Leglessbird Sharing

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Dear Family and Friends,

Monet Garden, France

We hope "all izz well" with you, 2011 has been another blessed year for us. We would like to share with you what has been keeping us active since our "Leglessbird sharing 2010" (2009, 2008, 2007, 2006).

Frequent travel is getting harder with our increasingly "non-flexible" work-load, we insist on maintaining the "Leglessbird" spirit and visited India, Cuba, Mexico, Bangkok, Shantou, Singapore, France, UK and Malta. While Dominic also taught or coached in various cities in China. The trips to India, Cuba and Mexico are most eye-opening and exciting! The wonderful family trip with mum, sister and nephew in Europe united family members from 4 continents. We'll be spending Christmas and New Year in Malaysia.

We have attended a multi-weekend awakening course called "Harmonious Life" 和谐生命 that aims to enhance our relationship with friends and family, bring out our potential, maintain our well beings of body and mind, and deal with, if any, difficult issues in life. We found it very enlightening and we experienced many moments of realization. (e.g. 一個小顿悟，一個心結的解開...A moment of realization)

The organic farm in Lantau island is our favourite getaway place, we are not going there nearly enough because we are learning qigong 氣功和推手 on the weekends, something we picked up since end of 2010, we are experiencing some progress.

Dominic's highlight

Business: Worked on a number of exciting strategic consulting projects (Decisive Consulting), and conducted more corporate training, and lecturing in universities, spoke at seminars and business associations. Made new and subsequent rounds of angel investment through Dark Horse Investment in promising technology startups. Became a founding screening committee of the newly established HK Business Angels Network (HKBAN) and Honourary Project Director of Centre for Entrepreneurship (CUHK). Writing his second book (on travelling)!	Graduate University CAS, BJ
Cambridge University: Among many alumni events, organized the biennial dinner of The Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong (Jan), ran Mentorship Program (Jul-Aug), as the guest of honour at the CUCS HK dinner (Aug), and spoke at a lunch seminar at Judge Business School (Oct) in Cambridge! Helped organizing the Trinity event in HK in Dec.	Cambridge CUCS HK Dinner
Helping in Made-A-Difference (MAD) award as one of the judges, participate as a mentor to the HKUST 2012 Entrepreneurship Competition. Continuing the role of the Honourary Secretary of the Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong. Spreading the social responsibility message through his talk titled "Reflecting on our social responsibility during world travel 從遊歷世界思考社會責任"	Metropolitan Lions Club

Irene's highlight

Happy

Cocoa Fruit, Cuba

• Feel most blessed to work with my friends, care for them and their families with support from my work buddies. Something to look forward to :)
• Touched and tasted the fruit of cocoa in Cuba. Chocolate is one of my favourite snacks.
• Sleeping quality greatly improved, hence my overall energy level after applying my learnings from several teachers and classmates.
• Apart from precious family time in Europe, I also visited my classmates and ex-colleagues. I really miss them and many things in the UK and France.

Not so happy
Sadden by the passing away of a friend only in her 30s, it makes me feel that I have reached the stage where life cannot be taken for granted, treasure everything we have including friendship.

Wishes for 2012

• More time at home and rest
• To focus on several important things

We wish you and your family good health and a prosperous year ahead!

Love,
Irene and Dominic

December 2011
Follow Dominic on

Full Account of 2011

Travel:

Taj Mahal

201012 India: 2.5 week trip visiting 10 cities in India, I particularly like Taj Mahal in Agra.
201101 Suzhou: Teaching a master module on e-commerce at PolyU/Xian Jiaotong University Joint College
201101 Shenzhen, we spent a number of weekends here for the Harmonious Life course
Feb/Mar 2011 Cuba, Mexico: An eye-opening trip to Cuba, one of the last true communist countries in the world and still ruled by its revolution leader. Also amazed by the rich ancient culture of Mexico.
201103-04 Bangkok, Thailand: A relaxing trip to refresh ourselves, also hang out with the teacher of the Harmonious Life course
201105 Shantou, China, Asia 汕頭: A fellowship trip of the Metropolitan Lions Club
201109 Singapore: Attending a Cambridge alumnus wedding
201109 Beijing: Teaching at Graduate University China Academy of Science (GUCAS)
201110-11 France, UK, Malta: Family reunion, visit my University & new adventures
201112 Malaysia: Christmas trip

Cuba	Mexico	Shantou
France	Malta	Singapore

Public Speaking:
Mar 2011 HKU, Entrepreneurship Academy: "Bootstrapping your business"
Mar 2011 CUHK Centre of Entrepreneurship Webinar series "Be your own boss! Yes you can! But are you ready? "
Apr 2011 HKUST: "Be your own boss"
May HKU SPACE, Social Welfare, Social Enterprise management
July 2011 Bayview SunShine Rotary Club, Travel sharing on "Antarctica"
July 2011 Croucher Foundation new scholars send-off dinner: sharing stories of my PhD days
Aug 2011 Cyberport, Micro Fund Shenzhen Hong Kong Entrepreneur Competition, Training program: "Business plan writing , Market/Financial analysis, Negotiation"
Aug 2011 Savantas Liberal Art Academy: "My Cambridge Days"
Aug 2011 Social Camp: Think Big, Act Big!: "Reflecting on our social responsibilities during world travel"
Nov 2011 Rotary Club Central: "Reflecting on our social responsibilities during world travel"
Dec 2011 Hong Kong IT Alliance, Federation of Hong Kong Industries: "Be your own boss"!

HKUST Be your own boss	HKU Entrepreneurship Academy	Savantas Liberal Art Academy
Social Camp: Think Big, Act Big!	Rotary Club Central	Cyberport Young Entrepreneur Program Summer Camp

Lions Club:
15th Anniversary dinner
Lions Club Luncheon: Mr Bernard Chan, Prof David Faure, Mr Michael Ng, Dr Roy Chung, Ms Agnes Wu
Corporate Training:
Various Training: Trusted advisor, Negotiation, Media handling,  Problem Solving, Project Management
CUHK/HAB: Social Enterprise Practical Training
HKU SPACE/HAB: Social Enterprise Management Training

FRIENDS OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY IN HONG KONG
Jan 2011: Biennial dinner, Guest of honour Mr Anthony Bolton
Mar 2011: PolyU + Cambridge alumni Entrepreneurship seminar
Apr 2011: Vice Chancellor's Visit
May 2011: Judge Business School seminar
July-Aug 2011: Mentorship Program
Aug 2011: HKCAS Reflection Conference
Aug 2011: CUCS dinner, HKCAS freshers dinner, Formal Hall, Prince Philip Scholarship Ceremony, 30th Anniversary of The Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong
Oct 2011: Lunch Seminar at Judge Business School
Dec 2011: Trinity College Event, Shenzhen Cambridge Event

Biennial Dinner	Prince Philip Scholarship	HK Formal hall	Trinity College Event
Cambridge CUCS HK Dinner	PolyU + Cambridge alumni Entrepreneurship	Mentorship Program	Halloween St Catz

Movie recommendation: 3 idiots (India 2009)

最近參加了一個關於心靈健康的培訓課程， 在過程中我得到了一些顿悟。 這要從小時候的一件事情開始說起， 是一件童年的陰影...

