Our Trips: Hong Kong and Australia. September 15, 2019

This was going to be a well-choreographed trip for events in Brisbane and Hong Kong. I was going to attend a BST fund-raising dinner on Thursday September 19, and a Hope dinner on Thursday October 3. The idea was for me to buy a roundtrip ticket to Hong Kong, and then do the Australia part as a separate trip from Hong Kong. Anne will join the HK event.

First about the plane tickets. One could buy an economy class roundtrip EWR-HKG for around $800, and for $600 to $700 more premium plus is available. We tried out those seats (at economy prices) on a trans-continental trip, and thought it might be worth a try on these long routes. Another factor is that the 777s United flies have the 3-4-3 configuration, which I experienced once on another transcon flight, and it is brutal – I basically had to lean into the aisle so I won’t be rubbing shoulder with my neighbor all the time, and she wasn’t heavy. On top of my United tickets I would separately purchase Hong Kong to Australia tickets. The are no convenient Star Alliance flights for this route, so it was either Qantas or Cathay Pacific. All said and done, my itinerary ended up being EWR-HKG, and then connecting that same evening to Sydney. I would spend a day in Sydney so I can visit my parents’ graves, then to Brisbane. I will spend about a week total in the Brisbane area, and then fly off to Melbourne for a short visit. The last Qantas leg would be from Melbourne to Hong Kong. Anne was to join the next day, and we will return to New Jersey together.

Sounds more complicated than it actually is. And many sentences are in the past tense as the recent protests in Hong Kong can get violent, so the Hong Kong event was cancelled. For Anne we can simply cancel her flight, rebook, and pay the penalty. For me to cancel the Hong Kong flight would mean a lot of rebooking and cancellation penalties. So I will be on this trip by myself, and will probably cut it short.

Sunday 9/15. Anne had commitments at church, so I took Uber to the airport. Today the Premier Access lanes were in operation even though the regular lanes weren’t that long. I brought along a lot of fiber bars, and they had to be inspected. Not a big problem.

The 777-300ER was quite new (about 2 years). The Premium Plus section showed full, but there were a few empty seats. I suspect some people decided to stay in the economy section as there were many empty seats. All said and done, the flight didn’t quite meet my expectations. My main measure is if I got any sleep, and by my Apple Watch there were only two hours that I didn’t “move.” On reason was the lady sitting next to me was very heavy. She spilled over the rather wide divider between the seats and encroached into mine. Her constant light snoring certainly meant she slept well. (Now if we had been in the coach section this would have been more problematic.) The food presentation was better than economy – real china and silverware – but the food itself was marginally better. Perhaps if my neighbor had been normal-sized I would have a different experience, and we will see on my return flight to Newark. There is a restroom behind my row (22), which is convenient, but also a bit noisy.

Dinner (top photo) and breakfast on UA 179. The presentation is slightly better than coach, the food is not much better. One is supposed to appreciate the "real" china, silver ware, and the cloth napkin.

A rather large TV screen. I watched only one movie.

I watched one movie, John Wick III. It was three hours of gratuitous violence with a minimal story line and no ending (there must be a IV in the works). Not only did I waste 2 hours, I also wasn’t in the mood to watch anything else. It is quite remarkable that I didn’t find the 15+ hour journey tedious.

Monday 9/16. Qantas would not issue me a mobile boarding pass, which was not unexpected as I don’t fly with them much (did that this past February, though). Turns out the reason was I only used my first name in my reservation, which didn’t match up with my full name in the passport. The agent made a big deal out of it, but no one else did. She did say I could try to take everything on even though Qantas in theory allows only 7 kg of carry on.

With a couple of hours before the Qantas flight, I stopped by the Premium Plaza Lounge by Gate 1 for a snack. Someone called my name, and it was Tammy W, rushing to get a shower at the same lounge. We caught up on things a bit before she left for her 9:15 pm flight. I found out about the availability of shower facilities, and managed to get one myself (although all I did was to sit inside a plane since my last one). The original gate for my Qantas flight was 32, which was close to the end of the “walkable” terminal, but it was changed to 68 as I started to go, and that was at the end of the Y part of the terminal, as far a walk as one can get from Gate 1 (a bit over ½ mile). Boarding time was 9:55 pm, I got there at 10, and had to get a new boarding pass since I couldn’t find the first one; by then most people had gotten on.

Make myself a nice plate of food, accompanied by fish balls and tofu in soup.

It was nice running into Tammy at the lounge.

