My day started at 9am - the earliest this whole trip! Justin was still sleeping after a raucous night I am sure, but I went on a 10k charity walk with his family. mwuahaha again! Apparently there are 4 international USC offices, and one of them is in HK. This walk is open to any organization or company and the USC alumni participate every year. His mom is really active in it. First of all, our group took the most pictures. I mean, every few yards we needed to group up and take 10 photos on everyone's cameras. Second, it was uphill for the first 2 hours! What the hell. Really pretty views though. Actually the highest point was right around where Veronica lives. We bailed two thirds of the way through at the boring part, which was totally fine with me.
Then we had dim sum at the City Hall dim sum place. Bill Clinton has had dim sum here. I don't know his taste in food actually, but this was really good. I didn't eat anything weird here.
Then Gloria helped me buy a jade pendant for my mom, which I tried to do last night, but was too sketched out by the jewelry stores. She took me to ones that definitely have real stuff and bargained it down for me, so that was awesome. Then we took the needed tram ride and walked around the market at North point. She was really cute because she clearly never goes to these produce markets, and she was walking through it very daintily.
Then we joined up with Justin and Henry and had coffee, after which JC and I had dinner with Veronica and some other friends. This time there was more English, so I could actually participate in the conversation. Yay. I took off after boba though because the station switched again to Chinese and because I wanted to pack and finish this. Which brings me to the present time. This is really weird. What movie was that in where they are watching the present time? Or is that hitchhikers guide...? Nevermind I'm delirious now. Buh bye.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Wong Tai Sin Temple & Chi Lin Nunnery
OK, the next two blogs are going to be really short because it's 12:30am on Sunday night and I gotta get up in 7hrs for my flight home! But there is no way I am finishing this when I get back, so here goes.
Yesterday I did the whole day myself (go me) because JC needed to hang out with parents, do errands, etc. Veronica suggested I check out these two places, and it was definitely worth the trip out to the outskirts of Kowloon City.
The Wong Tai Sin temple's deity grants wishes related to money, so it's really popular. I took some awesome pictures there and that whole day actually. But there's so much incense! It was really busy with people praying, so there was smoke everywhere. There were also a family giving a whole pig with all the dressings in front of the temple!
So the thing to do there is to get your fortune read. You have to get this container of flat sticks that you shake until one falls out. Then you write down the number on the stick and take it to a fortune teller. So I did and the fortune is actually a story. My story is I am a student, and I am rowing a boat around and around, until I find a cave. In this cave I will find paradise. This I have to do in the spring, so 3 months from now. I better go find a life vest. The fortune for my whole life was going to cost extra, and I decided to opt out.
The next stop was the Chi Lin Nunnery, but on my walk to it I found a garden across the street that isn't even in the guidebook (go me again). It's called Nan Lian and it is gorgeous. Its purpose is just to have a traditional Chinese garden to promote Chinese culture. I guess it's part of the drive to root out British influence from HK. It's awesome. I will not even describe it because you will see pictures and I'm so sleepy. Oh, but one thing that I couldn't take pictures of is this exhibit in the back. It's one artist that does wood carvings, Cheung Pak-Yue. I wanted to write this down since I had it scribbled somewhere because when I have money I am going to need some of his stuff. These carvings are amazing, and unfortunately they didn't have any books with pictures of them at all. I dunno, may be if I go to real China there is a ton of this stuff there, but I've definitely never seen that kind of intricate carving before.
Then I went to the nunnery, which has a lilly pond in the front, so I took a million pictures there. For some reason though I exited the pond through some side entrance, and I went around the back of buildings. But there is a temple in the back that's really tall so I knew I was going the right way. I went right past the no admittance sign because I had a feeling this was the only way I was going to see this thing, and sure enough, after wandering around for half an hour I heard someone yelling at me. Turns out it was past closing, so I got escorted out by security! When I got yelled at I was in the middle of observing a really pretty "hall" as they call it with gilded stuff. It had a no pictures sign, so I obeyed, and I will just have this written down so it reminds me.
Anyway, all of this stuff was so beautiful and amazing and I think that was my favorite day.
It wasn't over yet because I still had to go to the night market. Unfortunately I started at the wrong end. I think I wrote about this already. I didn't find the good stuff until the end, but couldn't spend any more money. In that respect the guide book was right - I should've gone to the dot on the map. But because of this I was able to get something 75% off because I literally couldn't give her any more. Learning, learning...
Yesterday I did the whole day myself (go me) because JC needed to hang out with parents, do errands, etc. Veronica suggested I check out these two places, and it was definitely worth the trip out to the outskirts of Kowloon City.
The Wong Tai Sin temple's deity grants wishes related to money, so it's really popular. I took some awesome pictures there and that whole day actually. But there's so much incense! It was really busy with people praying, so there was smoke everywhere. There were also a family giving a whole pig with all the dressings in front of the temple!
So the thing to do there is to get your fortune read. You have to get this container of flat sticks that you shake until one falls out. Then you write down the number on the stick and take it to a fortune teller. So I did and the fortune is actually a story. My story is I am a student, and I am rowing a boat around and around, until I find a cave. In this cave I will find paradise. This I have to do in the spring, so 3 months from now. I better go find a life vest. The fortune for my whole life was going to cost extra, and I decided to opt out.
