A normal day in Southeast Asia?

Vaihto-opiskelun aikana haluaa nähdä paljon! 

Tästä syystä olenkin aktiivisesti yrittänyt osallistua kaikenlaiseen vapaa-ajan aktiviteettiin täällä kampuksella ja kampuksen ulkopuolellakin. Missioni paikallisten kokemusten haalimisessa on onnistunut oikein hyvin viimeisinä viikkoina. Osallistuminen sulkapalloturnaukseen, asuntolan yhteinen illallinen ja kiinalaisten pelien pelailu ‘’common roomissa’’ ovat olleet mukavia kokemuksia. En kuitenkaan ole voinut lopettaa turistin uraa sataprosenttisesti, sillä tuntuu mahdottomalta käydä läpi edes kaikki kliseet matkailussa täällä. Tätä listaa on käyty läpi mm. Macaon reissun merkeissä. Angry Birdsien lisäksi olen löytänyt palan pohjolaa lettukestien merkeissä. Empiirinen tutkimus I-housen yleisissä tiloissa antoi tuloksen: Pinaattiletut menestyisivät Hong Kongissa. Minkälainen on sitten normaali päivä tässä vaihtosirkuksessa? Yritän kuvailla tänne normaalia kaavaa mukailevaa päivää. Tämä voi olla ihan jees kokemus itsellenikin!

Mong Kok shopping mall

Finding nemo @ Goldfish market

There it was!

Like I mentioned before it seems like there is an endless amount of things to do in Hong Kong. My mission to do more local things has been put into action during the past weeks and some cool things I’ve been a part of are for example a badminton tournament as well as our Hostel’s communal dinner. Still…the tourist life here is not over yet and to shorten my list of ‘’Lonely Planet top 100’’ I visited Macau this week. It might be hard to tell you what a normal day is like in CUHK but I will try to do that right here:

CUHK

A normal day in CUHK as an exchange student:

09:00

Waking up to take a shower. Not a surprise that the towel is still wet from yesterday because the air is so humid. Promise myself to buy more towels every day. Haven’t done that yet though.

10:00

Leaving the hostel to catch the 10:15 bus since a walk down to lecture hall would take at least 20min (Some days I’ve missed the bus and that means only one thing: a jog down the hill).  On a good morning there is also time to enjoy a 20-dollar breakfast in the canteen which is pretty nice. A coffee to go from the separate high quality service desk will be 20 dollars as well.

10:30

Arrival to lower campus. From here I take a walk to wherever my class is. Usually this walk includes sweat, a packed elevator and buying a drink for the lectures from the vending machines that work with NFC money. This has become a routine. I am a victim of the octopus card system…you are able to buy stuff with the card even if it goes over the amount you’ve topped up.

10:30-12:15

课

12:15-14:00

After the lecture there is a nice gap in my schedule to have a lunch in one of the canteens. There is a large variety of them at campus but the one that I’ve mostly been to serves the best fried rice and noodles that I’ve tried here. That stuff is good! It’s fun to try different beverages in the canteens but why do I always manage to get a hot tea instead of ice tea? I should definitely master the word cold in Mandarin.

14:30-16:15

课

16:15

After the lectures I go to the library to practice some chinese with headphones, leave downtown or somewhere else for dinner or go to the sports centre etc. I find it really hard to describe a normal evening but it usually goes something like this:

     1. Bus surfing, chilling inside the elevator, hanging out in the MTR

     2.  Pick Downtown or Campus

     3. Do something sweet

     4.  Repeat number 1

     5. Catch up on readings and other stuff  from school

     6. Get ready for tomorrow

00:00

The night continues in various ways: sleep or study Hong Kong style.

Lunar New Year dinner:

On top of this normal day I attended the communal dinner for Chan Chun Ha hall and enjoyed some great food there. The setup was efficient as always here. A big bowl of everything and bones to be left on the table. Once everyone is ready the plastic cover of the table turns into a bag an all the waste is thrown away. In 10 seconds the whole table is clean again. During the evening the student council performed and we heard a lot of speeches (all of them in Cantonese though). It was interesting to see the traditions and also receive some lucky money since for example professors might give you a red envelope with some money during the lunar New Year festivities.

A mix of things to eat including a head ;)

Finnish Pancakes:

A week ago the world of Finnish pancakes was revealed to the people living in I-house. I was glad to see everyone enjoyed the pancakes…they needed a little pizza hut and kfc to get full though.

Lettukestit

Badminton:

The halls/dormitories compete against each other in a tournament in various sports. I really wanted to play badminton here so I signed up to be a part of the badminton team in this tournament. It’s been a successful competition for us since we won last and this week!

