Holiday week

Well it has been a relatively busy holiday week here in Tokyo as we have rushed to keep up with the rest of Tokyo. Having been warned in advance by people at the office that most of the residents of Tokyo depart the city, we felt it was incumbent upon us to follow them. We searched carefully and decided on a couple of places where we felt it was most likely that we'd find them, and then set off on our way.

Sure enough, we'd correctly guessed that everyone in Tokyo would be at the big shrine/temple in Asakusa on Tuesday 1st January. We arrived about midday (45-minute trip on the subway to the end of the line), and the queue to get into the shrine was out to the roadway. Discretion being the better part, we hived off along the road, through small streets of shops and stalls, eventually coming to the shrine through a back entrance. Which conveniently led through all of the Japanese junk food stalls that had sprung into being on the grounds of the temple. After watching the crowds of people (resembling farm animals being herded into the shrine) for a few minutes, we sampled some of the food. Being the adventurous one, I chose a pancake that is grilled/fried with a big handful of shredded cabbage, an egg, and sauce. Sonia chose a plain baked potato with butter. We found a small area to one side of one of the pathways and joined a number of other groups that had stopped to "savour" the food. By the time we'd finished and made our way back through the streets and round to the main entrance of the shrine, we found that the queue had grown and now stretched all of the way down the road (conveniently closed to traffic) and almost to the main road (about 100 metres?). We took this as a good sign, because we now know where Tokyo goes on the first day of the new year.

Wednesday was shopping day - trying to find a winter coat at the sales. However, it turns out that all of Tokyo congregated in one of 3 or four shops. One attraction of the sales is what is called fukubukuro, which is sometimes translated into English as a "Happy Bag". This is a big shopping bag into which the company puts some stuff, seals it, and sticks a price on it. You take your luck with what you get. So if you are wondering where everyone is, they are at the department stores on Wednesday.

Sushi for lunch - there are a few places in Tokyo with the sushi "trains". This one was good, and we got through about 14 plates between us (each plate has two pieces of sushi).

Thursday, we went to an outlet village in Gotemba. This required a train trip of about 1 and 3/4 hours, with a change of lines after an hour. At the changeover point, we had about 30 minutes between trains and decided to have breakfast. The only places in site were a small noodle shop and a 7-11. Since we are now seasoned travellers, we decided on the noodle place, which conveniently had pictures of some of the dishes on the wall outside. When we got in the door, we found the vending machine where you purchase the tickets for the food you want. Which only had Japanese writing, and no pictures. I ended up with my head out the door trying to match the pictures to the writing. In the end we got two tickets for what we expected would be noodles with some pieces of meat. While I waited for the food, Sonia went off the find a table. Which was difficult since there were only four tables in the place, all within one foot of each other. When I saw them dishing the noodles I noticed the guy scoop a big spoon of gloop and put it into the bowls. Turns out we'd ordered noodles with curry sauce. Which turned out to be very nice.

At the outlet village, we were reminded of Cheshire Oaks in UK. Basically the same, but some of the brands were different. And full of everyone who was living in Tokyo. Did I mention it was freezing? This area is close to the foot of Mt Fuji, and I managed to get a few pictures that I'll load in soon.

The following day (Friday) we went to Kamakura - a place outside of Tokyo that one of my colleagues had introduced me to previously. It was apparently the capital at one point? Getting off the train at the station we ended up standing to one side as this stream of people from the train tried to exit the station at the same time. We must have waited almost five minutes as they filed past. Then we got out and walked our way towards the main shrine. Again, loads of people - I guess the people who went to Asakusa on Tuesday must have decided that they needed to hedge their bets and go pray at the Kamakura shrine as well. A number of people were dressed up in very nice looking kimonos.

After standing in line to get into the temple grounds for a look we made our way through and back out to the streets. Since it was past time for lunch we decided on Soba noodles - a place we had passed earlier. I am now at the point where I can manage to get food in Japanese, so we were not too worried about the menu that only had Japanese and no pictures. When you're in a Soba restaurant there is not much choice (would you like hot soba or cold soba?), so we ordered soba with tempura. When it arrived it was a big bowl of noodles in clear soup with a huge tempura prawn on top (maybe 15cm long). Not bad for JPY1300 each, although it is more expensive in this touristy part compared to the soba place around the corner from the office where I normally pay about JPY 1000 for noodles with more tempura (prawn, pumpkin, mushroom, and something else that I cannot identify).

Saturday has been out looking through a suburb called Hiroo for a supermarket that Sonia had read about. We found it, but I think the one I usually go to is bigger and has a better selection of stuff. Expecting to catch up with a couple of friends from UK for dinner tonight, although I am not sure if this will happen because they are not answering their phones. We will have to see...

Tokyo Christmas

It was an interesting Christmas day in Tokyo. It was the first working day of the week because the Emperor's birthday was on Sunday and therefore moved to Monday. Tuesday was a working day, except that for the expats it's Christmas, so you really don't want to be working. And for the Japanese, it's the start of the last week of the year.

I was invited to Christmas lunch at the boss's house, so after spending the morning in the office, I left to catch the subway. At the other end I ran into a couple of other people on their way to the same lunch, so we shared a taxi to the house.

Lunch turned out to be the full monty - an enormous turkey, baked honey ham, brussel sprouts (which I gave a miss of course), stuffing, potato, etc. Desert was apple pie, pumpkin pie, and Christmas pudding. Not bad!

Finished at around 4:30, at which point I headed back to the office to pick up my bag. Then a small dinner with a couple of New Zealanders that I knew from Wellington and who now live in Wilmslow (UK) but are in Tokyo. Dinner was at a restaurant set up by Francis Ford Coppola - the guy who made the Godfather trilogy of movies, along with many others.

Tokyo Festive Season

Well the festive feeling has touched Tokyo. This afternoon it seemed that all of the residents of Tokyo (and possibly the surrounding prefectures as well) had decided that it was time they went shopping. Only made worse by the wonderful sunny day, which they needed to enjoy by walking sooooo slowly. The sun was down by 5 (maybe a little earlier?) and the streets were getting colder so it was time to head home.

I got the news that Paul finally found someone... the pressure is now on, Jonathan.

