Our Apartment

Hello All!

Sorry it's been a while since the last post.  Jill and I have been busy since moving in to our place last week.  Not gonna lie, it's been a bit stressful (leaking kitchen sink, cleaning out disgusting filters in our 4 AC units, internet not working, trying to replace the lock on our mailbox, and as I am writing this Jill just discovered that our name is listed as DOYCE on the account for our electricity).  Hahaha....just the pains of moving!  Things like this would happen regardless of where you move, it just makes it more difficult being in a foreign country.  Alright I am done complaining.  I'm sitting on our couch watching Top Gun right now so that makes me feel better...

Here are some pictures of our place.  These are photos from the online listing...our place is a mess and I am too lazy to take my own pics. These will have to do for now until we can get our place straightened out.  We live on the 22nd floor of our building.  We have a terrace and a patio...the views aren't spectacular, but it is nice to be able to step outside for some fresh air.

Living Room

Patio off the Living Room

Kitchen/Hallway

Bedroom (2nd bedroom/office in background)

Closet off the Bedroom

Terrace off the Bedroom

And that's pretty much it!  Jill and I are still figuring out the best way to get to work.  We're finding taking the bus to the MTR station works well in the morning (about 35 mins door to door), and coming home we'll take the ferry across the harbor and catch a mini-bus home. It's pretty cool to take a boat home from work.

A random observation...On my way home from work Thursday night I saw a woman enthusiastically petting/caressing a pair of stray cats....that 'bout made me vomit.

Anyway, I think we're going to head out to Lamma Island tomorrow which is about an hour ferry ride away.  There's supposed to be a nice beach and great seafood.  It will be nice to get out of the city...hopefully the weather cooperates!  Running errands and doing more chores around the apartment today.

Til Next Time,

Luke & Jill

McCurry, Bird Flu, Smog and Sailors

First off - thoughts and prayers go out to Boston.  That was terrible news to wake up to this morning.  It's a tragedy, and there's not really much else to say other than I hope they find whomever is responsible.  I'll leave it at that because I'm sure everywhere else you turn you'll be hearing about it...

On a lighter note, Jill and I had McDonald's for lunch the other day.  I went with Jill to upgrade her cell plan, and we needed something quick, so we just popped into good ol' McD's.  Jill was a wimp and went with something anyone can get back in the states, but my eyes were immediately drawn to the McCurry Burger on the "Asian Spice" portion of the menu. Against my better judgement, I went ahead and ordered it...I like spicy McChickens (even though this was a "beef" patty), and I like curry so I figured why not...when in Rome.

Turns out it was a bad choice.  It was two buns, and a single patty dunked in a curry sauce topped with what I think were onions...I still ate the whole thing.  Needless to say I was in a bit of a McHurry to get to the bathroom a little later on.  They have a few other items on the Asian spice menu (some sort of Wasabi-flavored sandwich and a spicy Korean sandwich), but I don't think I'm going to try those.

You've probably heard about the new strain of bird flu that started in Shanghai and how it's now spread to Beijing (pray for Jill-she's there now for work but is only there til Thursday).  Well, getting back to my desk after lunch today I found these on my desk...

I look around and everyone's got a box of face-masks on their desks.  As far as I know there haven't been any reported cases of the bird flu in Hong Kong, but I guess this means that it's only a matter of time until it gets here? It sounds like after SARS and the first outbreak of bird flu people here are extra cautious.  Keep your fingers crossed it doesn't get worse!

I guess it's a good thing I got the free masks though, because the one thing I really did not like about China before I got to Hong Kong was the pollution that I experienced in Beijing and Shanghai.  Up until two days ago it has not been an issue here, but the past two days it's been pretty gross.  Just a thick smog hanging over the city...and the humidity has ramped up a bit too, so it's like a dutch oven of pollution and heat.  I'm not too concerned about the bird flu (yet) but I might start wearing the masks just to filter some of the air I breathe.

And on a final note, it was great to look out into the harbour today and see this bad boy docked near my building...

