Ooooo!

Guess who might be tutoring the rich and famous in Hong Kong? Me me me! Jo's colleague knows a guy (who is apparently a famous pop star) who needs tutoring before an exam, so Jo passed it on to me. Nothing definite yet but it's still exciting to think about.

Maybe it's Edison Chen. Haha.

Radio

Just started listening to Radio One with Chris Moyles and they're talking about the earthquake that happened last night (or this morning for me). Hope everyone's OK btw! Anyway they're going to play earthquake related songs all morning and someone txt in and suggested "What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her head..." haha! I miss being able to listen to Chris Moyles in the morning but at least I still get to hear it in the afternoons between lessons.

Jackie Pullinger was interesting on Sunday. But I am never getting up at 6:30am for church again, I was so tired afterwards. We wanted to go to the 9am service because we knew the 11am service would be packed. She started the talk by speaking in tongues and then someone interpeted them. Then some people prayed too and then went to talk to the kids. The talk was very blunt and Jackie was not how I expected her at all. She talked about how she believes that for every cry for help God has an answer. She also talked about those poor people we should be helping- particularly the Indonesian and Filipino maids here. I'm sure the video will be put up on The Vine website soon. We also went to the follow up service at 6pm lead by Ps John Snelgrove who talked about the weak people we need to help and how we can do that. So if anything has persuaded me to do the Beijing mission trip it's this Sunday.

We also went to another church in the afternoon called Solomon's Porch. It's a small church held in Sheung Wan. I think it's good to hear other speakers and meet other Christians. You don't realise how much of a rut you've gotten into until you go to a different church and see how they worship. We met some really nice people. A few of them are part of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Yuen Long and have invited us over for dinner sometime which is cool!

Will write more tonight, got work to do!

Movies

I'm bored tonight. Just watched Hairspray with Jo which was OK. We've been to the cinema a couple of times in the past week though- on Valentines Day we went to see PS I Love You which wasn't half bad apart from all the Irish clichés and Wedneday night we saw Enchanted which was brilliant! I wasn't expecting much from it so that's probably why I enjoyed it so much. James Marsden is great as the Prince. Patrick Dempsey looks as though he's about to cry all the way through though.

I've decided I am going to do the Beijing mission trip and I handed my deposit in yesterday. So that's something to look forward to at Easter. I'm also starting to look at the prices of flying to and around Australia...yay! I can get a return flight Hong Kong-Perth for around £500. Not too bad considering London to Perth is £1000.

Anyway TV to watch...

Ministry

There's some really cool stuff going on at Church atm. Jackie Pullinger (of Chasing the Dragon fame) is doing a short series on ministering to the poor so I'll definitely be getting up super early to get to church for 8:45 on Sunday. The series is carried on next week and I'm hoping I can get to all of the sessions. It will be amazing to hear what she has to say.

Also, there are 2 mission trips being organised for Easter. One is a trip to go to a tribe on the Thai/Burma border in the jungle. The second is to help at an orphanage in Beijing. Only 10 people can go on the Thai trip but I really couldn't see me in a jungle anyway. Spiders? No showers? No thanks haha. I really feel like I should be going on the Beijing trip and I know it would be an amazing experience but it's just really scary. I feel like it'll be really out of my comfort zone which sounds stupid because I work with kids. I've got to let them know and get the deposit to them by Friday. Hmmm... I'll be doing a lot of thinking today.

Argh!!

The school phoned me at half past 8 this morning telling me I had to be in a meeting at 9am, at another school. I told them that I already had plans. There was no way I was going to a meeting (probably in Cantonese) on my day off. Term doesn't start until tomorrow! And seriously, half an hours notice?! No Way. Jo hadn't been told she had to go so I wasn't going to go. Cat ummed and ahhhed and went back and forth between the Head and me and finally told me that I have to be the same as Jo so if she doesn't go to the meeting I don't have to. Thank you. Then I went back to sleep.

Day 9

The last full day with my parents. Well...with my sister. Today Katy and I went to Ocean Park with Jo and Theresa. Ocean Park is a theme park here with animals as well as various rides and activities like go-karting. We all caught a coach from the West Rail station which was very efficient (and included in the ticket price).

