March 5

After spending the night in Singapore with all of us sleeping in our apartment we were driven to the airport and went our separate ways:

Jim, Susan, Jennifer: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Megan Hollingsworth, Holly Smith: Krabi, Thailand

Ho Chi Minh City – Formerly named Saigon. I had some mixed emotions about visiting there as my father had “toured” there three separate times for a year at a time during the Vietnam War in 1969, 1971 and 1973. But John Walsh had told me in advance how friendly the people were, the scenery, food etc. so I was open to the experience!

We started out by checking into the famous Rex Hotel which was a nice upper scale hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh that had gained its notoriety as the place where the American generals gave an update on the status of the War at the rooftop bar at the Rex.

The briefings during the war were called the “Friday Night Follies.” Not sure why ha. Today the bar is known as one of the top rooftop bars in the world.

That evening in the Rex we saw a very interesting Water Puppet Show.

Susan and I both thought the puppets were controlled by people swimming under the water and holding their breath or using snorkels but turned out they were backstage using long sticks to move the dragons and other puppets around!

We returned to the Rex for dinner where they had a band and nice views of the city.

The next morning we headed out for our pre-arranged day long guided tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. We started out on the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City where we dodged many motorbikes.

We had seen some very good reviews of the tour including the air conditioned van with free beer etc. We were not disappointed! https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g293925-d12566545-Cu_Chi_Tunnels_Mekong_Delta_VIP_Tour_with_Transfer_by_Limo_from_Ho_Chi_Minh-Ho_Chi.html

We began driving through Hi Chi Mi City traffic and first stopped at lacquer factory supposedly where the workers were survivors of Agent Orange during what the tour guide called the America War rather than the Vietnam War, which we continued to hear throughout the tour.

I say “supposedly” as I suspected a pure tourist trap but it was actually a very good tour as we saw the ornate lacquerware consisting of trays, vases, wall hangings, jewelry boxes, etc. They showed us the whole process such as using sea shells for decorating etc. Susan bought a plaque for her walk and a nice box for Mary Kimmitt Laxton whose daughter Olivia was born in Vietnam. After the factory we headed to the Cu Chi tunnels where the Vietcong had constructed an elaborate systems of tunnels during the Vietnam War.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) they wouldn’t let me in the tunnels. I wasn’t clear if if was because if my age or physical prowess although they did ask me if I was over 60. Susan did a 20 yarder (Funny they didn’t ask if she was over 60) and Jen and Meg did like 75 yards and said it was fun but very claustrophobic so maybe just as well for me or they might still be trying to extract me.

It was quite interesting hearing about the tunnels and the other weapon displays. Jen and I even shot some of the AK-47 rifles, reminding me of the West Point days when I shot M-16s and earned a “Sharpshooter” badge, missing Expert by two targets. (Probably last time I shot a gun and don’t intend to continue but it was interesting.)

After touring the Cu Chi tunnels we headed to the Mekong Delta where we rode boats through the villages.

Along the way we stopped to hear singers, watch honey and chocolate being made and had a big python come see us which made Jen’s day as she is a snake lover…

The tour was very interesting and all the people we met were very friendly. After a long day we drive back to Hi Chi Minh City and walked to a local restaurant that our guide had recommended. It seemed quite popular especially among visitors to Vietnam so some others must have recommended it also but it was very good.

That evening we returned to the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel.

The next day we walked to the War Remnants Museum. It was quite interesting but obviously skewed toward the former North Vietnamese perspective, talking about the “American Aggressors” etc.

Next we went to the Reunification Palace where the former South Vietnamese government was located before the unification of Vietnam after the end of the war in 1975. It made its name in global history in 1975. A tank belonging to the North Vietnamese Army crashed through its main gate, ending the Vietnam War.

Read more at: http://www.vietnam-guide.com/ho-chi-minh-city/reunification-palace.htm?cid=ch:OTH:001

The Reunification Palace was well preserved with many meeting rooms reflecting the government in 1975. There were also many students diligently taking notes and learning about the history as part of their education to become tour guides.

Next we went to the main Post Office and sent a few post cards. We heard that they were received a few weeks later!

March 7-8

After dinner we headed to the airport very early where Jen headed back to Pittsburgh and Susan and I to Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam work about 7.7 million people and it is about 1,070 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City. From 1883 to 1945, the city was the administrative center of the colony of French Indochina. The French built a modern administrative city south of Old Hanoi, creating broad, perpendicular tree-lined avenues of opera, churches, public buildings, and luxury villas, but they also destroyed large parts of the city, shedding or reducing the size of lakes and canals, while also clearing out various imperial palaces and citadels. From 1940 to 1945 Hanoi, as well as most of French Indochina and Southeast Asia, was occupied by the Japanese empire. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). The Vietnamese National Assembly under Ho Chi Minh decided on January 6, 1946, to make Hanoi the capital of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam, and it became the capital of a reunified Vietnam in 1976, after the North’s victory in the Vietnam War.

We checked into the wonderful Hanoi La Selva Hotel which was a very affordable boutique hotel we had seen during a TripAdvisor search. We were greeted warmly with a fruit drink and a woman who spoke very good English and went through a map with highlights of the area and made several touring recommendations and suggested restaurants, etc.

We had a beautiful room with a nice view of the busy street below and it was very centrally located near the large Hoàn Kiev Lake. They also had a nice breakfast and all the staff members we met were very friendly. We first walked to the beautiful Ngoc Son temple on the Hoan Kiev Lake.

http://www.vietnam-guide.com/hanoi/hoan-kiem-lake.htm

Next we took our hotel’s advice and walked to the Old Quarter where we carefully dodged motor bikes at every street often waiting to follow just behind locals who crossed first. We also make our way to the famous “beer corner” where you supposedly can get some of the best prices on beer in the world as you sit and watch people go by.

We found this to likely be true as we ordered Hanoi Beer and Tiger Beer that went for about 10 dollars each in Singapore for about 1.25 dollars in Hanoi.

And here I am with the Tiger Beer advertising rep!

That evening we continued walking and shopping in the Old Quarter and made our way do a roadside stand that sold tasty Banh Mi bun sandwiches filled with pork.

We continued shopping and made our way through the crowds back to the bridge to the Ngoc Temple that was now illuminated in red.

Next we went across the street from our hotel to another hotel with a nice rooftop bar with views of Hanoi at night.

Saturday March 9

The next day we tried another recommended restaurant suggested by the staff of Hotel Selva.

This was the famous Bun Cha Ta Restaurant just a couple blocks away.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293924-d9718174-Reviews-Bun_Cha_Ta-Hanoi.html

This place specializes in grilled pork with noodles. One fun but difficult aspect for me was that you had to take your shoes off and crawl to the very low tables. Once you for there it was delicious with good service and I made it out without falling! From there we did a good bit of walking through the French Quarter past the Opera House and through the National Museum.

We continued through town back along the lake where we had one of the most enjoyable afternoons and evenings of our entire trip! And it wasn’t because of museums, landmarks or historical sites. It was because of the people – especially the youngsters! Because it was a Saturday, many of the streets were closed to cars and motorbikes and everyone strolled up and down the streets and the little kids ride in hundreds of mini cars and trucks up and down the streets.

We did go into the oldest Catholic Church in Vietnam and then made our way to benches around the lake.

As we sat by the lake several children approached us individually and asked if we spoke English and if they could ask us questions. They ranged in age from 6 to 23 and asked all kinds of questions and were all very polite.

Ironically the most articulate one was a 9 year old who spoke much better English than the 23 year old College student. While I spoke to the 9 year old Susan conversed for twenty minutes about Chicago and Pittsburgh with a 12 year old.

Here are photos of the delightful Minh whom I must have talked to for 45 minutes while her parents sat across the park and watched us.

Her brother listened also but didn’t say much.

It turns out Minh lives about 80 kilometers from Hanoi and her father is a doctor and her mother also works in the same hospital. They came over and said hello but hardly spoke any English. Through Minh they explained that they came to Hanoi a couple times a month and sat on the park benches so the kids could practice their English so they could have a better future.

As we talked Minh asked me if I knew “Dan Howard.” I said “No, who is he?” She told me he was her English teacher and was from Minnesota. (I guess she must have thought that all Americans knew each other, but I told her I didn’t know “Dan.”)

