Petunia Hybrida Vilm (矮牽牛花)

I found this kind of beautiful trumpet-like flowers in our public garden below. The plants itself originate from Argentina.

There are great varieties in its colours – white, pink, deep red, deep purple and even mixed colours (for example, red with white rims, purple with white and deep red with white). They formed a “party” of flowers on a stage.

These flowers need a lot of sunshine, at least 4 hours a day. They grow better on verandahs or open areas where air runs freely.

A Multi-storey House

You can see two multi-storey houses here, one made from Cathay Pacific credit cards and the other from wood.

They both look grand. The one made from cards looks virtual while the real one is big enough to hold several families. I wonder if these houses are for rich or royal families. One thing is for certain. It is not easy to manage it or to keep it in good conditions.

Where can you find such kind of houses?
A. Hong Kong
B. Indonesia
C. Japan
D. Korea
E. Malaysia

Better Impression

Today we ordered fried fish fillet and double-eggs from Fairwood for the second time. Last time my wife and I were quite satisfied with the fish fillet because it was thicker, fresher and tastier than that from Café De Coral.

A few months ago, the name and the photo of “South Ocean fish fillet”(南冰魚柳) from Café De Coral attracted our attention. When I got and saw the fish fillet on the plate, I asked myself, “How can the fish fillet be so thin?” There were coats of bread crusts on outside. The thickness of fish was just one third of the whole. The fried fish fillet looked as if it were ironed out, being hard and lifeless.

The fish fillet from Fairwood, on the other hand, bends itself with life. The meat is tender (that is, soft to taste). No doubt it was enjoyable time in tasting it. Whether or not the fish comes from deep sea was no longer important.

It was dissection time. My wife cut the fish into small pieces, dug out the egg yolk, sliced the piece of bread into halves. We used to share our breakfast in ration in this way, one between two, for several years. We believe that we can save money as well as keep our weights down to a better level.

The little girl on the cover of butter was as cute as Abby. Here I would like to send this photo to Abby to see if she can recognize it as “butter” or not.

Medals of Beijing Olympics 2008

Let us look at the beautiful medals the winners got in Beijing Olympics 2008.

The design on the top face of the three kinds of medals is the same. The differences go to the metals and colours – Gold, Silver and Bronze. The values are different and the pride is different too.


The gold medal looks warm and glitters. The silver looks metallic and shiny, but a little cold while the bronze has a darker tone and it glitters less.

There are five rings, a stadium, an ancient athlete in the centre and the year of the Olympic Games on each medal.

On the hind side of each medal, there is a ring of jade which marks the spirit of Chinese Cuiture.

A red ribbon is tied to each of these medals and placed alongside with the flowers to be presented the winners of each event of the Olympics.

An Old Red Jaguar

From J2 channel on TV, I saw an old Jaguar. It was still in a shining red coat, very smart and fast at the time of construction.

Since I am not an expert in cars, I can’t tell its specifications in details.

Its outlook is extraordinary. Everybody admits it as a powerful race-car. It is not an automatic car, but a manual one. It is specially twin-seated without a hard roof-top. The beige-coloured seats are thick and comfortable.















There are separate meters for battery, oil, clock, water and fuel. The driver can see the no of revolutions of the engine makes by a meter in rpm and the speed of the car by a speedometer in mph, but then extra markers are made at intervals to provide “km/h “reading. The driving wheel has a stylish and racing taste. The top speed of the car may reach to 160 mph which is equivalent to 256 km/h. Can you make such a speed?

Who imitates who?

In the photo, Abby and her grandma were playing Tai chi (太極). It seemed that they played simultaneously.

Believe me, grandma was imitating Abby’s movement. Only grandma could see how Abby moved her hands and arms from behind.

Do you know where Abby learns this pose of playing Tai chi?.
(A) from books
(B) from TV
(C) from grandma
(D) from videos
(E) from a professional teacher

Krispy Kream

Krispy Kream is a doughnut shop in Hong Kong that closes down today.

