Images of Tokyo

Finally got the pictures off the camera. There are more, but here is a small selection for your edification AND COMMENTS.

As we walked along the road towards the Palace, we passed the entrance to a small shrine.














At the palace, as close as we could get:














Close by the palace, almost at Tokyo Station, we came across a small "park". The backdrop of the city seemed to make for a good picture.



















At the Meiji Jingu shrine we came across a wedding party having a photo session:














The wedding party included three small boys who were doing their best to behave.














Coming out of the shrine's park, we saw a group busking Japanese style:

And now we are both in the airport lounge..

..not often that happens!

We are sitting in Shanghai airport waiting for our delayed flight to be ready for boarding. Just a short flight - only 2 hours back to home.

Shanghai has been really interesting. Yummy food, friendly people, and my dreadful attempts at Mandarin greetings! Languages are definitely not my strong point.

Andrew has just been reading the Herald and laughing about the fact that the lead story today is that more NZ'ers have been deported from Australia in the last three years than any other nationality - what a horrible statistic!!

The weekend is going to be just a quiet one. Off to look for cars (again - how boring), and perhaps we will try a different church on Sunday. Really not sure that we can cope with the clapping after every song that the one we have been going to seems to insist on.

We will post the Toyko pictures sometime this weekend - log on again soon for that excitement!!

Sonia.

Shanghai

Shanghai reminds me of Canada in winter. Lots of brown, open spaces. Everything built big (six lanes in each direction on the motorway). Except that the population and the cars and the driving manners are nothing like Canada...

FYI again

It did not snow in Seoul this morning. However it was very cold on the walk to the office (about 10 minutes down the street).

A note from Shanghai

Well my funny story for this week is that I got lost at the Crown Plaza Hotel. That is, my taxi dropped me off at a different Crown Plaza Hotel than the one I had checked into earlier that day... No wonder my key card did not work in the bedroom door... They all look the same honestly!! Am very pleased I worked it out before the staff had a too bigger laugh at my expense.

Anyway, all sorted now :-) I am happily sitting in the Shanghai Fudan hotel rather than the Shanghai Pudong hotel, and feeling none the worse for wear.

Shanghai is so different from Toyko. Development is going on all around, and everything is under construction. The roads a full of honking cars, and the pedestrians just walk out in front of the cars - adding to the reasons for honking. Toyko was so organised in comparison. Everyone (other than Andrew!) patiently waited at the crossing for the lights to change even if there were no cars coming. Here the more cars when you try to cross the better. If you flag down a taxi it stops in whatever lane it was in when it saw you - and you dodge the traffic (that is all honking!) to get into the cab. You feel like a real local.

Food here is so so cheap compared to Hong Kong - and plentiful. Out with work mates at lunch today in a nice Chinese restaurant cost RMB140 f0r 5 of us. That is less than six NZD each ...and we could not eat it all. When you realise that a Startbucks coffee (about the only type you can find in China sorry Paul) is about the same price it makes you realise why the locals think the western chains are so expensive. Frog was on the menu at the restaurant today (amongst the 10 or so other dishes they ordered). The little toads kept jumping off my chopsticks - man they are slippery! Not too bad tasting though :-).

Time for bed. Be good :-). Sonia

FYI

It was snowing in Seoul at 6:45 this morning.

Tokyo

We had a great day walking around Tokyo on Saturday.

Actually I should start with Friday first.

Sonia arrived in Tokyo at about two in the afternoon. That is, she arrived at the airport. By the time she got into town it was after four - it's about a 1.5 hour bus ride if everything is working properly. I was out of the office at a meeting, so Sonia decided to wait at Starbucks. In Japan, the automatic doors are slightly less automatic that you and I are used to. You need to touch a vertical strip on the door in order to instruct it to open. As Sonia stood there trying to figure it out, with the staff attempting to instruct her from behind the counter, someone else was leaving and opened the door. So Sonia managed to get in and obtain a coffee (and yes Paul, it's still called coffee, even at Starbucks).

I had arranged earlier for the consultants to head out for a drink after work to make sure they all get to know each other (we have a few companies working in the project). In the end they had turned it into a dinner instead. They were very concerned that it was at a local Japanese place and wasn't "flash and expensive". It was great to get the feel for the place - there were only four westerners there (Sonia and I, plus two french Accenture consultants). So Sonia had her first taste of Japanese business culture!

On Saturday, as I indicated earlier, we walked. And walked. And walked. And took the subway (you know - the one you see on TV where they push people on during peak hours). We started by walking from the hotel up into Akasaka, then across to the Imperial Palace grounds, and around to Tokyo station. By that stage it was time for more coffee at Starbucks, then off to find the subway.

We visited the Meiji Jingu shrine (most famous shrine in Tokyo, in honour of the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken). It's in a suburb/district/prefecture (not sure what the correct term is) called Harajuku. Coincidentally it is the place that the teenagers dress strangely, which adds to the atmosphere. We have a few photos around there, including the gardens inside the shrine's park (Yen 500 per person to enter) where an older gentleman was playing the leaf!

Then we walked from Harajuku to Shibuya, with Sonia gaa-gaa'ing over the cute Japanese toddlers along the way. Given the low Japanese birth rate there weren't many, but those that were visible were cute.

The main intersection in Shibuya is the site of a great sequence in the movie "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift". When I get the photos off the camera you'll see the mass of people crossing the intersection and you'll know which scene I'm referring to.

Then this morning we took the subway to Giza - expensive shopping area. Way expensive.

Sonia was packed off on the bus to the airport at 2:30, and I went to the gym. Exciting stuff.

I'll post photos here once I get the camera (Sonia's taken it back to HK with her).

Crowded House

For anyone who remembers Crowded House (the band) from the nineties: A story in the NZ Herald

Another Week Begins

Well it is the end of Sunday and I (Sonia) am home almost ready to head off to bed. Andrew left this afternoon to head back to Japan. He is away for a full two weeks this time - first to Tokyo, then on to Seoul and then ending up in Shanghai. I am taking Friday off work and flying out to Tokyo for the weekend (the advantage of Andrews's travel is a nice lot of airpoints I can beg from him!). I am then heading up to Shanghai for work the next week, so we will catch up again towards the end of the week. It is looking like the crazy travel schedule Andrew is keeping is going to keep up until around the middle of the year, so I am pleased I took the Prudential job and get to travel to the same countries at least some of the time.

We've also finally made Chinese New Year plans, and have booked tickets to Manila. It is only a two hour flight from here, and it will be good to catch up with Jonathon.... haven't told him we are coming yet, so hope he will be there :-). It has been funny trying to adjust to holiday destinations from HK - all the places we used to go are 3 - 4 hour flights away now so we need to find a new set of local places. It looks like Vietnam might be the place to go for beach holidays so we will have to try that out soon.

We went looking for cars this weekend - Andrew has big dreams for something flash. Time shall tell how high he manages to nudge the budget. I am getting much pressure to agree to another SLK.... what is it about boys and their cars? Surely if it gets you from A to B and keeps you dry and cool that is all that matters?

The other big adventure for the weekend was a trip to the driving range. I actually mangaged to hit some balls - maybe I could get keen on this silly game after all...

Finding a church is still giving us a challenge. We have been a couple of times now to one in the centre of town, and although the preaching is good and the people seem friendly it is rather more happy clappy than we are used to :-). We are trying to decide if we can cope with that or if we need to keep looking. We shall see.

Better finish up. It is about to strike midnight and I just might turn into a pumpkin. I will take the camera to Tokyo and post some pictures of our weekend.

Ohhhhhh - How Cute!

Article in the NZ Herald

Rain

Today it's raining - woke up this morning and looked out the bedroom window. Most days the visibility is limited by Hong Kong's smog problems. Even then, you can usually see the ships in the channel. Today, I could hear the horns of the ships as they passed, but could not actually see them.

Not that it was raining hard - it wasn't. However the rain seemed to be mixed up with general mist. Couldn't even see the lights on the bouys marking the channel through into Victoria Harbour. I would hate to be responsible for navigating one of those huge ships through the murk.

Saturday night Sonia and I went to the orchestra - they were playing a couple of Gershwin pieces (Rhapsody in Blue, and An American in Paris). Along with Ravel and something else that did not really stick in my mind. Not a bad evening, although getting home was a little fraught as we attempted to locate the entrance to the MTR in Tsim Sha Tsui. Not a logic layout. Comparing to the orchestra in Malaysia, I think we both rated Malaysia's better.

Interestingly, in KL there was a dress code - dinner suits, etc. In HK? Anything goes. Some of us were in suits/jackets, others were clad in jeans and t-shirts. And despite the repeated requests to turn off cellphones, pagers, and watch alarms (broadcast in both English and Chinese), some dipstick still left their's switched on. There really does seem to be a problem with some people's minds not engaging with their environment.

