tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-330535092011-07-14T22:39:33.968+08:00(9 to be precise)Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.comBlogger591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-89136817839344172382007-10-01T15:58:00.000+08:002007-10-01T16:07:00.677+08:00

We went to KL for the first time the other week and enjoyed it a lot. There are plenty of pictures on Flickr (although not as many as we would have liked, as our camera finally packed up halfway through our stay!) If you'd like to donate to the new camera fund ...Just kidding. The day after the camera broke down, we hired a taxi for a few hours and went on a half-day excursion to the FRIM, where

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-7512441968559491432007-09-28T15:10:00.000+08:002007-10-01T15:14:31.924+08:00

I noticed some slightly conflicting headlines on the BBC site a few days ago, at the time when there was a lot of faffing around in Japan over the future of Shinzo Abe (now ex-PM):(you can click, but you won't see a bigger image - sorry about that)

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-50061253998753205812007-09-24T18:38:00.000+08:002007-10-01T15:07:06.304+08:00

I saw this ad in the paper the other day, and it made me doubt the sanity of the human race a little (especially those responsible for recruitment). (click to see a bigger image)It's really no surprise to read that the unfortunate candidate would be responsible for 'general office administration'.

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-73653024768501811742007-08-10T15:10:00.000+08:002007-08-10T15:19:28.333+08:00

Well, that storm skirted right by us, without too much effect. The number 3 signal was raised briefly. But then, the storm stopped, thought for a bit and decided to come back at us for a second try!Just over a year ago, a large storm hit Hong Kong, but the Observatory didn't raise the number 8 signal because the wind where they are wasn't strong enough. However, in other parts of Hong Kong the

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-12595264468251130302007-08-08T21:02:00.000+08:002007-08-08T21:04:20.917+08:00

Here comes a severe tropical storm.That's a pretty direct hit, although I don't think it will be very strong. We'll see ...

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-78694920786952347582007-08-06T21:04:00.000+08:002007-08-06T21:21:13.236+08:00

Yesterday we made our way to the south side of HK island to find Waterfall Bay - a historical waterfall where ships on their way to Canton (Guangdong) used to stop for fresh water. To get there, you have to take a bus to Wah Fu estate and find your way to Waterfall Bay park. From there, some steps lead down to the bay Although there is a padlocked gate with 'No swimming' signs, nothing says not

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-62765003619186446882007-08-04T10:09:00.000+08:002007-08-04T10:15:22.241+08:00

Today marks 1 year since we arrived in Hong Kong (a day late) so it seems as good a time as any to restart my blogging. Sorry sorry sorry for the big gap. It got to that point where I was just too ashamed to post anything, so I put it off ... and then Facebook came along and quickly swallowed up all my online time ...Anyway, since that last post it's basically been hot and summery. The last few

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-39151962057939544122007-05-24T22:12:00.000+08:002007-05-26T10:16:15.119+08:00

Did you know it was Buddha's birthday today? Well we know, because we get a holiday in honour of it. We went to Dragon-i for dim sum again, and then headed for the beach quite late for some night swimming. Very refreshing.

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-17710641987404770262007-05-22T22:06:00.000+08:002007-05-22T22:14:31.686+08:00

Got a new all-in-one printer the other day, an HP Photosmart xxxx (can't remember the number and, incredibly, I just can't be bothered to look right at this moment. I might fill in the blanks later, in which case I'll delete this rambling parenthetical sentence and you'll never even know. Ha.) It seems to work well, and the standalone photocopying function is useful. Even more importantly, thanks

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-24127754281857328162007-05-19T16:09:00.000+08:002007-05-19T17:37:15.462+08:00

A dark, warm, rainy afternoon in SoHo. Lovely! (By the way, what I'm doing is casually posting this totally ignoring the fact that there's been a gap of 2 months)Since the last entry we've done quite a bit, including spending almost 3 weeks in the US (Texas mostly, and a couple of nights in San Francisco).Last Friday (11th) I went to see Matt Redman in concert. It was really good, and very

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-91092898593051433462007-03-13T21:29:00.000+08:002007-03-13T21:36:29.227+08:00

The QE2 is here, docked proudly in the harbour. I went across on the Star Ferry to see her:She leaves at 11.00 tonight, not to return for quite a while.

