Hong Kong

Day 6 - Hong Kong
We arrived in Hong Kong and took the airport express to the centre and caught a free airport shuttle to near our hostel. We dropped our luggage and went exploring because our room wouldn't be ready until later in the day. So we found a shopping centre nearby and ate dumplings for lunch at a non-tourist place.
Then we took the metro to the Hong Kong island side (our hostel was on the mainland side) and walked up the hill a bit to the start of the Peak tram. Unfortunately we waited in line in the sun for a very long time only to find our we didn't need to wait in that particular line as we had bought metro transit cards which we could use to pay for the ride. But eventually we got into the shade and rode the tram up the hill to the Peak of Victoria Hill. It was quite steep at points and it was a nice ride up with good views of the city and good snooping of apartments. I paid extra to go up to the very top, which wasn't really worth it as it was the same views, but hopefully I got some nice photos.
We went down and then walked to the Star Ferry terminal and crossed the water back to our side. When we got off there were thousands of people around the terminal so it was quite busy. We walked back to our hostel, although I took us through a little sketchy area, with lots of Western Union shops and then through some tiny dark alleys, but we made it out alive. We managed to find our hostel only to discover they had moved all of our stuff to another building across the street. We were a bit shocked, but rolled with it and went across the street to find our bags and our room. It was super tiny, maybe 100 SF at most, with two tiny double beds and a bath room like on a boat (short and toilet together). Only one of us could open our luggage at one time:-)  but it was clean and felt safe, although we paid 100 euros a night for the room!
Finally we met my friend from Vancouver, Ian, for dinner. He had been living in Hong Kong for 1.5 years working at HSBC in a great international managers program. He took us to a nice Chinese restaurant, in an area we never would have found. It was great to see him and a familiar face in a new city. He gave us some good travel tips but had to get home early to work the next morning. So we went back to the hostel and crashed, since we had been awake since 4 am.

Day 7 - Hong Kong
We found breakfast at a French style café and then rode the metro out of the city to go to the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping. It took about 45 minutes to get out there and then we had to wait almost 1.5 hours in a line to buy tickets for the cable car. It was a very long wait, but at least we had shade and free wifi to pass the time. We chose to pay extra for three cable car with the glass bottom, so that we good a) get a better view and b) have a shorter queue as most people didn't want to pay extra for it. The ride was amazing as we journeyed 5.7km up and over the hills and sea. It was a fantastic view and I hope my photos turn out well. We got a view of the Big Buddha as we came to the end of the ride and into the town.
The town had a Starbucks, of course, lots of shops and restaurants, all super touristy. We walked through the town and then climbed the 268 stairs to the top. It was a huge Buddha statue made out of bronze (34m high), but it was only built in the 90s. Despite it being new, it was still amazing and offered great views.
Since we had to wait so long in line, we got back to HK later than we had planned. So we went straight on to the next activity, rather than ready at the hostel. So we went to HK island and rode the mid-level escalators all the way to the top. The escalators are the longest outdoor ones in the world, stretching 800 m and rising 135m. We went part way down by foot and walked around the SoHo district of shops and restaurants, mostly for westerners. We had some cocktails, then found dinner in a tiny Cantonese restaurant off the beaten path (Vbest Tea House). They didn't really speak English and it was only Chinese dining in there. We had a set menu with soup, noodles, veggies and coconut jelly dessert. After we went for drinks again just to see the neighborhood more. We took the metro back to the mainland and then walked to the Peninsula Hotel to check out their lobby. They let us in for a few moments but then realized we clearly weren't staying there and stated us down until we left. We collapsed at the hotel completely exhausted.

Day 8 - Hong Kong to Beijing
Today we wanted to fit in a few more things before we left the city behind. So we got up at a reasonable time and went to HK island. There we could check in st the main metro stain and drop our luggage off. This was a super awesome and free service and made it so much easier to see some more of the city.
So we walked out to catch one of the infamous double decker trams. It was amazingly only 2.3 Hong Kong dollars (20 euro cents) for three ride and we took it to the Bank of China building. There, we had Starbucks for breakfast (of course there was one in the building) and went up to the 43rd flour to see the view. It was nice, but we had already seem better views from the Peak.
After that we just headed to the airport on the airport Express and got on our flight. We had to wait on the runway quite a while before take off, but it wasn't too bad. I was sad to leave Hong Kong so soon, but was excited about Beijing and the real China.

