Sunday, September 16, 2007

Sunset Cruise


Sunset Cruise
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
Since Returning from Hong Kong, I've been trying very hard to get back to normal life, including getting normal amounts of sleep and eating normal food again. Last monday I managed to work from 7:30 a.m. to 11:20 p.m. and was pretty much out of it the rest of the week. Our annual performance reviews were this week too, and mine wen't much better this year than last. On Friday My company's Finance Department annual event took place at the Dave and Buster's down in Milpitas. It was a nice reward for surviving the year, and got me out of the office for a whole day. W happened to be in that part of town too for a job fair for her internship, so she came and picked me up and played a few games with me.

City Lights by the Bay
Originally uploaded by jrherron.


On Saturday the company she's doing the internship for threw a party on a commodore events boat. It was a really great evening, and I snapped a few pics for your viewing pleasure. It was a little bumpy So I had to go easy at both te bar and the buffet, but it was really a great night. Back to the grind tomorrow... My boss was on vacation all last week, so this week should be interesting.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Farewell Hong Kong


Across the Bay
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On our final day in HK we decided to split from the group to maximize the amount of ground we could cover. I got up early and made a run to the Delifrance that I had discovered was in between our hotel and the Mong Kok MTR station. Kinus took half the day off so that she could hang out with us and show us around a bit more. We took took the train down to the Tsim Sha Tsui station which just happens to be the last station on the Kowloon side. That gave us the opportunity to wander down to the waterfront to take some pictures.

Looking Down on Everyone
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

We grabbed a mango drink and then Kinus escaped from work and showed us a few of her favorite stores. Then she took us to a really great noodle shop where they only had one english menu that they kept hanging in the back of the restaurant. Fortunately we didn't need it, and we didn't accept the offer of a fork either. We took a ferry to the hong kong side, and Went to the observation deck at the International financial Center. From 55 floors up you can really see a whole lot of the city. The views were dizzying, and we took a little time to learn about the creation and history of Hong Kong money. We went from there to the most delicious sushi I have ever eaten. I have been absolutely ruined by how fresh and delicious it was. Believe it or not, we went directly from the sushi restaurant to meet a former co-worker of mne for dinner. We worked up a bit of an appetite getting there, but since we weren't starving we had several appetizers at a ritzy shanghai style restaurant. It was all things that I'd never had before, and were absolutely wonderful. We got done with dinner, strolled through Hong Kong park to the Peak tram. We took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak for some spectacular views of the city and the sorrounding areas. It was a perfect way to close out the trip. We went back to the hotel and met back up with the group and W went and got a massage. I was done, and got some sleep for the long journey back home. Our flight was decent, and I got to see shrek 3, oceans 13, and something else not good enough to remember too.

Final thoughts on Hong Kong. They have way cooler phone technology than we have. Everything is built absolutely straight up.Never has so much great food been gathered into one place. The MTR and the Octopus card are really the coolest public transportation inventions ever. I was dissapointed to have to ride old crappy BART when I got home.

Hong Kong at Night
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Best Stairmaster Ever


Best Stairmaster Ever
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
More breakfast at the hotel bakery again today, and I'd need all the nutrients I could get, it would be a long day. After messing around and getting a slow start we went and had some lunch at the Cafe De Coral an HK institution of a Fast Food restaurant. Then we took a long ride on the MTR out to the place to catch the bus to the big Buddha. This bus was a little smaller, which was good because the road was even narrower to get there. W doesn't do buses very well, so its a good thing the views were worth the trip. A quick trip up the stairs and some walking around later and we got to do a little shopping for souvenirs. After another bumpy hilly bus ride we welcomed the caffeine and snacks at my new favorite cafe: Delifrance. We made our way back on the MTR and freshened up and then went for our only uninspiring meal of the trip at a restaurant I can't remember the name of at all. We spent a little time at the ladies market, and then ambled our way home and crashed hard again.

Temple Offerings
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Dim Sum Anyone?


Dim Sum Anyone?
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On Our first full day I wandered downstairs to the bakery in the hotel grabbed a pastry and a Cappuccino that wasn't very good and went to look for a quiet place to have some breakfast. I wandered up to check out the rooftop pool, but there was no place with shade to sit (It was already blazing hot at 7:30 a.m.) So I went back to our room. W was slowly waking up, and we were starting to think about a real breakfast. We went to breakfast a few doors down the road at Theresa's Coffee Restaurant. I had an English style breakfast that at least revved the engine a little bit, but it was still hard to be faced with all the hustle and bustle in there so early in the morning. After breakfast we dropped in to the Wellcome (a compact urban grocery store) across the street. My natural instinct was to check out a few of my company's products on the shelves, and I grabbed a couple to bring home. Then we moved on to Dim Sum!!! We ate at a place called the Kingsburg Seafood restaurant and If I've googled it properly it was in the Carnarvon Plaza, Tsim Sha Tsui. We ate and ate and ate and everything was soooooo delicious.

089
Originally uploaded by jrherron.


After Brunch we took the long double decker bus ride out to The stanley market, and spent the afternoon shopping.After the stanley market we found another great seafood place that was So so good. Any time you eat seafood in HK you have most likely passed your dinner still swimming in a tank on your way to your table. The freshness is amazing. The rest of the group was ready for a massage, but since that's not really my deal I went for dessert with our new friend and part time tour guide Komon. In HK there are dessert and drink shops everywhere, and inside are the most delicious drinks and mango dishes you can possibly get your hands on.. After dessert I went back to the room and attempted to wait for the group to get home, but was powerless to fight the need for sleep

Welcome to Hong Kong


Welcome to Hong Kong
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
It's taken me a few days to get my legs back underneath me, but I'm finally ready to sit down and tell you about my whirlwind visit to Hong Kong. My vacation Didn't really get started until after I phoned in to a meeting, So from we had to be at the airport early so I could clear security and find myself a nice quiet place to sit and take notes about the meeting. We didn't make the first flight, but knew the second one was nice and empty. After my meeting finished I got introduced to my travel group for the week, and ff we went. We Got Quality business class seats and I got to catch up on my early summer blockbuster movies. I saw spider man 3, Fantastic 4 and something else that wasn't even good enough for me to remember only a week later. As you can see from the picture the skies over Hong Kong were clearer than usual for our arrival, and as I looked down I realized I was unlikely to cover more than a tiny fraction of this enormous city in the 3 full days we had to get around. We jumped off the plane and found a couple of taxis over to our hotel, The Metro Park Kowloon. We checked into our small but comfortable room, changed clotes and Went out on our First Hong Kong adventure. Our Tour Guides Kin and Annie led us to this crowded but authentic Seafood restauarant that even If I lived there I wouldn't have found for years. It was in the Aberdeen Neighborhood, and Our group was clearly the only non-natives there. We also met up with Todd's girlfriend Kinus, and got to hang out with her a good portion of the weekend. It took me a while to get past the fact that you had to sanitize all your dishes and utensils in a bowl that you fill with hot tea, but once I got past that the food was delicious. I ate my first ever Mantis shrimp (I'll spare you the name it is commonly called) and ate lots of clams and shrimp and crab. We took a bus and a rather long walk back to the hotel, and made my first use of an Octopus card. You can literally use it almost everywhere. Every train, bus and ferry, and many grocery and convenience stores. Speaking of Convenience stores in HK you're never ever very far a way from a 7-11 or a circle K. At that point it was time to crash, It would soon be Our first big day.