Asia Awaits: Goodbye Bangalore .... Hello Hong Kong

This day has been a scary, sad, and exciting time - such a mix of emotions, that I haven't known whether I should cry, laugh or just cheer out loud. Our final day in Bangalore was spent with wonderful friends and their kids ten-pin bowling and then back to Palm Meadows for lunch and some pool time. The kids managed to swim as much as they could in their last few days, as we don't have a pool at our temporary accommodation in Hong Kong, and it has also been hard for them to understand that the weather in Bangalore is just so good, that even Hong Kong will not compare in regards to swimming options !

After packing up the remainder of our luggage, we popped the boys in to bed for a few hours. The flight from Bangalore to Hong Kong leaves (if on time.....) at 1.30am, and we knew our flight was going to be an hour late leaving, so the boys had a few more minutes snoozing before jumping in the car for the hour long drive to the airport. One last ride in the crazy Bangalore traffic, but we made it safely without incident - unlike the boys trip to the dentist on Thursday when we were side swiped by a truck in Whitefield. It was India's way of saying goodbye !

One of the things we were looking forward to 'ticking' off our list before leaving, was handing our damn FRRO (Foreign Regional Registration Office) papers back and saying, 'we no longer need these, as we ain't coming back !!' Without these papers you cannot stay in Bangalore, and I have had my fair share of 'issues' with mine..... so the sooner I handed it back, the better. A wave of relief came over us when we realised we were no longer Indian residents.

The flight to Hong Kong went smoothly and we had already received our Employment Visa stickers for our passport, so going through Immigration was a breeze too. The ease of moving to a country that 'just works' and has processes in place that are followed, is so refreshing and we have an appointment tomorrow to get our Hong Kong ID cards, which makes us 'residents'. Should all be done by 10am - too easy.

The serviced apartment is in Fortress Hill which is a great location (see below map) and it is small but it has everything we need and is walking distance to the MTR for us to get around. The boys were so happy to be spoiled with lunch at McDonalds, and not a Chicken Maharaja Burger in sight ! We managed a quick visit to the supermarket, where we all had fun finding fun and crazy Asian foods like a Black Chicken which was actually a nice shade of denim....... I look forward to sending some of those with you in coming blogs.

After 3 weeks of eating out and not having access to cooking facilities, it was nice to sit together over a homemade bowl of salad and grilled chicken ! The simple things, make moving easier. I am very lucky to have a husband and kids who are so flexible and willing to give things a go.

Tomorrow, we are on the hunt for a new home - wish us luck !!