Thanksgiving trip 2007

This past Thanksgiving weekend, I scrounged around for a good deal and ended up in Kota Kinabalu. I went with my friends Sara and Caroline, and we were definitely ready for a break from the skyscrapers of Hong Kong and the busyness at work. It was a beach destination on the island of Borneo, on the part that is Malaysia. "KK" seemed like it would be a tourist destination, but it was mostly a starting point for backpackers and divers. Overall, the scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was a completely relaxing vacation. We took a ferry to an island everyday to lounge on a beach and read, ate some delcious Malaysian food, did some shopping, saw a cultural show, and did a lot of sleeping.

Malaysia reminded me a bit of Thailand with the beaches and the relaxing atmosphere, but it was much less touristy. We had quite a few onlookers (somtimes from Korean tourists) and quite a few pictures taken of us. However, I appreciated the more natural surroundings of KK rather than the packaged tours and Western restaurants.

Borneo Pictures

views from the beach

There were Christmas decorations all around...felt like quite the contradiction with the beach views and sunny weather.
posing by the Christmas wreath
the pier on the island where the boats came in
this guy wanted to sell us a shark skin
lots of kids followed us around. these boys really wanted their picture taken.

street food and vendors. there was so much life and color
drum performers at the cultural show
boarding the boats to get to the island
the frozen seafood store in the airport...?
the handicraft market
food vendor at the markets

these coconut salesmen took a picture of us, so i took one of them. coconuts were for sale everywhere, and every salesman was eager for us to try them
dancers at the cultural show we viewed while eating dinner

Caroline, me, and Sara after our first day at the beach
We saw a lot of these giant lizards. They were comparable to a mid-sized dog. And they loved to eat the trash. Gross.
We mostly just sat around on a beach like this
My roommate, Caroline, and I at dinner and a cultural show.

Saturday hike

This Saturday, I went on a hike with some friends from work. Hong Kong is very mountainous, and when we finally got to the top, there was a beautiful view of the oceans, mountains, and city. We could even see Shenzhen, the city on the border of China.

We hiked down to this area, Tai Mei Tuk, which feels very vacation-y. There are a lot of outdoor restaurants, BBQ pits, a harbor, and bike rentals.

on the hike

walk to work

We moved into a brand new building this week at work. This project has been a long time coming, and it has been a very busy and exciting past few days with the move. I can now walk to work (in about 15 minutes), so today I stopped to take some pictures.
Here's a shot on my way home...I live in this building, "The Castello"
The 7-11 in my building
A view from outside of my lobby door...mountains and high rises

more pictures of my walk to work

The village house across the street
I run along this path often, and walk across the bridge on the way to work
Often there are men fishing in that river.
I live in this suburb of "Siu Lek Yuen"
Although it's fall here, flowers like these are blooming all over the place.

Fall is definitely the nicest time of the year here.

walk home

some pictures from this fall

Some of my 2nd grade students...hamming it up for the camera.

I couldn't get them to pose nicely.
This is my favorite restaurant in Hong Kong. We eat a lot of Indian food here...almost once a week. There are many Indian people living here, so the food is authentic, cheap, and plentiful.
A concert we went to last month...HK Live puts on shows once a month with artists who are trying to make it big and get recognized.
Lan Kwai Fung Carnival: packed and crowded streets, even more than usual.
Dinner and drinks with some friends from work (We went out for Mexican food this night. I'm not exactly deprived of choices and familiarity in Hong Kong).

Halloween in Hong Kong

I don't remember Halloween being such a widely celebrated holiday last year, but this year, the restaurants, stores, and malls were covered with orange and black decorations. We had the day off on the 1st, so my friends and I decided to dress up and go out for the night to see how Hong Kong celebrated Halloween. I don't think kids go trick or treating (except in the few ex-pat neighborhoods), but many people dress up and walk around. It was quite interesting...

Halloween pictures

Here's Sara and I getting ready. We were the California Raisins.
Friends and myself as the Raisinettes.
We got to Queen's Road and realized how crowded it was...the police were directing pedestrian traffic, and the streets were FILLED with people parading around in their costumes.