2012 so far….

Happy new year everyone – How are ya?

Since my last blog, I have done the following:

• I’ve been to Vietnam, The Philippines, Thailand and England
• In HK, I’ve been to Sai Kung and Mui Wo
• I’ve booked flights to go to Australia for New Year
• I’ve moved house. It’s a lot bigger. It has bedrooms – two of them! – and a TV!
• I’ve turned 31 years old. To mark the occasion I received, amongst other things, a crocodile claw back scratcher and a bottle opener fashioned from a pair of kangaroo bollocks. I also had an ace chocolate cake on the beach under a full moon. It was perfect
• I’ve learnt to ride a bike
• I’ve walked a dog
• I saw the biggest snail that I’ve ever seen
• I’ve been kayaking
• I finally went on my first Junk
• I went to the Hong Kong Rugby 7’s – It was… mental
• I’ve been snorkeling in the clearest sea I’ve ever seen
• I had my first Thai massage
• I experienced – and survived – my first T10 typhoon in HK
• I ate the best roast dinner ever. It was lamb. It was cooked by a vegetarian. She’s incredible
• I’ve met a number of really cool little people that I’ve never met before:
  • Charlotte and Mia (hope you enjoyed the cd’s), Eva Lloyd, Luke Turner and, last but not least, Liam Loughrey – I had to wait a while to finally meet him and I wasn’t disappointed…. He’s a bit of a dude – Just like his dad!
• I managed to catch up with my friend Gbenga when he came to play in HK with his ace band Metronomy. It was really good to catch up with him and Metronomy were FUCKING ACE.
• I purchased tickets to The Stone Roses in HK
• I sold said tickets to see The Stone Roses in HK
• I purchased tickets to see Noel Gallagher in HK in September
• I’ve NOT sold said tickets to see Noel Gallagher in HK in September
• I went to see Maybeshewill
• I’ve fallen in love with a band called The Bollands
• I filled in on drums for Who Shot Holga? at the Underground CD launch party and I had a lot of fun doing it! There’s a review and some pics here
• I’ve played some really cool gigs with Tilly and have started playing the melodica – It’s difficult but a lot fun!
• I’ve realised that, although HK sill has a long fucking way to go, it might not be as much of a musical wasteland that I originally believed. This is down to, but not necessarily limited to, the below things and people:
  • Hungry Ghosts, Who Shot Holga?, Aileen Alonzo, John Greer, Ailee and Ben at Cloak and Dagger fanzine, Stuart Lennon at Crossed Wires, Koya Hisakazu, Naughty Aliens, HKXO, Justin Sweeting at at Untitled Asia/Clockenflap, and WE WANTED TO BE THE SKY

Ah, yes… My band in HK – WE WANTED TO BE THE SKY  – After what has felt almost a year, but has in actual fact only been… Oh, no, it has actually been almost a fucking year. Anyway we’re finally ready to rock, as they say.

We played our first gig last week. The place was packed with people saying they’d waited ages to see us play – I assured them that they’d certainly not been waiting as long as I had!

We have more gigs coming up and are already deep in to recording.

It’d be really cool if you could head over to our Facebook page and ‘like’ us – There’s no music there at the mo but there will be soon 🙂

There’s a pic of us at the bottom of this blog – Along with pics of other stuff that I’ve mentioned above.

See you soon

AJG

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I’ve been listening to the following stuff:

Hungry Ghosts: EP2

The Bollands: The Bollands

The Cribs: In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull

Maximo Park: The National Health

Feeder: Generation Freakshow

Paul Aiden: The Flora Gardens Mix Tape

Pulled Apart by Horses: Tough Love

At The Drive-In: Relationship of Command

… And a lot of Elton John

Merry Christmas from HK

So, I’ve not blogged for bloody ages. Again.

I’ve been crazy busy with work and, well… life, I guess. I’ve done so much over the last couple of months. I’m falling in love with Hong Kong.

I guess the biggest thing that happened in HK was the Clockenflap festival. It was absolutely immense, even more so considering that it was completely free!

The Cribs @ Clockenflap - © http://tube.hk

A load of local bands played alongside some bands from England and America – Bombay Bicycle Club, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Santigold all played BUT it was obviously THE CRIBS that were the main attraction for me. Despite the fact that I’ve seen them almost 30 times over the last five or six years, I’ve never been as excited about seeing them. They were amazing and the two or three new songs they played were incredible.

Tilly also played (along with some glockenspiel accompaniment!) on the Acoustic Stage. It was probably the best show she’s played. It was a beautiful day and the back of the acoustic stage was open to a view of the water and HK Island. It was ace.

