Little Observations and the past week (this is a long one, get ready!)

Hello friends

Wow it has been so long since I have blogged and I apologise! ok firstly here are a few things I wrote a couple days ago. Just little observations and experiences I've had. I havn't edited any of this, so my apologies for typo's and misunderstandings.

As I was walking to work I had to stop to go moved around a man who was unloading a pig, a cooked and hanging one, from a truck. He then proceeded to lug this huge pig, just a bit smaller than him into a nearby restaurant and hung it on a hook just next to the counter.

I rode the tram today. Trams in Hong Kong are great because they are cheap and efficient, though they are a bit slow. It only costs HK$2 to ride the tram, so that’s about 50 cents for the Yanks reading this.

I got a taxi into Lan Kwai Fong last night. As we were driving along the road that I go along every day I realized how I look at Hong Kong now has evolved and developed very quickly from my first looks at Hong Kong when I first arrived. My first drive on these roads was at night time, just after 1am, and there were still people out, barbecueing near the beach, all the buildings still lit up, while the roads remained dark. Now that I travel these roads multiple times a day, I see so much more. The armors walking their family’s dogs in the morning, old men swimming in the harbors every morning, Police setting up roadblocks and shining torches in your face (that was a bit scary). All sorts of things, I’m really becoming accustomed to life here. Public transit is the best and cheapest way to go, especially because Hong Kong never stops. If you let it, you will be going and going 24 hours a day. Life here is work hard, play hard, which is a great concept, but sometimes you need a bit of a rest.

I went out Wed night to Lan Kwai Fong but didn’t stay out late because I had an 8am breakfast to attend. The breakfast was at the Hong Kong Club (fancy, really fancy) for the British Chamber of Commerce with a market research speaker who talked about the growing market in China. I was the “media” person, and recorded the speaker and subsequent questions. I was quite official. I had to eat in the proper British way with my fork turned over, and very very good table manners (thanks, Mom!)
So it was really interesting, and I got many people’s name cards. Name cards, I don’t know if I mentioned this already, are a huge thing here. When you meet someone, you give them a namecard with two hands. I now have my own, so I can properly exchange name cards with people. It’s a lovely thing I think. It’s an easy way to properly get everyone’s information. For me, it meant I could design a cool and interesting name card, and also keep up with Hong Kong!
Now I am at work, writing and transcribing away!


Ok, now Im just going to give a quick run through of the past week…
Ok, hmmmm. Wow, can’t remember..
Friday – Kerry’s birthday, went out for dinner that night. Kerry got foodpoisoned we think, and she was really ill. So it wasn’t a good night.
Saturday – Through a friend of a friend I got hooked up help out at this designer sale. She is a cashmere designer, Maddy Thompson, so I helped out at her sale for a few hours which was great. Afterward I wandered around Central and then went home.
Sunday – Went to the country club for the day. Laid by the pool, read a whole book, got a tan. I had a quesadilla for lunch, which was very different than what you get in the states, but good nonetheless. Continued to lay out at the pool, sipping fresh squeezed apple juice (yummy), ha it’s like I’m a little kid. Had dinner and a mojhito at the CC by the water. It was a beautiful night and the sky was gorgeous!
Monday – My first day of work! Went in early with Paul and met a lotttttt of people in his office. My boss came over to pick me up and take me to my office. (which is where I am typing from right now haha) They got me to work straight away writing articles and such for various publications. Left with Paul that night since Kerry was leaving on Wed and I wanted to see her as much as possible. So I walked back to Paul’s office (20 mins walk) and we drove back home. Had a lovely dinner and then just hung out and watched Grand Designs (mom, if you havn’t seen it, you should, you would love it!)
Tuesday- Same kind of deal, went to work in the morning, took the bus though, because my boss said I don’t have to be at work until 9.30, not 8 or 8.30 like Paul likes to do. Yippee! Misjudged a bit on how long it would take via bus, (50 mins, in case you were curious) and then a 20 min walk, so it’s just over an hour commute. At lunch, I had a meeting over in Wan Chai (connected via a friend of a friend again) to work for this events company that does silent auctions for charity functions. So went over to Wan Chai for that and then back to work afterward.
Wednesday – Work again! Pretty chill day, left quite early so as to see Kerry off to London. She was madly packing when we arrived home. We ate dinner and she continued to pack. I got ready to go out to Lan Kwai Fong. It was my friend Victoria’s Leaving Party, as she was leaving Friday to go back to the UK. So went to Le Jardin for that, had so much fun and met loads of people. Called it an early night though, as I had to attend an 8am breakfast at the Hong Kong Club for the British Chamber of Commerce and didn’t want to be too too exhausted.
Thursday – the never ending day.
Arrived at the Hong Kong Club in Central at 7.45am. Dressed quite nicely I might add! I’m loving being able to dress up and wear heels, its so much fun! So went to this fancy schmancy English Breakfast. I was the “media” there. So I sat near the front with my voice recorder, ate my breakfast in the proper English style (harder than it looks) and met many many people. Received and gave many name cards which is great for networking purposes. After the breakfast, which finished about 9.15 I caught a tram west to the building I work in. Trams are great because they only cost HK$2 and you can go for as far as you like, and it saves me walking all of that way!! Went to work, and then had to leave early so as to get to this event on time. The event was at the Hong Kong Football Club, (quite niceeee). The event was for the Soccer Sevens, which is kind of a big deal. There were about 700 people there, all of whom we girls (in fabulous pink dresses I might add) greeted and explained that we were holding a silent auction tonight. It was so much fun, ha lots of young British guys who were mesmerized by the girls in pink. Finished up about 11.45 and then went home to sleep, because I was exhausted!

