Thanschka's blog

Chris rockin' the elevator

2006-03-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Chris has been in San Fransisco this week representing the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for a scholastic competition. As a part of his MBA program, his team received a set of patents for yet-to-be-released technology developed by the school's labs and they've been building a business plan for them. This competition in SFO is to present their business case to a community of venture capitalists and academia.

Today was the elevator pitch competition. They came in 3rd out of all the schools. They beat teams from Stanford and the Wharton School of Business. Woooo hooo! This is big stuff I tell ya. Aaaaand, Chris was the one to deliver the elevator pitch. How cool is he?

They came in beyind a couple of PhD's and scientists. But who cares about them.

Tomorrow is the big competition. Stay tuned. Go Chris and HKUST!!

Is Summer here?

2006-03-18T01:53:00.000-08:00

The past week in Hong Kong has be cold. Not cold to Portland or, like, Chicago standards but cold for here. Then I wake up this morning to really warm temperatures. It's a bit hazy today but the sun is shiny through the smog and giving the city a warm glow.

Scary thing is that if it's this warm here, it's going to be boiling in Singapore. Good lord. What to wear...

Hello Makenna!!

2006-03-18T01:45:00.000-08:00

I got home from Singapore the night of March 10 (HK time) to the best message - little Makenna Renee Koetz was born! With the time difference, I her birthday was March 9th at 10:08pm. Congratulations Lisa and Jeff on your 9 lb 4 oz princess!

I spoke the very happy new mom this morning and Baby, mom and dad are all doing well.

I can't wait to meet you Makenna!

Week 2

2006-03-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

I'm starting my 2nd day of week 2 in Singapore now. I have just a few observations to offer at this point (though I hope to have more when I actually get to see more of the city outside of the airport, taxi, hotel and office).

First and foremost, everyone is SO nice here. Everyone. At the airport, at immigration, at the hotel, at the office. And I mean really nice. And welcoming. I know Thailand is already the land of smiles... so maybe Singapore should be the land of welcome. It really makes traveling and being away from home so much easier.

And speaking of land of welcome. One thing I've found so darn endearing is that when I say 'thank you,' the response back is always 'welcome.' Not "you're welcome." Just simply "welcome." Not sure why but I find it darn cute. Maybe it's the sing song voice that comes with it.

And lastly, it's so green and open here. I didn't realize how much I missed that living in Hong Kong. The drives to and from the airport when it's light out are lovely simply because I get to see so many green trees and colorful flowers along the road. And in Hong Kong, you really never need sunglasses because the mass of giant skyscrapers shade any sun that manages to get through the smog. But here in Singapore, the sun is so bright that with few masses of giant buildings to block the sun, you actually need sunglasses. I think I'll have to pick some up!

All in all, I feel a bit like I'm working in Hawaii!

The Lion City

2006-02-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

I've just completed my first 24-hour day in Singapore and I rather like it. Probably because I'm not all that adventurous when traveling alone and Singapore such a safe city (both in terms of crime as well as easy comfort).

The name Singapore comes from the Malay word for Lion "Singapura." I've also learned that it's called the Garden City with over 400 public parks. Singapore isn't just one island, it's comprised of over 60 islands - it's just the main island that everyone knows of. The main island itself is quite small: 26 miles across at its widest point. But another island just off shore has something to boast about: the world's largest bat, the flying fox, which has a wingspan of 1.5 meters! I think I'll stick to the main island for now.

Tonight, I did a little window shopping and figured out the subway system. Now, having eaten at my computer, I'm ready to snuggle into bed and watch CSI. That's right - one of my favorite shows of all time is showing here... and better yet, American Idol will be playing here tomorrow and Thursday night. I think I'm going to like it here just fine!

Singapore-bound

2006-02-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow begins a 4 month assignment for The Client in Singapore. I will be shuttling between Hong Kong and Singapore just about every week through July, until the woman I'm covering for returns from maternity leave. I'm fairly used to weekly travel from my days working out of Portland but not so much for as long a period of time or across Immigration lines. So, wish me luck and hopefully I'll have some fun stuff to share as I navigate the land where gum is forbidden and the humidity lingers around the 96% mark.

NOTICE

2006-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Picked this up in our mailbox the other night:

"Please be informe that a Common Magpie found dead at the balcony of a residential unit yesterday. The carcass was collected by the Customer Service Office (CSO) instantaneously and transferred to Agricultgure, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) for laboratory test. The CSO has thoroughly cleansed the premises with diluted bleach. The CSO advised all residents if a dead wild bird is found in the estate, please contat the CSO at once for collection of carcass.

Besides, the CSO has set up the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Avian Influenza, which include strengthened the cleaning work in the estate and increase the checking frequency
at all the common area so as to ensure no dead bird hiding in the estate. The CSO would like to take this opportunity to appeal all residents should keep good personal and environmental hygiene, avoid touching poultry and their droppings, wash hands thoroughly immediately after contacting the live poultry and cook poultry and eggs thoroughly before eating, so as to minimize the chance of
getting Avian Influenza.

Should any residents want to get more information about prevention of Avian Influenza, please visit the web site of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health http://www.chp.gov.hk."

Ok, first, all spelling and/or grammatical errors belong to the NOTICE writer, not me. (Not that I'm a spelling or grammatical expert by any means.)

Second, OH MY GOD. Dead bird. Bird Flu. Maybe Chris and I had 24 hour bird flu last week.

Third, right, I'll try to not touch poultry droppings. It'll be tough but heck, it's for my health right?

Fouth, I'll do my best to not touch poultry either. Guess that means no more chicken feet at lunch. Better yet, no chicken unless its imported period.

Fifth, I wonder how many dead bird are hiding in the estate. They sure can be sneaky fellows.

Nothing says 'I love you' like a turtle

2006-02-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

Or a hippopotamus. Or a suite at the Peninusla Hotel. Clearly "I love yous" come in many forms.

For our 10 year anniversary (of dating, not marriage), Chris got me a little stuffed hippopotamus and told me nothing says I love you like a hippopotamus. I loved loved loved it. On Saturday, Chris surprised me with an early Valentines Day celebration that included a chauffeur-driven Bentley, a harbour-facing suite at the Penninsula Hotel that was larger than our entire apartment, an amazing set menu dinner at the Penn's famous Felix restaurant, and a little shopping trip where we discovered the joy of Lush being in Hong Kong (I am so in love with their soaps!). I loved loved loved it.

I got Chris a card and a little stuffed turtle. Lame compared to his gift to me be seemed to love it.

You see, love really comes in many forms!

Brought to you by the letters M and S

2006-02-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

We often use "MS" in our home to refer to a company that I work closely with. As of Friday, however, it's going to get a lot more confusing. MS will also be a shortcut for Chris' new company!!

I was in Singapore on Friday and had just completed a couple of pretty successful meetings. I was feeling pretty good. And then, I see a text message on my phone.

It's from Chris.

With news that he'd just been offered an internship with Morgan Stanley!!! As a "stragetic communications and operations" intern, he'll be working 20 hours a week through spring semester and then full time during the summer. He'll be reporting to the executive director (one level above VP) of the team.

The first to get an internship in his class (a requirement of his MBA program) he's feeling pretty proud of himself. As he darn well should be. I'm pretty darn proud of him myself! Congratulations husband of mine!!

There and here

2006-02-03T01:55:00.000-08:00

I've been horribly absent from the blog. But I was able to keep the promise to myself that I would avoid computers, laptops, the Internet - all things techy, aside from my new nano - during our holiday home to the US. And then, coming back to Hong Kong, well, you know how it goes. Besides, everyone in Portland who reads this blogs pretty much knows what we were up to. But enough excuses... here we go...

But we had a wonderful time back home. We saw friends and family; cooked a big Christmas dinner; holed ourselves up in the cabin at the mountain and watched the snow fall. It's true and a bit sad how much more you come appreciate your home when you're no longer there. At least for me.

We also hit a milestone when we were back home. There we were, celebrating our 6-month anniversary living in Hong Kong - in Portland, well, in Government Camp on Mt. Hood.

It made for an interesting place for reflection:

Everyone asks me: Is it better living in Hong Kong or Portland?

It's such a loaded question. The answer can so easily offend, hurt or puzzle.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is the family and friends factor. It's a huge one. The fact that we have such amazing, loving friends and family is such a blessing but goddamn, it can make living abroad difficult.

So, putting aside the family and friends factor, I think it boils down to this; simplistic but offers something for everyone:

It depends on whether you value place or activity more.

Whats more important - where you are or what there is to do? Environment or activity? I would assume that for most people, the answer changes as one grows older or begins a family. I would bet that for most younger (or younger at heart) folks, it's about what there is to do. But as we age, where we are becomes so much more important.

One thing about being our age, we kind of fit into both camps and can find happiness - and hardship - with either. Depends on the day I guess. Portland we love for the place. We love the place even more being away. But Hong Kong! Living in Hong Kong, there is so much to do, to experience, your head kind of spins with it all. We talk so much about what we do here, let's focus a bit about Portland...

What I miss about Portland (and what I don't)

I miss the wide open spaces. The green wide open spaces.
I miss drinking from the tap.
I miss driving. Alone. And singing out loud. Off key.
I miss going shopping and being able to put all my purchases in the car and going back in for more. (I don't miss getting my purchases stolen in Old Town)
I miss talk radio
I miss the crisp, clean air. (I don't miss the rain, rain, rain)
I miss going into stores, trying on clothes and having them fit without alteration
I miss Old Spaghetti Factory, Old Country Kitchen (not Old Town)
I miss being able to drive one hour to sit in an historic cabin in front of a wood stove and hearing nothing while watching the snow fall
I miss having heat in the house, in the car, and in the office (I don't miss actually needing it 9 months out of the year)
I miss the quiet.
I miss walking down the street and not having some little old woman push me.
I miss low humidity. and good hair days
I miss the ease and normalcy of everyday living. I almost forgot what it's like to order at a restaurant and being absolutely sure of what I would get.
I miss refillable soft drinks and happy hours.
I miss egg nog lattes. But they don't serve them past January anyway
I really really missing taking towels, sheets and clothes out of the dryer and having them be warm and soft
I miss our loving parents (all 4 sets!), Lisa, Becky, Eleissa, Amber, Sarah, Whit, Cedar, Ty, Kristi, Michael, Scott, Dee, Cooper.... I could go on. I think I even miss the dentist. Ok, not really so much. He's a nice guy but I really don't like being in this chair.

I'm sure there's more but that probably is the bulk of it.

Mama, I'm Coming Home!!!!

2005-12-16T18:24:00.000-08:00

It's 7:15 Friday night. Closing down my last day at the office before coming back home to Portland for the holidays. Yaaaahooooooo!!!!

But 22 degrees F? Yeowza - that is C-O-L-D!!!

Doing the happy dance anyway. See you guys soon!

Unapologetic and unpolitically-correct Christmas cheer

2005-12-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

So I've read recently that the church has been saying that Christmas is being ruined by commericalism. If you vehemently agree, stop reading here.

I'm personally not religious (which I define differently from spiritual). But I love Christmas. simply because for me, it means getting together with friends and family; egg nog; lots of cooking and eating; bundling up against cold; that warm and cozy feeling of candlelight against the dark outside; and yes, the presents too. Christmas gives me another reason to celebrate with loved ones and be happy. But heck, I even like to celebrate half-birthdays.

I took a little bit of a walking tour around the city just to see how Hong Kong does Christmas. There's no guilt or apologies about it. They go all out. We're talking big light displays on the buildings (and they are BIG), "Sparkling Love" themes, purple trees... the works! And it's a ton of fun. Now if only there was a way they could do an outdoor ice rink...

A trip to the US Consulate - WTO edition

2005-12-12T03:18:00.000-08:00

I was informed by an immigration agent over the weekend that I'd run out of pages in my passport. Hurrah! Funny that it makes me proud, eh? Well, funny until I realized that I'd need more passport pages before our trip home. So I frantically made an appointment with the US Consulate in Hong Kong and all morning dreading the trip for two reasons:

1) It's the week of WTO - office would be short staffed due to reallocation of resources to the conference and everyone would be rushing to the Consulate before the actual start of the conference on Tuesday.
2) ANY trip to the US government is a red-tape and process-ridden hassel.

And no, I wasn't afraid of any threats today.

Now back home with a passport with enough pages for a trip around the world, twice, I share my key takeaways:

The day before the WTO is the best time to visit the Consulate. I pass the Consulate every time I venture into Central or to work and there's almost always a huge line out front. Today, the place was virtually empty. And not a protester in sight!
Service is better in Asia - even government services. The post office, the DMV, DEQ, City Hall - you name it, any government office in the US is hardly known for it's quality of customer service. Not true here. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Even the Americans working there. How is it that simply moving these services to Asia improves service? Osmosis? Wonder if we could ship all postal and DMV employees to Asia for training before they're allowed to speak to customers.
Many Asian countries require 6 months left on your passport for entry. A recent executive at my company found out the hard way - at the airport - and was not able to make a long-planned trip to Asia. When I was waiting for my extra pages, a very very distraught woman was at one of the windows pleading for them to expedite the renewal of her passport so she could make a holiday trip to Indonesia (one already paid for and non-refundable). While they were able to expedite the process, having it back by Friday was an unrealistic expecation as all Passports must be sent back to the US for processing. It's not going to be fun breaking the news to her husband tonight. Please make note, when booking travel to a foreign country, make sure you know what their immigration requirements are. Otherwise, it could be a very expensive mistake.
There is always that one rude, ignorant American. And it wasn't me :) It was the woman with the trip to Indonesia on the line. She went from tearful to downright rude when she learned that it wasn't the American government blocking her way but the Indonesian government. "What?! I don't believe this. They're worried about ME?! They should be worried about themselves and worried about bringing American dollars into their country!! How stupid can they be?" Eeks. Embarrassing.

Now my new goal is to fill up every new page of my book of a passport before we come home to the States. It's good until 2013. :)

Fat nicknames

2005-12-12T03:17:00.000-08:00

Just what is it with the nicknames around here? Fat boy, fat man, fat woman, fat girl... people throw out those nicknames (in Chinese, of course) without a second thought. And, the obese Chinese woman with the walker getting on my bus this morning as the exception, I swear everyone here is skinny skinny skinny.

I think the best example would be from a recent taxi ride I had.

It was early in the morning and I was in a cab on the way to some event. Guess it was the time when lots of cabbies come on duty because the radio was alive with activity. People were signing on and saying good morning to each other. It went something like this (not so loosely translated):

"Hey Fat Boy - good morning!"

"Morning Pork Rib!"

"Where's BBQ Pork Bun?"

"Hey, I'm here! Late night of mah jong last night."

Really. Can you imagine? "Pork Rib"??

Language lesson

2005-12-07T04:03:00.000-08:00

I grew up speaking Cantonese with my family but living the US, our Chinese quickly turned to "Chin-glish" as we used the language less and less.

So now living in Hong Kong, I'm slowly polishing my Chinese. And I'm learning slang I never knew. Today's lesson:

"Ding" = microwave.
i.e: "Ding it." "Ding it? Why?" It
tastes better if you "ding" it."

But of course they say it in Chinese - except the "ding" part, which I guess is a universal word.

Why "ding"? Well, duh, that's the sound the microwave makes when it's done! It sounds like something I'd make up in a conversation with Chris anyway.

Yes, my colleagues have been teaching me bad words too but I can't write them here. Literally, I wouldn't know how to write it. But perhaps if you ask when I see you, I'll share.

Stress relief

2005-12-06T23:21:00.000-08:00

Spending an average of 10 hours a day in front of a computer can wreak havoc on one's back. So my office is having a masseuse in twice a month. We have to share like good children so we each can get a 30-min express massage (shoulders and neck only, sitting in a chair) about once a month.

I had my first one today and it was lovely. I even fell asleep for a bit sitting up, although the 2am conference call last night might have had something to do with that. I'm now sitting here with shoulders much less tense. Maybe I can get her to do a house call for Chris!

Baby, it's cold outside!!

2005-12-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's spent much time in Pottery Barn would know that song ;-)

Anyway, something happened Monday afternoon. I'm not sure what it was but there was definitely something. Monday afternoon, when I ran out to grab lunch, it felt cool but I was fine in a dress shirt and pashmina. But when I left the office that evening, it was COLD. And yesterday, it was even colder. This morning I could barely get out of bed because it was so warm under the blankets. It's the first time I've been cold since coming to Hong Kong.

So I looked online and it's only 11 degrees celsius. That's 51 degrees fahrenheit. It's in the 30s and 40s back home in Portland! I think I'm going to have to put on all the clothes in my suitcase before leaving the warmth of the PDX airport. In less than six months, I've become such a wimp...

New vice

2005-12-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

One bad habit since moving to Hong Kong: covet thy neighbors art. Visiting some of the friends we've made here, we've seen some incredible paintings, statues, etc that they've collected during their stay in Asia. Coming from the land of Pottery Barn where real life oil paintings are sold only at 5-figure prices or more, I am constantly amazed at the incredible pieces I see every day in Hong Kong (and on our travels) for a fairly reasonable price. In fact, I think a habit is forming; one that I won't be able to afford when we eventually move back to the States.

Two recent purchases I'm SO excited about (and am already eyeing another one):

Pet torture

2005-12-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

I did the unthinkable to my (male) cat. As I walk around Hong Kong, I am noticing that it's common practice to torture by dress-up. Most victims are little foo foo dogs like pugs, shi tzus and sausage dogs (we call them weiner dogs in the US). Much like this little pup who guards our local pet supply store:

Wolfie hated me for about an hour after but got to terrorize the little blue coat for the rest of the night, which he much enjoyed.

Thanksgiving in Hong Kong

2005-11-25T04:19:00.000-08:00

It's officially the evening after Thanksgiving in Hong Kong and I'm happily eating a big bowl of stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. Yesterday marked one of the best - top ten at least - Thanksgiving celebrations in memory, which given that it was not spent with family, is an amazing thing. I took the day off and hosted a big, traditional Thanksgiving dinner with our good friend Marian for a group of 20 friends, 70% of whom are not from the states. Being Irish, she'd never done Thanksgiving before so we went all out. She headed up the decorating committee with my help and I was the head chef with her help. And it was fabulous.

This is what I learned:

You can rent practically anything in HK and have it delivered
Only in Hong Kong are silk table cloths and runners disposable
Chinese florists will think you're crazy if you ask for a cornucopia but if you're persistant, you can find one here
If you send a non-American to buy Thanksgiving napkins and they don't see anything with a turkey on it, you get American flag napkins
Arts and crafts can be a party game. Especially if combined with booze
If Shelly asks if she can help and you say "make pilgrim hats," it sounds like you said "turkey hats," which end up being so much better
Ridiculous hats are fantastic ice-breakers and name tags
Not a single person we've befriended in HK take themselves very seriously - hence the success of ridiculous hats (which didn't come off until the end of the night - including after the cab ride home)
Cooking for 20 with no oven requires a lot of teamwork and a little creativity
Cooking thanksgiving for british and irish friends who have never had thanksgiving and don't have nostalgic memories of how "mom made it" is so much less pressure
It's possible to use 4 pounds of butter and 3 quarts of cream for one meal
Salt looks an awful lot like sugar...
8 bottles of Champagne for 20 people is not enough; 2 turkeys is too much
You can never offer too many different kinds of pie
Making gravy from chicken pan drippings isn't quite the same; but still very edible
If you make 5 kinds of mashed potatoes, people will try every kind
I don't like green bean casserole; never have; never will; but I will make it if you do
If one more person mentions Monica Geller, I will swear off entertaining for an entire year
Being able to pay someone to clean up after Thanksgiving dinner is the best part of living in HK

"It's tradition"

Now I'm happily sitting in my now clean flat with a bowl empty of leftovers reliving the fun from last night. My one anxiety is that there are now a bunch of water-cooler conversations going on in Hong Kong that go something like this:

"I am exhausted. I went to this great traditional Thanksgiving celebration last night. It was my first one."

"Thanksgiving huh? Isn't that just the American excuse to sit around and eat?"

