The one thing i love about Hong Kong Airport is the free internet access. It's about 20 mins before boarding time.
I'm really looking forward to seeing mum and dad again. We didn't get much of a chance to spend some time together the last time i was home so i am looking forward to having a nice long chat with the both of them. I've missed that.
Anyways i'll try and keep everyone posted on here during the weekend.
Ciao for now!!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Stupid Picture of the Day
Bruce Lee is Hong Kong's idol.
Then two Aussies that look like tools come past and do something stupid like this.
Yeah..we are class all the way.
Another Day, Another iPod
Seems that i am a sucker for punishment.
Some people like whips and chains or watching any sitcom featuring Charlie Sheen but for me, i just had to get another iPod. I purchased my new iPod video yesterday.
This is number 3. Well if you count all the iPods that i got through the Apple Service centre to replace the faulty ones, i think its number 8.
I started off with the white iPod that froze its way through 4 replacement iPods. It would freeze whilst i was testing its engineering limits by undertaking extreme actions such as...walking.
My final white Ipod was stolen from me when i took it into a computer shop in Vietnam where the English guy behind the counter said he could give it back to me good as new the following morning after it shit itself and deleted all my songs.
He never came back the following morning to give it to me. I had to catch a bus that morning to a town three hours away. When i called him to find out what happened he said "Well you come back here and get it." Dirty English Bastard.
Then i purchased an iPod mini. It was a great little number until Christmas time in Thailand when i was walking along the beach and just as i walked past a rock on the water a wave crashed over the top of it and completly drenched me and thus my iPod froze.
Its replacement was another little champion that barely froze or skipped...until it fell out of my pocket on a transfer bus heading towards Kuala Lumpur International Airport. I only realised it was missing when i got home.
Well i'll be keeping an eye on this iPod like its my own baby. They are great little things and its going to be handy listening to some music during our upcoming holiday but i just hope my bad luck with the Apple Computer Company has come to an end.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
What have i been doing?
Hi everyone.
Check out the links on the right hand side to find out what have i been up to this past month and a half.
From Melton to Mongkok
A great family friend Mel who I have know as long as I can remember came over a little while ago to visit Hong Kong for a week. She’s such a lovely person and Sab and I really enjoyed having her over here. Not only did I get to spend some time with her but the girls made me sit down and watch “Dirty Dancing” from start to finish.
There was a funny moment where Sab and Mel were both singing the words from one of the songs and I was on the floor just watching them watching the screen singing. I understood that this was a huge chick flick but I didn’t understand how big until I saw the reaction on their faces when Patrick Swayze says “No-one leaves Baby in the corner.” It was like they were watching it for the first time. It was a good flick but give me Predator any day of the week. I called my dad just before I watched it and he wished me well. I wish the same for any guy who has to watch that film.
We also checked out the market districts in Mong Kok and I went with Mel to Victoria Peak plus Ocean Park and Sab went with Mel to Disneyland. The biggest adventure I had with her was at the local electronics store where she purchased a surround sound system. For a couple hours she wasn’t too sure what she wanted but when she finally decided on the LG system, just getting this bastard of a box home was comedy in itself. We had this pissy little nonno trolley and the box just kept falling over and over. Before we knew it her time was up and she was on her way back home to Melton.
It was great seeing you again Mel and I’ll see you soon :)
The 13th Graduation Ceremony
This is how sadistic our lives have become. Sabrina and I have agreed that whoever dies first that the other will have to play the Rocky Horror Picture Shows “Time Warp” at the the funeral. Since mid March Sab, myself and another teacher Fiona have been practicing the “Time Warp” with a mix of students from each of our classes.
Now the Time Warp is a pretty easy dance. Jump to the left, step to the right, hands on your hips, knees in tight. Pretty simple stuff...how wrong we were. Sab and I are convinced that western kids would be able to nail the dance at a quicker speed then our kids. For two months they killed us every morning and afternoon by jumping too early or turning the wrong way. Now the sympathizers our there would say “well they are only in kindergarten” but wait, a visit by a former Brazilian soccer player recently confirmed our theory when he clearly stated in the local paper that Hong Kong kids have no co-ordination at a young age as they are only concerned about school and don’t practice enough sports.
So every morning and afternoon we jumped to the left and stepped to the right. There were about 30 kids in this dance and as the days to graduation grew closer our confidence in the kids ability was growing steadily and the three of us were looking forward to graduation. Then about 6 weeks ago our lizard of a boss Anna said that the theme of the graduation ceremony was “International.” She tells us this after we picked our song and dance and now its international? What bloody country does the Time Warp?
The first country that popped into our heads was … India.
Yes I know, the land of Roti and fanatical cricket fans has nothing to do with transsexual goth movies but hey…you gotta give us credit for not picking a country like Thailand where the boys could dress up like ladyboys and wear makeup. Actually that happens anyway in these ceremonies. The boys look like hores.
