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That new car smell
...will soon be ours. If you replace the word "new" with "14 year old". That's right - we're (almost) car owners. Buying a car in HK is a peculiar experience. We went to a yard that had been recommended by a few people online as having good warranties and honest sales dudes. Got there just after lunch, and in the sales room there were four people standing around, all of whom were studiously ignoring us. The salesroom had three cars, the cheapest of which I'm guessing was HK$250,000 (two of them were Porsche). Unsure what the hype was about this place (four salesman, three cars and still no service? Please...), we stood around for a bit longer until a young chap walking into the shop from across the street cocked his head and asked us if we needed any help. There was nothing about him that suggested he actually worked there, but we took a punt (it was a nice change from being ignored by the old guys) and said that we were looking for a second hand car. "Louis" (as we found out later when we exchanged names) said that he'd take us to the second hand lot, and proceeded to take us to his car across the street.
After packing George and his throne into the back, we hit the motorway and ended up in a carpark building in Quarry Bay, about 10 minutes away. We went up and up and up the building ramps until we ended up at their second hand "showrooms". Well, replace "showroom" with "top floor of a very random carpark building", and you'll have a better mental picture.
Louis happily walked us around the "lot" and pointed out which cars were within our budget. The first one we wanted to drive was an old Renault which didn't start - even with a jumpstart. Perhaps the engine immobiliser was still on (quite possibly the case if Louis was inadvertently trying to sell us a car that someone had innocently parked there while heading to the shops - after all, it was a carpark).
We were then pointed in the direction of a blue 1995 BMW. Now we were in the market for something like a late 90s Toyota Corolla, but apparently there is a "Cheap Toyota Black Hole" somewhere in Hong Kong. Reasonably priced Toyotas in Hong Kong are as easy to find as real chicken in a Chicken McNugget.
Anyway, after Rachel took the Beamer for two pedestrian-paced laps of the car yard parking lot (I still haven't got my Hong Kong licence and was happier in the back with George anyway), we decided to take the thing out for a proper street drive. Apparently it was a pretty easy car to drive and we ended up - unsurprisingly - back at the car sales offices, where a lovely chap called Toby put on a rather slick performance in sealing the deal. We figured that it wasn't really a popular car, as he knocked 15% off the price before we even thought about haggling. To cut a long story short, once the insurance and transfer papers are sorted, and once they get a new warrant of fitness for it, we will be the proud owners of this little beast:
We have yet to name this fine piece of German machinery, but are open to suggestions.
George supports the Chiefs (but doesn't have a Chiefs jersey)
Go the Chiefs!
Chilling out before bedtime
Mummy and Daddy disagreed on which was cuter, so you get them both:
My first camera
Daddy bought me a camera:
...but I really prefer his one:
Public holiday today - Dragon Boating day out in Stanley (and other places, I believe). It was fun for a few years, but the bureaucracy on race day is extraordinary (you'd better believe that Hong Kong can completely overcomplicate something as simple as a bunch of boat races), and it's much nicer just to take the day off in peace, especially with the little man around. He's in bed now, after a morning in bed with us and a quick session at the "gym":
Yes, Daddy uses a baby voice with George...
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The iPhone camera
It's not great, but it's not completely crappy. Here are a few photos from today (the first was taken just before I left for work, and the second was obviously taken as I walked home tonight):
Just before bedtime
Random photos from a rainy day
In the Bumbo and in the kilt
After a pretty good sleep overnight (save for the 5am "please roll me over" shout), Daddy got a few photos of me - firstly in the Bumbo, and then in my All Blacks onesie. And then for some reason, Daddy put me in my kilt...
Imagine how handsome he'd be with teeth...
Sleep
With that hair and those eyes, it's a question that's easily answered
I am four months old today!
Happy four-month birthday to you, little man!
That's all I've got of the little man - but here's one from the weekend. It's Edie of course - I did actually like this photo until I realised that I accidentally chopped the bottom of the cup off. Duh.
Post-bath photo and special guest photographer
Little Gmonster was in a great mood this evening (it started with laughing fits in the supermarket, and continued all the way home and into bathtime), so... I took a little photo of him just after his bath.
And another photo, this time taken by George's mummy (you should know that this is about the third photo Rachel has taken of George). Daddy edited it a little bit, and here it is:
Just a few (more) photos of the little one
Striped kiddo and some photos from last night
Also, I've uploaded a few photos from Alex's birthday last night. We managed to have a great time, despite it being the first time we had left George with anyone - as it turns out, he slept from the time we left him until the time we physically picked him up from Kylie's place.
Last night's birthday thingy for Alex was in a fantastic yet unlikely Bavarian Beer Hall in Kowloon called "King Ludvig's". Picture a very large pub full of Chinese families, a Filipino band consisting of a guy on the keyboards, a guy on guitar, and two girls singing, and then two tables of very merry expats in the middle of all of that in fancy dress varying from Rocky Balboa to some green guy from Star Wars to a Pink Power Ranger. It was all good - great food, free-flowing drinks and ludicrously quick service. We had a great time, and despite it being blimmin' hard to get photos in there (the lighting as pretty crap), I got a few from the evening (hover over the main pic and you'll see navigation arrows - also, if you're using Firefox, you may not see anything. Try using Internet Explorer on a PC or Safari on a Mac):
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Gigglemonsters and Babysitters
Tonight is the first time we're leaving George with someone while we head out (for Alex's 40th birthday). Admittedly, he's only heading downstairs (literally one flight of stairs), but I'm going to bet that his Mummy will have her cellphone in her hand at all times. We'll only be out for 3 or so hours, and it's about the time when George sleeps extremely soundly (from 7:30ish to 10:30 or 11pm), but still - our first time away from him will be most peculiar. A few photos of George from this morning - Cecilia was entertaining him, and he was giggling like a little loon.
I forgot to upload this one
Well, maybe I didn't forget - I didn't really like the way it came out.
Friday evening
Rachel is snoozing on the couch, so I got to edit a few photos. Sweeeet.
