New Do for the New Year

Feb. 2 – 2:49am
Haha, I was sooo tired last night that I crashed right after calling David to wish him a happy retirement (which was still midnight). =p

Sunshine saw me up at 8am again (mind you I slept at 7:15am) so that I could catch my ride out to Hung Hom. For the first time since we landed, we went to have 茶餐廳 for breakfast. Since I was a starving monster, I ordered a large breakfast consisting toast, ham, eggs and vermicelli. The 米粉 was sooo good!!! Maybe I was just hungry…

This fix fed the starving monster all right.

The hair stylist was running late so 阿嬸, Tinlop and I went to walk around Wonderful World to kill time. I got myself a really cute hair style this time and I’m pretty impressed with the detail and attentiveness of the salon staff. At least 30 minutes were spent on just cutting my bangs alone.

My new do!

We left via green bus toward Jordan (yay me, for remembering which bus to take) and walked up to Mong Kok for lunch at this hot and sour noodle house. Wow, the noodle was really good!!! I love hot and sour. I love noodles. So therefore, hot and sour noodles = win! After lunch, Tinlop still had room so he bought a 臭豆腐 but I was completely stuffed. We got bored of MK quickly, partly because of al the big six free walkers walking around like crabs and hoarding stores like locusts. So we left and went down to Times Square and while there, we saw 金燕玲 walk by us with sunglasses on. Sheesh, it wasn't sunny at all…

傷心酸辣粉 - 酸到流口水丶辣到流眼淚

After Times, we went to 維園 to buy more 揮春 but they were 70% sold out and prices had gone up!! Unheard of! I worked my magic (aka lied and haggled) and managed to get some old prices and quickly left again because the crowd was just getting nasty. Before meeting up with Emmi for dinner, we went to McDonalds and I had a yummy red bean pie. It was pretty yummy indeed! Why don't we get to eat them here!?!

Met up with Emmi and caught up with stuff (ie gossiped, kaka) and had dinner at a tonkatsu place in CWB called とん吉 at the World Trade Centre. I was soooo sleepy that if Emmi didn’t do most of the talking, I would have fallen asleep in my food. I was so out of it that I even forgot to take a pic with her! Gotta admit though, the pork and oyster cutlets were very good! They were very crispy on the outside and nice and juicy inside. The wait for the restaurant was over an hour so good thing we weren't hungry and the food was good! Worth the wait for sure!

Nice and juicy tonkatsu in a traditional Japanese setting. I can do this again~!

Emmi had 下場, so after dinner Tinlop and I were going to go for a massage, but decided against it since we were both so tired. We just ended up taking the MTR home since it was still early enough to catch the green mini bus from Tsuen Wan.

Seafood Sunday

Jan. 31 – 5:58am
Another record time for not sleeping! Well, actually I cheated. I didn’t sleep at all last night because I was FREEZING like, I mean I curled up into a ball and still couldn’t get warm. I must have finally fallen asleep at 7ish? and woke up again at 8:40am so running on fumes the entire day put me at a point where I had to go to sleep at like 10:30pm. and I did….only to wake up again at 2am and go out again. Hahaha!

Today was a comfortable day as I didn’t have to take any public transit. Being a Sunday, I took the opportunity to go visit 阿嫲 after the 例牌飲茶 episode at 利苑 at Element. OMG, the last few times I saw her she was all smiles but this time, all she did was cry! I think she’s gotten to a point where she’s hallucinating or maybe dreaming and freaking out her maid, Jessie. She kept saying she saw people coming in through her window and taking her belongings, then “escaping” through the same window. Now wouldn’t you be scared? Especially since she can’t see or hear very well anymore. I had to go yell in her ear before she could barely hear me. Her speech was getting disorganized and she couldn’t tell the difference between the present and the past. It’s so sad!

Since she kept us there longer than expected, we had to rush out and head to 沙田 before 寳福山 closed for the day to 拜阿爺. This time I was smart, keke, I went to the office to find out where 文生’s grandfather was before going up so we wouldn’t have a problem finding him. The visit was a short one.

Tinlop had left Element to go to 鴨記 with Sandra so we went to pick him up to head into 西貢 for seafood. Maurice wanted to tag along, so we stuffed him in the car as well and the 5 of us had dinner at 全記. I originally wanted to pay the bill but of course, 阿嬸 beat me to it AGAIN! The bill must have been 甘 since we had 辣酒花螺、聖子、海膽、海膽炒飯、白灼機圍蝦、拉尿蝦、墨魚、班腩. Sigh, I need to get them something (and disown Maurice).

We ended up going back to 深井發記 for dessert and of course, Maurice had the nerve to tag along again. We had the usual 楊枝金露、mango pancake, 芒果糯米糍 and also ordered 糖不甩、芒果棉花冰 despite the freezing weather. It was very yummy as usual! Notice that everything was 芒果、芒果、and more 芒果! Kwaaakakakakaka!! Mango freak...

