Thursday, January 13, 2005

Emily & Jacky in Hong Kong

I tend to go back to Hong Kong every 2 years or so to catch up with family and friends. I have an extremely large family with mum having 6 siblings and dad 7, add in their wives, children and cousins visiting family can take many days.
I have left alot of photos out and because it's a second home to me I tend to take less pictures. Here is a few that I would like to share.
We spent Christmas Eve with some of Dads family, it was a great night with plenty of eating, games and presents!


left to Right: My cousin David and his wife Aster, cards games, presents Kris Kringle style

Group photo!
The next day was about paying respect to my Grandparents (dad’s side) whom had passed away. I guess it’s not usually something that you would take a picture of, but I was very close to my grandmother and I needed to have something I could refer to when times get tough.



Most of Jacky's family are now living in Canada, with the exception of his Grandfather. Despite being in his 80's he still rides a bike, grows his own vegetables and looks after 2 dogs. He loves Hong Kong, has lived there all his life and refuses to move to Australia or Canada.


There pictures below were taken when we attempted to go look at the Christmas lights display. There was just too many people! Even the lines to catch the bus or MTR home was very long. When we finally got on the bus we took a pciture of all the people still waiting.

My Aunty gave me a diamond Chanel set! I had to remain very composed.

Wendy asked me if I had bought any shoes, so I thought that I would take a picture of a few pairs that I bought. There's about another 4 pairs missing from this picture but I had already packed it away. When you buy new shoes you must buy a new bag to keep the shoe company...it's only fair.

Jacky bought me a diamond ring, 18k white gold with 0.63 karat worth of diamonds...pretty..


Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Emily & Jacky in Tokyo

Fatigue, Stress, Mental and Physical exhaustion. Like work, the trip had become another 'to do' item and I felt like I was drowning in my multitude of tasks. Everyone seemed more excited for me than I did and I couldn't explain why, I wasn't to realise how high strung I was until a few days later. A few of the girls dropped me off to the airport which was a really nice suprise (thank you so much!)

The flight to Japan was pretty rough, the seats felt tighter than usual and the plane was very noisy. I had hoped to catch up on some sleep during the 10 hour flight but tossed and turned all night.

Tokyo
We arrived at 6:00am local time and caught the bullet train to the city, the train smelt like urine, but that aside the 1 hour trip gave us a peek to what we were about to experience. We deliberately paid more to stay at a better location and a nicer hotel only to realise that the transport system is so efficient here it wouldn't really have mattered. Upon our arrival we were pleasantly surprised, Jacky had booked a 4.5 star place – reminding me of how different this all was to our trip 2 years ago.
Left to right: Our Hotel Keizo Plaza, Our hotel suite, Shinjuku the area where we stayed

Japanese people are so polite and 'cute' that we didn't quite know how to respond to them. The bell boy literally tackled us to carry our bags for us, and was extremely excited that we spoke English. For the next few days Jacky and I explored various parts of this fascinating city and for the first time in 8 months I allowed myself to wind down.

Here is our Summary of Japan:

Shinjuku
Overwhelming
Neon lights
Never ending shopping malls
Japanese Noodle Bars
when you can't speak or read Japanese the pictures and coupons are a life saver!

Prices
Not expensive at all, very comparable to Sydney.

Shibuya
people watching – i really can't explain the Japanese's fascination with dressing up as maids and Goths.

Fashion
Whilst the different styles are quite evident and unique, it can definitely be said that Japanese women make a lot of effort to look nice ( putting my jeans and jogger look to shame). It would also seem that Japanese women do not feel the cold as they are able to wear the shortest of short skirts in 10 degree weather.

The height issue
I had always assumed that Japanese people were on the short side. This is not the case at all! Jacky is 185am and I am 170cm and we were surrounded by many people our height.

Porn
Yes the Japanese have a lot of it.

Technology
a way of life. Just look at their toilets with their bum cleaning mechanisms- very very interesting experience.

Shoes
for the first time in 12 years of searching I found tall boots that were catered to slimmer legs. They would zip up with ease and look normal, however having size 7-8 feet would make shoe shopping impossible. In one store I took off my shoe to show the owner the size of my foot- the shop owner laughed out loud and let me know that I would not be able to find shoes in his shop...devastating.

The Internet
$2.20 AUD and hour – bargain

Sushi Bars
$1.20 AUD a plate

The Japanese and their obsession with Cabbage
(The finely chopped variety)
cabbage with rice
cabbage in burgers
cabbage in kebabs
and when the menu says 'salad' they mean cabbage.


