I'm back and Glen's back!

I got home from Hong Kong this morning and received a phone call a few minutes later to say that Glen was ready to pick up from the mechanics. Car was stolen for 1 week, and it took 3 weeks for insurance to sort out towing and mechnical checks and get a lock replaced! I didn't mind taking the bus so wasn't really chasing the insurance company, but gees - that is a long time!

I went and saw Star Wars Episode III - managed to find a cinema putting it on in English! There were Coca Cola sponsored storm troopers there! I think George ripped out a pretty good Star Wars movie this time! Loved it. 

Harbour view at night - Hong Kong island from Kowloon 

Hotel city view 

Our Peking Duck 

At the 'Police Club' with our host in Hong Kong. He's an ex-policeman so can come here to hang out and eat great food. 

Bamboo scaffolding fascinates me! 

Ian snapped this during the downpour the other night 

Ian exiting the restaurant where we ate.  

Yoda 

The Golden Computer Shopping Centre, Sham Shui Po 

View from our hotel rooftop 

OPEN ALL UPPER DECK WINDOWS DURING TYPHOONS

The title was a message in the double decker buses here...

Another day of VigilVanguard testing on Hong Kong buses, thinking about GPS issues in urban canyons and technology shopping.

Ate at a great place a few streets from the hotel this evening, then headed over to Sham Shui Po to do the technology shopping but it was all shutting down for the night...

11:33pm, Hong Kong

Just thought I'd record a little of my day... but I need sleep. This was to be an early night! However Hong Kong is not an 'early night' city...

Had a successful day trialing 'VigilVanguard' on Hong Kong buses. This was in Sha Tin - a part of Hong Kong I had never been. It's quite new, and dramatic. A city nestled in between two green, overgrown mountain ranges. The double decker buses here are great fun!

Made it back to the hotel around 5:00 for a breather, then Ian and I headed off to the Star Ferry across the harbour. Hong Kong is definitely one of the most dramatic cities in the world as far as pure visual stimulation goes. Walked for a while to an area that seemed to have lots of restaurants. Amongst the seedy bars, we found a fantastic pure veg Indian restaurant, complete with bollywood film clips playing. Almost felt like sitting Sur Taj in the Gabba!

Then on the MTR (subway trains) to Mong Kok in search of some technology... (and possibly a soldering iron and stuff for some work. Mong Kok is a great area, ALIVE at night with thousands of shops, shoppers and markets. After a few wrong attempts at getting our bearings (I love appearing out of the subterranean city, completley disoriented and trying to find your way... didn't even have GPS to help me...) we found the Mong Kok computer market and picked up some remarkably well priced software, as well as a few other bits and pieces that no one except for fellow nerds will be interested in.

Heading back to the MTR, we were looking for somewhere to have a beer when the heavans opened. After sheltering and watching with many other similarly stranded people for a while, we dashed across the road to buy an umbrella from an umbrella store that had miraculously appeared. Picked up a few beers from a 7/11 on the way home and consumed them on the top floor of the hotel as the tropical storm continued outside... as it still continues against my window.

This is a great city!

Me in Mong Kok 

A few seconds after taking the 'Me in Mong Kok' photo - there was a downpour! 

Mong Kok - Retail galore 

View from our 'Hotel Prudential' roof down onto Nathan Road 

Ian (my boss) on the roof of our hotel in Kowloon, Hong Kong htis morning. He's talking to Leesa (who's in Ohio, USA) using Skype on a 'borrowed' WiFi connection. (We call this VigilNet...). Note the window washing guys in the background, suspended 80 metres above the street!  

Weird Hotel Room

Hey World!
Thought I might put down a few jottings since I'm off on a work trip again... this time it's a crazy week in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Started out fantastically. I'm travelling with my boss, Ian, a Gold frequent flyer, so we hung out in the 'Gold Lounge' before boarding. Love the free food and drink and WiFi. Prior to that, I had an interesting moment checking in... we are flying with Singapore Airlines, the best airline I have ever flown with. While checking in Ian made a few comments about how good Singapore were, and I mentioned that a bad flight with Singapore Airlines was still better than a good flight with Qantas. After completing the statement I realised that the lady checking us in actually worked for Qantas. I laughed sportingly and she took it very well. I'm sure I wasn't the MOST annoying customer of the day...
The flight was only about 30% full, which means, if you do your maths that we got 3 1/3 times the service that people on a full flight get. A nice little addition to our day!
However I now have bad hayfever which is a barrel of laughs while trying to act professional... hope it's gone tomorrow!
Seeyas!

PS Please enjoy the picture of me in the bathroom looking through the window to my bedroom. Yes, there was a blind that could be pulled down during showering for non-exhibitionists.

Buddy 

Julie's Fifties Housewarming Party 

I won I won I won!!!

A package arrived in the mail today - a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy TOWEL, T-SHIRT and FREE MOVIE TICKETS!! Wee hee! I think it was a competition I entered via email a few months ago where I had to list 10 uses for a towel... (the most useful thing in the universe if you don't already know).

We saw the movie last Thursday night - and loved it. Full of great Douglas Adams style wacky British humour. Won't be too much effort to sit through it again...

Glen's Current Status

A happy reunion with Glen was had this morning!

Overall, he seems to be in okay condition - except there's a bunch of someone's junk inside, and there is fingerprinting dust all over him and there are of course no numberplates.

I'll try to get some new plates tomorrow, then pick him up (after fighting with the insurance company to work out whether they will pay for the towing, and a mechanical check and hopefully detailing!)

Yay for the Police!!

NEWSFLASH:

At 3:30am I received a phonecall informing me that Glen had been recovered at Capalaba! No damage was apparent - a suspect was apprehended. He claims he bought the car for $250! As coincidence would have it, that's almost exactly the amount I now have to pay to recover the car from where the police towed it to at Tingalpa.

So tomorrow, thanks to Neighbour Julie's kind offer of a lift, I will head over and check out my car. I won't be able to drive it home because they changed the plates.

More news tomorrow!