At dinner time my wife was quick-witted. She learned from the news bulletin on TV that the doughnut shop we visited during Chinese New Year in 2007 had to close down.

Krispy Kream has opened 7 shops in Hong Kong (Mongkok, Central, Kwun Tong, Yuen Long, Airport and…). The one at the airport still opens so that it can earn enough money to pay the October salary to the employees.

It was February 20th, 2007. Connie, Philip, my wife and I went to Central to have a walk. Up and up we went and finally reached a shop selling doughnuts on Elgin Street (伊利近街). Philip suggested us to go in to try its donuts. There were many different kinds of attractive-looking donuts. To me, their prices were expensive, mostly 10 dollars each. We bought 2 and sliced them into small pieces, so each of us could share their taste.

Honestly speaking, I did not find big surprises from these donuts.

Let us now look at the donuts they usually sell before it closes down.

















Then we look at its recent promotions:
“Buy 1 doughnut + $10 and get a medium drink
(coffee is one of the selections)”


“Original Glazed – 1 piece/$10; 12 pieces/$88
Assorted doughnuts – 1 piece/$12; 12 pieces/$110”
“Double Glazed Deal – Double dozen $168
Assorted Double Deal – Double dozen $175.”

Mr. Bean (3)

Mr. Bean was inside a laboratory. A lady was touching a spherical generator which produced static electricity(靜電). The result was that the hair of this lady stood on end.

Now Mr. Bean came over and touched the same machine, what would happen to his hair then? Guess!

Teaching Abby Numbers

Here are photos I captured from Children TV series “Baby First” this morning. Maybe they can help Abby to learn the numbers “1” and “2”.

We learn things day by day, and step by step.
Abby must learn and master the number “1” and “2” before she goes to “3” and “4”.
Teach her to count things such as apples, oranges or kiwis before her eyes so that she build up a habit of counting.

See if the pictures can help her or not? I suggest the last picture is for a test. Let Abby count the number of horses by herself.

In the Middle of Tai Po

Yesterday I was invited by Miss M. Ng to meet Lam Yan and some of CCSC students whom I had taught before. She said that Lam Yan would like to see me in their recent gatherings.

Lam Yan suffered from an illness which forced her to sit on wheel chair. I noticed yesterday that her classmates were really nice to her, have afternoon tea with her, giving her a birthday present and a birthday cake to cut. It was a touching moment too when she received a black handbag from her closed friends.

Rosanna as Yan called herself mentioned she was working on translation and having private tutorials with young students. All these keep her busy and filled with satisfaction. Probably she enjoys life in this manner.

Let’s go back to the title here. I did not know where Lam Yan lives and which restaurant Miss Ng and the students usually visited. What I supposed to do was to meet them at Tai Po Market Station. We were to take a green taxi to the restaurant. As soon as we stepped out of the taxi at the destination, we began to go up a small commercial complex. I chanced to find out that I had arrived at Fu Shin Estate (富善邨).

After tea and accompanying Lam Yan home, we went to the main road and decided to cross it to the opposite bus-terminus to take buses home. Miss Ng and her students decided to take a 271 bus back to Tsimshatsui while I took a 71K to Tai Po Market Station. It took me around 10 minutes to wait for one such bus. I noticed this bus had crossed the Lam Tsuen River. Later as it arrived at a covered area, many people got off the bus. I followed them down. By the time the bus started off, I noticed that I had got off the bus too early. Well, I did not want to wait for another another 15 minutes. I followed the direction the 71K went. Soon I was out of this area which I later learned from my map that it was Kwong Fuk Estate (廣福邨).

When I saw trains running in the distance, I learned that I was somewhere near the station. Maybe it took me another 10 minutes to reach the station. I had to decide which direction I should go, left or right? I chose my right hand direction. Road signs told me that I was on the right track.

From this experience, I guess I have to bring along a map whenever I go to an area I am not familiar with. I can read a map, locate my position and with the power of long-distance walking (I love walking very much in the past and at present). I am sure I can walk out of a concrete town like Tai Po even if I do not take a bus.

