Gastown and Gassy Jack Deighton

Gastown was Vancouver's first downtown core and is named after "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a Geordie seaman, steamboat captain and barkeep who arrived in 1867 to open the first saloon in the area. The town soon prospered as the site of a sawmill, seaport, and quickly expanded to a centre of trade and commerce on Burrard Inlet as well as a resort for off-work loggers, fishermen, the crews and captains of the many sailing ships which came to Gastown or Moodyville to load logs and timber.

In 1886, the town was incorporated as the City of Vancouver. It lost all the buildings except two in the "Great Vancouver Fire" in that same year. The area was completely rebuilt and continued to thrive as the centre of the city's wholesale produce distribution until the Great Depression in the 1930s. After the Depression, Gastown was a largely-forgotten neighbourhood of the larger city and fell into decline and disrepair until the 1960s.

In the 1960s, citizens became concerned with preserving Gastown's distinctive and historic architecture, which like the nearby Chinatown and Strathcona were planned to be demolished to build a major freeway into the city's downtown. A campaign led by businessmen, property owners, the counterculture and associated political protestors, put pressure on the provincial government to declare the area a historical site in 1971, protecting its heritage buildings to this day.

It is great to the people of Vancouver in 2009 that the Gastown has been designated a national historic site of Canada.

A Statue in Stanley Park

On that sunny Saturday afternoon of September 26th, Philip drove us by way of Park Drive into Stanley Park, west side of Vancouver Downtown. Before this, I never knew that the Park was on a peninsula surrounding by sea water on three sides. Later of the day when I looked at a map, I learned that a road went through the park linking Vancouver proper to North Vancouver.

On we went along Park Drive and passed a statue. The statue looked like a male athlete with a running pose. I did not know his name until today I found it by surfing the Internet.

It was the Statue of Harry Winston Jerome who was the British Columbia's athlete of the century 1871 to 1971. He was born in September 30th, 1940 and died on December 7th, 1982. Because of his great successes in sports, he received the 1971 order of Canada. Sir Walter Scott wrote the following line for him, “The will to do, the soul to dare”. This shows to me that the Canadians are proud of this great athlete who brings fame to the country.

In the photo, the background of this statue was Downtown Vancouver. A giant ocean-liner was parking at the pier called Canada Place. This is where Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre lies. The Centre is easily spotted out by its white tent-like tops.

The Vancouver Lookout tops Harbour Centre and itself looks like a spinning “top”. It was opened by American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, in 1977. The top is a revolving restaurant. High above the surrounding buildings, the Lookout is a perfect place for visitors or local people to take a bird’s eye view of the city. Glass elevators bring visitors skyward 130 metres to the Observation Deck to take a 360-degree view of downtown, suburbs in the south, the Pacific Ocean and Stanley Park in its west, the Coal Harbour and the North Shore Mountains in its north.

A Tribute to Professor Charles Kao

This year, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics to Charles Kao (高錕教授) "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for optical communication" and two other scientists in United States of America.

A tribute in terms of an exhibition at our Hong Kong Science Museum is given to Professor Charles Kao, Father of Fibre Optics, a former principal of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Nobel Laureate in Physics 2009. The exhibition is organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Chinese University of Hong Kong featuring interactive exhibits until March 10th 2010 on fibre optics and the information panels. It introduces Professor Charles’ academic life in the past 40 years as well as his significant achievements enabling visitors to understand the optical fibre communications and its applications.

The opening hours of the exhibition are from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday to Friday while 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Public holidays. It is closed on every Thursday (except it is a public holiday) and will be closed at 5 p.m. on Chinese New Year’s Eve and on the first two days of the Chinese New Year. The admission is free of charge.

Professor Charles Kao has made great contribution to a faster communication of mankind through fibre optics. Without his studies, our communication is still at a very slow pace. Professor Charles is well deserved a Nobel Prize in Physics. We, people of Hong Kong, especially the students of Chinese University of Hong Kong should be proud of HIM.