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-2121151844991386602007-03-12T18:45:00.000+08:002007-03-12T18:53:36.214+08:00

On Sunday we had lunch at Tsui Wah in Central, one of a chain of restaurants. The style of this chain is ... eclectic. This is the kind of brightly lit, permanently bustling Hong Kong restaurant that has a very cheap but extensive menu, covering nostalgic Chinese favourites, 'Western' dishes (including roasts and spaghetti), Japanese noodles, and instant macaroni and noodles. I had baked

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-32977772227842621232007-03-11T20:41:00.000+08:002007-03-11T20:44:59.062+08:00

It's still chilly here, and sort of drizzly too. I had a work seminar yesterday,at which I spoke for 10 minutes. That was the biggest ever audience I've spoken to - about 300 teachers, plus probably 30 or so colleagues - in a large and quite fancy ballroom at the Kowloon Shangri-la hotel. It was a good experience, and quite enjoyable. Clip-on radio microphone and all.The QE2's stopping over in

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-90365456900179445812007-03-07T18:35:00.000+08:002007-03-07T18:45:06.743+08:00

Another cold snap in the last couple of days, accompanied with lots of weather warnings and advice. Such sentences as 'If you must go out, ensure you wear adequate clothing ...' And this is for a low of about 11 or 12 degrees C!The Queen Mary 2 was in Hong Kong last week. She only stayed for 24 hours, and we hoped to get a glimpse of her as she left in the evening. Unfortunately, being so big,

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-33727594699182679722007-03-03T12:20:00.000+08:002007-03-03T12:26:50.000+08:00

It's a really nice sunny day here today, and it's Saturday! Yee-har. I'm stuck in at the moment waiting for a package to be redelivered. Still, I'm making the most of the time, catching up with some stuff I needed to do on the web: aliental.com has a new (but still temporary) page now, and I've cleaned up some parts of my web site a little bit. I still need to do a lot more, not to mention

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-73601256522880087922007-02-25T21:32:00.000+08:002007-02-25T22:05:23.067+08:00

It was Chinese [Lunar] New Year last weekend, a quiet time in Hong Kong in general, as a large proportion of the population go away to visit relatives. A couple of big events near the harbour - a parade on Sunday night and fireworks on Saturday - are the exception. Hundreds of thousands of people pack the streets at those times. Anyway, I'm a bit lethargic at the moment, so not really in the

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-77889840723736120582007-02-21T20:39:00.000+08:002007-02-21T20:40:22.255+08:00

I'm moving my blogs to my webspace, at phiine.comPlease update your bookmark for this blog to http://www.phiine.com/blogs/hkAnd yes, I will write something a little more interesting soon ... just give me a couple more days, OK?

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1167270856428354202006-12-28T09:51:00.000+08:002007-02-04T22:29:04.463+08:00

Just to let everyone know that due to the earthquake near Taiwan the other day, our Internet connection is a bit dodgy at present. I can get on at work (a bit slow though), but we have almost nothing at home. Our provider, PCCW, apparently shares some of the undersea cables that have been badly damaged. They are the major provider (of voice telecoms too) in HK so a lot of people are going to be

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1167055124773303002006-12-25T21:54:00.000+08:002006-12-27T17:46:31.650+08:00

We hope everyone has had, is having, or will have a wonderful Christmas day.For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1166850677536700852006-12-23T12:58:00.000+08:002006-12-23T13:15:26.823+08:00

- to the Emperor of Japan! I'm not sure how old he is though.I've put some Hong Kong Christmas pictures on Flickr for you, to give you an idea of how things are looking here. Have a look at the first few in the Hong Kong set.I also put my first video on YouTube. I took it on the Star Ferry on the way back from the St Andrew's carols service the other night. It was a little choppy, so a bit of a

