Hong Kong's Sights and Sounds with Carolyn and Two New Aunties

As some of you know, I will be traveling most of my trip over the next few months with my friend Carolyn, who I know from Seattle. As a little background, Carolyn is reality TV star, which is the reason she decided to come travel with me. She had the amazing opportunity to be on an Amazing Race type contest called Focus Rally America where she and her partner traveled the country over six weeks completing challenges (look for it on Hulu!). Being the star that she is, her team won and with her cash prize, she decided to take a break from work to travel the world.

I met up with Carolyn and her family in Hong Kong, where her aunt was kind enough to let me stay with them (she even did my laundry! I know, I'm spoiled). But the spoilage didn't stop there. Her other aunt came down from China for the weekend to hang out and to tour us around Hong Kong. They took us to all of the really cool sights including Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Stanley, and Golden Beach.

 Carolyn at the waterfront by the convention center.

Victoria Peak. 

Repulse Bay. 

At the harbor by Tsim Sha Tsui.

On top of that, being the motherly, asian women that they are, they fed us non-stop (I don't think I was hungry for my entire four days there). We ate really good dim sum every morning, and snacked throughout the day as we roamed around (being as gracious as they were, they wouldn't let me pay for anything, but luckily my P90X paid off and I was able to wrestle the bill away from them for one meal).

At dim sum with Carolyn's aunts, cousin, and college friend Joe. 

The other great thing about hanging out with the aunts is that it forced me to practice my mandarin. Carolyn's aunts don't speak any english, so I told them that I spoke mandarin (using "spoke" as loosely as possible). The rest of my time there was spent trying to pick out words or phrases that I recognized and filling in the gaps with my imagination, most likey answering questions that they weren't asking. I could see an exchange going like this:

Auntie: (Pointing to egg tarts) Did you know that egg tarts in Canton are flakier and more delicious than in the US?
Me: (Proudly) Yes, these are egg tarts.

I actually got better as the weekend went on, and it got me a little more motivated to practice at home. So to all my mandaring speaking friends, I challenge you to challenge me to speak more. If nothing else, I can confirm that what you're pointing to are indeed egg tarts.

Spending time with Carolyn and her aunts showed me again how blessed I am. The aunts took care of me as if I was one of their own, making sure I was always fed, comfortable, and with clean underwear. I hope I can show them the same type of hospitality they showed me if they ever visit Seattle. I'll just need to learn how to wash delicates.