The lobby of our hotel.  And you can see us on the escalator.

The next morning we awoke to this sight.  I was a little saddened to see that we were facing the mainland side (no harbor view for us), but that was ok.  We stayed in Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui - or TST for short) and it was very convenient.  Easy access to everything.

And after a quick shower, we headed out into it again.  We strolled down the Avenue of Stars (a boardwalk filled with the stars of Kung Fu fame) and took the train to The Peak.  It’s a mall/outlook on top of the city.  You have to take a trolley to the top (or hike - yea right).

We then took the train to Wanchai.  We searched for a Thai place that DJ had been to before for a couple of hours and once we finally made it there, we had the best Thai I’ve ever had.

After our lunch we got a glass of wine at the wine bar across the street and headed back to the hotel.  After showering and changing we went to dinner.  To get to dinner we had to take the escaltor.  It went up and up and up and then up some more.

Dinner was at an Argentinian place he had also been to previously.  He’d only been in the winter and it should have stayed that way.  The place was tiny, crowded and the AC didn’t do a thing to cool it down.  I was sitting there in my chair and feeling very sick as the sweat ran down my legs (I was wearing a skirt).  I’m sure the food and wine was good, but I was totally unable to enjoy it.  Sorry honey.

The next day was better after taking the bus to Stanley.  Stanley is an area at the south end of the island with many shops and stalls to go shopping in.  We merely window shopped, I didn’t buy anything there.  I did buy a new phone in Hong Kong though.  I can’t really enjoy it fully in Japan, but once we go back stateside, It’ll be awesome.  It’s an HP Ipaq 612 Business Messanger.  I had an HP Ipaq previously and loved it, so this was a no brainer.  You can only find this version in Asia though.

This is the time that DJ got ahold of the camera and took many many pictures of me.  The more unflattering the better.  Pictures of beads of sweat rolling down my face, pictures of me grimacing or talking.  Pictures of me sticking out my tongue or rolling my eyes.  Lots of fun.

I tried getting him back, but all I got was this.

I tried.

This was a rose bath in a jacuzzi style tub.  Warm and relaxing.

Then the slide.  I had fun sliding down this.  Barbara promised to get a picture of me coming down.  She got a picture all right.  Can you tell it’s me?

The waterfall was off to the left of the slide.  And it felt good walking underneath it.  Like a massage for the shoulders.

I love this picture of Barbara.

You can kinda tell that this was the coffee bath.  He’s adding fresh coffee.

We enjoyed the wine bath, along with Sake, pepper, salt water and green tea.  There were more but I can’t remember them.  I was disappointed they didn’t have the chocolate or beer baths going on (they usually do).

So pretty and relaxing!

The Baystars game:

A few Saturdays ago, DJ and I, along with Barabara and her kids, joined a group of people from his job to go to the Baystars game.  We had fun, but it was hot!  It was the first really hot day of summer this year and we were in full sun with no seats (standing room only).  Luckily a couple of people brought umbrella’s so we staked out under those.  The Baystars were getting their butts kicked so we only stayed 5 innings.  

I did partake in several cups of shaved ice.  It’s the kind you find in Hawaii served with sweet fruity syrup to drizzle on top.  Yum.

I had a TON of sunscreen on.  My skin could not have handled all that sun.  Thank God for SPF  55.

The fans in Japan are WAY more into the game than anyone you’d find in the U.S.  The crowd was clapping and chanting and screaming and way crazy.

But they LOVED every minute of it.  Even though Yokohama was losing.

Afterward we had dinner at a Brazilian place.  I especially liked the pineapple as you can see from the serious look in my face.  Trying to eat it all!

Once we were all full, we wandered around Yokohama and enjoyed the night.

That’s all of us, minus the two people taking pictures.  Good times!

“1776-1858

Commonplace!

After all it is Matgickl thinking that work is pleasant.  Naturally.  However, Nobody can handle this work well.  Therefore repeat this work today.  Merely weave.  I repeat very simple work every day However nobody can handle this work well.  Therefore I repeat this work today.”

I think it’s supposed to be magical thinking that work is pleasant.  But I like their spelling.

Scary!  I don’t want to walk if I’ll have to listen to the beating of solar traps.  Yikes.  Wonder what that is, exactly?

First we went into town and saw a couple of tourist stores.  Barbara bought a spiny dried blowfish.  Don’t ask me why.  And we saw the lighthouses.

We walked around the island park too.

Look at all the pretty flowers in bloom.  The first three are hydrangea.

I didn’t ask her how they smelled.

We took a couple of hilarious shots of each other, but I think we’ll delete those.  Luckily a Japanese man and his wife walked by and took a picture of the two of us together.

Then we went climbing around on the rocks.  Fun!

Here I am!