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Twilight, Travel, and Treats

Reflections of a Twihard on all things twilight, travel, and treats.

(If you missed it, I just posted my Hong Kong flight home earlier tonight as well - here)

So I had a very busy second week in Hong Kong. Filled daily with shopping and eating - so much that I did not have time to twitter or post! A few things that I bought in my last week of Hong Kong that were twilight related.



I have never seen these in Vancouver yet I found them at a tiny place called Hong Kong Records in a gigantic seven story mall called Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. This mall is super huge at 1 million square feet of shopping space.


Side note is Festival Walk also has an ice rink called The Glacier. A lot more people are trying it out after Winter Olympics.

One of three ice rinks in shopping malls in Hong Kong
I was so happy to find the Rob DVDs even if they are only supposed to work in Region 3 (Asia). I have to watch them on my semi-legal DVD player that plays all regions of DVDs (including Region 1 North America). These all region DVD players are $25 USD in Hong Kong if you look in the right places.

Hong Kong Records also had this sign out front.


While in that mall I also saw

Hello Kitty crossover with handbag store

on the right Baby 'Cino for my son - shot of warm milk with foam
Pacific Coffee Company
Mr. Men shirts from Bossini
Lego Starwars PJs from Toys R Us
I spent a great deal of time in this store - UNIQLO. It's a Japanese store with many locations throughout Hong Kong. The equivalent of Old Navy in pricing but much more stylish.


For example, skinny tapered dark wash jeans were $25 bucks USD including free alteration ready the same day. I waited only 90 minutes for my jeans to be done. 

Something else I picked up while at the mall were the paperback versions of Breaking Dawn and the original Twilight apple cover. I own the movie cover version of Twilight and was super happy to see the apple one for sale.

paperback version of Breaking Dawn

Ironically the paperback BD is printed in the USA but
only available internationally

Okay, that's all for this mall :) I'll split up my shopping days into separate posts so expect to see another one very soon.

Well I'm back home after a long flight with no sleep. It's 4am and I'm wide awake now. I'm still in post trip bliss and had a trouble free trip back. Had my traditional five minute cry after getting on the plane but it was over super quick since I don't like crying in front of my kids. I always seem to cry when I leave Hong Kong. I think it's a combination of leaving my 90 something year old grandma, who was crying when we left (not helping my tears) but also leaving the comfort of staying with parents and going back to the reality of work and motherhood with two young boys. It's the same bittersweet emotion that made me cry walking down the aisle with my father. Of course it was wonderful seeing Mr. TC again and I had missed my 7 year old very much.

So what twilight delights awaited me on the airplane?

I discovered that the Cathay music section had both the twilight and New  Moon original soundtracks. I couldn't listen to anything except Monsters from New Moon because they were just too emo and you need to stay peppy for a 12 hour flight with a four year old. But Monsters always makes me think of Rob's sex walk so I played it a couple of times.


I didn't watch New Moon again this time because of the whole emo avoidance but watched the "E! Entertainment Behind the scenes of New Moon" special again, especially now that I know it's not available online anymore.

So, I have been hearing lots of Nurse Jackie hype, especially on PFach twitter of course. I haven't seen it in Vancouver yet but I don't think I've been looking hard enough. Well, I watched the pilot and two other episodes on the plane.


It is a good show and I love how it is told from the nursing perspective. It's so true how a lot of the experienced nurses know more than the newbie hot shot doctors. I also agreed with Dr. O'Hara's comment about how the whole caring and healing thing was more the nurses domain than the physicians - sad but true. The part where the doctor actually buys new clothes from Bergdorf's instead of dry cleaning them was hilarious. And lastly, it is so true that doctors borrow everything - pens, stethoscopes, sandwiches, etc. We just randomly pick up stuff as we work and don't realize what we are doing. Funny to see the perspective of the person we borrow from :) Apologies to all the nursing staff on behalf of my whole profession for every time we have "borrowed" a pen from someone and they never saw it again.

I have been avoiding the second season of True Blood because the whole Lafayette captive thing scared me too much at the beginning. Even when my mom was watching season two all of last week I've been hiding out and twittering with you folk.