This week, Sonia has been in KL, flying to Bangkok yesterday. I'm sitting in the airport lounge (again) on the way to Bangkok. Returning on Friday night.

Met my old boss for coffee this morning. Great to catch up - he's helping us find a car, as he knows a lot of places around HK. We'll probably catch up on the weekend and take a look at some options.

Japan

Well, I was hassled by the relatives in NZ for always writing updates from an airport lounge. So here I am again - this time in the lounge at Tokyo's Narita airport. Listening to a podcast on the ipod (Christmas present from Sonia), sitting waiting for the boarding announcement.

This week has been very cold in Tokyo. When I landed on Monday evening it was 7.4 degrees. Later in the week I heard it was about 2 degrees first thing in the morning. Time for a coat or at least a scarf.

This week I've tried to learn a few words of Japanese. Since I'm in their country it seems only fair. Speaking to one of the guys in the office (who happens to be a Kiwi), he mentioned that the vowel sounds in Japanese are very similar to the Maori vowels. Apparently as a result it is much easier for the Kiwis to learn Japanese than for others.

Sonia was away in KL for the week, arriving back on Thursday. So I guess we went in roughly opposite directions this week. Anyway, they've just made the boarding call so I guess it's time to shut down and get onboard.

Photos at last

Well, we finally got the camera battery recharged after running it down over Christmas. Below are five photos that immediately stood out when we copied them off the camera. They are not in any particular order, but rather represent a cross-section of our trip back to NZ.

Lovely Lauren


















Father Christmas dispensing presents...



















King Daryl presiding at lunchtime, looking very pleased with the redundancy settlement.














Isn't Donald looking sweet?

Golf

Brrrrrhhhh!

Last night I caught up with a new arrival from Australia - he's working at the same company. We went to the driving range to demonstrate our respective forms (or lack thereof) with a club. He'd been to the range beforehand, while I had no idea what to expect. In the end, it turned out to be a city-style range (no grass), situated one MTR stop away from the office, then a three minute walk out of the station and across the road.

Major problem was the cold - it's become very chilly in the past week, with lower temperatures to come. The golf club charges for a bay by the hour, so you can hit as many balls as you can within the time limit. Not a bad way to spend some time, and the wind and cold meant that I did not work up a sweat. It did remind me that my persistent slice is still going strong. Not sure what I'm going to do about that, but something will need to be done!

First and foremost...

Still haven't got around to charging the camera, but we need to get the Eggs Benedict experience documented before the memories fade...

1. Cafe Extreme in Newmarket, next to 277 Broadway. It's somewhere that Jonathan introduced me to about 2 years ago when I had moved back to Auckland to live. We went there one day with Dad when Mum was away/out somewhere.

It's quite a large cafe, suprisingly so. The size of the room and relatively high ceilings makes it a little noisy, but the coffee is good. Not sure if Paul has sampled and agrees?

Sonia and I stopped at Cafe Extreme on one of the few times we were out on our own in Auckland. Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine were featured prominently on the menu, so of course I had to have it. The Eggs Florentine was the option that had smoked salmon, so of course that was the version that I had to select!

The eggs were cooked just right, but there was a little too much spinach attached to the dish. Not so much that I left it on the side like other places, but a little too much for my taste. The Hollandaise sauce was made with a lot of grain mustard, which made an interesting visual effect. The dish was drenched in sauce - a little too much really. The base was an English Muffin - which I think was toasted just right, but with the amount of sauce it was a little difficult to tell!

So to the scores:

• Eggs - 8/10 - seemed fine under all of the sauce
  
• Bread - 9/10 - see above
  
• Hollandaise - 6/10 - tasted great but a bit too much (which I managed to clear off the plate anyway)
  
• Coffee - 9/10 - very nice
  
• Ambience - 8/10 - a little echoy
  
• Total - 40/50

2. Verve in Parnell. This was a regular haunt when I stayed in the apartment in Parnell. Every Sunday morning for breakfast, with a great menu and excellent coffee (latte in bowls!). This time, Sonia and I took the parents out for Sunday lunch. Out of the six of us, three ordered Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon, and one ordered Eggs Benedict with Bacon. The other two piked out - bagel for one, and chicken livers for the other!

The bread was not a bagel or muffin, but was fresh and properly toasted. The smoked salmon was a bit of a suprise - not the usual thinly sliced cold smoked salmon. Rather, it was more like a salmon steak, which may have been hot-smoked? An interesting twist for a benedict-jaded pallet :-)

The atmosphere at Verve is a little more sophisticated than some of the other places - there are either couples with new/young babies, or grown-ups. Not a sproglet to be be seen. Peace, perfect peace....

On the downside, my eggs were almost solid. Bit of a shame - one of the three servings did have eggs done properly, so maybe it's the strain of so many egg dishes in such a small kitchen?

The scores:

• Eggs - 7/10 - overdone
  
• Bread - 8/10 - not a muffin or bagel, but nice enough
  
• Hollandaise - 9/10 - fine
  
• Coffee - 9/10 - very nice
  
• Ambience - 9/10 -very nice, but a little loud
  
• Total - 42/50

Very concerning that Daryl & Sharon's place is still winning - despite the issues with the ambience!

We're back

Safely in HK after a fairly uneventful flight from Auckland. Flying to HK is certainly easier than flying to NZ - the time zone change and flight times work much better.

Anyway, time for work. More later (including photos if we can find the charger for the camera).

Two more Eggs Benedict venues

The first, which Sonia and I visited in HK on Saturday morning - "The Flying Pan". Someone has a sense of humour.

A "greasy spoon" type of place, the ambience is "pack them in, fry everything in sight". The Eggs Benedict was as you might expect - not great. Still, somewhere that you can have a hearty breakfast when you feel the need to pig out. The biggest thing on the menu is the 4X4X4X4 - four eggs, four sausages, four strips of bacon, 4 toast, supported by baked beans and grilled tomato (of course). If you prefer you can get eggs with black pudding. The Eggs Benedict was served on English Muffins (a positive if they were not squashed quite so flat). The eggs were poached but still running in the whites. The sauce was good, and the bacon cooked nicely. This was all backed up by fresh fruit (did not look overly appetizing) and fried potatoe slices. Coffee was filter coffee - not great.

The scores:

• Eggs - 7/10 - a bit runny
• Bread - 7/10
• Hollandaise - 8/10 - was ok
• Coffee - 5/10
• Ambience - 7/10 - ok if that's what you feel like, but not relaxing
• Total - 34/50

The second place is my sister's. Literally. We had sort-of Eggs Benedict on Christmas day for breakfast. Except that it was bacon instead of smoked salmon. Given the coffee obsession that has infiltrated the Palmer-Rickard families, the coffee was ok. Eggs Benedict were served on Bagels (finally!), and the eggs were cooked in a poaching fry-pan, which meant they were perfectly round (cheating really). The sauce was genuine, made in front of us, and tasted great.

The scores:

• Eggs - 9/10 - needs to be poached in a normal frypan or saucepan in order to allow the whites to spread out slightly (but not too much)
• Bread - 10/10
• Hollandaise - 10/10 - cannot beat handmade and fresh
• Coffee - 9/10
• Ambience - 5/10 - something to do with three excited kids on Christmas morning sitting at the same table
• Total - 43/50

Christmas in Kiwi-land

Today is Wednesday, the day after the day after Christmas. Christmas day was spent with the sister/brother's family in the morning, then my (Andrew) parents for lunch. My grandmother (Dad's mother) came around in the afternoon with an Aunty and cousin. It was good to see her - it's been a couple of years, and it could well be the last time I'll see her. Then up to Sonia's parents in the evening for a BBQ. The extended family was there, totalling about 35 people. Cricket on the lawn, golf balls, and general mayhem.

Yesterday we managed to sleep in until about 11:00am, much to the chagrin of the nephew and nieces, who were most put-out. We blame the jet-lag. Mission Bay in the afternoon to let the kids swim (along with half of Auckland), and fish 'n chips for dinner sitting on the grass. Interesting seeing the multi-cultural nature of Auckland - the Pacific Island family that we walked past, who were eating plates of rice with corned beef hash. The smell is something you have to work to get used to!

Today off to Cornwall Park, again so the kids can play. Better outside than inside. All this after managing to crawl out of bed at a relatively respectable 8:30am - still jet-lagged, I guess!

Tonight we're out for dinner celebrating the brother-in-law's windfall.

It's off to work I go...

Well after 3 1/2 months of being a lady of leisure I started work again this week. Keeping to our regular routine, Andrew and I once again work in the same office, and even have seats next to each other. We never last long not working together - how cute. Last week was an awkward one as I tried to work out which of two six month contract offers I should accept. Bravura Solutions finally came through with an offer that had been in the making for a few weeks, and Prudential also made it to the party with a very rushed through offer when they realised I was about to take something else. The advantage of a bit of competition... Only time will tell if I selected the right job!

