Sales - part deux

Speaking of Jehova's W's (see previous post), a friend of mine reminded me of them earlier this week. He didn't encounther the Watchtower Crowd though, but the tactics were similar: he got caught by a Mormon. I'm sorry, my friend, the story is too funny to keep it for myself :)

So he sends me this e-mail saying this Mormon guy 'somehow managed to get his number off him and leave him with a pamphlet'. My reply to this was that he obviously had given the guy his phone number. A minute later his answer to this arrived in my inbox:

'Totally not my fault! He had blue eyes and he kept smiling at me!'


Slapper :)

Sales

One phenomenon that still baffles me here in Hong Kong is the door-to-door sales people who call at the office. There I am at my desk, minding my own business, when all of a sudden the doorbell rings and someone pushes a namecard in my face with the name of a hotel and her contact details. If it's not a hotel, it is a stationary company, someone selling magazine subscriptions or little perfumed bags 'to make the office smell nice'. Come to think of it, with the currect smell of pain and thinner we are getting from the renovation works on the floor below, that one could have come in handy.

Maybe i should request a free night in each of the hotels they advertise, so i can check whether it is good enough to house our precious visitors.

Somehow I'm still expecting the Jehova's Witness to show up at some point to sell me a bible and a Watchtower. Ah, memories... ('Quick, switch off the light and pretend no one's home!')

Most Advanced Police Force In The World

Chinese police on Segways... But is it the real Segway, or is it the Chinese fake? :)

Another holiday, another beach

The 1st of July is yet another public holiday in Hong Kong. This time it's all about the reattachment to China in 1997. Ever since a demonstration for democracy takes place on that day.

An expat myself, i obviously take democracy for granted and so I headed for the beach. Another public holiday, another beach, that's how it goes. This time I ended up going to South Bay beach with Josh and his friends. It's a nice beach. Fairly quiet, lively but not too busy, and nicely framed by lush greenery, rocks and a nice view towards Deep Water Bay. Every ow and then an announcement is made that the water is polluted and people should not go into the water. Then again, pollution is a given in Hong Kong, so not too many people actually care and neither did we. No visible effects so far, I think we'll survive.

The weather

What does one talk about when there is nothing else to say? That's right: the weather. I had a look on http://www.worldweather.org/ , a very informative site offering a great deal of information on the climate of most countries in the world.

Have a look at the schedule above. See the amount of rain we get here in August? Now go onto the site and check for Brussels: 68mm for that month. So stop moaning about the weather over there :)

Tropical Storm FENGSHEN

The typhoon that caused mayhem in the Phillipines on the weekend reached Hong Kong last night. By then it had come down to a tropical storm, but it was still strong enough to cause the typhoon signal 8 to be raised - the highest level warning. Offices, schools and other buildings were closed. Public transport came to a halt. Everyone was advised to stay indoors and wait until the storm had passed.

And so we did. Got to the office around 3pm, so having a rather short day. The glorious weather we had on the weekend (spent sunday on the beach with my friend Josh and with Jason who was visiting from the UK) has disappeared again and we are back to very dark skies and LOTS of rain. It is now 530pm and outside is as dark as if it were midnight. Even darker, because the lights are not on yet so it all looks very much like Gotham City. I'm starting to see why they decided to film the latest Batman movie here.

Cebu

Re-reading my blog to see what I haven't mentioned yet about the last couple of months. One of the things I got up to was a trip to Cebu in the Philippines, courtesy of work. It was one of these incentive trips to keep the sales guys happy, and since I am doing their administrational backup I was allowed to come along.

Normally these weekends are very boozy affairs. Lots of alcohol, lots of bad-boy trouble, noisy, obnoxious. None of that this time, or at least very little. Already the guys here are more mature in a way than most of the sales guys in the London offices. So it ended up being a really nice, relaxed weekend at the Mactan Shangri-La resort.

It started off well on thursday night. Upon arrival at the airport it turned out that only half of us had a ticket. The payment for the seconf half of the team had not gone trough and the person in London doing the booking had professionally ignored all warnings. So Joris, the guy with the company credit card, had to take out 15000 HKD to get us all to the Philippines.

We arrived in Cebu airport at 315 in the morning. Not an ideal time to arrive anywhere, and certainly not there. Our hotel was only booked from Friday night, so we had to find a way to pass the time untilt he room was available for check-in. Told the driver of the shuttle bus to the hotel to take our bags there, and drop us off at the casino.

