Bo Ling

Last weekend my ol neighbor from Silver Lake was visiting.  Her brother also lives in HK so I got to spend an evening with her and her BF.  They're on a bowling league in Seattle and wanted to check out the Bo Ling scene here.

We started off the night with a super tasty dinner at Din Tai Fung for a couple rounds of their famous xiao long bao.  While walking off dinner we passed Chungking Mansions and the Symphony of Lights show in the harbor.  And finally on to the traditional Cantonese sport of Bo Ling.

Bowling in Hong Kong is like anything else here.  Very serious.  Everyone playing had mechanical wrist guards and looked like robots.  We played three games and I never broke a hundred.  Maybe next time. ;)

But mostly it was an evening with lots of laughter and perhaps my friends will consider moving to the far east.

Great Things Ahead: Fall Preview Edition

There are so many great things ahead.  Here's my list of things I'm looking forward to.

• Cooler temps, fall, and football!
• Cooler temps mean outdoor activities like biking and hiking!
• Seeing my former neighbor from Silver Lake
• Mid-autumn festival (day off!)
• National day (another day off!)
• Working in Jakarta
• Vacationing in Jakarta
• Getting over this cold
• More climbing
• LA's 1st Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon
• Artjamming
• Halloween
• Weekend at Beas River
• A couple of weeks visiting home which includes food, shopping, my dog, my peeps and...
• UA vs UCLA at the Rose Bowl!

I love having things to look forward to.  Over the summer I had a few things I was dreading and asked the higher powers to give me things to look forward to.  Well, there they are!

Rock Climbing Certified!

Last summer on the way to a waterfall, I found myself hugging a rock wall, wishing I had real skills to keep me from falling into the river below.

So when Lory suggested a rock climbing class, I was 100% in. Eight friends, 6 classes, countless gravity defying moves.

Most of our classes took place at King's Park climbing wall, an 18 meter wall in Jordan. The high wall was super fun, but made for sweaty climbing during the day. Due to weather, our final class took place at an indoor climbing wall in TST. Air conditioning, music, certified!

Monkey Hike

Over the weekend me, my "bro" and future mrs bro ventured to the monkey mountains. I'd never been there before, but had attempted it once with bro and friend. We ended up at some other destination and settled for an afternoon of biking.

This time our journey was a success. It's a nice and easy ramble, even on a super hot and sweaty day. Monkeys fill the trees, line the roads, and even go for a dip in the reservoir. There were lots of babies who were very cute, and we even had an angry monkey chase us. Not so cute.

Upon returning to civilization, we wound down the weekend over Sichuan food. It's amazing how after a long weekend in Chengdu can turn their cuisine into comfort food.