Letter from Hong Kong - Part VII

Top Picture is one of the restored barracks at the Haungpu Military Academy.

Next picture was taken from the ferry on the way to the Academy
The third picture is of Jenny, Mr. So, Sister and Helen in the hallway of Mr So's home.

Bottom picture is taken at Mr So's estate.
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November 12, 2008

We are getting ready to go to China tomorrow for four days (yeah, I know I’m in Hong Kong, which is China, but it still seems like another country). We will be using Sister’s second home in China, which is just about fifteen miles south of Guangzhou; from there we will be touring around the area, so when I return I’ll have some more good stuff to report.

November 17th -We arrived back in Hong Kong late last night; we were three whipped puppies! We had a great time and I will try to go over the highlights as time permits. Here is the brief summary:

We spent four nights in the Country Garden Resort in Shangde, about 15 miles south of Guangzhou. From there we visited a number of sites in Guangzhou; the most interesting were Zhao Mo’s Mausoleum (second Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (137-122BC), Huangpu Military Academy Historical site, and the site of a naval battle between China and England in 1839; the results of this battle and several others ceded parts of Hong Kong to England in 1842 and 1860.

Before I go into details of what we saw I would like to talk briefly about who we were traveling with in China, which was one of the most interesting part of the visit.

In addition to Jenny and me, Sister also went with us. Jenny’s closest friend Helen (not to be confused with niece Helen), who Jenny has known since grade school, came to stay with us at the Country Garden the last two nights and helped show us the sites with her friend, Mr. So.

Mr. So and his family have been friends with Helen and her husband for years. They met through a common interest in traveling, not just in China but also other parts of the world. Helen and Mr So spent a great deal of time ensuring that we visited many sites and, of course, ate at some of the best restaurants. We also visited Mr. So’s home and met his family.

Mr. So and his family have been in Guangzhou for centuries and reside in a nice section of Guangzhou. He is the General Manager of a manufacturing company and he is, needless to say, well to do. His home is huge by any standards, although different than you might expect (think of a home in NYC, say upper east side or similar large city.) He owns three buildings where he lives, two of which he and his extended family lives and the other larger building is leased. The home we visited has four levels and I would guess, maybe 3000+ sq ft.; probable the other building, where the family also lives, is as large. Remember most Chinese would consider themselves lucky to have a flat that is 300 sq. ft

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, is a huge metropolis with population somewhere north of ten million people; with some who say it is closer to twelve million if you count all of the undocumented migrant workers.

Guangzhou is not the city I remembered about ten years ago, where there were bicycles everywhere, with few cars on the road, with drivers who drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the horn. Now most of the bicycles are gone, replaced by mostly cars and motorbikes. There are still lots of traffic jams and drivers who drive like there are no rules, but drivers blowing their horns have largely disappeared. Weird!

Guangzhou is also a much cleaner city today. It has a modern subway system, which opened in 1999 that looks very much like the Hong Kong system that opened in 1979. The subway system is clean and easy to get around, since signs are in English as well as Chinese; fares start at RMB2 (US$.25) for the first four kilometer and increase RMB1 for each addition four kilometers thereafter.

I’m always curious about gasoline prices, so while in China I had to check it out: a gallon of gas is about US$3.70, which is much higher than I remembered.

I believe the Chinese government is not subsidizing the automobile as it once did. In fact the China’s automobile industry is huge; in addition to many local manufacturing companies, there is also General Motors and Volkswagen who have joint ventures with local companies. If one does decide to buy an import, be prepared to pay about 27% import Taxes.

Haungpu Military Academy, located on ChangZhou Island, is the military school started by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, father of the Republic of China, in 1924 to train revolutionary military officers; the school was later moved in 1930 to Tianjin. At one time General Chiang Kai-shek was an instructor there; later he became the leader of the Kuomintang Party.

The School was destroyed in 1938 by Japanese bombing and was later restored beginning in 1949, after the Communist Party, under Mao Tse-tung, was victorious in the civil war over General Chiang Kai Shek; the General later fled the mainland for Taiwan. China is still trying to get Taiwan to agree that the Island is a part of China. It may happen one day, but it ain’t going to be easy!

More to come on our trip to China!

