No Motor Show

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

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

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

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

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

Comments

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

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

As requested

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


I wish!

Paintball

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

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

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

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

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

Z4

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

A couple of pictures

Sonia with the rental car at Smiths Beach.

Parrots in a tree in the middle of Perth.

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

The holiday is over

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story of the day

In Perth safely after a long and torturous journey.

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

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

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

At the airport

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

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

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

Counting the hours

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

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

In other news....

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

Anyway, time to get to work.

Learning

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

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

Island ECC

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

Back to HK

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

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

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

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

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

Cooling off

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

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

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

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

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

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well things are changing again.

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

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

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

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

End of the week

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

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

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

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

Japan

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

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

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

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

More later.

Our first Typhoon

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

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

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

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

Summer in HK

A quick note about the weather.

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

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

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

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

Wagyu

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

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

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

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

So, the scores:

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