Spare Change could Make you Rich

Check your spare change to see if you have any old coins of value

Do you still have Hong Kong coins that bear Queen Elizabeth II's head on them? If you do, they could be worth more than face value.

Coins with the queen's head were phased out in 1993

An interesting fact to know is that coins with the queen's head were phased out before 1997 -- four years earlier to be exact.

Another intriguing piece of trivia is that by 2015, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had collected 880 million pieces of queen's head coins worth HK$1 billion.

But there are still some in circulation, which the HKMA estimates is about 10 percent.

Coins with Queen Victoria could be worth a lot at auction

If you do have some old coins, pay attention!

A 5-cent coin bearing the queen's head recently sold at auction for HK$5,000 -- about 100,000 times its value.

Cheng Po-hung, a coin and stamp collector with his own shop, says some coins bearing the queen's head could be worth five to 10 times their face value, depending on how rare they are.

Those bearing the head of the Queen's father, King George VI, or earlier ones including that of King George V, Edward VII or Queen Victoria could also crop up and could fetch some handsome prices, he says.

Same also goes for coins with King George V and VI

I definitely don't have those much older coins from over a century ago, but maybe I'll have to wait a few more decades before selling my stash of queen's head coins... nevertheless it would be fun to look out for the older ones!

Nature Versus Science

The famous Queen's Head at Yehliu Geopark

Two years ago my mom and I visited Taipei and her friend took us to the Yehliu Geopark to see the sandstones that are shaped by the water and wind into some fun recognizable things, like pineapple buns, morel mushrooms, and candles.

But the most famous is the "Queen's Head" that is supposed to have a similar likeness to Queen Elizabeth I.

More mushroom-looking sandstones in the park

However, a recent news report says that the 4,000-year-old natural sculpture might be in danger of collapsing, as the neck is getting 1.5cm to 1.6cm thinner each year, making it harder to support the 1.3-tonne head.

Scientists are trying to save the landmark, but others are split over how to tackle erosion.

"The neck may become too thin to support the head and might break off within the next five to 10 years, if nothing is done," says Hsieh Kuo-huang, a professor at the Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering at National Taiwan University.

"Any strong earthquake or severe typhoons may bring down the rock formation," says Hsieh, who is one of the scientists studying to preserve the rock.

He and his team have developed paints to protect the rock and strengthen the neck area. The paint was tested on rocks near the Queen's Head in August, but it peeled off, and the concoction has been tweaked and reapplied again elsewhere to test.

Other scientists say nature should take its course and if the head falls off, then so be it.

Natural erosion has created these "candles" by the water

"As the coastal landscape was made by erosion, the lifespan of the Queen's Head is limited," says Pan Han-shen, an activist from the pro-environment Tree Party. "I don't understand why we would want to freeze its lifespan."

Seeing the sculpture in person is quite impressive, but for the park administrator Kuo Chen-ling to say the rock could be moved into a museum seems very strange. The rock formation and many others scattered around the geopark bring in over 3 million visitors per year, but how much longer will they last?

It is an interesting idea to want to preserve the Queen's Head, but is it logistically feasible? Seems like Mother nature should be left to her own devices and eventually it will fall down. Maybe she is shaping another rock as we speak?

Keeping Entertained at Sea

The sun peeking through the clouds on the way to Boston from Nova Scotia

This blog entry was written on October 6, but only uploaded now because I have internet access.

The nightly entertainment on the ship has been pretty good so far. As entertainment director Joanna Haley has arranged a jam-packed schedule of things going on – sometimes simultaneously which can make it hard to decide what to watch.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the first night featured Quebec singers and musicians performing folk songs and dances. We didn't know quite what to expect but they were fun to watch and provided a taste of Quebecois culture.

Last night was Broadway performer Jeri Sager. She made her mark in Fiddler on the Roof, played Fantine in Les Miserables, was Grizella in Cats and Evita in the title role.

