Hong Kong II

We've had yet more rain all week. Well on and off all week. But the garden is soaking wet again .... Today Saturday it's been brighter.. We've had showerws but warming sun as well ..... Carrots, Pak Choi, and Radish are up in the vegie garden as well as the peas ..... We've planted Lettuce, rocket, onions and Beetroot .....

I'm at war with the cats ... A pile of cat poop in the middle of a raised bed had to be removed this morning .... It's all out war now I can tell you .....

Too wet to take soil up the path to the vegie garden .. But we double-digged a section at the very top ready for potatoes to be planted ... This had some pretty good soil in it and had obviously been used before...Though not for some 15years Plus I would say ....The other half McD said we should leave and put a patch of decking in for us to sit and enjoy the view ... Sounds like a damned fine idea to me :O)

Hong Kong

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

After the window shopping of the specialist streets on hong Kong Island (and a promise to return which we never did) we paid a vist to the famous Mon Po temple ...While dark inside and the air heavy with incence we were allowed to take photographs which came out ok...We didn't use the flash again as people were prayig etc and it didn't seem right to do so ,,,

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

From the temple we walked up to the largest run on escalators in the region (After a much needed stop for an Iced smoothie at a great and airconditioned coffee house ...) The escalators go up to the higher reaches of the hill side ..past shops and streets and restaurants ... Then at the top of it we made our way back down via the roads stopping off at the small zoo and gardens 1/2 way down ...The zoo was predominately monkeys or apes of varying types ... all spotless and well maintained ...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A year in My Garden - #8

Old wisdom:

Flowers are said to be a good indicator of how the season is progressing and when it is safe to sow and plant.



"When the crocuses bloom, sow peppers and eggplant indoors.

When daffodils bloom, sow tomatoes, cabbage, and lettuce indoors.

When Lilies of the Valley bloom, plant tomatoes outside.

When Irises bloom, put peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant outdoors.

When peonies bloom, plant melons"



I wonder if there is more to that poem??



I'm sat at my computer in my room freezing my bits off..... We forgot to order the refills for the gas bottles we have at the house that runs the fire in the house ... That fire heats the whole house ..Though we do have an electric radiator at the opposite end of the house to keep the chill off the bedrooms and hall way at night..That radiator is now in the living room beside McDs chair ......



So here I am without heat but with a yellow "Winny the Poo" Blanket draped over my shoulders ...I did used to have a manly mexican blanket ..But thats now relegated to the seat cover of my chair ... I used to have a BigDogs Blanket...But McDs Daughter S took a shine to that ...Poor cold destitute flatting student that she is .... So I 'm here with my yellow "Poo" blanket a prezzy from McD whose humour knows no bounds ......



We are sposed to be in spring here ... It was announced September 1st was spring start !! But not tonight ... Actually not yesterday or the day before either ....We've had a freezing cold southerly hit us ..>Straight off the Antartic ...Cold Cold Cold... Then it all cleared late saturday afternoon Right after I had prepared the earth for raised vegetable bed number 4 ....





And then at the end of the 6 o'clock news - so 7pm really they announce there would be a frost over most of the country !!!



A FROST !!!



So there we are tucking the seedling in with old newspapers ..Guided by the light of a feeble tourch as we make our way up the slippery garden path through the trees to the top level of the garden ..>Covering new seedlings of carrot radish and pakchoi ....Covering the potatoes in their bucket/dustbin containers down in the yard .... and then hoping all will be well for our vegie babies....



The local weather station, just up the road from where we live says it's 8C at 11:30pm... I'll be surprised if it gets to freezing point now ..Plus being on the side of a hill there tends to be a reasonable air flow over the garden ..... .I hope so .... It will be a shame to see the potato leaves just opened, turn black ...





Border 1 has now recovered from the unbelieveably wet winter ... Some casualties, with some of the cabbages rotting at the stem.... But not that many ... so with a good number of plants at different stages of growth we are still looking forward to that first harvest ..... The leeks are still pencil thin but looking healthy enough . One plant lost. the rest, spinache, celery, silverbeet, all looking pretty good....





