Hong Kong. Nov 30 - Dec 12, 2006

Anne had some meetings in the Asia Pacific region, so I flew to Hong Kong to spend about 12 days there. Anne was in town for both weekends. We stayed at the HoJo Express in Causeway Bay when she was in town, and I stayed at Tim’s apartment when she was out of town.

Vicky’s Studio. She has been working quite hard to try to get some paintings ready for this gallery in New York that is interested in acquiring some of her work. We visited her studio in Ap Lei Chau and helped her name many of the paintings. We actually flipped one of her paintings and named it after the winged seeds of maple trees: such is contemporary art. I like quite a few of them. She has developed some interesting techniques.

Ngong Ping 360, Tung Chung. Most of Lantau Island used to be quite inaccessible when I was growing up in Hong Kong. The construction of the Chek Lap Kok airport certainly opened up the island quite a bit. Ngong Ping was one of the places you got to after several hours of strenuous hiking. Now it is a 5.7 km, 25-minute aerial tram ride away. This is nothing to sneer at; the massive project is featured in of these shows as a construction marvel (National Geographic or Discovery). When Anne got into Hong Kong, we placed her bags with Airport Left Luggage and hopped on a bus to Tung Chung. The tram station was right next to the bus station. The wait, about 30 minutes, was very reasonable. The round trip cost was HK$88 which I consider a bargain considering the length of the ride. One could see the airport and the planes taking off and landing, and get an appreciation of how massive the airport project is. At the Ngong Ping end of the route we stopped for dessert. We then walked over and hiked up to the giant Buddha statue which generally attracts many tourists and believers. The wait for the return ride was about an hour though. It turns out if you are willing to stand you can cut through the queue. Every now and then we passed people who were hiking back.

Boat Show. We braved 5 foot seas to Sai Kung for the boat show. Quite a few boats were on display. The return trip was slightly more comfortable.

On the way to Sai Kung. The seas were heavier than it appeared in this picture.

Wetland Park, Yuen Long. It took me quite a while to get to the park. Since the Guidebook said it is located in Yuen Long, so I took the bus to Yuen Long, only to realize that I should be at another location two train stops away. A connection via the Light Rail got me there after a total travel time of about 2 hours. This must be a rather newly established facility. There are some rather modern displays, although I am not sure they are all well linked to the theme of the park, which is the importance of wetlands to the ecosystem. The building is spacious, and has a Café de Coral restaurant on-site. There are different paths one could walk on to experience different ecological sub-systems. Unfortunately, the overall park is not large enough for that to really happen. One exception is the mangrove where fiddler crabs are plentiful. It was probably too late in the day: there were not as many as I expected. A couple of years ago there was much excitement about a crocodile that was loose in the marshes around that area, probably released because it grew a bit too big. They build a special area for the captured “Bei-Bei”, but no one could find it that day. Although the Park gives one the impression of a massive project to spend down government monetary reserves, it nonetheless was a pleasant place to visit. I wished it was a bit more informative, though. The price of admission was a modest HK$30. I forgot to bring a cap, so I bought a hat for HK$120. Where the Park is located used to be sleepy little villages, now the Park is surrounded by high-rise buildings. Turns out there is a bus stop to return to town right outside the Park, so I got back in about 45 minutes.

Fiddler Crabs at the Wetland Park.

Migratory Birds at the Wetland Park. Shenzhen, China is on the other side.

Wong Tai Sin Temple. This must be the most famous temple in Hong Kong, and I grew up living quite close to it. Yet I had never visited the place before this trip. One could smell the incense the moment one stepped off the subway, and there were touts trying to sell the visitors the various contraptions for worship. The temple is much smaller than I expected. In the courtyard were laid out all kinds of sacrifices: suckling pigs, roasted pork, chickens, and various pastries. The worshippers were sitting there chatting away. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I think by doing this the gods are fed, the food is blessed, and everyone is happy. Some were talking about winning the lottery, and will burn some more incense if she indeed does. What a bargain. There is a small garden ($2 admission) which must be nice oasis from the bustle of the area. The Hong Kong Guide says this is a pantheistic temple for buddhism, daoism and Confucism.

