Anyway, here are a few replies I received to some random questions I have asked:

“Travel: Where would you rather be right now?”

John K. 43 / M / Denver, US “exactly where I am”

Yabbox “Good answer. You lucky man.”

John K. “very”

Lauren F. 28 / F / Middle Village, US “zihuatanejo!”

Yabbox “It looks idyllic. Take me with you!”

Lauren F. “Wish I could take myself!! ”

Dustin M. 25 / M / Missoula, US “Rob a bank”

Yabbox “Nice. I didn’t think of that.”

Dustin M. “I mean, look at women, listen to gossip, play pranks on people, or get rich?

Yabbox “Apart from wander around the rooms of a high class brothel, I thought of stealing a passport, or walking across immigration, or issuing myself a round the world airplane ticket, stealing a yacht, etc. Similar lines I guess, but yours has more potential!”

Ian M. 26 / M / San Jose, US “id (birth cert, other documents), laptop, cell phone and charger.”

Yabbox “Modern day essentials. Frightening but realistic. Thanks.”

Ian M. “yeah…pretty much everything else is optional”

Melissa A. 29 / F / Dubai, United Arab Emirates “harddrives, bicycle, plants”

Yabbox “Superb answer. Realistic, practical and loving.”

Melissa A. “cool”

Maria F. 20 / F / Lisbon, Portugal “I don’t know, but if I woke up in an unfamiliar place without having any memory of how I got there, I’d call the police.”

Greg S. 25 / M / St. Louis, US “A hammock suspended between two doric columns overlooking the ocean on Santorini.”

Fernando B. 31 / M / Sao Paulo, Brazil “Probably will try to raise as much money as I can …”

Skyphone G. 40 / M / London, UK “I won’t assume right off that you might be gay if you are a flight attendant not unless you might be giving away signs of being effeminate? Being competent flight attendant demands a rigorous attention to details when it comes to serving demanding flight passengers. Only highly qualified individuals are fortunate to qualify & most of these qualities can only be found on people with specific attributes regardless of their sexual orientation.”

No Hunting Dogs Allowed in Room
No Cleaning Game in Room

Uploaded by yabbox

This is a screen shot taken from BBC Series ‘Wonders of the Solar System’ episode ‘Order out of Chaos’.

No Hunting Dogs Allowed in Room – No Cleaning Game in Room

It took me a while to work out what the second sentence meant, then it clicked, no cleaning (of) game (animals) in room.

It seems that the TLC Farmer’s Motel isn’t the only place where hunters get up to strange goings on in their motel room. Someone called Kay2 commented on the Fodor’s website

Paxson—Paxon Inn/Lodge has a sign on back of room door “No cleaning game in room” made us wonder about the stains in the shower.

BBC Programmes

If you upload pornographic images, depending on the impact would be locked dark room until the kill file.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As the traditional Chinese calendar follows the phases of the moon, the Chinese New Year will fall on a different date each year, usually at some point in late January or early February. In 2010, the new year coincidentally coincides with Valentine’s day, on 14th February.

A traditional part of welcoming in the new year, is to make offerings on New Years Eve to the dead. Today you can still watch in parts of Beijing local Beijinger’s make a small fire on the corner of the road and make offerings to their lost ones. Following on from this, Chinese will set off red fire crackers to ‘drive away the evil spirits’, which are combined with more colourful displays of firework displays on nearly every street corner.

Fireworks were banned by the government in Beijing until 2005 (too many accidents) and since then the yearly display seems to grow exponentially, both with official displays in public places, to local restaurants and bars to celebrate a successful year, to almost every local resident competing with one another for the biggest, loudest and most colourful display!

The fireworks will be set off all through the day during New Years Eve and culminating in a huge show of mass celebration at midnight. As you can see from the short video above, which was taken from the 7th floor of an apartment block in the residential neighbourhood of Tuanjiehu (directly south of Chaoyang Park and 1km north of the new CCTV tower) the fireworks are literally set-off from every corner, from rooftops and even out of windows. This was actually at 12:10 AM, so the peak had already ebbed somewhat. And I am sure closer to the centre, in prosperous areas or purely from a higher vantage point the display would be even more impressive.

The noise of the firecrackers will continue all through the day for the next two weeks … ???? .. xin nián kuài lè!

