Now that it's Spring, it was time to get out my scuba gear and go on yet another Prodive Weekend Trip. On the Labour Day Long Weekend (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) the destination was Montague Island which is a 20 minute boat ride from Narooma.
Now Narooma, unlike all the other Prodive weekend trips I've been on to date is actually south of Sydney - about 5 hours drive south. And considering it's Spring, that means the water's colder and not only are wet suits and gloves recommended but hoods are as well! The water was 14 degrees celcius (57 farenheit).
Montague Island's diving is most well known for the dozens upon dozens of seals that play with the divers in the water. They're not scared of us at all, in fact they seem to love the attention and swim all around us, playing and having fun.
Our Prodive leaders Mick and Amber took about 15 of us on 6 dives (2 each day for 3 days) in Narooma which is derived from the Aboriginal word "clear blue waters" and we did indeed have some very solid visibility as you'll see from my photos and videos. They also kept us busy top-side with lawnbowling and a side trip to Tilba after our morning dives.
A shout out to my dive buddy Jackie who looks so calm and relaxed underwater as she's video-ing away. You'll see her in some of the videos in yellow fins, mask and holding a video camera.
The seals were so active it was best to use video. But for the smaller sealife, particularly the nudibranch which don't move fast, I was practicing using my Canon G12 camera and Adobe Photoshop that my family got for me last year. A sign of success - there are more photos of the many, many I took that I'm happy to share with you :)
Sept. 29, 2012
Dive #156 - 18.0 meters, 44 minutes (Near the lighthouse on Montague Island)
Dive #157 - 18.6 meters, 32 minutes
Sept. 30, 2012
Dive #158 - 10.9 meters, 43 minutes (The back of Montague Island)
Dive #159 - 10.8 meters, 46 minutes (Chinese Dragon nudibranch, giant bull ray, Jackie also found an eel right at the start)
Oct.1, 2012
Dive #160 - 20.4 meters, 47 minutes (right at the start Jackie finds yet another eel, saw 3 bull rays)
Dive #161 - 13.4 meters, 49 minutes
A Port Jackson Shark, baby!
Stone fish, creepy looking "googly" eyes!
A Blue Dragon Nudibranch aka "Chinese Dragon". The head is at the bottom of the photo.
The Horiuchi Family converged on San Diego on Aug. 25 from New York (my brother Tomu and his family), Chicago (Mom and Dad) and Sydney and stayed at a great resort (Paradise Point) that had adjoining rooms so we could spend as much time together as possible.
Because that's really what these vacations are about - having fun with my nephews and the adults talking late into the evening catching up, laughing and postulating about the future.
Our week there was action packed and the kids were so excited they woke up early each morning and were on the go all day and well into the night!
1. The sand on Coronado Beach has gold sparkles!
Kai and I had the best time running along the beach finding sea shells on what's been voted the best beach in the US. And Tyler and I had fun building sand castles with moats.
2. The classic San Diego Zoo and the very out-doorsy Safari Park
Most memorably, was the hour it took me to finally find the crocodiles at the San Diego Zoo. Embarrassingly, I'd used the map to guide us in a big clockwise circle all the way around when the crocodiles were only around the corner just counter-clockwise behind from where we started. Kai wasn't very impressed with his Auntie's map reading skills :)
You can hear Kai on this video laughingly pointing out how these two lions are getting clean, licking each other:
A baby elephant was just born and up near the top of the hill you can see the tiny little baby elephant:
Mom and Masa at the Safari Park.
Mom and Papa in front of the lions who are getting down to business behind them.
3. Legoland is about more than just Legos
Legoland has not much to do about building Legos and all about roller coaster and amusement park rides and a water park with slides and water rides where you got really, really wet.
Kai's favorite by far was the Dragon roller coaster which he rode 4 times, taking Bachan, his Mom, his Dad and then his Auntie on the ride. There were 4 roller coasters and Kai rode all four of them multiple times. His second favorite ride was like a junior version of driver's education school. It was quite impressive to see Kai driving on the right side of the road and then come to a complete stop at the stop sign and look both ways before turning.
