Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve, Beth & I celebrated at Hong Kong Disneyland. The park is definitely smaller than the US one, but we had fun anyways. We rode Space Mountain twice as well as a couple of other fun rides. You can view are pictures here.

Consider this a Public Service Announcement:

And, in case you're wondering how I made this post...google is fairing pretty well during this outage, don't know how they do it, perhaps they have distributed servers around the globe...although, anything we can access is at glacially slow speeds. I feel like it's 1992 and I'm on dial-up with my 9600baud modem!

So, google products (gmail, google, blogger) work as does skype I believe...and, of course anything hosted in HK, such as: thestandard.com.hk, from which I copied this story:


Earthquake pulls plug on local businesses

JonathanChengandagencies

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Hong Kong struggled to cope Wednesday without access to large swaths of the Internet and the regional phone network, fearing the implications of a telecommunications slowdown that could drag on for weeks.

The tie-up, triggered by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake late Tuesday night off the southeast coast of Taiwan, sent ripple effects through the heavily wired and technology-reliant territory.

Financial traders worked without up-to-date stock prices and travelers were unable to call home, while ordinary Internet users were left without the staples of modern life, like access to Google and Yahoo.

Leng Tai-feng, president of international business for Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest phone operator, said two of its undersea cables were cut, with repairs likely to take two to three weeks.

Crews fixing the cables would have to pull the cables up and transfer them to a ship for repair, the company said, while Lin Jen-hung, Chunghwa's vice general manager, added: "Quality will improve day by day."

Voice calls to the United States were down to 40 percent of normal capacity in Taiwan, while Singapore Telecommunications, the largest phone company in Southeast Asia, reported a slowdown in Internet traffic in its area.

PCCW, whose local telecom services rely heavily on those damaged cables, warned users to expect "congestion over the next several days."

PCCW said the damage had slashed data capacity in half, while an upsurge in usage of Internet sites in the region added to the congestion problem.

"We are in the process of diverting the data and are monitoring the restoration of the cables," the company said.

Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong also issued a brief statement Wednesday, saying it had contacted and followed up with the suppliers of the undersea cables.

"Immediate actions have also been taken to provide limited telecommunications service to affected areas," the statement read.

SmarTone-Vodafone, the mobile service provider, sent a message to its Hong Kong users in the afternoon, promising service would be back to normal as soon as possible.

Internet access in Beijing was reported to be slow.

But officials there declined to give further details.

Vinh Tran, a spokeswoman for HSBC, said that there was no access for its online banking service in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland.

Both the Hong Kong stock exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission reported no disruptions to operations.

Some telecom companies were working Wednesday to reroute their service by other channels, including through Australia, the Indian Ocean or by satellite.

Meanwhile, Ng Nam, director of the computer center at Hong Kong University, said service may not reach normal standards as those cables are not accustomed to handling so much traffic.

The long-distance telephone service was cut off from Hong Kong to 19 places, including the United States, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand.

Experts were hesitant Wednesday to attach a price tag on the shutdown, but warned that delays could persist for some time.

"A lot of people are definitely going to be seriously affected," said Gary Chan Sheung-han, a professor of computer science and engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Those people included traders like David Leong of First State Investments in Singapore, who told a reporter: "I can't trade if I don't know the prices."

Diego Wittlin, managing director of the Hong Kong office of a small German toy exporter, said the telecom meltdown meant that business - and all means of contact with head office - has come to a crashing halt.

"I tried to call Europe about 20 times today," Wittlin said. "But the phone and Internet are both down, so we can't even fax."

For the time being, he is taking solace in the fact that his competitors are down as well - and that business is in the traditional Christmas season lull.

Still, Wittlin added: "It's a very uncomfortable situation. It just shows how vulnerable our systems are." Should the outage continue, Wittlin said he will resort to more basic means of conducting business - using courier services for important documents, burning data on to CDs and mailing them through the post, and trying to fax as much possible.

"You just have to redial 20 or 30 times, that's all," he said. "When e-mail's gone, these days, unfortunately everything stands still."

Wittlin's headaches highlighted a troubling point for IT experts trying to prevent a repeat of the incident: that global communications in the region, now more vital than ever, rely on a surprisingly small number of cables under the sea.

Charles Mok Nai-kwong, a former head of the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers' Association and current chairman of the local chapter of the US- based Internet Society, said he hoped the situation will be fixed quickly.

But he admitted there are only "very limited things" that local telecom providers can do.

"Some people may be asking what Hong Kong can do to prevent this from happening again, but the question is: what can the world do?" Mok said.

He called on the consortiums that own and operate undersea cables to "re- evaluate the situation" by diversifying traffic and placing cables in different locations.

But it will cost money: up to US$500,000 (HK$3.9 million) per kilometer, according to a report earlier this year by Paul Budde, a telecommunications analyst in Australia.

"Planning an undersea cable, we're talking about billions of dollars and years and years of time," Mok said.

One of the two cables that were broken is owned by a consortium that includes Singapore Telecom, France Telecom and Pakistan Telecommunication.

The other is partly owned by China Unicom, StarHub and Telekom Malaysia.

Great new song, cool new video

by U2

8 Months in Hong Kong

As you may already know, Beth is in the states right now on a little vacation. I wasn't able to go with her, because I recently started a new job and can't take vacation right now (more on the job in a later post). We wanted Beth to take with her a DVD of some of the footage we've shot in Hong Kong and our other trips in Southesat Asia these past 8 months. So, I scrambled to put one together. The work on it went up to the last minute, whereby I discovered that whenever I tried to burn the DVD, my computer shut down...so, no DVD to bring :( So, I did the next best thing and hosted the video on youtube. I had to break it into 5 parts and reduce the quality in order to upload it, but hopefully it is still enjoyable. Also, my apologies for not having titles or captions that explain where certain scenes were taken. We originally were planning on having Beth narrate the film. So, unless you have the pleasure of her lovely company while viewing these clips, you may be a little lost....sorry!

Part 1 of 5


Part 2 of 5


Part 3 of 5


Part 4 of 5


Part 5 of 5

Do you remember how I always said...

I wanted my one beer keg that could fit in my fridge? Well...I got that too:

Signs of Life

I haven't blogged in a while. There just hasn't been all that much new or different going on to report on. And I'm not like my uber-talented wife, Beth, who can take even the most mundane details of the day and turn them into a blog post that's both funny and insightful. That's probably why she has a career that involves writing and I have a career that involves...oh wait, I don't have a career. So, anyways...things are good. And here's more proof that the Nordbergs are settling into life in their new home:

You've Got Radio - Can you believe it's been 8 months since I've listened to the radio? Technically I get to hear the radio in the taxis, but I don't really count that since I don't get to choose the station and most often I can't understand what's being said. We had shipped over from the states our surround sound/dvd/radio system. Unfortunately it was a 120 volt unit and Hong Kong supplies 220 volt electricity. This system requires 280 watts of electricity, which meant that we'd need more than the typical travel convertor. On Monday, I finally bucked up and paid the HK$330 required to buy a 300 watt transformer. So, I hooked up the system and surfed the Hong Kong radio waves! Of course, I was only able to find one station in English! At least now, though, we'll be able to watch movies without having to listen to the audio through the puny speakers in our projector!

