Been leaving the office at really unhealthy times the past few weeks. Last night (Friday), I left at around 8pm, which can be considered early, and went to the Dragon Centre (mall) near where I live. I ate at a burger joint, which was okay. The burger was definitely big and juicy but the bun was super big and fluffy. I feel like the bun should sit within the patty and not cover it like a hat. I walked around the mall a little bit afterwards and got pretty big ice cream cone for $10 HKD.
I woke up this morning (Saturday) thinking that it was already Sunday. This is purely because I was able to do things outside of work the night before. Usually my bit of entertainment is limited to what I can fit in before I arrive at the office on Saturday. Very sad. I feel like I should be able to get back to my apartment at a decent time and do other stuff.
Got a bit of studying done for the PE exam today. I took over a meeting room and studied for 3 hrs before doing work stuff. I used my iPad as a big clock so that I didn't slack off. I also set an alarm for every hour. I feel like I tend to waste a lot of time on Saturdays.
Getting my hair straightened again tomorrow. Another Groupon deal. Hopefully this place is okay. The last place was very good but I think it would be very expensive without a coupon.
I'm really looking forward to watching an upcoming movie, Recall. It comes out in the US next week but the HK release isn't until early August. I just got the short story that the movie is based on as an epub. Looking forward to using my Kobo again and reading sci-fi!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Guilin and Yangshuo
Taking a break from work to blog about my vacation. It's actually Sunday night over here and I'm still in the office. Anyway, I'm really glad I went on this vacation. It was really good to be away. I felt like I needed this break because the past couple of months have been so stressful. Pictures in the next post after I get them off of my friend.
I caught a cold two weeks ago (a week before the vacation) and spent a lot of time sleeping. I think there is a cold virus going around the office because a lot of people have been getting sick. I went to see a doctor and got some bags of prescription drugs. I think the normal practice here is that they prescribe 3 days worth of medicine and you go back if you need more. Prescription is included in the doctor's fees, which is really inexpensive compared to the US. The nurse prepares everything right away so there's no need to go somewhere else separately to get your medicine.
I was still sniffling a bit when I went on this vacation. I went with a coworker who is Chinese-Australian. We left the office a bit after lunch on Friday. There was an incoming typhoon but we managed to get out before it go to HK. Our flight changed gates and we nearly thought we weren't going to make it. But it turned out that it was delayed. We managed to find out way to the shuttle bus that takes us to Guilin city and then a taxi to our hostel. The hostel is very cute, with lots of art on the walls. We found food at a nearby restaurant and then wandered around the pedestrian streets that night.
The next day (Saturday), we decided to walk to the Seven Star Park, which was really close by. I think we made the most out of this park. We managed to find a less touristy part of it for the first half of the day and then joined the crowds and tour groups to see some of the other parts. At around 3 or 4pm, we were just too tired to keep going to another park. It was also really hot out so we went back to our hostel to shower and nap. We wandered around the city some more in the evening.
On Sunday, we joined a local tour group with a really random mix of people for a river cruise on the Li River. The tour group took us on a bus to a pier outside of Guilin. We went on motored bamboo boats that took us down the river and back up to the pier again. The scenery was really nice. The motor in the background not so much. We all got talked into going on an extended part of the tour to "the countryside". We stopped at this village on the way to Yangshuo for a "real" bamboo boat ride (no motors) to enjoy the scenery, see water buffaloes, and cormmorant fishing. So by the time we got to Yangshuo, it was nearly evening.
It took us a bit to find our hostel in Yangshuo because the it was down a small alley. This town is basically a vacation town with a ton of tourists from everywhere. There's even a pedestrian street called "West Street" that has lots of bars, hostels, and souvenir shops. We had a really good meal that night with beer fish, crayfish, and a taro dish.
The next day was a big biking adventure. We rented out bikes in the morning and biked down the a scenic road with lots of parks. We saw the 400 yr old bayan tree and then hiked up the Moon Hill. The bike ride was pretty easy since it was on the side of a big road. There weren't a lot of traffic and the road shoulder was really wide. There were a ton of people trying to sell us tickets and other things though. After a late lunch, we decided to take this country road that looked like it was supposed to be twice the distance of what we had ridden already. We thought this was doable so we embarked on this journey.
The start of the country road was pretty nice. It was good to be away from the big trucks. But then at some point, the road started to get really rough. There were a ton of rocks and the road stopped being paved. We were really glad we went for the mountain bikes at this point. The road wasn't hilly so we were still enjoying the scenery until we got to a point where there were a ton of forks in the road. We had to ask at every fork and I swear we asked more than 10 people total. At one point, this guy told us we were 20km away from where we want to be. I think we should probably just gone back to the highway at this point but we continued on this "country road" and made it back to Yanghuo a little after 7pm (before dark). It would not have been good to be on these roads after dark. I'm not sure I've ever been so soaked in sweat before.
