Driving on the road to Te Anau

On the way to Te Anau from Queenstown, Yin Ping and Ho Keung saw beautiful sceneries like these. One of them must be driving and the other taking photos. That was a good combination.

I like driving and photo-taking, but I cannot do them at the same time when I travel.

I recall the three travels I had after my retirement:

(1) At Los Angeles, we were driven from the Airport to Beverley Hills by a small tour-bus, then to Wyndham Hotel at Anaheim. No driving for me, but I was able to take some photos at Beverley Hills and Man’s Theatre.

(2) We took a shuttle-bus to and from Disneyland. Lots of photos were taken there.

(3) A larger bus took us (a 4-hour journey) to Las Vegas. Photos were taken at Premium outlets, Coca-cola and M & M’s World, during a night tour to see the sky-screen.

(4) We boarded a large bus operated by the local tour for the Grand Canyon. We had to change another bus to climb and run on the rocky roads. Of course, a lot of photos were taken at the Canyon, once for our life-time.

(5) Back to Los Angeles in the same bus, we were driven to Universal Studios and we went to the theme park, in and out of the theatres and watched the show at Waterworld. The “King Kong” and the car in the “Back to the Future” were the targets of my camera.

(6) After reaching San Francisco, I was picked up by my student, Roger Chan, who drove us and Mrs. Sinn in his MPV to Travelodge, a motel near the SFO Airport. After lunch with my dear colleagues, Felix Ching and Mrs. Sinn, Roger Chan drove us (my wife and I and Mrs. Sinn) to San Francisco City to have a city tour. We passed by a Concert Hall and entered the Town Hall. Next our car went to the Telegraph Hills. We could watch the harbour and later go down the Crookedest Street, to Chinatown and to the tourist spot at the bridge head of Golden Gate Bridge. I did not miss the sights of this old town in California. We met Felix somewhere near the park side of San Francisco and we headed for the Golden Gate Park. Garden and lakeside photos were taken.

(7) On the following two to three days, I sat in Felix’s car and was able to take just a few photos outside because his car was swift and my camera was not with fast shutter speeds. I was advised by Felix not to drive in U.S. because he feared that I might not be used to the driving on the right-hand side.

(8) In Sydney, Australia, Yin Ping and Ho Keung drove most of the time. This provided me chances to take good photos when the car “stopped” at sight-seeing spots. Actually on those days of stay, we took trains, buses, a “rivercat” , ferry and a launch ship. Obviously, I did not miss every chance of taking photos.

Fortunately, I was invited on December 28^th, 2006 to drive with my own hands on the driving wheel to Canberra. Although I did not drive the whole journey, it could possibly be an exciting experience of driving on Australian roads to the capital. Driving was better than photo-taking on that day.

(9) In Singapore, we did not have a car. We chiefly took buses, taxis, MRT (similar to MTR in Hong Kong) with brother and sister-in-law.

I admire Ho Keung’s couple who could in turns drive and have photo-taking in New Zealand. Each of them had his/her role in the journey. See how good the two photos were!

A Bus-ride to Elements

Abby had a bus-ride this morning. It took us almost one hour to Elements, a new shopping centre at Kowloon MTR Station.

At first she sat nicely at a seat facing the back of the bus. Next she made herself busy by asking me to give her my mobile-phone, camera and watch, next the watch and ring from Connie, but Connie rejected the idea of giving her ring to Abby to play.

On the way, Abby stood and sat many times on her seat and once curved her mouth as if she wanted to sing.

She shouted several times at Philip who was taking a nap several seats away. At one moment, Connie gave Abby an “ABC” book which kept her quiet for a little while. Abby was able to recognize some of the things in the book such as oranges, fish, drinking-glass and so on.

The last photo shows Abby standing in front of the large colourful advertisement of this shopping centre, our destination today, Elements.

A Throat lozenge/ Candy at the lips

What is our TV comedian, Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍), biting at his lips?

[A] Recola (利口樂) [B] Dequadin (得果定) [C] Strepsils (使立消)

[D] Fisherman’s Friend (漁夫之寶) [E] Lemon Coke Candy (檸檬可樂糖)

Hugs and Kisses

It was Monday, June 23^rd. Tony had a day off. Sister Connie would like to have lunch with Tony and me at Ma On Shan. During lunch, Abby was interested in drinking water, cream soup, eating a little bread, but not solid food on our plates. It seemed that she was on diet.