She's a City Dog - Zoe's adapting quite well to city life. She now understands how elevators work. While waiting for the elevator, she hears the beep indicating that the elevator has arrived on our floor and before she sees the doors open, she lurches toward the door waiting for it to open. This proves she's learned what that beep means! Same thing when in the elevator she sits patiently while it descends until the doors open on the ground floor. Also, while on walks she has learned to adapt to her city environment. Those of you with dogs know that they prefer grass to, uhh...do their "business." Unfortunately there's not a lot of grass to be found here. She doesn't mind doing #2 on the sidewalk, but I've noticed that she doesn't like to do #1 on the sidewalk...perhaps she's embarassed by the attention in draws to her (she's very aware of other people). So, she found a good solution, allow me to explain ... Our favorite place to walk her is down by the ferry terminals at Victoria Harbour. Along the walkway is a long sewer grate. When we walk there, she deliberately walks along the sewer grate and we've discovered one reason why is that she likes to stop on it and do her "business" (both #1 and #2) as she has figured out that the "droppings" will then dissapear into the sewer grate, nice and descrete-like. How she figured this out, I don't know. But, I'm greateful that it's one less turd I have to poop and scoop!

Hail Thy Cab - We've gotten quite good at hailing cabs. And no, this doesn't involve sticking your fingeres in your mouth and whistling very loudly...I can't even do that. But, it does involve strategic thinking. The key is to go upstream to where the taxis are coming from and not just wait for one to come by where you are at. Plus, you also need to think about where you are trying to get to and which streets head in that direction (most streets here are one-way). The slightest difference in where the taxi picks you up can double the time (and possibly cost) it takes to get you there.

You Can't Just Give it Away

From this point forward, I will no longer be posting my pictures on this blog. If you want to see my pictures, you'll have to purchase them from istockphoto.com

istockphoto is a website that sells stock photographs to companies needing images for the websites, brochures, etc... I'm kidding, of course, about no longer posting my pictures here. In reality, a lot of the pictures I'd post on my blog wouldn't really be stock-appropriate pictures. They are pretty strict in terms of what the accept, both in terms of the 'stock worthiness' of a picture and the technical quality of the image. It took me a while to be accepted and I've had quite a few images rejected already, but have built up a portfolio of 5 images at this point. The image below was initially rejected for having at least 5 different branded logos showing. I was successful at removing them via photoshop, so they accepted it.

You can view my portfolio here.

Man...I sure do know my wife

As you have no doubt read in Beths blog, she recently had a question she wrote published in a local Hong Kong magazine. What you don't know is how this was discovered:

I was reading this particular magazine and this guy's column, "Mr. Know it All". I read the question from "Clare" and automatically knew that she had written it, even though she never told me that she sent in a question to this guy. How did I know that she had written this?:

• Beth is clearly working on a fiction novel, which isn't her preferred method of writing, but she has gotten positive feedback on it from those around her (including myself)
  
• The story is about 25 pages currently.
• Her little humours quip: "the overwhelming pressure (I mean joy from their continual positive feedback) keeps me...."
• "Clare" Daines is one of Beth's favourite actresses, at least until she acted in this movie.

So, I ask her "did you submit a question to Mr. KIA? "yes...." she says. "Well, I think they published it!" See, I told you I knew my wife!

While Mr. KIA, must think that I am one of her "indulgent friends with nary a hint of literary appreciation abilities", I can safely say that I am married to a future bestselling author and her book will do quite well, thank you very much! And yes, I do have more than a "hint of literary appreciation abilities" I am quite well-read, FYI.

But, I do have to admit to pressuring her to finish writing this book...and why? Cuz, I want to know how it ends! It's a page-turner..can't put it down!

Letter from Birmingham Jail

One of the readings assigned to us in my philosophy course, many years ago, was "Letter from Birmingham Jail" my Martin Luther King Jr. It is a fantastic read, not only relevant to the civil rights issues he was fighting in his day, but also to people everywhere: the oppressed, the opressor, those fighting oppression and those just standing by.

The letter was written to 8 clergymen from Alabama who had criticized King for coming to Alabama to peacefully protest the social injustices occuring there. They called his actions "unwise and untimely." You can read the full text of the letter here.

Here are just a few of the quotes that stood out to me:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. "

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people."

"So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust."

I'm sure may who have read this letter, like me, have looked with disgust upon the clergymen who wrote the letter of disaproval to King. Who are these men, whom history has surely forgot? I did some research and wasn't able to find information about very many of them, save one: Joseph Aloysius Durick. At the time of the letter to King he was a catholic bishop in Birmingham. What happened to Mr. Durick after he got the response from Dr. King?...He changed Joseph Durick became an outspoken advocate for civil rights in the South. How did his congregation thank him? By branding him as a communist and a heretic.

Warning...actual opinion ahead!:

I'm sure most of you Americans got the luxury of watching the Emmys on Sunday. I have, as of yet, not been able to *ahem* acquire said episode. I did acquire the first 15 minutes of the show, which I will watch tonight. From what I read, Conan did a great job and was his usual hillarious self. I was surprised to read this article on MSNBC. Apparently, the opening skit had spoofs from several television shows this season, one of which showed Conan in a plane crash on a desert island...a spoof on Lost. Now, a bunch of people are offended because this aired on the same day as a plane crashed in Kentucky, killing 50 people. This is crazy! How can people be so easily offended? The skit was filmed well in advance of that crash! It was a spoof on Lost for crying out loud!

Now, bear in mind, I am not one of those people who is constantly complaining about America being "too politically correct" I fashion myself to be a pretty sensitive person, what others my term as "politically correct" But, this is just ridiculus. And I'm even skeptical that those who complained were even really offended, so much as just looking for something to complain about. What's worse, the media is referring to this as the "Conan skit"...basically defaming Conan for participating in such an offensive and insesitive act! Hello...it was taped in advance, he had no idea a plane was going to crash! And even if you think it shouldn't have been aired, it's not like Conan would have much control over that...he's just the host! Poor Conan...I guess that's the price you pay for having a sense of humor.

I said 'hey'

As is often a case when there is a major news event the public is obsessed with, all other events get pushed out of the way. One can remember how the death of Mother Teresa was quickly eclipsed by the death of Princess Diana. Or how, when the Rwandan Genocide (which went on to kill a million people in 100 days) broke out, it wasn't was newsworthy as the suicide of Kurt Cobain. News, unfortunately, is the result of what sells easily to the public.

As we all know, the John Michael Karr is the media's latest obsession...this morning Beth and I got to see the very newsorthy coverage of a live video feed of the plane carrying Karr from LA to Colorado...I was on pins and needles...a great use of the media's time...not...

As I checked the news on MSNBC this morning, I did notice a headline, buried down in the front page and replaced the next hour: "Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, dead at 78" I'm sure most don't recognize that name. He never achived the popular following of say Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie, and was mostly dismissed by jazz purists, but among his fans (primarily other trumpet players, I'm sure) he was magical.

What made him so good? He could play very high notes. Well, it's more than that...but it is what he's most known for. For those who haven't played the trumpet or other brass instruments, this is probably hard to appreciate. Playing exceptionally high notes, especially in a controlled manner is quite difficult to do. I still remember listening to him with my fellow trumpet players in high school. We'd pass the tape player back and forth on the bus on our way to different schools to play in the pep band. We were awestruck. Trumpet players, especially, are a cocky bunch, always trying to one-up one another by playing higher notes...but, there is no competing with Maynard...listening to him knocks the wind out of you. I was fortunate enough to see Maynard in concert a few years ago and was again awestruck at his talent.

I've long since given up playing the trumpet...I sold my crappy, old student model for $100 to someone just picking up the instrument. I don't even listen to Maynard that often, I really couldn't say that he's among my favorite musicians. When his songs come up on my iPod, I usually skip past them, on to the rock/pop choices that dominate my playlists...I'm a lyrics guy, what can I say? And honestly, a lot of his songs are fairly cheesy, musically speaking. A lot of them are jazzed up versions of 70's disco music. He is well known for his rendition of the Rocky theme song "Gonna Fly Now" He has also played the theme to the original Star Trek and the theme song to the movie "Shaft" Like I said...cheesy. But, the way he plays those trumpet solos still get me excited.

