It happened again

The Starbucks near my work has been vandalised to varying degrees about 4 or 5 times.

Everytime, it gets cleaned up, rebuilt and then reopened.

Walking past it this morning I noticed that it had been attacked again.

Starbucks in Hong Kong is run by the local Hong Kong company Maxims and the daughter of one of their founders made some unfortunate comments about the nature of the Hong Kong protests.  This lead to a quick reaction from the protesters against all things Maxims (including Starbucks).

I feel bad for the employees of this Starbucks, but I also can't understand why they haven't put in place some better security after all of this vandalism.  Surely by now they must have realised that this location needed some better metal gates or something like that?

Sunshine and fresh air are the best cure

I feel awful.

My head hurts, I'm congested and I have no energy.  Getting sick is always annoying, but there's something about getting sick during good weather and the warmer months which seems extra off.

A group of my friends were heading to the beach at Chung Hom Kok.  I agreed to go even though I felt like death.  One of the great things about living in Hong Kong is that nothing is really ever that far.  I live in the middle of the city, and this trip to the beach was a 15 minute cab ride. 

The moment I got to the beach, I laid out my towel and promptly fell asleep.  The sand was soft, the sun was warm and a fresh breeze blew in just often enough to keep me cool.

I woke up a bit later as it got warmer and moved my towel under the shade.  I looked out and saw that everyone had gone swimming.  I was happy enough to lay there and enjoy the outdoors.  I felt far better than I had earlier.

Rest, sunshine and fresh air.  It's amazing how restorative are combination they are.

Bad decisions

I love going out in Hong Kong.  The night life in this city is fantastic and I've always enjoyed its "everyone is welcome" approach and attitudes.  There's no particular groups or age profile for who goes out and everyone has fun.

I was out one night with the final stragglers for the evening and someone suggested Flaming Lamborghinis.  For some bizarre reason, everyone left seemed to think that was a good idea.  After a short walk, we were all in a dingy bar in LKF.

A Flaming Lamborghini was ordered.

I stood back and watched it all happen, having no intent whatsoever to join in.  The participants circled the flames and drank up the spirits with their straws to the delight of those around.

Diana looked at me, clearly trying to get me to join in.  It wasn't going to happen.

Little brothers grow up as well

The process of ageing is strange.  I don't really feel any older or different to how I felt when I was in my early twenties.  I think that the lack of the "grown up" events such as marriage and children to date have contributed to this lack of any noticeable change.  On the whole, I find that my life from then to now has not dramatically changed all that much other than that the quality of the booze I drink is better and the places I stay are nicer.  Still, as those around me started to move onto the next phases of their lives, it was dragging me along with them.

Seeing my younger brother getting married was definitely one of those events that would help drag me forward a bit.

He and his fiance had been together for years, but now the wedding was happening.  Both of them lived in London, but they had enough family in Australia and specifically around Brisbane to make that the ideal location for the wedding.

They chose a beautiful location in the heart of Brisbane for the ceremony.  It was an imposing and grand cathedral, the type of which I didn't really expect to see in Australia.  During the ceremony, I read one of the prayers, so I walked to the front of the church and stood up at the lectern.  Looking out across the church and all the people seated in the pews, you could really feel the size of this place.

After the wedding, we went to a hotel in South Bank for the reception.  Inside we were able to do some of the more traditional elements of a Chinese wedding as my brother and Vicky did the tea ceremony with the various parents and older generation.  As the older brother, they even served me tea as well.  It was a nice touch to our culture and it was interesting to see all of their non-Asian friends gathering around to watch.  All of them seemed intrigued by the tradition and many of them said they wished they had something similar they could do as well.

As the night went on, the skies darkened and the Brisbane skyline came to life.  We had a lovely view of the lights from the wedding reception.  The later the night went, the more of the older people who started to leave.

After a while, it was only the closest of friends who remained to continue the party.  The lights of the city eventually started to switch off and eventually so did the music.  Some of the committed decided to continue the party elsewhere, but for me it was time to sleep.

The Gabba

Sometimes timing works out perfectly.

I had travelled to Brisbane for my brother's wedding.  He and his fiance lived in London, but due to family, they decided that it made more sense for them to marry in Brisbane.

By sheer luck, the AFL results fell in such a way that one of the semi-final games was to be in Brisbane the night before the wedding.

It had been a couple of years since I had been able to go to a game and it had been over five years since he had been able to go to a game.  Not living in Australia will have that impact.  It was perfect then for a group of his friends and him to enjoy his final night as an unmarried man watching a game of Aussie Rules.

The Lions were playing the Giants.

It was my first time at the Gabba as well.  It was a very nice stadium, with comfortable seats and great sight lines of the entire field.  I even got to eat a meat pie.

The game was good to watch and eventually the Giants managed to push in front.  Having lived in Sydney, they were kind of my second team after the Hawks, so I was happy they won.

After the game, we joined in the traditional of having a kick on the field.  It was a nice way to finish the game, and also a nice way for my brother's last night as a bachelor to end.  Having a last kick with his friends seemed to be a nice analogy for the end of childhood.

Peng Chau

Ed and I go to Cheung Chau all the time.  That's not an exaggeration either.  We really go there that much.  There was one period last year when we went there five weekends in a row.

We thought it made sense to branch out a little bit and visit somewhere different.  We decided to stay close by and shifted our attention to Cheung Chau's smaller neighbour, Peng Chau.  Ed decided that since the island of Peng Chau was so small, he was going to circumnavigate it by swimming.  I had no interest in that at all, so I decided I would hike around the island.

Within a short time, I was out of the town near the ferry terminal.  I was surrounded by small farms and forests.  It's amazing that even in a bustling metropolis like Hong Kong, there can still be small market farmers.  They don't produce that much relative to Hong Kong's consumption, but it's still nice that you can get fresh fruit and vegetables that don't need to be imported.

It didn't take long for me to get through the denser parts of the island and out to some higher peaks.

The views were nice enough, but the island really is tiny.  It took me no time at all to walk the entire island.  It did feel like a mini-version of Cheung Chau.  There were some lovely beaches and some rocky outcrops to look at, but nothing as good as what Cheung Chau had to offer.

There was also nothing like my favourite beach on Cheung Chau with the bars and restaurants sitting directly behind the sand.  This could be a good thing though.  It could be a nice change to be able to spend some time on a beach with less crowds and activity.

I eventually found Ed and his friend.  They were both exhausted as they pulled themselves from the water.  We went and found his friend's family and we were soon devouring Thai food not too far from the ferry terminal.  The two kids of Ed's friend were hilarious as they ran around causing mayhem for all those around.

After lunch, we decided we wanted a coffee.  Ed's friend knew of a great spot which was half antique store and half cafe.  We went inside to sit for a bit and get our coffees.  For the two young owners of the cafe, a couple who were expecting a child, our appearance was far more confronting than they could have ever imagined.  As we adults sat and drank our coffees, chatting and laughing, the two kids were in constant motion.  The store offered far too much intrigue and curiosities for them to stay still and they were wandering everywhere, exploring and creating their own games.  The young couple, with the girl being very pregnant, looked on with terror.  Her partner got up several times to readjust their perfectly arranged store, but by the time he had sat down the two kids would go through again and move everything once more.  Ed and I joked afterwards that they probably had a glimpse of their possible future, which almost certainly diverged away from the more perfect images they had in their minds.