記得我還是一個小孩子的時候， 我在我家樓下的超級市場滿心歡喜地準備買糖果, 到了糖果貨物架時， 發現地上有一堆自貨物架上掉下來的糖果， 我沒有理會， 只顧往貨架上拿東西， 可是站立在旁邊的一對成年男女却誤會了， 以為是我把物件弄翻了， 男的還開口罵我， 我說這不是我弄的， 我才剛到， 對方竟然說明明看到我把糖果弄得一地都是還要抵賴， 當時我心裡有百般鬱結無法與這不明真相的大人爭論， 悶悶不樂地， 心愛的糖果也沒有拿便氣沖沖的回家去了。 被冤枉的感受是非常難過的， 這件事情在我心裡留下了一個深深的記印， 不能磨滅， 直到成長後也未能忘懷。 每次回想起這事情心裡總是納悶的， 有時候會幻想一下如何跟那位男士理論一番， 以還我清白， 又有時候會希望那超級市場裝設了閉路電視， 看了錄影片段便真相大白， 還我公道。

可是這已經是不可能的事， 時光不能逆轉， 我已無法平反這事，我是這般想的...

在這個心靈的培訓課程中， 我列舉了這件事情為其中一件對我心靈上有影響的回憶，在回答問題的時候， 有一題問到這件事情對我的正面影響是甚麼？我不曾以這個角度來理解這事情， 我思考了好一會兒，忽然想到可能這事件發生後，我變得做事非常謹慎和仔細，沒有含糊的地方，不容易會被別人誤會。

把這件事用這角度來分析後，我得到了顿悟，心裡的鬱結解開了，再沒有難過的感覺，我還想親自向那位男士道謝呢！可能這正面影響的因果關係不是真的，但是那已經不重要，重要的是心結解開了！更重要的是我學會了事事以正面的角度來看待。

Dominic
July 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Sabah, Malaysia Sept 2010

Time passes too quickly, it is the end of the year again, we would like to share with you what we have been up to in 2010. (A full account of the year is given at the end of this letter). Here is the highlight.

We have not been travelling as much, with Irene settling in her new career as an independent advisor and Dominic committed to teach during semester.

• Dec 2009, enjoyed a 14-day visit to Myanmar to get a first hand experience interacting with the people in different cities and appreciating their history and culture
• June 2010, thanks to the Savantas Policy Institute, we had a fruitful trip in Shanghai attending the Expo,a training course covering many aspects of modern China, and made many new friends
• Sept 2010, a relaxing trip to Sabah, Kota Kinabalu. We saw the Orang Utan, Proboscis (long nose) Monkey and fireflies. Thanks to our friend and her mum who showed us round their beautiful home town
• A getaway weekend in Macau in Nov was most refreshing

We'll be spending Christmas and New Year in India, more about that in our next sharing.

Since 2009

• Less meat, more vegetable diet. More meals at vegetarian restaurants
• Organic farming in Lantau, ploughing, planting, watering, harvesting
• Brought friends to the farm to appreciate the joy of growing your own food, back in touch with nature and see fireflies which are still found in the area

Dominic's 2010 highlight:

I have finally published my book 八載劍橋 (My Cambridge Days) in July this year, it has been my dream to share the experience gained during my 8 happy years at Cambridge University. In Nov, I had the pleasure of giving my book in person to the current and immediate past Vice Chancellors of Cambridge University.	MyCambridgeDays.com
I enjoyed running as the chairman of the BEA International English Contest (HK chapter). I went with the 19 HK student representatives to compete in the 5-day national finals in Beijing. Our students had won many prizes including the championship in the junior and senior high division.	Click to view album
This year, in addition to consulting work, I have been doing a lot of teaching, training and speaking at numerous universities/ conferences/ corporate/ business & social clubs in Hong Kong, Macau, Xi'an and Han Zhou. I must admit, I am a very talkative person who loves an audience :-)

Irene's 2010 highlight:

Making Turkish Coffee

• A wonderful year yet also filled with exciting challenges, sometimes poor sleeping quality; on the positive side, nice surprises, supportive friendship and many blessings.
• Most fortunate to encounter 2 mentors - one advising me on enhancing my professional and communication skills, the other teaching us Qigong(氣功)and wisdom to be applied to both health and life.
• Some new friends and co-workers sharing good practices in asset management, nutrition and organic farming, etc. Surrounded by all these smart people with good heart and commitment, I feel most encouraging that the 4 important pillars of my life are gaining more solid grounds: health, knowledge and experience, family and friends, resources.

I wish to share more on my personal blog, what do you want to hear from me?

Events for learning this year that I found very useful
1) Brain-based learning for children
2) Investing with Wisdom

Next year events may include story-telling communication skills, Turkish buffet, organic farming ... if you have any good idea for learning, please update me

Please drop us a few lines when you have a moment, we would love to hear how you are getting on.
(making Turkish coffee in the photo)
Have a great holiday and wish you a healthy and prosperous 2011!

Love,
Irene and Dominic

December 2010
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FULL ACCOUNT on year 2010!

WORK
Consulting and Corporate Training highlights:
This year, my clients works are mostly on business development, feasiblity studies and restructuring. I continue to work with an international expert network GLG. I have also teamed up with an executive training company to provide a wide range of corporate training areas. For example, influencing skills workshop in Han Zhou for an MNC's offsite meeting; E-marketing techniques in Macau for an MNC regional meeting; "How to write and present a compelling business plan" for a local university; negotiation skills workshop in Shenzhen for a Chinese technology company; and trusted advisor workshop in Hong Kong.

Angel investment (Early stage venture investment):
Through Dark Horse Investment (http://darkhorseinvest.com) and personal network invested in ushi.cn 优士网 (The next China Linkedin+Ladder). We also invested in two biotech firms in Singapore in nano technology and cancer detection technology.