Andrew is off in Tokyo tonight and back again on Friday. I don't think that seat next to his at work is going to get me much more talking time - he is never in town! His current challenge is convincing the Japan office that they do not need him there every week between now and the end of March - definitely not an option if he does not want to come home to a grumpy wife each week.

Saturday sees us flying of to NZ for Christmas - a very rushed trip and Andrew's first for just over two years. We are looking forward to it. We have rented a car from the airport so no-one needs to miss the Christmas church service to meet us. By the time you are all done with the carols and dramas we should be well and truly back in West Auckland and keen to catch up with everyone. Christmas day we are splitting between the Rickard house and the Palmer house. Apologies to everyone who has been waiting for us to finally make up our minds what we are doing! Blame the male in the house - he is very indecisive!

It is almost midnight and I will turn into a pumpkin if I do not head to bed. Have a happy day,

Sonia

Is anybody reading?

There are never any comments posted, which leads us to believe that mothers' and families no longer read this blog. If this is true, then I guess we should stop?

Winter is Here

Winter has arrived in North Asia.

Yesterday (Friday), I spent the day in Seoul. Going in I had the preconceived notion of an underdeveloped country, an understanding based primarily on a total lack of knowledge of Korea. The only information I had on Korea was what you see in the news. Right now, that means poverty, Kim Jong Il's penchant for luxury goods and nuclear weapons/technology. I had this mental picture of a developing nation, filled with the graceful ladies in the long white dresses that you see in the tourist pictures. It's nothing like it!

I was told that South Korea's economy is one of the top 5 in the world (I have not checked). The city is a modern metropolis, done up with millions of lights to celebrate the Christmas and New Year season. There was not much English being spoken, which is my problem, not theirs. The business there is booming, recording record growth far outstripping the rest of the industry.

I was lucky enough to attend the end of year party. An amazing night. You know it's amazing when you leave having understood very little of what has been said (interpreters are required), but still having laughed and had a very enjoyable time. There were five or six groups of staff from different departments who had all practiced performances. The first one was dancing (B-boy style), another was dancing to Korean pop songs, another was a parody of a Korean comedy show on TV, and more. The final group put on an amazing acappella performance - which won the first prize.

I'd flown into Seoul Gimpo airport from Tokyo's Haneda airport. Unsuprising given the geographical proximity of the two countries, I kept noticing little things that were very similar. Despite using a different alphabet and language, I could still hear some small similarities in the way people spoke.

I came away with quite a different perception of Korea. The people were much more professional and restrained than you see elsewhere in Asia. Initially this can seem a bit stand-offish, but as soon as you get to speak to someone for any length of time, they were amazingly friendly and keen for you to have a good time.

This morning, back to HK. Where it's warmer than Seoul and Tokyo (almost reaching zero celcius), sitting around 17 degrees when I landed. Definitely time for jackets/jerseys (Jo, that means pullover or jumper). Because of the cold winds coming down from China, the skies are a lot clearer in Hong Kong. We are abale to see across to Disneyland (fireworks at 7pm each night, about the size of an NZ 5c coin) and the mainland beyond. That is a very nice change!

Both Sonia and I are struggling to kick the coughs and sniffles. Hopefully if we behave this weekend it will be better in the coming week. For me, the week is likely to include another trip to Tokyo for a couple of days. Saturday morning is the start of a week's holiday in Auckland.

Tokyo

Taking a couple of minutes before I go down to find a taxi to the airport. Writing from Tokyo (4:30 in the afternoon) where it's dark outside - very dark.

I noticed that I started the previous post saying "feeling a bit better". Well, it has not got too much better all week, which is a bit of a pain.

Tokyo is, as always, cold, amazing, and quite an enjoyable place to be. The flight tonight takes me to Seoul, my first visit to Korea. I've timed it right and will spend the day meeting with the local team, then join them for their end of year party. I know a couple of the team from time spent in Malaysia, so it will be a great opportunity to catch up with them and see what's been happening.

Right - off to the taxi.

Jaspas

Feeling a little better, so we headed off this afternoon to try the Eggs Benedict at Jaspas in Happy Valley. In the end, the spinach mentioned in the description put me off - it was a choice of smoke salmon + spinach or ham + asparagus. Going for something called "Stacks of Taste" sounded better, although it too mentioned spinach. Sonia settled on the sauted mushrooms dish.

When the dishes arrived, they both turned out to be half a ciabatta with stuff on top. Stacks of Taste was bacon, two poached eggs, spinach, and hollandaise sauce. Sonia's mushrooms were piled on top of her bread, with some dried tomatoes mixed in, and hollandaise sauce on the side. The coffee was good - lattes.

Afterwards we decided to walk towards Central, so walked down to Causeway Bay. In the process we realised that it's significantly closer to town than we had thought before. Maybe it would have been ok to live in Happy Valley instead? We ended up walking to Wan Chai MTR station, then giving up and taking the train to Central. Walking up to the escalator, we made it back to the Phoenix Cafe. A pleasant hour or two there, then back home.

Now back home, we're puzzling over what to watch on the 30-or-so channels we have on TV. Strangely enough, most of it seems to be rubbish. Never mind.

Tomorrow night I'm off to Tokyo again. On Thursday night I fly to Seoul, spending Friday meeting with the local team there. Friday happens to be their Christmas/end-of-year party (how did that happen?) so it would be impolite to leave on Friday. I'll fly back to Hong Kong on Saturday morning. Another week away from HK. The week after should be more focussed in the office in HK, so that will be nice. Then we head to NZ for the Christmas/New Year week.

Let us know what you've planned for your Christmases - would be good to hear from you all!

The end of the week

Today is Saturday, and it's early afternoon.

Last night was the office Christmas party, themed with cowboys and indians. Some of the people went all-out with the costumes - very impressive. In the next area of the restaurant was another party with an all-white theme. They must have felt a little strange as a stream of cowboys and indians kept wandering through to get to the bathrooms!

Woke up this morning with a raging cold - sore throat, bunged-up nose, etc. We went back into the office this morning to collect suitcases, etc that we'd left there before the party (I flew back from Bangkok yesterday afternoon). Stopped at Starbucks on the way for breakfast. And ended up sitting by a couple of ladies with two screaming brats. Why did they think that it's ok to let the kids yell, cry, and eventually scream? Then back home for lunch (fresh french bread and marmite!) and a spot of TV for the afternoon.

When you look at it that way, a very normal, slow Saturday. Maybe there will be more to tell later on?

More Eggs Benedict

I keep meaning to post a review of Staunton's Cafe, another venue for Eggs Benedict. This was the site of a Saturday brunch a few weeks back, so my memory has probably become a little blurred since then.

The Eggs Benedict was actually called something else (I forget exactly what). It arrived as a reasonably sized helping, and looked delicious.

The bread was fresh and toasted just right. The eggs were poached correctly (seems to be a trend here as I really have not had any bad ones to date). The sauce was thick and creamy, and there was enough. There was enough salmon and it tasted good. The only down-side to the whole experience was the small pile of spinach that had been dumped onto the bread underneath the eggs! A little spinach is ok (some things have changed, mum), but not the small molehill that I was presented with.

Because the cafe is also a wine bar in the later parts of the day, the ambience was ok rather than anything special. It was great sitting there with the doors folded all the way back against the walls, but the cars do drive past about 4 feet away from the table. Luckliy it's not a heavily trafficed road!

Anyway, on to the scores:

• Eggs - 10/10 - cooked just right.
• Bread - 8/10 - bread instead of a muffin, but toasted right.
• Hollandaise - 8/10 - no issues.
• Coffee - 5/10 - just average really.
• Ambience - 6/10 - good open-air feeling, but traffic noise is disappointing.
• Total - 37/50.

And the Decorations multiplied

I really thought that red baubles, green baubles, santas in the trees and all the other bits and pieces I mentioned was the enough. But no. Imagine my delight to find that we now have choir singing angels, garlands on all the handrails and a boat - yes you read right - a boat - wishing us seasons greetings. Nothing but photos was going to do it, so here goes..















PS, Andrews apartment photos were a little premature - we are definitely still a work in progress. We'll post the final layout once we have it sorted...

The apartment

Well, it feels like time for some photos of the apartment, so here goes.

Let's start with the view. The apartment is on the 48th floor (out of 50), so we do get pretty good views. The apartment is located next to the Cyberport development, which is a set of three or four office blocks and a retail area with Starbucks and a few shops and restaurants. This picture is looking down and to the right from our balcony:


















Next, a couple of shots of the living area. First, from the wall next to the door into the apartment. Note the brand new flat-screen TV - Sonia chose, purchased, and arranged delivery and installation all by herself. And a great job of it too. We'll get a tube to hide the cables down the wall.














