Our Hong Kong Home

Well, after a few trips with a wonderful real estate agent, we decided on a place to live and last weekend moved in.  The process of deciding where to live is difficult when you have no idea what different areas are like, you hear a variety of people's opinions and you do not fully know how long travel (also known as 'Jeff's commute) will be from where.  Where would you start? (or where have you started when you have done this type of move?)

We started with an area or two based on some advice from locals.  Very nice apartments, good view, and yet seemed to be far away from the core of the city.  Next we headed to locations closer to Jeff's work.  These had small apartments that catered to Asians, so no ovens and very small rooms. We were told by our real estate agent that the stores cater to the Japanese and Korean community that lives there. The third time out we headed to a few areas closer to the core of the city and where more expats (like ourselves) hung out.  There we found a perfect apartment.  We mulled over the distance for Jeff's commute (15 minutes down escalators, 45 minutes by MTR, then shuttle) verses the great view and layout of the apartment, and being in the core of the city.

Graciously, Jeff is dealing with a longer commute to allow us to be in our new home.  The view is away from the city and right at the peak...and not bad on the 45th floor!  This was the only apartment we saw like this, and after a day of the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, this is an amazing and refreshing break.


looking to the left



looking to the right - on a clear day
you can see the harbour!

looking straight out - ah, greenery, rocks
and hawks flying by

Besides the location and view, the other thing we love about our new home is that every room has a window that opens....that means the living/dining room, our bedroom, your bedroom (when you come visit), both bathrooms, the kitchen and the laundry/maid's room!  The fresh air sooths our souls!

The apartment was unfurnished, like all of them in Hong Kong.  The apartments in Manila were all furnished, so we pretended we were first married and furnished our new home!  We are very thankful for IKEA (see earlier post).  We ordered so much that it was all delivered on Sunday and we paid a little extra to have IKEA people put together the couch, chair, tv stand, two bookcases, coffee table, side tables, dining room table (chairs on back order), bed and two night stands.  We know ourselves well enough to accept if we tried to put all of that together, we would be finishing up around the time we were leaving Hong Kong! 

So - move weekend (just read this and remember your own past moves....and appreciate the organization of Hong Kong like we do!).  Saturday - movers who had our shipment from Manila came to our temporary home to get our suitcases and other stuff at 1:30 (well, they arrived at 12:30....), got the key for the apartment 2 pm, shipment of our belongings from Manila and from Hong Kong arrived at 2 pm.  During the course of the afternoon cable/Internet/phone guy came, tv and sound system were delivered, guy putting together the tv and sound system arrived, and gas man came.  Jeff and I unpacked 35 boxes from Manila, and headed out for supper by 8 pm, very tired, very hungry and happy.  Sunday - IKEA stuff was delivered and set up (took a few hours) and then we started our extensive list of what we still needed.  We slept well Sunday night in our new home....

Here is your own personal tour:


entrance way - what you
see when you arrive






dining room at your left
as you walk in the door
(chairs to come)



left hand side
of kitchen

right hand side of kitchen

The kitchen is to the right as soon as you walk in the door.  It is very western, with gas stove, oven, microwave and tiny fridge (once again dishwashers do not exist).   It is very large by Asian standards. The laundry room is behind it, and has a washer/dryer combination machine.  Who knew such wonderful space-saving thing existed!

 Then as you head left and stand in the dining room you see the living room with its spectacular view:



Left side of living room, with
Jeff relaxing.  The doorway to
our bedroom is on the left hand
side of the picture




Right side of the living room, with
Jeff's new tv!  The doorway to
your room is on the right hand
side of the picture





 



Our room...with the same spectacular view.  Our closet area and bathroom are to the left of this picture:

Your room...with the same spectacular view.  Your bathroom, with full tub and shower, is off the living room. (don't worry, we will have something for you to sleep on by the time you get here)

So, our home....for the next little while.  We have two grocery stores within a three minute walk, and our main commute is up the escalators (Google that and enjoy!).  We are in an area called Mid-Levels. 

We are settling in well, and feeling pretty good.  Yesterday I even ran into someone I knew just a block from home! (Marian, wife of one of the pastors at our new home church...more on that next blog).  We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers as we have made this transition.  With these pictures you can now picture us relaxing, making meals, looking at nature and just hanging out.

Even Cookie is settled, as he enjoyed watching the sun set over the harbour last evening. 

 Now it feels like we can start really settling in...so many more discoveries to share!

As usual, we love you all, and look forward to having you visit us in person in our new home!

