Lovely Laura Leaves

It has been a wonderful four weeks in Hong Kong, mainly because Laura has been my constant companion. She is fun to be with, helps with John and is so easy going it is a sheer delight to be her mother. I will miss her and I want everyone to know how much I love and admire her, when I grow up I want to be like Laura.

One last hug and kiss from Mom, Me and my Shadow

Laura walking to the security and out of my arms. :(

Last view of Laura, she now has a 2 hour wait at the gate, a 12 hour flight to San Francisco and then a layover and a flight to Seattle. Good Bye Laura!

The Fair Maiden and her Lady in Waiting

In 1841 the Island of Hong Kong became under British rule, so I thought that it would be fitting to do a blog post from the 1700’s English style. Enjoy my creative side.

Let it be known that the message that thou has been anticipating has now arrived in thy personal possession. What thou doest with the message is totally up to thee. The writing is by the hand of the fair maiden, Heidi, to whom this blog belongs.

The daily activities of the maiden, Heidi, and her lady in waiting, Laura, were of such a noblest adventure she wishes that thou could have accompanied them and provided strong hands in which to carry their parcels to the castle in which they abode. In the market today, the two beauties found it hard to resist the leather handbag merchant. Laura, the lady in waiting, was able to procure two delicate leather bags of the finest quality. I believe the craftsmen were from the house of Coach and D&G (Dolce and Gabanna) the carry-alls have been branded with the companies beautiful crest. I, the maiden, was able to locate a merchant that had in stock a small carry all of sorts; I believe the shopkeeper called it a “camelback”. It is quite a handy invention for our day and age; it has the ability to carry liquids for my wanderings. My wanderings have taken me over many steep hills, rocks and watering holes during some of the most arid times of the day. It procurement will offset the thirst that I experience sometimes during those adventures.

The kingdom here is quite a large one, it seems as though people of all stations are milling about like little ants. I find the confines of the castle a bit much at times, and prefer the outlining countryside. Some ladies enjoy the sights and sounds of large towns and cities, but alas it is really not my cup of tea. The rich soil, the green of the shrubbery, the air is sweetened by the lovely flowers that spring up around the walking trail make it one of the loveliest places I have visited.

For afternoon tea, Laura and I dropped into a cozy little inn near the market. My taste buds were ready for something of the hot and spicy flavoring. I was pleased to see a wonderful green curry dish from India listed on the menu. It was just what was needed to satisfy even the most ardent of stomachs. Since the both of us prefer not to indulge in tea, we opted for some sort of spirit they call Sprite. With our hunger appeased we moved on to more strolling along the merchant shops in town.

The afternoon heat was oppressive and we quickly decided to return to the castle for some light liquid refreshment. So a coach was summoned and the driver speedily took us to our castle on the hill. When we arrived we found that we owed the driver 76.00 HK$ and promptly paid him. Having given the password to the castle attendant we were ushered in and climbed into the lift that would take us to our rooms. As we inserted the key into the lock, we were met by a lovely burst of cool air from our lovely room.

As Laura, the lady in waiting is going to be leaving the castle and kingdom it was a wonderful way to spend the day. The young lady will depart from the castle and head for the station in which she will catch her flying coach at approximately 14:10 in the afternoon. Her eldest brother will be there to meet her at the arrival station. He has missed is youngest sister.
So at the end of the day, the maiden and lady in waiting were grateful for the opportunity to spend the more than a fortnight together. New adventures await them both.

The lady in waiting, otherwise known as Laura the brave, is looking out at the bay near the Stanley market. This was one of her favorite places to come for afternoon tea, which is really lunch. We could sit and watch the water and she could order a cheese quesadilla and a order of fries! How very British of her! The main market street, not to crowded today - but then it is about 98% humidity and about 98 degrees - most people of proper reank stay inside on days like this - but we have shopping to do, and My lady, Laura has only had one more day -so she was going to make the most of it. Down with tradition - family motto is Yo'all Rock! - Name that British movie?

Okay, this is the fair maiden and the lady in waiting after shopping and guess what we are locked out of our castle. Now window to climb up, no bridge and mote to cross, we just can't get through the locked door! This is acutally our second time being locked out - the first time we called lock smithy and it cost us 350 HKD - so this time we just sat and wait for a knight in shinning armor, Ron, to come and let us in, thank you Ron! See the beautiful star gazer lilies - I think I paid about $12 USD for those - they last a week and make the castle smell good too.

