Half. Way. Point.

I regret to inform you all that I don't have too many crazy shenanigans to report on this week as promised in my last post. However, it was still a great weekend! The Dragon Boat Races weren't exactly what I had in mind, but it was definitely an experience worth paying $100HK cab to get there. The races were held at Stanley Beach, which I was very excited about finally exploring. Man was it packed! There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of participates and spectators that it made it difficult to even walk on the beach. I apologize I don't have many pictures to show at the moment seeing as my card reader just crapped out on me 5 minutes ago. Damn. Looks like that has now jumped to the top of my To Do list before Beijing this weekend. So for now, I'll upload what I have and for the rest, just use your imagination :-)

After the races we ventured into Stanley Market where the shopping was cheap and touristy - right up my alley. Needless to say, I BOUGHT CHOPSTICKS! I told myself this would be a good souvenir. If anyone else has any requests, I'm all ears. After Stanley Market, we continued to Stanley Plaza. The Plaza was right on the water, complete with fun pubs and restaurants; great for people watching. There was even live music and dancing! From there, my group and I started to venture back towards the city, but decided to make a pit stop at Repulse Bay. Cute beach with fun docks to swim out to - Again, wonderful for people watching! I ended the day back at The Sky Bar in Wan Chai were we watched the sky line fade from day to night...

                                               Dragon Boat Races at Stanley Beach

                                                     Stanley Market

 

Live music and dancing at Stanley Plaza

Sky Bar in Wan Chai during the day...

...And lit up at night

Sunday (6/24) Macau was scrapped so instead my friend and I decided to head back to Dragon's Back for round two. We hiked to Big Wave Bay, then continued to Shek-O where we had amazing Thai food and Tsing Tao's! Much needed! After lunch we made our way to the beach, enjoyed the sun and the refreshing water, and then even joined in a local's beach game called Spud. So much fun! I'm hoping to take the rest of the interns there at some point so they can experience Shek-O too. Another destination marked off my list! After that Sunday Funday, I was ready for my 4th week at Ketchum...

Monday (6/25) the brand team had a product launch event at a bar in Central. Considering it was all in Cantonese, I was put at the media table... again. Hopefully sooner than later they'll realize I'm actually the event master, but until then I'll hand out media stickers.  The event was the revealing of the 2012 hair trend... (yawn).

Tuesday (6/26): I should have made my first Prezi not as awesome because now I've set the bar too high for myself HA! I worked until 7:00pm last night on a Prezi that our GM asked me personally to compose from the Communications Proposal for this local art school. I was happy to oblige, of course. Let's just say it definitely kept me busy and I wish I was getting paid for the over time now :-) My deadline was 2pm Wednesday so I went in early Wednesday morning to get a jump start...

And congrats to me -- Noon time Wednesday was the half way mark for my internship! Not that I'm counting or anything :-P Thank goodness work has improved and I'm very busy now... Hope it keeps up.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is a half day of work and then it's off to Beijing! This is the weekend that sold me on the entire HK program. I'm so excited to see the Great Wall of China I can barely contain myself - Woooooo!

A brief itinerary looks as follows:
Thursday (6/28) - Train to Guangzhou, overnight in Guangzhou
Friday (6/29) - Walking tour of Shamian Island, Ersha Island, Pearl River and Opera House, Chen Family Temple and the Temple of Six Banyan Tree, Fly to Beijing
Saturday (6/30) - Tian'an Men Square and Forbidden City, National Museum and Hutong Tour with Rickshaw
Sunday (7/1) - GREAT WALL!!
Monday (7/2) - Fly back to Hong Kong

Good bye for now -- I'll be sending love from the Great Wall on Sunday!!