Typhoons

I guess this blog should be called 'Miss P: the lazy blogger'. Sorry readers, I have new ideas of things to write almost everyday, I even write things up in mind... but when it comes to actually typing and posting it, I'm such a disaster! Anyway, here I am, back again...hopefully i'll be back tomorrow again!

So, i'll share an exciting thing about Hong Kong: Typhoons!

We don't get typhoons either in Brazil (Thank God! we don't have the infrastructure to survive that...) or in Germany, so coming here and living everyday with the possibility of one coming, it's cool!

So it's typhoon season around here and so far, in these almost 4 weeks, there have been 2 warnings already! But let me explain: typhoon warnings go in level 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10.

Level 1 and 3, the typhoon is probably passing pretty far and is just a huge annoyance and no excitement. The weather keeps suddently changing, it rains a lot, streets get flooded and there is no real danger, so we still have to get to work. But last week we got to level 3 and it started a black rainstorm!

Now, if it gets to level 8, that's another story. I still haven't seen it, but I've learned that if a level 8 warning is given, we are to stay home. And you will know whenever any typhoon warning is given cause there will be signs everywhere. It will be also shown on tv; last week I saw it right on top of the screen when we had the level 3.

Wikipedia tells me there is a level 9, though i had never heard of it. It also tells me that a level 10 is already a Hurricane. And reading it called like that kinda puts things into perspective a little more.... damn, a Hurricane!

So now i'm starting to think i don't really wanna see it... not a level 10 and even not a level 8, cause while it might be exciting to see it from the safety of my window (and get a day off from work), lots of people living in lesser conditions will suffer lots and that's definetely not cool. It's kinda like when foreigners go to Brazil and enjoy the excitement of being robbed.... :S

Ok, hadn't foreseen the posting going this way... conscience call i guess. Anyway, now you know about typhoons too, so if you come to the area in the next months, be aware. If you have any experience with it, share with us.

The Break Up

Dear Dreyer's,

I love you, i truly do.
Since we've met i cannot think of anything but you. You fill my nights, save me from lonelyness. It's been pure pleasure to share my bed at night with you... and it is with great sadness that i must end our short-lived but much intense affair.

Oh no dear, don't worry, i'm not leaving you for someone else, how could i? who could be better than you? how could anyone fulfill me the way you do, so selflessly? You give me without asking for nothing in return. And this is the reason for our fallout...i can no longer just take.

I must refrain from any love such as yours. it's too much for my body to take, in time even my heart could not bare such intensity. Your love makes me grow, it makes me larger than life... but this love is weighting on me, and soon i shall be too heavy.

It was a weakness to give in to your charms and i knew that from the beginning, but be sure i shall never regret what we shared.

Thank you for all the sweetness you brought to these first weeks here in Hong Kong. You shall never be forgotten.

Please forgive me.

Your truly,
Miss P

FROM: Miss P, HR Trainee
TO:: Dreyer's Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream

Shopping - part 2: MongKok

So since Saturday turned out to be more of a shopping day, I thought I'd make Sunday I sightseeing day. Early enough I gave up the idea of Lantau and the Buddha again as it would take super long to get there and I'd have to ask strangers to take pictures for me, which i wasn't in the mood for.

I decided then to head to Kowloon and visit the Tin Hau Temple by Yau Ma Tei MTR station. Pretty place but super warm! I mean, it was already a very warm day and inside the small temples there are lots of incenses, really huge ones, all burning in the honor of the gods or for protection of families. And yes, the temple is pretty too. Unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures inside.

So i looked around, took picture from the outside (didn't really turn out great... the cool stuff is really inside) and decided to head to the Jade Market. Ok ok... it was supposed to be sightseeing day, I know! I planned to go there purely to experience it culturally! See the beautiful stuff and maybe, just maybe practice some negotiation skills.(I was instructed to start always from half the price I'd be given and not give too much in).

And yes, i did buy a few things. All pretty and successfully negotiated! Or at least I hope so...

Next stop was supposed to be Temple Street Market, again for purely cultural reasons. But it was too early and they were still building tents up so I headed down on Nathan Road and surprisingly found yet anothe shopping area, with lots of people and looooooots of stores.

Soon I found out: I was in Mongkok. Or Shopping Heaven, as I like to think of it now. Or Triads main territory as my guidebook informed me. (The Triads are the ancient gangs of China! But my book clarified that it shouldn't be dangerous for foreigners as it's always busy and they don't wanna do any harm to the business in the area, of course).

People I'm telling you, awesome place to go shopping. Lots of stores with real stuff for really good price and market areas with plenty of fakes. So really, stuff for all tastes. Thankfully, I was able to control myself quite well and only bought a few t-shirts and a sandal... and a few small trinkets ;)

And for the sake of my finantial health, I vow to stay away from that place as much as I possibly can. (fingers crossed people!)

Shopping - part 1: Tung Chung/ Lantau

This weekend i decided I wanted to explore Lantau and see the Buddha but then on saturday I woke up too late and it was already 15:30 by the time I made it to Tung Chung (last station for the MTR to Lantau, 1 hour from the place where I live). My guidebook had informed me to make it there early as I'd be bound to get a long waiting for the cable car up to Buddha.

Anyway, the trip wasn't really lost as conviniently there is a outlet mall right out of Tung Chunf station!

