Okay, have to get my bearings back.

Just got back from a wonderful weekend get-away trip to Hongkong this morning!

Imagine this, my flight left Hongkong 12:15 (midnight) earlier today and arrived at Taipei around 2:30AM. From the CKS airport, I took the hour-long bus ride from Taoyuan to Taipei. Hence, I went to bed around 4AM or so…

Sounds surreal huh?

It’s not every weekend you get to escape to Hongkong!

But gosh, you should now imagine my present state of being. Yup, you’re right!

Am really tired.

And really sleepy.

I almost didn’t wake up in time for work!

But good thing though, it’s a slow day at the office!

So there are still some things to be thankful for.

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The entire Hongkong trip was great!

Got to do a bit of shopping.

And no, it’s not the type of shopping you’ve imagined.

I didn’t really buy any of those expensive Prada, Armani, Frank Mueller type of goods. They cost an arm and a leg, and they were absolutely unecessary.

On the other hand, although I also went to Mongkok, I didn’t really buy anything there.

I was actually surprised on how cheap goods from Mongkok looked.

Did get to buy stuff that I needed though — a Nokia 8250 cellphone (my old one fell in the Hualien river) and 5-10 indoor wallclimbing shoes!

Of course, you can also count a cheap Baleno shirt and a belt as purchases, but still, considering that Hongkong is a shopping haven for tourists everywhere, I still count myself fortunate to not have spent that much money, and just bought the things I needed in the first place!

It takes a lot of self-control to not buy, when you have so many choices available…

The highlight of the trip though was the food.

From the super-duper expensive meals at Mandarin Grill (HKG$3,000+ for 2 people!), and delicious Peking duck dinner at Peking Garden, to the cheap wanton noodles (HKG$36) by the Mid-Levels… we’ve had it all.

And considering HKG$1 is equivalent to NT$4 or Php 6, some of the dinners we’ve had cost quite a lot.

I kept on worrying about the money.

For me, spending HKG$100 or HKG$1,000 on food means the same — a full stomach.

And regardless on how delicious and tasty food at Mandarin Grill was, I think we’re paying more for the ambience than anything else.

But my companion said not to worry. It’s not everyday that you get to live life and eat tasty food in an upscale restaurant.

Sometimes, you’ve gotta part with your hard-earned cash and reward yourself a little.

Mom did say, “Money you don’t spend… is not really your money. It’s the bank’s money.“

So what’s the use of earning all those money if you don’t enjoy yourself a little?

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I was very surprised on how modern Hongkong was, as compared to Taipei… and how many foreigners there were strolling on the streets!

Lots of Caucasians milling around.

Cute ones too.

The foreign community is so big, that they have a couple of streets called Lan Kuai Fong devoted to pubs that cater especially to foreigners. Lan Kuai Fong is especially wild come weekend nights. Taipei’s Carnegie’s is definitely no contest.

It’s also interesting to see how curvy and ahem, overweight, some foreign women are compared to their Cantonese counterparts.

You can see their breasts almost hanging out from their clothes.

When I asked my friend about this, he said that he and his friends have a theory…

Because Western women find it so hard to compete with their skinnier and sexier Cantonese counterparts, they compete by showing more cleavage and skin.

I told my friend that women shouldn’t stoop so low.

They should pay more attention to substance and intelligence than showing more skin.

My friend merely rolled his eyes, and said that I have yet to drill on the thick skull of mine that men are men. Though substance count, it’s still the “sex” factor that grabs their attention.

*rolls eyes*

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I was also able to see some of my Filipino counterparts in Hongkong.

Every Sunday, maids in Hongkong enjoys a day off from work. They spend that day meeting up with friends, finding a space anywhere in the city, putting a blanket on the floor and eating/gossiping together.

It’s amazing how many domestic helpers were there.

Funny though, if you’dimagine, they don’t have easy lives.

There they were living in a foreign country away from their families…

Working to feed their entire clan from home…

It’s not very uncommon to see a single domestic helper making money for 15 or more of her family members in the Philippines.

But surprisingly, they are very happy.

Even though they live a difficult life, they find enjoyment in the simple things in life…

For example, meeting and singing songs, gossiping friends every Sunday afternoon in the streets of Hongkong.

You’ve gotta admire them for their resilience.

I know I do.