Friday- Still exhausted.
Went to work in the morning. Met Paul and coworkers for dim sum in the western market for lunch. Absolutely delicious. Dim sum is when they just bring loads and loads of food to your table and you put some onto your plate. There is a huge variety of things in these little bamboo boxes. I was so full. Yum. Afterward, it was back to work unfortunately lol. Ran over to Wan Chai to get ready for event I was working Saturday and then back to central. An American guy who works for Paul had asked me out for drinks, so we ended up going to this event in the Landmark. Nice nice mall. The event was huge, you were given this special bracelet you had to scan to enter the stores, and they gave you tickets to possibly win giftcards and such. First we had a drink in the Armani Bar and then began the walking tour. There was free champagne or some kind of drink in each store, and many of them had favors to give as well. We walked around loads of stores including Valentino, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Tod’s, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana etc. A lot ok??
Afterward we headed toward Lan Kwai Fong and ate dinner, a late dinner at The Frying Pan. Which is a local 24-hour place that serves delicious breakfast. Had a yummy veggie omlette, toast, fruit and OJ for about HK$64 (US$8) Good deal I think! Full of food and exhausted, we decided to call it a night.
Jumped in a taxi and went home to bed!
Saturday- I gloriously got to sleep in! The drilling did wake me up for a bit, but I quickly fell asleep again. Slept till about noon and then watched Dexter and ate some delicious banana bread Phoebe had just made. It has chocolate chips in it!!
Had to arrive at 4pm for this event, so got up and at ‘em and went there. Stopped in IFC mall and grabbed a sandwich from Pret. Pret a Manger I don’t remember. But it’s all freshly made and delicious food and brownies as well. Ha, I’m definitely in a chocolate mood right now. Event went well, still for the Soccer Sevens, but a corporate event, but still a lot of quite young guys lol so it was fun and entertaining. After we took everything back to the office, we went to Lan Kwai Fong for celebratory drinks at Solas. Love that place, so cool and fun. My friend Rachel, who was actually my boss that night was giving me a ride home, and we stopped for pizza on the way home at Cul-de-sac in Wan Chai. It has absolutely delicious pizza, even at 3am. Stood on the street like locals and ate our Bizarro’s style pizza. Folded in half, with the paper plate wrapped around it because it was so hot! 3:30am – SLEEP!
Sunday – wow, almost caught up!
Met Paul at the Country Club at noonish. Laid by the pool for absolute ages. Read another book. Had a pita stuffed with coronation chicken for lunch (yummy, you Yanks would love it, trust me!)
Was walking around a bit and then went swimming and realized I had stepped on something and cut my foot. But didn’t think much of it. Took a shower at the CC and then headed over to the yacht club because Paul had a squash game. I sat and read, and then got ready for the Chinese wedding we were attending that evening. We headed over to the wedding in Kowloon via star ferry which was really fun and a new experience for me. Lots of walking today! Walked around Kowloon a bit and went to this place that used to be the Police Mariner’s building but has now been converted into a hotel, 5 restaurants/bars and many upper end shops. We had a drink in the Mariner’s Rest, which has historic photos all about and prison cells intact. We then walked to the Sheraton Hotel which was the site of the wedding. Chinese weddings are so interesting, but very long. We only went to the reception/dinner because the actual wedding started at like 3. We arrived at 7:15 and dinner was served at 9. It is a marathon. You arrive and take pictures with the bride and groom. She was already on her third dress of the evening. You have one white, traditional dress and then many other colored dresses. Carmen had a gorgeous purple gown, coral/pink gown, yellow gown, and 2 different white ones I think. She was always changing, it’s so fun!
So then the meal is served. There is a huge lazy susan in the middle which olds enough plates (12) and has room in the middle for the dish. The waiter then distributes food onto each place and then you each take one and eat it. Once you’re done, they take that plate away and put new ones on the lazy susan and the process continues on. I think we did 13 different dish/courses. It was pretty intense, and I had a variety of items, from goose feet, shark’s fin, suckling pig (glowing fake red eyes were attached to his head!) fried prawn, garoupa, and even something as tame as chicken!
Exhausting but night. However, as we were walking back, my foot really did start to hurt again. After we got home, I realized it had been bleeding a bit :/. Paul took a look at it, but couldn’t see any glass stuck in it which was good.
Monday – This morning! So my foot was really hurting and Paul thought I should go see the doctor. So I went in with him this morning and he dropped me off at the doctor. There was a starbucks on the first floor so I waited there until my 9am appt and drank a chai. Side note – I think I’m going to get a Hong Kong Starbucks coffee mug or thermos because they are so fun and different! Ha.
So I went and saw the doctor, he took a look at it and told me he doesn’t think anything is in there, it’s just so painful because it’s on the ball of my foot, so all of my weight goes on it you know? So hopefully tomorrow it will be feeling a lot better which would be awesome! So I paid my doctor bill and went to work. Took the tram, since I was so far away from my office and I kind of hobble funnily when trying to walk since my foot is all bandaged up.

Ok, that is all for now, I’m going to get back to work. Love you all. Please comment/email and keep me updated on life! Miss you and love you! xoxox