City Hall, Stockholm

Each year, on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s Death, Nobel prizes are presented to those outstanding people who contribute and influence much to our world in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature.

At the Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm Concert Hall, presentation speeches praise highly of the Laureates and their discovery or work, after which His Majesty the King of Sweden hands each Laureate a diploma and a medal.

The Prize Award Ceremony is followed by a banquet at the Stockholm City Hall (Stockholms Stadshus) for about 1,300 people, including 250 students. The reddish bricked building in the top photo is the City Hall at Stockholm, Sweden. With a few exceptions, the Nobel Banquet has taken place at the City Hall since 1930. The Nobel Festivities in Stockholm are arranged by the Nobel Foundation and are primarily academic celebrations focusing on science and literature. In addition to the Nobel Laureates and their families, the King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family of Sweden are guests of honour at both the Prize Award Ceremony and the Banquet. Representatives of the Swedish Government and Parliament also take part.

International guests enjoy priority, especially those who represent the sciences and cultural life. Swedish guests at the banquet are people who participate in Nobel-related functions in one capacity or another, aid the sciences through donations or otherwise support the Foundation and the Prize Awarding Institutions.

The second photo is the plaque at the entrance of the City Hall showing the face of Alfred Nobel and the people below symbolize the Laureates who should be praised.

The third photo shows the marble staircase leading down to the hall which the Banquet is held.

The bottom right photo shows the cutlery at each dining table. Visitors or tourists may taste the same kind of food served at the Banquet at different times of the year.

A Birthday cake for Two

Thanks to my elder brother who was so kind to buy me a birthday cake to celebrate my birthday this Monday. Abby’s birthday also falls onto January, so we together cut this Chocolate cake with a big plastic knife at night time.

One small candle was placed at the centre of the cake, but it had never been lit. That candle was like the variable "x" in Algebra. It could take a single-digit number or a two-digit number. So the candle can be applied to my age and Abby’s.

I remember that last year Connie, Philip and Abby sent me a video clip, saying “Happy Birthday” to me and the “age” was indicated by a number made from colourful “legos”. This year is very different. They are all in Hong Kong celebrating the birthday with me.

Statues at a roadside Park

On our way to Stanley Park, Vancouver, we passed by a mini-roadside park. There we saw a number of metal statues of laughing men with broad faces. They looked Chinese. Their faces come from the same man, but they had different poses.

Cyclists stopped before them for rests. Passers-by stopped, too, to look at the funny faces of these men and some took photos of them. All these people would gaze at these metal men and question themselves why these metal “men” were laughing.

What do you think these statues are laughing at?

Coffee-tasted Coca Cola

My sister-in-law and her husband had a tour in Central Europe. When they were on their way to Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, their bus stopped by a small town. Some of the tour members went to buy some drinks from a shop near by. They bought back some light brown bottles of Coca Cola with beautiful shapes. They drank out of them and found that they had the taste of coffee. The news of this coffee-tasted cola spread fast in the bus. Off the rest of the tour members went to buy and swept all these colas from the shop. My sister-in-law and husband bought one for themselves and another for me. So, this bottle flied home with them and I tasted italone some day afterwards because my wife did not like coffee at all.

The 250-ml bottle of “Czech” coffee cola is made of light metal, hard to the touch, but elegant in shape The brown colour changes and shines with luster. The bottle looks like a piece of art and it seems full of mystery. The taste is terrific because I feel like drinking a cup of nice coffee instead of the original sweet flavour. I shall give full mark to this kind of drink if I am asked for opinion of its taste. I wonder why this kind of "coffee cola" cannot be introduced into Hong Kong.

Next to this bottle of “Czech” product, I got a "red" one from my son-in-law in Canada. I do find the "red" ones in Hong Kong supermarkets. I have not opened it yet, so the taste of it is still unknown to me.

