Robyn and Ben in Hong Kong

Last Day in HK!

2007-06-03T17:40:00.000+07:00

So, this is officially my last blog post on my last day in HK - can't believe it! The last few days have been crazy with finishing school (more sad than I was ecxpecting with lots of cards, presents, photos, meals out and a fruit salad!), the junk boat and lots of last minute 'socialising'!I've spent today doing lots of packing, sorting, organising etc but we're off for a meal tonight with the rest of the crew, quite a few people leave tomorrow so there'll be quite a few Good-byes including mine! Me and Adam head off to Malaysia at 5am tomorrow. It's not really Good-bye to HK for me yet as I'll be back here in between Malaysia/Beijing/New Zealand and Home but everyone will have pretty much left by the time I get back from Malaysia. Last night was the final night out in Lan Kwai Fong with the Chatteris crew - a good time was had by all and I think it's fair to say things will be rather more subdued tonight!

The whole leaving thing hasn't really sunk in yet but I'll miss the place and I'll miss people even more. Here's to more wonderful adventures in more crazy places with more fantastic people!

For the last time, this is Miss Gweebs, over and out!

R x

The End

2007-06-01T17:34:00.000+07:00

So that's it then, 9 months all over.

I could go on and on about how much of an amazing time it has been but I think that flicking through this blog pretty much sums that up in itself.

I remember clearly when I sat down in Robs room on a cold and wet Bristol afternoon and said "How do you fancy going to Hong Kong?" She never has been one to turn down an adventure and that's kind of how we ended up here together.

But now Rob is going to adventure off to other places and I am sticking around in Hong Kong. Something about the place has made me want to stay, and I think it has that effect on quite a few people who end up in this amazing little place.

I'm aware that I may start sounding a bit too over the top in my final blog entry. Especially as Rob would tease me about it. :) So I am going to say that my time here so far has been insane, in a good way. And having Robyn here to share it with has made it even more insane, but again in a good way, i'm going to miss her lots.

The best 9 months of my life. No doubt about it.

bx

Junking in Sai Kung

2007-05-31T21:26:00.000+07:00

The company laid out a final junk boat trip for anyone who wanted to go today. We decided that it should start in an area called Sai Kung because the water is cleaner and the beaches tend to be a bit nicer round that area. An extra bonus was that you could go wakeboarding or Banana Boating. Robyn and I chose the banana boating with some considerable hilarity.

Getting ready

On the way...

...and then click (here) to see a video of where is all went wrong.

It was when we fell off, my foot whacked Robyn in the ribs and the force of the water made her costume 'dislodge' and I hurt my neck on impact that we decided perhaps that banana boating is not suited to us in any way.

Afterwards in the late afternoon we headed back to the mainland for dinner. The choices were plentiful if you liked seafood.

And the name of the place amused me greatly

But don't worry, the food did not turn out to be chunky at all! It was really tasty.

I am now pretty sunburnt and am going to bed. This weekend is the last weekend for everyone who is leaving in Hong Kong. It is going to be painful on Monday, I can see it already.

The Final Group Photo

2007-05-30T17:31:00.000+07:00

The last time we will all be together under one roof :(

It's all getting quite sad at the moment.

bx

Student group thinking

2007-05-28T21:22:00.000+07:00

So my friend was telling me today how she did a lesson with her primary students. The students were given a situation where they were assigned different characters and had to pretend that they were all in a hot air balloon.

but...

The air balloon is going to crash!! They have to decide which two people should be thrown out of the air balloon to lighten the load and save the group.

The character list went something like: scientist with cure to cancer, doctor, engineer, pregnant lady, prime minister, small child etc etc etc.

After much discussion the students came to their decision. The pregnant lady and small child had to die. The reason for this? Well the students decided they were of no real use and could not justify their staying on the balloon.

If that is not a classic cultural difference moment I don't know what is.

bx

Extreme weather

2007-05-27T20:14:00.002+07:00

Hong Hong is HOT, I don't mean 'this is nice weather for the beach hot', it is more like 'I never want to leave the air conditioned flat' hot. Just walking into the (non air conditioned) kitchen left me me sweating this morning. Nice.

But then this happened (click here)

And when the storm passed there was thankfully a drop in the humidity, and it was safe to leave the flat. I decided to take advantage of the slight cool down to walk to the Star Ferry and take a trip to the mainland to buy a friend a present. On my way back though I took a picture of this.

It is pretty rare with all the smog and big concrete view blocking buildings in Hong Kong to ever actually see a good sunset from Wan Chai. So it was quite nice to be on the ferry to take these pictures.

We were supposed to be going island hopping today with the tickets that Robyn got. The storm unfortunatley changed those plans and thankfully I stayed (for the most part) on dry land. I say thankfully because we went out last night and did not get in till the late hours of this morning. When I woke up the very thought of a long boat ride would have had me running to the bathroom.

Next week is Robyns last few days in school and my last few days worrying about people in schools. It's very strange because everyone knows it's all coming to an end but at the moment I don't think it has quite sunk in. There are lots of people staying in Hong Kong from this years team, which might have something to do with the odd atmosphere. On Wednesday we are having a farewell prize giving ceremony and on Thursday the company has rented a junk boat for us all to have a final farewell party, which will no doubt last till Friday morning.

The Birthday of the Buddha

2007-05-24T12:02:00.000+07:00

Hong Kong seems to have endless random holidays at various points in the year. I never keep track of them and am always very happy on the monday when I'm told that I have a day off during the week that I never saw coming.

Today is a public holiday because we are celebrating the birthday of Buddha. To those people who are questioning the need for a holiday on this day, Robyn politely reminds them that we have bloody ages off to celebrate the birthday of someone else called Jesus. So why not Buddha too?

I was going to visit Lamma Island today but have decided a far better option is to go and watch Pirates Of the Carribean with Rob and then have a massage. What is ace about Hong Kong is that it has some really swish cinemas. Our nearest one has huge comfy chairs and serves olives and other posh nosh, tho I don't ever buy it, I just sneak stuff in from the local shops. In other news Robyn has been given 4 free tickets to take a boat to one of the far far far off islands in Hong Kong. There are 250 + islands to choose from so I don't know which one we are going to, but apparently it is rarely visited and uninhabited so prepare for pictures soon!

bx

Along the same lines

2007-05-23T19:34:00.000+07:00

Keeping along the same subject of weird things that happen in Hong Kong. Take a look at this.

It is of a homeless man who has decided to don a witch hat and direct traffic. He has featured in a magazine this week which is how I found out about it. In Cantonese we would say he was Ti Sing (crazy).

bx

Taxi Drivers and Drug Addicts

2007-05-22T20:52:00.000+07:00

Today I found myself at a meeting in Kowloon at one of the Universities. It ended at around 9pm so I decided to treat myself to a taxi back to our flat in Wan Chai, (a cost of 3.50p).

I eventually managed to get a cab to pull over and jumped in the back. Put my seatbelt on and explained in Cantonese where I wanted him to take me. At this point the driver coughs and replies in perfect English "You can speak to me in English it's fine". My instant reaction to this was to stupidly check that the driver himself was not Prince Charles. When I say he spoke with perfect English, I mean that he instantly made me feel like a cockney, and I am not a cockney.

So the rest of the journey was spent talking about how colonial schooling helped him develop his English ability. He also talked at great deal about how interested he found the old Latin relationships that exist amongst many modern English words. He then gave me a few examples. We eventually pulled up and he chatted for about another 5 minutes before he seemed satisfied and accepted my money, it was very surreal but really quite nice. It made his day when I commented how amazing I considered his English to be.

To add to my surreal journey I then exited the taxi, crossed the road to go home and had to walk past the area behind the underground train exit. This area is a large and busy public space, but it is also where a treatment center is located for those suffering from a drug addiction to methamphetamine. I don't quite know how the center operates but I think the treatment involves providing the addicts with something else on a regular basis to quench their addiction. This is because they sleep, live and all socialise in this area all hours of the day. Something must be keeping them there.

I was walking through this area when I spotted one of the addicts decorating a tree... I then looked above eye level and was met with quite a sight. There was either Christmas decorations, or the heads off mannequin shop dolls hanging from every concievable place in the immediate vicinity. I don't quite know what made the addicts decide to do this but it was really funny/weird. There were mannequin heads hanging off trees, shop signs and even road signs, often with Christmas decorations as well. So our lovely local addicts seem to have an arty creative side, which is nice.

I just told all this to Robyn after she came back from the cinema. She replied "considering at lunch time we were dancing the Salsa in front of 120 students, i'm surprised your day could have got weirder". But there you go, Honky Kong sometimes just likes to surprise you.

bx

Rain Rain Rain

2007-05-21T13:04:00.000+07:00

It has rained now for nearly 48 hours non stop. It is either raining or it is pouring, nothing else. It looks like Wednesday and Thursday may be slightly better but i'm told by others that it looks like that is wrong and it's going to rain all week.

I think I should have been born a fish.

@ The Cavern

2007-05-21T11:17:00.000+07:00

So it was a friends birthday and a group of guys and gals headed out to the bar district to celebrate in style. We went to a bar/club type place with live music called "The Cavern".

I turn my back for two seconds, turn round again and this is what i am met with.

Now I knew that Robyn and Nikki (the other girl dancing) knew this band quite well. But I had no idea that they were were such avid fans that no one would bat an eyelid when they jumped up onto the stage and started dancing. It was very funny.

bx

Flat

2007-05-18T21:59:00.000+07:00

I wish I could say this was a joke. But one building I am considering moving into is called Fu King Court.

Click here to be taken to property info about it (and a really good Hong Kong property hunting website)

bx

Students and Tourists

2007-05-18T20:05:00.001+07:00

Today I was part of a 6 person team taking lots of small primary students to Stanley Market for the day. In a nutshell the day involved me being assigned a group of little people and making sure they behaved themselves (and talked English) whilst going about various tasks in the Stanley Market area.

Part of the students task was to go around the markets and ask tourists some questions, (much like an English speaking lynch mob). This I always watched from a distance because the whole thing is done to help boost their confidence in speaking English to strangers.

I was watching from a distance on just such an occasion whilst three of my girls were talking to a couple of very blonde female tourists. I could see there was some sort of a problem and the girls came back looking very down trodden and confused.

I asked them what happened and the most outspoken of the three looked at me in amazement. "They do not speak English!!" She exclaimed. "I speak better English than they do!!! How can that be?!" There was all round shock that a white person may not be able to speak English.

It turns out they were German.

And here is a picture of the whole bunch of them. (I am not hard to spot at all)

bx

Only in Honkers...

2007-05-18T15:19:00.000+07:00

Today, 10:30am, from across the playground:

"Miss Gweebs!!!!"
"Hi Mary"
"I'm not Mary any more, I'm Jackie"
"Oh, OK. Hi Jackie"

It's the little things I will miss about Hong Kong.

R x

Passport prices

2007-05-15T21:07:00.000+07:00

I just went and renewed my passport. It cost me just under 140 quid!!!

That is an extreme price for such a small red book.

bx

When good intentions go bad

2007-05-15T10:26:00.000+07:00

This morning I woke up early, got my swimming shorts and prepared to take part in an hour swim workout before heading to the office.

I got the pool and found it was closed for building work.

I went home, purchased a Macdonalds, sat in front of the TV and became a vegetable for an hour instead.

How is it possible that my good intentions can go quite that wrong all before 8AM in the morning?

bx

Disney!