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1166449831927785442006-12-18T21:40:00.000+08:002007-01-06T20:39:46.316+08:00

A couple of days ago the Hong Kong Observatory issued the 'Cold Weather Warning' - the temperature got down to around 12C at some points, and it's really dry. At times like this they advise such things as "put on warm clothes and beware of low body temperature...if you must go out, avoid prolonged exposure to wintry winds". What is this, Hokkaido?! Apparently over 300 people sought shelter in

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1166234071529186822006-12-16T09:41:00.000+08:002006-12-16T09:57:03.073+08:00

A few reports of eating and drinking. That's not all we do, but it's probably the only thing of at least some interest to you:Last week we finally went to Nha Trang, in Wellington Street. It's a well-known Vietnamese place that does what's supposed to be the best pho in town, for under $40 a bowl. And it was good too. They do a chicken one as well as the traditional beef, and each bowl comes with

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1165887388379163262006-12-12T09:34:00.000+08:002006-12-12T23:15:08.356+08:00

Have a look at 'Brits Abroad' (I know it sounds like a saucy 70s film starring Sid James et al, but it's actually a BBC page about expatriate Britons). There's some nice statistics and things.

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1165741705567075782006-12-10T16:54:00.000+08:002006-12-10T17:08:25.580+08:00

I keep getting behind on the blog, but still, I'll tell you about last Sunday. After church we walked back to the Star Ferry as usual and took a sight detour on the way to see a replica of a Swedish frigate, the Gotheborg, which was docked in Hong Kong for a few days. The original ship was an 18th century Swedish East-Indiaman, which traversed the seas between Scandinavia and the Orient until she

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1159409791106583692006-12-05T10:15:00.000+08:002006-12-07T21:23:57.676+08:00

We've been here a while now it seems, and I haven't yet done the compare-where-you-are-now-to-where-you-were-before thing. But there a couple of less obvious differences that I've been wanting to mention:Security guards: recently Japan has been becoming "more dangerous" and I noticed quite a few signs of this in Sapporo in the year before we left. There was the policeman with a large wooden stick

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1164377051354515362006-11-24T22:02:00.000+08:002006-11-29T23:16:57.066+08:00

It's been a long time. Now that I've started working full-time again (for the first time in...well, quite a long time anyway) I've had to let the blog slide. I think I'm ready to restart it now, having got used to the new routine.We've done quite a bit since the last post, including a trip across to Lamma island. It's a nice island with a very laid-back atmosphere. It's trafficless, as most of

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1163566299318243562006-11-15T12:49:00.000+08:002006-11-15T13:23:28.290+08:00

We often chuckle about the amount of public service announcements here, as they seem to show the kind of problems common in Hong Kong - as well as the typical ones about speeding and drugs there are commercials exhorting people to use proper precautions when working in confined spaces, get flu shots, maintain windows, think before buying pets and even to respect and love their families more.These

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1162987617016372102006-11-08T19:55:00.000+08:002006-11-08T20:09:40.423+08:00

Well, I'm now the proud owner of an employment visa, and ready to start work. Collecting it was easy - just a matter of a quick trip to Wanchai, locating the correct window while not being distracted by the Entry permits for mainland fisherman deckhands counter, and of course paying the fee.Another quick trip to Macau today in order to reenter the country on the new visa, and I'm all sorted. I

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1162460113666928732006-11-02T17:28:00.000+08:002006-11-02T17:35:13.676+08:00

Cimaron, a late typhoon, has been edging closer to Hong Kong over the last few days; we've had signal number 1 in force for quite a while now. At first they predicted it would turn away and hurry westward to terrorize Vietnam well before it got near us, but it ignored the predictions and pushed on steadily straight for us. Last night it just stopped and now seems to be kicking its heels in the

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1162376516770894412006-10-31T17:54:00.000+08:002006-11-01T18:21:56.780+08:00