Letters From Hong Kong - Part VI

My Hong Kong Family having dinner. We are missing several members; Helen, who had to work late, Joshua, who took the picture and Sze Wan (Grace) and her husband, Tony.

Note: The picture includes the writer, my wife,Jenny and our daughter Peggy, who lives in LA
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November 8, 2008

Yesterday we went to Mongkok to get a visa for China. We are planning to go to Sister’s second home in China for a few days. In addition, we plan to do some touring around the area. We’ll give you more details later.

Land-use rights for farmers in China have been a big issue for many years. It seems that farmers cannot own their land, but they can lease it for thirty years. What has happened to so many farmers is that many high-ranking local politicians would not issue certificates to the farmers so they were unable to prove their rights to live on the land. So, the politicians would simply take their land away from them. I’m sure that many of you have read about riots by farmers because of this issue.

So in order to eliminate this issued, Beijing is issuing these Certificates in order to ensure the farmers’ rights will not be violated. Good luck! However, it seems to be a step in the right directions.

The Chinese Central Government has set as a target to try to double the annual income of farmers from HK$4550 to HK$10,000 by year 2020. As most of you know, the Central Government has been concerned with the disparity of income of those living in the central part of China versus those living on the coast.

After applying for our visas to China, we went to Kowloon Bay for Dinner with the family, but before dinner, Jenny and I went early to walk around the area. Kowloon Bay is located north of Tsim Sha Tsui and adjacent to the old Kai Tak Airport. It is an industrial area and very little to see, so Jenny spent her time in a shopping center doing what she loves best!

A little blast of the past! When I worked in Hong Kong, more years than I care to think about, our factory was located in San Po Kong, a district in the same area as Kowloon Bay. The area has really change a lot, but still the area around the old airport is still more commercial than some of the other areas we enjoy visiting.

So the question is what do the Hong Kong people think about Taiwan and China meeting and improving their relations? South China Morning Post (SCMP), the largest English language newspaper in Hong Kong, was very positive in an editorial about the improving relations. There are some locals who don’t care, some who want closer relations and some who do not. Since I had a question about this matter I will kind of follow it and let you know what I find out.

November 9th -Today is Sunday and with Sunday everyone in Hong Kong gets out of their small flats and hits the streets and stores. So we have decided to stay in and try it another day.

Yesterday I saw a CX-7 Mazda in a showroom with a price tag of HK$310,000. So that you do not have to get your calculators out: that is about US$40,000. I think in the States you can buy this car all day for about, what US$27,000? The big different in the two prices is import tax on all auto’s. This tax was imposed years ago to reduce the number of cars registered in HK, but by observing the traffic in HK it is hard to believe that it has worked!

Speaking of automobiles: I noticed in the HK Standard, another local English newspaper, that China has implemented a no-drive rule in Beijing effective October 11th. It works like this: if your license plate ends in a number 1 or 6, you cannot drive on Monday; if your license plates number ends in a 2 or 7, you cannot drive on Tuesday; and so on, with weekends exempt from the rule. How difficult would that be to follow? I can’t remember what day it is never mind the last number on my license plate!

November 10th -The weather has finally turned cooler; yesterday the high was only 21C, about 70F with the winds around 10-20 kph. It was nice!

Many of you might haves seen the article about a middle-rankling Chinese official, Yang Xianghong, who slipped away from the Chinese delegation in Paris (I know Judd did since he had a question about it). At the time of the question I had not seen anything in the papers about the incident. And for good reason; they don’t report this type of information often. Yesterday I did see an article in the SCMP about, not only that incident but also the whole issue of corrupt officials fleeing before they can be prosecuted. Are you ready for this? The article said that over the past decade more than 10,000 corrupt Chinese Official have fled China, mostly for Europe, Canada and US because of extradition treaties, and left with over US$100 billon dollars. That’s a lot of gravy!

November 11th -Jenny had to do run some errands with her sister, so I stayed home (which is anywhere I take my shoes off!) and started reviewing tax information for next tax season. Yes, it is coming! I have to re-qualify each year as a volunter tax counselor, which means taking a test each year. This year’s changes are minimal so it is basically reviewing. One can forget a lot in a year. Also next year, I have volunteered to serve one day a week as counselor for VITA in Warrensburg. VITA serves mainly lower income clients versus senior citizens, which is mostly what we do at the Senior Center in Glens Falls.

