talk 513

First of all, I like to apologize for the delay of writing this article. My chit chats have become the same as the
distribution of prime numbers. The gap between the successive prime numbers gets larger and larger; my chit chats getting fewer and fewer. It took me quite a while to find this one is # 54. Anyway, it is better late than never.

September 12, 2003 S.S. and I got up at 4:00 AM to catch Southwest flights at 6:30 AM to San Jose from San Diego and Los Angeles respectively. We went to join Walter Mok and other Lighters in Silicon Valley/Bay area for a weekend of healthy hiking. Day one morning, four of us (Walter, Denny, S.S., and I) went up Stanford Reserve to the radio telescope. Tony missed the meeting time of 9:15 AM at Walter's driveway. He got caught in a traffic jam. It was my first hike in a long time, and the three of them were very accommodating to wait more than couple times. Denny left us after the hike, and Tony joined us for lunch at a downtown Millbrae restaurant for noodles, fried rice, etc. It was very good food comparing to LA. In the afternoon we went to another park near Carlton-Ritz outside Half-.moon Bay. More Lighters came. Pat got his hi-tech tricycle, and Ivan with his mountain bike to keep Pat company. The mountain bike got flat tires, but Pat still got enough biking with different people keeping him company. At night we went to a dinner at Joy Restaurant in Foster City arranged by Ben Chinbong. The fancy chicken wrapped in mud and baked hard to be opened with a mallet was called "Fu Kwai Gai" is the same as the one called " Joy Hwa Gai" or beggar's chicken in Hong Kong. I understand it was invented by beggars in the old country where they need to cook outdoor without a kitchen, and no tools. They have to cook the chicken with the feathers on. Some smart beggar figured out the wet mud will do the trick if it were plastered all over the chicken prior to bake or B-B-Q on open fire! For dessert, we went to Ben Chinbong's house for moon cakes from Golden Gate Bakery, and lots of fruits. S.S. and I had a full day when we retired to El Rancho. He told me that my snoring was like classical music by Yo-Yo Ma. Alas, I couldn't hear that myself.

Day two, we went to Windy Hills to hike about five miles in length and 1800+ feet in height. Tony used his new Casio from Hong Kong to take couple ultra-wide angle pictures that he put on the web-site already. At night, Tony, S.S., and I went to Shang Tung Dumpling Shop for dumplings, chicken, etc. Garrick showed up to get his pocket size hard drive that Tony bought in Hong Kong, and chocolates for mom and dad (i.e., Kuei Ling and S.S.). It is gratifying to see the second generation Lighters were brought up properly with the old culture.

Day three, we went to a Redwood forest and hiked about three miles in less than half a day, had lunch at Hong Kong restaurant, and Walter's house to rest up for the return flights leaving Oakland. Ng Kam Sik took us to the airport with ample time to spare. I was not lucky in changing to an earlier flight to LA since Sunday nights are always busy. Don't know S.S. faired better to San Diego or not. At night, I took my blood pressure reading, and got 136/56. This is quite different to my normal 170/87 with medication. So, Lighters, do start to prepare for the B to B run, walk, and dance backwards in May, 2004. I hope to see lots of you then.