After lunch, we went shopping at the nearby shopping arcade. At a shop, for the first time, I saw Abby hugging a doll which was wearing a pink T-shirt with a picture of a panda.

What do you suppose Abby was hugging, the “panda”, the pink T-shirt or the doll? I could not guess.

Four people were watching Abby - Tony, Connie, me and a young salesman at the shop. The salesman smiled at Abby’s hug at the doll. I wondered if he had seen such a scene before. Abby did not yell, but keep hugging quietly round the doll for a minute or two. It seemed that she enjoyed the moments of hugging.

At another shop, Connie told me that Abby once kissed the doll of a boy. Let us see what happened this time. Abby approached the doll. Instead of kissing it, she put her face near the protruding lips of the “boy”. Wow, last time she gave a kiss to “him”, now she received one in return. How dramatic were Abby’s shows on Monday afternoon!

*Please "click" at the photos for enlargement.

The approaching Tropical Storm

The Typhoon Warning Signal No. 1 was hoisted since 7:40 a.m. on Monday, June 23^rd. It was still sunny and towards evening before it was dark, I took a photo of the sky (top photo) so as to record the look of the sky before the typhoon “ Fengshen” (風神) came to Hong Kong.

Yesterday, the typhoon signal changed to “3” in the afternoon and to “8” at night. I did not expect the typhoon was so close to Hong Kong during the night. We were lucky because this typhoon was not so severe as compared with the previous ones, otherwise it would give much destruction to Hong Kong. Winds changed directions in different hours, first from NE, later NW and finally SW.

There was no school today, but before noon, the signal no. 8 was lowered and replaced by signal no. 3. It meant that lots of people would have to go back to work in the afternoon. Winds still remained gusty and rain fell horizontally (with winds blowing sideways).

It was great that I took a photo of the sky before the typhoon came. Perhaps it might be an indication to me next time when I see the sky which looks like this.

The second photo shows the actual route of the typhoon provided by Hong Kong Observatory.

The bottom photo shows the raining conditions when the signal changed back to “3”.

Similarities & Differences

Look at these two photos.

The top one shows a recent advertisement posted by Cathay Pacific.

The bottom photo was taken by me inside Felix’s car at the back seat. Felix was driving me, my wife and Audrey in his car on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Let us look at the two photos and study the similarities and differences here:

Similarities:

[1] Both photos show 6 lanes.

[2] Both show a mirror.

[3] The lamp posts look exactly the same shapes.

[4] The fences have the same look.

[5] The vertical suspension wires look the same.

[6] The bridge, suspension wires and towers are of the same bright red colour.

[7] Vehicles are running on the right hand side.

Differences:

[1] From the mirror, the top photo shows the face of a lady while that in the bottom photo shows Felix’s forehead.

[2] The top photo shows a “Fare”meter while the bottom one shows a “compass”.

[3] The top photo was taken at sunset while the bottom one in the morning.

[4] The bridge tower is far from the camera lens in the top photo while it is near in the bottom photo.

[5] The road signs tell different things.

[6] Closets can be seen at the pavement in the top photo, but no closets can be seen near the bridge tower.

388 Readers

I am happy to announce that up to the present moment, there are 388 (a very lucky number) unique readers (of which, you are one of them) who have visited my blog-site. The Google Analytics keeps watching how wide and how frequent the readers are attending.

Let us look at the statistics here:

I set up and started the survey on September 9^th, 2007.

Ever since then, there are 7733 visits and 13106 page views.

The average number of page-views per visit is 1.69.

These 7733 visits came from 9 countries/ territories:

Hong Kong (in first place) 5878 visits

United States (in second place) 563 visits

Australia (in third place) 559 visits

Canada (in fourth place) 370 visits

Singapore (in fifth place) 359 visits

Macao (in sixth place) 1 visit (most recently)

Italy (in sixth place) 1 visit (long time ago)

Malaysia (in sixth place) 1 visit (several months ago)

United Kingdom (in sixth place) 1 visit (long time ago)

Thank you all for coming and reading my blog. I hope all of you further support me!

