Junk Boat Tour

Friday night my friends and I went on a junk boat tour of  Victoria Harbour here in Hong Kong. We got on the boat from the Central side and cruised around the harbor before returning to the same side.

Rumor is that the boat is an old pirate ship. It is a motorized boat and the sails are just for decoration.

 

This view totally looks like a pirate ship to me.
 

 Clare, Amber and I on the boat.

Selfie on the boat!

Looking back at Central side of the harbor.

This is looking at the Kowloon side of the harbor (TST area).

 

And of course with the ferris wheel in the background.

Definitely a great experience and I would highly recommend the trip.

Chinese New Year Preparations

So everyone here is preparing for Chinese New Year and I am trying to learn as much as I can about what to do. I have gotten many recommendations and advice from different people.
  
You have to know that Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days, not just 1 or 2. The first day of CNY is called Lunar New Year. The most important days are the Eve of Lunar New Year and the first 3 days on CNY. Therefore, we have 2.5 days off of work for the holiday so it coincides with the weekend this year.

Thursday Feb 19th, 2015 - First Day of CNY / Lunar New Year

Lai Sees
First thing I learned is that during CNY, is that people give out Lai Sees which are red packets with money inside. Bosses give them to employees. People give them to their hair dresser, doorman, helper, and others who regularly help them during the year. Married people give them to single people. :)  And people give them to their friend's young children. You are supposed to give new banknotes so this time of year the lines at the banks are super long and they run out of new notes each day. It's also best to give only one note and no coins. Also need to avoid anything with "4" in it as that is not a good number here.

Interesting Things to Note:

They believe that what happens over CNY will guide your destiny for the year.

• Before CNY you are supposed to:
• clean your apartment and sweep the floors. This is because during CNY you are not supposed to throw out trash or sweep the floor.
• get new clothes and a haircut to have a fresh start in the New Year.
• get your fortune told by a fortune teller
• get a haircut
• Superstitions are well known and people are serious about them. Certain words that sound like the words for "death," "rough" and other bad words are restricted.
  
• Bookstores will be closed all during CNY.
• You are not supposed to buy shoes over CNY (not cool)...
• You should not get your hair done over CNY. Scissors are sharp, you are suppose to avoid sharp objects.
• During certain days of CNY I am told to: don't bargain, don't throw away trash, don't argue, don't eat chicken, don't sweep the floor and don't wash your hair.
• Do not take medicine. If you take medicine you will be sick all year.

CNY Schedule (as best I know it):
In preparing for CNY, one should clean their house.

There are a ton of markets especially flower markets where you should go to buy plants and flowers for your home.

There is also a Wishing Tree where you go and write your wish on a paper and throw it into the tree before or during CNY.

Eve of Lunar New Year: The night before most people go home to their family and share a meal.
Day 1 (Thursday): All family members should wear new clothes (head to toe.) There is a parade in TST at 8 PM
Day 2 (Friday): Fireworks over the Harbor
Day 3 (Saturday): Do not visit people, go to temple (suggested Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin) to change your destiny for the new year.


Here's to the Year of the Sheep/Goat!

I will share pictures as it all unfolds.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Weekend of Monkeying Around

I forgot to post this last weekend...



So this weekend I was happy for a break.

Friday night I relaxed at home with takeaway pizza and wine while I did a bit of school work.

Saturday morning my shipment from the US arrived and I was super happy. I went and had more drama with HSBC bank trying to open my account. I now have an ATM card but no pin number... partly the fault of my previous apartment who didn't hold my mail as instructed but returned to sender.

After the bank drama, Sarah, Mark and I took the tram (aka ding ding) to Kennedy Town for lunch by the water. We ate at a great little place on the water with a great selection of 90s music. A few drinks and lunch later we ventured back to Central area. They went grocery shopping so I decided to check out the Botanical Garden that is near my house. 

And boy am I glad I did. What a great park and zoo right near me.  Best part... MONKEYS!

Saturday night, Daniela, Rik and I went out for drinks and then ate dinner at Torimen which was a fabulous Japanese yakitori restaurant. I will definitely go back there!

