Everyone's Home Again - Yay!

Well Andrew walked in the door from his London flight 3 or 4 hours ago and has now gone off to the office for a couple of hours work and then a colleagues farewell 'sayonara' party. I finally made it home from Bangkok on Wednesday morning after having to extend my stay by a few days to deal with some issues we were experiencing. It is good to both be home! It does not last long though as I am off to HK from Tuesday thru Saturday next week, and then Melbourne Monday thru Friday of the following week. Andrew is also looking at needing to be in New York that same week so poor Sachi will be deserted once more and left in the care of the ridiculously expensive cat sitter. At least Sachi seems to tolerate her now and at comes out of hiding - bit hard for the poor cat sitter to 'play' with our cat for 30 minutes when she won't come out from under the couch!

Roll on Christmas when we are both likely to be in Tokyo for a full fortnight! No leave over the actual Christmas period, but we do both get a couple of days in the New Year, so that will be nice. We are staying in Tokyo for Christmas this year - guess we will have to decide soon if we are going to book a restaurant or cook in. In Asia the night of the 24th is a much bigger deal, so often there is nothing of much substance going on once you get to actual Christmas Day.

After my darling husband disposed of yet another of my Christmas Trees in our last move (it just would not fit in the shipping boxes... or so he said!) I decided that the next time I bought a tree it was going to be

a)Exactly what I wanted and not just a temporary compromise and
b)Significant enough that Andrew would think twice before throwing it away!

I can think of at least 3 that he has chucked out over the years, plus the one that lives with one of the relatives back in NZ...

So while in Bangkok I splurged and we are now the owners of a lovely 8 ft Christmas tree that is really bushy and looks great. It touches the ceiling and takes up half our tiny apartment lounge...but hey - this is the LAST one I am ever going to buy :-) It needed to fit into any future houses we may live in as well.

So here is a little picture or two for you. After spending a full ten hours believing the tree was evil and was going to attack her (she hid in the kitchen where she could not see it for most of the day - our cat NEVER spends time in the kitchen other than to eat!) Sachi has decided to make friends with the tree and has taken to curling up underneath it. Now if I could just put a 'To Paul, Love Andrew and Sonia" bow around her neck she would make a perfect playmate for Toby.

So far so good and we have had very little interest in batting the baubles off - long may it last if she knows what is good for her.






And here are my latest decorations - so ugly they are cute Make a Wish Foundation Thailand fairy/elves that my hotel was selling to raise funds for local kids with cancer. Hey it is Thailand - the don't know that fairies and elves are not really the same thing!






Perhaps once Andrew relents and buys me some Christmas Tree lights it will be time to take a picture of the whole tree and add it here for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime you will just have to imagine...

Love,

Sonia

Autumn in Tokyo

Well back in Tokyo, it's getting cooler. This weekend has varied between about 12 degrees and 18. I washed the car this evening, and it was definitely on the cold side. We went a for ride on the bikes yesterday afternoon, and while it was not hot, it was ok as long as you stayed in the sun. Speaking of which, the sunsets are getting earlier - about 4:30pm at the moment.

I go to a new office tomorrow morning. We packed everything up on Friday, and it is being shifted over the weekend. The new office is a lot closer to home, but it will still take almost 30 minutes to get to work. The train system is such that there is no direct line from home to the office, so in the end the train trip will only be about 5 minutes shorter. And because this office is right in the city, close to the palace, I won't be able to afford to drive and park. Oh well.

Sonia is in Bangkok this week. I'm heading to HK on Thursday for some meetings, back on Friday. Then on Sunday I take off to London for next week. And a possibility of another trip to New York in the middle of December. A fair bit of travel at the moment - the bummer is that it's not all on the one airline network, so the points are not consistent! The trip to London will be Virgin Atlantic - apparently their business class ("Upper Class") is pretty good, so I will let you know.

New York, Nu Yoick

I have the pleasure of participating in a "Product Conference", which is supposed to be about product strategy. However what is turning out to be the case is that I am locked in a conference room with a bunch of actuaries who are all talking in monotones and reading their Powerpoint slides. A pretty grim situation really, especially when it runs all day, and we are only about 25% of the way through but have used almost 50% of the time.

What can I say about New York? Rude taxi drivers (honking their horns all the time), dirty streets, and lots of people. Nice to be able to visit, but I will not be itching to come back. The hotel is right on Times Square, which is nice, but the price is incredible given what you are getting. Much better quality in Japan, which I had always thought was expensive. NY is much more so.

Back from Beirut

Well I am back in Tokyo safe and sound. No war breaking out while I was in Beirut. There is certainly a level of tension in the air, as I saw on Tuesday night when out with the local manager. We walked around the centre of the city before having dinner, and a few times we were passed by mini-convoys of armoured vehicles. Filled with solders with machine guns and their fingers on the triggers. The local guys that I spoke to were all optimistic, while at the same time recognising the challenges of maintaining peace.

But other than that, it was a nice city. There is a very definite Mediterranean feel to the place, and a few times I was reminded of Athens. Bad streets, crazy driving, lots of horns honking. Great food - the best hummus I have ever had, anywhere.

Well, Sunday night I fly to Seoul for Monday/Tuesday, then Tuesday night off to New York. Fun.

Lebanon

Well the flight over was uneventful - just very long. Turkish airlines turned out to be excellent - the plane was on a par with Cathay Pacific, and the food was better.

Beirut seems nice. So far I have really only seen the hotel, and the main street that it is on. I arrived at the hotel about 1230 last night, so I have only had about an hour to walk up and down and look at the shops. Starbucks, Gloria Jean's, and a couple of other coffee places. All sandwiched between a hundred shoe -shops, tailors, and brand-name clothing shops including H&M. The roads and footpaths are a little closer to parts of India, or Athens, but there are a fair number of nice cars embedded in the traffic jam that covers the main road.

I am at the gym right now, in an attempt to stay awake until closer to 10pm (it is about 8:30 now). Walking on the treadmill and trying to write this email post without too many spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. The gym itself is really nice, with lots of treadmills, cross trainers, and bikes (both upright and reclining). Lots = 20 treadmills. All facing a wall with 17 huge flatscreen tvs. A bit different to what I assumed I would find.

Well, almost done my 30 minutes so I need to move on to weights.

World Travel

I'm about to embark on a few weeks of travel around the place. Tomorrow I head to Beirut, Lebanon. On Monday and Tuesday I am attending a Middle East Healthcare Insurance conference, then meeting with our local team on Wednesday. Wednesday night I fly back to Tokyo via Dubai.

Then on the following Monday and Tuesday I will be in Seoul, South Korea, for meetings with the Metlife guys. Tuesday morning I fly back to Tokyo, go check the cat, and then in the evening I fly to New York. There are meetings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and on Saturday I will come back to Tokyo.

Then a week in Tokyo, before heading to London for the week of 29 November. Possibly with a stop in Paris on the way back, but this is not confirmed.

Sonia, on the other hand, will be stuck between Tokyo and Bangkok like normal!

Driving

I forgot to put something on here about drivers' licenses. I got mine. Finally. Last Thursday, I took the morning to head to the licensing centre to go through the process. It took about 3 hours, but in the end I know have a Japanese license. That is not such a big deal, as kiwis get to simply swap licenses over without having to sit tests, etc. The Americans on the other hand...

The big news is that I have a full motorbike license. And that is something that no-one else managed to achieve. Anything over a 400cc bike normally requires people to sit a practical test, which in usual Japanese style is very picky. It includes riding slowly over a "bridge" (a 10cm wide piece of wood), swerving through cones, braking test, etc. The story goes that people who take the test normally fail for the first 4-5 times. The normal way around it is to spend about USD 3000 to attend a school that teaches you how to pass the test (I mean how to ride correctly) over the course of about 40 hours of instruction.

But Kiwis are apparently well-trained enough to be trusted with a full license without sitting the test. So I have my license, to the chagrin of the other guys at work who have had to go through the school...

