Farewell

March 17^th

The night before left all of us unprepared for the 5 AM wake up call that arrived far sooner than it should have. I stumbled out of bed to pack my suitcase one last time before departing Hong Kong and China, for good. Though I didn’t purchase an awful lot of souvenirs, my stuff far exceeded available space, forcing me to book passage for some of it in a friend’s suitcase. The group convened at 5:30 AM in the lobby of the Salisbury Hotel with sleep lingering on all of our faces. We boarded the bus one final time for a ride to the airport with our gregarious tour guide Andy, who had a knack for being the most enthusiastic during our peak points of exhaustion. As Athul once put it, “does anyone have some ibuprofen or a baseball bat?”

Because Brad and I were going to Thailand, we all parted ways in the airport as the rest of the group was continuing back to the States. After spending 2 weeks with all of these people who I previously barely knew, it was sad to leave knowing that we would return to our normal lives and lose the comradery that comes from traveling with people. Alex was also traveling separately, so the three of us shared a breakfast of Popeye’s in the Hong Kong airport. After several hours of waiting around, it was finally time for us to board our flight to Bangkok. The time in China was wonderful but heavily scheduled and exhausting; I welcomed the chance to get to Thailand and move at my own pace.

Brad and I arrived in Bangkok safely, managed to purchase train tickets, switch over to the metro, and arrive at our hostel (which was tucked away in a winding alleyway off of the main street). Needless to say, I was extremely impressed with us for making it with hardly any complication. The hostel was beautiful, spacious, and our room had air conditioning. The heat in Bangkok was shocking and oppressive after the moderate 60 something degree weather in Southern China. As it is probably well known, I am not a hot weather person and typically suffer miserably when faced with 80+ temperatures. Despite some moderate wining, I fared pretty well in the 100 degree, sunny weather in Bangkok (you know despite constantly being drenched in my own sweat and the swollen hands and feet). 

We were both tired but forced ourselves out of the room to forage for dinner. At Brad’s request we took a tuk tuk to Khao San, the street of choice for backpackers, to find some dinner and be bombarded by salespeople hawking any number of hilarious and useless items. Not knowing what we were doing, we ambiguously picked a restaurant and went for it. Because I am obsessed with Thai curry, I knew immediately what I was going to order. I was nervous that it would be different from what I was used to however it did not disappoint. The first night was a wonderful celebration of incredible, cheap food and the fact the we finally made it to Thailand!

Brad and I enjoying our first meal in Thailand!

The Pad Thai was great BUT the curry was AMAZING!

This is a video of our first tuk tuk ride! The video doesn't really show the weaving in traffic and/or tire squealing! Fun though!!!

Hong Kong II

March 16

The second day in Hong Kong was very relaxed as it was our one and only complete free day!!! Alex and I started it off by sleeping until 10 am, waaaahooo!

All in all it was a lazy day full of wandering around the city, shopping for knock offs at the market, and contemplating having suits made!!! That evening, our last of the trip, we were provided a special treat! Everyone met up at the harbor and boarded a junk boat that we would take around the harbor and to a small island for dinner. At night in Hong Kong there is a laser show on the harbor but the real beauty is just seeing all of the buildings lit up and being completely surrounded by them on the water! Doing this was one of my favorite parts of the trip! We were all together eating, drinking, and being merry! I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to travel with or a better itinerary!

 Alex and Natalie (with bubble coffee, yum!)

 Alex, Athul, and I

 Natalie and I during our life jacket photo shoot

Alex and I

Proof That I Ate a Scorpion

I stole these photos from someone! Funny though, right?

Beijing in Photos

The Bird's Nest from the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Street food that the boys were daring enough to eat (Silk worms, chicken hearts, snakes, etc.)

Daily Struggles

Since arriving back from my trip I have been completely swamped.

(literally 12 hour days, endless meetings, and hours behind at work)

Because of all of this I have been super slack about finishing the rest of my travel posts and editing photos however, today is the day! I have done a ton of editing and hope to complete the rest of my China posts (Thailand may have to wait a little bit longer).

I am going to upload photos and insert them into the matching posts; this means that if you are interested in seeing them you should check out old posts. Also, as my camera tends to be obtrusive at times and general intimidates others, many pictures were not taken by me!

Thanks!

