(Pre) Birthday Dinner with relatives

We had dinner with Stephen's family, my favorite (and only) relatives in Hong Kong on the day before my birthday. Stephen is two days older than I am. So we chose to celebrate our dinner together on the day in between our birthdays!! (I am sure it's Stephen's idea~ ^o^ )

We went to Peking Garden Restaurant in Central. They specialized in Peking Duck dishes. We ordered 3 duck dishes: Peking duck with buns, stir-fry duck meat in lettuce wrap and a yummy, luxurious duck soup. Besides the duck, we also had a so-so veggie dish, two orders of steamed "small dragon dumplings" (because it's Mike's favorite), and a banana-red bean pastry dessert (yea, dessert!! dessert!!!)

All the duck dishes were excellent. Even Mike, the (pretending) vegetarian ate lots of yummy duck that night~ =) I think that must have been the most meat I've seen him eaten besides burger!! ^_^ (Right, Mike?)

Stephen, Winnie (the happy couple) and me. =)

Winnie just came back from Mexico that morning. Poor Winnie - she must be very tired that night. She told us lots of exciting things she saw in Mexico though. The funniest thing was how she liked the Taco Bell's Mexican food more than the authentic Mexican food she tried in Mexico. hahaha.... Mike couldn't stop laughing....

It's always fun to see my favorite cousins' family!!!

To my silly lovely mom and dad...

I didn't expect my previous entry would embark such parental attention from you guys - I thought it was so cute and sweet that both of you guys called me individually to urge me to buy a heater to keep warm! ^_^ hehe...

I felt like being a 10 year-old little spoiled brat all over again ;) Thanks!! I know I know, my usual "spoiled brat"-self might have sounded like annoyed on the phone, but deep down in my heart, I am very very thankful and moved!!!

I MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!


Thank you for always loving me and supporting me unconditionally!!
Love you, mom & dad!!!


p.s. Though there is one IMPORTANT point I have to make -
I think my "money-saving" personality might have left too much of an impression on you guys since I moved abroad - I have to stress again - I did NOT "abuse" Mike and not let him buy coats or heater to keep warm!! (Where did you guys get that idea from???)

And I can't believe you guys will favor a "foreigner" over your own daughter!!!! (yes, pun intended!!)

LOL.... (^_~)v

Gathering and dinner with relatives

Mike and I had dinner with my dad's side of relatives from abroad last Sunday. I know my dad must have been very eager to see these pictures, so I gave them priority over my hiking pictures =D (haha... dad, see how much I love you?! ^o^ )


There were 11 of us at the dinner: Mike and I, Uncle 15's family, my aunt from Virginia, and my remote cousin and her husband from Austin, Texas.


On the left are Mei, my cousin from Texas and her husband. They are a bit older then Stephen and I. Their sons are my age already~



Stephen and Cary (my uncle 15's children) are my all-time favorite cousins. So I am always happy to see them!!

Cary, my little lovely cousin who will be graduating from HKU soon.


The lovely couple, Stephen and Winnie =)


My aunt from Virginia brought us some pictures of her new-born twins grandsons. Oh my gosh... they are VERY VERY VERY cute!!! Cary and I couldn't stop flipping through the pictures and even took pictures of the pictures, haha... (yea, you are witnessing the "Leung's family craziness" !!)


What's even more crazy is that - even though the babies are twins. If you look very carefully, you'll find out that one is more "mixed" and the other one is more Asian. The differences are very subtle. Can you tell who is which? ;)


We ordered a lot of dishes. And surprisingly, Mike actually *likes* the steamed fish, haha~


And Mike, as usual, has been busy taking his "natural" pictures of people when they were not paying attention!!


Group picture time - Uncle 15's family + Winnie + my aunt
(Cary, what is your left hand doing.....? Poor Stephen.....)


Everybody smiles!!!~


Winnie and me~ (and part of Stephen's chin too, haha)


Cary and me, the silly crazy daughters from the Leung's family


This one is my favorite one!! All four of us have very different emotions and expressions when Mike snapped the picture!


Party was over - on our way out of the restaurant

I missed hanging out with Stephen, Winnie and Cary!! Hope we can all go to play badminton soon!!!

Parents' Visit - Dimsum with Miss Chow's family

Miss Chow my mom's best friend and also my piano teacher since I was 4. She has watched me grew up and treated me like a daughter. My mom and I are very close to her.