Post 400 - Where did the time go??

Well Andrew is clearly doing a very poor job of maintaining our blog so I guess that it is up to me...

Tonight is the annual Alico Fancy Dress Halloween party hosted by the Regional CEO. Andrew is off dressed as a Cowboy - I am extremely naughty and do not 'do' either Halloween or Fancy Dress so I am at home alone with the cat - the fact that I really do feel flu'ish with a sore throat and a headache is just validating Andrew's claim that I am unwell and therefore could not attend :-)

Tomorrow I am off to Hong Kong to get my work permit renewed. It seems amazing to me that this means I have been just over three years back with Bravura - time really does fly! I am still (mostly!) enjoying what I do, but a job that did not demand quite so much travel would not be badly received. The rest of next week I will spend in Bangkok - I really will miss that city when the project there ends. It is looking like the end of the year may see the end of my involvement (we shall see!) and it will be sad in a funny sort of way after visiting at least twice a month for the last three years!.

We have been exploring Tokyo by bicycle the last few weeks - we picked up our (not too 'japanese shopping bike' looking) bikes while Kyla was here, and realised that most of the places we go on the weekend are no more than 8 to 10 km away - easily doable in a city that provides ultra wide pavements and expects you to ride on them. It has been good to get some exercise and the fresh autum ('fall') air has been lovely. We slept without the air-conditioner for the first time in ages last night and it was great. The cat has also become much more cuddly as the weather has cooled down - she likes to sleep leaning up against one or other of our legs.

Andrew is currently talking within Alico about a potential move back to Hong Kong next year - our lives are never dull! We should find out within the next few weeks if this is really going to happen. It would be kind of strange because I have not really been here long enough for it to feel like 'home' but I guess I will adjust. My last visit to HK seemed particularly seedy and smelly - I guess it really does depend which part of HK you are in :-)

Not much else happening I am afraid - life just goes on! Hope yours are going well too...

love, Sonia

And one of the cat - just because she is cute....

Where is Sachi.....



















Ah - there she is :-)




I knew there was a reason I spent large sums of money on a silk throw for my bed - it was to keep the cat warm!






I hear that Toby is looking forward to seeing his new home as well..... wonder if he will get to sleep on the bed?

Home again

Well for some reason the blog won't let me respond to comments today - guess that means I'll have to write a new blog to answer your questions.

You definitely can be the next visitor Tiffany -bet you know how to turn off lights and shut toilet doors!

They biked for an hour and five minutes - does that count as serious? If the weather is any good tomorrow Kyla and I will bike up to Andrew's work in the morning to shop for a Yukata (summer weight kimono) that she really wants to get to take home with her. It is about 8km each way so should be a good ride. The Japanese all ride on the footpath so that makes life easier - no chance of being run down by speeding cars

At the moment Kyla and Andrew are making a cheesecake - something she has been very keen to do ever since she arrived. This really is her last opportunity - in 24 hours we will be on the way to the airport - amazing how time flies!

We had a great night away in a very quaint little old town about 4 hours our of Tokyo - it was good to get out of the city and be near the river and forest that runs through the Kiso Valley. We tried to get pictures of Mount Fuji for Kyla but it insisted on staying we behind a cloud. We saw lots of other mountains so I guess that will have to suffice.

I'm sure Kyla will have much more to tell you on her blog about her night in a Ryokan, but here are a couple of photos to get you started.



Here is the path down to the Ryokan - very quaint...
And then the Traditonal Japanese Garden our room overlooked

































And here is Kyla acting elegant - Sharon this is the idea for the alcove in the lounge - somewhere to hang our Japanese scroll.

Starving and Exhausted

Well today has been a much nicer day weather wise. We have managed to Starve and Exhaust Kyla all in one day. The morning started around 10 with a 30 - 40 minute walk to Toyosu to pick up our new bikes that we ordered a couple of weeks ago. We stopped for a late breakfast at Tully's where you will be horrified to learn that the mistress of healthy eating had a mocha and a donut for breakfast :-). After collecting the bikes we walked/rode them home again, stopping at the dry cleaners on the way to pick up the week's order.

After a quick stop at home to put on the next load of washing (it is Saturday after all!) Andrew and Kyla rode the bikes up to Bic Camera while I took the train and met them there. We spent a loooooong time looking for a present for Braden (has anyone ever told her she is indecisive?????) before finally making it to lunch at 3pm - delicious noodles for Andrew and I and dumplings and rice for Kyla.

We then rode/walked on to Ginza and more present shopping - for Daryl and Sharon this time. Andrew took over the supervision of the shopping and decisions were made a bit faster! Home again for a change of clothes and then Andrew and Kyla went for some serious 'exercise' riding while I cleaned the house.

With lunch running late, dinner did too and we enjoyed chicken and salad at 8.15 in the evening while sitting in front of the 27 Dresses movie.

By the end of the movie eyes were definitely getting heavy and Kyla has gone off to bed... we'll have to get her up bright and early in the morning to update her blog because I think she missed doing it this morning. Tomorrow we are off southwest of Tokyo for a night in a traditional Ryokan - should be fun :0)

We are still enjoying having Kyla here - she seems to have been reasonably well dragged up! Wonder which of the neices/nephews are lining up to be the next to visit?

Keeping Busy

Sonia here

Well while Andrew has been off working all week Kyla and I have been having a blast around Tokyo. The weather has been dreadful (after weeks and weeks of solid sun I guess it had to rain eventually) but we are proud owners of plastic raincoats and managed to make our way around the city anyway.

We spent Wednesday in having a bit of a cook-up. Kyla is a great little cook - now to work on her cleaning up skills! (seem to recall the same was said of me when I was 12). She assures me that at her house you do all the cooking first and then clean up in one go - does not work so well when you only have 1 metre of bench to work with!

Thursday at Disney was great fun despite the miserable weather. We did a couple of the roller coasters, lots of other rides and then a couple of the Disney shows (great coz they were inside!). We left home at about 8.30 and got back at about 8pm so a long day but lots of fun.

Off to see if we can find Sharon's rice bowls this morning, and then to see if we can get tickets to Cirque de Soleil this afternoon. Decisions decisions, do we spend an extra USD 30 each to get better seats or do we strain our eyes from the back of the theatre... might be a spur of the moment decision coz I cannot make up my mind.

Another grey day

The weather has not been helpful this week. I write this from the gym at lunchtime, looking out through the glass to a grey sky and light rain.

Sonia and Kyla were heading off to Disneyland this morning, hoping to get there before the rain sets in too heavily. Tomorrow is forecast to be worse on that front, so today was really their last chance. Yesterday was better, but they were cooking dinner all day - two appetisers, steak with creamed spinach and garlic mashed potatoe, and some sort of meringue/mousse thing with candied lime for dessert.

Not exactly sure what we'll do Saturday, but Sunday we are off to Tsumago to spend the night in a Ryokan. Should be interesting, but it is about four hours drive from Tokyo.

Rain

Well it seems like autumn has arrived with a vengeance. Yesterday was fine and sunny, although down to around 25 degrees. That is in contrats to the 36 we had the preevious weekend. This morning started at about 15 agrees - at least accordind to the car on thw way to work this morning. And it is raining. So from 36 degrees to 15 in less than 10 days? Crazy.

We went to Kawagoe yesterday, had a look around, then raced back home to make lemon cupcakes (lemon cake recipe) for dinner at my boss's house last night. Kawagoe was full of people (mostly OAPs) who were taking advantage of the cooler weather ahead of the rain coming this week. Lunch was ramen (cheap noodles) in a place somewhere down one of the side streets. It was ok rather than great.

Now at the gym, need to concentrate on the weights. Should be more information(?) On Kyla's blog.

One exhausted Kyla

Sonia here...

Well Kyla has indeed arrived and managed to make tentative friends with our very nervous cat. Made us realise how much of a stressful experience moving back to NZ at some stage will be for Sachi - she does not cope well with people other than 'her' people in the house and Kyla put up with a lot of hissing before a tentative truce was called.

