breakfast

This is their everyday fare. Steamed bun, egg, rice wrapped in lotus leaf and in another table you'll find the soya milk (not in the photo)...but i haven't tried any of it.

You can find steamers like this at every corner. You won't miss it, this is the morning hotspot.

Reminds me of the puto and taho. They do have taho here, but they don't put caramel on top, instead they add chili paste and fried tofu (soya overload).

calm before the storm

Went downtown after work. Accompanied a colleague to HQB because he said he hasn't been there. As it turns out, he saw the place a few weeks before (because he got out of the wrong exit).

So, we walked around the area, looked at some stuff, went window shopping until 9pm.

We decided to go home a few minutes later.

This is the the typical bus station scene in downtown. So quiet, everybody seemed normal. I was supposed to take a picture of them getting on the bus and scrambling to the door, but i couldn't, people came out of nowhere and shoved me.

Maybe next time, when i'm more prepared!

afterthoughts

It's almost noon.

Outside, the sky is still dark.

Can you see the four tall buildings? They welcome me everytime i get off the ferry.

These buildings houses the four different banks; where we (foreigners) usually converge at the end of the month to catch up on things, gossip and pay our bills, rent, internet subscription, mobile phone plan and everything that we think ARE necessary.

Before i came here, I always thought of China as the country filled with people wearing nothing but black "Mao" inspired clothing, i never imagined tall buildings, well-paved road, subway and working traffic lights (professors told us that they are sleeping giants...so, i thought that the only "urbanized" area is Shanghai). I came here with that in mind...what a shame!

They've come so far! No more rickshaws here.

Now, rickshaw is a brand of tea that my housemate drinks every morning.

red riding hood

It's raining today. I've always wanted to show my friends this picture...this is how they get to work when it rains...

No kidding!

They hop on their bikes with raincoat and all, sometimes they have umbrellas, but that is very difficult especially in a downpour. Others just go walk and take the bus -- no fun there.

I prefer to walk, i don't have a bike and a raincoat, i belong to the "no-fun" group.

no magic here

I went to HK Disney last Saturday.

Ma ma hu hu, pretty much sums up what i felt.

I didn't get to enjoy the rides, got dizzy on the carousel. Enjoyed the 3-D theatre though. I saw Buzz Lightyear then went inside the "It's a Small World" because there was no queue.

The magic didn't rub in. Probably i'm too old! Hmmm...what could have happened?

totally uneventful and unexpected

Went to Guangzhou yesterday to renew my passport. It took me two and a half hours from Shenzhen. I slept the whole ride...therefore it was uneventful.

Got to the Philippine Consulate, met a Filipino who happens to be a designer in Shenzhen. We talked about missing Manila, things we like in China and food. He taught me how to cook adobo, the perfect garlicy and oily adobo, which i will try to do next weekend.
We got our passports around 3pm and since we both haven't taken the train to Shenzhen we decided to try it.
We purchased our tickets through the "English Speaking Counter" (good they have that or we will end up in Beijing), went to the waiting area which was not chaotic. Went up the platform and that is when i took this shot. I never expected the train to look like that...clean and looks well maintained. The ticketing system impressed me, so did the train. Totally UNEXPECTED. It's clean and the seats are comfortable.

We took our seats and promised to sleep the whole ride...so again the ride was uneventful...Uneventful is actually an understatement!