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When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I had the typical travel side effects: extreme tiredness from jet lag and extreme hunger because my stomach was on a different eating schedule. While managing through those, a couple days later I ended up with a cold meaning I had to stay in, until I finally stepped out and met a girl named Andy and her mom Angel.
After the typical introductory exchange, we discovered some similarities: we share the same major- International Business- and are both from the United States! Everyone ended up going their separate ways, but we bumped into each other again and this time they offered to help me get some medicine. From then on, the rest is history. We went shopping for some of my dorm essentials for me, to buy medicine, get me an Octopus card, and then I was invited to share lunch with them. After our lunch, I was then invited to accompany them island hopping the following week.
Our journey started at 8:15 am on a Thursday morning. Andy, Ethan (Andy’s college classmate), and I made our way to the University of Hong Kong’s MTR station where we met up with Angel. We then took a taxi to Central Ferry Pier where we met up with a couple of Angel’s old friends who were going to be our tour guides for the day. The first ferry ride was to Peng Chau where we found a popular temple across from an ocean view.
Our second ferry ride was towards Lantau Island in Mui Wo, where we ate a brief lunch and talked about the beauty of sour cream with quesadillas. We hurried to catch the 11:20 am bus up the mountain and finally made it to Ngong Ping Village where we explored a chopstick museum, lost a few claw machine games, as well as admired the stray dogs on the road. Directly next to the Ngong Ping Village was the path to the Big Buddha where you had to walk up 268 steps to reach the tops. Once at the top, you were able to go inside and explore the history and memorials of people that had passed.
![](https://i0.wp.com/studyabroadblog.drexel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG_5433.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1)
After we made our way down, we explored part of a hike that led to the top of the mountain. Given that none of us were in any condition to hike, our tour guides took us to another village where Angel bought us a Hong Kong delicacy, silky tofu pudding, which she explained to be a very popular dessert in Hong Kong because of its history and texture. She also bought us mango sago, which she explained to be a Cantonese dessert served cold when it got warmer. After the dessert break, we started to make our way back down the mountain where we took the train back to Hong Kong Island.
Angel actually only came to Hong Kong for a week to reconnect with family members along with helping Andy move in to the dorms. She eventually returned to California a couple days after our trip to Lantou Island. I will forever be grateful for Andy and Angel for taking me in during my time of need and helping me explore Hong Kong’s nature. I was able to learn a lot about navigating Hong Kong’s metro system along with day-to-day survival hacks while living in Hong Kong.
The names for this blog have been changed for privacy reasons. Permission to use pictures was granted by the people in the photos.
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