Honey, I’m Home!

I was planning to get to the airport at about two o’clock for my 4:10 flight. After I spoke to my parents I went and got brunch. It was realllyy expensive, but good. To hydrate for the flight, I bought four drinks from the vending machine outside my room. Plus I drank tons of green tea using the electric water heater provided in my room. I got ready to leave, checked out, and waited for the bus outside of the hotel. While waiting this old man told me I looked exactly like this women named Molly who used to be one of his students. He was a really nice guy and we talked for a while. Once again I was sitting at my gate waiting for my plane at 2:30. It amazes me how easy and quickly it is at Narita airport.

I got a water a settled in to wait for my flight. The lady sitting by me was very sweet and she told me all about her and her husband’s trip in Japan. It was really nice to hear about all of the things they did and taking note. Next time I go to Japan I can go to them too! The plane was huge and a little nicer than the one I took to Japan from the U.S. The man sitting next to me was from Boston and very sweet. He was visiting his sister and her husband in Japan and he was an empty nester. He was taking the opportunity to travel, trying to see all the places he always wanted to. He showed me these Japanese puzzle boxes that were really cool.

I watched Yes Man and was hilarious. Revolutionary road was incredibly sad and High School Musical 3 that was bad (What a surprise). The flight was only eight hours and we arrived forty minutes early. It didn’t take to long to get my luggage and go through customs and I only waited for my dad for about ten minutes. It was so nice seeing him and we went to Bhutan exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. I was half asleep and didn’t retain very much of the information, but it was still fun. Then we went to the Ferry Building and got French bread and lunch. As hard as I tried I couldn’t stay awake on the ride home and slept for most of it.

When we got home my mom greeted me with open arms and Mr. B wouldn’t even look at me. He looks great tie dyed though! I gave them gifts and showed them everything I got. It was so nice to see them and to sleep in my own bed.

Japan, Here I Come!

I woke up at about six for my flight, which was way early for me. We had Vietnamese coffee and chocolate pancakes before leaving. Carrie, Catherine, Alex, and I left for the airport at about 7:18 for and got there at I think 8:00. I wished everyone goodbye and thanked them. When I checked in for my flight, the people were so nice! They made it and so I didn’t have to get my bags in Japan, bring them the hotel and then lug them back and recheck them the next day. They just gave me these stickers to show the people when I checked in for my next flight to SFO. Then they had a man escort me to the security line just in case they gave me a hard time about my painting. It was in a round black case that looked a little suspicious.

I had to take an underground train to my gate! On the plane no one was sitting by me, it was so nice to have leg room! For the four, or maybe five, hour flight I watched movies. After I got through customs in Japan I took a bus to the Hilton Narita hotel and just hung out in my room. I watched this movie that was really cool about car racing/drifting in Japan. I think I liked it so much because I had done or been at a lot of the same places as they showed on the movie.

China!

At about 10:30 today Carrie and I got in the car to go to Shen Zhen, China. After the car ride we took the train to the boarder. Even though Hong Kong is part of China you still have to go through customs and have a visa. Every single time I went across, the boarder guys never thought I was the same person as my passport. They looked at me and then my passport and then at me again about ten times before asking the other person working what they thought. We went to the jeans shop to buy the pairs I had looked at the last time.

When we got into the main shopping area at one store the girls told us it was all original and the only store in the area. I really liked two dresses and Carrie liked some pants there. The girls were extremely persistent on getting us to buy them and it took a long time to get the price down. Finally we just walked away with one of them yelling after me to stop. One of the things I needed to get before leaving was a suitcase, so next we search the area for some. After lots of haggling I got the price down way low, a very good deal for how nice and big the suitcase was. I have to admit I am starting to like haggling!

When we went up to the seamstress to get our clothes we had gotten altered/made not all of it was there! I had a coat tailored and a dress altered and Carrie had some shirts and dresses for the girls made and a jacket altered. All they had at the store were my jacket and the shirts and dresses for Carrie. Carrie needed the jacket for an interview that Friday and I was leaving the next day, so we had to get them to bring over our things for the factory. With two hours to kill before out things arrived we got some food. On the way to the restaurant, went back to that first store to try and get the dresses and pants, but the girls were really angry at us. They yelled and wouldn’t budge on the prices. Disappointed we went to go eat and it cheered us right up. The food was great and it costs about eleven bucks. With time still we looked around a bit more and went to get pedicures.

When we went inside, there was an audience watching and talking about us. They tried to charge Carrie and me for everything and get us to have our nails and eyebrows done too. We kept having to tell them no, if you are charging us for this or that, then we don’t want it! When or nails were done drying it was the right time to go get our clothes. On the way I heard a lady yelling missy missy! I kept walking because every single person says that, trying to get you to buy something. When I finally looked it was the girls from the first store with the dresses and pants. After a little negotiating we got them down to a good price and everyone was happy. I also got some more tea for my mom and Carrie got some more for the girls at the same place as we went last trip.

Already late, we went through customs and immigrating, raced to the trains, and drove to the pool in Sai Kung. The girls had swimming that ended at about 6:30. After dinner, I made some chocolate and peanut butter pudding that was amazing and so easy to make! It was getting late so I packed up all of my things and was so glad to have that extra suit case. I really needed it!!!

Ladies Let Go!

It was the girls first day back at school today so everyone started their routines again. Well that is, except me. I slept through the girls fighting, crying, and getting ready for school noise. While Frank got ready for a meeting I did some homework until it was time to meet carry in town. I planned to leave at about 11:30 just to have a little extra time even though he said it would take 5 minutes to get there. So I walked up to the bus stop and it was sooo hot! I waited and waited and waited. Until about 12 when I called Carry to tell her that the bus was taking a while and I’d be a bit late. While I was telling her a bus was driving up so I told her I would be right there and hung up. The bus drove right by me, and then another did the same thing. It made me so mad (they only hold 16 people and drive by if they are full). So finally I just took a taxi which cost me about the equivalent to $5 instead of $0.35 and I was 20 minutes late!