The past month the kids had hit their peak and the dance wasn’t going to get any better. So with that the school decided that they would make the costumes. When we put forward our idea of while linen pants and long white linen shirts it was casually put aside and in stepped these disgusting bright “gay Aladdin” pants and green sequined tops...that was for the boys. The girls were all dressed in gold so they looked gorgeous.
Sab, Fiona and myself decided to get into the act and join the kids on stage decked out in fully authentic Indian gear thanks to one of our kids parents. So the big day came last Wednesday and well the kids were fantastic, they barely put a foot wrong and they genuinely enjoyed being on stage. The energy from the crowd helped, especially when the three teachers came out. I don’t think the parents had seen anything like it before. We love our kids and we all had a great time jumping to the left and stepping to the right. One of my kids (his name is Long Long but he’s really short short) had a “wardrobe malfunction” and his Aladdin pants fell down a bit on stage.
All in all the audience loved it and while I was getting changed back into my shirt and tie (I was co-hosting again) I could hear the audience applause for the other acts from the Chinese kindergarten…needless to say we shit it in!
Now the Time Warp is a pretty easy dance. Jump to the left, step to the right, hands on your hips, knees in tight. Pretty simple stuff...how wrong we were. Sab and I are convinced that western kids would be able to nail the dance at a quicker speed then our kids. For two months they killed us every morning and afternoon by jumping too early or turning the wrong way. Now the sympathizers our there would say “well they are only in kindergarten” but wait, a visit by a former Brazilian soccer player recently confirmed our theory when he clearly stated in the local paper that Hong Kong kids have no co-ordination at a young age as they are only concerned about school and don’t practice enough sports.
So every morning and afternoon we jumped to the left and stepped to the right. There were about 30 kids in this dance and as the days to graduation grew closer our confidence in the kids ability was growing steadily and the three of us were looking forward to graduation. Then about 6 weeks ago our lizard of a boss Anna said that the theme of the graduation ceremony was “International.” She tells us this after we picked our song and dance and now its international? What bloody country does the Time Warp?
The first country that popped into our heads was … India.
Yes I know, the land of Roti and fanatical cricket fans has nothing to do with transsexual goth movies but hey…you gotta give us credit for not picking a country like Thailand where the boys could dress up like ladyboys and wear makeup. Actually that happens anyway in these ceremonies. The boys look like hores.
The past month the kids had hit their peak and the dance wasn’t going to get any better. So with that the school decided that they would make the costumes. When we put forward our idea of while linen pants and long white linen shirts it was casually put aside and in stepped these disgusting bright “gay Aladdin” pants and green sequined tops...that was for the boys. The girls were all dressed in gold so they looked gorgeous.
Sab, Fiona and myself decided to get into the act and join the kids on stage decked out in fully authentic Indian gear thanks to one of our kids parents. So the big day came last Wednesday and well the kids were fantastic, they barely put a foot wrong and they genuinely enjoyed being on stage. The energy from the crowd helped, especially when the three teachers came out. I don’t think the parents had seen anything like it before. We love our kids and we all had a great time jumping to the left and stepping to the right. One of my kids (his name is Long Long but he’s really short short) had a “wardrobe malfunction” and his Aladdin pants fell down a bit on stage.
All in all the audience loved it and while I was getting changed back into my shirt and tie (I was co-hosting again) I could hear the audience applause for the other acts from the Chinese kindergarten…needless to say we shit it in!
School Stuff
Outside the logistical nightmare that is the pointless graduation ceremony, school has been fine. The kids in my class are great and I am really going to miss most of them. Some fell through the cracks of my interest a long time ago but in general, the kids really have come into their own from the start of the year. I have been teaching take away recently (thank god its not algebra...just kidding…that comes when they are 6) and getting kids to use their fingers is a nightmare as the Chinese have their own system for using fingers for numbers. Example – when I ask for the number six most kids give me a hand that looks like something from the archives of “Ridgey Didge.” For the non – Australians in the crowd, its like a “cowabunga” finger gesture. Are you lost yet?
These subtle differences make teaching a nightmare sometimes but I balance it our by teaching the kids the words to the Kingsmen’s hit “Louie Louie.”
Last week Sab and i gave our kids vegemite on toast as the theme was "Healthy Food." Most of the kids liked it which was surprising and we did get some pictures but i have to get them from the school.
School has been great this week as the previously mentioned lizard of a boss Anna hasn’t been at school this week. When she isn’t there the place is great. Teachers feel relaxed and don’t have to look over their shoulders for her. Anna just has no idea how to communicate to the western teachers so she scolds the Chinese teachers instead. Three kids in my class are going to another school next year and the main reason is the parents just don’t like her.
As a parting gift I’m going to give her a parting gift of one of my books. The book is about the Fish guys at Pikes Place Market in Seattle. I’m sure most have you have heard about them. She’s on a power trip and you can’t get a straight answer out of her. One of my kids parents asked me out for dinner a couple of weeks ago so I went with my co-teacher. Sometime between the waiter taking away the poor excuse of a steak and waiting for the insipid cheesecake I thought to myself “Funny…now im the teacher instead of the student asking my teacher over for dinner.” Yes parents I still have vivid memories of roast lamb, Richard Clayderman playing on the stereo, chocolate mousse and seeing the teacher the next day. A surreal moment.
