The 5 worst things I ever ate!

 SCARY FOODS AHEAD!

I am a wanderer and foodie. Put me in a new place and I'll try anything! I have a nut allergy which prevents me from something but NOT others! Through my adventures in food I have discovered some amazing things. Oyster omelets in Taiwan, Pickled Radishes in Korea, Blood Pudding, Sweet Breads at a french resteraunt, escargot, kangaroo, Crocodile (Although these things are gross sounding they don't taste so bad.)

1. Betel Nut- Taiwan
Spotted in a street cart during last year's chinese new year. Juno and I happened upon these. Seeing they were popular with the locals we each got one. HORRIBLE! It tastes like the inside of cigarette and grass. We later found out Betel nuts were precursors to cigarettes in Taiwan, are highly addictive like tobacco, can ruin your teeth and gums and are illegal in some countries. I can see WHY!

What betel nuts can do to you teeth! EW!

Betel Nuts! RUN!

Walking with Buddha

In Hong Kong is the world's largest bronze sittig Buddha. He was completed in 1993 after a long construction that began in the Victorian era!!!
His base was sitting there unoccupied by anything all through WW2. Through generous donations he was completed and is now one of the biggest symbols of Hong Kong and one of our biggest tourist destinations.
Some people avoid taking visitors to the buddha due to the crowds but I believe he is something you CANNOT miss if you visit HK.

TRAVEL

You can get to the buddha by two ways.
1) The Ngong Ping cabel car. A glass cable car will carry you over the mountains and straight to the buddha. This is the fastest and most scenic way of reaching the Buddha. However, lines can get pretty long so book ahead or go early in the morning to avoid the crowds. COST- 60-100HK a person
2) The Tai Wo Beach Bus. Located at the Bus station at Tung Chung a bus can take you to the Buddha for MUCH cheaper than the cable car. This trip can take up to 50 minutes and has some of the scariest roads in HK. Not for the easily car sick. This bus is also the way to reach Tai Wo beach which is excellent for camping, dolphin watching and sun bathing! COST- 10

Ngong Ping Cable Car and Tung Chung

Avoid Foggy Days at the Buddha or you will have no visibility.

Theatre Superstitions 101

A worked in opera professionally, for a short period. It totally counts! I had lunch with John Moriarty, twice!
Opera means different things to different cultures. Most people associate Opera with the Italian Operas. I am planning on seeing the Italian company of La Boheme this weekend. Italian Opera is known for a few things: Tragic story telling (normally ending in somone killing themselves), grand scale design work, singing in group chorale and presented solos which is distinctly different to the more modern musical theatre where the the solos are worked into the story rather than the songs being presented.

BREAK A LEG

Break a leg is a famous theatre saying taken from Shakespeare's days. Back in those days you could only appear in the downstage below the 1st leg if you were presenting a solo piece to the audience in a opera or a monologue. Back then, they would step forward and present the speech then step backward into the piece to kill their wife. (Makes no sense in story telling, but those were the days!) You would tell an actor to break a leg in order for them to get their chance to show their stuff. If you were chorus back then you were stuck in the upstage which at that time was tilted at 45 degree angle like a ramp to help with visibility. (Hence, Upstage.)

 The Drury lane theatre, 1675, one of the best examples of a raked stage. Also look at KA's stage for Cirque.

The mysterious Patrick

I have this "friend" named Patrick. I met him backpacking in Taiwan and he's a perfectly friendly guy. He's nice, has an interesting sense of humor, australian (so he has the accent thing), and he gets my star wars references. Why would this guy get his OWN blog entry. Because meeting and getting to know Patrick cemented the way I meet/talk to people when I travel...

Staycation planning!

My good friend Juno came to visit me!
So I am making plans to show her my city. Luckily she will be here during the best festival in all of Hong Kong.
Bun Festival.

The plan is still in the works but this is what I have so far.

DAY ONE
1. Juno arrives
2. Quick/cheap lunch
3. HK Disneyland. (She's never been to any disneyland before!)
4. Food and Sleep!!!

The cost of theatre in Hong Kong

I recently did a theatre production in Hong Kong which cost 2,000 dollars to produce. I only took donations at the door and provided wine and cupcakes to the audience for extra spare change. I made a profit of 1500 dollars. Most people gave 50 to 100 dollars. We had two very generous people who gave more. It makes me think: why do some theatre shows in Hong Kong cost 300 to 400 dollars for amateur productions? Some of them are not even that good. Recently, Chicago toured through Hong Kong- it was a professional tour from australia. The cheapest tickets were 480 dollars. Why on earth would anybody pay that? I paid 250 dollars for my Lady Gaga tickets last year...

Space rentals in Hong Kong are ridiculous. If you want the McKauley theatre at the Shousan in WanChai you are going to be paying a minimum of 6,000 dollars for a 3 night run. That does not include nights the space reserves for you for tech runs, those are extra. The MK has a maximum amount of 80 people I believe, so at three nights you're going to have to charge a minimum of 200-300 a ticket just to break even if you sell half the house. And some shows don't.

Top 5 things to do in Seoul!

I travelled to Korea last easter and had an amazing time! I went there to visit my friend Juno who I met back packing through southern Taiwan over Chinese New Year. Korea is an amazing place to visit. Although it is cold ass place to live- I think it's perfect to visit! (As long as you have a nice warm jacket!!!)

Here are my top 5 things you MUST do in Seoul

The biggest Jenga puzzle ever

Chi Lin Nunnery in Hong Kong is built in a style of interlocking pieces. It is set up in what I describe as a Jenga puzzle. Pull one piece out and you destroy the stability of the structure. Located at Diamond Hill MTR, it is one of the very few serene places in Hong Kong. Take Exit C out of Diamond Hill, take a left and it is across the street. You can't really miss it.

Chi Lin Nunnery began construction in 817 AD but was not completed until 1997. It was opened to the public in 2000 and is one of the few temples in HK where it is not over crowded by tourists. I highly recommend this temple for it's beautiful lotus gardens, subtle construction and beautiful landscaping.

Interesting fact, behind Chi Lin are some beautiful rainbow painted apartment complexes. This is rainbow city. Despite it's colorful persona it has one of the highest suicide rates in HK and has suicide nets attached to the building to catch people/objects as they are tossed off the roof. It is an interesting juxtaposition to the beauty and serenity of Chi Lin.