I have an empty seat next to mine in this 2-4-2 configured A330. Even though I need to tilt the PC to type this, but no complaints. There are printed menus, but the dinner served just now was more like a snack; I shouldn’t be eating anyway. I did manage to get a few hours of sleep. All in all, a good flight for my second red-eye of this trip.

Legroom isn't the greatest in the coach section of this Qantas A330.

Certainly an attractive menu for the coach passengers, but the meals are small and not very appetizing.

Dinner on QF118.

Breakfast.

It was raining quite heavily in Sydney, so our plane had to do a few circles around Newcastle before it was directed to the runway.

Tuesday 9/17. Sydney airport was quite empty, and with electronic immigration the process took perhaps 10 minutes, even though I had to be screened as I declared the energy bars I brought along. It was usually cold for Sydney, for any time of the year – 52F. And raining steadily.

My plan was to stop in Sydney for a day, with the aim of visiting Eastern Suburbs Cemetery. It was a short drive from the airport. It was very quiet at the cemetery due to the weather. We then had lunch in one of Ruth’s regular haunts – East Phoenix. Tim had recently bought a holiday house in East Gosford, and it is about 1:15 hours away, so we got out there for a visit. Would be nice for a short holiday stay, especially if one has a boat.

Visiting Dad and Mom's graves.

Rainy and cold when we visited Tim's recently purchased holiday house.

Many of the eateries at the Chatswood Railway Station had closed, so we ended up getting coffee at McDonald’s. The train ride to the airport was simple enough, although a bit crowded during rush hour. The recharge I made on an Opal Card over the web wasn’t immediately credited, so I had to do it again to leave the airport station. Annoying, but no great harm done (except I have an extra A$20 on the card).

The $15 I added to the Opal Card via the web didn't get credited immediately to the account. I had to top up again to leave the station.

I stopped by Bistro 2020 to take advantage of the Priority Pass meal offer, and chatted a bit with a gentleman from Griffith and learned a bit about rural living. He lived in a small town (of 100 people) and for secondary school had to take the bus to school, spending 1:45 hours each way.

Jetstar just announced the 7:20 pm flight I am on will be postponed till 8:40 pm. Weather is really doing a number on flights. Flight was mostly smooth, except for some bumpiness close to Brisbane, and the pilot executed a smooth landing. Wally and Ling waited for me at luggage claim to take me to their home.

Accommodations: Ling and Wally’s apartment (6 nights).

Wednesday 9/18. Today is a recovery day, although I slept reasonably well last night. There is a Costco a few miles from here, so we went to check the place out. The experience was very similar to any Costco warehouse in the US. We did buy a few things.

Lunch was at Samarco Café in the Coles shopping center, and dinner was prepared by Ling.

Thursday 9/19. Early breakfast with Andrew Prince at Jephson Hotel, then to BST for the CAC Board Meeting until about 4 pm, with a break for lunch. Fund-raising dinner at BST where I talked for a few minutes.

Friday 9/20. Went to Flower Show in Toowoomba, about 60 miles from Brisbane. The city has a population of about 150,000. I am told the nearby farms supply produce to China, with 747 plane loads going over to China from a nearby airport. Lunch was at Hog’s Breath in town, and dinner at Ling’s place.

Selfie at the Queen's Park Botanic Garden in Toowoomba.

The flowers aren't particular rare as far as we could tell, but certainly a lot of thought has been given to how to arrange them for the show.

Laurel Bank Park is another venue for the flower festival.

A Korean wedding party taking advantage of the occasion.

Magpies can be very aggressive during their mating season.

You know there is a design, but can't quite tell at ground level. Wally climbed up the platform built next to this installation and still couldn't figure out what it was.

This probably was taken by a drone. Ling found this on the net.

An orchid festival was held at a local church. Native orchids were on display.

This won first place in some category. The Popes have several entries in this show.

Another First Prize winner for the Popes.

Saturday 9/21. Ling and Wally have been looking at houses. This morning we went to a couple of open houses, one in Anstead, one in Bellbowrie. In general housing prices in Brisbane are a fraction of what they cost in Sydney. Both houses are nice, one is a bit too big as most people our age are looking to downsize. We then went to Hoake Seafood Restaurant in Sunnybank Hills for a Dim Sum lunch. The Aldi’s in Australia look pretty much the same as those in the US (at least in NJ), with a notable exception, quite a bit of floor space is devoted to household goods. Today there were washers, dryers, TVs (as large a 65”), and many other items. Prices are very reasonable.

Haoke Seafood Restaurant in Sunnybank Hills on a Saturday afternoon.