"Yeah, there was a ton of food. But did you know they wear turkey hats, make paper turkeys to put on the wall, and watch reruns of old Superbowl games."

"They wear turkey hats?

"Yeah, it's tradition. Check out these pictures!"

You can check out the pictures too if you keep scrolling down and see why it was one of the best Thanksgivings ever.

On the menu last night:

Two turkeys
Ham
Green bean casserole
Brussel sprouts sauteed with bacon
Steamed brussel sprouts and carrots
Mushroom stuffing
Sweet potatoes and acorn squash with cognac syrup
Regular mashed potatoes
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes
Curry mashed potatoes
Mashed potatoes with scallions
Col Cannon (Irish mashed potatoes)
Cranberry-Apple relish
Gravy
Bread sauce (some Irish or British kind of gravy)
Ambrosia fruit salad (remember that cool whip/fruit/cocunut number that was so popular in the 80's?)
Pears stewed in wine
Pumpkin pie
Blueberry pie
Pecan pie
Apple pie
Mince meat pie

Photo recap:

The table Is Set:

Cornucopia Centerpiece

Your T-Day Hosts

Turkey Hats Made by Shelly

Mr. and Mrs. Turkey

Arts and Crafts: Making Contruction Paper "What I'm Thankful For" Turkeys

Wall of Turkey

Cheers!

Everyone Wore Their Turkey Hats All Night Long

And Lastly, for Moms and Dads: Your Children

Weekend in Macau with the girls

2005-11-14T06:11:00.000-08:00

It's always risky going on a trip with girls you don't know (especially for you boys ;). But I'm glad I risked it. I spent this last weekend in Macau with our Irish neighbor and her really fun British friends. Those Brits sure do have a good time!

An hour's ferry ride Southwest of Hong Kong, Macau was a Portugese colony up until the territory was transfered back to China in 1999. As a result, it's an interesting mix of Chinese and Portugese cultures. This can be seen especially in the architecture and the food.

If you ever make it there to visit, I would highly recommend 1) the custom furniture that can be made for fairly cheap 2) Fernando's Restaurant 3) the Seradurra dessert that's available everywhere and 4) the executive floor at the Mandarin Oriental Resort where breakfast and drinks come included. And as you can see the pool was fabulous.

Macau is also kind of the Atlantic City of Asia. Not quite as nice as Vegas, although hotel/casinos like The Sands, Wynn and the Venetian are making their way over. Spa treatments, sunning by the pool (sorry for those of you in Portland and London; it's still in the mid-80s around here), gambling, drinking, dancing, and shopping. The people watching was especially interesting with the city gearing up for its Grand Prix this coming weekend. What more could you ask for in a quick weekend away? Marian, the neighbor that instigated this girls weekend, will definitely be among our lifelong set of friends - and provide a reason for us to visit England and Ireland.

Me and Marian at the Macau ruins:

Sleeping Beauty

2005-11-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

I got on the crowded subway this morning and noticed through bodies and over heads that there seemed to be a row of open seats. I thought maybe they were broken. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the entire row was occupied by a single person - sleeping!

I thought it was hilarious but everyone else was throwing dirty looks. Part of me wondered if it was some sort of social experiment. No one asked him to move. Why is it that a shaved head plus tattoos seem to look so menacing but neither on their own do?

After the train emptied out a bit, I took a pic. Check it out.

October has wings

2005-11-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, October seems to have just flown by and I've been so incredibly busy (read 16 hour days and a trip to Shanghai) at work, I haven't had much time. So now, a quick recap of the last month in Hong Kong...

Saigon
The pictures have been up for a while on our Shutterfly site so you probably have a good sense for what we did. We had only one full day and two half days, but got more out of our time there than a full week laying around the pool in Arizona. But then again, we're not experiencing much culture laying by a pool ;)

We opted for the Cu Chi tunnel tour, which albeit a bit touristy, was amazingly eye opening. Seeing and going through the (enlarged) tunnels, I couldn't imagine spending one night in there, let alone 20 years. And during a war. It was easy to see why the Americans lost. The Vietcong seemed to have been an extremely resourceful and ingenious society.
We went to see the homes where my mom and dad lived and where I was born. Of course much had changed over the decades but it was fun to imagine my grandfather hiring a cyclo (Vietnam's version of China's rickshaw), as he would do every night when I was a baby, to give me a ride around the neighborhood before I'd go to sleep. No ride, Stephy no sleep. So they tell me.
I love shopping in foreign places, although it can always be a bit daunting. I'm not much of a bargainer, unlike my mom, who's a champ at it. But I managed to pick up some gifts, some things for myself, and we bought a lovely painting of a lovely Vietnamese girl.

I learned that loyalty is a funny thing when you're born in one country, of another enthicity and have grown up as a citizen of yet another. As we were leaving Vietnam, the customs guy gave me a hard time for not speaking Vietnamese just because my passport says I was born there. "I know how to speak English but I don't like to because I'm Vietnamese," he said. I didn't know if I should feel guilty, outraged or just confused. Interesting moment. Now I'm married to a French/Irish guy with a Polish name. So I decided that I'm a woman of the world. So there.

Treads visits/Kahlin leaves
Had two US-based co-workers visiting. One for a month; one for just a few days but it was so great to have them both in the office. So much of the time I feel no one I work with really understands me or the adjustment I'm going through so it felt great to have some sympathy and understanding for a while. And we had some good times too. MELVIS ROCKS!!

Babies Galore
Two of my dear girlfriends back in Portland gave birth this month. I'm sad not to be able to meet little Charlie Howell and Kylie Wendover until Christmas time but sure enjoy all the pictures. Next up: baby Koetz, baby Kolberg and baby Alfrey. And then we probably start all over again. Chris and I have a couple of years to go yet before it'll be our turn.

Crammin' and Jammin'
Chris was working to the tilt for his first semester finals at the end of October. I think I might have seen him for 15 minutes that last week. I've never seen him so dedicated and commited - he mades me proud.

Another year older
One of the best things about celebrating your birthday when in a foreign country is all the REAL mail. I rarely make it to the mailbox in our apartment building because we only get bills once a month. So what a lovely suprise when I open our mailbox two days after my birthday only to find it packed full of birthday cards and gifts from family and friends. Remember back to summer camp when they passed out the mail and you'd get something from home? Some kids even got care packages. It's just like that :-) And sometimes, you're so happy, you can't help but cry just a little. So who cares if I'm another year older? I got cards from Scott, Dee, Cooper; Kristi adn Michael; Becky, Scott and Keaton; a gift and card from Mimi and Dad; and a big bouquet of fragrant cheer and card from MomK and Don. And what's so great is that I know more is on the way!

Halloween
Sadly this year, I was sick sick sick over my birthday and Halloween. But I managed to make it out to buy a costume and attend a Halloween party with some friends for an entire hour before sneaking out, going home and settling into bed with the bottle of liquid gold (aka Nyquil) I smuggled into Hong Kong from the US. What was I dressed as? Why, one of the three little pigs of course. Who wouldn't want the most ridiculous costume in Hong Kong? Sadly, Chris wasn't able to come out to celebrate as he was studying. Perhaps lucky for him, he wasn't caught in a piggy photo with the big bad wolf we'd met.

The Dispensery
Yesterday I went to see Dr. Vas-a-something-something-something for my cold and never-ending cough. Seriously. I've had this cough for a month. Since before we left for Vietnam. He assured me that I don't have bronchitis, pneumonia or bird flu. But he did give me drugs to clear up my sinuses. A whole truckload of drugs. Pills that will make me sleepy; pills that will make me jumpy; one that I drink; a spray that I snort and a powder I inhale. WHAT THE HELL? He tells me that in the US, they put several drugs into one little pill but here in Hong Kong, it's all individual. Ok. But wow, I feel like an addict. How will I ever remember what to take and when.
I wonder if Hong Kongers are who in the US and get prescriptions think they're not getting enough medicine? And are they thrown for a loop when they're directed to the pharmacy at an entirely different location instead of the dispensery that's inside the doctor's office? They gave me the drugs right in his office.

Eating our way through Saigon

2005-10-21T22:14:00.000-07:00

Only now getting a chance to write up a quick note about our trip to Saigon. I'll post more later but I have to talk about the food. It was a key reason for going to Vietnam in the first place. Vietnamese food is probably my favorite kind because of of the bold, fresh and spicy flavors without being overbearing or heavy. I love Thai but sometimes it can be too heavy for me. Never Vietnamese - or at least the stuff I like to eat.

Most of you are probably most familiar with Pho, the Vietnamese beef noodle soup so popular in the Pacfic Northwest right now. But there's so much more. My favorite is the Vietnamese beef fondue where you cook thinnly sliced beef in a vinegar soup concoction boiling away in a pot shared by the table. Then you wrap it with noodles, fresh veggies and herbs in rice paper and dip into a sweet/sour/spicy sauce before eat. YUM.

There's a ton of different things they wrap with veggies and herbs in rice paper and I think I love them all. Then there's the vast variety of noodle soups. Bun Bo Hue - a spicy beef noodle soup is a current fave. The common thing that makes it all so good: the huge quantities of fresh herbs from basil to mint to ones you can't find in the US.

Of course, there's the more adventurous dishes, which we didn't dare try. The tour guide we hired to take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels (more on that later) told us that during war, there was no food so the Vietnamese learned to eat anything and everything that moved - and every part of it. Not everyone in Vietnam eats everything but everything is offered to everyone.

For those of you who think food is boring, I leave you with this picture (click on it to make it bigger). It's a menu board from a restaurant we went to. More food pictures in the photo album. Other Vietnam pictures to come later.

Lantau Island - Big Buddha and Tai O

2005-10-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, while poor Chris was studying hard, I ventured out to Lantau Island (one of the many islands surrounding Hong Kong) with Shelly, Troy and Shelly's dad. It was a scorcher of a day.

We decided to treat ourselves to the first class section of the ferry. For about 2 whole dollars more, you get to sit on hard chairs at long tables on the top floor of the ferry. The cool part was that you could see more being upstairs and there was a small deck to walk out on.

The whole trip was maybe 30 - 40 mins I'd guess. Once docked, we walked out and found the bus that would take us to the Big Buddha. And when I say big, I mean big. The seated Buddha is 26.4 meters high, was cast in China and took 10 years to complete. Weighing 220 tons, it was unveiled in 1993 amid deep religious ceremonies. At its base is the Po Lin Monastery.

The bus took us through lush hills and tiny towns. At the base of Buddha, we stopped for a quick lunch of noodles. There were other options but the noodles looked the safest ;-)

Fortified with food and water, we started the hot climb up the steep stairs to the big guy. You can walk inside the Buddha for souvenirs and to read about its history. The sheer size is amazing.

After some looking around and phototaking, as they say here in Hong Kong, we headed back down the stairs. I particularly enjoyed the breathtaking views of the surrounding hillside on our way down. Perhaps a reason is that going down is so much easier than going up!

Next up, a quick look see at the Monastery. Monks and tourists mingled. Unlike Thailand, there was no dress code. However, meat and alcohol are restricted on the grounds. Good think we didn't bring any with us. The price to see the Buddha included snacks at the Monastery. So we stopped for some cold, sweet tofu dessert and a few little dumplings of various kinds. I ordered a bit of everything and Shelly, Troy and Shelly's dad seemed to like most of it ok. They got even thought the tofu was ok after a few bites ;)

After our snack, we took a taxi to Tai O, a neighborhood of stilt houses along the water. We hired a boat for less than $3 US each and ventured out to see if we could spot the famed Chinese pink dolphins. We were skeptical at first but after 10 mins at sea, lo and behold, there they were. We coudn't get very close and phototaking was tough but we certainly saw pink dolphins. It was great to be in the water and if you click on the picture below and look really close, you'll see the fin of the dolphin and that it's powder-pink.

Heading back towards shore, the boat took us through the canals of the stilt house neighborhood. Similar to our experience in Thailand, I was amazed at how these people live. These houses are built on tall stilts so that when the tide comes up, they remain above the water line. They depend on what they can fish from the waters, both eating and selling their catch.

After a tour from the water, we got off the boat and went to walk through the neighborhood. It was incredibly hot but it was really interesting to tour the markets where people sell the dried seafood they've caught and then walk along the stilt houses and seeing people in their homes. It must be incredibly strange having strangers walking along and looking into your home but we were told that they encourage the tourists because it brings money in.

Exhausted from the heat and long day, we took the ferry back to Hong Kong Island. This was a great experience. I hope to take Chris back soon. But there are a ton of other islands to explore as well. And today, we're off to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam.

The rest of the pictures of Lantau Islanda are our online photo album in the same order as what I describe above.

Celebrating National Day

2005-10-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

In 1949, the First Plenum of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was held in Beijing. It elected a Central People's Government Council, with Mao Zedong as Chairman, and appointed Zhou Enlai Premier of the Government Administration Council and concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs. On October 1, 1949, a grand ceremony inaugurating the People's Republic of China was witnessed by 300,000 people in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

On October 1, 2005, Chris and I, along with Shelly, Troy, Shelly's Dad and Kahlin (a co-worker working with me in Hong Kong for a month) celebrated in our own way. We all met for dinner at El Cid in Kowloon for tapas and wine. Our waitress spoke a bit of spanish and the entertainment did as well.

After yummy tapas, we stopped for gelato for dessert. Amazingly the gelato tasted exactly like the flavor it was supposed to be. Kahlin got pistatio and it wasn't the typical pistatio ice cream. It tasted like you were eating nuts and was even a bit savory. Very good. Chris got chocolate and I got half cherry and half almond. I expected the fake almond flavor but again, it tasted like eating the actual nut. Yummy.

With gelato in hand, we wound our way down to the Kowloon waterfront to watch the National Day fireworks. Or so we thought.

We made it down to Nathan Street only to find that half of Hong Kong's population decided to do the same(shocking). The Chinese love their fireworks. The streets were packed. So we found a decent vantage point in the middle of Nathan Rd to watch the stuff go boom.

What a riot. When the fireworks started, the "WAH!!" and "OHHH!!" coming from the throngs on the street were almost as loud. At a couple of points, fireworks in the shape of an "8" (the symbol for prosperity) appeared and again the crowd cheered. It wasn't as fun as watching the 4th of July fireworks back in the US spead out on a blanket in a field or from a boat on the water but I'm glad we didn't miss this for first National Day. Watching the crowds proved to be just as much fun as the fireworks themselves. Next year, we'll probably watch from someone's house on the Hong Kong side though.

After the fireworks were over, we hit a nearby pub to wait for the subway to clear out. More pictures from our night of fun in our shutterfly album.

Morton's

2005-10-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

To officially celebrate Chris' birthday, we went to Morton's Steakhouse in the Sheraton Hotel. At our window table overlooking Victoria Harbor, we had a gluttonous meal of meat. One of the things Chris misses most about home is the ability to buy a big juicy steak from Costco, coming home, firing up the BBQ and enjoying dinner out in the backyard. Here in Hong Kong, not only do we not have a backyard or a BBQ, we have a hard time finding really good cuts of steak for less than the price of one arm and one leg. So when MommaK asked me to take him out to a nice dinner for his birthday on her, I knew that it had to be steak. Second only to a backyard BBQ, Morton's of Chicago in Hong Kong delivers a mighty fine steak (Ruth Chris is good too but Mortons comes with a nice view).

A shared appetizers of oysters, a bone-in rib eye for Chris, a filet mignon for me, a side of sauteed mushrooms, a side of asparagus, a slice of key lime pie and cheesecake later, we were stuffed and ready to head home. Of course, we couldn't leave without a doggy, or, er, kitty bag: most of the dessert for us to nibble on later and a treat for the kids.

Mr. and Mrs. Saigon

2005-09-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

We just booked a weekend getaway to Saigon, Vietnam in a couple of weeks. Ho Chi Minh City if you prefer. But I don't. It's incredible that we can head off to Vietnam for the weekend. It's amazing, a one or two hour flight and you can find yourself in another world - or another country at least. I love love love Vietnamese food. It's probably my favorite kind, along with Thai and good Sushi. Not sure what we'll do there yet besides eat. Maybe a trip out to the Mekong Delta and the Cu Chi tunnels. Total tourist attractions but figure we can't go all that way and not check it out.

I'm hoping to find more time to spend in Hanoi. Saigon can be done in a couple of days but we'll want at least 4 or 5 for Hanoi. Perhaps during Chinese New Year.

Happy Birthday!

2005-09-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today is my Chrissy's birthday. He's 25 - again ;-) I guess if I can be 24 he can certainly be 25. For his birthday today, he gets to go to class and then attend a bunch of meetings. hurrah! Good thing we have some fun things planned for the weekend. One is celebrating National Day with dinner and watching the big fireworks display with Shelly, Troy and Kahlin, who's here for the next month. The other - not telling just yet but MomK's involved!

Mid-Autumn Festival

2005-09-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a Chinese celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty. We celebrated it here in Hong Kong last week, although I'm just now getting a chance to post about it.

The Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the calendar we use), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. At this time, the moon is at its fullest and brightest.

Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Brightly lit lanterns are often carried around by children.

This year, Mid-Autumn Festival landed on a Sunday and to celebrate, we headed to Shek-O beach with Shelly and Troy. It took us an hour to get there – first by MTR and then bus. The bus took us over the hill and through the lush green trees and as we came down the other side, the beach and ocean came into view. It was beautiful.

We walked through the little Shek-O village where outdoor kitchens were ablaze with food cooking and family homes were beginning to fill. We were taken aback by the "kitchens" but it smelled amazing. Similar to our Thanksgiving, families gather together to eat large meals as a part of the celebration of the abundance of the summer harvest. Like Thanksgiving, it’s a great excuse to lay out a feast and eat and eat and eat!

Through the village and up over the hill, we came to the rocky shore. It was just getting dark and waves were crashing along the big boulders. To our left, we could see a small group gathered around a campfire. The campfire along the rocks and the crashing waves reminded me a lot of our Oregon beaches. A few pictures and bug bites later, we headed back to the village for dinner.

At Little Black Sheep we shared a couple of fantastic pizzas and a salad. It was the best pizza we’d had so far in Hong Kong. It was a cool little place with funky decorations. During dinner, it began to rain hard and we were worried about our plans for the beach. But soon enough, the rain stopped and we headed down to the beach where families and teenagers were BBQing or gathered around candles placed in little pits dug into the sand.

We laid down our blanket and our dessert and wine and watched the activities. Kids were carrying their lanterns; adults were talking about the size of the moon and how it meant that it would be a prosperous year; teenagers were playing spin the bottle/truth or dare around a little fire (I guess some things cross cultural lines just fine ;)

It was amazing to sit on the beach and watch everyone celebrating in their own way. Mid-Autumn Festival is a beautiful holiday.

More pictures are in our online photo album.

First Lady

2005-09-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

I am officially a First Lady. How's that work, you might ask? Wellll, logically that would make Chris President. And in fact, he is. A newly appointed President. Not of the USA, thank god. But President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's MBA Association.

AND... it was by unamious vote.

What a leader my husband is! He says he didn't even have to buy-off any of the voters ;-)

America Women's Association Dinner

2005-09-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

The AWA is a great organization for expats here in Hong Kong. Founded by a couple of American women, the organization is open to women from around the world and organizes social activities for members and their families.

Tonight, we went to an AWA dinner at ToTT's on the 34th floor of the Excelsior Hotel (boy, what a view!). The dinner was organzied by our friend Shelly, who has been a member of the organization since her and Troy moved to Hong Kong early this year. I'm planning to join as well to take advantage of these types of social activies and organized trips to various places around Asia.

We had seven couples at the dinner. We were only able to talk to a few of them but it's always interesting to hear the stories behind what has brought others to Hong Kong and what their experiences have been. The food was good and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. However, it's sad when there's always that "obnoxious American." We're proud Americans so it sucks when there's a spoiler out there who's giving the rest of us a bad name.

Today's lesson

2005-09-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

From a fellow expat struggling with her assignment in Hong Kong. It gave her much-needed perspective; and me a good reminder.

