Hong Kong Trip

Hong Kong was a tiring but fun trip. On 4/19 (Fri) I went to dinner with my family, Lewis (friend from my college days) and Alex (new Hong Kong pal who lives in Tokyo) at my favorite childhood restaurant Yaik Sun in Lee Theater Plaza. After that cousin Duck took us to a bar (Boca) in SOHO - an up-and-coming hip and trendy district  a short climb from the still-trendy Lan Kwei Fong - followed by a midnight hotdog run at
Three Piggyz Grill, formerly known as Top Dog and according to Duck a major ABC (American-born Chinese) hangout.

The following night Lewis borrowed his uncle’s car and drove us around HK island. It was an extremely nostalgic trip for me because I haven’t been to Stanley and the beautiful Shek O beach in ages. (I think the last time I went to Shek O was in the early 80s.) After that Lewis and I hung around the local bars near Chatham Road in Tsim Sha Tsui until 3am, catching up with each other.

The HK economy has not been nice to Lewis: his company laid him off last December. But I am not too worried about the big guy because he is smart enough to figure it all out in no time.

Before we got on the plane on 4/21, we got an exquisite dim sum lunch at the Chinese restaurant Wan Loong Court in Kowloon Hotel. The restaurant is a testament to the fine craftsmanship in Hong Kong dim sum that is growing rare as dim sum becomes more mass-produced.

Another must-see in Hong Kong:
The Hong Kong Museum of History(link), which opened last year features a permanent exhibit titled “Hong Kong Story”. Starting from pre-historic times when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the museum presents a fascinating walkthrough of Hong Kong history and culture up until the handover in 1997.

Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Met up with my aunties and Cousin Duck for a nice Cantonese dinner at a restaurant close to Duck’s flat in Tsim Sha Tsui. The soup - definitely one of the best things about Cantonese food - was simply mar-ve-lous. We also feasted on pigeons, stir-fried mango and beef, a tofu and abalone dish as well. And a red bean soup dessert to top it all off - not so sweet as its Japanese counterpart. Afterwards we decided to take a walk down nearby Temple St. with street vendors hawking all kinds of goods. “Genuine” Louis Vitton bags anyone? My favorite has to go to the “Giovan Kelvin (GK)” men’s briefs, however.

Going to HK

I will be heading to Hong Kong for four days starting tomorrow. Check back here for up-to-date travel blogs!

Spent most of Sunday in

Spent most of Sunday in Bunkyo district of Tokyo.  It’s one of the most education-minded districts in Japan. Why? An informal count from a district map reveals about 15 universities and colleges in an area of just 11.31 sq. km. (= 4.34 sq. miles). Many of the nation’s most prestigious universities are here: Tokyo University, and Ochanomizu Women’s University, just to name a few. I even passed by a park named “Forest of Education Park”. And I met my friend Mari - an Ochanomizu graduate in education - who loves living in Bunkyo-ku. Her reason: she can meet people like her who want to reform education in Japan.

Summer, Highland Falls

I was listening to Billy Joel’s Turnstiles album tonight and even though I have heard the following song so many times before, I never fully understood it… until now.

Summer, Highland Falls

They say that these are not the best of times,
But they’re the only times I’ve ever known,
And I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own.
Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lover’s eyes,
And I can only stand apart and sympathize.

For we are always what our situations hand us…
It’s either sadness or euphoria.
And so we argue and we compromise,
and realize that nothing’s ever changed,
For all our mutual experience, our seperate conclusions are the same.

Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity,
Our reason co-exists with our insanity.
And though we choose between reality and madness…
It’s either sadness or euphoria.

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don’t fulfill each other’s fantasies.
And so we’ll stand upon the ledges of our lives,
With our respective similarities…
It’s either sadness or euphoria.

Music and words by Billy Joel.

Free as in Freedom

Free as in Freedom: whether you believe in free software or not I promise this would make a good read if you are related to the software business in any way. Besides, you can read the whole thing online - for free - thanks to the book’s author Sam Williams and of course, Richard Stallman, who is the subject of the book.

Funny

So far, one of the funniest quote I have encountered on Pico Iyer’s The Global Soul is: “Perhaps the greatest danger of our global community is that the person in LA thinks he knows Cambodia because he’s seen The Killing Fields on-screen, and the newcomer from Cambodia thinks he knows LA because he’s seen City of Angels on video.”

This guy rigged a camera

This guy rigged a camera onto his truck and took a picture every mile while he drove across country from New York to San Francisco. Since he used a film camera and took 3304 photos, that’s 92 rolls of 36exp film!

Bye Bye Ally Mcbeal?

An episode of Ally Mcbeal 4 was playing on NHK last night: it was the episode when Ally got dumped (surprise) by  Robert Downey Jr.’s character. I haven’t been watching much of Ally lately but I find myself not laughing as much as before; I really loved the early Ally series for their offbeat and wacky sense of humor but perhaps the show is growing up much faster than I am. Time to look for something else to humor myself, I guess.

Things that make me go dizzy

Reminder to self: no more straight Earl Grey tea in the morning because it makes my stomach queasy and my head dizzy.