April 2017

The month of April flew by - literally I was on 14 airplanes for approximately 75 hours in the air.

HKG - SEA - LAX - SJO - ATL - SEA - HKG - ICN - PVG - DEL - IXC - BOM - CJB - BOM - HKG

Started the month off with a trip to Costa Rica (planned long before knowing I would be living in HK) with a roommate from college and her family.

It took a lot to get there an back, but was totally worth 7 days of sand, sun and relaxation.  Getting me ready for the rest of the month.

The rest of the month was work - and I am only hitting the fun highlights.

Flew Thai airlines for the first time - very colorful airline - kept me awake 😊

Next fun surprise was a gift from my US team - Taco Cats and Hula Cats

Spent Easter weekend in Shanghai and visited the Yuan Garden - still just a beautiful as before.

Found some Easter decorations in the Waldorf Astoria.

One of my colleagues celebrated her birthday in Shanghai and found the coolest place for drinks - Yongfoo Elite - the way we described it was that it was previously the house of a rich person.  Really laid back atmosphere.  In the picture below you can see the house cat hanging out with Buddha.

Sunday in Shanghai, we took a cooking class - it was dumplings.  We started buying key ingredients at the wet market then going to an apartment to prepare.  We made and ate 3 types of dumplings - soup dumpling (xiao long bao), vegetable fried dumplings, and shrimp steamed dumplings.

Last stop in Shanghai was the famous (or at least famous with my friends) Dragonfly Spa for a foot or a foot and shoulder massage before the night flight to New Delhi.

Landed in New Delhi at 2:20am and made it to hotel by 4am.  We had planned this to be a rest day.  What does rest day mean - head to Agra and see the Taj Mahal.

It was as beautiful as I remember and my colleagues who had never been were in awe.  Only down side was the heat - we saw 43℃ (that is 110℉) and that was the real temp not the feels like temp.

Lunch was at a traditional Indian cuisine - Peshawri at ITC hotel.  The exciting part was the family size Naan (or maybe Roti) we ordered - it was enough bread for all 7 of us.  Made sure I had people in the picture to give context to the true size.

The beginning of this trip in India we stayed at the Imperial in New Delhi.  It was, as always, an amazing hotel.  My personal highlight is the breakfast buffet with homemade granola.

They always have the most beautiful flower displays in the lobby.  This time was loofah with carnations.

From New Delhi my trip went more local for the rest of next week.  We went north to Chandigarh.  On the way to the mill, we had some unusual (but normal for India) traffic obstacles.

Later the same day we headed to Mumbai.  I had another experience I don't think you would find in the US.  I boarded my flight, a Boeing 737, from the rear of the plane.

After some more work on Saturday, I got to explore Mumbai.  I took India's version of an Uber  (Ola) for 4 hours and checked out Gateway of India, Juhu Beach and picked up some Alphonso Mangos, which were in season, for my colleague to take home to his family.

One of the fascinating parts of cities is transportation - I missed taking pictures of the tuk tuks in New Delhi, but I got pictures of them in Mumbai - they look much safer in Mumbai.

Sunday night we headed south to Coimbatore.  Continued to spend a lot of time on the road.  Here are some highlights - more local Tuk Tuks

New road hazards

We determined we traveled approximately 1,400 km (870 miles) in cars visiting 4 facilities.  I learned a lot about horn blowing.  In the US I feel when you use your horn there is some emotion behind it (get out of my way, hi, etc).  In India blowing your horn is part of driving etiquette - telling other drivers you are passing.  I saw a lot of larger trucks with signs actually telling people to "please blow horn" so they know they are nearby or preparing to pass.

We had another traditional south Indian lunch - Thali.  I have had this meal many times before in HK, but it was so much better here.  Few notes - as I was obviously the only westerner in the restaurant - they brought me a spoon so I did not eat with my hands.  Also the cost is amazing.   In HK this meal costs ~ US$11 and local here is cost ~US$1.70.

Two highlights of the facility visits.  Each day a symbol is drawn in chalk on the street in front of factory entrance.  Some were very elaborate and beautiful.

And I became a celebrity.  At an inspection location the ladies all wanted their picture with me.

My last highlight of the India part of my trip was in intense Ayurvedic Oil massage - no pictures.  Two girls used a lot of oil to release tension.  There was very little English,  but they did tell me my skin was beautiful and wanted to know if I liked their brown skin.  I realized they have not seen many westerners.

Ended this adventure on a flight leaving Mumbai at 1:20am with a little sleep before HK.  But when I returned to HK - I had a new roommate move in.

Patrick arrived in HK a week before I got home and started back in the Target Hong Kong office on the raw material quality assurance team.  

More adventures to come.

March 2017

It has been a few weeks since the last blog post - I was getting the apartment in order and recovering from a cold that knocked me out.  I am back up and running.

A few highlights while I was down:

I explored the local neighborhood (Jordan) and spotted a neighbor taking a nap on a warm car hood.  There are a lot of cats in the new hood.  If you're going to take a nap on a car, that's not a bad choice - Fancy cat.

While crossing a street on the island I witnessed a couple getting a wedding photo by a stop light in the middle of an intersection - can't say you would see this in the US.

Last Sunday I started a week of work travel to Seoul and Shanghai.  Here are some of my non-work highlights.