Papa love all things Yoda, so of course when we saw the Yoda hat, we had to get it for him!
Lego's, much like Disney, has gone mega-commercial. Legos is so much different than what I remember my brother playing with when he was growing up. Now it's all about Lego sets that draw kids in with these Ninjago and Star Wards action figures that are not sold separately. And all the "cool" action figures that my nephews were excited about are not with the Duplex larger Legos but for sets geared for age groups older than them, so adult assistance was required.
So what this meant is that as soon as we'd get back to the hotel after dinner, I'd spend hours with my nephew Kai building these Lego sets (one night we went until 10 p.m.). While building these were NOT easy (imagine 3 to 4 bag-fulls of Legos), Kai and I got into a great groove where he'd help me find the pieces and step-by-step we built a Star Wars sith nightspeeder vehicle and a Ninjago RV.
4. The shows at Sea World were spectacular!
Kai and Tyler both loved the whales, sea lion and dolphin shows at Sea World. I certainly hope these shows don't skew their perception of sea life and they don't expect whales to twirl in the air when sometime in the future I hope they take up scuba diving and they see them in their natural ocean setting.
5. Loved the Mexican food in San Diego's Old Towne! It's still a challenge to find really good Mexican food in Sydney so I made the most of it in San Diego.
Papa playing his shakuhachi at La Jolla Park.
After the Horiuchi Family vacation, I stayed on with Ana and Michelle for the Labour Day Weekend. We went to a Plumeria Festival and saw these award-winning beautifully fragrant plumeria in stunning sunrise pink:
After breakfast at this locally famous breakfast place, Pannikin, that had great coffee, cinnamon rolls and bagel & lox, we went to the San Diego beach near La Jolla and the Cave Store there where after you can see this picturesque scene.
On the day of our departure, we checked out the San Diego Botanic Garden (the map shows how many countries, including Australia and New Zealand plants are represented).
I would love to try this hybrid peach, apricot and plum fruit.
If I can find this in Australia, I'd love to grow this in my window garden. Smells nice!
As we wandered around the botanic garden, these Australian bunya-bunya cones that are 10-15 lbs prevented us from taking this path. Shell laughing, "the gigantic cones of your country".
These palm tree fronds look like the propellers on a ceiling fan:
After coming back home, I was inspired to start my own garden on the patio. I went to Bunnings (like an Ace Hardware) where their selection was small and I largely selected plants that were described as full bright light and hardy plants that I'm sure in the fine print said can be neglected and need sporadic watering. I'm not a green thumb, so we'll see how long these last.
It all started with a fundraiser at the Icebergs in Bondi to support Dori's Double English Channel Swim (July 20) on behalf of Michael J. Fox and Parkinson's Research.
Note: On Aug. 8 Dori swam the channel from England to France in 11:45, it was her third time! Absolutely incredible! She started out at 4 a.m. in the morning so it was quite dark (I don't know if it's better or worse not to be able to see the sharks swimming alongside you) and cold since you're only allowed to wear a bathing suit (no skins, legs or arms on the suit).
As Dori's been doing the hard work training and actually doing the English Channel Swim, purchasing tons of raffle tickets at the fundraiser was by far the easier way to support Parkinson's Research. And surprise - I won a Rabbitohs jersey signed by the team - in the raffle.
Never heard of the Rabbitohs? Neither had I.
Well, I quickly learned that they are a South Sydney rugby league team owned by Russell Crowe - yes the famous actor. And here's something else you might not know - not only is he an actor, team owner but also a musician. In fact he plays in a band called "30 Odd Foots of Grunts" - anybody have any idea what this means?
Here's what a Rabbitoh looks like (reminds me of those rabbit sponge cakes from Easter).
And of course having won this precious signed jersey, I had to check out a Rabbitoh's game. I went to see the Rabbitoh's play at Homebush Olympic Stadium against the Balmain Tigers (July 29) where the Rabbitoh's totally smashed the Tigers 32-6.
