Counting Flowers on the Wall

Come January 2016, we're moving back to the States. Mike's last day as an English teacher will be in early January and then we're relocating to Washington DC. That means I'm officially in my last couple months as a lady of leisure and I'm taking full advantage of it. I'm staying up late, lying in, killing my days with nothing but game playing and movie watching. Basically, "playing solitaire 'til dawn" (but electronically, so my deck is not missing a card).

I did have every intention of maintaining my healthy living regimen during this time but we had a guest in town for two weeks (!) which threw me off my routine. She left early last week and I took that week to ensconce myself in the pleasure of solitude without commitments. But, I did truly have every intention of restarting my healthy living routine this week. And then I stood on the scale. More than three weeks of inactivity, drinking, and poor diet have caused me to lose more weight than I've lost in the preceding three months of focused intent. If ever there was a reason to continue a poor lifestyle that, my friends, would be it.

Pai, Thailand

So, I'm luxuriating. This is where a pool would be nice. But, no pool. So, I just sit on the couch, in a/c, multi-tasking with tablet games, computer games, and movies. Sometimes I get bored, but then I realize I have the luxury of boredom and just embrace it. Who knows when my next opportunity for wasting this much time will be. If DC's anything like New York, which we don't believe it will be but we're mentally preparing for that rough of a transition, then I have a good four months of job searching and financial stress to look forward to in the new year. Thus, I'm taking this opportunity to luxuriate in my boredom.

Chiang Mai zoo

Though we are mentally preparing for a rough transition, we're leaning heavily on our past experiences to help us predict the situation and mitigate any potential issues. Happily, so far, all indications are that this move to Washington DC might be more akin to our experience in London, which was a dream, than to our experience in NYC, which wasn't.

Having friends in and near DC will undoubtedly help with our transition. The job market appears more welcoming too. Plus, there aren't any songs about "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere," which is probably the most reassuring. Additionally, we found a furnished, temporary home with ease, which, besides employment, is usually the most daunting task. So, though we're mentally preparing for a rough transition, so far all signs are allowing us to hope for a smooth one.

Hong Kong

In travel news, Mike & I spent a week in mid-September traveling in northern Thailand. We spent the bulk of our time in Chiang Mai but we also ventured towards the Myanmar border, stopping in Pai and Mae Hong Son. We've also just returned from a few days in Hong Kong, the city I originally wanted to move to prior to coming to Taiwan. I still love that city but living in Taiwan has cured me of any desire to live there, though I wouldn't mind if it still happened (it probably won't).

Wong Tai Sin Temple, Hong Kong

Besides a trip down to Kenting (Taiwan) in December and a day's layover in Shanghai in January, on our way back to the States, our travel in this area is nearly finished for the foreseeable future. Once we move to DC we probably won't be planning any Asian vacations for a while. Still, though we're returning to our home country, it'll be our first time living below the Mason-Dixon and, though DC itself may not be considered a southern city, our proximity to that area will undoubtedly bring us some new experiences and adventures.

Summer Volunteers

Columbia University campus

Mike & I are starting our summer by making a couple of volunteering commitments.  I've been hankering to volunteer since our Dundee days but pickings were a bit slim in that small town and we were far too busy being super popular in London to even contemplate the idea (except, early on, we did volunteer one day in the Carshalton lavender fields).  Now here, where we seem to have nothing but time, we decided to see what was available.

Well, as I suspected, opportunities abound and everyone wants a piece of us.  After a few interviews and inquiries, we've selected one long-term commitment, teaching English as a second language to adults at Columbia University's Community Impact program, and one shorter commitment, working the beer booth at the Governors Ball music festival for Doing Art Together.

We had our first teacher orientation at Columbia last night.  It was a lot of fun and we're both really excited to get into the classroom.  Classes start on Wednesday.  We chose ESL because we expect Mike to spend at least his first 9 months in Hong Kong teaching English and we want to make sure it's something he enjoys.  We chose Community Impact's adult ESL program because it's Columbia University and will look great on our resumes.

Doing Art Together is a short commitment, just this weekend, and gives us free entrance into the music festival on the days we volunteer.  I'm not a huge fan of music festivals (see this post) because they're crowded and there are long lines everywhere but I might enjoy myself if standing safely within a beer serving booth.  For charity. Also, it might take me back to the good old days of helping The Cascades Conservation Partnership at festivals throughout Seattle during the summer of 2001.  I saw Billy Idol, Lyle Lovett, Burt Bacharach, Chris Isaak, plus many others that summer, and all for free while volunteering for TCCP.  It was a great summer.

