Not much time to add to the blog since I'm working during the day and don't have much in the way of connectivity at the hotel, but here are some pictures of Hong Kong:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/audra_martin/sets/
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
HK - first impressions
So, I landed Sunday afternoon in Hong Kong. First impressions:
:: Cool landscape! water, rocky hills, warm
:: Clean! Boy do they know clean here. They don't mess around about clean. All the public places are clean, clean, clean. In fact, when I put my soda can down to take a picture on a foot bridge, people stared at the lone soda can. Also, they have hefty fines for not picking up after your dog. They even have dog latrines!
:: Cheap! At 12.6 HK$ to every US$, you can get by pretty well without too much outlay. Sure, you can buy things that are comparably priced, but overall, cheap cheap cheap
:: Excellent signage! It's hard to get lost in HK, at least the places I have been so far. There are street signs and directional signs for all sorts of landmarks ev-er-y-where.
They also have tons of covered walkways so (a) you don't have to risk your life as often crossing major roads, and (b) even when it is raining you can get around without getting totally soaked.
Can you tell I love this place so far?
:: Cool landscape! water, rocky hills, warm
:: Clean! Boy do they know clean here. They don't mess around about clean. All the public places are clean, clean, clean. In fact, when I put my soda can down to take a picture on a foot bridge, people stared at the lone soda can. Also, they have hefty fines for not picking up after your dog. They even have dog latrines!
:: Cheap! At 12.6 HK$ to every US$, you can get by pretty well without too much outlay. Sure, you can buy things that are comparably priced, but overall, cheap cheap cheap
:: Excellent signage! It's hard to get lost in HK, at least the places I have been so far. There are street signs and directional signs for all sorts of landmarks ev-er-y-where.
They also have tons of covered walkways so (a) you don't have to risk your life as often crossing major roads, and (b) even when it is raining you can get around without getting totally soaked.
Can you tell I love this place so far?
(non)Given Names
Why is it there are some English names that you just don't hear in the US? Well maybe you hear them, but not many, if any Americans, are naming their kid, for instance, Giles?
Here are a few names I can think of that fall into this category:
Giles
Basel
Rupert
Nigel
Can you think of any more? What about female names?
It just seems odd to me that so much is the same, but not exactly...
By the way, I saw an ad on TV earlier for an event called Baselworld! They had testimonials from past attendants talking about how !exciting! it is, and how whenever it ends, all he can think about is !when the next one is! In fact, this video from their web site is probably the same as the commercial, although I did not watch it.
Here are a few names I can think of that fall into this category:
Giles
Basel
Rupert
Nigel
Can you think of any more? What about female names?
It just seems odd to me that so much is the same, but not exactly...
By the way, I saw an ad on TV earlier for an event called Baselworld! They had testimonials from past attendants talking about how !exciting! it is, and how whenever it ends, all he can think about is !when the next one is! In fact, this video from their web site is probably the same as the commercial, although I did not watch it.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Cheers, mate
So I just finished a short stint in London. 'Cheers, mate' is a common phrase there. Has a nice ring to it, but I don't think I could pull it off without sounding like a complete dweeb. Fits into the same category as ciao--sounds cool, appropriate in so many ways, but not for me.
'So how was London?', you may wonder (unless you live there, and then you probably don't). It was lovely. Let me just b***h a minute, and then I'll get to the...well, I don't know if there is anything else. You'll just have to read on to see.
