… three precious weeks, day 17 (revised)

Saturday morning… I did not see much of.  It was a little bit afternoon when I finally was fully awake.  NN, Winnie and Garfield went to meet 菜菜 because she was coming down to HK for a few days and stay with me.  That is so cool!  We were going to all meet at NN and May’s place today for another “Big Gate Crab”party.  (Hey, my translation is not bad… haha!)  I was deciding on how am I going to get there when I got a call from $2 or did I call her?  Can’t remember but after a bit of discussion and… instructions… I was to meet her… somewhere.  Now, you are reading this and thinking… “Hmmm…somewhere?”  Well, I kind of remember her saying.. Kowloon Tong… and to take a train to… somewhere OR take bus #81 and it will take me right there.  The problem is… I didn’t remember where that somewhere was.  She said she would be in a meeting and will be ready around 4.  She really does talk fast.Anyway, I got on the MTR and looked at the map… I see Kowloon Tong… then I see Kuan Tong.  Hmmm… it was two characters that she mentioned.  So I got off at Kowloon Tong station and texted her…”Kowloon Tong or Kuan Tong?”  No answer.  Oh, well… I have time… I called the girls and asked… “Uhmm… if I were to meet $2, would I go to Kowloon Tong or Kuan Tong?”  The answer was… “Well, it depends where she is.”  Okay, smarty pants, if I knew where she was, I wouldn’t be asking, right?  Oh, heck, I will go to the farthest point and if needed, I'll double back.  It was still early.  I get back on the MTR and head to Kuan Tong and when I got off and out of the station… Aha!  Bus depot!  Walked down to the tiny little office and asked… where can I take #81?  Sorry!  Not here!  Okay, then where?  Don’t know but not here!  I walked back into the MTR station bought myself a hotdog bun and a can of coffee and just when I took my first bite, my phone rings.  “Hello?”  “Wei? Where are you?” “Uhm.. Kuan Tong.”  “Can you come to Kowloon Tong?”  “Okay.”  “When you get off the train… stay there!  Don’t move!  I will come and looked for you!”  “哦!”  Needless to say, I felt like a total idiot.  (An often felt feeling here in HK.)  Well, I did get off the subway or is it train (whatever… they keep me so confused!) and I called $2 and said “I’m here!”  Well, she did find me and we… uhm… shhhh…. tell you a secret… she really doesn’t know what exit to take to get out of the MTR.  She tells me… “Any one la… Kowloon Tong is small… all we have to do is walk outside and then I would know where we are.”  “Okee…”    We got into one of those “called” taxis and I really did try to explain what happened but… to no avail, I still sound like a nincompoop.  On the bright side of things, we are finally on our way!  Then $2 tells me… (big surprise!) Muse texted her and asked when we could meet up for lunch or tea either Monday or Tuesday.  Wow!  My jaw just dropped!  I mean… really?  Am I dreaming or what?  Euphoria… doesn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling.  I could hardly contain myself! 
When we arrived at NN’s house almost all the girls were there!  M with her special ordered crabs, 00 with her Mom’s homemade 豬肺湯，雁雁 with her snacks.  And there was 菜菜！ Haha!  I can’t believe that she would come down to HK for just the weekend to see all of us.  Happy!  The crab was delicious and the soup was fantastic! M, those crabs… I remember we talking about it in 2009!  How time flies!  Thank you!  And thank you, 00! I don’t get to have 豬肺湯 here in LV because it is still illegal to sell that portion of the pig, I guess.  Well, it was illegal in Hawaii too but… hehe… I could get my hands on one if I have to.  We laughed and we chatted, the company was great.  We talked about what happened last night and lo and behold, when we got to the part about the movie that May was talking about last night (香港舞男).  $2 started laughing and said… “Uhm… those techniques… they were all my imagination!  I wrote that screen play!”  Wakakaka!  It was so funny because… oh… sorry, censorship material!    Anyway, we called it a night pretty early because 菜菜, the poor thing wasn’t feeling so well from her bus ride and that taxi we took back into the city… the guy did not know how to drive.  Even I was feeling a bit queasy. 

