The In-Laws Visit Hong Kong!!

Last week we had our first week-long visitors come to Hong Kong. Ryan's mom, Deb, and his brother, Eric, flew in from Chicago to stay in Hong Kong for the week. We were fortunate enough that Ryan had a few days off for Dragon Boat Festival so that we were all able to tour around Hong Kong together. 

We had a great time with them in town for the week. We packed in as much stuff as we could while they were here and I think we are probably all still feeling exhausted from it all. Many great memories were made but some of the ultimate highlights of the trip were: 

1) Seeing the giant rubber duck in Victoria Harbour on its last day in Hong Kong
2) Having Ryan haggle with street vendors on ridiculous t-shirts for Eric (tigers, cats and bears eating fish)
3) Deb being a great sport while both of her sons continued to teach her how to use chopsticks - she was a pro when she left! 
4) Watching Ahri go from being afraid of the strangers in her apartment to jumping up and licking their faces 
5) Seeing pandas not once but twice throughout the week 
6) Spending our overnight trip to Macau with Deb & Eric at the Venetian Hotel
7) Introducing Deb & Eric to our favorite Portuguese restaurant in Macau, Fernando's, and the sangria! 
8) Seeing the Big Buddha (one of the largest sitting buddhas in the world) for the first time myself
9) Dim sum at Maxim's City Hall and fending off all the crazy dim sum cart ladies 
10) Seafood lunch in Sai Kung after our hike was rained out (and Ahri hiding under the table) 

Deb's learner chopsticks 

T-shirt finds at the market

Panda at Ocean Park 

Deb's dream carousel ride

Venetian Hotel, Macau 

The stairs up to the Big Buddha 

Family picture on our last day in Sai Kung 

We had a great time with the family and can't wait for more visitors to come see us! 

It's hot out!!

Hello all!

As the seasons change, everyone back home is getting excited about warmer weather which usually means days at the beach, grilling and spending nights around a fire with friends. I usually always look forward to the summer as it brings back very fond memories of my childhood on the Mississippi River and many of my favorite activities are done during the summer (outdoor bars, Summerfest, rollerblading, team volleyball, boating...I think you get the idea).

A boater even from a young age

Moving to Hong Kong has sent me into not only a cultural shock but a weather shock. We moved here the end of October which I was told was the best time possible. The temperature was comfortable with the humidity low and the winter was fairly mild, only requiring a light jacket most of the time. The lowest the temperature got to was in the low 50's. As the spring rolled around, the rains came. Monsoon season was in April resulting in days upon days of intermittent rain storms that would hit with no warning. I experienced my first black rain storm, which basically is a heavy down pour where no one leaves their home (literally, no one goes to school or work) until the rain lets up. It was very interesting to compare what rain we were getting here to the floods that were happening back home and how different the people react. As May came around, the humidity started and I prepared myself for what everyone warned me as unbearable heat.

Ahri enjoying the black rain storm

 Well, I think that heat has finally hit. This past week we had unusually sunny skies (I guess blue skies are a rarity here). The temperature was in the 90's and the humidity has been almost as high. I have even gotten warnings through my weather app on my phone for 'very hot weather warning'. This weekend Ryan and I spent most of Saturday outside and I can vouch for it being 'very hot weather'. Ryan was pretty comfortable throughout the day but I do recall telling him multiple times 'I'm dying. It's too hot.'

Hong Kong skyline on a beautiful, sunny day

Hong Kong's newest resident, the large rubber duck, enjoying the warm weather

I've come to grips that I have to get used to it and there is only so much time I can spend in the AC. Ahri and I have started to take our walks to the dog park at night when it has usually cooled down into the upper 80's. My wardrobe has changed to wear mostly dresses and anything that won't visibly show that I am soaked in my own sweat. Oil blotting pads have become my face's best friend to fight that shiny forehead syndrome.

While we may not get to enjoy all of the same things we used to do during the summer in Milwaukee, we are finding more things to fill our weekends while in Hong Kong. We look forward to trips to the many beaches around the Hong Kong Island and the surrounding smaller islands, enjoying the pool in our apartment building and more trips around the area.

We hope the summer weather is treating you all well back home so that you too can enjoy all of your favorite summer activities.

Until next time...

Zhaoqing Trip

Hello everyone! 

It's been awhile since my last update. Since the last post, Ryan and I traveled on a weekend trip to China with his motor engineering team and I also found out I receive my physiotherapy license here in Hong Kong! The license has been a long process of paperwork, letters, emails and trips to their office but we finally have a wonderful result. I have started the job search now and am waiting to hear back from some clinics. I am excited to get back to work but nervous for what working in a foreign country will bring. I know overall it will be a great learning experience that I will cherish forever! 

