Afternoon at the Races

Sunday at the Sha Tin Racecourse.

The view is great.

Here are some pointers before you put money on a horse. Understand the bets first!

Hong Kongers take the races very seriously. You can listen to the commentators...

...bring your race newspaper giving you all the statistics and information on the horses, their training analyses and their past competitions and performances.

Go out here before each race to check out the horses.

Sometimes, random picks are better than 3 days of research before race day. See if you like the look of the horse, we like the hyperactive ones!

Check out your odds on each horse, the most popular horse (see #12) will only get you 1.3 times the amount you bet for place 1-2-3. For horse #10, you get 4.1 times the amount you bet for win.

Now bet on the horses you want, either to win, or place (number 1,2,3). The more complicated bet is Quinella Place, means you must pick a PAIR of horses for 1st and 2nd place.

But Queenie's too late to place her bet!

She would have won too! We both lost the next 3 races....grrrr

I finally win $10.10 on the most popular horse! (so my profit is 10 cents)

Alright, our last bet....I went with Queenie's gut and analysis (she's the amateur punter)...

Yes! #12 wins.

Winning ticket ... $70.10

More food and shops

Last night, Queenie took me to a Taiwanese restaurant. Here we have eggplant. Yummy.

The set is only $148 for two and comes with these appetisers. You can choose rice or noodles to go with it.

They don't eat the century egg the same way, this comes with tofu and pork floss.

Very friendly!

On Wednesday Jimmy and I had ramen at a local cha can tang (Canto for local restaurant). This is one of a chain.

It looks typically like this, but usually smaller and more cramped.

Ma Lai (some kind of chilli spice, yummy but torturously spicy) soup & noodles with beef and my FAVE Ju Hong!! (pig bloood - except they use chicken blood).

Jimmy likes action figure toys.

Mongkok

Victoria Harbour

Thursday: Sushi and Local noodles

Lunch with Queenie at Jordan, Kowloon island.

Part of a set lunch, very cheap and fresh sushi.

Central is where the business district is, on Hong Kong island.

Admiralty, next to Central just across from Kowloon.

At Wanchai in a very local Chinese eatery...

I am having the mixed beef dish for dinner.

Xiaowei and Jacob (who's still hard at work).

Miss you!

Hurry up and come back lah!

Hong Kong Day 1

I had forgotten how easy it is to feel comfortable in Hong Kong, even though it has been 4 years since I was here. You can't walk anywhere without wanting to shop. Met Queenie at Tsim Sha Tsui, she had booked a Shanghainese dimsum place for lunch - yummy!

Wheat noodles in oxtail soup - spicy! (but not for Daniel or any "real" Singaporean)

Shanghainese dessert - made of egg white not flour, bean paste inside and coated with sugar.

My very shiok room.

House at 11pm tonight on AXN!

My "office"!

Kind of dark before 6pm. View from my room.

Lutheran church and high school.

Exploring Bali

On our first day, we drove to Ubud, north of Denpasar. On the way, we stopped at the Monkey Forest....
Unser erster Tag. Wir fuhren nach Ubud noerdlich von Denpasar. Auf dem Weg hielten wir im Affenwald an...

See the resemblance to Daniel?
Seht ihr die Aehnlichkeit zu Vivien?

6km north of Ubud are the rice terraces.
6km noerdlich von Ubud in den Reisfeldern.

Getting fuel for our tank. 7,000 rupiah/litre.

Nachtanken fuer 7,000 Rupiah pro Liter (50 Euro Cent).

The volcano Batur, most active on Bali island, at 1717 m.
Der noch aktive Vulkan Batur auf 1717m über NN.

At the bottom is Lake Batur.
Der See Batur am Fusse des Vulkans.

Jackfruit trees
Jackfruit (Jackfrucht) Baeume.

Sunset at one of the beaches (we forget which)
Sonnenuntergang an einem der Straende (welcher war es denn?)

Coming soon....what we ate!
Im naechsten Eintrag... Was wir gegessen haben!