We went on a very brief trip to Macau (the other SAR) today, a one hour ride on the Turbojet ferry (a high speed catamaran with Boeing jet engines strapped to the back) .Macau's a funny place - very obviously Portuguese with the cobbled streets, cafes, scooters and Catholic churches, and very obviously Chinese too - shrines, incense, antiques and pawn shops.It was our second time there, so we

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1162361746237512692006-10-30T19:04:00.000+08:002006-11-02T02:49:28.013+08:00

Today was another public holiday - the Chung Yeung (aka Double Ninth) festival: one of the grave-sweeping festivals and also a day for climbing mountains and wearing chrysanthemums. It's often thought of as the start of the hiking season.We'd decided to do some walking on the trails around the Peak anyway, so we headed up there by bus in the late-morning. It's a lot less humid now, but today was

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1161941591235198522006-10-27T17:29:00.000+08:002006-10-27T17:33:11.243+08:00

Last week they cleaned the flat roof that our windows look out onto, and since then we've been getting some reminders that there're about 18 more floors above ours (because of the layout, it feels like we live in a lowrise building): random objects from are starting to appear - so far we have a tea-towel, two clothes pegs (one wood, one plastic) and a whole laundry pole. There will be more - I'll

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1161941905855081582006-10-25T17:36:00.000+08:002006-10-27T17:50:27.813+08:00

On Monday we went on a short trip to Cheung Chau (meaning "long island") - one of the hundreds of islands that make up Hong Kong proper. Wikipedia can tell you more about it than I ever could, but it's a pleasant place to go to get away from the city for a bit, with some nice beaches, beautiful scenery and interesting, slightly ramshackle, back streets in the main town area. There are also quite

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1160582764128519672006-10-19T00:05:00.000+08:002006-10-19T17:37:15.936+08:00

Last weekend they filled part of the shrine at the top of our street with incense coils - hanging from the ceiling in stacks (you can see others like this many temples around Hong Kong, espescially the Man Mo temple on Hollywood Road) and creating huge wafts of fragrant smoke to fill the narrow steps. They can apparently keep burning for about 2 weeks - after just over a week the ones near us

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1160997764436831702006-10-16T19:21:00.000+08:002006-10-18T22:50:19.693+08:00

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1160828915866517912006-10-14T20:27:00.000+08:002006-10-18T15:58:45.130+08:00

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1160358552627031342006-10-09T09:48:00.000+08:002006-10-10T03:15:32.153+08:00

As part of the mid-autumn festival there have been various festivities going on around Hong Kong. On Friday and Saturday night there was a temporary stage set up in the little shrine which is tucked on to the side of some steps at the top end of our street, featuring a woman belting out what sounded like Chinese classic 80s songs. The audience, mostly shirtless old men but also passing tourists,

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1160192790211594052006-10-06T11:35:00.000+08:002006-10-09T21:36:07.833+08:00

The mid-autumn festival (in American English "mid-fall festival", but doesn't sound like something one would really want to celebrate...) is upon us, and so are mooncakes, the traditional and ubiquitous Chinese snacks. These days there are many newfangled types - even Starbucks and Haagen Dazs have got in on the act - but the more typical ones look a bit like a good old pork pie, complete with

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1160015920561433442006-10-05T10:33:00.000+08:002006-10-10T23:19:08.446+08:00

Certain people have been nagging for pictures - have a look at my Hong Kong set on Flickr - the first 5 were taken locally.And as it's a nice morning, I took one out of our kitchen window (note the bamboo scaffolding - cheap, light, fast to build, and ever-so-slightly dangerous):

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1159846289509840552006-10-03T11:22:00.000+08:002006-10-06T21:31:57.330+08:00

So we moved OK on Saturday, and had our broadband connected on Sunday afternoon, thanks to some good pulling-strings work by our agent. The move went fine despite a heavy downpour, a large anti-communist party rally and our man-with-a-van Ken being in an accident in the cross-harbour tunnel. He sent one of his friends, Danny, to help us instead.We got everything packed away over the weekend (the

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1159519137864761872006-09-29T16:36:00.000+08:002006-10-02T21:18:45.653+08:00

So we've been in this serviced apartment for 8 weeks now, and it's time to move on. We managed to find and negotiate a new place just in time, and we'll be moving there tomorrow. It's pretty small but in a great location and comes fully equipped so we don't need to buy anything. It might take a few days for the internet access to kick in, so I'll have to survive in internet cafes until then...

