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.