Back to Hong Kong...

So before I start telling you about my trip back to Hong Kong, I want to show you how Taiwan music packaging looks. This is the packaging for Elva Hsiao's new CD "瀟灑小姐“ which translates to Miss Natural and Ｕnrestrained。 The contents inside are the CD，a DVD with a Music video， discount to colored contact lenses， and 24 page spread of Elva。 I guess CD sales are so bad now，they need to attract people to buy CDs by throwing in all this extra stuff。I wish all CD sales were like this！！

The CD itself isn't that great。 There are only 2－3 songs I like， and the title song has a cool music video. I'm happy she's starting to write some of her own lyrics, but the song itself is very corny, esp. the last one that has a very religious tone to it. The last song has a male vocalist who is trying to preach, but it just comes off as dumb.

I'm more impressed with Ms. Amber Guo's 郭采潔 newest CD "Sparklers"

The first song hooked me into the CD and I can't stop listening to it. Give it a listen. Not only is she one of the cutest girls ever, but her voice is very cute as well. This song has great lyrics and instrumental.

Alright, so yes, here we go on with the blog. I returned to the beloved city of Hong Kong for a 3 day trip because my cousin, Teddy was getting married!!

I sure do miss this city, for it's people, family, shopping, and of course food.

So before I even went back, I made a list of things I wanted to eat.

Here are some of the items:

First lunch, upon arrival was Cafe de Coral, a fast food chain throughout Hong Kong. They have GREAT Cantonese BBQ though, seen hanging here. There is roasted duck, BBQ pork, and Soya Chicken among others

Got my fix of Honey BBQ Pork and Roasted Duck. Delicious, topped off with a hot cup of Horlick

At night, I made my friend take me to my favorite sushi/Japanese buffet in Mong Kok. I went all out

My favorite in the buffet: Flower Lover, a concoction of salmon, rice, salmon roe, and sweet Japanese mayo

A trip to Tsui Wah, a famous chain of Tea houses in Hong Kong, was also on the list. Here is their amazing Borsche soup, which my friend Kathy Prince calls it "crack soup" Helllla good

and my favorite on their menu. Sizzling plate D: Pork Chop with Onion sauce. Goddammn I'm starving looking at this now

Abalone with Goose foot. Very expensive but popular Hong Kong delicacy

Satay King's White curry Pork Chop. Tastes like an orgasm, esp. when mixed with rice.

CUPCAKES!!

My "breakfast" at 8:00AM for my flight at the airport. BBQ Pork Ramen and Japanese goya dumplings....Needless to say, I think I gained some weight in Hong Kong...

So, on the streets of Mong Kok, at night time, there are a lot of street performers. The bottom two are a duo that really stuck out for their crazy outfits and attitude, singing Mandarin Oldies. Check out the guy's outfit. -__-

Also knows how to look for the camera. haha

I stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel with my cousin Cindy. Not only did it have heaven's equivalent to a breakfast buffet, but it also had a NICE view of the Harbor.

Wednesday night, Teddy and Margi held a tea ceremony where basically older relatives share a cup of tea with the newlyweds and give them a gift of golden jewelry and/or red pouch money to wish them prosperity and fortune in their marriage.

Kiss! What everyone wants to see at a wedding

Signing the marriage agreement which leads to the marriage 2 weeks later if no objections are announced

Giving a speech about how much they love each other. Margi is gorgeous. Check out the golden jewelry, we were joking that she could lift weights with them

It's nice to see family again! From left to right is me, cousin Cindy, Teddy, Ronald and wife, Phoebe

Ronald and Phoebe took me back to their new place. It looks Niiiiceee. They had a mini grand piano as well.

And their view from the 30th floor. Although it's an Amazing view of HK, looking down is quite freaky

My card design for Teddy and Margi. I was actually just planning to draw the Chinese character which means "double happiness" a common letter on marriage cards, but my plan to draw it in the center obviously didn't go well, so I improvised with adding a phoenix and dragon, which....yeah.....didn't come out that nice, but hey, points for creativity?

Front design

Margi, in the yellow, looked gorgeous the night of the soiree. I've never seen Teddy so dressed up either. Happy for you guys!

Attending the soiree. The hall ways had a very colonial feel

The tent with live band music

The Tarot card reader! Told me that I had to admit a lot of things about myself if I wanted to progress myself in my love life. Also said I had a lot of sorrow, which was thwarted me to grow in my love life and I had to admit the things to myself. A few things he said were quite on-spot.

The Hullet House, where the soiree took place. A very nice venue and is near the harbor in TST. It's also a fashion mall at the bottom levels.

So of course, we had to end the night with a session of Karaoke, or as Canto people put it "sing K" Here is me and cousin belting out a duet together. Great shot! haha

Well, I returned to Taipei the next morning at 8AM (never again am I flying that early), and I have to say, coming back to Taipei now feels like home....