The Dim Sum dishes were generally very good. This is a strange color for noodle rolls (猪肠粉).

Before Ling started preparing dinner, we drove to Rocks Riverside Park and strolled on the footpath along the Brisbane River. A very pleasant walk. Ling prepared a large leg of lamb.

Rocks Riverside Park provides some easy trails for a stroll.

Along the Brisbane River.

A family of turkeys.

As far as I can tell, these are Masked Lapwings (some kind of plover?).

Sunday 9/22. Terry L, whom I met at the BST dinner, suggested that I visit his church, the St. Lucia Bible Church. It is a multi-ethnic church which meets in a rented school auditorium. Wally and Ling had a commissioning service for a missionary to attend to, so they dropped me off at a nearby café a little before 9 am, just enough time for me to get a cup of coffee and do the short walk to the school. The passage was 1 Cor 9:24-11:1, and the service was “traditional,” which was fine with me.

St. Lucia Bible Church rents the auditorium of a local school for its Sunday services.

Chairs put away after the service.

Afterwards Terry dropped me off at the Toowong station and I took the bus to the Museum area where I took in some of the exhibits in the Queensland Museum and the Art Gallery. Things haven’t changed much sine our last visit in February, but it was good to be able to take a little more time. The bus ride back to Middle Park (No. 450) took a rather circuitous route, and lasted nearly an hour.

Lucien Pissaro is the son of the more famous French Impressionist Camille.

We again took a stroll along the Brisbane River, this time in the Queensland University area, before having dinner: sautéed scallops and salted chicken.

Gnarly old trees on Queensland University campus.

Ferry terminal on the Brisbane River.

Another selfie, on the Eleanor Schonell Bridge.

It is difficult to imagine how high the waters could get when there is a lot of rain. The high water marks for the 1974 and 2011 floods would mean the water has risen to the main campus level.

Monday 9/23. I was dropped off at the Brisbane Airport, and had a meal at Graze Café on my Priority Membership, before boarding QF632 for Melbourne. The one empty seat on the plane was next to me, nice even for a short flight. It was easy to find the Skybus to take me to the train station, and the hotel is a short walk away.

All-day breakfasts seem popular at airports. This was from Graze at Brisbane Airport, courtesy of Priority Pass again.

The gentleman sitting next to me in the bus just attended a veterans’ reunion in Brisbane. We had a nice chat during the short (20 minute) ride into town.

After settling down at the hotel, with its great view of the wall of the next building, I took a walk around the CBD. I travelled to the city quite a few times in the 80s on business, and toured the area with family in the early 90s. Melbourne was the most “European” town in Australia at that time. No more, it is as cosmopolitan as the other major Australian cities, with large contingents of Asians on the street. The walk was pleasant, the temperature around 50F. I had dinner at Go Noodle House in Chinatown.

This was taken at around 7 pm, and the place was quite quiet. I passed by the place the following day, about the same time, and it was crowded.

Fish in soup.

Spinach in soup.

Accommodation: Atlantis Hotel (Melbourne, 4 nights).

Tuesday 9/24. I thought I had some time this morning to walk around the city, and I did. When I had not heard back from Johan of Melbourne School of Theology by noon, I decided to give him a call. We found out (later) that he had not received the several iMessages I sent, and was expecting me to show up at MST. I thought he was going to come to the hotel to pick me up. Uber saved the day, and got me to MST a little after 1 pm. Johan and his wife took me out for a simple lunch where we chatted a bit.

Room with a view my room is not. Although for the price I am paying I really have no complaints. Clean and quiet to boot.

Breakfast included.

Johan had an appointment to look at a house he was thinking of buying, and invited me to come along. It is a nice house, but Melbourne houses are a lot more expensive than those in Brisbane.

Nice house in a good neighborhood costs a good penny.

I was then dropped off at the Glen Waverly Station for the train back to town. Google Maps said the train would go to Southern Cross Station. It stopped for quite a while at the station before (Flinders Street). At the last minute I and a couple of other passengers decided that we better get off. It was easy to make the correct connection.

South Cross is the main train station for the city. It was busy, but not crowded, during rush hour.

Dinner was again around Chinatown. Melbourne offers free tram rides within a certain zone, and I took advantage of that.

Dinner at Hawker Chan.

Wednesday 9/25. Today was a long day. I woke up at 6:15 am, left the hotel a little after 7 am, and didn’t get back until 9:45 pm in the evening. What I did was to join this Great Ocean Road Tour by Go West Travel, offered via Viator.