Teaching at universities
An MSc e-commerce module at Tonli College, Xi'an, China; a 14-week MSc module in Wireless Computing Systems and Applications (Mobile phone, Wireless LAN and Bluetooth) at PolyU; A 3-part series on "How to launch your independent career / business" for Entrepreneurship Centre, CUHK; A diploma on "High quality IT infrastructure on a limited budget" in Macau for HKU SPACE.

TRAVEL
200912 Myanmar
We visited Myanmar in December 2009 and had a great time visiting over 6 cities. Irene did an extensive search and managed to find a very good local travel agent that provides reasonable price for private tour, excellent ground trip planning and with nice and knowledgeable English speaking guides in every city, what more can we ask for? We did all our correspondence in English via email. Let us know if you want the contact info. It far exceeded our expectation, this is much more interesting than seeing through the narrow window of heavily biased Western media;

201003-201004 Silicon Valley, Ottawa
I went with the Savantas Science and Technology Delegation to Silicon Valley at the end of March. It was a very successful trip where many interesting and useful discussions/visits were conducted. Hopefully, the delegation collectively has learned the key factors that make Silicon Valley the most successful technology innovation place globally and apply them to Hong Kong. He also assisted one of his clients to settle into "Plug and Play Tech Center" in Sunnyvale. Above all, he enjoyed seeing many of his old friends in the area. Afterwards, he had a nice family reunion in Ottawa, Canada.

201006 Shanghai Expo, Training course and Suzhou	201007 Han Zhou
201009 Kota Kinabula, Sabah, Malaysia	201011 Macau

FRIENDS OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY IN HONG KONG
It has been my wish since 2002 to share the experience gained during my 8 happy years in Cambridge to fellow alumni, youngsters who have yet to explore their options, also friends and family. It took me 8 years to put everything together. Written in Chinese, a big surprise to my friends, since none of them have seen me write anything in Chinese ever since I went to boarding school in UK at 14. In November, I had the pleasure of giving my book in person to the current and immediate past Vice Chancellors of Cambridge University.

My Cambridge Days book launch	Prince Philip Scholarship award ceremony
Mentoring program	Current Vice Chancellor and immediate past Vice Chancellor's visit

Movie on Cambridge: Bachelor of Hearts

PUBLIC SPEAKING

MAD Conference (Make-A-Difference) http://www.m-a-d.asia/
In Jan 2010, Dominic helped moderated a session on "Entrereneurship" during the MAD conference (a great youth conference for promoting creativity and providing alternative career choices). It was great talking to 3 entrepreneurs and learning from them how they have each created their business from scratch and are of very different natures.

Moderating at the Web 3.0 conference on "how to get funded" at Cyberport in November 2010
Speaking on startup venture investment at InnoAsia Conference in November 2010
Speaking at HKU on "how to setup your company with minimal resource" during the Entrepreneur Seminar Series in Dec 2010
Sharing travel experience on Antarctica and using Open Source Software at offlice club talks of iProA (Internet Professional Association)
Sharing with Leo Clubs on "My Cambridge Days" and "Exploring the world"
I enjoyed tremendously running as the chairman of the BEA International English Contest (HK chapter) and subsequently, I went with the 19 HK student representatives to compete in the 5-day national finals in Beijing. Our students had won many prizes including the championship in the junior and senior high division. We are very grateful to our sponsors Sir Dr. David Li, Bank of East Asia and Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong. After the competition, all the students and their family had a great time at the celebration dinner at China Club Beijing, thanks to Sir David (Tang).

LIONS CLUB
I'm the honourary secretary of Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong this year. We have many events including Magical Night and various luncheons featuring Mr. David Webb, Mr Cheah Cheng Hye, Prof. Tony Chan and Dr. Hui Siu Ping

Book review:
不去會死 Dying to go! (Review written by Irene)

Author: Yusuke Ishida 石田裕輔

Have you ever thought about where the most beautiful place is in the world according to your own definition? This Japanese author cycled around the world for 7+ years to search this place. His encounters reveal his emotions to different places and people, the beautiful and ugly side of humanity and "a world" that you probably do not have a chance to see during your life time.

I found the title echoes my inner voice as a passionate traveller. We travel as if we will die tomorrow. I truely admire his courage to embark on such an adventurious journey. It actually reactivates my travel DNA when feeling drained after work.

Dominic's comment: The title of the book reflects our view towards travelling! 不去會死

Dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTUyODU1OTk5

Dear Family and Friends,

You are cordially invited to my book launch gathering:
My Cambridge Days 八載劍橋
http://MyCambridgeDays.com

3-6pm, Sunday 15 August 2010
M-floor, Sun House, 90 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong; 香港中環干諾道中90號大新行 M樓

Map: http://www.leglessbird.com/events/maps/20100815.jpg

Dress code: Casual
Light refreshment included, welcome to bring your own drinks (NO alcohol)

To introduce my book on Cambridge University and a gathering to thank my friends and alumni for the support and friendship. More importantly, a good excuse to catch up with everyone.

Writing a book on Cambridge University has been my wish since 2002, it has finally come true in July this year. The book includes stories and lessons learned during my time there (1988-1997) and lots of photos.

Hope to catch up with you then!
Cheer,
Dominic

Newsletter May 2010

Bagan, Myanmar Dec 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a while since our last update in Dec 2009. We hope this sharing finds you well.

In the past 6 months, there seems to be endless disasters around the world with numerous devastating earthquakes, volcano eruption, oil spill in Mexican Gulf and Singapore; major international incidents Euro zone crisis, unrest in Thailand, escalated South/North Korea conflicts. Makes you wonder what the most important things in life are.

Highlight of our activities in the last 6 months:
Travel: Christmas trip to Myanmar and Easter trip to Silicon Valley and Ottawa (more details below)

Farming: We started sub-renting a small piece of farm land in Lantau and we are loving the planting, the harvests, and the taste and health benefits of eating freshly picked organic vegetables. We wish to spread this idea and more friends can appreciate the goodness of "back to basic" lifestyle. What we have harvested so far Chinese cabbage, lettuce, shark's fin melon, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, beans, potatoes and corn (菜心，生菜，芥菜， 魚翅瓜，車里茄， 紅蘿蔔， 青瓜， 豆角， 薯仔, 玉米).

Teaching: In addition to his consulting work and angel investment, Dominic has been doing more teaching, executive training and public speaking: Xi'an Jiaotong (China), PolyU, HKUST, CUHK, HKU SPACE, Independent Professional Association, MAD (Make a difference) conference and La Salle College

Irene's new career: Irene is happy with her lifelong career as an IFA (Independent Financial Advisor)

Networking: ushi.cn 优士网: Dominic becomes one of the charter members of a new online business network community that aspires to be the Chinese Linkedin. Follow this link, and become Dominic's direct contact on the network Connect with Dominic on ushi!

