4 weeks into living in Hong Kong

Matt has been enjoying seeing another side of the business by observing some of the engineers at work. He’s been able to go onto the planes alongside the engineers to look at the problems they encounter. He even got a picture taken of him inside an engine! I will let him update you in the next blog post.

On Monday I was able to volunteer at Po Kok Primary School in Happy Valley. It’s a school where 90% of the children are from an ethnic minority background, the biggest in the city. I volunteered at an after school homework club which helps the children “who need the most help completing their homework” and also from deprived backgrounds. It was really interesting. The child I was working with, Oliver, had English homework and maths homework. The English consisted of filling in the blanks: I am....hungry, thirsty etc. He seemed good at this and his English was very good too. I think the school teaches through the English language. His maths however was a lot harder than I would have expected. The social worker explained that the children were poor at maths but I wonder whether the work was too hard for his age range. In the end we got there, working with mini pizzas as counting tools.

On Wednesdays all museums are free to visit so I took the opportunity to visit the Museum of History. It was very interesting and had lots of installations and models of Chinese buildings, people and historical artefacts.  The Cochrane family would have loved it, very flambards-esque.  

We treated ourselves to a roast chicken and roast potatoes this week from the Selfridges type deli in Times Square! Yum yum yum! This compensated for a rather grim duck and rice dish from the supermarket.

Today we are off to Bangkok, woohoo! Although we are a bit apprehensive about the severe flooding that has been reported. If we get internet in the hotel we will put up a post to let you know.

Photos galore

After a busy weekend, Monday evening was spent relaxing and catching up with the X factor. On Tuesday Katie lent her time to charity, The Home of Love which is run by the Sisters of Charity, Mother Theresa's organization. This is located in Nam Cheong Estate, about half an hour away from where we live in the centre. I made my way to the meeting point in town and was spotted by another Westerner hanging around in the station. We then made our way across town to the charity having been left behind by the other volunteers (turns out we were waiting in the wrong place!). I was greeted by the other volunteers and it soon became clear that the “American’s Womens Association” was indeed all American women who wanted to do some good in the city. I definitely felt in the wrong place but really wanted to stay and help out. The organization is based in the ground floor of a building block and houses around 20 homeless men and around 8 women with children. The women help out in the kitchen, preparing the meal everyday and the men seem to disappear off into the local area.

Having peeled and chopped onions, ginger and lettuce we waited around until everything was ready to be served. There was only one incident with a cockroach – it did make me wish I was wearing trainers and not dainty sandals! At 10:30 the gates were opened to the men (yes, we are locked INSIDE the building) who came rushing in and sat down. In Hong Kong, there are around 400 registered homeless people but reports suggest there are thousands. In order to get a meal you must have your Hong Kong I.D. card alongside a personalized meal ticket. No meal ticket, no food, regardless of how hungry you are. It was upsetting seeing very frail old ladies being turned away but the Nuns were very strict. Before the meal was served a prayer was sung and then we handed out the meal which consisted of melon and meat soup (!) and noodles with vegetables. The women served themselves before the men. After a few more seconds and thirds were served, the meal was over and we had to wash up.

 Having done my good deed for the day I met Kate and hit the shops for the first time since I arrived. I was very restrained and only bought a playsuit. I am hoping that Bangkok will have plenty of goodies!

Wednesday’s mean only one thing...Happy Valley Races! We headed out to meet Matt’s friends from work for a drink and a gamble...but this turned into a rather late night ending up in a very random rock bar. A good night but Katie had a bit of a sore head the next day so her second good deed of the week was postponed until the week after!

It was soon the weekend and we wanted to make the most out of the beautiful weather that had appeared. We hit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island where Matt works. To reach the Buddha we took the cable car which travels across the water and across various hills giving us an amazing view of the island. There was the opportunity to travel across in a cable car adorned with Swarovski crystals but Matt wasn’t keen.

 Where Matt works, on Lantau Island

 In the basic cable car (boo!)

The buddha as seen from the cable car

It is the world's largest Buddha statue, by using bronze, it's 34 metres tall and weighs 250 tonnes, created in December 1993. It is a pretty impressive sight which attracts hundreds of people, either coming here as tourists or to pray at the Po Lim Monestry.

After a good look round and lunch consisting of cheese sandwiches and Pringles (we Brits know how to do a good lunch!) we headed back down by cable car and into the shopping outlet which is conveniently placed at the bottom. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the quality of Gunwarf or Bicester Village so we went back home empty handed.