The next stop was the Chi Lin Nunnery, but on my walk to it I found a garden across the street that isn't even in the guidebook (go me again). It's called Nan Lian and it is gorgeous. Its purpose is just to have a traditional Chinese garden to promote Chinese culture. I guess it's part of the drive to root out British influence from HK. It's awesome. I will not even describe it because you will see pictures and I'm so sleepy. Oh, but one thing that I couldn't take pictures of is this exhibit in the back. It's one artist that does wood carvings, Cheung Pak-Yue. I wanted to write this down since I had it scribbled somewhere because when I have money I am going to need some of his stuff. These carvings are amazing, and unfortunately they didn't have any books with pictures of them at all. I dunno, may be if I go to real China there is a ton of this stuff there, but I've definitely never seen that kind of intricate carving before.
Then I went to the nunnery, which has a lilly pond in the front, so I took a million pictures there. For some reason though I exited the pond through some side entrance, and I went around the back of buildings. But there is a temple in the back that's really tall so I knew I was going the right way. I went right past the no admittance sign because I had a feeling this was the only way I was going to see this thing, and sure enough, after wandering around for half an hour I heard someone yelling at me. Turns out it was past closing, so I got escorted out by security! When I got yelled at I was in the middle of observing a really pretty "hall" as they call it with gilded stuff. It had a no pictures sign, so I obeyed, and I will just have this written down so it reminds me.
Anyway, all of this stuff was so beautiful and amazing and I think that was my favorite day.
It wasn't over yet because I still had to go to the night market. Unfortunately I started at the wrong end. I think I wrote about this already. I didn't find the good stuff until the end, but couldn't spend any more money. In that respect the guide book was right - I should've gone to the dot on the map. But because of this I was able to get something 75% off because I literally couldn't give her any more. Learning, learning...
Saturday, January 5, 2008
The Big Buddha
Friday we finally went to see the biggest Buddha on the planet! Oh, first we had Mak noodles with Veronica and her friend whose name I forgot, sitting at this tiny table. I had prawn noodles. Very yummy. I love how places here have tiny stools and tables where you have to be really efficient at positioning your food and chopsticks. By the way I rule at chopsticks now.
Then Justin and I went our separate way to see the BB. To get to it you take the MTR and then a cable car. Oh I totally forgot to mention that they have cell towers in the subway!
The Big Buddha is located on Lantau Island, which also has Disney Land HK on the other side of the island. The MTR goes to the island and then you take the cable car from there over the mountains to Ngong Ping, which is a town built just for this statue. The cable car had a malfunction about 6 months ago where one car just fell from the line. There was no one in it at the time, but obviously that's kind of a problem. So they closed for the following 6 months and redid the system completely (supposedly), and they actually just reopened New Years eve. Needless to say I was a little nervous, especially considering my fear of heights. Justin was trying to freak me out too that punk. It was very pretty, just smoggy. The smog there is same or even worse than LA. Today we were hiking on the ridge of a hill, and we looked up at the sky and could see the gradual color change from bright perfect blue to brownish. It was crazy, I've never seen anything like that before. Should've taken a picture.
Back to the gondola ride, we decided that the mountains on Lantau would make a great ski resort, and all you need to do is just make a shitload of fake snow. But first we must build up capital by working at Second Sight. Oh wait...
Anyway, as soon as we cleared the highest peak we saw the buddha. It was really cool because the view from the gondola is his silhouette, and it's just giant! It's 34m high! You'll see pics, but just imagine rolling hills in the distance, and on top of one of them is this perfect huge silhouette of a buddha. It was like something out of a movie. We read about the construction in the gift shop, which I am now realizing is inside of it, and it's pretty interesting. They made a small model first and then used software to translate the coordinates for the real thing.
First thing's first, we had ice cream as soon as we got to the town (of course you have to walk past all the shops on the way in and out). Justin scoffed at the "mainlanders" touring there, and how he has not been this far from HK island for years. Then we walked around a bit at the bottom to the temple near by and the huge hot incense pot. I gotta say, touring these temples is awesome, but I really hate the smell of incense.
Then we almost died scaling the 268 steps up to the thing. It was really pathetic. We decided he needs to stop smoking and I need to start exercising more. Then, well, what can I say, it's a ginormous buddha. It's really cool. Took as many pictures as I could. It's kinda hard to get the whole thing in when you're up there!
The rest is the same, just in reverse hehe. Except we bought a couple trinkets instead of ice cream. After this Justin and I needed a break, so he went to do errands and I went to check out the Western district, which has a lot of antique shops. Unfortunately I was too late (around 6pm) so everything was closed. Kind of a waste of an hour. I followed the lights and people and finally ended up back in Lan Kwai Fong. I found this out because I walked up some stairs and ran into Benson! Actually I already started to head back down when I heard my name called. I would probably not have turned around if I didn't have an uncommon name, at least in this country. :) Plus I was curious who this other Natasha was. Anyway, apparently Benson and Prudence had just finished dinner with her mom, so they gave me a ride home.
I met up with Justin, Veronica, and another one of her friends later at a Korean bbq place in Causeway bay (of course) for dinner, after which I decided to call it a night. I did the same thing tonight. That's why I've been able to write more, which is cool. My days are plenty full and I am so glad I did a blog. My memory is so bad!
Then Justin and I went our separate way to see the BB. To get to it you take the MTR and then a cable car. Oh I totally forgot to mention that they have cell towers in the subway!
