Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Day 5: Fuck you, Jimmy Choo.

Deember 22, 2010

I had a very productive morning. Slept in. Didn't blog. Again.

Total success? Absolutely.  

I didn't even get to my first event of the day until 1:30 PM... or really 2:30 considering we got in line BUT IT DIDN'T START UNTIL 2:30! 

What was it that Mary stood in line for an hour for? What could be so could?

Well! Tea at the Peninsula Hotel! And not just any tea, but their special Christmas tea, which included a slightly altered menu and a choir that was actually quite good. Of course, the hotel, in typical Hong Kong fashion, was totally decked out for Christmas. 

And there was so much food! I made it my goal to try everything on the triple (or was it quadruple?) tiered plate. It was truly a battle of the highest order - one of epic proportion. I just barely made it, and even then I had to eat it over the course of 2 hours. Luckily for me - and this is something I love about HK - meals are an event; you take as long as you want and no one thinks of bringing you the check before you ask for it. It's like they don't want to imply that you should leave if you aren't ready; it's very nice actually. 

The menu included: NOMs. Many many NOMs. Aka:
- Selection of Finger Sandwiches:
~ Balik Salmon on Buckwheat Pancake
~ Smoked Turkey and Truffle Cream in Focaccia
~ Marinated Cucumber and Cress in Whole Grain Bread
- Savoury Jalousie
- Goose Liver and Candied Walnut Quiche 
- Raisin and/or Plain Scones with Devonshire Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam
- Assorted Dessert Noms:
~ Chestnut and Cassis Yule Log 
~ Festive Macaroons
~ Christmas Cookies
~ Pistachio and Cherry Almond Cake
~ Salted Caramel Mousse with Poached Pear
~ Chocolate Cinnamon Truffle
- Selection of Teas: Jasmine, Pu Er, Rose, Ti Guan Yin, Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey,
Peninsula Afternoon, Peninsula Breakfast, Almond, Caramel, Cinnamon, Mango, 
Passionfruit, peach, raspberry, or rose. I went with the Ti Guan Yin, which was quite
good. And for those dipshit Americans who won't get with the setting, they also offer
coffee upon request. 

Suffice to say, it was awesome. Expensive - If you go outside the front door there are Bentleys and shit parked out there. - but totally worth it. I loved it, but then again, I would have afternoon tea every day if I could.

After tea, we immediately went back to the hotel, though we didn't get there until like 5 PM. It was at this time that we split apart for the evening. While I chilled out at the hotel, they went to the final fitting for my dad's suit and then went on a harbor cruise (which they said was great, btw). 

Eventually, I went on a quest to the Temple Street night market. Before you go, "AGAIN?" let me say that I actually really needed to buy a bag for all the stuff I had bought. Of course, I ended up buying more stuff, too, but I did get a fold up bag!! I don't know why I didn't do this before, but I finally got in on bargaining action and bought some knock off designer bags. 

You may go, "Knock offs? That's wrong!" Fuck you. And fuck Jimmy Choo. There is absolutely nothing to justify the prices of most designer stuff. A $4000 purse? Are you shitting me? That's BS! Some people go, "Oh, well it's better quality than that $20 bag from H&M." Maybe, but not by that much. If a bag is better quality but very similar to that $20 bag, you could charge $100 for it. MAX! NOT THOUSANDS! So to you pretentious people waging a crusade against knock offs, I say to you with utmost respect, 

Please go fuck yourself. 

I also bought a lovely pashmina scarf. 

As I walked back to the hotel at 11 PM, surrounded by zillions of people on my last night in the city, I thought about how much I truly love this place. 

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Day 4: Yum! Suspicious Meat-Paper!

December 21, 2010


Today was the day trip day... meaning... I had to.. get. up. early. 

AHHHH! The horror. 

Anyway, we walked to the China Ferry Terminal and took the First Ferry to Macau, which, like Hong Kong, is a SAR (Special Administrative Region) of China, meaning that we had to go through customs. Yay! Honestly, though, the exiting Hong Kong and getting on the ferry was pretty easy. In fact, the ferry itself was super nice - assigned seats that were bigger than coach seats on airplanes! Plus, the ride was only like an hour. 

It was the customs in Macau that was where the fun started. Along with - literally - thousands of people, we waited in a standing line for an hour. By the time we were done, my feet felt like they were going to un-attach themselves and eat me out of vengeance. 

The wait length makes total sense considering the fact that Macau has 27 million visitors a year and actually makes $3 billion more in profits than Las Vegas does each year. Yeah, Vegas. Suck it. Of course, Frommer's said, "Oh the lines not bad! It won't take more than half an hour." Useless lying assholes. 

So after we got through customs, we caught a cab (also cheap like in Hong Kong) to a restaurant highly recommended by the book. Unfortunately, though, it was closed, and I very nearly launched in to a public tirade about how much Frommer's sucks, but I realized that the book did say that La Lorcha was closed on Tuesdays. 

By this time, we were like rabid squirrels in the ferociousness of our hunger. Fortunately for us, though, the book recommended another restaurant down the road, which we found out was, quite literally, just down the road. 

