Snowing Today ... yes we signed up for this

On Monday most part of south England woke up with snows and wreak havoc on transportation while there was only rain in Aberdeen. It was reported as the worst snow in 18 years and schools were closed for 2 days and flights into London were cancelled due to a plane skidded off the runway. Trains and buses were cancelled and chaos on the motorways.

This morning we were awaken to about 4 inches of snow on the grown. I had to be at work earlier than usual due to a meeting. One of our car was still in the workshop for regular service and yearly MOT of which it failed and the workshop did not have any parts, so I had to leave it there overnight. Because of this, Mik and my wife had to be up earlier than usual to send me to work. On our way the DJ on the radio commented that today is our turn to be hit by the snow and "let's show London how it's done ... "

View in front of our house

Being out of routine, I would have thought that the snow will be such a nuisance but strange enough; I actually feel cheerful and that the snow was special! I only hear stories from Aberdonians on how snow was a common thing during winters of many years ago. We have now experienced 2 winters in Aberdeen and snow is a rare occasion. Daily frost on the car, cold wind and rain are nuisance but occasional snow is fun and make the winter worth it. If you are to see how bubbly and excited Mik was this morning, you'll probably agree.

Snow in front of garage when I came home from work

The UK is in Recession, How about Aberdeen?

My wife mentioned to me the other day that she has not seen any 2009-registered car on the road unlike the beginning of 2008. On the way home from work last week, the DJ on the radio was commenting that there are lines and lines of unsold new cars at the dealers in Aberdeen. He said that he will go down to the dealer with a bag of 2,000.00 pound cash, tell the dealer: "Here's 2,000.00 pound cash. I want the car so and so that you have on your parking lot."

The dealer will probably say: "What! That's a 20,000.00 pound car!"

Then he will reply: "Well, would you rather have 2,000.00 pound cash or that piece of metal rusting away on your lot?" 

I think the DJ was joking ...

Aberdeen does not escape the recession that is hitting UK and Europe at the moment. However, Aberdeen apparently is in a stronger position to cope with this recession compared to many other UK cities according to the Centre for Cities as reported by Aberdeen Citizen free newspaper. Based on their analysis on 68 cities in the UK, Aberdeen is well placed to recover quickly unlike cities such as Belfast, Liverpool, Wigan and Hull due to the number of residents who were unemployed or had no qualifications.

• 40% of working age population in Aberdeen has a degree level qualification - only Edinburgh and Cambridge has a better percentage
• Total number of people employed rose from 163,700 in 2006 t0 172,100 in 2007, ranking 5th overall for employment growth despite population dropped from 217,300 in 1997 to 209,300 in 2007.
• Aberdeen is the UK hub of the North Sea oil industry and listed as the seventh most prosperous city

The down side, however, there has been very low growth in wages in the last few years and there are also a high number of people working in the financial services which has been badly hit.

So, the whole UK is currently not OK. My hope is that this will pass sooner rather than later. My fear is that its still getting worse before it gets better.

Saturday traffic along Anderson Drive

The Best Chinese Restaurant in Aberdeen

Being a small town, Aberdeen does not have a Chinatown like in London or Manchester. Thus, the choice for authentic Chinese food is rather limited. No doubt there are quite a few Chinese restaurants and takeaways all over the city, however, most does not compel us to return after the first try. This is probably not just because the food is not up to our taste but also because there is one restaurant that seems to satisfy our occasional craving for authentic Chinese food and Cantonese dim sum. Dim sum involves a variety of light dishes usually for breakfast in the morning or lunch in the afternoon. Among our favorites are char siu buns, various dumplings, chicken feet in black bean source, crispy fried squid, fried egg yolk buns, and plain cheung fun for Mik. Top it up with three roast over rice or noodle, or with congee (rice porridge) and finally add chili ... ahh ... and drink lots of chinese tea.

Apart from great food, this restaurant also pays attention to the ambient using modern style furniture, large chinese painting on the wall and pleasant choice of contrasting colors. The staffs are friendly and the service is good consistently even when the restaurant is full. Because of their popularity, they do not take reservation during the weekend and often we had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table. This is bearable since next door to the restaurant is the "biggest" oriental store in Aberdeen where we can get various food supplies from the South and East Asian countries. 

If you are in town visiting with us, it is likely that we will take you to have lunch or dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. The name is Manchurian Chinese Restaurant. The address is 136 Causeway, Aberdeen, AB25 3TN.

Oh, one more thing, they have a good size parking lot right in front of the restaurant ... and parking is free.

Outside the entrance	Mik and I inside the restaurant
Matthew store at the background	Entrance to Matthew

Chinese Opera performance in the restaurant on January 26 - not my kind of music but hey, it's Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year From Aberdeen

Happy Chinese New Year 2009!

Wishing all of you a happy Chinese New Year! Gone is the year of the Rat and here comes the year of Ox. A friend sent me an e-card which I thought is interesting. I hope you will find the art work interesting as well.

Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival (hooray! spring is coming ...) or the Lunar New Year. It is celebrated from the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the 15th with Lantern Festival.

Chinese New Year is not a holiday in Scotland and UK as a whole. Nonetheless among those who celebrate the occasion there is some excitement. Several of my Chinese colleagues have gone on holidays while others are thinking about special foods. I'm up for that.