Perfect HKG

V will be in Hong Kong for three (3) days in the Spring. so some suggestions and advance planning is in order. Since 1997 (the transition of sovereignty from Britain to China), change has been the only constant thing in China. While the Prince of Wales’ name has been taken off the facade of the People’s Liberation Army central HQ, all of the old British Street names and statues remain. Hong Kong is their window to the world. it is also home to the best dim sum.

You arrive at the airport and shuttle bus is to the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong in the heart of Central financial district, just in time for breakfast with the famous Eggs Benedict at the Mandarin Grill. You eat heartily as much walking will ensure. Take the ear exit and stroll past the old Supreme court (now Parliament housing the Legislative Council). Head for the futuristic Hong Kong Bank but try not to rub the paw of one of the two polished bronze lions for luck unless you have Clorox bleach wipes handy. My new Swiss Army back pack has a special pouch for this though the package insert says it is for bottled water. Look around the banking hall before crossing Queen’s Road Central to Battery Path. Stop outside the neoclassical brick and granite Court of Final Appeal, formerly the HQ of a French Missionary Society. Its neighbor is St. John’s Cathedral, the oldest surviving Church of England in SE Asia. Tres colonial. Walk past the new administrations’ Central Government office and turn left along Lower Albert road to the Garden Road Peak Tram terminus. Running since 1888, this is the world’s steepest funicular railway. Disembark at the Peak Tower, 396 m above the sea, and stroll about on a circular pathway, avoiding joggers if you can. You will not be able to but you can try. You’ve earned a drink so pop into the Cafe Deco for a good view of the Central and Kowloon Peninsula. It serves East-West fusion appetizers and imaginative salads. Cab it to the Hong Kong Zoo and walk along the shaded pathways. By now, you are sweating. leave the gardens and Upper Albert road and walk by Government House. The house itself is not open to the public – if you got inside, I need to know whom you slept with. Immediately. Five minutes away is the Wyndham Street and Hollywood road art gallery. Nothing cheap here but look if you will. At Teresa Coleman Fine Arts, you can check out ornate fans that I cannot possibly afford but you can spend small change on sepia tonepictographs of the old colony or on Cultural Revolution memorabilia at the Low Price Shop (47 Hollywood road). Mao buttons. Little Red Book. Musical lighters that play “The East is Red”. Stop at the Man Mo Temple and burn paper offerings to your deceased ancestors. Man is the God of literature. Mo is the God of War. Book a Western and Chinese buffet dinner in a visitors box at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Happy Valley race course. The Come Racing Tour is held by the racing Form. Mid-week racing on Wednesday nights and weekend racing either Saturday or Sunday. Charitable deductions.
It’s your second day and you have some good meals coming up so breakfast lightly from the fruit basket in your room after a few baths in the Roman indoor pool of the hotel. Take the back way out of the hotel and a short walk to the tram stop. It costs HK$2 but sit on the upper deck and look at the morning crowd as it weaves past the old tenements of south Wanchai to Causeway Bay where you alight to check out the Japanese stores, small streetside shops and international outlets in the Times Square complex. By 1155 local you should find yourself on the waterfront opposite the Peninsula Excelsior where, every day at noontime, Jardine Matheson (FTS: J36) fires a blank shell from a 3 pound cannon to provide the territory with a time signal. The noonday gun is audible indeed so clap over your ears and then take a cab to Central Heliport for lunch at the Peninsula in Tsim Sha Tsui after a 30-minute breath taking chopper ride. Step off the helipad on the rooftop and descend to Gaddi’s for classical French cuisine. Nathan Road, the Golden Mile, is behind the hotel. Haggling is time wasteful and you should head to Fortress in Hankow Road for legally imported goods with valid guarantees. Ignore the hustlers sellng your cheap suits (note: choose good fabric or take your own) and Fauxlexes to head to the Star Ferry (daily since 1874) to enjoy the best short water tour in the world for HK$ 2.20. A 25 minute cab ride takes you to Stanley Market along the south side of the island. For silks and jade. For tourists really so don’t buy anything here. Check out the Murray House. This former military mess hall was completed in Central in 1843, dismantled in 1983 and re-erected here in 1998. Odd but it houses a lovely maritime museum. Back to the room for a shower and an early evening drink at the Chinnery Bar where the Chuppies (Chinese yuppies) crowd after work. Single malt from the whiskey wall behind the bar. No Cosmos please. Head uphill to M at the Fringe for dinner. This is unique Australian Mediterranean cuisine that is uniquely Hong Kong. You should try the “Last Governor’s Trifle” attributed to Chris Patten, a former regular here. Stroll round the corner to Lan Kwai Fong Bar (MTR Central, exit D2) and sink into clubby Post 97 for champagne. Five minutes away from bed so you can drink well. In case you stay there late – it can happen, you know – there is a “Big Breakfast” at 0930 local for HK$97. Just saying.

Last day. Dim Sum at City Hall Maxim’s Place with no menu and no English. No problem. The steamer baskets come around in trolleys. Point. Pick. Eat. Of course, since I am vegetarian and so much causes taste and texture violations, I take a printup before I head to a dim sum place. The last thing I need is octopus lost in translation.Your hotel is just across the road. Book a chauffeured car (Mercedes!) for a private trip through the New Territories, heading north through Kowloon and along the coast to Tai Po and the Railway Museum. Stop at the fishing village of Sam Mun Tsai on the edge of Tolo Harbor to dine at Leun Yick Seafood House. Plenty of ginger enhances everything. take in the scenic route to Fanling, past some of the last farmland residue. Stop a bit at Bird Island for sighting hundreds of egrets and cormorants. Also gray heron. In Fanling, check out the Better Ole, an English style pub for some English bitter. Friendliest watering hole outside of Naughty Nuri’s in Ubud (B, remember?). Car back to the Mandarin to shower before dinner at Vong on the 25th floor. Jean-Georges Vongerichten worked in kitchens here before coming to NYC and Londontown. The dessert sampler is to die for. Remember – you are on holiday. If it’s Friday, it’s Blue Door night. hidden away on the fifth floor of a Central Office building. Tomorrow morning, you return home.

