Sydney, part I

So Art had to travel to Sydney for business and I naturally had to go with him.  The city is amazing, I loved how there was a mix of historic and modern buildings in the city center.

The first day I checked out Darling Harbour, where the Sydney Aquarium and the Australian National Maritime Museum are. 

Darling Harbour (Australian National Maritime Museum on the left)

HMAS Vampire, Australian National Maritime Museum

Australian National Maritime Museum

 

 

I also went to Paddy's Market.  It's a huge building with tons of vendors, selling everything from clothes to food.  The Chinese Garden of Friendship was close, so I walked through it as well.  The garden was beautiful and I saw two weddings taking place.

 

Paddy's Market

 

Chinese Garden of Friendship

 

The highlight of my trip was the Sydney Opera House.  I took a guided tour and got to go inside some of the concert halls.  I'm not sure I had ever thought about how the building was constructed, but I was shocked/amazed when I saw it was concrete.  The history of this building is unbelievable.  In 1957, before construction began, estimations for the building were it would take 3 years and $7 million dollars to build.  In reality, it took 14 years and $102 million dollars to complete the Opera House.

 

View of the Sydney Opera House from the Royal Botanic Gardens

Inside of Sydney Opera House

Inside of Sydney Opera House

 

 

I'll have more on Sydney in my next post.  But before signing off, I have a special Sydney edition of Odd Store Names.

 

I spied this odd clothing store in a few shopping centers in Sydney.  The clothes were pretty cute, but were they sewn together, or just glued together?  We'll never know... 

 



A quick update for my fans!

I know it's been a while, so here's a really quick update for September. 

We started the month off in Taipei, Taiwan.  The flight was only about an hour and half from Hong Kong, so you can't beat that!  Taipei is big into street food, there's always someone selling something off a grill on almost every corner at almost any time of day.  We went to a night market that was basically a giant outside food court.  There were some very questionable things being consumed, but we stuck to things we could recognize. 

Yum, meat on a stick!

We went to the Taipei Zoo one day.  Not only was the actual zoo giant, the animal enclosures were all really large.  The highlight of the zoo was, of course, the panda.  We got to his enclosure right when he was getting up for the day, so he was being really active.  He was walking around searching for bamboo to snack on and was climbing on the trees and everything.  Soo cute!

Entrance to the Taipei Zoo

Panda doing his thing, snacking on snacks

Another awesome part of the trip was when we visited the natural sulfur springs.  Getting to the springs is really easy, just jump on the train and in about 20 minutes, you're there!  You can go to a public spring, or go to any number of hotels and rent a private room with a hot tub for a few hours.  This was really relaxing and a nice break from running around all day.

Our sulfur springs hot tub

 

Something we noticed about Taipei that we thought was strange was the fact that there were no trash cans on the streets.  That might not sound strange, but the weird part was there was NO litter on the streets.  Not even after a Friday or Saturday night.  We saw people walking around eating and drinking, but could not figure out what they were doing with their trash.   

 

Signing off with a view of Taipei from a gondola ride at the zoo!

Shop Till You Drop

The use of English words in advertising and store names is common here.  Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes not.  I've also seen some interesting pieces of clothing with English words or phrases that don't quite translate (or don't make sense to me).  One time I saw a girl wearing a shirt with the word "Butter" on it.  I might think it's strange that someone is willing to wear a shirt with the word "butter" on it, but I'm also sure there are plenty of people walking around with odd Chinese character tattoos.  There's got to be more than one American showing off their sweet new ink, telling everyone it means "Lucky," until they run into someone who can read Chinese characters and find out it really means "monkey face," or something equally unfortunate.  But, back to the odd use of English words.

Here's the First Edition of Odd Store Names:

First up, a store named Salad.  The store offers leather purses and wallets and a small selection of clothing.  I've seen lots of people walking around with Salad purses, so I guess the store is popular.

