Lights, Rocks n' Seafood: A weekend in Hong Kong

Day two was kicked off with a tipoff. Woke up and watched the Raptors game with some coffee (Vietnamese style with condensed milk to sweeten it!) before heading to James' teaching friends brunch. It was nice to meet all his crew if just a little awkward with not knowing everyone and celebrating the engagement of a couple I've never met before. But the food was great and it was nice to hear stories about teaching in Hong Kong (incase I get itchy feet in Toronto!). Capped the afternoon off with a glorious nap (damn you jet lag!) before heading to Kowloon and central for the night.

We had dinner at an area called TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) at a very yummy Thai Restaurant in a giant shopping centre full of designer boutiques and luxury watch shops (HKers are obsessed with luxury watches, I've never seen so many Rolex stores that close together before!). We met up with Krakers and his wife Isabella which was wonderful. Krakers had just come from a Chinese doctor (naturopath) and had a bag full of eastern medicine. He's really committed to the eastern lifestyle, with agreeing to twice a week acupuncture to cure his ailments. Pretty interesting stuff!

Then it was off to the HK light show (a musical light show on the Kowoon side of the HK harbour). Armed with beers and a good butt rest we enjoyed the show and the HK skyline view. This includes the tower made famous by "The Dark Knight". We took the Star Ferry across the water to central side and had some pier beers and crisps.

I am Batman

Now for the HK nightlife! We headed to a place called "Racks" at LKF (Lan Kwai Fong). Anthony Bourdain went here in an episode of "Layover". It had pool and beer pong tables set up. They even pour the beer into the cups for beer pong, what service. ;) A "few" beverages were consumed, an awesome trick shot was demonstrated by yours truly, a windy cab ride home and Zoe's delicious cheese pancakes concluded the night.

Waking up to jetlag and a hangover was not much fun. In fact, I ended up taking a melatonin to help me back to sleep. That shit is wonderful. Upon waking up to Zoe's delicious home baked scones (James Waller, you're a lucky man!), we headed out for an overcast day at the seaside. We took a minibus to Sai Kung pier where we had some pizza for lunch. We saw the wet market, where local fisherman display their daily catches on boats. Buyers come up, choose what they want and then the fishermen send up the food via ladders. 

Then we hopped on a boat tour. Thank goodness we had Zoe with us to explain what the Cantonese boat driver pointed out along route. It was pretty funny when we stopped the boat to look at "coral" and basically just seeing  the ocean.

Our boat arrived Kiu Tsui Chau Island (Sharp Island) / Kiu Tao, where they have the Hong Kong Geopark. Baaaaaaaasically, a beach and a buncha rocks. ;) Spent the rest of the afternoon reading on the beach and exploring the island before heading back for dinner. 

Geopark, Geopark!

We had seafood for dinner at an Anthony Bourdain recommended (a theme in this trip so far!) seafood restaurant at the Sai Kung pier. If you're fancy and rich, you can even order straight from their fresh fish and seafood in tanks beside the restaurant. With my two locals as guides though, we ordered a smorgasbord of seafood off the menu. 

Fresh seafood in Hong Kong

To fill our bellies, we ate: deep fried breaded squid (not a fan of this dish, too chewy), razor clams in a black bean sauce (delicious), scallops with garlic and glass noodles (too garlicy for me), and a crab stirfry with ginger and onions (my favourite). I am definitely eating outside of my comfort zone on this trip by trying everything "foodie" James suggests. That's the point of traveling though, to try, discover and fall in love with new things. Bring it on, Asia. I'm loving it so far. 

Kickin it off HK Stylz

 I made it. I survived the 15 hour flight, busy subways, and having meat for the first time in a year and a half. Welcome to Hong Kong!

The flight was.... Long. I was spoiled on my last flight to Asia with the benefits of first class, but settled for being a common coach passenger on this trek. It was the biggest plane I had ever been on, I think! It was Air Canada's Boeing 777 (about 450 seats according to my pal Mr. Wikipedia). Seat mates were a young man and an older lady, perfectly non-talkative the entire flight. Movies watched: Dawn of the Planet of the Aprs (yeeeeeeeesh), Billy Madison (to make up for the last one, I watched one I knew I'd like -- t-t-t-today junior!), a 2-part documentary on 1964 (woo American History nerd!) and about 30 minutes of Tammy (couple of lol moments but I fell asleep). Food wise, I found 2/3 of my meals to be great (tofu and rice with no sauce was blargh, but tofu scramble and rice wrap were amazing!). Huge hint: if you ever get hungrier than other people, pre-order the veggie meals, you get it delivered like 10 minutes before everyone else (pretty sure I got some death stares when that happened).

