Dentists and typhoons

Thought I'd mention that this whole Hong Kong Adventure isn't always exciting and incredibly different from home. I had to go to the dentist, which I didn't like doing. I don't think you should have to do that while you are on holidays, and I still feel like I'm on a holiday over here!

Anyway it wasn't too bad I guess. And just for something a bit interesting, my dentist is in the "Building of a Thousand Arseholes"! No kidding.

This isn't a very good photo (I was hanging out of an elevated walkway) but it is an incredibly tall building that truly has been nicknamed that. I wonder why...

We have been on a typhoon warning all day, and boy have we had some wild weather! The typhoon hasn't reached us but we have had strong wind and heavy rain all day. I have been feeling bad for people back home, who have had blizzard-like conditions and wind that would turn you to an icicle very quickly, and we have had wild winds that are never cold, but really refreshing. Sorry Canberra.

And just thought I'd throw in a photo of lunch at Stanley on Sunday. It was so so so hot, but really clear so you could see across the water to surrounding islands. I haven't seen Stanley like that too often. We had a beautiful view from the air-conditioned restaurant (does the window remind anyone else of Playschool?).

This time next week I will almost be on school holidays! Woo hoo!

Flying Librarian

I got a beautiful end-of-year present today from one of the kids. I love my new flying librarian! She is gorgeous. She has books, glasses and a handbag dangling from her outstretched arms, and she is covered in sparkly jewels. What a special gift!

And it really hit home that the end of the school year is close, to be getting a lovely present like that!

Birthday Drinks

We had a stinking hot weekend with a cyclone warning, thunderstorm warning, heavy rain warning, and hot weather warning. They love to warn us about weather over here...

Not much came out of it though - some heavy rain while I was at dinner on Saturday night and not much else. The cyclone was nowhere near us.

Anyway some of us from school had a fun night on Saturday celebrating Kimberley's birthday (the girl I'm hugging in the photo). It was yet another great place that I hadn't been to before. There are just too many good places to go to here!

Dragon Boat Races

We had a public holiday yesterday to celebrate Dragon Boating. The festival remembers a guy throwing himself into the river to make a political stand, a long long time ago. Ok, I'm a bit foggy on the details but I'm sure you know how to use Google if you want to know more.

Anyway the important thing was the International Dragon Boat races at Stanley. I went down yesterday to check it out, along with about 20,000 other people. There must have been about 200 teams, and they looked like they were having a great day!

I couldn't get very close to the action (remember 20,000 people...) but got an ok spot up high for a while, just enough to take a couple of photos. It brought back memories of dragon boating with Kelly :-)

Unfortunately the hot weather has well and truly kicked in so I didn't last very long. It was absolutely gorgeous weather from the air-conditioned bus on the way down there, but standing in the heat wasn't pleasant. Today was worse -the humidity made me remember how much I hate HK summer weather.

My very own Flame Tree

I am so unobservant sometimes I hardly deserve to be in Hong Kong. I was catching the taxi from school with Chris yesterday afternoon when I noticed the most gorgeous tree, right outside the school!

I've never taken any notice of it, but it is a beautiful flame tree. I have no idea when it started turning from green to red. I wanted to take a nice photo but the taxi driver was impatient so I snapped quickly and then was disappointed with the photo.

Anyway I was up in my new library today with the builders (see exciting note below), standing where my office will be. And what an amazing view of the flame tree - sitting just under my window like an beautiful red mattress. Again, tried to get a good shot, but I guess it's just one of those things that my camera will not do any justice.

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Here's a google image that shows a flame tree better than my photos.

Anyway, the exciting news of the day is that we have had the handover to the builders. They start moving their gear into the new library tomorrow, ready to start work on it. At this stage it should be finished by mid-August, and I will start setting it up when I get back from summer holidays.

(PS the dots in the middle are because I am absolute rubbish at editing blogger and I can't stop it from doing crazy layout stuff unless I add some full stops here and there)

Staff Dinner

Our wonderful social club at school organised a staff dinner for us at a lovely Thai restaurant. The restaurant was in Bangkok!

That is one thing about my Hong Kong adventure that I am not yet used to - hopping on a plane and going to a different country for the weekend. Imagine going overseas for a staff dinner!

There were 22 of us and we had a fabulous weekend. It was my first time anywhere in Thailand, and I enjoyed Bangkok more than I have enjoyed the other Asian cities I've been to lately.

The girls took me to the famous markets where I did far more shopping than I normally do. I still think of myself as a non-shopper, so I was quite proud of my efforts. In the end I had to go home because I couldn't carry any more.

There was also the pool, the mall, leisurely breakfasts, and a pedicure. Very relaxing.

The dinner on Saturday night started at the most amazing bar in the world for pre-dinner drinks.

The Sirocco Bar is on the 65th floor, outside, overlooking the whole world. It has 3 levels - restaurant, band, and bar. It was amazing!!

Dinner was at a really nice Thai restaurant which was lots of fun with all 22 of us there, and then some of us hit the town afterwards in the seedy part of town. Quite an eye-opener.

And I already have a list of things I'd like to do when we go back there for a staff get-together next year - I enjoyed Bangkok and am looking forward to going back!

Chris the organiser keeping us under control with flights, accommodation etc.

Kickstarting the shopping trip with my first purchase at the humungous markets.

I googled this picture because it was better than mine. The sky bar on top of Bangkok... amazing!

Chris and I at Sirocco Bar watching the sun going down.

Not a very clear picture, but this is some of us who were on the Bangkok trip.

Poor lungs

I wish I could pack up my lungs and send them home to Canberra for some fresh air. They really don't like Hong Kong. 5 respiratory infections in 10 months.

I went to the doctor today - paid about AUD$6 for consultation, 3 pkts of pills and some medicine! Unfortunately it's just a bandaid treatment and it won't fix my dicky lungs. Bummer. All part of the Hong Kong adventure I guess.