Epilogue: The Trip Home (And That Darn Lego)

Posted on October 11, 2011 by admin

So we’re due to fly at around 12.30 in the afternoon for 56 minutes, transit in Melbourne an hour and 20 minutes, then long haul 8 hours 50 minutes home to Hong Kong and land just before 10pm. This is my Least Preferred Flight. On night flights the Rockstar can sleep through most of the flight, Kings can sleep almost anywhere, and I can sleep with the help of a prescription sedative. But – 9 hours-ish in a plane seat with Mr Hyper During Waketime And His Sidekick Mr Back-to-back Inflight Movies With Loud Earphones (who tries, really TRIES, but then… Loud Earphones…..!)

We try to wake Rockstar early, cutting his night sleep by an hour or two so his afternoon nap on the plane will be longer. It’s worked before, but not this time – he is still barely awake when we pull up at the breakfast cafe. Unfortunately, his parents woke up early.

Just before boarding for the first leg of our journey, I spy an unassuming little box of Lego – for a 6-12 year old (tiny, tiny parts!), convertible into 2 different airplanes or a speedboat.

Enthusiastic Rockstar works on the first Lego plane, with me handing him the little pieces (well it is for a 6 year old) while we wait to board. He attracts the attention of an Asian boy of about 6 or 7, slightly plump, who’s travelling with his mum. It’s not just the heavily Beijing-accented Putonghua, it’s partly also the haircut and shape of the head <sheepish – I hope this doesn’t offend, it’s just something I happened to notice> that made me guess they were from China  – we often see kids get off the tour buses filled with Chinese (as in from China) tourists at the Peak sporting the same “look”. I used to shave baby Rockstar, until Chinese shopkeepers looking from him dangling in front of me in the harness to me repeatedly asked, “Is the father Chinese?” “Because the baby looks very Chinese.” Yet another reason I grew Rockstar’s hair long at one point 😀

Baby Shaven Rockstar (who, btw Chinese Shopkeepers, is dressed in a Ralph Lauren jacket and unlabeled others - not head to toe Baby Dior/Burberry/Dolce/Armani etc. Humph.)

Boy with Beijing Accent has a shaven head, which also makes it a lot more obvious the back of his head is very, very flat.

Someone once told me that is because the baby only ever lies on his back (which of course cuts SIDS), and babies have such soft skulls. I guess as in not in baby harnesses, or being breastfed for long periods etc, but pushed around in a carriage face up too. (Btw I was very terrified of SIDS and all manner of other afflictions to young babies, so much so that I would almost prefer not to have another child, for reliving the fear. But then my mum, obsessed about this one little cosmetic thing, would sit in young baby Rockstar’s room for hours, meticulously turning him on either side and just watching him, while he slept in the cot. Only when he wasn’t actively “watched,” or being fed or toted around in a harness would he be on his back for long periods.)

Anyway, Boy And Mum With Beijing Accent (who is quite polite and soft-spoken – and sporting nicely but not overly coiffed hair and a real Gucci bag but otherwise not decked head-to-toe in obvious branded goods) are sitting very close to us, and I smile at the boy. He returns a tiny shadow of a smile but says nothing, alternating between Lego-ed Rockstar and laptop-ed Kings for a few minutes before his mum says something to him in Putonghua. Then he walks up to the Aussie airport attendants and engages them in conversation – in perfect English with no discernible accent (I mention because in HK you can fairly often tell strong Hongkie from Chinese from Aussie from British from American from Sing/Manglish accents among the kids and sometimes guess what schools they’re attending – a girlfriend moving her 2 kids to Singapore thought it was funny they took some time to understand the Singlish on the playground haha).

I guess his mum told him to walk over and practice. With his back to me, I can see the airport attendants’ faces. They’re very impressed, and continue to chat with him all the way until we board. I might have hid it a bit better than they did, but the truth is, I’m pretty impressed too <guilty – why should it surprise me? I read a report sometime back about how the number of Chinese speakers who also spoke good English in North Asia far outweighed the number of English speakers who speak good Chinese>.

Anyway we board, transit in Melbourne, then re-board for Hong Kong, which as usual is when I’ve switched our watches back to Hong Kong time on the flight and put Rockstar down for a nap, based on Hong Kong time (just a 2.5 hour time difference anyway).

By the time we’re cabbing home from the airport, it’s past 11pm and Rockstar is munching a raisin bun. (By the time we’d cleared immigration I had my Octopus card in a back pocket to zap for a bun and water at one of the kiosks just outside the arrival hall (don’t like to use airplane toilet a lot so drink a lot before and right after flight) so as not to have to fumble change while toting luggage.) Rockstar had a fairly good nap (during which I watch Too Big To Fail – it’s brilliant but the guy playing Bernanke looks a little dopey), but otherwise he was yakking or exploring the inflight entertainment or basically just not sleeping for most of the flight. I’m tired.

This Is How Horror Movies Begin... With Unassuming Looking Toys Before You Realize They POSSESS Your Children <cue scary music> (Well it IS almost Halloween)

But after his bath around midnight is when the real fun begins. Because tired Rockstar decides he wants to build the hardest Lego plane (not the one above) before he’ll sleep.

