Food and reality in HK

I've moved to the US without gaining weight. I've moved to France without gaining weight. I move to Hong Kong and gain weight! I mean, seriously, how can that be?! I don't like much of their food; it is just too much fat, bone and tendons in the meat, many soups are too oily and the bread is as sweet as a dessert. I find it weird. 

Photo from www.hkphoto.com

I want to cut the carbs, but since most of the meats here still have skin, bones and fat left on them I basically just eat rice or noodles. And with family dinners sometimes several times a week I have to eat what's offered. My fiance's family usually have problems with what to order during family meals since I don't eat what they eat. I tell them not to worry; I eat the decoration, which usually is some kind of vegetable like carrots, bell peppers or broccoli. Don't get me wrong, I have tried almost all food; squid, jellyfish, stinky tofu etc. But I won't eat chicken feet or intestines, just cannot do it. 

I know, there is a way around this, I just have to start cooking more food at home. Then I will get just the food I want and like. I just wish I didn't dislike cooking so much. And when I cook at home I will have to do both the cooking and the cleaning. Honey, who actually likes cooking, will of course cook meats and food with skin, bones and fat, and as we have established, I cannot eat that, so I am stuck both ways. 

Thank goodness we joined a gym! I'm there basically every day, sometimes twice a day. I have started to gain some control over my weight, but I'm not satisfied yet (like I ever will be...). I must be among the fattest, fit persons at the gym. I can run for a long time, I lift heavy weights, but still have a fairly thick layer of body fat. I am obviously doing something wrong. I think my diet is the key...

Another factor is unfortunately age. It's a common knowledge that the metabolism goes down after you turn 25 years old, and it gets a little more difficult to get in shape. As you get older you have to push a bit harder, run a little longer and lift a little heavier than before. And you also have to accept that the body is getting older and may not be able to take as much as before. However, this definitely doesn't mean you should give up, not at all! Every little work out is always better than none! Hell yeah it is! 

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. This year it falls on September 30th, followed by the Chinese National Day on October 1st. This means that most people in Hong Kong have Monday and Tuesday off (according to gov.hk the day off is the day following for these two holidays for 2012). 

What is Mid-Autumn Festival? After reading about it on several websites and talked to Hong Kong people it is a national holiday where people decorate with lanterns, eat moon cake and gaze at the moon. But why staring at the moon?

The Legend

One of the legends tells about Houyi (an immortal) and his beautiful wife Chang'e who were forced to live on earth due to Houyi's jealousy of the other immortals. To survive, Houyi became a very skilled archer. At that time earth had ten suns that resided in a Mulberry tree. Every day one of the suns had to travel around the earth in a carriage driven by the Mother of the suns. One day all ten suns traveled at the same time and burned the earth. The Emperor then commanded Houyi's arching skills and asked him to take down all but one sun. If he did so he would be granted a pill to give him eternal life. Houyi fulfilled the emperor's wish and got the pill, but he wasn't allowed to take it for another year so he hid it. However, his wife Chang'e found the pill, swallowed it and noticed that she could fly. She reached the moon, where she stopped and coughed up half of the pill. Chang'e then demanded the Moon Rabbit (who lives on the moon) to make another pill. The story states that the rabbit is still pouring herbs, trying to make the pill. Once a year on Mid-Autumn Festival, Houyi visits his wife on the moon, which is why the moon appears extra bright that day, and the reason to gaze at the moon. 

There are more legends about how Chang'e ended up with the Moon Rabbit, pounding herbs for the Gods, they vary some, but the idea is the same, Houyi and Chang'e are not at the same place, and the wife is the curious one. 

Moon Cake

Moon cake is eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a very labor intense, thick and rich cookie, about 10cm wide and 4 to 5 cm tall. The imprint on the top usually states "Longevity" or "Harmony", the bakery's name and the filling. Usually it is a crust shell and a soft, rich filling. You share one moon cake with your family and friends. 

This turned in to some kind of history telling, not really my intention. But as with many of our Western holidays we are not always aware of the story behind the day off. This is the same. It's a tradition, and it sounds like a nice tradition to me. 

I guess you will see me on Sunday with a Lantern in my hand, eating a tiny piece of moon cake, staring at the moon and wondering if the moon rabbit ever will finish making that immortal pill... 

Wedding Progress?

So what's happening with the wedding plans? Let me give you an update. You who know me knows that I don't really like organizing things, and organizing my own wedding in another country is a lot of work, (and boring). I know my family wants a wedding date so they can book flights and stuff, but it takes time since Honey is not the quickest to get things done (and he's working full time) and I don't speak the language. Anyway, here is what we have to do first: 

- Decide the venue for the ceremony and reception for around 150 persons. 
According to Honey HK couples plan their weddings at least a year ahead, but we are planning on getting married in November or December this year, and preferably on a Saturday. I guess at this point we will be happy to take basically any venue as long as it's available, and we just have to find that one place. Since my family needs to book their tickets and get time off I have to get this solved as soon as possible. This is the most crucial thing to me. The rest I hope they can solve at the venue, like flowers and stuff... :). 

