One week in

Well, it's been a whole week! Feels much longer to be honest but I think that's a good thing and a sign we're settling in ok - hope so anyway!

What have we been up to? On Tuesday I had my appointment at Immigration Tower - all went ok and my HKID is ready to collect in a couple of weeks, all very efficient.

Tuesday night we thought we best attempt some exercise since the general culture here is to eat out a lot and drink beer (maybe this is why we're settling in ok!). We headed down to Happy Valley Racecourse and did a lap and a bit of the track. It's really cool, there's a running track on the inside perimeter of the race track and there's just so many people running round in circles - kinda motivating. Only problem is it's 25 degree heat at night and fairly humid, still gotta be good training right?

After our run we headed down to Times Square / Causeway bay to get SIM cards. It was costing 30p to text each other via our uk numbers, now it only costs 1p. Hopefully we'll also make some HK friends to contact too...

PAYG for now, reminds me of being 15 when checking my balance!

Then it was time for tea. We wandered about for a bit, walking into some places and getting scared by the lack of english on the menu and walking out again (there is a LOT of choice here!), finally decided on this place.

It had signs on the door 'Time Out top 100 Dim Sum' etc etc so thought it worth a go. Got a bit scared when there was no english menu but fortunately one arrived. We decided against chicken feet and went for a random selection of 6 dishes, 4 of which were amazing, the other 2 just a little bit odd. Still, we had far too much food (probably only needed 3 dishes total...) and with two drinks the bill came to £12. Ace.

Wednesday back to work, starting to feel more normal. I was sat at my desk when a colleague walked over and asked if I'd like to 'grab a sandwich on the terrace'. Ooh, terrace? I didn't know of such a thing! We went out of the building, some headed for subway and one guy said 'i'll just get some chinese food from the supermarket' - I thought why not and followed him. Glad I did - check out this awesome pot of noodles for a grand total of £1.85, including my new favourite drink - weak apple squash with bits of aloe vera in. Sounds rank but it's well tasty!

Terrace on one side

Terrace on the other side

Epic Lunch!

On Wednesday evening I headed to Starbucks in the IFC mall. I hadn't been here before but it's a really cool building full of good shops and more tasty restaurants. Starbucks was exciting enough - italian sausage stick and a mango juice followed by a coffee praline twist.

As you have probably identified from the first picture, the purpose of my trip was to go to 'Knit Night'. I quite like the fact I used to knit in Starbucks in Leeds on a Wednesday night with my lovely knitting friends, and now I do it in HK too. The people all seemed really friendly and I'll definitely be back next week :)

At knit night we got chatting about yarn shops (obvs) and it transpires this is round the corner from my office, so obviously I had to have a wander down there at lunch time,

Didn't dare go in (such a wimp) but will do soon. All the wool is kept in plastic packs over here, even in the shops, random.

Ooh!

When I was at Immigration Tower earlier in the week I noticed another branch of my new favourite pizza place, so decided to treat myself at lunchtime as it's just along from the wool shop.

Yummo!

Wish these pics could show you the scale / size of the pizzas!!

And I think that's that for now. Will be back soon but now I'm at work I have less time for blogging and (even) less interesting things to say. Have managed another two laps of the racecourse tonight and now just sat waiting for Stephen to finish work, having stayed late for a meeting with people in the UK. Then we're going to sample a bar or two near the apartment and grab some tasty food :)

First day in the new office

Well, I survived!

Got up nice and early as you do on your first day - tram nice and quiet and found my office just fine. Discovered supermarket under my office is actually enormous so plenty of exciting things to be bought from there! Then it was still too early to turn up at the office so went and sat in the park watching some tai chi while I ate an apple (at this point I was very tempted to go to the McCafe for shakeshake fries but that is a habit I really can't get into!).

Turned up at work and they were expecting me, which was a good start. There was a computer waiting for me (albeit a very doddery old one, did manage to swap it in the afternoon when I accepted it really didn't work!) and that was that really - seems like it'll be much the same as in Leeds, all good :)

Did nip downstairs (well, the lift and 34 floors down) to HSBC to open a bank account. Easy, you say? Worlds local bank they are not. Absolute chaos and no interest in the fact I had a UK account with them. All I wanted was a simple account so I could get paid but nooo trying to give me this, that and the other and then asking for various deposit amounts. Ended up paying $HK2000 into some random account that is apparently mine, fingers crossed....

Also booked an appointment at the 'Immigration Tower' tomorrow to sort myself out with a HK Identity Card - this means straight through passport control when travelling, as well as being general ID you have to have.

Then on the way home I got off the tram a few stops early and went to Uniqlo just because I could, managed not to buy anything though.  Just had some noodles for tea - from the supermarket, pot noodle equivalent really but oh so tasty (and better!!). Will leave you with a few pics from my walk home after the shops :)

Pretty Lights

Exhibition for some new Tim Burton / Disney film - Frankenweenie?!

And again

Cute sheep in a shop window

Bright Lights

This is inside the racecourse perimeter, there's plenty of football pitches and a running track I must try, the people looked so hot and sweaty though!! 1.3km a lap, I must be able to manage a couple at least!?

Ah, KFC delivery!!

Adventures - Day 3!

Last day before we start work, ack!

Still not sure we've caught up with timezones - we were debating doing the 9:45am Victoria Harbour cruise (as part of our CityPass) but didn't quite get up in time, it'll have to wait till next weekend!

