Guess Who's Pregnant!?

No, it's not me--you can start breathing again Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, etc. concerned family and friends. It's Alice! The mother that I work for. She told me yesterday that she is expecting baby #2 in September. As I'm leaving in July, I will not be around for the joyous birth--thank goodness, since I don't get paid nearly enough to put up with that :) We are all quite excited though; except Leo, who has no idea what we're talking about. His world will be rocked soon enough when he starts to wonder why Mum is getting fat. 

I have to say, even though I'm unsure whether or not I'll ever do it myself, the idea of growing a person inside of another person is so fascinating and ridiculous! I mean, there's going to be a live, moving around, one-day-will-be-an-adult-like-you-and-(sort of)-me, person in there! It's crazy! Is it a little wrong that all I can really picture when I think of this is that scene from the movie Space Balls (spoofing the movie Alien I think) when the slimy dragon-looking alien bursts out of the guys stomach in the diner and then does a song and dance number on the counter? That was awesome, but probably not the birth plan Alice is going for...

I suppose now I have to cut her some slack for being tired all the time. I had been resenting her complaints of exhaustion following a day spent at the spa or something equally 'stressful' while I raised her kid all day...I guess the stress of cooking up a baby is a pretty good excuse...

Beautiful Budapest!

Hello!

So, I finally have something interesting to write about: my weekend in Budapest!!

It was absolutely fabulous. Such a gorgeous city; the architecture throughout was just amazing. It really reminded me of an upper-class residential area of Paris or London--very orderly, well-maintained historical buildings (most of them probably hundreds of years old--from back when Budapest was a cultural and political capital of Europe). I have to say, my expectations were pretty low. My mental image of an Eastern-European, former Soviet state city was of slum-like, utilitarian buildings with little charm or warmth. It was really the exact opposite; I stand corrected.

We started our trip by setting out on foot to see some of the major sights. St. Stephen's Basilica was truly amazing--very grand and imposing, with some great detail in the stone work. One of the best basilicas I've seen :) It's in this big open square that I imagine bustles with tourists in the warmer months. As it's still winter (which I'm not a fan of, by the way), we had nearly all of the places we visited to ourselves. 

St. Stephen's Basilica:

The Basilica at night:

Next we walked toward the Chain Bridge, which spans the Danube River and connects Buda and Pest. We stayed on the Pest side, which I think is a bit more cultured and trendy, while the Buda side is more residential. The bridge is pretty fabulous, and it leads to right underneath Buda Castle. It makes quite a picture.

After crossing the bridge, we stopped into a lovely little bar to warm up a bit. I couldn't believe the prices for things!! A glass of wine was 2 Euros! I was so excited! Granted, I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world (point of reference: I paid 16CHF--about $20--for a gin and tonic in Geneva a couple weekends ago), so my perspective is skewed in the opposite direction, but it was just so nice to be traveling somewhere that wasn't going to bankrupt me in a day. Anyway, after warming up, it was getting dark so we headed up to Fisherman's Bastion, which offers some of the best views in the city. Amazing. Amazing Amazing AMAZING. From this higher vantage point on the Buda side, you can see across the Danube to all of the sites in Pest, which are beautifully lit up at night. The Chain Bridge is entirely illuminated, as is Parliament and St. Stephen's Basilica. We stood up there for probably an hour just staring at it and taking picture after picture because we couldn't believe how gorgeous is was. That was truly one of my favorite things that I have seen in Europe, and I will never forget it (especially since, between the 3 of us, I think I have about 60 pictures of it). 

The Chain Bridge and St. Stephen's Basilica from Fisherman's Bastion:

Isa, Lauren, and the Chain Bridge:

So we got a little cheesy. This one looks like I took senior-year pictures in front of a Budapest screen :) :

When we finally dragged ourselves from that view, we found a great restaurant nearby. I had a fantastic soup and salad, and then had the best chocolate ganache that has every been created. It was so perfectly warm and moist and chocolatey. Mmmmmmmm, I go into a dessert coma just thinking about it. For anyone in Austin--it was even better that Roy's chocolate souffle. Yeah, that's right--better than that. I could go on and on, but I won't. After that we made our way back across the bridge (taking more pictures along the way, obviously), and back to our hostel to sleep.

