dumplings in the microwave again?

Those of you who know me knows that I like to cook. This has not been particularly easy here seeing as we have no idea what half of the stuff in the supermarkets or markets are and therefore we don´t kjnow how to prepare it either. So we have to buy everything in advance or go out to eat in the various cantines that they have on campus. This is of course pretty nice because its easy and you don´t pay more than 23 dollars (16kr?) max for a big dinner.

This has only one drawback as far aas I am concerned. If you are hungry after eight o`clock or if you come home late and didn´t have time to eat or forgot it - your only alternativ is.... microwave food from seven/eleven.... Now this is not ordinary food. As if its not bad enough that it is, in fact microwave food, they put all sorts of things in the micro here.... (which you find out as soon as you open up the micro door in the kitchen at the dorm) They even have dumplings that you can reheat.. yuk.

Today I ate that. It was warm. it was eadable. I not hungry anymore. I am once again reminded that I should remember to buy food earlier in the evening. Or have a stock at home. Just in case. So, thank you Tommy for the noodles :P They will come in handy. =)

Busy week - part 4

Monday – I woke up at four in the afternoon. Got up. Had to go out the door again to see the fireworks in Central! Met so many other exchange students at the kcr that it was impossible to keep the whole group together through the entire evening due to the 1million other people who also wanted to get the best view of the fireworks that evening. The view was AMAZING and it lasted for 25minutes. Unfortunatley we didn´t get a panoramic view to the amount of people around us, but it was a lot of fun just listening to the reactions of the crowd - ooohhh, aaahhh, hihihi and general cheering when the fireworks were BIG! It covered the whole sky infront of us and sounded loudly behind us from the echoing of the building!! We took a couple of pics, but didn´t want to spoil the experience with only trying to capture the perfect kodac moment - it would never have been better than the visual images I have vividly kept in my mind! Here are some pics of what the sky looked like - they capture some of the mood at least if not the actual fireworks. (Too bad I couldn´t get a picture of the smiley faces - that would have been funny!)

Busy week - part 3

Saturday - I went jogging before we left for Lantau to visit Julie! She lives in Discovery Bay, which she had told us was a resort filled with westerners, but when we got of the ferry both Camilla and I were in shock. We felt like we had come to a southern vacation PARADISE and not just taken a 25 minutes ferry ride from one of the busiest places on earth! It was very resort like, but still nice. Julie is not too happy about all the families with kids who are living there, but with all the other bonuses you get by living there I don´t think it is too bad still. =) We ate dinner and had a drink at one of the newly built restaurants by the sea and relaxed for a couple of hours with Sameer, Smithy (brother and sister and friends of Julie) and Christina (Julie´s room mate). They all live here in paradise and they are all very friendly beautiful people! =) We couldn´t and didn´t want to stay up too late because we were going hiking the next day, but we still managed to sit at one of the tables in the central open places and have a beer untill one in the morning.

Jungle feeling at the very beginning of our hiking trail
Sweaty at the top of the hill!
Waterfalls and dragon pools.
This was the view we left behind - IFC Tower on HK Island

Sunday - We got going for our hiking trip at around one on Sunday, met with Sameer and Smithy and started walking. The landscape is truly amazing in this area with palms, hills, beaches, waterfalls and so on. We walked for about two or three hours and got nice and sweaty since it has suddenly become really humid in HK lately and of course, since we walked up a hillside (I am not even going to try to make you believe that I am in a great shape ;) ). The great parade of Chinese New Year started at eight in central so we needed to get back in order to have the time to shower, get changed and then take the ferry back to Tsim Sha Tsui. We had heard that it would be hard finding places along the parade route so we wanted to be early so that we´d get good seats.. We waited for two hours before it actually started.. Think one of the wagons caught fire and that´s why it was delayed because there was this sudden rush of fire trucks and photographers running to the direction of the parades beginning. Anyway, it was okay, lots of sweet kids in cute costumes, talented folks and cool wagons! Went to a dinner place called Knutsford and met around twenty other exchange students and had a great Vietnamese/thai dinner, a nice cold beer and a sit!!! My feet were so tired by then!

Classic Chinese poster that is put up EVERYWHERE for good luck during Chinese Lunar New Year
Fun red things you could hit together to make noise and hit eachother over the head with during the parade! A lot of fun - even for us semi grown ups..
Classic Chinese dragon at the parade.

Busy week!! part 2

Crowded in the streets!
Relaxed monkey dude - we got pretty close to this one!