When Carrie and I finally met up we took a bus into central, got lunch, and went to the ladies market. She had to be back to pick up the girls at three for their mandarin lesson, so our plan was for me to just take a bus back at around 4 or 5 and meet them at the end of the lesson. We ate at this place that had noodles with fish balls. It was an off day for me with the chopsticks and was spilling everywhere. I could hardly get any of it in my mouth! Then the waitress told me to move to the bench that Carrie was sitting on so another man could sit there with us. I didn’t want to spill all over him too so we left.

Carrie really wanted some true religion shorts so we went straight to a stand with some. Trying things on at most of the markets is pretty difficult. They hold up a sheet and you just try it on right there with people walking by and all. At this stand they didn’t have a really good place to do that, and so there was no space to move around behind the sheet. Plus there were people on a ladder right across the street. We finally got them down to a good price after they made up lots of excuses as to why last time I was there they were 50 bucks cheaper. After that we walked around trying to find an Ed Hardy sweatshirt with a dragon on it for Alex’s birthday. At the end of the market Carrie had to go and took the bus home. I walked back through getting various gifts and clothes. I think the ladies market and temple street are by far my favorite!

When I was done and had no money left I took the bus to Sai Kung and met Carrie. We went home to change then picked up the girls and drove to central. Everyone was hungry so we went to the North Point Gaisi. As you walked in there was a sign warning to watch for rats! Carrie got chicken liver, pork, fried rice, broccoli, chicken, and, after persuading the girls, some black ink pasta. It is just normal pasta with tons of squid ink and garlic, so when you eat it your teeth and mouth turn black. All of us got pictures after eating it, and on the way out we saw a bunch of old men doing the same thing!

After that Carrie dropped Alex, Catherine and I off to go on the peak tram. . The peak Tram was started in 1888 and has not been modified since. There is a single steel cable and the trams car going down balances and pushes the other car going up the track. It is also very slow but safe. Originally only the British were allowed to live on the peak, and natives would run them up the hill in rickshaws. Victoria peak is spotted with houses worth, at minimum, ten million dollars. The world’s most expensive house is on Victoria Peak. In 1997 an offer of Hong Kong $900 million dollars was made, but the owners refused. Because it was a school night for Alex and Catherine, Carrie met us at the top so that we could leave quickly. The tram was actually pretty cool, but it was also pretty scary. It was surprisingly steep! When we got to the top we met Carrie, got some ice cream, and watched the light show. The girls were exhausted and bored by then and so we drove home.

Just a note--

I have not been able to download my photos. So I will add them to the blog and it will be much more interesting, when I get home the end of this week!

Last Day of break for the kids, Last day of work for us!

When I woke up, a delicious smell drew me to the kitchen. Carrie had baked home made cinnamon rolls to make Catherine feel a little better and to thank Thomas and Sabina. While we were eating, I looked through a Hong Kong travel book reading off all of main attraction to Hong Kong. Checking if we had missed anything or if there was still something I really wanted to do. Alex was invited to stay at her friends for the rest of that day because they were having a bbq. This made Catherine very upset, but she didn’t make a big fuss about it. So we decided to go to Stanley market one last time, go to dinner, and watch a movie at home. We quickly went back to Sabina’s to drop off some clothes for Alex and the cinnamon rolls, which Alex was ecstatic about. Poor Catherine had to sit in the car while all the kids ran up from playing to have some. When we left with Catherine still with us after she asked numerous times to stay we reminded her that Alex had to do this the other day too and we were going to go shopping for some new dresses. She still wasn’t too excited.

At Stanley we all split up; Frank went to the rugby t-shirt place, Catherine and Carrie went to eat and get clothes for her, and I went to get some presents and just look around. They gave me Catherine’s phone so when I was done we all met up at a restaurant where Frank was having a beer. The plan was to pick up Alex and then go to Anthony’s Ranch for dinner in Sai Kung. When we went to pick up Alex she had already eaten and was having so much fun we left her there until we finished dinner much to Catharine’s dismay. Frank had meetings all day on the 20th and the 21st was leaving for business. He was upset that we were having American food as my last dinner in Hong Kong he took me to. Remember, he is the one always trying to get me to eat weird foods. But it was good though I overate and felt sick afterwards.

We picked up Alex after and dropped her friend Edward off at his house before going home to have cinnamon rolls and ice cream. Before watching Rachel’s Wedding, Frank scared me by saying that you can get blood clots in your legs from sitting down to long on flights and they could travel to your heart giving you a stroke or heart attack. Even though it only happens sometimes with people when they travel a lot I am still keeping note to walk around on my flight home!

Classics

For the majority of today I didn’t do very much. Both the girls were at Thomas and Sabina’s house. They are a really sweet German couple with three kids. Thomas walks with Frank on Saturdays and Sabina does paddling with Carrie. We all wanted peanut butter cookies and so our plan was to make them, pick up the girls, and then go to dinner. However upon arriving to pick Alex and Catherine up they invited us to stay for dinner. So Carrie and I went back to the house to get the cookies, which I was glad about since I looked terrible, not expecting to see anyone. Thomas’ sister was visiting from Germany and she also has two little ones also. So there were about 8 kids running around. It was a good thing there house is so big so we only saw them when they all came charging in for dinner and cookies. It was pouring outside and all of the kids were all soaking wet. They had been outside running around for hours. Good thing it is still warm when it rains here!

Thomas called their son Sebastian who is fifteen telling him he had to come home and hangout with me because they thought I was board. When he eventually didn’t come home though he said hi to all of us and went in the other room. They all joke around about being German and give each other a hard time. It was pretty fun just listening to all of them. Frank was shocked that I had never seen Casablanca before and had been planning on me watching it before I left for some time. When the topic came up of how nice the German uniforms were in that movie we decided to watch it.

Thomas kept saying I was so polite for saying I liked old movies and dinner and was having fun, but I was telling the truth! About five minutes into the movie I realized that I had seen it before. When the movie was finished they invited the girls to stay the night. They are all Alex’s friends and she barley gets to hangout with them because they are all guys so we took Catherine home with us. She was so upset and sobbed and sobbed. Not caring that she had a sleepover earlier in the week when Alex stayed home. Even when we got back to the house she was still sobbing. It was pretty sad.

