A birthday for train-fanatic son…

January 30, 2008 By 1 Comment

I know it’s a tad too early to be planning a March birthday party. But knowing that I might have to think about several things to do I might as well put my thought in my blog.

At least I know that there is one certain thing. The party will be a train theme and most likely Thomas the Tank Engine. We did have Thomas cake last year for him but there was nothing plan to coordinate that since it was 3 years old birthday. But now that he will be 4 and can participate more I want to add extra little things to make it more special.

I have read several great ideas online about planning Thomas birthday. But a lot of it involves too much planning and making. I need to really think about it.

Here are some of the tips that I want to consider:

1) Mark the driveway as a train track. This seems to be simple to do by using the masking tape to create a train track.

2) Create a train box for each kid. This might be a bit of a stretch depending on how many kids we want to invite. I still don’t know if I want to do boys only party or all ages party. I think at this age he doesn’t discriminate yet. :) The train box idea is neat I might just cut it down to just one and the kids can take turn. But again, it might be begging for a disaster since we know how sharing work so well in little kids. The box is created from diaper box and painted it then attached a string so they can wear it. The wheel makes some plastic plate. Seems easy enough. I do have a diaper box so if I want to do one I can.

3) Indoor or outdoor… This will depend on the mother nature and how the weather will be then. I would love to do it outdoor to minimize the disaster in my house.

4) Projects will include coloring train pictures when they arrive. Then I will have them do the project for painting the train car when everyone is here. There are several good ideas for the craft projects including decorating a picture frame, decorating door hanger. I will have to see the cost on this one.

5) If we can do it outdoor, I also plan something along the line of decorating the wagon to be a train and attach it to our ride on car. Not sure how well that will do but gotta try it. Well, I admit I originally want to rent trackless train.. But the price is way too over our budget for a little boy birthday. So we have to be creative on this.
Filed Under: Family, Party

Let's jump!

January 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

This past Sunday we went to my daughter’s friend’s birthday party. It seems to be a very popular choice of late to host a party at a bouncing place. So far we have attended 4 birthday parties that hosted at one of the bouncing places. I think it’s a great idea! Parent doesn’t have to do anything. Kids can run wild without worrying about getting in trouble. It’s a win-win situation.

The place we went this past Sunday is called ‘Jumpsters‘. It’s just an OK place in my opinion (it’s the personal opinion so don’t send me hate mail about it). The place is in one of the strip mall which is a bit unusal since most of the other places are mostly in the warehouse area. The nice thing is that they provide plenty of sitting area for parents to enjoy their coffee and internet. But I don’t know how anyone can sit and relax since the noise is beyond your ears can handle. They have 4 inflatables in there with the game token area at the back. Also in the back, there are 2 party rooms. In my opinion, if you have a small party then it’s perfect. But if your party is larger than 10 kids then this place seem to be too small.

Next weekend we also have another invitation to another birthday party to yet another jumping place. This one is called ‘Catch Air’. We have been there several times. I actually discovered it from an internet forum. It is bigger than Jumpsters with higher ceiling. There are more inflatables and also separate area for small toddler. Plus they have the indoor playground like the type that you can find in McD. The parent area is OK. It’s not as nice as in Jumpster and don’t have full service coffee shop. They do provide wi-fi though. There are also 2 party rooms for the birthday party. Also look like they have added several new feature like a mascot, karaoke and game area. I will know more once I go there again.

Another jumping place in the area that we have tried is ‘Pump It Up’. This place gears toward a birthday party. They have two separate jumping area that connected to a party room. So they can host two birthday parties at the same time and each will get their own private play. The feel is not as big as Catch Air. There is no separate parent area just a bench in the jumping room. But the staffs are very helpful and nice to help facilitate the party.

Overall, I like Catch Air the best. But it’s just the personal choice when it comes down to choose the jumping place. I think for the kids there is not much difference since it can feel overwhelming for little kids that they probably won’t care either way anyway.