Meeting with Family and Friends. Ruby and David were visiting from Los Angeles. I went to Tuen Mun, where they were staying, to meet them and also to visit with David’s mother. We had “yum cha” in Tuen Mun. They also introduced me to Chao Inn at 1 Peking Road. The restaurant has morning and afternoon tea specials, and the quality of the food is quite good. We enjoyed our time at Chao Inn so much that we booked a pre-concert dinner which was attended by Ruby, David, Jane, Edwin, Johnny, Anne and me. Ka Shi joined us for a concert with local talent at the Hong Kong Arts Center (see blog for review) that evening; Johnny and Edwin found reasons to excuse themselves, though. We also visited Anne’s mother twice. Elaine and Larry arranged a lunch at the country club with Uncles Richard, Kenny and Willie, and Auntie Fanny. Jill and Anna were there also. I also had lunch with Larry at the Hong Kong Club. The four Cheung siblings in Hong Kong also met for dinner at one of the Lee Garden restaurants. Alfred and I went to Ling’s apartment one time for dinner: she is quite a good cook. In any case, the trouble with all these meals is I must have gained quite a few pounds. I dread to get on the scale when I get home (I am on the HKG-EWR flight right now).

Yuen Long Visits and Food. Alfred is interested in opening up a small restaurant in the area, so he and I visited the area twice. We actually did some research (excuse for eating two dinners one evening). There is some potential for the right kind of restaurant. I usually gorge myself on glutinous rice dumplings when I am in town, and this trip was no exception. I also rediscovered what passes off as French Toast in Hong Kong (basically a peanut butter sandwich battered and deep fried, served with butter and a lot of sugar syrup; can’t possibly be healthy) I am glad to report I got tired of eating them (but did manage to do it at least four times).

Pollution. This is an ever-worsening problem for Hong Kong. I read some where the majority of the pollution is from Mainland China. The regulations are there, compliance is evidently spotty, undoubtedly abetted by corruption. You see this haze all around you. The South side of Hong Kong island used to be a refuge, but it was not to be during this trip. Today with environmental pollution, there have been incidents with food contaminated by pesticides, dyes, and malachite green, a known carcinogen used to keep fish looking healthy. I am not a greenie by any stretch of the imagination, yet I am quite disappointed at the lack of urgency on the governments’ part to try to solve the problem. The Wetland Park, the airport, and Tung Chung, all being close to the border, seem to suffer the most.

Flights. I took the non-stop flights offered by Continental Airlines. The flights are about 15 hours each way. This, not being high season, means I have a vacant seat next to me, which is quite nice. Nowadays I don’t expect, and do not get, much service or good food. As long as the cabin is clean and the plane gets in safely, I am okay. There was a two hour delay for a computer glitch on this HKG-EWR flight though, so I will be getting in a couple of hours late.

Pictures. I didn’t bring a camera with me, and decided not to buy one in Hong Kong. Anne did have a camera which I had for a few days. Thus so few photos in this entry.

Punta Gorda, Florida. Nov 16, 2006 – Nov 19, 2006.

We enjoyed our trip to the Fort Myers area last December so much that we decided to take a long weekend and visit again. On the day of departure a strong cold front was coming through and flight delays had accumulated to 4 hours by late afternoon. So we were very happy when the plane took off after sitting on the tarmac for 90 minutes or so, and we got into Fort Myers about one hour late. La Quinta messed up our reservations, which was easily corrected.

The next two nights we stayed at the Marina Inn in Punta Gorda. It’s a one-bedroom “condotel” overlooking a huge (500+ boats) marina. Unfortunately the surrounding development (“Burnt Store”) is quite far from any other civilization. Since the snow bird season wasn’t in full swing yet, it was quite quiet.

