Loch Ness

On June 23, 2009, the documentary TV programme, “Britain From Above” briefly mentioned Loch Ness. Double-click to see better photos.

Wikipedia supplies us the following information about the lake:

The Loch Ness (尼斯湖) is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands ( 57°18′N 4°27′W / 57.3°N 4.45°W) extending for approximately 37 km (23 mi) southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 15.8 m (52 ft) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, also known as "Nessie". Loch Ness is over twenty miles long and hundreds of feet deep in places. The loch is notorious for its murkiness, as the water is filled with slime, peat, and mud. Some people think caverns under the loch connect to the ocean, but such connections have not been proven.

It is connected at the southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich. At the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness. It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.

Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56.4 km2 (21.8 sq mi) after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume. Its deepest point is 230 m (755 ft), deeper than the height of London's BT Tower at 189 m (620 ft) and deeper than any other loch with the exception of Loch Morar. It contains more fresh water than all lakes in England and Wales combined, and is the largest body of water on the Great Glen Fault (大格倫斷層) which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south.

The Loch Ness Monster (Cartoon Version)

The cartoon-like figure in the photo is supposed to be the monster at Loch Ness, a famous lake in Scotland. It looks very much like a dragon or prehistoric dinosaur that lives in that lake. It was my daughter who bought it to me when she was travelling in Britain. I remember there was a comprehension passage about Loch Ness monster in Form One English text books which our CCSC students were using.

The following materials come from Wikipedia and I have modified them a bit:

The Loch Ness Monster (尼斯水怪) is believed to inhabit in Loch Ness 尼斯湖 (“Loch” means "Lake") in the Scottish Highlands. The creature is most frequently described as“ a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs”. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere.

It was first brought to the world's attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence came from much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth. People called this legendary monster by the nickname Nessie since the 1950s.

On 2 May 1933, Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, reported seeing the "monster" in the Inverness Courier. On 4 August in the same year, the Courier published as a full news item the claim of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch, he and his wife had seen "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life", moving awkwardly across the road toward the Loch carrying "an animal" in its mouth. There were other claims of land or water sightings. These stories soon reached the national press, which talked of a "monster fish", "sea serpent", or "dragon", eventually giving it the name, "Loch Ness Monster". On 6 December 1933 the first photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published. Shortly afterwards, the Secretary of State for Scotland ordered the police to prevent any attacks on it. In 1934, interest was aroused by The Surgeon's Photograph. In the same year R. T. Gould published a book of personal investigation and collected record of additional reports pre-dating the summer of 1933. Other authors have claimed that sightings of the monster go as far back as the 6th century.

Flowers that cluster like Tails

Recently my classmate, Daisy Mak, told me that she has grown plants called Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth in her garden in Texas. What a strange name it is to me! I found interests in the way these deep-red flowers cluster like tails of animals.

The seeds of the plants are sown directly in the ground when it is thoroughly warm in spring. They take 10 to 15 days to germinate. The plants, which must be spaced out 1 to 2 feet apart, will grow up to 4 to 5 feet. The Amaranth plants are easy to grow, need full sunshine and usually take 60 to 70 days to maturity.

For many centuries, the leaves and seeds of Amaranthus species have been sources of food for native people from North and South America to Asia, India, Africa, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean region, and Eurasia.

The seeds of Amaranth are one of the most nutritious foods grown. Not only they are richer in protein than the major cereals, but the amino acid balance of their protein comes closer to nutritional perfection for the human diet than that in normal cereal grains. Amaranth may be very useful as a food source for the world’s future.

A Cross

Yesterday I was a little unhappy when I saw the “cross” given to me by the chef of my salmon fillet. The skin of my part of salmon had been peeled off and was put on top of the meat. The feeling was no good. I don’t like “crosses” because they often mean negatively as, “wrong”, “poor’, “bad” or “fail”.

I can’t remember or have never counted the number of “crosses” I have given to my students on their homework books, test papers and examination papers. To me, “Ticks” are only given to those perfect answers. “Crosses” are given to “Definitely wrong” answers. What about those wrong-to-a-certain-extent answers? I usually give a “tick” with a “stroke” across to make it look like a “partly right and partly wrong” signal.

At one time, in some questionnaires, people are asked to draw a “cross” to those boxes where you think it is “right”. How absurd it is to do this kind of thing. I think the designers of the questionnaires have something wrong in their minds.

Back to the dishes of food my wife and I ate yesterday, my wife ordered a meat soup and for myself, a shrimp salad as appetizers. The former was delicious because it tasted like “Lo For Tong” (老火湯).

The shrimps in the latter appetizer reached the “tasteless” level. The salad below was composed of vegetable leaves (western style), rich in olive oil. I felt the vegetables a bit bitter to taste. The piece of salmon, with an extra ten-dollar charge, was not bad to taste. The spaghetti beside the fish are slender, Without the white cheese sauce, they would be too “plain” to taste.

Portland Saturday Market

Portland Saturday Market does not only open on Saturday, but also on Sundays. It is located at SW Ankeny Street and Naito Parkway.
The Market provides opportunities for customers to meet the artist and their art pieces at the artist’s booth. Over 250 small businesses and individual artists from across the NW region gather each week for the Saturday/Sunday event with live music and a wide variety of foods that will satisfy the visitors.
There are beautiful glass hanging-decorations, beautiful pictures of Art, African crafts and drums, interesting human figure-heads made of ceramic and artistic lanterns made of fine pottery and many others.

One of the food stalls in the market sells Chowmein and fried rice at around US$5 to 6, a variety of chicken and spring rolls or salad rolls. Another sells drinks of strawberry, honey dew, peach, mango, red beans, coconut and taro. The third, Mandarin House, sells Chinese food advertised as healthy at around 5 to 6 U.S. dollars. The fourth sells sandwiches of vegetables, tomato, onion and meat-like bean-curd product, all wrapped up like Mexican “tarcos”.

Happy to see a flower of Strelitzia

Strelitzia (天堂鳥), as far as I know, is a perennial plant, native to South Africa. Some thirty or so such plants have been growing healthily in an oval-shaped flower bed in our public garden below. Each of its flowers resemble the look of a bird of paradise. In South Africa, it is commonly known as a crane flower. Today I spotted one fully-grown flower standing rigidly out of the big leaves.

