hong kong / china
august 2007
Sooo, Spending one night in New York we [ My family and Sophie's, except Benny ] got on a plane to Hong Kong, with our 13 bags and more, ha. Getting off the plane in Hong Kong, my family went to my aunt's, while Sophie and her parents went to get on another plane to Guangzhou. The next day we went out to have tea with my uncle, dad's bother [ Don't remember his name.. Call him uncle 2 ] and his daughter. The way we got there was subway. The stations there are terribly clean. Cleaner than the nice sub stations in New York, that has nice colored titles and escalators. Where the subway comes and stops, there glass around it so no one can fall on the tracks, like at the airports with the Air Trains. Inside the subway is as clean at outside in the station. In some areas, the subway stations are like an underground shopping mall, because it is. There are tunnels going all over the place, with stores on both sides, stairs going up above ground and back under.
Okay so in Hong Kong, after going to tea with Uncle 2 and his daughter we went up to their apartment, sat around watched a movie, Twins Mission 1 and then my aunt come home from work [ Aunt2]. After awhile my other aunt came, Aunt Pat came and we all went out to what seemed like this huge mountain. It was one of those mountain like places, that's like a grave, where you go to pay your respects to people who have passed away. After that, we all went to a place in Hong Kong called, 'Avenue of Stars'. It was basically this really long path by the river, at least I think that was a river. On the path in every few titles there'd be like hand prints in the stone and a signature of Chinese stars. After walking part of it, we went underground and walked around this big shopping area.. maybe that was before the Avenue of Stars.. not sure. After we went back to my uncle and aunt's [ Uncle 1, Aunt 1 ] apartment. Doing nothing, we went out to a hot pot restaurant with the family I was with earlier. Eating, then going back to my Aunt1's apartment, we went to sleep. The next day sat around and then got on a boat which took us [ My family, Uncle 1, Aunt 1 ] to China. Getting picked up by some family we went to my grandma's apartment to join my mom’s side of the family and slept.
The next day, I'm pretty sure me and my cousin, Sophie went to the hair salon, or the day after that. Not sure.. Well, anyway.. I got my hair cut and got highlights. It was funny watching Sophie getting her hair steamed, or whatever. Made me laugh. After getting our hair done, Sophie's dad came with one of my cousin's who just arrived in China [ Calling him, Him ]. Walking like across the street, we went to a restaurant to eat. After a bit Uncle1 came. After eating we went back to the apartment and basically sat around. Parents were preparing for a large party on Saturday, which I think was in three days, maybe four, doesn't matter. We during one of those nights went to test the food where we were having the party and it was funny. Me, Sophie and Jonathan were playing Chinese Poker with my cousin's wife and ugggh! She beat us every friggin' time. Then near the end Sophie had to pee, so me, Sophie, and my other cousin, Lai, who arrived around the same time as my family did in China with her mom, went around looking at the bathrooms and they were all holes and we can‘t use those ones. So we sat there, playing cards and drinking pop, while Sophie was overly hyper and had to pee, plus she was losing, oh it was funny.
Okay.. totally skipping to the party. The party was a birthday party for my grandma and grandpa. Waking up really early, it was already all busy like. Having to go get our hair done, we went to the salon, sitting there for probably three hours, there was one hair and make-up person, while there was seven or eight of us. After I got my hair done and Sophie got hers and make-up done, along with her mom we went back to the apartment. Changing we went to the village where we always went to pay our respects to people. Getting into my cousin, Jack's car we went off to Fudu Hot Spring Resorts, where we were going to hold the party in their Dining Hall. It rather hurt when we went, even though it was a really short ride. Geez, learn how to drive right! How can you not see the road was broken up there! Just speed over it, while everyone else goes around. I hit my head on the top of the car, it hurt since I had my hair done up. Stupid bump, that I call, 'Evil Bump'. Well, anyways.. we arrived, without going over anymore bumps. Getting out of the car, me and Sophie walked around, watching everything get set up. After a while, the rest of the family started to come and everything was soon set up. A table by the door with four chairs and a red 'book' set out, with markers. Sophie, my other cousin, Lai and I were put there on signature duty. We sat there, greeting and having 800+ guest sign the book. Every now and then one of our cousins would come over and I would end up pushing them away or making fun of them, it was the only thing that kept me from being bored to death.
