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!