Back from Hong Kong!

I got back from Hong Kong last night, and I've a lot to do this year in an effort to reconnect with my Asianness:

First, I have to rehearse my new repertoire of asian picture poses. I thought that all I had to do was make a V with every picture, and I was officially asian, but nope. I've been told that there's an entire catalog of asian poses, many of which can be found on this website: www.asianposes.com. I better start practicing.

Second, I need to make more asian friends. Apparently, one isn't really asian until they have a whole gaggle of asian friends to karaoke and gamble with. I don't gamble or karaoke, but if I have more asian friends, perhaps I'll start. I'll see you at the Casino.

Third? Well, I have to get back to my life. Everything (job search, networking, etc) has been on hold for the last five weeks while I've been overseas. Now that I'm back, it's back to the grind for me again.

I had a rocky start in Hong Kong, but by the time week five came around, I was sad to leave the island. The first two weeks were overwhelming -- first, I forgot about how my dad can be, and second, I haven't been around that many people since I foolishly decided to watch the 2003 Holloween Parade my first year in NY. By the third week, I finally felt comfortable being out and about in HK. I was reminded of all the outdoor activities, interesting people, diversity and awesome food the city had to offer. I saw friends I hadn't seen in a years. I learned to ignore my curmudgeonly dad. My mom was off on break, so I got to spend lots of time with her. It was really nice. If I didn't have plans to meet people in HK, I'd often take a walk around the lake at my parents' place, do a bit of yoga, pet the animals, watch some TV and do crossword puzzles all day. I was sad to leave my parents and come back to face life again.

Living in Disneyland

Hong Kong has a Disneyland. It's the smallest out of all the parks, but it's there. I've heard it's a huge Chinese tourist draw, with tons of mainlanders visiting per year. My mom told me that when the park first opened, so many mainlanders arrived to visit that the park stopped allowing people in. It almost incited a riot as mainlanders began scaling the walls in an attempt to bypass the ticket booth. Who does that? Like I said, only Chinese people would think this shit up.



At any rate, R's mom has been living at the Victorian style resort hotel in Disneyland for the last three years. I'd explain more, but you'd never believe me, so I'll just leave it at that. If you knew R's mom, it'd make perfect sense.

My parents are about a 30 minute drive and an hour train ride from Disney, so I went over there to have lunch with R today. For more pictures of Disneyland and my afternoon with R, visit the album.

R and me:


Disneyland has its own subway station, complete with its own subway car with mouse shaped windows and hangstraps.






How very Disney.

Who eats this shit?

Well, apparently I do. I met L for dinner on Friday, and we were supposed to go to a Japanese restaurant in Mongkok. It was a really long wait, so we dropped into the restaurant next door where there were plenty of seats available. We quickly realized why.

The restaurant had a bathroom theme! We sat on toilets, our table was a sink, and our food came in dishes shaped like urinals, bathtubs, sinks and toilet bowls. It was gross, and that's just the food, not the decor!

I looked up the restaurant once I got back to my parents' place, and it's a whole chain of bathroom and shit themed restaurants all over Taiwan and Hong Kong that got its start selling chocolate soft serve in squat toilet shaped dishes. One of the founders got the idea while reading manga on the can. Go figure.

From Modern Toilet Restaurant

The wall was covered in urinals which were all shiny and sparkly just in time for the holidays.

From Modern Toilet Restaurant

The ceiling fixtures were fashioned like toilet plungers, and the lights are "poo" shaped. Oh, shit!

From Modern Toilet Restaurant

Our Japanese style hotpot dish came in a toilet bowl. It would have tasted fine if the broth wasn't just pure milk, which made all the veggies and meats taste like they were lactating. (Not that I would know.)