Nutella/Marmite

I have been mistaken for so long in so many matters but this one really stings. Nutella, which is feverishly worshipped by the English, was first created in it original form in the 1940s by Mr. Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker. Chocolate was limited as cocoa was in short supply owing to rationing during World War II. Instead, he used hazelnuts which are plentifulin Piemonte (northwest Italy) to extend the chocolate supply. The original version was a pasta gianduja (a paste named after a carnival character local to the region) made in loaves and wrapped in tin foil that it might be sliced and placed on slices of bread to take to school for lunch. Moms soon discovered that the kids would toss the bread. This is yet another reason for me not to have kids – if my kid tosses a slice of bread, she is SO in trouble and in danger of being tossed herself. So the product was altered into a spreadable paste that came in a jar as “supercrema gianduja” and was renamed Nutella in 1964, with the “ella” giving a soft spreadable ending to the word nut. A pound of chocolate was worth six times as much as a pounf of Nutella and it became so popular that Italian stores started a service called “the smearing” where children could take their own slice of bread for said purpose. Nutella was first imported from italy into the USA in 1983 (so new, yet so old) into the Northeastern states and grew rapidly in popularity over ten short years until a plant was built on US soil in Somerset, NJ. Now it is sold in peanut butter aisles at my Safe Way. Of course, my Safe Way is a Lifestyles Safe Way so we have hard wood flooring and a staggering number of infused olive oils – they’ve come a long way.

See, I must be subconsciously confusing this spread with Marmite, a very English savory spread made from yeast extract, a biproduct of beer brewing. A sticky gooey dark brown paste, it polarizes consumers, belying it’s marketing slogan “Love it or Hate it”, and it is similar to Australasian Vegemite and Swiss Cenovis. It is vegan. A marmite itself is French for a large covered earthenware or metal cooking pot, wherein marmit was originally supplied. It has long been sold since in glass jars that approximate the shape of such pots. In March 2006, a thinner version in plastic squeeze jars was finally made available to us with the Marmite logo being replaced by the words “Squeeze Me”. Marmite Ltd became a subsidiary of Bovril Limited which was bought by CPC (UK) Ltd, which changed its name to Best Foods Inc in 1998, which then merged with Unilever in 2000, which has bought everything in the Uni-verse that does not already belong to GE. Sandwiches using Marmite often consist of spreading one slice of toasted bread with margarine and marmite, another with margarine and peanut butter, and then putting the two together. You could use digestive biscuits instead of bread. Nigella Lawson whisks soft unsalted butter with Marmite and then spreads it on sliced white bread, using 100g of butter with a variable quantity of Marmite depending on whether you like your sandwich mild, buff colored creme or salty strong in a sunbed tan glaze. In Middle Earth, it is spread evenly but thinly on bread with a packet of potato crisps added for a M & Chip sandwich. In Ceylon, it is dissolved in boiling water to add some lime juice and a fried onion after a deathly hang over. You could also mix it with Bovril in boiling water to make a hot drink. On St Patrick’s Day this year, Guinness released a limited edition of Marmite (only 300, 000 jars at GBP 2.49) in a black jar with a white lid (cf. pint of Guinness), using a special recipe with 30% Guinness yeast.

Fun fact: if you put a dollop of Marmite on a plate and then hit it with a spoon, it will  steadily grow pale and may even turn white. While Vitamin B complex does not of itself ward off mosquitoes, the consumption of Marmite can do so, which is why the English take it with them on holiday to Sri Lanka (widely used during the 1934-35 malaria epidemic). I still hate it because it tastes horrid. But that is neither here nor there.

Yum Cha

Yum Cha, drinking tea, is critical to Hong Kong’s culinary culture and complements every dish, regardless of whether you take it Chinese, English or Hong Kong style. Tea drinkers tapping the table with three fingers of the same hand are expressing gratitude to the refiller. One finger is your bowed head and the other two are your prostrate arms.

Tea was discovered accidentally by Emperor Shen Nong during the Five Rulers Era. Leaves from a nearby plant fell into a boiling kettle and the aroma was irresistible to the Emperor. The plant, Camellia, grows wild in China. The first book on tea, Cha Ching (“Tea Classic”) was written during the Tang Dynasty (ACE 618-907) by the poet Lu Yu. Tea may be divided into six principal varieties:

1. Green: unfermented and produced by steaming fresh picked leaves, it turns yellow green when brewed and has a delicate taste.
2. White: slightly fermented to achieve a mellow sweet flavor
3. Black: fully fermented before firing, has a bright reddish color with a hearty amber brew
4. Oolong: indigenous to the Fujian province, is only partially oxidized and a cross between green and black tea when boiled, is bright yellow with a fruity taste
5. Pu’er: variation of green, oolong or black tea, fully fermented and turns dark brown when brewed
6. Scented: is a blend of tea leaves and fresh sweet flowers

Chinese Tea Preparation

• Clean and wash the tea pot with boiling water
• Place a pinch of leaves in the warm pot and rinse with hot water to bring out the initial flavor
• Add hot water a second time at correct temperatures: 70-80 C for green or floral; 100 C for oolong and dark
• Ratio of leaves to water varies between green or floral (1:50 to 75), and oolong and dark (1:25)
• Brewing time varies between green or floral (2-4 minutes), and oolong and dark (1 minute)
• Warm tea cups with hot water
• Arrange the cups in a circle and pour out the brew in a continuous circular motion in a few rounds until they are full
• Do not fill up a cup all at once

High Tea

The British and Chinese share a cultural trait: the love of fine tea. The 7th Duchess of Bedford, Anna (1788-1861) in England invented the tradition to soothe hunger pangs before supper. At that time, the English had only two main daily meals: breakfast and a long massive evening supper. The Duchess invited her friends for an added afternoon meal at four to five o’clock. The Afternoon Tea menu included snacks such as petit cakes, sandwiches and tea served in fine porcelain. High tea is practised among working and farming communities. Traditionally taken late afternoon, it was the workers’ main meal of the day and featured meats, bread and cakes with a steaming pot o’ fresh tea.

