A Mink Stole

Or to put it another way - It's a wrap.

The flight home was uneventful. I had the meal which was not as good as a lot I've had and then went to sleep, for 5 hours or so. My neighbour was a self confessed "deal guy" from Vancouver who'd had a few hours in transit before this flight and was heading on to Brisbane afterwards.

I grabbed some duty free on the way in, since you can no longer carry it on board flights in Australia and then quickly through immigration. My case was off early and I went through the security X ray. Do you have golf shoes I was asked. Whoops I'd forgotten about them, since I'd packed in Houston and had been living off the top of my suitcase for 4 days. They took them away for cleaning and disinfecting. After that it was out tot the taxi rank and home again.

However, I feel Like I'm a visitor in my own home, as by Friday I had booked for a 1 week trip back to Thailand. Same project as earlier this year, so I be reviving that blog. In played golf on Saturday, not too badly for the first 12 holes but then fell in a heap and hockey on Sunday - the Semi finals - which we lost 1-0.

I have timed my trip to Thailand so I'll be back for the grand finals in 2 weeks, assuming we win the prelim final next week, while I'm away. I will also miss state training again. It's then only a few days from when I get back till I leave for the Vets Championships in Brisbane. I will be away for over a month, playing hockey, visiting friends in Queensland and family in South Australia before heading to Tasmania for the Mensa Annual conference.

With the possibility of a trip to Beijing in November, I could well have been away around 120 days in 7 months.

I've already qualified for the next level in the Qantas frequent flier program and the next trip to Thailand may give me enough points with Thai Airways to be potentially useful.

Surprisingly I've had very little trouble with jet lag coming home. Possibly the long sleep on the flight to Hong Kong plus the sleep in the hotel sorted me out. However, I'm still suffering from Wiper Lag. This problem arises when you hire a left hand drive car in the US and continually turn on the windscreen wipers when you mean to use the indicator. The problem reverses when you come home. My windscreens at least are clean.

I would walk 500 miles

Or at least that’s what it seems like. I left the hotel about 9 and went up hill to Hollywood Road which has a lot of antique shops in it. It also has a temple dedicated to the gods of literature and war – an interesting combination. Just above this street, the apartment buildings start. These are huge and when the old airport was in use the plane used to fly down between them. I remember looking out the window and into people’s sitting rooms. On the way back I wandered through the street side market stalls – mostly food stalls – and had a banana and a watermelon drink for breakfast.

As I had to check out at noon I didn’t want to go any further at this stage so returned to the hotel and repacked my bag. I left both the suitcase and laptop bag at reception and headed out about 12, intending to visit the Peak. I decide to walk over to the station and went via the zoological/botanical gardens. On the way I saw a Callaway shop and decided to see if they had the FTi driver I used in Houston – they didn’t. It was hot and humid and I was drenched by the time I got there since as well as travelling a few km across town I also climbed a few hundred metres up the hill.

After a stop for a drink I headed to the tram stop, which turned out to be down hill from the zoo, and was soon on the tram to the peak. This is a very steep hill and I took some photos to try and capture the angle. The ones taken on the way down were better.

Things have changed since I was last there some 10-12 years ago with the sky tower now dominating. I’d paid for the combined ticket so I could go to the viewing terrace on the top. Before that I left the terminal and found there is a huge galleria shopping mall there as well. They also have a Madam Toussards there. I didn’t go in but posed with Pierce Brosman outside.

The view from the top of the sky terrace is spectacular but – and this seems to be a recurring complaint – it was too misty to really get good pictures. I took heaps anyway. You can see Honk Kong harbour and Kowloon in one direction and Aberdeen on the other side of the Island as well.

Once I got back down from the peak I walked through that part of the city visiting a few parks on the way to the railway station. I took a train to Kowloon and then realised I’d gone a bit further North than intended. The station there is another huge shopping complex and I had a great deal of trouble figuring how to get out. One exit was just for taxi drop-offs but the doorman there gave me directions to the Jordan St exit. I walked along Jordan Street until I got to a shopping area and had lunch at a small restaurant there – by then it was about 3pm so I was getting hungry.

