From Breakfast cakes to windy canoe adventures

Day 5&6: 

This is a long post, brace yourself....
Now unbrace.
Last night we slept at Blaine's aunt's house in Stanley (without our trusty laptops), therefore today's much (self-)anticipated blog entry will cover both day 5 and 6 of our Hong Kong stumblings.

Day 5: Probably ate my bodyweight in everything

Breakfast cake

The number one suprise of the morning was a celebration at the doctors' breakfast table because there is cake (Hong Kong loves cake; in my opinion it has the highest cake shop per capita density on earth). And so much of it. This is because sadly one of the nurses are leaving. The cake was delicious and I guiltily wished more nurses would plan to leave in the future. The cake was obviously shared with more ricey breakfast pieces, dim sum, dumplings and other funny delicious pastries.

Note: I may or may not have had the most cake of anybody at the table. And it may or may not have been ridiculously delicious.

Cake, Hong Kong is non as nonsensical as people may think

After this Blaine and I were off because the department (I.e. Blaine's uncle) is currently hosting an international ENT conference. We were sad to have been told that there was no space for us in the dissection room where some specimens (interestingly imported from the States) were being dissected and showcased. Our forlorn faces did not last very long for we could see endless possibilities of yet another tourist day in front of us. SO MANY OPTIONS. Blaine and I were so overwhelmed by the possibility of another tourist day that we simultaneously fell into coma-naps on the beds of our room.

Suddenly it was 5 pm; next on our agenda: Stanley.

Stanley
This is a town apparently comparable to the Sandton of Gauteng here. I.e. The dogs get walked by the maids and around every corner is another Porche 4x4.
Blaine's aunt courteously gave a quick night tour, the pub branch which looked like a cross between a hipster get together area and the avatar town (see the sparkly trees in photo below).

Stanley at night, peaceful and watery. Probably the only pool in Hong Kong.

After the tour we were given an option of whether to go get a 60HK$ beer in the pub or to have a dip in the pool at the bottom of the apartment. We chose the latter without hesitation because...well... we knew there were some beers in the fridge ^_^

Blaine doing a few speedy laps as I warm up for my more than competent floundering about

The house we were staying in was ginormous in Kong standards. It was a 7 story house, each floor the size of a more than large living room. We were being spoilt because we shared a really comfy white linnen cotton bed that night. But in an exceptionally manly way. We slept early because tomorrow was: paddle thursay!

Day 6: A paddle, a hike, a bite and a bitten

Now get-back-into-canoe-professionals
We woke up early (7am, who knew the sun shone so brightly then!) and found ourselves carrying 3 canoes to the beach (a 3 minute skip n' jump). Blaine reassured me that I could keep my shirt on, but it might get splashed with water a bit
Note: Blaine and myself have gone kayak'ing in Pretoria Onderstepoort dam and were infamous for falling out of the thin kayak.
These sea-kanoes were way more solid and wider so falling out was virtually impossible.
Yet again we proved that logic cannot tell us what to do and we pretty soon became very graceful in tumbling into the frothy windy swells. We did a good 30-45mins of canoeing in the China Sea.
Man point: I lost a bit of my elbow-skin on some rocks.

This picture made me (left) look very graceful, sorry Blaine (right), reality was more opposite.

After this we toured the Stanley market (which is a very much more peaceful compared to the others), yet it still feels they just make me want things that I really do not ever and will never need.

This is Blaine looking mighty majestic on a rock (from where the above picture was taken)

Hereafter Blaine and I took a scenic walk and checked out the local temple hidden in a foresty area and also tried out some public outside fitness gym (we think it's for really old people) overlooking the bay, this got our hungergland going and soon we found ourselves looking for the cheapest foodstuff to consume.

Cheapest BigMac in the world - Check
We aren't proud of this but we bought a Big Mac Macmeal each... It was at the most beautiful Macdonalds we ever did see and that eased our consciences a bit. So much for pure authentic eating.

What is more is that according to The Economist, the BigMac's in Hong Kong are the cheapest in the world. This is closely followed by home sweet South Africa at #3. Data from 2012.
For the article click here.

Me looking mightily majestic from a cave temple

It smells really incencey in here, these are believed to be offerings to the gods.

Blaine's inner photographer was buzzing at the time. Still in the temple

Our scenic route leading us past a tree being infested by a strange ingrowing parasite that shoots it's own roots after it has invaded the goodguy-tree

This is Murray House.
In 1982, this historical landmark was competely broken down to make space for the Bank of China Tower. 3000+ bricks were put into storage. The building was rebuilt in 2001 and now rests here in Stanley. FLIPPEN COOL.

This sign almost made us consider buying the R60 beer inside ^_^ Sneaky marketing

These graves can only be occupied for 10 years per spot. Even the deceased have trouble finding housing here.

Architects have way too much time :P

I am without a doubt planning to buy myself a rice cooker sometime in my near future. This rice is so fantastic (but definitely not Tastic, no sirree. Not comparible)

Night hike, and an allergenic spike
Lastly we were invited to a night hike in a nature reserve, which we did and once again we saw numerous fireflies. We were accompanied by our two Stellenbosch 4th years and 3 South African renowned doctors, a wife and 3 dogs. It was a cool, steep yet very refreshing evening. We were served with homemade bread to make sandwiches with. This was spectacular because we hadn't seen bread in 6 days now and also because, once again, there was a nice local beer involved.

Nommy sandwiches (today was non-indiginous food day it seems)

How I feel at the end of the day:

• Missing me mum and dad quite a bit today, it was my dad's birthday today, I'm sure he got spoilt rotten with kind words at home and work. Lief vir pappa.
• These 6 days have flown past in a matter of quick twists and turns.
• Learnt that I have a new fruit to find: Starfruit, will keep you posted. It looks as it sounds
• Miss some of my crazy eccentric friends back home, you are all with me in my heart (arrrr me hearties)
• And...last but not least...do not read the following if you don't want to picture me naked. Everything has been itchy for the past 2 hours. My bum is all pink and swollen up and also other random parts of me are all rashy. I may have ingested some shellfish, been poisoned by a sneaky ninja or just the mozzies here are mutated. I am ok, but my bum is slightly self conscious at the moment. It will all pass in the morning (thanks for the meds dad, much props to thoughtful pharmacists)

Sleep well world, let me see if I can video chat my dad for his birthday (and so the clock reads 1am)