View from the lanai at the Marina Inn. It's a 500-slip marina.

We stopped by a couple of high rise developments in Cape Coral (Cape Harbour and Tarpon Landings) to take a look at the apartments. Even with all the talk of dropping real estate prices, they were still charging $400 to $600 per square foot. Perhaps not expensive by large city (NYC, Hong Kong) standards, but still on the high side, in my opinion. And they have a lot of units on the market. In keeping with current concerns, they all boast how they can stand up to 145 (or whatever) mile wind. We also drove by our friends Susan’s and Peter’s house in Port Charlotte, which they built recently. (It was rented out, so we didn’t go inside.)

The Cape Harbour development with its 80-boat marina. Quite expensive.

We had dinner at one of the restaurants in Fishermen’s village in Punta Gorda. We then took a short sunset cruise on Charlotte Harbor. The sun didn’t cooperate and hid behind clouds. They just finished rebuilding the place after Charlie hit a couple of years ago (Friday August 13, 2004) and had their “open house” that evening. Everyone in town must have shown up. We got a couple of free cookies out of it.

Fishermen's Village. Sign on left advertises the arrival of Tropical Santa.

Casting off for the Sunset Cruise on Charlotte Harbor.

On Sunday we drove to Gasparilla Island with its million-dollar sleepy little residential areas. We drove all the way down to the southern tip of the island where the lighthouse is. The Park Ranger was trying to explain how to tell the difference between an osprey and a bald eagle, and mentioned bald eagle sightings on Placida Road. The biggest town on the island, Boca Grande, where we had lunch, was at most several blocks wide, and no traffic lights. We finished up a bit too late (around 2 pm) to rent a boat. Dinner was at Pincher’s Crab Shack in North Fort Myers. Anne had the stone crab claws which I have sworn off. Afterwards we drove by the Marinatown marina and noticed they put up two high rise buildings. All work seems to have stopped, probably due to the real estate market.

Boca Grande Lighthouse.

Anne enjoying the Stone Crab, which I have sworn off after fidning out how the claws are harvested.

Monday morning we went back to the Fishermen’s village to rent a small boat (21’) which we took out into Charlotte Harbor for a couple of hours. It was very windy (15 knots) and waves were at least 3’ high, quite a contrast from two days ago. We probably won’t take our own boat (which is a bit bigger) out in such conditions, such is the stupidity of tourists. They actually were forecasting small craft advisory later that evening. It was still fun trying to chart our course and wondering whether a particular landmark is what’s shown on the chart.

At the helm of the rental boat, chart firmly in hand - it would have cost $25 if we had lost it.

Our flight was quite late that evening, so we had time to drive by the Darling “Ding” nature reserve on Sanibel Island. The birds were still as numerous as the last time. One egret was particularly interesting, patiently waiting by water’s edge to snag the small fishes as they went by. Quite successful, actually. The insect repellent I used wasn’t particularly effective against all these small gnats. I am still itching from the many bites as I type this five days later. Anne didn’t put on any repellent, and is in worse shape.

This egret was very successful in catching fish that swam by.


Each of the white dot was a egret sitting in a tree.

Can you find the mangrove crab? They must be less than 1" in size.

The alligator remained motionless during the whole time we watched it. Is it real or is it put there so the tourists are not disappointed?

Washington. 8/18/2006-8/22/2006.

As penance for not going to Italy with us, Joe agreed to spend a few days with us in the Seattle area. The weather was gorgeous, with light scattered clouds. It’s hard to believe that it rains 250 days out of the year in this city (although the total rainfall is only 37”).

Anne & I took a quick ride to Snoqualmie Falls, located about 45 minutes from the SeaTac airport.

We hit many of the Seattle attractions. These included the Space Needle, still looking fresh and modern after 40 odd years (it was built for the 1962 World’s Fair); the Experience Music Project inside a Gehry-designed building; the Science Fiction Hall of Fame; and the Pike Market. Joe’s friend left him a game cartridge lodged in the crack of a wall, which amazingly he managed to find.