The string quartet performing during afternoon tea service

Sager was not only a great singer belting out show tunes, but also funny, though at times talked a bit too much about herself – even singing a song about how people think her name is Teri not Jeri…

She gave a bit of insight into show business, how she made her break in dinner theatre in Maryland – "view and chew" people in the industry nicknamed it. Not only did she perform on stage, but had to wait on tables too. Talk about multi-tasking.

Then tonight we were treated to a show called "Viva Italia" put on by the Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers.

They sang or danced to anything Italian – from Galileo to Michelangelo, to Luciano Pavarotti to pasta, and Andrea Bocelli. Most humorous was the second number where they had almost all the dancers – men and women – wear long dark-haired wigs and carry picture frames so they looked like Mona Lisa. Then their bottoms were pulled off to reveal skimpy underwear or boxers.

The delectable fluffy scones we ate several times on the cruise

Some of the dancing was impressive, particularly involving some acrobatics, and the singing by the two men and two women were excellent. Some of the costumes were a bit on the tacky side, like the painting the Birth of Venus on a dress, or small lutes sewn onto ballerina dresses…

Today was a day at sea and we kept ourselves busy. We listened to a talk given by Sir Alan Collins, former British High Commissioner to Singapore and Taiwan, the Philippines and New York.

He talked about Queen Elizabeth II and how she has not only served her people well for over 60 years, but is also the best representative of the UK. Having worked closely with her on some occasions, Collins stressed many times how The Queen is down to earth, loves children and has a great sense of humour.

Standing ovation after the Viva Italia performance

One anecdote he recounted (though he was not there) was a meeting of the Privy Council that she presided over, and one of the members, a woman, had a large handbag and at one point her mobile phone rang.

Embarrassed, she tried to find it, but couldn't and resorted to dumping everything on the table before she answered the phone, by which point the person on the line had hung up.

"Oh dear," The Queen said. "I hope it wasn't anyone important."

And Collins also played the video of the opening of the 2012 London Games when James Bond picked up The Queen at Buckingham Palace to take her to the stadium where she jumped out of a helicopter to make her entrance.

The diplomat informed us that two dresses were made – one for her and one for her stunt double and this was top secret… uh sure.

We also caught the last half of classical guitarist Christopher Bundhun's recital. He played a variety of pieces by JS Bach, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Isaac Albeniz.

The highlight was afternoon tea in the Queens Room. We got there half an hour early to line up and were surprised to find we were the first in line. Time passed relatively quickly, though an Asian man – Japanese? walked in and out and then back in with another woman. Didn't they see we were standing in line?

When we were finally allowed in, they and a group of others were already seated. So strange. One wonders why the staff didn't shoo them out, and anyway didn't they see we all had to line up?

In any event, a four-piece string quartet played for us as we dined on finger sandwiches – OK just one for me – and those amazing scones topped with icing sugar. The scones were the fluffiest and lightest ones I have ever tried. So good.

The atmosphere in this room is so elegant even though we're in casual clothes. The staff wear white gloves and it's a treat to be there, though it's all over within an hour. We might just have to go back again the next day at sea to soak it all in – and savour another scone!

Candid Look at Aprey

Interested in a silver gorilla safe? It'll set you back £55,000

On the flight back to Vancouver, I watched a few documentaries, one of them called "Inside Asprey: Luxury by Royal Appointment".

It was released in July this year and goes behind the scenes of what it is like working for the luxury brand that is one of the oldest (1781) and prestigious jewellers that was given the royal warrant by Queen Victoria 200 years ago.

The boutique has been in the same location on New Bond Street in London for 160 years, which is actually situated within five Georgian townhouses connected by a glass canopy and stylish renovations by Sir Norman Foster.

Samuel L Jackson checks out some cufflinks

While the staff act prim and proper with sharp suits and dresses, the objects in the shop range from classic to the bizarre, like a cool silver cocktail shaker shaped like a rocket and a glittering £4.6 million yellow diamond ring to the giant solid silver safe shaped like a gorilla for £55,000.