Our new eating home is called Litoral and serves Macanese food, which is a mix of Portuguese and Chinese culinary traditions. I'll be honest with you; I was predisposed to not like this place, because I had wanted Portuguese food, damnit! But, this restaurant drop kicked me in to a 180. 

It. Was. Awesome. 

Oh my God; the food was amazing. I had minced meat with fried egg and rice - Sounds boring, right? Absolutely not. It was tasty as all hell. My dad and his fiance had chicken curry and saffron pork, respectively, and both said that the meal was delicious. 

If you ever go to Macau, go to Ristorante Litoral. You will not be disappointed. 

It was at this point that my dad decided to split off and go play poker at one of the many casinos - I would assume that you got the impression that Macau is a gambling Mecca by the fact that it's profits are more than Vegas'. If not, you're a dumbass. - Anyway, Colleen and I went to a temple close to Litoral called A-Ma (dedicated to the Sea-farers Goddess of the same name), which is the oldest Chinese temple in Macau.

It was pretty damn old alright. Nasty. Falling apart. Etc...

I'm kidding. It was in fine shape and is mostly made up of rocks and stairs and crap anyway. Despite my fun-making, A-Ma is actually kind of neat, because it has a view of part of the harbor and it's an actual functioning temple, so you get to see people going there and making offerings of incense and that sort of thing. Speaking of incense, there were these weird yellow coil things hanging from, well, everything, and they looked like little Christmas trees. Once we got up close, though, we realized they were coils of incense that burned FOR FREAKING EVER by the sheer length of them. For the rest of the day, I looked for places you can buy them, but the temples apparently have some sort of cabal/blackmarket incense ring that only they're privy to. 

All the while we were in the temple, we were getting texts from my dad saying that he couldn't catch a cab to save his life, so while Macau may have cheap cabs, they aren't nearly as easy to grab as in HK. In fact, he later told me that he got on a bus and pulled out the equivalent of a 20 or so dollar bill. They made him get off. 

Apparently, he eventually got a cab after half an hour. We were not so lucky. Upon leaving the temple, we noticed that there were some tour buses around the corner. Thinking that was a transportation center, we walked over there. Cabs? Nope. So, we continued to walk down the lane... which turned in to a parking lot... which turned in to a street... which turned in to a private road running along a canal. On the bright side, we got to see the Macau Tower, which is quite impressive, but that was kind of eclipsed by the EPIC WALK AROUND THE MIDDLE OF BF NOWHERE IN MACAU. At one point I could vaguely see the Wynn in the distance and was heading toward it like the city was a desert and the casino was the holy grail of oases. 

We never made it to the Wynn, because some random-ass person was getting dropped off at some random-ass place on the random-ass street we were walking down. We literally ran after that cab with arms-a-flailin'. 

The cab took us to another temple, the?????. and the traffic on the way was a douche. Seriously. It sucked bad. The temple, though, was interesting. Unlike the last one, this one was much more "temple-y" in that it had more in-door areas and shrines. In fact, there were numerous offerings and shrines to the recently deceased. 

Okay. Cultural experience taken care of.

Once again, we took a cab to our next destination, though it took a hell of a lot less time to catch a cab this time around. Said destination was the ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral, which is basically just the facade of the church. It was neat (especially the bone container thingies), but the real treat was the walk down from it, because the church is at the top of a well-known mosaic tiled street lined by old Portuguese-styled buildings, which you are, of course, expected to walk down.

So we did. 

It was pretty neat; there are lots of antique shops, if you're interested in that sort of thing, and food stores, most of which give out free samples. Yum. In fact, we tried some of their version of almond cookies! I was excited, because I happen to really like almond cookies. Unfortunately, though, the Macau (maybe actual Chinese?) versions are gross. They're very dry and powdery; it's like eating pure flour. If you happened to be a resident of Macau there on that day and at that time, you would have seen a random tourist walking around looking like she was going to gag. I literally was looking for somewhere to spit it out, but in the end, I had to suck it up. 

Also very prevalent along the street were these strange concoctions. They were all shiny and flattened to about 1/4" - 1/2" thick and I suspected they were made of meat. Of course, I just had to try some, so I walked up to one of the guys handing out free samples and motioned like I wanted one. He said something in Chinese (at least, I couldn't understand him) that definitely meant something along the lines of "Are you sure you want to try this suspicious looking food thing, tourist?" I nodded my head vigorously, so he gave me one. j

YUM. Suspicious meat-paper is tasty. I wanted buy some, but it looked as if you could only buy large amounts and I didn't know if it was even legal to bring food like that through customs. 

Sadness. 

Anyway, we continued on down the street and came across a real treat. I mentioned before that Hong Kong was decked out for Christmas, and Macau, apparently, is no different. Epic icicle lights hung over the street for a good distance, leading up to a giant Christmas tree made purely of lights. It was quite a site to behold. Upon getting closer, there were many other Christmas decorations scattered around the base of the tree and the facades of buildings (Santa Pandas are very popular.). 

Not one to let good shopping escape me, I spotted a bag I liked very much - I was seriously looking for a large bag at this time to bring back all the stuff I'd purchased. - but when I asked the lady how much, she said "tomorrow" and walked away. 

Good business strategy. 

