June 12 (Thu). Flight from Newark was packed. 777 coach section has all of 5 washrooms, making the wait unbearably long. United seems to run a better long-haul business than CO, for short trips within US, CO is my preferred airline. Met up with Kuau and Ellie who had just cleared customs. Kuau's luggage didn't make it.
June 13 (Fri). Staying at Rosedale for the trip.
June 14 (Sat). Went to Shatin thinking we would be able to see a dragon boat race. Either we were mistaken or they were rained out; we saw some crew practice. Visited Heritage Museum and saw various exhibits. Followed by visit to Temple of 10,000 buddhas. Went up a cemetery by mistake before we took the narrow path to the temple. Quite different from when I visited as a kid, path lined by statues painted in golden colors. Dinner with Tim, Alfred, and Ling (and their families) at “Hung Sing” at the Forum was quite expensive.
June 15 (Sun). Went on Tim's boat and ate at Rainbow restaurant on Lamma Island.
June 16 (Mon). Took Central to Mid-Levels escalator. Visited Dr. Sun Museum; he went to the same high school I did. Then the Peak Tram to and from the Peak. Dinner at Country Club with the Koo's, Auntie Fannie & Uncle Richard.
(Back row) Larry, Justin, Uncle Richard, Larry Jr, Kuau, me
(Front row) Anne, Auntie Fanny, Elaine, Ellie
June 17 (Tue). Lunch with Ling & Wally. Coffee with Alfred. Dinner at Macau Restaurant (but called “Florinda” Restaurant in English).
June 18 (Wed). Went back to Shun Tak Center to book tour for Macau. Lunch with the Koos at Nadaman at the Shangri-la. Pretty good Japanese food; lunch was “inexpensive” at about US$30 per person. We seem to be having a lot of meals, though. Dinner with Tim and Alyson at Vietnamese Aroma.
June 19 (Thu). Day in Macau. Joined the “Macau Essence Tour” which brought us to the Macau Tower with its panoramic view of the city and Zhuhai, Macau Museum, A-Ma Temple where the Portuguese mistook the name of the temple for the name of the city, ruins of Saint Paul, and the Venetian casino. Not bad for less than HK$100, with admissions to the Tower and Museum included. Macau over the course of the last 10 years or so has transformed itself from a sleepy town next to the bustling Hong Kong into the gambling center of the East. For that it has sold its soul – it's now quite a seedy place. The government has done a good job retaining the historical colonial buildings, even though it is incapable of retaining the character of the city.
New Macau vs old Macau (top). We went inside the Venetian Casino.
June 20 (Fri). Lunch with Larry at Hong Kong Club. What started as a walk to get a soda took Anne & me across the harbor to the Avenue of the Stars and the 8 pm Symphony of Lights show. The sky was clear, and the night lights were bright, so the light show ended up being a bit of a let down.
June 21 (Sat). Plane was crowded on the trip back. Despite a delay to fix the cockpit door that wouldn't close, we got back in time to take the Yangs to the airport. Weather was hot and the heavy rains caused quite a few problems for the city, but air was clear most of the time.