The last time I visited Melbourne was with my family, probably in the early 1990s, when we were living in Hong Kong. We rented a car and hit some of major attractions in the area. Close to thirty years later, I have forgotten most of that experience, but remember seeing the penguins, the Twelve Apostles, and stopping at some small villages and appreciating how people lived in the country. I had only time for the Twelve Apostles or the penguins, and opted for the former. What I had forgotten was that TA is close to 300 km away from Melbourne (via Torquay and Apollo Bay) and would take over four hours non-stop as some of the stretches are quite winding. I dutifully jotted down on my iPhone what happened during this trip, I am posting that with minimal editing:

7:10 am pickup; 2 pax on board
7:27 2 additional pax
7:34 4 more. So far all Asian. 2 more at 7:42 (same location)
7:47 Savoy. 9 - all Asian
7:55 holiday inn on flinders. 2 more.
8:03 2 more. Leaving for tour.
~8:55 geelong blue collar, manufacturing town, 190K population, 2nd largest VIC city
Heading towards Torquay
Surfing town. Rip Curl & Quicksilver.
Bell’s Beach. “End of Summer”, “Point Break” movies.
9:25 Torquay stop. Coffee.
10:05 leave Torquay
Road sign “Consider Vehicles Following”
10:40 arch and beach
11:06 Lorne. Expensive homes. Pier to Pub swimming race
11:45 Kennett River. Koalas and birds. Signed up for Heli tour. Departs 12:05 for Apollo bay.
12:15 stop for viewpoint
12:40 Apollo Bay. 40 min for lunch. Scallop and curried leek pie A12.
2:30pm Melba Gully State Park. Ferns and Mountain Ash. Anne’s Cascade.
White people own the land. Aboriginals belong to the land.
3:05 departure for 12 Apostles; 40 min drive; arrival 3:40pm
Dropped off for helicopter ride, didn’t get on until around 4:15 pm.
4:35 pm to Loch Ard Gorge. Shipwreck with 2 survivors.
5:28pm departure for Gibson steps; 5:35 arrival, 5:50 departure
Going to Colac for dinner
Arr Colac 6:50. KFC A$11.45
Depart around 7:25, left bus at Holiday Inn Flinders at around 9:25, bought pie, back to hotel around 9:45pm

All the tourists on our bus were Asians, I chatted with Filipinos (who live in the Los Angeles area), Singaporeans, and people from Hong Kong. Go West ran three 24-person buses on this day, and the buses often end up at the same place the same time, and I noticed most people in the other buses were Asian also. I wonder how this industry will fare without this influx of Asian tourists; yet another indication that the Australian economy is highly dependent on the region (as it should be, one could argue). Our tour guide Hamish was quite good with names, which was impressive.

Since our last visit, one of the Apostles has collapsed and is now a pile of rubble; and there were never twelve of them anyway. Not much time was allocated to the TA visit, and the wait for the helicopter ride meant I had to run back to catch the bus right afterwards. I think that is one of the problems with a day tour that’s trying to pack in too much, not enough time was allocated to each of the stops. Of course, a more leisurely tour would take more than a day.

This bus picked me up at the hotel at 7:10 am, and dropped me off at around 9:30 pm.

Panoramic view of Torquay Surf Beach. The city is the surfing capital of Australia, both QuickSilver and Rip Curl are headquartered in the city.

Surfing at Torquay.

We passed by this lighthouse at Split Point.

The Great Ocean Road was constructed by returning WWI veterans. Here is a statue to their memory.

Selfie in front of the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch. We drove on this road 20 some years ago, it wasn't nearly as well constructed.

At the Kennett River stop there were many birds. Here are some cockatoos and moorhens.

We saw these parrots in our last trip also.

Many tours guarantee koala sightings, and surely there were two. I do wonder how they keep them in the area.

Apollo Bay is a popular stop for tour buses.

There are some interesting sculptures in Apollo Bay.

Beach at Apollo Bay.

The Scallop Pie at Apollo Bay Bakery costs A$12. There was all of one small scallop in this small pie.

Our tour guide called these tall trees mountain ashes. In any case they are very tall.

Giant tree ferns.

Anne's Cascade. Anne Madsen's family gave Melba Gully to the Victoria Conservation Trust.

Selfie in front of the helicopter that would go on a 15-minute tour of the Twelve Apostles.

I had a front row seat in the helicopter which flew up and down the coast for 15 minutes.

Ground level view.

The conditions (weather and terrain) of the area are often treacherous, resulting in many shipwrecks.

The Loch Ard ran around close to this gorge. Out of 54 people on board, only two survived.

