Well, things have not been boring or calm since I last updated you on our adventures in Hong Kong. Randi and I are doing great and we absolutely love living in Hong Kong. Henry, on the other hand, is not the happiest of campers.
Henry has learned the inherent dangers of stalking birds in Hong Kong, the hard way. On June 20th Henry and I were out of our evening walk and at the end of our evening walks we always come back to the complex and walk around the upper promenade, where Henry can look at birds and just relax. Well, on this particular night Henry decided that one bird looked particularly interesting and attempted to get closer to it. So, he went to jump on a ledge and misjudged things a bit. The ledge he went to jump on was pretty narrow and on the other side was a thirty foot fall to a concrete terrace below – things that Henry failed to notice. This basically meant that Henry had his first and hopefully only solo flying lesson. Apparently, the take-off went well but the landing was a bitch.
I, unfortunately, was looking at something else when he did this and did not have the opportunity to tell him “no”. All I heard was a thump and then some whimpering…which is never a good thing. I could not figure out what happened at first, seeing how these ledges are almost 5 feet tall; I did not think he would jump up on one blindly (had I thought that…he would have been on a leash), finally I looked over the edge and Henry was indeed way, way down below.
Well, Henry being the tough dog that he is decided that the fall was nothing and was trying to figure out how to get out of his predicament, I knew he definitely was hurt as he was crying softly and dragging himself around very slowly, all while leaving a trail of blood, another “not a good thing”. I told him to lie down and to stay, fortunately for him, he did.
Rescuing him was an adventure as the family, whose terrace he landed on, was not at home. I had to get security to open a vacant apartment adjacent to the one in question and then we had to scale a six foot wall that separated the terraces. We wrapped up Henry, after I assessed his injuries, (compound fracture, possible internal injuries, lacerations, etc. on my first inspection) and proceeded to extract him out of the terrace. About an hour after his fall we were at The Ark Veterinary Hospital and he was being assessed. I have to give major credit to our Gurkha security guards for helping me rescue Henry and get him to the hospital, they were great. For those of you who do not know who or what Gurkhas are, you should do a Google search on them. They are considered some of the finest, fiercest and bravest soldiers in the world. They are known for their inability to quit and their trademark Kukri knifes, the very site of these weapons in the hands of a trained Gurkha has literally stopped revolutions. Randi feels very safe with Gurkhas patrolling our complex, as can be expected.
Fortunately, for Henry, he is an extremely fit and tough dog despite his inability to defy the laws of gravity. Despite the severity of the drop and the landing (concrete) he walked away with only one broken bone (basically a doggy toe) and a slightly ruptured spleen and of course some serious bruises and lacerations. Every vet has basically been in awe that he was not hurt worse; we even consulted with our vet back in Memphis and she was equally shocked at the lack of injuries he suffered.
Henry had his 1st surgery on the 22nd of June to fix the compound fracture. We located a great Orthopedic Veterinary surgeon named Matthew Field and he was treated at the Ark, which is a great animal hospital. Well, around Henry’s 4th week of recovery, when it was getting close to the time for his cast to come off, the surgeon discovered another problem with his leg. Apparently, albeit not shockingly, when he landed he severely hyper extended his carpal joint (which is kind of like the ankle joint) and severely damaged the fiber that holds the joint together. So, it was time for another surgery. On July 27th Henry had his second surgery which involved “fusing” part of his carpal joint in a procedure called Arthrodesis. This is basically a process where the joint is cleaned out and a plate is installed that holds the parts of the joint together; the plan is then for the joint to fuse, basically growing together as one solid piece. So, Henry had to have a bone graph taken from his shoulder, as well as the actual Arthrodesis on the carpal joint. Luckily, they did not have to fuse the entire joint and he should (if everything heals properly) retain roughly 80% of his normal range of motion. This should let him still be able to perform at almost full capacity which means Henry will be able to run full speed again, after some physical therapy and rehabilitation. So, we have been a bit busy with Henry as you can tell. It is amazing that we put so much time, energy and money into our pets…but, they are part of the family. Per Randi, “we will do whatever it takes to make Henry better,” which, I translated to…prepare the checkbook. You know it is a bad sign when the vet has written on the first page of his records…”money not an object”. I am not sure how that got in there but, it can’t be good.
Henry is milking his injuries for all he can, he has learned that if he holds up his injured leg and makes a “sad” face that he can get whatever he wants. It is quite ridiculous really, but very, very effective.
Besides Henry, all is going well. We are experiencing our first typhoon of the season. The storm started as a “severe tropical storm” and has been named “Pabuk”. Apparently, a “Pabuk” is a large freshwater fish that lives in the Mekong River; the name was contributed by Laos. I am just hoping, for the sake of Hong Kong, that this is not a man-eating fish. According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) the storm is moving towards Hong Kong with sustained winds of 65mph or 100km/h. They have a signal system here and we are currently at “signal 1” and according to my sources, it is absolutely nothing to worry about until “signal 8” is raised. As a confirmation of this neither Randi nor I get to skip work until “signal 8” is raised. We are looking forward to our first typhoon in Hong Kong.