The casino was... 'interesting'. When you think casino, you think in Vegas terms. Not this one. In the lobby some people were watching soaps on tv. The casino itself was like a third-world version of a casino, everything looked a bit old and run down. Including the guests. But hey, we had a blast! My colleague Kelly got a jackpot at the slot machine, loads of coins came out so she thought her expenses for the weekend were sorted. Until she found out the next day that with all these winnings she could just about get a Club Sandwich at the hotel...

Jiro, Ceri, Kelly and myself left the place early to see whether we could check in at the hotel before time. Kelly and I had to wait for an hour for our room, so we walked down to the beach. Beautiful. It was just before the actual sunrise, so picture pink- orange skies with a few clouds, over a deserted beach with blue, clear water. All we could hear were birds, the soft sound of the waves and occasionally a fish jumping out of the water.

The hotel itself is a fairly large affair, with a lobby that looks like the set of a 1960's Bond movie. Open on all sides without windows, so birds fly through and the air is always fresh. The room was similar, true tot he Shangri-La's reputation of style and comfort.

That evening, after a day of relaxing on the beach and some snorkling, we went for dinner at the restaurant of Abacà, the resort a bit further down the road. Must have been some of the best food I've had, in a lush setting with a beautifully planted garden all around.

After that: clubbing. Now that was an experience. We ended up in a club that played brilliant R&B and hiphop, with one of the most mixed audiences you can imagine. Straight, gay, young girls with old white guys... the works. Some guys ended up in a tittybar down the road, the group fell apart, but we all had a great time ;)

Saturday: swim a bit, snorkle, relax on the beach. Then dinner at the famous seafood restaurant at the Shangri-La, and then clubbing again. As soon as we entered the club the guys were struck by a girl with pneumatic breasts that were almost popping out of her dress, dancing on a little stage. I got the picture right away, but it took them quite some time to catch up on the fact that this was in fact not a girl. As a matter off act, about haf the girls in there were in fact guys - or somewhere in the process of changing from male to female.

Great night though, danced until I was soaking wet. Next day: relax on the beach. At some point it started to rain, we were all sitting by the beach bar under the umbrella trying to keep dry until Jiro and I decided to just give up and run into the sea. So we did, but one of the guys from the hotel did seem a bit panickey and was urging us to get out of the water. We went back to the table, were making jokes about the sea being struck by lightning etc, when all of a sudden there was the brightest flash of lightning, it was as if someone was standing right next to us with a camera flash. We all shut up in suprise, and before we could say anything there was the thunder: one single bang, louder than any thunderbolt you've ever heard before. It must have been right above our heads. Pretty impressive!

Not much to tell after that. Back to HK, arrived shortly before midnight. Nice weekend, enjoyed it big time. It was the first chance I had to really talk to most of the people I work with, they're a great bunch.

Don't ask - found this online :)

Back!!

Aha - after more than a month I can access Blogger again here at work. So let's see, what happened in the last month?

Well - we had rain. Rain, rain, rain, and more rain. A lot of it came down on June 7th, when thunderstorms and heavy rainfall caused 39 landslides, two casualties, floods everywhere and knee-deep mud in some areas. One of my colleagues told me that the balcony on a building next door to hers was hit by lighting and broke off. Another friend told me how they got stuck on the 33th floor because the elevator got flooded. In the end they walked down, which was bad but not as bad as what the two people experienced they met on the stairs: they were walking up to the 35th floor...
Me? I slept through it all :)

Started playing squash. Three weeks ago for the first time, couldn't walk for a few days afterwards. Was a bit better the next week, and last week i hardly felt anything. Tomorrow is the next session.

More to come tomorrow, I am now off to go to the gym. After months of inactivity on he gym front, i now have a week long free membership which allows me to try out Pure fitness. Let's give it a go!

That's all folks. Until tomorrow, most likely.

Delivery!!!!!!

PAUL I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU!!! Anyone who sends me a box full of Belgian chocolates, biscuits, sandwich spreads and chocolate bars is my very best friend :)

Well ok, my best friends are black and they are called called Leonidas, Godiva and Neuhaus, hehe

wardrobe, table, couch... getting there!

Bought, delivered and installed this weekend: my brand new sofa, wardrobe and desk.

Wardrobe is nice and large, with mirror doors (Pax Vikedal, from our Swedish friends at Ikea). The desk comes from the same place. Large and eeerh... affordable.