… three precious weeks, day 16 part 2

I met up with Garfield, Green and 00 and went to SoHo for dinner.  We were to have dinner at a western vegetarian restaurant.  Wow, so crowded… it was kind of quirky, I guess.  The British influence seems to be still very strong here, even though SoHo is a “village” in Manhattan (New York City).  The guy on stilts… the mime… but what got me was… how high this place was!  The darn escalators went on forever!  Our table was on the rooftop and lighting… was… minimal.  I sat next to a plant with very rough bark!  Kept thinking I was going to knock myself on the head if I moved.  Dinner was pretty “fusion” but what the heck, the company was more important.  Once we were finished with dinner, we headed out to  蘭季坊...

On the way there… some of us had an eye full!  Haha!  But I wasn’t one of the lucky ones. Anyway… we went thru buildings… took an elevator down one floor… and there we were!   

Wow… this is even more crowded than SoHo.  So many Caucasians!  The music was blasting and laughter was in the air!   We found a nice little table outside a German bar and finally Winnie met up with us.  The poor thing couldn’t have dinner with us because she was at work so… somebody… ordered food!  We also ordered drinks… lets see if I remember… four sapphire gins and 3 southern comforts,  Of course, our drinks came first and sipping away… we… started to feel a bit more relaxed even though it was so hot!  Then the food came… it was a plate of… (drum roll please!) ((((brrrrr… rummmmm… bang!)))) A plate of sausages!  (This is when my reputation went straight down the drain…)   I took a good look at it… all different sizes, shapes and colors…. then looked up and said “Uhm… there are 7 of us… 6 is not enough!”  Wakakaka!  Admit it, gals!  It broke the ice!!!  Then we went one more round on the drinks… and another… anyway… Winnie and Garfield’s big sister came and joined us and we went inside to a bigger table.  Oh… before we went in… like I said, I was really hot and NN noticed that I had buttons on my shoulder and collar.  She, of course, pointed out that those said buttons could be unbuttoned!  There I was, standing still and she is undoing my shirt!  I, of course, quipped… “Hmmm… this is the first time a girl is doing this!”  Okay, okay… you guys got the gist of it… I was quite “high”.  The range of topics that went on for the rest of the night was vast but one particular subject… I have to mention.  I asked the gals “Do you remember your first “puppy” love?  It was hilarious!  May says… “Disgusting!”  We all looked at her and I said… PUPPY LOVE!  Not… you know… ”  We couldn’t stop laughing.  Of course, there was also the talk about an old movie and… the techniques.  (Boy, did we get a shocker the next day.)  Then the finale… we each had a shot of tequila!!  Hee… Green was really ready for this one!  Hahaha!  Oh!  Did I mention these guys from Germany?  One actually sat down and took a picture with the three sisters! 

Bones…

I guess I better get a move on and finish this "journal" before the end of the year!   I have been having so much fun watching "Bones" from the first season.  I know, I know... the corpses are very gory and it's not dinner time entertainment.  I kind of just glance away on those scenes... haha.  But I love the chemistry of these characters.  I watched all five seasons…. over a hundred shows in one week.

How can a show about murder be so funny?  Guess the dark humor is what I most enjoy about this show.  The feel I get from Bones is totally different from when I watch Criminal Minds.  I suppose I do enjoy shows that are “team” oriented with strong lead characters. 

Some food for thought…

This is such an awesome video.   It is so amazing that two such vastly different animals could be such good friends.  I hope you enjoy this because it kind of brought tears to my eyes. 

Enjoy!