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1159409747011703432006-09-28T10:07:00.000+08:002006-09-28T21:46:33.730+08:00

There's a display of Friendlies, the official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, outside the Bank of China building at the moment. The huge archway was put up over the weekend. As you can see, it's to celebrate the National Day, i.e. China's, on 1st October. This is one of the extra holidays that Hong Kong has benefited from (been bribed with?) since 1997.

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1158474444453492652006-09-17T14:26:00.000+08:002006-09-28T10:06:59.980+08:00

A bit of a catch-up post: On Friday we walked around Hong Kong park as we do, and have done, many times. This time we went into the hothouses, which I could swear used to cost a few dollars, but are now free. They have some nice cactii!Then Saturday we went over the harbour to the Art Museum. It's ludicrously cheap (10HKD). A few of the galleries were closed in preparation for some big shows they

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1158140690034523852006-09-13T17:32:00.000+08:002006-09-14T00:08:29.366+08:00

We moved up a floor to a larger apartment over the weekend, for reasons I won't bother going into here. 2 bedrooms, tons of storage and an overly vast living room area. We don't quite know what to do with all the space. The ironic thing is that this place seems to be assigned only two cleaners, rather than the squad of four in our smaller place. And they seem to get it done quicker now too.Odd

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1158113581462954602006-09-13T10:05:00.000+08:002006-09-13T10:13:01.470+08:00

Literally. We're into typhoon season now, and the weather has changed noticeably: lots of sudden huge downpours, wind and cooler temperatures. When the clouds roll in and the heavens open it gets very dark here as all the tall buildings block out what little light there is. It's pretty ominous, but very atmospheric.Everyone that doesn't need to wear good shoes seems to wear flip-flops in weather

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1157726342797239832006-09-08T22:20:00.000+08:002006-09-09T12:40:21.036+08:00

At exactly 11 this morning it started raining. Real no-nonsense sub-tropical rain where the streets go from dry to awash in about half a minute, but the rain just keeps on coming down and down until buses are creating a bow wave and people seem to give up trying to keeping dry. A rainy day, so we decided to go to a museum for a bit. The Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery has some

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1157278633689329722006-09-03T18:11:00.000+08:002006-09-08T00:03:56.880+08:00

After the resounding silence and total lack of cooperation from my last post, here's a change of theme - a review:HK Live! (Saturday 2nd September at the Fringe Club Gallery)I don't want to use the cliche of intimate to describe the venue, but I might have to. You know the kind of place where the stage is only about a foot high and the only way for the band to get on and off is to push straight

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1157099828176019972006-09-01T16:23:00.000+08:002006-09-07T19:39:52.383+08:00

There's an idea on the BBC blog, The Editors, about looking up the year that you were 9 years old, and seeing how much of the news you can actually remember. In my case, that's mostly 1987 I suppose. I don't remember the fact that the year started on a Thursday, but quite sadly I do recall a lot of the bad news - who says things are getting worse when you look back: Terry Waite, a ferry disaster

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156746444392891662006-08-30T14:27:00.000+08:002006-08-31T22:14:27.573+08:00

What else but dragonfruit? We tried a couple of them for the first time recently. First, the more tame, and cheaper, version with white flesh. They are quite refreshing, especially if you chill them for a bit first, and taste a little like watermelon but perhaps more bland.We also tried the dangerously staining red fleshed variety. They are more tasty, and beautiful to look at, but require quite

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156733783552182222006-08-28T10:55:00.000+08:002006-08-31T18:39:42.593+08:00

Every week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, a team of four cleaners comes through our apartment like a constructive typhoon, doing the washing up, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the floors and all the surfaces and taking out the rubbish in about 10 minutes flat. No complaints about that of course, except that this tends to make you feel like a total bourgeois layabout if you happen to be in