So the journey...Keep in mind that I did not sleep Tuesday night, I worked all day Wednesday, up until about 7:30 when I left for the airport, and then did not sleep much on the plane. My seat on the plane is lovely, no one next to me, so much leg room, I feel guilty. There is one crying baby, but I have ear plugs! Aha! Even though I ate at the Latitudes lounge at JFK (nachos, glass of red wine, lots of water), I feel like I need to eat again (you know, to get my money's worth out of the plane ticket, even though I'm not paying for it) when they serve dinner on the plane. Pretty yummy. No wine (see, I'm being good). Oooo, and they're showing Capote, which I had wanted to see, but never got around to see it at the theater. I start to watch the movie. It cuts out about 40 minutes into it. Just enough to get you really hooked and then...byebye! Oh well. I'll try to get some work done...Blah, blah, blah, a few hours later we land at Heathrow. I'm tired and cranky, and now the baby is crying loud enough to where the ear plugs are not cutting it. I hate babies. I hate people. But that's ok, because we've arrived, right? No, wait, there is a small problem. There is no guy with the orange vest and orange sticks to help park the plane, and the captain is not going to try it without him. Then, there are no buses to pick us up from the tarmac and take us to the terminal. It's cold and snowing, see, and it seems that a few chaps did not make it into work. Oh well. 35 min later, we are able to disembark. Hallelujah! Then there is customs, which takes another hour (or so it seems). By the time I make it to the express train, it is almost 2 hours after we were scheduled to land. Which is bad, because that means I am going to miss a meeting I scheduled for 11 (brilliant, eh?). Then I get to Paddington on the express train and catch a cab for the rest of the way to the hotel so I can shower and change. Though the cabbie claims to know the hotel, he makes several wrong turns (I can tell because we end up on a dead and having to turn around a few times and he cursing and banging on the dashboard constantly). Then he passes my hotel and proceeds to take me to another just down the block. Poor guy, he seemed to be much more frustrated then I was (does that ever happen to you? You're cranky, and then you see someone who is *really* pissed off, and you realize it's not all that bad and you're just being a big f-ing baby?). Anyway, I get to the hotel and head down to the gym for a shower (too early to check in). In the locker room there are two showers. As I am hanging up my towel this woman goes into the shower closest to me. Fine, no problem. I'll just take the second one. As I turn around to walk in, she jets out of the first one and dives into the one I am *walking into*, essentially cutting me off. I asked her what she was doing and she said "that one doesn't work". Be-atch! Here she is, on vacation, I presume, because she just got out of the pool at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and should have her own gd room (unlike me with all my stupid luggage) and she cuts me off! Argh. She didn't hurry either. Anyway, needless to say, I did not make it into the office until about 12:30. Which was just about time for lunch....
So the office there is super cool. It's all new and modern looking. Very cool. The only thing is that the bathrooms are freezing. Literally, I could see my breath as I walked in. So so weird. Apparently they are working on it. So I get a little tour and meet lot's of people I have only every phoned or emailed. Coworkers are lovely. So lovely in fact, that we all go out for pints after work. So a few things to keep in mind about this crowd: (1) almost all guys, (2) they can really throw 'em back, (3) and there is no eating prior to the drinking. Wow, so 5 hours of drinking in a smoky bar (now *that* was weird, I forgot people are allowed to smoke indoors in some places) will make you drunk. It's always fun to drink with coworkers.
Friday morning, I went to the other location for a meeting first thing, which was down close to St James. I walked from the hotel which was a really fun way to see part of the city. Some of the highlights were Pret a Manger (for breakfast, just like in NY), the theater district, and Piccadilly Circus. I met my boss at the other office for a meeting with some mucky mucks. All went well, I think. We walked back to the other office along a different route, and my boss acted as speedy tour guide. Very cool. Just what I like, see a bunch of stuff fast, so I can decide what to see more of later. We saw The Mall, Buckingham Palace (from a distance), Cabinet Museum (war museum), Trafalgar Sq/National Gallery, Chinatown, Covent Gardens, and several other things that I cannot remember off the top of my head. Also, we saw from a distance the London Eye and Big Ben ("look kids, big ben, parliament"...name that movie). Friday evening I went out for another beer with coworkers, and met up with Barb's friend Karen for beer and Indian food. Very yummy, definitely the best food I had while in London.
Saturday morning I met up with the Serpentine runners club in Hyde Park (named for the lake of the same name in the park). Very cool people, but I have to say, some of their warmup exercises seemed a little wacky to me. After the warmup run and wacky stretches, everyone stands in a big circle and sings kumbahya. No, not really, but they do go around the circle and make you say your name. And then you go around again and have to say the name of the person standing next to you. Damn! Have to pay attention! Anyway, it was a nice sentiment, but kind of lost in the galing wind. I was set to do the 7.5 mile run around the 3 parks (Hyde, St James, and Green Parks, I think), but since there was no one my speed, I decided to go with the 4.5 mile group. Not too bad! The weather was gloriously sunny quite windy. I ran with 3 other gals and a leader from the club. Our leader, Bob, is an old timer (been in the club since 84, he's 72). He was quite affable. A little coaching without being too obnoxious. At one point in the last mile or so, he said to me, "I can tell you're a long distance runner by your form and steady speed." I could have just kissed him on his little old head! ) I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel good or what, but if so it worked! Afterwards , we went back to the rec center where the club has an office and had coffee. Quite nice, I'm so glad I did that.