2007-05-13T09:41:00.000+07:00

Hong Kong has 2 main theme parks. Ocean Park and Disney.

If you ask any student which park is worth visiting they will tell you Ocean Park, and that Disney in Hong Kong is boring and expensive. For that reason, up and till yesterday I never bothered visiting Disney, but the opportunity arose and I figured I might as well check the place out at least once.

First off, it was not very busy at all! I went on Space Mountain a total of 6 times and did not have to wait (Although by 6th time I was feeling a bit dizzy). We went to see some of the shows which were amazing as well, especially the Lion King. At the end of the day Disney put on a big fireworks show and then it was time to go home! For Hong Kong it was expensive to get into (23 quid) but once inside food and stuff was really cheap. They even had an MTR underground train service that took you directly to the park.

And even the train had some Disney detail!

Overall I think Disney has been given a bit of a bad rep. It has not got loads of fast paced rides like Ocean Park, but what it does do, it does well. More importantly you did not feel like you were in Hong Kong, you really did feel that you had left the country, which was nice. Later in the evening Me and Robyn were out in Lan Kwai Fong (the bar district) having drunk enough to produce a picture like this.

We should not be allowed out in public

bx

The final countdown

2007-05-11T12:59:00.000+07:00

It is exactly 1 month before I leave the little Island of Hong Kong and venture to America for a couple of weeks and then England for a week after that. Before that time I need to get a new passport, sort out a new flat and organize various other documents to make sure I can legally stay in Hong Kong. For me finding a flat is the most pressing issue, I have decided to go for a small (like I have a choice) studio flat somewhere on Hong Kong Island near the office. I have grown really attached to Wan Chai so am also looking for a place around that area as an option too.

It is less than a month now before the joint adventures of Robyn and Ben will also come to an end. She is leaving me here and heading back home to probably become the future editor of 'Heat Magazine' or something equally brilliant. I meanwhile have a contract which sees me sticking around here till September 2008! That is quite scary...

This means that it will also be the end of this little blog. It will remain online as a diary of what we got up to in Honkers, but at the end of the month will stop being updated. I'm pretty sure that there will be another blog on the way, especially as we currently have an average of 30 different people logging on every day to see what boring things we get up to!

Plus even though Rob is off to pastures new, she will be back here in Hong Kong sleeping on my floor at regular occasions! (I even will have a spare little fold up bed by then!) It's strange though because at the moment it does not feel like anything is going to change at all. I think I will come back from holiday and just be bewildered at where all my friends have gone! :(

bx

Student names

2007-05-10T06:56:00.000+07:00

So, a list has been going around the company asking for the top two funniest student names that each person has in their class. Here is the list.

1. Tiger
2. Frog
3. Roymond
4. Aunty Mary
5. Ice Man
6. Zero
7. Alarm
8. ET
9. Zeus
10. Welly
11. Ce Ce (means poo in Cantonese apparently)
12. Noddy
13. Monkey
14. Answer
15. The Nun
16. Jealous
17. Legend
18. Snoopy
19. Eric Can To Na
20. Wun Jim hoo (on the gymnastics team)
21. Shevchenko
22. Baby
23. Colon
24. Circle2
25. T-Rex
26. Mr Man
27. Conan
28. Lincolm
29. Elvis
30. Queenie
31. Chicken Wing
32. Gash
33. Johnson's Baby
34. Darkie
35. Noris
36. Horris
37. Ameeba
38. Cell
39. Fanny
40. Fish
41. Brother Wong
42. Winky

Please note that 19 and 20 are jokes and not true student names. Everything else is. That is what you get when you let students pick their own names i suppose.

Now pick your fave 2 names and write them in the comments box... I think at least one of them will be Robs student.

bx

Beijing pictures

2007-05-09T11:40:00.000+07:00

Pictures from Beijing la!

Inside a guard tower on the Great Wall. (which really is great by the way!)

My great head sticking out of the great wall.

This is me and Nicolas inside the Forbidden City in central Beijing.

Without him being the guide I would have been lost without a doubt, it's a confusing city, especially if you can't speak the language!

Me at Tiananmen Square with the entrance to the Forbidden City behind me

A closer look at the entrance with Mao overlooking things

Speaking of which, here is some very patriotic Chinese graffiti

Me outside the gates to the Temple of Heaven with a couple of big knockers.

for a fraction over 1 quid you can eat an entire turtle at some food establishments. I'm sure the taste is 'unique'.

Whilst on the subject of food, anyone for duck? The two bits of meat on the head are taken from inside and are meant to be the best bits... yum.

Overall my impression of Beijing is hugely different to what i expected. It had far more modern western elements than I imagined. I walked past a Wall Mart, a Gucci store and loads of other similar western establishments that I never thought to see. Having said that, it is the first time in a while I have been in a country with no substantial colonial influence to its history. I can't begin to explain how much stuff I learnt and how interesting the city is. What i do know though is that if I visit there for the 2008 Olympics (which is my plan) the city will have changed vastly. I'm not joking when I say the entire place is being torn down and rebuilt ready for the games. It is changing things from taxi drivers having to learn English to the skyline of the city itself.

I need to write a big thanks to Nicolas who was my host and guide in Beijing. I know he reads this little blog so I have to say thanks to him for everything. Nicolas and his family friends were very welcoming and he was a brilliant guide in what could be a very confusing city. I know that without his local knowledge my time in Beijing would not have been half as worthwhile so. THANK YOU NICOLAS!!!

Things you should know about Beijing

2007-05-07T16:57:00.000+07:00

Things you should know about Beijing

If you wish to cross the road DO NOT assume that the green flashing man means it is safe to do so. Cars ignore this green man and make you wish you took out extra life insurance. This is especially true when crossing TEN LANES of traffic!
In Beijing taxi doors only open on the right.
If a structure is more than a few years old it will be pulled down in preparation for the Beijing Olympics
If a structure is new and shiny it will have been built for the Olympics
Do not use pictures to order food, unless you are happy eating the stomach of a duck
If you want to visit the great wall then be prepared to take a bus to the nearest town then barter with a complete stranger who owns a car to drive you there. Believe it or not there is no public transport route to the good parts of the great wall.
Don't worry about visiting any theme parks in Beijing. Just take a taxi and get the thrills and danger for a fraction of the cost.
Learn some of the language before you arrive. If I did not have someone who could speak Mandarin with me I would not have been able to even find a toilet without having to mime actions.
Be prepared to be stared at sometimes.
It is an amazing place.

I'm still in Beijing at the moment. I will fill you in on what I have got up to when I arrive in Hong Kong. Having a great time and it seems Robyn has some stories to tell me when I get back!

It's my birthday tomorrow!!!

Gettin' wiggy with it...

2007-05-06T10:17:00.000+07:00

So, after a long week educationg the youth of Hong Kong me and some of the girls decided to invest in some stunning wigs and paint the town red - Hong Kong style (i.e. sing apalling karaoke). You might recognise my wig from the previous post, yes I stole it from Cinderella. I think the pictures paint a fairly accurate picture of how the rest of the night panned out...

Good times.

R x

"Robyn, that was...unintentionally hilarious"

2007-05-04T13:35:00.000+07:00

So, after what seemed like years of meetings, rehearsals, blood, sweat and shouting; Wednesday was the day of the Form Four mini-drama. If I havn't spoken about this before it's mainly because until about 2 weeks ago I was convinced we wouldn't have a drama and until about 2 days ago I was hoping for some kind of act of God that would mean we couldn't do it. Basically someone upon high decided it would be a fabulous idea to get some of the Form Four girls to perform a mini-drama for the rest of their year. Said person has obviously never attempted to get 15 year old girls who have never done drama before, have a million and one other things to do and are hormonal to come up with a play in a few weeks. In a foreign language. With the expectation that the play should be 'Hong Kong Perfect' (I think I'm going to copywright that term...)
Anyway, me and the NETs decided to throw sensible things like auditions and scripts out the window and let the girls choose the story and said anyone who wants to be in it can be. This lead to a rather motley crew of mainly low ability, rather enthusiastic but slightly mental girls telling the well-known love story of Pinnochio and Cinderella...what do you mean you've never heard the love story of Pinnochio and Cinderella? Fine, I'll fill you in...

Cinderella's mother is very sick while she and Cinderella are playing in a forrest. Cinderella's mother vomits on a tree and promptly dies. Cinderella's father does not want Cinderella to be lonely so he cuts down the tree that Cinderella's mother vomited on and makes the wood into Pinnochio (see above).

Cinderella's evil step-mother throws Pinnochio away. Cinderella and her step-sisteres are invited to a party being held by two princes. Cinderella has nothing to wear but luckily her fairy Godmother appears and magics her a beautiful dress.

At the party the princes argue over who gets to dance with Cinderella but they are so horrible that Cinderella runs away, loosing a shoe in the process...

While Cinderella is looking for her shoe she bumps into Pinnochio. Pinnochio has come alive because Cinderella's mother's vomit made the wood in the tree he was made from magic. Cinderella doesn't recognise Pinnochio and Pinnochio doesn't tell Cinderella who he is because he embarassed about how ugly he is. When the clock strikes midnight Cinderella kisses Pinnochio and runs home but Cinderella's kiss makes Pinnochio change into a handsome man!

Now he is handsome Pinnochio finds Cinderella and tell her who he really is. Cinderella agrees to marry Pinnochio. They live happily ever after!

Meanwhile, the princes find Cinderella's shoe and it fits both the ugly step-sisters, so each of the princes marries one of the step-sisters and they live horribly ever after!

See what happens when you tell students the drama can be about whatever they like?! This was entirely their storyline - my only job was to translate it into a script that could be understood by people other than 15 year old girls.

Anyway, as you've probably gathered the whole experiencewas entirely insane - sometimes in a good way, sometimes less so...Lack of rehearsal and general last-minute-ness meant we were expecting it to be a bit of a shambles, but we never expected that 30 seconds into the first scene the curtain would break.

I should explaoin that the curtain was somewhat intregal to the play - we probably opened and shut it about 10 times during the play to change set, costumes, find girls who have wandered off etc etc and much of the acting therefore took place in front of the curtain. So, basically we had unknowingly created a drama that revolved around the ability to open and close a very decrepid curtain. More fool us.

However, two quick-thinking students became the curtain mechanism grabbing one side each and for the rest of the play, on my shout, either sprinted to the middle of the stage dragging the curtain behind them or yanked the curtain back far enough for the audience to see, not only what was going on onstage, but also into the wings where I'm throwing a girl into a dress or stapling a microphone to someone's chest.

The climax of the whole debacle came when we had to change Cinderella into her ballgown in about 6 seconds behind the curtain(while the Fairy Godmother is waving her wand in front of the curtain) As Cinderella appears through the gap in the curtain fully dressed, we get her ready basically centre stage behing the closed curtain. However, as the curtain is now being controlled by mental teenages who don't know what the hell is going on, one minute I'm bending down shoving Cinderella's feet into sparkly shoes while Daphne is dumping the dress over her head, safely concealed by the curtain, the next minute the curtain has been yanked back exposing me, Daphne and a half-dressed Cinderella to the whole audience... After some rather venomous whispering on my part, something along the lines of "Would you mind awfully closing the curtain while we put some clothes on this girl?" the curtain was closed and it was on with the show!

