More Apartment Hunting

So yesterday evening I looked at apartments at the Grand Promenade. It's a very nice estate with lots of features and some beautiful views. The neighborhood is really nice and includes a cluster of restaurants known as Soho East. There are a few parks and play areas close to the building. Here is a picture of a play ground by the building.


We would probably travel a greater distance in the elevator than we would walking across the street. The building is right by the water. Here are a few pictures of the harbor.




There were a lot of people jogging and doing Tai Chi and I didn’t want to invade their privacy with my pictures, but here is a picture from a sitting area by the walkway.



This walkway probable stretches about half a mile. There’s also a path that runs parallel with tree cover and a few exercise stations. There are also these stone walkway things that I posted about earlier, as well as designated Tai Chi areas and public tennis courts. There were also a few games of Go going on. Here is a map of the park. I didn’t cross the highway and until now didn’t realize that I had missed so much.

So the apartments in Hong Kong are extremely small. Here’s a picture of a bedroom.



It is literally a room for a bed. The living rooms aren’t much bigger but the views are great.



Here is a picture from the harbor from the 6th floor (L6) which is really more of a lobby type floor.


The 5th floor has all the club house type stuff (including a ‘home’ theater and Glow Bowling, among many other things) and the 6th floor connects the different towers. Here’s a picture from the 6th floor to the 5th floor BBQ area.


This is the place we will probably end up in since it allows dogs, is not in the middle of nowhere and is not rundown. Here's a final picture from this trip of the harbor after I had dinner in SOHO East.


I know I’ve posted a lot of pictures of different harbors. I promise I’ll stop one of these days.

Symphony of Lights

So the other day I went back to TST to check out more places to live. I wandered back to the harbor. It was about dusk, so I thought I would wait around for the Symphony of Lights. I viewed it just behind the Hong Kong Space Museum.

Here’s a picture of the Space Museum as the sun sets.

Every night at 8:00pm, the tourism board holds the Symphony of Lights where about 40 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour host a massive laser light show synchronized to music.

I took a few pictures and video, but they really don’t do it justice. I was on the Kowloon side and across the harbor is Hong Kong Island. I took a few pictures of the buildings across the harbor just before the show.









Here are two videos of the Symphony of Lights.

In other news, I was walking through the grocery store and I came across a piece of home.

This is the only flavor they had, but I’ll take what I can get.

Time to find a new home

So today I started looking for a more permanent place to live. They first place I went to check out is up in the New Territories. It’s a little remote and does not have all the hustle and bustle of the city. There are no fancy restaurants or shopping malls (that I found immediately), but it is still very nice. The building I was looking for was Pictorial Garden. Here is a picture of the building complex from across the highway.

There is a footpath that goes over the highway that I think will eventually get you to the mountains. On the other side of the building, there is the Jockey Club Shek Mun Rowing Centre (part of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club) located on the river where the Hong Kong China Rowing Association practice. Here is a picture of several people out rowing this afternoon.

There are several parks in the area. Between the building and the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station, there is a park that has a pebble trail where I presume people take off their shoes and walk. There are stern warnings about not using the pebble walk if you are elderly of pregnant. Here is a picture of part of the pebble walk.

In addition to the pebble walk there is a basket ball court and a Tai Chi area.

And by the looks of it, skateboarders make use of the park too.

I then made my way to Jordan to check that neighborhood out. The buildings were a little run down, but there were a lot of shops and it’s centrally located. There are a few very nice buildings not far from Jordan, but these are likely out of our price range. Here is a picture of the places that are likely out of our price range.

I decided to walk down to TST by walking through Kowloon Park. This is an awesome park with lots of attractions and many beautiful places to take in the scenery. I could have taken a million pictures, but I decided to wait until I had a better camera to take them with. This is the water fall in the public swimming pool.

There is a wonderful flower garden. If you look closely, you can see the children's playground in the back.

And there is also a bird pond of sorts. There much, much more. And I didn’t even stray off the main strip.

I walked through TST. There are many nice shops and restaurants in this part of town. I then took a ferry across the Victoria Harbour. Here are a few pictures of the ferry ride.

I then caught the MTR back home. It was an eventful day. No doubt the first of many in my search for our new home.

First Post

This is the first post of my move to Hong Kong. If you don't already know, I was born in Shreveport, LA, grew up in Queens, NY and then moved back to Shreveport just before High School. I've lived in Ruston, LA; Starkville, MS; Baton Rouge, LA; and now Hong Kong.

It's been a real whirlwind adventure thus far. On the flight to Hong Kong, I went through Houston and Newark. Here's a picture as I'm leaving Baton Rouge.

And a picture coming into Houston.

And a picture in the Newark Airport.

There was a 6 hour delay in Newark, so my flight came into Hong Kong at about 2:00 am Hong Kong time. This was too late for the Airport Express, so the Airline set us up with shuttles. Here is a picture from the shuttle.

