Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Pork Chop Noodles
Tasty pork chop and noodles! Such a juicy pork chop!After our Japanese society class, my friend Vinky and I go get dinner. It's delicious =)
Times Square and Jardine's Crescent [Causeway Bay]
Today I went exploring around Causeway Bay. I managed to find one of my old haunts, Jardine's Crescent!
Hasn't changed much! =)
I found the Ikea in causeway bay!This is surely evidence of how globalization affects our lives:
I was walking around Ikea, which was laid out pretty much exactly how it is at home. It felt...so familiar. So it's funny that a girl from America feels more at home at a Swedish store in Hong Kong. Hahaha!
Times Square often has these huge art displays! This is a lot of hats!
And they change all the time! These are weird wooden cows?
Monday, March 12, 2012
Gyoza noodles and Potted Milk Tea!
After a long day of shopping, I found this restaurant in a mall in the Prince Edward area. It is really cute! It was kind of hard to take a picture of, but there are fake trees inside, like a secret garden! And on the side are 2 person tables that looks like they are little swings. It must be a cute restaurant to take a date for lunch! I wish I could go to a date here <3
I got this delicious gyoza noodle soup. It was SO good! And it came as a cheap lunch set!
As part of my set, I got this "potted" milk tea. I guess it means there are crumbled oreos on top =)
The first time I've had yogurt in a really long time! With delicious mango pieces!
I also got this cream puff! Gosh I just can't stop eating!
Friday, March 9, 2012
The Beach Day After [Koh Phangan, Thailand]
Our beach!
Last night, we were too busy with the party to enjoy our surroundings very much. But we were staying on a bungalow on the beach! Unfortunately, we didn't get one ON the beach, but it was close! Also, so cheap!
Isn't it beautiful? On my last day of reading week, I just swam in the ocean and had fun in the sand all day. So relaxing.
WOW someone had too much pad thai! Going to hit the gym when I get back!
Our bungalow had this cool hammock!
Don't I look comfortable?
Actually, I have a lot of problems.
'Why are you wearing socks?' is something you might ask. I will address that.
1. Cuts. I was stupid. And I thought I could be adventurous! My friend John climbed up on these rocks in the ocean. Victor and I wanted to get up there too! But we couldn't. The rocks were covered in a lot of sharp barnacles. I didn't even notice that my hands and feet got all cut up until I got to shore and realized there was SO MUCH blood! I'm wearing socks to protect my open wounds.
2. Mosquitoes. I'm so allergic to mosquito bites. They get swollen and super itchy!
3. Sun burn! =( I'm white as a ghost and burn like butter in a hot pan =(
4. I've been having this awful night cough since I got to Thailand. I don't cough at all during the day, but once the sun goes down, I get into fits. It keeps me up at night =(
Such a long list of ailments =( I don't consider myself very prone to accidents or problems, but when its hot and humid, a lot of bad things happen to me!
Anyways, today was our last day. Courtney and I had to be on our way. Actually, traveling back to Hong Kong is a little complicated.
Tonight, we had to take a taxi from our beach to the port city on the island. Then we would take an overnight boat from 10pm to 4am. We'd wait at that port for a few hours before getting picked up to go to the airport, where we'd fly back to Bangkok. And from there, we'd catch our flight back to Hong Kong, and take the A10 bus for an hour back to our lovely hall. PHEW. Even thinking about it again makes me tired.
While we were waiting at the first port city for our night boat, we got some dinner! This is my delicious green curry!
Look what they have! TWIST potato!
This is my twist potato!
I also got mango sticky rice, but lost the picture =( It was delicious! The mango was perfect!
My last Thai fruit smoothie!
This is our sleeper boat.
For those of you who get seasick easily, this is not the boat for you.
There are just a bunch of thin cot mattresses all lined up next to each other on the floor. It was quite stuffy in there, until the windows got opened. But then all the passengers came in; everyone on the boat were white tourists just like us. Man, it smelled so bad in there! It smelled like moist humans and body odor. Blergh.
That was not a fun experience. But it was a good one.
Sleeper train = fun. Sleeper boat = not so fun.
Not to mention, I was extremely uncomfortable, being covered in cuts and mosquito bites. I was also covered in sunburn and tried to relieve the pain with some lotion. So on top of being sweaty, I was also sticky with lotion. I was all getting stuck to that nasty cot bed, which was kind of gritty and sandy to boot.
It was a long journey back.
