Shenzhen

I will never get used to the shopping in Shenzhen. I went up with Anna, Lisa and Sheila to do some last minute Christmas shopping on the weekend. I am always amazed at the amount of shops they can fit into the 5 levels that are more like a big maze than a shopping mall. So much stuff for sale, and so cheap! We bought a truckload of stuff, and somehow managed to squeeze it all into Anna's little mini for the trip home.

Yesterday I discovered a street near me that sells costumes. Everyone had told me about it but I had just never been. At the moment the stalls are crammed with Christmas stuff! Christmas outfits, hats, decorations, tree skirts... you name it, they had it. How Christmassy! I loved it.

And just cause I was in a Christmas mood on the way home, I took a photo of the lovely tree just up the road from my place. It's in a square that is a popular place for Amah's on Sundays, and for the last few weekends they have all been practising Christmas carol songs and dances. I like watching how they spend their day off.

Bits

Was walking through the fishy area of town (ie dried fish streets) with Chris and we found these...Lizards on a stick?? Kites?? They were so incredibly flat. My Hong Kong adventure doesn't stretch to experimenting with food that looks too weird.

I went to a craft fair at Discovery Bay on the weekend. On the way back I was walking on an elevated walkway through the concrete jungle, and these trees seemed to be growing out of nowhere. Hong Kong has really lovely pockets where nature creeps in and brightens up the place.

And sometimes the pockets of nature make you forget you are even in a city! I walked home from school for the first time today (needed Abi to show me the way) and I couldn't believe the amazing walking path that winds its way down the hill to the city. It is unreal. Occasionally there would be a gap in the trees with amazing views, but it must have been about 4kms before we came out of the trees and into the traffic. Definitely have to do that more often.

Out and about

Just looked at my photos... I have 173 in my October folder, and 7 in my November folder! What's going on? Seems like I have been ignoring Hong Kong a bit this month. But I've had a couple of weekends at home feeling unwell, and a weekend in Canberra, and have been quite busy at work lately. That's my excuse....

Anyway it was really nice to actually get out in Hong Kong again today. I had a friend from high school over here for work, so it was fun to play tour guide. We went down to Stanley to have lunch in the sun by the water, and it was beautiful!! Such a gorgeous day.

As we wandered around the shops, this letterbox caught my eye. Yes, a plastic folder. Actually a very logical space saver!

Guess where I am...

Yay! At home with baby Matthew! Dad and I decided that I really couldn't wait another 5 weeks to come home, so we planned a surprise visit home for the weekend. I arrived yesterday and surprised Elizabeth and Mark - and Mum, as Dad brought her up for the day too. And what a lovely day we had! It's a long way to come for the weekend, but so worth it!

It was also worth the trip as I was able to visit my Nanna today. She has improved so much since the scare she gave us. And I had... wait for it... Mum's roast lamb! Hong Kong may be providing me with lots of new adventures, but I'd go for mum's roast over dim sum any day.

More of Matthew

Ok, this isn't really about my Hong Kong adventure, but I just have to put up more photos of baby Matthew. Look how cute he is!!

Anyway how come no one told me I said "holidays" instead of "hospital" in my last post? I'm pretty sure Elizabeth wasn't comparing child birth to a holiday.

My only Hong Kong comment is again on how much effort is put into decorations over here! I went out for dinner to Rat Alley on Saturday night, and was amazed to find the whole place transformed for a weekend festival. Decorations everywhere!

And on Sunday I went over the harbour to the fancy shops, and there was such a crowd of people around the Christmas decorations I could hardly get through. I'm sure I'll be finding more Christmas decoration photos to put here! It is quite amazing.

We Have a Baby!!!

Woo hoo! My little nephew Matthew James was born today!!!!! He and Elizabeth and Mark are all doing well. I am so sad not to be there to meet him and hold him... but I have seen photos and I'm sure we will be skyping once they get home from holidays. Thank goodness for technology!

All I could do was go out for a celebratory drink, with Chris, Chris, Abi, Nicole and Tim. If I couldn't celebrate with family, at least there are some lovely friends to be with :-)

I am going to be such a baby hog when I get back for Christmas!

