Culture

although i had a thursday, friday and saturday out, i mean big time OUT, i finally got a bit of culture. i saw "wanted" with angelina jolie. i kid, i kid. actually, i am not joking, i did see it. but the culture of which i am referring to is that i went to kowloon and saw the "walled city". and it kind of disappointed me to be quite honest. however, the perks were that i finally picked up an octopus card (they are metro cards but also you can use them to buy groceries, much needed junk at a 7-eleven, etc.) and i took the mtr for the first time. the mtr, by the way is so nice and clean. it is very easy to use and i must say, the anti-public transportation girl that i am, i am impressed. however, it still doesn't mean i want to take it everyday...

anyway, per my previous post, my first visitor came and it is hard to entertain when you do not know the city yet. friday and saturday nights consisted of drinking but saturday and sunday afternoons there was a little sightseeing action that happened. on friday, my friend showed up and met up as of course, i was out at a bar in soho. we stayed out with one of my coworkers and just had a total blast laughing and talking about travel, work, telling stories and rating hot chicks. then saturday was spent walking around the central, midlevels area. of course, i ran into someone i met earlier (man, this city really is small) and at night, we headed out for my coworker's birthday party. the venue was supposed to be a beach but since the weather wasn't good, it was held at a bar in lan kwai fung. there i met a bunch of great people. there was a mix of mostly brits and americanos but i guess the funniest part is that i got along better with the brits than the americanos. there was a girl from jersey and 2 brothers from long island. one of the two brothers was quite nice but the chick from jersey didn't seem like she wanted much to do with me. that is ok because she had a sick perm and looked semi-desperate with her saggy twins out on display. and the other brother - i hate to say this but he for sure gives americans a bad name - loud, obnoxious, close-minded and the ability to only talk about the thai whores he met last week. anyway, after a bit at one place, we ventured onto another bar where we did jello shots (i actually spit mine back into the cup - i know, klassy) and a pole from the ceiling of which one may hang from while intoxicated. it really took pole dancing to a whole new level. the whole scene really was like a very bad frat party with 80's music. so needless to say, we took off kind of early - maybe 1ish?? the next day, i slept in (am such a bad host) and my friend ventured off for some sightseeing. we met up later and had some "culture" including kowloon's walled city and "wanted". again, the walled city was not what i expected and neither was "wanted" but angelina did look pretty hot.

on a side note, there was another interesting "culture" moment when we were sitting and waiting for the movie to begin. an ad for whitening treatments flashed in front of us. and i'm not talking about teeth. both myself and my guest were mortified. women here are big into "whitening" their skin. it is part a class thing and part a western thing. class in the sense that in the "olden days" it was the poor working class who were in the fields working and therefore more tan. and now it has morphed into asian women wanting to look more western. sick. it was especially since i am obviously not white (at least not on the outside) and neither is my panamanian friend.

i have to say, all in all, it was another great weekend.