D9270GSEHongKong2009

Farewells and Home Sweet Home

2009-03-09T14:00:00.008+02:00

Farewell Dinner Group Photo

On Friday evening the 6th March we had our final meeting in Hong Kong. It was a wonderful meeting to bid us farewell and it was held, same as our welcoming dinner at the CCC (Craigengower Cricket Club) in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

From Left: PP Joseph Chan, DGE Ada Cheng, GSE Chair PP Stella Kan, Jonathan, DG Dr. Albert Wong, DGN Jason Chan

DG Albert says goodbye

Brendan's gift from DG Albert

GSE Vice-Chair PP Joseph "The Lion of Wanchai" proposes a toast to District 9270 and Rotary International

What a delightful evening it turned out to be. We were treated to our last delicious Chinese dinner by DG Albert Wong, DGE Ada Cheng and DGN Jason Chan. Other Rotarians present were District GSE Chair PP Stella Kan, GSE Vice-Chair PP Joseph Chan (the “Lion of Wanchai”) and the indomitable PP James Yick who spent the evening keeping most of the team in stitches as he performed his “magic” tricks.

PP James Yick up to his tricks

Lots of speeches were made and gifts exchanged and the upshot of the evening was that there was consensus that this had been a very successful, enjoyable and happy GSE trip. Poor PP Joseph Chan – he has given up a huge amount of his personal time to look after us – he must be looking back to normality in his business and private life. The team will join me in saying that he is without a doubt the most wonderful, dedicated Rotarian we encountered on our entire trip and that is no disrespect to the wonderful Rotarians in D3450. They have all been wonderful – unbelievable people to a man/woman. The Rotary insights we gained were out of this world. If this sounds like flowery speech let me assure you it’s not, it is deeply sincere compliments to all involved. I have never heard of a GSE trip were there were no hiccups, however minor, and we had none. Farewell to magnificent Hong Kong

Farewell to beautiful Macau

Saturday was spent sleeping late, packing and stressing about overweight luggage. That was the only stress on our trip – airlines can be cruel – it fills you with a sense of dread because you feel you are at their mercy come check-in time.

PP Joseph hired a bus to take us to Terminal 2 at the immense Hong Kong International Airport. When we arrived there we were met by PP Stella and PP Kenny Chow. It was sad to say goodbye to people who had become so much a part of our lives for our entire stay.

On the bus with PP Joseph, our buddy and mate

Check-in time came – we were all overweight, but now here’s the amazing thing. The check-in guy told us that we were too heavy for SAA but he could change our tickets to Cathay Pacific at no extra cost because they are not as stingy as SAA with luggage. We were overjoyed and all agreed with alacrity. The flight was also leaving 10 minutes earlier and ended up arriving in JHB a full 45 minutes before the SAA flight we were supposed to catch. If anyone from SAA ever reads this blog – you need to up your game, guys. It’s not tourist-friendly to make long-haul flights a nightmare over a couple of kg’s of luggage. Sorry to say it but I know which airline I’ll fly next time I go to Hong Kong.

The flight was wonderful – just by the way – when you order a scotch on Cathay Pacific you are served Chivas Regal – free of charge and as many as you can handle. All the in-flight movies are the very latest – e.g. Slumdog Millionaire and the absolutely wonderful “Changeling” starring Angelina Jolie – a must-see, by the way. The Cathay Pacific cabin crew are like your new-best-friends from the minute you sit down in the plane. Outstanding.

Arriving in JHB we shot through customs and had a 5-hour wait for our flight to Durban. Nivs managed to get on an earlier flight and we said goodbye. Santosh had a joyful re-union with his daughter Zhiva who was brought to the OR Tambo Airport to see him. We now know why she is the “apple of his eye” – what a lovely little girl, and so excited to see her Dad and open her presents.

I had my son and daughter-in-law come to see me. That was great and Brendan and I got to watch the highlights of the weekend’s Super 14 games in the Spur at OR Tambo where we all had breakfast together.

Then it was off to Durban where we met our loved-ones – what a pleasure to be home on a beautiful, sunny KZN day! Home sweet home!

Thank you very much to District GSE Chair Annette van Bergen for coming all the way to greet and welcome us home. Annette, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you presided over an absolutely great GSE experience for all of us. Thank you for your hard work and patience. We have met the incoming team from Hong Kong who are arriving in April and we know you are going to really enjoy their visit. They are a great group and we must pull out all the stops to make their visit here as enjoyable as they made ours. I speak on behalf of my whole team when I say we want to be involved in their trip so call us for any help, whether it is vocational, club or sight-seeing visits, we can’t wait to help.

Inbound Team from D3450 - (from left) Team Leader PP Alex Leung, Peggy, Lesley and Joseph
Thank you to everyone. I grew to love all the members of my team – what a great bunch they are. I miss you guys very much and I am looking forward to our report-back presentations. Signing off for the last time on this blog – Ngiyabonga kakhulu my friends. Viva Rotary and Rotary Foundation!!

Friday 6th March – Meeting with Consul-General Ms. Thembi Tambo

2009-03-06T11:29:00.003+02:00

This morning we went on a really very special visit. Patrick Lam, the President of the RC of Hong Kong had arranged for us to meet the South African Consul-General in Hong Kong, Ms. Thembi Tambo.

So we dressed up in full uniform, all polished and scrubbed, and presented ourselves at the Consulate offices at 10am.

What an utterly delightful lady Thembi Tambo is. We couldn’t believe that she gave us two full hours of her valuable time. We chatted about everything under the sun, we laughed and joked, we chatted about her children all of whom are so far away and how she needs to speak to them every day. We spoke about opportunities for South Africans in Hong Kong. We discovered that Thembi is the eldest daughter of Oliver and Adelaide Tambo, that beautiful and iconic couple who were at the forefront of the liberation stuggle in our country.

Team with Ms. Thembi Tambo and Davy Chlu, a Consulate Senior manager

It was a wonderful visit and the people of South Africa are privileged to have such a wonderful person acting as Consul-General in Hong Kong. Thank you, Thembi.

The it was off to lunch at the Rotary Club of Kowloon North. President David Wright made us feel very welcome and allowed us to do what was going to be our last presentation in Hong Kong.

Nivs doing her stuff at our last presentationI met a guy who spent 3 months in South Africa as an engineering intern at Vaal Reefs Goldmine in Orkney in the late 70’s before exploring the country backpacking. He is Ian Peterson and he is coming to South Africa in June, to Durban nogal, to watch the British Lions test against the Springboks. We will definitely be meeting up and he has asked me to arrange a friendly game for his mates – a 2nd Division team (they’re all coming across), while they’re in Durban. I’ll rely on my good mate Juno to help with that one seeing he is the President of Southern KZN rugby.

Tonight we are having a farewell dinner at CCC, the same venue where we had our welcoming dinner. It will be great to see old faces again and be able to thank the Rotarians of Hong Kong for their fantastic support and hospitality. We have had a tremendous time.

Tomorrow evening we leave for home, so the day will be spent packing and doing last minute stuff. The next blog update will be once we’re safely home – Monday or so next week. Thanks for reading and following. We hope it’s been interesting and informative.

Thursday 6th - We survive PP Alex’s survival course, Hari Kima's 46 years of 100% attendance

2009-03-06T10:29:00.006+02:00

Thursday 5th March

I can’t believe we’re so close to the end of our trip. It’s been almost a month but it has shot by at a rate of knots!

Today’s Rotary lunch meeting was at the RC of Kowloon. It is the 2nd oldest club in Hong Kong after the RC of Hong Kong. The meeting was held at the magnificent, grand Peninsula Hotel. It is a grand hotel in the Colonial Style a-la-Mount Nelson in Cape Town, only much bigger and a lot grander.

We met in the Garden Terrace Room – this because the normal meeting place of the Club was being used for something else. This room is a private dining room for the absolute elite and goes out onto a large covered balcony with strip balu flooring. The view over HK Bay is spectacular. After lunch while we were admiring the view a storm rolled in before our eyes and it was amazing to see how quickly HK can be covered in really torrential rain.

Lunch itself was wonderful. We only got a chance to introduce ourselves because two guest speakers had been scheduled. The first was by a lady named Isabelle Pastor who told us about Kuruna-Schechen, an organisation that carries out humanitarian projects in the Himalayan region.
Isobelle Pastor's presentation

These projects include education, health and social services. They do a great job and are supported by the RC of Kowloon and many others and it was great to hear about their work which includes a very moving palliative care hospice that is very close to Isabelle’s heart. It reminded me so much of the genesis hospice.

The next speaker was a gentleman named Raymund Ho who is the 3rd Fung Shui expert we have listened to on our trip. He spoke in English and was the most entertaining Fung Shui speaker by far. There was, as usual, a lot of laughter at question time when he answered questions about timing for investments, romance etc.

After lunch I had the privilege of meeting PP Hari Kima, a Rotarian with 46 years of 100% attendance. That has to be some kind of Rotary world record. A humble and kind man.

Hari and Jonathan

Then it was time to leave the lunch meeting and be collected by PP Alex Leung. You’ll remember that PP Alex is the outbound GSE Team Leader who is bringing a team to our District 9270 in South Africa in April.

Alex's canoe collection

Alex had planned a trip in canoes on the sea estuary at a place called Sai Kung where he lives. It is a beautiful place – sort of a mixture of Hout Bay (the mountains) and Knysna (the lagoon leading out to the sea. We were all kitted out with wetsuits and lifejackets and got into some pretty rickety old canoes that Alex keeps moored outside his home for Youth Adventure trips. Off down the lagoon we went, Nivs and I in a double and Santosh and Brendan each in singles. Seriously stable boats fortunately.

Well we did about a 20 minute canoe trip across the lagoon to a Centre that was established for the Boy Scouts by a donation of HK$500,000.00 by the Rotary Club of Kowloon East. That is a serious donation and it was made from their club funds!

The team at the Rotary-sponsored Boy Scout's facility

The centre is beautiful. It is on the beach and includes an adventure climbing section, a large hall with marble floors, a place for outside functions as well as a place to barbeque. It was originally the temple for some religious sect which fell into disuse and was taken over by Government and donated to the Boy Scouts Association. It is great for these city-dwelling kids to be able to get out into the countryside for some team-building and personal development courses.

Nivs's Dusi training - note the weight distribution

Brendan ready to roll (or paddle)....

From there, we paddled to another beach where Alex and I had a swim.

Santosh leading the pack...Then it was back to Alex’s place.

Yes! It's over We got changed into dry clothes and eventually Alex got us all to the evening meeting at the RC of Peninsula Sunrise. This is Alex Leung’s club (GSE Team Leader) and they meet at the Police Officer’s Club in Causeway Bay. The outbound GSE team were there and after dinner and our presentation we got another chance to talk to them – Joseph, Lesley and Man. The other GSE team member is Peggy but she lives in Macau and so couldn’t join us.

The President of Peninsula Sunrise is a lady by the name of Joann Chun. A very pleasant evening and once again lots of questions about South Africa and lots of re-assuring the outgoing GSE team about how safe it is in South Africa and telling them what a wonderful time they are going to be having.

