Honky's in Hong Kong!

So, we're back at it. Getting Awesome in the far east now. We've only been gone for a week and a half but it feels like a month. In a good, fun way. There is so much to see and do, and we saw and did quite a bit. But in our own way, as we had an ace up our sleeves, the lovely Ms. Heather Hughes. I think our experience differed from a lot of people's do because she has a likeminded insight into this crazy town, as well as tons of awesome friends. We did a few of the touristic activities, but not too many. 

 Getting a proper send off, Tucson-style.

Not allowed in 2 Min Fat Mansion elevator!

So after our 984 hour flight from the States(ok, more like 233. Shut up) we landed. Between the jet lag, and the craziness that ensued the timeline of events is slightly fuzzy at this point, but I'll get the high points across. Heather, being the super-sport she is, met us at the airport and...promptly took us to the red light district. For a few drinks. Only. Duh. And we met her friends Veronica and Roger, who were visiting from nearby Macau. Also party people. We retired back to her apartment, or mansion as it's called. 

After sleeping some jetlag off we went to go check out a few of the less trafficked sites. First, was the longest elevator in the world. We made it 3/4 of the way up before stopping for drinks. And then Veronica and Roger came by, and site seeing would have to wait because 

Shek-O beack called! Very pretty scenery. Very dirty water. Very fun time. Very much in our underwear. Later we met back up with Heather and headed to the Night Market to see about getting stuff on the cheap. We wound up finding a couple of things. As well as getting an experience with Asian seafood. J.D. ate an eyeball. Very impressive stuff. Then we partied. Awesome day. 

 We went with H2 and her friend Chris to the HK Football Club for breakfast. Diz and I tried black pudding for the first time. Not too impressive. We also tried Congee. Impressive. Our goal for the day was to go up the Peak to see some spectacular views of the city. But we took the wrong tram in the completely wrong direction. So we enjoyed ourselves while getting lost, walked many miles back to Happy Valley (H2's hood), and got the obligatory ice cream. We met up with H2 later and she took us on the star ferry to Kowloon and saw the skyline light show where a lot of the skyscrapers work in conjunction with each other to put on an impressive show. I think the most impressive thing about it was the fact that so many different corporations work together to put on a free show. After that we went to the highest bar in the world, the aptly named Ozone, for a couple cocktails. It's a pretty surreal experience drinking Jameson 118 stories up.   

We finally made it up to the peak the next day, and it was worth it. Amazing view of a very scenic city. Later, we went out to some cocktail bars. I nerded out a little bit. It always warms my heart to see cocktail culture in new places. Then, pizza and an early night as we were going on a "junk" the next day.

Fine dining 

 Wonder where his eye went?

Shek O beach. And chonies

Light show from across the water.

From Ozone

 T.S.T.

 As many of you know, ice cream is an important part of our traveling diet. And our regular one. This is the Mobile Softee truck. You can get some soft serve and a haaaaardass mean mug.

 Bruce Lee. And some statue.

 Hey Diz, whatcha lookin at?

 Oh that? 

 The Junk, I guess, derives it's name from the old name for Chinese boats. It's a party boating now. And party is our de riguer. The day started off mellow enough, getting up, getting coffee, getting to the meeting point with about 25 other gwai lo's (white ghosts) who were in various states of inebriation/hangovers. Then a pleasant little coach ride to the boat.

It started pretty epically. A typhoon was simultaneously hitting Japan and the weather system was pissing on us relatively fiercely. Some people got sea sick. Some people ate soggy doritos. I won't name names. I think most were a little uneasy about the outcome of this jaunt into the South China Sea, but the crew was on top of it, not quite literally pouring drinks down our gullets. But close. After awhile, the rains subsided and eventually we reached our destination: Party Bay. 

I totally made that up. But it fits. Once we dropped anchor and the rain wasn't coming down so hard everyone started moving about the boat a little more. And a little while later a couple of fella's incited a party.

 Partyface.butt.faceparty

"HEY! I can backflip now!" 

 Jet ski pirates

 You might wanna get this flying squirrel on camera dood. Also, your finger's on the lense.

 Success

 H2 topdecking it

New mate and organizer of the junk, Danny

 Top deck party people

So they day turned out pretty well. We got to do some of our favorite things like jumping from heights into bodies of water and having a blast with people. After getting back to the city we all went for some more adult beverages and good times. I wound up taking H2 home by way of Thai foot rubs, that she passed out during, and drunk food at Hay Hay Kitchen (hey hey) then passing out at a reasonable hour. Diz, not so much. He managed to party his lil sooner butt til 9 in the am.

The next day was our last full day in Hong Kong, and it was a nice full day. J.D. caught up with H2 and I as well as her friend Keith and we went to another part of the island called Stanley because she had a business party to attend. So we stopped and had some drinks and food and hung out for awhile before Heather and Keith went to the party. We ran into some of the cats we went on the junk with so we we chatted with them. While trying to leave Diz and I met these guys Keith and Marcos. Great conversations on life and love. And Marcos hates Johnny McEnroe. 

A few hours later Heather and Keith caught back up with us and the flowed. 

All in all, Hong Kong is a fun city and interesting place. There is a ton of money here, I cant say I've seen so many luxury cars. There's thousands of western expat's. And a lot of drinking. we've been invited back before we return stateside and We are definitely leaning that way.
Currently in Bangkok recovering(weird right?). We'll be seeing what this town's about tomorrow. Sorry it took so long to write, just getting back in the swing. Heartcha
Stay Awesome.