This is the USS Peleliu, and it is docked for a routine stopover in Hong Kong (that's what the news says it's here for, but it's most likely also here to send a message to that crazy dude in North Korea as well).  I went to trivia tonight with some new friends in Wan Chai (the Island side-the side where the buildings are across the water in the picture above).  There is a red light district in Wan Chai, and the place was crawling with Sailors living it up on their shore leave.  I felt like I was back in college walking to the bar where trivia was at...just drunk Sailors everywhere.  It was also pretty entertaining to see guys in sombreros negotiating rates with the working girls on the sidewalk...haha.  But those guys deserve to be cutting loose - they sacrifice a lot for our country, so I hope they have fun with their few precious days on dry land.  Seeing these guys out tonight made me think of a classic line from a classic movie...

Be safe in Hong Kong, gentleman!

And by the way, I promise I'll stop with the stupid video inserts...I really just do them for my own amusement.

Jill and I also found an apartment - we move in this Saturday.  I promise the next blog will be all about the new place.

Til Next Time,
Luke & Jill

Bad Walkers, Great Food and Some Immature Fun

So I already shared my thoughts on how many people are here in Hong Kong...and now I am going to complain about it.  However, it's not necessarily the amount of people here that bothers me, it's the amount of people that seem to be in my way when I am trying to get where I am going.  And I'm not talking about people being in my way because they have nowhere else to go.  Like if there are only a few people walking down a corridor at the MTR station and I happen to be one of them, at least one of them will somehow find a way to make me call an audible and veer off the course I was on.  It seems like the majority of people here just don't seem to have a grasp on walking in straight lines, or walking at a consistent rate of speed.

I liken it to trying to walk around in an airport.  Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the majority of people at the airport are just milling about aimlessly...trying to find their gate or a place to eat...or just pacing around waiting for their flight.  Whatever they're doing, they are constantly getting in my way.  Do you know what I mean?  Anyway, to me it feels like that everywhere you go in Hong Kong...like you're at the airport, and everyone is looking for their gate.  And I shouldn't be complaining because I am most likely getting in someone's way too...but there have been some moments since I've been here where I've felt like doing this to someone. 

Ok, now that I'm done complaining I would like to say that we have had some awesome, awesome food here.  Dim Sum is amazing (if you don't know what Dim Sum is click here) and Jill and I have been lucky enough to get some pretty good Dim Sum since we've been here.  There's a good spot not too far from our office so I am sure we'll be going there a lot.

I think my favorite so far has been a dumpling they call Shumai, which consists primarily of ground pork, small whole or chopped shrimp, Chinese black mushroom, green onion and ginger with seasonings of Chinese rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and chicken stock.  Yeah...it's filthy-good.  Anytime I get the urge to punt the person in front of me I am just going to have to take a deep breath and remember Shumai.

Tonight I was invited to a going away party for someone in our office and we had amazing Korean Barebecue.  There were little grills at the table and you get to cook your own meal.  There was a ton of food: beef, pork, prawns, lobster, abalone, noodles, soup...you name it.  And it was all delicious.

Before I go just wanted to also share a little bit of middle school humor with you...awesome.

I also saw a sign the other day that read, "Dog Pissing Strictly Forbidden".  Didn't get a photo, but thought that was pretty funny too.

Til Next Time,
Luke & Jill

Monkeys!

Jill and I had a pretty busy weekend.  On Saturday we were able to register for our Hong Kong IDs, set up a Hong Kong bank account, and look at some apartments.  Looking at a few different places helped us get an idea of what we can get at certain price points.  I think our biggest priority, amongst other things, finding a place where we'll be able to get to and from work as conveniently as possible.  Wish us luck!  After all that we spent some time in Lan Kwai Fong before heading back to the hotel.

Today (Sunday) we decided to go on a hike near the hotel at the Shing Mun Reservoir.  Our initial plan was to do a 1.5 hour hike...and thanks to a little navigation error we ended up doing about a 5 hour hike and we covered almost 8 miles.  It turned out to be an awesome mistake because the hike was awesome.  We were told before we went that we might see some monkeys on the trail, so when we first started we kept looking for them but saw nothing.  We were lucky to see a few butterflies and a bird on our way up (we ended up hiking to a point called Grassy Hill, but as you might be able to tell from the photo below, it was a little bit bigger than a hill).  It was pretty hazy day, so while the view wasn't as good as it could have been on a clear day, it was still pretty great.

