Leglessbird Sharing

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Chinese New Year - Kung Hei Fat Choi! Wish you and your family many good fortune in the year of the pig.

Irene and Dominic
Feb 2007

Nepal trip
Since our last sharing in Dec, we went to Nepal for a 12-day trip during Christmas and it was eye-opening. We had a great time visiting Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Pokhara, Chitwan and Nargarkot. Seeing the mountains, temples, people as well as many wild animals. Click for our Nepal photo albums

When we reflect on the trip, we realised once again how city people like us are so wasteful, people in poorer countries treasure the limited resource available to them. In our next issue, we want to talk about what we can do to "Consume less, waste less, recycle more"

We hosted a Travel talk on "Beyond Lhasa, a journey from Tibet to Nepal" ...more

We had a family trip to Taipei, visited Taipei 101 - The tallest building in the world, incidentally I also visited the Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur - the 2nd tallest building.

What is Irene up to?
Since coming back from Nepal, Irene has been organizing two art exhibitions

• Wutz Reality by Yolanda Yeung 楊宇靈 more
• A Sentimental Journey: Art works by John Li Kam Wah 李錦華 more

What is Dominic up to?
Working on several projects and organizing hiking and fun activities as always!

• Business trip in London and Oxford in Jan. Met up with many old friends in UK
• Another business trip Kuala Lumpur in Feb
• Jointly organized a wine tasting event with the French Alumni Association ... more
• Hiking: Lady Clementi's Ride, nice short hike with 18 leglessbird friends more

Click photos to view the album

Into thin air by Jon Krakauer
While we were travelling in Nepal and admiring the magnificent mountains, it reminds me of this book that I read years ago. It recounts the 1996 tragic events on the mount Everest...Read more

Le Papillon (The butterfly)
Director: Philippe Muyl (French 2002)
My rating: 4

Story:
Julien is a retired old man whose hobby is butterfly (Le Papillon) with his own butterfly room and plenty of samples. Elsa is a 9 year old girl with her single mother who has to work all the time and cannot spend much time with her daughter. They just moved to the same building where Julien lives. When Elsa overheard about Jilien's trip to search for the beautiful and rare butterfly called "Isabella", she secretly hides in his car and wants to follow him..Read more

Prompt Le Meridien (Western in Cyberport): We had the sea food buffet (on the weekend) and had plenty of french snails, oysters, lobsters, crabs, shrimps, mussels, fish, sushi etc. Yum Yum!!!! Read more

復活節遊盡英國 驚喜處處

2星期課程連機票、食宿只需HK$12,900起，保證成行

Dear Friends and relatives,

Another year is coming to an end, we hope you & your family have been well & healthy and 2006 has been a fruitful year.

2006 has been the most interesting year (yet) for us. At the beginning of the year, we packed practically all our belongings into a warehouse and took on a 3-month French language trip, staying 6 weeks in Antibes (South of France) and 6 weeks in Paris (online diary, and tour info is shown below). It has been a wonderful experience to become full time students again and the fact that it is our first and only time as students together. Learning a new language has widen our horizon and enable us to become part of some new, friendly and interesting culture communities. Most importantly, through this journey we have learned and reinforced some of the ideas on life that we believe in and very much treasure. And we want to share them with you below.

To keep up with the adventurous spirit, we are going to Nepal for Christmas and hopefully, we will bring lots of pictures back to show you in Januray.

We wish you a very happy and prosperous 2007!

Best wishes,

Irene and Dominic - December 2006

• Freedom and flexibility: While we were packing for our trip, we come to realise we owned so much stuff that we don't need. Our freedom and flexibility are being eroded by the ever more things that we possess. During our 3-month stay in France, we survived on the very basic and we didn't miss anything that we have left in the warehouse. Moreover, happiness isn't measured on things that you own, it depends on your attitude towards life
• Never stop learning: I believe people feel happy when they learn something new. When we were kids exploring the world around us, every small thing that we learned is a giant joyful step. we felt like kids again through learning a new language, we spoke like a child when we tried to converse with other people utilizing a very limited set of volcabulary
• Never lose your child-like curiosity and fascination towards life, people and the world

Independent Consulting
We returned to Hong Kong in April, and made another important decision this year - we have become independent consultant and taking on our own contract work, I work on business consulting projects while Irene works on marketing related work. We have been doing some very interesting and enjoyable projects and also appreciate the flexibile lifestyle

Leglessbird reborn
This year also marks the new Leglessbird platform, since the original site was launched in June 2002, we have gone through two major upgrades. The new platform comes with a membership system, better formating and section control. We will continue to provide information on Travel, Restaurant, Hiking, Movies, Reading etc, we are adding more events and charity functions. With all the added functions and features on a more robust platform, we plan to expand and promote the "Leglessbird" concept to everyone, if you agree with the Leglessbird principles and want to participate in our events, feel free to sign up as members, simply visit the website and click "Register" on the right hand column! Leglessbird

