Not a good day to move

April 2 – Today was very gloomy and oppressive. Looks like rain, but then it often does and we never get any. I went to the corporate apartment to get the bulk of the items that need to be moved out. There was lots of kitchen items (pots, pans, glasses, dishes) along with linens, pillows, quilts, and assorted other items. I had about 10 boxes & bags to move. I loaded it all onto the elevator & down to the front of the building and wouldn’t you know it, that is when the skies opened up. I still hailed a taxi and got soaked loading the stuff into it. I used my new language skills in telling the driver our address. Karen at the office taught me how to say 80 Robinson Road (you say the road name first, law-bean-sun dough; then the number, bath sap ho). I was pretty pleased as the driver understood perfectly.

It was just down the road, so still raining hard. I emptied everything out & made it up to our apartment in only 4 trips. Then came the unpleasant task of finding room for all this stuff in our apartment. I have a very well stocked kitchen now, can have a dinner party for 14, have 6 wine glasses, and enough linens to open a small hotel. Fortunately some of the stuff is not opened, so I might try returning it to Ikea, if I think I can stand the pain of entering Ikea again. Maybe it will make for a good blog entry.

Later in the afternoon I was treated to an amazing show from my front window. We had a terrific lightning storm and I had a front row seat. I love lightning storms and it reminded me of being at the lake (Champlain that is), although this looks nothing like looking over the lake at Vermont. We do have water and mountains on the other side, so I guess a loose similarity.

Clearwater Bay

April 1 – No April fool’s day here. I completely forgot about it. I think John already had his in India!

Had the usual Sunday omelet and actually watched the Big Chill on HBO. Never can see some movies too many times. We decided we wanted to hit the sea coast again, so figured out how to get to Clearwater Bay. This is in the New Territories on the east side of the peninsula. It is south of Sai Kung where we went a few weeks ago. We read that there is supposed to be some good beaches, a country park and seafood (of course).

We hoped the MTR and while waiting at the station noticed a public travel notice showing different sites in HK accessible on the MTR. We saw one that looked like a nice little fishing village so decided to try going there. We arrived at the designated station & saw a map that showed which way to the water. Upon exiting the station there were most high rises around and no fishing village in sight. We walked in the direction we thought there might be water. We got lots of looks as I don’t think this is a big tourist area. We finally stopped a young man and asked if there was a waterfront nearby. He laughed & said no and asked if we’d gotten off at the wrong stop. He said most of the tourists like places like Mong Kok or Tsim Sha Tsui, were we lost? We explained that we lived in HK & were just out exploring. He understood and said there was nothing to see here & said we were better off trying to get to Clearwater Bay as originally planned.

We got back on the MTR & went a few more stops. We exited into a very busy area. The bus station as on the other side of the every present mall. I think they must have a mall for every 10 blocks in this city, and all of them are packed (well on Sundays anyway). We located the bus station and began the grueling search for the right bus. I have not figured out an easy way to know what bus to take, unless it is listed in my book, and this was not. We started by checking out the large buses. You have to go to each stop & read down the lists of stops to see if the one you want is on there. I finally noticed an office & went & asked for assistance. What I could gather from the broken English was that we wanted bus 91M, but then some other bus to get to our destination. I couldn’t make out if we had to change or what. Too confusing.

We were about to hop a taxi when we noticed the mini-bus area. One of the first ones said Clearwater Bay. This looked promising. The driver was sound asleep, but as we stood there a few other people came along & qued up with us. They guy woke up & we boarded the bus. First time for John on a mini-bus. They are lots faster than the big buses especially going up hills. They also only hold 16 people & don’t have regular stops. They only stop if someone on the bus says stop or if there is someone waving them down on the street. They will stop anywhere which is nice. But if you don’t know where you are going, it can be difficult. If you are going to the end, then you are in luck as they will make you get off at the end. So we just had to relax & enjoy the ride.

The view once we got over the mountain was great. Lots of little islands and it was a very clear day. We passed the country park and the beach. There were lots of people out hiking in this area. When we got to the end of the line, we were in a little bay surrounded by hills with houses (more like shacks) lining the water. There were also several houses (shacks) on top of large blue barrels floating in the harbor. There seemed to also be some fish farming going on here as it looked like nets all around the harbor as well as small boats. We walked down to the little town (really just about 30 shacks). There was the every present little temple in the middle of the homes. A narrow path meandered between the homes. People sat out on chairs enjoying the fresh air or were in their living rooms, most of which were open to the outside, playing mon jong (a game with tiles). Kids were playing in the little square outside the temple. It had a very small town community feel to it. There were lots of Sunday visitors coming for a seafood dinner. A few people had dried fish stalls outside of their homes. They all smiled at us & waved. One man made a big point of saying “Hello! How are you?” He sounded very proud of the fact that he could speak English and recognized that we would understand him.

At the end of the village there were 2 piers jutting out into the bay. Both had restaurants on them and there was another restaurant on the seawall between the piers. We chose the place the jutted out the furthest as the breeze was refreshing and invigorating. Actually the breeze became a probably for the staff as things were blowing off tables and they had great difficulty getting new table clothes onto the tables. The table clothes were large plastic sheets. When the cleared the table, the just scrapped everything off the plates & onto the table cloth. Took the plates & dishes away, then wrapped the junk in the table cloth & threw it away. Pretty good system for a seafood place. Obviously these were not high class fancy restaurants. Just the basics & you picked out your fish in the tank before sitting down.

We chose shrimp and grouper. The shrimp came still in the shell & deep fried with garlic. They were delicious. The grouper was steamed whole (that’s how the do it) with soy sauce & garlic. We also got spinach and rice. Everything was delicious, but as we realized later a bit too much garlic. This was the same thing when we ate at Sai Kung, lots of garlic. We watched the boats come & go. There 2 large groups of patrons who left in what must have been rented cruise boats. There was a fishing boat at the end of the pier that was selling bags of shell fish to people. We went to take a look before leaving & they were cleaning sea urchins. This is a spiny creature & the inside is a bright yellow. It is fairly popular around here, but we don’t care for it. It is mushy and has a strange taste.

We got the bus back to the MTR. On the way I realized that the bus drivers had been telling me to take bus 91M then change to bus 91. I think the mini-bus was much easier.

Dinner, a movie & reflections on India

March 31 – John had another interesting trip to India. The company is trying to be more cost conscious, so he was booked in a less expensive hotel. In Delhi he has learned that you either pay well over $200/night to be in a decent hotel or you pay less and get, well, here is a sample. I wish John would contribute to this because to hear him tell it, is so funny. I have to say the guy has a great attitude. Nobody else from the company will set foot in India, but John goes about every 6 weeks to support his people there. They obviously adore him for this, as they know nobody else will come. The head of the India office, Alok, looks at John as a father figure. When the head salesman met Alok a few weeks ago (they had Alok meet them in Thailand as they would not go to India), he later told John that he must be brainwashing the guy. All Alok could talk about was how wonderful Meester John was. And it was Meester John this & Meester John that.

