No more lectures!

So, last week was the final week of lectures here in HK, and possibly the last lecture before my graduation..! :O Now I'm free until the exams start on 6th of May. I was actually supposed to be in Finland now for a week to spend some quality time with my love ones but due to the volcano case in Iceland, my plans were ruined and I may have to start studying for the exams. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. :D

It seems like the life in HK is coming to its end as everyone is counting the days they have left in HK. But for me it seems like the life in HK will continue after this semester! Today I got a phone call from a friend who is working for a Finnish company telling me that they most likely have an internship position for me!! Nothing is confirmed yet, but it looks good and I'm looking forward to see what they have to offer me. :) Again I was reminded about how important and useful the networks are. Kiitos Karen!

Celebrating the end of the lectures @Tazmania in LKF

Time flies

Only one week of lectures left for this semester! And for me it means 3 days of school and few final exams in May. :D The time here in HK has passed by so quickly. Although the school will be over in few weeks, I still have two months time to be here. So I should manage to do some more trips around Asia. ;)

The trip to Korea was great! I ate most of the time.. :D Seoul was a BIG city, but quite dirty and it was always a mission to find a trashcan from the street. And of course kimchi everyday. Check the photos of the trip:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218933&id=627414324&l=2d3cfc6fcc

Haha, last Sunday I was biking for the first time in HK for 4 hours... It was interesting, as I had only slept for 4 or 5 hours after the high table dinner after party and the biking route was crowded as it was Sunday; all the kids, elders, beginners etc. It was for a while quite annoying to bike coz you had to slow down every now and then coz you couldn't pass all the people you wanted to and then it was also dangerous as you never knew if some kid would suddenly stop/turn right/left and so on. I actually almost crushed down to a little girl. XD

Tonite I'm going to have a wine&cheese nite with Sophie in the Halls and see if we manage to get out of the Halls to some clubs.. :D We bought 2 bottles of red and 2 bottles of white (of course we won't drink them all in one nite) for like 16eur and then some brie and other cheese with crackers and grapes. The nite will be wonderful. ;)

Last stop Bangkok, next stop Seoul!

Two days ago I came back from Bangkok where I had a long weekend trip with Sophie and Salla. And tomorrow I'm leaving for Seoul in South-Korea! Can't really complain this life as an exchange student. :D

So, last Thursday evening we left the cold HK and went to Bangkok, where the warm weather was waiting for us. Three nites in Bangkok included the Grand Palace, many many temples, anti-stress spa treatment, learning to use the local transportation system, tuk-tuk rides and mango sticky rice. And of course let's not forget the shopping in the nite bazaar! ;) After the three nites in Bangkok we took a bus ride to Pattaya where our wonderful hotel with its pool areas was waiting for us. The day was pretty much spent at the pool area in the hotel. For the evening we didn't go to the so-called-famous "Walking street" but instead went to see "Tiffany's Show"-the transvestite cabaret show, which was amusing. All in all this long weekend was relaxing and great, thanks to some local friends of my friends in HK. :)

I just got my suitcase unpacked and now I should pack it again... This coming trip to Seoul will be great: we have a group of 7 great people, including Soo Ryun, our Korean guide! Also, I'll most likely manage to meet some Finns (like Timppa who's doing his exchange in Seoul). Feels good to have friends in every corner of the world! :D

Time for update!

Again I've been "too busy" to update my blog.. :D
The life after the Philippines has been pretty much "normal" everyday life. Let me recall the past few weeks with the help of my Nikon Coolpix:

Dessert time: mango wrapped in coconut jelly pancake (above) and deep fried ice cream (below)

Vietnamese steamed spring rolls

Some really tasty glass noodles with beef in satay sauce ;)

These prawn skewers looked better than they tasted X

Some really tasty and sizzling curry with tofu

At the Langham Place shopping mall in Mong Kok going to see the movie Vanlentine's Day with Sophie and Cynthia. Movie tickets were only 5,5 eur with sudent discount and it was weekend and evening show. Not bad. The big malls change their decorations quite often here in HK according to different festivities.

This mall has the longest escalators within a mall in HK and maybe in the world?

some pre-movie funtime :D

I spent a really nice Sunday with my relatives starting with early tea (dim sum) and then excursion around places like my mom's childhood place, Tai Po and Sai Kung. The above photo is taken from my the elementary school that my mom and aunts use to go to when they were kids. The school hasn't been in use for ages already though... it looked more like a jungle than scool, haha.

Fishing pond; here you can practice your fishing skills before you go for the big ones in the sea. Ps. it's not free, you have to pay for it!