What am I doing here?

Actually, I am here because I got a job, so I thought it was about time my job got a little mention in my Adventure blog.

Mum reminded me the other day I don't talk much about it. One of her friends asked her how I am enjoying work, and Mum realised that she didn't know. I just forget to mention it!

I'm happy to say that I like my job. It has been getting busier at school, which is partly why I haven't done anything exciting to report on lately (and partly because I was sick last week).

I've been at school for 10 weeks now, and my main 2 jobs have been setting up the temporary library, and getting the library management system working. I teach 720 kids, I've been getting to know my colleagues, have been to courses and visited other schools, and have been getting my head around teaching in an IB school.

Now that things have settled down, my job is getting even more interesting. I have started the job of preparing to build a new library space. It is going to be lots of work, but very exciting! And I have at last had the time to concentrate on books again, and spent the whole weekend book shopping and going through a pile of catalogues. My favourite bit of my job - buying books!

I'm sure no one has read through to the end of this, but I wanted to write it anyway, since without my job there would be no Hong Kong Adventure. And I am so glad that I enjoy it!

Melbourne Cup

It felt like I was back in Australia today. We had a lovely Aussie morning tea which included tim tams and anzac biscuits. We ran a sweep for the Melbourne Cup, and then some of us were able to watch the race live via the internet. It was really dodgy streaming, but at least we got to see the end. And I'm happy to say my horse came first! yay! I won $200, which makes me feel very rich, until I remember the exchange rate is so wacky that I actually only won about $25 in Aussie terms. Still, it made my day :-)

Arrested in China!

Well, nearly. Chris and I were going to take his friend Anne up to Shenzen on Friday straight after school for some Friday night shopping. We got there ok, but we had a few dramas at the border. Anne already had a visa to enter China, as she was heading there on Saturday for a tour.

Unfortunately it was a 1-entry visa, which meant if she used it for Shenzen she couldn't get back in the following day for her tour, and they wouldn't let her buy one for Friday.

That was a bummer, but really, it was a nice train trip and we decided to go home and go somewhere nice for dinner instead.

Except we were stuck! We had already gone through immigration but hadn't gone through customs and we couldn't find a way back to departures! We were stuck in no-man's land for quite a while. We wandered around trying to find an english speaking guard, and we got shuffled from person to person - each who took our 3 passports away, until finally we were taken to the interview office. We were half expecting cameras to come out to shoot some kind of "Border Security" show!

Anyway after all the dramas we finally got back to the train (the photo is of Chris and Anne looking traumatised), and back to Hong Kong, and we had a lovely dinner at Knutsford Terrace. I had my camera this time, so got some photos of all the (over the top) Halloween decorations.

Cool Change

Back at school this week, but it has still been busy. We all met Jane for a farewell drink at Stauntons, and had a really yummy dinner before Jane left us to go back home on Monday night. And Amanda left us on Tuesday night. It was so nice having them here for a visit!

But Chris already has another Australian visitor here for the week, so we went out again last night, to Rat Alley.

It was probably the first time I was without my camera, and I really wanted to take a photo of the Halloween decorations. I can't believe how much they get into the Halloween spirit here! There were massive ghosts, ghouls, pumpkins, witches, and bloody body parts all around the area. All the shops, banks, supermarkets etc etc are all decorated, and I'm a bit over it.

And finally FINALLY there has been a cool change in the weather. It is no longer hot and stinky! Last night was the first night I slept without air conditioning, and today was a beautiful 16 - 24 degrees with clear blue sky. I can live with this! It's pretty funny, though, seeing all the locals in what looks like skiing jackets already!!

The rest of our holiday

Gosh I've been a bit slack on the blog. We've just been very busy!

It was great fun to have Amanda and Jane here in Hong Kong these last few days. We've fit lots in - Mong Kok markets, Stanley, Cheung Chau, Ocean Park, shopping, day spas, dim sum, Happy Valley races, lots of eating...

I can't believe I have to go back to school tomorrow - it is going to interrupt this fabulous holiday!

