More Finds and Ikea delivers

This Saturday two of our friends from Minneapolis were in town, and we went to see the Chi Lin Nunnery.  

"Established in 1934 and renovated in Tang dynasty style (AD 618–907) in 1990, the Chi Lin Nunnery is a large temple complex of elegant wooden architecture, treasured Buddhist relics and soul-soothing lotus ponds. The complex also includes a series of temple halls, some of which contain gold, clay and wooden statues representing divinities such as the Sakyamuni Buddha and bodhisattvas."
Source: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/culture-heritage/chinese-temples/chi-lin-nunnery-and-nan-lian-garden.jsp#ixzz2Ab270d00

What my plagiarism above did not say is the wooden architecture did not have any nails.  That was the intrigue that got us on the MTR to Diamond Hill.

Below are pictures of the nunnery.  

Here is the irony - I found a web site with a picture of the 5 gilded buddhas in the main hall.  And right under it states that photography of the Buddha statues is not allowed.  So I did not feel too bad with the one photo I took of the Buddha in the Hall of Celestial Kings.

After the nunnery we went looking for some local food.  It was lunch time, and that means Dim Sum.

We then brought Ada and Brad back to see out place and our local grocery store.  Then sent them back to their hotel for a nap before they ventured out to the night market.

Then Sunday afternoon Ikea showed up with lots of boxes.

First elevator ride.  After opening the first box I felt bad for the one guy who unloaded them into our place.  They were heavy.

After 2nd elevator ride....the fun we have ahead of us.

Tonight we only tackled the first one - doors will come later.  

This week will be the week of building Ikea wardrobes and finally emptying some more boxes

Getting to Know Our New 'Hood

Another fun filled busy weekend.  We got a lot accomplished and got to know our new area a little better.

Friday morning started at the immigration department to collect our HK ID cards - we are now officially residents of Hong Kong, and we have the cards to prove it.   On our way back to work we dropped into the US consulate to have our absentee ballots mailed back to the US.  That was a little more complicated then I expected.  Picture going through a TSA line at the airport, but they collect all electronics from you - phone, camera, i-pad, i-pod, etc and keep them until you leave.  But we voted - see picture below.

After work we ventured to Ikea - to try and avoid the crazy weekend crowds.  And it worked.  We ordered 5 wardrobes (remember, no closets here).  They'll be delivered next Sunday afternoon.  So we know what next Sunday afternoon looks like.

Saturday afternoon we ventured out into our new 'hood after the stereo was delivered - another Patrick toy.  Now if only we can get the cable and internet connected.  I don't know what I would do without the hotspot on my new iPhone - just saying.

We found an interesting restaurant - I say interesting in that most of the menu was Chinese, except what Patrick got.  The menu had english - and that is an important criteria.

So here is the place

Here is Gwen's fish ball and fish cake soup. Texture was interesting but good.

And here is Patrick's French Frankfurter 

The rest of the day was shopping.  Got an iron, ironing board (wish I had packed mine) and vacuum cleaner.  We were able to find some things in our local neighborhood, and we had to trek to a mall for others.  Since we are not close to an MTR (subway) stop we explored the bus routes.   The buses here are pretty darn nice.  In HK the only place for more space is UP. That is also true of the buses.  They are all double-decker.

Sunday lunch / brunch was at a local vietnamese restaurant - no pictures - super small place and I know I would have been laughed at.  Food was good and I am pretty sure we will go back.  Then on the way home I ventured into a LYS (local yarn shop) I spotted getting off the bus.  I am in soooo much trouble now.  The place is great - all types of yarn - a lot of brands I have not seen before.  No one spoke English - but they could tell me how much I owed and say thank you and bye-bye.  I purchased enough for a baby blanket, and I've already started crocheting this afternoon.  I was having crochet withdrawal.

Patrick went to hit some golf balls, and I ventured to a Park 'n Shop Superstore I spotted in the 'hood.  Shops are deceiving from the outside - this place was huge (for HK - nothing like a Super Target) on the inside.  Space was used well, and I found more stuff.  I am posting pictures of some of the interesting things I got for Wendy - she was asking about different flavored noodles and the one below is "mushroom flavored sichuan spicy noodle" and I can't wait to see what the cheese nut crackers taste like. (Sorry can't figure out how to rotate the picture, but I think the effect is there.)

To finish the weekend off I had to share a picture of something I don't think I have seen since before I could legally drink in the US, but I remember them.

Off to make dinner and open that can of beer.

Our 1st 'Homemade' Meal

Yes - I put 'Homemade' in quotes because it was more so just prepared at home - not cooked from scratch.  But it was Chinese.

I found my new favorite appliance that I never knew existed - a Steamer.  There is not much you can not cook in that thing.  I read through the instruction manuals - with recipes.  And was very excited.  We picked up some frozen dumplings yesterday, but no vinegar or soy sauce.  So back to the grocery I went and I also picked up some 'baby chinese cabbage' to play with.

Home I came and everything went into the steamer - see pictures below.

So here is the dashboard.  Patrick switched it to "F", but I kinda like 100C being the temp to cook everything at.

My bag of baby chinese cabbage.  At US$1 I had to get it to play.  And they turned out pretty good.

