nothing to prove

bubble lifting

It feels like I am constantly getting behind on blogging on here but once my life settles down I will get back into it. Time to tell you about the amazing time in Hong Kong with my two partners in crime, Melissa and Emily. There is so much to say without making this into a novel so bear with me if this gets a little lengthy. First of all Melissa and I took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Tsubame-Sanjo to Tokyo and decided that some drinking was in order, surprise surprise. So we finish off all the cans of chuhai and realize that we don't have a bottle opener for all our beer. When we get to Tokyo Station we stop in a store for a bottle opener and find some Sam Adams. Well of course we had to buy a couple of them too. Let's just say the trip to Narita Airport was a lot less stressful than it should of been for two people that were arriving one and a half hours before their flight. We got their so late, in fact, that cutting the line in front of hundreds of people was necessary, and by hundreds I mean millions! However all the cutting paid off because we got to the gate to meet Emily with time to slam another mug of beer before boarding the plane.


We landed in Hong Kong after a delayed take off and decided to take the bus to our hotel. Although direct, the bus is not the way to go when you are the last stop on the route. We finally rolled into bed at the hotel around 1 in the morning. Not like it mattered much in the end because we decided to sleep in a bit the next morning, which was glorious. The next day we decided to be a tourists and take the Peak Tram to get an awesome view of Hong Kong. Not before grabbing some lunch in an very upscale shopping mall called Pacific Place. Once at the top and taking the in view we decided to get some well deserved ice cream at Hagen Daas. It may have been a bit pricey at almost $50 for two scoops of ice cream but it was well worth it. Keep in mind that they were Hong Kong dollars in which seven are worth about one US dollar, give or take a few cents. Later we returned to the fancy shopping mall to grab some Starbucks before trying to grab some afternoon drinks. Little did we know that white teeny boppers would be there in full force with mini skirts, high heels, and too much make-up talking about how "Starbucks is over theeeere." It was annoying and unwanted especially since we were in the heart of Hong Kong.



Continuing on our journey we were in search of a bar called the Shangri La which was supposedly on the 28th floor of the hotel directly above the Pacific Place mall. It was our designated location for a great view of the sunset and some vacation cocktails. We get to the 28th floor and start wandering around for this bar. Then this lady comes up to us, since we were obviously confused foreigners, and asks what we are looking for. Only to inform us that the bar the Lonely Planet suggested was closed two years earlier, talk about misinformed. So we head back down the elevator, or bubble lift if you will, to find another location for our night on the town. On our way down this pretentious lady gets in part way down. She was in her robe and apparently on her way to the spa so in our uncomfortable moment Melissa says, "What time are we meeting Dad for drinks tonight?" Emily is about to explode and I am equally surprised but somehow manage to say, "Not until seven so we have time." Then Emily mentions, "Good because I need to change." I naturally reply, "Definitely, we can't look like this because Dad is entertaining the bankers tonight." Once the lady leaves the elevator we just about die of laughter, as you can see below, and this obviously became the joke of the trip and just kept on elaborating as the vacation progressed. Needless to say it was mostly busted out when we were in somewhat uncomfortable high class situations. At least we made ourselves feel less awkward by continuing our story about having the same Dad with different Moms.


Next is was off to another place we had heard of called the Peninsula Hotel with has a bar on one of the top floors. Another high class place that has a dress code and who didn't make it? That's right, this guy! Don't wear shorts to a fancy bar, they don't like that. Defeated we head to TGIFridays to take advantage of happy hour. Normally I would yell at myself for eating at a restaurant from home in a foreign country but we were hungry and needed some beer. It was put to me this way, we are on vacation and should do whatever we want. We wanted happy hour and some food we knew would be good. Anyway, had a few drinks and some appetizers and went back to our room to change. This time we head to the Sky Bar in the Sheraton which basically had the same view as the Peninsula but with a cooler ambiance. So great view and vacation cocktails can't ask for more. Starting to feel good we head to a Martini Bar for some more fun drinks. Let's just say we were a bit liquored up so we went to an Italian restaurant for some personal sized pizzas and some more drinks that we couldn't finish. Afterwards we came back to get ready for bed and made goofy pictures in the mirror. What a night!


Sunday was definitely another sleep in day, at least for me and Emily. Melissa got up at some ungodly hour in the morning but at least she brought us some chocolate muffins for breakfast. That day we went shopping again because Emily needed a dress for an upcoming wedding. Melissa and I got some stuff too at this crazy store where the workers pretend to be helpful but really they just throw clothes at you and then pretend that they are taking it up to the counter for you. They had some fun clothes and we all actually ended up getting some stuff for that night but it was an adventure to say the least. Ice cream was again on the agenda since we saw a Ben and Jerry's stand while we were walking around, anyone noticing a trend? Anyway we got back to hotel to get all dressed up for the Peninsula and again had too much fun taking pictures.


Before we went out for drinks we decided to grab some dinner at this little underground Malaysian restaurant. We had beef skewers, coconut chicken, noodles with peanut sauce, fried rice, and a bottle of white wine. A great dinner to start off the night and then we were off to the Peninsula to finally get into the bar. We take the elevator up and get in!!! It was so exciting... Until we saw the bar which was this tiny area that had the shades down. Not only could we not see the great view but it was cramped with campy people that just wanted to look high class. Just when we were about to get a drink Melissa was like, "let's get outta here" so we left. Good thing we did because across the street were some more hotels with bars on the bay. The InterContinental Hotel is where we ended up for drinks that night and the view was gorgeous. It was on the first floor but there was nothing obstructing our view of the harbor. We just got to have some great vacation cocktails and talk about how lucky we were to be traveling the world and have great friends to do it with.


We got back and being slightly buzzed decided to have one last model shot to send the Zima Asia representatives. It was a shot that even Ching Chong Wow (our fathers new Hong Kong fling) would be proud of. The next morning we were up at 5 in the morning to get to the airport and this time we had plenty of time. Once there we grabbed some Burger King, as if we could have eaten more food from home, and hopped the airplane. We parted ways in Tokyo and had a long shinkansen (bullet train) ride home to Sanjo. It was nice to finally get back to my apartment and get ready for Gavin to get here. There is nothing like a quick three day vacation with some good friends to give life a new twist and another stamp in the passport. I can't wait to travel with the two of them again, we had a great time just being ridiculous and enjoying Hong Kong.

posted by Aaron @ 3:15 AM