What about the weather?

As a Swede you don’t realize just how obsessed we are with the weather, until you meet people who don’t care whatsoever. Hong Kong people don’t care about the weather. They look at me funny when I talk about the weather, like, why does it matter? It’s all the same to them, (except that it's not)... To me it’s second nature to talk about the weather changes, and I love talking about it no matter if I know the person or not. It’s almost an obsession haha. Well, perhaps it even counts as an obsession?

I guess if you grew up in Hong Kong, where the weather is not that dramatically different around the year I you stopped to notice. Basically you can dress the same all year round. Even if it will get a bit cold in the winter, the cold days usually just last for just a few days. In the summer it’s usually too hot to be outside anyway, and the Air Condition is blasting so frosty that people wear the same layer of clothes inside during the summer months as they would wear outside during the winter. Does it makes sense?

But they DO have more weather change than what they think. Right now the weather is very unpredictable. It’s raining, then pouring, 20 degrees and then 29 degrees, extremely humid, after thunder not so humid and sunny, all in the same day. True spring weather, so to speak. On my way to work I may walk in a short sleeved top, sweating at 8am in the morning. When I go out for lunch it’s instead a bit chilly, very windy and black clouds all around. And when I’m done for the day and head home, it’s pretty decent, I just need a thin sweater over my shoulder and walk home comfortably. I know, it doesn’t sound to exciting, but for me it is!

I am almost as obsessed with the weather as I am about time. I always want to know what time it is. I have clocks everywhere, including in the bathroom. A good living room usually needs two clocks, no matter how small the space is. And I nearly panic if I don’t wear a watch when I leave the house. Am I weird? I don’t know, I think that’s how I’ve always been. Perhaps it did get worse over the years, or perhaps I just didn’t notice that it was an obsession before. I think I got this need to keep an eye on time from my dad… (Love you pappi!)

High Tea

Three story tower of sweet and savory treats... 

To eat High Tea in Hong Kong is kind of a big deal. They offer it at many places, but the most famous places are the Peninsula Hotel i Tsim Sha Tsui and Repulse Bay Hotel. High tea is served in the afternoon, usually sometime between 3 to 6pm. At the more popular places it's also ridiculously expensive, but worth at least one try. Honey and I tried it at Repulse Bay a few weeks ago, and it didn't let down. 

Delicious scones :). 

At high tea you get a cup of tea, usually scones with butter and jelly, and mini pastries, both sweet and savory. It doesn't look like much when you get in the three story tower of foods, but it sure is plenty. We got excellent scones, lovely savory tiny sandwiches, sweet pastries, waffles, cheese sticks and mango pudding. I ate it all, slowly, and enjoying all of it. For that price there is no chance of leaving one little crumb. It was delicious and for a once in a lifetime thing, or for a celebration of some sorts, High Tea is totally worth it. If you haven't tried it, I strongly suggest that you do so. At Repulse Bay you also get the wonderful sea view, just that is worth a lot for us who lives in the city with houses wherever you turn. 

Sweet pastries, yum! 

Reflections of the Lunch hour

Lunch hour, THE lunch hour, perhaps even hours if you are in France or Spain. After working in a few different countries I have noticed that the only place so far where the lunch hour isn’t sacred is in the US (and sometimes in Sweden). Everywhere else people seem to actually take their lunch hour seriously. Phones are turned off, operators don’t pick up, people are out eating lunch, taking a stroll, drinking coffee after the meal. No one is expected to answer their phone during lunch, and it’s okay, you just call back later. If you would get ahold of someone during lunch, they giggle a little at your mistake of calling during the holy hour, and tell you to call back later. No harm, no hard feelings, that’s just how it is. And it’s nice, and quiet if you are eating in the office.

Here in Hong Kong the lunch hour is the social hour, or so it feels. Everyone are working real hard before and after lunch, but during lunch, they don’t work. We may discuss work while eating, but that’s it. And since it’s usually cheap, (around 50 HKD or less for a set lunch), most people go out to eat. Of course there are a few people that still sit at their desk to eat lunch, but they are the exceptions that make the rule, or however you say it.

It’s nice to get away from the office for a while, especially with the weather being so nice here in Hong Kong during their winter season. People may have to work until 7 or 8pm at night, but that won’t stop them from taking that one hour break in the middle of the day. So don’t try to call someone working in Hong Kong between 1 and 2pm, they probably won’t answer… :)

Fabergé Exhibition

During the Easter holiday Honey and I went to Sha Tin to watch the Fabergé exhibition at the Hong Kong Cultural museum. Although I normally don't like museums I must admit this was a great way to spend a few hours. Honey's teacher friend Joyce was with us. Considering there are only 42 known Fabergé eggs left (over 50 from the beginning, eight was lost during the Russian revolution), I was mighty impressed to see four of them. They are absolutely beautiful, and so detailed. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but they show the eggs in the information leaflet we got. 

"Memory of Azov" Easter egg. 

The basic history behind the Fabergé eggs are that each year the Russian Tsar Alexander III ordered a spectacular Easter egg for his wife the Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna. Each year the egg was to astonish the Royal family with innovative design and splendid craftsmanship. The eggs also showed a different event or theme in the Russian history, for example making of the Transiberian railway. As this Fabergé Easter egg continued after the death of Alexander III, they started to make two eggs per year, adding one for Tsar Nicholas II's wife, Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna. When the Russian empire collapsed, so did the  making of the Easter eggs. Eight imperial eggs disappeared after the 1917 revolution and 42 remained, whereof 10 of them are stored in the Armoury Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. 

Ornament from the House of Fabergé. 

Fabergé didn't get just make fantastic Easter eggs. The exhibition also showed jewelry and other ornaments that they had made. Everything was so beautiful. 

It cost just 20 HKD per person to enter the museum. It's ridiculously cheap, and a good way to spend a rainy day.  

"The Moscow Kremlin" Easter egg.