A wise Cherokee chief told his grandson about a debate that happens inside of people. He said the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One wolf is "Evil." It is anger, envy, jealousy,sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other wolf is "Good." It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The wise Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Our first visitor

2005-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we had our very first visitor. Cedar was on one of his regular business trips to Asia and was able to stop into Hong Kong for a night. Chris and I took the subsway over to Kowloon to pick him up at the Sheraton. What fun it was to see him in the lobby!

Cedar has been to Hong Kong several times but has always stayed on the Kowloon side. So Saturday night, we took him over to Soho for dinner. We've discovered a love for Indian food (it's so spicey!) so we decided on dinner at India Today. It was great.. we ordered two curries, a lentil dish, lamb kabobs, naan, and rice. We left FULL but so happy ;)

Afterwards, we decided Cedar needed to see the famous Lan Kwai Fong area. Lan Kwai Fong is kind of Hong Kong's version of Bourbon Street - except you won't find any beads and bare breasts. Lots of tourists and expats gather there to party and cruise for cute local girls.

Having our first visitor from home was kind of a big milestone for us. We're really looking forward to our second - there's just something about showing someone your new city to really help it feel a bit more like home.

Terminally Ill

2005-09-08T02:42:00.000-07:00

A week ago, I woke up with this throbbing ache on the left side of my mouth. I couldn't tell which tooth it was coming from because the pain was pulsing all over. The first night, I took 3 advils and went back to bed. The second night, it felt fine. Then the third night, it hurt so bad, I took half a Vicodin. By now, Chris decided it was time to call our dentist back home.

The dentist wasn't yet in when we called and when they called back at 4am, our time, I was in a pretty drug-induced sleeping state. But I think I was lucid enough to hear him correctly: my tooth was dying. Dying!! I floss religiously so how could I possibly have a terminally ill molar?

Turns out he was right. I got a recommendation for a dentist in Hong Kong and went to see him. He's Chinese but was educted at Columbia in NY, speaks perfect English and has a soft mannerism that kept me as comfortable as I'd ever get in that situation.

Good thing since he told me I needed a root canal! I would have to come in for 3 visits so he started phase 1 right then and there. Thank god too so I wouldn't have to go home and angonize over going back for it.

What is a root canal you might ask?
Inside each tooth is the pulp which provides nutrients and nerves to the tooth, it runs like a thread down through the root. Well, hitting my head while snowboarding with no helmet on, I cracked a filling, which let bacteria in, causing decay. When the pulp is diseased or injured, the pulp tissue dies. If you don't remove it, your tooth gets infected and you could lose it. After the dentist removes the pulp, the root canal is cleaned and sealed off to protect it. Then your dentist places a crown over the tooth to help make it stronger.

My next appointment is on Monday, when Dr. Elton will clean the pulp chamber again, fill the tooth and ready it for a crown. Egads!

Is this F-ing real?

2005-08-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

From today's newswires:

LONDON, (AFP) - British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly-named village.

While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of F---ing are failing to see the funny side, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Only one kind of crimimal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border -- cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humour and a screwdriver.

But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.

"We will not stand for the F---ing signs being removed," the officer told the broadsheet.
"It may be very amusing for you British, but F---ing is simply F---ing to us. What is this big F---ing joke? It is puerile."

Local guide Andreas Behmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with F---ing.

"The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg," he explained.

"Every American seems to care only about 'The Sound of Music' (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler's birthplace in Braunau.

"But for the British, it's all about F---ing."

Guesthouse boss Augustina Lindlbauer described the village's breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas.

"Yet still there is this obsession with F---ing," she said.

"Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F---ing postcards."

Stating the obvious?

2005-08-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

This is the small plaque above the toilets in my office building. I guess there's no reason to leave room for any doubt...

A year

2005-08-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

It's been one year. It's gone by so fast. For exactly one year, today, we've been married. And it's been quite a year. In the past year, we've hosted our first Thanksgiving; sold our first home; taken great vacations; moved to the other side of the world. In the past year, we've continued to learn how to live together, how to fight, how to make up, how to communicate, how to share, how to compromise. In the past year, we've been happy; we've been mad; he's been stubborn; ok, I have too; we've been really silly; highly frustrated; sometimes scared; and often just content. Most importantly, in the past year, we've grown to love each other more.

Happy anniversary to us!

Lost in translation

2005-08-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

Chris and I came across this greeting card in a shop here in Hong Kong the other day. I think it speaks for itself.

A song is worth a thousand words

2005-08-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Even better is when a song (or even a smell) can bring back a flood of memories. I've tapped into streaming audio from KWJJ, a country radio station in Portland (stop. I know, I know. But I like country.) and as I'm listening at work, it's bringing back a flood of memories and good feelings from warm summers and crisp autumns back in Oregon. Driving with the top down; BBQ's with family & friends; planting flowers in the yard; Lisa's sing-alongs; roadtrips in college... all the feelings that come back with those memories are like chicken soup for the ears.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling a small pang of homesickness so I went to Joy's website and listened to the few sample songs she had up. Giving me memories of her last concert and camping with good friends on Memorial Day weekend at Beverly Beach, it was an instant cure.

Now that I think about it, it's probably best I don't listen to Z100 (Portland's top 40 station)... I'm a bit afraid of what kind of memories that might bring back! What happens in Vegas STAYS in Vegas, right? ;)

Hurray for music on the Net!

On my own

2005-08-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Chris is spending the next four days at some hotel near the Hong Kong airport for an intensive management training class with this fellow MBA students. They'll spend the days hearing from the professors and then spend a great deal of time doing team projects. He met some of them at a meet and greet event with second year students last night and is excited to get into the program. So for the next few days I'm on my own... Sex in the City marathon here I come!

Webbed feet

2005-08-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Friday we really learned the meaing of the term "rainy season" in Hong Kong. Starting at 8:15am, Chris and I waited in vein in hopes that a bus or taxi would pass with two available seats. With the torrential rain and winds, there's more demand for covered transportation. Over an hour later, we found a bus with two seats and by then, we had grown webbed feat. My shoes will never be the same :(

The good news is that even though we were more than a half hour late for our appointment with Hong Kong Immigration to get our Hong Kong ID cards, they let us doing our thing. We turned in our applications, had our pictures taken and had our thumbprints recorded for the identifying "smartchip" in the cards. Benefits of having these cards are twofold: 1) no more having to carry our passports around and 2) shorter lines at the Hong Kong airport.

Both are worth some wet feet and an excuse to buy new shoes!

Last day in Bangkok

2005-08-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

After enjoying the breakfast buffet at the Marriott and saying goodbye to the sea, we checked out and headed to the airport to fly back to Bangkok. Landing in Bangkok is an interesting experience: the airport is adjacent to a golf course. So as you land, you see people playing and golf carts waiting for the planes to land before playing on. It makes me wonder how many people have the range to actually hit the planes!

For this last night in Bangkok, we were staying at the Holiday Inn that isn't too far from the airport and right along the sky train. It was a convenient and cheap option. When we checked in, I was pleasantly surprised. Holiday Inns aren't exactly known for luxury. But it was fairly nice and very clean. And then we walked in our room to put our things away. There was a ceiling to floor "peeping tom window" into the bathroom from the bedroom area!! And the funny thing was that there were wooden blinds - on the outside! So imagine you're showering - or doing whatever you do in the bathroom -- and 'Hello!' someone raises the blinds to take a quick peek. We were laughing so hard.

Weekend Market
After getting over the peeping tom window, we decided to go make the most of our last day in Bangkok and took the sky train to the weekend market. We were extremely proud to have figured out the above-ground train system. This market is like a gigantic version of our Saturday Market in Portland. A ton of vendors hawking all kinds of foods, clothing, furniture, backbacks, and even kitchen supplies and pets. Seeing the puppies being sold kind of spoiled the experience for me so I'm glad we didn't run into that until the end. They were just too young to be away from their mothers. We did buy Chris a couple of nice linen shirts for just 250B each, which comes out to $6 US. After spending an hour and a half browsing through the stalls, we took the sky train back to the hotel to drop off our purchases before heading to Muay Thai boxing.

Muay Thai boxing
We'd seen specials on TV about Muay Thai boxing so I was expecting something extremely brutal. On TV, they don't wear gloves and can fight in any way they want - kicking, punching, elbowing, kneeing - and people got pretty bloody. But I was glad to see that although the same rules apply as far as what body parts you can fight with, they did wear gloves The first fights were more exhibition-style by boys around 14 years old. While I'm sure every punch and kick hurt, we didn't think they had enough strength to really hurt themselves. It wasn't until the fighters got old that knockouts happened. We saw two and the losers were carried off on stretchers. Adding to the atmosphere at the arena were the Thai people who come to gamble. They stand up and yell and cheer and even shout out advice to the boxers. Chris liked it more than I did but I had a good time too.

We got back to our hotel late and had a very late dinner of McDonalds. I think we eat McDonalds in every foreign country we go to... it's almost starting to become tradition. It's kind of interesting to see how it differs from country to country.

Going home
The next morning, we flew out on Cathay Pacific, this time in first class. We were the only ones in first class for this flight and it was wonderful. We actually didn't want the flight to end. I had a glass of champagne and it was so good, I just about drank the whole bottle myself. I'm not a wine snob (as much as I'd like to learn more about wine) but I liked this particular bottle so much, I wrote the name down so I could see about getting some when we got home. Until I looked it up online and saw that the Cuvee William Deutz 1996 costs about $100 a bottle! Holy smokes!

Then back into Hong Kong, we took the airport express back to the Central subway station. A short cab ride later, we were happily back home with our babies. It was a wonderful trip. I can't wait for the next one!

Seven Days in Phuket

2005-08-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

For the next seven days, we essentially do the exact same thing. Well, not exactly the same thing. We inserted a few different actvities and restaurants into our daily routine of sleep, eat, swim, eat, nap, swim, eat. What kind of activities?

** Yoga: They offer sunset yoga but when the weather’s not cooperating, they hold it in the health club studio. Chris even did it and liked it! We stretched into all sorts of unnatural positions and were sore the next day.

** Intro to Meditation: First learned to focus on breathing. Then practiced meditating laying down, focusing on our breathing. It was hard to try not to fall asleep. Then we meditated while concentrating on candlelight. And then meditating while walking with a glass of water. Chris' mind never stops working so he has a hard time falling asleep and so he really liked this. I wished that she told us a bit more about the history and theory behind the practice though.

** Intro to Thai Boxing: This was a really fun class. Taught but an engaging Thai guy. We learned to kick 2 different ways and punch 3. The instructor did a great job customizing the class for each participant. We all felt instantly comfortable and had fun trying to beat up our padded instructor. But wow, did we break a sweat! He said I had a good kick :)

** Thai Flower Arranging: As you could probably guess, I did this one on my own. I thought this would be where to stick each stem. It’s that, crossed with origami. The Thai use lotus blossoms, which are closed when cut. After cutting however, they won’t open so to create blooms you have to fold the individual petals in various ways. We learned to fold petals 3 different ways. Then you stick the stems of flowers into flower foam in an “aesthetically pleasing way.” My results can only really be called “rustic.”

** Pilates: Chris did his by himself while I went for a manicure and pedicure. He liked yoga better. Go figure.

** Thai Cooking Class and Market Tour: We’d already taken that great cooking class in Bangkok and we weren’t interested in paying $50US per person to do another one again. But we were interested in going to the market. We wanted to pick up some things. So we asked if we could just go to the market. At first they seemed hesitant but then charged us a couple of bucks for the ride. It was great. One of the resort chefs, who was teaching the cooking class, came along and showed us various foods. It was similar to the market trip with our last cooking class but we stopped by booths that were making finished foods like coconut pancakes, and sticky rice with bean paste and we tried a few of those things too. We watched coconut cream and coconut milk being processed; bought some thai ramen noodles (which were SO good) to make back at our villa, and a durian. It’s the stinky fruit that looks like a green, spiky football. I love them but boy do they stink up a hotel room! Good thing the fridge keeps the smell isolated.

** Fruit Carving Class: We used exacto-knife looking tools to cut banana leaves, carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes into different shapes. The banana leaf was like a snowflake; the strips of carrots and cucumbers turned into leaves; and tomato into a rose. Wow, we could almost do this for a living now!

** Intro to Thai Massage: The massage therapists from the Mandara Spa (located on the resort) can to the health club to teach us how to give Thai Massage. It was two couples. First one of the therapists demonstrated on another one. And then they walked us through how to give thai massage to our partners. Fun but nothing beats just laying there and not having to do the work - even if you have to pay for it.

** Thai Dessert Making Class: We went up to the Marriott Café where the chef taught us to make Tab Tim Krob: poached waterchestnuts coated in tapioca flour and served with coconut milk and simple syrup. The word that came to mind was interesting but it was also kind of good. We ate it all. Took no time because they did all the prep work and it was quick to cook.

** Beach massages: There are signs along the beach that read “Beach Massage; 400B.” 400B is just under $10 US. These are not spa or hotel employees. These are local people that set up little forts along the beach and try to get tourist to come and get massages. I recommend going at sunset and having them set their blankets and pads out along the bluff so you can watch the sun start to set and the water glisten. Some people were getting massages inside their tents but I didn’t think that seemed very nice. And at 400B, you could definitely afford to have one every day!!

The pools
Aside from these few activities that we signed up for as soon as we got there, we pretty much just sat at the pool most of the time. In the morning, I'd get up and grab breakfast at the Siam Deli/Cafe (a roll and fresh fruit) and head to the pool to read. Main pool first. Always under a big sun umbrella, often distracted by the view of the ocean over the edge of the infinity pool or by doting fathers swimming with their young daughters. It was an indulgant way to spend a morning.

Then at around 1pm, Chris would join me with book in hand. I don't think I've seen Chris read so much the entire time we've been together! We either have lunch by the pool or upstairs at the Marriott Cafe before switching pools. For some reason, in the afternoons, we'd find ourselves at the North Pool; the one closest to our villa. The pool here was a bit more peaceful, although we did encounter a few kids there as well. No matter the pool, they would bring ice water and fresh fruit out to our lounge chairs. And here's the kicker: I've never been to a pool where the bathrooms were as clean (and consistently dry) as the restrooms by these pools.

Nightlife - kinda

After a our fill of sun late in the afternoon, we'd go back to the room to rest and clean up. Before dinner, we liked to go watch the show the resort would put on for the guests. Every night at 6:00pm a drummer would be standing in the middle of the infinity pool in the lobby and Thai dancers dressed in white would dance to the beat. The best part was the fire twirlers.

Only once did we take advantage of the sunset happy hour but the night we did, it was beautiful. I had a cocktail with too much grenadine and Chris had a yummy non-alcoholic blended drink. We sat and enjoyed the sunset before dinner.

For our dinners, we had rooms service a couple of times, had sushi once, enjoyed a fantastic Italian meal and went to the seafood restaurant twice. At the seafood restaurant, you can either choose a set menu of Thai food or pick your choice of seafood from the ice case and they would recommend a way to cook it based on your preferences. We really enjoyed the food at the resort, although towards the end of the week, we started to get a bit tired of our choices.

As we've said before, this was the best vacation we've ever had. So many thanks to MomK and Don for the timeshare. Without it and the relative low cost of travel in Thailand, we wouldn't have been able to do this. Word to the wise heading to Phuket in the future - sunscreen, hat and umbrella are musts. I bought a sun hat just to keep the sun off my face and even with that, and the suncreen and umbrella, even I burned. Small price to pay for such an amazing time though. And a departing picture: housekeeping would fold the towels into elephants. How cute is this?

Arriving at the Marriott in Phuket

2005-08-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

We flew out of Bangkok to Phuket with no problems. The flight was barely an hour long and they even fed us along the way. I guess they know well not to let Asians go for long without feeding them. ;)

From the Phuket airport, we took a taxi 15 mins to the resort. As we walked in, we were lei'd and greeted by a gang of people. We checked in and I asked for a villa (timeshare unit) along the water – the timeshare website we visited showed a great view of the ocean from the villa. Apparently that was a “demo” unit because the villas run perpendicular to the water. So no water-front option for us but we *could* see the ocean from the patio, which was nice. We later learned that none of rooms at this resort are ON the water because there are endangered leatherback turtles that lay eggs on the beach there and if the baby turtles see the lights of the hotel as they hatch, they might go the wrong way as they try to head towards sea.

After checking in, they loaded our luggage into golf carts and away we went. The bellboy led us to our 3rd floor villa and when we walked in, we were shocked by how big it was. For just the two of us! We knew it was two bed and two bath but we didn’t realize how big the bedrooms would be as well as the kitchen/dining/living room area. A family of 6 or 8 could have stayed there.

As you walked in, there was a 1.5 foot tall Thai statue in an alcove in the wall facing the door. It was a nice touch. Just past the little entry way, the guest “suite” was on the right. The bathroom had a door into the hallway as well as into the guest room. The room had a queen sized bed, couch and TV. About the size of a smaller hotel room. Then past that, you entered the living area, reaching the kitchen on your right first, then dining room with glass table that seated 6 and then living room with TV and DVD player. Off the living room was the master suite with king bed, his and her closets and the master bath. The master bath had double doors going into it (that we never bothered to close), a very large tub, his and her sinks, toilet room and glassed in shower. The balcony had a table for 4 and ran the lentire ength of the condo. There were sliding glass doors out to the balcony from the master suite and both a double slider and regular door off the living room. The villa included kitchen supplies like pots and pans, dishes, dish soap, small appliances like coffee maker and toaster.

After unpacking, we went to the Marriott Café (the main restaurant) for lunch. It was breezy but warm so we sat on the patio, which looked out over the main pool and ocean beyond. Vietnamese ginger noodle soup for me and Phad Thai (again) for my Chris. Very reasonable at about $6 US each.

A note about water at the resort: The book at the Marriott says not to drink the tap water in your rooms (they provide free bottled water in the rooms) but all the water and ice at the hotel is filtered. They also wash all fruits and veggies coming to the resort in some special chemical to get all the bad stuff off. We never had a problem.

On our way back to the villa, we meandered through the pool area. Very nice – both infinity style. The main pool is larger and connects to the kids pool which had a water fall, water fountains and fun cement animals. The North pool is a bit quieter but certainly not kid-less. When we got near the Villa, storm clouds had really moved in. The rain started as did the wind. This was quite a storm! Chris decided to run a bath and as soon as he got in, the power went out. At least a bath is something you can do without power... it's too bad we didn't have candles and rose petals though ;)

After about 45 mins the lights came back on. We had had a pretty late lunch and it was raining really hard outside so we settled in for the night, watching movies from our bed. Later, we got hungry and ordered pizza to the room. It was like a slumber party! Watched the tube in bed until we fell asleep.

Bangkok’s go go go was my half of the vacations; Phukets eat, swim, eat, swim, eat, sleep is my Chris's half. We're getting good at compromises!

Pampered Chefs

2005-08-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Day 4 – July 30

After the previous 3 days of running around, this was our slow-paced day in Bangkok. And it was going to be a good one. Again, we took the Pen boat to the Pen Lounge to be picked up for school. Cooking school!!

Thai chef for the day
About 2 weeks before we left for Bangkok, I booked us a 4-hour course at the Bai Pai cooking school. They offered five different menus; and I knew that Chris and I would both love Set #4, which included Gai Satay (chicken satay), Tom Yam Goong (Hot and Sour Prawn Soup), Gai Pad Med Ma-mouang (Stir-fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts), and Khao Neaw Moon (Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango).

The school itself was very cool. Completely open air with classroom upstairs with three large dark-wood tables for desks; a demonstration kitchen and cooking stations downstairs. Our classmates were either tourists or expats. It was fun meeting them: we had a swiss couple on a 4 month tour of Asia; a Dutch woman whose husband has a love for Thai food after having lived in Bangkok – hence her desire to cook it; an English college student visiting a Thai school friend for a month; an American woman who’s husband works for the US Embassy in Bangkok – she’s now on her last of 3 years living there.

Before we started cooking, we had a bit of shopping to do. The class took a quick trip to the local Thai market where our teachers bought some ingredients we’d need that day. There, we learned about the various types of rice – what makes one different from the other, learned about Thai produce and spices, watched coconut cream, and then milk, being processed, and sampled a few fruits.