But eventually I got home.
And then I took what was the best shower of my life. It was glorious.
And now I am home =)
Last night, we were too busy with the party to enjoy our surroundings very much. But we were staying on a bungalow on the beach! Unfortunately, we didn't get one ON the beach, but it was close! Also, so cheap!
Isn't it beautiful? On my last day of reading week, I just swam in the ocean and had fun in the sand all day. So relaxing.
WOW someone had too much pad thai! Going to hit the gym when I get back!
Our bungalow had this cool hammock!
Don't I look comfortable?Actually, I have a lot of problems.
'Why are you wearing socks?' is something you might ask. I will address that.
1. Cuts. I was stupid. And I thought I could be adventurous! My friend John climbed up on these rocks in the ocean. Victor and I wanted to get up there too! But we couldn't. The rocks were covered in a lot of sharp barnacles. I didn't even notice that my hands and feet got all cut up until I got to shore and realized there was SO MUCH blood! I'm wearing socks to protect my open wounds.
2. Mosquitoes. I'm so allergic to mosquito bites. They get swollen and super itchy!
3. Sun burn! =( I'm white as a ghost and burn like butter in a hot pan =(
4. I've been having this awful night cough since I got to Thailand. I don't cough at all during the day, but once the sun goes down, I get into fits. It keeps me up at night =(
Such a long list of ailments =( I don't consider myself very prone to accidents or problems, but when its hot and humid, a lot of bad things happen to me!
Anyways, today was our last day. Courtney and I had to be on our way. Actually, traveling back to Hong Kong is a little complicated.
Tonight, we had to take a taxi from our beach to the port city on the island. Then we would take an overnight boat from 10pm to 4am. We'd wait at that port for a few hours before getting picked up to go to the airport, where we'd fly back to Bangkok. And from there, we'd catch our flight back to Hong Kong, and take the A10 bus for an hour back to our lovely hall. PHEW. Even thinking about it again makes me tired.
While we were waiting at the first port city for our night boat, we got some dinner! This is my delicious green curry!
Look what they have! TWIST potato!
This is my twist potato!I also got mango sticky rice, but lost the picture =( It was delicious! The mango was perfect!
My last Thai fruit smoothie!
This is our sleeper boat.For those of you who get seasick easily, this is not the boat for you.
There are just a bunch of thin cot mattresses all lined up next to each other on the floor. It was quite stuffy in there, until the windows got opened. But then all the passengers came in; everyone on the boat were white tourists just like us. Man, it smelled so bad in there! It smelled like moist humans and body odor. Blergh.
That was not a fun experience. But it was a good one.
Sleeper train = fun. Sleeper boat = not so fun.
Not to mention, I was extremely uncomfortable, being covered in cuts and mosquito bites. I was also covered in sunburn and tried to relieve the pain with some lotion. So on top of being sweaty, I was also sticky with lotion. I was all getting stuck to that nasty cot bed, which was kind of gritty and sandy to boot.
It was a long journey back.
But eventually I got home.
And then I took what was the best shower of my life. It was glorious.
And now I am home =)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Sleeper Train and the Full Moon Party [Bangkok, Thailand]
Today we're leaving Bangkok.
We started out our day going to Chinatown! Trying to enjoy the last bits of Bangkok before we move along.
Here is my shrimp and lemongrass salad! A LOT of onions. I do like onions, but I didn't want my breath to smell XD
The alleyways were extremely crowded and narrow! Also, there were mopeds going through these alleyways which made it so hard to breathe! I wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to drop my camera. Also, it was unbearably hot. (Motorcycle smoke probably added to the heat.)
It's a hot dog in a pancake-waffle type thing! This must be a Thai corndog, haha!
We got Thai ice tea and boba! It was even with crushed ice! So nice and cooling on such a hot day.
Beautiful park!
Monitor lizard! Just chilling. He was randomly swimming around. I guess they are wild here?
So, where are we going after Bangkok? We're going to hit up a beach island, Koh Phangan!
I didn't know it, but Thailand is actually pretty big. Going south would take hours driving or a couple hours by plane. But in Thailand, there is another alternative!
The sleeper train!
Yes, it is a train you can sleep on! Our train departs around 7pm and we'll wake up around 8am at our destination!
Before we left, we got some food at the train station!
Really cheap pad thai!
I got this one to go, for when I would be undoubtedly hungry on our train ride. Seafood in spicy basil leaves!
