Typhoon Signal 3

The Hong Kong Observatory has hoisted typhoon signal 3 at about 11 am this morning. We are also in a red rain alert. It is POURING!!! And, man, this rain is cold! It isn't like Thailand and Africa where the rain was warm. This is like Oklahoma rain. Even in the summer time, we have cold rain in Oklahoma; well, at least most of the time in the summer.

This tropical storm doesn't have a name yet; only a number - 15W. It doesn't sound very menacing and it looks like it is going to pass safely to the south of us. But, boy, it is POURING RAIN right now!

25 Year Old Movie

Yes, we watched "Cannonball Run" last night. Some of us watched it again, for the first time. I must say I laughed out loud quite a few times. It was a "blast to the past", but well worth watching again. Love that Dom DeLuise, er, Captain Chaos!

Revised weather statement

Well, I guess I posted that one a little quick. We are now at Typhoon Signal 1. A new tropical depression is about 480 km (about 300 miles) s-sw of HK and expected to move w-nw. Well, it is still nice and cool!

Nice weather

I guess much isn't going on when you blog about the weather, but the weather is so nice that I just had to say something! It is nearly 2 pm and it is only 72 degrees! That is what I call "nice".

I'm invited to an ice cream social this afternoon. I made some homemade strawberry ice cream to bring to it. I doubt I'll have to worry much about it melting before I get there!

Oklahoma 37 - Washington 20

Two and 0. Looks like a good start to the season!

Boomer Sooner!

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! We can't wait to see you in June!

Chinese test

方 伟 基

This is my name in Chinese: Fong Wai Gei (Cantonese) Fang Wei Ji (Mandarin). I wanted to see if it would publish correctly in Blogger.

It means something like "direction of Great Foundation"

Life in Hong Kong: Part Deux

Eating out in HK is a really big deal. This is for several reasons, the most important one being that Chinese people LOVE to eat. Another reason is that folks like to entertain, but the average flat in HK is very, very small and is not conducive to having a dinner party. Consequently, restaurants are always booked and if you don't have a reservation, you usually don't get in. Unless you know a few things.

Take tonight, for instance. It is Friday night and I wanted to treat the family to a nice dinner tonight. We like to go to Ruby Tuesdays. They have really good food and we bought a discount card that gives us 50% off our meals. (Which makes it about the price of food in the USA) Well, I didn't think about us going out to eat until just a few minutes ago, at around 4 pm. I called to make a reservation and the girl said that they were sorry, but that they were completely booked solid tonight and there were no reservations available. I simply said, "well, how about at 6 pm?" She said, "Oh, that is fine".

The deal is, we are Americans. We have kids. We eat early. The normal HK person doesn't eat until around 8 pm. If we go at six, we only have to promise that we'll be done by 8 and we can eat almost any day, any where, without reservations.

That is one of the little things to know if you happen to want to eat out in HK but you forgot to plan ahead.

Wunderphotos

Wunderphotos is a really great place to see pictures from all over the world. I have an account on wunderphotos. You can see my pictures HERE. Go ahead and register (it's free) and rate my pictures. I have pictures from Africa, Oklahoma, Thailand, China, Macau and Hong Kong.

You have to laugh....

A good friend of mine is in the hospital here in HK. Sally and I went to visit him this morning to take a care package of Krispy Kremes. He in in a semi-private room. The other patient is a guy from Chile, via So. Carolina, who works building a new US Embassy in Beijing. He is a real nice guy and mentioned that he had been given a Chinese name. It was Tai Mai Shu. However, it sounds just like "Tie my shoe". We had to laugh!

2nd HK Krispy Kreme opening soon

That's right! The second Krispy Kreme store will open in Hong Kong on September 28 at 51 Elgin Street, Soho, Central.

Here is the map to the Causeway Bay store:

Pictures from Africa

Sally and I lived in Abidjan, Ivory Coast for two years and ran a guesthouse. It was a wonderful time and we loved our life there. Unfortunately, a civil war chased us away.

However, for the first time on Google Earth, I found a 'higher' res picture of Abidjan where you can actually see our house and guesthouse. They are circled in the picture and our house is the lower of the two buildings in the red circle. The building to the east is Polyclinique Avicennes, a nice little Lebanese/French hospital.

Anyway, we thought it was really great to see the old homestead. Hope you like it, too.

Coffee Snobs

You know who you are. Come on, now, admit it!

I have decided that I am surrounded, at times, by coffee snobs. You know, people who will only drink Starbuck's or some fancy (expensive) gourmet coffee. Well, as coffee white trash, I think I am happier because I can enjoy a cup of coffee anywhere I go, not just someplace where I have to pay 4 bucks for a cuppa joe.

I can honestly say that I enjoy a cup of Folgers, or Maxwell House, or even, God forbid, 3 in 1! There are those who travel with their makings for pressed coffee or fresh fancy something from Starbucks. Don't get me wrong, I'll enjoy those too, but I'm not limiting myself to only those fancy kinds. And, I'll willingly drink from the bounty of any coffee offered to me and ENJOY it.

I guess that is my point. I enjoy coffee. I like the smell, er aroma. I like the taste. I like it with breakfast and then all morning long. I like it with cake and especially with donuts, but I really like it in the company of friends.

Please don't hate me because you have identified yourself as a coffee snob. Remember, I didn't name names.

Now, let's head down to Pacific Coffee for a nice "pick me up!"

OU 24- UAB 17

I'm a little late in posting this brag; I've spent most of the day in bed at the Migraine Motel. In any case, I am very proud of my Sooners for a good start to the season.

BOOMER SOONER!

Ming Hua History Link

I found this really cool site that gives the history of the Ming Hua ship that is pictured below at Shekou Sea World. It shows a picture of it at sea and back when water surrounded it in Shekou. Check it out HERE.