Missed the First Chance

Yesterday morning, we learned from “Roadside” source that the first Night-blooming flower in our public garden had blossomed the night before. From past experience, these flowers opened quite late at night and I did not expect them to open at such an early hour at eight, so I missed my first chance of watching it bloom.

At the corridor, we chanced to meet one of female gardeners who told us that the second flower might bloom later the night.

I promised myself I must witness the second blooming yesterday night. Last time the first blossom appeared at around 8:40. To my amazement, the plant seemed to know how to read the time on this second night. Throughout the next one to two hours after 8:40, the second flower showed their beautiful white petals. Some passing-by residents said that the flower gave out some fragrance, but my poor nose could not sense it at all. I was too happy to say that I could capture the “grand” opening of this nocturnal flower with my small digital camera.

Paper mats from Pizza Hut

These 4 paper mats are found in our post box downstairs. What interests me is the design.
Of course, the main elements of the cartoon mats are advertisements:

They read as follows, ‘Order for the “Hot”’ delivery food; “Say cheese!

The mats provide some fun-games such as 3-6-9 game and Sudoku for the customers. I think customers can play the games while waiting for food inside the restaurant. It is better for Pizza Hut to create some newer games for customers to play.

Night-blooming Cereus

The gardener in our public garden told my wife yesterday that she had intentionally placed a pot of Night-blooming cereus (曇花) at the most noticeable spot along the corridor so that more people could see it. According to her experience, the flowers would bloom in these few days.

I am happy to see this old friend once more because I witnessed the blooming of such white flowers at home many years ago. This kind of flowers does not give out the kind of sweet fragrance I like. From my observation, the flowers rarely bloom. If they do, they open for just one to two hours after mid-night and soon they drooped.

Let us read what Wikipedia describes about these short-life flowers:

The Night-blooming Cereus is often called Queen of the night and also known as the lunar flower, moon flower and luna flower. This plant is native to the Sonoran Desert in North America. The plant grows as a thin, almost dead looking stick from a single stem in the ground. They bloom just on one or two nights of the year, typically around May 30. Beneath the ground is a large tuber, often the size of a watermelon. It was eaten by Indians and early settlers because of its nutritious content. Pack rats often eat these blossoms before morning, so catching a glimpse of them can be fleeting (曇花一現) . They often stay open until the early morning hours, but then close up for another year.

Fanapi Movements

It is always fascinating to see the movement of a typhoon each time when it comes to Hong Kong. In the past, typhoons were created east of the Philippines and travelled north-westwards. Recently typhoons are created east of Taiwan. Some go northerly towards Shanghai or further to Korea and Japan.

This time Fanapi travels westward, crosses Taiwan proper and go onshore somewhere between Fujian and Guangdong. It goes by the backdoor of Hong Kong and is going to sweep most of Guangdong. Fanapi has flooded Taiwan with much rain water. I wonder if the typhoon brings heavy rain to Hong Kong as well. Let me see!

Funny Soap

This thick piece of soap looks very much like a piece of mixed ham. Its variation in colour is more interesting than those cakes of ordinary soap for cleansing in the bath-room. One of its edges is round and the others are straight. I guess it must have been cut out from a large piece. It is totally wrapped up with opaque waterproof paper with a label telling customers what it is.

Last September when I was in Vancouver, I came before a shop selling soap. I found soap placed in various buckets and they had different colours and shapes, more or less like rock sugar. The immediate thought to me was that the soap here must be sold by weight, not by piece.

In the old days, rice was sold in the same way. One may buy a certain amount of rice. The shop-keeper would weigh the rice according to the demand and shovel it into a bag made of jute, unlike nowadays rice are normally sold in 5, 8 or 10 kg plastic bags.

The colour and shapes of soap nowadays are in revolution. Recently we use several pieces of soap with different smells and colours. I remember that we have used one which has a lemon smell and one with honey (one edge seems to be part of honeycomb). How interesting it will be to me if it has the smell of mango or chocolate!

I can tell you that the piece of soap here does not have the smell of ham.

