Christmas Holiday weekend

Happy holidays!! I have so much stuff I want to write about. I guess I'll start with posting some pictures. I went mall hopping yesterday (Monday) in order to take pictures of Christmas decorations before they get taken down. I have to say, the ones at Festival Walk are still the best ones I've seen so far. 

Finishing a 4 day weekend that consisted of not working at all! Must be a record... I left a little bit after 5:30pm on Friday to take the bus back to Zhongshan. I slept the entire way from HK to Shenzhen border and then it started to get colder and colder. It was so much colder in Zhongshan than in HK! I did a lot of eating and not too much else. I wish I hadn't been fed enormous meals because there were a lot of really good looking street food that I wanted to try. Sigh... 

I came back to HK Sunday afternoon and went to the gym to use the sauna. There were so many people using the sauna. I don't really like it when people chat very loudly. Maybe it's just the one in Mongkok. The one in TST doesn't seem to be very crowded at all. I went to a bento takeout place that I walked by once and got my Christmas meal of sushi rice and chicken wings:

Woke up on Monday and skyped with family while they opened presents. I got passed around and was even in a family photo or two. Man, that picture must be weird... Anyway, it was fun. Glad we managed to get Skype working on both ends.

I went to get my hair straightened in the afternoon using a Groupon deal. Alas, they made me pay more because they claimed that my deal didn't cover straightening. And then the guy talked me into using better chemicals. The process took forever as usual. They only did the flat ironing once. I still managed to finish two books on my Kobo and started on a third book. I have to say, I think the end product is much better than last time. I don't see any fried or split ends so far. Hopefully the quality will still be the same after I wash my hair.

Then I went to redeem two more Groupon deals, one for a Vietnamese sandwich and another for pasta takeout. The Vietnamese sandwich was not bad. Still not like the ones back home but definitely better than the other place I found. Their coffee was pretty good as well. I think if I end up working at a site in Central, I'll be visiting this place a lot. 

Then I carried my pasta takeout around with me mall hopping. I went to the IFC and Ocean Terminal/Harbour City. These malls are very big so this is no small feat. Pictures in upcoming posts. Bought another pair of hiking boots at Timberlands in Harbour City.

Today (Tuesday) is still a public holiday. I decided to go museum hopping. I realized I haven't been to any of the museums around town and felt that I should go. The admission fee is pretty cheap, at least, reasonable compared to US prices. I went for the year-long pass, which gives me unlimited access to all the museums for the price of 100 HKD. The family deal is $200 for 4 people, which is even better. Some of these museums are made for kids and buying a year-long pass means you don't have to force yourself to go through the entire museum in one go. 

I started off at the Space Museum. I thought the exhibits were very old and not too interesting. There were some games and simulations for kids though, like a moon walk, glider simulation, etc. They were pretty interesting looking but I didn't bother to try. Didn't want to be fighting little kids over them. The Art Museum had pretty interesting exhibits. I think I would go back once they change their exhibits. The Science Museum was definitely for little kids. There were a lot of interactive stuff but they were not as involved as the ones at the Space museum. There is a huge Gutenberg contraption that circles around the inside of the museum. Really want to see that in action. 

I went to the History Museum last. That was the most interesting one! It starts off with the natural history of HK. They had a lot of displays of how the HK islands were formed, the geological processes, and also rock samples. This was very interesting for me because I've been learning a lot about HK geology at work and haven't had the chance to actually see these rocks. There are actually some geo-parks managed by the government with well marked trails that lets you see all the interesting rock formations in HK. These parks are out of the way to get to so they're definitely a whole day thing. Anyway, after the geology stuff, the exhibits then talk about ancient people, how they lived, artifacts recovered, etc. Then there are there is a section on more modern stuff about the different Chinese people and cultures. Upstairs has recent history stuff but I was too tired to keep going. 

I nearly forgot to go to the flower street to get more plants for the office. My basil plant has officially died so now I need to replace it with something. I got a small bamboo plant and a bulb for a water flower. Not sure how this water flower is supposed to work but I'll look it up. Hopefully they won't all die at the office again. I also got some seeds but I'll work on the living plants first.