Bucks night in Zurich

What do you reckon a swiss guy would get up to for his bucks night in Zurich ?

I was curious to find out and when the invitation came last week it as a chance too good to refuse.

Until last Friday all I knew was it would be in Zurich with no other details. Then on Saturday morning the text message came through that we would meet in no other place than the bastion of bachelorhood, Hooters. Who would have thought there would be a hooters bar in conservative old Zurich anyway. Perfect place start to a memorable bucks night I thought. 

I had never been to a hooters bar before and had visions of ample bosomed ladies in tight t shirts serving with interminable smiles on their face while we slammed down beers and ate ribs with our bare hands while telling coarse jokes at the top of our voices.  Yes it would be a good old boys night with a huge hangover to take home. By this stage I had been living in the small; village of Cham where a big event is when someone does not put their recycling in the right receptacle.   I could not wait to get on the train to hit the big smoke and cut loose.

You know how it is disappointing when you build something up in your mind only to find that the reality is, well, not what you expected.  Then I can tell you don't expect much from Hooters in Zurich because the reality is there were no tall blond ample bosomed ladies in tight t shirts and the place was full of families and birthday sing alongs and cheesy american conga dance for the kids. How can this happen, how could Hooters become just another family restaurant?

We had two beers, watched the conga line dance, ate dinner civilly and talked about cars and sport. There was six of us and the common link was to asia. Each guy had either worked in Asia or had asian girlfriend or wife. right then I wanted to be back in Asia I can tell you.

We left Hooters for the next stage which was in a real bar with our names on the door list controlled by big bouncers and a door bitch. There was music, and on arrival we met the hens party. The bride to be had at least eight of her friends at the table with bottles of gin, vodka, red bull, coke, tonic and cranberry juice. At least someone was having a big night and all of us boys looked on pathetically at how we had missed our big warm up chance.

Undeterred we helped the ladies empty their almost finished bottles while they took hundreds of photos with their new digital cameras. Unfortunately we had just arrived too late to catch up and we could just watch while everyone else got hammered and did some of the funniest dancing I have seen.

After catching a ride home with the buck asleep in the back of the car, it was late but I was in pretty good condition so I thought I would go for a ski the next day....and try something Switzerland would be more famous for.

  

  

Cute Boys

Korean wives Tales

There is no shortage fo advice, especially when you dont need it. We got a lot and I'm sure it was just the tip of the old wives tale 'iceberg'.

Korean ladies must stay inside for 21 days in warm space. Otherwise if you go outside into the cold you will feel cold and sore for the rest of your life.

Must eat seaweed soup for helping the breast milk. No salty, spicy or greasy food.

No shower for at least seven days, including shampoo and tooth paste. This could damage your bones by having water onto the skin too soon.

Cant eat cold food like ice cream because it will damage your teeth.

Too much use of the milk expressing machine will make your nipples black and reduce your milk capacity.

The first weeks milk should be stored and fed to baby later because it makes the babies skin irritated.

The outside milk makes the baby wake up early because it does not have the proper fat. The inside milk takes twenty minutes to reach and the baby can often fall asleep before then.

Cannot swap milk bottles between twins, and you should clean your breast between babies.

Royal Mom and Baby care centre

Want to kick up your heels and put all that delivery suite hassle behind you, then this is the place for you. Imagine having everything on hand where the nursing is done for you twenty four hours a day, your meals are cooked for you, washing done, massages, yoga, morning and afternoon tea, oriental medicine, sauna etc etc. There is a place in Seoul, Korea and it called the Royal Mum and Baby care centre . You can stay for one to three weeks.

As you get out of the elevator on the fourth floor of the Boramae Academy Tower , you are greeted by the green grass and blue sky scenery (albeit fake).

The front entrance is also an air lock with an external door and internal door, once inside the external door a high pressure air stream is blown into the chamber and passed through a HEPA air filter for cleaning.

After the internal door there is an ante chamber set up for visitors and for the office with view of the nursery. Then through another door to the inner care centre where there is a hand wash and gargle station. see left. In the same photo is the bottle store and pump store.

Next to the bottles and handwash is the nursery, always in full view and can be visited anytime by the parents when you want to take the babies away for a feed or return them for a rest, its completely up to the parents.

Of course the nursery has midwives working on 3 shifts and will look after everything for you if you need. Had enough mustard filled nappies for one day, no worries just hand the babies back to the nurse!

The centre also has a beauty clinic, a hair dresser and an oriental medicine clinic. There are lots of events for the mothers each day including how to massage your baby, breast feeding tips, yoga etc. Lots of advice, I will cover the old wives tales in another blog.