It certainly has been a wet winter. The wettest on record for wellington and many other sites around the country.... 167% more rain through the winter and 8 weekends in a row where it poured down....





So out of the 10/11 raised borders plus the fruit plants we wanted to plant out ..We've managed 4...Or will have by the end of the weekend .....



















But We have broadbeans growing nice and green, Garlic reaching for the sky along with Egyptian onions ...And Strawberries just coming into bud ...Though the plants are small still ....















So we have the start of a vegetable garden... I'll start sowing the tomatoes, curbits and capsicums etc in doors or under cover in readiness for a warmer soil in a few weeks .... It will happen ...just not tonight .....

allotment, kitchen garden, potager garden, square foot, vegetable garden, new zealand

And then there was Hong Kong

 

I think I'll get the boring stuff out of the way and then concentrate on the where we went and how we nearly died at least twice whilst on our HK adventures ....

 

1) about a day into Hong Kong I managed to strain my back while getting out of a chair ..... PAIN !!!!  }:o(   A nightly application of Chinese tiger balm patches and hot showers allowed me mobility ... But BACK PAIN SUCKS PEOPLE -  BIG TIME >..... 

2) Then ontop of that, about 2 days into HK and I got the "Travel Belly Trots" ......... That Takes up a lot of Lavatory Time I can tell you ... EVEN THOUGH We had a range of tablets depending on severity of the TBTs from the travel doctor prior to leaving New Zealand ....... But again at least they allowed me to travel in relative comfort ..... 

 Ok back to the fun stuff ... 

From the Airport which is now on Lantau Island beside HK Disney land (we didn't go) there is a wonderful high speed train into Hong Kong proper..from there to the hotel was a short taxi ride ... Easy ... Compared to what we have in NZ this train system made us look like the flintstones....By the trian left the station it had broke the NZ speed record for trains ...And no I'm not joking ..... 

The Hotel was fairly central in kowloon. Lovely 2 roomed suite and - Wait for it - 2!! YES 2!! 42" wall mounted TVs one in each room ... one room a lounge  area with TV  (of course) and the other a bedroom ..Nice large KS bed and yes - a TV :O) .........

 

1st day and out we go before the heat builds up too much ... It was always in the 30-35C range except one day  when it dropped to only 28C Brrr :O)

 

 Our first trip was over to Hong Kong Island ...here streets specialise in certain wares ... One street was seefood ...Another Chinese herbalists .... Another sold Antiques(Replicas mostly).. Very interesting place ... However we had arrived to early and many of the shops were either closed or just opening .  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This interesting building was a market but now housed the ventilation for the underground .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A Chinese herbalists ... Selling a huge amount of Ginseng

 

 

 

 Self explanatory .. We did get the opportunity to have birdsnest soup ... But didn't .. Continued stealing of the nests are putting the swifts populations into sharp decline ...

 

 

 

 1/2 the goods we couldn't identify .... Some we were glad we couldn't ....

 

 

 Shrimps , Sprats , fungi ..... Note the Sharks fin in the Window

 

 

 

 Squid in abundance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As we left the streets and headed for the antiques area and the Main temple (Ma Po) we found this little spot under trees ..... Pictures at the back told us what the flowers and plants were in the area ..... Unfortunately the peacefulness was distrupted by a very loud Siren going off nearby ... Didn't seem to be a problem for this chap though ... 

 

Last entry on Brunei

I can give you all some information on the fruit .... We bought a large bag of them to take back to the Hotel ... I really liked them ..You broke the skin and sqeezed the clearish flsh was exposed which was very sweet and remeniscent of Lychee perhaps ... but in the Centre was a brown seed .....We didn't cook the seeds up to try :O)

The Longan( Dragons Eye) is so named as it resembles an eyeball when shelled, (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil )The fruit is edible and used in desserts and sweet and sour dishes, the seed cooked has a nutty flavour

 

 

We put so much in during the two short days in Brunei ... Having been dropped off back at the we collapsed into bed and slept through til morning ... The room had a 42 inch TV which was unusual for hotels ..McD had chosen well :O) Breakfast in the hotel . Not the best but fine ... because they are a Muslim country, no Bacon ...They did have Beef Rashers though !!! Tasted like boiled corned silverside and very unapealing ..but there was other stuff .... We then had the morning to ourselves so out we went for a walk before the heat built up again .....

