So Monday was quite the adventure. Ruth and I took our laundry to a dry cleaning place in Tai Po. It's one subway stop north from where we are living. Getting the laundry there is a bit of a challenge, especially with a baby. Last week we stuffed our dirty laundry in our suitcases and drug them with us to the laundry mat... It was pretty difficult hauling a big heavy suitcase with Mylan strapped on me.... So this week we had the brilliant idea of combining both our laundry into Tim's giant suitcase so that only one of us has to drag the suitcase and the other has the baby... So this wasn't the best of idea's since Tim's suitcase was already on it's last legs... only I didn't realize this at the time. (a little background... Tim bought this suitcase in China for dirt cheap... it's a fake samsonite... very low quality) So as soon as we got to the subway station the wheel fell off the suitcase... and poor Ruth had to try to drag the suitcase with just one wheel... Then about 5 minutes later the handle broke off... Since both of our families laundry was stuffed in there it was way too heavy to pick up and carry so we were up a creek. Finally we got it outside of the station and called a taxi to come pick us up and take us to the dry cleaners... Only of course, he didn't speak a lick of English (most locals don't this far north of the city) We pointed to the address on our laundry bag and he said he knew where that was... The problem was you can't drive on the street that the dry cleaners is on so the taxi driver dropped us off in some alley that we didn't recognize and couldn't tell us where to go... he could only point... So we totally lost and starting to panic a little... Thankfully as we walked out of the alley we realized it was only around the corner and up the street... Whew. So after our laundry adventure we decided to hit up the wet markets... They have really fresh fruit and veggies there and are much cheaper than at a grocery store. But while we were shopping these market ladies began to swarm me (When we first got here I thought it was really funny how much attention they gave us, but it's started to get kind of annoying) So at the market this one lady started sticking pieces of grape into Mylan's mouth... I kept on telling her "no, he doesn't eat solid foods..." but of course... she can't understand me and was totally ignoring me anyway... she wouldn't stop! I was getting so angry with her and just started swatting her hands away and kept saying no... Who are these people? We really live in another world over here.
Wednesday we went grocery shopping. Shanna showed Ruth and I a new place that's closer to our hotel than we've been going to buy food... It had pretty much everything we need... Still expensive, but everything is expensive here... We're used to that now. We also went to lunch with Shanna and Sophie and got to know them a bit better. That night Ruth and I met the guys in Central, which is downtown on the island... The guys had a recommendation from a client to go to this Egyptian restaurant called Habibi. Tim and I ordered lamb and veggie kebabs. Sounds good right? They were absolutely awful. Definitely the worst meal I've had so far. These "lamb" kebabs were ground up and chewy... probably ground up with who knows what... It was like nasty hamburger on a stick. Not good. Then while we were in the restaurant this huge storm randomly came in and we had to walk home in the pouring rain. Luckily I had an umbrella, but we could only keep Mylan dry since Tim had him strapped on his chest. I got soaked. It was absolutely crazy trying to get home. Everyone was running towards the Subway to get dry... complete chaos.
Friday Ruth and I met Shanna in Fo Tan and went to the Island to go shopping. We went to H&M, which was a new experience for me. They actually have pretty nice clothes that aren't too expensive... I'll probably go back there to do some shopping when I don't have Mylan with me. Then we went to this place called the Gateway. It's kind of like a mini Costco. It's all imported dry food and stuff from the states... mostly bulk. A lot of the expats do their shopping there. It's also the only place you can get real Mountain Dew.... Oh so that's the other thing... Pop is totally different here. Their regular coke and pepsi taste like they are diet... must not put as much sugar in their drinks or something... And their mountain dew is completely different... Tastes more like lime sprite or something. So Gateway has the real stuff. So we got two 36 packs for the guys and will try to make it last while we are here. That night we all (the four of us) babysat Sophie so that John and Shanna could go out on a date... probably the last before the baby comes. Sophie is a darling little girl... we had a lot of fun with her. After their date they came back and visited with us for a couple more hours... We're planning on all going to Outback Steakhouse with them next Tuesday (Yes, they have an Outback... so excited for some real steak!)
Yesterday (Saturday) Tim and I went to the mid-levels in Hong Kong Island. The mid-levels are really cool. It has this huge escalator that takes you from the ground level to all the different levels in the city. There are so many shops and restaurants. Every square foot of land here is so valuable so use every last inch of it they can. All the buildings and shops are so close together... It's crazy. We went to lunch at a burger place and then made our way up to this really cool museum. The building that the museum is in used to be owned by the church. Now it is the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial. He was a key revolutionary in China that helped to overthrow the dynastic era. It was a really interesting place and I learned a lot about the history of Hong Kong and some of China... makes me want to learn much more! After a few hours of exploring the city we were beat (the heat is unbearable) and made our way home for a dip in the pool. So nice after a long hot day.
Tim has a lot of exciting things going on at work... but I'll have him write to you all about that... He promises to blog this coming week... So stay tuned...
Here are some pics!
Since I can only post a few pics on the blog... click on the link below to see a bunch more!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=476180&id=500060095&saved
Some markets in the mid-levels.
Tim and Mylan in front of a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.
This is the largest escalator in the world that takes you through the midlevels.
Our little snoop!
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