Fanapi

Fanapi (凡亞比) is a typhoon coming westward at a speed 20 km per hour from Taiwan across the strait and going inland at the shore between Swatow (汕頭) and Fujian (福建). It will pass the backdoor of Hong Kong like the previous typhoon.

For own interest, it is a custom to me to take photos of the sky before a typhoon comes. In these few days, the sky is blurred with grey smog, something like a fog or smoke. The colour of the sky turns a strangely red or purplish red at sunset.

Yesterday the temperature in Shatin reached as high as 35 degrees Celcius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). To me, the hot feeling was no good and unbearable. We do not turn on the air-conditioners at home unless it is really necessary, but yesterday the irritating heat that pierced through the windows into our home made us surrender.

At the moment when I am writing, it begins to rain. I hope the rain will drive away the heat and bring us cooler weather.

The World's Steepest Street

Believe it or not, Baldwin Street, in the suburban part of Dunedin (達尼丁) (a southern city of New Zealand), is claimed as the world’s steepest street.

Baldwin Street is a short straight street, 350 metres long, rising from 30 metres (98 ft) above sea level at its junction with North Road to 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level at the top, an average slope of slightly more than 1 : 5. At its maximum, the slope of Baldwin Street is approximately 1 : 2.86 (19° or 35%).

From my rough measurement at the photos here, the street inclines at about 20 degrees to the horizontal. Heavy vehicles are advised not to climb this road.

In one of the photos, it seems that a house has sunk into the soil.

To experience the steepness of the road, the lady from a Taiwan TV team walked up the street and finally bought a certificate at NZ$2 from a local shop to certify that she had walked up the steepest road in the world.

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca (的的喀喀湖) lies between Peru and Bolivia, so the boundary cuts the lake roughly into two halves. It sits 3,811 m (12,500 ft) above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water, it is also the largest lake in South America.

The western part of the lake lies within the Puno Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department.

Lake Titicaca is fed by rainfall and melt water from glaciers on the sierras that have a common boundary with the Altiplano. Five major river systems feed into Lake Titicaca.

Titicaca is notable for a population of people who live on the Uros, a group of 42 or so artificial islands made of floating reeds 蘆葦 (totora, a reed that grows in the shallow parts of the lake). These islands have become a major tourist attraction for Peru, drawing excursions from the lakeside city of Puno (普諾). Their original purpose was defensive, and they could be moved if a threat arose. Many of the islands contain watch towers largely constructed of reeds. Large or small boats were made from totora and they are used for navigation on the lake.

Dancing Bees

To end the query raised, I attempt a closer look at the brown insects that crowd round the crack of the same old tree in Shatin today. From the photos I take, I see that they are definitely bees with black and brown stripes.

One interesting thing about these bees is that they shake and dance at the same time. To take a clear picture of them needs steady hands and the right moment when they stop dancing.

I am glad to have a very clear picture of the bees that find a tree hole as their home. Maybe I can say, these bees are Dancing Queens at their stage.

Mag Lam has won!

In the final round of the singing contest, “The Voice 2”, the top three contestants had to sing a song unplugged each. Piano is the only musical instrument used by them. The total marks for the two songs each contestant sang will decide the winner of the contest.

In this order of singing, Sheldon Lo sang the song “Apologize”, Hubert Wu “可惜不是你 and ”Mag Lam “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?”.

Sheldon finally got 170.5 marks, Hubert 171.3 and Mag 171.5. Mag beat Hubert by 0.2 marks.

In my heart, I always look upon Mag to be the winner and Hubert to come next. My expectation has come true. I do hope “The Voice 3” will come soon in the coming months so that I can be the “Invisible” judge again.

Tree-hole = Beehive?

What a strange sight when I saw a tree-hole become a beehive!

Today my wife and I took the same route home after breakfast. Some fifty to hundred brown bees crawled in or out of a narrow opening of an old tree. Parts of the bark of this tree had long fallen off, leaving cracks behind.

The bees, I believe, might find this tree to be their home. I wondered how deep and how far the bees had gone inside. Perhaps the bees had already found much room to hold their family.

Sooner or later, this tree may become hollow and fall down if the bees over-expand their territories.