Popular English tea varieties are:

• English Breakfast Tea – a blend of Indian and Ceylonese tea leaves, served with milk or lemon
• Earl Grey Tea – named after a British PM, it is served plain and carries a hint of sweetness. With Bergamot
• Darjeeling – is the finest most distinctive tea, and can be served with lemon
• Coronation – a Ceylon tea specially prepared in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of HM The Queen
• Assam – a very strong Indian tea

You must certainly drink the locally brewed “milk tea” served at old style tea bistros in Hong Kong served with a variety of unusual snacks, especially French Toast points, topped and soaked with butter and syrup. Various tea blends are boiled and kept brewing in a meter tall container for hours, ensuring strength and smoothness. A silk like cotton bag filters tea before the addition of milk. Yuanyung is a Hong Kong concoction of milk, tea and cofee. Other common snacks are freshly baked egg tarts, buns (with fillings including cocoanut mix and custard; crisply pineapple flavored topping), toast with kaya (cocoanut and egg jam from Singapore). Iced lemon tea is served through the day.

Visible DNA

G asked me about my Myer-Briggs epigram type. A trite option. Imagini has a lovely personality test. Read the questions and click the picture that feels right. The tools then analyse your personality and prepare a near report. You can also connect with people who have made similar choices. If you must know, I am ENTJ (only 1.8% of us are, it is the rarest personality type) and using inferential opposites theory, I am most qualified to be a lawyer or accountant. How sad. Imagini is kinder: Sofisticat (Mood); Escape Artist (Fun); New Wave Puritan (Habits); Touchy Feely (Love);

Macha Tea

I nearly served green tea to S today, being completely ignorant of the significant danger it poses. This only proves there is so much to learn about tea. Green Tea (camellia sinensis) is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders and to prevent cancer as it contains a substantial amount of (but is not considered a significant source of) Vitamin K. Consuming large amounts may antagonize the effects of a blood thinner called Warfarin. Which is a rat poison. There is only one case report of this actually happening but the advisory is for all Warfarin-treated patients to consume only moderate amounts of green tea. Besides green tea, they should also avoid garlic (decreases platelet stickiness), ginger (prolongs bleeding), gingko (causes spontaneous bleeding), grape seed (works against platelets), kava (decreases sticky platelets), papaya and some other foods including but not limited to alfalfa, anise, arnica, artemesia, asa foetids, bog bean, capsicum, celery, chamomile, fenugreek, horse chest nut, licorice (thus also uozo), parsley, passion flower, prickly ash, quassia, red clover, cassio, clove, onion, turmeric and quinine.

Heathrow Lounge

 

If you have a layover with over two hours wait (it takes only 8 minutes to connect between international and domestic terminals; most domestic takeoffs are from terminal 1), then consider booking an airport lounge. At London Heathrow, fares typically start at GBP20 per person and typically provides unlimited tea, coffee, soft and alcoholic drinks, snacks, papers, magazines, fax, web access and telly. Lounges located after Passport Control are not suitable if you are connecting on domestic. If you need to leave the lounge, you need to take your luggage with you (so check an extra set of clothes, I pack scrubs) in your overnighter and all prescription medications. There is a charge for champagne in all lounges and entry prior to three hours before your flight time is at the discretion of the lounge staff. A maximum of three (3) hours per passenger is granted.

BCP costs GBP19 at the Servisairs in terminals 1, 2 and 3, and the T4 Holidesk lounge. APH costs GBP18 at the Servisairs in terminals 1, 2 and 3.  Holiday Extras costs GBP20 (Holidesk) and GBP18.50 in the Servisairs in T1-3. Limit is 3 hours. FHR costs GBP19 (Servisairs) and GBP21 (Holideck)

If you are a British Airways Club Class member, of course you must head immediately to the Molton Brown Travel Spa. Treatments are complimentary but you cannot book an appointment as treatments are on a first come, first serve basis.

But.

London Heathrow is the worst of all of the major European terminals as there is no WiFi and no shower facility. I remember enjoying amazingly poping hot soup, snacks, tea and WiFi after a hot shower in Taipei’s airport not too long ago.

Philosopher’s Stone

I watched a digital version of the first in the Harry Potter series and suddenly realized I had watchted this movie a long time ago. Possibly in a galaxy far far way. You decide:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Star Wars: A New Hope): Synopsis

Harry Potter (Luke Skywalker) is an orphan living with his uncle and aunt on the remote wilderness of suburbia (Tatooine). He is rescued by Nuggles (aliens) by wise, bearded Hagrid (Ben Kenobi) and was the best Quidditch player (pilot) he had ever seen. Harry (Luke) is instructed to use a magic wand (Jedi light saber) as he trains to become a wizard (Jedi). Harry (Luke) has many adventurs at Hogwart’s (in the galazy) and makes new friends like Ron (Han) and Hermione (Leia). He distinguishes himself as a Quidditch Seeker (X-wing pilot) in the Quidditch Finals (Battle of the Death Star) making the direct catch (hit) that secures the Gryffyndor (Rebels) victory against the forces of Slytherin (the Dark Side). Harry (Luke) also sees off the threat of Lord Valdemort (Darth Vader) who we know murdered his father (uncle) and mother (aunt). In the finale, Harry (Luke) and his new friends win the House Cup (medals of Honor). All of this will be set to an orchestral score composed by Mr. John Williams.

Hong Kong

When you arrive in Hong Kong, immediately buy an Octopus Card. You can use it like a prepaid cash card, not only for public transportation but even at McDonald’s. Enjoy Victoria Peak – go over on the Star Ferry, get off and turn right, then catch the 13c open top bus up to the tram for the peak. You have to pay for the tram but the Octopus pays for the Ferry. Po Lin monastery has the giant Buddha: take the underground to the end of the line, then take the skyrail to the top of the Buddha. But that is standard touristy stuff – what are the things you should do in Hong Kong before you die you ask?

1. Visit the Man Mo Temple.
2. Walk through the Nan Lian Garden
3. Check out the Fireworks Cruise.
4. Drink 24-Herbs Tea
5. Enjoy Tong Shui
6. Concentrate in Ancestral Halls
7. Visit the Luk Yu Tea House
8. Take High Tea
9. Climb Ma On Shan
10. Set your watch to the Central Plaza Clock.