As we continued to talk I found that I actually learned more from her than she did from me as I kept asking her for a Vietnamese translation of several common phrases, learned to count to ten in Vietnamese, etc. As she spoke I typed the words into my Notes folder on my iPhone. They are listed below as I think anyone going to Vietnam could find them very helpful:

Vietnamese Language Tips

Xin chao

Hello

Cam On

Thank you

Tam Biet

Goodbye

Bao Nhieu Tien

How much?

Dat Qua

Too expensive

(I used this later that evening as I negotiated down the price of a pair of sandals. I probably still overpaid but figured they needed the 25 cent difference in the offers more than I did so I toned back the Arabian Rug Trader skills. I wore that title proudly after it was given to me in 1987 by a merchant in Germany where I negotiated a Nutcracker pepper dispenser as a throw in in our cuckoo clock negotiations.” As we were negotiating he asked me “Are you an Arabian rugtrader?”

Ngon

Delicious (non)

Tot

Nice or good

Rat tot

Very good

Khong Co Gi

No problem

Co

Yes

Khong

No

Chuc mung nam moi

Happy New Year

Giao thong dien ro

Crazy traffic

Numbers:

1 mot

2 hai

3 ba

4bon

5 nam

6 sau

7 bay

8 tam

9 chin

10 muoi”

As we looked out over the lake and then back to the crowded streets Minh came up with another English phrase that I’m sure she’s used before:

“Do you think Hanoi is a jaywalkers paradise?”

We laughed and continued covering many topics as I continued to learn Vietnamese and learned that her goal was to “become an inventor.”

I should have asked for her last name or contact info from her parents as I’m sure she will be very successful and it would have been interesting to see what she ended up doing.

We left the park after a couple of hours with good feelings in having felt that we helped the kids with language skills and they helped us better understand their culture and aspirations. No wonder Vietnam is starting to challenge China as a go to place for contract manufacturing and even high technology.That evening we has a great steak dinner and wine and walked back to Hotel LaSelva.

Sunday March 10

We spent the morning fighting the crowds getting into the Ho Chi Minh Museum where we endured the propaganda about “Uncle Ho” and his accomplishments for the Vietnamese people.

I

https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/ho-chi-minh-

We rushed to the airport where Susan headed to Danang Vietnam in route to Singapore and I flew to Chiang Mai Thailand to meet Meg Hollingsworth!

I highly recommend a Vietnam visit and would go back if I have the opportunity.

In addition to the major cities there are some nice affordable resorts and many new golf courses!

End of blog. Thailand is next!

Completed July 21, 2019

Jim Hollingsworth

For several weeks our daughters (Jennifer from Pittsburgh and Megan Hollingsworth from Bloomington Indiana, a graduate student at Indiana University) planned to visit us in Singapore during Meg’s college Spring Break. Meg also convinced her roommate Holly Smith from Louisville Kentucky to also come as she planned to meet some others in Bali Indonesia and in Thailand during the three week long spring break. Susan, Jennifer and I also planned to visit Ho Ch Minh City (formerly Saigon) after the Bali trip, but this blog will only cover Singapore and Bali, starting February 26 and ending March 4, 2019.

They departed from Indianapolis and Pittsburgh but met up in San Francisco to visit friends and then flew to Singapore on the United Airlines 17 hour non-stop flight.

They all arrived safe and sound and were fetched from the Singapore Changi Airport by our driver Kenneth Oon and they made the way to our small apartment. We had arranged a cot for Jennifer to stay with us and Meg and Holly were staying in a hostel in Chinatown. Susan and I had checked it out earlier and were assured that Chinatown was a good area in which to stay.

So, while Susan worked and they waited for their hostel to be ready around 3 pm I gave them the grand tour of Pan Pacific Orchard Service Suites starting with the free breakfast! (Meg Hollingsworth on the left, Holly Smith on the right.)

Later that day I took them down to the world famous Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel where we of course welcomed them to Singapore with a 32 dollar (plus tax and ten percent service charge) Singapore Sling! These were much better than the ones I tried to make in Pittsburgh during our pool party send off last fall.

Holly Smith, Jen and Megan Hollingsworth)

Holly Smith, Jen and Megan Hollingsworth, Jim Hollingsworth)Note the fans on the roof and green Singapore Sling machine on bar.)

Holly Smith after saying she was going to compare the Singapore Sling with a Mint Julep at the Kentucky Derby in early May.)

After the Singapore Sling we joined one of the free Monster Day tours which hit many of the key areas such as Chinatown, Little India, Marina Bay Sands etc. We’ve done most of them as have our guests, especially Mary Kimmitt Laxton, so we highly recommend them as a way to see Singapore and learn some fun facts.

Monsterdaytours.com

This time we tried the “Civic District” tour which covers many of the downtown highlights including the Fullerton Hotel which was built around 1850 and housed the main post office in Singapore. Our guide took us there and we all filled out postcards and mailed them. I think mine got to Pittsburgh about two weeks later. The guide also took us into the garage where we posed with some of the Fullerton’s fancy cars.

After exiting the Fullerton we had some nice views including Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the first photo and Susan’s office with the pyramid shaped top in the second one.

We also made it to see the Merlion which is the city symbol and mascot blending the history of Singapore as a fishing village with the Singapura lion supposedly seen by an early explorer which led to the island being named Singapore. Fortunately for us the Merlion was working well as now (in May when this was written) it is under repair.

February 27 – More Singapore

This day we continued with the Big Bus hop on hop off where we took the yellow line to the beautiful Singapore Botanical Garden and its separate Orchid Garden.

Then we went downtown and met Susan at the Flower Dome and Cloud Dome at Gardens by the Bay. Man made nature never looked better!

February 28 Sentosa

Sentosa is a beautiful man-made recreational island that is part of Singapore and just south of the main part of the city connected by a long bridge. In Sentosa is Universal Studios, man made beaches, zip lines, bungee jumps, indoor skydiving etc. You can get there by car, boat, bus or by cable car which is how Jen, Meg, Holly and I chose to go.

While on Sentosa we also went to see the other large Merlion statue.

We also went to the Sea Acquarium which I found interesting but Jen said it didn’t compete with the one in Atlanta.That evening we met Susan back in Singapore and went to her office then to the Red Dot Brewery in Dempsey Hill. We sat next to 7-8 Australians who ordered three “towers” of beer which are three liters (33.8 ounces) each. One was green.

Friday March 1, 2019

As planned, Rance from the same company Kenneth Oon is from picked up Susan, Jen and me around 6 am and we stopped by the hostel in Chinatown and headed to the Changi Airport for our long anticipated two hour flight to Bali! It was a real zoo at the Denpasar Airport where hundreds of drivers were offering rides but fortunately we quickly saw a gentleman with a Padma Hotel Legian sign with HOLLINGSWORTH on it so we made the thirty minute drive through crazy motorbike traffic to the Padma Resort in the Legian area if Bali, Indonesia. Jen used her exceptional travel skills to identify this paradise location and we were not disappointed as the rooms, restaurants, five pools and beach views were just what we all wanted! https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g608487-d307610-Reviews-Padma_Resort_Legian-Legian_Kuta_District_Bali.html#REVIEWS

Saturday, March 2, 2019

This was perhaps one of the most memorable and enjoyable days during our entire 6 1/2 to 7 month visit to Asia!!!

The day started with us being picked up for an all day tour of the Ubud portion of Bali by our driver Wayman “Guna” Gunadi, the Ubud Bali Driver whom Susan had found in Trip Advisor. He had some great reviews including ones that both Jennifer and I submitted after our adventure. Some of the highlights of this tour included things such as 1) the Monkey Forest 2) Rice Terraces 3) “Cat” coffee and 4) a big waterfall. We didn’t really know what these were but the reviews made them sound good and the experiences exceeded our expectations.

The tour started rather simply when Guna picked the 5 of us up in his nice air conditioned van at the Padma Resort and he drove through the streets of Legian on the way to Ubud. He gave us a few cautions about buying from street vendors, many of whom were not from Bali but he said the area was generally safe, just to be aware of switched products or other scams.