The whole event just highlighted that, despite people saying it’s weak, the HK music scene is in fact in good shape and seems to be getting stronger all the time, especially when compared to back in England. The way bands are treated is amazing. Almost all gigs are paid (and some really well – despite many gigs being completely free for people to get in to!), drinks are offered to the bands, many venues have drinks promotions to get punters in and, vitally, bands are under no pressure to get people there. The promoter does that for you… What a radical fucking idea! Promoters that promote! Crazy.

All bands were paid for playing at Clockenflap and performers were also given artist passes with access to free drinks for the entire weekend, as well as tokens for food and merchandise. That sort of stuff just wouldn’t happen back home.

Rooftop cinema

Over the last month or so, the Rooftop Cinema opened up on top of a venue in Central, showing classic movies on a Saturday night. We went on the first night to watch Back to the Future. It was fucking ace. The weather was amazing and the views were cool. It’s also one of my (and everybody’s?!?) favourite films!

Festive stuff

Christmas is approaching, but I’m only just starting to feel festive. HK has started to get cold – I’m actually needing to take a coat out with me in the evenings – But it’s still not Christmas cold. It’s weird. I’ve started to feel festive over the past week as I’ve been to a number of carol concerts that we’ve sent harpists to through work. They’ve been in really nice churches and cathedrals and it’s felt really nice. I’ve also been decorating gingerbread houses, which is nice and festive!

I think it also feels really strange that I’m not organising a Sandbox Christmas Ball this year with the other ‘boxers. Usually Lennie and I have been tearing our hair out for six weeks trying to get everything arranged. The lead up to the Christmas gigs is always a bloody nightmare but the actually gigs always make up for it. Actually, now I’m thinking about it, last year’s gig was horrendous, for various reasons. Anyway, to celebrate Christmas, we’ve made the Sandbox Christmas cover free to download – Click here and enjoy!

I’ve been rehearsing lots of songs over the past four months or so with certain people and, hopefully, I can blog a bit more about it early next year. It’s very exciting though.

Holiday’s

On Boxing Day, I’m flying to Vietnam for a week and spending new years eve there. There’s quite a few of us going – It should be cool. I’m then back in HK for just under two weeks before I fly back to England for two weeks. The night before I fly to England, Gbenga will be playing in HK with Metronomy! So, I have a few busy, but exciting weeks, coming up.

I’ll hopefully update after Vietnam.

Merry Christmas – hopefully see everyone for a drink in January!

AJG

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Playlist

Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto

Manic Street Preachers – National Treasures

The Cribs – Ignore the Ignorant / The New Fellas

Pulled Apart by Horses – V.E.N.O.M

Embrace – Drawn from Memory

WWTBTS – Demos

Hungry Ghosts – This Noise

I’ll do my top ten albums of the year in my next blog post. Locko – I need to see yours!

Another overdue update…

Wow.

So, I’ve not blogged in ages. I’ve had posts building up but just haven’t gotten around to finishing them and publishing them. Work’s been crazy, plus I’ve been busy trying to explore places in HK that I’ve not been to before.

After working for 21 days in a row, I finally got a day off and went to Lantau Island with Tilly and her friend, Dave, who was in HK for a few hours whilst waiting for a connecting flight. It’s a beautiful, really relaxing place. We sat at a bar on the beach and panicked when a snake slithered past us. Well, I panicked.

For some reason, there was a random cow walking along the beach. Eventually he sat down on the sand and just lay there whilst kids came up and played with him.

After Dave had left to catch his flight – which he very nearly missed ‘cos we struggled to get him a taxi! – we went to eat in one of the beach-side restaurants and got the ferry home. It was a really nice day.

 

Mid Autumn Deserts

The other Tuesday (well, it was over a month ago now) was a public holiday in China – The Mid Autumn Festival – I know I’m supposed to explain cultural things in detail to make my blog informative, but Wikipedia will be able to explain it much more quickly, elegantly and in more depth than I can so click the link!

A couple of days before the festival, my friend took me to choose a lantern. I went for a fish and christened him Frank. He’s pretty cool.

We spent the public holiday looking around Stanley and a few other places that JB hadn’t been to before. It was a really, really hot day.

It was also the day that I had two of the best chocolate-based deserts that I’ve ever eaten. Chocolate-based deserts are notoriously bad in HK and it’s something I’ve really struggled with. All deserts that I consume (and there have been many!) are marked against my two favourite ever deserts – For the record, these are the profitter roles at my Dad’s wedding and the chocolate pots at the Sea Food Cafe in Cornwall – Anyway, I’m not sure if they won, but both of these deserts in HK run them close.