More practically, what should you do when you are there for three (or five) days? Funny you should ask.

THREE DAYS IN HONG KONG

• Take Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. (Reverse this tomorrow if you are staying on Hong Kong Island) Peak tram up to top of Victoria Peak. Descend back into Central and ceck out harbor districts of Central and Western shopping centers and skyscrapers, Midlevels with outdoor escalators into the steep mountainside, Wanchai distrcit, Causeway Bay and Admiralty megamalls and stores. Finish up in Admiralty with dinner at a restaurant in the Pacific Place Shopping Complex.
• Not far from the Star Ferry Terminal are the Museums (Space, Science, Art and History). Go up Nathan road to the Peninsula Hotel – have a coffee or come back for afternoon tea (book ahead if busy season). Walk up Nathan road to the temples of Tin Hau and Wong Tai Sin. Get a fortune teller off the concourse. Come on, now. Bird Garden. Jade Market. Flower market. Ladies Market. Night market (starts at 1800 local). Wrap up with diner at the Peninsula’s Felix with a view of neon-lit Central. Note: if you stay at the less expensive Kowloon hotel, you can charge all Peninsula expenses to your room.
• Take a bus ride (not for the faint of heart) from Central to south side of Hong Kong Island off the double decker bus. Sit upstairs. Duh. Wander in the markets of Stanley. Cheapest for souvenirs to bring back home (“I want proof you were there. You never take pictures of yourself.”) In the afternoon, take the bus to Repulse Bay. Break in the sunny sand. Back to central for dinner.

TWO MORE DAYS?

• New Territories. Also known as the reason the Chinese wanted the Isles back. Take an organized tour sponsored by the HKTB to maximise your limited time. KCR train takes you to the eastern territories to visit Shatin (race track, Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas), and the western new territories (MTR to Sam Tung Uk museum and train to Ching Chung Koon Taoist temple)
• Lantau Island. Ferry from Central to bus to Po Lin Monastery (big outdoor bronze Tin Tan Buddha). Bus to Tai O, a fishing village, for lunch. Bus back to harbor and rent a bike to the small vollage of Mui Wo. Ferry back to Central.

TWO MORE DAYS?

• First I want your job.
• Overnight trip to Macau by superfast ferry. Overnight stay is essential to experience it all. Old Citadel for Museum of Macau and church of Sao Paulo. Portuguese architecture. Peninsular Macau for A-Ma Temple and Maritime Museum. Sun on the white beaches. Lunch at the Pausada de Sao Tigua. Macanese early dinner. Casino to end the night. Send me a postcard.

Travel Troubles

What’s the absolute best time to purchase a ticket directly from the airlines? Turns out it’s Wednesday from 0000 to 0100 in the time zone of the airline’s “home base.” (For instance, Delta is headquartered in Utah Atlanta and United currently calls Chicago home.)Why? That’s when the computer systems of most airlines get rid of the reserved but unbooked lower fare reservations. Most of us at one time or another have booked a reservation, then let it go without purchase. Snap-up these discounted fares right after this happens and you’re likely to get a significant discount.

1. If your passport is lost or stolen
   • Overseas: contact the nearest US Embassy. You need to fill out a passport application, sign an affidavit that your passport was stolen and verify your identity/US citizenship. You will be asked many questions and need to provide an in-country contact (friend or relative) to back your claim. A sticky wicket if you are traveling with both of them! Once issued, a replacement passport is valif for 10 years and costs $97 (same terms as a usual passport). Carry at least one photocopy of your passport and government issued ID at all times. Put one in each checked bag and your hand luggage. Leave one with someone you trust at home so they can fax it if you lose everything. I have a scanned copy emailed to my Z drive (virtual account, secure server) and can access the PDF any time any wher
   • Stateside: ring the US department of State at 877-487-2778 and report it. They are open until midnight Monday through Friday and take claims at any time. Apply for a new one by downloading a form.
2. If you get sick on your trip:
   • Check your policies (trip and personal medical insurance) before leaving to make sure you collect everything you need for a possible claim (visit receipts, medications needed, clinic contact information) before you leave
   • Use good judgment and pack a travelers’ health kit. Entirely different blog entry
3. If your hotel is overbooked (this is really rare but has happened to me):
   • Request rebooking at a similar class property with the hotel paying the cost difference if the latter is more expensive and complimentary transfers and phone calls to let others know of your itinerary change. If you do this in writing, request room upgrades, a free night or in-room perks. Speak with a hotel manager, NOT a supervisor.
   • Make sure you have a confirmed reservation, guaranteed with a credit card. AmEx is the best for this.
4. If you lose your luggage:
   • Pack essentials and a spare outfit in hand baggage. I always carry a thin cotton tee and shorts in my backpack. Always leave a credit card at home, a spare set of car and house keys. All major airlines will freel ship counter to counter your spare house keys, emergency credit card and passport, if the combination weighs under a pound within twelve hours if you demand that in writing. AmEx has the best luggage loss policy. However, I am sure to ring AmEx and tell them of my overseas travel plans with dates exactly 48 hours before I leave. Activate your trip.
   • Do not panic. You can always shop for more stuff. The weirdest loss I had was SFO-ORD, someone (I believe TSA) stole my left Bill Blass Shoe size 11w. Why would you just not steal both, I have oft wondered. A mystery that endures. Of course, this discovery was made 22 minutes before I was due to give a presentation. Yep, I panicked. Luckily, the concierge had Bloomingdales send over a bunch of shoes to choose from. She gets a bottle of Merlot every time I return. And I always carry an extra pair of shoes.
5. If you miss your flight connection:
   • Code-shared flights are under no obligation to get you to your final destination in a timely fashion.
   • If the flight delay is owing to weather, the airline is under no obligation.
   • Check the small print “conditions of carriage” as they outline differently for various airlines.