These subtle differences make teaching a nightmare sometimes but I balance it our by teaching the kids the words to the Kingsmen’s hit “Louie Louie.”
Last week Sab and i gave our kids vegemite on toast as the theme was "Healthy Food." Most of the kids liked it which was surprising and we did get some pictures but i have to get them from the school.
School has been great this week as the previously mentioned lizard of a boss Anna hasn’t been at school this week. When she isn’t there the place is great. Teachers feel relaxed and don’t have to look over their shoulders for her. Anna just has no idea how to communicate to the western teachers so she scolds the Chinese teachers instead. Three kids in my class are going to another school next year and the main reason is the parents just don’t like her.
As a parting gift I’m going to give her a parting gift of one of my books. The book is about the Fish guys at Pikes Place Market in Seattle. I’m sure most have you have heard about them. She’s on a power trip and you can’t get a straight answer out of her. One of my kids parents asked me out for dinner a couple of weeks ago so I went with my co-teacher. Sometime between the waiter taking away the poor excuse of a steak and waiting for the insipid cheesecake I thought to myself “Funny…now im the teacher instead of the student asking my teacher over for dinner.” Yes parents I still have vivid memories of roast lamb, Richard Clayderman playing on the stereo, chocolate mousse and seeing the teacher the next day. A surreal moment.
Tin Shui Wai - The Place to Be
The walls that are the apartment buildings are starting to feel like they are closing in on me. I can’t distinguish anymore downtown from Tin Shui Wai. I really need a different headspace. As nice as it is out here I can’t kick a footy as there is no space to do it. Actually the only place you can do it is the soccer pitch on the athletics track but you have to pay 150 HK dollars for an hour. I don’t swim at the pool anymore as everytime I look out the window of my room all I can see is bodies in the pool. That’s from 7.30am to 10pm, just bodies floating in the pool and most Asians look like whales when they swim. I’m no Ian Thorpe but at least I can go in a straight line.
A couple of weeks ago some of the Chinese teachers and the Western teachers went out for a seafood dinner in the neighboring village on the water. Over the other side of the pond is Shenzhen which these days has its own Eiffel Tower! I could make out the shape of it across the bay. There is a bridge that will be opening soon from Tin Shui Wai to Shenzhen and its a shame it didn’t open earlier, I would like to have seen the recently completed Shenzhen Eiffel Tower.
Also late last month was the long awaited opening of the Wetlands Park just up the road from our place. I have been waiting for this place to open since we first got here and the main reason was that they may actually have some decent food there. How wrong I was. Sab and I spent 63 minutes walking around a place that looked like any part of Melbourne before its subdivided for residential usage. Supposidly there are migrations of birds to this part of Hong Kong but we only saw 2 birds for the whole day. Add to the fact it was raining and the place was packed and well I thought it would have more then just a few little streams of fish (which was nice). Plus there was no coffee at the café!
The best thing was it took us 10 minutes to get home which included waiting for the ice cream from the Mr Softee van outside the park.
Michael Flatley plays the Flute!!
A couple of Friday nights ago Sab and I made our way down to the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre to see world renowned Irish dancer and love making machine (if you believe the stories) Michael Flatley and his new blockbuster show “Celtic Tiger.”
Having seen the shugga-dugging (my term for Irish dancing as in the sound the shoes make on the stage) only on TV I was excited to see it live. Sure it isn’t the extravaganza of “Riverdance” but the Flats man was “Lord of the Dance” in his heyday and all Sab and I wanted to see 2 hours of shugga-duggin with the Flats man going around in a Pat Cash inspired headband front and centre.
The venue was rubbish for starters. It felt as if you were watching a performance in a big shed and being the economic powerhouses that Sab and I are, we sat in the second last row. Thank God we had a big screen though it wasn’t needed as even from as far back as we were, Mickey boy was sucking the gut in and to me was definelty in his “fat Elvis” period of the career.
Here’s an interesting stat. Michael Flatley nearly spent 33 percent of his stage time (all in all about 20-25 mins out of 120) playing the flute. Now this is not what shugga-dugging is supposed to be. I didn’t spend my cash to see him play the flute! Here he was fluting away like he was playing something off an old K-Tel record where all we wanted to see was dancing. Granted there were parts of the show were the dancing was brilliant by the cast and the part where all the female dancers were wearing skimpy costumes made me lament not paying 800 bucks to get a closer view but all in all the show made no sence.
For starters its called “Celtic Tiger.” I know there were no tigers in Ireland so Sab and I thought it was a nickname for the exodus of Irish to America over the years. Nope, Flats thought that naming a new stage show after a boom in the Irish economy in the 90’s was a great idea.