Tokyo

Things are creeping slowly towards Christmas next week, although for the locals it is more about New Year. Apparently the city empties out a bit from 31st through until Monday 7th. Getting colder now - not sure what the temperature actually is, but it's very chilly in the morning on the way to work.

Nothing new to tell - parcels of Christmas presents are safely in NZ with one exception - Paul - which we missed sending because we thought he would still be in PNG. Then we find out that he's just arrived in Auckland. Oops!

What a difference...

...one day makes, 24 small hours... (look it up).

Back in Hong Kong for the weekend, arriving around 1:00pm today. Amazing how bad the pollution is. As we walked through the shops in Central, you could see the fuzziness of the air (?) across the space of maybe 50 metres. Probably worse for me having grown used to Tokyo's relatively unpolluted environment. As I sit writing this, I can look out the window towards the west where I should be able to see the sun setting. Alas, the pollution is so bad that you can hardly see the boats passing (M&D remember how big the ships are and how close they pass?)!

As soon as I got here today, we were off to the tailors to collect a suit that I'd got made. It fits really nicely, and they've done a great job quality-wise. Apart from a couple of chalk marks left on the jacket, that is. Three-button blue/gray with thin pinstripe. And four white shirts. This is the second suit I've had made in HK by the same crowd. They were recommended by a guy at the office who was impressed with their work.

Previously I'd got a couple of suits made in Bangkok by one of the tailors that most of Prudential seem to favour. The suits are good, but the quality is not up to the same standard as the HK guys. The Bangkok tailor is an Indian guy who was borne in Bangkok but spent a lot of time in the UK. Then moved back to Bangkok and married a local lady (if I recall correctly). Apparently he spends much of his day trading stocks in between consulting with clients!

I am now faced with a bit of a problem - I've lost just over 10kg and some of the suits are looking decidedly baggy. I think it will be back to the tailor to get some of them altered.

Tonight it's off to our favourite restaurant (Harlan's) for dinner. We've been there a few times and they know us well. To the point that desert is usually complimentary. However we do actually want to sample things off the desert menu, so we have strategised how we will jump in and ask for the menu before they bring out the desert.

Christmas presents are all either in NZ by now or on their way, with the exception of Paul and Jonathan because they are (1) troublesome to find something for, and (2) in countries where we cannot easily get the presents sent (Philippines and PNG). Now I just have to find a present for Sonia!

And dropping even further

I saw the forecast for Monday - down to 5 degrees at 6pm tomorrow night! Ouch.

This afternoon I took a ride with some friends - a lady from work and her husband. We hired motorbikes and rode out to a beach - about 250 km round trip.

I'd forgotten how cold it gets on a bike, especially once the sun goes down. I hired a Honda CBR600RR - a very nice ride. Red and black, nice and powerful. See it here.

We rode out to a beach and stopped for coffee at a local cafe (not an NZ-style cafe), where there were a bunch of guys on customised bikes. It's difficult to see on the pictures, but these are large two-stroke bikes (maybe 400 cc?) that have all sorts of cosmetic changes including back supports for the passengers - a la "whale tails" on cars. As well as cosmetic changes, they've changed the mufflers (or removed them?). You can just make out a police car at the far end of the carpark (in the last spot). This police car follows the bike gang around to make sure they don't cause too much trouble. When the bikers decided it was time to go, the policy car starts up and follows them out with lights flashing - but doesn't stop them.


The next picture is of the second set of bikes to arrive - these were larger four-stroke bikes, therefore being much more serious. Apart from using the length of the carpark to do wheelies when they arrived.


After warming up with koohi (coffee), we rode up the beach to a lighthouse. The views were great but the pictures I took didn't work so I've not posted them.

Then back towards Narita (the international airport) and back into town.

Click here to see the points of interest on Google Maps. When it opens up, click the "Satellite" button to see actual pictures.

By the time we got back around 7pm, it was positively freezing. But I do remember what I enjoyed about riding.

11 degrees

That's the daily high temperature at the moment, but most of the time it's down around 8. And I assume colder at night, although I must admit that I don't stay up to find out!

Getting colder, but still lovely clear blue skies...

All things sushi

Sonia and I had sushi for lunch before she left on her way back to HK and Bangkok. As we ate it, we realized how far we have come in what we now eat - surprisingly me more so than Sonia. As best I can recall the lunch:

Start with a soft tofu appetizer - served hot in a very small pot, with a couple of thin slices of mushroom on top, and a small prawn in the bottom. Yummy.

Then on to the sushi itself. Each piece is made separately in front of you, shaped by hand, a dab of wasabi (grated freshly in front of you), and the seafood on top. The piece of sushi is put on the lacquered counter in front of you, next to a pile of pickled ginger. There is a small saucer of soy sauce on the tray in front of you, but you're not really supposed to sully the excellent fish with soy. You eat each piece of sushi from the counter with your chopsticks, straight into your mouth. The chef stays about one piece ahead of you, so you cannot get much fresher than that.

The sushi part of the meal usually starts with tuna (very nice), snapper (or something like that), then a piece of squid, a piece wrapped in seaweed with a pile of salmon eggs on top, then more fish. During this part, a dish of miso soup with small clams arrives.

One of the sushi courses is made with an egg mixture - made with egg and fish soup, which is cooked and then allowed to set into a fairly firm cake - this is cut into pieces and put on top of rice.

Depending on the menu price, you may also get sushi made with sea urchin. Oh, and usually sea eel!

The sushi part usually finishes with rolls made with jellyfish and/or more tuna.

All of this is accompanied by Japanese green tea.

Quite a big meal, and I normally don't have a big dinner afterwards. I now eat everything except the clams in the miso soup. Not bad for someone who still dislikes broccoli and cauliflower! Sonia's not so keen on the sea urchin, or the salmon eggs.

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A Weekend in Tokyo

Sonia arrived on Friday afternoon while I was out at a Call Centre trade show (which is interesting when it's all in Japanese). We met up at the Park Hyatt hotel, which has a restaurant and bar that was featured in the movie "Lost in Translation". The view is amazing from the 52 floor - you can see most of Tokyo and what looks like all of the way down to Yokohama.

