Dragon's Back

"Wan Chai baby..Wan Wan Chai!" - Jeffery McCain

The exchange students were set on going to Wan Chai after I had shared with them my experiences there the week before. Once again the group following me gradually grew larger like a flash mob in the middle of New York city. I went from directing eight or so exchange students around Wan Chai to more than twenty five. We eventually split up into separate groups and went our own ways. Our group stumbled upon a local bar called 'Carnegies'. It was a great bar where the bar top is actually used to dance on, which of course we made use of. I guess you could say it almost resonates with the movie Coyote Ugly..a very similar setup at least.


After a few casual drinks at Carnegies we proceeded to 7-Eleven where Sara managed to 'ice' me. In the last few weeks that I have been here in Hong Kong I have been introduced to many new terms, phrases and fads by the Canadians and Americans. One of these latest fads is to 'ice' someone. 'Icing' is where you purchase a Smirnoff Ice and hide it somewhere for your victim to find on their own accord. When they discover the Smirnoff Ice in their possession they are to place the palm of their hand on the back of their head whilst kneeling down on one knee and basically scull the drink until it is entirely consumed. I am yet to ice someone myself..so watch out fellow exchange students.

I awoke the next morning to being quite sick all day which I believe was a combination of regrettable decisions in the form of curry chicken and mixing drinks from the night before..the ultimate mix of the two quite evidently did not concur with my stomach..nor my head for that matter. The next thirty six hours I spent in bed constantly being sick, unable to keep anything down with a fever, body aches and a throbbing headache. Its safe to say I do not think I will be going near alcohol for a period of time.

Owen and I managed to book our flights for Reading Week (study week). We will be going to Singapore (two days), Bali (four days), Kuala Lumpur (three days - Future Music Festival), before flying back home to Hong Kong. So far the people coming are on the trip include Jeff, Jack, Martin, Mihir, Adrian, Sara, Sandra, Felicia, Owen and myself. Although I said after Schoolies in 2010 that I would never go back to Bali I am willing to give it a second chance. I think we have a pretty good group and am looking forward to the adventures we will experience across three countries as well as going Future Music Festival in Kuala Lumpur. That afternoon we finally managed to secure flights home from Taiwan to Hong Kong. Unfortunately they were a little more expensive than what I would have liked to pay for but with such short notice and with it being Chinese New Year holiday it was the best that we could do.

That Friday night we went to watch the Chinese New Year Parade in Mong Kok. It was my first time catching the ferry over to Mong Kong from Hong Kong Island. Although it was only a ferry ride I found it very captivating as we were going across the water just after the sun had set so there was just enough orange tinge on the horizon to to light up the water and sky with a warm pallet of colours before heading into nightfall. The parade itself was a little disappointing as we were there for three hours or so and found that it was very delayed and staggered, unlike what had been described to us by others. Still, it was a great experience and a good chance to visit the main street of Mong Kok.

That night Jeremy and I went to sleep at around the same time however I was able to confirm Albert's suspicions of Jeremy being a sleep talker. I was finishing off a blog post on my laptop, sitting on my bed directly across from Jeremy when he suddenly sat up, pointed his finger towards me and growled in a deep voice "Hey you! Come over here". I sat there frozen, not knowing how to react and whether he was asleep or not. As he sat there waiting for me to respond I quietly said back "Nah man its okay I'm just going to stay over here" and with that he fell straight back flat on his bed and was fast asleep. I struggled getting to sleep that night and Jeremy managed to continue saying random phrases and singing songs in his sleep. I started reading my book and watched a movie before Albert came home and I was soon lying there wide awake will the two of them were fast asleep. The fact that I had slept for an entire day and night whilst being sick the previous few days certainly did not help.

After only an hour and a half's sleep I was up at 7:30am ready to meet the crew at Central Station before beginning our hike along Shek O Peak, or more commonly known as Dragon's Back as it is reminiscent of the shape of a Dragon's backbone. The hike entailed stunning views of Shek O, Tai Long Wan, Stanley, Tai Tam and the South China Sea before we reached our destination at the end of our hike called 'Tai Long Wan' (Big Wave Bay). It was a beautiful beach tucked away in a small bay surrounded by the mountains of Dragon's Back. Almost instantly we were sprinting along the sand heading for the water as we threw off our wet, sweat-filled t-shirts. As excited as we were to get to the beach, our bodies were equally surprised at the freezing cold temperature of the water. Although cold, it was very refreshing. We spent a portion of time running along the beach, mucking around and getting some great photos, many which involved Jeff piggy-backing me and running like a gazelle along the shore of the beach.

We proceeded to have burgers, hot chips and fresh coconuts at a near by restaurant. I had a great opportunity along the hike to talk to Mihir, another exchange student from California. Mihir has just been granted a full time position at Dropbox in Silicon Valley, California. He has many friends and associates that work at Facebook, Google and Apple. As inspired as I was by the stories he was telling me it fuelled my desire to one day work at such an organisation as Apple and is something I definitely want to strive for as I come nearer to the completion of my degree at the end of the year. Mihir is a great guy and has a great sense of humour that I can easily relate to yet still have meaningful conversations with at the same time. He puts 110% motivation into everything he does and is always putting his hand up first to take on a new challenge. I look forward to getting to spend some more time with Mihir over the coming months. I had also been spending more time with Jeff and becoming good mates with this fellow Canadian, or what some are beginning to coin a "bromance". If there is one thing that I get out of exchange that I will appreciate for the rest of my life it is the friendships and bonds that I make with these great people that I am meeting and the experiences I encounter with them during this time.


We agreed that we would have to come back to Big Wave Bay in a month or so for a day when it warms up as it is such a great little hideaway beach. On the way home from Dragon's Back we caught the bus followed by the MTR. After laughing at several incidents that occurred throughout the day we managed to top it off when we arrived at the MTR station. As we headed down the escalators towards the train the buzzer sounded for the doors to close. Kelly sprinted for the train ahead of the rest of us and managed to leap onto the train just before the doors closed and the train took off. After a split second we immediately fell to the floor laughing on the platform as we watched Kelly and the train take off like the speed of light. I had tears rolling down my cheeks from the laughter and aches in my stomach from having laughed so much during the day. Hands down, that day has been the best day I have had in Hong Kong so far.

The Chinese New Year fireworks were scheduled for 8:00pm down on the harbour that night. We decided to go against the norm of viewing them from Mong Kok and hiked up to The Peak (yes hiked again for the second time) to watch them from the very top mountains of Hong Kong Island. Jeremy managed to secure a spot for us to watch the spectacular fireworks before we went to a near by Vietnamese restaurant called 'Phó'. The food there was exquisite, fresh and very reasonably priced. We walked back down the mountain via the same hiking path that we came up (Pok Fu Lam Road Reservoir). Jeff and I decided to have a bit of fun with Mihir after we learnt how sacred he was of walking down the path surrounded by forrest in the dark.

Saturday was my best mate Brad's twenty third birthday which I was disappointed to miss and not be there to celebrate with him but am excited to get back home and have a beer with him in his honour when I return home.

I am beginning to miss certain people back home. To me its like my life back home is on pause and when I return I will just need to hit the play button and everything will continue just the way it was. However, I am beginning to realise that that is not the case. The button is forever stuck on play, there is no such thing as pause, you can not pause life..I'm simply just not in the movie for the time being.