I transgressed there, sorry. So John called me after his first night in Delhi to say the air conditioning in the first room did not work. That is not good in Delhi as the humidity is very high. So they moved him. In the second room the front door to the room would not close all the way. That might be OK in Hong Kong, but not in Delhi. So they moved him again. The 3rd room seemed fine, until he went into the bathroom. He said he guessed they didn’t advertise that rooms came with their own pets. There was a 12inch lizard crawling in the bathtub area. Not wanting to take any more chances, he kept the bathroom door closed & put a towel at the bottom. INCREDIBLE INDIA!! A country of extremes with very little in the middle.

The next day he moved to a better hotel. I told him if the company complained about having to spend more money on the better hotel, he should send them a lizard head in the mail. He said nobody complained.

He did get to take a trip about 3 hours north of Delhi to see a printer. He said the area was near the mountains and very pleasant. They had lunch at a huge hotel that used to be the residence of the local governor, but now owned by a private family. He said the meal was great, but they were the only ones in the restaurant. Again he commented on the extremes in India. They rode in the fist class train car which was very plush. The only other choice was the regular class, which was just like you see in the movies. People hanging out the windows, hard wooden benches, no glass on the windows. It is a country of the haves & have nots and it doesn’t seem to really bother anyone, that is how it is supposed to be.

Indian food is not John’s favorite so he was craving a good steak. We had dinner at Dan Ryan’s Chicago Grill. They have good salads & steaks. John was very happy. We followed with a movie. This is a new theater and is it fancy. I felt like I was in a huge house of mirrors. All the walls were mirrored & the halls curved and wound around so that you felt lost & confused. I’m glad we were not in a hurry. We saw the movie “300”. Good big screen movie, but tons of blood, tons. BUT the nearly naked, well sculpted men throughout the movie, made the blood more than tolerable, for me anyway. It was a good story about ancient Greece’s fight for freedom from Persia. Lots of action as you can well imagine.

Ovens, washers, toilets

March 30 – Spent the morning finishing up travel plans & cleaning. John arrived home around 2pm. Nice to see him. If you recall we were having a leaking toilet problem. It was actually overflowing from the tank. They maintenance guy, Jerry, had to come back several times & change a few things, but today he is sure he found and fixed the problem. Sometimes renting is a good thing.

The weather has gotten hotter and the humidity way up. Now I remember why I didn’t get into the habit of doing much cooking when I first got here. The kitchen in not air conditioned so it is stifling in there. The stove has not gotten any better, it just frustrates me. It takes it about 30 minutes to heat up to 350 (I bought an oven thermometer when I was home this winter because doing the conversion just doesn’t work). If I crank it all the way up, the highest temp I can get is close to 400. That does it for most things, it is just the heating up time that is upsetting. Then the kitchen is really hot for a very long time. Just not worth it. John wanted to cook something the other night, so I said just turn on the oven to get it warmed up. He looked at me with his puppy dog eyes & I realized that he still has not learned how to work the oven. It is all pictures (not necessarily obvious ones) & lots of choices, so rather confusing. I remembered that it took me about a month to figure it out & start using it. The microwave, forget it!!

This made me recall how much trouble I had with the washer when I first got here. I couldn’t figure out why our underwear was getting destroyed and everything was running. You have to set the temperature when you do the wash. I finally figured out that I’d been doing the laundry at temp of 90. This didn’t seem to bad, at home I generally did everything on warm. But this isn’t Fahrenheit, and 90 is almost boiling. No wonder I was destroying our clothing. John finally figured out the washer while I was away in the states this winter, but I had to send him detailed instructions. A load (about 1/3 load according to what I’m used to) still take almost 4 hours, but I’ve learned to put it on before bed. Still most stuff doesn’t come out dry.

So, be glad for good old American technology when it comes to the kitchen & laundry. AND always remember what to take note of which temperature scale you are using. We have some lovely gray & blue underwear to remind me of my stupidity. At least I didn’t have any red cloths that I washed back then!!

Heifer, the office

March 29 – Not a very exciting day today. I went to the corporate apartment with our largest rolling suitcase & filled it up with stuff that we need to move before the lease runs out in 2 weeks. I figure it’ll take a few trips with the suitcase, but it is a good walk & nothing is that heavy. I got some stares walking down the street with the suitcase in tow & several taxi drivers slowed down hoping I would hail them. But I made it just fine.

I went into the office to talk to Karen about the hotels for the salesman. We settled on the one that is run by the Salvation Army as the other knew of it & said it had a reputation of being clean & safe. It also is close to the MTR & not that far from the office. So that was done.

I had lunch with the ladies at work, the always order from the Chinese place down the block. I got soup & veggies. I was drinking my soup when Sophia said “stop stop, are you drinking the soup?” I said “yes”. Sophia explained that it was OK to eat the meat & noodles & veggies & tofu in the soup, but not to drink too much of the broth. She said it is loaded with MSG & not good for me. I guess I am so used to places not using MSG in the US anymore, I had never thought to see if the food here still used it. I guess so.

I’ve become friends with Stella, at the movie rental store down the street. With John being away I’ve been catching up on the movies I don’t think he’d be interested in. I do my ironing watch movies, so at least I’m getting something accomplished. Stella likes making suggestions for me, it’s fun.

Cable Guy & Heifer

March 28 – Back to Heifer today after waiting for the cable guy to come. I forgot to mention that a guy did come on Saturday morning & was here for a few minutes & said it was fixed. It worked for about 5 minutes & then stopped again. Very frustrating. So yesterday I called & they sent someone today. He called before arriving & was here before 10am, as promised. He spent about 30 minutes & said he found the wire was bad at the connection, so he fixed the wires at both ends & all seems to be working fine.

My day at Heifer was better. I did not have to match up kids names for this school. BUT the first envelope I opened had like the equivalent of US$37 in coins. Most of the coins were these tiny cent coins that are worth almost nothing. So that was a bit frustrating. I’m guessing the kid emptied his piggy bank. From the look of many of these envelopes, I think the use of piggy bank money might have been a theme, as the envelopes were loaded with change. Fortunately my spot today was not in front of the radio so it was a better day. The ladies also helped me with my Mandarin, turns out the book I have is not to accurate for pronunciation. I was there from 10:30 until 7:30, so a long day.

On the way home I stopped at a drug store to get some shampoo. That was all I was getting so I didn’t bother with a basket. Of course I found a few other things & a young man (teem probably) came over with a basket for me. I thanked him very much. In a few minutes he came back over to me with a box containing shampoo. He said that I might not have noticed that the same shampoo I had was in this box & you get another smaller bottle with it for the same price & wouldn’t I rather get that? I was really floored that he had noticed what I was purchasing & then came with something that would save me money. I had to smile when I think about how I’ve been treated by teenaged employees in the states, like you are bothering them if you ask them to do their job.