Linda and Jeff

Random Discoveries

Reminders of Canada - it is surprising what little pieces of Canada we have found in delis in Hong Kong:

This is for you,
Bonnie and Dave!

 



How odd being in the land
where soy began, to
find soy milk imported
from Canada!










The following are news items read this past week or two in the South China Morning Post, a daily English language paper in Hong Kong. I enjoy spending a bit of time in coffee shops reading this paper. All of these events are from Mainland China.

Incompetence in all countries:
A big, expensive hi-tech rubbish collection system in Guangzhou (cost was 300 million yuan - over $44 million Canadian) built two years ago has never gone into operation.  After it was built, they realized construction did not take into account the city's heavy rainfall and the place flooded as soon as it was built.....

For Teachers:
All teaching and administrative staff under 45 years old at the Wuhan Vocational College of Commerce in Hubei are now required to start personal blogs to communicate with students.

Weather Reported in the Paper:
I like how the weather is reported in the paper...it is labeled as rainy, cloudy, mainly fine and fine.  I hope all of your days are mainly fine!  I think that is how I will answer the question "and how was your day?"  "Mainly fine, thankyou.  How was yours?"

House Churches in Guangzhou, China: 
These churches, not part of the 'recognized' church in Mainland China, are once again under pressure.  They are being kicked out of the spots they rent, they have paid for rental areas but then landlords back out of the deals (even though the church has paid in full and they do not get their money back).  They then turn to open worship in public parks, but there is immense risk with this...keep them in your prayers.

Our best discovery this week???

Swedish chair discovered in Hong Kong,
named after a Canadian boy!

As you can see, we continue to discover many things about our new home town. The good news is we are moving into our new home next weekend!  Two bedrooms, 45th floor in Mid-levels, an exciting core area.  After we move in, we will share some pictures.

As always, we love you all
Linda and Jeff

I am not really a flower person, but.....

In light of the snow that has fallen on our Canadian home (seriously, 28 cm on March 23rd!), it seemed like a perfect time to share something I did last week here in Hong Kong.

As many of you know (and my mother still is baffled by), I don't know flowers at all.  Oh, I can identify a daisy or sunflower, probably a general lily and rose, and as a Canadian who searches for signs of spring I can find tulips and daffodils...but beyond that, flowers become "purple ones" or the "little yellow ones that grow close to the ground" or even "you know, the big ones on trees".

Knowing that, you may be surprised to hear that I spent many hours at the Hong Kong Flower Show in Victoria Park last week.  No, I don't know any more names of flowers, and "purple ones" are still "purple ones", however I had a fantastic time playing with a new macro lens that Jeff bought me for Christmas.  That was my motivation to go.

This show is fantastic (even for a non-flower person like me).  There were many things designed and built out of flowers:

 












There were many people taking pictures of the many flowers (yes, I did have camera-envy numerous times!):

 








There were also beautiful displays that incorporated things other than just flowers:

 

And of course the Queen the park is named after sat, overseeing the whole event:

(As an aside from flowers, this statue was first located in Statue Square in Central, Hong Kong, and was erected for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.  During WWII, it was shipped with most statues to Japan to be melted down for the war effort.  At the war's end, it was found unharmed in a Japanese scrapyard and returned to Hong Kong.  It was placed in its current home, Victoria Park, in 1952.  Interesting, eh!)







Well, I thoroughly enjoyed my hours with the flowers.  It was interesting to view large beds of flowers, where at first glance all the individual flowers melded into one mass of colour.  Yet by stopping, bending down, pulling out my macro lens and patiently REALLY looking, a whole new world was revealed.  Who knew that "purple ones" were actually many different kinds of "purple ones".  Once I started to notice the details in the flowers, I actually appreciated them much more. Hmmm...seems like a good analogy for our interaction with each other, doesn't it - stop, bend down, get close, be patient, focus and you will see and appreciate each other even more (sermon to come some day)

I took hundreds and hundreds of pictures - oh, don't worry, you don't have to look at all of them (unless you want to sometime).  Here is a video of the top pictures in my view, and I hope it warms your hearts as you look out at snow, and brings you hope that soon you will see these in your neighbourhood also. Enjoy, and imagine you and I wandering and enjoying these flowers together.  Maybe you can teach me some names!

