UK Adventures - Part 1 of 2

A whistlestop round up of the first of our two weeks in the UK:

The weather was a bit of a shock to the system!

I finished work on Friday night and got the tram into Central to meet Stephen, who had all our bags at Hong Kong station and we checked them in. This system is too clever and what every big city needs - your bags magically (well, presumably by train) arrive at the airport and on the correct flight and you don't see them again until you arrive at your destination!

Bags

After the bags had been successfully deposited we got the tram back to where I work to go to our after work local. After a few Tsing Tao we jumped in a taxi back to the station and got on the airport express train.

Eee, plane to England!

I was so excited having been out of the UK for nearly 6 months, Stephen cheats and goes back to London every once in a while.... The plane was far better (much newer) than the one we flew out here on and BA are now back in the good books. We watched a few films, ate food (really not necessary) and got a few hours kip, all good. We landed in London and had about a 90minute wait before our flight up to Manchester. I put my o2 sim in my iphone and rather upsettingly my data settings had disappeared so no tweeting for me! I do love Terminal 5 at Heathrow though and had a good wander round - even WH Smith is exciting when you've not seen one for a while - even if I didn't recognise half the celebs in all my favourite mags. 

They did board us on time but unfortunately it was snowing! We sat and waited on the runway for a good hour to be de-iced before we could take off. The 30minute flight passed super quick (Stephen was pleased with his bacon butty - I had to reject mine on grounds it had been pre-ketchuped, yack!) and before we knew it we were in Manchester, yay the north - home!!! 

We went to pick up our wheels for the week (I rang o2 while I waited and got my data back and all was well with the world again). Stephens brother is working in Germany at the minute and was supposed to land a few hours after us but due to our delay he wasn't much behind us. We then decided to wait for him and save his folks a round trip to the airport since we'd probably cross them on the drive anyway! And where better to go wait when you've just landed from many months out of the UK? The nearby John Lewis! Stephen was mainly not impressed with my desire to look at all the pretty things and quickly marched me to the cafe.

Hire car

The Best Hot Chocolate

I'm ashamed to say that while we waited for Michael (Stephen's bro) I may have 'indulged' in a Greggs sausage roll - so wrong but so tasty!

Couldn't resist

We drove up to Ramsbottom where bacon sandwiches awaited us - ahh, yum! After a good catch up we then drove over the pennines to my mum and dads, easier said than done. As we were about to turn onto the motorway from Ramsbottom we heard it was closed somewhere between Leeds and Manchester so decided to go over the top. Hmm, possibly not the best idea when you've not driven for a while and it's been snowing... It was a little scary at times but fortunately Stephen is a super driver and we made it just fine.

Mum and dads back garden - snow!?

I was struggling a bit at this point (travelling several timezones does that to you) and was so tired I couldn't even eat my tea! I'd asked my mum to get me my favourite Waitrose pizza (when you don't have an oven you miss these things a lot!) so was very disappointed not to eat it. I tried to stay awake till 9pm but didn't quite make it. Not surprisingly I woke up early, and hungry - so what better to do on a snowy Sunday morning than to cook your pizza for breakfast and watch the Malaysian Grand Prix with your dad.

Ah, pizza!

Sunday saw us go see my grandma in Otley and then a quick trip to Ilkley in the snow. I'd been so looking forward to buying things in Fat Face but there was just nothing I liked.

On Monday we went into Leeds with my mummy for a mooch around the new Trinity shopping centre. This was the first project I worked on when I first started in 2008 so it was really good to see it finally finished, given how much it stopped/started/changed during the recession. I say finally finished but it isn't really - a lot of the west (the bits my company did) are still being chopped and changed but it'll be open at some point! Either way, I was really impressed - the city desperately needs money spending on it and this is a good start. I do love Leeds very much and it'll always be home but it really is quite scabby in parts! We went for lunch at Ribshakk (annoyingly disappointing), then to Crown Point to buy work shirts in M&S outlets and called in a M&S Food on the way home for....

Yep, that's right - CHINESE. They just don't know how to do it properly in HK....

On Tuesday we had a lazy morning and popped down to Otley and the best butchers in the world for sausage rolls and pork pies (yep, it was a healthy couple of weeks), before driving back over to Ramsbottom for a family get together.

