A Problem

Just been warned that we are down to the last 10 minutes for the buffet. But I cannot fit any more. Not sure that we have got mtr money's yorug. Wonder if the would do takeaways for the last round?

Lunch continued

Feel like we have eaten a week's calories in one meal. And we have another 45 minutes to go. Time for another round of dessert before it is too late...

Lunch

At the Intercontinental Hotel lunch buffet. Have been here (and eating) since 1130. The buffet finishes at 3pm. Only 1.5 hours to go - better get eating!

Amusing advertisements

This set is for a Mexican beer.

Introducing the most interesting man in the world:


and


Should you go rollerblading?


Or wear tight pants?


And when to use pickup lines?

Trip

Well I am now booked to visit NZ at the end of May and start of June. Just me, no Sonia. I admit this is not the best timing, what with winter on the doorstep. Still, it will provide a nice counterpoint to the rising temperatures in HK. Last night when I got home from the gym the inside temperature was 27 degrees. Some of that is because Sonia had kept the windows shut and the air conditioner off, but it still gives you an idea of how quickly things have heated up. For round the house I have a couple of pairs of shorts - baggy things that we got from Stanley market. One pair are Billabong, the provenance of the others is uncertain...

Bread

We look forward to the photos and stories of breadmaking from Sharon...

Problems

Well, this week is athlete's foot week. Monday started fine, but by the afternoon my foot started to feel tender. Tuesday night I had trouble sleeping, with a bit of a fever. By Tuesday morning, my foot was swollen, and glands as well. Still, a good excuse to sit on the couch all day and skip the gym.... I managed to finish the first half of Private Practice season 2, then a movie, and the first four episodes of Brothers and Sisters. Last night was another feverish night, so this morning I went to the doctor. I'd been thinking that it might be something more than athlete's foot, but the doctor confirmed that it was just infected. So I am now armed with antibiotics, creme, and nurofen... Another day on the couch keeping my foot up, rubbing in creme and popping pills, and hopefully it should be ok in a couple of days.

Should I put pictures on the blog? Suspect this is not as interesting as some of the cooking/travelling things...

What is your Hobbit Name?

Mine is "Mungo Brambleburr of Bindale Wood"....

Click here to find your Hobbit Name, and tell us what it is.

Not much to say

Well I realised that I have not updated the blog for a while. That is really because there has not been much to say.

Sonia is in Bangkok at the moment, dodging bullets (joke). Things are calm, as usual, despite what the papers/TV say. It will be interesting to see how things develop, as there is clearly a lot of maneuvering behind the scenes. I suspect it will not be too long before Thaksin is back in the country.

We are off to an ANZAC Ball on Saturday evening. A combination of the NZ Society of Hong Kong (we are members), the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, and a couple of unimportant Australian associations. The Ball's theme is uniforms, which seems a little strange. Usually these things are themed around things that are a little easier to dress up - like "White" or "Glamour" or "Las Vegas" or something equally inane. We are going in normal Ball stuff, as neither of us own a uniform of any sort. Unless you count business suits as uniforms (some would).

We made biscotti last weekend, chocolate flavour. It has turned out quite well, although it could do with being a little dryer and harder. But the recipe (click here) did tell us in advance that it would be a little soft in the middle. And I don't consider pistachios a valid part of a cake, cookie, or biscotti, so we didn't add them. Also because we didn't have any...

I bought some marshmallows, ready to make another lot of sickly sweet, gooey brownies this coming weekend. Which brings me to the gym. Or maybe that should be drives me to the gym? To atone? They are still renovating the gym. There are subtle signs that suggest it might be close to the end, one of which is a sign saying that the cardio machines will be unavailable after 10pm this Friday night. I have been to the gym a few times on Friday nights, but never that late...

Thankyou Sharon

At least one of the relatives is able to extract information from Jonathan. Although given the responses I suspect that Sharon and Daryl resorted to sitting Lui down at a wooden table with spotlights shining on her and extracting the answers directly.... Lui: Apologies if D&S went over the top in encouraging the release of any specific information :-) And I no longer look anything like the wedding photo that is on top of the bookshelf in Mum and Dad's house.

More recipes

Here is an interesting blog about cooking and cancer...

http://userealbutter.com/recipes/

Surreal moments in Hong Kong

We have just come home from having kebabs for dinner. We went to a cheap Turkish place in one of the less salubrious places. The food was fine, and there was lots of it.

On the way back we were sitting on the tram, working our slow way through the centre of Hong Kong. We saw a bus passing us (they go faster than the tram). As the rear of the bus came up level with the tram, we saw a strange sight through the windows of the bus....

A drunk, asian, Elvis, standing up in the back of the bus, swaying backwards and forwards, hanging on for dear life to the pole.... in his white Elvis suite, complete with sequins.

Only in Hong Kong.

New Sunday habit

In what looks like becoming a new habit each Sunday, yesterday afternoon I decided to try making cupcakes. Everyone says they are easy, so it should be more difficult for me to stuff them up compared to the previous challenges involved in Sonia's birthday cake.

Here is a picture of the results. The recipe said it would make 24 - in actual fact it made 20 (for those of you who are observant, the missing ones have been eaten). The chocolate ones are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chunks, raisins, rum flavouring, and chocolate butter cream icing. The other ones are plain with lemon butter cream icing.


The next photos are the story of making Sonia's birthday cake. The first one is of the cake after taking out of the oven, and trying to get it out of the tin.



And you need to see what the turntable from the oven/microwave looked like after taking the cake off it. The detritus that you see is part of what spilled over the side of the cake tin. Remember that this is what is left after I

1. scraped it off with a spoon so that it would not spill over the side of the turntable onto the floor of the microwave, and
2. scooped some of the cake mixture out of the cake tin (while it was cooking) using a jug that I use for making milk for coffee...
   

And of course you need to understand what sort of oven we are cooking with...



Below is a picture of the cake at the end of the process. It actually looked ok (IMHO), and tasted fine.

Noodles

Today's lunch was Udon noodles, with bits of left-over chicken breast. The broth was a combination of dashi and tare no moto.

Dashi is a fish-based stock, made from seaweed and bonito flakes. It's very thin, with a fairly delicate flavour. It does tend to smell up the apartment when I make it. Tare no moto is a combination of soy sauce, mirin, and a little brown sugar. It's quick thick, and is basically the flavouring. To make the broth, you mix 5-1 dashi to flavouring.

Very nice! We should have put spring onions in it, but not having any we decided to have the noodles anyway.

What to say?

Well, Sonia is back in Bangkok this week. HK is alternately sunny and raining/overcast. Or is it just smog? Hard to tell sometimes.

The gym is being renovated at the moment. Instead of the old 3 floors, they are now taking up 5 (level 2 up to level 6). And of course they build the changing rooms on level 5. With stairs.

The worst bit is the noise that goes with the renovations. They are keeping the gym open while doing it, alternatively closing off a floor while they renovate. At the moment, level 3 is closed and there are jackhammer noises coming from it all the time. The stairwells look like they had a major water leak at some point in the renovations and the carpet is starting to smell. Yummmm!

Still, all the other floors are pretty much completed so it should not be much longer. Level 6 will be the "Group Fitness" area - aerobics, "spin classes" (what a joke!), etc. Level 5 is the changing areas. Level 4 is the strength floor - lots of free weights and machines. Level 3 will be the treadmills, bikes, and step machines. Level 2 will be a cafe (healthy food of course - not).

Birthdays

Today is Sonia's birthday, as many will know. I took the momentous step of attempting to bake and ice a chocolate cake. The chocolate cake recipe is the Black Magic one on the Chelsea Sugar website.

All started out ok, mixing the cake stuff in a saucepan because the only bowl is a little (actually a lot) small. Then the fun started.

The only oven we have is a combination microwave, grill, convection thing that sits on the bench. Basically a microwave on half a course of steroids... We decided that the convection setting would be best because microwaving a cake is not a great move.

After about 10 minutes in there, the cake had an afro! Then it continued to rise. And kept going... Until there was able mixture flowing freely onto the spinning table. I ended up getting the metal jug used for frothing the milk for coffee and scooping mixture out... I guess I should not have filled the tin so much?

The cake tastes nice, albeit a little on the "wet" side. The thick cooked icing makes up for that. I took a few photos and will put them up shortly so you can all admire my handiwork.