Done with the lame shopping area, we headed toward the Grand Lisboa, which was the casino where my dad had ultimately ended up. I don't think I mentioned this before, but the Grand Lisboa is the newer building added on by the Casino Lisboa to accommodate more guests and gamblers. It is significant because it is one giant-ass building (one of the top 100 in the world, I believe) and you can see it from almost anywhere in the city. It is very noticeable not only because of its sheer size but also because it is one seriously ridiculous building (it looks like a giant plant made of lights). 

"Grand Lisboa." Google Image that shit. Seriously. 

Our walk took us through the section of Macau where most of the casinos are - This area is home to the Lisboa, the Wynn, MGM Grand, Sands, etc... - and it was lit up like all hell. Vegas  looks a bit like a turd compared to this area. I shit you not. 

It wasn't a long walk from the Portuguese section to the Lisboa, so we were inside the casino within half an hour, and let me tell you, the interior is no less impressive than the exterior! Besides the classic casino elegance of crown moldings and rich carpets there are floors and floors of tables and subfloors with restaurants on them that overlook the casino floors, making the overall rooms far bigger than anything I've seen in Vegas. 

Speaking of one of those subfloors, we sat at a little cafe on one and watched the tables below (I even got in a few pictures, which isn't allowed. Teehee.). We were also SO lucky as to catch one of the shows - if you can call scantily clad women dancing (poorly, at that) a show. At one point, one even started taking off her clothes!

Awkward? Very. You should have seen the crowd of men gathering.

Luckily, no one ever actually got naked. Thank God. I would have died of embarrassment for my gender. To the casino's credit, though, there was an acrobat at one point which was cool. Overall, however? I'm gonna pass on that experience again. 

On a happier note, we, joined by my dad, ate at one of the hotel's restaurants, ???? and it was pretty good. I won't lie. I'm writing this like a week later and all I can remember is that we had some sort of noodles and steamed pork and fried beef dumplings. Quite good, I must say. 

After dinner, we caught one of the hotel's free shuttles - Handy? I think so. - back to the ferry terminal. Thankfully, going out of customs in Macau and entering customs in Hong Kong was  lot easier/shorter than our earlier experience. 

By the end of the day, I think I would have died if I had had to stand for another hour. 

Monday, December 20, 2010

Day 3: Um... Can I live here?

December 20th


I slept in and had a caesar salad for breakfast again.

Original - I know. 

While I was sleeping, my dad and his fiance went out to have a suite made for him for their wedding. Cashmere wool. Expected to be done in 3 days. Hand made. Name personally stitched inside. $575. Um... shopping paradise much? 

I think so. 

They also had Starbucks for breakfast at the most epic starbucks ever. I'd know; I saw it while walking along the harbor front promenade yesterday. It really is quite awesome - Directly on the promenade, second floor outdoors with ridiculously comfortable chairs and a fantastic view of the harbor. It is quite possibly the best Starbucks for viewing in the world. Then again, though, I definitely haven't been to every Starbucks in the world which is evident by the fact that there is one practically on every single corner of the city. 

Anyway, we walked down to the Star Ferry and caught a ride across the Harbor, which was pretty cool in itself. The ride only lasted for about five minutes, but it gave us a chance to get a nice view of the areas of the waterfront that you normally can't see because they're kind of "around a corner" as the coast curves. Even though the ferry isn't as fast as the MTR, it's still worth doing at least once, especially considering the fact that you can use your Octopus Card on it. I may have mentioned the OCs earlier - I can't remember - but I'll talk about it just in case. The Octopus Cards are basically little cards that you can load up with trips on the public transportation system. They work for the MTR, the Star Ferry, and the tram up to Victoria Peak (There may be more, but these were the only things I used it for.) and are very handy because they make it so that you don't have to wait in line to buy tickets whenever you want to go anywhere. 

Onward!

From the Star Ferry Terminal in Wan Chai (on HK Island), we took a taxi to Stanley, which is a little town on the other side of the island. It may seem unfortunate, at first glance, that you have to take a taxi to Stanley (The MTR doesn't go over there.), because the road is windy and long, but that opinion doesn't take in to account that the drive is spectacular! Once you get on the other side of the island, the road down to Stanley is one that is high up with a great view of the ocean and Repulse Bay (Nice name - I know.). Actually, there are some damn nice apartments over there I wouldn't mind living in...

The view is no less awesome once you get to Stanley. In fact, I IMPLORE you to have lunch at one of the many restaurants on the little boardwalk (We at at the Boathouse, which, according to my dad, serves the best salad he has ever eaten.). It's a great experience, because the view of the little bay is beautiful; when were there, the sun was shining, there were people on the little beach, and it was a brilliant cloudless day. I could completely see living in Hong Kong and puttering over to the other side to relax away from the chaos of the city. 

That is not to say, though, that there is nothing to do in Stanley. The little town is actually home to a really great market, and I ended up buying two cute bags for three dollars a piece, though there was lots of other cool stuff like there. Over all, I'd say that Stanley Market is better than Temple Street because there is better quality stuff there - besides the typical pashmina shawls, knockoff designer wear, watches, and tourist crap, there are actually some very nice jewelry and clothing stores. 

