Jesse and Smielyjohn take NYC | Day 1

One week ago today, Jesse and Smileyjohn arrived in NYC.

They landed at 7:30am.



By 9am, we were three beers deep; it was going to be that kind of weekend.



We started off on the Lower East Side.



Then hopped on the train.



We toured Times Square. (It was Jesse's first time to NYC as an adult.)




And stumbled upon the Central Park Zoo.



The monkys played.





The po-bears sleeped...




The snow leopard hunted.



And pooped.




Oooh! Another monky!



We saw poison treefrogs.



A rainforest habitat...



Piranhas...




Giant leaf-cutter ants...



And BATS!




Nestled at the edge of the park and set against the buildings of the Upper East Side, the Zoo is such a beautiful place.



Even squirrels...and pigeons - the vermin of the sky, look pretty when you're at the zoo.




It also helped that is was a gloriously sunny and not-that-cold day.



The seals were loving it!





After stopping for a poo-break in some rando coffeeshop, (sorry, but impromptu pootime and Jesse's irritable bowels were recurring themes over the weekend) we stopped in at Pieces for $2 beers.




We returned home for a much-needed nap.

And then it was off to Kabab Factory for a boozy curryfest.






It was SUCH a fun dinner.



By the end we were trashed and singing "Gaston" from Beauty and the Beast...



...and some of my favorite people from each coast had bonded forever.



Nothing makes me happier!

Get your masks out! It's monky time!

One of the funnier things about Hong Kong is how it is deemed socially acceptable and in fact totally appropriate to don a gas mask/surgical mask in public.



I guess if we went through a bird flu/SARS scare, we'd understand it too. But we didn't. So we don't.

To us, these Hongkys are just totally silly.



You know what else is silly...that stupid saying that "imitation is the highest form of flattery."



So we went to the bird market.



Birds, birds, everywhere.





And maybe a little avian flu.




Next we went to Genki Sushi for conveyor belt sushi.






Got my stitches out...

Went to temple...



And then I brought Anne in to meet with this Hong Kong modeling agent that I work with.

They loved her look and I wouldn't be surprised if you saw her on some random Asian billboard sometime soon.




Next, dad brought us to the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens where they have a mini-zoo full of monkys!

Everything from orangytangs to baboons to marmosets to cotton-topped tamarins to little baby monkys.

ME LOVE ME SOME MONKY







Also there were stupid flamingos.



Took the Star Ferry to cross the harbor back to Kowloon...





Walked down the Avenue of Stars...



And finally returned home where Mercy and Jo were cooking up a massive New Year's Eve feast.





And Zoe was writing a Christmas card to her biggest hero of all time: Iron Chef Cat Cora.




Asked why she admires Cat Cora so much, she replied: "Because she's so stylish!"



Ok. Time to rest up for a big night out.

Happy New Year!