The next day, being typical 20-something girls, we went shopping. We had to see what shopping is like in Hungary, right?? It's a very important part of any culture. There was a big, proper mall near our hostel, which I was pretty excited about since there's noting like an American mall in Switzerland or France, or really most of Europe. After exhausting that, we swung by the Hungarian Parliament--a big, imposing, several hundred year-old building that really showcases the grandeur that "governments" of the past insisted upon as a reminder to everyone of their power and wealth.

Parliament:

After Parliament, we trekked back to the Buda side, had some lunch at a pizza place after walking forever to find somewhere to eat, then walked some more in search of the Hungarian Wine Society, who's website says they have free wine tastings on Saturdays. We were pretty excited about free wine (refer again to how ridiculously expensive drinks are in Geneva). Well, the website is a liar. They don't do the wine tastings anymore. We were disappointed, but continued our day nonetheless. At this point we popped over to Castle Hill, which is littered with various monuments and (surprise!) Buda Castle. The day was a bit overcast, but it was all beautiful anyway. At one monument, there was a man hanging around with an eagle, apparently available for picture-taking. We all know that vanity is the downfall of every eagle...what narcissists. Actually, is was pretty intimidating to be so close to one--they are huge, and very powerful-looking...and they look a little bit mean.  Anyway, pictures are worth a thousand words, so I won't explain the sights of Castle Hill:

Buda Castle:

Gate to Buda Castle:

Church on Castle Hill:

All that rounded out our second day. We went back to the hostel, exhausted and elated. The partying Germans in the room next to ours were a bit of a nuisance that night--though they were nice enough to invite us along in their drinking holiday--but we managed to find sleep eventually. The next morning, we didn't have much of a plan other than hitting the famous, and apparently ancient, medicinal thermal baths. We walked to City Park, through Heroes Square (amazing, imposing, as everything else), with a stop at Vajdahunyad Castle. I was so so so excited when I saw that there was an ice-skating rink set up next to the castle! I haven't ice skated in years, and only once or twice in my life, so this was not an opportunity I wanted to miss. Lauren and Isa went to the zoo, which I was fine with skipping--a giraffe is a giraffe, whether in the US or Hungary or Hong Kong. I went and rented skates for an hour, and it was warm enough to take off my jacket. I got to ice-skate outside of a Hungarian Castle! How awesome is that? I really enjoyed it; it was such pure, unadulterated fun.

Heroes' Square

Ice rink in front of Vajdahunyad Castle:

After meeting up with Isa and Lauren again, we had some lunch--I had a Langos, a local dish that is slightly sweet dough, about 9 inches in diameter, with sour cream, cheese and ham on top. Clearly, Hungarians aren't really health nuts. Side note--it was nice to be in a country where, unlike France and Switzerland, everyone wasn't stick-thin and intimidatingly waif-ish. Anyway, I was a little ill after scarfing the Langos, but I soldiered on to the baths for my first encounter with a bathing suit since summer-time. Thank goodness I'm not trying to pick up Hungarian men, so I didn't really have to care how I looked, especially after the Logos deliciousness. The baths--one of many throughout the city--were very grand and ornately decorated. Apparently in the summer, the outdoor ones are open and old men sit in the baths and play chess on stone boards in the water. As it is still winter, just the 9 indoor baths were open. Each is labeled with it's temperature, and whether or not it's medicinal. The 20 degree (celcius) one was freezing, the 38 degree was quite hot, so it was nice to visit for short periods, and the 34 degree one was just right. It was so nice to sit in the warm water, without a care, after non-stop walking for 2 days. My knees and ankles were very grateful for the R&R, and I personally never tire of looking at, or become less amazed by, the huge variety (including the just plain huge) of men in speedos in any European water-setting. We sat in various baths, and took some time in the steam room, for about 4 hours. It was glorious.