At around 4 or 5, we took a taxi back to the other side of the island to the bottom of Victoria Peak... to catch the tram up. The actual tram-ing took place after waiting in line FOREVER. It sucked. Balls. We did eventually get in the little red car and proceeded to go up a freakishly steep hill... which included stops at the mid-levels - stops complete with the tram rolling backwards a foot or two before coming to rest. I will remind you that this is an insanely steep hill and that the experience is therefore border-line panic inducing. Fun stuff. 

On the 10 minute ride, we got a tiny inkling of the epic view in store. Soon enough, though, we reached the little tram station which is indoors and could no longer see the skyline. In traditional Hong Kong fashion, you are then herded up a series of escalators past a number of stores until... Oh look! The ticket stand. Apparently, you not only have to buy tickets to take the tram up the mountain, but you also have to pay to go up on the viewing deck. 

Lame? Definitely. Yay capitalism. 

I have to say, though, the view is ONE HUNDRED BILLION TRILLION percent worth it. Like I mentioned last night, Hong Kong has the world's most awesome skyline, and there is apparently no better place to view it than the top of Victoria Peak. It was truly awesome and was made more so by the fact that I timed so that we got up to the top when it was the very end of daylight, so by staying up there for half our or 45 minutes, we got to see the skyline at all levels of light and as all the lights began to turn on. 

So epic. It hurt. It really did. 

The trip to the top isn't just for the view, though; there are many restaurants and entire freaking mall. And for those who don't want to take the tram back down, you can catch a cab, which is actually what we did. Because I am such an amazing genius, I suggested we take a cab down to Aberdeen, which, like Stanley, is another little town on the other side of the Island, because the top of Victoria Peak is in the middle of the island - half way to Aberdeen! I'm a fucking genius.

So, we hopped in the cab and we're off down the mountain... back to the city side of the island. Basically, we had to drive down to HK city and then back around to the other side of the island.

I fail so bad. 

Anyway, the reason we were going to Aberdeen was to eat at the Jumbo Restaurant - The famous floating restaurant of Hong Kong... that doesn't actually float. Sure, you have to take a little boat out to it, but IT DOESN'T FUCKING FLOAT, DAMNIT! I feel jipped. Assholes!

I'm kidding; it's actually totally worth every penny. The exterior and interior may toe the line between extravagant but classy and gaudy/ tacky, but the food is amazing. I had Peking duck for the first time, and it is officially in my top 5 favorite foods of all time. The crispy skin with a little meat on it... wrapped in Chinese pancake... with a little sweet sauce...

Holy fucking (This blog is rated R for language.) hell. Good Lord. Hallelujah. 

Drugs? Sex? Bacon? Killing Sarah Palin? Noooo. Peking - fucking - duck. That is most assuredly the Shit.

Taxi back to the hotel. I don't really remember anything after the duck. It was just that amazing.  


Sunday, December 19, 2010

Day 2: London, here's a lesson for ya.

December 19th, 2010


I take back most of the stuff I complained about yesterday. I actually CAN see some of the water, and my view of the buildings at night IS quite spectacular (I think I couldn't tell last night because we got here so late that most of them had been turned off.). Upon coming out of my deep deep comatose, I was able to see that my room was well small, but clean, efficient, and well appointed, and frankly, that is what you should aim for when coming to a big bustling city. Don't go for a massive loft, cause, chances are, it will be a giant turd. In the case of large/dense cities, you SHOULD sacrifice size for quality. 

Anyway, my dad and his fiance discovered that there was a delicious breakfast buffet downstairs, but unfortunately, I woke up to late to go eat there. Instead, I ordered a caesar salad off of the room service menu, and let me tell you, it was AMAZING, which is significant cause it's hard to make a salad not boring. Honestly, at first, I was suspicious, because the big leaves came intact, which looked like it might have been difficult to eat with a fork and knife. So, like the big American barbarian I am, I just picked it up and ate it like a taco. DAYUM! Not only was the lettuce fresh and the dressing awesome, but there were these tiny little cheese cruttons scattered within the leaves. Parmesan cheese was also sprinkled throughout the salad-taco, and the entire thing rested on a large piece of delicious tasty garlic cheese bread. Suffice it to say, that was one awesome taco salad thing. 

After getting ready, which is a long process for me for inexplicable reasons, we were off like a herd of speeding turtles! It actually took us a while to figure out what exactly we wanted to do - I hadn't done nearly as much planning as I had for other trips - and we ended up not leaving the hotel until around 2. Surprisingly, we found the MTR (Hong Kong's metro) pretty quickly... or at least we thought so. When we came across the sign saying Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, I was a little bit suspicious, because it didn't seem to match up with the station's location on the map. Still, though, there was a sign there, so it had to be it, right? Nope, at least, not exactly. If you go to Hong Kong, you will discover that there is a massive labyrinth of moving walkways, corridors, and shops underground - all connecting the MTR stations to other important sites. The boardwalk, for instance, though it is .5 - 1 mile away from the closest MTR station is connected to it by underground passageways. Though the weather is nice now, I'd imagine that these would be awesomely helpful if it were raining or during the summer when it's hot and humid out. 