When I arrived, the first thing I went in search of in the HK airport was... A hairbrush. I forgot mine at home and couldn't find one there, so that's part of my mission for today! Took the airport express train into the city and arrived at HK station (HK Island). It was wonderful to see James! Especially since he had a beer and pork bun waiting for me when I arrived!

Yes, you heard that... Pork bun. I am putting my vegetarianism on hold for this trip. I want to experience new foods and new cultures and unfortunately a lot of that involves meat. I will most likely still stay away from the slabs of meat styles, but will be open to trying everything once and stick to veggies when possible.

James, my host with the most!

Speaking of dinner, James and I headed off in the #searchforSzechwan. After deciding the cab line was way too long, we took a more traditional route and hopped on the subway. In Hong Kong, they have a transit card similar to London's Oyster called the Octopus (still haven't figured out the name choice yet).. But unlike London, it also can be used to make purchases at certain stores like 7-11 or Mcdonalds... It's like HK's own debit card! 

We took a very busy rush hour subway to a place near James apartment. We hopped on the #11 minibus to go to a  Szechuan restaurant that James' wife Zoe recommended and was later going to meet us at. Well, turns out we were on the wrong bus after having some passengers yell/explain our mistake to us in Cantonese. We hopped off and switched to a cab.

After finding the restaurant (getting lost is just a part of the adventure), we grabbed some beers and peach tea (very sugary and delicious, reminded me of those ice-tea freezies that we used to love in Grade 8). We ordered an assortment of food covered in spicy Szechuan sauce (super spicy, a little too much for this little white girl!). We had jellyfish (kind of like a crunchy slimy noodle, not my favourite), beef and green beans, chicken hot pot and a noodle dish. Even though I was a bit worried about introducing meat into my system, spicy meat at that, everything seems to be a-ok.

Yummy!

It was pouring by this point so we took a cab back to James hotel (errr, apartment), but seriously this place is gorgeous! Huge swimming pool, gym, billards room, movie theatre (byo-DVDs) and soon to be built spa. James says because they live so far away, they have all these amenities to attract people.  Jet lag had seriously kicked in and after poppin some melatonin, I was out like a light by 9:30. Slept all the way til 6:30 am, so hopefully it won't be too bad! 

James' view from his living room window

Overall, a pretty eventful first 5 hours in Asia. Tried meat, got lost, fell asleep. Well, maybe it's just eventful because I'm halfway across the world! ;)

It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock N' Rolled....

It slightly saddens me that I haven't written a travel post on this blog in well over two years. When I came home from living abroad in England, I realized I had very little money saved and a HUGE student debt waiting for me. Working to pay that off and combined with the fact that it has taken me until this WEEK to get a supply teaching job in Toronto, left very little time or money to travel.

I was very lucky to continue working with my Westcoast Connection family over the past two years to provide me with a bit of travel time as well as work experience. On top of my Californian adventure (the last blog post here), I had the awesome opportunity to work as a trip leader for teenage community service trips in Costa Rica (2013) and Alaska/Pacific Northwest/Hawaii (2014).  I was also able to secure enough cash during my rotating job schedules to afford short getaways to Boston and Austin to visit friends of mine who were completing graduate studies in the United States.

 However, I haven't done a proper backpacking trip / adventure into the unknown in a long while. My glorious red backpack has been sitting in my attic so long that I'm afraid its going to go on its own adventure (a la "The Brave Little Toaster" styles) from sheer boredom of being unused for so long! Lucky for me - thank the Buddha, sun, stars and whatever deity you want - I am finally going on a much anticipated new adventure... this time, to South East Asia!

In November, I will be heading to SE Asia for a month. Not a long time for travelling around there (most people I know who have backpacked there have taken like 3 - 6 months to do so) but just the right amount of time for me. I was able to book myself off of my supply teaching gig (the BIGGEST benefit of working temporary jobs!) and I was able to find friends who are travelling there at the same time!

I will be travelling with Simon, Karen & Amy for most of the trip. Simon & Amy were friends from high school (Amy since grade four) and Karen is Simon's better half (who I've known for quite some time too). Starting November 5th, I will be flying to Hong Kong to visit and crash with James and Krakers (two buddies from teacher's college). I then fly to Cambodia to meet up with the others and begin my trek through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. The city wise itinerary will be Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - Ho Chi Minh City - Hoi An - Hanoi - Luang Prabang - Huay Xai. 

I cannot begin to describe how much I have missed travelling, but I will try to paint a picture. There are so many stories, histories, wonders and cultures in the world to experience. I think that's why I loved majoring in History in undergrad - exposing myself to a different world than I was used to (albeit in a time sense, more than a location sense). When I saw places like Auschwitz, Versailles, or Churchills War Rooms, it really made all that history I studied even more impactful. 

