Aaron Departs and Econ Final.

The past week has been a whirlwind of activity. Aaron left at the beginning of the week and I spent the rest of the time finishing up my classes. 


Monday night, for Aaron's last night, we went over to Kowloon to visit the Temple Street Night market. Beforehand, we stopped to get some food in Tsim Sha Tsui. The restaurant was called Spices and it was honestly the best Indian food I've had in a really long time. I had the veggie curry and Aaron had Chicken Tikka. After a nice meal, we took the MTR up to Jordan and walked over to Temple Street. This brightly lit market sells all kinds of wares, including clothing, watches, electronic gadgets, knock-off bags and souvenirs. There are also a a bunch of vendors selling cheap food although we weren't hungry. Aaron and I bought a couple souvenirs and had to pull ourselves away from buying anything else. I was expecting the market to be much busier than it actually was, but it was also a Monday night. Below is a picture of Aaron at the night market. 

Tuesday morning, I saw Aaron off back to the States. It was hard to see him go, but I'll be back in the US in about a month. I think Aaron had a good time. He seemed to enjoy Hong Kong and Macau. He visited a lot of sights, although he had to explore a lot on his own, because of school. I headed home from the airport and spent the rest of the afternoon studying for my Econ final. 


Wednesday morning, I had my China in the Global Economy final. I had been dreading this test all semester. This class was a ton of work (assignments, group presentation, group papers) and a ton of content to digest. And honestly, while I like economics as a subject, I struggle with some of the underlying concepts. So walking into this test, I definitely did not feel comfortable. In the end, the test went okay. It wasn't my best work though. I felt like I kept regurgitating the concepts I knew. But its over now. One final down. One more to go on Saturday. 


Justin

Trip to Macau - Day Two

For Day Two, we decided to get away from our hotel/casino and explore the historical/cultural sites of Macau. It's amazing because on this small stretch of land, there are 25 Unesco World Heritage sites. We didn't have time to visit them all, but we did try and hit a few of the most popular ones. In the effort of time, we decided to do an open-air bus tour. The tour we chose had a stop at our hotel and also stopped at 14 other locations throughout Macau. You could jump on or off at your leisure and it was only about $12 USD. The weather was a bit hot, but otherwise, an enjoyable day. Below are a few pics from our day. 

Aaron and I on the open-air bus 

View of Macau Peninsula

The Macau Science Center

Kun Iam Statue
(Conceived by Western designers, the statue is a blend between bodhisattva Guanyin and Holy Mary) 

Macau Tower  - 10th Tallest in the World.
Looks a lot like the Stratosphere in Vegas to me.

Senado Square (notice the wave pattern tiles)

St. Dominic's Church

Ruins of St Paul's

16th Century Cathedral, which was destroyed by fire during a typhoon in 1835

Aaron and I at the Ruins of St. Joseph

Ruins of St. Pauls (from behind, includes remains of the original pillars and a shrine)

Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora do Monte de São Paulo (Fort Monte) - Fort built in the 16th century. Later seized by Governor for defense of Macau. Now it houses Museum of Macau.

Inside Fort Monte

Atop Fort Monte

View from Fort Monte

One of the many high rise buildings found in Macau and Hong Kong.  

MJ Museum/Cafe
Inside the Ponte 16 Casino, there is a museum dedicated to Michael Jackson. It has three levels of  memorabilia and videos. It also has a gift shop selling MJ gifts and a cafe. The cafe was just normal food, no MJ-specific entrees. 

Justin

Trip to Macau - Day One

On Thursday, Aaron and I took a trip to Macau. We took the ferry, from Central Hong Kong, which took about an hour. Similar to Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region, under Chinese rule. Macau was once part of the Chinese empire and then colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, making it the first European settlement in the Far East. The handover back to the Chinese took place in 1999. As you can imagine, Macau has a rich history. The central area of Macau is filled with many historic buildings built in the Portuguese architecture and Macau also has its own kind of food (Macanese food), a mix of Portuguese and Cantonese food. 

 Macau is very small- it is less than one-sixth the size of Washington, DC. Macau is split into three different sections: Macau, Taipa and Cotai. Macau is the main peninsula with the ferry terminal, the historical district and many well-known resorts/casinos (MGM, Mandarin Oriental, etc.). The islands of Taipa and Coloane lie to the south and are connected by reclaimed land known as the Cotai Strip. 

