Here is a picture of some of this year’s group getting a tour of one of the largest local international/Asian supermarkets in Quincy called Kam Man.  The market place offers a full service kitchen with fresh duck and chicken served and cut to order.  In addition, there is a TCM pharmacy, fresh seafood in tanks, thousands of different spices and products as well as a bakery.  I like to spend time walking through the supermarket with students sharing all I know about Chinese culture, products,cooking, and herbal medicines.

It’s always important to inject a dose of humor into international travel.  I recently came across this funny picture from a service called “ifunny”  which demonstrated a situation where someone left their Facebook account open on their phone as it was going security at an airport.  A humorous but poignant reminder to secure your electronics!

Hong Kong is probably one of only a very few places where one can try just about any type of dish served in the world.  Dim Sum is a Cantonese style of food preparation where small dishes and/or dumplings are mostly steamed and served in small bamboo baskets.  It’s very healthy, delicious and economical.  I like to take groups of students out to a local dim sum restaurant before we arrive in Hong Kong so they can sample the food before we arrive.

Here is a picture of a group of students I took for dim sum a few month ago in one of the more well known dim sum restaurants in Boston called The China Pearl.

Before heading off to Hong Kong, students must go through a “pre-departure” orientation.  This consists of several meetings in a classroom where we go over the specifics of the trip, the academic requirements, field trip locations, cultural excursions as well as advice on traveling abroad, health and security.

In addition, I also take students out to eat at a local dim sum restaurant where they can sample a taste of the food they will be eating, as well a tour of one of the largest Asian supermarkets in the area.