Back at the classroom, we started the marathon learning, cooking, eating session. We sat along the demonstration kitchen (set up with mirror above so you could see into the teacher’s pot) and watched as she explained and showed the process for making a dish. Then, we each made our own single serving at our own cooking stations. We made and chilled our dessert; we marinated and grilled our chicken satays; made single servings of the soup; fried chicken for the cashew chicken dish. Chris and I made ours super spicy while others used no chilies at all.

And then we got to eat our four course meal. We were so full at this point but then had our desserts coming. So for the cost of $33 US, we got the class with 4-course meal, hotel transfers and they print out the picture they’ve taken of you cooking as a souvenir. A great deal, I thought. I am hoping to find something like this in Hong Kong.

With full bellies and a new skill under our belts, it was off to an afternoon of spa.

Getting pampered
Entering Divana Spa was like we stepped out of Bangkok altogether. A little oasis. We were there for 5 blissful hours. We had booked a double room for our treatments and having our own hotel suite for the day.

Our 5 heavenly ours at the spa, including complimentary fruit and tea between treatments and an organic meal, was only $115 US per person. It would be that much for an hour massage alone back in the US! We definitely plan to do this again.

What a perfect way to end our first visit to Bankgok. That night, we stayed in our room at the Peninsula room for room service dinner while we packed up for our week in Phuket.

Grand Palace, Jim Thompson and Going to Bed

2005-08-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - July 29

Today, we would tackle the buffet at the Peninsula Hotel. You all know how much we love buffets. It’s the perfect solution to the constant indecision I have when ordering food. At a good buffet, I can have a little bit of everything as much as the things I really like as I want! The Peninsuala breakfast buffet was pretty good but probably a bit overpriced (well, for Thailand anyway; it was about $12 per person :). It was the only "overpriced" thing we encountered in Thailand.

After being fortified with a good breakfast, we went down to the pier and took the water taxi to the Pen Lounge to meet Ratt, who was driving us for this last day of sightseeing.

The Grand Palace
First stop was the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha. This is a bit of a misnomer because the property is actually a collection of various temples and palatial residences and reception halls built by various Thai kings. On our way, she asked us if we’d like to hire a human guide for 400B or buy audio ones for 80B. We decided to stick to a real person. So she picked up her cell phone and made some calls. When we pulled up front at the Palace, Sooti was waiting for us. (I don’t know if that’s how he spells his name but that’s my phonetically-created version.) Sooti was, in a word, awesome. He was a taller, handsome and graceful man that we found to be well-informed, literate, patient and spoke great English.

We really enjoyed our tour and education of the Palace. We learned a ton about Thai history. We learned Thailand was the only country to remain independent while it’s neighbors were all being colonialized and we learned what strategies the King had put in place to ensure it.

We saw symbolism everywhere we turned. Although Sooti told us he wasn’t a religious man, he told us a bit about Buddhism and how it’s reflected through the Palace and Temple. We saw the 6 levels of heaven symbolized in the tiered golden tops of the temples. We met the demon guardians who protect the Palace and surrounding temples. And we Thailand’s version of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

At first glance, all the colors and gold seemed tacky and gaudy to me. But the more I learned about the place and its history, the more I came to realize that all the detail and craftsmanship simply reflected the respect and devotion of the Thai people for what they believe in. It was one of those moments where I fell in love with the place.

Of course, after parking her taxi, Ratt popped up in the middle of our tour with a cooler of water. It was such a hot day, we were grateful. And to top it off, she then carried the cooler, Chris’ camera bag, and our umbrellas – when we weren’t using them to shade us from the sun. How does such a little woman carry all that stuff??

Wat Po
After our tour of the Palace and Emerald Buddha (which was much smaller than we had aniticipated), we headed to Wat Po, Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Compared to having Sooti at the Palace, Wat Po just wasn’t as compelling However, the Reclining Buddha was just incredible. The gold statue was enormous. The photos can’t do it justice. This temple also houses a Thai massage school where you can get hour massages for $5 US. But because of the heat and our plans for the spa the next day, we decided to skip it.

Jim Thompson
It was extremely hot that day and the heat was sapping our energy quickly. After Wat Po, we decided on an early lunch at the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American soldier who fell in love with Thailand and moved there, only to single-handedly rejuvenate the country’s silk industry. He was an architect and built a traditional Thai house that he then opened up to tourists on the weekends. During the 1960s, Jim disappeared under mysterious circumstanced while out for a walk in Malaysia. His house has since been turned into a Museum and houses a Jim Thompson retail store and café.

Lunch was fabulous, absolutely yummy. We had the pomelo and shrimp salad (one of my favorite thai dishes), Phad Thai (Chris’ favorite), Thai coffee and Thai iced team, and really good blueberry ice cream for dessert.

We did the tour of the house, which was interesting but I think we were just too faded to fully appreciate it. In an incredibly lush setting, the home has a rustic elegance to it.

Because we liked Jim Thompson's product but are always in search of a good deal, our final stop with Ratt for the day was to the Jim Thompson outlet store. They offer some wonderful fabrics at pretty good prices, as well as clothing, linens and handbags. We bought a just a few things at incredible prices. Unfortunately as an outlet store, they don't have quite the same selection as the main retail stores.

Going to Bed
That night, we went to a highly recommended restaurant called the Bed Supper Club. We had spent the entire day having fun talking about how we were “going to Bed.” We’ve never been to any restaurant like it. Compared to the warm, humid, dirty night just outside its doors, there’s something cleansing and fresh about the atmosphere at Bed. The interior is all white and very minimalist interior with clean lines, and the building is shaped like a warped space ship. We were the 3rd couple there and the place slowly started fill up over the next hour. With two rows of “beds” running along the walls of two floors, the entire restaurant probably only housed 30 couples.

We were served our drives and “surprise” 4-course meal on our bed and enjoyed every last bit of it. While waiting for dinner, we had an appetizer of calamari. The first course was this amazing lentil soup with corn relish (I thought it was tortilla soup but there’s my American influence coming through). The second course was a salad with mini-mozzarella balls and fennel served with a little scoop of frozen vinaigrette on top. What a genius idea. The main course was seared Ahi steaks sliced on top of lemongrass-flavored mashed potatoes. Really well done but I was so full I could only eat a few bites. Then dessert. A chocolate flourless cake or “volcano cake” with chocolate ice cream. Hugely rich but so good.

Every night, Bed offers some form of entertainment. I’d heard of ice carving being featured one night. The entertainment for our night was a skit. Three Asian women came in playing as if they were Hollywood bimbos. Rich, flighty, but really amusing to watch. They came one at a time as if they were just there for dinner and at first we didn’t realize it was a skit. Very Tony and Tina-esque. Later they danced to a song called “You’re a Sex Bomb.” And then a oil painter came to do a quick painting of some man. Kind of odd but all in all, entertaining.

After dinner was over at about 10:30, we went to our real bed prepared for a slower paced time the next day.

Coconuts, Markets, Tigers and Ping Pongs

2005-08-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Day 2: July 28

We got up at 6am and ordered breakfast to go from the Peninsula room service. I had the smoked salmon and capers on a bagel and Chris had the breakfast croissant sandwiches. The hotel even boxed them up so we could take them with us.

Ratt, our driver, was in the lobby waiting when we got there at 7am on the dot. We got on the road and at 7am, unlike Hong Kong, Bangkok was already bustling. Once we got out of inner city traffic and started cruising towards the Floating Market, Ratt popped in a “Kenny Rogers Sings the Hits” tape. What a riot… the whole way there, we listened to Kenny sing cover songs. I wonder if that’s what Ratt thinks Americans like to hear… J Along the way, we passed salt farms, busses stuffed with people – they were even standing and hanging off the back – and could see a glimpse of the sea. I fell asleep; as I always do once I get into a car, and woke up as the car rolled to a stop.

Coconut Family

She had pulled up at a coconut manufacturing “facility.” It really just looked like a family home that happened to have a ton (probably literally) of coconuts piled up all over the yard. Ratt explained how they prepped the coconuts that would eventually be sold to the markets. One man was standing over this tall spiked pole in the ground and pushing fresh coconuts onto the spike to peel away the outer husk. It looked like back breaking work but he hand-processed those coconuts really quickly. Another guy, who looked to be his son was cutting the coconuts open and draining all the water out. Then the one who looked to be the grandfather was using this hard-core metal peeler to peel off the brown coconut skin, leaving the glistening white meat. They seemed to love having their picture taken and we chatted a bit about where we were from, using Ratt as an interpreter. Like the many Thai people we encountered, they were welcoming and the friendliest people. What a lovely family and a great experience. I felt like that with them, we were actually seeing the essence of Thailand that the tourist attractions just couldn’t capture.

Floating Market
We got to the Floating market just past 8am. It was quiet when we got there. Ratt took us further back down the road and hired us a boat and someone to paddle it for less than $10. As we started down the canal, we passed just one or two other boats. There was lots of “junk,” which means fun tourist things to buy like wooden elephant heads, almost creepy looking Thai puppets (Pinocchio-style with the strings), wooden frogs that reminded me a lot like the wooden armadillos you can get in Texas (you know, you rake a stick along it’s back and it makes noise? The frogs make a noise like, well, a frog.). I was surprised to see they had fake handbags too.

We stopped and got out of a boat at this mini-market. Looked around there for a bit and then back on the boat. Ratt bought us various foods from the vendors. I think this is a mix of giving us a taste of her country as well as kind of showing support for her local people. She got some pomelo, sort of a very large and less bitter grapefruit, and my favorite – a small roasted coconuts for each of us. I’ve had lots of fresh coconuts but these roasted ones offer sweeter and more flavorful juice. Once you’ve drank that down, you can peel all the meet off in one piece. Yum! I wanted to try the coconut pancakes but never did.

Once we had our fill and started heading back, the water was jam packed with boats. We played bumper boats with several boats on our way back to our starting point.

At this point, it was getting HOT and we were glad to be getting out of there. When we walked back to the car she had everything loaded up and a little cooler of water and soft drinks waiting for us.

The Handicraft Store
We drove out as throngs of tourists continued to flood in and went to the Thai Handicraft Store. We saw 15 – 20 Thai craftsmen chisel away at large pieces of wood (teak) producing highly intricate art and furniture. Ratt told us that each person makes 15,000B per month and showed us one 6 foot-long piece of art that two people were working on simultaneously. It would take them 6 months of finalize their work. We weren’t in the market for a $5000 piece but found a beautiful wooden statue of a Thai goddess. She’s carved out of solid teak, has traditional headpiece and dress and is playing a flute. I don’t know if she’s “worth” anything but we just thought she was beautiful, especially after seeing how much each craftsman puts into his or her work.

Floating Restaurant and Bridge over River Kwai

Ratt dropped us off at The Floating Restaurant on the River Kwai for lunch. It was fabulous. In fact, we thought it was the best Thai meal we had in while in Bangkok. It fit our tastes – highly highly spicy and very flavorful. The soup had more herbs than soup in it! Unlike other Thai restaurants we’d been used to, they didn’t ask us how spicy we wanted it. They just served it hot. We had three dishes, dessert and bottled water for less than $10 US total. Bangkok can be such a bargain.

We fed the fish in the water, looked at the Bridge and then headed out for the Tiger Temple.

Tigers!

Right as we neared the Tiger Temple, it started to pour. I mean really pour. Despite the monsoon, we were determined to see the tigers.

Right as we entered the Tiger play area called “Tiger Canyon” we see a sign. There’s a warning that you will be responsible for choosing to come into contact with wild animals. That made us a bit nervous.

But then you start walking down the hill into the canyon – yes it’s a real canyon and when you come around the corner, there are a bunch of tigers just roaming around freely. It was amazing - even in the rain. There was a Discovery Channel feature on Tiger Temple and the monk featured on the show was there (he’s the head of the monastery) as was a woman researcher from New Zealand. She was the one who told us that the rain agitates the tigers and gets them a bit more active. Clearly – the younger ones were frolicking in the huge pond that had collected from the rain water at the end of the canyon. They were chasing each other and jumping in the water, just having a ball.

Once the rain let up, we were allowed in one at a time to see the tigers up close. It really was a great experience. Really, they were just big wet cats but being so close to them in their sheer size a bit breathtaking. The volunteers took our pictures with the big cats and with that done, we headed out. On our way back down, we fed an old, decrepit deer some little green bananas we had bought for just this purpose on our way in. The deer was high maintenance though because it wouldn’t eat it them whole. We had to peel them for him and he’d eat out of our hands. It was a sweet old thing.

Bangkok night at night

Later that night, we went to dinner (Thai food of course!) and then took a crazy tuk tuk to the Patpong night market. What fun! We looked at all the imitations thises and that’s. I almost bought a pretty real looking Louis Vuitton purse but instead bought a pair of imitation Diesel shoes because I needed some closed toe shoes for touring the Grand Palace the next day. We walked by a good deal of solicitations for sex shows – who knew so many shows would feature ping pongs?

More pictures: We have created a new photo website to store all the pictures from our adventure. http://ChrisAndSteph.shutterfly.com. We have it password protected but if you drop us an email, we'll send you the password!

From Hong Kong to Bangkok

2005-08-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Thailand was no less than amazing. This was the best vacation we’ve ever had and probably one of – if not the most – eye-opening experiences ever. Here's an overview of our first day there:

Getting there
We had stayed up late the night before packing and going over last minute things but were bright eyed and bushy-tailed for our 6:00 am taxi ride to the Hong Kong international airport. Boy, are the streets in Hong Kong empty that early in the morning! We managed to pack everything we needed for the next 13 days into two carry-on bags each. We don’t like to check baggage if we can help it but it dawned on us later – where would we put all the things we planned to buy? ;)

We took the airport express train from the Central MTR station to the airport (what an ingenious thing!) and had small breakfast at the Burger King there (won’t make that mistake again!). Using airmiles, we flew Business class on Cathay Pacific using on our way to Bangkok. It was lovely – roomy, yummy food (dim sum no less) – although we felt a bit foolish acting like honeymooners among all the business travelers. It was a nice treat.

Upon landing, we went through Passport Control, through the ‘nothing-to-declare’ exit, and out to the left, where we found Ratt. Upon the recommendation on veteran travelers to Thailand, we hired a driver by the name of Vimonrat for our days in Bangkok. To make it easier on foreigners, she goes simply by “Ratt.” She was standing on the right hand side of the walkway holding a sign with my name – just like she said she would be. We didn’t know what she looked like or what to look for in a driver. In a nutshell, she’s a huge woman in a very diminutive frame. She’s probably around 4’9” I’d guess? She has wiry black hair with just a few strands of white, and it was always pulled back when we saw her. She’s got incredible personality and is such resource for everything around Bangkok. Many travelers on the Fodor’s website, where I did a bunch of research for our trip had used her.

The one-way trip from airport to hotel with Ratt was 500 Baht (less than US $12). It would have been cheaper to just have found a random metered taxi from the airport ourselves but with Ratt, we didn’t have to hassle with that until we knew our way around (many taxi drivers in Bangkok try to cheat foreigners by not turning on their meeting and making up a charge when they get to the destination) and since this was our first time in Bangkok, hiring her for the confidence it gave us was well worth the (very little) money. With agreement to meet in front of our hotel the next morning at 7:00am, she left us at the Bangkok Peninsula Hotel.

Bangkok hotel
Our first impression of the hotel was everything we expected. An army of door attendants greeted and welcomed us. The lobby is of dark woods, cool air, and offers a calming feel. (The lobby restrooms near the entrance to Jesters Restaurant are quite nice too, although I still find it strange that toilet seat guards aren’t offered in Asia, even in such a nice hotel.)

We checked in and were asked if we’d like to upgrade from our Superior Room to a room with a better view for an extra $30 US a night. We politely declined – we wouldn’t be spending too much time looking out our windows anyway. Then oddly enough, to our pleasant surprise, they upgraded us for free anyway to a Deluxe Room on the 11th floor. We had a nice (although not prime) view of the river. The room itself was larger than we expected and quite nice. We had a large bedroom and living area looking out along the river; a separate closet area with a padded bench to put suitcases; and a big bathroom with soaking tub with a TV at the foot of it, and a fairly large glassed in shower. The hotel is super modern with its technology. There is a central control panel on the bedside tables that lets you control all the lights and the curtains – yes, you could open the curtains without getting out of bed! Can I get that at home?

When we looked out the windows, we were surprised that the hotel wasn’t in a “nice” neighborhood. But we soon learned that Bangkok isn’t made up like Manhattan or Beverly Hills. You have a ton of small rises and local shops in the midst of 5-star resorts. And that’s part of its charm.

Going for the gold – or, Sapphires
After we unpacked and made a snack of the fresh fruit left for us on our coffee table, we called SJ International, the jewelers that had been recommended to us. They sent a complimentary car for us and it took 30 minutes to ride through traffic (and huge crowds of motorcycles!) before we got there. But it was worth it. We looked for about an hour to an hour and a half. Ms. Wanna taught us a bit about sapphires, which is what we were there for. We’d already done some research while we were still in the states and had a pretty good sense for what we were looking for and at what price. You need to be careful where you buy jewelry in Thailand but this company has been doing business for over 20 years and depends heavily on word of mouth. So we told them we were referred to them and were given "the wholesale price." We think that it’s about ¼ of the retail price in the US at any story like Baily Banks and Biddle. Buying sapphires isn't as straightforward as buying diamonds because the grading isn’t consistent. So we just went with what we like and how much we were comfortable paying based on what we knew. We also learned about natural vs man-made stones. We got a ring and bracelet this time around but if the appraisals come back as I hope they will, we’ll definitely be back again. We can take orders from you folks back home ;)

After paying and the promise of getting the jewelry delivered to our hotel Saturday night (we were there on Wednesday and they needed a few days to make the ring and get the bracelet sized), they gave us a ride back to the Peninsula. (If you haven’t yet guessed, the service in Thailand surpasses anything we’ve ever experienced. It’s not just at the nice hotels or stores: it seemed like pretty much everyone in Thailand – except the crooked taxi drivers – were happy to have foreign visitors and treated everyone that way. And they treat everyone like royalty – even a couple of kids like us. No joke, the service is so over-the-top, it made us feel a bit uncomfortable at times. I’m sure they could tell we were newbies to Asia travel.)

High tea
It was about 3:00pm when we got back to the hotel and at the point we were starving. The breakfast, as fantastic as it was on the plane, couldn’t hold us until dinner. So we stopped at the lobby restaurant for the famous Peninsula High Tea. It was stellar. For 350B (US $8.30) each, you get three plates of miniature tasty morsels and your choice of tea. Chris opted for the Asian tea set with various tarts, custard, a Vietnamese salad roll, mango/tapioca dessert while I went with the traditional tea set with tea sandwiches, scones, and other pastries. There were 3 musicians playing a piano, sax and percussions during our meal, which combined with the lovely river view, made for a wonderful hour.

Klong tour - a truly eye-opening experience

After tea, we decided it was time for a klong tour. A klong is a canal and like Venice, the Thai people use them for transportation. And as such, many live along the klongs. Of course, the obsessive nature in me had packed our itinerary on the other days so this was really probably our only chance to see the klongs. Our hotel was on the river so we went down to the Peninsula pier where the security guy hired a long tail boat for us for 400B (US $9.50). For the next hour and a half, he’d take us on some of the back canals in the area.

Turning off the river, we passed a lock going into the canal but we couldn’t figure out why they’d need one there. We passed quite a few people of all ages just hanging out by the canal – on bridges, outside of their homes built on precarious-looking pilings, along the banks with their fishing poles. Just about everyone smiled and waved – the kids especially seemed to like looking at us looking at them. A good many mugged for the camera. I wonder what they think of us taking pictures of them in their everyday life. The water seemed so dirty but they were fishing and even swimming in it anyway. Do people eat the fish in that water? Or just fish for fun? The houses… I don’t even know how to describe them without sounding like a typical, offensive American. We were just horrified that people lived in these conditions. So many of the houses looked like they were about to topple over from the wood rotting away. Many others were covered in that wavy aluminum stuff we sometimes use for roofing over sheds – you know what I’m talking about? – and it was all rusted and warped, leaving cracks in their metal walls. As Chris said, coming away from seeing this, it’s hard to feel sorry for yourself when you see the conditions in which these people were living.