Free Spirit

I cannot see spending money to save it. Yes, I have a mortgage but that is a necessary evil. Spirit has started a program where you pay to access certain sales. It is $9 for the first three (3) months and then $30 annually after the promotion ends. They promise an exclusive sale once every six (6) weeks but might migrate eventually to exclusive sales. This is a very European tactic – charge $30 “fees” for $1 and $9 sales. However, remember you need to pay taxes, fees and the customary fuel and 9/11 surcharges in addition to your club fee. This sounds like a risky move but may also be a new way to command loyalty to the airline.

Dining Vancouver

• Vij’s Restaurant: Indian
• Cru: French
• Chambar: Belgian
• La Bodega: tapas
• Cioppino’s: Mediterranean

Sliding Doors

 

It is most unusual for me to re-watch a film and I think I have done this with no more than a dozen films. (James Bond films, of course, are works of art and exempt from this naturally). Sliding Doors is an interesting film about a young woman called Helen who comes early (or not) with life changing Butterfly Effects. For obvious reasons, this appeals to me. My life today is in no way the manner in which I had always imagined it would be, and I have had some sliding doors. The splitting point for Helen is sliding doors in the tube. Did she mind the gap? When she comes home early (positive), she catches her boyfriend in flagrante delicto (negative) and goes on to chop and dye her hair, finds a Scottish lad, and leads an unexpected life (positive). If she misses the train (negative), she gets mugged (negative), her handbag stolen (negative), never discovers her cheating boyfriend (negative) and things continue status quo (positive?). Thank goodness Helen cuts and dyes her hair because I am required to follow parallel unconnected plots with some quirky intersecting points. The film sharpens the fact that while our life is a bundle of random events, each singular one has its own impact on our life. Some have none. Some have major. The magnitude of the event has no correlation with the degree of impact. Buddhism believes that reality and us (self) are recreated constantly with an action/reaction force moulding us completely and in often unexpected manner. We have no control on the events that make us. We cannot thus focus on events that will yield a positive and better us in the future. Circumambulating Borobudur, you cannot see the next rung (too high), and you cannot see the previous level or the world outside (high walls). You need to forget the past (immutable) and since you cannot see the future (unknowable), you have to live for the present (here and now). If you’re not Buddhist – clarification, I am Buddhist for the accessories only but becoming progressively more of a believer – then think of it in terms of quantum physics. According to the MWI (Many-Worlds Interpretation) theory, in each interaction of particles, the future of the particles splits to some realities according to the probability of the wave function. We are all surrounded in sliding doors.

Pool Side

 

Work was hell last night, no thanks to the Axis of Evil II being on call. So it was a nice surprise to see M just as I was headed home and consider the brighter things in life. Like a $100 discount on CS3 through April. Because sometimes you need to go to your Happy Place (TM). Mine is shown below.

Paddy Cake

First Class

Good sites to find cheap first class fares. Or buy business class fares and use miles to upgrade:

• 1st-Air.Net
• Accessfares
• Air Brokers International
• Airlines of the Web
• AsiaGoBiz.com
• Be-Airfare-Smart.com
• Executive Class Travel
• FlyFirstClass.com
• HorizonTrip.com
• Join Us Travel
• Passport Premiere (requires membership)
• The Travel People
• TravelTek

Visit London

 

 

When should you visit Londontown?January is quite pleasant, neither too cold nor wet, but the end of the month sees Atlantic gales and crazy Sales. Good ticket availability for shows and a New Year’s day parade.

February is wretchedly dull with low cloud and rain. The cognoscenti are off skiing but the hotel prices are low. Theater and music is good to compensate. Great day out in Soho for Chinese New Year celebrations if you love crowds. At the end of the month (check lunar shifts), half term holiday week for Easter so chaotic local crowds.

March is like little February – some sun but wet and windy. Oxbridge boat races the last weekend. Summertime starts

April is when things improve but often wet and windy. There are optimistic “spring festivals” of theater and music. London Marathon. Bank holiday first of April.

May is when everyone hopes (cruel disappointment) that summer is upon them. Impossible to predict the weather. May Day in Oxford, Hampstead and Greenwich with Morris dancing and festive treats. Finals of Football Cup. Coin Street Festival on South Bank. Chelsea Flower Show. First Monday is a Bank Holiday.

June is generally dry and sunny but brief storms are expected. Barbican starts Summer Shutdown. Pub theaters start pre-Edinburgh run of comedy and short plays. Horse guards, trooping of the color and beating the retreat rehearsals in first week. Royal Academy summer exhibition. City of London Festival of theater. Covent Garden Festival. Wimbledon. Derby and Ascot horse racing.

July and it’s warm enough to wear just a tee shirt. Usually. Music drying up. Hampton Court Flower Show.

August has a profound dearth of theater as most companies are up in Edinburgh for the festival. Proms every night suffocate music venues. Countryside in bloom. Loads of tourists. Priciest hotel rooms. Avoid Notting Hill Carnival (last weekend). Last Monday is a bank holiday.

September is the absolute best time to visit, especially the warm dry latter hald. Open House Day (actually weekend) is when you can visit buildings normally closed to the public. New shows after Edinburgh. Proms end. Opera and theater season begins. Pleasant slightly misty evenings. Soho Jazz Festival.

October is like September but the days will be shorter and it can rain. Most unpredictable. Theater and music are good. Glum days as nights draw near. Summertime ends.

November is truly autumnal. 5th is Guy Fawkes night when Catholics are burnt in bonfires across England. Actually, their effigies. Lord Mayor’s show.

December is chilly but dry. Shopping frenzy. Pretty lights in streets. Lots of very drunken office parties in progress. NY eve celebrations in Trafalgar Square. Book the new year away in the north of Scotland instead.

See you every September.

