Adventures in HK

Before the honeymoon could begin, we made a three day pit stop in Hong Kong as Nick's dad was hosting a reception for us there.  Unfortunately, I forgot my journal.  And as a scrapbooker, I very much like to journal my travels so that way when I do actually get around to putting that scrapbook together (3 years later), I will know what to write on the pages about where I am and what I'm doing.

Anyway, I can't believe it's been so long since I've flown internationally.  Technically, we went to to the Bahamas two years ago, but does that really count?  It's my first trip to HK and I was very excited to finally be in a new international location after two years.  Especially a place that is as big as HK.

The plane ride sucked.  We both had middle seats and we were not together.  We weren't allowed to pick seats until 24 hours before the flight.  And, well, when you host a wedding 36 hours before a flight, you're a little too preoccupied to be thinking about checking in for flights at the 24 hour mark.  Nick tried very hard to get us seats together.  He pleaded to the agents at the counter, the flight attendants, and even the people all around us.  But nobody would budge for the newlyweds.  After all who wants to give up their seat for a middle in coach?

But we landed safely in Hong Kong at 6am.  His dad picked us up and took us to a local diner in Happy Valley.  I tried various things, but my favorite was the French toast concoction with peanut butter in the middle and condensed milk on top.  Technically, it is a snack and not a breakfast food, but it was delicious.

We took naps, showered, went to lunch, and then went to the tailor.  I'd say this was the first time his dad and I had something very much in common -- let's dress Nick!  I thought about getting some items for myself, and maybe I will regret it later, but I have not needed to wear a suit in 7 years.  Nor do I anticipate needing to wear one in the near future.  So I did not get any custom shirts or suits for myself.  After the tailor, we headed to Causeway Bay.  Hansen reminded us of the incredible pork jerky there.  I don't know how describe how a piece of jerky can be so delicious, but it is.

Then we met up with my college friend, Clifford.  We walked around Times Square and the World Trade Center (both malls).

Next we headed to Harbour City (to another mall).  Hong Kong is really just one gigantic shopping mall.  This is not an exaggeration.  We wanted a new camera and I forgot my sunglasses so I needed a pair of those.  After shopping, we walked to a Japanese restaurant for dinner.  This was real sushi.  Not rolls.  Not nigiri.  Not Americanized concoctions with mayonnaise and sauces.  I was a pretty good sport, but I refused to eat the crab and the shrimp head.  Afterward, Nick's friend, Teddy, took us to Ladies Market for more shopping!

The next morning, Nick's aunties surprised us and arrived in HK.  I gave a piece of the jerky to Auntie Irene and she took one bite and said, "Oh, this shit is good."  Yes, the jerky is THAT good!  And, we can't bring it home because it's meat so the only way YOU can ever try how good it is is to visit Hong Kong (Or Singapore because that's where the company is from).

His dad took all of us to breakfast where I tried thousand year old egg congee.  The egg is really quite disgusting looking.  But I didn't look at it.  I just buried it in the congee.  All I can say is that it tastes like a very old egg.  It's really only about 3 weeks old and was preserved in some way that turns it dark brown.

Later we met Jeremy, one of his groomsmen, who took us to dim sum.  Jeremy's words were something like, "I can't attest for the quality and it's probably pretty ghetto, but the place has lots of history."  Yes, I say that summed it up right.  We had to find our own table (communal tables), wash our own dishes in hot water, and hunt down our own food.  

It was also a BYON (Bring your own napkin) restaurant, but we didn't know that.  The food wasn't that great, but in the end, I actually enjoyed the experience.  It was straight out of the 50s or 60s and I could easily picture what it was like back in those days as it was pretty much the same as what we were doing right then.

From there we walked through the wet market and I got to see all sorts of animal parts hanging around.

After walking around Central for awhile, we took the ferry to Kowloon and walked along the Avenue of Stars.  The highlight was meeting Teddy, his brother, and sister-in-law at the Peninsula Hotel for High Tea.  Teddy said that everything changes in Hong Kong, except the Peninsula.  High Tea was SOOO yummy.  The scones were out of this world.  The Peninsula is also known for its chocolates, which were amazing.  I ordered an "iced chocolate" whatever that was.  It wasn't a milk shake and wasn't quite chocolate milk.  But it was delicious.