The orange and purple “feathers” spread spirally over the “bird’s" head. The green head is recognizable, but not conspicuous. To me, I welcome such plants so close at hand. They look very much like birds resting on some shrubs.

Wikipedia describes the leaves and flowers in detail as follows:

“The leaves of Strelitzia are large, 30–200 cm long and 10–80 cm broad, similar to a banana leaf in appearance but with a longer petiole, and arranged strictly in two ranks to form a fan-like crown of evergreen foliage. The flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe. They are pollinated by sunbirds, which use the spathe as a perch when visiting the flowers; the weight of the bird on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the bird's feet, which is then deposited on the next flower it visits.“

Portland International Rose Test Garden

Inside Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, United States, there is a rose garden called The International Rose Test Garden. There are over 7,000 rose plants of around 550 varieties. The roses bloom from April through October at their peak in June, depending on the weather. From many parts of the world, new rose cultivars are continually sent to the garden and are tested for color, fragrance, disease resistance and other attributes. It is the oldest existing public rose test garden in the United States. Portland thus wins the nickname of the City of Roses.

The International Rose Test Garden covers 4.5 acres (18,000 m2) in several tiers facing downtown Portland, the Willamette River and East Portland. On clear days there are views ofthe Cascade Mountains, with prominently Mount Hood.

There is an amphitheater which hosts many events throughout the year, for example, classical music concerts. During good weather the amphitheater is popular with picnickers and people throwing the disc around. It is interesting to find is a brick walkway at the side of the garden called The Queens Walk with a bronze star honoring each Rose Festival queen since 1907.

To mention here, in particular, the Royal Rosarian Garden has paid tribute since 1924 to the goodwill ambassadors and official greeters who serve in the many Rose Festival events. As each rosarian is knighted, they adopt a rose variety as their namesake. A rose is planted in this garden for each of the highest ranking Rosarian Prime Ministers. This garden-within-a-garden contains many roses which are no longer available in the market.

The central photo shows a small brick house with rest-rooms surrounded by fragrance of roses. Do you like it?

Father-in-law’s Birthday Dinner

One, two, three, four, five, six dishes of food were served on the table on Father-in-law’s birthday this year.

The dishes are as follows:
[1] 苦瓜菜脯蛋角
[2] 青瓜炒牛仔粒
[3] 酸甜咕嚕肉
[4] 雜菇炒白菜仔
[5] 欖角肉鬆炒肉豆
[6] 西芹腰果肉丁

In addition, we ordered a dish of noodles. The dishes of food fed seven of us full to the neck. At last, we were given red bean congee as dessert, free of charge.

Lok Fu Plaza

The old Lok Fu Shopping Centre has been renovated phase by phase into a new one called Lok Fu Plaza (樂富廣場). Please double-click to see better pictures.

Shops, no matter big or small, banks and eateries are shuffled during these few years. It is a big surprise to find that the Park-in and Wellcome supermarkets disappear; the long-life "Jusco" vanishes and is replaced by a new UNY; banks such as Chartered Bank and Bank of China, Heng Sang Bank accumulate round the shuttle-bus (to and from Kowloon Tong and Broadcast Drive), taxi and minibus terminus. The branches of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and Bank of East Asia are located in better sites in the shopping centre.

After renovation, the shopping centre, in my opinion, looks newer, cleaner, better organized, fresher and modernized. This will mean that rents will go up and customers have to pay more when they buy and eat here.

Let us look at the nine photos here:
[1] Top left – the red plate showing “Lok Fu Plaza” on one of its walls is relatively too small. It is partly hidden by the tall trees in front of it.
[2] Top centre – UNY occupies the second floor and third floor while new restaurants and fast food shops line on the ground floor facing the large courtyard.
[3] Top right – the hanging coloured plates seem to hide the monotonous look of the walls
[4] Middle left – A few decorative squares of lights have been added to the large roof cover of the courtyard.
[5] Middle centre – The fruit store has been replaced by a fast food shop and its top formerly the Bank of East Asia (Lok Fu Branch) now becomes "Fortress".
[6] Middle right – The tiles of the courtyard have been replaced. The courtyard will still be used for activities and exhibitions.
[7] Bottom left – The McDonald is still there, but has been modernized and provides twenty-four hour service.
[8] Bottom centre – A corner of the former “Dry” market is now “Tai Hing” (太興) Restaurant.
[9] Bottom right – Here we can glimpse of the floors of UNY Department Store and eateries with all-weathered escalators wrapped up by glass towers.

Elly making a Phone call

To make a phone call, Elly picks up the TV remote control and speaks into it. Who is on the other line, we never know. Perhaps she uses the phone to talk with the one she is looking at. In one of the photos, she looks into her mother’s face. I believe she has a lot to tell her mother from the bottom of her heart.

With one eye hidden by her long hair at her forehead, she plays games of her age. Besides making phone calls, Elly is able to turn round and descend safely by herself down the sofa, pushes and walks with the “Baby-walker” training unit with a handle, toys and wheels. Crawling is another choice. Well, she wriggles fast like a worm room to room. Eyes should be on her closely, otherwise she may bump into her obstacles on her track.

What a Good Beginning of Today!

I was not aware of the streets below which had been wetted until my wife called out to me. There was no trace of rain on the windows. I guessed it was drizzle that made the streets wet for a few minutes.

Looking up, I spotted in the distance the first rainbow I saw this year. It is rare to see a rainbow because a thin film of rain, sunshine at the right angle and the right time to build are necessary.

The rainbow was not conspicuous nor complete this time, but I could figure it out. How light-hearted I was to see a “welcoming” morning rainbow at seven twenty-one!

Lovely Flowers at Sai Kung

It was May when I set my feet on the roof-top garden of a café at Sai Kung near its bus terminus.

Lovely flowering plants were grown along the edges of this narrow U-shaped garden. I was stunned to see the peach-coloured hibiscus for the first time in my life. The yellow flowers were equally attractive. Their centres were dotted as if they were sprayed with red paint.

Full of life, the flowers stood high above the leaves. Some lined up along the straight edges of a quadrant of a circular grass lawn.