That's how far we are. I do have the time to look, and I actually got distracted looking while I wrote this note. 

Okay, I should keep looking, and making phone calls... waaaah! 

Diversity

It's 7.30 in the morning. I wave good-bye to my Honey at the subway station and get ready for a nice, brisk morning walk up on the hill side (it's too hot to run outside, just toooo hot). As I'm walking I meet lots of people, all kinds of persons and all kinds of outfits. 

It's the boys and girls in uniforms on their way to school; it's the helpers dressed in capris, a top with a fun message like "Have a nice day :)" and flip flops who are taking the dog for a walk; it's the grannies dressed in old rags slowly making their way to practice Tai Chi in the park; it's the women in black lace tops (don't know why lace is so popular among office women), black pants and nice heals, and men in suits, on their way to the office; it's the men and women in hats and worn down clothes that carefully and proudly clean the streets and parks each day (no wonder Hong Kong stays so clean, they rock!). And then there is me, in work out clothes, hat and headphones, on my way to burn calories. 

It's fascinating to see all these people, sharing space and time, side by side. We all do our own thing and move on. We all have our own path to walk and everything has its time.

 

This is in Causeway Bay. See the sign way in the background? :)

Engaged!

I guess I should write about the ENGAGEMENT!! You know that being engaged and plan a big nice wedding is really not my thing. But I know how important this is for my future husband, my fiance, and I am happy to do this with him. He is the One I will spend the rest of my life with. 

My fiance has this thing that he wants us to tell a different story every time someone asks what he said when he proposed, because he wants it to be a romantic journey for us to come up with different scenarios, to make them all true! 

It was Sunday evening and we had just enjoyed a concert of Mozart's Requiem in City Hall. We were standing outside the concert hall looking towards one of Hong Kong's skylines and admire the clear sky and a bright moon. To see such clear skies in Hong Kong is rare. We just knew it was a very special night. He holds his arms around my shoulders tightly, keeps smelling my hair. I feel so loved. He grabs both my hands and we turn towards each other. He says: "You are the love of my life, will you marry me?" I smile instantly and throw my arms around him and yell "YES, YES, YES"! He covers the ear my mouth is closest to and says "Too loud", and laugh, we both laugh. 

There is no ring yet, nor a wedding date, but hopefully there will be a wedding sometime this year. I know, most of you already have done all this, but I guess now it's finally my turn!  

A toast for LOVE!! 

About the empty floors

Since Hong Kong is so small, and hold so many people you have to stack us on top of each other. There is no room to spread out. The "smaller" buildings are maybe 30 stories tall. The one we live in has 27 floors (we live on the 16th floor). Newer buildings are usually much taller than that, from 50 up to 100+ floors! 

Clear view of an empty floor

Here comes the peculiar thing; those very tall buildings have made each 25th floor (give or take) an open space... it's empty! When I first noticed I thought it was crazy! I mean, is there really room for such thing? Don't they want to make sure to fit as many apartments as possible? My fiance explained to me that it is in case of a fire the whole building won't burn down. It's a safety precaution. I like that precaution. It makes sense, and they can make the building look aesthetically nicer. On some buildings they make that floor in to a common area, like a terrace with plants and other greens. On other more modern office buildings they are hidden and you need to know about it to notice. 

That the empty floor is around 25 stories up probably has something to do with what my fiance's dad once told me: "don't live in an apartment on 26th floor or up. Because that's how high the fire trucks can reach".. 

However, the houses here are all concrete, heavy, sturdy buildings. Right before we left for vacation to Australia there was a very severe typhoon that went through most of the city. Restaurants and stores closed early. Everybody was sent home. The winds tore up trees, bushes and threw around debris, and I didn't notice a thing! I didn't hear the wind howl outside our apartment, nor the rain against our windows. Our building did not move at all, nothing. Yeah, I felt completely safe on the 16th floor through a Typhoon type 10! 

View from our kitchen

Another peculiar thing about Hong Kong buildings; they keep the pipes on the outside. Yep, water pipes, sewage and gas etc. It's all out there in the open. They insist of building a gap of about two meters (6.5 feet) between apartments where they place the pipes. In the summer we barely have to turn on the hot water, it's so warm already from the pipes being out in the sun. 

Talking about hot, to get hot water, each shower has its own gas heater. It heats up the water as you go (as in, there is no hot water tank in the building). At first it was a bit scary to have to take a shower with a gas tank! (It's not that big). Generally you only shower in hot water, the rest of the water in the apartment is not heated (although not that cold, as explained earlier). I even do the dishes in cold water! It was weird in the beginning, but with so many other things you get used to it. 

All these things may not be true if you live in the very exclusive and expensive part of Hong Kong. They probably have hidden pipes, a nice hot water tanks and all, not that I would know. However, for the general population this is the living conditions, and this is what I adjust to.. . 

