Cheung Chau

Yesterday Ingrid and I joined Amy, Pat and the boys for a day on Chueng Chau Island. A thirty minute ferry ride delivered us to the old fishing village and we passed the day hiking the island trails and dining alfresco along the harbour. Like many of the New Territory Islands it was very local and had a charm that is specific to the Hong Kong area. A highlite was seeing the fire beaters, broom-like devises used to swat out fires. Posts of these beaters were spaced out evenly along the hiking trails. Since the island has no official roads or vehicles, the average everday Cheung Chau-ite has to step up to their civic duty and be an amature firefighting when duty calls. The boys got into the spirit of things, pretending they were fighting a wild brushfire.

Jetlag

Jetlag creeps up on the boys each evening. By about 7pm their bones start to turn to jello, it becomes difficult to put one foot in front of the other, and their eyelids become heavy. And it doesn't matter whether they are at home or if they are in a crowded restaurant as evidenced by this video....its a bit dark, but you get the picture.

Photo Dump

The family is having a blast exploring the sights, sounds and smells of Hong Kong. Here's a selection of photos!

Mark it Zero, Dude

Our building has an awesome 2-lane bowling alley in the clubhouse downstairs, complete with requisite neon lights, tacky bowling themed wall carpeting, automatic ball return and electronic scoring. Perfect for the kids' first night in town! And yet another great excuse to eat pizza, drink beer and quote the Big Lebowski.

Foot Reflexology

Xiao Long Bao

The family has arrived and their first visit to Hong Kong is in full swing! We had an active morning, walking around the local neighborhoods and taking in the sights. It is the final day of the Lunar New Year period so a lot of the shops are closed, so we made a beeline for our favorite dumpling house on the Kowloon side for a feast of Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumplings. There is technique that is necessary in using your chopsticks to carefully extract the dumpling from the wicker basket without puncturing the skin and letting out the delicious broth inside. In this video Jackson shows off his skillz.

Keep em' Comin'

We've got another batch of kin folk arriving in town tomorrow. Amy, Pat and the kids will be in Hong Kong for a week before heading along to Bali. We're very excited for their visit!

Chinese New Year Pics

Check out this link http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/chinese_new_year_welcoming_the_1.html for an incredible series of Chinese New Year pics from around the globe.

Super Bowl Monday

Wow, what a game. With 2 native Phoenicians in our apartment and one sympathizer, we were pulling pretty hard for the Cardinals. It didn't turn out, but wow what an incredible thrillride. We were up at 7am Monday morning for kickoff. We didn't get to see the crowning victory of the Cards miracle season, or the commercials or the halftime show, but we were treated to one hell of a game.

Taxi Driver

In most cities taxi drivers are some of the more eccentric people you'll ever meet, never shy about sharing wide ranging opinions and no topic is off limits. I'll never forget the first time I met my inlaws when our cabbie drove us to dinner while playing the clarinet and steering with his knees. But Hong Kong taxi drivers are normally all business. So it was actually refreshing last night to be picked up by a driver dressed all gold with a stuffed animal ox hat. He is taking Chinese New Year very seriously.