relationship with all your coworkers for the year, so it was important that I went hard that night.

Anyway, I’ll briefly explain my one good hanami party, the one I missed, and the one that simply turned into a BBQ because there were no flowers left.

The first hanami party took place the weekend after I got back from Hong Kong. The blossoms were in full bloom. It was a little chilly but overall not bad. Many of my friends gathered in Osaka Castle Park, and we shared snacks and drinks. Rachel made awesome cookies, onigiri, and sandwiches for everyone. Akira brought a bunch of alcohol to share. We were also next to the peach blossoms which was nice. What can I say really except that it was perfect? Everyone was quite tipsy (some were flat out wasted) and enjoying themselves, myself included. The flowers were gorgeous. After the party, we relocated to Balabushka and chilled there for quite some time. We drank and played pool, and I took care of one of my friends who drank too much. Joe and I had a dinner intermission at McDonalds. :P After that, we went to Jaws to dance until morning (well actually until about 4 am). I don’t know what it was about this time, but oh my god was it amazing! Everyone was dancing their hearts out, the music was fantastic, and it was overall just a perfect club experience of pure joy haha! No mishaps or anything. We went back to Balabushka to chill for like one more hour before first train. I was still riding a high from the dance club. I asked the staff to play my music, and they did! I was so happy, and I continued the dance party with Joe right in Balabushka bahaha! I’m pretty sure people thought were crazy (but there were hardly any people in their anyway at that time, and the staff are all my friends). It was just a perfect day.

Random people enjoying hanami.

Akira in charge of drinks.

We are enjoying Rachel's cookies.

This is how we do.

Such a beautiful place. :)

Group photo.

Giving the peach blossoms some photo time.

The next hanami party took place the following weekend on a Sunday. Like I said though, I didn’t make it because I was hung-over from my work enkai. It was really a shame I couldn’t make it to the hanami party because my friends were there and the weather and flowers were nice, but omg my work enkai! If you read my post called “My First Nomikai,” then you will be shocked to learn that my school put on an awesome party! I mentioned before that a bunch of young new teachers have come to my school. So now there are quite a few people who actually like to drink and party. I refuse to go into the details of my school enkai as an unspoken rule, but it was so crazy and fun! I don’t regret anything about that night…just the fact that I was hung-over the next day lol.

The last hanami party just turned into a regular BBQ party…well, I wouldn’t say regular, but in any case, there were no flowers because they all had fallen due to time, rain, and wind. At this party, there were around 70 people I’d say. I only knew like half of them. I got to the party kind of late because I unexpectedly stayed out dancing the whole night before. It was fine though. When I got there, people had already been eating and drinking for two hours or so. I wasn’t in the mood to drink because I was tired and drank the Friday and Saturday before (it was a Sunday). So basically I went there and watched my friends drink which was pretty amusing. Yuki got way too drunk though and passed out in my lap for a long time. I took care of him. Before that happened though, a dance party broke out in the park. There were so many other parties taking place in the park on this day too. I don’t know why. One party next to ours had a DJ playing awesome dance music! The people at that party were out of control! They called us over and started dancing with us in a very high energy way. There was a lot of jumping involved. I really liked that part of the day! I left around 6 pm before the party ended because I was tired, but it was definitely an interesting time.

BBQ crew.

That time when Yuki died.

Random dance party.

So ya, those are my hanami tales for this year. I guess it all kind of evens out because I had one awesome party, one I didn’t make it to, and one that ended up being just a regular party. I’m already looking forward to next year’s parties! Next time let’s shoot for three perfect ones!

Spring Break 2014 – Hong Kong and Macau

Before I begin this post, I’d like your opinion. What do you consider Hong Kong and Macau to be? Are they cities of China? Are they their own countries? Are they somewhere in between?

To me, they are somewhere in between. They both have their own governments, own currency, own passports, and you must go through separate customs and immigration when you enter them, but they are actually considered to be Special Administrative Regions of China. So they are like their own country per say, but are still controlled a bit by China (in the past, they were controlled for a bit by countries in Europe). Plus they are both just the size of large cities. So to me, it is very ambiguous. I don’t know what to say when people ask me what countries I’ve been to. Do I list off Hong Kong and Macau? Do I say I’ve been to China? I don’t really feel like I’ve been to China.

So anyway, here are the main facts about my trip. I left on March 28^th and came back on April 2^nd. I was there 5 full days (4 days in Hong Kong and 1 day in Macau). I went with my two American friends Shawn and Diego. We stayed in Golden Island Guesthouse (a really crummy hostel lol) on Nathan Rd. in Kowloon. Again, I used Peach Aviation to fly there and back. I love how cheap it is!

We landed around 12:30 in the afternoon. We took a bus from Lantau island (where the airport is) to Kowloon island (Hong Kong is split into four main areas). My very first impression while looking out the window from the bus was that buildings looked really different and the plants looked tropical. Hong Kong is in the subtropics, so it made sense. It was so humid the whole time we were there! Another thought was that Hong Kong’s currency was really confusing! I never really understood it the whole time I was there! I can’t really tell you if things were cheap or expensive unfortunately. I think it was something like 100 Hong Kong dollars equaled about 13 U.S. dollars. That’s basically the only thing I understood.