This is where Rockstar and I appear to switch roles.

12:57 am. “Mummy. Sorry….” Because those Lego pieces are so small if he clicks one in wrongly, he can’t get it out, I have to do it for him. In fact, they’re so small, my nails have already split a few times (with all the sanitizer-use and non-manicuring or even moisturising, my nails are weak). I’m exhausted, I just want to go to sleep. On the other hand, I don’t want to introduce Rockstar to the habit of giving up on projects halfway either. Of course sometimes he still does (even at more earthly hours), but if he doesn’t, I try to never talk him into giving up (as opposed to him leaving a tv program half-watched or cookie half-eaten, which is fairly often). But it’s late. So then what I really want is for him to just finish it quickly (ie not make mistakes). Only he is tired, he’s making more mistakes than before. Half-heartedly, I tell him he’s making more mistakes because he’s tired, would he consider sleeping on it. Nope. I don’t ask again.

1:00 am. I want to SCREAM in frustration. He won’t leave it half-finished so I’m torn between my own tiredness and my wish to not encourage him to give up on constructive projects – and he won’t let me do the whole plane for him either.

Bloody, bloody hell. F-ing 1:00am. If we were still in Adelaide it would be 3.30 in the morning, thereabouts. I struggle not to curse out loud. Hard. 

“Mummy. I’ll fix it.” Patiently. Calmly. Big quiet round eyes stare straight into my face, but otherwise, his face is completely expressionless. I want to burst into tears. I clench my teeth with the effort of keeping it in. Can you imagine, I’m the one who seriously wants to bawl and bellow in frustration. My under-4 year old is completely calm, sitting there in bed with his back upright like there’s a steel rod where his tiny little backbone should be. And ignoring that I’m about to have a meltdown. Just like I’ve done with him countless times, to keep from him totally losing it. But he is completely exhausted – the only way I can tell is because he is making a lot more mistakes in fixing the Lego than he did the first time he put it together (this is the second). Otherwise – no anger, no frustration, no emotion, even as I’m choking right there. Supposedly, I’m the parent.

Me: It’s wrong. Look at the instructions. (No, not at all my finest moment. I’m so ashamed. But it is when I’m going completely to pieces that I realize to what extent Rockstar is completely not.)

Rockstar: Oh, kaay.

Me: It’s still wrong

Rockstar: Oh, kaay.

Me: Still…. WRONG!!!

Rockstar: Oh, kaay.

Me: No!!!

Rockstar: Oh, kaay.

Me: I… Want…. TO SLEEP!!!

Rockstar: Oh, kaay. <pause> After we finish this.

The eeriest thing at this late hour is he won’t engage me in a fight. That’s when I take out my iPhone and start typing this post. I’m spoiling for a fight and my child is not giving me one. Rockstar’s not giving me any reason to clear it all away and inflict bedtime. We agreed bedtime was after the plane, we agreed he would forgo bedtime stories just to finish it. I’m the one trying to renege on “what the deal is” (Rockstar’s famous last words) – and we both know it.

1:25 am. Rockstar finishes the plane. Carefully, he puts it in his box of unread bedtime books, then turns over and goes to sleep. After graciously accepting my apology for losing it.

“Oh, kaay.” 

Then not another peep. The Rockstar is asleep.

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Adelaide Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Eating at the White House, Adelaide Zoo and various capalang before we come home

Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin
The Rockstar playing chess at the White House. Really? 
Not really. For some reason he really wants to learn now, and I’ve never played… So I’m making do with posing next to him being very intent with the chess set 😛 (Kings tells him some of the basics and they “play” over breakfast)

The following are my capalang bits and pieces notes from the rest of the trip, sorry if it doesn’t tie together well, you’ll see a bit of why when I’m done getting this one down and can blog about our arrival home 🙂 

I egg all the time, it is my comfort food when I don’t have enough sleep, and I can eat many, many in a week. My mum had 6 a day on top of her regular meals when she was pregnant with me. You would’ve thought that would make me sick of eggs, but no I love my eggs.

And then we went to The White House. The people at The White House are nice, they explain the differences between the wines of this “cooler” region and those of warmer areas, chat to Rockstar… They even have hardboiled eggs in those little egg cups, Rockstar’s favorite. So then we return for a second breakfast of awesome scrambled eggs, (fried, in Kings’ case), giant mushrooms, grilled tomatoes with basil…

Inside The White House:

And wow, the Penfolds guy eats here?
Last Breakfast At Eros Kafe – Someone walked by and said “That’s a nice breakfast” – Rockstar wasn’t eating his poached eggs though, we had to pack it on the plane

Eros Kafe was another one we went back to – technically we ate there three times, once at the nice Eros restaurant next door to the cafe, and twice at the cafe for brunch. I learn what “green” eggs are – a scramble with Basil, served with shaved ham and mushrooms. And the “Kaiyana” eggs are traditional scrambled eggs cooked with tomato sauce and feta, served with spinach.

