A Harry Potter Ride Home

I just found this on my Mac. Forgot that I started writing it for a blog entry on my trip back to HK. I kept the original title as I had been saving the new Harry Potter for the flight back. So, here is a belated entry from last July 2005...

I packed my bags Tuesday afternoon, cleaned the apartment, and had one last taste of my favorite Thai food before heading to the airport for my return flight to the Hong Kong. These last 2 months in the U.S. have been fun but draining. I must admit looking forward to a bit of quiet time in HK and sleeping in our own bed.

It is a good thing that we are not forced to be photographed getting on or while on the plane. Travelers are an odd looking bunch, surrendering fashion for faux pas, but none seems much to notice. Stranded by a delayed flight in the Kansas City airport today, I made conversation with a woman from Los Angeles who had come home to see family this week. Seeking comfort, she donned her nursing fatigues for the flight although she wasn’t headed directly to duty and looked a bit out of place in the waiting area. Add to this the Dorothy and Wizard of Oz themed sweatshirt she purchased at the airport gift shop to stave off the cold, and you had quite an unlikely combination.

But it’s not just the abandonment of normal senses that fascinates me, it’s the adoption of preemptive measures you find in travelers. You know what I mean…the way in which otherwise normal people enter a plane and immediately pass out, get drunk, or otherwise engage in seemingly hypnotic activites. These are people that outside of a travel setting seem more ADHD than non-responsive. My favorite of this group are those that come prepared with sleeping pillows. My neighbors tonight perhaps take the cake, having blown up their neck-encompassing pillows before I had entered the plane, so I was met with a row of four perfectly normal looking, wide-awake people, all with these mini-life preservers floating eerily about their neck as they conversed, and the hustle of a loading plane encompassed them. They were prepared.

Although I am not a pass out, pillow hugger, I too have my own odd traveling habits. I often laugh at myself on the plane, realizing that the assortment of snacks that I purchased for the flight will come in handy if we get stranded in the Arctic for a month. For this trip, it was a couple of candy bars, 3 waters, and some nuts.

World Records from Hong Kong

A contribution to the blog from Eric. All of these are Guinness Book of World Records that happened or are located on Hong Kong:

1.) The World’s Most Expensive Toilet

HK$38Million dollar, solid gold toilet at Hang Fung Jewlers

2.) The World’s Most Densely Populated Island

Ap Lei Chau Island, one of many islands that makes up great Hong Kong is 1.3 square kilometers and contains 80,000 people.

3.) The World’s Longest Suspension and Rail Bridge

The Tsing Ma Bridge opened in 1997 is 1,377 meters in length

4.) The World’s Highest Per-capita Ownership of Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce Vehicles.

A local claim to fame

5.) The World’s Largest and Most Expensive Airline Terminal

It truly is magnificent – I love the airport here, it’s amazingly huge and efficient. The building is 1.3km long and covers 550,00 sq. meters taking the titles of the world’s largest single airport building. The baggage hall alone is as big as New York’s Yankee Stadium (it could hold five Boeing 747’s parked wing tip to wing tip). It has a terminal capacity to accommodate 45 million passengers a year arriving on 460 flights every day. The price tag was US$20 Billion making it the most expensive airport ever built

6.) The World’s Largest Per-capita Consumption of Cognac

100ml, per person, per year

7.) The World’s Longest Criminal Trial

398 days in 1993-1994 for the trial of fourteen South Vietnamese boat people eventually acquitted of murdering 24 North Vietnamese boat people at the Shek Kong Detention Center for Vietnamese migrants

8.) The Largest Synchronized Hula-Hoop Spin

2004 – 2,308 local students

9.) The World’s Largest Neon Advertising Sign

You’ll soon understand Hong Kong’s love of Neon – the sign was the length of a football field and included 800,000 bulbs covering 5,033 sq. meters

10.) World’s Largest Television Display

At the Sha Tin racecourse (horse racing is one of Hong Kong’s age old national pastimes). 70.4m x 8 m

11.) The World’s Smallest Fire Engines

Because of Hong Kong’s narrow, winding footpaths and roads, the fire engines in many parts of the city look like small go-carts mini-trucks

12.) The World’s Largest industrial Building

Modern terminal’s container freight station in Kwai Chung is the largest industrial building in the world.