Yum

On Wednesday I took my first opportunity to go wool shopping with a trip to Clark Craft Products in Ramsbottom - Stephens mum had sent me some £ (yes, real pounds!) for my birthday so I was determined to spend it all on wool, given the selection in HK is rubbish.

Came back with this little haul, barely even dented the budget

We went to the chippy for lunch, there are some in HK but we are yet to try them and apparently aren't that great, before driving down to Macclesfield for a friends birthday. Said friend is doing Ironman Wales in September, we went out for a meal then made him drink many shots - I'm not sure this was ideal training.

Epic garlic bread starter

Vodka Revolution on a freezing Wednesday night

On Thursday we drove back to Ramsbottom as Stephens sister was now back from her job in Salzburg for Easter and had a good catch up and a Mexican feast.

We then drove back to my mum and dads on Good Friday and got the good old x84 (4 times more expensive and 4 times less frequent than HK public transport) into Leeds for drinks and pizza with most of our Leeds based chums, it was ace to see everyone.

Somebody stole a cucumber from a super posh cocktail bar and then we ended up drinking 1/3 pint tasters , which quickly became known as 'Yorkshire Shots'

On Saturday morning we woke up mildly hungover and in desperate need of exercise / fresh air - a week of solid eating and drinking will do that to you. We walked about 4 miles into Headingley, I had a quick look in Baa Ram Ewe but didn't buy anything, went for a cheeky drink in Arcadia and caught the bus home. (Actually no, first we went to pick up an M&S order and somehow I ended up in Hobbycraft! Glad I did as I think I was one of the first to discover Regia sock yarn at £1 a ball - ace!) At home my dad had got the BBQ ready because he knew how much I wanted one, even though there was still plenty of snow and it was freezing outside - thank you!!

Snow + BBQ

Balls of wool # 5-8

Sheep and baby sheep on our walk - you don't see many of those in HK!

To be continued....

Shopping, drinking and a small bit of culture

On Friday I left work at 5:30 (!!) but alas not straight to the pub, I went to a talk by the ICE as part of operation 'become chartered engineer' - I think I'm now inspired to apply this year, watch this space! 

The talk was actually really helpful and good to see how the Institution works in this part of the world, it was also held in a building right next door to another enormous shopping centre, so not all bad.

Uniqlo store number 4 for the week (more on this later).

After the lecture / quick snoop around the shops I went to meet Stephen in the bar near his work and enjoyed a couple of big bottles of Magners (he later told me they were £7 each, ouch - think I prefer my after work local!). Still it was a good laugh although we managed to stay out too late to find anywhere to eat other than McDonalds. (There are places open but the menus are all in Cantonese and we're either not brave enough or are embarrassed by our complete lack of linguistic ability). I had a McCurry burger, was alright but not a patch on the McProsperity burger they were selling during Chinese New year.

On Saturday Stephen went to play volleyball while I sat knitting and watched American Idol... I then thought I should do something slightly more productive and got off my lazy bum and went to the gym. Stephen returned home from volleyball with some amazing bread from a bakery he'd walked past.

In the afternoon we went into central and took the star ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui. We've not been over there for quite a while but for good reason it seems. Men accosting you asking if you want 'copy watch' 'tailor suit' handbag' the minute you get off the ferry and generally just crazy busy with people queuing to get into the designer shops! My mission however was to find some red shorts to match my red shoes. I'd seen them in Uniqlo but the stock of size XXL (no I haven't put on several stone in 2 weeks, that's just what a UK 12 equals to round here) was limited. (I've been to 4 other Uniqlo shops on the island this week hunting them down). I now have the same shorts in red, navy and purple - result!

Pretty!

I also got myself a new North Face rucksack for the gym half price, so not a bad haul for an afternoons work. After all this shopping, Stephen needed a beer so we went to see if Beer Bay was open, as it had been closed the previous times we'd been past and were worried it had shut. Fortunately not and we enjoyed some cheap beers (and british bar snacks - bacon fries and peanuts!) watching the ferries come and go.

Several pints later and sustenance was required. We'd read about a Thai restaurant in Pacific Place (another high end shopping mall) so jumped on a bus to Admiralty. There was a 10 minute wait for a table and we looked at the menu prices, £15-20 a meal (this is HK, it's all relative!), made some feeble excuse about meeting friends and left. Before leaving though we used the facilities - seriously the poshest toilets in the world!

