Well greetings from Kuala Lumpar. I'll be brief as I need to go explore but I'm aware I have been getting a little slack on the old updates. My apologies.
So, other than grumbling, what have I been up to since Wednesday? Well, I've been for a nice work lunch (soooooooooooooooo much food), and then mostly calls, meetings, video conferences and strategising. I do love that my job involves spending time doing 'good thinking'.
I have three weeks left at work here (how time flies) and a combination of the realisation I will be leaving shortly and a desire to not be in my tiny room all weekend led me to hop on a flight to KL. The nice people at the hotel clearly appreciated this and have upgraded me to a suite! Don't get too excited, it is tiny and dirty but - IT HAS WALLS!!! I've spent a lot of time walking between rooms! (However, I still would not recommend staying here, dirty place - albeit with the fanciest rooftop bar and the fanciest business center I've seen in a long time).
So, do have an excellent weekend and I'll let you know all about KL when I do!
Friday, 13 August 2010
Thursday, 12 August 2010
I'm a celebrity...
...get me out of here!
Ok, so that is a little over dramatic. I'll explain.
Firstly, in HK if you're not someone you must be no-one. EVERYONE has a VIP card or three, as a minimum. Even your bank card makes you entitled to 'VIP' discounts at one shop or another. Clubs, restaurants and bars are members only. At Prada, if you spend more than GBP25,000 per year there you get 10% off everything you buy. (Even I know that's not a discount worth having!)
However, having waxed lyrical about all that is good and interesting about HK there are a few things that are beginning to get to me (cue Snow Patrol). Now don't get me wrong. I'm not spending my days singing along to Ugly Kid Joe but there are a few things that are genuinely starting to get to me.
Top three:
1. Burping - culturally acceptable and a mechanism of expressing appreciation for a good meal, but genuinely please talk me through why I have to spend my afternoons listening to a chorus of burps.
2. Slurping - again culturally acceptable, but didn't your mother always tell you to sip your tea nicely?
3. Queuing - the lack of. No one queues. A queue is a competition to see how many people you can walk into / over in a campaign to get to the front. Whatever the cost.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH
So, have decided to take a weekend mini break. It was that or anger management courses and those are rarely run in beautiful hotels with a view.
Ok, so that is a little over dramatic. I'll explain.
Firstly, in HK if you're not someone you must be no-one. EVERYONE has a VIP card or three, as a minimum. Even your bank card makes you entitled to 'VIP' discounts at one shop or another. Clubs, restaurants and bars are members only. At Prada, if you spend more than GBP25,000 per year there you get 10% off everything you buy. (Even I know that's not a discount worth having!)
However, having waxed lyrical about all that is good and interesting about HK there are a few things that are beginning to get to me (cue Snow Patrol). Now don't get me wrong. I'm not spending my days singing along to Ugly Kid Joe but there are a few things that are genuinely starting to get to me.
Top three:
1. Burping - culturally acceptable and a mechanism of expressing appreciation for a good meal, but genuinely please talk me through why I have to spend my afternoons listening to a chorus of burps.
2. Slurping - again culturally acceptable, but didn't your mother always tell you to sip your tea nicely?
3. Queuing - the lack of. No one queues. A queue is a competition to see how many people you can walk into / over in a campaign to get to the front. Whatever the cost.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH
So, have decided to take a weekend mini break. It was that or anger management courses and those are rarely run in beautiful hotels with a view.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Byeeee
Well. I am a little bit sad tonight as it was the last night with mum. Has been so lovely so am not looking forward to saying goodbye tomorrow.
However, never one to let something like that get in the way of a good meal, out we went for a delicious last dinner in HK. Restaurant of the evening was Bistro Manchu. According to them they are they only Manchurian restaurant in HK. Regardless of whether this is correct, the food there is very tasty. I will be going again!
Post dinner we popped to our new 'favourite' bar for a quick post dinner tipple at Varga Lounge. Worth it just for the bar mats even if you;re not into people watching. If I weren't superstitious I'd be asking the price of the beautiful peacock feather print they have too....
Last night we went with some colleagues to a 'local' restaurant in Kowloon (near Prince Edward MTR). A seafood restaurant, busiest at 3am when the taxi drivers go for breakfast. Amazing food, is just very disappointing I can never go on my own - they speak no English. Smiling and pointing anyone?
However, never one to let something like that get in the way of a good meal, out we went for a delicious last dinner in HK. Restaurant of the evening was Bistro Manchu. According to them they are they only Manchurian restaurant in HK. Regardless of whether this is correct, the food there is very tasty. I will be going again!
Post dinner we popped to our new 'favourite' bar for a quick post dinner tipple at Varga Lounge. Worth it just for the bar mats even if you;re not into people watching. If I weren't superstitious I'd be asking the price of the beautiful peacock feather print they have too....
