Pop-up beehive bike!

Notice something?  No address.... these guys are better artists and beekeepers than business people

I'm waiting for my first bee-hive to be delivered by Michael Leung of Hong Kong Honey.  He's been here and checked us out and said we've got an ideal place for a hive.  It'll be in what I call our "kitchen garden", by the mango and lychee trees, just next to the passionfruit vine.
Meantime, I've got this email today from Michael and his mates:

Good evening all,

We hope you're all staying dry in this typhoon weather.

We're pleased to let you know that we've just designed the Pop-up  

Beehive for STRIDA, a fold-up bicycle company.

Pop-up Beehive is a STRIDA bike that allows bees to pollinate and  

harvest honey from a large variety of flowers, in various locations. A  

beehive safely attaches on the back of a customised STRIDA bike.  

Beekeepers can cycle to exotic locations to temporarily place the bees  

and beehive and allow them to explore and feast on local flora. One  

month plus later the beekeeper can return back to the beehive by bike  

and harvest the honey, before relocating the beehive to another  

location rich in flora.

This morning Michael rode the Pop-up Beehive down Nathan Road in rush  

hour traffic with Joseph from the Handsome Bag Co., to where the  

STRIDA Riding Green 展覽 exhibition is.

Please pop down to K11 for the STRIDA Riding Green 展覽 X K11 Design  

Store exhibition. Other bikes have been designed by our friends such  

as Graphic Airlines, Flwrider and Start from Zero.

STRIDA Riding Green 展覽 X K11 Design Store exhibition

23rd June - 14th August 2011

Daily 11am - 10pm

Have a nice evening,

HK Honey

South China Morning Post article, 17 Jul '11

Our mate in the news

"He's not Uncle Russ, but Nepalese owner knows his coffee", says today's SCMP.

Y.B.Rai ("YB") is featured in today's Food & Wine magazine in the South China Morning Post.  I've known YB for many years, since coming to Discovery Bay fourteen years ago.  He owns the Uncle Russ coffee chain in Hong Kong, which makes the best coffee in town.  I've also played golf with him: he's the chairman of the DB Golf society and plays a mean game.
I well remember when the fist Uncle Russ opened in 1990 along Canton Road where I was living at the time: I was then the Executive General Manager of Austrade, and had just moved into a fantastic apartment in Harbour City, with views right over Central, and the bustling centre of Kowloon right outside my doorstep.
There was no good coffee in Hong Kong at all, till Russ opened up right round the corner, in Peking Road. It was just a tiny hole in the wall and I took to it immediately, especially when it became clear that Russ -- and I was served by the original Uncle Russ -- was serious about coffee and the coffee was miles away the best in town.  They still produce the best and YB has stuck to that tradition.  Indeed, as clear from this article, he's moved a long way up the learning curve, and is now one of the most experienced and knowledgeable coffee experts in Hong Kong.
In the early 2000's I was interested to open our own coffee shop in Central or along Nathan Road in Kowloon.  We made an offer on a space up the escalator in Central, but we were outbid. Along the way, YB was very helpful, with the figures and equipment, seeing us not so much as potential competitors, but as fellow coffee aficionados who would expand the appreciation of coffee in Hong Kong.  In that, he's right and visionary.
Coffee remains a good business.  It's got good metrics: the cost of goods sold (coffee and cups) is low and easily controllable, and the revenue easily predictable and steady.  I told YB once, that if he wanted to sell his business, we'd be interested... he just smiled...
The article on him is below the fold.

Anna's photos from the Ghan trip

Anna has some lovely photos, linked here.  Murphy1 is the password.
I've chosen a couple for here.  Captions are Anna's. Click on any to enlarge.
Maybe one or t'other of B, J or A could add a few more words about the trip??  From Anna's emails:


The trip was fantastic.  I only wish we could have had more time in Kakadu, because a day trip was not nearly enough – it’s huge!
... Feel free to put any [photos] on the blog. Ubirr was great.  If I went again I’d go into Arnhem Land and visit some of the other rock painting sites I think.  

Thanks for the b’day message! [PF: it was belated!] Mum came to visit for my birthday, and we went to the Tutankhamen exhibition yesterday which was really interesting.  Some of the artifacts looked so new and perfect, it was hard to imagine they were thousands of years old.  

Jane and Anna, by the Ghan

Our lounge in the "cheapo" red class, not bad!

The "Magnetic" termite mounds in Litchfield.  They are narrow and flat,
and always aligned North-South to regulate temperature.  Clever

Jane.  Ubirr, Kakadu

Litchfield National Park.  We had a day trip there and managed to see most of the major attractions
Here -- Tolmer falls (you can't swim in the pool at the bottom of this one, as there is a
protected bat species living there!)

Tolmer Falls again  -- with beautifull crystal plunge pool underneath

The monster croc -- around 5m long!  Our guide thought this boy was around
50 years old, and had survived the hunting days.  Kakadu.

Our sunset cruise on the billabong -- Kakadu

Sunset cruise on Darwin Harbour

Sunset cruise on Darwin Harbour

Sunset cruise on Darwin Harbour