The Weekend

it was a nice one, all in all.  started off going to check out lupa, which has opened in hong kong but they dont open until 6 and would not serve my colleague and i a glass of wine, despite our desperation (yes, we left work at 515 to find an adult beverage) and my pleading.  "just a glass of wine at the bar?  we wont make a fuss."  "no, we open at 6pm."  so off to zuma as it was the closest waterhole on what was a very rainy night.  my colleague's husband and le hagis met us there and we had another one.  nothing like a good b*tch and moan session with friends over reassuringly expensive cocktails.

then we went off to domani next to pacific place to celebrate my 'special day'.  for those of you who dont know, in my family we celebrate the day we came home to the us - it is much like a birthday.  i was excited as i have not been to domani.  being italian style (i.e. small dishes, multiple courses), i ordered the gnocchi and a pan fried seabass.  hagis ordered a tomato jelly and the pork fillet.  my gnocchi was so great - light and tasty but the fist was just dry and bland.  overall the meal was average but my favourite part was when we asked for the sommelier to give us suggestions.  he was like a glorified bus boy with a little grape pin on his lapel and suggested the most expensive bottle he could find within our taste description.  needless to say, we ended up ordering two glasses...

saturday brought a tough dragon boat practice, some drinks down by the water in stanley and home asleep around 10.  and sunday was a lovely brunch at bloom with a full three courses of a buffet, egg main and a great apple and blueberry crumble!  we went and took our fat @$$es to the movies later and saw 'avengers' which was good and perfect for a sunday evening.

so all in all, a good weekend and tomorrow is a bank holiday!!!! hiking and more food are on the agenda and lady gaga concert on wednesday!

xoxo

Gone Native Update

so i wrote a little while back about trying out one of these machines all the girls use around here.  besides not eating much, the local hk chinese gals also subscribe to the idea of crazy "slimming" treatments.  a really cheap deal came through twangoo (groupon sorta thing) so i thought i would give it a whirl.  there is a place in central but it caters to expats and is therefore more than double the cost (and i found a place in manhattan that offers it for usd100/session where i paid usd12/session).

so i skip off during lunch to causeway bay for a 1/2 treatment about once a week (maybe twice if i have time).  this spa is definitely local but the woman who owns it is very nice.  they are not uptight about cancelations, she calls me dear when she emails me back and they seem to have a penchant for bette midler.  ive heard "the rose" more times over these past 8 sessions than i ever thought i would in my entire life.

now, i am not sure if it is working or not.  it is hard to tell the results because dragon boat season has started so i am exercising 3 more times a week than before.  regardless, she gave me a whopping discount on another package and i will go back for a few more sessions.  at the very least, i get to nap for 1/2 hour ;)

Consumed...

ive become consumed by the neil heywood case.  for those of you who have not read, neil heywood was a british man living in china since the 1990s.  towards the end of last year he turned up dead in a hotel room.  i suggest you read more in the BBC if interested.  the WSJ and FT have a bit of coverage as well but i found the WSJ coverage to be too sensationalist.

in other china news, there is a good article from the FT here about their image issue (down to #56).  i have to say, this quote made me chuckle:

Debbie Cohn, of Long Island, was more sceptical. “They don’t look friendly, they look very stern to me,” she said.

they dont look friendly - i feel the same about long islanders and B&T'ers in general - haha, LOVE IT.

Pictures/Video of Travels to Nepal

so it is a wee bit long...but here is a video:


and if that is too much then you can quickly scroll through pictures here!

Chinese Proverbs

“The dog who has fallen into the water is still being beaten.”

Coming Soon: NEPAL

until i can get myself organised, no pictures or updates but watch the space for some soon.

however, i am back in hong kong and it is almost like it never happened.  my life, it seems, is all about planning my next trip.  when i moved to hong kong, people said to me, "hong kong is great - you can travel so easily."  and i thought, 'how odd that a good thing about hong kong is that you can leave it easily and cheaply.  however, i fully understand the meaning of that statement now.  hong kong is like a weird bubble and in order to keep sane, leaving it is the only option.

we landed early early on monday morning and i was immediately welcomed back to the land of the (quiet possibly) most rude humans.  the nepalese were so nice, friendly and i admired their jovial dispositions and making do with what they had despite from my standards would be considered meager (i.e. no electricity for most of the day and night).

however, while reading the ft during my lunch break as i so often do, i was reading about the escalating issues in asia pacific especially in the waters and/or when it has anything military in nature.  it seems china is fighting with everyone - japan, the us for helping the taiwanese and now the filipinos.  here is a quote that i thought exemplified the culture here:  "China should take “smart and devious revenge”, advised Major General Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the academy of military sciences. He went on to demand “a tooth for a tooth from those who violate China’s interests”, suggesting his country learn from Russia and deploy missiles against America."

typical.

when i am not getting on with my family, friends, boyfriend, colleagues, etc. - i stop and ask, 'is it ALL of these people or me?  i am the only control factor in these situations so it has got to be me.'  i think its time for china to ask themselves that question.  however, sadly, i dont think they give a flying fig what the answer is.

i post this as this is the culture i live in.  it is a struggle and gives birth to all sorts of dislikes, peeves and even racial judgements.  speaking with another expat recently, living here has a tendency to make one more racist versus open-minded.  it is very much an 'us versus them' kind of mentality regardless of what side of the 'us' you land on.  it does not make it ok but there is no attempt to integrate or respect each other.  people can judge america but the america i know (i.e. manhattan) people are at the very bare minimum tolerated.  there is no tolerance here between the two tribes.  nor do i see any effort in trying to change.

dont get me wrong, there are personal friends who are of chinese background whom i care about and get on with quite well.  however, they seem to be the small exceptions to the rule.  there are billions who just seem fine with sptting at you, walking into you, shouting as loud as possible, not washing their hands after using the toilet, stabbing you in the back at work, trying to steal your mate without a blink of conscience, etc.

i think ive posted it before, but its still a winner.  one partner said to me "the chinese have a saying.  'we'd rather stab you in the back than punch you in the face.'"

glorious.