Gibson's Steps.

We had about 30 minutes for dinner in the town Colac. Good old trusty KFC.

Thursday 9/26. Today was a leisurely day, although the list of locations visited can be impressive: Federation Square, Yarra River Cruise, National Gallery of Victoria, Carlton Gardens, Bourke Street Mall, and Hardware Lane. And I also found time to collect some tour brochures for Benedict and Esther.

Partly due to a Tram job action (strike) from 10 am to 2 pm, I ended walking quite a bit, as of now (10 pm 9/26) the Apple Watch registers 18,963 steps and 7.62 miles. Much of that was my pacing back and forth not being able to decide on what to do.

If you search the web for attractions in Melbourne, Federation Square often appears among the top entries in any list. Sure, it has a unique architecture that is inviting, and the open-space feel to the complex made it a nice day to visit on a nice day like today. There were signs that there was a food festival going on, and there were lot of children as this is the beginning of a two-week school holiday. On the other hand, the complex appeared to be still in search of a mission, and a casual visitor has no idea what it is.

Federation Square is "a venue for arts, culture, and public events" per Wikipedia.

The inside reminds me of Harpa in Reykjavik.

St. Paul's Cathedral across the street has a huge banner welcoming refugees. I didn't have time to check if it was as welcoming to visitors.

NGV (National Galleries Victoria) has an exhibit, but there were very few people, so I decided to skip it also; some level of herd instinct at work here. I did get a cup of coffee and enjoyed the inside of a building, which strangely reminded me of Harpa in Reykjavik.

As I was crossing the Yarra River, I noticed several river cruise kiosks and bought a ticket from one of them. This was a one-hour cruise down river to the Docklands area. We passed by a rather developed stretch of town, including a stretch of waterfront townhouses each with their own slips, costing A$6M each per the guide.

Yarra Express coming around to dock to take visitors on a one-hour ride on the river.

Some scenes along the river. This is the area Southgate.

Going under a bridge.

Per the Captain, each townhouse - complete with a dock - costs A$6M.

I wonder how much an apartment in these high rises cost.

Bolte Bridge. Certain a "new" architecture for me.

View of river from Princess Bridge.

The Arts District, the area south of the river, is where the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a Broadway theater are located. The one MSO event that coincided with my visit was sold out. NGV’s main building is also located there. The outside of the building, other than for a sheet of falling water, was quite plain, probably so by design. There are relatively small collections of different periods. For the impressionist period, we have one or two paintings from each well-known artist (I don’t recall seeing a van Gogh, though). Again, Lucien Pissarro was represented here; I didn’t know about him prior to this trip.

A tower sits on top of the State Theatre in the Arts District south of the Yarra River.

There is a walkway around the exhibition floors of the National Galleries Victoria, as with the outside, the design is simple, yet elegant and pleasant.

KAWS (Brian Donnelly) was the artist of this rather large patinated and painted bronze sculpture called GONE. Until I read the description, I had no idea it was suppose to an emotional depiction of loss, with the pose reminiscent of Michelangelo's Pieta.

I tried to capture the kind of work displayed in NGV.

"The Finding of the True Cross" (c. 1516, Cola dell'Amatrice) depicts Queen Helena unearthing the cross of Jesus at Golgotha.

Sui/Tang dynasty (7th century CE) pigmented earthenware: Camel, Female equestrian, and Horse.

Chinese cooking and wine vessels from the 11th and 10th century BCE.

Indonesian puppets from 20th Century.

"Half Figure" (1933) by Henry Moore.

"Weeping Woman" (1937) by Pablo Picasso.

"Reclining Nude on a Pink Couch" (1919) by Henri Matisse.

"The Guitar Player" (c. 1896) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

"The Banks of the Viosne at Osny in Grey Weather, Winter" (1883) by Camille Pissarro.

"Haystacks at Moret - Morning Light" (1891) by Alfred Sisley.

"The Uphill Road" (1881) by Paul Cezanne.

"The Ship's Deck" (c. 1860) by Edouard Manet.

"La Frette and Sartrouville" (1924) by Lucien Pissarro.

"Vetheuil" (1879) by Claude Monet.

"Autumn Leaves" (1913) by John Singer Sargent.

"Head of a Man" (1880s) was for a long time thought to be the work of van Gogh. After the NGV acquired it ... well, let the following panel explain it ...

"Portrait of the Painter Manuel Humbert" (1916) by Amedeo Modigliani.

"Trilogy of the Desert: Mirage" (1946) by Salvador Dali. This was one of three paintings Dali created for the marketing of a perfume.

