PENULTIMATE SEMESTER DONE

AHH! Finally!

I just can't believe it's almost over. What a ride it's been at HKUST. Before I came here, I definitely wasn't ready for the world. Come graduation, though, I'll be as equipped as ever.

Final semester coming my way!

Some reflections:

I had the best of groups and the worst of groups.

I stopped running for a time.

I got to know some really great people.

It was the most "balanced" semester of university life I ever had, and it had a lot more to do with mentality and practicality. Besides my academics, I learned that life was about composure, or "coolness under fire," and choosing friends/acquaintances/teammates wisely. You need a bit of foresight... but mostly life experience.

Second thing: I applied to a bunch of grad schools but I'm afraid that I won't get in--the graduate school front is challenging these days. NorthwesternU, University of Illinois-Chicago, UC Berkeley/SF, Rutgers, and UCR. My 'rents are okay with me attending grad school, but at the same time, I feel like I should work. It's so hard these days to find a job and my family's trying to stay afloat financially. I feel torn between my duty to myself and my duty to my family. Sometimes, I lament my role as the eldest child to take on a supporting role in my family. It can be a lonely path. Other times, I know it made me who I am today. Ah well..

Hong Kong University of Suicide and Tragedies

Needless to say, I should address this issue in my blog just in case anyone googles it and no true blog on the Hong Kong experience would omit such an important issue. 

I will edit this post later, but this well-written article (pictured above) by our Editorial Board stands very well on its own.

Blurb cross sections

Okay, some randoms.

I guess I haven't been all that fair to my blog in terms of life updates. Sure, a few big announcements here and there but none of the particulars. So here's a few mini-blurbs regarding certain aspects of my life... aside from my final year project, undergraduate research, and school stuffs.

It's congregation time! Hong Kong's different because we have congregations (commencement ceremonies) in November. I guess that's cool because they thankfully have it a week before Thanksgiving time so we can have a long holiday to celebrate. And it's better than walking in the sweltering heat of June, especially considering Hong Kong's tropic-esque location. The above picture is from City University of HK. The only one I took with my iPhone during congregation season. Ah well. Next year, it's my turn! Can't wait!

Long distance relationship. No, I don't think LDRs get any easier with every good-bye. Every good-bye is so freaking difficult. Going through some growing pains right now, I guess, but what makes us work is that there's an end to it eventually. He's applying to pharm school and I'm applying to a PhD program in engineering and hopefully we'll end up in Cali or Chicago, only a driving distance apart. I love him! ♥  .. and I miss him like crazy. He's my support system--the one that I rely on to catch me when I fall. And he's the friend that adds meaning to my life--the one I especially support and root for in life.

He's sad he can't hug or kiss me over Skype :(

My struggle with food. Oh man, I can't tell you how bad of a relationship I have with food right now. And thank goodness there's a place for me to write about it. I love food and all, but ahh! I feel so out of control. I spend spend spend even when I know I'm running low on money all the time. Okay, so I don't eat like a pig, but I know I can afford to eat less... And I want to go on a diet anyway because I'm back at a 130 weight, which is the weight I tend to fall back on if I don't regularly exercise and eat ad libitum. My face doesn't like it and my gut doesn't like it. Stupid taste buds. And midterms. And reports. And need for sleep!

One of life's delicious excesses.

Why pay for dinner when you can have pansit from your lovely student's home? :)

Half-marathon training! Speaking of weight and regular exercise, my avocation is definitely still running. From being a volunteer for Disneyland's Half Marathon to actually running races... I'm a little dilettantish.. so sue me. I said I have a bad relationship with food but I still go jogging or exercise three times a week for at least half an hour. It's almost out of habit now. But my standards for exercise are high; it really doesn't have much of an effect on me if I don't exercise for more than half an hour and that's my problem. So I have to vamp up the training and start on a half marathon plan and really lose the weight if I'm gonna save myself from killing my knees at my next race. Standard Chartered Hong Kong 2013 (half marathon), here I come. Sub-2 hours!

Random pictures... I need to sleep soon so I can wake up early and put in a few miles, so here's a few little slices of life:

Study nights with good friends~

1,234 friends! Wow, I'm popular!

Did I mention I ate a part of that squid right after it was caught.
Squid sushi. The texture was slimy. The sand was crunchy.

Kayak adventures in Sai Kung. ^__^

I never blogged about this. But yeah, shattered iPhone screen.
Maybe I'll fix it one day... when I have monies.