Kyla really picked her day to arrive. Narita airport always has a decent amount of turbulence on descent. Today was exceptional. My plane got in about 40 minutes after hers, and for the first time in all my flying history I had a landing aborted just feet above the runway because the winds were buffeting the plane so badly the pilot could not hold it steady enough to touch down. We turbo charged back up into the air when we ran out of runway for him to keep trying :-). Pleased to report that Kyla did not have quite that scare, but she did get a pretty bumpy approach that she seems to have dealt with just fine. We will make a world traveler out of her yet!

We spent the morning at home and introduced her to the concept of Saturday morning house cleaning. Then headed up the road to introduce her to her first taste of 'real' sushi. She gave it a good shot but I think it is fair to say she prefers Sharon's chicken based variation. The Japanese would be horrified! We had a great 'counter' experience at the Sushi Bar though with a couple of the sushi chefs and a two of the other customers taking great delight in testing Andrews Japanese skills. The noise was as always in the sushi shops loud and boisterous - a very interactive experience- much to Kyla's amusement.

Afternoon was spent out and about running weekend errands and then dinner at home (can we have non-Japanese food being the request :-)...). The Freaky Friday movie finished the day off - with very heavy red eyes it was off to bed and hopefully a good long sleep.

Looking forward to some fun days ahead - visiting the beach tomorrow, shopping Monday, Disney Tuesday, cooking a three course dinner for Andrew on Wednesday, Kawagoe or Kamakura on Thursday and Cirque de Soleil on Friday. We will be exhausted by the end of it!

We'll let you know how it goes.

Ok

Found her. Guess she does not have to catch the bus home after all.

Hmmm

5 more minutes then I give up and go home. Kyla can find her own way to the apartment.

Flight update

Apparently Kyla's flight arrived at 603 instead of 630, but there is no sign of her. Perhaps I was too late (arrived here at 630) and they sold her into slavery?

Real time

On the way to the airport to collect Kyla. Pouring down and windy - great way to start.

Friday night

Well Kyla is on her way. I see from the flight status that she has landed in Sydney, and now has a couple of hours to wait before her flight leaves for Tokyo.

I am trying to decide whether to spend my evening doing the cleaning, or wait until tomorrow morning once I have collected Kyla and Sonia from the airport. I think it can probably wait - the place doesn't look too bad. And I have had a hard day (cue violins), and want to finish watching The Matrix again. So I think the cleaning will keep for 12 hours...

New News

There is none.

I am at the gym, trying to stop myself getting bored on the treadmill. I was thinking that it has been quite a while since the last update. That is because there has been almost nothing happening here.

I am sure that you will appreciate me having avoided coplaining about the heat (up to 40 degrees some days). This week it is officially cooling down. Not today, which is up to about 34 degrees, but tomorrow the forecast is for a high of 24 and rain. I am sure that Sachi and I will freeze. Tomorrow happens to be a holiday, so I will dress her up in a teatowel if she starts shivering too much! Wuss of a cat...

The holiday season is pretty much over now. The expats who were heading home for the summer are now back. And I am about 6 weeks away from officially working for Metlife instead of Alico.

I finally got a bike park in my building so the motorbike is now convenient. And no longer takes up space in my friend's garage. His place is about 45 minutes away by train or 20 by car. So not hugely convenient for popping out for a quick ride. Moving the bike across also meant I could clean it for the first time. I realised I need to get some wheel cleaner to shift the chain oil and grease that has speckled the inside of the wheel.

We have planned a diet of raw fish, horse sashimi, okonomiyaki, monja, and chickens' hearts for when Kyla is here next week. Should be gun trying to capture her facial expressions on camera. And then putting her on the back of my bike - but she can use the friend's spare helmet so that any regurgitated raw fish does not mess up my helmet. And I wonder how she will find wearing a kimono and wooden sandles all day?

Buenos Aires

Well it has not really worked out very well. On arriving here in Argentina I
immediately caught a cold/flu. Fever, aches, etc. For the past few days I
have dosed myself with panadol-equivalents and tried to manage my way
through it. Last night was hard, with a very sore throat when I try to
swallow. Not much sleep was had, between jet lag and the throat.

Today is Saturday, and as I had seen very little of Buenos Aires I decided
to venture out anyway. It was sunny, but has turned cold and windy. I am
currently cowering in a cafe with a plate of ricotta ravioli. How long can I
stretch this out before having to do the sprint back to the hotel? There I
will sit in the lobby (no late checkout available) and read my book until
4pm when I head to the airport. The flight leaves at 9:30 tonight, but my
colleagues one is earlier and we will share the taxi out there.

Maybe I will get a chance to come back, and it will be better next time?

Goodbye Uruguay

Well I guess it is time for an update. I'm sitting on the plane, waiting to
take off from Montevideo to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The trip to get here was long - about 30 hours not counting getting to the
airport and to the hotel at the other end. And not without some hassle. The
flight from Dallas to Miami was delayed, when the pilot and mechanic decided
at the last minute that the plane was not going anywhere. We duly
off-loaded, and trotted around to another gate where they eventually
delivered another plane from a hangar. And we took off, but having lost more
than 1.5 hours. Given that my scheduled transfer time in Miami was just
under 2 hours, I started to feel a little stressed. When we got to Miami, I
was the first off the plane and literally sprinted to the next gate. This
took about 10 minutes, while wondering at every step whether I needed to
clear immigration to exit USA. Apparently not. In the end I made it, and we
took off about 10 minutes after I got on board.

Sunday and Monday were horrible weather-wise. It cleared up on Tuesday and
today (Wednesday), but I spent all day running workshops so my experience of
Montevideo has been limited to lunch at a horse racing track on Sunday.
Watching rain stream down the windows and appreciating the fact that I was
not riding horses in a storm. So only a couple of miserable photos out the
(dirty) window from the hotel. And lots of photos of the workshop.

What I did see on the way to the airport was a mix of old houses that
reminded me of Kelston or New Lynn as it used to be, and a series of
soviet-looking apartment blocks that look out over the river/coast. One bit
around the coast did make me think of parts of Mission Bay - the wide
footpath with a low stone/concrete wall next to the beach.

Hopefully Buenos Aires will be better. It is all of 1 hour (or less) from
Montevideo.

Spanish is the first language for all of these countries. At my workshop
there were people from Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Panama,
Venezuela, and Chile. I was the only one who could not speak Spanish, and
the conversations often erupted into lively Spanish as people clarified
amongst themselves what I had said in English. Many of the attendees spoke
some English, but it is definitely a second language rather than first. Very
nice group of people.

In Buenos Aires I have one more day of workshops, not run by me. Then on
Friday we are meeting with a couple of brokers and partners. Because they
have a Global guy here, they are taking the opportunity to stroke egos a
little. Clearly I am very important...

Updates

Well I guess it is past time for another update. I'm writing this from the couch, with the sliding doors open to the balcony. At 6pm at night, it's still more than 30 degrees. Tokyo has got very hot and humid over the past few weeks. Very ugly to be out and about in this sort of weather. And it's likely to continue in the same vein for another two months. Bring on autumn and winter!

I was in Athens the week before last, running a conference for our Central & Eastern Europe regional team. 16.5 hours to get there, and the same on the way back. Not great. Athens itself is a bit grimy, and full of mad drivers. More run-down than I expected. But the food was wonderful. Greek salad with fresh tomato, cucumber, and feta. Very good, and the best I have ever eaten anywhere.

Sonia arrived back from Bangkok this morning, and is in town for the week. Then the following week back in Bangkok, while I head off to Montevideo and Buenos Aires to run another conference. What a life? But then you realise that the flights from here go to Dallas, then Miami, to get there. A bit of a laugh when you think this is an (ex?) IT guy teaching product development and sales guys how to do their jobs properly?

Tomorrow morning we are driving down to Hakone for the night. Not a long way, but Sonia decided she wanted to get out of Tokyo. I've taken Monday off, so we drive back on Monday afternoon. This way we will (hopefully) skip the traffic jams leaving and returning to Tokyo.