Bracegirdle Waffle (so silly right, go choc house order eggs)

On the table at Bracegirdles House Of Fine Chocolate where we have brunch is a schedule for

1) Chocolate Appreciation with award winning chocolatiers
2) Wine and Chocolate pairings
3) Beer and Chocolate pairings

YUM! I’ve just started to like an occasional beer. Too bad I can’t make any of the dates.

“I don’t like. Too sweet.” Erm, Rockstar’s right, in the sense that the pot of molten chocolate that has come with his waffle tastes like melted Cadbury milk chocolate, the very sweet kind which seems to be all-sugar-little-cocoa. (Though… sometimes we do like that…)

The table next to ours with an adorable baby smiles indulgently at Rockstar’s iPading. When they leave, I happen to glance at their table. They ordered the same waffles we did for Rockstar (which he rejected after having a lot of fun drizzling chocolate over it and took over my whole-grain toast which I then buttered liberally for him – I “had” to eat the waffle). Rockstar’s plate is a large puddle of melted leftover ice cream and chocolate-drizzled waffle (he deigned to eat the half of the waffle without any chocolate on it). The plate at the newly-vacated table is empty- save for a pile of untouched strawberries.

(Come to think of it, in general there’s a bit of difference in snack preferences, Rockstar comes home from school back in HK saying there are kids with Kiwi fruit at break time can he get some too (I haven’t let him pack fresh fruit to school because of summer and my worrying it might spoil), and I’ve met mums who allow their kids zero candy out of Halloween goodie bags… Sometimes I felt guilty even in our church baby room, when a mum opens a flask of porridge that is just totally green (our pediatrician used to recommend 50% veg for under-2 Rockstar), and mums exclaim things like “WHO gave you a breadstick?”

Here it’s a lot more laid back, we got recommended chocolate truffles and cakes for a Rockstar snack by wait staff… Doesn’t matter that much to Rockstar, though he gets curious he doesn’t usually get hooked, but I was just thinking it must be harder to encourage a fruit-and-veg habit where there are a lot more sweets everywhere, a lot more people bake, or more kids going to school with your kid might not eat veggies…)

Even Rockstar succumbed to the colorful-ness of this cookie in – of all places – an Italian restaurant we happen to wander into near Chinatown, except I’ve forgotten everything else about it <sheepish> 

Handed Rockstar the cookie above, sprinkle-free end first (one can hope, right?) then when he came to the fruit gum he stopped, saying he didn’t like it and I dumped the rest… And THEN we could feed him dinner :P:P They should NOT put jars of these things at the entrances to restaurants, and this was not the only one either.

From scary smiling cookie faces to panda bears…

I know what you’re thinking. Come from HK to Adelaide to see pandas.

At some point, we also visit the Adelaide Zoo. I know, already did an animal post, but I do love animals. The first thing I ever wanted to be was a vet (this should not come as a surprise, what with my hamster posts.) What was interesting however was that none of us could name the wide-eyed creature sitting on its haunches perched on a branch and were looking for the board with a matching picture of it when two tiny little girls about Rockstar’s size (he of the lowest 3% of boy population for height) dance up to the enclosure and chirp, “Meerkat!” Uh, what the hell is a Meerkat? It looks like a ferret. There go the vet aspirations.

That was an epiphany – walking JD along the Peak and various other dog trails in Hong Kong, we often come across local kids who have no idea how to act around her. From stomping feet to shrieking in terror to running away (which is exactly how most dogs would end up chasing them – but JD tends to herd only 4-legged creatures anyways, not upright ones haha) to barking at her. (Ok, some grownups too. Well, actually they also bark at me. JD is right at the cutoff definition for large dogs in HK (17kg) that require leashing, but I keep thinking You Know, If I Have A Small Child Hanging Around The Dog You Might Infer Maybe She Is Not A Vicious Killer?)

The pelicans were really funny. We thought they were having problems eating a banana and fighting over it to boot, but then eventually NO ONE wanted the banana and they started doing that over a rock

The biggest crowd by far (why’m I not surprised?) is by the pandas Wang Wang and Funi. No one cares nearly as much about the kangaroos (except us) haha. There was a totally separate panda-themed gift shop, a little garden with statues depicting pandas in varying stages of growth. It seemed like you could get up to them a little closer in this zoo than I remember at Ocean Park… Maybe because there used to be a Panda Channel where you could watch the footage of the close-circuit cameras in the enclosures live on Now TV so…..

Red Salt on the bottom right – view from our apartment

Then back to our rented apartment to pack and fly home in the morning… We had dinner two nights at Red Salt Restaurant And Bar (doesn’t seem to have a website) at Crowne Plaza hotel next door… Love the place we rented, it’s a fairly nice yuppie apartment – didn’t love the used condom we found stuck in the toilet but got used to it being there after a couple nights. Kind of. I took a picture. But I will spare you.

The Last Sunset

Good bye, Adelaide. Muah.