The cruise on Lakes Union and Washington was quite pleasant. We passed by Bill Gates’ house, built at a cost of over $50M and now assessed at over $100M (well, you don’t really know what it is worth until it is sold). For such an impressive sounding house, it looked surprisingly modest. It was also interesting to see Route 520 built on top of a floating bridge. We also passed by the water home community of “Sleepless in Seattle” fame. It’s amazing how many boats there are in the Seattle area – one registered boat for about 10 residents.

A water home community on Lake Union.

The Gates estate as seen from the tour boat. Surprisingly modest for a place worth over $100M.

It was great fun watching boats being launched from the Alki ramp while we waited for Joe to finish his 9-mile jog.

Inside the Seattle Public Library, known for its unusal architecture. Indeed.

Monday we had lunch (hamburgers) at Dick's in Queen Anne, where they had a shooting a couple of days earlier. Simple but tasty fare. Afternoon drive to Port Angeles via a couple of Ferries. Ferry traffic was quite heavy during the summer season; we had to wait about 45 minutes for the boats. The Red Lion hotel is located on the waterfront. Known as the gateway to the Olympic National Park, Port Angeles is a surprisingly small, quiet town that appears to be on the decline.

Dinner at the 3-Crab restaurant in Dungeness was okay. Sequim is the "lavender capital" of North America.

On top of Hurricane Ridge, with glaciers and snow-covered mountains in the background.

The ride to Hurricane Ridge took 40 minutes, covering 19 miles. The skies were clear at an altitude of over 5000 feet. There are quite a few trails along the way, we didn’t have time to walk them, though. We drove back to SeaTac at a leisurely pace, had dinner in Chinatown (Weller Street), and caught the redeye to get back to Newark Wednesday morning.

Seattle skyline in view from the Ferry, on our way back from Port Angeles.

Italy. 7/22/2006-7/29/2006

After several years of talking about it, Anne, Ellie & I finally spent a week in Italy. We joined the “Italian Holiday” tour of Trafalgar. The tour included stops at Rome, Venice, Lake Garda, and Florence.

7/22/2006. Flight from Newark to Rome. We were seated in the last row. Flight was generally okay, food was adequate, service was pleasant. Audio video system didn’t work most of the time, although I wasn’t planning to watch any movie anyway. Plane departed and landed on time, another pleasant surprise. My low expectations of Alitalia definitely helped.

7/23/2006. Waited for 90 minutes for bus ride to hotel. We had a room (Melia Roma Aurelia Antica) available soon after we showed up. Took hotel shuttle into town, and walked around for a couple of hours. Saw the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountains, the Piazza del Popolo, and the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built in the second century, and was the largest domed structure until 1960 or so, most impressive. Evening took optional Rome by Night Tour. Tour guide started from the Tiberius River and showed us the modern Rome, the medieval Rome and ancient Rome (first century BC). Dinner at Piazza Navona with its three fountains was marred by slow service. Drove by various monuments including Victor Emmanuel II, the Colosseo, and the Palatine Hills.

Inside the Pantheon. As with many other Roman buildings, it was preserved by being converted into a Church.

7/24/2006. Woke up early to head to the Vatican. The crowds were huge. Stood in line for about an hour before we could get in. Went through a long corridor (of statutes, candelabras, maps, and tapestries) and the Raphael room before we went into the Sistine Chapel. Most prominent work was that of Michaelangelo who spent years spanning decades painting the ceiling and the walls. Reminded me of the EPCOT display at Walt Disney World. Tour of the Vatican Museum was followed by a walk to St. Peter’s Basilica which is the largest church. Building was impressive. Didn’t know someone destroyed the Pieta in the 1960s. The mosaics were fascinating, each may be made up of half a million tiles by my estimation.