Stress Reduction

In our seminar, we were given some. These might help my already reduced anxiety level -

• Get up fifteen minutes earlier
• Get enough sleep and set an alarm FOR bedtime
• Prepare for morning the evening before – set breakfast, make lunches, put out clothes
• List appointment and due times.
• Organize everything by location. I still have an entire room and two closets that need management.
• Do nothing you have to lie about later.
• Monitor your body for stress response.
• Make copies of all keys.
• Carry a duplicate car key in your wallet – this actually helped me at Moscone center.
• Practice preventice maintenance of the car, appliances, home and relationships.
• Be prepared to wait – I have a paperback book in the trunk at all times.
• Procrastination is stressful.
• Write your thoughts and feelings in a blog.
• Plan ahead – fil the tank when a quarter full and keep a well stocked emergency shelf of supplies.
• Always have back up postage stamps.
• Don’t put up with constant aggravations. Fix them ASAP.
• Get to an appointment 15 minutes beforehand. Arrive at an airport 90 minutes before flight time.
• Relax your standards. This is not necessarily lowering them but loosening them.
• Eliminate caffeine from your diet. Or restrict it. I have a tea room – this is not easy.
• Pucker your lips and exhale to the count of 16. Do this ten times. Daily.
• For every thing that goes wrong, ten things went right.
• Ask questions.
• Say no to extra projects, social invitations and activities. It is fine to have unscheduled days and nights.
• Unplug your answer phone. I do not have one at home.
• Food, water and warmt are necessities. Everything else is a luxury. Need less.
• Make friends with non-worriers. Woory warts are contagious.
• Talk out your problems to relieve confusion
• Avoid people who don’t fit your personal needs or desires.
• Live a day at a time. Doa daily favour.
• Everyday do something you really really enjoy.
• Looking good makes you feel better.
• Focus on understanding rather than being understood (loving than being loved). One of each is perpetual.
• Take time between tasks to relax – have a realistic daily schedule and be flexible.
• Reverse pace at weekends so it feels like not another weekday.
• Allow time for privacy and quiet.
• Do unpleasant tasks early.
• Take lunch to get away from body and mind.
• Forgive the imperfect world we live in. Assume incorrectly that most people do the best they can. Even ER MDs.
• Life goes on.
• Think of your happy place. One of mine is Mount Merapi, pictured above. Om.

Photo Finish

I am giving the digital camera a good work out. E suggested I expose many many frames, then choose (after the fact) the few that make the cut. This was perhaps the best tip of all. Some others follow:

1.  Where is the subject in the frame? Divide the field of view into ninths that are equal. It is like noughts and crosses. There are four intersecting points. Place the subject at any of these points. Placing someone in the center is only one-ninth as interesting.
2. What is the direction of the source light? If you absolutely have to photograph at mid day, remember to move the subject into the shade or indoors near a window as direct sunlight creates unflattering shadows and the elderlyw ill squint. Side lighting through shutters or framing can cause a stippled effect and dabble your subject. The best time to tak ephotos outdoors is when it is cloudy – you cease to cast too much of a shadow as light diffuses fairly evenly and lightens up your subject.
3. Viewpoint is more than a point of view. As we walk about, everything we see is, by definition, eye-level. If you crouch down or stand at an elevation, the subject just becomes more interesting.
4. Camera flash abuse is rampant. Daytime use will help if your subject appears dark against the sky or other background (is underexposed). Turn your flash OFF to get the chemical glow or gaslight or carbon haze of a candle. Set to night mode, turn the ISO up to 400 or switch to manual mode.
5. Can you lead the viewing eye? Look for leading lines in the photo that collate at a point of interest. They act as roadways taking you around the photo.
6. Unclutter your photo. Think of being an editor at the school newspaper. Not everything is important equally. I wait for people and animals to leave the scene, or I digitally clone/erase them in postprocessing.
7. Frame the scene with branches, street signs, lights, sills.

Chicago Dining

 

Formal dining in Chicago, you say. My picks:

• Alinea (Grant Achatz)
• Everest (Jean Joho)
• Avenues (Graham Elliot Bowles)
• Charlie Trotter’s (Charlie Trotter) 
• Tru (Rick Tramonto)
• NoMi (Christophe David)
• Schwa (Michael Carlson)
• moto (Homaro Cantu)
• Spiaggia (Tony Mantuano)

Movie Classic

Once upon a time there was a television cable channel called “American Movie Classics” or AMC. I wonder what they are playing tonight.

307.45

The assignation of an ICD-9 code implies jet lag is a real entity. It is a physiological condition resulting from alterations of the circadian rhythm, usually resulting from shift work, daylight savings time, altered day length or transmeridian travel as on a jet plane. Consider I will have fortuitously combined all of the above tomorrow, albeit unintentionally.

To prevent this, sleep on the flights. I cheat by taking some NyQuil en route to the airport, popping an Ambien before boarding and having a glass of red wine immediately upon reaching cruising altitude. Excessive water intake (without caffeine or alcohol) thereafter helps significantly. Reset your wristwatch to your destination as soon as you board your outbound flight. If you are anti-medication (I cannot afford to be), skip sleep enritely for one night and one day and then go to bed at a normal destination area bed time. Most chemical and herbal remedies are not approved for preventing jet lag by the FDA.

Interestingly, the condition is not linked to flight length but transmeridian (east-west) distance traveled, and there is some evidence that traveling west to east is more disruptive (runs counter to circadian rhythm). Your recovery rate should be one day per time zone traveled.

Security Check

• 3-1-1 rule. You can carry on board travel size toiletries (3 oz or less) to fill in one quart size ziploc bag.
• You can carry on beverages and other items purchased in the expensive but secure (cough) boarding area. Water is perhaps the most dangerous thing of all. Buy it after you are screened.
• Medications in liquid, gel or aerosol form are exempt from the 3-1-1 rule but must be declared at the screening check point.
• Extra baby formula, breast milk or baby food necessary is permitted if an infant is traveling with you – each will be inspected but not tasted. Good.
• Wear clothing you can shed easily. Stuff your mobile, keys, coins and other metal stuff in your coat pockets. Do not pre-wrap presents. Check in snow globes. They are almost as dangerous as water.
• List of banned items and rules change frequently so always check before packing. Rules are vastly different if leaving the UK. Don’t guess if in doubt. Simply check it in.
• Don’t pack in too tightly or, if asked to unpack, it will be harder to fit it all back in. Pack clothes in clear plastic envelopes so it is easy to unstuff and restuff
• Wear slip ons so you can slip on and off quickly. Avoid jewelry and metal accessories (belt buckles). The more objects you have to shed, the more the hassle.
• Assign one coat pocket for ticket, wallet and passport. Another for everything else. Keep all electronics (iPod, lap top, camera, mobile) in one bag so security can dig through one item for all
• Be nice to TSA. They are paid $13.19 per hour and get two fifteen minute breaks in a 6 hour period. It’s all terribly boring.
• Get to the airport two hours before your flight. Bring a book or paper. If your flight is canceled, don’t head to customer service (everyone else will) – ring the toll free number instead and rebook.
• Things are a lot easier if you fly first class but it is becoming harder to get upgrades even for elite members. Consider buying upgrade vouchers – still cheaper.