Left to right: A Japanese Temple, Outside the Palace, Rainbow Bridge with Tokyo Tower in the background

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Deana in Paris

From: Deana

Sent: Thu 06/11/2004 10:07
Bonjour, Bonjour!!,

Just on my way back to the apartment from my morning jog along the river Seine, Paris.
Let me just start by saying that this keyboard is really difficult to type with because all the letters are in different spots and some of the symbols are just in really weird spots. So I hope that you appreciate reading this email in the luxury of your home or work PC.
I think the last time I wrote I was in London on the way to London’s oldest square called Covent garden. Which is a sqaure filled with shops and markets, in the which we ofcourse shopped in, and where buskers congregate, so we also watched the street entertainment. A true covent experience as per Dave!

On the friday Laura and I departed from London city and headed into the countryside where a good family friend from Sydney is currenty residing. Anthony M drove us around the medieval Leamington Spa, aka shakespear’s territory. Mondee and his friend accompanied us on our visit to the Warwick castle. As soon as I entered the iron gates of Warwick I was arrested at the site of the enormous castle hidden behind the stone walls. The castle is now owned by the madam Tussauds group which are famous for there reinvention of real life peope by the use of wax. In the castle many of the rooms were refurbished with old furniture and filled with recreations of some of the famous and infamous people made of wax and dressed in costume to give tourists a glimpse of how life must have been centuries ago. Just extraordinary! We strolled through a victorian rose garden and imagined how the ladies must have strolled with their gowns. Then climbed the towers to reach high enough to enjoy the incredible views of the country. We then danced the night away at a club called “sugar”. We had an awesome time in Leamington, Mondee you rock.

On Saturday we went shopping at Portobello road in Notting Hill. The street is just so charamastic with it’s tall coloured terrace house which had shopfronts below. The street was blocked off and then filled a thousand market stores which just drew in people ike magnets. We were lost in there for hours but it could of been days. It was just great. At night the markets cleared and we strolled to find a cosy restaurant for dinner. In search for our restaruant we visited the bookshop and garden where “Notting Hill” with Huge Grant was filmed. But the bookshop was actually a butcher which was turned into a bookshop like the one around the corner from the butcher which was actually the bookshop in the film. Did I confuse you? Good that was the point.

That night we set fireworks off with the friends we were staying with cause they are legal in London. Fireworks are aways awesome to watch and even though a few fingers got burnt, they weren't mine, so it was all good.

Now with a minor hiccup, being that our seats were not reserved on the eurostar we made some last minute phonecalls and arrived safely in Paris on Sunday. I was a little daunted at first cause everything was in French and we can’t speak french but we somehow got to our apartment. Pure talent! It was also an ordeal to buy grocceries. The supermarket was huge with lots of everything; like a whole refridgerated isle was dedicated purely to crème caramel, Anthony D you would be in heaven. We could not read the signs of what was what and where was what and could not ask anyone either, so out came the trusty french dictionary to put to end 15 minutes of searching for eggs, ie, “ouefs”. It’s just a too funny.

Yesterday we did a river tour of the river Seine and saw the major monuments incuding Miss Eiffel Tower of Paris along the river front. The bridges, trees and architecture are just so gorgeous! People say Paris is the city of love and I LOVE Paris!!!!!!!!!!!! This city of lights has stolen my heart.

We have also visited the Lourve which is within walking distance of where we are staying.The Lourve is a famous museum which has aquired the largest collection of art thanks to Napoleons conquests.

Here is housed the very famous Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. You know the portrait of a lady that kind of looks like a man that smiles for no reason! Well Mona Lisa’s status is one of the most famous piece of art in the word and although she has been stolen from the gallery twice before and the last time was in 1911, Parisians wept the streets and wrote newspaper articles begging the theives to return the painting, it was apparently found two years later in a Florence hotel room. So I’m not sure that what I saw behind glass was the original, but I’d like to think so. The countryside behind her is lowered on the left side, which makes the left side look larger and historically the left is assigned to females and the right assigned to males. So there, Da Vinci was a fan of feminine principles as he made the female side of Mono Lisa more majestic! Some woud simplify this to say Da Vinci was a fag but you’ ll be interested to know that the Mona Lisa and her mysterious smile is Da Vinci’s way of expressing his belief that a human soul could not be enlighted unless it had both male and female elements. There is actually a lot of symbology in the artwork and am very glad that I saw it. Now there is some useless information for you! Better than most forwarded emails!