Next we met Nick's family for dinner and then we headed to the Peak.  I assumed the Peak was this rural place where you get a view of the city.  But I woke up and we're at another shopping mall.  Really?  "The Peak" is also a shopping mall?  And Nick says again, "Everything is a shopping mall here."

The next day we just wanted to rest and get ready for the reception.  Our reception was held on the 49th floor of the American Club.  The view was fantastic.  

It was my first exposure to the Asian way of weddings.  You meet lots of "aunties" and "uncles" and take pictures with everyone.  You shake a lot of hands.  A toast is made and then it's over.  The guest shows up to be seen.  It's not like American weddings where you have to shut the party down, kick everyone out, and then resume partying at the after party.

The next morning we left on an early flight to Bangkok.  We arrived at the airport and realized our flight was  an hour later than we expected so we had some extra time to kill.  I received a text from my mom saying she was in the HK airport.  My parents were traveling to Thailand to attend the Thai reception, but I thought they were traveling the following day.  So we found my parents in the terminal and they were on the flight we thought we were on!  However, we had similar layovers in BKK so we met them again on the other side and then they headed to Koh Samui and we head to Phuket.  

I loved Hong Kong.  And, I look forward to exploring it more next time we go back for more than just three days!

We Do!

About 9 days ago, Nick and I both said, "I do!"  It was a whirlwind leading up to the wedding and for the week after, but we are now on a remote island in Thailand and have time to breathe.  I know people will give me crap for updating a blog while on my honeymoon. But we get back this weekend and I have to be in Minneapolis on Monday, then a wedding next weekend, back to Minneapolis, then an offsite in Palm Springs for work, then another wedding, then back to Minneapolis for two weeks, then Ironman Arizona (to cheer, of course) and by then Turkey Day will have arrived.  So yes, excuse me for updating my blog while on my honeymoon.  My lovely husband is sitting right next to me as I do this (how great that sounds...).

The wedding was amazing.  Everyone said it would go by fast, which it did.  But I'd like to say I was pretty calm and collected for all of Saturday.  Thursday and Friday were a little stressful.  But wedding day was nearly perfect.  And, the parts that weren't perfect, others didn't notice anyway.  The imperfections were related to the staff, which I can't do anything about (other than we didn't give them their tips). 

On Thursday, we hosted a BBQ for all our friends and family that arrived early.  I also had some wonderful friends come in and help do lots of last minute preparations.  Friday was Nick's birthday.  Sadly, he did not want a groom's cake.  But I just couldn't help myself.  So I used his birthday as an excuse to get him what could easily be considered a groom's cake and had it delivered by some friends to the restaurant earlier that day.  There's a whole backstory behind this cake that I won't get into (missing ice packs, 90 degree weather, stuck in a trunk, etc.).  Therefore, getting this cake from the baker in San Jose to the rehearsal dinner restaurant in Dublin without Nick finding out AND without it melting was by far the most stressful part of the entire weekend.  And, yet it had nothing to do with the wedding.  Go figure.  Thankfully, it did not melt and it turned out awesome.

Of course, bicycles were an underlying theme to the wedding.  Our Save the Dates were a balloon with a vintage bicycle.  

Our invitations and RSVPs had bicycles.  Many of our guests "creative" replies included cute notes or pictures or poems about swimming, biking, or running.  

Our table numbers were various bike routes we had ridden.  

I searched for a cake topper that wasn't something I'd never use again (such as a cake topper).  Someone at the bicycle company where I am consulting suggested an ornament.  Genius!  It took a while to find one that wasn't chintzy, but I finally did and it's something we can keep and actually use every Christmas now.

Our guestbook also had a bicycle on it. I couldn't find a design that wasn't a tandem bike, but it's still cute anyway.

 

The only thing we didn't have was an actual bicycle.  I figured there was no way I was going to get on one in my dress, so why bother. :)

I was a little surprised at how many people asked us why we used bicycles as a theme.  Well....we like riding bikes.  And we like wine.  So we had a bicycle themed wedding at a winery.  Seems to make perfect sense to us.