recap central: hong kong, china (actually, kowloon).

these entries are going to be short cause i didn’t exactly have the *best* time in hong kong or in taiwan. it was okay.

went to hong kong for a singular day because my dad had some business shit to take care of. got there and went to go eat straightaway at some dim sum place. that was pretty exciting, i guess, though it resulted in me eating some meat which i wasn’t wanting to do, really…

black sesame jelly roll thing. was interesting. black sesame flavor wasn’t like, super strong, and the texture was kinda strange.

turnip cake with a crunchy shell, mmm!

an egg roll wrapped in a rice sheet…

some kind of veggie dumpling. or maybe it had shrimp. don’t remember.

fish tank at the restaurant.

black sesame mochi, before.

black sesame mochi, after.

mom with black sesame mochi teeth.

me with black sesame mochi teeth.

just one type of crab i’ve never seen before…

after lunch, we went to my dad’s office. his co-worker lady gave us shitloads of food and gifts, which is nice, but she’s totally the type that won’t let you say no. even if you don’t want something, she’ll MAKE you take it. which is good and bad, but it would be nice to have some free will…

derelict hong kong — a view from a super nice brand new building next door.

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lady set us up an open-rooftop bus tour around kowloon. it was raining at first, but it stopped once we got on. still got to wear these nifty (?) jackets, though.

oh yes.

best steakhouse name ever.

miscellaneous photos from the open rooftop tour, starting now!

dad’s co-worker lady met up with us at where the bus dropped us off, and we all went to dinner together.

we went to this famous fish market place…

(i love this!)

anyway, the place really depressed me cause all these animals were bound and unhappy or just facing the inevitable fate of being eaten :/

dunno wtf this is but i sure as hell wouldn’t eat it.

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fat lobster, i'm in love.

cuttlefish, i’m in love.

HERE TO READ ABOUT MY HORROR IN DEALING WITH ALL OF THIS BLAHHHHHH

anyway, once you’ve read about all the horror i faced, now see the food.

i’m not going to lie; they were stir-fried with peppers, salt, and garlic. how could i not like it? but i was in love with these poor little mantis shrimp, and couldn’t really stomach eating them. so i didn’t really. just a little tiny piece.

scallops with scallions.

blahhhhh so that’s all for dinner pictures, there was some fried rice i ate the shit out of and some gailan because it was vegetables. wooo.

papaya for dessert. sooo good. i’ve never liked papaya… til this evening.

that night, i had fun with long exposures in the hotel hallway. cause i’m lame.

view from our hotel room. yeah, fancy.

same view in the daytime.

the next day, we left hong kong / kowloon, but of course, we got some presents…

egg tarts with only egg whites.

stopped by chungking mansions, where the indian food is supposed to be AMAZING! unfortunately, i wasn’t hungry at that point in time. maybe next time. it was like, all indian people in there. it’s also funny because my dad exchanged money on the street right outside, and then he saw there were exchange booths in chungking mansions, and the difference between the two was HUGE. i can’t remember exact numbers now, but seriously, laughably huge difference considering the two places were across the street from each other.

went to lunch at some shopping center. there was this gorgeous display of meat…

i had corn and onion and mushroom jook (shi fan, rice porridge), though.

my dad’s zha jiangmian, i thiiink. or maybe it’s something else. i dunno. this place specialized in meat products, pretty much.

also went shopping, and i got these two pairs of really awesome boot-shoes for $10 a pair. SO AWESOME.

went to walk around on the hall of fame or whatever the hell. bruce lee. lee xiaolong.

jackie chan.

hilarious old asian lady hats galore.

then back to taiwan.

re-post. hong kong.

talking about yesterday. i’m just going to copy and paste an email i just sent to mr. wheatley because it’s too much a pain to re-type in a neat form.

