Family Reunion

My wife and I have 3 daughters.  My mother lives with my sister and her family. The 9 of us live in 5 cities across 3 countries. This week we all gather in the city where my mother is. It does not happen very often.  We all have busy lives and constraints.  We live in a complicated world.  

My wife and I run with our eldest daughter. We talk. We laugh. We share stories. 

We look at old photographs that grandma has kept for many decades.  Including that of one of my father’s pet parrots, which could talk.  She would call when the phone rings, confusing a lot of people.  Sometimes she was left alone.  When someone knocks on the door, she would answer.  And visitors wonder why no one came to the door.  Such memories gave us so much fun.  

Very rare photos of our very young selves.  In those days we were poor and cameras were expensive items inaccessible to us.  

We eat, of course.  A Chinese family gathering revolves around food.  One of which is a giant 4 pound lobster which resulted in 3 very different dishes.  The liver was steamed with eggs.  The meat in the tail chopped up into big chunks.  The head and claws breaded and deep fried.  It tasted so good.  We had durian, mooncake, …

We resolve to make these gatherings more often.  

Shadow Scholars

This flight from Hong Kong to Toronto took a gruelling 14 hours. As usual, I watched a movie, slept a little, watched another movie, and slept a little more. …  Flying long haul gives me an opportunity to watch movies that I don’t usually encounter.  This time I found another interesting one, recommended by my wife.  

The Shadow Scholars is a documentary about students, usually attending universities in wealthy Western countries, paying people in Kenya to do their academic work - writing essays, taking examinations, …  

These students, many in famous universities, are “earning” valuable degrees passing other people’s work as their own.  

These Kenyans are making a living, sometimes using the earnings to study at universities themselves. They are learning a lot from the process of researching and writing.  

The shadow scholars can make more money by bypassing the middlemen, dealing with the clients directly.  They can also make more by adopting Western-sounding pseudonyms.  

Who are benefiting, perhaps even exploiting others in this business?  Who are doing unsavoury, perhaps even unlawful deeds? 

The investigation was conducted by Professor Patricia Kingori, a professor at Oxford University. She was originally from Kenya. She does research on misinformation and pseudoscience.  Her life and work is a story in itself.   It is quite a fascinating movie.  

Delivery in Public

One day last week I was struck by the mountain of coloured packages piled up under the elevated pedestrian walkway near home. Presumably these are packages deposited by delivery companies - waiting to be picked up by the recipients.  These packages are now practically ubiquitous: occupying valuable space, obstructing movement, creating danger for passers-by, etc., at the lobby of residences, public spaces such as this one, …

These delivery companies are money-making businesses. Why are they allowed to use private residences and public spaces to conduct their business, to make money?  I don’t believe they are paying any rent or fees for the use of the space.  So they are doing this at our expense?

If someone wants to set up a coffee stand, at the lobby of some private housing, underneath pedestrian walkways, would they be allowed to that, for free?  Most likely not.  So why can these delivery companies do that?

Three days after posting the photo and accompanying questions on social media, I passed by the same spot and was amazed to the space cleared.  Was it just a coincidence?  

Probably not.   But just seconds later, I realised that the mountain of coloured packages did not simply disappear.  It simply moved 20 meters away, to another spot under the same elevated walkway.  It is arguably slightly less obstructive.  But the same questions remain.  Some netizen suggested that I should make a formal query/complaint.  May be I should. 

The Eye of Da Vinci’s cat

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvius Man is one of the world’s most famous drawings. His cat was the only living being who had to privilege to watch Dr Vinci make the drawing.  Unfortunately, we cannot interrogate the cat now. 

I tried to imagine what the cat’s eye looked like at the time.  I am afraid my imitation of the Vitruvius Man is a very poor one. 

My Little Owl

My Little Owl was born on 17th August, 2026.  

He was made out of a section of the spine of a palm leaf.  The original leaf, as a whole, was roughly 5 meter (500 cm) long.  The Little Owl, as it stands, is about 5 cm wide, and 14 cm tall.  

The imagination of an owl carved from a piece of a palm leaf took a couple of days. The actually carving took a couple of hours.  

#SChanPalmArt

Hill Road Flyover

Some people driving on the Mid-Levels, on Bonham Road near Pokfulam Road, want to get down to the waterfront in a hurry.  

They are 80 meters, around 260 feet up from the sea.  

They have to negotiate a maze of steep, narrow streets, sharp turns, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, J-walkers, double-decker buses, mini buses, taxis, private cars, lorries, cement trucks, …

The alternative is to fly over all of that.  

In between high rises. 

With roller coaster-like turns. But you get down to the sea in no time at all.  It is an amazing sight, from many different angles.  

Tribute to Bruder Klaus field church

A while ago I read about Bruder Klaus field church, in a field near Wachendorf, Germany.  It was commissioned by farmer in honour of the 15th century Swiss Saint Nicholas of Flue (also known as Brother Klaus), and designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.  

The church looks utterly unimpressive from the outside.  But the architecture inside is really unusual and very beautiful.  It reminds one of the art of M C Escher.

I decided to make my own model of the international structure, exposing it to the naked eye, without the concrete shell encasing it.  Using only coffee stirrers and copper wires.  

One enters through the small triangular entrance. Your eyes look up naturally as the ceiling gets higher and higher. The tear-shaped sanctuary comes into view gradually, as the hallway turns to the left. Then you realise the ceiling opens up in the form of an oculus, as your eyes look up to heaven.