A lazy weekend with Japan's Lazy Egg

I think there's something whimsical about life-size displays of iconic Sanrio characters. The latest display at Langham Place in HK features Gudetama, Sanrio`s lazy egg character. Even though the display has been around since the beginning of this month, the crowds are still drawn to this almost cute yet almost sarcastic character. I was surprised to see how many people were patient enough to stand in line for 10+ minutes to get their photo taken in front of the various displays.

The crowds at Langham Place going wild for Gudetama (Photo: CharK)

Seeing the crowds at first made me think that it would have been a better idea to come see the display later this summer, when the initial crowds/popularity wore off. But it turned out not to be so bad having to weave through the crowds. I didn't have much expectations of taking my photo with any display, rather I just wanted photos of the displays themselves. So by the evening, when the crowds had dispersed a bit, it was possible to get some shots of the displays in between people coming up to have their photo taken.

The sushi restaurant (Photo: CharK)

The cafe featuring various forms of Gudetama, including HK's iconic egg tart and french toast was my favourite. Check out the details of the kitchen cutlery and how cute the cake is!

The Cafe/Bakery complete with HK themed treats--egg tarts! (Photo: CharK)

Here's the Gudetama ontop of fried rice and ramen noodles. These life-sized, have transformed these familiar every day foods into almost theme-park like displays.

The Chinese restaurant that was the least photo spot for some reason (Photo: CharK)

All the hype generated from the display led to crowds lining up even for the tiny pop-up store in the mall. The store was mostly just selling plush dolls. I`m just waiting for the individual boxes of the Gudetama Cafe figurines to be sold. I just love the details on these!

Tropical Cyclone Linfa

Today was the first time since moving to HK that I got to leave work early due to stormy weather. Previously, most of storms have hit during the night, so going into work in the mornings was postponed by a few hours. As the Tropical Cyclone Linfa moves across the East China Sea this afternoon, the Hong Kong Observatory raised the No. 8 Storm Signal. They predict the storm to be in full force near midnight and will gradually weaken by tomorrow morning.

I was surprised by the precautionary measures taken by the University for this type of storm compared to black rain storms. For the black rain storms, people are advised to stay indoors during the warning, rather than try to travel home. But for today's storm, an email was sent out informing everyone of the weather conditions and arrangements to close down the university about half an hour before everyone was permitted to leave,. Then 3 rounds of warning announcement and buzzer were aired over our PA system every 10 minutes.

My colleagues told me that such tropical cyclones are treated very seriously historically many more deaths and injuries have resulted, as compared to black rainstorms. We were permitted to leave by 3:45pm and by the time I reached the mall outside of apartment,around 5pm, many shops were also closing their doors. The clothing shops all had their shutters closed, and even late-closing Mannings pharmacy was preparing to close down for the night. The only shops that were left open were food outlets like Cafe de Coral, supermarkets like Park n Shop, and of course convenience stores like 7/11. Actually I don't think 7/11 will close down tonight. They are always opened it seems...

You can see the management has taken some precautionary measures to prevent the trees from flying everywhere in case they break during the storm. But so far, things seem calm here on the Eastern part of HK.

At 5pm-- the calm before the storm (Photo: CathC)