Week of Change

Here is Samuel and Andrew on Sunday 17th February, now almost six days old. Both regaining a little of the lost weight earlier in the week. Mum is doing much better and is up and about walking. We had Andrew with us in the hospital room overnight on Thursday night. At 45 to 60 minute intervals he was either being fed or changed. Then at 3.30 we must have fallen asleep because at 5am we were both woken by the sound of Andrew sucking his thumb. Somehow he had wriggled out of his wrap and clothes to get his hand into his mouth.



So for a bit of light relief here is Andrew in what I call the Dartagnon shot.
Sunny reckons he=s more of a captian hook. He is an active little lad who likes looking around at everything else and can recognise Sunny voice.

Samuel and Andrew - Welcome to the world

Samuel 2.24 kg 46 cm Andrew 2.5 kg 46 cm

At 6.23 and 6.24 pm respectively, on the 12th February two little boys came into the world with a cute cry and a quick wink for their mother. Both kids and mother are doing well at the Dongwon Hospital in Ilsan, Korea.

The doctor, nurses and Dongwon hospital team were great and broke their traditional rule of no partners in the operating theatre to let me witness the birth of the boys by c section.

Sunny and I are so happy to see these little lads and know they are ok.

Will get a proper camera tomorrow and try to improve the pictures.

Sean

Countdown in Korea

Its 11 pm Monday the 11th February and its the quiet before the baby tornado hits tomorrow at six pm. Last night Sunny was in so much pain we went to the doctor to request a C section for Tuesday at 6pm. We had always discussed having a c section given the timing and coordination required to be in the same place for the birth at the same time.

During the consultation with the doctor he reminded us of the risks. It was their normal policy to go for natural delivery and in the case of c section they would use general anaesthetic and father would not be able to attend the operation. However Sunny requested epidural and for me to attend, when the doctor questioned her, her auntie added that my father was a doctor and he wished that I should see the operation to appreciate how hard the doctor is working.

Now it's booked and were waiting... so we went to Seoul today to fill Sunnys visa application for Switzerland. It was not a simple task, first I had to apply for her in Switzerland and then she has to apply in Korea in Person and then wait for the authorities decision. I can tell you if the decision is anything but positive then forget any ideas about working and living in Switzerland. We had to go to the local registry office and get copies of family registers, marriage, divorce, birth and photos plus no criminal record certificate.

I had most of it prepared except for the three copies of photos. When I applied for my visa in HK I dutifully filled in everything in triplicate, only to find the consulate staff telling me that only one copy was required. The Korean Swiss embassy was not so lenient and wanted the whole kit of info in triplicate including photos. Oh bugger, we had to run around and organise photographers to send copies of photos by email and download them at the photo shop and print. Thank god for email. I could not believe that Sunny had the photographers contact after 3 years and that the photographer had actually kept the photo of mingyu.

We are staying at Sunny's aunties house in Ilsan about 30 km from Seoul. They are so kind and her Auntie is cooking lots of excellent Korean food, we are all putting on weight. The babies were scanned today and expected to weigh in at around 2.3 to 2.5 kg tomorrow.

Sunny's Auntie and Uncle own a korean restaurant and specialise in the marinated pork barbeque, it is really great too. However a bitter ex employee has blown the whistle on a restaurant collegue from China who may not have quite made fullfilled all the necessary registration requirements. So the owners are called to Seoul tomorrow to discuss with the authorities. There have been phone calls from local supporters including the local police chief !

We have packed sunnys bag and doing a few checks for stuff we need to buy online and putting and end to my last day before kids. Sweet dreams Sunny, you have been an absolute champion bearing those boys.

Perfectly Pregnant

Here she is in full bloom, over eight months pregnant and looking great !

Settling into Switzerland

The first day of work I flew into Zurich at 7am to find one of my bags did not make it. After registering the lost bag the staff tell me that over 500 bags are currently reported lost in Zurich, sounded like a lot to me. I had a shower in the arrival lounge which was great. Then drove to Zug following the road along the lake of Zurich, it was a clear day the sky was blue the snow was on the mountains and everything looked great.

After a week in Switzerland, it has not been a dream run.