Like I said, I got the privilige of seeing Maynard perform a couple of years ago. Beth and I went to see him at Jazz Alley in Seattle. We weren't able to get great seats up front, so we sat towards the back, near the bar. While waiting for the show to begin, watching some no name group on stage, I'm sure, I notice a door to the side of the club open and an older, portly man enter and walk towards the back. I realized that this is Maynard himself, from the few pictures I have seen. He passes right by where we are sitting. Casually I say "hey"...he said "hey" back. The performance was great, of course, an answer to a childhood dream tucked away but not forgotten.

I remember talking to my former boss upon learning that he used to play the trumpet in college. I asked him if he had heard of Maynard Ferguson so I could share my story of seeing him in concert. He said that he and his friends liked to listen to him and were amazed at his talent. As I listened to Maynard on my iPod, the first time in a while, I realized that he may never be very well known, there will always be young trumpet players listening, floored my this man's "chops" I know that for a couple of band-geeks in the mid-90's, he was a magician.

Sweet & Sour Chicken Recipe

If you've read either Beth or I's blog or talked to us about things we miss from back home, you no doubt know that we have been unable to find good Chinese food here in Hong Kong. So...we have taken upon ourselves to recreate those longed-for dishes in our own, tiney kitchen.

Our first dish to tackle was Sweet & Sour Chicken. We scoured the internet for a sauce recipe that looked good. The recipe below is a modification to what we found. We reduced the vinegar, reduced the cornstarch and increased the water. Enjoy!:

1/8 cup white vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 tbl. cornstarch
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
3/8 cup water

combine and boil. simmer gently for 5 minutes.

what's that? you need a recipe for the chicken? Oh, come on...it's chicken, you can figure it out!

Next dish to tackle? General Tsao's Chicken...mmm!

It's easy breezy...stream of consciousness style

The weather seems to be improving, slightly. The temperature is the same, but there is a slight breeze in the air lately, which helps considerably. Beth recently bought me new headphones for my iPod. I had lost my original earbuds in the move and the only other headphones I had were the big, chunky, over the ear ones...which, I love, but aren't really best for taking to the gym or walking around the street in, unless you want to be stared at a lot, and i have... So, the new headpones are the kind that you stick into your ear canal like an earplug, I was hesitant about trying these because I thought they would be uncomfortable...but, they're not, they're great! And they do a great job cancelling the external noise, you can have the volume much lower than normal and still hear the music great! So...i'm now taking my iPod to the gym in the morning, which is great, because they have a pretty bad music selection. Some of it isn't so bad, typical American pop music. There are a couple of pretty lame choices, though. One is this song that includes the line "You're Easy Breezy and I'm Japaneesy" you can read the rest of the lyrics here, if you're intrigued. There's another one that's bizzare. It's techo and features a voice that I think is supposed to sound like George W. Bush, Beth disagrees. Anyways, all the voice says is "Destroy..." and then the names of all these musicians...like "Destroy: Madonna, Destroy: Prince, Destroy Houie Louis" very bizzare indeed! And then there's this Eminem song they play...now, I admit, I do enjoy an Eminem song from time to time...this is coming from a guy with a very eclectic musical taste. My iPod contains: U2, Miles Davis, Nirvana, Green Day, Eminem, Gustav Holst (orchestral music), & Celine Dion (only 1 song!)...I really don't think many of those musicians would appreciate being in each other's company! so, anyways, even though I can appreciate Eminem..this song is so vulgar it's not even funny! However, every time it's played, someone stops the song midway through...I guess either someone complained or some staff person with enough English skills to pick out the vulgarities Marshall Mathers is laying out while he's bustin' his rhymes. Oh, and whoever is in control of the music often will skip past songs for no reason! They treat it like it's their own personal iPod that we all get to listen to!

that is all...and yes, I did start writing this before Beth posted on a similar topic...little blog stealer!

I usually don't do this...

but...these were too funny not to shrare:

Very funny Star Wars video...thanks, Cam!:

Funny t.v. pilot created by Ben Stiller...thanks, Dan!:

Engagement Anniversary

Some may find it odd, but Beth and I like to still celebrate our engagement anniversary and our dating anniversary. Our engagement anniversary was this Friday (yesterday). Here is Beth, holding the boquet that I had delivered to her office. I'm told there was much oohing and ahhing...that's right, I'm the man...Beth, who always has a way with words, wrote me this wonderful letter. She said I could share it with you:

Dear Nick,

Please let me begin this note by first apologizing for the fact that the contents of the last card I gave you was drafted ‘last minute’; in fact so ‘last minute’ that allegedly you observed me drafting my sentiments. I’ve often been advised ‘the fresher the better’, but I’ve learned this pertains more to Japanese seafood than greeting cards. In this case fresh (inked) simply meant unprepared-ness and perhaps perceived insincerity.

While I did not intend to communicate lackadaisical-ness; I do admit I was at fault and deserved to be scolded (as you tactfully did). However, all that said, I would like to point out how much more difficult it is to obtain a proper card in Hong Kong than in say, Washington state where stores actually sell the things people want.

You may wonder why it is this time you’re receiving a typed note. You may judge me, or this note, as being less personal because it is typed rather than hand-scripted. But let me explain. I’ve chosen to draft my thoughts now via Word a good 60* hours before our anniversary dinner because I’ve not yet landed what I think is a great card. In fact, in light of the last shopping trip where I purchased a card for you, I don’t expect to land a ‘great’ card at all, but rather an acceptable one. Please, upon receipt of the mediocre card I will soon acquire, do not assess our relationship or my thoughts on our relationship based upon the text, appearance or otherwise of the said card.

Please note that I’ve yet to see greeting cards sold elsewhere than in a 3rd level store in the IFC mall (which I want to point out is VERY inconvenient) and furthermore, the selection in said store is limited to about 20 choices. Personally I’d rather make my own card than give you one that goes on to explain how I wish you all the best ‘the year of the dog’ has to offer; but I do know machine-folded pieces of very thick paper for which you paid $4US dollars have their place in the world of romance.

And so, I will continue my search for a card. And my search may take me right up and until Friday when before our dinner (conveniently scheduled at the IFC) I may ask to be excused for a minute in order to obtain a very thick piece of paper which I could not procure anywhere near my office during my work-week lunch breaks. And then, you may observe me returning with a bag and observe me pull out a card and you’ll initially judge me, thinking ‘How could she be so unprepared, AGAIN?!’

But, I will then pull out this note, my pre-typed thoughts and beg you to accept it as proof that I did indeed think of you and our engagement anniversary prior to 15 minutes before our celebratory dinner. Yes, truthfully I’ve thought about you all week. Wishing we could wisk ourselves away for a quick weekend in WA state, eat at a favorite place, walk around the pier in Seattle, drive up north to Canada and eat at the restaurant where you first proposed, all of that.

We know that is all not easily done, and so we’re celebrating in Hong Kong for the first time and that is OK with me. In some ways I’d argue HK is more like Canada than WA, so perhaps we’re more on the mark in terms of recreating the atmosphere present when you asked me to marry you.

I remember the first time we’d gone to that restaurant. It was a month or two after we’d started dating. I remember after we’d finished eating, while walking to the car you’d asked me what to do when you feel like sharing something with someone though your not sure how they’ll respond. After asking a few qualifier questions which you couldn’t answer easily I replied with “well, you might as well say it--get it out.”