… three precious weeks, day 16 part 1

Today, I am going to spend the day with 花花 and Snoopy going to Cheung Chau for the afternoon.  I was too exhausted to have breakfast so we met up around lunch time to take the “ferry” to Cheung Chau… but before we do that.  We went to a shopping center… ahhh… this looks familiar, I came with 00 and Winnie one day.  This is where the dancing part of the finale of the OP was filmed.  I told Snoopy and 花花 that I needed something to wear tonight and we walked around the shops.  Hmmm… so not me.  I said I needed a cup of coffee and Snoopy suggested McDonald’s.  McDonald’s?!?!?  I looked at her very skeptically!  She laughed and said “Okay, we can find a Pacific Coffee around here somewhere….”  We sat down for a little while before we head out to the pier.    The ride over was much better than I expected.  I wasn’t seasick at all!   

What an interesting island!  There were no cars but still plenty of people milling around the shops and stalls along the coastline. There were loads of bicycles too.  We ambled along looking for a place to eat and then I saw a nice “outdoor” restaurant serving seafood… we grabbed a table and order shrimp, calamari, and veggies.  The ocean breeze, good food and great company.  Nice!  There was this very lazy fat cat lying along the wall next to our table.  I spotted a “salon” while we were eating and asked the girls whether it was okay if I went in and had my hair washed.  (I am still not used to that bathroom… )  They said sure!  Okay, you gals walk around and give me half an hour.  Afterwards, we went walking and I even bought some souvenirs.  The afternoon was too short because I had another engagement tonight and I need to change but I had nothing to wear!  We took the luxury deck and rode back to HK to go shopping!  I bought two… blouses or should I call them sweaters… Well, it was time for me me to go home and get ready for dinner in Soho. 

(To be continued…)

… three precious weeks, day 15

Looking around the apartment… wow!  I really kind of messed up the place… I should do some packing.  Hmmm… nah!  It can wait till later!  So, I bravely went downstairs and into the crowded street and started to peek into these little “restaurants” to see what I could eat and if there were any “non” crowded tables.  I decided that the 牛雜 that I had with 00 the other day was pretty good so walked over and bought a stick.  It was still delicious but you know what?  It’s really weird to stand on the corner of a crowded street to eating a stick of juice dripping innards.    I continued roaming and looking into places where it wasn’t so crowded.  Okay… it was a stupid idea because there is a reason why some places are empty!!!  I ended up with a pretty awful bowl of beef stewed noodles, I asked for a cup of coffee and ended up with milk tea… *sigh* I am pretty hopeless in this part of the world.  I walked over to the 7-11 and bought myself some bottle water and a can of coffee then headed back to the apartment.  I started to do some picture taking as I was packing and thought to myself that by next week I will back in my own environment and these past weeks will only be memories.  I still can’t believe I took this trip… hahaha.  Oh!  Looking at the clock, I better start preparing myself for dinner… dinner will be at Temple Street again. 

This must be a long street because not one place looks familiar!  Three nights in a row and I still can’t recognize anything.  Tonight I am having 堡仔飯 with 妍貓，Snoopy，Dada and 花花.  Snoopy was so nice that she bought a roast goose from Yung’s and told me that I should take it home and eat it.  I had to decline la!  How can I eat a whole goose!  Plus, tomorrow I will be out all day.  Anyways, 妍貓 and Snoopy had “scoped” out the place a couple of weeks before.  Boy… the place was crowded.  The five of us squeezed in and sat on this table where our backs were practically touching someone else’s back.  We decided on what type of “Pot rice” to order and the hustle and bustle of the place was… interesting.  We had food carried over our heads… I kept bumping into somebody… and the food was very good.  After dinner, we walked over to a dessert place named “糖百府", I ordered this fabulously delicious coffee cotton ice!  This was yummy!   The guy in the shop was so nice that he downloaded some songs off his cell phone to some of the girls because they like his collection of songs.  I spoke with 雁雁 on the phone while we were eating and she was… sort of around the neighborhood so I told her “你來啦！陪我哋一陣啦!” So she came by and we all walked over to a Pacific Coffee place so we could chat more comfortably.  Hmmm… their cappuccino is pretty good but I kept thinking about 賞賞's cup in OP. 

