My Hong Kong time have gone to an end and im headin' to Singapore for christmas and NY..Sad but true..Positive thing is that i'll have 1 month vacation before leaving back to Finland. So my plan after Sinpore is move to Malesia and finally to Thailand, as my return flight is leaving from Bangkok at 24th of January. I'll freight my laptop back to home, so i wont be in msn that much for a while. Anyway start to use my finnish phone number again, so if u want to contact that's the way. I've been really lazy to updating this english version lately, so sorry about that..I'll promise to try to be better and write some updates on the road...if not so at least when i got back to home and coldness..See you around guys, take care and take it easy..!!

                                     I wanted to wish you all :






      Merry X-mas and happy New Year...!!!

Once again i noticed that my blog is totally death..As the end of the semester is coming and i've been  really lazy with my school work, now i need to pay attention to those..Reports deadlines are coming always way too soon...Anyway, i'll promise try to write something about last months happenin's soon, so holds ur corpses and keep tuned, big updating is coming..=P...

So it's time for new becoming for this blog after a few weeks. I know that it's just a excuse, but time really flies by in here. Mine exchange time in HK is almost halfway already, but I really feel that I just arrived in here. Anyway lot's of things happened these few weeks during the lack of updating this blog. Lots of partying, new people and places, hard studying…hahah..at least most of the times. School isn't that hard, but teachers expect quite lots of students, so you need to spend some time to make assignments large scale enough for them. Anyway enough with the school, nobody is interest about that anyway…So here is few 'highlights' during the lasts weeks...

 

One of my favourite spots in HK to chill out and grab few beers... (also the best place to check out ID's fireworks, if u r early enought to get a spot...god damn..)

In my last blog writing I mentioned that Independence Day of China was just coming. There was a huge firework also that day, so I decided to go check it out. Well, I thought that I was smart and departed early enough to have good places in the harbour front. Fucking hell, how wrong I was once again…As lazy as I am, I decided to took the KCR-train to next by station from the halls and when I came back to the back to the ground level I realized my mistake. I think every third of  7million population of this city had similar plans than me. All the street were closed for the traffic and reserved for pedestrian use only around 1km circle of beach front. There were hundreds of polices to control these huge mass of people. So I couldn't reach closer than 250meter of the shore. My friends were already there somewhere, but of course my phone ran out of credit and I couldn't top it up, coz it was public holiday most of the stores were closed. So what can u do in situation like that…??? Ok, I'll give u the solution…Just go lil' bit further away from the most crowded beach area and head to 7-11 and grab few cheap and cold beers! As the main street was also closed I just walk there with my beers and watched 'fancy' fireworks between the skyscrapers. So children, what did we learnt about this?? When u r in problem just head to 7-11 and chill out..=P

 

F**king global economy is ruin my view...

During the next week of ID, I really surprised myself and probably also most of u too my dear readers..I took part in fashion show. Yep, you read it right, I really was in fashion show 1^st and perhaps last time in my life. Our designer friend invited us (me, David, Nico) to come and check out some of his newest outfits (..and models of course). Show was held in Horse Race Stadium and the purpose was to introduce around 20 young and talented designers and their garments. Coz lack of experience we were reach the venue quite early, so we needed to wait for the while before the show started. And yes, now I know what is the meaning of being 'fashionable late'…Anyway VIP's were late of course so we and when they finally arrived surrounded by cam's and photographers, I thought show is finally ready to start. Well, it started but now it was time to loooong speeches of VIP's and organizers in Cantonese of course.  In the end show started and it was ok, thought even with my professional eye I didn't get the meaning of all those garments sometimes. In the break there was girl band from mainland China to entertain us. That group was absolute favourite, especially lyrics touched my heart, u know…=). In the end I had good time and it was nice experience and views from racetrack were great…We ended the night by leaving the place through VIP-facilities, what is totally appropriate for our status of course.

 

Models, models, models...

Very critical and professional jury + THE designer.

 Black design by Mountain Yam.

My personal favorite: girl group from mainland China.

One of the main event of the year for the exchange students is 'International Culture Night'. There students from different nationalities present their own country and habits, to the locals and other exchange students. Finnish booth was pure success, maybe because we had lot's of liquids (Finlandia Vodka, Tar Schnaps and other traditional Finnish spirits) to prevent people to dehydrate themselves. Of course we had our own share of the delicacies.

Sofia  taking care of visitors in Finland-booth.

Koreans challenges others to dance this 'stick dance'...

My home town/university, Jyväskylä aka J-Town, is strongly represented also in HK. -Sofia, Niina, me, Anssi and Jennifer- all from jyväskylä.

After the official part most of the Exchange student headed out to Hong Kong island and Wan Chai district. There we found quite Skitz, a good place to spend time specially at Wednesday evenings. Guys pay 180HK$ (~18€) for entrance and after it's open bar for rest of the night, so u don't have to turn out your pockets just before last call, to find your last coins to have a final pint…Convenient isn't it..? For ladies this entrance is totally free at Wed's, so there is still lots to do for the local politicians to get equality in here too..God Damn..!! Well, that was all for now more adventures coming up…sooner or later..