Chat again tomorrow.

Wednesday 4th - A visit to TVB

2009-03-05T05:40:00.003+02:00

Today we had lunch with the Rotary Club of Bayview Sunshine.

Going up....25th Floor please

It was remarkable in that it is a club made up of lady Rotarians only. The President is Emilia Li. They are the ‘Sunshine Girls’ of the District and PP Joseph told me that the club has some very devoted lady Rotarians who, according to him, are District Governor material. They meet, just like Port Shepstone RC, for lunch and dinner on alternate weeks. They also meet at the Lusitano Club, same as the RC of Queensway that we visited a few weeks ago.

We did a presentation to them and it was very well received. One of the ladies PP Amy Leung, told me about a project they started in the District, where each participating club is asked to adopt and mentor students in a High School. They meet with the school to find out what sort of mentoring they require and then they put a programme in place for that school. All the Rotarians in the club get involved. PP Amelia is going to send me details of this programme by email. It sounds like a fine project to me and maybe we could look at something like that in our District. This programme is conducted with the co-operation of the School’s Interact club if they have one, but is not limited to Interact members.

After lunch we were taken by PP Joseph for a vocational visit to TVB, the largest TV station in South East Asia. It is a Public Broadcaster which is subsidised by Government. We were guided by the Production Liason Officer, Amy Chan. It was a fascinating visit and after we had been through the studios, make-up rooms (where some really beautiful and handsome TV announcers were being made up), wardrobe rooms etc, we visited some indoor studio sets where soapies and game shows are recorded.

Santosh (alias Jamie Oliver) on a kitchen set

The speed with which they can build a set is amazing and they have a full complement of tradesmen who work as set-builders.

Shanghai in the 1920's

Then we went outside to the outdoor sets. One of them is an exact replica of the streets and buildings of Shanghai in the 1920’s. The movie “Shanghai” was shot on this set. From old shops, to temples, cobbled streets and even the Emporer’s Palace – this set had it all. Really interesting.

Nivs on the Prinsess's balcony

We were then shown the Outside Broadcasting Unit. They provided live coverage to the world of the Beijing Olympics. Apparently each unit, which is a self-contained truck and contains some amazing equipment, costs the equivalent of around R40 million to build and equip.

Inside the mobile outside broadcasting unitThere is obviously a lot of cash in TV broadcasting. They have a Cantonese channel, and English Channel, a news channel and two High Definition channels – atechnology that is only coming to South Africa now. According to Santosh however, the TVB set-up is not as vast as the SABC’s set-up for television in Auckland Park, JHB.

The "Manne"...

It’s good to know South Africa is right up there with the technology required to broadcast something of the magnitude of the FIFA World Cup next year. Brendan keeps reminding us in his part of our presentation that by 2010 we will have one of the most sophisticated internet, broadband and digital satellite broadcasting systems in the world.

At supper time, not having a presentation tonight, Joseph offered to take us for supper to an Indonesian Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. Nivashni begged off and so just the three of us and Joseph had an Indonesian dinner. We have now tasted tons of Chinese food, Western, Indian, Macanese, Italian, Portuguese, Thai, - you name it – we are gourmet experts of the first order. My waistline is beginning to show it.

We have three days left before we come home. We are looking forward to our last two days – two presentations each per day. Thank you Rotary Foundation for this fantastic opportunity.

**UPDATED with extra pics - Tuesday - "Service above Self" award for PDG John Wan

2009-03-04T06:09:00.004+02:00

Today started with a lunch meeting where we did a presentation to a joint meeting of the RC of the Peak and RC of Hong Kong NorthWest. It was a grand affair held at the China Club in the old Bank of China building. It is full of artefacts of China and pictures of Chairman Mao and relics of the Revolution. The bank of China is now in a huge modern building nearby, but the old building has the China Club on the top floor. There is a balcony from which you can see a lot of Hong Kong.

Banner Exchange with the PP Joseph Chan and the Presidents of the RC's of The Peak and HongKong NorthWest

After lunch we decided to travel on the escalator from Central in Hong Kong right up to Mid-Levels – it is the longest covered escalator/travellator series in the world apparently. It goes up in a series of escalators, block by block. At the end of each block you get off and cross the street to the next one. If you saw how steep it was you’d know what a pleasure it is not to have to walk. Just another form of transportation in super-efficient Hong Kong.

We walked through the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens at the top before going to PP Ram and Sandra’s place where Jonathan is staying again. After tea there, we went back to town to get ready for our evening presentation to the RC of KingsPark.

That was a real blast. Warmly welcomed by the whole club including President Joyce Mak, we had a lovely evening of fellowship and did a lot of good for perceptions of South Africa. At the meeting, PDG John Wan, also the Charter President of the club showed us the “Service above Self” award he received at District Conference.

PDG John Wan's "Service above Self" awardFor those of you who don’t know, this is the highest award that Rotary can bestow on a Rotarian. It is an award from the International Board of Rotary. No more than one per district per annum is awarded. There are over 500 districts in the world and only around 100 “Service above Self” awards are granted. They are really for outstanding service to the community through Rotary.

Introducing my brilliant team again

It was a great evening and the Rotarians of KingsPark seemed to really enjoy the presentation.

Music, music.....Jonathan played the piano so that PDG Wan could sing a love song “Love is a many-splendoured thing” and “The Impossible Dream” to the lady he has just got engaged to. He was teased silly by his fellow Rotarians – all in good fun.

With PDG John Wan and President Joyce Mak

Back In The High-Life Again

2009-03-02T17:28:00.004+02:00

Monday 2 March

Being back in Hong Kong reminds me of the Steve Winwood song “Back In The High-Life Again”. This place just oozes action. Waiting for PP Joseph I strolled into a Louis Vuitton shop. The stuff is beautiful there’s no denying. There are no price tags, on the basis clearly that if you have to ask the price you shouldn’t be buying it. So I didn’t. Sorry girls.

We had a lunch meeting with the RC of Mid-Levels.

A picture display of RC of Mid-Levels Hong's Projects

It is a Cantonese club but they very graciously spoke English today for our benefit, handling only the Sergeant’s Duty in Cantonese.

The starter - Shrimp and Scallop Salad - some fat people coming back to SA!!

We did a 15-minute presentation which went down very well. We must be getting better at it because we had a lot of questions today, during and after lunch. Questions are good because they help us focus on what people really want to know. Wild animals roaming the streets? Not. Can we drink the water? Yes. Do you know my friend in Kenya? No. Will it be safe to come for the FIFA World Cup next year. Yes, we would love to see you if you decide to come. We’ll even try to organise some Friendship Tour home hosting.

Brendan doing Siyanda's FIFA World Cup presentation slot

There was also a very interesting talk by the speaker on Fraud Investigation. He was really good. A Chinese Hong Konger who did his university training in Australia – he is a Chartered Public Accountant who has specialised in uncovering scams, especially insurance ones most recently. He has worked for many different organisations in Hong Kong and is taking up a position with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The Fraud Investigator talks

The story he shared today was about a really elaborate case where the fraudsters approach really poor people in China, offer them $300,000 and get them into Hong Kong on stolen Hong Kong ID cards. They then “employ” them and insure them elaborately against personal accident. Then they take them on a “business trip” to China, get a very dodgy surgeon to remove one of their eyes. When they get back to Hong Kong minus the eye, the “employer” puts in a $2 million dollar claim for the “injury” they suffered while on the business trip. When they get paid, one-eyed Jack gets his $300,000 and the “employer” keeps the change. They tumbled to the scam when this particular “employer” had so many of his “employees” having eye-removing injuries whilst on business in China. Skelms everwhere it seems. Not confined to any continent.

It was fascinating stuff and some of the lady Rotarians shivered with delight when he mentioned that he often had to carry a gun on his assignments.

After lunch the team got together for a chat with PP Joseph. He is the legend – we are well-looked after by PP Joseph – he had a bit peace last week while we were in Macau.

Team Banner Exchange with President Shirley Kong and PP Joseph Chan (right)

Nivashni and Jonathan left the others at Booth Lodge and went to see “Slumdog Millionaire” which has just opened in HK. It won so many Oscars, it was a must-see and with a great, modern movie house just around the corner, it was easy.

For those of you who are interested in movies, don’t miss it. It is a brilliant movie. Very ……… no, I’m not going to spoil it. Go see it. Incidentally the movie houses here are huge and spotless. Only the best in Hong Kong.

Tomorrow we have both a lunch and a dinner reservation. Santosh is going to a local Radio Station on Wednesday, and of course we are looking forward to seeing the SA Ambassador, Mrs. Nomathemba Tambo, on Friday morning.
That’s it for today.

Goodbye to Macau - Sunday 1st March

2009-03-01T17:33:00.007+02:00

Today is sad in some ways. We have had a great time in Macau. When we heard we were going to be spending a week in Macau, it meant very little to us because we knew nothing about Macau except that the 49th District Conference of Rotary District 3450 was going to be held there.

After a week and 2 days in Macau, we now have a very good idea. Macau is very different from Hong Kong. It is very laid-back as we have already said on this blog. The food is mostly different and Macau’s history is very well-preserved in the buildings, the road names – so much. The museums, the statues etc. It is also tiny with a population of only about 552,000 people as opposed to Hong Kong’s 7 million.

It is like a backwater of Hong Kong in the nicest possible way. The people are very friendly although we have found the people making up the Rotary family in District 3450 are the same. Really good, solid friends. We have made so many, we are privileged and blessed.

We met with our host families for a farewell lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in the Emperor Hotel, Macau Central.

Messy eaters - the chopstick trail to PP Jonathan's plate

It is a very popular restaurant judging by the hundreds of people having their lunch there. We met in a private Dining Room and during lunch we did a presentation as quite a number of our hosts and their families had not seen our presentation while we were there. It is a pity that our time is getting short now because the presentation is really getting quite slick as everybody becomes more comfortable and familiar with it. Brendan, who in the beginning was quite nervous, now handles his section like an old Dale Carnegie trainer and has everyone eating out of his hand.

Our Macau hosts and Rotarians

We finished it by singing the National Anthem which went down very well. Then it was goodbyes, group photos and promises to really look after any of our Macau Rotary friends if they ever make their way to South Africa. We are sure that at least 2 Rotary Friendship tours are going to come out of this GSE trip. When you consider that one of the objects of the Rotary GSE programme is to foster and develop international understanding we feel satisfied that this objective has been realised to a great extent on this trip. We encountered many misconceptions about South Africa and were happily able to share the truth about our beautiful country. It has also given us a sense of privilege and pride in our home. Viva South Africa, viva!!

PP Stella accompanied us on our ferry trip back to Hong Kong as she took the opportunity to visit her mother in HK. With all her business arranging the conference and that project keeping her very busy before we arrived, we realise how much she put into our trip. Far from taking a break after Conference (which most of us would have wanted to do) she leapt from the one challenge to the next. Thank you PP Stella, we grew to love you during our time in macau and we look forward to seeing you again on Friday when we meet for the last time in Hong Kong to say goodbye. Thank you for all your help with Siyanda’s return to SA and for your graciousness in arranging our trip and our home-hosting. My host, Catherine Choi, was fantastic, as were Joyce Choi and Anna Lam who hosted Nivashni, Nelson Wong who hosted Siyanda, Elvo Sou who hosted Santosh and Alberto Colane who hosted Brendan. Alberto and Elvo are both Rotoracters and it is great to see how they help the Rotarians.