After the game, it was announced it was "Fans on the Field Day". That means that as soon as the players exit the field all the fans can rush on to the field and have about 20 minutes to toss around the ball and pretend to score goals. Here's me in the signed jersey in front of the goal posts on the field.
In a ripple effect, upon seeing my Facebook posting from the Rabbitoh's game another friend, Peter Ryan, said I had just had to check out an Australian Football League (AFL) game. For my American family and friends, AFL is not soccer nor is it football. It's a bit of both actually (see my post from the only other AFL game I've been to for a description).
The AFL game I went to see (Aug. 11) was the Sydney Swans v Collingwood (a fierce rivalry) and unfortunately this time the team I supported lost. Frankly, Collingwood deserved to win as the Swans fumbled the ball (A LOT), threw the ball where there was nobody to receive it and twice actually threw the ball directly to into the arms of the opposing team.
The team jersey for the Swans is red and white horizontal stripes - so it looked like Where's Waldo? with all the fans in the stadium.
With Tokyo as my frame of reference, I found Shanghai even more crowded, but bigger and more spread out. Both are equally modern, with all the conveniences of stores, trains and skyscrapers.
Considering I only know how to say "Ni-how" (hello) and "shi shi" (thank you), Shanghai certainly felt much more foreign to me than Tokyo. Yet walking around the city, people kept trying to talk to me in Chinese and after repeating "sorry I don't speak Chinese" they ended up shaking their head and walking away not seeming to comprehend why I didn't - I guess this means that it at least looked like I blended in.
After a very busy week with journalists attending the Cisco Service Provider Summit and Mobile Asia Expo it was finally time for some exploring (June 17-24).
Here's the photo slide show of my trip:
First it was a ferry ride across Yangtze River to The Bund which is well known for its European building structures.
Along with Mari and Ben, I checked out Yu Yuan Garden which was built in the Ming Dynasty more than 400 years ago. We went off the beaten path to eat at a restaurant that had the most interesting translations on the menu...
Shanghai's the commercial center of China and Nanjing Road is the most popular street for shopping. I walked up and down both sides of Nanjing Road but didn't buy anything. I found most of the clothes, shoes and handbags over the top - we're talking ribbons, gemstones, sparkles - all showing great wealth and bright colors. I walked all the way from The Bund to People's Park along Nanjing Road.
Everywhere I went I either walked or took the train which were much more advanced than the train system in Tokyo. One big difference I'd never been confronted with before was the x-ray security checks you had to go through each time you entered the train station. It's mind boggling to think about all the entrances to all the train stations in Shanghai and how at each entrance they had workers staffing these x-ray security machines. And unless it was a very small handbag, they insisted you put everything on the conveyor belt for security screening. And by "more advanced", it's all the digital media signage in the train station, the digital screens on the platform and in the train where you could watch news programs. There was also a lot of commercialism - while I'm accustomed to ads in the train, it was over the top that there were these large index card sized "Subway sandwich" plastic signs above each of the hand grips throughout the train.
You'll see this FlipVideo I've entitled "Baby No Diapers". I was walking back to the hotel and noticed this little boy walking with this big rip in the seat of his pants and strangely he wasn't wearing his diaper so you could see his bare little butt. Later that day, I was on the ferry and saw a little boy with a big rip in his pants and no diaper so thought it was the same boy.
But then there was yet another little boy on the ferry, big rip in his pants, no diaper, you could see his little butt. Are you starting to see the same pattern I am? I asked and found out that folks from the country don't believe in using any form of diaper (Pampers or cloth) or even underwear with these pants that have been purposefully sewn open in the seat area.
I checked out The Jade Buddha Temple with a history of 120 years that which houses two jade Buddha statues before heading to The French Concession area which reminded me of Santana Row as it had restaurants, shops, bars and a nice fountain area. It's from the part of town where the French used to live and the buildings are European in style and many tree lined streets.