After lunch I walked along Temple Street, which is nearby. They were just starting to set up for the night market. From there I went past the temple and through the jade market. Looking at the map I decided to head over to the hockey stadium, which it turned out is being repaired and then down past the university to the science and history museums. I had a look round the entrance to the science museum but decided against going in. I then headed towards the ocean terminal and on the way stopped and had my hair washed, cut and dried. I continued on to the terminal looking for the Callway shop. I eventually found it but they mostly had clothes and a couple of FTi clubs but not the driver I was interested in. There was another shop on the list, which was given to me in a shop in Hong Kong, nearby so I went to that one as well. They didn’t have one either but shortly afterwards I found a golf shop that had on. It wasn’t the right loft and it was about $800, much more than for the same club in Australia or the US.

By then it was after 7 so I headed to the nearest train station and took one to Central, then walked to the hotel. I had been walking more or less continuously for most of the 7 hours, except for the tram trip and the haircut.

I grabbed the change of clothing I had deliberately left at the top of the suit case and caught a taxi to the station, then a train to the airport. It seems the Qantas check in counter was as far as possible from where I got off the train. However I was soon through the checking, passport and security stations and once in the Qantas lounge I was able to have a shower and change into fresh clothes.

I have now had some sandwiches and other nibbles and a couple of weak scotch and cokes. It’s about 1 ½ hours till my flight leaves. It looks like I’m not going to be able to load this till I get home. I can get to the internet from the Airport lounge but not to my blog site.

Looking round and meeting up

I had a wander around the nearby area. The hotel is in the middle of things in the Sheung Wan area and you don't have to go far before you see both the modern Hong Kong with its steel and glass towers and the tiny back streets with the street stalls and small businesses.

After walking down the main road and then up a steep alleyway I had lunch at a small restaurant picked at random. Just some stir fried beef and rice for $5.



It was about 3-30 when I got back to the hotel and read the email from Ruby, the Hon Sec from Mensa with details for dinner. I called Thomas, the Vice chair who was going to meet me to confirm arrangements. About 4-30 I headed out again and saw the Western Market, which is an old granite warehouse that has been converted to shops and then headed towards the central station, popping into shops at random along the way. I found the rendezvous point and with 40 minutes still to go wandered further to a book shop and chemist before returning and having a soft drink and reading until they arrived.



I met up with the Mensa people at an MTR station. They had travelled there from the office but I had walked from the hotel, which was about 1 station away. Thomas and Jackie, the treasurer met me and we walked to the restaurant. It turns out this was closer to my hotel than the station and I had a short walk home afterwards. It was some time before the Ruby joined us as she'd been in a meeting at work. We had a traditional Chinese meal with several dishes shared. When we arrived they bought us tea and the others rinsed off the plates, bowls, spoons and chopsticks in the tea. Not sure if this is a health thing or a tradition or possibly both. We had fried squid, a beef stew, chicken pieces and a scallop stir fry. Apparently this particular restaurant is one of the oldest still operating in Hong Kong.

Part way through we we joined for a while by another member who was at the restaurant with a different group. There was also some excitement when an elderly man turned up. He is a famous food critic and was treated like some minor pop star or sportsman, with lots of people trying to take photos, before the minders asked them to stop. Later on he posed for some and this is him with the member, Elain. Thomas explained it by saying everyone in Hong Kong worked too hard to have time to play or be interested in sport and so forth but everyone ate, so a critic was as well known as sports stars elsewhere.

I got back to the hotel around 8-30 and 9 and watched 3 movies before finally getting to sleep about 1 am. I slept soundly till 8 this morning so maybe jet lag won't be so bad.

A night on a flight

We left SF about 1-30 am. I’d already changed my watch to Hong Kong time, which was 4-30pm. The problem with flying across the Pacific is not just the long flight but that your biological clock gets thrown out of whack as well. Given it was another 2 hours to Houston time from SF this means I’m 11 hours out when I land.

Unlike the trip the other way where you tend to stay up as long as possible then go to sleep, on the way back you try and sleep as much as possible. It will be 6am when we land, so the 1-30 to 6am “by the clock” night is about 13 ½ hours long.

