Summer Has Arrived

Patrick arrived home on Wednesday from Jakarta from 2 weeks of business travel - no fun photos to share :(

Summer has arrived here in Hong Kong.  Thursday afternoon Gwen ventured to Hong Kong Island.  These was the weather. 

Later that evening more signs of summer - rain.

Friday night the weather turned again - this time windy.  I had to go back to the office for a hair clip.  Judd gets the photo credits.

Saturday we chilled out and rested - Patrick had not had downtime time in awhile - we caught up on all the season finales on Hulu.

Sunday afternoon we ventured into our hood in a different direction - through Ho Man Tin and to Mongkok.

In Minneapolis there is a restaurant that was featured on the Food Channel's Diner's Drive-in's and Dives - The Wienery (A Dive Hot Dog Restaurant).  We found the equivalent here in Hong Kong - Hot Dog Link.

Only 8 seats in the place, and we were lucky enough to have two of the stools to enjoy our hot dogs.

After lunch we ventured on to Mongkok to find a yarn store - Knitting World.  Gwen found reviews of it on-line.  Without the other reviews and photos we would not have found it either - it is on the 3rd floor of a building behind a market - not visible from the street.

From the street it does not look open - but it was.

Here is the newest yarn to Gwen's stash - 100% Cotton from Spain - to make a market bag.

BBQ Time in Hong Kong

I have not posted since we returned from Easter holiday - things have slowed up (Flat Stanley went home).  We did attend a BBQ (not Barbecue - it is pronounced "B" "B" "Q") with Gwen's team the weekend after we returned from Bali in the New Territories.  Then Patrick took off for New Delhi, Shanghai, and Jakarta for a total of 2 weeks - he returns on Wednesday and Chi-chi is looking forward to his return.  As I type now he is about an hour away from landing in Jakarta.

BBQ

Hostess Joanna preparing for a fun filled afternoon.

Joanna's husband preparing the grill.

Sweet potatoes and corn wrapped in foil were placed in with the charcoal to cook.

Everyone then grabs a skewer and cooks their own food.

Here is Sonic, Sophia, her husband, and other team members with their skewers over the grill. 

A closer look at the food - lamb chop, fish balls, chicken wings, sausages.

Patrick and I both agreed we felt this was more like a campfire then a BBQ as we know it in the US, but fun was had by all and the food was great.

3 days later Patrick was off.  When we got checked in at the airport he called me and we chatted a bit.  Then he sent a text message - he just realized he packed 2 suits for the meetings in Shanghai, but forgot to pack any ties.  So in a very efficient manner I found ties - sent him a picture to make sure they would work - then asked a co-worker to take them with her to Shanghai.

That Friday when I got home the sky was as clear as I had seen it for awhile and I took advantage and snapped some good photos of the harbour from the back side of our place at sunset.

This past Wednesday I had dinner with an ex-coworker of my BIL who has been living in HK for a year.  We went to Yardbirds - popular ex-pat spot.  It is about the chicken and every part of the bird is on the menu.

Gwen's beer - a white ale from Japan with a cute owl on the label.

This is a salad that was delivered to out table.  We did not remember ordering it, but the server made recommendations after we selected 3 items and we did not remember it all.  It was a good thing we didn't try it because it was not ours and taken away right after I took this picture.

One thing Yardbirds is famous for is KFC.  And this was not chicken - Korean Fried Cauliflower.  It was tasty and not healthy.

Friday morning I woke up and opened up my iPad before getting out of bed to see what what happening in the world.  And Facebook told me - it was snowing in Minneapolis with lots of pictures.

I then got of bed and found it to be warm and humid here in HK - so I shared the following on Facebook.

This is 77F and feels like it should be raining.

This is a ponytail day.

 Chi-chi has not made an appearance on the blog lately, so I though I would show her new favorite spot to sun (when it is out) herself.  We have a suitcase on the windowsill in the guest bedroom which she has taken over.  What a view she has!!!!  Here is some shots of her over the past week.

Bali Vacation - Checking out the Island

On our transition day between resorts we had Joe our driver show us around the island - it was a great day.

We started our day in Bali traffic - we estimated Bali has ten times more motorbikes than cars

 Our first stop of the day was to see a traditional Balinese dance - showing good versus evil.

This was a tiger.

These are dancers representing the Rangda (the evil one) on their way to see the prime minister.

Rangda - the evil one

 Next stop was to see a Batik shop.  Bali is well known for it's batik style.

Lady applying wax to stamped pattern

Examples of the wax printing.

This was pretty cool - the each yarn had a pre-colored pattern.  This lady is weaving in the pattern and carefully placing in each yarn across the width (in the weft) to create the pattern in the fabric

 Next stop was to see a traditional family home.

Kitchen

Temple area of home.

Statue wrapped in black & white fabric representing good and evil.

The family well

This family kept pet porcupines.

Family Pig - He will be dinner for one of the festivals

Next stop was a local woodworking artisan shop

The Hindi in Bali were celebrating the Galungan holiday.  It celebrates the victory of the dharma (good deeds) over the adharma (bad forces).  As we were driving we saw many homes decorated with Penjor (long bamboo poles embellished with ornaments).  We got to see a lot of parades while we were here of the Barong (mythical monster representing the good spirits).

Next stop was Mount Batur - active volcano - we ate lunch with a beautiful view while rain fell around us.

I tried to take a picture of one of the roadside fruit stands - all the fruit was in pyramids.

Next stop was another coffee, fruit, and spice plantation.

This is some of the Luwak coffee.  Patrick calculated it to be about US$240 a pound.  It's a good thing we really did not like the US$6 cup we tasted.

Roasting coffee beans.

 Civit Cat (Luwak):

View from our tasting area - still raining.

All the different tastings.

Local tobacco they would roll for you to try.

 Last stop of the day was a temple - with water that would make you younger :)

Another view of rice paddies on the way to resort #2.

It was a long day, but we got to see and experience a lot of this island and learned a great deal.