As Santosh said, you guys rock!

Jonathan with his host Catherine and her son, Ivan

There was a bit of a panic on Jonathan's part at the ferry terminal. he couldn't find his passport and after unpacking his big bag onto the floor to the hilarity of the team, he found it in his small bag. Should've looked there first.

It’s nice to be back in Hong Kong, the buzz and vibe are still there. My Hong Kong home hosts were out when I got back so I took the chance of walking down to Lan Kwai Fong where I found a little pub called the Whiskey Priest (of all things) and settled a fantastic egg and cheese burger and a couple of cold ones.

After writing and posting this blog, it’s time for an early night. We have a lunchtime presentation tomorrow and it’s the home straight. Feeling a bit sick about the cricket seeing we have been bragging about being No. 1 in world cricket but I guess pride goes before a fall. At least the Sharks beat the Chiefs yesterday. GO SHARKS!!!!

Macau - Thursday to Saturday 28th Feb

2009-03-01T15:23:00.008+02:00

Thursday morning saw the team off to visit a temple. Waiting for the pick-up, I saw a sign - no clues!!The RC of Macau hosted us today and accompanied by PP Stella (GSE chair) and PP Fatima (District Conference Chair, together with Rotarian David Shelton-Smith andd his wife, we arrived at Pou Tai Temple just before lunch. We started with a vegetarian lunch at the Temple dining room. I couldn’t believe what a delicious vegetarian Chinese meal they served. Nivashni, the vegetarian in our group was thrilled not to have to wait for a special meal to be brought to her.

Tucking in

The Temple is run by Buddhist monks who are complete vegetarians. They believe that life exists in every living thing so they do not kill anything to eat it. There was a very friendly and calm atmosphere throughout the place with lots of beautiful little gardening corners including the most amazing bonsai plants.

How's this little bonsai garden?

A collection of devotional points and a lot of temple rooms are found here. At the top of the structure we found a larger prayer room with a large statue of what looked like the same Buddha we saw at Tian Tan on Hong Kong Island. It is all very beautifully maintained.

The Buddha at Pou Tai

The gardens are really lovely and this quaint bridge was a good setting for a group pic
After lunch we were taken to a rehabilitation centre for mentally handicapped people run by the Fu Hong Association of which PP Fatima is the president. It is well-supported by the government and what happens is that people with mental disorders who are able to perform simple functions (or service-users as they are called) are brought here every day by their families. The cost of looking after them is set-off against the works they do.

Getting stuck in to the stickersThe group that we observed were sticking correction stickers into brochures for a local bank and also making “Rainbow Flowers” for wedding decorations.

Santosh with a 'Rainbow Flower' wedding decoration. Getting ideas, boet??They looked very happy to see us and it was a really inspiring visit. The centre also has occupational therapists and some of the team tried out their dexterity on some of the equipment. Judging by some of the efforts, one or two of us would have to spend a bit of time in OT before we could handle some of the tasks the service users were set.

The Team with Fu Hong Rehabilitation Centre staff and PP Stella (2nd left front row) PP Fatima (middle front row) and Rotarian David Shelton-Smith (back row next to Brendan)

It was great to see the border post between Macau and China. It has become very difficult for foreigners who want to visit China to get visas. In the old days one could apply for a day-visit visa at the border but that has changed now and visas have to be arranged in advance at one’s own embassy. Still it was amazing to see people streaming through the border in both directions. The old border gate is still there although a new and very modern structure houses the border post used nowadays. One border we're not crossing - the original Macau - China border post dating back to 1849. Here's the modern structure behind it.

Thursday evening was a dinner at a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Macau and Taipa. It was held at the grand Venetian Hotel and we had an absolutely scrumptious western style dinner. The team was asked to do a simple presentation and banner exchange which went very well. We met up with a lot of Rotarians we had met a District Conference. There was a speaker however, an English lady named Jill Lander who is a Feng Shui expert. It was fascinating listening to her talk about Feng Shui and give her predictions for 2009. She also touched on what our Chinese Zodiac signs were and told us that the animals in the Zodiac (Ox, Rat, Snake, Dragon etc) are very important in determining our marriage partner. She also said that 2009 is a good year for marriage which gave a few Rotarians and team members cold shivers! Just joking. Incidentally, you can have a Feng Shui audit of your home for the paltry sum of about R4,000.00 for the first 90-odd square meters plus another R400 per square meter after that. It was an interesting talk and closed off a lovely day. To President Florence of the RC Club of Taipa and President David of the RC of Macau, a very big thanks for a lovely evening.

Friday morning was a free morning for the team and was spent just chilling and enjoying the ambience of Macau. We were dropped off by PP Stella at the Macau Museum next to the St. Paul's Cathedral façade.

Wanna ride in Nivs' peditaxi?

Having fun on top of the Macau Museum which is in the old Mount Fortress

We were being hosted for the day by RC of Macau Islands and were soon joined by Club President Tiffany. She is a really lovely lady and just re-inforced the youthfulness of the Macau Rotarians. She is in her early thirties and already Club President. The average age of Rotarians in Macau must be very young.

Nivs with Tiffany Tong, President of the Rotary Club of Macau IslandAfter a look through the fascinating museum she took us for lunch at a real street market. The place looked very dodgy to us and after realising that the menu was totally in Chinese, we escaped from there and much to Brendan’s relief we went to a different restaurant in town.

Entrance to dodgy eating spot - this is the neat and tidy partAt the THS Honolulu restaurant we couldn’t understand why one of the coffees on the menu was so expensive, and on enquiring we discovered that this particular coffee is produced by rats who are fed the coffee beans and then 'produce' their own processed version of the coffee bean which is used to brew this coffee. We declined an offer to taste it. Are you surprised?

Check out the advertising poster!

There is a waterfront in Macau which we went to after lunch. Although the place is very quiet with a lot of empty shops. The music which wafts over the place through speakers on each lamp pole is a Portuguese guitar instrumental which we heard so many times that it stuck in my head for the rest of the day. We came across a “African Restaurant” which advertises “barbecues as you sit and listen to jungle music” but it was closed until the evening.

Not a very busy place, very nice, but according to our hosts one of the very few places in Macau that is not run very well, hence the lack of support.

President Tiffany and the team were joined by IPP Christina at the waterfront – she is also a young lady whose family spent a lot of time in Vietnam. She had arranged for us to have dinner at a restaurant she co-owns. It is an Italian Restaurant in Macau – what a feast we had! RC of Macau Islands is a small club with only 13 members but their hospitality was great. It wasn’t a Rotary meeting as they actually meet on Thursdays but they had put the dinner together for us. We were joined at dinner by Rotarians Cecilia and Roberto. The great surprise was South African wine from Rietvallei Estate. We really enjoyed that very much and it closed off another great day in relaxed, laid-back Macau.

Saturday was a free day for the team with their hosts, and Jonathan’s host PP Catherine Choi hosted us to a lunch at a Macanese (a blend of Macau/Portuguese and Chinese cuisine) restarant that has been in the same family for over 40 years. Once again the food and company were superb and we watched someone doing a bungee-jump off the highest bungee-jump in the world – the Macau Tower. It is 338 meters high and costs about R2000 per jump so none of us jumped at the chance if you’ll excuse the pun.

The team split up in the afternoon, going off with hosts. I decided to visit the protestant cemetery in the afternoon to have a look around. A peculiar thing about this cemetery is that with the exception of the really old graves, you are only allowed to be buried there for 6 years, After that, you have to be exhumed and your bones placed elsewhere. As with a lot of Roman Catholic cemeteries in Portuguese colonies, the graves are very elaborate and pictures of the dear departed are on almost all the headstones.

St. Michael's Church with a cemetery surrounding it

Youth Orchestra

Santosh, Brendan and I then stumbled upon a music festival in with beautiful colonial buildings in the old town. Beautiful orchestral music by schoolkids followed by a rock band of schoolkids - sounded great. There is obviously proud heritage in this lovely city. We need more of it in the world.

And here are the rockers!

A bit of shopping and then off home to relax with our hosts.

Tomorrow we will have a farewell lunch with the Macau Rotarians and then go back to Hong Kong for our last week before we head home on Saturday.

This trip to Macau has been great and has renewed our vigour for the trip. The Rotarians, one and all, have been super-friendly and accommodating. We have learned a lot from them.

We are looking forward to seeing our friend PP Joseph when we land at HK Ferry Terminal.

Seeing Beautiful Macau – Siyanda has to leave

2009-02-27T04:14:00.006+02:00

Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th

On Tuesday morning we were picked up early by Rotarians of RC Club of Hou Kuong headed by their President Peter, Club Secretary Barrie and PP Dora. What a great day it turned out to be. We first went to have coffee in a little coffee-shop called Lord Stowe’s Garden Café. We were joined by Rotarians Lena and Kwang. Kwang is a great singer and according to Brendan, had the country hit “Joelene” blaring flat out in his car. He loves sad songs as we were to discover at the evening meeting.

There was a bit of hilarity about the difference in size of Jonathan and PP Lena's hands!

Viking and Chinese hands

But first we went to see the amazing statue of the Taoist Goddess A-Ma which stands on top of the highest hill on Coloane Island. It is a huge structure standing just above the main temple. Carved out of white jade, it weighs 1000 tons and stands 19.9 meters tall. It took 120 sculptors 8 months to carve it. The Goddess A-Ma is the patron saint of seamen, fisherman and merchants. She was a young girl from a poor family who wanted to leave her home because of poverty. She tried to get a lift on many different ships and was turned down. She eventually found a ship where the Captain was prepared to let her come on the voyage on condition that she worked like the other people on the boat, fishing and cleaning fish etc. She agreed and they set off on the voyage. During the voyage a terrible typhoon developed and all the boats in the sea in the area were lost in the terrible storm –all except the boat on which A-Ma was a passenger. When they arrived on the island now known as Macau, she walked up the hill towards the summit and was never seen again. People in the area said that they had seen a bright white light at the area where she was walking and decided that she had been taken up to a higher level of existence. Since then she has been regarded as a Goddess who particularly blesses the Seafarers in the area. When the Portuguese sailors arrived on the island in the 15th Century and asked the name they were told it was the island of A-Ma Ca and the way they pronounced it led them to name it Macau. We heard this from a tour guide and it fits with what we have read elsewhere. Fascinating.

Right next to the A-Ma Temple on Coloane Island is a monument to the Portugal – China Treaty whereby Macau was handed back to China in 1999. The arrangement is much like Hong Kong’s “One Country – Two Systems” where Macau will be self-governed under Macau’s Basic Law for 50 years from 1999, with theoretically only the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence controlled by the People’s Republic of China.

