Sunday 13 March 2016

A very normal Sunday

Today was our 8th Sunday in Hong Kong. After two Sundays in the luxurious Two MacDonnell Road apartment with the amazing views, four Sundays in the lovely shoebox that was our Shama Fortress Hill apartment and one Sunday in our new home unpacking boxes, this was the first Sunday here that was just normal. Boringly normal. And just what I was craving. Our second week in, our new home is starting to feel just like that: home.



So what is a boringly normal Sunday in Hong Kong? A good hour in the gym, including pool and sauna visit for W. A lovely French lunch down the road. A visit to the flower market. And grocery shopping.

Just like in London, Honkers restaurants offer very good lunch deals. For around €10-12 you should be able to get two courses or a main and a coffee. This bistro was no exception. Crabmeat with some salad and a super tasty pork chop for me and steak for Wilko. For HK$ 60 you could add free flow wine (free flow booze, a normal menu item on HK restaurants in the weekend), but having wine straight after a gym session just didn't quite feel right. And unlike in Dutch restaurants, it's completely fine here to just drink tap water with your meal.



Though we finished most of our furniture shopping, we still needed a few bits and bobs for the bathroom. Google told me Portland Street was the place to go. And indeed, tens of shops for tiles, wallpaper and bathroom stuff. A few minutes down, we found the flower market that I'd been keen to visit. Flowers are expensive here, but the Mongkok flower market is an exception. Not as cheap and as good as at home, but pretty decent. And a house is so much more a home with flowers, at least to me.



And finally: grocery shopping. Supermarkets here are odd.  There are five or six within a ten minute radius, which is good. And necessary. Items can be stocked one week, but not the other. Writing a shopping list and doing all your shopping in one place just isn't an option here. Prices can also vary a lot, both between shops and over time. So what is a very basic thing at home, becomes slightly more adventurous here. I'm sure we'll get used to it. And if not: we have dozens of cheap local restos on our doorstep. And a gym in our building, luckily!

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