After opening up its locally-controlled casino industry in 2001, foreign direct investment flourished in Macau. It has been called "Vegas of the East" and in 2006, it actually overtook Las Vegas with more gambling revenue. Many Western Casinos have a presence in Macau, including the Venetian, Hard Rock, the Wynn and the Sands. The Venetian in Macau is classified as the largest casino in the world. 


We stayed at the fabulous Galaxy Resort & Casino. It was massive, with its own wave pool. It is also classified as the only "authentic" Asian casino in Macau, whatever that means. Our room was fantastic...one of the nicest I've ever stayed in. My apt. in Hong Kong could fit in the bathroom. The first day/night, we hung out by the pool and I did a bit of schoolwork. After freshened up, we went to a really good indian restaurant in our hotel and then Aaron did a bit of gambling. I don't really enjoy gambling, probably because I don't know what I'm doing. So I basically hung out at the Hard Rock Cafe watching a live all-girl live cover band called Airborn (from Canada). Their range was amazing and their musical/singing skills were impressive. A few pics of our first day are below. 

Our Hotel (The Galaxy)

Our hotel room

View from our balcony of the wave pool

Outside the main entrance

The Galaxy Hotel at night

The Venetian Macau (Largest casino in the world)

Inside the Venetian

Inside the Venetian

Airborn (the all-girl cover band) from Canada

Justin

Day Trip to Ocean Park

Today, I skipped my class to hang out with Aaron. We decided to go to Ocean Park for the day. Ocean Park is a theme park on the south end of Hong Kong Island. It just celebrated its 35th anniversary and is a quintessential Hong Kong activity.


Like most theme parks, Ocean Park has a bunch of spinny rides, games and even a couple of roller coasters. The roller coasters don't quite compare to the ones at Six Flags or Cedar Point in US, but that didn't matter to us. We debated going to Disneyland Hong Kong, but chose Ocean Park because it seemed to offer more adult-focused attractions than Disneyland. 


Ocean Park also has some uniquely Asian attractions. These include a jellyfish exhibit,  a goldfish exhibit and a panda exhibit. We visited all three and the jellyfish exhibit was my favorite. The goldfish exhibit was interesting too. I never knew there was a such a long history of goldfish in China. I've added a few pictures of Ocean Park below. 

Ocean Park Entrance

Aaron, at Ocean Park Entrance

View from Cable Car

View from Ocean Park

Red Pandas

Looking up in the aquarium

Jellyfish

Jellyfish

Bubble Eye Goldfish

Justin

Mr. Schmidt goes to Hong Kong

Sunday, Aaron arrived in Hong Kong. He landed around 2 pm so I went and met him at the airport. I still can't believe it's been over six weeks since we last saw each other. So much has happened since I last saw him in person. 


When Aaron walked out, it was so good to see him. I actually started to tear up when I first saw him. What can I say? Not seeing him for six weeks made me a bit emotional. He looked really good, like he had lost some weight. Below is the picture I took at the airport.  

After picking up Aaron's luggage from baggage claim, we headed back to my apt on the Airport Express. Aaron said he the apt looked bigger in the pictures, which  After resting for a bit, Aaron and I went out for a nice dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant right by my place, called Indochine. The atmosphere was nice. The food was good, but a bit pricey. 


Justin

Productive day and good company.

This morning, I woke up with the drive to be productive. I talked to Aaron on Skype for a few minutes, mainly about logistics when he comes on Sunday. He also asked if I wanted anything from the US, but honestly, I couldn't think of anything. You can get pretty much everything in Hong Kong that you can get in the States. Except for good, cheap Mexican food. 


After signing off, I did a bit of job searching. All of the full timers are getting summer internships or job offers so it has increased my anxiety level about finding a job when I get back to DC. Unfortunately, with classes and day-to-day activities keeping me busy, searching for a job has fallen to the wayside. I did, however, find a position that peaked my interest. The position is with the United Nations Foundation, working on global partnerships. It would be a cross between fundraising, corporate relations and major gifts. It would be based in DC too. How cool does that sound? I drafted up a cover letter and submitted my resume for the UN Foundation's review. 


