The Sydney Group in Hong Kong

We welcomed Helen and Spencer in Hong Kong amid their ambitious travel plans to Tibet, Sanya and Macau using Hong Kong as their springboard. The dinner at the Tsui Hang Village restaurant on 25 May was well attended by other Sydney alums as they also happened to be here. Victor and Lisa had been back to Australia since our last gathering and Peter was whipping up his appetite for a mussel meal with Kwong Ming in Syndey in the coming week. It is always nice to meet up with old friends whether at home or overseas.

Photo courtesy Victor Chan

S America - Agentna

This is the last of three parts of Fiona and Walter's trip to South America. If you want to read the earlier parts, please click here.

Buenos Aires marks the end of our South American trip. We spent 3 full days in this capital of Argentina which appears to be very prosperous and densely populated. Roads are congested with domestic cars and buses. The main avenues are very wide. The widest road in the heart of the city has 8 lanes on each side. There are monuments in every district. There are trees in squares where a monument stands. There are lots of sculptures in parks. It has very much an European touch. The old buildings each has their own design join together to form a block. Odd new buildings in the historic built up area blends in well. We visited the cemetery in the district of Recoleta which has French culture. It is accessible to the public free of charge. In it are stunningly huge burial sites of the rich and prominent families which look like mini chapels. We peeked through some of these structures that have doors and could see coffins stacked up on one side and an alter in the far end. Among those rested in the cemetery was Eva Peron, the beloved "Evita” of Argentina who got her fame by helping her husband to run the presidency giving moving speeches and was very much loved and missed by the Argentineans.

Talking about Argentina, I must mention their Tango. It is different from the ballroom Tango. The Argentineans dance their Tango with passion and emotion, not only on stage in grand after dinner shows, in the streets and also on pavements at restaurants which has outdoor tables and chairs in Caminita in the district of La Boca. An Argentinean BBQ meal is sumptuous. One portion of meat on the plate is big enough for both of us. Argentineans eat rice too. Their rice is short grain but not sticky like the Japanese rice. We did not mind eating in what they call themselves a "restaurant” in the shade under the trees in the back yard of a house where the BBQ stove and the stewing wok are out in the open. The food was authentic Argentinean, delicious and inexpensive. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
Overall, our trip was an eye opener for us.

Once again, we would like to thank Fiona for sharing with us their South America experience. If you have befriended Fiona at Facebook, you can of course see many more of her photos taken during the trip.