 Matt having a go on the childrens games (darts) - health and safety is limited here!

 An airbus

Hannah, you could get a transfer!

 Realizing that Katie hadn’t eaten any Chinese food for a week (Matt has a large amount at work – including fish eggs on salads etc etc as regular meals) we went out to try the Dumplings that Matt had raved about since eating them at work. The dumplings were pork meat and soup inner rapped in a doughy exterior. Yum. Turns out the restaurant is Michelin starred so we really are living it up! We will go back there again. We include a picture of the order form however we should mention that I got someone at work to write in Cantonese what to have!


 On Sunday we met up with Jasmine and headed out to Nan Lian Garden, a recently built tranquil traditional Chinese garden. It also houses a monastery. Here we ate at the vegetarian restaurant which was very tasty. On the outside of the restaurant is a waterfall which cascades down the window – very nice!

 Birthday Buns - quite a chewy texture with a sugary mixture inside

After lunch we visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple where we had our fourtunes read.

 Here you are given a pot and must kneel on the cushions and shake the pot of sticks with a question in mind. Each stick is numbered. When the first stick falls out you must pick it up and memorize the number. This number then correlates to a story that is told by the fortune tellers.

Matt - the year of the dragon

Katie needs to get a move on if she wants to find a job and Matt’s family are to be healthy, as long as they seek treatment! Jasmine showed us around the beautifully coloured temple and then took us into a market and explained all the different foods we could buy. We bought a few of the stranger items and are keeping them back until Christmas so beware your presents this year!

Saying goodbye to Jaz we headed across to Mong Kok which hosts the ladies market. Here we purchased some traditional children’s Chinese outfits and some Paul Smith (?) pants! A busy weekend which was finished off with Baked Beans on toast and Spooks. Stay tuned for more posts this week....promise!

 The dumplings - before Katie dropped it, causing soy sauce to go everywhere

The order form - in Cantonese!

Is that a laundrette? Oh no - it's a pawn shop!

So here we are again, only this time it is Monday night. Apologies for the irregular intervals between posts but we really are very lazy. So back to Saturday we woke up feeling slightly woozy but read for a big day of rugby. After a morning chilling out and writing the blog we headed to Wan Chai, past the red light district to join the hoards of English people gathering on the streets watching the big screens in the nearby pubs (but drinking from the seven eleven next door). A prolonged dissappointment ensued in which we watched England lose and made our way to the pier to catch the ferry. In Kowloon we had a look around the night market (which sells some very suspicious products) and then quickly returned in anticipation of the much talked about light show. This is where are the buildings on Hong Kong island light up to music and a story is told etc etc. Needless to say we won't be taking any of our guests to watch this. Heading home we enjoyed an early night.

Just a note: we still havent put up any flat pictures so here they are:

Bathroom is hidden by the lovely curtain next to our 'kitchen'! In fact, you can just see the toilet brush....

Trevor just loves the camera

We awoke to an alarm on Sunday telling us it was 8.50. Far far too early for a weekend but within the hour we were raring to go and headed out to meet the world. Another blue skied 30+ degree day (I forgot to mention this about the day before), we bought some bread to go with the sliced cheese we had with us and made our way through a series of trains and buses to a place called big wave bay. Now we thought this would be a misleading name but in fact it was really a beach with very big waves. As big as we have seen in cornwall at any rate.

With our newly hired bodyboard we enjoyed a day of boarding, lying in the sun (getting only slightly burned) and seeing prehistoric rock carvings.

Back at the flat we watched the next installment of the X-Factor and enjoyed a well earned sleep. Oh before I forget we were also on Facebook chat when Katie mistyped a message to a friend claiming she "goes to the beach with an ipod and a poo". Apparently she meant book... I will let you decide.

Getting into the Local Way of Queuing

So Wednesday was a public holiday in Hong Kong and we woke up feeling refreshed after a lie in. We ventured first upstairs one floor and I got my haircut (with a little help from a picture of Robbie!). Then having got ready, we took the tram and headed to Central (which we eventually reached after an unintended ride to Happy Valley). From here we had a short walk uphill to get to the Peak Tram station.

This is a funicular railway heading to the area about 400m above Hong Kong where there is of course shopping centre, McDos and lots of rich people with small dogs. Little did we know that on a public holiday there are queues about an hour to an hour and a half long. Well having arrived we took our place and slowly edged forward.

