talk533

This is an invitation to you to join the San Francisco area Lighters in the world renowned “Bay to Breakers” footrace. We are planning several days of activities before and after the 7.5 miles walk for charity. The central event of the proposed “BtoB Rendezvous” is of course the footrace itself on Sunday May 16, 2004 (http://www.baytobreakers.com/history/facts.html), preceded by several days of sports and followed by a celebration rendezvous in the late afternoon. Short sightseeing trips of general interests are also proposed. What follows is an outline of our preliminary plan. It is presented for your consideration of joining us in California come next May.
More information will be shared as the planning proceeds. In the meantime, for more info, please call Ben Chinbong (chinbong@pacbell.net) , Tony Kwok (tonykwok@aol.com), or anyone of the Bay Area Lighters [see note 7].

• February 1, 2004—Roll-call of potential participants to the Lighters BtoB Rendezvous. Need to arrive at a headcount estimation.
• March 1 – Confirmation of Lighters BtoB Rendezvous itinerary and costs per activity. Detailed program will be then available for you [note 1]
• April 1—Deadline for registration for the BtoB walk (cost estimated $35), and for reservation of hotel rooms [note 2] which is estimated to be less than $89.
• May 11 to 14—Tuesday to Friday, four days of golf games and tennis playing for the active classmates [note 3]. Picnic in the park too
• May 15, Saturday--a free day for individual or small group adventures Receive Lighters “team uniform” for next day’s walk. [Note 4]
• May 16, 2004, Sunday--meet in the morning at 7.45am for the fun-filled foot race through the beautiful city of San Francisco. The walk should last about 3 hours.
• May 16, Sunday-- afternoon 5pm, celebration with food, drinks and music. Main purpose is for 6 hours of being together, hanging out, card games, singing Karaoke, dancing. The cost of the evening not to exceed $50.
• May 17, Monday--bus group tour to the north of San Francisco. Begin morning 8am, Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods and Napa Valley tour. Cost including lunch is about $70. [note 5]
• May 18, Tuesday--Monterey Bay tour to the south. Bus leaves at 8am, Cost around $80. Point Lobos, Carmel Village, Cannery Row and Aquarium.
• May19, Wednesday--potentially some people may be interested in taking a hike around the Angel Island and Marin Headland, with a lunch in Sausalito.[note 6]

BACKGROUND

The Lighters in the San Francisco Bay area have been active as a small community for quite some time and particularly over the past year. There are weekly gatherings for lunch and coffee as well as monthly walking and lunch hikes. Those among us, who are sporty and athletic, such as Walter and Patrick, have been enthusiastically encouraging the rest of us to be more physically active as well. Walter Mok is a perennial runner at the San Francisco Bay to Breaker footrace for many years. Walter made a proposal that the Lighters shall partake in the walking at the world famous footrace next year. The world renowned for charity footrace will be held on Sunday May 16, 2004 in the beautiful city of San Francisco. Benjamin Chinbong wholeheartedly accepted the challenge. Danny Yeung energetically started inviting classmates from out of town. Tony began fanaticizing possible costumes. JaiYee organized monthly training hikes. Then SS Lau, Ivan Choi, Peter Tong, Gina Cheng and many others jumped on the band wagon. There will likely be about 10 local Lighters or so plus family members taking part in the walk. In addition, it is estimated that there could be more than 10 classmates from out of town to travel here to join us in this walk. Perhaps some of them will be coming with family too.

Note 1--With the excitement of forecasting the honor of the presence of many classmates and family, a proposition has been raised for a fun-filled “BtoB Rendezvous” for old friends. After several informal discussions over coffee, on the trail, and across lunch tables, there is a consensus that we probably should arrange 3 to 4 days of group events plus a few days of sporting events.

Note 2-- The registration fee for the for charity walk includes a souvenir tee-shirt. Hotel being considered is Quality Suites in Millbrae close to airport, with free cooked to order breakfast, close to Chinese restaurants, and train and BART stations, saving the expense of car rental.

Note 3-- A five-day Lighter-Ball-Cows Roundup starting on May 11 is planned as part of the preBtoB activities. This is a rare opportunity to make up lost time with fellow Lighters on a golf course or tennis court. Besides daily pickup games, there will be two organized events: East Bay Golf and West/South Bay Tennis/Golf Picnic. If you don't feel like playing, come enjoy the picnic and watch the ball-cows make a fool of themselves. To participate or find out more about this program, just send an email to lighterballcows@sbcglobal.net.

Note 4-- Keeping flexible to set up optional small group outings as dictated by interests. Examples of things to do: an adventurous cruise of the Bay, picking up the BtoB tee-shirt at the Walk exhibition, tea lunch in Chinatown, shopping at factory outlet stores, visiting Asian Arts Museum etc, etc…

Note 5-- We can further adjust the itinerary, for example, to include a ferry ride from Sausalito back to San Francisco at the end of the tour, or to stop at factory outlets in Napa. Another option is to have a group evening dinner in a restaurant at the end of the tour.

Note 6--There certainly are some other great things that one can do in the Bay area. Some of the local favorites include : ocean fishing trip, Point Bonita lighthouse, hiking along Skyline Blvd, Lake Tahoe excursions, canoeing down Russian River, drive to the Buddhist temple in Mendocino, oyster farms, Technology museums, whale watching etc.

Note 7--- Bay Area Lighters : Danny Yeung (Ding-Yeu), Patrick Wong, Walter Mok (Yiu-Wah), Jai –Lum Yee, Man-Duen Chan, Hwan-Chou Chang, Tony Kwok, Chung-Wo Chiu, Benjamin Chinbong, Kam-Sik Ng, William Kao (Chi-Way), David Lin (Hung-Yu), Gerard Lam, Peter Chang (Hon).