Last night we had dinner at Sister’s house with her family, again. It is always a joy to be with them, even though I don’t understand most of what is happening. Jenny’s niece, Helen a schoolteacher and graduate of a school in Canada, speaks about as much English at dinner as Cantonese; this is not just for my benefit, but also forcing the three grandnieces to learn more English.

Letters From Hong Kong - Part V

Sister and Yee Gor at a family gathering at a Korean Restaurant in Mongkok.

Mongkok with Langham Hotel in the background.

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November 3, 2008

We still haven’t gotten any rain and the weather is still hanging around 85 degrees during the day. I’m ready for cooler weather. I notice that Queensbury is having some really nice comfortable weather.
We went over to Mongkok to have lunch at The Ming Court in the Langham Hotel and then to run some errands in the area. The Hotel is really nice and The Ming Court’s dim sum is excellent.

November 4th - Election Day! I know most of you will be as happy as I am that it is finally over. Now let’s see if the winner will do half of what he said he would do!

Today Jenny decided to spend the day with her sister; so that left me to my own devices. At the request of my little brother Billie and the concerns of some of you that I might be eating too much and gaining too weight, I decided to go for a little walk.

Since we have already walked to Tsuen Wan I decided to walk to Sham Tseng, little village just west of Tsuen Wan. But first I decided to explore several beaches alone the way. Well, I’m not sure I would call them beaches; the largest of the three was only about 100 hundred yards long. I would hate to see a few thousand people on one of those beaches in the summer. Now, even with the temperature around 82 degrees, there are only a few people fishing; no sunbathers! Anyway I made it to Sham Tseng in about an hour; got a snack and something to drink then came back to the hotel for a little swim.

November 5th - It looks as though our plan for a trip to the Taj Mahal is not going to happen this trip. We have been to several travel agencies and none of them have or can confirm the trip in as much as they lack the minimum number for the trip.

Big news here is the Chinese delegation visiting Taiwan for a big pow wow. This delegation is headed by the highest ranking Chinese Official ever to visit the Island. It seems the new President of Taiwan, Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, wants to improve relations with the “Motherland”. There are many on the Island who do not want this to happen and with Mr. Ma, who was born in Hong Kong, there are lots of concerns. We’ll see how this plays out over the next several days.

November 6th - Yesterday we spent the day in Tsim Sha Tsui and Jordan area; we were doing a little shopping and just a very little eating! Most of the day was just being with Sister and Yee Gor. Jenny really enjoys being with both of them and talking: they don’t stop!

I am not sure if I explained who Yee Gor is. Yee Gor means second brother, but in this case he is Jenny’s brother-in-law, husband of Jenny’s second sister who past away several years ago. Jenny is the the third sister or Sahn yee.

November 7th - After eating my way around a number of restaurants, my weight is still the same. So for you guys who are concerned about my weight (and I thank you very much), I’m still doing just fine!

Lord Patten was in town for the past few days publicizing his new book. Some of you remember Lord Patten as the last governor of the Britist Crown Colony of Hong Kong from 1992 to the turnover to China in 1997. In one of his interviews, he is chastising the local government for not allowing more free elections: this coming from a former colonial governor!

All of you know that under colonial form of government there is little or no free elections. What the governor says go! In all fairness he did try to implement some free elections, but much was too little too late and I always thought it was to P—off the Chinese Government and try to force the Chinese into faster free elections. In the end most of what was done was repealed when the Chinese took over in July 1997.

I will send more on the local form of government and when Hong Kong may be able to elect their Chief Executive and what officials are currently elected.

The high level meeting with the Chinese Official from the Mainland with the Taiwan Officials went well, if you want to see closer ties between the Island and Mainland. They agreed to have direct flights, both passenger and cargo, between the Island and the Mainland; whereas before all flights had to go thorough Hong Kong. They also agreed on postal exchange; which sounds like mail can go direct now! Most important is they are talking!

The big impact to Hong Kong will be that it will lose all of the cargo and passengers traffic that had to go thorough Hong Kong before this agreement and now will not. I’m not sure the dollar impact on Hong Kong. I think most Hong Kong people would like to see closer ties between the Mainland and Taiwan.

Letters From Hong Kong - Part IV

The picture on top is Elements, the new shopping mall located on top of Kowloon MTR Station.