During the 40 minute bus ride was one of the times I actually felt comfortable in Hong Kong haha! The second I stepped off the bus, my brain pretty much exploded, and I was kind of overwhelmed with how different everything was the whole trip…but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. So actually, before I actually took a step off the bus, things got crazy. It was taking me a second (literally just a few seconds) to get my luggage off the luggage rack when we got to our stop, and the bus started to drive off before I get off! Shawn and Diego were already off! I started to panic, and some girls saw me. I don’t think they were from Hong Kong because they started yelling in English, “Excuse me!” to the bus driver. I wasn’t really able to say anything. The bus driver stopped again and let me off. I thanked the girls and got off all flustered. I thought I was gona die.

The next step was to find our hostel. We knew it was on the same street as we were on (Nathan Rd.: a pretty famous street), but we didn’t know which direction or side. We had the address and just followed the numbers until we found it. That part wasn’t too bad. The part that freaked me out (remember, I’m still all wound up from being trapped in the bus) was all the people scurrying around the sidewalk. People were moving fast, bumping into you, not saying sorry/excuse me when doing so, and it was very difficult to simply walk. All the while you are soaking in the strange atmosphere of a new country. Nathan Rd. has a lot going on.

Unfortunately what I’m about to tell you was my first impression of Hong Kong people, and by the end of the trip, although I can’t stereotype and say everyone was like this, my impression mostly stayed the same. As I was walking, I was pulling my mini suitcase behind me trying to navigate around people without bumping in to them. Some man walked into my suitcase, and I ran over his foot with one of the wheels. He was behind me so it’s not like I saw him and ran into him. He could clearly see my suitcase and where he was walking, but instead of pausing for one second to let me walk by, he chose to walk directly into my suitcase. It’s kind of hard to explain, but what I’m trying to say without sounding like a b*tch is that it was in no way my fault. However, when I felt my suitcase run over something, I turned back and saw the man’s angry face. I apologized genuinely and was met with the dirtiest look…then he yelled at me in Chinese. I was shocked and horrified! Shawn and Diego didn’t notice the incident, so they were getting kind of far ahead in the crowd of people. So I ran off to catch up before I almost lost them again! In any case, that was my first interaction with somebody from Hong Kong. Their culture is so very different from my own. Ya, there are many rude/unfriendly people in America too, but not to the extent I experienced in Hong Kong. Maybe I’m a little biased too since I’ve been living in one of (if not the most) polite country in the world for two years. Even when I go back to visit America for Christmas, I feel shocked at how rude some people are haha!

We got to our hostel. What I had seen and read on the internet was completely different than the real thing. The private bathroom they advertised was private, sure, but it was literally a shower-head over a toilet and sink. So every time you took a shower, the whole bathroom was wet. We had to keep the toilet paper and our belongings outside of the bathroom. When you brushed your teeth and used the toilet (which by the way you had to sit on sideways because the wall was right in front of the toilet and there was no room for your legs) your feet got wet because the floor was never dry. They provided toilet flip-flops, but they looked like they had been used a 100 times without ever being washed. They were covered in hair and stuff. Anyway, I shouldn’t complain too much because even though the website made it seem different (which I suppose nowhere would ever try to advertise themselves as bad), the place was so cheap. You really do get what you pay for I guess. Plus, Hong Kong is a compacted and crowded like Japan, so of course rooms are small unless you want to pay a lot.

After we got situated at the hostel, we were starving! So we ventured out to find some food. So let me explain Nathan Rd. briefly. At first I thought Nathan Rd. represented what all of Hong Kong was like, but eventually I found out later that that wasn’t true. I would say Nathan Rd. represents a very cultural side of Hong Kong. My first impression was that Nathan Rd. was filthy, rundown, and crazy...which is kind of true. There were some creepy things going on. For example, I saw a net/bag full of moving frogs outside a building (like 50 frogs). They were probably going to be eaten. L Also, restaurants kept open buckets of live fish on the sidewalk outside their entrance (I suppose they kill them as needed). I didn’t see this with my own eyes (THANK GOD!), but while we were walking, Shawn saw a fish jump out of a bucket on to the sidewalk, and a man walking by just kicked it. How horrible?!

Nathan Rd. (Daytime)

However, by the end of the trip, Nathan Rd. kind of became my favorite area. Like I said, there’s a lot of culture to it. It’s full of traditional shops and restaurants, there are some Chinese style parks off the road, and street markets nearby. It didn’t seem so commercialized or like it was catering to tourists (although it is pretty famous, maybe for those reasons).

Nathan Rd. (Nighttime)

We randomly found a restaurant off the street with pictures of food that looked good. We were all so hungry that we didn’t really care much about where to eat. We walked in and were pointed in the direction of a table. English is weird in Hong Kong. It’s considered a national language, but not many people really speak it. We were often spoken to in Chinese (Cantonese to be specific).  I think many people can generally understand what you are saying in English though. Cantonese is the dialect of Chinese they speak in Hong Kong. If you don’t understand, some people know some Mandarin and try to say things to you that way. The only time I was ever spoken to in English by Hong Kong people was when they were trying to sell me something. Shawn studied Mandarin for like a year I think, so that helped us out a couple times. We pointed at what we wanted in the menu. I don’t eat meat, so I ordered a plate of fried tofu and some rice. Shawn and Diego both got some sort of beef noodles. The picture in the menu showed the fried tofu on top of some vegetable, but when they brought it out, there were no vegetables, so it ended up being kind of hard to eat because it was so salty and fried. Having the rice helped though.

