This trip has two main purposes: (i) to celebrate the
opening of a non-profit’s Hong Kong office; and (ii) to attend to a family
matter. We also scheduled to travel to
China on Wednesday to look at another non-profit we work with. Despite all that, we will have quite a few
idle days on our hands.
Thursday 3/5. So
far this winter, we have been quite lucky when it comes to dodging the weather,
traveling on days where there was not much snow, and being away from NJ when it
had been bitterly cold. Last couple of
days we thought our luck was going to run out as our flight was scheduled to
leave right in the middle of a heavy snow storm.
Chung Shu was going to drive us to the airport, but when
we saw there were about 6” of snow on our driveway this morning, and central
Jersey might have gotten it worse, we decided to drive up ourselves. The roads were okay once outside of our
development, going was slow, traffic was heavier than I expected, but we ended
up taking only 15 additional minutes to get to the parking garage. We boarded on time, the plane left the gate
about 10 minutes behind schedule.
However, the plane had to wait to be de-iced first, and then it waited
in line for takeoff. With all that, it
left “only” 90 minutes behind schedule, and due to favorable winds, we arrived
about 30 minutes late. Anne noticed on
the monitor that our path biased a bit towards Europe. I checked recent UA179 routes on
flightaware.com, indeed the routing can vary from western Greenland to
Iceland. Our flight didn’t take a
particularly unusual path, though.
I watched only 1 movie (pretty forgettable “Horrible
Bosses 2”) and 2 short TV episodes, and dozed off every now and then listening
to my iPod.
After getting something to eat at the airport, we got to
Tai Po at about 11:15 pm.
Accommodations: we will staying at the Tai Po house
during this trip.
Saturday March 7.
Went to Wan Tau Tong to have a hearty breakfast. Then went to Yau Ma Tei to get bus tickets to
Zengcheng: we plan on a one-day visit later this seek. Went back to Tai Po to have some rest. Then it was back to town for dinner with the Horsts
and the de Lysters. Restaurant Hotung
has great view of Hong Kong skyline but food was underwhelming. We were done at around 9:15 pm.
Sunday March 8. I
got Tim to invite the Horsts and the De Lysters to go to his boat, which they
gladly accepted. Abe, the 4-month old
son of Chris and Alli was acting a bit odd after his parents applied some
medication on his rash. Tim took a careful
look at the baby and gave them some opinion as to what happened. (To everyone’s relief, Abe seems to be
getting better.) We stopped at walked
around Stanley a bit, and then we had lunch on the boat (takeout from
ABC.) Our guests left, Anne and I went
to town to shop a little and to have coffee.
We met with Tim and Whitney later to have dinner at Aqua Garden in Sam
Mun Tsai. They have some “specialty”
dishes, including a dessert that roughly translates into “sugar strands and
banana fritters.”
Group photo on Tim's boat.
A familiar view from Middle Island.
Monday March 9.
After Anne got done with her English class, we went to Man Wah, a local
café heavily recommended by Whitney, to have noodle soup, French toast, and
Glutinous Rice Dumpling for breakfast. The
latter two were my favorite food items growing up and I usually try to have
them every time I come back to Hong Kong.
I have been able to find good rice dumplings, but the French toasts have
always been disappointing. Today’s were
quite good, the toast still wasn’t’ what I remember, tough. The meal was so heavy that we decided to skip
lunch.
At two pm, we met with Chris H and Nathan d L at the new
office (loaned by Edwin) to discuss a bit the immediate plans Hope Hong Kong
have developed. Anne and I then wandered
around the TST area, had some snacks, and then headed out to Sheung Wan
Community Church to attend a Q Commons event.
While the speakers (some taped, some live) raised some interesting and
disturbing issues, I felt they often make up their fictitious strawmen and then
attack them to make it point. I also ran
into Doreen C, who worked at a seminary as its development officer; she told me
she’s taking some time off to try to define what she wants a bit better. In any case, the supposedly tightly run
meeting ran late, and Anne and I left before the event concluded. Anne and I
tried to look for things to eat in town, and in vain. We finally grabbed something at McD’s.
Writing a letter in Tai Po Square (Tai Ming Lane Plaza to be exact).
Tuesday 3/10.
Today was a lightly packed day.
Our one event was an evening conference call with H China. We wandered around Shatin a bit to try to buy
some small items for our grandchildren.
Wednesday 3/11. We
woke up very early (around 5:30 am) so we could catch an 8:00 am bus from Yau
Ma Tei to Zeng Cheng. The idea was to
visit a drug rehab center which we support.