Dear Santa…

I haven’t written to you in ages and since the internet technology is what it is today maybe I will have better luck getting this to you than sending a letter to the North Pole like I did when I was a kid of six.   
Christmas came a little earlier this year… in November for me.  For that, I want to thank you.  News of my best friend is free of cancer, my parents stayed healthy and I had the most treasured of gifts… fantastic memories of laughter and friendship. 
However, there is just one wish, one hope, one more present you can help me with.  I know I am asking for a miracle, but please let someone know in her heart that I never intended to betray her confidence and that even if our “cyber” paths never crossed again, that she is still very special to me. 
Thanks once again and Merry Christmas to you too, Santa! 

… three precious weeks, day 14.

What did I do in the day today?  I know what I did at night… but what did I do in the day today?!?!  Whack!  Hellooooo!  *Sigh*… should I start in the afternoon?  Maybe it was today that I went to have lunch with Auntie… ?  I really have no idea… I can’t remember.

So lets start in the late afternoon…

M called and said that she is free and could meet up with me earlier if I was free.  I said sure!  So we met up at another MTR station and went to “Temple Street”.  M told me she hasn’t been down this area in ages and she needs to buy… of all things… been curd!  I guess that place is pretty famous because she bought LOTS of different types.  I looked at her suspiciously and said “You are going to eat all that?”, pointing to the variety of bottles the sales lady was packing up for her.  Then all of a sudden I remembered that I forgot to bring my “present” along!  I told M that since it was still quite early, could we go back to the “flat” to get it?  It was her turn to look at me real funny and said “Silly!  It’s too far.  It’s okay, la!”  “Huh?  You sure?”  “Yeah.  I’m sure.”  “Uh… okay.”  We went into a little place and had something to drink and chatted about our mysterious hostess.  M thinks that there are two Stones… heehee… a little Stone that’s on WP and the big Stone that’s on $1’s blog.  Me?  I have a very simple mind, I just thought that Stone was more… relaxed in WP then when she is on $1’s blog.  But I know M wasn’t the first one to think what she thinks so… we’ll see.

We went to the restaurant early so we could see Stones’ reaction when she came in.  The waiters were very nice there, a couple of older gentlemen with a friendly smile.  That was when I found out that there were going to be three more, a total of six people at dinner.  When Stone walked in, she was almost, almost what I imagined.  A petite, soft spoken beauty looking slightly surprised to see the two of us sitting at the table.  Haha!  We said our hellos and then sat down again.  M asked if there were any seating arrangements but Stone said this was perfectly fine then she gave me a beautifully folded lotus made out of tissue.  She said that she had plan to come early to fold one for each of us but I guess with us sitting there, it kind of ruined her plans.   We chatted until one by one, the others came.  First $2 then the forever busy, Terrain and 花花.  Now to order… wow… so many different types of “western” food.  Haha!

        

I got a awesome present from Stone…

I forgot to take picture of the abalone, the linguine, and… the deserts!  It was delicious.  By the way… those two fingers, they belong to $2.  During dinner, I brought up the same question that I asked NN, 00, Winnie on Monday… “Out of 337 episodes of 畢打, 揀十集最…最最最深刻嘅賞昇scene.”  They all complained that 10 was too little!  Haha!  Then of all things, I was actually “interviewed” by $2… and it was recorded!  I complained that there wasn’t a script because we couldn’t stop laughing.  It was a really enjoyable night. 

Ps:  I will be posting other pictures of the wonderful gifts I got from the gals…

Christmas must be just around the corner because…

Jubilee girl is here!!!!

Don’t you just love those long legs!

Without You CAROLINE COSTA & ABRAHAM MATEO en live

Wow! These two are amazing!

… three precious weeks, day 13.

