Hong Kong

Good things come to those that wait, here are the HK pics.

In Sarah's neighbourhood on the moving sidewalk


On our way to the peak we met Jackie Chan.


To get to the top of the Peak, we took a trolley it felt like a 30 degree incline. It was one of my favorite things



The view


At Bubba Gump


Sitting on the double-decker streetcar.


The streets are pretty confusing. Not only are the cars on the other side of the street, but they won't stop for pedestrians. In the above picture is a double-decker street car, they run down the centre of some of the streets.


Near the base of the peak is a park with gardens, ponds and an aviary. Theresa found a humongous leaf



The next day we went to the other side of the harbour, an area called Kowloon.


Judy had told me about a giant escalator. It was HUGE! I noticed that all of the people that were riding the escalator were taking pictures, so we weren't the only hicks.


About 10 years ago Whitney worked for a company that was in charge of designing a museum in Kowloon called the Hong Kong museum of history. We went and checked it out. There was lots to see.

Sarah with some giant dudes


Sarah and I in a trolley car in the museum


A Chinese junk in the harbour


And then it was time for the light show while we ate gyros. A bunch of the buildings are lit up to music, but my camera just didn't capture the light show very well.


We checked out a park in Sarah and Ryan's neighbourhood. Theresa and Sarah tried out the reflexology rocks. It's supposed to be good for you.


Cool Pagoda in the park, complete with a pond full of giant fish


Ryan came back from work, and we headed off to Shenzhen for a day of shopping. (And relaxation). Sarah and I got peddy's, Ryan opted for a massage.


I needed the pampering. Shenzhen was far and away the most overwhelming experience of the entire trip. The border was confusing, without Sarah and Ryan I would have been lost. In the shopping mall, the sales people were so pushy, and all I could hear was "Missy, Missy! DVD! Missy, Missy! Copy handbag? You Look!" Not to mention the squatter toilets...



The next day Theresa and I went to see the big Buddha on Lantau island. The Buddha is on the top of a mountain, and at the base of the hill is a monastery.

At the monastery

Next was a day at Macau. Macau was owned by Portugal, and has some very out of place buildings, it also has a ton on casinos. We got a pedicab tour of the tourist areas. Our guy was so old! I thought he might keel over and die on us.

Strange signs. Was this a bathroom for dogs? Or people?

We went to an old barracks or fort

A view of the city through the fort walls- they were about 3 feet thick.

Cannon

Heading back to the ferry, we checked out the casino area. It was all new, but made to look old. There were a bunch of nice looking bars and restaurants, but they were all deserted. Turns out that lots of things are closed on Mondays, so we didn't get the full Macau experience.

We went to a Moroccan restaurant Sahara, where we got to smoke the sheesha pipe. I think this is Sarah's imitation of Snoop Dog. The food was so good we ate here twice.

And then it was off to Lan Kwai Fong, the bar area. It was Carnival, so it was extra packed. There were lots of food stalls and entertainers. Ryan got into the spirit apparently. Theresa bought a shirt similar to a "I Love NY" shirt except hers said "I Love fish balls" but in Chinese. I never saw her eating fish balls though...

The next morning, after a breakfast at the Flying Pan, we hopped on a double decker bus for a winding drive to the other side of the island. It was one of my favorite things in HK. Here I am dipping my toes in the ocean for the first time. If I get cancer of the foot, we'll all know why.

After that, we spent a couple hours shopping at Stanley Market. I loved it! I could have spent an entire day shopping there. The other thing I liked was the grocery stores, Safeway is so blah now.

Off to Thailand for some sun!! We spent 1 night in Bangkok, that was horrible. Our guesthouse was beside a night club (little did we know). BOOM BOOM BOOOM all night long. Theresa and I fell asleep sometime around 5, just in time for the alarm clock to go off at 7. And then hopped on a bus for a 6 hour journey to the beach. After a ferry ride we were in paradise on an island called Koh Samed. Our bungalow was just off the beach

The restaurant out front of our bungalow

My beach umbrella and chairs

The view from my chair. The beach vendors were very nice, not pushy like in Mexico.