Dog Assembly

It is so nice to see these American dog-owners bring their dogs together at a park. Most of them are furry pet dogs, small in size and different in colours – white, grey, black, brown and golden yellow. There is one big dog here, but it seems quite tame. Even a girl dares to touch and speak to it.

These dogs are happier because they have a holiday and make friends at the park. They become sociable and are never bound to their own backyards.

The dog-owners can easily exchange conversations and share their experience on how to keep their dogs and some even show their dogs’ skill at one time.

Encouraging Prizes in “The Voice 2”

Prizes were given to the contestants in “The Voice 2” who gets the top votes through Internet.

I totally agree with the results through votes from the public.

These are the prizes presented:
[A] 網上人氣巨聲獎 – 林欣彤
[B] 飛躍進步巨聲獎 – 胡鴻鈞
[C] 金曲獎項 – 我最喜愛金曲巨聲獎(最高票數之三首)
(1) 歲月的童話 – 陳慧敏
(2) 夢一場 – 吳業坤
(3) 愛請問怎麼走 – 林欣彤 (最高票數)

To hear how the contestants interpret the songs, it would be better to visit HKTVB website on “The Voice 2”.

20100912 The Voice 2 (Final)

Yesterday night, I enjoyed watching and listening to TVB’s Singing Contest, “The Voice 2”, among the 6 finalists.

The 6 contestants, in order of singing in the first round , were as follows:
[1] Penny Chan (陳國峄) singing 洋蔥 (original singer: 楊宗緯)
[2] Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞) singing 原諒我 (original singer: 蕭敬騰)
[3] Sheldon Lo (羅孝勇) singing Speechless (self-written by Sheldon)
[4] Mag Lam (林欣彤) singing A Moment Like This (original singer: Kelly Clarkson)
[5] James Ng (吳業坤) singing 夢醒了 (original singer: 那英)
[6] Brian Tse (謝東閔) singing Piano (original singer: 范逸臣)

Their marks in the first round were
[1] Penny Chan 82.8
[2] Hubert Wu 87.0
[3] Sheldon Lo 84.5
[4] Mag Lam 87.8
[5] James Ng 83.3
[6] Brian Tse 84.1

The top three contestants could enter the final round and each of them were to sing an unplugged song.

In my opinion, in the first round, Hubert could keep his standard. Sheldon had great improvement and Mag could not sing as well as last week (last time she got 92).

A Birthday Dinner

Recently, Mrs. Ko requested some of CCSC colleagues to her birthday dinner. Not to mention, it was a delicious dinner to everyone.

Here I am to write something about each participant at the dinner.

1. Mrs. Ko received her birthday card from all of us.
2. Mrs. D. Chan, requested by Mrs. Ko to be a coordinator, wrote e-mails to us about the details of the dinner.
3. Mrs. Hui has an eye operation recently and her eye-sight has been improved.
4. Mrs. J. Wong has another grandson and she was so kind to give us some sweet vinegar with ginger and pig’s legs to eat before dinner.
5. Julienne Ip flied back to Hong Kong from Vancouver to stay with her daughter’s family in Hong Kong.
6. Edith Mak has a better knowledge of the capability of cameras in terms of pixels than I do.
7. Helen Lo‘s daughter did not show up this time at the dinner.
8. Yvette Poon showed her beautiful ear-rings to us during the dinner.
9. Mr. Fung and Mrs. Fung took a tram home that night.
10. Nancy Hui told us that there were only secondary one classes this year.
11. Rosa Wong said that she was going to be a form-mistress this year.
12. I was one of the photographers at the dinner.

Miss M. Ng, Miss Su and Mrs. Ma were unable to join us that evening.

Glory's Prey

Cats catch mice, but Glory catches possum.

Glory is Felix’s faithful dog at home. I remember her when she sniffed me for the first time at her master's house in April, 2006. I stood stiff, never to move an inch, when she examined me for a few seconds because it was then really a big dog. Perhaps she was learning and recording my odour in her memory when doing so.

Felix told me what happened one recent night at his house.

