A typical 'gweilo' Hong Kong Sunday

...Actually that title is a tad misleading because often a Sunday consists of sleeping, eating and sleeping again to recover from a typical Hong Kong Saturday (but more on that later).

Today B and I had precious time to spend and trekked to Tai O, a remote fishing village on Lantau Island.

It's one of the only examples of Chinese stilt-houses in Hong Kong, and is apparently home to the 'Tanka' fishermen and women, who have lived on stilts for generations because they don't feel safe on land... and of course, you know, those stilt things are oh so secure.

The area is also riddled with ancient temples and Buddhist monasteries, and is a deeply spiritual place.

We discovered Tai O is a bugger to get to; and is crowded, stinky, weird and fabulous... it's mostly full of mainland Chinese, who consider it a tourist trap. You can always tell a mainlander from a Hong Kong local - they are often the ones photographing the blonde gweilos (local term for 'westerner living in Hong Kong'.

Venturing out of the concrete jungle of Victoria Harbour is soul replenishing, however the pollution wafting down from China was burning my eyes today. Not so replenishing.

p.s. My dad won a lifetime achievement award this week - how awesome! Congrats dad x

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/asc-honours-our-mr-football-264312?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20theworldgame%20(The%20World%20Game)

Telephone conversations used to be so simple...

Except of course, when you are on the phone to Telstra or any internet provider, and an irritating piece of technical equipment is failing to do what it is instructed to do, and of course, you discover that there is noone out there - not even in India - who can actually help you.

Well, that's pretty much every phone conversation I have in Hong Kong.

N.B. I realise I'm in someone else's country and have no right to complain about language barriers. But I will.

Of course conversations are perilous in person - I once spent a whole hour in a local grocery store searching top to bottom for glue, because not one person who worked there knew what 'glue' was. In the end, I went home glueless.

Yesterday I was attempting to buy hand sanitizer in a chemist (yes I can be a tad germaphobish at times) and waited patiently while the friendly sales girls attempted to decipher my 'washing hands' gestures - bringing me everything from handcream, to baby wipes, to cuticle cream - no hand sanitizer surfaced and, again, I went home with empty (and germy) hands.

But without even those simple hand gestures telephone conversations really are the worst.

Yesterday I attempted to call a local yoga school about classes. Here's how it went:

me: "Hello, I'd like to do yoga, do you offer evening classes?"

them: "Tonight or tomorrow?"

me: "Neither, I'd just like to know which nights of the week you have evening classes."

them: "Our schedule change every week."

me: "Ah ok, well that's a bit hard to work out, but never mind... how much do they cost?"

them: "Our schedule change every week."

me: "No, how much do you charge for classes?"

them: "I don't know."

me: "You don't know?"

them: "No, only tutor know."

me: "Well I can't possibly book a place without knowing how much you charge..."

them: "Ok."

me: "Ok, thank you."

them: "Thank you, bye byeee..."

A few weeks ago I attempted to book a karaoke bar for B's birthday. Again, here is how it went down:

me: "Hi, I'd like to book a karaoke room for this Saturday night?"

them: "Hello?"

me: "Hello?"

them: "Yes?"

me: "I'd like to book a karaoke room for this Saturday night?"

them: "How many people?"

me: "Less than ten."

them: "Ok. You are Mr Chan".

me: "No, less than ten."

them: (spelling it out) "M-r C-h-a-n."

me: "No no, my name is not Mr Chan, I have less than ten people".

them: "Yes, Mr Chan."

(At this point I handed the phone to my friend because I burst out laughing)

And when it all gets too much - wear pigtails while slurping a giant lollypop!

An (unexpectedly) brilliant holiday in paradise

It feels weird (and spoilt) to say, but I wasn't expecting much from my 4-day weekend in Thailand... As a girl who's always diarising her next mammoth trip in her mind - often when the current trip is still in progress - I really didn't think it was enough time to really relax, soak in a place, or feel truly satisfied.

Wrong again!

B and I decided to jet off for this small slice of bliss, purely because such whimsical decisions are possible now that we live in Asia. In Australia, a trip to Thailand is often a much larger production, requiring a longish flight, a week off, a spray tan, etc.

A last-minute decision also meant we had to book a hotel at the eleventh hour, and scored a huge tropical suite for a fraction of the price (planning is overrated!)