Funny thing is, I never used to like travelling this much! My family roadtripped and camped all the time but solo travelingn was not my idea of fun. I got homesick at camp and sleepovers all the time. When I was in university, I had such bad anxiety about sleeping in unknown places that I used to get panic attacks when I travelled to different ONTARIO universities for fencing tournaments.

It was only when I went to teacher's college in a city far away from my hometown, completely on my own, that I realized that it was really easy to make new friends and have a new life in a different locale. I was forced to be independent in a way I never had before and realized I was a much stronger person than I ever thought I was. I was no longer defined by my previous friends or boyfriend or athletic/academic pursuits and that was okay. After that year up north, I had the courage to plan a backpack trip through Europe with friends the following summer.

 THAT was the trip that really cinched my travel bug. I met new friends from all around the world with ease, saw places I had only read about in books or seen in documentaries, drank beers in steins bigger than my head, got lost, got found, kissed boys, saw art, took trains and not only survived the whole process, but FLOURISHED. I felt passion again. When I had the opportunity to live abroad in England and teach, I jumped at it. Hindsight being what it is, I wish I had stayed the full two years instead of splitting it into two and coming home early, but I do not regret one moment there.

With the past three years attempting to get a teaching job in Toronto and finally getting my toe in the doorway, its hard to pass up the travelling lifestyle. Heartbreaks and job setbacks impacted my life for a few years. After so long trying to teach in Toronto and finally getting it, I have to try it out for awhile. Maybe I'll get a full time job or in a relationship and I might even commit to a two year phone plan in the new year (BIG COMMITMENT EH?). That just means I get to be even MORE excited when I get to do trips like the one I have coming up in November. And you, dear reader, get to experience it with me. 

Caifornia & The Canyons - Westcoast Connection!

For the past three weeks, I have been working with a company called Westcoast Connections - 360 Student Travel. I was a trip leader on a teen tour for 21 days of California & The Canyons. There was a group of 48 teens, aged 12 - 14 with 7 staff.  I was saddled with the job of "trip blogger" as I have had some experience with blogging in the past. ;-)

While blogging, I had to include each trip member's name at least once, but for these copies of the trip blog, I have deleted their names. Just for privacy and what not. Hope you enjoy hearing about my adventure across the west coast!

Click "Read More" to read the blog that I wrote for this trip :)

Travel is a part of me, now.

Well, our adventure in Korea is over and its back to the grind... of unemployment! ha!

I really did have a wonderful time there. I have this tendency that whenever I go on trips, I always appreciate it SO much more when I return home than maybe while I'm experiencing it? The first time it happened was when I went to Hawaii in Grade 12. I went, had fun, and just went with the flow. I never really had moments there where I said: "wait a second, wtf, I'm in HAWAII!" But when I came home, looked at pictures and my journal, I was blown away by how awesome and lucky I was to go on that trip. After Hawaii, the same thing happened in Europe and all the other adventures I've been so fortunate to be able to go on.

That's how I'm feeling now. I am taking some time to look through my pictures, finish updating the blog (sorry for the late posts), and really missing my sister (although that part happened as soon as I got home! p.s. I'm not being a suck up, jac). I am thankful to Mrs. Green for donating her points for our flight and to my parents for basically paying for the whole thing. I have been going through some tough times recently and I never would have probably visited Korea if not for this trip.

Til the next adventure calls....

So Ronery and Sadry Arone....

Susan, you went to Korea and then suddenly Kim Jong II dies? Hmm... Did you get him like you got Michael Jackson? Are there bomb shelters and terrified south Koreans running around now? I kid, I kid. But seriously, don't worry North America, the situation in Korea wasn't as insane as the western media led you to believe. I probably wouldn't have even known he had died if it weren't for my incessant facebook checking! When we watched the news, they were more concerned about their stocks falling than anything else. Guess what else? We were going to DMZ the same day!

We had a tour of the DMZ planned way before we even got there. Jaclyn even had to get our passport numbers to book the trip (apparently certain countries in the middle east or mainland China aren't allowed on tours). It was a no-refund tour but we were assured by the company that it was still running, despite the change of power in North Korea. The DMZ is the "Demilitarized Zone", a buffer area between North and South Korea. Since the armistice was signed in 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back from the front line to a establish a "neutral" territory.



Our tour left super SUPER early in the morning... or rather we had to wake up super super early to get there! We checked out at our hotel at 5:30am, walked to Jaclyn and took the subway to where the tour was departing from. I was feeling very under the weather from my cold and early morning wake up, that it probably wasn't til about 12pm that I started to feel better!