After A-Ma Temple we were driven to a beach on Coloane Island known as Cheoc Van Beach. It is maintained by the municipality and the restaurant concession is owned by a Rotarian PP Luis Lui. He is a flambuoyant entrepreneur and Siyanda was highly impressed with his business acumen and chatted to him about the fact that he has over 30 different companies. Siyanda has “only” five, but as a vocational inspiration, he really enjoyed meeting PP Luis. Siyanda has a dream to take his companies international and what better place than Hong Kong and Macau to receive mentoring in this regard. The lunch was great – It was an Italian Restaurant known as “Ristorante la Gondola”. The quality of the food was outstanding, the tastes were delicious. The beach is pretty and also has a ski-boat launch site.

Team - Jonathan with restaurant owner and entrepreneur Luis Lui next to him and Rotarians from the "naughty" club

After lunch we were taken to the site of the remaining façade of St. Paul’s Church. The church was destroyed by fire in 1835 after having been built in 1602-40. It was originally the Church of Mater Dei, a Jesuit construction.

The façade of the church has been strengthened and remains symbolically as an altar to the city. The view from the ruins is impressive and shows the contrast between old and new Macau, with huge and imposing casino hotels such as the Grand Lisbon and the Wynn in the close distance.

The evening meeting with the RC of Hou Kuong was a blast. The meeting was conducted in Cantonese but the fellowship was universal. One of the dishes was a suckling piglet brought to the table on a plate. It was tasty! Poor piglet. We are not used to seeing all the facial characteristics of our meals, but it is honest.

Piggie, piggie

One of the Rotarians, PP Dora, told us Hou Kuong was a very “naughty” club. It is hosted in a Chinese Restaurant owned by PP Luis Lui situated in the Macau Holiday Inn.

RC Hou Koung secretary Barrie (left) and President Peter (right)

“Naughty” meant that a lot of wine is drunk during the evening and turns into a Karaoke-singing session that in this case lasted until 12 midnight. These guys take their fellowship seriously and the GSE team were happy participants with Santosh revealing some great vocal skills and Siyanda doing a great Peabo Bryson imitation.

Santosh and Rotarian Kuong (sad song lover)

Wednesday was the turn of the RC of Guia to host us and PP Mildred, a delightful lady who has been involved with Rotary since her Rotoract days collecting us for a visit to the Guia Lighthouse and Chapel. The Lighthouse is a world-heritage site on top of the Guia Fortress which was built between 1622 and 1638. The lighthouse was built in 1865 and is the first modern lighthouse on the Chinese coast. Both the lighthouse and the chapel are symbols of Macau’s maritime, military and missionary past.

Team with PP Mildred at the Guia Lighthouse and Chapel

Nivs with PP's Mildred and Anna
Lunch was at a delightful Portuguese Restaurant with PP Mildred and PP Anna Lam. Sadly, it was our last meal with Siyanda.

Siyanda’s mother suffered a heart attack over the weekend and we had to arrange for his speedy return to South Africa to be with her and the family. While we were very sad to let Siyanda go home, we fully understood the situation and would have done exactly the same in his position. DG Hennie and GSE Chair Annette in SA’s District 9270 were most understanding and so were District 3450 GSE Chair Stella. Siyanda caught the 3pm ferry back to Hong Kong where our dear friend PP Joseph Chan met him, arranged for collection of his luggage, changed his ticket and got him onto a plane. What a star PP Joseph is and continues to be. It will be such a privilege to host him when he comes to visit us in RSA.

Siyanda, when you read this blog, just know that we miss you very much. You were such a great person on our team. Loved and admired. Your contribution was great and the Rotarians of Hong Kong and Macau took you to their hearts. We are looking forward to you joining the team again when we return to SA. Thank you for giving of yourself and sharing with us. Everyone here sends love and best wishes for your Mom’s full recovery.

After saying good bye to Siyanda, we visited the inner-city A-Ma temple – the original ‘mother” temple of the Goddess A-Ma whose statue we visited on Coloane Island yesterday. It is situated on the spot where she disappeared into the bright light.

The Macau Grand Prix museum was great. It is a Formula 3 race in November every year, through the streets of Macau and the museum is full of actual cars and memorabilia. Racing greats like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher have won the race in their pre-Formula 1 days and it was great to see the cars they drove and feel some of the history especially for a petrol-head like Jonathan.

Michael's Macau GP car

Ayrton's car

Right next door is the Macau Wine Museum with fascinating stories of wine-making, principally in Portugal but with details of wine from all over the world including South Africa. Great stuff, with a glass of Muscadel at the end.

Before dinner we had a great, informative visit to TDM, the public service radio station. This was great for all of us but especially Santosh – the radio man. We started with a meeting with Gilberto the station manager. He was joined by the news editor and a good-looking young DJ called Giorgio. They had a discussion comparing notes and then we were shown around the station and had the privilege of going into the studio where we met the “on-air guy’, a DJ who had worked in Mozambique. It is a Portuguese Radio Station in Macau. Quite small but it was interesting. Lotus FM is huge by comparison. Everyone was very friendly and as they said, ‘no room for ego’s here – we just get on with it”. Giorgio is allowed to select his own playlist which Santosh says is every DJ’s dream. A great vocational visit.

Santosh and ex-Mozambique DJ Fernando

Dinner was with a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Guia and Macau Central. Held at the Riviera Hotel, it was a Chinese supper and we did our first presentation without Siyanda. It felt very strange and we split his part of the presentation between Santosh and Brendan. We miss you Siya, mate!

It was also the dinner where we met the shortest Rotary President in the world (has to be) – the pictures show that he is a smidgen shorter than Nivashni. Jonathan looks like an over-fed giant next to him. Still, you never know in the East – he is probably a Black belt 7th Dan Kung Fu sensei, so we treated him with great respect.

Spot President Jackie - great guy!

Joking, we really liked him, a great guy. President Anna of Macau Central had to leave early for an MC’ing gig so the stand in Macau Central President was IPP Joyce Choi who is also Nivashni’s for the first half of her Macau visit.

Once again, Macau is a beautiful place – so most contrast of old and new. Great people and I am impressed again at the youth of the Rotarians. I am sure it is because of the strength of Rotaract in the District. Especially in Macau. There are many, many Rotarians in their 30’s here.

As you have seen a really busy two days, but very interesting and satisfying. Until later.

Macau Day 3 - Monday 23rd Feb

2009-02-24T03:50:00.003+02:00

Today we woke up in our host family accommodation. For Siyanda and Brendan, it was the first time they had been apart, having shared a room at Booth Lodge and a suite at the Venetian Hotel. The bond hasn’t been broken though – they both admitted missing each other.

It was a busy day with a pretty full schedule from the pick-up in a mini-van at 9.30am to getting home at around 10pm. We had a bit of a break before dinner, but apart from that we were on the go the whole day. Our hosts for the day were President David Ho, of the Rotary Club of Taipa, Macau. He is a Rotarian who owns a manufacturing business in Macau with a factory employing around 1,000 people. He was accompanied by PP Rocky, the Lamborghini Fashion line importer for Macau, Club Services Director Veronica who is a Chartered Accountant and Rotarian Mandy, who is a Relationship Manager at a local bank. They are lovely people, great hosts and we really appreciated them giving up their day to take us around. They also hired a very smart Hyundai Mini-Van to transport us in. These Macau Rotarians are a great example of Service above Self.

First call was a vocational visit to a bank in Macau (main island) where we had a chance to chat to Benson, a Rotarian who is the Treasurer of one of the local banks. He is responsible for the daily cash flow of the Macau branch and reports to the Deputy Manager of the bank. We enquired about opening bank accounts in Macau as a matter of interest. He advised that it was no problem but that we would only receive around .1% interest on deposits which put us off transferring our vast assets immediately. Siyanda, the former taxman, also advised us that any income earned in Hong Kong and Macau would be taxed immediately we brought it back to South Africa. That put us off even more. It was interesting however to discover that the banking system runs on very similar lines to the banking system in SA and that FICA (as we know it) is a worldwide phenomenon in the fight to control money-laundering. Siyanda assured us that the mere input of our ID numbers into SARS sophisticated systems would give them the lowdown on our cash position, wherever it might have been deposited throughout the world. It seems Big Brother is never very far away.

Next call before lunch was to the offices of a Rotarian, PP Ken Mac. Ken is a Director of AIA, one of the top 4 insurance companies in Asia and is Top of the Million Dollar Round Table. He is a great chap and runs an office of around 100 agents together with a call centre. He was saying to us that Wealth Management has taken a bit of a back step since the Financial Tsunami hit the world in August 2008. This means that his agents are again concentrating on servicing client’s needs for Retirement Annuities rather than focussing on the more exotic offerings the company offers.

A bit of Old Macau

We then went for a walk around the narrow streets of old Macau. It was an enthralling experience and reminded those of us who went to LM in the old Mozambique, of the quaint little shops. Very much a Portuguese colony, all the streets names are in Portuguese although the Chinese have their own interpretations and pronunciations of these names which sound very little like the Portuguese originals.

One shop that turned our stomachs was the one selling shark fins for soup. It is full of shark fins and other bits and pieces of shark anatomy like the air bladder which keeps a shark buoyant. Apparently, all these bits are a serious delicacy and command prices of between HK$800 to 1200 per kilogram. Knowing that sharks are caught and have their fins cut off before being thrown back into the sea to bleed to death was very offputting. Quite apart from the smell in the shop. The people that use these so-called ‘delicacies’ are apparently pretty primitive.

Shark fins and swords

The rest of the market in narrow little streets is fascinating. We visited a little Chinese temple that was full of the smell of incence. Big coils of incense were suspended from the rafters and apparently people of this faith come to the priest and ask him to light these large thick coils that burn in the temple for days and weeks in honour of some request that has been made.

Incense coils

We also visited an old Roman Catholic Cathedral Church that dates back to the 16th century. It has been beautifully restored and people walk in and out and sit in the stalls and pray. It has a lovely tranquil atmosphere.

Lunchtime was a great lunch in a genuine Portuguese restaurant where the owner Manuel picked our dishes for us. Apart from Brendan who was dying for a steak – and got it – plates of food from chicken and clams to suckling pig to Portuguese sausage and delicious fishcakes were brought. You just help yourself off each large plate that is brought. It was delicious. We asked for peri-peri and manual disappeared and came back with a well-used bottle of Nando’s peri-peri. It was agreat meal and we had a good chat with Manuel who is world-famous – lots of people come from all over the world to eat at his spot. We could see why.

Our afternoon consisted of a trip to the University of Science and Technology of Macau. We were guided around by a young lady named Ashleigh who graduated from a Beijing University 18 months ago but has moved to Macau with her family. The whole campus is very modern and embraces almost all the university disciplines one can think of. The facilities are great and include a University Teaching Hospital as well as a big sports arena. The sports arena was used as one of the venues for the All-Asia Games recently. As the University is heavily subsidised by the Government, the Sports arena is open for use to the public. The University Hospital is very modern and also includes a faculty of traditional Chinese medicine. As we mentioned earlier in these blogs, if traditional Chinese medical practioners want to be registered and recognised by the Government Health services, they have to complete a Basic Medical Science course which is offered by the University, just as in Hong Kong.