What kept me going all day was the thought that I was going to get dinner at one of my favorite places from when we worked at the old office. It is a kabob place (they are like gyros). It was about a 5 block walk & well worth the effort. I got my kabob & found a spot on a bench at the park & enjoyed my dinner watching kids play basket ball & soccer. Good ending to a good day.

Planning vacations is hard work

March 27 – Today I stayed home and worked on planning vacations. With my mom & sister arriving very soon & the boys coming in another month, it was time. It is a lot of work finding hotels. I made good use of a web site called TripAdvisor.com. It is great. It is just regular people’s reviews of hotels, restaurants, everything. It is not sponsored by any chain or anything, so you get honest & very useful information. I high recommend it. But it does take a lot of time reading & searching.

I found what sounded like a great hotel in Beijing for the “girl” trip. It is a local hotel that used to be someone’s mansion. All the reviews were glowing. It is a little away from the main part of town (The Forbidden City area), but not bad. I emailed about booking & of course they were full. But the woman who emailed me back, Wendy, nicely suggested a sister hotel. I looked it up & it only had 2 reviews, one good & one OK. It is also right near the Forbidden City, so better location. I told Wendy I’d take it. Then I asked Wendy about going to the Great Wall & what she would recommend. She emailed me back immediately with some suggestions. She said that if I wanted she could prearrange for a car & guide to take us & gave me the rate. It was a good rate compared to some I’ve heard from other people who have done the trip. I’ve heard getting a car & guide is the way to go since you can hit parts of the wall that are not so touristy.

I told Wendy I’d go with the car & guide. We had several more emails back & forth. I even tried some of my Mandarin on her. I’m trying to learn just a few words, just out of respect. She corrected my Mandarin & we’ve been having some great email conversations ever since. It is funny how close the internet can make the world feel. Wendy also has arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport. I’ve read it is more expensive than taking a taxi, but if they know the way to your hotel that is often well worth the extra cost. It’s nice to have someone standing there with a sign with your name on it when you arrive in a strange place.

Next I checked out places to go to in Thailand for our trip with Jesse, Brooks & Brooks’ girlfriend, Jen. We all decided that Thailand beaches would be a good place for a family vacation. It’s been along time since we all vacationed together, so we thought this would just be relaxing & allow us to spend time together. The snorkeling is excellent here & I guess there are lots of water sports to participate in.

Our friend in Thailand suggested Ko Samui (Ko meaning Island in Thai). This is where his travel agent suggested. It is a large island on the Gulf of Thailand. This season is not so good for the other side on the Andaman Sea, as it is more stormy & rough there now. I first had to decided which beach on the island we wanted & then which hotel. It was a full day of reading reviews, but I think I found a good spot. We went with the most popular beach, but the part of it that is not so busy. Sounds like there is plenty to do to keep us busy or we can just veg if we want to. The hotel is a resort, the same chain John & I stayed at when we went last year to Thailand. It looks really nice & got good reviews. So that is done & I feel a lot better.

Tai Chi - finally

March 26 – I finally made it to the Tai Chi class today. They seemed very amused & interested to see me there. The instructor & several of the women were really nice & spoke with me & asked if I knew tai chi. They said they would work with me & that there was another Westerner who had just been with the class a few weeks also. There were only 2 classes left in this session and they would not make me pay for these, but wanted me to pre-pay for the next session.

There were about 50 people at the class, men & women with a wide range of ages. I went in the back as they had instructed. They started by teaching a new segment of the routine, so it went very slowly & I could follow. The instructor kept singling me out though & saying “the new student in the back will want to do this or that”. I felt like I was distracting from the rest of the class. Then I was asked to come to the front row so she could watch me more closely. After learning (going through about 4 times slowly, which was not enough for me to actually learn it) the next segment they went through the entire routine thus far. This was the 5th class in a 6 class series, so I had missed a great deal. I was instructed to stand to the side & watch as they went through the full routine with music. I felt like a young school child being told where to stand & what to do.

The group went through the series several times & the other Westerner & I and about 3 others were taken to the back where we were worked with on the new segment. I began to realize that tai chi is more about dance than exercise. It is good exercise, but the focus is on doing the routine and having you hands & fingers & feet in just the right positions. Tai chi is a specific routine that consists of 6 segments. I think the whole thing takes about 30 minutes or maybe longer. It is very slow and ritualized. It is beautiful to watch. For some reason it was hurting my knee and I found it very confusing. I guess I just wasn’t into spending 2 hours learning a slow motion dance routine. I was having trouble focusing & staying interested. They were so wonderful in working with me and giving me personal attention, but I have to admit that I just couldn’t get into it. The other Western woman was doing very well & said she was very confused the first class also. That made me feel better, but with all the visitors we are about to have I’m sure I will not have the time to focus on this & practice the routine like I’d need to. At least I tried it & can say it just wasn’t for me.

Ice Hockey

March 25 – John headed to India this morning so didn’t do much but eat & pack. Since I had the afternoon/evening on my own I decided to finally hit the Sunday night youth ice hockey. I’ve been meaning to do this since I found out about it last November, but just haven’t gotten around to it. So I looked up the name of the person I’d emailed last fall about the hockey, just so I could ask someone if she was there. I looked at the schedule & location & was on my way.

Fortunately the games were at the nice rink in the really nice, new mall (Festival Walk). When I got there the first game had already started & it as squirts. These are kids about 7 & 8 years old. It was great to be watching youth ice hockey. I felt in my element. I needed his after my negative week at the flower show & just feeling a bit overwhelmed by the city & being in China (sort of China).

There seemed to be about an even number of Asian kids & Western kids. There were a good number of girls, I’d say about 1/3 were girls. The skill level was fairly low, but there were a few good players. Of course I have to keep in mind that I haven’t watched the young kids play in a long time, so maybe they were not that bad.

The woman next to me had walked away & left her purse on the ground at my feet. When she returned I asked if it were hers because it seemed to be unattended. She said that her husband was supposed to be watching it, but was obviously more interested in the game to care about it. She asked if I had a child playing. I said know & I explained that I was just one of those crazy hockey addicts. She said, “then you must be Sarah’s friend, I’m sorry I forget your name.” I was so surprised, but in a way not surprised & said, “Then you must be Karen!” So I was standing next to the person who had guided me here. We had a good laugh, she introduced me to her husband & spent the rest of the evening together. Her middle son was playing in this game. There was another squirt game & then her older son was playing in the Peewee game that followed (those are the next age group up). I stayed & watched & liked having a team to cheer for. Her youngest son had played earlier in the day. All 3 son’s won their games so they were very happy.

