Helen and Lyndsay

Conference and soccer world cup

2006-06-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning in Seoul-in morning tea break at the conference after fascinating keynote presentation from Thomas Wong from the Hong Kong Polytechnic about existing and future convergent devices including a non invasive infra red blood glucose monitor and BMI device for the shower-included a totally connected home for monitoring your health -great combination of western and Traditional Chinese medicine.Aftert he break I am off to a workshop on using podcasting, blogs and wikis -am very exicted about using podcasting -could use to put spoken material on our intranet for all to hearor to put link from our website to itunes for client material for public download eg how to take OCs. Will put more about conference here later.
Am going to download some photos from last night -literally thousands of people out on streets and in stadiums watching Korea play Togo -game started just after our gala dinner finished and we watched the first half on a screen in a park with several thousand young people all wearing red flashing devils horns -team is called the Red Devils and then went back to the bar opposite our hotelwhere i managed to get some photos after the koreans had scored. Heaven knows what it will be like here if they were to actually win!!

demilitarized zone in Korea

2006-06-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday 2.15 pm and back in Soeul after visiting the border between North and South Korea.Left here at 7.30 am with about 12 other conference participants and hangers-on! and drove about 45 Kilometres north to the whole area just south of the DMZ - a 4 kilometre wide strip that extends rights across Korea at the 38th parallel. This has been an amazing and almost surreal experience.There is barbed wire and military check points and signs about minefields all across this area.Once we were inside the military zone a soldier came on the bus and checked everyones passports and from there on we were unable to take photos except in designated areas.
The two most amazing things that we did were firstly travelling down into the third tunnel via a little railway.. at 70 metres deep under the ground we walked nearly a kilometre to the point where there is a solid concrete wall to prevent Helen and I escaping into North Korea.! (North Korea has blasted 4 known tunnels under the DMZ to infiltrate troops into the south, and they suspect there are many more. It was like being in a Le Carre novel). Secondly we stood at the Dora observation point and looked over the border to North Korea , through the haze. You could see the river which was on the other side of the border and some UN observation posts. Unfortunately it was to rainy and hazy to see right up to Panmunjeom. Both these places we were forbidden take photos of the really interesting bits. So you will have to make do with, a pic of the barbed wire and sentry boxes just on side of motorway out of Seoul, Lyndsay by the Freedom Bridge with all the prayers, us in our hard hats by the little train, Helen with a Korean soldier at Dora observation post and the very flash new railway station that the South have built in readiness for unification and to link to the trans Mongolian and trans Siberian railways to acess China Russia and Europe. Two trains a day run from here to Soeul and back with few customers.The first train across the border was supposed to run 2 weeks ago but North pulled plug on that -so will be watching the news with interest to see when that happens. Picture here of George W with Sth president in 2002. Had Korean BBQ lunch on the way back-different from the one the other night -we have both decided kimchi will not be on the menu at Parituhu!! Pretty sharp and somewhat unpleasant taste. Altogether a pretty amazing tourist adventure. Quite a contrast from the Coex Mall which is rampant with consumerism.
Helens conference opens this evening and she gives her paper tomorrow. Off fo a nap and then back to the opening ceremony at 5pm.

Photos from Thursday in Tokyo

2006-06-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here are the photos of Ruth, Marco, Lyndsay and I at lunch at the Press Club and the International Forum building and us at the approach to Imperial Palace.Also for Richard the first Subaru made which is in the Edo Museum. Then one of the local neighbourhood at Shimbaba and 2 exhausted tourists at the end of a hard day.

