(35) Lamma Island

The graffiti says “Welcome to Lamma, please keep clean.”

Lamma Island is the third largest island in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island) and can be reached by a ferry departing from Central MTR Station. You’ll see in the picture below: one power plant provides cooling (almost all places in HK do not have heating) and electricity to this fishing community turned tourist trap.

There are two possible ferry destinations from Central: Yong Shue Wan in the north of Lamma, and Sok Kwo Wan in the middle-south. We got off at Yong Shue Wan and proceeded down the Main Street (the only marked street) to the southern part of the island. The beaches in the northern part were busier here compared to those in Sai Kung because no long hikes were needed to reach them. Yong Shue Wan itself is the biggest village on the island with many small shops and western-style restaurants for foreigners.

Sok Kwo Wan serves as a refueling stop for travelers wishing to hike the southern part of Lamma (mostly wetlands and hills). Continuing from there, I realized why people were moving into the city from these outlying areas - man seemed to be losing a battle with nature here, vegetation grew all over houses and there was no solid land to build on. On one instance, there was a lone old man sitting with his dog in an (almost) abandoned village; he muttered something unintelligible to us (it didn’t sound like Cantonese either) and pointed in a direction with his finger. It seemed like he’d seen many travelers, but knew he wasn’t going anywhere itself, it was a somewhat haunting moment that I still remember.

To end this post, here’s a video I took of a cool little water wheel machine - you can hear elderly women speaking Cantonese in the background too.

Album Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasonylu89/LammaIsland?feat=directlink

Next Episode: "Shenzhen Revisited”

(34) Victoria Harbour

The best place and time in Hong Kong to take a walk - whether a pensive one alone or a romantic one with someone special - is at Victoria Harbour around 8PM.

Every night, the Tsim Sha Tsui (Kowloon) and Central (HK Island) areas light up opposing sides of the Strait of Hong Kong. At 8PM on weeknights, lasers emanate from different buildings on either side to give a light show to passers-by. On big holidays such as Chinese New Year, the lasers are replaced by a fireworks display. Professional photographers set up shop here at night, taking high quality wallet-size photos for 10 HKD (~$1.30) each.

On that particular night, I took a boat ride across the Strait after the light show. Then I took an electric streetcar that runs from the east to the west end of Hong Kong Island - through the most developed areas, of course. Congee is a popular food in Hong Kong no matter then time, so I went for a midnight snack in Kennedy Town on the east end of the streetcar line - A large bowl of congee and fried turnip cake totaling 40 HKD (~ 5.20) for two people.

Album Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasonylu89/VictoriaHarbour?feat=directlink

Next Episode: "Lamma Island"

(33) Plastics Engineering

My semester finished up today, so I'll spend one post talking about a cool class I took: MEEM3006 - Plastics Engineering.

The course focused on plastics and composites and the differences (in mechanical properties) between them and metals. I won't bore you with any math, but this stuff really applies to my life - specifically my major and my favorite sport. The Boeing 787 below is the first commercial aircraft to be built with composite materials. The prof also touched on types of composites found in tennis rackets: kevlar is light and flexible, boron is the heaviest, and carbon makes the stiffest rackets.


Getting to know my classmates was an experience in itself. Both lecture and lab are at night because they come to class after working a full day (8-6 in Hong Kong) at computer companies and engineering firms. One classmate is 29 and has a daughter!! I'm the only full-time student and exchange student; and the youngest by at least 4 years compared to anyone in the class. I got to know Daniel, one of my lab partners, really well. We would always talk about the working life vs. the school life outside of class. I got a glimpse of where I might be in 5 years, it's a funny feeling haha.

Also, here's a short album with pictures from the Plastics Lab at City-U (upload in progress...)

Album Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasonylu89/PlasticsEngineering?feat=directlink

Next Episode: "Victoria Harbour"

(32) Eight Sages Range

Pat Sin Leng - English translation "Eight Sages Range" - near Tai Po Market MTR Station. If you look closely, there appears to be nine peaks...

May Day - May 1st - is a family-oriented holiday where adults barbecue and children play around in the parks. The Tai Po area offers a nice retreat for many Hong Kongers. Many families and young people took a short hike up Pat Sin Leng to Bride's Pool, a quiet stream and pond with playgrounds, barbecue areas, and picnic tables.

This is the 6th [ Lion Rock, Lantau South (just slightly), Lung Fu Shan, Pok Fu Lam, Sai Kung West, and Pat Sin Leng ] and maybe last Hong Kong Country Park that I have time to visit this semester. There are 24 Country Parks in Hong Kong in all; this website gives detailed info - attractions, scenery, landmarks, available public transportation etc. - on each park.

http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/country/cou_vis/cou_vis_cou/cou_vis_cou.html

I strongly recommend checking out the Country Parks if you're ever in Hong Kong; but I think my pictures are doing a good job convincing you :)

You might also notice the albums for Episodes 31 and 32 are very short. I've passed the 500-photo mark on my Picasa page (521 to be exact). This actually the number of photos after I trimmed down every album. Space is running out on that webpage at the moment, I'll need to find a way to get more.

Album Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasonylu89/EightSagesRange?feat=directlink

Next Episode: "Plastics Engineering"

(31) Win, Place, Show

Yup, Horses!

Horse racing is a favored spectacle for Hong Kong residents (especially the old people hehe...) and foreigners alike. The MTR (HK metro) East Rail Line takes a special branch route to Penfold Park Horsetrack on racing days, I think I happened to catch the first racing day of the year - I do think horse racing starts in late spring generally.

Another one of Hong Kong's landmarks, and I had never been to a horsetrack before. I saw gambling "tickets" for soccer matches, basketball and baseball games, as well as the horses themselves - I took a ticket as my souvenir. Horse racing in Hong Kong is sponsored by the Jockey Club; and surprisingly, the Jockey Club itself is non-profit and donates a large amount of earnings to charity.

Album Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasonylu89/WinPlaceShow?feat=directlink

Next Episode: "Eight Sages Range"

(30) "Days at JCAC"

The semester's end is approaching, and I was surprised to find this slipped under my door one day.

"Days at JCAC" is the yearbook for my hall: Jockey Club Academy. During the year, our "reporters" collected stories from residents, RA's, sports teams and players, exchange students etc. "Days at JCAC" is then edited by fellow residents and proofread by Melody, an American exchange student, in English.

There were some Hall Activities I missed from the fall semester, including:

- Aquatic Meet in September
- Athletic (we'd call it "track") Meet in October
- English Corner and Putonghua (Mandarin) Salon, where native Hong Kong students practice their language skills with mainland Chinese students and/or English speakers.
- German cultural night; Rebecca, one of the RA's, is a full-time student from Germany.

This semester, some Hall Activities were:

- High Table Dinner, which is a formal dinner party reserved for students of each hall.
- Hiking trip to Tung Chung, in March (I hiked here in late January)
- Sports Competitions; we won soccer, got 3rd place in boy's and girl's basketball
- Cooking and Singing Competitions (JCAC won the singing, sweet)

I even made an appearance on page 21 (lower right), in an article about the Basketball Competition.


Next Episode: "Win, Place, Show"