Yep yep, time flies by and i've been really lazy with updating this blog, so I'll try to type something now.. Nothing big or amazing haven't happened last, coz I've been responsible student and went to school almost everyday. So in total I have 4 different courses (Airline-, Event-, Exhibition management and Putonghua(Mandarin) chinese). Thought it doesn't sound too much of work, you are committed to do surprisingly much reports/group works in these classes. Locals are really hardworking and they really take studying seriously, so I need to sharpen up also. My favourite so far is putonghua, coz classes are pretty funny. My group is formed naturally only by exchange students and Chinese seems to be almost impossible to pronounce in correct way for westerners. I think you need to have good patience if you want to teach Chinese for us, coz at least my tongue just can't do this sounds… Don't worry thought, I had some time to have sun also. Last week Joyce, the girl from my city orienteering group, and her friends organized little bbq-evening. Evening was a success and I had great time. We went to this bbq-area just next to beach and it was 'all that you can eat' type of place. So 1^st you pay 70HK$ (~7€) and go pick place where u want to stay. Then the staff bring already fired grill to you. After that you can go to the cold desk and choose what you like in various options (chicken, beef, pork, sausages, fish, octopus etc..). Oh, and don't forget to pick up your free beer/soda which is included in entry fee. The next beers are little bit more expensive than in stores 8HK$ (0,80€), but what a hell still quite cheap, I think.  So you ready to some serious barbequeing.

 

Some serious barbequeing..

Best of all this is that you can go to beach just next to bbq area and they give you a stamp, so you can return later to eat more in same price. Unfortunately we went there in evening, but I think it'll be my new favourite place to heal my Sunday hangovers. Unfortunately this great place is that lil' bit far away, so trip will take around 1½ hours.

 

Whole BBQ-group.

I took last weekend quite easy and didn't too much, coz yesterday was time for Mid Autumn Festival and today it's been public holiday. So this is fest is all about to celebrate time of harvesting and it's been held in full moon time. Besides moon light all kinds of lights are in main role, when you celebrate this day. So I hooked up with Mountain, Ruby and Bine and we went to HK island to see some light sculptures and traditional song / dance performances. Venue was one Victoria Park and there were a loads of people. Some of theme just wandered around and some of them were having a picnic and lighten up candles in the grass field. After Victoria park we moved back to Tsim Sha Sui to meet some of  Mountain's  friends and have picnic with them. So in the end we were celebrating moon all night long and I came back to the halls around dawn when the moon spotting wasn't too easy anymore.

 

At Victoria Park with Ruby and Bine.

Some lightsculptures, but notice the real art work in my hand...!

Two big M's, Mountain and (full) Moon.

Big Brother is watching...the official observer of the night...

Tomorrow it's time to go to school, but then I'll have 4 days off, as I have no lessons at Fridays and Monday is China's Independence Day. So more of parties and fireworks coming up…perhaps some reports also.. who knows.. until next, take it easy guys !!

 

 

Ok, last  weekend plan was to take a little expedition to Macao island, which is nearby Hong Kong. We met just outside in the halls at ten in the Sat morning. There was around ten of us mainly Finnish people but some international co-operation also by Frenchmen David and Nico and some local influence also offered by Mountain. We (I, Nico, David) were supposed to meet Mountain in subway station next to ferry terminals, but others Finns were taking some 'shortcut' in there and decided to took ferry instead of MTR (subway). Anyway we met Mountain in the station and headed to ferry terminal. Apparently there were lots of other people also going to Macao to loose all their money. So the 1^st ferry were we could have tickets on was departing 12.30. We decided to go to queue to take 11.20 ferry, if there would be seats for us anyway. Queuing was worth it and we got in the earlier ferry. In that point I decided to call to the other Finns and ask them if they already arrived to Macao. I found out that their were still in Hong Kong island trying to find ferry terminal, so that's it for their shortcut. Ferry ride took only about a hour and cost 150HK$ one-way. Thought the ferry was waving side-to-side at first it calmed down when quite quickly. That was good new for me, the guy who have grown up in the inland and tend to have sea sickness easily. I could catch few minutes sleep during the ferry ride..

 

Map reading moment. -Mountain, I & David-

Tourist stuff..Some old church, which destroyed by fire..dont ask more, ok? -Nico, I & Mountain-

After the passport control we took of the free coach ride to casino which was nearest to city centre. And of course we didn't get in to the casino, so we sneaked out quickly when the bus stopped. We decided to take little city tour, leading by Nico and his priceless guide book. The weather was pure killer, temperature was over 30°C and I think humidity was also around 85 or something.. I was sweating like a little pig, but that's nothing new, I guess. Fearlessly we decided to keep going on our city tour, which included path to the highest hill in the town to see the old fortress. There was a cable-car also which u could take to the peak, but surprise surprise it was out of order..  

 

Heavy speculating before decision to climb up to the tophill fortress.

50 steps behinds, countless steps to go...

I think that the guys are really underestimating my orienteering skills.

After four / five hours city sigh-seeing we headed back to city centre to have something to eat. We all were kind of exhausted about walking, so we took the easiest choice of all…pizza hut…embarrassing, I know.. Anyway pizza is always good and after big dinner it was time to go and check out the casinos more closely. First mission was take over the casino called Grand Lisboa.

