Even with winter socks on right now, my toes are now popscicles. Aigoo, without central heating or kotatsu-s only option is to go snuggle up underneath my duvet. Thank goodness for electric blankets. ♥

Seven Degrees Celsius. That was Hong Kong’s temperature for most of yesterday. If you are familiar with Hong Kong, know how the hot and humid Hong Kong feels, then most smart people (if they had the option) would choose to visit around Chinese New Year during January/February. It’s really only December now and people are already whipping out their down jackets, scarves, boots, full on winter gear. It’s a record. Any single digit in December is a record. So, with that in mind, the window for ultimate Hong Kong travelling has widened. Really, people should take this whole El Nina global weather situation and head south. By the weekend, it’s going to climb back up to 20 degrees and stay there for awhile.  I’m honestly, /so/ glad that I’ve graduated and have left Canada when I did, because to be honest I don’t want no snow whipping my face at -26 degrees.  Lol.

So anyways, the other day I went out and revisited my favourite (as of yet) stone pot udon place, kazan seki.  I never really liked udon all that much before, preferred my bowl of Kyushu ramen, but this stone pot stuff really changed my mind. It’s addicting really. Not at all healthy. My friends and I visit this place once a week, and the rest of those six days we somehow find ourselves randomly from time to time thinking about it. Because, that’s how good it is. Possibly, the weather is playing a factor on making this bubbling slurpy yummy goodness amazing, but indeed it is. Everyone finishes their bowl. No left overs to be found here. This place is usually packed, so we always tend to go at around 6pm to avoid the line ups. There is also another place called, Mochi Cafe, in Tsim Sha Tsui, and personally I reckon it’s about the same except the biggest difference is that that place had really poor customer service/attitude so thus, this place is the better option. Just make sure to arrive early.

This time I went with the special soup base, Black Sesame Pork Udon. Probably, try the curry base next. :)

Sometimes, you just know when a cafe is a gem, when it is located in some random building on the 26th floor with no other cafes in its vicinity, and only came to know that it existed because there was someone to lead you into its secret cave at the beginning. That was the cafe I used to always frequent. Even though only a selected few knew of it, it had enough business for it to support itself. Like a secret home within the city. Always sure that you would find a seat and get to lie back and unwind with a selection of board games, mangas, free wifi, flat screen tv and a nice cup of tea/drink of your preference.

This was all until, miraculously, this week we went up to find it completely packed, and on a Tuesday night! It was packed. It was loud. And there were no seats. Boy, was it was packed. Defeated, and exhausted, with my friend dragging along her hand-carry suitcase, we had to find a new hang-out spot… and re-familiarize ourselves with a new bunch of staff.

Luckily, it didn’t take as long to find as I would’ve thought. Though, it wasn’t exactly what I had quite expected either……. a maid cafe! Yeah, in Hong Kong. I was kind of apprehensive whilst walking in, but with the maid’s simple nod that they indeed had free wifi I was too tired to bother looking for anything else. And just like that, it has now become our new alternative home. It’s not really all that big, tiny in fact, but with the whole idea of a miad cafe, not many people, especially girls, seem to venture in. So at least, we’re pretty sure most of the time we’d only be competing with otaku’s for a seat. Cutting down a majority of the population. Good enough for me. Free wifi, no crowd. Ok, good to go.

Want some maid service? Yea, it has summoning powers. Lol.

Cute hand-made menu.

So, Thursday this week was pretty intense. Found myself having to practically run everywhere cause of tight scheduling.  Though, still managed to snap a few pictures of the current decorations at Times Square.

Love all the bright colours. It’s like art-attack meets Christmas. ♥

… and amidst my rush I managed to finally find a place which sells melon-pan! Nomnomnom! I miss them! They lacked a little, but better than nothing. Hopefully, I’ll find another place that does them better. ♥

Original and Green Tea.

Also, after reading Monica-Ai’s post on shampoo/conditioner brushes, went to get one myself to try out, considering my hair has been a pile of hay lately, and I’ve been getting these dizzying headaches. Decided to try them out yesterday… and not bad, gives me a decent head massage. ㅋㅋㅋ

“Smile more, worry less”. One of those short yet to the point quotes off of icanread.tumblr.com. So, I was just thinking that one of those never fails to make me crack up scenes after all of these years sums up to those two scenes from Friends. If you haven’t watched Friends before I probably would say that you were born exactly one year after me or just after me. Strangely as it seems, the people that have just merely been born a year after my year somehow miraculously there is what feels like a generation gap. Its weird and yet to this day it still puzzles me. But anyways, regardless if you had seen the show Friends or not, it’s one of those shows where you could easily pick up and watch again after years. Even though I admit, I watch Gossip Girl weekly it’s not one of those shows I would watch twice. Much less bother buying their box set (not that I buy box sets to be honest).

So, it boils down to when Joey tries to speak French, though failing horribly, and when Mike rebuttals Pheobe’s new name “Princess Consuela Banana Hammock” with “Crap Bag” – “First name Crap. Last name Bag. If you forget it think of a bag of crap.” Gets me everytime. Especially the end credits when he asks her to introduce him to her friend. Haha. Might have spoiled it for first time watchers but anyhow I recommend watching it late at night just for that added multiplied effect on a whoozy brain.

Anyways, back to all things Japan. My day three was all smiles and smooth sailing. We woke up sort of late, had a good nights sleep, so ended up passing up on going to Yokohama and Kamakura. It was between Ramen Museum/China Town/Ferris Wheel + Beaches and old monuments or shopping at Shibuya. So, what with it being my third day and the limited amount of time I had, Shibuya it was. :)

Can you spot 109?

Wandered around searching for a cinema screening “Kimi ni Todoke”. Wonderful Mr. Policeman old-style googled with his hands through film directories and told us this nearby cinema was showing it. Considering the film came out sometime in September, it was a miracle that it was still showing. And to my unbelievable stroke of luck I would be watching it on the very last day of screening. Although, sadly it did not happen on this day in Shibuya cause they only showed this film once a day at around noon. So instead we headed to 109, and I did some shopping. Some shopping I did. Ended up buying 16000yen worth of stuff. Which is fairly reasonable, considering if you knock off two zeros it works out to be just under $200 dollars. Bought myself a faux fur jacket and a sweater, plus a schedule planner for 2011 complimentary when spending over 15000yen. So with a thinner wallet, empty stomach, and tired legs, we went off to find ourselves some do-it-yourself yaki place. Apart from takoyakis, this place did almost everything. yakiniku, okonomiyaki, monjayaki, yakisoba, etc.

What to eat? Hmm…

Mentaiko Mochi Okonomiyaki☆

Kimchi Pork Monjayaki

Selling pudding by the cartons.

Beautiful Takano Fruit Cakes

End of the day. Heading home with our cakes.