Work is crazy!

After our supposed week and a half holiday it was time for team Hong Kong to start work.

The Sunday before work me and Chris were franticly searching for work shoes and found solace in Clarks, which were amazingly over priced at nearly 40 squid for every shoe! After finding the shoes we went to Ikea for about the 7th time since being in HK.
We already had 3 mattresses and a sofa being delivered to the flat but it needed lots more such as duvets and pillows. Steve and Chris picked some nice cheap but masculine duvet covers and pillows, however I had found my first problem with living with Sarah...she allowed me to pick the duvet covers and I had threatened to buy Marvels covers which had Thor, Captain America and the Hulk on I decided to get a much cheaper purple/dark blue spotted cover. Knowing I had been kind to her by getting such erm uni-sex colours I thought she would now repay the favour by picking nice pillows, I was wrong so so so wrong. Not one to have a domestic in public I hid my rage when she appeared with two bright pink cushions. She explained how they would fit in with the room, I explained how they looked gay and it was not just her room but ours. After 10 minutes or so I decided to give in and now own two pink pillows which apparently really help the room come alive. I know most people reading this are thinking what was I doing allowing the woman to win, but you must pick your battles and by allowing these small yet annoying pillows to exist in my room I have opened the opportunity to decide on something far more important, THE CUSHIONS FOR THE SOFA! After spending yet another day in Ikea having the meatballs and potatoes again we decided it was time to retire and maybe relax before work.

After a lovely morning shower and minibix we ventured towards human resources. There we collected our staff cards and got pictures done. Although Steve appeared to be having a minor stroke in his picture they said it would do. We bowled over to the imaging department to meet our boss who shares the same name as a certain character out of the hangover. We got changed into out new uniform blue scrubs that had 3 metal poppers on the shoulders. Looking slightly like Igors we were shown to our work stations full of expectation to how hard work will be.
Before I continue I am not stupid enough to mock or say how things  here are wrong but they are very different.
We all had different first day experiences Steve for example when x-raying his first patient said hi in the wrong tone so instead of hello he said 'You Pussy'. I was told by an old man that when speaking Cantonese I just spoke bad English and Chris was confused with request forms. One thing we could all agree on was that the language barrier was worse than we feared. Not only was communicating with patients very hard but sharing banter with staff was too. However the staff at the hospital were very welcoming and some of the chaps kept asking if we play football, before we knew it we had been signed up to the footy team and now were being asked if we played basketball. The first day was complete and although it was eye opening we had learnt so much from one day it gave us lots of hope. The next few days were similar with us fitting in well with the staff but are eyes opening wider and wider. The one thing that shocked us the most was the request cards, I am not saying what is happening is wrong but in England the request cards would be rejected and the doctor would get a slap round the chops. Also the amount of portables being requested was borderline stupid. It seems on average there are about 200 mobiles done a day. Again a lot of these would not be accepted in England. The radiographers had a kind of Ricky Bobby philosophy to X-rays 'If your'e not first you're last'. They are electric doing x-rays especially mobiles at a super human rate when needed. The radiation protection seems slightly different to the NHS too but I wont go in to much detail there (Inverse square law is not really used).
It made me Steve and Chris think what kind of radiographer we want to be while we are in Hong Kong. Either just keep our heads down and do the job for 2 years cause no fuss or challenge the doctors and change their practice, Obviously one is easier than the other and time will tell with what we become. Our first week came to and end and we moved into the flat and that is where we currently are.

Before I end this blog I must write about our début for the footy team and the meal after. The footy game went well with all of us scoring and dominating the other team. Talk started to circulate about our football skills, Steve was known as the corner expert, Chris the left foot and me well I was the powerful crazy one. The older chaps at work then asked if we would switch to their team and we got signed up to the hospital tournament in May. I was a very happy chappy until they took us for a traditional Chinese meal. Steve ate jelly fish and it went downhill from there. I had Chicken FEET! Pork intestine! as did Chris but Steve also had duck tongue but didn't realise you had to take out the cartilage and attempted to eat the whole thing.