Sunday morning was a filled with unpacking all the treasures. I was like a mini-Christmas waiting to see what I had packed in each box. Clothes! Shoes! Pictures! My Patriots blanket! A flashlight! Woohoo!

Making a house a home

So my shipment from the U.S. arrived this weekend and I couldn't be happier. First of all I get more clothes and shoes to wear. Yay. Closets are now full. So glad I got the apartment with plenty of storage.

I also got my personal effects to make this place more homey. Pictures and quilts from home add just the right touch.

A little bit of home goes a long way. <3

HK Light Show - Or a Part of It

So for those who know Hong Kong you know that every night (yes, every night) there is a light show on the harbor with all the building on either side flashing their flights and creating a really cool show.


I have seen the show many times before but I must admit that I have been here a month and haven't seen the show once.

Until tonight.... well I can't even say I say the whole show tonight. I decide to check out the view of the light show from my apartment. I can't really see the whole harbor but I have a great view of one large building. So this is the part of the light show that I watched!

For those of you who have never seen the light show, it is a must do when you come visit me in Hong Kong.

So not part of the light show but later tonight I looked out the window at the harbor. There is one building that is changing all the time and is so cool. Here are two videos of the cool animations on the sides of the building. I could just sit and watch it all night.

China Factory Visits

This week I went to three different China factories. I am trying to get as many visits done before they shut down for Chinese New Year (starting next week). Most factories shut down for 2-3 weeks because their workers travel far to go back home for the holiday.

Tuesday we went to a factory about 3.5 hours from Hong Kong. The boss of the factory picked us up in a van and drove us. Very long day. We couldn't take pictures in the factory but in order to visit the controlled facility that makes Playdoh we needed our lab coats and they let us take pictures. 

Below is me, Walter (Preschool Engineering Lead) and James (Sub-category Lead for Preschool).

Then we took a picture with those from the factory. L to R: Walter, Daniel (factory boss), me, James, Victor, Feather and Marty.

Thursday I traveled to another vendor which was about a 2 hour ride from Hong Kong. Again was picked up in a car. We went to 2 plants that this one factory owns. I got to see a bunch of my team's items being made. It took about 2.5 hours to get home from the second plant. Sigh. Luckily in the car rides I have been able to close my eyes and get a small nap in.

Friday I took the train to and from China to visit a vendor in Shenzhen. One hour to the border and then 30 minute car ride to the factory. Spent a long time at this factory watching one specific assembly line to learn it's in depth details. 

Long week but I learned so much by seeing manufacturing first hand and visiting these vendors. Will definitely help me as we proceed with development that I know more about the details.

The fun part of my week was going out to dinner with all the other category leads. It was the first time we all got together. We went to a great Japanese restaurant near work and had great food, drink and conversation. 

Let's see from left to right... Stanley (Disney Boys), me (Preschool), Irene (Disney Girls), Nelson (Play-doh), Edmond (Games), Casey (Boys), Kenny (Girls), Kenneth (Nerf/Sports Action), Thomas (Plush), and Rico (New Initiatives). Cheers!

Going to bed early tonight... I'm exhausted from this week.

Weekend Activites

So this weekend I spent most of Saturday on apartment stuff (repairmen, shopping, cleaning, etc). Friday night I went to an event at W hotel and met some very nice people. Here is a picture of Amber, Claire and I. Amber is teacher at an English school from Colorado and Claire is working in property management and is from London. 

Saturday, the Hasbro expat group took me out to dinner and drinks. Great time chatting and enjoying time with my "Hong Kong family."

Sunday I did a hike up to Victoria Peak with Claire. It's a 20 minute hike, straight uphill, to the Peak. And then we did the Peak trail around the perimeter of the Peak.

Here you can see the Peak building at the top. There are stores and restaurants in the building.

Here is the view of Central from the top. I think I found my apartment building.

Wonderful waterfall on the Peak Trail.

Around the side of the Peak to the West (I think).

After the Pike Trail, we sat at Pacific Coffee to drink all the calories we burned off and chat.

After the hike down, Claire then took me to the grocery store and pointed out the ingredients she uses to cook so I have a better idea of what to buy and cook. Now I just need pans to cook in!