One of the best restaurants we have tried this year is Le Marron
Cuisine: French in Causeway Bay, 12/F, Ying Kong Mansion, 2-6 Yee Wo Street
+852 28816662. For more information

Before SunriseBefore Sunsetare not new movies, but we have only watched them this year and they are highly recommended
Romantic, USA 1995, 2004
My rating: 5 stars
Director: Richard Linklater
Key actors/actresses: Ethan Hawke - Jesse; Julie Delpy - Celine

Jesse is an American student who lives in Texas, he is on a vacation in Europe and Celine is a French girl on her way back to Paris. They met by chance on a train and started a conversation, they felt there was an intense connection, a connection that most people don't even find during their entire life. Jesse is catching a plane to USA from Vienna the following morning and crazy as it might sound, he asks Celine to get off the train at Vienna and spend one day with him and they will part at sunrise. The brief encounter turns out to be much more than they have expected, what future holds for 2 people who have lived separate lives on two far apart countries until today...

TravelAs far as travel goes, we have been seeing a lot of places thanks to our French language trip and Irene's master graduation in July. You can visit our travel section for more photos of France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Jersey, Beijing, Taipei, Tokyo.
New travel siteOld travel site
For enquiry of tickets and hotels, please contact our travel agent Guidance Travel +852 3598 4873 email

The best way to learn a language is to study in the country that speaks that language. If you are interested in our tour in France, click for
more information.

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce that Leglessbird now has a new look and a new structure equipped with a membership system, it provides a much better user experience for our friends to share their travel trips, restaurant experience, movies review and beyond. Thus, we wanted to wait for the new site to be up and running before sending out this month's sharing.

We are organising a travel sharing on Discovering Nepal on Wed 15 Nov at 7pm. Details can be found here. We are going to Nepal in Dec, anyone wants to join us can find out more detail about our package here.

Irene and Dominic

What are we up to?
Well, apart from more wedding banquet in Oct and more to be expected in Nov, I participated in an event jointly organised by HK Cambridge alumni club and St James Settlement to have fun together with mentally handicapped adults at the "Music Farm".

We enjoyed a very nice boat trip organised by the Warwick alumni club, visiting Grass Island, Tung Ping Chau and Kut O.

8 day Kathmandu, Pokhara, Dhampus Trek and Nargarkot
by guest write - Bonnie

Dhampus trek ? is one of the classic Himalayan trekking regions. We get through Hindu villages where we will be assured of a warm welcome; follow trails through oak and forest where the sound of the bird calls fill the air and camp in serene locations that afford magnificent views of the Annapurna Range. During the fall will allow us to see farmers harvesting rice and millet. We will climb couple of Himalayan hills up to over 1700 m for exceptional views of the Annapurnas and Machhapuchhare. All this in the company of our magnificent crew whose friendship, sense of humour and caring nature ensure that your trek is a memorable one.

Highlight of the tour:

This month, we want to share, not nice restaurant, good movie or good book, but a message on environment.

59th Minute

Dr. Jane Goodall recently came to Hong Kong again to deliver her lecture "Reason for hope", I once attended her talk in Hong Kong in 2005 on a similar topic. The message is loud and clear, we human are harming the very planet that we live on, the very precious resources that we depend on. The damage is now so extensive that we must do something to reverse it and we must act now and not tomorrow or wait for the next generation to suffer and take action.

Sharng the same message is David Suzuki, a Canadian environmentalist. I watched a TV program by him recently. He used this analogy to illustrate his point (a question that I used to use as a brain teaser)

• Imagine that you put one bacteria in a test tube full of food
• Such bacteria divides and doubles every minute
• Let's say, the test tube becomes full after 60 minutes

When was the test-tube half full?

The answer is 59th minute. And in fact, at 55th minute, the test tube was only around 3% full. If someone raises a question at 55th minute and talks about the danger of over-population and shortage of resources when they only occupy 3% of the space, most people would think that he is crazy and worries too much.

Today, if you ask around, many people believe we have passed the 59th Minute.

What has gone wrong? Is it already too late? Regardless of the answers to these questions, let's take action today!

Upcoming event - organised by Warwick Alumni Association
Art Appreciate Tour on 18 Nov 06 (Sat)
似與不似?遼寧省博物館藏齊白石精品
Likeness and Unlikeness: A Selection of Works by Qi Baishi
Date: 18 November 2006 (Saturday)
Time: 2:15pm- 4:15pm
Gathering point: B/F (Lecture Theatre), Hong Kong Museum of Art, Tsim Sha Tsui
Admission Fee: HK$10 (HK$7 for group ticket with over 20 people)
Mr. Marco Szeto, curator of Xubaizhai Gallery of the Hong Kong Museum of Art will give a 20-min briefing session.

Please contact Irene by Wed 15 Nov.

What is Irene up to?