i’m trying really hard not to eat meat here but it’s like really inpolite if i’m eating with other people. so last night was pretty horrific, we were in hong kong and went to this kick ass seafood market thing — kick ass in the sense that there’s a lot of seafood there, a lot of which i had never even seen before… they even had live cuttlefish and they’re so fucking cute. ;[ ;[ ;[ anyway. my dad’s coworker lady is one of those chineses who LOVES to shove food down your throat and for lunch i’d pretty much managed to avoid eating meat saying that i eat vegetarian but dinner was slated to be a bunch of seafood and no matter what i say about not eating meat, they kind of don’t believe me, i guess. and the lady was treating us, so… no choice, really. it’s just really rude not to. the place was like this restaurant hole in the wall where you pick out the seafood live and then they just kill and cook everything right there with whatever flavors you choose. literally the whole fucking meal was seafood other than one dish which i ate the shit out of, and i was like denying stuff, and they’re like putting it on my plate saying i HAVE to eat it. there was this particular shrimp which was sooooooo awesome. it was the size of a lobster and really really cute and spins in circles and flips over and stuff when it’s swimming in these tanks… it really looks like it’s having shitloads of fun even when confined to a little teeny tiny tank @__@ it looked so FREE!!! i really fell in love with the stupid animal but of course they’d butchered it and said that i had to eat it so i felt horrible the whole meal because i didn’t want to eat the stuff but had to!~!!!! so the whole meal was highly depressing for me and i didn’t enjoy it one bit!!! here’s the little bugger; evidently they’re called mantis prawns. it’s not exactly this type i don’t think but really close:

i must say, though, that trip to the seafood market makes me think pescatarianism is not enough. i lubs too much. :{

note to self. nothing new.

at the hong kong airport using the free wifi. fat as fuck one day trip to hong kong. note to self… nothing new… but asian parents are fucking crazy as fuck. crazy-making. negative nancies as fuck!

moo cow.

i’m in hk and just had a quite delish dim sum lunch of mostly vegetarian proportions i think although i was insisted into eating some meat, ah, whatever. now my parents are taking care of some banking business at a bank that’s in this shopping center so i’m just sitting outside, listening to the beatles, writing my journal, and spying on random guys’ and gals’ fashion senses. so far a coupla cool ppl but it’s whatevers. i feel a bit strange being here traveling with my parents cuz i’ve done so much traveling lately but all backpacker style, and i’m simply not used to this much luxury. it’s kinda weird and while it’s nice to kinda get pampered, i can’t wait to get to korea and see xtra large and live life like a normal person (or a normal ME, at least). i wonder why the struggle of kinda being working class is so appealing to me… maybe because i didn’t grow up with it. don’t entirely get why it makes me uncomfortable. not that i don’t like nice things or spend money on them cuz i do. i guess i just prefer that they are instrumental in some way to furthering knowledge… computers, cameras, books will do that and i’ll spend money on them. but not on fancy hotels or clothes, no no.

the beginnings of engrish.

i’m in taiwan right now. what does that mean? engrish. maybe not as much engrish as in vancouver, surprisingly (see TRNGSFIRMERS below), but it’s still good:

TRNGSFIRMERS ARE FROM VANCOUVER. amazingly, only TRANSFORMERS reside in taiwan. i’ve seen no copies and i’ve seen no fakes. too close to home? i don’t know.

so right now we are staying in a hotel called the sunworld dynasty hotel… pretty nice hotel, a little old, but you know, all good. but then this pops up:

awww jea. i didn’t notice it until phil pointed it out but boy am i glad he did. this is fucking amazing. anyway, i was using it at first, but now i am stopping, because it’s fucking made in china. click here to find out about toothpaste made in china. i ain’t fucking around.

anyway, battery is running low and i need to plug it in on the other side of the room because this side of the room doesn’t have three-pronged outlets, so until next time!!!! by the way, yesterday’s thirteen hour plane ride was just about THE most miserable international flight i have had yet. god, it was awful. and you know what’s worse? since i’ve gotten here i haven’t really felt like eating. have felt a little sick. what’s the point of being in taiwan without a will to eat?!! that’s like being alive without a will to live!!!