556. Hong Kong | Snapshots Part 1

Its been a while since I did a post from my trip to Asia! I really hope I can get them all posted before my next trip lol. I still have over 30 posts lined up =\ Here are some random photos from Hong Kong. As many of you know, that's where my family is from so I go back quite often. Well more often than other countries. I realized this time when I was there that I didn't take as many photos as I used to there (in HK) because places and things are starting to feel more normal to me, the more I visit. I still took a lot of photos but not nearly as many as I did while at the other places from the trip where everything was new to me. Then I started wondering if it's still considered "travelling" after you've visited a place so many times/visit regularly. For me travelling is exploring new places, seeing new things and having new experiences. Now when I go to Hong Kong it feels less like travelling and more like..going back to my second home? Even though I don't actually own a place there lol. I only started thinking of it in this way during this trip there. I wonder how many times it takes to visit a place for it to feel like this. Not sure if you know what I mean. I really love going to Hong Kong though, equally as much as I love exploring a brand new city or country for the first time and experiencing culture shock.

In 2017 I don't have any international trips planned yet. So far only a trip somewhere in Canada during the summer which I'm super excited about, and a couple others pending..but hopefully I'll be able to go back to Europe and Asia again.

For now I'll focus on getting the rest of my Asia trip 2016 photos posted...




Every time I visit Hong Kong, I must go to see the skyline at Victoria Harbour. It's my favourite skyline in the world, and I love walking around that area. The best spot to take photos would be up at the rooftop parking lot of Harbour City, as you get completely unobstructed views. I don't think tourists really know about that spot as there wasn't really anyone up there. Everyone else just takes photos at the main area below and you can't even capture the full skyline from there.





Found him!


This was one of our first dinners in Hong Kong, where we went with our entire family there (or most of them). We went to a Thai restaurant and ordered many dishes.











I love the architecture in Hong Kong. This is one of my favourite buildings (or pair of buildings) - Lippo Centre.



At the airport.

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555. Dale Chihuly at the ROM

Yesterday I finally went to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the ROM. It ends on January 8 2017, and I recommend going to see it if you haven't yet! The displays were all stunning. I also recommend going to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year which I also LOVED..unfortunately no photos were allowed in there so I didn't take any.

Here are some photos from the Dale Chihuly exhibit. Everything is blown glass. The amount of detail and the way each piece is coloured is amazing..I wonder if they've ever broken any during the transports. The white one in the photo above is my favourite. Wish I can have something like that for display in my future home (along with a giant Jeff Koons balloon dog).


















These ones above are for sale. This one below was my favourite.



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554. New Year's Eve 2016

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had a great start to the new year! I had the best night at the Royal York Hotel's "Majestic NYE" event. We booked it pretty last minute (like right before Christmas) and it was kind of spur of the moment..up until then I had no plans for NYE but I'm so glad we ended up going to this. There was a dinner, show and dance. The Royal York Hotel is also very close to where we live and connected in the underground path, so we were able to walk there in heels and no coat either which was great because it was freezing rain that night..& we didn't need to fight for a cab home afterwards!

We had a group of 5 people and we were sat with another group of 5 (as each table was 10 people). They were awesome and very friendly. Our table was also in front of the stage/dance floor but not right beside where it would be crowded..so it was perfect. I wanted to get a sequins dress but didn't have time to shop for one..so I wore my white one (same one on the sidebar of my blog)




It was a 3-course dinner starting with a mushroom soup, then chicken, & sticky toffee pudding for dessert. The food was ok..I liked the soup and part of the dessert but the main dish wasn't that good. I didn't expect the food to be spectacular anyway as there was about 60 tables/600 people to serve. But overall it was a nice experience.

So I'm really into food presentation and I kept trying to figure out what they were trying to do with the chocolate but I had no idea lol. The ice cream was half melted for everyone when it arrived (understandable) but the chocolate circle thing was at a different spot for each plate (that I saw)..I'm not sure where that was supposed to be. For the guy beside me it was actually on the edge of his plate lol like it was trying to fly off.



Performances by Glisse on Ice

After dinner there was dancing! It got more crowded as more people came (some came for dinner and dance like us but most people just came afterwards for the dance) and they had three different ballrooms/DJs. We kept going back and forth from this one and one other one. We had an amazing night and were so exhausted by the time we got back! It was a perfect night to end the year. I'm very excited for 2017 :)

Some souvenirs from the night. The ring I got during my first trip to Paris (with my mom) at the Moulin Rouge show.


& this is on New Year's Eve's Eve! I went with my family to see "ET Live" (ET as in the Extra Terrestrial movie). They played the movie on a large screen above a live orchestra who played the background music/soundtrack throughout. It was really enjoyable and I'm pretty sure my first time ever watching that movie! I didn't take any photos during the performance, but here was our dinner. We went to Sukhothai, which is currently my favourite Thai restaurant in the city. I love their pad thai & coconut water:



I've been here so many times but that was my first time trying their cashew chicken dish. It was delicious! We all loved it. We also got the veggie rolls, a veggie pad thai and beef khao soi.





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