Tea Appreciation

Here's something different... and FREE!

The Hong Kong Tourism Board proudly presents its Chinese Tea Appreciation Class.

All the info can be found via the link, so I won't repeat it here. Basically during the class you learn about the 6 types of Chinese tea, how to brew them and what kinds of pots the master tea masters use for each type of tea and why, and you get to try lots of kinds of tea. (Including one memorable strong tea called 'Kung Fu Tea'!)

Manca, Vero, Myself, and Mum.

(We met up with my friends after we visited Ocean Park)

The tea master. She was really interesting and made lots of cute, corny jokes

This is the group for the hour-long Tea Appreciation class. There were seven of us, and four others.

As it if a free class, they encourage you to buy tea or tea pots, or have dinner at the adjoining restaurant after the class, but there is no pressure. The other girls stayed for dinner, and they reported the food to be delicious!

Cycling on a lazy Sunday afternoon

While I was doing nothing last Sunday afternoon, Beatriz posted a message on our IASP Facebook group asking if anyone wanted to join her for a bike ride to Tai Po. So, an hour later we met at the MTR. (That's just how things happen around here!)

You can hire bikes at Sha Tin - go through the mall, through Snoopy's World, and to the waterfront. Exit the shopping mall near Shakey's Pizza.

I hadn't ever ventured outside the sparkly-sparkly New Town Plaza (except to go to Sha Tin Town Hall, but more on that later), but I highly recommend it! Right outside is Snoopy's World - a large, Snoopy-themed, children's playground. Apparently, on occasion, you might also see a wedding or two held there...

Here's my fun photo of the day.

Moving on. There are several bike shops down at the waterfront, and expect to pay about $20-$30 per hour. When we arrived it was 4:30pm, and as the ride to Tai Po takes about 1.5 hours, we decided to take the option of returning the bikes at the shop Tai Po. We paid $60 for bike hire and $10 for helmet hire. Helmets are not compulsory in HK, but if you come from a country like Australia where you just grow up with helmets bring normal, it feels unsafe to ride without one. 

So, we set out!

The bike track is in really good condition, and it follows the river the entire way. At times, the bike track is shared with pedestrians. Sometimes the bike track is wide enough for two people to ride side-by-side and sometimes the bike track is wide enough to only ride singe file. At times people's bikes will have speakers attached, blaring music, powered by their cycling. At times you will come up behind a family with the little kid on a tricycle going all over the track, and the parents barely giving the other cyclists a glace of apology.

And at the entire time the view is amazing.

Ocean Park

Well, OK. It's kinda true.
Credit: Hong Kong Memes

Today I took my mum to Ocean Park. I'm not really a 'theme park person' (I don't plan to make the trek to the world's smallest Disneyland) but I had heard that Ocean Park had a spectacular aquarium... and pandas. It actually turned out to be a fantastic day! So, here are some tips to help you and your parents also get the best out of Ocean Park.

When to go:

We arrived at Ocean Park at about 10:30am. The park opens at 10, and like any theme park anywhere in the world, the earlier you get there, the better your day will be. Mum and I stayed until 3pm, and as walked out the main gates, there was a line up for tickets at the ticket office, and a ridiculously long line for bag inspection (I'm not really sure what they inspect for, but mum was allowed in with a bottle of water...). Also note that Ocean Park closes at 7, so why you would want to get there as late as 3pm seems a little strange to me...
We went on a Friday. Though it was busy and in the rides area (there was about an hour line up for each ride), the park itself wasn't crazy-crowded like I assume it would be on a weekend. We saw just two school groups. 

How to get there:

Take the MTR to Admiralty, and head towards Exit B. On the way out the station you will see an MTR Shop selling all sorts of cool MTR merchandise, like key rings and coffee mugs and crystal trains etc. They also have document holders and other stationary with maps of the MTR (good for souvenirs!) But, most importantly for you, they currently sell Ocean Park entry tickets for just $250! (Adult normally $280. Note there is no student price or seniors price, just adult price, child price of $140, and children under 3 are free.) Mum noticed that once we exited the station and lined up for our special 629 CityBus bus to Ocean Park, there was a counter selling Ocean Park tickets at full price.