“The possum is such an ugly animal that everybody was kind of scared when we saw it for the first time. They belong to a group of animals called the marsupials, which rear their young in a pouch for the early part of their lives, like the Kangaroos. Basically they are quite harmless, but to us, they have a very vicious look. I think someone said they have sharp claws.

My dog Glory, of course, does care whether they are good looking or not, but she will fight anyone who invades into her territory, and thus kills the possums. That night, I was already sleeping but Glory climbed to our bed and woke me up by pushing me many times with her front claw. I thought she needs to pee and open the door for her to go out into the yard. She dashed out to the yard, but after quite a while I didn't see her appear at her usual pee location, so I went out and found Glory biting something. She did not bark but was just "doing her work". The possum was lying on the ground. I didn't let Glory eat her catch. I picked up the body and threw it away in a garbage bag.

I am not afraid that Glory will get Rabies because she is already vaccinated against rabies and certified.”

I can see a shovel on the ground, which I think Felix would use it to put the possum into a garbage bag and throw it away.

Skydive in New Zealand

Nzone in Queenstown, New Zealand, provides skydive to visitors. A video-shooting team from a Taiwanese TV programme about tours experienced skydive over this southern city in South Island.

The sweet lady in black dress and the cameraman first signed papers and changed into proper uniforms, each accompanied by an experienced parachutist. They were to jump from a Cresco Turbine aircraft at a height of 15000 feet above the ground.

The jumps were successful ones. The two colourful parachutes, one pink and one purple, were in rectangular shapes. Two by two, they glided down and landed safely on the ground.

If I name my 16 photos here in order from left to right and top to bottom with numbers 1 to 16. What do you think is the order of the photos?

Earthquake near Christchurch Today

An earthquake with magnitude 7.1 occurred in the South Island, New Zealand at 04:35:44 AM local time (16:35:44 UTC), Saturday, September 4, 2010. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 16.1 kilometers (10.0 miles).

The epicenter was located 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Christchurch. The earthquake was reported to have caused widespread damage and power outages. Several aftershocks were also reported. Christchurch residents were awaken by the heavy shakes of the earthquake and reported chimneys have fallen in through roofs, cracked ceilings and collapsed brick walls. Some of the cars were damaged by fallen bricks and debris.

Some of the water pipes were broken and thus flooded some of the streets. Articles of shops fell onto the floors when the earthquake struck. Some residents stayed outside the streets and some even drove to high grounds for fear of Tsunami.

Christchurch

Back to August 30, 2007, Ho Keung and Yin Ping reached Christchurch (基督城), the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand.The photos they took before the interesting houses looked as if they were in the city of Lilliput (小人國) in Gulliver travels. The houses were really beautiful. They also took a photo of Christ’s College (the one with a red tram) and at the Botanic Garden inside Hagley Park.

At the centre of Christ Church is Cathedral Square, surrounding the Anglican cathedral. There are chesses almost the sizes of people for play at the square. The area around this square and within the "four avenues" of Christchurch (Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue and Deans Avenue) is considered the central business district of the city. The central city also has a number of residential areas, including Inner City East, Inner City West, Avon Loop, Moa Neighbourhood & Victoria. Tourists could ride trams to tour round the city.

The Voice 2

I love watching “The Voice” ever since last year. At this moment, the “The Voice 2” has become red-hot because eight contestants will become six in the coming programme. Two will be disqualified. The last six contestants will compete and soon the winner will appear.

Last Sunday, an outstanding singer, Jeanie Lee(李幸倪), from Malaysia challenged one of the contestants in Hong Kong. I think her singing is up to perfection.

To me, I predict Mag Lam (林欣彤)will be the winner of this contest in the final. The runners-up will be among James Ng(吳業坤), Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞) and Penny Chan(陳國峄). Let me see if I am right.

I enjoy watching and listen to the songs the contestants sing. Each time, I myself pretend to be one of judges. I am quite happy to find that the marks I give to each contestant are very close to those given by the judges.

In the photo, the top left is Mag Lam; on her right is Hubert Wu; the lady in red dress is Jeanie Lee, the Malaysian singer; the centre right is Penny Chan; the bottom right is James Ng.