On Saturday we started slow with bagels and coffee (at home) then wandered around central Tokyo sorting out errands. Getting new heels on my work shoes turned out to be expensive - around USD 30 per pair! Then a walk to the bookshop (there is a small shop with all English books) and on to the supermarket. The supermarket is pretty good - a large range of stuff that we have mostly not been able to get in KL and HK. The afternoon included a good workout at the gym - on level 22 it also has a good view up towards Roppongi. Then we went out to an Italian restaurant: "Il Mulino". Very nice! But it did make us realise that Tokyo can be very expensive. Coincidentally we saw a couple of advertisements for apartments (for sale). Most of them seem to be between 1 and 3 million USD. Incredible the prices!

This afternoon we caught the subway to Omotesando, then walked down the road to Shibuya. A walk through the backstreets around Shibuya, eventually finding a cheap hole-in-the-wall place that did nice Indian food. Then back to the apartment, the gym, and dinner of chicken breast and salad.

Tomorrow it's back to work, and Sonia is off to HK on the late afternoon flight (and on to Bangkok on Tuesday morning).

Monday

Monday is over...

A fine day dawned this morning, although a little chilly ("samui"). Started with a Japanese lesson at 8, then meetings straight through until lunch. Lunch was a Japanese restaurant with a few of the marketing team as we welcomed a new guy joining the team. Then meetings for most of the afternoon as well. Realised at about 4pm that I still had not managed to get a coffee all day. No wonder I was feeling slow by that stage...

Now at home, having had dinner (a chicken breast and a small salad), I am getting ready for the gym.

Sonia is still in Bangkok, and will fly back to HK on Thursday. Then up to Tokyo on Friday for the weekend.

Anyway, guess I need to get to the gym.

Week

Well the end of another week has arrived, and actually gone. It's Sunday night and I've spent the weekend nursing a cold. By this afternoon I have managed to recover mostly, and was able to get to the gym for 45 minutes.

It was raining all day on Saturday, so that wasn't a big loss. Then Sunday started rainy as well. By midday it had cleared up, and I went for a walk to Starbucks to get some fresh air and read the paper.

Sonia has been in Bangkok for the weekend and avoiding work that she should be doing. Instead she has been getting her nails done and attempting to break records for how many coffee shops she can visit in one day.

One interesting thing last week - I was invited to a charity dinner on Thursday night. A Japanese child cancer foundation set up by an expat couple who lost their son to infant leukemia. Not a bad night, and I managed to meet and chat to John Kirwin! And Dennis Lilley.

Madison's

Was a disappointment. We arrived and went through the entrance into the main part of the place. It looked like a bar or cafe, with more informal seating than we were expecting. However it turned out to be the dining area.

The whole atmosphere was a little disorganised - took time for the bread to be delivered although the butter arrived promptly after we sat down. The menu was ok, but leaned towards the more casual side of things.

By the end of the mains we'd decided that it was probably enough, and the dessert menu did nothing to tempt us to stay.

The restaurant was not even close to full. Given the location in Central, we wondered if it might be busier during the week - the after-work crowd?

The place is actually ok. However I think we were expecting something a little flasher based on the website, and the actual experience did not live up to this. Next time we'll head back to Harlan's. Or maybe "Tuscany By H", which is another Harlan's place.

Hong Kong

Well we are home in HK this weekend. Both of us flew into HKIA on Thursday night.

HK has got a bit colder in the last couple of months. Although we are not needing to wrap up warmly yet, I noticed some of the locals have got out their scarves and heavy coats already. We noticed this phenomenon last year as well. It feels like as soon as the "official" start of a season is reached, everyone goes overboard. Same as winter fades into spring - immediately out come the summer clothes, which are sometimes not really appropriate when the temperature is still on the chilly side.

Lunch today was at Zembra in Wan Chai. This is a bit of a favorite, as it serves good coffee and excellent food.

Tonight we are booked for dinner at Madison's in Central. I have been once before (over a year ago), and we've been trying to get a booking here for a while. Inevitably we are disorganised and end up trying to book a table on Saturday morning. By this stage it's always full. So this week I booked on Wednesday before leaving Tokyo. I will put an update on the blog on tomorrow.

The rest of today was spent playing squash with some of the work colleagues, ordering a new suit from a tailor here (pretty good work), a haircut, and getting some basic groceries. In a couple of minutes, we will be off to the gym to work off lunch and prepare the way for dinner.

No Motor Show

Well the visit to the Tokyo Motor Show did not eventuate. Oh well.

I have managed to surprise myself that I can now jog for 30 minutes (on the treadmill) without struggling. I guess that means I'm getting fitter. I've been trying to make it to the gym about 5 times a week and mostly achieving that. Usually 30 minutes on the bike (level 12) and then either weights or some time on the treadmill. The reason for thinking about jogging was a chat with someone who is working their way towards a marathon and mentioned that they job about 30 minutes each day. Out of interest I though I would have a go and see if I could last that long. And it worked!

Any way, Sonia has safely arrived in Bangkok for another week. I am heading back to HK on Thursday night for a few days, returning to Tokyo on Tuesday.

Six Japanese lessons so far - now I can count, ask for things, give basic directions to taxi drivers, and ask how much something costs. Of course when they give the price they speak to fast it's very hard to understand, but never mind. I can also start to pick up the odd word here and there in discussions at work, so that's helpful.

Oh well, need to go and write a couple of job descriptions tonight.

Comments

I guess the few comments mean that someone is reading this...

Might get to the Tokyo Motor Show tomorrow if I am lucky. Someone from work is thinking about going, so here's hoping.

As requested

Jonathan asked for a picture of the new car, so here it is...


I wish!

Paintball

Friday and Saturday were out of the office for me (Andrew) on a team-building and strategy workshop. For anyone who has been on one of these workshops before, you'll recognise that this is actually a thinly-disguised execuse to have some fun outside of the office. In our case this took the form of paintball on Friday afternoon and a visit to a kids amusement park on Saturday morning.

I sit writing this with a series of bruises ranging in size from a 5c piece (do they still have those in NZ these days?) up to a largish bruise about 5cm in diameter. And because it was outdoors in a valley (the walls of which provide a tactical advantage to anyone who climbs them), I am also suffering from very sore thighs. Although I have been at the gym on a regular basis (lost 5kg since coming to Japan), it appears that the climbing has identified a number of muscles that have not been addressed by the exercise bike or treadmill. Oh well, maybe try some different stuff in the gym this week.

