By Brenda

Today (6/19/16) was the only day that our class was able to choose whether to attend to the assigned activity of the day (Lamma Island Walk) or an option to do whatever they want. Eleven people went to the Lamma Island Walk, some went to Stanley beach, and others went to the Lady and Flower Market. The weather was really nice today because the sky was much bluer and we could actually see the sun. ️ It was also less humid  To those that went to Lamma Island Walk hike left at 9AM and took the ferry and came back approximately around ~4:30 pm. They told me that it was a nice hike filled with big spiders.

After the hike, some people came back with even more bug bites. At the end of the hike, there was a fishing village where the class was able to purchase food to eat (family style). Although the food was delicious, it was pretty expensive!! It was about $135 HKD per person.

Then there were those who participated the dragon boat race at Stanley beach. The beach was beautiful and they saw about 110-150 teams compete in a 200m race from the beach.

I actually went to the Lady and Flower market (again) with Lushi. The Lady market was a market which sells a lot of random things filled with electronics, iphone cases, fake luxury goods, etc. On the other hand, the Flower market sells clothes, bags, or shoes. The flower market even have stands with many types of fruits.

A lot of tourist would go to these markets to purchase souvenirs to bring back home as gifts or just do some regular shopping for themselves. Since the merchants know that the Lady and Flower market is one of the biggest tourist attraction, they would try to rip us off! It takes a lot of bargaining to get a justifiable price for an item. With the right skill of bargaining I was able to purchase a fake Michael Kors bag just like Courtney hehe.

During my walk to the Flower market, I encountered a few pet stores that were selling dogs in a cage. I had to walk into every store and take a look at the the most adorable and cute dogs they were selling. They are literally TOO CUTE! However, I had to walk away because it made me sad to see the dogs kept at a really small container.

At the end of the day, a few of us had dinner at a restaurant that sells pasta because we were kinda tired of eating Hong Kong food so it was nice to try something that is not Hong Kong food. As much as we like the food in Hong Kong, we all miss eating the variety of foods we have in America. The restaurant owner was super nice to us! During our stay in Hong Kong, we did not see receive such great service since, but we were able to receive a wonderful customer experience from the pasta shop we dined in at.

We have one more week left and I’m already getting sad! I’m really grateful to be able to be in this program and experience the culture in Hong Kong with an amazing group of people!