Morning Walk

There are times when I just get up early enough to have time to take a walk around my neighborhood.  It takes me back to childhood when my sister and I would walk with our dad around the neighborhood.  Since we lived back in Honolulu those days, we usually just walked to the neighborhood grocery store and picked up shaved ice before returning back home.  

I think it was probably my dad's best way of getting us out of the house and exercising…since we weren't that much into sports back then.  Those walks were really a great thing…and it's probably why I enjoy walking so much as an adult.

This morning, the weather was pretty fine!

So, I walked around just to get some fresh air and took a rest at the mini sports ground that sits along side the Yuen Long watercourse way.

Sometimes, when walking by this court at night, I see loads of kids just playing soccer or basketball out here.  And on the weekends, there are loads of people just chilling and having picnics on the bleachers. It really is a nice space that people can go to and just hang out.  It's also where a lot of the ethnic minorities (LIKE MYSELF!) like to hang out.

It's a pretty safe place to take kids and let them run around and meet other kids too.

The court, which I often times just call the basketball court, is really a football pitch…but it sits across from the Yuen Long West Bus Terminus.  It's a convenient place to eat lunch if you pick something up from one of the eateries around the Bus Terminus.  You can also hang out here after shopping at the Yuen Long Plaza, which also sits across from the Kik Yeung Football Pitch.

It's surrounded by a lot of greenery…and also osmanthus bushes (which I love the smell of).  During my morning walk, it was just lovely to smell the osmanthus scent as I passed along the side of the football pitch.  It's also the smell that I love to smell when I head over to the Yuen Long swimming pool.  If there was an osmanthus fragrance bottled up in a perfume bottle…I'd probably buy it!

Anyhow, it was so nice to just take a little stroll around this pitch…which had absolutely no one in it this morning (which is rare I feel!!!)  I mean, aren't there senior citizens that would do tai chi in parks?  Maybe they do their tai chi earlier than 8 am?

Also, along both sides of the football pitch are eateries, electronic shops, and money exchange places that mostly are frequented by the ethnic minorities that live in Yuen Long.  It's actually (it always seems to me) like the most happening place to be on the weekends!

It's mornings like these that motivate me to continue getting out of the house and taking a nice walk.  My favorite place, though, is still Yuen Long Park.  It's just an amazing place to commune with nature, explore…and feel like I am really working out (walking up and down all those stairs!!!)

Keeping up with my New Year's Resolution…one step at a time!

Mémoire Monday: Voodoo Donuts

This past week has been all about Oregon, for me.

1.  I started reading Kristen Hannah's "The Nightingale," which, in later years, takes place in Bend, Oregon.  The majority of the book, though, takes place in a German Occupied France back during WWII.  The story follows the lives of two sisters:  Vianne, a mother, who does her best to preserve her life and her daughter's life, and Isabelle, who helps guide downed airmen out of France through the Pyrenees.  I finished the book over the weekend and have nothing but praise for it!  It took me through a whole range of emotions that left me in tears by the time I reached the end of the book.

2.    My parents spent the past week in Oregon, mostly in Seaside, which is one of my favorite destinations in Oregon!  The best part of their trip was their stopover in Portland to Voodoo Donuts, which inspired this Mémoire Monday post.  They bought a baker's dozen box of donuts and took photos for me before they were eaten up by the family.

I get into a funk some times.  It might be homesickness, but I miss being able to drive down to Oregon and getting away for the weekend.  I miss passing Powell's books along I-5 and making a pit stop to load up on some good summer reads.  I miss doing some outlet shopping at the Woodburn Premium Outlets.   I miss how the Oregon Targets seem a lot more glamourous than the Washington Targets!

Though we're not heading back to the States this summer, we do have some exciting plans for the summer holidays!!!!  Hopefully, we can survive this upcoming holiday and return to blog about it.

…Final thoughts:   I must put FIND A GOOD DONUT PLACE IN HONG KONG on the top of my bucket list...

Mémoire Monday: Hundreds Upon Thousands

Throughout my time spent in Hong Kong, I've come to learn about how the living spaces are incredibly small for the majority and how it is tough to get a little bit of privacy sometimes.  

I've read articles in the paper about how there was a ten year waiting list for public housing.  The public housing estates that I've visited over the years always reminds me of college dormitories, but, instead of one roommate, a family of four would be living in that tiny space.  

I've read how it was common for micro-mini apartments to be further subdivided into 3 - 4 smaller rooms-for-rent.  Heck, when I first moved to Hong Kong, I was living in a 140 square foot subdivided apartment.  There was a young husband, wife, and their infant baby living across from me, who had the smallest room (smaller than my 140 square feet).  And there was an abusive couple who was living in the bigger room.  It was not the most ideal living condition, but I stuck it out for the year, gated front door separating my apartment from the others'  and all.

I have read a lot of stories about how migrant workers would live with 20+ people in a 600 square foot apartment divided into who knows how many cubical spaces.  In my old building, I used to think that there was a commercial business that was set up at the end of my hall.  When I think back, I often wonder if it was an apartment which rented out several beds for the night/week/month.  Looking back, I really wonder if that was a cubical apartment.