Friday - Monkey Mountain and Hong Kong World Carneval – Tom and I went to Monkey Mountain which lies half an hour from Sha Tin with bus. People say it is a great mountain trail as well, but we didn´t have the time or the equipment to go on a long hike this day. We just wanted to see the monkeys – and boy, did we not only see them - we were surrounded by them!! They were actually quite scary some of them, we accidentally came in between a mother and an infant and it screamed at us!! So we held close together and try not to look at them, walk towards them, stop or anything else that might provoke them. Plastic bags are the worst thing you can have with you, and luckily we knew that otherwise they come running towards you thinking you might feed them and they start pulling your clothes and stuff.. They´re only small macaques, but still.. Check out the two different macaque species that live in HK here and here. After a quick stop at KFC in Sha Tin we headed straight for the fair that is in town now at Admiralty – called the Hong Kong World Carnival. We had looked so much forward to this – it is brightly lit and clearly visible on HK Island and had been calling for us to go there and have fun for so long!! First thing we queued for was called G-force – a giant windmill like thing with two wings that put you through 2G!! It was the coolest thing I have ever been in and the upside down and high rise view we got at the HK skyline was definitely worth the 1,5 hours we had to wait to go for a ride!!!

The carneval with the surrounding building as the backgorund scenery - notice how they are decorated to celebrate the New Year.

Camilla and me!

I just liked this picture of us! =)

Busy week!! part 1

Last week has been incredibly busy!!

Tuesday – uni pub. Walked home with Gaelle when the pub closed at one, but met so many people on our way home that we spent one and a half hours to walk the ten minute way it usually takes! =) Was a lot of fun, had many nice conversations! =)

Wednesday - The usual three hours lecture about movies was great this time as well! Next time we are having a presentation on the cultural differences between two movies! Went directly from school to the train station and met with Tom who needed to buy some stuff. Of course we ate our usual dinner at Cheung Chi before leaving. =) Tom has been talking about bamboo and kyrasin for a couple of weeks now, and I´ve been wondering what dangerous stuff he was up to. On Wednesday I found out. He can do really cool stuff with a stick on fire! =) Have some pics of it, though they are of poor mobile camera quality. Tim, me and Fantasia spent two hours watching Tom doing fast and furious stuff that lit up in the dark! We even got to try for a little bit when the flames where are about to go out. The temperature has risen the last days as well, so it was a nice way of spending a couple of night hours outside in a t-shirt!







Thursday - Stanley market, flowermarket and party! Tom and I went to Stanley Market on the other side of HK Island. Takes one hour to get to Central from uni and another 30 minutes on a bus to Stanley Bay. It is a known and very touristy market, but they have some nice things and the place is definitely worth a visit just because of the scenery you pass on the bus ride to get there and to catch some of the atmosphere at the very market. Flower markets are traditional during Chinese New Year celebrations and so we had to visit one and chose the largest one in Causeway Bay. It was packed with people and they had one-way street signs at the whole area to avoid chaos. Chinese people are truly organised. Everyone walked the right way! Afterwards we had beers at seven eleven (only 6dollars for a can) and sim sim (sort of fish dim sum on a stick) from a street kitchen. Found a nice bar to sit in for a while as well! Afterwards, we went to Cavern to celebrate Louis´ birthday and every exchange student showed up and we had a blast! Got home at four..

some contrasts of HK

Small buildings, tall buildings, supernice dinners in Fo Tan in a tent restaurant where the food is marvellous and expensive beers in fancy bars in Central in the IFC building where they had a live band.

general environment here on campus

One pic of my room seen from the door. one of me and camilla and the beautiful sea and palms in the background of our Jockey Club home in HK. Last one in one of the parks at Cheung Chi College.

Valentinesday in HK

...is very different from home. Here in Hong Kong they LOVE Valentinesday!! One girl in my hallway apparently has two guys running after her judging by the insanely expensive and huge flower bouquets outside her door just waiting for her to come home and find them!! Everywhere I went today I walked past the endless row of loving couples leaning against eachother while walking hand in hand - the girl carrying an enormous bouquet - the guy carrying all her shopping bags.. Hahaha, what a sight. Jason, a chinese guy that lives in my dorm said that here in China they should rename this day into "girls day" because it is the day when the guys do anything for the girl that stole their heart! Which is pretty apparent - they have a very romantic view on love- love at first sight for example. I think they fall in love with peoples appearence actually and then they get to know them afterwards - so beware of telling anyone that you think they are cute or otherwise - the girls interpret it as if you were in love with the guy you spotted! The same thing goes for a lot of the films here as well, but within the romantic comedy genre that is a universal theme. I am sorry to say that I didn´t take a picture of all the couples (and ONLY couples) who were queueing to get into the restaurants in HK - an amusing sight!

