bleh. this laptop doesn't like my photo storage harddisk after the first time they got together. sigh. no photos for today. so. Monday and yesterday. After a very nice brunch of beef brisket noodles, Monday was spent wandering around Soho and sightly west.. we had though it would be e2's last day here so we didn't want to stray too far. It was like Chinatown back home x 100 the number of any one kind of shop. There were whole streets of shops selling birds nest. another street selling dried goods. yet another selling ginseng/medicinal herbs. A line of shops selling joss paper and other paper goods (paper LV ballet flats or top -of-the-line multimedia hi-fi systems, anyone?) There was jade street with small touristy stalls where i bought a 'silver' butterfly ring. As expected of the world's main jade carving centre, the quality and artistry of some of the pieces were a marvel. I liked the name 'chop street': doesn't it just conjure up images of people all in the row waving choppers or even better, chopping? in synchrony? (ok, I just watched sweeny todd on Sunday night). or a gang fight! (go get this gang! but chopping is only to be done on chop street!) It turned out even cuter actually. It was chops as in stamps. or as in your red name seal kind of chop. This is also an area of art galleries, but I find them a bit intimidating at the moment =P I'm not so keen on the antique shops - too many issues about authenticity and the morality/legality of bring those artifacts out of their origin country... though i suppose there's no harm done, as e2 does, to stand at the window and exclaim over them (esp since its equal opportunity - she also exclaims over birds, cats, clocks, jade, jewellery, stuffed toys..). i also love how easy it is to navigate despite the sometimes overwhelmingly tall and cramped buildings. mountain to the back, water to the front and you're set! and somehow there is a sort of balance on the mess, enough so that I can still breathe... there is also a level of civic consciousness here that I wish there was more of back home. In a way, it's more sheep like, but I think its what makes it possible to live here and not explode.. Also also, I like the mtr station designs. Many of them use mosaic tiles. and how at diamond hill its back tiles but with a few silver sparkling ones set around the station name. <3 mosaic is used quite often here, and somehow they've managed to find a million and one ways to make it hip and modern and so full of character and variety. We had macs for lunch, walked around ultra hip IFC mall, then headed back to pack and rest. Ended up on the comp checking prices of air ticket for a week or more later. Later that evening I managed to meet pH (dinner for her, dessert for me) which was really nice for me, hee. ok, I'd better go now so i can see more alone! ciao! Tuesday's thoughts and updates maybe later tonight or tomorrow morning.