Hong Kong, May 2010

So here we are in Hong Kong and as expected, we’re loving it! I’ve decided I’ll update the blog occasionally as the area is very photogenic, so if you’re interested, check back every month or two and you can see what we’ve been up to.



We arrived in the last week of April and moved into our temporary accommodation, a serviced apartment, adjacent to the botanical gardens and just a few minutes walk to the center. The views from our room are amazing – we can see lots of the big sky scrapers and occasionally catch a glimpse of a parrot or flamingo in the aviaries down below across the road.


Matt started work a week after we arrived – his office is based in Kowloon and it only takes him 20 minutes door to desk. A couple of times a week he’s based at the main head office which is just 5 minutes away. He likes the job - it’s a challenge, but very interesting and the people are lovely. He’s been taken out for a lot of lunches by his colleagues so is becoming somewhat of an expert on Chinese cuisine!


I’m busy settling us in and have bought myself a keyboard as I used to play the piano when I was younger and want to get back into it. I’m also working on a couple of projects and will do a photography course next month.


Early in May we started looking at permanent apartments, and saw about 12 – many were lovely, but we fell in love with one half way up the peak, at the top of a 35 story tower, with 2 outdoor terraces. Unfortunately the kitchen was a bit dated, so they’re replacing it – that’s great news, but it means we can’t move in for weeks - 17th July – we’re very excited about it though!


Most of our spare time is spent mooching about, getting to know our way around and exploring the city, islands and beaches. Over 60% if Hong Kong is made up of green spaces and national parks, so it’s very easy to escape the hubbub whenever you want to! Highlights have included:


Visiting the botanical and zoological gardens, and Hong Kong Park, which has the largest aviary in Asia with some beautiful birds.


Taking the tram up to the peak for the spectacular panoramas of the city.



Visiting Macau – an amazing place – we had to go to activate Matt’s work visa – it’s an hour away on a ferry. It was occupied by the Portuguese in the late 1500s so has lots of colonial/European history and recently it’s become the Las Vegas of the east, with lots of gaudy casino contrasting nicely with the World Heritage sites! For the past couple of years it’s been the gambling capital of the world, generating more money than Las Vegas itself! Now there’s a fact!




Walking through Central on a Sunday – All of the Filipino maids have their day off and meet their mates all over town for picnics on the pavements – their incessant chatter is known as ‘the tweeting of the maids’!


Visiting the town of Stanley where we had a great Sunday lunch by the sea!

Visiting the furniture shops in Aberdeen – over 70 shops based in one 27 storey tower, tres strange! And then lunching at the famous Lotus floating restaurant.



Visiting the famous Hong Kong markets – they have them for everything, Antiques, Gold Fish, Flowers and ‘Small birds in cages’!






Having a night out with the very glamorous Nicole Reboe, one of my Sister’s best friends who is currently based in Singapore.


Visiting Lantau Island to see the largest outdoor sitting Buddha in the world, and getting there on an amazing glass bottomed cable car!





Other than that we’ve been enjoying lots of nice meals out around Soho and are getting used to being in the same place for more than a week! We’ll update again in the next month or two!

London: 23rd – 25th April 10

We arrived in London on Friday morning – it’s weird to be back and knowing that we’re leaving again so soon! Matt had some meetings arranged with his old colleagues around lunch time so I went with him to Canary Wharf and had a stroll around checking our old stomping grounds.


We then returned to our hotel in Covent Garden, just by Seven Dials to prepare for our party in the evening – as we’re only in London for a couple of days we thought it best to get all of our friends together in the same place so we reserved half of a basement at a bar in Fitzrovia.

The venue was cool – lots of space and a good atmosphere and we had about 35 people turn up. It was great to see everyone, although as always with these things you don’t get to speak to everyone as much as you’d like to.


We had all of our old friends there, as well as lots of Matt’s HSBC colleagues and my old Rapier colleagues and Clients.


Tania, whom we travelled with around Bolivia also made the trip over from France to attend! Everyone had a great time and we all managed to get very drunk – which, lets face it, was the intention!


On Saturday Matt and I were feeling worse for wear. Luckily our friend Penny had bought us Glee on DVD as a leaving present, so we watched 10 (yes, 10!) episodes – it’s a great hangover cure!

Unfortunately some of our peace and quiet was disturbed by Palestine and Israel kicking off outside our window – a demo of a whole 12 people - that’s central London for you! We did manage to leave the hotel for dinner – just about.




The next day was marathon day so we met up with Obe for lunch and then headed down to the Mall to meet Rosie and Chris. Our friend Jonny was running the marathon so we cheered him on (at least the others did – I’d gone for a pee break and missed him – typical!). That was followed by afternoon tea at the National Gallery – very cakey!

It was great to spend our last day in London on Marathon day – all of the flags were out and the streets were buzzing – despite a bit of rain it was largely bright and sunny – infact we’ve been very lucky as for the 3 weeks we’ve been in England we’ve had sunshine and blue skies every day!

In the afternoon we took a taxi to Heathrow to start our new life in Hong Kong! We have a week to settle in before Matt starts work – watch this space!