Kai Tak Airport
A bird's eye view of the old Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon in the first photo. The runway can still be seen across the harbour from my office in Tai Koo Shing in second photo below.
Bittersweet: The Last Week of School
While I was traveling in the UK this past week, the kids had their last week of school. Sebastian completed Grade 3 (called Primary 3 in Hong Kong) and the triplets completed Grade/Primary 1. I wasn't too happy to miss the festivities – there were lots of class parties and joyous occasions of kids, parents and teachers saying good-bye to each other for the summer. The kids (and us as parents) were incredibly blessed to have such outstanding teachers this past year. Thoughtful Tess sent me pictures of the kids (pictured here) with their teachers so that I wouldn't feel that far away!
During the last week, Sebastian and Jasper also completed their martial arts class. This was a bittersweet accomplishment. Sweet in the sense they persisted with the classes and are gaining a junior level of mastery in martial arts. (I did Judo when I was a tween.) Bitter in the sense that their original instructor, a fabulous teacher that the kids liked very much, left halfway through the school year due to an illness: he discovered he had cancer. This instructor returned for the last class, to see how his budding Bruce Lee’s had done in the second half of the year.
Reports came in from the parents, and also Sebastian, that the former instructor didn’t look his best. We learned later from the instructor that his first bout of cancer occurred in 2005 and went into remission until this past year. This caused the cancer concept to hit a little closer to home. The kids asked questions about the Martial Arts Master and were concerned for him, especially Sebastian, who was solidifying the link between my bald head and cancer research. Since the end of school Sebastian has inquired many times about the Master. Meanwhile, our prayers go out to this Martial Arts Master in search of a blessed outcome, too.
Back in Hong Kong
I have just landed in Hong Kong after a week of HR meetings just outside of London, UK. I stayed in a fascinating old manor, the Oatlands Park Hotel, that was originally a moated castle built by King Henry the 8th for one of his wives. Reportedly, the place was built at great expense, night and day over two years, while the King awaited marriage to his bride-to-be. Problem was, he never met the woman, only saw paintings and sketches provided by various representatives. The day came when they met at Oatlands, and King Henry was so disappointed he immediately started looking for another bride and refused to ever return to Oatlands. Since then the place has been re-purposed, demolished, re-built, burned down, re-built, used as a hospital during WW1 and now a hotel. Luckily, in 600+ years one of the original buildings still remains. Reportedly room 1313 is haunted. Overall it’s a beautiful place with an abundance of charm.
I slept almost all the way home of the 11 hour flight. Tonight, I hope to sleep some more. I am not going to say that I’m exhausted because everyone seems to already know that. As a general update – this week was the last week of school for the kids and I missed that. Wonderful Tess sent me pictures of the kids with their teachers. We’ve decided to stay in Hong Kong for the summer. This week I officially cancelled our flights back. Therefore, it’s sailing, surf camps, swimming and hikes for everyone.
Checking For Bombs
I am in India all this week… Bangalore to be precise. Following the Mumbai terrorist attacks, India hotels have stepped up security. Now, upon arriving at a hotel, before the security guards let a car onto the premises they check for bombs. This includes looking in the trunk, but also scanning the underside of the car with a mirror. In this picture two security guards stand in the driveway of the Taj Residency. The security guard on the left holds a shovel-like device with a mirror on the bottom. At first it's a bit odd, but now it is part of daily hotel life. Prior to the Mumbai attacks it was common for similar but less thorough checks.
Yes, I shaved my head…
Several weeks ago when we were at the ABC we saw a bulletin for a fund raising event. It was the St. Baldrick's Foundation, that raises money for kids cancer research. After the US government, they are the largest single fund raiser, globally, for cancer research. I got my dates confused and thought I'd missed the event that was being held at the ABC. Six weeks earlier a similar event was held at the Hong Kong International School (HKIS). One hundred kids shaved their heads, including six girls. Several teachers and staff members also shaved their heads, raising a total of HK$ 10.3 million dollars. (US$ 1.32 million.) Saturday morning I realised I actually hadn't missed the event and spontaneously decided to shave my head. Using text messaging and e-mail on my Blackberry, I managed to gain commitments to raise US$ 10,000. As many of you will know, I refused to post pictures on Facebook until I had US$ 10K committed!
