Day 3 - Meeting Local Friends

Our travelling companion is quite seasoned and seems to have friends dotted all over the world.  We had arranged to meet up in the afternoon at the local museum.  Taking advantage of old friends catching up, the youngster and I headed off to the café whilst the pair toured through the museum.  In the café we were greeted by the smell of coffee, but the taste of the local milk had not yet grown on me.  We did see some local toasted buns, so we ordered one each and sat down to wait.

I am really not sure what we were expecting, but a bread roll with butter and condensed milk spread on top was a bit of a surprise.  There were giggles all round as we tucked into them.  Of course the youngster needed to visit the bathroom, as with most establishments in life.  I know it is politically incorrect around the world to whip out your camera in the bathroom, but check out these toilet doors!

Vicki of course new all the good spots to eat, and I was somewhat excited about not having Japanese for dinner.  I do love going into a restaurant and seeing it packed out with locals, it is a good sign that the food is great.  Vicki was in charge of the menu, and we were soon surrounded by an amazing smorgasbord of delights.  The sweet and sour pork was out of this world, as was the youngster's and my use of chopsticks.

With the friends deciding to take another stroll along the harbour, we bid them farewell and headed back to the hotel, bed and resting our weary legs.



 

Day 3 - Hong Kong Island

Into the little touring van, and off to visit the Hong Kong Island with the tour host that no doubt wanted to be a famous television game show host.  Man that guy could talk, and it sounded like a recording of what he had no doubt done a million times, shuffling tourists around.

The trip up to the top of the island to Victoria Peak is done via a quaint little tram.  552 metres high with a 7 km running track around the top.  Lovely place to get away and bash out a nice run whilst glancing down at Victoria Harbour, Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island.  Given we were on a time restriction, I was unable to partake in the burning of calories.  Ha ha...I can't remember the last time I bashed out a 7 km run, thank goodness there was only time  At least the talking guide had all the moves and he managed to navigate his way to herding all the tour into the car at the same time.  No mean feat when you have wandering tourists of every nationality, may have been easier to heard cats!

 



From Victoria Peak we headed over to the south side of the Island driving past Repulse Bay.  The name is drawn from the battleship HMS Repulse who battled plundering pirates many years ago.  Our next stop is scheduled to be the local jewellery factory.  We were ushered in and stuck there for what felt like an eternity.  After some time of playing dodge with the sales people. and convincing the child that she did not need a $700 AUD miniature jade dog, I dutifully purchased a Rat pendant for my necklace and fended off others as I tried to find my way to the exit.

Next stop is the Stanley Markets.  Although our time to wander around here is now down to less than an hour, due to the length of incarceration at the jewellery factory!  By this stage in the day I have not eaten since breakfast and am nearly fainting.  We race through stalls in desperation, searching for any food venue to plunder!

With the threat of being left at Stanley Street to find our own way home, we quickly ate and headed back to the bus.  The air conditioning of the bus was a welcome relief to the temperatures outside, and the trip down to the Aberdeen Fishing Village was lovely.

We were to visit the "remains of Hong Kong's boat people...with an optional sampan ride".  Marketing people have a lot to answer for. 

Upon arriving at the dock, we move straight onto the sampan.  I am not sure where the tour for the fishing village was, so the spin around the harbour was at least some way of having a look at a boat of some description.

 

It was amusing to see that a love of gardening could be achieved whilst residing on the water.

 

 

The thing that bothered me most about this trip was the obvious problem with refuse and environmental sustainability.

 

 

Day 2 - Hong Kong Harbour

After a day of transport hopping and trekking around Disneyland, we were pretty wrecked on arriving back at the hotel.  I didn't want to walk any further, so as we rounded the corner from the hotel I noticed a restaurant called Rubota Kim.  Funky name, so I limped on in and took up residence at a table.  Low and behold, for the third night in a row we were about to eat sushi!

By this stage I wanted something a little different, but the eel and tuna sashimi on the opposite side of the table was not making a run at my side.  I was able to squash in an edamame bean or two.  It had been warm all day, so the crab and mango option sounded nice.  I ordered tuna for the youngster, and looked away when realising that the tuna was not cooked.  The tuna jelly went down fine thank goodness. 


The waiter wandered back to the table to advise that there was not any mango left.  Big sigh from me, but he says that he can put some cheese on instead.  Not being familiar with cheese on sushi, I thought I misheard him.  Apparently not, and it was certainly the first time I have every had grilled cheese on sushi!

Much to our dismay, the next thing on the list was to trek down to Hong Kong Harbour for the famous photo shot.  Have to see it at night, the lights are spectacular.  By this stage my feet had long since passed the hurting stage and had progressed into a state of numbness.  Although there was not a large time zone variation, the travelling and big day at walking had taken a toll on the normally early to bed pair.  But it is a holiday, a life adventure...buckle up travellers.

The view was amazing and well worth the walk. We were also fortunate enough to have a lantern parade that we got to wander through.  A spectacular way to end the day.  The fitbit clocked over 12 km today, and I have felt every step of it.

