Our new home in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong

After just a week of being back in Hong Kong, we moved into our new apartment in Discovery Bay (otherwise known to the locals as DB). It is a small community on Lantau Island (one of the outlying islands of Hong Kong) and is home to a large ex-pat (expatriate) community made up of people from all over the world - although I must admit that the majority of people who live out here are "westerners" (from UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the USA). Now, at first, we were not sold on the idea as we thought the whole idea of living in Hong Kong was to be immersed in the hustle and bustle of the city (and culture). However, DB offers some really wonderful things that appealed to us for our second year in Hong Kong (and especially since we are expecting a new addition!). First, there are no residential cars (just buses and privately owned golf carts) so there is very little traffic. Second, the community is almost entirely made up of young families with small children, so a lot of things out here are really geared towards families and kids. Third, it is much less crowded than most places in Hong Kong! I must admit, this is one of the things that I like the most! ;)

I am working on taking some pictures of Discovery Bay itself (including the beach, pools, plaza area of shops and restaurants and other key places) but for now, I thought I would post some pictures of our new place. So here you go, enjoy!

Living/Dining Room (w/ view of back patio)

Back Patio (which faces the beach!)

Kitchen (say hello to Linda - our nanny/helper)

Master Bedroom and study room

The Boys bedroom

Guest room/playroom

Master Bathroom (there is a shower stall too...)

The boys & Linda's bathroom

Linda's Bedroom

It's still a work in progress! Nothing on the walls yet, which makes it seem a little empty but overall we are thrilled with the place. It has a lot more space to run for the boys, which is a HUGE bonus. And the back patio is really lovely. Still too hot and humid to really sit out and enjoy it but the boys like playing back there and it will be great by October! :)

More pictures of DB to come later...

Becca

BABY #3!!!

We are so excited to announce that we are expecting baby #3! I am 12 weeks along and due Feb 20, 2010. And yes...baby #3 will be born in Hong Kong!

We are obviously all very excited...especially the boys! They have been talking and singing to the baby already, which is really very sweet. And they both say it is going to be a girl, although Daddy David is already predicting a third boy. I am just hoping for a healthy, happy, CALM baby. ;)

Please send us your good thoughts over the next 6+ months. We will keep everyone updated!

Cheers,

Becca, David, Will, D-pax and Baby #3

A big day...

Well...yesterday was my last official day of nursing my "baby"...who turns 2 next month...haha.  I thought he would put up a huge fight (he was only nursing at night both before bed and if he woke up in the middle of the night).  He cried for about 5 minutes tonight while we were reading stories in bed.  Then he just gave up!  It took him a while to fall asleep, but he wasn't mad about it.  *whew*  Now, lets hope the rest is smooth sailing!

Here are a few photos I took of the boys yesterday at the park.  They really are getting SO big...

And one that Will took of me and D-pax:

*sniff*

Becca

Big fun at Playtown!

The rainy season is in full swing in Hong Kong, so we have been trying to find indoor activities that will still allow the boys to run and burn energy.  I came across a place called Playtown, which is essentially an indoor play area with tons of climbing structures, tunnels, fast slides, bounce house and a whole area devoted to these "guns" that use air to shoot soft nerf-like balls.  It is any kids dreamland.  Needless to say, the boys had a blast there (as did we!).

Here are a few of the fun photos from our outing.  I had to use my flash a lot in order to catch the boys...otherwise all you could see was a blur as they were racing by...LOL!

The Ball area:

The speeding kid in the left hand corner is Will:

Ride on cars...always a big hit:

Peek-a-boo:

A fun day had by all...

Becca

A few of my favorite things...

So I realized the other day that I don't think I have posted many pictures of the Hong Kong skyline which is really amazing and completely unfathomable to anyone who has not seen it live.  There is just no way you can take a picture that grasps the magnitude of how huge it is (because it literally won't fit into one picture!).  But nonetheless...here are a few shots that I recently took.