Sonia arrived back in HK on Saturday afternoon after a couple of weeks back in Bangkok. I'm planning to be back with her around the end of the month for a few days - time to get the Japan work visa sorted out.

Third Japanese lesson last Wednesday - learning numbers and telling the time. The numbering system is a little challenging - although it's decimal, the major unit for large numbers is actually 10,000. So if you want to say 1,000,000, you end up saying something like 100 10,000's. Speaking to one of the translators on staff, they also find it a challenge to translate large numbers in a hurry during discussions. Glad I'm not alone. Turns out the gym is a great place to work on revision for the next lesson - no interruptions or distractions...

Oh - another thing about the numbers. There is more than one work for each number. There are two main systems - one for abstract numbers (e.g. telephone numbers) and another for counting things. Then there are variations depending on what you're counting - thin flat things, people, etc. And even within the abstract system, there are two words for 4 - "shi", or "yon". Groan! It's true what they say - learn languages while you are young because it gets harder.

Z4

In response to Jonathan's question - I think it was the 3 litre model? Certainly took off when you put your foot down!

A couple of pictures

Sonia with the rental car at Smiths Beach.

Parrots in a tree in the middle of Perth.

Sonia sitting outside the cafe area at Durance Vineyards. Not somewhere that we would recommend going to (food-wise, that is).

The holiday is over

Well it's the end of the week. Writing from the Qantas lounge at the Perth airport. Sonia got on her flight to Singapore almost two hours ago, and I'm waiting for mine to Sydney to board. Looking at the departures screen, it looks like it's late by a few minutes "DELAYED LATE ARRIVAL OF AIRCRAFT". Since the transit in Sydney is fairly short (1.5 hours) and involves a transfer between terminals and immigration/security, I hope that it's not too late!

We sat last night and were trying to remember our way back through the places we've eaten over the past week and which were the best:
Saturday night - 44 King Stree - very good
Sunday night - Two Fat Indians - very good
Monday night - bread and bbq chicken on the beach in Dunsborough
Tuesday night - The Cape Wine Bar - very nice steak
Wednesday night - fish and chips on the beach at Yallingup
Thursday night - Bay Cottage Cafe - an entertaining evening when we turn up not realising it's a fixed 5-course menu
Friday night - bread, cheese, and chorizo in the hotel room in Perth

And that is not counting lunches. The best lunches were at Vasse Felix winery and Voyager Estate winery. In the case of Vasse Felix it was the setting - up on a second-storey balconey overlooking the vines and the river that winds it's way through the vineyard. The food was good. At Voyager Estate the settings were a little plainer - inside, with no openings out onto the vineyard itself. The food was very nice - excellent Lamb Wellington in my case, and a very nice Seafood Asiette for Sonia.

We ended up deciding that 44 King Street was one of the best - we visited at least three times (may have been more?). It is a nice casual place with a good menu and pretty good coffee.

The worst experience (which we will write more about latter) was at Laurance Wines. Not very impressive - rather the opposite.

Time to board - more later - after my 18 hour trip back to Tokyo.

Story of the day

In Perth safely after a long and torturous journey.

Breakfast yesterday was at a small cafe called "Sassy on the Swan", which is built on stilts overhanging the Swan River. The river itself is a horrible and grotty red-brown colour at that point. Anyway, we decided that a newspaper would be in order, so Sonia wandered off in search of one while I waited for the food to be delivered.

About 30 minutes later (not really) Sonia came back with a very sheepish look on her face. She'd been to a shop/dairy place and asked about newspapers. After a pause the lady behind the counter said "you get them from the paperboy". "You do?"

Apparently the newspaper boys set themselves up in the middle of the intersections selling papers to the cars stopped at the lights. So off Sonia trots to find a paperboy - on foot of course. And back she comes with a newspaper. I guess everything here is geared to people in their cars.

At the airport

Well the points upgrade came through, so I am writing this sitting in the Qantas lounge at Narita airport, having caught the 5:30pm bus, and then had a shower. Nice and fresh. 25 minutes until the flight goes, so as soon as I save this, I go to the gate - which is very close.

Sonia just texted to say she made it safely (if not without problems) to Singapore. She is off to find dinner in the rain (as you do in Singapore).

Wendy McCabe (or Ian) - if you read this, it's time to put something useful and/or interesting on your blog. If you've forgotten where it is, click the link on the right-hand side of the screen. :-)

Counting the hours

It's only a matter of hours before we start the trip to Perth....

The hire car is booked (Holden Astra convertible), although I have just found a place that rents BMW Z4's (and others) so maybe we'll change to that. I am thinking that if Sonia spends time in such a nice car it might remind her how much fun it is and possibly lead to a purchase back in HK.... watch this space.

In other news....

I am being kicked out of my office today. A new CFO arrives on Monday, and since we are short of offices, and he has "C" in his title (and I don't) I am given the short straw. Not really a big deal, as in a few weeks we get more space (extra floor in the building) and I'll move back into an office.

Anyway, time to get to work.

Learning

Well I continue to learn. Yesterday I was informed that the spellings of the Japanese numbers that I had written on my white board were incorrect (refer to an entry a few days back)!

6 should be "roku"
7 should be "schichi" not hitchi
8 should be "hachi" not hutchi
9 should be "kyu" not qu
10 should be "ju" not dew - although that's so close I'll never be able to tell the difference.

Island ECC

Well the church has a new website - click the link on the right-hand side of the page underneath the Eggs Benedict ratings (you can see priorities here!).

Back to HK

Well this weekend coming, Sonia and I will be back in HK. I have a couple of meetings booked on Friday, so tonight I jump on a plane at 6:30, then fall into bed by around 11:30. Sonia gets in on Friday night. It's only a short trip for both of us, as we need to be back at our desks the following week - Monday for Sonia, Tuesday for me (Monday is a holiday in Tokyo).

It will be good to have a chance to make sure the apartment is still ok before we swan off on holiday in Perth/Margaret River the following weekend.

Not much to tell right now. Oh, I am taking some Japanese lessons - the team have been teaching me some basics (numbers are below), but it's important to have some of the formal phrases you need in a business context.