Once we got there we headed straight to see the pandas. They were all asleep when we saw them, and they looked so cute! There's more on flickr of the others.

We hit some rides next. This was definitely not on a par with Alton Towers or any of the theme parks in Britain, you wouldn't come here especially for the rides. They were really old. Some of them were OK. And they are building loads of new ones, so maybe in a couple of years it'll be worth another visit. After lunch we saw the seals. They were adorable. We saw them being fed, and we could have fed them ourselves but we had to buy tickets from somewhere. We watched them for quite a while and there was this one seal who went and laid right next to another seal, it looked like they were cuddling. And they kept fighting over whose tail went on top!

We worked our way round the park going on rides and seeing the various creatures.

We had to queue for an hour to get onto the cable cars to get back to the coach. The park is built on two sides of a hill/peak thing joined by cable cars and I guess there's always a queue back but because we were there just before it closed we caught the crowds. Still we got back about 7ish.

We met my parents in Tuen Mun and I loaded them up with stuff to take home. We went for our last proper meal together. I wasn't going to go out at first, just get a takeaway, but it was closed. Instead we went to the Federal restaurant at Ferry Pier. This us a favourite of mine and Jo's- they do the best sweet and sour shrimp. I'm so glad I got to take my family there because it's a proper local restaurant and I'm sure they don't get many Westerners. We ordered sweet and sour shrimp, chicken and vegetables, and prok ribs in orange sauce. Yum, yum, yum! And for desert we were brought sweet red bean soup with tapioca. I actually liked this one, normally I can't stand the texture. Mum had fun trying to use the chopsticks too!

So that's the holiday. I met them at the airport the next day and we said our goodbyes again...and there were more tears. At least the next time I see them I'll be back home in Britain. I'm sure my parents will fill most of you in with other bits I haven't managed to write down, and show you all of their pictures and videos.

Day 8

Ok before I tell you about Monday let me share a video with you:

It's Joey Yung and I can't believe that I actually like it. Ms Man told be today that I've been in Hong Kong too long if I start liking cheesy cantopop... it's just so catchy... Haha maybe I need to start listening to Radio One again.

So, on Monday we went to Macau by ferry. But we didn't sit in standard ferry seats- we had our own VIP room with TV and reclining seats. And we were brought a breakfast with muffins and fruit. Macau is another S.A.R of China but luckily we don't need visas to go. It's about an hour away from Hong Kong and used to be owned by the Portugese so all the signs are in Portugese as well as cantonese which is strange! We visited the "old town" first which has a lot of Portugese-style buildings and ruins. We first went to the town square with all the Chinese New Year decorations.

After that we visited the ruins of the old St Paul cathedral.

And then a more modern cathedral, and some more buildings. It's weird how it sort of felt like Rome (but freezing cold) with the architecture and all the scooters...but then you go around the corner and it's a totally different place with gawdy casinos everywhere.

We stopped at a couple of casinos- how can you not in Macau?!- the Grand Lisboa and the Venetian. The Venetian was a grand and as tacky as I thought it would be. The canal was pretty awesome though with gondolas and singers and loads of shops.

What else did we see? Oh! The Macau Tower. They do the world's highest bungee jump there so once I've got some money I'm going to go back and do it! It's so cool.

We had to take normal economy class seats on the way back to Hong Kong but the journey didn't take too long. Once we got back we went for some food at a small local restaurant called Relax For A While, the one I'd been to with Sam before, before heading home for some sleep.

Day 7

Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, but not for us lot here in Hong Kong. The day started with me getting up early to go down to Central for Church. I was a bit nervous about taking my parents and sister because obviously I wanted them to like it and agree with what they're teaching me. I needn't have worried because my parents both seemed to find it ok. Katy didn't like it much I don't think but I can understand her not liking a really cheesy American DVD. I didn't like that service much either.

Afterwards we went with our Plus group and Jo's family for dim sum! I don't think my parents had had a proper chinese meal before then so I was really glad the Plus group decided to go. We got to try a lot of the traditional dim sum dishes. Here's just a few of them:

We had shrimp balls, rice rolls, Custard buns, BBQ pork buns, prawn and pork balls, beef balls, spring rolls, rice cake, BBQ pork pastries, dumplings...all sorts of things. Yum yum yum. Mine and Jo's families sat together on a table with Marty, his wife plus new baby (she's so cute) and Liza and her two kids. The others had to go on another table somewhere. We had lots of fun chatting and eating.