On ending this post I would like to state how good Steve was at footy I have never seen him play so well! Also our fav quote of HK is when Chris sat down on an especially humid day he sighed and went 'ohh I sat on my bollock'

Making Steve Legal 2K12

After booking ferry tickets to Macau the night before we awoke early on a humid day. There was no real plan apart from get Steve safely to Macau and back. We all had our parts to play, Chris had organised the tickets and the MTR journey, I was the man with the bag so could safely store our passports and massive casino winnings and Steve well he just had to get his visa stamped.  We arrived at the ferry port and after some confusion of which queue to be in we got to our designated gate and soon realised that we were mixed in with a group of touring Americans. They were outrageously stereotypical with fake older cougars, men with polo shirts and linen trousers and the bald eagle passport (I mean seriously!!!). The journey up the sea was a little on the choppy side and I was not feeling great by the time we arrived.

So we arrived and exited the ferry terminal. We had no idea what to do or where to go but luckily Chris saw an advert for a casino caused THE VENITIAN. We grab a taxi to this place and it is huge!!! We see about 5-6 other giant Casinos and start to wonder in. The building was based on Venice and did a great job apart from the Asian gondoliers who did not look Italian and one in particular who instead of singing Italian based songs, sang ordinary people by John Legend. After 30 minutes of walking round shops we stop and have a big Maccy Ds meal....again. Now we had quenched our thirst and settled our stomachs we hit the casino floor ready to gamble. Looking at all of the card games we settled on a computerized roulette table, a game of luck and no skill suited us perfectly. Chris lost all his money on the first run yet me and Steve kept winning until I lost a lil and we walked away. Steve went from $50-$170 and me $50-$110, we collected our winnings while people next to us withdrew what looked like $50,000 (we looked a tad lame).  We had spent well over an hour in this place and decided to leave and explore more Macau, we headed straight to another casino. On our way we noticed lots of cards scattered on the floor, they were hooker call cards and then 3 inappropriately  dressed ladies who clearly had a couple of grand thrown at their titties strolled by. In the next hour between us we lost $200...our gambling days were over. We decided to treat ourselves to some nice quality coffees and hot chocolates instead of losing money or hunting hookers. We had now spent 4 hours in Macau and needed to waste more time so we went to a interactive experience, no we hadn’t caught up with the hookers we were going to the bubble to watch Dragons Treasure. It was rather impressive with dragons appearing left right and centre but sadly after 10-15 mins it was over.

Our time in Macau was coming to a close after visiting 3 other casinos we needed a treat for ourselves. We went to a stall which said desserts; our first mistake was believing the sign. I ordered what appeared to be ice cream in different flavours with nuts and jelly while Steve ordered some kind of Sundae. When they were given to us our joyful faces turned to horror, there was no ice cream only ice...flavoured ice and erm lots of kidney beans! Fudging kidney beans ohh and sweet corn! I mean WTFudge seriously what bastard of a mind came up with this. We did try our best to eat some but could only manage spoonfuls while trying to hold down the sick. I have to say that it was the worst thing ever to go in my mouth, it was awful truly disgusting.

We got a taxi back to the ferry port disappointed in what Macau had to offer. The taxi dropped us to the other ferry port and it dawned on us we got dropped to the wrong part for tourists in the morning. We went to the new area which is just a strip of casinos rather than the main city great.... We got to the correct ferry terminal and got on. The journey back was hideous thanks to that blooming sweet corn desert but I managed to sleep a bit of the way which was nice.

The ferry arrived and it was game time! We headed for arrivals and the immigration area, Steve readied his passport and went first to the booth. Sweat poured down our faces, breathing heavily we all let out a huge sigh of relief as the chap stamped Steve’s visa and he walked into Hong Kong no longer an illegal immigrant of sort but a Citizen.  Our mission was complete Xbox achievement unlocked.

Next update will be next week about starting work .....

The madness of Hong Kong

I have to split this entry into different parts and all I state is true.