To their credit, despite the unexpected turn of events all the girls soldiered on and didn't totally loose the plot. The title of this post is the first comment I got after we finished. The powers that be are yet to give me their opinion... However, the girls in the audience found the play both intentionally and untintentionally hysterical, as did the girls who were in it, so that's all that matters.

Curtain. Buggered.

Anyway, these fun and games took place the day before the mental fun fair that Ben wrote about in the last post. But it's now 3:14pm on a Friday. The last day of English Week (the rest of which has been eclipsed by the mini-drama but was also fairly insane by normal person standards). I'm going to go and hibernate somewhere until the end of May.

R x

Definition of madness

2007-05-03T22:29:00.000+07:00

Definition of madness=160 students in a not too big hall, playing English speaking games. For quite some considerable time.

Look at the picture above and see if you can spot Robyn in the sea of students. Thankfully this was at her school and I had to leave halfway through to go to a college. By about an hour into it my head felt about to explode. It was so noisy la!

Our fun was disrupted though when a dinosaur burst into the hall and tried to attack Robyn.

Ok, that maybe just a toy and me playing around with the settings on my camera. But if nothing else it proves that madness was starting to set in by this stage!

Right, I am going to Beijing eventually, it is nearly midnight and I am waiting for my camera battery to finish charging before i can go to bed. Thinking about it that is quite sad, but i'm told that you should not leave them charging overnight.
bx

Up in the clouds

2007-05-03T08:04:00.000+07:00

I see this big ole building most days in Hong Kong at some point towering above the skyline. But when I took this picture it was the first time in a good few days that the top of the building was not obscured by clouds/smog/fog/mist. It is called the International Finance Center (IFC for short) and is where the rich people go shopping :)

Anyway, today is my last full day before i fly off to Beijing untill the 8th of May when I get back. From what my friend has told me I don't think I will be able to log into the blog whilst I am there due to media restricitions and the like. You kind of forget you are visiting a place where media is monitored and controlled.

I am also going to drop in a picture I took in the New Territories of Honkers when I was doing some work in a college. I was wandering around the place when I got to a rooftop section that overlooked a main industrial port of Hong Kong.

There were multicoloured containers and cranes for unloading the ships as far as the eye could see. It was quite a different sight to the normal polished skyscrapers and other big buildings you see closer to home.

bx

Junking it up

2007-05-01T20:49:00.000+07:00

Today was labour day in Hong Kong, this means that everyone has a day off. So most of the gang got together and hired a junk boat for the day to take us bobbing around the ocean and adventuring around the islands. It was really cheap (7 quid each) to hire the boat for the day and amaaaazing fun.

What i did establish though was that I do actually get seasick. On all previous junk boat trips enjoyed I have also been horribly hung over from the night before. This time was the exception, yet I was still a little bit green round the gills by the time we got to the beach. It's one more problem in life I can't blame on drink :)

The deserted beach where we stopped

Bobbing around in the water

Me being an idiot

Our fun was hampered somewhat when a sodding big jellyfish floated past and everyone got a bit nervous about getting in the water. But most of us used the time to laze about on the top deck of the boat sunbathing. I am now so red it is unreal, just about to get into the shower so if you hear any screaming it will be the water hitting my burnt back ...

3 days till i'm in Beijing!!!

Hot

2007-04-30T08:32:00.000+07:00

The other night I went to a party on the mainland (well Kowloon at least). I was in the taxi on the way home at 2AM and I got quite a shock. Hong Kong Island, the place where we live with its amazing skyline and neon lights was almost totally blacked out. In some cases it was impossible to tell the difference between the skyscrapers and the mountains behind them. The girl I was sharing a taxi with explained that Hong Kong is on an electricity saving drive, which is why they are doing it, but it was really very weird not to see the city all lit up. It was kind of spooky, like how I would expect the city to look if everyone moved out.

The weather is starting to get warmer and increasingly more unpredictable. I walked to work today and within minutes was starting to feel like I was in a sauna. Even worse is that locals do not seem to feel the heat quite as much as I do, a guy was jogging in the opposite direction to my brisk walk and he was not even breaking a sweat! I have invested in a hand held electric fan to compensate for this, all I need now is to stop people laughing at me when I start using it. I'm told it makes me look like a bit of a dick.

bx

Busy busy busy

2007-04-28T15:55:00.000+07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts, i'm recieving emails about it already so I thought I had best give a quick update. Robyn and myself have been pretty busy lately, she is organizing her school play (a cross between pinochio and cinderella) which should be very funny i'm told. I meanwhile have been getting ready for my trip to Beijing next week for my birthday, doing office stuff and teaching 100+ students how to dance the salsa. Yes you did read that last part right, part of a programme that our organization runs involves working with college sudents. Quite how i was persuaded to use the medium of English to teach a big hall full of them salsa (which i preformed with my very good teacher Rachel) is beyond me. But it happened and I can now do some very basic salsa steps. There are some pictures floating around that I ill get on here at some stage. In the meantime here is a pic of me and some of the college students.
Today (saturday) I have been at a school all morning helping out with an English funfair. It's pretty rare to work on a saturday morning but sometimes when schools have open days and stuff you lend a hand. It was really good fun though and afterwards I got a chinese massage at a place just up the road from our flat, which made it all seem worthwhile.

Tonight is a friends birthday party, so sunday will hopfully be spent sleeping on a beach! (weather permitting)

Anyway, Robyn has just walked through the door after a trip to Stanley so i'm going to annoy her now.

bx

Cockroach

2007-04-25T11:36:00.000+07:00

Last night I discovered the BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen in the kitchen of our flat. It was so large that for a second I thought it was just about to open the fridge itself. I eventually managed to remove it from our flat and then overreacted on a grand scale.

I took our bug spray and totally napalmed the entire kitchen (all 5 square foot of it). It seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course now everything needs to be washed before it can be used.

Idiot.

bx

Out and about

2007-04-21T17:03:00.000+07:00

These are pics from Hannah (the gal next door) whilst out and about in Hong Kong.

I have not moved from the sofa for the entire day. Robyn and the rest of Chatteris are doing some type of bbq sports day today. I was meant to be there but last night ate what has turned out to be bad squid, i wont go into detail but at present food does not like to stay in one place.

Betting

2007-04-20T09:30:00.000+07:00

Above is the view of Happy Valley along with the famous Hong Kong Jockey Club Racecourse that we visit on Wednesday evenings.

I can see this view from the office window, so I am starting to consider if it's possible to place bets on the races from the office. It would make late nights here that little bit more exciting!

Either Or

2007-04-19T17:47:00.000+07:00

Now, either

There was a serious accident just round the corner from where we live involving a crowd, a police car and a news crew.

or...

There is a movie being shot round the corner from where we live involving a crowd, a police car and a film crew.

I'm going with the second option because there were young girls asking people for autographs. Which I don't think is normal at a crime scene.

Clear sky

2007-04-18T22:01:00.000+07:00

Today has been without doubt one of the most stunning days I have seen in Hong Kong. The sky was blue, the sun was out and the visability was perfect. Which has led me taking the following two photos today at the peak. The one of the city is the best shot I have taken so far from the peak at night i reckon.

Sam and Dave have left today to go back to England, so they had a brilliant day to end their visit. It has been a bit murky at times during their stay but i'm told they are going back to nice hot weather in England!

Right, Robyn is in bed now and I should be hitting the sack too. There is a small lizzard sitting in the corner of my bedroom, I have named him Larry. He seems pretty harmless so i'm going to leave him alone, I just hope he does not crawl into my mouth whilst i'm asleep! :S

Belated Vietnam pictures...sorry!

2007-04-18T09:16:00.000+07:00

Just realised that, despite being back over a week I'm yet to put any photos of our amazing time in Vietnam up here! Blame my Father as since I've been back its been a non-stop tourist trail of HK but I think I've worn them out as they're leaving today! I'm also back at school with only 6 weeks until I finish for good - scary stuff!
Anyway here are some pics of Vietnam, after the whole delayed plane fiasco we arrived at our hotel at 7am so, having been up for over 24 hours we caught a few hours kip and then set out to explore Ho Chi Minh city in the boiling heat -

The view from our hotel window (very odd to be able to see for miles when you're used to Hong Kong...)

Mopeds! If I tell you there are the most mopeds you have ever seen in your life in HCM and then you multiply the number you're imagining by 100 you'll be close to picturing how many mopeds there actually were. During our stay we saw everything you can imagine on the back of a moped - washing machine, family of four, cats, dogs, kitchen sinks...
The next day we took a tour around the Mekong Delta (L-R Neela, Me, Hannah, Rav), we stopped at loads of interesting places including a 'factory' that makes rice sweets and an exotic fruit farm...

(insert your own gag here)

The next day we took another tour to the Chu Chi tunnels that were used during the Vietnam war - this one has been made about three times its original size for tourists to crawel through.
I also went down one of the escape tunnels they used...going,

going...

GONE! This, along with the War Remnants museum was fascinating but also a creepy mixture of happy tourism and horrific historical fact...the whole experience was bizarre but I'm very glad we did it.

After the tunnels we visited an amazing temple that follows a 'universal' religion that is a mixtire of Christianity, Judaism, Taoism and Confustionism. We got to watch the monks at mass (and before you ask, we weren't being obnoxious tourists - we were allowed to take photos!) On the same day we also visted a lacquer factory, rubber plantation and saw some water buffalo. Then at 4am that night it was time to head back to HK! The whole trip was hectic madness (both tours were 10 hours long and started at 7am!) and not at all relaxing but it was amazing! I definitely want to go back to Vietnam!
Anyway better get back to work...
R x

Editing

2007-04-17T20:56:00.000+07:00

If you were wondering... Yes I am bored and yes I have found the picture editing tools on my computer

Arsenic

2007-04-17T16:25:00.000+07:00

A Hong Kong council consumer study has discovered that there are sometimes unacceptable amounts of arsenic within dried foods in Hong Kong.

""The Council says the problem was particularly serious with the dried squid after eight samples were found to be well over the maximum permissable levels"" (Source)

I ate dried squid last week! (tho only a small bit)

good idea at the time

2007-04-15T15:42:00.000+07:00

For some reason I took 500 Dollars (35 quid) out with me during a party in the New Territories of Hong Kong.

Problem is they extended the happy hour of the bar till 10pm. Plus the barman kept giving me and Robyn free drinks. I feel horrible. Hopefully the rest of Chatteris in the picture feel just as bad, otherwise there is no justice in the world. Anyway, later me and some of the others are going to have a massage, then I am going to the night market with Robyn. Somewhere that oddly enough i have not had chance to explore yet.

If you are wondering whats going on with the "V" finger sign that everyone is doing, it's a Hong Kong thing. If a photo is to be taken, whether you are a kid or an adult, you make the "V" sign.

bx

City Lights

2007-04-13T12:46:00.000+07:00

We live right in the middle of what can only be classed as Hong Kongs coolest waste of electricity. 8pm every night the whole city turns into a light show.

Great about HK

2007-04-11T09:56:00.000+07:00

Do you know what is great about Hong Kong? Unlike in England you hardly ever get approached and harassed by charity muggers (chuggers) or any other type of sales person in the street. This is because they can rarely speak English, and if they can speak English, you just pretend you are French!

bx

Mui Wo

2007-04-10T08:06:00.000+07:00

Yesterday we took a trip to Mui Wo to witness a festval event dedicated to celebrating the sea gods. There are two sea gods of Hong Kong & China waters, the most popular god is Tin Hau, the second god is Hung Shing. We went by ferry to an outlying island to watch people give thanks to both these gods last night.

