Hong Kongian

Our brief stay in Hong Kong was a true ‘rags to riches’ tale. Had we done our homework we may have stayed in a pleasant part of town, tried highly acclaimed HK Dim Sum and seen some sights of one of the worlds most monumental cities. Instead we went online the night before we arrived in the city and found the cheapest guest house with two beds.

We stepped off the city bus after a long day of travel and were immediately accosted by Indian suit makers and self proclaimed fake watch salesmen. Swimming through a sea of hustlers we arrived to our destination the Chung King Mansions. These were not the ‘mansions’ we had envisioned.

The Curious Mansion Lobby

Mansion FacadeSeth trying to convince salesman that he does not need a Folex.
Flipping through the pages of a tourist pamphlet we picked up at the airport we decided to go to the peak and take a look at the city from above. Surprisingly, the peak tram was installed in the late 1800’s as a tourist destination. 100 years later, two more suckers.

For the first time in weeks we were invited out of the tourist circle and into the ex pat circle by friends of a friend, Dave and Matt, who are living in HK. Very fun night out in HK. We almost forgot we went here, but definitely a memorable stop at the ice bar.
Seeing that Dave had to work the next day (don’t think he ever made it in) he lent us his pass to the Four Seasons. Our hangovers were instantly lifted by the infinity pool overlooking the HK skyline.
That night we had planned to take a ferry ride to Macou (best described as the Chinese Vegas) to try to catch some of March Madness. Oddly enough, Dave and his friends were headed out to Macou that night to see a Journey concert. Journey’s lead singer Steve Perry had been on leave and his replacement was a Pilipino pop star discovered on Youtube by the band. Dave got us tickets up to the front row. The lead singer sounded EXACTLY like Perry. He pointed right at Benjy and looked him right in the eyes. Benjy almost tore an ACL his knees buckled so hard. The lead guitarist threw his pick right at Seth’s eye which he later recovered. DON’T STOP, BELIEVIN!!!!!

On our last night we ate a Peking Duck and saw the cities nightly performance of a Symphony of Lights.

I Think I'm Turrning Japanese

We split our time in Japan between Tokyo and Osaka. Tokyo everyone knows as a major international city, while Osaka is its smaller, energetic, hip brother to the southwest. Our time in Tokyo was spent people watching, playing video games, and eating, a lot.

We took a train as fast as a speeding bullet to Osaka, where we stayed in a traditional “capsule"
hotel. Its too hard to explain what this means, see pictures.





One of our favorite dining experiences were at Izakaya’s, which are small restaurant/bar‘s. We had a blast at one in Osaka (below), which only seated about 8 people, fairly typical in Japan.

Two of Japan’s most scenic and historic cities, Nara and Kyoto are located right outside of Osaka. We spent a day in each city exploring their famous Buddhist temples and gardens.




Although Japan can appear to be a ‘western’ style city, we found that things were quite different. It is as if they are imitating our culture, but are only using rap music and Brad Pitt movies as research. Some things we found unique to the country.

Traditional Geisha
Deer attending sidewalk stands

Lots of weird statues

Never ending neon

We spent our last day camped out at a Sumo tournament. There are a few 15-day tournaments that take place every year, and we happened to be in Osaka while one was going on. It was a lot of fun. There is a tremendous amount of tradition and a lot of really nasty fat ass.






There are not many tall people in the country and Seth definitely stood out.

Kiwi Country

Most of what we wanted to do in New Zealand was on the lower half of the South Island. We spent the first couple of days cruising down the scenic east coast.


Around 10:30 pm on our first night driving we ran out of gas and steam and needed to stop for the night. We ended up in the small town of Oamaru and moseyed into the towns lone bar. Our arrival was untimely, as we just missed the end of the speed sheep shearing competition. We did have the fortune of seeing two well lubed locals receive a mullet shearing, which we then noticed was the haircut of choice for the towns gentlemen. After an interesting night, we retired to the luxurious hotel Mitsubishi.
Our First destination was the Otaga Penninsula in Dunedin,, in order to get there we had to drive down windy waterfront roads that’s allowed about a foot between the car and a drop into the ocean. Seth held on for dear life as Benjy navigated the wrong side of the road. The views were well worth the drive.
After several days of travel we finally made it to Queenstown, better know as the extreme sports capital of the world.

Here we had planned to throw ourselves out of an airplane. Unfortunately, the kiwi’s have a strict weight limit for skydiving and needless to say, Seth did not make the cut. He’s not fat, just big boned. What we did get involved in was white water rafting and skeet shooting.
After 10 days of not shaving, Benjy decided to try out a new style. Parents of Queenstown- hide your children.From Queenstown we made our way to the Milford Sound or God’s Garden as we came to think of it. You cant help but feel as though this is a part of the world where humans do not belong. There are 3 million square km of uninhabited, conserved land. The long windy track through mountains and along majestic lakes to the sound would have been more fun in a Porsche, but the sights were no less beautiful. The water way is surrounded on all sides by cliffs larger than the Empire State Building , some of these cliffs have giant waterfalls flowing down their tree covered sides that continually dump water into the sound. The only signs of life are the handful or boats, birds and a couple of seals lying out on their rocks.





Inspired by Sly Stallone’s iconic performance in Cliffhanger we decided to spend a full day ice climbing on a glacier. Oddly enough, the glacier we accented, Frans Joseph, was located in the middle of a rain forest. Benjy felt right at home in his crampons, while Seth relaxed in his perfect glacier lazy boy.


Before we returned to the north island, back to the airport, we spent a couple of nights in the port town called Picton. Located just south of Picton is New Zealands wine region, know best for its celebrated Sauvignon Blanc.