But despite how desolate we found many of their homes along the klong, so many of them had the flashing light of a TV inside and we saw a few satellite dishes too. Funny how us Amercians aren’t the only ones addicted to TV. Of course we also passed a great many temples. Our boat pilot said they’re just everywhere. Two great moments – we passed a little 5-year old dancing queen just shakin’ her booty for us as we passed – she could be a backup dancer for J-Lo someday; and when our long tail guide yelled out “crocodile, crocodile” just to laugh as we peered over the edge at the creature swimming towards the boat. He might have had fun with his little joke on us but we just as much loved seeing the gigantic lizard in the water. Coming back out of the canal to the river, we passed the Royal Thai Navy Headquarters, which was impressive, and the Temple of the Dawn, which was even more so. In the end, we gave the boat guy 500B because it was such a great experience. We’ll definitely do that again the next time we’re in Bangkok.

We were just exhausted – from the traveling, the shopping, the heat and humidity and our own excitement for the trip – so despite our desire to try one of the local restaurants, we went back to our room, had a bubble bath while watching TV in the tub (what fun that is!) and ordered room service. Then we hit the sack early because we were getting up at the crack of down to meet Ratt. We wanted to get an early jump at the Floating Market the next day before the crowds and heat set in.

Home Sweet Home

2005-08-08T05:51:00.000-07:00

We're safely home from a wonderful 13-day trip to Thailand. We have so much to share in the way of stories and photos - and we'll definitely share in the coming days - but for now, we're happy to be home, both rested and charged, and in the company of our kitties. This trip definitely gave us the travel bug. Without getting to deep or cliched, we had our eyes opened a bit wider by what we saw and experienced, learned more about a different culture, a bit more about ourselves and we can't wait to do it again. And funny enough, I guess there's something to that whole thing about distance making the heart grow fonder because when we got back to our apartment, it really felt like we were coming home. Like home-home. And it felt great. I was surprised that we'd feel this way after only a month of living in Hong Kong but walking into our apartment building, seeing the familiar faces of the doormen and finally walking in the door of our flat to be greeted by Wolfie and Ziggy... well, I am so happy to be here.

And one more quick note before I sign off for the night... I swear the UV rays in Thailand curve. Because even though we made sure we sat under the big sun umbrellas and continued to slather on the sun screen, the sun rays seemed to find us. We both burned a bit and are now tan tan tan (Chris is still just a tab red). Not as much color as we got during our power tanning sessions in Arizona but pretty close. I know it's not fashionable in Hong Kong so I guess I'll just have to be a dork because I just love getting some color. It just makes me feel a bit healthier and happier.

Land of wats

2005-07-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

Finally - our trip to Thailand is here! I've been obsessed with this trip, researching every possible thing we could do in Thailand, getting lots of advice from every possible person. How much of a 'Type-A' am I? So much so that Chris and I compromised with this trip. Not that we discussed a compromise. It just sort of happened. Probably because I've planned the whole thing and planned to compromise. Again - Type A. So that leaves us with about 5 days of lots of "doing" and lots of "seeing" in Bangkok to satisfy me and then 7 blissful days of doing absolutely nothing but sitting by a pool or beach in Phuket (pronounced "poo-GET") to satisfy Chrissy. And so what does my idea of what a "perfect" vacation for Chris and Stephenie could look like? Unfortunately for Chris, it's all typed up in an itinerary ready to take with us:

Fly Hong Kong to Bangkok
Cathay Pacific fight 713, business class
Departs 8:55 am
Arrives 10:30 am

Bangkok Hotel: The Peninsula Bangkok
Check In: Wed, Jul 27, 2005
Check Out: Sun, Jul 31, 2005

Wednesday in Bangkok
-- 10:30 am - Land in Bangkok
-- Check in and have lunch at the Peninsula
-- Head to SJ International (yay, jewelry shopping!!)
-- Klong tour from the Peninsula waterfront (Klongs are waterways around Bangkok)
-- Dinner. Where? Don't know yet. But poor Chris, I have an entire list of restaurants recommendations to mull over.

Thursday in Bangkok with hired driver
-- 6:30 am – 11:30 am -- Floating Market outside of Bangkok; rent a long tail boat
-- 1:30am - 2:30 pm -- Lunch and drive to next location -- 2:30 pm - 6:30 pm -- Tiger Reserve to pet the tigers and drive back to Bangkok
-- 8:00 pm -- Dinner, hopefully at the Bed Supper Club

Friday in Bangkok with hired driver
-- 7:00 am - 8:00 am -- Breakfast at the Pen
-- 8:00 am – 1:30 pm -- Tour of the wats: Marble Temple, Grand Palace, Temple of the Emerald Budda, Wat Po, Giant Swing, Chinatown
-- 1:30 – 3:00 pm -- Lunch and tour of the Jim Thompson House
-- 3:00 – 4:00 pm -- Jim Thompson outlet
-- 4:00 – 6:00 pm -- maybe a little swimming at the hotel? Maybe some shopping?
-- 6:00 -- Dinner
-- 7:30 – 9:30 pm -- watch a Mui Thai Boxing match
-- 9:30 - 11 pm -- maybe the night Flower Market

Saturday in Bangkok
-- 8:00 – 9:30 am -- Breakfast at the hotel

-- 9:30 am – 1:30 pm -- Bai Pai Cooking School
We will be learning to make:
· Satay Chicken (Gai Satay)
· Hot and Sour Prawn Soup (Tom Yam Goong)
· Stir-fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts (Gai Pad Med Ma-mouang)
· Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango (Khao Neaw Moon)

-- 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Divina Spa for their 4 hour Spa Prestige Package with Organic Meal & Fresh Fruit
Includes: Body Brush / Honey - aroma Cover / Herbal Steam / Body Scrub / Aloe Vera Rub / Body Mud / Body Massage / Bath / Super Detoxify Facial Massage

-- 5:00 – 6:30 pm -- Back to hotel to get ready for dinner
-- 7:00 pm -- Dinner
-- 8:30 pm -- Calypso Cabaret at the Asia Hotel (transvestite caberet troupe)
-- 9:30 pm -- Take the skytrain to Crepes and Co for dessert

Sunday
8:00 am -- Check out of hotel and travel to airport

Fly Bangkok to Phuket
Thai Airways flight TG0209
Departs 10:45 am
Arrives 12:05 pm

Phuket Hotel: JW MARRIOTT PHUKET BEACH CLUB
Two bedroom villa
Check in: 4:00 pm Sunday, July 31, 2005
Check out: 10:00 am Sunday, August 07, 2005
** Golf carts available to time share guests for transportation around the resort

Activities in Phuket: eat, lay by the pool, read, eat, lay by the beach, eat, sit on the terrace, eat.

Sunday, August 7
10:00 am -- Check out of hotel and travel to airport

Fly Phuket to Bangkok
Thai Airways flight TG0630
Departs 1:05 pm
Arrives 3:30 pm

Hotel in Bangkok: Holiday Inn Bangkok
Using airmiles so we couldn't fly out of Bangkok until Monday. Finish any shopping we didn't get to the week before :)
Check In: Sun, Aug 7, 2005
Check Out: Mon, Aug 8, 2005

Fly Bangkok to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific fight 708, first class
Departs 9:50 am
Arrives 1:40 pm
Seats 2 DG
Cry all the way home to Hong Kong.

My bus driver

2005-07-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

Every weekday morning I wait in front of my building for the number 56 mini-bus that will take me to work. I've only been doing this for a couple of weeks but there are two bus drivers I seem to get regularly. One of them seems like he's right out the video game Grand Theft Auto. I mean, to be fair, all the bus drivers I've had here drive like a bat out of hell. By that I mean crazy "pole position" acceleration, obscene tailgating and hard emergency-like stops. On a regular basis. But this particular Mini-Bus #56 driver seems to take this to the next level.

As he's speeding down the empty streets at 7:00 or 7:30 in the morning, every once in a while he'll see a jay-walker down the street. So what does he do?

Tilt the head down.

Narrow the eyes.

Glare at the jay-walker from the top of the eyeballs (he IS breaking the law after all).

And STEP ON IT!!

I swear he gets his jollies off of scaring the living daylights out of pedestrians daring to cross his path. Who needs coffee to wake you up when you have a meniacal bus driver pointing an accelerating bus towards you? It used to give me a jolt too. But I seem to have gotten used to it.

Stanley

2005-07-23T01:51:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Chris and I took the city bus to Stanley. Stanley is an area on the south side of the Hong Kong island; Chris and I live on the north side. Chris write a blog about our trip so check out his blog for pictures and map.

The day was fun. The bus took us over the green hills that separate the north and south sides of the island. The ride took about 20 mins. The city busses here are double decker so when we got on, we immediate went upstairs and took a front row seat so we could watch where we were going from the big windows. Sitting next to us were a couple of white guys and I could tell from their conversations that they worked together. I didn't pay much attention after that until I heard the words "Bend," "Portland" and "Oregon." I turned around and asked them if they were from Portland Oregon. Lo and behold, the one sitting directly behind me was - he grew up in Bend but lived in Portland! He's currenlty working in Germany for Adidas. And he's looking for a way to get transfered to Hong Kong or China. What a small, small world!

When we reached Stanley, we said our goodbyes and Chris and I headed for the Stanley Market. The Stanley Market is similar to the Saturday Market in Portland but bigger and permanent. It's made up of stalls inside and between buildings. Lots of souvenir-type goods but some inexpensive, or rather, cheap clothing stores and some great (and horrible) art. Chris got a US $5 pair of Tommy Bahama swim trunks. We think they must be seconds made at factories in China. I got a US $12 hippyish white skirt that's all the rage right now. And we were tempted to buy several oil paintings that were done by a guy who's had a stall there for 10 years. He does some amazing work but we think we'll hold off until we see what other art we can find in Asia. I found an amazing paint of a coi fish in another little shop, which I think Mom would love but when I asked about the price, I was told it was $11,000 HK, which comes out to about $1400 US. Too rich for my blood.

We spent several hours at the market and then walked to the Murray House. This is one of the few historical buildings left in Hong Kong, due to their propensity to knock down the old and build up the new. Actually, long ago, the government disassembled the entire building, put it away and forgot where they had put it (how do you lose an entire building on Hong Kong island?) so when they finally found the darn thing and put it back together, they had extra parts! So, there are 5 or 6 pillars out front, which no one knew what to do with.

Now, the Murray House is home to several restaurants. Chris and I chose a Spanish restaurant and scored a table looking out over the water. It was tea time (Hong Kong's version of food happy hour) so we had a bunch of tapas. Some were ok but some were amazing. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

After our late lunch/early dinner, we caught the bus back to the North side and headed to Great, a gigantic supermarket, similar to Zupans to stock up on some breakfast items.

Marian and Samantha

2005-07-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, we finally met our neighbors. Samantha and her human Marian. We knew there was a cat next door but funny enough, despite only having 4 flats on our floor, we had never met any neighbors. But one night, I opened the door and there were Marian and Samantha.

Marian is a lovely woman from the UK. She works for Morgan Stanley and was transfered to Hong Kong for a year-long assignment. She's been here since January so is already planning her trip back home at the end of the year. That's too bad; she's a great neighbor.

We discovered that we'd be out of town at the same time and have been on a common mission to find a "cat nanny" to share while we're away. We haven't yet found something solid but we have a couple of leads. But in the meantime, Marian invited me to a girls night with a few women she's met. A few of them work with her at Morgan Stanley; one's a lawyer that followed her boyfriend here and another is a marketing director who came on her own after spending a year in Taiwan. What a great group of women. I learned a ton from them and am excited to go out with them again. They're planning a "Dangerous Liaisons" theme party, which should be fun!

Let's talk about the weather

2005-07-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

I know I'm behind on updates but promise to catch up this weekend. Until then, can we talk about the weather?

Weather here seems to be extreme. At least recently. There is a crazy thunderstorm blazing outside our window right now. I'm not sure I should bother going to sleep because it seems like there's a dance party going on outside. Strobing white light every second. I've never seen anything like this. Even in Scottsdale where we hope and pray for a good storm. Ok, there was a pretty good one here a few nights ago that woke me up but this one I'm fully alert and mezmerized. You think I'm exaggerating? Check out the stats from Hong Kong's Weather Underground:

Weather Alerts

-- Lightning Alert: Lightning detector recorded 786 strokes over Hong Kong and neighbourhood in last minute.
-- Rain Alert:Parts of Tsuen Wan recorded over 30 mm of rainfall in last hour.Wind Alert:Ngong Ping reported strong winds for 50 minutes in last hour.

And this:

"AT 10 P.M. AT THE HONG KONG OBSERVATORY THE AIR TEMPERATURE WAS 30 DEGREES CELSIUS AND THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY 81 PER CENT.HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT HONG KONG IN A COUPLE OF HOURS. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SHOULD BE ON THE ALERT.PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT:
-- THE THUNDERSTORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED. IT WILL REMAIN EFFECTIVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.
-- THE VERY HOT WEATHER WARNING IS NOW IN FORCE. HOT WEATHER MIGHT CAUSE ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE CARE TO AVOID HEATSTROKE."

What fun!

Catching up with Troy and Shelly

2005-07-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

Troy and Shelly are a fellow expat couple we met when we first came to Hong Kong together to look for an apartment. They're from Colorado and are currently planning to be here for a year (but hoping to extend their stay to two years). We've linked to their blog so you can check that out if you'd like. They are just the coolest people. Troy travels a ton for his job as technical sales support so Shelly has become the consumate professional traveler. That's what she does. She explores Hong Kong, accompanies Troy on his business trips to places she's never been or likes best, plans their outings, etc. And she also keeps busy by volunteering at some local Hong Kong charities. They've been a great resource to us as well, answering any questions we have, sharing tips and good travel advice.
Friday, Troy was in town so we decided to get together. They came to our apartment and from here we went to Lan Kwai Fong. What fun they are. And what a place Lan Kwai Fong is. Chris and I like to go down there and watch the meat market. It's the area where all the foreigners congregate to drink and pick up on potential mates. And it's swarming with people ala Bourbon St in New Orleans. Everyone's partying in the streets. We started sharing a bottle of wine and an appetizer at Post 97, where Chris and I have eaten before. Then we moved on to a Malay/Singaporian restaurant called Bamboo. It was pretty good but didn't seem uniquely Malay or Singaporian in any way. I don't know what their food is like but what we had resembled Indian food: two kinds of curry, naan, some sauteed veggies and a rice dish.

After dinner, we went down to a little corner bar in the thick of Lan Kwai Fong to watch the action. We watched these guys in their fifties, awkwardly decide which girls to target and then move in. What a train wreck! You couldn't look away. These men so didn't know what they were doing but wanting badly to close the deal. To our surprise, the girls - who were no more than twenty by the way - were responding to them; flirting with them and each other! Guy number 1 was the smoother one of the two (which isn't saying much) and Guy number 2 had a whole in his butt. Right in the seem. Poor guy. We watched as they flirted, trying to fill the awkward silences until finally they all walked off together. I can't imagine how the night must have ended for the four of them and frankly, knowing how many young local girls do whatever they can to hook a western sugar daddy, I don't want to. After the show, we headed up to get some gelato at XTC Gelato and then headed home.

Our first cocktail party

2005-07-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night we went to our first get-together in Hong Kong. An old client of mine has been living here for two and a half years so just last week, I emailed him to touch base. Before our move, he'd been such a resource, answering questions about housing, transportation, etc. It just so happened that he was having a little cocktail party the night following our email exchange in Hong Kong so he invited us to come by.

What fun! There were about 10 people there in total. We met a fiance guy originally from the Dutch Antilles; an ex-PR professional who as born here, has lived in Canada and the US and is now a business planner for the new Hong Kong Disneyland; a "relationship manager" for an interactive web design company who came to Hong Kong ten years ago from Isreal; another Microsoft employee who has worked with my company in the past and was dragged here to Hong Kong kicking and screaming by her husband and who is now the one hesitant to leave; and a couple more finance folks who are on the verge of burnout. It was a mix of fellow expats who've been here for a while and Hong Kong-born professionals who have lived overseas and returned. The interesting thing about the expats (and don't read too much into me pointing this out MomK) is that they all have stayed past their "assigned time." They all have loved it so much and have found ongoing opportunity here, they haven't yet felt the need to return home. Part of it is probably that they are very well taken care of financially in addition to the lifestyle that is available here. The best thing about having an evening with them is hearing the various reasons why they came and what they love about the city. They also gave us some good tips about where to shop, which is always at the top of my list!

Robert, our host, is just the nicest guy and his work takes him all over Asia. His apartment is filled with furniture and decor collected from his travels. It gave Chris and I the bug to get exploring around the region asap. Thank goodness we're headed off to Thailand in just a week and a half! We'll be keeping an eye out for art, jewelry and furnishings. We hear they have a good deal of pirated software, music and movies but we'd never buy that kind of thing. :)

"all asians look alike"

2005-07-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's ever said that needs to come to Hong Kong (and there are many out there cuz I've heard it many times!). They would encounter a huge variety of Asian faces. Light, tan, ugly, beautiful (stunning even), thin, chubby, bald, twitching... In fact, the faces are so diverse, all white people are starting to look alike!

Ok, not really but what I have noticed is that Chris and I very much the minorty. Not only because we're not from here but because we're from the US. I'm often the only American on the bus, even though there's a white guy on it. Most of the white folks we see are European and I'm a bit ashamed to say that I'm always a little surprised each time I realize the white person next to me is British, French, German, or even Australian or Kiwi. And so I certainly can't blame the people who've said "all asians look alike" a bit of slack since I haven't been able to tell the difference between a Frenchman from a Brit from an American since I've been here. I've been so US-centric, I love how truly diverse it is here... much more noticable than the melting pot of the US because it's so spead out. We even encountered a cute Chinese gal with a cute Scottish accent. Now that was cool!

Bombay Dreams and Post 97

2005-07-08T23:54:00.000-07:00

Chris and I love to eat. And we've found Hong Kong to be a Mecca of food. The variety is astonishing. I think Portland is pretty forward when it comes to varieties of food but Hong Kong is just on another level. There's just too many people from different countries around the world in a small area NOT to have great diversity. The past two nights, we've gone down to an area called Lan Kwai Fong for dinner. For me, it's easier to explore one area at a time because I get a better sense of its layout. There's no way we could live here if the food wasn't good. One reason I questioned an assignment in London was because I heard the food was just so-so (Since then, I've heard that's a misconception.) And for sure Chris couldn't live here if it was Chinese and Chinese only. So we were thrilled to find such diverse and fabulous food.

Bombay Dreams:
Thursday night, we were looking for another Indian restaurant but couldn't find it so we stumbled across one called Bombay Dreams. It's on the 2nd floor (but they call it the first floor here since the first floor is called the ground floor.) I've only been to an Indian restaurant once before coming to Hong Kong and I didn't like it much. But I'm now realizing that it's because it just simply wasn't a good representation of the real deal. We looked over the menu and I frankly had no idea what to order. But here's yet another fabulous thing about Hong Kong: they have set menus that are great deals and gives you a sampling of food.

That night, there were three options for set dinners; one vegetarian. I left it up to Chris to pick. I was just happy to see a dish called "Naan" on all three sets. Naan is an Indian flat bread - not unlike pita - that is used to dip into sauces and such. Chris picked option B, which included a wonderful veggie semosa (like a popover with flaky, buttery shell and filled with potatoes, peas and a nice sauce - maybe curry), grilled lamb and chicken, tandori lamb, curry chicken, an lentil dip and of course, my naan. Last came a dessert of fried bread balls in a sugary herbed syrup.