Then there was the show itself. The first half of the show was basically a history is Ireland. It had great moments such as when the English came to town and burned the place up and there were moments where the girls were dressed like butterflies for whatever god forsaken reason. The second half of the show was the biggest propaganda machine I’ve seen since “Triumph of the Will” It was so American that it has no continuity from the first half of the show. There were big American flags, a stewardess stripping and ending up in an American bikini (once again...I lament) and it felt wrong. Sitting there reminded me of the time Sab and I saw the Harlem Globetrotters and thinking “I can’t wait for this to be over so we can go.”
Finally there was Flats himself. As I said he’s in his Fat Elvis period and he was barely on stage and yeah he’s got a few moves left below the hips but he just looked like an overweight boxer the way he moved around the stage. He was a real disappointment and it only made me want to go out and see “Riverdance” some time soon.
World Cup Fever!!
I’ve had too many Chicken parmas and beers this month but hey it’s the World Cup and the Aussie Pub in Wanchai has been my second home some nights. I was there for the Brazil game and the tragedy that was the Italy game. The place was packed both times and I was pumped and excited to see our boys fight it out on the world stage. One night included staying out till 6am in Wanchai watching the Italians and Americans try to kill each other.
Luckily I have been able to watch games on the internet through a program that picks up ESPN America . So some nights I’ve stayed up way way too late to watch games and hear American commentate soccer like its gridiron. When I watch soccer I want my commentators to be a little boring, not jumping around like they just got some the night before. It’s a small price to pay when you are watching games illegally online.
Hong Kong has been going nuts this past month and its great to see all the nationalities represented by the locals especially the countries of Beckham and Ronaldihno. As for all the Italians who think they are deserving of that win and the penalty kick was there, well i think that's really pathetic stuff.
In General Business
With 2 weeks to go the search continues for a new job. The Myanmar Governemt screwed Sab around a bit when it came to getting visas for us but all was settled last Friday so we are good to go to Myanmar. Taiwan is stil our best bet but Malaysia and Singapore are still on the radar but all things being equal, Taiwan will be our home for the next year. After September 07, I am going to go to Europe no matter what. I have to get there. I just need one year of saving as much as I can to so that.
Generally I’m well. The weather here is so humid that the airconditioning is on inside and its shocking outside so I’ve had the flu for about a month now.
The Dees are playing beautiful beautiful football and I’m not there to see it. Bastard!
I’ve donated some of my books to the local library and started throwing out clothes and things that I don’t need. My god has it nearly been 2 years already? Don’t worry Norwood Drive, there will be some books coming your way soon
I’m catching up with mum and dad in Singapore this week and I cannot wait to see them again. I didn’t have a chance to sit down and have a chat with them last time I was home so I’m looking forward to this weekend having a really good chat with them. It’s been way way too long.
My brother is getting married in mid feb next year which is perfect timing as the Chinese New Year starts the day of his wedding so if we are going to Taiwan ‘ll be home for Chinese New Year next year. If not working in Taiwan, then I’ll be home at that time anyway for the pre season competition… oh yeah and the wedding as well!
Yes ladies…I’m still single.
Generally I’m well. The weather here is so humid that the airconditioning is on inside and its shocking outside so I’ve had the flu for about a month now.
The Dees are playing beautiful beautiful football and I’m not there to see it. Bastard!
I’ve donated some of my books to the local library and started throwing out clothes and things that I don’t need. My god has it nearly been 2 years already? Don’t worry Norwood Drive, there will be some books coming your way soon
I’m catching up with mum and dad in Singapore this week and I cannot wait to see them again. I didn’t have a chance to sit down and have a chat with them last time I was home so I’m looking forward to this weekend having a really good chat with them. It’s been way way too long.
My brother is getting married in mid feb next year which is perfect timing as the Chinese New Year starts the day of his wedding so if we are going to Taiwan ‘ll be home for Chinese New Year next year. If not working in Taiwan, then I’ll be home at that time anyway for the pre season competition… oh yeah and the wedding as well!
Yes ladies…I’m still single.
Hey now hey now, Goodbye old Mac
I finally bit the bullet a month ago and just a few days before my warranty ran out, I was the proud owner of a new Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop. I finally got rid of my fantastic in software but pointless in hardware iBook and came back to the PC world. Everything was going great for the first two days. Then my enter key fell off my keyboard. It fell right off and onto the floor. I was in shock to say the least.
Less than 48 hours old and the bloody key fell off. I couldn’t believe my luck. Why does this happen to me? Am I not supposed to have electronics in my life? So after calling Dell they told me that if I couldn’t find the missing key then I would have to pay for a new one! I have never been so angry on the phone in my life and I couldn’t believe what they were saying. Needless to say a few words that sound like “truck” were said to the representative on the phone.
A couple of days later a tech from Dell came out to Tin Shui Wai (rather than me jumping on the bus for an hour and a half to Causeway Bay) and replaced the entire keyboard in 5 minutes. Now that’s service. Since then I have had no problems then again I didn’t have any troubles with the iBook for the first 6 months. We’ll just wait and see.
Friday, June 30, 2006
I'm back
Hi everyone, in the next couple of days ill be filling you in on everything that i have been up to in the past month.
It will be a long post!!