The Big Buddha is located on Lantau Island, which also has Disney Land HK on the other side of the island. The MTR goes to the island and then you take the cable car from there over the mountains to Ngong Ping, which is a town built just for this statue. The cable car had a malfunction about 6 months ago where one car just fell from the line. There was no one in it at the time, but obviously that's kind of a problem. So they closed for the following 6 months and redid the system completely (supposedly), and they actually just reopened New Years eve. Needless to say I was a little nervous, especially considering my fear of heights. Justin was trying to freak me out too that punk. It was very pretty, just smoggy. The smog there is same or even worse than LA. Today we were hiking on the ridge of a hill, and we looked up at the sky and could see the gradual color change from bright perfect blue to brownish. It was crazy, I've never seen anything like that before. Should've taken a picture.
Back to the gondola ride, we decided that the mountains on Lantau would make a great ski resort, and all you need to do is just make a shitload of fake snow. But first we must build up capital by working at Second Sight. Oh wait...
Anyway, as soon as we cleared the highest peak we saw the buddha. It was really cool because the view from the gondola is his silhouette, and it's just giant! It's 34m high! You'll see pics, but just imagine rolling hills in the distance, and on top of one of them is this perfect huge silhouette of a buddha. It was like something out of a movie. We read about the construction in the gift shop, which I am now realizing is inside of it, and it's pretty interesting. They made a small model first and then used software to translate the coordinates for the real thing.
First thing's first, we had ice cream as soon as we got to the town (of course you have to walk past all the shops on the way in and out). Justin scoffed at the "mainlanders" touring there, and how he has not been this far from HK island for years. Then we walked around a bit at the bottom to the temple near by and the huge hot incense pot. I gotta say, touring these temples is awesome, but I really hate the smell of incense.
Then we almost died scaling the 268 steps up to the thing. It was really pathetic. We decided he needs to stop smoking and I need to start exercising more. Then, well, what can I say, it's a ginormous buddha. It's really cool. Took as many pictures as I could. It's kinda hard to get the whole thing in when you're up there!
The rest is the same, just in reverse hehe. Except we bought a couple trinkets instead of ice cream. After this Justin and I needed a break, so he went to do errands and I went to check out the Western district, which has a lot of antique shops. Unfortunately I was too late (around 6pm) so everything was closed. Kind of a waste of an hour. I followed the lights and people and finally ended up back in Lan Kwai Fong. I found this out because I walked up some stairs and ran into Benson! Actually I already started to head back down when I heard my name called. I would probably not have turned around if I didn't have an uncommon name, at least in this country. :) Plus I was curious who this other Natasha was. Anyway, apparently Benson and Prudence had just finished dinner with her mom, so they gave me a ride home.
I met up with Justin, Veronica, and another one of her friends later at a Korean bbq place in Causeway bay (of course) for dinner, after which I decided to call it a night. I did the same thing tonight. That's why I've been able to write more, which is cool. My days are plenty full and I am so glad I did a blog. My memory is so bad!
Causeway Bay...again
Thursday was a repeat of trying to wake up to do something and getting up too late. I think I woke up at 12 and got Justin up because we were going to go see the Big Buddha (that's really what it's called). By the time I had breakfast, showered, wrote a bit in this thing, then made Justin finally get his butt moving, it was 3! So it was too late for the Big Buddha, too late for Ocean Park (theme park), and we even considered Disney Land, but too late for that too. So we decided to do more shopping in Causeway Bay.
It's actually totally fine with me. I was tired too and it was kind of nice to take the morning...well our morning slowly. I don't want to do sightseeing grumpy and make Justin miserable too. Plus, there was a jacket and shoes to buy. Which is what I did and I am very excited about my purchases. Speaking of making Justin miserable, there were no men's stores in the mall we went to, and no bargaining this time, so he just walked around with me, bored out his mind I'm sure, and watched me try stuff on. Finally a friend of his met up with us and we had some street food. We had fish on a stick and fake shark's fin soup, of which the first one is really good and the second one is just good. FYI.
Besides just shopping for myself, I have been buying a bunch of presents for no one in particular (except my parents), and I think I should stop because I have enough. The sucky thing is that I didn't find the really unique stuff until today (Saturday), but I'm already out of money. So if you plan a trip to HK, talk to me, I'll plan your shopping for you. For a small fee. hehehe
Anyway that evening we went out to dinner with JC's parents to a Japanese restaurant famous for its meat on a stick (i don't want to call it shish kabob and I forget what it's actually called). This place is also private in the way that you only find out about it by word of mouth, and I was totally going to write the name in here, but I've misplaced the card. I'll write it in later. Also, it's located in the same building as a lesbian center of some sort and two gentlemen's clubs. Henry made a joke that the patrons of the restaurant must be men that went to the wrong floor. Cheeky.
This dinner was so good! It was awesome. We had really good salmon appetizer, those shish kabob thingys, both steak and chicken, then lamb, two different types of prawns, something else that I forget but was also good. I think it's my favorite meal so far. Afterwards we had dessert with some of JC's friends, where I almost had something with hasma, which is "made from the dried fallopian tubes of the Asiatic Grass Frog," according to wikipedia. I asked Justin what it is, to which he looked at his friend and they both laughed hysterically. Then he said that I should definitely order it because it's really good for you, so of course I didn't. It actually is good for you, but I think I'll just take vitamins.
