ON SALE NOW!

Tiffany turned 31 on July 21st and what better way to celebrate than with a frenzied end-of-summer-sales shopping spree in Hong Kong? And Tiffany even got to buy some things, too!


We enjoyed a very relaxing weekend at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong, and explored all the efficiencies of the island city. It is relentlessly hot and humid right now, so we really appreciated the hermetically sealed shopping environment. The hotel is connected to the famous IFC Mall, which is also connected to the high speed train that brings you in to the city directly from the airport. Pretty much the only time we went outside was to go for a swim in their refreshing infinity pool, which overlooks the Victoria Harbour (that's how they spell it there, all British and everything) that separates Hong Kong island from Kowloon and the mainland.

Here is Tiffany showing off the chocolate birthday cake that the hotel staff sent up. Our room had an unbelievable view of the water. Please also note the beee-yuuu-teee-full flowers next to her. Who's a great boyfriend?? or husband, now, is it?

Hong Kong has a great ferry transport that takes you between the island and Kowloon running constantly throughout the day. It'll cost you something like 20 cents for one of the most scenic rides in Asia.

Here we are relaxing by the pool after our massage. It was very tiring trying to keep up with the busy birthday pampering schedule! As you can see, my hair is suffering as a result.

Birthday dinner at Felix, a Philippe Starck-designed restaurant at the top of the Peninsula Hotel. If you ever get a chance, you should check out the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. It has a really grand entrance and when you enter, you feel like you've stepped back in time, warped back to the 1920's or 30's or whenever the peak of Hong Kong's colonial era was. Soaring ceilings are held up by massive white columns, huge glass chandeliers hang from high above and shimmer softly to the classic songs being played by the live jazz band.







Oh, and the low, marble stone toilets in Felix are pressed right up against the floor to ceiling windows, which gives one a sort of gleeful vertigo while "taking care of business".

Our friends Kevin and Melissa were in Hong Kong, too, and met up with us for a tea and crumpets dessert. If crumpets means cheesecake, anyway... I know we had tea at least.

It was great to see them since they've moved on from Shanghai, with Kevin taking a job at a Hong Kong law firm and Melissa relocating with the US Consulate to her new position in Bangkok.

What a great way to take a break from the madness of Shanghai! A fun, birthday weekend in peaceful, orderly, quite proper Hong Kong.

Don't Mess With The White Girl

We share a hallway with one other apartment. Being extremely conscious of the environment, I often turn off the hallway lights, particularly during the day when there's plenty of sunlight. I also have harbored a secret hope that this custom will curb the child discipline habits used by our neighbors, which entail them putting their 3 year old child, who has a penchant for screaming, in the hallway until he stops. While our walls are thick, the front door is not, so the child (who I like to refer to as 'the evil one') can be heard through our entire apartment. I've been known to open the door and give him the 'evil blue-eyed stare', which is usually pretty effective in getting him to pipe down (and is probably instilling quite a fear into him of tall, pale faced women).

One day, after returning from work, I routinely turned off the hallway light as I entered my apartment. Less than a moment after entering, someone started frantically beating on my door. I opened the door to a woman that got in my face and proceeded to scream at me in Shanghainese (now I know where her son gets his expansive lung capacity). She kept gesturing at the light switch, indicating that she was not happy that I had turned off the light. If she had been able to speak English, or had approached me in a less aggressive manner, I would have tried to either explain or mime to her that the light isn't really necessary during the day, and that energy conservation is both economical and environmentally-friendly. But this lady was looking for a fight, so I gave it to her. I don't consider myself a screamer or aggressive, but this lady really pushed my buttons, so the two of us yelled at each other for a good ten minutes. I have no idea what she was saying, or really what I was saying for that matter, but it was loud and I used vocal chords I'm not sure I knew I had. After ten minutes of screaming and getting nowhere, she started making hand gestures for what I assume meant you're crazy', at which point I called her the only Mandarin swear word I know, the number 250. I was taught this word meant crazy, not in a 'girlfriend, you so crazy' way, but in a very mean, 'you need to be institutionalized' way. Once I called her that, she gave me a look of death and went back into her apartment.

The next day, I received a call from our building's property management desk informing me that a formal complaint had been filed against me for turning off the lights in the common area. After some explanation, the service person agreed that the lights would be turned off during the day, and kept on at night.

So now, whenever I pass our neighbor in our hallway, she gives me nasty looks and starts calling me what I assume are mean names that rival 250. I just give her a calm stare, and try to be the bigger person (not hard to do, considering I've got a good 5 inches on her and could take her if I needed to).

Not an actual photo of my neighbor, but you get the idea...

Making a Name for Herself in Shanghai

We were lucky to have our friend and bridesmaid Elizabeth DeLion travel all the way from Chicago to celebrate our 2nd anniversary with us in Shanghai this past week. Well, she did stop in Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong on her way here, but we like to think that the highlight of her trip was sitting down with us on July 3rd and watching the wedding video for the first time. Well, first time for her, probably about the 50th time for me and Zach.

Elizabeth braved the heat and humidity and hit all the usual Shanghai spots, the museums, the parks, the Bund, and most importantly, the shops and markets! She managed to outfit herself with plenty of new school outfits, just in time for her first day of PT school next month.
















We also had fun navigating her through Shanghai Cuisine. Her favorite dish? The famous Shanghai Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) from Din Tai Feng. We left plenty of comment cards filled with pleas to open an outlet in Chicago.




We braved the rain to snap an evening shot on one of the restaurant rooftops on the Bund.





After almost a week of hanging out with us in Shanghai, Elizabeth moved on to Beijing to check out the Great Wall and other Chinese landmarks. Thanks for making the trip Elizabeth!

Beach Escape - Hainan, China

Tiffany, Meredith and I took a much needed break from the heat and noise of Shanghai in the summer with a weekend getaway to Hainan, an island along the southern coast of China. We spent a relaxing weekend reading along the beach and sleeping on the heavenly soft Marriott beds.



China doesn't have much in the way of beach vacation spots, which could be partly due to most Chinese having a severe aversion to the sun, but who knows, and so Hainan is like the Hawaii of China, but with no crowds.















Of course Meredith learned from the Chinese about covering up in the sun. Tiffany of course learned that if you are going to be in the sun then at least apply sunscreen heavily. I, unfortunately, didn't learn anything and happily swam around the entire first day and got burnt to a crisp by that afternoon.

The beaches were absolutely pristine and the water was warm, and the waves weren't too big as we were in a bay protected from the ocean.



The Marriott had a nice Vietnamese restaurant - here Tiffany can barely hold back her excitement for the food, and for the waitstaff, which actually responded happily when she asks for a glass of water, versus the usual cold, crusty Shanghai service she is used to.

Here Tiffany and Meredith pose in front of the Marriott, a huge, colonial-style building with a big, outdoor balcony for enjoying afternoon cocktails with the ocean view.


And the view from the balcony...



It was nice to see the blue sky and know that those white puffs were clouds and not pollution....
















Tiffany and Meredith alternated the entire day between reading for the first 15 minutes of each hour and dozing off for the next 45 minutes. Could not have been happier, too!