And by the way someone who bought one of these is Hollywood actor Samuel L Jackson and he just so happens to be in town to "borrow" some cufflinks for an appearance he's making in London.

We watch him look at a few things with his wife, but only comes for the cufflinks.

Meanwhile the visual merchandising director comes up with an idea to boost sales -- create a line of 41 exclusive crocodile skin bags with details on the hardware covered in pave diamonds or solid gold from £30,000 each. He expects them to be sold within a month.

The designs of these handbags scream "nouveaux riche" rather than understated sophistication. And surprise, surprise -- hardly any of them are sold, despite arranging afternoon teas in a private room where Laduree macarons and pastries are presented on silverware and no customers show up.

Some of the gaudy handbags

The sales team gets anxious and manage rustle up a few Middle Eastern women to buy a few bags, and finally a Saudi princess requests a shopping spree in the store after hours and snaps up a dozen of them in one go.

Phew. Glad to hear the gaudy bags are gone.

Another story is jewellery director Justine Carmody who has created a new jewellery line called Chaos that features a spray of colourful stones delicately linked together as a necklace and matching earrings.

After she finishes a detailed drawing, she carefully selects the stones before handing them to the jewellery who takes a strip of platinum and puts it through a machine to make it thinner and thinner to make the necklace. He also has to make the individual claws too to hold each of the stones.

For the jeweller, it's all in a day's work, though his pieces are owned by the likes of the Queen, Prince Charles, the Beckhams and Elton John. "It's not the nicest job," he says. "But it keeps the bills at bay."

His female colleague explains her mother was a hairdresser and the young woman was determined not to follow in the same footsteps. For her making jewellery is definitely a step up, though she admits she doesn't care much for the sparkling stones.

This contrasts so well with what is happening downstairs as sales staff persuade customers, particularly a mother and daughter to buy an expensive necklace for the young woman's 21st birthday.

One of the top jewellers at Asprey working on the Chaos piece

As one TV reviewer bemoaned, "Inside Asprey: Luxury by Royal Appointment" is a disappointment because there aren't any compelling characters, or is it because they are English and too polite to be brash? And perhaps Jackson was conscious of the camera following him and didn't want to show off what he may have wanted to buy?

For one Japanese businessman, being able to buy something at Asprey meant that he had "made it" and has come back several times to build up his watch collection, and impressing his new (and young) wife.

Nevertheless the documentary is a pretty candid look at Asprey, from sales staff trying to guess how much money a potential customer would spend in the boutique, to craftsmen keeping tradition alive, though one of the former silversmith is now the building maintenance staff.

In the end it's a business -- one of enticing people to buy things they really don't need but end up coughing up the money to do so.

And then next documentary I watched?

One on why we consume so much!

One interesting fact was that about 10, 15 years ago we used to buy 33 pieces of clothing. Now it's about double that.

The Style Offensive

Li Keqiang looks on as his wife Cheng Hong shakes hands with the Queen

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, along with his wife Cheng Hong in a lavish-looking drawing room.

Usually only heads of state are given an opportunity to meet the Queen, but the Chinese side pushed for this meeting, threatening the trip would be off if the visit was not granted.

From the pictures it looks like the Queen is thrilled to meet them...

Cheng Hong looks matronly on her arrival in London

Cheng is an English professor at Capital University of Economics and Business, and so she was probably brought along on the trip to add a feminine touch to China's soft power.

However, she could take some fashion tips from China's first lady Peng Liyuan who has proven her ability to charm through her stylish wardrobe.

When Cheng disembarked the plane in London she wore a matronly outfit perfect for highly-strung headmistresses. The same when she met the Queen -- but even more fuddy duddy in an overly-elaborate jacket that was too busy.

We appreciate the simple lines she likes in her suits, but how about more interesting colours?

My friend YTSL must be laughing reading my latest fashion critique, but if China wants to flex its economic muscles as Li is doing in London, surely the chic-ness factor needs to be turned up several notches to be taken seriously as a wealthy superpower with taste?