As always, love you all.....Linda

The Great Hong Kong Visa Adventure

One of the requirements of completing the visa and Hong Kong ID card registration process is to enter immigration to receive a stamp on the new visa. Of course, in order to do this, we had to leave Hong Kong and then come back.  The easiest way to do this is by a one hour turbo jet ferry ride to Macau.  Many people simply go and turn around and come back...not us, have to use travel points somehow!  So an overnight stay for us ! 


When we turned on the tv, we discovered this, and once
again, Jeff was "and party" like our trip to Bali!

 Macau was a Portuguese colony and therefore has a mix of Europe....

 

...and Asia

 

There is also the old...

 

....and the new

 

...and some interesting views that bring them together

Here are a few other interesting things we discovered:

Seriously...don't cross the yellow line!  The drop from the
hill top fort would kill you!
(note to mothers:  Jeff did not cross the line)



This needs little explanation....
would you eat here?



We saw no dog





Lost in translation.
This was on top of a closed well



On the street corner were worship
singers and these folks handing
out "Jesus Loves You" bags



 We found the Protestant cemetery (no where near the centre of town) - and did what I love to do!  Just wander and wonder....



The most interesting headstone




Very cool.... tomb of
the father-in-law of
Hudson Taylor
(Google him and learn!)



Perfect scary cemetery picture -
trees, well, and more



What we learned is that Macau has actually surpassed Las Vegas in gambling revenues.  The rich from all over Asia flock to Macau to lose their money in high stake games.  Jeff played a three-card poker game for 20 minutes, winning $138.  He then wisely quit and paid for supper.

This type of town is fascinating to walk through, day and night.  Enjoy this show from the front of one hotel complex.

Our 24 hour trip to Macau was great fun, and we will continue to share our adventures with you.  Love you all, Linda and Jeff

Everything is New Again

Well, we are both in this very hectic city and discovering that everything is new again.  Our temporary home is in Causeway Bay area, an area of reclaimed land filled with hotels, high-end shopping, skyscraper office buildings and many many people.  This is the inside of Times Square, one of the shopping malls. 

 Because land is limited in the city, it is built more upwards rather than the sprawling malls of Canada (this one is 10 floors high).  Some malls even have just two stores on a floor, but go up and up and up!  The escalator companies in Hong Kong must be very wealthy!

As we walk these very modern streets, we are never far from the less-rich and less-modern.



Typical one-block-back -
note the natural dryer
(hang out your window)



Note the bamboo scaffolding - used
everywhere.  It is the only type of
scaffolding used in Hong Kong
(perfect renewable resource....
Sarah would be proud!)



At times, we find the ancient.  Under an overpass on a main street nearby, these women set up "shop" daily.  Little altars surrounded by little plastic children's stools.  For a small fee they will help you burn incense and paper items for your ancestors, and tell you your fortune.  The ancient is interwoven into their daily lives it appears.

Jeff is working hard (actually, as I type this he has just landed in Tokyo....be back Wednesday), I am doing my usual exploring the neighbourhood.  Actually, I have started Cantonese lessons so am challenged every day with the two hour lesson, home work, and attempting to say a few words to people.  I have heard it takes six years to become completely fluent in Cantonese - my goal is to just carry on a short conversation.  No better place than here to learn it!

Amongst all of the new things, we have found a few familiar things we did not have in Manila, and they bring us a taste of home........



So, those I have trips to Ikea with,
this is our next stop!  When you step
in the door, you think you are in any
Ikea in Canada



Well, we are over 45....





Seriously, you have to love a country
that imports beer brewed 30 minutes from
our Waterloo home, and sells it in
the grocery store!

When Jeff returns next week we will start to look for our permanent home.  It will be good to really settle in, have our few belongings from Manila delivered, and then our new lives and routine can really start.  So far, we are loving it. This is a vibrant, busy, but VERY organized city, and we feel very comfortable already. There are so many things to show you all, but we will try and not put too many pictures on at one time.  (we will try and blog more often though....just for you, Alice!)

One last thing to share - watch this very bumpy video I took today walking from the mall in the first picture towards our home.  It is like a video game trying to walk through the number of people. At times, the video game throws in a surprise, so keep your eyes open for:  

• double decker buses and trolleys
• meat shop with meat hanging (including numerous plucked ducks)
• red taxis - well, all the taxis on Hong Kong Island are red (they are other colours in other parts)
• lady carrying bundles of flattened cardboard
• bike delivery
• man pushing cart (almost running you over)
• non-Asians (how many can you count?!)

Enjoy the video - be aware that the foot traffic was less when shot this because it was Saturday....even more people on a work day!

Love you all....and looking forward to sharing more of our lives in Hong Kong with you