Working under the same roof in the 70’s

Here are some of my old colleagues of CCSC who worked together in teaching some of our younger generation of Hong Kong. Most of our students have grown older, married, have children and have become people of importance working successfully in different parts of the world, serving the communities they are in. Please Double click to see larger pictures.

Yesterday WE met in a restaurant in North Point. Sitting face to face, chatting, we found ourselves still energetic, somehow humorous and still remembered the old days that we were in CCSC.

In those days of the old, besides teaching our students during week days, we took part in many outdoor activities such as picnicking, barbecues, swimming, playing ball games of football or basketball. Afternoon tea was one of our after-school activities During summer time, we sometimes took coffee or tea after lunch at those Tai Pei Dong (大牌檔) at Tai Hang.

Since I was sitting at the back of the Male Staff Room, I could see all the backs of my colleagues and their activities. Although I was always correcting Mathematics exercise books, my eyes could spot out every moment of my colleagues. Some of them read newspapers. Some were sipping coca-cola. A few took a nap on the table when they were really tired. Sometimes jokes and laughter broke the silence of the room. We never found ourselves like teachers in our room because we have no boundaries among us. Games were played secretly inside the staff room, but obviously I shall not talk about them here.

Days passed so quickly that all of us at lunch yesterday have left CCSC. Some of us have retired. Some are still working because they are still young. What we are proud of was our little contribution in educating some of the youngsters of Hong Kong in the years of 70’s, 80’s, and for me 90’s and into the Millennium until September 2005.

ICC

Nowadays, 112 buildings in Hong Kong stand taller than 180 metres (591 ft).

The tallest is the 108-storey International Commerce Centre (ICC 環球貿易廣場), which was completed in 2010. It stands as the 4th-tallest building in the world having 118 storeys, being 484 m (1,588 ft) tall and 2nd-tallest building in the People's Republic of China. The tallest building in the world at the moment is Burj Khalifa at Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).


The second-tallest building in the city is the International Finance Centre (IFC 國際金融中心) at 88 storeys. It is the fourth-tallest building in the Greater China region and the eighth-tallest office building in the world, based on structural heights.

The 78-storey Central Plaza (中環廣場), which is in Wanchai, instead of in Central, contains the Hong Kong City Church, the highest church in the world located inside a skyscraper.

The fourth-tallest building in the city is the 70-storey Bank of China Tower(中銀大廈), which is 367 m (1,204 ft) high and was designed by famous architect I. M. Pei. The skyscraper has the distinction of being the first skyscraper outside the United States to exceed 305 m (1,000 ft) in height.

Harbour Views

Through the lens of Tony’s camera, the harbour views of Central and Wanchai from the Arch are superb. Please click the photo to get a larger view of the shore of Central.

First, looking at Central, the two “sharp-looking” buildings are IFC (International Financial Centre 國際金融中心) and The Center (中環中心).

IFC stands like a “cob” of maize with visible “grains”. Its top looks like the head of an electric razor.

The Center looks like a colourful pencil especially when its colour-changing lights are on at night. Its top is more or less like a pyramid.

The bank buildings are attractive to our eyes in Central. First the chisel-like Bank of China Tower (中銀大廈) is always the centre of interest in Central because of its “sharp” faces.

The “robot-like” Headquarter-building of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation wins a lot of admiration and fame in all these years.

Jardine House(怡和大廈), formerly called Connaught Centre (康樂大廈), was completed in 1973. It has 52 storeys (178,5 metres tall). At that time, it was the first skyscraper in Hong Kong and the tallest in South-east Asia. Its outlook is nothing special except the big round windows. Its height was quickly beaten by other tall modern buildings.

It is interesting to see eight piers lined evenly at the coastline of Central. Looking at them from left to right (east to west) from Kowloon are:

Pier 8: for Star ferries to Hung Hum
Pier 7: for Star ferries to Tsimshatsui
Pier 6: for ferries to Silver Mine Bay and Peng Chau
Pier 5: for ferries to Cheung Chau
Pier 4: for ferries to Lamma Island
Pier 3: for ferries to Discovery Bay
Pier 2: for ferries to Park Island
Pier 1: for government use

Looking up at Victoria Peak, The Peak Tower (凌霄閣), the cresent-like building is the terminus of Peak Tram at 396 metres. Tourists can overlook at the roof of the tower (at 428 metres) the scenery of the two shores of Victoria Harbour.

The Campus at University of Oregon

This is University of Oregon.It is a coeducational research university (founded in 1876) in Eugene, Oregon, United States. UO is the second oldest public university in the state.

The campus is spread over 295 acres (1.19 square km) and holds sixty major buildings, as well as providing a home for more than 500 varieties of trees. Eugene is located near many outstanding geographic features such as the Willamette River, Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Portland is within a two-hour drive. Many of the University's buildings are built around several major quadrangles, many of which interact with the famous pedestrian 13th Street.

Gifts of Craftsmanship

My wife received two wedding banquet gifts from a friend. They were supposed to be the gifts or souvenirs to the guests at the banquet.

Two pieces of small Chinese cakes were wrapped and put inside a cubical red paper box. It was so designed that the letters of double delights (雙喜) appeared on its four lateral faces, while the base closed like the shutter leaves in a single-lens reflex camera. The top of the box closed in, crossed and knotted together perfectly. The most interesting part was that one could see butterflies at its very top.

What a wonderful design and craftsmanship the designer has created!

Oregon

It is interesting to see colourful hot-air balloons flying at low altitude when driving along a road through Oregon, a state between California and Washington. The snow-capped mountains in a distance give a visual cooling effect to the driver and passengers on board a car on a highway.

Driving long distances needs stop and rest after two to three hours or so, especially when one feels hungry. Finding suitable restaurants with cheap and tasty food to fill the stomach is a piece of art. It always takes some time in a car circulating round the streets, which are supposed, filled with restaurantsor simply walking about the streets, door by door, looking at the menus or photos on the windows and most important of all the prices and kinds of food, if none, one has to estimate the prices by the look of the restaurants they stand at.