"I'm ignoring you"?

Deathly silence reigns down-under. :-)

An open letter to a recalcitrant brother

Dear sir,

It has been brought to my attention that you have recently changed address at extremely short notice, creating significant inconvenience. Further, I understand that this involves someone of the opposite gender. Having never had the opportunity of meeting said individual, it has come as something of a suprise to learn that she is the cause of the relocation.

As such, I (and my spouse) have a number of very important questions:

1. We understand she goes by the name of Lui - what is her full name?
2. How tall is Lui?
3. Educational background?
4. Please describe Lui's cooking ability?
5. Does she have any special interests or hobbies?
6. Does Lui play sports of any kind?
7. When did you meet, and how?
   
8. When was your first kiss, if any?
9. When can we expect that you will introduce us to her?
10. Is there any other relevant information that we could reasonably expect you to share, and if so please provide details?
    

We appreciate your earliest attention, and remain your humble relatives.

Kind Regards,
Andrew & Sonia

PS: We understand that there is a general consensus of opinion that what Paul did should not be considered to set a precedent.

And now for the weather

Today continues much the same. After a week or so of hot and sticky weather, Hong Kong seems to have changed it's mind and decided that there is a bit more winter to get out of it's system. Oh well...

Rain

Today started with thunder, lightning, and much rain. It rained heavily for the first few hours (not sure what time it started), and then fizzled out into a gray day. The rain is a good thing, because it has cooled the place down (was getting a bit sticky) and has washed away some of the smog. Now I can see across the harbour and through to the beginnings of the hills behind Kowloon!

The Toilet Strikes Back

Well not really. In fact the big news today (apart from the change in CEO at my old employer) is that the toilet is working again.

I finally managed to get Eddie the maintenance guy to come over just after lunch. He attacked the toilet with the plunger while I stood smugly behind him thinking "I have already tried that and it did not work". However, being the canny man that he is, he quickly noticed that it was not working. At this point I was feeling vindicated. However, asking for a cloth, he threw it into the bowl before applying the plunger with renewed vigour. And hey presto the toilet works. Turned out that the cloth ensured a much tighter fit around the plunger, which stopped air and water escaping around the edges and ruining the effect. A useful home-handyman tip to remember (feel free to write it down if you need to) for when this next happens to you...

Today's Adventures

This morning started with me feeling extremely virtuous, having determined that today was to be Housecleaning Day. Immediately things began heading downhill. First, I managed to break the brand new mop. Oh well, the mop shop is just up the road, so off I went to get another new one.

Partway through mopping the floor I stopped to clean the toilet. Only to find that when I flushed it, the water did not disappear at it's normal rate. Or, in fact, at all. Problem. Off to the shop again to find drain unblocker. Which has not worked.

So the gym's "facilities" will come in useful until I can get the maintenance guy to see what he can do...

American Politicians

Sitting on the bike at the gym again. Watching CNN.

I have never come across a better example of the stupidity of politicians than what I just watched. Barney Frank's performance to the media only showed what a sorry politician he is. Populist, combined with what appears to be a general lack of competence. Or maybe the two are implicitly linked?

The soundbite (it only took a few seconds to demonstrate his "abilities") was shown as part of a segment on the 165 million in bonuses to AIG. Keep an eye out for this gem.

Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, and St Patrick's day. In Hong Kong this means an excuse for many people to go out in the evening. It is also warmer today. The past few days have been cooler, such that the air conditioner has been switched back off (it ran at night a few times before the wedding trip).

Caught up with an ex-colleague for lunch today. A good excuse for getting out of the house. Staying at home is going to wear thin, I think.

The rugby sevens are coming up soon, which means there will be a number of functions in the evenings. And the ANZAC ball is being held on Anzac day. Busy times...

More on USA and Canada

Colorado Springs was an interesting middle ground between country and city. Lots of music seems to be country, and boots are quite acceptable footware. But lots of Starbucks and American-style "restaurants". Restaurant = burgers, fajitas, pizzas, pasta, and anything else that can be fried or covered in melted cheese. That was a bit of a shock to the system after Asian's focus on rice, vegetables, and little or no fat/oil.

We climbed (drove) up Pike's Peak, where it was so high that Craig complained of being faint. This was of particular concern because he was driving... We also went to Garden of the Gods, which was impressive and would have been more so if there were not so many signs saying "stay off the grass", "stay off the rocks", "do not climb", etc. And Daryl managed to avoid following his own driving instructions and got lost trying to find the Visitor's Center. Might post some photos of these areas later on.

The flight from Colorado Springs to Denver was incredibly bumpy. Reminded me of flying into Wellington on a very windy day. We are talking about a plane that has two seats on either side of the aisle and no storage space. The flight was scheduled for 15 minutes, and I think the pilot took great pleasure in putting the plane at just the right altitude to maximise the bumps. The flight from Denver to Edmonton was much better, probably because we flew higher. Still the same size plane, but I guess the flight was longer.

Interesting aside: it was cheaper to buy a ticket from Colorado Springs to Edmonton (which involved the two flights via Denver) than to buy a ticket from Denver to Edmonton on the same plane! Idiots.

Canada was cold. We arrived into Edmonton (to be greeted by Evan's smiling face) and immediately had to go to Tim Horton's to warm up. Actually it wasn't that cold (not snowing, and the sun was shining) but we had to go to Tim's anyway.

The first day in Edmonton/Sherwood Park was cold but not too cold. It must have been hovering around zero if my memory serves. But the next day it turned cold - down to -15 and snowing. This is nice when you're used to HK/Thailand temperatures. I went to "help" with the delivery to Evan's store the next morning, which required getting up at around 5:30 in order to leave by 6am. It was snowing as we left the house. Arriving at John's store (Evan help'shelps John with his delivery, then they both go to Evan's store to do his), we settled into Tim Horton's for a quick coffee/bagel while waiting for the truck to turn up (normally shortly afterwards). After about 10 minutes Evan gets a call from the driver, who has been sitting stuck on highway waiting for the road to reopen. He's been there since 3am... Anyway, the short version is that the truck arrived a couple of hours late...

While in Edmonton we went to West Edmonton mall (as you do). The place hasn't changed much, although now that the girls are bigger they can go on more rides. Watching the people around the mall, I was struck by two things. First, there were a lot of people at the mall on a work day - why? Second, the mixture of people is different than I remember. More teenagers who looked like they were trying to immitate the goths around Harajuku in Tokyo...

Anyway, we had a great time catching up with E&K, and please refer to the Eggs Benedict review earlier on.

The holiday is over

Well, we are sitting at Tokyo's Narita airport, waiting for our 6:30 flight back to HK. The last couple of days in Tokyo have been on the cold side. The city seems to have been experiencing a cold snap, while it should have been getting warm in preparation for cherry blossom season (sakura). Alas, we are a couple of weeks too early to have seen it.

However, while it may be cold outside, never fear! Tokyo-ites are accustomed to it being considerably warmer inside. The gym at the hotel was kept at a cosy 24 degrees! Not great when you are trying to work out, as you only have to walk across the room to break into a sweat (losing weight by sweating out water does not count). And the lounge at the airport is so hot (Qantas lounge) that we are rapidly depleting the place's supplies of Coke and ice.

Los Angeles

I write this while standing next to the toaster in the Beverly Hilton, the hotel we stayed in overnight. We have about 3 hours to in before we take off on a 12 hour flight to Tokyo.

E&K's Eggs Ben

We were recently fortunate enough to have an opportunity to sample Eggs Benedict at a new location in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. E&K's place is somewhere that we have visited a number of times over the years, but never eaten Eggs Benedict. This visit, K decided that it was high time.

The dish was presented on a toasted bagel. The bagels were toasted just right, and hit just the right note. The eggs were freshly poached - in actual fact the whole dish was less than 30 seconds from creation to the plate being placed on the table. The whites were just right, not at all underdone or overfirm, and the yolks were comfortably runny while still being cooked. The only negative on the eggs is the colour - the yolks are not as yellow as a good NZ egg. The smoked salmon was thinly sliced, with two pieces providing a great counterpoint to the rest of the meal. The hollandaise was made fresh and was not too thin. Coffee was courtesy of Tim Horton's and freshly brewed.

