Our View

These three images show the view from our lounge room windows, from left to right. You’ll notice the construction happening right in front of our building – they’re rebuilding the waterfront. By December, it should be finished, and there will be tourist kiosks and even rickshaw rides.

By the way, I'm making the photos a bit larger - if you click on any, you will see the larger version.

Saturday Night in Town

First of all, I only just realized that people can leave comments, and that people have. Thank you! I will endeavour to answer any questions that are asked.

Last night two teachers from school took us out to dinner, to a restaurant in Lockhart Rd called American Peking Restaurant. The food is Beijing(Peking) style, and the word 'American' was put in the title to attract American GI's during the war. Apparently it's popular with expats, and as soon as anyone comes to visit us in Hong Kong, we will take them there. We ate:

Deep-fried seaweed: This was incredible. The seaweed was sort of shaved, so it was a mound of tiny squiggles of green, and it tasted a lot like tasty French Fries. It was also served with chips made out of bamboo. Both divine.

Beef pockets: These were little pita-like pockets, with sesame seeds stuck on one side, and these are served with a mound of deep-fried very skinny bits of beef and carrot in a sweet sauce. You put the beef in the pockets - lovely.

Steamed broccoli with garlic: Delicious

Sweet chilli prawns: Deep-fried butterfly prawns served on a sizzling platter (like a fajita platter) and at the table they pour a sweet chilli sauce over the top, and it sizzles and sends off tons of steam.

Duck on little tortillas: This isn't its real name, I'm sure, but it was little tortillas (about 15cm diameter) on which you smear sweet plum sauce, sprinkle a bit of long onion (not quite a spring onion) and then put duck on top and fold it up. Very nice, although I'm not really a duck person.

Beef and noodles: Great

There was also rice and peanuts and sauces and bits and pieces. It was absolutely delicious, and we couldn't eat it all. It ended up costing about $30 each AUD. It was wonderful! I think we need to keep getting people to show us great places to eat. My orientation at school starts on the 7th August, and the schedule shows lots of restaurants. I love PD where you eat!

After dinner we went for a walk, and the kids were amazed when it started raining, unexpectedly. One of them asked if there was much pollution in the rain, and we decided not to open our mouths:)

And here is where I say to Mr Kennedy, "THANKS FOR NOT TELLING ME ABOUT LOCKHART RD!!!" This is apparently the red light district, and that aircraft carrier I mentionned earlier had deposited a ton of US sailors in town, so it was very busy. Don't ever go there! Especially on a Saturday night! Especially with your kids! The whole scene took on a nightmare quality when we discovered there was no easy escape. There was a whole row of taxis wating, but they all had an "out of service" sign on the dashboard. No idea what that was about....

We all needed some comfort after that, so we headed for Times Square, and David and Rachel and Hugo had Krispy Kremes, and I bought some perfume. Sounds fair to me. I gave my perfumes away when we came to Hong Kong, as I couldn't justify their presence in my 20kg, and I was really ready for something new.

Sorry there are no photos of the restaurant - the batteries were recharging.

Sunday: We went to church, and there were a few more people, but many are still on holidays. We invited another newly arrived family over for dinner next Saturday, and we are really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow our beds and other bits and pieces arrive!

Friday 27th July

Today was Alex's last day in Hong Kong, and he wanted to take some photos and footage of Causeway Bay. Rachel just couldn't keep away from the Jardine St markets, and I'm sure she'd easily spend a day there, given the chance. So much to buy! So many bargains!

Alex and I spent a long time looking for a particular skate shop, which we never found - I WILL FIND IT, ALEX, I SWEAR! but we did see some interesting trays of squid drying in the sun in the middle of the city. We also decided to take a picture for posterity of the two figurines (religious, we think....) out the front of Times Square. We spared you the front view. Suffice it to say that one of the children pointed out that the male figure had undergone a particular procedure...

We thought we were very clever today, taking two buses so we could stop at a furniture shop on the way to Causeway Bay. We did in fact, end up at some distant point of the island, in a housing estate, but all's well that end's well, and we did eventually get to our destination. We are actually quite pleased with our transport efforts. The double decker buses are amazing - the kids really enjoyed sitting at the front of the top. Every time a tree thwacks the window, it is quite exciting. We are trying to use buses instead of taxis. Taxis are cheap, but buses are amazingly cheap. The 25 minute trip to Causeway Bay costs about $1 on the minibus. You couldn't get there substantially faster by car - the buses stop infrequently, and briefly. We did get a taxi yesterday, and it was quite interesting. This middle-aged Chinese guy had a penchant for American country and western music. It was a bit surreal.

David stayed home today to wait for the internet/cable people to come, as well the repairman for our bedroom's air conditionner so he missed out on our transport adventures. He has become a Cantonese expert, well, maybe I am exaggerating slightly, but he's really good. Our neighbour upstairs owns the Main Street US restaurant a few doors down, and she said to me today, "Your husband is very smart. He speaks very good Cantonese." He does, too. He is a real risk-taker, and has had quite a few compliments from Chinese people about his skills.

He's also developed an interest in boats. We have an incredible view from our flat - must post photos, and a huge variety of boats go by in the distance. This morning, David woke me up to see the aircraft carrier going past! It was fully laden with jets and other aircraft. He's going to get a good pair of binoculars to study the sea traffic better.

Apparently the pollution is extremely minimal at the moment, and our view may not stay this clear....