And then one taken from the other end of the room (standing at the far end of the sofa you can see on the left of the picture above):














Lastly, a shot into the spare bedroom/office. Right now this still contains the second bed (in packing leaning against the right-hand wall). There is not enough room to set up a bed in this room, and we plan to get a very narrow desk and set it up as an office. Note the new wardrobes that we mentioned previously.

Imagine my surprise - or was that horror...

..to arrive home yesterday and find that every tree in the apartment complex (and there are a lot of them!) has been adorned with a swinging or climbing santa claus! To say that Hong Kongers get into Christmas decorating would be an understatement - to say that it is mostly tacky would also be understating the situation. The apartment block now has red baubles on every railing in the outside common areas, christmas trees in every lobby, red tassles and green baubles on every indoor common area railing, a gingerbread house and reindeer at the entrance to the carpark and green and white fairy lights all through the gardens. There is also a large train with carriages of painted toys sitting in the middle of the grass.... Each day something new appears - who knows what it might look like by Christmas!

The city is also being overrun by Christmas lights - I think it really does give Oxford and Bond streets in London a run for their money. Depending on how flash the shopping centre is, the decorations can be very elaborate of very cheap and nasty. IFC where Andrew works (on those rare days when he actually decides to stay in HK!) has been overtaken by person sized Tin Soldiers along with all the trimmings. Pacific Place has gone vintage with mannequins dressed in 18th Century splendour. And then there is Santa Town in statue square... then name says it all.

Will have to get the camera organised and prepare you a 'Hong Kong does Christmas' montage. Maybe tomorrow... waiting for the TV to be delivered today, and then the lounge furniture is coming in on Saturday. Will be good to have the place looking like home. Still have to sort the rugs and curtains - suggestions anyone?

Take Care, Sonia

Bandwagons Indeed

Click here for a link to Paul's blog if you have not already experienced this literary masterpiece.

And that was the news today...

Oops - today is Thursday. Only one more day until the weekend!

It's sooo cold!

It's cold in Tokyo, and I imagine it will get colder before it warms up again. When I arrived at the airport the temperature gauge was indicating 15 degrees. Hong Kong is not that cold yet.

Went for a walk to find dinner last night, thinking I'd try noodles and/or sushi. But with menus only in Japanese, it became more of a challenge than expected. In the end I chickened out and went for something more recognisable. On the way home I therefore walked past a place that had a menu outside with some English on it! If only I'd noticed that place earlier. Maybe I'll try it tonight after the gym.

Anyway, just arrived at work with my Venti Latte, so I should get on with it.

What's new?

Well, the news comes to you today from Bangkok airport. We may have been here before?

Wednesday was Guangzhou on my newly issued multiple-entry China visa. Guangzhou is a pretty easy day-trip from HK. 8:30 train from the Kowloon side arriving in Guangzhou at 10:00am. Back again on the 6:30 train at night. Then Thursday morning to Bangkok on a flight that was supposed to leave at 9:00am and ended up leaving at 10:30. This was after we "stole" a replacement plane from a group of people who were going to Bali. They were unlucky enough to be delayed from 10:00am to 1:00pm. I did manage to get upgraded to first class, however on a 2 hour flight this is not a big deal. Anyway, we arrived in Bangkok safely. Stayed at the Conrad (nicer than the Banyan Tree for anyone who keeps track). Now after a day of meetings and a very pleasant working lunch with a colleague, I sit patiently awaiting a 7:00pm flight back to HK. When it arrives (about 10:45), I'm supposed to race into town and try to catch up with my team and previous boss for coffee (they are meeting for dinner). Then home. Another busy week.

Monday sees another flight to Japan, where I expect to spend the week. At this point I still cannot say anything more than "Moshi moshi" (a casual form of "hello) and "Arrigato" ("thankyou"). I have learnt along the way that you should not say "sayonara" for "goodbye" as it actually means "I will not see you again".

More tidying of the apartment is planned for the weekend, not sure what else. That's really all I can think of for now.

Time for a quick note

It's Monday morning again. Things are starting to become familiar around Hong Kong now. We got in a taxi last night and the driver didn't seem to know exactly where to go, but we managed. The streets started to look like we should recognise them, so I guess we mostly knew where we were.

After saying that the phone is organised, we found out on Friday that it's going to take around 10 days for them to install. Turns out that PCCW (the largest supplier) does not have lines into the building. As I understand it, the building developers agreed a contract with another (smaller) supplier, so PCCW now need to apply to that company to have a line allocated to them. Oh well, we don't need to watch TV that much anyway.

The flight back from Tokyo on Friday night ended up getting in on Saturday morning. It was delayed by about two hours, and I eventually arrived home about 2am. Not a great start to the weekend.

Saturday was spent mostly waiting. Waiting for the groceries to be delivered (order online). Waiting for Ikea to show up and install the wardrobes. At least both of those things happened. We now have wardrobes in the bedroom and wardrobes in the office. I'll have to post a picture because the space left in the office is only just big enough for a desk. If you sit at the desk, your back will be touching the wardrobes! Still, now we have some storage space, some more of the boxes can be unpacked. Clean clothes that are different to what we wore yesterday!

Yesterday afternoon we went across to Horizon Plaza in Ap Lei Chau, which is a separate island to HK but considered part of HK overall. It's a furniture "mall", although the word does not really apply. It's really a building with lifts. There is no sense to the layout, so while you can pick up a directory (list of names and floors), it's then really pot-luck. We did find (in no particular order) a chocolate shop that does good coffee, a wine shop that stocks a decent range of NZ wines, and an Italian grocery store. And quite a few furniture shops of varying quality.

Time to get off to work now. Bye.

My Turn...

Well he has gone and left me home alone for the rest of the week - how inconsiderate when I had just made it back from NZ to play the part of dutiful wife...

I have however achieved todays goals.
1. Everything that needs to fit in the kitchen is now in the kitchen, and even put away in cupboards. Yeah for Ikea's stacking and storing options... they almost know me in Ikea now :-)
2. We have broadband internet and cable TV sorted. A package deal costing about 50NZD per month gives us all the channels we could possibly want plus the fastest broadband we have ever had - nice to find something that is cheaper here!
3. We have a phone sorted. Will be installed on Friday, so I will get the phone number then and text it out far and wide. (20NZD per month - not too bad either)
4. I now have a Hong Kong handphone number rather than Andrew's old Malaysia one... please stop texting me on the old number...
5. I am registered as a Hong Kong Resident and have a temporary ID card. My thumb prints have been stored and I am officially nothing more than a number with thumbs - yeah. At forty minnutes start to finish to get my card finished, HK must have the most efficient immigration service in Asia - I was envisaging an all day exercise a-la Malaysia.
6. And most importantly, I have new leggings to wear to the gym... no excuse now for not getting rid of those holiday kilos!!

Good Night,

Sonia

A quick note

The news. Well.....

Yesterday my boss resigned to move to AIG in Hong Kong, so today I'm "bossless". Not the end of the world, although a little unsettling. His boss is/was the CEO, so for now we (team of four) "report" to the CEO.

I'm off to Tokyo again this afternoon, returning on Friday night. Sonia was off at Ikea yesterday arranging wardrobe cupboards for the bedroom and study. We are lining one wall of the study with wardrobes in order to give ourselves storage space - somewhere to hide the vacuum cleaner and other bits and pieces. These will be delivered on Saturday (and installed), so we should be able to make some progress tidying up a little.

Sonia has the job of measuring the walls and calculating the "real" size of the apartment. Just so we know...

Anyway, on the transport side. I took the public bus yesterday (remember $5?) which drops me off right outside the office building. It takes a while though, and the seats are fairly small - made for Asian frames, not mine! Today I took the shuttle bus again, after Sonia worked out a way to walk from the place the bus stops through to the office. It's about 5 minutes on a covered walkway up above the streets. Ok at this time of year when it's cooler, but I imagine it will be a killer in summer. Isn't it amazing to be talking about seasons, after 3 years in Malaysia's 32 degrees (Centigrade).

Anyway, time for work now.

An interesting week

It was an interesting week this week, crossing Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Manila.

The week started with a flight to Tokyo where I spent two days working with the Japan team. My first time in Japan, and I had not realised how far out the airport is from the city - about 1.5 hours when not at rush hour. There is a very efficient bus service from the airport, although being Japan there is a great awareness of environmental concerns. This extended to the bus, which did not have any air-conditioning. The hotel followed the same approach, with signs up everywhere saying that air-conditioning is switched off in Spring and Autumn. Maybe if China had the same level of awareness, the smog problems in Hong Kong would be significantly smaller! It was great to look up at the brilliant blue sky.

It also the first time conducting a meeting through an interpreter. Having to work through the interpreter puts quite a different spin on a meeting. You have so much more time to think, although I spent most of it thinking about how to phrase my questions carefully in order to maximise the time.

