Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Or Happy New Year of the Auspicious Golden Pig! (that is not a direct translation...) Sorry for the lack of posting (again) but now we're back at school I *magically* can find time to write something (pictures will follow shortly as I can't upload them at school....ahem). Anyway, here are some of my favourite Chinese New Year facts:

1. People are encouraged to eat lots of sweets and chocolate over the holiday to bring a 'sweet' year (if only we could think of such an excuse for stuffing ourselves at Christmas...)

2. Red is lucky in a forms (red symbolises fire, which drives away bad luck) but if you're gambling it is especially lucky to wear red knickers, thus Wan Chai market is full of tasty little numbers in red...

3. The year of the golden pig if lucky for having babies but not for marriage so just before CNY there was a big increases in marriages so couples can have their babies this year (the year of the golden pig is different from the year of the pig and only happens once every 60 years).

If you feel the need to learn more about Chinese New Year...well, google it or something.

Anyway, the holiday itself is pretty quiet and a lot of places shut for at least three days as people spend the holiday with family (Needless to say, New Year's Eve is not celebrated like it is at home!) Also, lots of locals travel to the mainland to see family, and many (rich) gweilos go on holiday so it is generally quiet. In all honesty, the weather was rubbish and we spent most of the holiday sleeping, eating, drinking, and generally hanging out - I kind of feel that I should feel bad about this but it was so good that I don't! We did see the New Year fireworks display and the very cool but crowded New Year parade (photos will follow). We also took a day trip to see some pink dolphins, here is a picture stolen from a website (I didn't take any because the blighters move rather quickly, funnily enough)

So, now its back to school and back to rehearsing 'Romeo and Juliet' for another performance at the end of March (with a different cast.) Adam gets here tomorrow for 10 days, then my Mum and Pete get here the day after he leaves. I guess Ben will be putting in an appearance at some point too...

R x

Sorry-la...

OK, OK you can stop the death threats, I'll blog something for goodness sake (some of you seriously need to enter some kind of rehabilitation programme...) Actually I know I've been very slack with this since Ben abandoned me so here's some photo's to satisfy your cravings...

A few weekends ago I went with Hannah and Nikki to the 10,000 Buddha monestry (or 'The land of a thousand Buddhas', as I prefer to call it). Let me set the scene...

It's a lovely day, no one around, we're feeling slighly un-lovely having sampled the considerable delights of Wan Chai the night before, there's a long path with lots of gold Buddhas running along either side, some of which were quite amusing...

But I digress, out of the silence we see this...

Nikki is understandably alarmed saying something along the lines of "Oh goodness me! What do you think that could be?" but more Skegness-esque. I, being slightly visually impaired, reply "It's just a cat". No, no it's not it's a monkey!!! Now this might not seem that disturbing but bear in mind we have NEVER seen monkeys in Hong Kong and had NO idea that there were any monkeys, oh, and also that this monkey was suddenly followed by about 60 of his friends all galloping towards us, appearing out of the silence like something out of '28 Days Later'. However, mind over matter we continued on our trek into the unknown and eventually were rewarded with what was indeed 10,000 Buddhas

Those of you that are visiting, I did toy with the idea of not telling you about the monkeys so you could have the same 'experience', but it was actually quite amazing once we got there and well worth a visit.

Another time, Nikki, Hannah and I ACCIDENTLY walked up the Peak (yep, that's the Peak, as in the highest point in Hong Kong and up as in UP...)

I'll leave you pondering how that would ever be possible with a few pictures...

About half way up...

No, now you come to mention it, the thrill of reaching the top really was NOT worth the effort of walking up it...

There are other exciting materials to post, including a video of me being jumped over by a bloke in in-line skates but frankly I feel I need to save something in case your cravings get really bad and I have nothing with which to satisfy your urges...

R x

Missed and not missed in England part1

I have not missed the English weather

I have missed my fathers tramp like fashion statements

I have not missed the rubbish public transport (this picture has not undergone editing, it really is this grey)

I have missed the grandmothers cooking

I have not missed the need to dress like an Eskimo when leaving the house

Cold wet and more cold

Well I arrived in England this morning. It is cold, wet and i have yet to see any evidence of snow. I have however had some of my nans home cooking, proper Cadburys chocolate and a big glass of milk.... MMmmmmm. The little things I have missed.

The flight over here was amazing, I had been involved in a big stage type presentation at a school before I got to the airport so I was quite tired anyway. I combined this with the wonderful drowsy reaction that takes place when I consume 'Actifed' allergy tablets.
Both these factors combined meant that by the time I got on the plane and sat down I was in a stupidly deep sleep. I closed my eyes and the next thing I recall is waking up 8 hours later to eat some food. I do not even recall taking off.

I had some food, watched a bit of a movie then figured 'what the hell', and popped another Actifed (I checked the label first, it was safe to do so). I then slept untill just before we landed, so in total for the whole 13 hour flight I was awake for just under 2 hours.

This has resulted in me not feeling too jetlagged once I arrived at Heathrow, it also feels like I have not travelled halfway across the world. It's all very strange.

Bx

Avenue of Stars

The avenue of stars is a new(ish) Hong Kong tourist attraction which celebrates Asian media celebrities. Here are some snaps.

It needs to be said that Robyn was jumping during the taking of this photo. That explains why she looks a little stranger than usual.

Jackie Chan, one of the only celebrities we actually recognized.

Robyn in the directors chair

And me behind the camera.

And lastly Bruce Lee, he may look ready for action but he is currently unable to stop the occasional sparrow from pooing on him.

I leave tomorrow for England! (apparently the weather is going to be horrible)

bx

Cheeky Monkeys

At first glance the picture below seems like just an innocent snap of two happy friends in Hong Kong. On closer inspecion however you will notice that both Rob and Nikki seem a little preoccupied. This would be because of the 'rabid' monkey dancing around behind them. i will let Robyn tell the story in full but lets just say they made quite a few little friends that day.

I admit that the blog has been somewhat abandoned recently due to my parents arriving and there being much entertaining. I kept on getting home after a day out with them having the intention to write something but just kept falling asleep insetead. On their first weekend here I took them both to see the "Big Buddha", via cable car. It was quite funny because dad got quite nervous at some parts of the journey.

Don't let his happy front fool you, the man could not look at the view behind him at this point...

During the daytime whilst i was at work they went on little expeditions of their own. They took a journey up the peak and dad discovered a toilet with what has to be the best view in the world. He felt the need to take a picture of this view.

They also met some of my students that I tutor on a monthly basis in he evenings. They came along to one of our meetings and were quite a hit.

I took them up to the revolving restaurant during an afternoon and managed to get this amazing picture from above showing where we live in Hong Kong.

This is a vast chunk of Wan Chai, if you follow the direction that the yellow crane is pointing in the bottom right of the picture, we live in the first big clump of buildings you get to.

OK, I have to dash and jump in a shower now. Today is my folks last full day and we are going to Lama island (for the second time) to have some seafood and get away from the city for a bit.

Bx