Hong kong miscellaneous

Hellooo out there.... yes, I HAVE BEEN busy lately. I still have a regular DAY job after all. So, I have been to Hong Kong again on my regular business trip. Fortunately, I didn't get sick this time around (you see, lately, I have been getting fevers everytime I go on a trip abroad-- I think it's a weak immune system or getting tired or GASP! ~ old!! hahahaha)

Anyhows, Hongkong weather was very nice. not too hot and not raining (unlike the previous trip~ that's probably why I got sick).

Hongkong is such a vivacious city. You can really feel the energy every time you step out. It seems like everyone you meet is in a hurry. (compared to when I went to Auckland, New zealand... where you feel everyone is just taking their time. (yawn...) Hongkong is like a city that got too much coffee.

So, I travel to HK 3-4 times a year. One of the things we like to eat are the street food. I usually don't eat too much of this stuff but what the hey. You're in HK. the city that never stops eating!

INS AND OUTS

These are some of the things they serve. One order is 7- 12 hk $ (.8-$1 US). The picture above are pig's intestines. They clean them out and kind of stew them. The girls is slicing the order and skewring it on a stick to serve. The way they cook is pretty clean. the prices vary of course depending on the area the store is located, the more high end the location, the more it costs.

I did eat the intestines. It was chewy and not as bad as you might think.

These are tripe. (some other internal organs of the pig). As you can see, they stew these pretty good. They serve this in a bowl with some of the stew juices. pretty tasty! I wanted to take some more pictures of some of the fish balls, squid and pig's tongue on a stick but the owner shoooed me off (~ as if I could get anything of the recipe from taking a few pictures! -- *roll eyes*)

MTR
Going around Hk, you usually take the MTR (subway). if you happen to go on rush hour, you can feel the crush of people. (literally). One time, I had the misfortune of going with 3 kids, my mom, husband a stroller and when we got out of the station, it was raining so hard no one wanted to step off the curb.
People were jammed at the entrance and most of them had no umbrella.  My husband had to rush to a nearby store and buy a few umbrellas for us to get to the hotel - (which was about 200-300 meter walk)- naturally, we got wet all the same.

So, this time, I saw something unusual. (Which I think was a good idea)
A vending machine for umbrellas.

Granted, the price of the umbrella is on the expensive side, but hey. See a need, fill a need.

SUPERMARKET


On the other hand, we were browsing in some uppity supermarket (we got time on our hands) and I saw some unique looking corn. They had them on display for Halloween. one was black and the other one was multicolored with speckles of brown in between the yellow. Gets you wondering how they manage to do it.

I also saw a limited editon coke bottle- or was it a can?

It cost hk$20- (about $2.8 US)

(eek!).. 

I love looking at their supermarkets. They have such a wide variety of stuff we don't get here. (especially city super-- located at harbor city mall- where they have tons of pricey japanese products )

GOLD

In Hk, every corner you can see jewelry stores. On display are a wide variety of diamonds, gold, jade. I usually like to window shop. (ask my husband.. who usually has to drag me off the window-- hahaha)

It's just nice to take a look at the stuff they offer (we are girls after all)

If you have some serious mooolah, you can actually buy a gold rice bowl with matching gold chopsticks.

There is just so many things in display that you wonder how many people actually buy these stuffs.

For now, I'm back home and in need of serious training (ate too much in HK) for my 15k race in November. Yes--- 15k. (crazy)

for one who can barely train for a 5k, I signed up for a 15k. (gulp)

The postcard project

My history with writing in general started when I was very young, I remember having those correspondence (penpals) services when I was in grade school. You would fill up a form and indicate which country you would like to have penpals in and then pay a fee --I think at the time it was 10 pesos- about 25c per penpal-- but you have to factor inflation because that was AGES ago).  Considering my allowance at that time was only 5 pesos per day, signing up for a penpals was pricey. (I'd say!).

 It was the age where email and facebook were non existent and to a 10yr old girl, meeting someone from another country was quite exciting. I had 3 penpals. I had one from Italy, Denmark (both girls) and one from Czechoslovakia. We wrote for a good 5 years. The girl from Denmark even visited me here in the Philippines.

My friend, the constant traveller extraordinaire-- Lilliane (wanderlass) is currently on a year long world tour. (go lilliane!)

I am amazed at her ability and guts to tour without a definite itinerary and plan. With her list of friends from couchsurfing, a limited budget (and some help from corporate sponsors) and just her great desire to explore, she is travelling the world... check out her travels on her blog. (see blogs I like to the right) BTW, she takes amazing pictures too.! (envy envy envy) -


I love getting mail and postcards. She is now doing her postcard project. see HERE. I signed up right away. There is just something about getting (snail) mail. Just seeing the person's handwriting, the concept of that person taking the time to write and mail the postcard just make it extra special.

vintage postcard

ERGO, I also love writing to people. I had an idea before of having a friend somewhere who I would write to everytime I was abroad. Wouldn't that be fun?

I found this postcard pic on the net. Its a wooden postcard. I wonder how you carve your message.. and how long would it take you? hahahaha

anyone interested in snail mail? message me!