After dessert the couple that we ate with left to go get the car, or so I thought, because a car with a different couple in it picked us up and whisked us off to karaoke. So confusing... Anyway I gotta go to bed to get up for a charity walk tomorrow with the rents (awww) so I'll finish up... Karaoke was fun. I think Justin would be great in a girl band. This was followed by more karaoke in a different bar where my second-hand smoke meter just gave up and died. By the way, HK people chain smoke like no other. I can see why JC can never quit.
I was so tired and I started feeling sick that day too, so I just took a cab home. I almost didn't have enough money for the cab ride though! I was literally counting the change during the ride (there are coins up to $10HK). When I realized I had an extra $10 hiding in my wallet I was so happy I over tipped the driver. Especially considering you don't tip here for cabs. Oh yeah, Justin has been my sugar daddy here because he has the best exchange rate. Good night!
It's actually totally fine with me. I was tired too and it was kind of nice to take the morning...well our morning slowly. I don't want to do sightseeing grumpy and make Justin miserable too. Plus, there was a jacket and shoes to buy. Which is what I did and I am very excited about my purchases. Speaking of making Justin miserable, there were no men's stores in the mall we went to, and no bargaining this time, so he just walked around with me, bored out his mind I'm sure, and watched me try stuff on. Finally a friend of his met up with us and we had some street food. We had fish on a stick and fake shark's fin soup, of which the first one is really good and the second one is just good. FYI.
Besides just shopping for myself, I have been buying a bunch of presents for no one in particular (except my parents), and I think I should stop because I have enough. The sucky thing is that I didn't find the really unique stuff until today (Saturday), but I'm already out of money. So if you plan a trip to HK, talk to me, I'll plan your shopping for you. For a small fee. hehehe
Anyway that evening we went out to dinner with JC's parents to a Japanese restaurant famous for its meat on a stick (i don't want to call it shish kabob and I forget what it's actually called). This place is also private in the way that you only find out about it by word of mouth, and I was totally going to write the name in here, but I've misplaced the card. I'll write it in later. Also, it's located in the same building as a lesbian center of some sort and two gentlemen's clubs. Henry made a joke that the patrons of the restaurant must be men that went to the wrong floor. Cheeky.
This dinner was so good! It was awesome. We had really good salmon appetizer, those shish kabob thingys, both steak and chicken, then lamb, two different types of prawns, something else that I forget but was also good. I think it's my favorite meal so far. Afterwards we had dessert with some of JC's friends, where I almost had something with hasma, which is "made from the dried fallopian tubes of the Asiatic Grass Frog," according to wikipedia. I asked Justin what it is, to which he looked at his friend and they both laughed hysterically. Then he said that I should definitely order it because it's really good for you, so of course I didn't. It actually is good for you, but I think I'll just take vitamins.
After dessert the couple that we ate with left to go get the car, or so I thought, because a car with a different couple in it picked us up and whisked us off to karaoke. So confusing... Anyway I gotta go to bed to get up for a charity walk tomorrow with the rents (awww) so I'll finish up... Karaoke was fun. I think Justin would be great in a girl band. This was followed by more karaoke in a different bar where my second-hand smoke meter just gave up and died. By the way, HK people chain smoke like no other. I can see why JC can never quit.
I was so tired and I started feeling sick that day too, so I just took a cab home. I almost didn't have enough money for the cab ride though! I was literally counting the change during the ride (there are coins up to $10HK). When I realized I had an extra $10 hiding in my wallet I was so happy I over tipped the driver. Especially considering you don't tip here for cabs. Oh yeah, Justin has been my sugar daddy here because he has the best exchange rate. Good night!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Kowloon
Alright I'm catching up a little bit tonight. I decided to stay in and get up early tomorrow for sightseeing that Justin is going to sleep through. On Wednesday we went shopping in Mong Kok, which was my first trip to mainland Hong Kong. What I was going to do was get a visa for China that morning so that we could go to Shenzhen, but we didn't wake up! It takes 3 days to get a visa and you have to go really early, so we missed that boat. Doesn't matter, we were going to do cheap shopping there, but Mong Kok is the same. Oh by the way, I totally should've brought my Russian passport, real China probably would've been happy to see me. Although getting back would've been interesting...
Anyway, we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor and looked at the awesome skyline from the water. I tried to take pics, but it was kind of smoggy and bright so we'll see. First I dragged Justin to the art museum because my exposure to Chinese art mostly includes tattooed people in Venice beach. Justin spent his time looking at the labels for the oldest possible thing, and I thought that some of those drawings could make a good color by number. Honestly, I still think that those scrolls of Chinese characters are really cool looking, and that's art to me too even though it's just words. Chinese streets are full of artwork!
After this we went on a search for food, which took a really long time because JC never goes to Kowloon. Going to Kowloon is like Manhattanites going to Brooklyn. It's just not done unless absolutely necessary. Although we bitched about work the whole time, which was actually very therapeutic.
The shopping began after food, but since we had to get back by dinner and it took forever to find where to go again, we only had an hour or so. This was good though since we ran out of money! The experience was very similar to Chinatown, except much more fun, and I finally learned how to bargain. Justin did most of the bargaining though and got me some really good deals. (Buying brand-name jeans for $20 gives me some ideas for how to offset my expenses here.) It is really funny watching him too because he gets such a kick out of winning. I mean, it's a fight to the death. In fact, it reminds me of some office discussions I've seen between him and Rongching.
