John and Jing in Rome

Cool pano shot of Rome taken on Jing's iPhone.  Click to enlarge.

Piazza Navona; statues by Bernini.  Water by Roman aquaducts...

Castel Sant'Angelo

Bridge to the Castel

Fontana di Trevi

Mama e figlio, a Fontani di Trevi, Roma

Near Spanish Steps

Outside the Vatican

From the Castel, overlooking Rome and St Peter's

Jing at the Spanish Steps.  The flat we stay in is close by.

John and Einstein

Romans still put flowers out every day to the memory of Julius Caesar

And we went to Florence too....

"I looked on the map," says the American on the train, "and I couldn't
find 'Florence'.  All I could find was this place called 'Firenze'".
We say, don't worry you'll enjoy 'Firenze' just as much...

The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong: world's highest Hotel

Photos below from the 103rd Floor, the Reception of the new Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, now a Must-see, I reckon for anyone coming to Hongkers: especially on a clear day like these were.  There are three restaurants -- Chinese, Italian and brasserie -- and a bar one further floor up on the 104th....
I went to check it out the other day (24/8) and here are some photos:

Looking South-eastish, over the Island to the South China Sea
The islands in the far distance are the Lima's and belong to China.

Below is where the Norman Foster West Kowloon Cultural
Hub's to be built

Ccentral.  That tall one is IFC 2, and where Jing works.

Looking South-west, towards Apleichau and Pokfulam.
Lamma Island in the distance

This is from the men's loo!

Mutti et al at the pool

Goodness me, months since I last did a post.... Mutti's already well back in Canberra -- "busy as a bee" she says -- and here's me not even having posted nuthin'....
Some photos of us at the pool on the 31st July and 1st August.  The Siena Club pool, about a hop skip and a jump from our front door...  As always, if you want to see bigger, just click on it.

In the background is "Tiger Head" mountain, that we climb regularly (esp Jing!)

The top floor behind John is the gym: one of the best in Hong Kong

That's Hong Kong Island in the distance.

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

The Flame trees aflame

This year's been great for flowers and the trees in flower.  Our Flame Tree (Poinciana) is out in full bloom.  See some more here, and the progression of one of our orchids.

Flame tree near our place.  Our own is too big to get photo of...

Old School Chums in touch again: David Edmunds and John Nicholas

Through the Canberra Grammar Class of '67 Blog, which Steve Padge and I set up in January last year, I've been put back in touch with a couple of old school mates that I haven't seen or heard of since we left school in the spring of 1967.
David Edmunds is Cycling Europe, with his partner Roz, and John Nicholas and family now live in London.
David's Blog is the link here, also linked on the LINKS list at the right.
Nick's news is at the Grammar Blog, here. Also at LINKS.  The Nicholas' are keen sailors, with son Ben a National and World Champion sailor...

The Nicholas Yacht, a Beneteau First 40.7 at "the Rock" in the 2007 Fastnet Race 

Emails to/from David:

Cape to Cairo: new Blog

I'm now writing about the Cape to Cairo trip here.

Cape to Cairo: Notes

David Hall in the 2010 Cape to Cairo.  Who's David Hall? What's the car??

Notes from the organiser, Roger Pearce "below the fold" (as we cool bloggers say).  ie, click on "Read More"....  I paid the entry fee today, so it's all go.  Here's the website for the event.

Cape Town to Cairo car rally

The route in the spreadsheet below follows the one above

I just committed last night to accompany Gordon Ketelby as his co-driver in a rally from Cape Town to Cairo, from 6 September to 21 October.  Not sure of details yet; Gordon will let me know when he's back in Oz.  He's sailing in some races in Europe at the moment.  We got to know Gordon at the King's Cup last year, where he was crew on Baby Tonga, one of our competitors.  We asked him to join us on Xena for the Hong Kong to San Fernando race in April and he flew up from Melbourne for that.  He's a guy about my age, retired having sold a business about the same time we sold Wall Street International, 4-5 years ago.
He loves sailing and cars.  Wise man....
Below jpeg you can print out (I had a link to pdf, but I think this works better...). Be sure to print in Landscape not Portrait:

The dogs in their raincoats

Arlene gets the dogs in order: Basil, Marcus, Nikki, ready in their raincoats.
Click to enlarge.  But caution!  See warning below....

