What the future holds

The temperature today is hitting 24c but it feels hotter. I am totally confused about how to predict the weather now. I left a cloudy Wan Chai wearing a jumper this morning, then by the time I exited the train to walk to work it was hot, blue and sunny. I have now got both fans on in my office and the airconditioning humming away too, yet still I am uncomfortably warm.

On a totally different note I have done three interviews recently with potential employees for next year who have informed me that they have discovered this blog. It would appear that my hard work to make sure that this blog can't be discovered under the company name has been pointless. This is mainly because my full name is on the interview emails I send out, so people wanting to research me type in my full name and then find the blog. It is no big deal as I have nothing bad to say about the company, it is still a little weird though!

Generally I have been really busy with work recently and shall be even more so up until next weekend. I have just finished a huge 2 month project yesterday so feel really happy, it was one of those things that I never thought I would see the end of! However, I still have my recruitment trip in February to finalise which is a huge task, so expect the next update of the blog to be next weekend!

bx

PS: Parental units, I have just recieved a package from you that I assume is for Christmas. THANKS! XxX (can I open it?)

PPS: The picture above is of a Chinese fortune teller I took in the Night Market.

False Representation

I nearly spat my green tea from my nose when I opened up HK magazine to see this advert




Before I start ranting, let us look at the main picture in more detail.



People who know what Dusk Till Dawn is like will understand why tea nearly came out of my nose. I will do my best to explain.

Dusk Till Dawn is quite simply the finest example of the underbelly of Wan Chai that ever existed.

It is packed with overly agressive bar staff who will grab you by the elbows and frog march you to the bar should you not have a drink in hand. (Even if a friend is at the bar getting you one)
It has bouncers that are far more agressive than the customers ever get.
It is packed full of prostitutes.
It quite often stinks of deep fried chips.
Last time I was there I was punched for no reason in the kidneys.
It is always overcrowded and violent on a weekend evening

I admit that all this is part of the attraction and character of Dusk Till Dawn. Problem I have is that the image they use to represent the place belongs in some sort of alternate universe.

Where is the blood and vomit I ask you!

bx

No Parking

I was quite sad to see loads of local bars and brothels displaying "US NAVY WELCOME HERE" signs whilst walking through Wan Chai the other day.

It meant that for a few days Wan Chai would change and become a totally different animal. I was with a few friends when we spotted the ominous signs and one of them quite rightly said that for the next three days they were not leaving the flat.

Luckily though I have since discovered that China intervened on our behalf.

"Top U.S. Navy officials sharply criticized China on Tuesday for refusing to allow U.S. warships to stop in Hong Kong last week, signaling a potential fracture in American-Chinese relations just a short time after a visit to Beijing by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
On Nov. 20, the Chinese refused to allow two minesweepers, the Patriot and Guardian, to come into Hong Kong to refuel and take refuge from a storm. The next day, the Chinese refused to permit the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and its strike group to make a scheduled four-day port call to Hong Kong for the Thanksgiving holiday" (Source)

It is kind of a shame the Americans could not celebrate Thanksgiving. I am giving thanks though that they never got chance to take over Wan Chai.

bx

Sounds of Wan Chai

Workers were erecting scaffolding on the roof of my building so I decided I should close my windows yesterday.

This decision was not based on privacy. To be honest I think my neighbours probably wish I would display a little more attention to privacy through correct curtain control.

I closed my windows because shards of bamboo (from the workmen) kept on hitting my windows and bouncing into my flat. I also closed them because I think a suspect liquid was dropped from above and made my washing hanging outside require a second wash. I could just leave 'suspect liquid' to your imaginations, but I will go right ahead and say that I think it was pee.

So I closed my windows and went out for the evening to Lang Kwai Fong. (Parents will be pleased to know that I have given my liver a substanial rest for the last month and I only was drinking local beer the entire night.)
Despite this I still rolled back home reasonably sozzled and collapsed into bed at 3am.

But I could not sleep.