Even after only an hour we were both exhausted, so it was good that we had to leave anyway. We trudged back to the Star Ferry and took in the night-time views of the amazing skyline on the way home. We saw the view again from the other side that evening, eating on top of Victoria Peak with Veronica. You would think I would've become desensitized to views by now, but no, every time it's breathtaking.
After dinner we went to Causeway Bay again. We went to the arcade Justin said he used to hang out in all the time as a kid and took sticker pictures! It was very exciting. Sticker pictures, which I've never heard of before, are a souped up photo booth. There's enough space to take upper body shots, after which the pics go up on a screen outside of the booth. Then you use the touch screen to decorate the pictures. It was really fun! Which is why they have about 20 machines in this arcade and they're all packed. Then we had dessert with bird's nest, which is another thing that sounds gross when you find out what it is. Also now that I've read about it I feel guilty for eating it. Apparently the harvesting is pretty sketchy. Poor swiftlets. We did not order the shark's fin soup earlier that night though.
I have no idea what time we came home. Days are blending in now because I feel like I'm in Vegas. Especially because Causeway Bay is so bright, so the feeling is similar to Vegas anyway. Everything is open until morning and it's packed all through the night. What the hell people, don't you need to sleep on a Wednesday night??!? Speaking of which, this getting up early is getting later and later the longer I write this, so I think that will be it for Wednesday.
Anyway, we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor and looked at the awesome skyline from the water. I tried to take pics, but it was kind of smoggy and bright so we'll see. First I dragged Justin to the art museum because my exposure to Chinese art mostly includes tattooed people in Venice beach. Justin spent his time looking at the labels for the oldest possible thing, and I thought that some of those drawings could make a good color by number. Honestly, I still think that those scrolls of Chinese characters are really cool looking, and that's art to me too even though it's just words. Chinese streets are full of artwork!
After this we went on a search for food, which took a really long time because JC never goes to Kowloon. Going to Kowloon is like Manhattanites going to Brooklyn. It's just not done unless absolutely necessary. Although we bitched about work the whole time, which was actually very therapeutic.
The shopping began after food, but since we had to get back by dinner and it took forever to find where to go again, we only had an hour or so. This was good though since we ran out of money! The experience was very similar to Chinatown, except much more fun, and I finally learned how to bargain. Justin did most of the bargaining though and got me some really good deals. (Buying brand-name jeans for $20 gives me some ideas for how to offset my expenses here.) It is really funny watching him too because he gets such a kick out of winning. I mean, it's a fight to the death. In fact, it reminds me of some office discussions I've seen between him and Rongching.
Even after only an hour we were both exhausted, so it was good that we had to leave anyway. We trudged back to the Star Ferry and took in the night-time views of the amazing skyline on the way home. We saw the view again from the other side that evening, eating on top of Victoria Peak with Veronica. You would think I would've become desensitized to views by now, but no, every time it's breathtaking.
After dinner we went to Causeway Bay again. We went to the arcade Justin said he used to hang out in all the time as a kid and took sticker pictures! It was very exciting. Sticker pictures, which I've never heard of before, are a souped up photo booth. There's enough space to take upper body shots, after which the pics go up on a screen outside of the booth. Then you use the touch screen to decorate the pictures. It was really fun! Which is why they have about 20 machines in this arcade and they're all packed. Then we had dessert with bird's nest, which is another thing that sounds gross when you find out what it is. Also now that I've read about it I feel guilty for eating it. Apparently the harvesting is pretty sketchy. Poor swiftlets. We did not order the shark's fin soup earlier that night though.
I have no idea what time we came home. Days are blending in now because I feel like I'm in Vegas. Especially because Causeway Bay is so bright, so the feeling is similar to Vegas anyway. Everything is open until morning and it's packed all through the night. What the hell people, don't you need to sleep on a Wednesday night??!? Speaking of which, this getting up early is getting later and later the longer I write this, so I think that will be it for Wednesday.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
New Years day
I will deny it all to my death. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Anyways, we were at New Years day. Man I am way behind on this. So after going to bed at 9am, I still woke up at 2pm (damn jet lag) and tried in vain to go back to sleep until 4, whereas lucky Justin slept until 6. Since I had some time, his parents and I went on a walk around the botanical gardens, zoo, and HK park. His parents took me to the zoo hahaha. I am well on my way to getting adopted by them and taking over his spot here. Soon, Justin will be saying, dad, I want to come home, and his dad will say, well that's nice but we'd like that nice girl Natasha to come instead. MWUAHAHAHA!
Ok back to my story. I saw the most beautiful views of HK that I had seen up to that point from the parks. They're on a hill so you see nature in front and the modern buildings behind. You'll see pictures later (they include my first family portrait with my new 'rents). By the way, to my credit, I did try to get a USB cable today, but they didn't have any appropriate ones. At the park, we tried to go to the aviary, but it was closed. We came up with this whole theory about the avian flu season now and how even though the aviary is completely enclosed the bird poop can still infect the birds inside. It turns out it was just past closing time. Talking with his parents was cool, they are really laid back and nice.
My tour of fine HK cuisine began that evening at a Chinese "private club," which means you pay a fee to be invited to dine at this restaurant, which you still have to pay for, but then you feel special. We had all sorts of stuff I can't even name/describe, but it was really yummy. My most disgusting thing I've eaten now is fermented tofu, which smells like shit. literally. If any table in the restaurant orders it you can smell it. Of course I have to eat it anyway because I was told it's good, and it's actually pretty good. It reminds me strangely of cheese souffle. But man does it smell horrible. I felt better because Benson also doesn't think it's a normal thing to eat.