One of the final celebrations of the festival is when people place floating flower lanterns into the sea. Hundreds of people were purchasing these lanterns and could then queue up to go to the waters edge and send their lantern on its way. Each lantern represents a prayer that people make, when they release these prayers into the sea there is a possability that the prayers may be granted. Here is a single lantern I took before it got dark, none of the pictures I got in the evening came up very well because the lanterns were all moving too fast and I was too far away.

You could purchase the flower lanterns from these folks in the picture above. They had an endless supply it seemed.

What was good was that we found what looked like quite a nice beach (with shark net) to use in the future. I tried to get a good picture of the beach but this attention seeking dragon boat kept getting in the way.

In case you wanted evidence of the safe ariival of Sam and Dave then here they are on the bridge overlooking the flower lantern festivities. In the background on the right you can see the steps where people walk down to drop their lantern in the water.

And I always wondered where Robyn got her ability to fall instantly asleep on boats. Now it has become clear that it is a hereditary skill.
bx

Robyn is back

2007-04-09T08:26:00.000+07:00

Robyn is back from "Nam". She arrived pretty much on time as expected and is doing the tourist stuff with her Dad and Sam. Luckily she is not walking around shouting "good mooooornin Vietnam" or anything annoying like that. One of the other girls she went with though is now saying "When I was in Nam", or "Back in Nam", like an old war hero. Luckily she does not live close by.

It's early morning here (9.45 am) and it is promising to be a stunning day. The smog and general fog that has reduced visibility over the last few days has cleared and the sky is crystal clear. Hannah (the girl next door) has her sister visiting as well so everyone is in full tourist guide mode at the moment. Tonight we should be going to a beach and floating lanterns into the sea. This has a festival connection but I will write more about it once we actually get to the beach in question and get some pictures.

I am starting to have to carefully consider what i'm going to do next year once Robyn leaves. She is jetting off at the end of May, at the same time I am being kicked out of the flat because they are gutting the entire building. Top this with the fact that I am going on three weeks holiday at the start of June and I am going to be really busy at the end of next month. One of the hardest things to get used to in Hong Kong is that everything is done at the last minute. If you go to a travel agent to book a holiday 2 months before you want to leave, they will laugh you out of the building. The same principal applies to flats, I can't start looking for a new place untill one week before I need it, any earlier and it would be a waste of time because the market moves so quickly.

Having said that my worry has been relieved by browsing the Asia ex-pat website. I have discovered there are tons of opportunities to find flat shares and good deals for single room flats through this site. More importantly, it saves having to go through a property agent. I don't want to bore you too much, but the problem with going through a poperty agent is that when you find your flat, you pay a month in advance, a months deposit and the final month of the flat all in one go. That is quite a large sum of money.

Anyway, I know that future Chatteris employees are reading this in England so at least they may find it useful :)

bx

Sam and Dave are here!

2007-04-07T21:57:00.000+07:00

Robyns Dad Dave and his girlfriend Sam are in Hong Kong! With Robyn still looking at tunnels and stuff in Vietnam I took the role of tour guide this evening. We went for dinner at a veggie place. I felt like a bit of a dorrit because the only way I could find it was to retrace the route Robyn took me from her mums hotel last month. This basically involved me taking Sam and Dave on the longest circle in the world, only to find that the place we were going to for dinner was just round the corner. Doh!

Another "Doh" moment came last night when i rolled back into my flat at 5.30 AM after a very heavy night out. I went to clean my teeth before bed, then suddenly tasted something that was anything but Colgate. I spat it out and turned the light on only to realize I had used Robyns "Veet" hair removal cream by mistake. This is the second time I have done something like this since I have been in Hong Kong, you would have thought I had learnt my lesson.

I also took Sam and Dave on the trams, and across on the Star Ferry to Kowloon. We managed to catch the last bit of the light show and walked up the avenue of Stars to get a better look at the skyline.

bx

You know you are in Hong Kong

2007-04-06T09:08:00.000+07:00

I decided to give my room a bit of a tidy. Rather than try to determine my clean clothing and my dirty stuff, i just gave up and took every item I own round the corner to the laundry lady (except for what i'm wearing now). She will wash it all, dry it, and press it for barely any cost. That's far easier than me having to fold my stuff that is clean.

You know you are in Hong Kong when doing something like that actually makes sense. Jeez i'm lazy.

Breaking news: Between May the 4th and May the 8th i'm going to Beijing for my birthday! I'm gonna see if this wall I hear so much about is as 'great', as people say :)

bx

"Good Mornin' VietNAM!'

2007-04-04T13:09:00.000+07:00

So, today Hannah, Neela, Rav and myself are off to Vietnam for four days! However, we are off to a good start as we have just found out that the plane has been delayed until 3:30AM tomorrow morning (we were supposed to fly at 8pm tonight...) It looks like I'll be able to say "Good Mornin' VietNAM!' a little earlier than expected, i.e. as soon as we step off the damn plane...
Tam biet!
R x

Paper fornication

2007-04-04T12:44:00.000+07:00

Well Robyn is jetting off today to Vietnam and leaving me all alone for a week. As an office monkey I don't get to take advantage of the school holidays but instead only get the public ones (three measley days). Whilst she is gone I am planning on getting a lot of rest and meeting up with the rest of the office monkeys I know around Hong Kong, like me they have also got the short end of the Easter Holiday stick.

One event which is coming up pretty darn soon is the Ching Ming Festival. This festival is devoted to worshipping your ancestors, one aspect being by going to their graves and providing them with gifts for use in the afterlife. 'What type of gifts?' I hear you ask... Well let me show you some examples.

We have a paper boat.

A paper fan, (because i'm sure the afterlife can be a bit stuffy)

Yes, thats right, even paper coke!

But my personal favourite is this paper dog, complete with newspaper.

These articles are burnt upon arrival at the graves and the belief is that those in the afterlife can take advantage of them. To learn more about other parts of the festival then click (here).

I think this is a pretty interesting festival and intend to be celebrating certain other aspects of it with friends. In my lunch break I stumbled upon a news article that states there are some new problems occuring surrounding this festival, read below for an example.

"with the newfound consumerism in the Mainland, I suppose it was only a matter of time before concerned relatives began to think not just about ancestors' material needs but also their other earthly pleasures. On March 22, a local paper, The Standard, picked up a piece from China's state media complaining that relatives were now purchasing paper replicas of "Viagra, as well as condoms and heavily made-up bar girls." It continued, "The Beijing Morning Post called for a crackdown on the sex-related 'vice' offerings but said high demand was ensuring sales." (source)

This is a rare occasion where I am lost for words.

Visitor pit stop...

2007-03-31T14:29:00.000+07:00

In a bid to stop Ben posting random crap/updates on his growth I'll do a quick update on some cool things that have happened recently. Basically the lack of posting is down the the crazy month long visitor-athon that has just ended - Adam's visit having been almost overlapped by my Mum and Pete's arrival. All had a great time, saw the sights, ate a lot and generally enjoyed Honk Kong. Now I have a few days rest (well, apart from having to go to school!) until we jet off to Vietnam for a few days (yay!) and then my Dad gets here and it starts again! Madness!

Anyway, Wednesday was the final performance of 'Romeo and Juliet' that I have been working on up at the uni, they did really well and I was rather proud and also quite nervous for them!

The balcony scene

Men in Tights getting violent

Dance-off Shakespeare style

The death scene

However, the highlight of the week was getting a free ticket with the school to go and see the Friday night of the Hong Kong Rugby 7s! My job was basically to walk the girls to the stadium then we were free to do what we wanted i.e. head to the over 18s area! As I know nothing about rugby I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it but I really got into it and it's very easy to understand, the atmosphere was amazing although it was getting rather messy by the time we decided to leave!

The first game (hence the empty stands!) - Fiji vs Sri Lanka

England vs Hong Kong - despite being in the gweilo stands I was definitely in the minority cheering for England...

but actually I didn't mind!

This is a billboard of a random rugby advert that has been doing the rounds on local TV

Anyway, that's about it for now - bring on the Easter holidays and Vietnam!

R x

Right up our street

2007-03-31T11:24:00.000+07:00

I took my camera with me on the way to the shops to show what Robyn and myself walk past every day, often more than once. Ahh the joys of living in the middle of Wan Chai market.

First up we have our front door to the flat, on the left is the Chinese fishy food place that I smell from my window every morning. The first windows you see above the green lattice roofing on the first floor is our flat!

If you look left this is what you see, the beginning of the smelly Wan Chai market. Not EVER to be explored or walked through whilst hung over.

Up this road there are vegetable stores (where you can buy a basket of veggies for hardly any money at all)

There are fruit stores (the old lady looking at the oranges is not included)

And the worst of our street market stalls. THE FISH MARKET. All of the pots contain live fish that you pick and choose to be given the chop.

Round the corner the market really begins. Bumping into old ladies and being pushed around is standard. The old dear in the forefront of the picture has already got me in her sights...

Here they sell 100 year old eggs. I'm not going to begin to try and explain what these things are, but they are very popular in China and basically rather mouldy... click (here) for more information about them.

There are loads of sweet shops as well. Quite a few of the sweets are dried roots and stuff like that which taste surprisingly nice.

Tons of flower shops too!

And plenty of dried fish....
finally whilst I was putting the video of Robyn being jumped over I thought I would put this video up as well of the fishy section of the market. Click (here) to see it.
bx

Robyn in a stunt

2007-03-31T07:45:00.000+07:00

After many attempts I have given up with trying to put the video directly on here showing Robyn being jumped over by a Chinese student on wheels. So I am going to link you to it instead.

Points to watch out for is when she gets up and just tries to get the hell out of the area, only to be stopped and told she has to wait. She does get a prize for her daring though so it's all worth while.

It's hard to tell at first but Robyn is laying down closest to the camera waiting to be jumped over. This all happened whilst I was in England so I have know idea how she managed to get involved in skating style stunts.

To be taken to the video, click (here)

bx

contact us....

2007-03-29T07:37:00.000+07:00

In a flash or nerdy boredom I have created a rather funky "contact us" section on the right hand navigation bar on the blog. Robyn is not aware that I have placed her email addy on here yet so she may well get me to take it down. At the moment though she can't do anything because she is in bed and a little bit poorly. She is trying to phone her school to let them know she wont be in today but at the moment can't find a staff teacher who can speak English.

Right, me and my cold sore have to make breakfast and get to work now.

bx

Deer droppings

2007-03-28T10:55:00.000+07:00

It has suddenly become very humid.

Every year without fail when there is a sudden change in humidity, I get a whopping cold sore on my face. I used to get them all the time when I travelled from England to work in America during the summers and now it is here again. This one is especially horrible, red, scabby and right under my nose. Ronald (who works in the office) says it makes me look a bit like Hitler.

My first port of call upon realizing that I had this new development approaching on my face was to rush to Watsons and purchase some Zovirax. It took quite a few attempts with the guy behind the counter to explain that I was not looking for shaving products (which he kept showing me), but in fact looking for a cream that could kick my cold sore back from whence it came. Eventually I had to allow close inspection of my face before he fully understood that whilst I was ugly and unshaven, there was also a new addition to my top lip region.
I was too late with the Zovirax and now my cold sore is so big I have given it a name as it deserves its own identity, and possibly the choice to vote.

This morning my boss spotted it and now the following developments have occured.