另類兵馬俑

六月五日那天, 途經馬鞍山佐丹奴店. 這間服裝連鎖店的櫥窗後面竟然出現了一個Q版兵馬俑.

這個小小卡通化的兵馬俑是黑色的, 披上一塊塊金屬片, 作為盔甲. 眼睛像凸出的青蛙眼, 鼻成三角形, 耳朵突出得可以兜風. 頭上的髻看來非常攪笑! 這種種加起來令這個兵馬俑生色不少!

The Prize of Losing one Tooth

Abby was given a cup of ice-cold chocolate ice-cream to sooth the pain and heal the wound after the extraction of her loose tooth at the Dental Clinic at Admiralty.

It was today that I drove Abby, Connie and my wife to Admiralty as early as 7:35 a.m. Thanks to Saturday when the roads were clear and traffic was in good condition that we could reach Admiralty centre by 8:10 a.m. The three females dropped off and I drove my car to Wanchai. I was lucky enough to park my car into an empty parking space at Luard Road and I fed the parking meter with my octopus card. I killed time by walking around the streets in Wanchai. At Marsh Road, I saw the building I used to live – National Building. All the residents had moved out because it had been sold and would be torn down soon.

My phone soon rang and it was time to return to Admiral Centre to pick up Abby, Connie and wife.

Here was the story of the extraction of one of Abby’s upper incisors. Abby had to wait for her turn because it was still early. She was busy looking at books and dug her hands into some plastic tooth-shaped container-seats.

It was Connie who accompanied Abby into the dentist’s room. The dentist gave Abby some “Laughing gas” to put her to sleep so that the extraction of her tooth could go smoothly. Soon the tooth was extracted. As soon as it was time to bring Abby out of the room, Abby woke up and was just in time to thank the dentist for her work.

It was amazing that Abby’s extracted incisor was kept inside a tooth-shaped container. This would remind everybody especially Abby that it was the first tooth off Abby’s mouth.

Abby had to pay (her tooth) for the two falls she had at church and before a McDonald at Ma On Shan. Connie had to pay for the Dental fee, most of which was for the “Laughing Gas”. I had to pay, too, for the fuel, tolls for tunnels and parking fee. My wife paid for the price of HK$4 for a cup of ice-cream. Abby was a winner. She won a cup of delicious ice-cream.

Revision on Three pieces of Old News

To support my article about the flight of “Journey of Harmony” and the “2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong”, I would like to post three pieces of news from newspapers here.

The first piece is about the “Journey of Harmony” and the second piece is about the actual “2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong”. The third one is about our Gold medalist in the Olympic games, Wong Kam Bo.

Mr. Wat’s list

This is not Schindler’s List, 舒特拉的名單. Let me remind you that Oskar Schindler, a Nazi party member, saved 1100 Jews from concentration camps in WWII.

It was a seating plan I made myself by computer some fourteen years ago. I considered it a “masterpiece” because I always consider myself “poor and ignorant” in using a computer. The reason of making such a plan was that I wanted to learn the names of students of my and at the same time I could call their names out when I used it in the classroom. I admitted that this seating plan became useless once my dear students demanded for a “change” in their seats.

Recently this seating plan becomes my “treasure” when I click at “Facebook”. It helps me recognize the students I used to greet, see, meet, and talk with in 2D classroom each day in the academic year 1994-95.

Patrick Lee first brought about the class photo of 2D and soon other students flocked in to chat. Each of the participants wrote something interesting through their hearts and made me feel like going back to the old days with the students of my class.

Patrick is the first one who puzzles why I have such a “good” memory. He does not believe that I possess such power. Well, I can tell you that if you give me the list of names, I believe I am able to map about 50% of the names with my students. However if you don’t give me the list, it will be quite difficult for me to call out the names right away.

Cecilia Tsui (once my colleague at CCSC), Dorothy Kwok (now teaching at CCSC), Kenny Yu (in Singapore), Mabel Siu(in England, I think), Florence Leung, Shirley Wong ( a musician), Lowe Chan (A happy girl), Edward Chow (helped in the preparation work for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong, see my previous article) were the first group of students that invited me to be their friends in Facebook.