 

$ + € + £ in my mind, before entering the Grand Lisboa.

After the security check, which was like in airports, we realized that maybe these places are not suitable for student budget. The smallest possible Black Jack table what I could found was 200HK$, which means that one chip was worth of 20 €. So if u really wanted to play you need to place at minimum 2000HK$ (~200€) to table and probably u can play around 5 minutes with that. Not good… Only game which I recognize beside BJ was roulette and there minimum bet was around 500HK$ or something. In the other tables they played Baccarat, which was totally strange for me. I was watching couple of games, but still I didn't get the rules…but maybe I'm just simple or something. Besides that there was some electronic tables with some weird Chinese symbols and the people could bet 25 000HK$ in them…strange… In the I found myself to play some slots machines and man, I can tell that was maybe the most confusing one I've ever played. Normally you can find 1-5 winning lines to this 'one-handed' slots machines, but in this one there were 44 of those…44 winning lines… Try to sorted out there, when you are winning and when you are losing then. Not too easy task. Anyway I played around 100HK$ (~10€) and then get bored, coz the sirens didn't shout and lights didn't start to flash and there weren't any staff coming to me with this big cheque… GOD DAMN IT… well maybe next time then.

 

Almost like Vegas, huh...? (..says guy who never been there..)

Unfortunately, it was forbidden to take photos inside the casinos. Thought the all rules are there just for the people to brake those, quick look around me make some things clear to me…In my sight was around 10 gorilla size security man wandering around casinos corridors and waiting to some unlucky victim who was breaking the rules…That's why my camera stayed tightly in my pocket, but only because the casinos lights weren't too suitable for photo shooting… As u all guys know, I perfectionist and almost pro, when it's come to photo shooting u know… =P  

 

David, Mountain and Nico, behind you can see the Grand Lisboa casino.

After Grand Lisboa we took new direction towards to seashore, coz it was time to Macao's Annual Fireworks competition. It's a competition where different nations compete who's has the mightiest fireworks and the whole competition lasts around two weeks or something. That Saturday it was UK's and South-Korean turn to show their best. These guys crackers were just a bit bigger, what I used to shoot myself in new years eve, when I was a kid. In the beginning I was really excited about every single puff's but after ten minutes, my neck started to get numb as I watched to the sky all the time. Both of the teams show lasted around 25 minutes, so after the shows my neck was quite sore and I didn't applause to every single cracker. In the end the shows were great, specially coz the carnival atmosphere, with the beer and fast food stands.

 

Fancy fireworks...

Half time in fireworks competition..I spent it with mr San Miguel..

After the firework shows we went back to the city centre to meet the other Finns. As they haven't check any casinos yet, we decided to go one of them called Wynns out. After a while everyone were clear with the fact that we didn't want to spend one month budget in there, just to play few games, so we went to 7-11 to buy something to drink. Unfortunately I didn't feel too good at that point and I even skipped the beers. I got some stomach problems from that trip and I still haven't get rid off those completely. After 7-11 some of the people wanted to eat and we went to small Chinese restaurant which our local reinforcement pick up.  The restaurant seemed to be quite packed, but the owner guided us to upstairs. On our way in there we saw the kitchen and storage room and had quite good idea about restaurant business in whole..=). We were only upstairs customers in the beginning, so maybe it was some kind of VIP-lounge or something, which is right place for us, if u r thinking out status. The menus were already in the table, but it was hard to get off from the table as it was so sticky. Menu included many delicates, but my absolutely favourite one was pork liver porridge. Unfortunately, I need to skip all the foods and stay to Lucozade drink as I felt lil' bit ill with my stomach. Anyway, I've tried to find this delicate in our local supermarkets, as I'm sure that this shit will wake u up even at Monday mornings. I haven't found it yet, so if u see that, please inform me ok..

 

The famous sticky table and other VIP facilities.. Other Finns are also find their way to Macao. -Sofia, Sami, Niina, Juho, Milka, Anssi, I, David & Mountain-

After the late night munchies some of the people wanted to go find some night spots and party. Me, Nico, David and Mountain decided to take night ferry back to Hong Kong, coz we were quite exhausted from whole day expedition and in the end all joined us. Ferry trip back went smoothly and I went straight to sleep when I got back to halls around four in the morning. Some people still went to 7-11 to have some first aid for their dehydration.

 

In the end Macao was lil' bit disappointment for me, but some of the reasons might be that I didn't felt too good in the evening. Anyway we didn't check the newest and apparently the world biggest casino called Venetia in this trip, so maybe I need to go back again and check that and some nigh clubs out, who knows…I'll report from that if it'll happen some day.. So for the next time, take it easy guys…

 

 

PS.

Oh and for your info (specially Mr. Goodstuff) we have some nice local beers in here. Tsing Tao, Blue Ice beer, San Miguel you name it…And those are relatively cheap ones around 0,30-0,50€/ can (0,33-0,5l). So book your flights man and take Linda with you.

 

PPS.

I'll be delighted for some more comments also.. =)