Visit to Sydney - 25 December 2006 Monday

Today Tim and May came to have lunch with us at Castle Hill. Loretta arrived in her car in the afternoon.


Yuen Siu pretended to play the piano while May, Loretta and Yin Ping open their mouths as if to sing. Tim and May had to leave because they were going to the airport to take Connie and Philip to Castle Hill.

Towards evening, we joined the Christmas party and dinner at church. There were games and singing during the party. We each got a Christmas gift, a doll of a lamb for Yuen Siu and some chocolate for me. We returned to Castle Hill.

Connie and Philip arrived at about 11 o’clock. Everybody chatted and laughed in the sitting room. The boys started playing shuttle cork while the girls sat quietly watching. Group photos were taken.



Tim and May gave us Christmas gifts (a photo album to Sek Sang /salt and pepper containers to Yuen Siu).



We soon ate ice-cream at the dining table in the kitchen. Since it was over 12 midnight, the young ones including sleeping Ally had to leave.

Visit to Sydney - 24 December 2006 Sunday

It was late morning when we made a home visit to Ho Keung and Yin Ping’s church friends. They together had a practice of singing the song they were going to present to the audience at church. They sang together like a choir. There were sermons and singing at the church. Later we had lunch with Ricky and Winnie at a Chinese Café at Carlingford.

Next we drove to Chatswood to shop at a big mall called Chatswood Chase. The articles inside were far expensive than we could afford. There was light rain when we left. Having finished our dinner at home, we visited Tim and May’s church. There Tim played the drums while May led us sing some Christmas carols. On the return journey, we dropped in the Coles Market nearby Castle Hill and bought extremely cheap bread (12 buns at 50 cents). It was a big surprise! We all understood why. The supermarket would close for the next two days for Christmas.

Visit to Sydney - 23 December 2006 Saturday

Early in the morning my primary school classmates, Man Kin and Him Ching, both live in Sydney came to fetch us at Castle Hill. The first place Him Ching brought us to was a fruit and seafood market at Flemington. I could never find such a big market in Hong Kong. The fruits were sold in bulk purchase. I thought they were cheaper here.

Our next stop was Sydney Olympic Park. I was delighted to be there because I could only see it in TV in the year 2000. Although it was quiet there, I could imagine the busy scenes back to the time of the Games.

Next we visited Him Ching’s beautiful house, a modern hotel-like house of a new era. Then we took some photos in North Sydney.

It started to rain when we reached Manly Beach. The Manly Wharf looked very much like our Old Star Ferry Pier in Central which was recently pulled down. We ate fish-n-chip at a table overlooking the long beach. Him Ching was the boss. We drank the tea prepared by Man Kin’s wife, Brenda.

Next Him Ching drove us back to the Rocks to look at a roadside market. Next we passed Domain, Hyde Park and returned to Him Ching’s house. Man Kin drove us back to Castle Hill in his car.

We took a short walk with Mimi and had dinner at home with pork chops and vegetables. Later at night, we drove round Castle Hill to watch the Christmas lightings. We saw the best three lightings in that area.

Visit to Sydney - 22 December 2006 Friday

We had “wun ton” as breakfast before we picked up May near her house. With her, we drove to Eastwood to catch a train to Town Hall.

Out of the station, we were inside Queen Victoria Building. It was a classic building with shopping arcades. We took photos of the big Christmas tree and an interesting clock inside. We turned to have lunch at a food court at the basement of another building. We were joined by Tim, Loretta, Kenny and Alison there. Tim had to get back to work.

In the next one to two hours, we walked about the Darling Harbour . We saw the monorail, tall buildings around us. Yuen Siu and Ho Keung found a turning door at the entrance of a building, so they together walked through it. On the way crossing the bridge to a shopping centre, we saw the Wildlife World, the Aquarium and the Maritime Museum of ships - a destroyer, a submarine and an ancient ship of Magellan time. There was also a classic ship as restaurant.

At the shopping centre, Loretta and Kenny stood beside two cartoon soldiers to imitate their look. We stopped by a Macca to eat ice-cream cones after a little shopping. Soon we met Tim at the far end of the harbour. We gathered to take a group photo in front of the Chinese Garden of Friendship. This time, Loretta suggested us to form the look of the Opera House by spreading our hands out to form arches. Nice idea!

We went into the nearby Paddy’s market to buy a big 2-kg packet of Nougat sold at about A$24.5. Opposite to this market was the Chinatown. The street we walked through was not long. There were many food shops on two sides and small stalls in the centre. It was an amazing sight to see a person being massaged on a table, open to the public!