We drove through the center of town back toward the airport at Denpasar where in dodging cars and motor bikes we realized that Bali was not all beaches, sunsets and luxury huts over the water. I fact we were told that Bali didn’t really have the huts over the water like there are in the Maldives, Fiji or a few other places like where I’m finishing this blog on May 13, 2019, at the Telunas Private Island in Indonesia. (More on Telunas after a few more blogs!)

Our first “stop” was at a place that sold oil paintings as a “co-op” were many artists could display there wares “at a discount.” I immediately thought that perhaps we were the ones being scammed!

But there was little pressure and many of the paintings were quite nice. Holly even bought a couple (one for her parents’ bathroom) which were neatly rolled for packing.

We then went to the Monkey Forest where after a bit of walking we quickly encountered several live monkeys. We had been cautioned about not bringing food or shiny objects so I think we all felt pretty prepared although Susan was a bit anxious as she even freaks out in the dreaded butterfly garden in Chicago.

We were a bit comforted when we were told that the monkey keepers knew all 380 monkeys by name and that all had been inoculated against rabies or other diseases in this government sponsored monkey sanctuary.

Our comfort level dropped quickly when a fairly large monkey leaped about ten feet from a rock onto my back and shoulders where I let out a scream that is probably still echoing through the jungle! (Sorry fans, no photo!) We also weren’t too thrilled when we saw a Caucasian tourist kind of swatting at the monkey who proceeded to bite the tourist and draw blood, so we hope that one had his shots (the monkey that is…). But the girls seemed a bit more comfortable with these animals than Susan or I were, as you can see in some of these photos above.

Following the Monkey Forest we drove through some beautiful back roads through the rain where we are some good food next to rice terraces. I had never seen a rice terrace, at least not in person, but they were mesmerizing.

All along the tour Guna kept us very informed and entertained. He let us know that many people from Bali prefer to be known as Balinese and not part of the larger Indonesia which is dominated by the large, gridlocked city of Jakarta and the other 17,000 islands of which 13,000 are inhabited. Guna was also very funny and patient as he put up and even laughed at several Jim Hollingsworth stories!

After the rice terraces we “stopped for coffee” at one of the “cat” coffee places where we found out that this particular coffee was “processed” through a catlike animal called a Luwak, which digested and later expelled coffee (I think you get the picture…). This particular coffee was actually quite tasty and rare and expensive so we some for my son Mark, who is quite a coffee lover so we will see if he likes it.

Later we went to a beautiful (but muddy) waterfall where everyone else hiked down while I held the fort at the top and enjoyed corn on the cob waiting for the explorers to return.

On the way back Guna and I continued to share stories and we exchanged contact info and Jen and I promised to write some good reviews for him.

Guna and Jim at end of the Ubud Adventure! He was a fantastic guide whom we highly recommend.

Guna can also be contacted directly at:

Egonast.gunadi@gmail.com

While he has hundreds of reviews he may remember the Hollingsworth’s as he commented to me:

“Sure thing Jim . You just hillarious you know . It’s been a pleasure to met you and the families . Hope to see you again one day.”

We also recommended Guna and the same tour to Gretchen and Jim Haggerty’s daughter Kate Haggerty and her fiancée Patrick Kelly for their honeymoon in Bali in early May and we heard that they enjoyed it also even though Kate was also “freaked out” by the monkeys according to Guna! (And as is evidenced by the pictures…)

Here is the text of Jen’s review which kind of says it all.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g608487-d12661215-r661537239-Legian_Driver_Bali-Legian_Kuta_District_Bali.html

“Amazing Day in Bali!

We just finished dinner and any of the 5 of us could talk about was an amazing day we had. We all agreed Guna was the best tour guide we have had in any country, and trust me we have travelled a lot. Everything was so smooth, we contacted the company and were given multiple itinerary options and chose the UBUD Experience tour. We were picked up promptly at 8:30 in a very nice air conditioned car from our hotel and set off on our adventure!

The streets of Bali can be chaotic with cars and motorcycles weaving in every direction. My parents and their back seat driving were quite nervous until we realized Guna is a true pro! You just have to “project confidence” and go! We got to each destination safely and quickly and while all of that was going on we also got a great history of Bali and every question we asked was answered.

Highlights of our trip included the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud. The grounds are beautiful and crawling with SAFE monkeys. Even if you are scared or nervous just stick near Guna and he will keep you safe! He also knows all the secrets and was able to get us some incredible pictures with the monkeys. The rice terrace we visited was breathtaking and something so unique to see. It was outstanding. The restaurant we stopped at for lunch was delicious and overlooking the rice fields. We also visited the Tegenungan Waterfall, also a great photo stop and another look at what Bali and Ubud have to offer.

Overall the trip was an unbelievable experience. Guna was friendly, funny, knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. We knew when he walked up that we liked him and it only grew the rest of the day. I would HIGHLY recommend this tour and especially Guna to anyone visiting the Legian/Bali area. I hope we are able to return one day and have another great day with our new friend.

Date of experience: March 2019”

Sunday March 3 and Tues March 4

We spent the next 2 1/2 days relaxing after the long tour of UBUD at the Padma Resort and Spa in Legian Bali. The staff was great and we really enjoyed our spacious rooms, good food, music, occasional spa treatment and especially the five pools and the beach! All 5 voted that we would live to return – duh!

Tuesday March 5, 2019

We hit the breakfast and beach early and then were dropped off back at the Denpasar (Bali) Airport where we all flew back to Singapore.

We all crammed into the small apartment rather than get an extra hotel or hostel since it was only one night. The next day we headed our separate ways as follows:

Jim, Susan and Jen

Singapore to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) City for 2 days. Then Jen back to US and Susan and Jim to Hanoi Vietnam.

Jen and Holly to Bangkok and Krabi Thailand.

End of Singapore/Bali Blog

Completed in Singapore May 15, 2019 and in route to San Francisco May 26, 2019. Finally finalized on May 30, 2019 while waiting to replace some snow tires with regular ones.

Next is Vietnam and Thailand

Jim Hollingsworth

February 14 – Valentines DayAfter Chinese New Year we took it easy and since Valentines Day was in a Thursday this year I played golf in Batam Indonesia with my golfing buddy Jafy while Susan worked. But I did remember a flower. (A dozen roses were 250 dollars….so I went with the thought that counts theory).

February 15

We went to Newton Hawker Center (Asian food court) that is just a couple stops from us and had some good local food. It is a relaxing atmosphere outside and has a couple of stalls with photos from Crazy Rich Asians when the cast ate there.

Susan with her new hairstyle from The Parlour where they know how to do ex pat coloring and is an excellent source for several restaurant recommendations!

February 16 Saturday

On the spur of the moment we decided to go to the Singapore Peranakan Museum.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan_Museum

Here is the definition of a Peranakan, who were early Chinese and Indian settlers in Malaysia and Singapore during the 15th to 17th centuries.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan

It turned out to be a fabulous tour with a very energetic volunteer guide who marveled In explaining the traditions and designs of a Peranakan house. And luckily for us we caught the tour just before the entire museum began undergoing a renovation where it will be closed for two years.

February 17

That evening we celebrated a belated Valentines Day at a very nice Thai restaurant where I gave Susan her souvenir from the Golden Shrine in Kyoto.

February 19, 2019

On Tuesday Jafy and I took the Batam Fast 45 minute Ferry ride to Batam Indonesia where we played golf at Tering Bay with our very knowledgeable caddies. Seems like every time I play over here I’m wearing the Gregg Schmidt green shirt from Sewickley Heights but it didn’t seem to be helping my game much, nor did the chalk circles around the holes. But it was a very fun day at a nice course.

When I finished the round I even found a 3x shirt that fit me, which was about two sizes more than I normally wear but clothes and people are tinier in Asia! Must be the rice in the diet!

February 21, 2019

The 86 degree weather in Singapore and Indonesia was a bit different from what Jennifer was looking at when she drove into work on Route 28 in Pittsburgh! Fortunately the day I left I put (well had someone else do it) some winter tires on her car, which really helped.

February 22-23, 2019

In keeping with our spur of the moment planning and our desire to see a lot of different places I booked a quick trip to Penang Malaysia, leaving Friday late afternoon and returning Saturday evening to Singapore.

http://www.penang.ws/

Penang is called the Pearl of the Orient and is well known for its excellent Malaysian food. Mark Nelligan from the BNY Mellon office in Singapore is from Penang and he gave us some excellent advice on where to tour and what to eat!

