Picture of the Day: A Far-Out View

On Thursday I checked out the Hyatt Regency in Shatin, New Territories.

I didn't know there was a hotel out there but it opened about a year and a half ago, conveniently located right next to the University KCR station and the bus terminus. It is near Chinese University and also a new tourism school that will open in September.

The hotel is usually busy with conferences and meetings from mostly local but now international groups are coming as well to this secluded area. Also residents in the area swarm the place on the weekends for the buffet and pool.

This picture is the view from one of the hotel's top floors, looking towards Tolo Harbour. Along the bottom right hand corner of the picture is a red path, which is actually a bicycle path around the area. Guests of the hotel can rent bikes and ride along the water for hours.

Sounds like a cool recreational activity I'd like to try out sometime.

Bedtime Setback

My apartment has a mattress, a fridge, a closet and now the bed frame was coming on Thursday.

The delivery came around the appointed time and luckily a friend was available to help open the door to the flat.

However, as I wasn't there to witness the whole procedure, I found out the workers had trouble putting the bed frame together.

First of all, the headboard was too tall and so it can't be against the window as I had hoped. But more importantly, it's a bed frame where the boards under the mattress can be lifted up so that I can put things underneath it, like luggage or things I don't use often. My bedroom isn't large enough to get a hydraulic lift, so I'm stuck lifting the mattress manually.

But it turns out one of the boards that is supposed to lie flat was of the wrong size and stuck out, making it impossible for the mattress to lie flat as well. 

So what did the workers do? They just abandoned the procedure and left! They left it half done, not knowing out to solve the problem (ie. probably not having a saw or a machine to cut the board into the right size).

They had told my friend they would contact their supervisor and that person would contact me, but that never happened. I called later that day and no one answered the phone; I called again the next day and the line was constantly busy. I also called the DSC customer service line, only to be told that it would be ANOTHER WEEK before the problem would be dealt with.

In order to sleep Thursday night, my friend helped me disassemble most of the pieces so that we could be back where we started -- with the mattress on the floor again. I was so looking forward to having it together, but this setback is a real drag. I know have pieces of the bed frame leaning against my wall or standing upright, taking up more space.

Nevertheless, the good thing is that my little leather stool has arrived, making it easier for me to type on the computer instead of sitting on my bed.

And fingers crossed, on Monday I'll get my table and chairs.

I hope this bed frame situation gets sorted soon. My friend suggested I had better get on their case or even go back to the store to complain otherwise nothing may be done. I think I will have to head there tomorrow...

Caught in the Downpour

Today at lunchtime I got caught in the rain. As in thunder, lightning, and rain pouring down.

Water was rushing down staircases like a torrent, creating an instant river on the sidewalk.

It was so bad that my sandals were completely soaked through and I could feel the water swishing around inside. When I got inside I emptied some water out of them.

Even having an umbrella was no use because other people shorter than you would walk by with their umbrellas in your face, or worse yet, cars driving by had no qualms splashing pedestrians, the drivers probably having evil smiles on their faces watching others get more wet.

There was lots of lightning and thunder, as the Hong Kong Observatory had predicted. And the rain continued to pour down relentlessly. Those who ventured out knew they would be soaked -- but this being Hong Kong, sometimes things have to be delivered, come rain or shine.

Now several hours later, my sandals are STILL wet... hopefully they'll be OK in the morning...

I used to think people who wore Crocs were strange. Why did they like making their feet look so big? 

But they were perfect for today's crazy weather conditions.

So I finally caved in and bought a pair.

They're pretty comfortable, and given we're going to have more rain in the next month or so, makes sense to have these silly plastic shoes that are perfectly fine to get wet in.

More Housekeeping

Yesterday my life got much better -- my closet arrived.

I was a bit anxious because I was very busy at work, but also the delivery was supposed to be made around 1pm, but there was no guarantee it would come on time.

In the process of assembling the closet

However, around 1:45pm I got a call saying they were coming in about 30 minutes. Hurray! The minutes were ticking down to when I could finally unpack after almost a month of living out of my suitcase.

Just a few minutes late the delivery guys came with giant cardboard boxes. They then proceeded to cut them open, revealing all the parts to the closet.

They probably installed closets for a living and were very methodical about everything; one guy got the outside frame ready, while the other prepared the drawers and later the doors.

In about 20 minutes the closet came together thanks to their drill guns that quickly screwed everything into place. It was quite amazing to watch them move so fast.

Despite being efficient, they were also careful about the quality of their work -- one guy kept swinging the doors open and shut to make sure they worked properly and were secure.

The other quickly cleaned up and threw out the cardboard boxes in the stairwell. With that, they were gone.

The closet fits perfectly next to my fridge

Last night after work I spent a few hours unpacking. While the closet doesn't have as many compartments as I'd like, I'll have to remedy the situation with more boxes or mini drawers to organize things better.

Nevertheless it was a relief to finally settle in, and call this my new home.

The bed frame will be coming on Thursday afternoon and then the table... almost set.