But I got sucked in on the plane and watched four episodes. I even watched episode 9 twice. After the first Eric dream sequence I am officially Team Eric. That whole dialogue while making out naked in bed thing was so hot I couldn't help but rewind and watch it again. I'm sure the people who could see my screen on the plane were pleased with that. This youtube video is about as close as I could get - in the real episode it shows much more of him very naked.



I was surprised they don't edit True Blood at all for the airplane. My son was watching the Disney Cars movie on my laptop on my tray right under my video screen and I prayed he didn't look up and see the vampires covered in blood having very hot sex.

Quick Rob autographed guitar update. So the first ebay auction didn't meet reserve. I did bid but at the minimum really and so wasn't surprised. Well it is not relisted and with NO RESERVE! So far it is up to $3550 and there are 2 bidders. The auction ends in 2 days



I'll be posting about my last week in Hong Kong and also Hong Kong Disneyland in a separate post. I know, totally out of order but there are too many HK photos to surf through.

Also, it seems that Rob dreams are becoming rampant in twitardia so I'll be posting mine as well. It was from a very restful sleep I had the last week I spent in Hong Kong.

Lastly, there are some additions and updates to Twi-Mobile that I'll be posting as well so stay tuned.

Forget the Disney or Hong Kong posts for now. Today will be about New Moon.

My mother had pre-ordered the 2 disc version from HMV for me. It comes with a bonus movie poster and an iphone skin too for about $25. I don't know why but we took forever to leave the house this am. In fact, they had called March 19th evening to say it was ready for pick up but I still waited until today. I'm just going to post all the photos I took with minimal writing. I am at a loss for words today.

Outside HMV
Plenty of copies at the counter
Special HMV DVD case
I can't read it either but still took a pic
Main disc
Bonus features disc




I am SO HAPPY!! Now, if only I can put it on without screwing up
Full size New Moon movie poster
- distorted as I'm holding it down with my toes

From December 2009 - For $16 USD you get one of three folders, the NM soundtrack CD, and $2 off the movie 
I have an obsession for plastic folders - can't buy this anywhere!!

Lists of songs on soundtrack
The coupon for $10 HKD ($1.50 USD) off the show (from Dec 2009)
plain tight fitting black with silver writing - perfect
I've resisted buying a T-shirt but it was only $18 USD 
good thing I've finally allowed myself to buy Edward stuff without Bella too
Having his face right on my chest feels a bit awkward
"What choice have I? I cannot be without you, but I will not destroy your soul"
So, not illegal stuff at all. But $18 a T shirt is good and I am super happy I got packs with a folder and a soundtrack CD for $16 bucks. I don't remember seeing any of this stuff at the HMV in Canada and we're never at the Hot Topics in the USA so I am super stoked with this merchandise. Just don't know how I am going to take the full size movie poster home. I love that it has Chinese on it too.

I haven't even watched the DVDs yet but I am heading out for dinner soon and was too excited to not post. Will of course buy a Blu-Ray copy when I get back to Vancouver. 

By the way, the Rob Pattinson guitar auction is ending in 12 hours. The reserve has not been met and I did bid. We'll have to see what Mr. TC says about me bidding more - I am offering to forgo all anniversary, birthday, Christmas, and Mother's Day presents for the next 5 years.

Family

Baby G is ready for a sunny day of shopping
wearing Mommy's shades
So far we've been here for a few days and I already feel like it's been a good satisfying trip. I achieved the real goal of coming to Hong Kong and that is to visit my maternal grandmother who is in her mid-90s. My 4 year old has spent some time with her and hopefully he'll remember this trip even without the photos. Writing this post actually makes me tear up a little bit. I have not spent enough time with her in recent years and all of my cousins and I have realized that there is likely little time left to enjoy her company.

I've always loved looking at her hands and I couldn't resist taking a photo.
After taking my grandmother out for lunch we went back to her room at my aunts house. My grandmother took out a digital voice recorder, turned it on, and just left it running for our whole visit. We just sat around and watched TV while my son played his Nintendo DS. We chatted about random stuff, had snacks and tea, and then we left. I asked my mother later about the recorders and apparently granny has been doing this for years. She'll recite literature or poetry for hours and then listen to it again some time later. Her eyesight has deteriorated so much in recent years I understand her motivation.

