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Entrance to Wong Tai Sin Temple

Here are some pictures from the Garden portion of the temple!

Hong Kong Entry #9

Ni Hao! Been a while!

Sorry it's taken me so long to get on here and write an entry, I just have been super busy and have not had enough to sit down and write a post.  Anyway last Friday was a cool day we had a group trip to the Wong Tai Sin Temple which was really beautiful.  It's right in the middle of the city, however when you are there you would not know it because it still has a way of being quiet and peaceful.  One of the things we did was take 9 in-scent sticks and light them, then you walk around the temple with them and when you finally get to the middle of the temple you place them by 3's into certain areas depending on what you want to pray for.  I will be honest I had no idea what I was praying for so I just took them and placed them in random ones.  There are four gods they pray to apparently, one is for health, wealth, love and something else I can't remember so you can also go to each one of their areas and put coins in their baskets to pray for them.

Another pretty neat thing a couple of us did while we were there was get this cup full of wooden sticks and in the middle of the temple area you get on your knees and think of one wish.  While you continually think of that wish you shake the cup until one stick falls out.  The sticks all have a number on them and the one that falls out is the number for you and take it to a fortune teller who if you pay will tell you, your fortune.  My number ended up being 15, and I was wishing for happiness with whatever job I end up doing.  ( I felt that was a good wish, since I am currently job hunting and so many people settle for jobs they hate)  So i went down to the fortune teller and found one of two that spoke English.

 I have her telling me on video however I could barely understand her in person, so I'm sure on video its nearly impossible.  (It will be posted here tho) Like I said I could not understand her that well but I do know she told me I would have some good luck, however I needed to look out for bad people who would try to pull me down, and that a "dog" could help me or something like that.  Then she roped me into over paying her for this little talisman type thing that had a dog on one side and some god on the other.  It supposed to help out I guess, idk it was a piece of junk but I figure what the hell I'm only going to do this once.  After getting our fortunes told Alex and myself decided to walk around without the group and explore.  We went to the garden area which was absolutely beautiful and peaceful.  I would totally be happy with going there once a week and walking around to just sit in some piece and quiet.
From the temple myself and a couple of the other guys decided to go to Mega Box which is a huge mall, its basically like their version of Mall of America.  Its 22 stories high and has tons of stuff inside it including an IKEA, IMax, ice skating rink and much more.  We had lunch in there at the California Pizza Kitchen which was great because I have not had pizza since I havehttp://www.lebua.com/en/tower-club/luxury-accommodation/lebua-suite-3-br/beenhttp://www.lebua.com/en/tower-club/luxury-accommodation/lebua-suite-3-br/http://www.lebua.com/en/tower-club/luxury-accommodation/lebua-suite-3-br/ aside from delivery Pizza Hut which was okay just it was tiny!  I ordered a personal pepperoni pizza and ate the entire thing.
After we all got done eating we walked around a little, we went to IKEA and I bought a wicked sweet towel that is super soft!  Then we went to this area where they sell just about anything you can think of including groceries for super cheap, from there I bought a pair of water shoes for my adventure coming up on Sunday.  From there we went back home and when we got there myself, Ignacio, Mike P., Mike Thai, Ross, Ali all bought plane tickets! I bet your wondering where.... to Thailand, Mike Thai's last name is really not Thai we just call him that b/c he is from Thailand haha.  So we planned a trip to Bangkok for the following weekend.  We all bought our plane tickets and then on top of that we booked an absolutely sweet hotel.  We will be staying at Lebua at State Tower which is the finest luxury hotel in Bangkok.  Many of you have actually probably seen it before, its featured in The Hangover 2, its that huge hotel where Mr. Chow gets arrested.  We even got the "Hangover package"  in one of the 3 Bedroom Sweets. This freaking room is huuuuuge it says its 266 m2 and has 4 balconies and a living room.  Not to mention because we did "Tower Club" which is 50th-59th Floor we get access to the Tower Club Lounge with complimentary drinks.  One other neat thing we asked us for the highest possible room and they gave us the 58th floor which is the second highest in the building!! It's going to be one heck of an experience! images
So we were all pumped about that which made our night go great because we were all in good moods.  Friday night was Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day or basically the day that Britain gave them back to China.  So it was a big celebration day for people from Hong Kong. It was really just another night for me.  We went to this pretty nice club in LKF which I forget the name of and ended up getting a table which was cool, we danced, sang had a good time, Mike Thai bought a bottle of Champagne.  Then after we went across the street to this gourmet burger place where I housed a delicious burger and some fries.  From there we just headed home.
Saturday I had to wake up fairly to do our Dream Career group trip which was to Lantau Island.  I barely got up, the only reason I did was because a bunch of my friends asked me to wake them up for it, so I felt responsible.  Of all the people I woke up, only one of them decided to ignore me and go back to sleep....Ross.  Ah well, he missed a pretty neat trip but hey his choice.  Lantau Island is the home of the tallest Bhudda in the world! On our way there in the bus we stopped at a couple neat areas.  One of them was this tiny little fishing town on the water.  The people who lived there actually built their houses on stilts above the water.  Now apparently they have done this for many, many years but I would be nervous when a tsunami came!  In the bay area there is a type of Dolphin that is white, and its actually endangered now, but from this town you could take a little boat tour to see the town from the water and then they take you looking for dolphins.  Well this girl from my group Josilyn wanted to do it and it was only $20 Honkie so I went on it as well, and I'm really glad I did!  We got to see the town from the water and then we actually saw dolphins!! I actually saw one of them jump out of the water which was really really cool.  Once the boat ended it was time to leave and head to Lantau.  When we got to Lantau the bus drove us up to the top where the bhudda sits.  Their is actually a museum inside the bhudda however no pics are aloud so if you want to see it you will just have to go.  In the museum their is beautiful art and an actual piece of the real Bhudda's tooth.  After looking and taking pics at the bhudda we had a vegetarian lunch, which was actually pretty good and I enjoyed it.  When we were done eating we could look around a little and do some shopping, which I took advantage of.  I was able to get two jade bracelets from the monastery store which was good b/c all proceeds went to the monastery.  
From there we walked to this connecting shopping and attraction area where monks who knew karate put on performances and you could buy gifts.  From this area I was able to get gifts for Lauren, my Mom and Tara, I sure hope they fit, they are beautiful though!  When it was time to leave instead of just riding on the bus we took this gondola and boy was that worth the entire trip.  It was the longest Gondola ride I have ever been on and it was such a beautiful site to see, absolutely unreal.  (For some reason this stupid blogger won't let me upload pics right now so I will just add them to another post with just pics and to my Facebook.)  Any way it was such a great day trip and something I definitely recommend doing if your ever in Hong Kong.  At night everyone was really tired from the past two day and all the walking and sight seeing so most of us took naps and then after, Ignacio, Mike P., Mike Thai, Ali and myself all went to see Transformers 3 which was awesome.  I don't know how many of you have seen it but it is an awesome movie probably my favorite out of all three.  It is a typical guys movie, hott girls and tons of action!  It was also very entertaining, there were some serious unexpected twists and the plot was much better than the second.  I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars simply because of the length (which I still didn't mind)  Anyway it was a great couple of days and I had no idea the next day would out do it all. But I'm wicked tired so I will write about that tomorrow! Goodnight! 

