What a week

Or actually....make that two. Work has been crazy busy, as I was a panelist on a CEO conference this week and obviously wanted to come across well. So it was a crash course in insurance regulation and Fintech in the region. In general, I get the feeling the pace here is high (if only the pace on the pavements would mirror that....). It really feels like a very modern 24/7 economy, despite the archaic banking system (more on that later).

So my past two weeks were pretty much spent working, sleeping and eating, weekend (mostly) excluded. Glad Wilko isn't working yet as he has done loads to prepare our move to a permanent apartment. YES! We signed a contract! It's a large three bedroom, two bathroom in West Kowloon, with a decent sized kitchen (an exception here) and storage room (as we don't have a maid, also the main reason for the tiny kitchens). The place has an indoor and outdoor pool and a gym and a couple of facilities we probably won't use. Disappointed looks when we read we actually have to pay about €40 a month each for the outdoor pool and that guests aren't allowed there (I'm sure we can find a way around that....), but happy with it nonetheless. Infinity pool with views of the Hong Kong skyline, guess that's worth a few bucks. Our days of furniture shopping are almost over. We ordered a sofa, armchair and ottoman at a store in Sheung Wan, are picking up a tv-thing and dining table from other expats this weekend and will do another Ikea visit to order a wardrobe, bookshelves and the likes. Thursday our stuff from Holland will be moved into the new place. After living out of suitcases pretty much since mid December, I cannot wait.

Back to work. People generally come in late here. When I get in at 8 in the morning, a French guy is always there already, but that's it. People also stay pretty late I think but I aim to be out by 6pm and just work from home if I need to finish stuff. Ten hours in an office is enough.... Lunch is like in London, people eat at their desks. Just like when I lived in London, I miss the lunches with the team, it's a good way to get to know your colleagues better and it's nice to not talk about work for half an hour mid day. Then again, few Dutch canteens can beat the quality of Hong Kong food. Another difference with modern Dutch offices: every floor has a coffee lady, who washes the mugs every morning and brings the partners coffee as soon as they come in. Ours is a super friendly lady, it's nice to have someone like her in the office. And labour is cheap here, so it's nothing extravagant.

Then banks. What a bloody nightmare. Think I visit Citi twice a week at the moment. Everyone is friendly but everyone seems to have their own processes and rules and systems aren't integrated. First we couldn't open a joint account without W having proof of address, two weeks later it was no problem at all. My credit card application got rejected because 'they couldn't find me'. When I applied for it, we only had one HK number and that was W's. So we gave the bank that. A week later I got my own number and walked into Citi to provide them with it, but the credit card people use a different system and only had W's number. Long story short: I applied again yesterday and hope for a smoother process this time. But we're getting there. We are the proud owners of three cheque books between us, two ATM cards, and five accounts. And it only took about 38 signatures for me to get all of that. Easy peasy....

So let's see what the next weeks bring. A move and a visit to Singapore for sure, looking forward to both!

Kung hei fat choy!

Or 'May you prosper'. The standard wish for Chinese New Year.

We were super lucky, four of the five days of the long weekend were sunny and warmish. Perfect weather for a hike! So on Sunday Wilko and I, two English guys he met at a drinks thing and a Finnish colleague of mine took the number 9 bus to Cape Collinson Road to hike Dragon's Back. It's a fairly easy one, with the most amazing views. Next was a Thai lunch in Shek O beach. I just can't stop talking about the food in this city. So good. I could eat the papaya salad we had there every day. We stuffed ourselves completely before bussing it back to the city. A perfect day.

On a Hong Kong Facebook group I saw a photo of the Chi Lin Nunnery in Kowloon. I looked it up and read many comments about how peaceful and tranquil it was. A great place to visit on the first day of Chinese New Year. And it was peaceful and tranquil. A magical place with beautiful gardens. And not overly busy. So off we went to a nearby temple, looking for more tranquility. We were enjoying this! Well until we actually got there that is.... Hundreds of people were queuing to get in, a process shown on a large screen next to the entrance of the temple. It turned out it was one of the most popular temples for locals to pray on day of Chinese New Year. Will need to come back another time....