And so then and there you told me you loved me. Looking back I’m curious on what exactly illuminated those feelings for you that night. Was it seeing me rapidly consume a massive plate of pasta? I don’t think so.

I remember feeling a bit afraid when you first began the conversation. I guess I had a lil’ ego cuz I thought you were heading toward asking THE question. I felt the train that was our relationship moving very fast from the time we met and was nervous it’d keep speeding along. But alas your words were a simple, but important, ‘I Love You’ which I accepted without much fear.

Back to the marriage proposal. And so, based on the Canadian “I love you incident” you drove me back to share a much bigger declaration of love.

And here we are six years later still chugging along. As our wedding invitation said, “Love is a choice and a commitment” one which has been tested a time or two in our six years. But we’re still having fun despite the challenges. I love the fact that most often when vacationing we’re asked whether we’re honeymooning. How neat it is that though we are most definitely not newlyweds we appear to others as very much ‘into” each other.

You and I have had the luxury, especially in the past few months, of spending many nights and weekends together, just the two of us, casually cuddling while watching movies, hanging out, or whatever else we please, when we please. Those are my favorite times. You know from referencing the manual on maintaining me (J/k, bet you wish you had one) that I need my alone time here and there. But when I am not needing alone time there is no single individual I’d want to be with more. I love hangin’ out with you; we are very compatible when in that mode.

This year especially it’s astounded me how much alike our thoughts are. Many times we’ll be watching a movie, reading an article, choosing a restaurant, etc. and one of us will make a comment and the other says; “That’s JUST what I was thinking--exactly!

Well Nicke, thanks for another year of loving me. Thanks for all the times you’ve rubbed my back or washed my feet or given me what I wanted perhaps without anything in return. Thanks for truly liking me and wanting to be around me. Thanks for the spontaneous excitement you show over us and our relationship from time to time. Your comments to me do not go unnoticed and are always appreciated. Thanks for enjoying making me happy and all that you do to do so.

I enjoy you as well and as far as any other sentiments I feel toward you, well if you need this card and it’s contents to know what I think and feel then I haven’t done my job. I’ll quiz you over dinner on the top 10 things I like about you just to make sure you’re getting enough positive feedback from me!


With Love,




Beth Nordberg
Wife of Nicholas Nordberg
Former Fiancé of Nicholas Nordberg
Former Girlfriend of Nicholas Nordberg
Daytime Proposal Writer
Chief Cuddler, Nights and Weekends


*Approximate estimate, give or take a few dozen hours; just kidding. But seriously estimate is not guaranteed.

 

Krispy Kreme is here!...almost

Krispy Kreme opens tomorrow! For a fun and inspirational video click here

Thank goodness the donuts look 'normal' I was afraid they were going to confuse the donuts with those Chinese buns used in dim sum and stuff them with pork or something worse. And it doesn't look like there are any 'Bird's Nest surprise' donuts or glazed sharks fin donuts.

oh boy, now i'm never going to lose weight....good thing it's in causeway bay and somewhat out of the way!

Singapore Sling, Anyone?

On Tuesday Beth left for Singapore for a business trip. This is me seeing her off at the Airport Express station. It's a pretty cool concept. They have a station in the middle of downtown Hong Kong where you can check in to your airlines, get your boarding pass, check you bags, and then take an express train to the airport on Lamma Island.

That means I've had the past few days to myself. It was, in a word: boring...very boring. I know what you're thinking: you don't work anyways, so haven't you already figured out ways to keep occupied? Yeah, but it's a lot more boring knowing that at the end of the day I won't get to be with Beth. So, my days consisted pretty much of eating pizza and playing Super Mario Kart...I'm getting quite good, btw...I unlocked 2 more secret cars! I did, however, drag my butt to the gym every day, and the kitchen is now clean...so, I was somewhat productive.

Tomorrow (Friday) I leave in the morning for Singapore to join Beth for about 5 days while we explore Singapore and perhaps some of Malaysia and/or Indonesia, which are close by. We'll be sure to report back as soon as we return! 

Protests

One thing that is interesting about living Hong Kong is that it is both the major (actually only) city and the center of government for the entire country. It's like living in a combination of New York and Washington D.C. That means that if I'm in Central, near the government offices there are very often small protests occuring. Small as in 10-20 people. What has been frustrating is that the signs and protest chants are all in Chinese. Now, I'm not about to insist that they protest in English just for my benefit, but it would at least be nice to have the signs be bilingual so I can have an idea about what they are protesting. I like to be informed...maybe I'll joing them in their fight..but, first I have to know what the issue is.

However, just the other day, I can across the protestors above who where mostly African and protesting in English. They were protesting the fact that Hong Kong does not have an asylum policy. A little research into this showed that there are currently 1500 asylum seekers in Hong Kong, most of them from Africa or South Asia. More than 150 of them are being detained (i.e. in prison) or have to report weekly to the police.

So, thanks to protests in English, I'm now better informed!

Things that peeve me off: #4812

Online shopping:

Due to the inability to find certain things in Hong Kong and the high prices of that we can find...I've tried to turn to online shopping to get those hard to find items...mostly eBay and Amazon.com. The problem with Amazon is the only items they will ship overseas are books, cd's and dvd's...and those, of course, come with higher shipping costs because the goods are coming from the states. Oh...but, amazon.com is a smart, international company, you say...and yes, indeed they have several different regional sites, including China....well, guess what happens when you go to their China sites....it's only in Chinese! Doesn't really help me! Same thing with eBay's Hong Kong site. Now, I'm not trying to be insensitive and demand that everyone speak English for my benefit...I just think that amazon and eBay must not have fully thought out their internationalization plans here. These are American based companies...they could have easily created English translated pages for their regional sites. Heck, every web page I've been to for Hong Kong based companies have a little link for the English translated pages!

That's all...I'm done ranting now.

Where's the Salmon?

I so need to win this contest. First prize is some sort of camera phone and second prize is a year's worth of free pizza. However, they said that it's valued at HK$888...there's no way that's a years worth of pizza, that's like barely 8 pizzas!

New camera...yea!!

This is a picture of my new Canon digital Rebel XT SLR camera...this picture was taken with said camera...how'd I do that? Any guesses?? Thanks go out to my mom and Susie for their help with the procurement and expedited shipping of my new toy. I'll be able to take it on our trip to Singapore next week!!

BTW, I added more photos to Photobucket and added the links to the right of this page. Pictures From Around Hong Kong and Pictures of Hong Kong Island were both taken with the new camera, whereas most of the photos in Nick's 'Artistic' pictures and Pictures of our Zoe! were taken with our older camera.

Have fun!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thanks to all who sent me birthday greetings! I did, indeed, have a happy birthday. My lovely wife, Beth, did a great job spoiling me over the past couple of days. Pictured above is the delicious ice cream cake she got from Haagen-Daazs for me! It was good, and we do have leftovers should you be in the neighborhood.

I've now got 2 years left on the countdown until I turn 30...yikes!

F.A.Q.

In an effort to avoid answering the same mundane questions, I've compiled a list of frequently asked questions regarding our experiences in Hong Kong. Please consult this list prior to conversation with me. If you violate this rule and ask a question contained within the FAQ list, there will be trouble. Actually, I'll most likely just sigh, roll my eyes and answer the question anyways. Now, to the list:

So, how's the weather?:

It sucks. It's raining now...5 minutes ago, it looked great. That's how it is here, you never know when torrential rain will break out. Unless, I actually consulted the weather forcasts, that is. The weather was actually rather decent when we first arrived, but quickly turned bad, then worse. And it's supposed to get even worse this month and in August. September and onward, however, are supposed to be quite nice, cooler temperatures, lower humidity and no rain. And let's not even talk about the horrendous thunder and lightening we are often treated to...conveniently in the middle of the night when trying to sleep.

