English, Chinese, Thai and Irish, with a bit of Russian Please

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all had a tremendous time where ever you were. So far, it's been a great time here in Hong Kong the last 5 days. I got some cool presents. A 2 person tent, large maglite, secure money pouch from my sister for my travels, boxer shorts, socks and some cool Thai tops from my mum, and from my brother in law, Kriss, some cologne and a egocentric photo (he said so!) of himself, in concert (he's a big Thai popstar), autographed. Thanks Kriss. ;)

Went to Ling's place on Christmas Eve for a bit of a get together, before we all decided to head down to Dusk Till Dawn in Wan Chai for a few drinks till the wee hours of the morning (7am!). It was a fantastic night, with plenty of boozing (what else!), and I managed to totally singe the roof of my mouth doing a stupidly long sambuca flamer in my mouth... I'm such an idiot sometimes. *sigh*. It's still raw and bloody painful 5 days later. Also caught the flu which I'm just recovering from (Not bird flu. I did eat A LOT of turkey though...). Oh well, at least I had the bonus of being hit on by a very cute Russian girl called Anastasia, on my first night back in Hong Kong!! ;)

Click to view my Christmas photos

Had a nice relaxed Christmas day. I only got a few hours kip after getting home before we opened our presents. We had quite a few family friends over for Christmas lunch, before we headed to our neighbours Tim and Gail in their flat downstairs. Tim and Gail had the unfortunate experience to be involved in the Asian tsunami last year in Khao Lak. They were holidaying there with their 4 kids, and 6 other relatives (12 of them in total), and they all survived despite everyone else in their hotel perishing. They're very lucky. Gail spoke to us about the experience in quite vivid detail. It really makes you realise what the victims went through when you hear it first hand. Needless to say, they stayed in this year.

Went with Ling in the evening to a friend's house. Very Irish themed, although that's not surprising seeing as the hosts were Irish! They even had two guys on guitars, another on a mandolin and another on an Irish pipe playing some great traditional Irish tunes. Must say it's pretty odd having an English Christmas in Hong Kong with a mixed family, followed by an Irish party in the evening! My brother in law arrived that evening from Thailand with his older brother (Sukie), wife (Tik) and son (Dino). The past 5 days I've been allocated a tiny camp bed in the study whilst they get my bedroom! Huh! What a welcome home... ;)

Boxing day we got up early and headed to Sai Kung country park (a protected area of Hong Kong), where we have a country house in Nam Shan Tung village. It's an old chinese village house a fair walk from the nearest road. All the other houses in the village have long since crumbled except ours. My mum has done a lot of work on the place to make it so beautiful. It's a lovely weekend escape.

On the way to ours is Pak Sha O village, where we know most of the people. Some live there permanently, far from the city life, and some only use the houses as getaways. We attended a BBQ at our friends' place, Rob and Wilma in Pak Sha O. They've created a lovely huge garden in front of their place (you can see it in the photos).

We stayed 2 nights in Nam Shan, just relaxing, chatting and drinking. It's so peaceful sitting outside in the courtyard in the evening, candle lit, hearing the bamboo forest creaking in the wind, and the stream beside the house giggling over the rocks at night whilst observing the stars. No TV, which is a relief (although HK telly leaves a lot to ask for).

We hiked over to the seaside the day after and took a ferry to Tap Mun island to have some seafood and walk around.

Just came back in to town yesterday. Went out with Ling after he finished work for some drinks, and he got hit on by two chinese ladies! Hong Kong really is the opposite of London. Women are so on the pull here. Shocking behaviour! Had dinner with Ling at a mexican place where I managed to eat a fair amount of preportedly the hottest sauce ever created. Yes, it was damn hot, and it didn't help the healing process the roof of my mouth deserves from that sambuca flamer! Went to a top VIP club/bar afterwards on guestlist (cheers Ling!) called Dragon-i. Was supposed to be model's night, and yeah, there were some gorgeous ladies there, but I think Ling and I were amongst just a few too many men who had the same idea (it was about 90% men there!), so we left and met up with my sister and Kriss in Feather Boa, a cool little bar down the road from home which serves some mean Mango Daiquiris (Ed Catton, Chris Greener and Sev will remember those from last year!).

The in-laws have left today, so I get my room back! Woohoo! I need my comfy double bed and a good night's sleep as I'm hiking up to the top of the peak tomorrow with my sister for a bit of much needed exercise. Also joining the gym for January before I head off to India (I'm tinkering with the idea of heading to Thailand first right now, since I want to go to Ling and Chris' 30th birthday there). Shock! Horror! Dom doing exercise?!? The world really has gone mad....

New Year's Eve is just around the corner. I think I'll manage to recover just in time to break my body again. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, have a great New Year's Eve, and let me know how you all got along over the Christmas weekend!

The Last Supper

Here I am in Hong Kong, not 2 hours off the flight, and I'm already in front of a computer... Sad isn't it?
Had a great final evening in London with Martin, Penny, Kosh and John Webber for a final meal at home. I think we poslished off about 6 bottles of wine, a bottle of champers, 8 cans of beer and a fair few Cuba Libres between us. Went to bed at 6:30am, got 3 hours kip, packed, then got on the plane feeling a bit worse for wear. ;)
Odd being in HK. Doesn't feel like I'm on holiday yet, since this is home really. I don't think it's all sunken in. I've quit my job, left my home for the last 10 years, my friends, my girlfriend... It's all quite shocking really! I think it'll really hit home when I'm on my flight to India since being here in HK is normal for me!
Off to Ling and Caroline Malone's for their Xmas Eve party tonight! Great excuse to get drunk and pass out later to 'get over the jet lag'!I hope you all have a fantastic time over the festive period, and I'll drop a line here to tell you all what I got for Xmas!!
Merry Christmas to you all, and don't eat too much! I might stay off the turkey in case I get bird flu... Ha ha. ;)
Oh, and it's 22 degrees centigrade here. I'm wearing a T-shirt. Hope you're all suitably jealous in your five layers....

Family, Friends

It's been emotional, tiring and pretty woozy-headed, but it's been fun! Seeing all my friends for my last weekend in London hasn't really hit me yet. That may be due to the fact that I'm actually still around for another week and will see most of them before I quit these shores. I know I might not see some of them before I go, and that makes it tough.

Photos from Dom's last weekend

I've really begun to realise what my friends mean to me. I've never spent more than a couple of years at any one school, and as such, have never really established good friendships with people. It's only been since I started University that I've really had a good circle of friends, and living in London for the past 10 years has augmented these friendships a great deal.

So it's with heavy heart and solemn tear to say farewell to some. I'll be honest, there are probably a few people I call friends I know I will never see again. It's these people I think I'll miss the most, as I never got to know them better.

But those of you I know well and I'll see again, these past years you've been more than friends, you've been my family.

Here's to good times in the future, wherever we meet again, you, my family, my friends!