The Baths:

Finally, our time at an end, we headed back to the hostel to get our bags and catch the train to the airport. That's when the adventurous extra night in Budapest began:

For the first time ever I missed a flight. It started when we took the train from downtown Pest to the airport; the train was more like what I had imagined before going to Budapest--old and rickety, a holdover from the Soviet era probably. Anyway, they didn't do nice things like announce stops or even have a map posted so that we knew how many stops until the airport. So, we were watching closely out the window to see the signs at each stop so we could get ours. Well, the train slows down and we see that it's our stop, so we grab our bags and head to the door. In the 15 seconds it took us to do that, the train stopped and then started again. Literally, it could not have stopped for more than 10 or 15 seconds--it was ridiculous!!! How can anyone get off in that amount of time?? If I knew what was going to happen from then, I would have jumped off of the moving train (yes, the doors remained open as the train started--safe, right?) So Isa and Lauren start freaking out, but I'm trying to stay calm and explain that we'll just get off at the next stop and backtrack. We left plenty of time, we still had nearly 2 hours until departure. Then the guy comes by to check tickets, we ask when the next stop is, and he says it's 30 MINUTES on. Then I freaked out. We only had an hour and a half until our train left at this point! We were still hopeful that we could make it, though, if we rushed through check in and security. So we finally get to the next stop, go ask information when and where the next train that stops at the airport is, and the uninterested attendant writes down the time and platform. So, we get on that train. Again, ticket guy comes by, we ask how long to the airport, and he says "this train doesn't stop at the airport, you'll have to change trains at the next station and go back". I wanted to cry. Seriously??? We were having some really bad luck. At this point I became very calm, because now we definitely weren't going to make it. So, after another 30 minute useless ride, we change trains again, and then finally get to the airport. Of course all of the ticket counters are closed by then, but the woman at information is able to tell us that Easyjet's next flight to Geneva isn't until Tuesday afternoon. Great, except that we all need to work the next day, not hang out in Budapest some more. But, lucky us, there was a flight out in the morning on some Hungarian airline. To book that flight, we needed to go to the other airport terminal, which was...wait for it...6 KM AWAY. Who builds airport terminals 6km apart?? I started laughing hysterically at this continued ridiculousness, and the woman helping us probably thought I was crazy. So we took a cab to the other terminal, spoke to a representative of Malva Airlines, and finally booked a ticket home for 7am the next morning--for about $350, which is about 5 times the amount the original ticket, round-trip, cost me when I booked on Easyjet 4 months ago. Awesome; because I'm definitely made of money right now. So, determined to make the best of it, we sat down at the 24-hour airport cafe, bought a couple of beers and slices of cake (calories? who cares when you're spending the night in a Hungarian airport?) and we got a little drunk and fat before going to sleep on some benches. I finally got home at 10:30am the next day; and, thankfully, Alice was nice enough to let me sleep until Leo was up from his nap at 3. 

I'm still exhausted, but at least I had an adventure, right?

There's horse meat in my fridge...

So I don't really have anything interesting to report in the last couple of weeks because I've kind of been working non-stop. I had Leo all weekend because Alice and Dan went to visit a friend up at her 10-bedroom chalet in the Alps...life is rough for them, right? Leo was well-behaved and adorable, but I'm still exhausted today--my 12th straight day of work with a small child. I'm really looking forward to this weekend--2 whole days off!! That's before I kick into another 14 days straight of work because Alice and Dan are going to Berlin for Valentine's weekend. The fun never stops.

So, since I've nothing terribly interesting to report, here are a couple of things I've thought of lately:

--There are slices of horse meat in a package in the fridge. It's read, and kind of jelly-looking. I'm slightly disturbed, even though in truth I don't have a problem with the concept of eating horse meat--I can't come up with any reasons that it's different than eating beef, chicken, etc. Still, I don't intend to try it.

--Leo giggles when he sneezes. It's really cute.

--I've adjusted to the cold--I was super excited that it hit 45 degrees yesterday.

--I've only been peed on once this week. Score!

--Leo yells "Goal!!" anytime he sees a ball. It's one of the 3 words he can say. I love it.

--I'm thinking of taking a big trip through Eastern Europe in April when I have some time off--Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia...we'll see what I can figure out. I think it would be tons of fun, now that I've seen most of the highlights in Western Europe. 

