Monday 31 December 2012

Christmas in Hong Kong 2012

The 25th December this year was far from any 25th December I've ever known. It was really strange. I was so far from home and so far from my family and home comforts.

Dan and I started the day by putting the yummy prepared turkey into the oven at 6am. We then started opening each others presents and having coffee and biscuits. My Dad held midnight mass at his church. Click here to see the website for St. James Sutton-On-Hull Church. Because we're 8 hours ahead, after they finished midnight mass, it was already 8-9 am in the morning for us so we had a Skype until 2am their time! It was so lovely :) I sent some presents over for them so they opened it to me on Skype otherwise it would have been late afternoon for us before we could Skype them because they needed sleep!

Dan and I cooked our turkey and watch Christmassy films. It was so cosy and romantic :) 



Oir Cranberry infused turkey. Please note- It's not burnt! It's caramelised cranberries mmmMMmm.



Skype photo time!!

My lovely presents off Laura :)


Willow and Fluffy shared a Christmas kiss :)


And then Willow opened her presents :)



Sat at our table ready to eat our delicious food! Turkey for two!!


It's definitely been a Christmas to remember :) 

Monday 24 December 2012

C&G Photography's Panoramic view of Lincoln


Here's the latest photograph of C&G Photography's new photography piece. It is a panoramic view of Lincoln at night taken right from the balcony that you can see. 
It's such a fantastic image that I had to share it.
You can see more work on their website here or you can see more work, posts and updates on their facebook page here.


Tuesday 11 December 2012

Just over 3 months!... I think? & I miss music!

December 7th marked the 4th month of me being in Hong Kong. I got thinking today, how much I miss music. I occasionally get a bit of me time and I'm able to listen to acoustic music and my favourite old corny tunes. Sitting on the bus to Tai Po I'm also able to blast Jay-Z- Dirt of your shoulder but now since Dan's earphones are broken, we're gonna have to buy some more headphones which are even LOUDER!!

Today was different though- I'm missing playing music and singing so much!! I miss my guitar and I miss singing song with beautiful lyrics about love and loss and life. I miss belting at the top of my lungs when no-one can hear me!

I was thinking about when I used to have 24/7 access to a beautiful piano when I live in Derby and how I haven't played in years. There's one in the church opposite us but I really don't think they'll give us a key just so I can go and play the piano in there.

GAHH I just miss making music!

I was thinking about the first ever guitar teacher I had. He could play acoustic classical guitar like a BOSS. To be honest, I never really practiced, but I guess that doesn't matter now since I'm not really a classical guitar player. I wish I could still read music as good though.

I think this week Dan and I might go out with some friends who are playing at a local bar in Wai Tai or something or other. Maybe I'll get a chance to play and sing. It's not gonna be the same as playing my beautiful elect-acoustic Ibanez though. Man I miss that thing.

Tad drunk in this photo.





















Wednesday 5 December 2012

Dan on Abduzeedo

Yesterday I went to the Primary School to see Dan. I went up to his desk and noticed he was working on a David Bowie drawing. He didn't finish it but continued to finish it when he got home. I took a photo of him on my polaroid camera he bought me whilst he was working on it. 



He's so so talented and has so many more drawings on his Behance which you can see by clicking here. He also has more on his blog which you can see by clicking here.

This piece of work was also featured on Abduzeedo which you can see by clicking here and here.



Wednesday 28 November 2012

Change of Travel blog URL!

Our travel blog can no longer be found on the previous URL. If you wish to view Daniel and my travel blog of our adventures in Hong Kong please click the following link :)

http://sweetnsourhongkongstyle.blogspot.hk

Thank you! Happy Reading :)

Monday 19 November 2012

Sick Day

Yes, yes, my body finally discovered that's it's not a machine and finally lost in a battle of stress, lack of sleep and just being too busy. It sucks because I need to rest yet I was torn between going to work because it's my friend's last day before she leaves for another job. No doubt I will see her outside of work, but I wanted to give her a good send off.

