CNY 2010 - American Peking Restaurant

We wanted to go to an authentic Chinese food restaurant, so went to the American Peking restaurant in Wan Chai. The restaurant's was opened in the 1940s during the war to cater to American soldiers. It's two stories high and very busy. The locals tend to use the bottom level, ex pats and visitors tend to use upstairs. It's a western version of a Chinese food restaurant in that there's a big lazy susan in the middle of the table. Normally we would have Chinese tea before the meal, but didn't this time. Jen and Bob have been here many times and love it!

When the owner died, he bequeathed the restaurant to his waiting staff with the understanding that it will always be the American Peking restaurant. Subsequently, most of the wait staff are in their 70s! We had a marvelous meal of sizzling beef, vegetarian dumplings, deep fried prawns, seaweed with bamboo shoots, bok choy, egg fried rice, lettuce wraps with spicy chicken and of course peking duck. We ate with chopsticks and had a marvelous time. We had Tsing Tao (sing tow) beer and cokes!

Watching the waiter carve the Peking duck, it was obvious he does this most of the evening. The knife was very sharp and he deftly carved the entire duck within a couple of minutes. Sarah and Meg were so excited to share their love of this food with us, it was amazing. We were there at 7:30 and when we left, it was really starting to fill up!

CNY 2010 - A visit to the school!

What a beautiful school! The canadian influence is everywhere and the lobby is absolutely spectacular. Jen was saying that the school is speaking with Bill Helin about creating a new totem for the school, incorporating Canadian and Chinese culture in the sculptures. We met lots of people as the staff were in for a pro d conference (I wanted to sit for the lectures as it was on lower school assessment!). We visited Shea and Ro's classrooms, the cafeteria and poked through all the floors of the LLAC with Jen. We did some awesome acting on the stage as Shea directed us in some improv exercises.

Wing, Jen's assistant, is really cool and was running around getting mics for the conference speakers. We saw the tech booth where Stanley works (piles of junk food to get through the shows!). The centre is fantastic and the music and performing and visual arts rooms were filled with instruments and artwork. We got uniforms for Shea and Ro from Joseph Embroidery shop in Wan Chai via cab. We were lost for a bit as we were deposited in the wrong block, but Jen figured it out and we made it just fine. What a fun afternoon!

CNY 2010 - Central District market

We went out for lunch at Tony Romas (a favorite of Meg's) and had a huge lunch in the mid afternoon. Afterwards we walked to the Lanes and Pottinger Street which is dotted with marvelous little shops and stalls selling clothing, hair accessories, toys, dresses, watches - etc! Pottinger street is where Jen goes to get most of her period costumes for theatre and where she gets halloween costumes as well as clothes for work. I bought a cashmere sweater for $9 cdn! What a marvelous busy little place. And above, laundry hanging outside windows and that cool mix of old and new architecture.

CNY 2010 - A night at the races

After a day visiting the Big Buddha, we raced home to change and go off to the Hong Kong Football Club. Jen's friend Dez and Kay are members as Dez coaches rugby. He gave us a great tour of the facilities which are underneath the Happy Valley Raceway. Lots of fitness rooms, gyms and an outdoor pool. We had dinner outside right beside the raceway. Shea was thrilled! As we waited for our order to arrive, we wandered to the fence and watched the first race. So cool! A wonderful dinner with Jen and Bob's friends who are so welcoming and ready to share their day with us :)

CNY 2010 - Big Buddha

Day three we took the MTR to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha. The trip was really cool - the mass transit rail - everyone smiling at us. We bought Octopus cards which is used for all the mass transit systems as well as lunch at CDNIS! It was a very windy day with a system moving in. We took the cable car to the top of the mountain - an exciting trip! We had our picture taken at the top and then wandered through the english style village of Ngong Ping.

A long walk up the stairs into the clouds as the Buddha appeared and disappeared in the mist. Inside at the top a nice interpretive centre with the history of Buddhism (Enlightenment) and lots of gifts for the centre. The Po Lin Monastery makes its home at Ngong Ping and we saw lots of monks wandering around. The place feels reverent and the respectful offerings to the deities along with the names of those remembered inside were really moving.

The wind was so strong at the top, we held on for dear life as Jen took our picture! A long walk down and a windy wavy cable ride back down to the bottom. What a beautiful place!