Art Exihibition - John Li

I'm happy to welcome autumn for more hiking activities. The path behind where we live leading to the Peak is lovely and I like to go there more often. This weekend, we went to Cheung Chau for a short walk and visited my grand parents. Autumn also means a season of weddings. It will be fun to attend some of them.

The opening of exhibition at the Bella Vista Art Gallery was cozy. We're planning for a new one and a painting workshop in October. More details: Jamart

Enjoyed attending the bridal shower of one of my best friends! First time joinging a proper bridal shower.

What is Dominic up to?

Cambridge Class of 19xx

Just finished my project in Shanghai. Now working on building different ventures for 2 companies and part-timing on project.

Time flies, just had a reunion dinner with my fellow class from Cambridge to celerate our 1x th anniversary of graduation.

Having been to a number of wedding or engagement banquets in the last few months, more to come in Q4! I also notice that I am receiving quite a few baby photos from friends.

Weather is getting very nice, hiking will resume in October!

We went to serveral dinner and parties in the last few weeks, including a Cambridge University Chinese Society dinner, Warwick high table dinner, Swedish party organised by the French Alumni Association, An Italian party featuring "Fiocco di culatello" (a special type of Italian ham) :-)

In this issue, we have a guest writer who wants to recommend a restaurant in Cambridge, UK. Enjoy.

North and Mid Vietnam
We went to North and Mid Vietnam during 21 Dec 2002 to 1 Jan 2003. It was an interesting trip and we enjoyed meeting many fellow travellers from different countries of the world. We were also glad to find out that we have visited all 4 recognised World Heritage sites in Vietnam, namely, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An Old Town, Hue and My Son (Note: now there is a fifth). Having said that, Ha Long Bay is very similar to Gui Lin of China; My Son is like a mini version of Angkor Wat of Cambodia. If you have been to these 2 places before, you won't be as impressed.

Itinerary
1 AM flight: Hong Kong > Hanoi
2 Bus+Boat: Hanoi > Perfume Pagoda
3 Bus+Boat: Hanoi > Ha Long Bay
4 Bus: Cat Ba Nat'l Park
5 AM Boat+Bus: Ha Long Bay > Hanoi; Train: Hanoi > Sapa
6 Sapa
7 Night Train: Sapa > Hanoi
8 Noon flight Hanoi > Hue
9 Dragon Boat Trip: Hue
10 Bus: Hue > Hoi An
11 Bus: Hoi An > My Son; Boat: My Son > Hoi An PM flight: Hoi An > Hanoi
12 PM flight: Hanoi > Hong Kong

...Read more

Cotto (Cambridge, UK) - By guest writer in UK

This restaurant has been open a year and serves organic food. It also sells bowls, wooden cheese boards, cookery books, cakes, take-away coffees etc

The interior is extremely well designed, with white walls and modern, Jasper Conran designed oak furniture, including a beautiful buffet to display glasses, bottles and a large collection of fabulous bowls. The upstairs dining room houses exhibitions, and is currently displaying Fiona Thomas? work. This adds to the pleasant ambience, as the lighting is extremely good, and the walls are equipped with hanging rails to ensure that the work is displayed properly...Read more

The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership (buy from Amazon) by James C. Hunter

John Daily, a businessman who heads up a company and has a family and good life style, is failing miserably in each of his leadership roles as boss, husband, father, and coach. What went wrong? Find out from his weeklong retreat at a remote Benedictine monastery.

Is leadership born? or trained? This book explains the simple principles of a good and successful leader. One of the concepts is:
POWER = The ability to force others, by virtue of your position over them, to do what you wish them to do.

AUTHORITY = The ability to have others voluntarily do what you wish them to do as a result of the nature of your relationship with them and the example you set in front of them.

The principles can be applied to different situations of our life...Read more

Bridal and Mirror Pools
This is also a very easy hike. After visiting the Bridal Pool and Fall, hike your way to the Mirror Pool and Fall which are also very impressive. Spend a relaxing afternoon at the pool before returning the same path to catch the bus back to Tai Po Station

How to get there
Bus no. 275R (weekend and holiday only) will take you all the way to the Bridal Pool and no. 75 will take you to Tai Mei Doe and takes about 40 mins to get to Bridal Pool... Read more

Shinobi Heart Under Blade (buy from Amazon)
Shinobi - Heart under blade 甲賀忍法帖 (Japan, 2005)

During the Tokugawa era, the two ninja clans Iga and Kouga have existed for over 400 years, always been opposing each other and separately have been helping different regimes in power. Under a cease-fire agreement, the two clans have not been fighting each other. The two future leaders of the clans, Oboro (Iga) and Gen-no-suke (Kouga) are in love with each other. Little did they know that the cease-fire has been uplifted by the Tokugawa regime because, he wants to exterminate the two clans by asking them to fight one another, because during the peaceful time, Tokugawa feels that the ninjas are themselves a threat to him. Each clans has to send 5 people to fight, Oboro and Gen-no-suke are the leaders of each team. Can the lovers escape their destiny or would they have to fight each other to save their own clan?...Read more