Had my second paper today and it's on the Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry course. Not too bad I guess but I didn't manage to solve a question because I didn't bother to memorize some facts. The style of the exam was pretty weird - 18 questions in 3 hours; all compulsory questions. It's tiring and challenging in a way and I went for toilet break again (The first time was last Friday's Advanced Organic exam) as my limit is a 2 hours paper I guess.

Something pretty amusing happened during the exam today. 10mins after the start of the exam, Prof. Leung wrote something on the white board which goes something like "Check paper on 221205 and Grades will be out on 241205". I was kinda shock by that because I didn't know that the system here is so liberal that students are allowed to check their marked scripts and know their results directly from the profs. Hmm maybe that's something that NUS should follow. Anyway the amusing part was that Prof Leung came over and asked me when will I be returning to Singapore and chit-chatted with me for a while! Later on, he returned again saying that I can checked my scripts earlier. After the exam, he announced that exchange students can check their scripts this Wed! Hmm will be quite stress then as I think the Advanced Organic result will be out on Wednesday as well.

I went to yum cha with Alice and Ah Seng (with his friend) after the exam; we played table tennis after that! During dinner time, Emily and I both agreed that taking exams here seemed pretty relaxed.

Oh yah, Alice and I went to look for Prof. Wu to see if he has marked our scripts. :p He actually took it out and said he hasn't mark it yet and he looked through our scripts to see if we have committed any serious mistakes. True enough, I have made some silly mistakes and Alice's one is nearly flawless. Following that, he talked about wanting to have a better organized notes for Advanced Organic Chemistry and both of us offered to help him. I think it'll be great fun coming out with a mini book for this course. At the same time, we can learn more; over here, I can really experience that there are many more things beyond examinations. I seriously feel that this exchange to HK has really made me jump out of my tiny little comfort zone.

Lamma island seemed so different from Peng Chau and Lantau Island. It's no wonder people said that every island in HK has some special characteristics. It is very westernized as compared to the other islands, probably because it is closest to Central and many Caucasians live here/ come here for holiday.

I managed to catch the 0840 ferry there and I was there pretty early (around 0910) before any bicycle shop opens for business. Basically, I walked almost one round the road linking the island and it was a pretty interesting experience. I walked pass the main street before I reached the Hung Sing Yeh Beach where I had a clear view of the Power Station.

After that, I continue my journey towards the south side of the island and the walk was pretty rocky before I reach Picnic Bay.

Picnic Bay looked a little like Tai O and I nearly thought that it was a mini Tai O. After a closer look, not really. :p

A short walk along the coast will lead you to the Kamikaze Grottos. This is directly quoted from the display: "Along Picnic Bay, there are several grottos about 10 metres wide and several tens of metres deep. They are named after the locals as Kamikaze Grottos. It is said that during the Second World War, the Japanese army took Lo So Shing as a naval port and thousands of soldiers were stationed there. The Japanese had a plan to hide some speedboats in the grottos, which would launch a suicidal attack on the Allies' warship if they passed by. But the war ended before the work had been completed."

Anyway, saw this pretty interesting picture on Lamma island before I continued my journey from Picnic Bay:

Following that, after about an hour of walk, I reached this place call Shek Pai Wan and it resembles 天涯海角 in Hainan Island.

The walk along the southern part of Lamma Island was a loop and I ended in Picnic Bay. From there, I walked back to where I came from initally and this time round, I'm looking for the windmill that I saw when I stepped onto Lamma island. I heard from Frankie that this is the only windmill in HK! I bought a sausage from main street and the guy told me it's a 20mins walk away. After I walked for 10mins and everything didn't seem right, I asked a guy riding on a vehicle; he told me I'll need 30mins from there! Hmm I was thinking probably the former guy runs there and this guy strolls there. Anyway I managed to find it in the end and here it is:

I took the 3pm ferry to return to HK Island. After that, I wanted to got to Tsing Ma Bridge Visitor center but apparently I ended up in the Airport Core Programme Center (a place which I always wanted to go!). Well, all thanks to the Visitor's guide which "guided" me to take the wrong minibus. Anyway I enjoyed the visit to the Airport Core Programme Centre as it made me understand how the new HK airport and Tsing Ma bridge came about and most importantly, the architecture wonder of the Tsing Ma Bridge. Not only is it the longest suspension bridge in the world but it was so well planned that during bad weather condition, cars can travel below the bridge! Anyway the MTR and Airport Express travel beneath the bridge as well. It's a very enriching and enlightening visit.

Finally, I took a minibus to the nearest MTR station and took train to Ngau Tau Kok to buy dinner back to UST to dine with Emily. A pretty fulfilling and enjoyable day indeed.

I had my first exam paper today and it's on Advanced Organic Chemistry. When it's over, I was so glad as that's the course I'm most worried about. The paper was unexpectedly easy (I made quite a no. of careless mistake though), probably because Prof. Wu do not want to kill those without organic background; apparently, some of the graduate students have problems with the course because of the lack of organic background. Anyway we had photo taking today with Prof. Wu at the sundial near the atrium.

After the exams, Emily and I went to meet up with one of her aunt at Mong Kok and we had dinner at one of the eateries. I ordered a dish called curry pork chop rice and when it arrived, the curry appeared very spicy. Upon tasting it, it's not as spicy as it appeared and in fact, it tasted great! We walked around Ladies' street for a while before her aunt departed back to her brother's place. Emily and I walked down Nathan Road and went to Tsim Sha Tsui to admire the Hong Kong skyline.

I don't know why but I always enjoy looking at the skyline of Hong Kong, especially during night time. It's so beautiful and magnificent.

I'll be going to Lamma island tomorrow. I guess it'll be a fun day. :)

I'll be having my first exam this Friday; there's a inorganic quiz tomorrow and a Math assignment due on Wednesday. I guess after the exam on Friday, I should be pretty relieve as that should be the most challenging exam.

For the past 3 days, Emily and I went to Zhuhai and Macau for a weekend getaway. The Macau trip was incoporated in due to the fact that I signed up for the Galaxy Resort Macau International Marathon. I'll talk about Zhuhai first. Comparing to Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Zhuhai is much cleaner and well organized. It's a very green city and it's nicknamed the City of one thousand island. We basically visited some of the best attractions in Zhuhai which includes Shijing Shan scenic spot, the representative statue of Zhuhai, Zhuhai museum etc.


On Saturday, we crossed over the custom at Gongbei to Macau. The difference in culture is evident from the striking difference in the building and streets as compared to that across the border. It is a place of rich Portuguese culture. Suzana brought us around and she's really a good guide, telling us about the history of Macau and brought us to taste some of the representative food of Macau which includes a Portuguese dinner, Portuguese egg tarts and a Las Vegas buffet dinner at Sands Casino, one of the newest and biggest casino in Macau.

What about the Half Marathon that I took part in? Well, I ran a pretty good timing of 2 hours 9 mins despite the fact that I didn't train much in HK (I guess the various hiking trips do help :p). That's not the point though; the key point is, it's challenging to run in the cold and even more challenging when you are running against the strong cold wind! At the end of the run, though I didn't sweat a bit, I was nearly frozern :p