See pictures for sofa; it's only when I had already made up my mind and decided I liked it enough to buy it, that I found it actually folds down and turns into a guest bed. It was also reduced from 6999 to 4999 - unless I wanted to order a new one. Let me think: order a new one that is exactly the same as the one that was standing right there, pay 6999 and wait 6-8 weeks for delivery, or buy a perfectly fine piece at 4999 that can be delivered the next day? Right.

So yes people, Hotel Hong Kong is now open, please book in advance in order to avoid disappointment. :)

Ne gekko in mijn kot!

Yep, on sunday I had the first gekko in my apartment. Not that I mind, I've always liked reptiles and gekkos eat insects. Not sure though what would have happened if this one had encountered a cockroach. The poor thing was smaller than the average cockroach here in Hong Kong :)

Customer Support - HK

A source of great fun - and frustration - are the customer support departments of companies in Hong Kong. They probably are perfect if you're fluent in Cantonese, but when English is your only option it becomes a bit more tricky.

Take PCCW, the phone company, for example. After pressing '1' for English, you are guided through a whole phone menu to make sure you speak to the right person. So after a good couple of monutes of selecting 1 for English, then go for options 5, 4, 3, 7 and 9, you get to talk to an operator... who doesn't speak English :)

Another one: Watson's Water, the supplier fo the water fountains. I tried to order online, but was told I need a PIN number. Tried to call them in order to obtain my PIN number. There is no option on their menu to do this, but for about everything you want to do - and this includes talking to the customer service department - you need the PIN number.

auch

Problems with the water supply in my area last night. My landlady called the water company and was told that there wouldn't be any water until at least 10am today. In order to be able to take a shower, I went swimming in my local swimming pool. Great pool - 50m, open air, not very busy at 730am except for a bunch of old men. Old people seem to be incredibly fit here in Hong Kong. When i came out of the building I saw an old geezer put his leg on a wall that came up to his chest, and then he started stretching like we was preparing for the Beijing olympics. Respect!

After feeling pretty awake for the first hour after finishing my laps around this olympic sized monster, I now start aching about everywhere. So true what they say about swimming: it's a workout for your entire body. Or as my colleague put it: swimming in the morning, crippled in the afternoon!

Definitely need to keep this up :)

raindrops...

Last friday we had our first typhoon warning for the season. They've got level 1, level 3, level 8, 9, 10 warnings. Level 8 means you go home, companies get closed, public transport comes to a halt. Level 9 and 10 basically mean you hold on to whatever you have and hope for the best.
This time we reached level 3. This means that the typhoon is still far away (about 800km from Hong Kong on thic occasion) but you need to be aware of it in case it changes its direction and comes towards Hong Kong. It also means you get to experience some typhoon-related weather: heavy wind and heavy rain.
Heavy rain! My word, I haven't seen rain like this in a long time, if ever. Hard hard hard rain, without a break or without going softer or into drizzle for a while. Apparently there are levels of rain as well: amber, red - and black. Saturday was black. Had the time of my life! Put on shorts, put on flip flops, grabbed an umbrella and went out to buy stuff. Got absolutely soaked after a couple of minutes but it wasn't cold so I didn't mind. Actually, I loved it, felt like a big kid :)
The next day it was warm, sunny and humid again, as if nothing happened.

Things not to do in the morning in Hong Kong

A couple of things you should not do in Hong Kong in the morning on the way to work:

• Don't rush: makes you sweat and you arrive at work with your shirt soake
• Don't take a hot shower: makes you sweat
• Don't take the tram: it is slower than you think, so you have to get off and take the MTR. The running makes you sweat.
• Don't take the bus: the nice, orderly queue is endless so you're at risk of running late. You choose to go to the MTR instead. You sweat.

As a matter of fact, whatever you do in the morning, you sweat. Best thing to do, I guess, is to take five shirts to the office on monday, go to work in shorts and a T, and change upon arrival.

Off the beaten track....

In between work, the apartment and the shops I do manage to get some minor sightseeing done. Nothing major, but still:

I walked down the stairs that were used in 'In The Mood For Love', for the scenes where the girl goes out to buy noodles. It is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, so even though the stairs aren't that much of a sight it's just nice to know.




Had dinner at Cafe de Goldfinch, where scenes of '2046' were filmed. Sequel to 'In The Mood For Love' , still haven't managed to see it till the end but I feel the moment is near.