I am in awe that she does this. Listening to my own voice even on my voicemail causes me great distress. Despite the fact that I have sang in front of audiences and performed off/on for different functions over the years I cannot stand to hear myself sing. I must leave a room if people are watching a tape of my performance. This reminds me of when Rob Pattinson couldn't watch the Twilight premiere and had to leave the theatre to go throw up. Just too embarrassed I guess.

That my grandmother can recite poetry or literature for hours really should come as no surprise to me. My great grandfather started one of the only school for girls in Hong Kong and he insisted that women should have a solid education. This is back in the early 1900's when women were expected to shut up and have babies. I don't know where those genes got lost but I suspect my fathers scientific engineering side won out. Hence I am in medicine and my sister is a programmer; neither of us enjoyed English lit one bit.

My grandmother's favourite chocolate
Another thing that struck me as funny was my grandmothers statement "have some chocolate, it helps keep you full." My son had eaten very little for lunch because he is a picky eater and was jet-lagged. She spent the whole visit back at her place plying him with cookies and sweets. Her statement about how chocolate keeps you full totally hit home.

Our family idea of what a complete meal should be
My grandmother had 5 daughters and a son. My mother and her sisters are not good at cooking everyday food. In fact, none of my cousins are either (except the boys who seem to cook much better than the girls). However, many of us are good at making dessert. I have only seen my grandmother cook rice twice in my whole life and my mother cook dinner less than twenty times ever. But my grandmother will spend painstaking hours to make awesome Chinese desserts. Sound familiar? It's a good thing that all the women in my family have managed to find men who cook well - I think this is actually one of our minimal criteria for marriage.

Seems like a dangerous way to cook
Eating

One of the hardest things to make in Chinese cuisine are these Shanghai-ese steamed buns.


Each of these buns is actually a mini pouch of soup so that when you bite into them the soup explodes into your mouth. They are a specialty of the Nanxiang Steamed Bun people who have a location in Hong Kong. It was a perfect place to catch lunch at 12 noon before the 1pm office lunch crowd hit. It was also great because we happened to get a table by the window so baby G could look at the trams and double decker buses going by.



We ended up having a snack at McDonald's too. Some differences in the menu include the Happy Meal being served with an option for corn instead of fries.

Happy Meals come with corn instead of fries if you want
They offer taro pie in addition to apple. It doesn't taste like Hawaiian Poi and was very good although I'm biased because I like taro and purple food can't be bad right?



Shopping


Causeway Bay, my favourite department store Sogo


No one can match my family in shopping. Given that a matriarch runs a family overrun with women, shopping and eating snacks are our biggest pastimes. A typical family outing is to go shopping for a minimum of 6 hours and have cookies and coffee for dinner while holding a ton of shopping bags (well, the boys hold the bags if they were brave - ahem stupid - enough to come with us.)


However, I am at a loss. Hong Kong has proven so far to offer very little Twilight stuff. The only thing I found was this.




I only knew about the existence of this Jacob doll because of the recent news about the tattoo being upside down but I have never seen it before. It quite floored me when I was surreptitiously walking through our favourite Japanese department store Sogo here in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong and I saw it. Jacob is trapped between two rows of Edward dolls on either side. Bella is nowhere to be found and long ago sold out.


I am not a Taycob fan and in fact I have been known to openly loathe him. But the collector in me couldn't pass this up. So my mom bought it for me. It makes me feel like I'm seven again to have my mom buy me a Barbie but considering that my sister and I only had two Barbies ever it seems okay. Maybe I bought him just so that I can watch the Edward doll beat the crap out of him. Oh, that imagery makes me smile.

I was out on the hunt that day as well for a new camera for Mr. TC.

