This is a really interesting flowchart of what procrastinators do... sound familiar? :P
http://www.projectsidewalk.com/images/flowchart2.jpg
Friday, September 5, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wanna try to fly a Boeing 737?
Came across this interesting ad in Facebook (first time I actually clicked on an interesting advert!) that you can soon try a full flight simulator of a Boeing 737 aircraft! And for as little as HK$840 if you pre-book before 15th Sept! Coming soon at the Megabox, in Kowloon Bay. Seems interesting... but for that much money, I think its best to do some homework and try out Microsoft Flight Simulator first! (Gasp!)
http://www.flightexperience.com.hk/
http://www.flightexperience.com.hk/
Why are some people luckier than others?
Why Some People Have All the Luck
By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire
Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? A psychologist says he has discovered the answer.
Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.
The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50." This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.
Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.
As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties' intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs. The lucky ones make the best of what they have and find ways to make it better. Unlucky ones tend to find an easy way out and fail in life.
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.
Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier. The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.
Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factor".
Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:
1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right
2) Be open to new experiences and find ways to make things work better. Family and loved ones for a start.
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.
Have a Lucky day and work for it.
The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.
By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire
Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? A psychologist says he has discovered the answer.
Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.
The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50." This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.
Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.
As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties' intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs. The lucky ones make the best of what they have and find ways to make it better. Unlucky ones tend to find an easy way out and fail in life.
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.
Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier. The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.
Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factor".
Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:
1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right
2) Be open to new experiences and find ways to make things work better. Family and loved ones for a start.
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.
Have a Lucky day and work for it.
The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Homeowner status again!
Wow, its been a busy week this week. Not only did we set in motion the
sale of our flat in Grand Waterfront, and also confirm renting the
neighbouring tower in the same place, we also bought a new flat too!
Judy got a call from one of the estate agents saying that a new
development called Harbour Place was having some superb pomotional
offers that we should consider. Harbour Place is situated right
between the Hunghom train terminus, the Hunghom ferry pier and Whampoa
Gardens. It has seven blocks, and is developed jointly by Sung Hung
Kai Properties and New World Properties. Its long history of
development included it being a public housing estate, with the outer
frame looking rather spartan compared to more contemporary styles.
However they later decided to market it privately since it was on
prime harbourside land.
We had checked it out earlier in the year when they were selling
blocks 4,5 and 6, but at the time it was way put of our budget. This
time, they were offering blocks 1,2 and 3, the ones closest to the
harbour. They were also offering special mortgage deals such as 3yrs
interest payments paid by the developer, or 18mths guaranteed "rent"
of 5% of property value per month by the developers.
We got that news on Friday afternoon, and racking our brains for the
entire night working out costs and viability of the purchase! At first
we thought that the three year interest-free plan would be best as we
can charge lower rent yet still cover principal payments. But when we
talked to Ricacorp estate agents and explained that we wanted this fot
investment purposes, they suggested that the 7% discount would be
better. We would save on purchasing costs like Stamp Duty, legal fees,
and we can sell practically anytime if house prices suddenly rise,
whereas the three year plan would really need us to keep the flat at
least that period to maximize the benefits. The discount also gives us
a nice buffer against any market downturns. Sweet!
sale of our flat in Grand Waterfront, and also confirm renting the
neighbouring tower in the same place, we also bought a new flat too!
Judy got a call from one of the estate agents saying that a new
development called Harbour Place was having some superb pomotional
offers that we should consider. Harbour Place is situated right
between the Hunghom train terminus, the Hunghom ferry pier and Whampoa
Gardens. It has seven blocks, and is developed jointly by Sung Hung
Kai Properties and New World Properties. Its long history of
development included it being a public housing estate, with the outer
frame looking rather spartan compared to more contemporary styles.
However they later decided to market it privately since it was on
prime harbourside land.
We had checked it out earlier in the year when they were selling
blocks 4,5 and 6, but at the time it was way put of our budget. This
time, they were offering blocks 1,2 and 3, the ones closest to the
harbour. They were also offering special mortgage deals such as 3yrs
interest payments paid by the developer, or 18mths guaranteed "rent"
of 5% of property value per month by the developers.
