Visitors and a short trip to Canada

It took me a while to decompress after my emotional trip to Poland.  I gave myself two weeks to come down to earth, and then it was time to hit the books.  My presentation on Chinese paper cuts for our study group was scheduled for Tuesday, May 8th.  I am now the resident expert on Norman Bethune (last semester's paper) and the folk art of paper cutting.  The presentation went well (so they tell me), and then I hustled home to get ready for our next visitor, my sister Sandra.
Sandra and my father share the family reputation of not having any sense of direction (they spent hours roaming the parking lots of Expo 67 looking for the Chrysler).  Being the good sister that I am, I decided to meet her at the airport, rather than give her directions on airport express.  I had visions of her ending up wandering the streets of Kowloon, seeking the kindness of strangers.  Her plane was due to arrive from Shanghai at 9:30 p.m., and the airport website said it was on time ... To make a long story short, she didn't arrive until 11, so we only arrived home in Wan Chai after midnight!  Fortunately, the rest of her visit went smoothly.
There were lots of AWA activities during Sandra's visit:  she accompanied me to Chatterbox, a tour of Chungking Mansions and the darker side of Kowloon, and a rehearsal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic.  Jeff, Sandra, and I also enjoyed the opera, Carmen, and Sandra and I laughed at the Ballet Trocadero.

Sandra checked out all of the dogs, patted the friendlier ones (including very ugly French pugs), and even posed next to a ceramic dog at the HK Art Fair.  She still maintains that her hyper wirehaired fox terrier, Sparky, is cuter than all of the dogs in Hong Kong.

Jeff guided Sandra around Central on her first Saturday in Hong Kong.  I was busy cooking and baking, and friends and family know me well enough to stay away while I frantically prepare to host a dinner party.  The cooking part is easy - it's the shopping for ingredients that's my frustration.  This time, I couldn't find tall coloured candles anywhere (we don't have dollar stores in HK), but Sandra finally spotted some at a florist nearby.  Our dinner guests included Chloe and Eric, who had just returned to Hong Kong (alas, only for one month), and Donna, whose husband had already left for Canada with their two daughters.  Sandra relaxed while we waited for our guests.  Dinner was a success, and Chloe even included photos of it in her food blog!

Of course Sandra and I did all of the popular touristy things - peak tram, Star ferry, and shopping!  It was quite a tai-tai visit - pedicures, a trip to Shenzhen, lunches with friends, and dinners out.  One evening we met Jeff at the Aqua bar on the Kowloon side.  The bar is on the 30th floor and has a stunning views of the harbour, HK Island, and also Kowloon.  We also took Sandra to Temple Street night market, and had a great meal "al fresco".



It was wonderful having a visitor to hike with.  One very hot day, San and I hiked from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo.  She commented that the views reminded her of Hawaii.  We were rewarded with a great lunch at Bahce, a Turkish restaurant near the beach.  On yet another hot day (yup, they're all hot from May to October!), we hiked the Lamma Island trail with Jeff, and lunched at Lamcombe, our favourite restaurant.  When we ate there with Arlene and John in February, the family next to us fussed over their pet pigeons and parrots!  I much prefer restaurants in Paris, where it is normal to see ladies with their adorable caniches!

No trip to Hong Kong is complete without a bus ride to Stanley, and some retail therapy in the Stanley market.  Unfortunately, every time I accompany visitors to Stanley, I also come home loaded with purchases!  Sandra's a great shopper - she loaded up on gifts for everyone back home.  Sandra treated us to dinner one evening - great excuse to put on those little black dresses and some makeup!

The night before Sandra left, more visitors arrived!  Joan and Michael (from New York) are best friends with Arlene and John.  We all enjoyed Peking duck and beggar's chicken at the American Restaurant, and then chatted for hours back in our apartment.  Sandra left the next morning, and I played tour guide with Joan and Michael, ending up at the Aqua bar once again to see the sunset, followed by dumplings at Din Tai Fung on Canton Road.  We truly enjoyed getting to know Joan and Michael, and hope that they will visit us again (perhaps with Arlene and John?).

To celebrate the end of a successful Chatterbox year, our host school threw a pizza party in honour of the volunteers.  Several students made speeches, and we had a lot of fun.  The programme was so successful that next year it will be open to 80 students - 40 from Form 4 (grade 10), and 40 from Form 5 (grade 11).