McDonalds are attractions everywhere, but their burgers are not cheap at all in the States. We experienced the cheapest hamburgers at midway to La Vegas. We bought them at one U.S. dollar each. In Canada and Australia, if there is no promotion, the prices of similar burgers are twice or thrice those in Hong Kong.

One particular thing about the trolley-buses in Oregon, they are modern and beautiful, unlike those old ones that run in the old town of San Francisco. The bus-stops are specially designed here with large wing-like shades for passengers to hide from the hot sun.

Some modern buildings made of glass and metal appear in Oregon. They are "assembled" like "Legos", which takes much shorter time.

Double-click if you want larger photos.

An Interesting Dish

Yesterday at JC, my wife and I ordered an appetizer, soup, two main courses and two slices of cakes. It is always our tactics to share different kinds of food between us. “More taste, more enjoyment”.

The appetizer, Mango and Scallop Salad, came before us in a strange white dish which made me chuckle. The salad was buried in a circular hole at the centre. I wondered why the dish should be so big and thick, but contained a small hole to hold the food. With respect to area, the hole is one ninth of that of the whole dish. Such a dish made me feel that the salad is relatively small in amount. I could only say it was “a big dish of tiny salad”.

The chicken soup with sea coconut was tasty, but it seemed to me that the coconut had slipped out of the soup or perhaps the cook had forgotten to put it inside.

The Smoked Pork Loin and Roasted New potatoes suited me because the taste of pork was quite close to ham and the small lovely potatoes are tasty under Port Wine sauce.

My favourite Fish cutlets came fresh and hot. The steakhouse fries, as they were called here, were tasty, a thousand times better than those match-stick like fries at a McDonald.

The two dessert cakes we shared were completely different in styles. One was home-made. I believed it meant that the cake could be easily made at any home. The other was a thick cheese cake which I guessed it could only be prepared at a kitchen like that at JC. We all agreed that the latter, was the “king” among the cakes displayed behind the show-windows.

Baggy Soap bubbles

It was July 17th, 2010. Little Hayley, a few days before two years old, was filled with curiosity when she first saw her grand uncle illustrate how soap bubbles were created by a circular plastic loop. She observed and learned fast.

Next she picked the loop up, dipped it in soapy water, waved it and soon mastered the skill of creating soap bubbles. No doubt she enjoyed those minutes of creating large baggy bubbles by herself and watching them disappear instantly.

Please double-click to get larger pictures.

My Collection of Coca-cola bottles

Among the five Coca-cola bottles I collected, one glows and changes colours.

As described by the manufacturer, it is a plastic plant-bottle, up to 30% plant-based and 100% recycled. In the limited edition (50,000 in all), this bottle ranks 34,103th. Great fun comes when it is turned on at the base. Its colour changes from red to purple to orange and to green. It is so produced as to arouse the interests of the people at Vancouver and elsewhere in Canada about the Winter Olympics in February. It is naturally enough that no coke is stored inside, but merely a light-changing toy-coke instead.

The other four 250 ml bottles are stylish, made of light, but hard metal, two of which were sold during Winter Olympics, one was made in Slovakia and one in Toronto. They all arrived at my home several months ago or earlier and together they give me a strong spirit of Coke.

Leaves stitched with laces

The photos above show leaves in two different parts of the world stitched with laces:

[A] The leaves on the left-hand side grow in summer Hong Kong at a temperature of around an average of 30 degrees Celcius. The colours are mainly purplish red, but yellowish green near the stalk and fringing the tooth-like edges.

[B] The leaves on the right-hand side grew in winter Vancouver at a temperature around 0 degree Celcius. The colour of the leaves are green, but stitched with a lace of an overnight frost.

Eco Terrace

Eco Terrace (都市梯田) is located at podium at Lok Fu Plaza(樂富中心). Some 10000 plants of seven organic vegetables are planted in boxes placed on the floor of the podium and on the steps leading to the road below. It is a project-based activity which will end in July, 2010. Obviously it is rare to see terraces in the midst of our concrete city.

The seven vegetables that are planted here are:
[1] Red Amaranth (莧菜)
[2] Eggplant (茄子)
[3] Mini tomato (蕃茄仔)
[4] Chinese Cabbage (上海青白菜)
[5] Wheat grass (小麥草)
[6] Water Spinach(通菜)
[7] Malabar Spinach (潺菜)

Have you eaten all of them before?
See if you can find them from the photos here.

Pineapple-bun breakfast

A pineapple-bun is shaped like pineapple, but does not contain any pineapple at all. It recently becomes the "star" of breakfasts of Café de Coral. Customer can’t resist its attraction.

To our disappointment, the bun is small, cold, hard like a shell and stale like yesterday's made. I think the pineapple buns sold in some of our local small restaurants are much bigger, better in taste and served fresh from their ovens. I don’t believe these buns are made by the fast food restaurants themselves, but simply they are ordered from a certain bakery.

Sooner or later, these buns will fade out and never appear in the breakfasts because they are not up to standard.

Scenery around the Lookout of The Arch

The Lookout (瞭望層) of The Arch (凱旋門) is located on its 62nd floor. It provides a 270-degree view of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island and most of Kowloon, except West Kowloon which has been blocked by neighbouring tall buildings.

It is so interesting to be there to observe and take photos of the panorama view of the busiest parts of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

The Arch itself is easily recognizable by its door-like shape from Central and Tsimshatsui. It really looks like L’ Arc de Triomphe (巴黎凱旋門) in Paris, France. Few people know that the clubhouse (with a restaurant and a swimming pool) is launched in mid-air, right at the top of the arch.

Please double-click to get a larger picture.

Chanthu

Chanthu (燦都) is the name given to the recent typhoon that affects the coast of Guangdong. This typhoon does not hit Hong Kong, but brings much rain to us. Yesterday it was fine without rain and strong winds. The typhoon signal Number 3 was put up for quite a number of hours.

Today, the Observatory changes the typhoon signal from 3 to 1 because the typhoon no longer threats Hong Kong.

To our surprise, in an hour’s time in the afternoon between four thirty and five thirty, the sky turns dark. Heavy rain pours down and thunder roars with lightning. The amber, red and black rain warning signals are issued one after another. The northern district suffers flooding because most rain falls there. Under the black rain signal, office workers can go home, so the streets and traffic become busy towards evening.