Twelve Days of Shopping,Hiking and Shopping!

This past twelve days have been busy with shopping, shopping, more shopping, hiking on the Hong Kong trail behind our apartment, hiking to the Big Buddha and then more shopping! I was excited to find and explore a store called "gateway" it is a mini Costco. Woot! Woot! They only sell dry goods, but the great things is if you spend $850 HK dollars they delivery to your house for free, not a problem for me as I spend $4000 HK dollars with is about $500.00 US dollars a normal Costco trip - RIGHT! My groceries arrived the next day and it was like Christmas morning, the kids and I had fun putting all the familiar foods!

Laura and I took a few hours out of our schedule and went to the Stanley Open Market, Laura tried on some New Religion jeans - too bad she didn't like them on her as they were only $30 US dollars! As for me I bought some more books, I had to get a new copy of Pride and Prejudice as Laura packed mine in her boxes at home! I also pick up two great Hong Kong hiking books and of course you can't go anywhere here unless you have cool shades! On our way out of the market we stopped by the flower shop and bought some of the most gorgeous star gazer lilies, three large bunches for about $20 US - they smelled so good!

Since John was in a baseball camp at the High School, Laura and I had to make our way down to times square in the city to do some more shopping. Laura and I stand out, we are white, blond and tall - we can find each other easy in a crowd.

Saturday rolled around and Ron and I decided to hike the HK trail behind our house. It is more of a hike up stairs then a meandering trail. But, oh the views are spectacular. The cool thing is that we walk out our apartment complex and turn right and there is the trail head, no driving for hours, no parking problems just a lot of steps to hike!

Sunday found us with a little extra time on our hands so we decided to learn about Buddhism and visit the Big Buddha and monastery. It is about 25 miles from our apartment and we just hopped on the MTR subway and got there in no time. We then loading ourselves into a cable car for the half hour ride to the top of the mountain to see the Buddha. Then more hiking to actually stand next to it and see the beautiful vistas of Hong Kong.

Then this week it was back to shopping, first to the Jade market in Kowloon and then today Laura and I went into the China. You have to apply for a visa to actually go into Mainland China, even though HK is now part of China - they still have boarder crossing and immigration. My Friend DeAnne Walker who has lived in HK for a year and China for 3 years took us with her to a beautiful art section of the city, known as Dafen paining village in Shenzhen China. It was remarkable what you can get there - frames solid wood beautifully carved for almost nothing. I am going to make a trip back and have some of art framed - they do beautiful work. The small section is a great cultural place you see the old buildings of China next to new ones. It was clean but very HOT - and the public restrooms - well lets just say - HOLE IN THE GROUND -they are called squatters and you better hope your aim is good and it is BYOP (Bring your own paper!)

After lunch, which for Laura which was a soda and snickers bar - she said "I have to keep up my energy level" we went to Luohu for the major shopping, it is the "great and spacious building". Five stories with 1500 shops of everything you could ever want. We started with jewelry and moved on from there, I fell in love with a Jimmy Choo bag - it will match my purple heels - so of course I had to get it, I set my price - what I was willing to spend and then the fun started. The shop keeper wanted $550 RMB - I shook my head, my friend had just bought one in another shop for $120 RMB - so I knew the price I could get. I left the store twice and she came after me and finally sold it to me for $120 RMB which is about $18.00 USD! Not bad for a girl from the suberbs and they still made a profit!

It has been a great twelve days, and we have done and seen some amazing things. I know that as I live here it will become my home away from home, I am already loving the country, loving the people and loving my LIFE!

On the first day of shopping Hong Kong gave to me a Costco like store.

Next came the Stanley Market with excellent curry dishes, sun glasses and a so much more!Times Square is where Ron works while Heidi shops and people wonder about.

Hiking in Hong Kong you see some of the beautiful trails there is no doubt

The vistas are breathtaking while the hike takes your breath away!

The cable care ride to Big Buddha is amazing on any old day.

The steps are steep but worth the climb

Here is Laura with her Jade Markets finds.

Shenzhen China and the art district was Laura's cup of tea,

Interesting buildings help to make this a neat pictures of Laura and me.

All this shopping and hiking have made me tired,

I am so glad that with Coca Cola Ron was hired!