With barriers out making it only 2 abreast it was easy for us to hold our own in the queue but latterly these expanded to hold 10 abreast and the free-for-all started. However nothing prepared us for the crossing of the road (done in batches by the police) where 40 - 50 yr old men and women sprint around you to reach the other side first. At this point we gave up with our European manners and I remembered that I am actually about 1.5x the average size of any other person in the queue. With newfound confidence we began to wade through and quickly overtook all those who had been streaming past us for the last hour. Finally when we got to the platform we thought we had finished but the worst was still to come. After the doors opened everyone pushed (as hard as they physically can) to get into the carriage. With a women carrying a baby in front I held the queue up for a few seconds, let them through first and ran for my seat. The pride I felt as I watched Katie battle through and join me seconds later. From our seated position we could see all those other runners who had failed to gain a seat and now had to stand for the 5 minute ride while we travelled up something akin to a 30 degree railway track. 

Having reached the top we went for a walk which gave us beautiful views across to both the city and to the other side of the island (and the islands further out). We sat and had a pack lunch of cheese sandwiches and pringles and enjoyed the clearer / cooler air. Having had our fill, we went through the same queuing procedure to get down and took the tram back to causeway bay (where we live).

Now for the exciting part: on the walk home we dropped in at an electronics store and bought a toaster. Best purchase EVER. Of couse this meant a further trip to the supermarket to buy marmite but well worth it. With our new appliance set up in the flat we ventured out for dinner at a place recommended by the guidebook. To be fair to lonely planet - they have done well with this. Probably the most english version of Chinese we have seen (i.e. real meat with limited bone inclusions). Stomachs full we went to bed having enjoyed the day off!

Thursday was fairly uneventful except for Matt and Affie's footballing debut in China. The whistle blows to start the first match, the team advances and the 2 new stars from GB run into each other and fall over. The latter matches weren't much of an improvement with 3 losses overall. Communication was an issue with the only positive being Matt's goal in the last match.

For Katie, Friday was spent investigating volunteering opportunities. That evening we headed out to Carnegies for the second time. It is possibly the cheapest bar in Hong Kong and one of the few places you can dance on the bar (we are yet to experience this ourselves). After a few $10 coronas we made our way with Kate and her friends to the bars in LKF. Here we came into a spot of bother. The 5 girls walked into the bar and onto the dance floor with no problems. Matt however was greeted at the door by an unfriendly looking bouncer who informed him that in order to proceed he had to buy a drink from the bar. With his money saving hat on Matt ventured to the nearest 7/11 shop and purchased a bottle of beer that was available in the bar but at a fraction of the price. He strode back in, as if he had been taking a breather outside with his beer, bypassing both bouncers. Result! Feeling very pleased with himself he rejoined the group to boogie the night away.

Brits Abroad do Curry in a Hurry

After a well deserved lie in, we went to watch the rugby in a Scottish bar – bad plan being some of the only English people in there! However, it ended well for us and afterwards we headed across to Kowloon to meet Jasmine (Katie’s friend from boarding school). Saturday was National China Day and we wanted to secure some good views of the fireworks so after a lovely Cantonese meal, which included a beef stew inside a pumpkin (no more frogs legs!), we made our way through the crowds to the waterfront.

Some lovely fireworks, some of which spelled out 2011 and National China Day. The 20 minute medley of “wow” “wow” after each firework did make us all laugh.

Sunday was supposed to be a day of high exploration however despite wearing waterproof shoes and coats, the English style weather put us off venturing up to the peak which is supposed to have amazing views of Hong Kong. Instead, we headed across to Kowloon for the second time that weekend but this time taking the Star Ferry which Matt’s mum also used to travel on when she lived in Hong Kong last century. This trip cost us a mere $3 but Matt was slightly annoyed that he hadn’t come on a weekday when it costs $2.50 (20p)!

A rather random installation which smelled lovely!

Through the drizzle we ventured into Kowloon, passing through the different districts, eventually arriving in Mong Kok which hosts a huge market dubbed ‘The Ladies Market’. Here you can buy every single Cath Kidston purse/bag/suitcase you could ever want, as long as you can barter with the local sellers. Katie needs a little practice with this so that we can return to get some goodies.

