Went to Court

Saturday my friend Hannah was admitted as a solicitor (lawyer) into the Hong Kong High Court. So we all went to watch the ceremony and then celebrate with brunch. 

Posing pre ceremony. 

Me, Hannah and Clare. 

Courtroom before we were told to stop taking pictures. 

Barristers do wear the wigs!!

Hannah with her pupil master. 

Brunch!! At Conrad hotel. 

Seafood! 

With Andy, Hannah's husband. Poolside at Marriot after. 

Sichuan Food

Sichuan food is spicy pungent cuisine from China. I usually don't eat spicy food in US but the flavors in Sichuan food is very good. 

Last night Andy, Donna and I went to Chonqing for delicious Sichuan. 

Pork belly. 

Spicy fried chicken. This is the most delicious chicken!!!

We had the pungent spicy fish too which numbs your mouth. 

Dragon Boat

So I have missed the first 6 dragon boat trainings this year due to work commitments. But Friday I finally rearranged my schedule so I could go. 

It was an overcast day and we got hit with a few rain storms. So we were soaked by the time we finished. It is a super tough workout. 

After the training we showered and dried off and then went back for the beach for a bbq. They had bought fresh seafood and we had a great selection of food. 

Fresh scallops are the best! 

The beach! 

Overall great day. I am super sore though!!! 

Birthday Monday

Monday was my actual birthday. Which means I get 36 hours of love with HK and US time.

Today I worked and had good time with coworkers. Bonnie sang to me. Many wished me a good day. My balloons made it to work. 

My US team is in HK for meetings so we had team dinner tonight. 

Sunset. 

Gorgeous view from the Pacific Club. 

Team pic with birthday cake!

Local group even sang me a Cantonese birthday song. 

Here's my cake! 

PS. It's hard to see in these pictures but I am wearing the dress that my brother bought me for my birthday. Custom dress! 

Birthday Sunday

Birthday celebration for Sunday was brunch at the Peak. My favorite! 4 hours of great food, great friends and champagne. With a great view. 

Natascha tried to embarrass me by getting some pictures of me as a child. What she didn't know is that I was an adorable child. Now my teenage years are the embarrassing ones... 

  

Back to the present...

My halo is on straight still. 

Cheers! 

Here is your little angel (then and now).

Birthday Saturday

Birthday weekend theme is Bubbles!!

Saturday a brave group of friends and I went to play bubble soccer. We were lucky to score time in between 2 little kids parties. Made me feel great that my party was right after that of a 5 year old. 

We played at indoor soccer facility. Usually you play 4 on 4 but we had 9 people so they let us play 4 on 5. 

Here are the little kids playing before us. 

Group shot!

Here is video of guy giving the demo (and safety instructions) as he pushes me around.

Here is a bit of the game. Notice people just bouncing all over the place.

I definitely thought I wanted to take the bubble outside. I think it's just the personal space bubble I need walking around Hong Kong. Not sure I'd fit on the MTR train though....


After the game, the kids party had pizza and soda. This adult party moved onto a restaurant with wings and beer.

Here we are after playing. A little tired and sweaty.

Fun time. Maybe not for adults over 30. We were all a little achy the day after. Nothing some Advil didn't make better.

Early Birthday

My team surprised me yesterday with an early birthday celebration. 

What is happening in this dark room?

Cake is happening! 2 cakes!

Ivy actually made me a green tea cheesecake! So delicious and customized with an "M".

Words cannot describe how awesome this gift is. Steven took a photo of me in my favorite jersey and drew it.

Yep, mouth wide open...

 


My Preschool team family! 

And everyone!

I was super surprised and so honored that they put this together! So thoughtful!  <3

 

 

 

Bangkok, Thailand

So for work we are doing a 3 day workshop in Bangkok, Thailand. Yes I realise that this isn't most people's lives. 

The workshop is just after a 3 day holiday weekend in Hong Kong so I decided to make it a combo fun/work trip and go to Bangkok early. 4 days fun and 3 days work. That's a good compromise.

Landed in Bangkok and as I was making my way through the airport I saw Constance! She works in HR at Hasbro. Yay! Her and her husband are also sightseeing and shopping before the workshop. 

I am staying at the Sukhothai hotel. Wow. This place is amazing. 

When I first got to my hotel room and was planning to head out sightseeing a huge thunderstorm rolled in. So I stayed in a little longer and planned my adventures. Grey skies. 

Once the rain stopped I ventured out to the local neighbourhood. The hotel is on a large 2 sided busy street with large median so I had to walk a bit to get to pedestrian overpass. View from overpass. 

I walked Convent Street which has a bunch of local restaurants and a few western (there is an Irish pub). I was hungry so I stopped for some Thai delights. Green mango salad and green chicken curry. 

Then I walked to Patpong area where there are local entertainment places (I will leave this for your imagination) and also a night market. I know I am pretty picky when I wasn't impressed with the market. Real small and the same t-shirts, watches and knockoff handbags repeated over and over. I stopped at 7-eleven (an Asian oasis to avoid high mini bar charges) and went back to hotel to call it a night.

Temperatures in Bangkok this time of year are in mid 90s F. Heat index 109 degrees. Nighttime is a cool 82. Hahaha. 

Sunday I had plan to get up early to get some sightseeing and shopping done before the afternoon heat. I had an amazing buffet breakfast at the hotel and then made the journey via subway to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This place is huge! Clothes, ceramics, jewellery, antiques, bags, artwork, food, massages, flowers, tools, etc.

Here is map of the market. I made it through the left side only about first 1/4. It's like a maze of shiny pretty things! 

Good news is, I have now started my Christmas shopping. Some lucky people are getting Thai goodies!

I spent 3.5 hours and only covered about 1/4 of the market. I am currently writing this blog post from a massage chair. I was wooed by the enticing saws pitch of "massage, air conditioning and wifi". 45 minutes of foot and shoulder massage for 200 baht (aka USD $5.73). Yes you read that right. 45 minute massage, AC and wifi all for under 6 bucks. I feel like I have hit the lottery.

So I took the Skytrain back south towards my hotel. I got off at Siam and checked out Siam Paragon a very fancy mall with all the top designers. 

It's so high end even Tom Cruise was there. 

I got slightly distracted by the shoe department. Not surprising. 

I checked it out and then left taking the next Skytrain back towards my hotel. By this time I was hot and sweaty with a heavy backpack due to my many purchases at the market. 

Monday I got up early to try to avoid hottest part of the day and went sightseeing. I took Skytrain to the river and took a tour boat up the river.

 

Wat Arun which is under construction.

First stop was Grand Palace. I spent 45 minutes looking at pretty shrines, buildings and statues before actually finding the palace.

 Oh finally, here's the Grand Palace.

After the Palace, it was a short but hot walk to Wat Pho where the reclining Buddha is. There was gorgeous courtyard which I walked around and there were so few people there at times I thought I had taken a wrong turn. 

After this I was so hot and tired that I went back to the river, found an express boat back to the train and returned to the hotel. 

Monday I went to a roof bar at Banyan Tree Hotel to watch the sunset. It was an amazing 360 view of the city and a breathtaking sunset. 

 

 

 

Tuesday was pool day. A little R&R in the sunshine. 

The culture contrast at the pool is fascinating. Asian mother and daughter. Daughter is approximately 8 years old wearing full body swimsuit, life jacket strapped to her legs and a hat.  Will not swim more than 10 feet from mother. Western family (French maybe) daughter is approximately 4 years old in swim bottoms only and 2 arm floaties jumping into the deep end with no fear.

Wednesday afternoon we started our workshop. It was a good 3 days of work with plenty of fun and food.