It was a very interesting afternoon and we all went back to our hosts homes to rest for a short while and get ready for supper. Our supper was hosted once again by President David together with a new set of young Rotarians. We are really surprised at the number of young (in their late 20’s and early 30’s) Rotarians in Macau. It is a pleasure to see and really bodes well for the future of Rotary here. One of the Rotarians was a young lady, Alice, who was a GSE team member a few years back. She visited Tennessee in the United States. She told us that the experience had changed her life. Great to know.

Spot the mistake in the bowl of chicken

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is a sight-seeing day and we are doing a presentation to a Rotary Club in the evening. We will also be having a team meeting to do a bit of evaluation of how we are going and how our expectations of this GSE trip are being met. It will be a good exercise as we get solidly into the 2nd half of our trip. It has been difficult not having our programme for Macau in advance so that we can evaluate the appropriateness of the visits for vocational purposes but we are working on it.

We have the rest of the week here in Macau and then on Sunday it’s back to HK for our final week before we leave for home next Saturday. This trip to Macau has been a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of HK. The pace of life is much more laid back here – only 500,000 inhabitants as opposed to HK’s 7 million.

District Conference Sat & Sun 21/22 Feb

2009-02-24T03:08:00.003+02:00

The Venetian Hotel in Macau where we are staying is the biggest Hotel/Casino Resort in the world. If you google it, you will get an idea of the size and diversity of the place. It is almost obscenely grand with piped chamber music playing in the lifts and passages. The money that must have been spent to build this place is probably more than the annual turnover over small countries like Swaziland. Billions and billions of US dollars.

It is bigger than the whole Gateway complex in Umhlanga, has more shops than Gateway – over 350 - everything from Louis Vuitton to Chanel, Rolex to Benetton, Yves St. Laurent to Armani. I guess it is a shopper’s paradise. Unfortunately I’m not a shopper although the team are knocked out. But this is also a place for the seriously rich. With beers at around R70 and a glass of still mineral water at over R40 – you need to be well-heeled to operate here without nervously wondering what your bank balance is looking like.

Gondolas at the Venetian

Enough of that although we could probably go on for days about it. The people here are very friendly.

We got to the convention rooms in time for registration on Saturday morning. The Rotary International President’s Personal Representative, John Germ was at the opening and we were treated to a grand entrance. A brass band accompanied the dignitaries into the ballroom with about 500 Rotarians and family of Rotary present. I took a video but it won't upload to this blog - we'll show it to you later. It was great and the Conference got off to a great start. I’m not going to bore you with too much detail, you know what conferences are like, but the keynote address was delivered by The Hon. Edmund Ho who is the Chief Executive (Governor General in the old days) of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. He seems a very well-liked man and delivered a really great speech. It is interesting to note the good relationship between Government and Rotary in Hong Kong and Macau. In fact, one of the presentations was 5 Paul Harris awards to 5 different Government departments that had helped Rotary in one of it’s projects with an exercise program for the elderly and disabled. I am getting a copy of the CD because I am sure we can use it in SA. I’ve never heard of Paul Harris awards to institutions but the Rotarians here say it has great significance for the Government departments concerned and the Departments are very aware of the import of a Paul Harris award, and are therefore deeply honoured and encouraged to continue co-operating with Rotary.

Nivs with a lady who helps with a Leprosy project in China

Incidentally, (THIS WILL ONLY BE INTERESTING TO ROTARIANS) one of the sessions was an award session for Paul Harris donors, Major donors (US$10,000 or more), and Paul Harris society awards. Quite a few clubs here are 100% Paul Harris Fellows on the basis of donations of US$1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. In South Africa we award Paul Harris Fellowships (PHF’s) to Rotarians and others on the basis of their service to Rotary and/or the community. In this District, Rotarians are only awarded PHF’s if they make the US$1,000 contribution, and other members of the community are awarded PHF’s for service. AS RIPPR John Germ says, it is these donations, together with the Every Rotarian Every Year programme that keep the Rotary Foundation able to give it’s grants and carry out it’s work on Polio eradication around the world. Something to think about. One club in Hong Kong is 100% major donor – in other words every single Rotarian in that club has donated US$10,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation! Amazing.

Club Project Displays

Back to news – the Banquet was great on Saturday evening. Food was great – mainly Chinese cuisine and there was a great Portuguese band that played great music so a great time was had by all.

Nivs with a RC of Wanchai Rotarian PP David Sharpe

The boys with a Kiwi Rotarian

Sunday’s Convention programme was full – morning to evening. We did our presentation to the Conference in the session between tea and lunch and it was a great success. We decided to spice things up a bit and ended our presentation by singing the National Anthem to the backing of the Soweto String Quartet. The conference delegates loved it – they stood up while we were singing and gave us huge applause at the end of it – quite a little choir we’ve got here with Siyanda’s deep baritone booming through the sound system. Our booklets were handed out to every Rotarian at conference and people really seem to appreciate them. We are keeping some to bring to our District Conference at home.

A pretty poor picture of us doing our presentation - see the big screen with parts of Brendan's IT presentation

The outgoing GSE Team to South Africa were introduced – Alex and his Smart Angels is what they are calling themselves – they spoke about their plans for the trip and they are going to be great. We have quite an act to follow as far as hospitality goes but I know the clubs in our District will rise to the occasion. Really a super group of young people. After supper with some Rotarians on Sunday evening after Conference closed, we went to the Cirque du Soleil (pronounced Serk dooh Solay) to watch a show called “Zaia”. It was amazing, magnificent, outstanding – words fail us. Another thing for you to google. It is trapeze artists, clowns, acrobats, jugglers, live singing and music – an absolute extravaganza in the most magnificent theatre. The visual effects are out of this world. No pictures were allowed unfortunately so you’ll have to do the google thing.

The day ended with us going to our host families – we had checked out of our luxury quarters in the Venetian. Not a train smash as both Nivashni and Jonathan were getting a bit tired of the opulence and flashiness of the place. Getting into Rotarians homes and getting to know them is one of the things GSE is all about. We are happy to be doing this and looking forward to the rest of our week in Macau. Internet connection in Macau is a bit of an issue but we’ll try to get this posted asap.

Off To Macau - Friday 20th

2009-02-24T02:33:00.007+02:00

Friday 20th February 2009

Today marks a move to different part of Rotary District 3450. After the last 13 days in Hong Kong, spent visiting Rotary Clubs on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, we are going across the South China Sea by ferry to Macau. This district is made up of clubs in Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia. There are 6 clubs in Macau and this year’s District 3450 Conference is being held at the Venetian Hotel in Macau.

Another ferry like ours having a dice with us

Macau is another SAR (Special Administrative Region) of the People’s Republic of China. Originally colonised by Portugal, it was handed over to China in 1999. Under a special treaty with China, it will, like Hong Kong, be virtually self-governing for 50 years with China being responsible for Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Macau is best known for it’s casinos these days. Apparently more money is wagered monthly in Macau casinos than in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos put together. In the last two years there has been a proliferation of hotel/casino resorts.

Because the District Conference is being held at the Venetian Hotel, we are staying there on Friday and Saturday nights. It is a huge 3,000-room resort hotel with a casino with 800 gaming tables. It has 92,900 square metres of shopping and over 100,000 square meters of conference facilities. The place buzzes like something you have never seen at Sun City etc. The amount of people is simply amazing, there are full-blown shopping malls, restaurants, pubs – anything that you can think of including a mini golf course in the grounds!

The Venetian - everything in this pic is part of it - it's hard to get it all into one pic

Our rooms are suites – normally about R2000.00 per night – but the District organised a special deal for Rotarians for less than a third of that. The suites are out of this world.

Our ferry trip across from Hong Kong was quite smooth – you sit on the ferry as if you were on a plane – seats are numbered and adverts for Macau attractions are shown on big-screen TV’s during the trip.

We were met at the ferry terminal in Macau by GSE Chair PP Stella Kan and Conference Chair PP Fatima who got us onto the hotel bus to the Venetian.

Us with (from left next to Brendan) PP Fatima Ferreira, Connie (a conference helper) and PP Stella Kan

After we check-in a good friend I have mentioned previously, Wanchai RC President David Sarju met us and took us to a wine-tasting and supper snacks at another hotel, the Crown Plaza. It was a very pleasant time and we learned a lot about Macau chatting to him and his friend, Marc, who is the General Manager of the Crown Plaza. President David is certainly well-connected. Brendan seems to attract rugby-lovers like moths to a lamp. Within 20 minutes of arriving, he was chatting to a guy called Luis who loves South African rugby and coaches a side here in Macau. It seems Brendan will be able to keep up his pre-season training for the Rhino’s here on Macau as well.

That was it for the evening and we retired to our suites to sleep. District Conference starts tomorrow (Saturday 21st) with registration from 11am. We are waiting to hear when we will be doing our presentation to Conference, but assume it will probably be on Sunday morning.

Wednesday 18th & Thursday 19th

2009-02-20T18:14:00.004+02:00

These two days are included in this post in order to catch up.

Going out this morning, it was great to pass a store labelled “De Beers”. Maybe I don’t get around enough but I’ve never seen one in South Africa. It trades in the most magnificent diamonds and it’s display includes branded watches with the De Beers label. SA capitalism scoring in HK.

Good old De Beers in HK

Our only meeting on Wednesday was a lunch meeting at the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Metropolitan where the speaker spoke in Cantonese about the art of Fung Shui – the art of keeping yourself and your surroundings with the right vibe, basically. A lot of Chinese are very dependant on this to stay healthy, wealthy and wise. He was also a bit of a fortune-teller and we were astonished to hear him telling one of the older lady Rotarians that she was going to be having health problems in the future. Siyanda wasn't impressed and said he wouldn't like it if someone walked up to him, unsolicited, and told him this. We all felt pretty much the same. A light moment was when one pretty young lady asked him about finding the love of her life. His response was “Don’t get too serious now – just play around a bit first”. Great hilarity.

Team with RC Metropolitan Rotarians and Fung Shui Master (seated left front)

Here’s a pic of one of the courses at the meal:

Oh, and we sang a Rotary song:

We have encountered this song in a few clubs now. In Port Shepstone, we sing our National Anthem at the start of each meeting, but quite a few clubs in Hong Kong, especially the Cantonese clubs, this song is sung. I’ll teach it to you when we get back. It has a catchy tune.

R-O-T-A-R-Y That spells Rotary
R-O-T-A-R-Y Is known on land and sea
From North to South, From East to West
He profits most who serves the best
R-O-T-A-R-Y That spells Rotary

R-O-T-A-R-Y That spells Rotary
R-O-T-A-R-Y Is one great family
Where friendship binds for man’s uplift
Where each one strives his best to give
R-O-T-A-R-Y That spells Rotary

The rest of the day was free so we went our separate ways and on Thursday morning at our report back, some had slept, some had shopped, some had just chilled, but most were feeling a bit homesick.

Thursday turned out to be a busy day.......

