Sunday

Our Lady of Carmel Church in Macau
captured in perfect lighting! :)

A little reminder to myself to go to church (or start going) more often. I hope you had a great weekend.

What happened to summer?

Nothing better on a hot day than getting wet!
Taken outside Taipei 101 back in March 2009 where the temperature was tropical.

A week ago, it was 30 degrees with 90% humidty. Yesterday it was chilly and windy. Has summer already left us? :(.

On Birds and Business (I seem to like aliteration lol)

Mong Kok's Bird Garden:
A place where old men bring their pet birds to hang out and show off.
Many types of interesting and exotic birds are on display as well.

It's so funny how businesses in Hong Kong all seem to congregate together. If you want to look for travel agencies they are all located on 1 (or 2 ) floors in the same building. There is a WHOLE mall of stores solely devoted to weddings and whole streets and neighbourhoods of furniture or home renovation or the like. And a cell phone mall and computer mall! Sure makes shopping convenient and maybe that is why Hong Kong is a mecca for shopping! Another example pictured above, is the Bird Garden in Mong Kok.

Instant Noodles

Having a quick (only 10 mins to devour this) instant noodle break during a weekend hike with the Uncle.
Look at the price! (40HKD ~ $6+ CAD). This is what happens when you eat in the middle of nowhere!

Instant noodles and I were meant to be today! Not only was I having a conversation with someone about how I have not had instant noodles in many months (except for when I ordered them in Hong Kong) and as a result had a craving for instant noodles. I also found this picture AND I found out that my family has finally stocked up on them. Yay. Now I can eat instant noodles for tomorrow!

[Edit:] I did end up eating instant noodles this afternoon! :)

Porkchop cont'd

Have you EVER seen a pig swimming? I haven't. Did you even know that pigs could swim? I haven't even seen many pigs in my lifetime.
It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to see! lol

Oops I seemed to have missed a day and therefore I owe 2 photos today!

It's unfortunate that Porkchop ended up in the water. His owner lured him with a piece of bread to the edge of the pier and kicked him off. I was playing with my something on my camera and the next thing I knew, there was a splash and some gasps and a pig swimming. Porkchop wasn't too happy with this arrangement though. He swam and hid under the pier for a while and my Uncle reports that he was crying. Poor porkchop! He was so upset that when his owner tried to call him to shore, he refused. It looks like he was having some trouble climbing up on those slippery wet rocks.

Meet Porkchop!

Meet porkchop, the pet pig of this Sai Kung resident.
His owner is trying to entice him with a piece of bread and very funny things happen afterwards.
To be continued...

Yesterday at the drive-in movie theatre, I met this super sweet and fluffy dog that was named Drumstick and totally reminded me an encounter with the above photo. The photo sucks but it is the first in a series of events that happened shortly after the photo was taken (which I will continue tomorrow).

Toronto, Tornados and Taiwan

Cape Eluanbi: on a portion of the hiking trail at Kenting National Park in Taiwan.
Overlooking Taiwan's South coast, I have pretty much fallen in love with this place!
It was as if I was in a dream when I saw it.

Yesterday was the storm of the year in Toronto. A tornado touched down in Vaughn, just north west of the city. It went dark, thunder and lightning crashing violently and then a downpour. Thunderstorms are usually fun to watch from the safety of my home. It was just too hard to accurately capture it on camera, however I did manage to get a shot of the sky afterward (refer to facebook photo). Not only was there a full rainbow but the sky was tinted yellow!

As exciting as it was, I bet it wasn't as bad the tornado that hit Southern Taiwan last week. Poor citizens and pigs (apparently many died from the Tornado)! My heart and prayers goes out to Tainan.

Speaking of Taiwan, there's a Taiwanfest in Toronto next week, which sounds really neat and I am so excited to go because I love Taiwan! :)

CNE opening tomorrow!

The Tram: a Hong Kong version of the Toronto Streetcar.
It is double deckered, open windows and affectionately known to the locals as "Ding Ding"

Don't forget that the CNE (in Toronto) opens tomorrow and in celebration of its 175th birthday, admission is only $1.75. YAY! And apparently the first 175 people get free birthday cupcakes from the cupcake tent.

Gluttony

Hiking is one of my Uncle's preferred past-times (I think..).
On a fun hiking trail from yellowstone pier in Sai Kung , Hong Kong

Today, I realized that I had 2 desserts (Chinese and Western) once before dinner and then after. Who could resist chocolate mousse cake? mmmm! Now I feel the need to burn off some of those calories. I suck at working out, I just get so bored. I think the only exercise I was able to sustain was going on hikes w/ my Uncle on the weekends. It's fun and challenging trying to keep up with him. He puts the 20 year olds to shame with his skills! His activities always give me quite the workout!