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Adelaide Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Lyndoch Lavender Farm

Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin

Barossa Valley. Jacob’s Creek. Penfolds… The signs read like the wine section of any Watson’s Wines or International Park n Shop or Wellcome in Hong Kong. It doesn’t hurt that one of my reds of choice is Penfolds Shiraz. (I know, Jeffrey Archer in one of his short stories has a rather dubious character comment re Aussie wines, “How can a nation of beer drinkers know anything about making a halfway-decent wine?” but at some point I realized the labels I often picked up off the HK supermarket shelves from habit (tried it, liked it) were Aussie.

I’m not by any measure atas wine drinker, I can tell very good from fairly good from bad from very bad but that’s about it. In the beginning I drank a little (never a lot) out of defiance for my father, who doesn’t drink a drop and used to give me earfuls about how I never should. They used to sell alcohol on the NTU campus, and on weekends when all the locals went home the fresh-our-of-army boys would sometimes stick around and get very drunk. (Never the girls, that I can remember.) But my Huh! THIS is how you have no idea! moment was when, wearing high-heeled platforms for the first time, I fell down the dorm stairs and my dad asked at our weekly (then-strictly enforced) call “Were you drunk?” To this day I have never been drunk in my life.

Anyway, Lyndoch Lavender Farm.

“Caution, bees at work”

We first came across lavender farms and products at Cape Lavender in Margaret River, Perth – which was our first ever Rockstar vacation. Fell in love with Como, the lavender fields, and driving around wineries where Rockstar, then 11 months old, Sampled The Breads Of The Land.

Well, pictures say a thousand words – here’s a more accurate description to date, of our visit to a lavenderland:

 Y-eah. It’s nice we could help out with the Go Silly efforts. We attempt to muffle him because it’s a very peaceful place, with the constant droning of bees. We notice a couple small hives hanging from the trees and explain to Rockstar that your average bug or animal won’t bother you if you leave it alone, unless you bother it first – the difference between Nature and Man (no, I didn’t really say that last part)…

An old lady in a bright red jumper is staring out quietly over the lavender fields from her wheelchair. Well, Rockstar takes care of that in a hurry. I move to rein him in, except I notice she’s smiling delightedly and continues to watch him periodically with fascination even as we go in to tea.

Bagged a Rockstar

We have lavender scones, lavender cheese (outstanding!), chutney and crackers, lavender tea, latte and pastry, and lavender cookies – but Rockstar passes on the lavender hot chocolate and they’re out of lavender ice cream. I also get light-headed on the smell, after also having the tea. (I’m dizzy, and have to sit down – because I can’t stand or walk without falling over.)

Rockstar ruining another shot…

So we spend some time watching and listening to bees buzzing about. And trying to record the buzzing on my iPhone.

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Adelaide Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Hahndorf, the German settlement

Posted on October 7, 2011 by admin
A little Germany in Little Germany (isn’t that just the worst caption I’ve come up with to date?)

Absolutely looove this small but beautiful Little Germany – just the pretty little shops selling candles, crafts, woolly stuff, tassels (yes really), cuckoo clocks… festively-decked beer and eating places… It’s dubbed the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia, so I realize I’m serving up a shallow, airy-fairy post about wandering about here (but maybe I am shallow and airy-fairy)…

Bucket Of Chalks

At least a few cafes provide buckets filled with chalks for you to entertain yourself with. When it’s not raining, anyways – when we return on a rainy day, the sidewalks and cafes are chalk-free.

Aussie Family Does Coroner’s White Line

This is my favorite – mum and dad (and aunt and uncle?) look on as the boy lies prone in someone’s drive and the girl traces one of those “body shapes” that police coroners usually put in white on the floor after the body is carted off to the morgue. Passing then on the street we overhear, “Ok – do it now!” from one of the grownups when the coast is clear of cars and I turn to snap a pic. I think they’re way cool.

This one, a little more artistic – Jack Be Nimble, and graffiti all over the outside of the candle shop

After a brief exchange in one of the curios shops, a Thai couple turns to the storekeeper sporting long, long white hair and a long printed dress and asks in English, “How much is this please?”

“I’m sorry, that’s not for sale.”

I glance over their shoulders at the framed photograph – of Elvis seated in conversation with a young King of Thailand. Apologetically, “He has been an amazing monarch. When he’s gone, it will be the end of an era, truly the end of an era…..”

While the sidewalks wear chalks, the trees and shopfronts wear wool.

A Well-dressed Tree
A Scantily Clad Tree 
*Blush*

They like tying little stuffed animals to trees too… I’m not a fluffy-toy person and neither are Rockstar or Kings, but for some reason the latter takes it upon himself to collect pictures of the various “dead stuffed animals” tied up along the street…

Like so…
And So…

Seriously, it’s pretty crowded but no one lifts any of these nice knitted soft toys or the scarves and pom-poms adorning many of the trees… It would seem vandals have bigger fish to fry… Like vans…

“Fairyland” (oh, and there’s a tape playing of some story narration too)

