Farm with a view

Took E. and the kids to the Kadoorie Farm on Saturday following my successful visit in July. Hadn't realised that , for parking, it was necessary to book in advance ( must have been lucky last time) but managed to prevail upon the car park attendant to let us park in the office area Visitor's car park. The advantage of this (after we had given the admin. department all our details) was that we could drive around the farm.

First stop however was the farm shop. Having assured E that there was a cafe on site, we discovered that apart from some organic bananas and vegetable chips/wafers, the farm shop focused more on improving books ("Care for your Pedigree Pig", "How to grow Lentils" etc.) rather than food. This must be the only tourist attraction in the whole of HK that does not have a cafe (even the play areas have them). Having dined on vegetable crisps (actually quite tasty) we took a look at the pedigree pigs (not quite Hogzilla but certainly carrying a bit of weight in my opinion) and A. made a book mark. We also took a look at the raptor house (mostly buzzards) and the reptile house (slightly worryingly most of the cages were empty with wide open doors ...). Apart from one or two families we had the place pretty much to ourselves (given the extreme mid afternoon heat probably not that surprising).

We then drove up the mountain to the viewing point that I had visited on my last trip here. It was actually rather higher, and steeper, than I remembered it particularly when trying to navigate our ageing BMW up the increasingly narrow track. The precipitous roads were a little reminiscent of San Fransisco (although obviously slightly greener and with fewer wailing police sirens). At the top, the view was rather obscured by the haze (and by clouds of dragonflies that were congregating around the statue at the top - E. took a little persuading to ascend the summit). However, the views over to Tai Po etc. were still good and we had the place to ourselves.

The descent was like a challenging red run when skiing - perched on the edge of severe inclines where you can't actually see the bottom. We did get down in one piece although I noticed that the suspension was bust on one side of the car.

Made it back to Tai Tam Towers in good time (even avoiding the obligatory wrong turning towards Kowloon. All in all a good day.

Sun in the Summer

Went back to UK to pick up the family at the end of July and we stayed for a couple of weeks with my parents. For the first time since moving to HK, the weather on my return was surprisingly good particularly since the UK was having one of its wettest Summers on record. Apart from a couple of days at the end, we were treated to sunshine and fairly high temperatures which allowed a number of trips to the seaside (Whitstable, Hastings and a scorching day at Broadstairs) as well as visits to the park, Leeds Castle and Downe House (home of Charles Darwin where we had a very pleasant afternoon with P. and V. and their two children).

By the time I arrived the kids (who had been at their Grandparents in Bristol) had acclimatised to BST so we were able to enjoy a reasonable amount of sleep and see plenty of my Sister and her family including her two children. A. and his Cousin N are the same age (4) but somehow always end up fighting! I suppose that this is not too surprising given that my Sister and I did much the same (and it continued for a good few years after the age of 4!). However, their capacity to fall out with each other (and then two minutes later to be off playing nicely with each other as if nothing had happened) was pretty amazing. Fortunately V. and J (who is a couple of months younger) seem to rub along fairly well although this could be that they are more interested in experimenting with putting food (or indeed anything that might come to hand) in their mouths than actually playing.

It was also V.'s first birthday while we were in UK. She had learned to crawl while at her Grandparents in Bristol and from (literally) a standing (or sitting) start she has suddenly developed a surprising turn of pace - one minute she is idly munching on the carpet/grass/spoons etc. the next she is making rapid progress towards an untended glass of beer/knife/{insert other implement or object posing a hazard to babies}. She is also very vocal if anything does not meet her complete satisfaction. In particular her scream is so piercing particularly if it is anywhere near your ear that it seems to distort like feedback from an amplifier at a rock concert (although obviously much louder....). I don't remember her brother being quite so adept at gaining instant attention and we are hoping that it is just a phase. She is also starting to say words (Da, Ma etc.) and pointing and was particularly fascinated by my Sister's cat (the poor moggy sensibly kept a very low profile during our visit). Hard to believe that it is over a year ago that she was born (and that I started this blog)

In addition to the trips to the park etc. I managed a visit to the bowling green for a sound thrashing from Dad and a couple of rounds of quiz questions from Mum and Dad in the evenings. All in all an action packed visit to Blighty and I will be doing it all over again (third time this Summer) due to a business trip next week (which happens to coincide with my Sister's 40th birthday - l am looking for a suitable event in London to mark the occasion if anyone has any ideas - one plan may be the Last Night of the Proms which is on the 8 September although I imagine that tickets may be scarce).

Slightly Suspicious!

As noted on a couple of recent posts, in the period before I went to UK at the end of July, the weather in HK had been terrific - clear blue skies and very little (visible) pollution. This was particulaly well illustrated by the 10th Anniversary (of the establishment of HKSAR following the British handover) Celebrations at the beginning of July where we had a couple of "overcast" days but about an hour before the fireworks were due to start the sky over Victoria Harbour miraculously cleared! Either Donald Tsang (HKSAR CHief Executive) is very well connected or very lucky.

Of course we were not complaining - I had been invited to a friend's (S) roof top terrace in Midlevels for a party and we had great views down over Central and the Harbour of the display.

This was one of the last parties to be had at this venue (he had sold the flat). However, I made a further visit a short time later after a particulaly lively (work-related) junk trip when I took one of my business contacts who had flown over from England (and was due to fly back shortly thereafter to be installed in a fairly high profile ceremonial position) for a few days. Going to a roof top party seemed like a good idea until two policeman appeared in order to break it up (complaints from the neighbours). This was apparently a fairly usual occurence although my guest was a little concerned about how news of his brush with the HK Constabulary would have played back in the UK if they had arrested him!

About time too .....

Apologies for the hiatus (caused by vast amounts of work, two trips to Blighty on holiday and sheer laziness). Much to report in relation to the last two and 1/2 months so will probably have to do this in two separate posts.

The first trip back to the UK was in mid June (for just under a week) and a good time was had by all particually the birthday celebrations arranged by my sister (marquee, sunshine and all). Everyone in fine form and it gave us the opportunity to catch up with friend's and family all in one place.

I returned to Hong Kong in time to catch the end of the dragon boat racing at Stanley (and to meet up with P and M who had been partying with assorted Swedes and Germans).

Work then intervened again (fortunately the family were still in UK) which was a shame as the weather was glorious - clear skies and sunshine for most of July - pratically unheard of in HK at this time of year. I managed a trip out to the Kadoorie Farm near Fanling which will be a good outing for the kids - the views were terrific and there were some good Country Parks en route back to the Island which gave great views of the HK Skyline. The Farm was established in the 1930's basically to provide assistance to poverty stricken mainlanders and has since developed into a botanical garden and animal preserve.

I also managed a trip out to the Intercontinental for a leaving do (Champagne Brunches are the way to go - we followed it by more champagne sitting outside Red in IFC). Despite these interludes, July was spent mostly working which meant that I was more than ready for the return trip to UK for a holiday and to pick up the family.

More on this in a later post.