Black and White

I didn’t do too much during the day today, just hung around the house doing homework. Alex was at her friend’s house the majority of the day and Catherine was off playing by herself. Catherine really wanted to make cookies though so I offered to make them with her. She wanted to make black and white cookies just like the ones she had in New York City. We looked up the recipe and had a lot of fun making them together. Mistakenly, we added the chocolate to all of the frosting mix instead of half, and I had the idea to die half of the frosting black. Catherine wasn’t too excited about it, but since we didn’t really have a choice. When we decorated the cookies the black sort of turned out a weird greenish color and were pretty ugly.

Just when Catherine and I were finishing up the cookies Alex got home and we all went to dinner in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. Frank ordered exceptionally weird food this time and so I just stuck to rice and soup. He ordered these eggs that had been aged for ten years in salt and looked disgusting. But supposedly they are amazing. Also there was pigeon that I would have tried if it wasn’t whole. Literally it was a cooked pigeon just cut up with its head facing me. Skin and all! Well without the insides but everything else. There was also raw, I think, squid and a fourth of a pig with part of its face. The waiters said we were VIP guests and were very nice. If we were going to serve something for someone like rice they would take the bowl and do it for us.

After we were finished with dinner we went to the Temple Street Market which is a market that is only at night and named after Tin Hau Temple on Temple Street. It was huge with lots and lots of people. Every stand that had any little animals Catherine went to and played with them, much to the owners’ annoyance. There was a whole street of fortune tellers and everything you could imagine at the market. At the end there were all of these little plastic pieces of bread and buns. For the longest time we could not figure out what they were for. Finally someone told us that you used them beneath your hand when you were typing. I loved playing with them because they felt so real! We walked back through to the beginning again, all at our own pace. When Carrie and I got to the beginning there was this painting that I had seen and really liked when we first got there. Carrie suggested that we should go get Frank and see if he could get the price down. But the guy wouldn’t budge at all. After we walked away I still wanted it and so we went back and I bought it!

China

Frank doesn’t enjoy shopping as much as Carrie, the girls, and I we went to China without him. We took the KCR train into Shen Zhen and after getting through customs and immigration went straight to a jeans shop. I found two pairs that I really liked, but didn’t get them. I felt horrible for not buying the jeans because their whole store was messy with jeans laying everywhere when we left. We went straight to the forth floor of the mall to Carries seamstress after that, but she was very busy. Catherine and Alex were hungry so we decided to go get lunch and come back later. We took the train and it was only about 10 cents for each of us! At the restaurant we got tons of food! Probably enough for eight people and it cost us about eleven dollars U.S.! The food was really good and we got a variety or different things to try.

Alex and Catherine really wanted to go to this huge book store afterwards. The streets of china, even in a newer city, were packed and the air polluted! There were tons of traffic and crazy drivers honking horns. In the book store, the elevators would speed up when you stepped on them! When everyone was finished at the book store, we went back to the seamstress and hung out there until seven or eight o’clock. The sisters working there were IN LOVE with Alex and Catherine! I ordered to dresses but they overcharged me and so I changed my mind. The girls and Carrie got measured and picked out materials for the things they wanted. After we finished at the seamstress Alex spotted a place that sold calligraphy materials and begged Carrie to get them for her. She was soo excited and said she had been looking for them for a really long time.

The day had me pretty worn out and I think we were all just about ready to leave. But we spotted a place selling tea and so we stopped for a little while to try some different kinds. I got a bunch for my mom and Carrie got some, after discovering that the girls loved it. By the end of the day all I wanted to do was scream at all of the people trying to sell me things. At the same time I wanted to buy everything they offered me because I felt so bad for ignoring them! When you walk buy a shop everyone woring shouts the exact same thing “hey missy you want to buy a hand bag? What you want? Dvds? Come with me pretty ladies.” They will just not give up so you have to ignore all of them or they will just follow you. I would hate it if I had to do that all day and people just walked by like I didn’t exists.

Walls

Because our Junk Trip fell through we decided to go to some walled cities and temples. After, missing the exit we drove around for about an hour because there is no place on the highways to really turn around and go back. The first one we went to, and my personal favorite, was Ping Shan. Later was to Kan Tin. Because there were so many pirates back in the day they would build these walls around the cities to protect themselves. They would have lookout towers and everything they needed was inside the walls. All of the streets are very narrow and so that if attacked they could shoot at invaders from above windows or pour hot oil on them. Ping Shan was one of the “Five Great Clans” in the New Territories have been here since the twelfth century. The first village had much less tourism then the second; you could tell it was just a place that people lived their lives.

We went to lunch at this very local place, the most local place any of use have ever been to. We prayed that our dishes would be what we ordered. It was a little hectic with the language barrier and all the noise in the restaurant. All the dishes were huge and about three dollars U.S. I got chicken, vegetables, and rice. All I ate was some rice because the chicken had skin and bones in each piece and it really grossed me out. We went to the Old Ping Shan Police Station that is now the Ping Shan Tang Clan Gallery and Heritage Trails Visitors Center. On the walk up there was a funeral happening and the people were burning paper money, suits, and sports cars for the deceased to use in heaven. The station was made in 1899 and is one of the few remaining pre-war police stations in the New Territories. It was replaced by the Yuen Long Station in the 1960’s and was used as the training center and headquarters of the Police Dog Unit. The museum had a main gallery and outside of it were long buildings with little rooms, each with a different display. They were probably cells, and then later on dog kennels.

Once we looked through the museum we went to Hung Shing Temple. Built in 1767 during the Qing Dynasty, it has two hall buildings with a courtyard in between. They are so beautiful and well preserved. My favorite thing to see was the study halls. It was just magnificent, the detail of these things and the sheer beauty of them. They stand out surrounded by tiny little dirty houses and huge buildings. The Ting Study Hall in Hang Mei Tsuen was built in the 1870’s for both studying and worship. Many study halls were built in this area to prepare kids for the Imperial Service Examinations to improve the social status of the Tang Clan.

