More on Beijing

Well, looking back on our time in Beijing...

The trip in started with long queues... after taking 35 minutes to get to the front of the check in queue (everyone in HK must have been traveling Dragon Air!) the airline had overbooked and had no seats for us. After standing at the check in desk for 45 minutes (they kept asking us to come back in 20 minutes but we were not moving!) we finally got bumped to the next flight. The sliver lining was that business class seats that were the only seats left on that flight so Dragon Air kindly bumped us up to Business - much nicer lunch! We got to Beijing and joined the enormous traffic jam outside the airport. Whoever the VIP was who had all the streets around the airport closed for their arrival, we thank them for our 30 minutes in a cab just to get out of the airport.

The hotel was nice. We found that we could get a two bedroom suite at the Grand Hyatt for less than two rooms at any other nice hotel so we ended up sharing the suite with Andrew's parents. They are not too untidy, so it worked just fine. The hotel was immediately above a huge shopping centre which provided much more realistically priced breakfast, and a good food court option when we wanted a quick and easy meal.

We had decided that days of preplanned tours in a coach were not for us, so we arrived in Beijing with nothing planned. Lonely Planet became our most important accessory and was often seen hanging off the end of my arm. Our first full day in Beijing saw us heading off to the Forbidden City for a looksee. The place is huge, and in true tourist site form, half covered in green netting covering up construction. In all honestly, we would not bother going back... been there done that and taken the pictures to prove it.


Then we headed off to Tienaman Square. Again huge - I think everything in China must be. There were lots of kids around flying kites - very cool. President Mao's embalmed body was not on show they day we were there, so I was spared the horror of having to file past that :-)


The next day we decided to head of to the Great Wall. The two hour taxi ride was a bit squished with Mac, Joyce and I all fitting across the back seat. The scenery was spectacular though, especially on the way home as we wound our way through the back mountain roads. The Great Wall is indeed great. It winds it's way through really steep mountain ranges, and is amazingly intact (yes yes I know it has been restored!).

We took the cable car up to the top and then walked a few hundred metres across the top before heading back down the stairs to the car park area. We were really amused by the 'non-touristy' feel of the place that the hotel concierge promised us if we travelled a little further out to this part of the wall. All I can say is that I hate to imagine what the other parts of the wall feel like!

That was the end of the second full day. Andrew can take over now...

Sonia forgot to mention that we ate a duck. A very nice Peking duck restaurant (Qianmen Quanjude Restaurant) on Saturday night, although it did require us to wait in line for about an hour. The duck was worth it, and we are very glad it was sacrificed to satisfy our hunger.

On the Sunday we decided a trip to the Summer Palace would be the main thing for the day. The trip out there is about 45 minutes in a taxi. Arriving at the palace there seemed to be a lot of traffic around. It was nothing compared to the number of people inside the park. Truly amazing. I'm not sure exactly what I thought it would be like, however I did not anticipating meeting most of Beijing at the park. The lake in the middle was packed full of people using the paddle-boats, the electric boats, or even row-boats. It is nothing like a park in Auckland (e.g. Western Springs).

That said, it was nice walking around the lake. We almost made it all the way around, but after stopping half-way for our picnic lunch (bread bought that morning from a French bakery in the mall), we ended up deciding that we'd seen enough and that it was time to move on. We made it all the way up to the North Gate (I think) and decided to exit and find a taxi. Dad had previously seen a tower from within the Forbidden City, and was wanting to find it and have a look-see. We left the part and got into one of the taxis that was waiting.

About half-way back we noticed that the meter was significantly higher than it cost us to get to the palace that morning. Some waving of arms and angry words ensued, with the driver claiming that he'd gone most of the way around Beijing to get back into the city (sign-language against his map). Since we'd been following the route on our own map, this really didn't wash. Strangely, once we complained, the meter suddenly slowed down.

Eventually we got back towards the hotel and got out. We paid the same amount that we'd paid to get to the Summer Palace, much to the driver's disgust. As we wrote down his license plate number, he quickly drove off. Dad noticed that the taxi sign had disappeared from the roof of the car. Obviously a fake.

Anyway, after coffee we took a taxi to the park where we thought the tower was. After a walk up to the tower and a look around, we noticed people dancing and could hear opera music. Eventually we found that the park was crowded with groups of people practicing their singing - some good, some who need more practice.


And some calligraphy on the ground with water - very good (also mentioned in the Lonely Planet).


Then a walk to the restaurant that we'd picked from the Lonely Planet. Very nice - the Sichuanese chicken dish was fiery hot, and we really couldn't finish it. We also had spicy mushrooms, some type of pancake, pork sausage (we think it was pork but not wanting to ask just in case), sweetcorn with chili, beef, and rice. Part-way through the meal they told us there was a 10-minute performance in the other building so we raced across with the camera.