 

 

Day 2 - Disney Land

Travel to Disney Land today was sure exciting, we used four different subway trains to land over there. The last train had the cutest windows, they were Mickey Mouse ears!  The  train was adorned with bronze statues of the Disney characters, and the hand straps also joined in the theming.

We paused for the entrance photo, although someone managed to put in a seductive pose, not sure what was going on there!

Actually it was hilarious, even the youngsters lunch time meal had carrot and watermelon cut Mickey mouse ears.  There was also the wafting aroma of Mickey Mouse waffles.

As with any commercialised venture, there was a stack of Disney branded items for sale.  The child got lost in the possibility of spending all travel money on Day 2 to buy up all the little stuffed things she could find.  Thankfully Mummy had the foresight to but a limit on the number you could buy, and also the size given we are travelling a long way from home.  Some blue stitch thing was selected and then randomly appeared in photos for the balance of the day.

I am not sure if the traffic through the amusement park was normal for a Saturday, but it was surely not what I expected.  We hardly had to queue for any rides or food, which meant that there were ample rides to be taken.  The youngster finally achieved her dream of a roller coaster ride, actually multiple times.  At the end of the ride, I swear she would have broken a track record to run back and announce how excited she was.

After rollercoasters, she also managed to survive some horrid looking ride the spanned into the sky at great speeds. Many thanks to Aunty Helen for her dedication to attending to every ride request.

We did climb up through Tarzan's tree house, after a short ride down the river on a raft.  I jumped on the carosel for a spin and almost begged the horses to stop moving.  As we took a spin on the train around the outside of the park, I spotted the famous tea cups that had been etched in my childhood memory, and the best part, it was stationary!  In reflecting on the day, the youngster feels that I must have had a sense of abandonment at being left alone and away from the fun of screaming your head off.  Yep those solo moments with a quiet coke zero were terrible.  I also managed to find a popcorn place, and I did pass on the curry popocorn option, instead giving the chocolate version a go.

Determined to make the most of my holiday, and perhaps bring home a little trinket for myself, I gave this a good.....

 

It was also lovely to hang out with the youngster, with no worries about school, work, chores or any other normal life drama.  It was random moments of being able to see how big she has actually grown, and how her own little sense of humour is developing.  This stunt actually made me chuckle out loud.  The look on her face was hilarious, especially when glancing over at Aunty Helen who was posing quite respectively for the photo.

 

The fitbit announced on the way out of the park that I had hit my step target for the day, and judging by the feel or lack of feeling in my feet at the moment, it feels like I walked a long way. 

Day 1 2015 Holiday

Queensland to Hong Kong, a small nine hour flight. Good news that the AS managed to hold up ok, and I was walking and moving reasonably when we landed. No challenges with immigration, customs or baggage collection, and we navigated our way through the airport landing near the train.  

With a couple of ways to get to Kowloon, the cheapest option included the train ride. It was good to see that our spirit for adventure was up after the long flight.  Thankfully I had some of the local currency, so paying cash at the ticket machine was not a problem.  The youngster was in shock at the $135 price, so we made a note to work out the exchange rate sum so we understood how many Australian dollars we were spending.

The train ride was easy. Navigating out of the shopping centre we landed in was much more difficult! We meandered for what seemed like an eternity before stumbling on the exit and the very long taxi line.  Of course to keep us company was 30 degree heat and the welcome aroma of Asia!

The cab ride should have cost around $30, and I am really not sure if the $60 fare was intentional, or that traffic jam was unpredictable!  But given the luxurious vehicle we were riding in, perhaps he needed to fund the next one.

 

We have found our travelling companion and it's great to be able to spend some in person time with one of my dearest friends who lives on the other side of our local continent. With a wry smile, I walked under bamboo scaffolding as we wandered up the streets looking for dinner.  The youngster had been lured from her mattress with the knowledge that sushi did in fact exist in Kowloon!  Of course sashimi was not what she expected, but we did manage to find a spot that made tuna hand rolls, so the crisis was averted.  Soft crab tempura hand rolls were amazing, as was the mixed tempura plate of things.  The little magic mushroom creation was gently passed over for Helen to eat, so I am waiting to see if she awakes for day 2 activities!

Updates

It seems like I have been missing since May.  Wow the time has sure flown.  My business is a freckle off hitting its first financial milestone.  We officially kicked off the new company in February, so it has been a fantastic ride to get to this point.  It was less than a year ago when I verbalised that it may be time to make a start on another goal.  The concept was met with a slight frown.  Discussion around risk, and effort began. In my head it was not so much of a big deal, and really it wouldn't take any additional effort.  The risk thing was fine, but effort was way understated!  But the great thing is that when it is your own, and your passionate about it, well it often doesn't feel like work.