My first desert of the day was a chocolate mousse in Soho. It was at a little boutique clothes shop and, despite it being a bit Northern Quarter (which is never a good thing), it was quite a cool little shop. The mousse was so rich that I couldn’t actually finish it. If Tilly hadn’t have been there to help I would have struggled.

My second desert was from Tony Wong’s Bakery (cool name and even cooler cakes). I dunno what the cake was called but it was a round dome – the same shape as the HK Space Museum… This led Juliana to spend the rest of the day telling everybody that we had eaten an amazing space cake. I tried to explain that she should be weary of doing this, but she’s American so is easily confused.

We went for hotpot in the evening and then went to the Lantern Wonderland in Victoria Park. It was basically a load of lanterns… But it was ace! At the end was the world’s biggest sculpture to be made out of lanterns. It was a fish… It certainly gave Frank a run for his money.In other news, Locko and Lisa have had their baby! Liam was born over two months ago now (time flies!). I can’t wait to see him in January when I’m home for a couple of weeks. Yep, I’m also coming home in January for two weeks! I arrive in MCR on the 13th (I think). The way it’s worked out means that I’ll be leaving HK exactly a year to the day that I arrived. Weird! It doesn’t seem like a year. Anyway, it’ll be ace to catch up with everyone.

In other exciting and music related news, my friend, Gbenga, is playing in HK with his band Metronomy in January! I’m looking forward to seeing him. He’s only here for one night before the band fly off for the next leg of the tour (Australia?) but it’ll be good to see him nonetheless.

I’ve got loads of other stuff, both old and new, to write about but I just don’t seem to be able to find the time to sit down and blog. I will catch up eventually.

Oh, yeah. I’ve discovered an amazing band in HK. They’re called Hungry Ghosts and they’re absolutely fucking incredible. I saw them supporting Tilly’s band, Who Shot Holga? (who are also v.v cool, btw), and they totally blew me away. Check them out.

Spotify is playing up again… I’ve been listening to the following stuff:

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Hungry Ghosts
Metronomy – The English Riviera
REM
Jade & The Stagger Swallows

Laterz

AJG

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Western bands and skateboarding dogs

I’ve been a bit slack with my updates, and I’m quite far behind! After this entry, I’m going to start backtracking and the next few blogs will probably stretch back to stuff I did in May and June. I guess this means I’m going to have to find more time to sit down and blog.

Anyway, July and August have been a bit odd and out of the ordinary – For some reason, know probably only to the Chinese government, a load of western bands have been over to play in HK. I’ve already blogged about Elbow coming over – It was ace. But we’ve also had Suede, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Friendly Fires, Paramore and Simple Plan. I decided to go and see Suede and Friendly Fires.

Suede: I wasn’t sure what to expect of Suede but I’ve never seen them before and decided to take a punt on them. They were very good! They played all the hits (Trash, Animal Nitrate), as well as a few of the misses (Filmstar, She’s in Fashion).

They played at the Asia World Expo which is really far out, past the airport. It’s a bizarre venue (quelle surprise!). They have a curtained off section at the back where the bar is, but it also has a café/restaurant with patio tables and chair…  It’s a bit like begin backstage at a festival.

Anyway, it turns out that Chinese kids really, really ‘dig’ Suede more than any other English indie/guitar band. I was informed that Brett Anderson had done a solo show here a few years ago and this was the long awaited HK visit of the full Suede line up.

I got there at 8:15pm and stood at the back, waiting for my friend to arrive. At 8:30pm (on the dot), the lights went down, a band walked on and people started to scream. Because it was so early, I presumed it was just a (very) over the top reaction to the support band. But, no, it was Suede! They proceeded to play for 90 minutes and finished at 10pm (on the dot!).There was never anymore than.

30 seconds between each song and they didn’t even say anything to the crowd until they’d been on stage for almost an hour. It was… strange. My only conclusion is that they must have had a flight back home to catch!

Anyway, none of this mattered to the Chinese kids stood near us, they went fucking nuts for every song!

There’s a Time Out review here.

Friendly Fires: Now then. This was a gig I’d been looking forward to for a couple of months. They played in a smaller room of the same venue that Elbow had played in a few weeks ago. The bonus with the smaller room was that everyone wasn’t penned in to drink beer – We were given free roam of the floor!

It was ace – The best gig I’ve been to in HK. Like at Elbow, the crowd was made up mostly of westerners which is still making me struggle to understand why more bands don’t come over to HK on their way to Japan/Australia etc.

Friendly Fires played this.