My absolute favorite though is Ching Shu Hin. It is the guest house for the visitors and scholars of the study hall. It looks to me kind of like a little castle. The guest quarters have carved panels, murals, patterned grilles, and carved brackets and plaster moldings. I am not describing it very well, but it is truly amazing. Thankfully Frank is a photographer and took some photos of the buildings also, so I can steel them. Mine don’t really capture how amazing it was. After we looked at all of that we went to the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda.

Once we looked there Frank wanted to take a quick look at Kan Tin. There were old ladies everywhere in traditional clothes asking for money in exchange for pictures of them. This one had many tourists looking through it so it wasn’t as fun. The old ladies even charged you to go in, not that it was very expensive but still. When we went inside the lady in front of us was going to take a picture of these old ladies playing cards and the ladies yelled at her. It was so funny but kind of put me off to city. The wall was more interesting here in Kan Tin. There were watch towers in each corner, and some were crumbling while others still stood. The streets were much narrower in this one too and the city seemed a little bigger.

Buddhas, Deals, and Lasers Galore

Today just us girls went to see the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin. On the metro there, we were all skeptical of how many Buddha’s were really there. Surely not 10,000 we thought. We walked through Pai Tau Tsuen and then up, up, up the 400 something steps leading to the grounds. The monastery has five temples, two pavilions, and a nine-storey pagoda. At first there were gold Buddha’s lining the walk up. Every one was different, but they all had bright red lips. The majorities were skinny, and did not look that much like what I usually picture Buddha’s looking like. After the long hot hike up we finally get to the main part. There are Buddha’s on elephants and tigers, colorful Buddha’s, Buddha’s everywhere! We then went into the temple, and to our amazement the walls had tiny little Buddha’s covering them with little lights on each. Every column even had Buddha’s on them it seemed like there were more than 10,000 just in there. We then left in search of more Buddha’s.

Walking up another hill there were more Buddha’s lining it. About three fourths of the way up there stared to be female Buddha’s. At the next level place you could see huge buildings in the background and peaceful looking female Buddha’s right in front of you. There was also a huge, old house that was very pretty. We kept walking and found more Buddha’s on the hillside. Each one was with a different animal. There was another very colorful temple with a couple big Buddha’s in it. We walked back down to the main temple, got some sodas, and then decided to descend going a different route. This was had even more gold Buddha’s.

We went to central Hong Kong to go to the ladies market after that. It is comprised of three streets: Fa Yuen Street, Tung Choi Street, and Sa Yeung Choi Street. I am going to get home never want to buy anything! Everything is so cheap here! You can get designer jeans for about thirty dollars U.S. And soso much more! They really have everything at these markets, and most of it is really cute. I am going to need to buy another suitcase, good thing they are cheap too. By now I realized that you can in fact haggle prices down. I had no idea before and would by things for the first price they said. Now I can usually get things to about half of the original price.

After doing some shopping there we met up with Frank for dinner. We went to Japanese cuisine, because the restaurant they originally wanted to go to had closed. It was really good! The only thing I didn’t like that I tried was a soft shell crab hand roll. I though it would be really good, but when I took a bite it was gross, and the texture was very gritty. When I told Carrie and Frank this they said it was probably the brain, but then changed their minds. They told me the brain is usually mushy so it was probably the organs. YUCK. I am not sure if they were joking or not but still it really freaked me out.

After dinner we got ice cream to eat during the light show. I tried durian ice cream just to see what it would taste like. Frank always jokes saying that the guy who first ate the fruit must have been the hungriest man in the world. It is covered in spikes, and once you get past that the smell hits you. It really smells disgusting and then you have to get through the icky gooey part to the fruit. It smells soo bad! Anyways I didn’t like it because I could taste the smell. Instead of going to The Peak to watch the light show we watched it from the top level of the parking garage. It was a great view, even though the light show isn’t all the great. The cool thing about it is that it is so unique. What other city would collaborate with all the big buildings to put on a light show every night at eight o’clock for 20 minutes? They have a cheesy introduction to it and music. The girls loved it though!

Museum Day

While Carrie did her paddling and studying today Frank, Catherine, Alex, and me went to TST. We walked through Chun King Mansion which is basically a hotel for people who cannot afford more than about $20 Hong Kong dollars a night. This is about $2.58 U.S. for a bed and bathroom. It is typically for people form 3rd world countries. The first floor has some amazing ethnic food and some grocery stores too. The majority downstairs are people trying to sell you things in stands. Frank had me try some food from a stand and it was very fried, greasy, and tasty.

After we left there the girls were starving so we went to try and find some place to eat. They wanted sushi at this place called sushi one which didn’t open until 12:30. So we had to go find something to do for 45 minutes. While walking over to the history museum to buy are tickets we spotted the science museum and a poster advertising a dinosaur display. Alex loves dinosaurs so we decided to go look around there for a while. There was only one dinosaur right when you walked in and it wasn’t the best, but the rest of the museum was really interesting.

There was this whole thing about how cars work, something my dad has tried to explain to me multiple times, and the visual model helped me to understand much better. There were also tons of things about your weight, calculating how long it would take you to burn off what you eat, and how much you are over eating. They had this thing showing how much you eat in a year and the scale of what your weight should be. This surprised me since no one in Hong Kong needs this; all of them are tiny.

On the next story of the museum they had a huge section of how to use energy efficiently, green house gasses, ect. This surprised me even more considering china puts out so much pollution! They do not recycle at all, and there is trash thrown everywhere on hillsides and places like that. Also most of their fruit and vegetables are wrapped separately in plastic. The air is thick with pollution and none of them seem to care one bit. It was good that they have the display in the museum though; hopefully it will inspire people to live more greenly. They also had a hall full of mirrors that were really fun, and scientific games. We then went to sushi and then went to the history museum. It was pretty interesting also.