So long everyone
By the way, i'm now writing this on my gorgeous Dell Inspiron 6400 PC laptop :)
That's right, the Apple is no more :)
It will be a long post!!
So long everyone
By the way, i'm now writing this on my gorgeous Dell Inspiron 6400 PC laptop :)
That's right, the Apple is no more :)
Monday, May 01, 2006
Malaysian Adventures and other stuff
I'm still here everyone :)
Sorry for the delay between messages. Honestly i couldn't be bothered sitting down and writing about the rest of our trip. It was a fantastic week and to sum it up in a couple of sentences, the island of Penang was very nice. We stayed in a hostel in Georgetown and we were the only people staying there!
Actually writing this i can't be bothered writing it. I just don't have the blog vibe today.
If you want to read about our holiday head over to Sabs Blog at spaces.msn.com/sabszone30
Sunday, April 16, 2006
KL comes alive!!
There are objects of natural beauty like Mt Everest or Heidi Klum.
There are objects that are man made that are awe-inspiring such as the Great Wall of China or Pamela Anderson.
Then there are objects that just rise above anything you could imagine..
I'm talking about the Petronas Towers.
When i first laid eyes on them i couldn't believe how big these towers were. I've seen them in books, tv and even in film ('Entrapment' with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones) and here i was looking at these two 452 m high steel and glass giants dominate the Kuala Lumpar skyline. I couldn't take enough pictures.
Following our adventure getting here, the towers were the first thing (and the reason for coming here) that we wanted to see in KL. The sky was a beautiful blue which you cannot get in Hong Kong anymore and the weather though slightly warm, was perfect for exploring the city. After making our way down to the concourse we found out that the limited number of tickets to gain access to the Skybridge (the bridge that connects the towers) were all sold out.
Luckily in the gift shop Sab found a guy who had two spare tickets for the upcoming tour and he was nice enough to give them to us. So we made our way up to the bridge and the view was amazing. This whole building is amazing. Not only are there 2 towers over 450 tall connected by the worlds only skybridge, there is also a 6 level shopping centre at the base of the tower and an 850 concert hall. Sab and i had a little peek inside the hall and wer enjoying a free afternoon organ recital but our hunger pains were calling us to get food.
So we headed to the shopping centre food court whereby we ate the best kebab i have had in a very long time followed by 6 donuts from Dunkin' Donuts (there are no donut shops in Honkers so we had to take advantage of the situation)and followed that up with a quick visit to the PC fair being staged across the park. I'm looking at buying a PC in the next couple of months so there was a little browsing that was being done by i fully knowing i won't be going back to a mac ever again!
We spent most of the afternoon around the Petronas Towers whereby we enjoyed something all to common but all to rare in Hong Kong; sitting under a tree lying on the grass. I had found copies of Wheels and Motor magazines so i purchased all the bookstores copies and started reading in the shade the delights of the new Toyota Aurion V6..oh the bliss of it all! :)
Our journey took us back to the hostel and then onto Little India whereby it started to rain..actually i take that back. It pissed down like no tomorrow and Sab was doing her best not to look like an entrant in a wet t-shirt competition. At Little India we found goods galore ranging from silks to scarves and all things Indian..even Bollywood Films (we picked up a couple). We also had some gorgeous Indian street food ranging from Roti to a very nice vegetable curry.
With the rain still pouring down it was time to go back to the hostel and end what was a very long yet enjoyable first up day in KL. We spent the night watching 'Crash' and then fell into bed.
It was a great day yesterday..everything went right for us.
There are objects that are man made that are awe-inspiring such as the Great Wall of China or Pamela Anderson.
Then there are objects that just rise above anything you could imagine..
I'm talking about the Petronas Towers.
When i first laid eyes on them i couldn't believe how big these towers were. I've seen them in books, tv and even in film ('Entrapment' with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones) and here i was looking at these two 452 m high steel and glass giants dominate the Kuala Lumpar skyline. I couldn't take enough pictures.
Following our adventure getting here, the towers were the first thing (and the reason for coming here) that we wanted to see in KL. The sky was a beautiful blue which you cannot get in Hong Kong anymore and the weather though slightly warm, was perfect for exploring the city. After making our way down to the concourse we found out that the limited number of tickets to gain access to the Skybridge (the bridge that connects the towers) were all sold out.
Luckily in the gift shop Sab found a guy who had two spare tickets for the upcoming tour and he was nice enough to give them to us. So we made our way up to the bridge and the view was amazing. This whole building is amazing. Not only are there 2 towers over 450 tall connected by the worlds only skybridge, there is also a 6 level shopping centre at the base of the tower and an 850 concert hall. Sab and i had a little peek inside the hall and wer enjoying a free afternoon organ recital but our hunger pains were calling us to get food.
So we headed to the shopping centre food court whereby we ate the best kebab i have had in a very long time followed by 6 donuts from Dunkin' Donuts (there are no donut shops in Honkers so we had to take advantage of the situation)and followed that up with a quick visit to the PC fair being staged across the park. I'm looking at buying a PC in the next couple of months so there was a little browsing that was being done by i fully knowing i won't be going back to a mac ever again!