We booked a hotel at the Doubletree Penang which is on the northern side of the island of Penang since Susan wanted to continue to rack up Hilton Honors points for our tours of the Presidential libraries in the US if she ever retires. It turned out to be a very nice location away from the hustle and bustle of the Georgetown part of Penang, which is a UNESCO heritage site.

Best of all the hotel provided a driver “Bob” who met us at the airport and immediately drove us to Penang Hill on Friday night. There we took an SUV up a very steep and winding hill to the top where we some great views.

It was a bit cloudy for the sunset but still pretty nice. We enjoyed a beer and snacks and listened to a guy play “Shallow” from a Star is born.

We rode back down the hill and Bob drove us about 20 minutes to the Doubletree while giving us some background on the island. He agreed to pick us up the next day at 9 am to tour the historic Georgetown area . As you can see we had a nice view from our balcony prior to a good dinner in the Doubletree.

http://www.penang.ws/penang-top-1

Saturday February 23, 2019

Bob picked us up and we did a whirlwind tour of Penang starting with two temples.

Here we are pointing out Penang (upper left) and Singapore (below) on a globe on the city center outside a temple.

After another large temple we headed to the busy streets of historic Georgetown.

As I mentioned, Mark Nelligan from BNY Mellon is from Penang and he provided these suggestions for a Penang visit and I’ve bolded and highlighted the ones we were able to squeezen in during our 24 hour visit

“Below are my suggestions – Penang is about food so be prepared for a w/e of culinary bliss! Just ask your concierge on how to get to these places.

Friday 

On arrival get a taxi at the airport or if you’re arranging a hotel car, tell them you want to do a couple of stops. First stop: the char koay teow (1st of the Big 3 must eat dishes!) stall on Hillside, Tanjong Bungah just after the petrol station. Wash it down with local iced coffee. Then ask the driver to stop at the Banana fritters (“goreng pisang”) stall  in fettes park in tanjung bungah. Get the banana as well as the sweet potato. Best eaten with hot sweet malaysian Boh tea – take back to your hotell!

Go up penang hill around 5pm and have tea (scones) at the black and white house at the summit called Brown’s Restaurant. you can walk round and stay until dusk as you’ll see the lights of georgetwon below.

Suggest you go up from the Botanic Gardens car park where you can hire a car to drive you up the hill. Coming back down, take the funicular rail. At the bottom you can catch a taxi for an evening drink at 7 Terraces hotel in Georgetown. It’s a hotel as well – 7 old houses converted into a lovely boutique hotel.

Saturday

Breakfast

Pulau Tikus market opens from 7am. Great to have a wander around. But great food too. Hokkien mee (2nd of the Big 3 must eat dishes!) from the coffee shop on the corner (ask) Indian appams (pancakes) from same coffee shop. Wash down with iced coffee – penang style.

Koay kuk (rice cakes fried in lard and soya sauce and egg) in the hawker centre in the main market. Nyonya cakes near the koay kuk stall. 

Loads of other snacks from stalls surrounding the market. Try whatever takes your fancy. Then head down to wander the streets of Georgetown. Make sure you walk down Chulia Street, Campbell Street and Armenian Street. Get a rickshaw which can take you to the above streets and the following: cheong fatt tze mansion in leith street  the peranakan museum in church street.  Khoo Kongsi – Chinese clan house.

Must visit this biscuit shop – Ghee Hiang in Beach Street. Ask for Heoh peah and tau sar peah. Best in the world! (Mark – they were excellent and we hear you enjoyed the packages of each that we brought back to Singapore to thank you for all the tips! – Jim and Susan)

Goddess of Mercy Temple

St. George’s Anglican cathedral

The Assumption catholic church (I was baptist’s there!), next to St Xavier’s Insitution, my alma mater!

Lunch

Swatow lane hawker centre

Assam laksa (3rd of the Big 3). Also try Chee cheong fun, lor bah, oh chien, poh piah (try them all!) Finish off with the best desert on the planet – ice kachang. For this go to the stall at the front entrance of the hawker centre. Do not ask for additional ice cream and fruits – just ask for the standard ice kachang. Heaven!! (It was great! Jim).

E&O hotel – It’s the Raffles of penang. Have a cup of tea in the garden.

As you’re leaving in the evening, suggest you head back to the hotel and rest by the pool and enjoy a sundowner. On the way back to the hotel, and if you have time, ask the driver to get to your hotel via the airport. This way you get to see the west of the island – will take about an hour or so. Beautiful old kampung (malay word for village) houses.”

Here are photos from some of the places we visited.

1. Streets of Georgetown

2. Koo Kongsi Klan House

3. Food – Laksa and Char Koay Teow

4. Mosques

5. Sunsets on way to the airport

6. Bob (Malaysian for “big” or so he said) our excellent guide and driver! He also taught me some helpful Malaysian words such as Terima Kasih (thank you) and sangat bagus (very good).

So Penang was a lot of fun and we’d love to go back when we have a bit more time.

Mary Kimmitt Laxton, Susan’s Duke classmate visited us in Singapore in late April and she visited two friends in Penang while here and I think she also had a great time and so she is another resource if anyone gets there!

I promised her some billing credit in the blog so here are a few of her photos and hashtags (with some embellishment by me). I should have had her along for rest of the trip as I think she is more patient on the photo taking than I am!

Morning market in Georgetown

Hokkien mee and Roti canai food

Mosque in Georgetown

Best kabobs ever. With Tiger beer, of course!Tiger beer is cheap in Malaysia!! (One or two dollars versus 10-12 in Singapore). And here is Mary’s friend, Cheryl, who is a school administrator and funding development officer.

Batik (a method (originally used in Java) of producing coloured designs on textiles by dyeing them, having first applied wax to the parts to be left undyed.). Mary had this beautiful one made and her friends are sending to her in Philadelphia unless they make her come back to Penang to get it!

Outdoor dining on the jungle side of the island (west coast)

Beautiful jungle garden with exquisite glass sculptures

Mary‘s friend, Terry (teaches and runs theatre in Penang)

Mary loving life (Mary thank you and your family for coming to visit! We had a great time and hope you did also. Jim and Susan)

A temple guard

Penang international airport

(End of Penang Blog – May 4, 2019. Next – the kids from Pittsburgh and Indiana visit Singapore, Bali, Thailand and Vietnam!)

Jim Hollingsworth (May 5, 2019)

After the fabulous trip to Cambodia we returned on February 5, the first day in the two day work holiday for Chinese New Year. We took it easy February 5 looked for celebration opportunities the next day.

February 6, 2019

We took the MRT subway two stops to the vibrant Chinatown! We walked around and also stopped by the hostel on Mosque Street where Meg and her friend Holly planned to stay in late February.

Later we stopped by the Chinatown Heritage Center.

The Chinese Heritage Center was very interesting as it was a traditional Chinese “shop house” with a tailor shop and living and eating quarters for the shop owner and several working families would have lived. They had phones with narrations of many of the rooms in the 3 story building so I highly recommend it while touring Chinatown.

The evening of February 6 we met Shamus Cahill (remember him from Thanksgiving in Little India and Hong Kong?) and his parents who were visiting from the Melbourne area of Australia.

We met them at PS Cafe in Dempsey Hill and had a delightful time. We’d love to visit them in Melbourne someday. Dempsey Hill was a former British military barracks that is now home to upscale restaurants and shops.

February 8

We continued the Chinese New Year tradition by stopping by the church where they filmed the wedding in Crazy Rich Asians.

February 9

After asking Alyson from Pan Pancific Suites if she knew of any more Chinese New Year celebrations she recommended that we head to “The Float” downtown for fireworks and the River Hongbao celebration. It was something else with over 200,000 people there the night we went. It started with a big stage and food and music and all kinds of decorations and ended work some excellent fireworks

Fireworks followed – one of Susan’s favorite things to watch!

February 10

After having fought the large crowds to go downtown the night before I found out that we could have just watched them from the 15th floor of our building!

Nice but ok not quite the atmosphere of being down in the action but we continue to enjoy the view of Marina Bay Sands from our building.). The paper recalled the River Hongbao activities below.