I'd heard the Shanghai Circus World show was spectacular and it exceeded expectations! Not only were there acrobats that contorted into positions that were cringe-worthy, really distributing from the standpoint that you're thinking "that's so wrong, nobody should be able to twist their neck and back so looks like they're standing on their own head".
Then there's this ferris wheel trick they did which reminded me of the phrase "jumped the shark" (you knew the TV series Happy Days was nearing its end when the Cunningham family went on Summer vacation and Fonzi's waterskiing and jumps the shark to avoid danger). Likewise, when you saw this ferris wheel go around and around you had performers running on top of the spinning ferris wheel. First they're doing it blind fold, then you can see them twirling batons of fire, but the performance "jumped the shark" when you saw them skipping rope on the outside of these fast rotating wheels at tremendous heights with no safety nets.
My other favorite performance was this samurai who twirled a heavy blue and weight ceramic vase on his head and across the back of his shoulders. I enjoyed the irony of juggling China in China.
The finale was 8 motorcycles were driving in whirling fast circles inside a metal globe. They were packed at 6 motorcycles and we couldn't believe it when 2 more drove in. And I think that's the theme of the China World Circus, they pushed all of their performances to the far limit, beyond what you believed was even possible!
After the circus we went to check out the Royal Meridian which was reputed to have amazing 360 degree views of Shanghai from its bar on the 65th floor. The views were spectacular, the only disappointment was that considering it was Friday night, there was absolutely no ambiance as the bar was totally empty of patrons.
The DJ gave us the scoop so we next headed to "The Apartment" which was the BEST! My colleague from India, Shiva, joined me and we had the best time dancing. This was absolutely where all the ex-patriots hang out as you could almost forget you were in China, except all the signs were in Chinese.
The most memorable was after we exited onto the street, there were all these street vendors selling many different types of shish kabob skewers or as we later learned "chuanr" with green onions, eggplant, chicken, beef, seafood and some funky meats the pretty much covered all you could imagine. Evidently it's quite popular to sell these outside of nightclubs and taxi lines and they were delicious! Our favorite were these small, flat round white breads called "mantou" or steamed bun chuanr. The spices they put on the chuanr was so tasty!
It was like having a second dinner and the end to a super fun night (err, morning as it was closer to 3 a.m. if I'm not mistaken).
Which meant it was awfully hard to wake up for our 8 a.m. start time of our day trip to Su Zhou and Zhou Zhuang which are each a few hours drive from Shanghai. First we went to one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze basis, founded in 600 BC - Su Zhou. This city is often referred to as "Venice of the East" (although the second city I think could claim the same as it also had many, many waterways). We visited the Master of Nets Garden which were left intact after the Cultural Revolution, the Panmen Ancient City Wall and the Grand Canal.
After lunch we headed to a silk factory where I gained an appreciation for the very fine threads (8-10) that are needed to make a thread of silk and then how multiple layers are needed to be stretched to make even the most delicate of silk fabric.
Then we headed to Zhou Zhang which has been preserved for more than 900 years and were largely built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and includes 100 classic courtyards and 60 carved brick archways. This is where we enjoyed a calming boat ride with a woman who steered and serenaded us with a traditional boat song.
On my last day, I headed back to The French Concession where I took a tour of the site where the First National Congress of the Communist Part of China was held. Back on July 23, 1921, thirteen delegates met here to adopt the Party's program and proclaim the founding of the Communist Party of China. No photos were allowed, but the thing that struck me the most was the "where are they now" description of each of the 13 delegates that were portrayed in the Madame Tussauds-like recreation of the first meeting. I was "struck" by the fact that in the majority of the narratives that described what happened to each of the 13 delegates after this first meeting -it said they were either killer or murdered for treason or ill fated betrayal. Bottom line, it didn't seem to end well for most of the original 13.
After lunch at the famous Din Tai Fung for their famous Shanghai dumplings (I have to admit I much preferred Joe's Shanghai Dumplings in Flushing, NY) I took the train to People's Park as I'd heard that on the weekends that's when all the matchmakers came out to post notices about single men and women. It was so incredibly crowded, like you wouldn't believe. All of these elderly grandmothers and grandfathers had hand written on a single sheet of 8.5x11 paper the merits of their grandson/daughter and then either clipped it to their opened umbrella or fancy shopping bag. And then they sat back on the small stool they'd brought along and waited until inquiring minds came along.
