A week of lunches

Before I arrived here, I asked my friends what there was to do in Hongkers.. and it was pretty much the answer across the board - eat and shop.

Seeing as I am currently in no mental state to shop - still traumatised by the big pack - and I pretty much have to eat, I thought I'd share a week of my lunches. Well technically a working week as I only took photos of my lunch at the cafeteria at work.

Monday: Roast Duck and Char Siu on Rice. I was impressed by the price (HKD21) but I've had better in a lot of other places
Tuesday: Baked Pork Chop on Rice in Tomato Sauce. One of my favourite dishes back home and this didn't disappoint. For HKD24, it was filling, tasty AND super speedy (unlike the usual 20 minute wait for it to be baked)
Wednesday: Daily Thai Combo. There's a variation on the Thai combo every day in the cafeteria. HKD35 gets you soup, spring rolls, fried rice, fried chicken, lemongrass pork and rice puddings (with corn inside which was unexpected). Great value and very yummy.
Thursday: Black Pepper Beef and Fried Egg on Rice. I was very happy with this coz there was so much sauce! I love it when my rice gets all mushy and tasty *slurp*. The sausage looks a bit odd I know but it was delicious. The iced lemon tea and soup were part of the HKD35 set meal.
Friday: Thai Pineapple Fish Set. The cafeteria sure does Thai food well! I wasn't that hungry but I finished most of it before I realised. Pity the layer cake was bland. It looked deceptively flavoursome. HKD32.
Awesome food at awesome prices at work! Admittedly I think I will get sick of eating this sort of food day in day out, and there are a few other options such as a salad and sandwich bar, a Japanese place and a Western deli-type counter, but since it's all new to me, I'm really enjoying the food. The added bonus is that these 5 lunches have worked out to be a little less than AUD20 with the current exchange rate. YAY!

PS - Hopefully I'll have better photos now as I've finally upgraded to the iPhone 4 - you can see that Monday and Tuesday's photos are a lot darker due to the older phone but they improve from Wednesday onwards.

Home for now

Work has kindly put me up in an apartment near my place of work - and from what I've been led to believe, it's a very decent size for one person in HK terms. Here's the grand tour...The 'foyer'. That's my front door, with a decent sized shoe cupboard. That thing that looks like a crack in the wall is actually a bit of dried twig from a dried flower arrangement.

This is what you see when you turn around - the dining table and doors to the kitchen and master bedroom.

A full view of the lounge area from the dining table - with the suitcase still half unpacked. There is a balcony behind the (icky) curtains but seeing as I'm over 50 floors up and I don't really think it's that safe out there I doubt I'll be spending a lot of time there.

The odd shaped kitchen that also holds my washing machine. Well stocked with utensils.

The master bedroom. I say this only because the bed is bigger. I have realised though that the only reason the bed is bigger is because half the mattress is perched on the giant window ledge. They sure know how to make use of the space over here I have to say.

Bedroom 2 - the mattress seems to be wider than the standard single bed, but a lot shorter. I just fit if I lie stretched out. Hopefully any visitors I have will be midgets.

The bathroom, equipped with a bathtub and shower curtain with cartoon zoo animals on it behind the door.
I can choose to continue staying here if I want to, or move elsewhere to be closer to busier parts of HK, but it's early days yet so I plan on taking my time with the decision. Plus I'm terrible with morning starts so for now, the closer I am to work the better :)

Oh and I'd like to point out that the couch is a La-z-boy one. Perfectly positioned to recline in front of the TV a la Joey and Chandler in Friends :D

A Great Start

So the move to Hongkers is finally happening. After a week of delays that I suspect have given me a white hair (eep!) I got myself a ticket and made my way to the airport early on a Sunday morning.

I checked-in, went through immigration and after the pain of packing, decided I didn't need any more things, so I wandered through duty-free towards my gate with the hopes of just relaxing on a chair somewhere when look who I bumped into:

Why good morning to you too Mario!
That really perked me right up - I sure do love a bit of Mario so I figured it was a good sign that my new adventure was going to be great! I didn't know the half of it though - within the hour, I was upgraded to business class!

Credit goes to a very very nice person who happened to be working behind check-in
I've only been in business class once ever before, but this was a whole different experience because Cathay's business class are diagonally aligned pods that fold all the way down into a bed, with high 'walls' for lots and lots of privacy. Especially great for single travellers!

There's even a footrest - yay
I settled in and decided that I was going to stay up to check out what they would serve for breakfast and lunch - plus I didn't really want to sleep too much even though I was super tired since I needed to be up and ready for work the next day without being jet-lagged.

Here were the breakfast offerings:

Juice, fruit and a croissant (which was a bit cold and tough unfortunately)
Mozzarella, basil and tomato fritatta with chicken sausage, bacon, sauteed kipfler potatoes, spinach and mushroom - yummies
For lunch:

Starter: Smoked salmon, grilled scallops and marinated baby octopus with mixed salad - very tasty but looking at the octopus grossed me out a bit so I tasted a bit then left it
Main: Lamb korma, turmeric rice and vegetable jalfrezi - not bad but by this stage I was pretty full so I only had a bit
Dessert: Port with a big slice of strawberry and pistachio cheesecake
To finish off: Another glass of port and a praline (pity it was only one)
By now I was ready for my nap but I still forced myself to stay awake a bit longer and watched a couple of movies, Get Him to the Greek (better than I expected) and The Other Guys (highly entertaining). Yes I like mindless comedies, especially when on a plane :)

I finally succumbed to a bit of shut-eye before waking up to an announcement that we were about to land. Oh and before I forget - the best bit! I got a cute toiletries bag with the standard socks, eyemask and toothpaste/brush, with a couple of mini Murad products included.


I think it was one of the best flights I've ever had! If I was rich, I'd be flying business class all the time! I guess I can keep dreaming right? ;)

Hong Kong!!

It's been awhile since my last post but a lot has been happening for me. In a nutshell, I'm off to work in Hong Kong for a year! It's all happened within a space of 2 weeks so I've been madly rushing around finishing up with my old job (I'll miss you guys!) and worrying about admin, packing (what do I bring??) and all sorts of bits and bobs.

I still have a lot of running around to do but I thought I'd share a snapshot of the chaos I'm experiencing right now.

What have I forgotten....
These are just some of my things to be packed - note that there are no shoes, jeans, electrical applicances (GHD!) or bags in the picture yet. *eeep*

I also don't think there is space for a sewing machine in there :(