Chung Chi and the Philosophy Walk.

Darn. I tried so hard to make some sort of pun about Harry Potter here. Oh well.

Words to come. Photo dump now. Only from the past morning, though. My camera died at the point where I could actually take amazing pictures of a Hong Kong open air market, but I have some great snippets of the valley of campus near the train station. Stay tuned... Hopefully a friend or two will post some of them to Facebook and I can swipe them and bring them here.

Anywho. If there really was anything quite as relatable in Hong Kong life to the standard college life in the US, it has to be one thing: registration sucks. Because it didn't quite go the way I wanted it to... I was pretty inanely angry. To cool off, I decided to walk all the way to the bottom of campus and back up... probably a half hour each way, exploring the whole way, and trying to get pictures of things I've seen to note just how spectacular this one hillside is... The purest juxtaposition of wilderness and modernity I've ever seen. Also, I had to pick up some forms from the train station. Might as well use it as a therapy as well.

First, I made it a mission of sorts to find these catwalks, which will be explained more later.

Going from the basic sciences building to the engineering building. Or something. All buildings here seem to be basic sciences and engineering anyway. I can't be too wrong.

This one goes... I don't really know.

There is the engineering building (which we'll come back to later), with accompanying catwalk from the medical building, if I remember right.

Stumbled here again. But this time I wanted to give a close up.

It's just an architectural marvel to me. Sitting on ancient rock formations, and then built into this sleek, hyper-modern design amidst a forest on a hill... It forever altered my perception of how one can build.

This rock formation was literally 100 meters from the earlier post.

Eventually I made it down to the train station, and it was strangely enjoyable, the walk. Soothing. I was so focused on finding quality observations on the way down that I had calmed myself through the distraction. Plus, visually awe-inspiring sights have that effect anyway. Maybe I knew that subconsciously. Occasionally, voluntary solitude can be the best kind of medicine.

At the train station, I got some necessary forms for my student-discounted Octopus Card (given that most rides are less than US$1, with a 50% discount... How could I ever resist the deals), but I looked back at campus and discovered quite the treat.

There it is, from ground level. The diversity of the foliage, the jutting architecture, the endless slope, even against a somewhat murky sky... Everything popped. The most bizarrely beautiful campus I've seen.

Inside the train station. This little penguin instructs people to have a safe journey using the escalators. No, there's no mascot for safe use of the insanely fast trains. Only for the escalator down. As if there aren't dozens of escalators in each and every mall. The Chinese, everyone.

Moved onto the recreational soccer fields for a closer look or two...

Looking back at the train station. Even here, look at the integration of development and forest. Our station is actually one of the smallest around, and it still was fully operational with a small shopping complex on the other side.

So after walking on the field for a little, I made my way over to the treat I was really looking for since I've gotten here... The Philosophy Path. It was really just a small walk through a lake and some more soothing Chinese landscape elements, but given my relative lack of knowledge about anything Chinese culture not talking about communism, I looked to further find my inner harmony through silently enjoying these sights.

The crooked bridge, accompanied by a lily pond. Keep in mind... If you look up, you see modern architecture. Again, the segmentation of lifestyles in whatever means possible is being accomplished. No land is without some use, either with loyalties to tradition or modernity.

From the lake at the end of the path.

The very traditional structures at the other side of the lake, with the university in the background. The juxtaposition. Mmm.

The curved bridge, the answer to the crooked bridge. Part of the history behind the philosophy path is that the lake and pathways go in a circle, symbolizing that the quest for knowledge in all respects never ends. No matter how much one tries, one should always look for the path of attaining the most knowledge possible. There's definitely Chinese wisdom in that.

Looking back. Again, the foliage.

Intermittent streaks of blue began to appear by this point. It was almost noon, which is typically when the morning island haze would drift off, making way for slightly warmer temperatures and more picturesque equator-bordering climates.

Surprise! A koi pond.

Looking back at the pond as I began my journey upward. Goal number two. Get pleasantly lost going up. Don't take the familiar path. This involved going through Chung Chi college, the southernmost campus, and wandering for a bit. This part of campus is home to some staff housing, postgraduate housing, and a lot more parking than to its higher-elevated neighboring colleges, but the valley did offer some great sights.

And happily, I stumbled into the campus chapel.

It wasn't open at the time because the main priest/pastor was out at lunch, but, noting the trees to the right, shows the height of the building.

The manger from Christmastime was still set up. And look what an homage it was.