That night Justin and I met up with some of his friends at Causeway Bay, which is another giant mall. One of the inside malls is called Times Square, which has a giant TV and billboards outside at the entrance. But it's not located at an intersection. By the way, the National Geographic travel guide has a picture of a marina for Causeway Bay and the description sounds boring. Initially I wasn't even going to go there, but it's actually just an out/inside shopping area with really good deals. They had like one sentence about that part. I feel gypped.
So hanging out with Justin and his friends is like trying to read lips all the time from really far away. They usually speak Chinese, with a couple English words here and there, from which I sometimes extract the gist of the conversation. Most of the time I just look around and take in the sights. Also, there's a lot of walking to one place, seeing some people, then retracing your steps and seeing new people with some of the old people, then deciding to go back again. And when the plan changes, usually it's done in Chinese, so I make a lot of sharp turns. Today is Friday, so I guess it's been 3 nights (new years doesn't count) of hanging out. It's really entertaining to watch crazy Justin and his friends sing karaoke (and do some myself hehe) and to see all the sights, but most of the time I don't understand what they're saying, so it gets boring after a while. As Justin put it, it's like watching a movie over and over again. However, during the day it's just us, so it's really fun, and in the evenings we're eating amazing food. And I definitely get what life here is really like. I think if there was one more english speaking friend with us it there would be no flaws with this trip at all, but it's still awesome.
Anyways, we were at New Years day. Man I am way behind on this. So after going to bed at 9am, I still woke up at 2pm (damn jet lag) and tried in vain to go back to sleep until 4, whereas lucky Justin slept until 6. Since I had some time, his parents and I went on a walk around the botanical gardens, zoo, and HK park. His parents took me to the zoo hahaha. I am well on my way to getting adopted by them and taking over his spot here. Soon, Justin will be saying, dad, I want to come home, and his dad will say, well that's nice but we'd like that nice girl Natasha to come instead. MWUAHAHAHA!
Ok back to my story. I saw the most beautiful views of HK that I had seen up to that point from the parks. They're on a hill so you see nature in front and the modern buildings behind. You'll see pictures later (they include my first family portrait with my new 'rents). By the way, to my credit, I did try to get a USB cable today, but they didn't have any appropriate ones. At the park, we tried to go to the aviary, but it was closed. We came up with this whole theory about the avian flu season now and how even though the aviary is completely enclosed the bird poop can still infect the birds inside. It turns out it was just past closing time. Talking with his parents was cool, they are really laid back and nice.
My tour of fine HK cuisine began that evening at a Chinese "private club," which means you pay a fee to be invited to dine at this restaurant, which you still have to pay for, but then you feel special. We had all sorts of stuff I can't even name/describe, but it was really yummy. My most disgusting thing I've eaten now is fermented tofu, which smells like shit. literally. If any table in the restaurant orders it you can smell it. Of course I have to eat it anyway because I was told it's good, and it's actually pretty good. It reminds me strangely of cheese souffle. But man does it smell horrible. I felt better because Benson also doesn't think it's a normal thing to eat.
That night Justin and I met up with some of his friends at Causeway Bay, which is another giant mall. One of the inside malls is called Times Square, which has a giant TV and billboards outside at the entrance. But it's not located at an intersection. By the way, the National Geographic travel guide has a picture of a marina for Causeway Bay and the description sounds boring. Initially I wasn't even going to go there, but it's actually just an out/inside shopping area with really good deals. They had like one sentence about that part. I feel gypped.
So hanging out with Justin and his friends is like trying to read lips all the time from really far away. They usually speak Chinese, with a couple English words here and there, from which I sometimes extract the gist of the conversation. Most of the time I just look around and take in the sights. Also, there's a lot of walking to one place, seeing some people, then retracing your steps and seeing new people with some of the old people, then deciding to go back again. And when the plan changes, usually it's done in Chinese, so I make a lot of sharp turns. Today is Friday, so I guess it's been 3 nights (new years doesn't count) of hanging out. It's really entertaining to watch crazy Justin and his friends sing karaoke (and do some myself hehe) and to see all the sights, but most of the time I don't understand what they're saying, so it gets boring after a while. As Justin put it, it's like watching a movie over and over again. However, during the day it's just us, so it's really fun, and in the evenings we're eating amazing food. And I definitely get what life here is really like. I think if there was one more english speaking friend with us it there would be no flaws with this trip at all, but it's still awesome.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Justin is the sexiest
Hi losers! Justin's blog time again... umm.. stories... hmm... where should i start?!?!?! To be honest.. I have stories but this post would be really boring since moscow would just edit the whole thing out with *'s and $'s due to the non PG rated juicy gossip. We've got some awesome pictures tho.. We should really just post pictures and have other people try to write captions for our photos. ooohh.. btw.. i saw a 2m long reef shark in thailand while i was scuba diving... that was f*ing awesome. i also saw some really hot gurls in thailand... That was really disgusting!!! Hong Kong has hot chicks tho.. Praise Mao!! maybe i'll just let your imagination wander about whats REALLY happening here.. Moscow is full of shit.. her blogs only cover bout 2% of eveything happening. Lemme give you a few key words... Rose... Veuve... hot hk girls... JC going crazy! incoherent. hop hop... hahaha... FUCK i'm wasted... hop hop... cough cough!! Serenade!! COCK BLOCK!! DAMNIT!! wish i was in kowloon tong!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
New Years eve/morning
Justin and I walked around the Central malls (Landmark, ifc1, ifc2) for a couple hours before heading to his parents' place for dinner and getting ready for the evening festivities. His hair is appropriately crazy and I do have to hand him that even though he is kinda metro in LA, he is one of the least dressed up of the HK population walking around Wan Chai and Central. I gushed to him about my impressions and we both agreed that HK is way crazier than LA. Although it's a small city, there are 1.5mil ppl packed into north HK island, so when you're walking around you feel like you're in New York on the busiest day there.
