Hong Kong Reunion Day 16

Just because I left Hong Kong, my travelling was nowhere near done.  I managed to get a little sleep on the plane.  I watched Barbie, which was fine. 

I landed in Heathrow and I had nearly 4 hours layover.  After much deliberation, I had a panini from Wetherspoons.  I flew back to Manchester, there were a lot of taxiing in Heathrow, there were more taxiing than flight time, at one point, I thought we were driving back to Manchester in the plane!  In the short flight time, they still managed to give us water and biscuit.

I landed and when I got out of the airport, the shuttle was already waiting.  I got home in good time.

Although I was tired, I managed to fire up the water heater and did some unpacking.  I also noticed my internet was down!  Another thing to sort out!

Hong Kong Reunion Day 15

I got up early, said my goodbyes to my cousin and my mom.  I walked to the MTR stating waiting for it to be opened, I should have got some breakfast.

Then I took the Airport Express to the airport, true to their words, they did not charge me a second time within 24 hours.

I got a McDonald's Fillet O Fish breakfast, much to my surprise, their airport price is the same as the normal price, no wonder they got a lot of customs.

I boarded the plane, hence concluded my Hong Kong trip.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 14

I finished packing, tidied the room and left Floria's flat the last time. I walked to the MTR station with all my luggage, and went to the Hong Kong Airport Express Station.  Before I went to the luggage drop off point, I was charged $100, for using the Airport Express! I successfully dropped off the luggage, which made my day a lot lighter, literally.

Then my sister joined me to meet the rest of family in MTR.  My mom insisted we burnt incense first, so we did.  Then we met up with my cousin from my dad's village for a catch up.  Followed by another cousin to a cat cafe.  I was misled to believe there was a Maine Coon there.

After that, my sister insisted on doing tourist shopping, and after 30 minutes, I gave up and did my own shopping. 

We reconvened at the dinner restaurant, their service was quite poor!  My cousin's kids, and grand daughter also joined us.  Followed by sweet soup from an old shop where we grew up eating.

I said my goodbyes to the Leungs, then my mom and I stayed the night at my cousin's.  Where I managed to dropped the phone in water and killed it...

Hong Kong Reunion Day 13

I went to McDonald's for a quick breakfast before I went to the Mills to get a coffee with Icarus.  McDonald's can delivered to the table and asked if I wanted hand sanitiser, which was good service.

Then we went to barbeque, much to our surprise, there were no forks!  But there were pots!  Two in one BBQ Hot Pot.

Then we went back to the Mills and caught Haylie for another coffee.

I then went all the way to the other side of Hong Kong to have dinner with the Tangs'.  We had clay pot rice, which was fine, I didn't think they were that special...

We topped up with take away sweet soups and sat around at the Tang's for a little bit.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 12

I went to chat with my insurance agent, then went to catch up with Karen for lunch, followed by Yan and co for afternoon tea.  I met little Lewis for the first time, he was all masked up, so I could just see his eyes.

I popped by my mom's briefly to say hi before heading back to North Point for dinner, Western dinner.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 11

After much of trying, we got more banking done.  My medical report was also back, I was in grand scheme of things fit enough.

I went to have hot pot with Icarus, then hang out in her old flat before heading out for dinner and more shopping.

We managed to catch Carol for a night cap before called it a day.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 10

I took the wrong tram, so I ended up at my sister's flat, so I popped up to say hi to everyone.  The Australians were freezing.

Yet more banking before I went to see Yan.  We had a lunch, I handed over her order.

Then I went to see General Che, wrote on the well wishing for the Chans and the Leungs, ie my sister.

There were loads of herons, and other birds near General Che's temple.

After yet more shopping, I went to see Hedy for dinner.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 9

Cold snaps continues, I am much in my element.

My sister was returning today, so I went to check out her flat early.  After collecting my sister's bits and bobs, I took my mom to her flat, sorted it out.  

Whilst sorting out her flat, I popped down for a McDonald's lunch.  I got the fried chicken, as recommended by my friends, and the Hello Kitty Special curly fries.  The fried chicken were spicy!  I was not expecting that, and the curly fries were a bit dry...

Then I packed off my mother, and I went to do some shopping in Causeway bay before also heading home.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 8

The cold snap was finally here, and I slept so much better than much happier.

Another day of hanging out with mother, we had a big table of oldies at lunch, the bill turned out the be fairly cheap, because nobody was eating much.  I was asking the Indonesian Chinese about their experience with earthquakes and volcano eruptions, which was interesting.  It boils down to, the countries suffer from natural disasters are prepared.

Then one of her friends complained about nobody playing Chinese chess with her, so my mother volunteered me to go play with her.  We had a few games, then we went to have a light dinner and went home.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 7

I went to hang out with my mother during the day, and went to play tennis in the evening.  Gloria and I had some fish ball noodles before went to meet up with her Japanese and Korean expat for tennis.

After tennis, we went to a pub, I was absolutely being smoked...  not pleasant...

Hong Kong Reunion Day 6

I went to do yet more banking in the morning.  Then I had some congee lunch before meeting up with Haylie to go Sai Kung, as a volunteer, setting up a market.  The long awaited cold snap was still nowhere to be seen, and I was melting, with the added bonus of mosquito bites, so much for Winter!