Isn't it terrible living in Communist China? Aren't people there restricted to one child? Won't you be jailed if people know you're a Christian? Uggh, I'm so worried about you!

Chill out. Yes, Hong Kong is now a part of China, but it is governed far differently. Prior to the handover in 1997, China and the UK signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration which basically states that "In accordance with the "One Country, Two Systems" Principle agreed between the UK and the PRC, the socialism system of PRC shall not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life shall remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. The Joint Declaration provides that these basic policies shall be stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law."

So, there you have it, this is very different from China. There is definate religious freedom. Beth and I attend Evangelical Community Church here. It is very much like churches we have attended in the US, except for the fact that they have no permanent building and meet in a different location each week. Despite the fact that Christianity is definately the minority religion here, I have seen no evidence that there is any less religous freedom here than there is in the US.

Same thing goes for interet censorship. You've probably heard about how Google is agreeing to censor certain topics for Chinese internet users, such as Tianeman square, Taiwanese independence, etc.... That doesn't apply here, we can search for those topics.

Are you working?

No.

That's all you have to say?

Ok, I'll say more. Yes, it has been 4 months since we've arrived and no, I haven't found a job yet. Yes, I've applied for many jobs. In fact, on my favorite job board, jobsdb.com, I've applied for about 400 jobs. I've been on 4 interviews, one of them went very well, and yet I never heard from them again, despite emailing them to see where they were at in the process. 2 of the 4 were last week and they went ok, so we'll see if i hear from them this week.

It seems at least half of the jobs out there require Cantonese language skills, many also requiring Mandarin. I do not possess either. It takes quite a while to become fluent in Cantonese.

Are you okay with not working? How are you feeling about it?

I would definately like to be working. I've spent the last 10 years of my life as a working professional for the same company, not working is new for me. I like knowing I'm accomplishing something useful for a company and bringing in money at the same time. Honestly, sometimes it's very difficult knowing I'm not working and not being successful finding a job, sometimes I'm okay with it. Some days I wake up thinking "I gave up a good job, a house with a yard, a decent sized kitchen with an oven, an oven! a game room with a pool table, a projector with a 72 in screen, just for this!" And then I think "Oh wait, I didn't give up the projector, I brought it with me...I think I'll go play Spiderman 2 on the Game Cube"

It is convenient for me to be at home during the day, I am able to get things done that would either have to be done by Beth or I in the evening or eat up our weekends if both of us were working. I'm able to keep the apartment relatively clean, spend time with the dog, make sure we have food to eat, etc... We're still able to make ends meet on Beth's salary, so the need isn't urgent, but, yes, I would like a job. Bottom line, I don't regret making the decision to move here, even though it has meant be being out of work for a while. I was fully aware that it would be difficult for me to get a job here, it's all part of the risk I was willing to take.

So, wait a second, here....you expect us to feel sorry for you because you don't have to work, aren't financially hurting, get to explore a foreign culture, have an apartment with a great view, can take naps in the middle of the day, can pretty much do whatever you want during the day, as long as you keep the apartment relatively clean and the fridge stocked with food? You pathetic, ungrateful twit!! I'd love to trade places with you!!

Well, when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so bad. I know what your saying, I should be grateful...it's hard to explain. This is stressing me out, I'm going to go eat some oreos and take my 10:30am nap now.

How's Zoe?

She's good! She's her same, hyper-energetic self! Before shipping her over, we heard some horror stories about pets being psychologically traumatized by long flights in a pet carrier stuck in the baggage compartment. Not, our Zoe, though! While I'm sure it wasn't fun for her, she didn't seem to notice once she arrived. Of course, there was that little incident with her alleric reaction to the rabies vaccine they gave her upon arrival, but that cleared up quickly.

Yes, you may have heard us say that Hong Kong isn't very pet friendly and most of the city parks don't allow dogs. It works out alright, though. There is plenty of sidewalks to walk her on, until her or us gets tired. There aren't very many places where we can have her unleashed, but honestly, we rarely let her off the leash back home, either. She isn't exactly trustworthy when it comes to being unleashed in public. She thinks it's a game to run off and not let us catch her.

You live on the 40th floor, right? So, isn't it hugely inconvenient to take her outside to do her business?

They're called puppy pee pads and they work great...usually....if you can get her to, uh, aim properly. And you need to make sure to clean the poo off on a regular basis.

Aren't you worried that the elevator door will open, but no elevator will be there, and you'll step into it and fall to your death? I'm worried about that!!

No, I'm not worried about that. For one, I'm not usually in the habit of closing my eyes and entering an elevator. Call me crazy, but that's just me. Secondly, our elevator, like many has a mirrored backing, to which I have grown accustomed. If the elevator doors opened and I did not see my reflection, I would immediately know something is amiss, and most likely not step into an empty eleavator shaft.

So, quit your worrying, mother.

I bet your eating Chinese food all the time, huh?

You're kidding me, right? What you call Chinese food is so radically different from "real" Chinese food, it's not even funny. It's probably the most successful joke Chinese immigrants to the US ever played on their new country: "Hey, when they ask us to make food from our home country, let's not make the real stuff, let's instead cook for them fried meats, without the skin, and bones and baste it in sweet sauces, they'll hate it! Hahahahahahahaha!!" Well, it turns out we love the stuff and it is not to be found in Hong Kong, with the exception of some mediocre attempts.

Authentic Chinese food is more like: chicken feet, fatty meat with skin and bones still attached, cooked in strange sauces, soups made with stuff you'd see on Fear Factor, shark fin's soup, bird's nest soup (yes, this means actual bird's nest)...no sweet and sour or General Tso's chicken, I bet there wasn't even such a person as General Tso.

However, if we do want to experience good, authentic, Asian meals, we do have the option of Thai food. Thai food here is quite good and is very close to Thai food in Thailand, which we have had.

How are you able to manage without knowing Chinese??

The official languages of Hong Kong are Cantonese and English. So, pretty much all signs, menus, etc. are written in both Chinese and English. Plus, knowing english is necessary for most jobs, so most people we come into contact know, at least some, english. Granted, sometimes theire level of english skills is very low, but we usually manage to figure things out.

The limited english skills sometimes results in some interesting and humorous situations. It's common to see people on the streets with shirts on that have english writing on them. Sometimes the shirts say some rather provocative and inappropriate things. You might be thinking "well maybe they just have different standards there" well, that may be it, but often just from looking at the person, you get the feeling that they just have no idea what their shirt says. Take the grandmother wearing the shirt with the Playboy bunny character on it...I really don't think she knows what that represents, she probably just thinks it's a cute bunny. Or the old man wearing a shirt that says "Stupid" I'm thinking that was an accident.

Does Beth like her job? Doesn't she hate the long hours? How does she communicate with her co-workers?

Hmm...why don't I let Beth answer that:

"I do enjoy my job. Yes, we took a leap moving to Hong Kong for me to begin working for an entirely new employer with a new group of people I'd never met before. But despite all the risks my intution turned out to be accurate and the role I have at Citigroup is very, very similar to the role I had at Russell which made it quite easy to settle into.

Additional to that, you'd be surprised how diverse the office is. I will admit that I myself pictured an office where the majority of the staff we're middle age local folks who were more accustomed to conversing in Cantonese than English. This is not the reality of the office environment. Soon after moving to Hong Kong I quickly realized there is a dramatic difference between those in the business world and those who well, have lower paying jobs. Here at work, EVERYONE speaks English. Not to mention I work with an Australian, a New Zealander, an American, and a Canadian.