With the achievement of a business goal, the next one will be to regain some level of fitness, it has felt of late that I have traded the pursuit of money (business) over other parts of life.  After the holiday, I plan on swinging back to a more balanced approach, which may result in a financial progress slow down, but I created the company for a lifestyle change, not a financial one.

In the middle of all this change, we decided three years of dating between two houses was enough, and we made the plunge into cohabitation.  Things went a bit like my approach to effort above.  Turns out a quiet life of two is way different to five, and this journey has been a little bumpy.  The great thing is despite all the challenges of adjusting to the new family dynamics, I would say that our relationship has strengthened during the period.

The youngster made the regional athletics team again this year, and had a blazing 100m sprint and relay, of which I managed to do a breakfast meeting with a company around a government tender strategy, then make it to the track to see the first sprint, back to the city for a coffee meeting with a finance manager who controls 6 government agencies, then back to the track, then over to the other side of town to do a staff 1:1!  Life is certainly busy, but it feels "full", or maybe complete.

Today we are sitting at the airport, awaiting our boarding call to head off to Hong Kong.  The trip that was planned forever ago is now finally here.  The youngster told the customs guy that she was intending to bring a panda home from China.  Thankfully he had a sense of humour and we were on the way over, not the way home!  

Focussing on What is Important

I use google mail for my email to avoid being tied to any particular ISP.  Over the past few weeks I have had a few problems with not receiving emails. I had checked the usual junk folder options, but nothing appeared amiss.  A few days ago, I accidentally stumbled on the problem.  For some reason google mail is taking emails and adding them to the trash!  I have checked all the rules, but I cannot find the reason why.

In reviewing the contents of the trash I discovered several blog subscriptions about personal finance had found their way into a new home.  The funny thing was I had been so busy with life, I had not really noticed that they weren't in my inbox. I spent some time recovering the articles and moving them to my inbox, and as a temporary measure I monitor the trash each day to grab them out.

In reading an article this morning, it was talking about a process to journal what you are doing each day and how happy you are doing it.  The concept is that you find the times when you are most happiest and then spend more time doing those activities.

It has been an introspective week of mulling over a few things, so it was a timely read, and an epiphany that I had wandered a little off course.  By trying to focus on making everyone else happy, I had forgotten to take time to focus on what made me happy. 

I am most happiest when I am organised.  And in turn being organised allows me to focus on things that make me happy, and it improves the quality of the family life.  Each weekend the youngster has free range of technology or television, or any activity of choice up until 9:00 AM.  From there, there is a technology switch off.  We have followed this routine for many years, but of late things have slipped.  I have also noticed that stepping in the footsteps of an older brother has meant that there is some mimicking of the types of games he likes to play.  Within the bounds of what is age appropriated, I have allowed for this to occur.  But what I have noticed is that there is a distinct behavioural problem that occurs after playing time battling opponents. 

When being better organised, I am better able to ponder life's mysteries, and in turn this enables me to be a better parent.  The iPad has been lost at about 9:05 each morning, and has not been played any evening during the school week.  The result is that there is a forced down time to focus on other activities.  This in turn has resulted in the youngster being better organised, and an improvement in our relationship and her behaviour.

This morning at 9:05 AM she rushed out to advise that technology is to be off.  Initially I was annoyed, I bet that is her reaction at the 9:00 AM announcement!  I had spent the time working on reviewing the finances for end of month, adjusting the progress on goals, filing away some of the stack of paperwork that is on the desk and transferring photos ready for new blog updates.  I quickly recovered and put a note on the schedule for how I felt about the morning..  I remember that I actually like to cook each weekend.  To prepare options for lunch boxes and advance meals, and to take time to prepare for the family dinner night that occurs. 

I also love to minimise wastage, and reduce our grocery budget as much as possible.  Our weekly budget is $100 per week, and it has been this for several years.  Despite our family of two often being five, we still have not adjusted the weekly budget.  I have actually had time to go back and start menu planning for each week, tracking our progress against budget, and organising to have our groceries delivered.  In short, we eat better when we have more time, and it costs us less to do so.  I love the conversations from the youngster that occur about what is planned for dinner.

We took a look at the surplus items in the fridge and pantry, and made a bee line to whipping up a weetbix slice, complete with the Easter egg chocolate topping.  Instead of me doing all the cooking, I stepped aside and let the youngster take charge.  Now I am the first to admit, I have kitchen control issues, and they do not cope well with the cyclone child.  Despite all of this we managed to spend time learning about fractions, weights and temperature of melting chocolate.  This was a nice opportunity to review maths homework and to look at real life examples of how it is useful.

Unfortunately there is a requirement for some new winter pj's, so a trip to the shopping centre will be required, and that will not be chalked up on the happiness meter, I detest shopping.  But perhaps we can stop in to the nursery on the way home and grab some new herbs to replace the ones that the turkey pulled out over the weekend.  Now the pool table is gone, I have some spare room inside, so they can grow safely on this side of the glass!  We also need to wash the car, fill up the garbage bins and potter around the yard doing some odd jobs.