Everything except for the grilled chicken was amazing. And it was all hot. Extremely spicy. When we were waiting for our food, they brought out Indian crackers called something like pompadums or something similar with two dipping sauces. I love this stuff too. So I dug in only to find my mouth on fire. It was so hot and I wasn't so unprepared, I started coughing. But it was all worth it!

The mean was pretty reasonable with the entire set costing HK$198 per person. That's about $25 US. But I will say, wine, or any alcohol, really, is super expensive. You can't really find a decent (not great, just decent) glass for under $10. So I just had a nice glass of pinot grigio, which went quite nicely as a refresher to the hot Indian food, while Chris had Pelligrino.

Post 97
Friday was the day our shipment came from the US so we were working around the house and eat a late lunch of leftovers. We were planning to treat ourselves to a movie at the IFC mall but it was sold out. So, we decided to walk up to Lan Kwai Fong again and find something to eat. This was the first night we'd been there late and a weekend night at that.

The Lan Kwai Fong area was packed! Think Bourbon Street but not during Mardi Gras. No beads or stupidness but just crowded streets with happy, drinking people. We couldn't help be laugh as we walked along because it was such a scene. We weren't in the partying mood so we looked for a place to eat where we could watch the party from a distance.

We found a place called Post 97 and found they had eggs benedict on the menu all day long! Because I love to cook, when I go out, I often times try to order foods that I couldn't or wouldn't make at home. So eggs benedict is often my breakfast food of choice when we go out. And it was pretty reasonable at HK$85 = $US11. As a bonus, the restaurant was on the second floor and we scored a seat for two by the window where we could watch everyone and enjoy our meal. And since it was a such a party downstairs, we couldn't go without a drink. I had sea breeze (vodka with cranberry and grapefruit juice) while Chris had this super yummy virgin concoction called the Panama Pussy (banana, lime juice with coconut milk). I think he ordered it just because of the name but it was the best virgin drink I've ever had. Again, the sea breeze was 2.5 as much as one at home would cost but it was pretty darn yummy.

Chris' pesto pasta with asparagus and mushrooms was pretty good but my eggs benedict was the BEST I'd ever had. I ordered a half and half version so one came with the traditional ham and the other with smoked salmon. Both served with poached egg, spinach on a toasted baquette and the best hollandaise sauce ever.

Home is where the stuff is

2005-07-08T05:34:00.000-07:00

Today our shipment arrived from the US. All 38 boxes of kitchenware, clothes, cleaning supplies. The movers came from Asia Express and brought all our boxes in. They even helped unpack the majority of it. Everything came in tact, except our broom and dustpan set. The dustpan got bent a bit during the shipping so it won't sit flush with the floor. As a result, dust can't be swept in.

But enough of that. Main point is how much better we feel now that we have our things. It was like Christmas opening our boxes - and we got everything we asked for! ;)

I especially loved putting our dishes, glasses and pots and pans away. Our kitchen very small we most everything seems to fit. Our silverware holder is too big for the drawers here though so we'll need to get a new one. I'm excited to cook something. It's been way too long. We'll need to pick up some breakfast makings and coffee for Chris. He kept breaking the glass french press coffee makers so we finally got him a metal one. I'm sure he's excited to use it again.

We spent the entire afternoon unpacking and putting things away. It's really starting to feel like home. Home is where the heart is but our stuff sure makes a difference!

It's raining, it's pouring...

2005-07-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

If the rain is any indication, the old man must REALLY be snoring!! I guess before we got here, it had pretty much rained the entire month of June. But we'd been lucky, we've had a good number of sunny days. But when it's rained, it's really RAINED. Last night - or early this morning - the cats started going crazy. Through my eyelids, I could see it lightening. When I looked out the window through groggy eyes, I could see the storm moving in. Clouds here move faster than back home, I'm sure of it. Probably because we're on island and there's nothing blocking the systems? Then the rain started. I got up at 6am and could it hear downpouring outside. When I got outside, it was still going and went all the way until I got the office. My jeans weren't too try when I got to my desk. But like the tropics, it cleared by lunch and now, it's raining again. The forecast says its supposed to rain on and off through the weekend and get sunny again on Monday. Great. I guess that's one thing that's the same between the States and Hong Kong -- the good weather always comes on a workday.

At least it's a bit cooler when it's raining.

Getting caught up

2005-07-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, who knew it would be so hard to blog without Internet access at home? I'm been doing some offline note taking so have some rants and raves about our trip over and first day in our new home. It's too long but guess there was a lot to say and not enough time to cut thoughts out. Call it a stream of consiousness. They'll never be this long again. Promise. So this get us through our first day and we've been here over a week. Will get more caught up this weekend.

Leaving
Skip this and move to the next sub-head if you’re here to read about Hong Kong. This entry is just my way of venting. Our exit from Portland was rushed and filled with mishaps. There’s no one to blame. Just a series of unfortunate events that I want to get out of my system once and for all. First, I was called to Seattle at the last minute for work and had to push out last minute get-togethers with friends and family as well as our actual departure. I actually have to miss seeing Tyler and Cedar one last time. Worse, I had to leave Chris on his own with the movers on Thursday. And the mishaps begin.

My meetings in Seattle on Friday go long and I miss my 2:30 flight. And the next available flight isn’t until 7pm. Usually I’d just deal but Chris and I were planning to have dinner with my mom, step-dad and brother at 5pm and I was NOT going to miss it. Because I would miss them so much in Hong Kong. So I was ready to drive back to Portland if that’s what it took. But thanks to Alaska Airlines and my last year as an MVP Gold, I got on the 3:30 flight. Made dinner with Mom at 5:00 – hurrah!!

Then to Hertz to swap out the rental car for our drive to SFO. Long story. The short of it is that it would be cheaper this way. Turned in our Toyota Highlander (free upgrade) for some sort of mid-sized sedan. Fine. But driving away, I notice the gas pedal is loose and wiggling around under my foot. And the passenger side headrest is loose. And when we get to the restaurant where we’re meeting some of our very best friends for the last time, I notice – someone had spilled something sticky all down the passenger side window and door and it hadn’t been cleaned up. Nasty. So after drinks with Lisa, Jeff, Becky and Scott, I return to the airport and swap out the car. Leaving the airport again, I find they’ve closed the on-ramp to the freeway and are redirecting traffic back toward the airport!! What the hell? We get visitors coming into Portland and we say, sorry, too bad, you can’t get downtown? Go back to the airport and back to where you came from!? So after sitting in a traffic jam for an hour, I take the looooooong way back. Up to Vancouver, Washington, head west and back down I-5 from there. I get home at 11:30. Just in time to pack up our stuff, take a shower and retreat into sleep from my horrible headache. And then we get to get up and leave by 6am so we can make breakfast with my dad in Eugene at 8am.

Breakfast with Dad is great. IHOP is just classic. Then we hit the road. A 10-hour drive to San Francisco. The mishaps are behind us! The cats do fabulously on the drive. No problems. Happy has can be. Chris and I switch off driving. The weather is great. We drive through the beautiful mountains and forests of southern Oregon. When we get to San Francisco, we stay with Scott, Dee and Cooper for a night. We’re so happy to get to see them before we go. They’re great hosts.

Sunday is the day we fly out. We take the cats to United Cargo to check them in. We all the necessary paperwork and the cats are ready to go. We leave them with the attendant and I can’t say a word. When we get outside I burst into tears. How do we know they’ll be alright? What if something happens to them? Will they hate us? Our pets don’t have a choice. We are their guardians and its our responsibility to take care of them. It’s killing me to leave them with some unknown baggage handlers and not knowing what their experience will be like.

Sixteen hours later, we land in Hong Kong.

Went through customs, collected our baggage and took a taxi to our new flat. And then we waited for Ziggy and Wolfie to get there. We paid a service to help get them through customs and deliver them to us. We waited a couple of hours. Still no kitties. After a phone call, I learn they’re ok. Then around 10:30, I hear the elevator bell and open the front door. There they are!! We open the kennel doors and they stroll right out. No problem. It looks like I’m more traumatized by the whole experience than they are.

And so here we are. One family – whole again with the kitties – in a new country, on the other side of the world. And so the adventures begin.

Our first day
It took us a while to settle down our first night. We were exhausted but wired knowing we’d be living here for the next two years. The cats seem to feel the same way. But eventually, we all fell asleep for the first time in our new flat. The next morning, we gave ourselves some time to sleep and eventually got up and out the door at about 9am. The mornings are bright in the Hong Kong summer so there’s no hiding from daytime. When we head out onto the street, it’s not as busy as I thought it might be. Perhaps everyone’s at work already. We decide to turn right in search of breakfast. As we walk, we find a laundry service, a grocery store, a drug store, and a 7-11 (sadly, they don’t offer slurpees here). Then we come across this little whole-in-the-wall joint – perhaps the Chinese version of a diner – and we walk in. There are signs and menus all in Chinese. I can’t read a word so I ask the woman what they have. Okie dokie, she speaks too fast for me. So I plod along and eventually get us ordered. I think I ordered eggs with some kind of pork. Clearly need to work on my Cantonese vocabulary.

Yes indeed, eggs and pork do come. Two fried eggs, a thin pork chop and white bread (not toast) with butter and the crusts cut off are placed in front of us. We’re starving and it tastes magnificent.

After breakfast, we do a little shopping before we meet with the agent who will help us get set up with things like bank accounts, cell phones, etc. We find a drug store and get necessities like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, floss, etc. Gosh, it’s not cheap here! Next stop is the little grocery store. Wow, they are little here. And by little, I mean tiny. If you’re a large person, you’d have a hard time getting through the aisles. I felt like a large person in the aisles.

Now loaded up with bags of supplies, we head back to the apartment, or er, flat, as they say here. It’s all starting to come together for us now. The kitchen is teeny tiny, the fridge is teeny tiny, storage space is teeny tiny. But since you can only really take home what you can carry, I guess you don’t need that much space. Chris and I sweating like crazy by the time we reach our flat with our full bags.

Then our agent, Wendy, comes. She picks us up and we’re going to the bank to open an account; to a lawyer’s office to sign our lease – again; to look at various options for cell phones. But I tell you, it’s like the blind leading the blind. She had no idea we’d need proof of residence before we could open a bank account. And we couldn’t get that for several days due to process unique to Hong Kong. She had no idea we’d need proof of address to open a cell phone account. And she had no advice as to which cell phone carrier we should choose. Really, she ended up being a transportation agent more than a destination agent. But she DID help us find a vet and pet supply store, which was helpful.

The rest of the day was spent exploring, eating, some unpacking and finally sleeping. I think we hit the hay at 9pm. I had to go to work the next day.

Getting to work
I’ve never taken a bus by myself. Sure, every once in a while before I got my driver’s license I’d jump on a bus with friends or my boyfriend to go somewhere without the parents. But I always just followed where they led. And I soon as I got my driver’s license, that all went out the window. I was handed a shiny new (to me) white 1977 Oldsmobile with a red velvet interior and red vinyl top. It’s what Chris would call ‘pimpin.’ Or maybe not so much. But it held lots of people and got us around.

Since then, I’ve had 8 different cars. I tend to switch them out every couple of years. And I’ve never even once ridden a bus in Portland. I’ve taken the Max a few times but usually with Chris. So when I walked out of our building and went to the street to find a bus, I was really quite nervous. Then, to top things off, I look up and see that this particular bus stop is not in service at the moment.

Ok, deep breath. Who needs a bus when there are mini-busses? Mini-busses are a cross-breed between a full-version city bus and a taxi. They run along a pre-set route but you can flag them down to be picked up or asked to be dropped off anywhere along that route. Quite convenient actually, except you have to know their route.

So I watch a few of these mini-busses go by. Thankfully, I see the little red signs on them with the white octopus-like symbol that indicate the MTR (standing for mass transit rail). So the mini-busses with those signs will go by an MTR station. Great, I’ll take one of those. Here comes one! My hand is up but it continues to go by me. Ok… full. Next one. Also full. Hmmm. Then another lady walks up and stands down the street from me a ways. She flags the next one down and gets on! I try to jump on and he says it’s full now. Grrrrr. I’m starting to think there’s some conspiracy between all the bus drivers not to pick up the Chinese-looking foreign girl on Bonham Road when finally, a mini-bus stops for me. And I get the very last seat on it.

I ask if this will take me to the MTR and the driver gives me the affirmative. I sit with trepidation, wondering how I’ll know when the MTR is in order to ask him to let me off. Saved by my fellow passengers! As we get nearer to the main road, two other people ask for the Admiralty MRT stop. So I get off with them and the rest of the commute is a snap. I make my way onto a very full train and take it several stops to North Point where I get off. The office building is about 2 blocks from the MTR station. Today, it takes me about an hour to make the commute but as I get used to this system and find more convenient routes, I’m sure I’ll be able to cut it in half.

But once adventure is enough for the day. I have Chris come to the office at 3pm to get me so we can make our way to some appointments together. I’ll find my way home another day.

Quick phone favor

2005-06-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

We've gotten a few calls now from loving people in the states on my cell phone. It comes in as 'unknown' so we tend to answer it. But you see, it's hugely expensive at about $3.00 a minute so please do me a huge favor and don't call our cell phones. We'll be sure to let everyone know when our home phone is up and running and we can make & take calls for free. Chris has my cell phone while I'm at a training offsite so we can get a hold of each other as needed and he didn't think about the international long distance and roaming charges so he talked for about 20 mintues tonight. That's gonna cost us a pretty penny. So please know that we want to talk to all of you back home but it's just gonna be another week before we can. In the meantime, we can both access email so hopefully we can keep in touch that way for the time being.

Miss you all!!

Safe and sound

2005-06-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

The whole family - Chris, the kitties and myself - made it to Hong Kong yesterday night. We currently don't have Internet access in our apartment as it is being installed next week so don't look for too much from us until then. But wanted to send a quick note on this shared computer to let everyone know we made it and its been great so far. Toodles.

Countdown

2005-06-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

We only have 9 days left in Portland. 9 days!! We've sold our car, our house, some furniture. We've given a bunch of stuff away. And we've taken some things I don't trust to ship or store to my moms (like our wedding album). What's left to do?

Friday - Tuesday
Pack up my cube. Wow, do I have a lot of stuff to pack up here. Yesterday was my 6-year anniversary with my company and in those 6 years, I've accumulated a LOT.

Buy, buy, buy. Need to pick up some last minute things to bring to Hong Kong. These are the essentials I'm not sure I can get in Hong Kong (or will at least need to hold me over until I can figure out where to get them). Things such as Swiffer Dry Cloths. It's not just because my brother-in-law used to work at P&G. Swiffer Dry is a miracle.

Inventory and Organize. For the movers, we have to go through and inventory everything we have. And I mean everything. Then we'll need to designate what goes to storage and what goes to Hong Kong. Have you ever tried to inventory everything you own? And then try to prioritize what you can live without for two years? Goodbye my ice cream maker; Goodbye my Kitchenaid standing mixer; Goodbye my wafflemaker. I'm you to miss you all.

Ready the cats. Last visit to the vet for health inspection and all necessary documentation for the Hong Kong Agriculture and Fisheries Department. Book their plane tickets to Hong Kong and ensure we have everything we need to ensure their trip is safe and as comfortable as possible.

Redirect mail. Change of address on all possible mail. Redirect any needed mail to my mothers. Change of address form at USPS.

Pack. Pack the things we'll take with us immediately to Hong Kong. Our shipment will follow in the next few weeks so we'll need to take what we can on the plane. Clothes, cats, cat food, sheets, toiletries are the things that come to mind first. What else will we NEED right when we get there?

And everything else I haven't thought of...

Wednesday - Thursday
Supervise movers. We must be present when they pack up our stuff. I guess they don't want assume responsibility for ensuring the right things go to the right place. All things shipped to HK will go first. Then all things going into to storage. God, I wish we could get our things sooner in Hong Kong!

Travel shots. We need shots for Hong Kong and shots for Thailand, for a vacation we've long had planned. It hate needles. Ouchie.

Friday - Monday
Goodbye Portland. Finish any last minute things and drive down to SFO. With the cats and United's pet policy, it's easiest all around to drive down to SFO and check the cats in from there. At least they'll get used to being somewhere foreign with us around. Their travel makes me the most nervous of all the preparations. After that is probably our shipping.

Goodbye USA. We fly out Sunday morning, the 26th.

Hello Hong Kong. Magically, a full day later, we land in Hong Kong Monday, June 27th at 6:00pm.

Eeeks! Countdown begins. T - Minus 9.

Making Rounds

2005-06-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been remiss in catching up here because we've been catching here - that is in the real, non-virtual world of big extended families. It's been quite surreal really. Not quite like we're moving to the other side of the globe. But still quite like it.

Friday night we gathered at Chris' mom's house for a small dinner with four parents, two siblings, a sibling-in-law, and a couple of dear, dear family friends. It was the perfect size for quality time. Of course, Mom Kilpatrick had care packages ready for us of umbrellas to keep us dry in Hong Kong typhoons, travel scrabble, those cool FOM pillows, See's chocolate, and a wrap to keep me warm on the plane. She's the best. Couldn't ask for a more thoughtful mother-in-law.

Saturday, my dad came up and we had an early Father's Day lunch for him. He hadn't seen the house for a while and so it was a good opportunity for him to see all the work we've done before it's no longer ours. We took him, my step-mom and brother to a good, iconic Northwest meal at Wildwood. I'll never get over how amazing those mussels are there.

Saturday afternoon, we went to a BBQ at Travis' house to say goodbye to "the guys." It was great to see all of them one last time. Fitting that everyone was well on their way to getting smashed when we left for the Old Market Pub to catch a few minutes of the Beavers baseball game with Lisa and Jeff. I guess that's exactly how we should remember them.

Then Sunday, we drove up to Yelm, Washington with my step-dad and brother for my cousin's graduation party. Yelm? you ask? Yelm is a town of about 3,000 just south of Olympia. My aunt has a home on Lake Lawrance that was built by Grandpa Hinton. The house has aged a bit but the property is a beautiful as I remember it. I used to spend summers there with my cousins. It was fabulous to see that side of the family before we go. We met my newest 2nd cousin, Kennedy. She's just about 6 months old and cute as a button. BBQ'd oysters, swings (gosh, I forgot how fun it is to swing on a swing!), a jam session and a performance by Grandma German and Uncle Bob rounded out the party.

No p*rn; no meat

2005-06-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've been going through some of the extensive papers related to our move to Hong Kong. Looks like we won't be able to bring any p*rn or uncooked meat/poultry into the country. Bummer. And we were getting ready to pack up our extensive collection of both.

I wonder what the restrictions are for other countries.

Pending

2005-06-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Our realtor just called. And I'm in a state of shock.

"Stephenie, it's Lee."

"Hi Lee"

"It's signed, sealed and delivered," she says.

I know exactly what she means. They accepted our offer.

And we go pending tomorrow!

Ok, backing up. Our house - our first home - went on the market on 10:30 am Tuesday. Yes, that would be yesterday. At 7:30 pm yesterday - yes, that would be 9 hours later - Lee was reading us the first offer on the house. We weren't going to review offers until Friday. But it was a good one. A really good one. Good enough to change our minds. Today at 4:00pm, we countered with some changes to the terms. And now, they've signed on it. We're all committed.

So tomorrow, one day after our cute little house went up for sale, it goes sale pending. I'm ecstatic. I'm sad. I'm relieved. I'm scared. And based on what I know about the buyer, I'm glad it's going to him. he's a chef and is in love with the kitchen. That kitchen was our pride and joy. I'm so happy it will be well-loved.

Barring any disasters, we'll be closed on June 9th. Fingers crossed everyone!

It's not my party but I'll cry if I want to

2005-06-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday, a group of great friends gathered at the Emmetts for food, drinks and a fun time. Becky, Lisa and Tyler had gotten together to organize a going-away party for Chris and me. But up to and during the party I refused to think of it as a party for us. Better to just think of it as another get-together with friends. I hate saying good-bye to great people. So we really didn't. It was more of a we'll see you at Christmas!

So big thanks to Becky, Lisa and Tyler for pulling this together. You guys are the sweetest. Unlike our wedding, this was one event where we got to spend some good time talking to everyone. However, like our wedding, there were still some tears.

