By Olivia Hunnybun.

After a week in Hong Kong simple things like finding my way around or buying food have become easier. It seems that when you are in a place completely new and do not speak the language everything takes much longer than usual. I have just about managed to get myself organised with regards to student ID, a local SIM card/phone, class enrolment, local bank account, residential papers, octopus card and I’m sure there’s more!

Having an octopus card is actually extremely useful and I wish I had bought one straight away. You can then use them to pay on public transport such as the trams or items at some shops. The university facilities are also linked up and the card can be used for printing services.

In between sorting out all the Uni stuff I have been meeting new people and checking out the local culture. Eating out is unbelievably cheap here but the menus can be pretty overwhelming! We’ve found some good places locally which aren’t exactly glamorous but have delicious food. I keep wondering about how hard it would be to eat here as a vegetarian though as meat or fish features everywhere. I tried fish-head congee at one place and I don’t think I’ll be having it again! To be fair even the waiter was pretty sceptical as he brought me over what was basically fish bones floating in salty porridge.

Yum!

Green tea is everywhere I look and I can’t say I understand the craze! Everything from green tea-flavoured sweets to toothpaste… even Starbucks sell it as a muffin or a Frappuccino which has made me realise just how English the strawberries and cream version is in the UK.

With such comparatively small living spaces here, very few people have pets. Walking around Kowloon however, we did come across a very chilled out cat that didn’t seem quite with it!

Looking forward to stumbling across more random things  🙂