The trains themselves are nice, too; they're massive, new, and air-conditionered - Wow! A/C! London's Underground could really take a lesson from that. Not having your metro/subway serve as the city's metaphorical/ olfactory armpit? What a novel concept. - We left from Tsim Sha Tsui Station, changed at ???, and arrived at Lok Fu, or as my dad called it, Fuck Lo. 

-Sigh- Americans. 

Anyway, we wandered around the station trying to use our guide book to find directions to the Kowloon Walled Park, which is the largest Chinese walled park outside of mainland China. After failing for 15 minutes or so, we finally asked a person who told as that it was too far to walk and that we should take a cab. We took one. It was definitely too far to walk. Thanks a lot, Frommer's, you useless assholes. 

The taxi got us there just fine, but initially, I was sort of unstoked. It just looked like a park and rocks. Joy. After walking around, though, I was impressed with its size, snaking covered pathways, and diversity of flora - I'd imagine that if you were to go during blooming season it would be quite spectacular! - and cute little pond. It was here that I discovered that my dad's fiancee is a camera nazi. She REALLY likes to take pictures (even more than I do... and that's saying a lot). My dad, of course, with his 6'4"ness was like gone by the time we put out cameras down. It was definitely a bit of a fail. 

At one point, we accidentally walked out of the walled park itself and entered a more modern park that had kind of been built around the older one. It was surprisingly nice. There was a ridiculous long bike track with a zillion little kids peddling around it at high speeds. A jogging path ran parallel to it, too. I have to say that I was surprised how big the entire area was. I mean, if you look at a photo of Hong Kong or something, it's a very dense city, so seeing that there are massive green areas where people can enjoy the outdoors was a pleasant surprise. 

Eventually, we got back in to the Walled Park itself - this time at the main entrance. It was here that the historical stuff was. In fact, there was actually a mini museum where I learned quite a bit. Apparently, the area that the park now encompasses used to be the Kowloon Walled City, which is something I had never even heard of. The KWC was a massive group of buildings that where built directly next to each other, so close, that unless you were looking out one of the exterior side's windows or you were on the roof, you couldn't see the light of day. Also, the buildings themselves had no foundations, they were haphazardly built so that they were resting against each other; if one were to go down, they'd all fall over. It was a massive structural hazard, which was why it was destroyed in the 1990's (Scary, though, isn't it, that this thing could exist that recently?). In one of the smaller original buildings that was preserved, they built these rooms that had giant photos on all the walls, pipes on the ceiling, etc... to mimic what it was like to be in a room or alley in the Kowloon Walled City, and let me tell you, it was dirty, clausterphobic, and fragile looking. I can't believe that people actually lived there; it's truly astounding. 

We took a cab (After an argument, which I won. Mwahaha.) down to the boardwalk in an attempt to have dinner at this highly recommended restaurant called Seranade. Serenade is at the Hong Kong Cultural Center, so we were surprised that a museum cafe would have some of the best dim sum in the city. Ahhh, but that is where it is misleading. Serenade is actually a very nice restaurant that apparently requires reservations to eat there. Wow! Thanks again, Frommer's! So, instead, we walked back to our hotel, which was fairly close by. The walk, though, was quite cool, because it was along the harbor front promenade, and by this time, it was dark. 

Dark in Hong Kong = Epic Lights. 

Yeah... so Hong Kong basically has the most incredible skyline of any city I have ever been to, and at Christmas time, it's even better, because even the largest buildings decorate their sides for Christmas. It was absolutely AMAZING. Not only that, but promenade itself is home to the Walk of Stars, which is similar to Hollywood's Street of Stars? ???? ### And it had all the famous actors of Chinese cinema. The big ones I saw were Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-Fat. It was pretty cool. The Jackie Chan one, was actually so popular that his name was starting to be rubbed off. 

We ended up going back to the hotel to eat (I know. How original!). This actually turned out to be a great idea, because the Panorama has a great restaurant called Santa Lucia on the 38th floor with an amazing view of the harbour skyline, which provided an awesome spot to sit and watch the light show at 8 PM. This is one of the cool things about Hong Kong, actually. Every night at 8 PM, the buildings put on a light show. The skyline is already, like I said, pretty amazing, so seeing more lights come on/ some of the lights switch on and off/ shine more brightly is pretty cool. The kicker, though, is the fact, that a couple of the largest buildings have massive lasers on their roofs that they move around... and that if you go outside to see this (We were inside)... it's all set to music. It's pretty damn awesome, so you should make a point to be on the promenade or a harbor cruise around that time.

I got all distracted with my memories of cool lights and failed to mention the fact that the food at Santa Lucia was actually really good. Between the three of us, we had a delicious mushroom soup, an interesting scallop dish, some mushroom ravioli, and a mean (read: epically amazing) steak. It was all really good... at hotel prices. No, honestly, it wasn't super expensive considering the quality, not to mention the fact that we had like 4 waiters to our single table. This was actually the first sign of how people in Hong Kong (maybe greater China, too?) make serving in to a real team efforts. It's interesting how in the United States, you have your one waiter who is out for themselves to get tips. This is not the case, here, though, where if someone's water glass if empty and you're walking by, you fill it, even if you haven't even dealt with that table all night. It's nice, because things actually get done faster. 

