Hong Kong and Singapore

We would like to say a big THANK YOU to our friends that opened up their homes for us to stay in and made our trip easy and memorable. This would be Joe Beal and Michael Byrd for housing and showing us Sydney (you guys are awesome!); Curtis Malasky (you the Man!) for letting us use his house in Melbourne and our guide at that fab culinary city; John Absmeier and Jennifer Ott (we are in awe of you guys!) for showing us Glitzy Shanghai and introducing us to new friends and of course for letting us stay at their apartment; Colombe, Stuart and Sophie Miller (you guys are cool! and Sophie is super adorable!) for having us stay at their place in Singapore. We'd like to thank Bobby's relatives (you guys rocked!) in Davao City for accommodating us where ever we went and opening up their homes (we will be back in the Philippines in May, for Bobby's Mom big 80th b-day bash). And Lastly, those kind random folks we met: Naam from Bangkok, Mr. Sohm from Krabi, and Alessio from Hong Kong.

This last honeymoon posting comprises our days in Hong Kong and Singapore from Feb 03 - 09 up to stateside arrival at Minneapolis...We hope you enjoy the pics and vids....

03 Feb 09: Tuesday

10,000 Buddhas....

8:30am @ the gym, doing a full work out and done by 10:30am. We showered and got ready to explore our first full day in Hong Kong. This day's plan was to see the temples with in stops of Hong Kong's Metro Transit trains. Our hotel was situated near (2 blocks) a major MRT train station called Yau Ma Tei in Nathan Road. Nathan Road is a main thoroughfare in Kowloon and is lined with shops and restaurants (sadly, we didn't explore this stretch of Kowloon when we were in HKG - a big omission for sure, maybe next time!). We walked two blocks to Yau Ma Tei station and purchased the Tourist Day Pass for $7 USD. This day pass allowed us to use HKG's transit trains for 24 hours unlimitedly. So it was a bargain! Our first stop was at the 10,000 Buddha Monastery which is with in 15 minute walking distance after you get off Shatin Station. The Monastery was located on a hill so were were sweaty by the time we got to its landing steps. We had to climb to the top (not as hard as the one in Thailand though!). This Monastery supposedly holds 10,000 Buddhas - we took their word for it. There were plenty of them in every images. Tiny ones, tall ones, huge ones, on reliefs, tiles, etc. There were plenty of worshipers also and tourists taking pictures (see pics). After the Monastery, we walked back to the train station to take the train to Che Kung Temple station - to see the Che Kung Temple (yea, very easy!). Che Kung is a temple for the TAOIST (or DAOIST) religion. It was another 10 minute walk. Along the way, we encountered people with colorful 'wind' wheels (see pics) - we weren't really sure what they were used for (or its significance), but a lot of the worshipers had this 'wind' wheels on their hands and there were hundreds being sold outside the temple. We figured it was something to do with the religion tying in with the Chinese New Year. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the "Big" statue inside - it was the Big General Che Kung himself. There were lots of incense burning, so it was a very smoky place. After that, we decided to head out to a much cooler environment, a shopping mall! We took the train to Kowloon Station where the Festival Walk Shopping Center was located. Once we were there, we decided to eat lunch first before we do some shopping. There was a Vietnamese-French resto inside the mall called "Rice Paper". The food was actually pretty good. We ate family style, with lobster bisque, shrimp spring rolls, beef with vermicelli noodles and cucumber salad. The view from the resto was an Ice Skating (Festival Glacier) rink down below, with plenty of amateur skaters. After lunch, we decided to check out the ice skating rink (Kevin was really excited to try it!). We paid the entrance fee which comes with a free rental of those figure skating skates. Bobby was complaining that he didn't really want to skate, because he wasn't comfortable using those 'figure skating' skates as opposed to a 'hockey' one (which he had used before) - besides the skates they gave to Bobby really STANK big time! They don't use shoe 'Sprays' to freshen it up. We skated for a few minutes. Bobby decided to just watch Kevin and the people on the sidelines after a few go-rounds. We were only there for 20 minutes. We then shop - mostly window shopped. Things are very expensive in Hong Kong. Kevin bought a 'Scarf' at a store called IZZUE. After shopping we headed back out to the train station and took the train to the Wong Tai Sin Temple station - yep, another Temple close to a train stop. This temple is pretty much the same as the other temples (meaning we were over it!), besides we weren't allowed to take pics also - again this was another Taoist temple. We needed a new change in scenery, so we decided to check out 'The Peak'. The Peak is actually Victoria Peak and is known as Mount Austin and it is located in Hong Kong Island. We took the MTR train to the Central Station at Hong Kong island and walked to the Peak tram. It took us 20 minutes to walk from Central Station. To get to the top, we had to ride the Peak tram. The tram actually travels to the mountain in a very steeped sloped. They said it's the only tram that travel's up the 'steepest' incline in the world. We queued in line to get our tickets and waited to get in. Plenty of tourists today. This was around 5pm. The tram ride was only 15 minutes long, but it was fun. Since we were traveling up a mountain, we could see the skyscrapers outside the tram window - gradually seeing them diagonally. They said, the high steepest point was 48 degree angle - we felt it more like a 60 degree angle. The station on top was housed in a 'mall complex'. There were shops and restaurants at the top. There was also a viewing terrace where you could see the whole of Hong Kong. We walked around the shops for a bit. Bobby bought Chinese Caligraphy that spelled both our names. We meandered up to the viewing terrace to take pictures and to wait for the "Symphony of Lights" at 8pm. The symphony of lights is a synchronized light show set to music at Hong Kong's 44 big buildings situated along its harbor. This occurred nightly at exactly 8pm. However, since we were at the Peak and not at the harbor, we didn't really see the effect, we could see the ones that were closest to us and ones facing us. It was very disappointing, since we waited up at the viewing terrace for a long time and it was really cold. After, the disappointment, we got in the queue again for the tram to get down. We had plans to have dinner at 'Cafe Siam'. We took the MTR train to Sheung Wan station by accident. Cafe Siam was located in the Central Station area. We took the train back to Central station and walked to find Cafe Siam. It was already 9:30pm when we got seated. Cafe Siam was closing in an hour. We ordered a bottle of white wine and Thai food. We were the last ones to leave the restaurant - they were nice to us and told us to take our time finishing our meal and wine. After dinner, we took the MTR train again to Tsim Sha Tsui Station where a 'hole-in-a-wall' gay bar was with in an earshot of the station: 'New Wally Matt Lounge'. We only had one drink at the bar since it was really dead. We went back to the hotel. In bed by 11pm.