After a shower at the rec center, I headed over to the London Eye (the big, slow ferris wheel type thing on the Thames). The line (or "queue" as they say) was unbelievable. Totally. Not a chance. Oh well, I decided to head over to the National Gallery instead. Very good choice! I was ale to check my bag and then walk around and see some of the most amazing pieces. Definitely a nice way to kill a few hours. That museum is very user friendly, too, which made popping around to different things I really wanted to see easy. Aside from a bunch of old, famous stuff, I also saw some amazing photos of a comtemporary artist named Tom Hunter. Disturbing stuff. I bought a little book about the photos in the exhibit if anyone is interested in seeing them. I'm warning you now, though, some of it is downright creepy.
After that I walked back through Covent Garden to go shopping before I headed to the airport. Lot's of cute stuff, but didn't really see a lot that I had to have or that I wanted to buy for other people. Hopefully that will not be the case in HK.
Trip back to the airport went smoothly. My cabbie knew exactly how to get me to Paddington, which got me to the airport in plenty of time. It was interesting to talk to him. Here is a cabbie who, self-admittedly, is not super educated (no unviersity, I mean), works as a cabby, yet is well read, up on current events and travels several times a year. It's awesome to see a cabby who has enough vacation time and money to go to the states three times a year to see their brother, and still is able to travel other places. I can't imagine cabbies in Austin being able to do that. Maybe they do in New York, I don't know. I suppose the other two things aren't that unusual, especially the current events knowledge. Just shows my pre-conceived notions...
Anyway, that's all for now. I've arrived safely in HK, but am exhausted and need to go to bed. I'll write about my first day in HK tomorrow.
'So how was London?', you may wonder (unless you live there, and then you probably don't). It was lovely. Let me just b***h a minute, and then I'll get to the...well, I don't know if there is anything else. You'll just have to read on to see.
So the journey...Keep in mind that I did not sleep Tuesday night, I worked all day Wednesday, up until about 7:30 when I left for the airport, and then did not sleep much on the plane. My seat on the plane is lovely, no one next to me, so much leg room, I feel guilty. There is one crying baby, but I have ear plugs! Aha! Even though I ate at the Latitudes lounge at JFK (nachos, glass of red wine, lots of water), I feel like I need to eat again (you know, to get my money's worth out of the plane ticket, even though I'm not paying for it) when they serve dinner on the plane. Pretty yummy. No wine (see, I'm being good). Oooo, and they're showing Capote, which I had wanted to see, but never got around to see it at the theater. I start to watch the movie. It cuts out about 40 minutes into it. Just enough to get you really hooked and then...byebye! Oh well. I'll try to get some work done...Blah, blah, blah, a few hours later we land at Heathrow. I'm tired and cranky, and now the baby is crying loud enough to where the ear plugs are not cutting it. I hate babies. I hate people. But that's ok, because we've arrived, right? No, wait, there is a small problem. There is no guy with the orange vest and orange sticks to help park the plane, and the captain is not going to try it without him. Then, there are no buses to pick us up from the tarmac and take us to the terminal. It's cold and snowing, see, and it seems that a few chaps did not make it into work. Oh well. 35 min later, we are able to disembark. Hallelujah! Then there is customs, which takes another hour (or so it seems). By the time I make it to the express train, it is almost 2 hours after we were scheduled to land. Which is bad, because that means I am going to miss a meeting I scheduled for 11 (brilliant, eh?). Then I get to Paddington on the express train and catch a cab for the rest of the way to the hotel so I can shower and change. Though the cabbie claims to know the hotel, he makes several wrong turns (I can tell because we end up on a dead and having to turn around a few times and he cursing and banging on the dashboard constantly). Then he passes my hotel and proceeds to take me to another just down the block. Poor guy, he seemed to be much more frustrated then I was (does that ever happen to you? You're cranky, and then you see someone who is *really* pissed off, and you realize it's not all that bad and you're just being a big f-ing baby?). Anyway, I get to the hotel and head down to the gym for a shower (too early to check in). In the locker room there are two showers. As I am hanging up my towel this woman goes into the shower closest to me. Fine, no problem. I'll just take the second one. As I turn around to walk in, she jets out of the first one and dives into the one I am *walking into*, essentially cutting me off. I asked her what she was doing and she said "that one doesn't work". Be-atch! Here she is, on vacation, I presume, because she just got out of the pool at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and should have her own gd room (unlike me with all my stupid luggage) and she cuts me off! Argh. She didn't hurry either. Anyway, needless to say, I did not make it into the office until about 12:30. Which was just about time for lunch....