I passed this Siu Mei (??) restaurant in Jordan, in a side street just off Shanghai street. These two pigs really looked enticing, and there were other cuts of meat hanging alongside with lovely looking crackling, plenty of meat and a lovely barbecued flavour-ful skin.

I can’t imagine those burned little pig’s ears would be the delicacy they reputedly are however!

The chef didn’t mind me taking some photos and even tried to ‘pose’ for some shots while at work.

The pork ribs were roughly sliced through the bone and served on a bed a rice with a minced ginger sauce.

Cheering on the horses at Happy Valley
By yabbox

A Night at the Races

If you’re in Hong Kong on a Wednesday evening you have to go to the races. I arrived in Hong Kong on a Tuesday and stayed for 9 days, which meant I could go the races twice! Racing in Hong Kong is very accessible, in terms of travel and getting involved; it’s a lot of fun, a lovely grass race track where the going is always good and a great mix of local’s, mainland Chinese (both of whom love gambling), with a lot of working foreigners and other tourists from all over. Everyone rubs shoulders which each other, except I presume those in the private boxes and members enclosures. I met Hong Kongers, Singaporeans, English, Irish, Dutch, Germans and Japanese – another lot who love gambling!

It is also a cheap evening out – depending how much you lose on the horses! Entrance to the General Admission stands is just HK$10, a draught beer is HK$30+, a Ballentine’s Coke HK$34, a bowl of roasted pork with crackling served on rice HK$34 and the minimum bet is HK$10.

There are two racetracks in Hong Kong, Happy Valley and Sha Tin. Unless you’re a keen racegoer, don’t bother with Sha Tin. Maybe if you want to experience the day out and can’t make a Wednesday evening event, go to Sha Tin on a Saturday/Sunday. Maybe.

Happy Valley is the oldest track, founded in 1845 by the British on an old swamp as opposed to the relatively new course at Sha Tin built in 1978. Despite Happy Valley racecourse being rebuilt in 1995, the stadium still keeps a great atmosphere on race night. There are sections of the stands with commentary and live video feed in English, lot’s of beer and food tents and two public floors of bars and betting as well as outdoor stands, access to the Parade Ring and viewing right up to the race course edge.

The public stands sit next to the Members Enclosure, so the finishing line is quite close, but you can’t get alongside, unless you have access to other stands. For example you can pay HK$180 at Gate C, which has more exclusive bars, and stands.

The first race is around 7pm and there are normally 8 races on the card, with varying distance and standards, but normally all have 12 entries.

How to Bet

Betting in Hong Kong is different from what you may be used to. There are no independent bookmakers and all bets are controlled by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which operate like a TOTE and invest money back in to the future of racing. They also operate an amazing website, where you have live odds, live races, rebate checks and lot’s of background info on each horse. There are HKJC Betting shops all over Hong Kong, you can spot them easily when racing is on as there will be a crowd outside!

But how to place a bet at Happy Valley? There are betting rooms and small stands dotted all over the course, but you won’t find the pitches and tic-tac show on course as in England. There are Customer Service desks that can also help.

• Buy the day’s paper with the racing section before arrival.
• Upon entry pick up a racecard (A4 sheet for free) or official racecard for HK$10.
• Have a look at the Parade Ring to view the horses and jockeys as they mount.
• Look at the TV screens, consult your race card and check the form.
• Go to one of the betting halls and find the tray of betting slips, which vary depending on which bet you wish to make. The blue ones are for Win / Place (each way) / Quinella bets. I will explain this below.
• Complete the betting slip.
• Queue up at the window and place your bet – check the betting slip you receive before leaving the desk.
• Watch the race.
• Collect your winnings!

How to fill in the Betting Slip

I will start with the general betting slip which is blue.

This betting slip can be used for five different types of bet: Win * Place * Quinella * Quinella Place * All Up *

Win – Your chosen horse must be first past the post.
Place – Lower odds, your horse can come in the top four* (depending how many horses start).
Quinella – You chose two horses in the same race, they must finish first and second, in either order.
Quinella Place – You chose two horses, one must finish first, the other must be placed, i.e second, third of fourth.
All Up – Not sure!