1 = ichi
2 = ni (as in knee)
3 = sun
4 = see
5 = go
6 = rock
7 = hitchi
8 = hutchi (I think)
9 = qu (as in queue)
10 = dew

Strangely if you want to indicate 50, you actually say "go-dew". Similarly, 15 is "dew-go". I guess it makes some sense, but it will take a bit of getting used to.

Cooling off

Well things are starting to cool down here in Tokyo, while Sonia continues to sweat it out in Bangkok. A few rainy days have meant that the temperature has dropped back into the twenties - positively chilly! Not really, but it has been better on the last two or three mornings walking to work.

Sonia flys up tonight, arriving early tomorrow morning. Since she has spent most of the week with a cold, I am not sure what we will get up to around Tokyo, but there is a nice restaurant I was thinking of getting to. And of course maybe we should look for Eggs Benedict to review.

There is an IT/Gadgets place called Akihabara which I'd like to take Sonia to see - amazing area full of shops with tvs, stereos, computers, and anything else gadget-wise that you can think of. It is also known as one of the places that exhibits a more quirky aspect of Japanese culture - "maid cafes". They are innocent (as opposed to sleazy) places where all of the waitresses are dressed in french maid uniforms. I've not seen one of these cafes, but walking around the gadget shops you see the waitresses walking past outside. There are a few strange aspects of the culture here, so maybe over time I can write some more.

Once great thing is the sushi. Amazing, and so fresh. I particularly like the tuna - so much more tender than tuna in NZ. It really does melt on your tongue. I will be keeping a lookout for "real" sushi places back in NZ - now that I know what to look for. Most of the places I've been here make the sushi fresh, right in front of you. These are guys who have trained for 10 years to know how to do it right. They told me yesterday (through translator) that there is a special way you make the rice into the sushi shapes in order to maintain the correct amount of air in it. Otherwise it ends up becoming heavy and solid. And there is a special mix of vinegar, sugar and salt that works best. Whatever... it tastes amazing.

And I can now say that I've eaten sea eel (very nice), sea urchin, sea grapes (type of seaweed), scallops (wasted on me), salmon roe, and a few other strange things. I guess things have come a long way since mashed carrots and parsnip? Still don't like cauliflower, broccoli, etc!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well things are changing again.

I (Andrew) have taken on a temporary secondment to Japan, running anything up to nine months. This is a result of changes in the regional team, with a reduction in focus on operations and IT (my area). The Japan work is very much a temporary thing, at least from my perspective.

I will be returning to HK every few weeks. On other weeks, Sonia will fly up to Tokyo and explore the wonders of Japanese society. The apartment in HK is still home, so no changes in address or phone number (not that we ever answer the home phone anyway!). My email address is changing - for anyone who has it, just replace prudential.com.hk with pcalife.co.jp.

Coincidentally, Sonia is getting the opportunity to spend some of her time in Bangkok. Just as well we don't have a cat. Well, at least not in HK. Hope Phoebe is still ok. It does mean that we have a range of choices for where we spend the weekends - HK, Bangkok, or Tokyo.

We are off to Perth and the Margaret River region in about 4 weeks time. Holiday! We are planning to stay in Perth for a couple of nights before driving the 4 hour trip down to Margaret River. What (I hear you ask) is the attraction of Margaret River? Well, it starts it's life as a grape. Need I say more?

End of the week

The end of the week is at hand! Sonia and I are making our separate ways back to HK tonight, I from Tokyo, and Sonia from Bangkok.

Suit fitting tomorrow, plus catching up with a colleague who we first worked with in the UK, and who moved back to NZ. He is up in Hong Kong at the moment, so it will be a good chance to say hello after a few years.

Had intended to play squash over the weekend, but I found out that the guy I usually play with is planning to spend the weekend in Macau. Oh well.

Just another weekend at home, I guess. While M&D are off squandering the inheritance traipsing around Alaska, Canada, and north-western US.

Japan

Well I (Andrew) am back up in Tokyo again, and have just realised that it's two weeks since I updated the blog. I'm going to be more heavily involved in the work here over the next few months, which will be nice. Japan is a great country, and Tokyo can be a very fun place to work.

Right now it's the height of summer, and temperatures are very high. When I flew in, the sign at the airport said 36.2 degrees. That was at about 3pm. If found out in the paper the following day that some of the cities had posted 40.9 degrees.

Japan is very energy-conscious, and the air-conditioning is not used as liberally as HK. As a result it is very warm even at work - desk fans keep the air moving, but you need strong deodorant. Does not turn into a problem at the office, but by the end of the day it's a relief to walk back and have a shower.

I've just got back from the gym, where I sat on the bike and watched a traffic jam form as a result of a minor nose-to-tail accident on the motorway. The jam was still growing an hour later, and the cars had not been moved. Looking down from level 22 of the building, it did not look bad (the accident, that is), so it's a bit of a puzzle why they did not get on and clear it up. The view from the gym is pretty good and I could see the traffic banked up for kilometers into the distance.

More later.

Our first Typhoon

Well we can now say that we have survived our first typhoon. Not difficult when you realise in retrospect that the rain was heavier during storms in KL. Yesterday afternoon we all came back from lunch and found the office buzzing. It came out that the HK Observatory had raised the warning level to T3, and advised that they were expecting to raise to T8 around 3:30. That meant that HR is expected to send an email telling everyone to go home (they close the office). By about 2:30, we were still waiting. Then all of a sudden the email was sent.

The taxi ride home was fairly uneventful, although the roads were already a bit messy around the south side - leaves, small branches, etc. The weather closed as the rest of the afternoon wore on, but by 6 or 7pm, it looked like it was just a bit windy.

Sonia was flying back in from Bangkok last night, and arrived safely at 10:30. Then I eventually get a call from her saying that she'd been waiting in line for a taxi at the HK station, but there were none coming. Turns out most of the taxis take the opportunity to go home. By about 12:30am, she was still no further ahead, having tried waiting for a bus as well (they had suspended the route we use). I went downstairs and was able to get a taxi straight away, so I came into town, opened the door so Sonia could get in, and back home we went.

All a bit of a palaver - the weather really wasn't that bad. Still, if we could have a few more during work hours, there will not be too many complaints.

Summer in HK

A quick note about the weather.

As we came out of the apartment this morning, it was raining. This is pretty unusual at the moment - the weather has been fine and clear for maybe six weeks in a row. A huge change from the early days when we arrived. At that point the smog was so bad you couldn't see the Kowloon side, or out to Disneyland at Lantau Island. The only way we knew where Disneyland was was because the fireworks cut through the smog each night!