Paying for the bus ride: OK, bus ride is $10.60. You can pay by Octopus card, bus ticket (though why you would line up to buy a special bus ticket just for Ocean Park I don't know, but the counter that sold full-price Ocean Park tickets also sold special Ocean Park bus tickets), OR cash. However, there is a catch with the cash option - you must have exact change. I mean, EXACT. You walk on the bus, put your money in a little container, and the bus driver doesn't give you a second glance. The bus driver has NO MONEY. Therefore be prepared. Mum tried to give him $20. He took the $20 and put it in the container and waved her in. The frustrating thing was that I had already paid with my Octopus Card, so really we paid for an extra person. Oh well, win some lose some.

Ocean Park:
This is the map that you will receive when entering the park. As with any theme park, if you want to go on the rides, like at any theme park, be there when it opens and go on all the rides first. Note that to get to the rides side you'll have to take the cable car or the express train to get there. Also note that the rides side is REALLY REALLY SPREAD OUT and there is not much by way of food/drink/snack stalls, so make sure you have enough snacks to last you the morning.
Recommendation #1: The Cable Car
Even if you don't want to go on any rides (like me and Mum), line up for a ride on the cable car anyway because it is AMAZING! The views of the South China Sea are amazing, and the cable car is really smooth and quiet. You can see both sides of the park from the air - journeying from the roof of the panda's enclosure to smoothly sailing by the yellow rollercoaster on the rides-side. One way takes about 15 minutes. At the rides-end of the cable car there is a restaurant with a beautiful view of the ocean, and a canteen serving mostly Chinese food, but unfortunately for me and Mum who just wanted a coffee, there was no cafe or ice-cream to be found...
Recommendation #2: The Panda Enclosure
Panda enclosure has both Giant pandas (2) and Red pandas (maybe 3?), both of which are adorable. There is also lots of information and educational activities for the kids.
Recommendation #3: The Chinese Crocodiles.
They're like a minature version of our Aussie freshwater crocs, but they were very photogenic the day we visited. They swam right up to the glass and periodically submerged and surfaced so that just their eyes were above the water. Show offs. Sadly, the sign said that there is only a few as 150 left in the wild due to encroachment of farmland into the croc's territory.
Recommendation #4: The Aquarium.
Hammerhead sharks? Sting rays? Dory fish? Moon Jelly jellyfish lit by various colour-changing lights? Yep, it's all here, and it's all awesome. I could have sat for hours just watching the rays and 1.5m long grouper(?) fish gliding by and above. It was very cool.

And... the rest you can discover for yourself! See if you can find: The stone python above the waterfall. The Mandarin ducks. The cafe that sells HUGE mocha eclairs. The tired kid swinging his arms as his parents push his little sister in a stroller. The Old Hong Kong area (actually, I really recommend this part if you can't make it all the way to a traditional village like Tai-O), where the amusement games are inauthentic, but the tram makes for a good, authentic photo shot.

Here is a photo from the Whisker's Harbour area (the kids area)

It's a grandfather goat!

So, I do recommend that you make time to go to Ocean Park. The entry fee goes to rehabilitating animals and conservation work. I believe that if there were no endangered animals, there would be no need for zoos, only open-plan sanctuaries (like Monarto Zoological Park in South Australia). But until that day, conservationists needs ways to raise funds for their work and research, which is where zoos should come in. From mine and Mum's perspective, it seems like Ocean Park also believes in this philosophy, so I feel really good about the visit.

Tai O and the Big Buddha

Today IASP had organised for us a tour to Lantau Island to visit Tai O village and to have a vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin Monastery. We had to meet at the Pi Chu Building at Central Campus (a 10 minute walk from my dorm) at 9am, which was not so easy for a Saturday morning. All the tours organised so far have used consistently nice coach buses (sometimes the air-conditioning can make the bus resemble Antarctica) but this time our tour guide talked REALLY loudly on her microphone the whole 1.5 hour trip to Tai O (our first stop) so only the very determined managed to catch up on some sleep.

Some things I learned from Hilary-the-tour-guide's LOUD talking.

1. Lantau Island is where the Hong Kong Airport is, and where the world's smallest Disneyland is (actually, I knew this already. Actually, we all knew this already. Tour guides just like to remind us.) 

2. Hong Kong comprises 236 islands - Lantau is the largest (which I found surprising because I thought Hong Kong Island was the largest... but I was wrong)

3. Statues of the Buddha have him with one hand facing palm outward (like waving 'hello') which means "do not fear", and the other resting on the knee with palm up meaning "peace to all the people of the world".

