jigga

jigga= our favorite chinese word.

SHENZHEN, CHINA:
as if we haven't been shown enough love on this trip, we were taken in once more by the andersons in shenzhen. james, bridget and hayley spoiled us with foot massages, homemade meals and REAL chocolate chip cookies.
nicole had a memorable 22nd birthday in china. following massages, hayley took us out to dinner at "the duck" for some kung pao chicken, tsing tao beer and toffee-coated sweet potatoes-- a chinese delicacy-- all with a wonderful view of dog legs and hooves hanging in the window. only in china. after getting our hair done, we hit the streets for some chinese nightlife of darts and dancing... and finished the night pounding fries at mcdonalds.


HONG KONG, CHINA:
hong kong. china meets san francisco, a melting pot of all cultures and religions in an exotic tropical setting. it's an island off the southeast coast of china and was apparently its own country under the UK until 10 years ago, which explains its diversity and how, besides Cantonese, English is the main language. it was refreshing to find clean streets that didn't smell and a clear sky. we took a ride on the longest escalator in the world throughout the city to find main streets of endless amounts of cafes and designer megastores-- and tiny alleyways filled with fresh markets and chinese street eats-- and gardens overlooking downtown. it only got better- we had a romantic dinner for two at an italian restaurant with a candleobera and a stunning view of the famous hong kong skyline.


KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA:
welcome to the tropics. flying over what seemed to be a huge landscape of never-ending green we made our first stop in southeast asia. mano maniam an actor/poet/management professor introduced us the culture of little india- homemade roti (flat bread), indian pop music, and henna stands. since the petronas twin towers were the only "tourist attraction", the 6 story megamall became our home away from home (unfortunately). the friendly and helpful people were a pleasant change. and never have we seen a more diverse country. on the same street you can find a buddist temple across from a islamic mosque next to an orthodox church. with this, many of the women wore either a head wrap, a black full body wrap to only reveal their eyes, or basically nothing at all. and the random combination of nasi lamak (translation: rice fat) - coconut milk rice, peanuts, sliced cucumbers, dried anchovies, and spiced chicken - strangely was very tasty. from the looks of things, southeast asia was already a different culture that we were ready to discover.

CHINA PHOTO ALBUM LINK: CHINA