Hot

The other night I went to a party on the mainland (well Kowloon at least). I was in the taxi on the way home at 2AM and I got quite a shock. Hong Kong Island, the place where we live with its amazing skyline and neon lights was almost totally blacked out. In some cases it was impossible to tell the difference between the skyscrapers and the mountains behind them. The girl I was sharing a taxi with explained that Hong Kong is on an electricity saving drive, which is why they are doing it, but it was really very weird not to see the city all lit up. It was kind of spooky, like how I would expect the city to look if everyone moved out.

The weather is starting to get warmer and increasingly more unpredictable. I walked to work today and within minutes was starting to feel like I was in a sauna. Even worse is that locals do not seem to feel the heat quite as much as I do, a guy was jogging in the opposite direction to my brisk walk and he was not even breaking a sweat! I have invested in a hand held electric fan to compensate for this, all I need now is to stop people laughing at me when I start using it. I'm told it makes me look like a bit of a dick.

bx

Busy busy busy

Sorry about the lack of posts, i'm recieving emails about it already so I thought I had best give a quick update. Robyn and myself have been pretty busy lately, she is organizing her school play (a cross between pinochio and cinderella) which should be very funny i'm told. I meanwhile have been getting ready for my trip to Beijing next week for my birthday, doing office stuff and teaching 100+ students how to dance the salsa. Yes you did read that last part right, part of a programme that our organization runs involves working with college sudents. Quite how i was persuaded to use the medium of English to teach a big hall full of them salsa (which i preformed with my very good teacher Rachel) is beyond me. But it happened and I can now do some very basic salsa steps. There are some pictures floating around that I ill get on here at some stage. In the meantime here is a pic of me and some of the college students.
Today (saturday) I have been at a school all morning helping out with an English funfair. It's pretty rare to work on a saturday morning but sometimes when schools have open days and stuff you lend a hand. It was really good fun though and afterwards I got a chinese massage at a place just up the road from our flat, which made it all seem worthwhile.

Tonight is a friends birthday party, so sunday will hopfully be spent sleeping on a beach! (weather permitting)

Anyway, Robyn has just walked through the door after a trip to Stanley so i'm going to annoy her now.

bx

Cockroach

Last night I discovered the BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen in the kitchen of our flat. It was so large that for a second I thought it was just about to open the fridge itself. I eventually managed to remove it from our flat and then overreacted on a grand scale.

I took our bug spray and totally napalmed the entire kitchen (all 5 square foot of it). It seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course now everything needs to be washed before it can be used.

Idiot.

bx

Out and about

These are pics from Hannah (the gal next door) whilst out and about in Hong Kong.

I have not moved from the sofa for the entire day. Robyn and the rest of Chatteris are doing some type of bbq sports day today. I was meant to be there but last night ate what has turned out to be bad squid, i wont go into detail but at present food does not like to stay in one place.

bx

Betting

Above is the view of Happy Valley along with the famous Hong Kong Jockey Club Racecourse that we visit on Wednesday evenings.

I can see this view from the office window, so I am starting to consider if it's possible to place bets on the races from the office. It would make late nights here that little bit more exciting!

bx

Either Or

Now, either

There was a serious accident just round the corner from where we live involving a crowd, a police car and a news crew.

or...

There is a movie being shot round the corner from where we live involving a crowd, a police car and a film crew.

I'm going with the second option because there were young girls asking people for autographs. Which I don't think is normal at a crime scene.

bx

Clear sky

Today has been without doubt one of the most stunning days I have seen in Hong Kong. The sky was blue, the sun was out and the visability was perfect. Which has led me taking the following two photos today at the peak. The one of the city is the best shot I have taken so far from the peak at night i reckon.

Sam and Dave have left today to go back to England, so they had a brilliant day to end their visit. It has been a bit murky at times during their stay but i'm told they are going back to nice hot weather in England!

Right, Robyn is in bed now and I should be hitting the sack too. There is a small lizzard sitting in the corner of my bedroom, I have named him Larry. He seems pretty harmless so i'm going to leave him alone, I just hope he does not crawl into my mouth whilst i'm asleep! :S

bx

Belated Vietnam pictures...sorry!

Just realised that, despite being back over a week I'm yet to put any photos of our amazing time in Vietnam up here! Blame my Father as since I've been back its been a non-stop tourist trail of HK but I think I've worn them out as they're leaving today! I'm also back at school with only 6 weeks until I finish for good - scary stuff!
Anyway here are some pics of Vietnam, after the whole delayed plane fiasco we arrived at our hotel at 7am so, having been up for over 24 hours we caught a few hours kip and then set out to explore Ho Chi Minh city in the boiling heat -

The view from our hotel window (very odd to be able to see for miles when you're used to Hong Kong...)

