A series of ThinkQuest related posts will start to show up as I continue my way down the event. It is not going to start until October 10th (the date that I depart from Hong Kong), but whatever. These posts are going to have [TQ] in front of the title to distinguish them from the rest. Expect A LOT of pictures coming and a new blogpost everyday. CHECK BACK REGULARLY AND FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER FOR UPDATES ON THE EVENT!
So, I started getting really excited this week, I mean, after all, the long-awaited event has finally arrived. My family, due to the financial crisis, haven’t been on a holiday/vacation for such a long time (Well, the Macau one doesn’t really count) that I think I forgot what travelling is like already. In fact, the last trip vacation I went to was Summer ‘07 where I went to a summer camp alone, and the most recent family vacation is May ‘05 when we went to Gold Coast, Australia.
For those who don’t know what’s happening – Long story short, I, along with 5 friends, won a website competition called ThinkQuest, and we get a free trip to San Francisco and a free laptop worth $1500.
What should I eat?
I was looking at my itinerary and agenda and figured out that dinner on Saturday night (when I arrive at SFO) was not included. No, I didn’t freak out. Instead, I thought it was good news because I got to pick whatever I want to eat. I went on Google Maps and started searching for restaurants near my hotel. However, in a country that everybody drives, even the closest restaurant is a mile away. Eating in the hotel isn’t necessarily an option either because of the price.
Soon later, I found out an alternative. Last time I went to California, probably the only thing I can remember is the In-N-Out Burger. It was just… SO. GOOD. PERIOD. There were, sadly, no In-N-Out’s near my hotel (there is like nothing there), but there is one at Millbrae, which is one BART station away from San Francisco International Airport. Then… I found out it costs $4 just for an one way ticket to Millbrae, which means it takes $16 on transportation alone. Plus two burger meals, we’ll have to spend like $30 just for eating fast food burgers! My mom was like “WHAT? We’ll spend (HKD)$200 in eating BURGERS? No way!”
So now I don’t know what to do. Should we walk the mile, or should we pay the $16? Just as I was wondering, I found out that there is a bus near our hotel that goes to Hillsdale Shopping Center(judging from its website, I’d say it is quite big), but apparently nobody in America would go out at weekend nights, so there are no buses available on Saturday night. Plan screwed up. Again.
Then, my mom suggested we’d bring Cup Noodles with us to America and eat them for that night. But of course, that suggestion is quickly rejected by me, and this time even my dad’s on my side.
I guess, we’ll just have to see when we get there. Perhaps we’ll just end up with a McDonald’s Big Mac.
What should I pack?
You see, when you travel with your mom, you don’t get to pick your clothes. Technically saying, with San Francisco’s 12-20`C degree, I can wear short pants, but no, my mom decided that it is too cold (note: only for her) for me as well to wear short pants. But can you really imagine, long pants in a 20`C afternoon?
That’s not the most painful part yet. Apparently, I’ll need to wear long pants on the plane too! Not to mention that I won’t be able to bring my crocs on the plane (she said too less space in the suitcase). WHAT?
What should I listen?
I bought two albums just then – David Tao’s 69 and Lee Hom’s Music-Man concert. But still, I don’t think that’s enough for my 13 hour trip. I have been asking for suggestions on twtiter and facebook… anybody any ideas?
Alright, now what do I do?
So I’m still packing, still considering what to east, finding good songs to listen. But I am just too excited to settle down on doing one thing!
Anyway, here is some info on my trip:
- Flight AC8 (Air Canada)
- Hong Kong to Vancouver
- stop for around 5 hours
- Flight AC562
- Vancouver to San Francisco
- Arrive at around 4:30pm.
- The rest of the night will be free – remember, I had to find my own restaurant to eat.
- The event officially starts tomorrow morning at 7. Hopefully I won’t experience any jet-lags.
Alright, I need to stop writing now. I should probably finish what I was going to do and get a good sleep. Wish me a safe trip!
I wrote this entry purely for my Advanced Composition class. So, yup, enjoy.
Macau was always awesome for me. There are three reasons: Food, FOOD, and FOOD. To celebrate (lamely) the new year, we decided to go to Macau for a day and eat.
My parents decided it was too expensive to travel by ship (when it’s only like what, $200?), so we drove from Shenzhen to Zhuhai, parked the car there and walked to Macau.
Our first stop was at the town hall area where we stopped for some wonton noodles for a “warm-up”. Since it is during the New Year holidays period, it is filled with people.
Oh and look, a bottle of coke!
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I personally find buildings in Macau attractive. They have this kind of antique style, but yet they aren’t necssarily… old, whereas the buildings in Hong Kong can go only two ways: very new (IFC), or very old (Kennedy Town). (Well, I guess that is still pretty good compared to Shanghai, which although contains a lot of new buildings, but poorly managed that eventually turn into old ones very soon)
Anyway, so, onto my trip in Macau. After finishing “warm up”, we saw a famous bakery nearby and decided to look for some Macau specialties to bring back. All the prices were at least increased 10% because of the holiday season, but the things they sell tasted so good that we couldn’t resisit buying.
When our wonton noodles got digested a little bit while shopping at the bakery, we started eating again. We walked to a mini-restaurant thing that sells some really good sharks’ fin. Like, real ones. When we got there, we shockingly found a line of at least 50 people waiting to buy a bowl of it (cost ranging from $50 to $200)
But things aren’t necessarily all perfect in Macau. We walked across a ghetto ice-cream cart and apparently there were a lot of people “buying” ice-cream. It cost $12 for a cone, and it’s a tiny one, mind you. I excitedly took out money and bought one. I chose the mango flavor, and it looks nice. Anxiously, I put the ice-cream in my mouth and this feeling I got from this lovely icecream…. is… kind of different… and special… in a bad way. Turns out, it is nothing more than a simple $3 McDonalds ice-ceram, but it charged 4 times more! I am starting to guess all those people there before were friends of him “advertising” how “good” the ice-cream is. Sigh, just can’t believe how a smart person like me can get tricked like this.
What kind of a trip to Macau will it be if we don’t visit the Ruins of St. Pauls (Ruinas of Sao Paulo)? I mean, EVERYBODY visits the Ruins everytime they go to Macau, regardless of how many times they’ve been there already. Following this “tradition”, our family then started to walk to the Ruins. We took a picture, ate some more Macauese snacks, and left to explore some more places.
After then, we just aimlessly roamed around that area. We booked a really nice restaurant for dinner, and we are all anxiously waiting for it. To prepare for the nice dinner, we all stopped eating so that we have enough stomach space for later. It was called something like a Tomato House, and they make some really good Macuese-Portugese food. The price is much cheaper than Hong Kong’s restaurants (abour $40/person) but the quality is even better. I LOVE MACAU…’s FOOD!
We all walked out of the restaurant with the stomach completely food.. I mean, full, and decided to walk a little bit before going back to Zhuhai. Then, we walked by the Casino Lisboa, and because we are underaged, we didn’t go in the casinoes. But man, not only the outside of the building looks awesome, but the inside too!
And… that pretty much concludes our trip in Macau. It was indeed short, but nevertheless very fun (thanks to the food). You see why I love Macau now?
What’s up? I’m finally back from an exhausting road trip from Shanghai to Hong Kong. In these two days, we went to the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. The whole trip was around 1600km (or 1000 miles for you English people), and took more than 18 hours of driving. With the help of Google Maps and my dad’s company’s GPS, we did it! 
. We started on July 28th morning, and arrived at 29th night (more like the morning of 30th, actually)
