Dragon spotted at Stanley

This afternoon, after Church, we had trouble getting back to the flat due to the large dragon which was dancing about in our little street. I love Mid-Autumn Festival! And I love moon cakes, but I especially love the ones without the egg yolk cooked in the middle!

The last (terrible quality) photo is of my friend Sam, whose lovely family came over to dinner tonight. Great fun:) For those who don't know me personally, I'm the one in the black top, although it is not a good likeness . I actually look a lot more like Elle Macperson than this photo shows.

Discovery Bay

Today I toddled off with a couple of teachers from school, to meet a couple of other teachers from school for lunch, in Discovery Bay. The ferry leaves from Pier 3 at Central, and takes 20 or so minutes to arrive in DB, on Lantau Island, which is like another world.

I thought I'd popped back to Queensland for lunch at Pacific Fair, or some beachside place. There are palm trees and restaurants everywhere, and, generally, a relaxed atmosphere.

DB is a popular place for families with young children to live. There are two clubs with all sorts of facilities and gorgeous pools. Residents do not own cars, but may use golf buggies, and there are rentable cars and buses available. It was a lovely afternoon.

Afterwards I bought moon cakes at City Super, in Central on the way home. Moon cakes are part of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which you can read about here. We are really looking forward to Tuesday night, when people go to the beaches with lanterns, and in Causeway Bay, a huge dragon will weave its way through the back streets. There are firworks, performances and lots of fun, and of course, the best part, moon cakes.

Missy, you want DVD?

A couple of weeks ago, we headed off to Shenzhen for the day. We're not really shoppers. Actually, Rachel adores shopping, but she had to off to a refugee simulation. That's another story.

David, Hugo and I made it through the Hong Kong exit, and into the PRC entry, and then we visited Dafen Artists' Village, where we wandered up and down cobbled streets looking at painting after painting after painting. As you can tell, we love paintings nearly as much as shopping. It was kind of interesting, I must say. The popular thing is to take photos of anything you want, and an artist will paint it on canvass for you at a great price. I did by Nana and Aunty Kath a couple of little things which should be arriving any day now...

The most amazing thing was the loo (another amazing loo!!). You had to pay a little old lady one dollar (about 18 cents Australian) for a packet of tissues to use, and the toilets were....well.. they were.. they had... it was like... oh, just look at the picture. YES!!! One was forced to squat!!! Notice I didn't write that in the first person, so as not to be too indelicate..... Let me tell you, there was no delicacy involved.

When we got to the main plaza, they prepared us by telling us that people would come up to us and possibly touch us (WHAT????) and try and lure us into their shops. Easy to understand, froma cognitive angle. The reality was just bizarre. The minute you near a shop, they call out to you, "Missy! You look my bags? Missy, you want tshirt? Missy, you like my shoes?" etc etc etc. The DVD guys were the worst, though. Funnily, there's a sign on the bottom floor which says that in order to help stamp out crime, you should report anyone who tries to sell you something, but who is not attached to a shop. Ha ha!!!! They are EVERYWHERE!!! They wait at the bottom or top of the escalators, and gather around you, trying to convince you to follow them to their DVD treasure trove.

After about ten minutes, I thought David might need to find a quiet, dark place where he could curl up in a fetal position for a little while.... He adjusted after an hour so, and then we had to go home.

I did buy a few things there - a couple of pairs of shoes, sunglasses, necklaces and tops for Rachel.

It was really interesting. Just don't go to the toilet there - try and hold it in til you get back to Hong Kong. This may cause you irreversible kidney damage, but it's worth it.

KFC.... Don't ask...

Last Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves childless in Central. I had actually walked from the chapel at Wan Chai, and thoroughly enjoyed the changing scenery between the two areas. I came upon Chater Park, pictured above, which was absolutely beautiful.

What an unreal (literally) place, is Central, in the middle of Hong Kong. I've never been to New York, but it felt a bit like that, to me. Prada, Gucci, Chanel... store after store, with hardly Chinese shops in between.