The walk home was somewhat longer than expected. Sonia's blister (from the Wall) on her little toe started to cause problems partway through, and I'm still paying for keeping us walking. We did get the opportunity to take some good photos of the street stalls where lots of people were eating (photos posted earlier). And the thing wrapped around the stick is snake.

On Monday morning we took the subway to the Temple of Heaven, except that we did not realise how far you have to walk. In the end we got a taxi. A quick walk through the park before returning to the hotel for the trip to the airport. A pretty uneventful trip to HK, and we're back.

Well I guess that was cheating

Here are some more...

Dinner at a road-side stall.















And just try to imagine what's on the stick...














But the guy behind the counter certainly looks cheerful! Does he know something we don't?

Beijing

Some photos from Beijing....

Rugby

Hong Kong has turned crazy since Thursday. There are so many gweilos in town for the Sevens that it's not like normal at all. We found a place to sit yesterday afternoon to watch for a while (we don't have the right channels at home). Amazing speed on some of these guys. Of course as Hong Kong was playing against Korea, the cheering got much louder. Particularly as HK went on to beat Korea (first time ever). A little strange to see so many white faces on their team - I think only one chinese name? Similarly for some of the other teams - Samoan/Tongan names kept popping up in the most unlikely places (USA team for example).

Anyway, today will be a little quiet - Sonia's birthday tomorrow so I guess I should start looking for a present? Any ideas from anyone?

A quick update

This week has been a little strange so far. It's Thursday, and I feel like a fish out of water. I mean, I've been at home in HK all week. Something is terribly wrong! And it's getting worse - it looks like I will probably be in HK next week as well. My trip to Seoul will be rescheduled to some future date (to be determined) because the other people are not ready for the meetings.

Oh dear - will have to invent some reason to travel. It has been a while since I spent time with the team in Malaysia, so maybe that's where I need to go - and Thailand at the same time.

Anyway, just stopped for 5 minutes at Pacific Coffee as I collect my coffee and breakfast ("everything bagel", toasted, grande americano with milk). Better get moving and get to work now.

Oh - almost forgot - got Sharon's birthday present sent off - wonder if she will "get it"?

Another go

We had another go at The Brunch Club yesterday. Very disappointing. We went thinking that maybe last weekend was not their best. Well that's probably true. But it wasn't their worst either.

Slow service, meals coming out separately, coffee coming out one cup at a time (with about 5 minutes in between - how hard is it to make two lattes at once?), no knives and forks until we asked for them. And the food was just average. Once again, the only redeeming factor was the chocolate milkshake. I don't think we will be going back for breakfast by choice. I did go one night for dinner with one of the guys from work - that was reasonable and the service was ok.

Last night was dinner at Harlan's in order to have a serious discussion about careers and future countries. Not sure whether we came to any decisions, but the giant fries with truffle mayo were great as usual. And the slow-cooked beef cheek was excellent (again). I ordered linguine with red crab in champagne sauce as a main, but when it arrived, Sonia decided that she liked it better than the beef cheek (which has quite a bit of gravy), so we ended up swapping. No complaints after that.

Anyway, we're at Pacific Coffee for breakfast and the bagels have just been served. Got to go!

Plans

Well, we're starting to think about what we need to plan for Mum and Dad when they're here.

First things first - getting from the airport to the apartment. I'm going to be in Seoul, returning late in the day. Conveniently, M&D have selected a flight that arrives early in the day - landing (if on time) at 06:45 in the morning. They will need to get the Airport Express to town, where Sonia will meet them.

Having been on a long (10-11 hours?) and being somewhat advanced in years, they will of course need to recuperate (sleep) for most of the rest of the day.

I arrive back in the evening, just in time for dinner. If they haven't managed to make it to town on the train, then I guess I will collect them somewhere between the arrival gate at the airport and the apartment!

The Brunch Club

Not great - good milkshakes and the coffee was fine. But the Eggs Benedict was on the disappointing side. Sonia's omlette (with bacon and parmesan) was good as well - except that she originally ordered Belgian Waffles. They'd run out, and only worked this out after I'd almost finished mine.

Enough said.

Getting slack

We do seem to have been getting particularly slack at keeping the blog updated. Sometimes it feels like there is not really much happening that is worth writing about.

This week, I went back to Tokyo for three days, returning on Saturday morning. It was an incredibly busy time, and I left feeling like I did not achieve the underlying purpose of the trip. However, we did get lots of other "stuff" done. Next time....

The big discussion in Tokyo was around the timing of the Cherry Blossoms. For those who don't know, the observatories maintain a running forecast of the timing. They thought it might be next week, however we apparently had snow in Tokyo on Friday, so I guess that puts a big question mark on the date. It's a big deal for people there - they spend the day sitting on the ground having a picnic (traditionally supplemented with alcoholic beverages) underneath the blossoms. A real social occasion for family and friends.

