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Published: August 17th 2008
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The Breakfast table
It is never easy to leave for work. Moving to Stanley was a great idea. To live by the beach is an unexpected pleasure of living in Hong Kong. It is 15 km from the heart of the city, but it feels like a different world. The drive from town takes you along a narrow and winding road that hugs a mostly steep coastline overlooking pretty bays and beaches. And it is all surrounded by a surprising amount of dense, tropical trees. The view is always spectacular, but on sunny days it captures your gaze and makes me think I'm on holiday. One of the treats of being in Hong Kong is to sit on the top deck of a double decker bus as it navigates the coastal roads and affords a view over the sea, even if I happen to be going to work at the time.
Our townhouse is beaut. It is smaller than the apartment in the Midlevels, but we seem to do more entertaining here. It is just a bit of squeeze sometimes, with people (and the occasional dogs) spilling out on the terrace, but happily not over it. Our neighbours are great. Two doors up is the French Deputy Consul-General, so we give
each other lifts to work in the flag car when our bosses are away. The pool has two life guards (must be a Hong Kong thing), and they always take an interest in Georgia. Our only common language is Mandarin, and it is clear none of us are that proficient at it. Nonetheless, I can't go to the pool without them asking where Georgia is, and when she joins us they shake her hand and teach her new words.
Now that we have been here nine months, a few patterns are starting to emerge. One is that my colleagues Jo and Fiona are not infrequent guests. That's a beaut thing, but there's a price to pay for good company and a shared passion for alcohol, especially on week nights. A simple dinner has been known to end at 2am. But I think it is the influence of the house. It just lends itself to protracted feasting. Other colleagues Tristan and Sarah were in a group that came for lunch, but they ended up leaving at midnight. And even then, it seemed we were cutting short the fun.
Apart from the joys of company, Hong Kong has some great
walks. One of my favourites is to stroll down Hollywood Road, in the Soho area of Central. It combines so many aspects of Hong Kong. It has wonderful old Chinese shops that sell almost everything; trees that lean over the footpath like protective old men; old buildings of historic and architectural interests, such as the Police Station and the Magistracy; new buildings that tower over the old buildings and from different sides of the road alternately fill the street with long shadows, and light reflected from their glistening windows; steep pathways with colourful shops and awnings that give Hong Kong that delightful pedestrian feel; and as you get closer to Wyndham Street, stylish cafes and restaurants, some over-populated by not-so-stylish expats.
Although I'd never get bored with the streets of Hong Kong, there's also a lot of fun to be had on the water. Haywood and Jennifer invited me for a day on their boat. Arriving at the marina I got the impression that tinnies are a peculiarly Australian mode of water transport, and the closest thing to it in Hong Kong is like a dwarf cruise ship. Haywood and Jennifer's is a bit more comfortable than the Hobby
Cats or racing yachts that I've been on. In fact, it's a bit like a hotel. The early signs were bad. I arrived with a bottle of Australian breakfast, vintage Yellowglen. This was shared, only to make way for a feast of dishes and wines, augmented by omnipresent bottles of Blue Label Johnnie Walker. I went swimming to have a break from over-indulging, and headed for an Island we were anchored off. It wasn't far away, and as I climbed the rocky shore and relaxed in the sun, Haywood sent across the Jet Ski in case it was too far to swim back. We'd planned to be back at the marina by 4pm, but there were jet skis to ride fast and inexpertly, and more food and wine to consume. At 7pm we were hopelessly late for a dinner, but the boat is fast and so is Haywood's Bentley. We got there just in time for a huge Chinese banquet with more wine. By the end of dinner our hosts were doing the rounds, toasting four of us Aussies with local rocket fuel, Mao-tai. I was pretty glad when it was time to pull up stumps. I could still walk,
but felt a certain relief that I didn't have to drive home.
More sedately, a group of us have started going for monthly walks through Hong Kong's delightful national parks. One of the great things of Hong Kong is it is so green. There are dense forests and picturesque water reservoirs all over the place. These trails run through beautiful countryside, and because Hong Kong is so mountainous, the views from clearings or the tops of mountains (largish hills for serious mountaineers) are spectacular. It is a part of Hong Kong that tourists rarely see, and yet, on a sunny weekend morning, it has to be one of the most wonderful things to do here.
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