repulse bay

we went to repulse bay, where my parents use to go as kids to swim in the water. apparently, my mum was a little fish and would swim lots. it was nice hearin how my uncles would take the girls (aunties) to go swim and that my grandmother would play mah jong on the beach. going to the beach was an excuse for all the wives to play mah jong w/out my grandfather knowing...asif he didn't know! he knew ALLLlll... my parents would take my sister, when she was a baby, to repulse bay. she'd fall asleep on the blanket while my parents relaxed.

blue surprise

south hong kong island is so pretty. i didn't realize how blue the water is b/c of the pollution in the city. it's bluer than vancouver!

stanley

it's a quiet little place right on the south side of the HK island. lots of rich expats live there so you can see lot of little golden hair, privileged children w/ their nannys walking around, or rich looking white ladies driving in their porsche!! where's MY sugah-daddy?!

stanley reminds me of white rock. there's a boardwalk w/ foreign or western food and it's made to look european. there's also some stalls selling random tourist things like scarfs, toys, etc. there's this building that use to be a gvt office (mei lei da ha). that use to be located at Central. during ww2, the japanese took it over and killed a bunch of ppl inside. so after the war, it remained empty and they say it was haunted by ghosts for many years post ww2. now, the building's in stanley and is a restaurant, they moved it stone by stone.

transpo

i like how transportation is super easy in hk. like to get anywhere is super convenient, whether it's the little 16-person van that drives kind of crazy or the MTR or ferry or taxi or the "ding-ding" trams... it's efficient to get from point a to point b, you just have to pick your mode of transportation. i like the "ding-ding" trams and not just for the bell sound, but b/c it's a double decker, it's open, and feels like it's going to tip over. also, the trams drive so close to one another, that i could stick my hand out and touch the other oncoming tram!

laugh much?

okay, so apparently canadian jokes and slang and sarcasm don't go over well here...had a big family dinner w/ all the relatvies and i sat at the "kids" table and by kids i mean anyone under the age of 50... sat w/ my cousins whom i haven't seen in a long, long time. ya, i felt awkward and not so comfortable. luckily my cousin's wife, betty, was there. she is super nice and we conversed in english (she speaks mandarin and i pretend to speak mandarin) for a long time about her kids and life in canada vs hk...

who wants to shop?!

i am siicckkk of shopping malls, why are there SO many gigantic hopping malls in hong kong? and how can ppl afford such high end labels or how do these stores stay in business when there's a marc jacobs store in every mall?! who shops like that?! I WOULD LOVE TO B?C I LOVE MARC JACOBS, but unfortunately i'm not a mainland baller ...

EDIT: okay so a couple of days later, after that revelation, i realized why:
a) air condition
b) clean bathrooms
c) large open space
d) nothing else to do b/c clearly sports after school is an expensive endeavor that not everybody gets to participate in

remember this

star bright avenue. sing guang dai do! avenue of the stars, in other words the hong kong walk of fame. across the way, over the water, you can see the hong kong mainland side. it was nice in a electric LED wasting a lot of light, branding the crap out of your brand, way! not bad... well bad environmentally, but just different i guess.

there was this wall of fog on the lower part of the land so ferrys had to use the horn to navigate. i'd be way too scared to ride the ferry at that time. knowing how klutzy i'd get, i'd probably fall over the side.

it was really romantic walking along the water, all these young couples, the air the right temperature, the lights from the buildings across the way gave the water this artificial, yet soft glow...

what you don't want to see in a box

snake. i saw a snake in a box! like a dead ready to be cooked sitting in liquid round container/box! i mean, i love box w/ lid (i'm in heaven when i'm in the ikea storage and jar/kitchen section), but not dead snake in a box w/ lid! fail.

Lei

went to Lei restaurant for lunch w/ autie/uncle #8. it was soooooo goood! my favourite was the bird's nest and the almond egg white dessert - best i've ever had.

best meal i had in hong kong. always trust, uncle #8 restaurant recommendations!

finishing this up

okay, back at it, i have a few more pages to finish off, so thought i'd try this again... hopefully the next time i post after hong kong will be spain? or paris again? mmm...