Never underestimate the importance of a bathtub and a 'real' toilet seat

Yay!!! I'm finally home!!! (Well, HK home, I don't get back to Toronto home until next Wednesday night.) Ahhhh.....it felt so nice to be able to take a shower in a bathtub, where I could actually turn the water on full blast without worrying about it splashing everywhere. And to be able to use a real toilet seat, as opposed to the styrofoamy thing I had in Beijing.....and not have to 'hover' anymore. (The seat was smaller than the toilet, so there was always a very real danger of falling in the bowl.....ahhhh...the hazards of living in Beijing.)

I suffered from sticker shock though after eating out with my family. Basically, a tiny bowl of hot & sour soup in HK cost more than this humongous vat of H&S soup at this five star restaurant in Beijing - and that latter bowl even had seafood in it. *sigh* Must learn to stop commenting publicly about how much cheaper things were back in Beijing.....

My brother & I did check out this very nice/cool Vietnamese restaurant (called Nuage) & cafe (called Kosmo) yesterday night. They were both in the Hou Hai area, and both had very distinctive atmosphere. Unfortunately, this was the one night I decided not to bring my camera. *sigh* But that was definitely one of the coolest restaurants I've seen in a very long time, and definitely the first one with two bridges and ponds inside the actual restaurant. If I were to describe the decor, I'd probably say funky traditional Asian style (and no, that's not an oxymoron.)

Have you ever watched the Amazing Race? One thing I love about that show is you get to see how the teams react to stressful situations. Some teams cope really well, and others, well, just don't. I have to say, my brother & I handled being stuck in Beijing an additional 48 hours quite well. We were in a pretty bad mood, but tried to cheer the other party up. I can't believe we survived 6 weeks living together and managed not to strangle each other. At least I know, if I ever make that East Coast Canada road trip that I've been wanting to to, he can be my driving buddy....

Oh, last note - if you want to see what other work I did over the summer (this would probably only apply to you law people & Howie - I finally was able to read your comment) you can check out my July 10th post. I wasn't able to access this unpublished post back in Beijing. Alright, me need to nap now.....will see you all very soon....