In one of the stores is a kind of “fairyland grotto,” minded by a couple girls who look to be in their early teens… They stop Kings from barging straight in, and ask for the entrance fee… For AUD 2 Rockstar feels a little unfulfilled and insists on turning back at the exit and going thru the cave, bridge and little stream again (and again, and again, if we didn’t insist on leaving – distracted by my iPhone filming, I trip a fall on the uneven grotto floor (klutzy!) then felt a little less enthusiastic for going back and forth again.) I want to ask the girls if they put a lot of the cave up themselves, but they aren’t there when we exit…

 Rockstar then goes running around with the tin animals…

(Sound of tin “Moo”) 

An Asian guy is trying valiantly to photograph a hanging tin “flying pig” which is why I end up not taking too many pics… And yes we overhear Putonghua and Cantonese conversations along our walk down this street…

We enter an aboriginal art gallery, where two teen boys are busily drawing outside. We pass what looks like a man-shaped “root sculpture” which is of one of the spirits, but I don’t get to take pictures of anything because Rockstar is starting to crash – and does so as we enter another gallery and museum of Hahndorf’s history. Didn’t even make it back to the very first gallery we’d entered where I was hoping to buy a vase sculpture by an Aussie artist for AUD 105 (I actually can’t find it when I swing round again, it must’ve closed as we settled Rockstar in a cafe – though he goes out like a light in 5 mins.)

Only just managed to snap this memorial near the playground

Rushing to browse shops before they close (at 5pm! We never get used to that – if you walk around Causeway Bay HK at like, 9 or 10pm, it’s lighted bright as day), I find a faux fur jacket that looks like some of the ones I’ve been eyeing on Shopbop.com for around HKD 3,000, give or take HKD 500 (waiting for them to go on sale – faux fur is Frivolous Purchase to me, not worth dropping Investment Buy Money on). This one I pay AUD 71 for, which is about HKD 500. And it’s exactly the look I’m hoping for.

(In fact, I really liked shopping in Adelaide in general – in David Jones along Rundle Mall I find MAC cream blush in a color I’ve used for years that’s been discontinued in Hong Kong (to be exact, I’ve “used” this one blush compact for years – that’s how long it took me to use more than half of it and when I finally tried to replace it one day with a fresher, newer piece I realized they’d discontinued it. Gotta be a little disgusting though, that walking about I feel strangely comfortable recognizing familiar names – Alessi, Max Mara, Bulgari, among the Seafolly and Witchery. Not that I actually bought anything, and anyway I rarely buy full-priced – I’m more a branded goods warehouse shopper – but I think initial markdowns would sell out a lot less fast here and intend to keep that in mind… In HK you keep getting calls on your cell preparing you for the first couple days of sales and I have SAHM friends who know the exact dates the major branded goods departmental stores go on sale throughout the year…)

Napping Rockstar in some cafe that tells us they’ve only been open about 2 weeks, their food isn’t even labelled inside yet, and there were no menus

And in case you’re wondering why I don’t go around Causeway Bay (which is roughly like Singapore’s Orchard Road) to get the faux fur, it’s because I tried years ago and discovered it’s much easier to get real fur, especially rabbit, than the fake stuff. I tried explaining to the Lane Crawford salesgirls how I don’t want real fur and they stared at me as if I was nuts. Then kinda said try and settle for the real stuff cos it’s easier to find. Which is probably true, if you do find some fake fur in Mong Kok or something, it usually looks like Fake Animal Roadkill. (Really cheap.)

Dog Collars For Man Or Beast, says one of the signs...

OK obviously I’ve just waffled on so I’ll just cut this (abruptly too!) and come back with an eats post later…

Ok last pic of the post - Dog And His Best Friend we spy before getting back in the car

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Adelaide Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Fur Fix at Hahndorf Farm Barn and The Toy Factory

Posted on October 6, 2011 by admin

Rockstar: Mummy, are you a duck? (Which is his way of asking about the differences between ducks and people but I’m a bit lazy to oblige this time :P)

Me: Know what that would make you?

Rockstar: A baby duck?

“Mum. What’s that (snuffling) sound?”

Yeah, that’s not a duck. But that is my Absolute Favorite Pic of the trip.

At the Hahndorf Farm Barn, the cockatoos and parrots greet you in an Aussie accent, even you agree what a beautiful morning it is…

At The Farm Barn, lambs do tricks (note the balancing lamb in the pen next to Rockstar’s)
SO hard to catch this little flapping thing out of the bin, don’t you want it??
Ok – here we go (another dumb thing – that is an old (but still) Gucci scarf I was wearing because we didn’t know Kings was gonna have time to take us out to this place

This chick’s name is Mc Nugget. And I had to get over my aversion for being pooped on and Just Grab That Nugget. It flaps and claws btw, which is why it’s a little blurry. But well it’s not like we’re going to do this in Hong Kong, can you say Bird Flu? I just thought it would be a little paisay someday Rockstar swings an iPad like a pro but has never met a chicken he didn’t eat. (Well I’m not completely serious… He has met friends’ chickens in their homes Obviously Not In Hong Kong. But it’s true we wouldn’t really let him near one that hasn’t been fried up in HK…)

Rockstar Getting Fur Fix Outside

Long-suffering bunny - Rockstar: Why does its face look like THAT? (This bunny must be so fed up with getting picked up for pictures)

In the bunny pen is a sign with a smiley face that reads, “Please don’t lift (the board) – baby bunnies hiding underneath” – and the entire time we’re there, not a single child – no matter how rowdy outside the pen (and some of them really are) – lifts that board.

