If I ever go back to HK...or should I say when

Today I was in Grand Asia Market trying to get my Asia fix, but it just didn't do. I mean the cup of hot milk tea I craved tasted delicious and the breads were just as pretty as the ones on the shelves at the bakeries of HK...but for some reason it did not feel quite as wonderful. Without the busy streets, city lights, the hustle and fuss for no apparent reason besides that everyone is trying to get somewhere, the satisfaction of taking that first bite into a $.50 egg tart someone felt the need to make as their only source of income, it was not there. I never really understood the whole fuss over city life. But then I come back to lil 'ol Chapel Hill, NC and realize I can't find a cafe to study at that's open past 11pm and I'm immediately daydreaming walking the sleepless streets of Hong Kong where nothing opens til noon but nothing closes until the last customer is dragged home.

Needless to say, I wish I could go back because I value my HK experience now more than I ever did when I was there. And the first thing I would do when I hopped of the plane would be to head straight to...

Food Places!!
-Honeymoon Desserts: order anything with the words mango or sago and you will not regret it. Mango pancakes...o...m...g
-Tim Ho Wan: cheap cheap cheap Michelin starred dimsum
-Mongkok-Taiwanese ice cream, missed this, but heard I missed out
-Tai Po for cheap bakery foods, Tong Kee Bao Dim
-Dai Pai Dong: local local local. You haven't been to HK if you haven't experienced Dai Pai Dong. So down and dirty, but so worth it. The congee, the fried tofu, fried squid, octopus mouth-haha not really, i think but that's the name
-Chungkee Mansion: let some sketchy Indian guys guide you to the back alleys of Chungkee and you will end up finding some great legit Indian food. Haggle if you dare...
-SOHO-great deals different nights of the week, always a great atmosphere full of expats
-EGG tarts!! Hawaiin Bakery? one in LKF
-Australia Dairy Co: best dun dan=chinese egg dessert. I have an unhealthy obsession with eggy desserts
-Yata/City Super for late night sales on sushi
-Sushi One-half price sushi after 10
-Crepes at LKF
-Rice Pizzas in Shatin
-Tsui Wah-the HK McDonalds, aka just as unhealthy but sinfully good and cheap. get all your basics-delivered!
-McDonalds in HK-for the pure attempt of their imitation of America
-KFC-like a million times better than America, no joke, no exaggerations, and dirt cheap.
-Popeye's at the HK airport-just a staple. My one chance to get my western food fix, it always settled me before a good trip.
-MILK TEA-anywhere and everywhere
-Curry Fish Balls
-Little Waffle Egg Cakes

If you ever go to Copenhagen, don't forget to...

Often times you travel to or live in a place, and it's not until you leave that you realize how amazing it was and how many things you didn't do. So here's a list of things that make CPH amazing, affordable, things I wish I did more, and some things I wish I did but never got to...I will be sure to add lists for other countries I visited as well, look out for them :)

COPENHAGEN!!

Food
-Fransk Hotdogs at any Pølser stand, I like the one at Kongens Nytorv, 25 dkk
-Schwarma- the only food you can afford, great late night option, 20-40dkk
- Taco Shop- if you miss Tex-Mex, opened by an American, the meal, 75 dkk, but will fill you up, guaranteed, don’t care who you are.
Nyelandsvej 65, 2000 Frederiksberg, Danmark‎ - 3819 9292‎
-any bakery on Store Kongensgade-cheap deals
-Café Mocador- great lunch place, not too expensive for Denmark standards but good food
-pizza places off Borgergade-deals from 2-4pm i think...
-MJ Coffee-good place to people watch
-Porno Pizza for affordable pizzas, huge sandwiches, late night…
-ice cream shop in Frederiksberg Center, 2nd floor, 15/20 dkk
-bagels from CBS, the order by the kg food at CBS-the cheapest meals you will ever eat in DK
-$5 Burger special if you miss America, can’t remember the name of the restaurant, near Strøget
-Ida Davidson-I hate smørrebrod as much as the next non-Dane, but I have to admit they were pretty amazing here...a michelin rated restaurant, it was a bit of a splurge, 100 dkk for one smørrebrod, but I think it was worth it for some truly Danish food.
on Store Kongensgade


Shopping
-Søstrene Grene- cheap random stuff, for decorations, houseware stuff, things you don’t need but think are cute, just go look around, I never left without buying something.
in Frederiksberg Center by CBS, or on Strøget aka Shopping St
-10 Kroner Store, like a dollar store, by CBS
-IKEA-decently priced food, cheap household items, fun place to play…
-Ginatricot, Vero Moda are actually affordable local brands for clothing