Although this weekend is supposed to be ensconced by Tropical Storm Andrea, and there are flood warnings and thunderstorms predicted, I'm sure we'll still have a good time.  It's a rare event that can surround us with beer and music and not produce a couple of happy Furnesses.  Make it free and it's damn near unheard of.

Hong Kong Calling

It's been a week since we started considering a move to Taiwan.  We had settled on Taipei but then we spoke to Mike's brother and he planted another seed, why not Hong Kong?  We briefly considered it before returning to the idea of Taipei.  But, upon further consideration and after exploring visas and housing, it appears as though we've settled on the idea of Hong Kong as our next move.

As you may know, ever since our trip there in 2010 I have been promoting the city as one I would move to "in a second".  It is easily one of our top 5 favorite cities (though, as we've discovered with New York, visiting a city as a tourist is very different from living there as a resident) and we're really looking forward to this next adventure.

picture in The New York Times

Recent events have made us realize that we had considered London our home, though only there for a short time.  As we approach the 6 month mark for our time in New York (equivalent to the last stretch spent in London) we are nowhere near the feeling of home we had there.  To that point, I saw this article in today's New York Times and was reminded of my post from about this time last year.

Besides the picture, the article talks about the emerging art scene and otherwise just speaks to me.  I think if you played it backwards it would say "Mike + Desi should move to Hong Kong" (and, maybe also, "Paul is dead"). Hong Kong wants us to move there.  Clearly.  And we will.

Hong Kong

We left our Taipei hotel in the early AM to catch our flight to Hong Kong.  We were planes, trains, and automobiles on this leg alone (subway, high speed rail, bus, plane, subway, bus).  But, after only a few hours (and by noon) we were at our hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong.

Our section of Kowloon Peninsula was hopping.  We were super close to bars (sweet, glorious bars), two subway stations, The Peninsula Hotel, and Victoria Harbour.  We were really excited to begin exploring the "New York City of Asia" and we really wanted to see the famous Hong Kong skyline, so we headed in the direction of Victoria Harbour.  We would wind up spending a lot of our time over the next few days admiring this skyline.  It was absolutely amazing!

After exploring the waterfront area for a bit we headed back towards our hotel to grab something to eat.  We quickly realized that, although the streets looked simple to navigate, we could easily get lost and the odds of encountering something we'd seen earlier were slim to none without serious navigation skills.  To avoid any regrets, we decided that if we saw something that interested us we would not save it for later, because we may never find it again, instead we would seize the moment and just do it.  This may have been our best travel strategy ever because it led us to a fantastic "welcome to Hong Kong" meal.  Our new rule: carcasses in the window equals good eats.

After our lunch we rested in our hotel for a bit and then headed out for some bar hopping.  After a few weeks spent without any bars, the number of bars visible from just our hotel's front steps almost had Desi in uncontrollable giggles.  The drinks weren't cheap (equivalent to prices in Seattle) but Hong Kong (and Taiwan for that matter) are not tipping cultures, so that saves some money.  We proceeded to explore the neighborhood from the party side of a cocktail, having one in each establishment we encountered until it was time to head back to the waterfront for the evening's light show.

Every night at 8PM Hong Kong puts on a harbour light show incorporating lights from some of the buildings and music.  It doesn't last very long, and isn't too impressive, but it's cool that the city does this nightly and it was a fun way to see the skyline.

After the light show we grabbed some of the spiciest soup ever made.  For future reference, a medium in Hong Kong is not equivalent to a medium in Seattle.  There is nothing equivalent in Seattle to that level of spice.  Seattle palettes cannot tolerate that spice.  We're still recovering from the damage.

The next day we began with a morning trip to the harbour.  A Monday morning was less crowded on the harbour than a Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed the virtual solitude.

We played around for a bit on the Avenue of the Stars and then, via ferry, we headed to Hong Kong Island.

We walked to the Peak Tram, an obligatory tourist experience which takes you to the top of a mountain for city views.  The view from the top was amazing.  We could've stayed up there the whole day.  There were birds, trees, water, buildings, houses.  Honestly, this one view captured it all and it truly was amazing.