After the gig, we went out to a pub in Happy Valley. I’d not really been there before, apart from when I went to the races with Em, it’s a very nice place Outside the pub there was a man with a dog. However, this wasn’t an ordinary dog… It was a super dog! Its owner had him do a load of tricks which included riding a skatebaord down the street, chasing and returning (!) a laser beam, and jumping over and through the owners arms and legs. There’s a short video below… It’s quite extraordinary. Apparently the man and the dog are always put in Happy Valley – I’m going to go and watch them again soon! There’s a vid of the dog here!

Sam, who is now living in HK (more about that in a future blog!) has got Spotify working for me! I’m going to slowly start putting together playlists from all the blogs that I couldn’t do playlist for. For now, here is the playlist for this blog

More regular updates to follow soon…

AJG

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Chelsea in China

I went to the Barclays Asia Trophy at Hong Kong Stadium. The tournament was made up of three English teams (Chelsea, Villa and Blackburn) and a local team, Kitchee.

I’d been to watch the football a few months ago, but this was different – The ground was packed and the queues to get in were massive. For the last month or so there’s been a huge buzz about the English teams coming over to HK. It’s been all over the newspapers etc.

On entering the stadium, I was shocked by just how many Chelsea fans there where there. EVERYONE had big Chelsea flags on sticks. I thought it was a bit strange but it was about an hour later when I went to the bar at the top of the stadium and noticed that there was a Chelsea stand that was giving the flags away for free to anyone who filled in a card and gave them an email address!

I’m going to gloss over the first match because, well, it wasn’t particularly good. It was Aston Villa v Blackburn. Villa won 1-0. I missed Darren Bent’s goal early in the second half as I was still queuing to get food. A young kid called Barry Bannan was pretty good for Villa. If anyone’s doing a fantasy football team this year, my tip would be to stick him in. I’m guessing he’ll be fairly cheap. I really can’t think of anything else to say about the game, so I’ll move on to the main event… Chelsea v Kitchee.

Chelsea were… Well, they were Chelsea. Kick off was held up for five minutes whilst they did their ritual of walking round, high fiving, embracing each other, and praying like they’d just emerged from a trench, not a plush changing room, and were about to go over the frontline. No boys, it’s a meaningless match and you’re playing against some Chinese blokes in bright pink shirts.

John Terry spent the entire game being his usual bullying/whinging self and arguing every decision with the Referee… As I’ve said, it was just a friendly kick around against some Chinese blokes in bright pink shirts. Remain calm, JT, REMAIN CALM!

They put out quite a strong team. The usual wankers were in the starting XI (Terry, Cole, Drogba) and the other prick, John Obi Mikel, was on the bench. They didn’t play Petr Čech in goal. They played Ross Turnbull for the first hour and then Hilario for the last 30 minutes. They both didn’t really have a save to make. The main plus points for them over Čech is that they don’t have to wear a crash helmet when they play

Anyway, the final score… Chelsea ended up winning 4-0. Lampard scored a penalty (as always, I think his mum helped him out and he remembered to thank her after he’d scored.  Maybe she told him which way the Chinese ‘keeper was going to dive?), Drogba got two (‘a brace’, as someone I know likes saying!) and Sturridge scored the forth. He looked very good… Much better than Fernando Torres…

Torres came on for Drogba for the last half an hour. He was rubbish. He had five or six chances but couldn’t finish them. Everyone was actually willing him to score, but he didn’t. It got to the point in the last minute where he hit the post and everybody laughed!

The highlight of the evening was a bunch of Chinese fans that were sat just in front of me. Every time Florent Malouda got the ball in the second half, the group of Chinese fans shouted ‘I love you Cheryl!’ Nobody else in the stand had the heart to tell them that they were shouting at the wrong black man! Jesus. Light racism at its best/most embarrassing.

For the last few days, the Barclays Premier League Trophy Tour has been in HK. It a bit of a strange set up on the top level of a multi-storey car park in Kowloon. It was made up of four domes/tent things. The first one has a load of different trinkets from various players and then you went through to the second dome and watched a film about the history of the Premiership. It had all the classic moments – Keegan’s meltdown, the classic 4-3 matches between Newcastle and Liverpool from the mid 90s (again, Keegan having a breakdown) and Rooney’s first goal for Everton. The next dome contained the Premiership Trophy and then, in the last section, you could have your picture taken against a green screen so it looked like you were holding the trophy above your head. You were then given a code to download the picture at home.

Finally, sticking with the football theme – Locko and I have started a fantasy football league here. Come and join. The code to join the league is 893202-218888. I do shite ever season, so you’ll beat me easily.

