Hawaii Life in Style

My family including my uncle, aunt and their two children came to visit me in Hawaii this week and I actually ended up having a lot of fun with them.

And here’s a picture of me in my cowboy boots at the beach. That’s right, AT THE BEACH. I don’t plan on wearing any slippers or sandals while I’m here so get used to it. I’ve actually had a pretty easy time climbing rocks with these shoes, believe it or not.

We ended up going to Kickin Kajun for dinner and since I love that place, I was a happy camper. Mark and I always get the same thing and it’s always SO GOOD. Yum!

For those of you who don’t know it’s kind of like Boiling Shrimp or Boiling Crab in LA. They bring you your seafood order in a huge plastic bag and you just kind of go at it and make a mess.

This wasn’t our pile of food but my uncle’s. We usually only get the King Crab since we’re not really big Shrimp or Crayfish eaters. But boy was our Crab delicious! MmmmMmmm…

For dessert we went to Menchies but instead of getting Frozen Yogurt I just wanted a waffle cone. Literally.

But we all know I’m a sucker for waffle cones. I can’t help that it tastes SO GOOD! Yum!

And after dinner and dessert we made our way to the beach and had some fun just playing in the sand and chasing little crabs around on the beach.

Aren’t these little buggers just the cutest? I kind of want to make a habitat for them so I can keep them in our place but Mark wasn’t too thrilled with the idea. All he said was, “You’ll forget about it soon”. Hahaha. Oh well. It’s a little hard to make a habitat to keep crabs because most need both sand and water and some actually need both fresh and salt water to survive because apparently fresh water has more protein in the water for the crabs. And it gets a little more difficult because these suckers like to climb and if I don’t want a bunch of crabs all up in my business I need to make sure the lid is AIR tight. But I’m sure these guys would be much happier in their natural home on the beach.

I think I’ll settle for a hamster instead. I just have to wait till Mark’s gone because he doesn’t really want me to have one. But I don’t think I can resist! I haven’t ever gone this long without having a pet! It’s driving me up a wall!!! I just need to make sure I find someone who can take care of my little hamster friend when I go away for the Holidays. I don’t think most airlines allow them on flights so…I’ll ask around when the time comes.

The next day we tried to go to Hanauma Bay but there was no parking and it was too crowded so we decided to go to the North Shore. We went to Haleiwa so we could get some World Famous Matsumoto’s Shaved Ice. Yum! My favorite! And Mark was able to join us on his lunch break too!

So many flavors to choose from! I ended up getting Strawberry + Guava with Condensed Milk and Azuki Beans. It was just what I needed to help me cool down.

(We actually ended up going back yesterday after we checked out some North Shore beaches for some offsite PT for Mark’s company). But yesterday I got Orange + Creamsicle with Condensed milk and it tasted just like an orange cream soda! Yummy!

We also ended up going to get some lunch because my family was still hungry. (Go figure). But Mark had to go back to work. Oh did I mention that my family had (moments before) gone to the Dole Plantation and gotten two pineapple ice creams with pineapple. And they were still hungry? My god! Pineapple ice cream, snacks in the car, shaved ice and then BBQ & Garlic Shrimp!

I ended up getting a bacon wrapped organic Portugese Sausage hotdog without the bun. Boy was it a tasty treat! My family missed out BIG TIME!

This dude was the best! If you’re ever on the North Shore go to THIS guy! Some of the best and freshest meat you will ever taste! VJs, remember that!

Then we went to Shark’s Cove for some good old snorkeling. Next time I want to take a waterproof camera with me so I can take some pictures to share with  everyone.

Boy were the fishes neat. We also got to see a sea turtle which was pretty spectacular. I did get a little claustrophobic at times so I didn’t go out for too long.

Then it was Korean BBQ time with the family! We took them to Sikdorak because we love that place! Sorry I didn’t take any pictures though. I was too hungry to think properly. I could eat at that place every day if I had the opportunity to. Raw meat……

And then we took my cousin to Dave and Busters for a bit and we had quite a bit of fun. All in all I had a pretty good day with my family. More pictures and updates coming soon!

Hong Kong Part 4 – Zoological Gardens & Ocean Park

Since my schedule change I have yet another day off from work so writing more blog entries it is!

We were waiting for the Sky Tram or what have you but it was broken and we didn’t want to wait in line till it was up and running again so we decided to go to the Zoological Gardens that was right up the street with more emphasis on the “UP”. I thought I was going to pass out just attempting to walk up hill to this place but it was well worth the trip. My apologies to Mark for all the whining uphill.

All the animals we saw were, for once, very active and happy. Even though it was an unbearably hot day outside they were out and about enjoying themselves which made this whole experience that much more worth it.

It was pretty nice too because the place was free. It was just like any other park but with animals in it. A great place to take your kids or if you just want a nice stroll around your neighborhood.

And we can’t have a blog entry without my favorite Koi Fish somewhere on here can we?

And guess where else we ended up going?

No, we decided to skip over Hong Kong Disneyland because we heard it was just BLEH so we decided to go to Ocean Park instead! And not only did we have tons of fun but the views on the tram over were just GORGEOUS. (Although to be 100% honest I was scared to death that I was going to fall to my painful and immediate death. I was wondering how my mother would make it to my mangled body on this random mountain in Hong Kong but thank God we had a safe passage across). And for those of you who are confused, I will explain. Ocean Park is built in about 2 parts (depending on how you count it, it could end up being 3-4 but I’ll make it 2 to be simple). One side with the Aquarium and animal exhibits are on one side of the mountain and the side with the rides and shows are built on a completely different mountain. I took some pictures from the tram but let me see if I can find a picture to better illustrate what I am trying to explain.

The view from the first park/entrance side of the park.

The Cable Car ride across. I’m sorry I kept calling it a tram…there’s a tram to get there too for those who are uncomfortable with heights.

The view of almost the whole thing. It’s hard to tell if you haven’t been there but it was gorgeous!

And here are OUR pictures from the cable car ride across.

This should give you a better idea of just the enormous scale of this place. (And maybe understand why I feared for my life).

But before we went on the cable cars the first thing we did was go to the Aquarium and for those of you who don’t know me, I LOVE fish and aquariums. I don’t need them in my own home because they get boring but I love seeing them in a place where people can make friendly environments for them and at the same time take care of them.

Next it was off to see the different species of Goldfish and the Pandas and Red Pandas! So adorable! I took a couple cute polaroids of the pandas…but I will find some for you to see!

So the Goldfish Pavilion looks like this:

and I have NEVER seen so many different varieties of goldfish before. It was amazing!

And here are some pictures of the pandas and red pandas at Ocean Park.

And guess what Mark and I got to do at Ocean Park?

Feed the Sea Lions. YUP! You heard me right!

You should’ve seen Mark throw these fish! Not only did he manage to perfectly throw a fish into the other sea lions mouth but he had these two fighting over fish at another point!

BE JEALOUS! It was TOTALLY awesome and we JUST made it in time for the feeding too! Too bad they don’t really let you do this kind of stuff here. It really did make my day. I feel bad for Mark though because after this I wasn’t really interested in going on any of the roller coasters (because I’m a big scaredy cat). BUT we DID see the little dolphin & sea lion show they had although it was pretty lame.

Want to know what was the most entertaining part of that show?

The Chinese people dressed like a Mexican mariachi band singing Frank Sinatra songs. Yup. It happened.

Don’t mind the girl in the picture, I don’t know who that is. This is the only picture I could find on Google. Hahaha.

Oh! We also saw the Jellyfish aquarium as well as the Chinese Sturgeon Aquarium which I thought was pretty neat.

Oh and I ate some dried squid too “Korean Style”. IT WAS SO GOOD! It was like I was a kid again. Yum!

And then we took the Biohsock looking tram back to the main park where we spent a little time getting snacks and toys from random carnival style games they had. Hong Kong is so “good” and “fair” that if you just PAY to play a game they give you a prize. No joke. I got the Bruce Lee bear I wanted by just playing and when we got a win, we just got another prize.

Isn’t that crazy? The area where the games and food are were pretty neat too. They modeled it as a tribute to the “Old Hong Kong”.

We had a great day and it was loads of fun! I DEFINITELY recommend going if you’re ever in Hong Kong!

Besides, who could beat this view?

Hong Kong Part 3

I finally have a day off today so I thought, hey! What better time than to write a couple blog entries? (Or at least 1). And also the longer I wait to write these, it won’t be as fresh in my memory so let’s crank it out!

We went to one of the Hong Kong Historical Museums and I was surprised at how much stuff they could fit into a place. It was not only very informative but pretty interesting at the same time. If you ever want to know about the history of Hong Kong, THIS is the place to go. And for those of you who would be interested in going sometime it is called the Hong Kong Museum of History. Easy enough to remember right? I’ll post a couple stock photos so you can get an idea of the place.

Looks cool doesn’t it?

I got kind of nauseous so we left a little earlier than planned. To help the stomach pains we stopped at the Charlie Brown Cafe for a little drink!

I just got some Chamomile tea but Mark got Hot Chocolate and it was so adorable! (The first picture on top). I know they just dust cocoa on top but it was adorable none the less. For not really being a Snoopy fan, I thought it was pretty entertaining. It was pretty packed with people though so we didn’t stay too long. Just long enough so my stomach would let up just a little.

After that we ended up going to the Financial District because I found an Arcade online that I wanted to go play at. Namco’s Wonder Park Plus! I can’t really find any pictures online and I didn’t take any but we both won a few prizes so I was pretty happy. Yay for claw/UFO Machines! I can’t get enough of them!

The next day we went down to Central to have another look around and I found the most delicious sweets bakery! We didn’t have any sweets though but what we DID have was so much better than any baked good. We had soft serve yogurt on waffle cones that were then dipped/covered with chocolate. It was SO HEAVENLY! I swear I thought I had a picture of it but it’s not on my phone. I will find that shop picture somewhere!

Ah! But I DID take this picture from the same shop.

YUP! They’re ANIMAL MACARONS!!!!!!!!!! I didn’t have any though because it was sweltering outside and we both just wanted to cool down. I found that business card I too0k of theirs though. The place is called “Roll” for those of you who plan on making the trek to HK. I’ll link their website as well. www.roll.hk

Too bad the website is “Coming Soon”. Haha. Oh well.

As you can see they specialize in Roll Cakes which neither Mark and I have any interest in, so frozen yogurt it was! You should have seen me go at it (pathetically and unbelievably slowly). I had the great notion that since the yogurt was cased in, because of the chocolate shell, that I would have more time to eat it but unfortunately for me the sun was out and the laws of physics aren’t that forgiving so Mark ended up saving the day by helping me with my running avalanche of frozen yogurt. Now THAT could have been a disaster! I probably have a polaroid of the yogurt somewhere…Hmmm…..

And I DO! But I don’t know if Mark wants me posting it up here plus the fact that I’d have to stand on top of a wobbly computer chair to scan it is a little off putting. Oh well, maybe next time.

And before I round off this post I want to show everyone the gorgeous Rolls Royce I saw in HK.

I knew what it was the second I saw it. A 1970 Rolls Royce Phantom VI Mulliner Park Ward. Boy it was a BEAUTE!

The car was to die for! I’m so lucky I got some pictures of it while it was at a red light. Yes yes, there are lots of rich people in HK. I know! But I’m glad there are still people who appreciate classic cars. If it weren’t for those people a lot of classics would have been junked and used for scrap metal a LONG time ago. I just hope I can inspire the love of classic cars in future generations to come.

I promise another more HK posts will be coming soon!

Hong Kong Part 2

Before I forget.

The view from the Ferry Terminal. The view is of Downtown/Central Hong Kong. While at the History Museum it was interesting to learn that some of those buildings in the skyline haven’t changed since the formation of the city while others have undergone drastic renovations.

And here’s the view once you get out on the water. This picture does no justice to this magnificent view. You’ll just have to take my word for it and maybe have a look for yourself some day.

And the next day we took a little trip down to Nan Lian Gardens and boy howdy was it something special.

A rarity in Hong Kong, this Garden & Nunnery has been untouched by development and instead has been able to survive the test of time by thriving in such an urbanized area.

And in the background you can see all the apartments they’ve been building to house the growing population of Hong Kong.

Gorgeous Koi fish.

Mark & I. Boy was it a scorcher that day but the view was well worth the trip.

The Nunnery

The Nunnery. They had an actual ceremony going on when we were there. We thought there were speakers throughout the place but it turns out the chanting was 100% authentic. Once in a lifetime experience, I tell you what.

More pictures coming soon I promise!

Hong Kong Part 1

Well right before we left for Hong Kong I got The Walking Dead video game for the PS3 and I found it pretty entertaining. It’s less fighting zombies and more making the right decisions so that you’ll live and everyone won’t hate your guts. I finished the first episode and I’m just waiting for the other 4 to come out. Apparently they’ll come out every month so that’ll be good. I’ll have something to play since Mark informed me the other day that the release date for Bioshock 3 has been moved to February from October. Bleh. Not fair!

I tried playing Dead Island again yesterday but I got pwned by the zombies and some 17 year old kid in Chicago. Well he was level 50 and he came and rampaged my level 20 game. Whatever.

Anyways, we got a pretty awesome hotel in Hong Kong.

We had a pretty snazzy restroom and everything too.

There wasn’t really a view but we didn’t mind. Most times we were out and about anyways so it didn’t really matter. And the times we were back at the hotel trying to get out of a freak storm we’d be warm and cozy in our nice bed watching some good ol’ Adventure Time! Hahaha.

There were only like 6 shows on Cartoon Network Asia that were all in rotation. I’m serious. And most of these shows I’ve never even heard of.

1. Adventure Time
2. Gumball
3. Some bug show
4. Chowder
5. Tom & Jerry
6. Camp Lazlo (once)

But when we weren’t watching Adventure Time we’d be watching Wipeout on AXN. Hahaha. It was on every single morning and that’s some priceless stuff right there!

And for those of you who have yet to catch on here’s a clip just to show you how awesome this show is!

New Season starts soon! Mark and I can’t wait!

And I thought I was going to buy a lot of clothes throughout the whole trip but I did most of my splurging on the first day.

I bought a Lebron jersey for less than half the price of a real jersey back home. YES! I kind of wanted more jerseys but I restrained myself. I got some cute stuff though so I’m happy. I took some mini polaroid pictures with the instax mini camera I bought so I have quite a few of those too. Maybe I’ll scan them sometime.

We both had to deal with a little shower here and there but we got to eat good food and see some amazing shit so we didn’t really mind all too much. I wanted to take a picture of the food we ate but I felt like that would just make me very stereotypically Asian that I had to stop myself.

This wouldn’t really be a Hong Kong post if there were no pictures of Hong Kong right? Hahaha.

A lot of the buildings in Hong Kong were beat up and dilapidated but they still looked pretty neat. It looked like that scene in Inception where he goes back to his dream island/world and all the buildings are like falling apart around him.

Kinda like this but less intense. YUP!

And we saw these ADs everywhere! It’s for this jewelry store called TSL but they’d use the same girl and dog for each ad. Sometimes she’d be holding the dog, other times they’d be far apart and every once in a while there would even be another dog.

TSL and Chow Tai Fook’s (another jewelry store) are like the ABC stores of Hong Kong. They are EVERYWHERE! I don’t know how these people make ANY money! I’m going to see if I can find the other ads online somewhere.

I found one where she’s with 4 dogs. Just absolutely ridiculous but so awesome!

And we went to McDonalds and not only are the portions really small but they have different sections to the McDonalds. There’s a drink section which is like for Ice Cream Shakes and Smoothies and stuff and then there was another counter for desserts. Like when I say different section I mean whole different counters and registers just for that one type of thing. It was pretty neat. Again, I was too chicken to take a picture but I’m sure I could find one online.

See theres one side with Hamburgers, and then two other counters on the right hand side where it says “McCafe”. Sometimes the drinks (like coffee and shakes) and dessert counter will be the same but it depends on where you go.

But why I wrote about MickeyD’s is because I took this picture (or Mark took a better one actually).

BITEME. FRESH. CLASSIC.

One last thing before I go. When I looked up “Hong Kong McDonalds” on Google I got a “McDonalds Hong Kong Wedding” result instead…

Weird. To each their own.