We got ourselves up eventually though and got the tram to the ferry terminal (19p) and then the ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui (expensive, 29p) - not sure when the novelty of this cheap transport will wear off!

Random exciting looking display by the ferry terminal

Stephen needed to buy a new laptop bag after coming to the realisation that it is hot hot hot here (c. 30 degrees all day) and his current laptop backpack is probably not ideal for commuter etiquette and will equal sweaty back! Google told us there was a Crumpler shop in the Silvercord shopping centre so off we went.

Job done, cool bag purchased

As we were in the shopping bit (one of many!) I thought I'd go for a quick browse around Uniqlo. I didn't need anything but it is one of my favourite shops and since every other mall we've been in seems to have £££££ shops I thought I best check it out...

Super glad I did!! Not only is it the same awesome shop it is in London (and same nice prices) but they had the full Orla Kiely range, and in the sale!!! (This sold out in like a day in London so either they're not interested in it here or don't know about it!).

My haul

For £50 I got 2 hoodies and 3 long sleeved tops, ahhh love them!! (Did I mention it's 30 degrees and really not hoodie / long sleeve t shirt weather?! I think it maybe starts to cool down in a couple of months...). Still, I may just have to go back for more tomorrow!

Then it was time for a quick mdonalds stop... I have become addicted to 'shake shake' fries. You get chips, a pack of wasabi seasoning & herbs, and an extra chip bag - add chips and seasoning, shake about a lot and voila some amazing chips!!! We have just been googling where to go running / gyms / etc... apparently it's quite easy to become fat and lazy over here!

Bamboo scaffolding, still find this quite amazing!

Tram map - $2.30 (19p) to go anywhere on the line!

Now just chilling having been to the supermarket for boring stuff (milk / bread / cereal etc) before going back out in a bit for some dinner and drinks. Then perhaps an early (ish) night ready for work times tomorrow, fingers crossed it's all ok!!!

Adventures - Day 2

Since we're actually here to work, we thought it best we go locate our offices.

First stop, my office. (After a quick picnic breakfast/lunch by the racecourse). A big tall round building, apparently there's a revolving restaurant on the 66th floor.

Then to Stephen's office - a generic office block in a business district (nice and shiny and new though!). Also went for a nosey at a potential block of apartments to maybe live in.

View from Quarry Bay 

Then back into town and back up the mid level escalators, went to the top this time and stopped at a couple of bars on the way back down.

Yorkshire!

Peach Margarita

First Chinese Beer!

Braved some dumpling things, verdict = tasty

Quite a few beers in Soho later and we got back on the Star Ferry to the other side.

View of the Island from the ferry

As we'd had a few beers we were feeling quite brave and decided to try some random chinese street food...

Who wouldn't want to eat at Ming Fat Spicy Crab?

Food was actually mega tasty (and cheap!). We even managed the chopsticks, well sort of - didn't have much choice.

Stephen enjoying tasty food.

We then went for a quick nosey down Temple Street night market - quite exciting and I think I'll have to go back for a 'genuine' Rolex / Cath Kidston phone case / Mulberry bag...

Then finally we got our new favourite mode of transport home - the tram! :)

These are amazing, every 2 minutes and cost 20p no matter how far you go!

Adventures - Day 1

Number of chinese beers drunk = 0
Number of chinese meals eaten = 0

Yesterday doesn't really count - we were jet lagged, tired confused and a bit overwhelmed! (There'll only be three days of adventures, we start work on Monday - boo!) This may be when we realise we're not actually on holiday but here to stay...

This morning we got up and went for a bit of a wander. Down the road we have Happy Valley Race Course, races are on every other weds (Oktoberfest theme at the minute too!) and apparently everyone flocks there.

We needed to get Octopous cards, just like Oyster cards but you can pay for stuff with them in shops too. This is very handy since we can set up auto top-up online linked to our credit cards since we don't have HK bank accounts yet!

Jack Wills / One of many massive posh shopping centres we encountered...

We also came across three M&S shops and a Pizza Express, think I got a bit excited I can still buy cheese tasters so took a few pics, I'm sure you know what they look like...

Octopus card purchased and we got on the MTR (like the tube, but ridiculously clean) from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. We went to collect some City Passes Mark and Sarah (aka the Crazies) had bought us as a very generous wedding gift. Looking forward to using these for more sightseeing / exploring!!

Hong Kong Skyline

Cool bears from Germany that Jackie Chan bought - we saw loads of these in Munich a couple of years back!

Me at the 'Avenue of Stars'

We then got the Star ferry back over to the island, they run every 5 minutes or so and cost a whole 20pence!

Boats on a boat, nice!

View from the ferry as we approach HK Island

And then we just wandered a bit more.

Crazy Window display in Harvey Nichols (seen two so far!)

Mid levels escalator (longest outdoor covered escalator in the world, fascinating...).

Husband on escalator

Funky building with cool lights.

And then it was beer time. Went to a nice Belgian bar, they had no cider but apple beer tastes just as good (I may also have had a Smirnoff Ice, classy).

Then we went for tasty thai food for tea at an aptly named restaurant - 'Tasty Thai'. No pictures of that I'm afraid, we ate it too fast!

Just need work to be ok and I think we're very much going to like it here!!