Last but not least, I was in the building from where the SARS epidemic spread in Hong Kong :) The whole building was closed for weeks, they desinfected everything... This is what I found on Wikipedia:
"In Hong Kong the first cohort of affected people were discharged from the hospital on March 29, 2003. The disease spread in Hong Kong from a mainland doctor on the 9th floor of the Metropole Hotel in Kowloon Peninsula, infecting 16 of the hotel visitors. Those visitors traveled to Singapore and Toronto, spreading SARS to those locations."

Found a place to live!

Tonight is the night... after work I am signing the contract for my apartment in Hong Kong! Very pleased about that, it means my nomad style living is coming to an end. When I first arrived in Hong Kong I stayed in a hotel for two weeks. After that I cold stay with my colleague Robin for a week, until his in-laws arrived last saturday. I then found a serviced appartment where I was going to stay for a month, but the same day I came across the apartment I am going to rent. So for the past few days I could stay with another colleague instead of having to pay for the serviced apartment.



The apartment is in Tin Hau, vlakbij Causeway Bay which is one of the busiest areas in Hong Kong. The contrast could not be bigger though. The neighbourhood is an oasis of low rise buildings in a city where 30-40 floors is becoming the norm. I am on the top floor of a 5 storey building. No elevator. Downstairs is a car repair shop, just like there is in most of the buildings in the area. The people work on the streets, they know each other, this is a neighbourhood with a social feeling that has become very rare in this megacity.



A bit more about the apartment itself. Surface is 600 square feet. Living room with wooden floor. Two bedrooms, one with windows on two sides (no tall building next to mine so i have corner windows) and another one, slightly smaller, with one window. Kitchen is basic and has a strong 70's design: green-yellow structured tiles with the occasional bunch of grapes. Dito decoration for the bathroom, but it has a separate shower area which is not always the case in these old chinese buildings.



Nice bonus to all this is that I have the exclusive use of the rooftop terrace right on top of my apartment. It's about the same size as the apartment itself, and the cables and tv antenna make it the perfect starting point for an über-cool urban hangout. Pictures will follow once it is ready!



In a bid to be one person in this ecological disaster of a city who actually recycles, I will try to use recycled materials and second hand furniture as much as possible. I'll be the king of DIY - trying to keep Ikea at bay.

Noémie

Tu nous manqueras, ma belle. Je ne sais pas ce qui t'empêchait d'être heureux, mais j'espère que t'as trouvé ce que tu cherchais.

You passed away too soon - only now I realize how little I knew you. You leave behind a group of people who loved you regardless, loved you for who you are and for the love you gave to all of us.

Rest in peace, Noémie.

HONG KONG

HONG KONG... I went on a holiday and came back with a job. If all goes according to plan, I should be living and working there by the end of February.

The story? Last month I went on a holiday to Hong Kong. The place had been fascinating me for a long time, quite a fez examples of world class contemporary architecture can be found in that city. Last June a friend of mine went and seemed to enjoy the place, so when I was told at work that I had about two weeks holidays outstanding I went to have a look at the ticket prices. Wasn' bad at all (335 quid return, long live Oasis Hong Kong Airlines!) so i booked. I knew that the company I work for was opening an office there, and one of the managers involved in the project was a Dutch guy I had been dealing with over the phone and by e-mail. So I sent him a message, told him I would be there and would love to see the office (hey, curiousity, you know how it goes!)

We agreed to go for lunch on monday, the day after I arrived. There Joris told me they needed more people, and asked me whether I was interested. I did like the position, but I had been in HK for less than 24h and I first wanted to find out whether I liked it or not. After lunch we went to see the office (33th floor, great view!) and it turned out one of the directors - a woman I know from being around in the London office - was there that day. She sat me down, gave me more details about the job, and then they asked me to tell them by friday whether I wanted to do it or not.

For four days I have been walking around the city asking myself if I could live there; I called my sister and a few friends in Belgium and London for advice; I met the other guys from the company who arrived on wednesday. And then I said yes.

So now the visa application is being reviewed by the company lawyers, and will be sent out next week. I will be working in my current position until January 18th, and then I get one more month of training before I move over there.

Exciting? Very! I am really looking forward to it, but at the same time I do get nervous sometimes. There is so much to think about and so much to arganize before I leave. Need to organize some sort of party or gathering for my 30th birthday as well, not sure whether I should combine it with my leaving due or not...

HONG KONG!!! Wooohooooo!!