The Last Lecture...

I guess my blog isn't really a lecture, I am not very insightful and instead think I can woo my family and friends with corny jokes and stories. I am however reading the Last Lecture, and I can't put it down... you should read it! This will most likely be my final blog because I have a mere 18 days until I leave to go home and will be traveling for the majority of that time. My classes have wrapped up for the most part and I only have a final report left to write. This Saturday I am planning on going to Guilin in the South part of China for 4 or 5 nights with a few others that are done early.

After that trip I am off to Kunming in Yunnan (the southwest part of China). I am so unbelievably excited about this trip. We will be hiking and staying in guesthouses as we make our way along the edge of the Himalaya mountains! The views are supposed to be out of this world and I am excited to see what China has to offer in the nature department since I have only seen the big cities.

As part of my last lecture, I have decided to include "What I've done"... an ongoing list of what I consider to be extraordinary things I have done in my life so here it goes:

I snorkeled off of St. John’s Bay in the Virgin Islands
I witnessed a geyser erupting in Reykjavik, Iceland
I ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain
I zipped through the mountains by zip line in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I went to a church service at Notre Dame in Paris, France
I have seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, France
I lived with a French family in Nantes, France
I sang karaoke with Chinese locals in Shenzhen, China
I drank a beer in the Oktoberfest beer gardens in Munich, Germany
I walked across Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic
I bungee jumped at the tallest bungee in the world in Macau
I walked on the Great Wall of China
I meandered in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China
I marveled at the unbelievable history in the Coliseum in Rome, Italy
I watched the Bastille Day fireworks in Biarritz, France
I drank beer at a bar in Brussels, Belgium with the Guiness World Record for most beers
I went to the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
I ate Sheppard’s Pie, drank Guiness and talked with locals at a pub in Dublin, Ireland
I walked the gardens at Versailles
I went live on Fox Business channel to talk about my Palestra.net internship
I rode an elephant in Hua Hin, Thailand
I scuba dived off the coast of Balicasag
I ate Balut, a Filipino delicacy, in Cebu
I ate Italian Gelato in Saint Marco’s Square Venice, Italy
I laid out at a topless at the Mediterranean Sea in Nice, France
I saw my first castle in Nantes, France
I went punting in Cambridge, England
I marveled at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican while in Rome, Italy
I saw the Swiss Alps in Zurich, Switzerland
I smoked hash with my parents in an Amsterdam Coffee shop
I went to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand
I nearly froze to death in an Ice bar in Rome, Italy
I relaxed at the Blue Lagoon natural Jacuzzi in Iceland
I ate a Belgian waffle in Belgium
I surfed in the Atlantic Ocean in Biarritz, France
I saw Vincent Van Gogh’s work in Amsterdam
I went to Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam
I experienced the Hafbrauhaus in Munich, Germany
I withstood a Typhoon in Hong Kong
I gambled in Macau
I observed the breathtaking view of Hong Kong from Victoria’s Peak
I went trekking in the Philippines (Caving, hiking up a waterfall, jumping off a cliff)
I shot an AK 47 in Vietnam
I crawled through the Cu Chi trails that changed the history of the Vietnam War
I took a shot of “Snake Win” which had an entire snake and crow in it

There you have it! I am sure I will keep an ongoing list and I'm certain I will continue to add to the list.

My visit with mom was great! Unfortunately my final projects were coming to an end while she was here so I had to be at the University more than I would have hoped, but it worked out ok. She has most of the pictures but I will do what I can with what pictures I have so here you are....

She arrived on a Saturday night and we immediately went back to the hotel so she could clean up after hours and hours of traveling! We then went straight to a bar in LKF called The Keg to watch the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. To our dismay, we were the only OSU fans and there were about 15 Michigan Alumni there. We stayed until halftime (which was about 3:30 am in hong kong) and then went back to the hotel. It was the first OSU game I had watched since being in Hong Kong and I've got to say I really miss watching the Bucks play.... I didn't realize it until I watched the Michigan game, but it has definitely been worth missing the games to experience everything over here- without question!