The second lot comes recently as Patrick Lee(The first boy who brings his 2D classmates together in Facebook), Geoffrey Yam (He has changed his English name to Josh), Panacea Wan (someone says that she is now so beautiful that he cannot recognize her), Louis So(a handsome boy), Michael Chiu, Simon Chan(he does not invite me as a friend, but in return, I invite him so), Crystal Fan (She said she could still remember the subject matters in Mathematics she learned from me. Amazing, isn’t it), Alan Lee (still very handsome) and Dicky Wah(wearing a helmet).

Recently more students appear. They are Sophia Lui, Emily Leung, Winnie Au and Michelle Tjong. The most recent one is Timothy Chu (he describes himself as a small potoato).

If I miss anyone's name here, please remind me by an e-mail in Facebook or click at “comment” in this article of my blog and write there.

Aerial views of the Apostle Rocks

Let’s go back to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. My brother and sister-in-law took a 20-minute ride on a helicopter flying along the beautiful coastline along the Great Ocean Road. Of course they did not miss the sight of the 12 Apostle Rocks.

The aerial views of this part of coastline in Victoria are magnificent and refreshing. The clear blue sea water that beat against the rocks at the shore makes me think of our dirty dark green water in Victoria Harbour.

The uneven but vertical edge of the land looks as if it were a piece of cheese that was bitten and chiseled by human teeth. I wonder if it is safe in driving here at night because nobody knows when the land ends in vertical cliffs like these. For me, I believe that if I follow the main road, I will be perfectly safe!

Journey of Harmony

Journey of Harmony is the name of the plane that carries the Olympic Torch flame from Athens across the world to 21 cities of different countries until it arrived at Hong Kong, the first City(SAR region) of China (see the first and second photos). The slogan on the plane was “Light the Passion, Share the Dream”.

Route of flights of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay plane:

[1] Athens, Greece [2] Beijing, China [3] Almaty, Kazakhstan [4] Istanbul, Turkey [5] St. Petersburg, Russia [6] London, England [7] Paris, France [8] San Francisco, U.S.A. [9] Buenos Aires, Argentina [10] Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania [11] Muscat, Oman [12] Islamabad, Pakistan [13] New Delhi, India [14] Bangkok, Thailand [15] Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [16] Jakarta, Indonesia [17] Canberra, Australia [18] Nagano, Japan [19] Seoul, South Korea [20] Pyongyang, North Korea [21] Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam [22] Hong Kong, China

The Relay in Hong Kong started at Tsimshatsui, then along Nathan Road to Jordon. Next the fire was delivered by vehicle to Lantau Island and back along the Tsing Ma Bridge by running, then to Shatin by vehicle and running, along Shing Mun River by dragon-boats, to Jockey Club, on horseback round the racecourse and back to Tsimshatsui by vehicle, across the harbour by boat to Central, Wanchai and lastly to the Gold Bauhinia Square. The entire relay was broadcasted by TV.

My student, Edward Chow (see the third photo), is in the team working for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong. He is so kind to allow me to post up some of his snapshots:

The fourth photo shows the setting up of the cauldron.

The fifth photo shows the testing of the cauldron.

The sixth photo shows our last Olympic Torch bearer, Wong Kam Po, running towards the cauldron.

The seventh photo shows the closing ceremony of the Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong.

34567

What did this number mean to Yin Ping and Ho Keung? Well, it was the mileage (34567 km) they had driven over the past 11 days on North and South Island of New Zealand.

The vertical stone wall (on the left hand side of the second photo) along the road from Queenstown to Te Anau stopped the idea of any tourist from climbing over it because it was inaccessible. The road sign at the roadside indicated that it was still 171 km to go to Te Anau, a town at the edge of the Fiordland National Park of NZ. If the happy couple travelled at 70 km/h, they would reach there in 2.5 hours.

This road may also lead to the southern-most city called Invercargill (181 km away).

To the west, Milford Sound is not too far away from Queenstown. Since there is no direct road linking the two places, one has to take a U-shaped route by road to reach there so as to avoid travelling on rugged mountains.