Community Work: International English Contest National Finals in Beijing and regional finals in Hong Kong

Protect the environment: (1) We have started to bring our own mugs, chopsticks, knifes and forks to fast food places (instead of using their paper cups and plastic); (2) We put a sticker on our mailbox that says

支持環保! 拒收無收件人姓名和地址的垃圾郵件。
Protect the environment! Refuse to accept junk mail without recipient's name and address.

Leglessbird: Leglessbird blogs have a new look and platform: Leglessbird, Restaurant, Movie, Book, Wealth, Independent Professional, Dominic

Upcoming talk: e-Presence/e-Profit workshop, Sat 12 June 2010, 3pm
"Want to maximize your online presence?"
"Want to make money online 24x7?"
http://www.ip-a.org/events.php

Please drop us a note when you have time, we would love to hear from you!

Cheers,

Irene and Dominic,

May 2010

Follow us on:

TRAVEL
Myanmar
We visited Myanmar in December 2009 and had a great time visiting over 6 cities. Irene did an extensive search and managed to find a very good local travel agent that provides reasonable price for private tour, excellent ground trip planning and with nice and knowledgeable English speaking guides in every city, what more can we ask for? We did all our correspondence in English via email. Let us know if you want the contact info.

Golden Rock, Myanmar

Lake Inle, Myanmar

Click to view album

Silicon Valley, and Ottawa trip
Dominic went with the Savantas Science and Technology Delegation to Silicon Valley at the end of March. (External link), it was a very successful trip where many interesting and useful discussions/visits were conducted. Hopefully, the delegation collectively has learned the key factors that make Silicon Valley the most successful technology innovation place globally and apply them to Hong Kong. He also assisted one of his clients to settle into "Plug and Play Tech Center" in Sunnyvale. Above all, he enjoyed seeing many of his old friends in the area. Afterwards, he had a nice family reunion in Ottawa, Canada.

Irene's new career: Irene is happy with her new lifelong career direction.

After all the efforts, I finally enjoy working every day again. I felt so blessed when working with like-minded colleagues and delivering good values through my job or leisure activities. My mini crisis started from 2000, when I was confused what my purpose of work should be and felt that I was wasting my time. I went to study a Master degree at Warwick hoping to find my direction. An amazing year passed, but I was still lost. The past 4 years of being an independent professional has given me many chances to travel and discover myself. Gradually I realize that my goal is to do something that I can continue to learn and grow, at the same time I can enrich other people's life by sharing my knowledge or experience. This is what motivates me and makes myself most contented. Looking back, I consider our mindset, health, resources management (time & money etc) are the factors enabling Dominic and myself to enjoy our balanced and healthy lifestyle. Since 2002, we have engaged an independent financial advisor to guide us on our investment. My objective of working with our advisor is to assist others to pursue their ideal lifestyle and realize their dreams in life. Though education and sharing, more people are better off.

TEACHING AND TRAINING Dominic taught an e-commerce module (part of a master course) in Xi'an, China over a weekend in Jan 2010, which he enjoyed very much. He is also doing some talks at PolyU, CUHK and HKUST.

Click to view album

Executive training
We launched Independent Professional Association at the end of last year as a platform to promote independent work and support the independent professional community (consultants, translators, writers, trainers, designers and more). We did our first 3-part training series on "How to launch your independent career/business", the course is being adopted in Dominic's weekend teaching at CUHK's entrepreneurship centre.

Dominic has also teamed up with Simitri Group to provide consulting, training and coaching to corporate clients in Asia. He is also working with another corporate training company.

At the end of May 2010, he conducted lectures in Macau with HKU SPACE to help small medium enterprises and social enterprises to set up their low-cost high performance infrastructure for web domain, web applications (e.g. email, website, CMS), software (office, accounting), telecom (VoIP, e-fax) and mobile office.

MAD Conference (Make-A-Difference) http://www.m-a-d.asia/ In Jan 2010, Dominic helped moderated a session on "Entrereneurship" during the MAD conference (a great youth conference for promoting creativity and providing alternative career choices). It was great talking to 3 entrepreneurs and learning from them how they have each created their business from scratch and are of very different natures.

Click to view album

International English Contest Beijing National final 17-22 Feb 2010. Glad to say that our Hong Kong representatives have won many prizes including the Championship of senior high and junior high schools.

Click to view album

BEA International English Contest - Hong Kong finals 12 Dec 2009, 20 students were selected to represent Hong Kong to the Beijing Finals We are very grateful to all our sponsors including Bank of East Asia, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Cambridge University Press, Gowell Software, Dr. David Li, Mr. Fred To and all the judges including Sir Ti-Liang Yang.

Click to view album

CAMBRIDGE (The Friends of Cambridge)
Cambridge alumni Reception to meet Professor Alison Richard, Vice Chancellor of The University of Cambridge - 7 April 2010

Informal microfinance chat - 'a number of ways to make a difference' - 27 Feb 2010

ORGANIC FARMING - in Lantau

Harvesting

插秧, Transplant rice seedlings

Antarctica talk at offline club of iProA, 6 Feb 2010 Photos album

Reunion with the Hong Kong representatives of the International English Contest

Click to view album

BOOK REVIEW:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, PhD
I have got this book as a gift from a friend who bought this at Stanford University's book store during our visit.

This is an interesting book that talks about mindsets, specially, the author classified them into two types, namely, Fixed and Growth. The fixed mindset people cares more on preserving their current success (if any), or avoid anything that they may fail, especially in front of others, if so, they blame on others or circumstances instead of themselves. The growth mindset people love to learn, and get better, success and failure are all learning experience and they are hungry to get more.

Read more...

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Fridge
48 Peel St, Soho, Central (walk up from Hollywood road, next to Makuba Bar)
+852 28101098
Western food in Central

READ MORE ...

MOVIE REVIEW: This film imagines that not so far ahead in the future where earth has become inhabitable due to human activities in an unsustainable manner. The sole survivor looks back in time to inspect what the humans could have done to stop the disaster but failed to put their act together - The Age of Stupid - Fail to act to save ourselves while still could. The film put together a lots of clips of signs, events and try to look at how humans are so selfish and/or stupid in reacting to the threat...

READ MORE

APPLICATION: Online virtual file server solution Dropbox

St Petersburg Sept 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this sharing finds you well. It has been a while since we last wrote our update (May 2009). We would like to share with you what we have been up to in 2009, and as always, we also want to hear from you, what's been keeping you excited, busy, happy or sad, please drop us a few lines if you have time.