February 12, 2019

We wrapped up the Chinese New Year festivities on February 12 where our building celebrated with the Lion Dancers who celebrated the Year of the Pig with a big show.

Here am I with my buddy as I started thinking about my diet!

That’s me ON THE RIGHT!

A couple of our fabulous staff with Alyson from the front desk on the left and Lueda from the breakfast service on the right.

That evening we met Eric and Jo from Susan’s office for some nice wine and appetizers at Robertson Quay.

End of blog for Chinese New Year. Valentines Day, Indonesian Golf snd Penang Malaysia are next! (Blog completed Tuesday April 30.)

We only had a short time to recover from the Hong Kong and Japan trips before our Chinese New Year holiday tour we booked quite a while back to Siem Reap Cambodia.

We did have a chance to see our friend Missie, who I mentioned back in my December 1 blog and she wished us well on our trip. We hope to see her and husband Dom before we head back to the US.

We were really looking forward to this trip because Tom Blythe had told me that the Sojourn Villas In Siem Reap Cambodia and the surrounding attractions like the Angkor Wat Temples, the fishing villages and the Angkor Wat Golf Resort were some of his favorite places in this part of

the world. After our trip I agree with him!

At the Singapore airport on the way to the plane we saw this intriguing advertisement for Breitlung Indonesia that we may have to check out for future travel.

Friday February 1, 2019 – Off to Cambodia

Our trip started with a nice Jetstar flight that was a bit higher priced than usual because it was just before Chinese New Year on February 5 and 6 and the Singapore Changi Airport had their decorations up.On arrival in Cambodia we had a very long walk to get into the airport and it took us about an hour to go through immigration and pay $30 USD each for a Visa. Unfortunately we did not bring any US dollars with us so we paid in Cambodia Riel and I didn’t really look at the conversion rate as I had just exchanged dollars for Cambodian Riel the night before. Anyway we waited in line and when I checked the conversion we were given, the $60 dollars had turned into $100. Later we found that most places preferred USD anyway especially for tips so we learned a lesson to check in advance on fees and to maybe carry some USD anyway, especially 1 dollar bills for tips or small purchases.

Our driver Pin met us after we left the baggage claim and was very nice and told us a little bit about his country as we drove to Sojourn Villas about 10 km from the airport. We will keep his number in mind if we return! It is +855 12 681 169 or within the country 012681169. Pin dropped us off at the beautiful Sojourn Villas as we made our way through many bumpy and dusty roads and Pin said he would be back to get us in the morning.

We were given a friendly greeting with a cold towel and welcome drink and were told about dinner and spa arrangements, etc. It was not a super fancy place but was very friendly and spacious. And yes, we took Tom Blythe’s advice and requested Temple Villa Number 8 with both indoor and private outdoor showers. We relaxed and had a nice dinner.

Saturday February 2, 2019 – Fishing Village

On Saturday morning we met the driver Pin again along with a guide Maray Seng who spoke excellent English and was very experienced, perhaps in his mid to late fortiesMaray was provided by the Sojourn to take us to a big lake and fishing village. It was about an hour there through several villages on the way.

Fortunately for most of the way we drove on a recently paved road apparently paid for by some wealthy Japanese. Maray talked a lot about the history of Cambodia including some mention of the dark days of the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot in the 1970’s when it is estimated that nearly 1.5 to 3 million people or up to 25 percent of the Cambodian population.

We also commented on the number of motorbikes and wondered how they survived with all the other traffic including big trucks. Our guide said it wasn’t easy and told his his own story of riding a motorbike and being hit head on after a car passed five other vehicles and plowed into him. He broke his back and spent six months in a hospital in Thailand because Cambodia didn’t have the specialists needed to treat him. While he still hobbled a bit it appeared as though he made a pretty good recovery as he spent most of the trip guiding me up and down temple steps and keeping me in balance as best he could. When we finally got to the lake and fishing villages we were astounded by how people lived in the houses with poles often 20 or more meters off the ground. Maray explained that we were currently in the “dry season” but that during the rainy season the water from the river would often be 20-30 meters deeper and people had to plan their lives to live in both seasons. As we navigated the rivers and headed toward a huge lake we were also amazed at all the fish traps that were up on the water to have fish swim and we were also surprised to see low boats in the water with perhaps 12 people and many large bags in the boat. We asked what they were and were told that these people collected clams for a living and would leave in the morning and return late afternoon with the huge bags of clams that they would sell directly to restaurants or markets. And if no one bought them from those places they would then sell the clams as fertilizer to farmers.

Clam boat with clams packed in big bags for sale.

As we continued toward a big lake we noticed how dirty the water was although we did see a few swimmers.

Once we got to the lake we turned around and went by a couple of fishing villages that we were told were run like real cities with schools, a Mayor and other normal government functions. A couple of the floating schools had been donated by corporations.

The pictures are great but don’t really do justice to the fascination and awe in which we saw how these Cambodians lived and yet seemed to be happy and very active. It certainly would be interesting to return in the wet season to see the river so high. We also could feel the 94 degree sun bearing down on people. Susan and I agreed that we shouldn’t complain as much about little things or annoyances with all of our gadgets and things as it could certainly be much worse. Susan noted very little furniture in the houses and we were told that most did not have plumbing. We were pretty tired as we made the long dusty ride back at sunset to the Soujourn Villas which felt like a plush oasis amongst the shacks and poverty we observed. We would both highly recommend people get to Siem Reap for the incredible experience and time for reflection, which was just beginning as we swam a bit, had another good dinner with great service and prepare for our 5 am pickup in the morning to tour the famous Angkor Wat and other temples in the morning to see the sun rise!

Sunday February 3, 2019

As promised, we were met at the Sojourn Villas at 5 am by Maray and the driver Pin and the Sojourn had prepared boxed breakfast food for us. We made our way about 20 minutes through town to the Angkor Wat temple ticket center. Even at this hour, traffic was starting to build for the sunrise viewing of the temples but we made our way after a good bit of walking to a good viewing sight just before sunrise. Here is a short overview of the temples we were to explore most of the day. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

And then just as Maray predicted at about 6:30 AM the bright orange sun rose over the ancient temples. The place was crowded down near the water where you could get some nice reflections of the temples in the water but fortunately we found a very tall guy who took some good photos for us. I believe that the last two photos in this section below may be two out our favorites for the whole trip! But of course we still have at least 6-8 more places so I will withhold judgment.

We the spent the next 4-5 hours actually climbing through the temples with Mayray towing me along and making sure I kept my balance as he explained the history of the various temples. The last couple in this set show me with and without the Longue Vue hat. (Apparently my proposal to have members send in photos from various parts of the world for the club newsletter was rejected as I never heard back from them.)

Following Anghor Wat we made our way to The Ta Prohm temples where we heard that the 2001 film Lara Croft Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig and John Voight was filmed. (For those of you knowing Susan’s taste for violence or creepiness this would not have been on her list, but she does like mysteries so maybe we will check it out and see if we remember any of the background.)

Our final set of temples for the day was at the famous city of Angkor Thom with its Bayon temples featuring four smiling faces in different directions supposedly standing for the values of simplicity, compassion, equanimity and wisdom.

By the time we finished the last set, we were kind of “templed out” as Missie’s tour guide husband Dom told us we would be. So after this “once in a lifetime” day (unless we take our son Mark there when he visits April 13-20) we retreated to the tranquility of the Sojourn Villas in Siem Reap and relaxed by the pool and had another excellent dinner. How do you like the lion fountain? I need to consider adding one to the Hollingsworth Pool and Resort prior to the next John Puckett one man band appearance some time this summer! And Ray Parpan, the Walmart tropical shirt continues to make its appearances.

Monday February 4, 2019

While Susan enjoyed the pool and a spa treatment, I took Tom Blythe’s advice and had Pin drive me ten minutes to the Angkor Wat Golf Resort where he had played a few years ago. It was a very nice course but about 94 degrees Fahrenheit as you can imagine from the sweat on the bright green Sewickley Heights shirt that my friends Gregg Schmidt and his wife Sharon Ammons had given me a couple years ago from Sewickley Heights in Pittsburgh.

It was my first golf since October and with a sprained ankle.  I played pretty poorly except good drives and almost made a 10 foot birdie (and did get first par of Year) on Number 6.