I miss you all, but having lots of fun. Anthony, Adam & David I miss you terribly, feels like we have been separated for months; cant wait to thrash you all in pool.

All my precious girls I miss and love you.
Many kisses Yours Dee

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Deana in London

From: Deana
Sent: Thu 28/10/2004 6:56
Beautiful people,
So I'm in London currently sipping on my english breakfast tea as Iwrite.
Laura and I had a very long flight over and a 9 hour over stop over inSingapore made it even more tiring. But in Singapore we ventured out toRaffles, which is an old colonial bar, very well known for it'sSingapore sling cocktail. The cocktail went straight to our heads as wehad been up since 4am so sleeping on the plane was a little easier forme. After a few hours sleep i still had time to watch 4 movies.Fortunately singapore airlines has tv screens behind each chair so youcan select movies at your own leisure.
Our first destination was London and we stayed in a suburb called'Bayswater' which is a lot like Paddington at home. Although it shouldhave only taken 10 mins to arrive to our destination the journey wasmuch longer. It took us almost an hour to get to our hotel lagging oursuitcases in an out of 5 trains lines cause the city circle was undermaintenance. We hear that this a typical london occurrence with the oldtube system but we just laughed and found it worthwhile as we got tolearn all the different train lines.
Once out of the station it was not as cold as expected, to me just feelslike winter at home, lucky I left the termal underwear at home. Once wearrived to our hotel it was too early to check in so we wandered throughthe area only to stumble across Kensington gardens where Princess Dianalived when separated from Prince Charles and this palace and gardenshave become a memorial in her memory. Just amazing.
Laura and I been very busy getting acquainted with the magnificenthistorical architecture of familar landmarks such as the Big Ben,Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Saint Paul's Cathedral. Wewatched the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace and climbed tothe very top of Saint Paul's dome. All very amazing experiences.So i don't bore you with small details of eveything we did I'll justsummarise to say that the history, the majestic architecture and theluscious green parks which are pocketed all over the centre of london isa splendour to see. Wandering through the streets is a unique experiencewhere I took giddy delight in its icons such as old fashioned redtelephone boxes, black boxed shaped cabs with diesel engines andunderground signage almost on every street. Every second corner has apub in which Laura and I have become very accustomed to. We drinkenglish breakfast tea of the morning and have a pub dinner every night.
And the fashion here is classy, the great coats, scarfs, gloves, fashionstockings and great boots. I also love the fact that you can get awaywith quirky hairdos, vibrant stockings and kinky gerlinky shoes. Definately a place for me.
Yesterday we went to Harrod's - the most amazing shopping experienceever. Only a couple days prior we visted the national gallery, intrafalgar square, admiring artworks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo,Renoir and Van Gogh. While the likes of Harrods diplayed the art ofDior, Jimmy Choo, Gucci and Fendi - the experience was equally asbreathtaking...!!! Thought of all my girls while I was as Harrods. Missyou all...many kisses.
I must be off, we going to Covent garden markets today.We have moved out of the hotel to a friends place and since we have netaccess I will write again soon, so watch this space.
Until then miss you all, think of you all.
Lots of hugsDee Dee

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Sam & Viv in Vienna

From: Samantha  
Sent: Thursday, 8 July 2004 6:29 PM

To: Emily
Subject: heya


hey there everybody*
 
i,ve just arrived in Vienna after a long flight from malaysia...so jet lagged but cannot check into hostel room for another few hours...so buggered and what makes it worse is that the keys on this pad here are all missed around so please excuse any typos.
 
viv and i are black from the island in malay....we,ve been up to some funny shit like the following..
0 we,ve managed to clog up every toilet pretty much so far...me with the runs from the food and viv with her over indulgence with the toilet paper* can,t work out the excvlamation mark sorry..
the funny thing was i once actually managed to make the toilet overflow which was very disgusting but shit happens ay?
we,ve also snuck into a few resorts on the island coz we were tight arses who stayed in a room across the road for about 10 dollars a night...then we,d go and use all their facilities in the day...by the end we felt like the holiday inn,s very own vip guests....every body knew us.
i did get kicked out of two though coz i didn,t have the right coloured towel and when asked what room i was staying in i said i forgot...but that it roo 4 something or other....oh well...atleast i got to dip in their pools...
 
