Travels after Exchange Semester 2014 pt. 3

The 21^st of January 2015 at 13:10, Denmark

By: Christian Ljungbeck

(Reading time: 5-8 minutes)

Hong Kong

3rd: I had found an awesome guide for Hong Kong by a guy who has traveled pretty much anywhere in the world and found all the underground places to see and eat. So I decided to follow his guide. His guides can be found at www.nomadicmatt.com. He recommended me staying at Chungking Mansion, which supposedly was the cheapest place to stay in Hong Kong and great for young backpackers. I checked in at one of the many guesthouses in the building, Canadian Hostel. Interestingly it was run by several Indian guys. I had forgotten my shoes in Thailand, and apparently Hong Kong was a bit more north than I had expected, and thus it was also colder. So I only had my flip flops. Still it was somewhere between 15 and 22 degrees, but I think I was the only one wearing only flip flop, jeans, and a sweater. So I needed some shoes. I went to a local market called Ladies Market. It is a bargaining market, so I didn’t want to buy anything the first day until I knew more about the price level in Hong Kong.

4^th:  I began my day with a trip to Ngong Ping 360, which is a cable car that takes you to the top of a mountain with amazing nature and a beautiful view over the landscape. On the top you also find Po Lin Monastery, a monastery for monks, and Tian Tan, a huge Buddha statue. It was an awesome trip and highly recommendable.

At night I browsed more markets: Chun Yeung Street Market (food market), Temple Street Night Market, and Ladies Market to look for more clothing, shoes, and other stuff.

5^th: I began the day with a trip to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, and what an amazing but long walk. A you walk and climb the many stairs you are surrounded by thousands of buddhas on both sides. When you finally make it to the top there are several small temples and building and statues with other Buddha structures. One of the temples must have had 10.000 buddhas inside (perhaps that’s the reason for the name of the temple).

Afterwards I went to Hong Kong Heritage Museum (where 1/3 of the top floor was dedicated to Bruce Lee), Che Kung Temple, Hong Kong Museum of History, took a stroll through Kowloon Park before making it to Mr. Wong, a restaurant Nomadic Matt had recommended n his guide. Mr. Wong himself greeted me and guessed I was from Denmark before I even opened my mouth. It was an all-you-can-eat-and-drink restaurant for 60 HKD (50 DKK). He sat down at my table asking me what I wanted. I didn’t quite know how it worked here at the restaurant, so he asked: ‘You like broccoli? And fish?” and some other things. I thought he would prepare it all in one dish, but no. He came in with a big plate with 15-20 spring rolls, dumplings and things like that, a full plate with fried rice, a full plate with broccoli topped with cashew nuts, and a full plate with sweet and sour fish with onions and a few other vegetables. Wow, that was a lot! So I sat there alone with 4 full plates in front of me. Honestly each of the plates was the size of a normal meal, so it was quite a challenge to finish it all. But needless to say I succeeded although I had to open the button on my pants halfway through!

After Mr. Wong I went to see a Symphony of Lights, a light show they put on every day at 8 pm between two of the islands in Hong Kong. After that I took the Star Ferry across the water to Hong Kong Island and had a magnificent view of the Hong Kong skyline. I walked around in the financial district on Hong Kong Island and looked at the huge buildings. It was amazing to see and it reminded me a lot more of New York than China. Upon returning I took a stroll through the Avenue of Star, Hong Kong’s Hollywood Boulevard.

6^th: Before I made it to Mr. Wong yesterday I had passed a shoe store and actually bought a pair of nice dress shoes as I couldn’t board the plane night wearing only flip flops and arrive in Prague with freezing temperatures. So I put on my new shoes and threw out my flip flops before checking out of my accommodation.

I began the day with breakfast/lunch at a Chinese Michelin restaurant where I had the most amazing dim sum I have ever had. Especially the baked buns with BBQ pork inside were delicious! Afterwards I took a ride in the Peak Tram, an old train, which took me up an incredibly steep angle to the top of a mountain on Hong Kong Island with a stunning view over Hong Kong and its beautiful skyline, which in fact was voted even better than the skyline of New York.

