Up to my ears in boxes

At last our shipping has arrived. The whole 73 packages, I won't say 73 boxes as some of the things were just odd shaped packages like golf clubs, didgeridoo etc. I was beginning to dread their arrival as I was worried they would not fit in the apartment and also I was beginning to wonder how they were actually going to get it all up to the apartment and unpacked in the small space available. However I need not have worried as this is what we were paying for, efficiency. And boy were they efficient. Whilst someone was bringing it all up from the basement, someone else was letting me know the numbers on the boxes as they arrived so I could check them off on the master list, and someone else was beginning to unpack them. They arrived at 10 am and by midday all the boxes were unpacked, some put away but a lot of it just on top of surfaces, beds, tables, cupboards even piled in the bath. The removalists then left with a nice stack of boxes that had been flat packed. Now the hard work began, trying to find a home for all our things... and did I mention that all this was done on a very, very hot and humid day so by the end of it all there were trails of sweat throughout the house. That very afternoon I received a call from someone in the shipping company to ask if she could come around on Friday to welcome us to Hong Kong. Why not I thought, and so spent the next day frantically trying to get some sense of order in the house before she arrived. Come Friday morning the living room was at least looking livable, as long as you didn't go further down the hall to see the chaos in the other rooms. She arrived armed with a welcome backpack full of all sorts of goodies, from a map book, to other books about living in Hong Kong: the culture and customs, a file already set up with dividers in place containing lots of helpful information about getting set up here, as well as mugs and other bits and pieces. What a lovely thing for the company to do, we will certainly consider using them again, which I assume is the motive behind it all. They even have a junk trip on the harbour for all the recent arrivals, so we are eagerly awaiting the date for that. So here I sit some time after all of this happened, the apartment is definitely looking more like home with all the pictures on the walls, lots of lovely little reminders of our time in Peru scattered around us, Peruvian rugs brightening up the sofa and beds. I suppose I had better take some photos to add to this blog.

Our resident cards have arrived so now we have access to all the facilities of the estate. We took a little tour of one of the sports complexes the other day and to my surprise on the roof we found of all things, a caged golf driving range and practice putting green!! Also there were 6 tennis courts. The rest of the sports complex housed a number of squash courts, badminton courts, basketball courts, activity rooms that you can hire and of course a gym. There is also a club house right near our tower block and it contains a number of restaurants as well as an indoor lap pool, outdoor swimming pool and another gym. This is the gym that I have started going to. It can be pretty busy at times but that is not surprising considering the view. When I am on the treadmill I look out across the East Lamma Channel watching all the myriad of boats go by. Fishing boats of all sizes trawl that waters around here, little fishing boats not much bigger than a kayak bob in the water close to the promenade so they are away from the busy central shipping lane. Some are powered by an outboard, they are prepared to go further from the Promenade as they have the power to get out of trouble quickly, but most of them rely on man power and their occupants, usually two, sit peacefully fishing with their heads protected from the weather with typical Chinese straw hats. Tug boats lead other vessels out to sea, there seem to be a lot of drilling rigs being towed out at the moment. Ferry's scuttle across to Lamma Island, some carrying only trucks and tanks, some with only passengers, but all weaving between the other vessels. And of course there are the huge container ships that are so commonly seen here in the shipping channel. One morning I watched 10 monster container ships either entering the channel coming into port or leaving. There had been a typhoon so I assume that the ships were a little behind schedule and thus backed up, so they were literally steaming in at 5 minute intervals! It is like the Heathrow of the water here! I have been told that Hong Kong has one of the busiest ports in Asia, second only to Singapore, so it is no wonder there is so much activity on the water, however watching all this certainly makes the time go quicker in the gym which is exactly what I need.

I have done the odd early morning session in the gym as well, but have since discovered that it is a lot quieter around lunch time. Early in the morning there is a completely different view to keep me occupied. The promenade becomes a hive of activity, especially amongst the elderly who at this time of the day are doing their Tai Chi - salutations to the sun. No wonder the majority of them look so fit and live for so long, Tai Chi obviously keeps them very supple and in a good emotional place. People of all ages, sizes, nationalities fill the promenade enjoying their morning constitutional, walking, running, Tai Chi or even fishing even though there are signs saying no fishing from the promenade!