We went home and had new years eve dinner there before heading out. He was pissed off at his sister and was complaining how she's the princess of the family because she had their driver take her home and wouldn't pick us up, so we had to find a cab. I think this explains a little bit about why he's such a baby in LA. They are really strict about where cabs can pick you up here. They can't at a double yellow line on the side of the road, and we snuck into one anyway, but because the cop standing nearby saw us he told the cabbie to kick us out. So we had to actually get out of the cab because we boarded in the wrong place!
Justin's parents (Henry and Gloria) are funny. We were discussing at length the pine candle in the middle of the table and how it didn't really smell like pine and they were ripped off (in a joking way). Justin's sister Prudence is engaged to Benson, who is from Australia, so he has an awesome accent. Dinner was amazing. It was pasta and bbq and it was cooked by their maid of course. She had the day off the next day and it was so funny watching Gloria try to find stuff in the kitchen. I mean, she didn't know which drawer the knives were in. Can you imagine how much time you save having a maid? It's really the way to go. Oh and also Justin calls her on her cell phone from his room to order his breakfast!
So back to New Years, we got dressed and went to this ball at the Grand Hyatt, which had paparazzi out front when we walked in. It took forever to get them to leave me alone geez... No, but really, pictures from this ball were in tabloids the next day. I guess they thought mine were too classy to put in a tabloid so I wasn't in there. I was pissed at Justin because he scared me that I have to be all dressed up for this thing, and he wore a hoodie! What the hell, I could've had comfortable shoes. Anyway, the ball looked pretty cool - it was purple theme and had purple trees everywhere. Also, they made the whole room a little foggy and played club music, but then people were still finishing their dinner (which we would've had to pay a lot to go for that too). Unfortunately my camera is the size of a small puppy (and not nearly as cute), so I didn't take it. Hopefully I'll get JC's friends' pics later.
After the ball we went to three different clubs (I think... there was a lot of champagne at the ball) in Lan Kwai Fong, and then to sing karaoke after that. The streets were packed, but I'm sure it was worse around midnight. There were also billboards, signs, decorations, music coming from everywhere, just all around crazy HK nightlife. A lot of the night I was mostly just observing cuz they speak Cantonese a lot of the time, either that or switch between English and Cantonese every few words. I have actually gotten pretty good at catching the gist of coversation just from the body language in the last few days.
The night ended at 8am. When we walked out of the karaoke bar there were people doing their morning Tai Chi in the park nearby.
We went home and had new years eve dinner there before heading out. He was pissed off at his sister and was complaining how she's the princess of the family because she had their driver take her home and wouldn't pick us up, so we had to find a cab. I think this explains a little bit about why he's such a baby in LA. They are really strict about where cabs can pick you up here. They can't at a double yellow line on the side of the road, and we snuck into one anyway, but because the cop standing nearby saw us he told the cabbie to kick us out. So we had to actually get out of the cab because we boarded in the wrong place!
Justin's parents (Henry and Gloria) are funny. We were discussing at length the pine candle in the middle of the table and how it didn't really smell like pine and they were ripped off (in a joking way). Justin's sister Prudence is engaged to Benson, who is from Australia, so he has an awesome accent. Dinner was amazing. It was pasta and bbq and it was cooked by their maid of course. She had the day off the next day and it was so funny watching Gloria try to find stuff in the kitchen. I mean, she didn't know which drawer the knives were in. Can you imagine how much time you save having a maid? It's really the way to go. Oh and also Justin calls her on her cell phone from his room to order his breakfast!
So back to New Years, we got dressed and went to this ball at the Grand Hyatt, which had paparazzi out front when we walked in. It took forever to get them to leave me alone geez... No, but really, pictures from this ball were in tabloids the next day. I guess they thought mine were too classy to put in a tabloid so I wasn't in there. I was pissed at Justin because he scared me that I have to be all dressed up for this thing, and he wore a hoodie! What the hell, I could've had comfortable shoes. Anyway, the ball looked pretty cool - it was purple theme and had purple trees everywhere. Also, they made the whole room a little foggy and played club music, but then people were still finishing their dinner (which we would've had to pay a lot to go for that too). Unfortunately my camera is the size of a small puppy (and not nearly as cute), so I didn't take it. Hopefully I'll get JC's friends' pics later.
After the ball we went to three different clubs (I think... there was a lot of champagne at the ball) in Lan Kwai Fong, and then to sing karaoke after that. The streets were packed, but I'm sure it was worse around midnight. There were also billboards, signs, decorations, music coming from everywhere, just all around crazy HK nightlife. A lot of the night I was mostly just observing cuz they speak Cantonese a lot of the time, either that or switch between English and Cantonese every few words. I have actually gotten pretty good at catching the gist of coversation just from the body language in the last few days.