The picture at the bottom is a home in Ting Kau Village.

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October 30, 2008

Today, in our attempt to eat in every restaurant in Hong Kong, we went with Sister and Yee Gor to have Chiu Chow food at the Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant in a fairly new shopping mall called The Element. This is a beautiful shopping area on top of a recent, expanded subway station here in Hong Kong. The subway system is something of a beauty. The first two section of the system opened in 1979 with about twenty-eight stations and now it has expanded to over 150 stations, carrying over four million passengers a day! As a senior citizen with an Octopus Card, I can ride to most places for about HK$3.50 and rarely does it costs more than HK$9.00. Not bad at all!

So, even without a car, getting around in Hong Kong is relative easy. Our favorite mode of travel is the MTR, and then when we are in a hurry: taxis. There are also mini-busses that are easy to use; that is if you have a native Cantonese speaker with you as I do!

Here it is October 31st and the weather is finally getting a little bit cooler, especially at night; like maybe the highs are only 84 degrees. Still no rain and if it would rain maybe it might get a little cooler

Melamine is still somewhat a problem here in Hong Kong. There is now concern about eggs as well as milk coming into Hong Kong from China. On our way to the hotel, on the day we arrived in Hong Kong, our taxi cab driver told us not to eat any eggs or drink any milk from Mainland China! Of course, that is good advise but I haven't follow that advise since being here for about a week. But we are careful!

As I have noted before, in the Chinese culture, family is everything. When family members go to work, a part of every paycheck goes back to the family to help the parents or it could be helping in other family situations, e.g. educating another member of the family. There is little or no social net in Hong Kong as we have in the States: read no Social Security, Medicare, etc. There is a government allowance paid to seniors over 65; that allowance is HK$1000 per month. As all of you know by now, that is about US$130. Also public hospitals are highly subsidized, so medical care is available to all, but sometimes the wait is quite long.

Dim sum literally means, “to touch your heart”; dim sum consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies. They are similar to hors d'oeuvres, and is also linked with “yum cha”, drinking tea. So when a Chinese family goes out for dim sum they are more likely say they are going for “yum cha” And no Fred D. dim sum is not fattening!

Today we decided to walk into Tseun Wan for dim sum. As I told you earlier we are staying in Ting Kau, just outside of Tseun Wan, which is in the New Territories (NT). Tseun Wan is a city with a population in excess of 300,000 and is located about ten miles northwest of Tsim Sha Tsui, the main tourist district on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. The walk, about three miles, is along side of the harbor overlooking Tsing Yi, a small island just off the mainland. It was very warm, and a lovely walk.

November 1st and we have already been here just over a week. Here one walks much more than in the States, which, of course, is good considerating all the food we are eating! Today, we are just going to layback and rest after walking around Hong Kong the last couple of days. Owning a car seems like more of a liability to me; the traffic is horrible and then if you can find a place to park, it is very expensive. The four plus years that I lived here I never owned a car and did quite well, thank you.

Speaking of cars: gasoline price here is HK$15.00 per liter; that is almost US$7.80 per gallon. Ouch! At that price I might park my Acura!

Good News! We got confirmation that our Cambodia trip is a go! We depart December 3rd. However, we still don’t have confirmation for our Indian trip, but we are hopeful.

November 2nd - We start back on our eating marathon by going over to Jordon, which is just north of Tsim Sha Tsui, to Wang Jia Sha Restaurant for a little Shanghainese cuisine, which is a little richer than Cantonese cuisine. The dumplings are out of this world, so I decided to have more than one!

We had a light lunch but then went on a binge with a seafood buffet at the hotel with Sister, Yee Gor and Jenny’s neice Sze Wan (Grace) and her husband, Tony. I really enjoyed watching Tony eat; he can really put some food away. But guess what, he might weight 150 pounds sucking wet!
I think if the Hong Kong people could vote in our presidential elections, Barack Obama would win easily. Everyone who has had an opinion about our elections, wants Obama to win and all for different reasons.

Letters From Hong Kong - Part III

The top picture shows shoppers in Causeway Bay.

The picture in the middle shows what it looks like shopping on a week-end in Mongkok.

Bottom right picture shows a Chinese Junk in the South China Seas with the Convention Center in Wanchai in the background.

