Richmond - bigger than you think?

I was very pleased to find out that we have over 14,000 people living in Richmond. I thought that it was pretty cool until someone pointed out that my school in chch had about 2,000 pupils. That means it's only 7 of my old high school! oh dear, at least we can say that we're down to earth...

My cousin Lin and I went to the richmond summer yesterday. This market occurs once a year. Managed to score some bargains at the secondhand book stall. woo hoo!

I'm meeting up with my dear friend Yasmin today. She's young, beautiful, intellegent with a wonderful heart for God. hehehe, almost sounds like a personal.

I'm blogging while in my dining room in Richmond with 3 people in the ajoining kitchen. There are few moments when I'm alone in the house. It's not actually a big thing, quite a pleasant contrast to being home alone in chch. I'm constantly getting interrupted but oh well :)

home sweet home

It's so good to be back in NZ. Just walking into my house. It has a distinctive home smell to it, not stinky, just homely. It's sooo incredible to be back home. It's really late yet I'm not sleepy. There just seems to be a lot that needs doing.

Traveling is fun but it's soooo good to be home. One of the things that I LOVE about traveling is coming home. I appreciate it more everytime :)

hmmm, restlessness. It's 2am but I'm not ready for bed. strange. Oh well. I'm going to sort through my mail now. Maybe that will help.

good bye Hong Kong

It's so sad. I had lots and lots of cool things to write about when I was in HK but I was so busy with all the cool things that I didn't actually have time to write about it. HK was fantastic for so many reasons. The vibe, the ppl, the food, the real coffee, the pampering and just all the fun that is waiting to be had.

For once in my life, I felt like I belonged. You see, there are lots of expats in HK and many of them are asian looking (like myself). I met asians from England, Whales, Canada, Australia, NZ... you get the picture. They were either born in a western country or grew up in one. Proud to see an asian when they looked in the mirror but very aware that they were pretty white on the inside.
On top of this...

There were plenty of Christians that drank. I don't mean drinking til you're drunk, but ones that could appreciate a few drinks. Going out and doing the usual things that I enjoy and being on a similar wavelength to myself. It was great.

Tues- I went to Macau for the day. You actually have to get your passport stamped cos it's an international destination. Different currency too. Sorta funny that my first portugese experience was in Macau, only a 1 hour boa ride from HK.

Hong Kong

I arrived yesterday and I already like this place. Politeness and curteousy seems to be a lot more prevalent here. Aaaand, I can access my blog. Woo hoo.

Kristy lives in the new territory, just north of Hong Kong. The view from her family's 58th floor apartment is spectacular. I will definitely take lots of photos. The building has about 75 floors so that makes the Jaimao Tower seem very unimpressive in comparision. I left my guide and map of Hong Kong at the apartment this morning but that's alright, I think I'll just wonder around near Kristy's work this morning.

Kristy's office is right above a cafe. "Graze Cafe", the company that she works for owns it. I had real coffee this morning. I don't mean starbucks but actual coffee with real milk. Yaaaay, it was a fantastic way to start the day. So now? I'm off to explore my surroundings.

http://hk.bcmagazine.net/hk.bcmagazine.issues/bcmagazine_webissue237/12megabites.html

Shanghai in Style

It's been so long since I last posted. It seems that when there are lots of cool things to blog about, there just isn't anytime to do so.

I spent 3 days with a friend from high school. Dave, he's in China at the mo teaching english. He managed to get a few days off so we could hang out in Shanghai.

 

Day 1.

The markets. Firstly, we went to the biggest market, Chipulu. This experience with Dave, Kenji and Peter was completely different to when I went with mum, Danny and XiaoYi. You see, the second list of people don't stand out in a crowd of chinese ppl (apart from the fact that we're incredibly good looking of course). So... Dave (the tall white boy) and Kenji (the Japanese boy) attracted lots of hagglers. It was horrible!! They kept following us around, trying to take us into certain stores. I hated it! I felt so preyed upon. It was intense and I didn't feel safe at all! It's one of the few times in my life that ever second word it my head was a swear word or some kind of aggressive phase :(  We didn't stay there for as long as we initially planned. There wasn't much that Dave saw anyway so it was no great lost. We didn't have this problem at Jiang market. In between this, we went to Nanjing Rd to have lunch at one of the side restaurants. It was a noodle place where you get to pick and choose the vegetables, meats, meatballs and tofu. It was quite nice and very cheap.