As a result of going up to the 38th floor to Santa Lucia, we also decided to venture up to the 40th floor to see what The Sky Garden was. Apparently, it's just that! It's a nice area with seats and plants that is outdoors, and because it's on the 40th floor, it has an epic view of the city. Elevator ride well spent? I think so. 

We came super close to simply going back to our rooms after dinner and going to sleep, but I persevered, and we were off to the Temple Street Night Market!! The Market itself was great, with lots of cheap souvenir crap (carvings, jewelry, paintings, etc...), knock off designer bags, inexpensive watches (I got a nice watch for $3 US.), pashmina scarves of every color imaginable, and... suitcases to put all the stuff you buy in. This was all made even more awesome by the fact that it was all open at 10 PM on a weekday. In fact, that was one of the most amazing things about Hong Kong shopping (and the city in general) is that it is a 24/7 city. Even on the first night we were there (after the long series of flights) I noticed that shops were open a midnight. This isn't just for the shopping freaks; EVERYONE is still out and about then. I don't know when people sleep here! 

After the shopping we walked back to the hotel and I went in to a second comatose.

Asia Trip Day 1: The Longest "Day" Ever

I am posting this now so that it shows up under the date it happened. I know it's not proofread... Hell, I know I said I wouldn't proofread, but I will do at least once! I will edit probably on plane to Bali.

The plan was to leave my dad's house at 9 PM for LAX. As such, I was supposed to get there around 6 or 7. Did I though? Nope. 8:45 rolled around and I cam running through the door, demanding if there was room in another suitcase for the bathing suit I had just purchased. In fact, that was one of the reason's I was late (along with my own classic poor time management skills). An hour before that you would have been able to see two short asian girls and I frantically running around Sports Authority looking for a swimsuit. It really was just like me to remember at the very last minute. Such a fail. Luckily, I got to the house 15 minutes before departure time... but wait! I still had to upload music to my dad's phone and change in to a different set of clothes... Let's just say that the former didn't get done and the latter was done with utmost haste (I tried to put my underwear on over my pants at one point.).

Here's where the real fail comes in. After I spend a few minutes running up and down the stairs remembering multiple things I forget (never any of them in the same hectic run), I learned that my father's fiancee still had some work to finish up and that we would therefore be leaving more like 9:15 or 9:30. Serious. Epic. Fail. Honestly, though, I was happy to be able to slow down and yell at my suitcase for not fitting enough clothes in peace. 

We did get on the road at a reasonable time and arrived at LAX at around 10:15. This was the first time I had gotten to fly out of Tom Bradley International Terminal in a long time, so it was kind of cool to see. The reason for this long and tragic separation was because I had previously been flying domestic airlines for international use as well as inter-state (United is crap, btw!). For this trip, though, I flew Asiana, which was also a first for me, and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed. Not only did we have all the standard (at least for good airlines) technology, but the service was also superb. Imagine that! Flight attendants who didn't look like the only reason they were there was to feed their crack addicted 8 children from different fathers who all had various venereal diseases and deal with their live-in mother-in-law who thought Glenn Beck was amazing (Which of these two is worse? I honestly don't know...). Suffice to say, it was a nice change from the typical outdated planes, crappy service, poisoned (literally - I got food poisoning once.) food. The food was also pretty damned good. I slept through dinner, but before arriving in Seoul, was served a fine breakfast of pancakes, fruit, sausage, coffee (or tea), and – Uh... I know there was something else, but I was tired, damn it!. 

On the second leg of the trip, from Seoul to Hong Kong, the flight was also with Asiana. Again, I was served good food, this time in the form of fish (though, I asked for Chicken) in some sort of orange sauce, a little salad, a fluffy bun with butter, rice, and a breaded dessert thingy. You might be amused to know that I assumed that the packet under the bun was jam, so I poured it on the bun. It wasn't. It was Italian dressing. Yum. Won't be doing that again too soon. This particular flight was also AWESMOE, because it was only 1/3 or so full; I was also to commandeer my own entire row. Mwahaha. All I had to do to keep people away was look angry/menacing/weird (Actually, I find this tactic helpful whenever I don't want people – especially solicitors) to walk to me.). I had lots of room, which was nice, but the flight was unfortunately kind of bumpy. This was ESPECIALLY unfortunate because I'm not exactly fond of flying, which is highly ironic considering how obsessed I am with traveling. In fact, the way I get through long haul flights like the one from California to Korea is by not sleeping the night before and taking Benedryl and Lorazepam – all things which when combined result in a near comatose me for the majority of the flight. Seriously, though, you all should try the staying up the night before – not just because many find plane rides boring, but also because, when you fly to another continent, you often arrive in the morning, which is unfortunate if you didn't sleep, because then you're not up spending your first day out and about. Also, by being well rested at a morning arrival, you help prevent jet lag. Do you think I'm just naturally superior to all other people in the fact that I don't experience this nasty plague? Actually – you know what – I probably am, but you can still attempt to achieve that level of perfection – the type that allows you to arrive in Seoul at 7 AM fresh and ready to go.