Things went quite smoothly until we off-loaded the bus at Shenzhen to
get through immigration. It turns out my
visa had expired last week, and there this particular check point could not
issue a visa on the spot (supposedly one at Lo Wu can.) Meanwhile, Anne cleared the Chinese
authorities. It is a good thing T-mobile
roaming is inexpensive so we could keep in touch. Everyone (Chinese and Hong Kong) was
professional and nice about it, but it still took us 45 minutes to get back
onto Hong Kong soil. So I emailed and
called Vivien to apologize; the visit has to be postponed till our next trip to
the area.
This was going to be an all-day visit (we expected to
return to Hong Kong at around 7:30 pm), so we got a day on our hands. A short (about HK$120) taxi ride got us to
Wetlands Park where we spent quite a few hours walking around. It made for a pleasant morning; a few more
birds would be nice, though. On our way
to the Tin Shui Wai MTR station we saw this Horizon shopping center and jumped
off the lightrail. We ended up having
lunch at Maxim’s Hong Kong Day, which is best characterized as a retro
restaurant; it was around 2 pm.
The Tin Shui Wai to Shatin ride took over an hour, and
involved a change in Hung Hom, but we got seats the whole way! I had coffee at Starbucks while Anne shopped
for a gift for Thomas, our grandnephew.
When we saw a Ding Tai Fung at this mall, we decided to have a light
dinner even though it was quite early at 5:30 pm.
I didn't realize my China visa had expired until I got past Hong Kong Immigration. At this point I was still oblivious.
Taken at Wetlands Park.
Pei Pei was caught a few years ago. It has now grown quite a bit.
Din Tai Fung in Shatin. This chain is getting quite popular all over the world.
Thursday 3/12. Our
first appointment was a lunch with Whitney’s dad at West Villa Causeway
Bay. This trip took about an hour, a
record, so I had some time for coffee at McDonald’s while Anne shopped for
hairclips for Emmie. We spent a pleasant
time with Mr. Tang, Whitney and Tim to get to know each other better. Before meeting up with Larry and Elaine at
the Jockey Club, Anne and I had coffee at UCC Causeway Bay. Then we went down the hill to visit Thomas,
Larry Jr’s son. Thomas is a couple of
months older than Reid, and eventually warmed up to us. Elaine’s driver dropped us off at Admiralty
MTR station so could catch the subway back to Tai Po. Anne and I decided to take the bus to Hung
Hom and catch the MTR from there, the advantage being we could get seats even
during rush hour. The strategy worked,
although riding the bus backwards reminded me of the unpleasant ride from Tuen
Mun last December.
Friday 3/13.
Whitney and Tim raved about the “French Toast” at SeaStar Restaurant in
Tai Po, so we went there this morning to check it out. Unfortunately they don’t serve that at
breakfast, so we had these “western breakfasts” instead (which included instant
noodles with beef satay.) Anne also got
more hair clips for Emmie (now we must have bought 20 of them.) I got the idea to catch Bus 307 from Tai Po
Center into town, and we both got seats since we caught the bus at the
terminus. We had a long lunch with Larry
– Anne had only soup, I had a piece of fish.
We caught the same bus back to Tai Po (and also had seats.) This time we stopped by Man Wah again. Anne wasn’t feeling very well, so I went to
Wan Tau Tong to have dinner at Fairwood by myself.
Anne wasn't feeling well, so dinner by myself at a nearby Fairwood.
Saturday 3/14.
After lunch of fish balls and noodles, we took Bus 64K to Yuen
Long. Yuen Long is a busy place,
comparable to some of the busier areas in town (e.g., Mongkok.) It took us a while to find the shop where
Café-a-Roma was, it is now a massage parlor.
After coffee we went back to Tai Po via 64K. The return trip took much longer as the bus
made many stops. It was close to 6 pm
when we got back to the house. Dinner
was at the house with Whitney and Tim. A
rather interesting menu: soup made from goji berries, leaves, and pork liver;
small abalones stirred fried in garlic paste; razor clams with caramelized
onions and butter; steamed bream; fruits – mangoes, apples, and pomelo. I asked Tim to drop me off in Tai Po to try
my luck at French Toast again, but they don’t serve them during dinner time.
Enroute to Yuen Long. Kapoks are among the first to bloom in the spring.
Lots of trails to hike in the Tai Po area. From easy to quite difficult.
Sunday 3/15. Today
Anne’s siblings and their spouses all boarded Kenneth’s boat for a ride to the
waters south of Lamma Island. Afterwards
we had lunch at Aberdeen Marina Club; we had not been there for a long
time. Dinner was at the Jockey Club in
Happy Valley.
Saying goodbye in the seas south of Lamma Island.
A familiar view from 15B.
Monday 3/16.
Flight home on a crowded flight.
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