When I asked what brought them to HK, she said her husband works for Citigroup. I said, I have a friend who works for Citigroup in London. She said their last assignment was in London, so the odds of them knowing each other just increased a great deal. I asked Peter if he knew my friend from high school, Michael Guralnick & sure enough he did. He said they were not good friends, but he certainly knows him. It can be such a small world.

So I enjoyed just hanging out with them. It was great to see the kids begging money & buying food & being all sweaty & happy. I brought back so many wonderful memories of hours, days, weekends spent at the ice rink with our boys. I really missed them so much & those times. I’m glad they are grown and independent, but WOW do I miss those days of being a mom to young kids. Don’t worry, I’m not thinking of adopting, I don’t miss it that much.

When the game was over they insisted on driving me home. They don’t live that far away from us & they have a van. It brought back other memories being in a car with 3 hockey bags & the smell of a hard fought game. They are heading back the Canada for the Easter break for 2 weeks, but after they get back we made plans to get together. I think we have more friends AND we can talk hockey!!

Health Cafe

March 24 – After my exciting & late night, I didn’t feel much like doing anything today. John was fine with that as he was still recovering from Thailand & had to get ready to leave for India tomorrow. We went out for breakfast & intended to go to one of our favorite places, The Flying Pan. There were no tables when we got there (it is very small), so we sat at the counter. After about 10 minutes a table became empty so we sat there. The waitress informed us that we couldn’t sit there as people were waiting for the table who had their name on the list. We’ve been here a bunch of times & this was the first time we had heard of a list. I explained that we’d been there for over 10 minutes & had not been waited on & were waiting for a table & that I knew nothing about the “list”. I said that we had come in well before the people she was going to sit there. Her attitude seemed to be, too bad, you were not on the list. The people waiting for the table said that we could have it, they were very nice about it. I kept my cool, but was sort of tired of being pushed around. When I turned around, John was gone. I guess he didn’t like the lack of good service so just walked out. I let the people have the table & showed my disgust to the waitress & left also.

We wandered down under the escalator until we came to a place that Kristin & Ashley had talked about liking very much when they were here. It is called Health Café & is owned by the guy who owns the health club just across the way. The menu shows the calories for all of the dishes, which is really nice. They are obviously cooked in such a way as to minimize calories because few things were over 300 calories. I went for scrambled eggs on sourdough toast with spinach & mushrooms – it was great. John had an omelet that he said was very good. We splurged & got smoothies as well. You could watch the guy put in the fresh fruit & get the juice for the smoothie. I think we’ll go back.

Cable guy, China Spa experience

March 23 – I experienced something today that I thought was just a US phenomenon, but obviously it is not. Our cable for the TV has not been working, so I called & the guy was supposed to come between 9am and 1pm today. They were very specific about that & usually things in HK are very punctual. When it got to be 1:30, I called and they said he would call before coming. So when it got to be 2:30 and he still had not come or called I just left. I had more money to count & Chinese to learn at Heifer today. At 3:30 the cable guy called to say he’d be there in 20 minutes. I explained that he was supposed to be there between 9 & 1 and that I had to go to work so I would not be there. He sounded very sorry and said someone would come on Saturday (the next day). The women at the office laughed & said that is always how it is with cable, they never come when they are supposed to. It is a joke in HK. Glad to know some things are universal!

At 5:30, I headed to the Cadmus office as I had a date with Karen, the receptionist. Karen & her boyfriend, Pat, had invited me to join them for the evening to go into China to a spa. John was also invited, but having just returned from Thailand, he was just too tired. Going to the spas in China (just across the border), is a very popular pastime with Hkers. I guess the prices are so much cheaper than at HK spas. Karen & Pat go every few months & had promised to take me along the next time they went.

Karen’s brother picked us up in the family car. We drove to meet Pat & the brother left & Pat took over the driving. We drove a fair distance to a train station that is just before the border & parked the car. This all took about 2 hours so now it was about 8pm. The train was packed full, it being a Friday night I guess many Mainlanders heading home & Hkers going up for a cheap night out.

At the border, Karen was very protective of me. It was funny, I felt like a little child. She held my hand & told me to keep my backpack in front so not to get robbed. I felt very safe, but she made it seem like we were crossing into a terrorists zone or something. The crossing was easy, but at one point I had to go to a different section to show my visa & passport. They pointed out exactly where I should meet them on the other side & gave me strict orders not to talk to anyone. It was so funny. I kept my mouth shut & eventually they showed up (many more people going through their line). We went to the parking garage where the vans park for the spas. Each spa has a van & a certain place that it is parked. We got in along with a few other people & off we went into Shenzhen, China – my first trip to Mainland China!

The city looks a bit like HK, but not really. There are the neon signs all over, but not as many taxis & buses. As hectic as HK seems, this seemed more hectic. It was a bustling place. The spa was not too far. We were greeted by men in long gray coats, very much the classic doormen look. We were escorted into the large and elegant lobby and greeted by women in long flowing white gowns with high collars. All I could think of is that they looked like they’d come right off a Star Wars set or some futuristic movie set. I’m not sure what we told them, but we were next taken to the main area & Pat went to the men’s locker rooms & we went to the ladies. We were each given a bracelet with a key & number on it. This is the key to your locker & the number is how you are charged while you are there.

We were escorted to the locker area and given a huge towel. We undressed, put our things in our locker, wrapped up in the towel & were escorted to the showers. We took our shower then were escorted to the exfoliating area. This was optional & cost about US$6 for 30 minutes. We said sure. We lay on a table & a woman pours warm, oiled water over you & then rubs your entire body with a glove that is rough, but not too rough. It was glorious. When you get up you see all the dead skin that has been sloughed off in the procedure & it is kind of horrifying. Makes you feel like you should do this once a week. When you are done, a woman brings you a little clipboard with a paper on it, verifying the treatment & allowing you to leave a tip. According to Pat, the only income the workers get is the tips. But he also was very specific not to give too much. He told me exactly what to give for each thing. I think for this he said this to give only about US $3. I felt badly leaving so little, but Karen concurred that that was plenty.

We were escorted back to the showers for another shower. I was told not to use soap this time as it would destroy the exfoliation I’d just enjoyed. We were offered a sauna (free), we declined. Karen showed me the very large Jacuzzi which we got into for a few minutes. She said the men’s side has about 5 pools (warm, hot, cold, & 2 others for who knows what). I guess the women’s side will have more when the renovations are done. At this point I needed to hit the ladies room, so we were escorted to the toilets. Imagine my surprise when I sat down onto a hot seat. Well it was really warm, but very surprising. I let out a little yell & Karen laughed from outside the door & said, don’t worry, they are heated for your comfort. WOW! And they were covered as well. All very hygienic.

