Tam Kung Temple, Ventris Road, Happy Valley

A treat for Daddy

A scene of destruction / creation

Good times!

We have had some really fun times with the boys recently. They are awesome if we take them out for dinner. Last night we get the bus from Hillside Kindergarten to Wan Chai, and ate early at Pizza Express. Ross joined us there and the boys were thrilled to see him (and really didn't want to let him go to work this morning!) They were so good, quiet, ate some pizza and dough balls, well behaved...even the waitress, who was pregnant, was smiling indulgently at them.

And the other night I had a supremely decadent foot massage at Health Creative with Little Miss Sunshine, accompanied by a bottle of Veuve. This place must be good, since the Financial Secretary goes there (according to the interweb)

Then the next day we went to the gym to atone for our sins. Cali Fitness, the shittest cheapest gym in town, has closed down in Causeway Bay, temporarily at least, so we went to the Wan Chai Club. Not sure why they call it a club. Surely that implies a sense of belonging? Anyway, it was lovely to have someone to explore with me - we haven't been before, so we had to work out where the changing room was, where to pick up towels, all that malarkey. Then we got 2 treadmills side by side, directly next to the window which looks out onto that big Wan Chai walkway. Thousands of people must have walked past. And one poor guy was standing there, offering leaflets. I don't think he got rid of a single one while we were there.

Baby Central showroom in Wong Chuk Hang

In other news...

Josh has realised that he can copy what we say. So he has added the following to the list:

• Dada
• Mama
• Day
• Ear 
• Baby

Awesome right?! better late than never. Let's gloss over twin 2, he's just biding his time. He won't say anything until he's 3, but by the age of 4 he'll have a job as a speech writer I reckon.

We had a great time at Hong Kong Park the other day. The boys were really interested for the first time in the fish, the terrapins, the flowers, the birds, and everything else. It was lovely to see them having such fun.

We also saw Daddy's office. He won't be there long as he's moving over to Olympic. Did you know that:

The station was originally named Tai Kok Tsui in proposals outlined by the government in the Airport Core Programme during the 1990s. In 1996, however, when Lee Lai Shan won the first ever Olympic gold medal of Hong Kong in windsurfing at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics and two Hong Kong sportsmen, Cheung Yiu Cheung and Chiu Chung Lun, also won Gold medals in Paralympic Games of the same year, the (then under construction) station was renamed Olympic on 16 December 1996, paying tribute to those achievements of Hong Kong athletes. The station is decorated with the pictures of 1996 Summer Olympics and is named after the Olympic Movement.

Fascinating isn't it? Or isn't it? Thanks Wikipedia, don't know what I'd do without you.

Lei Shit Court

The gradual destruction of Lei Shit Court continues. Here is the scene of devastation down the hallway from us. It used to be 5 flats (can you believe it?!)



While everyone has a right to renovate, and the noise is annoying but understandable, I wish they didn't make such a horrific mess in our corridor, in the lift, downstairs....and the workmen (and ladies) smoke in the corridor which irritates me. Unfortunately the lift nearest our flat is broken (i am reliably informed that that's what the note below says) so all of the rubble that is being created must leave the building via the only other lift on this floor, meaning that there is not much room for passengers between 9am and 6 pm.

A luverly day

Had a lovely day yesterday, trekking over to the darkside with Mrs G and AA. And when I say darkside I mean it....We went to a birthday party in Yau Yat Chuen, an area on the approach to the old Kai Tak airport, and therefore very lowrise (there was a height limit of 12 stories in force for many years). After the birthday party, full of scrummy German cakes, we went to Jaspa's for dinner with the boys. So it was me and Ross, Mr and Mrs G, AA, Josh and Filo.  The boys even ate some food! chips and burger bun for Felix, and a gallon of ketchup for Josh.

Big up

I went to the Landmark the other day with Ross, pre-doctor's appointment. We found what can only be described as the most amusing people watching spot in Hong Kong. There were so many alpha males around, I feared I would drown in testosterone. All gweilos, all wearing suits (or Louboutins for the few token ladies). The only newspaper available was the FT. It was like an 80s timewarp. All we needed was a giant mobile phone and we would have been extras in Wall Street or something. Not that I've ever seen that movie.



Anyway, we had a masala chai at Fuel, the "espresso boutique" (eye roll) in the basement. Here's the spiel:

Fuel Espresso is a luxury offering, focused on serving business executives traditional hand crafted espresso based beverages.

I can confirm that there were quite a few business executives present. I had a masala chai which was, I kid you not, to DIE FOR. The only time I have had a better one was when Saroja's mum was staying with her when I visited. She doesn't speak English, but in the tradition of Indian mums, she more than made up for the lack of conversation by serving about a gallon of genuine chai that she had constantly simmering on the stove. Fuel's banana bread was also to die for.

I haven't stopped thinking about Fuel since, but as there are only 2 outlets in HK (compared to more than 100 Starbuckses and about a quadrillion Pacific Coffees) I am unlikely to be back soon. The first time I went to Fuel was with Mrs N, back in the heady pre-baby days. I met her at Mrs B's baby shower, and we just hit it off. That day at Fuel we were both preggers and having conversations about things that we thought were important, like which stroller to buy. Curiously we didn't explore more useful and relevant topics such as "what to do when your child repeatedly vom voms" and "what to do when your child won't eat at all". We met at Fuel for a coffee, and left about 2 1/2 hours later. Like I said, pre-babies! This was us. Maybe a bit less boob, and bit more baby bump.

For those of you who think I have gone waaay overboard on the description of an over-priced coffee break, cut me some slack. I love writing, I love expressing myself without having to see your eye rolling (or is it just me that does it?) and I am externalizing and normalising. So there. 

ps the more observant among you will have noticed that i have been liberally pilfering vocab from FauxFuschia, my favourite blogger to whom I have a spurious connection through the afore-mentioned Mrs B. 

Breaking news

Josh is eating a slice of pizza, I repeat, Josh is eating a slice of pizza. It's $45 M&S pizza, but still it's an improvement on nothing.

Before and after

Now I know this looks dreadfully boring, but it's actually ground-breaking. First proper food consumed. I won't show you Josh's plate because the Before and After are the same.

Los ninos, 22 months

We're all going on an Easter Holiday

Hurrah! we have booked a holleeday! Seeing as Phuket is so 2011, we're going to the Shangri-la Rasa Ria in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. I  have been to Borneo before, when I was little, and all I remember about it is a dead frog being devoured by an army / swarm / colony of ants and the giant pitcher plants. I think we went to Sarawak then, but Mother will correct me if I'm wrong. I seem to recall climbing a mountain to see these mythical carnivorous pitcher plants, but it was probably a small hill.

There will be 14 of us going - 2 babies, 4 toddlers, and 8 adults.

More words

The boys call Vergenia "nana", which is a bit weird...either they are trying to say "yaya", or they are so used to saying night night to her that they are getting confused!

Socks seems to be something beginning with R, and "draw" is "gru". Can't quite figure that one out.

Joshy can moo like a cow, and they can both go "pop pop pop" for a fish, and do a little meow (accompanied by a chin rubbing motion, which I think is supposed to indicate whiskers) for a cat. Also Felix sometimes remembers that a crocodile goes SNAP, and they can squeak like a mouse too.