Anne and I were asked by a non-profit to accompany its
head of development on a short visit.
This non-profit plans to set up an office in Hong Kong, and wants to
continue to engage local organizations.
Separately, Anne has a business trip to Brazil towards
the end of the month, and I planned to visit also so she and I can do a bit of
touring together. The Monday (7/28)
after we came back from Austria, we went to the Brazilian Consulate in New York
to apply, and was told the visas would be ready on August 14, even though their
website says about 5 business days. So I
withdrew my application, and Anne canceled her plans for Hong Kong. This left quite a bad taste in my mind. Diplomacy and tact seem to be the most basic
requirements for someone working in an embassy or a consulate, but not so
here. I am saying this knowing full well
a Brazilian wanting a visa to enter the US probably doesn’t get the best of
treatment either.
Since this was a relatively short-notice trip, and it’s
the summer, the plane tickets were on the expensive side. I had canceled a trip for earlier this year,
and found out to my delight I could reuse all its value on the new ticket. For some reason the $200 “change fee” was
waived. (We just rebooked another plane
ticket and sure enough a $200 fee was charged.)
The upside was that the fare was V class, and thus I got upgraded to
business/first by cashing in a couple of the Global Premier Upgrades I got for
being a 1K member this year.
Wednesday 8/6. The
non-profit recently hired someone for its China office. She used to live in New York, and we offered
to take some of her belonging (mostly winter clothing) to Hong Kong for her
(she also happens to be in Hong Kong around the same time.) When we went to her house in Queens, we were
handed a 65 lb piece of luggage, which I took home and split into two that are
more manageable. Checking them in was
quick, so Anne only had to double park with my carryon in the car for a few
minutes.
The former Continental 777s have much better business
class seats than the United 777s. I flew
on a Continental plane, but still managed only a short nap here and there. While I am not anxious about flying, the two
recently lost Malaysian 777s did make me think a bit. Thankfully the flight was uneventful.
After I landed, I went looking for One2Free to get a SIM
card for data services during my stay.
The shop closed, and 7-11 didn’t sell them. I had been away from Hong Kong for more than
half a year, so I thought I needed a new China Mobile Hong Kong number. The CMHK clerk told me my number could still
be saved, which turns out to be very convenient. A leisurely meal at Maxim’s was followed by a
taxi to Tai Po. Perry and Sepry were
there to help with my heavy luggage, so everything was smooth.
I will be staying at the Tai Po House for 4 nights.
Friday 8/8. I woke
up at 3:30 am, after about 3 hours of sleep, and couldn’t get back to
sleep. With a rather long day ahead of
me, I was a little bummed out. I am glad
to report that I did okay.
First it was a visit to Tim’s office so he could draw
some blood for tests. I have a physical
scheduled for the end of September, and wanted to get a preview of my
situation. (Turned out okay.) Next it was an 11 o’clock appointment at CGST
where I met with Doreen, Rev. Carver and Dr. Stephen. I spent a bit over an hour there. This was followed by lunch with Alfred at
Queen’s Café. We had not seen each other
for quite a while. I then crossed the
harbor again to meet up with Larry and Elaine at the Hong Kong Club; this place
has the strictest dress code I know of, this time my transgression was not
tucking in my polo shirt. Then I went to
Kwun Tong for a visit with Angela of Media Evangelism, where she talked to me
about a movie that would be screened in about 5000 cinemas in China next month.
Saturday 8/9. I
slept okay last night (whew.) Morning
was spent trying to find lanterns for the grandchildren; mid-Autumn festival is
next month, and Anne thought it would be fun.
It was after 2 pm that I got back to the TP House, by that time Tim,
Alyson, and Whitney had already gotten there and had gone out again for a
walk. After they came back, we had
dinner at the house. The two main
dishes, smoked duck and abalones, were very good.
Sunday 8/10.
Despite the rather grim weather forecast, we have had good weather so
far. Good if you ignore the occasional
light shower, the oppressive heat and high humidity. In any case, I got to the Aberdeen Boat Club
around 10:30 am, had breakfast there, and went on Tim’s boat for a ride to
Lamma Island. Tim has long work days
during the week, and wants to make up with physical activities on the
weekends. For today it was a hike to
Ling Kok Hill, at 280 meters not a particularly high mountain. Since we started at sea level, it still meant
a climb of about 1000 steps. I gave up
after about 500 (decision helped by light-headedness,) the other three
completed the trip.
Start of climb up Ling Kok Hill. To reach the top would require scaling about 1000 steps, I gave up after 500 or so.
Both my shirt and my shorts were soaking wet. It was a good thing I brought along two bottles of water. I could have used more.
After showering on the boat, we had lunch with Anne’s
side of the family. Kenneth, Anna, and
Eric; Gordon, Joe-y, and their 4-month old daughter; Gordon’s other two sons
Alex and Lucas were also with us. I
ended up talking to Alex for most of the 3+ hour long lunch. This must qualify as one of the longest meals
I have had – I suspect the record 5-hour marathon at Tetsuya’s won’t be broken.