Burj Khalifa

At United Arab Emirates, Burj Dubai Skyscraper, ranked yesterday, January 4th , 2010 as the tallest building in the world. It has been renamed as Burj Khalifa. It took a total of six years to complete. Its height is 828 metres (2715 feet) with 162 floors. Surrounding this building is an 11 - hectare park.


There were fireworks, laser, light and fountain shows during its grand opening. Sightseeing platform is located at its 124th floor. There the visibility can be 80 kilometres when the sky is clear. The residential flats inside can house twelve thousand people.

Two Friends meet

"Lam Lam" and Abby made friends in Canada. Now they meet again in Hong Kong. Both of them are able to pull their feet up to their ears and turn them as their “telephones” and speak into them.

On December 30th, they each picked up a book to read. I find this photo very interesting, so I show it to my readers,

It is always a difficult thing to take photos of children because they are always moving. They will not freeze themselves for a photo shot.

Bank of China Tower

Before my wife and I attended a wedding banquet at Marriot Hotel, Central, on December 30th, I was able to catch the night view of our famous Tower of Bank of China.

In the past, photographers never miss this building in taking pictures of Central. Every moment when we look at a bank note from Bank of China, we must see this geometric shaped building stand high above those in its surroundings.

At night time, the outline of the building is always cast out by its spectacular white lights. At eight o’clock every day, the white lights of this building will move up and down to join in the stunning multimedia show, A Symphony of Lights (幻彩詠香江) of more than 40 Hong Kong's skyscrapers along the shoreline of our Victoria Harbour.

Hong Kong’s New Year Countdown

Hong Kong has walked into the year 2010 at midnight yesterday. Although I was quite tired, I insisted to lift my eyelids up to watch our Countdown Celebration to New Year 2010 at Tsimshatsui Waterfront.

The so called celebration was just a mixture of singing and dancing. I was happy to see Theresa singing for us. The centre of interest was the IFC building on the opposite side of the harbour in Central.








I was eager to see what the smoke and fire show on IFC would be like this year. The difference was obvious. In the countdown to 2009, the last 60 seconds were indicated by numbers until it reached the last minute. This year we could not see the countdown. The smoke and fire began to start right at midnight. Thanks to the designer of this year’s show in improving and modifying the pattern of fire and smoke. Other buildings on the harbour also sparked out their fire and smoke, but in a smaller scale.

1881 Heritage

I was on a bus home this Tuesday afternoon, December 29th. At the end of Canton Road , Tsim Sha Tsui, I discovered several grand shops. I managed to take two photos of this newly developed site, called 1881 Heritage.

The original site of 1881 Heritage was the headquarters of the Hong Kong Marine Police from the 1880's to 1996. In recent years, under a redeveloped scheme, the Former Marine Police Headquarters Main Building (a Victorian architectural building) was preserved and changed to a heritage hotel. The Former Stable Block, Time Ball Tower and Former Fire Station were also kept at the site.

Now 1881 Heritage occupies an area of 130,000 square feet. It features a shopping mall, a hotel of around 30 rooms of sizes 800 to 1000 sq feet and an exhibition hall. It was first opened on October 15th this year.

Of all the 182 trees before the site was redeveloped, now only 18 trees remained. Visitors are free to take photos in the open, but they are not allowed to walk freely nor they are allowed to take photos in the area of the hotel unless they are the registered residents.

Looking at my photos closely, I learned that its fountain is of a mini-class and the Christmas tree is protected by a glass structure marked with “1881” all the way up.

To me, 1881 Heritage is just a “strange” place where only rich people will go shopping or stay in its hotel.

Meeting My Dear Students in Vancouver

Before I went to Canada, I learned from Facebook that Peter Au whom I was once his class-teacher, lived in Vancouver. Peter Au writes e-mails regularly to me, sending me photos of him and wife and children. He really loves his school and respects his teachers very much.

He told me his telephone number before I started my flight. After settling down for a few days in Vancouver, I intended to call him to see if I could meet him someday within my three months of stay. When I got through the line using my daughter’s cell-phone, Peter told me that he was at his office at that moment.