Filed Under: Family, Party

The Pajama Birthday Party!

January 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

This past weekend we were homebound yet again. It was the weekend of partying. First on Sat was my daughter’s birthday. As I planned, we had a pajama party birthday. We had total 14 kids (including my son – the only boy) in the party. Everyone wore their PJs to the party.

We started off with claming the spot with their sleeping bags in front of the TV. I didn’t know if it will fit everyone but since they won’t be sleeping for real being on top of each other wasn’t much of a problem.

After they were settled down, they headed for the snack table. It was simple enough yet full of everyone favorite. Cookies, marshmellow, vanilla waffer and pretzel. The drink’s choices are milk, juice or water.. The kids were so happy with all the snacks. No drama at all.

After they finished their snack, we went to the dinning room where I prepared the pillow case crafting project for them. Basically, I got the cream pillow case and let their imagination run wild. Provided them with fabric marker and glitter glue we were all set. The kids were very artistic.

Then, it was time for movie and popcorn. I had two choices between Bratz-Sleepover Party movie VS Mary-Kate&Ashley Sleepover party.. Well, needless to say.. MK&Ashley were a bit too old for them to know. So Bratz it was.. What a great idea for the party because the kids sat there quietly gave us adults time to chat and eat our pizza.

After that, it was cake time and wrapping up the party. Cake, as usual, was from Publix. This time we tried the fresh strawberries filling.. OMG, it was the best yet from Publix. The filling was so yummy and the cake was light yet tasty. Sorry, didn’t have time to take the picture. By the time I thought about it we almost finished the whole thing and the picture won’t be that pretty. :)

Overall, it was pretty easy to do and stressless party!! We sent them home with a goodie bag full of toothbrush pack with toothpaste, a bag of cocoa, raisin box, nail polish and their own personalize pillow case.
Filed Under: Family, Party

Coupon clipping, anyone?

January 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Ok, with a long weekend this past week it would have been nice for us to get out of town and hit one of those places that I have been researching, blogging and dreaming about. But unfortunately, my husband had 5 wisdom teeth pulled on Friday. Yup! You heard that right.. Five.. He is one smart guy to have 5 wisdom teeth!

So this weekend, we ended up enjoying another day of snow at home. And I decided to try something new this week. I will try to see if I can really save on my grocery using coupon. Well, watching Oprah and all gave me some inspiration. :)

First of, went to Walmart to get myself a Sunday newspaper. Who knew that they had BOGO (Buy One Get One) deal for newspaper too. So I got 2 Sunday newspaper in the price of one. I promised myself that if I can’t save at least $10 then I wouldn’t bother to do it again. Cutting and sorting coupons does take some times and I want it to be well worth spending.

After I cut and sorted and checked out the deal on the newspaper, I went to see how much I can save. Well, my first try wasn’t bad. I saved $16.41 in Publix and another $17.76 in Ingles. So I have to say I will keep trying this coupon thing and one day I might be able to say that I pay $10 for a grocery worth $100 like other moms. We will see.
Filed Under: Family, Saving

Let's it snow!!!

January 17, 2008 By Leave a Comment

My daughter’s wish came true last night! We had about 3 inches of snow. We were so happy. I think I was as excited as they were. When I got home it started with just light snow. We didn’t know if it will stick on the ground or not. So we thought this was it, their snow experience was more like a shower.

Then after dinner, when we looked out the window we saw the snow started to stick to our deck. We started to gather appropriate outfit and accessories for them. Winter jacket – checked, glove – checked, hat – checked, scarf – checked, boots – checked, camera – checked.. And we were ready.

We went outside and could hear several kids in our neighborhood were out having fun as well. Not sure because they really enjoyed the snow or they knew that there will be no school tomorrow.

We got to make snow angel, check out our neighbor’s snowman and have a snowfight. Finally, I did manage to try to make a snowman ourselves. Well, I forgot to take the picture when we were done last night because by that time we were all ready to go inside.