This is going back a bit, but I need to actually talk about the layover in Seoul!!! Why would I want to talk about a mere layover? Well, because it was a 12 hour layover. HOLY CRAP! I know. Apparently, Korean Air and Asiana do a lot of layovers in Seoul in order to get people to other countries and these layovers are very often very long, but fear not – because Incheon International Airpot is well prepared. In fact, it is often rated the best airport in the world, and I have to agree that it was probably the best I've ever been too. Here's why:

  • It's massive with lots of stores and restaurants to occupy yourself with. 
  • The security and customs there are fast and efficient.
  • There's a full service spa.
  • Multiple airlines have wonderful lounges with free food. Funny store relating to that, actually. We went in to the Asiana lounge thinking we were all snazzy and shit cause we had business class tickets, only to be kicked out since we were in the First Class lounge (Apparently, Business class just means your an upper level pleb.).
  • There are lots of sneaky hidden areas where you can sit in comfy chairs and relax. 
  • A number of the restaurants are on a special part of the 4th floor where you can sit in front of panoramic windows and watch the planes taxi and take off/ land. 
  • There is a “transit hotel” when you can pay to sleep if needed. 
  • There is a clean, nice place (conveniently next to the spa) where you can shower.

Basically the Incheon International Airport is a REALLY nice one that is completely prepared for people with long layovers.

We, though, weren't initially in to just sitting back and relaxing, so we went to the nearest tourist booth to ask what the hell we should do with less than 12 hours in Seoul, and the nice lady directed us to a number of organized tours. Now, I must say that I am typically against organized tours, because they are for old people and retarded Americans who can't put their shoes on the right feet. This, however was a situation. Sure, we could have gotten on the train then subway then bus and figured out how to get to Seoul, but that could have taken hours (not to mention figuring out how to get around once we got there), and while that is all good and fun when you have a week to explore a city, you really don't want to eat up your short amount of time by figuring out how to get around and what to do. Btw, it you don't know anything about Korea, you might think I'm retarded in thinking it could take hours to get to Seoul from Seoul's international airport. I am not crazy (at least not for this), because Seoul does not have it's own international airport; when you fly in to Seoul on a long-haul international flight, you are probably flying in to Incheon International, which is an hour outside of Seoul if you have a direct method of transport and no traffic. 

And that is how Marzo agreed to go on a tour. 


You know what, though, it was absolutely perfect for our situation, and – I'll admit it – I enjoyed it immensely. We had a cute little tour guide named Jane who was a hoot and knew how to deal with stupid Americans (You have to tell us where to be multiple times, yet we'll still probably be late and/or get lost) who gave us private tours of the Imperial Palace, Folk Museum, and Insadong. This was concluded with lunch before returning to the airport at 2 PM (We had left at 9 AM.). 

When I got off the mini bus (fitting 12 people) I was immediately super excited because... THERE WAS SNOW ON THE GROUND – barely any – BUT SNOW! This was a weird idea for a Southern Californian. Soon enough, though, walking around outside got a little bit old cause it was like 35 degrees out even in my nice coat and super thermal leggings. Despite the cold, the palace was worth it; like all the guide books and websites say, it's one of Seoul's must-sees. Not only does it have great historical significance, but it's also an interesting architecturally. I, at least, who've seen a significant amount of traditional Japanese architecture (in Japan) and a good amount of Chinese (Chinese architecture is portrayed on film far more than Korean.) found it to be quite interesting. I expected more of the same, but, although the architecture of these three cultures' is similar, the Korean palace had MUCH more color than I've eve seen before. The details on the ceilings, moldings, and exteriors were not simply gold finish or plain wood, but beautiful bright colors. I have always been jealous of other countries who have buildings such as these; they're old – over 500 years in the ????'s case – yet they're still around. We don't have much like that in the United States – maybe some Native American burial mounds or and English tavern from 1600, but nothing grand or impressive. 

Conveniently, the ????? Folk Museum was right next to the palace. Honestly, I'm really not a big museum fact, I usually hate them – Don't tell my history professors that! - and this one was not exception. There were some neat things artifacts and recreations there, but it was small, and like I said, I don't really like museums, so I'll leave it at that. 

Insadong was fun, cause I LOVE shopping, and it's a street of nothing but shops (and the occasional restaurant). It was -

OMG OMG I CAN SEE TAIWAN OUT THE WINDOW! IT'S SO PRETTYY. LOOK AT THE LIGHTS. Sorry.... I am writing this on the plane from Seoul to Hong Kong, and we're apparently flying over Taiwan right now (Yay for those digital maps that follow the plane's progress!) I can see the lights outside the window! Unfortunately, though, there are also bumps. Ugh. 

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes! Insadong is a street of shops, and it's perfect for buying souvenirs for people (and yourself). In fact, I bought one of these little fabric cases that my friend Megan brought back for people when she went to Korea a couple of years ago (She didn't bring me one, that mean short legged Asian!) and a little lamp that is made of wood and that rice-paper stuff used in Japanese sliding doors. There was a hell of a lot more stuff than this, though – carvings, bags of all types, food, toys, ornaments, scarves, clothing, mirrors, carved boxes, etc... It is definitely your one stop shop for souvenir-y stuff. The tour group was let loose here on their own and commanded to be back at a certain location by noon, but of course, there was the American who held it all up... me. Yeah, I know. Fail. I was buying the lamp, but there was some confusion. I asked the lady how much it was in Korean and so she busted out in Korean, and I was just like,  “Um... English?” She also thought I meant to have it gift wrapped, though I only said yes to her asking to wrap it because I thought she meant tissue wrapping to prevent breakage. The point is, I was late, and a bunch of strangers had to wait for me. Yay me!