At the train station, we experienced this weird thing. At 6 o clock (I don't know if it's every day, or Wednesdays, or if it was a holiday, or if it's just the train station) they played some song, I assume the Thai anthem, and everyone just froze. Everyone just stood where they were at and listened to the song. When the song ended, everyone went about their daily business.
A tourist information lady saw us and told us to stop when the music started playing; we were really confused.
On the train! When we first got on, there was seating. We're having fun already!
Then a guy came by to set up the beds!
Courtney is doing homework!
Victor is playing with his computer.
John and I chilled on my bed and chatted all night. It was pretty fun! We talked about school and careers and tech and our parents and parenting.
Then it got late and everyone went to bed!
It was kinda hard to sleep because there was a lot of rolling.
When I woke up , we were in a totally different area!
It was beautiful! It was such a big contrast to the gray city! I felt like everything was over saturated with color. The greens were so green and the blues were so blue! The clouds were so white and fluffy!
The ocean is so beautiful!
When we got there, we were starving! This is my tom kha kai! Coconut milk soup =)
When we got to the hotel, it was nearly nightfall. I was hankering for some dessert and got one of these creme filled donuts. BEST donut I've ever had!
Tonight, the real fun begins.
The reason we came to Koh Phangan was for the infamous Full Moon Party.
It's a HUGE party on the beach every month, basically for tourists.
The reputation for these things are pretty crazy.
Apparently there are a lot of people doing harder drugs. Also, weed shakes. We did see a guy who was definitely ON something, having a ball eating sand on the beach.
Drugs are definitely illegal. I've heard a lot of stories of people selling you drugs just to report you to the police seconds later. Part of some big scam!
ANYWAYS. around 10pm, we prepare to leave our place for the Full Moon Party. Hopefully we will all be safe!
We were going to get to the full moon party by water taxi! Our hostel arranged a boat for everyone staying there to get to the party. It was a forty five minute boat ride at night. It was BEAUTIFUL.
The boat ride was so fun!
The night sky was dark and you could see stars! The ocean waves were dark and foamy. And the island to our right was dark and foresty. The moon was so bright! The air was so clean with the ocean spray in the air!
The boat dropped us off on the beach in the water! I got kinda wet, haha.
the big thing here are bucket drinks! It's actually really funny to be walking around with a pail of liquor. Actually, it's pretty smart, because there's no broken glass! Plus it's cute and reusable and cost only 200 baht!
We had a blast! The music was really good! I loved it! I had a great time! with such good music, I had an awesome time dancing.
There were people spinning fire poi and stuff. There was also the fire rope - a jump rope on FIRE, with drunk people jumping over it, haha.
Then it started to rain! It was fun at first, dancing in the rain. It was pouring, we were dancing on the beach, YAY! But then it REALLY started to pour like crazy and we sought shelter.
We got all gross and sandy, dirty and wet.
At that point, I was ready to go home. It was about 2:30am. It was a little early, but the next boat wasn't leaving until 5am, which is way too late!
So I went home earlier with John and Saad; everyone else stayed.
The boat ride back was nice and relaxing. But I couldn't wait to get out of my sandy wet clothes and get to BED.
My bed was full of dried up bug carcasses =( Also it was extremely hot. Not a very comfortable stay.
I must have been still kinda messed up, because something really funny happened over night.
I woke up in the middle of the night, REALLY needing to use the bathroom.
Oh, did I mention that there is no electricity at night? I brought my phone up to the loft where my bed was to use as a flashlight, but somehow I completely forgot about it when I woke up.
So I woke up in the middle of the night in complete darkness, needing to pee really bad, and PROBABLY not in the right state of mind.
I wanted to get down the stairs but couldn't find the ladder.
At this point, I started to panic. I felt like i was in a dream-like nightmare state and I started to get hysteric.
I started to cry out "Help! I can't get down! Somebody help me!" Somehow, I also thought that everyone was home. So I was wondering why, out of all the people in the room, no one woke up to help me. In actuality, only John was in the room. "Why won't anyone help me!" I think i began to sob, or cry or something.
Eventually I woke up poor John, who gave me a flashlight. When the light turned on, I think I became conscious and finally realized what was going on, somewhat. Actually, I was no where near the ladder, no where near where I thought I was.
It wasn't until the morning that I remembered that whole thing and just started CRACKING up. I dont' think anything like that has happened to me before. XD
We started out our day going to Chinatown! Trying to enjoy the last bits of Bangkok before we move along.
