I got up early this Sunday and met up with my friend to do some serious hiking. Although we had the best intentions for a sturdy walk up Sunset peak, the weather gods did not approve of our plans and it quickly started pouring down with rain when we arrived in Mui Wo…

So back to DB and back in the house 2 hrs after waking up that early.

This will give me some time to review the contractors’ quotations we received for Seabird Lane house (all seven of them) and decide on next steps.

Later,

Marc

The deal is inked and sealed; last Thursday we were at our lawyer’s office to put signatures on the final purchase agreement, assignment deed, and on the mortgage deed to the bank.

We have the keys to our own apartment in sunny Discovery Bay, and it sure feels good to own your own piece of property!

We purchased an apartment on Seabird Lane, near the Discovery Bay Residents Club, and a short distance from ferry, plaza, shops, etc.

Our ‘new’ place is not exactly new; it’s about 20 years old and the inside sure looks like it… So there is a lot to do to get it to our taste and we will do several upgrades and renovations in the next 6 to 8 weeks.

A new kitchen, a new wooden floor, two new bathrooms, and renovation in the living room are the main projects need to be done.

In Holland we would probably take a few weeks holiday and do a lot of this work ourselves, but in buzzin’ Hong Kong most people will have everything done by a contractor. So this weekend we had several contractors come in to the place for a site survey and they will all provide us quotations in the next few days.

Stand by for more news on the house via this site - I’ll try to put in a regular update on the renovations of our place.

c u l8r - Marc

Two weeks ago already we were in Macau to attend our friends’ wedding. We left on Friday night while the wedding was on Saturday night, so we had some time to stroll around the city.

Friday evening we had a perfect dinner at Cafe Littoral. One of Macau’s best restaurant where we feasted on African chicken, ox tongue, lamb chops, and several appetizers. Complemented with two bottles of Super Bock and two bottles of Duro it was a great diner.

After diner, the ladies went home and my friend and I continued for a nightcap in “DD Disco” which was just across the road from our hotel. Man - we called this place the “ketamine bar”, coz boy they got the sound turned up beyond all levels there. There’s no way you can understand a word of what the other says! Fortunately there was another section that was somewhat calmer and that a local chinese - Portuguese band playing. Interesting place, lots of locals hanging out here which seemed to be Portuguese people.

Next day we walked around the city and reviewed the available furniture shops. Nadine and I will need a lot of stuff in the next few weeks for our new house, and it looks like we can buy nice Chinese furniture in Macau.

The wedding was held that evening in Hotel Posada de Coloane. A very nice location on the south side of Coloane Island. The wedding reception was a great party, including a nice diner, lots of drinks, and several glasses of port wine.

Next day was a very rainy one. So we did nothing at all except hang around the hotel room in the “Sintra”, popped out to buy some breakfast buns, and then got the 2 pm ferry back home. By 4 o’clock we were back in the flat in DB, it was still raining…

This picture taken from the ferry back to Hong Kong. It shows the new SANDS Casino, which is one of the Las Vegas, US investments in the Macau gambling industry. This place is going skywards as the Asian destination of choice for gamblers.

Interestingly - I don’t know why - there are a couple of Amsterdam houses built in front of the Sands… To make sure I wasn’t dreaming I took this picture.

Bye,

Marc