Then on to Manila, which was quite a change from the modern metropolis of Tokyo. Everyone talks about the traffic problems, but until I saw it I did not understand how big the city is and how much traffic there is. The twenty-minute drive from the airport to the hotel took close to 1.5 hours when departing at 5pm on Friday night. Only a day in Manila, working through the tropical heat and humidity. Still, it was great and hopefully there will be reasons to return.

Today, the washing machine and air-conditioning are being fixed. Oh, and the doorbell, which turned out to require new batteries. The washing machine is now working through the first load of clothes, and the contractor is here working on the air-conditioning. It turns out the problem with the washing machine was simply that the drain pipe was clogged with construction dust and dirt.

Sonia arrives tonight, so she'll have the uneviable task of getting phone, TV, internet installed. This type of thing does turn out to be much simpler in HK than Malaysia.

First commute

Today was the first day travelling from the new apartment to the office. Having caught the shuttle bus a couple of times on the weekend and having a reasonable trip, I thought today I'd try that route. I left the apartment at 6:59 according to the clock. The bus arrived within 5 minutes of me getting to the waiting area. There were a few others there as well - mostly suits on the way to the office. The bus actually takes a while to get to the station in town. Then to the MTR, arriving at Central, and the 5-10 minute walk to IFC. All in all not a big deal, although it did take a while. I walked into Pacific Coffee at 7:45. I guess you can probably clock it at 45 minutes door-to-door?

Next time I'll try catching the public bus, which in theory takes 40 minutes but has the advantage of finishing up right outside the office.

I spotted one guy from the shuttle bus jumping into a taxi as soon as he got off the bus. Maybe that's a good idea for keeping the temperature down? The MTR can be pretty warm at times.

Anyway, that was the trip to work. Rivetting, huh?

I discovered on the weekend two of the drawbacks of moving into a completely new apartment. The airconditioner in the living area leaks onto the floor. I can put up with that - the temperature is fine if you keep the doors open to let the breeze in. The bigger issue is the drainpipe into which the washing machine empties waste water, doesn't. Drain, that is. Being new, the apartment and everything in it is still under warranty, however I'm not at home all of this week, so it's going to be difficult to get it fixed. Meanwhile I'm running out of clean underwear!

Bacar

A new place today for the ongoing Eggs Benedict trials. A cafe called Bacar just off the Midlevels Escalator. It looked very inviting from the escalator, with a chalkboard menu outside advertising (amongst other things) Eggs Benedict. Very laid back, with a few people sitting relaxing with coffee and the paper. The cafe is long and narrow (as are most of the places around here), with couch-style seats along one side.

The Eggs Benedict turned out to be two poached eggs with bacon and spinach, on two good-sized pieces of rye bread. Not quite Eggs Benedict. However, it was good. The bread was toasted nicely, the eggs were done properly (still runny inside) and the sauce was good. I'm not keen on spinach, but this time it seemed to work ok. Coffee was ok, although the Latte I ordered after the eggs was good.

In terms of scores?

• Eggs - 10/10 - cooked just right.
• Bread - 8/10 - rye bread instead of a muffin, but toasted right.
• Hollandaise - 8/10 - could have used a little more, but it tasted good and wasn't too thin.
• Coffee - 5/10 - "could try harder".
• Ambience - 9/10 - this could become a regular place to chill on the weekend.
• Total - 40/50.
  

Not quite Eggs Benedict

It's Saturday night in Hong Kong. I got back from KL this afternoon and got some more stuff done around the apartment. At 4pm I decided it was probably time to head out and get the pillows and iron. Doing this at 4pm on a Saturday is not a great move - this is when HK is out on the town. Still.

Then cleaning up the apartment - a bit like cleaning the cat's ears on a Saturday night? Went for a swim and sampled the facilities - sauna, steam room, etc. Not bad, although the decor is very pretentious.

Got back and realised there is a small puddle on the floor of the kitchen. The air conditioner in the living area is not working. Well it does work, but after 15 minutes or so it decides that it's "full" and needs to relieve the pressure by dripping onto the floor. Checked out the contact details for the management office (being brand new the apartment is still under warranty), but they closed at 6pm until they reopen on Monday. Oh well, not the end of the world. Temperatures in HK are nice - highs of 26 at the moment - so open the doors and enjoy the fresh air.

Good night.

Ooops - forgot about the eggs benedict comment. Breakfast at the Shangri-La in KL - not really Eggs Benedict, but scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce. Yum.

New apartment

Today was the big day. "Moving Day".

This morning I met the real estate agent and the landlord at the apartment for the handover. The agent went round the rooms checking and photographing everything while Edmund (the landlord) and I stood and chatted. Once she'd finished we both signed the forms without really reading them (hope they're correct), and that was that!

About half-way through the transfer, Crown started to deliver the boxes. The rooms started looking smaller and smaller as more and more boxes appeared in the room. And the boxes continued to multiply!

An interesting facet of life in Hong Kong was bought home to me tonight as I used the bathroom in the gym. Everything is automatic here. You don't need to flush the toilet because it's one step ahead of you (well almost) - all you need to do is stand up or step back, and the toilet thinks "that's my queue". Then to wash your hands, just hold them under the tap, and the tap thinks "now it's my turn". If you want soap (and you should always use soap), hold your hands under the dispenser and it turns on! Even the door to the changing rooms is automatic - even though it's a normal door with a handle! I am quickly coming to the conclusion that "time saving" is a national preoccupation. I'm a little worried that when we are back in NZ, UK (etc.), we'll be standing there wondering why the toilet is not flushing (broken?) and why you have to turn the tap yourself? And what's with the bars of soap?

The bed is assembled and made, minus pillows because we don't have them. The clothes are still in their boxes (no wardrobes or drawers) and the kitchen looks like a bomb-site. At least the BBQ fits on the balcony with a bit of room to look past at the boats as they go by! Once I get a minute on the weekend I will take and post some photos of the view. That is, of course, as long as the Typhoon warning signal does not escalate at the wrong time. Today the T1 signals appeared in offices and foyers of shopping malls and hotels. T1 means "stand by". If it escalates too much, we're supposed to retreat to our homes and shut the windows and doors.

Tomorrow morning brings a plane to KL, back on Saturday morning. Next week is looking like a tough one, starting on Sunday night with a flight to Jakarta, then Monday night to Tokyo. Depending on how the Monday meetings go, I'll either race back to Manila on Thursday for Friday meetings, or return on HK on Friday night.

As I write this, Cocktail is on - Tom Cruise looks so young! Still, it came out in 1988, so I guess he's now 18 years older.

Eggs Benedict

I decided to start a review of Eggs Benedict from different places around Hong Kong. Ratings will be out of a maximum possible score of 50, being made up of:

1. Eggs - must be poached, runny in the centre, without the watery whites that you sometimes get.
2. Bread - should be a muffin, or a bagel if muffins are not available. Should be lightly toasted.
3. Hollandaise sauce - light but not watery, reasonable quantity.
4. Coffee - ideally a latte.
5. Ambience - everything else about the place - sit with a newspaper or squash between families.

Each section will have a maximum possible score of 10. Scores will be awarded by me based solely on what I think at the time - all decisions are final and no correspondence shall be entered into.

Today, we sampled Uncle Willie's Deli on Wyndham Street in Central. Sonia had a Ham and Cheese Omlette, and I had, well, the Eggs Benedict. The Omlette came with chips, and was "ok".

The Eggs Benedict was two very nicely poached eggs, still running inside but cooked properly on the outside. The eggs, with smoked salmon (or your choice of ham, bacon, or spinach), sat on a big hunk of bread instead of a muffin. The bread was nice and fresh, but detracted somewhat. However the biggest downside for the dish was that it had spent some time under the lights or a grill (I assume to warm it up again), so the hollandaise sauce was slightly browned in places. An interesting effect.

The deli itself is nice and relaxed, obviously catering for the expat crowds. There were no newspapers available, but the coffee was ok, and the Apple and Cranberry juice was good. The staff were friendly and quick.

In summary, probably not a place we will rush back to, but an ok breakfast.

• Eggs - 9/10
• Bread - 5/10 (not a muffin or bagel, but it was nice and fresh)
• Hollandaise - 6/10 (don't grill it!)
• Coffee - 6/10
• Ambience - 7/10 (could have sat with a newspaper if we'd bought one with us)
• Total score = 33/50

Public Transport

Just been looking at the bus routes and timings for getting to work. Choices for the daily commute are:

• 8am and 8:20am express bus from outside the apartment complex through to Central (across from the office) in 20 minutes. Total cost $5 per trip (NZD 1.0).
• Other buses running roughly every 15/20 minutes throughout the day, but with more stops taking about 40 minutes. Total cost $5 per trip.
• Taxi from outside the apartment complex to Central, taking between 20 and 40 minutes depending on traffic. Total cost $70 per trip (NZD 14.0).
• Shuttlebus leaving from the apartment complex to the closest MTR, then MTR to Central and a five minute walk to the office, probably around 30 minutes. Total cost about $3.60 per trip (less than NZD 1.0).
• Rent a carpark in town close to the office. Drive from the apartment complex to the office, around 20 minutes. About $2000 per month for the carpark, plus petrol.
• Park in a public carpark each day. Cost around $3000 per month plus petrol.