*Pics*

Some bad/out of focus pics

>10,000 Buddhas Monastery<

>Che Kung Temple Area<

>Festival Walk Mall<

>The Peak (on the way, tram, at the Peak views)<

>After the Peak - on the way back to hotel<

*Vids*

>Che Kung Temple<

>Tram Vids: #One, #Two, and Inside<

>Hong Kong at Night Vids - #One and #Two<

~~O~~

04 Feb 09: Wednesday

9:30am: Back at the gym again for another work-out. By, 11am we were ready to do more sight seeing. We bought another tourist day pass and took the train back to Tsim Sha Tsui station. We wanted to take a Ferry ride to Central Station, so we walked over to the Star Ferry Docks and bought our token for the ride. After alighting off the ferry, we walked over to Lan Kwai Fong area to check the restos to have lunch in. We settled on 'Hong Kong Brew House' where they serve American bar food (We had Burgers, fries and some type of egg rolls). After lunch, we headed back out to Central Station and took the train to Causeway Bay, where it's known for 'Shopping'. We walked the area and window shopped. Bobby bought a T-Shirt at the Onitsuka Tiger store (the 'T was on sale). We checked out a few unique stores by D-Mop mall and Island Beverly Mall (it was all women's stuff). Went to a Marc Jacobs store - prices are very expensive - tài guì le! After window shopping, we went back to the Star Ferry dock and took the Ferry (we were in the upper deck this time) back to Tsim Sha Tsui station. We walked along the east Promenade and the Avenue of Stars (kinda like 'Grauman's Chinese Theater' in Hollywood, where they had hand/footprints of the stars in Cement) - where names of Asian Cinema stars are engraved. Kevin only recognized Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee's! It was getting cold again and we decided to head back to Tsim Sha Tsui station. We opted to have a drink at New Wally Matt's Lounge. We utilized their internet to search for other bars and restos for this night. After our drinks, we went back to our hotel to freshen up for the night's outing: Dinner and clubbing. For dinner, we settled on a resto called 'DOZO', it was located in the Central Station area. Dozo is a Japanese Sushi/Sashimi place where they have one of those 'conveyor' belts in the bar with food going around - if you happen to like the food that passes by you - you pick it up. We ordered our food: Edamame, prawn tempura maki, miso soup, crab rose salad and chicken terriyaki donburi. For drinks, Kevin had Yebisu beer and Bobby had Mojito. Not many patrons tonight. After dinner, we headed back to the Central train station and took the train to Sheung Wan Station to walk over to Volume Club. Volume was packed this night. We missed the 'free vodka' shots which was offered between the hours of 7pm-11pm. A British (not even that cute!) fellow was trying to pick up Kevin. Kevin was getting annoyed even after telling the guy that he was 'married' and that Bobby was there beside him. We were glad when the annoying Brit finally left. We also met some people that were in a group: Alessio (a Filipino Australian, who's studying in HK), Eric (another student who's applying to American engineering schools, like MIT and Purdue) and some other friends of theirs: Andrew & Michael (Australian Bankers). There was another guy friend of theirs that talked to us the most (he's also an Australian Banker), but for the life of us, we forgot his name (it was an exotic sounding name). He is Malaysian but lived in Australia and spoke with an Australian accent, now working in Hong Kong. This Malay dude stayed with us when the rest of his group decided to go to another club called 'Propaganda'. We then decided to check Propaganda out, so this Malay guy took us there, but there was no one at the club - it was virtually empty (a very sad Club for sure!). So Malay guy called his friends to see where they were at. They were at a mixed club called 'Beijing King'. This club was also with in walking distance. As soon as we got there, there was a queue to get in and an outrageous cover charge of $40 USD! We didn't want to pay and so did our Malay friend. He called Alessio who was already inside to come and get us since Alessio was a club VIP. Alessio met us downstairs and showed his VIP Card to the bouncers. The Bouncers actually asked Alessio for his ID and checked out his VIP Card on their database because he was only 19 years old! (Alessio told us later on that he got the VIP club card for free when his rich friends were visiting and spent $22,000 HKD at the club) Alessio's Identity confirmed, we got in for free. The club was packed. It was hard to move from place to place. We got situated at a VIP area. Kevin went to the bar to order some drinks and left his Credit Card for 'tabbing'. Our Malay friend ordered a bottle of Champagne for the group (he's very nice!). We stayed at the club until 3am. We took a taxi back to the hotel since the MTR trains stopped service at 1am. It was a 20 minute ride back to the hotel (on a side note: The taxi driver used to be a shoe salesman and had traveled to TEXAS for a shoe convention). As soon as we got back to the hotel, Kevin realized he forgot to close his tab at the Club and left his credit card there. Since we didn't want to come back to the club, Kevin had to call the credit card company right away to cancel it. Zonked out by 4am.

*Pics*

Some bad/out of focus pics

>Ferry Ride/HKG Harbor<

>Walk along Promenade and Avenue of Stars<

*Vids*

**Vid #One is in HQ - Click 'Watch in High Quality' when viewing @ UTube**

>Ferry Ride/HKG Harbor Vids - #One and #Two<

~~O~~

05 Feb 09: Thursday

Onward to Singapore....

We woke up around 11:30am and started packing right away. We showered and checked-out at the hotel by 12:30pm. We then took the A21 bus to the Airport by 1:30pm. As soon as we checked in at Cathay Pacific, we walked around the airport to find a resto to eat. We settled on 'Ah Yee Leng Tong', a resto that serves Dim Sum. When we got seated, the staff put forth peanuts and some chili sauce on the table. For Dim Sum, we ordered some fried boneless chicken with lemon sauce, shrimp and fried pork wontons, and a Potato salad on a fried wonton. Not bad food. When we got the bill, we were surprised that we got charged for the peanuts and the chili sauce. We weren't told that if we didn't eat those items, we wouldn't get charged, but since we did, it was included in the bill. Surprise! We knew later on that it was a common trick. Our flight to Singapore was good. Cathay Pacific always does a good service. We got a meal and free wine. We landed at 7:30pm. Kevin texted Colombe & Stuart (friends that generously offered their place for us to stay in at this leg of our trip). They met us at Terminal 1. They drove us in their 'Short' Honda Odessey minivan to their place at Balmoral Towers. They have a big apartment with 4 bedrooms, huge living room, dining room, a Kitchen, and a Maid's room. The 3 bedrooms actually have their own bathrooms and the Maid's room - although small, has it's own bathroom as well. We met Sophie: Colombe and Stuart's 2 year old daughter and Stuart's parents: Brenda and David who were also visiting them for a month (they're from Indiana). We also met Vicky, their Filipina maid. We chatted with them for a while and got acquinted with Sophie who is very adorable! We went to bed by 11pm.