Some highlights of our year 2009:
- 2009 Travel: Reduced travel time (but not number of trips and countries visited)

- Numerous speaking / training engagements at University, Conference, Corporate training, Association and Clubs;

- Rented a tiny piece of farm land to grow vegetables;

- Eat more vegetarian meals, more meals at home and vegetarian cooking class

- Joined 2 associations (Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Internet Professional Association - iProA) and founded 2 (Chinese Business Angel Network - Hong Kong, Independent Professional Association);

- Organized an English contest in Hong Kong (part of the national English contest);

- Deeply involved in Cambridge alumni matters as always;

- Despite the fact that most peers are married by now, still played Best man's role at some friends' wedding

- Becoming rather addicted to Facebook (and loving it! Look me up search "leglessbird")

- Made many new friends

- Advising an ISP/IDC/MSS company and a online affiliated marketing company

We are going to explore Myanmar (formerly Burma) in December and make a brief stop in Singapore.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2010!

Best regards,
Irene and Dominic

What we have been up to in 2009

TRAVEL Egypt, Jordan and Qatar - Dec 2008 - Jan 2009: Already mentioned in our last update, our first proper trip to the Middle-East and loved it, despite roughness of using sleeping bags in open area during winter time for 4 of the nights.

UK, Greenland, Denmark and SwedenFeb 2009: Also mentioned in our last update, the trip to the freezer! Great journey especially the night stayed in the Ice-hotel in Sweden.

Australia2009: A family trip to Sydney where we also spent a few days in the country side

Japan - June 2009: While we are not travelling as much this year, we couldn't resist going abroad for Irene's birthday in June, we decided to go somewhere where not a lot of planning is required, we picked Nagoya as we got to know this place well enough during our language trip last year. We went to a very nice French restaurant in the Nagoya station tower called "Paul Brocuse" by the famous French chef. We also had a great time hiking on the country side from "Magome" to "Tsumago", and our still limited Japanese proved to be useful during this trip.

Macau - June 2009: We went to Macau also in June with The French Alumni Association visiting the French Chamber of Commerce there and tried out some French restaurants, plus wine tasting at Alliance Francais, a nice weekend visit.

Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Finland - Sept - Oct 2009: We have always wanted to visit Russia and the Baltic States. Irene has been planning the itinerary for weeks but needed to find a 2-week window. That window came near the end of Sept, the weather was starting to get cold but still bearable, though some people would argue you have to visit during the winter to get the true taste of Russia, we preferred our first visit under more humane weather condition. We actually visited 4 countries on this trip, Russia (St Petereburg, Moscow), Latvia (Riga), Estonia (Tallinn) and Finland (Helsinki). Contrary to our prior impression, it was actually not difficult to get by in Russia on your own (no need to join group tour) and it was also generally quite safe to do so. The Baltic states are all very beautiful, the people are friendly and have a high living standard. While Helsinki is also very modern and beautiful, we didn't find it very exciting. This completes our visits to all five countries of FINDS (Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden). Modern day Russia is not what I had expected from years of stereotyping by US production of films and "news" on Russia and former USSR, it was surprisingly easy to navigate our ways in the streets of Moscow, St Petersburg and their metro without knowing any Russians (though it would have been useful).

FINE DINNING A friend has recommended an excellent vegetarian restaurants in Happy Valley called "o veg" "素苗" and we like it so much that we now go there 2-3 times a week and even order extra for take-away. There is no menu, everyone gets the same 3-course set, it is western style cooking using vegetables of many different colours, the chef even grows some of the vegetables from his own farm. Good healty food at an affordable price. We talked about the idea of a small function called "Wine and Dine with Leglessbird" for quite some time and finally started it in June, which basically is a lunch/dinner event for catching up with good friends while trying out great restaurants, and we hope to do this on a regular basis. We have been reminded that we actually emphasis more on the "Dine" part and not the "Wine" part. ASSOCIATIONS I have joined two associations Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong - serving the community especially on education related matters

Internet Professional Association (iProA) - represents the interests of the internet professionals and aims to serve the community through promoting technology, applications and education in Hong Kong and to reduce the gap in Digital-Divide. and founded two

Chinese Business Angel Network (Hong Kong) - A network to provide early stage venture investment

Independent Professional Association - The World Of Knowledge Worker. To foster a community for independent professional to provide support to each other such as training, networking and service CAMBRIDGE

Vice Chancellor's visit and Cambridge/PolyU Joint seminar (click on photos to read more) Mentorship programs: During July and August, I have been hosting four Cambridge Mentorship Seminars under The Friends of Cambridge University, co-organized with the student societies of Cambridge University, namely CUCS and CUHKCAS. The seminar topics were "CV writing and Interview workshop", " Doing charity work while travelling", "Management Consulting" and "Banking & Finance". The seminars were well received by the students and the recent graduates. (Read more) Cambridge conference: Organized by CUHKCAS and took place at HKU, the "Reflection" conference had an excellent list of speakers that include Dr David Li, Mr. Wong Yan Lung, Mrs Anson Chan, Mr Alan Leong, Dr. Louis Cheung and more. They talked about the 1st 60 years of PRC and Hong Kong's positioning. Freshers' dinner: I was invited to speak at the Cambridge University Freshers' dinner organized by CUHKCAS, I enjoyed talking to the freshers and the current students about the fun side of living in Cambridge and the purposes of studying at Cambridge, top of the list: To have the BEST time of your life! I also challenged the students to out-do my list of all the fun things I did during my time in Cambridge...Read more

Prince Philip Scholarship: The Prince Philip Scholarship presentation took place at the beginning of Sept and I was invited as the guest of honour. We have one scholar this year going to Clare college to read Medicine. And I was happy to share about my time as a student in Cambridge and what I learned from that wonderful experience...Read more

CUCS Hong Kong dinner: The annual dinner organized by CUCS took place at the Football Club. Professor Rossie Young was the guest of honour this year, and she shared her very interesting experience during her research in Cambridge in the 1960s...Read more WORK Continue to work on the web/telephone distance learning venture (formed partnership with Xi'an Jiaotong University this year and Beijing Renmin University) and a few location-free consulting projects.

Bank of East Asia International English Contest (Hong Kong) I'm chairing an organizing committee of the Hong Kong chapter of The International English Contest, it is part of the China International English Contest supported by The ministry of foreign affairs of China and the British Embassy, and the Hong Kong competition is sponsored by Bank of East Asia, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Cambridge University Press and many other supporting units.

The contest aims to motivate students to promote Chinese culture to foreigners, hence using English as the communication language to help friends from other countries to appreciate our country, our culture and our people's way of life. The winners from the Hong Kong contest will be competing in a national final in Beijing with other students from all over China and the winners of the national final will be going to Britain on a culture exchange program including visits to Cambridge and London.