Mopeds! If I tell you there are the most mopeds you have ever seen in your life in HCM and then you multiply the number you're imagining by 100 you'll be close to picturing how many mopeds there actually were. During our stay we saw everything you can imagine on the back of a moped - washing machine, family of four, cats, dogs, kitchen sinks...
The next day we took a tour around the Mekong Delta (L-R Neela, Me, Hannah, Rav), we stopped at loads of interesting places including a 'factory' that makes rice sweets and an exotic fruit farm...

(insert your own gag here)

The next day we took another tour to the Chu Chi tunnels that were used during the Vietnam war - this one has been made about three times its original size for tourists to crawel through.
I also went down one of the escape tunnels they used...going,

going...

GONE! This, along with the War Remnants museum was fascinating but also a creepy mixture of happy tourism and horrific historical fact...the whole experience was bizarre but I'm very glad we did it.

After the tunnels we visited an amazing temple that follows a 'universal' religion that is a mixtire of Christianity, Judaism, Taoism and Confustionism. We got to watch the monks at mass (and before you ask, we weren't being obnoxious tourists - we were allowed to take photos!) On the same day we also visted a lacquer factory, rubber plantation and saw some water buffalo. Then at 4am that night it was time to head back to HK! The whole trip was hectic madness (both tours were 10 hours long and started at 7am!) and not at all relaxing but it was amazing! I definitely want to go back to Vietnam!
Anyway better get back to work...
R x

Editing

If you were wondering... Yes I am bored and yes I have found the picture editing tools on my computer

bx

Arsenic

A Hong Kong council consumer study has discovered that there are sometimes unacceptable amounts of arsenic within dried foods in Hong Kong.

""The Council says the problem was particularly serious with the dried squid after eight samples were found to be well over the maximum permissable levels"" (Source)

I ate dried squid last week! (tho only a small bit)

bx

good idea at the time

For some reason I took 500 Dollars (35 quid) out with me during a party in the New Territories of Hong Kong.

Problem is they extended the happy hour of the bar till 10pm. Plus the barman kept giving me and Robyn free drinks. I feel horrible. Hopefully the rest of Chatteris in the picture feel just as bad, otherwise there is no justice in the world. Anyway, later me and some of the others are going to have a massage, then I am going to the night market with Robyn. Somewhere that oddly enough i have not had chance to explore yet.

If you are wondering whats going on with the "V" finger sign that everyone is doing, it's a Hong Kong thing. If a photo is to be taken, whether you are a kid or an adult, you make the "V" sign.

bx

City Lights

We live right in the middle of what can only be classed as Hong Kongs coolest waste of electricity. 8pm every night the whole city turns into a light show.

Great about HK

Do you know what is great about Hong Kong? Unlike in England you hardly ever get approached and harassed by charity muggers (chuggers) or any other type of sales person in the street. This is because they can rarely speak English, and if they can speak English, you just pretend you are French!

bx

Mui Wo

Yesterday we took a trip to Mui Wo to witness a festval event dedicated to celebrating the sea gods. There are two sea gods of Hong Kong & China waters, the most popular god is Tin Hau, the second god is Hung Shing. We went by ferry to an outlying island to watch people give thanks to both these gods last night.

One of the final celebrations of the festival is when people place floating flower lanterns into the sea. Hundreds of people were purchasing these lanterns and could then queue up to go to the waters edge and send their lantern on its way. Each lantern represents a prayer that people make, when they release these prayers into the sea there is a possability that the prayers may be granted. Here is a single lantern I took before it got dark, none of the pictures I got in the evening came up very well because the lanterns were all moving too fast and I was too far away.


You could purchase the flower lanterns from these folks in the picture above. They had an endless supply it seemed.

What was good was that we found what looked like quite a nice beach (with shark net) to use in the future. I tried to get a good picture of the beach but this attention seeking dragon boat kept getting in the way.

In case you wanted evidence of the safe ariival of Sam and Dave then here they are on the bridge overlooking the flower lantern festivities. In the background on the right you can see the steps where people walk down to drop their lantern in the water.

And I always wondered where Robyn got her ability to fall instantly asleep on boats. Now it has become clear that it is a hereditary skill.
bx

Robyn is back

Robyn is back from "Nam". She arrived pretty much on time as expected and is doing the tourist stuff with her Dad and Sam. Luckily she is not walking around shouting "good mooooornin Vietnam" or anything annoying like that. One of the other girls she went with though is now saying "When I was in Nam", or "Back in Nam", like an old war hero. Luckily she does not live close by.

It's early morning here (9.45 am) and it is promising to be a stunning day. The smog and general fog that has reduced visibility over the last few days has cleared and the sky is crystal clear. Hannah (the girl next door) has her sister visiting as well so everyone is in full tourist guide mode at the moment. Tonight we should be going to a beach and floating lanterns into the sea. This has a festival connection but I will write more about it once we actually get to the beach in question and get some pictures.