13.) The World’s Highest Per-capita Horserace Betting Turnover

More money is gambled at one HK racecourse in one night than in the whole of United Kingdom in one year.

14.) The World’s Longest Escalator System

You’ll definitely see this, we live very close to it. Around 50,000 commuters ride this escalator to and from work every day. Completed in 1993, the escalator runs for 800 meters.

15.) the World’s Largest Country Line Dance

Yep - in Hong Kong. Dancing to The Tractor’s “Baby Likes to Rock It”, for 7 minutes and 40 seconds, a total of 12,168 people took part

16.) The World’s Highest Ratio of Land Conserved for Parks

40% of Hong Kong territory is set aside for country parks.

17.) The World’s Largest Piece of Peeled Human Skin

16 year old Barry Kwok Tak-ming peeled this off his chest after a sunburn. It measures 23 x 11 centimeters and amazingly is shaped like China.

18.) The World’s Largest Outdoor Sitting Buddha

You’ll definitely see this. Often debated about whether it IS the largest – we’re sticking with the book on this one.

19.) The World’s Most Expensive Real Estate

Just recently, the penthouse of a new prestigious apartment building went for $168 Million (or a record breaking $31,384 per square foot).

20.) The World’s Largest Chinese Dumpling

In 1997 – it weighed in at 480kg.

Give a kid a rope...and they'll make a swing

My family has been on my mind a lot today as my new nephew had some health trouble and had to go back into the hospital. In their honor, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures from some of the time I spent away from my blog this summer.



I just love this photo. AHAHAHAHAH! Can't you hear Alex (Eric's niece) as you look at it. Colin (my nephew) really had fun at the lake, but especially with Alex. Photography by Eric.



And, just to show that grandma (my mom) is no "Grandma," she took the plunge, too. Farmor (Swedish for fahter's mother) dropped off into the water in non-swimsuit clothes. I wasn't there for this site but am so glad Eric or one of my brothers captured it!

Through the whole of the vacation, I'm not sure who was "kid" and who not, but we had a lot of fun.

A Suit Redesign?

A couple of weeks ago, we had some visitors from the States - Travis and Amy - who stayed with us for a couple of days and explored Hong Kong. Travis and Amy were really adventurous and were out exploring by themselves most of the day as Eric and I were working. The following photos were taken by Travis and Amy on an outing to Stanley, middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday (I believe).





Did the swimming suit get a redesign that I missed? Travis and Amy were cracking up about this guy, the highlight of their beach adventure. The businessman that had a little outing.

An Uncle!

Ford Christopher Reedy was born at 9:05 a.m. today. He was 7 lbs.
9 oz. Eric says we are going to call him "T" - short for Model T. Hope mom and dad approve, as I think that is fun. Somebody else in the family needs to go by a nickname...



Funny thing was that I have very rarely had this feeling like, is the baby here yet, but tonight I was up extra late on a conference call and when I got off I said, well, better check my e-mail again to see about the baby.

Kuala Lumpur

Eric is jet-setting again tonight. He arrived in Malaysia a few hours ago. I thought it'd be fun to post a couple of minutes of conversation that we had tonight on instant messenger.

E.J. says:
Yo, yo, yo
E.J. says:
Are you there?
Eric says:
hey hey hey
Eric says:
I'm here here here
E.J. says:
What's it like?
E.J. says:
Smoky?
Eric says:
hahaha
Eric says:
it's not smokey
Eric says:
I think the wind shifted
Eric says:
it doesn't seem smokey at all
Eric says:
Its interesting
Eric says:
very muslim
Eric says:
very birka and head dresses
E.J. says:
hum
E.J. says:
do you feel comfortable?
Eric says:
but also very casual, laidback, calm, polite, civilized
Eric says:
I feel comfortable
Eric says:
I don't feel like I'm getting mean stares or anything
Eric says:
And it seems very melting pot
E.J. says:
Where are you staying in the city?
Eric says:
lots of Indians, Chinese, Muslims, Europeans
Eric says:
I'm staying right in the heart of the city
Eric says:
I walked around a little bit because I needed an adapter
Eric says:
so I got to see quite a bit of the city center, which is really "hopin"
Eric says:
er..hoppin..
E.J. says:
Sounds fun.
Eric says:
yeah...