Long time gone/ Europe chapter in the bag/ Back stateside

Cheers!

So, it's been awhile huh? Apologies for that. Lots has happened, including being back in the States (due to events I'll elaborate on.)

After our brief, and somehow interminably long, stay on the outskirts of Madrid we made it into the the city proper, for some proper fun. We had planned on doing some of the more touristic activities while we were there; museums, sites, etc. but our stay swiftly became dedicated to the party. Luckily, there were a lot of likeminded people around that were for it as well. 

Madrid Thursday night bike ride. Massive

Done by local Madrid artist

View from our hostel. 

Our hostel was full of other expats there for english teaching gigs. In the meantime, they were there for a good time. 

Diz, learning Spanish Table Football rules.

Schooling up the locals after getting schooled on the rules

Unfortunately, on our second or third night of hammertime,  I was liberated of my passport. Either by fate or pickpocket. Either way, we headed to the U.S. embassy to see what could be done. I got a temporary passport (more expensive than an actual) and talked to the consulate. She informed me that to get another full passport, I'd have to go back to the states. Bum-mer. But, being the PMA-minded guys we are, we decided to press on with the Euro-leg of our trip and instead of heading east to Oceania, we'd head west by way of home. 

After, all of that negative business was spun into a positive light we got back to business in Madrid. We met up our buddy Freddy and his wife who were in town for a really quick visit. I think the greatest thing about that is the fact that we hadn't seen each other in years, since we were all still in the military, and of all places to get together? Madrid? Random awesomeness abounds.

Our buddy Vinny

What's up?

Diz thought she was someone famous. Or was that the other way around?

We met up with Vince, our friend from Tucson who not only is bit of a party animal himself, is also an awesome guy, and is much better looking in person. He helped us have a blast and set a wild tone for our last night out. The events that took place are slightly hazy, but it ended with us going to sleep at 8 in the morning for what must've been the twenty thousandish day, us checking out on time at ten and Diz spending the next few hours passed out on a plastic patio chair in the coutyard of our hostel. Once we were sober and recovered (that is a lie) we met up with Vince. He wanted to give us a good send off before we made our way to Paris. And he did.

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We spent a few great hours in Plaza Mayor eating, drinking, and living well. I'd be lying if I said we left Spain sober, but we definitely left happier.

PARIS!

 Paris, I think, get's a bad rap in U.S., at least these days. The people there were great. Really. We didn't deal with rudeness at all, even when we were exposed for being american. And aside from all that we were in Paris.

 We stayed with some fellow CS'ers we'd met in Galiga, Alex, Tamara and her boyfriend Fabian. We almost got to see G's brother Yonnas and his fiance, but flight problems messed that up.
The city is fantastic. So much. You can't lack for things to do and see. And of course we did and saw as much as we could.

Didn't see ANYBODY with back problems

Nutella crepes outside the Musee D'Orsay

Yo snake! I'm Hercules, eat this rock!

Me and Diz getting intimate with the 4,000 year old Sumerian art

Mona

Diz, creepin' on mona

She (Mona) is very small in person. We went to the Luevre and the Orsay Museum and we will have to go back because the immensity of art there is just that, immense. You could get lost for days there and not see everything.

Yo David! What you got there? - That's just my Goliath head. No big deal

Freedom anybody?

Random park art. Yeah, that's chicken

In Monmarte

We did not unleash G on this landmark

                                     


                                          

With our friends Fabian and Tamara! (G's in there somewhere)

And Alex! (G's in this one too)

 Our hosts were fantastic. They treated us to some good food(really guys!) at home and showed us a great time all around. We will definitely be returning!

Making the tiniest bit of trouble

Traviesos!

After Paris, Amsterdam! We had all three of us been jonesing for this and it didn't disappoint (even though I did. More on that in a sec.)

I am Amsterdam

 The two highlights in the city were the Van Gogh museum and the House of Bols. The Van Gogh is home to about two hundred of the artist's works, as well as various other impressionist/post-impressionist artists works. It is very impressive.
The House of Bols is a dedicated museum to the spirit brand and it's history and is also home to an academy and working bar. The tour is so cool. Aside from giving the history of the brand it also has exhibits designed to make you more familiar and intimate with the product, and being a spirit-phile it was most appreciated. Plus, at the end of the tour you get your own finely crafted cocktail for free, as well as a couple of samples. Radical.

At the House of Bols. These were actual flavors set in perfume bottles for scent guessing

So good

 So, towards the end of our stay, we booked a cabin on the outskirts of town to hang out for a couple of days and sample some of the other products Amsterdam is famous for. It was cold, rainy, and awesome. We were happy and having a great time.

G. On shrooms

We didn't know what these guys were, but the looked cool. On shrooms

Mama beast protecting baby beast. On shrooms

Dudes chilling outside the cabin. On shrooms

Unfortunately, I had a bit of an accident that required, and still kinda does, medical attention.

I fought a bear. On shrooms

The bear. Died of shroom overdose

Seriously, I'm good. My grill is a little janky, but I'm mostly recovered and we're itching to get back out and continue our adventure. We're all three back in the states, Diz and G are chilling in the old pueblo and I'll be hanging out there soon. We feel like we've only taken a tiny chip off the top of a huge iceberg and we're dying for snowcones. This is Get Awesome Gets It Everywhere, and we get it at home too. See you soon.

Stay Awesome.

GA