We spent most of the afternoon around the Petronas Towers whereby we enjoyed something all to common but all to rare in Hong Kong; sitting under a tree lying on the grass. I had found copies of Wheels and Motor magazines so i purchased all the bookstores copies and started reading in the shade the delights of the new Toyota Aurion V6..oh the bliss of it all! :)
Our journey took us back to the hostel and then onto Little India whereby it started to rain..actually i take that back. It pissed down like no tomorrow and Sab was doing her best not to look like an entrant in a wet t-shirt competition. At Little India we found goods galore ranging from silks to scarves and all things Indian..even Bollywood Films (we picked up a couple). We also had some gorgeous Indian street food ranging from Roti to a very nice vegetable curry.
With the rain still pouring down it was time to go back to the hostel and end what was a very long yet enjoyable first up day in KL. We spent the night watching 'Crash' and then fell into bed.
It was a great day yesterday..everything went right for us.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Forget Good..try Great Friday!!
"Why do it the right way when you can do it the fun way"
This is our new moto in life these days. It came about after we got lost on a walk and the philosophy still rings true today. Though it did get tense at times.
Yesterday Sab and I had the bigest travel nightmare we had ever come across. Yes even bigger than Tiger Leaping Gorge! Yesterday was the bigest comedy of errors and rather than throwing you more cliche's let me get to the story.
Yesterday morning we left Tin Shui Wai about 10am on our way to Macau to catch a 2.45pm flight from Macau. This time around we took the Macau option as the prices for the ticket were a lot more competitve then flying straight from Hong Kong. We have been looking forward to this trip for a few months now and our spirits were high as we rode the 969 into Central.
After getting to the Macau Ferry Terminal we found a massive line of people. Now this is where the "fun" starts. I thought being a Catholic holday there would be no real need to book tickets beforehand for the ferry, boy was i wrong. There was a bloody big line of people waiting to get to Macau to gamble their lives away and it seemed every minute that went by another ferry was sold out.
By the time we got to the ticket window the next avaliable ferry was at 12.30 and it takes about an hour to get to Macau and it was cutting it too fine, then we came across Heli Express.
Being the spontaneous (well not really) kids we are, we thought lets spend 1800 dollars on a 15 minute helicopter ride rather than prebook a 150 dollar ferry ride. Sure the price was steep but the views over Hong Kong were the best we had ever seen plus it was Sabs first time in ahelicopter and she had a big big smile on her face. The trip was put in the "you only live once" category.
We got to Macau 15 minutes later and headed straight to the airport. It's about 10-15 drive from the city so we got there with time to spare. We walked straight up to the check in window ready to start our adventure......"You have missed your flight."
"Excuse me?"
"You have missed it. It was at 2.45AM this morning"
"Shit"
Yeah we stuffed up big time. We managed to miss out flight bu about 10 hours and even though we both triple triple checked all the details, even the night before, somehow we missed the fact that 0245 is not 2.45PM. Even typing this i still cant figure out how we stuffed this up but we did. Even still who uses 24 hour time in daily life? I sure as hell don't and if i asked for the time i don't expect a reply of "Yeah, it's quarter past twenty one."
So six hours we spent at Macau Airport before we checked in and of all the airports to be stuck in, we had to pick the airport that had nothing..nothing!! at all to do. At least if we got stuck at Singapore or Hong Kong you can do things to pass the time. Macau had only a buffet restaurant open so we sat there for about 5 hours.
This Good Friday was turning into Very Very Very Bad Friday.
After check in we had to wait another 2 hours for our flight which was not only delayed but th aiport changed our departure gate without any announcement, we were lucky enough to see it on the departures screen an hour before we left. Macau airport is by far the worst airport i have come across and our gate was actually right next door to another gate so there were two flights full of passengers waiting in the same area. It was packed and tensions were getting high.
After Air Asia finally decided to arrive in Macau we had to wait even further for the plane to be cleaned. During this time passengers for flights that were supposed to leave 30 minutes earlier were still checking in and walking right past us. One kid said "This is the worst airport in the world" and Sab agreed with me.
Finally we got into the air about 8pm. About 16 hours late but after our flight we got to the hostel in KL about 2am this morning. We had a fantastic day out at the Petronas Towers and tonight we are off to Little India for some great street food.
So as i said earlier, if we did it the right way..then we wouldn't have had another little adventure.
Why can't things just go right for us once in a while?
This is our new moto in life these days. It came about after we got lost on a walk and the philosophy still rings true today. Though it did get tense at times.
Yesterday Sab and I had the bigest travel nightmare we had ever come across. Yes even bigger than Tiger Leaping Gorge! Yesterday was the bigest comedy of errors and rather than throwing you more cliche's let me get to the story.
Yesterday morning we left Tin Shui Wai about 10am on our way to Macau to catch a 2.45pm flight from Macau. This time around we took the Macau option as the prices for the ticket were a lot more competitve then flying straight from Hong Kong. We have been looking forward to this trip for a few months now and our spirits were high as we rode the 969 into Central.