4. There is only one bridge going to Lantau Island, and even the Airport Express has its own area of the bridge. If there is a typhoon, the upper level of the bridge is closed (because cars can get damaged) and only the lower level is open. If the typhoon is category 10, then the whole bridge is closed and the only way to the airport is on the train!

Tai O is a tiny tiny fishing village on the west coast of Lantau Island. Here are some photos.

The residential area of Tai O, where people live in houses on stilts because they feel closer to the sea (says Hilary)

Korean Megan (민경) who is also my neighbour at Morningside, and Finnish Katrin.

We had about an hour and an half to look around, so we did, but didn't buy much. There was a lot of live seafood, and a lot of dried seafood, and a lot of pickled seafood... you get the idea.

Trying to be artistic, I took this photo because I liked the contrast of the 50s-style glass engraving on the window as contrasted against the iron sheets.

While walking through the market I heard some distinctly French piano-accordion music, and when we investigated we found a cafe - "Cafe Solo" 86 Kat Hing Front, Tai O - with some tables looking over the water.

I had the red bean and green tea cake, and Katrin had the cheesecake.

The view from the cafe. Because Chinese New Year is in less than two weeks time, there are red lanterns and red banners everywhere.

After Tai-O we got back on the bus to go to have our lunch at the Po Lin Buddhist Monastery. It was quite nice - typical banquet-style vegetarian Chinese food, but with circular tables of about 12 people and no lazy susan in the middle to move the food around, it was kind of awkward. 

At the monastery there is the Big Buddha.

And yes, I did walk all the way up there, but I don't have any good photos closer to the Buddha because the sun was behind the statue.

This is one of the six smaller statues facing the Big Buddha.

There is a 3-level exhibition hall inside the Big Buddha, and many old doors leading inside that are no-longer used.

Although there was a ton of people all visiting the Buddha, sometimes you get lucky and get a photo that makes it look like you are the only one there. (Thank you Megan!)

By 3pm we were all exhausted, and thankfully Hilary didn't talk on the bus on the way back to the University. Most of us slept.

So, although it was a little touristy, I did enjoy today's excursion. I also highly recommend that if you do want to go to Tai O and the Monastery, go with a tour because the area is really isolated and there isn't much public transport.

Kung Fu

Neo: I know Kung Fu.
Sophie: So do I.

OK, so maybe I don't really know Kung Fu quite yet, but the last two nights I have been going to Kung Fu classes organised by IASP and taught by the brilliant Shane Yan. I really enjoyed it - so much so that I have signed up for 6 weeks of classes! I've never been really interested in martial arts (apart from my love of the the Matrix movies) and so when I signed up for just the 3-evening short course, my only thought was that it would be good exercise. But Shane is a great teacher, and we use a little bit of Mandarin in class (just for greetings and counting the moves and for some positions) so it feels good to hear and use the little Mandarin I remember. It's weird how, even though I can hardly speak or read any Mandarin, after listening to it twice a week for ten years in school, it feels far more comfortable than Cantonese, which I listen to every day.

The exchange program at CUHK - the International Asian Studies Program - is really REALLY well organised. Although before you arrive here it might seem like they are really slow to process documents and then they require a hundred things from you in a week, once you arrive it's a different story. There are free tours organised during the Orientation Week (the trip to Stanley I wrote about also included stops at Victoria Peak, Aberdeen and Avenue of Stars), but all through the semester the people in the i-Centre who run the IASP send you emails about upcoming events and opportunities and tours and all sorts of other good things. There has been a trip to the Hong Kong History Museum, and a trip to the Hong Kong Museum of Art (Warhol's 15 Minutes Eternal was showing). This short-course Kung Fu was $200 for 3 1hr lessons. On Saturday I'm going on an excursion to the 'Big Budda and Tai O Village', with Vegetarian Lunch included, for just $175. For me, this set up of having lots of things organised by someone else and letting me pick and choose the activities I want to try is FANTASTIC! I don't have the time or the inclination to search out the best yoga studios in the city, or where to hire the cheapest bike etc - but note that if you DO want to do these things, chances are other students in the IASP program would want to do it (we are all part of a Facebook group, so every day there are new requests by students asking if anyone knows where is the best place is to do certain sports or activities).

So, all in all, things are going well here. My 5 subjects have been finalised and I'm into a routine of going to classes, studying, seeing friends, and doing activities that I can remember as: I did that in Hong Kong.