Arriving in HK

Well we arrived back in Hk and were stunned by the heat & humidity. I think I always managed to avoid summers here, before. How Pete managed on the catamaran without A/C I don't know! Anyway after a snooze in our horrible wee hostel room (no phone, no internet, no fridge or kettle) we rang up some estate agents Pete had looked up here when we were in the UK. One was free that afternoon so we blinked at the heat, bought sandwiches from the supermarket, jumped in a taxi and staggered off to meet one. I was a bit unimpressed that the 1st place she took us to was the huge pink multi-story high rises on the corner just before Stanley Plaza. Niceley landscaped with seats, plants, kids playpark, etc, but at midday on a dry day we were coated with mosquitos as soon as we sat down to eat. Luckily she arrived and showed us a small but beautifully re-decorated flat on the 1st floor. (Only 18 steps and a gate). Lovely - could have moved in as all storeage was built in and the kitchen was fully equipped & westernised. Just needed matresses! BUT very noisy as was right above main road, though she assured us that it was 'quiet at night as all the buses stop at 1 am'. Hmm, no early sleeps then! She showed us another still being done, in the high rise next door, which had the advantage of a guarded lobby, being at the quieter back side, a lift and no stairs whatsoever - but a different room arrangement and really for sale not rent. Then she took us back to Stanley, into the actual market, to an apartment on the 1st floor reached by going between the stalls. Charming location and we sort of agreed to take it, tho it was dirty and dated with lots of broken bits - its main balcony looked out onto Stanley beach and it was much cheaper. But at 3 am I woke realising that now is the low season and most times I visit Stanley I have to shuffle in the crush of tourists; plus it was only 1 bedroom with an annoyingly laid out rest of the flat so accomodating Finley or guests was awkward; AND it had 3 flights of stairs; AND was exposed on 3 sides so had been boiling hot early evening when we saw it. So, not ideal and not meeting my 'no stairs, 2 bedrooms' criteria to make shopping/ going out with the buggy/ getting my paint kit to & from jobs easy. Pete had 2 other agents who all wanted to show us the SAME 3 places; unsurprisingly all told us that in our price range there were very few places; most began at 5x our limit and the bulk of the market was on a least 10x our range - hmm, mad wages around here, as we knew! Then on Tuesday, a final lady had a different 2 (as well as the same 3!) so we went to see them the next day.The 1st was a 5th floor (all stairs!) tiny but OK place behind Stanley market (so lots of little alleys with steps to find it) in a columnar building - views all round but again, BOILING. The next was back to the horrible pink high rises. Bingo - 5th floor but in the building with a taxi/ car drop off bay, coded/ guarded lobby and 2 big lifts - no stairs at all. Also the flat had been re-done by its current tenant, a maths teacher from the USA, a year ago. So was all modern and western and for once had laminate floors, not tiled. (Now important due to Finleys little escapade as said later). No built in storeage like the beautiful noisy flat below it we had seen, but just what we wanted. Said yes and asked if she was selling her furniture....went back on Sunday to see it again/ meet her and signed the contract! Discussing keeping her sofa & wardrobes as thats a few things less to buy/ move! (wanted her bed but shes keeping it). I THINK these buildings are 'government', like council flats, but seemed far nicer than the Uk's; and yes our landlords are chinese. Lora the teacher said there is only 1 other western family in that tower (or all the towers???) and allegedly a covered walkway to Stanley from the 'gardens' below, which will be handy. Sadly she doesn't leave till 5th Sept so we have a few more weeks in our grotty room. Still, not bad to have seen all available in our 1st 30 hrs!

Later on Tues we popped into RHKYC HQ for Pete (and Finley) to see his boss/ colleagues and have lunch as we'd skipped breakfast to see the flats. Then we were off for a lie down to cool off a bit. He started work on Wednesday, straight in, lucky he knew what to do!

Oh yes with Clements' expert guidance (one of Petes weekend instructors - he works 1 day a week teaching sailing for the club, and the rest of the time is an accountant - hes a good friend who is determined to show us the 'real' HK and a very handy person to ring up in an emergency/ translation situation) again, we have been exploring different foods. We tried a dish of squid with 'bitter cucumber', which I think is the pale green super-wrinkly one. Maybe the same one I saw that documentary on that kept all the elderly Japanese people so healthy well past their 90th birthdays? Anyway , wooo, BITTER! Disgusting. Like compressed bile. Or cucumber pickled in bile. Clement bravely ate the lot - he says old people think it tastes sweeter. Yak. My fave so far was the fried dumplings (still quite soft like they were steamed) in ginger, yum, getting them again. I have promised him a return cooking 'lesson (don't laugh, mum/ Janet) as in the past he has made us traditional local seasonal dishes like turnip cake; but hasn't had a lot of my UK favourites. I suppose that depends on if I can find potatoes here though! As our wee flat will have a tiny but modern kitchen, I can't wait. Clement has also promised to take me round the markets to explain what everything is - even the supermarkets that cater to non-chinese don't bother labelling all the unusual veggies, etc, as westerners obviously don't buy them - all the other food is labelled in English too. He's bringing home-made dumplings to the housewarming he assures us we are having!