Kobe and back to Tokyo

2006-06-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

After our time in Hiroshima we caught the Shinkansen to Kobe (pic) which was about an hour and a half on the train. We stayed at the Toyoko Inn a business Hotel which had amazingly convenient facilities. Coin laundry, internet access and a free Japanese breakfast. We were going to the destruction museum(actually reconstruction) but sense prevailed and we caught the cable car up to a beautiful garden and found a pretty amazing perfume museum. This had delightful displays of early perfume distillery equipment and antique perfume bottles (see pic) and the opportunity to "smell" fragrances. The gardens were fabulous (see the poppies) and we had a lavender icecream (as you do).
Off to Tokyo then to rejoin Marco and Ruth and it was like coming home. (see pic of the wonderful journalists living room) We are so fortunate to have such dear and welcoming friends. We visited the Sumo museum (really) and the Edo museum and of course Helen was in 7th heaven when we went to the Sony shop in Ginza where they display their new products and prototypes for the future.
The next day Ruth took us to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan for lunch and we were somewhat Starstruck! Quite an experience and we met up with Marco who had been there for a press conference with the EU ambassador. After lunch we went to the Tokyo International Forum building which is an architectual marvel and then we popped along to the Emperor's palace to say hello. Home to a fab tofu salad, souffle and a bottle of NZ pinot noir and Ruths special Tofu cheesecake.!! I am a total convert to silken tofu.
We then watched a DVD about the North Korean soccer team of 1966 who reached the semifinals of the world cup that year (very appropriate for the night before the 2006 cup start and our trip to the Demilitarized Zone tomorrow) and thats us up to date ..

Atomic Bomb survivors museum, Hiroshima castle and Visit to the Seibu Centre for Children in Hiroshima

2006-06-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Our time in Hiroshima was really interesting.. After our visit to Miyajima island Yoshi dropped us back at the Peace park for a couple of hours where we visited the Atomic Survivors museum. This was a salutory experience. The art work done by survivors was particularly poignant..and spoke volumes. For me (L) these were really meaningful. There is a pic also of elderly women who seem to be gardeners in the park. They were very old women. We understand that 20% of Japanese are over 65 and work well into their old age. Yoshi then picked us up to take us to Hiroshima castle where we played with some Samuri helmets!! as well as seeing early Hiroshima history.There are also some photos here of our visit to Seibu centre which I have written about previously. Colourful wheelchairs/pushchairs for kids! etc

2006-06-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

Since photos in the previous post have sucessfully uploaded ( tho they show in the opposite order from what i had intended and are obviously not from saturday in Seoul!!)we thought we would put some more up now and write about them later.
firstly some from Kyoto and Nara
-the great Buddha at Nara and us out side the building housing it, the view of the graveyard from our hotel in Nara, Kyoto railway station and further shots from hiroshima especially the people in traditional dress on Friday night for the summer festival ( plus the odd goth or two) and a further shot in the Peace park.

Saturday in Seoul

2006-06-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hi there its Saturday morning in Seoul and we are staying in the Samsung Cooperative Residence -sort of like a student hostel -and I am filling in some time while waiting for the washing to dry in the laundry-Lynds is upstairs reading - and have 5 minutes left on the computer in the lobby -camera is upstairs and I will try later to upload photos -yesterday it took us most of the day to get here from Tokyo ( where we were very sad to leave our friends Ruth and Marco who have been so hospitable and such fun to be with ). left their apartment and walked back to hotel Laforet to get the Airport Limousine bus at 8.20 am to airport which took about an hour, our Korean airlines flight left on time at 12.55 pm and arrived in Seoul 4pm -then took 3 hours in horrendous traffic to get to our hotel -will stop now to post this and come back later.
room is as I thought it would be -very small but quite well organised and as long as we are disciplined it wont be too bad for a week. We are just down the road from the convention centre and the first thing to do today is to find our way there and get familiar with the place.
Had great Korean BBQ meal last night at local place in the carpark opposite our Residence.
now 11.10 am and Imelda the maid(aka Helen) has finished the washing and ironing, we have found an ATM which produces cash from NZ credit card, found our way to the conference venue and I have registered, we have booked a tour for tomorrow at 7.30 am to go and visit the Demilitarised zone and tunnels( at South and North Korea border) and we are now in the conference free internet cafe ( on an English keyboard and English language praise the lord!! ) and behold some photos have uploaded -these are from the visit last weekend to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island.