I am starting to have to carefully consider what i'm going to do next year once Robyn leaves. She is jetting off at the end of May, at the same time I am being kicked out of the flat because they are gutting the entire building. Top this with the fact that I am going on three weeks holiday at the start of June and I am going to be really busy at the end of next month. One of the hardest things to get used to in Hong Kong is that everything is done at the last minute. If you go to a travel agent to book a holiday 2 months before you want to leave, they will laugh you out of the building. The same principal applies to flats, I can't start looking for a new place untill one week before I need it, any earlier and it would be a waste of time because the market moves so quickly.

Having said that my worry has been relieved by browsing the Asia ex-pat website. I have discovered there are tons of opportunities to find flat shares and good deals for single room flats through this site. More importantly, it saves having to go through a property agent. I don't want to bore you too much, but the problem with going through a poperty agent is that when you find your flat, you pay a month in advance, a months deposit and the final month of the flat all in one go. That is quite a large sum of money.

Anyway, I know that future Chatteris employees are reading this in England so at least they may find it useful :)

bx

Sam and Dave are here!

Robyns Dad Dave and his girlfriend Sam are in Hong Kong! With Robyn still looking at tunnels and stuff in Vietnam I took the role of tour guide this evening. We went for dinner at a veggie place. I felt like a bit of a dorrit because the only way I could find it was to retrace the route Robyn took me from her mums hotel last month. This basically involved me taking Sam and Dave on the longest circle in the world, only to find that the place we were going to for dinner was just round the corner. Doh!

Another "Doh" moment came last night when i rolled back into my flat at 5.30 AM after a very heavy night out. I went to clean my teeth before bed, then suddenly tasted something that was anything but Colgate. I spat it out and turned the light on only to realize I had used Robyns "Veet" hair removal cream by mistake. This is the second time I have done something like this since I have been in Hong Kong, you would have thought I had learnt my lesson.

I also took Sam and Dave on the trams, and across on the Star Ferry to Kowloon. We managed to catch the last bit of the light show and walked up the avenue of Stars to get a better look at the skyline.

bx

You know you are in Hong Kong

I decided to give my room a bit of a tidy. Rather than try to determine my clean clothing and my dirty stuff, i just gave up and took every item I own round the corner to the laundry lady (except for what i'm wearing now). She will wash it all, dry it, and press it for barely any cost. That's far easier than me having to fold my stuff that is clean.

You know you are in Hong Kong when doing something like that actually makes sense. Jeez i'm lazy.

Breaking news: Between May the 4th and May the 8th i'm going to Beijing for my birthday! I'm gonna see if this wall I hear so much about is as 'great', as people say :)

bx

"Good Mornin' VietNAM!'

So, today Hannah, Neela, Rav and myself are off to Vietnam for four days! However, we are off to a good start as we have just found out that the plane has been delayed until 3:30AM tomorrow morning (we were supposed to fly at 8pm tonight...) It looks like I'll be able to say "Good Mornin' VietNAM!' a little earlier than expected, i.e. as soon as we step off the damn plane...
Tam biet!
R x

Paper fornication

Well Robyn is jetting off today to Vietnam and leaving me all alone for a week. As an office monkey I don't get to take advantage of the school holidays but instead only get the public ones (three measley days). Whilst she is gone I am planning on getting a lot of rest and meeting up with the rest of the office monkeys I know around Hong Kong, like me they have also got the short end of the Easter Holiday stick.

One event which is coming up pretty darn soon is the Ching Ming Festival. This festival is devoted to worshipping your ancestors, one aspect being by going to their graves and providing them with gifts for use in the afterlife. 'What type of gifts?' I hear you ask... Well let me show you some examples.

We have a paper boat.

A paper fan, (because i'm sure the afterlife can be a bit stuffy)

Yes, thats right, even paper coke!

But my personal favourite is this paper dog, complete with newspaper.

These articles are burnt upon arrival at the graves and the belief is that those in the afterlife can take advantage of them. To learn more about other parts of the festival then click (here).

I think this is a pretty interesting festival and intend to be celebrating certain other aspects of it with friends. In my lunch break I stumbled upon a news article that states there are some new problems occuring surrounding this festival, read below for an example.

"with the newfound consumerism in the Mainland, I suppose it was only a matter of time before concerned relatives began to think not just about ancestors' material needs but also their other earthly pleasures. On March 22, a local paper, The Standard, picked up a piece from China's state media complaining that relatives were now purchasing paper replicas of "Viagra, as well as condoms and heavily made-up bar girls." It continued, "The Beijing Morning Post called for a crackdown on the sex-related 'vice' offerings but said high demand was ensuring sales." (source)

This is a rare occasion where I am lost for words.

bx