Mid-Autumn Festival

“中秋佳節倍思親” reminds me of sending my warmest regards to everyone I know:

I wish everyone a joyous Mid-Autumn Festival, has Good Health and enjoys every day to the full.

It should be a long list of names, but I mention a few here.

Australia: Yin Ping, Ho Keung, Loretta, Kenny, Alison, Tim and May

M.C. Kung, Shui Ching, Man Ying and Ming Tak

Leung Man-kin, Wong Him-ching

United States: Felix, Audrey, Anthony, Joanna and family

Daisy Mak and Bruce

Leonard and Mabel

Roger Chan, Rebecca Wat, Andy Poon, Chan Yin Man, Yu Kin Keung, Connie Wong

Canada: Stephen Tang, wife, daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter

KK Poon and family, YC So and family

Hong Kong: My wife, Connie, Philip, Abby, Tony, father, brothers, sisters-in-law

Lit, Vivianne, Dik, Daisy, Yun, Innes, Wai.

Yuen, Mr. Leung and Cheng

Mag, Diana, Amy, Catherine, Ella, Edith, Ho, Helen, Yvette, Rosa,

Nancy, L.S……….

Clarke, Siu, C.W. Ng, Yam, YL Tsang, WK Lam, SL Pun and wife,

M.Lee, Joanna, CM Chan………

Winnie, Fok, Fung and Apple, Alan and wife, CY Fung, KC Kwok…….

Hester, Shit Cham, Oi Lin, Tai Yiu, Man Fai, PH Chu, Patricia, Tak Sum,

Zita, King Yin, Kar Kit, Pak Leung……

Chan Chun Chung, TF Hui, Lau Kam Chuen, Ho Yiu Ming…….

Catherine Cheung, Jenny Sy, Sharon Fung, Yeda Hong, Moshea Tsang, Sherrien Sze,

Maxim Mak, Ivy Cheng, Amy Chow, Dorothy Kwok, Catherine Chen….

Florence, Rita and Christopher……

Henry Tung, Chan Ka Hing, Leung Wai Yin, Carrie Lau, Carrel Yu, Jacky Chan, Joey Leung, ....

Chu Pui, Kitty Siu, Jacob Yau………

The big photo shows a moon-cake for all of you.

The small photo shows the full moon in the sky.

回歸塔

This structure is inside Tai Po Waterfront Park which marks the return of Hong Kong to China. Its shape is not welcoming, but the design is okay because people can walk up the spiral corridor which slopes gently to the top. Even small children and old people can walk up the path easily.

Here are two photos for you to compare:

(1) A photo taken by me on April 9^th, 2007.

(2) A photo on an MTR ticket

By clicking the word “Comment”, you can write your opinion on these photos!

You may write about the colour, composition and brightness of the photo, the feeling of seeing this structure and how much you know about it! Can it show the return of Hong Kong to China by its look?

Bread Cheers (乾包)

Abby has been taught how to give “cheers” to other people by pushing her bottle of water to strike at the glass of wine or cup of tea the person who says “Cheers” to her.

On September 12^th, we had dinner with her and we said “Cheers” to her, but this time, instead of drinks, we use “bread”, so two pieces of bread, equally big, met in the air. Of course, all the bread finally went into Abby’s mouth and ours. Crazy, weren’t we?

Ooh! The tomato is smashed!

The photo shows a smashed tomato on the floor! One may expect to do some clean-up work and to see a waste of food! Well, let us watch it!

The tomato will return to its original look in a few seconds’ time. You will wonder if it is a real tomato. Never is it!

This is an interesting toy bought from Korea. It can be thrown to a flat surface. Having smashed and laid there for a second or two, it begins to swell up and return to normal. How exciting and amazing to see it re-bears itself! I can never imagine that Koreans are so creative, having turned some simple things into great fun.

The other kind of similar toy is a pig’s head. The strange look of the distorted head makes my daughter and her husband laugh a great deal, but not Abby. Maybe she is too small to see the fun and she has not seen a real pig before.