I almost made it without a major International incident until number 6 when my shorts fell down and then after making it 9 holes I grabbed the rake on the back of the golf cart and fell over – no injuries but the female caddie and the starter took some strength to pull me up. Not sure if losing too much weight or bad fitting belt or pants but would bet on belt so family – Father’s Day Idea – new belt size 46 or adjustable as I should be skinnier by then ha.

Anyway, the course and the umbrella for the head and the knowledgable female caddies made for a memorable round!

Following the golf, Pin picked me up and I bought a couple of small elephant and Buddha souvenirs for the family and returned to the Sojourn Villas for a final swim and dinner. The Villas are run by an Australian couple and all the staff including the spa staff were hand picked and trained over the last 8 years so I highly second Tom Blythe’s recommendation. Here is the website if you somehow get the opportunity to go to Siem Reap, Cambodia! http://www.sojournsiemreap.com/

Next: Back to Singapore for Chinese New Year! (Blog completed 3 April 2019 in the Helsinki Airport in route back to Pittsburgh with final touches applied April 7, 2019 in Minneapolis at the Final Four NCAA Basketball tournament. I promise next one won’t take me so long! Jim Hollingsworth).

This is my blog of Kyoto and Osaka Japan prior to returning to Singapore. (Completed March 14, 2019 on Silk Air flight from Chiang Mai Thailand to Singapore with final touches back at apartment in Singapore. Cambodia, Singapore, Bali, Vietnam and Thailand to come!)

As I mentioned in the last blog for Toyko we have found that having a good private guide is often the best way to go. We took this approach in Kyoto when I diligently searched for guides on the Japan Triplelights.com site. We corresponded with guide Lisa Watanabe several times before traveling and she put together a great schedule in Kyoto and Osaka including getting us to the gate at the Osaka airport for our return to Singapore.

I will recount some of the trip, including photos, but here is my review of our visit to Kyoto and Osaka. See the 7th review down that I issued (at least that is where it was today) labeled “Lisa leads the way in Kyoto.”

https://triplelights.com/japan/kyoto/review/5172

Her email also is lisa@timetraveljapan.com just in case she isn’t with Triple Lights (although many of their other guides there also get good reviews.) We warned her that we may be sending referrals so just mention Jim and Susan Hollingsworth and my sprained ankle and she will probably remember us!

Sunday January 27, 2019

After following Lisa’s advice and checking into the super-convenient Hotel Granvia located at the Kyoto train station, we decided to try that Que Pasa Mexican restaurant in Kyoto that I had read about in the Toyko newspaper. It was a bit of a taxi ride and for a while we thought the driver was lost but he made it and we went in and met the owner Ryota Kurakowa (age 28) (on the left) and his assistant. An Uber Eats motorbike driver was also there picking up an order and several Americans were eating there alongside Japanese friends.

They were very enthusiastic about the new business and were super-impressed when I jokingly told them we’d seen the newspaper review article that morning in the Toyko paper and decided to jump on the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the 2.5 hour ride to Kyoto yo check out Que Pasa! The guacamole and chips and burritos and margaritas were actually quite good so we enjoyed them as our first meal in Kyoto.

And when we told Ryota about the article he was very pleased since he only seen it online and while we were there he called his father who went out and bought a couple of hard copies of the newspaper so if you ever get to Que Pasa in Kyoto I wouldn’t doubt that one of the articles could be framed and on the wall.

We also met a couple of interesting characters there including a guy named Jay Crystall who told us he’d lived in Kyoto for around ten years but was from New Jersey. He apparently owns a school there and had just written a book called “Lovesic in Kyoto” with a ghost writer named Kathryn Lennox.

I keep googling the book and Jay Crystall but it must not be out yet. But he does have a few music videos out there. Not exactly my style but he does have a pretty good voice! Good luck on the book Jay.

Here is a map with directions from the Hotel Granvia in Japanese to Que Pasa. (I’m not yet on commission there but hope people will try it!) Lisa said she would!

Monday January 28, 2019

Our guide Lisa met us at 8 am in our hotel lobby and off we went!

Our first stop was the beautiful Kinkakuji (Golden pavilion) Shrine with its brilliant gold trim.

This was one of Susan’s favorite places and in the gift shop she kept admiring a print of the Shrine. After Susan bought a small magnet, I surreptitiously bought the print and we hid it in Lisa’s backpack for the next two days and put it in my suitcase on the Osaka subway. I was able to get it back to Singapore and kept it hidden until Valentines Day when I gave it to her as a present. She was very pleased and surprised. I would strongly recommend going to the Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion if you ever visit Kyoto!

After the Golden Pavilion we went to a place called the Bamboo Forest. It was very impressive as were stories about how it grew about three feet a day!

Following the Arashiyama bamboo forest, we went to another shrine that also had a UNESCO World Heritage garden called the Sogenchi Gardens which was very beautiful.

After this we went to a small town that had a nice shopping street by a river. The first picture is an owl and cat forest where we passed on having coffee with live cats and big owls! The third and fourth ones were from a “food model” store where food vendors can purchase plastic models of their food to put in the window. They really help when you can’t read the menu. We also had some green tea ice cream and some bamboo ice cream along the shopping street. Pretty tasty.

Following this we kept taking trains and walking and walking and walking! I was really dragging and Susan kept saying “look ahead” and “keep your head up” and Lisa kept saying “only ten more minutes, only ten more minutes.”

Well those “ten minutes” turned into 18,606 steps for the day.

We finished at the famous Nijo-jo Castle, right before they closed. Lisa shared how the Shoguns ruled the castle and how there were different meeting rooms to greet the Shogun ruler, depending on the visitor’s status.

That evening we took Lisa’s suggestion and went for fried pork tenderloin in Kyoto. It was really delicious and they even had a special cut which I tried but Susan said it tasted like her “normal” version.

There are several locations for Katsumara restaurants including one in “The Cube” at Kyoto Station but we went to the Main Shop based on Lisa’s recommendation and it was great. Here is a review and some photos:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/foodicles.com/best-katsu-japan-katsukura/amp/

The next day we got up early and checked out of the hotel and met Lisa at 8 AM for our train ride to Osaka which is about an hour from Kyoto. Lisa explained along the way that she had grown up there so she was very familiar with the history and how to get around.

In Osaka we visited the Osaka castle, Kuromon Ichiba Market, and the Dotombori shopping street. For lunch we had the delicious “Shabushabu” which consisted of dipping and swirling thinly sliced beef into a flavorful hot pot but only long enough to say “Shabushabu.” It was a lot of fun and tasted very good.

Just like Kyoto we put in a lot of steps in Osaka (over 15,000) so I had a pretty good week on my “MyFitnessPal” step counter.

As promised Lisa took us right to our gate in Osaka and was going to visit her mother in Osaka that evening. She plans to get married to a guy from California next year so we hope we may run into her again and If she keeps doing tours we would love to do another one with her! Thank you Lisa and best to you in the future!

End of Kyoto and Osaka blog! Cambodia is next big destination!

Jim Hollingsworth

(March 14, 2018)

This is Susan’s business trip to Japan followed by our holiday trip to Kyoto and Osaka before flying back to Singapore dell from Osaka on January 29.

I was going to take the blog all the way through Osaka on January 29 but: 1) since it has been a while since I posted 2) because I received some feedback that they were getting a bit too long and 3) because there is a lot to say about Kyoto and Osaka, I’m stopping this report just after leaving Toyko on Sunday January 27, 2019 on the way to Kyoto. (No guarantees that I cut out enough but I am trying!)

January 23

The plan was for Susan to work and go with her boss Gary Da Silva to Toyko leaving around 3 pm and flying from Hong Kong to close-in Haneda airport in Japan Airlines. I, on the other hand, in order to save money (like 400 dollars) was leaving a couple hours earlier to Narita Airport on “Hong Kong Express” Airlines and was to make my way to the Shangri Law Hotel which is adjacent to the BNY Mellon office in Toyko.

So I took the Airport Express train back to the airport. It was a leisurely ride but when I arrived at the Hong Kong Airport station everyone was grabbing their bags and getting off and others were getting on and I had left my three bags up front in the storage area and was a bit concerned about getting off the train in time so I rushed up to grab my bags and got off. I had a strange feeling as the train pulled away and then I knew why as I got to the check in counter for Hong Kong Express Airlines!