And so to the scores:

• Eggs - 9/10.
• Bread - 10/10 - fresh bagel, toasted just right.
• Hollandaise - 10/10 - excellent.
• Coffee - 8/10 - not a real latte but for what it was, great.
• Ambience - 8/10 - pleasant environment with grown-up conversation.

Total - 45/50.

One last one, about dance

Credit to the Twists for locating and recommending the videos...

Mothers and fathers

An amusing take on the relationship between mother and child:

Momsense by Anita Renfroe (lyrics are available here).

And a followup that describes the relationship between a father and child:

It's true - men really do suffer more

We all know that men are affected more by the common cold when compared with women.

American Airlines

We have flown twice with American Airlines now, and I am a little unsure what to make of them. The first one was from Tokyo to Dallas, and was pretty good. Good enough that we were congratulating ourselves on having chosen them. We have just boarded mtr second flight, from Dallas to Colorado Springs, and so far it has been a very different experience! To be fair, much can be laid at the feet of the airport company rather than the airline. Checkin was a mess, with 3 counters open, and long lines queueing up. The checkin lady was nice, and pretty efficient. Then security - I have never been through a ruder of less friendly lot before. They had one line open to process a huge queue. Eventually they realised this might be a problem and opened another one, but by that stage the queues had built up. Then they shove the bags through the machine, and you had to watch your fingers as the lady shot the out the other end with no regard for how many might already be waiting to be collected. All in all the security team seemed to consider us a major blight on their days...

And to top it all off, the lounge did not provide complimentary wireless internet access. I think many of these people would benefit immensely from attending a customer service course, preferably run somewhere in Asia. They would learn a whole heap!

Captain just informed up that the plane is being "fixed" and that he will let up know more once he hears back from the maintenance crew. Meantime we are to sit tight... Grump, grump, grump...

Hanoi Pictures

First, the traffic. If you recall my previous description, you'll remember that it bears more than a passing resemblance to slightly organised chaos. Much like meal times at D&S's?

This first picture shows the density quite well. This is a street not far from the hotel.



And this was the view from a coffee shop where we stopped to escape some of the heat. You can see an elderly gentleman walking across the road. He's the one right in front of an oncoming car, and who looks like the bike has just narrowly missed him... In the front of the picture are the ladies selling cut pineapple, bananas, etc.


The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. This is taken looking across an enormous grassed area, with guards all around who blow their whistles if anyone tries to walk across (a few tourists attempted to cross and were loudly discouraged from continuing).



A sign at the HCM Mausoleum. Please remember to check in your guns and bombs, and then pick them up again when you leave.



A picture of the One-Pillar Pagoda that is next to the HCM Mausoleum. Not quite sure why it is meant to be so special, as it's really just a concrete pillar with a box on top.


The Opera House in the middle of the city. There are lots of buildings in the same style - this is just one of the most well-looked-after.

On a cold Sunday in HK

Well the temperature has taken a dive again. I started out this morning, wearing my t-shirt and thinking that this would be fine. Yesterday was quite warm, to the point that walking home from the gym at 830 last night I was still warm. But this morning it is much cooler. Maybe the breeze is bringing a wind-chill factor into play?

Well, not long until we head to the states. We still need to work out what to pack to cover up through Arkansas, Colorado Springs, Edmonton, and Tokyo. Sonia thinks we need pocket hand-warmers. Never heard of them? They are little sachets that you put in your pockets. The head up and keep your hands warm - toxic chemicals, probably. First came across them in Tokyo, in the land of useless inventions.

Leaving Hanoi

Well, I am at the gate waiting for Air Asia to get it's act into hear jong enough to get up boarded. This seems to be a fairly major challenge. Right now there are 5 staff behind the counter, none of whom are doing anything. All up passengers are lined up waiting to get on (and have been for about 15 minutes!), but this may be in vain... Sonia's plane left about 30minutes ago, and we will (hopefully) meet up in Bangkok in a couple of hours.

Hanoi 3

Out and about this morning, it is a little cooler than on the weekend. While checking email this morning, I noticed that people in Tokyo are complaining about a heat wave (mid twenties when it should be around ten), so maybe Hanoi has also copped some of the hot weather as well?

Hanoi again

What to say about Hanoi?

Well, there are little motorbikes everywhere - the kind that are about 125cc. They own the roads, which mostly lack centre line markings. Mostly, the traffic sticks to the correct side of the road (for left-hand drive cars). But only most of the time - it is far from a hard and fast rule. To cross the road as a pedestrian, you need to hold your breath and confidently set out across the road, in the face of the oncoming traffic. Maintain a steady pace, keeping an eye on the bikes. DO NOT under any circumstances alter your pace to take the bikes into account. They are not used to anyone doing this, and you will confuse them, leading (probably) to an accident. DO continue walking, relying on the bikers to adjust their course around you. This works... except when you see a car, truck, or bus. They are bigger than you are, and therefore it is necessary for you to make way for them. Size matters when determining right-of-way.

We are staying at the Sofitel Metropole, which proudly toutes it's heritage from establishment in 1901. The hotel has two wings, and we are in the old wing. This has wonderful old wooden floors, long corridors with quaint lamps, and a huge chandelier in the lobby. The French influence is everywhere, from the architecture (think of the building styles in Paris) to the language on the hotel facilities and documents (Vietnamese, French, and English). Interestingly I have heard a few of the guests speaking French, so I guess this is a comfortable place for them to visit. The bread also reflects the heritage - crusty and fresh.

We've taken some pictures over the weekend, and I will download them to the PC shortly.

Hanoi is a city of lakes - there are at least three large lakes in the centre of the city. We spent some time on the weekend walking around a couple of them, enjoying the gentle breeze and avoiding the sweat that comes with walking through the streets - it is hot here.

Sonia found a nice silk jacket on Saturday, which will be saved for the wedding. The prices at the silk shop are not bad, although still expensive when you consider the surroundings. A taxi costs around VND 15,000 - 40,000 for a 15 minute ride through the centre. VND 16,000 = USD 1. Coffee costs VND 10,000 if you go local (squat on plastic stools), VND 25,000 if you go to a "cafe", and VND 50,000 if you go to a Starbucks-equivalent (which are not really up to Starbucks in terms of decor/surroundings). Vietnam likes coffee sweet - preferrably with sweetened condensed milk - often a lot. The coffee beans themselves have tended to be sweeter than we are accustomed to in NZ. Paul would be horrified. Having said all that, apparently Vietnam is one of the bigger coffee-producing nations, so I guess they probably have one style for domestic consumption, and others for export.

First impressions

Just landed at Hanoi, and got into a taxi. Well not really a taxi, more like an airport car. It's a brand new Hyundai, SUV-style. Outside is dark, partly because it is 845 at night, partly because the windows are tinted. The airport is a bit like Manila: worn out and in need of some modernisation. But at this time of night I got through immigration and customs in about two minutes - total from the airplane to the arrivals area took about 5 minutes. This is better than I can do in HK even with using the automatic fingerprint readers and my HK Id card (remember in HK you are just a number on an Id card).

From what I can see it is a bit smoggy outside. Maybe the pollution from the motorbikes?

Apparently the drive to Sonia's hotel takes about 45 minutes, some of which is being taken up with tapping out this missive on the phone (remembering always to keep an eye on the spelling).

Time for an update

Well I realised that it has been a while since my last update, so here goes...

Sonia flew out this afternoon, back to Hanoi. I will join her there on Friday, the Vietnamese consulate willing. I have to in to apply for my tourist visa first thing tomorrow morning. Then on the following Tuesday we will both fly to Bangkok. I stay in Bangkok for only a couple of nights before coming back here. Things do seem to ad warming up in the job market, so I want to make the most of the time before we in to the wedding. Sonia flies back to Hong Kong the night before we fly out to the US.

Enough about the travel arrangements. What else? Well this epistle comes to you from the gym again... I am sure Daryl is making the most of the last couple of weeks to try and get his weight down below me (71.5kg)!

We went back to one of our favorite restaurants last night - Harlan's. I suspect that it has changed hands from the original guy - something felt different about the place this time. I will have to do some digging to see if it is true or not. On Friday I went to the NZ consul-general's house for a Waitangi-day bbq. Along with about another 80 members of the NZ society of HK. And yes the house is that big. Right at the top of the Peak with amazing views over HK. Met a few interesting people - it seems like most kiwis in HK are here as teachers. Met someone who knows Alison and the Stevenson clan. And the Liddles. Kiwis are an incestuous lot.