In the DailyMail, there was an article where people were literally living in cages.

Over the past few years, there were circulating photos of some of Hong Kong's cramped apartments.

And, with the anniversary of the demolishing of the Kowloon Walled City a few years ago, stories of the living conditions of Its residence resurfaced.

All these thoughts were swarming in my head today because of a recent urban hiking expedition.

As for today's blog photos, a friend and I were down in Quarry Bay.   Our hiking trail ended here at this expanse of buildings.  The vision of these living quarters left me in awe of the majority of Hong Kong's people.

I think about how I grew up in the suburbs, with my own bedroom, with the ability to be able to walk around my bedroom (which I don't have the ability to do now in my current apartment, as our bed literally is wall-to-wall-to-wall-to wall), and with the ability to spend time in our craft room/study…

I guess, today, is just one of those days when I was severely reminded at how fortunate I have been.

Mémoire Monday: Antiquing in Seattle

One of my favorite pastimes in Seattle was going to the antique/thrift shops and looking for household items:  storage, knick-knacks, and anything awesome.

I was going through some of my old photos, as you do, again.  And found a bunch of photos of one of the curio shops in Seattle.  I am not sure, but I FEEL like it could be one of the shops in Fremont.

Along with the images I found of the antique shops in Seattle, I also found a few photos of the MOST FAMOUS CURIO SHOP in Seattle:  The Ye Olde Curiosity Shop down at the waterfront (Alaskan Way).

This curio shop isn't for everyone, but it does draw a lot of tourist crowds.  There's always a story attached to every oddity in the shop, which is what makes this place a little bit educational.

There's always something so awesome to find in Seattle!  I can't wait to go back and visit.

Mémoire Monday: The Spiral

"Hong Kong is a shopping paradise!!!!"

That's something that I have heard a lot since moving here.  

The first mall in Hong Kong that I ever went to was Langham Place in Mong Kok.  The coolest thing about this mall is The Spiral, which is a bunch of trendy shops, restaurants, and a cinema that run in a kind of spiral in THE SPIRAL of Langham Place.  You have to actually see it to know what I mean...  

Escalator to The Spiral

When my friends and family visit, I always take them riding up the Central escalators.  Has anyone else done that?  It's a nice little thing to do to people watch, check out eateries and look at the different views of Hong Kong.  Like riding up the Central escalators, there is a sort of fun amusement to riding up this escalator.  I can't explain.

There are a lot of really great places to shop in Hong Kong...and if you are looking for a mall (especially since it is summer and it is the place to hang out when the weather advisory warning is on VERY HOT), here are some recommendations:

1.  Langham Place in Mong Kok

2.  Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong
3.  New Town Plaza in Shatin

4.  Elements right off of Kowloon MTR station

5.  Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST)

6.  IFC Mall in Central

7.  Pacific Place in Admiralty

8.  Times Square in Causeway Bay

You know what...listing my favorite malls and all, I realized that these are the places I visit during the Christmas season to see the decorations.  These are only a few of the great malls to shop in...but it is a start into the great foray of Hong Kong shopping.

***WARNING:  There are RARELY any places to sit at the MALLS, so expect spending a few hours off your feet at a cafe or open restaurant!****

Mémoire Monday: Tulips

I was digging through the files of my external hard-drive again and had to share some photos of the tulips that bloom during the Spring time in Washington.  These photos were taken with my first every digicam back in 1999!

My friends and I used to take mini roadtrips up to Skagit Valley and drive around the tulip fields.  Even though the images are blurry and pixilated, I have really great memories of stumbling through the fields.  Everytime we headed up to Skagit, we would return with bags of bulbs for my father's garden.

Over the years, I think most of the tulips at the family house decided to be yellow more than any of the other colors that we brought back.

I love the Spring time!

Mémoire Mondays: Tokyo, Japan 2005

This past month, I had been backing up a lot of my old computers' files.  A swell of warm memories hit me as I was going through an album of when I lived in Japan.  Here are some photos of Ueno Park.  Everything touristy is here:  Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Western Art Museum, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo National Museum, National Science Museum, Toshogu Shrine, Kaneiji Temple, Shinobazu Pond and also the beautiful sakura trees.

Moving to Japan was the first time that I had really lived away from home.  It was also the point in my life that kickstarted my life living abroad.

I remember riding the train from Gunman prefecture into Tokyo and thinking about all the things that I had accomplished.

1)  paid my own bills
2)  made new friends
3)  cooked
4) traveled a country
5) explored temples, onsens and cities
6) figured out transportation
7) learned a bit of Japanese
8) and learned to be independent

Being a twin, I always had my sister as a safety blanket.  Anyhow, I had been running all these thoughts through my head as I was riding that train.  I kept thinking that that was my last trian ride in Japan.  It was a beautiful ride.  It was a beautifully sunny and extraordinarily green day.  It was a great train ride and, thankfully, not my last!

Eating roasted chestnuts in the park

Exploring the temples in the park

Visiting the National Science Museum

Enjoying the Spring