Gonna spend the next week getting ready for my next 2 rounds of the competition for the top 20 spot. Wish me luck!

Is it Fall yet???

Jesus, it sure can get hot in Taipei! But, weather is becoming a lot better than it was in June, July, and August. I'm a boy without A/C in his apartment, so any hint of cooler weather is welcome!!! So I haven't been updating lately, and that's mainly because I'm still in the Super Idol Competition. Have a round tomorrow, so updating my blog is like therapy for me to get my mind off being nervous. It's hard to make the frights go away, but I'm getting better and better.

So, this blog is mainly my life during September. Here goes:

So, I was really down one day, so my friend took me up to the Yang Ming Mountains located in Northern Taipei to check out the night view. The awesome view is located behind the Chinese Culture University, and has a breath-taking view of Taipei. A lot of young people go there for romantic evenings hahaha

The view. I always enjoy relaxing and watching city lights at night. Really helps take your mind off things and puts you in a better mood, something i REALLY needed that night.

On the subject of being sad, whenever I'm having a bad day, I eat certain foods to perk me back up, including slurpees, Oreos, and Ice cream. Here, I had a banana split! YUM YUM YUM

Throws the frown upside down in just one bite. hahahh

So my cousin, Melody, recently had her FIRST baby!!!! Her name is Olivia and is frickin' ADORABLE! Here's my grandmother and Olivia. Grandma was giving me the "oh, here she goes again!" face since Olivia was fussing for milk. haha

ADORABLE!!!!

One day, Simone and I decided to not be fat-asses, and to go HIKING. I looked up a trail that was located near Taipei 101, known as Elephant Hill, which also proposed a good view of Taipei.

Haha, just a random picture of statues outside 101 (the second tallest building in the world)

Taipei 101. There is shopping (name brands I can't afford) and a few restaurants on the top floor to give a good view of Taipei. Too bad the restaurant has a minimum charge of about 1000NTD per person (32USD) and has nasty food :P

There's a LOVE statue outside of 101, so Simone took the time to give her modeling skills a try. hahaha. Ohhhh girrllll. WORK

So to get to Elephant Hill from 101, you start going East (make sure you don't do what I did, and start walk the WRONG "east" direction 15 minutes without realizing haha). Then you cross the street when you see NY Bagels. A few steps forward, you'll see signs pointing you to "Hiking Trail" You'll pass a little park on your left (pictured with the already exhausted Simone) and just walk along the outskirts of the park...

...until you see the Golden Global Plaza. Follow the upwards hill on the right of the building, and you should be able to spot the trail entrance

The trail is located next to a big temple

When I saw this little art piece, I thought to myself "how random, why are there so many elephants?" and walked past. Then it hit me that we were looking for ELEPHANT HILL. I'm so stupid sometimes. ahahhaha

Yeah, don't feel like typing this, so you can read it if you want.

I made Simone pose sexily with the elephant. FIERCE, GIRL! Like ANTM!!! THINK TYRA

...mmmmm not so much

"You're fucking kidding, right? Can we just go home?"

After taking a look at the steps

haha how encouraging!

There were little messages all over the trail. This one is asking "Are you TIRED yet?"

Almost reaching the top and being eaten alive by mosquitos

Get it?? get it?? ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN!

The view of Taipei from the Elephant's head. Well worth the short climb.

Of course, we celebrated our healthy accomplishment by being fat and getting food. Here Simone is munching on Korean food

and me and my cartoon face chows on Japanese omelette Rice. yum yum yum

This is A Don. He's my care taker for the singing competition I am on. Great friend to have in Taipei.

This is a little restaurant in the East Section (downtown) of Taipei known as Rabbit Rabbit. It serves good burgers and pasta.

Always nice to get my dose of American food. Here is coleslaw and a Hawaiian BBQ Burger. YUM YUM YUM!! The price is not bad either! Under $10 US!

For Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Moon Festival) which is every year on the 15th day of the eight month on the lunar calendar, celebrating the first day of Fall (hopefully signifying cooler weather) my god-mother invited me for dinner outside of the Yuan Shan (Round Mountain hotel) one of the best hotels in Taipei. The lobby is quite nice. Here is a shot of the ceiling

And Lobby

The Yuan Shan Hotel

The not-so-great band playing at the buffet BBQ. Eating BBQ is a tradition that people in Taipei have on this occasion. On the day of the holiday, just walking through the streets, you see store owners and their workers chilling on the sidewalks, grilling meat and having a good time. Made me hungry walking through Taipei! ahah

Also, another tradition is to eat moon cake on this special occasion. Moon cake is a REALLY rich cake with random things inside, such as egg yolk, lotus paste, red bean paste, and other things I generally don't like. Egg yolk is so nasty!! But I'll leave you a shot of the Moon and the Cake. Together you get MOON CAKE!

GET IT?