Birthday in Bangkok

And a surprise birthday present - I was working late at the theatre, and Bob showed up, handed me my passport, and said "Let's go!". With a bag packed by the girls, and a bottle of wine for the trip, Bob and I spent a quick weekend in Bagkok. We stayed at the Marriott, thanks to Bob's friends, and had a wonderful couple of days away.

Bob took me into the city, and we went on an incredible canal tour - the city is built along the river, and it was really amazing. The water level was high due to the start of the rainy season, and heavy rains up river, dragging vegetation with it, that the boats simply went through. All of the major hotels (not ours) are situated along the river, and each of them have their own river boats, to ferry guests up and down the water.

Our tour guide's name was Tip Tip (perhaps Hint Hint would have worked too!) - very nice, very easy to talk to, and told us a lot of the history of Bangkok, and pointed out the sights along the way.

The weather was hot, but the wind was great, and a perfect day to be out on the water

Boat traffic was very heavy, and so much to see on the edges of each bank.

Had to put this picture in - we thought it was a huge sea snake, but turns out it is a Thailand monitor - a huge reptile that lives in the river. Didn't stop the children along the canals from swimming....



Lots of chinese temples, some of them right next to muslim mosques

Many delivery boats simply pull up right in front of the stores -this one is like a 7 -11 - all go to this store to pick up supplies

Temple

And then, our boat turned into the narrower channels, and we literally floated past homes and businesses, with so much to see

Some homes were much better kept than others, but all were really charming. We could hear music playing in some, and shrines at the end of the docks, as you can see here

Lots of tourist traffic that day

The yellow flag is the queen's flag - the blue, for the king, and all citizens alternate the flags depending on whose day it is. They love their royal family, and there are signs and posters literally everywhere

Along the way, a floating convenience store for the tourists - coke, beer, snacks and souvenirs - very resourceful!

Took this one for Mummy - tons of orchids hanging everywhere - the vegetation was extremely lush, and colourful

The boys were jumping in and out of the water, laughing and joking - not paying attention to the tourist boats as they went by

Bob had gone on a canal tour the last time he had been to Bangkok, and knew that I'd love it

Amazing how some of these homes literally stretched over the water

We stopped at a floating market - climbed over the docks and into a small, busy market. In the water below are hundreds of catfish - you can buy loaves of bread to feed to them. Amazing

They literally piled over each other - the water was thick with fish - very cool



Lots of local food being cooked and served up

After the canal tour, we made it to the world's largest market - and immediately got swamped with the hundreds of people and thousands of stalls. We took a shopping list with us, but the market won that day - we stayed for an hour, and then it was too hot, so we headed back to the hotel

Bob took me to this fabulous restaurant, only about 10 minutes from our hotel. Conceived and built as by a local Thai politician, this restaurant was built to raise awareness about Aids and safe sex. It truly is a fascinating place, and ALL of the decorations are made out of condoms. The food was incredible!

When in Thailand...


We sat outside in the courtyard - the place was awash with twinkly lights, and we had live music - what a great birthday supper!

Yup, they sure are!

All made out of condoms - great way to get people's attention.



After dinner, we went for a walk into the city, and Bob got us a 'tuk tuk' to go back to the hotel

A tuk tuk is a motorcycle with a seat in the back for two - covered. A must-do when in Thailand. Very fun getaway for my birthday!

Another Night at the Races - May 2009

Another invitation from former parents at CDNIS to come to the races and see their new horse, Dashing Champion, race. From the owner's box to the sumptuous food, a great day at the races!

All owners and invited guests get to come to the exclusive area where they see their horses brought out, last minute words to the jockey, and then off to the private dining room.

Dashing Champion, 2 yrs old, and promises to be a real winner - we watched this pony win a week earlier. Champagne for the owner and a cheque that day for $300,000HKD, not a bad day at work!

This jockey from the UK

Shenzhen Artist Village 2009

Where else can you find the Venus De Milo in the middle of a city of 18 million? It's not Paris, it's Shenzhen,China - I went to the Artists Village, and what an amazing place - literally right off one of the main streets (6 lanes of traffic going in 5 different directions). I had heard about this place since we moved to Hong Kong, and had to check it out. Very quirky, very chinese. But it really did have a creative feel to it. 85% of the world's quick art (hotels, etc.) are painted right here. They are also master copiers - I saw ab out 50 Mona Lisa's (one smoking a doobie - explains the smile...), and huge 10'X10' grand oil paintings that grace the world's most famous estates - from Napoleon atop his white horse, to the Blue Boy, to Gandalf, they've got it all here... Oh... China.

Venus at the entrance to the Artist Village, Shenzhen

A little square in the center of the village - not much traffic that day, it was rainy and overcast, but wonderful sculpture everywhere.



Busts of famous painters also everywhere - a little incongruous, until you realize that these Chinese artists are busy recreating every work of art in the world.