Unfortunately, when the shuttle dropped me off, I had no idea where I was. I hopped into a taxi, but the taxi driver did not know where my place was. I had a map and all, but the building is on campus and set back a little. After a little ordeal, we finally found it and I got settled in.

I woke up early in the morning and wandered around the neighborhood. I found this nice little park-like thing that is essentially a walking track for the elderly. It's the Hong Kong equivalent of mall walking. Here's a picture from the top of some stairs.

My first full day was crazy. I had an appointment for my HK ID at 9:30am. I showed up at about 8:45 and they went ahead and took me. The whole process took about 20 minutes and most of that was the officer rewriting my application because of my bad handwriting. HKID... Check

I had two more tasks to do. I was scheduled to go to Beijing for a conference Thursday, so I needed a China visa. I first I needed to get some cash to pay for the visa. I had some HK dollars, but not quite enough for that, so off to the bank. My plan was to open an account with a cashier's check from closing one of our accounts at our bank in Baton Rouge. I show up at the bank only to find out that they only take international checks of customers who have had a "relationship" with them for more than 6 months. So I give them all the cash I have in order to open the account. The cash would not be accessible until the next day. There goes the cash for my visa. So I call up Elizabeth and talk to her for ideas. Not only do I need money for the visa, but since they won't take my cashier's check, I need money to live on. Wiring the cash directly to the bank will take a few days, so Elizabeth suggests sending the cash via Western Union.

She starts to go through the process and finds out that she can only send a certain amount. It's enough for the visa, but not quite enough to live on until pay day. She goes ahead and sends it and also sets up a bank-to-bank wire transfer for the next day. She gives me the info to the 'Money Exchange' where I can pick up the Western Union money. Off to Western Union...

I take the train (MTR) to Mong Kok and I wonder around trying to find the 'Money Exchange'. It's about 2:00 and I need to get to the travel agent by 3:00. Ah ha, I find the 'Money Exchange', but they don't do Western Union transfers. CRAP! I find an ATM and decide to swallow the really bad exchange rate my US bank gives and I take out just enough to get my visa. Off to the travel agent...

I show up at the travel agent with about 20 minutes to spare. She then tells me I have to pay for my San Francisco trip also. 'Do you take American Express?' Yes. Turns out I didn't need cash for the visa after all. Back to my place to get ready for my first day at work...

I started to go through the personnel forms I needed to fill out. If I don't have everything in line, I can't officially start and the university won't pay for my trip to Beijing. Wait, my wife need to sign these too. CRAP! Well, maybe I can fax these in and it will be OK. While I'm pulling my official documents together, I realize that I need my passport and I had given it to the travel agent for my visa. I call my travel agent and ask her if I can get my passport back. She says 'Copy is OK' and tells me I can come by in the morning to pick it up. They open at 9:00 and my meeting with HR is not until 9:30. I should barely have enough time to make it.

That evening, as I am looking for some dinner, I realize that there are many 'Money Exchange' places. I recalled that Elizabeth said the store hours were 8:00-7:00, so I thought I had a plan. First I would stop by the Western Union to pick up the cash, then drop by the Travel Agent to pick up my passport, and then it's off to meet with HR and start working.

I pull up Google maps and use street view to find exactly where I need to go. It turns out the Western Union was just around the corner from where I was earlier. I get up nice and early and head off to the Western Union again. This time I find it, but they don't open until 9:00. There's no way to get my money now, I'll have to come back later. Off to the travel agent. I show up and she gives me a copy of my passport. Apparently when she said 'Copy is OK' she was asking me if a copy would be OK, not telling me that all she needed was a copy. Triple CRAP!

I head out to my meeting with HR, ready to tell my sad story. It turns out that since Elizabeth is not accepting any of the fringe benefits of the university, she did not need to sign the personnel forms. Also, I can bring my passport later. All they need to check was when my employment visa was valid for. Finally, I get to go to work. Here's a picture of my door.

That evening I run by Western Union just before they close and get my money. I can now eat. I spend Wednesday getting my office set up and preparing for my Beijing trip.

Thursday, I go to Beijing for a conference that runs through Sunday. It was very hot (about 100f) and I only had long sleeved shirts with me. We walked for about 5 minutes between the hotel and the University holding the conference and in that time, our cold drinks were all warm. On Sunday, we took a trip out to the Bird's Nest. Again it was hot and again I had on long sleeves. I did bring some shorts and a tee-shirt for the last day, but I forgot to bring casual shoes, so I was stuck in long sleeves. Here is a picture of the exterior of the Bird's Nest.

And here is a picture of the interior.

They were having international youth football (soccer) tournament that day.

Here is a picture of my dissertation chair and her former professor, who was also the organizer of the conference.

And here is me standing in front of the water cube.

My chair kindly stopped a taxi driver and made sure the driver knew where I needed to be. The flight home was largely uneventful.

Well that's about all that's been going on with me thus far. I hope to take some more pictures and have a few happier stories to tell. This weekend I'm off to San Francisco....