 

 

Next, a store named Homeless.  There are several locations throughout Hong Kong.  It is a home goods store with lots of unique and cute things.

 



 

 

Red Bean Dessert might not be a strange name for a restaurant, but I wanted to talk about a popular dessert made out of (you guessed it) red beans.  It's some sort of custard mixed with mashed red beans.  There are several other types of desserts made with beans, but so far I've only tried this one (and it was pretty good).

 

 

 

Not pictured is a clothing store called Oops!  I saw it during my trip in May, but haven't gone inside to see what the clothes are like.

 

 

Signing off with something you might not seen everyday, my dinner (a roasted pigeon).

 

 

 

 

Two Little Stories

Visiting or living in a foreign country can always be tricky while you try to learn the customs of that place.  For instance, people in Hong Kong do not smile nearly as much as Texans do.  Trying to not smile at every person I make eye contact with is something I am still working on. 

In case you plan on visiting Hong Kong in the near future, I have two stories to help you blend in with the locals. 

Eating at a restaurant:
You and your companion walk in, are pointed to a table, and are given either hot tea or hot water.  If the restaurant is packed, you might be sharing a four-top with two strangers.  Y'all order an appetizer, a main dish, and a vegetable.  Maybe you ask for some tap water.  The vegetable shows up first, followed quickly by the main dish.  After y'all have eaten both, the appetizer finally gets to your table.  The tap water never comes.  Have no fear, you get used to it (well, maybe not sharing a table with strangers). 

Shopping for something specific:
You go shopping for something specific, like a fitbit.  You go to a store that is like Best Buy, it sells lots of electronics and small appliances.  There are at least twenty locations of this store on Hong Kong Island.  You look at all the fitbits on display and pick a style out and ask the employee what colors they have in stock of that style.  He informs you they don't have that style in stock and proceeds to shake his head back and forth vigorously, saying 'no, no, no, no, no....' while looking down and sounding if it was the most out of this world question.  And instead of offering to call another store to see if they have that particular style in stock (which, I feel, is fairly common in the States), he turns away and starts to ignore you.  You discuss with your companion if you should just get another style of fitbit.  You get the attention of the same employee to ask about another style of fitbit, which they do have in stock.  You want the black one, the employee informs you that they do not have it in black.  You ask about the dark blue, but they are out of that color too.  You then ask the employee if he could find out if one of the other locations of the store might have one of those colors in stock, he basically acts like he has never heard of the other locations and would not know how to contact them if his life depended on it.  So you leave with the lighter blue fitbit.


Here's an elephant coming out of an orange, because, why not?  I hope everyone has a good week!

Things I miss about America

We've been here for about 6 weeks, which is not a particularly long time.  However, knowing that I won't be back in the States until March has heightened some of the homesickness I feel.  These things are common in the United States, but keep me up at night here.

Full sized refrigerator.  We have a decent sized kitchen, however, our fridge is the same size as one found in a dorm room.  My toddler-sized fridge has enough room for some soy sauce, a few bottles of water and tea, and a lone lemon.

Ice.  I think this might be a southern United States obsession.  I went to New York last summer and was upset by the "iced" tea they served.  I need my glass to be filled to the brim with ice, it doesn't matter if that makes me have to refill it 20 times.  Ice is a hot commodity (pun intended) in Hong Kong.  I have noticed that most bars and restaurants get ice delivered to them throughout the day, so I assume ice machines are not common, even for restaurants and bars.  My toddler-sized fridge does have a "freezer space," but you could basically put one ice cube tray in it.  One ice cube tray worth of ice is basically a slap in the face to me and my needs.  I would like Sonic to open up a Hong Kong location, and please bring an ice maker.

Sandwiches.  This one surprised me.  I would never describe myself as sandwich obsessed, but I have been dreaming about them lately.  Sandwich bread can be found at the grocery store, but it's not quite the same, and cheese, in any form, is limited at best.  I have found a few sandwich shops that have helped ease my pain.

Walk-in closets.  Enough said.