After filling our bellies, it was still early (maybe about 4 pm), so we decided not to waste the day and tried doing some sightseeing. This was when we experienced the subway system for the first time aka the MTR. At first it was a little confusing because we knew we had to get “Octopus Cards” which are like the cards in Japan that you put money on and swipe when you go through the ticket gates. Oh, and finding the subway entrance was kind of hard too. There are signs that say “subway” with an arrow, but they just lead you to underground paths for crossing busy streets. The symbol for actual train subways was different. After we figured that stuff out, subway stations became kind of like my safe haven because they were one of the only things I was actually familiar with and understood since they were kind of like Japanese and Korean trains. We took the train from our station (Jordan Station) to East Tsim Sha Tsui Station.

Hong Kong subway station.

*Some random notes. 1) Escalators are like super speed in the subway stations! It’s kind of fun and scary at the same time. 2) The noise crosswalk lights make is different from Japan. In Japan, it only beeps slowly when it’s safe to cross. In Hong Kong, it beeps constantly but really fast and loud like an old rotary phone when it’s time to cross. 3) Hong Kong is so international! There are people from all over everywhere! You can’t tell who is who (which I actually enjoyed in contrast to Japan’s severe homogeneity). These notes are just to help emphasize the fast-pace, busy atmosphere I’m trying to illustrate.

Our first stop was The Avenue of Stars. It’s a famous place which is kind of similar to Hollywood Blvd. Also, it’s right on the waterway that separates Kowloon island from Hong Kong island. The skyline is gorgeous here. However, on this day, the fog and/or smog was really bad. Pollution is a huge issue in mainland China, and cities are covered in a constant cloud of smog which often blows over to Hong Kong and even Japan sometimes! Anyway, I don’t know whether it was smog or just fog, but you couldn’t see the skyline very well. We enjoyed seeing the handprints of famous Chinese actors and actresses in the cement. We saw some interesting sculptures too. This area was very touristy, but fun.

Jet Li's hand-prints.

Bruce Lee statue.

After that, we explored the area a bit. The area in East Tsim Sha Tsui was very upscale and cleaner than the Nathan Rd. area. We looked for a place to simply have some tea or coffee and take a breather since we were so exhausted from traveling, finding the hotel, etc ., but in this area, there was nothing except stores like Prada, Gucci, and so on. So we gave up, and decided what to do next.

The thing we were looking forward to the most was going to The Peak, so we decided to try going there next. The Peak is a place that is supposed to have the best vantage point of the city. You can see all the big buildings on Hong Kong and Kowloon island. You can take a tram up to the peak. We waited in line for 30+ minutes. The tram ride was supposed to be part of the attraction, but it wasn’t anything special really in my opinion. We had fun laughing at how steep the angle was going up, though.

When we got to the top, we were so very disappointed. The fog/smog that I mentioned earlier was so thick that you could hardly see anything! It was night time by now, so we were hoping to see the city all lit up, but instead we felt like we were in a different world up in a cloud. We paid and waited all that time for nothing. We weren’t sure how the weather would be on the other days of our trip. It actually was much clearer on the other days. We were just unlucky to have chosen to go on our first day when the visibility was at its worst. We had to wait a long time to go back down too after seeing nothing. If one good thing came out The Peak, it was that we stopped for a snack before heading down. We got toast with condensed milk on it and Hong Kong milk tea. Hong Kong milk tea is a thing. It’s known for its strong taste, and strong it was! It was like drinking coffee. I really liked it. So that was the end to our first day. We went pretty hard.

Hong Kong milk tea.

The next day we went pretty hard too! In the morning, we met up with two of our fellow Osaka JET friends who were also traveling in Hong Kong at the same time. We met them in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong island to eat dim sum. Maybe it’s better to just Google dim sum if you don’t know what it is, but if I had to explain it myself, I would say that it’s many small portions of various foods shared by everyone at the table. It’s mainly eaten around brunch time and consists mostly of several kinds of steamed dumplings and buns. As someone who doesn’t really eat meat (except for seafood), eating in Hong Kong was difficult at times. Many dim sum items contained pork. I tried to avoid eating anything with meat in it, but I know there was a few times where I did. :/ Anyway, it was really nice to meet up with our friends and have a meal with them. It was my first time to ever eat dim sum. There were some things like vegetable dishes and noodles that I really liked. The place we ate at actually had one Michelin star. It’s called Din Tai Fung. According to Shawn, there’s a branch in Japan. Also, he said that this place is more of a Taiwanese dim sum place rather than a Chinese one. I don’t really know the difference, but I guess in more traditional Chinese places, they bring the food around on carts, and you point to what you want.

Osaka JETs unite!

After the meal, we went our separate ways. We decided to go to the Ladies Market. The name is a little misleading. It’s a street market that sells all sorts of things, not just stuff for ladies! It was one of the highest recommend markets. It was my first time to ever go to a street market. They soon became one of my favorite things about Hong Kong. One of the biggest parts of street markets is haggling, something I’d never done before. I’m kind of timid in these sorts of situations, so at first I didn’t like haggling, and I was afraid to do it. By the end of the trip, I got used to it and was able to get people to lower the price considerably on some things. It was kind of fun. We found that you could bargain at many other places in Hong Kong as well, not just the markets. One of the funniest incidents was when Shawn went to convert some money. He saw the exchange rate on the sign of a vendor (there were currency exchange stands all over), and it was not a very good rate. The worker saw that he looked, and when Shawn started to walk away, the worker called out to him, “I’ll give you a discount!” So Shawn got a better rate. We were laughing at the fact that he got a discount on money hahaha!