Travel Health

Before you go:

• See your doctor at least six (6) weeks before you leave. Most vaccines reach their highest protection level 6 weeks after administration.
• Have your annual medical and dental check ups before you leave. This will help you update your prescriptions and regill them in time.
• Be prepared – estimate what your regular health insurance carrier will cover when you are away. Carry enough prescription medication to last one (1) week longer than your time overseas and carry original containers (in case you need to refill) as even I cannot recall chemical names offhand. I always walk into local pharmacies and apothecaries wherever I am. Boots clearly sells more product overseas than her. Wear your medicalert bracelet as applicable. Take along a first aid kit.

Vaccines (check the CDC site for specific countries):

• Hepatitis A or HA Immune Globulin
• Hepatitis B (unless you are boosted and up dated here)
• Influenza (get this every winter)
• Japanese encephalitis
• MMR
• Pneumococcal (especially if you are missing a spleen)
• Polio (oral only)
• Rabies (not recommended personally – it is most painful but stay clear of dogs)
• Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids
• Typhoid fever
• Varicella (chicken pox)
• Yellow Fever

While traveling:

• Eat carefully if you are in a country legendary for travelers’ diarrhea. Steaming hot well cooked food is safest. Avoid street food, unpasteurized dairy (avoid all cheese), and raw or uncooked seafood. Avoid bird. Avoid ice. Peel fruits yourself. Use bottled water to brush your teeth. Close mouth when in the shower. After day two, I broke all the rules myself. It is really quite impossible.
• For malaria risk countries, I take Lariam every Friday starting a week before travel and finishing four weeks after my return home. Hydrate well. Use inset repellants with DEET. They work for two hours at a time so you should take some with you when hiking. Wear permethrin coated clothing and use bed nets when you sleep. It makes the room very hot and claustrophobic so I ditched this on night three.
• Avoid swimming in freshwater lakes and streams. Schistosomiasis is prevalent in Myanmar and Africa.

First aid kit of your own:

• All prescription medication in original containers. Put this in a ziploc bag and clearly visible in your hand baggage. Do not check in your prescription medications.
• Medication for diarrhea and upset stomach. Pack Pepto Bismol and Imodium AD. I also pack cephalosporins in case of diarrhea: do not consume unless you actually are afflicted
• Cough and cold medications – they also help you sleep
• Pain medications such as aspirin, tylenol, motrin, ketoprofen.
• Decongestants and antihistamines for allergies. The non drowsy ones are good when traveling but I prefer the sedatives. I always take sleeping meds. Pop one, drink some NyQuil and a glass of red one hour before boarding and you will be snoring comfortably inflight.
• Antibiotic ointments, adhesive bandages, hydrocortisone cream (1%), moleskin for blisters, sunscreen with at least 45-60 SPF and lip balm
• Medicine fo rmotion sickenss like dramamine and antinausea medication like Phenegran or Diamox for altitude sickness
• Scizzors, tweezers, nail clippers, pocket knife and mirror. Check these in. Obviously.

Sick Hotel

I simply cannot afford to fall sick, whether on holiday or at work. Last weekend, R was delayed in MIA because of inexplicable computer outages with US Air. It was a mad scramble to get her shift covered. Unfortunately, we do not have the pleasure of inbuilt redundancy at work. Yet I insist on returning home on Sunday (taking care to routinely schedule a vacation day the following Wednesday which is when I will traditionally jetlag). The new NYU report on hygiene concerns in hotel rooms is only a scientific documentation of what I have suspected in years. There are some routine steps I take during travel, especially overseas:

• Wash your hands well and often. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer. Purell has a gem and it comes in small 1 oz size packs that fit easily in your coat pocket.
• More hotels are ditching bed spread for duvets and washable covers. When I enter a hotel and see a bed spread (aka Petri dish), I remove it immediately and put it in a corner, underside up. And a note to housekeeping to not let it touch my bed. There is also a pre-tip for them, $1 per night, add $5 to the total if exceeding 5 nights of stay.
• I try to choose hotels with impervious covers for mattresses and pillows, but I always pack my own linen. Idiot, I know.
• I have Clorox lemon wipes with me whenever I travel. I immediately clean the phone, the remote control and clock radio. I might have the sudden urge to watch the telly for weather news.
• I hate hotels with heavy draperies, upholstered ehadboards and wall to wall carpeting, which makes the entire box a giant fomite. At the Hilton Chicago O’Hare, environmentally friendly room have shutters and not curtains, wood floors and not carpeting. I love it.
• I wear slippers or flip flops to avoid exposing bare feet to any surfaces. I carry my own but if you ask nicely, your hotel will find you a pair.
• I put antiseptic on accidental wounds and cover them with Hansaplast. Like the eyes, nose, and mouth, cuts and sores are portals for germs.
• I spray the outside of my suitcase with garden pesticide a week before I go. When I return, I wash the clothes in Lysol and vacuum the suitcase. Larval transmission for bed bugs is a real threat. They found bed bugs at Presidential Towers in Chicago. Enough said.

Bon Voyage!

Baking Soda

There are two refrigerators in my hotel room. One of them has a yellow box of baking soda in it. I cannot understand why. Naturally, this occasions a trip to the concierge I know and love.

Baking soda does not eliminate odors very well. As a wash solution, it is only mildly alkaline and can cut grease when dumped down a drain (but Drano crystal is more effective and more dangerous). The popular open box of Arm and Hammer (I always confused it with the golfer in my childhood) can absorb some odors but not very effectively at all. If some intrafridge odors are acidic, the alklaine soda will absorb and neutralize them but as it contacts water vapor, it loses a great deal of surface activity. It just does not work well. Activated charcoal would do the job but is more expensive.