So the office there is super cool. It's all new and modern looking. Very cool. The only thing is that the bathrooms are freezing. Literally, I could see my breath as I walked in. So so weird. Apparently they are working on it. So I get a little tour and meet lot's of people I have only every phoned or emailed. Coworkers are lovely. So lovely in fact, that we all go out for pints after work. So a few things to keep in mind about this crowd: (1) almost all guys, (2) they can really throw 'em back, (3) and there is no eating prior to the drinking. Wow, so 5 hours of drinking in a smoky bar (now *that* was weird, I forgot people are allowed to smoke indoors in some places) will make you drunk. It's always fun to drink with coworkers.
Friday morning, I went to the other location for a meeting first thing, which was down close to St James. I walked from the hotel which was a really fun way to see part of the city. Some of the highlights were Pret a Manger (for breakfast, just like in NY), the theater district, and Piccadilly Circus. I met my boss at the other office for a meeting with some mucky mucks. All went well, I think. We walked back to the other office along a different route, and my boss acted as speedy tour guide. Very cool. Just what I like, see a bunch of stuff fast, so I can decide what to see more of later. We saw The Mall, Buckingham Palace (from a distance), Cabinet Museum (war museum), Trafalgar Sq/National Gallery, Chinatown, Covent Gardens, and several other things that I cannot remember off the top of my head. Also, we saw from a distance the London Eye and Big Ben ("look kids, big ben, parliament"...name that movie). Friday evening I went out for another beer with coworkers, and met up with Barb's friend Karen for beer and Indian food. Very yummy, definitely the best food I had while in London.
Saturday morning I met up with the Serpentine runners club in Hyde Park (named for the lake of the same name in the park). Very cool people, but I have to say, some of their warmup exercises seemed a little wacky to me. After the warmup run and wacky stretches, everyone stands in a big circle and sings kumbahya. No, not really, but they do go around the circle and make you say your name. And then you go around again and have to say the name of the person standing next to you. Damn! Have to pay attention! Anyway, it was a nice sentiment, but kind of lost in the galing wind. I was set to do the 7.5 mile run around the 3 parks (Hyde, St James, and Green Parks, I think), but since there was no one my speed, I decided to go with the 4.5 mile group. Not too bad! The weather was gloriously sunny quite windy. I ran with 3 other gals and a leader from the club. Our leader, Bob, is an old timer (been in the club since 84, he's 72). He was quite affable. A little coaching without being too obnoxious. At one point in the last mile or so, he said to me, "I can tell you're a long distance runner by your form and steady speed." I could have just kissed him on his little old head! ) I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel good or what, but if so it worked! Afterwards , we went back to the rec center where the club has an office and had coffee. Quite nice, I'm so glad I did that.
After a shower at the rec center, I headed over to the London Eye (the big, slow ferris wheel type thing on the Thames). The line (or "queue" as they say) was unbelievable. Totally. Not a chance. Oh well, I decided to head over to the National Gallery instead. Very good choice! I was ale to check my bag and then walk around and see some of the most amazing pieces. Definitely a nice way to kill a few hours. That museum is very user friendly, too, which made popping around to different things I really wanted to see easy. Aside from a bunch of old, famous stuff, I also saw some amazing photos of a comtemporary artist named Tom Hunter. Disturbing stuff. I bought a little book about the photos in the exhibit if anyone is interested in seeing them. I'm warning you now, though, some of it is downright creepy.
After that I walked back through Covent Garden to go shopping before I headed to the airport. Lot's of cute stuff, but didn't really see a lot that I had to have or that I wanted to buy for other people. Hopefully that will not be the case in HK.
Trip back to the airport went smoothly. My cabbie knew exactly how to get me to Paddington, which got me to the airport in plenty of time. It was interesting to talk to him. Here is a cabbie who, self-admittedly, is not super educated (no unviersity, I mean), works as a cabby, yet is well read, up on current events and travels several times a year. It's awesome to see a cabby who has enough vacation time and money to go to the states three times a year to see their brother, and still is able to travel other places. I can't imagine cabbies in Austin being able to do that. Maybe they do in New York, I don't know. I suppose the other two things aren't that unusual, especially the current events knowledge. Just shows my pre-conceived notions...
Anyway, that's all for now. I've arrived safely in HK, but am exhausted and need to go to bed. I'll write about my first day in HK tomorrow.
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