Two days in Hiroshima

2006-06-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I was asked if some people from Japan could visit the Wilson Centre to see the services we provide for children. Yoshi and his wife and two other people (one was a physiotherapist) spent an hour or more with us..and when they left invited me to see their place of work the Seibu centre in Hiroshima when I visited Japan...nothing could have prepared me for their generous hospitality. Yoshi and his two daughters and his grand daughter picked Helen and I up from Hotel Flex on Sunday morning ..he had borrowed a friends Toyota Previa? so that we could all fit in and took Helen and I to the ferry to cross to Miyajima.
This has to be one of the worlds most beautiful places -breathtaking. We walked around the temple that was set over the water and were lucky to see a very traditional wedding ..It amazed us that this took place in front of tourists who were on the whole most respectful..couldnt help but be as it was so formal and solemn. We then walked up hundreds of steps to the Daisho-in Temple which is one of the most prestigious Shingon temples in Japan ( the Dali Lama visited there last year. )I am unable to describe the feelings and the beauty of this place..but have to say that two well travelled Kiwis were considerably moved!! I do hope we can show you the photos. Yoshi then took us back after the ferry ride to the Peace Park where Helen and I spent two or more hours absorbing the history and all the grief that went with rememberance of the bombing. The most moving for me was the art exhibition where people who had lived through the bombing were asked to draw their experiences and to write a description. These were most vivid.
Yoshi and his daughters Maiko and Yuriko and grand daughter 3 year old Rino took us to dinner at a fish restaurant before returning us to our hotel. They were so kind and hospitable.
The next morning Yoshi and Maiko took us to the Seibu centre where we were met by the Director and given a two hour tour of this centre. They provide a service for preschool children and was most impressive.Similar service to the Child Development service provided by Child Disability services at Wilson Centre..but the Seibu service was based at this very new building rather than the staff working out in the community. The facilities were very high tech and inclusive of families (mothers actually ) especially for the childs first year when the mother is required to be with her child at all times. There was a similar feeling to that where I work. Afterwards the Director who is a Paediatrician took us all to lunch at a restaurant where the staff had prepared a welcome to Japan icecream dish especially for us for dessert. We felt very special and quite overwhelmed. It was really hard to say goodbye to these kind and generous people and Helen and I hope to repay Yoshi for his kindness when he and Yuiko come to NZ later in the year.
And so to Kobe by Shinkansen which has to be the most luxurious way to travel at 300 ks an hour.As we said earlier this is a great hotel. H and I went department store sightseeing and then to dinner at Dinner Road where we had Tofu salad and tempura and two large glasses of Sake...off to the reconstruction museum as every good health and safetly person should do..this is about the 1995 earthquake here ..kia kaha L

Ｔｕｅｓｄａｙ　ｍｏｒｎｉｎｇ　ｉｎ　Ｋｏｂｅ

2006-06-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

8.20 am -have just had the free Japanese breakfast in the hotel lobby -miso, rice and pickles and green tea -very tasty but L says it wont replace Mr Hubbards muesli/freshfruit for the Parituhu breakfast!! Fortunately there is a Starbucks around the corner for what passes as a decent cup　of coffee in this neck of the woods ( but only just -I am hanging out for the coffee shop on Devonport wharf)
We see from stuff.co.nz that it was a very cold and miserable Queens Birthday weekend -also saw the QB hons -congrats to Marlene Shrubshall on her well deserved gong.
Hopefully the photos we were trying to upload last night will do so this morning and then we will do some of Miyajima island.
But no it doesnt want to do it and its quite difficult in Japanese trying to sort out problems and cant get it into English even with assistance from the very helpful girl at the desk. 　

Queens Birthday Monday in Kobe..continued

2006-06-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

On Friday 3 June we went from Kyoto to Nara, ancient capital of Japan-along with about 10,000 schoolchildren, including a group who squealed and stampeded to see a film star when we were at the railway station. As well as school children and huge temples Nara also has a huge herd of fairly odorous deer who wander freely in the town and around the temples.Had a nice hotel room with superview of graveyard (Ruth had asked for a room with a nice view please when she booked it for us and so it was as you can see in photo!!)Visited the Todai-ji temple, another World Heritage Site completed in 752 which is the largest wooden building in the world with the great image of Vairocana Buddha-how they cast a 16 metre high bronze in the 8th century defies belief-also it is hard to be serene in this place with thousands of people there including lots of americans who seemed even louder and lumpier than us .Dinner at Mos burgers (japanese chain) -great infection control here -2 basins with flowing soap for patrons and pump pot handwash for staff which was constantly being used (great photos to bring home for Aggi!)Japan is very clean and hygeine is constantly encouraged -no one drops litter and if they do someone is there to pick it up.
Its starting to heat up -Mr Ｋoizumi the Prime Minister is heading a campaign for more casual summer wear for the salarymen, instead of the ubiquitous black suit and tie, when it is 30 degrees.This is to save electricity (by turning down airconditioners) -he is leading by example and wore a cool white Okinawan shirt in the Parliament the other day
Saturday morning back to Kyoto to get Shinkansen to Hiroshima -photo of Kyoto railway station which is huge and impressive structure and is controversial here.
Arrived in Hiroshima in late afternoon and found the Hotel Flex, on a pleasant riverbank site, without much difficulty.The cat would lose its head here if we swung it in the room; its a tiny but a well designed room with all mod cons.
Hiroshima is hazy too. People tell us its the summer heat but we think there is a lot of smog over Japan.Never the less Hiroshima is a really lovely city.
We headed out into a festival..how lucky we are to come to these things by accident (like the weddings in the temples) This was the summer Kimona fesival where the people of Hiroshima wear their summer kimonas and sashay down the malls and streets looking magnificent. See the pics of a family, a girl with her bike (and we did see her hike up the kimona a ride off) and by contrast some goth youths.
Well its about midnight here and even the computer is tired cos photos wont upload -will try again in the morning when we tell you about our wonderful day out with Yoshi and his family, including our trip to Miyajima Island.

