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.
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.
posted by trocadero at
6:19 PM
3 Comments:
Who's da mystery guest behind Alex? Or is David not handling the change very well.
Love the bog - sorry blog.
Alvan & Karen
+whitney!xoxo
Just love it Carolyn.......love the newsiness of your blog. I enjoy the descriptions of the food, the appliance shopping, just everything. Thanks for being so good with your blog to date, means I can enjoy it vicariously.
What do you do with all your new appliances when you leave? Do they give you an allowance to set up house, or do you have to do all that? I am stunned at the phone/internet/tv package you got, that's amazing. I am impressed that everyone is so friendly. I can remember from my time in many places OS that we don't know what service is........very sad......when you know it can be done differently.
Why do we visit McDonalds when we have so many other options......?? I have done it too before, eaten at Mackie D's...........because it's a constant. You know what you are getting and you enjoy it. I love the food over there, but you will find you will crave western food.
Look forward to your next post. Have fun!
Jenny
Hope your regretting it now :) :)
I know I miss you, but I don't know about the rest of KB, god I'm leaving tomorrow, so I will speak to you when I get back to Oz!!!
Tobi
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