We took the hour long coach to the United Nations military base of Camp Bonifas. An American soldier became our new tour guide and gave us a brief history lesson and rules that we needed to follow while in the JSA. These included things such as "Don't wave or make any kind of gestures to the North Koreans - they could take this as a sign of aggression and shoot" and "stand in two lines facing North Korea, do not turn around and take pictures of the South". With our American escort, we went to the JSA - Joint Security Area. The JSA (or "Truce Village") is the only portion of the DMZ where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face and hold discussions.



We went into the building that they held the armistice talks and future talks between both sides. The building has the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) running right through it so it is technically on both sides. We stood around a table and the guide said "if you are standing on this side of the Microphones, congratulations, you are standing in technically, 'North Korea'" !!

Due to poor weather conditions (icy and snowy), we unfortunately could not go see a security tower, the Bridge of No Return or the Observatory (where you could see the two different villages that are allowed to remain inside the DMZ - the "Freedom Village" in the south and the "Propaganda Village" in the North). After we left Camp Bonifas, we went to the 3rd tunnel.

The 3rd Tunnel was discovered in the late 70s and is the most "complete" tunnel that has been discovered. It runs from the North to the South (though they deny making it - regardless of the direction the dynamite blasts indicate). It is the third of four tunnels they have already discovered, but they think there may be up to 10 more. And it is only 44km from Seoul! Although it is now a tourist site, it is also very heavily guarded. You can only go so far before you get to three blockades that do not allow you to go any further into the North Korea side. It was a HECK of a climb though! It runs about 73m deep and believe me, the slope was not an easy task! We were very out of breath by the time we got back up.

The last stop on our DMZ tour was that of Dorasan Station. This is a railway station that connects North and South Korea. Obviously at the moment it does not go past Dorasan to continue onto the Northern side, but the station is a symbol of hope that one day, these two countries will be reunified. I honestly don't really see it happening anytime soon (especially not with the new transition of power, the military is still WAY too influential in North Korea even if the new guy wanted progressive change)...But the Berlin Wall eventually came down, so maybe someday in our lifetime, a peace treaty will be signed.

Bongeunsa Temple

How's it hanging, Buddah?! One tourist activity that I really wanted to participate in Korea was the "Temple Stay Program" . In this program, you can spend one to three days experiencing what it is like to live in a Buddhist temple in Korea. We opted for just the one day experience (not too keen on waking up at 3am to do 108 postures and meditate, plus the temples aren't heated too well!). I am really interested in learning about the Buddhist religion so I thought this was a great opportunity. It also kind of reminded me of the "pray" aspect of Eat, Pray, Love (the AMAZING book, not the horrible Julia Roberts movie). We got to the temple and were very surprised to see how traditional it looked even though it was right in downtown Seoul, surrounded by office towers and a stones throw away from the COEX Mall. It was pretty gorgeous.



Our tour was led by a volunteer who practices at the temple. She was super nice and her English was pretty good! We started off with a temple tour, learning about the different kinds of offerings to Buddha and what different types of candles meant (depending on if the candle was pink or white it was either in memory of someone who has passed away or an offering about someone who is living). Then we went to a prayer room where people were doing the 108 Postures (each bow represents a wish / prayer). It was so beautiful. Lotus lanterns donned the ceiling, golden Buddhas surrounded us as we sat on mats and gaped around with open mouths.



After the prayer, we toured more of the temple and went to the "meditation center". This was a more modern building where they do a lot of the educational programs. We experienced a Buddhist tea ceremony. They explained that serving tea has a very specific meditative quality to it and everything is done in a calm and meditative manner. The tea was delicious, we tried two different kinds. One was chrysanthemum, which really did taste like flowers. We also tried some small snacks. One was a powdered pine needles (BLAGH!!!) and the other was lotus root and sweet potato crisps (yum!).



After the tea ceremony, a Buddhist monk came in and led us in a short meditation. They hit sticks together to signify when the practice begins and ends. We sat on mats, crossed legged, and practiced meditation. I have so much respect for those monks, he said that sometimes he meditates for 10 plus hours!!! You really are in-tune with yourself then!

Our final activity was making lotus flowers. It was a very simple activity (a lot of gluing and pasting) but it resulted in a beautiful flower to hang in my room! They also gave us these small brown bracelets that we could take home to remember our stay. They are mini versions of the prayer beads that the Buddhists use in their prayers (108 beads for 108 wishes). Ours only have 26 beads, but I haven't taken mine off since. :)

When we were leaving we visited the prayer tree at the entrance to the temple. They believe that if you put your wish / prayer on a piece of paper and tie it to the tree, the wind will blow the words and make your prayer come true. Mom and I tied ours to the tree. It was beautiful with the different colours flapping in the winds.