Taiwan adventure

Taipei Day 1
We arrived in Taipei just before 3 pm after a 12 hour flight from Amsterdam. I got stopped by the disease control as my body temperature was too high..but fortunately I didn't have a fever, just a cold and they let me enter the country. Hallie meet us in the airport with wonderful gift bags full of maps, food, facial masks and even medicine for my cold in mine - just the beginning of our great hosts in Taiwan.
We took an hour bus to the center and our hotel, Forward Hotel. Showered and then went out via metro to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world. In the mall below, we ate at Din Tai Fung, which had received a Michelin star at their Hong Kong restaurant. An absolutely delicious meal, perfect for curing jet lag.
Then we went up to the 89th floor of Taipei 101 to the observation deck. Could see a 360 degree view of Taipei. The most amazing part was the elevator up. It took 39 seconds going 60 km/hr; the fastest elevator in the world. I still had my cold so my ears hurt going up and down. The building also had a huge damper, 5.5m in diameter, that absorbs 40% of the wind movement. And a bonus, the building is LEED platinum too.
After that we took a taxi to Raohe St. Night market - we walked around and smelled all the food cooking, and saw all the cheap stuff for sale. Finally, we went to get foot massages at a place that is open until 2 am! It was painful, but a good pain. We finally returned to the hotel around 1:30 am and I fell asleep right away.

Today's strange eat: not too weird...sweet and sour soup with pig's blood, apple/watermelon fruit, chicken nuggets from the night market Taipei Day 2 We slept in a bit, and then Hallie brought us bubble tea and lunch boxes for lunch. Then we caught a bus for 1.5 hours to go to Jinguashi, a mountain on the east side where the Japanese had a gold mine. We saw a restored four home Japanese house, and hiked up to see an old Japanese temple in ruins. The Japanese occupied the island from 1895-1945. Then we took a short bus ride into a small town (Jiu Fen) and walked the tiny narrow streets. Apparently it is famous from a movie being filmed there. Then we waited 1.5 hours in the on and off rain for a bus; they were so full we had to wait for the third bus. This made us late back to Taipei for our dinner reservations, but we still managed to go for spicy hot pot and eat strange and wonderful things. Today's eats: sausage with fish eggs and squid, grape juice with lemonade, sesame candy bark, sugared soft candy