10,000 Buddha's and me

Sightseeing we have not done a lot but we have managed some. We met up with the Exeter uni students from last year and went to watch the soap box red bull race in the new territories, however due to excess crowds we could not see it. Instead we decided to go visit the Buddha temple, this would have been fine if the temple had not been about 2000 steps up a mountain side. After taking some pictures me and Steve decided to take a rest and sit down. Quite quickly a man shouted at us to get up and we realised as hard as we had tried not to be we were being ignorant Brits abroad. 

In the following days we saw the light show at the harbour and looked down at the rest of society by going to the museum of art. It was very educational but in the middle of a quite amazing exhibition Steve cracks the joke 'What is the issue with the Chinese phone book... there are so many wongs and wings that someone might wing the wong number'. typical Steve.

If there is one place I love in Hong Kong its Mong Kok. The markets are amazing!!! Me and Steve finally treated ourselves to some luxurious night time dressing gowns. Steve has a black dragon dressing gown and mine a maroon one. However we were quite embarrassed when we waltzed down the hall in our gowns to be greeted by 4 guys coming out of the lift....needless to say we ran to our rooms with the stereotypical dragon gowns elegantly flowing behind us.  

Our food habits here have been terrible with us averaging at least one Big mac a day. Although it comes to about £1.50 so cheap food a big meal. 

Negotiations with a Tiger and saving Grace.

House hunting has been horrid. We looked at about 3 flats before deciding we wanted one at Diamond Hill Galaxia. It was built on top of a huge shopping mall, MTR station and cinema. With our pool being on top of the mall as well it was incredible. We managed to see a really decent flat for a good price and told the estate agents Windy and Tiger that we would ring Monday to confirm the purchase. Monday morning they e-mail to tell us we can have the flat and we can negotiate on the price. We arrive at the office ready to get the price down but whats this the flat is now sold and no others are available atm only smaller ones. We view a smaller one but it is terrible and we are fuming with Tiger now. We try 3 other estate agents to no success, we were supposed to secure a flat not lose it and continue looking at others. Windy and Tiger keep pestering us about other flats adding to out fury, then I receive a text off an estate agent named Grace. She tells us of a flat available on the 45th floor for a good price, we agree to view the flat the next day but me Steve and Chris have to be at work to view the department. Sarah bravely steps up to the plate and is willing to view it alone. I then secure two other potential flat viewings. Half way through the tour we meet our new boss who cant believe how young, tall and powerful we are (I think he was just referring to me young and powerful wise). We then have to quickly leave to secure the flat which sarah says is amazing. We taxi it to Galaxia, Sarah explains Grace had to leave...we desperately ring her and agree to meet up. We arrive and secure the flat without seeing it! We sign a few forms and agree to meet the landlord the next day to pay ect. We now try and move money across to HK to pay for this, my savings was taking a battering but I needed the cash. Halifax then blocked my transaction and blocked me out of my internet banking Fudge sake. I now had no money out here as it was all going to the flat deposit and no way of getting cash out here. I attempt to ring halifax but my credit runs out....I use sarahs phone but her credit runs out! On the point of hulking out I receive an email from my loving mother explaining that halifax rang home and my dad talked to them. My internet account was working again!!!! We sign the contract for the flat pay the money and make some cheques, also the flat was grand small but awesome with an amazing view. We move in next Friday as Ikea can't deliver the mattresses until then. When there I will upload the photos of everything and finally Skype my poor family. The flat dilemma was over maybe we could relax but then.....

Steve is an alien

When going to get our HK id cards we show our passports before filling out forms and being sent to people. However as Steve passed over his passport instead of a thank you take a seat response he got 'you have to leave the country'. Some bright spark at immigration had signed Steve in as a visitor and not stamped his visa. You would think surely they could stamp it now to say he has arrived but no they refuse and it dawns on us we will have to leave HK and come back before Monday else Steve cant work. The easiest and cheapest way to leave a 1 hour ferry trip to Macau. So now we are off to Macau for an 8 hour visit to make Steve legal.

Sometimes you have to say WHAT THE FUDGE!

Being amazingly high going to a terrifying low then to some where in between

Up down up down up?