Last night we went with some colleagues to a 'local' restaurant in Kowloon (near Prince Edward MTR). A seafood restaurant, busiest at 3am when the taxi drivers go for breakfast. Amazing food, is just very disappointing I can never go on my own - they speak no English. Smiling and pointing anyone?
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Afternoon tea at the Penninsular
Today we went for afternoon tea at "the Pen".
Supposedly a Hong Kong institution and the place to go. So, along we went, dressed appropriately (no flip flops, no sportswear) and ready for High Tea and High Times.
We did have great fun, lovely catching up and chatting. Looking at the very appropriately dressed, super stylish, crowd and also at those who had not read the dress code (yellow baseball cap ladies??).
But, the service was appalling. Never, ever go there. The tea was drunk well in advance of any food arriving - which took over an hour. The food was average but the waiting staff killed any desire to go again.
The morning was spent eating (noodles), shopping (my mother is a bad influence), and then to happy foot for a painful but beneficial foot massage. More pain than seems entirely necessary at the time but your feet feel wonderful afterwards.
Post Low Tea we had a wander then headed back to Wanchai on the Star Ferry. I do so love that ferry.
I rounded off the evening watching CSI, wearing my new heels, eating mini cheddars and drinking a glass of red. Perfection.
Supposedly a Hong Kong institution and the place to go. So, along we went, dressed appropriately (no flip flops, no sportswear) and ready for High Tea and High Times.
We did have great fun, lovely catching up and chatting. Looking at the very appropriately dressed, super stylish, crowd and also at those who had not read the dress code (yellow baseball cap ladies??).
But, the service was appalling. Never, ever go there. The tea was drunk well in advance of any food arriving - which took over an hour. The food was average but the waiting staff killed any desire to go again.
The morning was spent eating (noodles), shopping (my mother is a bad influence), and then to happy foot for a painful but beneficial foot massage. More pain than seems entirely necessary at the time but your feet feel wonderful afterwards.
Post Low Tea we had a wander then headed back to Wanchai on the Star Ferry. I do so love that ferry.
I rounded off the evening watching CSI, wearing my new heels, eating mini cheddars and drinking a glass of red. Perfection.
Saturday, 7 August 2010
How could I forget Friday??
How could I forget Friday night?? First stop Star Ferry over to Kowloon. I love that ferry and it only costs 25p.
Next stop the waterside at Kowloon to watch the famous light show. I've seen this before from a boat but never from Kowloon where you can hear the accompanying music! The HK skyline is truly beautiful and the light / laser show is a combination of hilarious (due to the ridiculousness of it) and stunning.
Following the show we hopped in a cab to Temple Street (this is HK so no add-lee prices, you're looking at about GBP2 per trip) for the night market.
A lovely evening. I made my first proper HK purchase (jewellery box - now I just need to fill it). The Temple Street night market is the mens market. (There is also a ladies market). This means there are many a stall selling Calvin Klein y-fronts. Nice! Also clothes, electronics, leather goods and the usual tourist tat.
We went to one of the outside restaurants and had masses and masses of wonderful food. Razor clams, spicy tofu, piles of fried noodles, yum, triple, yum. Topped off nicely with ice cold beer.
We missed the opera singers but from the taxi experience (see earlier post) I am now slightly relieved!
Dim sum + beach
Saturday, weather sunny and dry but threatening to rain.
We hopped into a taxi. HK taxi drivers notoriously claim to not know where you want to go. Our taxi driver claimed to know everywhere in HK and advised us of this in a semi-reassuring tone as we hopped in.
We hopped into a taxi. HK taxi drivers notoriously claim to not know where you want to go. Our taxi driver claimed to know everywhere in HK and advised us of this in a semi-reassuring tone as we hopped in.
Traffic was bad so it was a reasonably long journey. A few minutes into the ride said driver advised he liked singing and would we like to hear a few lines. Cue a drive with two English songs (short, a lovely effort, no idea what the songs were), a mandarin song (this one I actually recognised) and a long piece of Chinese opera. How I wish someone had not recently described Chinese opera to me as "like hearing cats being strangled". We were killing ourselves in the back of the cab trying not to laugh! I feel mean saying this, but seriously, you should have been there...
Stop one was a restaurant called Dim Sum for, well, Dim Sum. Delicious! As ever we over-ordered. We did make one ordering error. The menu listed "deep fried milk" as an option. We ordered this to find out what it actually was (English translations often confusing). It turned out that it was indeed deep fried milk. Deep fried condensed milk to be accurate. Not my top dish but another fit of the giggles...