We were next escorted to the dressing area (can you tell by now that there are loads of people working here, you never go anywhere without an escort & each different job has a different outfit, and the locker room was huge). We were issued spa clothes to put on. The clothes were bright pink baggy pants (calf length) and a matching baggy top. Very comfortable. You are also issued paper underwear & bra. I thought this extremely funny, but Karen explained that they want people to be comfortable, but with the oils & things you wouldn’t want to be in your own clothing. Makes sense. Oh, we also had been wearing spa issue plastic sandals to protect our feet.

We went out into the main section of the spa to meet up with Pat. We had planned to meet for dinner. It was probably 9:30 by now, so I was certainly ready for dinner. We had an excellent meal of fish & pork & rice & veggies and of course tea. Pat did the ordering. After eating we went out into the main rooms. This area had 3 huge rooms filled with gigantic leather recliners. You could get lost in them they were so big & comfy. In 2 of the sections each recliner had a TV attached to it & they said you get 40 channels. We tried to get into the non-smoking area, but there were not 3 seats together. So we ended up in the theater area. Here the recliners do not have individual TV’s, but are stadium seating with a huge screen in front. They have movies running all of the time. The movie that was on for us was in Chinese, but it was really funny & pretty easy to tell what was going on. So you sit in your recliner & you can just enjoy the entertainment or you can have some treatments. The choices are many, but I decided on a foot scraping treatment (this is what Karen was getting also) & a foot massage. Karen said she doesn’t get the massage because it hurt too much. The foot scrapping was amazing. It was about 30 minutes long & the guys got lots of dead skin off of both of us. They scrap the calluses & get your foot really soft & smooth. Then he did the reflexology or foot massage. I can understand why Karen doesn’t like this. WOW did it hurt, but afterwards felt good. Pat had a head massage. You can also get pedicure, manicure, all sorts of things.

Next it was time for the full body massage. We had to go to a different section of the spa. At the entrance to the full body massage area there were a couple of video screens & they were surrounded by men. I took a look & what they are for is to pick out your massage therapist for your session. There was a photo of each along with a short bio. The only thing I could read was the age & they all looked to be early 20’s and very attractive. Karen & I went to a double room that was Indian style. I guess you can choose the décor if that really matters to you. We disrobed & lay down. We chose 2 essential oils (Pat’s suggestion) & were treated to at least an hour massage. It might have been longer, I really didn’t’ keep track. Mostly it was wonderful, except when she got to the legs. That really hurt. I didn’t understand when she asked if it was too hard & didn’t know how to tell her softer. She finally realized it I guess when I let out a wince at one point & she said something to the other woman & they both laughed a little. It was not a mean laugh, more sympathetic. She was gentler after that.

I felt like jelly after this. We looked at the clock & realized it was 1:30am. Karen had told John I’d we be back by midnight. Karen was very upset that John would be angry that she had kept me out so late & that he might be worried something had happened to me. I assured her John would be fine & we could call him as soon as we got back to our phones. We enjoyed some of the free fruit & juices they had available to guests, then decided it was time to leave. On the way to the locker rooms I noticed there was an area with pool tables & ping pong tables. There was an entire floor devoted to hair & beauty treatments. I guess the place I s 5 floors, so we only scratched the surface. The only thing I could compare this to would be like a casino, but instead of gambling you get spa treatments. I really can’t think of any more superlatives to use to describe this place & experience. I’m just glad that I went with someone who spoke Chinese, as I don’t think you could negotiate it all without that. Not many people spoke English here (we’re not in HK anymore).

We took another shower & got dressed. There were area with makeup & hair dryers to get beautiful if you were so inclined. We called John & he was fine, but wondering when I might get home, so he was glad to hear from me. We settled up the bill. Actually Pat had a prepaid card, so he settled it up. Since it was so late, the train station was closed so we took the van to a bus station instead. We had to take a few buses to get back to the car, but it was easy since they knew just where to go. There were a lot of drunk people on the buses though, so I guess not everyone goes up for the spas.

We found the car & Karen being the wonderful person she is, insisted on driving me home. This was totally out of their way as we had to go past where they lived on Kowloon-side & through the tunnel to get to HK-side. I managed to steer them to our place without a problem. When slid into bed I looked at the clock & it was exactly 4:00am. It’s been a long time since I’ve stayed up that late, but it was well worth it!!

Learning Chinese?

March 22 – Today I worked at the Heifer office counting money. Some of the schools have completed their Read to Feed programs so the envelops have been collected & the money needs to be counted. As you can imagine this is very time consuming. There was another volunteer helping with this also, Eva. She is Chinese, thank goodness. I say this because, I had to match up the child’s name on the envelop with the name on the class list. OK, you don’t really need to know a language in order to match up characters, but if you’ve ever really looked at Chinese writing, it is very complicated. They use lots of small lines & crosses. It is amazing how many different characters you can create without using curves or circles (they don’t in Chinese). Also, Chinese writing can be just as sloppy as any other writing, so this seemingly simple taste was a tough one for me. As I went along I did pretty well, but I just couldn’t figure out, so Eva came in real handy. The other challenge was when there was a check in the envelope. The checks needed to have the class & student’s name written on the back. Most of them already had this, but several did not. SO I had to write the names in Chinese. OK, so I thought reading it was tough, writing it is even harder. I wrote really big to get all the little lines & slashes in. The other people at the office were very supportive & said it looked great, but the did laugh at how large I wrote. I asked if it looked like a little child’s writing & they admitted it did a little, but was fine.

The final challenge of the day did not come from the counting of the money, but from the radio. This office is small beyond belief. There is barely room to walk & with 2 extra people, well we just sat where we could. So my spot happened to be right next to the radio that was playing the entire time. I’m not much of a fan of random noise for more then maybe 30 minutes, just prefer silence. So having a radio in my ear for 5 hours was a challenge AND it wasn’t just playing music. They had it on a music talk show & it sounded like they were calling people up & having them sing. So listening to all of this in Chinese made for a tough day. I think I did pick up a few phrases, but I have no clue what the mean!

So if there are any kids reading this, my message is, be glad you only had to learn to read & write in English, believe me, Chinese is WAY harder! I think they have something like over 300 characters to learn (or is it 3,000), I’m too tired to remember!

Flower Show - March 21

March 21 – I hung around the apartment for a bit this morning to see if Caroleena would contact me. She did not, so I went on with my day as planned. First I went to the frame shop down the hill where we’d taken our photos & silk paintings from India to be framed. I think we had about 15 in all. They were done & looked great. We got an inexpensive oil painting of the HK skyline at dusk, but with a good frame it looks really nice. I bit the bullet & took a taxi home – kind of had to with all those pictures.

Next I headed out to the 2007 Hong Kong flower show. This is a big deal & everyone has been talking about it & asking if I have been yet. I figured best to go on a weekday so it wouldn’t be so crowded. People here LOVE their flowers, that was obvious from the New Year’s market. This show was at the same park as the New Years market, so I knew it was going to be big.

