NI HAO FROM WUHAN, CHINA

I traveled to Wuhan, China last week for work. It was an extremely short trip with limited time to explore the city.

According to wikipedia, Wuhan is the most populous city in Central China with nearly 10 million people. Based on it's location, it's a transportation hub for China and is sometimes referred to as the "Chicago of China" - a place I can easily relate to, as I grew up just outside of Chicago:)

I arrived late Saturday evening. Early Sunday morning I was woken by what sounded like gun fire outside my hotel room. I rushed to my window to see what was going on. I couldn't believe what I saw - Fireworks going off outside my hotel room at 6:45am on a Sunday morning. I asked several locals that day about the fireworks, but unfortunately no one knew why they were set off.

Wuhan duck is the local delicacy known for it's spicy flavor. The head and the neck are the popular snack items.

Here are a couple of evening shots of Wuhan.

Our hotel had a revolving restaurant at the top, where I was able to snap a couple of pictures of the city during breakfast. The air was quite smoggy.

I tried to capture what it was like crossing the streets in Wuhan. The street lights aren't always on and the motor bikes and cars have the right away. You have to be so careful crossing the street, as the cars and bikes come in all directions!

From Wuhan, I traveled to Shanghai, which I will blog about in my next post.

MOVING INTO OUR NEW HOME

This has been one CRAZY week. I started the week in Wuhan, China and spent Tuesday in Shanghai. I was back in Hong Kong Tuesday night and we moved our goods from storage into our new place on Wednesday ("we" meaning M.. I went to work:)). And on Friday, we leave for Singapore for a fun weekend with friends in a new city!

We are currently straddling our time between our temporary housing and our new digs. Hopefully, we will be permanently moved into our new place by Tuesday. Here are some "work in progress" pictures of the new place I took tonight.

Our living room

The living room/dining area. The large cabinet didn't fit in the elevator and the movers had to carry it up 24 floors!

Our trusty horse made it from NY

And my gnome from Switzerland!

Our kitchen

The guest bedroom. Getting set up just in time for M's parents to arrive next weekend:)

Our room

The view of Central and the Harbour from our living room

Thanks to M for all of his amazing work this week getting us settled into our new apartment. I can't tell you how nice it is to be reacquainted with all of our familiar belongings from New York. Hong Kong is really beginning to feel like home.

I will post more pictures of the finished apartment soon!

A LITTLE TASTE OF PARIS IN HK

After signing our lease, M and I went in search for a nearby restaurant for dinner. I immediately stopped when I spotted La Marmite, a cute french bistro on Staunton Street. The decor reminded me of one of my favorite eateries in New York - Cafe Cluny.

To start, they present you with a plate of freshly baked bread, butter sprinkled with sea salt and their famous secret spread.

We started with the salmon and dill tartar. The presentation was creative and the crisp piece of toast topped with tartar and some greens was scrumptious.

For our mains, M had the chicken and crawfish pie and I had an almond crusted white fish. Delicious!

The food was absolutely wonderful and is priced pretty reasonably compared to other french restaurants in the area. If you are in Hong Kong and looking for a respite from Asian food, I definitely recommend checking out La Marmite. We will be back soon!

DRAGONS BACK & SHEK O

Having lived in NYC for the past 5 years, it took at least an hour and a half to feel like you were truly "away" from the city. We spent so much time in traffic trying to get somewhere where we could relax and reconnect with nature.

One of the main benefits of living in Hong Kong is that nature and beaches are truly in your back yard. You do not need to travel far to find them. Last weekend, M and I traveled 30 minutes from the city center to the east side of the island to hike Dragon's Back in Shek O.

The only challenge we faced on our adventure was finding the recommended starting point of our hike which is at the Tai Tam Gap Correctional Facility on Shek O Road... I know, very random. Anyway, I wanted to provide detailed instructions on how to get there (with pictures) so you don't get lost if you chose to do this hike.

To get there, we took the MTR to the Shau Kei Wan station.

Take the A3 exit from the MTR station to the bus terminal. From there, take the #9 bus to the Cape Collinson stop, which is where the Tai Tam Gap Correctional Facility is located.

Next to the Correctional Facility, you will find a stone staircase which will lead you up to the trail. Follow the trail and the signs to "Dragon's Back", and you will be well on your way.

The first portion of the hike is more "foresty". M kept asking "when are we going to see the views?" His complaining aside, I greatly enjoyed hiking through the lush trees.

About a half mile into the hike, you exit the forest and begin to climb along the "Dragon's Back" or the peak. The views of the beaches and ocean are breathtaking.

We spotted one of the only golf courses on Hong Kong Island - Shek O Country Club.

It's windy at the top, so pack an extra layer or 2 if you chose to do the hike in the Winter.

At the end of the Hike, we arrived back at Shek O Road. We caught the #9 Bus to Shek O Beach, which is the last stop.

Shek O is such a quaint surf town and the beach is beautiful. We will definitely be back this Spring and Summer to enjoy the water and possibly a picnic on the beach.

Before heading back to the city, we stopped by Shek O Chinese & Thai restaurant for dinner. The Thai food was amazing - we declared it better than the Thai food we had in Thailand! We definitely recommend the vegetarian curry puffs, tom yum goong soup and the morning glory vegetable dish.

APARTMENT FOUND!

Last night, we signed a 2 year lease for an apartment in Hong Kong! It has a little bit of everything we were looking for. We wanted to be closer to Central (not too high up the hill), near the Mid-Level's Escalator to improve our commute time and we wanted to have views of the harbour. We were also looking for a place with 3 bedrooms (1 bedroom is the size of a closet), 2 bathrooms and an oven. Believe it or not, ovens are hard to come by in Hong Kong. In the end, we saw about 40 different places and worked with 4 different brokers. It was extremely time consuming but well worth it!

We are so excited to finally feel "settled" in Hong Kong. The big move is scheduled for next Wednesday, just in time to get settled before M's mom arrives.

You want to know what's really ironic? The weekend we decided to move to Hong Kong, I was craving an old-fashioned American breakfast. Our search for bacon and eggs led us to a restaurant called the Brunch Club on a small street in Soho called Peel Street.

When we selected our temporary Housing in December, we got a good laugh because our building was on Peel Street, just 2 blocks from the Brunch Club.

This is a view standing outside of the Brunch Club looking down Peel Street. You can see the sign for our temporary housing on the right.

And when we finally found THE apartment, it was located at the corner of Caine Street and Peel Street, just up the hill from the Brunch Club.

Brunch Club is on the left and our apartment is in the building straight ahead.

Little did we know that when we chose the Brunch Club for breakfast last Fall, we were literally within 2 blocks of our new home(s) in Hong Kong. I guess you never know what could be just around the corner.

STAR FERRY BY NIGHT

M and I had dinner with a friend this past weekend in TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) at a wonderful Italian restaurant called Al Molo. On the way home, rather than taking the MTR, we caught the Star Ferry. It didn't take that much longer and the views were unreal. It was well worth the extra 10 minute commute!

LOVE FROM THE US

Thanks to my dear friends Katie and Jamie for the most wonderful surprise! Care packages are just the best, especially when they are filled with hand written notes, home baked goods, a photo album filled with so many funny memories, gossip magazines and my favorite good old American snacks. I feel a little less homesick today:)