Singapore Flyer

Recently I was fascinated by the TV programme called “Planet Food”, not only by the food it introduces, but also by the beautiful scenery.

This time, the programme was about Singapore and its local food. It seems as if I were back to this small island at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula. I first visited it in January, 2007.

At the start of the programme, the scene of a team of men rowing a dragon boat showed up. I just wondered where the dragon boat was heading. The camera man then zoomed out and I saw the new landmark of Singapore, the Singapore Flyer, in a distance.

The Singapore Flyer is considered the tallest observation wheel on Earth, rising 165 metres into the sky. It can carry 1,260 passengers around hourly to see a stunning 45-kilometre panorama view of Indonesian Island of Batan and Bintan as well as Johore, Malaysia. The wheel stands twice the height of the Statue of Liberty. The observation whee,l which looks like a bicycle whee, rotates 28 large capsules through the sky, each carrying 28 passengers. By construction, the wheel stands firmly against monsoon rains, thunderstorms and dangerous Sumatra winds.

Happy Birthday, Hayley!

Today is Hayley’s Birthday.

How old is Hayley? Two years old or three years old? In one of the photos, Hayley raised three figures while her parents did two each.

It was so nice to pre-celebrate Hayley and Jasmine’s birthday last Saturday at “the Arch” clubhouse restaurant.

We supposed that the two cousins would celebrate their birthdays together. The birthday cake was first placed on a square table. Hayley was brought up onto the sofa and she sat there. It was natural that Jasmine was the next girl to join in. To our amazement, Jasmine did not want to come close to the birthday cake, but turned away from it. Later we learned that she was afraid of the flames of the two little candles on the cake. Several photos were taken with Hayley alone with the cake. She showed her smiling face in some of the photos.

Soon Hayley was to blow the candles with the help of her mother, Daisy. The candles were next re-lit because group photos had to be taken . Hayley’s family members flocked together at the table. They included Hayley’s parents, grandparents and Uncle Lit. Then grand-uncles and grand aunts joined in for photo-taking with Hayley.

Next the birthday fruit-cake was cut and shared around us at the long table.

Two cousins playing Hula Hoop

Last Saturday, Hayley eyed on one of the plastic hula hoops at Grand uncle and aunt’s home and soon she picked it up from the heap of toys with the help of Grandma Au Yeung.

Normally, Hula hoops for children generally measure approximately 28 inches in diameter, and those for adults around 40 inches. Hayley picked the right one.

Hayley must have seen hula hoops before, otherwise she would not choose it to play. She knew very well that she had to put the hoop over her head and held it at the waist. We saw that her pose of holding the hoop was correct. She began to twirl the hoop around her waist, but the hoop fell down. She might be too young to master the skill of swinging the hoop round the waist and twisting the latter at all times. Anyway, she had a nice try.

A moment later, Jasmine came out after taking her bath. She did not miss her chance of playing the hoop. As expected, she was willing to try, like Hayley she failed to turn the hoop at her waist. Perhaps, these two little cousins could play well in a few years’ time.

An Extraordinary Benz

At Elements, an extraordinary Benz is displayed. This Benz sparkles when light shines on it. From a distance away, it looks as if it were coated with beads of jewels. The badge of Benz can easily be seen at its front. Lower down, the registration plate bears the name of the shopping centre, “ELEMENTS”. Its headlights and wheels are stylish. Following the recent trend, the side-mirrors also serve as blinker-lights to show to other cars the intention of the drivers to turn left or right.

The twin seaters do not look as high-class and comfortable as I expect because they are thin and the red colour does not match with the white colour of the car.

Since it is so different from other Benzes, it will certainly attract people’s attention in the streets. I don’t know how much it costs. Maybe it is a “Concept” car (概念車) which is priceless and will not be sold to the public.

Playing Soap Bubbles

From my observation yesterday, Jasmine and Hayley, love playing soap bubbles. Jasmine held her soap bubble gun, pressed the trigger and soap bubbles oozed out continuously. It was funny to hear the gun make interesting sounds when it was “fired”.

Grandma Sung said that the soap-bubble gun was very cheap, some ten to twenty dollars. To reload the “gun”, it should be dipped into the bottle of soapy water. For many times, Hayley wanted to catch the soap bubbles with her hands, but failed. The bubbles disappeared shortly before her.

Seeing bigger soap bubbles created from bigger nets of a “star” and a circular "loop", Hayley began to learn how to create such bubbles by herself. Her father, Dik, was able to catch a photo or two of Hayley’s success in creating a big wavy bag-like bubble. Surely enough Hayley must have enjoyed herself in the soap-bubble play, same to Jasmine.

Mocha Choco Pies

We chance to see Mocha Choco Pies (巧克力Q餅) from EDO recently. We wonder if they are new products, but we are eager to try.

They come in two flavours, peanut and sesame. Out of their packets, they look flat and small pies. I better say they are like glutinous rice (nuomi) dumplings (糯米湯丸) beaten flat. In the past, we often boil dumplings in these two flavours in sugar solution. Now we can eat these dumplings chewy-dry instead.

Two Cousins met yesterday

Hayley and Jasmine met yesterday at the Arch (凱旋門), not in Paris, but near Kowloon Station. Hayley is a little bit taller than Jasmine. It maybe that Hayley is three weeks older than Jasmine which makes that difference in height.

Last winter the two cousins met once and yesterday it should be the second time. Since they live in different parts of the world, seldom meet and are too young, at the beginning, they did not get together to converse or to find out who the other is.

After lunch, the two cousins left the dining table and involved in their exploration of different parts of the restaurant. They walked separately and were chased by their parents and photographers (I was one). We, photographers, would like to catch the moments when they came together or perhaps hand in hand (but, to our disappointment, they did not hold each other’s hands). We well understood they had not yet learned to make friends in any social circle like school.

A Glimpse at Tsimshatsui

Yesterday I had a bus ride to Tsimshatsui. Since it was quite difficult to take photos from a moving bus, I grasped the time when the bus stopped at traffic lights or bus-stops.

The new bus-stop poles on Nathan Road in Tsimshatsui look different nowadays in three folds:

On each of these poles,

[1] the bus routes are coated inside a square transparent acrylic sheet unlike those old round metal plates.