We then got on the tram to Fortress Hill to go to a different Thai restaurant I'd heard about - good move! We ate like kings for £30 total, was incredible.

Singha for Stephen, Longan tea for me 

 Tasty

New favourite desert - Sticky mango rice

Definitely one we'll be going back to / taking visitors to. It was in a cooked food centre so very basic but an experience you don't get in the UK.

This morning we went for a walk around Sheung Wan, mainly because I wanted to go to the bakery Stephen had been to yesterday to get another ham bread thing - look at it, it was ace!

Enormous breadstick full of ham!

We then set off walking to the City Gallery - it used to be called the Museum of Infrastructure and Urban Planning but I'm not sure that attracted many people....

En route we came across Olivers - a western supermarket we'd heard about but never been. It seriously sells everything - Bacon Fries, Creme Eggs, UK cleaning products, you name it. It also had a freezer full of oven pizzas... how much?! £7 for a chicago town pizza?? I know we don't have an oven but even if we did why would you pay that - only a couple of pounds more to eat at the amazing new pizza place we went to last week.

Ouch 

The City Gallery was really interesting and amazing to see how HK has grown over the last hundred years and everything they've got planned for the future. One of the main differences between here and the UK is if they want a new rail line, they'll build it - there's no red tape, no lengthy consultations, it just gets done. (Also free entry!).

Entrance 

TST today 

TST 'yesterday'

After the museum we went for a quick walk along the newly reopened waterfront, it's really smart and definitely something to do when the weather is a bit nicer than today - serious smog / fog!

Admiralty in the distance 

Central government offices

Smoggy view

Now we've just enjoyed a curry takeaway and are watching the Bahrain Grand Prix. Think I'll do a spot of knitting and then it's bedtime ready for another week of work. Only 5 days though as we're flying to Phuket next Saturday morning for a long weekend - can't wait!

Return to HK

Hello! We're back in the bright lights of Hong Kong,  have done over a weeks work now and feels like we've never been away!

We had a brilliant two weeks back in the UK, will update with what we got up to (even though anyone that reads this probably knows) at some point, just to remind myself when I read this in 50 years or something...

We landed Sunday afternoon, and managed to get over the jetlag quite well (bar a bit of a cold and sleepless nights midweek). First stop - our local thai restaurant.

Although after two weeks of solid eating and drinking we quite looking forward to getting back to the gym!

We got a letter saying we could apply for pool access cards and were pretty pleased to see them fill it up this weekend - really must fill the form in so we can go swim in it.

I went back to knitting on Wednesday which was really nice as it seems like I haven't been for ages. On Thursday we went to a pub quiz in Happy Valley with some chums which was lots of fun. The pub serves a decent curry and it was a really good quiz with good atmosphere (even if it doesn't start till 9.30pm and runs past midnight, getting old), we even managed a respectable 3rd place ($100 bar tab) - hopefully it'll become a regular event.

The main event to note this week though was Beertopia - awesome beer festival! 

Beer festival with a view (West Kowloon Waterfront)

Music Tent 

Not sure I'll ever get bored of this view :)

It was really good fun, a little bit overpriced and busy (but once you've had a few drinks you don't mind too much!) and lots of drunk westerners (ourselves included), a bit like you'd expect really! Good food, music and drinks - I'm sure we'll be back next year.

On Sunday we'd arranged to go walk Dragons Back again but after waking up slightly worse for wear and seeing it was mega foggy outside we decided to give it a miss. Instead we walked to North Point and ate egg waffles (slightly disappointing, not fresh). We then had a lazy afternoon watching the Grand Prix / Stephen working / me knitting.

Yay finished my socks! (Started these as plane/travel knitting just before we went away).

Chuffed with these, although wearing them in the heat + humidity is not a great idea as I very quickly learnt.

Another failed attempt at putting a zip in my hoodie... 3rd time lucky right!?

Stephen then wanted to get his haircut so I went for a walk round central while I waited - mainly searching new places to go eat.

Wandering 

The best pizza in HK has been located!

Mmm pizza (from Motorino ) - amazing, I think we'll be back!!