So here is the picture this morning. I’m glad we did it last night because now the snow starts to melt.

Thank you Lord for answering my daughter’s prayer. We had such a good time last night. Now I hope that they don’t get sick from the cold last night. :)
Filed Under: Family

Going to the library

January 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Before having kids, the only time I spent time in the library was when it was final and I needed to catch up on my study. But teaching them to learn to read and love to read is one of my major to-do that I want to step it up this year. I have to say that I have been to the library more often now than ever but it’s still not on the regular basis.

Now that I have a friend who also takes her kids to the library on the regular basis. I decided to join her. :) She will be my motivation to go there. Plus my daughter loves to play with her daughters so it will be like a playdate in the library.. I know.. I know.. We have to tell them to be keep the voice down. :)
It’s such a fun outing for the kids and it costs nothing for me. The library here in Forsyth county is not as big as in big counties or cities. But I like the size as it seems more manageable to find book and watch the kids. Plus they do have good kids section with lot of books for them to choose from.

I love that they provide a list for non-reader like me to check out various books with different topics for my kids. Like train specific book, plane book, book for toddler, book for kindergartener.. and a lot more.. The personel there is super nice and very helpful.

I just wish they will have current movies for us to check out.

We went there after dinner right around 7 p.m. I think it’s such a good timing. We gave them a bath first so when we got home they can hop on to bed.

The library is not that busy at this time and it helps limit us on spending too much time there. Not that’s it’s such a bad thing but come on.. I have other chores to do as well. So this will give us enough time to pick out the books, read a few, play on a computer a bit and then head home.

Finally, I get to use the portion of my tax that I have been paying.
Filed Under: Family

One Tree Hill's groupies!!!

January 14, 2008 By 1 Comment

Ok. I confessed.. I’m a big fan of One Tree Hill and Dawson’s Creek shows. Well, for Dawson’s Creek I got to start watching when the show was already canceled. I caught the whole series on rerun while on maternity leave a few years back. And last night I got to watch the season premiere for One Tree Hill. It brings another potential trip that is yet another advantage in living in Atlanta.

One Tree Hill is filmed in Wilmington, NC. Wilmington is about 7-8 hours from us. So this will be a long weekend trip. It’s a city on the coast with the small town feeling. Looks like it can be a good vacation for us. The kids will get to visit the Battleship and we can take a tour to the studio for the sets of One Tree Hill..

There are several places that we can check out.

1) Screen Gems Studio – They offer the tour every Sat. It will be nice to get to see the sets of the shows and movies that I like. Ok.. Sound so much like movie groupies, heh?

2) USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial – I’m sure the kids and us will have a blast checking out the battleship. I have never been on one. So I would love to check out the history and get the real sense of the history of this ship.

3) Bellamy Mansion – They have tour for the mansion that also operates as a museum of history and design arts. It’s time to take in a little bit of culture..

4) Relax on the beach – We will have to plan this in Spring or Summer to also take advantage of many beaches that we can choose from in Wilmington. I would love to walk on the board walk on Carolina Beach to check out the archade, restaurants and a pier.

5) Ride around town in this cool fun wheel suitable for the whole family. And what could be better way to check out around town than with this fun wheel from wheelfunrentals..

There are probably more stuff than I can think of right now that we can do there. Now we just have to find the perfect weekend and plan our trip.

Filed Under: Beaches, Day/Weekend Trips, Travel in North America

126 Days to go..

January 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Yup. That’s my countdown for our cruise this May to the Carribean on the Carnival Victory. Well, finally I have made up my mind on the excursion on Ocho Rios. One port down and 2 more to go…

In Orcho Rios, I decided to go with Carnival excursion to Bamboo Beach Club. As typical with my luck when I tried to do it online the system is not available. So I will have to wait till tomorrow to do so.. Gosh!!! Don’t they want my money. I hope I won’t change my mind till then.