I got the Mac back on Wednesday. It had started randomly freezing or rebooting, and I could not figure out what the problem was. It turned out to be a problem with the main logic board, which they replaced (still under warranty). Now I can get back to working on prototypes of systems - something to keep me busy in between interviews.

Thanks to Jonathan for the photos of the ankle-biters.

Friday

The end of another week approaches, and Sonia flies back in tonight.

I went out before breakfast this morning to see if the laundry was open - it has been closed all week because of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Things were getting a little bit dire - down to the last shirt and pair of clean socks. Luckily they were back on the job, so I raced home and took two big bags of washing and a few shirts down to be washed. I now need to head back there late in the afternoon to collect the washing (shirts will be ready tomorrow). It is almost as good as living with your parents, except that these guys charge you.

I must remember to finish cleaning before Sonia gets home - this will be her first night/weekend in the new apartment, so we need to impress her with how nice the place is...

New gym

Well today I signed up at a new gym for a month. The old gym membership was through the serviced apartment company, so when we moved out the membership stopped. Then last week I was staying with Sonia at the hotel in Bangkok so there was the hotel gym available. Since getting back to Hong Kong I have been keeping an eye on the HK website to see if anyone wants to sell their gym membership - transferring from someone else is much cheaper. Alas, none this week. So I joined the gym for one month. That takes us up to the time we leave for America, after which I need to have something longer term in place. I guess I am gambling on people who started the new year with good intentions, and who now realise that they are not going to keep it up. And so want to recoup some of their investment, which I can help with.

Monty Python

I have been watching the original Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD. There are a total of 14 DVDs in the series, with 3 or 4 episodes on each one. I'm up to disc 4, and it is interesting seeing how the style evolved over time. The first couple of episodes were not overly funny, but as things progressed there is a lot of good satire in there. The current episode is showing a sketch of a guy who is trying to jump the English Channel... And re-watching "The Spanish Inquisition" is hilarious.

Dropped the Mac off to the service centre this morning. It's decided to hang every few minutes, or if it doesn't feel like hanging, it reboots instead. The guy at the centre thinks it is probably a problem with the power supply. In 5-7 days I should know what the problem was...

Critics

Everyone's a critic! Well, not really everyone, just blisters. Predictive text on the mobile phone strikes again...

Bangkok

Your base location in Bangkok matters. A lot. Where you are living and working defines the amount of time you will spend in traffic. In the central area, much of that time will probably be spent sitting in your car stationary. In order to get from the hotel to an area 2 stops away on the skytrain (about 10 minutes walk) can easily take more than 30 minutes in a taxi if you are not lucky with the traffic. Sometimes I sit in the taxi with a slight feeling of awe when I think of the number of people in Bangkok. That often leads me to think of the wasted man-hours that there traffic jams represent. Bangkok could be so much better off if they did something about the traffic. Probably a aig jump in GDP....

Ex-colleagues

Well, the week continues in Bangkok. Today includes coffee with a Prudential alumnus from Japan (now working for Generali in Bangkok), followed by lunch with two people who porkdeworked for Tacit (now with Bravura) in the UK. They are in Bangkok on a stopover on a trip to NZ. It is amazing how people get around, and in Asia you learn that you often meet up where you do not expect.

Bad Fish

Clearly it had been too long since the last bout of food poisoning. In fact I struggle to recall the last time I was unlucky on the food front around Asia.

I got to Bangkok and met Sonia at the airport, and we made our way to the hotel as normal. Thinking that we would eat healthy (losing weight for P&T's wedding and all), we purchased some salad and tuna sashimi for dinner. Sonia tried one piece and said "the texture is strange - too soft". Having eaten some pretty soft fish before, I thought that it was indeed soft but still fine, and so finished the rest of it.

By 10pm I was in trouble. Cramping stomach, etc. Still awake at 12:30 in the morning, and slept very little that night. I ended up staying in bed the next morning while Sonia went to work, eventually getting up about 1pm. The day was spent sitting by the pool for the afternoon, not eating and just drinking water. That night I was in bed and wanting to sleep by 9pm.

Today has been better, although I am still not ready to eat sashimi again! Managed 35 minutes walking in the gym before I started to feel a little queasy in the stomach, at which point I took it as a sign that I had exercised enough for today. I guess that will teach me to be a little more careful, although as I mentioned we have not had much trouble before...

Friday

Well, another week draws to a close... I have basically finished the move to the new apartment today, and just have some bits of cleaning to do. Two dinners cooked, and the place is starting to feel a bit more like a home. Tomorrow I have to hand back the keys to the old place, get a haircut, and print and post a change of address letter to the insurance company. Then pack to fly to Bangkok on Sunday morning.

This update comes to you from the gym again, where I have been advised that the got water is still unavailable. Even though it was on last night! Never mind, a cool shower is enough after a good workout.

My gym habit is usually reading the Economist magazine, which comes every Friday. I have learnt a lot about the world and history from reading it (I am sure some of it is a bit slanted, although you know that economists are famous for straddling fences). For example last week's copy has a good summary of the history between Israel and Palestine - none of which I recall being taught at school. Or maybe it was and I was asleep at the time...

Moving part 3

Well today I moved the computer, screen, and other final bits and pieces from the old apartment. Luckily the heavy lifting was already completed yesterday, so today was not so bad.

And then I get a message from Sonia (in Bangkok) asking whether it would be ok to move all of her office's stuff into our apartment. So off I trot down to her office to pack it all up. 7 more boxes. At least this time the Man With A Van will help carry the stuff upstairs (the company is paying - "cheapskate" I hear you say?) tomorrow morning.

After packing the boxes, it was off to the gym. On arriving, I was informed that the hot water was off. They were fixing it (still). It has been off for the past 3-4 days, but they were always warning that there might not be enough hot water. This time I was warned that there was zero hot water. But since I celebrated my first night in the new apartment (last night) with nachos, I thought the gym was a must today. In the end the water was tepid rather than cold.

Last night: well, given the location I had expected some noise. In the end there was a bit more than I expected - mostly the restaurants throwing bottles into the rubbish. Might need to get heavy curtains on the bedroom. Still, you want the location, you take what comes with it.

It was cold - the apartment does not get any direct sun during the day. Luckily there was a sort of blanket as well as the duvet, so I did not freeze. But I am starting to realise (a) how cold it gets and why a lot of the locals have heaters, and (b) that it should be quite pleasant once we hit summer. The roof does get lots of sun, and breakfast (muesli and coffee) up there with the sudoku was very great. I can see that becoming a regular thing. And the rats are very friendly (stiring Sonia!).

Moving continued

Ok, so yesterday was pretty tough going. The apartment is actually on the 6th floor if you include Ground Level, so it was a lot of weight to be carrying up a lot of stairs.

Today continued in the same vein. I slept last night at the old apartment, and started the day with a trip to bring more suitcase-loads containing clothes and food. I got a taxi to take me, given that there was a fair bit to carry. Then I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the fridge and the kitchen stuff. Washed all of the plates, cutlery (both were new from Ikea), and other bits and pieces.

Then took off to Sonia's work at about 2pm, to check for mail and to collect the coffee machine. Before picking up the coffee machine, I stoped to get takeaway char siu (BBQ pork) and rice from a place just across the road from the office. Very good, and it only costs HKD 33 for lunch - a bargain!

The coffee machine is pretty heavy. Getting it from level 66 of Sonia's building, down to street level and then outside and into a taxi was hard work. It is also a bit ungainly given the shape and size. By this time it was about 4pm, and traffic was building up. Elgin Street is part of a one-way system, and the road that the office is on is facing the wrong way. We crawled most of the way, and then I had to carry it up the stairs. Still, it is now ensconced in the kitchen. I have filled it with water and left it to heat up for a couple of hours, and will try running some through once I have finished writing this. The plan is for tomorrow's breakfast to be on the roof in the sun (assuming it is shining) with freshly made coffee... will let you know how it works out.

Tomorrow will probably involve moving the Mac, screen, and last bagful of stuff from the old apartment, then cleaning the floor of the new apartment.

Moving in

Well today was the first "day of moving" into the new apartment. It actually began last night with me packing boxes and suitcases at the current place (after going to the gym).

