Recent Tai O

On March 18^th, I joined the family function of Philip’s colleagues, a trip to Tai O. We went by coach to this village by way of Tung Chung along Tung Chung Road to South Lantau Road and up Keung Shan Road and down Tai O Road.

I had not been there for over thirty years and I expected a big change. There were new buildings, the tallest one of which rose to 14 to 16 storeys. The well-preserved old wooden houses supported by beams of strong wood (棚屋) still stood over sea water along part of the coastline.

Tai O has developed from a small fishing village to a larger one with a combination of new and old buildings.

Owing to the heavy rain that fell in the past week, Tai O was cut off from the outside world. Firstly, the communication by phones was down. Secondly, the access by road was cut off because part of Keung Shan Road was damaged by a mass landslide. Thirdly, there was no water supply in these days because the main water-pipe to the village was damaged. Residents of Tai O now rely on the ferry services to and from Tung Chung and shipment of water and food. One of the newspapers exaggerates the situation here at Tai O as that at汶川, the origin of the recent destructive earthquake in China.

You may ask, “Why doesn’t the government build a direct road from Tung Chung to Tai O. Well, the following may be the answer: To protect the monopoly and interest of the Skyrail 360, no road should be made along the northern-west shore between Tung Chung and Tai O.

A beautiful cup from McDonald

I seldom go to McDonald myself, but today it is an exception because my wife has been out. The drive of my going to a McDonald today comes from the $5 coupon (see the secomd photo) in one of the free newspapers.

After eating the scrambled egg, sausage, muffins and hash browns, I picked up the cup of milk tea. I noticed that it was a beautiful white cup, engraved with a design of two hands holding a cup. Words such as “我就喜歡”, “I’m lovin’ it”, “love ko ‘to”, “ich llebe es” were coming out of the cup like smoke.

There were words and pictures of warning to the user that the content in the cup was hot.

Since McDonald would be the official sponsor of the Olympic Games 2008, the logo of the “five rings” could be seen here. It was interesting, too, to see a small McDonald叔叔 throwing a cup into a garbage bin.

Protruding lips

Abby had a great fall to the ground when running at the church last Sunday, June 8^th . At that time, she bled at the lips and cried a lot.

Obviously everybody including Abby was not happy about this accident. On Sunday after the accident, eating was a problem to Abby because of her aching and swollen lips.

Yesterday, Monday of the week, Abby came along with Connie to join the birthday dinner of her Great Grandma. Her lips looked less swollen and she was able to talk and eat. Healing might be fast to her, so I guess she will recover in a few days’ time.

If you study the photo here (by double-click the photo with your mouse), you can still see a long wound right below the lower lip and another at the chin.

Having learned the lesson at the church, Abby may not run at the present moment. It may take her some time to heal psychologically, physically and mentally because yesterday I saw her come by her pram, not walking on her own legs, not mentioning running.

Shangrila (世外桃源)

This photo was taken by Ho Keung and Yin Ping at sunrise behind their hotel near Queenstown in New Zealand on September 10^th .

It reminds me of a film called “Shangrila”. The view I saw in the film was like the one here. Climbing over the mountain, one could find a quiet, peaceful and beautiful village. The people there lived on their own. They grew crops and made things by themselves. They did not worry nor they had to rush here and there to complete their jobs. There were no competition, no jealousy, no conflicts and wars.

Life is similar to me. I used to live in Kowloon Tong and had been working some thirty years of so on Hong Kong Island right over this busy side of the Lion Rock and after the year 2001, I moved to Shatin, on the other side of the Lion Rock. I began to count down the working days at school and think of a retired life. It came to the time in the year 2005 that I thought of living a better life, free from heavy work.

Now, I do not have to worry about my children because they have grown up and found jobs they love. I do not have to break the walls of exercise books each day. I do not have to compete with time to finish the syllabus fixed. I do not have to type questions and draw diagrams for test and exam papers. They often occupy much of my time on the computer since I am quite ignorant in using it. It is easy to solve daily life problems such as meals here in Shatin. There are quite a number of restaurants and fast food shops near by. There are supermarkets close to us, so buying and carrying things home are not problems. Shatin can be my Shangrila!

Sparkling Ribena (利賓納汽水)

The new products of Ribena are its carbonated drinks in glass bottles called “Sparkling Ribena”. This kind of products provides another choice for soft drinks. The shape of each bottle is like that of a coke, slimmer at its waist. It is an ideal shape because people can hold it firmly at its mid-section. The big difference here is the cap. The cap can be turned to open the bottle. We do not need a cork opener.

Today it costs HK$5.9 a bottle, but a Coke, also in glass bottle of a bigger capacity, costs HK$5.5. Can this new taste of a Sparkling Ribena beat that of a traditional Coke?