Queens Birthday Monday in Kobe..27 degrees

2006-06-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

You know its really amazing how Helen Mackenzie navigates her way around sites in Japanese..but this time it got her..she completely lost our last blog..so here we go again.
We are in the Tokyo Inn Kobe thanks to Ruth..nice free Internet connection..coffee.. and we are doing our washing in the lobby coin machines while we do this blog. Nice ! Another　great piece of advice from Ruth was to take her and Marcos small wheelie cases instead of our big case..there are so many stairs in Japan I cant imagine how it would have been with our huge (of course we are travelling ligh) suitcases.
here are the photos we werent able to upload in Kyoto-helen by the hydro station on the canal,Lynds by "homeless" neat and tidy homes on river bank,Lynds at world heritage site temple on island in river in kyoto and Lynds with Miyuki at Casa de Natu where we stayed in Kyoto.

Saturday evening in hiroshima

2006-06-03T02:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks but no photos tonight tho there are lots to send -we are in a free internet site at the International Exchange Lounge in the Peace Park here in Hiroshima-pretty impressive place -will have to return to visit the museum which was closed when we got here.
Well the rest of　Kyoto was as good as the first bit -after we were at the internet place we returned on our bikes along the canal to the river and there was a really interesting little hydro plant right there in the middle of the city ( imagine photo) - back to Casa Natu via a World heritage site that Simon had told us about-amazing set in 800 acres untouched forest. Then to dinner at a neighbourhood restaurant -just like old DKD above the Civic with lots of young people.
In the room next door in the casa was Annetta, canadian geologist returning from prospecting for gold in the Gobi desert in Mongolia -you meet all sorts of interesting people when you travel!!
We have to stop now cos centre is closing -more another time -off to Miyajama Island tomorrow. Hiroshima is a really happening place .

Hot and sunny day in Kyoto

2006-05-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

1.30 pm on Thursday 1 June -we have to look at our watches or calendars to see what day it is!!!
gorgeous here today -sunscreen needed for the first time -we have bicycles and are currently in an internet cafe at Kyoto International Community House which we can thoroughly recommend.
To update since Tuesday -slow start that day -headed off after lunchtime to visit the Sumo Museum and Edo Museum in Tokyo but got sidetracked in yet another large electronics store called Yogabashi looking at nurse proof laptops and a million other gadgets and toys and finally managing to buy a cover for my ancient iPod ( cos everything here is for 5th generation video etc ) -when we got to the museums they were closing so will return next week.But still managed to navigate our way across Tokyo sucessfully.
yesterday we crept out of the apt at 7 am to walk to Shinegawa station where we got on the Shinkansen ( bullet train) Hikari at 8.14 am ( on the dot !!) to whisk us smoothly to Kyoto in less than 2 1/2 hrs -caught a glimpse of Mt Fuji -top just above the clouds-amazed how big it was.
We are so enjoying Japan.
We transferred to the Subway to head to our accommodation.I had phoned Simon (Helen and Rod Cornelius's son who lives here) and he popped up on the train two stations on to surprise us. Simon gave us a great afternoon of guided sightseeing,shrines temples, geisha area with interesting commentaries as he is surely skilled with this. Later we met up with Mika, Simons fiancee and we had dinner together with lots of talk of weddings and Kimonas and much laughter and beer!! such a good day.
The Casa de Natu is a 180 year old Japanese private home with B & B accommodation. It is so 'fine" with genuine sliding screens, tiny doorways, heavenly japanese garden, in a tiny street with no names or numbers,but a plan an the wall on the corner with everyones name who lives in the street.
This is a marvellous experience,,but we do feel very "large and Kiwi" and clumsy.
The Breakfast this a,m, was beautifully presented..small soy drink with a stawberry in it and toast and green tea.We were able to hire bikes through the guest house and have very much enjoyed our gentle cycle along the river and through the streets of Kyoto. We loved the Irises growing in the river..the cranes(birds not machinery) and the cherry trees, people fishing,stepping stones across the river, children from kindergarten sliding down the river banks on cardboard as kids do down Mt Vic in Devonport.