I had booked the "Man with a Van" to collect the stuff at 9am, and he arrived on the dot. There were 3 big boxes (think the size of M&D's TV), plus four suitcases (two big, two carry-on). Even with all of that, there is still stuff left at the old apartment that must be moved before the end of this week. Just goes to show how you quickly accumulate stuff - although this does represent what we have been living on for the past 18 months, and two of the boxes contained only new crockery that we bought just before leaving Tokyo.

Anyway, for those of you who follow this, remember I mentioned that the new place is on the 5th floor of a walkup building (no lifts)? Well in order to avoid paying too much to move the stuff (cutbacks!), I arranged for the man with the van to deliver the stuff to the ground floor. So I spent the next hour walking up and down the stairs carrying boxes and suitcases. Easy on the first one, much harder by the time you get to the last one. In fact the last box held the bulk of the heavy plates so I ended up leaving it on one of the landings and shuttling a carry-on bag up and down until I could carry what was left in the box.

The landlord had ordered a new desk and arranged for it to be delivered between 10 and 12, so I spent the morning unpacking. Then off to Ikea to pick up a few things (including towels, Sonia!). Once more up the stairs carrying bags...

I am now sitting in Cafe O (refer to map) recuperating. You will see from the map how close this is to the apartment, so I am sure we will become even more regular customers than we are already.

The worst bit is that I know I have to make at least one more trip up the stairs today. My next stop is the Japan Home Store up the road, where I need to get cleaning stuff. This must be delivered to the apartment so that I can spend time tomorrow cleaning (just dusty because no-one has lived in the apartment for a while).

Finally, to whomever left the comment, I was writing on the mobile phone rather than blackberry. But yes it is a direct result of the predictive text and me being at the gym at the time and so not paying as much attention as I should have!

The weekend

What to write this time? Well it is still cold. So cold that I sat cv good at home last night working on the computer and watching tv, in a sweatshirt - inside. Today continues to be cold, but not so bad. One advantage of the reason is that it tends to be clearer - most of the cold days have been accompanied by blue skies and little pollution. And so wandering around has been fairly pleasant (if you discount the morons who do not look where they are going - whatever the are doing on their mobiles is clearly much more important).

Took the escalator and MTR to church this morning - saved about HKD60 in taxi fare, and took about 45 minutes. Not sure if getting up 25 minutes earlier is worth the HKD60 in savings. We will have to see.

Sonia is flying to Hanoi today, returning to Bangkok next Sunday. I am also arriving in Bangkok next Sunday for the week.

This week will be spent moving into the new apartment, getting supplies, and working out what is missing...

Another Update

What to say this time? This update comes to you from 1 Wellington Street aka the gym. I am sitting on the bike, attempting to maintain about 90 rpm. It is Friday night, and Sonia texted me earlier to say that she is heading for the hotel spa tonight (she is in Bangkok). So I guess I lose on that one. The gym is surprisingly busy given the day and time.

Went hunting for curtains today but without success. The trip was not wasted though, as I took the opportunity to check out a supermarket that I heard stocked Japanese groceries. Sure enough, the best selection I have seen in HK so far. 300 hkd later, I am now supplied with the makings for miso soup and soba dipping sauce. Tomorrow, back to looking for curtains.

Well, time to get off the bike and move to the treadmill to run for a while...

Gyms

January is definitely proving that New Years resolutions are real. The gym has never been busier. Hopefully most people will prove the cliche and give up soon so that it becomes easier to get at the machines again. Maybe gyms should discount fees for regulars during january because we are not getting the same level of service as usual?

Apartments - the conclusion

Ok, please hold your applause / laughter until the end...

We are signed up for a new apartment for a 6-month lease. It is on Elgin Street, smack bang in the middle of the Central / Soho area. This is a trendy area, full of restaurants and cafes.





Click here for a larger map.

The map also shows the location (if you click the link just above) of the current apartment, and the gym that I have been going to. It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk from the current apartment down to the gym. Shelley Street is the escalator that runs between Central and Mid-levels, so I can walk out the door and about 10 meters to the escalator. Great once/if I get a job...

One possible cause for laughter. This is an old building. Which has been done up a little bit, and is populated with what appears to be a good crowd. There are five floors to the building, so it's not huge. But... because this is an old building, there is no lift. You have to climb the stairs, which are narrow. And the apartment is on level 5. But at least this means we also have use of the roof space, which is set up almost like a BBQ area. I am looking forward to taking my breakfast/coffee up to the roof (one flight of stairs) each morning, and possibly doing the same with dinner. Of course I need to figure out how to eat through a face mask for those days when HK pollution is bad. But it has been great since we got here - possibly something to do with winter - so maybe it won't be too bad?

Second cause for laughter. I realised after agreeing to take it, that there is no washing machine/dryer. Oh well, I guess that means we will be sending everything out to the laundry. So maybe not a cause for laughter after all? Laundry here is charged by weight - you pay HKD XX per lb. And it is cheap. I paid HKD 40 (about USD 5) for two big bags of washing the last time I got it done. And they will iron the shirts for you!

Vegetables - I remembered that I need to tell about our experience of the wet markets so far. When we lived here the first time, we would not go near the wet markets, and bought everything from Park n' Shop or Wellcome or CitySuper. All of which are expensive for fresh stuff. This time, we have ventured into the markets a couple of times. Vegetables and fruit are sold by the lb. Cherries for HKD 40 per lb, and salad vegetables (lettuce, etc) for HKD 24 per lb. That means salads for about NZD 5 per lb. This seems to be pretty good, and is certainly much better than how we did it last time we were here. Of course the lettuce is probably full of lead, arsenic, etc....

Back to the apartment story. I sign the lease tomorrow and move in on Monday. Need to get the boxes across from the current place to the new one (I need to find a "man with a van" service), get some curtains for the main window in the lounge (one full wall), some towels, and probably order some groceries from Park n' Shop (they deliver, although they will probably only deliver once when they realise they have to carry up five floors). Also arrange internet access somehow, and satellite TV (or decide to watch DVDs and Chinese TV). Not sure about getting a phone unless it comes with the internet access.

I am meeting the agent at the apartment this afternoon to measure for curtains and check that the airconditioners have been fixed...

Apartments

Well we have been looking at apartments over the past week, and they now blend into an amorphous image in our minds. One more to look at tomorrow, then we need to come to a decision.

The only one that we really, really, like, is (of course) too expensive. The current tenants have bought an apartment and need someone to take over their contract. However they started renting when prices are high, and now they are not. So they need to get as much as possible to reduce the amount they will end up contributing themselves. We'd told them what price we would go to, but are not really expecting them to agree to it (about HKD 10,000 less than their asking price). Oh well, never mind.

Winter has arrived

The temperature here this morning was 14 when we stopped for coffee on the way to Sonia's office. Coat weather! It does mean tonight will probably also be a little cold - thinking of being out celebrating the new year and watching the fireworks.

Hua Hin Revisited

In answer to Dad's question about Hua Hin, we stayed at the Alila hotel:




To get a better idea of the area, click here to see a larger map.

I have marked the hotel, the Sofitel, the train station, and the clock tower (you will see the list on the left side of the screen in the larger map). You can see why it takes a while to get to the hotel - and most of the trip is around 80-100 km/h.

Sunday

Well we are now back in Hong Kong having avoided the strike at the airport yesterday (the baggage handlers went on strike for about 3 hours in the afternoon).

It is raining gently right now, possibly the first time since we have been back. It is also cold enough that I have been wearing my leather jacket pretty much all day. Still, from experience I know that this will pass fairly quickly and we will be heading back towards the regions of 30+ temperatures.

Only 8 weeks until Paul and Tiffany get married. Time to start thinking about clothes and travel arrangements... And what the weather will be like in Hot Springs? According to the weather websit, there is an historical range of around 15 degrees, so I guess we need to pack at the last minute? Having said that this is what normally happens.

Bangkok was pretty much the same over the last couple of days. On Thursday we went to the dinner buffet after spending most of the day at the pool. I headed to the gym in the late afternoon. On Friday Sonia went to get her fingernails done while I caught up with an ex-colleague for lunch. Then off to the gym in the afternoon, snacks in the exec-lounge, and a room-service pizza for dinner. Not very exciting, I'm afraid.