Whoa!  I had the morning to myself today which I took full advantage of… I slept!  Finally dragged myself out of bed at about 11 and moped around the place, contemplating what am I going to eat for lunch today.  I know that we were to meet in the afternoon for “high” tea.  Being the hopeless tourist, I didn’t or couldn’t decide what to have for lunch!  I really wanted to get a cup of coffee but where the heck around here will I be able to get a good cup of coffee especially after last nights’ sip of “blue mountain”… ah… I can still taste it.  .    “嗨！ 你今日在呀?”  Auntie opens the door… Wow!  I almost jumped out of my skin!  “Oh!  Hi, Auntie!  係呀！ 晏啲先出去.”  { Whew! Good thing I bought a pair of exercise pants yesterday and was wearing them since I left my pajamas at NN’s house.}  “邊有人返嚟好似你咁忙架！日日都話唔得閒。我個女叫我同你去飲茶...帶你去食燒肉呀.”  “Oh… { LV 都有燒肉食㗎...} “快啲著衫同你出去啦。你有冇野買呀?”  “Uh… towels?“  I hurriedly went and changed and at least, I solved my most immediate problem… what I was going to have for lunch!  We walked over to another restaurant and along the way, Aunty pointed out the shops that sold towels, socks, undies, etc.  Once we got to the restaurant and sat down to order.  I had to eat a whole plate of roast pork because Aunty didn’t eat any fatty meat.  { Duh!  I can’t afford to eat that much too… just look at me!}  I smiled and said… “Oh… 好味！我開始飽喇...”  “哎呀！食咁小！仲有啲野嚟緊架!”  “吓?  咁你都要食㗎.”  “我成日都有得食，你食多啲啦!” “個肚最公道喎...”  When lunch was finally done, we walked back to the apartment and along the way, I bought small towels, big towels, socks, nylons, and unmentionables.   I told Auntie I was to meet some of the girls for “high” tea at around 2:30 so we headed back to the apartment.  I dropped off all my goodies, said bye to Auntie and I was off to meet with Winnie at a MTR station.  Once we met up, we were to meet 00, Garfield, and NN at Landmark, where a scene of OP was actually shot.  When we exited the station… Winnie didn’t know which way to go.    I asked a very nice lady and she pointed us in the right direction.  The minute we got there, I hurriedly went and got myself a cappuccino.  Sets of delicacies were already ordered.  We sat around chatting and eating… notice that’s all I do, eat.  I guess the walking is actually good for me but don’t tell my toe that.  Later, May joined us after she finished work.  Winnie and Garfield had to go home for dinner and the rest of us headed out to see the night lights!  But check this out… as we got downstairs and out of the building… what do we see?  I told 00 “ You got to help me take a picture of this!

  But… she also took a picture of me and I looked like I was at least 5 months into pregnacy …   sigh… definitely gym time when I get back to the states.  Of all things… we went to Temple Street to eat… DINNER!!!  We had mochi rice and… ?  Don’t remember.  But the rice was very good.  After dinner, 00 says she has to go home since she has to work the next day.  We said bye and was off to find a place where I could buy a tweezer.  Then… we went back to Temple Street… and waited…. and waited… and waited…  What were we waiting for?  The “prophecy bird”!!! 

MCDONALD'S DRIVE THRU SONG

This is hilarious!

… three precious weeks, day 12.

It’s a full schedule today… First to… the “Animated River Show”. 

I stayed at NN’s place last night so I won’t get lost… or be late getting there.  Winnie came by in a “green” taxi and then the three of us were dropped off at the departure curb of the airport.  We were scrambling to try to find a taxi to take us to wherever this place was, which was suppose to be very close but not within walking distance. (Thank God!)   But it was illegal for any taxis to pick us up from the curb so… we finally followed the signs… (I was worried there for a while, you know how signs are with NN & me, a big cause for concern) and finally found that we can take a train there.  The three of us met up with 00 and it was off to see the exhibition/show.  It was actually pretty interesting.  The scenes would be from day and night but the screen was so huge that it took us “4 days” to see the whole thing.  Actually it was “five” days since I wanted to see the kid run after the pig again. 