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October 28, 2009

So, in our apartment we have a washer and dryer and it is one unit! I have never seen one before, but here, with space at a premium, it makes a great deal of sense. However, I do not ever, I mean ever, advise buying one. It takes forever to dry one load of clothes (load not being the correct word to use; maybe more like a hand full).

Today we are going down to the Mongkok area again. We just found out that our Cambodia trip has been canceled because not enough people signed up for the trip. Now we will go down and check on a trip to the Taj Mahal.

I turned the TV on this morning and saw where DOW Industrial went up almost 900 points. That is a good way to start the day!

We are on our way to the Indian Consular General’s Office, located in the United Centre in Wanchai, to see if we can get visas for India by November 7th, which is when the tour leaves. If we cannot get visas to enter India by November 7th, then plan “C”, whatever that is, maybe to check out other tours to India.

After going to the Indian Consulate General Office, we plan to have dim sum while our visas are being processed; yes Scott we are going to eat again and will be doing a lot of eating while we are here in Hong Kong. After all, that is one of the many reasons for coming to Hong Kong.

After spending most of the day trying to get our visas to India, and of course eating some delicious dim sum, we found out that we still do not have a confirmed tour either for our Taj Mahal or Cambodia trips. The travel agency is having difficulties getting the minimum number to make the trip. We are now trying to get a booking for a November 9th trip to India and it is looking like an early December trip to Cambodia. Even without a confirmed trip to India, we decided to start the visa processed and pay about US$120 for the application. When we pick up the visa, it will cost us another US$100 or so. I was a little leery about paying for the visa application without confirmed reservations, but we decided to proceed.

I have been talking about Central, Mongkok, and Wanchai earlier so now may be a good time for a brief outline of the major districts in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has four distinct parts: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories, and Outlying Islands. Briefly, and for you history buffs; in 1842 after the first Opium War, China ceded Hong Kong Island; then in 1860 at the end of the second Opium War, China ceded part of the mainland (Kowloon) to England. Later England wasn’t satisfied and wanted more! So another Opium War in 1898 in which England won; China then leased to England the New Territories and a number of surrounding islands for ninety-nine years. So, in 1997 when the leased expired, China took all of Hong Kong back on the basis that the part that was ceded was based on “unequal treaties”. More later on the return of Hong Kong to China.

Hong Kong Island’s tourist districts are: Central, Wanchai, Causeway Bay, Repulse Bay, Stanley, mostly Stanley Market, and don't forget, The Peak, one of the most important places to visit when you go to Hong Kong.

Central is the financial district, but it is not a one dimensional area. In addition to beautiful, state-of-the-art, high-rises one can see some very colorful, narrow, backstreet shopping areas; which, in fact, are my favorite areas of Central.

Wanchai: if you are of the Viet Nam era or earlier, you will first think of Suzie Wong. But Wanchai today is nothing like Mr. Richard Mason’s book, The World of Suzie Wong or Hollywood’s movie of the same name. Just as Times Square at 42nd street in New York City is no longer the seeded area that it once was in the ‘70’s or earlier, neither is Wanchai. Financial and trading companies years ago started moving to Wanchai when Central got too expensive. Today Wanchai is a great place to have dinner and simply to walk around viewing the sights. There are beautiful hotels in Wanchai and the Hong Kong Convention Center is located here, the building the Ceremonies were held to return Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997.

Causeway Bay is one of my favorite areas. I lived in Jardine's San, just above Causeway, in the early ‘80’s for about two years, before moving to Ocean City in Tsim Sha Tsui. I use to love to go down and just walk around at night after dinner. It is one of the most crowded areas of Hong Kong because it is a main shopping area for the locals, but also one of the most interesting for foreigners.

Repulse Bay and Stanley Market is located on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Repulse Bay was the scene of Hollywood’s Love is a Many Splendor Things. It is still one of the local’s favorite places in the summer for beach activities. The Repulse Bay Hotel, as seen in the movie is now The Repulse Bay and has apartments, shops, restaurants and much more. Stanley Market is, let’s face it, a tourist attraction and I might even say “trap”. You can buy about anything you want there for a pretty reasonable price. Stanley is the place to see the Murray House, a restored mid 19th century military barracks that was moved from Wanchai area to make way for the Bank of China Tower.