Back in the taxi and we went to Shek-O beach. We had packed swimmers and towels but it was actually so hot that we opted for sitting in the shade at the "surf cafe' reading our books. I felt slight guilt at sitting on a beach in HK planning a holiday to Bali. Almost like planning a holiday, while you are on holiday. Regardless, the Bali trip plans do now look super-cool.
Shek-O is lovely. A tiny beach although not ideal for swimming. Strong currents, someone drowned there only 2 days ago and someone had to be rescued while we were there. No one pays attention to the red flag being raised and repeated calls of the lifeguard towers (is there a proper word for these) for people to get out of the water if they are not strong swimmers. The nice chap at the surf shack was explaining how they are trying to work with local schools to educate children about the dangers of water and swimming etc.
The beach and surrounding area does have a real holiday feel about it. Lots of little stalls selling snacks, ice cream and beachwear. Given upcoming holiday I was having the bikini-diet or new bikini dilemma. Am now firmly in the new-bikini camp. Four week starvation diet wholly unrealistic (I have chocolate and mini cheddars sent from home to eat still) and there are some really lovely bikinis here. Yes, you have guessed correctly, I am about to become a holiday bore!
So the day had been a combination of eating and sitting. Wonderful. Home for a change into glad-rags then out for a wander through Lang Kwai Fong (always good people watching on a weekend), a few drinks in a lovely little bar I will definitely be going back to, and dinner in Pecatto Soho. Delicious.
Just as we finished dinner a thunderstorm alert was announced and the rain started POURING down. I have now learnt what to do and immediately hustled us into a cab home. Lovely evening though.
Rain appears to be holding off this morning but forecasts indicate this will not last the day... Possibly a spa day methinks.
Stop one was a restaurant called Dim Sum for, well, Dim Sum. Delicious! As ever we over-ordered. We did make one ordering error. The menu listed "deep fried milk" as an option. We ordered this to find out what it actually was (English translations often confusing). It turned out that it was indeed deep fried milk. Deep fried condensed milk to be accurate. Not my top dish but another fit of the giggles...
Back in the taxi and we went to Shek-O beach. We had packed swimmers and towels but it was actually so hot that we opted for sitting in the shade at the "surf cafe' reading our books. I felt slight guilt at sitting on a beach in HK planning a holiday to Bali. Almost like planning a holiday, while you are on holiday. Regardless, the Bali trip plans do now look super-cool.
Shek-O is lovely. A tiny beach although not ideal for swimming. Strong currents, someone drowned there only 2 days ago and someone had to be rescued while we were there. No one pays attention to the red flag being raised and repeated calls of the lifeguard towers (is there a proper word for these) for people to get out of the water if they are not strong swimmers. The nice chap at the surf shack was explaining how they are trying to work with local schools to educate children about the dangers of water and swimming etc.
The beach and surrounding area does have a real holiday feel about it. Lots of little stalls selling snacks, ice cream and beachwear. Given upcoming holiday I was having the bikini-diet or new bikini dilemma. Am now firmly in the new-bikini camp. Four week starvation diet wholly unrealistic (I have chocolate and mini cheddars sent from home to eat still) and there are some really lovely bikinis here. Yes, you have guessed correctly, I am about to become a holiday bore!
So the day had been a combination of eating and sitting. Wonderful. Home for a change into glad-rags then out for a wander through Lang Kwai Fong (always good people watching on a weekend), a few drinks in a lovely little bar I will definitely be going back to, and dinner in Pecatto Soho. Delicious.
Just as we finished dinner a thunderstorm alert was announced and the rain started POURING down. I have now learnt what to do and immediately hustled us into a cab home. Lovely evening though.
Rain appears to be holding off this morning but forecasts indicate this will not last the day... Possibly a spa day methinks.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Hutong again?
Last night I leave the office (it is dry and sunny) to collect mum from the airport. 1. she has whizzed through so I am late, 2. a red rainstorm kicks off, 3. no taxis, 4. grotty hotel (NEVER book the Novotel here).So, the solution was to throw alcohol at the problem. This morning was a hot ribena and peanut butter, plus butter, on toast kind of a day.
Doing this in style we dressed up and went to Hutong for (yet another) FABULOUS meal. The asparagus with chilli and white sesame deserves a special mention and I will be hunting down the recipe. I really do like that restaurant!
After dinner we decided to keep on going and ventured upstairs to Aqua (see photo). Even more spectacular views (the rain makes it quite dramatic), more champers (always a good tipple to follow red wine) and the surreal experience of being in a bar playing house music, accompanied by my mother.
We had a great time and I was sad to remind myself I had work in the morning so we had to call it a night.
The rain continues to fall so plans remain 'fluid' (pardon the pun) this evening.
Many thanks to all who sent gifts across with mum. MUCH appreciated!
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