--French is going well--I practice a bit with our housekeeper, so at least I'm able to use it occasionally. 

That's all I can really think of for the moment. Like I said, nothing terribly interesting. I'm hoping to go skiing this Sunday, so pray for me not to break anything :)

Bye!

Amsterdam Weekend

Goedendag!!! 

That's "hello" in Dutch; which is the language spoken in the Netherlands, which is where Amsterdam is. My friend, Isa, who accompanied me to Amsterdam last weekend was unaware of this fact, so I just wanted to give everyone a little geography lesson for the day :)

Amsterdam was lots of fun!!! The weather was pretty awful--it was below freezing most of the time, and it rained every afternoon. But, we persevered. After having gotten up to go to the airport at 4:30am for our 6:30 flight, we arrived in Amsterdam by 10:30--gotta love European proximity. We all wanted to take a nap, but instead we took a free walking tour. Another great thing about major European cities--these days a lot of them have "free tours," where you just tip at the end based on how good you thought it was. We took a free bike tour through Munich last October that was great. I tend to be a big tipper, so I'm not sure I actually save any money, but it feels like I did. It started raining about a quarter into the tour, but by then we 3 girls were too attached to the very attractive Australian tour guide to let something like that deter us. He was adorable, and once he gave me his jacket to layer over mine it really wasn't that cold. So we had a quick run-through of Amsterdam's history, which is quite varied and very interesting. They were in the middle of all of the religious faction fighting of the middle ages, and were a big part of the Renaissance Era; both of which I'm interested in, so I had fun. I particularly enjoyed seeing several of the "hidden churches" in the city--these are generally Catholic churches, which had to be incognito when anything but Calvinism was outlawed for a while. In classic Dutch style, the government was totally aware of these hidden churches, they charged the churches a tax to exist, and if any well-meaning citizens reported an illegal Catholic church to the authorities the police would go by to check, say "I see no church here" (even if you could hear some 500 worshippers inside singing hymns), and move on. Dutch tolerance, pragmatism, and their love of money, has a long history. They apply this same mind-set to some of those things Amsterdam is famous for these days... ;)

So after we dried off and warmed up following the walking tour, we went to the Anne Frank house. This is where Anne Frank and her family hid for 2 years when the Nazi's occupied the Netherlands. It was depressing, but it felt like one of those things you should go see if given the chance. Mostly I was struck by the humanity of it all. They still have the magazine pictures posted on the wall by Anne in her bedroom, and it's all so classically adolescent--a mix of movie stars, musicians, fashion articles. It makes it so evident that she was just any average 13 year old, which makes the things she went through that much more striking and real. I won't harp on it, but it was all very moving.

That first night, we had some dinner and then went to a coffee house, where we played checkers all night and giggled like adolescent girls ourselves. The next day, we slept in (which was glorious), and then eventually ran through the rain to go to the Rijksmuseum. They have a lot of Rembrandt's pieces, and those of his contemporaries. Seeing his most famous works is really breathtaking, particularly when you can compare his work to his contemporaries who were equally famous at the time--it's no wonder that it's his name that has lasted through time. The talent is awe-inspiring, because it seems like the differences between his work and others is so subtle that it's almost imperceptible, but you can feel the difference when you look at his work. I won't go all artsy on you (mostly because I don't actually have the knowledge to know what I'm talking about), but I really enjoyed it. After that, we ran over to the Van Gogh museum (who knew he was Dutch??). I've been in love with Van Gogh for years, so I won't waste your time gushing about him; I'll just say it was nearly too much to take in, being able to see so much of his work in one place. I got in trouble a couple of times for taking pictures, but it was worth it. Surprisingly enough, these museums took up nearly the entire day, and we were exhausted from all the activity. So, we had dinner near the hostel and went to bed.

On our final day, we really didn't have anything planned. And, surprise surprise, it was raining again, which doesn't really inspire a lot of energy. So, we went shopping. What else were we supposed to do that would keep us indoors!? In the middle of the day, we did decide to be cultural again, so we spent the afternoon at the Dutch History Museum. But then we shopped a little more on our way walking back to the hostel. I bought a pair of really adorable shoes, though I won't be able to wear them until summer. Amsterdam has absolutely fabulous shopping, and it's only because I'm rather poor at the moment that I came home with only a new pair of shoes...okay, and a shirt, but both were on sale for a really good price! 