Another scene which strikes me in the head is the one the liquidized “Terminator” solidified back to its original size when it was chilled.

This kind of toys is sold by hawkers at the roadsides of Seoul, Korea. Each costs 1000 wons (equivalent to HK$8 something).

Future Toys of Abby

In recent years, McDonald attracts young fans (children), actually their parents, to buy its Happy Meals (開心樂園餐) by the promotion of their toys.

On the other hand, KFC also issues toys which can be redeemed with the purchase of food, such as Doraemons which can perform different skills. More recently, the fast food shop promotes tiny Pandas.

MTR, having learned the lessons from McDonald and KFC, issued toys of their own with the combinations of cartoon figures and its facilities to promote their new tickets.

The most up-to-date toys that go with the MTR tickets are the cartoon figures in the series of “Keroro” in TVB.

Abby will get from me these three toys:

(1) An Electric Fan (movable) to reduce the heat from the Red-hot face of Giroro.

Promotion: Shops at MTR stations

(2) An Electric Torch to emit light with Tamama lying on the top of an MTR train.

Promotion: MTR trains

(3) A Safe for children to save their coins. Keroro is standing in front of the gates. When a coin is inserted, the gates will open. How interesting and educational this toy is! As a bonus, a Digital Clock shows the time at the front.

Sooner or later Abby will learn the virtue of saving money for future use!

Promotion : MTR Gate machines

From the advice given by the manufacturer, these toys are not suitable for children under the age of seven, so Abby may have to wait for some time.

Festival Walk (又一城)

Festival Walk was the nearest plaza to where we lived in the past. On Saturday mornings, around seven something , my wife and I would walk downhill to take breakfast at its KFC. The breakfast that we ate was composed of egg, a piece of chicken, a cake (鬆餅) and a cup of milk tea. It was too early to wake our children up at that time, so they did not come along.

At times, we drove and parked our car at its basement. We ate quickly and went its Park-in shop to buy the things we needed, normally fruits. Good that the supermarket gave a ticket of free parking to any customer who spent 200 dollars there. It was a “Rushing” game to us. Having eaten our breakfast at the top floor, we sped down to the basement to snatch the daily articles we needed. My wife was responsible for household goods and food while I was collecting oranges and apples. The prices of goods we purchased were added to reach $200. The time-limit to us was only one hour.

The spacious and modern plaza itself was a comfortable place where we could stay away from the heat outside, but the shops normally sold very expensive articles. The plaza was truly a “Walk” for us!

It was a nice thing to eat breakfast at its KFC because sitting at its edge, we could look down at the skating ground. The most interesting time came when very small children first learn skating. They could sit on stools first and the instructors drew two lines, a certain distance apart, on the ground for them to practise going forward and backward.

We did not go to the cinema here because the ticket prices were too dear, but the Bank of East Asia was the one we often went to during Saturday mornings.

There are two interesting things that the photos here bring to me:

(1) Big photo - It is interesting and amazing to see flames and smoke coming up from the letters. I believe I cannot take a second picture similar to this.

(2) Small photo – There is a milestone inside Kowloon Tong Railway Station. It was written “4.5”. Should it be 4.5 kilometres or miles away from the terminus at Hung Hom or Tsimshatsui?

小雪糕迷

這是難得一見的鏡頭.

話說上月某夜,吃過大餐後,經過麥當當, 菲臘提議吃軟雪糕,於是大大小小,浩浩蕩蕩操入這個漢堡飽王國. 未坐下已經見到菲臘的親戚, 寒暄未夠兩句, 菲臘快速端上滑不溜手的雪糕.

Abby開始什麼都吃, 自然今次一定有她的份兒! 她曉得用舌頭去舐雪糕, 吃得尤其開心!

為什麼我要說這是難得一見的鏡頭呢?