First Publication (in progress)

I am in the process of writing my first publication. And guess what, I am co-author! I found out that I was going to co-author the paper during our last review meeting and I was actually pretty surprised. I was going to be happy with second author. Maybe they wanted to motivate me, though, to do a really good job on writing.

I think if I can get it accepted before March, I would be really happy. As an undergraduate, this is a pretty nice accomplishment.

But the downside is... actually writing the paper is very strenuous. It's a lot more pressure than just trying to get full marks on a lab report in class. You have to keep a lot of people in mind, like peer reviewers, your supervisor, etc. On the other hand, you want to tell a story well. All those years of English class actually did prepare me for report writing. And all those lab classes actually did prepare me for technical writing. I'm glad... otherwise I would be dying right now.

I've been sitting in front of the computer for multiple hours per day just typing reports! I can't believe how many projects I'm managing at the same time on top of the GRE and graduate school applications.

This is how I feel right now.

I've been getting on average 6 hours of sleep per night... but the average is offset by my weekend 16 hours over 2 days. I've got to find time to train for the half-marathon I'm going to run next February. Maybe I don't manage my time efficiently. I do have days where I try to spend a few hours relaxing and catching up on the latest Big Bang Theory episodes or even Glee and New Girl. Or I "chui sui" (blow water) with friends. Or I take care of my latest Sims 3 generation. Or I watch old episodes of Boy Meets World. I do that a lot. IN GENERAL, though, I always have something to do on top of labwork and sleep and studying for my regular classes. Yikes. Am I a graduate student already?

I can't wait for my piece of the delayed gratification cake. Winter break in the U.S.!

(But even then, I'll be worrying about my FYP...)

Award presentation for our postdoc at the HK Stroke
Association Charity Walk

I ♥ HKUST

Reinvention

I need it.

Today, I wanted to update my status to "I just wanna be closer to my passions and keep my thirst for learning alive."

But then I thought about how presumptuous was I. And I thought about the people who might think... psh you? Or the people that might have hard feelings about it (I don't know who, that's just what I was feeling.)
And I thought about... "what? I'm not allowed to dream?"

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Remember this quote? I'm sure most people have read it or heard it at some point in life. It was cited in Coach Carter (2005) and Invictus (2009) and people mention this quote everywhere.

Why do I have to be afraid to dream... to want to be better.. to strive for more? What does it mean... to want to be someone or something that you know will make a difference in the world?

Wild monkey sighting at HKUST!

Taken from a friend's Facebook (Ray).

It finally hit me that not only am I studying in Asia’s World City, one of the most densely populated and frequented financial center of the world, but I am also studying  on a beach-side, semi-tropical campus!

Taken with my iPod!

Night time view from our very own sea port

A lot of international students at HKUST talk about how we take for granted the stunning views we get of the ocean each morning. We're so busy partying up in LKF or, in my case, sticking a nose in a textbook and gorging eyes out in front of a computer screen. Despite the "University of Stress and Tension" accolades, we also overlook Clear Water Bay, a three hour kayak from Sai Kung and a peaceful place to watch the sun rise. 

And in between all the greenery, tropical trees, and plants, nests our little modernized school with a Red Bird (“fire turkey”) right at the center.

The RedBird at night.

The bridge link.

Side-view of the library.

I’d seen bat-sized moths, gigantuous millipedes, amazing green mantises, annoying June bugs, and super-sized fire ants. After talking to some local friends, I found out that these wild monkeys are actually pretty common in the countryside locations of Hong Kong (e.g. Sha Tin) where tourists go to have their food stolen.

I didn’t see the monkey but it was hilarious seeing all the Facebook posts about it. Completely beats out urbanized woodland creatures. B-)

Pictures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from: Ryan Kow Photography

Pick-up basketball in Hong Kong: a non-local univeristy student's perspective

I think it's safe to say that I've played enough pick-up at HKUST to describe it with accuracy. I know I could be biased since I have the perspective of a female non-local student; whether I like it or not, I'm going to be treated differently. Still. Even though generalizations do not speak for the exceptions, I can still offer some perspective.

What I absolutely love about basketball is that it's ubiquitous across cultures. We all watch the NBA and I see people of all cultures wearing the jerseys of their favorites: BRYANT, WADE, JAMES, ALLEN, PIERCE, ANTHONY(Carmelo), RONDO ( ♥ ), and yes (isn't it obvious?), LIN.