In the end I suspect that the bus will win - get on, sit down, and relax until it stops at the other end. Charge the iPod with music and get a paper to read. And cheaper!

The contract is signed

We are ready for launch - things are starting to fall into place. The apartment rental has been agreed and contracts signed. Money to be paid today once we know the company name to go on the cheque! Carpark is included, so now Sonia is nagging (!) about getting a car. Crown Relocations called yesterday to say that the shipment has arrived in Hong Kong. Monday is a holiday, so I guess they will not be moving the stuff in then. Maybe Tuesday if the shipment clears customs in time. Otherwise it will have to be the week after, as I am off to KL next Wednesday, then Indonesia on Monday 6th, and Philippines at the end of that week. Since Sonia is swanning off back to NZ on Monday night, there are few days that will fit properly. Still, it's nice to have an apartment to call home.

I write this from the Bangkok airport where, having finished my meetings, I wait for my late afternoon flight. Actually I have been working (very peaceful tucked away in a corner) and just needed 5 minutes.

Sonia has running backwards and forwards between the hotel and Central getting the apartment stuff organised. This also required collecting a letter from the office to prove that I am (gainfully?) employed. Since then she has been looking for towels (suprisingly difficult to find) and a mattress protector (also not easy). And sleeping in (as she keeps telling me). I'm not sure what else to write about Sonia's activities, but I will apply pressure to have her update the blog on the weekend.

Oh well, back to work I think.

Sleepless in Hong Kong

Well, a very sleepless night. We were watching a movie (I think the title is "Ed" - about a guy who agrees to have his life turned into a TV show) until about 11pm. Then began the tossing and turning as we wondered whether we are heading in the right direction with the apartment. So small - will we fit everything, how will we stand the small space after being used to a 1400 sqft apartment in KL. I forgot to mention yesterday that the 900 sqft includes an allowance for "common areas", so your usable space in the apartment is around 3/4 of the quoted space. So in actual fact the apartment is probably closer to 700 sqft. Sonia checked with reception at the hotel - our "studio" hotel room is between 330 and 350 sqft. So the apartment will be around double the size. Oh, and it is on the 48th floor, which does at least mean you get a good view. Some might say it is above the smog? Decisions, decisions.

Monday, monday

Well, we (Sonia) saw another couple of places this afternoon and it looks like we are getting closer. This time it's a two bedroom apartment in Bel-Air, Pokfulam. It's 913 square feet (gasp). There is enough room in the second bedroom for a small wardrobe and a desk. That's it. We are currently trying to work out how to fit our "stuff", and what "stuff" will need to be sent back to NZ or sold. For example, our second bed will not fit unless you count leaning up against the wall in the lounge. So it will be a casualty of HK.

VISITORS BEWARE. You will be sleeping on the floor in the lounge. Although we can still fit the sofa, so maybe one person gets the sofa and one gets a lilo on the balcony?

I guess the advantage of the smaller apartment is the significantly lower cost. We get to save more, and spend some of the money on eating out in the many restaurants. And of course we can also afford to have Sonia's nails done (HKD 400 for a job done badly today) and her hair colour maintained (it's not natural, you know!). And maybe I'll be able to afford a motorbike? We'll see.

Delayed Arrival...

It has happened sorry. I have just got off the phone from Cathay Pacific and the only date I could change my flight to was next Monday 30th October. My apologies to Jordan who had the red carpet already prepared, but at least he can update his calendar now!!

We have decided that we really do not want to be in a hotel for another month (if the shipping goes into storage at all it needs to be for a month - they charge you for a full month regardless of how many days it is there for and we must get value for money :-)...) so I am staying to find us something in the next few days. I shall have to apply extreme pressure to the agents to show me everything there is to see on Monday and Tuesday. Andrew is off to Thailand on Wednesday night, so I will have a couple of days in the hotel by myself at the end of the week, but it should not be too bad. I will then leave Andrew to actually supervise the unpacking - most likely on the 1st November. It is about time he had a turn!

Dinner was just fine... do not let Andrew tell you otherwise - he cleaned every last bit from his plate...

See you soon

Sonia

Unknown

Couldn't figure out what to use as a title....

Today we got fatter. Well, we started with breakfast at the hotel this morning (same as every other day so far). Then moved to Pacific Place for lunch (a big shopping centre in Admiralty). Lunch was Mozzerella & Proscuittio (spelling?) sandwiches from one of the nicest supermarkets that we've found. The one sandwich cost abou HKD 59, for about a foot length. Which we shared... Then we decided to walk(?) the escalator, which is the longest escalator (we believe) in the world. It takes you from Central (where Andrew works) to the top of Midlevels (suburb). In the morning until 10:20am, the escalator goes down. After that, it goes up. It is not, however enclosed and air-conditioned. So in summer it is probably very warm. Right now, it was mostly ok, although after 20 minutes we decided that it was time for a break. Conveniently, we happened to be passing a cafe called The Phoenix. Very nice.

We caught the ferry to Discovery Bay, which is an island about 30 minutes away from Central. It's quite popular as a place to live for expats. However, the somewhat "moving" trip on the ferry led us to decide that it is probably not a feasible location for us (Sonia).

Now, we are home, and Sonia is cooking dinner. On the menu tonight, is pasta, with meat sauce made from a jar of Smokey Bacon sauce and a lump of mince purchased from the supermarket. Mince and Smokey Bacon, I hear you ask? I'll update the blog again once we have sampled the results.

Here is a photo of Sonia at work, watching the pasta cook in a frypan (that is all we have) in our little kitchen situated right next to the bathroom (Sonia's back is to the bathroom).

Location, location, location

Things are getting interesting in the hunt for an apartment. So far we have managed to agree on a preferred apartment development, and some basic criteria for the final selection. It's now with the agent (who is unfortunately telling us we might be a little optimistic) to find some apartments in that block.

The picture is somewhat complicated because the prices that the various landlords are advertising vary wildly - by more than HKD 10,000 per month for what is essentially the same apartment. We now need a smidgen of luck to identify a landlord who needs to let their apartment quickly in order to meet the mortgage. For your reference, these apartments are worth HKD 22,000,000 to purchase. Unbelieveable? Believe it. One factor that works in our favour is that the permits for the entire block of 8 towers of 49-50 floors (three apartments per floor) were released at the same time. That means there are a lot on the market right now. Some of the landlords arranged their mortgage many months ago but have been unable to let the apartments because the permits were not issued. So, watch this space over the next couple of days.

If that falls through, we did see a one-bedroom place in The Peak that looked very nice. Maybe a backup option, although it does mean for all you people who are planning to visit, that you would have to sleep shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor in the (small) lounge.

The other alternative is that we go and stay at the Four Seasons, which will rent us a one-bedroom serviced apartment on a long-term basis, for a similar amount to Bel-Air. How would that be for a prestigious address? Maybe not quite as good as being able to say we live at "Cloud Nine" apartments (in Tai Tam)?

To all Aucklanders (including mothers) - Sonia will probably delay her trip to NZ by a few days until she has the apartment situation under control. She promises to keep you posted (however if you believe that, then look at who has kept the blogs up-to-date!).

Correction

Well I stand corrected. Got back to the hotel room tonight to find that Sonia had actually tidied up - unless of course I find out that Sonia convinced the maid service to tidy up for her? The place looks very clean and tidy now. Long may it last!

Sonia spent the afternoon looking at apartments on the North and West parts of the island. At the end there were only two that made the grade - Leighton Hill (in Causeway Bay) and Bel-Air (in Pokfulam). The rest were too small, too bad, or too expensive. Then there were discussions at work this afternoon with other expats about the relative advantages/disadvantages of the various areas. The South Side of the island was raised as an option, however from what I've seen on the Internet sites the prices rise dramatically, and the company doesn't pay enough to get somewhere decent at a reasonable size. Sonia will be going out again tomorrow (Thursday) morning to have a look at two Bel-Air apartments that I've already seen. The viewing of Bel-Air today was marred by a crowd of small children exiting the shuttle bus to bombard the pool area. And the apartment turned out to be one or two floors up directly above the (now full) pool. Not a good start. Well, we'll see what Sonia thinks of the places tomorrow. Time is getting tight as the shipment arrives in HK on 27th and we need to have somewhere for them to deliver to shortly after that. I'm heading to Bangkok for two days at the end of next week, returning to HK on Friday night.

