HONG KONG 4

It seems that I have struck a chord on Facebook with my tales of a week spent in Hong Kong. Although many of you have signed up to be able to leave comments on this site, other people are reading it when I share each posting on Facebook, and leaving their comments on that page.

Instead of using public transport – subway, bus and ferry to reach our destinations, my son Paul who is resident in Hong Kong, arranged to hire a car and for the next two days of the weekend became our chauffeur.

Paul drove us to Aberdeen to take us to lunch on the largest floating restaurant in the world.

The Aberdeen marina.

I took this photo of the marina from the high rise parking facility of the Aberdeen Yacht Club. Read the rest of this entry »

HONG KONG 3

I had chosen to take this holiday to Hong Kong to have a rest and Carol told me it was only on the third day that I started to pick up pace. I wondered if perhaps she had started to slow down to match my steps. We were staying in central Kowloon near the Mong Kok subway which made travel for us convenient to many destinations. Our hotel had provided us with a booklet about the attractions of this region.

Hong Kong map and attractions.

We had remained at Mong Kok at Kowloon on Wednesday, visited the Stanley Market and Murray House on Hong Kong Island on Thursday. On Friday we decided to visit Lantau Island to view the Giant Buddha. Read the rest of this entry »

HONG KONG 2

One of my readers has begged that I quickly put up more of this series, so I’ll try to get a couple up this week. I’m not normally a person who spends much time shopping for clothes, but I could not resist the bargains available in Hong Kong. Having visited the Ladies Market on Wednesday Carol and I decided to spend the next day at the Stanley Market.

Ladies clothing at the Stanley Market.

I had last visited this market in 1997 and found it little changed. It has a variety of products on display and they are better quality and more expensive than the street markets. Because it is a popular tourism destination the proprietors of the stalls are not interested in bartering, which spoils the fun. In this sense, it is like walking into a series of shops and paying the marked price

As I’ve found on previous visits to China there is a strong desire to preserve old buildings, not only for their history but to create earning capacity and to serve the needs of the tourists. In Hong Kong many Chinese tourists are coming from the mainland.

This notice board tells of how the pier and Murray House were moved to Stanley.

Carol and I discovered this beautiful old house by accident. After purchasing a few things at the market we had walked around the bay as it was another glorious day with a blue sky. We spotted Murray House and moved on to investigate. Read the rest of this entry »

HONG KONG 1

This is the first of a series about my days in Hong Kong in May 2009. The business part of this trip was quickly finalized when I signed the contract with a Chinese firm to have copies of my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine printed and shipped to Brisbane for Australian distribution. It now appears that these books will be available for me to autograph by July. During my absence  our business Das Helwig Haus B&B was closed. My eldest daughter, Carol, accompanied me. Both of us had been to Hong Kong on previous trips and knew how to travel around the islands of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories using the efficient underground trains, ferries and buses, all of which are inexpensive forms of transport. Our hotel was centrally located in Kowloon near the Mong Kok entrance to the subway station and from our window on the 36th floor we were able to look across the buildings to the island of Hong Kong. Our window gave us a view towards the west with the morning light shining bright on the tall buildings over which we looked towards the island. Although the whole region is commonly known as Hong Kong and there are several islands within the area, this one hilly section ringed by sea is called either Hong Kong Island, or The Island.

Western view across to Hong Kong Island.

It was interesting on my first early morning start -  I was still functioning on Australian time which is two hours ahead of this region, to look out this window and see almost no movement in the streets below, but people practicing exercises in the park. Like all Asian countries Hong Kong is slow to swing into action in the mornings, but residents party or shop well into the night. Read the rest of this entry »

MY BOOK IS PUBLISHED

On the 26th February, 2009 I became a published author. My book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine was released on this site http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

My literary agent had presented my manuscript to a number of big name publishers in Australia only to be told they regretted that they were not publishing any books of this genre. Amazingly, it proved relatively easy to have the book published  in the USA. We are now in a global society and people are increasingly using the internet, so rather than have many books printed and on display in stores, we have taken the option of having my book printed on demand.