After getting to the Macau Ferry Terminal we found a massive line of people. Now this is where the "fun" starts. I thought being a Catholic holday there would be no real need to book tickets beforehand for the ferry, boy was i wrong. There was a bloody big line of people waiting to get to Macau to gamble their lives away and it seemed every minute that went by another ferry was sold out.
By the time we got to the ticket window the next avaliable ferry was at 12.30 and it takes about an hour to get to Macau and it was cutting it too fine, then we came across Heli Express.
Being the spontaneous (well not really) kids we are, we thought lets spend 1800 dollars on a 15 minute helicopter ride rather than prebook a 150 dollar ferry ride. Sure the price was steep but the views over Hong Kong were the best we had ever seen plus it was Sabs first time in ahelicopter and she had a big big smile on her face. The trip was put in the "you only live once" category.
We got to Macau 15 minutes later and headed straight to the airport. It's about 10-15 drive from the city so we got there with time to spare. We walked straight up to the check in window ready to start our adventure......"You have missed your flight."
"Excuse me?"
"You have missed it. It was at 2.45AM this morning"
"Shit"
Yeah we stuffed up big time. We managed to miss out flight bu about 10 hours and even though we both triple triple checked all the details, even the night before, somehow we missed the fact that 0245 is not 2.45PM. Even typing this i still cant figure out how we stuffed this up but we did. Even still who uses 24 hour time in daily life? I sure as hell don't and if i asked for the time i don't expect a reply of "Yeah, it's quarter past twenty one."
So six hours we spent at Macau Airport before we checked in and of all the airports to be stuck in, we had to pick the airport that had nothing..nothing!! at all to do. At least if we got stuck at Singapore or Hong Kong you can do things to pass the time. Macau had only a buffet restaurant open so we sat there for about 5 hours.
This Good Friday was turning into Very Very Very Bad Friday.
After check in we had to wait another 2 hours for our flight which was not only delayed but th aiport changed our departure gate without any announcement, we were lucky enough to see it on the departures screen an hour before we left. Macau airport is by far the worst airport i have come across and our gate was actually right next door to another gate so there were two flights full of passengers waiting in the same area. It was packed and tensions were getting high.
After Air Asia finally decided to arrive in Macau we had to wait even further for the plane to be cleaned. During this time passengers for flights that were supposed to leave 30 minutes earlier were still checking in and walking right past us. One kid said "This is the worst airport in the world" and Sab agreed with me.
Finally we got into the air about 8pm. About 16 hours late but after our flight we got to the hostel in KL about 2am this morning. We had a fantastic day out at the Petronas Towers and tonight we are off to Little India for some great street food.
So as i said earlier, if we did it the right way..then we wouldn't have had another little adventure.
Why can't things just go right for us once in a while?
Friday, April 14, 2006
Easter in Malaysia
It's a very good Friday indeed.
Sab and I are about to leave the house for a weeks sightseeing in Malaysia. We are actually flying through Macau this time around as its a lot cheaper then flying through Hong Kong.
We are spending Friday to Tuesday in Kuala Lumpar and then we are going up north for three days to the island of Penang.
I'll update Peps Place while we are there and we'll be taking plenty of pictures.
Take care everyone and have a fantastic easter.
Sab and I are about to leave the house for a weeks sightseeing in Malaysia. We are actually flying through Macau this time around as its a lot cheaper then flying through Hong Kong.
We are spending Friday to Tuesday in Kuala Lumpar and then we are going up north for three days to the island of Penang.
I'll update Peps Place while we are there and we'll be taking plenty of pictures.
Take care everyone and have a fantastic easter.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Time to Walk the Walk
For a long time now Sabrina and myself have been a bit lazy when it comes to seeing the sights of Hong Kong. The reason? We have been here so long that rather than thinking of this place as a pitstop on our journey of life, it became home.
The winter months made me feel very lazy in terms of being fit and getting motivated. So last Wednesday Sab, myself and our friend Kate decided to take advantage of the public holiday we had and decided to go out into nature and discover some of the natural beauty of Hong Kong.
We decided to do the Dragons Back Walk, which was voted the best walk in Asia in Time Magazine (2004). It was a fine and humid day in town yet the three of us went ahead with our walk and well before we even started we were in trouble. We actually started our walk at the finishing point and after about 30 mins, lost the trail that we were supposed to be on. We found ourselves on the side of a mountain high above the city walking in dense vegetation up the side of a mountain following a dirt trail.
Sabrina purchased herself a video camera for her birthday and we took it its test run and it was fast developing into a “Blair Witch Project’ situation. The humidity made my t-shirt stick to my skin and the hike was fast developing into a comedy of errors. After climbing half and hour up the side of a mountain we came across a path which we found out later was the path we should have taken if we actually started at the start and not the end…confused? So were we.
After another hour we made it to our starting point only to find out that the walk we though we were doing (the Dragons Back) wasn’t that walk at all! We had spent three hours on a walk, getting lost and going the wrong way around only to find out that we weren’t even on the right walk. All of this was captured on Sabrina’s camera too.