The Bamboo Beach club seems to be a nice, low-key, all-inclusive beach club that we can spend the rest of the day after the Dunn’s River Falls. Plus it doesn’t hurt that we don’t have to worry about food and drink. The kids will get a chance to enjoy some beach time there. The price of this excursion is not bad for $45 if that price will remain the same after they upgrade the system. :)

The reason that we didn’t book Dunn’s River Falls because our son age doesn’t meet the minimum age so they won’t allow us to book that excursion. I guess on the bright side we will get to just have yet another relaxing day and save some money for more shopping. I know that most of the review for Jamaica says Dunn’s River Falls is a must but quite frankly I have seen prettier falls in Thailand. So I rather spend time on the beautiful beach which is what Jamaica is famous for and indulge in food and drink.. Just think about it already want me to push the fast forward button to our trip… 126 days to go!!!!!
Filed Under: Beaches, Carnival Cruise, Cruising, Travel in Caribbean

Planning Pajamas Birthday party

January 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

It’s that time of the year again.. My daughter’s birthday is approaching fast. I haven’t yet planned or start any planning yet. This is all I know so far. We will have a party at home (save on $$). She wants to invite girls only. Understanbly she is growing everyday and acts like a woman more and more. I limit the friends list to 12. I think that’s already more than what I think I can handle. But comparing to typical Asian’s party we are small in size considering.

So today something in the mail sprung me into action. She got the invitation from her classmate to a birthday party on the same weekend that I was planning for her birthday. Well, the birthday is on Sunday so I think I can swing having her birthday on Sat. But guess I have to send out an invitation soon.

Ok.. So what’s theme? I don’t remember my mom put too much thought into my birthday. I don’t even remember we celebrate at all. I mean she would say Happy Birthday but there were no big party or anything in that nature and I turned out just fine.

We agreed on Pajamas birthday party (but no sleepover). They are still too young to do sleepover anyway. I think I will shoot for 3-5pm timeframe.

Invitation… Hmm.. Hope I can find something in Target or Walmart so I don’t have to put much work on it. If not, might go with eVite.. Hey! We have to help save the trees so this will help reduce paper waste, right? Will ask guests to come in their pajamas and bring their sleeping bag but no sleeping over. Well, I hope I won’t confuse any parents and think they can plan their weekend getaway and leaving their kids with me.. No ma’am..

What to serve? Since the party time will be in between meal so I can opt out on serving dinner. I plan to have snack for them. Popcorn, pretzel, juice box, cookies, and fruits probably apple, grapes and watermelon. If I can get small cup I might also serve hot cocoa with marsh mellow.

What to do in the party? For girls, it’s easy enough. They are not as active. So probably print out several coloring pages from online.. Then let them do one project that will be their favor. I plan for Pillow decoration.. Get white pillow case then let them put their artist hats to test. This will probably hold down the fort for a while. Next, I will need to find a short movie (anything less than about 30-40 minutes) and put in the movie so they can enjoy their popcorns and sleeping bad in front of the TV. Then time to say good bye..

So for the party favor, I got a few good ideas off the internet (of course, this is my live library). The party favor will include decorated pillow case by guest, toothbrush, travel size toothpaste, cocoa mix.

I think this plan sounds simple and manageable.. Will let you know how it actually turn out.
Filed Under: Family, Party

A day in Bangkok…

January 10, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Well, not literally just a day in Bangkok. I couldn’t just go back to Thailand and only spend a day in Bangkok. Most of you might ask why it took me so long to blog about Thailand. Truth be told, there are so many great places in Thailand that I’m at the lost and don’t even know where to start.

Last year, we went back to Thailand to visit my family. This is something I try to do every two years. I would love to be able to do it every year. But tickets for 4 can run around $4000 so unless I win any lotto anytime soon this will have to be bi-annual trip. Each time when we go back I try to plan several small trips to visit many parts of Thailand.

