Words | Mischief | Angelo

Bunky's words are really coming along.  Sort of.  A few new ones popped up this week: "Boppy" (Poppy, the cat), "May!" (May, his nanny), "Bye bye", "Ball", "Baaaaaa" (that's "Bath", actually) and "Down" (when he wants to get on the floor). Tonight's pre-bedtime conversation was rather amusing.  Some people may find it more amusing than others...

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Me: "George, say Momo? Aunty Momo?  Momo?"

George: "Momo.  Momo."

Me: "Good boy!  Say 'Jane'?  'Jaaaane'"

George: "Nah."

Me: "George, come on - say 'Jane'?"

George: "Naaaah."

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Sorry Aunty Jane.  I'm not making it up - your beloved sister was standing right there.

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A few cellphone photos of the Bunkymeister the other day.  I got home a little early on Friday, and as I got changed, George took it upon himself to snoop around the drawers and under the bed.  Apologies for the quality of these - they were taken on my phone in somewhat crappy light:

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I'll leave you with a few photos of my friend and fellow camera nut, Angelo.  On Friday night we wandered around Central taking random photos and playing with different lenses - good fun.  I lasted until about 9pm and then came home.  Angelo finished up at 4am.  I am getting olllllllld.

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Dinner last night at Shek O

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More visitors, more photos

Michael and Andres came to visit us for a few days - they arrived on Wednesday (kicking Katy and Sam out in the process) and left about half an hour ago.  We had a great time catching up with them, and they seemed to enjoy their time in Hong Kong (I assume they weren't lying about it...) We took them to one of our favourite places, Bistro Manchu in Elgin St, Soho - great food as always:

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Michael and Rachel

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Andres

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Crikey the food at this place is good

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We were going to go for a bit of a wander around the streets, but Rachel suggested that we all head up the Peak Tram to try and get a look at the city.  Although the tram ride was awesome (it's the world's steepest incline for a cable car), the city was shrouded in a thick fog - and we saw pretty much nothing...

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Walking through the deserted wet market on the way to the tram.  That's Andres in the foreground, with Rachel and Michael just ahead of him.

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Andres' reflection in the window of the tram on the way up

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The fog at the Peak was ridiculous - Michael, Rachel and Andres were about 5 metres from me when I took this photo

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Not a lot else really - George coped admirably with the second wave of visitors and happily destroyed any Lego towers that Michael or Andres dared to build.

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Naturally, I'll leave you with a few photos of his majesty:

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Storytime with Rachel.  Note the super casual crossed legs.

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He still hasn't worked out how to get into the kitchen, thank goodness.

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Reading time

Story time with his visitors.  Too sweet: .

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Getting to know his new friends

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Under the couch | Dancing Paddy

Katy and Sam arrived on Saturday afternoon and George wasted no time in making Sam the "go to guy" for getting his toys out from under the couch: .

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And now, just because I can... I give you "Dancing Paddy on a Swiss Ball" (I have maintained a level of pixelation in order to protect the innocent):

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New hoodie

Modelling the birthday hoodie that Aunty Kristine and Uncle Josh gave him a few weeks ago. In the full length photos, he is (of course) dancing to the soulful tunes of Handy Manny, the Spanish Disney Tool Guy. .

Don't look too closely at this photo.  You might see his "morning hair dreadlocks".

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"Let's see... do we have all the tools?  Come on tools - LET'S DANCE!"  (Seriously, G's tool truck actually says this.  Someone at Disney is on crack)

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Yes George, another photo.  Smile or you don't get any lunch.

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Weekend randomness

Nothing much to report other than the weather being horrible and Bunky having a bit of a cold.  Here's a compilation of random photos from the last few days (I'm still working out how to edit photos properly with Aperture, so forgive me if the colours look a bit wonky). .

Clockwise from left:  The gorgeous flowers from Aunty Kristine and Uncle Josh, George inspecting the contents of his toy box, George about to give the sleeping cats a rude awakening...

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Rachel and George on our walk down the hill this morning

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L: George watching a bit of TV from the comfort of Rachel's lap /  R: Ben hanging out on top of the kitchen cupboards

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Hong Kong parks:  It's all about having fun

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What? The City of Las Vegetables?

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A Hong Kong Wedding Banquet

I've been to a few weddings in Hong Kong, but last night was the first time that I had charged on and actually attended to formal banquet.  One of our group's secretaries (Queenie) got married yesterday (well, technically they had a wedding sans the legal wedding ceremony - it's a long story), and she very kindly invited me along. Wedding banquets are relaxed affairs, but the order of events and the food served is pretty much set in stone.  I was lucky enough to be sitting with my workmates, who were all very eager to talk me through the whole thing.