Since, it takes me a few days to write these updates (time is at a premium) Pabuk has hit and has gone on its merry way. Did it make it to a “signal 8”? You bet you, was it anything to get worried about? Not at all…it is really quite comical looking back on the last few days. I would basically equate the “chatter” of Hong Kong to the “chatter” that happens in Memphis if there is even a “whisper” of the possibility of either snow or ice. You all know exactly what I am talking about, the run to the supermarket to buy 56 gallons of water…the quick trip to Home Depot to buy a generator, basically the complete and absolute overreaction of the populous. Well, Pabuk was an utter disappointment. When you think Typhoon, you think hurricane…right? Well, I would have to say Typhoon Pabuk was more along the lines of a small Memphis thunderstorm. I am not sure why everyone was nervous…even looking out onto the semi-rough seas…all I could think of was…”man, it would be great if I had a Seadoo right now.” I could have gotten some serious air on those waves. Once the “signal 8” flag was hoisted, basically the city shutdown…well everything except for the bars. Everyone was able to leave work early and it seems all the ex-pats decided it was a great time to head to a good bar. Randi and I joined her workmates for a few beers. Leave it to the British and Australians to recommend beer as a remedy for an impending Typhoon. Well, after 3:00pm on Friday everyone left the office and Randi and I ended up hanging out until around midnight or so…weathering the storm, with the rest of Robert Half Hong Kong. I think it only rained for an hour or so during the whole evening. I think the only “storm” worth mentioning was the downpour of Jell-O-shots that some of Randi’s workmates were downing with abandon. I am sure their Saturday morning storm left more of a mark on them then the winds of Pabuk. All in all Pabuk was a bit disappointing and not really worthy of noting in “Farage’s History of Storms”, due out this fall (kidding).
Unfortunately, as a product of the changing wind direction, the smog has returned in force over the last few days (or is it fog) and the visibility has been decreased significantly. For the past month, I could see the horizon with visibility in excess of 30 kilometers; today…visibility is down to 7 kilometers. Basically it looks like a lot of fog has rolled in…unfortunately this is not fog this is “clean” air from China being blown in from the mainland. If China wants to be a global force in the future, they are really going to have to clean up their environment…less no one will want to live there. No one likes the smell of petrol-chemicals in the morning except for Robert Duvall’s character in Apocalypse Now, in the words of Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore…”I love the smell of Napalm in the morning”. Well Bill, you would love Hong Kong right now.
Well, on to more interesting topics, Randi and I bought our first piece of furniture in Hong Kong a few weeks ago. Randi was sick of our A/V equipment sitting on the floor below the TV; so we went shopping. We hit Hollywood Road, a famous road in Central known for antiques, obscurities and generally all things Hong Kong. After walking through numerous stores we found a great piece (antique) and I negotiated a pretty good price for it (I think). Randi questioned my belief that it would fit in the back seat of the car, but I reminded her that you never question a Farage when it comes to packing something in a vehicle. Sure enough, that bad boy fit in the back seat like a glove, not even a millimeter to spare…perfect! The owner, a nice older lady (probably in her 50’s) helped me load the piece into the car. Let me tell you that lady was a pit bull; she picked that piece of furniture up like it was a pillow. It kind of surprised me a bit and I had to hustle to keep up with her as we loaded it up. I think Randi felt a little “shown up” as she tried to pick it up with me and she said it was a bit too heavy…well not for the pit bull. Did I mention that Randi joined a gym in the following days? Perhaps, I see a re-match with the pit bull in the near future.
Work is going great, I just finished my first project in Hong Kong and things went very smoothly. We are extremely busy as I am currently working on two other projects that are in various stages, never a dull moment. I will be heading to Indochina next month to review our operations in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Indochina, as a market, is growing and if you look at your house; I am sure a few things will probably have been made in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia…especially when it comes to decorative type items. I am definitely looking forward to that trip, not only to see our operations but also getting an opportunity to see first-hand the Hanoi Hilton and so many other pieces of history related to the Vietnam conflict. From what we have read, Vietnam and especially the China Beach area has turned into a wonderful vacation spot with great resorts all along China Beach. Randi is going to take a few days off and join me in Vietnam for a long weekend. It will be a great opportunity for her to get out of Hong Kong and see another aspect of Asia. She is really looking forward to it.
Randi is doing great; she is starting to enjoy her job more and more as she has gone through various stages with it. I think it has taken her a bit of time to get use to the Hong Kong market and she is definitely enjoying things as more time progresses. Which, is a good thing…I think she would have been utterly bored if she was not working.
Well, we hope this finds you all well and that everyone in Memphis is enjoying the HOT weather there. Don’t forget to check out our Flickr page (www.flickr.com/photos/mrgarage), as we are always putting new pictures up.
Cheers.
Mark, Randi and Henry
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