Easter Sunday

Today I decided to make breakfast for the family. After all, it is Easter and they never have sit down breakfasts here. Most Saturday or Sunday mornings my dad makes a big breakfast and I thought it would be a fun thing to do. So I made a huge fruit salad and prepared everything for pan fried potatoes and omelets. Since I am not the best at making potatoes and omelets I had Frank do that part while I watched. It ended up being really good.

Later on we went on a walk with the dogs. Along the way there were tons of brides and grooms having photo shoots. They would be in the ugliest places with cow pies all around them, or underneath a concrete bridge in gravel. The brides would be wearing flick flops or tennis shoes. It wasn’t even their wedding days! The whole thing seems pretty ridiculous to me, but it was sure fun watching. All of the city dwellers who go out to hike and spent the weekend in the country are terrified of dogs. While walking by them with our two big dogs they would step off the path and pick up their children. It was pretty funny.

Along the trails there are all of these abandoned houses from the 70’s. When Hong Kong was run by communists many people who lived there were Christian, They would just pick up and leave their home and belongings. I think that’s why they left but I don’t exactly remember… All of the houses are falling down, because they need constant repair with all of the rain here. But they are really beautiful with all of the trees and vines taking over. We walked to a secluded bay and let the dogs play before we walked home. On the way we walked through this museum. It was huge house with all of the things that they used to have in them. It was really cool and would be a great house to remodel and live in.

For Easter dinner we had the best asparagus, lamb, potatoes, squash, and cake. Oh and we had creaser salad with anchovies, that only Frank ate. While we made dinner we had a very long argument about how disgusting anchovies are. I told him that I would never eat meat form a can. Catherine would back me up repeating everything I said with much enthusiasm. It was hilarious. After dinner frank and I sat at the table and had a very long conversation about life before we all walked up to watch a movie. We only got through about half of it before everyone was falling asleep. I forget the name of the movie. It was Italian and about a guy named Alfredo, his movie theater, and this boy.

Explorations and Navigations

While Frank did his routine sixteen mile walk and Carrie and the girls went to dragon boating I went to town. Instead of walking the four miles which was my original plan, I took the minibus. It was busy in Sai Kung today, and I didn’t really know what to do with myself. So I just waked around looking in all of the stores until I found a Starbucks. I took my homework with me, so I sat down outside and went to work. One of me assignments was to sit and write what is around you for a half hour. It was so funny, Chinese people have no problem staring at you and talking about you while you are right there. It makes me very uncomfortable! I would be writing and old ladies and men would walk by very slowly and look at what I was writing and look at me. I would glare back but it didn’t faze them one bit.

While I was there I say the French man. I can never remember his name, but his accent was so think I asked him to repeat himself ever time he spoke. A while later this couple sat down at the table next to me with the tiniest dog I have ever seen. A couple people who worked at Starbucks cleared the table off so that the little dog could sit on it and just stood watching the tiny dog. Everyone who walked by would coo and ask if it was real. Kind of weird to me, but I have to admit the dog was pretty cute.

After that I just walked around some more. I would be walking and all of a sudden realized I had been in the exact same place minutes before. The places I wanted to go back to I could not find. By that time I had to pee really badly, for my venti tea. So I waited in this huge line for the public bathroom and then realized that all of the toilets were the traditional Chinese style ones. I practically ran out while everyone in line looked at me like I was crazy. I am just not the squatting type.

I then stumbled into Alex, she said that she had been searching for her mom and couldn’t find her anywhere. I told her that her best bet was to stay just where she was and wait, or go to the park where I remembered Carrie telling the girls to meet a couple days earlier. She wouldn’t listen to me of course and just biked off. I tried to follow her but she disappeared. So I called her mom on my 2 something a minute phone and told her I had just seen Alex. Carrie was so frustrated and had been looking for her for an hour and a half. She thought that Alex would come back to the 7 eleven so Catherine, Carrie and me waited around there for a while. When that didn’t work, I waited with the car while they went looking for Alex. Finally, all three of them came back, and Alex walks past me and says “See I found her.” This made me laugh since if she had only waited for 3 more minutes at the 7 eleven like I had said she would have found Carrie 45 minutes earlier.

Later that night we met Carrie’s paddle boating friends and their husbands at a Gaisi. There is a wet market on the first floor with fish, meat, and vegetables. They have exercise places, shopping and things like that on the other floors. On the top floor is a food court of sorts. It isn’t pretty, but the food is amazing. They used to be on the streets with cock roaches and rats running around your feet every once and a while. Yuck... but now the health and sanitary codes are so strict that they have moved or shut down almost all of them off the streets. We had Thai food there and I had a mango smoothie. They were amazing!

Gary, one of there close friends, who is native to Hong Kong, told me the manners of the table. He said “Stop worrying about making a mess! The bigger a mess you make means the more you enjoyed it here!” This is so different from our culture it was sort of hard for me to get used to, but it makes eating a whole lot more fun. You just through stuff on the table and don’t worry about anything! Mandy, Gary’s girlfriend sat on one side of me and had me try a coconut. It was great too, definitely the best I have ever had. Everyone there was really nice and they had the people working bring me out forks, but I didn’t even use one once. The chop sticks here are rounded and so hard for me to use! We took a taxi home and everyone was wiped.

The Peak

Frank left the car in Central after hanging out with his friend last night, so we had to take buses and the metro to Hong Kong Island. Frank hates public transportation, but I thought it was fun and Carries likes it too. We had the mini bus to ourselves on the way; they seat 16, to Sai Kung. Then we took another mini bus, which was full, to the metro. The train was packed! It wasn’t nearly as bad as Japan though, it just was that no one moved over for you. So the far side had tons of room but right beside the doors was uncomfortable.

Upon arriving in central we went to this high end store that Carrie and Frank’s extremely rich neighbor owns. I forgot his name, but he is a journalist and owns a lot of stores here in Hong Kong. He fly’s people by helicopter to his house, and has had lots of famous people come. All of the clothes there were amazing. The style is kind of modern with heavy Chinese influence. You can have a dress made out of beautiful silks for about $1000+ dollars US.