Taipei to Penghu - Day 3 Today we got up fairly early and met Taichi in the lobby to go for traditional Taiwanese breakfast. I enjoyed the soy milk drink and particularly when I could dip my churro-like pastry in it. It was a restaurant that Taichi had been going to since he was a child. Next he took us to the Longshen Temple, where it was extremely hot and busy. It was the special day for the God so it was very busy and special prayers were taking place. I got to experience the Taiwanese public toilet; the women were really nice and guided us to the right place to wait (in front of the stalk, not in one long queue). Had my chance to squat successfully. Hallie then meet us and took us to the National Theater, Concert Hall and monument for the leader of the democratic party that first brought the democratic Chinese to Taiwan (JKS Memorial). Finally we went to the airport to await our flight to Penghu. We said goodbye to Hallie, but would see her again in Rotterdam. It was a short 40 minute flight to Magong on Penghu, where Christina met us. She drove us to her house, which her mother has turned into a bed and breakfast. We drove around the island a bit, seeing the beach, stopping at 7-Eleven for beer, then going to a tiny restaurant for a BBQ dinner. The Taiwanese (Christina, Leo and his girlfriend) grilled fish, meat, seafood, corn, oysters and we ate delicious food once again. We've really realized how important food is to the Taiwanese. Today's eats: bbq oysters, pumpkin noodles Penghu - Day 4 Christina brought us breakfast to her house - I had soy milk (warm this time), and those churro things inside a bun. Then we left to drive to the dock to catch a 9:30 boat to am island in the north side. We first stopped on Bikini Island, a tiny private island where you could do banana boat rides, snorkel with just a mask and we even got pulled being a jet ski to view a coral reef. Nowhere we had to always wear a life jacket and there was no relaxing to be had...always activities. Just as we started to relax, the boat showed up and we had to pack up and move on to Jibei Island. There, we rented scooters and drove a short distance to grab some lunch. We dined on sea food and some noodles, and then had shaved ice and ice cream after. We did a bout of shopping, buying some pants/dresses each and then took off on our scooters. We explored the island, visiting several spots. We saw one place where the fisherman built the stone walls in the sea to catch fish. The current pushes the fish in and they get trapped, allowing the fishermen to easily get the fish, but it was a lot of work to build these 100 years ago. Finally we went to another beach, but we couldn't really swim there either. It is all about water activities for the Taiwanese, no laying on the beach tanning. After getting back to the main island, we showered and went for dinner and exploring in Magong. We had tea and walked around, having drinks and dessert by the sea side before heading back home. Today's eats: grilled shellfish (those conical pyramid purple ones, I don't know the name), shaved ice with seaweed Penguin - Day 5 Our flight was supposed to be at 9:30, but part way through the day we found our it was delayed and then booked onto an earlier flight at 6. But we still had lots of time to explore some more. We took the car into town and walked around Magong again. It was quite hot and we had fruit tea again and saw a buddhist temple. Then we drove around the islands write a bit, visiting a lighthouse at an army base, and eventually going back to a beach by Christina's place (Aimen Beach). We didn't have much time except to change, east some fresh crab and go to the airport. Once back in Taipei, we says good bye to Christina and found our beautiful hotel that Hallie had booked. She had even left us another gift bag with vitamins, aloe cream for our sun burns, and energy drinks. Our room was like an apartment, and it was a great neighborhood. We were beside a Starbucks and Ikea, and lots of other restaurants. We didn't stay out too late as we had to be up at 4 am to get to the airport to fly to Hong Kong in the morning. Today's eats: omlettes for breakfast, fruit tea Overall this was a great intro to Asia, especially because our hosts were so amazing. I really feel like we saw things off the beaten path, especially in Pengu, where we only saw 6 other Westerners the entire time we were there!

Hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro

I will be hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro in October as part of my RSM MBA program (yes, hiking a mountain is actually an elective!). Part of the course includes blogging and applying to participate. My pitch to participate in the course is below and was also posted on the RSM blog. I will be blogging about the experience along the way. 

I have always wanted to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is on my bucket list, along with hiking in another country (which I guess climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania also ticks off). This year I seem to be checking a number of items off of my bucket list and I am extremely excited that hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro can be one of them. And I find it a huge bonus that I have this opportunity to hike with the women of RSM and learn far more than I would just hiking the trail with a tour group.

I have done plenty of hiking in British Columbia, Canada. I did the infamous West Coast Trail several years ago with one of my best friends. It involved hiking 75km along the wild west coast of Vancouver Island, with heavy backpacks, crossing streams, scrambling on rocky beaches and heaving ourselves up 4 ten metre high ladders in a row. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Many other hikers along the way were surprised that we were two women hiking by ourselves, but really, we thought nothing of it; we always knew that we could do it – it was just a matter of doing so. I feel like this is how I have approached all of my other hiking adventures: knowing that we could do it, not feeling like we couldn’t because we were women, and always succeeding. Almost all of my hiking has been with girlfriends, and this is truly an amazing way to bond and continue to develop our lifelong friendships.

I am excited to bring this incredible experience to more women and to develop stronger relationships with the women of RSM. I am grateful for the beauty of British Columbia that has allowed me to conquer mountains and trails, and given me the confidence I need in all I do. For me, the Kilimanjaro experience at RSM is special and important because of the other women. I love to see women succeed when they doubted whether they could. Two years ago, I trained with and did a triathlon with my sister, who hates running and never thought she could do it; it was so amazing being at the finish line with her as she burst into tears feeling like she could conquer anything. In fact, later we did a half-marathon together and now, this year she trained on her own and completed an Olympic distance triathlon! It is simply amazing to see how activities like these can change a person’s life forever.

I want to help the women to reach the top. I want to reach the top. I want to foster and develop deeper relationships with my fellow RSM female students. I want to push myself hard in an environment that I’m not used to.

I want to help RSM attract and support more females in business – and I believe that this experience attracts potential students to RSM, it attracted me. And I want women to have that same feeling I’ve had, if I can hike this mountain, or climb that ladder, well then, obviously I can do anything else I set my mind to.