Hong Kong Day 2

Good morning (evening to y'all)...

Yesterday we met Sarah and Anthony for lunch at the Peak ... the highest point on Hong Kong island. You take a tram up a steep mountain side and the views are breathtaking. Fog quickly rolled in at the end. It was as if we were kinda sitting in the clouds. After lunch and doing a little walking around a mall of sorts we took a very windy taxi ride back down the mountain. I got a little nauseated because it was a narrow road and I couldn't see around the numerous winding corners. I just kept taking deep breaths and talking Matt's ear off :) Bree fell asleep in the front, which the driver found quite amusing.

We were taken to Stanley Market on the southeast side of HK island and did some bargain shopping. I compare it to the market in Juarez. The items repeat themselves in each little stall so it's just a matter of finding the right price. There were some items each of us thought we'd see again (me - a hat, Bree - a certain purse, Matt - rugby shirts) on our way back OUT of the market; however, once we finally made it to the end of the crowded market none of us wanted to wind our way back through. We walked around a common area, got some drinks, and then headed on the bus back to Central. Central is where all the skyscrapers are and where Matt and Bree work. We had dinner and then took a ferry ride across the way to Kowloon to watch a light show that's put on every night. The light show is all the skyscrapers going off to music and whatnot. It was pretty cool and I can't help but wonder how much the electricity bills cost! Gorgeous city skyline!

After the lightshow, we were all tired and headed home....quite a long day, but so much fun. Today we are going to Macau Island and doing some shopping and then seeing a Cirque de Soleil show!

I will update y'all tomorrow morning HK time. Much love, JB :)

Buddha Buddha Buddha

GUEST POST from cousin JBC:

I thought I'd kinda update y'all on my trip as I go :) The flight over here took 11 1/2 hours from Dallas to Tokyo. Thankfully I had a window seat and could rest my head up against the wall. I have a fear about falling asleep in an aisle seat and facing someone I don't even know with my mouth gaping open while I sleep (sadly, I do wake up with my mouth often if I sleep on the plane lol). I had a long layover in Tokyo and then a 4 1/2 hour flight to Hong Kong (HK). Bree was waiting for me at the airport...she said all she had to do was look for a blonde girl. She only saw 3 total while waiting on me lol. I'm def the minority with blonde hair and blue eyes :) Bree and Matt live in Discovery Bay which is apart from the actualy Hong Kong island where all the skycrapers are. So, we took a bus ride to their area and went to bed shortly after since it was after midnight HK time.

Yesterday (Thursday) we slept in until 10:30 or so and leisurely got ready. Matt had work so Bree and I set out for Lantau Island where the Big Buddha is. It's the largest outdoor seated buddha ever according to the facts about it. We could have taken a cable car ride and seen the scenery up high but Bree is pretty afraid of heights and with being 31 weeks pregnant doesn't wanna take any chances.... totally understandable! So, we took a bus ride up the mountain which took about 45 minutes. The Big Buddha was huge! We took over 200 stairs up to get to the base of it. Surprisingly Bree was gun hoe about it and did the stairs with me. We took it nice and slow though and me being a nurse I made sure to stop often and tend to her needs. She has been feeling remarkably well -- no sickness and getting rest, so she said she was up for the trek. The weather was also perfect yesterday.... sunny, about 75 degrees with a cool breeze every now and then. After viewing the Big Buddha we went to the Po Lin Monastery, had a vegetarian meal (interesting lol), and watched a variety show. I call it that because it featured acrobats, a contortionist, monks doing tai chi / kung fu / or some martial arts form (not sure which one!), and a unicyclist. It was fun and a nice chance to sit down and put our feet up for a bit. After that we headed back home to meet Matt and a couple of their friends for dinner.