We then boarded a train back to Eastwood with Tim and May. We said good- bye to this young couple and returned home to dinner. While Yin Ping was cooking, we took Mimi, an old but faithful dog, out for a long walk. Mimi might be too old to walk such a long distance, he stopped and sat down several times on the way back. She looked at us with sorrowful eyes as if she told us she was very tired. She gasped continuously for a very long time even when she had returned home. How poor she was!

Visit to Sydney - 21 December 2006 Thursday

For the first time, we took a backyard breakfast outside the house. Quickly we drove to Eastwood and parked the car at the roadside. We walked to its station and took a train (double journey fare: A$5.6) to Central Station, next onto another train to Circular Quay.

First we took a short walk around the Quay to take some photos of the Opera House, Harbour bridge and the Rocks. While waiting for Loretta, I bought souvenirs of a cap (A$9.9), two small animal dolls (A$4.5 each) and 6 key-chains(A$7.9).

Soon we met Loretta pushing Alison along in her pram. Not long we boarded “Sydney 2000” to start a harbour cruise with lunch round Sydney harbour. We were led to a table for six. I had the privilege of sitting near the window so that I could raise my camera any time I liked. It was an enjoyable lunch with steak/fish/dumplings with prawns as main course. The food was beyond praise.

The Captain Cook cruiser circled round the harbour, went under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, returned to Circular Quay to drop some of the passengers and then sailed round the Darling Harbour. Photo-shooting was in my first priority because taking photos of Sydney from the sea was completely different from that from land. Besides the harbour bridge, the Opera House was my main interest.Ally was really calm, biting at bread at times. She was the centre of interest besides our food! We bought 3 photos (A$10 each) from a crew who took them while we were at table. It was a two-hour cruise.

Waving good-bye to Loretta and Alison, we returned to Eastwood by train. We boarded our car and drove to a car-park near the station. There was free parking for 2 hours. First we went to see the shop of the travel agency which sold to us the air-tickets of this trip. Next we bought some vegetables and fruit from a supermarket. We pushed a cart with everything back to the car-park and went to take cups of drinks at Hong Kong Café at Carlingford.

It was a big surprise that we met Kenny on our way to a lookout to take a long-distance photo of the Sydney Olympic Park.

We went to Tim’s house which was on the third floor of an apartment house. When we went in, May and Tim were busy preparing dinner for us. Soon Kenny, Loretta and Ally arrived. We sat compactly at Tim’s dining table and took a good dinner. During dinner, Yin Ping asked how Yuen Siu and I got to know each other at the very beginning. It was difficult to answer Yin Ping’s question of why I liked my wife. After dinner Tim performed Karate and Yuen Siu Taitze in the sitting-room.

Visit to Sydney - 20 December 2006 Wednesday

We had toasted bread breakfast at home early in the morning. We started to go to Swane's Nursery. There were many kinds of roses, in different colours. We could not stop taking photos of these roses and also other flowers in the nursery. As we were going to leave, we discovered some new beds of lavender. Yin Ping took photos of the flowers with bees humming round them.

At noon, we ate dim-sums in a Chinese restaurant at Castle Tower. It was an expensive lunch (around A$60). We could have two such lunches in Hong Kong for 4 people. In the afternoon, we went to Fagan Park, a wide park with green grassland sloping gently down to a lagoon-shaped lake. There were a small windmill symbolized Holland, an American styled house to represent United States, a Japanese house to represent Japan and some others. Crossing a small bridge over the lake, Yuen Siu and Ho Keung fed the hungry white ducks and black birds, not with bread but small lumps of dried pineapple. Yin Ping and I were able to catch a few snapshots of the feeding.

Auburn Botanic Garden was the next place to go. We stepped into its Japanese Garden where we met a peacock. It walked away from us and refused to show its feathers and even flow to the hedge of a wall. Next we crossed a small lake with a line of stepping stones. It was interesting to see wallabies (small kangaroos) seeing each other through a small hole in different partitions of a small zoo inside.

Next we turned to the Bicentenary Park near Sydney Olympic Park. We went to the top of its 3-storey tower to look at the sceneries around. Later of the day, we drove to Ho Keung’s former working place to take my last photo because the battery in my camera was very low. We had “wun tons” as dinner at home that night.

Visit to Sydney - 19 December 2006 Tuesday

We took a Cathay plane from Hong Kong at about midnight. It would be a 9-hour flight. I could see nothing outside the plane because it was in complete darkness. I could not sleep, but waited for a meal to be served. I seldom eat after midnight, but this time was an exception. Although there was a small television screen before me, I had no interest at looking at the programmes.