Groceries
-Super Brugsen-usually more expensive but they have weekly specials, I think their quality was better, nicer atmosphere to shop at. Good alcohol deals…
-Aldi-dirt cheap food, obscure brands. Danske Pilsner will be your cheapest/shittiest beer
-Føtex-convenient, near CBS, good for random necessities
-Netto-convenient, open more hours usually, pretty cheap
-Magasin-for “American” peanut butter, meaning not organic. And a lot of imports for those who can’t live without them, or if you are looking for a certain item

Bars
-Wall Street- convenient location, cheap pool, 20dkk beers, lots of IB students go
-Café Retro- nonprofit café, good atmosphere for a chill night of hanging out
-Happy Pig-10dkk shots
-Dakota(not sure the real name)-haha, our go to place b/c it was 18 and up, so the HK kids could get in, there is a cover charge though, but can negotiate with them if you have a big enough group
-Fidels- a little classier, really good cocktails and great bartender, about 65dkk + for a cocktail
9 Dronningens Tvaergade
-Nexus at CBS, go for happy hour, bogo beers
-Sam’s Bar- karaoke
-Ice Bar- expensive, but should try it once, unique experience
-LA Bar, Vega, Scala


Things to Do
-Tivoli- buy a season pass and it gets you into all the concerts, a pretty good deal. Also go for Halloween and Christmas.
-Picnic in Frederiksberg Have- everyone does it, makes you feel like a local :)
-Carlsberg Tour- get 2 free beers
-Nyhavn by night
-Go up the Round Tower for sunset
-Beach-not the best beach in the world, water is cold, but there are jellyfish in the water that don't sting.
-Ice skating at the outdoor rinks during Christmas-bundle up!
-bike ride through the city

Tips for CPH:
-essential clothing items: black leather boots, black scarf, scarves in general, skinny jeans, heavy winter jacket, flats or some sort of non tennis shoe
-we did a lot of dinner parties just to have something to do as a group and its too expensive to eat out
-anticipate depression for the sunless winter days
-bring an umbrella
-don't cross the street when the walking man is not green...
-always carry a bag for groceries
-travel a ton, but make sure you get some time in CPH too, don't let it be a foreign place to you when you leave 4 months later
-just wander around the city, especially during the sunny days, CPH is one of the safest places you will ever go, take advantage of that.

All I can think of for now...feel free to ask questions if you want to know more specifics, I'll add to the list as things return to my memory. Enjoy Copenhagen, it's a beautiful place.

Balance is Key

(Well after 15 minutes of struggling to figure the button to start a new blog post I've come to the conclusion that a.) I fail at blogging and b.) my Chinese skills are still subpar after spending 5 months in Asia.)

After a week full of frustrations, stress, and complete and utter boredom, I've come to the conclusion that I'm deathly homesick/friendsick, in desperate need of some sort of stability to balance my life.

Home, what do I miss most? The simple things. Walking into a grocery store and picking up exactly what I want exactly where it always has been. Driving, it's not the laziness, though the mountain side hike to class does get a bit exhausting. No, it's really the freedom and control of time and place that I love. In my car I can go anywhere, anytime. And just being able to have a "home" where I have all my stuff, where my things are not temporary. Where I feel like I have a right to be, not stuck in the middle where I'm the mistaken illiterate local.

And friends, I have 44 during this year and a half, in theory. In practice, I have myself. In these months abroad I've learned so much about being independent, and being able to do things by myself, for myself. But I've also learned there's only so much I want to do alone. And there's only so much selfishness I can take before I realize that making other people in my life happy are just as important as doing things for myself. They will never be mutually exclusive. I miss the friends at home who I am perfectly happy spending endless hours with doing and talking about absolutely nothing. There's something special about people choosing to be in your life.

Hong Kong is terrible/great/different/shocking/amazing/polluted/crowded/familiar. How can I sum this place up to say I love it or I hate it? There is no one answer, and my opinion of HK changes with the hour. Because one hour I'm out on the balcony of the IFC 2 tower where Batman was filmed, overlooking the bright lights on the harbor, chilling with my CUHK friends. And after an hour cab ride, I'm back, at I-House, debating whether or not to feed the A/C 1HKD for an hour of coldness or suffer through the heat and humidity. Or when I go get Indian at the Chungking Mansion where I'm taken through a backalley, passed off to 3 different guys leading me to my dinner, which was...delicious. To the 2.5 HKD buns at Tai Po, to the bubble tea and egg tarts galore, to the mediocre canteen meals. So let's just say HK and I have a love hate relationship, much like the rest of the relationships in my life.

And I know I complain now, but one day soon I'm going to miss the excitement of having a life that changes any given hour because here you can be wherever you want to be as whoever you want to be. It's just being a random person in this random place for so long, I have a good grasp of who I do want to be. And I guess I'm just ready to be that person, but it's harder to do a million miles away from home.