Joy of music

2005-06-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

Friday night we went to Joy's performance at the Bitter End. Now I'm no connoisseur of music like Chris but I know what I like when I hear it. And I like Joy. This was the third time I've seen her play (the other two being at the Rose Festival and camping - campfire singalongs are the best). I could give you a clever literary masterpiece describing Joy's music. "She's so-and-so meets so-and-so with a twist of such-and-such." But I'm no literary master and really, have no idea who the so-and-so would be. Heck, Chris was shocked I knew who Def Leopard was. So I'll just tell you about Joy: In a word, she's genuine. She's the most genuine person I've met. And I think it really comes out in her music.

So please, check out the Joy Wilson Band. You can listen to sample songs on her website. See if you like her yourself - or more accurately, see if you like her music (I don't believe anyone wouldn't like her if they met her). If you do like the music, support the local artist. She's got CDs for sale on her website but even cooler than that, she's on iTunes! You - the iTunes addict out there - spare a dollar or two for a great song in return??

For those of you in Portland, she'll be doing a performance sans band at Old Town Pizza on June 23rd. Go and get intimate with Joy and hear the stories behind her songs.

Beverly Beach 2005

2005-06-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

Lisa and Jeff organized a great camping trip to Beverly Beach this Memorial Day weekend. Although we had a good group of "regulars," we also had a few new folks join which was great fun. New set of pets this year as well. This was the first year that Lisa and Jeff have had Kona, their sweet and well-behaved boxer. And now I'm convinced that Chris and I have officially turned into "crazy cat people" because we brought Wolfie and Ziggy. Yes. We took the cats camping.

Now loyal readers might be wondering what toilets our toilet-trained kitties could have used but the beauty of our little ones is that they can go from toilet to toilet, toilet to litter box and litter box back to toilet with no problem. And our new tent even has a special "foyer" for the kitty litter box. The cats did incredibly well. One even went for a walk on a leash. Take a peek at the photo album.

And what better all-around recap than a Beverly Beach 2005 Top 10 (courtesy of Joy)...

10. Joy's "not dogs" and "fakin' bacon"
9. Stephanie's banana boats
8. Thomas' big log fixation (did I just type that?)
7. Lisa's Neil Diamond lip-sync performance
6. Hugh's river-crossing obstacle course assistance service
5. Lazy Jeanne's mere 100 mile ride
4. Janine's missing tent poles
3. Chris exposing his light-saber
2. Matter's cooking utensil (AX- it's not just for trees anymore)
1. Wolfy & Ziggy the traveling petting zoo

What not to say in China

2005-05-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've been following a blog by an expat working in my same field in China and was today pointed to a most funny post by another blogger by the name of Angry Chinese Blogger. You want to read him by his name alone, no?

Angry Chinese Blogger warns us that:
As any veteran foreigner in China knows, one of the latent talents possessed
by many Chinese people, is to ask irritating questions that every previous
Chinese person, that said foreigner has encountered for the past 6 months, has
already asked before.
He then offers guidance on how to answer the most popular of said questions (over and over and over again) correctly without:
A) Making yourself sound interested enough to get dragged into an
endless conversation on how everything worthwhile in the world originated from
China
B) Offending 1.3 billion people who might decide to throw rocks at
you.
C) Getting yourself locked up by the PSB

Sample question #1: Have you seen the Great Wall?
-- We have one too, but it's bigger
-- Yes, so much so that I hacked a chunk off to take home as a souvenir
-- Didn't the Mongols build it to keep the Chinese in?
-- I saw the one in Berlin, did you build that one too?
-- Correct answer: Yes, it was big

Sample question #2: Do you like China?
-- Yes, but I preferred Taiwan
-- I like "Chinatown"
-- Yes, but I preferred it when the Brits/Japanese/Nationalists were running the joint
-- Do you mean the ROC or the PRC?
-- No, the communists ruined it
-- ANY honest answer that starts with 'No' or includes 'but...'
-- Correct answer: Yes, it's very big and has a wall/Yes, me very like like China.

After reading these though, I wonder how unique this is to China. What irritating questions do we Americans ask foreigners over and over and over again? I'm hosting a colleague from Hong Kong in Seattle and Portland in the coming weeks and will have to pay attention to what questions she gets.

Meet Angry Chinese Blogger here.

He sees everyone's skeletons

2005-05-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I met the man who'll be responsible for all of our worldly belongings (essentially, lots of stuff) during this move process. He came to our house to assess our storage and shipping needs.

During the tour of our stuff, I allowed him entry into our storage room. This is where we banish neglected golf clubs, skis and snowboards; clothes that I'll never fit into ever again but can't seem to let go of; old cans of paint, brushes and rollers; power tools, hand tools; plastic storage bins of goods cherished by the season and ignored the other nine months of the year. I was kind of embarrassed at how much stuff we've accumulated.

He must have caught on because he told me about some of the homes he's assessed. Talk about stuff. He's seen stuff crammed into closets, jammed under beds, piled and piled on the floor. And then I realized. This man sees behind that door everyone closes before company comes. He's met that woman with 1087 ceramic figurines and the old man who's collected the NYT since he turned 13. And now he's met a cat who uses the toilet.

As we're standing downstairs talking, we hear a tinkling sound coming from the open bathroom door we're standing in front of. The sound is unmistakable. He looks at me and I say "Don't worry. It's just my cat. He uses the toilet."

I wonder if he thought, "Now I've seen it all."

<<ziggy potty.jpg>>

Speckled

2005-05-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here tired and speckled with paint after having just finished four hours of painting. Not fun, cool, creative painting like Becky just did but painting trim and touching up walls. Blech. Up the ladder, down the ladder, stretch forward, reach backwards. I'm really too short to be a good painter. Becky told me she was sore after painting this weekend... I'm hoping to avoid that. It's enough that I'm tired after just 4 hours of work. What a wimp I am.

And of course the night wouldn't be complete without something happening... as I was painting the little shelves separating our entry way from the living room, Wolfie decides he wants to help - from the top of one of them. He knew as soon as he landed that he shouldn't have been there. As you've probably guessed, he jumped off and left little white kitty prints across the hardwood floor. Luckily he started trying to shake the paint off his paws, which slowed him down and allowed me to catch him. He was not a happy camper when I washed him off. Then I locked both cats in the bathroom while I ran out, cleaned up the kitty paws and finished the painting.

My reward? Season finale of The Bachelor. Nothing like good trash TV to end a night like this one.

Yayyy, we're in debt!

2005-05-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

Chris called me Friday morning at the office. It must have been urgent. He had called my cell phone three times but I had been away from my desk. When he got me, he sounded grim. "Steph, we're going to have to figure something out. We're $20,000 in debt." WHAT?

I hate debt... it stresses me out. I learned about credit the wrong way while in college and ever since, I've been felt a weight from debt. Even my school loans are killing me. So when Chris said this, I first felt a pang of panic but then logic kicked in and I realized that there's no way we'd have some sort of suprise debt. I'd just gone through our finances getting ready for this move to Hong Kong. So I thought it was some weird prank. "No, you're lying," I said.

Chris was insistent. Finally he said, "No, really, we're going to have to get a loan... I got into school..."
He got into school!! Not just any school but to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's award-winning MBA program. This will so dramatically change Chris' experience in Hong Kong. He'll be meeting some seriously smart people from around the world. He'll have an opportunity to take an internship with some fantastic companies around Hong Kong. He'll get to do a semester at one of the HKUST affiliate schools such as Columbia, Cornell, the London School of Business. And he'll get to spend a ton of time on a campus set in such a beautful setting, it takes my breath away.

I'm almost jealous. But I'm not a fan of school. And more than anything, I feel relieved. He's already put so much on hold (professionally) in a year-long anticipation my assignment in Hong Kong and we were both feeling a good deal of trepidation over the recently changed law there that disallows spouses to work with a Spousal Visa. So I'm relieved that he won't be held back even further because of our move to Hong Kong.

A big congratulations to Chris!!

Vonage

2005-05-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

After hearing much hype, we finally signed up for Vonage. What is it you ask? It's a VoIP (or Voice over Internet Protocol) service that allows us to make phone calls over the Internet. Which means free long distance anywhere in the US and Canada. A lot of good it will do you now that you're moving far far away!, you exclaim. Ah, but you see, we can take it, and our phone number, with us to Hong Kong.

You see, that's the genius of it. We transferred our home telephone number to Vonage and our Vonage service is transportable. We plug out phone into the little adapter they sent us, plug the adapter it into the internet cable outlet in Hong Kong and voila! You pick up the phone and call our home number in Portland, and you get us in Hong Kong (how coherent we are depends on what time you call). No long distance charges.

Since the service essentially turns your voice into data, sends it over the Internet, and then turns it into voice on the other end, the reception isn't 100%. Sometimes if we have a slow connection speed over our cable internet service for whatever reason, we sound like we're talking underwater. But from what we've been told by other expats in Hong Kong, 80% of the time it's crystal clear And since it's free* for our friends and family to call us from Portland and free* for us to call anyone in the US, we'll take it!

Other benefits of Vonage:
--> Voicemail Plus (we can check voicemails online. We could also have our voicemail sent to us via email if we want to; and we don't)
--> Caller ID (if we don't want to talk to you)
--> Call Waiting (if we want to talk to someone more than we want to talk to you)
--> 3-Way Calling (if we want to talk to both of you)
--> Call Transfer (if we want you to talk to Mom instead)
--> Call Return ("no extra charge for 69" - yes, it actually says that on their website)

So reach out and touch us. (Yes, Lisa, you may still drunk dial us anytime) We're only a phone call away. And if you're thinking of getting Vonage because of our little advertisement for them, please tell us first... we get a months free service if we refer you before you sign up.

* All for $24.99 per month. Long distance to Hong Kong (which, when we're in Hong Kong, will technically be a local call) is only 3 cents per minute.

"Blog Jumping"

2005-05-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

I had officially claimed to have coined a new term: Space Jumping.

It comes from our use of MSN Spaces and means to hop from Space to another to another through links the Space owner adds or within visitor comments.

I'm sure most everyone has done it. You look on a co-worker A's Space and he includes co-worker B's space on his blogroll so you jump to co-worker B's Space. On co-worker B's Space, you see co-worker C has commented and the link to her Space is listed and so you jump to her Space. Before you know it, you'll be visiting your Argentinean's co-worker's sister-in-law's secretary Space only to find that you met her in Maui last year*. Truly making the game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon pervasive to all.

I'll went ahead and said I'd coin the term Blog Jumping too, to genericize** it. But low and behold, a colleague of mine suggested Blog Hop and I come to find out, that's already a term. Darn it all. I thought I was so clever too.

* I never met anyone's secretary in Maui but it illustrated my point didn't it?
** Yes, I made up the word "genericize" too. But you got that I meant it to mean"to make it generic" right?

2nd floor please

2005-05-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

I work in a 5-story building. My company occupies the entire 3rd,, 4th and 5th floor. So I am 80% sure that when I step into the elevator with an unfamiliar face, I'm taking a detour on my way to the office. And the unplanned stop is the 2nd floor.

Really. What prevents a perfectly heathly human being from walking up a short flight of stairs to the next floor? I'm not talking one of those scary, cement, fire-safe staircases with fluorescent lighting. I'm talking about a nice open stairway from the building lobby to the lobby of the second floor - without even a single door standing in your way.

Have we gotten so lazy that we would rather stand and wait for the elevator so we can eliminate the extra, what?, 30 steps it might take to go the route of the stairs? Come on people! You can do it. Take the stairs. You won't die. You won't even faint. Promise.

Disclaimer: I take the elevator between the 3rd and 4th floors. But ony because the stairs in between are the internal, cement ones and they scare me. I do walk the open stairs between the 4th and 5th floors.

SOLD

2005-05-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

We finally sold Dixie. Dixie is our black 2003 Eddie Bauer Edition, V8 Ford Explorer. We've had to continue to drop the price in the past few months. Likely a reflection of rising gas prices. This last weekend, though, we got a couple of calls from our Oregonian ad. In the end, I feel better that she's going to someone I work with. She'll be well taken care of I'm sure.

We won't turn her over until Saturday at the earliest but I'm already missing her. She's been my second favorite car, just being nudged out by my shiny red convertible Eclipse - but could she compete with a red convertible? We can't take her to Hong Kong; she doesn't speak the language and wouldn't fit in the narrow streets. She would do better staying here in Portland where she knows the weather and the roads.

What are my transportation options when Dixie moves in with her new family?

A black 1998 Jeep Wrangler; jacked up with special shocks, the bouncing could cause Shaken Stephy Syndrome. Maybe the weather will clear a bit and I can take the top down some.
A silver 1995 Geo Metro, otherwise known to me as The Tin Can. Chris calls it The Wolf and his dad (who actually owns the car) calls it his Airport Commuter (because he leaves it at the airport to use when he flies into town). I sit so low in it I am convinced the other cars around me are conspiring to play Kick the Tin Can. One slip of the wheel and we've got Squishen Stephy Syndrome.

Or I could always rent a car from Hertz for a month for only $1144.00 plus tax. Likely not eh? Wish Portland's public transportation system was better.

Sad you lost out on Dixie? Never fear! Lola, The Emmett's silver 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, is on the market for just $18K.

Office (guinea) pigs

2005-05-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried my hand at making Tiramisu for Mother's Day. It's a dessert my mom and I both look forward to during brunch at the Heathman. The flavors and textures so indulgent yet light and delicate. Which is funny since the entire dish is made up of whipped fat.

After Mother's Day dinner, however, everyone was just too full for dessert. Which was just as well because when I got home and tried it, I was dissapointed. My tiramisu wasn't as light and fluffy as the Heathmans. It wasn't dense but it was almost the texture of pudding. I think I overbeat the marscapone mixture. Still next time I think I'll fold the marscapone mixture in with some whipped cream, which will help lighten it up a bit.

Since the end result wasn't what I was looking for, I brought it in to the office. If you leave any food around here, it's gone in no time. We're all scavengers; we're not too discriminating - especially if its free. Me, personally, I'm a sucker for leftover pizza. So after lunch time, when the sweet tooths start coming out of the woodwork, I left the entire Tiramisu in the kitchen. The next time I went in, all but a corner of the baking dish was gone. Success!

I'm glad I had this dry run. I think the next one I make will be just right.

Moms to the 4th degree

2005-05-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Between Chris and I, we have four moms and four dads. Being raised as an only child (until my parents each remarried and my much younger brothers were born), I love love love being a part of a big family. But it certainly can make holidays a bit crazy. But those that know me, know that I thrive on the craziness of it all.

So Mothers Day is just one of the holidays were we trying to fit it all in. Only two moms live in town, which does make things easier. For Chris' step-mom, Ezma and mine, Mimi, we sent cards wishing them good things on their day.

For Nu and Paula, we have gotten better at personalizing their gifts. Nu, you see, is a fabulous cook. She out-cooks most cooks and so, I don't cook for her often. Not that she wouldn't appreciate it but there are probably things she'd appreciate more. Such as being treated to a really nice seafood dinner (saved from a messy kitchen) and given a gift that she wouldn't buy herself. Paula, on the other hand, has the ability to buy pretty much anything she wants (especially anything within our price range) and often does. So instead of trying to scout out a gift that she might like, doesn't already have and we can afford, we give her the gift of time and "services."

So Sunday morning, we made Paula and Don a big breakfast. Chris made french press coffee and I served a few cheese puffs to hold everyone over. Then we served an open-faced mushroom and orange pepper omelet; a frittata with oyster mushrooms, asparagus, smoked salmon, spring onions and cheddar and gruyere cheese; a fruit salad of strawberries, raspberries, mango, orange, apple with a honey mint dressing. After breakfast, we spent the day chatting and Chris helped her with pictures on the computer and the theatre system. And knowing coconut cake is a favorite in their house, I found a recipe from Martha Stewart and attempted it the night before. Despite a few things I had to wing, it turned out quite good, although a bit sweet for me. Who needs a candy thermometer anyway? ;)

Sunday evening, my stepdad treated my mom, brother, Chris and I to dinner. Mom loves seafood so we decided on Southpark. For Mom's gift, I thought some gardening shoes would be nice because she spends so much time working in the yard. She always wears her tennis shoes as if they were clogs, smashing down the back to slip them on. So we got her some garden clogs from Smith and Hawkin. I also got her a pair of the same cute rainboots I have to wear when things are wet (and to David's soccer games on rainy days) but the sales girl was an idiot (left shoe size 6 and right shoe size 7??). We'll take that gift to her after I get the right size at the store.

As for the dinner itself:

Three of us had the paella, yummy shellfish and Chorizo goodness (except the rice in mom's was a bit undercooked)
David had the steak (Chris got him on this high-protein kick)
I had the Arctic Char, served with roasted asparagus wrapped in serrano ham. (The fish was great but the ham was really too salty and overpowering for the delicate dish I think.)

And here's us at dinner:

Pedi-Pals

2005-05-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday was our second monthly girls get-together. Last month it was bagels and pedicures; this time it was hot dogs, frozen custard and pedicures. Lots of girl talk about the men-folk, lots of gossip (Tom and Kate? Ewwww) and more than anything else, the ins and outs of being pregnant or trying to get pregnant. Everyone is a mom or mom-to-be. Well, except for Lisa and I, unless you count Kona, Shadow, Scooter, Wolfie and Ziggy as our "children." Wow are we getting an education! It's like we got to join an exclusive club a bit early. There's special prego lingo, special prego math... I'm still waiting for the secret handshake. This is waaaay better than sex ed was back in high school!

And here we are soakin' our feetsies:

Meet (Bull) Dozer

2005-05-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

I met Tyler up on Friday night at Manzana. We figured we'd drink in the
bar and point and laugh as our significant others' worked. Then after,
we would all hang out. Afterwards, we went to Nicole's house to let
Dozer out. Dozer is her 4-year old English bull dog, who she adopted
from some old woman who was moving away. What an appropriate name.
That dog is, almost literally, a bulldozer. If he comes running towards
you at full speed, move out of the way.

PS. We went to the new McCormick and Schmick's Grill in Tualatin's new
Bridgeport Village for happy hour Friday night. A couple of things of
note. Late night happy hour in the 'burbs starts at 9am. It was pretty
good: mussels, hummus, burger, quesadilla, and chicken satay. All for a
couple of bucks each. The regular menu, on the other hand, wasn't
impressive. I'd stick to the original M&S downtown.

05-05-05

2005-05-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

It's a magical day today. Not only is today's date a once-in-a-century occurence, it's also Cinco de Mayo. And it's a day of free stuff.

Becky and I went to Moe's for lunch today and discovered when we got to the cashier that burritos were free for the day because of Cinco de Mayo. Score!

Then this afternoon, the new Starbucks opened in our office park and to promote the grand opening, they gave complimentary drinks and food. So Becky, Sarah and I went down and picked up some pastries and a tall coffee light frappucino. We picked Lisa up a grande nonfat vanilla latte because she badly needed a little pick-me-up.

Anyone else find free stuff today - Cinco de Mayo - 05/05/05?

The women's bathroom

2005-05-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

This falls under the category of too much information (and as such I've created a new category on this blog) but feel I have to get this off my chest. Click here now if there's a chance you might be offended.

I took a quick break after two hours of straight reading on the computer started to give me that dizzying vertigo feeling.

Coming back to my desk, I coulnd't help but wonder why every day, I'm shocked and, franky, grossed out, with the women's bathroom. It's often an assult on my eyes, nose and sense of well-being. And this is in a professional setting folks, not some gas station on the side of the road. I've been complaining to my husband about this for a long time now and he's laughed and said I should blog about it. I didn't feel that it was appropriate but today, when I saw someone (a WOMAN no less) hadn't even bothered to flushed after themselves, well, I couldn't take it anymore.

Who does that?

So please, you ladies out there, take some care to consider those around you.

Hardly a new trick

2005-05-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today's issue of Web Chatter (distributed internally at my company) featured a story about an Australian woman who has taught her cat to use the toilet, after being inspired by "Meet the Parents" Mr. Jinx. She's now developed the "The Litter-Kwitter." PU-LEEZE. She should be inspired by our very own Ziggy and Wolfie, who we taught to use the toilet before "Meet the Parents" came out.