Malaka

We had an awesome time in KL, even though we didn't spend a lot of time there. We checked out a couple of bars on Saturday night, and had a fantastic meal at a south american restaurant. I think my favourite bit though was on Sunday at the Central Markets - heaps of shops in an awesome building, a bit touristy and very multi-cultural.

We also went to check out the 2 famous towers that were in Entrapment, but unfortunately we couldn't go up 'cause they were closed already. But they were all lit up and very beautiful, and there were lots of cool shops to visit :-) Dinner that night was in a really local foody street, really interesting stuff.

KL has been great, although I was pretty sad yesterday when I found out my Nanna is very sick in hospital.

Today we caught a taxi to Malaka - a town with Portugese, Indian and Chinese history. We had a great wander around today, and I am loving it. The best way to tour around was in a rickshaw with 2 great guides who told us a lot about the history of Malaka. We got some great photos! We also squeezed in a swim, drinks at a local corner bar, and dinner overlooking the river.

Home again tomorrow... bit sad the holiday is nearly over, but excited that Miss Jane is already in Hong Kong and I am looking forward to seeing her!

Relaxing in Kuala Lumpur

At last! Holidays! Last week was really busy so I'm very glad we now have a week of holidays.

It kicked off on Thursday night when Amanda arrived, although I still had a computer course to go to on Friday.

Amanda, Chris, Chris and I went straight to the airport after school to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We are staying in an awesome, luxurious hotel... not that we saw much of it last night. It was mignight when we got here, and 1.00am when we ate dinner!

Today we have had a lazy wander around town doing some sightseeing and shopping at markets. I think I might melt here, it is SO HOT! So there was only one thing to do this afternoon - go for a swim in the pool and have cocktails. Nice!

I forgot my camera cord so will have to add a few photos when we get home.

A post for the Canberra Gang

Look at this - I just bought some very beautiful earrings to match the very beautiful ring you gave me :-)
Tara and Mel, I keep thinking how much you would love the shopping over here. The shops don't close till very late, you could shop till you drop!

A Little Bit Fancy

I had afternoon tea at the Hyatt today with Abi and her friends. The Hyatt is absolutely beautiful, and they have this lovely all you can eat buffet. They had so much beautiful hot food, cold food and fantastic little desserts that it was impossible to try everything. We gave it a good go though!

Happy Valley Races

Last night was my first visit to the famous Happy Valley Races. I'm not into horse racing at all, but this was great. The racecourse is really beautiful, surrounded by millions of city lights. It had a great atmosphere, and I can see why people go there just for fun each Wednesday. It's a real social event!

Lynne was pretty happy 'cause she did very well with her bets, but Emilio's horses were a bit sleepy. Chris and I didn't even bother to put bets on.

Today we met Lynne and Emilio for a last drink before they went home. I think they have had an awesome time, and I have certainly enjoyed having them here! Thanks for coming Lynnie!

A lovely weekend

I love long weekends. I've done the light show, star ferry (favourites), more lanterns, Knutsford Terrace (great for eating and drinking), shopping, Cheung Chau... I think Lynne and Emilio have squeezed in heaps in the last few days.

Cheung Chau was great as usual, but we wandered around more back alleys this time. We came across preparations for some kind of burning festival. They make huge paper sculptures of all sorts of things (eg the car in the photo) that will then be burnt as an offering to dead relatives. I thought that was the Hungry Ghost festival that's been and gone, so I'll have to look into it a bit more. I'd like to be there for the festival.

PS I was so excited today - when I left school it wasn't too hot! The first time I haven't been hot in over 2 months.

National Day

It was so great meeting Lynne and Emilio at the train on Wednesday night! We went straight to Soho for a drink and a catch up, as it's such an easy local place to go to.

I had my first CPD day (professional development) on Thursday. I chose to do Chinese drumming - ok not so relevant to the library but it was so much fun! Afterwards we met Lynne and Emilio for dinner and took them to Rat Alley.

Yesterday was a public holiday, for National Day. But most things were still open, so we went up to the flower market and bird market, and another market at Mong Kok, and then Ladies Markets at Mong Kok. Lynne and I both found lots of things we "needed", and poor Emilio was very patient with us.