 

Before we left Jiang market, I needed a coat since it was almost evening and I was starting to get cold. This meant that I didn't have to go back to the hotel to get one. I can't say that I do that regularly in NZ. Kenji and Peter left after that since they had dinner plans. Dave and I came across a CD and DVD store. It looked nice so we went inside, down some steps which led to a slightly dodgy looking store. They were selling DVDs for 8 yeun each! pirated ones ofcourse. I checked out the CDs. They were alot more expensive. I'm not certain about whether they were pirated or not.

 

Haagen Daz icrecream was the next stop. Really yummy but definitely western prices.

 

We walked aroung afterwards looking for the mexican restaurant that was in out guide book. It didn't exist. We found a posh looking french restaurant. We decided to share a bottle of wine. Wine is 2-3 times the price of what would be charged in or the rest of the world. They had Montana Pinot Noir that we can get in most NZ supermarkets for about $15 and many restaurants for about $35. They charged $80. We went for an Australian Pinot. They didn't have the tasting notes and our waitre couldn't tell us what each bottle was like. Our choice fortunately turned out to be good and the waiter did an above average job of serving it, better than many NZ restaurants.

 

Day 2.

We walked along the bund river, had brunch at another western restaurant (my chicken and avocado grilled sandwich was fabulous) before crossing the river to explore the other side. We discovered that the observation deck of the Jaimao tower (on the 84th floor) that we wanted to go to would cost us 70 yuen. I called Danny. He gave us the inside info. He told us that we could get onto the 87th floor for free if we went to the bar and restaurant instead. We spent a few hours in the Shanghai historical meusum before browsing in the giant mall. We were waiting for 5pm to arrive which was when the bar in the Jaimao tower ("Cloud 9")would open up. While walking there, Dave observed that I was hungry. He commented that I get quiet just before meal time. So we did a detour. Thai restaurant. It was ok. Their Papaya salad made me happy though. By the time we arrive at Cloud 9, the city lights were out. We enjoyed the 100 million dollar view while sipping on cocktails. Oh the life!

 

We went back to the hotel to freshen up and so I could get more of my money off my brother. The taxi fair was quite expensive. Danny and his 2 flatmates said that the taxi driver probably took us for a detour. We've learnt to always grab the taxi receipts. They suggested where Dave and I could go for a night out on the town. They weren't keen on coming out because they had school the next day and 2 of them were quite sick also.

 

The taxi driver dropped us off. We got the impression that the bar that we wanted was close by. We wandered briefly before deciding to go into a nearby mall to ask for directions. We asked a styly girl at the counter. We told us about a bar at the top of the mall and said she'd take us there. We were treated very well. She gave us her card and said we could contact her whenever we came. Aparrently there was a cover charge but she said we were with her. Then we filled in our names and email addresses before getting a free drink voucher and having 2 people finding us a good table. The place was very popular and way more hip and funky than any bar that Dave's found in China. We had a few drinks (expat prices) and danced the night away. In between that, we had a photographer taking a few pics of us and at one stage, the bar top was lift of fire and there were bar men pouring drinks into people's mouths. Fun Times!!

 

Day 3.

We slept in. We caught the bus to People's square, walked through people's park before finding a flash thai restaurant at the top of a mall. We were hungry and lots trat of how many dishes we ordered. Turned out to be 7 dishes!! It was no surprise that we didn't finish it all. One of the dishes that we ordered was gross so it was really only 6, but still!

 

We went to the Shanghai museum. We had just over an hour since the museum was closing at 5pm. We later went to the foriegn book store so that Dave could get a few novels to read. Then we walking along Nanjing Rd, it was absolutely beautiful. We were grinning from ear to ear that we were hanging out in Shanghai, living a high roller's lifestyle. We enjoyed some yummy desserts and snacks before heading back to the hotel so that Dave could grab his things.

 

We said "see you in Christchurch" to each other and goodbye to 3 fabulous days of our lives

The Circus

We went to see the Shanghai Circus earlier this week. It was incredible!!! There were no animals, just lots of ridiculously talented people doing the most amazing things. I don't even know where to begin. There were women that were as flexible as if they didn't have any bones yet strong enough that they could support other humans being balanced on top of them. There were insane dirt bike stunts, ferrus wheel stunts, a man throwing and catching large clay pots as if they were rubber balls; and much much  more! We were all every impressed. We found it to be more entertaining than the Kung fu show in Beijing (though that was brilliant too).

Sickness

I'm not well at the mo. Wasn't feeling 100% when we were leaving Shanghai and now it's just gotten worse. I'm not doing much today so hopefully one day's rest will put me back on tract. Prayers in general is much appreciated - thanks