Langkawi

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

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

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

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

A New Job

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brunch

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

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

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

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

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

Another week

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dragon-boating is fun

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

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

Justice is served

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

Swimming in Saudi Arabia

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

Brownies

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

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

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

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

The Election and Dragonboats

In France, that is.

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

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

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

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

Musings

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

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

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

What goes around comes around

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

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

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

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

Til later...

American Idol

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

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

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

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

Boredom

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

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

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

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

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

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

A short update

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

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

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

More on Beijing

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

Well I guess that was cheating

Here are some more...

Dinner at a road-side stall.















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














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

Beijing

Some photos from Beijing....

Rugby

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

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

A quick update

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

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

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

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