Visited the ruins after lunch. The Colosseum (Flavius’s Amphitheater) lived up to its reputation. Walked up Via Sacra to Titus’s arch. Walked down to the old ruins but didn’t walk among the columns because of excessive heat. Note to self: come back when it’s cooler.

Took hotel shuttle to town, so-so dinner at a Piazza del Popolo local restaurant, went by the Fountains again before heading back to the hotel.

St. Peter Basilica.

In Front of the Colesseum. Ellie did go inside.

7/25/2006. Most of the day was spent in the bus getting from Rome to Venice. Tuscany is exactly as we imagined it from the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun”. Got into Venice a little before 4 pm and took a 40-minute Gondola ride. Walked in town for a bit. We managed to find enough shade among the buildings that it was quite pleasant. Dinner at the hotel (Hotel Anthony Venice) was standard tourist fare.

Obligatory Ride on a Venetian Gondola.

7/26/2006. Walked around St. Mark’s square. Visited Doges’ Palace, the Tower (with a great view of the city), and the Church. Took a boat ride to Burano Island and had a hearty seafood lunch at the Trattoria Raspo de Ua. These Venetian boats are surprisingly stable for their size. Burano evokes images of Lamma Island, but much cleaner and more nicely painted.

In Front of a Nicely Painted House on Burano Island.

Bus ride to Lake Garda left in the afternoon. Our room in Hotel Atlanta in Nago/Torbole had a great view of town and the lake. Tried to walked to Torbole after buffet dinner but gave up half way. Walked up to Nago instead. Bocci contest must have drawn everyone in town to watch.

By Lake Garda. Village of Torbole.

7/27/2006. Early morning cruise was delayed because boat didn’t show up on time. Nice 40 minute ride past towns of Limone and Melcisine. Bus ride to Florence arrived in time for a walking tour. It also rained quite heavily. We got wet, but the rain also helped with the heat. Visited the Duomo, the Baptistry (with its $0.5M door), Piazza Signoria with the various statues, and the Santa Croce church where Galileo, Michaelangelo, and Rossini were buried. Walked around after dinner at the hotel. Saw Ponte Vecchio but the shops on the bridge were closed.

The Door of this Baptistry Cost $0.5M to Replicate.

7/28/2006. Morning tour of Florence included a visit to the Accademia where David stands. The statue is about 17 feet high and weighs about 6 tons. Michaelangelo actually painted only when summoned by popes and kings – he would rather do sculptures. He started about 40 pieces and completed only 13 or so.

Had pizza (finally) around San Croce Basilica. Ellie bought a lime green leather handbag at Peruzzi. Left for Rome early afternoon. Dinner at a local restaurant with singing by some local artists. Bought a CD from them. Hotel: Sheraton Golf.

7/29/2006. Left Rome in the afternoon. Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Newark was horrendous. The lady who checked us in was either incompetent or dishonest when she explained why our pre-assigned seats were gone. To top it off, they lost one of our bags.

New Jersey Marathon, Long Branch, NJ. 4/30/2006

Joe and Ellie ran the full- and half-marathon at the 10th NJ Marathon today. Ellie finished her 13.1 mile run in about 2:30, and Joe did the full 26.2 miles in 4:15. They are both glad they finished within their target times, we are glad they did too.

It was a good day for a long run, although it got a bit warm towards noon. The sunny day gave all of us a bit of sun tan. It was fun moving from one place to another to try to catch them go by.

Vancouver. 11/5/2005-11/8/2005.

We flew to Seattle and drove up to Vancouver. The drive was about 3 hours, and getting through customs was very easy. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel which is right by the waterfront. Our room overlooks a seaplane terminal, and the place gets very busy starting early in the morning.

View from our hotel room. It was fun watching the planes take off and land on the river.

Another view from the room. Stanley Park in the background.

Whistler is a well-known ski resort about 2 hours north of Vancouver. It was snowing part of the way.