It’s a small world (小小世界)

Recently Hong Kong Disneyland has created an entertainment facility called “It’s a small world”.

I have been to Disneyland in Los Angeles and California Adventure (opposite to Disneyland) and experienced some of the games or entertainment facilities such as,

[1] Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (巴斯光年) , inside which my wife and I sat on a twin-seated car running on rails and with a gun, each of us shot at targets which when hit we would score some points. See the score I got in the second photo, 15300 points. Ha, Ha, I beat my wife’s record, 4100 points.

[2] Indiana Jones Adventure (奪寳奇兵), inside which again we sat on a car which travelled inside caves, swayed a lot, went up and down steep slopes and turned sharp corners. If we did not hold onto the handle tightly, we might fall off from our car when it jerked. My experience was that the rapid swaying of the car gave me and the other visitors the feeling of thrust forward, sideways and sudden stops inside caves.

[3] Haunted Mansion (鬼屋), inside which we sat in cars that moved about the scenes which was supposed one saw in a haunted house. For myself, I was not afraid because even if there were ghosts, I treated them as “electronic” devices or robots only. I did not know what my wife felt at that time, but I thought she might have accepted the scenes too. Her face did not look pale when she came out of the “mansion”.

There ought to be also a “It’s a small world” in Disneyland in Los Angeles, but we did not have time to go there.

Looking at the advertisement here, I guess it may be a copy of the one in Los Angeles to Hong Kong. The big difference was that the elements inside may be changed.

I have never been to Hong Kong Disneyland before, but here I guess what I shall see inside:

The visitors will sit in boats which bring them along a waterway, on both sides of which are dolls wearing the national costumes of different countries with the famous buildings, sight-seeing spots and landmarks in miniatures of the respective countries behind them. During the journey inside "It's a small world", music will be played.

My elder brother has sent me an e-mail with an attachment which I can visit the web-page promoting "It's a small world". After the seeing the short film provided, my impression is that it should be called "It's a Dolls' World", totally tailor-made for Children.

A Wedding Card

This was the wedding card I gave to my old colleague, Miss J. Chan and her husband this morning, June 7^th, 2008. One interesting thing about it was that it could be turned into a wedding cake (see the second picture).

This morning heavy downpour flooded many places in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Observatory issued the “Black” Rain warning signal early at six something. I wondered if the Marriage Registry at Shatin would open for couples who intended to marry today.

This question came to me and everybody who was going to attend J. Chan’s wedding. I decided to go to the Registry first to see if it opened. I arrived there at ten past ten. A card “休息” was hanging at the door. Funny, wasn’t it. Who were taking rest? The officers at the office or the people who are attending wedding ceremonies?

I peeped in and saw a couple sitting at the counter, entertained by the people in the office. The door was an automatic one. I guessed I would try to go in and wait. As I was waiting, the families of the couple came in. Later the couple invited me to take a photo for them.

It followed that a tall foreigner and a hump-backed gentleman came in. The tall gentleman went to the counter with a piece of paper. I supposed he was one of the bride-grooms. Some of my colleagues came and I told them that the foreigner might be Brent, the name J. Chan told me before in the phone. Mrs. Tong confirmed that the foreigner was Brent. My guess was right. Mrs. Tong pinned up the flowers to the clothes of the bridegroom and the other gentleman whom I supposed to be one of the witnesses at the wedding.

J. Chan had not yet arrived in her car. At about ten forty-five, she came. Registration was made at the counter and soon we went into Room 1 of the Registry. Some photos were taken first. Later the ceremony of the wedding began. Short oaths were made by the couple. Then the married couple and witnesses signed on the marriage certificate.

Next relatives, friends, classmates, colleagues and students of J. Chan in turn took photos with this happy couple.

Outside the Registry, I talked with J. Chan’s mother who knew me well.

An Instant Swimming Pool

The heavy rain this morning had flooded the Expressway to our International Airport (大嶼山快速公路) into a yellow river. All traffic to the airport could only rely on the Airport Express (機場快綫) or Tung Chung Rail (東涌綫) plus vehicles. All kinds of vehicles such as air-buses, coaches, container trucks, taxis and many more were stopped by the flooding of a new-born river. What a serious traffic jam occurred at the North Lantau! I guess this long line of vehicles has no way to go unless each vehicle reverses, one by one, away from the scene.

Below us is the new building site of a swimming-pool for our nearby secondary school which has opened for three years or so. I can’t understand where this school gets so much money to build a new block of a swimming pool and a multi-purpose gymnasium on top of one of its basketball courts. The heavy rain this morning (from six something to eleven) has filled the whole building site into a temporary swimming pool already (the outline of the extension block had not yet been shown).