Dinner tonight at Grappa's Cellar - a pizza/pasta restaurant in Jardine House (not far from the office). Not bad until you convert the HKD360 into NZD! Sometimes you just cannot think about it.

Jonathan posted a comment referring to an interesting article pointing out some disappointing behaviour on the part of Helen Clark and her Labour Party in NZ. Worth a read.

National Disaster

Sonia arrived last night and started to unpack her bag. Now the (my) place looks like a mess! My place! Imposter!

We went down for breakfast this morning (will be nice to get out of the hotel soon), then walked to the MTR station so that Sonia knows the way (assuming that she can remember the directions and turnings). I've stopped at Pacific Coffee to collect my morning caffiene injection before heading upstairs to the office.

Sonia is off with an estate agent this afternoon (no rest for the very wicked) to look at a range of apartments around the place. Today she will focus mostly on Happy Valley (make anyone think of Happy Valley ski slope at Ruapehu?), Wan Chai (party town), and Midlevels (expatriate central). Then tomorrow afternoon meeting one of the agents who showed me a couple of places in Bel-Air. Then tomorrow late afternoon with another agent at Bel-Air - this may be the favourite development so far.

Decided that I'm sick of cooking for myself in the hotel room (it has a small kitchen) while walking past lots of nice restaurants every day. Tonight I'll drag Sonia to Grappa's Cellars for dinner to recap the apartment hunting experience. Then tomorrow night we are supposed to meet up with Paula, a lady who Sonia and I have both worked with over the years and who was instrumental in me getting this current job.

Time to get to work... I hope Sonia has tidied up by now.

End of week two

Today was the end of the second week in Hong Kong. This morning I started with a walk around Victoria Park. The park is popular with people who want to get outside. There were lots of people wandering around, playing soccer and tennis on the concrete pitches, sitting on the path, exercising (variations of Tai Chi again), and playing with model boats on the pond. I worked out eventually that the pond is specially constructed for exactly that purpose.




I didn't manage to get a photo, but there was a guy running a racing boat around the longer part of the pond - you can see the space in the background. It went really fast - the sign actually says that the second part of the pond is restricted for fast running. There were other guys with similar boats, and I hung around for a while hoping that they would race. However it was evidently more about a social time spent chatting and (I guess) comparing the relative advantages and disadvantages of each boat.

The families seemed to be having more fun teaching their young children how to drive the boats.

Then this afternoon walking into Central. The newspaper this morning had an advertisement for a hotel/residential development in Queenstown called "The Shore". I walked to the Ritz-Carlton where they had a conference room set up. Great to hear Kiwi accents from the developers. Nice looking places, but I wonder about the financials of investing in this type of development.

This evening I'll head out and re-stock the food cupboard for the room in preparation for Sonia's arrival on Tuesday. Wouldn't do to be empty at the wrong time! And of course the gym - it's great being somewhere where the gym is close and convenient. Reading the entry Sharon and Sonia put onto the World Tour Blog, I suspect I've got the better arrangement at the moment :-)

Exercise habits

Not mine - other peoples'.

One of the things I've noticed about HK is the number of people I see exercising as I make my way to the office each morning. I'm in Pacific Coffee (again) having just walked past two or three people exercising gently. Something like Tai Chi but not. You need to understand the context of this. The office and Pacific Coffee are part of a large shopping mall, which is bounded by four office towers. The people I see exercising are standing in the courtyards of the shopping mall, while all around them people walk by. Imagine something similar to the office blocks and shopping areas in Queen St in Auckland, the Trafford Centre in Manchester, or maybe Edmonton Mall in Edmonton. A strange place to do your exercises when there are a number of small parks close by.

On a different note, I see from the NZ Herald that the government is finally starting to move on the traffic/roading problems in Auckland. The article is about the likely toll motorway from Manukau to Albany. About time, and people should stop worrying about tolls. Go most places in Europe and tolls are a fact of life. Same in Malaysia. Focus on more important things. However, it moves at a glacial pace - the motorway might be open in 2015, barring the usual delays.

And another article on smacking kids... Ignore for one moment the ridiculousness of legislating the limits on smacking to such a level of detail (maybe they should look at the principles rather than be prescriptive), read the final paragraph about mums and wooden spoons. Reminds me of a time when one parent used a wooden spoon, but it wasn't particularly effective. The spoon broke and both of us burst out laughing. And of course I was an angel and didn't deserve it at all!

Musings in the evening too...

Another day gone. Time is starting to move quickly after a bit of a slow start in HK.

Some of the apartments are pretty flash looking. Here's a shot of a lobby/shared area in a block that is a favourite so far... On the right of the picture is the restaurant/cafe. On the left (mostly out of the shot) is the library area with nice comfy couches. Moving through the middle takes you down a nice curving staircase to the gym, squash courts, basketball court, yoga studio, spa, and event rooms.


On the other hand there are some pretty terrible places. Here is a shot of the view when looking out the living room windows of a place in Midlevels.

Here, the buildings are very densely packed with little chance of a view of the sea. The advertisements often specify FSV or PSV - Full Sea View or Part Sea View. The alternative is MV - Mountain View. I think this place was described as MV. Something to watch.
I am going out again on Friday to look at places with an expat agent who knows what other expats are looking for. Then Sonia is here next week to make the decision and we can move in.

Apartments don't come with curtains here. And in some cases don't have light fittings either. Something else to be careful of.

Musings in the morning

It's early (well 8:00am is almost early) on Wednesday. This morning I decided to catch a taxi to the office instead of taking the MTR. A big decision to make long-term: do I catch a taxi to work, arriving cool, calm, and (mostly) collected. Or do I save money and catch the MTR, arriving a bit warmer, at roughly the same time.

For anyone who has been in HK, you'll know what the MTR is like. For those who have not, it's a very efficient and cost-effective means of transport. Because it is both of those things, it gets very busy at rush hour and on the weekends. Think of those pictures you see on TV of the subway in Tokyo where staff are pushing people onto the train. Not that bad, but still very popular with the crowds of people who need to commute around Hong Kong. When I was here about 5 years ago, I remember walking through the stations fighting an oppressive heat. No longer - the stations arenow airconditioned, with the temperature a pleasant 25 degrees. So the sweat (and associated smells) is not such a problem. During peak periods the trains seem to run every two minutes. During the key rush-hour, it seems like they are actually about a minute apart. Even then, there are still lots of people on the trains and waiting to get on (or off as the case may be)!

The advantage of the taxi at the moment is the door-to-door nature of the trip. They pick up off the street outside the hotel, and drop you off outside the office building. The MTR station in Causeway Bay is about 5 minutes walk from the hotel door, or 10 minutes walk to the actual train platform. Then at Central I have to walk about 10 minutes underground to get to the office. Not a worry normally, but at the moment I am working to lose the additional calories that I stored away on the round-the-world tour. Too many burgers, chips, etc!

On the money side, it cost me about HKD 4.5 (NZD 1) to go each way on the MTR. Very reasonable price. A taxi going the same distance (well almost) costs about HKD 33 (NZD 6.60). The same taxi at night going the opposite direction costs more because of the traffic (one-way roads). I guess I will end up on the MTR most of the time, with taxis from time to time.
So, taxi or MTR?

Anyway, I have just looked back at what I have written this morning and cannot believe that it's possible (certainly not sensible) to write so much about so little! Maybe it really is time to go to work. This morning's ramble has been bought to you courtesy of Pacific Coffee in IFC Mall! Have a nice day.

Doing the washing

Well, another mundane evening. I am sitting with the laptop in the laundrette waiting for the washing to finish. Next the dryer. I carefully noted the time when the washing went in, and came back a couple of minutes after it was supposed to be finished. However at some point in the cycle it decided to extend, so there are 8 minutes more to go. Oh well. There are bigger problems in this world.

Passport time today. There are only two blank pages in my passport, so it's time to get a new one - in time to put my HK work visa stamp into it. Strangely, New Zealand passports are only issued in Wellington (funnily enough), Sydney (there must still be too many Kiwis in Bondi), and London (too many Kiwis on their OE). So, off with the forms and passport by courier to NZ.

Starting to think about maids. Time to get one. Or at least start the process of getting one. Maybe Sonia would like to apply?

Mundane

This afternoon was a little mundane. Having been out and fought my way through the crowds for a while, I ended up a little warm and back at the hotel. However, there is very little to do at the hotel other than go to the gym. Eventually I succumbed to boredom and gave in and went to the gym. A brisk walk for 45 minutes on the treadmill, followed by some weight machines.

Then back to the room, shower and cool down. Dinner was spaghetti with bread. I know that sounds boring, but we have not been able to get spaghetti for about three years! A bit of browsing on the Internet, catching up with news from BBC and NZ Herald.