[2] advertisements are posted below the bus-routes.

[3] details of the bus routes and fares are listed on a rotatable rectangular column.

The scene on Salisbury Road near New World Renaissance Hotel looks more or less the same for years.

The dome of Hong Kong Space Museum (香港太空館) has a better look after renovation with a smooth lustrous coating material.

The Hong Kong Cultural Centre (香港文化中心) looks as it was.

The China Hong Kong City (中港城) stood like a few pieces of Gold in Tsimshatsui. It is famous because from there we can take hovercrafts to Macau or to different ports of the Zhujiang Delta (珠江三角洲).

The new Austin MTR Station stood lonely at the moment. I think it is the quietest station at the moment. With the completion of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen - Hong Kong Express Rail Link (廣深港高速鐵路， 又稱廣深港客運專線) in the future, trains from Guangzhou and Shezhen will stop here. There will be a big change in terms of flow and visits of passengers to Hong Kong and the development around Kowloon Station, Austin Station as well as Express Rail Terminal.

Flowers on Lamp-posts

Yesterday a visit at Shun Lee gave us a new impression of this estate. We discovered that twin-potted flowers were hanging on every lamp post along Lee On Road.

These flowers were in light orange and pinkish red. Leaves of a few long creepers were hanging down from the pots making the whole display look beautiful and elegant. I loved the colours and lay-out of the flowers and leaves whether the plants were real or not. The swaying of the creepers under light winds looked cute and lively as if young girls were swinging their pigtails.

The potted flowers have added life to this old residential area though they may be made of silk. We wonder how they are watered for their being hung so high up on the lamp-post if they were real. I suppose these flowers cannot last long because some or all of them may soon become grey or black when flying dust and dirt cover them.

Mosaic Wall Pictures at Ngau Tau Kok

When I got off from an 89X bus at Ngau Tau Kok this Monday, I turned my way towards Ngau Tau Kok MTR Station. Looking up, I was astonished to see two large mosaic pictures on two walls of a pillar supporting a pedestrian footbridge near the station.

I marvelled at the pictures because it is difficult to make them so detailed. The artist(s) who make(s) them must have drawn the pictures beforehand. The finished pictures should have been divided into smaller squares by grid lines so that the correct coloured tiles are carefully selected. The tiles will be numbered according to the grid and stuck to the walls, square by square. It is painful and careful work to put the designated tiles at their right places.

Both pictures show the real street scenes at Ngau Tau Kok. The bottom left one shows the passers-by in heavy clothes. Some of them are talking. One man was kneeling down to tighten his shoes. Some are walking up a pedestrian footbridge. We can see some buildings in this area. The bottom right shows people visiting the old stalls here. The woman on the left is a typical housewife buying things home. The man in blue shirt and trousers is looking at the things in one of the stalls. Most probably the stalls are selling roasted meat, small electric appliances and so on. Someone is selling preserved plums or similar fruit. The tall buildings behind are those of a public housing estate in the area.

The pictures can definitely show the life-styles of the residents in Ngau Tau Kok. They record a glimpse of harmony and comfort of living here.

The two top-left small photos show the two faces of the pillar.

Always with us

On July 11, 2010, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final, Andrés Iniesta (恩尼斯達) celebrated his 116th minute world cup winning goal (the only goal of the game) by removing his jersey to reveal an undershirt with the sentence "DANI JARQUE : SIEMPRE CON NOSOTROS" which means "Dani Jarque, always with us".

Andrés Iniesta never forgets his close friend, Daniel Jarque González ,a Spanish footballer. Jarque played his entire career with RCD Espanyol (愛斯賓奴球隊), as a central defender. He was named team captain one month before his death from a heart attack, at the age of 26.

Born in Barcelona, Spain, , Jarque made his way up through through local RCD Espanyol's youth system starting from October 20, 2002, and after 15 appearances in two seasons, went on to become a defensive mainstay for a side that won the 2006 Spanish Cup.

In 2006–07, after renewing his contract until 2009, Jarque appeared in 14 UEFA Cup contests, as Espanyol reached the final, lost on penalties to Sevilla FC. In the previous league season, he contributed with four league goals, as Espanyol finished 15th.

At the start of 2009–10, Jarque relieved Raúl Tamudo of his captain duties.

According to several online Spanish newspapers, Jarque was found dead during Espanyol's pre-season, done in Coverciano, Florence, Italy. He was on the phone with his girlfriend in the team hotel when he suffered a heart attack.

Incidentally after that final match of World Cup, two other Spanish players, Sergio Ramos [15] and Jesús Navas [22], wore T- shirts with a similar tribute to another deceased Spanish player, Antonio Puerta, who passed away at the age of 23, due to a cardiac arrest he suffered during a match in August, 2007. Indeed it was the same message as the one of Iniesta: Always with us.

If Iniesta had not scored the goal by himself, he would not have shown this message to the World. I admire Iniesta because he is passionate and treasures his friendship with Jarque in Spain U17, U19, U20 and U21 National team.

Those 120 minutes

The World Cup Final 2010 was held on July 11th at Soccer City Stadium at Johannesburg. It was a tough match between Netherlands and Spain.

Netherlands missed several chances to score because the Goal-keeper also Captain of the Spanish team, Casillas (卡斯拿斯) [1] saved the ball several times from its getting into the net. Robben (洛賓) [11] of the Netherlands, a fast runne,r pushed much pressure on the defenders on the Spanish side. On the Spanish side, Villa (韋拿)[7], Xavi (沙維) [8] and Iniesta (恩尼斯達) [6] were active players.

Both sides played very cautiously because they did not want to lose the game. There were 5 yellow cards and 1 red card given to the Netherlands, 2 to 3 yellow cards to Spain, which meant that the players tended to use these tactics to stop immediate threats of invasions from their opponents.