In the afternoon I thought I'd take my parents to my flat again and give them some stuff I want taking home but when we got all the way up there I realised I'd left my keys on the ironing board and we couldn't get in. Nooo! It's so annoying when I do that! There's no spare keys anywhere either. And Jo wasn't going to be in until the evening. So instead we went back down to the hotel and spent the evening watching TV.

Day 6

Yay! Sunshine at last! Today we went to see the Buddha at Po Lin Monastery. It took us forever to get there- we decided to go by cable car via a newly built village called Ngong Ping. Unfortunately everyone else decided to go this way too! We queued for an hour to get on the cable cars, Jo and Theresa came later in the day and they queued for 2 and a half hours! The view from the cars was amazing though! And, amazingly Dad didn't panic one bit even though we could have been smashed to bits if the cable cars fell. Haha. I didn't tell him before we went on but the reason they closed before was because a car fell down- luckily with nobody inside!

It was a beautiful day- very sunny- but verrrry cold. I think they said it was about 3 degrees!! We got loads of good pictures. Which are up on flickr now. After we climbed to and from the Buddha we stopped for lunch. Nothing exciting today, just pasta from Euro Go Go. We also walked around some of the gift shops too, but they didn't have anything original.

I left Mum, Dad and Katy at the MTR station and decided to get a taxi back to the ferry pier. For some reason nobody understood where I wanted to go, even though Jo and me have done this several times. I finally got in a taxi and the driver said he knew where the ferry pier was. He starts driving and then gets me to speak to someone on the phone- he obviously didn't know where he was going so wanted someone to interpret- so I told them "Ferry to Tuen Mun. Ferry pier please" and they said OK and told that to the taxi driver. I'm sitting there perfectly happy when I notice he takes the wrong exit at the roundabout. Maybe he's going a different way? I wasn't concerned until he gets onto the motorway- the ferry pier is literally down the road not down the motorway. The meter is running of course and it's up to $45... I panic a bit now so I phone my friend Sam ("I don't know where he's going!! Help me!") and get him to speak to the taxi driver (in Cantonese). So now he knows where he is going. Apparently he thought I wanted to go to the ferry to Wan Chai! He turns around and I finally get to the ferry pier and he only goes and charges me $75 for what should have been a $20 journey and it wasn't even my fault! Grrr!!!

That evening I have dinner with Sam at a really cheap and cheerful place called "Relax For A While." I had very tasty roast pork and rice. Yum! I like having dinner with more local people cause they know all the good, cheap restaurants and stuff. And they can order and understand the waiters hehe. I took my parents to the same place yesterday and they liked it too! I did a bit of window shopping with Sam, then went home to bed. The End hehe.

More Videos

Some Chinese New Year lion and dragon dances in the Tuen Mun Town Plaza on Wednesday.

Parade Videos

A Lion:

and A Marching Band:

Day 5

Wow this week went quick! Got a bit of catching up to do now. Friday was a relaxed day. We had a late lunch on Lamma Island. This time we took the ferry to Yung Shue Wan rather than Sok Kwu Wan, and found that this side is much nicer. There's more restaurants here, more gift shops and it seems a bit more modern that Sok Kwu Wan. We had a really delicious lunch- Mum, Dad and me had lamb shank in red wine sauce and Katy had pork chops. Afterwards we bought some nice souvenirs i the gift shops and walked around the village.

In the evening we went to see the fireworks. Yay! Fireworks! We didn't get there until 7ish (show started at 8) but we still got a really good view. And they were amazing! They played music too which I couldn't hear but Jo and Theresa could. After they'd finished I was expecting it to be chaos, especially on the MTR, but it was really organised and everyone was being directed to specific MTR stations and there was no pushing or rushing. And when we got on the MTR it wasn't half as packed as I imagined. So, well done Hong Kong! Although I didn't expect anything less from you.

Day 4

Another busy day! It is of course new years day so sun nin fa lok! And kung hei fat choi! Or happy new year, and may you have a prosperous new year. Today we went to Sha Tin, and made our way up 400 steps to the famous 10'000 Buddhas Monastary.

I think we chose one of the busiest days to go. There were people everywhere with incense and we came back down stinking of the stuff. They had lion dancers up there too, walking around. The temple itself is pretty cool- I think there's over 12'000 little buddha statues lining the wall. There was some sort of big gold god statue in the middle, and people were shaking their fortune sticks and praying in front of it.

I thought we could visit the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, also in Sha Tin, whilst we were there but after the taxi had dropped us off we realised it was closed for the new year. Oh well. Next time hehe.

In the evening we went to watch the New Year's parade. It wasn't as packed as I thought it was going to be, but we didn't really get a good view either. Still we managed to see the floats and odd glimpses between people's heads. There was a nice atmosphere too. Everything was very well organised, so much better than if this was happening in the UK. I liked the marching bands best, and also the Disney float. I'll add some pictures later when Blogger lets me. There were various floats, and inbetween different groups of people. Like the army in their uniform, twirling their guns, people dressed as peacocks, a karate group, dragons, I think the people representing Hong Kong in the olympics, people "riding" pretend Emu's, marching bands. Loads of people! The photos are all up on flickr now too!

Days 2 and 3

This is going to be a looooong post! I was so tired yesterday I went straight to bed when I got home. I'm even more tired tonight but I've been told I've got to post otherwise Mitch will kill me hehe.

Yesterday we had planned to go to the Peak. It was another grey day but I thought maybe it would clear and we'd have at least a misty view. We took the tram up which made me nervous again- why does it have to stop on the steepest park of the track?! When we got to the top we could not see a thing! All there was was mist. But at least we didn't pay extra for the Sky Terrace that time. My parents and Katy stocked up on souvenirs at the gift shops there and then we had lunch at Bubba Gump's. I had some really nice ribs, Katy had a massive burger and my parents had a cheesy rice and fish dish. Mmmmmm! So, even though they didn't get the amazing view I did, we still got a great lunch.

In the afternoon we took the tram to Causeway Bay. At Victoria Park there was a New Year's Fair and I thought it would be nice to look around. I have never seen so many inflatable things in all my life! Rats, liquor bottles, Forero Roche, fish, balloons, batons, bottoms...! We walked along two of the rows following the one way sign, which everyone else seemed to be ignoring, before going for a coffee. Dad then decided he wanted to get a picture of a market we'd seen on the tram earlier so we went to find the tram stop back. Which was quite a walk away. And then it was PACKED. So we missed 2 of the trams because there was no way we could fit. And then he decides "oh, let's just get the MTR." Ok...so I wasn't in a good mood and I snapped- "NO! You cannot change your mind! We are getting the tram now we've waited for one!" And then I realised how frustrating it must be bringing up children.

So we got the tram back- eventually- to Central. I like Central, this is where I go to church, go out drinking, and I can find my way around. I took everyone to the IFC shopping centre. It is very posh here. They have a Valentino and Stella McCartney, Armani, D&G, and Versace. They also have more reasonably priced shops...but I can still only afford to shop in them on payday. At the little stage area they have, in the middle of the mall, there was a very good band playing classical chinese instruments. We watched them for a little while. I really enjoyed it.

In the evening, after a little nap again, we went to check out the Temple Street Night Markets. In the guide book they sound really exciting- bustling market stalls with everything you could ever imagine, and a whole road full of street food vendors. In reality it's much more disappointing... There wasn't much variety on the stalls- handbags, childrens clothing, more everyday stuff- and no street food vendors anywhere. Still, now I've been I don't need to make a special trip down. I felt a bit bad that both the big things of the day were a let down. But luckily, I think today made up for it!

We all had a nice long lie-in. I don't know why I'm so tired but my Mom said she didn't sleep much and I don't think Katy did either. They then came up to Tuen Mun to see my town. We had another really delicious lunch- this time at a Taiwanese restaurant. Oh- before lunch in the mall we arrived just in time to see some lion dancers! It was so great! One of the lion dancers was up on a pole dancing to the drums. Talk about brave. There was also a dragon too which everyone was trying to touch. So cool! I'm so glad we got to see that!

