Saturday, September 19, 2015

Day 2 - Disney Land

Travel to Disney Land today was sure exciting, we used four different subway trains to land over there. The last train had the cutest windows, they were Mickey Mouse ears!  The  train was adorned with bronze statues of the Disney characters, and the hand straps also joined in the theming.



We paused for the entrance photo, although someone managed to put in a seductive pose, not sure what was going on there!



Actually it was hilarious, even the youngsters lunch time meal had carrot and watermelon cut Mickey mouse ears.  There was also the wafting aroma of Mickey Mouse waffles.


As with any commercialised venture, there was a stack of Disney branded items for sale.  The child got lost in the possibility of spending all travel money on Day 2 to buy up all the little stuffed things she could find.  Thankfully Mummy had the foresight to but a limit on the number you could buy, and also the size given we are travelling a long way from home.  Some blue stitch thing was selected and then randomly appeared in photos for the balance of the day.

I am not sure if the traffic through the amusement park was normal for a Saturday, but it was surely not what I expected.  We hardly had to queue for any rides or food, which meant that there were ample rides to be taken.  The youngster finally achieved her dream of a roller coaster ride, actually multiple times.  At the end of the ride, I swear she would have broken a track record to run back and announce how excited she was.

After rollercoasters, she also managed to survive some horrid looking ride the spanned into the sky at great speeds. Many thanks to Aunty Helen for her dedication to attending to every ride request.

We did climb up through Tarzan's tree house, after a short ride down the river on a raft.  I jumped on the carosel for a spin and almost begged the horses to stop moving.  As we took a spin on the train around the outside of the park, I spotted the famous tea cups that had been etched in my childhood memory, and the best part, it was stationary!  In reflecting on the day, the youngster feels that I must have had a sense of abandonment at being left alone and away from the fun of screaming your head off.  Yep those solo moments with a quiet coke zero were terrible.  I also managed to find a popcorn place, and I did pass on the curry popocorn option, instead giving the chocolate version a go.

Determined to make the most of my holiday, and perhaps bring home a little trinket for myself, I gave this a good.....

 
It was also lovely to hang out with the youngster, with no worries about school, work, chores or any other normal life drama.  It was random moments of being able to see how big she has actually grown, and how her own little sense of humour is developing.  This stunt actually made me chuckle out loud.  The look on her face was hilarious, especially when glancing over at Aunty Helen who was posing quite respectively for the photo.

 
The fitbit announced on the way out of the park that I had hit my step target for the day, and judging by the feel or lack of feeling in my feet at the moment, it feels like I walked a long way. 


Friday, September 18, 2015

Day 1 2015 Holiday

Queensland to Hong Kong, a small nine hour flight. Good news that the AS managed to hold up ok, and I was walking and moving reasonably when we landed. No challenges with immigration, customs or baggage collection, and we navigated our way through the airport landing near the train.  

With a couple of ways to get to Kowloon, the cheapest option included the train ride. It was good to see that our spirit for adventure was up after the long flight.  Thankfully I had some of the local currency, so paying cash at the ticket machine was not a problem.  The youngster was in shock at the $135 price, so we made a note to work out the exchange rate sum so we understood how many Australian dollars we were spending.

The train ride was easy. Navigating out of the shopping centre we landed in was much more difficult! We meandered for what seemed like an eternity before stumbling on the exit and the very long taxi line.  Of course to keep us company was 30 degree heat and the welcome aroma of Asia!

The cab ride should have cost around $30, and I am really not sure if the $60 fare was intentional, or that traffic jam was unpredictable!  But given the luxurious vehicle we were riding in, perhaps he needed to fund the next one.

 

We have found our travelling companion and it's great to be able to spend some in person time with one of my dearest friends who lives on the other side of our local continent. With a wry smile, I walked under bamboo scaffolding as we wandered up the streets looking for dinner.  The youngster had been lured from her mattress with the knowledge that sushi did in fact exist in Kowloon!  Of course sashimi was not what she expected, but we did manage to find a spot that made tuna hand rolls, so the crisis was averted.  Soft crab tempura hand rolls were amazing, as was the mixed tempura plate of things.  The little magic mushroom creation was gently passed over for Helen to eat, so I am waiting to see if she awakes for day 2 activities!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Updates

It seems like I have been missing since May.  Wow the time has sure flown.  My business is a freckle off hitting its first financial milestone.  We officially kicked off the new company in February, so it has been a fantastic ride to get to this point.  It was less than a year ago when I verbalised that it may be time to make a start on another goal.  The concept was met with a slight frown.  Discussion around risk, and effort began. In my head it was not so much of a big deal, and really it wouldn't take any additional effort.  The risk thing was fine, but effort was way understated!  But the great thing is that when it is your own, and your passionate about it, well it often doesn't feel like work.

With the achievement of a business goal, the next one will be to regain some level of fitness, it has felt of late that I have traded the pursuit of money (business) over other parts of life.  After the holiday, I plan on swinging back to a more balanced approach, which may result in a financial progress slow down, but I created the company for a lifestyle change, not a financial one.

In the middle of all this change, we decided three years of dating between two houses was enough, and we made the plunge into cohabitation.  Things went a bit like my approach to effort above.  Turns out a quiet life of two is way different to five, and this journey has been a little bumpy.  The great thing is despite all the challenges of adjusting to the new family dynamics, I would say that our relationship has strengthened during the period.

The youngster made the regional athletics team again this year, and had a blazing 100m sprint and relay, of which I managed to do a breakfast meeting with a company around a government tender strategy, then make it to the track to see the first sprint, back to the city for a coffee meeting with a finance manager who controls 6 government agencies, then back to the track, then over to the other side of town to do a staff 1:1!  Life is certainly busy, but it feels "full", or maybe complete.

Today we are sitting at the airport, awaiting our boarding call to head off to Hong Kong.  The trip that was planned forever ago is now finally here.  The youngster told the customs guy that she was intending to bring a panda home from China.  Thankfully he had a sense of humour and we were on the way over, not the way home!