Walking around, greeting people, taking pictures, the party soon started. Sitting through some boring speeches, that I didn't understand a single word from, the food started to come. Basically after eating, or not even done eating everyone got up and left. People there are like rude! Ha, anyways, we went from greeting to saying bye when people started to leave. I swear me and Sophie had soooo many people look at us not from what we were wearing and stuff, but how we acted. It was all like hyper and happy like jumping up and down, waving your hand almost able to poke someone’s eye out yelling "BYE! BYES!" over and over. After basically all the guests had left, and everyone ended the day by taking family pictures and stealing the rest of the cake.
OMG?! Next day! Yes, we all survived the party! Tired in the morning, but we all survived! Waking up, we went to a grave place. After, Jonathan, Sophie and me went to the hot springs at Fudu. Just randomly going around, playing in the water and actually relaxing, it was pretty much our first day to relax peacefully since we arrived, a lot of time passed and we all ended up hungry, so we went up to the building place where they give you pop, milk, crackers and peanuts. So we basically ate all their crackers and then out of no where we hear Sophie's mom yelling our names and we all are just like, "Can't be", and yeah next thing we know we see her coming up the little hill waving at us. So we all went down to a small hot spring, leaving my aunt there we went back to the changing rooms to get dry towels and find Sophie's dad so he didn't get lost. When Jonathan finally came back out, he told us that Jack and HIM where in there too, so bringing Sophie's dad to her mom, we left them after a while to drag our two lovely cousins and their friends with us to swim. Ha, this was fun. All of us jumping everywhere, one top of each other to pull them under and trying to flip each other out of the tubes, pretty sure Sophie's mom and dad left by then. Anyway.. next we went around to a few hot springs, and sat around in a bigger one. I was just randomly sitting there before out of no where HE started to like tickle me, and I didn't see him go to do it because I was sitting in front of him and after he like stopped, when I hit him, Jack and his friend started to like pull me, so I was like lying there, hugging HIS leg, with two people pulling my feet, while tickling me and I think it was Sophie splashing water in my face. So I after I got free, I basically sat there, hugging HIS arm or leg, so I wouldn't get dragged again, it rather hurt being dragged across like rocks, but they were smooth, it still hurt though. after a while we eventually got out and went to a big pool with a basketball net. Getting a ball we played basketball in the water. The teams were like unfair. The three men who could actually play where on one team, leaving us with HIM, who can't aim. It was a very violent game.. Jumping on top of each other to get the ball, holding each other back and like everyone as scared to come over to the side of the pool we were playing at, that's just how violent it was. After awhile, me and Jack were there, fighting over the ball and I took hold of it, turned around and kicked to swim away and kicked him in the ribs by mistake, so he went and sat on the edge and I eventually couldn't go on either, because my face was like all red, I was burning and I was feeling light headed. In the end everyone just gave up and after a while of trying to figure out what to do next, we left to go eat. Going to one place that was really, really dirty, we went back to the village where my grandma lives and ate at the restaurant place that my cousin works at. After eating, Jonathan, Sophie, and me went to the hair salon with HIM. walking in we saw my dad sitting there waiting for my mom to get her hair washed and so HE was going to just randomly sit down beside my dad and start talking, but someone ruined it. Almost falling asleep, I got up to go get my hair dried. At the end I saw HIM walking towards the door and coming in, so I went back in the back after to talk to him, as I waited for everyone else to get their hair dried.
