Guest number one!

Our first guest arrived on Monday evening!  Daniel left for Asia three days after his brother, David's wedding (blog June 8).  He spent three weeks in Japan followed by a month in China.  At the end of his China adventure, he ended up in Shenzhen, the shopping capital of the world.  I know it was hard work, but he spent four days there having clothes made and buying all the fakes he could possibly stuff into a suitcase.  He arrived at our flat with his backpack and a new suitcase filled with 5 suits, 5 pairs of pants, 5 sport jackets, 15 shirts, jeans, shoes, etc.  He has dressed up in a different outfit every night that he's been here, impressing the bold and beautiful in Wan Chai, Lan Kwai Fung and SoHo.
Daniel reminded me of the words of warning I had given him when we skyped a few months ago: be prepared to walk, eat, eat some more, walk some more.  That about sums up visiting HK.

One of the delicacies of China is Peking duck.  On Thursday evening, Daniel and I wandered through Kowloon, and then met Jeff, Ronnie and Joan, and Jason at the Peking Restaurant on Nathan Road (HK's answer to Yonge Street).  In addition to the duck, we had dumplings, an egg white dish mixed with crab, sweet and sour fish, etc.  It was a yummy feast.  All washed down with the local Tsing Tao beer.  The restaurant has been around forever, and so have the waiters.  Thanks to Jason, we ordered a few items that were not on the English menu!

On Saturday, we went to Mong Kok (a working class neighbourhood in Kowloon) to eat dim sum at the cheapest (and probably the best) one-star Michelin restaurant, Tim Ho Wan (the photo on the left is from the Internet, obviously not taken during the summer in HK!).  I stood in line while Jeff and Daniel went off in search for something cool to drink.  The "do not talk to strangers" rule was not in effect, so by the time the guys returned five minutes later, I had a new best friend, Randy, who ended up joining us for lunch and even picking up the tab (on his expense account).  Randy is Chinese-American, but doesn't speak Cantonese, nor can he read the language!  He currently lives in New York, but his company is trying to woo him to HK.

After lunch we took a long walk through Kowloon to the bird market and flower market.  Daniel make a few new friends, but decided not to bring them home.  I bought a hand-made bird cage and will use it as a planter (or a place to kill yet another plant).


One of the strangest experiences of the week was taking the Peak Tram up the mountain.  Every Thursday, Ursula and I walk up the peak, do the loop around (3 km) and walk down.  It is now too hot to do the climb, so Ursula suggested that we catch the tram about half-way up the mountain.  It was like getting on a ride at Universal Studios.  The tram is at a 45-degree angle when embarking, so it feels like you can't stand up!  I repeated the feat with Daniel on Friday morning, and when we sat down the entire tramload of passengers (mainly mainland-Chinese) applauded!

Silly photo of the week taken in the children's room of the Museum of Tea Ware in HK Park.  The museum showcases the clay teapots that Jeff has begun to collect.  Hanora, Joan, and I dashed through the museum and the gift shop, and then hustled over to Helena May (old English-style club) for lunch, managing to avoid a couple of downpours.

Speaking of rain, we had our first typhoon warning over the weekend.  Each building is required to put up a sign indicating the level of the approaching storm.  Fortunately, it was only a level one.  Unfortunately, Daniel went out without an umbrella!
Today Jeff heard that a T3 signal is imminent.  In Hong Kong, people wait for the ultimate T8 - everything shuts down and no-one is allowed to go to work (not even Jeff).  Like a huge snowstorm back in Canada.

I have few food cravings here, but when I need a fix in the afternoon, I usually wander by a bakery (being my father's daughter) and buy an egg tart or two.  We first tasted these yummy tarts in Macau back in January, and I've been hooked ever since.  They've replaced May Wests in my diet.

Tuscany and Paris

I'm not quite sure how she wrangled it, but Julie received extra grant money to take me along to the Gordon Research Conference on Single Molecule Approaches to Biology (Gordon Conference) as Kyle's nanny!  Talk about a plum babysitting job!  We met in Pisa on Saturday the 26th and stayed overnight at the Hotel Novecento, right down the road from the Leaning Tower.  I was amazed at how much Kyle had changed in just 5 weeks since my visit to Ann Arbor.  He was into repeat mode, so I had to control the "s" and "f" words that sometimes escape my lips.  We wandered around the main attractions most of Sunday morning.  Julie's favourite pastime was watching all the tourists taking photos of their friends holding up the leaning tower.  I had been to Pisa twice before, and forgot that the rest of the city is nondescript and rather boring.  Unlike most of Tuscany, Pisa is very flat - a good thing when you are walking with a stroller and a toddler.  Kyle decided to walk for about an hour, and Gramma Dale made up a wonderful game:  see if you can find the circles in the sidewalk and then jump over them.  This was a variation of the childrens' classic called "don't step on the cracks".  Eventually we ended up at a yummy pizza place where we ate on the shaded terrace and then pigged out on excellent gelato.