Obligatory Toy Factory Rocking Horse shot

We have more fun with the animals at The Toy Factory though – cos they’re actually interested in eating – the Farm Barn ones were really not hungry (except for the ostrich who probably can’t remember it’s been fed over and over and over. (And I think that because back on Safari West we were told the only animal that is “dumb” enough to try and escape a good thing is the ostrich because it can’t remember it gets fed regularly by staying put.)

Feed the ostrich feed the ostrich feed the ostrich – oh, just give it the whole bag, it doesn’t stop eating

The goats, alpaca and sheep are pretty gentle – you can feed them from the palm of your hand and you don’t even get drool – just a woffly-nosed snuffling as they pick up the pallets.

Flirting with Curly (as in Curly and Mo - I didn't go near Mo because the staff says he bites everyone)... Yes that's my Stella McCartney knit from about 5 years ago - again, didn't know Kings was going to be able to bring us to Toy Factory... But I've been wearing leather pants (from Mango) because of occasional showers and me thinking I might sit in damp grass in one of the parks while Rockstar runs around with a ball

Flirt with someone, buy them a drink. Well, treat.

An Aussie boy who looks to be 5 or 6 overhears me telling Rockstar I’m not sure about one of the ducks, and chimes in “No, he’s fine,” and demonstrates with his own handful of feed. (In fact, older kids were mostly pretty nice to Rockstar, holding doors open for him and stuff, more so here than in some of the other Australian towns we’ve been in… Once in a playground when a toddler makes off with his ball, the dad makes a point of getting it back though Rockstar isn’t really playing with it anyways.)

This goat got lucky... because it was standing on this tree trunk and therefore wasn't pushing, Rockstar kept feeding it

Rockstar stays with the poultry after awhile. He gets angry with the livestock for “pushing.” Sheep, it would seem, have not been taught about “making red choices” (in school he says, pushing is deemed a “red choice” and apparently schoolmates fairly frequently tell on each other about them.)

….. And WHY do people say there are white sheep and there are black sheep – they all look like varying shades of brown. Except maybe right after sheering they’re white (or black) for like, a day….

PS: Like my hair? I washed it with Cussons Pure Natural Antibacterial Japanese Spa Green Tea, Rice Milk & Jasmine handsoap because we discovered that was all they had to get clean with on our first night. Unless Cussons was just the bottle and our landlord refilled it with dishwashing detergent…

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Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…

Posted on October 4, 2011 by admin

 

Lean, mean, duck-feeding machine

Kings had some personal errands to run here, and a local friend of his studied architecture in this town… It’s a 2-day school week for Rockstar so we decided to follow him and hang around…So… where’s here? Hints:

Joyriding Rockstar in quiet, fairly empty airport around 10.30am on a holiday

“Any food?” (Dead giveaway,  this one)

“Rice Krispies” (Rockstar’s thing since making some pudding thing during recent school summer camp – to be exact they’re the little individually-packed ones from Aji Ichiban). After going thru the X-ray, they wave us on without opening our bags.

Didn't catch the mummy in the red boots, but did manage a pic of this guy in groovy pink shorts

Driving into town, a mummy with  a baby harness crosses the road in front of us. She’s wearing a trendy faded black denim blazer with embroidery on it, huge sunnies, a dark scarf with one bright yellow stripe, and dark red boots with black kitten heels. Her baby harness matches the boots, though her baby is in head-to-upper-body-that-I-can-see-above-harness hot pink.

Enter the town

We pass quite a few churches, several chiropractors, funeral services – Kings insists on snapping a bus ad of a funeral service (that he sees several times during our drive) “Because that guy in the ad (whom we assume is the funeral director) has such a big smile – shouldn’t he look a bit more sad?.”

Uh… My own favorite sign is the one in front of a church that reads, “Blessing of pets welcome.” Kings whizzes by too fast for me to snap a pic. And I am not putting his funeral service ad picture up. Humph.

View from brunch seat

Other View From Brunch Seat - and check out the shop behind these two, it reads "Bimbo"

We had Greek for our first brunch off the plane btw... The Moussaki was outstanding. Rockstar wants me to stop taking pictures so he can dig in

Bimbo is awesome. They carry interesting kitschy jewelry made of little plastic toys, tape measures, toothbrushes – Rockstar and I went in while waiting for the food, and I got the ribboned “brooch” made with plastic horses in the pic above.

Like so...

Check out the pendant made out of a black plug... And the toothbrush earrings in back

Rockstar gets a tape measure that looks like a robot (he’s in a “measuring” phase – no he can’t quite do it properly yet but does this deter him? Noooo.) There is actual (expensive) stuff I used to see on occasion in Lane Crawford or On Pedder that looks like some of this stuff… I can imagine similar fish-shapes (above) or race-cars (below) bracelets being sold by some of the high-end designers…

Power rangers and hair curlers

Though maybe not the hair curlers.