Watermelon juice with bubbles at the
Ladies Market.

After checking out that market for a few hours, we went to check out another famous market called the Night Temple Street Market. It was actually very close to our hostel. Since it was only dusk when we arrived, the market wasn’t completely set up yet. We decided to go search for dinner and then go back. We found a noodle place that had a lot of vegetarian options, so I was pleased. I got noodles and baked spring rolls. Something kind of funny happened at this restaurant, but before I tell you, I want to mention some things about restaurants in Hong Kong. First, they don’t often give you napkins at restaurants. Sometimes they are hidden in this drawer that’s connected under the bottom of the table along with silverware, though. People often beckon you to come inside if they notice you are looking at their restaurant. However, their way of telling you to come in is to simple shout “sit down!” at you in English. Not only in restaurants but everywhere in general, people are kind of pushy and loud. They stare at you without remorse. They don’t bow to you like in Japan and Korea. In restaurants, they will often just kind of throw your stuff down on the table without looking at you. In Korea, it was like this at some restaurants as well. You kind of get used to it.

Night Temple Street Market at dusk.

Anyway, back to the funny incident. First of all, I expected people from Hong Kong and Japan to look mostly the same (maybe some fashion or hairstyle differences). I can’t tell where a person is from by just looking at them. However, one strange thing was that I hardly saw any attractive men in Hong Kong whereas in Japan, I can’t step outside without seeing beautiful men everywhere lol! I thought it was strange. I can’t really say exactly what was different about people in Hong Kong, but obviously something must be if I couldn’t find any cute boys…and believe me, I was looking! So at this restaurant, a young man walks in with his parents. I immediate turn to Shawn and Diego and start freaking out. I said, “Oh my God! It’s the first hot guy Chinese/Hong Kong guy I’ve seen! They do exist!” After a few minutes, I heard the young man start talking with his parents…and they were speaking Japanese!!! Bahahahahaha! I swear, there has to be something about Japanese characteristics that I like, but I can’t put my finger on it! So ya, that was funny.

After dinner, it was about nightfall, so we went back to check out the Night Temple Street Market a little more. We by chance ran in to our friends from the morning again which was funny. The Night Temple Street Market was a little different from the Ladies Market in that it sold some questionable things. There was a section that had nothing but stands of sex toys and drug paraphernalia. It was funny because all these old ladies and whatnot were tending the stands. xD

 Since we were disappointed about not being able to see the night skyline clearly from The Peak, we decided to try going to the Avenue of Stars again instead to see the night skyline. The weather was much clearer this day. When we got there, it was absolutely beautiful! We could see clearly, and we got a spot right in front. It was pretty crowded. I think this was my favorite moment of the whole trip. We sat there for a while and just stared in awe.

The whole skyline.

My favorite section of the skyline.

The plan after this was to go party in Lan Kwai Fong. We heard that Lan Kwai Fong was the area to go to if you wanted to go to bars and clubs. It was by far one of the strangest places I’ve ever been. Once we got to the station, we walked behind a foreign couple up the stairs. One was wearing like a tutu, and the man had hair extensions clipped to his shirt?? We just thought it was some random weird people, but when we approached the two main streets that make up Lan Kwai Fong, there was craziness everywhere! To be honest, I was looking forward to partying with some native Hong Kong people, but instead I was met by a sea of white people on the streets wearing ridiculous costumes. I’m not sure if it was a special occasion (I heard there was some sort of rugby match happening in town) or if it’s like that every Saturday.

The heck?

Party in the streets.

My first impression was that everyone was an old, obnoxious, drunk foreigner, but I knew that if we started drinking too, then we could probably enjoy the atmosphere. So we went to a bar and got a few drinks and snacks. I had a frozen strawberry daiquiri for the first time in a while. The food was western style as well. This area really did cater to foreigners and tourists which made me wonder where native Hong Kong people like to party or if partying is a part of their culture or not. After that bar, we went to 7/11 to buy cheaper drinks to drink on the street. We started to meld into the atmosphere…a little bit. The fat old guy wearing nothing but tighty-whiteys was still kind of disturbing. We took “syringe shots” they were selling on the street. We thought they were jello ones like at the last place, but they were much stronger…and not jello lol. We decided that we were about ready to try out a club. We went to one called 7 Heaven. I walked up and asked how much the cover charge was. The man looked at me and said, “Free.” I wonder… ;) Maybe it really is free though haha! We got in, took shots (they were sooooo expensive! We figured out that it was about $10 a shot!). The music was pretty good at first and there was a mixed crowd of people. We had fun dancing for a bit until things suddenly changed. The music became all Indian songs, and before we knew it, everyone in the place was Indian except us. I don’t have anything against Indians. I really like the Indian people I know, and their food rocks my socks, but the music wasn’t my style, and we started to feel out of place. So we left. We decided we were over the weirdness of Lan Kwai Fong…plus it was getting expensive. So we headed back.

Jello shots in syringes.

Going to bed drunk is not good, so we stopped at McDonalds first to get more snacks lol. I had something called a “Rice Fun Wrap” which was actually pretty good. Shawn ate this thing called the “McPepper” after he ate his his first burger haha! He was like choking because it was spicy. For those of you who don’t know, Shawn is a human garbage disposal. He can eat so much! I can’t remember the details exactly, but I remember having really dumb/vulgar conversations while eating. The other highlight of McDonalds was that there was one worker who was actually kind of cute…however, I think I thought he was cute more so because of the little Chinese greeting he said when you walk up to the register than his appearance lol. Anyway, that was another jam packed day!