Ni Hao! So I left off tuesday night with y'all, and Wednesday was a very similar day to tuesday.  It really consisted of me doing minimal real work, (I feel like Peter in Office Space) its not that I don't want to work, its just I rather pick my co-workers brain about people they know and what not and look for jobs.  Now I had just had a great talk with Andrew Miller the previous day about jobs in marketing and PR so I was really into that.  As I was looking I decided to look for jobs in Social Media, however all the social media jobs in Asia-Pacific consisting of social media need like 4 years of experience.  This is unfortunate because I really enjoy doing it.  I got curious and decided to look to see what type of openings there were for social media jobs in the States, and as I expected there were tons.  One of them caught my eye in particular, it was for a company called Bai Brands, that was fairly young only about a year and a half under its belt, and it was looking for a social media coordinator.  The idea of working for this company literally kind of just jumped off the screen at me, and really kind of got me excited.  This product is something very revolutionary and on top of it, its only 5 calories and has quadruple the amount of anti-oxidants as other drinks, so its super healthy.  Now I have no idea if I will even get the job but just the thought of being part of something like this is really neat to me, who knows it could be the next Gatorade or Coca-Cola!  So that one really got me thinking the only thing is that it was going everything I was against when I have been saying that I really want to move out here to work, which I really do, like if I take a job back home, who knows if I would ever get a chance to come back out here to work.  The problem is that Hong Kong is unique because its one of very few cities that is industry specific, everything is revolved around Banking!! Its a banking city and all other businesses revolve around it, shipping, marketing/pr, real estate for offices etc..  So I pretty much did that most of the day, I had a meeting with Andrew and Sylvia talking about what I was supposed to specifically for the index and I was able to sit in on them interviewing a big candidate, so that was interesting.  On our way back from work the three of us met up with Ignacio and Mike in the mall and we went into a pharmacy because I needed some vitamin C pills bad, so I got those and a new tooth brush because I like the ones that have a tongue cleaner on them.  I asked if any of them were planning on going to listen to the Speaker of the week and Chris and Ignacio both said they were.   So I headed back to my room showered and went down to homey kitchen or "homeless" as one of my friends Alex (from Jamaica) call it hahaha.  Now everybody calls it homeless instead of homey.  I found a new meal that I like at homeless and its a chicken and tuna fish sandwich.  The chicken is very good its almost like deli chicken it isn't fatty or anything.  The only problem with the sandwich is they try to put mayo on it which yes I hate!  So the ladies working there must hate me b/c I stare at them and watch them make it so they don't put mayo on it.  Since that night I have gotten that sandwich every meal I have gone to homeless. 
After we ate we headed to the speaker, his name was David Fernyhough and he works for Hill & Associates which is a consulting business which does security and risk management.He is from New Zealand and has worked in Hong Kong most of his life.  He got here at 18 and started in the police force and worked his way up to Detective Chief Inspector, he spent a lot of time chasing the Triads among other bad guys.  Then he went to the intelligence business in counter terrorism and counter Intelligence.  Then he started working at Hill & Associates and is the VP now.  He was a super interesting and entertaining guy to listen to.  He really inspired me to do something I enjoy, by the way he was talking with so much passion about being a cop.  "It was just loads of fun, breaking down doors, knocking guys heads in, running around the city with a gun!" in his hard New Zealand accent.  He just really helped me realize that its so rewarding doing what you really enjoy.  So at that moment I knew I was applying for that Social Media Coordinator position at Bai Brands. After the the speaker series was over we thanked him, shook his hand then went to the third floor to meet with a group of our friends, just the guys, we were planning something big!  We got 10 of us together and booked a two suites in Macau which is the Vegas of the the East.  Its an Island a short 35 minute ferry ride away and just filled with Casinos and hotels and clubs.  We booked the two rooms in the Hard Rock hotel the weekend of July 21st and 22nd, because at that hotel there was going to be some killer parties that weekend.  Amanda Weiland one of the girls here who is working as an events planner, actually planned one of the parties.  The party is called Splash and its basically a sick pool party, there are basically two events going on at once and we are going to both.  The first starts at 4pm and goes till 2am and its a hotel pool side party with Lil John.  The second starts at 10pm and goes till 6 am and it is at Club Cubic and Akon will be there. So we booked that up with two corner suites, so we were pumped.
  I went back to my room and talked to Tara for a while and she helped me figure out how to write a killer cover letter, which I did till about 3:00 am and then finally submitted my application at 3:30! I knew I would be tired the next day but I wanted to get that application out ASAP.  I read somewhere on the internet that the first few apps looked at by the employer have the best chance of getting hired because after like 10-20 the employer has one or two in mind and they just compare the rest to those people.  So the ad for the job had been up since June 27th so it was only 3 days old, so hopefully I would be alright.