Photos were discouraged so the few I took were done discreetly, but what impressed me was how many and how seriously these grandmothers and grandfathers took this matchmaking exercise. It was a warm day, muggy and crowded and I could easily see these elderly grandparents preferring to spend the time indoors playing mahjong in another part of the park. I saw lots of deep discussions taking place on the side lines with elderly grandparents making notes on their pads and looking like they were very intently asking all the "need to know" questions. By and large the demographic was elderly with very few if any of those looking for love actually in attendance.
There was an area that looked a bit more professional with bulletin boards and tarp covered tents that were set up by the various online matchmaking services - the sheer number of postings they had hanging was incredible. It lined 30 meter walkways and would have taken all day to read.
As I walked around I was mostly impressed with the serious time and commitment these elderly grandparents (and equal parts grandmothers and grandfathers) gave to the task of matching their grandchildren with the best match possible.
This was a whirlwind of a trip! In one day (June 7) I was in Sydney, LA and then finally in NY. When I arrived late on Thursday night my brother picked me up and we went for Mexican - wahoo!
I was thrilled the next day to catchup with my cousin Mieko and her family in Westfield. I also spent the afternoon with Bachan - who remembered my name - reading letters and postcards I'd written her. And opening presents of gifts from my travels. It was wonderful to spend time with her!
Later that evening Ryuichi and Amanda, recently married, came over for dinner and drinks. I received a lovely bottle of wine that came from Shinn Estate Vineyards which is a winery Ryu and Amanda visited on their wedding day.
Yasushi, Cindy and Aila drove up to NJ early in the morning for breakfast at Vicky's Diner and then we went to Kalea's Dance Class where I was very honored to watch her class do their recital performance from the week prior. It was quite a complex routine with several formations and movement which was very impressive. Then before heading back to NY, I stopped by to see Uncle Ralph.
Auntie Vivian and Uncle Yori treated Tomu and his family and I to dinner at Shanghai Joe's first restaurant in Flushing. My nephews LOVE the soup dumplings!
After playing in the park, I hoped back on a plane and headed to San Diego for Cisco Live US (June 10-16) where we showcased our technology at the San Diego Padre's Baseball Stadium and the House of Blues where we later watched an Australian independent band - Temper Trap - perform.
Then we zipped over to watch the Cisco Live Customer Appreciation Party where Weezer performed.
After the Cisco Global PR Offsite, Mari, Youngmee and I went to check out La Jolla, Calif.
The Cisco ANZ Marketing team had an off-site at the Sydney Seafood Cooking School where I learned to make seafood paella. This is the second time I've taken a class here, my first was after I just arrived in Australia when I learned to make "Shrimps on a Barbie".
In Australia, the "Bachelorette Party" is called a "Hen's Night" (likewise a "Bachelor Party" is a "Buck's Night"). Veronica married a Brazilian - Carlos - so her "Hen's Night" was a Latino Salsa Cruise. It was a lot of fun and ended with lucky bottle of champagne at The Loft (May 26).
West Australia's a HUGE state and was definitely worth a second visit. On this second trip, I joined Kate who's born and raised Australian but had never been to WA.
The Friday night I arrived (May 11), we checked out Mount Lawley's night life. It was pretty disappointing with demographics not unlike Mudgee or any other large country town.
We did a city bus tour of Perth and checked out King's Park, the new casino that's been built and some of the towns just outside the city (Burswood, which is supposed to be the entertainment center). Then we picked up the rental car and began the several hour drive down to Margaret River.
On the way, we stopped off at Busselton which has the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. There was a beautiful sunset over the Indian Ocean.
1. Stella Bella Winery - Loved the wine labels and the wine!
2. Leeuwin Estates - They had us taste more than a dozen wines! Their chardonnay was top notch (and the prices reflected it too). They're well known of hosting a big music concert during the Summer.