One of the activities that we couldn't miss when my parents were here, of coz, was to go to dimsum with her and her family. It was a nice, sunny Sunday noon. Mike and I insisted to eat at our favorite dimsum restaurant at Whompo. We fell in love with that dimsum restaurant since the first time Miss Chow brought us there when we just arrived HK. Since the dim sum restaurant is usually too far for us to go very often, so it was a very good opportunity to go today, since Miss Chow lives right near there. (haha... strategy, strategy, strategy!!!) ;)

It was very crowded (as expected)!! Miss Chow went early and had been waiting for an hour already. We were like "Oh my gosh..." (Much much thx to Miss Chow)!

We got our table at last. Mom and Miss Chow couldn't stop chatting since we sat down!!


I wish when I am at their age, I can still have good old buddies like them~~




Dim sum was awesome as usual~ (Hell yeah!!!)



Even my dad was satisfied, haha~!!



My favorite was the good plain-old steamed rice noodles. Look, I was pouring yummy soy sauce onto it!! Yum yum...



Somebody loves the food!!~ You can totally sense the full tummy from the cheerful smile!!~

After Mike got full, he started pulling out his new camera and played with it!~ I was his first "victim"...

Hey, you!!



Girls are always so eager to find out how they look in the pictures~


"One-two-three-Snap!!"
"Wait, but I was not ready yet!"
(Guess who said which~)



Friends Forever!!!!


After dimsum, we went back to Causeway Bay. There was some kind of bronze sculpture display outside of Times Square, attracting lots of people. (Not that Times Square normally is not busy enough!~)


All the sculptures are very interesting. My personal favorite is this piggy little thing...

Why?
Because it reminded me of Jackie, my little piggy bro~ !!!!
^________________^

Jackie, Best of luck for your first important PhD exam !!

Parents' Visit - The Peak

It's a little recap post of my parents visit a few weeks ago.

I missed them so much so I was really happy to see them visiting. They stayed in HK and China for about a month. As much as I was glad to see them, I had to say that they totally chose the wrong season to be back. It was 30+ degree Celsius everyday during the days that they were here. I heard from that that it was even more unbearable when they were in China.

It was hot as hell, but it would be wrong to waste the sunny weather when my folks were here, right? So we brought them to the Peak. I haven't been there for a long time myself.


To see the most gorgeous view of Hong Kong, where else can beat the Peak??!


Yo, this is my city, my town, my beloved Hong Kong!!!


It's funny watching my mom and dad taking pictures (and even fought for the camera) like little kids ;)


See the expensive-looking houses on the mountain? I know they are supposed to be rich and high standard and all. But seriuosly, if I have to live at a place that I'll need to drive (I guess you'll have someone drive for you if you are living in one of those houses, huh?) even to a super market?! Gosh, I'd sell it and cash out immediately ^_^ haHAha....


Hehe... using Mike as a shadow against the bright sun!! And guess what, the main character of this picture was actually my MOM. Look how happy and "shiny" she was!!!

It's nice to be out!!

Up on the Peak, of coz, it's the Peak tower. (Or what I called, the watermelon tower)


Guess what I was staring at so intently at that time? (Answer is: the last Harry Potter book on the display window!! The book just came out that week~) Ahhh... I miss Potter!!!


Say cheezeeeeeezzzzzz..... (Mike, don't fall asleep on the escalator!)

Strolling on the Peak was very enjoyable!! You can see extraordinary view of the Victoria Harbor.

With some rich people's "Astro Turf" as a bonus~ (I only learned the word Astro Turf from Mike, which accordingly to him, means "Space Ground" literally.) Yea, you know, one of those rich people's toys, fake green lawn on their mansion's roof!!!~ Fancy, huh? ;)


We took the tram back to Central. Tourists of different nationality were waiting at the station.


Turned out we had a little "accident" on the tram. It stopped for about 15 mintues in the middle of climbing down (fairly quickly) the very inclined, steep hill. We were stuck and didn't know what was going on...


Before (the happy look)


After (the frightened look)
But of coz, we were okay at the end. The very experienced technician fixed something on the track. After that the tram took us back to the foot of the mountain safely and steadily. (Applaud to the technician!!)

Aftewards mom took us to this really famous congee and noodles place in Central. (forgot what it was called) Food was yummy but not as great as our favorite congee place near Times Square.



Hehehe... and we even swang by my favorite ice-cream store, XIC Gelato, for our dessert. It's very funny and amusing to see mom and dad each holding and eating an ice-cream cone!! (They each got their own, can you believe that??!!)



This was my guilty and yet excited look for sucessfully "tricking" everybody to get Gelato with me!! Haha...