After an emotional scene at the airport leaving our parents team Hong Kong was ready to fly. Cathay Pacific...I was impressed with the entertainment provided as me and the 'Lads' watched Ab Lincoln vampire slayer (1 out of 5 stars) then Madagascar 3 (5* simply amazing) and finally Men in black 3 (3*). I was also lucky to be in the window seat with an incredible view of the planes large wing... The food served was average but the service was disgusting firstly they only had pasta left for lunch when I was looking forward to some pork and then THEY FORGOT TO GIVE US ICE CREAM! Everyone else got ice cream I was disgusted, was I being racially abused? About 7 hours into the flight I asked for noodles which were provided as a free snack, The air hostess stared at me and said fine...I never got my noodles. Other than the clear hatred of me Steve and Chris the flight went fine.

Arriving in HK was quite nice but we were already slightly tired as only Chris has slept on the plane. We said goodbye to my lover Sarah as she got into a taxi to be whisked off to United Christians hospital. We clambered into our own red cab and started the drive into HK. The humid air was already taking its toll I suddenly released my body was not built for a warm climate. After a nice 30 min drive we arrived at our hospital next to the nursing accommodation.

This next part has some distressing scenes so readers digression is advised  however any radiographers looking to work in HK please read. We walked into the building and were greeted by some lovely ladies. The Human Resources ladies came as well to greet us and show us the rooms. They explained one of the two lifts was broken and wont be fixed for 4 months. If I had to compare these lifts I would compare them to a tin box a hobo would use for a toilet. As we slowly made our ascent to the 4th floor we were continually told never to go above the 4th floor as that was the girls apartments. I had already began scheming to dress Chris or Steve up as a girl and send them in as a spy. The doors to the 4th floor opened and we were greeted with a lime green tiled floor, we slowly walked round to room 12 (Chris's room) the door opened and tears began to fall. The room was massive very spacious almost too spacious however it contained one chair, one desk, one bed and some large built in cupboards. The wall paper was lime green to match the floor but sadly was peeling. According to Sarah it looked like a torture room from hostel but more green and less appealing. Me and Steve left Chris to adjust to the shock and bravely ventured down the corridor to our rooms. They were the same exactly the same what the hell had we got ourselves into. The worst news was yet to come, we had no internet access!!!!! The upbeat mood changed dramatically our heads dropped. We quickly decided that we needed to go for a walk to try and lift the spirits. We strolled around the area and realised that it is a very Asian area with not many western folk. We found a few shops and got some water. After a while we decided to try the free internet cafe in the hospital, that worked fine so we were slightly happier slightly... Jet lag set in and I decided to go to sleep at 4pm just for a few hours but sadly after only 40 minutes sleep Sarah rang me claiming to be in a place called Mong Kok and asked for directions to my hospital, I made her get in a taxi and she appeared not 10 minutes later. Her jaw dropped when she saw my room and now realised her room in comparison was a palace. I was very happy to hear she had the internet and her room was nice as she was a good 40 minutes away. After Sarah left at 7pm I decided to go to sleep for good surely sleep would help this terrible day.