AJG

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(*Disclaimer

1 – I’m fully aware that, if she reads this, Laura T will have something to say regarding my thoughts on her beloved Chelsea.

2 – I’m also fully aware that I’ll probably be eating my words when Torres bangs a couple past us this later this season.)

This week, I have mostly been listening to:

The Calimocho Club – Whoa Whoa, Hey Hey EP (check these boys out!)

Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys

Placebo – Black Market Music

The Cribs – Live at the Ritz, Manchester

Metronomy – The English Riviera

Elbow in HK. A cast of Manchester people…

I went to see Elbow on Friday night. It was the first ‘proper’ gig I’ve been to in HK and I wasn’t sure what to expect. The gig was ace, but more about that later…

The venue – Rotunda 2 – was really strange. It was on the third floor of a shopping mall!

My friend back home, Claire, had managed to sort tickets out for us. I found it absolutely amazing that if you’re on a guestlist anywhere in England, there’s usually some sort of problem and it takes numerous phone calls and explanations before you successfully get in. That didn’t happen here – The efficient Chinese and their meticulous attention to detail finally helped me…

When we arrived at the venue and walked up to the table, I was fully expecting to have to call Claire back in England to try and sort things out, but it wasn’t needed and 30 seconds later we had our wristbands and were in the venue.

The room was a lot bigger than I was expecting. I was prepared for a Roadhouse/Ruby Lounge sized room, but it was much bigger – Probably a similar size to the Academy 1 in Manchester… But much plusher inside! Oh, yeah, it was a round room as well.

The main drawback was the drinking situation. The bar was on one side of the room and drinkers were penned in to that area and not allowed in to the middle of the room with alcohol. It meant we watched the two support bands from the drinking area and moved in to the main bit of the room for Elbow.

I’ve much have seen them nine or ten times now over the years but this was one of the best times I’ve ever seen them – Including when they played with the Halle. I’m not sure if that was just because I felt like I was at home for the first time in months – The room was full of drunk British people.

After Elbow had finished we went over to the side of the stage, where we’d been told to meet for the party after the gig. This is where the evening stated to get really freaky!

Whilst we were waiting to be taken through, we got talking to a couple who were also waiting. The girl asked where we were from and it turned that she had lived in Wythenshawe and then Salford. We had a chat about back home and made the usual comments of it being a small world etc etc.

After ten or 15 minutes we were let though to the dressing room. One of the first people to walk in was a girl called Mel – She used to work at the Roadhouse in Manchester. We just stopped dead in our tracks when we saw each other. It turns out she is now working for Elbow.

I chatted to Mel for a bit until Elbow appeared… Followed by somebody else that I know, but haven’t seen for about ten years!  It was Matt that I used to work at Virgin with. He was also working for Elbow – Doing the sound, I think. We said hello etc and de grabbed a beer for him and his mate. I looked at his mate and I thought I recognised him from somewhere but I couldn’t remember where. I told myself I was getting carried away and carried on talking, but then I noticed that he was looking at me! It turned out he used to work at the rehearsal room where Sandbox used to rehearse years ago.

I spoke to the band for quite a while about the Sandbox/Ugly Man connection and about Manchester in general. It was nice to talk about ‘normal’ stuff for a change! It also turned out that everybody was staying at a hotel just around the corner from my flat.

Other interesting stuff probably happened but there was too much beer and I too many people that I ‘d not seen for years freaking me out.

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I’m realising that my blogs are not in really being posted in chronological order and I still need to back track and finish Em’s visit and blog about Lauren’s visit. They’ll come soon…

I’m off to watch the Premier League Asia trophy on Wednesday with Chelsea, Blackburn and Aston Villa so my next blog will probably be football related. There’s also loads of good gigs to go to in August AND Sam and Laura (finally) arrive next week!

AJG

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I’ve been listening to the following bits and pieces:

Manic Street Preachers – iTunes festival EP

Metronomy – The English Riviera

Flickerstick  – Live from Atlanta

Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie

Touristy stuff with PL (part one)

It’s taken me a while to write this post, for a few of reasons…

Em was only here for two weeks but we did so much whilst she was here that it’s taken a while to get it all written down. My sister, Lauren, also arrived less than two weeks after Em left (I’ll save the stuff I did with Lauren for a separate blog post). I’m also gonna have to split this post in to two parts. The second part about our trip to Macau and our adventure in Mainland China will follow soon.

I keep being told that I need to add more pictures from my time here. There’s a problem though as I’m also a bit light on pictures to go with this post. I forgot to get a lot of then off Em’s camera before she left. I’m hoping to get a CD with them on soon (hint!) so I’ll post more pics up then.