We got that news on Friday afternoon, and racking our brains for the
entire night working out costs and viability of the purchase! At first
we thought that the three year interest-free plan would be best as we
can charge lower rent yet still cover principal payments. But when we
talked to Ricacorp estate agents and explained that we wanted this fot
investment purposes, they suggested that the 7% discount would be
better. We would save on purchasing costs like Stamp Duty, legal fees,
and we can sell practically anytime if house prices suddenly rise,
whereas the three year plan would really need us to keep the flat at
least that period to maximize the benefits. The discount also gives us
a nice buffer against any market downturns. Sweet!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
We're moving to a new place!
One of the things we've been busy about since returning from our honeymoon, was considering when to sell the flat that we're in. It's very nice, but there are several things prompting us to make this decision soon. We know that the house prices are rising, and during our honeymoon it did peak to about HK$2.8mil for a flat of our size. The prices then dropped, and was slowly rising again. We wanted to catch it on the uplift, before there's another implosion on the stock exchange, holding back prospective homeowners from releasing their money for the deposit.
Secondly, it looks like the old buildings right in front of our flat will be demolished very soon. The tower that will be built there will be over 100m high, which is enough to block our view of the open ex-airport area. We already had several viewers come up and immediately lose interest when the agent said there would be a new tower blocking the view. For sure, the view is not the only reason why you would buy Grand Waterfront... the expected value of the area would still increase, especially once the key infrastructure of the Kai Tak project is completed. However, we can't really wait that long for the third reason:
We put down the minimum 5% deposit for the flat, meaning that we are paying a huge proportion of our mortgage money per month just on interest. We wanted to save on this, by selling the flat off as early as possible. Yes renting also incurs a cost that is not recoverable, but at least the release of commitment to the mortgage allows us to engage into the final reason for selling:
The HK Mortgage Corporation (HKMC) stands absolute on its basic rule that one cannot have their total mortgage payments over any number of properties to exceed 50% of their household income. So, lets assume my salary is $30k/mth. That means my mortgage payments cannot exceed $15k/mth. And given that Grand Waterfront is costing me $14k itself, I cannot buy another property, even if I have 30% deposit available for the new flat.
So, having rationalised all of that, we put the flat onto the market, and hoped for the best. We decided on our original target price of HK$2.7mil, which would have given us around half mil gross profit. Not bad for a commitment since Sept 2006! Its funny how some agents said "Look, lets set the original price at $3mil...." to which Judy and I both said "Why do that and scare off prospective buyers? Lets just put it at $2.75mil." Then we started to realise why.... some idiot agents entered that into their systems, and told all their customers that we would be willing to haggle down to $2.45mil! Rediculous! Seems that everyone has gotten so used to this haggling that they wont buy unless they feel like they've made a massive saving of over $300k. We both disagreed with this antiqidated dance, and held fast to our target price.
It worked. A young couple came along twice to the flat, and still tried to haggle to the "nice sounding" number of $2.68mil. We stood firm, and then the young lady turned to the agent and said "Well, you know what to do." On hindsight, that could have meant that the agent gets the 1% commission from us, but a slightly cheaper rate from them. I dont know and cant confirm on that, but thats what my colleagues have suggested to me.
Anyway, thats the sale of the flat sorted. We finally vacate the flat on 17 July and hand over the keys at that point.
So where are we going to?
Funnily enough, we're moving just two blocks over to Tower 2, 39/F, flat H, Grand Waterfront!!!
We inititally decided to look for new properties in Tseung Kwan O area, as construction recently completed and landlords were expecting to start letting out to tenants. The rent turned out to be quite expensive. We talked to our neighbours over dinner about this, and they suggested "If you're paying that much, why not rent here?" And fortunately enough, we found a flat that was just going to be vacant at end of June, perfect for us. And because its the exact same layout and orientation has our flat, everything can slot in exactly as we like! Another agent tried to convince us that this was a mistake, and we should have went with their offering, a 585sq ft flat facing the sea. Yes, it would be bigger, but maybe noisier as I would expect it to lower down, and hence closer to the bus terminus downstairs. Furthermore, we might have to get all-new furniture, since the orientation of our sofa might not be right for the new living room. Anyway, its done and signed for, so we'll be happily renting a quiant 500sq ft flat just literally afew steps away from where we are now!
Perfect!
