Seafood: Food of the Gods
I'm about to have some more seafood at the Dragon inn again. The lobster is a little scared right now >.<
A quiet week
So it's been a pretty quiet week. Things are getting ramped up for Chinese New Year in Hong Kong and decorations are all over the place. It's like Chinese New Year puked blood all over Hong Kong since everything is red and vibrant. For those of you that don't know, it's the year of the Tiger so Sammy and I have seen everything from Hello Kitty in a Tiger costume to Disney's Stitch in a tiger costume.
Monday February 1st:
We went to New Territories on Monday to get mandarin plants as well as water lillies for the apartments and the office. These are all in preparation for Chinese New Year which is a HUGE event in Hong Kong. As you can see from the pictures, there are a lot of plants in New Territories since it's still very agriculturally vibrant. There are lots of farms and nurseries out there still and as Hong Kong grows, I hope they keep some agricultural production inside the borders because relying on mainland china or other countries for produce would be a mistake. After shopping for plants, we all dropped by Kowloon to have some Thai food. We had some chicken foot salad, tom yung gong, thai iced tea, fried shrimp balls and meat patties, shrimp in coconut curry, and some thai pomelo salad. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures since I was so famished.
My iPad Preview
As some of you may know, I'm quite a techie. I'm a special type of techie though and that's the special and coveted (hopefully someone will hire me soon in HK 
) business techie. I wrote the Quintessential Guide to Exchange Server 2003-2007 connectivity, I was a Windows Mobile specialist for years, I practically coined the term Mobile Device back in the 1990s. Those of you that have heard of any of those know that I'm all about real-world results so I'm going to cover Apple's latest device: the iPad. I'm actually previewing it today because I wasn't really doing a whole lot except for follow ups for jobs.
First, you should know that the iPad is not a feminine hygiene product. It's actually a pretty nifty looking slate of glass and metal. My previews/reviews are normally based on real-world information and testing that I've done personally. They are also highly opinionated so if you're expecting impartial reviews, you're not going to get one. The other aspect that I cover in my reviews is one of a normal human being that actually uses technology on a day to day basis. If you're a casual user, or a full blown techie, you may disagree with my opinion. Lastly, I'm not an Apple fan boy so don't paint me as such. I just believe in the best technology to either be efficient or to turn a profit. Feel free to let me know your comments below. I'm breaking up the preview into several logical parts since that's my MO and we'll start.
Accounts are open finally
Friday January 29th:
So I finally opened up a new bank account with Hang Seng Bank in Central. The process is actually not that bad for those that want to come to Hong Kong to work or start up a business. The people at Hang Seng bank were very helpful in reducing fees for international transfers as well as getting my accounts set up properly. They also took care of my online banking needs and had a new ATM card for me immediately. One of the best things about Hang Seng bank are their ATMs which are conveniently located all over Hong Kong. I found that their ATMs also allow foreign withdrawals as well which Bank of China did not. Other than setting up my accounts, today was spent mostly applying to jobs and getting more electronic stuff organized and optimized.
Sophie’s Birthday Dinner
Bucket O Beer
Sophie's Long Table
Beer and friends
Sophie and her Pooh stuff
Sammy and Sophie
Cake!!!!
What is that???
Sophie's ginormous pork knuckle
Sophie's Birthday Wednesday January 27th:
It's nearing the end of the 3rd week that Sammy and I are in Hong Kong. Last night, Wednesday the 27th, was one of my best friends from college's birthday. For those of you that don't know her yet, her name is Sophie. She's a crazy, fun-loving, party-hearty heck of a gal. Photo evidence is provided above ^_^. We had dinner at Frites which was a belgian moules frites place. I had a delicious deep fried Camembert to share with Sammy and also a steak tartare which was quite yummy. Sammy had half a kilo of mussels with tomatoes and cream which were also quite yummy. Surprising to me was my bucket O' beer which was a Hoegaarden and Sammy had a Leffe. Sophie ordered a giant roasted pork knuckle which looked amazing. We met so many new people at dinner which was very enjoyable. The evening was a blast as you can clearly see from the pictures. Happy Birthday Sophie!!!
Catching up to current
Monday January 18th:
I'm playing a little catch-up and trying to get all my posts up to date. I'm about a week behind so here I go. Monday, Sammy and I tried to get her 6 month chinese visa. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring her passport and we ended up going to the CMA building office in Central. We ordered new simple business cards with our new HK numbers so people could contact us for jobs, interviews, etc... After lunch I went with Sammy to the Wan Chai Computer Centre to shop for phones. To my surprise, she purchased an HTC Hero before I even bought any electronics. So now, she has an HTC Hero and it's working pretty well. The evening was spent downloading applications and setting up the Hero.
Hong Kong Swing Festival and the aftermath
Peter Vawter playing jazz violin after Grappa's
Grappa's Cellar early
Wednesday January 13th:
So we continue after the blogging to relax and prepare for the first crazy night of the Hong Kong Swing Festival organized by HKSwings! . Sammy and I went to Grappa's Cellar that night to enjoy our first night of social dancing. Already several of the swing dancing instructors had flown in and were enjoying some food. The night ended spectacularly with Peter Vawter playing some jazz violin near Jardine House (the building of 1000 assholes).
The First 3 Days in Hong Kong
It's only been 3 days since I have arrived in Hong Kong. The flight was a grueling 15 hours with a 2 hour waiting period for the last 5 passengers on the plane. Total time on the plane: 17 hours. The first night in Hong Kong was the 11th. I spent it getting all of our luggage from the airport into Central on the train. Total weight of baggage: 300 lbs/136kg. Afterwards, I ate some food and went to sleep. Total sleep time during first night: 7 hours. Find out more about my trip after the break!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! It's now Friday, January 1st 2010 and the start of my adventure. In 10 days, I am traveling to Hong Kong to create a new life. I'm armed with only some clothes, my electronics, and this blog. I will attempt to document my trip and details of moving to Hong Kong. First some background information: I'm currently 30, a resident of New York City, gainfully unemployed, and have a technology side business which earns some minimal cash. I wanted to move to Hong Kong for everything that New York City is not. Hong Kong will be the gateway to the East for westerners and it's my destination since I'm an American Born Chinese (ABC for short) and a perfect bridge between the 2 worlds. I'm currently at my girlfriend's parents house in Atlanta, Georgia for the holidays and will be returning to New York City on January 5th by car. It's going to be an exciting ride and I'm packing my gear already.
So here is my progress currently: I have 3 friends in Hong Kong right now who are helping me out with networking and other details. One of my friends, Karen Tong, is the head of the Hong Kong Swings, which is a Swing Dancing organization. I am a swing dancer and a bit of an instructor from when I was in NYC. She has kindly hooked me up with a dance studio named DanzsStage so I can teach Lindy Hop Swing Dance part-time. So at least I will have some side income while I am in Hong Kong. I also booked my girlfriend's and my flight to Hong Kong about a month in advance. It's not cheap since minimum fare is about USD$750 round trip. The price for tickets can rocket to around USD$2000 if we didn't plan ahead. We also booked a car from Atlanta to NYC for the 5th of January. It will be an interesting trip to say the least.
One of the major goals I have while I am in Hong Kong will be to network with people and make some new friends. I'm interested in creating new relationships that will benefit each other and allow some new possibilities take place. I think it is important for people to connect with each other and use their imaginations to create new possibilities for their lives. I want to bring the power of inspiration and imagination to Hong Kong to build a bridge between the East and the West.
So that's it for right now and for all my blog readers, Happy 2010!