Discovery Bay, where Bree and Matt live, is quite a "normal" experience. It's a lot of foreign workers including Americans, British, German, French, Indian, and Chinese ppl. It's quite a mix! Bree said most of the people who live there work in HK live and commute. The plaza area has a lot of restaurants and shops and children play openly about as it is a very safe place. Bree said that HK has one of the lowest crime rates and I must say you can sense the safety feel over here. Kids ride the buses alone and run around and play alone. Wouldn't it be nice to do that in America?! We ate at a place called Zaks that overlooked the bay and we were able to see Disneyland's nightly firework show from our seats. The weather was gorgeous and the food was good. It was nice to meet Sarah and Anthony who they knew from church in London and and now work here as well.

Today (it's 8:15 a.m. Friday morning) we are going over to HK island to Mongkok Market in Kowloon to do a little shopping. I'm not quite the haggler but apparently that's part of the whole experience. Might could be a problem since it's hard for me to think in HK dollars. The HK dollar is 1/8th of a US dollar. .... You divide the HK amount by 8 and that's how much it cost. So, HK $500 = US $40. It's hard for me to think quickly like that on the spot. Other than market, we are meeting up with Sarah and Anthony again to hang out and go to dinner.

Chinese New Year's Part 1

Have you ever been to see the Nutcracker?

An integral part of many American's holiday celebration - it was performed every Christmas by the Midland Ballet Company back home. My first experience with the Nutcracker was when I was about 20, when I went to see my cousin dance as the Sugar Plum Fairy (I think - she danced almost every part in her many years of ballet-ing, but I'm pretty sure the first time I saw her in the Nutcracker that was her role).

And even though I was 20, practically an adult, or maybe because I was practically an adult, I can't really say that I understood the story line. I get that there is a big party and then Clara's uncle shows up and gives her a gift - a nutcracker (what little girl wants a nutcracker for Christmas??) but then it's all kind of jumble to me. There's micemen and soldiers and a magician and a boy that I'm not sure if he was the nutcracker come alive...and then the really tall lady with the children under her dress and the candy canes striped people and, of course, the sugar plum fairy..and then Clara wakes up and in was all a dream?? Not really sure, but regardless, I can appreciate the Nutcracker for its magnificent dancing, classic music and stunning scenery and costumes.

So what does this have to do with M&B living in Hong Kong and why am I talking about this 2 or 3 months AFTER Christmas?

A few weeks ago, we went to see The Firecracker - Hong Kong's version of the Nutcracker. It was playing in February during the lead up to the Chinese New Year's celebrations. CNY is THE holiday season in Hong Kong and China. We got off 3 days of work in HK but most of China gets the whole week off. It's a time when everyone travels to be with their family, cooking and eating traditional foods, setting off fireworks and handing out lycee packets (more on this later).

Not knowing what to expect, we certainly got what we were expecting...but let me start at the beginning.

M had bought the tickets back in December for a Saturday night performance. We got all dressed up - him suit, me dress and pearls! On our way to the ferry, we stopped in at the plaza to say hello at a birthday party for a friend - they were quite impressed with our outfits and informed us that we would definitely be the overdressed. I thought - ME overdressed?? not really an adjective that gets used for me very often! We didn't think much of it, partook in a cupcake each and headed off to the Central-bound ferry. We arrived in plenty of time, switched to another boat to take us across Victoria Harbour - this one was coal powered and open decked and I'm glad the ride was literally only 5 minutes because I couldn't have taken much more of that (although it is the essence of HK). Had a quick bit to eat at a cafe on the Kowloon side and then walked through a throng of watch, jewelry and suitcase hawkers to the Hong Kong Cultural Center.