Hazy Day

Sai Kung, a unique spot in Hong Kong known for it's white sandy
(and sometimes deserted) beaches, clear blue water and layers upon layers of mountains.

It's a pretty hazy day today in Toronto, but still as hot and humid as ever. I don't ever remember Hong Kong's humidity being THIS bad. It was also a hot hazy day when I went to the place where the above photo was taken. Not the best day for pretty pictures but the white sandy beach and clear blue water (I know I know, we're not talking about the Caribbean kind of clear!) was beautiful.

A photo a day

On a trail on one of the many remote islands of Sai Kung, Hong Kong.
I miss being able to access the ocean, mountains, islands all within an hour!

Because I've lost all motivation to keep up with writing about my travels which I still owe you and because I realize I express myself better through pictures, I thought I'd upload a picture a day as a way to continue sharing my pictures with you. It would be selfish to keep them all to myself.

Nanjing: the "Southern Capital"

below: Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and city smog.
The last leg of the China journey brings me to Nanjing. One of the 4 ancient capitals of China, it literally means "Southern Capital" (Beijing is the northern capital, the other 2 were Luoyan and Chang'an now known as Xi'an). Aside from being the capital for six dynasties, it is also the second largest economic centre in South Eastern China next to Shanghai. I didn't spend much time in this city either, but there were some highlights.

Pictured to the left is the Yangtze River Bridge, the first bridge to link North and South Eastern China. It was a significant time in history during the construction of this bridge as it was the first to be was designed and built by the Chinese without any outside help (by that I mean, other countries esp. the Soviet Union). The double deckered bridge took about 8 years to build and crosses the Yangtze River.

Another highlight of Nanjing (which I could not get a picture of b/c cameras were not allowed in) is the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, commemorating the 300,000 victims killed in the Nanjing Massacre on December 13, 1937 by the Imperial Japanese Army. The Memorial Hall is built near "pit of ten thousand corpses", where thousands of bodies were buried. On the way in to the hall, you will walk across an empty courtyard surrounded by a million grey pebbles representing the thousands of corpses as if you were walking across a thousand bodies. Inside there are even skeletal remains. Puts one in a solemn mood. Our tour guide told us that Japanese tourists do not dare to come to Nanjing for they fear of getting beat up by the Chinese. That is slightly frightening to hear.

The rest of the highlights are captured below:

1.2.3. A look at Nanjing's buildings. They appear to look older than the newly developed parts of the other cities in South East |China (Hangzhou, Suzhou and Wuxi) 4.5.6. Inside the Confucian Temple (Fu Zi Miao), a shopping district like the one in Shanghai. 7. The Qinhuai River, renamed so because Emperor Qin Shuihuang because he wanted to excavate a mountain so that the water could be introduced to the city. It is actually part of the Yangtze River and runs around Nanjing. 8.This man is a famous artist who can paint the inside of a glass ball.. 9. ..to look like this. If you buy his work, proceeds apparently go to charity.

What I do at home all day

People keep asking me what I do at home now that I am back and unemployed. Still... Sometimes, I don't even know how I pass the time, but time passes rather easily. Actually, you might say time flies!

My Sunday afternoon yesterday consisted of: cutting grass manually to only find out that the electric lawn mower does indeed work almost after the fact in which case I proceeded to repeat the process because the manual one didn't work too well in the first place. *Sigh, never listen to anyone! There goes a free workout and tanning session. Here I am, a few shades darker with a blistered hand, I mean hands. I often forget how much more damaging the sun is here than in Hong Kong. And needless to say, I have already tanned a few during my stay in Hong Kong. It isn't the official beginning to summer yet and I wonder if I will look like another nationality by the end of it.

So far, I am doing ok. No major depression (or jetlag.. anymore) from being away for so long. I think I continue to have a pretty good time in Toronto, mostly because you all make me feel so welcome. :) It's time to get back to real life though, unfortunately.

Oh, and I never finished my story, I also chased a giant bee (of which I lost), attempted to fix a drainage problem (both in my house), had ribs and chicken wings at Montana's and slept for 12 hours! food coma. :p. I think that was the best part, sleeping and of course eating, especially desserts. mmmm.

Speaking of desserts:

Erin and I (and friends) found Cafe Princess! A korean owned coffee shop lined with old fashioned (what I liked to call) 'princess chairs' and floral couches with soft korean love songs playing. And, I couldn't forget about the teddy bears on the window sill. I think we all whipped out the camera and took pictures of the teddies when we spotted them and of course being asian, the stuff we ordered (I think we gave Ryan quite the asian experience right E?).

