New Year in Hong Kong

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The whole Christmas and New Year period seemed to be a continuation of the festivities that had started well before Christmas. With our friends Jacqui, Ralte and Ziki in Hong Kong, there was a natural group to share fine food and wine with.

New Year's eve blured into nightly visits to the tennis, the JB Classic, where I had mistakenly been given access to the VIP hospitality tent, and there met several like-minded enthusiasts of tennis, champagne and decent scotch. It was a fun combination. The tennis was beaut. Sharapova's grunting was no match for William's skill.

The tennis was soon followed by the Hong Kong City Festival at the Fringe Club, a delightful venue consistent with its name. There were three Australian acts playing there over a three week period. The first week featured 'Flat on your Bacharach', a wonderful caberet trio performing Bacharach's great hits. They have wonderful voices and a beaut sense of humour, and made their performances tremendously entertaining theatre. Justin Hammond, an Australian comedian, (aka 'Three Colours Hammo') also did shows in the first week. His madly entertaining narrative featured life in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, quite a bit, and so I found it not only funny, but cleverly insightful on an area and community I know reasonably well. They were so good we had to go back to my place for drinks, which ended around 3.30am.

Apart from those adventures, Simone, Georgia and I stroll up to the Peak, a tortuous short but steep walk behind our place. Thankfully, it has a range of decent eating places there, so a leisurely dim sum lunch is often the order of the day on the weekend. There is no difficulty eating well in Hong Kong, and Simone and I are making the most of it.

Simone and Georgia continue to be inseparable friends. The sight of them together makes leaving for work more difficult than usual. to the attentive eyes of parents, Georgia changes and develops every day, and so it is a happy time when we get to hang out as a family.

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Photos

Downtown in Wanchai
The building my office is in is in the background (another excuse for a shot of Georgia).

Mawii and Georgia
Only the sober got to hold Georgia on New Year's eve.

Ralte and Ziki
New Year's Eve at our place.

New Year's Eve dinner
From left, Remi, Ziki, Mike, Jacqui, Ralte, Simone, and Mawii.

The Raltes
An increasingly rare family portrait now that Mawii is studying hard in the US.

After Midnight
A late night glimpse of Hong Kong from our balcony.

View from my office
Sadly, Simone is not often a fixture in my office.

Lunch in Hong Kong
Simone and Georgia contemplating wonton noodle soup for lunch. At least Simone likes it.

The big chill
Hong Kong is meant to be hot! Unseasonally cold weather in Honkers.

The Godmother
Mario Putzio got the title wrong. It would have been a better movie with Jacqui in it.

Venus visible at night.
The JB Classic, which featured great tennis such as Venus Williams playing against Sharapova.

dim sum is not what she wanted.
Dining at the Zen restaurant at the Peak. At least Simone and I liked the food.

Simone at Stanley
Simone and Georgia at Stanley Plaza, just before we raided one of the restaurants for lunch.

Before the ball
Colleagues Tristan and Sarah drop in for a drink before we go a ball.

Georgia of Arabia
Looking for adventure. Putting up with her father until she has a camel.

Life at the Fringe
Mel (left) and Libby, of Flat on your Bacharach, part of a great Australian band playing at the Fringe Club in Hong Kong.

Flat on your Bacharach
With Hammo made a great contribution to the Hong Kong City Festival

The night after
Matthew, Libby and Mel from Flat on your Bacharach, after their performance, the evening after the late night drinks at our place.

Three Colours Hammo
Cleverly funny, even when sober.