Time passed slowly. I was only interested to know where the plane had reached each hour. Bright light could be seen after four hours because Australia experienced morning at that time.

White clouds laid some carpets below us. At that time, the plane was flying into the Gulf of Carpentaria. After an hour, I could see rivers carved their ways in the red-brown land below.

The plane was heading southeastward. As the plane approached Sydney, rivers, houses, grasslands and roads were clearly seen. The Parramatta River could be distinguished easily. Soon the plane descended very closely to land until it finally landed on the runway of Sydney International Airport at about noon.

The officer at the immigration did not say anything, but stamped on our passport our date of entry. Having taken our luggage, we approached to the room where luggage would be x-rayed. I handed our declaration form to another officer. When he learned that we had brought with us some medicine, he began to ask us questions. We replied to him that the medicine was given to us by our family doctor for common colds, fever and headache. He was so kind to write “okay” on our forms and let us go.

After the luggage had been screened, we walked out to the Arrival hall , but we could not see Ho Keung and Yin Ping. I wondered if they forgot our arrival, but the answer was “No”. They appeared before us in a matter of a few seconds. Yin Ping gave a warm hug to Yuen Siu, but not to me. I thought I might be too fat to be hugged (kidding). The hourly parking fare (A$7 for half an hour) was much much higher than that of Hong Kong airport (round about HK$20 for an hour).

It was the first time I saw Yin Ping drive. Not bad at all. She drove past the City proper so that we could look at its buildings and streets. She showed us the Sydney Tower at Centrepoint where we would have a buffet dinner a few days later. Next we crossed the harbour bridge and travelled along several freeways.

On the way to Castle Hill, Ho Keung received a call from Tim. Ho Keung turned on the speaker so that Yuen Siu and I could hear Tim’s voice. Tim said that it was his lunch time and said “hello” to us. Thanks for his greeting!

Yin Ping bought some “wun ton” dumplings from a shop nearby Castle Hill. Finally we arrived at Ho Keung and Yin Ping’s beautiful house at about two o’clock. We slept in the afternoon because we were short of sleep the previous night. At night we had dinner at home with fish and vegetables. Then we took an evening walk to a Coles Supermarket to buy some snacks, buns(A$1/12) and a bottle of mouth-rinsing liquid. That night we were sound asleep!

Trip to Singapore - 21 January 2007 Sunday

Early in the morning we washed all the bed sheets and pillow cases. We started to pack our luggage. As early as eleven in the morning, we took a bus 15 to Parkway Parade to have lunch and went shopping at Isetan.The ladies bought 3 T-shirts while I bought a nice map of Sydney. The ladies said that it was strange of me to buy it because I had already been there. I bought it because I could trace back the routes Yin Ping drove along.
Next we returned to Telok Karau to pick our luggage and called a taxi which took us to the Changi Airport in about 15 minutes.

We checked in first and I walked around to take photos. Next we passed the Immigration. Inside the Departure Hall, we strolled again. I took photos of the beautiful flowers inside and various planes outside the widows. Of course I did not miss the one we were going to board . Soon we went into the waiting room for gate F31. We and our luggage had to be x-rayed. Once we were in, we could not go out again. Soon it was time to fly home. Our plane took about 3 hours and 30 minutes to reach Hong Kong International Airport. The trip to Singapore ended in this way.

Trip to Singapore - 20 January 2007 Saturday

In the morning we walked north to Changi Road to take a bus 7 which ran westward to the city. We were brave enough to board it although we knew nothing of its destination. It went along many roads until it reached its terminus, Clementi.
We felt happy to find a MRT station nearby, Clementi Station(EW23). Without a second thought, we took a MRT train eastward to Outram Park Station(EW16/NE3) to change another train to Vivocity at Harbour Front Station (NE1).

We fed ourselves with fast food and went upstairs to the park on the top floor. I discovered some big cute plastic sculptures there. There was no doubt I would take their images inside my camera. Opposite to Vivocity was the beautiful island, Sentosa. This island could be reached by cable cars, or monorail or ferry. The ladies once more went shopping. They bought 2 identical T- shirts, so they would become twins when they wore them simultaneously.

We took some drinks before we started off to Clarke Quay, an old quay in the past, but now it was turned into a place where visitors could eat and drink.The houses and buildings at the riverside were painted in bright colours. I loved them.