Tuesday was going to be the last sunny day of the five day break. Another hike was called for. I remembered Lamma Island from a previous visit to Hong Kong. Quaint villages, good stroll/hike, nice beaches. And it didn't disappoint. 30-40 minutes by ferry from Central and you're in a different world. Fisherman's villages, forest and a hippyish atmosphere. Plus good Indian food, a perfect lunch. Back on the Island, it was a quick (Nepali) dinner with two of our hiking companions, before watching the CNY fireworks. Think I'm spoiled. The fireworks were good but not as good as the ones we had in August during Sail. It's probably more spectacular from the Kowloon side but there's probably also a million more people competing for good spots.

The best part of Chinese New Year was today at work. My secretary had told me there'd be a Lion dance, and I'd promised to be there. I hadn't realised there was also a suckling pig (next to a week chicken) for the entire office. So imagine tens of consultants all standing around a suckling pig, a partner performing a ceremony (that I didn't quite get) with his two cuter-than-cute daughters, followed by a proper Lion dance around the office. While the lions were dancing, catering staff cut up the pig (and a wee chicken) and everyone helped themselves to the juicy meat. At the same time, a whole bunch of more junior staff queued in front of the partners' office to be given Lai See. Lai See is the local custom of giving red packets with money in it. A funny sight to see one Chinese and three western partners lined up giving all these colleagues their red envelopes. As I am new and haven't worked with any of them yet, I only gave Lai See (with two hands, very important!) to my secretary, after having consulted another colleague on what a good amount would be. And after having queued at the bank for crisp notes as used notes are a no. Bloody complicated, but I wanted to get it right! Now I just need to remember all this for next year, by which time we also need to include doormen, hairdressers, managers of restaurants we often go to, and so on.

Our second home

On Thursday we moved from Mid Levels, expat playground, to Fortress Hill, a much more Chinese part of town. When I say 'we', I actually mean Wilko, as he moved our stuff while I was at work. And got me flowers. I knew I married a good egg.  

Our new shoebox has a comfy couch and a great bed so we're happy. Shame I can no longer walk to work though, that was nice while it lasted. Seeing the tai chi in the park was a very calming start of the day. 

Our new (temporary) apartment building is right opposite the tube station and in the middle of a gazillion restaurants. We had dim sum yesterday and some famous noodles for lunch today, followed by a local delicacy: egg waffle. We just followed our nose and according to several locals it was the best place in the area to have these. They were absolutely delicious.

Our apartment hunting is going so so. The view in the previous post won't be ours, as our offer was overbid by a massive HK$4000 a month, (about €480). We also made offers for two of the lower floors but those landlords don't want to get back to us until after Chinese New Year.  Patience is required.... The whole process is pretty interesting here. You offer a package of rent, rent-free period (1-2 weeks is not uncommon), start date and anything you'd like thrown in (like curtains) and then the agent negotiates with the landlord, often through another agent representing said landlord. Hopefully we're just a few negotiations away from signing a contract. And we have some time as our container is only somewhere between Egypt and Singapore.

Other than eating, we spent a fair bit of time getting organised: opening a bank account (a bureaucratic affair and the only reason I now have one is that I have a UK driver's license that has an address on it, albeit one I haven't lived at for 4.5 years), getting a phone contract, and applying for my Hong Kong ID (needed to apply for W's dependant visa, get my phone deposit back and many other things). In a country where everybloodyone is constantly staring at their mobile phones it's pretty shocking how undeveloped things are when it comes to organising things online. To give an example: my payroll account comes with a sort of savings account and online banking. However, the first time I want to transfer money to my savings account, I have to go into their offices. I also noticed many ATMs offer the option to do money transfers.  There's an app for that people!

Ah well. I could do with some patience, and this is a good place to work on that. For now, I'll enjoy my five day sunny weekend.  Kung Hei Fat Choy!