Head's cup

OZONE:

Friday night was completed by a visit to Ozone, a nightclub at the Ritz Carlton HK. This is the highest bar in the world and located at 480 meters the view is more than awesome. The drinks go from 88 dollars to xxxxx dollars. Quite a cool elevator from the 102^nd floor to the 118^th floor! There is a dress code from 9pm onwards.

OZONE

MACAU:

Grand Lisboa Casino

The opposite of a normal day is a visit to Macau on a Tuesday. To get to this other special administrative region of China you are able to take a ferry from TST or Central. A round trip will cost you somewhere between 240-350 HKD in the economy class and boats depart every 30 minutes. A helicopter ride is also available from HK downtown.

The bubble theatre inside the City Of Dreams Casino with over the top effects

Once arriving to Macau you notice immediately that the whole place lives on the casino business. This place is the Casino capital of the world…Macau gaming revenue is over 33.5 billion dollars and for example the yearly revenue figure represented a 42 percent increase over 2010. Macau passed Las Vegas in year 2006. This is the place to see some buildings, entertainment and people who define the word money. People spend ridiculous amounts of money in the gaming tables. Surprisingly the city also offers some very local atmosphere in some parts of it.  The Portuguese history is also there with the ruins and the language (streets have a Portuguese name, in China?). This is because Macau was established as a Portuguese colony and stayed as a western empire until the late 1990’s.

The Venetian

People come to Macau mainly to gamble and invest a large amount of money. The minimum bet for gaming tables will be very high. In most of the hotels the minimum bet for blackjack is about 30 euros.

The city is worth at least a day trip but they are coming up with new things to do all the time so that you’d spend more days there. Macau is over the top and a little bit more. 

Back at CUHK campus

Philippines

Philippines – An action packed vacation

Hello!

Pidemmän kaavan reissujen sarjan aloitti matka Filippiineille (92 milj. Asukasta). Tämä viiden päivän paratiisiloma kohdistui Luzon nimiselle saarelle, jolla maan pääkaupunki Manila ( Metro manila =  yli 11 miljoonaa  asukasta) sijaitsee. Koko reissua ei aivan paratiisilomaksi pysty kuvailemaan, sillä moni hyvin suunniteltu asia ei ollut puoliksi tai ollenkaan tehty määränpäähän saavuttaessa. Ilman loputonta silmiä hivelevää hiekkarantaa ja paahtavaa aurinkoa sekä paikallisia erikoisuuksia ei jääty, vaikka ne perinteiset ‘’mutkat’’ matkassa tekivät startista vähintäänkin action painotteisen. Luzon ei ole kaikkien filippiineille menevien suosikkikohde vaan useimmat suuntaavat tunnettuihin turistikohteisiin kuten Palawanin tai Cebun saarelle. Tämä yli 30 hengen porukka ei ainakaan kohdannut yhtäkään muuta ulkomaalaista turistia vierailemissaan kohteissa…4 tähden resortinkin muut kahdeksan vierasta taisivat olla paikallisia. Loppuen lopuksi matkasta jäi kuitenkin käteen hyvän yhteishengen luoma fiilis ja huikeita kokemuksia!

5 days in a country consisting of over 7000 islands

SAN JUAN

Sunset in San Juan

Our group of over 30 students decided to head to the Philippines during Chinese New Year’s break. During this trip we spent our time on the island of Luzon where the capital Manila is located. Our plan was to go to a resort on the east coast but this plan A did definitely not work and we ended up making plans while driving around. Our vacation had it all: from the paradise beaches to the dim streets of Manila.

Day1:

People arrived to Hong Kong international airport in time even though most of us had stayed up for the firework display at Victoria Harbor. For some the ‘’night’’ continued with a good sleep on the plane. I’m sure we filled up half of the aircraft. Once we landed to Clark airport it was hot. At least for me as a Finn this is the sign of a beach vacation...the breath of sauna humid air once you step out of the plane (what a feeling).

We had booked four vans to drive us around for the whole trip from AVIS. Once we got their office though we hit our first unexpected event: no proof that we ever paid the cars, no drivers, can’t go to the destination. This circus also known as the Avis amusement park took about 4-5 hours and during the period for example the transactions made weeks ago magically appeared on their account? We managed to get the drivers and also drove to Batangas, Calatangas? This place was supposed to be nice according to lady x in the rental shop but we still couldn’t quite find the paradise beach. After many hours of driving we ended up in dark streets with barbed wire. The search for a place to stay took hours as well and finally we found some place to sleep for half of the group…the other half slept inside the vans (was pretty comfy actually!).