The first two pictures show the HK skyline as seen from the "Peak"...atop the mountain that is in the middle of Hong Kong Island.  The water in the middle is Victoria Harbour which separates Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.

This following picture is actually looking out over Kowloon side at night from a building in Tsim Sha Tsui (the area where we live on Kowloon side).  The large green space just outside the building is Kowloon park where we often play.

And finally, here is the view from the window of our flat...looking out over Hong Kong Island both during the day and at night.

Pretty spectacular, huh? :)  You should see it in person...seriously.

I also took some great pictures of the boys playing this weekend in Victoria Park.  They are both getting so big!

Happy Tuesday!

Becca

Free Bugaloo shoes 4 U contest!

This post is totally not related to Hong Kong but worth reading nonetheless!

My friend Barbie is having a little contest on her blog...please check it out and enter to win a free pair of Bugaloo shoes!  I know some of you ladies are expecting mamas or have little ones so get on over to her blog and check it out.  Easy to enter, no gimmicks! :)

The Bugaloo shoes are soft sole shoes but are cheaper and nicer than some of the other leading brands (according to Barbie - I have not seen them myself, but I trust her excellent taste!).  Check out the line of shoes here.

Happy Thursday...hopefully I will be back with an actual HK post soon! 

Becca

Cheung Chau Bun Festival

I took the boys to Cheung Chau Island today (one of Hong Kong's outlying islands).  It is a 30 minute ferry ride to a small fishing island.  We have been there several times before, but this trip was special.  Usually we go there to play at the beach but this weekend, Cheung Chau is holding their annual Bun Festival.  The festival coincides with Buddha's birthday and began as a ritual for fishing villages to pray for safety from pirates but now mainly showcases traditional Chinese culture.

We started off playing at the beach since it was an absolutely beautiful day!

After playing at the beach, we decided to walk through the town to see all the festivities.  The first thing that we noticed was all the buns being made in the local bakeries right on the street.  They are traditional chinese steamed buns (slightly sweet-ish).  During this festival, they make huge towers of these buns and have a race where people climb the tower to collect the buns (the higher up the bun, the more luck you get).  The race is held at midnight this coming Saturday (Buddha's birthday), so we did not see the race, but got to see the towers!

We were also lucky enough to watch some of the traditional Chinese theatre being put on.  I have no idea of the plot, but it was really fascinating to watch!

Finally, we also visited the Pak Tai temple which was built in 1783 to commemorate Pak Tai, the Taoist God of the Sea.  They were burning lots of incense outside and inside the temple of course, which you will see in the photos...the spiral things are large curled sticks of incense and you can see the written prayers that people have attached to them.

An amazing adventure to say the least! :)

Here is a slideshow of all the photos from our outing if you'd like to see more!

Best,

Becca

Sunday afternoon Mahjong

Sunday I met some of my HK friends for lunch followed by an afternoon of Mahjong.  We ate lunch in Tsim Sha Tsui (the area where our apartment is) under the bridge on Haiphong Road (where the "temporary market" is).  It is a very local spot that I have walked through numerous times but had never eaten at.  It is basically lots of little stall like kitchens set up with a common eating area.  No english spoken or written!  My friends informed us of which stalls were best and what to order.  We had some yummy beef balls with noodles as well as pork chop and vegetable.  For dessert we ate something similar to french toast (thick toast, egg-battered and fried served with honey).  It was all very yummy!!!

Then we set off back to our apartment to play Mahjong.  David and I bought a tailor made mahjong set that has both the traditional chinese characters as well as the english characters (to make it a little easier for us!).  The game tiles are truly beautiful (see pics below).  It is a fun game to play although I think I have only scratched the surface of understanding how to play!  It is not easy but LOTS of fun!!!

(From L to R, Betty, myself, Fannie and Veronica)

(L to R, Veronica and Yuyi, Veronica won the first round!)

I won the second round - a whopping $4 win - haha...

From L to R, myself, Fannie and Veronica, deep in thought and strategy...

D-pax likes the tiles too! :)

An excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon!  Can't wait to do it again soon!