Since starting university, Sundays have always been a day of relaxation, recovery, and guilt about how academically unprepared I actually am for the upcoming week. However, my schedule and semester have been good to me here in Hong Kong, and so this Sunday was wonderfully jam-packed!
Sunday morning started with an MTR ride down to Central where I'd be meeting up with Sharie for a spin class before lunch at the Hong Kong Country Club. I'd never taken a spin class before, but I was super excited to try it out and knew that Sharie would never steer me wrong. We went to this spin studio called XYZ which was the COOLEST workout studio I've ever seen! The whole place smelled like a Lush store instead of people and sweat, and the room itself looked like a club in LKF or something because of all the blacklights.
I set myself up on a bike and our instructor Bridge came in. He put on the best workout playlist I've ever heard - it was a bunch of house-remixed pop songs and he even had us singing along while on the bikes! My personal favourite was when he started the cool-down with Semisonic's Closing Time. Bridge, you GET ME.
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| Sharie and I before class, when we weren't yet gross and sweaty. |
After class Sharie and I took a quick cab ride to the Hong Kong Country Club. As soon as we walked through the gates I felt like I was instantly back in Manila. Everything was so clean, which was more than a couple steps up from our well-loved and well-worn CUHK campus :P There I got to meet a bunch of her lovely friends and her awesome family! Everybody was so welcoming and they instantly made me feel comfortable and at home, something for which I cannot be more grateful.
Lunch was a serious spread and was arguably one of the best lunches I've had since arriving. There were noodles, veggies, lettuce wraps, sweet & sour pork (chicken?), chicken tikka, rice, and even french fries! Everything was so delicious, and lunch was had at a very leisurely pace so we didn't even get to dessert until almost 3 o'clock.
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| I was too hungry and tempted by the colours and yummy smells to take a good picture - spin class will do that to a girl. |
The women I got to meet are hilarious and a half, and I definitely lost count of the number of times our big long table erupted in laughter. They were open and happy to share their lives and families with me, but still made the conscious effort to ask me about myself and were genuinely interested in what I had to say. I really admire that trait in a person, and being seated at a table of them made for a spectacular afternoon. Thank you thank you thank you thank you SO MUCH!!!
After lunch I headed back into town to meet up with the boys and head to Macau. I found out last week that my student visa wasn't stamped upon my initial arrival to Hong Kong, which needed to be done so I can legally study at CUHK. Yikes! The best way to remedy this situation is then to head to Macau and return to Hong Kong, as you need a passport to enter both. Thanks to Nathan and Chris, I had buddies to join me so we brought our cameras and decided to make an evening of wandering around and seeing some sights.
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| Here's a helpful way to understand where Macau is in relation to Hong Kong, and the approximate route that the TurboJet ferry took. |
The ride there was accompanied by a trio of crying babies and a seriously loud snorer, but it was the perfect opportunity for a power nap before getting to Macau. While there we mostly just took pictures of the sights - here are some of my favourites.
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| Bottom of the TurboJet - cool!! |
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| The hotels and casinos here were beautifully illuminated all night long. |
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| We passed by a bunch of seafood restaurants with live fish - I loved the colours in these shrimp's tails. |
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| In between all of the tall, extravagant buildings we found this cool little park/walkway. The trees look like they've been here for a loooong time and were so awesome to walk along. |
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| The extravagant ceiling at an entrance to the Wynn hotel and casino - each wedge is a portion of the Chinese Zodiac. The BEST part though was that the ceiling opened like a camera aperture to reveal another ceiling of LED lights, that opened AGAIN to reveal a gigantic crystal chandelier that dropped down from above. |
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| This is the ceiling of the lobby of the Grand Lisboa hotel. I have a thing for beautiful ceilings, and this one has definitely been added to my list of favourites. |
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| In the same way that Hong Kong used to be a British colony, Macau used to be part of the Portuguese colonies. The impact of this history is still super evident around the city which offers an awesome blend of both Chinese and European architectural influences. Often we'd be walking down a street completely indiscernible from one in downtown Hong Kong only to turn the corner and see a building like this one. It was awesome! |
Once again, this was an awesome day doing awesome stuff with awesome people :)
Today's Little Thing, Happy Thing: Realizing your "6 degrees of separation" with a complete stranger. When you're Filipino you're more likely to only get to maybe 3 degrees max, but it's always still hilarious to see how interconnected the world can be!
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Take Audrey (left) for example: We both met through Sharie, but she's also friends with my Tita Ven, who's married to one of my dad's best friends from high school, who also happens to be my godfather. Also, Tita Ven and her brother lived down the street from my mom and her sisters when they were growing up, and we're all still in contact.
Confused yet? Mind blown? Welcome to the life of a Filipina.
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