Here is my shrimp and lemongrass salad! A LOT of onions. I do like onions, but I didn't want my breath to smell XDThe alleyways were extremely crowded and narrow! Also, there were mopeds going through these alleyways which made it so hard to breathe! I wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to drop my camera. Also, it was unbearably hot. (Motorcycle smoke probably added to the heat.)
It's a hot dog in a pancake-waffle type thing! This must be a Thai corndog, haha!
We got Thai ice tea and boba! It was even with crushed ice! So nice and cooling on such a hot day.
Beautiful park!
Monitor lizard! Just chilling. He was randomly swimming around. I guess they are wild here?So, where are we going after Bangkok? We're going to hit up a beach island, Koh Phangan!
I didn't know it, but Thailand is actually pretty big. Going south would take hours driving or a couple hours by plane. But in Thailand, there is another alternative!
The sleeper train!
Yes, it is a train you can sleep on! Our train departs around 7pm and we'll wake up around 8am at our destination!
Before we left, we got some food at the train station!
Really cheap pad thai!
I got this one to go, for when I would be undoubtedly hungry on our train ride. Seafood in spicy basil leaves!
At the train station, we experienced this weird thing. At 6 o clock (I don't know if it's every day, or Wednesdays, or if it was a holiday, or if it's just the train station) they played some song, I assume the Thai anthem, and everyone just froze. Everyone just stood where they were at and listened to the song. When the song ended, everyone went about their daily business.
A tourist information lady saw us and told us to stop when the music started playing; we were really confused.
On the train! When we first got on, there was seating. We're having fun already!
Then a guy came by to set up the beds!
Courtney is doing homework!
Victor is playing with his computer.
John and I chilled on my bed and chatted all night. It was pretty fun! We talked about school and careers and tech and our parents and parenting.Then it got late and everyone went to bed!
It was kinda hard to sleep because there was a lot of rolling.
When I woke up , we were in a totally different area!
It was beautiful! It was such a big contrast to the gray city! I felt like everything was over saturated with color. The greens were so green and the blues were so blue! The clouds were so white and fluffy!
The ocean is so beautiful!
When we got there, we were starving! This is my tom kha kai! Coconut milk soup =)
When we got to the hotel, it was nearly nightfall. I was hankering for some dessert and got one of these creme filled donuts. BEST donut I've ever had!Tonight, the real fun begins.
The reason we came to Koh Phangan was for the infamous Full Moon Party.
It's a HUGE party on the beach every month, basically for tourists.
The reputation for these things are pretty crazy.
Apparently there are a lot of people doing harder drugs. Also, weed shakes. We did see a guy who was definitely ON something, having a ball eating sand on the beach.
Drugs are definitely illegal. I've heard a lot of stories of people selling you drugs just to report you to the police seconds later. Part of some big scam!
ANYWAYS. around 10pm, we prepare to leave our place for the Full Moon Party. Hopefully we will all be safe!
We were going to get to the full moon party by water taxi! Our hostel arranged a boat for everyone staying there to get to the party. It was a forty five minute boat ride at night. It was BEAUTIFUL.
The boat ride was so fun!
The night sky was dark and you could see stars! The ocean waves were dark and foamy. And the island to our right was dark and foresty. The moon was so bright! The air was so clean with the ocean spray in the air!
The boat dropped us off on the beach in the water! I got kinda wet, haha.the big thing here are bucket drinks! It's actually really funny to be walking around with a pail of liquor. Actually, it's pretty smart, because there's no broken glass! Plus it's cute and reusable and cost only 200 baht!
We had a blast! The music was really good! I loved it! I had a great time! with such good music, I had an awesome time dancing.
There were people spinning fire poi and stuff. There was also the fire rope - a jump rope on FIRE, with drunk people jumping over it, haha.
Then it started to rain! It was fun at first, dancing in the rain. It was pouring, we were dancing on the beach, YAY! But then it REALLY started to pour like crazy and we sought shelter.
We got all gross and sandy, dirty and wet.
At that point, I was ready to go home. It was about 2:30am. It was a little early, but the next boat wasn't leaving until 5am, which is way too late!
So I went home earlier with John and Saad; everyone else stayed.
The boat ride back was nice and relaxing. But I couldn't wait to get out of my sandy wet clothes and get to BED.
My bed was full of dried up bug carcasses =( Also it was extremely hot. Not a very comfortable stay.