Postscript to friday

2006-05-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

i cant quite figure out in german how to edit Fridays post so am doing a new one just so you can see lyndsays superb new jacket-flash eh !Also me on the top of the Peak in HK . Helen

Monday. in tokyo

2006-05-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well the most important thing that happened today was that we were let loose by ourselves in this huge city equipped with our flexicard-for one train line,our pingu card for the Japan rail lines and Ruths spare mobile and a delicious lunch box from the station-we succeeded in going where we intended to go and even got home again -needed sonme instructions on how to find the supermarket for tomatoes on the way home but otherwise uneventful-went up the river 40 minutes on very flash futuristic boat,then to temple Senso-ji at Asakusa then saw some Sumo wrestlers getting new clothes -sort of like seeing an All Black in the street, plus thousands of bikes -H is in withdrawal as hasnt been on bike for 10 days now. then we went to this huge huge huge electronics store called Bic Camera just to buy an adapter and were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff for sale and the noise of Playstations and staff shouting on megaphones -see the spelling error picked up by an eagle eyed family planning staff member. Home to another superb meal at chez Bossart-kauffmann and another late night blogging. to bed now.

sunshine in Tokyo

2006-05-29T05:53:00.000-07:00

Monday night the 29th May in Tokyo/Ruth has just taken photos of us blogging away here on Marcos laptop which has all of the legends in German which our combined minds have been unable to change.Yet another challenge Mr gates.
so to update since we last talked on Friday in Hong kong, spent the day at jade marketand the fruit and fish market ;the horny toads a delicacy! not! and walking the streets again and tothe tailor yet again then off to the Philharmonic for a very pleasant Mozart and Haydn concert where we were struck by the fact that about half the audience were children ! Bit of a problem with the cheese for Ruth and Marco in the chilly bin necessitating trips to shops looking for ice but had to settle for frozen congee.
Early start on Saturday on the A21 to airport by 7.15 am, flight left on time at 10.30 am and uneventful trip to Tokyo arriving at Narita about 4pm local time -superb instructions from ruth meant we were on a bus and at their apartment within an hour.What a wonderful greeting we got and a beautiful dinner cooked.We`are surely with the most gracious and generous hosts in all of Tokyo.
Sunday was a slow start but then we made up for it by heading off in the train to the Yoyogi park to see the most amazing sights. Young Japanese dress in the most weird and wonderful creations, rock bands play,teddy boys dance, men practice Taekwondo, dogs run, rabbits are taken for walks on a lead, frizzbees are thrown and a good time was had by all including ourselves as we quiely strolled to the Meiji Shrine.photo above is L with Ruth and Marco.
This is the most significant shrines in Tokyo and we were priviledged to see a Shinto wedding.Stunning in its tradition and beauty and also slightly quirky. Like the amazing performance to get every fold in the kimonos exactly right for the photos and car the bride and groom returned to had a hinged roof so that the brides headgear could be accommodated. the Temple itself is truly serene and is surrounded by a beautiful park with trees that "sing" in the breeze.
marco and Ruth then took us to a shopping centre with a pet shop that defies belief. You can buy designer clothes for and pushchairs for your dog and should you wish to part with 5000 NZ dollars you could buy a monkey.We settled for a gift for Lazlo and a new collar for Uschi.
We are going to reurn to this centre when back in Tokyo as it was incredible in its variety.
The evening finished with a beautifulJapanese meal at a restaurant overlooking the bay and city lights.and 4 tired people wending their way home to bed vis the train system that is so efficient.