Now, it's clear and sunny every day. We get a great view across to the islands, and from the office I can see right through to the hills behind Kowlooon.

However it does get hot. Hotter in fact than KL, which was consistently 32 degrees. Now, we are facing year-high temperatures each week. Last weekend they reported we hit 35.5 degrees. Yesterday seemed pretty hot, but I doubt we got that high. Will see what the paper has to say.

Summer runs through until early September (I am informed) so I guess we'll be seeing more of this.

Wagyu

A quick note on a new Eggs Benedict place that we've just tried. Probably the best we've had in Hong Kong to date.

Wagyu is (as the name suggests) of Australian extraction. The Coolangatta Gold breakfast had been had previously, and was excellent.

Today Wendy is here, so we took her there for breakfast, trusting that the Eggs Benedict would be good. It was - the eggs were done properly, there was enough sauce (extra sauce in a little container if you want it), there was sufficient smoked salmon, and the bread (turkish) was toasted just right.

The ambience was a little off today, as the air-con was not working. They had fans going, so it wasn't bad, but not quite as good as usual.

So, the scores:

• Eggs - 9/10
• Bread - 8/10
• Hollandaise - 9/10 - was great
• Coffee - 8/10
• Ambience - 8/10 - nicely grown up (and Wendy says the company was great)
• Total - 42/50

Pictures

Here's a view of the sunset from our balcony. It can be pretty amazing... (click on the picture to get the full view in glorious "technicolour")


Dragon Boats from a few weeks back.

Everyone paddling hard as we start the final race. In the background you can see the spectator boats lined up. Some of them started getting into position on the Sunday before the race (which was on Tuesday). That's how busy the place gets. The boats form a "U" shape around the race course.

A closer view of the mad paddling that's required. We were not as good paddlers as this crew was!
Our final race - if you squint hard, you can probably see me (Andrew) last on the right-hand side of the boat.

Another Week Passes

Sonia here this time - figure it is about time I take my turn.

We realised in the taxi this afternoon that this time last year we were about to pack our house in Malaysia. It is hard to believe it it is almost a year since we left KL. It was not until the beginning of October that we actually made it to Hong Kong, but even that means we have now been here over 9 months. We are still really enjoying Hong Kong as a place to live, although neither of us will be sorry to see the heat of summer start to dissipate. Should be cooler again by the end of August, and we cannot wait. The heat is quite different than KL. We thought KL was humid but it was truly nothing compared to here. Just a couple of minutes outside at the moment has you feeling decidedly drippy, and any more than a 10 minute walk is pretty much unbearable. We are taxi'ing more and walking less as a result.

I have just finished my third week back working with Bravura, and I think it is going to work out ok - a bit of a relief really. The company has changed a little from the Tacit days in the way it thinks and operates, but the actual software product is still very familiar, and there are only so many variations on types of insurance products companies can offer so I am not too far behind the game. It is looking like I will be spending most of my time in Hong Kong with some travel to Bangkok and possibly China over time. I am pretty much ok with whatever happens - both of these are pretty ok places to travel to.

We are looking forward to Wendy coming for a quick visit later this week, and hoping to rent a car and do our first bit of real exploring outside of the city this next weekend. Hope Wendy is up for the experience of being Andrew's first passenger in Hong Kong! We are trying to decide just what to do about buying a car. If Andrew was really settled in his job I think we would go ahead and buy, but until he sorts out just what he is doing with the crazy new boss I think we might just rent on the weekends and continue to make do with taxis during the week. Even though it feels expensive it probably still works out cheaper than running a car of our own.

Wold love to have exciting news to post but there truly is nothing out of the ordinary going on here - who knows, maybe next week!!

Bye...

Where to start

Well, I see that it's been a few weeks since my last confession (I mean "post").

Sonia has gone to India, then Auckland, and is now into her second week on the job in KL. It's been interesting how much she remembers - much more than she thought (which is good)! There are a couple of her workmates here in HK - one visiting, one living here - so it's not a big team. The challenge for her is going to be bringing her experience to bear - what needs to be differently to the last project.

I had a quiet birthday, with Sonia flying back in and arriving in the country about 9pm. By the time she got to town where I met her, she was white and not feeling well. Turns out she'd drunk lots of water and not eaten anything all day. According to CSI that means her Calcium levels were way too low (I think).

Anyway, what else has happened? I got my driver's license yesterday morning, so all of the taxi drivers had better watch out. Another menace on the road (I had to say that before Dad does).

I'm off to KL for a couple of days, getting back to HK on Friday night. Then planning to go to Japan next Monday afternoon for the remainder of the week. Not sure if that means I get to see Wendy (who is visiting us on the way to the US) or not...

Time to board. Bye

Airports

An update (after some prompting, I admit). Sitting in the Tokyo airport after a week working in Japan. It's been good being back here after an abscence of a few weeks. Tokyo is very hot...

Meeting Sonia this afternoon back in HK. She is flying in from India about the same time I land. Then it's back to the house to repack her suitcase ready for her flight to Auckland at 9pm (today). I suspect it will be a busy afternoon.

Oops - the flight has just been called so I guess I have to go.

Alternative investments

Have just started an experiment with alternative investments. In this case, of the liquid variety. Or more specifically, two cases of French wine.

First case: Chateau Lynch-Bages.

Second case: Chateau Pontet-Canet.

If everything goes according to plan, these two cases of wine will sit safely in the warehouse in the UK for a minimum of 5 years, at which point they can be sold for "ginormous" profits. Both cases of wine are 2006, which has just been released ("en primeur"). They are cheap because no-one is really sure how well they will age. Except of course if you speak to the brokers who are selling the wine, in which case they will all be excellent value. Funny that.

One of the two cases did rise relatively quickly over the past week as the release sold out. We bought our case for GBP 399. The current price is GBP 420, so I guess that means we could claim a profit of 5% in a week? At this rate we'll be able to retire shortly!

We will see what happens.

Sunday night is here again...