That's all for now, I think.

Catching up with the McCabes

Well this weekend saw me staying on in Bangkok to catch up with the McCabes who are en route to Auckland. It was great to see them all again - boy those kids have grown. Lauren is up to Wendy's chin and Ashley and Andrew are as tall as each other.

We spent lots of time in the hotel pool as well as heading off to the mall for a race around YOYO Land (the local entertainment park inside the mall) on Saturday and to a different mall for lunch and a 3-D version of Shrek 4 on Sunday. Who would have thought I was with my most hard-core missionary friends when they did not even suggest church on Sunday!

We had a great time and it was sad to leave again on Sunday night. Andrew is off in Athens this week - left last Friday morning and gets back sometimes next weekend. Will be quiet at home with just me and the cat.

Was going to post Sachi's latest picture but the camera seems to be missing. Maybe Andrew took it to Greece and we will all get to see some holiday (oops I mean 'work') shots :-)

I was waiting for the question...

A tamis is a sieve. A very fine sieve, that is designed for pushing solid food through (as opposed to liquid).

The potato puree recipe is from Thomas Keller's cookbook. Well worth trying, even if only once due to the inherent health risks.

Mashed potatoes will never be the same again

We made mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. Or rather, as Sonia is quick to point out, Potatoe Puree.

For reference, take 1.24 lbs of potatoes and gently boil them (in their skins) until they offer no resistance to being poked with a knife. Then drain the water, return the offending potatoes to the pot for a short time, to get rid of any remaining moisture (steam).

Then push them through your tamis (you don't have one?) - after peeling them, and while they are still hot. Then stick the resulting potato mass back into the pot and start, on a low heat, to mix in about 200ml of heavy cream, and 100g butter. While whipping using a wooden spoon. Don't add all of the cream or butter at once - it should take you about 10-15 minutes, alternating some butter and some cream. The cream should be warmed before adding, and the butter should be at room temperature.

And try not to use Japanese sweetened cream - we almost did but tasted it at the last minute (would that have made it sweet potato?).

The result is very smooth and relatively rich. A bit different to the mashed potatoes that I grew up on. :-)

And no, we did not stop to take photos. Try the recipe for yourself, Sharon.

What to say?

It's spring, which means every day is different weather-wise. Today started hot - at 7am I had to open the doors to try and get a breeze. But by midday the temperature was dropping, and now it is cooler and raining. I thought the temperature was supposed to start low and go higher?

Sonia is off in HK today and tomorrow doing a demo. And probably heading back to Bangkok on Monday - it seems to have calmed down now.

We rearranged the furniture on the weekend. While I now watch TV from a mile away from the screen, at least it feels more spacious.

Nothing else to say. Bye.

A message for Kyla

My mum and dad will confirm that chopsticks are the main eating utensils here in Japan. Most restaurants will not have any knives/forks. So you need to be able to eat using chopsticks before you get here, or starve for 10 days.

I suggest practicing in the weeks between now and when you get here. Try eating a small plate of peanuts using chopsticks. If you can do that, you will be able to eat in Japan.

Cooking and stuff

I noticed the comment from Sharon complaining about no information on cooking that we've been doing. So here is a little.

It started with a refresh of the lemon meringue pie cupcakes that we made at D&S's place during the last trip. Remember the picture of Jayna having meringue piped directly into her mouth after we'd made too much for the cupcakes?

Then I tried making the Crockpot Roast Beef from userealbutter.com. It worked really well, although next time I would reduce the amount of soy sauce in the recipe. It was good, but could have been a little less salty.

Next I ordered a copy of Thomas Keller's cookbook from Amazon. The first recipe to be made was Lamb Stew - or as Keller calls it, "Navarin D'agneau aux legumes printainiers". In my case, minus the legumes printainiers. This dish requires that you begin the day before, browning the lamb pieces, then cooking it slowly for about 1.5-2 hours. This then sits in the fridge overnight. The next day I made the Puree de Pommes de Terre (potato puree). For 2 pounds of potatoes, this has 8 ounces of butter and 3/4 cup of cream. To puree the potatoes you have to force them through a tamis along with the butter, then whip them with the cream. All by hand. We ate later that evening.

I've also made agnolotti by hand - 1 3/4 cup of flour, 6 egg yolks, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil. A lot of hard work later (by hand) you have a lump of pasta dough. Rolling that by hand was only partially successful, and yesterday we purchased a pasta machine. Trying again last night, it was much more successful - the pasta has to be very thin, and trying to get that by hand is difficult. I have a new-found respect for those Italian mamas who did/do this step by hand.

Sonia has decided that Duck Confit is probably the next thing to attempt. Not sure exactly why...

One last detail - we went looking for a gas torch (to brown the cupcake meringues). The only ones in the kitchen shop are just little torch attachments with a disposable gas bottle. The pictures on the bottle show that it can be used in the kitchen, but can also be used for welding. Sure enough, by the time I had browned 6 cupcakes (only a few seconds) the end of the torch was glowing bright red. Not something for children to use, I guess. But at least we can brown meringues and make aburi toro (look it up).

Polite Japan

Well it is a myth that Japanese are polite. As proof I offer the Ueno Zoo on
a warm Sunday afternoon. Half of Tokyo will be there, and they will all want
to see the animals. And most of them will consider it vital that they see,
at least far more important than you see anything. And once they have seen,
it will be crucial that they move on to the next exhibit so that they can
scare those animals with their camera flashes.

That said, it was fun. Just exceedingly busy.

Sachi

As Jonathan pointed out, Sachi looks a lot like Phoebe. So much so that Dad has referred to her as such a few times. Actually Sachi is a combination of Phoebe and Sahara. Phoebe's colouring, but Sahara's finer hair. Not sure who's brains she has, as we have yet to see any sign of the existence of said gray matter.

Mum and Dad have apparently reached Kyoto. This is after traveling to Hakone yesterday by train, and staying at a hotel that we booked online. It was apparently fine, although I have yet to hear whether it was a hotel with a shared bathroom or not.

The next milestone is on Friday, when they have about 9 minutes to transfer between trains at some remote outpost of Japan. If they miss, then it is possible that they will have to find a place to stay overnight - somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Where they probably will not speak any English. Could be quite an experience - even more interesting than trying to eat noodles with chopsticks for the first time.

Spring has come, so too have the parents...and a picture of the cat

Well even though we sent Kyla a whole collage of pictures I'm still getting asked for a picture of the fluffball (just shows she does not read her email or our blog!!) we'll happily post one here for you. Actually you probably don't need one....just imagine a smaller Phoebe....

Here she is trying to look cute and innocent....

And then for an action shot...

She actually thinks she is a dog. She will fetch that stick with a fluffy bit on the end all day and bring it back to you to throw again. She also makes a weird 'woofy' noise. I am convinced she is confused.

Andrews parents arrived on Saturday just in time to see the last of the Cherry Blossoms. We managed to exhaust them walking around on Sunday which pleased Sachi no end - it meant there were unlimited laps to sit on on Monday as a quiet 'home day' was had by all (except Andrew who had to go to work). She seems to be pretty laid back around new people unless they are Japanese men - I have the scratches to prove she was not impressed with the guys who arrived to replace part of our bed this morning!

Cherry Blossom season is very beautiful in Tokyo. The locals like to celebrate the arrival of spring with a picnic under the blossoms. Much sake is drunk, and you can find out how someones party went by asking 'did you sing?'. If the answer is yes, then 'did you sing loudly' will give you a good indication of just how much sake was drunk :-). We preferred the more demure approach of wandering under the trees by the river (well walking pretty quickly actually - it was freezing!). Here they are in all their glory

By the time Mac and Joyce arrived the blossoms had been 'ruined' by green spring growth appearing, but we still thought they looked pretty cool.

Spring weather is however notoriously changeable. 28 degrees on Sunday turned into a bitterly cold and wet day yesterday. Roll on summer!!