3. Voyager - We had lunch here. They're doing construction on the winery so we ate in this canopy tent.
4. Vasse Felix - The wine was pretty average, but the winery was beautiful.
5. Moss Brothers - We did a barrel tasting here.
I was also thrilled to be able to meet up with my friend Louise for drinks and dinner in Freemantle. We checked out this great pub that had a lot of ambiance and charm called The Norfolk Hotel.
Taking advantage of ANZAC Day (April 25) and the fact that friends were going to be in Hong Kong, I decided to make an extended weekend of it (April 24-29).
Of course, the first morning I arrived was kicked off with Hong Kong's cheapest Michelin star-rated restaurant which was Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum. Oddly their chashu bow (BBQ Pork Bun) is in this sweet pastry covered bun. While I've had steamed and baked chashu bow, I'd never had one in a pastry bun. I have to admit it conflicted the taste of the chashu.
Then I rode one of the world's top 10 ferry rides, the Star Ferry, across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. It was a very quick ride, very cheap and in Kowloon it was largely shopping malls.
After the ferry ride, I walked through the city (saw Hong Kong's version of Occupy Wall Street at my own HSBC Bank) and headed to the Victoria Peak Tram. I purchased the ticket to the top view deck, but with my track record with all the rain this year there was nothing to see. It was like Machu Picchu all over again.
By this time, it was nearly 5 p.m., so I decided to check out how people commuted on the world's longest system of carpet escalators in Hong Kong. There was only one set of escalators so it goes up at the end of the work day and down in the morning. If you were going the opposite direction, the stairs was the only option. It was quite crowded with most folks reading the paper, talking on their mobile or chatting with colleagues. Just like at the airport, you had to stay alert as the carpet escalator ended and you had to step to on the next one.
Then I checked out Queen Road (reminded me of 5th Avenue).
Dinner was in the Lan Kwai Fong District which is where all the ex-patriots hang out as it's packed with pubs and bars.
Lots of walkways allow Hong Kong pedestrians to stay above the pollution:
Like my Father, I took public transportation (bus) and checked out Stanley Markets. There I saw this helium shark balloon that you could attach a remote control to for my nephew Kai. My friend Miin was also looking for one for her son, so purchased it for her. Again, it was pouring rain, so most of the afternoon I enjoyed a leisurely lunch watching the Tai Tam Bay.
I returned back in time to check out the Symphony of Lights which is a light show combined with music that plays out on Hong Kong's skyscrapers across the city.
Miin took me to the Wong Tai Sin Temple, a Taoist Temple that's well known for its fortune telling. There were rows upon rows of fortune tellers outside the temple and with Miin's Cantonese translation, I had my fortune told by an authentic Chinese fortune teller.
Then we met up with Rebecca and Sarita who were also in Hong Kong. And we went up to Victoria Peak for drinks, dinner and a wonderful evening of catching up.
On a whim on my last day I decided to go to another country! It's only a 1-hour Turbo Jet Ferry Ride West from Hong Kong to got the second Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China - Macau (the other is Hong Kong). While Hong Kong was previously owned a UK colony, Macau was a former Portuguese colony.
It's most well known for being the "Las Vegas of the East" as there are tons and tons of casino's due to the new wealth of mainland Chinese who can't gamble at home so visit Macau to gamble.
The first sight of Macau was like a much tackier Las Vegas. I was looking to see past the casinos and something of what Macau was like as a Portuguese colony so the guide book said to check out the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. What was surreal was to have these Catholic ruins completely surrounded by Chinese souvenir shops and the gaudiness of 1980s-style casinos.
Ana and Scott would be proud that I ventured off the beaten path to find a very authentic, local Macau restaurant for lunch.
One of my favorite stores is Ted Baker and the only one in Australia is in Melbourne. I've been a few times so when I thought the man helping me looked familiar, I asked - he only smiled in reply.
It was only after I looked at my receipt that I put it together. It was Matcho from Project Runway Australia!