After huffing and puffing our way to the top we started to make our way back down.  We saw no wild life on the way up, but the way down was a different story.  We immediately happened on a herd of what appeared to be wild cows.

They had no brandings/markings/tags of any kind...so we guessed they were wild.  Alright, the trip down was already better than the trip up on the wild life front.  We both really wanted to see some monkeys but figured that was probably asking for too much.  And then, we came down around a bend to find this little devil...

We were both so excited to finally see one!  So, we sat there for a minute taking pictures and as we started getting closer another guy passed us and gave the monkey the wrapper of whatever he had been eating (which you're obviously not supposed to do).  As Jill and I started walking by the monkey with the wrapper, the little bastard charged me!  All my training in how to handle charging beasts kicked in and I made myself try to look bigger by spreading my arms out and standing my ground.  The little scrapper was not intimidated at all and got to within about a foot of me before stopping and going back to his wrapper.  Not gonna lie...he scared me. After the confrontation dissolved we started our way down the hill, but Curious George decided he hadn't had enough and started following us!

He finally gave up and Jill and I made it to the bottom of the hill...only to find ourselves literally surrounded by monkeys.  Given our recent encounter we were a little nervous, but there were actually a few other people around so it made us feel more comfortable.  From there we got our Jane Goodall on and were able to snap some good pics.

We saw monkeys the rest of the way back down to the starting point of the trail.  We figured that we didn't see any monkeys on the first leg of the trip because they (being the crafty little beings they are) wait for the trash bins along the trail to fill up with everyone's scraps before they come down out of the trees to see what they can find.  Regardless, it was a great hike (we're both going to be really sore).
   

First Day at Work

Today was the first day of work for Jill and I. Everything went well on my end.  I met a ton of people today, and everyone was very nice and welcoming. Jill was in Tokyo and I didn't get many details on her day of work, but she did say she had one of the best meals of her life for dinner.  It was a seafood extravaganza of crab, scallops, raw tuna and assortment of other delicious items...I had Campbell's chicken noodle soup and popcorn in our hotel room for dinner...Jill-1 Luke-0.

While Jill was travelling yesterday, I had a chance to do some more exploring (it was a Holiday here in Hong Kong).  I had some buildings in Mid Levels that I wanted to check-out, but there were also a few food spots that I heard about through The Layover - Hong Kong (Anthony Bourdain's show) that I wanted to try as well.  On my list were Joy Hing, a restaurant specializing in roasted meats located in Wan Chai, and Tim Ho Wan, a dim sum spot in Kowloon (supposedly one of the cheapest restaurants with a Michelin star).

So after google mapping everything I wanted to see try I headed to the Mid Levels.  The buildings we are interested in ended up being about a 20 min wak to the train station, and they're real close to the escalators.  In Mid Levels there are a series of escalators to help people get up and down the huge hill the neighborhood sits on.  If you're trying to get up the hill and they're not running that way, you are in for a sweaty workout.  Hopefully we'll actually be able to start looking at some places this Saturday.  We have a "settling in" day planned where we'll get our HK ID cards and open a bank account.  The same people that are helping us with that are going to help us find an apartment.

After the Mid Levels I headed to Wan Chai for the roasted meats. Turns out since it was a holiday it was closed...strike 1.  So I headed back to train station to go to Tim Ho Wan in Kowloon.  I got to where Google maps said the place was, but there was no Tim Ho Wan to be found.  There were restaurants around, but none of their names were in English, so I popped my head into a 7-11 and asked.  The lady very abruptly informed me that Tim Ho Wan is "gone".  I asked her where it went and she said "far away."  I could tell the lady was annoyed by this "gweilo" (Cantonese term for foreigners) bothering her so I didn't press the issue...so no dim sum for me.  Strike 2.

I am sure I will be able to find where the place moved to...if it is that good I can't imagine it shut down. 

Til Next Time
Luke & Jill