In an effort to not lose ourselves in the headiness of designer shopping, David suggested we have lunch at KFC. All right... it was really because he had a hankering for potato salad. I whinged just a bit and then mustered all the enthusiasm I could.

We went upstairs to the dreary little restaurant, and found it jam packed with Filipino helpers, as it was Saturday, their day off, and on the weekends they pour into Central and Causeway Bay to socialize. It was kind of fun, except that I had to pull the skin off the chicken again, and it was pretty greasy and didn't settle well with the post-birthday chocolates, and it all ended very badly at about 9 o'clock that night....

Around Stanley

Here are some photos I've taken around Stanley over the last couple of weeks. The first photo is what David and Hugo have come to call "The Rubbish Pirates". They get around in their green outfits, in boats, and pick floating rubbish out of the water. The two photos of a small cove were taken at a gorgeous, quiet spot at the end of Stanley Markets. Gorgeous except for the incredible amount of rubbish. An unbelievable amount of rubbish. We immediately thought about coming down with some bags, for a family night activity, but rejected that idea once we examined the rubbish more closely... David told me this evening, that the Rubbish Pirates actually cleaned up that beach, and that it is now clean. They took away all the shoes, dead fish, empty water bottles, plastic toys, bits of boating junk and even a fridge. Quite magnanimous, as far as pirates go...

The green leafy entrance is the gateway to St Stephen's College. David and I walked over there yesterday, because I wanted to see the college and the prison, because it was on those two grounds that the Japanese Internment Camp was set up during World War Two. How spooky. To think that just over sixty years ago there were guns, and POW's, and a war. Ever since I read Fragrant Harbour, I've been dying to see the place where the expats were imprisoned.

You can't really get to the jail, as a civilian, but David and I did have a quick walk through the Corrective Services Museum http://www.csd.gov.hk/english/hkcsm/hkcsm.html There's a little bit of info about it on the link. It was really interesting. Hugo wants to go now, since I told him that there were photos of pirates with their heads chopped off. Lovely. They had other interesting punishment methods too, including a treadwheel, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a wheel with steps on it, and you just have to keep stepping or you'll fall off, and probably get hanged. (YES, TL! That is the correct form of the verb!)

The other picture is of Stanley Plaza (about 120 steps from our apartment) which was having some kind of music event yesterday. These guys were setting up, but it got very crowded, and throughout the day, all kind of choirs and bands performed.

Signs of the Times Square

Okay, only one of these photos is from Times Square. That's the one with Rachel and Hugo. It's in Causeway Bay, and it has a huge video screen on one side of the exterior. It is a GORGEOUS shopping centre, with about ten floors or so.

The next photo is from an MTR (subway train) station. The first sign says, "Having done a health check, now I'm not scared any more." The second says, "With regular health checks, I'll not come down with the disease." I felt really safe and calm when I read it...

The last photo is from about a hundred metres from our apartment block, at a little hotdog shop on the waterfront. I went in and bought 6 hotdogs, given that they were intestine-free...

My friend and her amazing loo and view

I have a friend. Her name is Marj. She loves in a block of apartments at Park View, and she can see Causeway Bay and Deepwater Bay from her balcony, which means that she can see both sides of Hong Kong Island.

Marj's apartment building is stunning, with marble foyers, and huge wavy leather lounges on which you can recline while wondering whether or not you've eaten too much dim sum. Imagine my delight when I stepped into her gorgeous apartment and viewed all her food storage out in the dining room. Extremely impressive. We don't even have any stored water at our house.

She also has an amazing loo. It has a warm seat, as well as a variety of personal hygiene options. We discovered, though, that you can't make them work by simply pressing down on the seat. You must actually sit on the seat. This is, no doubt, to prevent toilet water spraying all over your bathroom.

Enjoy these photos of Marj's amazing loo, her stunning view, and incredible foo -dstorage.