Letters From Hong Kong - Part II

The top picture is a picture of shopper in Mongkok and the picture at the bottom is a picture of Tsuen Wan with the Nina Tower.

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Hong Kong appears to be just as busy as usual even with the world financial crisis. All of the world markets went down big-time on October 25, 2008 and Hong Kong was no exception: Hang Seng Index closed down about 8% to 12, 630. The index is down by about 60% from a year ago.

On our recent trip to the Mongkok District, one of the many major shopping areas in Hong Kong, we saw a lot of people spending a lot of money. These shoppers appear to be mostly locals, but some foreign shoppers. We saw a lot of tourist from China and Europe, but not too many from States.

This morning we have invited Sister and Yee Gor for Breakfast here at the hotel. Later we will meet Jenny’s niece, Betty and her husband, Jack for dinner at the House of Beijing in Tsuen Wan. Now that should be some good eating.

Tsuen Wan was one of the first “new town” developed by the Hong Kong Government in the ‘70’s and really started to boon after the completion of the first section of the subway system (MTR) in 1979 that linked Tsuen Wan with Tsim Sha Shui, Hong Kong Island and other districts. Today it has a population of well over 300,000.

I had an interesting conversation today with Jack, Betty’s husband, at the House of Beijing restaurant. He asked, “Why did the Republicans select John McCain to run against Barack Obama”. I told him I really didn’t know but the conservative wing of the party had a lot to do with it. So, why we were talking about the presidential elections I asked him who the people of Hong Kong would like to see elected US President. He said, "we really don't care"! The America Government doesn’t care about Asia, and certainly not Hong Kong. The people of Hong Kong are more interested in what happens in China"; makes sense to me.

Using English to teach in local schools here in Hong Kong has been a big issue since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. In 1998 the government mandated that all public schools had to teach in Cantonese (one of the many dialects of the Chinese Language and the predominate one in Hong Kong) even when teaching English. Ten years later they have found out, surprise! That the students in the schools, who were being taught English in Cantonese, were not learning English and were at a distinctive disadvantage in trying to get into a college and finding work. Now they are looking at transitioning back to teaching in English in subjects where it makes sense e.g. math, English and science.

Here it is almost the end of October 2008, and the weather is still very warm: high around 28c (about 84f) and low around 23c (about 75f with humidity in the mid 70’s. Did I say warm?

Today we are cooling our heels, as we would say in North Carolina. We were down at the pool for a couple of hours and now relaxing in the apartment having some noodles. The pool is a great place to go for a swim and to lie around and read. Hardly anyone is ever there during the week days.

Tonight we see the rest of Jenny’s family at Sister’s flat. The family always gets together at Sister’s flat at least once a week for dinner. Then during the weekend they will occasionally go out for yum cha (literally means drinking tea) and that is when they spend hours eating dim sum and just talking. I usually take a paper and eat the delicious dim sum and read my paper.

A word about a typical flat in Hong Kong! Hong Kong is a great place to live if you can afford good housing. From my experience, after living in Hong Kong for about five years, visiting Hong Kong over the past twenty-five years, and visiting local families at a number of flats or apartments, the size of their homes are unbelievable small. Most families, I would venture to guess, are living in flats that are about 400 sq ft or smaller ( just a little larger than your living room); some who live in 700+ sq ft are extremely fortunately. Now don’t get me wrong: the well-to-do live in unbelievably large accommodations as you might expect.

Listed here are two current listings in the area that Sister lives: for sale, 500 sq ft flat for US$149,000 or about US$280/sq ft. and for rent 480 sq ft one bedroom service apartment for US$5000/month. Ouch! A comparison of cost/ sq ft: the market value of a typical home in upstate New York is in the area of $150/sq ft. or less. Of course location is everything!

Dinner with Jenny’s family was great. The food was fantastic and being with her family is always a joy. In a word: Beautiful family, sorry that is two words!

There were a total of thirteen for dinner; three grandnieces and no TV running in the background! The family was just talking about what interest them; kind of the way we remembered as kids! Betty and Helen, Jenny’s nieces are always trying to teach English to the three grandnieces; somehow the oldest, Kitty, who is fourteen years old, who been has been taking English for years and who is still struggling with her English (see previous note regarding teaching English in Hong Kong schools) decides to turn the table on me saying that it was time for me to learn Cantonese. So maybe I can help her and she can help me.

