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.

Australia. 1/26/2006 - 2/6/2006.

I went to Australia for Chinese New Year. Tim and his family also visited from Hong Kong. We stayed at the Quay Grand right off the Circular Quay.

View of city coming back from Taronga Zoo.

All of us at Wilson's apartment. Standing (L to R): Chris, Susanna, Wendy, Wilson, Vicky, Tim; Seated: Joe, Alyson, Ruth, Steven.

At the helm of the chartered boat.

In front of the Three Sisters. Also took a trip down to the valley. The overcast sky cleared after we waited around for a few hours.

On the chartered boat.

At the helm of the chartered Benetteau 50 during a calm moment.

Most of the time it was like this! We were zipping along at 8 knots.

The "catch" after the three of us (Tim, Alyson, and me) spent two hours at Little Bay. I didn't catch this.

Liberty State Park. 2/25/2006

Joe was home for a few days during the Presidents' Day week. We stopped by the Liberty State Park before we dropped him off at JFK.

Looking at the Main Building from the entrance way.

Waiting at the dock.

Southern Manhattan in the background.

Statue of Liberty.

Fort Myers & Sanibel Island, 12/9/2005 - 12/13/2005.

We took advantage of the Continental weekend specials and flew down to Fort Myers, FL. We spent time at Fort Myers Beach and on Sanibel Island.

Manatee sighting tour. The tiny bumps in the distance are actually manatees.

Anne at the Helm of the Cape Coral 20.

We rented a small boat to cruise around the bay. The waters are shallow, and we promptly grounded the boat. We ended up destroying the propeller and paid $100 or so to have it fixed.

Festival of Lights. Pretty sorry looking parade of boats.

Hurricane Alley. Quite a few sunken boats were still lying around. Hurricanes are a problem for the area.

Seashells on Sanibel Island. The tide washes them in twice a day. I thought they would be larger.

Seabirds on the seashore.

Sunset on the beach. Note the parachute in the background. The hang glider was powered by a small but noisy fan.

We had lunch at this restaurant. Inexpensive.

Dinner (including stone crab) at this restaurant.

When caught, stone crabs get one of their claws broken off. The crabs are then thrown back into the water so the claws can grow back. The alternative -for the crab - is worse. I wouldn't have eaten the dish had I known it earlier.

Outside our hotel at Fort Myers Beach.

It is a crocodile, or is it an alligator? Depends on where the teeth go.

This majestic bird is probably an osprey.


We had lunch at the restaurant next to the Naples marina.

Long Island, 3/10/2006 - 3/11/2006

Stayed at Courtyard at Ronkokoma, NY. It was a two hour drive from our house. We started after 8:00 pm, and traffic wasn't a problem at all.

TWA800 Memorial on Fire Island across the bridge from Smith Point.

The TWA 747 from JFK to Paris exploded over the ocean close to this spot in 1996. A mourner burning incense in front of the shrine of names, a small plane painting words in the sky: sad reminders to the tragic event.

Walk along the shore of Fire Island. It was a warm day, and there were quite a few surfers.

Seagull relaxing on Fire Island. It reluctantly moved to another post when we got too close.

Lunch at restaurant on Dune Road, Shinnecock. No pictures.

Lighthouse at Montauk Point. It wasn't open, unfortunately.

Montauk Point.

Ferry to Shelter Island. We took the South Ferry to get to the Island from Sag Harbor, and the North Ferry to get to the North Fork of the island. $10 each way.

We heard there was a brush fire on Staten Island, so we stopped at the Erskine Road shopping mall to get something to eat (Exit 15 on Beltway). The wait was over an hour, so we decided to brave the traffic jam. There were no traffic problems to speak of, though. We ended up eating at the Woodbridge Perkins, and got home at about 10 pm. Over 350 miles in a little over 24 hours.