So, having had  delightful, cold, wet, exhausting weekend, we took the tram and the train back to the airport, and headed back to Geneva. Just for a little change of pace, when we arrived in Geneva is was cold and pouring rain. Since we had parked my car in a lot about half a mile away (because it's much much cheaper), I ran through the rain to get it while Sharron and Isa waited at the arrivals gate. I drove both of them home, got a little lost trying to get home myself, and finally settled into bed. I've been recovering all week...

Unfortunately, I can't post pictures from all this fun for the moment because I need to go get a card-reader for my camera. I intend to do that this weekend, so I'll post pictures as soon as I can. 

I miss everyone!!!

Hong Kong, Home, and back Here (Geneva)

Wow! So much has gone on in the last 8 weeks!! So much that I didn't even have time to write at all...okay, so I was a little bit lazy. I'll try to make up for it now.

So Chris and my trip through Southeast Asia was incredible. Of those of you who read this, I think I've sees all of you and probably told you about it by now, so I won't reiterate here--it's just too much to even recount. Though I will say that I feel like I came away with a much better understanding of some of the realities in the world. For all that I've travelled, I didn't really realize until this trip how amazingly huge the world is, how many people there are, and how varied the modes of living. I don't mean to be depressing, because this trip was absolutely not depressing, but I have never seen such poverty, and I doubt few people in Western society ever have either. American "poverty" is Beverly Hills compared to how some of these people live. But one of the things that was truly striking was that many of the people seemed incredibly happy, easy-going, and really contented. I am aware that that is largely because they haven't ever known any difference. And I don't mean to say that because they are happy we shouldn't try to help them rise up to a better standard of living--we absolutely should do as much as we can. But it really puts my own ideals about money and happiness to the test, not to mention putting into stark terms how truly and amazingly lucky I am just to have been born where I was. Anyway, enough of that.

After getting back from the trip, I had 2 more weeks in HK before heading home. The weather was gorgeous for those weeks, which was great. I didn't really do anything spectacular before I left; just went back to my favorite spots: Stanley Beach Market, Wan Chai for live music (gotta love Chinese bands covering American 80s power ballads--seriously, they were awesome and I loved it), Lan Kwai Fong for bar hopping, SoHo for shopping, Southbay beach and Repulse Bay Beach. I discovered a great sea-view promenade for running on that had some spectacular views. Basically, I really loved Hong Kong, and I miss it already. I would go back to live there in a second, and if you ever get the chance to go, jump on it. 

Finally, though, I returned to Austin. I love Austin. It's really my favorite place in the whole world. My family is fabulous, I can't get enough of my friends, and the city itself just makes me feel like me again. We had a great Christmas party, with some hilarious reindeer games, and the whole night ended in beer pong on the kitchen table. I think the consensus amongst my friends is that my parents throw the best parties ever, and I have to agree. We met Josh's...Christi ("girlfriend"? I don't really know what her title is)--she's fabulous, but I won't go on about that. It was really nice to get to hang out with the family in Georgia for a few days over Christmas. New Years was a ton of fun; Chris threw a fabulous party at his condo downtown, including plenty of Champaign and some truly amazing views of the downtown fireworks. I think it was the perfect New Years--I spent the night with the friends I love the most (except Amanda--grrrrrrrrr--and my family, but I can only do so much!!); can you ask for anything more? I spent the rest of the time in Austin eating everything in sight, enjoying the great weather (for most of the time), and being late to everything because I was always having too much fun doing whatever I was doing before (does that make sense?). I miss it already...

The flight to Geneva was really not bad at all. I guess I'm just getting used to the long-haul flights, because when I hear "our flight time today will be just over 7 hours" I think 'sweet, that's quick'. I was delayed into Chicago, so I literally ran through the airport to make my connecting flight to Switzerland--that was okay, I needed the exercise anyway. Unfortunately, no one ran my bags from one plane to another (I figured as much at the time), so they did not make it to Switzerland with me. No big deal; I picked them up last night. 