~~O~~

06 Feb 09: Friday

We were up by 8am. Kevin had arranged a meeting with his URS Singaporean colleague this day at 10am. We took a taxi to go downtown. The address that Kevin had was wrong. It was a good thing that he called his contact to let him know that he was on his way and also to re-confirm the address. URS Singapore moved to a new office building and haven't had the chance to update their website. We told taxi the driver the right address and he said it was no problem. We got dropped off right by the front entrance at URS Singapore by 9:30am. Kevin went up to his meeting and told Bobby that he'll just text him when they're done. Since Bobby had time on his hands, he decided to check out the malls in downtown (on a side note: Singapore is home to 70 Big Malls and countless little ones). Bobby walked over to Raffles City Mall, a 20 minute walk from the URS Singapore office. Bobby passed the famous 'Raffles Hotel', a very 'old colonial style' hotel. Bobby window shopped to his hearts content and ate lunch at the food Court in the Mall (while Kevin got taken out by his Singaporean colleagues out to lunch). Bobby went to Starbucks by the Mall to plan out the Singapore sight seeing. By 2pm, Kevin was done with his meeting and was on his way to met Bobby at Starbucks. They walked back to Raffles Hotel to check it out and its bar, the Long Bar where the 'Singapore Sling' alcoholic drink made it famous. They served free peanuts. Kevin ordered the S'pore Sling (locals use the "S'pore" affectation to shorten Singapore) and liked it. Bobby didn't like it because he thought it tasted like cough syrup. After Raffles hotel, we wanted to check out the Asian Civilizations Museum. Heading there, we passed the S'pore House of Parliament (took pics). We spent a lot of time at the Museum and took lots of pictures (see pic links). After immersing ourselves with Asian history, we then meandered to Funan DigitalLife Mall, a mall dedicated to all pertaining Digital and everything in electronics. Bobby bought a cheap digital watch and a battery for our Fuji Cam (it turned out to be a dud battery - it wouldn't charge!). We then walked over to the Armenian Church, the oldest christian church in S'pore. It was closed to the public. Darn! We just took pics from the outside. We were tired so we decided to just head back to Colombe and Stu's place. We took the MRT train at City Hall Station to Newton Station and walked to Balmoral towers. We didn't do anything afterwards. Just chatted with Colombe, Stuart and his parents and with Sophie. Vicky, offered to cooked dinner for us but we said we'd eat the left overs. Went to bed early.

*Pics*

>Raffles Hotel - Long Bar<

>Asian Civilizations Museum<

Some bad/out of focus pics

>Armenian Church/Singapore River Views<

~~O~~

07 Feb 09: Saturday

Kevin woke up early. He wanted to work out and do some cardio. Bobby was being lazy and told Kevin to go on with out him. Stuart brought Kevin to his gym, where Kevin worked out for two hours (while Bobby happily stayed in bed). For cardio, Kevin ran home via the S'pore Botanical Garden which was a long way home from the gym. He was dripping wet coming back. This day's jaunts were light. We wanted to check out 'Little India', 'Arab street' and 'Chinatown'. We took the MRT train to 'Little India' Station. In S'pore, the train announcements for each station comes in 4 languages, Chinese Mandarin, English, Malay, and Hindu. We didn't know S'pore was so diverse. There are a lot of foreign expats living in S'pore also. English is widely spoken, so it was easy to communicate with the locals. Back to 'Little India', we basically walked around this neighborhood. We felt we were back in Kuala Lumpur again doing the 'Colonial Walk' (See Kuala Lumpur entry). We passed 'Sri Veeramakalianman' Hindu Temple dedicated to the fierce Hindu Goddess, KALI. We took pictures. We then decided to find a resto since we were getting hungry. We found one on Syed Alwi Road. We ate at a vegetarian Indian restaurant - 'Ananda Bhavan'. The food was good. Right across from this resto was 'Mustafa Centre', a 24 hour budget Department Store. Bobby wanted to check it out, so we meandered to go in. But before we could step inside, the security guard had to put one of those 'plastic' tie wrap on his bag between the zipper handle and the bag's metal handle - to prevent us from shop lifting! This department store was packed to the gills. It had everything on it. Grocery items, Electronics, Beauty products, Clothes all housed in a maze of steps and floors. We headed down to the men's clothing area. Each of us bought a polo shirt that were cheap! We got out of there quickly. We then headed out to buy some spices at 'Khan Mohammed Bhoy & Sons' store that was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide. We didn't really know what to buy so we just got one packet of 'Meat Curry'. We then headed out to check 'Arab Street' which was with in walking distance from 'Little India'. On the way there, we passed by 'Masjid Malabar' a street corner Mosque (Our destinations on Arab street were the Mosques). The next mosque we visited was 'Masjid Hajjah Fatimah' located on Beach road in the Kampong Glam district (this was close to URS S'pore office). It had a unique Minaret, styled in a european fashion - but it's tilted off center. They call it the 'Leaning Tower of Kampong Glam'. We took pictures. We then took Beach road to Arab street where rows upon rows of shops sell fabrics of all kinds as well as Arabian designed rugs. This area also houses the 'Grand Masjid Sultan' (The Grand Mosque) on Muscat street. Lots of touristy shops in the area. We took more pictures. It was getting late, we had a scheduled dinner with Colombe, Sophie, Stuart and his parents by 6:30pm. So we decided to ditch visiting Chinatown and headed back to C & S's place. After coming back to C & S's place, the neighbor across from their apartment complex was having a party and they had their music full blasts. C & S's told us that they have had problems with that neighbor before, playing very loud music till 5am in the morning and have called the cops on them several times (along with their other neighbors in Balmoral Towers). We then got ready for dinner. We all drove to downtown, passing ORCHARD ST. where big malls are all lined up (this is like Michigan Avenue in Chicago but ten times bigger!) to go to the area known as 'Clarke Quay' down by the river. Stu had dinner reservations at a resto named 'Jumbo Seafood'. They had several outlet restos down by the river, so the first outlet we went to wasn't the right one that Stu made reservations with. Luckily for us, they were able to check their reservation system and pointed us to the correct outlet further down the river walk. It was only a ten minute walk to the other outlet Jumbo Seafood. This was actually a better place than the first one we went because it wasn't as busy - more conducive to conversations. We ordered a family style set menu: Jumbo Cold dish (Combination of fried baby squid, Chilled Mango Duck Salad and Prawns with Salad Cream sauce), Stir fried Veges with Scallops, Steamed Cod fish with garlic, King Crab with Chili Sauce, Dry Fried Hong Kong Noodles, and dessert was Longans with Fried Tofu. The King Crab was messy to eat since we had to crack it open to get at the meat. We had little bowls with lemon water for rinsing our hands. It was good yummy food. While eating, we had a view of a Hindu religious parade (see pics) over by the bridge at the river. We went right back to C & S's place after dinner. We had plans to check out the Gay bars. We changed to our 'going out' outfits and took a Taxi close to Chinatown, where the gay bars were located. The first bar we went to was 'Tantric'. As soon as we were at the front entrance, Bobby recognized an acquaintance from Chicago that was coming out of the bar (Small world!) This guy couldn't remember Bobby's name at first (but he did recognized Bobby's face), because he was trying to stall introducing his friends that were with him, so Bobby had to remind him who he was. They were on their way to the club across the street (Taboo) and told us to come down there when we were done at Tantric. Tantric bar was packed with locals and foreign expats. We meandered inside to order drinks. As soon as we got situated, a Canadian moseyed himself to Kevin. His name was Andrew and apparently wanted to know if Kevin was 'available' - of course Andrew was informed right away about Bobby (uh-huh!) and that we were on our honeymoon. Andrew then spewed forth his life story: Moved to Asia to teach English. He went to Japan, dumped his South African boyfriend for a Japanese man. Now he's in Singapore - a country he hated because it's too Westernized. He also hated (yea, he used the word 'hate' alot) the local Singaporean men because they're 'darker' and not as 'pretty' as the Japanese or Korean men (WTF!). Bobby's hackles were rising at this point and thinks the guy was racist so he ignored him and let Kevin do all the talking. It was a good thing that this guy weren't too clingy and left us some space (he was with friends). After Tantric, we wanted to go dancing, so we moseyed over to 'Taboo'. Unfortunately, we couldn't get in because they were at full capacity, we were disappointed (there were a lot of disgruntled people outside waiting to get in). Since we really wanted to dance, we picked another bar called 'Play', a ten minute walk around Tanjong Pagar Rd. This club was mostly populated with local S'poreans. They played good music. We danced. We stayed until 2am. Took a taxi ride back to C & S's place and went to bed by 3am.