On the way to the flat we stopped off at Ferry Pier, so I could show them the nice sea view. It doesn't look so good when the sky is grey, and it's cold. But at least now they have some familiarality with the places I'm talking about.

I showed them the flat, and I think they liked it. It's a bit basic obviously but it has everything we need. I did a tour of the little shopping centre downstairs too and bought some stamps so Mom can send some postcards now! I was going to take Katy to get her haircut (my treat) but they couldn't fit her in until 8pm.

It's a good job we didn't go for that appointment because we decided to go to the Peak again, to see the night time view. We took the bus to Central, and then got a taxi which cost less than £1! Transport is so cheap here! This time at the top of the Peak we checked out a few more of the shops and ended up buying a few more souvenirs. Once it was properly dark we went up on to the Sky Terrace. Well, Katy, Mom and me did. Dad stayed at the bottom and did a bit more window shopping. He missed a really amazing view. I really do love the view of Hong Kong. We got some really great pictures (up on flickr now) before i started to rain. I would have stayed up there to see the laser light show but it was too cold and wet, and Katy only had a T-shirt and light hoodie on. We had to queue for ages to get on the tram back down but today (unlike yesterday) we got a seat. Going down whilst standing up wasn't the most enjoyable ride.

Alas, then it was time to go home whereupon I spent 2 hours writing this blog post. Argh! And not even any pictures yet. Oh- Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Day 1

What an exhausting day! As you can see we went down to Tsim Sha Tsui this afternoon and saw the famous Hong Kong skyline. It's a shame it wasn't as clear as yesterday, but I still think it's a great view.

In the morning we all went to a flower market. This is where all the lucky plants are sold ready for the New Year. There were a lot of orange trees being sold because I think this is where people tie the lai see (red packets). There were also beautiful orchids, and all sorts of colourful flowers.

After walking through the flower market we came to the bird market. Guess what we saw here... Cage upon cage of birds: big birds, little birds, song birds, pretty birds as well as all the wild sparrows flying around. Apparently they're really into their singing birds here and they treat them really well, but to be honest it didn't look that way. In one tiny cage there were all these tiny birds packed in. It was still interesting to see though.

After lunch we found our way to the Ladies' Market in Mong Kok. I've seen so many more souvenirs I want to take home with me. My parents and Katy bought some cute things, and had fun bargaining. OK I had fun bargaining! I love it hehe. Once we'd done there we went down to TST to see the view, and then walked up Nathan Road and saw all the shops there. It was so tiring-we ended up going back to the hotel and having a nap for a couple of hours! I then found a cheap chain restaurant called Cafe De Coral for dinner. I need to find a nice Chinese restaurant to take them which has an english menu. I know of the ones here in Tuen Mun, but not in Mong Kok.

So that was Day 1 for my parents. I left them after dinner with a guide book to do some of their own exploring. I went bowling with Ben, his flatmate and some of her friends for a bit, and then came straight home and uploaded all of today's pictures onto flickr. I am now going to go and sleep because tomorrow is going to be a big day!

Yay!

Everyone has arrived safe and sound, if a little tired. They came on the best day- it was beautiful, sunny and warm relative to the past couple of weeks. I finally met them at 4pm (my time) after waiting around at the wrong gate hehe. Dad burst into tears, which set Mom off. Katy stood there laughing.

We then found our way to the hotel, which seems to be the chinese version of a travelodge, and dropped al the stuff off and exchanged gifts. I found a nice food court not far from the hotel and we ate at Spaghetti House for tea.

After that I took everyone to Langham Place shopping mall to have a look round. I think Langham place is my favourite mall out of all the big ones. There's about 12 floors and on the last 4 or so floors it's all independent little shops, which sell some great stuff, and Dad had a fit because he saw how high up he was and couldn't cope. He's going to have to get used to it- 12 floors is nothing here!

It was about 9pm by that time so I took them back to the hotel via the MTR. Tomorrow the plan is to explore a bit more of Mong Kok and do some shopping, yay!

Pop Cantonese Style

Here is Joey Yung with Twins, both are very popular music stars here.



This is Joey Yung. She is one of the most successful female pop stars here in Hong Kong.

And this last one is Eason Chan, number 1 male pop singer here.

I think I'll stick to good old British music.