We had a very tradition lunch and then walked through an outdoor market. The government is tying to get rid of the market because of sanitary issues, but some of the vendors families have been selling there for about a hundred years. We had desert at this little shop that the old governor (emperor?) used to love. There were pictures everywhere of him eating sweets. It was pretty good; they were just pastries with egg yolk filling. They tasted too much like for me, but I guess they are really popular.

After we went to a store named G O D. it isn’t said like “God” and means something different. They have all these things that say “DELAY NO MORE”. In Cantonese, it means “fuck you” or something. But they have some great stuff there and I got some great gifts. Much to Frank’s annoyance, we stopped at the Man Mo Temple. Dating back to the 1840’s it is a big tourist attraction. Our eyes watered from all of the giant sand wood incense spirals hanging form the ceiling. It takes them a couple weeks to burn though. The temple was dedicated to Man, the god of literature, and Mo, the god of war.

Next, we went through a market selling lots of bracelets and trinkets, posters and Buddha’s, and other things like that. I got this little old lady to cut the price in half. The people around me where laughing but I was excited about it, thinking I was tricky for telling her I only had forty dollars. Next we went and got the car because the line for the tram was huge. There is a huge shopping center. We went to the very top and looked down on the city. Everyone got some American candy, they were all overjoyed because it is hard to find here. Then we went to the peak restaurant or café, something like that. It was very neat, the whole day was!

Surfing

While Frank had meetings, Carrie, Catherine, Alex, and I went to the beach. First, we had to take a bus to pier and then take a boat. Then there was a huge mountain to walk up and down the other side. I am extremely out of shape so you can imagine how difficult it was for me. There is a stone path carving up the mountain, with cow pies everywhere, but some great views. The forests here are so alive and lush. All of the bugs were so noisy! The beach and village we went to had no road access. Can you imagine living there?! I preferred the walk up, because my legs were shaking so badly going down the steep decline. Once we reach the end of the mountain, we entered Tai Long Wan Village.
In the village there were little straggly homeless dogs everywhere. For some reason no one ever thinks to neuter their animals and so there are tons of dogs. The sad thing, the females get pregnant every time they are in heat and usually die really young.

We had to walk a ways farther to the beach, Ham Tin Wan. The surfing teacher, Tod, was from Orange County, blond, short, and talked like a surfer dude. He was really nice and great with the girls. He taught us what to do and then took us out on tiny waves in three feet of water. When a wave came he’d tell you to paddle and then push you, so all you really have to do was stand up. I could get as far as my knees, but the girls could get up onto their feet. I tried on his normal board which was much easier; I think the waves just weren’t big enough for me.

I gave up after a couple of tries and went on a walk after we had lunch to take pictures. It still just amazes me the Chinese will just abandon their houses and sometimes burn them. I walked back behind all of the new houses were I was convinced that I’d probably get killed by a python and never be found. There are all of these stone walls with vines growing and houses with junk in them. When I got back to the beach the water was freezing so I just hung out until the girls were done surfing. The walk back was pretty strenuous, it must have been hell for Catherine and Alex after surfing and playing all day! Again the walk down was much harder. Exhausted from the day we took a taxi home and watched Monsters vs. Aliens before going to bed.

Shopping

Today, Carrie, Alex and I dropped just Catherine off at her friends, much to Alex’s disappointment and resentment. After trying to get my visa for china we went to Stanley Market. When we got there all of us were hungry so we went to a restaurant right on the beach. I had some amazing French onion soup while people watching. It’s in places like that when you can’t believe that you are in Hong Kong. It is very much just white people and very westernized. Stanley was the largest settlement on Hong Kong Island before the British took over. It is very modern and on the southeast coast.

After eating we went through the market, which is a ton on tiny broken down stalls. But they have some good deals, cute clothes, and great souvenirs and gifts. We spent a good part of the day there going from beginning to end and then turning around and going back. I got some great gifts and some much need clothes. I packed for cold weathered Japan not the heat of Hong Kong! Shopping was great, and when we were done we sat down and had some pastries and coffee. I have had so much caffeine every day here, between lots of tea, coffee and red bull! Even with all of that, by 9 o’clock I am dead.

On our way home the roads where so narrow I felt like my mom. I was terrified and tried to stifle my gasps every time we turned a corner or a bus went zooming by. There was this one bridge that was two lanes but it should have been one, it was tiny! These double-decker buses just race down these tiny, very windy roads. So you have speeding traffic on one side of you and a bumpy rock wall on the other. UGH! At home we had some Japanese soup, just like the soup I had on my second night in Japan, but better!

Homework Day..boring blog warning!!

For most of the day I did homework. Frank and I stayed home and had Thai food while Carrie went to a concert with a friend and the girls had a sleep over. The food was way to spicy for me but really excellent. We watched Australia and it was better than I expected. The little boy was adorable and the acting was good. I also learned a lot about Australia from the movie and Frank.

Rain Rain Go Away

When I woke up today it was pouring. Carrie reassured me that I really didn’t have to go paddling with her if I didn’t want to, but since I had promised I went anyways. Dragon boats are those really long thin boats and everyone has to paddle at the exact same time. At the end of May they have their big race and the winning prize is a pig. When we went out there in the water it was pretty wet and rainy, but after a while it cleared up. You are supposed to use your core muscles to paddle, the only problem is I didn’t really know how to do that and so my arms got extremely tired fast. But overall it was really fun and a great work out.

When we got home and showered Alex, Catherine, Carrie and I went out. Frank was sick and so it was just us girls today. We took this double-decker bus and then the metro to the city. They took me on the famous Star Ferry to Kowloon for about two dollars! We were able to see one of the world’s most remarkable harbors and skylines. Then through the city we took a tram, it was a great and cheap way to see the city. I saw the famous racetrack and a huge graveyard right smack dad in the city. The streets were so crowded with billboards and flashing signs everywhere. All of the buildings look so old and dirty on the outside because of so much pollution.