Getting up the next morning, I was mad. Me and Sophie where suppose to go to a city with HIM over night to play and shop, but Sophie's mom wouldn't let, so we ended up having to follow them around, bored all day. ...ahh, I don't remember what happened after.. Next thing I remember is we all went to the other village and prayed again. After, my family, Sophie's, Lai's mom and HIM went to the hot springs. Sitting around, we went to the big pool to swim. We ended up playing with tubes again. Everyone, but me and HIM where in one, hooked onto each other and HE pulled everyone around the pool. Eventually there was this little kid going, "MOMMY! MOMMY! IT'S A SNAKE!" and he like grabbed the last tube in the line, it was funny. Fooling around a bit, we went to a small hot spring pool and sat around, playing like we did last time. We got out after a bit and went to the building where they have fake snow and ice everywhere and this icy twist, where you sit on a sled thing and go down. It hurt going down, after going once, we left and I think we went into a sauna, because that's where everyone else was and after a bit, HE had to go, like leave to go to the city so he could get on a plane the next morning at like 6 or something. So he left and yeah I was pretty sad after that, I was really attached to him, still mad at him for leaving, that bum. Anyway, after a while, we left to. I don't remember what happened from that day until the day we went to the city with the airport. Pointlessly going into the city after getting to the hotel, Novtel or something, that night we went across to get Benny, Sophie's brother.
The next day we started our five day 'tour' in Beijing. Those five days where basically pointless and stupid! Some of it was fun though. Being dragged around to old temples and eating gross food, well I didn't really eat, not using the bathroom until we went back to the hotel. Me and Sophie having to sleeping in our parents rooms, because ours smelled really bad. The best day was The Great Wall of China, but we were only there for like two hours. I almost frigging rolled down it, when we were going back down. Since it was like a hill, I just had to run and it was all broken up, so I almost tripped. When we were going up though we lost my uncle, he said he couldn’t go on and Benny got scared, we almost lost Sophie, but I forced to keep going, and it was funny watching her go down. She cling to railing the whole way down. With the days finally over, we went back down south and to grandmas.
Oh geez.. The next few days we were all over the place! I don't really remember the order. There was my dad; mom; brother, Jonathan; aunt, Sophie's mom; uncle, Sophie's dad; cousin, Sophie; cousin, Benny; Mom friend, female driver; mom's friend's husband, male driver; Mom's friend's daughter, girl; and their son, the guy. Soo.. we went to a five star hot spring resort, Yangjiang Hot Spring Resort. It was fun, my uncle, Pringle, works there as a manger thing and he got us a little house thing to stay in. It had like a living room, five or six bedrooms, each with a bathroom and a little yard type thing with a small hot spring. After a while, we ended up going to eat and then going to the hot springs. My uncle got us our own small hot springs pool thing with like a guy standing there, who wouldn't let anyone else in, or brought us melon or anything else if we needed. So.. Me, Sophie, and the Girl went off to swim in a big pool, but that failed, because they both were scared since they couldn't touch the bottom, it was retarded, so we ended up going down watersides and it pretty much hurt when you hit the water, so I gave up along with the Girl, who was scared, to let Sophie just go kill herself, as we went and played in the smaller pools. There was this one pool that was like a playground for little kids, but in water, it made me laugh. Then after a while, we went to the wave pool and they were like almost real, we got flipped a couple of times, well other then the fact that we had three people on a two person tube, yeah.. After it closed, we ended up going to this pool, that is like warm water and cold. its warmer on the outside, but once you go into a doorway type thing, it's like a hall, but the outside was designed so it looks like a mountain, the water was cold. It was pretty entertaining, since Sophie didn't have her glasses and she can't see without them, and through the whole thing there's steps going up and down, so we had to be all like, "Up. Up. Up. Down! Down.. UP!" It would have been so funny if she fell. We had so many people staring at us though, since me and Sophie already stand out, and then the Girl and Sophie would like scream every time we went in, out and under some water, since the temperature of the water really changed and you could notice it right away. After that we just kind of sat around in the pools and then went back to the house thing. A few of us going out to eat, we came back and went to sleep. Waking up early the next morning, we left.