We found our theatre and I was slightly concerned that apart from the 3 attendants standing at the door, there weren't any other ballet fans rushing in the door at the last minute. I knew we must be late. We hurried inside, expecting the inside to be similar to Drury Lane Theatre or the Prince Edward in London (I had originally been expecting something of the magnitude of the Royal Albert Hall, but after the comments at the plaza had lowered my expectations). It was more like the side gallery at the National Theatre (the one where we saw The Observer about voting in an African country back in Nov with S&R). The seats started at the top and went down about 25 rows with about 20 seats across with the "stage" at the bottom. Right away I knew something was strange-there was no curtain. There did not appear to be room on the stage for set changes. I wondered how they were going to perform a version of the Nutcracker that was anything similar to what I had seen before. As we made our way down to our seats, I counted a few dozen other people in the theatre, most in jeans and a t-shirt. For the next 20 minutes we continued counting people coming in and watching the clock. Matt identified one other person in a sports jacket.

Finally, the show began - opening with a dark scene, an old man, listening to a 1930's radio, cleaning his imaginary home... Not much dancing, not much scenery and no brights costumes yet....The old man climbed a ladder and pulled out some apparently treasured items: an orange tree, a green coat, and a box that he danced around with for a while. Using our excellent deduction skills (and some help from the translated program) we could tell that what was in the box - the Firecracker - was going to be the crux of the story. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE fireworks? I do. I love to watch them from a distance. and I won't lie when I say that part of my reason for wanting to see this ballet was the idea that they would actually have fireworks in the dancing!!)

Soon enough a young girl shows up, dancing and floating around - the old man lights up when she arrives and soon a dozen of her friends make their entrance, greeting uncle with a present, and receiving lycee packets (again, more later) in return. I'm thinking, okay- he's the uncle, she's Clara, it's the holiday season, there having a party - I recognize this. So we watched as traditional CNY scenes were played out - some of the boys danced around with a dragon head and body, and then uncle brought out The Box. All of the young people were intrigued - what was in it? what could it be? The music builds...and finally, the old man opens the box and pulls out a long red string with bows attached and starts waving it around chaotically, scaring the young people. But I was not fooled. It was not fireworks. I was thinking, alright surely this is like the part in the Nutcracker when uncle gives the nutcracker gift and it's just a toy and not very impressive...but LATER in the story the nutcracker comes to life and so surely, LATER in this story the Firecrackers will come to life and we will get to see some real fireworks.

Back to the story. After the big fright, the young people all make their exits..and this is where the story diverged. Somehow the uncle got sick and was all of a sudden in a hospital with 6 scantily clad nurses dancing around and on his wheelie bed. Then soldiers appeared with miniature Hong Kong buildings. I recognized one as the parliament building and one as the building across from the HSBC building. Then a young man dressed exactly like uncle appeared and danced with the niece - they seemed to have a bit of a love interest, which I thought was weird - and then that was the end of Act 1.

I won't describe much of Act 2 except to say that we were deep into a set of what we recognized to be inside jokes even though we could not fully appreciate them. A few of the highlights - a woman in a wheelie bath with 20 young men dressed like the Fonz; the break-up of Princess Fergie and Prince Andrew's marriage (HK was a British colony at one point?); some scenes from what appeared to be a classical HK movie, complete with a director calling "Action"; more and more lycee packets; a reappearance of the fake firecrackers, and finally at the end a magician pulling out a never-ending stream of red strips of paper.

So there you have it, The Nutcracker and The Firecracker. While the Firecracker was an interesting cultural experience, I think I prefer the Nutcracker. If they only would have thrown in some real fireworks....

Next blog - we'll tell you about our own personal firsthand accounts of handing out lycee packets and our Chinese New Year's trip to Thailand where I spent a great few days relaxing on the beach while Matt got PADI certified.

5 Years On and we have a new house!

Well, Bree says it's just an apartment/flat, not a house.

But it will be our home in Hong Kong. After 2 months of temporary living, we are glad to have a sense of being settled.

We are not on Hong Kong island, but a 30 minute ferry ride away at Discovery Bay. which seems to be a nice blend of the best of Hong Kong with some Western comforts. It might be one of the only times in our lives that we live a 10 minute walk from the beach!