The next day our main plan was to go to the New Territories to see the 10,000 Buddha Monastery. The New Territories is one of the 4 major areas of Hong Kong. Shawn looked up a famous dim sum place to eat at before going (Shawn was obsessed with dim sum and wanted to eat it for every meal lol!). This day was a Sunday, and we had heard that on Sundays, all maids in Hong Kong have the day off. They all get together and have little parties. We headed towards the city hall where the dim sum place was, and on our way, we could see tons of maids partying. Basically they just laid pieces of cardboard or blankets on the ground and ate and played games on top of them. It was interesting.

Maids partying it up on a Sunday.

When we got to the city hall, the wait was pretty long, and we had already gotten a late start to the day since we partied the night before. Plus it was a far trip to the New Territories. So we decided to just grab some food in Hong Kong station. Hong Kong station was so nice!! We didn’t find that many cheap restaurants inside, so we just had some things from Starbucks. After that, we headed to the monastery.

This day was the most humid of all. When we got to the monastery, we found that we had to climb many stairs to get to the top of the mountain where the main part of the monastery was. I felt pretty gross by the end, but we made it! So by the way, this was by far the weirdest/funniest temple-like place I’ve been too. On the way up, there are these large Buddhas(?) that have the craziest faces. They all look like they are drunk or high or something. We had a fun time laughing and taking pictures of them.

So strange...and amusing.

When we reached the top to the main buildings, it was more legit feeling. I would definitely say that Chinese and Japanese temples are quite different. Although there are some similarities, I would say a Chinese temple resembles a Japanese Shinto shrine more than a Japanese temple. The colors and materials are more vibrant and gaudy. Shawn and I had a mini dance party the top of the pagoda there. That will always be a good memory.

At the top of the mountain.

We headed back to Nathan Rd. after our day trip to get dinner. Much to Shawn’s delight, we found a really good dim sum called Kung Fu Dim Sum (lol) near our hostel. And much to my delight, I found one genuinely attractive Hong Kong guy here. He was one of the workers (he was speaking Chinese, so I’m assuming he was from Hong Kong). That dinner was really good, and the place had a nice clean atmosphere compared to some of the dumpy places we ate at. It started to downpour while we were eating (it had been raining off and on basically our whole trip), so we decided to get dessert at a dessert shop next door in hopes that the rain would die down a little. We shared a mango ice thing. It was so good!

Inside Kung Fu Dim Sum. It had a really nice
atmosphere.

Dim sum.

Unfortunately (well actually I didn’t really mind), it was still down-pouring when we finished. So the guys ran ahead a bit to get back to the hostel faster. I told them I wanted to stay outside and watch for a bit. The thunder and lightning was awesome! Last summer for whatever reason, it didn’t storm in Japan. My first summer in Japan, it stormed hard a lot. I really enjoyed watching the storms, and I was looking forward to seeing them again last summer, but when they didn’t come, I was really disappointed. So it had been over a year since I saw a good storm. I hope they come again this summer!

Our next day was Macau day! Sorry, I know this post is very long…but I have a lot to say and explain! From Hong Kong, Macau is just a ferry ride away. I think it took about one hour. It was my first time to be on that long of a boat ride on the ocean. I don’t like water, so I was a little uneasy, but it was fine. The motion of the boat kind of made me feel sick at first, but I got used to it. The boat itself was quite nice inside. Nicer than a plane and more spacious.

When we got to Macau and went through customs and immigration, we had to figure out how to get to where we wanted to go. There is no subway system in Macau. Macau is home to the biggest casino in the whole world, the Venetian. It’s modeled after the one in Las Vegas I believe, but it’s bigger. There were free shuttle busses from the ferry terminal to the Venetian, so we hopped on one because we thought it’d be worth checking out. Plus we wanted to be able to say they we gambled in the biggest casino in the world (well at least I wanted to be able to say that!). I would’ve made my great-grandmother proud! :D All I did though was put 10 Hong Kong dollars into a slot machine and lost lol.

The Venetian was really cool inside. It was designed to look like Venice, Italy inside. There were parts that made it feel like you were outdoors.

This is indoors.

The one thing I heard that you must do in Macau was eat egg tarts. So that was one of my main missions. They had an egg tart stand right inside the casino. So I got to eat egg tarts right away. They were good. J

Hey you, you delicious little thing you!

Macau at a glance was very different from Hong Kong even though they are so close and the people speak Cantonese. Macau was ruled by Portugal for a while, so even though not many people speak it, Portuguese is an official language in Macau along with Cantonese. In Hong Kong, Cantonese and English are the official languages (Hong Kong was ruled by England for a bit). The influence from Europe was much more prominent in Macau. The food (not all but some), the architecture (again not all but some), and signs written in Portuguese made Macau feel very different like we weren’t in Asia. There were some areas that had an Asian feel, but along with the areas that were all high end casinos, it basically felt like we were in the west. The country/city itself was much cleaner than Hong Kong (perhaps due to the fact there are so many high end casinos everywhere), and the people seemed friendlier in general.