Walking behind the chapel, I found a stringing path up in the forest. I figured that since it goes up, it had to be somewhat in the right direction. So I took it. This was a wonderful choice. A stream ran against me nearly the entire trek up.

Small stone bridges and waterfalls marked path as it zigzagged schizoid to the the path. Seemed almost as if they would cross ad infinitum.

Just barely, I could make out the engineering building from the understory of the forest.

The very end featured a colossal stairway, perhaps a moniker for the entrance back into civilization. That was the first handrail featured in the walk.

The internationally-ranked engineering school was housed here. I wanted to see the catwalks and hopefully find a shortcut, so I snuck in.

And lookie what I saw out of the window of the tenth story. Yeah, I'm a bit obsessed.

And again, I found roofs. I found as many would seem rational on the further walk up.

I don't have any idea which building this comes from, but the view of Sha Tin and its myriad, yet homogenized residential apartments caught my eye. It's amazing. Everyone lives in these. It's the norm to live in an apartment for the duration of a lifetime. Apartments aren't the stepping stone. They're the final destination.

In the elevator lobby that I take to get back up to New Asia. A new promotional push on campus was the importing of Vitamin Water (straight from New York -- how funny is that), which seemed to have a duty on it in comparison to like-sized beverages with Cantonese characters on them. Based on what seemed like a simple exporting job by the folks at Vitamin Water (didn't even attempt to use Cantonese, which is the conversational majority BY FAR in the region), I don't know if they will last through the semester. Pretty poor international marketing job, folks.  (Geek out here). (Also, the slogan here - "true beauty doesn't need it"... Are they enticing people to NOT buy their product? Come on now. Even with the apparent price cut.)

Still haven't gotten over the fact that I'll be taking the elevator to class most days.

Finally, I realized that there must be access somehow to the roof of my own dorm. Obviously, I took the challenge head-on. And found quite the scene...

I love how the neighboring islands of the New Territories just fade into oblivion. Tangible, yet an entire world away. Even with the distance of the neighboring megalopolis closely pursuing these tiny islands... They remain untouched.

Looking out more from the harbor.

A very sophisticated pipe system laid on top of the roof through which I meandered.

And finally, I was able to make it home for a few hours. Just to sit and relax. Finally met one of my roommates! He's from Beijing, and his name starts with S... His English roommate last year called him "Strawberry" and the name stuck, because it vaguely resembles that word.

I'll finish this post here, but again, that was only the morning. Later that day, there was a traditional Hong Kong hotpot dinner that I attended, made some amazing friends, perused the town, murdered life sea creatures, and had my first taste of off-campus here.

Here's the last picture that my camera took before dying. It's a simple one of the mayhem on the subway as we rode into Sha Tin Wai, where our open air market dining was held. Trust me, you'll want to see more once I get a photo or two. I felt like I was on the Travel Channel or something.

And even though I looked for my inner peace this entire morning, and discovered some amazing sights within the confines of my cozy campus, there's no substitute to Hong Kong life. It's fast-paced, technology-literate (as in, nobody blinks an eye to the standard of technology here), yet continually paying homage to its roots, both English and Chinese. That makes it the strangest roux of sometimes self-contradicting premises you'll ever see. And it's not as if pointing it out will do anything. It's Hong Kong. It's a way of life. 

Everything here has a new definition. Fun seems to be one lost in the translation from English and Southern China. You can see the struggle in the eyes of some who just came here to party on thirtieth floor bars, and then against the workers here, who probably haven't seen the downtown districts in years. Yet, through all of the muddle, I'm beginning to pick up the subtleties that defines this life. This give and take. I was able to lose myself in a town of 7 million and come out refreshed. It's all I can really do sometimes, especially the yearning homebody in me. But through and through, I feel obligated to show Hong Kong in its true colors. Not surprisingly, it's as convoluted as the technicolor skyscraper on campus. Hong Kong is defined in part by its nuance. For every point, there seems to be a counterpoint. For all of the modesty of the native students, there's also the willingness to help out and become close. For all of the lights and sleek catwalks on parts of campus, there is still a traditional Chinese herbal medicine garden. It's Hong Kong. Somewhere in there, there's the truth. And the truth, the real unabashed Hong Kong, is a tradeoff. As I begin to twist through these subtleties and apparent contradictions, I'm hoping to stumble into something greater that not only will change your perception of Hong Kong, but my perception of myself. 

I'm way too far from home to not take this for granted. Even just for the blink of an eye.