Bonus info: They still use bamboo when they build or renovate buildings! So flexible and strong!

Australia vacation

With the Olympics closing ceremony on in the background (rerun, surely one of many...) I figured I will write some reflections from our two-week vacation in Northern Queensland. My dear sister and her husband so generously opened their home to us. I know we can take up a lot of space and be noisy, but they didn't complain :). 

First of all (for the Swede in me), the weather in Cairns and surroundings was just fantastic at this time of year! It is their winter, which equals pretty low humidity, warming sun, nice breeze and around 27C (81F) during the day and a nice cool 17C (63F) at night. It was just lovely! It didn't rain until the day we left. Okay, it was a tad too cold to get in the water, but still, no heat strokes for me at all during these two weeks!! 

Cairns
When we read about Cairns in the travel books they say it is a hub for visiting the Great Barrier Reef and other surrounding areas. However, there are still plenty to do, like the night market, some excellent restaurants, a beautiful board walk along the ocean and a man-made beach called "The Lagoon" right by the busy Esplanade. Cairns is built around tourism and that is visible everywhere. Hostels offer some great deals for travels and diving, cheap food and party all night long, for those who prefer. For the more mature traveler there are plenty of hotels to choose from, both very nice hotels with ocean views, or less expensive motels a few streets away from the water. 
Although it is walking distance within the city center, both Honey and I were surprised how long it took to walk one block. It always took longer than expected to get to wherever we were going. But since the weather was so nice, walking was a delight. 

Port Douglas
We rented a car and drove up north along the shoreline to Port Douglas, which I wanted to visit since last time I was in Australia (2002). Port Douglas is generally lots of very VERY nice hotels and resorts; yeah, a bit posh. The main street is filled with restaurants and boutiques. Apparently the Prime Minister of Australia was in Port Douglas while we were there. 

Considering the fairly expensive restaurants we were very grateful to receive  some 2-for-1 main dish coupons at selected restaurants from my sister. Our first night we ate at one of those places. Toby ordered a lovely saffron seafood pasta and I ordered a delicious grilled barramundi. Thanks to the 2-for-1 main dish deal we could indulge in a chocolate dream cake for dessert and still not go bankrupt. It was just perfect. 

Cape Tribulation
Northern Queensland do have many beautiful beaches. Port Douglas for example is the home of the four-mile beach; all white sand and perfect waves. It was sure beautiful, however far from as breathtaking as the Cape Tribulation beach! That is the most amazing, astonishing and beautiful beach I have ever seen! 

We drove from Port Douglas further up north along the shoreline. We weren't really sure what to expect so we went with clear minds. After crossing the Daintree River on a tiny car ferry we ended up deep in the tropical rain forest. We drove on a narrow and very winding road with trees and vegetation all the way up to the side of the road. After driving for what seemed like a looong time the road ended in a t-section with a dirt road to the left, and parking lot to the right. Since we were driving a tiny Hyundai Getz, the dirt road was out of the question (only 4WD allowed), and we parked the car. 





We walked up to an entrance through the thick rain forest and discovered heaven... My goodness, nature can surely be absolutely astonishing! The white beach, blue waves that softly caresses the sand, thick green rain forest surrounding and protecting this breathtaking beauty! Once stepping out on the beach you saw big green hills looking down at the white sand, like they were keeping an eye on the beach, to make sure it stays as beautiful as it possibly can. The beach was nearly deserted, just a few more tourists, us, and wildlife.  I couldn't find a picture that shows its beauty. I guess you have to be there to understand...

It was quite the drive to get to Cape Tribulation, but worth every second of it. Just travelling up to Cape Tribulation was special, with nature so close by and present at all times. As much as I appreciate nature (usually from a distance) I was happy to come back to Port Douglas, with people, street lights, grocery stores and restaurants. For me Cape Tribulation was a perfect day trip, but I can see why others may decide to stay there. It feels like being alone in the world when you are up there. I read that the population is around 100 people, so if you like to live secluded, Cape Tribulation is surely a place to consider. I kept thinking about how far people who live there have to go to buy groceries, or if they made pancakes and forgot to buy milk, or felt like some chips a Friday night and didn't have any at home. Are they even able to leave their homes during big storms? It's not just to get up and drive a few minutes to the closest store. Living in Cape Trib takes planning... and I admire those who can live that way, it is just not for me... 

To sum it up, Cape Tribulation was obviously the place that made the most impression on me during our trip to Australia this time. I think partly because it is so far from what I prefer. I am happy to have been there and seen it, but I am still a city girl, yep, totally :). 

My wonderful sister and her husband were generous to take us out on adventures as well, like to the magnificent fig trees up in the Tablelands. Thank you so much Linda and Shannon!! 



PS. Dingding was home alone while we were gone. Honey's friend Cheung Cheung stopped by faithfully every day to make sure Ding had food, water and some company. I was so grateful!! And of course I missed my wittle baby while we were gone. The only time I didn't think about her was when we stayed at Green Island to snorkle. That was so much fun!!