The night ended at 8am. When we walked out of the karaoke bar there were people doing their morning Tai Chi in the park nearby.
Wan Chai
Alright I gotta hurry up and write about the past couple days before I forget! Happy New Year!!! Justin finally got his butt up so I'm not gonna write a lot. The first day (new years eve) I explored on my own in the morning before JC got back. Got up, got breakfast cooked for me and ate by the TV again. The coffee was amazing, I don't know what Vicky put in it, but it's one of the best I've ever had. Took some pics of the fish pond and ocean views and headed out. When I got in the car (different driver - Jose) I had a cell phone ready for me and the important numbers next to it! I am not sure I want to come back to my peasant life after this.
I decided to explore a non-top 10 location of Wan Chai, which apparently used to be a seedy place, but has been cleaned up since because I knew Justin and i would do all the other stuff. It was sensory overload at first, just walking around a looking at all the signs (all signs are both in chinese and english), watching the people, taking pictures. After I calmed down a little bit I looked at the tourist map posted on the street and went to look for the sights. The neighborhood is small enough to walk around the whole thing in one morning, which was perfect.
I stumbled upon the Pak Tai temple that I didn't even plan on seeing, and took a bunch of pictures because the place is so beautiful. I'm walking down the street past the junk stores, carpet stores, body shops, hole-in-the-wall cafes, and all of a sudden there's this peaceful, ornate temple behind a gate and bamboo trees. It was a really cool discovery.
Walked through my first market and experimented with bargaining. I think it will take practice as the best deal i got was only %15 off. Took a few pics of raw meat hanging in the windows and weird seafood at the fish markets. At lunch I wanted to try something weird, but decided against it until i see Justin. Not because I am grossed out, but because I want the best tasting stuff. So I had a bun for a snack. There are a lot of foreigners around here, so people here are pretty used to us. Most people know at least a little bit of english (enough to bargain with me at least hehe) and it seems like about half know it fluently so it's totally easy to get around. Although it was entertaining ordering the corn cream soup and tea I had as the second half of my lunch by trying to point to the menu item on the menu that was really high up on the wall. Finally an english speaking patron helped me out. Thanks dude.
After walking around for about 4 hrs I had pretty much covered Wan Chai, and was just waiting for Justin to get back from the airport. On my walk to the coffee shop where I sat down for the first time I discovered the American pubs on Lockhart St. Interestingly they share the street with the remaining few seedy places left in Wan Chai. Finally we decided to meet at Central, and I took the MTR (subway) there. It took me about 15 minutes between walking into the subway and getting through to the train partially because I was being retarded. I first stood in a long line for what I thought was the ticket machine, but turned out to be an ATM, then I thought there must not be ticket machines and went to the info booth, where I was told to go to the ticket machine. It didn't take bills though, so I went to look for the change machine, and that one does not exist, so I did have to go back to the info booth to get change. Anyways, the MTR is a pretty standard subway, but the Central stop is like Penn station - pretty huge. I met Justin at Landmark - one of the several high end malls in Central, and proceeded to buy a dress at the cheapest place there.
I decided to explore a non-top 10 location of Wan Chai, which apparently used to be a seedy place, but has been cleaned up since because I knew Justin and i would do all the other stuff. It was sensory overload at first, just walking around a looking at all the signs (all signs are both in chinese and english), watching the people, taking pictures. After I calmed down a little bit I looked at the tourist map posted on the street and went to look for the sights. The neighborhood is small enough to walk around the whole thing in one morning, which was perfect.
I stumbled upon the Pak Tai temple that I didn't even plan on seeing, and took a bunch of pictures because the place is so beautiful. I'm walking down the street past the junk stores, carpet stores, body shops, hole-in-the-wall cafes, and all of a sudden there's this peaceful, ornate temple behind a gate and bamboo trees. It was a really cool discovery.
Walked through my first market and experimented with bargaining. I think it will take practice as the best deal i got was only %15 off. Took a few pics of raw meat hanging in the windows and weird seafood at the fish markets. At lunch I wanted to try something weird, but decided against it until i see Justin. Not because I am grossed out, but because I want the best tasting stuff. So I had a bun for a snack. There are a lot of foreigners around here, so people here are pretty used to us. Most people know at least a little bit of english (enough to bargain with me at least hehe) and it seems like about half know it fluently so it's totally easy to get around. Although it was entertaining ordering the corn cream soup and tea I had as the second half of my lunch by trying to point to the menu item on the menu that was really high up on the wall. Finally an english speaking patron helped me out. Thanks dude.
After walking around for about 4 hrs I had pretty much covered Wan Chai, and was just waiting for Justin to get back from the airport. On my walk to the coffee shop where I sat down for the first time I discovered the American pubs on Lockhart St. Interestingly they share the street with the remaining few seedy places left in Wan Chai. Finally we decided to meet at Central, and I took the MTR (subway) there. It took me about 15 minutes between walking into the subway and getting through to the train partially because I was being retarded. I first stood in a long line for what I thought was the ticket machine, but turned out to be an ATM, then I thought there must not be ticket machines and went to the info booth, where I was told to go to the ticket machine. It didn't take bills though, so I went to look for the change machine, and that one does not exist, so I did have to go back to the info booth to get change. Anyways, the MTR is a pretty standard subway, but the Central stop is like Penn station - pretty huge. I met Justin at Landmark - one of the several high end malls in Central, and proceeded to buy a dress at the cheapest place there.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