Anyway, after playing in the Venetian, we wanted to go to the main downtown area of Macau that has a mix of Asian and European architecture. We took a taxi to Senado Square. Macau’s islands are connected by these really long, terrifying bridges. I closed my eyes when going over them. We kind of just wondered around aimlessly. We got to see really cool historical looking buildings, large casinos (inside and out), some old dilapidated buildings, and areas that were nothing but shops with like Rolex watches and expensive things. We learned that their purpose is for people who run out of money at the casinos and need more. They go to these stores and sell their valuables for cash.

Western-style building.

We decided to take a break and chill in a Malaysian restaurant. We had a snack and used their free wifi because we were actually waiting to meet up with Shawn’s friend from college who is from Macau. The plan was to meet up for dinner after he got off of work. He picked us up in front of a casino in the evening. When the sun went down, all the lights of the casinos came on, and it was so cool! I’ve never been to Vegas, but I feel like after seeing Macau, I can put off going for a while. It was pretty incredible.

Casinos all lit up. So cool!

Shawn’s friend was really nice, funny, and great at English! He picked us up and drove us to basically every nook and cranny of Macau and showed us around. He even brought us to his home, and showed us inside! His grandparents were so cute! :3 His apartment building from the outside didn’t look like much, but inside it was really big and nice! The molding, furniture, and whatnot was very European style.

I will explain some of the things Shawn’s friend (I’m not using his name for privacy reasons) showed us and said. He had a lot of funny catch phrases:

Phrase #1: “It’s so disgusting.” He said this when referring how the Galaxy casino used to only be lit up in yellow lights, but now it changes colors like red, blue, etc. He only likes the yellow lights, and said that installing all the lights to changes colors was very expensive, and they use a lot of energy. Haha!

Phrase #2: We would often say to him, “You know so much!” because he knew basically every detail and all the history of everything in Macau. When we would say this, he would say, “Because it’s so small.” He made jokes throughout the whole time about how Macau was so small and boring.

Phrase #3: “That’s so mainland.” There were certain areas (the more Asian style areas) that were all lit up with bright advertisements in Chinese for restaurants and jewelry stores. He said that it looked like mainland China, which is apparently a bad thing. He said the lights are used to draw peoples’ attention.

Apparently this looks like mainland China haha.

Phrase #4: “Such a waste.” He said this not only in reference to the use of electricity by the Galaxy casino, but also when he mentioned that in Macau they use drinking water to flush toilets whereas in Hong Kong they use sea water. We just chuckled and said that it was the same in America too.

So now I’ll tell you about some of the things/places he showed us. He took us to this one area (sorry for not remembering the names of all the areas… since we were driving a lot, I wasn’t always aware of where we were). Let me restart...he took us to this one area that had the most famous egg tart place. The bakery is called Lord Stow’s. Diego actually found a branch in Japan after our trip. We got egg tarts and homemade gingerade to share. Yum! The place was in a very rural area near the waterway between Macau and mainland China. I got to look across the water and actually see the mainland! The area had a very nice feel. It was kind of run down and there were stray dogs, but it felt like a very rural town in like South America or something (if I had to guess from what I’ve been told about South America). Diego is from Peru, and he said it reminded him of home a lot. It also had a very ocean-y feel.

Next he took us to these weird western style homes on the ocean. Most of them were uninhabited. They had a very eerie feel like they were haunted. He said they are really big and nice, but no one wants to live in them because the feng shui is bad.

He also took us to the beach. Macau beaches have darker sand than what we are used to. It was really nice to see, hear, and touch the ocean again. From the shore, we could see the home of the President of Macau’s 4^th wife haha! So many random facts! He also pointed out a Korean restaurant from the car that is owned by Kim Jung Un’s brother…wtf?!?! Apparently Kim Jung Un’s brother was living in Macau but has now fled.

Kim Jung Un's brother's restaurant...

Lastly, I will tell you about the dinner we had. We ate traditional Cantonese style food. There are Portuguese and Portuguese-Chinese fusion foods in Macau as well, but they are very meat-y. In any case, this was my favorite meal the whole trip! Kung Fu Dim Sum came in second place. In America, when I eat Chinese food, I love to get sweet and sour chicken. I couldn’t find that in many places in Hong Kong so I wonder if it’s an American version of Chinese food. One thing I could find though was sweet and sour shrimp. It was what I was excited to eat the most. So at the restaurant, we ordered several dishes to share, one of them being sweet and sour shrimp. I was very pleased! We also had some fried fish, soup, noodles with shrimp eggs on them, shrimp shumai, vegetables, etc. Yum!

Deliciousness!

I really enjoyed Macau. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it wasn’t like anything I imagined. I had so much fun this day, mostly thanks to Shawn’s friends showing us around. It’s always nice when you go somewhere and can actually meet and speak with someone native to that area. I would enjoy going back to Macau some day. We took the ferry back to Hong Kong. It was pretty late. I think we got back around 12:30 am. We missed the last train to our station, so we took the train as far as we could and used a taxi from there. Taxis in Hong Kong are a lot more reasonably priced than ones in Japan.

On our last full day in Hong Kong, we got up, grabbed brunch, and headed to Lantau island to see the big Buddha at Po Lin Monastery. On the train ride there, I sat next to a woman who started talking to me. When I told her I was going to see the big Buddha, she told me her her uncle was one of the architects of the Buddha. That was kind of neat.