Pictured above is the Princess Platter. A yummy treat for $14.95. It includes 2 slices of cake (we chose chocolate and strawberry cheesecake), 2 sccops of ice-cream and fruits drizzled with chocolate and strawberry (I think..) sauce. MMMM! Definitely a treat fit for a princess.. or 2.

Home and more blogging

As of 2 nights ago, I am back in Toronto, my home and heart. I am excited to be back because I have you, my friends to come home to. I miss Hong Kong though where my extremely cute and happy family are, cheap eats and convenient life style. But I don't belong there. So, it's really nice to be back where I belong. :).

From exploring the city, to island hopping, eating yummy food, finding cheap and I mean CHEAP bargains to learning about disownage and experiencing death, I feel as if I could've gotten more; more food, more shopping, more travelling. But then again, you can never get enough of Asia.

And to bring me more of Asia is Teren who has returned to his motherland for the first time in five years like me! He will be my eyes in Malaysia for the next few weeks. Visit him here at www.terenteh.com/travel for his experiences in the far east including Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. BTW thanks for the link buddy! :) I think we're going to collaborate on an exciting project to be revealed when we start working on it. YAY so excited.

Speaking of Singapore, meet Ivy of nanyate.com, a blogging friend of mine from way back in the webdesigning days. Well actually, she still webdesigns and I totally gave up. I got the pleasure of meeting her in person at UofT, a super smart and nice girl. Now residing in Singapore she has been selected to be in a blogger challenge for soy joy, a fruit energy bar made in Japan. I had my first soy joy bar at the HKIA before I left. mmm..chocolate flavour. I also brought back a berry one to Toronto. Whoever wants it speak now before it ends up in my tummy! If you look to the right you will see Ivy in the soy joy banner. Please click it and vote for her!

Even though I am home now, I will continue to put up posts b/c as you know I have fallen about 2 months behind in posts and I have done so much since then. Stay tuned for a ton more places and pictures!

New post

I've been working on this post for wayy too long. New post 2 below.

Following the Grand Canal to Wuxi

Jichang garden in Xihui Park, Wuxi (typical of a rich family)
An hour and a bit's ride away from Suzhou brings me to another old city in Jiangsu province, Wuxi (literally translates into "without tin"). Founded 3,000 years ago, it was known as Youxi ("has tin") due to the tin deposits found there. But eventually the tin began to run out and the name was changed to Wuxi to ward off people from taking the tin. Now tinless, it becaome known for their pearls grown in Taihu (Lake Tai) and an important centre for the silk industry. It's also called "little Shanghai" due to its rapid development in the last century. I don't really have much to say about this city since I spent relatively little time. But just like all the other ancient cities I've visited in China, there is an old side and a new side. The new Wuxi consists of extremely new looking buildings while old Wuxi consisted of parks with the original residences and gardens of ancient rich chinese families preserved.





1. A boat train on the Grand Canal. This was rather interesting! 2. Xihui Park, also known as the "open air musuem" of the history of Wuxi for its cultural relics contained inside. 3. 4. A look inside the park. 5. Inside Jichang garden, you can see the Longguan pagoda, a landmark of Wuxi. The original one from the Ming Dynasty burnt down during the Qing dynasty and the current one is only a replica. 6. 7. 8. 9. Inside the Jichang Garden 10. The "second best spring in the world" dubbed so by a famous tea sampler in the Tang Dynasty. Apparently the quality of water in this spring is the second best in the world. I'm not sure where the best one is. 11. A really old tree, so old that it needs support. 12. Pearls from Taihu! 13. A giant ferris wheel in the city

Wuzhen; Ancient Water Town

Lying equidistant between Suzhou and Hangzhou is the water township of Wuzhen. Like Suzhou, the town consists of a canal and alleys running parallel to each other. As Suzhou is becoming more developed, Wuzhen has preserved much of its history and cultural uniqueness setting it apart from the other towns in South Eastern China. There are several water villages such as this in China, Wuzhen located in Zhejiang province was given the title of the Provincial Ancient Town of History and Culture in 1991 ranking it first of the six ancient towns south of the Yangtze River.

Taking a walk along the stone walkways or crossing any of the stone bridges across the canal, one can appreciate the historical charm of this ancient town. The peace, the quiet calm waters, the smell (it even smells old!), the whole atmosphere will make you feel like you are a millennium away. No doubt, the villagers probably still live as if it was 2000 years ago, perhaps with minor improvements (ie. owning a TV!). I watched locals washing their clothes (and even rice!) in the canal. What a sight!