Korean Feast Sunday

Sunday night we met our friends Kim, Zhou Fang, Kristen, Sean, and Kristen'’s mom -– Judy - for dinner at a Knutsford Terrace Korean restaurant. Kristen's mom is visiting for the week from the Carolina’s.

I had never eaten Korean food before and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. From the traditional kim chee,– pickled cabbage,– to the more adventurous beef tar tar and chicken/vegetable hot pot, I really enjoyed the cuisine. The kim chee was a spicy combination of pickling and pepper flavors that was very satisfying to the pallet. Kim and her husband mentioned that they often get cravings for kim chee, and after trying it, I can see why. It'’s one of those unique flavors that I could binge on to the point of hatred and desire randomly from now on. It was satisfying for me in a similar way to a good Mexican meal.





Eric was particularly surprised when I went for the beef tar tar -– raw, uncooked beef, covered with a raw egg, some spices and herbs, and then mixed at the table. We were sharing all of our food family-style and Zhou Fang had ordered, so I figured why not. It was probably my favorite item of the night. The taste was very fresh, and you could tell the beef was quality. They added some mint or other similar fresh herb to the mixture, which really brought out the tastes for me. I have since survived almost 24 hours without getting sick.

The hot pot was a real success as well, with the exception of the chicken. As Americans, we are often surprised by bones in foods that we would not expect. This was one such meal. Once we abstained from the chicken in the mixture, it was a real home run. For those of you who like Indian food, say chicken tikka masala (my favorite),– this meal was a close cousin. We got a side of white rice and devoured the sauce, carrots, onions, and other vegetables that were chunkily chopped in the brew.

ItÂ’s always fun to be exposed to a new cuisine. Eric and I have not been all too impressed with Chinese food as of yet, so perhaps Korean will become a good option for variety. Kristen and Sean will soon be heading back to the U.S.,– Tulsa, specifically, as they are expecting their first child. We'’ll miss them dearly for the fun they bring to events like this. Thanks, Kim, for organizing this outing and many of our HK adventures!

Making the Newspaper

I was really surprised on Thursday when our doorman stopped me to show a Chinese language newspaper. He seemed very purposeful, but I was completely oblivious to his intention, and then it struck. He had recognized an article featuring products that utilize the technology licensed by Eric's company - Bluetooth.



Here in bright red and green was the first article I had seen on Bluetooth in a foreign press. I knew that they existed, but this was awesome! Besides all the neat products, I was really excited to see the two characters that stand for Bluetooth in Cantonese. Apparently, unlike most translations I have seen here, these are actually the two characters that stand for "blue" and "tooth" rather than phonetic cousins.

The View through a Computer Monitor

Working remotely has been a challenge and a wonderful opportunity, but by necessity requires a lot of time in front of a computer screen for me. Since I have been back in HK, I've been spending a particularly large amount of time behind my computer as I work to finish a couple of projects that require that I remotely work off of my computer which still sits on my desk half a world away. It is hard to believe, but yes, I can log into my work computer and actually move the mouse around, run programs, and essentially work as if I am there. I am told that when doing so, that the computer would appear to any person in my cube as if it were possessed and running itself. Kind of freaky.

So, today, I sat down, logged in, and was generally getting set to do some work when I was struck by something. When I was back in the U.S. I had set the wallpaper (background) on my work computer to a picture of the Hong Kong skyline that Eric took this summer. Being away for several months, I wanted to remember the awe of HK and also Eric (who was still in HK) while I was working.



Well, now, working remotely from HK and sitting behind my computer, I am met with the HK skyline, bright and beautiful before me. The irony of sitting inside, staring at a computer that is running another computer on the other side of the world, and seeing a the HK skyline on that computer just tickles me. It reminds me that wherever we are, we should stop to appreciate the beauty of the place and moment. Sometimes as I stare at the computer, I forget to look outside here - at the reality of the picture.

Back in the Kong

After a summer of travel and work back in the U.S., I have now returned to HK and some blistering heat. It is fun to be back and while Eric and I were together in the U.S. for a portion of the time that I was there, it is nice to be in the same city (mostly) again. It's a surreal but wonderful world I feel I live in to have such wonderful family, friends, and colleagues.