Today I woke up with grand plans. More shopping in the morning, then a trip to Kowloon for sightseeing, markets, and the light show. Somehow, by the time we did two more rounds of Ikea, Priceright, an electrical shop, a DVD shop, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea etc the day had suddenly gone! Kowloon will have to wait.

The good news is that my "house" is looking more housy every time we go to put more things in it. My favourite purchase today was a very cool lamp. Of course I was going to take a photo and forgot. We only remembered the camera on our way home, crossing our bridge for the millionth time. I like to think this photo is arty. Others would say I just don't know how to take good night pictures.

I also should mention how much we have been enjoying the food. We have been very international - Indian, Japanese, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Italian... After all, we would hate to fade away to shadows after all our trekking around HK! Shopping can make you very hungry. Still, next week we will have a kitchen again, so there won't be as much eating out.

Dried Fish

We went shopping again today. Not surprising, as we can't carry very much at a time on the trains, so we get a bit each day. We went to Causeway Bay, which is a big shopping area with Ikea, and Priceright, my new favourite store with absolutely everything you need.

We thought we had better do as the locals do, and hire a cleaning lady. The things we do to fit in! She was great and cleaned the whole apartment for us while we spent the afternoon collecting things to take over (we're not actually living there yet).

This photo is of a shop in a street that sells mainly dried fish. I am amazed every time I pass it, and stare a lot while holding my nose :-)

Oh, and I've found my new local Thai restaurant... might be visiting there lots!

Mong Kok

After doing lots of odd jobs this morning, we headed to a real touristy "must do" - the Mong Kok markets. I think we paid far too much for the little souvenirs we bought, because we just have no idea about prices and we are not good at haggling. Oh well, all part of the fun!

We also checked out a couple of furniture and homeware shops, as there are still many things I need to buy, even though my apartment is furnished. I am missing my lovely big CRV that would fit in all my purchases and be able to drive straight home instead of fighting the crowds on the train!

Mum and I aren't doing very well with remembering to take photos. None today!

Easy come easy go

I felt so rich today! I had to give over $50,000HK to the agent! So we just had to take a photo before it all disappeared. I'm now feeling quite poor again.

Good news is I got the keys to my new place :-) I won't move in till the weekend, after it's had a good clean and we have bought a few things to put in it. Apart from wine glasses that is...

Other good news for today is that I finally bought myself a new mobile, and we experienced our first heavy thunderstorm! They do a good job over here with their thunderstorms!

IKEA

I got the apartment! Yay! It is very small (of course) but furnished and interesting and has lots of storage. I get the keys tomorrow.

That meant that I could go to IKEA and start shopping! What was first on the list? I've bought my wine glasses, ready to celebrate :-)

New home?

Ok, back to house hunting today.

We did a lot of walking and found our way around ok, and saw more tiny apartments.

I'm waiting to hear back from one agent - this might just be my new home! Fingers crossed...

Shopping

We really meant to go house hunting again today, because the sooner I find my new apartment the better. But we got off the train at Central, and somehow got completely distracted by the shops! We had a good few hours shopping and then couldn't be bothered going to any real estate agents, so instead we took advantage of the fabulous weather and went up to the Peak to check out the view. Awesome!

First funny photo

We checked out the supermarket today and thought this was funny enough for today's photo. If you can't see the box, it is a packet of dessert mix, next to all the other sweet desserts, called "Green Beans with Kelp Dessert"! We didn't buy it...

Funny moment #1 We have already managed to break something - the ATM machine you use to put credit on the Octopus cards (travel cards). Men had to come and fix it. And the instructions were even in english...

Funny moment #2 Realising that after spending all day house hunting I will probably need to go and see them all again tomorrow because they have all jumbled in my head and I can't remember anything about them!

Leaving the Country

I still don't think I have too much luggage - even if I broke both handles of my carry-on luggage because it was too heavy.

It was a long day but we made it. We are now staying in our little motel room, about to go out exploring for the first time.

Time Flies...

How come I've had 3 weeks off work and I still managed to leave things till the last minute??!! Anyway bags have now been packed, weighed, unpacked and repacked many times and I think I'm all set to leave in the morning.

Yesterday the temperature ranged from -6 to about 5 degrees here. Brrr! It was hard to leave behind all the polar fleece jumpers and scarves, but I know I'll be complaining about the heat very soon!

So tomorrow it will be 18 hours between leaving Cooma and arriving at the hotel in Hong Kong. I'm really excited about getting there and finally starting the adventure, but it has been sad saying goodbye to my family and friends - even if it is only 6 months till I'm back for Christmas.

I know the next 6 months will fly. I have mum with me for the first 2 weeks, I have 4 friends booked in for visits, I have a trip to China planned, and I will be an auntie before the year is out! And that is just the beginning...

Packing is overrated

Boxes at my old school, boxes at my new school, now boxes all over my house. Packing is boring and it makes me sad to be leaving my little house. I'm glad I'm doing it for a good reason.

At least there are some good things about moving away - like a night out with my awesome Harrison friends! You'd better keep me up to date with the goss, Harrisonites!