Mango Pancake from 發記. So yummy!!!

芒果棉花冰. OMG, melt-in-your-mouth goodness!!!

It was only shortly after 9pm when we came home but I quickly checked email, showered, and texted 梁生 before crashing. Found out he got off work at 2am (on a Sunday?!?!?!) so after my 4-hour-1 sleep cycle-“power nap”, I went over to his place next door to chat for a bit. While I noticed I was exceptionally warm, I also found a patch of hives on my leg!! Not wanting to chance ruining my vacation, I took a Reactine just to be safe. Had a short talk (3 hours only) and came home at 6am. Good thing he still lives next door. So much for sleeping and recharging, LOL. Gotta be up by 8am to catch a ride out to Hung Hom with 阿叔 so I could get a much needed haircut. That leaves me, oh, 1.5 hours? Hmm, wondering if I should call mom… (6:40am)

Day Out With Sandra (and 兔 B)!

Jan. 30 – 4:34am
This morning, I woke up at 8:30am and left with Tinlop to do some shopping in Tsuen Wan. We got out there at 9:45ish and bought 腸粉, 魚蛋 and 燒買 again for breakfast. Bought some clothes and Tinlop’s SIM card and finally got a hold of Sandra and Maurice at around noon.

腸粉 for breakfast! I've been waiting for this!

We met up and went to 九龍城 to have Thai food! Yum yum, non-Canadianized THAI! Tom yum soup, raw shrimp, red curry, satay skewers, roti, 馬拉盞通菜 – it was good… after lunch, which was like 3:00pm already, we went to 清真牛肉館 to have a 煎牛肉餅. WAH, it was sooooo juicy and soupy!! The beef was not tough at all and it tasted like 鍋貼.

Raw shrimp? Bring 'em on!

Waiting for takeout outside 清真牛肉館

We walked off all the calories by walking to the nearby 九龍寨城公園 and soaked in some 攻心計ness. OMG, I haven’t been there in 7 years! Funny though, Sandra kept saying she wanted to go Ocean Park and I haven’t been there in 20 years! Too bad, I don’t think we can find time to go with her working schedule.

I love this park! Isn't it purdy and relaxing?

Afterwards, we walked to Lok Fu to take the MTR one stop to Festival Walk, where we did more walking and shopping. While we were there, we took more pics of the nice CNY decorations that I’m totally not used to seeing since every time I’ve been here it’s been Christmas.

Maurice left to have dinner with his family so we proceeded to head down to TST where we got a GREAT exchange rate to get more HKD. The rate was sweet. Gotta come here to change money from now on. The three of us needed a pee break so I suggested we go leave our marks in the Peninsula Hotel. Brought back memories of the stupid high tea experience back in December 2008.

Tinlop somehow found out there was a lantern festival (like the one they have at Ontario Place) so we went down to the HK Cultural Centre to take pics. We even saw the cast of the Monkey King pose along the waterfront so I quickly snapped a pic of them. Sadly, we also witnessed a mainland mother who slapped her daughter twice. We were wondering WTF when later we found out that she slapped her because she wouldn’t pose for a photo. WTF?!?!?

Sandra (and 兔B of course) outside the Space Museum

By that time it was past 8:00pm and because I wanted my pork knuckle from King Ludwig Beerhall, we walked over to the TST location to have a late dinner. OMG, service was quite lacking there and the food is definitely better at the Stanley Murray House location. Maurice joined us again and brought along a bottle of French red wine, which we happily enjoyed on the street, outside Kowloon Park, before each heading home just after midnight. We ran into 黃德斌 on Mody Road just after dinner, wearing a long pair of white shorts, carrying a gymbag and smoking a cigarette. He looked so "吋", lol.

Finally a semi-decent night pic - freehand too!

While Maurice went back towards the island, Sandra, Tinlop and I walked our way to Jordan to take the red 飛天棺材, which brought us home in about 20 minutes.

Mario had sent me a deal to type up so when I got home, I went online and typed up the offer for him, chatted with Corrie, Mui and 細V for a bit and since it’s freaking freezing here and I couldn’t sleep, blogged the entire day’s activities. Wow, now that it’s 5am, I wonder if I should call 文生? (5:05am)

First HK Flower Market Experience

Jan. 29 – 2:00am
The plane was delayed as expected and landed at around 3ish. Not wanting to have 阿叔 and 阿嬸 come all the way out to pick us up, we decided to bus it to their place. After some brief food intake and wifi usage at the airport, we left for 叔’s and got there at about 6ish. They weren’t home yet so Lynn let us in. This time I was prepared and remembered their address correctly! No embarrassment like last time! Tinlop and I freshened up and stayed home for dinner before heading out to Victoria Park to walk my first ever CNY 花市! Apparently today was the first day and it was pretty packed by the time we got there at 9ish. It’s pretty much filled with booths of kiddos selling toys and plushies; flower merchants selling orchids and all sorts of 年花 and a fair share of food kiosks scattered about. I got some 燒買 to munch on and had a sugar cane juice while Tinlop got fish balls and a warm Vitasoy.