Moving in was fairly simple as the place we chose is fully furnished with all of the utilities, including cable and internet already switched on (though we feel slightly ripped off that included cable is only 3 channels!). The movers were at the house before we were with all of our stuff.

It's the nicest place we've lived in together and so our sixth year of marriage begins in style.

I'd say we ended year 5 pretty well, even if my coworkers gave me a hard time for it. We spent the night living the magic . The photos of me jumping on the bed and the answer to what happens when Bree puts an entire bottle of bath gel in the jacuzzi tub are only available in person. The ones of us with Mickey and Tigger we will try to upload once our bag of cords is sorted out.

To finish off the anniversary celebrations doing our best to act young, we are headed out again.. We might need to find some ear plugs, but we are definitely in a seated section.

Now... to maybe venture out for some groceries. Our phone is up again, so give us a call tonight (our Sunday morning).

THANKSGIVING from HONG KONG

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It's officially been a week since we landed in Hong Kong. We've been getting acclimated to so many things - the new time zone, the new climate, the new language, the new housing, and of course, the new cuisine.

There is so much new in our lives…Matt and I were trying to remember what it was like when we moved to London, and to be honest, we can't really remember much of how we felt. We were newlyweds and it was all a sort of blur. I do remember the temporary housing that we stayed in - which looking back is probably the biggest accommodation we've lived in for the past 5 years - and then living in Weybridge with the Roberts - how incredibly nice of them to put us up and feed us 5-star dinners for three weeks before we moved into our first flat in Wandsworth.

We've switched roles for Hong Kong - in London, I was starting work after one week and Matt was searching for a job and flat hunting. This time, Matt started work after the first day and I'm supposed to be job hunting and flat hunting. Job hunting is on track - as usual, more happens when you are within walking distance rather than halfway around the world. Flat hunting has been relegated to online searches to get a feel for prices and sizes and number of stairs required. You may laugh but number of stairs is a crucial component of the housing market. Matt and I were hoping to stay within walking distance of his office, but within walking distance means walking up no less than 290 stairs. I counted! I am an accountant.

So no news on the housing, but should be going for tours around town next week to get a better feel. In the meantime, we are living in a serviced apartment on 2 Macdonnell Road. Speaking of serviced apartment - it might be time to start listing the things for which I am thankful:

1) the lady who comes to clean our flat every M/W/F
2) the lady who takes our dirty laundry and returns it clean, folded/ironed everyday by 6pm
3) the elevators (a necessity on the 25th floor)
4) the english speaking church service we went to on Sunday. The church actually served a Thanksgiving dinner which we thoroughly enjoyed!
5) JiF peanut butter for sale at the grocery store
6) Starbucks toffee nut hot chocolate - I just threw that in because I am sitting outside a Starbucks and its aroma is addictive
7) having lunch with my husband twice in one week! - its about a 15 minute walk down from our place to his office, so quite easy to meet up for lunch. In the five years we worked in London, I think we only had lunch just us on a workday, maybe once? Just too difficult to get to his office/my office
8) ESPN available in our apt that allows me to watch college football LIVE
9) warm weather - gotten to wear my flip-flops more times here than I ever did in London. However, walking up 290 stairs in flip-flops does lead to uncomfortable blisters :(
10) Asian efficiency and service - can't say it's better than the US but definite improvement from London
11) some Mexican food and iced tea

Now you might be thinking - all of those 'thankfuls' are things - what about people - aren't you thankful for all the people in her life - relatives, near and far, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, etc. And yes, yes - celebrating this Thanksgiving, just the two of us, gives us even more chance to pause and reflect on how much we love each of you.

We miss you, but hope you have a wonderful turkey day - we are most thankful and will countdown the days till we see you next.

Jess and Fugi's great adventure - Part 2

Finally, the conclusion to Jess and Fugi's great adventure:

Sunday

10AMish

Went with Matt to grab some breakfast on the way to church. They call it a croissant with cheese and ham, I let them know that it's actually called a croissanwich over in the States. Church was very nice - they had a substitute preacher (who didn't bring his wife because she had "domestic duties" to deal with, i.e. laundry)....we'll just leave it at that! Had some tea and cookies after the service with the congregation.