The foyer of our floor ..McD making hersef at home :O)

 

 

  Having stopped off for a coffee in a very modern 'starbucks' style cafe (the coffee was better than starbucks) we wandered along the road taking in the sites and the people .... It's all so modern though .. Brunei MacDonalds was there !! Is there anywhere in this world where they are not ?? We had to get a picture of the Brunei MacDs delivery service :O) I had hoped we would stumble on a park or something but we never did ... We tracked back in a large circle crossing busy roads between cars (They even stopped for us !!) and walked along some smaller clothes and hardware shops, before finding a supermarket closer to the hotel where we stocked up on bottled water for the day and a few unusual cold drinks they had there ...

 

 

 

Then back to the hotel and the Mall which is connected to the back of the Hotel ..... We had lunch wit hthe locals at the food court there ...Some nice mix of philipino dishes.... Our guide picked us up shortly after that ... It was to be a more cultural afternoon ... Visiting no less than 3 museums .. I had asked that they find us a park or something to visit but it wasn't to be ....

The first museum was dedicated to the Sultan of Brunei ... Ceremonial carriages, ballgowns and military style suites all on display along with the family history in pictures etc of the Sultan ..... Our guide, able to speak continuously for 2 or 3 life-times on a single intake of breath rattles off who they had all married , divorced etc along whith which cousins married what cousins from what line .... Now I really had no interest .. I wandered off as much as I could leaving McD and her together .. McD has more interest than me in that .... Of Course some of the artifacts were interesting but too few and far between 

One thing though was that an entire floor was dedicated to the 'gifts'  other countries had given the Sultan (brunei?) over a period .... Now some of these gifts were quite something ... Swords , model cities in silver, beautifully etched Kris knives ..... And there in a corner behind glass was new zealands  ... "Hey McD come and look at this !!!" I could n't believe it we'd presented them wit hthe tiniest little shopping bag woven out of flax (Moari ) that would have sat in the palm of my hand  ... and some wooden thing .... THAT WAS IT !!!!!!   No carved Moari greenstone ??!!!!! No NZ Iconic peice of art ??!!!!!!   We Were Embarrassed !!!!!!! and walked on quickly ...

The rest of the afternoon plodded on ...A visit to a meusem that held a mockup of a Bornio Tribe Villiage .. The guide just having inhaled again from the 1st museum talks was in full chatter .... The villiage was interesting though ... A large coral style of up right fiishing nets ....  Showing how they made tabioca ... stuff like that .... The chatter was starting to give me a headache ....... 

And then a musuem on ...Well bits and bobs I guess ... A history of the oil industry there ..... And a large collection of the Koran books from around the 1400s onwards I think.....

The last stop was to visit the Mosque again in daylight this time .... It was a prayer day and even late in the afternoon may people were there or leaving or arriving ..... However the guide gained permission for us to go in and also to climb the steps to the top of one of the towers to get a view across the city ....!!! It was 35 degrees poeple and she wanted us to climb a tower !!!! 

Stuff that I told McD ... I'll leave you and her to it... .McD was actually keen to do the climb ... 

Now what I hadn't realised was that the guide wasn't going to do the climb with MCD ... Otherwise I would have gone with her ... ....

It was nice though sitting in the gardens and watching the world go by .... Everyone so friendly !! Smiling and saying hello....... What a shame other muslim country's couldn't be the same ......

You will have to keep visiting McDs site.. She has started writing again and will show the pictures she took from the spire top ... She was very dark red by she retuned to terr-firma..... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that was our Brunei trip ...... That evening the hotel had a special evening at the restaurant there and we dined on fresh whole fish cooked in a fresh  mango sauce along with all sorts  of dishes you could go help yourself to ...All indonesian style ... Yum ...    ..... the next morning we were packed and off to the airport .... a lot of hanging around and then a 3 hour flight and we were at Hong kong airport .......