Home of Bubble Tea- Taiwan

So time is coming to an end in HK, and it seems I haven't done much, but I have! My Asia travels have taken me to very different places: Taiwan, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guilin... and Singapore? (Btw, I'm going to be in Singapore for the summer!) Took awhile, but better late than never, my asia travel experiences...

Taiwan-I expected it to be like China, except, I have no idea of what China was like...
Taiwan was my travel first stop in Asia. Spent a week there over CNY break. Traveled mainly with Vma-future roomie and Sora-my unofficial Copenhagen roommate. We lived in Vma's family's apartment, which was an amazing escape from Ihouse, real beds, fresh fruit, cleanliness! Oh the joys of life. But really, her family was amazing during the entire trip, we would have breakfast set up for us every morning and her Uncle took us out to some great places for dinner at night. We pretty much just explored the city at our own pace.

We saw Taipei 101-the tallest building in the world until this past January, when the Burj Khalifa took over that title. It was very different seeing that building there because there were few tall buildings around it. As opposed to in Hong Kong, the tall buildings are everywhere, and the tallest building is not that tall in comparison to everything around it. Taiwan also had some good shopping, street stores, where you don't know the brands, but the stuff it way cheap, and then they also had huge shopping malls. We spent a day exploring Wulai, a small town nearby famous for hotsprings and the aboriginal culture. Got to see waterfalls and explore Taiwanese street food.





Taiwan was an overall great trip, relaxing, got to see a lot of sights. It was a week of culture, food, shopping, and feeling like family. And I blame this trip for my food addiction. I also came to the conclusion, it is not like China at all...but then again, China cannot easily be summed up.

SOHO-HK

Back from a night of Soho dinner and amazing Hong Kong views. Dinner at Tivo, a quaint little restaurant/bar with dim lighting, comfy seats, a sophisticated atmosphere and great food. After a nice dinner, we head to the top of the LKF Hotel, here sits Azure, one of the top ten recommended rooftop bars you must see. For a night that started out rainy and cold, we had the best luck getting a breathtaking view. The bar was great-classy and chill (minus the randos-like the middle aged couple very openly making out and groping...). Soho is definitely the place for good food and nice atmosphere.

Last weekend I spent my Sunday with Marie(who's pics i'm stealing for this post b/c her camera is way more awesome than mine) in SOHO getting our hair done. Started off with breakfast at Tai Cheong- the home of the the infamous pie crust egg tart. Though it was a good egg tart I can't see it being the best in HK as the reviews say. I would give it a solid 7, assuming 1 is still acceptable. Wandering around and needing a drink, went for a small random shop that sold pantyhose milk tea. It was really good milk tea, so I did a double take of the shop name and realized it was Lan Fong Yuen, one of the top 3 places for milk tea on my HK To Do list. Check!


After my hair was all done, waiting for Marie, I did some exploring around Central and realized about half of my must go to restaurants are located in Central. That area has the perfect mix of city chic-uptown style, low key cozy corners, and classic Hong Kong food stores and markets. If only I had lived here!! Our lunch choice was a the Brunch Club, had to hike up those LKF stairs, but it was well worth it. A tiny restaurant with couches and a magazine wall had an impressive variety on its menu and oh so tempting dessert menu. I had the mushroom risotto with chicken- delicious. The place was a great lunch spot for hanging out with a few friends.

Looking forward to more Soho adventures in my last month!

...FINALLY starting to appreciate HK

I realize I've been on a two and a half month haitus, time to get out of the slump...
(if you don't want to read my whine fest, skip to the photos, you won't be disappointed!)

When I first landed in Denmark, yes I was exhausted from an 8 hour flight, but I expected to arrive in a dark gloomy foreign place where I knew nobody, completely friendless. Instead, I arrived to a beautiful sunny day, made a few friends also studying at CBS on my flight, and got the most welcoming greetings from all the Globers on our first meeting. I was ecstatic! And I rode that adrenaline rush of excitement and marveled in this new place that exceeded all expectations for the rest of my time in Copenhagen. My down days were balanced out with the up days when I got to travel Europe, host dinners, and explore the city. Hong Kong has been a slightly different story...

I realize now I got off on the wrong foot here. Arriving late, I missed Globe family time where everyone else got introduced to the amazing and exciting Hong Kong. Me, well I arrived around 10pm and settled in around midnight after a slightly longer flight through the North pole. In the place that was supposed to be warm paradise after a cold rainy sunless Copenhagen, turned out was freezing with no indoor heat. Sickness hit the second week I was here, lost my voice, which took me almost two weeks to fully recover. The living situation was slightly less ideal, in a dorm that requires you to climb 101 stairs to get anywhere else on campus, and is on the bottom of the mountain, the opposite bottom of where the train station is located-necessary to get to any part of town worth going to. So long story short, for the past 2 months, other than my marvelous weeklong trip to Taiwan over Chinese New Year, I have been doing little to nothing more than aimlessly bum around Hong Kong. Well, that has changed, since last Thursday, I am officially taking Hong Kong by storm...Get ready to be jealous of the weight I am about to gain from all the amazing food I will be consuming...