For National Day they had a little parade that went right under my bedroom window, and some fireworks down at the Harbour. It was nice sitting on the stairs at the harbour, until the first cracker went off and we discovered we were in a terrible spot to watch them. We nearly got trampled to death as thousands of people on the stairs behind us came hurtling down and went running towards a better position! We didn't bother running with them, we just finished our drinks and went for dinner.

Visitors!

I am so excited, my first visitors (apart from mum and dad) are arriving tomorrow! Well, they're not officially MY visitors since they aren't staying with me, but I am so excited Lynne and Emilio will be here for a whole week!

Chris and I have written a HUGE list of things they might like to do and see while they are here. It's a bummer I still have to go to work, but at least we get another public holiday on Friday :-)

Shenzhen shopping

What a fabulous day we had on Friday shopping in Shenzhen. Abi and I decided it was a great way to fill in part of our 4 day weekend, so we headed up with a friend of hers. We spent the day looking at fabric, talking to our taylor to get some clothes made, buying handbags, jewellery, DVD's, sunglasses etc etc.

It was probably the fabric market that amazed me the most. I would love to know how many bolts of fabric were there - it seemed like millions! I loved walking around looking at them all.

And lunch was delicious - a kind of dim sum lunch. I've been meaning to have dim sum ever since I got here but haven't had the chance yet. It was nice!

It's amazing that to go into a different country to go shopping was easier and quicker than driving up to Sydney for a shopping trip!

Mid-Autumn Festival

Tonight was the mid-autumn festival. Has something to do with the moon... not sure what, but lanterns are all the go at the moment.

I headed into Victoria Park last night as that's where they have a big festival. Massive lanterns everywhere! It was beautiful. The lanterns are so intricate and clever - fish, dragons, boats, flowers, cranes, even a big rabbit.

I didn't spend ages there though, because it was Chris' birthday so I met him and Chris at Soho for dinner and drinks. Yet another nice night out with the boys!

Today was a public holiday called The Day After Mid-Autumn Festival. Of course. I only ventured out to go for a walk and properly explore Cat St market and Hollywood Road. This area is well known for antiques, jade, carvings, and art. I saw the most amazing carvings - out of wood, jade, metal, pottery, and even tusks! I'm not normally into stuff like this, but it was all amazing and there was so much to look at that I'll definitely be taking any visitors there.

I also passed another little park with a few things happening for the festival, so thought I'd go and enjoy some Chinese opera while it was on. I did try, but I couldn't enjoy it. Definitely an acquired taste.

A beach holiday at Cheung Chau

We have another typhoon warning tonight! The typhoon warnings are a bit bizarre. T1 is "just letting you know there is a typhoon kind of near Hong Kong and it might get a bit windy". T3 is "watch out, the typhoon is getting closer and you might want to shut your windows and tie up your boats, just in case". And T8 is "Too windy and rainy to go to school so you should just stay home today".

Yeah, what happened to T2, T4, T5, T6 and T7???

So yesterday we had a "hot weather" warning, and tonight we have T3, Amber Rain and Thunderstorm warnings. Cool! I'm checking the weather site first thing tomorrow to see if school is cancelled.

Anyway back to the beach holiday. We went to Cheung Chau island on the weekend. It is a short ferry ride away, and we were only there for a few hours, but once you are there you think you have gone to stay at the beach for a getaway.

It was really nice! There are no cars on the island, just lots of people on bikes, market stalls, fish in tanks outside restaurants, and lots and lots of tables lining the streets. We went and hung out at the beach for a while, had a wander, and had dinner at one of the hundreds of seafood restaurants. Lyzette I'm definitely taking you there, the kids would love it! I'll put more photos on Facebook.

A movie at last

I haven't been to the movies in Hong Kong yet, and I haven't even seen any on TV (I don't get any movie channels). So I booked tickets for the Australian Film Festival, to see Bran Nu Dae last night.