It feels like a lifetime ago that Em was in HK, but it was only six weeks ago that she arrived.

We spent the first couple of days on Hong Kong Island so that she could get over her jetlag and get to know the area where I live. We went up to the Peak. I’d already been up at night time and wanted to go up during the day, but Em also wanted to see it at night time. We got the tram up (didn’t cheat with a taxi this time!) at around 5pm and stayed until after 8pm. It was perfect as we got to see it from both perspectives. Like last time I went up, it suddenly started to rain really heavily for around 20 minutes and then stopped just as suddenly.

The best thing about going up the Peak is the air quality. As soon as you step outside, you are able to breath properly! It completely different to how it is down on the island. I’ve had to use my inhaler so much more here then I did back home but I can breath so much better up there. It’s really nice.

Big Budha: I’ve been wanting to up in the cable car to the Big Buddha – Tian Tan Buddha to give it its proper name – since I arrived in HK, but I knew it would be something that Em would like to do so I saved it until now.

The cable car takes around 30 minutes to get to the top, winding through the hills – The views are amazing. We got one of the glass bottom cable cars, which was pretty cool.

We went inside the Buddha then visited the huge monastery that is also there. We also ate in the monastery – It was really nice.

We spent the entire day up there as there’s so much to see. It was probably the hottest it’s been since I arrived in HK. It was unbelievably hot – I think 35 or 36 degrees. However, like the Peak, the air quality up there was ace.

Races: We decided to go to Happy Valley to watch the horse racing. It’s not something I’ve (or Em, I don’t think) ever really been bothered about doing but Happy Valley is always one of those courses that I hear about and it’s only down the road from my flat.

It was less then £1 to get and we were there for six races (I think). Between us, we know nothing about horse racing so we did what everyone does when they know nothing about horse racing – We went off the names of the horses and the designs of the jockey’s shirts! We each put a bet on the last four races and won… Nothing. Still, it was good fun.

Football: We stayed up to watch the Champions League final but the bar that I usually go to watch the football was full so we had to try somewhere else. It had a nice mix of Barca and United fans.

There’s not much else to say about this – We got spanked by the best team in the world. It was a very bizarre feeling, walking home at 5am with the birds singing, wondering if we did the right thing by staying up to watch a match that I knew we were going to lose. Having said that, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I’d missed it.

The plan for the next day was to go to Hong Kong Stadium to watch the Chinese FA Cup final. We didn’t bother going and went to the beach instead. I think we’d decided that we’d had enough of football until August comes around again.

Helicopter flight: I was hoping that Joe would be available to take us both up in the helicopter. It was something I was lucky enough to be able to do in my first week here and I was really happy when Joe said he’d take us both up during Em’s second week here. Joe is one of only four qualified helicopter instructors in HK and the fact that he is prepared to give up his time and take us on a flight for free is amazing.

We were up for around 50 minutes and the weather was great – It was a really clear day. We flew over the Big Buddha which meant we had seen it from every conceivable angle over the course of a week!

After the flight, we went to walk around Kowloon Walled City Park. I’d never read about it but Em had been talking about going since she arrived. It’s got a very cool history, which I won’t go in to here as this post is long enough. However, I’m here to help, and if you’re in to a bit of history then you can click here to read about it.

Beaches: We went to a few different beaches – Some of which I’d not been to before.

We took a 20 minute boat ride from Central to Lamma Island. The island is a very peaceful place. No vehicles are allowed on the island (apart from ambulances and fire engines) and no buildings are allowed to be more than three stories high. When you get off the boat, the beach is a 15 minute walk away but the it’s pretty cool. You walk through a small village and then through a wooded area.

The most bizarre thing about sitting on the beach is the fact that Lamma Island has a huge coal-fired power station!

We visited Stanley, which is another place that I’ve been waiting to go to. We set off and as soon as we got to the bus stop, with all out beach stuff in our bag, the heavens opened and it absolutely pissed it down. The beach was obviously not happening but we walked around Stanley market and then went for food. We had fish & chips which is something I’ve wanted to eat for weeks! It was great.  I plan to go back to Stanley when the sun is shining,

Em’s flight home was in the evening, so on her last afternoon, we went to Repulse Bay beach. After my paddling adventures a few weeks ago, she convinced me to go in the sea properly. She had to reassure me for about 20 minutes that she wouldn’t let me drown and, with her being an ex-lifeguard, I had to trust her.

Food: I tried to make sure Em got to try as many foods as possible whilst she was here. She doesn’t eat meat, but the fact that she eats fish helped a lot.  We tried loads of local restaurants, including the world’s cheapest Michelin starred restaurant! I think Em’s favourite meal was when we went for hotpot.