We had an early evening flight back to HK the next day so we took it easy and booked a cooking class. These things are apparently very popular. We got taken through the wet market and then to the cooking school. They had burners and everything ready. We got to chop the veggies and meat. We cooked 4 dishes with a wok and 1 dish went in a steamer. It was really fun! Cooking with the wok was really fast as well. Wish I can do the same in HK but I think the wok really needs a gas stove.
Overall, it was a really great trip. We did a lot of stuff but didn't over stretch ourselves. Felt so refreshing to take some time off. Looking forward to more weekend trips to nearby cities now that I have a one year China visa!
I caught a cold two weeks ago (a week before the vacation) and spent a lot of time sleeping. I think there is a cold virus going around the office because a lot of people have been getting sick. I went to see a doctor and got some bags of prescription drugs. I think the normal practice here is that they prescribe 3 days worth of medicine and you go back if you need more. Prescription is included in the doctor's fees, which is really inexpensive compared to the US. The nurse prepares everything right away so there's no need to go somewhere else separately to get your medicine.
I was still sniffling a bit when I went on this vacation. I went with a coworker who is Chinese-Australian. We left the office a bit after lunch on Friday. There was an incoming typhoon but we managed to get out before it go to HK. Our flight changed gates and we nearly thought we weren't going to make it. But it turned out that it was delayed. We managed to find out way to the shuttle bus that takes us to Guilin city and then a taxi to our hostel. The hostel is very cute, with lots of art on the walls. We found food at a nearby restaurant and then wandered around the pedestrian streets that night.
The next day (Saturday), we decided to walk to the Seven Star Park, which was really close by. I think we made the most out of this park. We managed to find a less touristy part of it for the first half of the day and then joined the crowds and tour groups to see some of the other parts. At around 3 or 4pm, we were just too tired to keep going to another park. It was also really hot out so we went back to our hostel to shower and nap. We wandered around the city some more in the evening.
On Sunday, we joined a local tour group with a really random mix of people for a river cruise on the Li River. The tour group took us on a bus to a pier outside of Guilin. We went on motored bamboo boats that took us down the river and back up to the pier again. The scenery was really nice. The motor in the background not so much. We all got talked into going on an extended part of the tour to "the countryside". We stopped at this village on the way to Yangshuo for a "real" bamboo boat ride (no motors) to enjoy the scenery, see water buffaloes, and cormmorant fishing. So by the time we got to Yangshuo, it was nearly evening.
It took us a bit to find our hostel in Yangshuo because the it was down a small alley. This town is basically a vacation town with a ton of tourists from everywhere. There's even a pedestrian street called "West Street" that has lots of bars, hostels, and souvenir shops. We had a really good meal that night with beer fish, crayfish, and a taro dish.
The next day was a big biking adventure. We rented out bikes in the morning and biked down the a scenic road with lots of parks. We saw the 400 yr old bayan tree and then hiked up the Moon Hill. The bike ride was pretty easy since it was on the side of a big road. There weren't a lot of traffic and the road shoulder was really wide. There were a ton of people trying to sell us tickets and other things though. After a late lunch, we decided to take this country road that looked like it was supposed to be twice the distance of what we had ridden already. We thought this was doable so we embarked on this journey.
The start of the country road was pretty nice. It was good to be away from the big trucks. But then at some point, the road started to get really rough. There were a ton of rocks and the road stopped being paved. We were really glad we went for the mountain bikes at this point. The road wasn't hilly so we were still enjoying the scenery until we got to a point where there were a ton of forks in the road. We had to ask at every fork and I swear we asked more than 10 people total. At one point, this guy told us we were 20km away from where we want to be. I think we should probably just gone back to the highway at this point but we continued on this "country road" and made it back to Yanghuo a little after 7pm (before dark). It would not have been good to be on these roads after dark. I'm not sure I've ever been so soaked in sweat before.
We had an early evening flight back to HK the next day so we took it easy and booked a cooking class. These things are apparently very popular. We got taken through the wet market and then to the cooking school. They had burners and everything ready. We got to chop the veggies and meat. We cooked 4 dishes with a wok and 1 dish went in a steamer. It was really fun! Cooking with the wok was really fast as well. Wish I can do the same in HK but I think the wok really needs a gas stove.
Overall, it was a really great trip. We did a lot of stuff but didn't over stretch ourselves. Felt so refreshing to take some time off. Looking forward to more weekend trips to nearby cities now that I have a one year China visa!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Vacation in a week!
Going to Guilin for a long weekend with a friend in a week! Very excited. We're leaving the office early afternoon on Friday and then coming back Tuesday night. Monday is a holiday so we get 4 nights in Guilin and Yangshuo. We're planning on spending 2 nights in each place. So excited for a break from HK. Should have some really nice pictures from this trip.
