Picture of the Day: Blue Skies

A cool (and blue sky) Monday afternoon from Admiralty looking at Kowloon

Last week was a wet and depressing one weather-wise... I was armed with an umbrella everyday, just in case the rain comes down and for the most part it did.

This morning I woke up to see the sky completely gray and showers coming down. Oh great. Another wet start to the week.

However, by noon the rain had cleared and during lunchtime the sun peeked out through the clouds.

This was the view from the 56th floor of the Island Shangri-La's Petrus Restaurant.

Here's hoping tomorrow night the rain will hold off for us to gather in Victoria Park...

An Early Canada 150 Celebration

Red maple leaf-shaped cookies appropriate for the birthday event!

Tonight I went to a celebration for Canada's 150th for those living and working in Hong Kong. It was held in the ballroom of the Island Shangri-La and a lot of effort was put into organizing the event.

Walking into a hallway leading towards the ballroom, there was a giant long poster on both sides of the narrow corridor to give the impression you were walking into a forest. Once inside, one side of the room represented the west side of Canada, the other the east side.

Leung Chun-ying and Jeff Nankivell have a toast on stage

Not only were there gorgeous video images to show off the different areas of the country, but also food too. The side with British Columbia and Alberta had fantastic roast beef, fresh salmon and tuna, while the other side had mussels, lobster and ham.

There were also mini burgers, Ambrosia apple crumble, very chocolatey Nanaimo bars and maple bacon oatmeal chocolate chip cookies shaped like maple leafs.

Our relatively new Consul General Jeff Nankivell impressed the crowd packed into the room with his pretty good gweilo Cantonese and then joked that he now had our attention...

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was an honoured guest at the event. I wasn't sure how the audience would react, but on the whole they were supportive. Maybe it's because he's leaving in a matter of days so it didn't matter anymore?

He gave a lengthy speech, but not before praising Nankivell for his Cantonese. Leung explained that his parents came from northern China and when they came to Hong Kong tried very hard to speak the local lingo, but it sounded like the consul general's. That got a few laughs.

A video presentation showing the western provinces

Leung's speech was the usual spiel, and he had to throw in the Greater Bay Area and how Canadians can take advantage of that. Uh right. But he joked how Canada is turning 150 years old, but looks so young with a 45-year-old prime minister, and how Canada and Hong Kong share the same birthday.

Afterwards an Edmonton born singer Joyce Lee took to the stage and belted out Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams. Woohoo.

Perhaps most moving for me was singing the national anthem... I don't get to sing it often but when I do I feel very proud to represent my country.

My favourite time singing the national anthem was during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. I was taking the bus downtown to get to my shift at work to cover the Games when the bus driver announced we would sing O Canada. It was the best rendition ever.