This Greek urn depicts Ajax carrying a limp Achilles. Well, I just finished the book Mythos and there was no mention of the incident ...

My plan was to visit the Melbourne Museum next. By this time the Tram job action had stopped, and I hopped on one that took me into and out of the Free Tram Zone (using the myki card). It was close to 4 pm when I got to Colby Park, and the Museum closed at 5. I decided not to pay the admission and walked around the park instead. It was a nice area to stroll in, the children’s playground was filled with young families. I was texting my sister who asked me how I felt about Melbourne, the answer was surprisingly easy: it was less hectic than Sydney, but Sydney simply has a lot more energy and a tourist would have no problem finding things to do. The cities populations are close: 5M vs 6M. (These numbers from Wikipedia are each about 1M higher than I expected.)

A little north of the CBD is Carlton Gardens. The Melbourne Museum is located in the garden.

This is the Royal Exhibition Building, also located in the garden.

Next I went to a couple of Chinese tour companies to pick up travel brochures for Ben and Esther. By continuing towards the hotel (westward) I passed by Bourke Street Mall, with the high-end department stores like David Jones and Myers, and then to Hardware Lane. Phil P told me to check out this street as it has many eateries. At around 5 pm there were few customers, and the greeter for Grill Steak Seafood (yes, that’s the name) got me to sit down and have a dinner. The barramundi was nice, but not all that special.

Hardware Lane is lined with restaurants.

Some people might do some research before deciding on where to dine, I randomly picked this Grill Steak Seafood place. The barramundi was quite good.

I got back to the hotel quite early.

Friday 9/27. I woke up early again for hotel breakfast at 6:30 am, then checked out a little after 7 am to catch the Skybus. It was 7:40 am when the bus dropped off at the airport. The wait to check luggage was long, perhaps 30 minutes; I had expected better from Qantas. Security and immigration were quite straightforward, so I still had a bit of time to duck inside a Plaza Premium lounge for coffee. There were some mechanical issues that caused a delay of 20 minutes, so I didn’t have to rush – if I had known about it. The last item was tire pressure, and I could see the truck with nitrogen tanks next to the plane. The revised takeoff time was 10 am, but we didn’t roll down the runway until 10:40 or so. Expected arrival is still around 5:40 pm. Again, I have an empty seat next to me. Dinner was a bit more substantial than the two meals I had on the way down.

The Skybus trip from the Southern Cross Station to the airport took less than 30 minutes.

Petite breakfast (self-serve) at Plaza Premium Lounge.

The Qantas A330 will take us to Hong Kong.

Enjoying the empty seat next to me.

This was taken while the plane was over the Northern Territories. It's called the Red Centre for good reason.

I ate at Tai Hing before taking the Airport Express to town. The immigration area was quite buys, but the arrivals area (after immigration) was rather quiet. Protesters were demonstrating inside the airport and caused quite a bit of disruption, and a restraining order against that was granted. As a result, passengers cannot be greeted at the arrivals area anymore. After dropping off my luggage in the CWB apartment, I took a walk around CWB. There seemed to be fewer people out and about, but the restaurants all seem to be doing good business.

Posting a lot of food photos in this entry ... this at the Causeway Bay Maxim.

Accommodations: CWB Apartment (8 nights).

Saturday 9/28. Tim stopped by in the morning and gave me a shot for my knee. I then went off to Festival Walk to have breakfast with Alfred, we ended up talking until about 2:30 pm, with coffee at The Coffee Academics, and I lunch from Pepper Lunch. I strolled around CWB again in the evening. The place was quiet for a Saturday evening, and Times Square was quite deserted, many stores closed around 6 pm. I watched a couple of TV stations to see what was going on with the protests in Admiralty. People were throwing things, but as far as I could tell things were not out of control. At some point the police showed up in force and (per the TV reporters) protesters were scattering to Central and Wanchai. I was told quite a crowd was at Yee Wo Street (that would be spillover from the neighboring Wanchai); I thought I heard some crowd noises, but couldn’t see anything. That area is quite a distance from where I am staying.

Coffee with Alfred at The Coffee Academics in Festival Walk.

