Crazy Haze Today...

The weather has been hot and clear for quite a while now, which is different than usual.  Well, the clear part at least.  I've been up to quite a few things lately and haven't done much updating, but here's an overview.

Last Friday I went to Macau to activate my dependent visa and to acquire some Portuguese egg tarts (probably the most important part of the trip)

I left Hong Kong around 1:30 I think on the Turbo Jet Ferry and arrived in Macau an hour later, I wandered around following a Lonely Planet guide to try to do a walk they recommended.  I took a bus to try to get to some place on the map, after a while I didn't really know where I was going, which was fine.  Then we turned a corner and I recognized a place that Katy and I had been to last year to activate my visa.  I hopped off the bus and saw the area where we had Lapsap Live In Macau on the one night long ago...
part 2 and part 3

I wandered around this place for a while searching for the place that I bought some amazing egg tarts last time i was there.  I walked and walked and never found the back alley place with the mouth burning tarts, but I did find some alternates that we ok.  I also found a Dairy Queen! In South East Asia! I thought I'd stepped through a portal back to the US for a second.  I bought a large chocolate chocolate chocolate blizzard and they served it upside down to demonstrate how thick it was.  It was so think it took me two hours to eat it in the 90 degree heat.


After DQ i walked more and then caught a massively packed bus back to the pier, it was a busy time so the sailing I wanted was booked and so was the next one after that.  So I looked around and bought a ticket from a different company, one that dropped me off in Kowloon rather than Hong Kong Island.

It was a comfortable ride and there wasn't many people on the boat.  The immigration lines were slow, but they activated my visa.  Actually, I opened up to the page and showed the lady specifically that I had it, she grabbed the passport and scanned it in her machine then asked "Do you want to activate this now??"
Me: "......"
Her: "....."
Me: "No, it's cool, I just spent $50 to go to Macau today so I could extend my tourist visa and work a job tomorrow....no need to use it really, I'll just see you in 90 days for another re-up on thee ol' tourist days stamp....It's not like I just showed it to you when I walked up to the counter and all..."

Actually that was pretty harsh, it was fine except that it was slowness I haven't encountered since being in the U.S.A.

After getting everything taken care of I caught the MTR up to a stop near Katy's parent's house in Ma On Shan and took a death bus...er mini-bus the rest of the way.  Katy, Jonathan, and I stay over Friday night and I caught a bus to Sai Kung Saturday morning with 3 egg tarts in hand.

I met the people I needed to meet on the pier and we headed out on a junk with 60 people looking for a good time kayaking (which I was leading), stand up paddle boarding, and banana boating.

It was a great day for weather and the clients were fine, quite a bit different dealing with adults and having an objective to see the coral.  I got to do some paddle boarding as well.  Overall great day, I hope I can get to do more stuff like this again.

After work I met Katy in Tsim Sha Tsui for our Date Night and we walk for a while :) actually a long while :)
Then had one of the best meals I've ever had here in Hong Kong, an 11 course Indian food "journey of flavor"

Sunday was the usual, except we were in Ma On Shan and didn't have to leave as early to catch the ferry, went to the service and then Simply Life for lunch.  Then came home and I relaxed as Katy and Jonathan went to scope out some additions to Jonathan's room here in Pui O.

Yesterday (Monday), I had a busy day of cooking, Katy and I bought tons of vegetables at the public market last thursday and a bunch of it need to be used up.  So i set off making bread, finished to half opened bags and busting open a third, then while that was rising I started in on some Guacamole, I only had one avocado, but it had enough green mush in it that it was OK.  Then I started baking the bread and got everything else ready in the frypan for when Katy and Jonathan walked in the door with Olive Oil and my latest addition to my curry arsenal  Tumeric.  Then I cooked up some chicken marinated in curry spices, garlic, and lemon juice and we ate until we exploded and our mouths burned off.

**As I was writing this I might have booked three days of work here in Pui O next week** Yay for freelancing!