Saturday we went to the gym before going out to the airport for 4:30pm flights (me on AirAsia, Sonia on Cathay Pacific). Checking in took about 5 minutes for Sonia and about 45 minutes for me (AirAsia are so slow and do not manage their volumes well). Then through immigration quite quickly. Sonia managed to convince the nice Qantas lounge staff that I should be allowed to come in as a guest, so we were able to sit quietly for an hour before boarding.

Today we went shopping for a coat for Sonia - sales are on at the moment. We found a satisfactory coat on a good special at A|X, so that is done. Sonia is deciding whether I need to wrap the coat in Christmas paper and put it under the tree for her to then unwrap. I do not think so (Tim!).

Now we are off home to do the laundry and cook something for dinner.

The way back

We are now on the way back to Bangkok, having checked out of the hotel in Hua Hin. The hotel was very nice, and I am sure we would stay there again. We got a good deal through wotif.com. I managed to get a couple of photos and will upload them later. We have booked a car to get back to Bangkok, having caught the train down. The train was an adventure and we realised why the concierge at the Conrad looked suprised when we asked her help booking the tickets. It was called a diesel railcar, and had three 2nd class carriages. These turned out to be somewhat decrepit, but at least were air-conditioned. The trip took about 30 minutes longer than scheduled... Then onto a taxi to the hotel. I say onto because the taxi was a ute whith a canopy and a couple of bench seats. About a 40 minute ride from the station. So having taken the long way down, we are taking the easy way back. Tonight will be a quiet night, and tomorrow probably spent by the pool. More later.

Hua Hin

Today's update comes to you from the museum cafe at the Sofitel Hotel in Hua Hin. We are not actually staying here but caught the shuttle bus (which turned out to be an E-class Mercedes car) from our hotel into town. We have wandered around town and got pretty hot so stopped here for coffee. When trying to decide where to stay, this hotel was our second choice. Hua Hin town is ok but the centre is fairly full of cheap hotels, junky shops, and thai massage places that look a little shady... Not one of the main destinations for overseas tourists so far but it is apparently growing quite fast. More later.

Quick update

This comes to you from the executive lounge of the Conrad in Bangkok. This is level 29 of the building, with a pretty reasonable view across the city.

Today comprised:

• Breakfast from 8:45 until 10:00, with scrambled eggs on toast, some bacon, and hashbrowns, and toast and coffee
  
• 1.5 hours at the gym attempting to undo the damage from breakfast
• A panini for lunch at the deli downstairs
• A couple of hours working on emails/etc in the Exec lounge
• 30 minutes in a taxi to cover a fairly short distance between the Conrad and the Westin
• A meeting with a Prudential alumni who has set up a recruiting business and who may be able to connect me to a job
• Another 45 minutes in a taxi back to the Conrad

which brings you up to date...

Sonia is on her way back from work, and then we need to figure out what to do for dinner. Will probably be something small, although I am not sure what she has had to eat today so who knows...

And now to the Traffic Report. Traffic has been bad this afternoon and according to an SMS from a regular listener (Sonia) the traffic getting from her office to the hotel is bad...

The forecast for tomorrow?

• Breakfast
  
• Gym
• Sit by the pool
• Lunch
• Dinner
• ???

As you may be able to discern by now, this is a very stressful life. I really do not know how much longer I will be able to put up with the pressure...

Japanese & Christmas

Well we are thinking of starting to review Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong. On Sunday we had lunch at a sushi place in Causeway Bay, called "Sushi One".

It was a bit of a mixed bag, but overall not a place that we will return to. We sat at the counter - there is a mixture of tables and counter seats just like in sushi places in Japan. At the counter there was a travelator going around, but only 2 or three plates on it. Given the size of the restaurant we could probably have taken this as a warning sign and left immediately?

We ordered off the menu, choosing a few nigiri sushi: tuna, broiled salmon, inari, and sea eel. The sea eel was made fresh in the kitchen in the back and was not bad. The salmon was ok, the tuna and inari just mediocre.

We also ordered miso soup, which was alright but made our tongues tingle. You may know that that is not a standard thing to have happen when drinking miso soup. Maybe something a little off?

And some tempura - prawns and soft-shell crab. The tempura was good, probably because it must be made fresh each time. Soft-shell crab is not something that is normal in tempura, but worked quite well.

And I ordered a "spicy tuna" handroll. This turned out to be a tuna roll with a dollop of spicy mayonnaise. Just not right, and did not take good!

So the food was a mixture of mediocre and ok. However it was not helped by the chinese guys behind the counter (not a Japanese chef in the place as far as we could tell) crashing plates down on the counter.

Next time we'll fill you in on a good Japanese restaurant, and another ok sushi place. Not sure if we should start giving them ratings or not. How to judge the quality of the fish when it is smothered in spicy mayonnaise?

We have finally worked out where we will be having Christmas. Sonia flew out to Bangkok this morning, having returned from Hanoi on Saturday afternoon. I fly to Bangkok tomorrow night, and we will be at the Conrad for the rest of the week. Then on Sunday we go to Hua Hin for 3 nights at a beach there, before returning to Bangkok on 24th. So Christmas will be at the Conrad in Bangkok. We fly back to HK on 27th December, and will have New Year here.

Another one from HK Airport

Well, another update is due, I guess.

I am sitting at HK airport, waiting for a flight to KL. I am heading back there to close bank accounts and get admin stuff sorted out. We did not close the bank accounts before we left because we had deposits that we were waiting to receive back, and of course once you are not in the country it gets a bit difficult to sort things out. Hence the trip.

I am flying AirAsia - the cheapie airline. I figured it would be busy checking in (usually too few counters and too many people), but as fate/luck would have it, I arrived with time to spare and found that there were zero people queueing. So straight through, immigration with no queues, and security with no queues. And now sitting at the gate with over one hour to go. Still, better that than racing around.

Sonia is still in Hanoi, and seems to be enjoying it. Muttered something about cute-looking houses (at least I think she was talking about houses and not guys) yesterday. However she is on her guard - apparently one of her workmates warned her that the rats in Hanoi are much healthier (and therefore larger) than those in Bangkok. Something to do with a better diet, I guess?

Cheese

There is an Italian deli about 10 minutes walk from the apartment, on the way to the Mid-levels Escalator. We went in the other night on the way home, thinking to get some cheese and meat for a light dinner. The cheese (selected pretty much at random from the case) was Rutulin. Well worth trying if you can find it. I had never seen it before, but it is a reasonably strong-tasting goat's milk cheese. Apparently it normally has a coating of sesame or herbs, however the one sold here is just raw on the outside. Very nice...

Turducken

This recipe is well worth a read, just for the chuckles. But if anyone can convince Sharon or Paul to attempt one of these, I would seriously consider purchasing an air ticket just to join the meal. It sounds like quite an experience...

An update

Well, sitting in a cafe having just finished lunch, I guess I should put something a little more detailed onto the blog. We will see how much detail I can be bothered writing.

As I mentioned, the apartment here is fine if a little small for two people. We originally expected Sonia to be in Bangkok, so it puts a little strain on things. Luckily the cafes around HK have wireless Internet access, so we are able to spend time sitting/reading/working in Pacific Coffee and other places.

We have been trying to be good food-wise, generally cooking chicken and salad at night. Last night I got some mustard and breadcrumbs and we attempted to cook the chicken breasts with a crust. It seemed to work ok (tasted alright) but was probably not very healthy. This was accompanied by salad (lettuce, tomato, bean sprouts, sugar snap peas, cucumber), and fried mushrooms. Tonight needs to be healthier....

I have been going to a gym most days, usually 1-2 hours each time. The gym is about 15 minutes walk down the hill from the apartment, so that helps on the exercise side as well. The routine at the gym is normally 30 minutes on the bike, aiming to get the pulse up to around 150-160 (no problem at the moment!). Then every second day is a "weights day", so I follow the bike with about 30-40 minutes on the machines. I am trying to get to the point where I can do a full set (15-12-12) of chin-ups. I have a bit to go yet... Finally, I normally finish off with 30-45 minutes walking on the treadmill, aiming to have my pulse around 120-130.

The first week I think I overdid it a little. I found that I was getting a bit tired and requiring less and less resistance to have my pulse at the desired levels. After taking a day off and also reducing the treadmill time a bit, I think this is sorted out. Between leaving the apartment in Tokyo on 31st October and getting into the gym here in the 3rd week in October, my exercise regime was a bit erratic (sometimes at the Conrad in Bangkok, a couple of times on the treadmill at the hotel in HK). I suspect that I was simply too ambitious getting back into a proper routine in HK.

