It Begins, Don't Cry...

It's Monday and we've overslept thanks to the adrenaline subsiding. We all met for the first time as a class today at Teakha, which is a cute little hipster tea cafe. I was instantly in love with it, like hello - Matcha Chiffon Cake? Say no more! It was great to finally start our actual uni work (seeing as though my brain thought it was on holiday!).

Come to think of it, Teakha is a really interesting place. They have a variety of seating arrangements - the main cafe, the outdoor patio, the extra room downstairs and the upper floor - all of which are decorated in a distinctly unique yet somewhat cohesive way. Pictured below is a sign that hangs in the patio area. It speaks volumes of how locals feel about space in Hong Kong, how they use it, how much they value it, etc. Thinking about how unappreciative we are of space in Sydney, it was really refreshing to be in a place where place itself is of huge importance.

We did a lot of exploring today too. When I say exploring, I mean walking for hours on end trying to find somewhere to eat that everyone is happy with. I feel an overwhelming sense of content that I'm an only child. The weather changed about a billion times today too. I think we might end up getting sick if we're not careful! But the most fun we had today was on the escalator from central to sheung wan. This was a rather strange experience, it felt like being guided through the city centre by a glass train, and every building had something funny about it. We glided past some barber shops, some interesting restaurants, some tailors, pretty much anything and everything. Initially my group (Group B) thought we might focus our whole attention on this one aspect of Hong Kong, the escalator, but since this was only our first idea we decided to put it on the back-burner. I do believe it would have been fun though!

Tom also showed us around 'his' area which is called Jordan. After a surprisingly cheap feed we discovered a building completely dedicated to toys, namely lego and video game characters. We all found something there that we liked. The structure of the building was very similar to a shopping mall I had been to in Causeway Bay a few days prior. It is literally level upon level of miniature boutiques, all selling similar items to their neighbour. This seems to be a successful designed concept for consumerismin Hong Kong, as it is never quiet in these buildings.

The highlight of the day is a tie between mango pancakes and seeing a real-life temple. I have never been inside a temple of this kind before. There is curled incense hanging from the ceiling, and idols propped up on every surface. The man in the foyer taps on his holy book and only stops if I walk right up to him and say hello. He says nothing in return but the pause in the tapping means something I guess. I'm also very curious about the location of this temple. It appears as a haven or 'zen place' to escape to even in the heart of a busy city. I imagine one could sit in the park outside the temple and meditate for an hour before going back to work. I think that's what I'd do if I lived in Jordan.

This is a rather long post already so that'll do for today.