*Pics*

Some bad/out of focus pics

>Little India Walkabout<

>Arab Street Mosque Walkabout<

>Riverwalk Dinner<

*Adorable Little Sophie*

~~O~~

08 Feb 09: Sunday

Last Day in Singapore...

We had a late start. Our plan for this day was to head out to Sentosa, an island south of Singapore. We were ready by noon. Sentosa Island is home to attraction/theme parks and also S'pores best beaches. Currently, it is undergoing construction to have S'pore's 2nd Casino and the Universal Studios theme park which is set to open in 2010. Getting there was relatively easy. We took the MRT train to HarbourFront Station which is right next to Vivocity Mall and from there connected to the Sentosa Express Monorail which was located on the 3rd level at Vivocity Mall. Sentosa has 3 major beaches to choose from: Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach, and Tanjong Beach. Per the Sentosa guide pamphlet, Palawan Beach was geared towards a family atmosphere with lots of Kiddie activities; Siloso Beach was described as the most hippest beach with volleyball courts, canoeing, mountain biking and other outdoor activities; Tanjong Beach are for peeps who are looking for peace and quite relaxation. We chose Siloso Beach. It took us 15 minutes to get there after getting off the monorail. The beach had several restos/cafe on its walkway and the place we chose was 'Cafe del Mar' - they had a dj up on a tower spinnin' some cool grooves. They also had a swimming pool right by the beach. We wanted to lay out at the pavilions but in order to do so, we had to spend a minimum of 100 S'porean dollars. We looked at their menu for food and drinks - it was somewhat overpriced and we thought we could easily order enough to make the 100 mark - either that or just sit at the tables by the pool. So, we chose to lay out at the pavilions to get some sun on. It was already close to 2pm when we got situated on our lounge chairs. We ordered drinks and food. Kevin drank 'Carlsberg' beers the whole time while Bobby chugged Mojito's all afternoon. The food was mediocre at best, nothing to write home about. We just enjoyed the sun, the music and the 'eye' candy. Apparently, Cafe del Mar is known for a gay hang out. They had a 'gay' foam party the day before (with 300 gay attendees). There were plenty of 'gays' this day too (some were wearing skimpy 'mankinis' showing some 'good' and 'ugly' butt cracks!). Kevin checked out the beach area and he said that looking out at the ocean, there were plenty of Cargo ships - line after line of them (We could see these Ships riding up from the Sentosa Express Monorail). Singapore currently has the busiest shipping port in the world in terms of total shipping tonnage (Shanghai is creeping up there). We stayed at Siloso beach until 5pm, paid our bill and got back into the Sentosa Express Monorail. Since the mainland monorail stop was at Vivocity mall on the third level, we decided to check out the mall and shop. Vivocity happens to be S'pores 'largest retail and lifestyle destination' a.k.a it's S'pore biggest mall (currently). Bobby bought a T-Shirt and Slacks at 'TopShop/TopMan' and Kevin bought T-Shirts at the 'Pull and Bear' store. We got tired of shopping so we just hopped back into the MRT train and got off Newton Station to walk to C & S's place. On the way, there was this strip mall called Balmoral Plaza lined with restos: Waffle World, The Big Bird, Ryden and Spizza on the front (there were others on the 2nd and basement floors). We chose 'Spizza' since we haven't had any pizza on this 6 week trip! They had pizza names that begins with each letter of the alphabet. Kevin ordered the 'Pamela' (Mushrooms with cooked ham) and Bobby ordered a 'Vittoria' (Chicken Sausage, Mushrooms, and Chili), with a side order of Calamari. T'was good food! After ingesting the fatty foods, we headed back to C & S's place. It was already 8pm. We had to pack our luggage for the next day's flight out to Minneapolis. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6am, so we had to get to bed early. C & S called a taxi - for us to get picked up at 4am the next morning. We said our 'goodbyes' to Colombe, Sophie, Stuart and his parents. In bed by 9pm.

>Sentosa Island - Siloso Beach Pics<

>We have had nightmares about this CRACK!<

*Cafe del Mar beach Area Vid*

~~O~~

09 Feb 09: Monday

Onward to Minneapolis

We were awake by 3am and was down at the lobby by 4am for our Taxi. We were at S'pore's Changi Airport by 4:20am. Checked in NWA by 4:45am and boarded the plane by 5:05am. Landed in Tokyo around 1:45pm for a lay over, but this time it was only 45 minutes long. We were on the way to Minneapolis by 3:30pm Tokyo time. 11 hours later, we landed at MSP at 11:15am. MSP customs was a pain. Since Bobby isn't a U.S. citizen and just have a greencard, he was quizzed with a lot of questions by the immigration officer. The questions were: Why was he able to get a '6 week' vacation', 'what was the vacation for' and 'who was he with'. When he answered it was a honeymoon trip, the officer asked 'where was his wife', Bobby answered, 'my partner's over there' and pointed at Kevin. The immigration officer turned beet red and apologized. He ask for Kevin to come up and show his Passport. After that, Bobby got fingerscanned, his pic taken, and he let us go. Whew! (on a side note: This only happens at Minneapolis airport when it is Bobby's port of entry coming back from outside the U.S. The last time Bobby was held for questioning was in the year 2004 for 3 hours when he was coming back from London, they had to dig into his military records before he was released - otherwise if Bobby's port of entry was either in Chicago, Detroit or the New York airports, he would have no problems what so ever). Back at our house by 1:30pm. It's cold here. Trip over.