A herbel tea will be consumed on a daily basis to cleanse my system, my boss figured that whilst I am doing it the entire office should do it too. Apparently this stuff gets delivered directly.
I also have to take some Chinese herbal tablets that will assist in 'cleansing my system'. This part is worrying because the last occurance that took place involving Chinese pills was when my friend Danielle could not sleep. She was given pills that contained some type of animal semen.

So in conclusion I think that with all this system cleansing I will firstly be going to the bathroom a great deal. I also think there is a fairly good chance I may consume deer droppings in the process.

bx

Funny signs of Hong Kong part 3

2007-03-26T21:01:00.000+07:00

I don't even want to know if this sign is accurate, or quite what 10 dollars will buy you.

bx

Summing up Hong Kong

2007-03-25T13:38:00.000+07:00

I never took these pictures. A guy called Tom Grundy who worked for the organization last year took them. I think they are pretty good and sum up Hong Kong really well, so thought I would share them with you lot! :) Click on them to make them larger.

Hong Kong through the decades

2007-03-23T17:52:00.000+07:00

1950s Hong Kong

1960's Hong Kong

1970's Hong Kong

1980's Hong Kong

1990's Hong Kong

Present day Hong Kong

If you stand still too long in Hong Kong, they will build a skyscraper on your head.

At the races (again!)

2007-03-22T08:25:00.000+07:00

Well its becoming very likely that I may be addicted to gambling. Our evening was packed last night. It began with us visiting a very local establishment that served...

.. Yes your eyes do not decieve you, spiced donkey meat! Yummmm!

This made Robyn rather afraid about the content of what she had ordered

But it all turned out ok in the end and neither of us consumed a spiced donkey. We then went to the horse races and gambled to our hearts content.

The only winners though was Nikki who won 5 dollars and Pete who won 118. I have yet to win anything, which only fuels my addiction..

We then went off to a local Wan Chai bar to see one of our friends play her last ever gig. She is moving to LA which is a bit of a shame. (for us not her)

But as the picture above demonstrates, we all got into the mood and were singing along quite loudly.

'The Shouting Couple' have gone!

2007-03-21T09:30:00.000+07:00

The very old white male with the very young Asian girlfriend who lived across from us on the second floor have moved out!

Gone are the days where we have to hear them

Arguing
Swearing
Throwing things at each other
Shouting
Bumping into us in the lift and forcing us to pretend that we have never heard any of the above.

I know all this because I went into their now empty flat to steal their working TV with the landlord. Our toilet is stil leaking but everything else seems to have been fixed by the miracle that is Mr Yu.

All this brilliance is negated though because it seems that workers are now tearing off and replacing the tiles on the outside part of our building. Drilling, banging, and men peering at Robyn and myself through our windows are from today going to become the norm.

Broken Flat

2007-03-21T07:35:00.000+07:00

As of this morning the following things have gone stupidly wrong with out flat

We have no working television
We have no hot water
The water we do have is brown and sludge like
Our toilet is leaking all over the floor
The toilet will not flush
I just used the toilet prior to realizing this

I now have to go downstairs and try to communicate this to our Cantonese landlord. I am praying that I will not have to resort to some type of mime action to get the message across. I am also praying that I get the toilet to flush before anyone arrives.

Wish me luck.

Cantonese lesson part 1

2007-03-20T11:44:00.001+07:00

I have decided to attempt to learn a little bit more Cantonese than the meager amount that I currently possess. As mentioned before, it is a pretty difficult language to master so I thought I would share it with you.

‘This isn’t cooked mate!’ = Mm-goy lay dee soong may sook!
'We are vegetarians’ = Ngor-day sick jai

Some of my personal favorites are sentences involving emergencies
‘Quick, call the cops’ = Fi-dee bong ngor gill ging chart!

I find it amusing that a sentence that is needed for an emergency can be such a mouthful. By the time I would manage to correctly pronounce and ask someone to call the cops the thief would probably have escaped… … In which case I would have to give chase shouting…

…‘Stop! Thief!’ = Churn Yeahaaahhh!!!!!!!! (with feeling)

So to summarize, if anyone steals from you, give chase and make sounds like a cowboy.

bx

Chilling in a Lamma

2007-03-18T18:05:00.000+07:00

Today we have been chilling in Lamma.
Not an actual Lamma you understand, we would never all fit inside one, but Lamma island!

As always it is a nice break from the normal hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. We went to the Bookworm Cafe YUUUUM and then poked around in some shops. We ventured as far as the beach (for those who know the place), but did not do the trek across the island. This was mainly because both Rob, myself (and everyone else in Chatteris i suspect) were feeling a little bit delicate from last night.

Here are some pictures la.

Having some drinks on the beach

On the beach (Robyn is wearing a scarf but it aint that cold at the moment)

Robyns mum got stopped and quizzed by a questionaire wielding student

And I nearly purchased a cute hairy thing with legs.

That's it for now. Monday starts tomorrow and it promises to be a stupidly busy week.

(by the way Mum and Dad, I have found you a good hotel on Lamma with a beach view)

PS: To my Mother and all other mothers who read this blog:

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!! xxxxx

St Patricks Day

2007-03-18T11:10:00.000+07:00

No ones to need an excuse to go out and party, here are some pictures from St Patricks Day.

Nikki with Robyn in a vice-like headlock

Robyn was not aware of the drunk growth on her left shoulder

I have no idea what was going on here

The Chatteris ex and current international team. From Right to left.

Ben: England, Kane: Australia, Gary: Canada, Nikki: Skegness

Neela and Shawn modeling the hats with style.

Considering we were all about as Irish as Nelson Mandela it was a really good night.

Oasis Airlines

2007-03-17T17:45:00.000+07:00

Oasis Airlines is offering some of the best deals around to fly from London to Hong Kong. People are getting deals for as low as 217 quid return if they book in advance. Friends, family, you now have no excuse to not come and visit!

Click (here) to be taken to the website. Thats an order.

bx

Laundry

2007-03-17T15:52:00.000+07:00

Laundry is not fun monthly or weekly. I really doubt that the owners of the laundrette in the picture truely have fun every day washing other people pants and stuff. But then again, you never know...

I had a Chinese Acu-pressure massage today for just under an hour, I fell asleep... and dribbled. I'm hoping that they are used to that happening all the time with customers.

Wet and humid

2007-03-16T16:25:00.000+07:00

The weather at the moment is rubbish. But it is warm.

Fakes and corruption

2007-03-16T12:29:00.000+07:00

Could this Hong Kong T-Shirt be a fake do you think?

Hmmmmm.

During a very bored lunch break I discovered a recent news article announcing that Hong Kong has been rated one of the least corrupt Asian locations to do business in... with a score of 1.87.

I have no idea quite how you go about marking something like that, as I would assume that corruption tends to be kept rather hush hush. Still at least we beat mainland China which got a score of 6.29. To view the entire article click (here).

bx

Fact

2007-03-15T23:45:00.000+07:00

Just a quick message to let people know that Robyns mum Irene and her partner Pete have arrived safe and sound. There was a little confusion as Robyn thought they were arriving 24 hours earlier than they actually did, other than that it was all smooth going.

I will update the blog with whats been happening on the weekend as things are a bit crazy at the moment. But one great thing about having Robs mum here is that we can learn useful things about her that we never knew before.

Fact: When Robyn was born she weighed 10.5 pounds
Fact: When Robyn was born she had 'a head like a melon'.

She will kill me for writing this :)

Ben x

Chickens Feet

2007-03-13T13:19:00.000+07:00

Today I ate chickens feet.

bx

Not so rude here

2007-03-12T15:21:00.000+07:00

So on my first trip out of the flat I went with Hannah to get her laundry. We rounded the corner of the street and promptly nearly ran into a man who had just stopped walking. This man then spread his legs ever so slightly, bent forward a bit and produced the loudest fart I have heard in quite a while. This methane eruption was so spectacular it actually made his trousers vibrate.

Hannah looked at me and simply said "welcome back to Hong Kong!!"

That's the thing with this place, the city is immaculate, and with bird flu and SARs I have never encountered a more hygene orientated society. Yet farting and burping in public is all quite normal.

On a different note Robyn has two visitors at the moment in the form of her mother and her mums boyfriend. On Wednesday night Robyn is working so the girls are planning on getting her mum quite drunk during the weekly 'ladies night'. (Ladies night is when females get unlimited free drink for the entire evening). I think Robyn thinks this is all a joke but I really expect it's going to happen...

Bx

Ken and his wife

2007-03-10T15:46:00.000+07:00

Well I have arrived back bang on time in Hong Kong. The trip itself was not too bad at all, I had three chairs to myself so I could stretch out a bit and relax like a big sun basking cat. I also decided to use my trusted Allergy brand tablets 'Actifed', to ensure that I slept for 8 hours of the flight. Another great thing about the flight was the food, I had chicken stew which was surprisingly really tasty! I could have eaten another one but already felt like a bit of a pig as I was previously munching on a great deal of duty-free chocolate. (which was commented on by the stewardess)

Sitting three chairs away from me in the center section of the plane was an elderly man called Ken. We never talked but I know he is called Ken because his awful wife did not stop calling his name for the entire flight. She had the most screechy voice I have ever encountered, I had my earphones in listening to a movie and somehow the pitch of her irritating voice still managed to get through to me. It was just continuous, almost like the sound I would expect a castrated hampster to make.

"Ken have you got the passports?"
"Yes dear"
Ken can you check the bag for them again?"
"Yes dear"
"Ken can you check you have the hotel details?" etc etc etc.

It started of as harmless, but she just did not stop. Ken checked for the tickets at least 5 times and was really getting just as fed up as everyone else on the plane. After the first hour she put her headphones on, this did not keep her quiet though. She then started commenting on how much Ken was drinking (he had a small bottle of wine). And because she was listening to music, it made her shout this final comment across the plane. Thankfully by this time Ken seemed to have enough dutch courage to tell his wife to shut up, and he did just that. The rest of the journey was spent without the voice of hampster woman, and Ken got quite drunk.

Anyway, I am in the flat now and no one is about. Everyone had best get back soon though or there may be no English Cadburys chocolate left!

bx

Funny classroom story...

2007-03-08T23:29:00.000+07:00

In a fit of boredom (me trying to look for any excuse so I do not have to pack) I decided to go surfing with the aid of Google. I decided to search to see if there are any other blogs out there written by people who work for the company.

I did find one, but I can't link you to it till I ask if the owner of the blog is fine with me directing attention his way.

However I am going to share with you a story that he writes about one of his primary students and a chair.

"P.1C is home to the student, a 6 year old, who was forcibly suspended from school until he started taking behavior modifying drugs. On my first day of teaching...ever... he had to be pysically drug out of class while he tried to bite the LET (Local English Teacher). Needless to say, out of the classes I look forward to, 1C is not at the top, especially that chap, let's call him LGL. Things were going along smoothly. LGL hadn't hit anyone, bit anyone, or stolen anything from anyone. He even answered a couple of questions. That is, until he decided to back out of his chair by going in between the seatback and the ass of the chair. The problem, he's got a big head. Arrogant? Maybe, but his cranium is gigantic for a six year old. He wasn't strong enough to pull himself out through the front, and his head was just too damn big to get out the back. He, and all the students, thought this was a hoot...until 5 minutes passed. He couldn't get out of the chair, and he realized it was a hell of a lot more uncomfortable than he anticipated. Meanwhile, the LET trying her best, simply cannot get his head out of the chair, and her only instruction to me is... "keep on teaching". As you can imagine, that simply was not an option as I thought this whole event was even funnier than the students did. Nearly every teacher in the school stopped by to have a try at pulling his head out of the chair too.Eventually the guidance counselor and assistant principal managed to pull LGL out, and later in the day, he was forced to "thank me" for "helping him". Anyways... "

I still can't stop imagining it...