Off in a big van again, we went to place.. Uhh I'm pretty sure it was the island area next. Going over by a ferry, we went to a area with a beach.. well I'm pretty sure all the areas there had a beach, ha. Anyway.. after a bit, we went to the beach. My mom and dad just walked around. The male driver guy and the Guy, kind of sat there, while the other.. I have no idea where she went.. Everyone else but me went in the water and was basically playing in the sand. After we while, me and Jonathan started to bury Benny and after a bit Sophie and the Girl joined us, then we buried Jonathan, ha it was fun. After a bit, we went back to the hotel and then went out to eat. After eating we went back to the beach to light fireworks. I was basically laughing, since they couldn't light them right and I didn‘t even bother to help since I had my camera and knowing me I probably would have done something stupid..
Waking up the next morning, we left and went to like grandma's then the city or something and stayed there overnight, then I think we went to Macau next. It was just Sophie's family, mine and the female driver, the other three didn‘t want to so over. We basically went to this casino, since that's all there is there, basically and yeah. After like an hour of walking around, screaming and crap, the kids and my mom went to a shopping thing, while the others went to gamble. So after that we come back over the borders from Macau to China and it was raining.. hard. And the vans and stuff weren't aloud in the buildings thing, so after my aunt bought some umbrella's we all run, still getting soaked though. The Umbrella was basically useless. Finally we started to go back to grandma's. Ha, the trip back was all blah. Wrong way! Right way! Wrong! Then when we finally knew where we were, because of all the lights coming from the Fudu resort, we exited and when we were paying the toll, my uncle was joking, since we asked at like every other toll and the guy actually asked, "Is this [name of area]" Then the next day I think we stayed in the city, and then it was the day to finally leave..
Waking up that, morning, the parents where already all over packing and unpacking, running around, grabbing things, yelling, and chucking things out. After a bit, Jonathan, Benny, Sophie, a cousin and her daughter went to this mountain, hill type thing and its basically like a river type thing, where you paddle and go down the hill and its freaking amazing, wanted to go again, but we couldn't, so we went back to grandma's and ended up playing Mah-Jong all day, until like midnight and fell asleep from boredom. Except at one point, we went out to have some sweet soup, we had like 20 some bowls, made me laugh, since everyone else basically just got one per person we here we are, nine people with 20 some bowls, all empty and still wanting more. Then yeah, after we woke, it was time to go. Three cousins came over and the two vans arrived, We spent a while carrying and loading the 16 bags of stuff, and then all the little bags we were bringing on the plane with us. It was funny. When we finally got going, one of my cousin's left, there was this heavy fog on the highway, no street lamps, or lighting and of course there are still people who walk, bike, ect. on the highway at night, so we had to go slowly and yeah. Then the other van was going so fast, that two rocks came up and hit the glass, so they had like circles, but the glass was still there, just shattered and yeah. After getting all our stuff unloaded and sent, we went to the gate. Switching flights in Hong Kong we went back to the airport in NJ. After staying a night in NewYork, we came home.
So like, I totally forgot the part where me and my cousin, Sophie got a drive with a cousin on his motorcycle. We were going to a village to pray and stuff, but we decided to go to another village because Sophie wanted to see pigs.. So as were going, on both sides of the roads are pretty much all grain fields and my cousin asked Sophie what it was and she was like, "VEGETABLES!" And she sounds so sure of herself, I just burst out laughing. Then we drove by a larger building and he asked her what it was and she sat there for a bit and yelled hospital, after seeing the crosses. Then we got to the village with the pigs, ha. at first the building we went to didn't have them anymore, so we went somewhere else and there were pigs. she went totally crazy, ha. I love you Sophie. Except those pigs were ugly.