At Tai Po's Park: little boys and big boys playing with their toys, some were really serious with this hobby; motors, engines etc.. with all the equipments and fine-tuning. :D

The viewing terrace/tower of Tai Po's park, here we had the ice cream break ;D

The last stop: Sai Kung for seafood! The waterfront promenade of Sai Kung that is unofficially called the "seafood street" because of the many seafood restaurants and seafood sellers.

What to eat tonite?? Pick from the boat or check up the indoor market hall

Interested? ;)

After the weekend was the International cultural nite organized together with the exchange students. South Korea was probably the best presented country of all the countries presented. Finland wasn't presented though, coz none of us Finns bothered to do anything.. So i didn't have to do anything for this event, but still got a certificate of participating in the organizing of the event!! :D (only because I was the contact person for the Finnish group)

Have to take a break now, so this will be continued.. ;)

The Philippines

Time to recall what happened in Manila and Puerto Galera in Philippines! Where to start..

On 16 Feb late afternoon I left the Halls with 6 other girls to start our trip to Manila.

Makati, the fancy business district (and the cleanest place) of Manila:

The central of Manila: really dirty and crowded place with street stalls, local students and jeepneys.

City Hall
Jeepney - the local mini bus

The main post office which didn't sell tourist post cards
(it seemed like the whole city didn't sell Manila-postcards)

First dinner in Manila celebrating the birthday of Sophie. Some stuffed squid with rice. :)

Our lovely hostel in Santa Cruz, Manila: Chateu de Elizabeth aka Red Carabao

Leaving the hostel for the trip to Pier Batangas and Puerto Galera instead of taking the flight to Legaspi and then bus ride to Donsol to see whalesharks which was our first plan.. :D

After 2,5 hours bus ride and 1,5 hours boat trip we finally arrived to White Beach, Puerto Galera:

View from the balcony of our hostel which wasn't as nice as the one in Manila
Philippines was small: we met two other exchange students (Gustav & Jonas)
who are also from the PolyU, our university!
Fresh pineapple and mango smoothie, delicious!
Peaceful day on the beach under a palm tree after Sophie got sunburnt badly.
Romantic sunset on the White beach

French toast and "mojitos shot" for the last breakfast in White beach
Our way back to the hostel, if we stayed too late out.. XD
Our "White Beach Express" back to the Batangas pier

And back to the Manila for last moments in Philippines...

Brownie frappuccino was so delicious, especially when enjoyed after the hot day ;)
The last dinner in Makati in Gerry's grill that served some pinoy bbq food

The last morning in Manila at the airport waiting for the flight that was delayed for almost two hours...

Cebu pacific air, our airline for this trip

Chinese New Year

The past 10 days have been full of different activities and happenings. Let me start with the Chinese New Year (CNY).

I started to celebrate the CNY on the new year's eve (13.2.) raditionally by visiting the CNY fair aka Flower market in the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay with Salla, Sophie, Kenji and Sjoerd. The park was loaded with people and booths selling flowers and also booths selling different tiger themed accessories. The park was so full that you could barely move in the crowd. XD The main idea of visiting the flower market was to turn the luck for yourself for the coming year, so I should be very lucky this year, hhohhoo. :D

Flower market crowded with people in Victoria Park

Kumquat, symbolizes prosperity. These were everywhere, in homes, malls, our Halls etc.

Plum blossom flowers, symbolizes luck and most important luck in some new love ;)

Not sure what these are.. but they look nice, don't they? :D

Grrr, ready for the year of tiger! CNY eve party in Insomnia, LKF after
the flower market. Very good chicken wings in Insomnia btw! ;)

The 1st new year's day was also the Valentine's day this time, but obviously here the CNY day was more important. From this day started my three-day mission of collecting "lai-sii", the red envelopes loaded with money. :D According to the traditions, red envelopes are passed out during the CNY's celebration from married couples or elderly to unmarried juniors and children.

My "lai sii" collection that pretty much covered my travel budget in the Philippines, hhohoo :D

One of the many CNY feasts I had during the few first days of CNY. 8 different dishes was a must since the number 8 sounds like wealth in Chinese. There's chicken, fish, prawns, duck etc.

To summarize my first experience of CNY in Hong Kong, I really liked it here. The idea of getting all family members together to celebrate the CNY and visiting relatives and friends with gifts and wishing them a good and prosperous new year is really nice. And of course it was great fun to be still unmarried and collect "lai sii" (even from people that I didn't really know)! :D