new and old

  

I don't go to "the island" very often, but when I do, I like to wander through the old neighborhoods, and ride the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour. It was the first cool wintery day here - about 14C/57F - that felt even cooler because of the rain and wind. 

After a morning appointment in Causeway Bay, I wandered through the market streets of Wanchai to the redeveloped Lee Tung "Wedding Card Street" where I found all of the old printers have gone except for one - the old street widened and replaced by shops and restaurants with luxury apartment buildings looming overhead. I didn't take many photos due to the weather, but these red crates of bottles were a bright spot in the grey.

I settled in a comfy leather armchair for an early lunch at Le Pain Quotidien, one of many, but the first in HK; a place originally founded in Brussels when the chef could not find good bread. I had the Farmer's Lunch set - an open faced sandwich, hummus, salad, and soup. I sat and read, and people watched. There were groups of young moms with nursing babies (yes!), some other older women who I assume had a few hours to themselves while their children were in school, a few singles working on laptops, and some couples. They served coffee in a bowl so I figured I would drink the soup the same way.

After my afternoon appointment, I walked through the streets made famous by The World of Suzie Wong on the way to the Wanchai Star Ferry - a sad sight on its own while the MTR builds its Shatin to Central Link. 

There was a Japanese fish market with shops and restaurants on the second floor of the ferry terminal that is currently closed due to lack of traffic due to the construction. A little shop selling wagyu remains selling well-marbled cuts of beef.

On the way to the ferry, the two trees at Central Plaza seemed paradoxical. The fancy new Marriott hotel The St. Regis also stuck out among the older buildings.

Once on the Kowloon side I walked along the waterfront past the Clock Tower and Cultural Centre to check out the HK Museum of Art, that had just opened after a four-year renovation, but found it closed.

I wandered instead to the artsy K11 Musea mall that houses the first MoMA Design Store in HK (temptation!) as well as other upscale shops and restaurants. The mall is part of New World Development's redevelopment of the area called Victoria Dockside consisting of office building, serviced apartment residences and luxury Rosewood Hotel.

Despite the Instagram friendly decor of the mall, I only snapped a photo of yet another "first in HK" place I happened to go to (I really didn't plan it!) The French bakery, Gontran Cherrier, has a restaurant, coffee and cakes counter, and a separate bakery takeout area.

Most of my friends love chocolate pastries, but I'm partial to almond, so before heading home, and noticing only a short line up to pay, I got a financier and an almond croissant. Yes, both were delicious!

Genealogy - Fong Cash Store est 1929

My maternal grandfather, Ping Fong emigrated to the U.S. and arrived Marianna, AR in 1929 then opened Fong Cash Store in Brickeys.  The family moved to Hughes in 1947 and opened another store there.

Ping Fong and wife, Seid Mei Yen Fong behind the counter, from right to left, oldest to youngest - daughters Carolyn, Ping Shong, and Hing, son Ping Jr. all went to Hughes High.

Hing and Ping Shong at your service

His daughter, my aunt, has a last remnant of the store, a countertop display jar for nickel bags of roasted peanuts. 

Bottom of the jar says Property of Tom Huston Peanut Company, Columbus, Georgia, but the lid was imprinted with another snack company's name, Lance. The lids seemed to have been switched with another jar. Maybe my Uncle Ping has it.

fr Wikipedia: Tom's Snacks was founded in 1925 and sold several times before Lance, another snack company founded 1913, bought Tom's in 2005. Lance merged with Snyder's in 2010 to become the nation's second-largest snack company. Snyder's-Lance is owned by Campbell's as of 2018.

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Genealogy post - Mom's family, some info on Dad's

Genealogy post - more on Dad's family

a year post Carr Fire

I love to browse through books, especially free books presented lovingly, often times in little shelved cabinets; these sharing libraries built to withstand the weather, alongside the home of the owner, who, despite loving owning books, has realized that they have acquired so many that they weed out those for someone else who may enjoy the read.

As it happened, I picked up a biography called "Shelf Life," the story of an avid reader, turned author, who found herself working part time for a year in a bookstore.