After enjoying the view I continued walking up the mountain to Victoria Peak Garden. My new shoes weren’t made for walking and already now my right shoe started hurting a little bit. Before riding the Peak Tram down the mountain again I noticed a restaurant I remembered Matt had written about called Mak’s Noodles. It was a former Michelin restaurant and although I wasn’t the slightest hungry I figured I  wouldn’t turn down my last chance to have a Michelin meal in Hong Kong, so I had my second Michelin restaurant visit that day. Afterwards I went to Honk Kong Park, took a stroll through Jardin’s Bazaar Street to look at the street food and some markets, and continued to Victoria Park. By now my shoes really started hurting. It was nice dress shoes and they were quite hard and stiff. Not only did the right shoe squeeze my right little toe, but because they were so hard, my feet were all sore from all the walking. Every step I took hurt more and more and I found myself walking around with fisted hands to convert the pain in my feet. Every step felt like an eternity. At one point I was about to just screw it all and go to the airport 5 hours before my flight so I could get my shoes off. But on the other hand I would regret it later if I didn’t see the last few things on my list. So I continued with hurting feet and fisted hands. I wanted to go to Kowloon West Promenade and take a short tour there. It was difficult to enjoy as most of my focus was on my feet. It turned out this walk was quite a bit longer than I had expected and when I was back I hurried down in the subway and rested my feet for 2 stops. I then suffered all the way to Mr. Wong again. I wanted to have another great meal here. And sure enough this time was no different! He came in with a soup, spring rolls and other baked things, broccoli, noodles with pork, and a plate with chicken and vegetables. Puh! This time was much harder than yesterday, and I had to take a pause in the middle, but I finished it once again except for some of the spring rolls.

I then passed through the Ladies market and purchased a briefcase, which later turned out to be 1-1½ cm too small for my laptop. Damn! I then picked up my backpack and went to the airport to catch my 11 pm flight! And oh boy, what a relief it was to get off my shoes while waiting at the gate, not to mention the 11½-hour-flight to Istanbul before continuing to Prague.

I had a layover in Istanbul, and it was freezing. When taking the bus to the plane I looked around and I think I must have been the only person not wearing a jacket and most other people were even wearing gloves and hats. Needless to say, I was freezing a lot.

Prague

(continued on the 5^th of February 2015 at 11:45, Denmark)

7^th: The reason for my trip to Prague was to visit Iben, my girlfriend, whom I hadn’t seen since July. After arriving in Prague I took a bus to her work and met her, and then she followed me back home to her place during her lunch break. I then had some time to relax before she would return again after work, where we would be going out for dinner at a local restaurant.

8th: While Iben was at work the whole day I slept a little longer, did some laundry, and went shopping. Then when she returned later in the evening we took a tram to the city and saw the powder tower on our way to a local restaurant I had found and wanted to try. Afterwards we walked through the city to the Old Town Square and passed the famous astronomical clock and the Church of Our Lady before Týn.

9^th: Iben took a day off and so we went for brunch at a nice restaurant she had previously visited. We then headed towards the National Gallery where they had an exhibition of Alfons Mucha‘s 20 huge wall paintings inspired by the Slavic mythology and the history of the Czech nation. Afterward we headed back towards the city and had dinner at a restaurant.

10^th: We began the big sightseeing day with a visit to the John Lennon wall followed by an early lunch. We then continued to Prague Castle and Cathedral and walked around the beautiful parks and admired the sights. We then later crossed the Charles Bridge and took a photo in front of the statue of Charles before walking through the city center once again.

In the evening two of Iben’s friends from her Czech language class were celebrating their birthdays and they had invited me as well. So we were a total of 7 people who met at a Mexican restaurant and had an awesome dinner with drinks before continuing to a bar for another drink. It was super fun and great to meet her friends as well.

11^th: On my last day in Prague Iben and I went to Vysehrad, which featured an old cathedral and a cemetery located on top of a big hill as an old fortress. It was super beautiful with an amazing view over the city and the river. Iben and two of her friends have a weekly bouldering day. I wanted to try it, so we met up with Anders and Marcela In the afternoon for two hours of indoor bouldering. It was super fun and quite exhausting for the hands and arms. We ended the session with a beer and then Iben and I continued to a traditional Czech restaurant for our final dinner before I would be flying back the following morning.

12^th: Iben and I had to leave the apartment at the same time, and so when she had to get off the subway we had ourbig goodbye, and then I continued to the airport.

Copenhagen

12^th: Upon arriving in Copenhagen my mom was there to pick me up. It was great seeing her again, and now my very long trip had come to an end.

I left Denmark on the 2^nd of July 2014 and returned again on the 12^th of January 2015 – a total of 6 months and 10 days. During this period I boarded a total of 21 flights or a plane every 9 days and visited 6 different countries (some of them two times). An amazing trip had ended and now I could look forward to my next one.