Secondly, it looks like the old buildings right in front of our flat will be demolished very soon. The tower that will be built there will be over 100m high, which is enough to block our view of the open ex-airport area. We already had several viewers come up and immediately lose interest when the agent said there would be a new tower blocking the view. For sure, the view is not the only reason why you would buy Grand Waterfront... the expected value of the area would still increase, especially once the key infrastructure of the Kai Tak project is completed. However, we can't really wait that long for the third reason:
We put down the minimum 5% deposit for the flat, meaning that we are paying a huge proportion of our mortgage money per month just on interest. We wanted to save on this, by selling the flat off as early as possible. Yes renting also incurs a cost that is not recoverable, but at least the release of commitment to the mortgage allows us to engage into the final reason for selling:
The HK Mortgage Corporation (HKMC) stands absolute on its basic rule that one cannot have their total mortgage payments over any number of properties to exceed 50% of their household income. So, lets assume my salary is $30k/mth. That means my mortgage payments cannot exceed $15k/mth. And given that Grand Waterfront is costing me $14k itself, I cannot buy another property, even if I have 30% deposit available for the new flat.
So, having rationalised all of that, we put the flat onto the market, and hoped for the best. We decided on our original target price of HK$2.7mil, which would have given us around half mil gross profit. Not bad for a commitment since Sept 2006! Its funny how some agents said "Look, lets set the original price at $3mil...." to which Judy and I both said "Why do that and scare off prospective buyers? Lets just put it at $2.75mil." Then we started to realise why.... some idiot agents entered that into their systems, and told all their customers that we would be willing to haggle down to $2.45mil! Rediculous! Seems that everyone has gotten so used to this haggling that they wont buy unless they feel like they've made a massive saving of over $300k. We both disagreed with this antiqidated dance, and held fast to our target price.
It worked. A young couple came along twice to the flat, and still tried to haggle to the "nice sounding" number of $2.68mil. We stood firm, and then the young lady turned to the agent and said "Well, you know what to do." On hindsight, that could have meant that the agent gets the 1% commission from us, but a slightly cheaper rate from them. I dont know and cant confirm on that, but thats what my colleagues have suggested to me.
Anyway, thats the sale of the flat sorted. We finally vacate the flat on 17 July and hand over the keys at that point.
So where are we going to?
Funnily enough, we're moving just two blocks over to Tower 2, 39/F, flat H, Grand Waterfront!!!
We inititally decided to look for new properties in Tseung Kwan O area, as construction recently completed and landlords were expecting to start letting out to tenants. The rent turned out to be quite expensive. We talked to our neighbours over dinner about this, and they suggested "If you're paying that much, why not rent here?" And fortunately enough, we found a flat that was just going to be vacant at end of June, perfect for us. And because its the exact same layout and orientation has our flat, everything can slot in exactly as we like! Another agent tried to convince us that this was a mistake, and we should have went with their offering, a 585sq ft flat facing the sea. Yes, it would be bigger, but maybe noisier as I would expect it to lower down, and hence closer to the bus terminus downstairs. Furthermore, we might have to get all-new furniture, since the orientation of our sofa might not be right for the new living room. Anyway, its done and signed for, so we'll be happily renting a quiant 500sq ft flat just literally afew steps away from where we are now!
Perfect!
So, where are the photos then??
Confession time, I have been rather busy (read: Lazy) to get what little photos I do have on my iPhone, uploaded to Flickr.com for everyone to enjoy. Yes, I know there's a 3rd party app on Installer called "Pushr" that allows you to upload to the site, but it can get abit tedious when you have over 100 photos to edit and sort then upload. But rest assured it will be done... at some point... in the near future.... :P
Busy as can be in HK
Well, as most of you may already know, Judy and I got back to HK safely and without any issues to report.
I managed to return to UK on Monday just fine, and was quite happy to have spent some time with my parents while getting my UK passport renewed, and booking my flight back home. I even managed to get some Computer Lessons in for Dad every morning, as he started to explore what a computer is and is capable of! I'm well proud that Dad has finally got around to trying to learn about this, although he's understandably frightened about anything strange or odd that is beyond his 5-step process to turn on the PC, open Hotmail, Listen to HK internet radio and read chinese news on the web.