I wonder if she'll do well selling her 3-part process and how much she'll sell it for. We simply bought a disposable roasting pan from the grocery store for a couple of bucks and cut our own little hole. But if she can make a buck on her system, more power to her.

Are you Republican?

2005-05-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

I took the test myself - here are the results. What about YOU?

I am:
52%
Republican.

"Congratulations, you're a swing voter. When they say 'Nascar Dad', they mean you. Every Republican ad on the TV set was made just for your viewing pleasure. Don't you feel special?"

Are You A Republican?

Little joys

2005-05-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

I was really looking forward to a low-key weekend and a low-key weekend we had. I even managed to keep my laptop firmly closed until now. Here's a quick recap of the little things that added up to a great weekend:

Shuffleboard: When plans to meet for a movie at Laurelhurst didn't quite work out, Cedar, Jen, Chris and I had dinner at a little italian place called La Buca around the corner. It was pretty good for what it was: simple italian fare. But not something I'd go out of my way for. I had the spag w/ italian sausage and a meatball (the meatball was WAY too salty); Chris has the alfredo, which he loved; Jen had the pesto pasta, which she enjoyed; and Cedar had the Puttanesca, which I think was the winner of the group. But the highlight was playing shuffleboard at the Black Cat tavern in Sellwood. It was fun but no doubt about it - I suck.

Lazy bum: Saturday, Chris and I had planned to visit his friend's restaurant for breakfast but instead, we ended up sleeping in. What a treat! And then, when Chris went outside to mow the lawn, I took a nap on the couch before we headed out to Home Depot. Another rare, guilty pleasure. I love Saturdays like this.

In the yard: We had great weather this weekend so Chris and I took advantage and spent a good deal of time out in the yard. My pots have become almost therapy for me. I started them in February when the weather was so warm but was able to finish them this weekend. Seeing the cheerful flowers gracing the front yard is such a mood booster for me. Geraniums are most definitely my favorite but I always sprinkle in some variety as well. Now I've just got to do the windowboxes - maybe next weekend. We also got the concrete forms in place for the deck. Hopefully next weekend the rains will hold off so we can start on the wood. Working in the yard this weekend, I had a sad moment thinking about leaving our home. We've worked so hard to make it ours. I'm still racking my brain to try to come up with some way for us to avoid selling it so we can come back to it after our two years in Hong Kong. We'll see. Chin up.

In the kitchen: It's been so long since I've made anything worthwhile. So when Chris went out Saturday night for a bachelor party, I spent the night in the kitchen. First, I made cheese puffs from Eleissa's recipe. An amazingly simple recipe resulting in an addictive snack. I froze most of them but we've been muching on the rest through the weekend. Then, with the oven already hot, I made an almond cake. This recipe was from a cooking class I took at Caprial's Kitchen. I love it because almond meal (ground up almonds) has been substituted for most of the flour, which makes it so much more nutritious. You'd think it would be heavy with all those nuts but it's wonderfully light. And I made some mascarpone cream to serve with it. Happy to share the recipe if anyone is interested. So so good.

Dim Sum: As I mentioned, we met my mom, stepdad and brother for dim sum at Wong's King Seafood this morning. Chris is lukewarm on dim sum but I was in heaven. It's always better with more people since you can order more dishes but I had my fill. Chris stuck with his steamed bbq pork buns and shrimp dumplings. Can't wait to sample all the various places in Hong Kong.

So that's the recap of our weekend. I'm sad to see it end. I could have used a couple more days.

Recharge

2005-05-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

We have very little on the schedule for this weekend and I couldn't be happier. Just some laundry, cleaning around the house, maybe a movie or a stop at the Old Market Pub for shuffleboard and dim sum with Mom and Wayne on Sunday. Kinda funny that we didn't have Dim Sum in Hong Kong but are having it our first weekend back in Portland.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to recharging a bit the next couple of days. I just realized that while Chris was rained out of work a couple of days after we returned home, I went right back to the office on Monday, then traveled to Vegas for court later in the week. I'm so happy to have so little on the docket this weekend. I think I just may leave my laptop firmly closed all Saturday long.

My day in court

2005-04-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

So I've told my side of the story here on this blog. But my story is just the tip of the iceberg. Gosh, where to even start...

September 2004
There were three other "out of town witnesses" with me yesterday. I'll call them the old gent from florida; tan guy also from florida; and woman from washington. Their stories started back in September. Interestinly enough, all three are Earthlink customers and all three involved online fraud. They began noticing strange things happening to their bank accounts. Money was being paid to strange companies and being transfered to other accounts. The tan guy had $4000 transfered from his account in a single day. Airline tickets were purchased in the accused name. New credit cards and online accounts were being opened. Just last week, tan guy got a new credit card in the mail: the name on it was a combination of his and the accused: Mr. Tan Guy Beaky. Their finances were a mess until Bank of America caught on and got them each squared away. None of them new their connection to Vicki Beaky until they got a call from the Las Vegas Police department like I did.

The accused
Vicky Beaky is a middled-aged white woman. She was led into the courtroom in her orange jailhouse uniform with hands and feet cuffed. Her hair was pulled up into two little buns that looked like horns on the top of her head. She chatted and laughed with the officer and her lawyer but had no expression when she looked at us.

Vicky was pulled over in a stolen car. She said the car wasn't hers and she didn't steal it. But she did say that the two black bags in the backseat were hers. And inside, the police found pages and pages of stolen identities. Back at her place, she had reams of personal information on over 80 people. Names, addresses, social security numbers, passwords, phone numbers. She even had the old gent's office phone number and he'd been retired for 10 years. She had the tan guy's two year old daughter's name and his mother's maiden name.

My guess is that she was part of an ID theft ring and meth racket, similar to the one they just busted here in Oregon. The problem is that the DA has to be able to prove that she's the one who actually took the car, took our credit card information, made the bank transactions, not just that she was in position of or benefited from those things.

As I said, my story was just the tip of the iceberg. And I was actually one of the lucky ones. My information was stolen from the Mandara Spa at the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas just two weeks before she was arrested. So she didn't have time to do as much damage as she did to the old gent, the tan guy and the woman from washington. I do have a fraud alert on my credit report just in case her cohorts try anything more.

The questioning
Only the testifying witness could be in the courtroom while the others waited outside. When I took the stand, I swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Then the DA started her questions: what was my name and where do I live; did i recognize the piece of paper with my credit card number, address, driver's license number, phone numbers on it; was it my handwriting; did I recognize the handwriting; did I recognize the defendent; did I give the defendent permission to have this information; were any fraudulent changes made to that account; did I know where the charges originated from...

Then the defense attorney started his questions:

Him: What were the charges for?

Me: Phone sex.

Him: And you heard a portion of the, um, conversation?

Me: Yes. They had me listen to a "voice imprint" to see if I could recognize any of the voices.

Him: And did you?

Me: No.

Him: Not to embarrass you (he doesn't know me, does he) but could you tell, ahem, who those voices belonged to... I mean was it, like, two women?

Me: No, it was a man and a woman.

Him: Could you, um, tell who initiated the...

Me: No, I really wasn't listening that closely to know how the call started... just heard a few particular words that told me what it was about...

(snickering in the courthouse - it was bring your kids to work day and there were some kids sitting in and listening to court cases that day)

Him: So you don't know if it was Vicky on the phone or not

Me: No (inside I wanted to tell him to call and listen for himself but then I was afraid he'd look like he actually want to)

I was afraid at that point he'd ask me if I could tell him what they were actually saying and even more horrifying was that I'd probably tell him.

The verdict
Unfortunately, there wasn't one. As it turns out, this was just a hearing to determine what Vicky could be tried for. With several out of state witnesses testifying, they could book her on more serious crimes. This will likely actually go to trial in another year, as slow as the wheels of justice turn, the DA said. And they'll probably ask us all back to testify before a jury. I wonder if they'll pay my way from Hong Kong.

The Fitzgerald

2005-04-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

Oh Fitzy. As I said before, I've never stayed off the strip. But the DA's office put me in a hotel just across the street from the Courthouse. I get the feeling that none of the off-strip hotels are what I'm used to from Vegas. But specifically on my experience at the Fitz for those of you thinking for a steal of a deal in Vegas ($59 a night courtesy of the LV justice system):

Getting out of the taxi: Hmm, so there are some blue-hairs in here...
Getting to the front desk: I think we've crossed into the customer service free zone...
Getting out of the elevator: At least it smells clean...
Getting into the shower: Ohhh, good water pressure! Temperature controls however...
Getting into bed: Big, hard and not so comfortable...

That's pretty much the snapshot of my 9 hour experience at the Fitz (not including my wonderful breakfast at the McDonalds downstairs. There's also a Krispi Kreme for those of you who would consider that a deciding factor).

Taxicab Lessons

2005-04-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

I've been in many many many taxis. Too many in fact. I've even been injured in one. Most times, I get in and zone out. A few times I've even fallen asleep. But sometimes, I notice things or talk to the driver. So I thought I'd share lessions from the taxis on my way to the Fitzgerald Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas (more lessons to come from the hotel itself):

Taxi to Portland airport:
The Toupe
The cab driver was sporting a dark black toupe. You know where I'm going with this I'm sure. I knew it was a toupe because I could see the line on the side of his head. The line where his own sparse, fuzzy hair ended and where the sleek, shiney toupe started. I beg of you, if you ever think you'd like your very own toupe, please take someone with you who won't hesitate to tell you that you look foolish. Only my humble opinion but I firmly believe that there are probably just two people in the entire world for whom a toupe actually works.

Taxi from Las Vegas airport:
The Wynn
My extremely informative Canadian-born taxi driver in Las Vegas told me that the highly anticipated Wynn Hotel and Casino was opening that night at midnight for the official ribbon-cutting VIP party and doors would open the following morning for everyone else. This new $2.7 billion resort is what Steve Wynn calls the only one that he's willing to sign his name on -- and in fact, his signature is signed on the outside of the massive building. I know you're all wondering if the VIP party was the real reason I was in Vegas that night. You would have been right but Wynn's people clearly knew that I had to be rested for court the next morning.

The Outlet
I love designer outlet malls. Just love them. Knowing that it's an outlet somehow lets me believe I'm saving enough to make me feel ok about spending more. Chris just loves this logic. This being my first time not staying on the strip, it was my also my only time driving along the expressway. Get the eye rolls ready: Along the way, I spy one of my favorite names in fashion, Elie.

Elie Tahari is currently my favorite splurge designer. And now she has an outlet in Vegas! I was so bummed to learn that the mall has been opened for about 6 months and we'd missed it when we were there for Lisa's birthday. Just one more thing to look forward to when we do return to the states I guess. Will someone please go so I can live vicariously through you? There's Elie, Coach, D&G among others. I'm sure you'd find something you'd like!

The advice
Upon hearing that I was staying downtown, Mr. Canadian-driver told me that I'd see lots of "blue-hairs" and that I'd stand out because there aren't many pretty young girls downtown. He also proceeded to tell me that he and I would probably have never talked if we'd met on the street but bam, I get into his cab and we're having a conversation. I'm getting pretty creeped out at this point and look to make sure that the locks and door handle are in tact (ever seen The Bone Collector?).

Maybe he senses this so he gives me advice on deals on meals downtown. $3.99 prime rib after mid-night ("just as good as any $30 prime rib"), $.99 breakfast of bacon, eggs and hashbrowns, $2.99 steak with baked potato. "Never eat on the strip" he says. I skipped the midnight prime rib and opted for a shower and the $2.19 Egg McMuffin as I wasn't feeling all too adventurous that next morning.

Two-Face

2005-04-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

I feel like Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever. Half my face hangs while the other tries to smile. Sad. More from my dentist appointment this afternoon:

I'm such a wimp (who's making that whimpering sound?)
Dr. Solberg said I have a small mouth (If I have a small mouth how the heck does Becky's dentist get anything done?)
While drilling out one filling, another fell out (undetected fracture)
Fillings are now an art (First he fills in the hole and then the uses the drill to make the surface look like a tooth - dental sculpture!)
They isolate the tooth being worked on with a dental dam (is it any wonder my giggling made it hard for them to get it on?)
I have tough nerves. They always have to give me the highest dose of novicane that won't stop my heart and I can still feel a bit of dull pain (my right ear is numb!)

Now off to the airport... I can fly on Vicodin right? (I'm really not in pain but I hate hate hate this numb feeling!)

Fill 'er up

2005-04-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm off to get a filling repaired. Apparently I started to pull it up off my tooth while flossing. Ok, maybe not really but I'd always catch my floss on the corner of it, which probably didn't help. So, Dr. Solberg is going to take the old one out and refill the hole.

Yuck. I hate the dentist. Well, I don't hate HIM but I hate being there and being subjected to all that he does. Send good thoughts my way. Wish I had one of the Vicadins left over from Chris' hernia surgery.

Tonight, I fly down to Vegas for the big trial. More on that later!

Tipping Point

2005-04-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

Of another kind.

Between the two of us, we have over ten years of experience waiting tables at restaurants. Even now, Chris works in a restaurant and bar. Add this with our love of eating out and we end up with lots of talk about tipping.

Knowing the abuses servers go through, we tend to be more generous than not. And we also know what servers can do to your food back in the kitchen if you piss them off. So I always go into a restaurant expecting to tip 20%. If I get absolutely blown away or if a server goes out of his or her way, I am more than happy to add more. Especially if they end up taking an item off the bill because of no fault of their own (i.e. the chef over-cooked the steak) - I still tip off of what the total should have been.

But ehad, I get annoyed by bad service (because providing good service is their job) so if that's what I end up getting, I start mentally subtracting from the said 20%. I hate slow service; I hate rude service; I hate it if the server doesn't give me an update on my food if it's slow coming out; I hate it when they bring out all courses at once; I especially hate when they forget a request I've made (another diet coke, please) and never apologize.

Full disclosure: I've been a shitty waitress. I've been bitchy, short tempered and self-righteous. But most of the time, I was a stellar customer service agent and sales-person. That's really what serving tables is all about. In fact, there were times I was so good, I got job offers, convinced multiple tables to let me write in my own tips on credit card slips (often at 50%), convinced a table to tip me 100% (on a $100 tab) and once had a customer offer to buy me a Harley Davidson bike (I told him I was waiting tables to save for one). True, I worked at a "party" restaurant and was a young girl. But, really, it wasn't so hard to make people happy and like you.

I never did spit in anyone's food but knew of people that did. I also knew of people who would put Visine in customer's soup (which is supposed to give you um, digestive problems later).
The one recommendation I would give all of you: TIP YOUR PIZZA DELIVERY GUY. If you screw your waiter, you may never see them again. If you screw your pizza delivery guy, HE KNOWS WHERE YOU LIVE.

Oh and in Hong Kong, they don't really tip*. A 10% service charge is often included in your bill at the bigger restaurants. Otherwise, you just leave the loose change.

*Except a few bucks for the bell boy who brings you bags up to your room.

I've been served

2005-04-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. I've been served. In that very official sense. When I got to the office this morning, I opened an envelope on my desk and found a green (yes, green like the ones you see on Law and Order - who knew?!) subpoena. It's a subpoena to appear as a witness in the State of Nevada vs. Vicki Lee Beaky case. It looks like she's been charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, meth trafficking, possession of a credit card without consent (that's where I come in), and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. I hope that ho gets put away for a very long time.

Those of you with great memories remember Vicki Beaky. Here is the last entry on this great saga for you new readers.

Fuzzy Eyed

2005-04-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

I thought that I'd be fully recovered today after our weekend in the Bay with the family. But turns out I was wrong. We were going too hard visiting with family to really take any time to recover. I wouldn't have given up that weekend for anything in the world but I'm paying for it now. I woke up at 2:30 last night and couldn't fall back asleep until I'm guessing around 4 am.

Funny what truly deep thoughts come to you during the tossing and turning: I realized that for me, anytime up until 2:30 am seems like the middle of the night while anything after 3:00 am seems like really early in the morning. Wonder if other people have different perspectives...

Happy 1st Birthday Cooper Gaines!

2005-04-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Cooper's very first birthday party. Scott and Dee had planned a big event at a neighborhood park and 80 of Cooper's (mostly adult) friends and family joined him. What fun! The weather held, the food was great and Cooper was the star of the show. Chris took over 100 pictures but here is a quick sample. Isn't he just the cutest?

Going home

2005-04-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Friday morning, we got up, packed up and headed out. While we would have loved to have stayed the weekend in Hong Kong to explore some more, we had a very important engagement in San Fran on Saturday. Cooper's very first birthday party.

So we checked out and hopped in a taxi to the Airport Express. Normally, a taxi ride to the airport would have taken perhaps 45 mins, give or take, depending on traffic. But it was a short ride to the Airport Express station, where we could check in for our flight and check our bags before hopping on an express MTR train to the airport. It was probably a 20 or 30 min ride I'm guessing. The train was clearly incredibly fast and went underground but what I don't get why my ears kept popping the entire ride. And why can't I get cell phone reception at my house when I can get a clear signal on the training going perhaps a hundred miles an hour under the ocean?

Once we got to the airport, we got our last meal in Hong Kong before running off to our gate. Again at the very back of the plane (row 60 in fact), we settled into our seat. I tried to avoild bumping into the guy on my right but he didn't seem to care to give me the same courtesy back. So I dumped my tea in his lap. Ok, I really didn't but several hours into the flight I really wanted to. Ever hear of personal space buddy? Watch those elbows! In my view, the arm rest is a DMZ but I hate when elbows cross that line into my territory.

With the help of tailwind, the flight back to the US was shorter at about 12 hours and we arrived an hour before we left - how's that for some timezone trickery? And we were even early into our gate. No problems getting our bags or heading through customs. Scottie picked us up and we headed to the Atherton Inn where we were staying the weekend for Cooper's birthday celebration. The Inn is just down the street from Scott and Denise's and Chris' parents would be there as well so it was quite convenient. And just a lovely Inn. The owners are fabulous hosts.

Our plan was to stay up through the rest of the day so we could get onto US timezone asap. Chris did it but I promptly fell asleep while watching a bit of TV. I could barely get back up to get some food. Later that evening, I got my second wind to help prep for the following day's activities but had no trouble falling asleep when I finally let myself get in bed at midnight. We had a big day at the park ahead and felt great about getting a good night's sleep.

Bus with a view

2005-04-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Today, Thursday, was a day pretty much dedicated to work for me. I prepped for and delivered a training today, with a lovely lunch break over a book in between. Chris slept in (time zones seem to still be messing him up) and then headed back over to Kowloon to play tourist for the afternoon. Today, he actually followed the "copy vatch" guys up to their little dens to check out the fake Rolexes and Tags. He didn't buy any of them but had fun with the "experience." What a racket.

After our respective days, we met up for a sushi dinner and then decided to hop on the first two decker bus to see where it would take us. We just missed bus 26 but caught the #5. We took the front seat on the second deck and just watched Hong Kong pass us by. It was a good way to tour the city at night. We saw locals and tourists going about their business; shop keepers closing up; people eating in second floor restaurants. Chris thought the bus would loop back around taking us back where we started but no such luck. The bus took us along the main drag and then out west along the coast line until the city lights dimmed out behind us and stopped just short of Cyberport (a high tech office zone, similar to the campuses we see out in Hillsboro and Silicon Valley). We knew this because a sign told us so. We also knew that this was the end of the line because the lights of the bus started turning off.

So we went down the stairs and learned that we had to hop on another bus. So we did, and took our seats on the 2nd floor of this bus headed back to the heart of the city. This particular bus also had a flat screen running advertisements. I found them amusing. We wound our way back east towards our hotel and I was getting sleepy. Jumping off the bus, we headed back to our hotel after a few stops to window shop.

Now, we're all packed up and ready to turn in for our last night in Hong Kong. It's been a productive trip and we're ready for to head home. A broad stroke tour from the top of a two-decker bus was a great way to end our exploration this week.