Hard to say which jerseys I see the most often, but I think the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, and the Los Angeles Lakers (just Kobe) are the most represented. Sometimes I see New York Knicks jerseys (especially for Carmelo, Stoudemire, and J.Lin). I wish I saw more Dwight HOWARDs but maybe I'll see that after this year's NBA regular season starts. No Rockets yet. Not even a Yao Ming...

The rules of pick-up

Most people start arriving at the seafront court at around 8pm, with pulsating flow every hour (lol, Chemical Engineering thinking...). Lights go off at 10pm. I like to arrive a few minutes before 8 so I can start shooting on the court and then force my way into a game when one starts. Otherwise, I have to do that awkward task of asking to play. When that happens, people are sometimes hesitant to let me play. I guess as long as I wear my jersey, my presence is tolerated.

Half-court games are the standard and people shy away from playing full-court unless there are exactly 10 people present and someone REALLY pushes for a full-court game. There's always one person who says they'll be too tired, haha.

Forming teams can happen in one of three ways:

1. Bao Dap (Cantonese for stone and paper): Stand in a circle and use the rock and paper (from rock paper scissors) until teams are divided evenly.

2. Spin the Basketball: Stand in a circle and one person uses a basketball and spins it around. The hole used for pumping air indicates the person that should step out of the circle. The first half of people who step out are one team and the remaining are the opposing team.

3. Imaginary Line (quick teams): Someone uses their finger and draws an imaginary line between everyone. It's usually friends playing together or people standing on one side versus people standing on the other.

Obviously, there are differences between pick-up culture of mainland students and local students. If you go out to play, you should be aware of some differences. "Taking it back" past the 3-point line is the most important. I still get confused. When I played in the states, if the ball didn't touch the rim on a shot, then there was no need to take it back if there was a change in possession. However, in most games I've played, a change in possession off a shot means you should take it back no matter what.

Different cultures, different people

At HKUST, there are three primary groups of individuals that play pick-up, listed from largest proportion to smallest:

1. mainlanders subgrouped between (a) PG students and (b) UG students
2. locals, and
3. non-locals (inclusive of locals who have studied at international schools in Hong Kong).

Mainlanders are likely to play at the seafront court because they live on campus and there's simply no other place to play (well, there is a court on LG5 next to the parking lot, but for some reason no one really goes there...). In group number 1, you have the extremely competitive guys that play rough, take a lot of shots (in many cases, with good accuracy), and rarely pass to weaker players. You also have the not-so-competitive ones that come regularly with their friends. They play for fun and are usually not exclusive. Getting to know some of them has helped me play more games. A lot of them are very strong individual players. The Mainland Student and Scholar Society (MSSSUG) has their own team which plays against mainland student societies in other universities so I often see their captain at the courts.

Local students have active undergraduate hall lives. Usually, they play for their UG Hall (I through V) or for the departmental team (e.g., CBME, ECE, etc.). Most of them are friendly and, if you ask, they are very willing to let you play. I don't think they come to play as often because department events and UG hall events are pretty frequent. They have a lot of opportunities to play by booking the sports hall for society events or intramural sports. They hold regular practices together so sometimes there's no need for pick-up games. For example, ECE recently had a 3v3 tournament and there is an inter-hall competition every March/April.

Contrary to what one may think, there's almost like a great divide between local and mainland basketball groups. They play pick-up together just fine, but one would think that there would be more mainland students playing in departmental or student hall teams. It's simply not the case. The divide is true in more ways than just basketball, though (e.g. classrooms, social groups, etc.). The primary reason is language but, inherently, I think it's a culture thing. On the surface, it'll be more likely for you to play "together" with society teams if you could have rapid communication with everyone else. But if that was true, then how would I explain Cantonese-speaking mainlanders from the Guangdong province who still draw closer to their fellow mainlanders? A strange phenomenon, indeed.

International students are sometimes anomalies. But those that make friends with non-locals and locals are well-recognized and welcomed (i.e. - token "black" guys from various departments or European caucasians from the School of Business). Most Asians have a preconception that non-Asians are physically stronger (and taller). Thus, while Asians depend on finesse and shooting ability, it's difficult to overpower their caucasian counterparts. The conception is true in some cases but I feel that abilites are, for the most part, very even. Oh yeah, the vocal frequency of non-locals feels very different from groups 1 and 2. Maybe because I am a native English speaker, I feel that internationals are lot more vocal?