Display at one of the shops - many get family paintings done from photographs

Shop exterior

Another shop exterior - lots to choose from!

Lots of buildings were brightly painted, and art spilled out onto the streets

Framing at unbelievable prices - for a picture, purchased for 180 Remimbi (about $25CAD) it cost an extra $8 CAD to get it framed...

Lots of artists right there, doing their work while we walked past

Main entrance to the village

Good thing I went with friends who knew which shops were good, and which ones to avoid

History of the Artist Village - quite a success story for the poor, unrepresented artists in China

Coming off the main street and into the village

Hand with paintbrush sculpture at the entrance to the Village

Fun day, and we went home with lots of packages!

Bob is Borneo Bound - March 2009

March 2009 - view from the window of my suite a the Pacific Sutera in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo

27 hole golf course surrounded the resort- I didn't bring my clubs!



view of Kota Kinabalu from Signal Hill- Borneo was leveled by the Allies in WW2 so the architecture is quite bland


Jen gave me a "little trim before I went on the trip

Bruce and Kat- Bruce presented on behalf of our school at the convention- Kelowna boy

Bruce and I strike the tiger pose in honor of Malaysia's national beer- Tiger

down town Kota

Great Market culture in KK- people are very friendly and you bargain for everything


tailored suits for about 50 bucks Canadian


my favorite part of KK- the food- everything fresh and cooked to order

now those are prawns!



barbecued on a skewer- each for about 50 cents

I'll remember the colors and smells

divide by 3- what a way to end a day

beach at the resort- jellyfish alert so hardly anybody in the water

poolside

the island the resort is on is manmade with a marina in the middle and 2 hotel sites


staff members enjoying life on the equator

Margaret Atwood at CDNIS

Wow, what a night, March 12, 2009! The Hong Kong Literary Festival is in full swing this week - a huge week-long event here, featuring authors, poets from all over the world - including Markus Zusak (The Book Thief), and Margaret Atwood! We were asked to provide the venue for the event featuring herself and Mr. Charles Foran, another Canadian author and columnist in conversation about the environment. After 4 months of planning, we welcomed over 300 guests for an hour-long 'event' onstage, and then a cocktail reception and book signing in our theatre lobby to follow. Wonderful night!

Ms. Atwood arrived at the school for a tour at 11am - with Charles Foran,
the other author - really nice guy! She looked pretty old and frail,
actually - jet-lagged, her husband was supposed to have joined her, but
caught a lung virus and couldn't travel, so she did the trip herself.
She's 67, and looked 10 years older.

But, when she arrived at the front entrance to the school - we were all
there in our best big and tucker - it was fun to see everyone so nervous
and excited- even our big wigs. The Gr3 choir was ready, and as she came
in, they started to sing Oh Canada, in french and english, and then
finished with a chinese song. Pretty cool - major cute factor. She was
charmed. (Actually it felt a bit like the Queen Mum). We got our pictures
all taken with her in front of a large totem in the lobby, and then she
went on a tour of the school. I chatted with her a bit about her husband
Graeme Gibson, an author and big wildlife advocate, and the snowy weather
in Canada, and then off she went.

That night, she came in a taxi, and went right into the Green Room -
onstage I had organized a whole set to look like a comfortable den, and
they spoke about all sorts of issues, mostly environmental - both her
parents were environmentalists, and her last book, Payback. I read it
actually, it's very good. She hinted that she has just finished her next
book, but couldn't talk about it.... but that it was continuing her
environmentalist theme. She talked about the struggle to get a book out -
how there are 'battles' along the way. The first battle (with her editors
and copy editors) was about the title, then the cover artwork, then the
typeface, and lastly, and she was so funny about it, the battle of the
comas and colons... Kind of a neat insight into the world of publishing.

Then 7 of the 32 students from the Enviro Club, the Writer's Craft club,
etc. got a chance to ask her some questions, and that was great - they
were all so nervous to speak to her. The questions were mostly about her
books, her involvement with P.E.N., her views on women depicted in
Shakespeare (that was really interesting, as she said - Shakespeare was
writing during Queen Elizabeth's time, and so almost all of his female
characters were interesting, and strong, and that if men treated them
badly in one of his stories, they generally 'paid for it later') She was
very interesting.

After that, she came upstairs to the lobby, which we had all decked out,
caterers and waiters, our students playing jazz on the balcony, it looked
gorgeous. She signed autographs for 2 hours, and then took off in a taxi
at 10pm last night. I got home at 10:15, and was asleep by 10:30.... I
was a bit of a drill sergeant last night - with 12 student ushers, and
cleaning and maintenance staff, security guards, and box office - really
fun.

She was funny, hugely smart - and commanded the rapt attention of all 350
who were there. Very gracious to sign books for 2 hours (instead of the
original 30 minutes) - the line up didn't end. Quite a thrill for all of us involved!