Hong Kong

March 15th

I woke up around 6 am to leave Dongguan and catch the bus to Hong Kong. After hearing such wonderful things about Hong Kong I was very excited to experience it first-hand. We drove across the border from China to Hong Kong and boy was it an experience. Even though Hong Kong is a part of China there are stringent restrictions on who can go in and out of the area because of the large number of mainland Chinese wanting to go to Hong Kong, as well as the economic inequality. Arriving at the Chinese border we unloaded all of our stuff, filled out customs forms, and got in line. After making it through the passport check and baggage scan we boarded another bus and continued on to the Hong Kong side. Once in Hong Kong, we repeated the earlier process with a much longer line and less personal space. In order to keep the group together and to hold our ground, we all strategically spread out to keep the Chinese behind us. They don’t believe in queuing up and cutting in line is standard practice. This is totally opposite of Western ideas and can be a little disconcerting if one isn’t prepared.

An hour and a half later we were in Hong Kong at a wonderful dim sum lunch. It was definitely one of my favorite meals of the trip with an array of dumplings, buns, and greens! Following lunch we attended a lecture at the City College of Hong Kong. It was given by an expat who moved to Hong Kong and has been teaching at the university for 15 years now. We had an interesting discussion about China’s past, present, and future as well as, relations with Hong Kong and Macau. As if the day weren’t packed enough, we also visited Victoria’s Peak to see the best view of the city. It was incredible to see all of the city, the harbor, and the mountains at one time. Hong Kong is a very dense and urbanized city however it is surrounded by a lot of national forests and green mountains.

From the beginning, I was interested in visiting Macau, the world’s gambling capital and former Portuguese island. Even though the day had been long, taking the ferry to Macau was an obvious choice for me.  I have never been to Las Vegas, a casino, nor gambled so I had no idea what to expect from this experience. I imagine Vegas looks really similar, a lot of lights, huge buildings, and prominent casinos. In a rush we scarfed down some McDonald's (don't judge) and ran to catch the ferry (literally, a mad dash). While casinos are hardly as glamorous as I hoped and I am way to risk averse to be a real gambler, I did have an awesome time and even won some money playing craps! 

Our first time gambling!

However, arriving back at the hotel at 4:30 am was not fun!

Dongguan, Day 2

Our trip to Dongguan was primarily to visit with Bernhardt Furniture, a company with strong ties to ASU and with operations in China. The Bernhardt office is located in the Sofitel resort, ultimately making it feasible for us to stay there, as well as very convenient to meet with them.  After a wonderful, relaxing night with the MBAs poolside, we woke up and enjoyed the most extensive breakfast spread ever. Calling it a buffet would not do this breakfast justice because there was fresh juice, homemade yogurt, and an array of my favorite cheeses accompanied by fresh bread. Great start!

We met up with our host, Steve, and boarded the bus to go visit the factory where Bernhardt furniture is manufactured. Lacquer Works is a Taiwanese company that operates in Dongguan and is rented by Bernhardt to do its manufacturing. They also produce other notable North Carolina brands. I never previously considered manufacturing interesting, however visiting the plant was a very cool experience. I definitely have a new interest in and appreciation for the manufacturing process. Maybe that’s in my future?

After the tour, we had a spicy lunch provided by Bernhardt, which was delicious and interesting as usual. As someone considering working abroad, it was nice having the opportunity to talk with professionals about their experiences landing a job and working internationally.

We also had our first free night, which was awesome as there had hardly been a moment to spare up until this point. Chinese food is delicious and unique, however after a week of solid Chinese food everyone agreed that a change was in order. While it was hardly the BEST choice, we ended up at some sort of Tex-Mex restaurant with overpriced, mediocre food (but it was totally perfect). It turns out that the place is owned by a guy from High Point, NC, small world huh? We had hoped that this connection would have landed us some free drinks, but alas Mr. High Point was not overly nostalgic about his old stomping grounds. To try and experience a little bit of Dongguan we went out to a club where there was a super cool chick DJ and we were the only non- Chinese. It seemed like a totally great place but Alex and I were pooped so we called it an early night and I enjoyed a wonderful night sleep back at the hotel. 

Despite these safety precautions, we used no safety equipment nor did any of the workers

I know we are all used to seeing this in the States, however I did see a lot of 'made in the USA' in China

Alex and I at a pretty site in Dongguan