Back to the madness...

2007-03-08T17:58:00.000+07:00

Well this is my last full day in England and I am now preparing to fly back to Hong Kong. These last 4 weeks in England have been really strange for me because it feels like I have been here for ages. I think it is partly due to me doing so much stuff in such a short space of time, but I do feel like I have been away a great deal longer than the month that I have. What it has done though is made me realize that I am not quite ready to come back to England yet. I think the UK will always be my home but compare these two typical days.

England: Work 9 to 5. Come home, make a dinner, watch Eastenders, maybe go out for a drink, go to bed

Hong Kong: Work 9 to 5. Come home, have an amazing Chinese acupressure massage, eat a delicious dinner at a local restaurant, jump on the Star Ferry, watch the skyscraper light show, travel back on the ferry. Take a 100 year old tram route home.

The insane thing is that the Hong Kong option would be cheaper as well. I think that the quality of life and fun that Hong Kong offers is something that I may have got used to in the last 6 months, and taken it all for granted as a result. Coming back to England has made me appreciate it more, and made me realise im not quite ready to come back. My other minor issue is that if I do return to the UK, chances are i'm going to get some type of initial dead end job (Little Chef springs to mind!!). What I want to do is try and organize applying for something in the UK whilst I am in Hong Kong, at least then I can walk into a new job rather than accept the first thing I find. I'm also contemplating becoming a teacher (yikes!), but it is not something I have fully decided on yet.

So in a nut shell I think i'm going to extend my contract and stay in Hong Kong for a tad longer. So if friends or family read this (i know you do but don't leave comments, grrr) then you have another extension to come and visit me! So make sure you do!

Bx

PS, here is a pic of our flats from the ouside. Just in case you ever wanted to know what they look like. (we live on the second floor)

Not that seedy

2007-03-07T04:58:00.000+07:00

I have decided to add a few other links to the blog which can be found in the right hand section of the page. Upon my surfing looking for such links I decided to see if there was a good website that can be used to let people know about clubs and bars in Hong Kong. I found the following information concerning Wan Chai, the wonderful home of Robyn and myself.

"Wan Chai, once Hong Kong's most notorious nightlife scene for raunchy bars and prostitution, is back on the scene with a growing number of bars and erotic shows with female dancers, concentrated mostly on Lockhart and Luard roads." (link)

I accept that Wan Chai is a little bit on the seedy side (so much so that the seeds are growing). But it makes it sound like Wan Chai only can appeal red light district clientele. Thats not true, it has lots of other things to offer. I'm half tempted to get our own Wan Chai guide thrown together on the web to do the place justice.

Back online

2007-03-04T17:42:00.000+07:00

Well for what seems like a year I have been without internet. I never realized quite how much I use the internet till I was out doing my recruitment tour. I have yet to decide if my need for the net is a little bit sad and nerdy or if it's justified in this day and age. (I sound like a right old man !)

The university tour went really well. I clocked up a total of 2,970 miles in just over two weeks. I visited around 35 universities and in 14 of them I conducted seminars. I also met some really good applicants who want to come and work in the crazy city that is Hong Kong so it all seems worthwhile.

I ended my journey in Bristol because (for those that don't know) it's my university stomping ground and thats where a large clump of my friends are still located. I was working during the daytime...and also had to visit Wales, but other than that I had the evenings to go out and have fun. It was a brilliant way to end a really hard few weeks of work and it was amazing catching ip with all the gang.

Bristol waterfront

Alex (not looking at the camera), Will, Matt and Me

College Green

Now I feel the need to explain that this is not a variety of doll that you may pick up at Anne Summers. This is my friend Becca.

The reason she looks like this is because I jokingly told her that she should do an impression of a dead leapard because of her printed top she was wearing. Her impression is just a little bit unfortunate. And very funny.

And lastly the Bristol fountains.

Most of these pictures will only mean something to Robyn but I thought I would throw them up here anyway. Speaking of Miss Greaves I believe that Adam is now visiting her in Hong Kong, so I'm afraid you just have me to keep you updated on whats going on in England i'm afraid.

I will be flying out to Hong Kong in a week though so not long to go!

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

2007-02-28T10:37:00.000+07:00

Or Happy New Year of the Auspicious Golden Pig! (that is not a direct translation...) Sorry for the lack of posting (again) but now we're back at school I *magically* can find time to write something (pictures will follow shortly as I can't upload them at school....ahem). Anyway, here are some of my favourite Chinese New Year facts:

1. People are encouraged to eat lots of sweets and chocolate over the holiday to bring a 'sweet' year (if only we could think of such an excuse for stuffing ourselves at Christmas...)

2. Red is lucky in a forms (red symbolises fire, which drives away bad luck) but if you're gambling it is especially lucky to wear red knickers, thus Wan Chai market is full of tasty little numbers in red...

3. The year of the golden pig if lucky for having babies but not for marriage so just before CNY there was a big increases in marriages so couples can have their babies this year (the year of the golden pig is different from the year of the pig and only happens once every 60 years).

If you feel the need to learn more about Chinese New Year...well, google it or something.

Anyway, the holiday itself is pretty quiet and a lot of places shut for at least three days as people spend the holiday with family (Needless to say, New Year's Eve is not celebrated like it is at home!) Also, lots of locals travel to the mainland to see family, and many (rich) gweilos go on holiday so it is generally quiet. In all honesty, the weather was rubbish and we spent most of the holiday sleeping, eating, drinking, and generally hanging out - I kind of feel that I should feel bad about this but it was so good that I don't! We did see the New Year fireworks display and the very cool but crowded New Year parade (photos will follow). We also took a day trip to see some pink dolphins, here is a picture stolen from a website (I didn't take any because the blighters move rather quickly, funnily enough)

So, now its back to school and back to rehearsing 'Romeo and Juliet' for another performance at the end of March (with a different cast.) Adam gets here tomorrow for 10 days, then my Mum and Pete get here the day after he leaves. I guess Ben will be putting in an appearance at some point too...

R x

Sorry-la...

2007-02-17T10:14:00.000+07:00

OK, OK you can stop the death threats, I'll blog something for goodness sake (some of you seriously need to enter some kind of rehabilitation programme...) Actually I know I've been very slack with this since Ben abandoned me so here's some photo's to satisfy your cravings...

A few weekends ago I went with Hannah and Nikki to the 10,000 Buddha monestry (or 'The land of a thousand Buddhas', as I prefer to call it). Let me set the scene...

It's a lovely day, no one around, we're feeling slighly un-lovely having sampled the considerable delights of Wan Chai the night before, there's a long path with lots of gold Buddhas running along either side, some of which were quite amusing...

But I digress, out of the silence we see this...

Nikki is understandably alarmed saying something along the lines of "Oh goodness me! What do you think that could be?" but more Skegness-esque. I, being slightly visually impaired, reply "It's just a cat". No, no it's not it's a monkey!!! Now this might not seem that disturbing but bear in mind we have NEVER seen monkeys in Hong Kong and had NO idea that there were any monkeys, oh, and also that this monkey was suddenly followed by about 60 of his friends all galloping towards us, appearing out of the silence like something out of '28 Days Later'. However, mind over matter we continued on our trek into the unknown and eventually were rewarded with what was indeed 10,000 Buddhas

Those of you that are visiting, I did toy with the idea of not telling you about the monkeys so you could have the same 'experience', but it was actually quite amazing once we got there and well worth a visit.

Another time, Nikki, Hannah and I ACCIDENTLY walked up the Peak (yep, that's the Peak, as in the highest point in Hong Kong and up as in UP...)

I'll leave you pondering how that would ever be possible with a few pictures...

About half way up...

No, now you come to mention it, the thrill of reaching the top really was NOT worth the effort of walking up it...

There are other exciting materials to post, including a video of me being jumped over by a bloke in in-line skates but frankly I feel I need to save something in case your cravings get really bad and I have nothing with which to satisfy your urges...

R x

Missed and not missed in England part1

2007-02-11T02:39:00.000+07:00

I have not missed the English weather

I have missed my fathers tramp like fashion statements

I have not missed the rubbish public transport (this picture has not undergone editing, it really is this grey)

I have missed the grandmothers cooking

I have not missed the need to dress like an Eskimo when leaving the house

Cold wet and more cold

2007-02-09T21:48:00.000+07:00

Well I arrived in England this morning. It is cold, wet and i have yet to see any evidence of snow. I have however had some of my nans home cooking, proper Cadburys chocolate and a big glass of milk.... MMmmmmm. The little things I have missed.

The flight over here was amazing, I had been involved in a big stage type presentation at a school before I got to the airport so I was quite tired anyway. I combined this with the wonderful drowsy reaction that takes place when I consume 'Actifed' allergy tablets.
Both these factors combined meant that by the time I got on the plane and sat down I was in a stupidly deep sleep. I closed my eyes and the next thing I recall is waking up 8 hours later to eat some food. I do not even recall taking off.

I had some food, watched a bit of a movie then figured 'what the hell', and popped another Actifed (I checked the label first, it was safe to do so). I then slept untill just before we landed, so in total for the whole 13 hour flight I was awake for just under 2 hours.

This has resulted in me not feeling too jetlagged once I arrived at Heathrow, it also feels like I have not travelled halfway across the world. It's all very strange.

Bx

Avenue of Stars

2007-02-07T13:18:00.000+07:00

The avenue of stars is a new(ish) Hong Kong tourist attraction which celebrates Asian media celebrities. Here are some snaps.

It needs to be said that Robyn was jumping during the taking of this photo. That explains why she looks a little stranger than usual.

Jackie Chan, one of the only celebrities we actually recognized.

Robyn in the directors chair

And me behind the camera.

And lastly Bruce Lee, he may look ready for action but he is currently unable to stop the occasional sparrow from pooing on him.

I leave tomorrow for England! (apparently the weather is going to be horrible)

Cheeky Monkeys

2007-02-04T08:31:00.000+07:00

At first glance the picture below seems like just an innocent snap of two happy friends in Hong Kong. On closer inspecion however you will notice that both Rob and Nikki seem a little preoccupied. This would be because of the 'rabid' monkey dancing around behind them. i will let Robyn tell the story in full but lets just say they made quite a few little friends that day.

I admit that the blog has been somewhat abandoned recently due to my parents arriving and there being much entertaining. I kept on getting home after a day out with them having the intention to write something but just kept falling asleep insetead. On their first weekend here I took them both to see the "Big Buddha", via cable car. It was quite funny because dad got quite nervous at some parts of the journey.

Don't let his happy front fool you, the man could not look at the view behind him at this point...

During the daytime whilst i was at work they went on little expeditions of their own. They took a journey up the peak and dad discovered a toilet with what has to be the best view in the world. He felt the need to take a picture of this view.

They also met some of my students that I tutor on a monthly basis in he evenings. They came along to one of our meetings and were quite a hit.

I took them up to the revolving restaurant during an afternoon and managed to get this amazing picture from above showing where we live in Hong Kong.

This is a vast chunk of Wan Chai, if you follow the direction that the yellow crane is pointing in the bottom right of the picture, we live in the first big clump of buildings you get to.

