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Raymond's Hong Kong Page

We lived in Hong Kong for a total of five years, from August, 2004 to July, 2009, after which I retired - for the very last time! It's time to be with our children and grandchildren.

 On this page you can find articles and photos about our life in Hong Kong and travelogues of our many trips to mainland China.





Our Last Trip from Hong Kong - Easter Holiday:
Discovering Davao (March 21-28, 2008)
We took advantage of cheap air fares on Cebu pacific to explore a part of the Philippines we had never seen before, the island of Mindanau.
(After this trip, we spent our holidays going back to Australia to see our grandchildren.)



SONGS





They Don't Have Roses in Hong Kong
An expat's view of Hong Kong
Chinese New Year Holiday:
Perusing Perth (February 5-12, 2008)

Our trip to Perth was quite unexpected, and booked the night before we left Hong Kong for Melbourne with the intention of visiting our sons for Chinese New Year. But this was not to be.






If You Miss the Train
A tribute to Hong Kong's great transport system.





Canine Stew
Why should people in Hong Kong be jailed for doing what is normal everywhere else in China?
Christmas Holiday:
Touring Taiwan (December 12-28, 2007)

For the Christmas holidays, we decided to visit Taiwan for a week, as a change from mainland China. We stayed in the two biggest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung. Nothing very exciting happened but it was an enjoyable trip.






Please Don't Spit
Written on a recent trip to China.





Journey
A song about three loves of my life, two of which are travelling and singing.
Cebu City Sojourn (August 27-31, 2007)

Just for a break from China we did a trip to Cebu in the Philippines.






More Songs:
Raymond's Folk Song Page
This site has links to my songs on YouTube and the lyrics of songs I write and/or perform.


Trips to Mainland China
One of the best things about living in Hong Kong is having the opportunity to explore different areas of mainland China, a place we find endlessly fascinating. The following are reports of our trips, using the Travelpod Travel Blog facility, beginning with the most recent.







Our Latest China Trip:




Hong Kong - Raymond's Travel Page




The beautiful Li River at Yangshuo, near Guilin.




Summer Holiday:
Yangshuo Yet Again (July 18-26, 2007)

We were supposed to go to Kunming, but what with floods and the birth of our first grandson, we ended up doing a short trip to Yangshuo to catch up with all the touristy things we didn't do on our first two visits.




Easter Holiday:
Back to Guizhou (April 5-13, 2007)

When our Chinese friends hear that we went to Guizhou last Easter they always ask whether we saw the waterfall. The Huangguoshu Waterfall is claimed to be the biggest in China, and even in Asia, so it is a must-see for local tourists. When I planned last year's trip, I deliberately left it out as I gave the villages in the South-West higher priority. Yoong felt we had missed out on something so we decided to go back this year and explore this part of Guizhou province.




Christmas Holiday:
Urban Areas of Southern Guangdong (Dec 22 -31, 2006)

In contrast to our last holiday in mainland China, amidst the spectacular scenery of Guizhou, this trip took us to the urban areas of South China's Pearl River delta, where one modern city seems to blend into the next.




Easter Holiday:
Visiting Villages in Guangxi and Guizhou(Apr 13 - 22, 2006)

For this trip we planned to avoid the big cities and do a circuit via Guilin and Kaili, visiting three villages in particular: Chenyang in Guangxi, Zhaoqing, the biggest Dong minority village in Guizhou, and Xijiang, China's biggest Miao village.




Chinese New Year Holiday:
Hainan Holiday (January 25 - February 4 2006 )

They say Chinese New Year is the worst time to go to Hainan Island, as everyone else in China wants to be there to escape the cold. But we decided to risk it, and despite pickpockets and counterfeiters, had a great time.




Summer Holiday:
Seeing Xi'an and Searching Sichuan (July - August 2005)

A whole month visiting parts of China we've always wanted to see but never had the opportunity.




Easter Holiday:
Fujian Foray (March - April 2005)

Our first trip to this part of China. Traffic-free Gulang Yu is the highlight.




Chinese New Year Holiday:
New Year in Yangshuo (February 2005)

We returned to beautiful Yangshuo after twenty years. You can read about our adventures here. As usual they seem to consist mainly of our dining experiences.