To get to the monastery, you must take a cable car/gondola thing. There might be another way to get to the monastery, but the cable car is definitely the most convenient and quickest way. I have never been on anything quite as extreme as this cable car. It’s about a 30 minute ride I believe, and you are way up high with the next hub thing way off in the distance. You are just handing on this cord in the sky. It was kind of creepy, but once you are over the mountains, it’s really pretty. In the cable car, we got to speak with a real monk from the monastery. He spoke English very well, and he was actually Vietnamese. He was so nice and friendly, and we all enjoyed chatting with him.

Just a little creepy.

So I didn't realize that they were trying to get the monk
in this picture when taking it, but I'm glad they did!.
I was attempting to make an, "I'm scared" face due to the height.

When we arrived in the village, it was a little different than I expected. Yes, the monastery area was very traditional with temples and whatnot, but the village area was very modern and touristy. There was even a Starbucks! I guess the monks have it good haha! There were a lot of cute stray dogs running around in this area, too.  I guess I’ve grown up seeing only stray cats and never dogs, so I was intrigued.

Hello cute little guys!

The monastery itself was very pretty. I’ve noticed another difference between Chinese and Japanese temples is that Chinese temples have so many beautiful potted flowers while Japanese temples go for a more natural look. The big Buddha itself was pretty cool, but I’ve seen two big Buddhas in Japan, so it wasn’t as shocking to me as it might have been to other people. Plus, the weather was pretty crummy.

We were planning to go visit a fishing village near the temple on this day as well, but we didn’t have enough time, and the weather was being difficult. So we ended our little trip in the monastery by getting bubble tea and shopping around the sweets shop.

The main hall of the monastery.

Big Buddha.

When we got back to our area, we went back to the hostel for a little break and to prepare our luggage for the flight the next day. For dinner, we decided to go back to our favorite Hong Kong restaurant, Kung Fu Dim Sum! The cute guy wasn’t working that night haha! We enjoyed a feast. After dinner we walked around the Night Temple Street Market once more to blow what money we had left (Diego went back a little early, so it was just Shawn and I). Some weird things happened during this time. First, a pipe burst under the ground and water was spewing up from the cracks and creating basically a rushing river in the streets. It was kind of entertaining to see how people attempted (and often failed) to cross it. Next, I bargained with a lady for a nice wallet. I was down to my last bit of cash, and I only had 80 Hong Kong dollars to spare. I asked how much, and she told me $150. I told her that I only had $80. She was all like, “No, no. It’s nice. It’s real leather. How about $130?” She put it in my face and made me smell the leather lol! I was like, “Sorry, I really only have $80.” Then she said, “Ok. Ok. For you, how about $100?” Since I was telling her the truth, I just yelled, “Sorry! $80!” She gave in and said, “Ok, $80. You’ll remember my special price!” Hahaha! I guess I really will remember.

Flood in the street.

The last weird/funny thing that happened was that a lady on the street tried to coax us in to her dessert shop. The funny part was that it was the same place where we got the mango dessert before, and Shawn and I were planning to go back anyway to share a taro flavored one. We were actually heading there to eat it when she started calling to us. So we humored her, and made her think that she actually convinced us to go haha! She was like, “You want dessert? It’s so nice place!  Sit down! It’s a famous place!” When we agreed to go she said, “Oh, where are you from? America? Oh, it’s nice place!” We asked her what her dessert recommendation was just for the heck of it, and she pointed at several things in the menu, and was like, “This. And this. And this! Ask the workers inside, they know!” Hahaha! I loved how everywhere you went they were just trying so hard to get you to come into their place, and they’ll say basically anything. It was a good ending to our last night. By the last day, I had really grown to like the Nathan Rd. area.

Taro ice!

They next day we flew back to Japan. For the first time since I started using Peach Aviation, our flight was really delayed due to weather. It was a pain in the ass, but whatever. We made it home fine. To me, Hong Kong was a very different kind of trip. It was the first time I went somewhere just for the heck of it to see what it was like. Also, it was the first trip I went on where I often felt stressed. At first I wasn’t crazy about Hong Kong, and even when it was time to go back to Japan, I felt relieved. However, after returning to Japan, my line of thought is different. There were parts of my trip I really liked. Of course I loved Macau, but as for Hong Kong, the time we sat and stared at the night skyline was a very good memory, and I can honestly say that I felt super happy and comfortable at that time. Another thing I really enjoyed while I was there was the street markets. There are also things that I didn’t realize I liked until I left. For example, I thought it was fun to try dim sum. Although it was crazy and weird, Lan Kwai Fong was actually a fun experience as well. Perhaps the most rewarding thing was getting to learn about a culture completely different from anything I have ever experienced. Seeing how people acted and lived in Hong Kong, although it’s not my ideal, was very interesting. After we returned, Shawn sent me a link a few days later called, “31 Reasons We Should All be Living in Hong Kong.” I’ll post the link at the end. Somehow, looking at thins link, even though it had only been a few days since our return, was really nostalgic. It was at this moment when I realized I had a really good experience and gained more than I knew. When I look back at this trip, I will see it in a positive light.

Endnote: Perhaps you may be wondering where I plan to travel next. Of course there are a few places left in Japan I plan to hit up, but as for overseas, there is only one place left that Peach goes to that I haven’t been to yet, Taiwan. Sure, there are other countries I’d like to go to more than Taiwan (and Hong Kong for that matter), but Peach makes it really feasible to travel. If I were to go to somewhere I really want to go like Beijing, Thailand, or Singapore, then I wouldn’t be able to go to lots of other places like I have been doing. Depending on how long I stay here, maybe I’ll be able to squeeze one of those places in (even though I am dying to go back to Korea again haha). I will have to save some money after this last trip, but tentatively I am going to try to go to Taiwan in the winter. I’ve heard many good things about Taiwan. Again, I don’t know too much about this country, and I will be going in with basically a blank slate, but that’s a good thing, right?