I awoke at 430am and managed to stay in bed till about 6 before texting the others to see if they were up. We all were up and didn't have to meet HR until 10 so decided at 7 to go down and get some breakfast from the cafe. After some pointing and attempting some basic Cantonese we managed to order 3 meals of sausage egg ham and toast with a carbonara kind of dish, this came with a coffee for the nice price of £1.50 :) Spirits were on the rise. After a nice meal I viewed our rooms differently the shower curtain pole next to the sink was very sturdy and I began my pull ups because I am dench and tings. The floor space was good for walking around in, the air conditioning was very erm cooling and the cupboard space was huge so I unpacked easily. We all seemed happier and met HR who gave us an invoice to open a bank account. Sarah arrived and we set out to meet her at the station, we got lost on our way back and went through some side streets. Then just before making it back to the main street we sniffed out some prostitutes (at 11 in the morning jesus!) we quickly ran off before temptation got the better of Steve. We wandered to HSBC and attempted to sort the bank out. I had set up my HK account in England so my process was as simple as collecting the documents, Steve and Chris needed more identification so we had to come back later. On our way back we decided to try some estate agents still buzzing from our good morning. The lady in the estate agents took us instantly for a viewing, she was very nice and we were excited until we arrived. The building was worse than our own bloomin accommodation and the price was outrageous! The best thing was the view which was of the middle of the building so dark dark and damp. After talking to another agent our heads were very much down the prices were horrendous and we then knew we could not live that close to the hospital. We got maccy ds to cheers us up and the price there was awesome as our double cheeseburger meal was £2.30 and a big mac meal was £1.80 :O This began the rise once more!!! we stormed back to the accommodation and I decided I would go back to Sarah's to view that while the guys went back to the bank. My first experience of the trains was great they were very very very efficient and it dawned on me that we could live further away than first thought. We walked up to her building and the area was different to ours it was slightly more market based but had more charm. Her room was like northern hay at Exeter Uni. The internet here was like a pool in the desert it allowed me to write this post. We began to look at possible places to live and she found a gem! A place called Diamond hill it was everything we needed: Near a train station, attached to a shopping mall, reasonably priced, swimming pool and gym!!! I emailed the estate agents and rang the guys to tell them about this place, they then informed me we had been given cards so we could access the staff computer room downstairs. Finally my Hong Kong was turning round! I accepted my room was not perfect but can easily live their until we move out! Now extremely excited for the future and my next post will tell you of our first touristy adventures of HK

Humble beginnings

The Journey begins!

Everyone else going started packing ages ago apart from me and Steve. We are generally pretty rouge but will our maverick behaviour finally catch up with us?

After sorting out the bank in Hong Kong and a travel card all I needed was some HK dollar to hand. To make funds for this I sold my table tennis table, climbing gear and Xbox :( it was a sad almost devastating moment selling the Xbox as me and Chris had been playing on-line pretty much every other night. I was planning to sell the Xbox just a few days before we arrived in HK but  with 10 days to go after Thumping Chris 6-1 on fifa he sold his within 10 minutes. I tried to keep playing but it just wasn't the same and I can only handle a few fat Americans swearing at me all the time. I managed to get £150 for the Xbox which combined with the other money gave me some decent cash.

 Before I could even get some Dollar my parents and family supplied me with enough to last a decent time. This meant I now had about £200 spare to myself. My final night out suddenly had a much much larger budget. My final night started with meeting a few friends for a standard beer and burger at spoons, the banter was flowing freely and it had the possibility of being a grand old time. That possibility became slightly diminished when we visited Bargain Booze to get some beverages for pre drinks. Not one of the classiest establishments, I was picking up gone off cider for knock down prices. After making it back to our mates house with a large selection of alcohol we started drinking games. Pyramid was the first game and the mood suddenly changed no one wanted to be the first drunk. Sadly as it was my last night I was being picked on quite a lot and after 4 cans of cider I needed a TC. The burger came up rather splendidly and reminded me that I 100% need to chew my food more. When we arrived in town most my work friends were now out. Sadly my good friend and gym buddy Karol was to drunk to get in. His strong Borat/Polish accent was not helping the situation with the bouncer, he kept shouting at the bouncer claiming he was mean...After 5 minutes of unsuccessfully getting him in I put him in a taxi home, we had are first casualty. The night then picked up with some major shapes being busted on the dance floor and everyone having a pretty good time. At about 2-3am as usual I wanted to go on walkabouts so I grabbed my best bud Leo and Jess and headed off to Jakes (a fine food establishment) to get some hot food. I got a mammoth ham and chips baguette which unlike the Burger stayed down. My final night in Plymouth was over and I managed to hold in the tears.

The last Sunday in England I had that very English meal one final time Chinese.
My final few days in England have been spent buffing up in the gym and getting ready for HK. Today I went town for the final time to try and get a present for my parents who have done a fine job raising me. After not finding anything appropriate as a gift I decided I deserved a treat, 3 albums and 3 tops later I got my parents a thank you card.
I am going for one final meal with my parents tonight before driving up to London tomorrow ready for the flight on Wednesday.

My packing has started about 30 minutes ago, its not going great with my mum wanting to iron everything and me wanting to take everything but this is the challenge I have left myself. Wish me luck and my next entry will be about the flight and arrival in Hong Kong!