A few are a bit rusty with English and have heavy accents and writing English is a challenge for many. But the majority of my co-workers were educated in the US, Canada, London, Australia, etc.. You'll find most in the business world have spent 5-10 years living abroad and this makes them very different from what we Hong Konger's call the "local locals."

Many people here do work horrible hours. Horrendous hours. I have several co-workers who are known to not leave the office until 10pm 3 or 4 days out of the week. The general rule here is: "If it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and you're awake--you should be at work." However, the locals (meaning those who've lived in HK more than a year) do not see this scenario as being a slave to the employer as folks would in the US. The ultra dedicated people I work with stay late because they want to (not just because it's the cultural norm)... These are people who forgo vacation time because working gives them satisfaction more so than other liesurely activities. (seriously, I have 2 co-workers that gave up vacay time last year) and I can only chalk that up to cultural upbringing and influence.

I however, do as all ex-pats do here. I've managed to forge a different routine for myself and I tend to leave around 6:30. Yes, this is late in comparison to my early departure days at Russell where no one batted an eye if you wanted to leave between 4 and 4:30 and putting in OT was working til 6. However, keep in mind that in the US I called my boss with a head's up if I couldn't make it in by 8:15, where as here I can show up between 9 and 9:15 and still get in before my co-workers (though I often keep to my old habits and show up in the 8 o'clock hour.

Additionally, one hour lunches are not had here. If I wanna shop or have a glass or two of wine over lunch, I can. Ninety minute, even two-hour lunches are very common here. On average I work about 45 hours a week, maybe every other week I work 50. Saturday's are not work days. Yes, some companies do count Saturday morning as part of the work week, but my employer is not one of them. So, yea, the hours are a bit long and I do suffer from time to time when I wanna leave the office and it's 6:45 and everyone else is typing away. They notice, but I leave anyway and this seems to be the routine of every expat I know...

I think Nick has covered everything else so I will leave it at that."

So, to sum it up here: the weather sucks, you don't have a job, your dog poops in your apartment, the food sucks, the locals unknowingly wear obscene t-shirts...you basically hate it right?! Ha ha! That'll teach you to take risks and leave America!! Score 1, for the good ol' USA!! Don't come back, commie!

Well, that was a little melodramatic. No, we don't hate it here, not at all. Like a lot of things in life, it has it's up and downs. But, we definately don't regret our decision to move here. We are getting exactly what we were looking for: something new
==================================================================

So, there you have it. If you have any questions not contained in this list, feel free to ask away. But, if it is asked more than once, it will need to be added to the list!

New Lost Theory

Here's my new Lost theory, I swear it's the truth:

"The island was originally artificially constructed in 1955 by a secretive group of international arms dealers and used as a military base. It was later used as a test site for cutting edge developments in mind control techniques and zoology.

The group ultimately hoped to develop a drug which would enable a test subject to develop psychic abilities.

The crash of flight 815 was caused by a swarm of remotely operated Dharma nanobots. The survivors of flight 815 are being monitored to gauge their responses to the mysteries on the island and the 'monster' in the jungle is an experimental force field controlled by the Hanso Foundation.

The Others are synthetic humans developed as part of the Dharma initiative.

The 'incident' mentioned in the orientation film was a massive explosion caused by a huge build up of electromagnetic energy and when the button is not pressed it will simply signify the end of the experiment.

Sawyer is Jin's imaginary friend.

The numbers are a coded reference to an ancient religious text which prophecises the end of the world."

What?? You don't like it? Well, don't blame me...blame the Lost Theory Generator

You've Got Photos...new addition to blog

If you look to your right-hand side of the screen...no, your other right...underneath 'Links' I've added a section for links to my photobucket site where I have and will continute to, post pictures from our various adventures and outings.

So...check it out!

how rude...

Hong Kong is

Apparently Hong Kong is considered to be one of the rudest cities in the world....no comment...no comment.

Oh great, we just moved to Hong Kong...

...and now I'm expected to move to the moon!

in Hong Kong news this week, professor Stephen Hawking, visited our little country, where he was received a "rock star" welcome. In his lecture at HKUST, he said that humans should have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and on Mars in 40 years. He states this because "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of."

Actually, I think this would be really cool...as a kid I read this series of books about these kids and teenagers who were chosen to colonize Mars, I never finished the series, though...they may have stopped writing them actually. I left off just as they arrived on Mars...but, I don't know how things faired for these intrepid colonists.

Hey, maybe I can find a job on Mars, less competition, right? I better moving on that!

It's true what they say

Soccer is hugely popular overseas (as in, everyplace but America) Hong Kongers are abuzz about the World Cup and marketers are cashing in with several World Cup related advertising:

*If you spend HK$17 at McDonald's you get a commerative card as shown above. If that team wins the World Cup, you get a little prize!

*At California Fitness, if you bring a friend in, you both get a little gym bag with the colors for either England, Brazil, or Portugal.

*Of course, this wouldn't be complete without involving sex. As you check out at the grocery store, you find that you can purchase condoms that have the names and colors of your favorite soccer team. I won't tell you what I thought when I first saw "England Supportor" condoms in line at the grocery store.

Do you like my new haircut?

It only cost me HK$48 with a HK$30 tip because the guy worked really hard (it took about an hour, I think). That's $10 USD total.

That's compared to this, which cost me HK$250:

Hong Kong Remembers 6/4

6/4 is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing in 1989. Organizers estimate that 44,000 gathered in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Sunday to remember the massaacre that left 400-800 civilans dead and 7,000-10,000 injured. Thousands turn out for this event every year. This is the only place in China where the Massacre is publicly commemorated. Discussion of 6/4 is taboo in China outside of Hong Kong and Macau.

This article discusses the gathering and has quotes from those who attended.

Hong Kong Dancers

If you go anywhere in Central on a Sunday you will no doubt see a lot of women sitting around, shoes off, eating with their friends, playing cards, doing each other's hair, etc... These are Hong Kong's domestic workers, enjoying their day off. They work long hours, 6 days a week, often with cramped living conditions, so when they get a day off, they like to relax with their friends. This past Sunday, we saw a couple of them putting on a little dance that they had obviously rehearsed for a while. We thought it was pretty unique until we turned the corner and saw another group doing the same thing...a new trend, perhaps??

Here's the video we shot:

My Lost Theory

Okay, here is what I think Season 3 will bring:Michael and Walt will succesfully sail away from the island and find rescue, making it back to civilization. Michael, feeling guilty, will try and bring rescue to those left on the island. This will prove quite challenging, however, because no one can "see" the island or find the island. No one will really believe his story. In fact, when he tries to tell them he was on flight 815, he won't be able to prove it, because DHARMA will have his name removed from the list of passengers. Everyone will think he's crazy.But, he won't give up, he'll start tracking down the friends and family of the others on the plane, trying to enlist their help. Maybe he'll be able to tell them things about their loved ones that will prove he knows them. While meeting with these people, he will be able to see the various connections between people that only we have known about. This will somehow lead to the truth about what's really going on.What do you think??

See what the other Lost fanatics think!

Mood=disapointed

I just finished watching the series finale for Alias and must say I am disapointed. I had expected the finale to give me hope that J.J. Abrams would be able to successfully bring Lost to a close and answer all the unanswered questions when it came time for the show to end, which it will eventually have to do.