遲些, 當Abby長大時, 咀巴大咗, 舌頭長咗, 吃雪糕時, 因要儀態, 動作慢咗, 滋味更濃咗!

相信很快, Abby滿咀邊雪糕的情景相信不會再發生了!

A Gift from Rita and Chris

It is one-twelfth of a Paper-cake. At first when I saw the twelve slices put together, the whole piece looked very much like a CAKE! Throughout the evening, I did not open the gift because I was afraid that I could not put it back to the same shape as it was in the beginning. I urged my other colleagues to open it up. In fact, those who were eager to find out what it was inside the slice of cake had revealed the secret to me.

This morning, after I had taken some photos of the SLICE of Paper-cake from different angles, I untied the knot of the ribbon at the back of this little gift. The two ends of the ribbon went through two holes of the flaps (doors of the gift) which resemble those of a shoe. The purple flower had been sewn to the centre of the ribbon which had gone through another two holes at the edge of the top part of the slice of cake.

What a genius’ design!

Coming back to this gift, as the Master of Ceremony said, the wedding cake that Rita and Chris had cut was transformed into a Paper-cake in front of us. Each of us at the table would take one as a gift. To me, it looked like a Cocoon in Nature. One did not know what was inside until the hatching of an insect. Here there was no hatching process, but untying. The actual gift came out to be something of a flat bag for ladies. There was beautiful yellow lace with a zipper in the centre.

What is this gift going to be? You may guess here!

There are 3 options for you to consider:

1. a Tissue Paper Holder

2. a Bag for Coins

3. a Bag for Key-chains

The loveliest parts of the gift is that you can always see the two "hearts" at the "doors" of the slice of cake!

A Perfect Match (郎才女貌)

Two months ago, one day I received an e-mail from my student, Christopher Hui, asking me to save the date, September 16, 2007. It was a happy piece of news that he would marry Rita Chan and hold a Banquet on that night.

Chris was a brilliant student in my class 2A, 88-89. He was invincible in all his tests and examinations because he always came first in class. He was a little plump like me at that time. He was always polite and wise in thought. I can’t remember if I selected him as the monitor or not, but surely enough he was the best choice.

One interesting thing was that he was always sweating and he wiped his sweat away from his forehead. I found him work with confidence and he never rushed in anything. He showed his intelligence at HKCEE with 8 distinctions and obtained very outstanding results in Advanced Level Examination with which he was given the Li Shiu Kee Scholarship and was able to go to Oxford University.

I learned yesterday that his wife, Rita, was a brilliant student of St. Paul Co-educational School. She got the same scholarship as Christopher did.

No doubt this couple is a perfect match. May I wish them live happily together forever!

I met Christopher’s sister, Florence, whom I had taught before and her little daughter, Serene, yesterday. Her daughter, a very shy one, is two years old. At one time, a child of a foreigner, a bit older than Serene, went forward to make friend with her. Serene was so scared that she fled and leapt into her mother’s arms and cried.

Today, what I want to bring out to you is that Christopher has had a nice thought of ordering special stamps from the General Post Office with their wedding photos printed on and sending the invitation cards with these stamps to their guests. With these stamps, the happiness of this couple always lingers on in our hearts.

Keroro MTR Tickets

These three cartoon MTR tickets are more attractive than those Olympic 1 year Countdown tickets. The cartoon figures have appeared on TV screen for some time, but I have not seen the series of cartoons. The reason is simple as I lack of patience and interest.

It was two months ago. I learned from Connie that Abby liked to touch the Keroro cartoon figure linking to the mobile phone of her friend, Winds, so I went in a nearby shop to find if I could buy a doll of this kind for Abby. To my disappointment, I could not find the green-faced Keroro, but the red-faced Giroro. I paid $6.8 for that doll and brought it home. Time came when Abby did visit us. The reaction from Abby when she first saw it was to push the red-faced Giroro away, never to look at it again. My heart sank a little. My next thought was that Abby was afraid to see either its red-hot angry face or the scar on its face.