At the Keg....Go Bucks! (I got a peanut thrown at me from one of the Michigan Fans)

Here we are on our way up to Victoria's Peak on the Tram


Breakfast overlooking the wonderful skyline (this is my 7th time to the peak and I will NEVER get tired of it)

It was a gorgeous day.... looking up between the skyscrapers, this one is China Bank

I decided to go for style rather than comfort and boy was that a poor decision. My shoes were so uncomfortable I eventually bought a pair of flip flops on the street just so I could reduce the agony!
Here we are eating Dim Sum at a popular spot in Hong Kong, it was delicious

We went to see the big Buddha and in the midst of buying a fountain coke that mom just "had to have" she left her wallet at the counter. Only in Hong Kong would someone return it and then refuse to take any money as a thank you!

Mom in front of the IFC (international financial center).... the tallest, and my personal favorite, building in HK
After our LONG day of shopping, site seeing and bargaining.... this is how I felt!

In case you can't tell they go all out for the holidays here! This is one of the shopping centers, completely decked out in Christmas gear. Surprising, considering not many people from HK are Christians. One of the girls in my class was telling me how she is not Christian but said, " Oh of course I celebrate Christmas... everyone does in Hong Kong."

Mom and I did a 3 night trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, which has been one of my favorite destinations thus far. The hardest thing to get used to in Vietnam is the currency... the Vietnamese Dong (it's ok to laugh, dong is a strange name). The exchange rate is approximately 16,000 Vietnamese Dong to 1 US Dollar. When we exchanged money, we got over 3 million dong in return so I can now officially say I was a millionaire!

Here we are relaxing and feeling like queens on our tour of the Mekong Delta. The Mekong Delta travels through 6 countries in Southeast Asia and ends up in Vietnam. We saw the famous floating markets and made a few stops at local markets to see what life on the Delta was like.

The Mekong Delta was pretty poverty stricken.
Below is one of the floating markets. The people live on these boats and just sell everything on deck. At the top of the boats were bamboo polls with the commodities being sold attached to make it easier for the prospective buyers.
Pit stop for some Vietnamese coffee, known to be some of the best in the world.... basically my dream!
We tried "Snake wine"... a local favorite and it wasn't until AFTER we drank it that they showed us these bottles, there is literally an entire snake in the bottle !!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost got sick!
Now let me just tell you that EVERYWHERE you look in Ho Chi Minh (formally known as Saigon) there are motorbikes. There are 9 million people and over 4 million motorbikes, that doesn't even include cars and vans...JUST MOTORBIKES! It seems everywhere you look you are trying to avoid getting run over but it is absolutely hilarious how many people and objects they fit on these things! Take a gander....

We also did a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels about an hour outside the city. The Tunnels were used by the Vietnamese during the Vietnam war to hide and unexpectedly attach the US troops. There are over 250km of underground tunnels. The tunnels even had underground hospitals and kitchens used during the war. It was one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen in my life although the video they showed was very Anti-American. Here I am going down into one of the underground bunkers used to hide from American troops.


This was one of the wide points of the tunnels but most of the time we had to crawl on our hands and knees. Don't be fooled by the flash that makes it look bright because they were PITCH BLACK and you had to feel your way around!
Here is one of the traps used....

Here I am for the first (and last time) shooting an AK47.... my hands were shaking after this, there is something very unnatural about holding a gun for me, for good reason!

21 years and 21 countries

This past week mom was in town and we went to Vietnam which marked my 21st country that I have been to! I feel so blessed to be able to say that! We had a great time and I will be sure to tell you all about it. Unfortunately mom took most of the pictures so I don't have a ton of pictures to post from the trip because they are on her camera.... maybe I can get her to send them my way (hint hint mom)

Becoming a local... literally!

Sorry to keep you all waiting, I know the anticipation has been killing you and you have been experiencing severe Hong Kong Blog with drawl... but I am back! This thing called school has been kicking my ass lately but not to worry, I have my priorities straight and am updating you all on my life rather than study! My classes are going great, everything is coming to an end which makes for a very busy Sarah, but I love what I am doing so it is great. There is a positive side to being extremely busy right now, it means that I am done very early in December (pretty much December 1st!!!!!) I don't leave until December 21st so that means almost 20 days of spending money I don't have... haha!