I wanted to sleep, but could not do it. The room was not spinning, I did not have any need to visit the toilet on my knees, so why could I not sleep?
Well the reason at the time did not come as quickly to me as it probably has to you. I could not sleep because my room was silent thanks to fantastic double glazing of my closed windows. Even the next door parrot was behaving itself.

For the past 5 months I have always slept with my windows open and the sounds of Wan Chai in my room. Trams hooting, pedestrian crossings beeping and fish sellers wailing, it seems I can no longer sleep well in quiet surroundings.

Not content to just write about it. I decided to take a video!



The quality is not great, but it is the sounds that I want you to listen to. Hear that woman who sounds like she has something to say with a megaphone?


Well not only did I hear her, I hunted the annoying cow down and took pictures.

I dont know if it is possible to convey "I'm going to take these pictures and take them to the local council to complain about noise hooliganism" in one facial expression and angry weilding of a camera. But I gave it a try anyway.

bx

Do you like food??

I made a reasonably stupid mistake at work today involving the new human resources guy in the office. My mistake involved giving him the task of going through every university website we have on file and posting adverts to work in Hong Kong.

My mistake was that he is Chinese and I am English. I asked him to do something in English, but did not double check he understood. So what happened was that he then sent out ten emails to university career services, instead of posting adverts on their webpages. These emails were outdated and contained the wrong information. It was no huge deal, but a classic example of the communication difficulties that can occur out here.

This general subject was raised at dinner this evening. With Korean, American, Chinese and British people round the table, it was bound to get amusing.

One story that Laura told involved a Greek member of our gang called George. He was at a party with Laura and she introduced him to a friend of hers. During the introduction she mentioned to the friend that George was Greek. This resulted in the friend assuming that because George was Greek, he could not understand her. She looked at him and started shouting "HELLO GEORGE, NICE TO MEET YOU, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT FOOD, DO YOU LIKE FOOD? (hand gestures of eating took place at this point) WHAT FOOD DO YOU LIKE???"

After this George quickly whispered to Laura in perfect English, "why is she speaking to me like i'm a retard"?

I think that amusing mistakes and stories involving language must happen every day in a place like Hong Kong. I bet that the really serious mistakes never get reported though!

bx

ps. Hello George, I know you read this every day, do some work!

Sleeping on the beach

The company organizes one or two activities a month which normally are free of charge. This month we all decided to go camping on an island!

It was my first time camping in Hong Kong, but quite a few of my friends have been to the island before. In total there were 40 of us who went which was nice. I arrived a little later than most of the gang and by then the BBQ was in full swing, as was the beer. It was night time so I had no good idea what the campsite looked like.

I did find some cool new functions on my editing software though, that turns pictures into weird looking cartoons.

There was quite a bit of night swimming...and if reports are to be believed, skinnydipping.

I went to the toilet and found myself face to face with some type of horned cow.

After a great nights sleep I woke up at silly o'clock in the morning to the sounds of waves smashing. (waves after drink smash, they do not 'lap' or 'gently roll'). What was fantastic was that we were right on the beach, and the air was really fresh. So I went for a walk.

However, two steps from my tent I came across two lumps sleeping on the beach. This is what I can only assume was the result of a good idea at the time. Concerned that the lumps may be dead, I gave them a little kick. I rationalized the kick with the decision that dead employees are never good on a Sunday.

And they were alive.

The beach was stunning and practically deserted.

There was a beachside cafe which was really really good for breakfast (although I got sunburnt a bit where I was sitting)

Then I started playing with the editing software again.

It was a great way to spend a wekeend, somethng tells me i'm going to be visiting these little tents again sometime soon!

bx

Left and Right

On the left: You can see the entrace to the hotel my parents will be staying in next month

On the right: You can see the entrance to the "Express Club"

On the left: You pay by the day

On the right: You pay by the hour

On the left: They give you complimentary soaps

On the right: I doubt any service is complimentary

On the left: They have nice people to greet you at the door

On the right: They have men waiting to beat you should you call a girl a ...


Looks set to be an interesting family visit!

bx