The flower show was huge & impressive. And my idea that a weekday would be less crowded, didn’t seem to be accurate. The first thing that struck me was the number of people with big huge cameras, but I don’t think they were professionals, but just more amateurs who like to take photos. These guys were all over the flowers, getting close ups of each petal and leaf. It was funny to see them stooping over the flower really in close. Or setting up tripods to get just the right shot. After the initial amusement they got to be annoying because they really hogged the space around the flowers. Next thing that struck me, literally were all the old people. I think it must have been senior citizen day or something. Now I don’t have anything against old people, I’m not far from being one myself, but Chinese old people (or at least in HK) are the most pushy and passively aggressive people I’ve ever encountered. At first you try to be polite & let someone in front of you, then you realize that 10 more people just shove their way in & you get walked all over. I had noticed this at the fireworks & on the buses, but that is usually just one person at a time, this was hundreds of the little wrinkly creeps all jammed into one park. I could hardly get near any of the exhibits. Then the battery in the camera went dead. It was John’s camera & I had forgotten to bring a spare battery. It was probably a good thing as I was getting fairly annoyed (as I’m sure you can tell) by the crowd & needed to move on.
As I got to the far end of the park I noticed busloads of school children unloading for their day at the show and there were a few busloads of handicapped folks being pushed around in wheel chairs. This was just more than I could take. I adore all of these particular types of people, but in lesser numbers. Also, everyone was buying flowers, so not only was the place packed with people, but people carrying lots of large bags containing flowers they didn’t want crushed.

I finally found a section off to the side that was where the bonsai exhibit was along with show winners. This area was very sparsely populated so suited me a bit better. I walked around until I felt like my feet would fall off. Despite the crowds, the flowers were amazing – I’ve never seen so many varieties and the displays were over the top.

Just to torture my self a little more, I stopped by Ikea on the way home. It is a block away from the park & they have really nice salad bowls & I wanted to get a couple more. I kept my cool with Ikea & found a way to get to the lower floor without having to snake my way through the entire upper floor first. But once on the lower floor, what I wanted was completely at the other end & then I had to come all the way back to the registers. It being a weekday, Ikea was slightly more tolerable than on other visits. I also needed to stop at the grocery store before getting home. For some reason that store was packed full of people. Since the aisles are so narrow & the carts hardly fit, people are always bumping into you or blocking the aisle without any awareness of others around them. Normally I tolerate this just fine, but today if drove me crazy. I guess city living can do that to you sometimes. Just get tired of the crowds everywhere you go. I guess that is why so many people here hit the hiking trails on the weekends, to get away. Good thing green and secluded areas are so accessible here.

Cheung Chau Island - March 20

March 20 – I got out early today and looked at a few of the hotels on my list. One was booked, another turned out to be way more expensive than they had advertised on the web site. The one that looked good is a place that is run by the Salvation Army. The rooms are under $100 & I took a look and they are decent. It wasn’t anything fancy or elegant, but clean and respectable. I would stay there if on a budget. So that was good to know that there is something at that price range.

It was a really nice day so I decided to treat myself to an excursion in the afternoon. There are still a few islands that I’ve not visited & want to see if they are worth taking visitors to see. I got the 2:30 ferry to the island of Cheung Chau. This is a small island not too far away from HK Island. According to my guide book it is the most heavily populated island on HK, considering it’s size. I purchased a first class ticket (only about $1 more) and you get to sit outside on the deck. I sat down & a young woman sat next to me. I had noticed her at the dock & thought that she looked like a tourist. She asked me if I knew anything about the island.

As it turns out she was a tourist. Her husband is here on business & she decided to take a weeks vacation & join him. They live in Germany, but are both from Argentina. She is 28 and was delightful. Obviously her English was very good. I told her about myself and that I was just going to wander the island & invited her to join me. She was just spending the week wandering around HK on her own & said she’d love the company. I brought my guide book with me that shows a route to take around the island to see the major sights. There are not many. We walked along the water front which was mostly tourists shops & restaurants. Definitely not the nicest waterfront I’ve been to. There are no cars here, which is nice, but there were souped up gold carts zipping all over. By souped up, I mean to be used as construction vehicles & such. They were constantly honking at you to get by. It was really annoying, but then they probably think tourists are equally, if not more annoying, so we’re even.

Next up was a temple that was very nice. We went inside & I explained to Caroleena about the incense and the fortune sticks. There was a very helpful couple in the temple & the man spoke excellent English. He gave us the history of the temple & said if we wanted he would read our fortune. His price was reasonable so Caroleena went for it. He did a great job telling the fortune (I feel like I’ve become something of an expert on this). It is really good entertainment, so you like them to make it a good story.

The path then lead us across to the other side of the island and a very nice beach (the island is about 100 yards wide at this point ). There is a nice walk along the beach, which has lots of surf, & swim shops that were closed it being winter. At the end of the beach is the thing the island is most known for (well besides the beach & sea food restaurants), and that is their rock carvings. These were found in the 1970’s, but are believed to be over 3000 years old. Not much to look at, but impressive they are that old. We continued up the path along a steep trail. We tried an overgrown path off the main road, but didn’t get very far. We laughed that we like to take the path less trodden, but that our husbands would probably have a fit if they knew that we did this so often. We decided it is just because the love us so much (group awhhhhh).

The main road/path wandered by another temple, nothing impressive, a huge sports complex, many many apartments & a gigantic cemetery. There is a section that goes through CARE Town, called this because funds from CARE helped build the community. It was mostly little shacks with old folks sitting out front smiling at you as you went by. There was one woman cleaning tiny shrimp & setting the out on drying racks. She thought is very funny that I wanted to take her picture. The far end of the island was not as populated, but still by no means deserted. We wanted to get the to very end of the island where there was supposed to be a cave that at one time was occupied by a famous pirate captain. We made it there, but there was no real cave. There were signs all around (in Chinese) lots of huge rocks that you could sort of hide under, but not cave. It was definitely a let down. But it had been a nice walk and the scenery was good.

We went back a short way to another village on the water & out onto the pier. There was a small water taxi that was just leaving to go back to the main harbor. We hopped aboard. I think the fare was $3 (US40cents). We made it back to harbor just in time to catch the ferry back to HK Island. When we returned we decided to go visit the tallest building in HK; the IFC building. We had both heard there was a public observation deck & it was a clear day. Unfortunately by the time we got there, 6:30, it was closed. The man informed us of the hours & that it is on the 55th floor. Another trip.

We found a bookstore at the mall so Caroleena could get a newer HK Guide book. A friend had loaned her one that was from 1990. I helped her find the office where she was to meet her husband at 7pm. I left her with many suggestions for the remainder of her week in HK & offered to be her tour guide if she was interested. We parted company and I think both felt it was a good day & we’d made a new friend.