Let me get the whinging over with now:
- apartments do not have lights when you move in. Everyone knows it of course, except for the ususpecting expat. Don't be caught without your sare bulb holders, it seems every swiss guy has a complete set.
- shops are mostly closed when you need them. Shops close anywhere between 5-7pm and all day Sunday. I managed to even miss the supermarket on Saturday afternoon leaving me wondering where the hell to get a carton of milk.
- Supermarkets sell you the bags, after bag crazy HK this was major.
Supermarkets don't weigh fruit at the checkout, so guess who held up the line when the loose fruit was presented at the checkout ? They asked where I was from and verified that Australia did actually use the checkout to weigh stuff. God help me if I had come from somewhere that didn't, I would be quickly black banned from the supermarket no doubt.
- Rubbish is something I still haven't figured out. I know you need to recycle and buy certified rubbish 35l bags at 2 bucks per bag!
- Food prices are outrageous, compare with HK sometimes 4-10 times more expensive
- Swiss are quick to tell you what you can't do, especially the older ones
- Lunches in the cafetieria average 12-15 francs per day, that is approx 100 hkd. Compare to 21 hkd for sweet and sour pork with rice and soup and can of drink. I am missing the barbeque pork from HK too.
- water is "hard" and calcium deposits onto pots quickly, also cannot get a lather up with shampoo.

Ok so it's not the easiest place to settle.

Some good stuff:

1. My colleague Tony took me to the DIY store to buy light temporary fittings and installed them for me. I went to his place after for coffee and got a dinner invitation later this week.

2. Another colleague loaned me some light fittings too.

3. Apple Juice was same price as HK

4. There's lots of snow on the mountain

5. The biking looks promising

6. The office is not buzzing like HK

7. The work hours are flexible

8. The local beer tastes ok, but expensive at 9 bucks a pint.

9. The visa process is relatively painless

10. There is a bar close to the office

11. The apartment has a cracking view over the lake and mountains

12. I found a second hand sat tv receiver in the web for 200 bucks, I don't know if that's great or not but the chance of watching some Aus TV would be worth the extra bucks.


Funny Stuff

I saw a doctors surgery sign with the name:

Dr Beat Muff

I cracked up and looked to see if he was a gynocologist.

TTFN

The Hong Kong Crop Top

Bruce Lee inspired future generations with his topless, ripped body. These days the average Honky wears a small spare tyre around his waist but is still proud to show it. On a hot day the local blokes keep their shirts on but roll them up from the waist to under the arms to provide ventilation around the midriff. I call it the Hong kong crop top, a clever, practical but completely unfashionable and yet common sight in Summer. Practised by young and old the crop top wearer is completely oblivious to the hideous outlook they present to the innocent bystanders.

Bull goes Bonkers on Beach

One Saturday morning a group of work colleagues went to the beach to try out canoeing. The typical Honky is a water spastic and is shy of adventure. Anyway that's by the by, while getting our kit on for the canoes a bull wanders down onto the beach and heads for the water. I just stood on the sand amazed and for a moment it looked like the bull was going to go in for a dip. When he got to the waterline he stopped, turned and wandered along the shoreline.

A couple of dogs had spied the bull and ran down from the beach huts to the waters edge, barking at the bull. At first the bull just wandered along trying to ignore the two dogs, the dogs did n't like the lack of attention and cranked up the barking to snapping at the bulls legs. The bull got sick of that pretty quickly and went bonkers chasing the dogs tilting his horns at them. It was then on for young and old as the dogs ran around the bull while the bull ran along trying to skewer the dogs on his horns.

Later on. while driving home from the beach I looked across to see a man driving his car with a parrot sitting on his shoulder!

Relocation to der schweiz

It's official, after two short years in Honkers am being called up by the HQ to join them in Zug switzerland. I resisted when asked a couple of years earlier and expected to stay in here for at least three years. But sh^t happens and I got called up for what is quite a responsible role. So Zug here we come!

We went to Zug for orientation in October, rented a car and spent two nights in Zug, Lowen hotel. It reminded me of Tasmania except in Tasmania you can find shops open after 6pm. Actually it is quite beautiful and we were shown two apartments only. We liked the second one so much we applied to rent it and have started renting before we have even got there. It is a top floor apartment on an 8 floor building in Cham with stunning views overlooking the lake. All comers will be welcome.

It was so quiet in Zug you can even hear the cow bells ringing when driving along. It will be quite a bit of a culture shock coming from HK and Seoul. We are going through panic buying of stuff before moving. Everything looks so expensive in CH, I even bought rice in bulk to ship over!

Hong Kong Bait and Switch Rip off

On Saturday after visiting a doctor to see 4d in vitro babies images, I was inspired to get Sunny a camera before leaving Hong Kong. So we went into a camera shop on Nathan Road, the young sales assistant quoted low price on Canon and Nikon SLR digital cameras. Then all of a sudden the salesman was replaced with another sales person who proceeded to talk us into a different camera which was more expensive and not as good.

In the end we paid the man, but feeling was not right so checked the website price and found that they had charged us double.