Cats

Well we have settled on Sachi (さち) as the cat's name. It is supposed to mean "happiness, good luck, fortune" - what she should be since we adopted her and gave her a home. She certainly purrs loudly and bounces around the apartment - when she is not sleeping right underneath the blanket on the bed or investigating each and ever cupboard.

Weekend

Ok, so the car is in the garage (parking space). We'll have to try and take some video of the parking system. For the moment, let me explain that it has six cars per vertical stack. In our bay there are two rows, each with four vertical stacks. Our space is in the back row (there might be a car parked in front of us). To get the car out or put it away, we have to put our key in, push buttons to tell the machine which space we want to use, and then wait while it rearranges the cars. Then the gate opens and we drive in (or out). And it's narrow - we have about 3 inches more space in the car park than the width of the car. Do the maths...

And today we collected a cat. A rescue case, about 4 months old. She is currently wandering from room to room looking around and deciding whether she likes the place. She needs a name - we are happy to take suggestions, but they must be able to pass the Daryl-Craig test.

More news

Well more news. We have a car (I think). I need to go back to the shop tomorrow, and in theory should drive away in a car. After almost 4 weeks of talking to them, both negotiating price and then arguing finance and contracts, it is hopefully finished. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I still need to sort the car insurance. 3rd party is mandatory and arranged as part of the purchase. But I need to separately sort out comprehensive cover. That is tomorrow's challenge. I have been looking online and will need help. Naturally, the insurance websites only provide Japanese pages, no English. Hmmmm.

And then I need to move on to get a Japanese license - apparently just a bunch of paperwork, but I somehow need to prove that I lived in NZ for a minimum of 3 months after I got my license. Exactly how am I supposed to do that when I got it when I was 15 years old!

Revealed - the best ever technique for ensuring husbands put down the toilet seat!

It is very simple....
1. Move to Japan
2. Ensure said husband is responsible for paying the power bill and has a healthy respect for how expensive electricity is here (it may be necessary to run the air conditioner long and hard for a week or two to ensure the first bill is very high)
3. Invest in a "Washlet" heated toilet seat (For those who need visuals....http://www.totousa.com/default.aspx?sectID=3)

Said husband is guaranteed to be soooo concerned about the cost of heating the whole toilet room via the heated toilet seat that you will find the lid is routinely put back down to 'conserve power'!

At last - it has taken me almost 16 years.... but I finally have a tidy bathroom :-)

Have a good day...

Sonia


PS Andrew says he actually puts the seat down so that it is easier to use the tap on the top of the toilet.... but I am just not buying that line!

Toilet with integrated hand basin...another quirk of Japan! This picture comes from Australia, but you get the idea http://www.savewater.com.au/products/Caroma_Profile_Toilet_Suite_with_Integrated_Hand_Basin

More news

Tonight on the way home from work, it snowed again. It was raining, and next minute there is snow mixed in. The umbrella made a valiant effort to shelter me from the worst, but it is on the small side. For some reason, the temperature has dropped again. After a couple of warmer days, summer has retreated and given ground to winter.

We've been working our way through the process of buying a car, and after getting frustrated with the dealer on the weekend, I "suggested" that he needed to update the papers and bring them to the office. He is a young guy (well about 10 years younger than I am), so he obeyed. With the help of my boss's secretary we completed the papers and should (I hope) get the car in about 7-10 days. The delay is due to the legal side of parking spaces. Because space is (apparently) at a premium, you cannot buy a car until you have a space in which to park it. And because space is (apparently) at a premium (did I mention that?) the spaces are of varying sizes. So it is necessary for the police to divert precious manpower to inspecting parking spaces and certifying that your car will fit into the space. This process can take (apparently) 3-4 days. Clearly there are many car parking spaces to inspect. And then once they have the stamped parking certificate (I had to get this from the apartment company and give to the dealer, who then goes to the police), the dealer can continue with the transfer of ownership. Another day or two. Sigh... these guys have pointless bureaucracy down to a fine art. Strangely, you can go out and buy a motorbike without having a motorbike park. So space cannot be that much of an issue (and certainly there is lots of space where we live). I guess we justify the existence of numerous police and civil servants.

Oh, and we cooked a cheesecake last night. The oven is working, the mixer and blender also - when plugged in to the new transformer that was obtained on Sunday. So mostly getting sorted now. And Sonia has a nice new pink mobile phone - she is fitting in with the trendy young things around Tokyo (well sort of).

What makes somewhere "home"?

For me, I think it ends up being able to do the ironing. Of all things.

This week was the first week that I had ironing that needed to be done, and the means to do it. The transformer (22.5 kg) is plugged in and powering the coffee machine and grinder. And the iron when needed. So this week I ironed a couple of shirts and a pile of handkerchiefs. At this point the place actually started to feel like a home.

Oh, there are still boxes around, and things that are missing (I need to get some oil or grease for the bearings on a drawer), and we are still missing curtains in a few places (Sonia has had them made in Bangkok and is slowly bringing them with her). But it did feel like home when I was standing there ironing things while watching TV (in English).

With mum and dad arriving in a few weeks, I guess I need to get things organised. The office needs to be sorted so that we can fit the blow-up mattress in there. (question - who gets to sleep on it) And I'm attempting to buy a car - which at the rate it's going might just arrive in time for when they get off the airplane at Narita. A combination of Japanese bureaucracy and language is slowing things dramatically. I'll write about this properly once I actually have the car - right now it's feeling like it may not happen.

Oh - another piece of news. I may well end up in Beirut in the near future (not permanently). Weird, huh?

Unpacking

Well, Saturday was relatively productive in terms of unpacking. The boxes are all unpacked, and other than getting rid of some rubbish, pretty much everything is put away somewhere. There are a pile of pictures/photos, etc that need to be hung somewhere. I'm not sure where they should go, and since I can only be wrong on this, I decided to wait till Sonia gets here.

The bedroom is clean and tidy, with the mattress on the floor, mattress protector washed and dried, and clean sheets on. The thin duvet we bought in Ikea in HK is on it, with a blanket over the top. That way I don't need the air-con switched on all night.

I've hooked up the TV and DVD player, and a guy came yesterday afternoon to connect up the cable TV. A few channels in English, but most of them are in Japanese.

Still need to get a piece of furniture for the kitchen so that the oven can be taken off the cardboard box it is sitting on. I haven't used it yet, for fear of making the cardboard box so hot it either catches fire or collapses.

Work seems to be going well. HR, as always, is useless. They seem more interested in deciding and enforcing idiotic/stupid/senseless policies than looking after the "human resources". What is it about these people? It's not just this company - they generally always seem to act the same. I wonder what goes on in their minds?

Oh - forgot to answer the quiz about wattages. It's the sandwich maker - draws 2400 watts. Closely followed by the iron at 2000. Then it's down to the coffee machine (1200), before dropping steeply to the remaining appliances: rice cooker (780), bread maker & blender (500 each), kitchen aid mixer (300), and coffee grinder (250). By comparison, the TV draws 150 and the DVD player all of 9w. The Stereo amplifier and CD player don't state their wattages, so I guessed by taking the amplifier output of 80w per channel, doubling it, and adding a bit.

So far I have an 1100w transformer in the lounge to run the stereo, CD player, TV and DVD player. That might be overdoing it - I think the total watts being drawn if everything is on it probably around 450w (TV 152 + DVD 9 + amplifier 180 + CD 100), so the transformer is probably more than enough. Problem is not knowing how much the amplifier and CD do actually draw. I am thinking I am probably ok to get a 600w one, and move the 1100w transformer into the kitchen for the appliances? I have a 3300w one on order to be used in the living area - enough to power the sandwich maker, iron, coffee machine and grinder (not all at once). Bit of a bummer that the sandwich maker will be used on the bench where the coffee machine is, but it's not worth getting two big transformers. FYI, the 3300w transformer is worth about USD500. The transformers do work both ways, so we can use them when we (eventually) move back to NZ and need to run the fridge, washing machine, or oven on NZ power. Japan is 100v - not even the same as US at 110. Trust them to find a way to be different from everyone else.

