Joyce's Hong Kong Blog #2 Ernest & Joyce Klemm Flat B, 18/F, Fortune Mansion 20 Hung Shing Street Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong 719-423-7745 Thursday, July 23, 2009 Moving day arrived. I packed up in the morning while Ernest was at work. He arrived home about 1 PM and the moving truck was to arrive at 3 PM. It was a “two men and a truck” situation. Ernest had traded a very nice computer monitor for a “curb to curb” move using Pert’s (Hong Kong office) truck. We packed for another hour then began hauling stuff downstairs. The first load was our mattress so I could help lug it down the stairs, then the next load included our one and only easy chair. Well, someone had to sit with the piles once the first load was downstairs. The entry to Ernest’s building is in a wide, tiled hallway that goes from Des Voeux Rd. W to Queens Rd. W. Fortunately we could put our boxes and bags in the hallway rather than out on the narrow sidewalk. So, I guarded the boxes while Ernest carted everything else down the elevator, one hand truck at a time. The truck showed up before we had everything downstairs, but the men began to load the truck with what was there. Movers they may be, but packers they are not. They sort of threw everything into the back of the truck. Now had Ernest or my Dad been packing the truck, everything would have fit in with room to spare. But, they began insisting the truck was full while Ernest was still bringing things downstairs. We insisted on a few more boxes and they reluctantly acquiesced. The large man from India saved our office chair for the last item in, then he sat down in the back of the truck and the Chinese man closed the back end. Wow! There was about 8 inches open at the top for air, but it was HOT. Ernest and I hopped in the front of the truck with the driver and we drove the 25 min. to our new home. The man from India was still alive when we arrived. Our new home on the small island of Ap Lei Chau is at the end of a short cul-de-sac a half a block from Ap Lei Chau Main St, which is quite small as Main Streets go. The “two men and a truck” unloaded all our stuff on the curb and drove away. Ernest began hauling stuff with his hand truck up to the 18th floor via the elevator. I, of course, had to guard everything on the street, so once again found a comfy chair on which to relax. I was looking around and thinking we were in quite a nice area of town. There were very expensive cars parked on our street. There is a Cultural Center across the street with a nicely dressed docent at the door. So, I thought, “This is pretty good.” THEN, a very large truck decided to make its way onto our dead end street. I didn’t think it would get by the fancy cars without scratching them, but it managed. Another large truck followed and parked behind the first truck. The men jumped out and began unloading rusted steel beams from the back of the truck. I hadn’t noticed that there was a used steel storage unit behind me, between me and the side of the hill. The truck used a grappling hook as it noisily unloaded the steel. The steel storage owner turned up his radio to a jazz station. Ambience! About this time I realized that our area of town isn’t quite as fancy as I had hoped. Nonetheless, it was interesting. SO, I began taking pictures: fancy cars, Cultural Center, used & rusted steel storage, and the inevitable high rises, which we call sky scrapers. The security guard found this quite amusing. I found out the Cultural Center is actually a nursing home. So much for “culture.” After about an hour, the new security guard came on duty and the one going off duty decided we needed help. So, he and I moved everything that was left on the sidewalk into the foyer of the building. Then, the 2nd guard loaded it onto the elevator and took stuff up to the 18th floor. Now that made everything go MUCH faster and saved Ernest at least 4 trips. We set a few things up in the apartment, including the refrigerator, then unloaded the food. Hmmm. Only one box of food had made it onto the truck. Fiddlesticks. That meant another trip to the old apartment to fetch the second box of food—today. We walked down to the bay and figured out where to pick up a ferry to the mainland. We hopped on using our Octopus Cards and arrived 5 min. later in Aberdeen, the area of Hong Kong Island that is closest to Ap Lei Chau Island. (An Octopus Card is like a debit card. You go to the local 7-11, and they are everywhere, and you give them cash and they add that amount to your card. When you hop onto a ferry, trolley, double decker bus, a mini bus or the MTR [Metro Transit Route, which we call a subway,] you just scan your card on a machine and it beeps and tells you how much money you have left on your card. Octopus Cards can also be used in stores.) In Aberdeen we grabbed some dinner at the local Yoshinoia’s, a Japanese Beef Bowl restaurant, then hopped a bus to head back to Shek Tong Tsui. We found the box of food. Fortunately, we had put some frozen items in the box and they were still thawing, so everything was still cold. We assessed the boxes and items and decided we could get everything in three loads. So, Ernest had his briefcase, a very large duffle bag, and two large plastic bags, one of which contained the food box. I carried my purse, a medium size duffle bag, a shopping sack with a plastic handle, and our floor lamp sans the shade. As we walked out of the apartment, the handle on my shopping bag broke, so I had to cradle the bag rather than just hold the handle. So, there we went, across the cat walk, through two doors, down another cat walk, through another door, down a short hallway avoiding the incense burners that were in front of most of the doors, through another door, down 2 flights of