Before going out I was on the terrace and noticed an adjacent rooftop – to my surprise it is a Nursery School – on the roof of a 15-storey building. Only in Hong Kong!

Rooftop Nursery School

Our first meeting was at the Rotary Club of Hong Kong Financial Centre. There are lots of big hitters in this club. The view from the meeting venue was amazing – more land reclamation. Very nice Rotarians – although it was a Cantonese club, we did our presentation and there was tremendous interest – particularly in South Africa as a destination for Soccer 2010 and for wildlife. Lots of questions and interest. A bottle of Marula Cream was produced and we had a little sip and thought of home.

Santosh talking about Broadcasting in South Africa

After lunch the President Joe-Joe took us to see a Traditional Chinese Doctor who is a Rotarian. Traditional Chinese medicine is practised alongside Western medicine in Hong Kong. Practitioners have to have a basic certificate in Western medicine which is really a very condensed course in medicine, in order to be registered and practise.

It was fascinating, we watched as he consulted with a few patients, taking pulses, looking at eye and complexion colour and writing prescriptions which are then filled in his office from behind a “pharmaceutical” counter in reception. I spoke to a Western style, Australian doctor at our evening meeting, and far from being sceptical, he said that a lot of these traditional doctors are very good and there is a good fusion of old and new in medicine in China these days.

After our introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine we had a break until our evening meeting. I went back to my host's home in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. Hong Kong is really beautiful in the evening.... how's this view from the rooftop terrace:

Our evening was meeting was a delightful affair. President Wendy of Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour made us feel very welcome and there were a number of visitors including our friend President David Sarju of Wanchai Club, PP Joseph Chan, our superstar GSE vice-chair and HK mentor, an ambassadorial student from California and a visiting Rotarian from Australia. Our presentation went down very well. Brendan got huge applause for his exploits on the rugby fields here – apparently the team he played for last Saturday is as popular as the Sharks in KZN and they were very impressed that he actually was one of the try-scorers!

Two GSE gentlemen waiting to present to the RC of Hong Kong Harbour!

Tomorrow we go to Macau, a one-hour ferry trip. We’ll keep you updated. We think of everyone back home all the time.

Tuesday 17th February - Stock Exchange, Bank Liars and Pianos

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Stock Exchange - the team with PP Joseph and our guide from the Exchange

We started our day with a visit to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. What an experience. This is one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world and has been heavily affected by the Global Financial Crisis. I’m using capital letters because our friends in Hong Kong, many of whom are deeply involved in the financial markets, refer to it as the “Financial Tsunami”.

Disaster

It has wiped billions of dollars off the wealth of people in Hong Kong. Despite this, their generosity knows no bounds.

We expected to see a bustling trading floor like you see in the movies, but our guide explained to us that a lot of trading is done electronically nowadays and most traders don’t even have to come into the exchange, they trade live on the exchange’s network from their offices. Most of the people on the trading floor are representatives of companies that trade for clients and client institutions.

It is all very high-tech but they have examples in the exhibition area of the old trading screens and telephones that used to be used in the old days.

Nivs, the trader

Siyanda, the stock exchage trader

On our way to our meeting at the Rotary Club of Hong Kong, we passed some demonstrators outside a bank in the financial district.

Apparently because of the severe financial crisis, people have lost a lot of money and they are blaming the banks, holding slogans up calling the banks liars and devils. It is all very orderly, no toyi-toying. We could teach them how to get some rolling mass-action going, man.

Lunch at the Hong Kong Rotary Club was great. It is the first and oldest Rotary Club in Hong Kong having been chartered in 1931. It’s President, Patrick Lam, is a delightful man who has invited me to play golf with him before we go back to SA. Can’t wait, that will be something in Hong Kong! I don’t know if they allow handicaps as high as mine in Hong Kong though.

The Club meets in an very exclusive place – the Hong Kong Banker’s Club and has many ex-patriates as members. One of the Club members is my home host, Sandra Logan. She is the Chief Executive Officer of a large insurance business and a really delightful, friendly and knowledgeable person. We heard a delightful speech by Dr. Robert Cautherly whose family have been trading in China and Hong Kong for 200 years. He traced their history and told us really interesting stuff about the old trading days when his forebears, the great trading family the Heard’s, had been the backbone of East-West trade in the area and when Hong Kong was a tiny port used as a gateway for trade with mainland China.

The Rotarian who thanked the speaker could give Patrick Schultz a lesson in after-dinner thanks. He was a dry, witty Hollander who had us in stitches with his thanks. He said he had never heard of the “Heards” but was thrilled to hear they had actually existed!

After lunch, we had a free afternoon and I took the opportunity of visiting a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui called Tom Lee Music. It is a music store that has 4 floors with every conceivable music instrument – from Bosendorfer Grand Piano retailing at over HK$ 1,2 million (that’s over R1,5 million, folks) to a chrome-plated Harley-Davidson signature Fender Stratocaster for over HK$ 100,000!! An absolutely amazing store. I drooled and got a chance to sit and play the most fantastic Yamaha Stage Piano for a bit.

A really nice piano for 60,000 dollars!

It’s not Texas, folks, everything is really bigger and better in Hong Kong except the size of the ranches.

A Car with dual-registration - it can operate in Hong Kong and China

MONDAY 16TH - AIR CARGO AND ROTARY PARTY

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Today was a muggy, misty day in Hong Kong. We all gathered to attend a Rotary meeting at the Rotary Club of Tsim Sha Tsui which is situated in the really busy tourist shopping area of Kowloon. As with all meetings it was grand, with excellent food. The team was very well received and we had a chance to chat with Rotarians and answer questions about South Africa.

The view from RC of Tsim Sha Tsui's meeting room

After the lunch, Past President Kenneth Chow took us to the Cargo section of Hong Kong International Airport. This was a long trip – all the way from Kowloon to the Airport. The Cargo terminal It is entirely operated by a company called HACTL (Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited). It has over 90 airlines as it’s customers including SAA, and handles all the air cargo in and out of Hong Kong. HACTL actually handles over 250 million tons of cargo per annum.

Jessica Lai of HACTL explains model of cargo terminal to team and PP Kenneth Chow

It occupies an absolutely huge building with 5 storeys of storage space that is all computerised and totally automatic. The best way to describe it is once an item is received, it is allocated a parking bay and giant mechanical arms load it onto a type of trolley and it is carried away and stored in a spot somewhere in the this huge warehouse of racks and shelves where the computer will fetch it when it’s required. We were shown around by the Corporate Communications Officer, Jessica Lai. Very high-tech and fascinating. Outside the building are about 90 parking bays for cargo aircraft – the kind we very rarely see because they always fly in and out of the cargo areas of airports. It’s amazing to see huge 747’s with no windows except at the front with “Cargo” stencilled on the sides.

Cargo Section parking area

After this interesting vocational visit we went back to town to get ready for a meeting of the Rotary Area 6 Spring Dinner at the Hong Kong World Trade Centre. Apparently all the clubs in Area 6 which is central Hong Kong, get together for a dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year. It is a very festive occasion with lots of noise and laughter, competitions and lucky draws.

DG Albert Wong introducing "Chinese Father Christmas" who handed out Chinese New Year Lucky Packets

We also met a very important Rotarian from Rotary International Headquarters who is in Hong Kong for the District Conference as the Rotary International President’s Personal Representative (RIPPR) (whew! another Rotary term). His name is John F. Germ –a past Vice-President of RI and one of the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation. Seeing that GSE is a Rotary Foundation programme it was great to be able to introduce the team to John and his wife Judy. Really nice people, they come from Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA (Pardon me, boy………)

One of the competitions of the evening was that people had to guess the weight of 4 people as a group. Two thin and two under-tall Rotarians were selected – one of whom was me, Jonathan. I was definitely the biggest person in the group but to my surprise and delight, a short squat Rotarian named PP Frederick weighed a whole two pounds more than me. Anyway we weighed over 900 lbs collectively, and the prize was won by none other than RIPPR John F. Germ who had correctly guessed our weights. The prize was a very fancy wine which he promptly auctioned off for the Rotary Foundation and raised HK$ 10,000.00. There is lots of cash in HK.

RIPPR John F. Germ supervising the wine bottle auction

It was a great evening – lots of Chinese food – lots of laughter and fellowship. The Rotarians in Hong Kong are very warm and friendly.

Sunday 15th February – DAY OUTING WITH PP ALEX LEUNG

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Today we have been in Hong Kong for a week – the time has flown. It is a day off from Rotary meetings and PP Alex Leung is taking us for a tour of sight-seeing spots. We all met at Booth Lodge where a 20-seater bus had been arranged. This trip is specially significant because Alex is the designated team leader for the GSE Team which will be visiting our district in South Africa in April and May this year.

Alex is a delightful man. He is a pretty young ex-policeman who looks just like the Chinese movie star Jackie Chan. It wasn’t surprising to learn that while he was in the Police force he was the personal bodyguard to the Governor of Hong Kong. He is a Blackbelt 2nd Dan Kung Fu exponent. So we decided to behave ourselves. The first port of call was the Peak in Hong Kong. Apparently the view from up there is fantastic. I say apparently because the whole peak was completely fogged in and we couldn’t see a thing. The boat-shaped Peak building is spectacular however and we enjoyed looking through all the tourist shops while Alex filled us in on a lot of info about Hong Kong.

We were also met by a really lovely young lady named Lesley who is one of the young people selected by the local GSE committee to be on the GSE tour to our district with Alex. It was great to meet her knowing that we will be seeing her in SA in April. We really get a chance to prepare them for their arrival.

Alex pointing out Hong Kong spots to Siyanda, Lesley and Nivashni (observe the fog)

The fogged-in team with Lesley and Alex

Going down the mountain we stopped at another viewsite called Stubbs Road Lookout where we could see much more of Hong Kong through the fog. Then it was off to Repulse Bay and the world-famous Stanley Market on the southern side of Hong Kong Island. A beautiful drive through some really mountainous terrain opened up into the beautiful Repulse Bay area.

Repulse Bay beachfront

It reminded me a lot of coming over Kloofnek in Cape Town and looking down at Camps Bay and Clifton. The beaches are lovely, the water is icy and there isn’t a wave in sight. Hong Kong is definitely not a surfing spot guys – but you can water-ski in the sea, it’s so flat.

Clifton in Hong Kong - cold water? Check the wetsuit!

A view of Repulse Bay Beach and Stanley Market from Cafe du Paris

We then had a fantastic lunch at a French Restaurant called Café du Paris. The food was spectacular and as much as we have grown to enjoy the unbelievably meticulous Chinese cuisine, it was nice to have a more Western-style meal.

After leaving the beautiful Stanley area, Alex took us on a long coach ride across the Cheng Ma bridge (which is apparently longer than Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco).

Hong Kong GSE team member Lesley with Jonathan at Cheng Ma Bridge

It was built to link Hong Kong to the island on which Hong Kong airport is now situated. Because of building bridge spans on the tiny Wan Ma island, the original fishing village had to be moved by the Hong Kong Government and all the people living in the bridge line where compensated and settled elsewhere on the island in spectacular (that’s a word you use a lot in Hong Kong) highrise apartments. Just one snag. When typhoon season comes, people can’t go to work in Hong Kong for days at a time because the bridge is closed due to high winds and the ferries can’t put to sea. So it’s real enclave. No motor vehicles are allowed on Wan Ma – you can only get there by bus over the bridge or by ferry.

