Erin Likes to Put Her Face in Holes

Pictures speak louder than words.. what else can I say?

She managed to reel me in once

And finally, she even found some holes for her face while we were in transit in Singapore:

Eats Eats Eats

We made it to JAPAN!!!






What else would be the first and foremost thing to discuss... the food!!


In one of our hostels we cooked our own fish in the family room of the house where they have a fire pit set up. Attempting to eat the fish off a stick with chopsticks was a little difficult but we managed without embarrassing ourselves... too much.

We also made a stop at the famous fish market, biggest fish market in the world!

At another hostel we were lucky enough to try some traditional Japanese sweets that another guest was learning how to make. The ones below took her four hours to make and were made according the season (cherry blossoms). 

Going with the Japanese way, on one of our last days Erin saw a long line in front of a restaurant and decided that was where we needed to eat. We had no idea what the food was, the menu was all in Japanese  and the waiter just wasn't having any of our attempts to motion with hands what the food might be. Luckily we found some English speakers who helped us translate the menu. When the waiter came around we pointed to random Japanese characters and smiled. Once inside we were given these beautiful trays of food and were very pleased, the long line was right on this one.

The many views of Hong Kong

We had no idea what to expect from Hong Kong, but when we got there we were overwhelmed by the beautiful views. It has mountains, ocean, lots of trees, crazy tall buildings and architecture, temples, and beaches! Here is a sampling of what we saw:

Stanley Bay

Kowloon and looking across at the Hong Kong skyline

Central (Downtown)

The Peak and looking down to Central

Repulse Bay

Just another leisurely Sunday brunch and stroll along 

the beach in Hong Kong with the family.

India knows how to party... in Hong Kong!

Our introduction to the expat community in Hong Kong involved Tessa and Paul taking us out for an amazing dinner and drinks. We stayed out a little later the planned...

Apparently in Hong Kong you take real "shots"! 

 

This was just at the beginning of the night. It's a square block of 

only bars where you can wander from one to another, drink in hand.

 

Canada also knows how to party in Hong Kong. We found a little bit of home at the Canadian bar. Crosby! Although, Laura was very disappointed at their lack of CC ice tea (Canadian Club and ice tea, a grown ups ice tea)!

 

We also cheered on the Canadian Rugby Sevens team at the biggest event in Hong Kong! People dress up in costumes like it's Halloween.

Can you spot Paul and Ethan? Or the pharaohs in the front row?

We ain`t in India no more

So our introduction to the nuances of Hong Kong was a little shaky. The giant skyscrapers and fancy technology caught us off guard... we may have had a little trouble.

(Dirty Indian hippies from Canada, we were again out of place with the high-tech gadgets of HK).


Stepping off the plane in Hong Kong, mud from India still on our feet, we were introduced with the sidebar that we had just come from India and an exclaim of, `awwhhhuuhhh` emphasized the relief and understanding of our appearance. All we had to do now was figure out how to turn on the water.

Indian beauties

While visiting India we got many stares, stolen photos taken of us and in general, a lot of attention. We figured this was in part due to the fact that we stuck out so much as Westerners and white girls. Though, as our time in India continued we noticed we were becoming more and more like the local Indian women.. (Sometimes with some help from others). 

It started out with a little henna:

And then of course some pashminas:

Next we were given bindis by a local village woman. Little did she know she had started an obsession that grew into us wearing very sparkly bindis everyday.

Soon our friend Riyaz decided it was time we wore proper eye makeup and (very painfully) helped us to apply it. 

We even bought saris! And the ladies in the store were so excited that they made Erin try hers on. When she came out to show everyone (the entire staff came to see the white girl in the sari), the ladies were so excited and kept praising Erin on how beautiful she looked.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, wrapping a ton of cloth around you is a lot harder than it looks. Ergo when we tried it ourselves the outcome was a little under par...

Sparkly bindis, Indian jewelry (way too many shiny bangles!), tunics and saris, henna and pashminas. We are dressed up to a T as Indian women.  No wonder we are still getting stares in Hong Kong.