Hanging in Hong Kong

Our plans changed for fall break a couple of times. First we were going with the Johnstons to Thailand then it became Phu Quoc. But when the Johnstons decided to stay we thought we might go back to Hong Kong. Yes we were only there in July but with free tickets in business class (due to expire) to get there we decided Fall break in Hong Kong would be fun.
The night before we left Bella being Bella, invited a Vietnamese friend along, never thinking she would ever be allowed to travel with a western family out of the country we were extremely surprised when very early Saturday morning we were heading off to the airport with 5 westerners and one Vietnamese.
Hong Kong is such a vibrant city, with so many people it can be a bit daunting at first. They do have a brillant train system which makes travelling around easy and being such a western city is really nice for a change.
Travelling with an Asian was amusing - she is a Hong Kong resident but only speaks a little Cantonese and a little more Mandarin but everyone kept speaking Cantonese to her - with her answering speak English. They would ask her why she was with us - we did say a couple of times that she was our daughter but they would just shake their heads, I guess you can take the girl out of Viet Nam but not the Vietnamese out of the girl, they still knew she was Asian not Western.
Market shopping is market shopping anywhere in the world - same cheap stuff that you think is a bargain but seriously it's junk that you don't want or need.
I was more interested in the better brand stuff but I really needed to have worked out what I needed. We did buy some winter clothing so we will not freeze in New York - I even bought a hat (and I hate hats) and gloves. We were really amazed at how much winter clothing was around - not something we need here. It obviously gets cold in Hong Kong - it was much colder this time round, with temperatures at about 25 degrees, we noticed the coolness - mind you if they turned down the AC at times he would have been OK.
I was determined not to spend the entire time shopping, I don't mind shopping but seriously 5 days of it would do my head in so I had planned some touristy things as well. Our first non shopping day was to the Giant Buddha, my children just grin and bear it, they know i like to see interesting sites but Zoey was perpelexed as to why we were wasting good shopping time seeing a Buddha - she even said "but I'm not a Buddhist". The cable car trip up the mountain was well worth it though for all of us, I enjoyed the beautiful scenery, Matthew enjoyed the views of the Hong Kong airport runaway which the mountain was beside and the children all enjoyed playing sweet and sour (the game where you wave at the people in passing cabins and see who waves back - Asians don't wave very often) they also liked sitting with there faces pressed to the floor, which had a glass bottom, watching the mountain go past.
All in all a great day even with the 200 odd steps to the Buddha and the bush walk to the Wisdom path.

Our last day we decided to be really touristy and head to Aberdeen Harbour and have lunch on the floating restaurant. Yes it was really touristy, and yes the lady conned us onto a sampan when we could have gone on the ferry for free - but the food was surprisingly good and a nice way to finish hanging in Hong Kong.
All too soon it was time to repack, it's amazing what you accumulate in a 5 day shopping trip to Hong Kong Bella bought so much she broke her bag trying to pack, Zoey had to get Bella to sit on her bag to close it plus she had a backpack full and a carry on plastic bag, Josh was worried his fancy dress ninja costume was never going to clear Vietnamese customs, and Mikaela wondered about all the things she should have bought, and seriously who ever thought the witches broomstick was ever going to get through customs? My excuse.... I thought it would fit in a suitcase not be a carry on - but Oh well i will go to Halloween without a broomstick.
Back in Ho Chi Minh sitting having coffee reflecting about our trip to Hong kong - we are truly lucky to have the opportunity to see so many other places in the world - the only thing I missedon this trip was having Alexander with us - roll on December.

When it rains......

I know it is the wet season, so there is going to be lots of rain but there is lots of rain and there is lots of rain and yesterday we saw LOTS OF RAIN.

During this time of the year it can rain heavily at different times during the day but after an hour or so it stops and the sun comes out and that's it for the day.

Yesterday we went down the road for a quick lunch - usually Saturday lunch is Pho but we were going to attempt to make our own Pho for lunch so we went for something else. The sky looked very black so we grabbed some umbrellas and headed off. We stopped at a cafe for lunch, very nice baguettes i will add, but within about 20 minutes down came the rain. It was torrential for the next half hour, we were going to wait it out but decided that it really hadn't subsided in the half hour so we might as well make a dash for home.

Not a good sign when you have to pick a path that is navigatable without getting your feet wet, but when we got to our street there was no way across - it was completely underwater - all in half hour I will add - so it was off with the shoes (my addidas road testing white hightops) and socks and into the water which was up to my calf - yuck but thankfully we were home to shower and dry off but i couldn't resist sending kaela and Josh back out in the rain so I could take some photos!

One Long Summer

Today is Sunday, Georgia's birthday actually - and I am waiting for all the family to be home at the one time so we can give her a quick ring - but anyone with teenagers will know they come and go so frequently our door is a proverbial revolving one.
But anyway it is Sunday and I am sitting here by myself, which doesn't happen very often. Josh is out at a coffee shop with a friend (they meet there and then go skating or blading as it's just 50 m down the road - it's all good) Matthew has taken Mikaela to some youth home where she is volunteering to speak English to Vietnamese youths (you have to love IB CAS) and Bella well she is out with friends including the boy who is now officially her boyfriend - officially apparently because it is now on facebook. He seems a nice boy we will see how he survives our family. When Zander used to bring girls home we use to make them play backyard cricket in our driveway and only the strong survived - so we might have to get him to play cricket and see how he survives - I am not sure how cricket will translate.
Anyway back to Sunday. Matthew and I on our way back from coffee this morning were discussing how surreal leaving here really is. It's like we have taken a break from life maybe not from life maybe from living. We still get up everyday and go to work, school etc., we still run around with the kids and sport and social outings - but it's not normal life. We have housekeepers - well we used to - we have a driver, we walk down the road for not so good coffee, we go for massages and facials and eat copious amounts of pho it all is not real. You can understand how people who do this for a long time must find it so hard to go back to living a somewhat of a normal life.
And as Vietnam has no discernible seasons there isn't even the change of seasons to mark the passing of time, so sometimes life just stands still.
It's almost like just one long summer which will end one day and we will go back to living our life.