Perfect! In Hong Kong it was so smoggy, that I never wore sunscreen and didn't get any colour. But in Thailand it was so hot that I reapplied constantly.

Hallow-Cats

Happy Halloween to you all! What better thing to do with two black cats on Halloween, than dress them up!? Salem and Marley were "pleased" to be pumpkins this year.

Marley freaked out, and gave me the "I'm-going-to eat-you-while-you-sleep" look.


Salem kinda liked how the bib concealed her curvy figure and accentuated her neck. Her she is on top of the fridge giving me a fierce-look.

Yes, yes... the hong kong vacation pics are coming.

Hong Kong

The view from the peak. We didn't go all the way to the top, as they have recently started to charge an extra fee. We decided not to pay, and went to a lookout that was free. It was a pretty clear day.



The wet market was interesting. lots of fruits and veg, as well as sketchy looking meat. The fish stalls were crazy! In the back of this picture there are turtles, at the front on the right are eels, and on the left is a cage full of toads.

More to come later!

Help me pick a halloween costume!!!

I may or may not pick any of these costumes, but now is the time to buy a costume on Ebay, there are lots to choose from.

Dorthy: I have always wanted to be Dorthy, but that requires me buying new shoes




Lucy! who knew, I think with the right wig I could pull this off. I already have the pearls...





Pirate wench. I soooo want to be a pirate. I talked like a pirate for a whole day last week. Arrrgh!


Bar wench, not to be confused with pirate wench. This is a whole different class of wench.




Moving away from the world of corsets, there is the 50's poodle skirt costume. Very Grease.


And then there is seriously Greasy.
I could be French Fries!





Oh the irony of a vegetarian dressing up as a Big Mac.

What's your vote? What should I be for Halloween???

Guess What's in it to Win it

The Beat, a radio station, has a contest that is nearing the end. You have to guess how much the prize is worth to the penny. They put the call out that it was time to call in for the contest. I grabbed my phone and started dialing. Ring Ring Ring. Oh my god, my heart was pounding. I so need the money! I hear "Hello, blah blah blah." And I say "Hi, is it time to play Guess what's in it to win?" Long pause.

total attitude voice "uh, this is 95 CRAVE..."

oops. Crave sucks, she probably gets those calls all the time. I should have requested Ace of Base since I had her on the phone. Ace of Base seems to be on their high rotation list lately.

But if you are keeping track of the contest the prize value is somewhere between $21,634.70 - $21,639.45

September

Nothing new and exciting in the last week or so because I'm working 6 days a week right now. Ugh, I thought it would motivate me in my job hunting. It has, sort of, but it is also making it difficult to find the time to job hunt.




So in the mean time, I have pictures of a Marley the kitten in the sink:


She plays in the sink all the time, but as soon as the camera comes out, she stops looking cute and starts looking gawky.



And more kitties playing:

It's a pouncing game.

September

Ahhh, September! I love fall... the leaves, the weather, the school supplies. What's not to like?

This is the first September in 20 years that I haven't bought school supplies. Last night I walked down the aisle looking at the pencils, and loose leaf paper. I almost bought glue because it was cheap, but I stopped myself from that impulse purchase. When is the last time I glued something??? 1991? I used to get excited when I bought new school supplies, and loved to get all my binders and pens and paper all set up for the first day of school. But no more....

It's getting colder at night, and I'm thinking it is almost time to pack the shorts and tank tops away and pull out my winter clothes. I like rediscovering the clothes that I packed away in April. It isn't really cold enough for the winter gear, but any excuse to pull out the wool socks I guess. If I had the time, I would like to learn how to knit socks. I wonder if they're easier than scarfs? I started a scarf 2 years ago but stopped because I decided it was ugly and I'd be embarrassed to wear it. It was red and white striped like a Where's Waldo shirt.