Sunday, October 26, 2008

To Hong Kong, Kowloon, Victoria Peak: Day 24
















Beijing International Terminal is pretty impressive.
















It has the look of a luxurious architectural concept drawing.





















This clever design has departures entering the building and arrivals leaving the building always walking down slope.












Unfortunately (or fortunately since we got to see the building at it was butt-ass early in the morning) we were at the wrong terminal. Hong Kong flights arrive at the international terminal but depart from the domestic terminal. How stupid is that? There was this cool turtle shaped structure. Maybe it's a fancy parking garage.





















Enjoying an inflight meal.





































Arriving in Hong Kong. My friend Ed worked as an architect on this airport. The old airport was very exciting to fly into. I remember it felt like the plane was landing in between buildings. You'd see buildings fly by the windows as you landed.
















Shuttle bus
















Hong Kong's port district massively dwarves Oakland's comparitively tiny port cranes.
















checking in at the Pruton Prudential Hotel
















our room
















our view





















On the streets of Kowloon on Nathan Rd. MY ROAD! Mwahahaha. Some random dude getting in my picture =P





































snack time





















Kowloon park. Ridiculously high apartment buildings (accentuated by them standing alone in the sky - no other tall buildings next to them).
















in the park.
















Matcha snack.
































Chinese hedge maze?





















Lion dance in the park.
















On Sundays, all the Malay Muslims come to hang out in the park.
















JW Marriot hotel lobby.





















Queensway. Bank of China Tower (I.M. Pei's "Dagger of China") and the Lippo Centre Towers





















These are my favorite skyscrappers in Hong Kong. They are kind of silly looking, like a series of robot clamp hands, crushing tiny heads. Or rather giant heads.





















Pacific Place & Arcade


















Maria tells me this is the McDonalds of Hong Kong - @ Admiralty Centre
















we stop by for some toast with sweetened condensed milk spread.
















JW Marriot lobby by night.
















We meet up with Zhang Shu Shu (uncle). In many Asian cultures, a lot of adults are referred to as uncles and aunties. In Singapore, they actually say "uncle" and "auntie." Zhang Shu Shu was my dad's best man. Here are the streets of Hong Kong
















Hong Kong street car
















here we are shopping at a store called Goods of Desire. a.k.a. G.O.D. They have the website www.god.com.hk I took a look at god.com and it's pretty lame. design-wise.
















G.O.D. is kinda of like Ikea of China except the stuff they sell is much much cooler. Maria bought me a pink dragon oven mit.
















So maybe my last name is spelt the Cantonese way? I thought it was Lok in Cantonese though. Pak Loh mean 100 happiness(es).
































Special Gong Fu Cha. It's really Tie Guan Ying (Iron Buddha a.k.a Iron Goddess of Mercy) Oolong Tea but it's called Gong Fu (Kung Fu) Cha (Tea) because it is brewed by tea masters. Someone mentioned the tea might be double brewed but how you do that without the tea getting that overbrewed taste is beyond me. Maybe they brew it once and then use the tea to brew a new set of leaves?
















pickled goods.
















string beans rock. they just do.
















Taro leaves.
















Tofu yum.
















Circular egg dish, a.k.a. Pacman.
















Savory meats
















and sauce.
















and soup. Maria was so glad to have a light meal that has a single digit number of courses.
















This was a nice special dessert. Fried noodles with sugar and vinegar. A strange combo but damn good.
















First picture of Zhang shushu


















Up to Victoria Peak. Note: don't go up to Victoria Peak in the day time. It will seem lame.





















The Peak Galleria
















The apparently famous and very old Peak Cafe.





















The Peak Tower
















The Peak Road. Haha, it's actually called Lugard Rd.





































And this is why you come at night.













Has anyone watched Ghost in the Shell before?
















This was pretty neat seeing the silhouette of an unfinished skyscrapper.


















Old Pals together again.
















Zoom, there goes the tram. Was that Tony Hawk skating over it just now?

1 comment:

dedasaur said...

Wah, so exciting.
I can't wait to go :D