Now here’s the really interesting part – on Wan Ma island, a Chinese Christian consortium has built a full-size replica of Noah’s Ark. It is unbelievable.

Check the Ark - it's the correct size according to the Biblical measurements

Surrounding gardens are filled with life-size animals off the Ark. It is only officially opening on 1st April this year so we were very privileged to be almost the first people to actually see it. This is something not to be missed when you go to Hong Kong. Even people in Hong Kong have not heard about it, let alone been there and seen it. What a fantastic tourist attraction it is. Here's a link to a news item about it: http://www.icr.org/article/noahs-ark-remains-news/

Animals in the gardens around the Ark

The Boy’s Brigade was having a 150th anniversary celebration in an adventure activity park next to the Ark and another girl who is coming to SA on GSE this year, is part of that whole Boy’s Brigade scene. Her name is Man. Sound Irish? Good, I thought so too.

Highrise apartment block on Wan Ma Island

That ended a really great day – Past President Alex Leung is a great guy and I am looking forward to repaying some of his hospitality and generosity when the Hong Kong GSE team arrive on our shores.

We went home tired but thrilled. I had supper with my hosts Ram and Sandra washed down by a little too much cognac!

Nivashni's blog - Thursday 12th to Saturday 14th

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Hi everyone, after last night’s great Korean dinner, we thought we’d show you some pics

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 Chan

The 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 VTC

Quite 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!

Wednesday 11th Feb - Desert again and Buddha statue visit

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Today we got together at around 11.30am so that we could have lunch together at the Rotary Club of Kowloon. Before that, PP Joseph fetched Jonathan and took him to new home hosts in “Hollywood Heights”, Mid-Levels, Hong Kong Island. It is really a lovely home with beautiful views over the Hong Kong Bay and is very central and very comfortable. The hosts are delightful people, PP Ram Tolani and his partner Sandra Logan. PP Ram is a past president of the Wanchai Club.

When we got together we were greeted with the news that after rugby practice last night, Brendan was selected to play lock for the Hong Kong Tigers 1st Team. How’s that!! So, on Saturday evening at 7pm, the team are going to watch rugby and support our GSE rugby star!! We are going to get a lot of Rotarians to come and watch as well.

Picture: Siyanda catching up on some South China News

We had lunch with the Rotarians of Kowloon Club. It is the home club of DG Albert Wong although he wasn’t there today. It is a Cantonese club like Hong Kong North City, and so apart from welcomes, the meeting was conducted in Cantonese. The talk was by the Chairman of the Civil Aid Association and surrounded the topics of Civil Aids involvement in natural disasters like flooding, earthquake, landslides etc. They are a largely volunteer organisation supported by the HK government to the tune of HK$88 million per annum. We know this because the indubitable PP Joseph Chan interpreted for us. Another first was a taste of South African cuisine – there was braised oxtail on the menu and was it delicious. Once again (eat your hearts out guys) the desert was spectacular! Picture: Another Rotary desert (OK, that's the last one, I promise)

The afternoon was taken up by going with PP Joseph to the most amazing place. On Lantau Island, near the Hong Kong International Airport is a Cableway called the Ngong Ping skyrail that takes you to Ngong Ping, the home of the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha (also known as the “Big Buddha”). Getting there on the cableway is breathtaking. Guided by PP Joseph Chan, we went on this cablecar ride of a lifetime. Picture: The view back towards Hong Kong City from about halfway to Ngong Ping

As one gets over the mountain from the airport side, the enormous Tian Tan Buddha comes into sight. It is absolutely huge and until 2007 was the world’s tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha. It stands 34 meters high. Apparently it can be seen from as far away as Macau when the weather is clear. Once you have got off the skyrail and walked through the beautiful small villagey type of approach to the statue, you reach the base of the mountain on which the Buddha sits. You then have to climb 268 steps to reach the top. Picture: Ngong Ping with the Tian Tan Buddha in the background

It is a truly spectacular sight and something not to be missed when you come to Hong Kong.

The trip back on the skyrail was just as spectacular and we were able to watch a number of large aircraft taking off from HK International to join us in the sky.

As we were free this evening, Joseph took us to a Korean restaurant. We cooked our food at the table and really enjoyed it – but mostly the company. Things are really going extremely well for us – the hospitality is out of this world and we are doing our best to make a good impression for our country and the GSE programme.

Tomorrow, Thursday 12th, is a busy day. We visit a vocational training centre in the morning and have two presentations – one at a lunchtime club meeting and another at a evening meeting. Take care and thanks for all the good wishes we have received from home. Another update tomorrow.

Day 4 - Tuesday 10th - Beauty treatment and Rugby!!

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Today started late for most of us. We are only getting to bed very late and PP Joseph Chan is very considerate. I discovered last night that after he has dropped us off, he has a one-hous trip home. I was amazed. That is serious “Service above Self’. Once again, huge thanks to PP Joseph. Oh, and he won’t let us pay for a thing – not coffee – it’s just “No! I’m paying”. We congregated from our various places and joined PP Joseph to go to the Rotary Club of Hong Kong City North. As we were going to do a presentation, we went to a coffee shop at 11.30am and went over our presentation. All was well and we went off to the club which meets at the same Craigengower Cricket Club where we met last night for our welcome dinner with DG Albert Wong.

We were welcomed by President Terrence and his committee. PP James Hicks was there. We had met him the evening before while waiting for our welcome dinner to begin. He was on top form again and reminded us that he had been a Rotarian for close on 33 years. He also told us that he was instrumental in the chartering of the Hong City North Club.

There was a good turnout and after the usual introduction of the team and a banner exchange we discovered that we were not doing a presentation after all. A delightful young lady named Kita, a registered phsychiatric nurse was to give a talk on “Mental Disorders”. I was looking forward to some explanations of some peoples behaviour, however, just before we began she apologised that her speech was going to be in Cantonese. So we listened politely for about 20 minutes and were none the wiser. The meal however, was superb. Rotary lunches here are at least three course affairs, with red wine, water and coffee in abundance. Really excellent. At least two of us made that the only meal today – can you believe the willpower!
Picture: Desert at a Rotary lunch in Hong Kong (sigh)

After lunch, two great vocational visits – the first one to Rotarian Venice’s MENCE men’s health and beauty salon where we were clinically assessed for body/fat percentage and all sorts of other uncomplimentary things. It is safe to say that with the exception of maybe Brendan, none of us are too keen to discuss the results of our assessments! It is however, a stunning place. The treatment rooms are really something else. Absolutely 6-star luxury. Apparently the treatment is used by all the famous movie stars and big movers and shakers in Hong Kong. We didn’t ask what the treatment costs but judging by the furnishings it is going to be more expensive than a cup of coffee at McDonalds!

Picture: Us at Venice's (pronounced Ven-neice) health and beauty parlour. Venice is the lady next to Nivashni

After that we paid a visit of Rotarian Garrick’s business which is called “Smart Kids Club”. He explained that in Hong Kong there are many, many people who are not proficient in English and apart from offering English lessons to them, they offer entire English courses comprising of DVD’s, books, tapes, online internet exams – all aimed at promoting mainly English language skills amongst children. It was fascinating stuff and we watched the DVD’s with him and had a chance to ask questions.

End of our day as far as GSE business was concerned and so Nivashni and Jonathan went with Brendan to the Hong Kong Rugby Club. Brendan is a seriously keen rugby player and after eventually finding the place, we watched Brendan joining in the main team practise drills. People, please understand, we were seriously impressed by Brendan. He slotted in there as if he had been in that club for years. And it was interesting to see how the Aussie coach started noticing him. There were about ten different nationalities at the practice and they were really practising some hectic drills.

Picture: Brendan (far right) at rugby practice with the Hong Kong Tigers

So, dear Rotary friends and family, this is a GSE trip that includes all sorts of things – not just Club and Vocational visits. Watch this space. As you can see, we are having a great time with our great Hong Kong Rotary family. The acceptance and warmth is exceptional. Take care and we’ll post again tomorrow.

Day 3 - Monday 8th February 2009 - We meet DG Albert Wong

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After a late sleep-in this morning, we met in the Lodge coffee shop for breakfast. It was a full buffet breakfast – we are going to put on weight at this rate. I think Santosh is right – we are going to have to skip a meal per day in order to stay the same shape! The food is great and there is so much available! While the rest of us were having breakfast, Brendan arrived back from a run – looking fresh. He ran so far he had to catch a train back to the Lodge! Picture: Booth Lodge, WinSing Street, Yaumatei, Hong Kong

After breakfast Santosh and Jonathan went looking for a print shop to make a new name-tag (ID style) for Nivashni. We were amazed by the fact that most high street shops in Nathan Road, Kowloon – especially the specialist ones, only open aroung 12noon. Not suprising I guess when they are still open at 11pm at night.

After being quoted 150 Hong Kong Dollars by one vendor we found someone about 20 meters away who made one for us and laminated it for HK$20 – quite a large variation in price.

That done, we shot back to the hotel, seeing some real sights along the way – one being carrots bigger and thicker than cucumbers. The other stall we passed was cooking something that smelled suspiciously like “afval” or raw tripe. At this stall we watched a lady trimming some octopus-tentacle kebabs. Great tasting I’m sure by not very appetising. The good folk of Hong Kong haven’t got any qualms about seeing their dinner in all it’s original glory but I guess it’ll take a bit of getting used to. Picture: Dinner on the Kowloon Street Market!

District GSE Vice-Chair PP Joseph Chan is a marvellous fellow. He arrived at 12noon to meet us and take us to lunch at the Wanchai Rotary club which meets at the Hong Kong Hyatt Hotel in the Hong Kong Convention Centre. Luxurious isn’t the word.

After travelling on the MTR – Hong Kong’s underground tube service – we arrived in Central Island. The MTR beats any underground that I’ve been on. Spotlessly clean and efficient, it is also safe and super-efficient. The transport system is so jacked-up here. Busses every couple of seconds, red and white Toyota Crown taxis – everything just moves. We have been told and I believe it, that there is no hassle getting to any place. PP Joseph gave us each an Octopus Card which one just swipes as you go past the turnstiles and down into the MTR. They were each loaded with HK$150 and can apparently be used on the MTR, buses and just about anywhere, including 7-11 convenience stores. We are very grateful to him. Apparently it is easy to recharge these cards when the credit is used up.