Although we packed so much in to the two weeks, there was so much other stuff that we just didn’t get time to do. They can be done next time, I guess. It was, by far, the best time I’ve had since I got here. As I blogged after Em had gone home, everything just felt ‘normal’ – I know she got annoyed or frustrated with me at times because, as strange as it sounds, I wasn’t used to being around the same person for 24 hours a day. I can’t explain it.

I’m so glad that she came and got to see where I live etc. I think she enjoyed HK. At least, I hope she did…

More pics to follow soon. Send me the pics, PL!

AJG

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Turning 30…

As people keep reminding me, I’m a number of updates behind. I’m working on them this weekend, I promise! I’ve done a lot over the last month so there’s loads to write about!

It was a public holiday here today – to celebrate the anniversary of HK being handed back over from Britain to the Chinese – I slept in and then headed to the beach for a few hours.

This weekend is my last in my 20s. I turn 30 on Sunday. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

I didn’t plan to spend my 30^th birthday, living on my own in a foreign country. My life wasn’t supposed to be like this. I feel like I should be seeing friends and family and having a party with everyone there.

I was in Abersoch for my birthday last year, watching Feeder (quelle surprise!) and Maximo Park. It was a strange, but enjoyable weekend. A party for my 30^th was even discussed. I didn’t realise how different things would be less then a year later.

I’ve been wondering if I’m missing out on too much stuff and if I should be back at home at the moment – I don’t know if I necessarily mean for good, I just mean that I’m wondering if I should have come for a visit.

Like me, most of my mates turn 30 this year. I’ve already missed a load (Ian, Danny, Righini, Andy, John) and there’s more to come over the next few weeks (Craddy, Dave, Locko), plus Locko is about to become a dad!

I really wish I’d been around more whilst Locko has been planning for the arrival. I can tell he’s (obviously) crazy excited about it. He’s the first of my closest friends to have a baby and I want to make sure I’m home for a visit at some point before he or she (I’m convinced it’ll be a boy!) is crawling and too big for a proper hug.

Over the last week or so, I’ve been receiving cards and packages in the post. It’s been very hard not to rip them open as soon as they arrive. I’ve managed to resist though – Not long to go.

The weather has been mad here over the last week or two. It’s still stupidly hot, but the rain has been unbelievable. There was a huge thunderstorm on Wednesday night. The lightning was lighting up the whole sky. I filmed a bit from my window. It should work if you click here.

I should sign off as the tennis will be starting soon. I’ve managed to find a really good online feed for the tennis so have been engrossed over the last few days. I don’t think Murray will win tonight. Tonight will be his annual decline from Brit hero to textbook Scottish loser. I might be wrong and he may win… I doubt it though!

A proper update by Monday, I promise.

AJG (29 years, 363 days old)

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Spotify is still off limits (sigh) but I’ve started using Last.fm again. Anyway, I’ve been listening to the following shizzle:

David Bowie – Reality

Orange Juice – Coals to Newcastle boxset

Oh No Ono – Yes

Pulled Apart By Horse – Live at Leeds

Noel Gallagher – Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Overdue update

It’s been a while since my last update because I’ve been so busy. Em’s been here for two weeks and then Sam and his lady, Laura, were in HK for a week to scope the place out in preparation for their permanent move here in August!

Em arrived in the middle of May and I finally managed to get some proper time off work. I had to work for some of her stay, but those days allowed her to go off on her own to explore HK, look and buildings ‘n’ stuff and relax… She works more than I do.

It was great to see her and to get some time off which enabled us to do all the touristy stuff – A majority of which I’d put off doing since I arrived due to lack of time and not wanting to do the same things over and over again! We went to Mainland China, Macau and saw parts of HK that I’d not been to before.

I’ll do a proper blog about our adventures when I have time to sit down, type it all up and go through the pics. Hopefully over the next few days.

Em arrived bearing important stuff like Walkers crisps and Twinings teabags. I also found out that a few weeks before she was due to fly here, she had contacted people back home via phone/txt/Facebook to arrange for people to send stuff over with her. It was overwhelming and an amazing thing that she had planned. Once again, K excelled herself with her card making skills… As soon as I get to make the cake, I’ll send you a picture!

Some people missed the deadline for Em leaving and posted stuff themselves… I know Anita ‘doesn’t really do email’ but she mentioned that she looks at the blog – Thanks for the DVD’s. I will watch soon! 🙂

When Em first arrived, it felt a bit strange… I was able to hold a conversation with somebody and not have to repeat myself or think about how I was going to have to re-phrase a sentence after I’d said it the first time. Now Em has gone home, it feels weird… When she was here, everything felt ‘normal’ – Whatever the fuck normal is.