This is the photo used on the cover, where the dedication reads:To Eberhard, my dear husband and supportive partner in Das Helwig Haus B&B.

The cover of Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

This photo was taken by freelance photographer David Martinelli when he was preparing a feature of the Sunday-Mail newspaper about our Remembrance Field and 11th November observance of the signing of the Armistice Treaty at Versailles in France at the end of World War One.

Eberhard and Fay

The publishers have called Wildflowers, wilderness and wine a Travel Memoir – a genre I would never have considered, yet I hope it will do much to attract travelers to visit the region. Read the rest of this entry »

THE URGE TO WRITE

All my life I have had an urge to write and this desire was validated in 1986 when I answered the questionaire to ascertain my personality and temperament type according to Myers/Briggs. I discovered that I was an INFP personality type. It is necessary here to explain a little about the different types who make up the population in a community. Myers/Briggs divided people into four types and then broke those four types into another four sub-types, thus giving us a group of sixteen different types. These types are likened to the Gods. The Sensing/Perceiving Dionysian types are ACTION motivated and make up 38% of the population. The  Sensing/Judgmental Epimethean types are WORK motivated and comprise another 38%. The less common Intuitive/Thinking Promethean types use the power of their MIND and consist of about 12% of the population and are to be found in scientific and professional occupations.  The Dionysian SPs, the Epimethean SJs and the Promethean NTs pursue ordinary goals, the goals of the remaining 12% the Intuitive/Feeling Apollonians cannot be seen as other than extraordinary. Because there are more Extraverted than Introverted people, the Ns as they are called, make up the smallest proportion within each group. Thus the INTJ, INFJ, INTP and the INFP are the rare ones, each only occurring in 1% of the population. To understand an INFJ or INFP you must understand their cause for they are SPIRIT motivated. All the NF types have good communication skills, but tend to prefer different forms of writing. The INFJ types write poetry; ENFPs are good at writing advertising and screen plays; ENFJs make crusading and inquisitive journalists, while novelists are frequently found amongst the INFPs.

Every person will have a variation in their scoring on the questionaire. I found that my highest score was for Intuition, meaning that I was lacking in the Sensory area. My lowest score was for Perception which indicated that I wasn’t totally without Judgmental characteristics. When I knew my weaknesses and strengths it helped me to accept my weaknesses and develop management methods. In a world where 76% of the population is Sensing, I often appear slow and clumsy as I work out which way to achieve the desired result. As an example I taught myself the rule, “Lefty loosy, righty tighty.” Now when faced with a stop-cock, a round tap, I think, “Turn to the left to loosen, turn to the right to close it tight.”

It has been a great advantage to me to have a partner, my husband Eberhard, who is an ISTJ. He knows I am an imaginative dreamer. His type make great managers and he frequently fulfills the role of my supervisor.

Eberhard and Fay, June 2006

Learning that all the Apollonian NF types practiced writing as a creative form, validated my desire to read and write. Now I understood why I had roamed the hills as a child seeking to be alone so I could daydream in peace. I understood why I wasn’t competitive and didn’t like to play card games with my sisters, preferring a quiet corner where I could bury my head in a book. Read the rest of this entry »

SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS

It can be said that nothing succeeds like success. Once a successful outcome has been achieved more successes will automatically follow. Das Helwig Haus B&B on the Granite Belt near Stanthorpe in southern Queensland was named by the journalists of The Courier-Mail newspaper in 1998 as the Best B&B in the Sunshine State. As our fame spread every journalist who visited the Granite Belt chose to write about our Bed and Breakfast home or my garden.

Back in the 1980s when I had lived at Dalby, I had begun a course called Writing for the Media from the TAFE College in Adelaide. The knowledge I gained was to assist me enormously. I could write advertisements and by 1998 had I designed our website layout for http://www.webstation.com.au/accom/helwig

When contacted by SBS TV The Food Lovers Guide to Australia asking for details of our  German style Christmas in July dinners I wrote a TV script of how we spent our days. The presenter arrived carrying my script in her hand and proceeded to follow it during their two day stay.

Eberhard is filmed preparing a goose.