With the help of a map, we walked to Chinatown. It started to rain heavily when we reached (牛車水).We shouldered ourselves through narrow passageways between shops and stalls. After a short walk, we bought some dried beef at S$10.5/ 300g and dried pork at S$12/ 300g from Lim Chee Guan (林志源). We had to queue up for a few minutes before we could buy our 8 packets. Then we boarded a MRT to Outram Park and to Bugis to have a fast-food dinner.

After that, we returned to Eunos and home. At night, the ladies did the clean-up work at Dik’s home before we left the next day

Trip to Singapore - 19 Jan 2007 Friday

At about 9:30 a.m, we started off to Eunos Station to board a MRT to City Hall(EW13/ N25). Out of the Station, we walked across the street to take photos inside a beautiful classical hotel called Raffles Hotel.

Next we went underground to Suntek City by the City Link, a passageway linking up several buildings with shops on its two sides. Next we visited the Fountain of Wealth where we put our hands to the fountain as we walked twice around it. Metal plates of 12 Chinese zodiacs were paved above this fountain.

Next we walked to Bugis Junction to have lunch. Seiyu Department Store at Capita Mall attracted the attention of our two ladies. They went in while I took photos around the area. My brother went to the seaside to take a rest. I went into a Market to explore for souvenirs. Finally I bought a plastic magnet showing the Esplanade and 4 key-chains. All of us assembled inside Seiyu at about 3:30 p.m.

We returned to Eunos and jumped onto a bus 15 to Parkway Parade on Marine Parade Road. We went into the supermarket to buy some food, fruit and a cabinet for supporting the microwave oven at Dik’s home. Since we carried a lot of things and the box of loose parts of the cabinet was quite heavy, we took a taxi.

Towards evening, we walked to East Coast Road to eat Katong Laksa (加東溂沙), a kind of tasty noodles, not hot at all. In the night time, at Dik’s home, my wife and I were busy assembling the cabinet from its parts.

Trip to Singapore - 18 Jan 2007 Thursday

A bus 15 was a familiar choice for us to take to Eunos Station(EW7). It was our first time to board a MRT. The train looked more or less like one of our MTR trains. We went to City Hall Station (EW13/ NS25) then changed a train to Dhoby Ghaut (NS 24/ NE6) and changed another train to Farrer Park Station(NE8).

Out of the station, we crossed the road and walked along Rangoon Road until we reached its end. We then came to the famous shop called Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup Eating House (黃亞細肉骨茶餐室). This was the restaurant that did not serve our Chief Executive, Donald Tsang. Its pork ribs soup (肉骨茶) (S$5/ bowl) was a little spicy and Chinese Donuts(油條) (S$2 / bowl) ordinary. We bought 2 bottles of coke to drink from a nearby shop because they would be cheaper. We could find familiar names of roads here exactly the same as those in Kowloon Tong, such as Kent and Dorset Road.

Next we went to Dhoby Ghaut Station (NE6/ NS24) to change a train to Raffles Place Station (NS26/ EW14). We walked along the riverside and took some photos of the statues and a number of bridges. We walked past Fullerton Hotel and walked under the Esplanade Drive before we reached the Merlion. This Merlion symbolized the city of Singapore. At the nearest shop, we bought 3 purses for our relatives in Hong Kong (S$15/ 3). The Esplanade on the opposite bank of the river looked much like a Durian (榴槤). There were concert halls inside.

What we did next was to take a MRT to Novena Station (NS20). Out of the station was another shopping centre called Velocity. It rained again and so we were forced to go shopping. When the rain stopped, we crossed the road to the Inland Revenue Department Building, passed it and a few shops. There we entered a food shop called Wee Kam Kee. We ate dumplings, vegatables and Hainanese Chicken Rice (海南雞飯). The dish of chicken meat was very nice, being tender and as white as snow. The bill was S$29.8. We hoped we would be there again.

Next we moved to Orchard Station (NS22) to look at Orchard Road (烏節路). It was a busy road similar to Nathan Road in Hong Kong. Department stores were everywhere. Takashimaya inside Ngee Ann City (義安城) was the one we went in for shopping. At its food court, we drank some sugar solution (糖水) to make our throat feel better. When we were going to leave, it rained heavily outside, so we turned back and walked up and down the department store to kill our time. When there was less rain, we went to Meritus Mandarin Hotel to look at the restaurant which sold Hainanese chicken rice at about HK$100. We thought that looking was better than eating there.

Next we walked to Somerset Station(NS23) still with our umbrellas on to take the next train to Newton Station (NS21). Out of the station, the rain had stopped. We crossed the road by a footbridge near a roundabout. In this area, there was a square in the centre and food stalls were arranged along itse four sides. We sat at one of its tables and ate a sting fish (魔鬼魚), some satay meat sticks(沙爹串), two bowls of fish fillet noodles and drank three glasses of sugar-cane juice. This time we took a MRT to City Hall(NS25/EW13) then followed EW rail route to Eunos and returned home by bus.