Shanghai Glitz

28 Jan 09: Wednesday

Shanghai Bound

5:30am wake up time. Our flight was scheduled to depart Hong Kong International Airport at 8:45am. We wore the same clothes we had from the previous day, so we didn’t really have to unpack/pack our luggage again. We couldn’t get a direct flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai. We had to fly to Tokyo and then to Shanghai which was an all day event. This was because we used Northwest Airlines - using our Mileage (yea we know, Northwest Sucks! – but we had a lot of Mileage on them). Kevin tried to get an upgrade on this flight since he had Gold Elite status but he didn't get it. The 3 hours and 45 minute flight to Tokyo was uneventful but the layover at Tokyo was 4 hours long. We couldn’t use our cell phones at Tokyo since Japan uses 3G wireless technology (and not backwards compatible with either EDGE or GPRS) and our cell phones weren’t 3G. Boarding for the Shanghai flight commenced around 5pm, by 6:05pm we were on our way. It was another 3 and a half hour flight to Shanghai. We arrived at Pudong International Airport around 8:35pm and exited the plane with some minor problem…we were almost at the immigration line, Bobby had a sinking feeling – he forgot our brand new spanking Netbook (itty bitty laptop). We tried to go back to the plane and got stopped by a Chinese immigration security guy. We told him that we left our laptop inside the plane but he wouldn't let us pass. He told us to go back to the immigration line and that ‘No’ we couldn’t go back to the plane even though people were still de-boarding. We were getting agitated and he finally used his ‘walkie-talkie’ and talked to ‘some’ of his people. He asked us our seat number and he talked to his people again. He told us to proceed to the immigration line again and that we would have to talk to the “baggage counter” once we were done with immigration. Kevin was getting mad at Bobby for forgetting things (again!)…he brought up the lost iPod at Malaysia airlines and saying things like “we’ll never see that laptop again”; “they’re gonna steal it like the iPod”; “All my work stuff that I’ve worked on for the past 4 weeks – gone!” etc. Kevin called Northwest customer service stateside, to see if they could do something about having the plane crew look, but unfortunately the Northwest rep told Kevin that since it was an international flight she couldn’t do anything about it. Kevin called John Absmeier who was on his way to pick us up (John and Jenny Absmeier are the friends in Shanghai that we were staying) and told John what happened. He advised Kevin to just wait and just proceed to the “baggage counter”. Kevin continued to stew and giving Bobby the ‘how could you be so stupid look’ and Bobby glared right back, ready for a fight. As soon as we were done with immigration, Kevin waylaid a man in police/security uniform and demanded to see ‘their’ team leader, the guy looked bewildered and ask what was wrong. The immigration officer that just processed Kevin’s passport stood up from his cubicle and told Kevin to go the "baggage” counter. When we headed out to the “baggage counter”, the overhead paging system sqawked “Mr. Kevin Miller from Northwest flight 25 from Hong Kong, please kindly proceed to the Baggage Counter”. At the counter, they told us that ‘yes the laptop has been recovered’ – we had a big sigh of relief. It was another 30 minute wait for the errant laptop.

RockinShanghaiRolla….

As we got out of the baggage counter area and into the lobby, John and his driver ‘Mr. Cho’ were already there waiting for us. Salutations and greetings done, they drove us out of Pudong in their stretched out VW Passat. As we were driving out, John pointed the Maglev Train slowly passing us at first and then it accelerated like a rocket at 300+ mph. Shanghai currently has the only operating public Maglev Train in the world (but not making any money as of yet). John bought some 'Tsing Tao' beers while waiting at the airport and handed some to us. The beer was good. Jenny and their dog Diesel greeted us at the front door when we arrived at their very spacious apartment. As soon as we got situated on the guest room, we got a tour of John and Jenny's 8 room apartment. They had 4 bedrooms: One master, one guestroom, and the other two were converted into an office and a 'man's room' for John. The other 4 rooms consisted of a nice sized kitchen, dining area, T.V. room with a gi-nourmous specially made sofa (it's bigger than a King size bed!), and the living room. They also have the envy of the apartment complex: a big yard for Diesel to play around with. In terms of square footage, their apartment is bigger than our house in Minneapolis! Most of their furniture pieces were specially commissioned by them to be made. They just tell the artisans what they like and voila it's made. Jenny told us that it was relatively cheap to buy things in China as opposed to paying for stuff with an arm and a leg in the West. We chatted for a bit in the living room, drinking beer, catching up with current events, the countries we visited (also countries they had visited before us) on our honeymoon trip, and news of mutual friends. Diesel the dog, apparrently likes beer because he kept reaching for Kevin's beer bottle. Very funny dog and very cute! Fireworks could be heard going off in the distance, John and Jenny said that for the rest of the week, there would be fireworks day and night until the end of the Lunar Chinese New Year celebration. We asked why they lit up fireworks during the day and they said that in the old days, the fireworks were used to ward off evil spirits all day long. John and Jenny asks us if we wanted to go out this night for either a lowkey drinking or big time night out. We said that we were game for both. Jenny made some phone calls to see where their friends were. They were at a bar called 'LUNA'. We freshened up for a bit then Mr. Cho drove us to Luna where we met Jenny's best friend Sarah (sister of Brandon Routh, a.k.a Superman), Steve (Sarah's husband), Jia Nee (not sure about the spelling), and others. There was a filipino band playing. They were pretty good. They had Sarah belting out a few songs and one of her own composition, which rocked the crowd. It was awesome! Sarah happens to be a talented composer/singer/guitarist. She's now living in Shanghai with her husband Steve, who manages a local restaurant called the "Commune". Fun times. We left Luna and went next door to a Jazz Club called "Brown Sugar", unfortunately it was already 1:30am and Brown Sugar stopped serving drinks. We decided to just go home. At John and Jenny's place, we continued on catching up with life. Went to bed by 4am.

*Bar Luna Rockin-out Pics*

>Sarah singing one of her song<

>John & Steve (Sarah's husband)<

>Bobby & Sarah's backs - Dancin<

~~O~~

29 Jan 09: Thursday

Faux Shopping...

We had a late wake up time of 11am. We could smell some delicious food being made in the kitchen. John and Jenny were cooking 'Huevos Rancheros' for brunch with biscuits. T'was good! Today's jaunts was to go to the fabric and 'fake' markets in Shanghai. Being that this week was a Chinese holiday, most working people in China were on a Holiday/Vacation. We were hoping that the fabric market would be open so that we could have some suits made. We were ready by 2pm and got driven again by Mr. Cho to the market. Unfortunately, the fabric market was closed - it had a sign saying that it would open back up again on 3rd of Feb, the day after we leave for Shanghai. Darn! The fake market across was open though so we proceeded to go shopping. There weren't many people out today - as mentioned it was a holiday and most folks were in the country with their families, so it was an easy day. No crowds to fight for. This fake market had everything: Designer bags (on some you couldn't tell if it was really fake because they used real leather), Designer clothing, Brand name shoes, watches, fake iPhones (there was even a fake iPhone NANO that Bobby wanted but didn't buy since it was still very expensive) etc. Some were even 'real' goods - gotten from a back door somewhere. John and Jenny were interpreters for us, since both of them speak Mandarin. They're both good 'hagglers' too! We were pretty much awed at their haggling skills. It was a long elaborate process between the vendors and the tag team of John and Jenny. Mandarin words would fly back and forth, calculators pounded with numbers, voices raised, hand gestures, 'Eye Rolls', and sometimes it was exhausting just to watch the interplay between J & J and the vendors. J & J did most of the haggling for us. Kevin bought a lot of stuff this day: G-Star Sweater, D & G/A & F underwears, tiles w/ mask (the only thing not-fake). We learned some useful Mandarin words: "tài guì le" (tay gwey lah), which means TOO EXPENSIVE and to pretend to walk away to be not 'interested' anymore if the price you haggled couldn't be brought down some - it usually works when the vendor really really wants you to buy the stuff. We only stayed for 3 hours at this fake market. We went home to change because J & J were taking us out to dinner. Kevin called his URS branch office in Shanghai to set up a meeting for the next day (Friday). By 7pm we were ready to go. We got picked up again by Mr. Cho and driven to "Casa 13" a Spanish/Meditteranean resto in Shanghai located in a very narrow/skinny road(s). The resto had some good food. We got two servings of 'gnocci' - it was Jenny's favorite, some mushroom dish, scallops and the like. It was just enough to fill us up. Most of the patrons were expats. We could hear American accents (or maybe it was Canadian), Brits as well as some other Europeans. After dinner, we got driven out to the Jazz club that we couldn't get drinks on the night before: the swanky BROWN SUGAR. This club had some snazzy decor. We thought we were in a New York club. John's co-workers were already there at the VIP section. We met Ralph and Peg, a guy named Chuck and his wife and others (we couldn't remember all their names). The place had a band that plays exclusively to Brown Sugar and it's branches in China and Taiwan. The band had a mixture of Australian and Americans for its members (See vids). They were pretty good. Since Shanghai has fireworks everynight this week, we were supposed to go to the bar on top of the World Financial Building (currently the tallest building in China, called the 'Bottle Opener') but the weather was sh*tty. It was raining, foggy and misty so you couldn't really see the fireworks at the highest point. In any case, there would be fireworks going off all over Shanghai by midnight. ANYONE can buy fireworks, the kind you see on 4th of July in America. People were letting them off on the streets, so we ran outside to get a good look (see vids). The fireworks didn't stopped until 1am. We went back into Brown Sugar and the band was performing its last set. The male lead singer came around the women audience during his last song, handing out Red Roses. Peg and the other lady (We think her name was Joyce) in our section got some flowers. By 1:30am we left Brown Sugar trying to find other bars to go to but since it was a weekday and again a holiday week, the other bars were closing too. We decided to just go home. T'was 2am in the morning.

