Friday, January 06, 2006
King Kong 大猩猩
Today, I was in San Francisco preparing for a two-day mediation in a big construction case that I am handling. Two of the consultants that we hired to review the project scheduling and financial records know a lot about HK. One of them, D, lived in HK with his wife for a couple of years. The other one, S, has frequently travelled to HK on business. It's always fun to talk with D and S about their experiences in HK. Today was no exception.
After finishing with my meeting, I walked up the street to shoot a few photos (see above). The Transamerica Pyramid, which probably is the most distinctive skyscraper in San Francisco, looked spectacular against the clear, blue sky. Right across the street, I noticed an HSBC branch and some other Chinese banks. That's because the street I was walking on (Montgomery Street) is very close to Chinatown 大埠 (daai6 fau6).
Speaking of HSBC, do you know what the name means? The full name is Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which reflects the historical connection that existed between many businesses in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Chinese, the name is 匯豐銀行 (wui6 fung1 ngan4 hong4).
Afterwards, I hurried up to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which has one of the best Chinese collections in the U.S. This time, I spent most of my time admiring and photographing the Chinese porcelain collection. I didn't have time to check out the spectacular jade collection, which will have to wait for next time.
When I travelled to New Jersey and New York a couple of months ago, I came back with a serious addiction to thin-crust New York pizza. It's not easy to find authentic New York style pizza in the Bay Area, but one of the best is Arinell Pizza in Berkeley. Returning home on BART (地鐵), I dropped by Arinell to pick up a whole pizza and to photograph the cool neon sign that's inside the restaurant (see photo).
¶ 9:31 PM 
Today, I was in San Francisco preparing for a two-day mediation in a big construction case that I am handling. Two of the consultants that we hired to review the project scheduling and financial records know a lot about HK. One of them, D, lived in HK with his wife for a couple of years. The other one, S, has frequently travelled to HK on business. It's always fun to talk with D and S about their experiences in HK. Today was no exception.
After finishing with my meeting, I walked up the street to shoot a few photos (see above). The Transamerica Pyramid, which probably is the most distinctive skyscraper in San Francisco, looked spectacular against the clear, blue sky. Right across the street, I noticed an HSBC branch and some other Chinese banks. That's because the street I was walking on (Montgomery Street) is very close to Chinatown 大埠 (daai6 fau6).
Speaking of HSBC, do you know what the name means? The full name is Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which reflects the historical connection that existed between many businesses in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Chinese, the name is 匯豐銀行 (wui6 fung1 ngan4 hong4).
Afterwards, I hurried up to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which has one of the best Chinese collections in the U.S. This time, I spent most of my time admiring and photographing the Chinese porcelain collection. I didn't have time to check out the spectacular jade collection, which will have to wait for next time.
When I travelled to New Jersey and New York a couple of months ago, I came back with a serious addiction to thin-crust New York pizza. It's not easy to find authentic New York style pizza in the Bay Area, but one of the best is Arinell Pizza in Berkeley. Returning home on BART (地鐵), I dropped by Arinell to pick up a whole pizza and to photograph the cool neon sign that's inside the restaurant (see photo).
¶ 9:31 PM