Fortunately Cathay has installed the new business class sleepers on this plane and I was again in the upstairs cabin. Each “seat” is more or less a J-shape and the seat folds back to horizontal. A bit better than the Qantas capsules. I was able to get about 8 hours sleep and then and other 2 or 3 where I was lying down with my eyes closed, hopefully getting a few naps in. I still feel like crap and, amazing but true, couldn’t even eat all my breakfast. I have had a mild but persistent headache, which doesn’t help. Unlike Qantas, they didn’t supply us with PJs and it was too hot with my jeans on so I took them off. There was no one up on my occasional trips to the loo and my T shirt was fairly long anyway.

The seat has a quite large LCD screen – the biggest individual screen I’ve seen on any plane so far. It’s about the same size as this laptop, which is 15.4”. It seems a shame not to have watched more movies, although I did watch a couple of TV show episodes over breakfast. They are calling us to turn of laptops now.

We landed on time and there was virtually no queue at passport control. However for some reason the guy checking mine called his supervisor to check something. It was OK in the end but it took a few minutes for the process. My bags were off in the first couple of dozen and were put through the X ray machine by security. I didn’t see whether they were doing it for all westerners or random people but some other passengers had walked straight through.

This is my first time in the new airport and it is very clean modern and efficient. I took the MTR train to town, which is very smooth and fast. They even have a row of lights in the arch over the passageway showing you your progress. The sun was just coming up and there was mist on the hills. The new airport is on a different Island and we passed through several tunnels under the harbour on our journey, which took 24 minutes. They security mess on the windows interferes with taking a good shot unfortunately.

A taxi ride to the hotel cost about $3 and fortunately they were able to check me in early. The room was stifling – nearly 30 degrees and I stripped off and got the aircon working. The room is (shall we say) compact. There’s not much storage space and the bed fill most of the floor space. The bathroom is also a model of efficiency (ie small).

It does have a decent sized TV, with heaps of movies to choose from, with 5-speaker surround sound. I just put the TV on, lay day on the bed and had another 4 hours sleep. It’s now 2 and I have had a shower, called my Mensa contact who will hopefully have an email for me later with details for dinner, checked emails and updated the blog. I suppose I should get out and do some sightseeing, shopping or whatever.

A bridge too far

I finished the last blog entry which was written in the hotel lobby and packed up my pc. I left it at the front desk and went across to the chemist to get some drinks and nibbles to take to the games night. When I got back I thought I'd try too call Mum and Dad. I collected my case and laptop and set up up again and decided I'd call Kathleen who was picking me up to tell her what I was wearing. When I got through she siad she was at the front of the hotel so I had a quick repack of the computer and went out to meet her. It was just before 6-30 and she asked if there was anything I had got to do because of lack of time or transport.

In the end we decided we'd actually go across the Golden Gate bridge which I had just looked at earlier. On the way we passed through the Civic centre which she said had some impressive buildings. The city offices look like a state capital building and just behind it was the Ballet Theatre with the opera house a bit further away.

Our next stop was by the site of the World fair from early 1900's or thereabouts. That's the Greek temple looking building. After that it was across the bridge to the lookout on the other side. I took a shot of the city centre which again is obscured by the fog. This is caused by the warmer air from the bay mixing with the cooler air from the ocean and not caused by pollution.

We then headed further inland through Marin county and eventually across the Richmond Bridge back towards Berkeley and Oakland. This bridge is 4 to 5km long and has the lanes for the opposite direction on top rather than alongside the ones we were on.

It was a rather large detour and after the better part of an hour I saw a sign that said were were 2 1/2 miles from where we started. I just checked with Google Earth and it seems we went 35 miles to get back to that point.


The games night was well attended with 25 or so people there. Several boards games were in progress by the time I arrived. We had some snacks and then joined in a game of 20 questions in the bedroom. There were really too many players for this to flow smoothly and a lot of the questions were rather America-centric so I had no idea who the people were, as well as being bought in 1988 so the references were some what out of date.. I tended to do better with places and things but was at the end of the scores rather than the front. Eventually someone won so we could stop. I chatted with a few people but it wasn't too long before we were heading for the airport, this time crossing the Bay bridge and arriving a bit after 10pm.