Enough - that is probably more than most of you ever wanted to know about power wattages and transformers!

They're taking over!

The boxes, that is. The moving company delivered our "stuff" yesterday.

I had an important steering group meeting to run at 8am in the morning (people calling in from UK and US, so this is the best time). Then it was straight out the door and back home, from where I'd left about 1.5 hours earlier!

They started by bringing most of the boxes inside and stacking them in piles in the different rooms. Then once that was all done, started unpacking. Only a couple of minor pieces of damage - a knock on the end of one of the cabinets, right down by the floor at at the back. Probably not worth fixing, although we'll see what the insurance company does. Also a foot broken on a chest of drawers. We ended up with all of the feet removed and it now sits on a piece of wood.

Possibly the most concerning is the mildew on the leather couches. And on the dining chairs. Not sure how we fix that. The chairs could be reupholstered if it comes to it, but the leather? I guess I have a job this weekend - find leather cleaners (ever tried to do that when you cannot read the writing?) and see if I can clean them up.

However, it's nice to have something feeling a little less like we are living day-to-day. I managed to get the stereo hooked up last night - big transformer to boost our 110v up to 230-240v. Sonia is still in Bangkok, so hopefully before she gets here I will have a chance to sort most of the things out and get the coffee machine running, etc.

Pop quiz: what appliance uses the most power (as in watts)? This is important because the transformers are rated to different wattages. Answer comes tomorrow or the next day...

Of underwear and milk

Well the underwear came out as it went in - just cleaner. No shrinkage, at least not that I can tell.

And the milk is apparently fine. I waited a day to check, but the cereal has been fine each morning.

Appliances

Well, have any of our thousands of dedicated readers (ahem!) ever been in the position of needing to purchase major home appliances in a foreign country (Canada does not count)? We have in the past week, gone out and bought a fridge, washer/dryer, and today a combination microwave and steam oven.

All very well, but there might be all of 3 words in English in all of the 3 manuals - and those are the manufacturers' names (Sharp, Toshiba, and Toshiba, so really just two). However, as Sonia has pointed out, Toshiba has "Leading Innovation" plastered all over their manuals, so I guess I should alter my previous statement - there are 4 words in English.

But Transgoogleation is a wonderful thing. We've just spent the past hour figuring out how to use the manual settings on the oven to microwave, grill, steam grill, bake, and steam bake. While we are not in a position to make the most of the other 30-odd automatic cooking menus, at least we will not starve.

And the washing machine seems to be doing an ok job of it's first tentative load. All socks and undies that we can afford to lose if we've managed to push the wrong button. Maybe Lauren needs new underwear (these could come out smaller than they went in!).

The fridge seems to be cooling things. Will tell you more once we try the milk tomorrow. It does have 7 doors, so we are not 100% certain that the milk is in the correct place... Popsicles anyone?

Not at the end of the tunnel, rather the lights that we bought today and installed in the living area. Not being quite sure whether they would work (everything is of course in Japanese) we only bought one fitting and three lights. But they do work, so tomorrow night it will be another trip to the shop to get another one of the same.

Installation is another story. Not because it is technically difficult, but because we do not have anything here to stand on. Other than each other. Andrew tried very hard to get Sonia to perch on his shoulders, but as she is not a bird this proved rather difficult. In the end we reversed roles and Andrew sat on Sonia's shoulders.....she tried to remember not to tickle his knees!

Anyway, said lights are up and we are one step closer to having a home rather than a house.

Apartments

Ok, so I have spent a few nights in the new apartment. The air-bed is working ok, although not as comfortable as a real bed.

The supermarket downstairs has turned out to be a very good one. Of course most of the stuff is Japanese, and I cannot read the labels. But it is a bigger supermarket than I have seen around here, and has a good range. And the prices are more reasonable than the one I used to go to in Azabu-juban.

At the moment I still have no furniture or cooking utensils (or eating utensils for that matter). This means that breakfast is tending to be Tullys (a Starbucks equivalent) with coffee and a bagel sandwich (which has meat and cheese). Lunch is usually sushi or some equivalent from the supermarket close to the office. And dinner is a range of ready-made snack meals (salads, sushi, etc) from the supermarket downstairs.

I have the phone going now, and the Internet - both as of yesterday. The laptop is sitting on the floor in the corner of the empty living area (as am I while writing this). It has turned out to be a very sunny apartment - very warm, despite snowing twice in the past week. It faces south-east, so it gets sun from first thing in the morning until early evening when the sun disappears behind neighbouring tower blocks.

We have one of the toilet seats with jets - to "wash up" when you're finished. All the instructions are in Japanese, so I will have to take a photo and ask someone at work to explain what button does what. Imagine that conversation, remembering that mostly these are people I have just met.

We got an email from the moving company saying that our stuff will arrive "soon" and asking for some paperwork. Not sure what "soon" means exactly, but hopefully we should have everything delivered in the next week.

Moving

Well, this week is the week. On Wednesday I move to the new apartment. Without any furniture or household stuff. I do have 3 big suitcases of clothes and junk that has not been shipped up. But no fridge, washing machine, cooking utensils, plates, glasses, etc. We purchased a cheap duvet, sheet, and pillow on the weekend (from Ikea HK), and I bought them up with me on Sunday.

I managed to borrow a blow-up mattress from someone at the office. I have not inspected it yet, so I'm not 100% clear whether it is a single or larger. If single, then I am a little concerned about where Sonia thinks she will sleep when she arrives on Sunday. The floor? With her pillow but no duvet? When it is snowing outside? Not sure how this is going to work, but since I have to go to work on Monday, it will not be me on the floor!

Trying to figure out the logistics of buying a washing machine and fridge. Except that it's not clear whether they are able to run on NZ voltage. So do we end up having to sell them before we leave (incurring the inevitable loss)? I think tomorrow will be yet another trip to Akihabara to ask the sales guy about the voltages required for the appliances. After reading up on the manufacturers' websites (Japanese pages translated through Google) I am pretty sure that they only work on 110v. Which is a problem. Wait and see what happens in part 2 of the story....

Back from Dubai

It's a great and strange place. Great because of the huge, modern buildings, and the many hundreds of cranes sprouting from the numerous construction sites. Strange, because in the end it's in the desert, with an unusual mix of arabic and western cultures. You see many men walking around in long white robes, with head coverings of white or white/red checked, sometimes accompanied by women in tip to toe black. At the same time, the office areas are full of western suits of both the male and female variety. The hotel was announced as "dry" in that no alcohol was permitted. The biggest mall (Dubai Mall) also proudly labels itself the same way. There is another mall next door for those who want a drink with dinner.

There is clearly a lot of money around the place. Lots of Hummers, Mercs, Porsches, Ferraris, etc. But the bulk of the population is actually low-paid imported labour from India, Bangladesh, Philippines, etc. In fact I remember seeing a statistic saying that the expats comprised 70 or 80% of the population (I think that's what the number was, but whatever it was it was very high). The population declined by around 15% when the crisis hit, with many of the expats losing their jobs and being packed off home.

The new tower is tall - very tall. Stupidly tall, in fact. And because they are worried about someone else building a taller building, they have a backup plan to add more height to it - just in case.

I'll probably get back there again, hopefully with a camera next time.

Permits

Well there is progress on the work permit front. I'm sitting in the Ramada hotel in downtown Dubai. It's right next to the new Burj Dubai - the tallest building in the world. And indeed, it is very, very, very tall. Standing close by and looking up, you really are looking straight up. It was clearly visible from the plane as we were coming in last night. In fact it was poking up from the low clouds that were hanging around.