I am glad that Abby is now able to distinguish the differences between “pretty” and “ugly”, “kind” and “fierce’. From the example of pushing the doll she dislikes away, Abby begins to give her opinions on whether she will “accept” or “reject”anything. She has started to make decision of her own, answering “yes” or “no” questions. One good point of Abby is that she often waits for the signal of “Permission” or “Objection” from her parents or people with authority when she wants to touch something new to her. She obeyed orders well and seldom rebels and carries out mischievous acts.

A nice girl indeed!

Shops Upstairs (樓上舖)

On Hong Kong Island in Wanchai and Causeway Bay, shops are expanding upstairs.

This Tuesday, we were in Wanchai. I discovered this kind of shops on Johnston Road along which trams shuttle. If any of the passengers on these slow crawling trams want to visit these shops, they have enough time to get down at the next tram-stop.

On thing in common of these shops is that they have big shop-windows, so big that they are glass-walls opened publicly to the passers-by below. Looking up from the street, people right away know what business the shops are dealing with.

In the photo, the left-hand 4-storey building composes of 4 kinds of shops:

On the ground floor – a Jewelry shop

On the first floor – Hair saloon

On the second floor – Massage-service shop

On the third floor – a Spa shop

It is obvious that all these shops are run by the same person under the brand name, “Lifestyle”.

A lady can spend several hours in the same block of building and may walk out with another look!

The right-hand building is not beautiful as the previous one. The shop on the ground floor sells clothes. The one on the first floor, a hair-saloon too. The one on the second floor sells Mr. Samson’s T-shirts, toys and souvenirs. Strange enough, the top floor is a residential flat with no shop-windows.

From a Steak Expert

To steak diners, they may find the information in this photo useful when they buy beef from shops or eating out at restaurants.

These information sheets are found at the tables of a steak restaurant (an expert as it calls itself) in Hong Kong. They give the customers a feeling that the steakhouse is professional and it has bought the best beef from the world market to serve their customers.

A Tree Support?

It looks like a tall tree that supports the footbridge linking Victoria Park to the Central Library on Causeway Road. It must be the work of one of the artists in Hong Kong that brings life to a cold pillar that supports one end of the bridge. The tree is artistic, but it will not attract birds to build nests on it because birds cannot find real branches nor leaves to give shelter to their young ones.

It is time for the SAR Government to beautify Hong Kong in all respects instead of burying its head into finance and land sales. Historic buildings, old Chinese-styled shops and markets should be preserved and districts should be best made theme-centred so that more tourists may come to see Hong Kong at its historic remains, for Chinese culture and in its modern look.

Little Girl, Little Car

The tiny yellow toy car fits Abby’s hands perfectly. It has been delivered from Shatin to Ma On Shan for some time. One may despite it because of its little size. Actually it is capable of running very fast with a pull at it a little backward or a press a little downward and then a release.

It is the first time I see Abby play it so happily on a table in a restaurant. Abby knows the skill of pressing it with her little fingers on the ceiling, releasing it and the car goes swiftly forward. She enjoys looking at the movement of the car and laughs heartily. Those looking at her feel happy too because her laughs are so REAL.

A Joke on me

Today when I began to eat my breakfast at a KFC, I noticed a man sitting not far away from me wearing an identical T-shirt which I wore during the school picnic on Lamma Island last November.

This T-shirt reminds me of a page of the “Graduation Book” of the S5 class of CCSC, 2006-2007. It was a shock to me when I found this page on the night I attended their Graduation Dinner.

The students of 5D, some of whom I had taught before, took the advantage of my distinct broad body in the photo and put their class name on my T-shirt as their notice board. I did not faint at that time. Clearly enough, I understood that they could not find a better place to put their class name and they did not want to spoil their specially-designed T-shirts with school ties. What a strange sight to them and to me in the photo!