Taking off:

My Seoul obsession is stationery - specifically pens.  I satisfied my need with only 4 pens on this trip, but I will be back next month with a free weekend day - so my collection will grow then.

After a day of work at a vendor showroom - I found my way home via the subway (I have done this before), but as I was looking at the larger subway map - I realized how small Hong Kong really is compared to Seoul and the surrounding area.

A dinner highlight - Mexican 

A lunch highlight - Sushi Bento Box

Another interesting highlight - as a passenger in the rear seat of a Seoul taxi - I had my own rear view mirror (used for getting out of the car, but interesting in traffic).  I could never see this coming to Hong Kong - it would scare everyone.

A few interesting signs in offices this week.  I did not go into the room on left - I used the skirt picture with no drips.

And off to Shanghai

Shanghai was a bit more challenging.  I didn't take many photos.  I had some taxi issues.  It took 20 minutes to get a taxi, I was dropped at the wrong office, and I left my bag in the taxi,  The driver did stop 1/2 way down the block when he saw it in the back seat, which saved the day.

A dinner highlight - Japanese Seafood Hot Pot

And back to Hong Kong - I had to look hard to make sure this was the flight to Hong Kong.

On Saturday morning I had get back to my routing back at Crema for breakfast and a new latte animal

On Sunday I got my toes in shape for vacation next week.

It will be a few weeks again until I write - a lot of travel in my next month - a week of vacation in Costa Rica, then a work trip to China, South Korea, China and India.  See you in May with lots of pictures.

New Home

It is official - we have a residence in Hong Kong as of Wednesday.

Here is my exit photo from the temporary housing - a line of suitcases that were taken to the new place.

About an hour later this is what was happening in the new place.

Bedroom #1 - Trundle bed, but I am not sure how it will work - I needed to close the door to bring the bottom mattress out to make the bed later.

Bedroom #2 - Closet.  Unlike the US where there must be a closet in the room for it to be considered a bedroom - not in Hong Kong.  Good Luck finding a place for your clothes, thus a bedroom becomes a closet.

Bedroom #3 - Master Bedroom.  Apparently a footboard is not common in Hong Kong as there is exactly 11 inches between the wall and the bed.  A little tight.

Thursday I went to China.  On the way there via ferry I peeked out the window and saw the island I was on the other weekend.

Friday's highlight was internet.  It is fiber, and what a difference it makes.

Most of Friday was me watching the ferries come and go from the China Hong Kong port (where I left the day before)

The view out the window of our new place makes up for some tight spaces - it is totally distracting.

This next picture highlights the end of my week - emptied a tissue box.  From when the movers left until last Sunday afternoon - I was under the weather (got above long enough for the trip to China) - congestion and low grade fever.  

So every night now from 8:00 - 8:14pm we have the light show to entertain us.  I tried to video some Saturday night.  There is music that accompanies the show, but not in our apartment.

Ventured out Sunday morning for more latte art.

Food Obsession

I was uploading all the photos I took over the past week and realized I might be obsessed with food - since most of them were food.

I buttoned up the deal on the new apartment this week.   With a fresh coat of paint and curtains, I will be there on Wednesday.  I feel confident next week's pictures will not be focused on food, but maybe boxes and furniture.  (And I have internet scheduled to be up and running on Friday - so I will be able to post.)

This week started with another piece of latte art - tree.

I had lunch with a colleague on Wednesday.  I love going to lunch with the team - because they will take me places I won't venture to on my own.  This was a new Thai restaurant, and there was english on the menu.  I might venture back. Here is my fish curry.

On Friday, I had tea time with the team for birthday celebrations for the month.  It was an opportunity for me to get more adventurous (with the assistance of the team).  Here is the menu I was shown to select from:

My first selection was B4 - Thick toast with Taiwan Sesame Butter Biscuit.  Unfortunately that was sold out, so I ended up with Crispy Bun w/ Coconut Taste.

It turns out that there is a new menu... 

While enjoying our snacks we noticed a bride taking wedding pictures by the harbor as the fog (smog) lifted from earlier in the week.  Then as I looked closer (2nd picture) I noticed the photographer was posing the group without the harbor in the background - not a good photographer in my opinion.

Friday night was girls night out - 7 expat girls (6 American and 1 Korean) off to dinner and a movie.  Dinner was Korean and the movie was LaLa Land. The highlights of dinner are below - BBQ, Soju and noodles.

Saturday morning took me to another new coffee shop, Urban Roasters, for brunch.  I ordered the Classic Eggs Benedict and a latte.  Well - the eggs Benedict was on bread with the hardest crust ever.  They served the latte in a glass which was too hot to hold.   After I got through the crust, and let the coffee cool, it was good.

I spent the rest of Saturday mentally preparing for the move - aka window shopping.  Found an H&M home store :)  which was in Mongkok - so I strolled through the Ladies' Market.  One of the conversations from girls night was about a lady seen on MTR (subway) who had an animal head protruding from their back.  As I walked the market - I saw the animals and snapped a picture to take to work on Monday and show the girls where they can acquire their own animal.  I got a Taiwan shrimp cake for lunch.

Sunday started with latte art again at Crema - someone at the coffee shop loves me.

After emptying my closets back into suitcases for the move (3/4 of a kilometer) on Wednesday, I treated myself to a PA snack I found in the local grocery.  Home is never that far away.