Our Week of First's

This week we had a lot of first,

1. Our first lock out of the apartment! Had to call the lock smith, that was a nice way to spend $350 HKD (40 US). That will not happen again

2. Our first major tropical storm (level 8) high winds and of course Ron is in Bangkok. The power went out in our tower building (no any others, of course) and so that meant no air conditioning and no dehumidifiers - oh and I had just gone shopping to the fridge was full. Luckily the power came back on three hours later, but I discovered that we had to power to our outlets - so I am climbing up and over the fridge to get to the power box - which are different then in the US and had to figure out how to make the circuit to the outlets stay on - I succeeded after a frustrating 15 minutes, then the dehumidifiers were working again and then it was back to bed!

3. Laura and I got our first taste of a down pour while out shopping - with only one umbrella, because Laura said she didn't need one, when we left there was no sign of rain, but then the clouds rolled in and dumped buckets - we were laughing so hard trying to get a taxi home - needless to say Laura carries an umbrella everywhere we go now.

4. John took his first taxi ride by himself - a good 20 min ride to some new friends house, he loved the freedom. It was a good thing he had the address written down because the drive didn't speak any English and had to ask for directions in Mandarin.

5. We actually baked our first dessert in our small ( okay it is tiny) oven for a potluck dinner we had tonight. I am now making granola, where I used to make a large batch and cook it all at one time in the oven - I now make a small batch and have to divide it to bake it.

6. Another first was going to John's New High School - he starts on August 17. He had to meet with the deparment heads and get his classes selected. But that wasn't the first - it was when someone asked Laura the name of her child that she was enrolling. Laura does look older for her age but come on not that old!

7. We had our first taste of a new fruit called a langoustine, John loves them!

8. Another first was our ride on the MTR - Hong Kong's Subway -if there is one thing that the Asians know it is how to move lots of people fat. It is the easiest subway!

9. We received our first phone call on our OOMA phone line, which is a 253 number. It was great to talk to David via a phone at no charge (we did have to buy the modem in the states) and it works great.

10. And the rally big first - I got to use my HK debit card at a ATM and actually remembered my pin number so was able to out CASH - unbelieveable! It is always a great week when you can get money from your ATM.

Here are a few pictures of where we live.

When we leave our Hong Kong Parkview Apartment, it is called Parkview because it situates it self right on the entrance to Tai Tam Reservoir County Park.

If we turn to the left , this is the view we have, Hong Kong - the BIG CITY.

When I turn to my left each morning this is what I see. The beautiful county park, with hiking trails galore, BBQ pits and benches, and the beautiful views of the hills and reservoir.

When I return from my walk, this is the view from my apartment building door and in the background you can see park and then right in the middle of the picture is where I come to rest after my long walk/run.

That's right the pool, and it is just the right temperature not to hot and not to cold, it is just right! This is the place to be after a nice long walk/run through the park - man my life is HARD!

Arrival Day

Okay, we started this adventure on Thursday morning and we finally arrived at Hong Kong International Airport Saturday morning at 6:15 AM. We felt pretty lucky that only 2 of our eight bags were lost in transit, but they will arrive at our apartment tonight at 11:00PM. John will be excited as one was his large bag that contained all his clothes! The other belong to Laura and had all her make-up and hair stuff, I told her she is beautiful without it - but it was located and will also be arriving tonight.
After arriving at our new apartment, we took the kids shopping for groceries. John pick up a box of Captain Crunch, a small 1/2 box it cost $37.00 HKD which is $4.78 USD. I think he gets about 2 bowls of cereal! We will definitely be eating differently. Lots of really cool fruit and veggies at great prices. After shopping and breakfast, I unpacked the suitcases while Laura pulled out her sketch book, John and Ron when done to play a quick round of tennis before the heat got to them.
For dinner we decided to go to Times Square and have some dinner and then walk around the open markets. I can share pictures, but not the smells or the sounds, but I think you can get a pretty good idea of them though.
It was a full day and now it is time to close our eyes, at least until the delivery man comes with the luggage! I am glad for Sunday - a day of much need rest and reflection.

Laura, Heidi and John HK 2009

Wet Market "Fish FOOD"

Wet Market "Noodles"

Shellfish - Wet Market HK 2009

Laura, John and Heidi 1st day in Hong Kong