Check in was very quick with hardly any queues at the business class counter or at security. I checked into the BA lounge which is used by Cathay passengers and connected to the net. I talked to Dad for a bit and now have about an hour left before we fly off, so I guess boarding will be a bit before that.

A Day round the Bay

I awoke far too early this morning after a late night. I guess my getting up was still on Houston time (2 hours different) even if my going to sleep wasn't.

I stayed in bed and watched some stupid film for a while and then gave up and got up. There were a number of emails from Mensa people offering various levels of assistance but one girl who lives South of the city ( and the airport) offered to pick me up from the hotel, take me to the games night and then drop me at the airport afterwards. I called her to accept her offer and got an answering service but she called back later and gave me some advice on getting an all day pass and places to see.

I had to check out by 12 so I decided to do it before I went out so I didn't have to worry about coming back. It was about 10 when I got under way.

I picked up the pass at the chemist across the road and then tried to get on the cable car to Fisherman's wharf. By the time they were getting to the stop by the hotel they were full and someone in the queue said she'd been waiting 30 minutes already. I cleverly walked down hill to the previous stop and then a couple more (down hill is easy) till I got to the start. There I saw queues 100's metres long. I consulted my map and took the street car up Market Street instead. The first one was only a few minutes and was fairly empty. This took me to the ferry terminal and a tram took me the rest of the way along the piers to Fisherman's Wharf. I wandered aound Pier 39 for a bit taking photos of the areas, the seals and Alcatraz. Unfortunately it was slightly hazy so the distant shots are as clear as I would have liked. I then had an early lunch at a nice restaurant at the end of the Pier with a view over the bay. I had the Crabs 4 way, which was an appetiser size meal with some cold crab legs, a crab cake, a hot crab dip and a crab spring roll.

From there I walked along FW. There were various museums, a submarine and sailing ship amongst otehr boats in the various harbours and even some kids doing rap dancing on one street. I then wlaked along the bay towards the bridge and over the hill past Fort Mason. Once I'd climbed the hill I could see the Golden Gate Bridge but once again the haze prevent a clear picture of it. I got to the bottom of the hill and jumped on the 28 bus, which took me to the bridge and then South to the Golden Gate Park.

I got off there and walked with a couple, daughter and grand dad that I'd talked to on the bus. We walked past the Rose garden and through the park to the Japanese Tea House where they met up with cousins. There was a bridal party having photos taken in by the tea house who proved that you just can't have too many brides maids. I continued on through the Botanical gardens.

Once I left there I wandered for a few blocks and then jumped on another tram thinking it would take me to the Haight Ashbury district which borders the park. However I was disoriented and it was in fact taken me a right angles to where I thought I was going. It did however return me more or less to my starting point. Thsi had taken me about 3 hours.

This time I waited at the second cable car stop and got on the first one which would have taken me all the way to Fisherman's Wharf again. It does go up some very steep hills and the intersecting roads are also very steep - typical of the ones you see in the SF car chases in movies. I got off a bit before the end and caught a bus back towards China Town. I was pondering on the need to look at this area given my imminent arrival in Hong Kong and in the end found that the stop I got off was only just before the street the hotel was on. I went back there and had a rest for a bit. I then got a vitamin drink and went to union square where I sat in the sun and drank it. I wandered through Macy's and Victoria's Secret but wasn't really interested in buying anything so I've come back to the hotel to check email, up date the blog and kill the last 90 minutes before I'm picked up.

Carnivores Rule OK!

Last night at the Brazilian restaurant was a real experience. It was also the first place I’ve eaten that was not part of a chain. It is a gaucho style restaurant and vegetarians need not apply. There is a fairly extensive salad bar in the form of a buffet and we all loaded our plates up with our choices. But the real emphasis is on the meat.

Waiters circulate around the restaurant stopping at the tables to offer various samples of meat from long skewers. It is very good quality too. To help them to know when you are ready for more you have a card the size of a drink coaster that can be red or green side up to indicate if you want more.