After a half-marathon lunch that lasted over three hours.
After dropping Whitney off, Alyson, Tim, and I hanged out
at Tim’s apartment for a short while.
Dinner was at Hei Sheung Fung in Times Square. Instead of simply dropping me off at Tai Po,
Tim and Alyson went and did more exercise at the gym.
Monday 8/11. The
day started with a 9 am breakfast meeting with Vivien who runs a drug rehab
center in the Quangzhou area. She
started doing this as a short-term missions project, and has been with the same
project for 20 years now. I then crossed
the harbor to Hong Kong Club again to have lunch with Larry, this time
remembering to tuck in my polo shirt.
Around this time Nancy called me up to let me know she
had arrived at Lo Wu. We had offered her
the Tai Po House during her stay in Hong Kong to get her Chinese work
permit. So I went back to Tai Po, met up
with her at the MTR station, and helped her settle in. After chatting for a while, it was dinner
time, and we went back to Chiu Chow Garden, the place I had breakfast with
Vivien to start the day.
It was then my turn to pack up. Because of the crazy meeting schedule last
time I was with Chris, I decided staying in town for a few nights would allow
me to get a bit more sleep.
Hotel: YMCA Salisbury, 3 nights.
Tuesday 8/12.
Chris came by for breakfast, followed by a meeting with Bo, lunch with
Wu, a social entrepreneur, followed by another meeting at the Watermark
Community Church with Tobin. Tobin knows
Franklin and Teresa; Franklin was a classmate at Cornell. The lunch was at an Indian Restaurant in
Chung King Mansion, and this was the first time I went inside the building even
though it was around when I was very young.
Chung King was in the news recently as there was a suspected case (since
tested negative) of Ebola there.
Edwin Lun, a fellow advisory member, booked a table at
the Star House Peking Garden. Nancy came
to join us. I ordered the dishes,
including a Peking duck which somehow had a lot more meat to it than the usual
Peking duck. Edwin had to leave early,
but he paid for the meal before he left.
(Had I known that I would have ordered shark’s fin soup and abalones;
just kidding.)
Weather decided to stop cooperating, and it was pouring
as we left the restaurant. I was the
only one with an umbrella. So I got
Chris and Nancy each an umbrella, and we went our separate ways.
Wednesday 8/13.
Chris had a private meeting with the president of Gordon College in the
morning, so I had some time to myself.
We met up at The Vine Church with Tony R, an engineer who also is a
pastor. We had lunch (Italian) where he
talked about the various ministries he is involved in, many of which have to do
with social justice issues (asylum seekers, human trafficking.) He is Scottish, and has lived in Hong Kong
for 26 years.
After lunch, Chris and I went to Crossroads in Gold Coast
by taking the MTR to Tuen Mun followed by a taxi ride. The trip was quite long, and the taxi driver
spoke the best English of all Hong Kong taxi drivers I had encountered. It was raining a bit, so we had to carry around
an umbrella as our host took us around the facility. Crossroads has several ministries, one of which
is to simulate various human conditions such as poverty and refugee. I could sense how powerful these simulations
were. Another major thrust is to collect
donated goods and pack them for shipment to various places in need. People there are volunteers supported by
donations. They also provide some job
skills training for refugees.
I left after meeting up with DJ, who heads up the
operation. Chris stayed behind to talk
about possible collaboration with them.
I hopped on a local bus for the Tsuen Wan MTR station. This local bus started in Yuen Long, and
seemed to make a stop every couple of hundred yards, traveling on the old
Castle Peak Road. From start to finish
there are over 70 stops (if I counted correctly.) I didn’t have to suffer through that many,
but was quite uncomfortable towards the end (I had to sit sideways, which
didn’t help.) I was joking to Anne
afterwards whether this kind of stupidity constitutes suffering for the Lord. A search of the web yields the following facts about KMB route 51: 74 stops, 30.8 km length, and 98 minutes journey time.
I had dinner at Café de Coral and McDonalds (chicken in
both places, and yes, two meals.)
Thursday 8/14.
Travel day. I woke up at around 7
am, had breakfast (a full buffet is included with my stay,) and then took a
taxi to the Kowloon Airport Express Station.
I was through security in less than 45 minutes. I met up with Chris at his departure gate,
said goodbye, and boarded my own flight.
This entire blog was typed inside UA116, my only notes
are some of my expense records. I wonder
how good my memory is.
Passport control was straightforward, but there was a
long line waiting to clear customs. Most
of the people were students who just came off a Jet Airways flight: reminded me
of my arrival in the US 40 some years ago.
I stopped by Travelex to buy some Brazilian Reals for Anne’s upcoming
trip; she picked me up afterwards.
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