living the life in hong kong

so we've been living in hong kong for a week now and at this time we're really not backpacking at all since we're living in a nice apartment but it's not like i'm complaining. i can't really recall what we did on what day but here are some of the highlights...

we took this really steep tram up to 'the peak' which is i suppose one of the highest points in hong kong and you can get a really good view of the city from up there. we're special and sat up there for a good 3 hours or so because john wanted to see the view both during the day and at night.





i've also had the chance to finally meet one of my cousins, lilian, that i've never met before. perhaps chinese families are just monsterously big, cause i haven't met a bunch of my family...can you see the family resemblence? (this picture's pretty much just for my family to see. hi mom, show this to grandma!)


we've gone to a lot of street markets, like the nite market and the ladies' market, which are a lot of fun. really, all the markets are kinda the same. in that they all sell cheap, useless and therefore highly enticing junk. there are also a lot of shopping districts and one street just sells aquarium fish. and well, i found this kinda odd, but they just put fish,ranging from little guppies to big-ass fish, in plastic bags and hang them all over the place.


another day we took a ferry over to one of the small outlying islands, called cheung chau, and rented one of these bad-ass bikes:

the island was actually really interesting, it had zero cars except for what you could call a police car. maybe a police golf cart. it was also great because it had a BEACH. it was great going from shivering-cold beijing one week to lying on a beach the next (not like it's bikini weather or anything but whatever). by the way, the news reports over here keep claiming were in the midst of a "winter monsoon" and my uncle tells me its "freezing" over here and everyone's all bundled up but hell, i think it's nice and toasty! it's great not thinking you're still on the verge of an icy death while bundled up in 4 layers of clothing.


another reason cheung chau was great:
the best mini egg tarts i've ever had in my entire life. they were piping hot out of the oven and it was fantastic. so fantastic that i took a picture of them, and then proceeded to write about them here days later.

oh, and apparently on the island, this is the "mini great wall".
i guess...

i love hong kong cause it gives me little flashbacks to my childhood. like these little plastic bubbles that you can blow using a straw and rubbery goop in a tube. i love goop! it's like being 5 years old again; fantastic!

then on john's birthday we went to the most magical place on the planet: disneyland. (ok well personally i think disneyworld, florida is the most magical place on the planet but hong kong disneyland can be the most magical place in china.) john got special treatment cause he got an "it's my birthday" button and evidently it was mandatory for all disney staff that passed by us to enthusiastically wish him a happy birthday. anyway, as many of you know, im a hardcore disney junkie so obviously i had a good time. oh, and i thought it was great how during the parade, alice in wonderland, all pasty white and blonde, 'speaks' in cantonese.
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and i lost all sense of being thrifty and the concept of "hey, im backpacking!im super poor!" and just bought up useless merchandise. but it was all worth it cause as you can see with just some of my purchases, wearing those mickey and minnie ears made us the coolest kids ever.

ok and i just posted this picture because i'm impersonating the little 5 year old girls over here that just work it for the camera. i apparently just dont know how to pose for the camera the way these kids too so i stole one of the girl's poses.
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and then today we went to a theme park called ocean park. it's super popular over here but we weren't really feeling it. it was super spread out with gondolas attaching the 2 halves of the park and you just had to walk everywhere. also it has the world's longest outdoor escalators or something like that. so basically it takes you like a year to get from place to place. i was also super choked cause the panda exhibit was closed for renos and im absolutely dying to see a fucking panda! it's ok, i'll live.

anyway, i'm digging hong kong and hong kong is making me fat. i'm harsh pigging out cause the food is so yummy and i'm turning into a total heffer but i figure, when will i be in hong kong again? i sure as hell won't be pigging out in cambodia and india! (i think. it's hard to say at this point). ok well im tired and i think i'll go have some ice cream before bed...