The choices included sirloin and flag steak, fillet mignon. Bacon wrapped chicken and steak, lamb chops, chicken legs and also some pork and salmon, although I didn’t get round to having the latter 2. I’m not sure if we were even offered salmon.

Like any barbeque where you can have repeated servings it is easy to eat a lot more than you would if you were limited to a single serving but it was excellent. I also had a couple of Mojito cocktails. I think the cost per head is around $50 but it is an entertaining evening and the 4 of us had an enjoyable time. I suspect it wouldn’t be much fun on your own or even as a couple.

It was about 10 when I got back to the hotel and I had to put through a load of washing. This took about 1-½ hours so it was quite a late night.

This morning I woke latish and by the time I’d packed my case it was about 10. I took a quick trip to the supermarket to buy some more of the hair product I use, which is less than half the Australian price here and a book to read on the plane.

Once at the office I prepared an invoice for the month and sorted out the expense claim before revising our working documents with the notes from yesterday. I then drove down to the sub place to pick up lunch and adjusted the expense claim to include that.

It was about 1-30 when we started our final round table discussion, really finalising and clarifying the points already raised and getting some idea of the priorities. The plan is to release a new customer version once these enhancements are completed and some of the more complicated or less well-defined enhancements will have to wait. We already started talking about some new stuff that is definitely not going to happen in the short term.

It was after 4 when I left and the GPS predicted arriving just after 4-30. This turned out to be fairly accurate and with a shuttle bus leaving soon after I’d returned the car it was just before 5 when I checked in. This was an hour be fore the flight time. But the time I’d passed through security and got the gate they were already boarding so being first class I just walked on. It was still a half an hour before we were due to leave and they served us a pre flight drink. We left the terminal right on time but I was surprised to note that it was 25 minutes from then until we actually took off.

We will land in about 40 minutes and I had accidentally pulled the power cord out of the socket during the meeting so the battery is getting low.

It has only been in the last couple of days that I started getting a decent night s sleep which fits in with the rule of thumb that it takes a day per hour of time difference. Now I’m about to reverse the journey. At least this will be in stages rather than in one 30 hour trip like the journey here. Also the last leg from Hong Kong to Perth won’t involve any time change.

It is one of the facets of modern air travel that you can travel so far in such a short time. It takes a while for the reality to sink in and you realise it may be years before you came back to the same place again, if at all.

I am now in my hotel in San Francisco. The flight landed about 8 and I swapped seats so I could sit by the window as we approached the airport. There was fog hanging over the city itself and along parts of the peninsula but not at the airport. There was a bit of a wait before our bags starting coming out. Fortunately mine was about the 8^th one so I headed up a couple of flights of stairs, and across the bridge to the air trains. These go in a loop in both directions connecting the terminals, parking lots, BART (train) station and rental place. Both trains left just as I arrived but this gave me a chance to get some warmer clothing out of my bag. I was just wearing a polo top and skorts as it had been 107F in Houston. However it was much cooler here. The easiest thing to do was to grab my Qantas PJs and put them over my existing clothes. There was a queue to get tickets at the vending machine and then it took a while for me to work out how to get a ticket. I hadn’t pushed the note into the slot far enough the first few times. I made it to the train with a couple of minutes to spare and had an uneventful trip to Powell street station. My Google maps print out gave me directions to the hotel from there. It is only a block from Union Square but it is mostly uphill from the station so I was quite hot by the time I arrived.

My room here is somewhat old fashioned, with a wooden chest of drawers and desk. The bathroom is quite tiny but there is a walk in robe that is probably just as big. An incongruously modern LCD TV sits between the 2 doors.

I had not heard from the Mensa lady who was going to show me around so I looked up the contacts on their web site. My first call seemed to indicate I’d got the wrong number but I then called the local president. He confirmed the number was correct and told me of some events on tomorrow. My second attempt at the other number got me someone who at least knew who I was after and got a message to her. She called the hotel number and apologised but she’d been called out of town and wouldn’t be back. Alan, the President, however is contacting other members to see if anybody can meet me during the day. In any case, he will probably take me to the games night from the local Bart station and then back to the station in time for me to get to the airport.

By the time this was sorted it was nearly 11 so I decided against going out for a look around tonight.