take me home, country roads

yep, you guessed it. I *finally* made it out to karaoke night!

This was my first visit to Happy Valley, which is an out-of-the way neighborhood famous for its race tracks, coupled-off lesbians and popstar sightings in the congee shops (think of Ashley Simpson just chowing down on a slice of Ray's Pizza in NYC and you get the idea).

Sang a bit of George Michael and John Denver, even the Spice Girls. Super fun Wednesday night with my mates Sophia and Susan. Susan's traveling around the world for 6 months... she's an explorer. And Soph is a film/video producer. So it was the perfect distraction from some rough days at work! Man, we need more swanky karaoke bars in NY... nothing seedy, just a beautiful space and your favorite tunes in English and in Cantonese. :)

Peking Duck for expats

So, this week I had a fantastic surprise... two more colleagues from NY came out for a visit. This brings the total up to 6 women from my NYC office, all in HK for short-term assignments. It was great to have everyone together, and we ate ate ate our way through a particularly grueling week. The best meal by far was the Peking Duck dinner.

I see why everyone says the expats get fat here, but we've also got people in dance classes, training for marathons, and having tennis dates. You can even ice-skate on your lunch break. Can't wait to take Bren ice skating when she gets here next weekend!

Cute factor

Okay, so Hong Kong is probably the "cute" capital of the world. Grown men walk around with dressed-up plush animals on their bags and the women wear bridesmaid-approved bows during morning commutes! That black blob on the woman's bag is actually another stuffed animal... a kitty.