Since I am not a true believer of love I took this opportunity on this bright and shiny day to share how the Chinese view the big L - word. Happy Valentinesday people! =)

kulturell dose igjen

ja, på onsdag var jeg og Camilla invitert av Julie (kjæresten til Kristoffer som er en venn av Peder her nede) til å se en moderne danseforestilling på the Fringe Club. Den var koreografert av Christina Jensen som hun bor med. Denne jenta har bodd helet livet sitt i HK og snakker lite dansk, og ville uttrykke livet i Hk som den eklektiske hverdagen det er å bo her. Kontrastene, hektiske stunder og de mange mulighetene. Hun hadde klart det på en veldig spennende måte med bruk av "statister" (Julie, Nelly +) og lysbilder og bra musikkvalg. Dansen var veldig opp i min gate og jeg må innrømme jeg hadde litt problemer med å sitte stille når jeg så henne danse!!

Etter forestillingen dro vi alle 5 på en bar i IFC tower, som er verdens fjerde høyeste bygning ble jeg fortalt, og satte oss på G-bar som bød på liveband og skyhøy utsikt som matchet drinkprisene.. Derfor tok vi oss en øl til norsk pris likesågreit. Var et utrolig kult sted da, og bandet var veldig soul/funk inspirerte og rocket stedet. Eller rettere sagt, bare oss. Stor kontrast til forrestningsmennene som satt litt lenger bak i baren =) Dro hjem i halv tolv tiden, så det var heller ikke så verst sent.

jepp, nok en kulturell opplevelse, denne kvelden var helt perfekt kom både jeg og camilla frem til! Storkoste oss! Takk til Julie som inviterte oss!

tuesday nights and pool

There is a tradition created by the exchange students that were here last term, which includes going to the Uni pub, socialising, drinking beer and playing pool - every tuesday. This is a lot of fun and usually everyone shows up and the place is packed at eleven. It closes at twelve (but more often closer to 1am) and people are home by 1.30am at the latest. Anyway, I was bragging about my excellent pool skills (LOL) from when I was sixteen and hung out in a (very dogdy) youthclub with my fellow pupils from back then. ehm... that is eight years ago.. I haven´t touched a queue since then. Guess they were (no less than I was!) surprised when I actually hit the balls and put them in the pockets! =) I didn´t do fantastic, but okay. Think I will use a little time on reviving my "skills" on my speartime. Nothing like competing with the guys at pool.

Musikk i HK

På the EDGEvar det på lørdag en konsert med gruppen Hardpack. Det var utrolig deilig å gå på punkrock konsert igjen og dette bandet kicket på scenen! Gutter med stil er også SJELDEN kost her borte har jeg og camilla funnet ut.. Uansett - øl og musikk etter en laaaang dag på handletur i Shenzhen - nok en gang! =) Fikk tak i billige saker og koste meg mer enn sist gang. Har blitt litt hardere på utsiden i forhold til alle selgerne, og da går alt så mye mye bedre! =) Tilbake til musikken - ikke helt den samme kick ass følelsen på nettsiden til Hardpack, men det får gå. Festlig å høre dem synge på kantonesisk hvertfall - mye sprøtt man kan finne her og nettopp det er jo halv moroa med å lete opp en ny type musikk scene enn den man er vant med hjemmefra!

Annet av musikk nyheter er at MUSE skal spille her i HONG KONG og jeg digger digger digger det!!!!!!!!!!!! Frontseat stå plasser for 680HKdollar. Ikke billig, men ikke dyrt heller (550NOK). Gleder meg som en unge!! Savner anlegget mitt hjemme!! Ikke det samme å høre på musikk fra iPod eller Mac´en, men det får duge for et halvt år - blir musikk hungrig, men heldigvis er det en fellow musikk elsker her nede! Wolf er tysk, har vært i HK et halvt år allerede og liker å finne underground steder og band og siden det visstnok er få av oss her, må vi holde sammen!

Har kjøpt meg MUSE billetten forresten - konserten er på chep lap kok (flyplassen) den 3. mars!! Har nedtelling på rommet mitt!