The third photo gives me the feeling of travelling in Europe. The snow-clad mountains, the layout of the low houses on the slopes, the quietness of the surroundings and the countryside “feeling” altogether make me “drunk” to some extent. What a good scenic photo Ho Keung and Yin Ping had taken!

雲霧不散

昨天清早下完一輪雨之後, 沙田的山頭出現了少見的雲霧不散景象. 我相信成因是濕度高, 這幾團水氣一時間不能揮發出去, 形成了山也穿起白色裙子一樣, 也像在騰雲駕霧似的!

最後的一幅照片中的屋邨像在冒煙, 或有煙霧彈在發放中.

以上的照片一一都是我眼中的奇景.

Riding on Father’s shoulder

This was a photo showing Abby riding on Philip’s shoulder. Abby was so “high” at that time that she was not a bit afraid.

That was a comfortable ride to both because Philip held Abby’s hands to stabilize her (giving her the sense of security) and Abby was so light that Philip just considered her as a “feather” on his shoulder.

I never carried my children like this kind in their childhood, not because I was not that strong like Philip, but I just let them ride in my car instead. I drove them here and there such as to schools, parks, their friends’ houses and to the countryside.

Today is Father’s Day. It is good time for Abby to spend the day with Philip! For me, I got a an interesting “coupon book” ,originated in Smile-box (Hallmark), from Connie and Philip. I was deeply moved by this kind of heart-to-heart messages and photo album.

Meeting the Bride

We were happy to see the Bride, our colleague, J. Chan at lunch yesterday. We knew her some nine years ago. At first she sat in Staff Room 1, but later turned to sit in Staff Room 2. She has been working happily with us (all those who attended the lunch yesterday and some others) in all these years.

J. Chan ordered lots of dim-sums and the latter filled the table several times. We ate, chatted, took photos together and listened to the changes in CCSC told by the teachers who are still teaching.

We gave a card to J. Chan to express our blessings and love to her and congratulate her on her happy marriage.

We gained a lot yesterday, not only in weight from the delicious food, but also a closer friendship among us.

A Joke from Daisy

On February 20, I received an e-mail from my old classmate, Daisy Mak. A photo was attached which made me startled with surprise. How could my classmate enter the U.S. President’s Office and sat in his chair taking a photo inside? I wondered for some time and decided to ask Daisy for the truth through e-mail. Below was the reply:

I took this photo when I visited George W. Bush (41st President of US) Library and Museum on the second day of CNY. When I put the title " How do you like a female president in US? ", I was making a joke!

You paid US$10 and you could have a photo taken sitting in Mr. George W Bush (the Senior)'s Chair in the White House, a replica of his Office during the time when he was in office. That was the only place in the Museum that photography was not allowed. A very good business sense!

How interesting and exciting to be inside a president’s office! This reminds me of the film I saw in the cinema on December 31^st last year. The film was called “National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets” in which the actor and actress went into the President’s Office to get the other half piece of wood from one of the drawers.

The reason why I keep this photo unreleased because I wait to see if Hillary Clinton is able to change the history of United States of America to become a Lady President. Now Hillary’s dream was over. It is the right time for me to post this interesting photo!

白兔印 + 彩兔摺紙

我印象是白兔印經常會在幼稚園時代習作簿上出現, 相信它是表示清潔. 反之, 黑豬則表示骯髒. 通常老師都是檢查學生的手指甲是否過長或”捆”著黑邊, 而決定印上白兔或黑豬的. 幼稚園生多數不會對這些兔仔, 豬仔感到興奮或難堪的. 因為年紀實在太細了.

有些小學老師因為要鼓勵學生, 於是貼上星星, 貼紙或蓋印以獎勵好表現的學生.其實大部分學生們都很渴望得到獎賞, 努力以赴, 務求得到更多獎勵的.

今次的廣告是一些彩兔摺紙有秩序, 有禮貌地排著隊似的.

究竟這個廣告是以下那一間公司或機構發出的?

1. NCR收銀機製造商 2. HKT (香港電車公司) 3. MTR {港鐵} 4. DHL速遞 5. GPO (香港郵政總局)

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.