The whole shaboodle kicked off at around 5pm, when the mahjong and cards begin. This is called the "reception", and if it wasn't for Philip letting me know that it wasn't the Western "reception" (i.e. drinks and nibbles), I might have ended up relearning to play mahjong and losing all of the money in my wallet (oh yes, they play for cash...)

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Ok, so the shot of the fish head probably wasn't necessary, but I couldn't resist.

During the games component of the reception, the bride and groom are pretty much a fixture at the front of the room, and as people enter the venue, they get shuttled to where the bride and groom are so that they can get formal photos with them (every guest has at least one formal photo with the bride and groom - it's pretty cool). I got my photo taken with them, then Philip and I had one with them (Philip and I both work with Queenie), and then the entire table from my work joined in for a group shot.

After that, there's a little bit of milling about before the banquet begins - videos and slideshows were played, and Queenie and Calvin left the room and then reentered it for the dinner.  Here's a fairly random assortment of photos from that time:

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Top left is mother of the bride, bottom left is the rose petal holders that were used for Queenie's entrance into the banquet room, and bottom right is a pack of cards from one of the card playing tables.

After the brief speeches and whatnot, the banquet formally began with a suckling pig served at each table.  Bloody delicious.  This was followed by shark fin soup (which I passed on), and then a trainload of other dishes - but the suckling pig really was the standout.

Once dinner was over, the bridal party circulated around the tables for toasts and photos, and then dessert was served up (along with a plate of oranges - I think there is some traditional reason for this, but I'll have to check).  To end proceedings, Queenie, Calvin and their families lined up by the door to say goodbye and thank you to all the guests on the way out - a nice way to end the evening.

Here are a few more photos from the night, in no particular order:

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The girl with the wine glass and in that last photo is Suki - Queenie's sister and the other group secretary.

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Finally - and this was actually taken before the wedding - here's one of my partner in crime last night, Philip.  I took this one of him in his new studio in Causeway Bay.  How cool are those purple walls?

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Cabinets, Visitors, Blurry photos

The poor little fellow is still a bit sick at the moment, but when he's awake he's still pretty much his happy old self (well, a snottier, raspier version of himself).  He's started to crawl with purpose now, and has discovered that by plonking himself on his knees, there is a whole new world of stuff to play with.  This particular cabinet is full of our good wine glasses, and has now been secured with a rather ugly set of plastic cable ties: .

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On Saturday, Jacq and Tristan came through for a day's stopover en route to London - George had a lovely day with his new friends. Here's one of Jacq reading George one of his favourite Hairy MacLary books:

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Here's one that was sitting on the memory card - Granny B and George playing on the grass.  Granny B was plucking little flowers and blowing them through the air at George (look just in front of his nose):

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And finally this one - we had a game of Chase around the lounge yesterday. When he's at full speed, it's pretty much impossible to focus the camera on him.  So here's his slightly blurry manic face:

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Visit from Aunty Ros

Aunty Ros popped in for a quick visit this afternoon (en route to NZ from London), and after an initial bout of shyness from the Bunky, he warmed up considerably and even let her read his favourite Schnitzel Von Krumm story to him... .

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Saturday: Tears and Beers

Saturday was a funny day - we went to gorgeous little Ava's first birthday party in Kennedy Town, where Bunky proceeded to burst into tears every 15-20 seconds.  Someone nudged him - tears and wailing.  Dropped a toy - tears and wailing.  Someone looked at him in a funny way - tears and wailing.  It was most uncharacteristic of the little munchkin, and we can only really put it down to it being a little bit loud for him.  Or he's a bit of a wuss.  Probably too early to definitively tell on that front. Anyway, a few photos of the beautiful little birthday girl (oh - that's George's curly hair on the left in the first photo...the only photo of him not crying):

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In the evening we went to Sam and Mary's for pre-Christmas drinks. Had a lovely time and a great meal - and Sam and Mary had even organised a secret santa for everyone as well.  They're about to take Christmas Holidays closely followed by a short sabbatical holiday, so we won't see them again until around April next year.  We met some lovely people, including a Canadian vet whose cousin I worked with in Canada in 1997.  It's a small, small world...

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A few more weekend photos

This one from Central - I took it looking down the road where the wet markets begin: .