We now have a lounge suite to sit on! It is a crazy, wild, red leather slightly retro-looking set, which we are mad about. Our boxes from Australia arrived yesterday, so we have stuff! Our beds arrive on Monday - YAY!!!!!!!!! We are currently sleeping on these two inch thick things - WARNING: That's what our visitors will probably sleep on! We are so looking forward to real beds. On Tuesday, our dining suite arrives. We will nearly be complete then:)

As soon as we have a dining suite, we're going to invite some families over from church. We're very pleased that tomorrow night we've been invited to have dinner with a couple of teachers from school, one of whom I know via email.

My two inch mattress is calling...

Disneyland

Yesterday, the children and I went to Disneyland. It was quite amazing. I don't know if it's the happiest place on earth, but I do know that it's the hottest!

We loved the ride down the jungle river - the animated animals were extremely realistic, and fun. The 3D cartoon about Mickey and Donald was probably the best I've seen. Everything seemed to be big-budget. The Lion King Festival show was extraordinary - it reminded me a bit of Cirque du Soleil. Amazing costumes and effects.

I think the most fun thing was Space Mountain. We queued in the stifling heat for about 40 minutes, but the ride was worth it. I sat next to Hugo, and Rachel and Alex sat next to each other - it was an absolute hoot.

Mostly food, as requested by Lizzie

This morning we check out of the hotel and go to the flat. I will really miss the breakfasts: Noodle bar, dim sum, congee bar (congee is a thin rice porridge to which is added various savoury bits and pieces), lots of cereals, patisseries, varieties of buns and toasts, a fresh juice bar, interesting sausages, bacon, eggs cooked in a variety of ways, pancakes, waffles, fruits of all kinds (the dragon fruit is really sweet here) salads, cold meats…. I’ve probably forgotten some things… After breakfasts: Add a range of savoury western dishes – had a fantastic potato and pepper dish this morning, and some super mushrooms which grow together in clusters – it looked like an octopus and tasted fantastic.

Re breakfast: The first day, I didn’t notice, as I was rather busy choosing patisseries, but Hugo apparently poured himself some milk out of the small coffee milk jug on the table. The waitress laughed (kindly – they all adore Hugo) and got him a glass of milk. The next morning, she brought it to him without asking. Yesterday I asked if I could have some ginger in my carrot juice, and they asked me if I would be breakfasting this morning, and if so they would have one prepared. All the dishes are served in beautiful silverware, with gorgeous little spoons, and the staff cannot do enough for you. Yesterday, after a huge breakfast, we only stopped during the day for the Krispy Kremes (read on) and picked at the gift basked from the school late at night.

I am a bit ashamed to say we’ve eaten MacDonalds twice. Why did we do it? The first night, it was 11:00 Australian time before we got to dinner, and after walking around for a half hour and being totally overwhelmed by the lights, the people, sights, the sounds, we saw a MacDonalds, and knew what to do. We had the Big’n’tasty burger meal, and for five of us, with medium-sized fries and drinks (they don’t seem to have large) it cost about $22 Australian. They have some interesting additions to their menu, like cups of corn…. Which brings me to Krispy Kremes. We had them at lunch time (all right, I guess you could say we had them for lunch!) and they were DELICIOUS. They have different ones here, such as green tea flavour, and red bean. Alex had half a dozen donuts! We also had lunch at the Spaghetti house one day. I justify it by saying that we will develop our local food-eating habits gently, to adjust to new tastesJ

Yesterday, we went to Immigration and applied for our Hong Kong ID Cards. I can’t believe how simple, organized and straightforward all that kind of stuff is, here. Everyone is friendly and relaxed and helpful. We also set up our bank accounts yesterday, and bought all our appliances.

I was quite impressed by Fortress, where my former teaching partner said I should go. For about $1300 AUD, we got (all Phillips, Sanyo, etc) a top-line microwave, vacuum cleaner, hand-held mixer, large electric mixer with bowl, breadmaker, water filter, auto-off iron, two hair dryers, toaster, café press, kettle and rice cooker. Super service.

We also got our phones from PCCW. The plans are super, much less expensive than in Australia. We also signed up for pay tv and broadband internet. The cost was about $70 per month, and this includes limitless high-speed internet, and all the standard tv channels plus the Discovery package, National Geographic package, all the kids’ channels, the History channel and the HBO movie package.

We are having a super time, and look forward to settling in today, shopping and pottering about.

No blog for a couple of days, until we get connected at the flat on Friday.

We made it!

We arrived in Hong Kong last night at about 6pm, after a great Qantas flight. These are my first impressions:

• very very very crowded! David said stepping out in Causeway Bay was like going into the showbag pavillion at the ekka.
• very warm, like Brisbane in January, but not as humid, although people have told me that it gets much worse.
• friendly - everyone we've had contact with has been very helpful and friendly
• hilly - as we drove around the island this afternoon, I was amazed by how hilly it is - you can't see it on Google Earth.

Our relocation consultant drove us around the island, and orientated us at Stanley - it's so gorgeous. It was lovely to smell the sea air when we got out of the car. The appartment is beautiful - spectacular views, and it's large - 1800 square feet.

We are unsure about the bed situation - I refuse to sleep on chipboard, but we haven't found many solid wood beds...

I am exhausted and think I'll hop into bed with my Deadly Hallows. Tomorrow morning will be another spectacular breakfast at the buffet, downstairs.