A Day in the City

We spent a family day in San Francisco today vistiing all of our old haunts. Ingrid loved getting her photo taken with Grandma outside of City Hall. And we noticed Ingrid's other Grandma has a side business that she's not told anyone of.....

Baby Kadence Jane

Ingrid went to visit her old friend Quincy in San Jose and to meet a new friend, Kadence Jane born November 15, 2008.

Time to take down the tree...

...if you need help, call Jack Bauer...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you from Ingrid, Lizzie and Bob.

Desert Family

Xmas in Phoenix

Ingrid is enjoying every moment of our Christmas in the desert with Grandma and Grandpa.

Homeward Bound

Looking forward to seeing family & friends in SF & PHX over the next 2 weeks!

Role Reversal

Interesting Op-Ed piece in the Gray Lady today on how the once stark differences between the US and China are beginning to blur, resulting in 'two countries, one system.' From my seat 7,000 miles from home, I can't disagree. Thanks to Pat for sending it my way...

HK Dining

Lots of controversy in HK lately over the publication of the latest Michelin dining guide, the first to ever cover the foodie scene. Michelin's reviewers conducted exhaustive research (poor them) of the city's finest dining establishments and doled out 'stars' to those that fit their exacting criteria of gastronomic excellence. Even a single star is a huge endorsement and a major marketing point for a restaurant.

Well, HK earned plenty of stars but the hubbub was that nearly all of them were given to the high-end restaurants within luxury international hotels. Local foodies cried foul when it was revealed that on 2 of the 12 reviewers sent to canvas HK for restaurants were of Chinese heritage! So there are plenty of hole-in-the-wall noodle shops and dai pai dongs that serve the city's tastiest food but went unnoticed beneath the upturned noses of the Michelin crowd. All the better.

Intense Full Moonage

It is rare that the cloud/smog cover allows you to see the moon at all in Hong Kong, let alone a full moon. But tonight's moon was in another category. The moon won't be this close for another 12 years. It was noticeably large, so much so that I had a gander with my 12x bino's and it seemed it was right in front of me. Very cool.

HK Disneyland

Lizzie, Ingrid, Naty and I played hookie from work and spent our Friday at Hong Kong Disneyland and had a blast. Ing is not at the age yet where she appreciates the Disney experience, in fact she's actually quite terrified by most of it. A year meeting the public in various Asian countries has made Ingrid the most extroverted and sociable little gal you've ever met. She's been picked up and loved on by hundreds of people from all ethno, eco, econo, geo variety. But she remains deathly terrified of anything or anyone that is not in conventional human form -- Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear -- anything in costume that she can't identify brings sheer terror. And Disneyland in HK is a bit more intense than our Stateside version.....the blowgun-toting native attack and the exploding volcano of the Adventureland Jungle Ride had her scared out of her skin, poor thing. Redemption came via "It's a Small World" which was a HUGE hit with her....she danced and waived at all the peaceful little characters. More pictures to follow.

Nice Editing by the SCMP

Thought the choice in article layout in this morning's South China Morning Post was mildly and ironically amusing....

Bird Flu

Bird flu is back in Hong Kong for the first time in five years. Farms outside of Hong Kong are culling hundreds of thousands of chickens due to an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza.

Our Little Garden Gnome

resting in the shade of Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, wearing one of the cute new outfits gifted to her by our friends Justine and Aaron. Thank you guys so much!

Malaysia

The business portion of my trip to Langkawi is over so now it's time to relax! Well, I was here for a conference that was actually a lot of fun and it was very inclusive to family, so it can't totally be considered work. There were lavish dinners with entertainment by fire eaters, native dancers and animal handlers.

Langkawi is absolutely beautiful, an island paradise. As with anytime we're able to escape Hong Kong, its nice to breathe fresh air, enjoy the tranquility away from the big city and let Ingrid run about without boundaries.

Langkawi is 100% muslim so there isn't much of a holiday vibe in the air. We are so looking forward to heading home over Christmas to be with family.

Club Paradise