Meeting the Matriarch

A cousin, Gooh Paw, and Pat in Hong Kong July 2008

We enjoyed our trip to Asia very much in 2008. Thus we are returning once more even though Europe, and Paris in particular, is a very attractive alternative. Going on this trip will be myself, my wife Teri, my younger son, Pat, and his girl friend, Kacy. Accompanying us on the Hong Kong portion of our trip will be my younger brother, James, and my Mother, Kim. Another one of the reasons we are planning to visit Hong Kong again is to see the matriarch of our family, my late Father's older sister.

Regarding the matriarch of my family, she is 95 years old and is still going strong. I think the fact that she lives on the 6th floor of a building without an elevator has helped her to maintain her health over these many years. Although she does slow down after each flight of stairs, she still manages to go up and down the stairs regularly.

I affectionately call her "Aye Gooh" (which is my attempt at translating her Chinese honorific into English). I believe it translates roughly to Eldest Aunt on my Father's side.  Pat calls her "Gooh Paw" which roughly translate to Grand Aunt on Grandfather's side. As Gooh Paw has never met Kacy, Pat's girl friend, this trip will be a great opportunity to do so.  Moreover, Kacy will meet our other relatives in Hong Kong as well. Last but not least, although Kacy has been to Europe several times, she has never been to Asia before. I hope that this forthcoming trip to Hong Kong and Singapore will be a wonderful experience for her.

Kacy, Pat and myself at our tailgate prior to the UCLA Stanford football game on October 3, 2009. Naturally, the three of us are holding cans of very refreshing non-alcoholic beverages in our hands.  After the game, we went to the Marin Brewing Company to enjoy several pitchers of refreshing beverages to drown our sorrows as UCLA lost to Stanford.  :-(

Off to Asia Again

At Corona Heights with Marin Headlands and Golden Gate Bridge in the background

As you can tell from the image, I live near San Francisco. To be honest with you, I really love living in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, there are always other locales to explore or to revisit. After almost two years since our last major trip, we are preparing to amble off to Hong Kong and Singapore again beginning on June 12, 2010.

Although today is almost 3 months before our departure, I figure I had better get back into the mindset of maintaining a blog once more. I had thought about simply continuing my last Blog, Asian Amble, but decided to do a new one instead. After all, this is a new trip with new experiences, especially of a culinary nature. We are planning to eat at seven eateries that Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmerman enjoyed on their visits to Hong Kong and Singapore. Hopefully this trip will be as enjoyable, if not even more so, than our last trip to Asia.