Hong Kong Rugby 7's

Let me say right from the outset. Canada played amazingly! Most of you probably don't even know that Canada has an international level Rugby team, especially one that is good enough to come in second in the "plate' final, which is the second tier of the 3-tier 7's play. The Rugby 7's, as I mentioned earlier, is a 3-day party - continuous world class rugby play for up to 9 hours a day, for 3 days - the rugby providing the justification for 3 days of continous drinking on the part of a goodly share of the 40,000 fans, many of whom fly in just for the 7's.

Even though you won't see it in the pictures I've included here, Canada did lose a couple matches as well, one against the Fijiian mountain-men. who ended up winning the cup final. Of course, as at every 7's, there was the odd 'streaker' (in drag in this case) to test the running skills of stadium security staff, no contest as you can see by the tail-wagging taunt in one picture. One of the most fun things about the 7's, besides the rugby and party atmosphere of course, are the costumes. I couldn't possibly capture the scope of dress-up at the 7's, but look at a couple of the pictures and then multiply it by 1000-fold.

As The Irish Rovers would say: 'Wasn't that a party!'

Hong Kong 2009 - Images of HK

There are so many amazing sights in HK. Here are just a few images:

Ivory carvings

The ever present red and white taxi,
with a twist

Office towers in Central

Central and Kowloon from the Peak

Central at night

The colourful trams

IFC Tower in Central

IFC Tower being built across the
harbour in Kowloon

Ladder Street

Market lady greengrocer!

Jade Market

Hong Kong 2009 - Flower Show and HK Park

The Hong Kong Flower Show in Victoria Park:
Orchids, orchids, orchids!
Dragon Boat and other displays






































Hong Kong Park in Central District

Hong Kong 2009 - 1

Location: Hong Kong.
When: Mar 16 - Apr 5
Why: Because it's fun!

The Monday after Mike and Robin's Stag and Doe, we were off to Hong Kong for 2 days work in what was otherwise a 3 week holiday. This was our 6th year going back to Hong Kong since leaving in 2001. There are certainly changes but not so much as one might think. Discovery Bay, where we lived for 5 years, has fewer people we know, but is more beautiful than ever, with restaurants and cafes lining the waterfront, but with 'the plaza' still at the heart of social life in DB.

Weather was warm (20+) but overcast and hazy most days. Although rain seemed to be threatening all the time, we actually had very little. The highlight of the trip, besides seeing so many of our friends and past workmates, was the Rugby 7's. This is an annual HK sporting event that draws rugby teams from 25+ countries for 3 days of practically non-stop rugby matches and definitely non-stop partying. We were fortunate to have been invited to the Manulife box, and so were wined and dined for the full 3 days.

Accomodation was a lovely little flat in Quarry Bay with easy access to public transit to anywhere in Hong Kong. And we made very good use of it, making certain we saw everything and everybody this time around! There are so many places and people we saw that picking just a single picture from any one event is almost impossible. So....instead of that....we have several posts.

This first one - a visit to Stanley Market:
The cemetary in Happy Valley
Repulse Bay - one of several beautiful enclaves on the way to Stanley
Deepwater Bay - another
Stanley Village - and still another
Stanley Market

Mike and Robin - Their Stag and Doe

March 14th - Pi day to math and computer science geeks - was Mike and Robin's Stag and Doe. It was held at Professor's Lake Recreation Centre in Brampton, overlooking the said-to-be piranha-infested Professor's Lake. Hmmmm!

The event was organized by Kristen and Steve, and I'm sure Steve will happily acknowledge that it was his teacher wife who really put it all together. And what a great evening it was! I know everyone had fun - in fact one couldn't help but have fun! There were lots of games, music, and plenty of good party food and drink; and most of all - lots of friends to enjoy it all.

Here are some highlights:

1. Golf: A family friend (Tim Crockford) designed and built an amazingly challenging golf game that entertained and frustrated a lot of golfers and would-be golfers. In the end a non-golfer - Steve's brother Paul - took home his share of the 50/50 pot, much to the disappointment of all those guys who emptied their wallets trying to get that bleepin' little white ball to go up the ramp and stay there!

2. Hockey: Steve built this target hockey game which was obviously designed for women, because most of the guys (like me) embarrassed themselves mightily trying to get the puck in the little slot. It took a woman to do it, and I am sure there are plenty of them out there thinking that this could be a metaphor....but lets stop there. In any event, Joann McManus went home with her share of that 50/50 pot.

3. Bean Bag Toss: The bean bag game, (which in fact looked more like a hockey game) featured a goaltender in action with five target holes, the most difficult being a small, between-the-legs 60 point target. There was certainly plenty of spirited competition (some would even say catfight like),ending in a five person toss-off, which at one point looked like it would require another sudden-death round.... that is until Chris (Mary's boyfriend) hit for a perfect 300 points, five 60 point tosses in a row!

4. Silent Auction: Many thanks to all those folks who donated to the silent auction (you know who you are); and to all those many more people who bid and made it the single highest fundraiser of the evening And many thanks also to Ryan and Liz, Chad and Cindy, and Sharon and Lee who volunteered their time helping to set up beforehand, and then spent most of the rest of the evening manning the games, selling tickets, tending bar, and then cleaning up. Thank you!

Thanks to everyone's hard work (Kristen in particular)and to both those who came and generously participated in the evenings fun, and those who couldn't come but bought a ticket anyway.....thanks to all of that, the evening was a huge success.

Oh yeah....there was one particular highlight of the evening; one might even say two in fact. It involved auctioning off pies. Now that might not sound all that interesting, but it sure was if you had the winning bid, or if you were a recipient of the prize - not necessarily one and the same. The pictures tell the story! Well not the whole story: Kristen did win her bid and obviously enjoyed taking pleasure in taking revenge for Mike's taunts all these years. But in the second picture, one of Robin's friends won the bid but got her pleasure from having Mike do the honours to his bride-to-be. Hmmmm.!