My personal experience

Over the summer, I saw one other girl with her boyfriend and mainland friends come to play. That group of friends was pretty light-hearted and fun. But since I have such a small female sample size, I can only speak for myself. There are compliments involved when shooting, passing well, and driving fancy. It's all very flattering but I think it's very normal. I feel like if a guy did that, it would be so normal. I honestly like the attention but let me save some face here by saying I started playing a lot at seafront so I could get better. Playing on the HKUST women's team taught me that there are a lot of girls in HK that can hoop so I'm definitely not a great female basketball player but at least I'm athletic enough to keep up with guys. So far, the only thing that's really improved is my passing and my tendency to fake a pass or shot. Also... confidence. 

I've never experienced or seen any antagonizing behavior. One time when I was playing pick-up in the states, I witnessed one of those stereotypical street-talking name-calling almost-brawls. "Man fights" I like to call them. It also depends on where you play I guess. Maybe somewhere out there on a Hong Kong public court, pick-up basketball is a lot different. And possibly a lot scarier. And I would not be welcomed.

I'm happy to report that basketball culture at HKUST is pretty awesome. Making new friends is very cool. I've had my problems before but again, I have to emphasize that basketball culture is so ubiquitous cross-culturally. On the weekends, I see the three groups play together all the time. And it makes me so happy to see it work despite our many differences.

We speak not only in English but in the language of basketball.

A waiting game

Time is my only nemesis.

I'm going to my final year at HKUST and I am ambivalent. The classes are gearing more towards real world applications.. engineering management, biomolecular engineering, process dynamics and control. But I'm optimistic. Today, I asked my professor from a my academic and professional development class (a 0-credit required course) to look at my resume and he did so without hesitation. He gave me helpful feedback on what to add and what to take away. And you know what? Even though there's a student deep down inside of me that is somehow afraid of asking my teachers questions and approaching them for life advice... I've never regretted doing it. They are always willing to lend an ear or a helping hand.

It's crazy to think that I was stepping into the unknown two years ago; what was an uncertainty then is still an uncertainty now. That with the added pressure of a "the real world" looming more formidably with each passing day. I wouldn't trade these experiences away. Ever. But after taking an unconventional path, I am in a transitory state. Will my venture in Hong Kong set me apart when applying for engineering jobs? Will it set me apart from other grad school applicants? Are all my critics justified? Will my supporters remain optimistic about my future?

These are the goals I've set for myself this semester.

1. Make the dean's list. (3.7+ GPA)
2. Attend/Land job interviews for at least two engineering companies.
3. Enjoy Hong Kong more! (Improve Cantonese and Mandarin)
4. Lose 15 pounds.
5. Take the GRE.
6. Apply to grad school.

As a side note, the best thing that I did in the U.S. this summer was have a candle-lit rooftop home-cooked steak and mashed potatoes dinner with an amazing date and KOST 103.5 playing in the background :).

A little bit of added happiness can make life so much more worthwhile.

Blurbs in July

Thinking about my future career...

& the future in general.

Those sci-fi books and my summer class make me really wonder...

where the future of this society might go as far as technology is concerned.

Did you know Google makes most of its money from advertisements?

Those advertisements influence us, the consumers.

But we rely on Google for information flow.

Google...

.....could rule the world. Maybe.

The world is a big place.

I occasionally ponder my place in this universe. There must be a reason for it. For life.

For some reason, I superficially wish I was pretty and skinny and beautiful. But I always fail my diet and exercise plan.

I guess that pretty much makes me a victim of society.

I feel like a salmon, constantly struggling upstream against society tides.

Wouldn't it just be easier to just go with the flow?

UROP @ HKUST (An International Student's Perspective)

When I say I'm a full-time student from the United States, people look at me quizzically. They might try to verify if I am really an exchange student instead. And when I say nay, they might point out to me that "people in Asia usually want to go to the U.S. to study, but [I] came [to Hong Kong]."

My usual response is that I wanted to do something different and find new experiences.

This situation has happened to me so many times that I sometimes wonder if I really am doing something worthwhile. Is being unique and having unique experiences enough? What if my critics are right? And what if that legion of supporters eventually becomes disappointed with where I end up?

In recent days, that hasn't been the case since I'm doing a summer UROP project. Although I would certainly lament that the bioengineering resources at HKUST are not that glamorous when compared with CDU/UCLA, I am convinced that coming here is part of a grander scheme.

First, the negative. The lab feels crowded with a lack of desk space and it is hard to keep things organized when there is so little space to keep our equipment. Compared with UCLA, our lab has a second-rate feel when you first walk in. Part of it is because we're in Hong Kong (where we would get purchase minicentrifuges and some of our less accurate micropipettes from China) and the other, more important, part of it is that the university hasn't allotted our department a lot of space because our department is still too young to truly predict its future trajectory. We should be getting more room soon though, since my PI just got promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor.