Eberhard joked with the crew, “What is the difference between a cook and a chef? A cook does his own washing up. I do my washing up!” Read the rest of this entry »

A NEW START

A successful business has three essential components.

• A good product
• Good financial management
• Good marketing

A good financial manager and a good marketer are never found in the same person. My husband, Eberhard, is a work motivated Introverted, Sensing, Thinking and Judgmental personality/temperament type – an ISTJ. This type are the salt of the earth and make great middle managers, school inspectors or hospital matrons.

I am an Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Perceptive type – an INFP – a spirit motivated person. Although rare in number this type are to be found in nurturing positions as teachers, nurses and missionaries, but they also have a capacity for creativity and drama as actors or writers.

There are values that Eberhard and I have in common like we are scrupulously honest, but apart from the Introversion of preferring small groups of people over large crowds, we are opposites in many ways. My reading of psychology helped me greatly to understand the motivation of my husband, especially his work related values and how to partner him in a joint business. We developed a clear demarcation of duties, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses that each possessed.

Eberhard managed our finances and the nitt gritty matters of keeping everything functioning smoothly.  I am the holistic thinker looking to the future and planning our marketing – a visionary. I chose to call our Bed and Breakfast home Das Helwig Haus B&B - The Helwig House; to provide a German decor, German music and German food. Thus I differentiated it from every Honeysuckle Cottage, Apple Blossom Inn or Camellia Cabin in the district.

Das Helwig Haus B&B

After moving to the Granite Belt my personality began to bloom. Here no one knew my father, my former husband or my children. For the first time I was not seen as a daughter, wife or mother, but as an intelligent, hard working woman to be valued as a person. Already in his sixties, Eberhard had achieved most of his goals in life and was willing to support me while I followed my dreams. In 1995 I was asked to contribute to the tourism community by standing for election as a Director of the Southern Downs Tourism Board. Read the rest of this entry »

A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

From the very beginning of writing this Travels in Life series my focus as been on my desire to read, write and speak eloquently.  I have written about my country childhood deprived of music and books. I’ve have written about my twenty-five year marriage when I was kept so busy that I found it almost impossible to read or study.

When my marriage ended I began a two year fight to avoid bankruptcy, selling my home, the factory and attempting to sell my farm in an endeavour to pay the debts which had been incurred in my name. Just as joint assets may be divided for a divorce settlement, the Family Law Court also considers such as debts as were in my name, joint debts of the marriage. In addition, my husband had signed a guarantee to meet any shortfall when purchasing the factory.  His wealth of more than a million dollars was tied up in family trusts within the transport company controlled by his father, uncle and brother. This meant that I wasn’t fighting for my rights against one runaway husband, but against four ruthless men determined to protect their family assets. Read the rest of this entry »

THE BREAKDOWN OF A MARRIAGE

When a girl of my generation dreamed of her future, it was a dream about marriage and a family. Despite years of hardship I continued to dream of a future when Stewart and I would sit one day on a veranda dandling our grandchildren on our knees. Never did I dream that after twenty-five years of marriage Stewart would leave me destitute and take my children from me.

How did it all happen? I had, like so many other women of that generation, been prepared to follow my man. I had uttered marriage vows to love, honour and obey till death do us part. Selflessly, I gave.

When Stewart wanted a farm where he could teach his sons farming skills he promised to spend two days a week with me and our children working that farm. He promised to take mid-week days off from his work with the transport firm if he was obliged to work there over weekends. I knew of a small farm that I could afford to buy. Stewart looked it over and negotiated the price. I wrote the cheque. Stewart sprang into action. He said, “This place has great potential!” He hired contractors to come in and demolish an old packing shed, clear old grape trellises and bulldoze the eucalyptus trees from more land suitable for planting with citrus trees. Friends and family came to help with the building of new trellises; the planting of more table grapes and citrus trees. Stewart arranged for the construction of a new farm shed and sourced a tractor and other farm machinery for me to purchase. I agreed to every request until my money was exhausted. It would be at least five years before the farm became viable, but I figured it was worth the wait for a return on my investment to be able to have my husband spending time with his family. Read the rest of this entry »