Central Libraries

Yesterday I took a photo of the Central Library on Hong Kong Island. It looks like a hotel, built opposite to the Victoria Park. I have never been inside, but it can be quite modern when we compare it with our old library inside City Hall in Central. In old days, when we wanted to look for books from public libraries, the first choice was City Hall Library. As years passed, the Central Library in Kowloon was set up near the junction of Waterloo Road and Pui Ching Road.

In Singapore, the Central Library looks rather like a modern commercial building. A lot of materials like glass and metals with less concrete have been used in building it. Our Central Library on Hong Kong Island is different, having more concrete than glass and metals.

APEC

Leaders of the countries around the Pacific assembled at Sydney recently to attend meetings concerning Climate change, Energy security and Clean Development. It is good to have these leaders to sit together to discuss and find out solutions to the problems they face and thus making their countries better.

Each year when meetings of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) are held, the host country of the meeting will invite their guest leaders to wear their national costumes. What we, ordinary people, interested in are the costumes the leaders will wear this year in Australia. This time, the costumes are King-sized or Queen-sized dark overcoats to put on top of the original clothes. These big coats are like those worn by detectives during wet cold days. I believe these leaders must feel very hot under such overcoats and they will take them off once photos are taken.

Chinese Featured Films

In the past, our old Chinese featured films were broadcasted by ATV or HKTVB after mid-night. People often said that they were old torn Cantonese films (粵語殘片) .I suppose the watchers at that time were those old people who slept late or those who could not sleep at night.

Now that ATV broadcasts one Chinese featured film at about six each Sunday morning, it is a nice thing for older people who wake up early to watch such films. Not only these films can bring them memories of their old days, they also arouse the interest of the watchers to predict how the story will go on and what the actors and actress will say next. The watchers will feel very proud of themselves when the story goes on in the same way as they are thinking. You know, they have put themselves into the film already.

The famous actors and actress in the film (shown in the photo) are from left to right, Leung Shing Por (梁醒波), Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Law Kim Long (羅劍郎).

It is unfortunate that Law Yim Hing (羅艷卿) did not act in the film.

Sea corals and Coral fishes at Shatin

How can they land on Shatin? No problem!

They are found inside a glass-aquarium behind the show-window of a clinic inside a commercial centre at Shatin.

The milky-white corals (海葵) wave their tentacles in the water like a fan. With these movements, the corals can feed themselves with micro-organisms.

The coral fishes that come in pairs on the left are called (小丑魚). They often take shelter underneath the corals. Their beautiful colours attract my attention most of the time!

Beautiful Eyes!

Abby is well-trained like a dolphin to perform certain skills. One of them is that when we say “Beautiful eyes”, she will blink her eyes several times. She enjoys doing this which narrows her eyes into two curves and her mouth to a small one.

In the photo, she is sitting in front of her toys. Even an empty box of orange juice can be one of them. The topless paper-cap was one of the handicraft she made at a play group in a kindergarten at Kowloon Tong during summer vacation. Although, to some extent, it was made by herself, she prefers a real one to put on her head.

Earlier she was taught how to stack up blocks. Whenever she was successful in stacking one block on top of the other, she and the onlookers would clap. It was a good training to her so that she could face successes and failures. When she failed to stack up a block or the whole pile of blocks fell, she would not clap. People around her would say, “Never mind! Try again”. This was real encouragement!

Modern Arches

I had a comfortable feeling when standing and looking at the modern arches above me at New Town Plaza, Shatin last Saturday.

These arches have blinds that can be opened to let in more light when the sky is gloomy. On the other hand, when there is strong sunlight, the blinds can shield it off. This light-well really brings in adequate illumination to several floors in the daytime.

This plaza began its renovation a year or two ago and now it is turned into a modern one. The shops doing the same kind of business are arranged on the same floor so that customers need not go up and down floors.

Lots of people crowd into the plaza on Sundays and Saturdays. They go shopping or eating in its shops. These activities make the whole plaza very busy indeed.

