Greetings from Hong Kong
Dec. 25th, 2006 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteAh, the joys of Internet. Surprisingly, even in a 3-star hotel such as this one, there are no less than 15 wireless networks in the area. The bulk of them are WEP-encoded and thus I can't access, and some I just couldn't get a stable connection to... so I paid about $15.95 USD for a 24-voucher for access... and I gotta say, sitting right up here in my own bed, typing on my own laptop in my own language is pretty damn nice.
But you don't wanna hear about that, you wanna hear Mer's Big News!
Bonnie has a new boyfriend!
No, seriously. And stellar budding photojournalist that I am, I found a picture of him on the web! Click here to check him out, and then laugh your ass off. Okay, what happened was, today we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. Even though I left the confirmation number back at the hotel, I just scanned my credit card and it dropped us two tickets-- yay for no waiting in the horrendous ticket lines! But at least it wasn't sold out like some people has us thinking-- even so, I'm glad I bought the tickets online instead of paying all that money to go to Disneyland and take the risk of it being sold out.
One of the attractions we went on toward the end of the evening was "Meet Stitch" or something like it, and it was a really fun, interactive adventure-- Stitch really talked to us! In the second half, he actually "picked" Bonnie out (though he may have thought she was a guy at first) and then not only named a planet after her, but took her picture (for real) and sang "I looooove you" to her. It was SO freakin' adorable. So yeah, Bonnie's new boyfriend is Stitch, intergalatic mischief-maker.
I also got to go on Space Mountain for the first time since I was probably 6 years old (albeit totally different theme park, but that's a minor detail when it comes to Disney most of the time)-- WHAT A BLAST! Bonnie didn't go on it (even though I thought she would; I kept asking her "are you sure? are you sure?" and even though she'd SAID yeah and came all the way in with me to the very front of the line, she dodged out at the last minute... but she hasn't been feeling all that well lately, and we don't know what's causing it, exactly. :(
HK Disney is a lot smaller than other Disney parks that I know/have heard of, so while we did go on several cool things, including a Jungle Cruise, the Festival of the Lion King (a really good show), the Disney parade, the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, the Disney in the Stars fireworks show, and a multitude of stores and eateries, the park just felt like it was missing a lot-- no Pirates of the Caribbean, for one. :P But I guess that's what Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea are for! But my feet hurt so bad just after today, I sincerely hope the parks are open longer and we get there faster (we took a bus today that was pretty fast, though) so we can be more leisurely with how we walk.
What else? I got souvenirs, both at Disney and just wandering around shopping here in Hong Kong, for Scott, Gary, my Mom, my tutors, and my roommates. I'm accomplished! And even though the exchange rate is weird (currently $1 USD is $7.78 HKD), I know I've been able to get a lot of good stuff -for myself and others- for pretty damn cheap. For myself, I already bought Pink's new CD (can't wait to import it later!) and a VCD (albeit a Chinese version of the English "dub") of "Advent Children." But since I only paid something like $2 USD for it, I won't complain if it sucks. :P Admittedly, I like the Japanese VAs a lot more (hello, Maaya Sakamoto as Aerith!?)
Tomorrow is our big tour around Hong Kong island, and I'm hoping for a successful repeat performance of Mer Eating Fish. Yes, you read right, little Miss Scared-of-Everything-But-Fish-Sticks managed to eat some fried whitefish with pineapple at a restaurant in a nearby shopping center last night. Bonnie didn't get her food until way later, and I'd been waiting to eat until she got her food, but Bonnie said my food would taste nasty if I let it sit, so I started eating. The fried batter was a little tough, and the meat inside a little dry, but generally it was okay. I kept telling myself "It's just liek Sweet and Sour Chicken!" I only had problems swallowing a few times, but I always managed to get it down. I didn't finish the whole plate, but I made a hell of an effort (I blame it partially on the tough batter, and partially on the horrid reaction I had to some sort of pepper; normally I'm fine with all varieties of bell pepper, but I might have eaten something a lot stronger that I thought was just a red bell pepper, and it had my mouth on fire and my tongue swelling up for a few minutes there). So I'm happy.
Even more surprising than me eating fish might be the sheer amount of American things available here in Hong Kong. Maybe that sounds stupid, but I really didn't expect it. We saw Post's Blueberry Morning cereal (one of my perennial favorites) at this mega-grocery store in the mall (!) called Need's, and I was SOOOOO damn close to buying it... but the milk here tastes strange, and it would have been so weird to either a) eat it dry or b) have to buy a bowl and a small thing of milk -via the store or room service- just to spoil my American appetite. I think it'll be all the more worth it to go home to the States in a few weeks so I can enjoy that. In the meantime, I really do want to try more traditional Chinese and Japanese foods that I can't get in America.
I'm sure given time and a more comfortable schedule (and bed!) I could probably think of more to say, but being that we have to be up by 7:30am or so tomortow to walk to a nearby hotel for our tour, I think I should log. :P Catch you in Tokyo!
P.S. If you or anyone else has tried to text message me since I've been in HK, I don't think I've gotten your messages. The network here is called 3, but it's a 2.5G band... while my phone is more than compatible with it (I've received text messages from them advertising their "guide to HK" service), I don't know if text messaging is. And hell knows what T-Mobile might be charging for calls/TMs from here as opposed to Japan! So please email me, and I'll try and get back to you within a few days. I can't really call, even from Skype, because I don't have my microphone... if I did call anyone, it would sound VERY strange (due to the feedback from my internal speaker, I think-- even if I had my headphones plugged in, the internal mic is embedded within the internal speakers).