I'm not saying that the finale was terrible, it had its good points...Sloane's final punishment, not being death, but the eternal life he was trying to attain, but has to spend it trapped inside a tomb. But, let's face it: in Alias world he'd be out of the tomb in 2 episodes, tops. Another cool part was that Sydney's final mission and fight takes place in....Hong Kong!:





I think the building Beth works in might be in this shot, although I don't think our apartment is. I think you might be able to see it in the shot where Sydney is beating the crap out of her mom, or maybe when her mom is being the crap out of her, I'm not sure.

But, other than those 2 highlights, it didn't deliver what I expected it to after 5 years of build-up. Granted, it is not a show like Lost that is based entirely off one unanswerable question: "what the heck is gowing on here?!" Nevertheless, we were expecting it to go out with more of a bang. I mean, you're telling me that Rambaldi's final endgame and what Sloane was searching for was just eternal life? That's it?! That plot has been done a thousand times...I thought it was interesting when they did and episode of Duck Tales about that, but come on, I expected more.

I remember thinking that I would be disapointed if they did something totally unexpected, like making Sydney or Vaughn bad in the end...but that would have almost been better than this!

Lost fans: beware....all this waiting and watching may result in a lame payoff: The plane crashed on a deserted part of Australia, they just needed to go on a hike that was longer than a "day and a half." Maybe if they didn't constantly stop for breaks on their hikes they would have discovered this earlier. What is the Dharma Initiative really about?...doesn't matter, we're safe now!

Mr. Abrams...you have a reputation to protect, don't let us down!

Another joke

"I have a king-sized bed. I don't know any kings, but if one ever needed to sleep over, I guess he'd be comfortable. "Oh, you're a king, you say? Wait until you see what I have in store for you! It is to your exact specifications...I did not know you guys were all the same size. I think I can set your lady up too!" When I was a kid, I used to lie awake in my twin-sized bed wonderin' where my brother was... "

I'm sure those of you who've lived overseas can relate:

Today, like I've had to do a couple times since moving to Hong Kong, I had to call the US to take care of some business. The lady I'm talking to asks for my number to call back in case there are any problems. I tell her it is: "country code 852 and the number is 5555-1234"

She says, confused "Oh, I'm afraid I don't know how to call that kind of number!"

This has happened to me a couple of times already. For some reason, people are instantly confused and afraid of any number that doesn't have the typical (253) 555-1234 pattern. And I'll be the first to admit that I didn't know how to call an international number either before our move to Hong Kong. But, at least I wouldn't have made myself look so dumb by saying that I didn't know how to call it, I would take the number down and do a little internet research and figure it out. It's almost as if I asked her to call me with smoke signals and dialing: 83zY$%& what you don't know how to do that??

So, I tell this lady, well, you first have to enter a number to call an international number from the US. Of course, me being dumb, I didn't remember waht is was.

As a public service annoncement for anyone needing to call internationally from the US, here is how you dial:

011-(country code)-(area code, if applicable)-(phone number)

of course, dialing a 9 first, if needed to get an outside line.

If you think you'll forget, please bookmark this page.

And please also utilize this page, so you don't call me at 3am.

Thank you for your time.

I played soccer with an elephant (Thailand trip report)

It was a tie game, 1-1. She actually kicked the ball pretty hard for a girl.



Afterwards, she and his friend gave me a massage. It was...gross. They kissed me on the face with their trunks. It was smelly!



In Bangkok, Beth was able to find some of the little asian miniatures she's been collecting. Here she is posing with them in the 3 Fat Greeks Restaraunt. Isn't she adorable?


Beth mentioned that she took a cooking class in Koh Samui. But, she didn't mention how good the food was....well, it was great! And that's coming from someone who isn't the biggest Thai food fan, or at least I wasn't a fan until now! The soup was very spicy, but good. Dad, you would have liked it, it makes your scalp sweat just like you like it! :) And while pictures don't do it justice...



One thing that was interesting about our trip is that all flights (except the one leaving Bangkok to Macau) didn't utilize runway ramps. We took little buses that ran from the terminal to the plane.

Hey, when you depart a plane by walking down those stairs, do you ever pretend you're the president, getting out of Air Force One and waving to the crowds?

Oh...neither do I


The airport at Koh Samui is small, really small. Not only do they bus you from the plan to the arrivals terminal, the terminal itself has no walls, it's just a hut. You know how when you go to the baggage claim area to collect your luggage from the carousel? And it's kind of a mystery as to how it got there? Like there must be an extensive system of belts that carry the luggage from the carts that get the luggage out of the plane and then deliver it to your specific carousel?

Well, it's no mystery in this airport! They just take your bags out of the plane, cart them over to the hut and toss them on the belt!


That's all for now!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (well, no planes, but there was a bus)

I'm sure many of you envision Hong Kong as one large, overcrowded metropolis...I know I did. While this is certainly a part of Hong Kong, there are definately rural, less crowded areas, as I found out today.

As you may know, Beth and I were on holiday (that's vacations to you Americans) this past week. As a result, we had to have Zoe stay at a Kennel. Before we left on holiday, we had the kennel pick her up from our apartment, for a small fee. However, they don't offer the delivery service on Sundays which was when we returned and of course wanted to see her again. So, I decided, I would go and pick her up mysef and bring her home.

This involved quite the trek which gave me an idea of just how rural Hong Kong can be:

First, I took the MTR (subway) on the Island line to the Admiralty station, then took the Tseun Wan line to the Yau Ma Tei station, then took the Kwun Tong line to the Diamond hill station. This was the easiest part and only took about 15-20 minutes. For the unfamiliar, here is a map of the MTR routes:



From the Diamond hill station I exited to the bus terminal and took bus 92 to the Sai Kung bus station, which was the end of the line for that bus and took about 30 minutes. Thankfully, during this trek, I had a good book to keep me company. From there, I had to get a taxi to the kennel. The first taxi I asked told me he couldn't go there, and that I needed a green taxi. Aparently this far out, they have red taxis and green taxis, only green taxis can service the local area, I guess. So, I go find the green taxis, the first guy I ask has know idea how to get the address I have written down on a piece of paper. Thankfully, the next guy does, though. Sai Kung is a nice little area, by the way, I made a mental note to visit again.

The green taxi drives maybe 20 minutes or so, going further and further away from civilization, dropping me off at a trail that has a sign for the the Kennel. I get out, pay the fare, and look at the trail, not knowing just how long my trek by foot will be before I reach the kennel.

Thankfully, it is not too far on the trail, which takes me first past another kennel then past some cows, not fenced in mind you, just out there. I'm such a city boy, that I'm not entirely sure whether out not I'm in any danger being so close to the cows. I know there obviously not aggressive animals or cow-tipping would not be such a successful sport. However, I did notice that there was a calf off to the right of the trail and the older cows to the left. I couldn't help but worry that coming in between the calf and it's mother would cause trouble....or wait, is that bears, that you're not supposed to do that with? I pass without trouble, expect the wonderful experience of seeing a cow pee. It's not a tinke or a drizzle, mind you, these cows have exceptional urinary strength, you could put out a fire with that stream!

OK, so I'm at the kennel now, I pick up Zoe and her large heavy crate, by the way, and ask the kennel staff how I can get back to Hong Kong Island. They help me out by calling a taxi for me, which will arrive shortly. Another guy, drives me and Zoe in his van to where we can meet the taxi. We get in the taxi near where the other kennel is. Because the taxi had to drive up the skinny dirt trail, she is having a tough time getting turned around. The guy with the van tries to help her out, shouting various directions. So, we hve Zoe panting because she's thristy, the dogs in the kennel barking bloody murder and this guy yelling at the taxi driver as if we're about to drive off a cliff if she makes the slighest wrong move. Eventually, we make it out. Oh, wait, did I mention this was a green taxi? Of course, it was, so it can't take me back home. And, in case you're wondering, I have to take a taxi back home, because Zoe can't go on the bus or the subway.