Anyway, back to the work permits. On Saturday I submitted my extension for HK as a dependent on Sonia's work permit. This expires tomorrow (Monday). And then today (Sunday) I went to the Japanese consulate here in Dubai and submitted the application for the Japanese visa. This was possible because here in Dubai Sunday is the first day of the week and is therefore a working day. Friday and Saturday are the "weekend". I am supposed to go back to the consulate on Wednesday around 1pm to collect my passport, which should have the visa stamp by then. Then Wednesday evening we fly out, back to HK. I'll probably stay there until Sunday and fly back up to Tokyo.

Riveting story, huh?

The Tokyo Towers

As requested (T) here is a link to the apartment complex's website.

Glad to see that someone is reading the blog :-)

More progress

Well, more progress on the housing front. Told the company today which apartment we want - they are now sorting the contract. We should be moving in on 1st February - work permit and shipping permitting...

Progress on the housing front

Well, it appears that there is progress on the apartment front. The company has negotiated a pretty good deal on one of the apartments that we like. With a final tweak, we might have a place sorted in the next day or so. Yay!

Location on Google Maps (point C):

View Larger Map

Conveniently close to the Tsukiji fish market (specialists in premium sushi-grade fish), and the Ginza super-premium shopping district. Maybe that is a bad thing given Sonia's preference for shoes. I wonder if it is too late to cancel the application?

Tokyo - end of week one

I guess you could argue that we arrived just over a week ago, but it is close enough. In any case, it is probably time for an update on things.

Saturday and Sunday we looked at apartments and houses. All pretty much on the southern and western sides of central Tokyo. We started the first day with a nice little house - nice neighbourhood and layout. But a little in need of care and attention. We mostly saw apartments for the rest of the time. Most were in low blocks - 3-6 floors. This makes up most of Tokyo. I believe it has to do with earthquakes, and only more recently built places in higher.

I went to work on Tuesday (Monday was a public holiday ) while Sonia fly back to Hong Kong and then on to Bangkok. First day at work was pretty normal - ease into things, lunch with the team, that sort of thing. Wednesday went similarly, although I have been working to prepare for the first trip, which is to Dubai for a workshop with the team for middle east and south asia. This will be the week after next. I had not realised that it took so long to get there - from Tokyo to Hong Kong is over 6 hours, then to Dubai another 9 (if memory serves).

Thursday morning I went back out to look at a few apartments, and found a couple that were nice. We ended up with 3 choices, and have passed them over to the company to negotiate with the landlords. They basically sort the best deal they can, then come back to me to agree before they sign the contract. Very helpful.

Went for a run last night, as the current apartment does not have a gym. Sore legs this morning! I guess I used muscles that I have not used in a while. Running is interesting - it was very cold (13 degrees in the apartment when I got up this morning) so there was very little sweating involved until I got back to the apartment. And it was a little windy as well. Makes it challenging when you are waiting at a crossing for the lights to change...

Breakfast this morning is Starbucks while waiting for church to start.

One last thing - I had forgotten about Tokyo weather. For some reason it seems like it is either really good (bright blue sky now) or proper rain. Not much in between. And not like Hong Kong's continually polluted skies. Yay!

News

Well after a pointed email from a relative who shall remain nameless, here are some photos from the trip.

First up, the Christmas fair in Hyde Park in London.

And the hotdogs that you can buy there - the sausage is almost twice as long as the bun.


On to the night we spent at the French Horn (restaurant and hotel) in Sonning on Thames. In the morning:
In the evening:
And later once the sun had basically gone down...

Then on to the Danesfield Hotel for Christmas. First the Great Hall:

And Carols sung by the local church choir...
The view from the bedroom window:


And the light in the bedroom:


Then back to London for New Year (skipping Manchester because we didn't take any photos there):

And lastly, one taken on a bike ride in Japan - in the distance you can see Mt Fuji. Note the colours on the trees.

We're Back

In Hong Kong for the week, before flying/moving to Tokyo on Friday!

Cute video for the day:

This morning's excitement

We found out overnight that the British Airways strike is likely to go ahead. The ever-so-kind cabin crew have decided that Christmas/New Year is a good time to strike. Not very smart on their part, for a range of fairly obvious reasons.

The problem for us is that we had booked to fly on the night of 22nd (next Tuesday). That is the day that the strike starts. While you can take a guess that cabin crew in HK are still likely to fly back on 22nd (otherwise they would be stranded in HK for the duration - hang on, maybe they want to be?), we decided that it was probably not worth the risk. So this morning I ended up on the phone trying to get the flights changed. We are now flying out on Friday night - an extra four nights in London.

Our return flights are booked on 1st January, and the strike is supposed to be finishing on 2nd. At this stage we've left those flights as they are, and will probably take the risk. Talking to a few poms, this is a fairly common tactic employed by the unions and it is likely that the strike will be resolved before then. And if not, BA will have to make alternative arrangements.

Watch this space...

Big burgers

Just watching the Travel Channel - an episode of some show that is talking about Thurman's burgers. A burger with a 3/4 lb burger pattie, ham, salad, cheese, onions, etc. And you can apparently do a multi-Thurman burger...

They also have a "Thurmanator", which is now being shown. 2 Thurman burger patties, cheddar, mushroom, onion, ham, bacon, eggs, etc. Yumm!

They are leading up to the Dagwood challenge - a huge burger accompanied by 1 lb of fries. The challenge is to finish it within 30 minutes.

Closer and closer

Well it looks like Japan is going to happen after all. "Negotiations" have progressed significantly, and contracts are being sent backwards and forwards. All going well, come sometime in January we would relocate to Tokyo.

Then comes the challenge of finding an apartment - if you're interested in Tokyo apartments, take a look here. The company will take care of contracting the apartment, so the key is to find the right place at the right price. And the right place. I will work in a place call Kinshicho, which you can find on Google Maps here. This is likely to mean a commute on the train of about 30 minutes in each direction. So the ipod will get a good workout each day. The key is finding the right train lines (anything that goes direct to Kinshicho) and then working backwards from the train line. Ideally we will end up with a few minutes walk to a train station on an easy line, which will make things simpler. Otherwise I will have to see if I can't push for a parking space at some point...

One good point will be the accessibility of Japanese rice. Rather than searching for the limited range that is available in HK, we'll be able to walk into the supermarket in Tokyo and pick up rice at a reasonable price.

In other news...

We have finished the final bookings for the holiday in the UK. It is now 13 days until we fly to the UK. We have a night in London before going to a country house close to Marlow (on the Thames) for Christmas eve night, Christmas day/night, and then back to London on boxing day. We will stay one more night in London before heading up to Manchester. The night in London is for the purpose of checking on the sales... After 3 nights in Manchester, it's back to London for 2 nights. Then back to Hong Kong on 1st. We've booked a rental car (poxy little Ford Focus) so we'll have the option of driving around when/where we want.

Well, nothing more to say right now. Good night.

News

Well I guess I really should be putting something new on the blog. Not exactly sure what, s nothing much has happened since we got back from the NZ trip. Sonia has spent the week in Bangkok (arriving back tonight), while I have been working on a consulting project here in Hong Kong. Weather-wise it is getting colder in HK - temperatures are forecast at around 21 degrees most days. Right now it feels a littler cooler than that - sitting outside and starting to shiver. It is also getting darker earlier. Last night I looked outside at 6pm and realised the sun had completely set. So I guess that confirms the behaviour of the local girls (wearing scarves, boots, big puffy jackets) - winter must be here. Anyone living in NZ would probably be going the other way - throw off the jackets and switch to t-shirts and shorts...

Well, cannot think of anything else to say, and besides I need to be getting to the gym now. Till later.

Cool effects

This clearly took these guys a while to put together. The video is on the long side (around 6 minutes) but worth a look all the way through.

This guy is really good

I particularly like the Morgan Freeman impression - reminds me of the movie "The Shawshank Redemption".

Wipeout

I don't know if you've seen it, but I'm sitting on the couch watching Wipeout Australia. The sight of a wide variety of Aussies wiping out on a stupid-looking obstacle course? I can't stop giggling - although maybe it should be "chuckling" rather than giggling. If you get the opportunity, I highly recommend watching it at least once. The American version is also very funny...