We went to the ABC, registered and prepared for the big event. I was a little nervous at first but having my head shaved was strangely liberating. (These days I am very open to change!) Even more humbling, were the kids… only a handful but the youngest one was 9 – 10 years old with a huge mop on top that was quickly reduced to stubble. Pretty amazing. The triplets thought the whole event was fun, but Sebastian really didn't like me having my head shaved. The triplets don't understand cancer, other than the fact it is a very bad and serious illness. Sebastian has a better idea what it means. I suspect that the sight of me with a shaved head was a little too scary for comfort.
I am unsure if I will keep this look, but I am glad I followed through. If you would like to contribute to the fund raising effort please click this link and help me surpass my US$ 10,000 goal.
Hit and Run Canadian trip
Regular readers, all three of you, will remember that a year ago I went back to Toronto for Sailpast and to help with packing up The Farm. Since that visit my father also sold the home where I grew up. One year after The Farm trip I had a business trip back to Silicon Valley. Since I was on the same continent I decided to cash in some points and conduct what I call a "hit and run" visit to Toronto. I arranged through Cathay for a one-way points trip from Toronto to Hong Kong, splurging a bit by using the extra several thousand points to fly Business Class. I was committed and all I had to do was figure out how to fly from Silicon Valley to Toronto. Tantalising Tess was very kind and supportive with letting me dash off on this trip, too.
A week before the trip I began watching the flights and had a pretty good sense how I could get to Toronto dirt cheap – there are always last minute deals, especially on WestJet. The added incentive was seeing Tess' family if I flew through Calgary. Finally at the 11th hour a special WestJet deal popped up. I left Sunnyvale in the afternoon, catching a 5:30 PM flight from San Francisco to Calgary. Often airlines shares departure gates. As I approached the Calgary flight to Canada, I was struck by the irony that the gate was shared by a Cathay flight leaving for Hong Kong. What are the odds of that happening in a gigantic airport like SFO?
A few hours later, Graeme, Edd, Pam and Baby Alex greeted me at the Calgary Airport. (Pictured above at the end of our trip – poses for the benefit of Mandy.) They treated me to dinner at A&W – I love A&W not only because of the tasty burgers but it's also where Tess and I had dinner after our wedding festivities on July 31, 1999… wedding dress, dinner jacket and all. After A&W we went to a famous place for milkshakes in Calgary. My hosts then dropped me off at the airport where I caught a red-eye to Toronto. (At left, Baby Alex wonders who the weird guy is that's caused this long road trip from Edmonton!)
In Toronto I rented a car after arriving around 6 AM. I called my family to let them know I had arrived, also asking if there was anything I could buy. I did a quick shop at Loblaws, then headed to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club where I greeted my dad who'd stayed the night on his boat. I showered, cleaned myself up, and had a wonderful day celebrating Sailpast with family and friends – a long family tradition. In total I have probably missed only 15 Sailpasts during my life. It's like Christmas for our family except we don't exchange presents. At left, on the boat with my sisters and dad. Below, the Toronto skyline as we were leaving the RCYC in the early evening.
After dinner my sister, Carolyn, took me to my dad's new condo. The unit has been beautifully decorated thanks to the combined efforts of my dad, and sisters Penny and Carolyn. Carolyn was the heroic project manager. After seeing paintings on the wall of my childhood home for 45+ years, it was surreal to see the same paintings and decorations on the wall of this new home. Carolyn and I had a lovely chance to catch-up. Finally it was time to go. I dropped off Carolyn at her home, packed the various items I'd purchased earlier in the day (including Tim Bits from Tim Horton's), and headed to the airport. On the way to the airport I tuned into an old radio station from days gone by, Q107, to discover Alice Cooper's show. I was a huge Alice Cooper fan in my early teen years, not knowing that later in his career Alice Cooper would turn to Christ, even occasionally conducting altar calls at the end of some concerts. His show didn't have any Christian overtones but the message was about youth making the right choices in life. "Amazing," I thought to myself.
I was in Toronto a total of 18 hours. On the plane I was tempted to fall into my usual introspective state by writing, watching movies etc but I knew my body physically couldn't tolerate such activity after this "hit and run" visit. My flight arrived into Toronto at 7 AM and I had to be at work within a few hours. The visit was well worth the marathon flights. I have no regrets. But Tess and I re-visit the discussion, how long should we stay in Hong Kong?