But you don't wanna hear about that, you wanna hear Mer's Big News!
Bonnie has a new boyfriend!
No, seriously. And stellar budding photojournalist that I am, I found a picture of him on the web! Click here to check him out, and then laugh your ass off. Okay, what happened was, today we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. Even though I left the confirmation number back at the hotel, I just scanned my credit card and it dropped us two tickets-- yay for no waiting in the horrendous ticket lines! But at least it wasn't sold out like some people has us thinking-- even so, I'm glad I bought the tickets online instead of paying all that money to go to Disneyland and take the risk of it being sold out.
One of the attractions we went on toward the end of the evening was "Meet Stitch" or something like it, and it was a really fun, interactive adventure-- Stitch really talked to us! In the second half, he actually "picked" Bonnie out (though he may have thought she was a guy at first) and then not only named a planet after her, but took her picture (for real) and sang "I looooove you" to her. It was SO freakin' adorable. So yeah, Bonnie's new boyfriend is Stitch, intergalatic mischief-maker.
I also got to go on Space Mountain for the first time since I was probably 6 years old (albeit totally different theme park, but that's a minor detail when it comes to Disney most of the time)-- WHAT A BLAST! Bonnie didn't go on it (even though I thought she would; I kept asking her "are you sure? are you sure?" and even though she'd SAID yeah and came all the way in with me to the very front of the line, she dodged out at the last minute... but she hasn't been feeling all that well lately, and we don't know what's causing it, exactly. :(
HK Disney is a lot smaller than other Disney parks that I know/have heard of, so while we did go on several cool things, including a Jungle Cruise, the Festival of the Lion King (a really good show), the Disney parade, the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, the Disney in the Stars fireworks show, and a multitude of stores and eateries, the park just felt like it was missing a lot-- no Pirates of the Caribbean, for one. :P But I guess that's what Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea are for! But my feet hurt so bad just after today, I sincerely hope the parks are open longer and we get there faster (we took a bus today that was pretty fast, though) so we can be more leisurely with how we walk.
What else? I got souvenirs, both at Disney and just wandering around shopping here in Hong Kong, for Scott, Gary, my Mom, my tutors, and my roommates. I'm accomplished! And even though the exchange rate is weird (currently $1 USD is $7.78 HKD), I know I've been able to get a lot of good stuff -for myself and others- for pretty damn cheap. For myself, I already bought Pink's new CD (can't wait to import it later!) and a VCD (albeit a Chinese version of the English "dub") of "Advent Children." But since I only paid something like $2 USD for it, I won't complain if it sucks. :P Admittedly, I like the Japanese VAs a lot more (hello, Maaya Sakamoto as Aerith!?)
Tomorrow is our big tour around Hong Kong island, and I'm hoping for a successful repeat performance of Mer Eating Fish. Yes, you read right, little Miss Scared-of-Everything-But-Fish-Sticks managed to eat some fried whitefish with pineapple at a restaurant in a nearby shopping center last night. Bonnie didn't get her food until way later, and I'd been waiting to eat until she got her food, but Bonnie said my food would taste nasty if I let it sit, so I started eating. The fried batter was a little tough, and the meat inside a little dry, but generally it was okay. I kept telling myself "It's just liek Sweet and Sour Chicken!" I only had problems swallowing a few times, but I always managed to get it down. I didn't finish the whole plate, but I made a hell of an effort (I blame it partially on the tough batter, and partially on the horrid reaction I had to some sort of pepper; normally I'm fine with all varieties of bell pepper, but I might have eaten something a lot stronger that I thought was just a red bell pepper, and it had my mouth on fire and my tongue swelling up for a few minutes there). So I'm happy.
Even more surprising than me eating fish might be the sheer amount of American things available here in Hong Kong. Maybe that sounds stupid, but I really didn't expect it. We saw Post's Blueberry Morning cereal (one of my perennial favorites) at this mega-grocery store in the mall (!) called Need's, and I was SOOOOO damn close to buying it... but the milk here tastes strange, and it would have been so weird to either a) eat it dry or b) have to buy a bowl and a small thing of milk -via the store or room service- just to spoil my American appetite. I think it'll be all the more worth it to go home to the States in a few weeks so I can enjoy that. In the meantime, I really do want to try more traditional Chinese and Japanese foods that I can't get in America.
I'm sure given time and a more comfortable schedule (and bed!) I could probably think of more to say, but being that we have to be up by 7:30am or so tomortow to walk to a nearby hotel for our tour, I think I should log. :P Catch you in Tokyo!
P.S. If you or anyone else has tried to text message me since I've been in HK, I don't think I've gotten your messages. The network here is called 3, but it's a 2.5G band... while my phone is more than compatible with it (I've received text messages from them advertising their "guide to HK" service), I don't know if text messaging is. And hell knows what T-Mobile might be charging for calls/TMs from here as opposed to Japan! So please email me, and I'll try and get back to you within a few days. I can't really call, even from Skype, because I don't have my microphone... if I did call anyone, it would sound VERY strange (due to the feedback from my internal speaker, I think-- even if I had my headphones plugged in, the internal mic is embedded within the internal speakers).
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Date: 2006-12-26 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-29 11:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 06:38 pm (UTC)Merry (late) Christmas, you two!