*Brown Sugar Pics*

> Joyce (We think?) <

>Jenny, Kevin & John<

>Peg, Jenny & Kevin<

>Brown Sugar Props/Pics<

*Brown Sugar Vids*

>Make Sure you Click the "Watch in High Quality" feature in YouTube<

>Jazz Band - female Lead Vocal<

>Jazz Band - male Lead Vocal MJ<

>Jazz Band - male Lead Vocal PRINCE<

>Fireworks outside 1<

>Continuation of Fireworks<

~~O~~

30 Jan 09: Friday

Another Faux Shopping and Bar hopping...

Awake by 10am. Kevin called his URS contact again to set the time for their meeting this day. They settled on 4pm. We showered and got ready. Jenny had planned for us to see the Museum of Urban Planning, where the history of Shanghai's development commenced. We were running late, so John ordered food on the way to the Museum. Those sandwiches where delicious. We passed the Yang Pu bridge (See pics), the locals mostly called it the "Big Bridge". Mr. Cho dropped us off at the Museum by 1pm. We had some history lesson as to how Shanghai's urban planning develop early on. The museum had a small scale replica of Shanghai. We got to see how big Shanghai really is (see pics). They also had a replica of the current plan for the WORLD EXPO event in 2010 which will be held in Shanghai. We spent about an hour and a half there and decided to go shop again at another 'fake' market. By 3:30pm, Kevin had to go to his meeting and took a taxi to the arranged location. Bobby happily shopped with J & J. It was another day of sharp haggling. Bobby bought G-Star (his favorite brand name) clothing: jeans, long sleeve shirt, and a sweater (Bobby thinks they were 'real' - the ill gotten backdoor merchandise kind). He also bought 'Gucci' sunglasses and a watch for Kevin. J & J and Bobby were getting tired of the haggling and decided to get out of the fake market. We went next door to a Video store where they sell pirated DVDs. We mostly browsed inside the store. Jenny bought some DVD's - documentary types. John and Bobby were getting hungry. So the group decided to get something to eat. An Indian resto named 'Bukhara Grill' was just next door. It was J & J's favorite Indian resto. Since it wasn't 5pm yet, the resto wasn't quite ready for dinner - but they accommodated us anyways. The resto had 3 floors and we got seated at the top floor. We decided to order just apps because we thought to have a full course dinner later on with Kevin when he gets back from his meeting. We ordered a bottle of red wine, Indian bread, a chicken kebab, a vege wrap roll, Dal Bhukara (John's favorite dip) and others. Kevin texted John that his meeting was done and he was on the way back. We decided to just wait for him at the resto. Kevin arrived 15 minutes later after texting us. The food we ordered were enough to feed all four of us. Normally, Bobby doesn't like Indian food, but this resto served up good food. Bobby ate a lot! The apps turned into a full blown meal! After dinner, J & J took us to the Nanjing Walking Street for pedestrians. This street was like a mini Las Vegas strip, neon lights and a smackfull of people. We did some window shopping at Zara and then went home. We got ready to go out again. Rebecca and Mark (who works for General Motors China) a couple who lives in the apartment complex with J & J (now their friends) came over for drinks and also to accompany us to the bar hopping later on. We lounged at the living room for a bit before heading out. Mark and Rebecca's MiniVan driver drove us first to the Shanghai World Financial Building (Bottle Opener) to go to '100 Century Avenue' bar, another swanky high end bar which they said currently holds the record for the most highest located bar in the world (it used to be the Cloud 9 bar at Jin Mao tower until 100 Century eclipsed it). Peg and Ralph where already there ahead of us. We got seated right away. The bar had incredible views, towering over the Oriental Pearl Tower and Jin Mao building (the two other famous buildings in Shanghai). This bar also had some Jazz band playing. Unfortunately, there weren't many patrons this night (again, maybe because it was a holiday). We ordered red wine made by China. They also served 'Prawn' crackers for munchies - these things were ignored by the others because they said it tasted 'fishy', but Bobby ate bowl after bowl of it. He said it tasted good. We only spent about an hour at this club. The group decided to walk down next door to the Jin Mao building where the Hyatt hotel was - to check out the view and perhaps the Cloud 9 bar (When Kevin was still working for SOM in Chicago, one of his projects was the Jin Mao tower). They have awesome views inside (See pics). There was no one at the bar though. The group then drove to the opulent Shangri-La Hotel to go check out its resident bar called 'Jade'. Again, Jade bar didn't have a whole lot-a-crowd - it was once again attributed to the holiday week. We decided to just stay there and ordered some drinks. Kevin's drink had a special metal straw that Jenny liked - so we swiped it. The bar had a cool 'Pod' like bathroom with lighted solid glass tubes (see pic). The bar also had good view of the Oriental Pearl T.V. tower. We were the last patrons to leave the bar. Our last stop for the night was a sports bar-n-grill named 'Big Bamboo'. We ordered lots of food since we were hungry - 'hot wings' for John, Calamari for Bobby, Chicken Satay for Kevin, Quesadillas for Mark and Nachos for Jenny and Rebecca and of course more drinks, this time Tsing Tao beers. We were supposed to go for a foot massage but we were all tired and full. The group decided to just call it a night. Big Bamboo was just across from J & J's apartment complex, so we all tip toe'd outta the back door. Got to bed around 2am.

*30 Jan 09 Pics*

>On the way to the Museum<

>Museum of Urban Planning<

>Nanjing Walking Street<

>100 Century Avenue Bar/Shanghai World Financial Building<

>Jin Mao Building - Inside<

>Shangri-La Hotel/Jade Bar<

*Video at the Museum of Urban Planning - Mini Replica of Shanghai*

~~O~~

31 Jan 09: Saturday

Communing with the locals, more shopping and bar hoppin...