Letters From Hong Kong

Note: the top picture above was taken from our Hotel with a point and shoot camera place on the railing of our patio. Not bad, eh. The bottom picture is the Ting Kau Bridge to Tsing Yi and part of the airport infrastructure.

“Letters” is a diary of activities of my wife, Jenny, and I, while we were on a three month trip to Hong Kong, Guangdong Province of China, Cambodia and Los Angeles from October 23, 2008 until January 6, 2009. I will post these as I get time.

Tax season is here and as a volunteer with AARP Tax-Aide and VITA I’m going to be pretty busy until April 15th.

I hope you enjoy and please post any comments you might have regarding these letters or if you would like me to add something to the blog.
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On October 23, 2008, my wife, Jenny, and I arrived in Hong Kong about on time considering the fact that we had a problem in O’Hara that would have prevented us from flying over the Pole. But United fixed the problem and we left shortly thereafter. Even so, the 15-hour flight was much longer than I remembered (my last trip to Hong Kong was in 2004); you think it might be because I’m getting older?

Dai Ga Je (Elder Sister) and Yee Gor (Second Brother) met us at the airport. We took a taxi to Royal View Hotel in Ting Kau, which is located just beside the new bridge to Tsing Yi and part of the infrastructure to the new airport in located in Lantau. New! Well not new anymore; opened, I believed in 1997 about the time Hong Kong was returned to China.

We have leased a two-bedroom apartment for two months at the price of HK$21,500 per month (US$2800). This is a hotel that caters to short and long term travelers; as a result they have service apartments for lease. These apartments are very nice but let’s keep in mind, by US standards very small. Our place is only 710 sq. ft.

We did some unpacking and then hit the sack. We were able to sleep all night maybe because we took Melatonin to help us sleep. For those who do not know; Hong Kong is twelve hours ahead of New York time.

The next day we had a number of errands to do: banking, getting the apartment in order, checking on our planned trip to Cambodia, and of course seeing Dai Ga Je and Yee Gor. We had dim sum in Ho Man Tin and boy was it good. Food is a big part of the culture in Hong Kong and I love it!

Later in the day we went back to Sister’s flat and had dinner with her, Ah Kan and his family (Ah Kan is Sister’s oldest and is referred to as Dai Gor by his siblings). Needless to say the food was delicious. We had two different types of barbeque pork, vegetable and of course always soup to start the meal and end the meal. Oh, also fruit at the end of the meal as well.

While we were there we took some clothes we had left in her place from out last visit to be cleaned and then brought them back to the hotel. Now I have too many clothes for this trip! We unpack the clothes and then a hot shower and to bed again. We took Melatonin again and slept through the night. That’s good news. In the past it has taken us about a week to get adjusted to the change in the time zone.

This may be a good time to say how much we have enjoyed Skyping (I not sure if that’s a word; for those who don’t know what it is; it is basically video telephone calls through the internet) Peggy, Robby & his family and also our neighbors Judd and Dannie. It is great to be able to stay in touch with all of them.

So after two days here, we decided it is time to go out and get some groceries. I have been going downstairs to the Hotel’s Café Lido for breakfast the past two mornings. It only costs about HK$60 each for the buffet, but I always eat too much to continue that. Now I can have some fruit, bread, cereal and coffee and be all set. Jenny is not much of a breakfast person, but I love my breakfast.

Grocery stores are fairly small by US standards and very, very crowed. If I thought the Hannaford store in Upstate New York is crowded; I certainly don’t anymore. Jenny started talking to a gentleman from Switzerland and he was complaining about the prices being too expensive. Jenny tried to tell him that most everything he had purchased came from Europe or US and had to be shipped; hence, high prices; not sure he was any happier.

Speaking of Hong Kong stores being crowded; I guess one should expect that to be the case with over eight million people in about 400 sq. miles and much of that are mountains or country parks. When I’m out on the streets with Jenny, I try not to be concerned with all of the people pushing and shoving to get by and around me. This is their home!

We had dinner at Sister’s and as usual the food was great. She has Nora, an Amah, (Maid) from the Philippines who helps her. Her kids wanted their mother to have the help so they take care of the expense. Sister taught Nora how to cook Cantonese-style and now she is a marvelous cook and such a nice lady.