After an afternoon down at Stanley Market, it was just the day I needed to feel good again and with our newfound enthusiasm, Sab and I went for another walk yesterday armed with her trusty camera. This time around we stayed in town and decided to do the Hong Kong Heritage trail, which took us to all the older, meaningful buildings that this vibrant city’s past was built on.
Our three hour tour took about four and a half as we decided to amble around the streets and take a quick trip up to Victoria Peak. If you haven’t been to Hong Kong you just have to go to the peak as it is the best view of a city anywhere in the world. The great thing about this the tour is that you really get a sense of the history of this place and we didn’t get lost and also we had another great walk. I picked up an authentic Bruce Lee movie poster from a little back street antique shop as well! With two big walks in half a week Sab and I are determined to walk as much of Hong Kong as possible before we leave.
By the way, Sab and I are off to Malaysia for a week on Friday. Yeppo, we are off to Kuala Lumpur and Penang which is at the north of the country. We are both really looking forward to this trip and if this new found enthusiasm I have continues past Malaysia, its going to be a hectic three months in Hong Kong. It’s nice to get back the feeling that at the end of the day I’m here to take part in new experiences and learn from them.
Sometimes you really do have to stop and smell the roses.
Monday, April 03, 2006
You Tube Classics : Volume One
Here is a classic from our friends at YouTube.com
Enjoy the modern classic "Brokeback to the Future"
Enjoy the modern classic "Brokeback to the Future"
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Sabrina's 27th Birthday Celebration
She had a bloody ripper.
Hong Kong turned out a humid night and combined with the hysteria of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament being played the city was awash with colourful costumes and a party atmosphere.
The night started at Gary's house whereby Candace, Gary, Sabrina, Kate and yours truely shared numerous mudshakes and laughs. Sabrina was a bit toey during the week as i reminded her that she had to complete her birthday dares. During the week she said "so stripping and no kissing women" which takes the fun out of it considering i got my boosies out on the dancefloor at my celebration.
We then ventured down to a lovely "Australian Fusion" restaurant called Jaspas which is one of the city's favourite eateries. My rack of lamb was cooked to perfection and considering the prices i ate every last thing on my plate (including the broccoli which to anyone who knows me , thats a fair effort) and then managed to destroy a delightful blueberry and apple crumble.
The party atmosphere took us to Lan Kwai Fong which was packed with rugby revellers and anyone else who embraced the party spirit of the weekend. Sabrinas dares were complete which included "doing the brokeback" with a guy dressed as a penguin and dancing like a homosexual Mexican. For anyone who has seen the show 'arrested development' well seeing Sab dance like a chicken was very funny stuff. When the DJ plastered her face across the screens of the pub her reaction was to clock me in the jaw and scream. In fact she did a lot of screaming and dancing which is great to see.
The party continued into the night where once again i caught up with the two Irish girls Fiona and Nicola. They are on their way to taking over the partying title from Cassidy and Amy. It great to see those girls out and they had their little group of friends there as well so we all blended into one big group whilst Sab was dancing away and living up the evening to the max.
It all ended up about 3am with that lovely hour bus ride back to Tin Shui Wai and all in all Sab had a fantastic birthday and i had a great night out as well.
Happy Birthday Sab
Hong Kong turned out a humid night and combined with the hysteria of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament being played the city was awash with colourful costumes and a party atmosphere.
The night started at Gary's house whereby Candace, Gary, Sabrina, Kate and yours truely shared numerous mudshakes and laughs. Sabrina was a bit toey during the week as i reminded her that she had to complete her birthday dares. During the week she said "so stripping and no kissing women" which takes the fun out of it considering i got my boosies out on the dancefloor at my celebration.
We then ventured down to a lovely "Australian Fusion" restaurant called Jaspas which is one of the city's favourite eateries. My rack of lamb was cooked to perfection and considering the prices i ate every last thing on my plate (including the broccoli which to anyone who knows me , thats a fair effort) and then managed to destroy a delightful blueberry and apple crumble.
The party atmosphere took us to Lan Kwai Fong which was packed with rugby revellers and anyone else who embraced the party spirit of the weekend. Sabrinas dares were complete which included "doing the brokeback" with a guy dressed as a penguin and dancing like a homosexual Mexican. For anyone who has seen the show 'arrested development' well seeing Sab dance like a chicken was very funny stuff. When the DJ plastered her face across the screens of the pub her reaction was to clock me in the jaw and scream. In fact she did a lot of screaming and dancing which is great to see.
The party continued into the night where once again i caught up with the two Irish girls Fiona and Nicola. They are on their way to taking over the partying title from Cassidy and Amy. It great to see those girls out and they had their little group of friends there as well so we all blended into one big group whilst Sab was dancing away and living up the evening to the max.
It all ended up about 3am with that lovely hour bus ride back to Tin Shui Wai and all in all Sab had a fantastic birthday and i had a great night out as well.
Happy Birthday Sab
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