So, she drives me to a red taxi which we transfer to and that taxi is finally able to take us home.

The cost of the do-it-yourself method of dog retrieval?:

MTR trips: HK$9.80
Bus trip: HK$5.50
Taxi ride to kennel: HK$38.90
Green taxi ride back from kennel: HK$70
Red taxi ride back to apartment: HK$200

Total cost? HK$324.20 ($41.83 USD)

The cost of having Zoe stay another day and have her delivered on Monday? HK$260 ($33.55 USD).

The cost of having your dog that you missed back early AND have an interesting story to tell? Priceless.

2 jokes for the price of one

"I get the Reese's candy bar. If you read that name 'Reese's', that's an apostrophe S. Reese's apostrophe S at the end of that name. That means the candy bar is his. I didn't know that. Next time you're eating a Reese's candy bar and a guy name Reese comes by and says, 'Let me have that,' you better hand it over. 'I'm sorry, Reese. I didn't think I'd ever run into you. You're a bully, man. Let me at least have a piece.'"

"I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down."

-Mitch Hedberg

Mitch Hedberg joke of the week

As mentioned previously, several people are finding my blog when googling for information about the late, great comedian, Mitch Hedberg. In fact, it's usually about 2 people per day! They are pretty much making up about half of my traffic!

In an effort not to disapoint these googlers, I am going to start a "Mitch Hedberg joke of the week (or whenever Nick remembers to post a joke (but not more than once a week)).

Here is this weeks joke, and the inspiration for the title of my blog is:

"I like an escalator because an escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You would never see an "Escalator temporarily out-of-order" sign. Just "Escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience." We apologize for the fact that you can still get up there."

And, what did Nick happen to see just the other day, in the Sheung Wan MTR station?:

Grandpa needs a new pair of shoes...

Beth made a post mentioning Ching Ming day--I thought I'd go a little more in depth, explaining this intriguing (perhaps more accurately, baffling) Chinese holiday to you.

On Ching Ming day the Chinese visit the graves of their anscestors. In addition to making sure the grave is swept clean they burn paper money, houses, luxury cars, pets, even mobile phones!

Think I'm making this up? Check it out. (They also perform similar acts on "Hungry Ghost Festival.") I've learned the majority of Hong Kong residents practice ancestor worship due to the strong Confucian influence in the country. Burning paper items for the dead is an element of this practice.

OK, so here's what I'm wondering...I can accept that their view of the afterlife is not like a traditional Christian view where the deceased would not really need any earthly posessions. And let's take another leap and accept that they believe they can beqeath money and things by burning objects at their graves...but...mobile phones?? Do the dead really need them? Money, maybe... or sure, the latest iPod to pass the time? But do the deceased really make use of the microwaves and cars?

And, I'm curious: do they plan ahead by first burning paper mobile phone towers to set up the proper infrastructure? I mean, if you're going to go there--you've got to think about these details here! And if we're really serious about making sure our dearly departed have the latest afterlife bling, let's burn the real thing, not paper imitations! Grandpa may be dead, but he's not stupid!

So, there you have it! Near our new apartment, there are a couple of little shops selling incense and paper objects as I mentioned....here are some pictures I took:

My Visit to See the Big Bronze Buddha

Today I went to see the Tian Tan Buddha which is the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze buddha...a niche category for sure, but nonetheless impressive.

The trip started with a 50 minute ferry ride from Central, Hong Kong Island to Mui Wo on Lantau Island. From there I took a bus to the Po Lin Monestary in Ngong Ping (randm cantonese lesson: to learn to pronounce words starting with 'ng' say the word 'sing' and then remove the 'si')

View of HK Island from the ferry:


I had to walk up many steps to get there. Once at the top, I went inside to learn interesting facts...one of which is that after Buddha reached perinirvana, he cremated himself. His cremated remains were scattered around the globe, inside the statue there are supposedly two pieces of those remains on display. They are as small as a grain of rice and behind glass, so I couldn't get a very good look. They say that each person who looks at it sees a different color. Seeing as how I couldn't even see it, I saw no color, I wonder what the person next to me saw

Another interesting fact that I just now learned, thanks to Wikipedia, is that inside the Buddha, there is a bell that rings every 7 minutes...108 times a day, "symbolizing the release of 108 kinds of human vexations." You Lost fans will understand and build this into your next theory.


This is what Buddha gets to look at every day:


It was interesting to see people praying to the Buddha statues. I didn't think Buddhists really worshiped Buddha, but just revered him as a great teacher, not a god or a deity. I guess I was wrong, there was lots of praying and burning of incense. Incense is pretty big here in Hong Kong, I'll have to explain more later.


I here this guy plays a mean banjo:


This was funny, this is called a "lucky pan" You're supposed to rub the sides and if you're lucky, you'll get the water to bubble up. This guy got it to work, but others didn't. I'm guessing it works because the rubbing creates vibrations that cause the water to bubble up.

























And this was my lunch, Chinese tea and chicken fried rice. Not too bad.















All in all, a fun and interesting day!

My legs don't hurt nearly as much...

Happy Birthday to my wifee!


We're now in our new apartment in Sheung Wan. It definately feels like a different part of the city from Soho/Central, but in reality it's only a 15 minute walk away. One of things I appreciate about our new place is how I can go out and about and return to the apartment without climbing any hills or stairs..yes!

Of course, all good things are not without their downfalls, one of which is that the primary product of the local economy appears to be gross smelling dried food. And it feels like there are two or three shops selling them on every street corner. How is it that they each manage to turn a profit?? This stuff looks and smells like stuff we give the dog to chew on and keep her occupied for an hour! But, I doubt that she would like it either.

In Soho, it was a ton of small (as in no more than 10 people can fit in) restaraunts that were everywhere, here it's the smelly food stores, hopefully the restaraunts aren't buying there food from here. Gross, dry food is still gross even when rehydrated.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our new place...all the shots were taken from inside our new apartment, on the 40th floor (actually more like 34th floor, there are several floors 'missing')

These two were taking from our study:

Just for fun...

This one was taken from our living room:

And now, for something completely different...

Random silliness from Hong Kong

This was found in one of our favorite grocery stores...funny thing is this is a product exported from the US:


"Pastabilities...I love it!"


Zoe...what exactly do you do when we leave you alone in the apartment?:


If it's no good...feed it to the dog:


That's one cool race horse:

The next time you see me my thighs will be the size of tree trunks!

This is the view I see as soon as entering our apartment building...no elevator, so this begins my trek up to our 5th floor apartment...yes, Chris, you can now laugh at me for never taking the stairs at work!



Amongst my other daily routines is the regular trek to get water. We haven't figured out yet if this is one of those "don't drink the water" places. So, in the mean time, we're playing it safe. I saw a program on the Discovery chnnel the other day that showed these women living in the desert who had to travel 3 hours every day to get water. While my trek is only about 10 minutes away, including the use of a convenient escalator, somehow I can relate! So, needless to say, I'm treking up and down those stairs on a fairly regular basis with water jugs and other grocery items in hand! Of course, Zoe doesn't seem to mind.

This is one of the many great views in Hong Kong, this one from the HK Botanical Gardens:


The Botanical Gardens also has a small, free zoo which contains some monkeys, orangutans and a jaguar:



And finally, you've heard the music, gone to the show, now wear the clothes!*:



*U2 clothes has no affiliation with U2 the band, any resemblance is purely coincidental.