The Hon. Sir Ti-Liang Yang kindly agreed to be our head of judge panel. Students demonstrated very high standard of English and general knowledge of Chinese Culture. Photo highlight: Press conference:21 Sept; Round 1: 7 Nov; Semi-Finals: 21 Nov and Finals: 12 Dec 2009 (photos to come). Dominic is advising a company in the ISP (Internet Service Provider), IDC (Internet Data Centre), MNS (Managed Network Service) and MSS (Managed Security Service) which has good infrastructure and relationship in Asia also a fast link connecting Europe and Asia. He is also advising another startup which is in the online affiliated marketing business, connecting advertisers, online merchants, customer survey to customers and target audience through an extensive network of online publishers, such performance based model is gaining momentum in Asia, and is preferred by advertisers over just exposure (as in banner) or click through. He also has been involved in starting a new diploma course with HKU Space. Dominic spoke at the Cyberport Venture Captial Forum 2009 conference co-organized by Cyberport and various other organization. (Photos)

"Click on your business" Kornerstone training on IT cost saving (Photos and Read more)

Tolo Harbour business support group is organized by Chinese University to provide a platform for ventures and investors to come together...Read More

LEISURE Due to the hot weather and occasional heavy rain on the weekends, we had not been doing any hiking at all... Travel talk: Discovering Nepal. October to April is the best period to visit Nepal, we held a travel sharing session on Nepal in August to show friends about our trip in Nepal and we invited Bonnie, a friend and a keen traveller who has lived in Nepal for over 4 years to share her experience of the exciting country. She also talked about Tibet, yet another interesting destination.

A dinner event hosted by the Bauhinia Foundation We attended a dinner event at the Bankers' club hosted by Bauhinia Foundation targeting graduates and students from overseas universities...read more

Happy Farm We rented a tiny piece of land within a farm to grow our own vegetable (with the help of the warm owner, of course!). We are very excited about this...read more

Book recommendation Book: Four-hour work week I really like this book! It is about attitude change towards the work-life balance and pursuing passions and life goals It is about time-management, do things efficiently and effectively, not do work for work sake. It is about freeing yourself from a lot of unneccessary constraint such as your boss, an office, even a particular location and a lot of the time-wasting/zero value generating activities. Read more

Restaurant recommendation o-veg 素苗 A nice vegetarian restaurant in Happy Valley 9 Shing Woo Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong 跑馬地成和道9號1樓 +852 2893 3037 Read More

Movie recommendation http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/ A revealing documentary about the food supply in the States (perhaps soon elsewhere too), highly concentrated food supply, genetically modified crops, hormone assisted growth in packed farm, the truth about processed food, packaged food on the shelves of Supermarket, control of seed supply. Read more

Sydney March 2009

Dear Friends and Family of Leglessbird,

It has been more than 4 months since our last Leglessbird sharing. We did travel a bit during the first 2 months, but have been taking a break on travel since beginning of March. In the meantime, the world is under the threat of the on-going outbreak of H1N1 influenza A and Susan Boyle became the biggest thing on earth, the world needs inspiring stories like this.

Cairo, Egypt

During Christmas and new year time, we visited Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar, it was our 1st proper tour to the middle-east region, and I have always dreamed about visiting the Pyramid of Egypt and the Petra of Jordan (ever since I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989!!). A lot of the biblical stories sprung to our minds, the Exodus, the ten commandments, the red seas and the promised land. Not to mentioned the other interesting places like the Dead Sea, The Museum of Islam Art in Doha designed by I.M.Pei. To find out more, I also watched the classic film - Lawrence of Arabia. Please visit http://www.leglessbird.com/travel.html for photos.

Sami Tribe, Kirana, Sweden

Then over Chinese New year, we went on a dream trip to one of the other remaining largely untouched places on earth, the largest island on the planet, (larger than Australia and Antarctica is counted as continent and not island), the answer is of course Greenland! We were hoping to see the Northern Light, but was disappointed despite clear sky in Kangerlussuaq, we did enjoy the 12-Husky sledge ride over the endless icecap. Since it was such as long journey to get there, we also visited Denmark (Copenhagen) and Sweden (Kirana, Stockholm). In particular, we liked the stay at the Icehotel very much and did catch a glimpse of the Northern Light in Kirana (which is north of Arctic circle).

We had a one-week family trip with mum to Sydney visiting Dominic's sister and nephew. It is always good to spend time with family, we went to a vacation house in Jervis Bay.

We are learning from a tradition Chinese doctor on how to do head massage, so we can practice it on each other. We continue to take Japanese class once a week, the progress is slow but hopefully steady! We exercise at the gym in Cyberport regularly and supplement that with short walk at the hill behind our building. We did try to start organizing hiking again, but unfortunately was met with heavy rain and had to cancel it!

Hope you like our sharing and please drop us a few lines, we would love to catch up with you.

Yours,
Irene and Dominic

May 2009

What is Dominic up to?
Dominic has been giving talks and lectures on various topics: At Baptist University and Student Travel on visiting Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, sharing his trip that took place during Christmas and New Year; Co-hosted a seminar on how to become an independent professional (aka Freelancer) which was attended by ~30 people, he talked about the dos and don'ts, and how to go about making the transition from full-time employee to full-time self-employed, time management, the advantages and the challenges of being independent; Spoke to Chinese University business students on angel investments and with engineering students on consulting industry; at Polytechnic University with students studying e-commerce on a company case study that he co-founded.

March has been a busy month as there were a number of events related to Cambridge University, namely, the visit of the Vice Chancellor Professor Alison Richard, together with 4 heads of college and a college choir, record turnout of alumni and friends (over 250 people) at the reception for the vice chancellor. Then there was The Intelligent Airport Seminar, jointly organized by Polytechnic University and The Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong, to present the research results of the two universities and together with Cambridge alumni in key logistics industries in Hong Kong. This year is the 800th anniversary of Cambridge University and the 450th anniversary of Cambridge University Press (CUP) (the 3rd oldest commercial company in the world), a celebration event took place at the British Council organized by the CUP.

Dominic was very happy to be one of the best men at a friend's wedding in early May and met with a lot of new friends.

On the work side, Dominic did a location free project in April, closed an angel-round investment, working on a strategic review project and continue to advise on e-learning. He is also preparing on a workshop for SMEs and independent professional on how to save significant cost on IT infrastructure, service and software, spending almost next to nothing (click here for the poster of the workshop).