I went back to Mong Kok to walk around with Hedy before our late night buffet, that Queenie booked but bowed out due to flu.  The food was fine, but these days there was no where I could break even, it was just a place to sit down with friends.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 5

My first "Day off" of this trip.  I had a lazy morning, did some laundry, explored North Point, did some shopping.  I finally tried Jollibee, it is too expensive in the UK.  Let just say, I am never going back, the pasta was very cheap, super processed, the chicken was crispy, but absolutely tasteless, my friends said they used to be super salty.

I also tried the North Point tofu dessert, which was also good.

I had some Taiwanese noodles for dinner, then I went home.  A lazy relaxing day.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 4

We tried to do more banking, but the computer said no.

We went to have lunch with my mom's family friend.  Coincidently, there was a shopping outlet shops there with some very attractive offers, we bought yet more shoes.

Lunch was good, we went to their flat for more chit chat.  And more dinner at home.

When my sister went to the airport for the early morning flight.

I bought some marked down American oranges.  They were pretty bad, one of them were bad bad.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 3

Day 3 turned out to be a relatively easy day.  My mom was otherwise engaged, so my sister and I did some shopping, eating.  At times we were sitting at a park like the oldies, and she fell over like an oldie...

And later we cooked and ate dinner with my mom and her friend.

We went to this Japanese shop called Don Don Donki, the store we went to had loads of marked down food, that was awesome!  Except I remember squid is also meat, so I need to eat them down before I returned to England.

There were fresh seafood in a supermarket's fish stall, which was surprising, with jumping shrimps.

I picked up some giant grapes from Peru, I didn't think they were that special either...

Hong Kong Reunion Day 2

My sister has also landed, so we had a full day scheduled.

I went to a health clinic, then met them up for banking, followed by lunch with cousins.  My sister and I managed to leave my mother with my cousin, so we did a little shopping.  I bought a pair of shoes to replace my retired walking shoes. My sister convinced me not to bring it back to England for gardening purposes...

We popped down for some tofu dessert, good as always.

We also met Queenie briefly for a chat. Followed by yet more evening appointments and dinner before my sister and I parted ways.  It was a long day.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 1

I think my plane landed a whole hour early, yet I had to wait for the airport bus.  Once I was on the bus, it as so quick, I closed my eyes for a minute, the next minute, I saw tram track, ie Hong Kong Island?!

I hiked up the hill to get to my friend's flat, I was melting when I got there.  I slightly unpacked, went to a local barber to cut my hair and went to see my mother, all in short sleeve tees, so much for Winter.  For lunch we had supposedly Shanghaiese pork chop with vegetable rice, the tea-coffee was substandard.

Where my mom was staying was near the hills, so I get so see many other birds, and even butterflies.

I picked up some Japanese strawberries, they were expensive, but I didn't think they were that special...

Then I had dinner with my friends, the ramen was substandard...  By then I was very zombified, and I went to bed after watching a little Australian Open with them.

Hong Kong Reunion Day 0

The day started early from the shuttle picking me up.  I thought that was the best option, not having to drive to the airport and parking it in airport carpark for the duration.

The ride was smooth, I got to airport at good time to check in from the counter.  I bought a bottle of gin as requested, I chose Tanqueray Ten.  

I was sat literally on the last row.  I barely got any sleep.  They ran out of choice of food the first round.  Otherwise, it was a relatively plane journey.

In Person Virtual Meeting

I am still finding it odd to sign onto the same online meeting from the same room using multiple computers, one for each person. 

Road Cycling in Suburb

I took the folding bike to the gym.  The locals are not the best at dealing with solo cyclist, especially in rush hours.  Should always avoid rush hours...

Mumtaz Dinner

I got a Groupon for Mumtaz.  We went there a long time ago for an Indian "afternoon tea".  The dinner was fine, but it was nothing special, we would stick with our cheaper locals.

Cuppa Soup

I got some Heinz cuppa soup, cuppa soup isn't a problem, except when it contains meat, they take longer to rehydrate, and we probably don't want to eat them out of date.

Parenting Styles

I was looking up the meaning of crunchy moms, and then I found out all their nicknames...  Leaning a language is never ending...

Parenting styles

Print 3D

I don't have any imaging editing software on my computer, so I just used the default paint, and when it failed, I reluctantly tried Paint 3D, and it turned out to be successful!

York Cat Trail

We did the York Cat Trail, it does feel like a very cheap way to walk around York in a circle.  We had to skip a few cats due to flooding.

Long Tailed Tit

There were some tit looking birds visited our bird feeder.  We were not sure what they were, we now suspected them being long tailed tit, as mentioned in a RSPB article.  I recalled long tailed tit in Japanese cartoon, which was very cute.  

Actually, Japanese long tailed tit doesn't look like the European ones.

Battery or Lead

We think our white GP battery bank is on its last leg, now the black mophie is also playing up.  It is the battery bank or the charging lead?  They work slightly better with a different lead, nobody knows...

Telescopic Pruner

After struggling to trim the plants on the ladder, I got a telescopic pruner, it works well so far.

Patisserie Valerie is Falling Down II

Just after I bought a bunch of Patisserie Valerie Groupon, and managed to used a few, they have decided to close down half of their branches, in particularly those near me.  

Auto Reply

People are starting to use the suggested email replies, which is absolutely awful, for a start, they cannot even get your first name right.

Wii's Return

We are finally settled in the new house and we got the Wii going again.  I am sure we will make good use of it this new year.