Work is very stressful these days. So many people leaving our team! We had 3 "last days" in a row last week and more to come. I don't think I've been away from the office for even a day (nevermind an entire weekend) for a month. Last week was okay though. One of the girls who is in between site assignments was around so she was able to help out a lot. I got to work on other projects instead.
I had planned to be away from the office for at least a day this weekend. But I thought about everything I wanted to do this weekend and realized that I had to come back both days. I didn't bother to come back to the office until the evening though so that I would have time to go do some relaxing stuff. I went out to Tung Chung with the intention of going out to Tai O. But the line for the bus was ridiculous. It was also muggy out and looked like it was going to rain. So I just hung out in the outlet mall instead and bought stuff from Esprit. haha.
I also went to see Prometheus, which looked pretty interesting from the trailers. But I was pretty disappointed because I felt like the movie lacked depth, the characters were too stiff, and there was no character development whatsoever. Everyone in the movie seemed to have their own "agenda" but you never get to find out what they were or what their motivations were. I felt like the storyline had a lot of potential but tried to do too many things at once. It would have been more interesting to actually focus more on the motivations behind one of the individuals instead of scratch the surface for everyone. Anyway, might go see the new Spiderman movie in IMAX. Also, Total Recall seems like an interesting Matrix type movie.
Work is very stressful these days. So many people leaving our team! We had 3 "last days" in a row last week and more to come. I don't think I've been away from the office for even a day (nevermind an entire weekend) for a month. Last week was okay though. One of the girls who is in between site assignments was around so she was able to help out a lot. I got to work on other projects instead.
I had planned to be away from the office for at least a day this weekend. But I thought about everything I wanted to do this weekend and realized that I had to come back both days. I didn't bother to come back to the office until the evening though so that I would have time to go do some relaxing stuff. I went out to Tung Chung with the intention of going out to Tai O. But the line for the bus was ridiculous. It was also muggy out and looked like it was going to rain. So I just hung out in the outlet mall instead and bought stuff from Esprit. haha.
I also went to see Prometheus, which looked pretty interesting from the trailers. But I was pretty disappointed because I felt like the movie lacked depth, the characters were too stiff, and there was no character development whatsoever. Everyone in the movie seemed to have their own "agenda" but you never get to find out what they were or what their motivations were. I felt like the storyline had a lot of potential but tried to do too many things at once. It would have been more interesting to actually focus more on the motivations behind one of the individuals instead of scratch the surface for everyone. Anyway, might go see the new Spiderman movie in IMAX. Also, Total Recall seems like an interesting Matrix type movie.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Life at the office
Back at the office again. This past week felt like a really long week. I'm glad I took last weekend off because I'm not sure when I can take the entire weekend off like that again in the near future. All of a sudden, I have a lot more deadlines and a lot more stuff to look after. We got some new graduates but it's not the same as getting people who know what they are doing and can make decisions. I think that's the main thing I'm lacking. I feel like I'm technically competent and can do calculations, write reports, mark up drawings, etc. But there are some stages where decisions need to be made and I feel like I just don't have the depth of experience needed to make good judgement. But I guess the only things that can help with that is more time and exposure to different things. Anyhow, got roped into another extremely challenging project.
I bought a book that teaches sketching. I feel like it might be useful to learn how to sketch in 3D. It's so important to be able to visualize in 3 dimensions and sometimes a good sketch can mean a lot. Anyway, we'll see how long this new hobby lasts.
Met up with two friends today for brunch (before heading to the office). They're both '09 grads and are working in finance. I feel like HK is such a different world for them. They mostly hang out (will hang out) with the transient expat crowd who stay in HK for a few years. It's interesting how a place can be so different for different people. Knowing Cantonese can make the difference between being able to hang out with locals and seeing a different side of the city.
I bought a book that teaches sketching. I feel like it might be useful to learn how to sketch in 3D. It's so important to be able to visualize in 3 dimensions and sometimes a good sketch can mean a lot. Anyway, we'll see how long this new hobby lasts.
Met up with two friends today for brunch (before heading to the office). They're both '09 grads and are working in finance. I feel like HK is such a different world for them. They mostly hang out (will hang out) with the transient expat crowd who stay in HK for a few years. It's interesting how a place can be so different for different people. Knowing Cantonese can make the difference between being able to hang out with locals and seeing a different side of the city.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
So many changes in the past year...
Haven't written for a while. I think mostly because my life has been consumed by work, which has become more and more frustrating. All my "big brothers" who were in my team when I started have officially left. It so sad... I can't help but think how happy it was just a year ago with all three of them around.