My apologies to those of delicate sensibilities: I didn't notice quite how excited Basil was to wear his new raincoat, till I saw this photo in full size (click it to enlarge).  So: "parental guidance" warning when you do enlarge it...
This was just yesterday, front yard of our place, Siena One, Discovery Bay.
The dogs love their coats! Put their heads straight in.  Basil didn't have one for a while -- I thought he didn't need one as he's a Labrador who loves water, and wouldn't notice that he didn't have one.  But no, he kicked up a fuss, clearly jealous of Marcus', and when I got him one too, he was delighted.  (You can see just how priapically happy he is...)

The flowers and trees are glorious this year: the bougainvillia everywhere out in bright bloom, the mango tree heavy with fruit, our new passionfruit is bearing its first fruit, and the orchids I dotted about in the crooks of trees, in the shade, are now flowering here and there:

Orchid in the crook of the Frangipani tree. 

Same Orchid as above, one day later (15th May). And now there were three....

And then there were four. (25th May)

I'm doing more on our Xena blog these days, so hop over there to see what our gorgeous boat's up to.  Click here.  She's currently on her way to Koh Samui in Thailand, for the Samui Regatta, in the fist week of June.  It'll take her around 9 days to get there.  She's in the care of delivery skipper, Grant Dalton, of NZ, Noel (our full-time boat manager) and Mike from the Philippines.

We won this Regatta last year, in a close fought tussle which went to the wire, so we're defending our crown this year. It'll be tough, as there's some new competition from Australia, including an Aussie sailing legend Pete Sorenson ("Soro").
After the Regatta, we're going to cruise for a few days a bit north of Samui, then back home while Grant and "the Boyz" bring her back to Hong Kong.
We did some cruising around Phuket in January this year, after King's Cup, and it was great.  There's some photos and news on the Xena blog, here.  Everywhere you stop, there's good food, friendly people and massage.... (every beach has a massage station!).  And clear, clean, warm waters.  And some coral reefs, still....
Ok, let's finish off with some more colour: the park outside our back door:

Multi-hued bougainvillia

And some of our greeeeen organic passionfruit...

We planted this around February, if I recall. This photo taken on 15th May

The trees and flowers, they are a'bloomin'

A burst of mauve outside our front door, in Siena Park
As always: click to enlarge

Dylan in China, gets me to think of that line -- though he wasn't allowed by Chinese authorities to sing The times they are a' changin', causing many to say that he'd sold out.  He never said that he'd sold in, it happens, but now, now...  back to local flowers, for they really are a' bloomin....
We've had a riot of flowers in recent weeks, with the bougainvillia, the mauve one in particular out in a burst of vivid colour.  I think it's cause we've had a dry winter and they do like the dry -- see how well they do in the Med. Also out in profusion is our Aussie Bottle brush, callistemon viminalis.  Also, our Mango tree and the Lychee are both going to give us lots of fruit this year, after being barren for a few years.

John and Basil, by that same bush, on our walk today in the park.
Note that John is wearing my sailing shoes.

And the bottle brush in our back yard, lookin' good this year, weeping with brush....  It's also a favourite with our birds: Chinese and red-vented Bulbuls, Japanese White-eyes, Olive-backed Pipits, Magpie robins.  We also have our local Koel, singing out "Ko-el" in rising timbre, calling for a mate... but he's in the Flame tree just left of the bottle brush.

Callistemon Viminalis, prominent in Canberra region, in our backyard.
The bush below it is Powder Puff, a Brazilian native, which does well here
and has just finished flowering.
Click to enlarge and click again for even larger.

One of our kumquat bushes. The birds love them.
What they leave, I'll turn into kumquat marmalade and brandy.

And I thought I'd just toss in this one below. It's Arlene showing the dogs a salmon puff that they're going to get later on.  She'd cooked it for Jing, who didn't eat it and it couldn't be kept, so doggies in for a treat..... Check Marcus' look especially...

Arlene shows the dogs some very special "scraps": Nikki, Marcus, Basil

John and I took the dogs for a walk today: it was raining, so we put on their raincoats.  They look so cute.  (forgot to take photo, though....)