I'm settling in to the new house and job. I like the house a lot--very open and airy, decorated in a very modern, minimalist way. One of my favorite features: there's a faucet on the sink that automatically dispenses boiling water for tea or for cooking. It excites me a great deal. Leo is a really cute little boy. He's very well behaved, and (you'll only understand the impact of this if you've raised kids) he's a good sleeper and eater, so that's awesome. I know it's only been a couple of days, so it could all change, but I'm riding on hope that it doesn't. Alice is super nice. She's very organized and clear (former corporate lawyer), which I really love. She's out of the house most of the time, which I prefer, rather than having her around where I feel like I'm being watched all the time. So far, she and I have had some great conversations--I think we're very similar in a lot of ways, surprise surprise. I haven't met Dan yet; he travels most of the time, so won't be around much except for the weekends. Basically, it's all good so far. 

I'm going to Amsterdam this weekend; I promise not to take 8 weeks to write about it :)

Lately...

Wow, no post in a while. It seems like there has been both a ton going on and not much at all--that is, work has been hectic for the last couple of weeks, so I have been tired and not done much interesting that's worth reporting. Let's see; here's what's happened since my last post:

Obama streamed to victory in the elections (yay!!), which I celebrated with my Swiss employer by having a lovely glass of French wine. (To all of my dear, dear Republican friends and family members, I know that, to you, there are multiple things wrong with that sentence)

I explored the less populated side of HK Island--namely Stanley Beach. There is a great street market there where I picked up some fun stuff (yes, Mom, I'm spending myself into poverty here). I can never get over how gorgeous the beaches are here; I could just sit and stare all day.

We moved into the house finally! The renovations are great; everything is very stream-lined and sleek. It's exhausting going up and down the stairs 20 times a day--the house has 4 levels (5 if you consider the rooftop deck). On the side facing Repulse Bay, the walls are entirely windows, so we have a fantastic view of the water. It's great to wake up to. Henry's school is just about a 5 minute walk away, so that's really nice. Alessio fell down one of the sets of stairs yesterday, taking about 10 years off my life. I thought surely he had broken something, but he was absolutely unharmed. It's amazing how indestructible kids are--he stopped crying after 2 minutes, I was shaking for 20. He's just so fearless, and he thinks he's older than he is, so he's always just bum-rushing into things. Anyway, I'll put up pictures of the house when I get a chance.

Chris arrived last night, and I was so excited to see him!! I was practically jumping out of my skin waiting at the airport for him to arrive after his 16 hour flight. As a lovely welcome, we had an early Thanksgiving dinner here at the house. Victoria ordered it from a local restaurant, and they covered all of the bases--a full turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, gravy, brussel sprouts (eww). It was really delicious. This morning Chris and I got up early, walked Henry to school, and embarked on our day in HK. We took the bus out to Stanley Beach--the bus ride is terrifying and exhilarating from the front seat on the upper deck of the bus as it flies around the curves on the incredibly narrow streets. It has some great views, which you notice after you stop thinking you're going to die in a bus accident. After that, we took the bus into Central and went to Maxim's at City Hall for Dim Sum. It was delicious!! They bring various types of food around on carts and you choose what you want. It's one of the things that everyone has said I need to do here, and I loved it. After lunch, we walked around Central/Lan Kwai Fong/SoHo for a bit, then hopped on a double-decker tram to Wan Chai where we took the Peak Tram up to the Peak to take in the amazing view of the HK skyline. The weather was amazing today, and really clear (clear for HK that is), so we have some good pictures. We sat at one of the restaurants and had a couple of drinks and appetizers--a perfect way to spend an afternoon. After decending from the Peak, we took the tram back to Central and walked around there a bit more before taking the MTR to Times Square, which is really lively at night and lots of fun. We took the MTR over to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon for dinner at Chao Inn, where we had a table with a fantastic view of the HK Island skyline. It looks incredibly at night, which made up for the struggles with the waitstaff as none of them spoke a word of English (it's the first time I've encountered someone who doesn't at least know a few words of English; maybe it's because we were on the Kowloon side). Then we popped up a few more floors to a bar called Aqua to take in some more amazing views. We took the Star Ferry back across the bay, and caught the bus home because both of us were way too tired to go have a drink in Lan Kwai Fong as we had planned. It was a fabulous day.

