This post covers our stay in Hong Kong, 1 - 10 September 2016.
We were on our way home - back to Australia. Our teaching in China finished in early July, we then visited Hungary (3 weeks) and Germany (4 weeks). Now we were headed for home, via HK.
We stopped in Hong Kong to see Andrew and his wife Caroline and our grandson Little Eddie. They lived on the border of Happy Valley and Causeway Bay (across the street from the HK Football Club). Andrew worked for Google, and his office was just 10 minutes walk away, in Times Square, Causeway Bay.
Caroline had started an online furniture business, Reddie - click HERE. She designed the furniture which was made in Indonesia; two main selling points: the furniture can be customised to individual requirements and it is hand-made of real wood, mainly teak.
Little Eddie was two-and-a-quarter years old and we were keen to bond with him again.
We got two big items of news on our arrival: (1) Caroline was pregnant, a baby girl expected in March next year, and (2) Andrew had decided to resign from Google at the end of October and join Caroline in running the online furniture start-up. WOW! Big changes coming in their lives.
These are photos of our stay in Hong Kong.
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| The nice swimming pool at the HK Football Club. Andrew got membership through the Tennis Section. and Vera & I had reciprocal membership rights through the Southern Cross Club in Canberra. We went to the Football Club every day, for the child nusery or the gym or to have a swim. Andrew's flat was only 100m from the Club. |
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| Andrew played tennis for the HK Football Club (A Grade). The club has 4 tennis courts on the roof. |
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| Eddie goes to "Little Kickers" soccer on Saturday mornings. HK is a "vertical city" ; land is scarce so they build up and even sporting classes like this one was held on the 20th floor of a tall office building. |
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| Eddie went to play group twice a week. Such activities are not inexpensive (A$30 per hour), but there are no alternatives for him to mix with other kids. |
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| One day we went out to Repulse Bay, later did the nice walk around to Deep Water Bay and then a bus home. |
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| A big statue of the Goddess of the Sea in a Chinese temple in Repulse Bay. |
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| We had lunch with Stuart Valentine. We were colleagues in the Australian Embassy, Beijing back in 1984. Stuart fell in love with a HK girl, resigned from DFAT, and practised law in HK. We hadn't seen him for 30 years - lovely guy. |
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| We took Eddie on the Star Ferry, from Central across to TST, always a fun ride. |
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| Andrew invited Caroline and me to lunch at Google. Andrew had 10 years with Google; worked in Sydney, New York, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. It is a great company and he has done well. But he wants a new challenge, and Caroline desperately needs help on the marketing/promotional side of Reddie. Let's hope it works out. |
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| The Google staff canteen was known for its excellent food, prepared by real chefs. Food and drinks were free for staff and guests. Andrew will miss this!!!! |
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| Andrew and Caroline had a wonderful nanny, a Filipino lady called Jolene, She was a treasure. |
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| We flew from HK to Brisbane. Vera ' met' one of her old SIA colleagues at the Airport. She worked for Singapore Airlines in Jakarta in the early 1970s, when I met her. The SIA uniform always brings back good memories; such a great airline. |
One night Andrew took us to The China Club in Central for dinner. What a weird and wonderful place - a step back in time.
On Saturday 10 September 2016 we flew from HK to Brisbane, Our days of teaching English in China were really over, and we were finally heading home, this time for good. Mixed feelings.
The next post will describe our visit to Brisbane.
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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.
Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Wednesday 15 March 2017
