Day 3!

(I had some issues formatting photos, so apologies for any issues)

G’day, it is your resident Australian reporting in for their turn posting on the blog (it’s me, Cameron!). Today was our third full day in Hong Kong, and there is plenty to report back on. Since no one has mentioned anything about it yet, I figured that I would start by outlining the main way we have all been getting around Hong Kong.

Because the city is densely populated, it makes sense that public transportation is the main means for getting around the city. To use the public transportation, they have a system similar to that in London and Sydney (and I am sure many other cities), in which you tap a card on and off that automatically charges you for your trip. It’s called an Oyster card here in Hong Kong, and you can even use it to pay for food, as well as public transportation!

To start of our day, we payed a visit to the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. There was a small incident in which someone may or may not have left their phone on the bus on the way to the hospital, but thankfully the staff there were happy to help, and they were able to recover the phone and return in within half an hour (quite a big relief)! We were shown a short video, and then given a tour of the premises. It was really interesting to see all of the different facilities that they had available to serve all of the possible different needs of the patients.

A group photo taken at the end of our hospital visit

After this, we made our way over to M-Labs where we were shown some open source quantum computing technology. It was fascinating to learn about the different things that they were working on, even if it was a little over the heads of some of the people in the group. The most interesting part of the visit to me was how the business owner decided to start their work in Hong Kong, as it was cheaper and more efficient for what they wanted to do! Even though they would not be getting as much governmental support, the decreased import tariffs and red tape seemed to be a worthwhile trade off for the business owner.

A photo taken during the middle of the tour at M-Labs

Finished with the tour, we were then given free reign over the rest of our evening. The group of people that I was with decided to go shopping for a little bit at some nearby malls, before heading back to the hotel. We decided that some coffee was necessary in order to wake us up (since we were still feeling a little jet lagged) and so we headed to a nearby coffee shop. The store had a quaint and cute aesthetic, and it was good to rest the legs after a few long days of what seemed like non-stop walking!

To finish up the day, some of us decided to take a quick dip into the nearby hot tub at the YMCA that was attached to our hotel. It was a nice way to relax, and it was well deserved after so much walking in the last few days. Unfortunately photos do not quite capture how the city looks at night, but I have found it fascinating to wander around Hong Kong at night, and get to see all the bright lights and advertisements scattered around the many high rise buildings. While it is nothing quite like time’s square in New York, it definitely has it’s own charm. So instead of a picture of this, I will instead finish the blog with a time lapse that Justin took while we were waiting for our beverages at the coffee shop.