An Evening with David

David was Vicky's first boss and has become a sort of career advisor (he calls himself her Sifu).  I met him first back in my 2012 visit at Hong Kong Disney.  Since we were back in Hong Kong, he invited us out for the evening.  We started at a nice rural style restaurant where we met up with his wife Gladys and their son Carlos.  It was pleasant meal.

After the meal they took us for a quick tour of their area of Hong Kong.  We were talking about real estate prices and down to the waterfront near their favorite bike path.  Later we went to their apartment to see what an upscale Hong Kong apartment looks like.  We also got to meet their small dog.

A Fast Boat to Hong Kong

While I'm on vacation, Vicky still had a couple of client meetings to attend to. So on Monday we said goodbye to Tiger and headed to Hong Kong. This time we decided to bypass the multiple busses in favor of taking a fast ferry. Unlike the Seastreak in NJ, we had to stay inside and I was stuck with only some iPhone photos taken from my seat trough some dirty plexiglass.

Still, Hong Kong harbor held some interesting sights. 

An Incredible Dinner and Reunion with Work Colleagues

On Sunday evening, we met up with Cathy and Ruby and their families.  Ruby was Vicky's assistant when she owned her own business, and Cathy and Vicky have worked together for years - they even live next door to each other in Vicky's building.  We went to one of the restaurants that Wen Feng (Vicky's cousin... we saw his new apartment last year) manages.  It is in a huge building that houses nothing but restaurants.

Our banquet room was a large space with an impressive dining table, spotless decor, and a spacious sitting area.

Vicky ordered, and then we visited for a while as the meal was prepared.  What a meal it was!  This restaurant really paid attention to presentation and each dish was a masterpiece.

Again, I was the group photographer and Ruby and Xiao Liu posed with their daughter (______ I forget her name), and Cathy and William posed with Cathy's daughter Harmony.  I had the honor of giving Harmony her English name.  She said she likes to sing and her Chinese name (______ sounds a little like the word harmony).  She shared a beautiful rendition of My Life Will Go On at the end of the meal.

After dinner, we went downtown and visited with Wen Feng and his wife's family.  Guangzhou's TV tower (in the distance in pink lights) was all lit up so I grabbed a quick photo.

You Never Know About Traffic...

As we're traveling around Guangzhou, we're constantly hitting little mini traffic jams.  These aren't like in NJ where they can last for miles and 20 to 30 minutes, they tend to be brief jams at points where traffic is crossing... lots of cars shifting at high speeds, from left to right to exit, while another stream is shifting from right to left to enter.  Things like that.  Frequently we'll sit in traffic for 2 to 5 minutes and then the whole mess suddenly all seems to accelerate at once without any apparent "reason" for the jam up.

The other day we got to see what caused the traffic jam...

Zong Zi Lunch

Vicky's brother, Tony, gave us a special lunch that his colleague's family prepared.  Zong Zi consists of some pork surrounded by young beans, rice and finally wrapped in a lotus leaf.  The whole thing is steamed and has an incredible flavor!

A Day With Middle School Friends

(Editor's Note:  Evidently blogging is being blocked in mainland China... all my backdoors into the blog don't work.  I'll share a couple of updates today from Hong Kong, but if I go dark after that don't worry... I'm being well cared for in Guangzhou.  You'll get the rest once I get back.)

On Saturday, Vicky invited her friends from Middle School over for a visit.  This series of friends has stayed together over the years... several of them own businesses and really support each other in each person's endeavors.  The day started with them all bringing their children over for a portrait session.  (Yes, I took a flash and a reflector to China with me.)  We had a great morning shooting various combinations - even Tiger (Vicky's nephew) joined Vicky and me for a "family" portrait.

(I won't bore you with all the photos... check out www.georgereiner.smugmug.com for the others - under "Travel" and "2014 Chinese New Year")

We had a great time hanging around Vicky's apartment for a while before heading over to Dim Sum.  Then in the afternoon we went over to the Agile development's recreation center and used their indoor sports arena for some badminton.

Throughout the day I observed that kids in China are just like kids in the USA... in a mixed social situation, they prefer to get lost in their cell phones (probably texting each other), and responding to the occasional interruptions by adults.

Late in the afternoon, the kids were returned home and we all met at a restaurant above a local fish market... talk about fresh seafood!  Their favorite teacher (who was only 20 and just starting out when they were in their senior year of middle school) joined them for a true celebration.  The starting dish was this plate of huge "peapod" shrimp.  Again, I was the group photographer.