Brunei and Hong Kong

I was in Brunei! The layover is 17 hours, so I got a nice hotel room and relaxed for a minute! I did some exploring that night! It was late and raining, but I figured I wouldn’t be in Brunei again for a long time, so why not? I walked basically everywhere. I saw the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, which was a five-minute walk from my hotel room. The praying was still going on and people were still walking in and out of there. It wasn’t that late, but it wasn’t early, so I was shocked to se people still in there. I got lost in Brunei after the Mosque! I was looking for the second one and I couldn’t find it. In my panic, a man pulls over with a child in the car, and asks me where I’m going. I was scared, but I was more scared that I was lost, so I went with it. I told him where I wanted to go, and he offered me a ride. Thankfully, he took me there and gave me some information about Brunei! How nice! My faith in humanity gain couple points because of this guy! I walked back home after the Mosque, and on the way, I picked up Thai food, and I ate and slept.

The next morning (January 9, 2014), I was on the flight to Hong Kong. I arrived in Hong Kong and was escorted to the dorms, which isn’t very nice and it’s kind of dirty. I met my roommate Sami, and we got a dunch together (Lunch and dinner). Sami is Finnish! We got my bedding at a store across the halls, and we met a French guy name Thibault at the bedding place. We all decided a drink is an order, so we explored a bit and went into a bar for couple beers and called it a night because we have orientation the next day.

At orientation, I met heaps of people! I can’t even remember all their name. This whole making new friends thing is getting really old though. I’ve had to tell the same stories to now three exchanges and have to prove my worthy as a friend! Man I feel like I’m really boring, but people seem to love my stories! The good thing also was meeting Jordan from Georgia Tech because I’ve missed Georgia a lot in Korea. Although both Lisa and Jordan aren’t native Georgians they will suffice. I met other people too. As always the orientation lasted about 4 hours too long. Later that night, most of the student went out for dinner to an authentic Hong Kong restaurant. The food was good, but I sat with some picky eaters. I felt like I was the only one eating!

Once the food was done, it was time to drink! I’ve heard some great things about Hong Kong drinking life, so I’m stoked! People left a little too early for, so I stayed back for a predrink with couple UK girls, and arrived in Wan Chai around midnight at a bar called Carnegies. It was quite exciting to meet everyone out and see how he or she is like. I stuck with the UK girls (Ffian, Yaz, and Poly), and we took a cab over to LKF for the next destination called Fly. The music was better there. (Soon my opinion will change.) We danced and danced and drank, and next thing you know, I’m in a cab back home at 4 am. Good night.

Next morning (January 11, 2014), I went to Central with my roommate, and couple Americans. Part of our “lets explore the city”. We stopped by the Apple store so people can get their shit fixed, and we just walked from Central all the way to Causway Bay. It was a long walk and momma needs to nap before another night out at LKF! When the time rolled around to roll out, we all got on the subway, led by Malcolm (still don’t know this person personally); we went to Central to a rooftop bar called Red Bar. After finding out the drinks were way to expensive at Red Bar, I went down for a beer run, and what do you know, everyone left. Only a couple people were with me, and we decided to go to LKF by ourselves. We managed to find couple people, but it wasn’t all that much fun. I called it an early night, and when I got home, Sami and friends were in my room! I drank with them for a while, and I slept!

Sunday, I woke up and went to Macao to activate my student visa for Hong Kong because I didn’t receive it in time. Couple people had the same issue, so we went together. We left pretty late because everyone was sleeping in (including me). We went to the ferry station, which I guess no one knows where it is because it took us going to information center to get to the right pier! We finally got on the ferry and got to Macao. We figured we could tour around one casino and have dinner there. I remember China Summer Program people telling me that the Venetian was a pretty good place to visit, so that’s where we headed. We enjoyed a nice dinner first, and went around to the shopping area to see the river and the grandness of the casino! We caught the cab and ferry back to Hong Kong, and I was in bed for the first day school. Good night.