OK, I have to dash and jump in a shower now. Today is my folks last full day and we are going to Lama island (for the second time) to have some seafood and get away from the city for a bit.

Arrived

2007-01-29T08:05:00.000+07:00

Parents have arrived! So far we have done so much stuff I can't begin to write it down as my Monday in the office is just about to start. I have taken lots of pictures and things though so will put something up when I have the chance.

One highlight however was the first meal that I took them to... We found a catapillar in my duck curry... it was dead though.

I have heard of a high protein diet but that's crazy!

bx

Topsoil

2007-01-25T18:10:00.000+07:00

My parents could be arriving tomorrow, or they could be arriving next week. This uncertainty is all down to the British Airways strike.

What is certain is I need to clean the flat in preparation for their visit, once I get past the topsoil it should be fine...

Yow Lok

2007-01-22T18:45:00.000+07:00

Yow Lok is the nearest way I can spell my latest Cantonese word that I have learnt. It basically means "stop".

I decided to try my new word on a packed small green minibus when I recognized our stop coming up. I was with a new employee who has just arrived in Hong Kong and was taking him to his school for the first time.

Sitting right behind the driver I cleared my throat and, hoping I got the pronounciation correct announced "Yow Lok Um Goi" (stop please).

Suddenly the driver slammed the breaks on and came to an abrupt stop at my request, opening the doors we stepped out. So far so good. A problem soon emerged though when it was realized that we were smack bang in the middle of a roundabout, with cars going past and getting odd looks from passengers.

We navigated our way off the roundabout and eventually to the school. Later I asked Ronald, our Cantonese speaking accounts guy what I said wrong. I repeated the phrase to him and he said it was fine, what caused abrupt halt we think is that my tone sounded too urgent. Perhaps the driver thought I was going to be sick.

Bx

Temples and tourists

2007-01-21T16:44:00.000+07:00

Today we took a visit to the main financial center of Hong Kong which is a 5 minute tram ride away and known as the 'central district'. Our little trip was to go and explore a temple which is very popular and well known called the "Man Mo Temple". It is a temple which is devoted to two of the most popular gods, the god of war (Kwan Yu) and the god of literature (Man Cheung).

One of the first things that hits you when you visit the temple is that it seems so out of place. Having been built in 1847 it is smack bang in the middle of a busy financial district side road, Hong Kong has been built up around it, but the temple has not budged an inch.

Before you walk into the temple itself you are met with its lion-type guards glowering down at you. Apparently there is always two, one male and one female.

With the upcoming Chinese New Year, the temple itself was packed. You walk in and the first thing that strikes you is the smell of the incense. There must have been thousands of burning sticks placed everywhere round the temple, some the size of cigars. The smoke stung your eyes and made them start to water, there were giant fans trying to pump out the smoke as it rose to the ceiling, but there was simply not enough fans to cope with the amount of burning taking place. Women barged past with huge bunches of flowers and knelt before the god of war and the god of literature, then placed the flowers on a table before their statues. There was also an abundance of food. Fruit and vegetables were laid out on the table, as well as entire cooked meals, bakery goods and meat. The belief is that the gods and ghosts can consume the food through its essence, so eventually it gets thrown away intact, but has still provided sustenance to the gods. It was not the normal quiet state of affairs which some temples have been that we have visited, it was loud, bustling and a hive of activity with people whacking gongs... and in one room a man offering to tell your fortune. (for a price of course)

What annoyed me the most was the tourists though. Now i am aware of my tourist status, and it was others like me that I had no problem with. What really made me frustrated and ashamed was the amount of visitors taking pictures inside the temple, in particular of the shrine itself. I watched as one Chinese woman was trying to pray and actually got shunted by a Gwei Lo English woman trying to get a good shot of some candles. As far as I'm concerned it was the height of rudenenss and made me want to shove the camera somewhere rather rude. Whilst there was no sign saying you could not take photos, its common sense that you just need to show a little respect when you are allowed in a temple of a religion that you are not a part of.

Right, my rant is now over and I am going out for some much needed dinner. Night x

Bx

Population

2007-01-21T09:41:00.000+07:00

Hong Kong now has a population of well over 7.2 million people. Where we live in Wan Chai covers a space of only around 10 square kilometers, or 3.87 square miles. This is not that much space at all.

Living in this tiny area is 192, 200 residents. That means there are...
19,182 people living in Wan Chai per square kilometer
49,680 people living in Wan Chai per square mile

And we all live in high rise blocks of flats on top of each other like termites in those big mounds you see on the discovery channel.

We have a couple across the hall who can often be heard shouting, screaming and swearing. Also available is an inconsiderate b*****d who insists on starting renovation work on his flat above us at stupid o'clock in the morning. Across the road there is a market seller who has a voice that can be heard for miles. And there is a frequently used alley beneath my window which seems to be a congregation point for cackling old women at 5AM. With a population density like Hong Kong, the chances of finding housing near quiet and considerate people is substantially lowered.

bx
if you want to check out my source for my population statistics click (here)

Tourist no more

2007-01-19T17:18:00.000+07:00

Hey, it's Friday night without much to report. Just got back from a day at a school event which has been rather exhausting. Anyway, yesterday I went on an adventure to try and find my parents somewhere to stay when they come to visit me next week. This invloved trekking across to various different hotels around Hong Kong (7 in total). After a journey from Wanchai to MongKok (and everything in between) I gave up, came home, went online and promptly found a place for them both at the Ramada Hotel . 35 quid a night. Just up the road. Bargain.

Whilst on my little pointless trek i was suddenly hit with the realization that I have lost every ounce of tourist in me. This happened when I crossed from Hong Kong island to the mainland on the Star Ferry, and did not look at the view or skyline once. Instead I just read my book quite contently crammed between a woman with a screaming child and a man who clearly worked in an occupation involving fish.

Once, I arrived in Kowloon i realized this fact and promptly took a photo with my shiny new camera. So here it is.

Anyway, not sure what the plan is tonight but i'm sure it will involve food or drink or both.

Bx

food poisoning

2007-01-18T20:57:00.000+07:00

Although I only work with secondary students, somehow I got roped into helping run a primary student day camp. I was under the impression that i was going to just be there to lend a hand, i soon realized at 9AM as the camp got underway that this was not the case. 12 Hours later we were just wrapping up our day, my throat hurt, my legs hurt and I never wanted to see a hyperactive primary student again in my life.

The camp itself was on Hong Kong island. I took this picture from one of the classroom windows. Its easy to associate Hong Kong island with the classic urban skyline that you see on all the pictures. On the other side though not more than 2o minutes away there are some stunning beaches and forests. If it was not pouring with rain the whole day I would have been tempted to go for a swim during lunch break.

The students themselves I can only describe as being like hyperactive lemmings. This is a snap of some of them releasing some energy (thank god) during a 15 minute break outside. It was such a difference in comparison to the usual sleepy and overworked secondary students I often meet.

As this picture demonstrates they were also all totally barmy... :)

Now, there is a story to this picture. I sent a text message to a friend during the "end of camp BBQ" with the students saying the following.

You can tell you are in Hong Kong when

Teachers give students fire starting tools and have a race to see who can light their BBQ first
Students cook chicken for ten seconds each side and go to start eating it.

-End of text message-

I honestly spent most of my time trying to stop students from catching a raw food related illness. They looked at me like I was insane when I explained that the pork chop they were about to consume needed to be placed back over the fire for at least another 10 minutes before it is ready to be eaten. "Why"? they would ask with confusion... "Because its so raw it's almost still oinking!" I replied. At first I banned all meat except for beef to be cooked, because they could eat that a bit raw with not as much fear of being horribly sick. As you can see, in the picture above i wimped out. Rather than cooking the meat (from probably questionable background,) I stuck with a toasted cheese and ham sandwich.

I'm still bored Part Two...

2007-01-16T13:38:00.000+07:00

After just speaking to some of the other teachers I've realised I've never blogged about the wonderful array of "compliments" I recieve at school on a daily basis. My favourites so far being...

"Miss Greaves, you could be our school's Next Top Model...except for your belly"

[whilst stroking my forearm] "Ahhh, you have many fur"

"You can tell Robyn is so young because she still has her puppy fat" (this was technically not said in school. Nor was it said by a student.)

Female student: Miss Greaves? What do you prefer cola, coffee or cocktails?
Me: Ummm cola?
Female students: That means you want to have sex with me!!

They are also obsessed with my hair. Once, while my guard was down one of them swooped in and stroked my hair. This caused mass hysteria amd cries of "Arrghhh so soft! You could model shampoo! Ahhh sooo smooth!" etc etc (for those of you who don't know I have very fine hair that has in the past been affectionatly likened to a hamster...) I very firmly told these two girls NOT to tell anyone else to stroke my hair. They chose not to hear me.
You've got to love it (last post today, I promise),
R x

Yes, I'm still bored...

2007-01-16T10:52:00.000+07:00

While Adam was here I took him for a sneaky look at the outside of my school one evening (I would have taken him during the day but he would have been eaten alive). He seemed faintly suprised at what it look like, so although these pictures don't really show it in its full glory, I though I'd post these ones I found on the school albums. At somepoint I'll try and get round to taking some of the English Zone and the Staff room where I spend my days...but don't hold your breath!

As it is now winter this is somewhat more "flowery" than it looks at the moment...

The Main Hall, where the Karaoke magic happens...

The Annexe - this is across the "road" (more like a stone path that taxis hurtle up at 100mph), from the building in the first picture.
There's not much else to report, as you may have gathered from both mine and Ben's posts yesterday, things are pretty quiet at the moment - it's that January feeling!
R x

Robyn, Matt and Andy

2007-01-15T22:27:00.000+07:00

This is Robyn, Matt and Andy my three pieces of bamboo. I purchased them from Ikea when they were just small vulnerable saplings 4 months ago.

It is somewhat of a tradition that I give the plants in my care human names, this makes me feel bad if I don't look after them and generally seems to improve their lifespan. My mother will attest however that despite good intentions my green fingers never last long. At the end of every holiday at university our house was like a plant hospital, then I would take them back with me and have another go.

I am proud to announce though that at present I have lasted a full 4 months and Robyn, Matt and Andy are still green and going strong. Andy was a bit touch and go for a while but pulled through. Matt is the tallest of the group though, this is because it seems to drink more than the other two... A case of plants immitating life then I guess :)

Sorry for this rambling, I have taken a sleeping pill and it is clearly having an effect.

bx

The mysteries of school...

2007-01-15T13:29:00.000+07:00

As we are still in exam period (nearly three weeks!), I'm only teaching, at most, one lesson a day which is with the Form five and so is only exam practice, which is both easy and dull. Not having to run about like a crazy person has lead to me noticing other things around school and given me (possibly too much) time to puzzle over some of the more bizarre things about the place, which, owing again to too much free time, I though I'd share...

1. All china mugs have an accompanying china "lid" - since September I have been using mine a a kind of saucer however, I have found out the proper purpose is to protect against "dust". It is unclear whether this is for when there is a drink in it or when the mug is empty or both...this lead to me thinking why don't they have this anywhere else? is there more dust here? is this just another odd Chinese cleanliness thing...?

2. There is a box of A4 scrap paper on the back of every toilet cistern. Now I can only think of one possible use for it but it would seem a little redundant as there are stacks of toilet roll everywhere and would also seem to go against the aforementioned cleanliness thing...it would I suppose, give you something to read in there if you're that way inclined but I'm guessing that can't be it's main function...