Sonia spent the week in HK, suprisingly no travel plans either last week or this coming week. I'm in HK all this week, at a leadership conference for the first half of the week.

I overslept this morning, so no happy-clappy. Heading out shortly to find brunch - there is a place called "The Brunch Club". It specialises in breakfasts, including a variety of Eggs Benedict-based dishes. Will update here with a review later on.

We also need to find an air-bed for when M&D come - only two weeks away. Hope they like air-beds! Seriously, I guess we will give up our bedroom so that they can sleep in comfort while on holiday. Meanwhile we (the martyrs) will suffer on the air-bed in the lounge (it won't fit in the spare bedroom).

Macau - a little bit of Portugal in the middle of China...

It is Monday and we have just come back from the weekend in Macau. We were both working in Bangkok for the last couple of days of last week, so compared to the 40 degree temperatures there Macau felt very chilly at around 17. Andrew is out at a work dinner tonight so I am at home watching the silly comedies on tv - should be cleaning my messy house but I am not :-)















Macau is really interesting. I have no idea how many years it was ruled by Portugal, but it was only returned to China in 1999 and forms another SAR (Special Administrative Region) which is self ruling but part of China. Portugese influence is everywhere. Beautiful buildings and forts, stunning gardens and a strange mix of Chinese and Portugese food. The main island is reasonably small - if you don't mind a good bit of walking you can get to a lot of the sights on foot. We sure walked...




















The casinos that Macau is becoming more and more famous for put on a spectacular light show, and the fountain synchronised to music outide the Wynns casino is definitely the most impressive I have ever seen.
















We did of course find our fair share of eating establishments - fantastic Italian on Saturday night, and a funny little place called the Singing Coffee Bean for lunch on Sunday. The menu took great pains to point out that they 'play Mozart to the beans to ensure they are suitably nourished'. No idea if it was the Mozart or not but the coffee was not bad.

































And a couple of Chinese New Year pictures - makes Christmas decoration look conservative!!

My Turn

Just checked the blog and so disappointed in Andrew – did he really not post anything between Feb 22 and Mar 4? He is definitely slacking!!!

This week sees me in Shanghai trying to make sense of the business requirements for the latest work project with our IT vendor. It is freezing. Everyone tells me that it was warm until yesterday, and will be warm again from Thursday. I leave on Wednesday, so not much good to me…

The end of the week (Thursday) Andrew and I are both going up to Bangkok. Definitely on the other end of the climate scale with ‘summer’ there seeing temperatures more like 35 – 37C. We are on leave on Monday so I’ve been trying to convince Andrew to stay over and make a long weekend of it – not having much luck though, he really just wants to go home. A definite disadvantage to traveling so much for work – airplanes and flash hotel rooms are not at all exciting any more.

Probably would be a good thing for us to spend the weekend in HK anyway. We are away so often on the weekend and still have not managed to find a real ‘home’ church. Whenever we are in town we have been going to the ‘happy clappy’ one that we first found. This week they waved hello to Jesus – that just might be it for us I think!! We keep saying that we will go and try the Baptist one once we get a car, but a car is proving hard to come upon. Andrew really wants to replace the SLK he left behind in England, but there just are not too many of them on the market so still no success there.

Really nothing exciting to tell – maybe why Andrew slacked off so badly in February. Be good and take care,

Sonia

Another week goes by

Another week is officially over. The week started in Tokyo, having worked through from last week. On Wednesday I returned to HK, meeting Sonia at the airport. She was coming back from a visit to Bangkok. I got off the plane, walked out into the path towards immigration, and turned on the phone (as instructed by "she-who-must-be-obeyed"). While speaking to Sonia, I could hear the same noises in the background as were around me. It turned out she had just landed and was all of two gates ahead of me! Home to bed.

Thursday and Friday were spent in the office - up until this few days, I think I've managed about 1 day in the office out of each fortnight. Thursday night was a chance to catch up with friends who we used to work with.

Saturday was a fairly slow day, waking up late and going out in search of food. Then another "House" marathon.

Back to work tomorrow, me in HK and Sonia on the way back to Bangkok. Anyone who says it's me doing all the travelling does not understand the situation!

Happy Birthday to Sharon! We hope that Hotel du Vin was nice this weekend...

Earthquakes

Just in case anyone missed it, Auckland had earthquakes yesterday. As the Herald pointed out, Wellington regularly has earthquakes of a similar size and it evokes little reaction. However, Aucklanders being Aucklanders, there were more than 1400 reports to the GNS. For the report of the earthquake from GEONet, click here.