I was so tired from the lack of real sleep that I fell asleep standing up on the MTR! LOL! We ran into a TVB kelefe on the subway (and for the life of me, don't know and can't find his name). Since we missed our last green bus at Tsuen Wan at 12:40am, we decided to walk up a block and took one of the red buses home. Of course we flew home in no time. (2:15am)

Off to Hong Kong to Celebrate CNY!

Jan. 27 – 11:35am
I’ve always wanted to go to Hong Kong during Chinese New Year, but for some odd reason, I’ve always ended up going during Christmas. Recapping, I’ve been to HK five times before and besides going with Tinlop in October 2008, it’s always been Christmas! In late 2007, I was planning a CNY trip to HK but shortly after I’ve decided, Sandra told me she was getting married in December so I postponed my trip.

Finally today, after days of wondering whether or not we’d get on a flight, we’re on our way to HK! The idea of going to HK was planted in my mind by Meishan right when I went back to work in the New Year. The Christmas break was so busy that I needed a break already! I blame it on my lack of real time off and my nasty, oh so nasty, hives episodes. Meishan suggested we see if we could go to HK the week of her birthday, which would be fun since we got along pretty well in Paris, keke. Well, now that we’re on the plane, where’s Mei? Sigh, AC decided to have a seat sale so the flights were pretty much booked full. Also, since Jane was visiting TO to celebrate her birthday with her, she decided to pass. The result: Tinlop and I go. We monitored the seats for a few days and originally wanted to leave on Tuesday, then Wednesday, but finally today since the loads weren’t looking very good.

This morning, Tinlop woke up at 5am to check the loads again and found out that we could take a chance with the direct flight instead of flying via Vancouver. Great, since it would have cost more to go that route. Tinlop was so excited since we had a chance to sit in J class. I arrived at the airport at 8:30am and met up with him to head off to the gates. Anxious to know if we’d get seats, Tinlop checked the loads again and found that they freed up a whole bunch of economy seats! Oops, that meant no J class for us… oh well. Like I kept telling the poopie Tinlop, I’m happy to get on the flight.

The plane was indeed a full one, with us sitting smack in the middle of the middle seats, two rows apart. A Viet family of what seem like 8+ people were all separated to sit in the middle of all different rows and one lady complained her kid wouldn’t “like” that. Sigh, needless to say, our take off time was delayed partly because there wasn’t much room to hold their luggage and the FA's had to find room at the front of the plane.

OMG, crying kids, stuffy cabin and people sneezing and coughing left, right and centre (me being one of them, LOL!). Definitely not pleasing. I wonder how Tinlop is doing back there. I managed to take a 45 minute nap at take off and just woke up at 11:30am as the FA’s brought around drinks. Lunch is currently being served. Beef or chicken? (11:58am)

Jan. 27 – 6:36pm
Oh Lord, can’t sleep on this flight. The crying kids just keep on crying! Lunch was a choice of chicken with rice or pork with noodles so being one that hates airplane rice, I naturally chose the pork with noodles. Wah, the pork was very dry and very salty. Noodles were completely overcooked, soggy and nasty but I was hungry so I ate the noodles and left the pork. Best thing was the corn/edamame salad. Sheesh, I expected no less though, haha. I watched 4 episodes of 碧血鹽梟 and tried to sleep at around 3:15pm. With the constant kiddies crying, I managed to only nap for an hour. OMG, we’re only half way there -_-".

6:15pm rolled around and we were served our cup noodles and ham sandwich. Just when I was about to try and nap again too. Now that I’m kinda full, I don’t really want to sleep on it so I thought I’d watch more TVB. Good thing I brought along the entire series.

Although I already had my can of Coke already, I didn’t really want to drink anything else (except water I guess) so I asked for another Coke. I got a China Coke with 簡體字 and everything. Somehow it tastes kinda different with 35g of sugar in the 330mL can. I gotta go home and see how that compares to our version.

Damn, by butt hurts. Only another 3,550 miles to go -_-"""

Jan. 28 – 12:30am, 1:30pm Hong Kong time
Only 1.5 hours left before we land. Thank God. The ride is little short of painful. I think I may have caught all of 2 hours of sleep combined and managed to finish 8 episodes of 碧血鹽梟 so far. The kids have not stopped screaming. Like OMG.

Lunch was just served but since we’re all the way in the back of the plane, they ran out of congee just as they got to me so I had a cheese omelette with hash brown and fruit. (12:36am)