stairs, into the tiled hallway, out to the street and across, down a block, turned a corner and went another block to catch the airport minibus. We rode an airport minibus because they expect you to get on with bags so there are racks on which to place your stuff. On the other end we hopped off with our stuff, climbed the 38 stairs to the flyover, a walking bridge that takes you from one side of the street to the other. On the other side we headed down 52 stairs, crossed a small open area, then down another 64 stairs. Trying to keep the floor lamp from hitting the steps while not dropping the handle-less bag was quite a trick. Once on street level we walked a block, followed the curve to another street, cut through an alley full of motorcycles, fishing ropes and anchors chained to the walls, then out to our street and into our building. We punched in the security code and pulled open the huge doors. Up the even numbered elevator (as opposed to the odd numbered elevator) and off on floor 18, through the security gate and through the door. At last, we were home!! Ernest commented that our trek with all the stuff, especially the floor lamp, was for the amusement of the locals!! Friday, July 24 Ernest headed to a Christian Business Men’s breakfast downtown. I decided to fix toast for breakfast. Popped the bread into the toaster and listened to the “tick, tick, tick” until it went “ding.” Opened the door and found I still had bread. Hmmm. Read the directions on the front of the toaster door. Must turn knob past 6, then can turn back down to 3. Okay. Tried again. Opened door—I still had bread, not toast. I looked around and saw the plug-in on the wall. It has a switch above it. Turned on the switch and a light came on. Wah Lah! Tried again and finally had my piece of toast. I started to clean. The apartment had actually looked pretty clean when we first looked at it, but upon further inspection, this was not the case. After several hours of cleaning, I got a phone call from Ernest that his boss, MK, wanted to include me in their weekly Fri. lunch out. Happy to have a diversion, I began to get ready. Grabbed the curling iron. What? There is not one outlet in the bathroom!! So, I plugged it in in the “dining room.” Still no luck. Tried another outlet—nothing. Must have bumped the curling iron during the move--it appears to be dead. Oh well, very few ladies curl their hair in HK anyway. It was time to head downstairs. The wooden door opened fine, but I couldn’t get the security gate to open. (Security gates are made with bars. Most apartments have them and most are pretty fancy.) I tried and tried. No luck. Called Ernest. He explained the lock and I found out I was using the wrong key. The right key looks way too big for the lock, but it worked. When I hopped into MK’s car, Flora, the lady from Ern’s work who helped him find the apartment, and Nok (Nook) from Thailand were there also. We drove a few blocks and ate at a small Pizza Place. Unfortunately, they weren’t serving pizza that day. Go figure! Ernest ordered chicken on rice with spaghetti sauce and cheese on top. I ordered chicken with mushroom sauce. Flora shared some of her duck breast in sauce with us. It was all tasty. Back to the apartment and up to our floor. The hallway was hot and stuffy and I could not for the life of me get that crazy security door open. Called Ernest again. He explained that after turning the key, there is a hidden latch under one of the bars that must also be pushed up. Ugh! Frustrating. More cleaning. Ernest came home and we left to meet with his Friday evening conversation group at a DeliFrance restaurant near Central, about 40 min. away by bus. (We don’t think it’s truly a French restaurant.) He has been leading conversation groups throughout the year in exchange for friendship and meals. Cathy was the only one who could come this time. The other 3 people were busy. We talked a lot then she read a book out loud. Her English isn’t great, so reading this teen book is laborious. But she is very pleasant and we did get to eat pizza! Afterwards we went back to the old apartment since it wasn’t far. Another trip on the airport bus to carry stuff to our new apartment. Finally at the end of the day. The bed is a double. Queen beds are wider but not longer in China and we had switched to a queen in the U.S. for the length. Since space is a premium, the double bed works better in HK. The mattress/box springs combo (all in one) bed has legs that screw into the bottom of it. Know what that means? It means that you can’t tuck in the top sheet!! Someone keeps stealing my sheet! The second night we switched from a double top sheet to a queen sheet. That works better, but the sheet does drag on the floor a bit. Sat., July 25 Sort, clean, arrange, reassemble. We managed to fit into our bedroom the bed, a large wardrobe for hanging clothes, a narrow wardrobe with shelves, and a shorter unit with 4 wire baskets that we are using for a dresser and a nightstand. We loaded our suitcases with winter clothes and put them under the bed. Now it’s beginning to look like home. Erica, another conversation group student, came to our apartment this morning. Now that we’ve moved, it’ll work well because it’s very near her mother’s house and Erica visits her mother every Sat. She came bearing dragon fruit. It is the size of a large mango and has bright red skin with green “fins” that stick out. I think it looks like a cross between a fish and a dragon. I’ve been wanting to buy some but I wasn’t sure how to peel it. Well, you don’t peel it. You just cut it in half and scoop out the white pulp with tiny black seeds. It was fairly sweet. Erica is a teacher of English but she’s been working with Ernest to sound more American rather than sounding like a