Friday morning catch up

2006-05-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here we are again in this boy game cyber cafe..and we have been told we cannot down load pics.!! (cant do english here in windows XP but can do photos, can do english in win 98 but cant do photos from usb,,Bill Gates can you explain please?), despite all the explanations that we did this 2 days ago are to no avail! So heres a pic free commentary.
Tuedsay we headed for Hong Kong Family Planning at Wan Chai for Helens formal visit..which was most successful (pretend you see a pic of us at a superb yum char lunch with the FP team in a restaurant on the 68th floor !!) While Helen was at FPA I spent an hour or two wandering the street markets. saw everything from Tiny turtles to TVs. Huge trucks trying to manouver the skinny streets..cacophany of sound and then amongst this a small oasis of green where the elderly were exercising and doing Tai Chi..still raining. After leaving FPA we caught the No 6 bus to Stanley, similar to Devonport but high rise buildings starting to emerge.
Got caught in the Hong Kong traffic but still managed to get back Tsim Sha Tsui in time for Helen to collect her rimless glasses and for a fitting for our tailored gear! and a cocktail at the Felix Bar Peninsular hotel.then a quick trip on the Star ferry to Central and back to see the amazing lights and the light show (see pic!!) then back to Cosmic for yum char leftovers (hey we are thrifty travellers! though the cocktail was equivalent to a nights accommodation!)
Wednesday was an early start and it was not raining. picked up by China Tours people together with a couple of nice people from Brisbane and off to Hong Hum station to catch the train to Guangzhou in Mainland China. Super double decker comfortable and very smooth train (imagine pic here of H at station) that whisked us to Guangzhou in an hour and a half.Mobile phones ring all the way with an amazing variety of ring tones from Cats mewing, birds singing and chinese hit songs and of course the ubiquitous Nokia opening ring..business being done in very loud voices)
We managed customs and immigration and were met by Marco an earnest 12 year old!! our guide for the day and taken to a swish Chinese brand van like a toyoa previa to drive trough this huge smog filled city ..with seemingly few road rules to Sun Yat Sen memorial house (imagine several pics!) Then to an arts and crafts with the most amazing porcelain etc..Post card sent to Katie McDonald from here with much effort! and to lunch at the Hotel Landmark Canton (very flash)
After lunch we went to the Chen Clan Temple..a temple dedicated to all Chen family ancestors. (imagine pic of temple, gardens and embroidery exhibition that defied belief) The next hour was spent driving though the immense sprawling city still covered in smog to arrive at the Lotus Mountain above the pearl river (more pics!). I had imagined a country area of natural beauty but instead this was a man made park with a gigantic gold woman buddah (protects family and fisher men) and temple all built in the 1980s. Apparently this groomed and sculptured park is a drawcard for families on public holidays. The sky lit up with lightening and the thunder was amazing..which all added to the wonderful experience.
To the ferry..a cataraman twice the size of the Waiheke ferry and a 2 hour trip back down the Pearl delta to Hong Kong.Night navigation is so tricky because of the hundreds of ships anchored in the river delta and the in Hong Kong harbour itself., The port action is quite extraordinary.. hundreds and hundred times what we see going past our door in Devonport. McDonalds for dinner! Helen tried the new rice and beef burger .reports it was great.
Thursday 25th May. Blue skies!!another slow start with the South China Morning Post and tea (hot water boiler in corridor outside our room) then off to find the Post office to send more cards. We walked in a circle following excellent signs about a kilometer though subways and underpasses to emerge 100 metres from our guest house. Fell about laughing at this.
Then to the cultural centre to book for a Hong Kong Philarmonia Mozart concert tomorrow night. Everyone is so helpful and things are clearly signed here. The man at the ticket office offered us two "senior" tickets!! which we kindly accepted at NZ 5 dollars each. Must have been the Grey hair which is uncommon here.Then we caught the Twinkling Star ferry and the 15c bus to the Peak Tram.
This tram takes you to the highest peak in HK and is a wonderful experience not only for the view butl also for the walks through the tropical forest areas (here you certainly must imagine amazing photos of Helen and I at this place)We spent over 3 hours here. On the way back to the ferry we had a side trip up the mid level escalators. You can see into offices and flats and we saw small children having oboe and violin lessons. the walk though the streets with the locals market as opposed to the tourist markets was well worthwhile.No hassling to buy "copy watches and handbags madam" An amazing sight was a very very bent elderly shop keeper on her mobile phone!
Dinner in Japanese restaurant to prepare for the next stage of our journey - noodles and dumplings before back tailors for final fittings..Ruth please imagine the beautiful photo of my red Chinese jacket.
Next Blog will be from Japan. Having such a great time. Lynds and Helen