What is Irene up to?
Irene is taking Taichi and Latin dance classes regularly and has also resumed her Mandarin lesson. She was excited to be working on a project pitch for promoting a certain region in Italy to China and Hong Kong.

Leglessbird movie recommendation:
我的機械人女友 / Boku no kanojo wa saib?gu
http://cyborg.gyao.jp/

Japan 2008
A sci-fi romantic comedy, of a man in his old age and close to his dying years made a human-like robot in the form of a beautiful young girl and send her back in time to meet his younger self, to save him from a series of fatal disaster and to save innocent people from crime and accidents. He fell in love with the robot but does the robot love him back? What sort of disasters await him? Will she be able to save him every time? Read more...

Leglessbird restaurant recommendation
Tea & Herb

Shop B, G/F, Po Wing Building, 6-16 Shell Street, North Point, Hong Kong
Tel: 28068418
Read more...

Yamasa Institute, Okazaki, Japan Sep-Nov 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this season greeting finds you well.

Time flies, year 2008 is almost over and as we prepare to embrace the new year, it is also time to reflect. "Year 2008 was an eventful year" would be a serious understatement. Here is my list of the big events around the world (not in a particular order)

• World financial crisis of colossal magnitude, perhaps the biggest in history when the unthinkable happened in terms of business collapsing and worldwide government bailouts
• USA elected the first black/white mixed blood president (do you call a zebra black?)
• The biggest and best Olympic Game ever with most participants, volunteers, and medals
• The launch of the largest (27km circumference) and most expensive particle collider ever built - Large Hadron Collider
• 1st space walk conducted by a Chinese astronauts
• Crude oil price hitting USD147 a barrel and fell
• Direct transport link between Mainland China and Taiwan
• Tainted milk powder and food products on a massive scale
• 1st seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum in Rome
• Numerous earthquakes including multi-hit in Sichuan
• USA supplying nuclear technology to India - a non-signatory state of the Nuclear non proliferation treaty
• The announcement of the USD2,000-petrol-powered-car by Tata group in India, (think about the environmental impact!!)
• AIDS patient cured by a bone-marrow transplant
• Bangkok unrest
• The Mumbai attack

Sadly, the world doesn't seem to be going in the right direction. In the meantime, our planet is still suffering from global warming and pollution.

On a more cheerful note, "year 2008 was an eventful year" for us too, since our season greeting in Dec 2007.

On the travel side:http://www.leglessbird.com/travel.html

• Visited Laos, an interesting but not so well known country
• A dream-trip to Antarctica the land of the cute penguins and completing an unplanned goal of visiting 7 continents together
• A tour of South America (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay)
• Chinese New Year visit to Paris to see my nephew and to practice our French
• Trip to Yunnan, one of the most beautiful areas in China
• A break in Thailand
• European: Seeing friends in UK, sight seeing in Iceland the land of ice and fire and did the Norway in a nutshell tour
• Seeing bird-nest and water-cube in Beijing
• 2 trips to Japan (Fukakuo and Hoikaido)
• 2 Japanese language trips and explore the country

On other leisure side: As usual through Leglessbird Events organized a few book club meetings and hiking trips; Participated and/or organized parties for French alumni association; Attended a short "Tai Chi" course; Visiting the gym at Cyberport on a regular basis; Enjoyed a few arts exhibition in Hong Kong.

On the alumni side: Dominic has helped to organize and participated in alumni events this year for The Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong. Vice Chancellor's visit, Newnham Principal's visit, Professor from Judge Business School, Chinese Medicine Research, A mentorship seminar series for Consulting, Financial industry, further studies and start-ups, an information seminar for secondary school students applying to the Prince Philip Scholarship. A bi-annual Cambridge dinner in Hong Kong for alumni and friends.

We also attended the British Council Gala dinner in November commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the British Council in Hong Kong, and also the Warwick University annual dinner in Dec.

On the work side: When in Hong Kong or overseas, we have been working very hard. Thanks to advancement in internet technology and together with a virtual network of global business experts, some of Dominic's consulting projects (through his Decisive Consulting Limited) can be conducted from any location while serving international clients. This has enabled us to work and travel at the same time. However such location-free work style also means the end of work-free holiday, such is the trade-off.

Dominic is working on a few other projects in Hong Kong and China including a web/phone base e-learning venture called "Meephone" (China/Hong Kong) which offers very convenient English 1 on 1 oral language training program through telephone and will be launching a Mandarin service soon.

Asia Angels Alliance - the angel investment company that Dominic co-founded now has six committed partners and will be renamed to Dark Horse investment soon. The investment focus is early stage venture (pre-venture capitalist round) that is highly scalable preferably using technology.

We hope to hear how you are getting on, please drop us a few lines if you have a moment. Look forward to hearing from you!

We wish you and your family good health and a prosperous 2009.

Best wishes,
Irene and Dominic - Dec 2008

Leglessbird Travel Recommendation
Iceland and Norway

Iceland July 2008 (Read More)

Norway July 2008 (Read More)

Leglessbird Movie Recommendation
Zeitgeist
Documentary 2007 & 2008
I highly recommend this documentary (2 x 2 hours), you can even watch it online for free. http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com

We live in a society that we inherited from the generation before and they inherited it from the generation before them and so on, we accept many (perhaps too many) things without questions or doubt, we simply take it for granted, we follow the systems whatever they are, monetary, capitalism, moral and religious. Most of us go to school, get a job, work for the system in exchange for a salary to support our living expenses, we incur more expenses by taking out loans and in turns paying interests to the system and accept this as the norm of life without ever challenging the system. We are exposed to established religious without really understanding the root of their origin.

How is money created? Who controls it? How did Federal Reserved come into existence? Who fought against it and perished? What's the similarity between Jesus and the Egyptian Sun God? Is it a pure coincidence?...Read more

Leglessbird Restaurant Recommendation
Nino's Cozinha, Portuguese restaurant, Wan Chai

Read more

Irene and Dominic in Biei 美瑛,Hokkaido 北海道 Aug 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a while since our last sharing in March, a lot has happened around the world: the world economy continues to deteriorate, oil prices hitting US$145 and fell back, there was the controversial Olympic torch relay around the world, the devastating earthquake in Sichuan, Nepal becomes a republic, US presidential election campaign, the conviction of Bin Laden's driver, the war in Georgia and of course the spectacular grand opening of the Beijing Olympic, 16-day of Olympic competition that saw China topped the Gold Medal table and more...

We have been busy too in the past few months...
On the travel side, visiting Yunnan, Thailand, Fukuoka, UK, Iceland, Norway and most recently Hokkaido. We hosted a talk on "Antarctica: The last place on earth" in April and is planning another one in September. Also organized another book club gathering in June.