There were other highlights - I miraculously didn't fall ill (a common occurrence when I travel - however I always seem to be the last one to get sick at home - weird), B was in top form (he surprised me with champagne on arrival and all sorts of romantic embellishments) and - best of all - I discovered if you have so little time to enjoy a place, you tend to appreciate everything more.

My ten Thailand experiences (in 4 days or less!):

- The most amazing hotel suite I have ever stayed in... for a laughable cost

- Special mentions: Our outdoor rain shower and huge patio

- Our two resident frogs who kept watch for crazy tourists outside our suite

- The tastiest Pina Coladas I've ever had (thanks bargirl!)

- Getting massaged for next to nothing on the beach

- (Of course) The food!

- B's thoughtful romantic gestures (Swoon. Stop. And swoon again)

- Feeling inspired to get up early and watch the sun come up

- Crystal clear, warm, ocean water

- Being only 3 hours from home! (by one of those really fast flying things)

I hope you had a great weekend!

Nat x

And here is the makeup video link, check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8n8ZCA8hNU

p.s. I'm off to Thailand for 4 days - have a great weekend!!

These signs made me laugh

Wandering the streets of Hong Kong is always entertaining, people often describe it as 'like New York, but sped up.'

Between elbowing through crowds (people actually queue up here to walk down the street!) and gazing at the endless array of colours, signs, treats, shopfronts and street sellers - no two trips are ever alike and there's always something to see (or buy!).

I get a thrill out of spotting badly-written English terms (and they're everywhere) - it never fails to make me laugh and I find it quite cute. I papped these poor 'lost in translation' signs, which I always buy as cheap gifts for friends when I can. I think my favourite is:

"You can angry to anyone except boss", or

"You are my love, my angle, please don't treat me like potato".

The signs in my apartment building lift are always good:

"We have noticed the falling of cigarette buts from the upper. Please do not fall the buts and be noticed to stop the said acts. Thank."

These errors are everywhere, as B and I were strolling in our local park a few weeks ago, we noticed a string of identical signs, warning:

"DO NOT TOUCH THE BRIDS OR THEIR EXCRETA".

I think they meant 'birds'.

So cute.

Hong Kong has some strange places

This is the 'Modern Toilet' restaurant.

You eat sitting on toilet bowls, your food comes out in mini toilets, and you drink out of urinals. Sounds disgusting? Well it's certainly not appetizing... !

To cope with a bit of homesickness, I've been exploring the eating places in Hong Kong (eat, shop, work, party - the key rules to Hong Kong I'm learning) - and while they're not all as mad as Modern Toilet - what comes out of the kitchen is certainly different from Western food, and takes some getting used to... Oh and possibly a toilet nearby for the first few months (hang on - now the Modern Toilet concept is actually making some sense!)

I always thought Chinese food was pretty 'greasy grub' - it's always considered a below average meal in Australia, something you get when there aren't many other options. But how wrong we all were, I've enjoyed finding out how much better 'real' Chinese food tastes, the Hong Kong version is really quite moorish!

Fave dishes so far are the fried rice from Pang's Kitchen and the fried chicken wings from down the road (that place is very local and I was scared to go there at first - nothing is written in English so I don't know the name of it!)

And as the Chinese food here is brilliant, Western food is equally as disappointing... B and I are on the hunt for an Aussie/Canadian style fry-up breakfast, and thought we'd found it on Sunday - until it came out with 1 small piece of toast, enough bacon to feed merely an ant and overcooked eggs.

Aaargh! So for now, it's back to Pang's Kitchen!

But for the record, I'll be avoiding these menu items:

Marinated Pig Ear

Snake Soup

Congealed Blood

Birds Nest

Shark Fin

...And the list goes on!

Is it too early to put up a Christmas tree?

I guess I couldn't wait!

I love this time of year, when the holiday decorations start to appear, the Christmas spirit descends and the shops begin to fill up with happy, excited faces.

I put our tree up today, a wee little silver thing because we live in Hong Kong which means our flat is smaller than the bathroom I had in Australia... but it's Christmassy nonetheless, and a good excuse to play the carols CD I bought in July!

Oh and I realised something today... this will be my first ever cold Christmas! I'm used to 30 degrees C and sweating on a backyard chair whilst the barbeque sizzles and the cold wine is poured. It's also my first ever Christmas away from my family (sad face) so I'm so glad I get to share it with B and the great friends we've already made in Hong Kong.

Please let it snow! Although it won't, but anything less than 25 degrees should do be fine :)