Having said that, here is something I don't miss.  Driving, I do not miss driving at all.  The subway system in Hong Kong is one of the best in the world.  It's safe, clean, and quick.  You're not supposed to eat or drink in the stations or on the trains, and shockingly, people follow the rules.  Of course you can't have a fear of strangers invading your personal space while on the train, because they will be all up in your business during rush hour.  I have yet to see subway employees in white gloves shoving people into the trains (like they do in Japan), but I have seen employees pulling people off the trains when the doors of the train try to close on them.

Our New Apartment

Last Friday (July 10th) we got the keys to our new apartment.  It's in a great location and, although small, has a pretty good layout.  Looking for an apartment is an adventure in itself.  We looked at tons of places, ranging from 250 sqft to 500 sqft.  Up until now we had been living out of suitcases because the stuff we had shipped over were in four giant boxes that we decided not to open until we moved to our permanent apartment.  The boxes were delivered Monday and have been trying to squeeze everything in since.  Although we really only brought shoes and clothes, we brought way too many shoes and clothes.  Considering neither of us brought all the shoes or clothes we own, I would say we have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF.

Here are some pics of the place before our stuff arrived.

 

Living Room

 

 

Bedroom "Cubby"

 

Bathroom

 

 

Kitchen

 

We went to Ikea to get some stuff for the apartment last Sunday.  Not only was the store packed with people shopping, there were tons of people just chilling.  I'm talking people sprawled out on beds and couches napping, watching shows on their ipads, or just having family time.  You've got to get there early if you want to test out the furniture. 

I'll post more pics of the apartment soon!!

Thoughts from the First Few Weeks

I've heard the term 'combat walking' used to describe life in Hong Kong.  And it perfectly describes the street scene and can be applied to any number of other activities, like grocery shopping, getting on and off the mtr (the subway), and taking pictures at tourist sites.  It is not that people are trying to be rude to you by bumping into you constantly, it's just that they can not be bothered to change their own paths when presented with an obstacle ahead (you being that obstacle).  You might find yourself in a street that has venders on each side, making only a narrow passageway in-between the venders that can only be comfortably navigated by walking single file.  Don't surprise yourself when you see 3 or 4 people trying to move in the same spot at the same time, and none of them notice.

There are many experiences in Hong Kong that most Americans might pause to question, like a shirtless, smoking man working at a wet market (I walk by this man daily).  A wet market is an open air market, often standing in front of or a part of a storefront, that sells fresh, raw meat or fish.  When I say meat, I mean they bring in the entire pig and butcher it on site.  Throughout the day customers come by and ask for various hunks of meat that are placed in plastic bags by the shirtless, smoking man.  True Story. 

Cooked food options are limitless and generally delicious.  Although I have not ventured deep into the unrecognizable food groups, I am working my way up to it.  I have tried Chinese herbal tea and an not a fan.  I have also eaten more ramen in the past few weeks than I have since college.  Every restaurant serves either hot tea or plain hot water with every meal.  I'm talking days where there's 98% humidity and they're all drinking hot tea like it's below freezing outside.  Some think drinking something cold will make them more vulnerable to sickness and I'm over here thinking these hot teas are going to make me have a heat stroke.  As a southerner, iced tea is its own food group for me.  Although I have successfully ordered iced tea, it is sometimes served with a side of milk, already poured in it.  Although I have had hot tea with milk, this was my first time trying milk iced tea.  It doesn't hit the spot quite like plain, old iced tea, but it will do in a pinch.

I haven't started leaning Cantonese, but many Hong Kongers speak English.  Sometimes it is a little hard trying to understand what they are saying, but since they are trying to communicate with me in English, I will do my hardest to make an educated guess.  I do feel bad any time my last name is brought up, no one (not even me) can handle it.  My husband should have taken my last name when we got married, or we should have made up a new one when we found out we were moving here.  I think it would have been the nice thing to do...

Until next time.