While I was off on holiday, my co-workers left me a little present on my desk. They rearranged the keys on my keyboard to read "ADRIAN GOT PUNKED". Well played, well played...
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Workplace Mischief
While I was off on holiday, my co-workers left me a little present on my desk. They rearranged the keys on my keyboard to read "ADRIAN GOT PUNKED". Well played, well played...
Thursday 25 March 2010
Hong Kong 2010
This starts in the aviation museum at SFO (ranked #20 in the Skytrax world airport awards) which I stopped by in to check out pre-flight. It's before security so go check it out in the International Terminal sometime when you can. I've been before but this time, they rotated their displays and they had an exhibit on airline music of the past. This is a Pan Am record from way back when.
After enjoying the luxuries of the BA lounge prior to departure (for a bit longer than I expected really), I made my way to my gate where this large piece of art was on display. Kudos to SFO for incorporating art openly everywhere in the airport. It makes a huge, positive aesthetic difference.
My seat for the 15hr plane ride to HK. Boo yah.
My lunch appetizer = mixed greens with portobello, seared ahi with shiso pesto and focaccia.
Main course = Fried sea bass with sweet wine sauce, steamed jasmine rice and stir fried bak choy w/carrots. Yum!
My entertainment during my meal. Good movie if you ask me.
Dessert = marble cheesecake w/berry compote.
And the dinner main course just prior to landing = pan-roasted chicken w/tomato basil sauce, pearl couscous, asparagus & carrots.
I arrived quite tired and after a good night's sleep, had breakfast @ Jaspas in Sai Kung w/Dad, Aunty & Deryck. Here's my egg white omelette brekkie.
Day 1 was relatively quiet and so on Day 2, we went out to explore a bit. I got hungry so we grabbed a snack @ 7-11: shu mai! Not bad I must say.
Day 2 ended with dinner in Tsim Sha Tsui and a new digi cam for me. Here's my brekkie on Day 3: Special K with heaps of fruit.
Barney was hungry for breakfast too!
Street market @ Sham Shui Po for a bit of shopping.
Aunty w/some sculptures in the Choi Hung MTR stop.
Another tasty midday snack. This one from the pie shop in the Choi Hung MTR. Ostrich pie! Quite good I must say. Just the right amount of spice!
Dim Sum @ Maxim's. Best I've had in a long time I reckon. I think I have low standards here in the states... By the way, that's more shu mai
Wu gok (best description I found was a taro turnover).
Steamed char siu bao. A classic.
Two turnip cakes on the bottom, one taro cake on the top. Personally, the turnip cakes could be my most favourite dim sum dish when done right.
And a bit of mango pudding to appease the sweet tooth.
Those of you who have followed this blog for a while might remember my last HK post (back in 2007), which involved some photo shenanigans in a shopping mall. I found myself in the very same mall in Po Lam (after eating at the very same dim sum place) where I proceeded to take a photo with this Yao mannequin.
Had to pick up some groceries after and, low and behold, they had a fine selection of NZ cheeses available! NZ exports quite a bit of dairy overseas, particularly to Asia.
A hill that typifies the rolling landscape of CUHK, where Deryck is studying for the semester. He complains constantly about walking up and down hills all day long.
In order to satisfy Deryck's desire for "western food", we ate at Anthony's Ranch in Sai Kung. Yes, US-style BBQ-ing in HK.
My pulled pork sandwich with a generous side of fries. It tasted pretty decent though I'll admit to feeling just a bit sick afterwards (though that didn't stop me from having a bit of ice cream after getting home).
The dogs awoke every morning like clockwork at about 7am. I joined my Aunty on the morning walks occasionally and this is a pic from the longest trot I went on where we hiked up to a radio tower on a hill. Bessie does a trick for Aunty (and a doggie treat) while Barney spectates.
We alternatively followed this trail and some access roads on the way up a set of hills above Sai Kung. I didn't know there were so many trails in the area and I now have a desire to come back and explore the outdoors sometime (hopefully not in the middle of summer).
The dogs and the aforementioned radio tower at the top of the hill.
A view from the top down to misty Sai Kung. We could see Aunty's house from here (it's out of frame to the right).
馬鞍山 (Ma On Shan) to the north(ish) of Sai Kung. On the other side of the mountain is CUHK (well, the general direction). I'd like to come back and hike this mountain next time 'round.
Bess & Barney cool off by splashing in a small pond.
