Monthly Archives: June 2009

Not-So-Small Disneyland HK

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3533193252 e2647793c3 Not So Small Disneyland HK

So, remember a few weeks ago when I went to Disneyland Hong Kong and said it was super tiny? Well, this week plans have been unveiled that will see the park undergo a $468million expansion. Epic!

They’re going to increase the size by 23% adding 4 new lands and around 30 new attractions (there’s currently only around 15-20!). Apparently some of the attractions will be brand new, ones that aren’t in any other disney parks. They’re also aiming for mainland China custom, too, and because a lot of Disney stuff isn’t hugely popular over there, they’re going to stick around a few of the more famous stories.

3532376365 5c1fae9d07 b Not So Small Disneyland HK

At the moment the park isn’t doing aswell as it should be, and visitor numbers are constantly dropping. I really hope that this cash injection manages to put some life back in the place, because it’s a super cute park with an amazing transport system (hello, where else has special trains to get there??) and so much potential!

The oven is in!

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A couple of weeks back we *finally* put our new oven in the kitchen. It’s not perfect yet, it needs moving up a little, but at least we can use it :) Other progress is coming along in the kitchen, too. I’ll put together a bigger photo post of the kitchen after this weekend where you’ll see the sink and the fully orange walls.

3647952216 0d23a77e52 The oven is in!
3647951068 7ac03b8826 The oven is in!

Kitten Update!

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3609456357 d0ed57551b Kitten Update!

The little fluff gibbons have really come out of their shells these past few days. After rampaging around the room on their first night, they now tend to sleep pretty soundly all night (apart from the moments that they wake up and find it completely appropriate to start biting our toes or butts). Bramble is a complete terror, she’s afraid of NOTHING (except Mr.Fish, but we soon conquered that).. I think she’s definitely the more dominant of the two. Pumpkin definitely has more of a blood-thirst, Adam has the scratches on his arm as proof.

Both of them are really super friendly, though, loving strokes and tickles and always wanting attention. I’m so so so pleased that we adopted them as a pair, they hate to be alone. If they can’t see one another they start making funny meeping sounds and wandering around looking. And FIGHT! Omg do they fight… Constantly rolling around like one of those cartoon cat-fights. It’s pretty hilarious! This evening we’re taking them to the vets for their first set of jabs, with the second set being in 3 weeks. After they’re done and dusted with their inoculations, we’re going to introduce them to my parents cat, Sushi. Hopefully they’ll get on well and Sushi can come stay with us in November when my parents go on vacation.

Ohh, someone wanted to see what they’re half of… here’s a photo of  Norwegian Forest cat. Bare in mind they’re only half of this breed, but you can definitely see similarities, especially with Pumpkin. You can see more Wegies on this flickr group.

 Kitten Update!

Via flickr

Nan Lian Garden

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When we were in Hong Kong we went to the Nan Lian Garden one evening, it’s built in tha Tang Dynasty style and is amazingly stunning . We ate at the vegetarian restaurant and then wandered around the garden just as the sun was starting to go down. Here are a few of my favourite photos from the garden…

3579304096 7fd056f1a5 Nan Lian Garden

3578478435 0bcee23bcf Nan Lian Garden

3578457879 1e620b387e Nan Lian Garden

3579263606 5289f1d88b Nan Lian Garden

3578492537 146f9c26e8 Nan Lian Garden

This place is quite bizarre, the trees are really well shaped and pruned.. you can see the wires that pull them into their strange decorative shapes. There are loads of huge, oddly shaped rocks scattered around everywhere. The last photo is the vegetarian restaurant, the windows are just behind that waterfall. It’s a really peaceful place to wander around, so if you have a spare hour or two in Hong Kong you should definitely get the MTR up to Diamond Hill and check it out!

The Kitchen… slowly getting there

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We had a good week in the house last week and got a tonne of work done on the kitchen. Being ikea flat pack, Adam and I spent some evenings when we got back from hong kong assembling all the cabinets, ready to be put in the kitchen later on. The cabinets on the wall were put in last weekend/friday of last week, and all the other cabinets were arranged into their rightful places. This weekend Adam and his dad put the tall cabinets into place and secured them. Everything is slowly starting to come together, and a few of our worries about the space/layout have been resolved.

3604499704 de1334c915 The Kitchen... slowly getting there

Here you can see the wall cabinets, all the cabinets are from the ikea faktum range (and will eventually have applad door fronts). We’ve gone for a simple corner arrangment, with a large double cupboard for crockery and mugs, two slim shelving cupboards and a corner shelving cupboard. I must say that the ikea corner cupboards are a really great use of what can sometimes be pretty dead space! All our wall cupboards are the tallest ones, meaning we have minimal gap above them (which we may even close off eventually anyway). Reasoning behind this…. have you ever checked the top of your kitchen cupboards and found the grease? yeah… exactly.

3604501202 a89ba69243 The Kitchen... slowly getting there

Again, we’ve taken care to use the space the best we can, making use of the corners that would otherwise be a pathetic ether. The corner cupboard here will have a fancy single concertina style door that pulls open to reveal a carousel shelving unit. The larger cabinet on the right will have the oversized hob on top of it, one dead drawer just below that, and then two other drawers. There’s also a smaller drawer unit just out of view. The gap where all the wires currently sit will be the spot for our washing machine, again with a smaller drawer cabinet to the left of it.

3604503606 b680e4350e The Kitchen... slowly getting there

Here’s where our kitchen get s a bit strange. Due to the length of the kitchen, and the annoying placement of a the pantry door, we’ve had to put our cooker quite a distance away from the hob. It’s going to live in that central wall unit, but! it’s not so weird because we have a kitchen trolley, so any hot food will be put on that. You’ll see.

3604500794 4ee115106c The Kitchen... slowly getting there

Speaking of the oven…

3603685355 1f97296104 The Kitchen... slowly getting there

And here’s the hood. This should be able to go up this week, too.

Introducing… Bramble & Pumpkin!

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Great news! This weekend we became parents of two adorable little baby cats! They’re 1/2 Norwegian Forest kittens, with little Pumpkin displaying more of the characterisical features. They turned 9 weeks old yesterday, and are so completely full of beans. They spent last night charging around our room after each other and play fighting. I’ll try to not post about them *too* much, but look how cute…!

3600435361 60eccb432c Introducing... Bramble & Pumpkin!

This is Pumpkin, you can definitely see the Norwegian forest in her!

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This is Bramble, she’s so playful! And can jump SO high!!

3604497908 b0f3799205 Introducing... Bramble & Pumpkin!

Sleepy kittens after a full day of running around the room after each other. Squeeee!