Another thing I would lament about HKUST is that it doesn't have a medical school or an on-site hospital, which is something I think that this university sorely needs--if it wants to step up its game and live up to the global ranking that it currently possesses (#1 in Asia). Since we are in the New Territories/Sai Kung region, I can see why we wouldn't have a hospital on campus. We're not exactly in the buzzing heart of Hong Kong. Still, I wonder why I haven't heard of any forward steps towards getting a medical center.

But what's great about HKUST UROP? Of course, any research experience is specific to the PI you have and I sought out my PI's mentorship for a long time before I got a project in her lab for the summer and our final year project. She was, in my opinion, the best chemical engineering teacher (Ying Chau) with interests that aligned with mine the most. What I didn't expect was the level of mentorship I'd receive from my coworker and the level of independent thinking I am encouraged to embrace. It was a pleasant surprise and a great reward. For an undergraduate student, I think HKUST is an incredible place to start doing research, especially since the competition for research projects is not very fierce (for the moment, at least). As far as I can tell, local student culture does not place as high a value on research experience as the student culture in the United States. So it means that there is a large window of opportunity for people who are serious about exploring research.

International students in research is a hidden charm about HKUST. To note, HKUST received a huge boost in ranking largely because of its number of international students as well as our international and renowned professors. Naturally, you'd see that manifest itself more in research than within the undergraduate student body (which I and many other internationals have many complaints about). For example, there are several people in my lab, all with very distinct personalities that may or may not have to do with culture. Two other undergraduate students, one hired from MIT, a guy from Bangladesh who worked in MIT for some time and has been to more foreign countries than I can count, a few others from mainland China, and a few locals. In another lab I worked in, we had a similar mix. I'd say that the casual English-Cantonese language use ratio is about 45-55, which is pretty good.

This summer has been good so far, but there are only a few weeks left.

And I am definitely looking forward to the trek home in late August. It's been a whole year since I last saw my family and hometown!

Phuket on a Budget

Air Asia -- a budget airlines based in Malaysia.

Phuket is like the Hawaii of Asia, as it is a destination of many budget airlines in the region. So as a logical following, we, poor college students and novice travelers, ventured on a 4 day, 4 night tourist-backpacking adventure to Thailand.

Helmet hair B-)

I know what you're thinking. While backpacking and tourism don't usually go together, that's basically what we did in our limited time. And I'd continue doing that even if we had had the money to do things in a luxurious manner. We struck a balance between the fun of "backpacking" and the odds and ends of tourism. That is, we budget hotel hopped through the help of Agoda, took public transportation, hired taxis, rented a motorbike, hitched a ride, went on an expensive daytrip tour, and ate at restaurants both on Trip Advisor and random ones we would pass by.

Granted we did all that in probably one of the most tourist-driven places in Asia but as novice travelers, I'll take that for now. The next logical steps, after all, are backpacking through China, extreme sports in South America, and cycling through Europe--items a little further down on my bucket list. I never imagined I'd be into traveling, but I guess Hong Kong has really opened me to the need for a cultural expansion of my own narrow world. In my view, travel had been for people who had money but I learned that people can carve their own definition of travel...

I'm inclined to believe that when you travel on a tight budget, you're forced to leave your comfort zone and be open-minded and open-hearted to people of different culture, habit, and taste. Yes, it's a big pain finding the best deals and it's hard to find a balance between planning things out and doing things spur-of-the-moment. But your experiences become uniquely immersed in the flavor of that place. Because, really, the core of a country consists of its people who don't live in the laps of luxury or run the fancy hotels. That's why it's so rewarding to see a country as a volunteer for the less privileged or as a long-term student who befriends local peers. I never had a clear view of why I've been doing things the way I have... I guess I'm starting to see why:

Public buses in Phuket

Deep down, I don't think people value "global experiences" because of the things they get to see but because of the things you allow yourself to feel through the people you interact with--people so intrinsically different from yourself, yet, in origin, the same.