I am planning on going to the Southwest part of Mainland China to some really cool hiking trails I want to check out with my friend Amy. You literally hike through the Himalayas for a week straight and just stop at guest houses along the way. It would give me a chance to see the natural beauty of China. Also, I am thinking about going to Japan. I have a layover in Japan with my flight so I am looking into paying a fee change and having a short stop over (3 or 4 days) so that I can check out Tokyo, eat some Sushi, possibly see Mount Fuji and call it a day. This trip is pending finding a travel mate because lots of people are still finishing up finals at this time so we'll see. I like to think I am adventurous but I don't think Tokyo alone is a good call....

Halloween in Hong Kong was ridiculous. There were thousands and thousands of people filling the streets (many just to take pictures, I know crazy right? Asians taking pictures....) The funny thing was that I went as an Asian (Hello Kitty fan) so no one really wanted pictures with me because I looked so ordinary... here are a few pictures to sum up the night!

Hello kitty fanatic... compete with a hello kitty backpack, ridiculous watch all the locals wear, pig tails, hello kitty hair clips, hello kitty shirt, hello kitty weird dangling key chain...

and Hello Kitty slippers (best choice ever in terms of comfort)

Rubba dub dub five Asians in a tub... Amy found these guys in LKF (she went as a Canadian....she would)
My roommate and me before the festivities! (This is her normal face haha)
Trojan men... Alejandro trying to steal the thunder with his sweet fencing skills!

I don't know if I can even pick out a favorite part of this picture, just look at all the action taking place. If I had to choose I think it would be that we look like we are BEST friends, I mean we look like we've known each other for years (I am cheek to cheek with that girl).


The streets were packed! It took almost an hour and a half of walking just to get to the bar district because they had the streets blocked off. Oh and it isn't a time wharp, the bar is called 1997.

Last Friday I finished class and decided I needed some serious shopping therapy after a week of group projects... so I called Amy and asked her if she wanted to go to China for the night... 20 minutes and one sketchy hotel booking later we were on our way! This guy.... not sure his name but I think he looks like a Fred, is ALWAYS working the buses. He stands out there with his Santa belly and motions the buses to and from campus from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm 7 days a week, and you thought you had it bad!
Shenzhen is right on the border of Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) and Mainland China. It is only about an hour from campus but it seems a world away! It is sooooo different from Hong Kong! Here we are arriving to Shenzhen.... I look awkward!
Now don't get me wrong, Hong Kong is cheap, but Shenzhen is ridiculous.... I shopped until I dropped, buying much more than one should ever buy in a day. I justified every purchase with a, "It's so cheap though!" For instance I bought the entire series of Friends (10 seasons, totaling over 50 DVDs for 20 dollars! Here we are getting a manicure and pedicure for a whopping 5 dollars. Funny story.... Amy is a runner and she had so much dead skin on the bottom of her feet that they charged her extra! I was seriously crying I was laughing so hard.... she would probably kill me if she knew I told you that so don't tell her!
The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the Karaoke. For those of you who are not familiar with the Asian custom of singing Karaoke I will enlighten you. Asians can not sing! However, there are entire buildings (multiple floors) in which you get friends together and rent a room to sing for a certain amount of time. We met some locals that spoke English and they asked if we wanted to go with them so we did! Best decision of my life, I have never been so entertained...it was like watching William Hung from American Idol on repeat. They bring you food, beer and you just choose music.... I mostly stuck with ABBA! Please enjoy :)

Here are the guys we met... honestly the Karaoke scene is so weird! People wait in line for hours to get a room booked haha
Here I am... look at that face I must be getting really into it!
Although he looks about 10 this guy was celebrating his 29th birthday! He was helping me practice my Mandarin.
For your viewing please I bring to you.... some of the funniest stuff you will ever see!

It's been forever

There is is this thing called school over here and it is kicking my ass! I am doing well in my classes but all of my group projects are coming to an end and I have been really busy trying to keep everything in order. I have a test tomorrow and after that I will update you all on my life!

Miss you all (have they started playing Christmas music yet... because if they have in the states then it's fair game for me to start blaring it in the dorms)

The only thing Scary around here....

Today is Halloween and I must say that the Asians get pretty into it! Sometimes I feel like they get more into it than they do in the states! Our hall is completely covered in black paper and all of the light is shut off with random spiders and skeletons hanging everywhere. They also get scared really easy. I was talking to one of the girls in my class from the Mainland and asked if she was going out for Halloween and she said no because she gets frightened by all of the masks too easily.... I must admit I had to hold back my laughter!

