Happy...new? Year...?

What a day. So much so that I had to get up out of bed & write it before I can sleep. You know, just one of those ones where your luck bangs up & down like a Richter-scale. For instance:
Up
Had breakfast & went for a run up to Victoria Peak. Got an awesome run in (the bits that I ran for anyway) up a slope which would have seriously been at least a 30° incline the whole way up. Got to the top & saw a view of almost all of Hong Kong city & Kowloon.
Down
15 minutes previously, I'd been chasing a taxi down an even steeper incline whistling as loud as I could trying to get the douchebag's attention as I'd just left my effing mobile on the back seat. (Little tip: don't put your phone in the pocket of your running shorts if you're in a pre-coffee, pre-exercise daze. It doesn't work out well).
nb. If anyone tries to message me. It won't work out, the phone's gone & sim card has been cancelled.
Up
Actually discovered that there's quite a lot of vegetation only minutes outside of the city & then a running track on top of the tallest hill, which all considered, gives you a practical 360° of Hong Kong island. Running a pretty, tree-lined path on a languid national holiday morning & getting some fresh air? Lovely.
Down
Mainland China is now exporting absolutely everything including the gigantic cloud of air turd that's been hanging over the city for the past few days. So move aside fresh air, Chairman Smogcloud is coming through!
Up
Had an awesome lunch at Ken's parent's place (for those of you who don't know Ken, which is probably most of you, he's a buddy who lived in Melbs for a few years & is a really good dude & his folks have this pimping apartment which almost has a better view than the peak & they're really awesome people). Which included a dish called century egg, or thousand year egg, depending on which parent you asked & look WAY nasty, but was actually super tasty. Figured it was kind of rude & a bit loltourist to start taking photos at the table, so this snap is from Google, but is pretty much as raunchy as they actually looked. What can I say? The Chinese make really foul-arse looking food that just happens to be made from super icky shit that ends up somehow tasting freakin' awesome.

Naff looking eggy weggy

Down
I was about to take my last mouthful of abalone (yeah, you read that right - go me), when it burst out from under my fork kazanged off my (white) shirt & landed right on my lap, covering me in a nice splatter line of seafoodey goop from my collar right down to my junk. Sigh, go me.
Up
Gong hee fat choi, gong hee fat choi, gong hee fat choi. Woo hoo, lai see! Chinese lucky money is a big deal. It's a sign off respect making sure that you accept it & say thank you & happy new year, etc. That's pretty rad. Also, the folks convinced me that international calls are ultra cheap in HK & it was cool that I called Vodafone (jerks, by the way. Don't use 'em if you're in a Australia) & cancelled my sim card, so whoever was currently calling a sex line on my now considered stolen international roaming rate phone would have their morning buggered up just that little bit.
Down
After going for a run first thing in the morning, I was looking a little tragic (I'd had a shower by the way). Also, my steenky running gear was in a plastic bag as I left my back back in Australia. That would all have probably been okay had it not been for the fact that it was time to head over to Ken's grandma's house! Woooooeeeeaa...wait, what? Yep, his grandmother, someone else's grandmother(?), six uncles & aunties & about a hundred cousins were all packed into one house & doing the for reals Chinese new year gathering. Now, you're thinking; grumpy bastard, what's wrong with that? Nothing aside from the fact I was completely unprepared for it, covered in abalone mess, with my hair looking like a failed Flock of Seagulls shoot, my shoes only half tied up & wearing a hoody, all while carrying around a smelly shopping bag with running shoes sticking out of it kind of made me feel just a little awkward.
Up
Evidently, all of Ken's family are awesome.
Down
I was forced to eat a second lunch. It was really, really tasty, but I'm fairly sure I can still face-floss noodles I'm so damned full.
Up
In retrospect, my own little failings were the only thing that let me down today & after belting my knee for the third time on the corner of my bed this afternoon I finally reached this 'for f*ck's sake' moment which then kind of zenned out to me realising that alone, in my quiet little apartment, I was really glad to have done a big, proper Chinese New Year day, even if I was horribly unprepared for it. I met some really lovely people who took zero explanation as to who I was before dragging me through their home, laying a dozen lai see packets on me & feeding me at their table while asking after my health & plans & happiness, & just generally ensuring that I wasn't left out for a single second of the biggest family celebration of their entire year. I think that's worth a stupid phone & a bad hair day. It was pretty cool.


Anyway, here's some photos of the peak in all it's chloroflurocarbonised glory.

Smoggy.

Very awesome. But a bit smoggy...

Aaaaand smoggy.

Oh, look! A smog eagle!

Random shot of my stupid plastic bag full of stinky running clothes & Ken's parent's insane 4 month old Akita puppy.

And the pièce de résistance: An empty street in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Now that is something you don't see everyday. It's like catching all four Baldwin brothers together or something...