Dragon Boat Races

It has been a few weeks since I posted.   We've both done some travel for work, and there has not been too much exciting happening.  One cool event was the Dragon Boat Festival on June 12th.  (It's actually a holiday).   Gwen spent 3 days in Shenzhen and Patrick spent the entire next week there.

This past week was a Dragon Boat Carnival right out my window.

View from Gwen's office window as the flags go up.

View of the barges lining up to keep the water steady.

More barges lining up.

 Friday the races started and over lunch.  Gwen and Judd checked out the scene:

Loading up the boats.

Some teams heading out to race.

Starting line.

And they are off.

Another panoramic of the races on Friday.

Gwen took the big camera to work on Friday and here are a few pictures:

Boat of Cute Boys (team agreed with Gwen)

Lined up

And they are off.

Beerfest that accompanied the Dragon Boat Carnival.

Gwen had 3 days in Shenzhen with the global manager from her team - so for those of you in Mpls here is the team:

Helen really didn't drink all that Tsing Tao

Judd, Helen & Gwen on their way to Starbucks for coffee.

Helen & Gwen in Target Hall in Shenzhen

Whole team celebrating a great off-site. 

Gwen & Helen with one last beer together until Gwen gets to Seoul in August.

Patrick came home with no photos from his week off-site in Shenzhen last week. 

But here is a picture Gwen sent to Patrick showing how much Chi-chi was missing him.

And here is what Gwen came home to Friday night.

Other news:  Purchases

Ikea chairs for the balcony.

Gwen managed to fit these in a taxi.

Out of the boxes.

 Flat Iron:

Straight hair lasted until I stepped out of the elevator.

Other news - our first Cyclone Signal.  This is the sign that greeted everyone at the office.  What it means is there is a Cyclone within 800 kilometers (500 miles) of HK.  We did reach a Signal 3 - Strong Winds Expected (may exceed 110 kpm = 69 mph).  It was all cancelled within 24 hours and not much happened.

Last night while Patrick and I were drinking one 0.5 Liter beer each in an area called Knutsford Terrace,  we decided that the best part of the evening was people watching.  The restaurant we were at offered 'towers' of beer (3 liters) which were great for photo ops.  These 2 gentlemen took on the 'tower' themselves.

More Food Pictures

It's been a few weeks since I blogged about HK.  I was reviewing some the recent pictures, and there was a lot of food. 

More good beer we found.

Gwen was in Shenzhen a few weeks ago and stumbled upon a MN favorite.  Did not have time to taste test - maybe next visit to Shenzhen.

Happy Hour a few weeks ago - Patrick ordered 9 wings at HK$10.  That seemed expensive until we got the wings - whole wings (drummy and wing) each in their own bathtub of sauce.  This turned into dinner.  Yes there is a random meatball in there also.  Gwen ordered a few other items to test but forgot to take photos because we were so overwhelmed by the wings. 

Last Sunday we ventured to the 'cushy' movie theater.  Everyone has their own recliner (so it is like a big living room) and you get unlimited popcorn and soda.  Here is Patrick ready to see "The Great Gadsby".

After the movie we decided we needed some good American comfort food and made Johnsonville brats with Kraft macaroni & cheese.  Our celebration of Memorial Day weekend.

Last Tuesday Gwen ventured back to China and this piggy bun was part of lunch.  Funny part is there was no pork in the bun.

Inside the bun was Japanese sweet potato (above) or pumpkin.

Thursday Gwen went back to China.  On the drive back to HK, snacks were in the car.  We had Cucumber (above) and Tomato Lay's potato chips.  Gwen tried one Cucumber chip, and that will be the last one - cucumber and potatoes were not meant to be together (they are not friends as one of my team members said).

So this is just a picture - we have not actually tried one.  But the McDonald's menu items here are not the same as the US.

Another big topic of conversation around Hong Kong is the WEATHER.  Summer has arrived.  We have experienced our first 'Black Rain'.  No, the rain coming down was not black, but it was coming down so hard you could not see.  And this literary shuts the town down - no public transportation and everything is closed.  We woke up around 4am from the storm.  Got up and got ready for work - looked out the window and realized we saw no taxis, cars or buses.  Checked e-mail and there was a message to remain at home until the 'black rain' warning has been lifted.  Here is what the weather looked like on Gwen's phone:  

Warning in the left hand corner are for : Black Rainstorm Warning, Thunderstorm Warning, Flooding Warning, Landslide Warning 

Two days after the Black Rain, the clouds finally parted.  Here is a photo out of Gwen's office.

This past Friday brought a new warning sign to Gwen's phone - Very Hot Weather Warning.  The sign is still on Gwen's phone.

To translate - 33C is 91F.

The heat did open up the skies.  Here is a view out the back of our place - I don't know that I have seen the ocean past the island at the end of the harbor before.

As mentioned above - Gwen did some factory visits in China this past week.  Here are some other pictures from her travels:

Tuesday was all about bras.

The red lights in Shenzhen are really long - long enough for a driver to get out of his car to take a quick smoke.  And I don't think I have ever seen anyone smoke that fast before - he needed a fix and could not have been enjoying it.

Beijing Olympic vehicle in Shenzhen.

Plumeria outside a sweater factory.  Could not post any pictures from inside the factory.  Saw the flower and it looked familiar - realized they were all over Bali.

Ending this blog with a picture of Chi-chi sitting on top of the sofa asleep this afternoon.  She has settled into Hong Kong.