Unfortunately for me, I think the only thing scary around here is how bad my English is getting! I hang out with Europeans and locals all of the time and I live with a girl from Germany, so most of the time I try to use fairly simple terminology to articulate what I am trying to say. However, when I speak to other Americans I STILL feel like my language skills are mediocre at best. Maybe I should read a Thesaurus or something!

Tonight for Halloween I am going to LKF, the main bar district! I am told that it gets really crazy for Halloween and that it will be so busy we won't be able to move on the streets... sounds like my kind of party. I am going as an Asian as my costume... when in Hong Kong do as the Asians do right? I am wearing a ton of Hello kitty gear (hair clips, big fluffy slippers, a book bag, t-shirt), a random watch like all of the locals wear, pigtails, and of course I will be throwing up the peace sign in all of the pictures tonight! It should be pretty good! Maybe I should wear a camera around my neck too!

Happy Halloweenie everyone!!!!!!

Hong Kong, Thailand and Macau... Meet Bake!

Alex, who's other aliases include: Bake, Spud, Baker and The Baconator, left yesterday morning to return home. I would say about now Alex is somewhere over Alaska on his journey back to Ohio (yes, Ohio not Michigan)! He starts his new job in Columbus on Monday and is so excited to get started although I wasn't thrilled to say goodbye to him today... I went back to the hotel room, packed up, headed back to the University and have been sulking in my room ever since haha. I took a lot of pictures but Alex has some really good ones of us that I will have to post later!



This is right before we left for Thailand, Alex is eating a hot dog on a stick from 7 Eleven (it turns out that it takes MUCH longer to get to the Hong Kong airport from the University than I anticipated... we almost missed our flight because of my poor judgement, OOPS!) When we got to the gate they were calling last call for all passengers... it was a close one and needless to say I needed that free drink on the flight!

Arriving at the Bangkok Airport! We arrived a little after midnight and headed straight back to our hotel because we had a really big day ahead of us... pay attention to all of the times that Alex is carrying my bag in addition to his own, Thanks Alex :)Everyone is SO SHORT in Asia...

Having a designated bathroom for elders is fine... but the picture?!?!?!??!After a glorious buffet breakfast at the hotel we headed by Fairy to The Grand Palace in Bangkok, no pictures can possibly capture how beautiful it was.
They make you put on shirts that cover your shoulders and the guys have to wear long pants... hence why I am wearing a man's shirt!

I hope this is an exaggeration.....
Entering the Grand Palace....
Another view... the architecture is absolutely astoundingPulling up to our resort in Hua Hin, Thailand! You get everywhere by Tuk Tuk! I don't think I will ever be able to quit Marriott, the discounts are too good!
Our view from the Hotel room! Right on the other side of the pool was the Ocean!
Hua Hin by night...we found a great little spot to Play some Pool

Gearing up for our Elephant ride....one of the coolest things I have ever done!

We had such a blast! Potong, our elephant, took us way up in the mountains and we could see Hua Hin in the distance!

Another shot of Bake, Me and Potong! Alex and I had a minor obsession with our elephant friend.

After Potong took us for a stroll Alex fed him some Bananas....

Victoria's Peak by night... we ate dinner at the top and behind Alex was our view from the table!
I am positive this view will never get old! This is the first time I got to see it at night, I had been holding off for when Alex came!

I don't have any pictures from our trip to the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon Bay (I know Alex does though). It is one of the best places in Hong Kong to get a drink because of its amazing view of the city. We went there for a drink before dinner and I asked a gentleman to take our picture. After he did he asked if he could treat us to dinner at the Peninsula! It was one of the nicest gestures EVER. When we got to the table there was a bottle of Wine waiting for us and he took care of the whole dinner.... not a bad deal at all!

When we first arrived in Macau (carrying my bag yet again). Macau is the Las Vegas of the East and conveniently only a 30 minute Fairy ride from Hong Kong!

The view down from Macau Tower... the glass didn't seem NEARLY thick enough to be doing this!
Alex and I decided to Bungy Jump off the World's Highest Bungy Platform at 233 Meters! (You can see all of the Casinos below). Right about now is when I was screaming at the top of my lungs... it was the biggest rush I have ever had!
After fearing for our lives through the Bungy Jump we went to the Venetian Hotel and Casino. We gambled a whopping 40 Hong Kong Dollars (5 USD) and called it a day.