The UK passport was mercifully renewed within 4hrs, thanks to the "recently" updated documentation on my previous renewal in 2004. So I had abit more time to see some friends from KHS and from Uni, which is always a pleasure. I was especially excited to have finally met up with my best friend Chetan's newly born baby! Aditya is so small, but really cute and so well-behaved. Gives a short warning that he's hungry, or needs nappy changing, before really wailing.
In the meantime, Judy had a monumental task of trying to clean up the flat, since there was like 3 weeks worth of dust to vacuum and things to tidy up! By the time I got home, she had transformed it into a top 4-star hotel! Since then, she's become very adept at housecleaning, and making the place feel wonderful. Yep, its definitely worth letting her take time off from work to help clean up the house, and experiment with various recipes, which often taste absolutely delicious!
I managed to return to UK on Monday just fine, and was quite happy to have spent some time with my parents while getting my UK passport renewed, and booking my flight back home. I even managed to get some Computer Lessons in for Dad every morning, as he started to explore what a computer is and is capable of! I'm well proud that Dad has finally got around to trying to learn about this, although he's understandably frightened about anything strange or odd that is beyond his 5-step process to turn on the PC, open Hotmail, Listen to HK internet radio and read chinese news on the web.
The UK passport was mercifully renewed within 4hrs, thanks to the "recently" updated documentation on my previous renewal in 2004. So I had abit more time to see some friends from KHS and from Uni, which is always a pleasure. I was especially excited to have finally met up with my best friend Chetan's newly born baby! Aditya is so small, but really cute and so well-behaved. Gives a short warning that he's hungry, or needs nappy changing, before really wailing.
In the meantime, Judy had a monumental task of trying to clean up the flat, since there was like 3 weeks worth of dust to vacuum and things to tidy up! By the time I got home, she had transformed it into a top 4-star hotel! Since then, she's become very adept at housecleaning, and making the place feel wonderful. Yep, its definitely worth letting her take time off from work to help clean up the house, and experiment with various recipes, which often taste absolutely delicious!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Lost passports, credit cards, ID cards, camera... Only my wallet and mobiles!
Its amazing what can happen in the space of 60 seconds. You can enjoy
a coffee, see Nicholas Cage and team steal fast cars, or have your
backpack stolen with almost everything in it!
Both passports, flight details, Judy's purse with credit cards and ID
cards, camera with all our holiday snaps, work blackberry and
guidebook. Just lucky Judy sent afew text messages otherwise even her
mobile would have gone too!
We were waiting for some food and sat out on the terrace to watch some
cute dogs, and put the bag on the chair next to me, seeing as there
was no one around. A elderly woman then starts talking to us in
Spanish laughing as the smaller dog tries to hump the bigger one. Then
after a minute she says goodbye, and when I looked for the guidebook,
my backpack had gone! I tried running up the street to see if anyone
had nabbed my bag so I can repay the kindness with my fists, but alas
no sign at all. Incredible! I was absolutely livid while Judy was more
calmer and pragmatic, calling to cancel her credit cards asap.
Thankfully we still had my wallet with cash, cards, and ID, so we
could still get money to survive.
I went back into to cafe to ask for a directory, so I can reach the
British and Chinese Consulates, and get new passports to leave.
Thankfully not all Catalans are bad, and one girl helped call their
directory services for the UK Consulate number and address, while a
gentleman walked us to the nearest police station, so we could file a
report.
Most annoying was that we were supposed to leave on 27th March, and
the theft took place on 26th evening!
After the initial frustration, and getting copies of the report for
the Consulates, we got more cash out from the ATM and called the
landlord for the apartment to let us in (key was also in the bag). We
then made plans for the next few days and emailed the HK immigration
department for advise.
They called us in the morning with clear instructions and said the
whole team is aware of Judy's situation and is available 24hrs, very
efficient.
Since the Chinese Consulate is only open to the public for 3days a
week, we went to the UK one first. They could get me out very quickly,
but only to UK. From there I would have to reapply for replacement
passport. So, the priority now is to get Judy's temporary pass sorted
so she can fly directly to HK first.
With not much else to do, we checked into another hotel and went to
the supermarket El Corte Ingles for tomorrows breakfast.
So this morning 28th, we arrived 30mins ahead of the Chinese Consulate
opening hours and already saw 20 people queuing. Once in, the typical
lack of queuing etiquette was apparent, with lots of people trying to
jump the queue, thrusting papers into the counter. Really they were
quite inefficent, as Judy also had to bump towards the counter three
times to fill in details that they could have told us in the first
place. However, they did manage to produce a FULL China passport for
Judy within one hour! Amazing!