Tomorrow morning, Chris and I leave for Bangkok, where we will spend a day before traveling through Cambodia and into Vietnam. Expect awesome pictures a week from now...

Chinese Drinking Games and the Big Buddha

Who ever thought you'd see those two things lumped together?...Anyone who's spent a good weekend in Hong Kong, that's who. 

So it was Halloween weekend, and as such the city was crazy. I had some inkling that Hong Kong would go all-out for the holiday because when I took Henry to one of the outdoor markets last week to get a costume I had trouble finding anything for a 3 year old boy among all of the "slutty nurse", "skanky pirate", and "really skanky...prostitute with bunny ears?" costumes. I stayed away from Lan Kwai Fong, the biggest party area, assuming it would be too crowded to even be any fun. Instead, I went with Jasmine, a really nice local girl that I've met and hung out with a few times, to a party at a bar in Times Square. A couple of her friends, who are French/Chinese (just the right mix for me, I suppose) reserved a section of a bar and, for a small cover charge, kept the Chinese beer coming all night long. They taught me to play a couple of the dice games that the Chinese people are generally obsessed with. The first was basically a version of poker played with dice, so that wasn't too hard--the person with the worst hand twice in a row had to drink. The second game was a version of bullsh*t, which is too complicated to explain here. The third, 789, is played by taking turns rolling the dice, then doing the corresponding action--7 means you fill the communal glass, 8 means you drink half of that glass, and 9 means you drink the whole glass. All other numbers are inconsequential, unless you get overzealous when rolling the dice and one drops out of the bowl, in which case the offender has to drink whatever is in the communal glass. The unlucky guy sitting next to me was nicknamed "Mr. 9" by the end of the night. He was fun. I talked to a very nice French guy named Franck for part of the night--he's in HK starting up a high-end lingerie company with a friend of his; in 2-5 years, look for the brand PIMP in a store near you. I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying :)

I was worthless all day Saturday. Sunday, I got my act together and went out. Just outside of Lan Kwai Fong, I came across a biker rally--I think it may have been a premier of Ducati's 2009 line. I was just excited to see a Chinese biker gang: 

After that fun, I made my way to the central pier to catch a ferryboat out to Lantau Island--the largest of the many islands surrounding HK. Disneyland is there, which I plan on visiting at some point. I went to see the Po Lin Monastery and the Big Buddha. The Big Buddha is so named because it is the largest outdoor Buddha statue in the world; it is quite impressive. The monastery is pretty amazing too. I find that the Chinese, in general, aren't big on subtlety--everything that is meant to be impressive or luxurious is pretty over the top, often edging into gaudy. It works in the temples though; they are awe-inspiring, covered in gold and flowers and always smelling strongly of the incense lit by the people who come to pray. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I had lunch at the monastery; you can buy a meal ticket for the vegetarian restaurant on the grounds and receive a 4 course meal: soup, fried egg rolls, sauteed bean curd and mushrooms, and sauteed peppers, served with tea and a big pot of sticky rice. Really delicious. I'm getting better at eating with chopsticks too. My technique is fine, it's just that my muscles fatigue about half way through a meal...I'm working on it. Anyway, enough talk; on to the pictures:

First thing I saw on the island--when they have to point out that it's a "Cooked Food Market," it just makes you less confident. They're overselling it. 

These guys looked like fun...

Yes, those are Sunkist oranges, direct from the USA, being offered to the diety. Do you think they get a special discount?

I followed the Wisdom Path from the monastery and found this outdoor exhibition. It's an ancient philosophical passage about finding enlightenment, written in caligraphy on a series of wooden planks set into the mountainside in a figure 8 (a very lucky number in China). I only wish I had some clue what it said...it probably has the meaning of the universe or something, but I don't get to know just because I don't understand ancient Chinese characters...darn.

This was just a cool mountain. It looked like the clouds surrounding it 

were about to swallow it whole.