We were awake at 9:30am. John and Jenny were again making breakfast - omelet and sausages. Yum! They thought us a few words of Mandarin. 'Xie xie' for thank you and 'Ni hao' for hello. We were goin on an expedition this day. From previous days, we've seen the Glitz and Glamour of Shanghai, J & J planned to show us the 'real' Shanghai. We got ready in a hurry because it was going to be another long day of sight seeing and partying - Might as well start it early. Peg & Ralph were coming along, so we went to their apartment complex in the Sky View Towers first. Their complex was like Ft. Knox. The doorman actually had to escort us to the elevator, key in his card in order for the elevator to go up to the floors. Peg and Ralph's door lock actually uses finger scans. We got a tour of their place. They had good views of Shanghai since their unit was high enough to see the skyline. We then left their place to walk over to the ferry boats that took us close to the local Chinese Market. We walked around the Chinese market, seeing lots of locals, peddlers, and smelling some nasty smell: J & J said it was fermented tofu being cooked either deep fried or steamed. This was a local delicacy. Jenny doesn't like the smell and so did Bobby. They had to cover their noses (this smell was all over the place). Bobby bought some batteries for our digicam since it was telling us to change bats (it needs AA Lithium - otherwise if we use a regular Alkaline bats..it would only last for one day). We then meandeared to the 'Yu Yuan Garden' area, where the 'old' part of Shanghai still stands. The Chinese New Year decorations were all over the place. Ox's everywhere and surprisingly, it was really teeming with locals. Sometimes we had to walk real slow because the crowd were so packed. We had to watch out for those 'Grandma' types, because they would just 'bulldozed' everyone out of their way - kinda like a football linebacker. They might look small and frail but those little old ladies were tough. We had to stay out of their way otherwise we'd get trampled on. Most of them travelled in groups of 3's or 4's for leverage. We were on the way to see the 'Crooked' bridge when some old Chinese guy who speak(ed) pretty good English waylaid our group. He owned one of the grand tea houses in the area and wanted us to come check out the rooftop - where he said the views would be good. So we followed him up his roof top. It did afford the view down below (see pics). We thanked him and proceeded to head to the 'Crooked' bridge down below. There were hundreds of people lining up to go across the bridge. The legend says, that the bridge was built to stymie the bad spirits from crossing, since they travel in a straight path. It was slow crossing. There were lots of pushing and shoving along the way. The 'grandma' bulldozers were full on, most people gave way to them. It was no wonder the bridge didn't collapse under the weight of hundreds of people. Good thing it was a one way bridge thorougfare. After the crossing, we then walked over to the area where they sell 'fake' antiques. Bobby haggled with Jenny's help, to buy a spherical glass clock for 75 RMB/Yuan ($11). He also bought a souvenir for our friend Neil, who watched over our house in Minneapolis. Kevin bargained with John's help, to some terra cotta statuetes for family gifts. After 'antiquing', we walked over to what used to be called "sex street" (but not anymore since the Chinese Authorities closed it down) where anything pertaining to sex were sold...DVDs, paraphernalias, etc. There were still some sketchy vendors though, on their makeshift stalls selling knick knacks (but the sex stuff was hidden). John bought 6 cigarette lighters with tiny flash lights - when you turn on the tiny flashlights on a white background, it'll show some naughty pictures. He gave Kevin one. At the end of the street, Mr. Cho was waiting for us. John and Jenny directed him to drive us over to where Steve's (Sarah's husband) cafe named "the Commune" was, so we could have some rest and some sustenance. Peg and Ralph took a taxi to meet us at the Commune. We met Steve at his resto, a quirky place that's very popular. It was in a boutique 'mall' area. We got seated inside by the back and ordered our food. Jenny ordered a Mocha latte and she told Bobby that it comes in a cup the size of a big salad bowl, so he ordered one too (yea, this thing was huge). Steve brought everyone a drink that he experimented for us to try and taste...Campari, Vodka and Sprite. It was good. After dinner, Kevin wanted to get eyeglasses. We said our goodbyes to Ralph, Peg and Jenny. John and us were headed to the area to get the eyeglasses. Peg had recommended to go into an area where Shanghai's main train station was located. She gave us the info and John had Mr. Cho call the place to get directions. As soon as we got there, Mr. Cho called the guy again to come and get us since the area was very confusing. 10 minutes later, the guy showed up and led us over to a passageway and under the train station and voila! - it was literally an underground maze of 'Eyeglasses' wonderland. All the shops were selling one component: Eye Glasses (either Priscription or Sunglasses). Fake frames were the thing. If you have/know your prescription, they could make it under 20 minutes with your frame of choice. The guy brought us to Peg's contact, a woman named 'Linda'. She basically told us to pick the frames we wanted. We spent hours scouring her shop's frame collections from Prada, Gucci, D & G and other well known brand names. Lots to chose from. Finally, Kevin settled on 3 frames: Prada, Diesel, and a local Chinese brand 'Peng Xiang' that looked good on him. Kevin brought his disposable contact lens pouches which had the prescription grades on it, and showed it to Linda. Since Kevin wanted the 3 pairs, Linda said that it would take an hour to make them. We didn't want to wait that long, so John offered to have Mr. Cho pick it up the next morning. It only costs us 600 RMB/Yuan ($88) - very cheap! We got driven home to rest for a bit before the night's outing. John and Jenny cooked dinner again: Brats and veggies. Yum!. We showered and got ready. The plan for this night was to hit the super exclusive bar called the 'M1nt' and then hit a lowkey gay bar afterwards. There are 3 ways to get into the M1nt club (per John) - Either you have to know someone that's on the VIP list, You have to be a 'member' of the Club (paying monthly dues with an initiation fee of $3,000 - this would be a VIP person), and if you're a shareholder (another VIP). John happened to know a VIP and that's how we got in the list and along with the other people that were in our group. Peg and Ralph and other friends of J & J: fun German couple Neils and Urta (spelling?) came with in a few minutes. It was another slow night. Not a lot of people in the club but it was still fun. Sarah and Steve were also there, along with 'Jia Nee' and her 3 teacher friends: Rachel from Scotland, Carmelo and Ton-Ton. Bobby was grabbed by a woman, named Laura who was a Brit from another group of people and dragged him to the dance floor. They boogeyed for a while, then Laura pushed Bobby to another of her friends (Bobby forgot the name of this woman but she had a 'cat woman' attire on: leather bustier and spandex!) who whipped Bobby around the floor! Kevin tried to take pictures, but since we brought our curmodgy Fuji Cam, the pics turn out bad (see the pics anyway). Bobby thanked the women since our group was leaving to go to the gay bar. We had to convince Neils and Urta to go. Peg and Ralph finally convinced them when they said they'd go to check it out. The gay bar was somewhere in the Bund district (The Bund area is famous in Shanghai, its where the happenings are - bars, clubs, tourist areas, etc.) Since being 'Gay' in China is illegal, D2 was a downlow club and was in the area that was somewhat out-of-the-way. There was a cover charge to get in about 80 RMB per person. Sarah, Jia Nee and the 3 Teachers (they left the Mint earlier) was already inside waiting for us. D2's dance floor was kinda dead but the 2nd floor mezzanine was packed. So we moseyed over there instead and talked to random folks. Bobby talked to a woman named Julia, a local artist who used to live in NYC. Kevin talked to some Indian dude (he forgot the dude's name). We also met a guy named 'Gabriel' who attended 'St. Olaf' college in Minnesota (small world!) - who now lives in Shanghai with his partner (who's the owner of D2). Got home late again (we forgot the time).