I'm not saying that we immersed ourselves fully in Thai culture. I think, in Phuket, it's somewhat impossible to stray away from tourism completely. Plus the trip was intended to be a vacation, not a soul-searching journey. Still, one of the more telling experiences we had regarding Thai people was when Hieu and I tried to catch the public bus to Phuket Town from Karon Beach. We waited at a roadside cafe while we watched for the bus but since the bus only came around every 30 minutes, we were cutting it close with a flight in just under two and a half hours. And an hour and a half of public transport to get to the airport. After a some time we saw the bus speed by and we chased it down but it didn't stop (maybe it didn't see us or didn't care to stop, I have no idea). We ran but to no avail. It was gaining distance at a hopeless rate. Then a lady on a motorbike stopped and motioned that we could hitch ride with her. Skeptical, I asked if there was a charge but I don't know if she understood. Too skeptical, I looked hopelessly at the bus but she persisted and seemed like she genuinely wanted to help. So Hieu and I looked at each other and decided to take the chance. Then the three of us on a motorbike sped off and chased after the bus down Patak Road. Eventually we were able to flag down the public bus after maybe about a kilometer (there are no bus stops besides the bus terminals in Phuket). After dismounting, I wanted to thank her somehow but the only thing I was able to give her was a "thank you so much" before she sped off, waving off anything we might've given her as thanks. My conclusion? In Phuket, in spite of every one trying to make a living with their 'massage' parlors and 'taxi' businesses, there exists a very large proportion of very kind and friendly people. I doubt we would have been able to experience that if we were hiring taxis all the time.

And the places we visited are listed below. Over the course of time, I will have individual blogs about select experiences (*).

• Phuket International Airport
• Pensiri House, Nga Yang Beach
• Rotcharin Seafood Restaurant, Nga Yang Beach
• Silver Resortel, Patong Beach
• Patong Beach
• No. 6 Restaurant, Patong Beach
• John Gray's Sea Canoe Daytrip - Hong by Starlight, Phang Nga Bay *
• The Sweet Restaurant, Patong Beach
• Public bus terminals, Phuket Town
• The Old Phuket, Karon Beach
• Karon Beach
• Oasis (Scooter Rental), Karon Beach *
• Kata Noi Beach
• The Best Friend Restaurant, Karon Beach *
• Phuket Big Buddha *
• Sunset View Point Restaurant, near Phuket Big Buddha

4 days wasn't nearly enough to do everything we wanted but it was a fun adventure. Novice travellers ought to start somewhere, after all. Not sure if we'll return here but we'll definitely be back in Thailand one day to backpack in less touristy locations. :)

Overall, for one of my first times exploring a place outside of Hong Kong without any guides or people to follow, the trip was amazing. Many other people in this world have travelled to countless countries while I can still count how many I've visited on one hand. Do I feel deprived in any way? No. Just blessed that I've been able to experience life in the way that I have. On my terms. With life pulling more than a few serendipitous strings along the way.

Handsome boy on a motorbike ;D

Making kratong's during John Gray's Sea Canoe
Hong by Starlight trip

First beach we visited, Nga Yang Beach

Can you see the fish?! Can you?!

Brahminy kites! (a type of sea eagle)

View from the plane as we were leaving.

Taste of Thailand (Phuket)

"Amazing."


If there was ever a place in the world I would visit just for the eats, it might just be Thailand. This land was full of amazing tasting pad thai, tom yum, fried rice, etc etc. I will forever be telling people of the amazing eats in Thailand... and how cheap everything was!!! Too much goodness to blog about. I shall just leave a photo memoir here:

Restaurants

Rotcharin SeaFood Restaurant on Nga Yang Beach

These condiments baskets were a popular phenom
in Thai restaurants

& of course there were the typical Western restaurants

A random roadside restaurant in Karon
"Best Friend Restaurant"
Was an excellent choice!

Sunset View Point restaurant on the way down from
the Phuket Big Buddha

Main Courses

Pineapple fried rice in a pineapple.. first dish we had during our trip! (Rotcharin SeaFood)

Papaya Salad - Spicy (Rotcharin SeaFood)

Pad Thai with Prawn (Rotcharin SeaFood)

Fried Rice with Prawn (No. 6 Restaurant)

Yom Yum Soup with Prawn and Coconut Milk (No. 6 Restaurant)

Salad (John Gray's - Hong By Starlight)

Just a bunch of amazing food... (John Gray's - Hong by Starlight)

Tom Yum with Prawn (John Gray's - Hong by Starlight)

Chicken Curry (John Gray's - Hong by Starlight)

Stir-fried squid in Thai curry sauce (The Sweet Restaurant)

Pad Thai with Prawn (Best Friend Restaurant)

Drinks

Non-alcoholic, of course.

Desserts and Snacks

Mango Sweet Sticky Rice (The Sweet Restaurant)

Coconut Ice Cream (near the Phuket Big Buddha)