The frozen dumplings.  They were actually pretty good.  I can see doing this again soon.

The finished product with condiments I purchased to dip ( not the olive oil - just figured I would need that later).

Moving Day Has Arrived

Finally.  7 weeks after our container was packed it was delivered to us in our new abode.  And the fun begins.  Chi-chi has taken nicely to the new place.  One more weird thing about HK - kitchens receive no 'air con' (to us in the US that would be air conditioning).  There is a separate unit in each room with a remote (we still can't figure out how to use).  I digress - why do I care that there is not air con in the kitchen - because the door into the kitchen does not stay open - it slams shut.  And this is important because Chi-chi's food, water and litter are in there.  So we need to find a rubber door stop...  right now it is a box of litter holding it open enough for her to find her way in.

Alright.  Enough about the air con.  Here are pictures from our move (plus a little more).

Well here is the kitchen before.  Never got a picture of it at it's worst.  Let's just say there was not enough counter space to empty the boxes - so the movers started filling my cupboards.

Oh the living room before.  The first piece to be brought in was the corner of our sectional sofa from our old basement and both Patrick and I slightly panicked - we were not sure everything would fit.

The master bedroom before.  The only room after where we feel we have room for some wardrobes - which are needed as closets do not exist anywhere.

Our stuff.  I never made it down to see the load, but this was the view from above.

And the pool - which many people used this weekend.  I saw some pictures from MN this past weekend.  I will say no more.

The view from the guest room to the front balcony with protection in place.  There was a whole lot more protection used here then when the stuff was moved out.

Patrick playing games waiting for more to happen.  Yes - he is sitting on the guest bedroom window sill.  The window sills are amazingly deep - gotta figure out the best way to use these.

The storage room of wardrobe boxes - we will be living out of these until we can get Ikea to deliver some real wardrobes.

The pile waiting to be unloaded into the kitchen.  And a few bar stools on the right.

My view from the end of the sofa.  The last things to be unloaded were the head and foot boards of our bed.  So the mattress took up some space.

Yes - Patrick again playing games.  But the sofa is in place.

Lunch Break - yes we found a local McDonald's that we were able to walk to.

Well here is one I have not seen before - and since I love seafood I had to try it.

Yes - Ebi is shrimp.  I had a shrimp patty sandwich and it had lot of whole shrimp.  For Micky D's it was pretty good.

So after lunch I headed back to temp housing to check out and bring the Chi-chi cat to her new place.  Got back at 3 right after the movers finished and the gas guys were hooking us up.  Funny story about gas - they lectured Patrick about keeping the temp set to 38 C (100 F), yeah not so much.  Patrick jacked it up to 60 C (140 F) and I tempered it back to (118 F).  And you have to hit the pre-heat and let the water run before getting into the shower....  This will be fun.

Only utility left is Internet & Phone - and that will take awhile as apparently some wires need to be run.  So we are living off the hotspot my phone creates (and how I am posting this).  I knew I loved my new iPhone 5.

So we decide beer was in order.  And we have a small (not like there is any other kind) grocery  right under the complex called Taste so we checked it out.  Found beer and wine - see below. 

Yes - you are seeing right - we felt at home when we found (not purchased) Boone's.

On our way back up to the apartment I had to take a picture of the protection in the elevator for movers.  There is custom made plywood fixtures to protect the walls - and they covered it in this wonderful print.

So we finished out the weekend checking out the local area - peeked in the grocery store.  Started a list of what we needed.  Made our way back to HK Island to Ikea to pick up a few things and take some measurements - yes the dimensions are on the internet, but seeing it helped.  And finished out the weekend with our first food delivery - Pizza Hut pizza with Carlsburg beer.  Yes they delivered beer to us.....

Our Weekend

Well this weekend we played it pretty low key.  Friday we started with Bao (dumplings) in Causeway Bay and rode a tram for the first time.  Super cheap HK$2.3 (US$ 0.30) for as far as you want to go from one end of the island to the other - like 13 kilometers. 

Riding in the top of the tram.

Then Saturday we went to pick up Gwen's iPhone 5 - so we is back in touch with life again.  For dinner that night we hiked to Soho to a small Thai restaurant.  There is a web site here that is so much better than Urban Spoon in the US - it is called Open Rice - and that is how most of our meal locations are selected.  I think we would be starving without it - because some of these places we would not have found or ventured into without reading reviews.

Then on Sunday we ventured up to Hollywood for our typical brunch (gonna miss this when we move).  On our way home we stopped at the local Park'N Shop (which I find funny because no one here owns a car to park) for some milk and cereal.  I snapped some pictures of some 'imported' items.

Florida OJ at US$3.83 per gallon - didn't buy as Gwen hates OJ.

Slightly expensive cereal (US$5.50) which Gwen did buy.

Patrick then went to a driving range (Gwen caught up on some US TV).  Then off to dinner - another find.  So in our walks we have seen this giant neon cow - well we ventured in (after reading many reviews).

Neon street sign which was as big as the restaurant.

2 Carlsberg beers in honor of our expat friends in Copenhagen (Stine and Monnier families)

Patrick's steak with "Sammy's special sauce" (onions and celery - Gwen had chicken)