we,ve also manged to get freebies quite frequently from the blokes there....you know how it is...a lil cheeky banter and a smile never hurt anybody..but the funny thing is that we  got it froma country where everything is doubled or trebled and we managed to get it absolutely free...didn,t even need to sell our bodys in exchange...freee beer, free water, free horse rides,...free photos..etc.
when we walk past they yell out...pssst..pssst...hey beauty, hey lady, hey sweetie,...have a look...have a look :)
 
oh and one night we met the australian army at the resort place and spent a night drinking with them...funny lads....
 
everyone so far has thought viv is indian and thatim half chinese....shut up ez...sum ting wong?
 
gonna fall asleep now...so dizzy and have to go.
 
spending way too much money on food and grog...
 
oh and one last thing...this man that we were satying with drove us to the airport and i swear he was like a walking confuscious man...he said that when you have a problem jus dial 1800-JESUS its a toll free number...i guess u kinda had to be theere...getting delirious now so im gonna jet...
till next time ppl be good...and u all know what to do if u can,t be good...either b careful or just b good at it
 
luv u all and can,t wait to hear from u....viv and i kinda get starved of conversation after a while if u know what i mean :)
 
Sam

Monday, March 24, 2003

Jill & Caroline in Thailand

From:  Jill 
To:  Emily
Subject: Hello from Bangkok
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 23:27:18 +1100


Hello from Bangkok everyone.
 
How’s it going??? Were going goodish, heaps tired from the last 2 weeks of drinking and 4 hours sleep every night in Italy but it was heaps fun. It’s really hot and sticky here, about 35 degrees and its raining a fair bit too. Tomorrow were flying to Krabi, which is on the south coast of Thailand and then we catch a boat or ferry to Phi Phi island, I'm excited cos I plan to lie on the beach and do absolutely nothing.
 
The last 7 weeks have been so much fun but also very tiring, you don’t realise how much work traveling and living out of a suitcase is but it’s been well worth it. Thailand is pretty cool, everything is so cheap, you can get a whole meal with entree and dessert and drinks for 2 people for about 12 bucks at a restaurant. Shopping is also pretty cheap here too, I already bought a bag in Italy to fit my stuff in and now I have to buy another one, ill be coming home with a thousand thousand bags man!!! anyway better go, dinner and shopping time, tonight were going to the night markets where there are girlie bars right next to it hehe, gel says I should watch out for the LADYMEN!!!!
 
Take care and see you all soon,
 
Luv Jilly xoxo

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Jill & Caroline in Barcelona

From: Jill Yosar
To: Emily
Subject: Hello from Barcelona

Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 07:54:52 +1100

Hi Hi everyone, how’s it going???
 
We’re sitting at a huge internet cafe in Barcelona right now. We got here on Monday and are staying on a street called La Ramblas which I think is the busiest street in Barcelona. It’s heaps long and goes down to the beach, there heaps of hostels and hotels, restaurants and places that sell tacky and cheap souvenirs but the atmosphere is really good cos there’s heaps of people there all day and night.

The only downside is that there are so many tourists here and lots of dodgy people that look like they want to steal your bags. But we're having fun anyway. We stayed at this dodgo hostel last night, it was gross, we had shared bathrooms and there was no hot water ahhhhh. So we moved across the street to a hotel which is so much better and only 2 euro more than the crappy hostel. Everything is pretty expensive here cos the Aussie dollar is crap, so everything here is double the price for us.

Today we didn’t do a whole lot, we moved hotels and then walked around the city shopping cos it’s been pouring and it’s too hard to sightsee in the rain. We've had really good weather for the trip so far, its been sunny everywhere we’ve been and its been so good to go skiing and up into the alps when its sunny cos you see so much more and its a lot warmer.
 
Thanks everyone for replying to my emails and sorry for not writing personal emails but its quite expensive and we never have enough time to write them. Everyone in Zurich was dressed heaps grungy/boho/stylish 2nd hand clothes etc etc.  
 
I've never seen so many facial piercing and people with dreads in my whole life and its weird cos Switzerland is such a conservative country. There a real mix of people in Spain, everyone has cool shoes :D:D and I'm so hanging to buy new shoes but I cant find any cool shoe shops. I really need new shoes cos my sneakers got soaked in the rain today. Anyway hope everyone is well, talk to u all soon :) 
 

Love Jilly xoxo