Thailand is an amazing place to visit. We have different flavors to please various taste. There are beaches in the South, mountains in the North, city in Bangkok, old ruins in the Center. I can go on and on.. Plus you can’t go to Thailand and not be overwhelmed by the varieties of food you can get. We are Thais and we love to eat. I’m not food expert I will leave that up to my friend on her blog (kelly-licious).

This trip is no different. I have a long list of things to do and buy, places to visit and food to eat. Of course, families to visit is on my list as well but that’s a given. :)

As soon as we landed (right around midnight) and by the time we left the airport which was around 2AM, we headed to my family favorite chinese restaurant, Nguan Lee. It’s one of this place that has no fancy deco just plain tables and chairs. Gotta put food on the first priority to have energy to do anything else. :)

I had planned a few places to go in Bangkok this trip. My husband has been there 3-4 times but it will take more than that to experience Thailand to the fullest.

We headed to Royal Thai Palace and Wat Pra Kaew (Temple of Emerald Budha). Being Thai and living in Bangkok for over 20 years, the last time I was there I was 10 years old. So a lots have changed. This was our second attempt to go there. Last time, we didn’t know that he had to wear long pants. You can’t wear short, flip flop, or sandal. And I believe for female you should dress properly to show respect to the place.

It was a typical weather in Thailand.. HOT.. So I knew that we won’t be spending too much time in there. We picked up a headset for self-guided. I’m not a history buff so I will take any help I can get. The visit was long enough to wear everyone out. One thing to keep in mind when going to Thailand. Whatever you plan to do, plan to accomplish maybe even less as heat will get to you sooner than you think.

The next stop on our list is ‘Muang Boran – Ancient City’. It’s located just outside Bangkok. You probably couldn’t tell where Bangkok ends and where another province begins. It’s all blended in together these days with all the people moves to our capital city. To get there, the best advice I could get is to hire a taxi or mini van. There is no easy public transportation.

Plus when you are in there the place is so huge, you can’t really walk from one to another. You can rent a bike. It will be a nice exercise giving it isn’t a hot day (which is highly unlikely for that to happen here). My sister arranged the van to pick us up and we headed there. It was nice to learn about different histories in different parts of my country. This is like an overview of what we have to offer in Thailand regarding our historical locations, architectures and many more. The owner does put a lot of thought into building this place.

They also created an environment that takes you back to the traditional Thai lifestyle. It’s a quick way to learn more about Thai culture in one trip. We had lunch at the shop that sits by the canal. One of my favorite dish – Boat noodle (Kuay-Taew-Ruer).

There are several other places that we didn’t have time to visit this trip. Plus I don’t want to temple out my husband by visiting all the temples in one trip. I think to really enjoy and appreciate what we have to offer, we need to take our time and not just rush through the place just to get it done. That being said, it’s easier said than done when you had 2 young children with you that kicking and screaming for the A/C. :)

Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Food Around the World, Thailand

My Top Ten weekend trips…

January 9, 2008 By 1 Comment

One of the nice thing about moving from South Florida to Atlanta is the opportunity to have a day trip to several places that within a driving distance from where we live. It takes a minimum of 7-8 hours to get out of Florida from where we lived. I know that Florida is a destination by itself.. But I think each State has different flavor that you have to experience.

So as soon as I moved here, I started a list of places where I would go for a weekend trip or even a day trip. And as everyone on this planet, things don’t normally work according to our liking. Of those lists, I think I have accomplished probably less than 10%. But traveling is a lifelong passion so I remind myself that I have my whole life to do it.

Here is my top ten. What’s on your list?


1) Biltmore Estate, NC – I would love to see this estate especially during the Christmas holiday. Plus seeing how the rich lives might inspire me or maybe make me feel even worse. Oh! well..I have to try to be able to tell, right?

2) Chattanooga, TN – We have visited it last year for a Thomas train ride. But we didn’t make it to the Aquarium yet. So this will be on the revisit list sometimes this Spring.