Much to the girls excitement we then went up The Escalator. This is a series of escalators in the steep Mid-Levels district of northwest Hong Kong Island. It is meant for people going to work who live there. In the morning the escalators go down and at night they switch to moving upwards. There are shops on the first floor and apartments above. We had duck skin rapped up in these thin pancakes. With every bite I thought of Mrs. and Mr. Duck. I’ll have to apologize when I get back. The girls were insistent on getting Ben and Jerri’s so after finding some we took a cab back to Bamboo Bay.

Boat Rides and Dinner Parties

Right when I woke up today Catherine, Frank and I got to work making marinades for the meat and fresh pasta for later. After we had finished we went to High Island. Frank, Catherine, Alex and I went by boat and Carrie ran the six miles there. It isn’t actually and island anymore, the made a reservoir there and there are three damn connecting it to the mainland. While on the boat Frank explained to me that there are all of these islands that are only for graves. It has been a holiday here where everyone goes out and cleans the graves of their loved ones. They make these little figures of clothes, cars, food ect out of paper and burn them. The ashes then go up to heaven for the dead to use.

Graves cleaning holidays happen twice a year and one of them is going on the weekend. Also we passed fisheries where they put nets underneath their boats and catch little fish. They then wait until the fish get big and harvest them. The clusters of boats are like little villages on water. People will live there their whole lives and never set foot on land. The people just walk from boat to boat like we walk through streets.

Once we got to the island the girls ran for the beach in front of the restaurant. At lunch I try fried squid that had lots of salt on them. To my surprise I loved it! We walked through the village and went to a local temple. On the way there were old and abandon houses. People just picked up and left leaving all, or most, of their belonging. The temples here are so much different from the temples in Japan. They are much more colorful here and decorated. Japanese temples are more elegant and simple.

One of the things that I love about it here is how international it is. All of their friends are from different countries. One family was from France and they were tall and skinny, verrrry athletic, and hilarious. The wife, Corinne, was an amazing cook, and the husband is training for Iron Man. He almost had a heart attack when someone said that Michael Phelps relationship with his mom was a bit “odd.” They had two little girls who refuse to eat Chinese food even though their family has lived here for eight months! Another couple at the party, I think they were Scottish or Irish had the cutest little girl. She was about five years old and had long blond hair. They also had a little boy that was adorable. The whole family was very nice. The other couples, Mandy and Brian, are both locals and were hilarious also. They food was amazing and I was exhausted by the end of the night. I had also promised the French lady that I would try dragon boating the next morning.

First Day In A New Place

Today I met Catherine and Alex. They are adorable, smart, and talkative and have tons of energy. Their house is beautiful. It has three stories: the fist has a kitchen, dinning room, and living room; the second is the guest room/Franks office and a family room; the third is Catherine, Alex, and Frank and Carries bedrooms. Then there are stairs to the rook which has an amazing view of the ocean and a nice comfy couch. They have a pool that spills over viewing the ocean and two golden retrievers. While Frank was taking a hike with his friend and Carrie was doing dragon boating with the girls I just hangout at the house.

Alex and Carrie took the dogs to the beach while frank and Catherine gave me a tour of Sai Kung. Before we got there, we went to get meat for the party the next night. There are black cows everywhere on the roads and tons of homeless dogs. When we got into town EVERYONE had a dog. Along the pier there are all these boats filled with live fish that people are selling. It was insane and like nothing I have ever seen before, but also intriguing. Imagine buying your dinner like that! Frank showed me their equivalent to a Safeway with more live fish, dead fish, and dried fish. They have tons of other stuff there too from clothes to nail clippers and fruit. We went to a temple and all through the town.

We met Alex and Carrie for drinks before our diner reservation. For dinner we went to an oceanfront sea. At the restaurant, and all of the other ones near it, you get you table and then go up to pick your meal. There are huge tanks full of fish and little trays with shrimps, octopus, and other kids of sea food I cannot name. You tell them what you want, how much you want, and how you would like it prepared. They then take it out of its tank and put it in a plastic bag (still alive) and through it off to the side. I was a bit skeptical when the food first arrived at our table, but I was determined to try everything.

Everything was whole with the eyes, legs, brains, shell, everything. I usually am not a shrimp lover but it was goooddddd. Everything was good! It was so fresh! This one kind of shelled fish was my favorite, I don’t remember what it was called, but I do know I’ve have never seen it in the U.S. before. I also got the fish cheek, which is supposed to be the best part besides the eyes. Also we had fried rice and vegetables. I also am not a huge fan of fried rice, but it was excellent. Our waiter was this cute old lady and she wouldn’t take anything away until we ate all of it. She would get the all of the meat off of this fish and put it on our plates. After that, we got dessert. I had sesame walnut soup and I didn’t like it very much. Sesame is definitely and acquired taste.

SURPRISE

Because of some complications there was a change of plans. I am going to spend the rest if my trip in Hong Kong! While talking to Lynn, my best friend’s mom, my mom told her about the predicament and that I had no place to stay for the rest of my trip. Lynn told her that she has good friends who live right on the ocean in a 5,000 square foot house and would love for me to come and stay with them. So now I leave for Hong Kong tonight.

Before I left Jake and I took a 15 minute bike ride to a neighboring city and go to a temple. On our way we go through this cemetery where generations of a family’s ash will be placed in one plot. It is truly magnificent, they take very good care of them are clean the stones regularly. Also, there are some stones that are hundreds of years old that are also very beautiful; I wish the pictures captured it better. Anyways we walk down these little windy stairs laid into the dirt. I guess that people will be walking and find them randomly in the country side; people have taken the time to make staircases in the remotest of places.

Surrounding the temple where are restaurants, flower shops, and all sorts of things. There was a little river with a gorgeous bridge across it and blooming trees everywhere. The temple was one thousand years old and had recently been restored. I cannot believe people actually live here and get to see this every day. It truly doesn’t look real! We walked around trying to find an old castle, but ran out of time and had to go and have lunch before I left.

Jake saw me off at the bus stop. I sat and watched the city fly by for the two hour ride to the air port. I was checked in and at my gate by 4:50 and discover my flight boards at 6:40. There was a very long delay on the tarmac, but eventually we take flight and are on our way. There are screens that show you your take off and landing from a camera at the front of the plane, it was sort of scary but exhilarating watching it. I think I was the only one on the flight that was remotely interested though; everyone else was sleeping of reading.