Now back to our weekend getaway. A couple Fridays ago I traveled up to Houjie, the city where Ryan lives and works during the week. We spent the night Friday hanging with some of Ryan's co-workers that were visiting from Milwaukee. Then early Saturday morning we met his motor engineering team, along with some of their spouses and children, and headed out on a bus to Zhaoqing. We spent the weekend visiting several parks and temples, hiking up hills and seeing some of the most gorgeous scenery I have seen since we have moved to Asia. Overall it was a great weekend for Ryan's group to bond as a team and for Ryan and I to see another part of Asia. 

The entire group 

Zhaoqing is the home of Pabst Blue Ribbon production for China so it was awesome to see PBR logos everywhere...almost felt like we were back in Milwaukee! 

Group photo day 2 

Gorgeous scenery

Waterfall hike

A walk through the mountains to end our weekend

Malaysia Trip

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on here. Ryan and I traveled to Penang, Malaysia last week to spend some time over the Labor Day holiday with a few of his friends/co-workers. We were fortunate enough to have local hosts (2 of Ryan's co-workers are from the area) to take us around and show us everything.

When I asked Ryan and other people who had visited the area what there was to do, everyone said, "Eat," and that is exactly what we did. I wish I would have kept a food journal of the names of everything we ate because we tried so many different things. We tried almost everything there was to try in the time we were there! We ate everything from fried noodles at a road side stand to a full seafood dinner on the river.

Indian breakfast

Spread of Thai food for lunch

Hawker zone full of food stands

Seafood dinner

In between all of our meals we checked out some of the tourist spots in the area. Here is a traveler's tip Ryan has taught me: whenever you don't know what to do for a day or afternoon in an area you're visiting, look up the city on tripadvisor.com and go through the top attractions for the area. I realize this isn't ground breaking news, but it has been how we have planned all of our vacations since we have been here and it is a great help. I also check it out before I book any hotels.

Street art..with a local joining in 

Indian temple

Village on the sea

Tropical Spice Garden

Quick stop at a local beach

Ryan holding a group of giant millipedes

Top of Penang Hill

Indian temple at the top of Penang Hill

Kek Lo Si Temple

Statue of Kuan Yin, Goddess of Mercy

Finding anchors at St. Anne's Church 

Angry, wild monkeys

Jungle trekking 

We had a great time experiencing the local life in Penang and are very thankful for our wonderful hosts! While we were away, Ahri had a great time at a new kennel. They sent us daily photos to let us know she was doing fine. Here are some of my favorites:

And on the day we went to pick her up, we discovered Ahri can swim! They have a few swimming pools at the kennel and the second we opened up the gate to the pool Ahri sprinted towards it and dove right in. Here is a video of one of the later swims as she was too fast to capture the first time.

I am off to China now to meet up with Ryan for a weekend retreat with his work team. I will update you all on our adventures!

Beertopia

Question: How do you meet 5-10 people from Wisconsin, in Asia and all within the same location? 

Answer: Go to a craft beer festival! 

A few months back I was reading about upcoming events in a magazine when I came across Beertopia, a craft beer festival held in Hong Kong. I messaged Ryan about it and without hesitation he told me to buy us tickets. We are big fans of Milwaukee's craft beer festival, Brewfest (highly recommended for anybody reading this that likes beer and is within the area) and were sad we probably wouldn't be able to attend this year. While the craft beer trend in Hong Kong is not nearly what it is in Milwaukee, it is growing steadily. 

So last Saturday, along with Ryan's co-worker and good friend Andy, we made our way down to the waterfront to partake in the 2nd annual Beertopia. We weren't sure what to expect but were very happy with the results. With over 200 different beers to choose from around the world, we slowly made our way through each booth, sampling one or two from each brewer that we were interested in. 

Ryan and I sampling some beer

No better view for sampling some beer

Beertopia in full swing

Ryan was smart and wore his Milwaukee Brewing Company shirt (an intoxicated purchase from last year's Brewfest) which quickly grew attention halfway through the event. Within about 30 minutes we had met 5 people that were either from or had lived in Wisconsin. One guy was even wearing a New Glarus t-shirt from a recent trip back home. At one point, we had all the people from Wisconsin gathered in a group and sharing stories from where we lived, grew up or missed about Wisconsin. Some were just visiting the area while others had been living in Hong Kong for years.

Ryan in his Milwaukee shirt, me in a Sam Adams shirt- representing American beer

Ryan's favorite brewery there, my favorite names of beers

 

The event was broken into 2 sessions, one until 5pm and after that until 11pm. We chose the afternoon one because we didn't want to abandon Ahri all night and we were happy we made that choice. After grabbing some brats and other goodies to soak up the beer, we headed back home to our recovering dog. Ahri was spayed and had 2 teeth removed on Wednesday. She is doing well now and just bursting to get back to the dog park and chase all the other dogs around.

Way too much flour on the buns...but so delicious

Princess Ahri recovering at home

 

 

 

 

 We had a great time meeting new people from close to home and enjoying some great beer. Can't wait until next year!