Fiords at Milford Sound

I first came across the word “fiords” from my Geography text-book on Europe many many years ago. At that time, it was just a faint name to me. It happens that there are lots of coastal features of this kind in Norway. I never know that New Zealand also possesses fiords until Ho Keung and Yin Ping showed me the photos they took at Milford Sound.

Ho Keung and Yin Ping joined a sight-seeing cruise along the coasts of the fiordlands at the south-western end of the South Island. Their journey began here in the top photo.

First, the happy couple tells us something about their cruise:
"We took a Milford Sound cruise as far as the Tasman Sea border. The Maori name for Milford Sound is “Piopiotahi”, meaning “Place of the singing thrush”, a bird which is now extinct. We have close encounters with the natural beauty of towering or snow-capped mountains, birds, seals and waterfalls. God uses the scientific rainbow formation on the water droplets as a testimony to His love and care for us although we have gone astray from Him."

Let us now see the coastal features they experienced on September 10th, 2007.
1. Photo 1 The journey began here.

2. Photo 2 shows their small cruiser( on the left of the photo). Outside, a small rainbow appeared.
3. Photo 3 shows the showers of water from a waterfall that went down to the cruiser.









4. Photo 4 shows a waterfall that ran down directly to the sea water.
5. Photo 5 shows a number of sea-lions sunbathing on the coastal rocks. Now I believe that sea lions are good swimmers as well as good mountaineers.












6. Photo 6 shows a vertical cliff that went straight down to the sea.
7. Photo 7 reminds me of our “Mountain Cream” ice-cream in Hong Kong.











8. Photo 8 shows the happy couple enjoying the cruise.

Answer to Lucky Draw

The hints come from my question: “What do you think she wanted to see or use with at that moment?”

To see with:
Look at Abby. She was wearing the new sun-glasses Connie brought her in Canada. The former one bought in Hong Kong was crushed to pieces by a car when it slipped from Abby’s hands onto the road.

To use with:
Abby was busy holding her pink cell-phone, making phone calls to her friends in Canada perhaps.

Sea Lions at Pier 39

Not only Pier 39 is a famous tourist spot for tasting seafood, sight-seeing, taking ferries, but also a paradise for sea lions.

It was a hot afternoon (at about 4 p.m.) on April 21st, 2006. Audrey brought my wife and me a bowl of creamy clam soup at a seafood store. We, two only, shared the soup while we were walking along the waterfront at the Fisherman’s Wharf. Delicious! Thanks to Audrey!

When I reached the biggest pier, Pier 39, I saw quite a number of floating platforms placed a little distance off the pier to allow sea lions to land on, to rest and take sun-bathing. They lay there undisturbed, sleeping maybe, or digesting the food they had just eaten in the sea. A sudden thought came to my mind: How could they jump onto the platforms with their immense heavy bodies?

On a board erected at one of the platforms was written:
“Harassment of the Sea Lions is a Violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
No Docking, Approaching, Feeding or Throwing Objects Allowed.”

I believed people, civilized as we were, would not harm or disturb these lovely animals. When would they go back to the sea, at night or the next early morning? Would the ships or ferries nearby the pier go slowly in the sea water to avoid hurting these mammals? I guessed so!

Golden Gate Park

Felix took us around this rectangular-shaped park called Golden Gate Park on the first day my wife and I arrived at San Francisco on April 19th, 2006.

The first place we looked at was the Conservatory of Flowers. It looked classic, artistic and white in colour. It was closed on that day, otherwise I could have a look at the flowers inside. On a big lawn outside the Conservatory, some small flowers were growing .












The next place we went to was the Japanese Tea Garden. Inside we saw some typical Japanese-styled structures such as a tall, curved bridge and a small tower. We could not and dared not walk on the bridge because it was almost upright. Felix took a photo of my wife and I standing at the second lowest step.













On the other side of the park, there were small lakes, tall trees, paths, lawns for people to lie down and benches to sit on. People were enjoying their leisure in that late afternoon.