---------------------------dorothy@travelwithdorothy.com----------------------------------------
in this issue-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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----Letters------------Quote of------------What to Wear------------Special Handover-----------
----and Prizes---------the Month-----------and Not to Wear--------Brunch Suggestions----------

The Red Queen on travel: "...It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you
want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" -------------------------
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass-------------------Lewis Carroll

---------------- DOROTHY AT THE HONG KONG HANDOVER----------------------------
My flight came in toward Hong Kong from the southeast and circling north for Kai Tak
put Chek Lap Kok - the new airport under construction - exactly below my window for
a few moments. And then the new Tsing Ma bridge, the world's longest road-rail
suspension bridge, for another moment before we are above Kowloon, over which
contentious bit of land my plane sinks lower (rather like landing at Paro, but with buildings
instead of mountains to mark the runway.) A new airport! Perhaps this is my last landing
at Kai Tak where I've been coming since 1960 and most memorably landed a second time
on that 1960 trip when my sea/air plane took off from the bay in Macau and landed on this
same Kai Tak runway. (That arrival by plane from Macau subjected me to one of the most
thorough customs searches I've ever experienced.) How great to arrive from the US west
coast and find the sun is still shining and there’s enough daylight left to get me to the hotel
and, possibly , out for a snack! (I seem to usually make this journey in October or even
later in the year when the sun is setting early in the northern hemisphere, and all my energy
seems to leave with it. The antidote to this is to go around-the-world, as the planes from
the west, at least United’s from Delhi, arrive about 7a.m. and the day is ahead of me. The
price is more, but it gives a full day to search for a hotel room which I sometimes enjoy
doing.) Oh, wonderful Hong Kong! So orderly, so (comparatively) safe, so English-speaking.
What will happen to you? My tourist perspective is almost in tears. I found some other
perspectives later. ( continued below)
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---LETTERS AND PRIZES---Since this is the first edition there are no questions yet.
Send them to dorothy@travelwithdorothy.com and if yours is chosen to answer in the
next issue you will receive via post office mail a prize of some cheap gewgaw.
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A little money-changing ($40 US) and I'm out to the row of Airbuses. Recently I've
been taking A20 to Pacific Place and the Conrad, but the Conrad refused to take me
for the Handover period (curse them!) even though I requested it when I stayed there
in Novenber of 96. So its "A Central and Wanchai" for me. But from the bus dropoff
point the Harbour View International House is nowhere in sight. (Shall I try Alice's
plan of reaching the top of the hill by walking in the opposite direction? [see Quote
above], or should I muse on a tourist's dilemma in a city with a New Harbour Hotel,
a New World Harbour View Hotel, a Harbour View International House, an
International Hotel, and a Grand Stanford Harbour View Hotel, to name a few.)
I set out with my luggage, keeping to the right and guiding myself by the sun's slanting
rays from the west coming through the slots of sky between the buildings. As a
pedestrian I had to cross most of the busier streets by overpasses which led directly
into the first floor of huge office buildings through which I had to wend my way to the
next overpass. I had located this hotel the previous November by purposely
overshooting my target and descending to street level in the small park my map showed
on the waterfront beside the Hyatt and there I had sat nonchalantly on a bench
pretending to admire the statues but really searching the buildings across Harbour Road
until I realized that a modernistic red tile mural was actually spelling out an elaborate
YMCA. But this time I came upon the hotel from the rear. ( Much like Alice) I turned
a corner and found myself actually walking in at the door. They were expecting me, but
only for five nights and I was to be turned out on June the 28th, to make room for some
media person. In fact I had no hotel for the crucial Handover on June 30. Oh, well,
there is always a friend's suggestion of the airport and tomorrow is another day. Actually
I began my touristic duties immediately upon reaching my room. It had a harbour view
window from which I could see not only the Convention Center, site of the handover,
but also the royal yacht Britannia-------------------------------(continued on next page)
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--------------------------SPECIAL HANDOVER BRUNCH------------------------------------

On the British Side__________________________On the Chinese Side--------------------
Oat porridge or gruel________________________Congee (rice porridge or gruel)
Scrambled eggs ____________________________Salt-preserved hard boiled eggs
Sliced ham_________________________________Salt-preserved marinated ham
____________________________________________both the above cut in cubes
Bacon_____________________________________Finely-shredded salt pork
Baked Beans__________________________________to be sprinkled on top
Grilled tomato halves__________________________Pickled vegetables
Toast, butter, jam_____________________________Dim Sum - one or two varieties
English tea or coffee, milk and sugar_______________Chinese tea
__________________________________________________________________________
A rather cynical view of other nation's cooking suggests that on the Chinese side the congee
should be very weak, the cubed marinated ham should be all bone and gristle and the vegetables
so firm that while their beauty is outstanding their chewability leaves something to be desired.
As for the British, the cereal is to have gotten cold, the bacon so underdone that its opalescent
fat should glow through the baked beans. The tomato halves (pronounced toe-MAH-toe)
should be so overgrilled that they have broken open and begun to dissolve before being
carefully burnt. The toast should be prepared and placed into the toast holders and on the
table the night before.
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