Travelog for: Trapito

Oh... Um...  Hello. My name is Trapito. I'm not that great at making conversation. But I will do my best to say some interesting things anyway. I don't really care if they turn out to be boring, though. I'm better at listening, anyhow. Whatever you have to say, I don't really care, but I'll listen as long as you want me to, especially if I can watch the TV while you talk.

Um... When I visit you, please have some peanuts for me. Otherwise I'll spend my time looking for them. Shelled ones are better. But please don't tell my Mom I asked you for peanuts. She doesn't like it when I do that, so be kind and spare her the grief of knowing. Thank you.

Well, bye for now.

Oh, please PM my Mom, marina, if you want to host me. I'd love to meet you.

(If you have peanuts.)

Okay...so, I haven't traveled anywhere, but one day the monkey staying with us, SaruMaru, suggested going to a place called Hong Kong to find his friends.  Budd is always a bit hyper so she really jumped at the idea.

So, this is how the three of us ended up in a box traveling half way around the world.  When we came out of the box, a moose came up to me and said, "Wow Mommet!! How did you get here?"

I tried to explain my name is not Mommet, when SaurMaru said, "Silly Mocha, this is Trapito!"  So Mocha mistook me for my twin.  Which I haven't seen for a long time. 



I am really happy to have arrived safely, and to meet so many new friends.

Tonight I went to a music concert!  Okay, so it's not a Brad Paisley concert, but it's a concert and we have fun.

First we go to Mongkok to have dinner.  It is one of the crowdest place on earth.



We have sushi.  The plates come on a conveyor belt, going around and around the table.  We pick the ones we like, and stack the plates up high.  There are different colored plates for different prices.  When it's time to pay the bill, the waitress counts how many plates we have and tell us how much the meal costs.  Budd is in considerably better mood after eating a lot of fish.



This is the pop artist whose concert we are going to.  His name is Andy Lau and he is immensely popular in Asia.  A lot of girls consider him very handsome, including our host...



We buy some flashlights so we can wave them at the concert. There are a lot of people and the stadium is full!







It is a lot of fun.  I don't know the songs but I wave the light as everybody sings along. 

Today we continue our tour of Hong Kong. 

This is a street called Ladies Market, where you can find lots of inexpensive souvenirs, clothes and accessories, fake name brand watches and handbags, snacks and many more.



Wow look at all the people crossing the intersection!



We enjoy a dim sum lunch.  Budd is in charge of ordering food.  She checks off her order on the list and submit it to the waiter.



This is in front of the restaurant.  They have big posters showing the abalone, lobsters and other delicacies they offer.



This is Nathan Road, one of the busiest streets.  We are going to ride on a double decker like the one behind me!



It is quite nice inside. They even have a TV!



We go upstairs to get a better view. 

There are lots of people at the bus station.



Hmm, interesting signs.  I wonder what they say?


We walk along the promenade by the harbour.  We can see the buildings on Hong Kong island.



Look there is even a Chinese junk!



We are now on Avenue of Stars.



There is a statue of Bruce Lee.



We find the handprint for John Woo, the movie director.



Let's take a group picture!!

In Hong Kong, the restaurants and shops are open till very late on Christmas Eve, because it is a time for people to go partying, so the streets stay very busy and the transportations run extra hours. 

We saw some children saying Christmas carols on the street.



After midnight we went to get some desserts but the restaurants all had long lines.  We found a fourth one that had seats, and while we figured that it must mean the place is not that great, we were too tired to wait. 

Today we visited a Buddhist nunnery with Tarepanda and her mom.  Her mom was worried that the nunnery may be closed for the holiday but Tarepanda replied that she can't imagine a Buddhist temple closing for a Christian holiday.  Indeed it was not. 

While the Chilan Nunnery is a relatively new building, it used architectural technique from the Tang Dynasty, around 7th century.  It is an all wooden structure built without using one nail.  As Tang Dynasty is the period with heavy cultural exchange between China and Japan, this style of architecture is commonly found in Japanese Zen Buddhism temples.

A watermill useful for grinding flour, though they are not really using it now.

Our Hong Kong vacation seems to just fly by.  We have a lot of fun.  Then we see Mara-Joy and Mocha off to Japan, and SaruMaru to Greece.

This is the plane we are boarding to go home.  While it is fun to travel, I am excited too to be back!

Yeah, back home in Miami again!  Today we went to the beach.  The word "key" as in Viriginia Key, Key West and Key Largo comes from the Spanish word cay meaning a small island. 

I am in the car with Budd.



Over there is the Brickell area, a district with a lot of businesses, hotels and high end condominiums.



Isn't it a gorgeous day?  People are out strolling and walking their dogs. 

Today we go to a U-Pick field.  My twin, Mommet, also come along.  It is so great that we are finally together and doing things like twins do!



Look!  A big scarecrow!



And look, we find a tomato twin!



After picking enough tomatoes, we go on to pick some strawberries.  They are in season now.





Look how many tomatoes we pick!





And the strawberries are very delicious.

Just a note to say that Trapito has been given back to his owner after the last post.  Unforutunately she had some bad experience with her other TVs so she stopped being active on TV.  Hence Trapito is still showing as in my possession though he is not. 

It is hard to believe but it has been two years since I last saw Mommet, my twin brother!!  He recently invited me to come visit him, becaus he has a pair of twin TVs visiting his place, and they want to meet other twins too.  They are Sniff and Snuff.

Today we take the visitors to the Knaus Berry Farm.  It's opened by some Quarkers and the place is only open during winter.  In the summer they return to Pennslyvania.  They are famous for their cinnamon buns and people will drive an hour to come get them.



There are strawberries grown from their farm.  Usually strawberry season here is February but because of the cold winter we have them now:



Red and juicy looking!

Here are the cinnamon buns.  It's still early so there is not a line, but later it will extend outside the store.



Cinnamon buns, strawberry shake, and some veggies for dinner.  Yummy!  There is no table or chair so we eat in the trunk.

Today we go down to "The Keys"!!  Florida keys are a chain-like cluster of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States, beginning from 15 miles (24 km)south of Miami.  At the nearest point, the southern tip of Key West is just 94 miles (151 km) from Cuba.  The word "key" comes from the Spanish "Cayo", meaning small island.





Marathon is located among the "Middle Keys", about 2 hours from Miami.    We arrive at the beach.



We go there for the dragon boat festival.  Here are the atheletes getting ready!



Here they are loading up the boat.  The dragon boat is a long boat that seats two paddlers in 10 rows.  The watersport originate in China.



The beach is really beautiful!!   



On the shore there are some vendors for food as well as arts and crafts.



After each heat, the racers come to check out their time at the score board.



What a beautiful day to be out on the Florida beach!!