At night we are tending to get a bit bored. TV in HK has many more options than was available in Tokyo, so it is tempting to blob out in front of the TV at night. We need to find ways of getting out and around.

A few times in discussions in Tokyo we commented that it was much easier to meet people in Japan compared to HK. We'd put this down to the higher level of isolation in Japan - language factors and significantly lower proportion of expats. Sure enough, this feels true now that I am in Bangkok and trying to make contacts here. Oh well, just need to find the methods that work in HK.

I mentioned previously that the property market in HK is dropping at the moment. It is not uncommon to walk past a real estate agent shop and see signs where prices have been crossed out and replaced with a lower figure more than once. Reading a couple of online forums, many people are commenting (both landlords and renters) on how things are changing. At this point most people are expecting it to continue sliding until Q2 next year.

Good to hear that Paul has cottoned on to the joys of Eggs Benedict. I need an independent review of the final product, so please feel free to forward me your ratings and I will add him to the list.

We are thinking ahead to what we will do for Christmas. At this stage the favourite is Caprice for Christmas dinner. If you look back to a previous blog entry, you will recall that this is the place where I had veal brains for a main dish. The Christmas menu at Caprice looks very yummy. However we are not sure whether to book at this stage. Sonia's company is disorganised as ever and is unable to confirm which country she will be in at the time. Will it be Thailand (assuming the government gets the terrorists get sorted out), Vietnam, or even UK? Who knows.

This afternoon I have to go and submit a pile of documents to the HK immigration department. This is the supporting documentation for my spouse visa...

Well, I think that is enough for now.

PS: D&S - can you please post some photos of the new house (inside and out).
PPS: Jordan and Kyla - time to update your blogs.

Hong Kong and Thailand

The protestors (People Against Democray) have continued to wreck their havoc in Bangkok. So we are still in Hong Kong.

Back to Island ECC on the weekend, which was good. We met a couple from Buffalo in the US, and I am meeting the husband for lunch tomorrow.

However, the apartment is starting to get a bit small. It is supposed to be around 45 sqm, but I think in reality it is probably less than that. It is a studio, as wide as a queen size bed (!) plus a 2.5 seater couch, plus one foot of extra space. It is as long as the bed plus another six feet. Then on the side we have the bathroom and a corridor kitchen (about 10 feet long and about 4 or 5 feet wide). So for two people it gets a little "close".

We have the apartment for 2 months (mid January) so I think we will probably end up signing up for a longer term in a bigger apartment (not serviced apartment) when this rental finishes. The property market in HK is dropping, both for rentals and purchases, so we should be able to get quite a good deal. We will see...

Thailand and Hong Kong

Well, we are still stuck in HK. The "People Against Democracy" party has blockaded the airport at Bangkok, as as such have contributed to a drop in support for what they are trying to achieve. Basically they have just hacked off a lot of people, including me. It is truly amazing that a bunch of people can decide that they don't like the democratically elected government (however corrupt and imperfect). And the army is not doing much to help the situation.

Anyway, we are hoping to get on flights to Bangkok on Sunday. Outside of the localised problem areas (currently the airport!) there doesn't seem to be any real problems. From what we are hearing from people on the ground, the rest of the place is carrying on much as normal.

Well Sonia arrived in HK last night, and the double (!) bed is way, way too small. It has been many years since we last slept in a double. Most recently the bed at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok, which is a super king (or larger). Just as well she is only here until the middle of next week - earlier if the bed gets too small!

Bike trip

Well here is some more about the bike trip.

First thing, the route: Click Here For Map

We started at 6:30am in Shibuya, and spent the first hour and a half really just getting out of Tokyo. We stopped at a MacDonalds somewhere on the outskirts of the built-up areas, and had coffee and a muffin. Then on to the real riding.

The highlight (?) of the trip out to Takayama was the road 299. If you zoom in far enough on the map you will be able to see how windy it is. Great if you are on a light sporty bike. Unfortunately mine weighed a ton and was built for touring. Throwing it round corners was hard work, and there were many switchbacks along the way.

The scenery was spectacular. Given the time of year, the trees were a great range of reds, yellows, and oranges. As I said the other day I did not take the camera so I will have to get photos off the other guys.

The road gets up to around 2000 metres, so the temperature change was noticeable. At the top there is a lookout from which there is a great 360-degree view. Then going down the other side it was back to the switchbacks and tight turns. Going downhill on a heavy bike is harder than going up.

Around midday we decided that it was taking much longer to get there than planned, and so we choose to get to the motorway and take the jump north. This took about 45 minutes, and gained a lot of distance. Then it was back to smaller roads (but bigger than the 299). At this point the rain started. We were back to climbing up into the mountains towards Takayama. Lots of tunnels, colourful trees, and amazing hillsides and gorges. It would have been better if it was not raining and we could have stopped and looked.

We got to Takayama around 5pm, and then had to find the hotel. We thought it was next to the train station, but it wasn't. However there was a tourist information booth at the station, and they gave us directions for a 5-minute ride outside of time. The hotel was Associa - a great place with an onsen.

We checked in (scruffy in biking gear while a wedding party proceeded through the lobby), unpacked, and then went down to the onsen to warm up.

Dinner was a beef bbq restaurant back in town, which I enjoyed but the other guys thought was too fatty. In Japan, more fat marbled through the meat means better quality. Then back to the hotel by 9:30 ( the rest of the town had already shut down as far as we could see).

The next morning we decided to take it a bit easier, trying to use the motorway to skip the original 1.5 hours in Tokyo. That meant we could have breakfast (western style) at the hotel before leaving. We were back on the road by 8:15, in the rain. We got safely back down the mountains to the motorway, and decided that it would be horrible to try the 299 in the wet. So we agreed to take the motorway all the way back to Tokyo.

Racing down the motorway is much easier, even in the rain. We stopped at one of the motorway services aroun 11:30 for lunch. Tonkatsu with Miso soup. Yum. And an icecream. Then back onto the bikes (I swapped bikes with David, who was riding a Street Triple - 675 cc). We got back into Tokyo around 2pm, much faster than the trip outwards.

It was a bit of a shame that the weather was not great, but the trip itself was great. I just need to get full use of my hands back, after the strain of moving the bike around!

Japan and Hong Kong

Well, back in Hong Kong again, after spending the weekend in Japan on a bike trip with a couple of friends. We rode to Hida-Takayama (more on this later), which took up all of Saturday and Sunday.

Monday I caught up with people at the office, before flying back to HK yesterday afternoon. Sonia is still working (someone has to!) in Bangkok, but is flying in to HK tomorrow.

This afternoon I am moving us into a serviced apartment that we have rented for a couple of months while I figure out what I will do in the future, and in which country we will base ourselves.

HK temperatures have dropped over the last week. Today is apparently about 22 degrees. I am writing this while sitting outside in my suit (just been to meet a headhunter) and it is still a little on the cool side, so I suspect that we have not reached 22 degrees yet.

Oh well, on to pick up mail from Sonia's office, then to collect my bags from the hotel where I left them this morning. The apartment will be available from 2pm, so I need to get there, leave the bags and then go find some groceries. Not exactly a pressured life!

All going well I will post a more detailed review of the bike trip later today. Unfortunately I only have a couple of photos on the mobile phone (forgot to take the camera with me), but I will display a map of the route. I rented a Triumph 1050c Sprint ST (touring bike), which was a bit different from the types of bikes I have ridden in the past. Anyway, more later.

Bangkok

I have been here for a couple of days now, living in Sonia's hotel room at the Conrad. Yesterday was very busy (for me), starting with cooked breakfast in the executive lounge. I had to rush this a little bit, as it finishes around 10am. I managed to fit something in though, and then spent time checking emails and reading the news on the computer.

Then off to get fitted for a new suit (Gulati's in Nana). Sam (the owner) has an amazing memory and knew who I was as soon as I walked in. He also knew where I worked, and that Sonia was my wife, and the names of the people I know who are also his customers. To put it in context, it is probably two years since I last walked into his shop. The fitting took about an hour, although we quickly picked out the fabric (dark blue with a pinstripe). The rest of the time was spent waiting for the tailor to come in and then do the measuring. While waiting we were talking about the economy and the market behaviours (Sam spends the downtime during the day investing in stockmarkets online). Sam also pulled out the measurements from the previous time I was in and commented on how much smaller I am now.

