don't stop the music

수요일, 9월 28, 2005

hello again, and as promised, those pictures of my summer in hk are finally here! after various tweaks and arrangements with the good ol' adobe photoshop. i'll try and explain as we go along:--

these were taken the very first day kris came to hk. the whole family-yes, that's right- parents, theo, theo's girlfriend, thorton, myself and kris made our way to tsim sha tsui for dinner, and afterward traversed the avenue of stars.

at some restaurant near the airport. note kris' valiant attempt at trying to make use of the chopsticks. the story about the salt and pepper shakers (bottom right) was due to the fact that there was a 'P' embossed on the shaker (pictured) which for all the world looked like it was a salt shaker due to its physical attribute of only having one hole. so alas, pepper-loving me ended up with a plateful of salt. grunt.

cat cafe! the memories there are nothing short of wonderful. all the little kittykats running around, good food, and impeccable company. aaahhh... note again kris' valiant attempt at using chopsticks to artfully pick up the wayward napkin.

lunch at causeway bay. all of us got dressed up in our sunday best and went for some munchies before going ipod hunting. the lack of grammatical skill on the notice in the loo was a comic end to a wonderful day. :)

in true celebration of the chinese lantern/mooncake festival, my parents, kris and i made a trip to sham shui po to scope out the modern counterparts of the paper lanterns of my childhood, to try and recapture the olde worlde feel amidst the hyper modern-ness of hongkong we had seen so far. thereafter we went to central hongkong for a wander, where we happened to chance upon the lady manning the newspaper stall (bottom right), fag perched delicately on her lip, stacking up the publications. i took the picture and fled, as swiftly as my legs would carry.

our day out at victoria peak, the highest point on hongkong island. my parents brought us to the snazzy cafe decor for lunch (top second right), and had some of the most wonderful duck i've ever tasted. kris tried on a chinaman's look (top right), and finally learnt the meaning of "gweilo" (top left). my mummy and daddy are the bestest of the best!

our ifc photos. here we are just outside hong kong station (top right), the mtr station which is directly connected to the airport on lantau. the idea of being able to check-in at the mtr station is genius, methinks. the picture of the narrow alley flanked by stalls on both sides was taken in mongkok (bottom left), part of the main tourist belt. it's one of the only pictures i have of the area because my camera battery died not long after.

we went to ocean park on one of the last days of kris' stay here, and had a wonderful amount of fun. fun that is, save for the nightmare of me having to enter the shark tank and be dangerously close to them sharks. hence, there will be no pictures of the sharks. ha! other than that, the day of taking thrill rides, watching sleepy pandas, viewing the sealife, and generally having a good time was more than worth the blistering sunshine and insect bites. come to think of it, as the rain drizzles outside my window, i kinda miss the heat.

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kris in topless pic shocker! (top right) we ambled down to the pool in my estate for some rest and relaxation in the sun. to those not in the know, bel-air residences is the name of the estate where i live, golden reindeer animal thingy included. the little tents on the edge of the pool had to be the best part -- they had beds with terrycloth, so it was like rolling around on a padded towel!

later that night we went to the cyberport cinema to catch "the brothers grimm", a good film if i ever saw one, despite all the bad publicity it's had. that would be my hankering for a happy ending speaking. we were joined by flipper the sealion, who we had acquired at ocean park on our expedition there. kris tried to bite poor flip's head off (middle right), but i rescued him and placed him on my head, far out of harm's way (bottom second right). the night was warm and balmy, but incredibly smoggy, as most days in hk are (bottom right).

our last day in hk was spent half at stanley, where we pottered around and basically mooched for a long while, and the other half just chilling, ending with a trip to tst again for dinner. many shenanigans ensued, including all of us surrounding a random sign and pointing to the right (bottom middle). the last chance for me to see the hongkong skyline as well, one which i will not see for a long time.

well, that's it from me at the newsdesk, with the news albeit being two weeks out of date. but it was a great opportunity for my family to meet the Boy who has taken such good care of me, and to be able to spend the tail end of my holidays with (almost) all the people i love the most was more than i could have ever asked for. :)