Most of the afternoon, I spent working on schoolwork at my favorite little coffee shop. Around 6, I had plans to meet up with a few other exchange students for Happy Hour at Schnurrbart, a German bar and restaurant, right around the corner from my apartment. Kriya was the first to arrive so we each got a glass of wine and talked about the two job interviews she had. She actually received an offer from Ernst & Young here in Hong Kong. The other people who were supposed to meet us sent messages saying they unable to make it, so group Happy Hour turned into a date with Kriya. : ) 


Kriya and I made the most of it. We were both craving Middle Eastern food (which seems to happen a lot) so we walked up to SoHo in search of a Middle Eastern restaurant. It was raining, which slowed us down. We didn't have much luck finding a restaurant so we stopped at a bar called Tavern to have a drink and ask for directions. Tavern had champagne for their HH special so we each got a glass of champagne. Getting fancy! The waitress gave us directions to a restaurant called Sahara on Elgin Street. After finishing our bubbly, we walked down to the restaurant. Whe we arrived, we realized it was Moroccan, which isn't quite Middle Eastern, but it would do. We shared an assorted platter of hummous w/ pita, falafel, feta and Moroccan cigars. We also had a drinks too. I opted for the Cosmo, which they called, "Queen of the Desert" [Insert joke here]. After dinner, we headed home. 

Food and drinks at Sahara

On a sidenote, I have eaten a lot of middle eastern food while I've been here, especially falafel. There is this fantastic little pizza/middle eastern place right in LKF across the street from my apt. It's a chain called Ebeneezer's, but their food is pretty good and comparatively cheap. Their falafel and Greek salad is good and so is their veggie biryani (which is Indian). 


Justin

Lots of schoolwork...and a little fun.

This week, I dedicated my days to my studies and tried to get as much schoolwork done as possible. Aaron comes on Sunday for 10 days and I know once he's here, it becomes much harder to get schoolwork done. Plus, with only two weeks of school left, I have so much work to do- a presentation on China's Inequality, a three-page case analysis on the same topic and 4-5 page paper about the economy in China. Not to mention two finals as well.  The workload is manageable...I just need to practice good time management. 


I found a nice little coffee shop not too far from my apt that is a perfect place to study. It is called Cafe Punta del Cielo and its a Mexican cafe. The coffee shop is never crowded, they offer free wi-fi (Starbucks only offers 20 mins free) and they even have plugs to charge my computer. They also have flavored teas (Kiwi Strawberry, Raspberry) that are both good and inexpensive. Too bad it only took six weeks to find this place. Below is a photo of the coffee shop. 

Cafe Punta del Cielo

A couple of the nights this week, I broke the study habit and met up with some of my HKUST classmates. Wednesday night, I went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Nha Trang) with Lili and her friend, Josh. He is an American and  actually from the DC area (Centreville, VA). He works for the US Navy and has been an expat for about 12 years. In addition to being a naval office, Josh is trying to start his own business. He plans to open up a Japanese pod hotel here in Hong Kong. He explained his whole business philosophy and  we chatted about target customer(s), revenue strategy and outreach methods. The conversation was pretty interesting because it allowed Lili and I apply some of the things we learned in our MBA program. After dinner, Lili and I headed to a rooftop bar attached to the Mario Batale restaurant Lupa to meet up with some of the full time MBA students. I had a really interesting conversation with Vikram, a full time MBA-er and the head of the association for exchange students. We talked mostly about finding a job once the program was done. Vikram just got a summer internship in Singapore with GE Health. We also about India and he told me about all the places I should go when I visit. Unfortunately, I'm not going to get to India while I'm out here, but it's on the list of places I want to visit. 


Thursday evening, I met up with my group for my Applied Strategic Thinking course at the downtown campus, which is on the 33rd floor of 9 Queens Road in Central Hong Kong. It has a nice view of the city, which I have yet to snap a photo of. My group is revamping the Google Site we built evaluating the Luxury Goods industry and focusing specifically on the corporate strategy for the brand, PRADA.