After the show, we took a “blue” taxi and headed out into the “country”  The taxi driver that took us there was really talkative and I thought “Wow!  We have a driver and guide all rolled into one!”  He pointed out areas of interest, gave us background history and such.  We even saw a herd of wild cows walking on the road.  He pointed out the “Big Buddha” and from the road, it was very grand.  But our destination was the Dai Yue San and there we got off to go to this little food place where 00 has pre-ordered “Salt baked” chicken and where we can order vegetarian food.   The place had so many dogs of all shapes and sizes!    The food was delicious and we were very lucky to be able to share half a chicken with the table next to us.  I took one bite of the taro fish and I get an allergic reaction.  It was either that or there were invisible mosquitos.  I had to to wash my chin off with cold water then compress it with a tissue. 

After lunch we went walked back to the “market” place and what happens?  00 waited for charcoal “egg” waffles!  Hey!  That’s what it looks like to me!  Haha!

Then Winnie got grilled squid… with NN getting a bottle of “preserved” lemon.  While I thought I got a bottle of ‘water’.  My first sip was like… “Ewww… this doesn’t taste like water… what is it?”  I was told later that it was like an energy drink… yuck!  We spend a lot time there so we decided not to visit the “Big Buddha” because by the time we get there, the place would be closing anyway.  So it was off to dinner…

But before dinner,  NN had a surprise for us.  The place where we would eat dinner, there is a “store” next door.  The owner, she said, was very temperamental so she doesn’t know if we would get served or not.   We were going to get Hong Kong Milk Tea at $60 a shot.  The name of the store is “Chang’s Store”.  We walked in and my first impression is… what are we doing here?  The place was very unique.  It had eight chairs and a large table carved out of tree trunks.  There were no other tables and all kind of knickknacks hanging on the walls.  Outside there were table with trays that sells fruits.  The owner… Mr. Chang was very… expressive.  He kept telling us that he was once on 東張西望 and they came and interviewed him.  He was a constant performer!  It was funny that he insisted that we all watched him brew the tea… and then “taught” us how to drink it.  He didn’t serve the tea in a mug or cup but served it in a big bowl.  We looked at the bowl and said two of us could share one order. There is a sugar container on the table but no sugar because he doesn’t believe that the milk tea needs it.  Hmmm… it was very much like a wine tasting.  He wanted us to taste the texture of the tea and how the aftertaste dances on our taste buds.  He added “mango” jam to the tea and made us sip it.  Then when May came and joined us.  She wanted the “blue mountain” coffee.  Of course, we had to stand and watch him made that too. 

He then pours the one order into two bowls and we each had a sip of it.  WOW!  This sip of coffee will be something that I will never forget!  It was sooooo good!  The way that the essence of the coffee became stronger after you drink it.  It was amazing!!  Mr. Chang must have really enjoyed us as an audience because he then treated us to a special that he has… microwave 鴛鴦!  Anyway, after spending almost two hours drinking all that caffeine.  We walked next door for dinner… roast goose, fresh steam fish, stir fry veggies, and… don’t remember.  Have you noticed?  Throughout the whole day… it was either drinking or eating and we were not finished yet… After dinner, we walked over to another place for dessert.  Hahaha!  That night, 00 and I took the 小巴 back to a MTR station.  We had the whole bus to our selves.  Cool!

A quote I got off my Facebook today...

"There comes a time in life when you walk away from all the pointless drama and people who create it, and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus on the good. Life is too short to be anything but happy."

… three precious weeks, day 11.

Day 11... Novemeber 14th, 2010… Happy birthday, NN! 

An impromptu party last minute for the birthday girl!

The is what a birthday cake should look like.  Isn’t it pretty with all the candles lit?  Now… here’s a picture that shows what happened or was happening to this beautiful ice cream cake after NN blew out the candles…

A picture speaks a thousand words…

The massacre of… November 14th in HKG.

Whereas a video… need I say more?