I note that Sonia has still not updated her travel blog, although I know from talking to her that they arrived safely in Ooty.

Housing in Hong Kong

Well. My first time looking at apartments in Hong Kong. I had discussed our preferences with the agent beforehand, and agreed that she would show me a range of apartments in different areas. The idea was to cover off the main styles and expatriate areas, then make a decision about how best to proceed.

We looked at a new block in Pokfulam, then worked our way back into town and across towards Happy Valley. Pokfulam is nice, new, and very grand in the public areas in the development. Kennedy Town is a former industrial area that is slowly being redeveloped. The apartment block there was brand new and surrounded by old factories that are empty and awaiting destruction. Nice enough, but the apartment felt a bit small and the location was... strange. Then into Midlevels, which is older (buildings are 20-30 years old) and smaller. There is less emphasis on facilities in the block, probably because you're right in the city and therefore go out rather than staying in the development. Then lastly Happy Valley. The apartment was not great, but the location has a nice feel. Being Saturday midday by this stage, the streets were teeming with people enjoying the time at the shops, cafes, and restaurants. Like I say, a very nice feel.

Interestingly, the agent had rented a car (MPV) and driver to take us around the places. This meant being dropped off at the entrance of each block, then pickups right outside afterwards.

Then later today it was back onto the streets to explore. I caught a bus from Causeway Bay into Exchange Square - an adventure trying to work out which bus number to catch. Despite looking at the sign at the bus-stop and finding that bus 25 did stop at Exchange Square, I found that in reality the bus only stopped across the road and not somewhere signed as Exchange Square. I guess I will have to figure it out, as public transport will be the thing for commuting to work. The cost of parking in Central is sky-high, so it's not feasible to drive to work each day. That means MTR (as I have mentioned before it's busy) or buses (which are air-conditioned and go straight to the office block).

Having now cooked dinner (ham-steak and cheese slices on a bagel) and been to the gym, it is time to head for bed. Goodnight.

Day three in the office

Day three at an end. I took a taxi home tonight to see what the traffic would be like. The answer is "bad". It took about two minutes to find a taxi, then 30 minutes to do the same drive that takes five minutes in the morning! I guess Hong Kong is no different to other cities with respect to traffic issues. This morning the MTR was better, after leaving the hotel about 7:30, I managed to get to the office (with coffee) by 8am.

It's washing and gym night - gym to get fit, and washing to deal with the clothes. Need clean underwear for tomorrow!

On Saturday it's off to look at apartments - see what HK has to offer.

Day two

In the office. A busy day, started by trying to catch the MTR from Causeway Bay to Central before the rush hour. Admittedly at 7:45 it was not as busy as it get's, but I think I need to leave the hotel a few minutes earlier. At the other end of the day I thought I would catch a taxi home. However. The taxi queue at Exchange Square was soooo loooonnnnnngggg it looked like it would take half an hour standing there before the front of the line comes close. Back to the MTR we go. Still trying to figure out the back streets of Causeway Bay from the MTR station (exit F) to the hotel. Getting closer...

Spent some time at lunch looking at apartment rentals (go to Hong Kong Homes and search) in Pokfulam, Central, and Happy Valley. If you're interested, click those areas on the map that is displayed when you search for rental apartments. Don't even bother looking at buying - the prices are way too high.

Anyway I was planning on the gym tonight, but after taking so long to get home and cook dinner I gave up and watched The Matrix Reloaded. The hotel has a great collection of DVDs that we can borrow. Now just checking a few things before going to bed. Good night.

Hong Kong

Andrew has landed in HK. Sonia still going around the world (it seems), visiting friends and relatives. The work begins in HK, both at work (new job) and at home (finding a home, getting things set up, etc).

Moving within the company group means that I know some of the people I'm working with, after having sat on the other side of the fence from them in the past couple of years. The offices are so much nicer than in Malaysia, which will be nice. On the down side, tavelling at rush hour means battling the crowds on the MTR. First night tonight, and it was busy. I've never seen so many people trying to crowd in at once!

We bought a new camera in KL before leaving, and will try to get some more photos onto the blog as things move along. Sonia has the old camera, and promised to keep the World Tour blog going until after she lands in HK. I'll use this one to keep track of other stuff that's happening.

New name

I guess I need to think of a new name for this blog - we no longer reside in Malaysia, and in fact have no real residence at the moment. From the start of October it will be Hong Kong for me, and from November for Sonia. Until then we are vagrants.

And the new blog begins

Have a look here: http://asricktour.blogspot.com/

And that's it! However...

And that's the end of the time in Malaysia (almost). It's Saturday and we've just finished handing back the apartment keys to the landlord. Having spent the morning sweeping and mopping to make sure the place was clean when we handed over, the landlord's agent tried to deduct some money from our deposit to cover cleaning. Of course that was a red-rag to Sonia, who promptly reminded the agent that the place was filthy when we took over. We had to pay for a cleaner to come in a sort it out before we moved in! There was no way that Sonia was going to pay for them to "clean" the apartment! Needless to say the landlord did not argue - maybe he did recall the email that Sonia sent him explaining the problem when we moved in. However, they did ask for RM 30 (about NZD 12) to cover replacements for the four lightbulbs that had blown. I guess they went away feeling like they'd got something out of us.

As of last night we are officially on holiday. Today is haircut (both of us) and nails (Sonia only!) day. We fly to Singapore tomorrow afternoon, staying over for one night. Then leaving at 10:00am to Vancouver. Last night was spent out with work colleagues to say goodbye - a good time was had by all. I will start up a separate diary for the actual trip - try and put photos into the entries to record where we went and what we did (just in case anyone is interested). Earlier today I was reading the BBC news site and looked at the articles about air travel and packing bags. Looks like small bags (briefcase size) are now ok, which means we'll be able to take the day pack with the notebook onto the plane. Better than trusting things to the vagaries of baggage handlers of dubious honesty. Remember the Auckland Airport scam?

By Monday we will be in Vancouver. Worked out the other day that it's been more than 12 years since we actually looked around Vancouver, so I imagine it will have changed somewhat. We will see.

Its the final countdown

A blast from the past.

Today is Sunday. Next Sunday at this time we'll be getting ready to go to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore - this is the first step of the journey.

A night in Singapore starts the trip, and we then settle into a airplane seat for a mammoth sixteen hour flight from Singapore to Vancouver. The flight stops in Seoul for about an hour after the first six and a half hours of flying. Another ten hours flying gets us to Vancouver, where we're booked into the YWCA in the middle of town.

It will be good to have another look at Vancouver, as it has been more than 12 years since we were last there. I guess the place will have changed. Sonia's brother is now living in Vancouver (avoiding getting a job from what I hear), so we'll catch up with him and the various cousins or distant relatives who have migrated to the northern hemisphere. After a week in Vancouver to have a look around we fly to Edmonton on the Friday.

This week will be focussed on packing (both bags for the trip and the house to be moved), handing over work stuff, and saying goodbye to people. It is likely that I'll see some of them again, but it might not be for a while... Also need to get tax and immigration closed off so we don't get into trouble. So much to do, so little time, and we're still sitting in the coffee shop.

2 more weeks to go...

The old song "two more weeks to go, two more weeks to Christmas" is running through our minds. 10 working days.

This afternoon was taken up with some sorting through the stuff that we've accumulated and throwing things out. Amazing what was still stuck at the back of the cupboards. Of course it's important to sort stuff into piles and throw things out that are not worth shipping between countries.

The news of the terrorism plot raised questions over how easy our flights to Canada (and on to UK) will be. If we cannot take a book or laptop onto the 16 hour flight to Vancouver, I think we'll end up going mad on the way. I hope we'll be ok on the trip to Vancouver and will not need to check so much in. But the flight from Toronto to Heathrow will be a challenge.

We now need to get organised with places to stay (Vancouver and Toronto are booked). We realised that we arrive into Milan at the start of Fashion Week, so we are expecting that it's going to be busy and difficult to find places to stay. The trip has also changed slightly, and from Milan we're flying back through Paris, stopping for a couple of nights before we fly back to KL. Milan-Singapore flights were full, so we had to find an alternative route back to Asia.

Mid-week

Two more working days until the weekend! Saturday morning catching a plane to Phuket for the weekend. Being our wedding anniversary we need to do something, so a weekend (with Monday off) in a hotel on an island away from the office will be nice. As if we need an excuse?

Just watched the re-run of Rockstar Supernova. Being in Malaysia, when I get to see it we are long past it actually being run live. Interesting performances - as last week as well. Some of these people are really strange... Truly amazing what they will do. It will be interesting to see who ends up as the singer for the band. The band itself appears a little unusual, although really, a manufactured rock band? It's one thing to script out a boy-band or a girl-band (Spice Girls anyone?), but for a rock band - a bit too forced for my liking. Well, anything that makes money I guess.