My flat feels empty again now and it’s taking me a while to adjust. In ten days, my sister, Lauren, will be here for a week en route to New Zealand. I can’t wait to see her 🙂

Sam and Laura arrived last weekend and have left to head back to England tonight. In eight weeks time, they will be in HK permanently. I can’t wait! I’d not met Laura before. In fact, if truth be told, I think I’ve only met Sam once before – He can correct me if I’m wrong. We did discover that we had been at virtually the same gigs throughout 2010 – Mostly Pulled Apart By Horses gigs!

Anyway, Laura is also very cool and I’m looking forward to them being out here. Sam and I are continuing our plans for math rock domination and he’s already sent some demos over to me via email. We’ve found out that we all like playing squash – Bonus! We had a good couple of night out. We even went for tea and toast!

I’ve been listening to the following:

Pulled Apart By Horses – PABH

The Answering Machine – Been listening to everything. It’s v. sad news about them splitting up 😦

The Clash – Sandinista!

Girl Talk – Night Ripper

The Jellys – Welcome to Our World

Touristy update soon…

AJG x

AJG in the sea

Word up,

I’ve written part of this blog on the beach. Yeah, me on a beach – By choice. Jesus.

I’ve never really liked the beach much. My idea of Hell is a ‘beach holiday’. Even when I was younger – despite visiting Blackpool about 10 times a year to visit my Gran and Granddad – I hated the beach. Not that I’m suggesting for one second that anybody should set hoof in the Blackpool sea… Your legs dissolve, don’t they?

It’s not that I’m scared of getting eaten by a shark or attacked by a giant jellyfish. I’m not allergic to the sea… I just don’t peak off it. I get the same reaction from people when I tell them that I don’t like the sea when I tell people that I don’t eat cheese or nuts. People look at me like I’m insane when I explain that, no, I don’t have an allergy to nuts. I JUST DON’T LIKE THEM!

I recall one holiday in Wales with my aunt and uncle, Ged and Donna. They had, and still have, speed boats and jetski’s and love water skiing etc. I was probably around 10, I can’t remember to be honest, and I passed on every opportunity that was presented to me to get in the water. Most other kids would have jumped at the chance. I spoke to another aunt, Michaela, and she reckons that, with the exception of Ged, the whole disliking of the beach runs throughout our family.

Jesus, I feel like I’m blogging the entire history of my family here. Sorry. Back on track…

So, over the past few years, I’ve usually spent Easter in Cornwall and, weather permitting, it usually involved trips to the beach. Although I would never go anywhere near the sea, I did grow to love sitting on the beach, reading, eating and sleeping. Oh, and having some (very) competitive games of rounders – Carl Hayes is the most competitive person I know!

Anyway, I discovered that the beach was one of the few places where it was acceptable to snooze throughout the daytime and constantly snack and not get in to trouble!

Easter was weird this year and I really missed going to Cornwall so, on Easter Sunday, I decided to go to the beach. I just packed my bag with a towel, book and my iPod and went on my own. There’s loads of beaches here but I decided to visit Shek O. It involved a short ride on the MTR and a bus ride and took about 40 minutes. I really enjoyed it. So much so that I decided to go and paddle in the sea for the first time in my life.

I’m going to visit a different beach soon.

Did everyone enjoy the Royal Wedding? I watched some if it in a shopping mall. They had seats set out and were serving English tea and cake. It was amazing! I realise that the wedding wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed it and I was a bit upset that I’d not been back in England so I could get caught up in it all.

Greg Foster sent me over a CD of his new band, Mancini Fires. It’s very good! You should check ’em out here. ‘Ghosts’ is my favourite track. Sticking with the music theme, my friend, Gbenga, will be performing on Later… with Jools Holland with ace his band, Metronomy,  this coming week (3rd May). Check it out!

I’ve found out that Suede are coming to HK in August. I never though I’d ever get so excited about the prospect of seeing Suede. Yes, no doubt it’ll be 40 or 50 quid to see ’em, but I’m going!

I’ve done other stuff too, but I’ll save that for the next blog.

Playlist – I’ve been listening to the following bits and pieces:

Take That- Progress

Paul Aiden – Loads of old stuff I found in my iTunes!

Mancini Fires – Rise EP

Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast – Somebody Tweeted saying that they’d forgotten how good this album was and I realised that I’ve not listened to it in ages. And, yes, I’d also forgotten how good it is.

Frankie & The Heartstrings – Hunger

Laters,

AJG

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