After shopping we went to some restaurant that I have no idea where it was or what it was called. I was immediately suspicious when we walked in and I saw the cheap plastic cups on the table. Oh great...That's what we get for going on some random tour! Guess what, though! The food was actually really great! Our group members got the option of having either Korean barbeque or a vegetables and rice dish. I chose the latter, which was awesome, and I have it on good authority that the former was also quite delicious. Of course, Kimchi was served with both options.  

My only issue with this tour was that it was a little rushed... but that was only because some dumbass couple had to get back to the airport by 2 instead of 2-3 which was the general time that it was supposed to be. WHY DID YOU MORONS GO ON THE TOUR IF YOU KNEW YOU HAD TO BE BACK AT THE AIRPORT?! DUMBASS AMERICANS! Actually... I vaguely remember British accents, but that could be because I was ashamed. I have a deep dark feeling that they were my fellow kinsmen. **** Added later: HAH! I WAS TOLD THEY WERE AUSTRALIANS!

Okay – CRAP – I just looked out the window and thought I saw a sky snake or something attacking the plane. I then realized that it was a painted line on the wing. 

Anyway, the tour was a good way to fill the day. It was fun, made it easy to get in to Seoul, and took us to some of the major sites. The best part of it all, though? 

IT WAS FREE! Totally free. Apparently, the airpot itself pays for these day tours for people. I am assuming that it's to convince the layover people to come back on vacation. No matter why, though, it's pretty awesome.
OMG. I just looked to the right. This lady has some weird face mask thing on. It is scary as all hell. WHY IS THIS PLANE SO SCARY? On the bright side, like I said before, I have my own row. 

After the tour was over, we still had a few hours, so we parked ourselves in the Asiana Business Class Lounge where there was free alcohol and food. Success? I think so. 

We boarded the plane at 7:30 and took off on time. I am now 1 hour away from landing in Hong Kong. 
  • Spastic Excitement Attack -

I'll write a little bit more once I get to the hotel. Adios. 

Later...

I actually ended up writing this part the next day, because I was so completely dead by the time we got to the hotel. 

Our plane landed at 10:30, and we found our luggage with no issues. 

Then came the issues.


All we had to go on was that the hotel shuttle left from “B12.” Wow. Helpful. So, we followed signs leading to the hotel buses. When we were almost to the door for the outside, through which we could see buses, some guy walks up to us and asks us where we were going. We tell him that we're looking for the shuttle for our hotel, and he starts to lead us back to his kiosk. This is rather suspicious, though, because no one from the hotel told us we needed to buy tickets, and because the guy started to look defeated when we started back peddling, we walked off in a huff since we thought he worked for some limo company that was trying to poach customers from the hotels. 

On the walls directly across from Kiosk Man's little booth, we saw numbers ranging from 1-20. That, of course, included 12, so we got excited and thought we were near our destination.  There were no A or B's, though. By this time, we were very tired. My dad's fiancee was like blrrrrrr, I wanted to punch someone, and my dad just kept mumbling about “unbridled capitalism.” 

But oh! What if the man on the phone who said B12 had a strong accent and actually said Bay 12? That would certainly be convenient because the bus area was filled with spaces marked as bays. Yes!!! We had done it! We had found where out hotel bus was supposed to pick us up! Now all we had to do was wait.

Half hour goes by. No bus. Well... fuck. So, we called the hotel. Guess what they said? “Ooooh! Noooo. There are booths in the arrival hall for all the hotels and car rental agencies. You have to go there first to buy tickets!” 

Grrrrr.

So, we walked all the way back to the arrival hall... to B freaking 12... got tickets, and waited for the bus (which we didn't end up getting on until midnight). Luckily, the bus was big and comfortable. Unluckily, THE BUS WAS NOT JUST FOR OUR HOTEL! MULTIPLE HOTELS SPREAD ACROSS THE CITY WERE GETTING PEOPLE FROM OUR BUS DROPPED OFF! AND GUESS WHAT? WE WERE THE SECOND TO LAST HOTEL! A RIDE THAT SHOULD HAVE TAKEN FIFTEEN MINUTES TOOK AN HOUR! 

I vaguely remember being amazed that stores will still open at 12:30 at night, and that driving in Hong Kong looked impossible, but I was pretty tired so must of the ride is now a blur. At nearly 1 AM, we tumbled in to a modern looking hotel where get got 2 smallish rooms on the 19th floor. 


I somehow managed to unpack all my clothes and organize them in the closet and drawers (Wtf? I don't even do that at home.) - I think I was just on autopilot at that point – and looked out the window. 

To. See. Buildings. Just buildings. No water. No view. I PICKED THIS HOTEL FOR THE FACT THAT IT HAD A HARBOR VIEW. WTF DO THEY THINK THEY ARE DOING?

And that is how, in a fit of anger and after 3 days on like 12 hours of sleep, I fell in to a comatose in a very comfortable bed - Or maybe I was just reallly tired?