31 Reasons We Should All be Living in Hong Kong:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/140121/31-reasons-love-hong-kong 

My First Nomikai

So for those of you who know what a nomikai is, you are probably wondering how I went almost two years living in Japan without going to one. I will explain momentarily. For those of you who don’t know what a nomikai is, it literally means drinking gathering. It is a cultural aspect of Japanese work life. Almost all Japanese schools, companies, etc. hold nomikai regularly as a way for the employees to relieve stress and form better relations with each other. Japan is a very work-oriented country. People (in my humble opinion) overwork themselves and put work in front of all other things in their life. Hence one of the reasons the marriage and birth rates are declining while the suicide rate is high. I have coworkers who work so hard that they are physically ill. Many teachers I work with work on Saturdays and Sundays as well, meaning they don’t get a day off...like ever! Even during vacations, most teachers must come to work. Maybe national holidays are the only exception. Anyway, I digress. So back to nomikai; they are usually held after work and go to last train. Coworkers get together at a restaurant or bar after work and eat and drink (usually it’s all you can drink). It’s socially acceptable to get completely trashed because it’s seen as a positive way to escape the stress of work. The funny thing is that after one sip has passed through your lips, it’s an all access pass to act like a complete idiot with no judgment, even if you are not actually drunk. I’ll admit though, many (but not all) Japanese people I know actually are drunk by the time they finish their first drink. Usually the nomikai is followed by an after party and sometimes even an after party after the first after party! These often take place at smaller venues where the focus is not eating and drinking, but only drinking. Karaoke booths and small bars are popular options for after parties.

So now that I’ve explained what a nomikai is, I’ll tell you why it took me this long to go to one. It’s very simple actually. My school is in the middle of nowhere, it’s full of older people (well the new school year has brought younger teachers, but before that, there were few), and hardly anyone at my school likes to drink (or can’t because almost everyone drives to work). So we have no nomikai. Plus, my school is known for being kind of strict, and many teachers work until late. When I switch schools after summer vacation, I will be at a school where there is a nomikai by default basically every Friday night. I’m looking forward to that. Haha!

Next, you might be wondering how I finally got to go to a nomikai. I heard from the ALT working at the school I’ll be transferred to in the summer that there was a nomikai being held for all four schools in my town. Every year, teachers get switched around, and many new people come and go. Therefore, this nomikai’s purpose was to allow people to meet before being transferred. That way when they arrived at the new school, there would be some familiar faces. People tend not to put memos on my desk because they think I can’t read them (which is often true, but I’m getting much better), so I fear I may have missed other opportunities in the past. However his time, I saw the memo for the nomikai because I was looking out for it since the other ALT told me about it previously. I jumped on the opportunity, especially since I will be transferred.

Like I said, hardly anyone drinks at my school, so I was the only one who was going to attend which I was kind of nervous about. Luckily the woman who I practice tea ceremony with who is also a teacher in my town said she’d be there. When I got there, I actually recognized a couple other people because of town meetings and because one teacher had worked with me previously. One other teacher actually ended up coming from my school, but I found out later that he was forced to because it would look bad if I was the only one to go from my school, and I’m not even Japanese. I felt bummed when I learned that. I thought he went simply because he wanted to.

So about the nomikai itself; they say it’s bad form to talk about the details of what happens and what is said at a nomikai, so I will spare you the details and give you the main events. I would say that there were around 40 people at the nomikai. Mostly everyone was pretty young. It was really exciting for me to meet a bunch of other young lively teachers who liked to party. The venue was really classy. It was held at the Asahi Panorama Sky Restaurant in the business area of Kyobashi. There was a very nice view of Osaka Castle all lit up. There was nice food and all-you-can-drink. I don’t like beer, so I drank wine all night. Beer is usually the choice among most people, though. Some people will switch drinks after a couple beers.

View from our private room. Osaka Castle! :)

When I got there, we all drew numbers for our seating assignments. There were six people at each table. I hit it off with most of the other teachers right away. I was shocked at how many young (and attractive) people were working as teachers in Shijonawate haha! There were a lot of funny conversations. I actually became kind of popular because first of all, I’m a foreigner speaking Japanese, and secondly, I’m better at drinking than most of the men! Haha! Halfway through, we redrew numbers to change up the seats. That way we could meet and talk with more people. My second table was even more fun! People were all loosened up, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. In the last half hour, it was free reign to go sit and talk to whoever you wanted. I felt like I was able to form some bonds with people so when I go to my new school, we will already have some inside jokes and whatnot.

After the nomikai, there was one after party until last train. It was at a restaurant/bar called Nine that I actually went to the previous day with my friend! It was a funny coincidence. We had a couple drinks and headed our separate ways. It was a really good time! It left me looking forward to all the nomikai in the future.

So my advice to anyone working in Japan is to definitely go to some nomikai! Even if you don’t drink, you can drink juice or something and socialize with everyone (and enjoy watching a side of them you don’t get to see at work). You will still have to pay the same fee as everyone else, and they may give you some crap about not drinking at first, but they will let it go eventually and be happy that you wanted to participate regardless. If you do drink, then hey ho! go have a blast!