Christmas Holiday:
To Bei Hai and Back (December 2004 - January 2005)

Our first trip to mainland China since we went to Kunming about ten years ago.




Life in Hong Kong




Hong Kong - Raymond's Travel Page


The Grandiose
At last we moved out of the hotel, and are renting our own apartment. You can read about it here.




Why are We Living in a Hotel?

Well, we are not any more, but it was great while it lasted. This was my first report from Hong Kong.

Keep Left - Transport in the Big Lychee

My second report on aspects of living in Hong Kong. It seems to be a testimony to my stubborn nature rather than a useful guide to our transport system. It includes a link to the notorious "Bus Uncle" video and the sheet music for "The Gweilo Song", my song about living in Hong Kong!
(Unfortunately this piece seems to have disappeared from the internet, and I don't have another copy.)

The Hong Kong Folk Society

I joined the Hong Kong Folk Society as soon as I found out about it. Unfortunately it has been in decline for the last few years, as more and more expats have left. However, we generally meet once a month for a session.
Now that we are about to return to Australia, I will miss these sessions very much. We recently had a boat trip to PoToi for a seafood meal, and we have been to several Macau trips with the Folk Society.




The Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir

I joined the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir at the suggestion of John Walsh, a baritone whom I met at a session of the Folk Society. Since then I have found it has the reputation of being the best men's club in town. It has certainly been a great experience taking part in many of their activities. We have a lot of concerts, especially around Christmas time and major events are the St David's Day Balls both here and in Bangkok. You can see some videos on YouTube of the choir singing in informal settings. Here is an example - our signature tune, Men of Harlech. And here is my song about the choir:



Film Review - Cold Mountain

The fascinating world of Chinglish subtitles.


My Schools
I worked at two schools in Hong Kong, Holm Glad College for two years and Sun Kei Secondary School for three years. Both were interesting experiences, and I particularly enjoyed Sun Kei, where I could have continued working, but it was time to go back and play the role of grandparents. The only surviving link for Sun Kei now is the English Corner website. Because of the problems with Geocities, several of the links there may no longer work.


The following three articles have, unfortunately, disappeared from the internet:
Banquets A very Chinese thing to do is go to multi-course banquets. I tend to be the only gweilo at the events we have attended. Here are photos of two such occasions.

Flower Show Excursion Yoong goes on a lot of excursions with the society she belongs to. This one takes in a flower show, West Kowloon and Wong Tai Sin temple.


The Rugby Sevens We normally avoid sporting events like the plague, but when our hotel kindly gave us free tickets to the final day of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, we decided not to scalp them for a couple of thousand dollars but actually go and watch the show. It turned out to be a very enjoyable experience


Around Hong Kong

A Walk in Hong Kong.

At last we got a digital camera. These are the first photos we took with it, as we did a walk from North Point, where we live, all the way to the Peak.

A Trip to Mui Wo- Saturday June 25th, 2005

The HK Folk Society organised a weekend at Mui Wo, on Lantau Island. Most stayed Friday and Saturday night, but we decided to do a day trip, joining in the festivities at night, and return to the comfort of our own hotel by taking the last ferry at 11.30 p.m. Here are some of the photos we took. Link no longer works!

Stanley - The Dragon Boat Festival

We took a bus to Stanley on the afternoon of the Dragon Boat races, a ride that took far too long as everybody else had the same idea. It was all a bit overwhelming. Link no longer works!




Kit and Fiona visit Hong Kong

For the first time, we didn't leave Hong Kong during the holiday. Instead, in the Christmas Holidays, 2005, Kit and Fiona came to visit us! We spent Christmas day with our friends, Rick and Rita Bundy, visited Lantau Island, Aberdeen, Repulse Bay, Shek O, Lamma Island and Hong Kong's top tourist attraction, The Peak . We also went out for Yum Cha with Yoong's tai chi friends.

Dylan and Rachael visit Hong Kong




Well, it wasn't during any holidays, but I did get to spend one long weekend with them. The rest of the time they explored with Yoong, including a junk trip on the harbour, or on their own, for example, a trip to Disneyland.

Sorry. This link no longer works.










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