2006-05-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

monday evening and its still raining - in a cybercafe with what sounds like hundreds of youths playing violent games -on a PC tonight but it keeps wanting me to write in Chinese -had to get a 12 yr old to help -have also managed to sort out how to upload photos to this blog.
Today was an adventure on the MTR-managed to buy Octopus pass each -just wave it over the sensor ( even if its in your wallet) and you get thru turnstiles. Caught the train to Diamond hill to visit the Chi Lin Buddhist nunnery -juxtaposition of peace and tranquillity and much beauty in the midst of high rises housing millions of people. The photo is of women washing the round stones within the sculptured gardens.
Then we continued on the MTR and on foot to Lie Yue Mun fishing village where there was a market place with wet fish,and pork but all the poultry section is closed and cordened off ( presume cos of bird flu -lots of notices around about hygeine )-we had a very nice but overpriced lunch of prawns and steamed fish with rice. Photo is of boats in the typhoon shelter there -some you would wonder how they stayed afloat -lots of dogs on the boats.
Then completed the round trip on the MRT and back to Cosmic for a cold beer and a nap before off to the tailor for a first fitting of the suits -so very very Hong Kong -just in the amazing variety of people who came in while we were there-2nd fitting tomorrow.
We have booked a trip to Guangzhou on Wednesday -leave here at 7.30 am and go by train and then come back by catamaran down the Pearl River.
hopefully off to the night market tonight -last night just too too rainy.
More tomorrow.

Hong Kong on a rainy Sunday night

2006-05-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

Lyndsay here: Well so much for the tropics, this is a tropical downpour and has been since we arrived.But not below 28 degrees!!
We caught the bus in from the airport after a smooth uneventful but long flight. Driving up Nathan road at 10pm atnight on the top deck of a double decker bus was extraordinary..a neon extravaganza and thousands of people walkin about .
we then got caught up in a classic touristcon..long story but got taken to a different accomodation..the tout pretended tha this was the Cosmic that we had booked..we spent the night in this rougue room..quite confused but "believing"..Helen in her wisdom thought it was wrong but we went along with it.I am so trusting. Anyway we discovered this am that the Cosmic was on the 12th floor (not the 8th)..and we packed our bags and decamped!!! The Cosmic folk said it happens all the time!!!! (So if you are booked into the Cosmic which is a very nice guesthouse be sure and go to their office on the 12th floor )
I was so mad that I went back and told the man, and the woman tout who were fronm the 13th floor that they would have Much bad luck for being so bad and dishonest..and that I would cast a spell on them both..they didnt exactly quake. had a spend today in a custom made tailors store..suits and shirts for us both and Helen has ordered some new rimless glasses. Consumerism is rife!!
helen now -whilst Lyndsay slept on the flight I looked out the window a lot -Kit you will be interested in how amazing Papua looked from the air cos we flew digaonally right across the island -there is a huge high mountain range running down the spine of the country and we could see lots of rivers and valleys like we saw in your photos-fascinating as late in afternoon -then on the sea south of the Philipines near sunset there seemed to be lots of oil or gas rigs there and just after dusk we fle wover Manilla with lights going for miles . Then when we arrived at the airport there was a thermal imaging camera scanning all the incoming passengers. wehave some photos thatwe will add to this blog soon.
This morning we went to a shopping mall that had over 700 shops in it many of them worldwide brands -bit of overkill but had w browse in Versace and Vivienne Westwood as you do.
We were planning to go to the night market tonight but too wet and will head back to Cosmic and Jack Reacher.
More later
I

Preparing for the trip

2006-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

I have set this blog up so you can all see how we are getting on during our trip to Hongkong, Japan and Korea in May /June 2006.
This is the first time I have set up a blog so it is a great learning experience. We have a new travelling email address also which is macrendall@gmail.com.
We leave New Zealand on Saturday 20 may 2006 on Cathay pacific Flight CX108 from Auckland to Hong Kong at 1pm.
We have already looked at the seating on the flight and what movies are showing on the 11 hours 40 minutes flight. We are scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong at 8.40 pm still on Saturday 20th and are booked into the Cosmic Guest House in Nathan Rd, Kowloon.