LOST ITEM #5

Citizens Bank Debit Card

LOST ITEM #6

Cash Hong Kong Dollars

LOST ITEM #7

Ainope Portable Charger Case

Story:

Unfortunately the large case for carrying the portable charger was bothering me in my pocket so I think I left it on the seat next to me and then when everyone was rushing to leave the train I made the huge mistake of not looking for it again, just like on the massage chair at Jumbo Seafoods in Singapore. Yes, almost impossible to believe but true. The only good things are that I’d earlier taken out my Singapore ID car and about 800 US Dollars and also had kept the actual charger in my pocket so it could have been much worse! Hopefully the LOST ITEMS will stop at 7.

As a result of looking for the lost items and filing a lost item report, when I got to the gate 20 minutes before takeoff they were sounding “last call” and starting to close the door, so this was probably the tenth time in my travel career that I was the last one on board! So watch those times and arrive early. And I learned over the next few days after both me and the hotels calling lost and found in vain that in terms of honesty, HONG KONG IS NO SINGAPORE!

So I got on Hong Kong Express and had a nice three hour flight to Toyko, arriving in the very large and winding Toyko train station, which happened to be right next to our hotel, The Shangri La Toyko!

We were going to stay at the Conrad so Susan could get her Hilton points but this worked out really well because not only was it near the train station but it was right next door to the BNY Mellon Toyko office.

Before we left Hong Kong, Shamus Cahill of BNY Mellon had given me a tip of calling the Shangri La and asking them to meet me at the train in order to avoid the maze of heading to the Shangri La.

On the way to baggage claim to get the train to downtown Toyko I couldn’t help but notice 32 banners advertising the Toto Toilet Washlet System. I didn’t really know what it was but they seem to really like Toto toilets and we do have a regular Toto one in our front hallway in Pittsburgh and we are midway through redoing my bathroom in Pittsburgh so I guess that’s why I was paying some attention to them.

And wow was I met my a Shangri La at the train track who walked me all the way to the hotel lugging all my bags. What service!

In a strange coincidence even though I left and hour earlier I ran into Susan and Gary Da Silva checking in right before me. So we all met and had a quick bite and drink checking out the great views from the Shangri La.

Then when we got to the bedroom and bathroom and…..

Yes, a real Toto Washlet System! Complete with heated seat, oscillating spray, soft and strong bidet, power deodorizer, adjustable water pressure and helpful drawings.

Without going into too many more details, after checking out all the controls I certainly now know what a Toto Washlet System is! Give it a try if you ever get the chance. I liked it so much I emailed my bathroom designer and Jennifer and Susan to get there thoughts on adding it to my bathroom remodeling project. But sadly I was strongly vetoed. Our 469 dollar Kohler toilet had already been delivered but not installed and this one would cost 2,600 and require the plumber to come out again so I reluctantly passed on the Toto Washlet System!

Thursday 24 January 2019

While Susan worked I chilled (literally since Toyko was like 40 degrees F compared to Hong Kong 70 and Singapore 80, but they did have a nice indoor pool.

I did meet Susan and one of the newer attorneys in the Toyko office as well as seasoned veteran Hajime for lunch and we had some tasty ramen noodles (much better than those in the bag.)

That afternoon I made my way to the Hop on Hop Off Bus where they gave everyone blankets and hand warmers. I did learn the secret of sitting in the front row behind the glass with a nice couple I had met when signing up for the bus.

They said they were from Toledo and I said I was from Pittsburgh and the woman said “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” and I said “Yes that is our local paper.”

Turns out they knew that quite well as they were Susan Allan Block and Allan Block.

Allan is the Chairman and CEO of Block Communications which owns the Toledo Blade, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

and several television stations and other businesses. Allan’s twin brother John is the Publisher in Chief of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Susan is a chef who ran her own business and she recently joined the Board of Block Communication and has served on several civic boards such as the Toledo Zoo, Toledo YMCA and Toledo Children’s Hospital Foundation.

https://www.toledoblade.com/business/technology/2018/10/23/susan-allan-block-named-to-block-communications-board/stories/20181024026

Perhaps I should have known who the owners of the Post Gazette were but I didn’t and they were both very nice to me, including explained why the papers are becoming more digital and giving me the link to the Pittsburgh News Slide App which can be accessed at https://pgnewsslide.com/experience.

They were in Toyko as part of a cruise to Asia including Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. So we shared some travel tips and restaurant recommendations and I hope to host them at Longue Vue when I get back to Pittsburgh as they visit quite often. They also invited me to visit in Toledo so that was a great start to the Toyko trip as I continue to expand our contacts.

I finished the Hop on Hop Off Tour but I have to say it was a bit disappointing as it seemed to mainly drive by areas that used to be historical but were now very small or replaced with skyscrapers. It did give me some good reference points that I used later when Susan and I did our own tour.

That evening we met three attorneys from Susan’s BNY Mellon Toyko office at a nice place in Toyko called Ishero which served several different courses of grilled chicken and beef on a stick called Yakitori. It was quite tasty. After we returned to Singapore I noticed a Japanese craft beer place that also has great yakitori!

https://www.isehiro.co.jp/honten/

Friday January 25 2019

While Susan continued to work I woke up to a beautiful view of Toyko Bay from our hotel room.

Later I used the Hop on Hop Pass again to see some different routes and locations including the Toyko Tower, which we found out was largely built from left over metal from World War II.

That afternoon we checked out of the Shangri La Hotel and checked into the Conrad Toyko which included a breakfast but no “Executive Lounge” benefits since they were busy and Susan was only a Hilton Honors Gold Member rather than Diamond, but it was still very nice.

For dinner, Susan and I followed her co-worker Hajime’s recommendation and Yoko made us a reservation at “Ten-Mo”.

Here is their website: (some may need to translate into English.)

http://tenmo.jp

And here are a few photos.

We had a great Tempura dinner cooked right in front of us. Just Susan, me and a guy from Thailand.  Everything was excellent except that I shouldn’t have told Susan that one of the courses was “Sea eel” as she wouldn’t touch it even though I thought it was good.  

We enjoyed seeing the 3d owner who was 90 and the 4th owner who had been working for 30 years.  Fortunately the woman also spoke pretty good English.  

Now we can understand why Hajime likes the place where a shop was founded in 1885 and has been a restaurant since 1907, and I think Susan said that Hajemi was engaged here (perhaps a few years later?).  

The dinner was not cheap (about 242 USD including a 75 dollar bottle of red wine) but it was delicious and certainly one of our more memorable dinners so far!

When we got back to the Conrad we had an after dinner drink in the bar. It had a nice large ice cube in it to keep ice from melting, which I pass on as a subtle tip to Tim Mink, Longue Vue Food and Beverage Manager whom I’m sure is keeping up with this blog.).

Also on the spur of the moment I asked the bar server if the hotel Concierge was still around as it was after 9 PM. Fortunately she was and stopped by with some brochures for tours. She recommended the full day Grayline Bus Tour. I was a bit skeptical after having spent two days on the Hop on Hop Off buses but we agreed to do the tour starting at 8:30 AM and are we glad we did!

Saturday January 26. 2019

Our first stop was to the top of the Toyko Tower, which I’d seen on the other tour but did not get off. We saw some nice views from the tower and the tour guide (wish I remembered her name as I’d recommend the tour for Mark Hollingsworth when he goes to Toyko on April 20 after visiting Susan in Singapore.)

We then moved on to a sacred Shinto Shrine in Toyko where I looked around inside and observed a wedding procession while Susan walked further in to see the saki barrels.

Later our tour guide continued to amaze us with her personality and knowledge as we went to the Imperial Palace and its beautiful gardens.

The Imperial Gardens were close to our hotel and we had a very good lunch as part of the tour at a nearby restaurant.

The tour continued in the afternoon with another good guide although not quite as nice as the morning one.

He took us first to more gardens, the Hama-titling Gardens from which we could also see the Conrad Hotel (third photo down).

Both the guide and this sign above answered my question about why bamboo was wrapped around most of the trees.

Yes the next one is if me “assuming the position” as this day we did 14,396 steps or at least thats what the MyFitnessPal App on my iPhone told me.

We went on to a boat ride past some interesting buildings.