Later in the afternoon we met the conference attendees and were bussed up to Il Ciocco (Il Ciocco), not far from Lucca.  The bus ride coincided with the World Cup match between Germany and England.  Three German professors were sitting behind us on the bus watching the game on their laptop. (They don't want their faces on the blog!)
They were very happy with the outcome of that game.  Alas, Germany ended up in third place.

Unfortunately, the resort has seen better days.   As Jeff always says when we go to a restaurant with bland food but interesting decor: "you can't eat atmosphere".  The same principle applied to Il Ciocco.  The setting was gorgeous, but the facilities were limited, and the food was not up to Italian standards.  There was no transportaion to any towns or villages nearby (other than a few afternoon excursions during the high heat siesta hours), and mealtimes were inflexible.
Kyle and I hung out at the park for hours and hours.  He has mastered sliding down and climbing up again.

Our other activities were crayoning (only on the paper, not on the walls), playing with his little yellow school bus, and making towers with Lego.  On our last day, I was allowed to bring Kyle to the children's day camp, which had earlier been restricted to children over the age of four.  The counsellors brought out all kinds of neat toys, trucks, and blocks, but all Kyle wanted to do was play with the new love of his life:  9-year-old Nina.  Julie told me that Kyle is still asking for Nina, even though they've been home for over a week!
The conference was a success for Julie.  Aside from the new material that was presented during the week, she also had a lot of time to network with people she had previously only met through emails.  I was impressed that there were 200 participants from all over the world.  My eyes glazed over when they started talking shop, but once they realized I was merely a guest, conversations turned to travel and food!  I got a lot of surprised looks when I mentioned that I live in Hong Kong.  I think Jeff and I are turning into interesting conversation pieces.

Julie, Kyle, and I were booked on the same flight to Paris on Friday, the 2nd.  We had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to catch the shuttle to the Pisa airport.  Actually, Kyle and I had to wake up - Julie had been out partying with her colleagues until almost 3!  We arrived in Paris around 9 a.m., and I headed into the city for my two days of R&R.  Julie and Kyle were scheduled to catch their flight home to Detroit around 1 p.m.  Unfortunately, their plane had a problem, so they were bussed to an airport hotel and didn't leave until the next morning.  The joys of travel!

Here's the verdict according to Dale:  Paris is still the most beautiful city in the world (or in the parts of the world that I have seen so far).  The last time Jeff and I were there was in April 1995, celebrating our 25th anniversary.  It was freezing and raining that entire week, but it didn't stop us from walking and ogling all the gorgeous architecture, food, and fashionable people.  On this trip I lucked out in terms of weather.  It was very warm and sunny (most of the time) on Friday.  I walked from my charming Hotel Chomel in the 7ieme (thanks to the Cotters for the recommendation) across the Pont Royal, past the Tuilleries and the Louvre, along Av. de l'Opera, and on to Haussmann and Galeries Lafayette, stopping to take photos of the unique features of the city.

In honour of my visit, Galeries Laf and all of the other large stores were having their annual sales!  I was on a mission to buy the "must have" fashion item of 2010: gladiator sandals.  It's such a pleasure to shoe-shop in Europe, where women have feet larger than size 8!  I found the perfect pair at 40% off at Le Bon Marche.

After fortifying myself with an espresso and lemon tart, I continued walking around the city for many hours.  I had a wonderful steak-frites dinner and carafe of wine at L'Ecurie, where I ate outside and chatted with a couple of Dutch tourists (no, we did not discuss the World Cup).  The sun doesn't set until 10:30 during the summer!   I'm not sure how I managed to stay awake until midnight, considering that I had been up since 3:30 a.m., but Paris gives me a rush of adrenalin, and I love every minute of being there.

The next morning I awoke to thunder and lightening and feared that the weather would foil my plans to visit the Monet museum at Giverny.  In 1995, Jeff and I kept waiting for the perfect day to go there, but had to finally give up.  This time, I was determined to go, rain or shine.  By the time the train arrived in Giverny, the rain had stopped and I was able to enjoy Monet's house, gardens, and especially the water lily pond.

Meanwhile back at home in HK, Jeff took a walk to Hong Kong University.  Like the rest of the city, the uni is built vertically, and even makes the McGill campus look flat by comparison (Peel and Pine).  He said that anyone who graduates out of shape must be trying hard!  HKU is highly ranked among Asian universities, and like the US and Canada, many buildings bear the names of their donors.  Access for the disabled is limited, and there is very little green space.
Jeff spent a couple of days in Ho Chi Minh City last week.  He said that Saigon still appears on many signs.  He also had a few comments about the traffic:  there are thousands of motorbikes.  At traffic lights they whiz by you like a herd of wildebeest in a Discovery Channel video, except these guys are not migrating and there are no lions waiting for them.

Other news:  my Y group is growing (literally).  Congrats to Nesrine on the birth of her second boy.  Sarah and Lisette are also pregnant.  Gramma Dale will get lots of practise holding the new babies.

My dear friend, Marsha Kimmel, passed away in Montreal this past weekend.  We shared many happy times at Westpark Pool in DDO watching our kids grow up.  I am including a photo of Marsha (on the right) and Bea at Julie's bridal shower in 2005.  We will miss Marsha's warmth, her sense of humour, and her love of the Beatles.   Imagine