Sunday 9/29. The brunch meeting I was going to have was postponed till Monday, so I had a leisurely morning. Lunch was at Hysan Place, and I stopped by the Apple store to take a look at the new iPhones, quite inextinguishable from my current iPhone X. There was also a notice saying the shopping center would close in anticipation of the protest march from Causeway Bay to Admiralty. (It was unauthorized, but widely known to start at 2:30 pm.) At around 12:30 pm the place was still teeming – relatively speaking – with pedestrians; there were also many police officers in riot gear standing at the various street corners. My plan was to take Bus 8H from Caroline Hill to Quarry Bay, but decided to catch a cab after the bus failed to show up. I met up with John L, a high school classmate, to attend a service at HK Island ECC. The speaker was Barry Corey, president of BIOLA, who talked about “Living Kindness in a Polarized World.” John and I had coffee at Jockey Club before he dropped me at CWB.

This notice was posted at the entrance to Hysan Place. Sunday should be a busy day for the shops (including an Apple Store), but the shopping center will close at 1 pm.

There was already heavy police presence along Yee Wo Street.

Service at the HK Island Evangelical Christian Church.

Tim and Whitney were already in the apartment, and we walked over to Times Square to find a restaurant in the Food Forum. We were the first customers at San Xi Lou, and only one other party (of two) came in during the time we were there. There were about six restaurants on that floor, and half of them were closed when we left ours. There were various small groups gathered in the area, probably waiting for instructions to join protests at various locations.

Somehow the origami stock has become one of the symbols of the protests. This field is located outside Times Square.

We were the only party in San Xi Lou (Food Forum) until a second group came by about an hour later. This place should be bustling with diners this time of the week.

Tastefully decorated dining room.

This is my second full day in Hong Kong, and even though I live in the protest hot spot CWB, I didn’t see any particularly bad encounters. The TV broadcasts, however, have been showing some rather horrendous events. There was a case of a taxi being destroyed by the protesters, probably because the driver said something that was upsetting to them. And lots of rubbish fires, petrol bombs, tear gas canisters, and rubber bullets. Many MTR stations were damaged, and to my surprise one Starbucks location was graffitied with paint. I suspect a level of fear has been instilled in many so they do not share their opinion. The stress felt and the loss/reduction of livelihood for many cannot be healthy for the people or the city. Many people have predictions of how this will all play out; as very few predicted this would happen, I would take those with a grain of salt.

This shot along Yee Wo Street was taken at 8 pm. The protests usually start from the Sogo Department Store. Notice how clean the road was, the situation would be very different a couple of days later.

The area with intense activities earlier in the day was quiet when I walked around it at around 10 pm.

The issue that I find most disappointing is the loss of civility. Not only by those who don’t take kindly to people who disagree with them, but also by the “regular” folks. Vehicles used to obey traffic regulations to the tee, but now they make illegal U-turns with abandon. Jaywalking has gotten much worse.

Monday 9/30. After taking care of some personal matter in Central, I took the tram to Pacific Place to enjoy the peace and quiet, and to look for – but failed to find – the food court. It was then back to Central where I had a lunch appointment with Joe T. The restaurant was Dot Cod in Prince’s Building, and it wasn’t cheap. It was quiet, so we sat around for a couple of hours and chatted. Bus #10 provided (nearly) door to door service from the restaurant to CCC in Happy Valley, where I met up with Larry. Eventually Larry Jr, Nat, Thomas, and Elaine all stopped by, and we got to catch up.

Where else but in Hong Kong would you be able to get pork chops for breakfast!

Dot Cod is located in Prince's Building.

There used be a scarcely used government building across the street from where I am staying. It's been leveled. Valuable piece of real estate.

Tim had a broadcast session, so I left the apartment a little before 8 pm, found something to eat, and then got back to the apartment at around 9:15 pm.

Tuesday 10/1. Today is China’s National Day, and the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, despite the anticipated problems in the City, flew up to participate in the celebrations. I don’t know how people in this part of the world react, but to me the optics are awful. For most of the world, rubbing shoulder with the mighty while your house is on fire can’t be the behavior of someone who cares about her hometown.

In any case, Tim suggested we spent the day on the South side of the island. He picked me up at around 10:30 am to go to the Aberdeen Boat Club, and Alfred joined us at the Club. We took Tim’s boat to Stanley to have lunch at “Classified,” and then we spent sometime moored at Deep Water Bay. Alfred left (he had to find a way around the trouble spots, and his daughter was home) and I spent some time in Pinecrest. Dinner was at the (relatively) new Marriott next to Ocean Park, and I got dropped off at CWB. Even though there are (typing this at 9 pm) many hot protest spots throughout the city, we have managed to avoid most of them. At this moment there is a protest/police standoff on Yee Wo Street, about a five minute walk from where I am staying.

The three brothers at The Classified in Stanley.

Dinner at Chinese restaurant of Marriott near Ocean Park.