The service was so nice for ANA Airways; they offered you beverages every 5 minutes and the food was surprisingly good. It was a very empty flight and so I got to sit by myself and stretch out a little. They kept offering me free alcohol but I denied them every time mom when I got to the airport the customs line was gigantic, much longer than the one in Japan. I felt so bad for Frank and Carrie waiting so long for me. I meet Carrie and Frank for the first time and they are the nicest people I have ever met. When we got to their house there was a sign on the door welcoming my from their oldest daughter Alex, who is ten. And another big sign on my bed from seven year old Catherine.

A Very Big City For Such Little Girls

Today Olivia and her little friend Hannah took me sight seeing. She is half black American and half Japanese, TINY, and veryyy self confident marching right up to people for directions and chatting a way a million words a minute. Olivia and I met Hannah at a metro station near Olivia’s old house after at least an hour of standing in packed trains; and when I say packed I mean you can’t move and hardly can fit or breathe. They have people whose job it is push you into the train to let the doors close because they get so packed. You could literally lift your feet of the ground and still be standing. Thankfully it isn’t like American subways though; everyone is clean and dressed in suits, friendly, and the trains are very clean. I am not used to standing in a moving vehicle so when most of the people appeared to be reading, sleeping, and doing their make up I was trying to stay upright while we swayed and made sudden stops.

First we went to a little temple and inside a museum with very old painting that Olivia translated into being worth three million dollars. There were also samurai swords, artifacts, and outfits that were worn when putting out fire. Also there were these things that were kind of like little intricate houses which were carried in celebrations or something...I’m not positive though because they didn’t really know how to describe them to me in English. Then we threw money into this thing in front of the temple and said a prayer. After that for about a dollar you can get a fortune of sorts. After you read it you fold and tie it to this thing (even though I wanted to keep mine). Olivia said my fortune wasn’t very good though and that I should not hope too much for what I want.

After that we walked through a street that is famous. I’m not exactly sure what for or what the name of it is but they said people come to film there, that it was old, and something about how the shops are important. We then went to a sort of mall. Except it is kind of one store at the same time called ABAB. Many teenagers hangout there and it is all sort of one store but many stores inside of it. There are no walls or anything but different sections have different styles and people to ring you up. Hannah kept trying to get me to buy things or try them on but I had no doubt in my mind that everything would be way to small. Everyone wears uniforms and jobs have different uniforms even if they are working for the same company or in the same place.

Inside of the store we got lunch. It was one of those self serve places all you can eat sort of thing. They had rice and pastas, a bell would ring and a new kind of food would come out and you could go up and get it. But the main thing that they had was dessert. Tons and tons of desert, all of it was soooo good. I wish that I had been hungrier so I could have had more! Many, many people were waiting to get in and eat the line was very long, so while waiting, I went and got some gifts;)

Once we were done eating we went to this store that was loud and huge. It had soooo much stuff! Mostly just little nick knacks and characters from books/tv/movies. But you could get anything. After we bought some stuff from there and got overwhelmed by it all we left. We went to a city (all of this is in Tokyo but in different parts) that had many many more tourists. We went to a huge electronic store. I mean HUGE, much bigger than in the U.S. and many, many stories high. Hannah wanted to get a high school musical game (her favorite character is Chad) and Olivia had to get a new pen for her game boy.

By this time we have been walking around and riding trains for about five or six hours. After this we went to a HUGE bookstore. Everything is huge! Haha. We went to KFC after that and finally got to sit down and rest. They tired to figure out what to do next but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, considering I have no idea what there was to do or what was nearby. But they were persistent in asking so finally after many questions and my vague answers we decide to just go home. It was a very fun day. I have gotten to see some city and some country so overall this trip feels very well rounded.

My First Day Abroad

Surprisingly, I slept all the way through the night soundly, even though the floor is pretty uncomfortable. Their house is small, but it is not too bad. They have one room full of boxes from their recent move to the suburbs, two bedrooms, one bath and a dinning room/ living room/kitchen area. The only furniture is the dinning room table and a coffee table. I decided to have a traditional Japanese breakfast, which is hot rice with raw egg and wasabi mixed in. you eat it with nori (seaweed). It wasn’t that bad even though I stop thinking that I was willingly eating raw egg…I am not that into raw animals/animal products...haha. The chopsticks are hard to use and I make a huge mess at every meal but it is getting easier.

Olivia, Jake, and I went to a park that was huge and beautiful. We rented bikes and barely managed to see half the park, even at Jake’s fast pace. Inside, every single tree is perfectly manicured and touched to make each branch look a certain way. It is cherry blossom season and everything was absolutely spectacular. Inside of the park there is a garden that they spend even more time on, making it look perfect and natural. Inside that garden is another garden, called the Bonsai Garden, which they spend even more time on then anything else. In the Bonsai Garden are trees that you pass on from generation to generation. Each tree was 80-250 years old and they are miniature and bizarre, yet delicate and beautiful. They rap these cords around the branches to form them and bind them. The tiny trees live in a very thin layer of soil with a stone slab underneath. I don’t know how they can survive with their roots constantly being trimmed, but I guess a massive amount of fertilizer does the trick.

For lunch we had rice balls under these beautiful blooming cherry trees with fields of different types of flowers on each side of us. It was a cold day with gray skies, but still nice. There were lakes, fields of flowers, fields for games, weird playgrounds and craft areas, trees, and lots more. The bike was way tiny and I had it on the highest gear because I thought it was the lowest so it was a difficult ride. Or maybe it is the other way around…the peddling was much too easy that it made it harder.

I was exhausted by the time we got home. But I had to stay awake until a reasonable hour in order to get used to the time difference. Dinner was a sort of soup with very thin strips of beef in it that you just dip in for a few seconds. It was...interesting. Every thing is IKEA style (put it together yourself) and so while you eat you go through the process of adding vegetables and meat. I am still not quite used to the time change.