I met Chris C in Wan Chai straight from school so was feeling very daggy, but figured it was only a movie and it didn't matter. We had dinner and rocked up to the Hong Kong Art Centre, where we found out it was the opening night of the festival. A big buffet, free drinks, very dressy, speeches before the movie... how funny!

Chris and I really felt like we had gate-crashed a private party. Everyone seemed like they knew each other and had probably had special invitations. I was so embarrassed looking so daggy.

But I just love that movie!! I laughed the whole way through.

MTR

For a girl who last used public transport in about 1991 I felt quite proud of myself today. I had my first network meeting and it was on the other side of the country (ok not quite as drastic as travelling from Canberra to Perth for a meeting but it was still a long way!).

It took 5 train rides and 1 taxi ride. But the MTR (train) is the best public transport and makes it so easy. I know this is a completely boring blog, but it is all part of the adventure, learning to get myself around Hong Kong.

On the down side, as easy as it was, it still took a long time. An hour each way and a long meeting to sit through, and I'm really tired tonight!

PS The meeting was at the Australian International School where apparently it is tradition to serve real lamingtons! A little bit of home :-)

Mooncakes and a busy weekend

Yesterday I found a fantastic hairresser on my very first try! Woo hoo! He worked magic on my very annoying curly, frizzy hair. Too bad I can't visit him every morning!

Last night I went out to dinner with another group of teachers. It was a really nice night - organised by my teacher librarian friend. A beautiful Italian meal... osso bucco... mmmm!

Chris and Chris and I decided it had been far too long since we all had a good roast dinner, so today we went to an Irish pub in Wan Chai for Sunday roast. It was pretty nice, but nowhere near as good as mum's. We spent the rest of the day wandering around and shopping. It was pouring again today, and this photo of Chris was because at one stage we thought our whole Sunday would be spent in Japan Home Store (plastic stuff, great shop!) waiting for a break in the rain.

The photo of all the women might be a bit hard to see, but Sunday is a day off for all the home helpers, and they all gather in the city. There are thousands and thousands of women who line the walkways every Sunday. They sit and eat and drink and talk and play cards all day. Literally thousands!

The last photo is of the mooncakes I bought today. There is a festival coming up called Mid-Autumn Festival, and mooncakes are the traditional food for this holiday. I've been meaning to buy one to try. They look quite bizarre, and it was hard to tell if they were sweet or savoury, since I think they are made from lotus bean paste - whatever that is! I only wanted one but the box was so pretty I had to buy 4. I'll definitely be giving 3 away, I nibbled the corner and it was edible but not that enjoyable. And Chris C warned me not to be surprised if I get to the middle and find a whole egg yolk. Hmm...

I got them at the most amazing supermarket I've ever seen! Caroline you would LOVE it!

And to all my Canberra friends, I've been thinking of you this weekend. I missed the Harrison staff dinner AND the girls movie night. Hope you all missed me too! Feel free to email me, hint hint, it's very lonely here in Blogland!

Rainstorm

I had a great Friday night last night, it was a girls night with teachers from school. We had drinks at Soho and then dinner at Bombay Dreams - fantastic Indian food. It was good company and a fun night. There was a huge thunderstorm during dinner, for about the 3rd night in a row.

The other night the thunder was literally shaking the buildings, I've never heard anything like it. And the lightening was like a strobe light. I took a video of the patch of sky I can see between buildings, but of course it's not nearly as spectacular as the real thing.

Anyway last night's storm was a doozy, but it had more or less passed by 11.30 when I was ready to go home. I should have caught a taxi, but instead bought an umbrella from 7-eleven and walked, since it's really not that far.

I almost drowned! The thunder and lightening passed, but the volume of water being dumped on the streets was massive! I had to take my shoes off and wade all the way home. The top half of me was only wet (thanks to the brolly) but the bottom half looked like I had just climbed out of a pool.

I did notice that not many others were braving the weather. The bars were all still full but no one was coming out in the rain. That's because - as I only found out AFTER I got saturated - it was a Red Rainstorm warning. You aren't really meant to go outside in a red warning! The warnings for rain are Amber (be careful and don't go out if you don't need to), Red (serious rain, stay inside!) and Black (shops and schools close). Oops.

