Sunday, October 18, 2009

A Long-Overdue Update

Apologies for the ungodly amount of time that has elapsed since my last post. But isn't it somewhat redeeming that I'm having so much fun and I've been spending so much time out on the town that I haven't had time to blog? Below, in bullet point form, are some of the highlights of the past weeks. Then, in the next few posts, I'll post some photos.

-Amazing culinary experiences (Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Egyptian, sushi, spicy crab, a couple of dim sums, dai pai dong [including amazing halal lamb curry] at Bowrington market, Chiu Chow, hole-in-the-wall dumpling places, lunch at the Mandarin Oriental, breakfast at the American Club with a stunning view of the harbor, etc.). This category also includes drinks at some pretty swanky -- and pretty fun and sometimes selective/members-only and almost ALWAYS full of bankers -- bars, like Azure atop the LKF hotel and Halo

-Two junk trips (daylong boat trips with 30 people and unlimited food and drink where it docks off a beach and you can swim and sun and relax)

-Carolyn and Andy came to visit! We had dim sum at the China Club, saw the light show, ate at one of the top Cantonese restaurants in the city, Yung Kee, went for a walk around the Hollywood Road antiques row/Soho area, went to Lamma Island and had delicious seafood, and then ate that night at the Shanghainese private kitchen with some of my new friends.

-There's been just generally great hang-out time -- on roofdecks and at restaurants and in friends' apartments and one particularly memorable epic day of exploring Shek O's two beaches, surfing slash playing in the waves with Robyn and her son, then dim sum following by a marathon of playing Settlers of Catan and Rock Band. That was a good Sunday.

-Oh! I went to Bali and Singapore! For my birthday weekend. Highlights of that highlight were: for Singapore, meeting Grace's family, more amazing hawker center food, shopping in Little India, taking a whirl on the ferris wheel, the Singapore history museum. For Bali, a beautiful hotel in Seminyak with a stunning pool and yummy banana pancakes for breakfast, treating myself to a massage performed by a male masseur, taking a surfing lesson, horseback riding on the beach at sunset, delicious satay, birthday drinks and cake at an amazing beachside bar called ku de ta, more yummy Indonesian food, art and shopping in hilly Ubud, and treating ourselves to Mozaic a New York Times reviewed restaurant that was affordable by our standards by exceedingly expensive by Indonesian ones.

-As for work, I am stimulated and engaged and intrigued all the time. I feel like I get a full education every day, every story. Robyn, my amazing, talented, book-writing editor, is full of wisdom and exceedingly patient as I try -- and often fail -- to meet my three-story-a-day quota. My brain is always tired at the end of the day, but in a good way. I've been making an effort to meet lots of sources for coffee or short meetings just to get primers on the areas I'll be covering, which include but are not limited to autos, real estate, retail, Macau/gaming, and international trade.

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