Si Si Sic

What is that? Well, it is an old kind of cream sandwich biscuits (夾心餅) produced by the Garden Company Limited in Hong Kong. In Chinese, it is 時時食. It is a good brand-name because it reminds people that they may eat them at all times.

My family grows up with these biscuits, simply because they are cheap. In the past, these biscuits, in several flavours, were wrapped up in transparent plastic packets, six in each.. They were sold at $0.8 at first, later $0.9 and then $1 per packet. Nowadays they are sold in colourful packets, more attractive than before! They are sold at 6 packets for $10 recently at a “Circle K” shop. It is around $1.66 per packet.

The tastes of these biscuits do not change at all. In the photo, the green packet of biscuits is in lemon-flavour while the orange one in cheese.

“Garden” was a Bread Kingdom in Hong Kong for many years. Although there are new competitors in our Hong Kong market recently, it still takes the leading role. One incident that happened a year or two ago made it famous again. One day its factory at Sham Tseng leaked out a lot of flour. As a result, part of Castle Peak Road near by was covered with a thick layer of snowy-white flour. The road had to be sealed off so that it could be cleaned up. What an interesting sight, but a waste of flour!

A Stunning Flight

Never have we seen passenger planes flying so low and close to the buildings on two sides of the Victoria Harbour in Aviation History of Hong Kong. Normally planes flying in or out of Hong Kong do not fly over the harbour as their routes.

Clearly enough, the flight of an A380 yesterday was a dramatic show to the people of Hong Kong and the World. This might have given very good impressions and advertising effect to the buyers and the future users of these Airbuses.

From TV screen, the cabins of the plane are comfortable and luxurious. The windows of the plane can change its colour as passengers require, unlike those with pull-up or down blinds. The Aisles are wider so people can go past easily. I hope airline companies will use such kind of planes to serve their passengers so that more people can enjoy their flights especially those long ones.

Top photo from Metro Hong Kong
Other photos from AM730

A380 over Victoria Harbour

For the first time, an Airbus A380 flied over the Victoria Harbour at about eight this morning. It was a historic sight of this new giant aircraft taking a parade flight around Hong Kong (see the route map).


This A380 arrived yesterday to take part in Aerospace 2007, an aircraft exhibition, at Chek Lap Kok this week.

Although it was large in size, it flied elegantly. There were many viewers at different parts along the coasts of the Harbour this early morning. To take better photo shots of the plane, aircraft-hot fans and photographers crowded round the peak to wait for this Golden chance.

Even at Shatin where I lived, I could glimpse its immense body across the distant sky.

The last photo seems terrifying! It looks as if the A380 hit our IFC (International Financial Centre) and it reminds me of the tragic incident 911 of two hijacked planes by terrorists hit the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.


Top photo from Headline Daily
Route map photo from top Oriental Daily News
Other photos from HKTVB and ATV

Smelling!

Abby enters her Wonderful World of Smelling recently. In TV, the people are crazy in tasting curry sports shoes, socks and strange things in different sauces. At home, Abby was curious of smelling different things.

We first witnessed her smelling the small leather bag from Por Por (婆婆). It is the smell of leather that attracted Abby, not the contents inside.

Here is another Guessing Game for ALL.

What are the contents inside the leather bag?

(A) coins

(B) keys

(C) beans

(D) jewels

What is the shape of the leather bag?

(E) a tortoise

(F) a crocodile

(G) a cat

(H) a rat

香港的廣告無處不在

香港的廣告商連一條巴士站柱也不放過, 將廣告放上去!

當我們抬起頭去找巴士站時, 也許不自覺地把廣告們攝進腦袋去.

廣告可算是無孔不入, 把我們團團圍住了!

但願我們見到的廣告是新穎的,有創意的,健康的!

那怕它們是什麼香港腳皮膚膏藥, 肥變瘦之拜拜肉等等可怕廣告,令我們看到眼凸凸!