I attended the HKIE Geotech division's annual seminar last Friday. Last year, I went the three guys in my team and we had a lot of fun. This year, I went there alone. I mean, I met up with Arup people at the thing but it wasn't the same. I feel like our group had people who liked to ask questions, discuss ideas, and not accept things at face value. Last year, we had a lot of discussions amongst ourselves during the seminar and I feel like I get more out of seminars this way. I do feel that I gained a lot in terms of technical knowledge this past year though. I used to feel like I couldn't get much out of seminars because the topics presented were either too specific or too general. Now I feel like I have enough background to read the papers, listen to the talk, and zone in on the useful stuff.
I went to another full day seminar on Saturday. This one was free so I felt like I had to take advantage of it. Both seminars were about tunneling and the use of underground space. The Saturday one was very non-technical, aimed at planners and architects. Of course, there were no planners in the room. I think most people in attendance was hoping for some technical stuff.
I met a friend of a friend today (Sunday) who had just arrived for work. She's working in finance and is looking for a place on the Island to live. We talked about possibly rooming together and went with an agent she had contacted to look at some places. The places we visited were all in the Mid-Levels. That neighborhood is really expensive. What you get for that price is just not worth it. We did see several places in her price range. And since her budget seems fairly big (compared to mine), I think she can find something decent in that area or nearby. It would be extremely convenient for me to live on the Island if I ever do go to CPS for site supervision. But I'm not sure if and when that will happen. One of the apartments we looked at had an amazing view of the site! The big windows look out onto the site and you can see the entire lower courtyard. I was very impressed. I probably should have taken pictures because I don't think you can actually find a better view of the site from a public space!
So I've successfully ignored everything at work for the past 3 days. That was a decent break especially since I've been going into the office non-stop for like 3 weeks (I can't even remember). I was super tired by the time last Thursday rolled around. I even slept in more than usual Thursday morning because I had the excuse that I had to bring something to a government office in the morning before going to work. But I woke up super tired and was really unproductive the entire day.
I've found that my least efficient time of the day is after lunch to around 5 or 6pm. I think I already knew this during grad school and therefore, had scheduled most of my classes or other active things during that time. Otherwise, I would just nap through that time. Work is not that flexible unfortunately. But I think I might switch my weekend work strategies though. I used to wake up late, eat lunch, go into the office, fight off sleep for a few hours, and then head to the gym at night. I might switch the office and gym times around next time I'm at work on the weekends. Not that I'm planning to work on the weekends a lot but just in case it's necessary....
I attended the HKIE Geotech division's annual seminar last Friday. Last year, I went the three guys in my team and we had a lot of fun. This year, I went there alone. I mean, I met up with Arup people at the thing but it wasn't the same. I feel like our group had people who liked to ask questions, discuss ideas, and not accept things at face value. Last year, we had a lot of discussions amongst ourselves during the seminar and I feel like I get more out of seminars this way. I do feel that I gained a lot in terms of technical knowledge this past year though. I used to feel like I couldn't get much out of seminars because the topics presented were either too specific or too general. Now I feel like I have enough background to read the papers, listen to the talk, and zone in on the useful stuff.
I went to another full day seminar on Saturday. This one was free so I felt like I had to take advantage of it. Both seminars were about tunneling and the use of underground space. The Saturday one was very non-technical, aimed at planners and architects. Of course, there were no planners in the room. I think most people in attendance was hoping for some technical stuff.
I met a friend of a friend today (Sunday) who had just arrived for work. She's working in finance and is looking for a place on the Island to live. We talked about possibly rooming together and went with an agent she had contacted to look at some places. The places we visited were all in the Mid-Levels. That neighborhood is really expensive. What you get for that price is just not worth it. We did see several places in her price range. And since her budget seems fairly big (compared to mine), I think she can find something decent in that area or nearby. It would be extremely convenient for me to live on the Island if I ever do go to CPS for site supervision. But I'm not sure if and when that will happen. One of the apartments we looked at had an amazing view of the site! The big windows look out onto the site and you can see the entire lower courtyard. I was very impressed. I probably should have taken pictures because I don't think you can actually find a better view of the site from a public space!
So I've successfully ignored everything at work for the past 3 days. That was a decent break especially since I've been going into the office non-stop for like 3 weeks (I can't even remember). I was super tired by the time last Thursday rolled around. I even slept in more than usual Thursday morning because I had the excuse that I had to bring something to a government office in the morning before going to work. But I woke up super tired and was really unproductive the entire day.
I've found that my least efficient time of the day is after lunch to around 5 or 6pm. I think I already knew this during grad school and therefore, had scheduled most of my classes or other active things during that time. Otherwise, I would just nap through that time. Work is not that flexible unfortunately. But I think I might switch my weekend work strategies though. I used to wake up late, eat lunch, go into the office, fight off sleep for a few hours, and then head to the gym at night. I might switch the office and gym times around next time I'm at work on the weekends. Not that I'm planning to work on the weekends a lot but just in case it's necessary....
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