Nothing really

March 19 – Didn't feel too good today, upset stomach. I think it was the food on the airplane. So I hung around home today & tried to get things done on the computer. I confirmed the service apartment – the one I liked on Nathan Rd. I was also given the task of finding a hotel room for under $150 for another person coming over. He will overlap the sales person by a week, so needs a hotel. Guess I’m going to know my way around the hotel & apartment web sites.

I was able to find a few for under $100 which is tough in a city like this considering that they want it close to the office and in a decent part of town. I put together a list & printed out maps to go look at the places this week.

Weekend Away - March 16-18

Weekend in Away:

This is a little bit of a teaser. I was at a mall this weekend & spent some time hanging out in the food court (you’ll find out why later). Here is a sampling of the culinary offerings at this mall & see if you can guess where I was: Burger King, McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks (OK, those could be anywhere), Dairy Queen, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Subway, Haagen Dazs, Dunkin’ Donuts, Pizza Hut, and are you ready for this Swenson’s Ice Cream (I haven’t seen one of these since I lived in California back in 1970s). Hint, we are still in Asia. OK, there were tons of other restaurants from all over the world, but I just couldn’t believe seeing Dairy Queen & Swenson’s.

March 16 – John invited me to go along with him to Bangkok for the weekend. He was going to meet a customer who they are trying to convince to start printing in Thailand. This customer actually owns Titlest (the golfing people). John told me to be sure not to mention our dinner the week before with Bridgestone (the other golf people). It’s about a 2.5 hour flight, no problems. Thailand is really a great place. They are so proud of their culture and they make a huge effort to show this by decorating everything with Thai art. We flew into the new airport, which is very controversial. It is huge and lovely, but at less than a year in use, there are huge problems with cracking runway & roads and I guess tons of other things. If you know anything about the politics of Thailand you know there was a coup last fall & the prime minister was ousted by the military. I guess a lot of this had to do with the airport. It seems that the government gave the contracts & LOTS of government money to their friends to have the airport built. As it turns out those people did not do very good jobs at the airport and much of the money was squandered. So now the place is falling apart and the people are mad that the government leaders got away with this. So nobody was really upset to see the other government go, but they do want their democracy back. The military government “says” they are just temporary & will have elections soon, but it keeps getting put off. It seems that business goes along as usual though. The people love their king (the longest living ruler in the world – over 60 years) & he says to be patient so they are.

OK, back to the airport. It is filled with sculpture & art that depicts Thailand. Some of it is huge. It definitely makes you know that you are in Thailand, no doubt about that. We met up with our Cadmus Thailand guy, Meenawat. He is in his late 20’s & spent several years as a young boy living in the states. He is terrific & is a good friend. He drove us to the hotel. Again I noted the pride that is shown in the culture. All along the highway to the airport there are statues what I’m sure are Thai deities. I really should learn more about the religions on these places, but that will come.

The hotel was also amazing. John has stayed here before & told me about it, but I was still amazed. Of course the service was incredible, that is the Thai way. They even have a young man standing at the elevator to push the button for you & he remembers what floor you are on & pushes the inside button as well, then bows to you with hands together at the chest & says “kup kum ka”, which sort of means thank you, but a lot more.

The room was way larger than our apartment in HK. It actually had a living room, kitchen, bed room & bathroom larger than our HK bedroom. We also had a balcony overlooking the courtyard. I could have just stayed here all day, but Meenawat had plans for us. We headed to the office which is in a high rise in the middle of downtown. I don’t think I could ever learn to drive in Bangkok. There don’t seem to be any lane markings & most roads have more lanes going one way than the other. At least they drive on the right side of the street. The office is tiny, but a very impressive building. The guys were talking business of course & there was an issue with the printer not having the information that John & Meenawat needed to give to the customer at the meeting the next day, which would involve customer, printer & Cadmus. They needed to get an answer from the printer & make sure that printer & Cadmus were “on the same page” so to speak when they met with the customer. This has the potential to be a huge account if this first job is handled well. There were some major issues that were threatening to ruin the entire deal.

As it turns out I knew the woman at the printer that they were dealing with. When John & I were in Thailand last April she had taken us out for a few meals & taken me shopping at the night market. I said to the guys, “Hey, let me talk to Joy. I’ll invite her to have dinner with us tonight. I’ll tell her that I enjoyed getting to know her last year and am anxious to see her again.” They never thought she’d go for it, but I used my charm & of course she immediately agreed. Meenawat was amazed. I knew John had brought me along for a reason. I really do like Joy and sincerely wanted to see her again, so it wasn’t really a put on.

We all met at The Seafood Market for dinner. This place was great. You can either buy your fish to go or pick it out (it is all alive) & tell them how you want it cooked. The place is enormous and being a Friday night was hopping. We picked out a bunch of different things. For being so young, Meenawat is very cultured and knows his foods & wines. He always impresses me with his worldly knowledge of these things. Joy & her uncle, Kitti San (he owns the printing company), were a bit late, but that gave John & Meen time to strategize. It really was good to see Joy & we had a great meal. I can’t even remember what all we had or how it was cooked. I know there was lots of garlic and it was all delicious. At the end of the meal they talked their business & all seemed to be smoothed out and agreeable. It was important that they show a united front with the customer so they didn’t appear clumsy and disorganized. We all decided the dinner was a success.

Meen was going to take me to the floating market the next morning. He explained that it was “pure Thai”. It was the old way of doing things & there is really only one left. It is far away & only runs in the morning. To get there in time we would need to leave the hotel at 5am. I was game for this, but felt badly that Meen was going to take his Saturday to show me around, especially that early. The guy works like crazy & John will get calls from him late at night, on weekends, and early mornings. He is totally dedicated, so we hated to make him get up at 4am on his “supposed” day off. I told him I could see the floating market another time, so he seemed relieved and proceeded to take us to a bar at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Bangkok. He said this was the place where they had a special dinner last fall that cost $25,000 per person (and that is US money, not Thai). We didn’t eat anything! The drinks were alright, but as you can imagine expensive. It was fun to have a chance to just hang out with Meen & only talk a little business.

March 17, Saturday - Had a great night sleep & relaxing morning enjoying the hotel. It is very quiet & secluded feeling despite being in the middle of Bangkok. Meen picked us up as the guys had a 2pm meeting with printer & customer. I was not invited (thank goodness) and Meen, bless his heart didn’t want me to be bored, so after a quick lunch at Burger King (what country am I in??), he dropped me off at the largest mall in Thailand (be still my heart, anyone who knows me knows how much I absolutely LOVE malls – NOT). Even living in HK has not changed me that much. Meen did say that if I got bored shopping there is an aquarium in the basement. Now things were looking up a bit.

