Why is it so cold?

It's cold and rainy outside. I've just rearranged the furniture in my apartment a little bit and it seems like I have so much more room now! I've turned the closet 90 degrees so that it's along the same wall as my sofa. I only saw one dead cockroach behind all the furniture, what a bonus. There are some miscellaneous boxes and other things that no longer have a place to sit though. Still getting used to this new arrangement but I think it will work out. The only downside to this is that I don't think I can open my sofa into a bed anymore. Oh wells, not expecting any visitors any time soon. Excited about this new arrangement because it looks like I have a much bigger space in the middle of the room.

Yesterday, a friend of mine came through HK on his way back to the US from Thailand. I met him at the MTR station and after dropping off his stuff, we tried to go to Tim Ho Wan again but it was closed. It's actually closed for all 3 days. Most of the hawker stands and regular stores were closed as well. There were some vendors using the empty space to spread their goods out though. Can't blame people for trying to make some extra money. Anyway, we went to Kung Fu dim sum instead. This place opened not too long ago. Their prices are more expensive than Tim Ho Wan and we ordered too much food. Or more than enough anyway. The food is not too bad. I think they could have done better with the regular stuff but they also seem to have special things that they do pretty well. We had this rice roll that came in a clay pot that was boiled with lotus root and pork in a red-ish sauce that might have contained pig's blood. I couldn't actually read the entire description, only the part with "pig" and "rice roll". Their menu is very colorful with pictures and English so it's pretty friendly in that aspect.

We then took the MTR and a very expensive bus ($27!) up to see the Big Buddha. It was freezing up there! It might have actually been somewhere around 0 degrees C. It was so foggy and misty that we couldn't see the Buddha until we got up close. It was difficult to take pictures as we had to wait for the fog to roll in and out. We ate hot tofu fa this time and then tried to walk the Wisdom Path. But it was getting dark and at some point, the street lights disappeared. So we walked pretty quickly, saw the beginning of the Wisdom Path and then turned back. It was really quiet and scary to be walking around there as it was getting dark.

We took the bus back down and went to the Island in hopes of catching the light show. We made it to the piers on time but couldn't find a good viewing spot. That probably wasn't the right place because we couldn't hear the music. We did see some stuff and I think that was enough. We then took the Mid Levels escalators for a bit and walked around LKF. It was so quiet. I couldn't find that dumpling place I went to before and we ended up eating some greasy stuff at this kebab place. We were both pretty tired and headed back after that. I've never seen HK so quiet before.

--- Just realized I haven't written about the hike on Sunday. Will do that after I finish this one ---

I saw him off to take the bus to the airport this morning (Tuesday). After that I moped around a bit, napped, and then went to watch a movie. I decided on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because the showing at 11am was cheap. The theater was still pretty full though and I had to sit near the front again. And just my luck, I was sitting next to this really fat American who nearly could not fit into the seat. I had to move my drink to the other side because he looked like he needed more elbow room. The movie was okay. I mean, I read the book but it still took a while for me to remember the entire plot.

Then I went to the gym to use the showers and sauna. This whole sauna thing is really relaxing. Only need to go 30 more times to make each of my visits cheaper than the one time fee! I had a afternoon tea set at one of the restaurants in the mall that had really nice couches and windows. I feel like a lot of restaurants and places here don't have enough windows. I really want a nice cafe to sit in and read next to a window. But there aren't a lot of those around here. Actually the Pacific Coffee in the Innocenter is not bad in terms of window space but it's so close to work that I don't think I would go there just to chill.

I had thought about going to watch the fireworks but it is very cold, wet, and foggy out. So I went to do some grocery shopping and went back to the apartment instead. I read and napped the rest of the afternoon.  Not sure what I want to do tomorrow (Wednesday), last day of the long weekend. Part of me just wants to hang out at home and read. I downloaded some interesting books lately. Since it so cold, it would be nice to just snuggle up with a blanket and some hot chocolate. I'll still have to go out to buy milk though.