Walking around Hong Kong with the babies is a peculiar experience.

The southern area of the region where we live is generally known as the more reserved and polite part of the territory. I haven’t travelled enough of the area to be able to confirm it, but anecdotally, many of our immediate neighbours (of which there are 30,000-plus) react to Thea and I holding the twins with a mixture of mild disbelief (at their curly hair), and friendly admiration.

There are a lot of older ladies in our neighbourhood who want to see and talk with the twins; it’s really nice to be living in an environment which is so family-oriented. Everyone we’ve encountered is friendly and helpful, which has made our transition over here infinitely more manageable. It reminds me of Bermuda in many ways, the familiarity and comfortable nature of the relationships between neighbours.

Thea and I are both very much into sports, so it’s also great that there are courts and basketball hoops, pitches and gyms almost everywhere you go.

Plus, there are huge national parks and hiking trails if we wanted to see some of the countryside. We have almost zero excuse (except for the twins) as to why we don’t get around to doing some sort of physical activity every day. Plus it’s a great way of making friends in a new country.

I’m in a softball league with my in-laws’ colleagues and had the game of my life playing third base last time.

I struck out on my first at bat, so I probably played well enough to be invited back to the next game with the amount of outs I made from third base. Having a good mixture of friends and contacts in Hong Kong has also helped ease our way over here. I have some friends from university that live here now, and they’re introducing me to their social groups and activities.

I’m getting around to playing basketball more often now, which is something I’ve missed. Basketball is huge over here. Like I mentioned before, there is hardly a street you can visit that doesn’t have a basketball court on it. There is a good sporting culture here. Even some government municipal buildings have their own indoor courts and sports facilities.

What my wife and I have got to do now is figure out how to get her more than two hours’ of time without either baby needing some attention. We’re getting close but it’s hard when the babies haven’t started eating foods yet.

I’m trying to help out as best I can, and she’s doing a phenomenal job; she deserves a good long rest! It’s a good thing Liya and Nuriyya’s smiles are like a newly discovered energy source, otherwise we’d both be dragging right now.

Can’t wait to see what new adventures these babies will take us on.