How fast had the tropical depression over Hong Kong turned our territories into floods (always in Sheung Wan) and land-slides! I learned from the news that in a landslide in Tuen Mun had buried six people. Only four had been rescued. The firemen saved the remaining two inside the store (士多) covered by a fallen concrete wall, but found them dead already. What a tragedy!

Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Films (美高梅電影)

The look of this famous Hong Kong comedian, Jim Sir, reminds me of the lion that roars each time on the screen in a cinema before a film from Metro-Goldwin-Mayer (美高梅) is on show.

In a cinema, I am happy to see this lion because soon after it disappears, the film I am going to see will be shown. By that time, all the advertisements, films coming soon (不日放映) and the next film to be on (下期放映) have gone already. That means I do not have to wait any more.

A New Hair-cut

Recently, Abby’s hair is a bit too long. Connie decides to cut Abby’s hair short. It is the usual job of the grandmother to be the “Barber”.

This time on Monday, June 2^nd , Connie took up the scissors to do the cutting first and later Grandma joined in to give the hair-cut to “perfection”.

It followed that Abby went to a mirror and looked at herself in it. She did not look surprised at her new look or showed any dissatisfaction. However, there was one thing for sure now. She was unable to “swing” her long hair in imitation of the “model” (in an advertisement of a “Shampoo” product in TV) whose hair was blown crazily by strong winds and returned to normal after being swung a few times.

Father’s Day

Father’s Day will be on June 15^th this year. I saw a beautiful and interesting cake made of ice-cream in an advertisement (the biggest one here).

On the cake, the father, having eyes closed, is taking a bath and relaxing at the side of the bath-tub. A dish of fruit is floating on the water of a lovely green colour. There is a purple towel at the far-end of the tub for drying the body after-bath.

The cake is really amusing, bringing much fun to the dads who love bathing in this way.

For me, I don’ like bathing in a bath-tub such as this nor I will use so much water in a bath. I think the children of a father should have a cake somewhat in mind, specially designed for their father if they know him well.

What will my cake be like and what yours be like?

Let’s study the cakes in the advertisement one by one:

The one mentioned above is called Refreshing Dad (超爽爸爸) 味道:甘栗杏仁雪糕

The other six ice-cream or cream cakes are (from top left to right and then bottom left to right):

Very Love (十分愛) 味道: 意大利咖啡拿破崙餅

Full of love (滿載心思) 味道: 香橙軟朱古力餅

You’re my Sunshine (您是陽光) 味道: 菠蘿蜜語雪糕

My Dearest (心愛的您) 味道: 鮮芒果餅

So Sweet (甜絲絲) 味道: 士多啤梨雪糕

Super Smart (文質彬彬) 味道: 特濃軟朱古力餅

The cakes look delicious, but they are too expensive. Each ice-cream cake sells HK$218 and cream cake $168. It is good to look at them, but not worth buying. It is heart-breaking when we cut up any one of these well-designed masterpieces of cakes.

The Big Fire at Universal Studios, Hollywood

A big fire occurred near New York Street at Universal Studios in Los Angeles early at about 4 on Sunday morning, June 1^st, 2008. The fire spread fast to other buildings. The Courthouse Square was also burnt. A total of 50 thousand films and videos were destroyed in the fire.

I took a photo of the Universal Studios high above from the Theme Park when my wife and I had our tour in Los Angeles in April, 2006.

From TV yesterday, I saw the large studio with a white ceiling (in the centre left of my photo) burning fiercely.
Parts of the ceiling collapsed and heavy black smoke rose to a great height. What a sad sight!

The small photos showed the beautiful houses I saw during our tour round the streets at different filming sites. They were all swept out by this big fire. How depressing for wife and me and those who have been there before to see such a beautiful place turned into ashes.

櫃員機廣告

這是獅子銀行今天在免費報紙上刊登的廣告.

該銀行話說在2008年首五個月內於9個服務地點陸續增添全新自動櫃員機. 這消息無疑對住在新櫃員機服務地點的市民帶來極大方便, 因為這些櫃員機可以提供提存服務. 以往客戶去獅子銀行要排上約半個鐘才可以得到服務, 實是考驗客人的忍耐力. 如今我們只需要按幾個鍵就可以把自己想提出的錢在半分鐘內拿到手上, 那幾方便呢!

獅子銀行承諾3年內在所有公共屋邨添置自動櫃員機, 這真要有關人士拭目以待呢!

這個廣告設計得不俗, 以長蛇陣似的自動櫃員機排著隊等待向市民服務!

Interesting touch at a car

While Abby was returning home with us after lunch on May 26^th, she stopped in front of a dark green car at the car-park. I knew that the big, round headlights of this car attracted her attention, so I returned to take a photo of her touching the headlights with both hands. Perhaps she was trying to make some sorts of identification of her finger prints on the headlights (screens) in the same way some people do before they are allowed to enter a closed area.