3. The one I have spent the most time and energy pondering...since Christmas quite a few female teachers have started sporting what can only be described as arm cover-ers. They go from wrist to elbow and cannot be for warmth as they are made of cotton. What makes it more bizarre is they are all brightly coloured and usually feature some kind of cartoon character and subsequently completely clash with everything else the person is wearing and look, well just odd. It is more bizarre as the female teachers here really go all out to look well-groomed. One theory was that these are to protect long sleeves from chalk dust (as long sleeves have only recently been necessary) but as we're in exam period and so not teaching that would seem redundant. Also my teachers wear them in the staff room and sometimes only on one arm...I think they must be to protect against some kind or "dust". I have tried to find a picture online to show you just how odd these things are but I'm not to sure what to search for...and yes, I have thought of asking someone but I suspect my intense intrest in these things is a bit, well, odd.

Too much free time? I don't know what you mean...
R x

Umm Sai La

2007-01-12T13:43:00.000+07:00

Having my office in Causeway Bay and living in WanChai has its advantages. If I need to be in work at 9AM for example I can roll out of bed at 8.15, stumble into the shower, fall into my clothes and as long as am out of the door by 8.50 still be on time. This however involves walking like one of those funny looking speedwalkers that you see in the Olympics, frequently bashing into slow elderly people or men carrying smelly fish.

Today was one of those Olympic walking days. I took my usual route of traffic congested streets, car horns and market sellers when suddenly I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I turned around and there was this small man insisting that I take a pamphlet or whatever on earth it was that he was selling. I could not hear him over the background noise but I just shook my head, turned and carried on quickly walking. Moments later he was tapping me on the shoulder again! I turned and he held out the paper for me to take. With crowds surging round us I looked at this persistant seller and decided to try a bit of Cantonese, I gestured for him to keep whatever it was that he was holding and said "Umm Sai La" which translates as "I don't want that".

It was then that the honking car next to me moved and the man suddenly became audible, with a strong London accent he said "Mate, you dropped this out yer bag". I went a little bit red, accepted my dropped peperwork and thanked him. Even faster than normal I then walked to the office and looked for some sand to bury my head.

bx

Cold

2007-01-11T13:23:00.000+07:00

Hong Kong has got quite cold rather quickly. I am considering having to purchase a jacket! If you told me the weather was going to be like this 4 months ago when I was dashing from one air conditioned habitat to the other, I would have laughed at you.

A few more pictures from the archives

2007-01-09T16:53:00.000+07:00

I found a few more pictures that have yet to be placed out there for the world to see.

This is Andy and Nikki bracing themselves as they flew down the log flume at the fair we visited the other day.

On closer inspection it becomes clear that they were both terrified.

And I took this from my recent Star Ferry trip. Just in case you were not sure who was rescuing you from the murky polluted water of Hong Kong harbour the good people at the Star Ferry print the information on every one of their life rings.

Nothing new to report really, i'm pretty busy at the office organizing my recruitment trip to the UK. This involves me being back in the homeland between the 10th of February and the 12th of March. Part of this time I will be staying in hotels or sleeping on the floor of kind hearted friends, stopping every so often at a university to do seminars and interviews and other boring things. Good news is that the boss has given me some days off as holiday whilst i'm there, so it wont be all work work work!

bx

An evening with the Mayor

2007-01-08T23:25:00.000+07:00

This evening the ex Mayor of Poole (aka Lou) stopped by Hong Kong with his family. My dad used to work with him so he gave me a call and we arranged to meet. I picked them up from the Star Ferry in Wan Chai and we walked to the tram lines. They had yet to go on a tram so I took them to Causeway Bay. Once there we went to the most local Thai place for food that I know. It was quite amusing to see some of the familys reaction and it was quickly decided that I should order for everyone.

At first I thought I was in deep trouble as the reaction to the establishment, (reflected in my guests faces) was quite rightly dubious. However once the food arrived it became clear that they were on safe ground as it was really tasty and soon everyone seemed happy knowing they were not consuming dog. It is also worth mentioning that none of them had used chopsticks before and they were all very fast learners! After this very nice meal (which for 6 of us came to 13 quid) we headed back to Wan Chai for another taste of Hong Kong on a vastly different scale.

I took them up to the 66th floor of the only revolving restaurant in Hong Kong for drinks (click here for their web site) It shows off stunning views across the whole of the city and Kowloon and is rather swish. We sat back and chatted and joked and had a really great time. After this I took the whole gang back to their hotel on the Kowloon side via MTR. It is now 12.45pm and I am rather tired and going to bed, it was a great evening though. Below is a picture of us all revolving around Hong Kong.

Bx

Fat in Hong Kong

2007-01-08T17:45:00.000+07:00

I just got back from a school visit that turned out to be somewhat pointless as I was not really needed. Whilst there however there was a little gem of a moment which took place whilst I was being given a tour of the school by the head of the English department. We were standing on the playground and my tour guide suddenly looked at her watch and realized that she needed to be somewhere else. She directed me to go and talk to a group of teachers standing on the other side of the playground to introduce myself to, one of whom I had apparently met before. This is how the conversation went.

Teacher: Go and speak to Eva, I believe you have met her before
Me: Which one is Eva? Sorry I don't quite remember
Teacher: Eva is the fat one
Me: Oh (looking at the group) The lady in the purple top?
Teacher: No thats Alice, she is fat but Eva is fatter

Being fat in Hong Kong does not seem to carry the same weight (ahem) as it does in England. Robyn and myself have been in similar situations in schools when we have been doing lessons on child obesity. One girl stood up in fron to Rob and the class and announced quite simply that.

"I am fat, because I eat lots, If I did not eat as much then i would not be fat"

She was not shy to announce this fact, and the class applauded her and agreed with her rather profound statement. In some ways Hong Kong students are very similar to students in the UK. But there are great deal of differences as well.

Anyway, onto the pictures

I took this photo chugging along on the Star Ferry

I spotted this and could not help myself as the latest edition to "Funny Signs of Hong Kong"

When Andy was here some of the gang went to the fair. Here we are outside the Ghost Train

Hannah and myself went on quite easily the freakiest ride in the world

Being hurled round and round was not so much the issue. The problem for me was when we were kept motionless up in the air whilst ant like people on the other end of the contraption got off. I was tipping forward and frightened fartless as I looked at the drop below. My knuckles were white and I was imagining what landing splat on the floor would be like, I was not about to let go. Hannah meanwhile, as you can see was waving and looking around and rather enjoying the view. It has sealed my opinion that the woman is deranged.

Bx

Bird Flu case in Hong Kong

2007-01-06T13:37:00.000+07:00

It has started to be reported in the news that a case of Bird Flu has been discovered in Causeway Bay, which is just up the road. It has only been found in one bird but I have noticed a huge increase in uniformed health officials taking away produce for testing when I walk through the markets.

My route to work involves walking through the Causeway Bay market and often ends with me haggling with a little fruit selling lady over the price of bananas. No matter how many times I go there I always indicate that I want two bananas largely using had gestures and pointing. Every time this happens she at first tries to flog me two bunches of bananas. This is a process that happens every time I go there and she seems to now find it quite funny.

Anyway if the bird flu story gets reported over there in England don't worry too much, Robyn does not eat chicken as a 'veggie' and i tend to avoid it as well. We do eat eggs here but they are imported from the USA. Oh and whilst we do live in the 'market area' of Wan Chai our section is a fish market, so until there is fish flu we should be ok :)

If you want to read the news article click here

bx

Back to normal... Pictures part 1

2007-01-05T08:54:00.000+07:00

Right, as the picture below demonstrates we have been having some problems posting etc online. Luckily things seem to be back to normal. This clump of pictures are taken largely from New Year, and may depict scenes of a disturbing nature.

We never felt a thing. The last one that happened the other month was felt by some people but again Rob and I missed it...

We went to the peak to check out the view over Hong Kong

We also had an amazing dinner whilst we were up there too :)

It came to our attention that we have never shown Hong Kong style scaffolding. They use bamboo to make skyscrapers here.

And now we are starting to get to the New Years pictures...

You know it's going to be an interesting night when a member of staff jumps on the bar and starts offering tequila :S This is a pic of Adam accepting the offer... Then then next day wishing he had not.

Robyn, Nikki, Andy and Neela in true tradition all got on the bar with the rest of the customers and had a dance. Here is Rob striking a pose.

And towards the end of the night everyone was posing as if their life depended on it! :)

It was a really good, but somewhat hazy New Year :)

Bx

Back to normal... Pictures part 2

2007-01-05T08:36:00.000+07:00

Here is the second installment of our pictoral account of what we got up to over the holidays .

As you can see Christmas eve was quite a merry time, here is a snap of myself and one of my partners in crime Danielle dancing on the underground...

Christmas day resulted in eating so much food we could barely move.

And here is a picture of the offending material... It was V nice though!

We went to Ocean Park and went on the rather small and scary cable cars.

Here is a snap of Robyn and Andy looking scared in the cable car :)

And I think this picture justifies why...

We went to see the Panda (which still reminds me of Dad in front of the TV)

And we saw a sealife show which was really good.

Bx

Back To School...

2007-01-02T13:55:00.000+07:00

Well, it's 2nd January and I'm back at school (personally I think this is unreasonably early but there you go) but on the plus side the first 2 1/2 weeks of term are exams and I've been saved the pleasure of invigilating (thank God) so basically have nothing to do as there are no lessons! Technically I'm using this time to plan and prepare basically everything I need for lessons and extra-curricular stuff from now until I leave in May (scary) but I've decided to ease myself in slowly and thought I'd treat you to some more classic pictures I've found on the school albums...

The English Crew at the Staff Christmas dinner

A very camp Christmas...At the last assembly all the staff had to
get on stage and sing "We wish you a Merry Christmas" - I was given
the mic because I "do Karaoke"...

It was then time for each staff member to do a solo, I had been out for my birthday
the night before and had no voice...but I think I pulled it off!

I also found this one of me and one of my stars, Kelly, rocking the English Cafe.
On my birthday she and some of her friends who I teach made me an amazing birthday
card, bought me a slightly odd present and created an "America's Next Top Model" style invitation to invite me to a suprise lunch (If you don't know what I'm talking about you're clearly
not down with the 15 year old girls) Anyway I'll try and get some pictures up because they put loads of effort in and it was rather sweet!
Happy New Year to all (I believe there are some atrocious NYE pictures on the way...)
R x

Big Buddha trip 2

2006-12-26T20:32:00.000+07:00

Hey everyone, we will put the Christmas pictures up soon, in the meantime today we took a trip to the Big Buddha with the hope of helping Adam and Andy reach enlightenment if thats how you spell it)

It seems to be lucky to throw money into the hands of the Buddha servants as you can see below

And this is our mode of transport to get there

Over these mountains (you can just about see the cable car if you look close)

Ben x

400 dollars

2006-12-25T09:47:00.000+07:00

Last night we ended up in Wan Chai, Andy has just walked into the flat and says he recalls that he purchased a drink for a 'very friendly' Asian girl for 400 dollars.

We just informed him that he probably befriended a lady of the night... Bless him

What do you get when...

2006-12-25T08:50:00.000+07:00

What do you get when you mix a new camera, Christmas Eve drinks and a mirror? See below for our creative answers!

We really should not be allowed out unsupervised...