When she describes, in twenty some-odd pages, her childhood and grammar school reading habits, it reminded me of my own, and how I read and logged so much during a school readathon that I read everything in the school library and a good many at the city library enroute to winning, what else, but a book, a fat compilation of stories that was inscribed by the librarian with a message to continue thirsting and seeking knowledge.

The reason I recall this, this memory made more poignant, is due to the fact that I left that heavy volume at my parents' home, the home I came of age in, then left to go to college, work, marriage, and family-raising; the home that was destroyed in the Carr Fire a short year ago.

I had a chance to visit the property recently when visiting my mom who continues to live in the area. Familiar and not so familiar plants are sprouting from the land amidst chipped up remnants of the trees that did not survive. Among the green and golden plants were deer droppings and quartz stones, and small pieces of the concrete stucco that was the exterior of the structure that was lived in by our family for forty years. We picked up a few stones to save, the jagged surface and patterns reflecting life's meanders and a solid reminder to be thankful always.

The sloping tree was my favorite one to climb and lounge on. The actual limb I sat on reached toward the edge of the house so was cut off many years after I moved away. The fuel tank was moved there after the fire. 

Update 2020: The San Francisco Chronicle media project 150 Minutes of Hell: Inside Northern California's Deadly Fire Tornado was a finalist for the 2019 Online Journalism Awards, but lost out to another project on another devastating fire in November 2018. The Camp Fire tore through the Feather River Canyon and obliterated the town of Paradise, near Chico, CA. Chico was where my mother evacuated to and stayed with friends for a few months before moving back to Redding. She rented a studio apartment at Holiday Hilltop Estates, an independent senior living community.

climbing at Pinnacles

I usually don't arrive stateside until the heat of summer has begun, so have been enjoying the cooler weather and seeing all sorts of blooms - trees, flowers, bushes, weeds, even. 

A last minute getaway to Pinnacles National Park was planned for Memorial Day weekend. Alex and I drove north Thursday and Maggie and friend, south, on Friday. The pinnacles were formed as a result of volcanic activity some 23 million years ago. This unique rock that can be tough on one's fingers.


All the camp sites in the park were booked, and we weren't successful nabbing a walk-in, so Alex and I went for a short hike Friday morning, but saved our legs for Saturday rock climbing. The highest peak is at a punishing elevation of 2720 feet! We went out to the coast for lunch dune walk after setting up camp in an RV park near San Juan Batista. There was plenty of space - trees for shade and grass - picnic table, fire pit, running water, flushing toilet, but no shower. 

  

We got an early start Saturday morning to meet our hired guide from Santa Cruz based, Adventure Out. Marcello was very personable and knowledgeable, having spent his climbing career outdoors. The company provided all the equipment, and Marcello set up the top ropes on multiple climbing routes. He also gave advice for lead climbing. 

We climbed a couple of routes at Teaching Rock aka Toprope Wall (elevation 1688 ft). Some people refer to this location as the camel hump because of the look of the rock formation. In the distance behind us was Discovery Wall and above us raptors and condors circled. An overcast morning cleared to bright sun and blue skies while the temperature inched upward. I was glad our climbing sites were shaded although we had to scramble a bit to get to an area called Upper Crust (elevation 1934 ft) above Bear Gulch Reservoir.


I was first introduced to the sport while in college at UCSC and it had been nearly 30 years since I had been to this park as it is too hot to visit in the summer when we are normally visiting. In the ensuing years, I've only climbed on man-made walls and indoors with the kids. 

Checking out the routes at Tourist Trap

sitting on the "camel hump"

The routes we climbed had some amusing names, like When In Doubt Run It Out and Organ Grinder. Others describe a feature in the route, like Hole Route (see in three photos) or Center Chute.

using the hole in Hole Route

 

Discovery Wall in the distance

  

Bear Gulch Reservoir - cave of same name closed due to maternity colony of bats

top of Upper Crust where Marcello set the ropes for us

 

top of Upper Crust with the peak most emblematic of the Pinnacles

view of Upper Crust from behind a big boulder called Monolith

condors and raptors flying overhead

same rock formation!