After departing Bangkok, I spent 24 straight hours either in a plane, or waiting for a plane to arrive, which meant I ended up spending 19 hours on a plane, with five hours of layover in Doha, Qatar. Coming home, I landed in Boston and travelled home, unable to sleep from the night before. In the end, I ended up staying up 50 hours and almost passed out while standing up.
Sunday brought the first day of rest that I had in over two weeks so I decided to sit in the dorm and stay dry. Monday brought the first week of real preparation for the project, as we worked tirelessly to ensure that our project would be done on time. Travels this week included trips to a landfill (where we were unfortunately unable to physically drive on) and a great experience at a dry market.
Saturday was our first day of adventure in Hong Kong as a class. This entailed taking a trip to Lamma Island, to the south of Hong Kong. While there, we hiked an easy two miles in the heat and were able to see what the region used to look like before the rapid growth of the past century. The hike itself ended in a separate village to the southeast where we were treated to an incredible local lunch. As it is monsoon season, we also got to experience a torrential downpour, but were kept dry by the intricate patchwork of metal roofing that the villagers had installed over the main street.
Following my travels to Japan, I arrived in Hong Kong on June 2, the day before my program was to begin. Due to a coincidence in timing, my first stop was to visit the Big Buddha statue with a friend from my undergraduate days. Accessible by tramway, a short bus ride, or a long hike, the statue was built in the mid-1990s and functions as a sort of tourist trap. On a good day, you should be able to see much of the harbor and surrounding area, but alas it was the rainy season, and we were clouded in.
Coming from New England, I often take for granted the many opportunities that are afforded to us when compared to the rest of the United States. However, it often takes traveling abroad to get a whole new perspective on what you previously took for granted in your life. In order to do this, I decided to become a part of the Hong Kong trip in order to see how other cities manage their population when dealing with explosive growth or stresses upon their aging urban infrastructure. However, before I arrived in Hong Kong, I spent a week in Japan. Immediately, I was struck by the cleanliness of everything. This is not to say there is no litter, but everything is swept clean in order to ensure that public spaces are presentable.
Having been abroad before, I kind of knew what to expect when going abroad. However, nothing prepared me for the whirlwind of doing so in Asia. While it was easy to go out and not want to take precautions, I considered it wise to get some basic vaccinations. At the same time, coming so soon after I had just returned home for the semester, it really hit that I was going from class to class, without a break in between.