So now we'll look for flights out then I can get the UK Consulate to
prepare my emrgency pass out, looks like we may be able to leave ok
Monday afternoon. Updates as they come!
a coffee, see Nicholas Cage and team steal fast cars, or have your
backpack stolen with almost everything in it!
Both passports, flight details, Judy's purse with credit cards and ID
cards, camera with all our holiday snaps, work blackberry and
guidebook. Just lucky Judy sent afew text messages otherwise even her
mobile would have gone too!
We were waiting for some food and sat out on the terrace to watch some
cute dogs, and put the bag on the chair next to me, seeing as there
was no one around. A elderly woman then starts talking to us in
Spanish laughing as the smaller dog tries to hump the bigger one. Then
after a minute she says goodbye, and when I looked for the guidebook,
my backpack had gone! I tried running up the street to see if anyone
had nabbed my bag so I can repay the kindness with my fists, but alas
no sign at all. Incredible! I was absolutely livid while Judy was more
calmer and pragmatic, calling to cancel her credit cards asap.
Thankfully we still had my wallet with cash, cards, and ID, so we
could still get money to survive.
I went back into to cafe to ask for a directory, so I can reach the
British and Chinese Consulates, and get new passports to leave.
Thankfully not all Catalans are bad, and one girl helped call their
directory services for the UK Consulate number and address, while a
gentleman walked us to the nearest police station, so we could file a
report.
Most annoying was that we were supposed to leave on 27th March, and
the theft took place on 26th evening!
After the initial frustration, and getting copies of the report for
the Consulates, we got more cash out from the ATM and called the
landlord for the apartment to let us in (key was also in the bag). We
then made plans for the next few days and emailed the HK immigration
department for advise.
They called us in the morning with clear instructions and said the
whole team is aware of Judy's situation and is available 24hrs, very
efficient.
Since the Chinese Consulate is only open to the public for 3days a
week, we went to the UK one first. They could get me out very quickly,
but only to UK. From there I would have to reapply for replacement
passport. So, the priority now is to get Judy's temporary pass sorted
so she can fly directly to HK first.
With not much else to do, we checked into another hotel and went to
the supermarket El Corte Ingles for tomorrows breakfast.
So this morning 28th, we arrived 30mins ahead of the Chinese Consulate
opening hours and already saw 20 people queuing. Once in, the typical
lack of queuing etiquette was apparent, with lots of people trying to
jump the queue, thrusting papers into the counter. Really they were
quite inefficent, as Judy also had to bump towards the counter three
times to fill in details that they could have told us in the first
place. However, they did manage to produce a FULL China passport for
Judy within one hour! Amazing!
So now we'll look for flights out then I can get the UK Consulate to
prepare my emrgency pass out, looks like we may be able to leave ok
Monday afternoon. Updates as they come!
Sent from my iPhone
Monday, March 24, 2008
Patron saint of Valencia...
flowers donated by families all dressed up and televised. Each flower
carefully placed with care, often bringing ladies to tears of joy.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
"Parade of Fire"
hotel at 6:30pm to check it out. We caught the #19 bus to the centre
where it was just starting, not a minute too soon! Rather cheekily, we
followed some guys who ran in front of everyone who queued afew hours
to get a good spot! Trying to blend into the crowd, we sat down on the
roadside to avoid obstructing views and got front row seats to a
spectacular show! Kids dancing with fireworks spinning and shrieking
on poles, followed by 3-headed hydras and winged dragons. Finally a
huge 10' metallic-shelled turtle moved by a team who were brace enough
to launch sparklers and fiery flames from small cavities in the
shell... They must have choked on the smoke! But it was a great show
and lucky we didn't miss it!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Packed like sardines for fireworks
to follow along. Seems that they were going to observe the 2pm
fireworks display. It was a long wait for us, about an hour, but we
managed to get a good spot to stand. There was a live band from the
beer company Amstel drumming up beats and giving people something to
dance to. They also blew up massive inflatible beach balls about 5'
wide for the crowds to punch around! The fireworks were hardly visible
as they basically flew towards the sun, but after afew minutes there
was enough smoke to blot out the sun! And they were LOUD! We've never
been so close to massive fireworks like this before, a truely awesome
experience.