She stayed there for almost 1 minute without moving. I waved to her and told her to move, but still she was there. What a surprise Abby gave everybody!

This time, I would like you to guess the brand of the car that attracted Abby’s attention.

A. Mercedes Benz B. Toyota C. Honda D. Porsche E. Ferrari

30 cents for a Tram Ride

The dream of taking a tram ride with 30 cents (Two ways) to the Peak came true yesterday. It was the 120^thAnniversary of the Hong Kong Peak Tramway.

Yesterday the weather was bad. Rain and thunder dominated the sky. There was a long queue at the station on Garden Road all day. At one time in the afternoon, the number of people reached 6000. There were 6 rides in every hour. Each tram could carry about 120 people. That meant that only 720 passengers could be delivered up the peak in 1 hour. In that case, a passenger may take 7 to 8 hours in waiting for his/her turn to board a tram.

The reasons why people came to take the ride were:
Firstly, it was extremely cheap, only 30 cents for two-ways, back to the old days when the trams were operated 120 years ago.
Secondly, the tickets resembled those used in the past (see the left-hand bottom of the photo). Thirdly, the passengers could take photos with the working staff who wore those costumes in Queen Victoria’s times.
Fourthly, the tickets would be punched with holes by the old punching machines held by the working staff.

At six in the evening, the Peak Tramway Company announced that they would stop people from queuing at the station. It was because if they did not do this, they could not stop service at mid-night.

My wife and I did not join this hot activity yesterday because we did not have the patience to wait for such a long time nor we could bear the wet weather and the heat from the crowds of people at the station. Someone said in TV that it was worth taking the ride because of the old tickets. I disagree with this because these tickets are duplicates of the past. They are not the originals.

One interesting was that the tram fare collected on the whole day would be donated to the Sichuan Earthquake Movement. There were about 12000 passengers yesterday. The total fare could only reach a maximum of HK$3600. How small was the donation!

Dandelions in Australia

I can’t really imagine that dandelions are so local in Australia. Let us see where Ho Keung and Yin Ping find them:

“It seems that we have quite a few dandelions in our front yard. We have just sent you three pictures of dandelions with fluffy white balls of seeds. One dandelion grows in the flower bed among the gardenias(白嬋). You can see the green and shiny gardenia leaves. The other grows in front of the garage in the gap between the bricks and the concrete floor.”

The fluffy white ball of a dandelion in the top photo is very beautiful indeed. It is composed of actually hundreds of white parachutes with seeds attached at their bottoms. If there is a gale, these parachutes will fly in the air to far distant places and if the seeds are lucky, they will germinate and grow into new dandelions. These plants are so wise in reproduction in this way.

Although people often regard them as wild plants, I respect them.

清仔開 PARTY

難得一見的事是出前一丁的清仔開party. 這天清仔真開心, 放下平日送麵的工作, 和妹妹一齊拉彩紙鞭炮慶祝一番. 加入這party還有外婆, 她跳的是日清扇舞, 也有父親的精彩魔術表演. 母親用照相機把這刻歡樂時光留住了!

下面的廣告照片正是清仔每天送麵的情景.

Some Maori historic culture

The top photo shows a hut which Maoris used to live. The structure was simple. The ceiling was made of some long leaf fibers only enough to shelter from light rain with the support of a few strong branches of trees. The four walls were built in similar manner. This hut was not spacious at all, just big enough for rest and sleep. Our modern tents would be much better than this one.

The photo below seems to show the stove for cooking by the Maoris. The cross-section of the big rock at the top was fine and beautiful. I wonder how this piece of rock was cut by human hands and where it had been found.

Gone with the hands

Two days ago when I returned home from school, I found the dandelions at the flower-beds on the pedestrian walk-bridge were gone.

They must have been plucked away by someone.

If he were a chef, the dandelions would have gone to a kitchen, later turned into a salad.

If he were a wine-brewer, the dandelions would be turned into wine, but it had to take years.

If he were a person who was afraid of mosquito bites, the dandelions would be crushed to juice and applied to the skin.

If he were a dyer, the dandelions would be crushed and the juice extracted and turned into a dye.

Last of all, if he were a gardener, the dandelions would be thrown to the dustbin because he might think that they were wild plants.

What do you think that man could be?

The photo shows my last glimpse at a fluffy white ball from the dandelions, ready for dispersal of seeds.

Lunch at Maxim’s Restaurant (3) – Crunchy food

Abby likes to eat “crunchy’ food.

I forgot that she ate two crunchy pieces of dim-sums during lunch on May 26^th. What do you think was inside those crunchy fried pieces?

A. potato (薯仔) B. sweet potato (蕃薯) C. 九肚魚 D. shrimp paste (蝦餅) E. chicken (雞肉)