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156595164566046552006-08-26T20:25:00.000+08:002006-08-28T14:38:52.110+08:00

During our wandering around Soho today we stopped off for a quick early meal at a little noodle shop we happened to go by - Tsim Chai Kee. It's apparently quite famous. They offer 3 choices of noodles, and 3 choices of toppings, in any combination. I had beef with "flat white" (rice) noodles and C had shrimp wonton with "yellow" (like thin Japanese ramen). They were really good - tender meat,

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156734834067161072006-08-20T23:10:00.000+08:002006-08-28T12:07:26.646+08:00

About half way across the harbour on the way back from Kowloon today it started raining very hard. The harbour became a boiling soup, with curtains of rain sweeping across the skyline, and the ferry sailors struggled to pull the plastic curtains across to shield passengers. Noone really minded getting a bit wet though - I suppose it's a common occurrence in late summer Hong Kong. We managed to

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156737773750427442006-08-18T12:00:00.000+08:002006-08-28T14:25:41.076+08:00

Finally up to The Peak (a.k.a. Victoria Peak, a.a.k.a. Mount Austin by some die-hards perhaps) today, by number 15 bus though, as we didn't want to wait in the huge lines for the Peak Tram (and the bus is cheaper too). After looking at the view, we set off to walk the circular path around the peak. For some reason, last time we were up here a couple of years ago we pointlessly stopped halfway

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156733729601157852006-08-13T22:55:00.000+08:002006-08-28T12:06:33.800+08:00

Our second Sunday here, and we found our way to church at St Andrews in Kowloon. It's a great place right in the middle of the commercial strip that is Nathan Road. The building is about 100 years old, built of red brick in a typical English parish church style, with tiled marble floors and some nice stained glass. It was very hot, humid and sunny this morning, but very cool inside the church -

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156733104386075422006-08-12T22:37:00.000+08:002006-08-28T10:45:04.393+08:00

We've always walked to the botanical gardens the hard way up to now - uphill all the way, leaving us totally exhausted by the time we get there. Today we realised that it's better to go all the way through Central, up the escalators, and then wend our way down the network of concrete flyovers and walkways, past a big gothic arch which is the entrance, well exit really, of a tunnel bringing water

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156571076653762292006-08-11T19:33:00.000+08:002006-08-26T19:55:33.930+08:00

Having done the reconnaisance last night, we set off to find the fabled Lover's Rock. We retraced our steps up the hill behind the old post office, and steeled ourself for the long, relentless pull up Wanchai Gap Road. It's an amazing walk, as you walk past the high rise apartment blocks and suddenly are in lush countryside. There's a small playground at the top, and some good views back down to

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156505382729256362006-08-10T23:17:00.000+08:002006-08-25T19:29:42.740+08:00

For the first time since we arrived, today was very humid and hazy, and we finally got to see and experience the infamous pollution that's been plaguing Hong Kong more and more. We went for our usual walk down to the harbour, convention centre and Golden Bauhinia, and could hardly see the tall buildings around Central, let alone the ones on the other side of the harbour.(There's a picture here if

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156242228943546812006-08-09T20:20:00.000+08:002006-08-24T13:57:54.600+08:00

It's not like we've been cooped up until now, but we haven't been very far afield. THere's been plenty to do exploring around our area (Wanchai at the moment), going down to the harbour, shopping...but today we went on our first proper excursion to Shek O, somewhere we'd never been before. It's a small village on the south-east of the island, with a nice beach and plenty of cheap restaurants.To

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33053509.post-1156162387636730002006-08-04T20:09:00.000+08:002006-08-25T18:19:01.573+08:00

We're now in Hong Kong, as anyone coming from what do you see might well know. Sorry for the total dearth of blogging over the last couple of weeks. We've been doing plenty, but I just couldn't get round to posting it. It was mainly procrastinating over what to call this blog. Anyway, I finally got over that hurdle. The next one will be to sort out a suitably pretensious - sorry, minimal and

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635569681901823810noreply@blogger.com1