Young Prince picks up his Princess
girls dressed in beautiful traditional outfits. And we wondered what
that's about... Then we wet fortunate enough to see what happened: the
band stopped outside an apartment and the boy rang the bell. He enters
and afew minutes later he emerges with a gorgeous girl to the sound of
a triumphant beat, and they continue parading!
Valencia Fallas Festival
paper-mâché, often a satirical look on life today. There were
childrens ones and massive ones too, like this huge Genie. The winner
voted Best Fallas survives: the rest get burned to the ground!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Madness in Valencia!
swing. Everywhere, people were launching their own fireworks and
smashing bangers against the floor, making one feel just like being in
wartime Iraq!
There were hardly any taxis running, and we waited 1.5hrs for one. We
would have taken a bus to our hotel, had there not been a bus strike
rendering the service virtually useless! We were starving so we got
some food from a nearby stall, assorted cuts (for €20!) and ate while
waiting. Finally, when there was one, Judy was away queuing at the
ladies room! One poor girl in front of us waited for so long, but for
some reason didn't accept her and she stood aside to make a phonecall.
Anyway, we arrived at Hotel Opera Valencia, and its literally next to
a "El Corte Ingles" shopping mall and the Aqua Mall that me bad my KHS
mates all went to during our previous trip to Valencia.
After showering, went to bed immediately and only woke up at 9am to
the sounds of early morning bomb raids, err I mean Fallas Festival
rejoiceful sounds! The breakfast was great: at last had decent coffee
and meat with scrambled eggs. The fruit deserves a mention for being
outstandingly fresh and juicy!
We're now going to take another nap before venturing outside to stock
up on stuff at the mall and touristy stuff.
Bye!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Yoga in Madrid
quite nice actually. The trains to Valencia were fully booked till 6pm
so we got some spare time to kill in Madrid. Some museums were closed
on Mondays, so Judy is practicing some yoga while I type out another
entry.
Ps. Edge roaming is actually quite expensive. Peoples telecom saw by
data roaming bill as being excessive, and cut me off in case it was
stolen! I had to pay up the outstanding amount before they
reactivated, but its best to remove data roaming until absolutely
necessary (like blogging, haha!)
Laters!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Lisbon and Sintra
Wow, this kind of roadtrip is alot now tiring than I thought! Maybe
its the bad jetlag, but we've both been so tires that we sleep as
early as 9pm and sleep through to 5am. In fact yesterday we when
skipped dinner as we our afternoon nap from 5pm went straight through
to 11pm!
So, i wont be saying much except to summarize events so far:
its the bad jetlag, but we've both been so tires that we sleep as
early as 9pm and sleep through to 5am. In fact yesterday we when
skipped dinner as we our afternoon nap from 5pm went straight through
to 11pm!
So, i wont be saying much except to summarize events so far:
- Lisbon isn't that big really. Main parts can be covered in afew days.
- Champions League games were on during our first day, and I didn't
realize Bolton lost against Sporting Lisbon!
- Alfama really is the Old Town, with thin steep steps and narrow
paths. Has its own charm, especially with the soulful Fado singers.
- Portuguese food is quite nice, especially at this place in Alfama,
but they sure like their salt. And the grilled fish are full of tiny
deadly bones.
- The Zenit Hotel we stayed at was a little disappointing: curtains
had holes, walls paper-thin, no kettle, and dodgy electricity lighting.
- Rented the Smart car for afew days. Nippy little fella, parking was
a cinch, can fit two smart card in one space! Love the tiptronic shift
and convertible hood, which you can operate remotely!
- Sintra is a really nice place. The Pena Palace is highly
recommended- Lawrence's Hotel is very charming and historic, nice
setting, but not upto what we expect of a 5star hotel. (No bellman to
assist with luggage, etc)
- Went to the furthest West point of Europe facing the huge Atlantic
Ocean, arrived just before sunset... Only there were too many clouds
to see it! D'oh!
More as it happens!
Michael and Judy :)
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Blogging from 24000ft in the air
Hello and greetings from 24000ft up in the sky. Of course, its not
real-time blogging but at least I have some time to say a little about
how we got here.