He said he lived at Abbotsford, an-hour drive from Vancouver. To my surprise, he said two other students, Edward Li and Terry Lo (they are actually a married couple), would like to meet me too.

A dinner was arranged by Edward and Terry at their home first, so our family of six became their guests on October 11th. Edward’s house is comfortable and grand. Of the drinks that night, I liked the sparkling apple juice and Edward’s self-made coffee. Of course, the turkey on the dining table was the centre of interest. Edward and Terry told me that it was a thanksgiving dinner to us all. Peter and Rodensa came with their daughter. We cheered and talked all the night.

Since Peter was busy at church affairs, he could only arrange a dinner at his house in Abbotsford on November 22nd. To me, it was a long journey to Abbotsford. To Philip, my son-in-law, would be different because he loves driving. My wife and I sat at the back seat. I took some photos on the way to record the scenery outside. Our grand-children were quiet in the car, sleeping. My daughter,Connie, sat beside Philip. Finally, we arrived at Peter’s house. Rodensa told us a bad news that the heater in their house was out of order, so the dinner that night might be a cold one. Since it was still bright at around three something in the afternoon, Peter drove us around to see the luxurious houses in the area, to take a bird’s eye view of Abbotsford on a hill, to look at his office and visit one of the malls where he first operated his photo-processing shop.

Back to his house, we met Edward and Terry, later Agnes (Peter’s elder sister) and his husband, Wayne, arrived.

Photos were taken to commemorate this reunion of teacher and students after forty years. Rodensa was a capable cook at the house. She prepared most of the dishes. What we felt that night was warmth with hot food and I was delighted to see my students again and they are so good to me.

In the top photo, the left-hand-most is Edward; next to him is Terry, then, Agnes and his brother, Peter. The bottom photo is our "Pairing Game".

If Peter had written “Abbotsford” in Facebook, I would never have met him. Agnes, Terry and Edward.

St. Paul’s Hospital

St. Paul’s Hospital is the hospital where Elly was born. It is a notable red-bricked building in Downtown Vancouver.

We went inside on September 26th to take a look at its gift shop to see if Connie and Philip wanted to buy Elly a souvenir for her birth. It turned out that we did not buy anything, but instead Philip took a photo of Elly with a T-shirt taken down from a rack and placed on Elly’s body. The T-shirt bears the name of the hospital, but it is not a birth certificate.


A big surprise came to us when we passed this hospital on November 15th. Decoration work for Christmas started.



When we went there again on the eve before we flied back to Hong Kong, we marvelled at the night-view of the hospital with its beautiful decoration of stars and fireworks. New “stars” have been born in the hospital. Elly was among them.

Menu behind the Mask

Masks of a diver are given to small children at Ivars’ Acres of Clams at Pier 54, Seattle, Washington State. Abby got one from the waitress serving us at our table on the evening of November 28th.

Behind the mask was the menu for children. Let us look at it:

Diver Dan Sandwich – A swimmingly tasty tuna sandwich US$4.5

Kid Size Salad – US$1.95

Chowder Slammer – A cup of Ivar’s Award Winning Clam Chowder US$3.50

Junior Pasta – Pasta tossed with butter and Parmesan Cheese US$4.95

Small Fry Special – A smaller serving of Ivar’s world-famous Fish ’n’ Chips for your small fry US$5.25

Atlantic Bandit – Melted cheese between slices of warm and toasty bread US$4.50

Wild Salmon of the Sea – Salmon simply grilled US$7.25

Chicken of the Sound – Crunchy chicken struts with tangy BBQ sauce US$5.25

Davy Jones’ Burger – The all-time favourite hamburger with or without cheese
US$5.25

All orders served with cookies and your choice of French fries. potato chips or fruit cup, as well as milk, fruit juice or soft drink

The Airco DH.5 fighter aircrafts

I saw these Airco DH.5 fighter aircrafts in the Miniature World at Victoria, British Columbia. They were in display in front of their tent-like hangars.