I wanted to go there as I needed to buy a pair of new running shoes so I can do some hiking to get to the beautiful beaches around the Islands. And was super excited seeing all the other stores there: fancy brands!
Unfortunately, little over an hour later I was pretty much done shopping.... even though i found some really gorgeous stuff there, most of it was still too pricey for my budget. Especially as I just got here and should be exercising some level of control, right? So i got my running shoes, a beautiful Guess dress (super cheap!) and a t-shirt.

Yeah, that was all.

Took my one-hour MTR back and called it an early night (well, kinda... stayed awake until late chatting online and watching tv)

P.S.: One good things (aside the Guess dress): i learned that the MTR is really really really cheap as it costed me less than 3 euros for a whole hour trip in the subway.

"The world is an egg" (literal translation from portuguese...sorry)

So for the first time since I had arrived, I went out of Hong Kong Island last night to have dinner and drinks with a work colleague and her girlfriends. We went to Kowloon and picked a bar with a gorgeous view of the Harbour.

It was a great evening. Food was pricey but good, we had cocktails during happy hour (found out that I really like strawberry daikiri... nice and sweet) and chatted a lot. The girls were super easy going and soon it felt like I knew them a long time already. The original plan was actually to stay out longer and hit a club, but by 11 something I was already super tired, the others too so we took a stroll along the Promenade also known as Avenue of the Stars - i took a picture with Jackie Chang's handprints, the only Chinese star I knew...

I wanted to take the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island but unfortunately it was already closed. Anyway, I guess it was meant to be as I had quite a surprise when I took the MTR back home:

there I was at Admiralty station, waiting to for connect to Taikoo when I saw this chinese girl and thought she looked familiar. So i looked again and she was too looking intentively at me, I thought perhaps she was from work as I don't really know chinese people from anywhere else. But no, I was wrong; I did know chinese from somewhere else: she was an exchange student in Deggendorf a couple of years ago!!!

Totally crazy and random, wasn't it?! I mean to originally meet in Deggendorf - of all places- and then without even planning, to catch up again in Hong Kong, late at night at the subway station?!?! There are 6 million people in Hong Kong, not counting the thousands of visitors!!

Anyway, she remembered me too...actually better than I did her, as she called me by name and I had to pull the old save-your-number-on-my-mobile trick to get hers... but yeah, so now I can say I know a few more people in Hong Kong as there are a few other chinese exchange students from Deggendorf who also live here. Plus there is also a spanish exchange student who is here doing voluntary work... crazy, isn't it?!! So yeah, I'm meeting them all for drinks tomorrow night. And the world is a real small place. (hence the egg brazilian metaphor!)

P.S.: Unpleasantly met another long-time-not-seen "friend" last night: cockroaches... blargh! They don't show up very often in Germany (i don't think I've ever seen one there) but it seems I'll have to get used to see them around here in Hong Kong...

Food Republic

That's the food court at Cityplaza, the building where the company is located, and it's pretty great!

A couple of days ago, i just took a quick look and bought some dumplings, but didn't really explore all of it. Today I decided it was time to stop having take-away dinner alone in my apartment and have dinner alone at the food court. It was a good chance to go people watching.

To be totally honest, I didn't really see anything super different... well, except for the guy wearing purple pants with a bright pink hawaiian style (flowered) shirt.

But anyway, the Food Republic is worthy of a posting by itself.
So many different types of food: Thai, Korean, Chinese, Japanese... took me some good time to decide what to try today and I'm definetely looking forward to going back and trying some other stuff. The dish I had: Shanghai Style Noodles. And Pan Fried Pork Dumplings. Yeah, I'm a fan of the dumplings.

P.S.: The Thai place across the street from Cityplaza was pretty good today too... Thai Pepper, if I remember it right. Delicous noodles.
P.S.(one more): Second post in a roll about food... becoming quite the food-centric blog. I'll try to bring some more diversity next. I'll explore more of the town during the weekend so I'll have more to tell.

Dim Sum

Dear readers,

it is with pleasure that I inform you all that I'm now in Hong Kong and will be staying here for the next 3 months. It's part of my trainee program, so I got a pretty good deal for myself: the company paid for my flights and my accomodation!

So now I'm living in a flat in Hong Kong Island, just a few minutes from the office; there is a supermarket below my building and a shopping mall below the company's office building. Plus, i get cleaning service twice a week!!

Anyway, I arrived on Sunday and so far haven't seen much of town. It's super warm outside and the humidity is absolutely off scale... I thought my hometown in Brazil was hot and humid, but this here is something else! Two minutes outside and my feet were already sweating on my flipflops.... really crazy stuff!

Anyway, i've been planning to start blogging about my Asian adventure, but so far hadn't actually got to it (as usual...) but i thought today I had good enough reason to get started: I had my first Dim Sum lunch!

So basically Dim Sum is a very traditional and usual meal here in Hong Kong, kinda like Tapas for the Spanish people... a group of people orders a bunch of small/medium sized dishes and shares everything. Soups, dumplings, rolls... honestly i don't know the name of half the stuff i ate today, but i assure you it was all delicious! And the most important part and reason for my pride (and posting): I managed to eat my whole lunch with chopsticks!!

So i guess if it wasn't for my curly hair, brownish coloring and general non-asian looks, people would have sure thought i was Chinese ;)