Waking up on Thursday was terrible, I was wicked tired and could barely keep my eyes open the entire train ride.  Thursday was literally the most unproductive day at work of my entire life!  I did zip, nada, zero.  However I think that was the case for most people, I did continue looking at jobs a lot.  For lunch Stanley invited us to join him to go to a traditional Singaporean restaurant. It was a small little place and the food was not bad.  It was mostly noodle type stuff in a broth with some meat.  It had a serious kick to it and you could not cool your mouth down because the water to drink was served boiling hot!!  So that was interesting to try and I'm glad I went with him.  When we got out of work I went for run and worked out.  It was a great workout and I felt terrific after it.  Right after my run I headed up to Homeless kitchen to get my dinner, my chicken and tuna sandwich.  Then I hurried back to my room to Skype with my Mom and Michael.  It was good to talk to them for a while, I miss them both a lot! Michael showed me his sweeeeet uni's for his 413 Lacrosse team.  These things are dope! They are Nike uniforms and they have the little lower hanging part in the back that says 413 just like the old Syracuse ones that said Cuse.  Pretty sweet much nicer than anything I ever wore until College!  

 
After talking with them for a while I showered up quickly and got dressed. Then we headed out to LKF for our typical going out night, except with a twist!  Tonight they were celebrating the Canadian Independence day.  So LKF was packed and crazy.  We started off at La Bodega which is obviously this Mexican place, the girls like it because on thursdays its ladies night and free drinks for girls.  There were so many give aways at LKF that said Canada d'eh!! on them.  I got a hat by the end of the night and gave it to the only Canadian among us, my co-worker Chris Denton.

After Bodega Alex, and Thai Mike as we call him b/c he is from Thailand went to the shot place on the corner that we love however it took forever to get our shots, so Alex was getting mad because he already paid. When we got our shots we headed to Liquid because we thought everyone had gone in there....we were wrong.  We cut the Liquid line and waited for like 20 minutes then finally got in.  When we got there we realized none of our friends were there but we partied without them anyway.  


We had a great time dancing and singing, Alex decided to take my camera at one point and make this video.  We even got a VIP table however none of our friends were there to share it with us so it was not as good.  So after a while we headed out of Liquid and headed to where else but.... Azure aka skybar.  This time at Azure I remembered to take some pictures of the view!  It was good night overall and I think everybody had a great time.  Chris met a very cute girl with which he hit off pretty well!
One thing that I forgot to mention which you will see from the pictures of me is that Hong Kong is humid and as hell, so it and my sweating problem do not get along well, I literally sweat my face off every time I go out!  O well still have fun tho!  One cool thing that happened aside from getting the Canada hat this guy who I took a picture of, gave me his sweet white sunglasses that have buttons that can turn on lights on the side of them!  Freaking Sweet bro!

Dude who gave me the sweet sunglasses

Alex and I with the Canadian hat

Mike Thai and Alex

Me in the rain

Well last night was great and today was a day off as I mentioned so it was sweet too! However I am about to head out now so you will have to wait till next time to hear what I did all day! PZ!