Chinese speaker when speaking English. She’s made great progress and she has been accepted into a linguistics program in England. She leaves in September. She was quite impressed with our view of the bay and the hills of HK Island. She said it’s better than most views. We only have a few high rises blocking our view and they are skinny. Another trip to Aberdeen for dinner, this time at KFCs. A bowl of Chicken a la King on rice, a chicken leg, and a soft drink for less than $20.00 HK. $10.00 U.S. is about the equivalent of $1.30 HK, so eating out is fairly inexpensive. There are over 13,000 restaurants in HK. We went to a Shop Rite, a mini version of Walmart without the groceries. We bought a mop, a small plastic 4 drawer organizer for under the bathroom sink and a few other organizational items. There is not one drawer in this house—not in the bathroom nor in the kitchen!! On the way home we decided to walk though the municipal building that is a block away from us. It is the largest fish market in HK. As we walked through the doors, I almost turned and walked out. The stench was overwhelming. Guess that’s to be expected from an indoor fish market. Most of the fish are kept wet and are still breathing. They are intact—eyes, fins, innards, etc. They had clams and huge live crabs and squid. I also saw a pig leg with the hoof attached, pig intestines, a variety of meat pieces, and chicken feet. At least the building is kept quite cool, unlike the street meat sellers. Outside the backdoor were vegetable & fruit booths. I bought 2 bright red tomatoes. When I cut them open at home, they were green inside! Sunday, July 26 We got up bright and early to meet with Ern’s landlord at the old apartment. All went well with the inspection and she gave us back the deposit. YEAH! We only had 2 bags each so this time we rode the double-decker bus. It’s fun to sit in the upstairs front seats for a great view of the city. Got home in time to change and head for church. Rode the minibus to the Aberdeen bus stop. Waited for a bus to take us up the mountain. Church starts at 10:30. They are without a pastor, so different elders have been speaking. There were only about 50 people today. A group of teens and their sponsors are in the Philippines on a mission’s trip AND many people are gone for the hot months of July and August. (However, the heat is nothing compared to Phoenix. It’s more like Miami.) Ernest left for Singapore at about 5 PM, and I settled down in front of the tv. It’s been years since I watched more than one movie in an evening! Monday, July 27 Stayed home and cleaned and organized and chatted on the phone. Nok (Nook) called when she got home from work at 7 PM. I think she was worried about me since Ernest was gone. It's nice to have a friend! We rode the mini-bus to Aberdeen so I could buy a broom, then we enjoyed a McDonalds’ ice cream cone together. Her English is fairly understandable. Tuesday, July 28 I shopped at the local “Welcome” and “Park ‘n Shop” grocery stores 4 short blocks from home. We laugh about the “park” in the name of the 2nd store since only a few people drive and it is difficult to find a parking spot anywhere! The stores are small but nice and most items have English writing. There are many fruit and vegetable items that I don’t recognize. Nok came over in the evening to bring me some postcards. I've been hunting for "Thank You" notecards, but they don't seem to sell them here and postcards can only be purchased in the tourist section of town. My next door neighbor came out as Nok arrived. Her name is "Yang" (almost like "young") and she chatted on and on in Mandarin. Nok was able to figure out that she moved to HK from China 3 yrs. ago, but Nok learned Mandarin 20 yrs. ago so didn't catch most of the "conversation." We decided to walk to South Horizons, a huge apartment complex up the hill from our area. I think they have 34 buildings that are 40 stories each. It’s fancier and where Ern & I had first looked for apartments, but more expensive so we could not have afforded a bay view like we have now. We wandered around the shopping mall which has a much larger and nicer “Park ‘n Shop.” However, whatever you buy you have to haul home, so we walked back the 20 min. to our small shop. Nok showed me where the salt was. It comes in small bags similar to powdered sugar and was back under a shelf. I had been unable to find salt since my arrival. Eggs just don't taste right without salt! When shopping, you are supposed to bring your own bag. Yes, HK is concerned about being “green.” If you don’t have your own bag, they charge you 50 cents for a plastic bag, which is about 7 cents US. Wednesday, July 29 Ernest arrived home about 1 AM. There had been a security breech in the Singapore baggage area, so their flight was delayed and their baggage was sent on a cargo plane. His cell phone, keys and clothes will arrive tomorrow. His presentation at the meeting with potential customers went well. After work we rode the bus to Causeway Bay which is a major shopping area. It was strange to see so many, many people walking around at 9 at night. So unlike Canon City. Ernest and I wandered through the Sogo, a Japanese owned store. It’s HUGE. In the 2nd basement is a large Japanese grocery store. There are 2 basement floors, the ground floor, plus 11 higher levels. Each level is about as big as a small Walmart. Clothes, shoes, purses, and home furnishings are everywhere. The prices were astronomical—even the sale items were beyond my pocket book. The store rents sections to different sellers. There was a Teva shoe section, a Sketchers shoe section, Ralph Lauren and Laura Ashley sections. It was very crowded. Next we bought a few items from Ikea, then found the right bus stop and headed home—exhausted.