Return to Routine

Back today and spent the morning unpacking as well as going into work for a quick ward round. Wasn't able to get much done afterwards since I was distracted. Wished that in could just spent the afternoon with my camera instead.

Then an idea struck me. Might as well get my photos from the Melbourne trip sorted out and get going with a blog entry or three.

The boys were back soon after and I was with Idlan finishing his homework. The bed beckon soon. I could do with an early night. Rather tired with the travels.

Just Landed

It wasn't the smoothest of flight although I must say the food on the flight was surprisingly good. Maybe I was starving.

Landed in Brisbane about an hour ago, and is now en route to the hotel. There was a long wait for other delegates and I was able to grab one of the local prepaid SIM - which came with 10GB data! Crazy!

So, it looks like I wouldn't be off line after all. The program starting from tomorrow afternoon would be packed. At least I will have tomorrow morning off. It would be events and meetings one after the other right after - including dinner on both Friday and Saturday evening.

And a nice cosy bedAnd then I would be leaving on Sunday late afternoon. No rest after that.

Best to enjoy some free time later, catch on a bit of a rest, shower and ironing. But dinner first!

The Final Morning

The weather was the best on the final morning before we departed as if it knew that we were leaving. Reluctantly, we had to pack. The boys were still asleep and missed breakfast. My father-in-law was at the TV watching the UMNO Meeting.

And I took a stroll around the hotel, this time taking just my iPhone to take videos. We planned to leave just after lunch, and should reach KL by 3 pm. We would be going straight to the apartment after leaving my in-laws since the boys were desperate for wifi and Wii U. Kids this days ....

Nice morning sunBye bye room ...I would be going through the tons of images which I had taken during the stay. Hopefully would have time to update the blog further before I start working this weekend.

Foggy Morning

I have always been fascinating by foggy mornings. It reminding me of mornings I spent trekking up the hills of Phen-y-Ghent in the Yorkshire Dales, being rewarded later with glorious view of the valleys. And also the numerous morning walks on trails leading me into waterfalls, carrying my camera around. Those were glorious mornings.

It was 17 degrees out there when I woke up this morning, and the fog still lingered when I got out of the shower. I was sure that the morning sun would soon clear it up, in time for breakfast. The boys were still fast asleep, and today would be the last full day we would be spending here.

The boys were still complaining about wifi - of the lack of it - last night, but the cold weather soon brought them to sleep. Getting ready for breakfast then .....

HK Apple Store

The last Apple Store I went was in London, and it was quite an experience. So, when I arrived in Hong Kong, I was really glad to learn that the local store was only a ten minutes walk away. Two right turns and I was there.

However, the experience was not as grand. Maybe because Apple had become ubiquitous and the local dealers in Malaysia did well in replicating some of the experience. The streamlined catalogue and lack of diversity also helped matters.

The main reason why I was there was to get new straps for the Apple Watch, something which were yet to be available back home. Yup! There were choices alright, from the basic to the ridiculously expensive. I got what I wanted quite easily. Paying for the goods was also quite an experience. You just handed your credit card to your personal "Genius" and he would swipe it on his iPhone-sized device, you sign on the screen and that was it. Even the receipts were emailed to your inbox.

The knock-off merchants come early in these partsApart from that, there was nothing else fancy. The new Apple TV had yet to be released. No iPad Pro of course. Not really anything much else to look at. Nothing that I wouldn't be able to get hold of back home. The price? At least 10% more expensive there than back home. Hence no reason to actually by anything ...

However, the irony there was there were people in small tents right outside the store selling iPhones. I was sure that those were knock-offs but to be honest I wouldn't be able to tell. They were doing it cheap, but not that much cheaper ...

More write-up on the trip here.