It was still a tie when the whistle blown at the official finishing time (90 minutes from the start). Additional time of thirty minutes were given to the two teams to compete. As the spectators and TV watchers all over the world expected to see the Penalty Goals, the climax came when Fabbegas (法比加斯) [10] of Spain, being substituted in at 86 minutes, passed the ball to Iniesta (恩尼斯達) [6] who stood at a very good position to strike. With his right leg, Iniesta struck the ball to the far corner of the goal. There he scored the goal for the team. The match was soon over and Spain won the Championship of this year’s World Cup Final. Those 120 minutes of watch in front of television was worthy to me and to millions of people all over the World.

Please Double-click the photo to see bigger pictures.

FIFA World Cup

On Sunday, July 11th, 2010, before the 2010 FIFA World Cup final soccer match started at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, the captain of the Champion Soccer team (Italy) in 2006 World Cup, Fabio Cannavaro (簡拿華路) took out the FIFA World Cup from a box and showed it to the spectators at the stadium.

The FIFA World Cup Cannavaro was holding was founded in 1971. It was designed by Silvio Gazzanigi of Italy. Made of 18-carat gold and malachite, the cup is 36 cm tall and weighs 5 kg. The sculpture depicts two triumphant football players holding a globe in their raised hands. The trophy is passed on to each winning team that gets to keep an identical (but gold-plated) replica. The making of the statue cost about $50,000, today its value is estimated to over $10,000,000.

With great sadness, Fabio Cannavaro kissed the World Cup trophy.

“I’m very proud and I’d like to thank Louis Vuitton and FIFA for organising this event. It’s something new and so it’s an honour to be the first person to take part. The Final will be really emotional because we’re going to hand over the Trophy that we’ve cherished for the last four years.” said Cannavaro.

The previous World Cup (The Golden Nike), Jules Rimet Cup, was founded in 1930 by Frenchman Jules Rimet, the creator of the world championship games. The cup was designed and made by a French sculptor, Abel Lafleur. It was made of pure gold, 35 centimetres (14 in) high and weighed 3.8 kilograms (8.4 lb). The sculpture depicted Nike of Samothrace (Winged Victory). In 1950 the statuette was named the Jules Rimet Cup after its founder. It was a trophy passed on to each winner and the team to win the tournament three times got to keep it (Brasil achieved this in 1970). Unfortunately, in 1983 the Cup was stolen and it has never been found.

What was inside this box?

At Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg yesterday night, this famous soccer star of Italy stood in the centre of the field with a dark-skinned lady in a beautiful yellow dress. They were going to show to the world something in the box. What was it?

A Victory to Germany

Germany was placed third in World Cup Soccer 2010 in South Africa yesterday night. It played a tough match with Uruguay.

I considered the game exciting because the two teams scored alternately (Germany : Uruguay) as 1 : 0, 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 2 : 2 and finally 3 : 2 .

The first goal was scored by Thomas Mueller(湯馬士梅拿) [13] in the 18th minute. He kicked the ball into the net when the ball rebound parried by the goalkeeper after a long range shot from Schweinsteiger (舒韋恩史迪加)[7]. Thus the Germans took the lead.

The second goal was scored by Uruguay. On the counter attack, Perez picked up the ball and fed in Suarez who was bearing down on goal. Showing the awareness to pick out a pass, the striker played the ball through to Cavani [7] who was able to stretch for the ball and knock it past Butt.

The third goal went to Uruguay. In the 50th minute Uruguay took the lead when a good run and cross down the right from Arevalo found Forlan just outside the area. Adjusting his body superbly, the striker Forlan (科蘭) [10] struck the ball past Butt with an excellent volley and put his side in control of the game.

Determined to get themselves back into the game, Germany pushed forward for an equalizer 2 : 2 and were rewarded when a cross from Boateng(保定) [20] was headed in by Jansen (贊臣) [2].

As time wore in, Uruguay began to look tired, and from another corner from Oezil (奧斯爾) [8], Germany took the final lead of 3 : 2 at 82 minutes after the ball rebounded around in the penalty area and was headed in by Khedira (基迪拉) [6] at the back post.

It is consolation prize to Germany. Though Germany cannot become the Champion this time in the World Cup Soccer, no doubt it is really a strong football team after all.

Hot News (2) July 9th, 2010

The most interesting prediction made by Paul, the Clever Octopus, on World Cup Champion 2010 attracts my attention during TVB news bulletin.

As usual two transparent boxes are lowered, one with the national flag of the Netherlands and the other Spain. Paul made up its mind very quickly. It might be that it was very hungry. It lay its arms on the box containing the Spanish flag and opens it to find its food.

Will Spain win the champion of this year’s World Cup Soccer? I have to get up early on coming Monday morning to watch the match to find out if the prediction works!

Hot News (1) July 9th, 2010

The “Clever” octopus, Paul, in Germany predicts World Cup Soccer results again. Two transparent boxes carry different national flags, one with Uruguay flag and the other German, are lowered into the aquarium.

Paul crawls about the boxes. This time it seems difficult for it to decide which country wins the third position in the World Cup Soccer 2010. Finally it makes up its mind and lay its arms on the cover of the box containing the German flag, opens the box skillfully and snatches its favourite mussel inside as food.

Will Germany get the third position? Let’s see.

A Super-powered Octopus

An octopus called Mr. Paul lives in an aquarium (奧柏侯遜水族館) in Germany. It has the power to predict the winning team in soccer games. It has succeeded in predicting the winning teams, so far, 10 out of 11 matches.

In this year’s World Cup for example, it predicts 5 matches correctly.
[1] Germany beat Australia (4:0) (Group D Division)
[2] Germany lost to Serbia (0:1) (Group D Division)
[3] Germany beat Ghana (1:0) (Group D Division)
[4] Germany beat England (4:1) (Round of 16)
[5] Germany beat Argentina (4:0) (Quarter-finals)

Yesterday it predicted that Spain beat Germany. It comes true. How powerful Mr. Paul is! It can predict the winning team of football matches! Can it live 4 more years so that we can see its power again?

A beautiful Win to Spain

No doubt yesterday’s football match between Germany and Spain was a fierce one. The winner of this semi-final would give its chance to win the championship. I crawled out of bed at 2:15 a.m., just able to see the two teams walking out into the beautiful Durban Stadium.

It was a bit disappointing to see Fernando Torres (費蘭度托利斯) (famous star of the team) sitting aside as a substitute.

