5/6/2011. Woke up at around 9 am this morning because of late concert last night. Spent most of the morning packing, mostly stuff to bring to others in Hong Kong. Since I have some clothes left at Taipo, I didn’t need too much personal stuff.
Got notified by Continental that flight was delayed for an hour, which meant getting in quite late, but okay. After I got to the airport, the departure time improved from 4:15 pm to 3:50 pm. Boarding began at 3 pm or so, but was halted in few minutes because there was an engine problem that needed a mechanic’s attention. Soon those who boarded came back out, and the revised departure time became 5:30 pm. The cowlings of the starboard engine were open, with quite a few people hanging around at a distance (I guess they were taking proper precautions in case engine was started accidentally). Turned out it wasn’t much of a problem, and we managed to take off at about 5 pm. Pilot said the flight was going to be relatively short at 14:30, so we should get in at 7:40 pm or so.
We are now one hour before landing, the seat next to me is empty, so this would qualify as a good flight. However, didn’t manage to get much sleep, watched two movies, and spent most of the time listening to music on my iPod.
Plane landed at 7:45 pm or so, by the time I got my luggage, Tim, Ruth and Wally were already close by. Trip to Taipo was short (30 minutes?) and there was not much traffic. Ate some “leftover” food.
Why this trip? Well, Ruth was going to get some medical attention from Tim for her knees, and I said I would meet up with her. Anne decided not to come because of various commitments (class, CCHC, Sunday School), so I am by myself.
5/8/2011. Didn’t sleep that well last night, Anne’s call at 9 am woke me up; the computer crashed on her so we were discussing how best to proceed and debating if things would be different if the data had been backed up. Tim came by around noon to pick us up. Today is the maiden voyage of his new boat. In addition to Ling & Wally, Ruth & Stephen, Alyson, Tim, and me, Cameron & Wayne McC were there also. Lamma Island for lunch and then drove around a little bit. At the price he is paying for it, the boat had better be good.
Had a “French Toast” before heading to Grand Century Plaza to have dinner with David. We ended up eating at Simply Thai, reasonably good food, not expensive. Left at around 10 pm.
5/9/2011. Went back to Grand Century Plaza to have late breakfast with David at about 10 am at Café de Coral. Took bus to Tuen Mun to visit David’s mother whom I got to know quite well during my year stay in the Los Angeles area. She looked good but had some issues after her recent stay at the hospital. Stayed until a bit after 1 pm, David then treated me to lunch at a local restaurant. Took bus to Macau Ferry Terminal, caught the 3:45 pm ferry to catch up with Ling, Ruth & their spouses. Got to the Grand Hyatt at about 6 pm, and then we had a quick dinner at a City of Dreams casino noodle shop before catching the 8 pm “House of Dancing Water” show. The 90-minute show is basically an acrobat show above a large water tank with failed ambitions at being artistic or dramatic (in terms a story line). Not bad entertainment, though. Hotel rooms are very nice but already showing signs of being abused by guests. Smoking indoors evidently isn’t frowned on as much. I don’t have a huge problem with that philosophically (these are grown ups we are talking about here) but have problems with the ever-present lingering smell of cigarettes.
5/10/2011. Leisurely buffet breakfast at the hotel, then we took the shuttle to the Taipa Ferry Terminal and caught the 11:30 am boat back to Hong Kong. Had a simple lunch at Kong Hing Restaurant in Tai Wai before returning to the Taipo house. Went on the treadmill for a while before dinner at Chiu Chow Garden at the MTR Station.
5/11/2011. Afternoon tea with Larry. Dinner cooked by Ling.
5/12/2011. Morning exercise on elliptical. Went to Shatin with Ling & Wally for lunch; they thought highly of the food, I thought it was okay but not spectacular. Went to Wanchai to meet up with On Ching for a short chat at Starbucks. Dinner was at restaurant in Sham Shui Po (New So Kee) recommended by Ling and Wally. Again I thought it was just so-so. I guess I am not that into food.
Today was supposed to be the last of the warm days for this spell, but it turned out to be the hottest so far this year at 35C, with the issuance of a heat alert. I hope tomorrow will turn out better.
5/13/2011. It poured last night, with thunder and lightning; it also rained on and off today, but we lucked out and didn’t get rained on. Ruth and I stopped by Tim’s office to have a couple of problems looked into, then we went to have lunch at “Home-Cooked Food” at the Lee Theater. Very inexpensive dishes (cost HK$198 for the four of us.) Came back to Tai Po via Bus 307, and got on the treadmill to work off all the excess calories consumed the last few days.
Left at 5:45 pm or so to get to Sai Kung: taxi, MTR, No. 299 bus. Dinner at Tung Kee with the Laus. Tim claims the food will cost in excess of HK$6000; supposedly the restaurant people know the Laus quite well and offer them great discounts . We counted about 20 different dishes for 11 guests. Let me try to reconstruct the list: chicken in peanut sauce, steamed chicken, roasted goose; sashimi – which itself is made up of a variety of seafood, snails, abalones, large shrimp fried whole, mantis shrimp, shrimp and celery; lobster and e-fu noodles, seafood fried rice; steamed grouper pieces, stir-fried grouper pieces; choy sum, small bok choy,; mango pudding, fruit. And they brought pig’s feet, eggs and ginger cooked in vinegar.
Tim took us home after dinner, trip didn’t take long at all.
5/14/2011. Ling cooked at Taipo House: leg of lamb. Went to Cultural Center for a concert by myself afterwards. It was about 11 pm when I got back to Taipo.
5/15/2011. We left early so Tim could help get the boat ready. Ruth, Stephen and I had breakfast at ABC while Tim did his work. They came by to pick us up at about 11 am and we moored the boat at Repulse Bay. Tim and I got into the dinghy to go back to the marina to fill up the gas tank. The RIB was a bit on the deflated side so the trip in 2-foot waves turned out to be quite exciting. Picked up Alyson, Wally & Ling, and Paul & Esther Chan at around noon. Weather was unpleasant so we moored at Repulse Bay, next to the McCrae’s, had lunch, and spent the afternoon chatting inside the boats.
Dinner at Tao Yuen. A bit on the expensive side because of shark fin soup (evidently still okay in Hong Kong) and abalone. Returned to Taipo at around 8 pm. Then it was packing for the return trip.
5/16/2011. Woke up relatively early (6:30 am) to get ready; picked up by hired car at 8 am, got to airport at around 8:45 am despite some traffic around Shatin. Check in and customs were relatively simple. Breakfast at Café de Coral. Even though flight status shows middle seat as occupied, it was probably just blocked as the seat is empty. The flight has been in the air for about 4 hours as I type this, another 11 to go.
