Week 2

Whoops. Looks like I have been MIA for the past week! I'll try to highlight the bulk of my activities as well as possible.

Last week I mentioned something to Peter about Tex-Mex/Taco Tuesday or something along those lines and guess what? They have Taco Tuesday in HK apparently too :) We headed with a group to Tequila Jack's that night and explored a bit along the boardwalk.





Saturday morning I was up bright and early to go to see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island with Uncle Eli and Auntie Marie. We rode on these legit cable cars that gave us an amazing 360 degree view of Tung Chung Bay, Ngong Ping Plateau, and of course the Big Buddha.

Luckily we bought our tickets ahead of time and opted for the glass floor bottom so we skipped through the super long lines!





It was 168 steps from the bottom to the top where the Buddha was and it was well worth it! The views were spectacular and the Buddha was beautiful and impressive.

After exploring the area a bit, we headed back to the main island where Auntie Marie and Uncle Eli dropped me off at an MTR Station. I rode the MTR from Central to Mong Kok and made my way to a popular street market called Ladies Market. There are just tons and tons of stalls carrying clothes, accessories, souvenirs, and other random goodies.

It was about 2 or 3 in the afternoon so it was of course hot and humid. I think I sweat nearly constantly here in HK...at least when I'm outdoors. I've almost gotten used to it at this point...almost.

I finally made it back home just in time to shower and head out to dinner with Auntie Marie, Uncle Eli, and Auntie Marie's other niece- Grace. We ate at a pretty hip Japanese restaurant, Zuma.

After dinner I went over to the Kowloon side again to attend a small party. My initial thought was that I could blend in rather easily, ya know, since I'm asian...but then I remembered- I can't speak Chinese. In fact, I was the only person there that couldn't! Luckily they were all super friendly and could actually speak English. Which is exactly the reason native-English speakers almost never learn new languages...because they don't have to ( or at least that's what one of the bosses at work told me before).


Sunday Auntie Marie took me through the alley ways in central for more shopping and browsing through the wet markets. At this point, I am having serious doubts about whether or not my luggage will be light enough to be checked in at the airport... I think I may be over the 50lb per bag limit. Yikes bikes! Oh and my life is pretty much going to be stored in nothing but embroidered silk...





Around 6pm we walked towards the pier to meet Uncle Eli. We were taking a boat from Central to Lamma Island for dinner. The boat ride was about 40 min, but the air was so nice and the views were so beautiful. I explored the restaurant strip a bit while I waited for dinner. The restaurants have huge tanks filled with fish, crabs, clams, and all sorts of seafood for you to pick and choose from. Then they cook it for you as you'd like so of course it was perfectly fresh!





I was exhausted by the time we headed back towards HK island. Yesterday (Monday) morning I woke up early again to go for a run and it was nice, but I probably should have just slept in the extra 1.5 hours...I was beyond tired at work and had to have 2 coffees that day to stay awake!

Today(Tuesday) I went on another morning run. I am really going to miss running along the trails in HK (despite the old ladies who keep lighting incense along the trails...). It definitely is a long way from running down Texas Ave! I met Uncle Eli and Auntie Marie and one of Uncle Eli's coworkers for lunch at Ovologue again and was dreading heading back for another 4-5 hours at work, but then something miraculous happened...We got to go home. Around 4:30pm the boss said we could take the rest of the day off. I tried my best to hide my excitement, but if only you knew the joy I was probably radiating.

Now I'm back home and I don't know what I'm going to do with these extra couple of hours, but I am oh so very grateful to have them! I have less than a week left in HK and there's still tons to see and do!!!!

love, stine