Laughs & Love from Shanghai to Toronto Part 2

Irene Tsai continues her report on the hearty gathering with Malcolm & Vicki Au in Toronto.
For Part 1 of the report, please click here.

Fay Lo gave us his reviews on the Cultural Revolution, Shanghai’s past, now and the future, long live Chairman Mao and his finished and unfinished works, the importance of literacy to all in China, therefore, the Simplified Chinese, Entrepreneurial Skills in China, and even how to raise up a champion daughter in the modern world. Naturally, with his LARD LARD SANG Mandarin, he taught us PINYIN (Chinese phonetic translation and proper pronunciation), using examples to convey to us its proper connotation, for example the word Qu as in the Dragon Boat Qu Yuan in the Simplified version sounds like Go and is the same word in writing in Mandarin. It all makes good sense after all.

Then, pulling out his IBM Think Pad, this Chemical Engineer is also an artistic, feverish wildlife biologist and photographer, who showed us some of his most impressive drive-by shootings (guys, not what Toronto was famous for awhile ago on a daily or weekly basis on the news) in Africa, in the Galapogos, and where else, guys? Pardon me for being such an ADD. I wish I had brought my portable projector with me to the restaurant if I had known about the oncoming slides Fay Lo had brought along. I have to admit I was really behaving, prim and proper the whole time at the dinner table in front of respectful non-Jubilean wives. Fay Lo, I hope we were not an embarrassment in front of your classy wife who we had the privilege to meet for the first time. But, I have to warn you guys that you will have to expect a pretty “dean” me @ our ’07 reunion among us, the Jubileans.

Fay Lo even showed us the precise details of the survival habits in the animal kingdom, he even captured the reflection of his 4 x 4 inside the iris of an ultimate wild baby. I opened my big mouth to ask FAY LO what make of camera he was using for those exotic images. I had to HUT TWO (spit it out), meaning ask another question again. Apparently, I asked the wrong question. The correct question should have been, “So, who was the photographer and how did he take such great shots?” Hahaha!!!! This FAY LO is multibrained and HO YAU BARN FAT in everything he does. He’s a self-taught artist, what can I say? Hey, Fay Lo, that was the best dessert you fed us that night. With unblinking eyes and little faces all glued to the laptop screen, I felt that all of us (like Dai Heung Lay Chute Sheng) have travelled to Africa with Fay Lo back and forth after our Peking Duck dinner. No kidding! I had dreams of those cute cubs that night, just like in the movie “Born Free” from many, many years ago.

Oh, incidentally, two agenda items were brought up and discussed at the dinner table. We (all 8 of us) have unanimously recognized the importance and the true meaning of setting up a scholarship fund instead of spending big bucks on some stupid 40th anniversary coffee mugs, pens and pins. Therefore, let’s just scrap that idea now. And once again, the anticipated sizzling August weather in Asia seems to be still causing many of us our ongoing worries and headaches. Leaving the other celebrating events and dates untouched (including the cruise and the 40th banquet), we now would like to modify the dates of our land tour to Vietnam, seriously looking at the possibility of any week(s) in October or at worst even the last week in September. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger!!!

Our lovely rendezvous had to come to a happy pause as we were the only patrons left in the restaurant plus the warm, generous, and utterly charming couple had to get up @ 4 a.m. to catch their Vancouver flight to chase after another hearty project or engagement. I asked the happy wanderer at the end of the evening, ”Where’s the best place to retire to?”, which was the same question I had asked Kwong Hoi Chau @ our August meet. I was given a whole bunch of workable possibilities, an array of nice places on different Pacific Rims. But, Fay Lo’s answer was very instant, short and dandy. He said that the best palce to retire to is to be next to his pretty wife. Guys, go figure! Hahaha!

I don’t know about you guys, but I could totally go for another Fay Lo’s party any day, any time and any place. Fay Lo, if you can only point me out, teach me to say a few down to earth potent expressions in Mandarin, I’ll fly into Shanghai for just a day to sightsee the city and to visit your unique Shanghai Tarn . How cool.

Fay Lo, you’re truly a one of a kind. Bless your heart! You have the wisdom, the endurance, the passion, time and resources to do anything and everything to protect the endangered species. Please, do not forget to protect yourself next time you’re out there in the wilderness, for I think you definitely belong to the endangered species category in our class of ’67. Come visit us soon! Happy Thanksgiving to all!