We are getting slack and not updating the blog so often... suspect it is because there really is not a lot going on :-)

It has been a really long week for some reason. Andrew was off in Japan from Wednesday through to Saturday morning. He managed to catch up with a friend (and ex boss!) from England while he was there - I think he enjoyed being able to talk about England and catching up on what the people we worked with there are up to. I spent a rather boring week at home, but never fear, my days of hanging around HK are over for a couple of weeks at least. This week sees me heading off to Malaysia for a couple of days - should have a chance to find time to search out some mamee noodles for the nephews and nieces and have a mocha or two at Coffee Bean! Definitely looking forward to being back 'home' for a few days.

The end of the next week sees me not working anymore (yeah!!) and heading off to India to visit with Wendy and Karyn. Should be fun. We are having a couple of days in Bangalore first, and then heading back up to Ooty to catch up with the kids as well as Ian and Chris. I am looking forward to the visit with much anticipation! Then I will be starting the new job back with Bravura, and they are kindly flying me to NZ for my first week of work. It will be good to catch up with everybody again.

That is about all I am up to. Andrew is feeling increasingly frustrated at work. His new boss is a total pillock (Andrew's word not mine!), and seems to think that his primary purpose for being put on this earth is to run around after her. All is not boding well for a long and fruitful relationship!! We shall see....

That is about if from us this week, except to say that last nights thunder and ligthning was the moat amazing we have ever seen in Asia - truly majestic. Even managed to blow the cover right off the barbeque...

Till next time - be good :-)

Sonia

Langkawi

On the weekend we made it back to Langkawi to check that the beach was still ok without us :-)

Thursday was a holiday in HK so we headed off on airpoints flights to KL. A quick whip through immigration and straight onto the connection through to Langkawi, arriving just in time to get to the beach for a couple of hours before the sun went down.

Friday, sitting around on the beach and doing nothing, finishing one book and starting the next. Then Saturday the same again! Sunday we woke up, had breakfast, then caught a taxi out to the airport. The trip home was rudely interrupted by a four-hour wait in KL between when we arrived and the flight left!

Anyway, some decent photos of sunsets at the beach - will post them later on.

A New Job

Today shall go down in history as the day I signed a contract to return to my Talisman life and begin work with Bravura - the company that bought out Tacit. It is two years (almost to the day) since Tacit was bought out, I was made redundant and we lost a heap of money we had invested in the company. So why go back you may wonder? I am wondering to0, but basically it seems like the right thing to do and they have been very persistent in chasing me :-)

My contract with Pru ends in June, and I start working for Bravura on the 2nd July - I think they forgot that was a public holiday in Hong Kong when they wrote the contract, so my first day I will be paid for doing nothing - perfect :-).

Bravura has a very small office here in Hong Kong - actually in the same building as Pru, so I should still get to see a bit of my dearly beloved. I am off course going to be located on a higher floor than he is, but that is only fitting don't you think... They also have one major client based out of Hong Kong that I will spend a lot of my time working with. It will be interesting to see how another insurance company does things after being entrenched in Pru for so long.

Other than that life is really just toddling along. Really looking forward to getting to the beach in Malaysia this weekend - 4 days of sun and surf- perfect (the sun in Hong Kong is usually hidden behind a thick layer of smog, although just lately it has been real thick cloud and torrential rain that has been the problem). Jonathon has suggested some quick getaways in the Philippines as well, so that might have to be the next bit of planning I do. I am still trying to convince Andrew to commit to a week or two back in NZ (via Australia) in late September - we shall see.

We have been going to a different church for the last few weeks (after happy clappy waving to Jesus got just too much for me). Andrew is disappointed in the music, but overall we think it is going to be 'home' here in Hong Kong. The church is big - several hundred people, and meets in various different rooms at the convention centre each week - basically which ever room has not been booked by a higher paying client I suspect. We really like the signs on the 'reserved for parents' seats that have a really cute baby and the words "If your baby becomes unsettled, please step out to the foyer (and don't forget to take the baby!)" Something tells me that is the American pastors sense of humour rather than the locals, but it kept us amused.

Thats about it - will take some photos in Langkawi and post them next week.

Brunch

Today is Saturday again - this morning we managed to struggle out of bed before midday. This was an achievement for me, although Sonia was awake (too awake) at some unearthly hour - probably around 8.

We went out to have brunch and decided to try a place we'd seen on the street and in writeups - called Wagyu. An Australian bistro/cafe type of place. Very nice Eggs Benedict, with lots of sauce. The coffee wasn't bad, although not up to the standard of Zambra in Causeway Bay. The menu for dinner was very impressive, so I guess they will see us again sometime soon.

New boss on Friday. Well Thursday really, but I was in KL. It will be interesting - the rumours around HK are that she is not the easiest person to work with or for. Friday appeared to bear this out somewhat. We will see what happens. Worst comes to worst there is heaps happening in the financial services industry.

Both Sonia and I went to KL on Wednesday for a meeting with the local team. I stayed on for Thursday to meet with a few other people, while Sonia fly up to Bangkok. I managed to get home by about 10:30 on Thursday night, and Sonia walked in the door at 9:30 last night.

This coming week has Thursday as a public holiday (I think it's Buddha's birthday?), so we are off to Langkawi for a long weekend. It will be nice to lie in the sun and relax, instead of peering through the humid smog of HK to see if the sun is actually above the horizon.

Another week

Just realised that another week has gone by without updates to the blog. So here goes...

Last week was a slow return to the travel bug. Both Sonia and I attended a meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon (to get agreement to close down a project). Then I took off to Taipei (first trip in a few years) while Sonia stayed in Bangkok to spend time with her favorite Finance team...

Taipei was interesting, seeing Taipei 101 from a small distance. The work was interesting, and hopefully will result in opportunities for further visits.

Saturday night we went to the movies and watched Spiderman 3. A little long at 140 minutes, but it was ok. Just in case you've not seen it yet, he saves the day - sort of. I think I'm probably more looking forward to Ocean's 13, which comes out later this month.

Wednesday morning it's off to KL for a short visit. I'll return to HK on Thursday night, while Sonia goes to Bangkok on Thursday morning, getting in HK on Friday.

Oh, and I went dragon-boating again on Sunday afternoon. Still a little sore, although that may have been a result of the squash games on Saturday morning!