After meeting for about an hour my group, I headed to Tin Hau to attend a BBQ/party thrown by a few of my classmates. Osmund, the party host, is Norwegian and decided to throw a party to celebrate Norway Constitution Day, which is celebrated on May 17th. Similar to the 4th of July in the US, Constitution day celebrates Norway's declaration of independence, which took place in 1814. The party was pretty fun. Osmund and his roommates (who also attend HKUST) made a bunch of food and also had plenty of drinks. Osmund also planned a trivia game whereby he asked a set of true/false questions about Norway. For example, did you know that Norway is the same size as Japan but with only 4% of Japan's population? The winner of the game (Giovanni, an Italian) won a bottle of Beringer Sparkling Wine, which he shared with everyone. These are my favorite kinds of parties. They include food, drinks and a whole lot of people from all over the world. The attendees included few Italians, a few Norwegians, a couple of Indians, a South African, a Polish-Canadian, a Chinawoman, a Chilean and me, the only American. The conversations were stimulating and the weather was nice enough to go up to the roof deck. A nice way to spend an evening.  

Norwegian Flag

Norwegian Traditional Dress (The Style differs based on the location in Norway)

Justin

Tokyo Trip - Final

Last night, after visiting the Senso-ji Temple, I headed back to Matt's place. We decided to go to dinner in Shinjuku at a traditional Japanese restaurant with Andrew and Kentaro. I don't recall the restaurant's name, but it was authentic as you could get. They had the low tables where you sat on the ground (although they seated us at a regular table), Japanese sliding doors, all of the staff were in kimonos and required you to remove your shoes upon entry. My favorite were the slippers that you wear while in the bathroom (and must stay in the bathroom when you leave). 


For the meal, I once again let Matt and the group order for me. We ordered so much food, most of which was seafood. I don't think I've ever eaten so many different kinds of raw and cooked fish. I was a bit hesitant because I'm really picky about fish, but I did try all the different kinds. Some of the it was quite good, like the fried stingray fin. Others weren't quite as good, like the cold. We also tried two different kinds of Sake and you could really notice a difference in taste between the two. After eating and drinking our fill, we went to a few bars and then to a karaoke bar. They even got me to sing, which is not easy to do. Overall, it was a fun and memorable. Below are a few pics.   

The boys at dinner  (From Left to Right: LD, Andrew, Kentaro, Matt)

LD and Matt

Me and a Fine "Lady"

Today is my last day in Tokyo. I have a few spare hours this afternoon before I have to leave for the airport back to HK. I decided to spend them exploring the area around Matt's house. The weather was absolutely perfect...sunny and around 70 degrees F. I began by heading East and looped around through Akasaka and Midtown Tokyo. There were tons of people out, running, biking and roller-blading because of the great weather. One of the most memorable places I got to see was the Aoyama Cemetary. I know it sounds odd, but I'm really interesting to see how other cultures honor their deceased. It gives you a lot of insight into their culture. Plus, it is quiet and peaceful. Pics of my day and the cemetary are posted below.  

Akasaka Palace

A neighborhood shrine/cemetary in Akasaka

Tokyo Midtown Center

Tokyo Midtown Center Garden

Aoyama Cemetary

Aoyama Cemetary (The Christian Section)

After my afternoon of exploration, I set off for the airport. Matt and LD were gracious enough to drop me off at Tokyo station so I could catch the Narita Express out to Narita. I got there in plenty of time for my flight, which gave me some time to buy a few more souvenirs. The flight was fine, although there was quite a bit of turbulence. The seats had TVs in the back of them so I watched the movie Hugo and learned some Cantonese. I arrived in Hong Kong around 11:30 pm, just in time to catch the last train back to Central.


While I was sad to leave Tokyo, I was also excited to get back to Hong Kong, which was starting to feel like home. Tokyo was such a unique city and I would love to visit again. Next time, I'd like to see a bit more of Tokyo, but more importantly see more of Japan. If I did visit again, I would consider doing a guided tour or have a local to show me around (like Matt and LD did). Lost in Translation isn't far off when navigating Japan- having a local guide makes a huge difference. 


I'll leave you with a couple more pics my exit from Tokyo. 

Tokyo Rice Paddies

Tokyo (from above)

Justin