Trip to Singapore - 17 Jan 2007 Wednesday

Kin Sang woke up early and had a morning walk in the vicinity. At about 9:30, we went out to have breakfast at a small café called (真味珍) on East Coast Road. These were what we ordered: 4 tarts, 2 buns, 4 cups of milk tea and a boiled egg. The bill was just S$40 something. On our way home, we bought some oranges(S$3.5/5) and star fruits(S$4/4)from a roadside fruit shop. They looked good, but expensive!

At noon, we took a bus 15 to Parkway Parade to have a fast-food lunch at its food court. There was a great variety of food to eat, noodles, rice, dumplings, “chow min”and dim-sums. They were cheap. After lunch we went shopping at Isetan. Lai Han bought 2 new cups. Then we bought some food and household goods from a very big supermarket. Before we took a bus home, Lai Han bought a mop from another shop near the bus-stop.

After taking a rest, it was about 5 o’clock. We hired a taxi to East Coast Seafood Centre. It started to rain. We walked into the biggest restaurant called Jumbo Restaurant. First we ordered some seafood ( fish fillets with broccoli/ prawns/ crabs with black pepper/chow ho fun). While we were waiting for the food, we took some photos at the seaside. Sun was setting at that moment. I noticed a lot of ships lying idly at sea and planes flying orderly towards the airport.

We enjoyed the seafood because it was of good quality and the quantity was just right for 4 persons. The bill was just S$106.

Night fell after dinner. We took a walk along the seaside. The sky turned dark and soon rain fell on our heads. Luckily we had taken some umbrellas along, but they were not big enough to shelter us from the rain. We rushed back to the taxi stand and were able to jump into a taxi home. On reaching home, I noticed my left shoulder and my wife’s right shoulder were both wet.

Trip to Singapore - 16 Jan 2007 Tuesday

This was our first trip of the year 2007. We took an A41 to our airport at 5 p.m. We were to meet Kin Sang and Lai Han near the Singapore Airline counters at 6:15 p.m. With the on-line check-in process done at home, it was an easy thing to finish the rest by weighing the luggage and printing out the air-tickets. We had selected our seats already, so we had nothing to worry! It was a good idea to eat something light first before dinner was served on the plane. Most probably we would eat at a later hour, like nine o’clock. I chose a new MacDonald product, chicken burger with thick strips of potatoes and my brother a bowl of roasted duck noodles. The ladies had ordered some baked potatoes to eat.

We passed the Immigration and waited for a long time until the plane parked at the gateway. I quickly took some photos of the plane we would take. It was a Boeing 777. It was dark outside, so the photos of the plane did not look so good. Boarding started at 8:15 p.m. Since it was a weekday and it was a night plane, there were very few passengers. The plane thrust up the sky at 8:35 p.m. There were only 18 passengers in our compartment. An air-hostess came forward and told us that we could change our seats if we liked. Although we could not widespread ourselves to occupy three seats in a row, we liked this kind of freedom. We could sit anywhere we liked! Soon nuts and orange juice were served before us. I had taken a Hong Kong newspaper at the entrance of the plane. Well, I could sit back and read it. As predicted, dinner was served at 9 something. I chose pork with rice as main course. There were a salad, a bun and a small cup of ice-cream. This food was not as good as expected.

The plane took 3 hours 35 minutes to reach Changi Airport. Before the plane landed, I noticed that it had flown a little southward , turned round and glided down towards the airport in a north-east direction. At that height, I could see the scattered lights of the ships that anchored in the harbour. What a new sight to me! Soon the plane landed smoothly on the runway. I noticed that the ground was wet with rain water.

We walked a bit from the gangway and went down to the hall on the ground floor to meet the Immigration officers. The kind elderly male officer photocopied the information page of our passport and our declaration form and stamped it. Next we picked up our luggage and went past the Customs freely (might be they had gone home already). We took a taxi after we had got some booklets from the Visitors’ Centre. It took us about fifteen minutes to reach Telok Karau (直落古樓). The name in Chinese translation was perfect, but sounded strange to me. It was like "Kee Lee Koo Loo". In Malay, as my brother told me, the name should be pronounced like this: "Dor Lok Gar Roo". Dik’s house was located on the 3rd floor of a building off the road. It was 2 a.m. when we climbed onto our 3.5 feet-wide bed! I could not sleep well at night because of the new bed and its width.