Kimchi: vegetarian stir fried rice
The Korean braai on the go
The happy team with Joseph Chan of Wanchai Rotary Club – our Hong Kong Rotarian of the Year!
Thursday, 12 February 2009:
Today was a busy day for the team. The team visited a Vocational Training Centre (VTC); a lunch meeting with Rotary Club of Peninsula South in the stunning Peninsula Hotel and a dinner meeting with Queensway club, initially an all female club.
Ian McClean with our group and Joseph ChanThe VTC was very impressive; we had a good host, Ian McClean, who teaches English at the school. According to Ian, approximately 98% of all trainees are successfully employed. From cuisine training, to wine tasting, to cooking various Chinese dishes; to using specific detergents on different floors – the level of detail was extraordinary. The team was blown away!
Trainee chefs hard at work at VTCQuite coincidentally, we stumbled upon a bottle of Cape (Paarl) wine right here in the VTC’s restaurant! Brendan proudly holds this bottle all the way from his place of birth!
We then travelled across the Hong Kong Harbour on a Star Ferry - great way to see the skyline on both sides of Hong Kong!
The meeting at the exquisite Peninsula Hotel was very interesting! We had a intriguing talk from a forensic scientist, Dr. Sheilah Hamilton, Hong Kong’s own CSI! She has spent over 40 years in crime scene investigation and said that while some of the stuff in our modern-day CSI series is a bit movie-style (e.g. high-heels and glamour at a crime scene) it was a good show and promoted interest in this branch of science amongst young people particularly. The food was great; very different cuisine – we actually got a taste of the dim sum!
The boys in awe of the magnificent Peninsula Hotel:
We had our first presentation at the Queensway Rotary Club. A rather small club and the food, as usual, was great! We see ourselves picking up quite a few kilos before our return!!!
In between the meetings we had managed to squeeze in a visit to a very popular tailor, Raja Tailors. Raja is a Rotarian who has made suits for Presidents and Kings and has outlets in London and New York. Quite posh. Santosh and Nivashni had suits made for them and Jonathan ordered some shirts. Raja Tailors ensures that fittings are made daily to ensure the best fit for the individual. His customers include famous dignitaries, Rotarians and foreign visitors!
Nivashni being measured up at Raja Tailor’s:
Friday, 13th February 2009:
At the end of this day, Jonathan expressed with his satisfaction that we had got through the day sans misfortune! In fact it turned out to be a fantastic day!
We had a lunch meeting with Rotary Club of Hong Kong East. The team did a second presentation here which went down very well. The highlight was definitely the magic tricks performed for us by a Rotaractor, Alex, who was at the meeting – the team was flummoxed! And highly impressed!
The team went their separate ways after the lunch meeting for a free afternoon and in the evening we were taken out to dinner by Wanchai Club President, David Sarju who treated us to a Thai dinner in a lovely restaurant! The dinner was absolutely divine! The tastiest was the coconut and green mango salad…delicious; followed by the veg green curry! Jonathan enjoyed the chicken so much that he even started eating the bamboo covering the chicken! That sneaky bugger Santosh managed to convince Jonathan that the chillie was palatable; and Jonathan being the man that he is refused to listen to wise Nivashni and instead downed a chillie – you should have seen his face! He gulped down three glasses of water; his eyes were streaming and this obviously left Nivashni in stitches! Men just never listen!
Saturday, 14th February 2009:
Day off and Brendan’s try in a rugby match!!
Valentine’s day! After last night, the team only got home in the wee hours of the morning – most of us awoke at midday and chose to chill out! Nivashni visited the market in the area she lived in, in Kowloon. Jonathan chilled out window-shopping in Central, Brendan got ready for Rugby but unfortunately the rest of the team did not make it as possible problems with the mobile network did not allow communication on the venue and the time! We had thought that the game was 7pm Hong Kong time but we discovered that it was at 4.30pm – too late to get there. Pity, as we were all looking forward to the game! But the fantastic news is that Brendan’s team, the Tigers won and he scored a try! Great stuff Brendan – you are doing SA, your Empangeni team the Rhino’s and D9270 proud!
Tomorrow is a day to look forward to; the team is meeting at 10am for a tour of Hong Kong!
We then travelled across the Hong Kong Harbour on a Star Ferry - great way to see the skyline on both sides of Hong Kong!
The meeting at the exquisite Peninsula Hotel was very interesting! We had a intriguing talk from a forensic scientist, Dr. Sheilah Hamilton, Hong Kong’s own CSI! She has spent over 40 years in crime scene investigation and said that while some of the stuff in our modern-day CSI series is a bit movie-style (e.g. high-heels and glamour at a crime scene) it was a good show and promoted interest in this branch of science amongst young people particularly. The food was great; very different cuisine – we actually got a taste of the dim sum!
The boys in awe of the magnificent Peninsula Hotel:
We had our first presentation at the Queensway Rotary Club. A rather small club and the food, as usual, was great! We see ourselves picking up quite a few kilos before our return!!!
In between the meetings we had managed to squeeze in a visit to a very popular tailor, Raja Tailors. Raja is a Rotarian who has made suits for Presidents and Kings and has outlets in London and New York. Quite posh. Santosh and Nivashni had suits made for them and Jonathan ordered some shirts. Raja Tailors ensures that fittings are made daily to ensure the best fit for the individual. His customers include famous dignitaries, Rotarians and foreign visitors!
Nivashni being measured up at Raja Tailor’s:
Friday, 13th February 2009:
At the end of this day, Jonathan expressed with his satisfaction that we had got through the day sans misfortune! In fact it turned out to be a fantastic day!
We had a lunch meeting with Rotary Club of Hong Kong East. The team did a second presentation here which went down very well. The highlight was definitely the magic tricks performed for us by a Rotaractor, Alex, who was at the meeting – the team was flummoxed! And highly impressed!
The team went their separate ways after the lunch meeting for a free afternoon and in the evening we were taken out to dinner by Wanchai Club President, David Sarju who treated us to a Thai dinner in a lovely restaurant! The dinner was absolutely divine! The tastiest was the coconut and green mango salad…delicious; followed by the veg green curry! Jonathan enjoyed the chicken so much that he even started eating the bamboo covering the chicken! That sneaky bugger Santosh managed to convince Jonathan that the chillie was palatable; and Jonathan being the man that he is refused to listen to wise Nivashni and instead downed a chillie – you should have seen his face! He gulped down three glasses of water; his eyes were streaming and this obviously left Nivashni in stitches! Men just never listen!
Saturday, 14th February 2009:
Day off and Brendan’s try in a rugby match!!
Valentine’s day! After last night, the team only got home in the wee hours of the morning – most of us awoke at midday and chose to chill out! Nivashni visited the market in the area she lived in, in Kowloon. Jonathan chilled out window-shopping in Central, Brendan got ready for Rugby but unfortunately the rest of the team did not make it as possible problems with the mobile network did not allow communication on the venue and the time! We had thought that the game was 7pm Hong Kong time but we discovered that it was at 4.30pm – too late to get there. Pity, as we were all looking forward to the game! But the fantastic news is that Brendan’s team, the Tigers won and he scored a try! Great stuff Brendan – you are doing SA, your Empangeni team the Rhino’s and D9270 proud!
Tomorrow is a day to look forward to; the team is meeting at 10am for a tour of Hong Kong!
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