The betting slip may look like a complex mathematical paper, but it really is quite easy. Place a diagonal mark in the upcoming RACE NO (number). Then underneath the ‘SINGLE RACE’ chose the ‘POOL’ in which to enter your bet: either Win, Place, Quinella or Quinella Place. Ignore the pink shaded boxes and instead in the bottom left under ‘SELECTIONS’, mark your chosen horse number. Then on the far right side, mark ‘UNIT’ and then mark how much you wish to bet. The minimum bet on a Win / Place is HK$10.

Win / Place Example

So, for a simple WIN or PLACE bet, there should be 4 sections filled out. Race Number, Pool, Selection and the amount you bet. There will be a minimum of five marks on the slip, as you also have to chose UNIT$ or TICKET$. Furthermore, if you bet HK$60, you will mark the $50 and the $10 box.

Quinella / Quinella Place Example

With a Quinella bet you are choosing two horses in the same race. The TV screens will have the Live Quinella odds on display in a chart. Find your horses number along the x-axis and the y-axis and run along to see the current odds. You will complete the form as above, but chose two numbers in the SELECTION section. You are not making a preference over which of your chosen selections will win, or be placed. As above, you chose a UNIT$ price and this is a total price for the combination bet. You are making one bet. Both horses must

Use a separate betting slip for each bet, unless you are making a combination bet. Hand the ticket over the counter together with your wager and you will receive a printed betting slip in return.

As I mentionned before, there are Customer Service Desks and lots of staff who will be only too happy to help you complete the betting slip, it is after all your money that you’ll be spending!

Clutch that winning betting slip and join everyone else at the rails or in the stands are cheer your runner home! Should you be lucky, you can claim your winnings as soon as the Official Dividends have been announced. You can also check online later to double check if you had the winning ticket rebate due.

http://bet.hkjc.com/default.aspx?lang=en&langRedirect=true

Getting There

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Valley_Racecourse

More

http://trivialmatters.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-turn-of-fortune-in-hong-kong.html

Insert Sim Card

First thing the phone said, ‘please insert SIM card’. Aha. Why wasn’t that Step 1? OK, but, like how?? Why on earth did I have to search online for ten minutes to find this helpful tutorial on Mac | Life. Then for another 10 minutes to find a paperclip, in this paperless world. Eventually I found a needle in my girlfriend’s sewing kit I could use.

But the phone still doesn’t recognise my SIM. It appears I need to download the latest version of iTunes to my computer.

Things better be smoother than this once the initial hurdles are cleared. I tell you something, I’m glad I’m struggling with this now rather than on Christmas morning – there’s nothing like a Christmas present with the ‘batteries not included’. But hang on, another thought.. once I’ve registered my SIM card, what will happen when my girlfriend tries to use her card?

Update

Hmm. After setting the iPhone up I took out my SIM card and went to put everything back in the box to wrap it up and leave it ‘under the tree’ for Christmas Eve. It was then that I found a tiny image on the packaging and a ‘SIM card removal tool’ clipped in to the packaging. Not sure how I missed it before, except the image is the size of a postage stamp.

It still doesn’t explain why this step is not included in the getting started manual?

My office colleague has borrowed a Canon EOS 400D Digital Camera for her first trip to Hong Kong and so we wonder down to Victoria harbour so she can take her first souvenir shots of Hong Kong.

I’ve been meaning to upgrade to a Canon Powershot G9 or G10 for some time. Now I’ve seen there is a G11 on the market and still I’m managing with my little Ixus 80.

But Zhaonan wasn’t comfortable with the size of the 400D, or with all the options, so we ended up doing a swap. It was good for me to see how I would get on with a bigger camera. The ghost ship (left) was one of my first shots. Not perfectly focused, but it was at night without a flash or a tripod and I like the ghost-like appearance of the red-sailed junk and the reflections of the Christmas lights in the water.

Bamboo Scaffolding
Originally uploaded by yabbox

The next shot was of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the impressive Bamboo scaffolding clinging to its’ side. It’s a photo which takes a second to work out because of sharp diagonal line combined with the lighting shining through the trees on to the building and the dark sky.

Funnily enough, apart from looking like a tourist with this clumpy thing around my neck, it gave me more freedom to take photos I wouldn’t normally have bothered with. Not necessarily to experiment more, but to feel more professional, rather than a happy snapper. I certainly wasn’t expecting that.

Now I know I need to upgrade my camera..