http://www.dunkindonuts.com/ ?

Donuts are quite the fuss 'round here. There are small non-commerical shops all over and then there's the commerical stuff from places like Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme. They usually serve donuts, bagels, muffins, coffee, and specialty coffees (like frappes and mochas), and some do smoothies. Personally, I think the best donuts are from my local grocery store, but they never have the same selection as the actual donut shops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_soup#Netherlands?

Really? Then my friend you should really try Angel's Bakery in Brooklyn, on Norman ave.. where they sell Muffin tops.

Not the bottom bit, just the muffin top.

Because in new York city, you can get anything.

http://www.policesecrets.com/?p=155

Orhttp://krispykreme.com/home?

Generally two most common systems to type in Chinese. The pinyin and phonetic are the same, just different key placement. As the name suggested, phonetic.

The second one is Tsang Jie, predominantly used around Canton region. It's far more complicated and one must grasp the pictogram structure for each Chinese word. By combining the "root" key for each shape, you scrabble out the final word. It's getting less used with the rise of smartphones, when everyone just wrote them down with freehand.

Irish donuts svck. I spent a summer in Canada and worked in a Tim Horton's for a couple of months while there, and their donuts were amazing. Irish donuts are doughy and bland.

Our bagels svck too.

Jesus, agreed. I did two stints teaching french to foreign kids. "What's the rule on the place of adjectives ?" Errrr... After the noun, although sometimes before, and so forth explaining the exceptions to the exceptions. I mean, with that kind of completely insane set of rules, the least we could do is being more lax with the rules, since there's no simple one to learn.

The time with the american student was weird. I apologized for my poor spoken english ,and she explained to me with amusemant that in the US, that sort of thing doesn't matter - everyone's got some sort of accent, and if you can make yourself understood, you're good to go. I can of like that. Just re-watching the Wire, currently. You gotta love the slang and word invention. We used to have that with Audiard.
You weren't any bit confrontational. Ya know I was totally messing with you on that one ? You said "like when your teacher...", so it truly amused me,of course. And for the record, I added the bit about the correcting just as a not-so-subtle hint : I just didn't want to spend four hours correcting those. Teachers don't like to say that kind of stuff that out loud, so we [censored] about the degrading grammar instead, makes us feel good and martyry.
Yeah, these days it's good. I just enjoy more the original. But I maintain my stance on subbing. A lot of translations are ludicrous, and even badly spelled sometimes. Have fun and try Hugh Laurie's book, or read the first lines of dialogue in Okami. God. My point is, if we are going to be so "french culture and all", and not develop subbed media or easier access to foreign books, allright : then we should treat the linguo as it actually matters. Otherwise it's just stupid empty pride.

Including tickets, unless you're on shopping rampage, $3500 - $4500 USD. However the ticket price might varied from your place.

It's very diversed in Hong Kong and Taiwan, you just need to know where to go. Not much in mainland China but with the introduction of fast food chains, we're getting loads of american food.

How different is HK to the rest of China ?

Here in Portugal we are renowned for our codfish dishes I advise you "Bacalhau à Brás" (Codfish a la Braz would be the translation I guess). It's one of my favourite foods, really great! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacalhau_%C3%A0_Br%C3%A1s


Wow. Seriously, I had no idea that in America there was such a variety of ways one could get sugar pumped into one's blood. I hope nobody takes this as offensive, but you see as they usually say that there are more fat people in America? I kind of understand that better now. You guys probably have a dedicated shop for every type of sweet there is. It must be hard to resist for some folk.

Speaking of Hong Kong, if you were to name one place or activity that a visitor shouldn't miss what would it be? Off the beaten path is welcome. I'm going to be in Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Phuket next month and I'm looking for ideas of things to do in my free time. Thanks in advance!

"How is it the same" might be an easier question to answer. From what I know of Hong Kong it's very separated from the rest of China...having been a Brit colony for so long and all...

So I could move to Ireland and open an american bakery and make a fortune? Donuts are truly one of my all time favorite treats... I just can't eat them anymore.

I didn't realize it was a mystery why Americans tend to be overweight. Honestly, if you think the sweets are the problem, you should read the labels on the crap they try to sell us as food. You won't find something without high fructose corn syrup, sugar, or some other sweetener in the first 3 ingredients. (Ok, that may be stretching it, but not by much.) We eat diets that almost completely rely on highly processed or "fake" foods... unless you make the effort to eat fresh foods and cook your own meals.

Open a place that sells excellent donuts and bagels and you might be on to something. You'll definitely have one guaranteed customer.

Is phuket pronounced how I think it is ?

I know it was, and thats why im interested, its part of China now, and im interested on seeing just how thats effected HK.
Also do the people of HK hate the British ?

Really depends on which city you are visiting. Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Tianjin, Taipei, Gaohsing, Tainan are highly modernized cities. You may compare HK, BJ, SH, TP with New York, Chicago, San Francisco.

Depends on what are you looking for, there are rural as well as big cities just like everywhere else in the world.

I went to HK to visit my Uncle in November. Awesome place! Had an incredible time. Shen zen (spelling?) was a dive in mainland china though.

Unfortunately(?), it's pronounced "poo-KET."

Damn. Well I can dream.

It's a very old place, naturally there's going to be very old things. Most of those "antiques" you see aren't too valuable though, probably cheap knockoffs that their grandparents bought and "passed down" through the generations so now it's not just an ugly lamp; it's an ugly lamp from World War 1. I suppose we're quite nostalgic.

Seriously though, go to any antique shop and they're full of cheap tat that you can pass off as genuine.

Created a new topic as we are nearing the post limit.

Whenever you are ready, guys.

Commence the transition! Again, really nice thread Bitter Coast, kudos to you

Getting laid with some of the really nice oriental chicks here

Seriously, Ocean Park is the popular choice and almost always worthwhile. Many foreigners praised our airport, so you might enjoy just messing around in there before leaving the gate (tourist price of course). MongKok, Central, Wanchai, Causeway Bay after 7pm friday to and before 10pm Sunday always have the maddening nightlife every week. For food Temple street (tourist price). In Mongkok we have this crazy amount of food to choose from, they used to be hawkers in the streets but the government reorganized them to stick them back into real shops.

If you want to go remote, there is this Mai Po Conservation http://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/conservation/wetlands/managemaipo/ depends on season you may or may not see what you want to see.

If you can be more specific of what you want to see, I can be more specific pointing you out.

There is this thing called one country two systems, we're running capitalism. China runs the "chinese style socialism" a.k.a hardcoe capitalism with an iron fist readied to smite you if you don't behave. So just imagine...

No, we hate mainlander Chinese, because they are not Caucassians. It's stupid but reversed discrimination is everywhere in Hong Kong. British has always been the upper caste of our society and hasn't changed much after handover. Recent mainlander's misbehaviours agitated this kind of social conflicts even more so.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate that.

Closed by Request of OP.

Look for the new thread