Day 1 of Amazing Food Adventures in HK: first stop is the one Michelin star rated Tim Ho Wan dim sum restaurant. This is one of the most affordable Michelin star restaurants you will ever get the pleasure of dining at. But be prepared to wait for one of the 20 seats in the restaurant...wait time for 3 on a Thursday afternoon was about 1.5 to 2 hours. But nobody complains about the wait time, because anyone in line would be happy for you to give up your number and be one seat closer to deliciousness--it will only be your loss. Enough teasing, let's get to the main entree...though every dim sum dish we tried was top quality, you didn't experience Tim Ho Wan if you didn't taste their Crispy Char Siu Bao.

Always fresh, hot, crispy bread on the outside is a perfect match with the sweet saucy BBQ pork inside. Order 2 baskets, you can't get this anywhere else, you'll want more than one.

Other choices I highly recommend: Ma Lai Go- brown sugar sponge cake, Flower Dessert, and Chiu Chow Fun Guo-dumplings.

We leave this restaurant holding our stomachs with a tab of just under 180 HKD~$23 USD.

Now that we are full, let's head to Wan Chai for some world famous egg tarts...I mean when you sell tens of thousands of egg tarts a day, you have to be doing something right, right? Honolulu Coffee Shop. If you love flaky crust egg tarts-over 190 layers to be more exact, this is the place to go. For just 4HKD a piece you can't buy just one, so I bought half a dozen. They are just as good, if not better the next day, I like them cold too. Now pair that with a cup of milk tea...I think I'm starting to get a hang of this whole Hong Kong lifestyle.

Details of "Adventure Dai Pai Dong + Dessert" and "Adventure Fluffier-than-your-pillow Egg Sandwiches" soon to come.

Wrap Up of the Year

What a crazy year 2009 has been from starting B-school to preparing for and anticipating GLOBE to actually being in Denmark, and then four and a half months gone in a flash...It almost feels like none of it happened because so much has happened. Looking back, I wish I had blogged more, kept tighter accounts of my adventures, but it's also nice to just look back and see how I have changed in this year, mostly how I'm a different person now than the person I was when I first landed in Copenhagen.

In this year I've learned:
-Friends come and go, and then some stay forever. There are people who you meet and instantly bond with, and then never speak to again. There are people you never saw yourself being friends with and suddenly they are your best friends. Relationships change with the wind. Go with the flow or you'll be stuck in regret and disappointment.
-Cooking takes practice, but eventually you stop burning stuff. I went from the girl who couldn't match the right burner to the picture, who microwaves foil, and can't cook rice without a rice cooker to an oatmeal cookie expert who hosts fancy dinner parties every week. Ok, exaggeration, but my cookies and dinners are now edible, so I give myself props.
-I AM Asian. I like pictures, a LOT. They are my way of holding onto memories. It's hard to remember everything that happens in your life. GLOBE is going to be one and a half years of my, knock on wood, long life, so it'll account for 1-2% of my lifetime? That can't be right. There were too many amazing people, memories, experiences, learning opportunities that I want to remember. I want to remember my romantic weekend in Florence, or my Belgian waffle in Brussels, and exactly how my smorrebrod in Copenhagen looked. You can never regret taking too many pictures (but I do apologize for the bombardment on fb).
-In a snowstorm, ALWAYS hop on the next bus to another country. It took four and a half months and a snowstorm to make it to Sweden, the country 30 miles away. Everything close always seems insignificant, but what a waste if I never made it to Sweden. My 7th country, 1. Denmark, 2. Spain, 3. Germany, 4. Italy, 5. Norway, 6. Belgium, 7. Sweden. If I didn't make my goal of 10 countries in a year because I missed the daily bus from Denmark to Sweden I would've regretted it forever.
-Carlsberg is Probably the best beer in the world. Enough said.
-Americans dress like slobs. European fashion didn't mean anything to me until I came home and saw how terrible the average American choses to look in public.
-Americans can get fat anywhere in the world. It's not an America thing, it's an American thing. Where there's a will to eat fatty and sugary foods, there is a way! But seriously, we get what we want, when we want it. That's a good thing and a bad thing I suppose.
-Driving is a luxury I can't live without. Heels are gorgeous but they don't work well with cobblestone. And it feels much colder when you have to walk EVERYWHERE.
-Hi, my name is Jessica, and I am addicted to Facebook. I'm pretty sure you can trace my last 4 and half month journey just by looking through my fb status updates. I like staying updated on other people's lives.

Lastly, discovering new places and adventures is an addictive activity. I don't know if I'll be able to sit still ever again. I can't wait to go see and learn more in the coming months in HK. Keep you posted ;)