Ski lodge at Whistler.

We took our rental car to Victoria via BC Ferries. It was a scenic and calm route. Anne took quite a few pictures of the seagulls that followed along.

Coming and going.

The Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island.

One of the many gardens in Butchart.

We had lunch at this Wharfside restaurant in Victoria.

View of Vancouver from Grouse Mountain. We took a gondola to the top.

We stayed at a hotel in Washington State before we headed back to Seattle. Along the way we visited a fishing village.

In memory of fishers who have gone to sea ... never to return.

Hong Kong. 3/17/2006 - 3/26/2006.

Anne and I spent about a week in Hong Kong. My sister Ruth was visiting from Australia, and my other siblings were going to be in town, so it would be a chance for all of us to get together. Anne wanted to visit her mother. The flights were all packed, the Newark - San Francisco - Hong Kong flights felt particularly long, over 20 hours total flight time.

We stayed at Rosedale, which I like very much because one could get a small suite for the price of a regular hotel room. And free broadband internet.

Sunday 3/19. Boat ride on Tim's boat to Lama Island. Lunch at Rainbow at Sok Kwo Wan, followed by a leisurely 1 hour 15 minute walk to Yung Shue Wan. Dinner at Hong Kong University Alumni Association, signature "duck with eight treasures" dish was very good.

Start of our trek. With Ruth and Alyson.

Monday 3/20. Visited History Museum with Elaine. Special exhibit of Zheng He was very informative. He led as many as 28,000 people to places as far as Kenya on seven different voyages (he died during the 7th trip). Ships were up to 125 meters long. By comparison, Columbus's fleet consisted of a few boats with about 100 people; and Zheng He predated Columbus by about 100 years. Lunch at one of the Japanese restaurants in Toy House on Canton Road. Visited Anne's mother in the afternoon. Dinner at Peking Garden, Alexander House, with Uncle Richard and Auntie Fannie. They were returning to Australia on Wednesday. Peking Duck was the main course.

View of Middle Island from Pinecrest.

Tuesday 3/21. Dinner at the Jackson Room at Hong Kong Club. Jacket and tie required, which I didn't have. Luckily they had a selection of them.

Wednesday 3/22. Visited Bel-Air with Elaine to look at some apartments, nice area. Dinner at Dynasty Court Clubhouse. Main course was a fish (bream) caught by Tim's friend.

At the Cyberport Arcade, with Bel-Air in the background.

Thursday 3/23. Visited Grand Promenade with Ruth and Steven. There were many restaurants around that so-called Soho East area, nothing particularly interesting though. Dinner at World Trade Center. They were doing a brisk business, we actually had to wait for about 20 minutes before we got a table.

Ruth & Steven along the Sai Wan Ho promenade.

Friday 3/24. Visited Ling and Wally at their apartment in Tai Po, and had lunch at a local noodle restaurant. Dinner at the Shanghai Restaurant in WTC was attended by all my siblings and their family members that live in Hong Kong. It must have been more than 10 years ago that all five of us got together.

At Ling & Wally's Apartment in Tai Po, New Territories.

The Five Cheung Siblings.

The whole gang. Second row (L to R): Vicky, Alyson, Tim, Anne, Joe, Alfred. Front row: Ruth, Steven, Wally, Ling, Rachel, Joy.

Alfred, Joy & Rachel.

Saturday 3/25. Lunch with Uncle Daniel and Auntie Rose. Larry and Elaine were there also. This was the third time I went to Hong Kong Club this week. Bowled atrociously at the Aberdeen Marina Club. Dinner at AMC's Chinese Restaurant. Stayed at the airport hotel for the evening.

Sunday 3/26. Ran into Mr and Mrs Wei at the airport. We knew them when they were in New Jersey in the early 80s. They now live in Boston. Their son went to Cornell for a couple of years and knows Joe. The trip back, via Chicago, was more bearable than the trip over. Total flight time was about 17 hours.