Mountain Day P. II.

Today was really packed. After class, my learning buddy took me to a dumpling house in Tuen Mun. She also wanted to take me to a park nearby, and thought I would especially like it because “it’s very Chinese.” After wandering for a bit downtown, we made our way to the park which is situated behind the huge local mall. It turns out that the park really was Chinese in style, and there were even a few groups of older people singing songs in concert-like fashion (one of which I recognized!) underneath the small gazebo/pagodas scattered around. I really felt like I got to know my learning buddy better today. After finding a nice place to sit and enjoy the sun and music, I found out she works for the United Nations, and has interned for the UN in Thailand before. She also told me more about her family background. Originally, her grandfather was a member of the colonial police force, brought over from colonial India (modern-day Pakistan). She has returned to Pakistan once, and told me that she sometimes thinks about what her life might be like if her grandfather never came to Hong Kong and she was born in Pakistan instead. She said that she may have been married and had kids by this point, but instead she is studying at Lingnan on scholarship, and enjoys the high standard of living here. After listening to a few canto songs by the old lady bands and touring the reptile house in the middle of the park, we proceeded to the market downtown, where I had another amazing egg custard tart. Originally a Portuguese invention, the tart probably arrived in HK years ago from Macao. I can’t stress enough how delicious they are with a really flakey crust and a warm center. We then took the bus back to campus, and I think I finally have a good idea of how to walk to town center. Later in the day, the group went for waffles to celebrate one of the Lingnan student’s birthdays, and then immediately after hiked the fourth tallest peak in HK with the husband of one of our professors.