Hysan Place would close for the whole day. October 1 used to be a peak shopping day with Mainland China tourists.

Graffiti on a tram station.

Debris left on Yee Wo Street after the protests (or riots per some people). Many of the barriers laid down by the protesters have already been removed.

MTR is one of the targets of the protests. We use this entrance quite often.

Yun Ping Road, one street over from Yee Wo, was completely untouched.

Things quieted down by 11 pm when I went out for a walk. The street were littered with debris, and there was quite a bit of vandalism. One protester was shot in Tsuen Wan, a most unfortunate escalation of events.

Wednesday 10/2. Today was spent mostly on shopping for the grandkids. Socks, pencil boxes, and colored pencils.

Emmie requested some Asian socks. These were made in Korea, so I hope they qualify.

These are for the grandsons.

Another request was a compartmentalized pencil box with space for an eraser.

Thursday 10/3. Today I went across the harbor to the Mongkok area to do more shopping. I had lunch at Garden Café, a chain of restaurants that has been in Hong Kong for a while. I had some problems finding the shopping area, so called Alfred for help. We also spent some time at Pacific Coffee to chat.

The name of the restaurant is "Sweetheart Garden Restaurant," with several locations in the the city. Choice of steaks for HK$70 (less than US$10).

Sizzling Ribeye on a bed of French fries. Typical "western" food when I was growing up in Hong Kong.

It was then off to Bel-Air for a Hope event. Because of recent events in the City, the originally planned fundraising event was postponed till 2020, and instead an informational session was held for people interested in the work of Hope. I had last visited Bel-Air over 15 years ago, and don’t remember how “ornate” the club house was. I took the minibus (No. 69X) both ways, each trip cost HK$2, and traffic was light in both directions. It was close to 11 pm when I got back to Causeway Bay.

Bel-Air is a luxury apartment complex located south of Pokfulam.

With its very ornate club house, here a reproduction of Canova's Cupid and Psyche.

The table setup for the dinner reminds me of what we did many years ago at the Regal Kowloon.

With Chris and Joe T from Hope International.

After the dinner.

Friday 10/4. Morning coffee with Nathan to catch up; he and Sharon returned from a one-year study in London. Lunch was with Joe T at Admiralty, afterwards I toured Kong Fuk Church.

At 3 pm the Chief Executive of Hong Kong announced the adoption of an emergency measure – while insisting a state of emergency has been declared – that would ban the wearing of masks in most circumstances. The ban evidently would include those who wear them for health reasons. No one could predict what would happen, but one can imagine some rather ugly scenarios, some of them unfortunately have been playing out.

Tim gave me a ride to Repulse Bay then to the Country Club where Larry and Elaine met me for dinner. Country Club should be bustling with activities on a Friday evening, instead it was quiet, with three tables occupied in the Island Room. It was a good dinner, good food and good conversation. The quiet atmosphere was a bit unsettling though. The protests – some with violence – started as early as about 6 pm, but the taxi I took a bit after 9 pm avoided all the trouble areas with ease.

Time to pack for the return trip. I bought four pencil boxes and lots of “Asian Socks,” and managed to squeeze them all in my carry on; I had to leave behind my sports jacket, though; which is okay as I will need it for my November visit back to Hong Kong.

Saturday 10/5. Not knowing what to expect in the morning, I woke up a little after 6 am to get ready for the trip to the airport. TV news reported all MTR routes had been suspended, including the airport express. I could see taxis on the street, so I headed outside to look for a taxi. The driver of an empty taxi was a bit hesitant to go to the airport, but an offer of an extra HK$100 did the trick. Nothing could get the taxi past the congestion due to an earlier accident as there is all of one way to get to the airport. The whole trip took close to two hours (from around 7:30 am to 9:20 am). Recently only passengers with ID and boarding passes can get into the Departure Hall, so it meant a further wait; the line moved rather quickly, though. The regular security is now automated, but the new system had trouble reading boarding passes, so there were a few officers around to help.

Minutes add up, so I had to forego the visit to a lounge (either United or Premium Plaza) and instead headed straight for the Gate. For flights to the US one usually goes through a secondary screening, but that was waived even though there were security officers about.

Flight left the gate 15 minutes late, and we took off at around 11 am, with many empty seats. I am now sitting in the Premium Economy section, 24 seats, 8 passengers. The barriers between seats don’t flip up, so I can make full use of the empty seat next to me. No complaints, though.

As of 2:30 pm the Airport Express has resumed its service (only from Hong Kong Station), but the MTR network was still down.