Bess & Barney sitting contently after a nice walk and a hearty breakfast.
With Dad off running errands in Central & Aunty stuck at home with some contractors, Deryck & I headed out for a bit of adventure beginning with the Hong Kong Art Museum.
A row of propellers of increasing size created by a local HK artist. I can't remember exactly the meaning of this piece but it had to do with SARS and freedom.
Common HK cots/chairs which the artist combined into a sizable sculpture.
Deryck poses with a collection of little...um...cart looking things?
A camel. At this point, I began taking pictures of things more for their aesthetic appeal and with a little less retained knowledge about any particular details.
Unfortunately, see above comment for explanation (disregard the camel part). I hear they have something like this in the collection at the Cantor Museum at Stanford University (free admission if you happen to be in town).
An image of Hong Kong through the window of the Art Museum. Yes, that's the HK Convention Center across the water (more on that later).
There also was quite a collection of sculptures outside of the museum.
Me, Deryck and the Hong Kong skyline. You can see the BOC tower to the left of my head and the IFC (tallest building in HK) on the far right.
Quintessential Hong Kong. Modern skyline juxtaposed against the more traditional chinese boat.
Me and Haibao (the mascot for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai).
The Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower and the Flying Frenchman sculpture.
There was lunch at Cafe Muse (unremarkable cuisine) and a stop at the Hong Kong Space Museum (yes, like outer space...kinda disappointing because a lot of stuff wasn't working or was outdated). Anyways, we walked on over to the Hong Kong Science Museum for an entertaining end to our museum expedition. Here I am inside a yellow submarine.
Neat optical illusion. Can you see the reflected image?
Fun with mirrors. Notice the camera is pointing away from us.
Mirror universe. This museum absolutely killed the space museum in terms of enjoyment.
Dinosaur skeleton! Not really sure what kind it is but it looks like a sauropod of some sort.
There was quite a bit more fun stuff in the Science museum (some of which I took pics of and some I didn't) but let's move on shall we? Here's an outdoor sculpture using paddles found outside the Science Museum.
Nothing like a lovely, homecooked dinner of broccoli, fried rice, pork/chicken adobo, choy sum and pancit. Thanks Rosemarie!
At this point, I've also stopped counting days...and we're only halfway...(and my hands kinda hurt from all this typing). A view from The Peak with a little lion sculpture formed on the balcony of the lookout.
Another hot day in HK requires another cooling beverage. This one is a sour plum with osmanthus drink (bottled exclusively for 7-11!).
Afternoon cake and tea (blueberry cheescake shown, earl grey not shown) with family friends Aunty Anson & Aunty Ninson. Delightful.
The Marriott in HK was the hotel that my family stayed at on our first trip to HK back in 1995. This brings back memories.
If memory serves me, this is an abstract sculpture of the Chinese character fook (meaning fortune) found in the lobby of the Marriott.
I said we'd get back to the HK Convention Center and here we are to celebrate my Dad's friend's 80th Birthday!
We arrived early and the Grand Foyer of the Convention Center was relatively empty. Here's Aunty helping to illustrate the size of this place!
Me, Aunty, Dad & Deryck. We are all here to partake in the fancy dinner. At this point, though you may not be able to tell in the photo, we were all starving!
The dinner table at last! Prepare yourself to see the full feast...
Barbecued suckling pig.
Baked sea conch with Portuguese sauce (kinda like a curry flavour).
There was at least ~1000 people at this gig in the Grand Hall of the HK Convention Center. Quite possibly the biggest birthday party I'll ever go to in my life.
Shark's fin soup with bamboo pith and seafood.
Sliced abalone and mushrooms braised with vegetables.
Steamed Star grouper.
Deep fried chicken marinated in garlic. Finger lickin' good!
Noodles with dumpling served in supreme soup. I'd say I liked this (and the steamed fish) the most.
Fried glutinous rice with preserved meat. Sounded so good but turned out to just be okay.
Double boiled papaya with almond juice and snow fungus. Quite a dessert. I'm kind of a sucker for almond.
And finally, to cap off the evening, Longevity buns (the actual bun is the little thing on the left while the big pink shell was mostly for decoration). Deryck and I had a contest to see who could eat the most longevity buns after that monstrous dinner and I'm pretty sure I won. (I think he was too busy obsessing over Alex Fong who was sitting a couple tables away).
Dad's cousin Eric (center) joins the rest of us for a photo.