Cleaners - Bane of My Existence

so the cleaners in the office are so terrible.  the woman who cleans our desks uses this dirty old sponge that smells of wet mold.  it makes me sick and every time she pops round i have to shoo her away.  and the vacuum lady is great, too.  she comes by very early (not like in the states when it tends to be when most people have gone home) and she bangs about.  she will whack right into my cube wall without a care in the world and then gets mad like its my fault.

and dont even get me started on the filipino helpers.  you may as well take your money and burn it.  i think theyve all been trained at We Wipe Around Things University.  its truly a gift.  i am not sure what the point is as i'd rather do it properly myself.  people always say, "well its just so cheap" and i think so isnt mcdonalds but it doesnt mean its doing you any good.

In Between Travel

back from taipei.  taipei is always fun.  we left to escape the madness that is the hong kong rugby 7s and i am so glad we did.  gone are the days of drinking for 3 consecutive days for me, at least.  so we landed in the evening and went out to my favourite shabu shabu place and back to the hotel like the old farts we are.  saturday was rainy but perfect weather for the national palace museum so we went to check out all the stolen (ahem) goods and for some dim sum.  we later met up with a ny friend of mine who is studying mandarin for some night market action and of course, more food!  so 10 pounds heavier, i am back in hong kong.

ive got to get through this week and then off to nepal!!!!  the itinerary has been left up to the hagis as it was part of my christmas gift so i am very much so looking forward to it.

so in order to get out of here, weve been running around trying to source wonderful things like water purifying tablets, luggage locks and what not.  so that being said, i took a lock i could not remember the code to and asked the kind folks in the store to reset it.  they tell me they cant reset it but they will try all 999 combinations and call me if i leave my name and number.  only in china, friends, only in china.  but whats more scary is they called me in a flash having figured it out.

will be back with some pictures - until then, be well, me dears.

Gone Native

all of the girls around here barely eat and buy these "slimming" treatments.  so after a winter of doing very little other than couch surfing, i decided to give it a go.  clearly desperate here...

so i bought a twangoo (like groupon, etc.) for a cheap deal to a spa for these treatments.  they are 1/2 hour each of a machine called m6 slimming machine.  after a quick search, ive noticed this machine seems to clearly be an asian thing.  oh well, thank goodness it was cheap.  here is an explanation:

M6 is a short form for the patented hi-tech trimming technology Cellu M6 produced by French LPG. As the only cellulite-reducing instrument approved by the U.S. FDA, Cellu M6 turns fat into fatty acid to accelerate blood circulation and improve lymphatic drainage, consuming more accumulated fat to achieve body slimming effect.

Massage turns fibroblast cells in skin to different directions, the tension promotes skin metabolism, thus increasing the skin to produce more collagen and elastic fiber cells, 130% more than usual, making the skin glow.

The M6 rolling treatment gives out negative pressure suction, for just 35 minutes, it effectively reduces cellulite and improves lymphatic system, tightens loose skin and increases skin elasticity. Generally it takes 3 – 4 sessions to see effect, depending on the individual.

i went for my first treatment today.  you take off all your clothes, put on disposable panties and then this white body stocking.  its really charming and i am wondering where i can buy one for personal use...(barf)...and you lie down like any regular massage.  the machines feel like a massaging vacuum.  they recommend i follow up with consecutive session so i am back the end of this week.  i will update you on progress!

on a side note, somebody please stop me if i start bleaching my skin (which ive promised myself i will never do).

A Ticking Time Bomb

before launching into  a diatribe about the political-social-environmental catastrophe that is china, heres a quick hk update.  it is humid - so wet and oppressive.  my knees are buckling under the pain due to this humidity.  but yet, it is not truly hot yet.  my friends, this time of year is when mold creeps into your flat and the locals tend to smell a bit like wet dog.  yes, i said it but there really just isnt another way to describe it because that is precisely the smell.

anyway, so i was in early today and having a read on my own interests versus those that are purely financial and namely insurance based (zzzzzzzzzzzz) and i logged into one of my faves, the ft.  there is an article found here:   

http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/03/05/china-must-rethink-its-economic-model-to-calm-growing-social-unrest/#axzz1oIKeR0UE

about the social unrest in china.  excerpts from the article include:

• Far more worrisome for the political elite is the question of how to deal with rising social unrest.
• For all of China’s economic successes – which lifted some 600m out of poverty – income disparities nevertheless have ratcheted up with the gini coefficient now at 0.47 compared with around 0.25 in the mid-1980s.
• A key weakness of the process of economic liberalisation is its failure to provide the fiscal means for the authorities to limit inequalities that came with rapid growth. 
• Rather than strengthening its fiscal system, Beijing relies on its banks to fund much of the growing demand for infrastructure.

i dont know about you but as long as ive live here, people have discussed how the mainland is going to implode someday.  wondering when, not if, that day will come...