Thanksgiving weekend....Hong Kong Style

As some of you might have figured out from the last post, we spent our Turkey Day in the oh so bustling and money making metropolis most call Hong Kong. We spent three days & four nights and now that we've been there, done that, we're not sure how soon we'd recommend it for those who have it ranked up high on the to-do list. BUT if you are aiming to see how many knock-off purses, watches, jewelry, and "tailor-made" suits you can own...this is the trip for you.

Being as Hong Kong was once owned by the British, the cities/islands that make up the area are pretty westernized and most people speak english (although I think more often than not we got ignored because no one wanted to deal with us), ohh yeah, the other thing they do have is the attitude of the western world, not very nice!! Busy, Busy, Busy is what they would have their licenses plates say. The amount of traffic and noise is truly a sight to see. We learned that you have to get your name on a waiting list when you are like 6 to be able to own a car.....,WAAAY too many people in one space.

The food was Amazing! We had Chinese, Thai, Italian, Greek, American, you name it, we had it. Our hotel was really nice....twin beds and just enough room to walk around the bed and lie down...and we were in a "superior deluxe" four star hotel. Our favorite things to do were on top of 'The Peak", a very nice view of the whole city and the trolley ride. We tried to see Asia's biggest Buddha (something like 200 feet tall) but we didn't manage our schedule very well, so we had to forego that one.

All in all another great trip with a great group of friends. Where to next you might ask??? I think we would like to see the real China and explore a little more culture. Until next time....

Tis the season (already?)

It all started the day after Halloween when I walked into the BX (a store very similar to Wal/K-mart) and the orange and browns of fall/halloween had been replaced with red, green, and silver. Apparently being a day ahead of the rest of the Western world isn't good enough, we need an even bigger jump on Christmas (the commercial part anyway)...this probably highlights my shopping ignorance, but isn't that a bit early? Anyhoo...

We also had the pleasure of celebrating an early Thanksgiving dinner with some of our Okinawan family last weekend. This same group of friends will be spending "Turkey Day" proper traveling to Hong Kong and our chances of finding turkey and the fixings will probably be slim to none, so we figured we'd celebrate early since we had the time.

We topped off dinner with our annual review of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and the ladies all decided it was time to decorate. So, Ang spent this Sunday dragging out 6 super-sized rubber maid tubs of Christmas gear along with the tree and setting it all up. (and yes, we had some christmas tunes on to set the mood right). So thanks to her efforts, the house looks great and we're officially kicking off our holiday season in style...(along with all the other Christmas junkies out there)

A Long Short Week...

You'd think a short week would be the next greatest thing since sliced bread right? Well, for those not in the know, the mighty Eagle jet has been grounded for a little over a week and a half now, so what would normally be a short, 4 day week of work has turned into another long week of not flying! In what seems to be a strange twist of fate, Ang's work has gone crazy lately since the people that work in her Center keep deciding they don't want to show up to work. Maturity and responsibility are overrated anyway. So the good news is that while her work is busy, I seem to have a little extra free time on my hands to get things done for now...so life's all good.

In kiteboarding news, I was able to finally get up on the board for a few good tries on Monday and I even rode upwind a little (no small feat in my humble opinion). Unfortunately, we weren't able to end the day on a high note as my friend Mark lost his wedding ring while we were out in the water... Keep your eyes peeled for a titanium wedding ring washing up on a beach near you!

Hitting the water & harnessing the wind

Thanks to my friend Mark, I've found a new hobby called kiteboarding. It's great because it gets you out onto the water (a time tested, proven method to combat island fever) and it also happens to be a blast to try. It's not a cheap sport to get into (just ask Angie), but that also works in sort of an advantage to limit the number of people who do it. Like anything else, it's easy to get hurt doing it, but that just contributes to the adrenaline rush that fuels the fun, right? The basics are a kite, a harness, and a board...and of course the wind, but that part's free! That's another huge advantage, once you buy your gear, there's no lift ticket, or park entrance fee involved, you just need a little bit of clear beach, some good wind, and a friend to help you launch. You can even do this on snow (with a snowboard) or on land with other gear. The water is quite a bit more forgiving though, so I'll be sticking to the current method for now. I've been out trying this for the past 3-4 weekends and I've certainly had my share of falls and drags, along with drinking/inhaling plenty of saltwater, but the few times I've gotten up on the board have been way cool. I've definitely got the bug, so I'll keep you posted once I'm finally up and riding with a little confidence...

Getting spoiled airplane style...

After several anxious minutes and more than a couple of trips to the counter, we managed to score an upgrade on our flight from Chicago to Tokyo. Talk about a change...we swap our boarding passes and immediately board the flight (we've now become important enough not to wait in line). As soon as we board (not even seated yet) they're offering us drinks from a tray with apple, orange juice, and champagne. Then as we start to get settled, I overhear a flight attendant apologizing profusely to someone for running out of slippers already. This seemed strange to me but as we looked around, the rule in business seemed to be, sit down, buckle your seat belt and kick off your shoes (it's time to relax!). I then realized that with your seat belt fastened you can't reach the seat back in front of you...sounds painful doesn't it...there's almost enough room between rows for people to walk like an aisle. This of course is designed for the 20 way adjustable seat that is some kind of morph between an airline seat and a Lay-z-Boy. To continue getting settled, we check out the "amenities"...our own pillow and blanket, noise-reducing headphones, personal tv screen with 8 channels of movies, 20 channels of radio, and a pack of stuff like a sleeping mask, lotion and kleen-ex. By that time it was time for round 2 of what would end up as non-stop drink service. I felt pretty cool until I tried to get my book out of the seat pocket in front of me and manage to spill water and wine on myself (such an ametuer). Good thing we had 12 hours to get dried out!

Bottom line is we were blessed to have been in the right place at the right time, with the ability to afford a treat like this, but holy jeeze, I'm not sure if we'll be able to handle going back to cattle car style next time...

The "Perfect" Typhoon

Well, we've managed to survive yet another typhoon, this time it was Typhoon "Nari". It's closest point of approach to the island was about 20 miles to our southwest, and the center of the storm had 90 knot winds with gusts to 135. We actually only saw 65 knot winds on island, and true to form, our concrete bunker survived with no major damage (just a couple of nicks on our door plaque we forgot to bring in...). The craziest part of the storm was the lack of notice leading up to it. We usually get a couple of days of warning, but this one just kind of popped up about a day and a half out. As you can imagine, instead of preparing in advance, it seems like most people wait until the last minute to stock up (since it only takes a minute). The picture in this blog is of the commissary (grocery store) on the Friday afternoon before the storm...

Luckily, we didn't have to wade into that craziness. After that though, it literally was like the perfect typhoon. The few days before it were still really nice out, and even on Friday it didn't start raining until late afternoon. The strongest part passed us at 9:00pm, so we ended up sleeping through the worst part of it, and we managed to keep our power throughout. (that's a pretty nice accomplishment, considering we lose power on days were there's not a cloud in the sky). To top it off, Saturday morning started off with sunshine and besides a couple of small branches from the trees, you almost wouldn't have even known we'd had a typhoon.