*31 Jan 09 Pics*

>Ralph & Peg's Views - Ferry Ride to Chinese Market<

>Chinese Market then to Yu Yuan Garden/Up at Tea House/Crooked Bridge<

>Antique Shopping & Commune Cafe Resto<

>The Mint Bar<

*D2 Pics (Below)*

>Urtha, Kevin, Jenny, Bobby<

>Jia Nee, John, Jenny<>Kevin, Rachel, Bobby, Jia Nee, John<

*Video at Yu Yuan Garden, after the Crooked Bridge*

~~O~~

01 Feb 09: Sunday

Westin Brunch and shopping some more....

We forced ourselves to wake up early this day (9:30am) since John and Jenny arranged a Sunday brunch at Westin Hotel. Peg, Ralph, Niels, Urta, Sarah, and JoAnne (who we haven't met yet) were gonna meet us there. Mr. Cho drove us again to Westin and arrived promplty at 11:15am. John was thinking we were late because he thought the brunch started at 11am. It turns out it starts around 11:30am, so we were early. Still, there were already people waiting to get in. We got served champagne while waiting. John & Jenny usually goes to this brunch when they have guests in town or with their group of friends. We got seated at a better table than their usual - we were closer to the 'entertainment' area. Speaking of entertainment, they had a 'Magician act', 3 Music acts: Choir, Opera Singers and a Spanish trio band and Dancing acts using props: The first dance was a group of ladies with Spinning plates doing acrobatic moves; their 2nd act was the use of 'hula hoops' and the 3rd dance was a Spanish flamenco. By 11:45am, everyone was seated at the table and started for the buffet line. The food was staggering. They had a lot of buffet stations: desserts and truffles; sushi; German cuisine; Chinese Cuisine; Omelet, waffle and pancake station; meat carving section; dim sum station; and Indian curry station. We ate a lot! The wait staff kept pouring us some white wine and Champagne. There were girls going around serving 'Caipirinha' drinks. John and Jenny also kept ordering 'Shots' for the table. We've never been to a 'Brunch' like this!!! There were other stuff going on as well - like 2 guys making palm animals/insects (kinda like those clowns making baloon animals). Each of the ladies at our table got something from them (see pics). There was a woman who was making stone 'chops' or stone stamps. Kevin bought 'chops' that had our initials engrave along with its Chinese characters. By 2pm everything was winding down. We were still tipsy. Sarah had to leave for a rehearsal (she's recording her music) and everyone else decided to go to the 'fake' market for some shopping. Mr. Cho drove us to the third 'fake' market in town. Shopping was kinda fun, specially 'drunk haggling'. Kevin bought a fake North Face jacket, gifts for his brothers, and sunglasses. Bobby and JoAnne bargained down two fake Converse shoes (one pair for each of them). Bobby also bought a 'fake' Diesel watch for $20 USD. We were only at the fake market for 2 hours. We were all tired by then and just decided to go home. Bobby went straight to bed to take a rest and a nap while Kevin and John walked over to a street vendor, two blocks away to buy some 'pirated' DVDs. Kevin bought 46 DVDs for $20 USD! For dinner, we ordered delivery from a resto named 'Blue Frog' which serves burgers. We all settled into the big humongous bed-couch to watch a movie - American Gangster. After the movie, we decided to pack some of our stuff to be shipped home to Minneapolis since we bought a lot and it wouldn't fit in our luggage (and since some were counterfeit items, we didn't want to risk bringing them in through Customs). It was an early night. We had to leave for the airport the next morning. Our flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to depart at 8am.

*01 Feb 09 Pics*

>Westin Hotel Brunch<

*Vids*

>Make Sure you Click the "Watch in High Quality" feature in YouTube<

>Brunch Performer - Opera Singer<

>Brunch Performers - Ladies Spinnin' Plates<

>Brunch Performer - The Hula Girl<

>Sarah performing with the Magician<

~~O~~

02 Feb 09: Monday

Hong Kong bound....

We were up by 5:15am, showered, and packed our luggage. Jenny helped us with our shipping packages. She was going to send it to us via sea-voyage mail, which will take about 4-6 weeks to get delivered. By 6:30am, we said our goodbyes to Jenny and Diesel. We rode with John to his workplace, so Mr. Cho could drop him off and to see where he worked. John worked in the 'free trade' zone area - where most Western companies are HQ'd. We said our goobyes to John and Mr. Cho then drove us to the airport. As soon as we were at the check-in counter at NWA, Kevin tried to see if we could get upgraded to business class and we got lucky! (finally). We proceeded to the NWA Worldclub lounge to get some free snacks and drinks. This was another long flight back to Hong Kong via Tokyo. The flight was actually good. It was nice to be in business class. You get served quite nicely with free alcohol and a nice meal. Kevin spoke with the American Brazillian expat sitting next to him about her experiences living in Shanghai. Bobby slept most of the time (he conks out quickly when flying - doesn't matter whether it's an hour flight, he can go to sleep right away). We had another one of those 4.5 hour layover at Tokyo. Lucky for us - Kevin was a 'Gold Elite' member, so we had the use of the Worldclub lounge. We basically parked ourselves there utilizing the free Internet and eating their buffet of delicious foods and drinks. Kevin commandeered Bobby's laptop to do his bills. Bobby had the use of the iMacs at the lounge for 'blogging'/e-mailing. The flight to Hong Kong took 5.5 hours long, this time we were at the 'coach' cabin with a meal. We landed at HKG around 9:30pm, wheezed by customs, got our luggage and had difficulty finding the bus terminal to take us downtown. The people we asked for directions at the airport weren't really helpful in pointing out where the bus terminal was - they were just saying it was on the ground floor, like we should know it (These people worked at the airport). We finally figured out where the bus depot was, got the ticket for $4.25 USD/each and asked the counter lady where bus A21 was - she pointed behind our backs. We had to run for it, luggage and all, the bus was about to leave. We got in at the last moment - the driver drove away as soon as we stepped inside. Kevin asked him if he could tell us when he stops at 'Yau Ma Tei' stop, this was the bus stop closest to our hotel. The bus ride only took 35 minutes, we got dropped off at Nathan Road by 'Yau Ma Tei' stop. Cityview hotel was just a couple of blocks away. This hotel used to be a YMCA hotel. You could still see the 'Y' logos everywhere. Our room was okey - for the price we got it. It was definitely what we paid for. We do have the full use of the Gym in the next building for free. Internet was expensive to use so we had to forego using it. Went to bed by midnight.