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A friend of Shay (in Emma's baby group) was looking for someone to take a few photos of her children, so after a few back and forth emails, we met at Cyberport on Saturday afternoon to see if we could get a few photos done.  After the boys had a quick rock-throwing session in the Cyberport fake-creek, we ended up having a great time and getting some lovely photos out of the session (they even managed to sit still long enough for me to get a few photos of them with their little sister, who at the tender age of 9 months old obviously couldn't keep up with her big brothers):

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Singapore

On Sunday night we got back from a fantastic long weekend in Singapore - Bunky was pretty good on the flight over (although we had a few tense moments due to a delay in feeding him), but he was pretty sweet for the rest of the flight. Ditto on the way back - a bit scratchy to start with, but after dinner and a nice long nap (during which his Mummy watched a few trashy episodes of "Gossip Girl"), he was in great form at the end of the flight and during the landing. Bedtime was seriously late thanks to some slow baggage handling (he didn't get to bed until around 10pm) but that of course didn't stop his lordship from his usual wakeup shenanigans at 6:45am (a deep and meaningful discussion of world politics with his bedmate Flat Ted). I took a pile of photos and have posted few below - I would have liked to have taken a bit more time sorting and editing them, but I have already started receiving not-so-subtle messages regarding the absence of photos of George over the last four days.

The photos probably require no explanation - they are mostly of Paddy, Bella or George. I also took a few at the outdoor market where Kirstie occasionally sells clothes. We went there on Saturday morning, and naturally Rachel couldn't leave without buying his majesty a few little bits and pieces (including what she now calls his "Yoga Pants").

Thanks to the Challis clan for being such fantastic hosts, yet again.

Oh - and before I go... Happy Birthday to Uncle Sam in London! Hope you have a great birthday and we trust that Aunty Katy will spoil you rotten.

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A few photos from Hugo and Sophia's party

George attended another birthday party yesterday. This one was at a lovely park that we had never been to before - a few minutes up the road from The Peak.  It was a lovely afternoon, and George had great fun playing with his mates, eating random plastic toys, and munching on grass. A thoroughly relaxing and lovely afternoon - and certainly a park that we'll be visiting again now that the weather is coming right. .

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My camera takes photos of other little people too

A few from Sarah and Keira's visit a fortnight ago.  It was wonderful to meet Keira at last - although the first thing she did when she saw me was burst into tears.  Weird.  Some adults do that too.  Maybe I need to try a different aftershave? .

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Another few from Sunday, and...

Clockwise from left: Harry, Bunky bumping heads with Mikey, Bunky pursuing orange ball

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And I simply couldn't resist... a photo of Sarah K and me. I took it when I was showing her how to take photos using the iMac.  We're so damned hot.

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A tiring weekend for the Bunkmeister

The weekend is almost over, and it was a busy one for Bunky.  Yesterday he had a bit of a Saturday morning swing session, before an afternoon with Daddy (while Mummy went shopping and doing errands).  Not really much photowise, but here is a shot from the swing time:

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We had a quiet night - I watched the rugby with Cam while Rachel and George shot downstairs for the building's Halloween Party (George went as "a small child trying not to wear a shark-shaped hat").

Today we had brunch at Cam and Carolin's - had a great time, and George was in full "show off" mode when it came to his crawling. He also ate like a waste disposal unit, and managed to polish off a few baby-sized muffins after his lunch.  Little piglet.

Finally, today we went down to the monthly Pokfulam Market with Alice, Harry and little Michael (the only child in Hong Kong with hair more awesome than George's).  If the weather isn't too hot, then the Market presents a nice chance to lie on the grass and enjoy a bit of food and drink under the sun.  There were loads of people there this afternoon (certainly more than usual - the slightly milder weather might have pushed the numbers up), and I managed to take quite a few photos of our little group:

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Harry, Michael, and some delicious sunflare

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Clockwise: Harry with the boys, George with "Sophie La Giraffe", Alice with Michael and Harry

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George the Phrenologist examining his friend Mikey (a different Michael with far less hair)

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Clockwise from top left: Alice, Harry and Michael, Rachel with George, Michael looking angry

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That's all from the weekend. It certainly was nice to be taking photos outside for a change.  Unfortunately the weather is still pretty warm despite it being November (it's usually perfect weather around now, but it's still rather hot under the sun at the moment), but still - it was nice to be outside all afternoon.

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Modelling gifts from USA

A little present from George's Aunty Kat in Los Angeles (delivered by Angelo-post).  Thanks Aunty Kat!  As you can see, George grew into it... um, rather well.

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And even more weekend photos

A couple of random photos:

What on earth could be keeping George transfixed during his ordinarily boisterous dinnertime?

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A romantic long distance dinner date with his UK girlfriend Bella of course

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Some good times with visiting Aunty Sarah...

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...and some grumpy times

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And finally some quiet time with Rachel (woah - check out Bunky's knee-fat)

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