November activity...

Since the last time, there hasn’t been too much going on, but here are the major items. Last weekend I went to Lamma Island with one of my new friends from work, Pramit. We hiked from one side to the other and you can find pics in my new link. (when I get them in here tomorrow) Lamma Island is one of the less inhabited islands within Hong Kong. We had to take a 25 minute fairy ride to the island, even though you can see it with the blind eye, from the southern side of Hong Kong Island. I dont think I saw one car while on that island. However, I did find what Shryock's house would look like if he lived on an island coast. (please refer to pics)

There are a lot of seafood restaurants on Lamma Island as well. The most famous being the Rainbow Seafood restaurant. I did not eat at either of them, however, I did take pictures. The crazy part about these restaurants is that the seafood is still alive and you pic it out. Not just for lobster, but for prawn, squid, and all kinds of fish. (again, you can see the pics)

Also last weekend I played soccer with another friend from work, Eugene. I was the only Gweilo on the team, but it was fun. (I am really out of shape)

I have booked the airfare to come back to the U.S. as well as scheduled two additional trips. For $1900 US, I was able to get a roundtrip ticket from HK to NYC as well as two short trips. I will go to Boracay in the Philippines (via Manila) during the Chinese New Year in January and will go to Xian, China during Easter in April. You can wiki these two locations, but Boracay is an island in the Philippines with white sand beaches and Xian is where the Terracotta Army was found. (and is still there of course)

Ok, so the week before last I went to the Goldfish Market, Flower Market, and Bird Market on Prince Edward Rd. in Kowloon. (the peninsula part of HK) This was really sweet. Let me start with the easiest to describe as I passed through it briefly, the flower market. The flower market is basically a street with numerous vendors selling flowers, houseplant, trees, and flower pots; any type that can be grown in the region and of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. The bird market was a line of shops which had birds (go figure) of different types, that one can purchase. There are mainly small song birds, mainly in individual cages. There are also some parakeets, canaries, and parrots. One bird said hello to me, but that was the only one that I found could talk. There are also many breeding grounds there for “live” bird food. Containers full of crickets, maggots, and worms. (yes, there are seeds as well, but aren’t as interesting to see)

Although the bird market was pretty cool, the Goldfish Market was the best. This is an area about 3 city blocks long in which this one street has tons of shops with fish. When I say fish, I am talking small fish to big fish that you can purchase as pets. Most are smaller fish which they already have in plastic bags, hanging on the sides of walls. They have a lot of exotic fish, prawns, turtles (never knew there were so many different types), and others that you can purchase as well. There are even shops here with other types of pets, most popular being rabbits and chinchillas. As with the bird cages and the flower pots, there is also everything you need to take care of a fish or other pet. They have aquariums from 5 to 50 gallons (or even bigger), food of all sorts, and every piece of aquarium exhibit you could think of. (pirate ships, bridges and the like) This place is great and definitely worth visiting.

That should catch you up for now. Pics to come soon!