Manila

We're at the end of our short visit to Manila, sitting at the airport waiting for the flight. Jonathan appears to still be in one piece, but does not look "local" yet. He seems to have found a second mother in Lorna (met for coffee yesterday), who he met through Dinah in Auckland. It does not look like work in Manila is busy yet...

We visited one of the GK villages in Baseco. Lots of smiles, but obviously a very different situation. Compared to the squatter housing across the water, these guys have made real differences. Interesting to see the names of the companies that are sponsoring parts of the village.

We caught a taxi to the village - actually we caught the third taxi to the village. The first two thought it was too dangerous to go there. On the way out, we found someone who would take us on their tricycle - a motorbike with sidecar contraption. However, it appears that local politics intervened (organised groups?), and he was only able to take us part of the way. We ended up transferring to another tricycle who could take us further. Even he was not keen to get too close to town. Then a 15 minute walk to the closest hotel for a cold drink in air-conditioned comfort.

The rest of our trip has been a series of short dashes between air-conditioned buildings (mostly shops). I guess we've quickly grown accustomed to the temperatures in Hong Kong, so Manila feels very warm. Even Lorna mentioned that this is particularly warm.

Nothing else worth mentioning really. Just a good break from HK. I saw on the news this morning that the weather in HK is rainy - oh good.

At the airport again

Well it's less than 48 hours between visits to the airport. Today, Sonia and I are waiting to fly to Manila for the Chinese New Year weekend. We return to HK on Tuesday.

I returned from an overnight trip to Seoul on Thursday night. Actually by the time the flight was delayed (some unspecified problem with the plane) I arrived in HK in the early hours of Friday morning. Actually crawled into bed at 2:15am. Airports are getting a little tired.

Last night was another House marathon. Not sure if any of you are fans of the show, but we enjoy the sense of humour. Often wonder if Daryl watches it - I am sure he'd appreciate it if he did. Sonia picked up the first series on DVD in Malaysia, and we're slowly working our way through the episodes. We started watching part-way through, so it's interesting going back and filling in the gaps.

Anyway, this weekend we're planning to catch up with Jonathan and see if he's still in one piece following his first few weeks in Manila.

Union Bar & Grill

Another Eggs Benedict place: Union Bar and Grill in IFC Mall, Central. Lunch last Sunday.

On muffins instead of bagel or bread - finally someone who does it properly. Strangely, however, there was a slice of tomato on each half of the muffin. This added an interesting taste for the first half, but after a while it started to subtract from the overall taste. Other than that, it was an ok deal - the sauce tasted good, although there could have been a little more. The eggs were cooked properly but not overcooked. The coffee cannot be scored because we didn't have any - the ambience went downhill fairly quickly as families arrived with screeds of ankle-biters!

So, the scores:

• Eggs - 9/10
• Bread - 9/10
• Hollandaise - 7/10 - was ok but could do with a little more
• Coffee - 5/10 - because we didn't have any
• Ambience - 5/10 - more of a family place
• Total - 35/50

I write this from Seoul where the temperature when I landed (a few hours ago) was 0 degrees!

A bit of a slow one

Well it seems to have been a bit of a slow week in some ways.

I spent most of it in Tokyo again, flying up on Monday afternoon, arriving back about 9pm on Friday. It was a busy trip, as there is lots going on at the moment.

Saturday morning we bounced out of bed, and out to the coffee shop (first things first). On the list was looking at cars, buying a desk, buying a stepladder, getting an office chair, and a few other bits and pieces. We managed to have coffee/bagels, then purchase a desk from Ikea. Having realised that it's very difficult to carry the desk around the other places we needed to go, we headed home and put the desk together. It's a small desk (120cm x 80cm) but still manages to take up most of the room in the office/spare room.

Which reminds me - we sold the spare bed for HKD 600 last weekend. There's a website called AsiaXPat with a classified ads section. We stuck the bed on the site on Friday night, and by 10am on Saturday we'd had a call. By 3pm the bed was spoken for. They sent their "Man With a Van" around during the week to collect. Later on Saturday afternoon we decided (given the success of the bed) to get rid of the table as well. The table was a pretty cheap purchase in KL, so we decided to offer it free for collection. Advertised about 3pm, we had the first call by about 7pm. Sold!

So now we have a smidgen more room available, hence the office desk, and the stepladder. The stepladder is to enable us to store some of the dining chairs out of the way on top of the wardrobes. I've managed to get two of them up there yesterday afternoon.

Anyway, back to yesterday's story. After putting the desk together, we ended up heading out again around 4pm to purchase the aforementioned stepladder, plus something to eat for dinner. Returning to the house, we watched the first three episodes of House. Hugh Laurie on fine form. Incidentally I realised that the TV channel in Tokyo is replaying House from the start - I saw the first episode earlier this week.

This morning's epistle comes to you courtesy of Pacific Coffee in Vicwood Plaza (Des Vouex Rdoad).

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.