I’m on the fence about the Power Rangers. I don’t like them as earrings but can totally imagine them being a pendant. I used to have a Star Wars one of gold C3PO, about 2 inches long. When I was like, 5. But I’d still wear one kitschy item. Though not racehorse brooch. I bought that as a souvenir to frame up. Oh but wait – I haven’t got to Where Not In Kansas Are We yet. Ok more hints:

Somewhere in this town is a vandal who is a Michael Jackson fan.

Somewhere in this town is an – oh, why bother, even Rockstar can read this

Somewhere in this town are people very proud of sucking at vegetarianism

Somewhere in this town is "udder" delight

And my feeble attempt at a red herring.......

Oh wait. I gave the game away in one of the shots didn’t I?

That’s right, the Rockstar is in Adelaide, South Australia.

 

 

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Word Play (or World Domination) Rockstarisms

Posted on October 3, 2011 by admin

***Spare post alert – this was not posted from Hong Kong… Stay tuned, even as we search for Wifi…

#163

Playing with Boggle Jr one day…

Rockstar: Look what I spelled, Mum. “Caju”.

Me: And that’s –

Rockstar: A new way to sneeze.

Yeah it's not a sneeze, it's just gross - it's his "alien face". Lucky he doesn't do this one anymore...

#164

In Singapore recently…

Taxi driver: It’s Lantern Festival today. Can you say “Lantern” in (Putonghua)?

Rockstar: Don’t know.

Taxi driver (heavy Singlish): (Putonghua) is very important you knowww… Cannot dono, this must know oooone!

Rockstar: But I don’t know the Chinese for “Lantern”. So I’ll make up something. “Lantern” is <makes up something>

Taxi driver: <laughing> No, it’s (whatever Putonghua for “Lantern” is- I’ve forgotten)

Rockstar: It should be <his made up word>. Mine is better.

Taxi driver: <still laughing> Waah, you very funny ah boy.

(The Rockstar is not pleased at not being taken seriously.)

Rockstar: No! NO!

Me: HEY. Study hard, you can change it to your word one day. Or write for the tv shows. Or decide what’s on tv. Or pass a law forbidding taxi drivers from laughing during their shift.

(And I think he’s considering it.)

#165

Rockstar: Mum. Daddy. Did you know dinosaurs are extinct? My teacher said that in school today.

Kings: <impressed> Wow. Do you know what “extinct” means?

Rockstar: It means they all died. They’re not here anymore…

<pause>

Rockstar: Daddy. Did you go to Kindergarten?


Posted in Rockstar Shots, Rockstarisms, Talking To Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Beijing Pool Game

Posted on October 1, 2011 by admin

Recently, Kings visited the Nuffnang China office. One night, everyone went out after work on a team building exercise, which involved rounds of pool. China Nuffies, hope it’s ok I tell the story based on Kings’ narration – I couldn’t read the blog posts in Chinese <sheepish> Also, I didn’t check if it was ok to put others’ pics up on my blog, hence this looks like a rave about my husband. Itisnot.

So anyway, game on. The two best pool players in the bunch were to take turns selecting players for their teams. For each round, teams would select a player for face-off. Kings offered up RMB 500 to the winning team out of 5 games.

But can he play?!

(Kings btw, looooves wagers. In HK if you’re single he plays Let’s See If You Can Get The Prettiest Girl At The Next Table To Give Up Her Number so if you don’t want to get sent to some strangers’ table during the course of dinner or karaoke, tell him you are attached/ married/ Amish. Last time they played it, according to Kings, they had only just sent someone over, and the moment he opened his mouth, the ladies called a waiter over, “Can you please control your guests?” without speaking to the guys. Ouch. So cold.  

Pre-Rockstar, I got someone’s number too. You’d think it’s easier cos I’m female, but her male friends were going, “These Are Not Good People,” in Cantonese right in front of me. Humph. I’ll have you know that became a long distance relationship that lasted several months, between the single guy at our table (who was from Singapore – that’s how I learned the term “Pore Chye,” and this girl we picked up in a Kowloon bar. We even packed him a picnic basket for his first date with her on the Peak, the next day…

Anyway. Figure since the hub isn’t allowed to frequent girly bars now we have a child (in case he picks up some disgusting skin thing off the upholstery and brings that home to Rockstar) he should still get his wagers – this is A JOKE OK, so I get to tell people (yet again) about the time his Taiwanese clients got him a topless girl.)

Back to Pool Game Beijing. Before team leaders can pick their teams, Kings adds he can’t play pool if his life depended on it. If the team with him on it still won, he would forgo his share of the prize money.

No one picks him. He is peeved. “Hey. Guys. It’s MY game.” Someone kinda goes Ok…lah… Kings is like, the 2nd last to get a team. I’ll call them Team B.

Now, as Team B strategizes who to send for the first game (and btw they are really serious about this), Kings tells them, “Actually, I’m quite good at pool.” Team B gets excited. They think Team A doesn’t know they have an extra player who can play. So they aim to predict when Team A will send their Absolute Best Player, the only guy Kings thinks he may not be able to beat. Expecting Team A to send a fairly strong player (but not ABP), Team B sends someone to throw the first round. An early win, they think, will make Team A more complacent.