I must have been still kinda messed up, because something really funny happened over night.
I woke up in the middle of the night, REALLY needing to use the bathroom.
Oh, did I mention that there is no electricity at night? I brought my phone up to the loft where my bed was to use as a flashlight, but somehow I completely forgot about it when I woke up.
So I woke up in the middle of the night in complete darkness, needing to pee really bad, and PROBABLY not in the right state of mind.
I wanted to get down the stairs but couldn't find the ladder.
At this point, I started to panic. I felt like i was in a dream-like nightmare state and I started to get hysteric.
I started to cry out "Help! I can't get down! Somebody help me!" Somehow, I also thought that everyone was home. So I was wondering why, out of all the people in the room, no one woke up to help me. In actuality, only John was in the room. "Why won't anyone help me!" I think i began to sob, or cry or something.
Eventually I woke up poor John, who gave me a flashlight. When the light turned on, I think I became conscious and finally realized what was going on, somewhat. Actually, I was no where near the ladder, no where near where I thought I was.
It wasn't until the morning that I remembered that whole thing and just started CRACKING up. I dont' think anything like that has happened to me before. XD
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Elephants! [Kanchanaburi, Thailand]
Here we are, on our way!We joined a day tour for 700baht each (think about 23 dollars), which included all the activities we did, transportation, and lunch! Great deal!
Actually, it was 800 baht originally, but our friend Victor is so good at haggling!
Our journey starts off with a two hour bus ride (air conditioned!) to Kanchanaburi!
No farting on the bus! =P
This is the famous, historical bridge for the Death Railway. Pretty wicked name, huh?I think the movie "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" is about this bridge. I don't know too much about it and I've never seen the movie. But apparently a lot of people died to build this bridge in WWII.
Our next stop is bamboo river rafting!
First we took a little speed boat.
Then we gently floated down the river on this bamboo raft. It was starting to get hot out, but the water was so nice and cool.
The cool water feels so nice on my feet!
We got served a pretty delicious lunch! Also we were pretty full!
The Thailand bottled coke tastes so good!
Delicious pineapple for dessert!
After our lunch, time to go elephant trekking!
We felt kinda bad for the elephants since the drivers were sitting kinda on the elephants head. Then we started to think about how they must have domesticated these elephants...probably a lot of torture.People started to feel really bad for the elephants. I mean, we didn't see them mistreat the elephants, but you just KNOW.
I felt kinda bad. But not really that bad. Domesticating any animal involves pretty much hitting them until they listen to you. I'm pretty sure that's how we get cows, too.
I'm on the elephant!
Our elephant was kinda smaller for three people, so we were seated on a bench saddle and it was ROCKING back and forth. So bumpy! That's why John is making that face, haha.
this is us on our elephant!
Haha this elephant was really interested in that girl! He was probing her with his trunk!
Cute baby elephant! But said that it's chained to its mommy.
After that, we went to the Erawan waterfall! It was pretty.
I tried to stay in the water because I was afraid of mosquitoes.
I found these pretty flowers!
Doesn't it look cute in my hair? Probably got a lot of bugs in my hair though.
OKAY. You see what he's holding there? That is a DRINK in a BAG.
It's really common for Thai locals to get their drinks in a bag. I think it's more convenient because you don't need cup holders or table space to put the drink on, instead you can just hang it.
My brother had found that out this is a pretty big thing in Thailand, so we've made it our joke for years. SO IT HAS BECOME MY GOAL TO DRINK THAI TEA FROM A BAG! That's right. A bag, a straw, it's all I need!
After that, it was a two hour drive back to Bangkok. We arrived on Khao San road and I was STARVING. So I got this chicken gyro! I think they call it a kebab...but I think kebabs to us are meat on sticks. It wasn't spicy at ALL which was kindof a bummer, but it was delicious!
After that, we got real dinner! Here's my pad thai!
We were eating on a street side restaurant...literally a street. As you can see, there are just cars driving right behind us. You could get clipped by a sideview mirror!Also, note our Chang beers! Not bad, for a beer.
This is a great picture of the green square on my shirt. I am HYPERallergic to mosquito bites and I bought these little anti-mosquito patches. You put them on your clothes and scratch them. They emit a kind of citrusy-cleaner-type-smell and it's supposed to keep the mosquitoes away. It worked most of the time!
Yeah it looks tacky...but what's tackier, neon squares or giant red swollen itchy bumps all over my body?
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