1PM

After church and a quick change of clothes we headed to the British Museum. They were celebrating the Mexican holiday - Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It was very interesting - especially since we had an actual Mexican with us! The "mexican" food consisted of the nachos you get at high school football games and tacos that in no way resembled tacos! but i digress...

6PM

After much negotiations between Holly and myself, we compromised on going to the London Hillsong Church for their worship service (which we all enjoyed) and then headed for the London Eye. The Eye was a big step for a guy that unless he is on a plane, is not too fond of heights! It was a truly amazing ride and view of London. I managed not to embarrass Bree - as it was the American dad in the group that rode with us that suggested they moon the people in the glass cabin below.

Late Night

Headed back to Wandsworth (starving) and stopped by Nando's (www.nandos.co.uk) for some dinner. The girl at the counter tried to talk Fugi and I out of each ordering our own Full Platter. She thought we didn't understand that this was a meal that a family usually orders - she obviously didn't understand how hungry we were! After we finished our meals - much to the surprise of the waitresses that kept coming by to see if we were really going to finish it - i went to the front to order some soft serve. As I pulled out some money to pay for it - the manager told her that anyone that could finish a full platter gets free soft serve - final score: Jess and Fugi - 1 Nando's - 0

Monday

3:15AM

Alarm goes off and we get ready for Paris. The car picked us up and we were at the train station by 4:30 for our 5:15AM train ride. We slept most of the way to Paris - didn't even realize when we had gone under the Channel until Bree's phone buzzed me that we were now in France. As soon as we got to Paris we got on one of the tour busses that you can get on and off of - we took some pictures and got off at a stop. Then we waited an hour for another bus to come by - once it did, we rode around and saw Notre Dame and got off at the Eiffel Tower. It was very cold but it was an awesome view and we were only on the 1st Floor(180 feet up). We checked out the food (ate at 3 restaurants before we found a decent meal).

9PM

Got on the train back for London and I think exhausted would be a gross understatement! We made it back to the flat before midnite (i think matt and bree were both relieved and surprised).

Tuesday

10AM

Bree took the day off and took us all around London - we had a schedule and stuck with it (most of the day - explanation comes later). We headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. It was very crowded and they put on quite a show with the marching band and many horses. Of course the Q-tip hats made the soldiers look 6'3 instead of 5'5. We walked down the "Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk" as the a small drizzle (suprisingly the only rain i remember) came down. We met Matt at Gordon's Wine Bar for some lunch - very old and cool place - check it out - gordonswinebar.com. Had some beef stroganoff and warmed up from the rain. After lunch we boarded one of the Thames Clippers and headed north for Greenwich. It was a nice ride and a long walk up to the Royal Observatory. Learned alot of cool tidbits about the Prime Meridian and headed back to the Clipper for a ride back home. So far we had stayed right on Bree's
schedule for
the day - here's what we had left on on Bree's agenda:

5:45PM Leave the flat to meet Matt for Dinner at the Sushi restaurant.
6:15PM Eat Dinner at Sushi restaurant.
7:15PM Meet two of Bree's friends at the theater for Othello.

Here's how it went:

5:45PM Left the flat to meet Matt. Arrived at Waterloo Station to get on the Tube. Jess and Fugi lose Bree on the was to the Tube. We go ahead to the Tube, as Jess had paid attention to where we were going to eat. Arrive at the Charing Cross Station - forgot to mention we didn't have a cell phone. I try to use the phone booth - to no avail. Long story short - we finally got in a cab that let us use his cell phone - got in touch with Bree and met her and Matt at the McDonalds across the street from the theater.