I would recommend you throw your baking soda in the rubbish bin. Oh wait, the ad agency already thought of that. How they suck you in.  American consumers are stupid – let us sell them items that neutralize the odor of rubbish so it does not smell like rubbish any more. Umm, why? Who is smelling all this odor-neutralized rubbish?

Flickr Tag

Interactivity. Fondue with Crudites. Quarts of Barolo. Watching the world go by. It is such bliss to be on holiday.

Spuntini Freddi

Cipollini Modenese: braised baby onions with balsamic vinegar

Sicilian Caponata: eggplant caviar with olives and capers

Giardiniera Romana: pickled vegetables

Pepperonata: charred roasted peppers with capers, garlic and EVOO

Carcufi Campobasso: baby artichokes, onions, carrots, EVOO

Maths is not funny. Writing a play about it is supremely boring. Sally Oliver plays Catherine, a 25 year old who gave up University to care for her father, Robert, a mathematical genius who succumbed to mental illness before his death. She is hard, guarded and protective of his legacy. She meets Hal, one of Robert’s former students who wishes to drill mathematical genius from the late Robert’s scribblings. Into her world comes Hal (Neal Foster) one of Robert’s former students who wants to work his way through notebooks filled with Robert’s scribblings in the hope that among them will be more mathematical greatness.  He’s a geek and freely admits it. After fifteen minutes of “Proof” (Gwyneth Paltrow originated the female lead), I walked out.

Wicked Witch

Wicked is ridiculously popular and I have meant to see why. It premiered in the city when I avoided it. I couldn’t get in when it came post-Broadway. It has been impossible to score tickets in Chicago or New York. Playing along with the masses, I simply walked into the Apollo Victoria Box office (17 Wilton Road; 0870-4000-751; Tube: Victoria) and picked up an Orchestra 6th row centre seat. Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, it is a sassy revisionist account of hoe a green skinned (it is not easy being green) teen misfit and her perky blond Katie Couricish schoolmate are transformed into the wonderful witches of Oz. There are simple but resonant themes: self-esteem, sibling rivalry, tolerance and the importance of standing up against injustice. A lottery for first row tickets starts two hours before the show as in the City. Two hours into the show, I realized there was no place like home. I really don’t like musicals now, do I?

But.

I was intrigued by the sets. The Clock of the Time Dragon is mounted on a wagon and stands as high as a giraffe punched on all four sides with alcoves and proscenium arches. On the flat roof is a clockwork dragon (you can see the operator) with green painted leather, silvery claws, and ruby jeweled eyes. The skin is overlapping discs of copper, bronze and iron. Beneath the flexible folds of scales is an armature controlled by clockwork. The raked show deck is constructed of natural maple planks stained dark and warm. Many of the automated deck units reveal the mechanisms that operate them. Galina’s initial entrance is on a flying bubble machine as real bubbles fill the stage. The bubble maker in the 2:00 radius position did not work at my performance set but there are several projected bubbles all over the set. Another fascinating item is the seamlessness between lights and projections such that I could not tell one from the other. Wicked is a sidelight-driven design. The only front light, except for the school scene and curtain call, are from the three front of house followspots.

It’s not easy being green. So of course, I needed to speak with the make up artist after the show to find out how this was done. Elphaba could not be air brushed as there was laryngeal risk with aspiration. For the first act, MAC’s Chroma Cake in Landscape Green is mized with a lot of water and painted with a wide-flat brush. This is set with Kryolon’s waterproof powder, followed by a dusting of MAC’s Pigment in Golden Olive, a loose iridescent powdery product that deposits hues of color to give the green skin a reflective quality. For contouring, MAC’s Purple Haze eye shadow was used. Besides her face, neck and supraclavicular regions, her hands were always visible (and in one scene her chest and arms are exposed) so the same procedure was used with Chroma Cake and sprayed with Ben Nye’s Final Seal to assure it stayed on her and off other performers. In Act II, the contour is intensified with her brows darkened. Her eyeliner is exaggerated making her look harsher and more angular and, well, perhaps a little wicked.

Green is the favored colour. There is a giant Wicked Witch shadow at one point. The show drop, a map of Oz, is highlighted by a green glow. When confetti is shot into the auditorium, the effect is augmented by projected confetti.

Swiss Invasion

What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

“We’ve spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it’s not a problem,” Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.

Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. “It’s not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something,” he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn’t have an army.

Daniel Radcliffe

Harry Potter is in Peter Shaffer’s Equus. I suspect a lot of the crowd (screaming teenage girls) were there exclusively for the play even though there is a clear warning that some material may be unsuitable for children. When it premiered at the National Theater on July 26, 1973, it was unusual and received as such. Tonight it played at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury. Briefly put, the play is about Alan, an obedient 17 year old with a passion for horses who suddenly one night blinds six horses with a hoof pick and thereafter is awakened by terrible nightmares. Dysart (played by Richard Griffiths from “The History Boys” but who also played Uncle Dudley to Harry Potter, small world this) is his psychologist. The play will move Stateside and open in Broadway in September 2008, no doubt to much cheering from those who will fly all the way to see Mr. Radcliffe get his kit off.

It is adequate as a play but is wonderful as a theatrical production. Regardless of the media hyperdrive surrounding the young wizard getting his kit off, the set design impresses. Messrs Potter (umm Radcliffe) and Griffiths are constantly on stage, even if they are not participating in the active scenery. A curved balcony constructed over the Gielgud stage makes for the play to be performed almost in the round, as if we the audience were looking down into an operating theater of yore even as, looking from above, Dysart dissects Strang’s mind. On floor level about the stage are stable doors, wherefrom stylized horses emerge (played by men wearing horse heads of twisted metal). It is well written – a boy consumed by passion, teen angst and parental overburden is matching wits with an intellectual trapped in a passion-free marriage and boredom-enhanced lifetime. As the stable girl offers the boy his first sexual experience [his failure to deliver sexually provokes the crime against the horses he loves so much], Mr. Radcliffe has to appear in the nude. What horrifies more is the legion who has come precisely to see just those naughty bits.