Then down the road to Liu's Bootery, recommended to me by a friend from AIG Japan. He has had some shoes made there a few times. Mr Liu will create whatever you want, using most different types of leather. I chose a pair of new black shoes for work (not sure where I will wear these yet), and also asked them to make me a new pair of more casual shoes. For the leather I chose snakeskin. The Crocodile, Ostrich, and something else, all looked a bit too flashy for me :-). I am going in to pick up the shoes on Thursday morning.

Then stopped for lunch at the Food Loft in Chit Lom, which is a food-court type of place. A huge range of types of food, including Japanese (yeah!).

After lunch, back to the hotel and the executive lounge to let lunch settle before going to the gym. The gym was not busy (as you would expect for 3pm on a Monday), and I did the bike, weights, and treadmill.

Then back to the executive lounge to wait for Sonia. The nice people here are going to recognise me quite quickly, I suspect. Sonia and I sat here and had nibbles before leaving for Siam Paragon where we were booked to see the new James Bond movie (thanks to "Tippie" on the concierge desk for her help making the booking). The movie was at the Nokia Ultra lounge - think lazy-boy chairs with pillows, blankets, and waitresses who will bring the popcorn and drinks to you. Of course I will need to explain the plot to Sonia later today...

What does today hold in store? Well it is almost time for lunch, after which I need to go to the gym. Then meeting an ex-colleague for coffee at 4:30, then back to Sam's for a suit fitting, then out to a restaurant for dinner. Such a busy life - it is truly amazing that I managed to find time to write this update.

Kyoto again

Well I did promise that I would write more about the trip to Kyoto, and it is now almost 2 weeks since we were there. So I guess I should do so before the memory fades further (seeing as how we are getting pretty old now)...

So breakfast.

Breakfast was a combination of rice, fish, tofu, and millions (or so it seemed) of small pickled vegetables. With orange juice and japanese tea.

The rice had been selected the night before. I thought I would be healthy and chose brown rice. Sonia picked white. She made the right decision, and I got it totally wrong. It turns out that white rice is your basic steamed white rice. Brown rice, however, is gluey porridge - almost. We decided that they probably cook it in a lot of water, and then serve without straining.

The fish on the other hand was quite good. A piece of something that had been marinated in some sort of soy sauce, then grilled. Tasty. The tofu was a couple of small cubes of tofu, served in soy milk in a paper "plate" on top of a burner - the burner was to heat up and cook the tofu. A metal plate underneath the paper took the brunt of the flame and heated the paper.

The orange juice is a strange taste when you put it into the context of a savoury breakfast. And of course we didn't really finish the pickled vegetables. Still, apart from my disastrous rice choice, breakfast was not bad. But quite a different taste to what us westerners are accustomed to.

We spent the first day walking around Kyoto in the drizzle. Sunday was not great weather-wise, but at least it did not pour down too hard. In Japan you can stop at any 7-11 (convenience store, like a dairy in NZ) which are on every corner (you will almost never need to walk more than 5 minutes to find one) to buy a disposable umbrella. Which we did.

We went to the market street first - narrow alleys filled with all sorts of interesting things, both edible and not. Edible includes vegetables (fresh or pickled), fish (dried or fresh), tea, meat (fresh, BBQed, grilled, etc), Japanese junk foods, and lots of ice-cream (of the snowfreeze style).

Lunch was okonomiyaki - a Japanese junk food pancake (sort of) - the sort of thing you might find in a food court except a bit better and much tastier.

Then off to one of the temples to have a look around - called Kiyomizu Dera. It is famous for the views (of trees as it turns out) and it's architecture/construction, which is pretty impressive. Because the weather was gray I didn't get a lot of great photos, but here are a couple.

This first one is one of the fountains at the entrance - to wash your hands (I think).

At another fountain inside the complex, it is considered good luck to drink the water. And lots of people line up to do so. The two ladies (mother and daughter) looked nice in their kimonos.
Then a view from one of the terraces - lots of trees.


More to come later. I have just received a text message from Sonia instructing me to buy some makeup for her from the duty-free shop (I am writing this at the airport). Since this will take about 10 minutes walk back from the gate (my current location), I better get moving.

Quick update

Well this short episode comes to you from Pacific Coffee (Starbucks clone) in Times Square in Hong Kong. I have signed up for a month of wireless internet access (HKD 158), which happens to be available at most of the coffee places. So every day so far this week I have been found sitting with coffee working on the laptop.

I was talking to Sonia about the feeling of being disconnected during the last few days in Tokyo. At that point I was staying in a cheap hotel, which did not provide internet access. And my mobile phone (which had internet access built in) had been given back to the office. What is worse, Tokyo is incredibly bad for free wireless access - everything is charged (and expensive). So suddenly, after spending the last couple of years being able to look things up quickly, check the news, email, etc, I was stuck. A very strange feeling.

Anyway, now in HK, flying tomorrow night to Bangkok. I will spend the first part of the week there, then fly back on Thursday, before catching an airpoints flight first thing on Friday up to Tokyo. Along with a couple of friends, I will be going for a road trip (motorbikes) over the weekend. Then back to HK on Tuesday to continue the job search and get apartments sorted.

Kyoto Part 2

The following was written on the train on the way back from Kyoto. I still have not sorted the photos, but will do so and then put some more up here.

Where to start?

The ryokan was a great experience. It was actually a combination of a ryokan with a restaurant that specialises in Kyoto cuisine - which means Tofu as far as I can tell.

We arrived at the ryokan after a shortish taxi ride, although the driver needed to call the dispatcher to ask how to find the place. This does not happen very often, as they normally have satellite navigation systems. And this despite us providing him with a printed map showing the place clearly. Well I thought it was clear, as the map was all in Japanese.

On arrival, we were shown straight into a bar/lounge area where we were served green tea made the traditional way. This was accompanied by three small sweet balls of goo. Not sure what they were; certainly not familiar to western tastes. The tea was made by rapidly whisking tea powder with a small amount of water until the result is bubbly. Much stronger than either of us are accustomed to.

While drinking the tea and eating the goo balls, we were asked what time we wanted to have dinner and breakfast. Dinner is served in the individual rooms, but breakfast is in a shared breakfast room. For breakfast we had to choose either brown or white rice. All of this in a combination of Japanese and English - more Japanese than English.

Also during this time I took the opportunity to warn Sonia that I was not going to be protecting her food-wise - she had to experience this herself!

Then we were shown to the room.

The room was eight tatami mats in size, with a low black lacquer table in the middle and two cane/bamboo seats with cushions. The seats are basically there to support your back, so you are effectively sitting on the floor. For those of you who are older and have therefore forgotten, cross-legged sitting on the floor is not easy.

Off to one side is a small table with two comfortable chairs for sitting, and to the side of that (tucked away in the back) is a toilet. On the opposite wall is a scroll, which when surrounded by the plain furnishings looks really nice. We actually bought a scroll in the same style when we went to Kawagoe. Our scroll has a picture of Mt Fuji.


Because of the time we arrived, there was no time for a bath/shower before dinner. Instead, we sat down for Shabu-shabu. The menu was somewhere over 8 courses long, with the main course being the shabu-shabu. I'll review the two menus in detail later on once I have convinced someone to help translate them for me (I kept the menus, which are beautifully printed). Suffice it to say that there were multiple unusual flavours, starting with the appetiser. This was small pieces of grilled horse. The remainder of the meal included two more courses of horse (a horse is a horse of course, of course), includind horse sashimi.

After dinner, we were warned that they would be "bed-making", so we took the opportunity to quickly change into our yukata, then down to the communal baths. I had briefed Sonia on the etiquette of Japanese bathing (as I understand it to be), so we were both fairly uncertain about the whole thing. In the end there was no-one in the men's or women's baths.

By the time we got back to the room, the table had been pushed to one side and the beds were made. These are foam mats about 1 inch thick, with a futon mattress on top - 1-2 inches. If you fell off, you might not notice... Then a thick duvet on top. The pillow was half beads and half normal. Needless to say, your head goes on the normal side. This may not sound very promising for a good night's sleep, but it is actually quite comfortable. Unfortunately we don't have any photos of the beds - sorry.

In the next episode, I'll relate our breakfast and the first day (rainy) of wandering around Kyoto.