3) Helen, GA – You can’t compare the Octoberfest in German to this one but without paying for the ticket and hotel I guess this low budget destination will do. I have been there once about 10 years ago and didn’t remember much. As some of you might know, I have suffered from SMS (Short Memory Syndrome) so that’s why I need to blog.

4) Savannah, GA – I have heard so much about Savannah so I will be cheating myself if I didn’t get to go there one of this weekend.

5) Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountain, TN – We are not the outdoor type person. That’s being said, I love to go there and maybe hike in one of the trail. But I think I will have to tag along a lot of friends on this trip as we are not the outdoor type person.

6) New Orleans, LA – With so much history and characters, I can’t pass up to put New Orleans on my list. Plus how can I resist the chance to taste the gumbo.

7) Destin, FL – Like I said the nice thing about living in Atlanta is you can get Snow, Beach and anything between. I can’t say that I’m the beach person but I love going to the beach just to breath in the fresh air. Unfortunately, of all 10 plus years that we have lived in Florida, I can count on one hand we went to the beach. Go figure!

8) Blue Ridge Mountain, GA – with just about an hour drive from our house it seems to be perfect vacation if we want to do absolutely nothing. I have my eye on one of the cabin that is absolutely gorgeous. This deserves another post of its own.

9) Myrtle Beach, SC – Ok.. I actually don’t know how long of the drive this one is. But I’m pretty sure we can make a good long weekend out of it. Plus my husband was (is) an avid golfer as he would love to think. He plays about 1-2 times every 2-3 years. :) But he enjoys it and he is pretty good at it. So we can’t not go there when we live so close.

10) Charleston, SC – Yet another beach destination on my list and I said I am not the beach person. I think when you think about vacation you automatically think about beach as your top destination. I’m no different than anyone else. Plus not having to fly is a major attraction for a family of 4 any day.
Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Travel in North America

Daydream…Hawaii cruising

January 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Hawaii has been one of the destination that I have been daydreaming about for years. I don’t know what with it. Might be all those travel shows and articles that talk about how beautiful it is or might be just something that might help me feel more like my homeland a little bit more. Thailand is a tropical country and where I grew up was in the South that we have beaches everywhere. So in the sense, Hawaii has that and more.

Thanks to the highspeed highway for the 21st century that allow me to daydreaming more effectively with photo and articles. There are too many things to do with so little money so I don’t even know where to start on planning when I go to Hawaii.
So my first choice is Hawaii Cruise with NCL America. I know.. cruising won’t give you justice what each island has to offer. But I consider this as the sample trip so that I will get a chance to explore Hawaii. And if God provides, I will have a chance to revisit each island again.

NCL America is the only cruise line that can cruise Hawaii islands without having to visit another island outside the State since they are registered as American ships. There are always negative and positive reviews about the ships. But I believe that you make your own fun for your trip. If you go on vacation with the negative attitude and expect everything to be perfect then why bother, mind as well stay at home and watch Travel channels.

Currently, there are 3 ships that cruise around Hawaii islands but I believe NCL America will retire one of the ship this Feb. Well, I sure hope that they will keep the other two ships till I can save enough money. :)

This cruise is actually the first one I considered for our vacation this year. But after looking at the price and tickets (since we can’t possibly drive from GA to HI, we will have to fly), I think this will be more long term project and need more funding.

Wait for me Hawaii.. I shall see you some days soon.
Filed Under: Beaches, Cruising, Travel in North America

Hong Kong – Here we come!!

