Hong Kong, January 14 – 19, 2016.

The main purpose of this trip was to attend the wedding events of Ken Jr, Anne’s nephew.  They actually got married in San Francisco last August, but the two sets of parents, being somewhat traditional, wanted to have a more “formal” wedding and celebration of the union.  We couldn’t make it to their actual wedding, so we thought we would make the Hong Kong one.

Thursday January 14.  After Disney we were back in South Amboy to take care of the accumulated business.  We drove back up to Jersey City and Uber’ed to the airport.  The plane was delayed for about an hour, the best explanation we could get was that Customs was the reason for the hold up.  It was a packed flight, but I really had no complaints, even though I didn’t get much – if any – sleep.

Friday January 15.  We got in at around 9:30 pm.  As we did last few times we went to Hong Kong, we ate at the airport before we took a taxi.  This time we ate at Ho Hung Kee, a famous noodle shop.  Over the last couple of years the restaurants have gone upscale.  I no longer find Café-de-Coral, Maxim’s, or McDonald’s at the Arrivals Level (not sure about McDonald’s.)  It was after 11 pm when we got to Tai Po.  It was raining.  It was to rain for the next couple of days, which is a bit unusual for this time of the year in Hong Kong.

Accommodations: Tai Po House, 4 nights.

Saturday January 16.  The walk-down-the-aisle ceremony was to take place at the Garden Suite, Peninsula Hotel, same place where Tim and Whitney had their registration.  Most of the hour was spent chit-chatting, taking pictures, and waiting.  The actual walk down the aisle and exchange of vows took perhaps less than ten minutes.  The wedding party was about twelve (including the bride and groom.)  Angeline, the groom’s mother’s sister, is a lawyer, and she officiated.

 Jin and Kenneth and the wedding party.

 A Selfie.

Anne and I went back to Tai Po, hoping to put a dent in the jetlag, but failed.  At about 3 pm Tim and Whitney showed up.  We left at around 5:30 pm, with Tim dropping us off at the MTR station so we wouldn’t have to wait for the minibus in the rain.

I was expecting a small party, so I was quite surprised that over 200 turned up at the Salisbury Room at the Peninsula.  Among the guests was the General Manager of the Peninsula Group, so the service was naturally impeccable.  That doesn’t mean quick, though.  With slide shows, videos, and speeches, it was about 11:30 pm when they started to prepare some space for the dance by the bride and groom.  We used the excuse that we needed to catch public transportation to leave around then.  Turns out that excuse was valid: while we managed to catch the train to Tai Po, the minibus had stopped running, and the taxi queue was very long.  We decided to walk back – a 15-minute walk in pleasant weather as it was cool and had stopped raining, with the puddles giving us an occasional problem now and then.

The dinner was a fusion of Chinese appetizers and soup, and a western dish (Tasmanian Trout or braised US beef.)  We were put with people from China since Anna thought we could speak Mandarin.  Interesting people: one heads up a Chinese bank located in Hong Kong, another a retired bureaucrat who now runs a think tank.

 Menu for the evening.

The first course.

Sunday January 17.  There was another reception where the guests are from the groom’s side.  Tim and Whitney were also invited, so we went out together.  Horrific traffic was expected because of the Marathon, but it had cleared out by the time we were on our way.  The end result was we had enough time to have coffee at Starbucks in Harbour City.

The venue this time was Felix located at the top floor of Peninsula.  About 70 people attended.  We were at Kenneth and Anna’s table.  Tim and Whitney were put together with some lawyers and bankers.  The menu was a bit simpler, but there was a dessert bar (for which the hotel is famous) that I couldn’t pass up.  It was after 3 that we headed out.  Anne and I did meet quite a few interesting people.

After we settled back in Tai Po, we all walked to Tai Po Market to shop.  Tim and Whitney to buy food for the evening’s dinner, Anne and I to buy stuff for our grandkids (turns out I also bought something for ourselves.)  Dinner at the house consisted of curry with fried sole, and abalone with vegetables.  Tim and Whitney left around 8 pm.

Monday January 18.  We had a lunch appointment with Nathan and Sharon at Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant.  It was a good 1 ½ hours of catching up.  Nathan just finished the marathon the previous day.  We then went to mid-levels to visit Auntie Fannie, who is not well.  There used to be four sisters, now she is the only one left.  The visit was bittersweet, but we are glad we did it.

We wandered around Tai Po Plaza a bit, bought a few things, before getting dinner at the Shanghai restaurant.  Then it was back to the house to pack.

Tuesday January 19.  Mr. Tsang came by at 8:30 am to get us to the airport.  This is another packed plane.  Anne’s A/V system doesn’t work, so she and I switched seats just now, I just finished translating an article for the MCCC quarterly newsletter.  We have seven more hours to go!

Home after a short trip.