The area where I was dropped off was the food court, good thing I’d just eaten (although there were lots more interesting choices here than Burger King). You know from above all the US food places there were. As this is the largest mall in Thailand, the US choices were actually only a very small percentage of the offerings, but all of them were packed. It was about 12:30 & they were coming to pick me up at 5:30. I was to meet them at Starbuck’s which fortunately is where they dropped me off as there are 2 other Starbucks in this place. There was a large grocery store on this floor, so I decided to check it out. I just think it is interesting to see what there is in the food stores. It must sound like I’m obsessed with food, but not really. I just think you learn a lot about a culture looking at the everyday things like grocery stores. I have feeling this was not an everyday sort of grocery store. It was really upscale, they were even doing chocolate sculpting, which since I’ve returned to HK I guess is something the do around Easter, because all of the nicer grocery stores here also have this now. I did find some PEZ that I almost bought for Brooks, he collects them, but I’m need to see if he has these already. They were not Thai characters, but Disney, naturally.

Having exhausted myself with food looking, I had to see what this aquarium was. It got lost a few times as this mall I guess has 3 or 4 different buildings & I ended up in the basement of the wrong building. If you think malls in the US are crowded, you’ve not seen them in Asia. It is just amazing to me the number of people crammed into this place, all shopping & eating (it wasn’t cheap). I guess that is a Saturday in the big city. I did meet a nice young Scandinavian couple who were also lost & looking for the aquarium, so they tagged along with me until we found it.

The theme for this place was The Little Mermaid, so definitely geared towards the kids. The aquarium was fairly impressive for being in the basement of a mall. It was 2 floors & had several huge tanks. In fact you could pay extra & get a glass bottom boat ride in one of the tanks it was that large. I chose not to & was glad as the view I think was better from the side & the line was terribly long. They had a few shows, Mermaids swimming around was one of course. You couldn’t even get close to any of the shows there were so many people. I didn’t mind, it didn’t look that good. I did find it interesting to see some different fish than I think I’ve seen before. I think my favorite was the one that had fins that looked like feet & it sort of walked along the bottom. I also liked the water rats. They looked a lot like beavers, but with rat-like tails. They had big buck teeth like beavers. I’m sure they are in the otter family. It spent about 2 hours down there & enjoyed it, but my feet started to hurt.

I headed back up into the mall. This mall was 8 floors & each floor seemed to be a different type of store. One floor was all furniture stores. One was all jewelry stores. There was clothing; purses & accessories, etc….. There was even a health club on one floor along with the sporting equipment. On the top floor was the fanciest movie theater I’d ever seen. It was an entire floor & in what I guess you would call the lobby there were contests going on (a la MTV) & a Japanese dance performance & huge sofas scattered all over the place with people just relaxing. They had a cafe . I had thought about going to a movie, but decided against it. I had brought a book along so I found a nice spot & finished my book. Wandered around some more & when it got close to meeting time I found my way back to the food court. I did a lot of people watching, which is very entertaining in Asia. I love the differences in fashion.

The guys called to say they were within 10 minutes. I went outside to wait. After standing outside for about 5 minutes the guard (the do a security check when you enter) told me to go back inside. I said I was waiting for a friend, but he insisted that I MUST go back inside to wait. I noticed that they were clearing everyone from out front & stopped letting people leave the mall. There were strange things happening with the traffic pattern going by also, it suddenly changed then stopped. All of a sudden a bunch of police motorcycles went by with sirens going & lights flashing & a Mercedes went by with tinted windows. After that everything went back to normal & I was allowed to go outside again. When the guys got there I told Meen about this & he said it had to be someone from the Royal Family going through, that is what they do for them, it happens all of the time.

I guess the meeting had gone well with the printer & customer that afternoon. Now we were going to meet the 3 representatives from the customer for dinner. One of the guys (Ken S) lives in Bangkok and I guess was in the mood for good ol’ American steak. So he chose the restaurant; The New York Steak House. Not what my first choice to eat in Thailand would have been, but then nobody asked me. The other two people were Ken L and Joanne (both over from the US). The three of them were already at the bar waiting for us. The men had martinis and Joanne wine. We all made nice & introductions were made, I was actually the only one needing introducing. The atmosphere was initially on the formal side. We were seated & the waitress came to take our drink orders. She came to me first. I’m not shy about what I like to drink & don’t feel a need to impress people. So I ordered a beer. It was so funny, as soon as I ordered that beer, the Kens & Joanne all let out a big sigh of relief. They laughed & admitted that they didn’t like really like wine or martinis but thought it wouldn’t look good if they were drinking beer. They all followed suit and ordered beers. I guess that was the icebreaker we all needed, because the rest of the dinner was great. Good conversation. Turns out Ken L’s son attends prep school & it is one that plays Kimball Union, so we had some good prep school conversation. Joanne turns out to be a huge NASCAR fan & her husband is a Tony Stewart fan. So she was extremely impressed when I told her I was good friends with a guy who shared house with Tony. And that I’d met him a few times & used to get my kids’ ice skates sharpened in Tony’s garage. She was thrilled. She’s a Junior fan. If you’ve ever lived in Charlotte you can always talk NASCAR even if you don’t like it. You can’t really get away from it down there. They are even going to take a family vacation to Daytona for a race. I don’t get the attraction, but I played it up for the company.

She & I got along great. We talked about our kids and all sorts of other things. It turned out to be a great dinner. I managed to find something besides steak to order & it was very good. I’m not vegetarian, but beef really makes me feel sick, so I avoid it. At the end of the meal we even ended up taking group photos. Again I think it was not bad for Cadmus that I attended. If you know me at all, you know I can keep a conversation going, as long as it isn’t all about printing & this was not. I have since exchanged emails with Joanne and she again said how happy she was that I ordered the beer because she really is a beer drinker & didn’t like the wine at all. I guess it just pays to be who you are & not try to be something different. It has always worked for me.

March 18 – We kind of lazed around again on Sunday morning. It was nice sitting out on the balcony reading the paper & enjoying the breeze. I miss my deck at home. Looks like when our lease runs out in our flat in HK, that we will likely be moving to something less expensive & different part of town. Hopefully we can find something with a balcony or some outdoor space. I do miss that.

It had become obvious that John needed to stay in Bangkok a few extra days to make sure this job got completed properly and the customer left happy. So Meen picked us up and we went out to lunch to his favorite restaurant, Coffee Bean. We let Meen order & he did a wonderful job as usual. I’m not sure what we had, I think Pad Thai, some curry dish, some fried balls of something delicious. It was great. He said that what the restaurant is really known for is it’s homemade desserts. So we all went downstairs & picked out luscious looking treats that tasted even better than they looked. They escorted me to the ticket counter as Meen was going to help John change his ticket. All was well & the flight home was uneventful.