When we finally headed back down the mountain we made our way to the Central Bus Station to grab a bus to Stanley Market, located on the other side of the island.  This itinerary item wasn't in any of our guidebooks.  We had only heard about it immediately prior to our departure from Seattle, when we were watching anything we could find about our imminent trip.  Stanley Market was mentioned on an Australian travel show, in passing, as the market that locals shopped at.  We can't confirm that statement but we do know that the #6 bus to Stanley Market was the most scenic drive of our entire trip.  And, for only $10 HKD ($7 HKD = $1 USD) and about 20 minutes, it was one of the highlights of our trip.

After a day spent at Stanley Market we made our way, this time via bus #260 (the express), back to Central District for some drinks at Sevva, on the top floor of the Prince's Building.  This was suggested to us by a friend (currently living in Hong Kong) of a friend.  We wound up there just as the harbour light show was beginning, so we got to experience the light show from the middle of it.  We couldn't hear the music but the lights alone were pretty cool.

After our drinks we headed to Red Pepper in Causeway Bay for dinner, also a suggestion from the friend of a friend.  Another excellent meal.  We topped our night off with a walk along Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong Island side, before hopping on the subway back to our hotel.

The next morning we experienced dim sum for the first time.  This was the most frustrating experience of our Hong Kong trip.  First of all, we received a recommendation from someone at our hotel for a dim sum restaurant.  He wrote the restaurant name down (in characters) and gave us a vague description of where to go.  We had to stop at a number of different Circle K stores, plus asking random people along the way, before we were able to locate the shop (on the 2nd floor of an office building).  When we arrived no one spoke English (or was willing to) and the menus were entirely in Chinese.  We matched descriptions of pictures with the ordering sheet, selected five items, and placed it on the edge of our table.  When the waitress came around she looked at us oddly but took the paper and walked away.  We had no idea if we were going to get food or not.

Luckily, all our prior experience had paid off and we not only got food but we got exactly what we had expected.  We were thrilled with ourselves.  Plus, the food was delicious and now we're no longer intimidated to try dim sum in Seattle, or probably anywhere anymore.

After dim sum we headed to Lantau Island to see the giant buddha.  This incorporated a subway ride and a gondola.  Desi was scared the gondola would be closed, just like in Taipei.  But, Hong Kong was liking us more than Taipei had, so we weren't too worried.

Our gondola ride to Lantau Island was gorgeous.  It took 30 minutes and it was fairly stormy, but it was a wonderful part of the experience.  The Lantau Island buddha was amazing!  You're able to see it from quite a distance and it's just awesome.

There's a small tourist village where the gondola loads/unloads and a small monastery near the base of the buddha.  This was a very inspirational and scenic day trip.

When we arrived back in Tsim Sha Tsui we stopped at a night market before heading to The Peninsula for afternoon tea, one of the things Desi really wanted to experience.  The Peninsula is where we saw all the Rolls Royces and Bentleys.  It's a gorgeous hotel, and also a Hong Kong institution.  Afternoon tea at The Peninsula is definitely an experience, though probably not one we'll repeat.

After The Peninsula we headed to the harbour for one last light show.  The night was stormy, adding a bit of fog which gave the show an ethereal quality.  After the show we stopped at a bar for a couple drinks and did some shopping before heading back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we headed back to the harbour for one last stroll along the waterfront before leaving for the airport.

We took a cab to the airport, grabbed some dim sum at the airport before boarding our flight, and were on our way back to The States that afternoon.  The flight was only about 11 hours, which was about 4 hours shorter than our previous experience.  Plus, we arrived before we left, which is difficult to explain and equally as hard to understand.  We left at 4:30PM in Hong Kong and arrived in Los Angeles on the same day at 1PM.  We arrived back in Seattle at about 6:30PM.

The return flight was difficult to recover from.  The worst of our jet lag lasted over a week but we didn't recover fully for at least another two.  Our internal clocks were off for about five days and the lethargy lasted more than a week.  Overall though, our trip was amazing.  The whole experience had an almost "once in a lifetime" feel to it.  We feel like world travellers now, even though we've only added one (or is it considered two?) countries to our list of places we've been.  We did add a whole new continent, though.  That's pretty cool.