Day2:

The first day was more or less full of surprises but once eating a wheat bun in a local beach next morning with some floating rafts and having a little coffee all those dark memories were sort of washed away.

The raft beach

Although one of the beaches we found looked all right in the morning we still wanted to see the white sand beaches and palm trees. This is the reason why we drove up to San Juan, Batangas. On the way there we experienced a little more unexpected events like a crash with our vans. Fortunately the speed wasn’t too high and we were all buckled up…no one got hurt. The resort in San Juan was very nice and we finally found our picture perfect beach. We also got a permission to have a pool party. This resort was not only picture perfect but I found the prices also perfect. A very nice meal and a beer would add up to 6,5 euros in a four star hotel not to mention the restaurants and supermarkets downtown that offered the same combo for 1,8 euros. Oh yes! During the evening we enjoyed the sunset as well as sat down to chill after some very interesting moments during the drive to San Juan.

What a nice beach

Picture perfect

Day 3:

Woke up and immediately jumped into the pool..after this ran to the ocean. The best way to start your morning in the Philippines! This day we actually explored the market ‘’downtown’’ San Juan and tasted some of the local treats. In the supermarket I met my Finnish friends from Rovio again…angry birds juice. The angry birds Philippines style was something else though. Our Austrian friend was determined to find a balut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg)) and eat it. A balut is basically a fertilized duck embryo boiled. Valentine’s dinner?

The market

Happy Valentine's

These guys follow you everywhere...no matter how far you fly

In the evening we opened up a restaurant, seriously. There was a place to get some food about 10 minutes from the resort but it was ‘’closed’’. Once we got there we knocked on the door and asked if they could still be open for us. The lady welcomed us and prepared food for the whole group. How cool is that?

Horizon

The resort

Instabeach

Day 4:

The last day at the resort and some serious chilling at the beach…that was basically the mission for the last day. In the evening we drove back to Manila and some of the people in the group checked into a hotel for some more nights in the Philippines. For the rest it was the last night. We wen’t to Hard rock café Makati and saw a random performance by a guest who just jumped from her chair to sing on stage. This might have been pre-planned but in the end it seemed to confusing to be a staged act. Staged or not I thought it was pretty nice since this local lady was a rock star! Later we took the van back to Clark and our somewhat of an action packed vacation got an end.

Hard Rock Makati

Day 5:

A flight back to HK after almost zero sleep. What a trip!

180 

Our group

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Year of the Snake

Cathay Pacific's Chinese New Year Parade

Muutaman viikon sisään tapahtumakalenteri on ollut täynnä pientä jännää. Mukaan on mahtunut mm. Oulun opiskelijoiden vierailu Hong Kongissa, Kiinalainen uusivuosi ja matka Filippiineille. Ajattelin kirjoittaa Filippiineistä oman juttunsa, sillä reissu oli vähintäänkin tapahtumarikas. 10 päivän mahdollisuus viettää vapaa-aikaa tarjoutui aikavälille 8.2-18.2, sillä tällöin yliopistomme on tauolla opetuksesta ja kaikki paikalliset käyvät vierailemassa perheidensä luona jne. Rajan ylitti suuntaan ja toiseen miljoonia ihmisiä ja Hong Kong näytti kerrankin yllättävän rauhalliselta. En myöskään ole vielä saanut tarpeeksi keskustan näkymistä, joten vierailin viikon sisään siellä 4 kertaa. Jokainen reissu tuppaa aina vaan venähtämään ja keskimäärin Yliopisto-Keskusta-Yliopisto visiitti vie 5 tuntia tällä hetkellä.

Visitors @ CUHK

Symphony of lights - blue style

Kirjoituksen alussa vielä kotimaan kielellä ajatuksia, joita laitoin ylös yhdestä haasteesta kuluneiden viikkojen alla.

Suomalainen / Maailman kansalainen

Olen kokenut vaihdon ensimmäisinä viikkoina haasteelliseksi aiheeksi oman taustan korostamisen keskusteluissa ja käytöksessä. Tällä hetkellä Hong Kongissa tapaan monia ihmisiä ympäri maailmaa ja saan mahdollisuuden oppia sekä kuulla tarinoita päivittäin yli 25:stä maasta. Tämän lisäksi jokaisella oppilaalla täällä on suhteellisen monipuolisesti kokemuksia ja taustaa maailmalta. Muutaman viikon kuluessa huomasin korostavani keskusteluissa ja puheessani hyvin vahvasti Suomea ja suomalaisuutta sekä omia kokemuksiani kotimaasta. Välillä unohdin siis olla kiinnostunut vastapuolen hienoista asioista omassa kotimaassaan. Tämä kokemus ja tapa innostua puhumaan omista asioistaan pomppasi mieleeni myös aikaisemman USA:n vaihdon muistoista.