After an exhausting evening at the fancy party, we welcomed a more relaxing day afterwards. Top down cruising on the way to the China border. Little did I know how stressful the day would really be...
So, I got held up by Chinese immigration for perceived "visa issues" on the way to Shenzhen which caused some confusion with HK immigration. After waiting around nervously at the border for almost an hour or so, we made it to China! I'm feeling so relieved at this point and eager for food, shopping and a relaxing massage.
So first up...food! Dim sum in Shenzhen obviously wasn't as good as HK but it certainly was cheap.
Did some shopping in Shenzhen and got a massage as well but on the way back across the border, Chinese immigration decided once wasn't enough so why not hold me up again due to more perceived "issues" with my passport and visa. This resulted in an additional 30-45 minutes of utterly useless waiting and watching somewhat confused/concerned looking Chinese immigration officers strut back and forth with my passport. PRC for the lose. After managing to re-acquire my passport and gain Mao's blessing to return to HK, we drove back to Sai Kung for dinner. Here's my eggplant and pork hot pot (just spicy enough) to help ease away some of the residual anxiety from the border crossings.
Deryck and his chicken/lup cheong/rice hot pot. He, along with Dad & Aunty, all endured pain-free jaunts across the HK/Chinese border.
The next day, we took Dad to the airport as he was to depart for Mainland China to continue his trip. Aunty, Deryck & I enjoyed lunch at the pictured dumpling place in Terminal 2 of HKG after seeing Dad off.
Did a bit of shopping at HKG as well which meant more ridiculous pics with mannequins. Deryck & Astroboy.
After our airport sojourn, we drove a short way over to Cathay City (corporate office for Cathay Pacific Airlines) to park the car and capture this picture with the Lion guarding the entrance.
Parking at Cathay City allowed us easy access to the gondola lift or cable car.
Where to might you ask?
Off we go to find out!
The three happy travelers.
Over the water and up the hill we go.
Up over the hill, we have a small village with the famous giant buddha!
Shameless commercialism means we had more opportunities to take silly photos.
I appreciate the ethnic accuracy in this depiction of the toilet sign. You can see that even the handicap guy is asian!
No explanation required (well...more accurately...no explanation offered).
Ditto.
Can you say choke (pidgin english i.e. heaps, lots of) tourists?
The aforementioned giant buddha in all his up-close goodness.
Smaller, person-sized statues offering gifts or such to the buddha.
I realize that the following pics could be perceived as blasphemous, but I can say that no disrespect was meant and all was in good fun. With that said...High Five Buddha!
Times two!
And here's 10元.
Breathtaking view of Kowloon/HK from atop Fei Ngo Shan (飛鵞山). The old Kai Tak airport runway can be glimpsed on the far left with Hong Kong Island in the back center and Kowloon at the fore.
Me, Aunty & Deryck at the top of Fei Ngo Shan (aka Kowloon Peak) facing the other direction with a view towards Sai Kung in the background.
All that sightseeing meant we needed a serious dinner! BBQ! I handle a bit of grilling while Bess patrols carefully for any scraps.
Steaks & chicken wings cookin'.
Grilled onions, NZ sausages, corn & garlic bread round out the meal. LOVE IT.
Final night in HK meant a trip to Ladies' Street (女人街) in Mong Kok to look for some knick-knacks to buy (of which I bought none).
Did buy some food though. I had to try this 格仔餅 (gak chai beng) which essentially is a soft waffle with peanut butter, sugar & butter. Tastes pretty good though it sounds rather unusual. Thanks for the tip Cat!
Last day in HK during which Aunty & I took the dogs for a sunday stroll through the streets (and little walkways) of Sai Kung.
Sat down for lunch in the hot sun and the dogs decided some shade would be nice.
Me enjoying the sun in Sai Kung.
Cold green tea soba noodles are perfect for a hot day!
As are some cool cuts of sashimi.
Lunch took a while and we were running a little late to get me to the airport in time for my flight. So we had to take a cab back home (dogs and all)!
Finally! My parting pic for my Hong Kong trip. The beautiful HKG airport (ranked #3 in the world by Skytrax). So much natural light blending nicely with the modern design. I arrived at night and didn't get to see this airport in all its splendour. Gorgeous.
And that's that. I hope you all don't mind the massive photo blog post (and I hope it doesn't take you all too long to finish and enjoy it). Thanks so much to Aunty for housing us and to Deryck for
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