Settling in

So we have settled in to the new apartment. I'll post some pictures soon. The views across Victoria Harbour are absolutely stunning, it really is a view worth millions! We have tried to have a few leisure activities amongst the furniture selection and the mundane shopping for groceries and cleaning products. Mind you, even that can be exciting and we often come home with the unexpected! For example, there is a huge smelly fruit here about the size of a rugby ball with lethal spikes on it. It absolutely stinks! However the flesh is very popular, so we decided to buy a little pack already cut up. It lasted in the fridge an hour before I threw it out! I was retching every time I opened the door. I took a tiny bite and it tasted as bad as it smelled. Straight to the bin, I'm afraid. But it's the only thing among the many odd foodstuffs Ihaven't been able to eat. I just remember Martin's famous phrase to deal with anything unpalatable; "Two chews and swallow it over"
Our leisure activites this weekend included the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races on Saturday at Tsim Sha Tsui just down the road from our apartment. In fact we could see the finish point from the window! The boats were vibrantly colourful with golden dragon heads and tails and had 20 paddlers, a steersman who used a long rudder pole and a man or woman in the front beating a huge drum to set the pace. The teams wore colourful tops with dragon logos and the name of whoever they were representing, e.g Cathay Pacific, accountancy and IT companies, many banks, as well as community teams from all over Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Australia and Canada. On Sunday we took the Star Ferry over to the island then a scary top deck bus ride to the far side of the island to visit Stanley, a seaside and market town. The journey took us through a tunnel then high up above the sea with sheer drops beneath us. The road was so narrow it seemed impossible that two buses could pass. After wandering the market which was full of stalls offering fake watches, bags, paintings and linens, we had a dim sum lunch right on the seafront.
This week I have fewer commitments, so far only a dental appointment on Wednesday but as I am about to go and buy some lamps, I may have to spend an afternoon waiting in for delivery. So far, all the deliveries have gone without a hitch. They come when they say they will come, assemble whatever they brought and take away the packaging afterwards. Next Monday we finally get the TV, phone and internet package connected, hurrah! so I am looking forward to calling home, getting back onto Skype and picking up my Hong Kong friendships as I have been neglecting my new found friends due to lack of internet and no phone. Right, I'm away now to get a train then a bus to the big furniture shopping island Ap Lei Chau which takes about an hour. By the time I've picked out the lamps, made the return journey and had a rest, it will be time to think about dinner! How time flies when you're spending money! Ha!