The red “bullfighters” were skilful in passing the soccer at short distances to their team-mates. At first, Spain is on the upper-hand. Germany was strong in defence and when they counter-attacked, they went swiftly. The first half of the match ended in a tie (equal score 0 : 0).

In the second half of the game, both teams wanted to score. The goal-keeper of Spain once saved the ball well from going into the net. He should be praised.
The turning point came at 73 minutes, Carles Puyol (佩奧爾) [5] of Spain headed the ball into the German goal, thus Spain took the lead(1 : 0).

At 80 minutes, Fernando Torres was sent out to play the rest of the game. Certainly the coach wanted to him to score more goals so that the team would have a “sure win”. As the game went on, there were good chances for Spain to score, but the team missed them at last. In my opinion, Xavi (沙維)[8], Villa (韋拿)[7] and Sergio Ramos (沙治奧拉莫斯)[15] played very well.

Germany was so unlucky this time. Their swift strike-backs or air-raids were not successful. In spite of losing the game, Germany is still a very strong football team in Europe. It might get the championship in four years’ time.

Footballs, T-shirts, Ceremony at Stadium

It is interesting to learn more about the things running at a stadium in South Africa before and during a soccer match.

The kickoff footballs (they call them - Jabulani 普天同慶) used in each match look much the same except that the countries to play the game (Germany, Spain), the date of match (7, July, 2010), the name of stadium played in (Durban Stadium, Durban) are also printed on them. Not only these footballs become meaningful to the football-players, but they will become souvenirs in football museums in the respective countries if there are any. I wonder if the footballs will be marked with the result of the game afterwards.

I notice that the T-shirts worn by the German football players bore the names of the participating countries of the game (Deutschland – Spanien), the date (7, Juli, 2010) and the site of play (at Durban).

Each time, two FIFA flags and the flags of the two participating countries are displayed in the centre of the field. The football players line up on two sides. The National Athems of the two countries are played and the players of the two sides shake hands with one another and also with the referees. One of the team leaders of the two teams chooses the side of field after a coin is tossed by the Chief referee. The Game starts with the blow of the whistle of the Chief referee.

Please Double-click to get the largest picture.

The First Semi-final in World Cup Soccer 2010

The Semi-final match between Netherlands and Uruguay yesterday was really exciting.

At 18 minutes, in the first half of the match, [5] Van Bronckhorst (雲邦賀斯) shot the ball from a far distance into the right top corner of the goal and scored the first goal to Netherlands. The Dutch spectators cheered.

At 41 minutes, Forlan (科蘭), a forward [10] of Uruguay struck a long-distant ball into the net of the Netherland’s goal. Thus the heat of the match rose.

The game 1 : 1 did not change until 70 minutes when [10] Wesley Sneijder (史尼達), another forward of Netherland scored the second goal for his country making a result of 2 : 1 . The Uruguay fans lost their smiles at that moment.

Three minutes afterwards, [11] Arjen Robben (洛賓), a famous winger, headed the ball into the net, thus turning the result to 3 : 1. The Uruguay team fought back and near the end of the match at 90’ + 2, [16] Maxi Pereira (麥斯彭利拿) successfully kicked the ball through a narrow opening into Netherlands’ goal. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Uruguay team to equalize the match to additional time or penalty goals. The final result is 3 : 2.

Netherlands is able to enter the Final against the winner of the next Semifinal, Germany or Spain. It is expected that the final match must be one between two European countries. Which team do you think will be the winner of the next Semi-final, Germany or Spain?

Pacific Coast Eco-bananas

Today I received a photo from Ho Keung asking me why the bananas he bought in Australia had red tips. I don't know since I have never seen these bananas before. My guess is: the wax is to prolong the time from rotting.

To find out the truth, I surfed with my computer and found out the reason. Here it is:

These so called Pacific Coast Eco-bananas are grown in North Queensland, Australia.

How special are these bananas? In the growing of these bananas,
[1] the use of fertilizer is reduced.
[2] environmental farming techniques are used.
[3] processing and packing are special and
[4] continual research and development are carried out

It is believed that Pacific Coast Eco Bananas 'Wax Tip' will be more expensive than the other brands in market.

The owners of the plantations, Frank and Diane, want to make their bananas look different from the others, so they decide to dip bunches of bananas in coloured wax so that the lower parts of these bananas are dressed in attractive bright red or green or blue. The quality of the bananas does not differ with colours because the bananas grow within the same plantations.

The wax tips bear the “trademark” and serve as product identification like those stickers on Sunkist oranges and lemons. The owners say that their Pacific Coast Eco Bananas are consistent in taste, flavour and shelf life which are attributed to a precise growing protocol.

Highlights from World Expo Shanghai

This is composite photo about World Expo 2010, composed of 40 smaller photos collected from Sydney Morning Herald on May 3rd, 2010.

The small photos separately show the highlights of the Expo in which city views, pavilions of different countries, visitors, performers and celebrations can be seen all-in-one here. Please enjoy.

Sunny, cloudy, rainy…

It is amazing that Abby can say “sunny”, “cloudy”, “rainy” to us during Skype. I am sure she learns these “adjectives” of weather from her teachers at school. We are happy to know that Abby can pronounce the words perfectly and she knows what weather conditions they are.
She also learns words that rhyme with “sunny”, “cloudy” and “rainy”, so she knows how to say “silly” too. Abby may learn "windy" and "frosty" from the photos here.

Looking back, my wife and I did not know what our children learned in kindergarten. From the test papers and writing exercise they brought home, we just knew what English alphabets and Chinese words they have learned.

In Canada, Abby learns the basic skills of cutting paper, sticking things with glue, drawing with water colour, wearing a coat on the ground, rolling and unrolling paper, etc. etc. I agree that it is good to train the motor skills of small children at this stage.

Abby learns sharing, speaking publicly to her classmates (although her ability is still not high at the moment), listening to instructions, following rules and disciplining herself.

What Abby and I experience in Canada are different weathers. Vancouver is mostly sunny in September till early October. Starting from the middle of October, it often rains. Cold weather gains power in November and December. The outside temperature may drop a little below zero degrees Celcius during the night or in the early morning. There is frost on a day or two and snowing is rare, but possible (on the following day we left Vancouver).