Score Team A: 1; Team B: 0.

Anticipating Team A will relax and send a less-skilled player for the 2nd round, Team B aims to tie the score at 1:1. They then also capture the point after that, though not without a fight.

Score Team A: 1; Team B: 2.

Team B now expects Team A to expend Absolute Best Player to draw the game. Recall Mr ABP can beat anyone on Team B. Team B sends their Weakest Player to face him.

As ABP is predictably demolishing WP, Kings will by default represent Team B in the tie-breaking final. At which point he confesses, “Actually, I can’t play. You guys are going to have to teach me.” 

At which point I ask Kings if anyone screams, “YOU D***HEAD!!!!!” (well, whatever the equivalent is in Putonghua) and just gives up and goes home. Apparently not, after indulging in a heart attack, Team B earnestly try to teach Kings to hold a cue stick in the last moments before he has to go on and play the tie-breaker. I am very impressed no one tries to kill my husband. I mean, they have sticks and everything. 

Score Team A: 2; Team B: 2. 

Kings wins the coin-toss, and walks up to the table for the break. At the self-assured THWACK! from years of cutting school in his village in Seremban to hide out in arcades (loathed his English teacher), and several more years hustling London School of Economics inmates in between exam season cram sessions, two cue balls roll obediently into their pockets, as a cry goes up among the watching Nuffs: “FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU———- !!!!” (Ok, one English-speaking Nuff.)

Trick Shot

My husband has not played pool by any standard of regularity for many, many years. But, once upon a time in Seremban, then at LSE, he was quite unbeatable.

(Oh yes and he forfeited his share of the RMB 500 prize.)

Moral: You will never know who your real friends are unless you spend a little time being the dumbest person in the room. So you’re a newbie at work. And maybe you have yet to prove yourself. That’s still good for something, use it.

I need to give thanks no one hurt my husband in Beijing. Not sure I could’ve been as restrained – I married a helluva poker face 😀

Ps: A senior at work once observed I sometimes went wayy out of my way for certain people in the office, including him. I told him it was because, long before anyone knew how good I was on a desk, he had been kind to me.

No matter how much reserves we think we have, in reality we’re only human – our resources – time, energy, credibility are limited. You can only help so many people. If you are worth anything, you will not remain the Dumbest Person No One Needs Anything From In The Office forever. You may therefore never get as good a chance to decide who to expend your limited resources on – and who to steer clear of. 

Sadly, that’s human nature. If you treat everyone nice all the time, there are unfortunately people who will see no real incentive to treat you nice, as opposed to treating you like crap. And possibly they’ll keep your hands too full to help the people you really want to help. 

So yes, you want to be nice all of the time. But for the tiny little subset of people who take kindness for weakness, you cannot communicate, if you don’t speak in a language they understand. Besides, choosing to be “nice” simply for lack of gumption to be otherwise is not really being “nice” at all. I’m just saying…

Posted in Rockstar Thoughts | 3 Comments

Camping The Rockstar Way In A Typhoon 8

Posted on September 30, 2011 by admin

*** Updated at bottom

Gentleman Camper Rockstar…

Creamy pasta with veggies and hardboiled eggs – Check!

Drink with favorite purple curly straw from Grandmum – Check!

Served on one of Mum’s Sam Pickard trays that are usually only meant as home decor – Check!

iPad playing Little Red Riding Hood game – Touch, drag, drop!

The only way to camp, in a Typhoon 8 🙂

Post an unexpected Typhoon 8, we went back to regular school run, to overheard conversations between school staff and Rockstar’s schoolmates regarding their understanding of Hong Kong’s weather conditions that might require precautionary actions like staying home, keeping windows closed…

Then in the weekly school email to parents, among the recommendations to enrich our child’s learning at home for the week was the suggestion for us to discuss actions needed in order to keep safe during Typhoon season… Making Hay in Sunshine, Hong Kong Typhoon Season edition…

Posted in Rockstar Shots, School For Rockstar, Talking To Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hong Kong Cow

Posted on September 29, 2011 by admin

Funny taste in snacks: Rockstar thinks the strange bit is this cow likes eating the decorative plants… (Yes this is the road divider of a busy street in Sai Kung and on the other side is  a large bus terminal…)

A cow in Hong Kong… What’ll they think of next?

Ps: You do get cows quite often in Sai Kung… Take note, Mr Blake – Hong Kong Cows don’t just stand and stare, they navigate busy traffic for a munch…

(Have seen street mutts really good at navigating busy intersections, and padding about on the narrowest of barriers between very busy roads… It’s just funny how animals here can also learn to get so used to the hustle and bustle… The eagles roosting in the tall buildings (usually the old ones) are real fast and opportunistic at grabbing lunchtime sandwiches too… To date I’ve lost 2 Subways at the Peak – roast beef and mustard, mind you… Fast and opportunistic – same words I would use to described the HK stock market…) 

Posted in Rockstar Shots | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments