This past weekend Jill and I went out on a party boat, or as they are more commonly referred to in Hong Kong, a Junk boat. A brief history of the name can be found here, although the boat we were on had no sail, and most of the other "Junks" I saw had no sail either. You bring booze, food is catered, and you party on the boat all day. Awesome time...pretty nice little Saturday.
We only knew one other person on the boat, but we were able to meet some other cool people-many of whom were also expats. I was introduced to a guy who started his own craft beer importing business here in Hong Kong, and I actually ended up subscribing to their "beers of the month club" (btw I am doing pretty kick-ass when it comes to Asia in my 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die book - there are still a lot of Japanese beers to check off the list, but most of the other Asian countries are done).
Most everyone on the boat was a journalist of some kind - there were
people from the Wall Street Journal, the South China Morning Post and a
couple other publications. One guy had just been involved with a team that
interviewed Jean Claude Van Damme, and I found out he calls Hong Kong
home. So that's cool...I'll be on the lookout for him. There were people from a wide range of countries represented as well. People from England, Scotland, Japan, America. Good mix. Everyone was super-friendly and just looking to have a good time except for this one guy wearing a "Quito or Bust" t-shirt. I think his name was Ed or Ted or something like that, but he was real jumpy the whole day which was a bit annoying.
Some of us American expats got to talking about some of the differences in language between home and here. And not the differences in English and Cantonese. It was a British colony for a long time, so most of the differences stem from a British influence. I'm sure you're probably already aware of these, but some of them we talked about were:
Notes = Bills (money)
"I have so many notes my wallet can't hold them."
Elevator = Lift
"Take the lift to the 12th floor."
Apartment = Flat
"You can come over and help me clean my flat."
Line = Queue
"There was a queue a mile long at the blood drive today."
Right Away = Straight Away
"Get me those blood test results straight away."
We didn't talk about those specific examples...and they probably weren't necessary, but just wanted to give you an idea. So if Jill and I come back and we're using these terms don't be surprised. Something else I have learned is that no one here seems to know what a cooler is. I was looking for a cooler for our Junk trip, and in 3 different stores they had no idea what a cooler was. I eventually asked a couple of Australian gals in the grocery store if they knew where I could find a cooler. They didn't know what I was talking about either, so after I explained what I was looking for, they're like, "Oh! You're looking for an Eski!" Sure, whatever you say. I asked if that's what they called them here, and they said it was just an Australian thing, so it still did me no good. I eventually found what I was looking for, but if you're ever in Hong Kong looking for a cooler don't call them that. If I found out what they're called here I will let you know.
You also have to pay extra for bags at the grocery store. They're not expensive, but still...gotta pay for the plastic bags at the grocery store. And tipping is much easier here. Most all places include a 10% service charge in your total bill, and tips are not expected.
I'm also still not used to the metric system, or using military time. I still have no idea what 30 degrees Celsius is in Fahrenheit. Military time isn't everywhere, but you see it on some digital clocks. They also write dates different here. So instead of Month/Day/Year, they do Day/Month/Year. Doesn't sound too different, but don't underestimate it...it's difficult to get used to.
In other news, we bought a couch with a pullout bed for our "guest room". So now no one has an excuse not to come visit.
Til Next Time,
Luke & Jill
Monday, June 24, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Good to be back in Hong Kong
Hello All,
Well after two weeks on the road Jill and I are back in Hong Kong. It's still rainy and muggy...glad to see nothing changed from before we left weather-wise.
My work trip was successful. We were conducting trainings, and I think they were well-received by all those that attended. I visited 4 countries over the course of 2.5 weeks, so it was a bit of a whirlwind experience. I didn't really have time to do much outside of the trainings, but I'll briefly summarize each stop the trip. And I apologize for the size/quality of the pictures - these were all taken with my iPhone...
Bangkok, Thailand-Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
I really liked Bangkok. Definitely a place I would like to spend more time in. The Sunday before the trainings started, I visited the biggest outdoor market I have ever seen in my life, and bought a pair of flip flops because I failed to pack my own...I think they were like 4 dollars US. That afternoon I farted around the area near the hotel and saw a Buddhist temple and a huge mall. I recently found out that Bangkok is the #1 tourist destination in the world this year...so that's cool.
Bali, Indonesia - Grand Hyatt Bali
A week after being in Bali for vacation I was back there for work. It was tough to concentrate. Had a little bit of time to spend on the beach. It was Bali...amazing. Sorry, no pics.
Shenzhen, China - Grand Hyatt Shenzhen
Shenzhen is just on the other side of the Chinese border (45 min train ride from Hong Kong). I had probably the most interesting experience of the trip in Shenzhen.
After the first day of training, a few people were getting together after dinner for a drink. We all met in the lobby of the hotel, and started walking to what I thought was a bar. Well, apparently I didn't get the memo that we were actually going to get foot massages. Not really sure how we went from getting drinks to getting foot massages, but I went along with it anyway. We arrived at this gigantic "spa" and had to wait about 15 minutes before we could go in.
Luckily we were with someone that spoke Mandarin, because nobody that worked there spoke English. I was informed that we were going to have to change from our clothes into a standard issue "uniform". Things were starting to get weird. We were taken to the locker room where we were each assigned a "helper". This helper stood there while I changed (yes I had to get naked in front of this dude). I then found out that we were required to shower. Not sure why we had to take a full shower for a foot massage, but he gave me a towel and led me to a bank of showers with no doors. After the most uncomfortable shower of my life, I was led to another area of the locker room to change into my uniform. The area to change had no doors-just had to lose my towel with the goods floppin' around and change in front of a bunch of Chinese dudes...not awkward at all.
I met back up with the guys I had gone there with and we were led up a couple of flights of stairs to a room where we could peruse a menu of the various services of the spa. At this point I have no idea what's going on, so I just sit there and look at the menu while someone tries to upsell us (they were speaking to the guy that spoke Mandarin). It became very clear that this was definitely a place where you could get a happy ending and probably a lot of other weird stuff. The menu included things like "Fruity Additions", and the guy we were with said they alluded to "other types of massages" during their little sales pitch. I mean, we were walking by rooms with loud hip hop music playing and all kinds of weird stuff going on. The whole time me and another guy were just looking at each other going "WTF are we doing here?!?".
After insisting that we just wanted foot massages we were taken to a floor with about a hundred recliners. The floor also had a restaurant in case we were hungry. We got to our seats and the foot massages started (we all had masseurs). We were able to order beers (so I guess technically we did get drinks on this little excursion). Then someone came by and tried to upsell us again, and our Mandarin speaker gave in and ordered neck massages for us. Luckily we didn't have to get out of our recliners and soon, some masseuses showed up and started going to work on our neck and shoulders.
I don't typically get massages...they're a bit uncomfortable for me...so this experience was unsettling to say the least. After our massages were done, we were lead back to the locker room where I had to change in front of my helper again. I would have liked to take another shower, but that didn't happen. So I took one when I got back to the hotel. Not surprisingly, 2 days later I came down with Bronchitis!
Shanghai, China - Grand Hyatt Shanghai
I was not feeling so hot when we got to Shanghai. There was a pharmacy near the hotel, so I went to get some medication. The ladies working there didn't speak English, so I had to play charades to try and explain what was wrong with me. They handed me what was probably the only medication in the joint that had any English on the package. Here's a few excerpts from the description of the medication on the package:
Name: Loquat Cough Syrup
Properties: The product is brown liquid; with fragrant smell sweet and slightly bitter and pungent flavor.
Functions and indications: Ventilating the lung and resolving phlegm, relieving cough and asthma, used for treatment of common cold and cough.
Bad Interaction: still indefinite
Well, I definitely needed some lung ventilation, and I just kept my fingers crossed that the nothing would interact negatively with the Loquat Cough Syrup. It actually didn't taste that bad. No worse than the cough syrup in the US. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help much because I had to skip the second day of the training and go to a nearby clinic to get some antibiotics. Luckily, I was able to see a Western doctor (he was from Delaware) and get some real drugs.
Being sick in Shanghai was no fun, but I started feeling better by the time we got to Busan.
Busan, S. Korea - Park Hyatt Busan
The hotel was located right on the water which was great because we had Sunday to ourselves. What was even cooler was that there was an air show going on literally right outside the hotel. It was just like the air and water show in Chicago, and I got to catch the grand finale (instead of the Blue Angels, it was the Korean Black Eagles).
Jets in Korea are just as cool as they are in America. Jets rock.
So that was my trip in a nutshell. Each hotel we stayed at was great, and we got to eat a ton of great food (couldn't blog without mentioning food). My favorite was probably the Korean BBQ we had in Busan. We had Kobe beef cooked at the table with a bunch of other great side dishes. Awesome.
Jill was able to meet up with Diana in Cambodia while I was on the first leg of my trip. She doesn't have any photos from there, but she did say that she had an awesome time. She just got back from Tokyo for work and said that trip went well too. I told her if she had anything more to share from her trips to post it!
Sorry for the long one this time.
Til Next Time,
Luke and Jill
Well after two weeks on the road Jill and I are back in Hong Kong. It's still rainy and muggy...glad to see nothing changed from before we left weather-wise.
My work trip was successful. We were conducting trainings, and I think they were well-received by all those that attended. I visited 4 countries over the course of 2.5 weeks, so it was a bit of a whirlwind experience. I didn't really have time to do much outside of the trainings, but I'll briefly summarize each stop the trip. And I apologize for the size/quality of the pictures - these were all taken with my iPhone...
Bangkok, Thailand-Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
I really liked Bangkok. Definitely a place I would like to spend more time in. The Sunday before the trainings started, I visited the biggest outdoor market I have ever seen in my life, and bought a pair of flip flops because I failed to pack my own...I think they were like 4 dollars US. That afternoon I farted around the area near the hotel and saw a Buddhist temple and a huge mall. I recently found out that Bangkok is the #1 tourist destination in the world this year...so that's cool.
 |
| Outside the Buddhist temple |
 |
| Statue outside the mall...guaranteed to haunt your dreams |
A week after being in Bali for vacation I was back there for work. It was tough to concentrate. Had a little bit of time to spend on the beach. It was Bali...amazing. Sorry, no pics.
Shenzhen is just on the other side of the Chinese border (45 min train ride from Hong Kong). I had probably the most interesting experience of the trip in Shenzhen.
After the first day of training, a few people were getting together after dinner for a drink. We all met in the lobby of the hotel, and started walking to what I thought was a bar. Well, apparently I didn't get the memo that we were actually going to get foot massages. Not really sure how we went from getting drinks to getting foot massages, but I went along with it anyway. We arrived at this gigantic "spa" and had to wait about 15 minutes before we could go in.
Luckily we were with someone that spoke Mandarin, because nobody that worked there spoke English. I was informed that we were going to have to change from our clothes into a standard issue "uniform". Things were starting to get weird. We were taken to the locker room where we were each assigned a "helper". This helper stood there while I changed (yes I had to get naked in front of this dude). I then found out that we were required to shower. Not sure why we had to take a full shower for a foot massage, but he gave me a towel and led me to a bank of showers with no doors. After the most uncomfortable shower of my life, I was led to another area of the locker room to change into my uniform. The area to change had no doors-just had to lose my towel with the goods floppin' around and change in front of a bunch of Chinese dudes...not awkward at all.
I met back up with the guys I had gone there with and we were led up a couple of flights of stairs to a room where we could peruse a menu of the various services of the spa. At this point I have no idea what's going on, so I just sit there and look at the menu while someone tries to upsell us (they were speaking to the guy that spoke Mandarin). It became very clear that this was definitely a place where you could get a happy ending and probably a lot of other weird stuff. The menu included things like "Fruity Additions", and the guy we were with said they alluded to "other types of massages" during their little sales pitch. I mean, we were walking by rooms with loud hip hop music playing and all kinds of weird stuff going on. The whole time me and another guy were just looking at each other going "WTF are we doing here?!?".
 |
| Me in my uniform reviewing all of the "services" |
After insisting that we just wanted foot massages we were taken to a floor with about a hundred recliners. The floor also had a restaurant in case we were hungry. We got to our seats and the foot massages started (we all had masseurs). We were able to order beers (so I guess technically we did get drinks on this little excursion). Then someone came by and tried to upsell us again, and our Mandarin speaker gave in and ordered neck massages for us. Luckily we didn't have to get out of our recliners and soon, some masseuses showed up and started going to work on our neck and shoulders.
I don't typically get massages...they're a bit uncomfortable for me...so this experience was unsettling to say the least. After our massages were done, we were lead back to the locker room where I had to change in front of my helper again. I would have liked to take another shower, but that didn't happen. So I took one when I got back to the hotel. Not surprisingly, 2 days later I came down with Bronchitis!
Shanghai, China - Grand Hyatt Shanghai
I was not feeling so hot when we got to Shanghai. There was a pharmacy near the hotel, so I went to get some medication. The ladies working there didn't speak English, so I had to play charades to try and explain what was wrong with me. They handed me what was probably the only medication in the joint that had any English on the package. Here's a few excerpts from the description of the medication on the package:
Name: Loquat Cough Syrup
Properties: The product is brown liquid; with fragrant smell sweet and slightly bitter and pungent flavor.
Functions and indications: Ventilating the lung and resolving phlegm, relieving cough and asthma, used for treatment of common cold and cough.
Bad Interaction: still indefinite
Well, I definitely needed some lung ventilation, and I just kept my fingers crossed that the nothing would interact negatively with the Loquat Cough Syrup. It actually didn't taste that bad. No worse than the cough syrup in the US. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help much because I had to skip the second day of the training and go to a nearby clinic to get some antibiotics. Luckily, I was able to see a Western doctor (he was from Delaware) and get some real drugs.
Being sick in Shanghai was no fun, but I started feeling better by the time we got to Busan.
Busan, S. Korea - Park Hyatt Busan
The hotel was located right on the water which was great because we had Sunday to ourselves. What was even cooler was that there was an air show going on literally right outside the hotel. It was just like the air and water show in Chicago, and I got to catch the grand finale (instead of the Blue Angels, it was the Korean Black Eagles).
 |
| Korean Black Eagles....I know these photos really suck |
So that was my trip in a nutshell. Each hotel we stayed at was great, and we got to eat a ton of great food (couldn't blog without mentioning food). My favorite was probably the Korean BBQ we had in Busan. We had Kobe beef cooked at the table with a bunch of other great side dishes. Awesome.
Jill was able to meet up with Diana in Cambodia while I was on the first leg of my trip. She doesn't have any photos from there, but she did say that she had an awesome time. She just got back from Tokyo for work and said that trip went well too. I told her if she had anything more to share from her trips to post it!
Sorry for the long one this time.
Til Next Time,
Luke and Jill
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