Overdue Update

Well I guess it is fair to say that an update is overdue. I write this sitting on a plane, waiting for it to leave Bangkok for Hong Kong. Sonia is somewhere in Australia (Melbourne?), probably heading for bed. She is working there for a couple of days before going down to Auckland. I have the next few days in Hong Kong before leaving on Friday night to meet in NZ.

I have been working here - getting a couple of proposals put together. If any of them come off, I should have between 6 and 12 months work through my own company. It is interesting and exciting at the same time. But also rings some bells from when I worked with Tacit in NZ. I recall the boss talking about projects and bids - and some of the ridiculous behaviour of the prospective clients.

Oh great - a stinking Chinese guy has taken the seat next to me. And by stinking, I really do mean stinking. In drastic need of a shower... At least the flight is only 2.5 hours long!

Google's suggestion feature

Some interesting suggestions when typing into the Google search box...

Idiot BMW driver...

What were they thinking?

Quotation

Old Chinese proverb:

Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it.

Charlie Bit My Finger Again

If you haven't already seen this, it is pretty fun (and a little cute as well).

Tokyo Revisited

It was a great weekend in Tokyo, weather notwithstanding.

I got there on Thursday night, about 10:30 (remember me moaning about the long bus trip from the airport into town?), and on Friday went to meet a couple of business contacts. Then in the afternoon went out to get a motorbike jacket (found a nice one on sale with about 40% off the regular price). Then collected the motorbike.

Saturday, we took off about 6:30 in the morning to meet another friend who was taking us on the ride. We rode up into the hills after shooting down the motorway for about 30 minutes in heavy traffic. We stopped a few times to rest our bottoms (bike seats are not always very comfortable) and to admire the views. We had lunch at a vineyard - Manns vineyard in Katsunuma. Then back towards Tokyo and onto the motorway.

Dinner Saturday night was out in Tokyo midtown - a nice American-style restaurant. Then Sunday went to church with the friends. Monday, I met a couple of ex-colleagues before going back to Kappabashi to buy a couple of knives. These are very nice - one of the knives has (I think) 30+ layers of steel using to make it. That makes for very nice patterns on the blade, and (from what I've heard), extremely sharp knives. Not something to put into the dishwasher, I think.

Now back in HK and need to get focused on moving some consulting opportunities forwards.

Bangkok update

A quick update... We are back in Bangkok now, having flown from Bangalore overnight last night. A horrible way to travel, getting on board the plane and taking off at 30 minutes past midnight. We arrived into Bangkok about 6am, got quickly through immigration, and into a car to the hotel. At that time of the morning traffic is not an issue, and we were at the hotel within 30 minutes. We slept until midday, and then Sonia went to work. I met up with a few business contacts, and then we had dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant. Sushi and soba noodles with tempura.

We had a great time in Ooty with Chris, Karyn, and Ian and Wendy. And the sproglets of course. Chris, Ian, Ralph (a friend of theirs) and I went for a bike ride on the Saturday morning - I hired a 150cc bike. We went down the hill (46 hairpin bends on one section) and then back up, around, and back to Ooty. Good fun, although quite different from riding elsewhere because you rarely get going any faster than about 50kph.

Chris' birthday party was on the Saturday night - dessert and coffee at Ian and Wendy's place. We sat around a bonfire, while Wendy and Ralph (see above) sang a song to the tune of The Beatles' "A little help from our friends" describing some of the "Phases" of Chris' first 40 years. Then Chris made a speech (unaccustomed as he is to public speaking).

We had Sunday lunch at King's Cliff (nice Indian food), and then Sunday dinner at a Dosa restaurant. A family-sized dosa, which was somewhere over 1 metre long... Very nice. Ian and Wendy also arranged an Indian feast at their place on the Friday night - mutton biriyani, mutton curry, dahl makani, tandoori chicken, raita, and bread. And Ian had a chilli chutney which none of the rest of us could eat (basically minced green chillis).

I'm on the way back to Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon, then up to Tokyo on Thursday night. In between I have a business meeting (which will hopefully generate more paying business) to attend in Hong Kong. And I need to do some washing so that I have clothes to wear in Japan. We are going riding again, and this time I have hired a Suzuki GSXR 750 (official Suzuki site). Should be a lot of fun, riding out on Saturday and returning to Tokyo on Sunday morning.

A remake of the Inspector Gadget song?

And Inspector Gadget beat-boxed on a flute:

Hong Kong update

Well yet again it has been a while between updates. There is still not much to tell...

The weekend after next I am off to Japan to go motorbike riding again. We will probably try the 299 road again, which is the windy one from the trip before last. I go up on Thursday (22nd) afternoon, and return on the following Tuesday. A lot of time for just a weekend riding? True, but it was necessary in order to take advantage of the cheap flights available from Cathay Pacific. The Friday and Monday flights were all taken! So instead I'll swan around Tokyo for a couple of days, visit Kappabashi to buy some flash knives, and see who I can catch up with. Actually I'll also try and arrange a few meetings to see if I can generate some consulting work. Which brings me to...

I've been doing some consulting work for an American life insurance company (not AIG). Quite well paid, so I hope it continues for longer. If I can make it work, it will help pay the bills and make it possible for to work on expanding with other companies. Generally things seem to be picking up in business, a common theme when talking to other people in HK.

It's also starting to cool a little bit. Temperatures are peaking at 31 degrees most days (instead of 33 upwards), so here's hoping autumn comes quickly!

Back in Hong Kong

Well, I am back in HK. Got in late last night after a 10 hour flight from Auckland. Managed to watch 5 1/2 movies on the plane: Duplicity (amusing, and Clive Owen good as ever), Fast & Furious (typical Vin Diesel caper), Push (interesting seeing some of HK in a big movie), Angels & Demons (surprisingly faithful to the book), and half of Alien vs Predator (a walk down memory lane).

We are now the proud owners of a very small piece of land in Auckland - in between Orakei and Mission Bay. Next comes the task of building a house while located a 10 hour flight away...

Simon's Cat

Very funny...



For more adventures, look here.

Chocolatey goodness

Or maybe it should be "chocolatey badness" when you think about what's in it...

(The spoon in the picture is a teaspoon)

Cooking concoctions

It's been a while (at least a few weeks because that's how long it has been since we changed houses) since I last cooked something. So tonight I decided it was time to try something new-ish.

Being a small, serviced, apartment, there is not a lot in the way of cooking stuff. (All our own "stuff" is in a storage unit) So I looked at what is in the cupboard and tried to figure out what to make. We have sugar, chocolate, flour, baking powder (or is it soda? or are those the same thing?), biscuits, more sugar (icing, this time), cream, and a few other bits and pieces.

So that it suggested to me something like another cheesecake. Except that we have no bowls, or things to beat eggs with. So that was out. Sonia has just pointed out that not having an oven is probably a bigger issue than not having a bowl or whisk...

Anyway, biscuits, chocolate, cream, butter, and sugar. Oh, and marshmallows. That suggested some form of uncooked ganache pie. So that is what I made - in a Glad (as in gladwrap brand) disposable container. Biscuits (smashed in a plastic bag), with butter melted in the saucepan and some sugar. No idea of the quantities as we have nothing to measure with. Lined the container with the biscuit mixture, and stuck it into the freezer for a while.

In the meantime, I melted some chocolate chips, added some cream, and stirred it well. Then I cut up marshmallows into half-size pieces. Taking the container out of the freezer, I put a layer of chocolate stuff, then marshmallows, more chocolate, more marshmallows, and then the rest of the chocolate. Then back into the freezer for a while, and then into the fridge.

Sonia reckons that I will have to eat it in extreeeemly thin slices (or wedges) since it will be sooo rich. But I suspect that she has underestimated my capacity for sweet desserts! We shall see.

In case anyone has not heard through the ever-efficient grapevine, I have a meeting in HK on Thursday next week and so will not be arriving until Friday lunchtime (instead of Wednesday).