EDITOR'S NOTE 1: In all the hundreds of visitors that we have had over the past 5 years, Jess and Fugi were the FIRST to get lost. When asked later, what is the cardinal rule of 'what to do when losts from a group' - Fugi answered correctly by saying 'Go back to the last known place' Jess, however, said 'We weren't lost!' Question: How many theatres did you go to before finding the right one? And seriously, if you didn't want sushi you just had to say so.

EDITOR'S NOTE 2: Regarding the paragraph below, let's just say i was slightly distracted from the earlier events of the evening.


The play was great - really small theater and great actors. (Mom and Dad you can quit reading at this point) As we are leaving, Bree realizes she dropped her work phone during the play and can't find it. We look up and down the rows and find nothing. She lets the management know that it was lost. At this point her personal phone rings - she talks for a sec, hangs up and informs us it was McDonalds - she had left her wallet there (not her phone!) Now that this is all over we go hang out at a restaurant over looking the Thames to end the night and our trip. It is here that Bree's coworker - as she gets ready to leave - realizes she has an extra phone in her purse - yes it was Bree's. And we thought Othello was going to provide the mystery and entertainment for the night!

Wednesday

8AM

Got up and headed to the airport. It was an awesome trip - best ever! Thanks to Matt and Bree for putting up with us for the week. Looks like it will be Hong Kong for next year! Thanks again and love you guys!!

Knackered!

short and sweet - here's the past three or so days in my life in london.

wednesday
1:20 - board plane in lubbock for houston
3:00 - sit down at pappadeaux in the airport for late lunch
5:15 - meet up with fugi and head to the gate
7:00 - take off for london with a 300 lb guy that im pretty sure was an italian mobster reclining his seat in my lap and al roker (pre-stomach stapling) sitting behind me with his knees in the back of my seat. anyway after the most uncomfortable nine hours that a couple of guys over six feet three inches could endure - we landed at heathrow on a mild and cloudy october morning.

thursday
1030AM - cab driver pulls us up to 111 bartholomew close and matt meets us at the door with half of his suit on (still not sure if these kids work or not) and welcomed us to their humble abode.

12PM - head downtown and meet up with bree for lunch at wagamama.
130PM - go with bree to her office building so she can take her computer to be worked on aka skip out on work for the afternoon.
Afternoon - visit trafalgar square and the national gallery - saw a da vinci painting - put it in bree's purse and headed home.
6PM - hit the sack for a 2 hr recovery nap and then hit up the fish club for some fish and chips, then go home and pass out at 10 oclock.

Friday

7AM - bree tricks fugi and i into getting up and waiting in line for tickets to Wicked - she told us it was london's version of deal or no deal. for those that don't know - wicked is a musical about glenda the good witch and the wicked witch of the west - more groundbreaking developments from the wizard of oz to come later.


1030AM - bree goes to work and we spend the afternoon walking down the streets getting to know the locals - turns out they still don't think revolutionary war jokes are very funny.

6PM - matt, holly, fugi and myself head to the apollo to meet bree for the show.

10PM - head to leicester square to meet up with their friend parri (sp?) at leong's chinese restaurant where apparently she knows the owners because he opened the kitchen back up and let us have a private dining area - holly cried as we cut up the duck appeteizer (apparently she had a pet duck as a child). many entrees later we left stuffed.

Saturday

10AM - head to the train station to meet up with matt and bree who went to have coffee with some old friends that were in town. jump on the train and head towards windsor to see some castle - ate at the mcdonald's upon arrival and toured the grounds.









oh yeah - tried to talk this lady out of getting married - to no avail.



2PM - headed back into town to catch the rugby match between the london harlequins and the london irish. the harlequins were huge underdogs - but they battled and got a tie on a last second kick from 40 yards out. brother-in-law got us first row tickets - had fun watching the two kids fight in front of us the whole game.







7PM - ate pizza and headed to church for their celebration of lights. sitting at home in our pajamas watching the afternoon tech game at 9PM local time. good nite from jolly old england.