Discovery Bay

I got to be a tourist again yesterday - on a school day! I went on the ferry to Lantau Island to visit a school library at Discovery Bay. It was a great day! Not only was the library visit worthwhile and it was fantastic to meet the very helpful teacher librarian, but it was great to get on a ferry and go somewhere different.

Discovery Bay is an interesting residential area near Disneyland that is popular with expats. It seemed to me we could have been at a Queensland resort. Lots of palm trees, much more open and grassy, and very planned. You are not even allowed to drive cars at Discovery Bay. Very nice and holiday-ish, but I lost all sense of being in Hong Kong.

I preferred today, when I went for a drink after work with Chris and Chris. The corner at Soho has 2 small open bars with lots of small restaurants nearby and a few trendy shops, and right opposite our bar is a fantastic market street with tiny, wrinkled old Chinese people selling fresh fruit and veg. I'm not saying that to be mean - they really are very, very old!

There is also a noodle shop in that street - I couldn't help taking a photo of all the hand-made noodles hanging up to dry at the back of the shop. We ended up having noodles for dinner (not from there!) with the best prawn wontons I've tasted.

Discovery Bay, Soho corner and Noodles!

Gym

My building has a small gym that I've been meaning to go to. I've been here for a month but have plenty of excuses for not going yet - mainly being busy at the start of school, and the chest infection that had me coughing for weeks. I'm good at excuses.

So when Dad asked on Sunday night if I've been to the gym yet and I had to say no, I thought it was time I pulled my finger out and dragged my growing behind down there.

I meant to go yesterday, really I did, except I walked home past my lovely beauty salon and ended up getting my nails done. I'm still fat but my nails are a gorgeous pink colour!

And I DID finally go tonight, but here's the funny bit, I couldn't work any of the machines! Ha ha! I even tried turning them on at the power point (yes, took me a while to figure out that much) but nothing worked, so I gave up and went out to get Vietnamese take away for dinner.

I tried, Dad!

Party

I went to my first birthday party last night. It was quite funny, I didn't know many of the people there (of course) but neither did the birthday girl! Ruth is another newbie like me, I met her at the induction. One of her friends organised it for her and invited a bunch of people.

A great night, and yet another Thai restaurant that has made it to my favourites list.

PD day

No kids today. They all stayed home so we could have a professional development day. And it continues tomorrow! On my sleep-in day - imagine!

But we finished right on 3.00 so I was home nice and early.

So on the way past the bakery I decided to try out a Hong Kong pastry. Normally the things that would entice me to the bakery are sausage rolls or potato pies. They don't have those here of course, so I decided to try a MANGO CUSTARD BUN! It was actually really nice! I think next time I might be brave and get the weirdest looking thing in the bakery and see what it's like.

Flower tradition

Sometimes I pass shops and see these huge flower arrangements on the path or in the gutter, and was wondering what they were for. Apparently it is tradition to give flowers when a new shop opens - I'm now guessing from the builders or contractors.

I'm guessing that because our contractor sent this massive bunch to school last week to celebrate all the work they did in the school over summer (new classrooms, staffroom and multi-purpose room/library). I say massive, because this bunch is at least at tall as me, if not taller! I'm now looking forward to my new library being finished so I get to have beautiful flowers too!

Meanwhile the smog is way worse than before. It was a bit interesting, a bit of a novelty before, and now I'm sick of it. It was stupidly hot today, the kids weren't even allowed to play outside! It feels like an oven because the smog keeps all the heat in, and it's stirring up my asthma. I'm over it.

Smog and a typhoon

I was excited yesterday when there was a typhoon warning - my first one! I know that's really bad but I couldn't help it. But it turned out to be a dud. The typhoon was out at sea and there wasn't any change in the weather.

Today, however, there was a change in the weather. The typhoon apparently changed all the wind patterns and today was so smoggy half the city disappeared!

I found out today I have a roof on my new library! A roof with an amazing view, floodlights, chairs, umbrellas... what a perfect place for staff parties! The social club has plans to make it look a bit nicer, and since the access stairs are in my new library it means that the library is going to be the new party place :-)