Trucker Hats

One of my friends, John, was visiting Hong Kong back in April when he asked me about the trucker hat phenomenon. Young teeny boppers in Hong Kong indeed are sporting bulky trucker hats - not on their heads - but on top of their heads. I thought it was an amusing trend and started to take photos of kids with these trucker hats. They look quite funny with these gigundo hats protruding out from the top of their heads. I think its a hip hop trend...the more I see it, the more I like it. I guess thats how mainstream mags brainwash you with trends and get you to make wild purchases!

Top 15 Reasons Why I Will Miss Hong Kong

 

In no particular order...

1. Fantastic food

2. Clothes and shoes that fit perfectly for petite Asians

3. First-world city with third-world prices for certain services (spas, massages, laundry) and food; you don't have to be a millionaire to be pampered 

4. People from all over the world live in Hong Kong

5. Beaches and numerous hiking trails are just a bus ride away

6. Shopping, shopping and more shopping

7. The subway system - the cars are meticulously clean and run quietly; you get cellphone service inside the cars; the subway station is air conditioned; there are glass doors that open and close when the trains come to prevent accidents (like London's Jubilee line) 

8. The airport - runs efficiently; there is a cheap and fast train to get into Hong Kong's CBD; you can check in your bags in Central before boarding the train to get to the airport

9. Built-in closets and bedframes in the apartments

10. Taxi fares are cheap because the city is so small

11. You can live in a Soho / Village-esque area in Hong Kong and pay Battery Park / Brooklyn-

esque rent

12. Hong Kong's location is great for traveling around the Asia-Pacific area; Bali and a host of other cities are just a few hours away which is great for weekend trips

13. Nightlife is very accessible and in a concentrated area, making bar- and club-hopping extremely easy

14. Salespeople in stores are generally very polite compared to London or New York

15. Last but not least, my newfound girl friends who have made Hong Kong fun, exciting, memorable and fabulous ^c^ 

Coinslots here, there, everywhere

Nope, not in Vegas. I mean that one... Yep, the one down there. You know, the kind that peeks out when someone sits down and oops! Butt crack alert.  

On a recent trip to Australia, I must say, I've seen my fair share of coinslots. While sailing through the Whitsunday Islands, I must have seen about 100. Ok, I exaggerate. 

The sailboat crew consisted of three people - the skipper and two helpers. They had a full boat with 26 rowdy passengers on board. Their duties ranged from cleaning the deck to cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you can imagine, it isn't easy taking care of so many people in a cramped space. 

Board shorts are commonplace in Oz, and are almost an unwritten uniform on the east coast. The two helpers, who I'll call Jack and Jill, were both wearing board shorts. Whenever Jill moved around to hoist the sail or do whatever she was doing...bam! Coinslot alert! When she was operating the motorboat to haul us back from Whitsunday Island, it was literally in your face. Hard to miss. Jack's boardies stayed on the most of the time, except for one or two slips from what I could see.

I mentioned the coinslot sightings to a fellow traveler who had lived in Australia for some time and she didn't think anything of it. She pointed out that most Aussies were pretty laid back so they can't be bothered with coinslots, or covering them up for that matter. It is precisely this type of attitude that I fell in love with while in the land down under. After living in New York and Hong Kong where people are considerably more uptight, Oz was like a breath of fresh air. Well, maybe not the coinslots.