Saturday, May 13, 2006

Hong Kong pics

For the 2 or so people out there who care, I made it back safely from Hong Kong. It was a fabulous 8 days of relaxing, drinking, sightseeing, eating, and drinking. The weather was pretty warm the whole week, but rainy and humid as hell. Not too bad though. Nothing can ever be too bad on vacation, right?

We checked out most of the big areas on Hong Kong Island and across the harbor in Kowloon. Hong Kong is very modern- lots of huge skyscrapers, good restaurants, damn good shopping (if you have the money that is) and expensive cars everywhere. We met some very random interesting people during the week- an American guy who lives and works in Hong Kong, 2 other girls who live and work in HK- 1 from England and one from Australia, 2 English teachers in Japan who also happened to be vacationing in Hong Kong, a group of Russians who put us to shame and taught us how to drink vodka (but who kindly paid for all our drinks and our taxi home :) ), and a weird birthday party that we joined in on - which included a young cocky German kid who happened to hate Pascal. All in all, it was a very exciting fun-filled week!

We went to a really cool Russian bar one night- where they give you fur coats when you walk in and then you can go into this seperate area that is basically like a walk-in freezer. You can order shots inside the freezer and everything is made out of ice- the glasses, the seating, and tables. It was so much fun! What a cool idea for a bar.

Another night we went to a really cool club. It might just be the coolest club that I've ever been to. It was huge and it was built inside a big circle- the main dance floor and bar was in the middle, but all around it on the outside were private rooms that you could rent out for the night. The whole club kinda reminded me of being inside a big vault. And it was so great to be able to go out dancing again- they played good music (just like clubs at home) and Chinese people actually dance together (you know, boys with girls) unlike most of the clubs in Japan that I have been to. Chinese people just seemed way more westernized than most Japanese people.

Another thing worth mentioning was the fish market that we went to. We went to this very Chinese area and we were the only non-Chinese inside this huge crowded fish market. It was crazy! There were live fish everywhere, blood and guts everywhere, and walking through you had to be careful not to get sprayed by blood from the butcher hacking into the huge fish on the counter. Then we went up to the 3rd floor to check out all the poultry. There were chickens and other birds everywhere- all crammed into cages. The highlight of the day, I must say, was watching a chicken's throat get sliced and tossed behind the man into a covered basket- to wait for the chicken to die. It was crazy- I can't believe I saw that. Everything's an experience :)

So, we had no problems whatsoever and I just enjoyed my 8 paid days off!

I have some more pics of my trip at my MSN page, click on the link above to see them!

Friday, May 12, 2006

Hong Kong harbour Posted by Picasa

view of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, from Victoria Peak Posted by Picasa

Smokin' a cuban cigar(with attitude) Posted by Picasa

The coolest bar in Hong Kong(and we went to a lot) . Balailaka- a Russian Bar where they give you a fur coat to wear when you walk in, and you drink in a walk-in freezer. Everything was made out of ice- the benches and tables, and the glasses.  Posted by Picasa

The pig hanging in the front wasn't exactly appetizing Posted by Picasa

Stanley Beach Posted by Picasa

Trade building Posted by Picasa