But back to Central Island, Hong Kong. What a magnificent place. The buildings are out of this world. The room at the Hong Kong Hyatt where the club met today is stunning. With the regalia out and everyting in place we were welcomed by the club President David Sarju, a friendly erudite man who really made us feel welcome. At the club – with about 22 members present, we did a banner exchange and had photo’s taken. We also met a visiting Rotarian, Tim O’Connell from California USA. He is in town to investigate marketing some of his firm’s fire-fighting equipment. District Governor-Elect Ada Cheng was at the meeting as well as Wangchai is her home club. She will become District Governor of District 3450 (Hong Kong, Macao and Mongolia) on 1 July 2009 – the same date upon which PP Natty Moodley becomes DG of District 9270. Brendan got the contact details of a rugby club in the area. He either wants to do some training with them or he is considering a career as a Hong Kong rugby star! We’ll watch developments. No presentation because this was just a courtesy visit to PP Joseph’s home club. We are doing our first presentation tomorrow at lunch at the Rotary Club of HK City North.
Picture: The team with PP Joseph Chan (left) and Wanchai Club President David Sarju

The meal was 5-star – Prawn and Peach salad starter, Grilled Sea Bass main course and a delicious desert. This was followed by coffee. The speaker was a gentleman who owns an Internet marketing company and was very interesting. He spoke about the advantages of marketing on the internet – huge audience and very quick turnaround. One of the statistics he gave was astounding – in Shenzen, China which is a shopping mecca, apparently 42% of all sales ore done online despite the profusion of shops of all varieties. Something to make one sit up and take notice.

At the end of the meeting, Jonathan was presented with a leatherbound momento of his and the teams visit including a photo taken at the banner exchange at the beginning of the meeting. Organised!!

After the meeting we strolled through the magnificent Convention Centre and PP Joseph got us into a fire-fighting equipment exhibition. Very interesting and we bumped into Tim O’Connell again.

After that it was MTR back to the hotel and freshen up and move some luggage. Jonathan and Nivashni are moving to home hosts – Nivashni to PP Winnie Yuen of Happy Valley Rotary Club and Jonathan to a room in an apartment owned by Rotarian Or Sik Ling. The move will take place after the evening welcoming function and the Craigengower Cricket Club. Siyanda, Santosh and Brendan will stay on at the Booth Lodge for the time being.

The welcoming function was wonderful. At that meeting, which took place in a private dining room, we met District Governor Prof. Dr. Albert Wong. He is a lovely, warm and friendly man. Apart from the team and DG Albert, people at the supper were PP Joseph Chan (District GSE vice-chair), DGE Ada Cheng, PP Kenny Chow, DG Nominee (2010/2011) Jason Chan, PP Tenny Leung, PP Alex Leung (who is the team leader for the GSE coming to District 9270 this year), Rotarian Or Sik Ling (who despite being in his seventies is fondly referred to as Baby Or because he has only been a Rotarian for 2 or 3 years. Picture: (from left) DG-Elect PP Ada Cheng, District Governor Albert Wong, Jonathan and PP Alex Yeung who is the District 3450 Outgoing Team Leader of the GSE team coming to District 9270 from Hong Kong during April and May 2009

DG Albert welcomed us with a speech to which Jonathan replied on behalf of the team, bringing greetings from the team and DG Hennie, GSE Chair Annette and D9270. The HK Rotarians knew each team member and their bio details. It was moving that they had taken the trouble to do this. Banners were exchanged and each team member was given a gift and a Chinese New Year lucky packet. Jonathan presented DG Albert with a gift from DG Hennie which was gratefully received.

We then had a 12-course (I kid you not) dinner. The food was Chinese – absolutely delicious and everyone sort-of eventually mastered the chopsticks. We didn’t know it was going to be 12-course – so we tucked in enthusiastically at the start. Some of us were taking a bit of strain by the time the desert arrived, but I can tell you, the team were wonderful and one would have thought we ate 12-course Chinese meals every day. Remember what I said about our shapes!! Weight-Watchers get ready!! You’ll have a couple of new members when we get back.

All in all a lovely day. We are all looking for places to jog before we get ready for our meeting tomorrow. It’s our first presentation and we’re meeting at a coffee house at 11.30am to go over our presentation before the meeting.
Hoping everyone at home is well. We’ll keep you up-to-date. Goodnight.

And here we go! Off to Hong Kong!

2009-02-09T19:35:00.003+02:00

Our GSE trip is on the go! Yesterday we gathered at Durban International to catch our flight to Johannesburg. We got together a bit earlier and had coffee, chatted and generally got ourselves organised. Santosh had collected our blazers and shirts from Gem Schoolwear – we got ourselves dressed and had photos with our District 9270 Governor Hennie de Bruin and GSE District Chairperson Annette van Bergen. It was great to have them there to send us off. DG Hennie gave us a South African flag and a whole bunch of beaded necklaces to give to our friends in Hong Kong.
There were tears at the Airport – I guess a month away is a long time for loved ones who are waiting for our return. It was very special to have so many family members and loved ones there to see us off.

We arrived in Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International in good time to get all our stuff across to the International Departures section. Our only snag was Nivashni’s name tag falling off her blazer and although we did a thorough search – no joy. But we’ve got the original artwork and we’ll get her another in the first day or two in HK.
Picture above: District Governor of Rotary District 9270, Hennie de Bruin with the team at Durban International

Our flight to HK left at 4.50pm on Saturday – very long flight – over 13 hours – but although long was very pleasant – not bumpy, and the service from the SAA cabin staff was great. We arrived at Hong Kong International at 12.15pm (HK time – around lunchtime). It was strange to think that it was 6.15am at home. Hong Kong is exactly 6 hours ahead of SA time.

No problems getting through customs etc. Hong Kong International is an amazing airport and has apparently won plenty of awards as one of the best airports in the world. It is huge, very modern and spotlessly clean.

Getting out into the arrivals hall, we were welcomed very warmly by D3450 GSE Chair Stella Kan, Tenny Leung and Kenny Chow. It was great to meet them and we took photo’s and chatted before going out to a large coach/bus which took us the fair distance into Kowloon. Lots of interesting sites along the way and we were amazed to hear that the average Hong Kong family live in apartments between 20 m²and 50m² in size. That is something to get our heads around, coming from South Africa where there is so much space. Tenny told us that Hong Kong has a population over 7 million people in an area of 1,000 square miles (or is that kilometres?). Amazing.

Picture above: the team with (from left PP and District 3450 Foundation Chair Kenneth Chow, District 3450 GSE Chair PP Stella Kan and PP Tenny Leung

We soon arrived at the Booth Lodge, which is a Salvation Army lodge (Hotel) attached to the Salvation Army headquarters in Win Singh Street, Kowloon. It is a very nice place – we are staying in apartments for our first night. Nivashni and Jonathan are going to home hosts tomorrow, but Brendan, Siyanda and Santosh will be staying there for the time being.

We had a quick meal with Stella and Tenny at Booth Lodge, after which they left us to catch up on some sleep. That was really needed – especially by Jonathan – sleeping on the plane didn’t work . After about 4 hours sleep, we got up, freshened up and went down for another light meal before we decided to hit the streets and look around. Booth Lodge is just off Nathan Road which is apparently a seriously famous shopping road in Hong Kong. Now you’d think that being around 9pm on a Sunday night it would be quiet. We couldn’t believe how busy it was – most shops still open – and the a street market just off Nathan Road which must run for 6 full city blocks. Absolutely jam-packed with people. Vendors selling just about everything you can imagine – from fake watches to really beautiful jewellery. Some of the eating establishments were really mind-boggling. Huge trays of live prawns, crabs, oysters and all sorts of shellfish. You select, they cook and hey! Presto! We have decided to stick with lodge food for the time being until we get a bit more adventurous.

So a great first day. We are all collapsing into bed again around midnight.

Tomorrow is free until 12noon when we are being collected by District Vice-Chair Joseph Chan. Stella has told us that he is taking us to a Rotary lunch and then to our official welcome in the evening where District Governor Albert Wong will be present. We are looking forward to that and will be putting our best foot (feet) forward.

This is going to be such a great trip and we are very grateful to the Rotary Foundation, our District 9270 and District 3450 for making it possible. DG Hennie, thanks for setting this trip up those 2 years ago. And finally, but by no means less important, thanks to our loved ones and our employers who sent us with their blessings.

That’s it for today. Signing off at 1.45am HK time – yawn.

OUR FIRST LIVE PRESENTATION

2009-01-28T18:41:00.005+02:00

We had a whole day's polishing and refining of our presentation on Saturday 24th January in Umhlanga Rocks. Nivashni's mom sent us a delicious mutton breyani that she had prepared specially for us - and fortified by this wonderful meal, we made our plans to do our first presentation to the Rotary Club of Empangeni on Tuesday evening 27th January.

We chose Empangeni because they were good enough to invite us - and also because they are Brendan's sponsoring club. We arrived there after a long drive, Jonathan from Port Shepstone, Santosh from Durban and Siyanda doing some low flying from Howick. Brendan and Nivashni (who brought her sister Rekshree along), had shorter drives from Empangeni and Richards Bay respectively.

We were welcomed very warmly by the Rotarians of Empangeni and in particular by their President, Jim Dowe, who has spent time in Hong Kong and told us lots about it - makes our excitement even greater! The meeting started with the induction of a new Rotarian into the club which was a great thing for the GSE members to witness. We were all introduced to the 'newest Rotarian in the world'. Then it was time for us to present and with Brendan having sorted out all the technical stuff, we were ready. Each one of the GSE team did a great job and we were complimented very kindly by the Rotarians and their Anns and partners. A couple of good ideas were suggested for making our presentation even better, one of the suggestions being that we arrange for a rolling photo collage of beautiful and varied pictures of South Africa to roll as a slide show in the background once our presentation has been completed. We are definitely going to do something about that.We then had a great supper and good fellowship and eventually left just before 9pm for our trips home. Before leaving, we had a group photo taken with President Jim which is posted above.

Well, that was a big milestone for us, and now it's last minute preparations and packing. We have been issued with our electronic airline tickets but we are still waiting anxiously for our itinerary. No doubt we will have it anyday now and we can't wait to see what the next month holds in store. We'll keep you posted.

GSE Team to D3450 in 2009

2009-01-16T16:25:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,

As you will soon see, a blog has been set up to share our experiences on our Rotary Group Study Exchange (GSE) trip to Hong Kong. We mean to let everybody who’s interested keep up to date with what we are doing.

The team members are: Nivashni Vandayar, Santosh Beharie, Siyanda Ngcobo and Brendan Gilbert. The team is being led on the trip by Jonathan Brauteseth, a past president of the Rotary Club of Port Shepstone. The team members are so thrilled to have been selected. For those of you who aren’t sure what a GSE trip is all about, here is a quotation that might help:

The Group Study Exchange (GSE) program of The Rotary Foundation is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 and in the early years of their professional lives. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country’s institutions and ways of life, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

We are so excited! We have prepared our presentation and presented it to the local GSE committee of Rotary District 9270. They thought it was better than just good, but gave us lots of pointers for making it a great presentation. This is the presentation that we will make to Rotary Clubs in Rotary District 9350 (Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia) while we are visiting them. The presentation is about ourselves, our work, and mainly about our beautiful country, South Africa. We will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible and add as many pics as possible so that you can share with us.

We leave on Saturday 7th February from Durban at 12 noon and then from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo at 4.50pm. We get back on Sunday 8th March.

Warm regards,

The team