We are continuing our Japanese lesson, though 1-hour a week is clearly insufficient, it still proves to be useful while travelling in Japan. We plan to spend sometime in a language school in Japan in the near future. On the French language side, though we are not getting enough practice to upkeep whatever limited ability we have acquired so far, we do try to seize every opportunity at the French Alumni Association(FAA) annual dinner and FAA Swedish party.

While continuing to go to the gym 2-3 times a week, we did a Sunday Tai Chi course which was fun.

As always please drop us a note when you are free, we would love to hear how you are getting on.

Best wishes,
Irene and Dominic - August 2008

What is Dominic up to?
Dominic has taken on 2 non-location-bound business consulting projects that enable him to work and travel at the same time (thanks to Irene who makes sure the accommodation always has good internet and phone access. She also manages the schedule to balance the work time and sight-seeing/activity time).

In June, Dominic co-founded an angel investment group called Asia Angels Alliance (AAA) focusing on investment in early stage ventures that have highly scalable business model with leading technology and/or intellectual property protection in many different industries such as e-commerce, social networking, business process outsourcing, distance learning, retail and gaming etc

He also started a new service on Leglessbird called Friends Finder to connect international-minded people together from all over the world

On the Cambridge side, Dominic hosted a 1-day workshop in Cambridge University in July for a group banking executives from China. Always great to be in Cambridge! In July and Aug, he organizes the Friends of Cambridge Mentoring Seminars in Hong Kong, and is very glad that so far the first 2 seminars, namely "Management Consulting", "Banking and Fund Management" were well attended and enjoyed by all participants. The next and last seminar to be held on 30 Aug is on "Startups and further studies"

He is loving his 2nd low cost mini-notebook Asus EEEPC 900 which is excellent for travelling or working outside the office.

He is also looking forward to 2 weddings in Sept and Oct of two of his best friends!

What is Irene up to?
Irene has been a frequent visitor of the travel section of the central library.

Travel recommendation: Laos (Pakse, Vientiane, Luang Prabang) December 2007

Click photo to view album

Laos is a nice small country next to Thailand that isn't usually well known by people. The people are very friendly and we particularly like Luang Prabang.

Read more about Pakse, Vientiane and Luang Prabang)

Restaurant suggestion: Gingko House

G/F 44 Gough Street, Central, Hong Kong
+852 2545 1200
www.gingkohouse.org

This is a restaurant run by senior citizens (many of them over 70 years old) except the chef. Read more...

Movie: Shall we kiss? Un baiser s'il vous pla?t

Romantic comedy, France 2007
Director: Emmanuel Mouret

Story: Emilie was out of her home town and met a stranger Gabriel who gave her a lift. They ended up spending the day together and had dinner together, just when they were going to part and say goodbye for the night, Gabriel tried to kiss her and she resisted. Read more...

Irene and Dominic in Antarctica, Jan/Feb 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope all is well with you and your family. It has been over 3 months since our last greeting, we trust you had good Chinese New Year and Easter break. We had been travelling a bit, exploring Antarctica by boat in Jan/Feb was indeed very eye-opening, seeing plenty of penguins and other wildlife and unpolluted natural environment with some of the most spectacular landscape on earth. All these remind us how very important that we must protect and preserve the global environment that we live in and very much depend upon.

This trip had also completed our unplanned goal of travelling together to all 7 continents. While feeling a sense of a small achievement, we felt very blessed to have such opportunity. Please see below for the trip summary and photos. We are planning to hold a seminar to share our experience. Hope to see you then.

We also stopped over South America and Paris en route to Hong Kong from Antarctica. Upon our return, we experienced the coldest and longest winter in Hong Kong in 40 years, we fear such abnormal weather is becoming the norm. Again the tragic consequence of human activities destroying our own planet.

As always please drop us a note when you are free, we would love to hear how you are getting on.

Best wishes,
Irene and Dominic - April 2008

What are Irene and Dominic up to?
In addition to Dominic's consulting work, he had been organizing and participating in numerous events related to visitors from Cambridge University - Prof. Alison Richard, the Vice Chancellor, Dame Patricia Hodgson, the Principal of Newnham College and the officers from Girton College's development office. He is also working with a team of young alumni in planning the mentorship seminar series and the annual dinner of the Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong.

Irene is currently planning for the fiscal year of 2008 – 09, so that she could find a way to work more without reducing her time to study and travel. One of the goals is to keep her body healthy and full of energy by more regular exercise. She is working on an online platform for virtual arts with a few friends while continuing with her existing work. She enjoys having visitors from Athens and Geneva lately. After the amazing Antarctica trip, her eyes are now on the Arctic region. Besides she is collecting more knowledge about Russia, Japan, Singapore, Mongolia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

We were at 2 hikes (photos 1 & 2), a book club gathering, a visit to the Chanel Mobile Art and an excellent lecture on “Behind-the-Scene Stories of the National Treasures Exhibition” 國寶展覽背後的故事: 清明上河圖 by Mr Marco Szeto, Curator, Xubiazhai, Hong Kong Museum of Art and more... We also took a short break to the beautiful Yunnan over Easter holiday which was relaxing, then we spent a weekend at Disney Hotel, Hong Kong.

Travel recommendation: Antarctica

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were all excited in planning (August 2007) for our long trip to Antarctica, South America and Paris during January and February 2008. We have since returned to Hong Kong but the excitement stays. We felt a sense of achievement to have visited all 7 continents together and at the same time we felt deeply blessed. The Antarctica cruise was about wildlife, nature and history (explorers who came before us). To call it eye-opening maybe an understatement...more thoughts and photos on Antarctica

For other travel photos (South America, Paris) please click here.

Restaurant recommendation: Amber - French

Western in Central
Landmark Mandarin Oriental, 15 Queen's Road Central, The Landmark, Central, Hong Kong | T: +852 2132 0188

Very good service and good food just as you would expect from Mandarin Oriental! There is a private room that can host about 24 people. Their menu changes every 4 months or so.
Read more

Book recommendation: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

The God Delusion (buy from Amazon) by Richard Dawkins

A very deep and comprehensive book that talks about why there is no God, not an easy book to read. "God delusion" covers a very wide angle, "Respects that religion doesn't deserve", "God Hypothesis", Why human is receptive to the idea of religion and how religion arised as a result, the inconsistency in scriptures people simply choose to ignore, the alternatives to God that can still explain the world, the human moral standard with or without God, Science Vs Religion. Dawkins is a firm believer in Evolution/Darwinian world.

I have enjoyed reading this book very much, it will help you to decide one way or the other.