I left for Montreal and Toronto on May 24th, my mom's 85th birthday!  Unfortunately, Jeff was so busy that he could not accompany me.  My Aeroplan points got me from HK to Tokyo (a terrible United Airlines ancient plane, no personal entertainment, and the only airline that charges for alcoholic beverages on international flights!), Tokyo to Vancouver (yay! Air Canada), and Vancouver to Montreal.  When I arrived in Vancouver, I was supposed to have a five-hour layover until the flight to Montreal, however, I was able to board an earlier flight (for the small sum of $75) and arrive in Montreal at 10 p.m., exactly 24 hours after I boarded my first flight to Tokyo.  Ah, the joys of travel.  Our friend Diane W. taught me a new trick, though - she told me that when she used to fly to Europe on business, she'd shower at the airport and arrive at her meetings feeling clean.  I did the same thing on my way to Poland (Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt), and decided to do it in Vancouver, too.  Terrifically refreshing.

We had a wonderful celebratory weekend in Montreal.  My parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary by throwing a fantastic brunch at Hillsdale Country Club.  The day was full of sunshine, reflecting their special relationship.

Gramma Dale had fun dancing with Kyle!

Family!

Shane!

Bea and Hershie at the party!

Arlene and Dale breakfasting at St. Viateur Bagels on Monkland.  (Lucky us - our visits to Montreal coincided this time!)

And then it was off to Toronto to visit family (thank you, thank you to Bonnie and Joe) and friends, and to attend Neil and Derek's wedding festivities.

The wedding at the Rosewater Supper Club was beautiful!  It was fun catching up with some of the old Pointe Claire swimming parents, as well as the friends who shared the villa in Theoule.  Susan is hoping to arrange a reunion next spring in Umbria.


On the (nonstop) flight home from Toronto, I was seated next to a young fellow from Quebec.  What a small world!  His mother taught at my kids' elementary school (Westpark), and he went to high school with lots of Andrew's friends.  We had a long, nostalgic conversation about the good old days in the West Island.

The day after I returned to HK, Chloe and I met for a farewell tea at TWG, a fancy new shop in the IFC mall.  A lovely treat!  Chloe and Eric left the next day for Spain, France, Canada ...  Safe travels!  Speaking of departures, our "Y girls" group has shrunk.  Monique (far right) and Jay left for Chicago - wedding, new house, new life.  We will miss you!  Lindsey, Claire, Sarah, Monique and I had a farewell at Cicada, one of our old haunts in Soho that is scheduled to be renovated soon.  Happily, Monique mentioned that Jay's new position will enable them to spend lots of time in Hong Kong.

Donna and David invited us to join them and their friends on a junk boat cruise to Lamma Island.  The day had been stormy, but the rain held off while we lazed on the top deck, enjoying twilight in Hong Kong.

We had a seafood feast in Lamma:  lobster, spicy crab, and prawns, accompanied by chicken, vegetables, rice, beer and more beer!  Do Jeff, Donna and David look happy?

Because the Picasso Museum in Paris is currently closed for renovations, its collection is travelling the world.  Oddly, though, the exhibit in HK is at the Heritage Museum in Sha Tin, a suburb in the New Territories, rather than at the centrally-located Museum of Art.  The exhibit was o.k., not spectacular (I understand that a better exhibit is on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario).  The highlight of my visit to the Heritage Museum was an exhibit on Roman Tam, the Liberace of Hong Kong.  All of his elaborate capes and costumes were displayed, including the peacock cape lined with gold!

Speaking of museums, Joan, Lisa and I visited the exhibit on the secret garden of Emperor Qianlong at the Museum of Art last week.  I was amused by the eyebrows on the luohan (esteemed Buddhist) portrayed in the photo.

Last week, Nancy and Randy from Toronto returned to Hong Kong.  They visited here two summers ago, when Nancy competed in the club crew world championships of dragon boat racing in Macau.  This year, the competition was held right here, in the murky, choppy, smelly waters of Victoria Harbour.  In between Nancy's races, we had lots of fun.  We watched the July 1 spectacular fireworks (photo from my iPhone).  We also had a leisurely walk and lunch at Lamcombe on Lamma (too hot to hike), and also fed them a home-cooked meal at our flat on Wednesday night.

Jeff and I watched Nancy's final race (500 metre) early on Sunday morning.  In the photo, you can see the barges sheltering the racing venue.  As we were watching one of the heats, I commented that I'd be petrified to be the steer in the boat - the person who stands in the back with the long paddle.  As I was saying that, one of the steers wobbled and then toppled into the harbour.  Luckily she was wearing a life jacket, so her face was not submerged in the water.  Yuck!


Jeff and I took a trip to Borneo during the last week of June - stay tuned for our orang-utan adventures in the next blog.