I've been suffering from a cold this week which probably wasn't helped by climbing high-wires in the cold right at the top of Ma On Shan mountains on Thursday's Teacher's Development Day.

I finally admitted defeat and went to the doctor's yesterday and got some medication to help me feel better and to make me less zombie-like. He gave me a sick note so I called in sick- FOR A WHOLE DAY! First time in 3 months, that's so not bad I guess. Luckily, it's also Dan's day off so he will be looking after me and making sure I have enough boxes of tissues to blow my ever running snotty nose. That's love right? When he picks up your pile of snot filled tissues and puts them in the bin.

Yesterday, on my off day after going to the doctors and the supermarket to get some shopping for this coming week, we watched Kill Bill 1 and 2 and snuggled on the sofa.

Today will consist of more of that but mainly blowing my nose and sitting feeling a little bit sorry for myself.

No doubt I'll feel better tomorrow since this pills that the doctor has given me are pretty damn good!

Anyway I have lots of films to watch and sitting around to do so for now, over and out!

HAHA
Dan just got up, filled up the kettle and then tried to put it in the fridge.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Sometimes my blog translates to Chinese

And I have no idea why, then I refresh the page and it's all English again. It gets very annoying.

Anyway, this post was just to show you my new friend that I met today and because I simply haven't updated this blog in a while even though my days are usually very interesting.

This little guy was walking on the floor before I scooped him up and took lots of photos. He was very curious in this photo, before crawling all over the camera. He could probably see his reflection in the lens or something!

Here he is, little poser.



Oh, what's also annoying is when I'm loading a Youtube video. You know those videos you get before the video starts? Yeah? Well now mine are all in Chinese. And those Facebook adverts down the right hand side? Also in Chinese. 

Thank you Hong Kong for making advertisements even more boring to me!

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Chung Yeung Festival, Yuk food and Mountain fire!

Last night we went to The Avenue of the Stars to see the view of Hong Kong's beautiful harbour after we went out for dinner.







Today was the Chung Yeung Festival which falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.
Similar to the Ching Ming Festival in spring, the Chung Yeung Festival is when entire families congregate at cemeteries to engage in age-old practices of ancestor worship.
It is also popular to hike to the city’s high points on this day, as it’s believed this will bring good luck. This custom is rooted in a Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) legend in which a soothsayer advised a man to take his family to high ground for the ninth day of the ninth moon. The man complied and the next day discovered that all the inhabitants of his village had been slaughtered, while he and his family had been spared by leaving for the hills.  
In Hong Kong, people go to the great outdoors for a picnic on this day, with many people eating special cakes called ‘ko’. The name sounds similar to ‘high’ or ‘top’ in Chinese and people eat them in the hope of being promoted to high positions.


Today we went to Mong Kok and did some shopping.

So eating at a certain restaurant was interesting today. Dan ordered a chilli hotdog and after he had eaten half of it, I saw something shiny. What could it be? Plastic in the food. I complain and they say 'We bring you another' so we waited 15 minutes and Dan gets a new hotdog. Second bite and Dan pulls out plastic in his mouth. I lose it. Went crazy at the fact that the second piece of food had plastic it and say we're not paying. They didn't even apologise so I tell them I'm walking out. Eurgh. I was livid!!

We think people taking part in the festival might have had a little accident because we came back from our day of shopping in Mong Kok today and the mountain is on fire!!



oopsie.


Friday 19 October 2012

Early Presents!

I'm very lucky to have someone special in my life. He went out and bought me these fantastic gifts. Isn't he the sweetest?!


Instant polaroid camer that I've had my eye on for a while!


A beautiful pearl bracelet. Oh my, it's so pretty!!

Matching pillow cases... n'aaww!


And the polaroids from the camera :)


Happy Ruth!!

Thank you Daniel :) !!!
XXXX