The Airco DH.5 was a British First World War single-seat fighter aircraft. It was one of the first British fighter so designed as to allow a forward-firing machine gun to fire through the propeller arc more effectively than the older mechanical gears. Although developed rapidly, by the time of its operational introduction, other superior aircraft were available and its service life was short. These DH.5 served as combat planes at that time.

It is interesting to know that before this, aeroplanes were used to find out where the front-line of a battle was. Late in 1914 the lines between the Germans invading France and the Allies stretched from the North Sea to the Alps. The initial “war of movement” largely ceased, and the front became static.

Three main functions of short range reconnaissance squadrons had emerged by March 1915.

[1] The first was photographic reconnaissance – building up a complete mosaic map of the enemy trench system. The first air cameras used glass plates, but did not have sufficient resolution.

[2] Artillery “spotting” enabled the ranging of artillery on targets invisible to the gunners. Radio telephony had not been invented, so communication was a problem. By March 1915, a two-seater plane on “artillery observation” duties was equipped with a primitive radio transmitter transmitting the clicks of a Morse key, but had no receiver. The artillery battery signalled to the aircraft by laying strips of white cloth on the ground in prearranged patterns. These duties were shared with the observation balloon, tethered to the ground. Balloonists could communicate directly with their batteries by field telephone, but were obviously far less flexible in locating targets and reporting the fall of shot.

[3]“Contact patrol” work attempted to follow the course of a battle by communicating with advancing infantry while flying over the battlefield. The technology of the period did not permit radio contact, and methods of signalling were necessarily crude, and included dropping messages from the aircraft. Soldiers were naturally reluctant to reveal their positions to aircraft, as it was difficult for them to distinguish between friend and foe.

Christmas Decorations

These Christmas outlined decorations are simple, but beautiful.

I came across them tonight when my wife and I walked past City One.

This reflects to me that simple designs like these can well convey the atmosphere at Christmas. I am quite interested in the cartoons of reindeers and Santa Claus on a sleigh. The one with a Santa Claus clinging on a Christmas tree is funny.

Lovely Animal Doctors

Some dog-owners gathered at City One to wait for the function “動物醫生愛心慈善 BOXING DAY” to begin at 2:30 p.m. They lined up their lovely dogs before the advertisement board to have a “group” photo taken.

I was able to catch this interesting moment and took a few shots of the lovely dogs. The dogs were so well-disciplined that they looked at their owners without moving. The latter ordered them to stay where they were to take photos.

In recent years, some dogs in Hong Kong are trained and sent to hospitals to cheer the patients there. These dogs are so called “Animal Doctors” because they can heal the patients’ anxiety and worries about their ill health. The latter will feel happy and warm when they see the dogs. What a good thing these dogs do to our patients in this way.

Bear Display at Sunshine City Plaza

Each Christmas, Sunshine City Plaza, Ma On Shan, decorates its mall beautifully. There is no exception this year.

I handed my camera to Philip to take a picture of Abby with the huge teddy bear inside the plaza because Philip is a better photographer than me. I felt happy that Abby was willing to take a picture with the bear. Sometimes a child’s behavior is like weather. There are some moments that Abby refuses to take photos and turns away from the camera lens.


Besides this big bear, there were other smaller bears in display. They were dressed in costumes that fit their themes of display. Here I select the one which looks like Michael Jackson and three Hong Kong bear-astronauts.

KFC Breakfast

Abby has played the KFC game on computer in Canada for some time. It was she who served the customers in the game, but yesterday morning, she took a breakfast at a KFC in Shatin.

She ate macaroni, some egg, meat from burger and sausage, all in small mouthfuls. Elly sat quietly in her pram. She has not eaten any solid food yet, so she is only a KFC-food watcher. Perhaps a year later she can taste the same kind of KFC breakfast Abby ate yesterday.