Dragon-boating is fun

Except that I've ended up a little sore. Surprisingly not just my shoulders, but also my behind! The seats are basically planks of wood running across the boat. Sitting on planks of wood for an hour and a half is not the most comfortable experience, and it is only made worse by the need to rock backwards and forwards as you paddle.

We started practicing strokes so that the leaders could work out how good we are. Then we progressed to a sequence of 10-long-slow-strokes, 20-fast-strokes, then 30-moderate-strokes. This is apparently a lead-in so that we get the hang of things. We were informed by Lisa-the-drummer that we need to end up working even faster than the 20-fast-strokes part. And we are guaranteed at least two races on the day (one towards the final, then one more towards the "consolation plate"). Great!

Justice is served

Paris Hilton jailed for 45 days. I particularly like the comment she's reported to have made that she would pay complete attention to everything from now on. I guess we all suspected that her focus on reality was a little tenuous?

Swimming in Saudi Arabia

A great article on BBC News about the first woman to swim in Saudi Arabia. Well worth a read through.

Brownies

Forgot to update on the progress of Sonia's Kitchen Aid. We've used it - twice!

The first time was to make some brownies. Water, oil, two eggs, and a packet mix. Add chopped marshmallows, chocolate chips, and cherries. Mix it up (takes about 30 seconds), then throw it in the oven. Stop to lick the beater - OH NO - it tastes of peanuts. Check the box - no mention of peanuts. Think. Check the oil - "nut oil" - must be the problem. Check the brownie when it comes out, then throw it into the rubbish bin.

Walk down to the supermarket, purchase another packet, plus a bottle of vegetable oil. Try again. Works perfectly!

Total mixing time - about 1 minute. Maybe 2 if you stretch it.

The Election and Dragonboats

In France, that is.

Is anybody interested? It would seem that this is an event of vital importance, based on the coverage around Asia. The papers and the news seem to be full of it. It's hard to figure out why - inward-looking politicians manouvering their way through a sales process, trying to please everyone while at the same time differentiating themselves from the competition. I guess at least it will all be over within the next couple of days.

Meanwhile in the real world, the first practice for the company's dragonboat tournament entry will be held at 4pm on Stanley beach this Sunday afternoon. Between now and June, we practice every Sunday. Then in June we will pit our immense collection of skill and experience against a motley collection of other teams formed from around Hong Kong. It seems a foregone conclusion that we won't win, but it should be a great laugh.

Having seen dragonboats on TV previously, it looks like we're going to get very wet (not by capsizing, although that's not out of the question). This was confirmed by Linna (the organiser), who warned us to bring a spare change of clothes to each practice.

Stay tuned - we will let you know how things go!

Musings

It's strange what you become used to and accepting of. Yesterday was a public holiday in Hong Kong (Bank Holiday for the brits amongst the audience). After a long sleep in (one of us managed to see 2pm still in bed), we dragged ourselves out to purchase coffee beans. This was important, as it gave us a reason for being out of the apartment, and therefore a reason to stop somewhere for a late lunch.

We ended up at a cafe/restaurant that we had previously passed in our meanderings through Mid-Levels. It's called Cru, and on our previous wander past the Eggs Benedict looked very good. However, we didn't go for the Eggs Benedict this time. Instead, Andrew targeted the Ham and Cheese French Toast (can anyone spell cholesterol?), while Sonia had the breakfast burger (bap roll with bacon and eggs inside).

What was interesting was when partway through the meal two persons of french extraction sat down at the table next door. To return to the original topic, what we realised after leaving the restaurant was how some of their mannerisms grated on us (clicking fingers at the waiters? really!), whilst at the same time we are quite happy to sit in a restaurant surrounded by people having a competition to see who can slurp their noodles the loudest. I guess as you age you change...

What goes around comes around

I guess that means I have to dig out the photos of Sonia. Watch this space....

Revenge - for all those posts that include pictures of me sleepng...

I am getting revenge. This morning I cannot get Andrew out of bed. He has decided to stage a 'sleep in' and is refusing to budge. Now that would be ok except I need coffee and we are out of milk.

So here are the photos - Andrew cuddling up with his elephant - how cute :-)

Til later...

American Idol

It is a little difficult to believe what they said on American Idol tonight. Mostly it was fine - pictures of sick and hungry kids in Africa, with a clear message about the need to donate. They talked about how $1 would buy malaria tablets, and food.

Then they switched to talking about the poor areas of the USA. There are a surprising number of sick and poor people in the USA. That's not what was so disappointing - it was when they tried to push people to donate $25 for an "emotional rescue" package which includes a ghetto-blaster/radio!

Somewhere the priorities seem to have gotten a bit confused! What's more important - that some kid gets a radio or that other kids stay alive instead of dying from malaria? Something is wrong with this picture.

OR maybe it's just another case of "only in America".

Boredom

Well we decided today that things are starting to get a little tedious in Hong Kong. Up until recently we've been fairly busy with getting things organised with the apartment. Then getting ready for M&D coming, then hiving off to Beijing. The last two weekends have been quiet - last weekend was recovering from the weekend in Beijing. This weekend has just been a bit boring.

Saturday we went looking for Sonia's Christmas and birthday present. It turned out to be a Kitchen Aid mixer. A nice red mixer now sits quietly on a corner of the kitchen bench. At this point, the mixer is quietly calling to Sonia "use me, use me". However Sonia's hearing seems to be failing. Despite it's plaintive cry, it is still yet to be plugged in and turned on! We'll keep you posted as things progress.

For anyone interested in the details, it has a 300w gear-driven motor (as opposed to the usual belt-drive), and weighs a ton!

Just remembered - it had to come with a slicer attachment, plus a cast iron griddle. Again, neither of these have been used yet....

We're now sitting working on watching Grey's Anatomy. Another good show. A bit more serious than House, but still great. Some very funny lines.

The groceries are being delivered tonight. And we have to get to the gym...

A short update

Well we assume that mum & dad are still ok in Manila, although we have not heard anything from them. Jonathan has not updated his blog with anything since the end of March, so there are no hints coming from that direction.

I arrived home this afternoon from a Japan/Korea trip. The timezones and the flight times get to be a bit of a drag, but it's good to be home again. Both Seoul and Tokyo were cold again, having finished a short spell of warmer weather. Other than that they were the same as last trip.

Can't think of anything else to write at the moment. Maybe more will come to me tomorrow.

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...