We decided to try some of the supermarket ready meals for dinner and ate on the balcony for the first time. We did get a few odd looks from the locals below but it was nice to be able to – Katie has bi-passed Matt with her chopstick skills.

Monday morning came round quickly and Matt headed out to work leaving Katie to hover until the cleaner came prompting a move to the park to read. We gave into some English delights for dinner – Jacket potato, beans and cheese whilst catching up with the X factor – what we would do without the internet I don’t know!

After a restless night sleep we contacted the landlord about the dwindling power of the air conditioning unit hanging out of the window. We were later informed that we had turned the temperature so low that it had frozen over – that explains the loud cracking noises in the middle of the night.

Returning to a much cooler flat, I (Katie) unpacked the fresh and warm bundle of washing recently collected from the laundrette and sat down with a cup of tea to watch the latest episode of Don’t tell the bride.  What a life of luxury! Except upon finishing said cup of tea I realized that the milk had obviously started to turn when I found big solidified blobs of milk in the bottom of the cup. The milk comes from “Kowloon Dairy” but I don’t think you will find many cows in Kowloon! Maybe it’s just a name thing....  

That evening we went to Times Square, which is a very posh shopping centre which has over 200 shops including M&S. Here we treated ourselves to ‘Curry in a hurry’ which comprised of butter chicken and taj mahal chicken. Not quite the same as back home but tasty none the less. We then went shopping which is dangerous in this type of shopping centre. After 5 minutes on the massage chairs we proceeded to deliberate over both toasters and headphones but in the end we headed back home.

Typhooooooooon... and the first week of work

Wednesday was pretty uneventful until the evening. After work we went to Happy Valley racecourse to see the horses. It is a pretty amazing site in the middle of a city, and we made the most of the view from the 7th floor of the stand. It was very strange to be back in a place with so many Europeans! More importantly our first bet of the night paid off and we ended up in positive money for the rest of the night!

 

On Thursday I got up and got ready for work. Outside it was very empty and myself and Affie were a bit confused as to where everyone was. Maybe the MTR looking like this should have been a clue!

Seeing boards covering the doors at work we had our suspicions confirmed that it was indeed a typhoon. We rushed home (in case we got stuck anywhere) only to find out that typhoon level 8 which means you can stay at home / the whole city shuts down is little more than a strong breeze with some light rain in the UK. Affie wants these rules instated in Scotland as he will only have to work 2 or 3 days a year.

With a day off me and Katie put on some waterproofs and made the most of the empty streets.

 

After a long walk we met up with another friend and went to Kowloon. Here we were taken to a great little restaurant full of locals (including a man who had fallen asleep and the waitress was attempting to draw on his nose without waking him resulting in much giggling). Here we sampled some lovely dishes including frogs legs! We will return there and also head to the night market which was closed due to the T8.

This one's for you Jo!

TGIF

The working week ended well for Matt who, straight from work and still with bag, was taken under the wing of some colleagues and taken for a night out in the Irish pub. Katie meanwhile was taking advantage of the $10 coronas (about £1 - cheaper than the supermarket!) and headed into Lan Kwai Fong - an area full of bars and clubs that wouldn't look out of place on 'Sun, Sea and A&E'. A good night was had by all, followed by a quick trip to McDo - well, why not!

Just to note: Affie works with me and Kate is Katie's friend.

More signs that David Brawley could survive here in Hong Kong

Day out in Aberdeen

Katie had a day as a local celeb! She and Kate left for Aberdeen this afternoon to look for the fish market and floating restaurant. After a ride on a free boat which cost 40HKD they arrived at the restaurant called Jumbo but it was too pricey for them. Before reaching land on the free boat (this time with no cost) they were in demand for photos with the locals. Kate is now considering dying her hair brown to avoid attention.

After looking for local chinese food, they were directed to pizza hut where they enjoyed some good pizza! I arrived home from work and we visited the bank to get money for Affie's deposit (which is huge). Only thing to note at work (which was good fun and quite interesting) was being shouted at by a 4ft woman "no card, cash only, always cash" when I tried to top up the octopus card with my credit card. :(

Back with Katie we went for street food, which tasted like soggy skin (don't really know what it was) and subsequently ended up in the bin on the street. I miss English Chinese food! After this things went down hill when I had my most expensive meal yet from a dubious looking stall on the street (I didn't know how much it was) and it turned out to be mostly bone and fat. A packet of crisps and a banana later and here I am writing the blog...