Half and half weekend

Yea, half working and half chilling weekend!! We didn't go hiking on Saturday. =(
Each of us worked almost a full day during the weekend but still managed to find some (short period of) time to relax and have fun.


Lunch with old-time buddies

Went to lunch with Lau Shun and ah Gi on Sunday. Those two are probably one of my "oldest" friends in Hong Kong. We knew each other since we were in primary school. Grade 2? Grade 3? So long ago that I couldn't remember now. =D


Lau Shun suggested to eat Chaozhou (潮州) cuisine. Both Mike and I never had Chaozhou food before. So it was decided - Chaozhou cuisine it was!!!


Mike kept taking all these sneaky pictures when we were not paying attention. (Though I'm sure he would call them "natural" pictures instead) ^_^


Food was pretty good. Too much meat and seafood for Mike though, haha... My poor little (fake) vegetarian!!


Ah Gi shared some of her funny "awakening" stories at work with us.
Very .... impressive, ah Gi!! That apartment guard was indeed very "inched"!!! haha, but next time you guys should .... hmm... u know.... (*evin grin*) ^o^


Thanks to Mike's superb long arm, no camera stand was needed, haha~
"超正!! "said Mike.
"Wow, ah Mike lei 好勁 ah" said ah Gi.
(Looks like somebody's Cantonese has improved a lot!!!) =D


Mike was still playing with his camera and taking sneaky pictures as we were leaving the restaurant.

He captured this very funny one - look at the women outside on the street. Didn't they look like they were participating in some kind of drama trying to look for somebody? (okok... may be it's just me... a bit too "imaginative", hehe)

After lunch, Lau Shun went with us and helped shop for our new 250G hard drive!! haha~ yay!!! More space to host hiking pictures!!! Ohohoh.. and we even met Caleb, Lau Shun's bf. I told him how we accidentally "discovered" his blog the other day... haha.... small world~


Next : Standard Chartered Book Festival

Another book fair!!! Of coz, I, being a hardcore bookworm, won't miss it. Not to mention that this one was an outdoor one, which made it even more fun!!


"Reading is good for ya!!" the bookworm mumbled.


The book fair itself was hosted in Victoria Park. We walked by its soccer court on our way there. A pretty nostalgic scene. It reminded me of my little lovely bro Jackie, how he loved and always played soccer when he was little. (Though he mostly just followed the soccer ball around and ran, haha) Sorry, Jackie, your computer (geek) gene definitely out-beats your soccer player gene, by A LOT!!! hohohoho~


Another thing that we passed by was our beloved Hong Kong main public library. Frecking awesome-looking and clean (unlike the SF main library)!!! Doesn't it look like a Transformer?!!



We got there around evening time. But the book fair was still crowded with people.


Lots of book tents were set up. Probably using the tents to block the sunlight during day time.


Lots of simplified character books. And the crazy thing was they are usually (at least) 50% cheaper than their traditional character counterpart, if not more...


The kids book section was huge too!! Mike and I were trying to find some Chinese children books that have a political agenda for Brian, his old roommate from US. If you are a fan of "The Daily Shows with Jon Stewart", you'll know what I am talking about !! (*grin*)

Speaking of which - so sad that the show was on-hold due to the writer strike in the States.
Come on, you all money-sucking big Studio owners, give back the writers what they deserve!!!! Let them write more good shows for us!!!!


Okay, back to the book fair.... hmm... so many choices... where should I start?


Well... looked like I got my first interested target!! =)

Yeah, Mike and I splited up shortly after we entered the book fair. I didn't want to bore him with my slow "book-tasting" ;)


As a result, he went alone with his camera and took some really good pictures. This one was a giant wood craft art next to the book tents. I like how he even captured the guy appreciating the art at the back!!


More wood craft art - but mini version - There was this one tent that taught kids how to make wood craft, attracting quite a lot of children.
Come on, who doesn't like to make a cute little owl like this one? (Speaking of owl - It reminded me of the snowy owl in Harry Potter? --> Oh no, my Harry Potter fever striked again!!!! helpw...) heh~

Why did I look so puzzled? Well... What really happened was - I didn't know Mike was doing his thing taking "sneaky" pictures behind people's back again. So I was taken a bit by surprise and didn't know how to response when I saw his camera RIGHT BEHIND ME!!!


Such a warm scene - parents brining kids to the book fair, letting them pick books that they like... I reminded me of my childhood - how my mom and I used to go to book shop and shopped for books together. And I even remembered how she would buy all kinds of knowledge-based non-fiction books, while I was so crazily indulging myself in those stupid naive (mostly Taiwanese) love fictions... hahaha... I wonder if my mom still remembers that now....


Oh my gosh... looked what Mike found !!! Harry Potter ..... in Chinese!!! (Though I have to admit, Harry Potter in Chinese seems kinda strange to me... I wonder how they translated "Patronus" or "quidditch", or..... hmm.....)


Seeing people diligently picking books always make smile!! (I know i know, I probably look like an idiot smiling in public for no reason!! haha)


Was trying to find some travel books to Taiwan at the book fair, in preparation for the Taiwan trip, but didn't find any. Though I did find a lot of travel books for different provinces of China. Hmm... that plus all those simplified character books.... Anyone else smelled of the hidden (or not-so-hidden) "Mainlandized schemes" here?

Mike's "Precious Moments" Collection
(haha... yea, I just named the collection without getting his permission. I am sure he won't mind. They are such good pictures.)


Story-telling/sharing corner for kids and parents!!


Or, you can draw pictures with your kids =)


People were still reading even though it started to get dark!!


In Conclusion....


A busy (working) and yet relaxing weekend!! Yay!!!