Judy and I are on our honeymoon to Portugal and Spain, spanning over
16 days. A quick transit at London Heathrow to get to Lisbon. We'll
then be spending some time there, and then take a roadtrip to a whole
town declared a national heritage site called Sintra. Returning to
Lisbon for another night, we'll then be jumping onto an overnight
train to Madrid, then head over to Valencia for their annual festival,
the "Burning of the Fallas". After that, we'll head over to Barcelona
to chill out at a beachside hotel, then swapping for an inner city
local apartment to really get a feel for Catalonia life. If we're
lucky, maybe even watch the Barcelona football team at the Camp Nou!
Finally, heading back to HK via London again.
real-time blogging but at least I have some time to say a little about
how we got here.
Judy and I are on our honeymoon to Portugal and Spain, spanning over
16 days. A quick transit at London Heathrow to get to Lisbon. We'll
then be spending some time there, and then take a roadtrip to a whole
town declared a national heritage site called Sintra. Returning to
Lisbon for another night, we'll then be jumping onto an overnight
train to Madrid, then head over to Valencia for their annual festival,
the "Burning of the Fallas". After that, we'll head over to Barcelona
to chill out at a beachside hotel, then swapping for an inner city
local apartment to really get a feel for Catalonia life. If we're
lucky, maybe even watch the Barcelona football team at the Camp Nou!
Finally, heading back to HK via London again.
Since Judy works at Northwest Airlines she was able to get us staff
discount on flights with partner airlines, BA being one of them. So
when we got the the check-in desk at the appointed time, we saw a
large group of about 16 others already there also waiting to get
onboard. There was even a Filipino lady who had been waiting for a
flight to London for over 8hrs. The longest she had to wait to get her
family on a plane during July was a whole week! I don't know how she
handled the wait. Even though the BA counter put our names on the
waiting list, the kind lady also put our names on for the earlier
flight, only afew mins difference. When they called out names, it felt
like we were trying to win the lottery. (Speaking of which, I failed
to buy a ticket for the HK lottery of HK$33mil!) Well, I imagine I
would imagine so, if we weren't dropped out of the running for the
earlier flight. It got rather anxious for the roll call on staff
allowed onboard for the BA032 flight we wanted. The remaining staff
all got on, except for this older couple who worked at Quantas. The
counter asked the gent, halfway through the list: "Are you a retired
captain?" to which he said honestly "no." Everyone else slapped their
heads, all thinking the same thing! "D'oh!" and indeed it cost them
their seats as everyone else got called. Rather stunning, side Judy
told me while dashing through customs that traditionally BA and
Quantas are close partners, so its surprising that the couple would be
left out.
Anyhow, we got seperate seats, but it turns out that the seat next to
me was the Fillipino lady. So she offered to swap seats with Judy so
that we could sit together! She also benefitted too by getting Judy's
seat 28D, a front row seat.
We were so rushed in fact, that we thrust out hand luggage into the
cabins and forgot to take out our magazines, toothbrush and neck pillow!
Anyway, enough for now. 2hrs into the flight and my eyes are
absolutely dead bow, a mere 1mm slit to see what I'm rapidly typing
away. (2am HKT).
G'nite!
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, January 25, 2008
Business baby!
sitting together too!
Almost boarding... We hope!
Well, we made it on time to the Northwest boarding gate... Thank god
for the quick hkid e-channels.
Thing is we have to wait for the final flint manifest before we are
certain we can get on board. C'est la vie for stanby tickets. If we
can't get on board then we'll just take a cheaper flight with a
partner airline like Cathay.
Wish us luck!
for the quick hkid e-channels.
Thing is we have to wait for the final flint manifest before we are
certain we can get on board. C'est la vie for stanby tickets. If we
can't get on board then we'll just take a cheaper flight with a
partner airline like Cathay.
Wish us luck!
The first blog entry!
Hello and welcome to the blog of Judy and Michael!
I won't say much here as this is just a test to make sure that this
works... Its now1.14am and I need to get up in FOUR hours time to
catch the early flight! Next blog entry probably when we're at the
airport with tickets in our hands! Good night!
I won't say much here as this is just a test to make sure that this
works... Its now1.14am and I need to get up in FOUR hours time to
catch the early flight! Next blog entry probably when we're at the
airport with tickets in our hands! Good night!
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