Olenkin huomannut tällaisten tilanteiden puitteissa kuuntelemisen ja oppimisen toisen asioista hyvin tärkeäksi. Mahdollisuus olla hetken maailman kansalainen opettaa olemaan 100 kertaa lisää suomalainen kotimaan hyveiden puitteissa ja pistää pohtimaan omaa kulttuuria toiselta kannalta. SWOT-taulukko esiin ja HETI!

Tämä tilanne ei kuitenkaan mielestäni ole pelkästään tärkeä maiden kulttuurien ja tällaisen vaihdon puitteissa. Osapuolien yhteinen ymmärrys ja oppiminen yhdessä toisilta on todella tärkeää myös yrityksissä ja yhteisöissä. Tällä tavalla saadaan aikaan varmasti tehokas ja inspiroiva ilmapiiri. Tuo on tietty aikamoinen itsestäänselvyys(?) ja yleismaailmallinen tokaisu, mutta miten tämä todellisuudessa toimii?

Käytös ja tapojen ihmetteleminen tulee esiin täällä myös päivittäin. Matkan varrelle mahtuu varmasti vielä paljon oppitunteja erilaisista tavoista elää arkea ja viettää vapaata. Välillä on erittäin inspiroivaa miettiä miksi jokin toinen tapa on parempi kuin toinen tai voiko näitä kahta kenties yhdistää jollain tavalla? Kaikki tämä kohtuu arkipäiväinenkin pohdiskelu tiivistyy kenties siihen, että olen harjoitellut nyt käyttämään omia kokemuksia keskusteluissa tasapainoisesti ja kysynyt aktiivisesti toisten kulttuureista. Lisäksi yritän arvostaa paikallista kulttuuria soveltamalla tapojani. Milloin kannattaa olla enemmän Suomalainen ja milloin ’’maailman kansalainen’’? Toisaalta onko välillä vaikeaa olla Suomalainen ja väillä hankalaa sopeutua ’’maailman kansalaiseksi’’? Siinä on kyllä hyvää pohdittavaa jos ei nukuta.

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Between the 8th and 18th of February I had the chance spend some spare time in Hong Kong. The Chinese New Year vacation shuts down the Uni. and there are no classes. During this time I spent some time with the people going to mainland China from Uni. of Oulu for their exchange and saw CNY fireworks. We also visited the Philippines with a big group of IASP students but that will be a separate story since every day was like from the movie a serious of unfortunate events (featuring a picture perfect holiday).

VISITORS:

Two students going to Mainland China for exchange visited CUHK and Hong Kong on the way to Chinese adventure. We explored some of Hong Kong and enjoyed a lot of food. One place was a hit during their visit. Café de Coral offers a complete Hot Pot dinner for 59HKD = 5,7e. This chain restaurant is a pretty good solution for a fast snack or for a complete dinner like the hot pot set. During their stay we also visited Happy Valley for the last races before Chinese New Year. What an amount of people and what an amount of money spent during one race! One thing they liked in Hong Kong was the fact that if you buy a screen protector for your phone the shop keeper will attach it to your screen free of charge and he/she does it a thousand times better than for example I would. Sometimes it is also hard for people to find an affordable and good place to stay downtown but a hostel called Cosmic guesthouse in Mirador mansion was priced somewhere around 20e per night per person. The room is small but nice. I recommend it based on the view in this room and the location of the hostel.

http://www.cosmicguesthouse.com

HOT POT

SKYLINE

CHINESE NEW YEAR – Kung Hei Fat Choy! (Happy New Year!)

The first day of the Year of Snake was on the 9^th of February. There is a great amount of festivities going on for the CNY. The two events where I went to were Cathay Pacific’s international chinese new year night parade and the Firework display in Victoria harbor. For the parade we took the MTR and just walked around Tsim Sha Tsui to see some of the parade. There were thousands of people watching the performers and a nice boost to the atmosphere were street party lights and music. 

Firework display - length was 23 minutes!

For the fireworks we had bought tickets to a big boat to see the display. Before the boat we went to a restaurant to have a good New Year’s dinner with a massive group of IASP students. Altogether we filled up a charter bus. This dinner included for example marshmallow bunnies for dessert. The cruise was an alright spot to see the display but since the boats were not allowed to stay in the near water areas (I think they were during the western New Year) the view wasn’t the best in town. Still, the multicultural party group managed to create a very cheerful evening! Great times! Also Gangnam Style couldn’t be avoided (again) since they played it during the display. New national anthem for Asia?

CNY dinner

The display

Fire falling to the ocean

YEAR OF THE SNAKE!