Black and White Shots Around The Neighborhood

I know I've been slacking on this blog lately but I think it's just because life has sort of fallen into the ordinary day to day routine stuff and I know you are not interested in the "day to day" category. I had a little time this afternoon to go out and get some pics of the neighborhood and thought they might be cool to show you in black and white.

That is correct folks, 913 sq ft for 8.3 million Hong Kong roughly 1.1 million US

I can't help but say "letter box" in a British accent

There's a Pizza Hut right by our house....

The sign that leads you toward the escalators....

Mannequins outside a clothing store yet to be dressed....

Only 1 of a million 7 Elevens....

Justiss For All

August and September are Typhoon months in Hong Kong. Those months bring many storms and tons of rain. We were pretty lucky to have a very mild August but September has been crazy rainy. We've had some pretty hard core storms in which I was pretty sure our building would crumble down the mountain at one point (irrational fear, I know) and this weekend has rained non stop. BUT, my buddy, Nate Justiss from College of Charleston was here in Hong Kong and we were not about to let a little rain stop us! So, we started the day at a Vietnamese restaurant up the street where we enjoyed a good noodle lunch....

This is Nate, who I hadn't seen in 6 or 7 years before meeting up again here in HK. He was just as fun as I remembered, so that was a plus.

This sweet sweet old couple came in and sat at the same side of the table to eat their lunch and I just had to get a pic of them to show how awesome they were....

After our Vietnamese we decided to hike up to the Peak and the waterfall was splendid because of the rain....

Nate got this pic because my friend Gray always told me people like pics of scenery as long as people are in the picture. See, Gray, I haven't forgotten your life lessons....

The rain makes it so green and beautiful!

Some of the scenery on the hike up to the Peak....

A huge snail we saw on the way...

A hike in the rain wouldn't be as rewarding without a foot massage after. Nate is crazy ticklish so we didn't know how he'd do with the reflexologist (there was fear at one point that he might kick him/her in the face) but he was ok in the end

It was so fun to reconnect with my buddy and I can't wait till work brings him back!

GUEST BLOG by Michelle (aka Notes from the BEST VACATION EVER!)

Let me begin by saying, Hong Kong was the BEST TRIP EVER! Julie and Devin thought of everything and were the most gracious hosts. Julie planned out an unstoppable itinerary and we hit absolutely everything on the list and even added a few stops in. I loved ever single minute. THANK YOU LONGS!!!!

The gondolas were one of my favorite activities. It was so clear and up so high!

We saw the big buddha, but were too tired to climb the stairs.

On the way back, I turned to Julie and said, "I have an idea!" She said, "I am not lying on that floor." HOW DID SHE KNOW?!?!

She eventually agreed to do it, but did not fully commit. In her defense, we were not alone on the gondola. In fact, that leg behind her, belongs to someone we don't know.

I gave it my all, with a Hong Kong peace sign to top it off. Again, that shoe is not with us.

At the biggest mall in the world, there is a blinged-out merecedes. Reeeediculous.

Julie and Devin on our hike. I almost died on the way back. Not from a mountain lion or anything, just from the sun and an unreasonable slope. Thankfully, there are no pictures.

Downtown was a lot of visual stimulation.

We spent part of my birthday shopping. It was an out of body shopping experience. Julie prepared me that the Hong Kongers would tell me I am a large and I can't fit in their clothes. These women told us we were mediums, so we thought we should try on a few things. This was the first dress. BAM! It looked AMAZING... AND it was 50% off! This led to an all out frenzy that involved clothes flying, Julie and I shouting requests (Do you have this in another size, another color?), and me buying myself several birthday presents. We created such a shopping frenzy that the store soon filled with about 20 other shoppers- and all of them had caught our fever. It was a good day for that store.

This is the Harley guy Julie mentioned. You might not be able to tell, but we are besties at this point. He told me he loved me. Well, he strongly implied it. With his stern, but amused smile.

MARKET DAY! This was one of my favorite mornings... I loved to see everything.

The spiky fruit is stinky fruit. Julie says its smells so bad, it is banned from a lot of public places.

I adored the flower markets.

After a long day at the market, 10,000 buddhas, and heritage museum, we took the ferry home.

The view from the ferry.

After we rode the ferry, we went to a roof top public park that overlooked the harbor.

Only in Hong Kong will you see this at sunset.

Julie and Devin at a really delicious Italian restaurant. I was there too... duh.

Julie claimed to have "out ordered us."

This was a yummy breakfast place just off the escalator. You can see it behind me.

One of my favorite things we did was ride the boat around the harbor.

The restaurant was one of the many we passed on the street escalator that I was dying to go into. Basically, if we passed a place on the escalators, I was enchanted and obsessed with become one of the people inside.

This is the last picture from the last night.... we were so sleepy, we sat there for 20 minutes "waiting for the bill" after we had already paid.

I LOVE HONG KONG

and Julie

and Devin!!!!

Thanks guys!!