We were angry and went back to the shop to return the camera and get a refund. On the way back we noticed the fine print on the invoice saying no exchange or refund so we prepared a negotiation that went like this:

Before going into the store we checked a price nearby and we were spotted by the shops sales men standing on the street. We quickly marched into the shop where Sunny started to raise her voice and complain to the sales person. They moved us to the back of the shop, but sunny was too loud and quickly the shop was emptied of customers and the salesmen gathered around for the stoush.

The manager stepped in and started to ask what we wanted, Sunny wanted the head of the salesperson who ripped us off, while I asked for a refund. Sunny stormed around the store saying she wanted to call the police and would call her lawyer and take them to consumer council. They pleaded right to charge market price in HK and we pointed out that HK govt takes a dim view of these rip offs since they were recently reported in the daily news.

Sunny continued her tirade while walking around the store with her phone up to her ear talking about police, laywers and shutting down the shop. I sat at the counter asking the manager what he was going to do about it. He walked to the cash register took out the full amount of 4900 hkd and refunded us, we handed over the camera and walked out.

Beware the bait and switch trick, especially if you are not expert in the product or do not have reference pricing.

Wombat birthday in Honkers

Colleagues got together and organised lunch in a nearby Italian Restaurant in the Wanchai Novotel hotel.

After dessert the waiter appeared with this cake and this message.

"our dearest wombat, happy birthday, your potatoes"

My recomended activities for short stays in Honkers

Restaurants

Dinner
1. Hutong, 1 Peking Rd Kowloon is high class Asian with great views of the harbour.
2. Aqua , 1 Peking Rd Kowloon is high class Japanese and Italian with stunning harbour view
3. Felix at the Peninsula is Philip Starck designed with excellent international food and views
4. Isola at the International Financial Centre, Hong Kong Island great Italian and great views over Kowloon from HK
5. Spices at the Repulse Bay is Asian food but in the old colonial original hotel
6. Jumbo floating restaurant at Aberdeen is all Cantonese food but is renovated and still a spectacle
7. SOHO area behind central on HK island and up the escalator in Staunton st has many restaurants from all countries in one street!

Lunch
1. Many Waterfront restaurants at Stanley Market is almost European style casual outdoor eating
2. Spoon at intercontinental Kowloon is a Paul Bocuse (Michelin hat) restaurant in muted decor with mink fur cushions for lunching in style with great harbour views
3. Cuisine Cuisine in the International s a Cantonese - International restaurant in very nice surroundings and the seafood is a speciality
4. Dynasty at Renaissance hotel Wanchai does a great dim sum for lunch in nice quality surroundings
5. Landmark Cafe in the Landmark building in Central is international food but a great place to sit and watch the all the hustle and bustle of HK, it is also a great refuge from shopping overload especially with a glass of wine

Bar s and other stuff
1. TOTT (top of the town) at the 34 F of Excelsior Hotel Causeway Bay HK Island is recently renovated and is a beautiful bar for watching the sunset over HK. Great decor and stunning views.It is also a great restaurant and you can sit by the window and see the whole of Victoria harbour, after 930pm the high class band plays covers.
2. Felix bar at the Peninsula Hotel 28th Floor is a must do for watching the symphony of lights show from 8-8.30pm each night, dress code applies
3. Lan Kwai Fong is a famous bar district behind Central HK and hosts a large number of bars and restaurants, the road is closed to cars on Friday and Saturday nights and is quite safe and friendly atmosphere to walk and popular for visitors.
4. Afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Hotel is also a must do. Listen to the quartet play relaxing music while experiencing the sublime surroundings and service from team at the Peninsula.
5. Go to Sai Kung and jump on a Junk (recommend Jaspers Junks book in advance) with crew, food and drinks supplied. You can pull up to an island and jump overboard for a dip then sit back and enjoy a bbq on board.
6. On the walkway from the Wanchai ferry terminal, through the Sun Hung Kai building to Tonnochy Rd, the last restaurant on the walkway before the Novotel is called Level Two (Er Yi in cantonese ). It does the best dim sum, cheap and fast service complete with photographs on the menu for easy selection.


Other tours and shopping
1. Hong Kong museum of History on Kowloon is like walking through a movie set of HK through the ages, good fun on rainy day
2. Lonely planet city guide books has some great walking tours, I recommend the Sheung Wan tour (next to central) which includes the Cat st antique market
3.Shopping centres are all over HK, Central, IFC mall, Harbour City, Telford Gardens,
4. Night market and Ladies Market in Kowloon for cheap clothes and knock off items
5. For electronics go to the Wanchai electronics market right by the exit to the Wanchai MRT, good for cameras, computers, accessories, cctv and sound equipment.
6. Wanchai market two blocks back from the MRT is a good place for cheap clothes.

Enjoy !