January 7, 2008 By 1 Comment

We stayed in Hong Kong for 2 nights. The hotel is in a very convenient location by the subway. It’s not on the Hong Kong Island but instead on the Kowloon side which made it more affordable. I think we stayed in the Mong Kok area but need to confirm that. Will update later on the hotel name and all. :)

We didn’t waste anytime. After a full day in Macau, we arrived in Hong Kong for dinner then headed to the hotel to check in. After a quick fresh up, I left my hubby in the hotel as he was in no shape to walk anymore and went out to explore with my mom and my sister and her hubby in the Ladies Market. If you don’t like crowd space, then don’t bother coming to Hong Kong. Growing up in Bangkok, I’m used to crowd but I have to say I have never seen that many people in one location and it was almost 11PM at that time.

Street food vendors were everywhere. And the food was good. It was perfect to keep us going late into the night.

The next morning after the quick breakfast we headed to Lantau Island for 2 attractions on the itenerary.

First stop is the Ngong Ping 360. It’s the cable car that runs from the bottom of the mountain over the bay to the top of the moutain (not sure how long that is). The ride by itself was just amazing. The day we went was a bit cloudy but we were still able to see the airport and enjoy the 360 view. At the top we got to walk around the Ngong Ping village. It was very quaint village. We enjoyed the show there along with Starbucks. Well, you know that your destination has made it when there is Starbucks there.

Next was our most challenging attraction. It’s the Big Budha or what they called Po Lin Monastry. Well, having two kids we weren’t sure if we want to do this. But again, how many times we will get to come here and see Big Budha. So off we went, my hubby got my son on his front with the Bjorn. Mind you that he was almost 3 by that time. So it wasn’t easy. Again, don’t ask me how many steps. I’m sure you can find out from Hong Kong Tourism website or Google.

Back to the Hong Kong Island, we made a quick stop (well, not so quick when you have 25 people in your group) at the Repulse Bay. This is one of the most beautiful beaches in Hong Kong. (hmm.. with Hong Kong as an island wonder how many beaches do they have) Too bad, we didn’t get to dip into the ocean to taste the Hong Kong water. :) Oh! and I almost forgot our quickest stop ever to the Victoria Peak. It was one of those foggy days so we couldn’t see out much to begin with and some of the kids were fast asleep. So we did the got out, took picture and got back on the road.

We ended today with a trip to the fisherman village for the fresh and incredible dinner. This is not your typical restaurant. You had to walk through the real market to go to the restaurant. Food was just beyond word. Especially, for me coming from the US where seafood is more of the luxury item than the norm. So I just ate like there will be no tomorrow.

Some fish I don’t even know that it exists. I think if I show those pictures I might get marked as adult site so let your imagination runs wild on this one. For now, just see the end result from those fish. Doesn’t it make your mouth watering right now?

The night didn’t actually end there. After the tour bus dropped some of us at the hotel, we asked them to take us to Nathan Road. Yet another shopping street. My hubby was in search of new cell phone and figured Hong Kong would be a good place to try. But we didn’t buy any from there. I just didn’t feel comfortable buying electronic that we couldn’t get service easily.

Our last day was a free for all day. My sister went to IKEA to check out their home product. My cousins and her daughter went to Disney Land. Well, I have both of those in the US so no need to see it again. So we decided to explore the Hong Kong island. We took the MTR to the Ocean Terminal station and we actually got off a bit earlier so that we could walk by the Harbour and check out the Pennisula Hotel. Well, can’t stay there so at least I figured we could take a picture. :P

Walking around Hong Kong made me appreciate the way we live here with all the space and less congestion. It was literally going by the flow thing. Ever seen the Visa debit card commercial that one person starts using cash and then the whole thing stops like a domino. I felt like that when walking on the sidewalk there.

Hong Kong is everything I expected and more. A cosmopolitan city with a taste of their old tradition. The city was so vibrant and the food was so yummy. Hong Kong is such a small country but packed with all the flavor you want. Shopping, Eating, Sighseeing, Gambling (in Macau just a short ferry ride)… It’s great for a traveler who doesn’t feel comfortable outside the comfort zone since Hong Kong people can pretty much speak English. So navigate through the city or shopping is a breeze.

I sure hope that we will get a chance to go back there again!!
Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Hong Kong
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