Canon S90

Wan Chai Computer City mecca
The price is the same as at home but without the tax and you're more likely to get freebies thrown in. We usually shop in Wan Chai away from all the tourists of Tsim Sha Tsui and go to big shopping complexes called Computer City. It's multiple floors of very small shops all competing for your business. Some of there stuff is legal and lots of it is not. My dad, like any regular guy, loves these places and so he was happy to have an excuse to take me without my mom harassing him for wasting time in an area where they don't sell clothes and purses.

My dad has "a guy" at Power Smart that he buys cameras from - these are direct imports from Japan and not authorized dealers so there is no Canon warranty. But "the guy" will fix your camera for you. Once I brought home a camera from Hawaii that had stopped working completely. Canon said it was cheaper to just buy a new one because they couldn't figure out what was wrong. My mom brought it to "the guy" and he opened it up and found a 1/4 tsp of sand inside it! It cost 50 bucks Cdn and I got my camera back in good shape.

I was also on the search for an R4 card for my kids Nintendo DSi machines.



 If you don't know, these are cards that have a micro SD card in them that you can upload multiple games onto that you find on bit torrent. Of course Nintendo doesn't approve of these devices and in fact the R4 cards we bought this time stopped working after a day. They work fine in the old style Nintendo DS but the new DSi machines seem to be smart enough to block these illegal devices. It's my fault for not realizing they have something called an R4i which should get around the roadblocks Nintendo has built in. My father endeavours to go back and get the R4i - another excuse for him to go back to the video and computer game megaplex.

Other things I've found while shopping (I was too afraid to take out my camera in these places since most of them weren't entirely legal so I ended up finding stock photos but you get the idea)


The prettiest Hello Kitty Mahjong set I've seen

Almost bought Transformer Mickey for Mr. TC who loves both cultural icons
They sell a lot of different iphone cases for $5-15 bucks Cdn each. My favourites ones:

The yummiest iphone case ever! It even smells like chocolate

Pretty soft case costing $16 Cdn each

Matching iphone wallpapers it comes with for free

Even though toy capsule machines are an old concept we still enjoy them. My son loves these things. Instead of capsules we nickname them Egg Machines in Chinese.

Toy capsule machines

Mini working replicas of these machines to baby G can play his own
Along the way we also stopped in a shop that sells pirated music and movies. These stories often aren't as seedy feeling as they sound and I'm always surprised they are allowed to exist at all. The quality is very good and the only thing that gives away the pirate nature is the totally f*cked up spelling on the box. What do you expect for 5 bucks USD each?





It's pretty and perfect as long as you can't read the English.

I have to recount a funny story of how much stuff we bought today. First of all, the department stores here split up their merchandise by brand, not type of apparel. For example all the jeans aren't together but instead there is a Levi's section with all Levi clothing and then another Calvin Klein jeans section with all types of CK Jean apparel. It's annoying because you have to pay for everything in the section where you found it. Totally different from shopping in North America where you can wander around a store and pay for it all at one counter. Hence I had to pay at six different counters all on the kids toy and clothing floor today. I only bought one or two items at each section but that's six times I took out my money and six different bags they insisted on giving me.



This is also how I didn't realize we had forgotten a bag at the store. A middle aged man suddenly stopped us and asked if we were the women who forgot their purchases back at one of the counters. People make it a point of not talking to strangers in Asia - usually if you do you're either crazy or a criminal. So we ignored him of course. Then my cousin, who is such a crazy Hello Kitty fan that the store clerk has her cell number on file in case they get new exclusive stock, called me and said that indeed we had forgotten something back at the store. Mortifying that I had forgotten something and even worse that I had thought that man was crazy. He did the most un-Hong Kong thing and went out of his way to help us and we totally brushed him off. I'll have to make this one up in karma somehow by being a super good girl.

So my favourite purchase for the day?

This Nintendo DS case comes in third place
Hong Kong dimsum Hello Kitty card case comes in second

Hello Kitty Cupcake bus pass holder is the Winner!
Of course I couldn't pass up the pussy and cupcake together :) Aw, it makes me think of the fanfic Clipped Wings and Inked Armor's Tattward who love cupcakes almost as much as I do.


Okay, we're off to Hong Kong Disneyland tomorrow. Should be wonderful fun!