We finished the day at another large Shrine next to a huge shopping area.

That evening we went to the Ginza shopping area and to a great Kobe steak restaurant that Allan and Susan Allan Block had gone to the night before, so we followed her recommendation.

Again the place was not cheap but if you ever wanted to try Kobe Beef this is the place! The chef was very good and also was a huge baseball fan and we were greeted by Juan from Mexico who spoke very good English and said his main job was to welcome the non-Japanese guests. We also posed with their championship beef trophy.

The name is the place is listed below along with reviews.

Bifteck no Kawamura (Ginza), 8F Ginza MST Building, + 813-6252-5011

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1022819-d6872878-Reviews-Kobe_Beef_Bifteck_Kawamura_Nishinomiya-Nishinomiya_Hyogo_Prefecture_Kinki.html?m=19905

Sunday January 27, 2019

We got up and had a leisurely breakfast at the Conrad, which coincidentally gave me time to read the paper before we left on the bullet train to Kyoto. I say coincidentally because one part of the paper had this review of a New Mexican burrito restaurant in Kyoto called Que Pasa. More to come in the Kyoto blog.

On the way out of the hotel to catch our train to Kyoto we ran into our lovely and talented concierge who had given us the Grayline Tour advice and she escorted us to a taxi to take us to the train station . If you ever stay at the Conrad Toyko please look for her and ask for details of the Grayline Full Day Tour.

So as we prepared to leave Toyko I mentioned to Susan that while my initial impressions were that Toyko was a giant city with a few old sites, after getting a more intimate tour with Grayline, having some great dining experiences, good business meetings and interacting with the Japanese people, I was very impressed with Toyko and would love to return as I feel there is a lot more to see and do. And now I know why my good friend and former boss John Rowland always described the Japanese people as “unfailingly polite”, a term he used after visited Japan to see his daughter Lizzy who spent a year here teaching English as a second language. John, we couldn’t agree more!

We headed to Toyko Station and followed Bill Donovan’s advice and took the bullet train to Kyoto, passing by My. Fuji on the way. We were going to go in the evening originally but we recommend daytime for the views.

After arriving we checked into the modern Hotel Granvia in Kyoto that was right at the Kyoto train station. It was recommend by our guide Lisa Watanabe, whom we’d found in the Triplelights guide website and she was highly recommended for her architectural knowledge and command of English as she had earned a degree in California before returning to her home in Osaka. Prior to even heading to Toyko we had corresponded with Lisa and she had planned a two day schedule for touring Kyoto and Osaka including taking us to the airport in Osaka. She was our first “hired guide” we used on the trip other than our driver in Kuala Lumpur and our great experience convinced us that getting a highly rated guide with good English skills (and patience for dealing with my questions and sprained ankle) can be a key to a successful tour experience.

End of blog report. Next one will be a separate one for Kyoto and Osaka! There I will give you Our tour guide’s contact information!

Jim Hollingsworth

March 5, 2019

(I was going to go through January 29 and also include Toyko, Kyoto and Osaka, but this one got so long and had so many photos (87) that I decided to publish it and save Japan and Cambodia for separate blog posts.)

Also note the dedication of this blog to Tom and Linda Finlay in the January 18 entry. (Don’t worry they are still doing well as Linda sent me a Messenger note on February 11 after getting our Christmas card!)

In my last travel blog ending January 17, I think I failed to mention that in my role as our designated travel advisor I had been spending a lot of time planning for our upcoming trip.

Susan was asked by her boss, Gary Da Silva, who is the head of the Asia legal department based in Hong Kong, to come to Hong Kong for meetings and to meet several of her asset servicing and corporate trust co-workers in person from Monday January 21 to Wednesday January 23. After Hong Kong, Gary and Susan were to fly to Toyko on the 23d and meet others there on Thursday and Friday January 24-25.

As part of our planning, Susan and I decided that we would go to Hong Kong early and spend Friday to Sunday touring and then stay in Japan the following weekend.

We had last been in Hong Kong in 1992 when I was in the University of Pittsburgh’s Executive MBA Program, “EMBA.”

EMBA had an international component which consisted of spending two weeks at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Susan was about 7 months pregnant with my son Mark and we left Jennifer (almost 4) with Susan’s parents in Chicago before we flew to Seattle and visited my West Point Classmate Rex Tagasuki before flying to Hong Kong via Toyko. Rex retired from the Army and became a stock broker in the Seattle area. He still resides there and is now an avid golfer and fly fisherman where he publishes a blog on fly fishing. So, even though I’m into a little bigger fish like Black or Blue Marlins like I caught with the Tropic Star Resort in Panama. So I will have to pay Rex a visit and play some golf when I get back as well as visit Jen’s former roommate Raechel Calderone who works for Nordstrom’s in Seattle. Rex showed us around Seattle and Redmond Washington, including taking us by a large house under construction for Bill and Melinda Gates.

Susan and her good friend Shirley Staffan (Parpan) had also been to Hong Kong in 1978 when they visited Susan’s classmate from Duke, Steve Boyd, and his family who showed them all over Hong Kong. Susan was interested in revisiting several places such as Victoria Peak. We had also met Steve and his wife Shirley during our 1992 trip where we sang karaoke with Shirley and her relatives who lived in Hong Kong’s New Territories. Ironically, on the spur of the moment, on January 1 this year while at Ray and Shirley Parpan’s in Chicago I googled Steve Boyd who now lives near Akron Ohio and when he answered we told him we were headed back to Hong Kong!

We had a great time back in 1992 and looked forward to seeing what had changed since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, ending 156 years under British rule.

January 18

Susan went to work and was scheduled to depart Singapore on Singapore Airlines at 2 pm and arrive in Hong Kong at 7 pm.

I, on the other hand, not working and having to pay my own way, began planning my travel using my “Hollingsworth Penny Saver Travel” skills.

If you haven’t heard of Hollingsworth Penny Saver Travel, it is a yet to be formed entity but active concept my former co-worker and still close friend Michael Monteith conceived and presented to me with a plaque on my 15th anniversary with U. S. Steel commemorate my skills in getting reduced travel fares and occasionally using unorthodox (or in my view, “outside of the box”) travel techniques.

The plaque had a map of the United States with criss-crossed travel routes and stories (such as using “rent a wreck” cars, taking back to back flights, etc.).

But enough of that as I may elaborate on it more if I ever get around to publishing “Hollingsworth Stories” which would have a lot of travel tales in it along with other adventures and mishaps. Although now I’m being told that my friend Joe Deluca in Pittsburgh may also be working on a competing book called “My Pal Jim”, so I may need my Charlotte-based copy-write attorney and Susan’s Duke classmate, Martha Barber, to represent me on the publications and appropriate royalties!

TRAVEL BLOG DEDICATION

I also want to take this opportunity to formerly dedicate this travel blog to my good friends and former co-worker Tom Finlay and his wife Linda Finlay as I just heard from them from their home in Taylors South Carolina. Although I have always been known as “cheap” when it came to travel (such as staying in a landfill one night outside of Miami when driving to Florida with my high school wrestling teammates Perry Ritch and Mark DeGrove), Tom Finlay was my Travel inspiration. (Cathy Ealick, do you remember asking me “Is he cheaper than you?” when I told you that Mark DeGrove refused to pay 3 or 4 dollars each for a nice KOA Campground in the Florida Keys following the previous day’s stay in a dump behind a gas station at 3 in the morning and getting woken up by bulldozers moving trash at 7 am?)

Tom Finlay worked with me on the U. S. Steel federal income tax return and one day stopped into tell me he was retiring at age 53 to travel the world while he was still young and health enough. And boy did he and Linda travel and very frugally, spending months in Portugal, Norway, Paris, the Netherlands, etc. He even gave Bill and Lisa Donovan and Susan and me a heads up to stay at the “Hotel Central Monte” in downtown Paris back in 1987 for only 45 dollars a night! Still a bargain, even with the scaffolding up everywhere and with some other occurrences that may be better suited for the Hollingsworth Stories book. We even heard from Tom a few years ago when we sent him a postcard from Norway and he wrote back a long letter circling a small house in the postcard in a Norway mountainside where they had stayed for a few weeks very cheaply! So thank you Tom and Linda for all the travel tips and inspiration over the years! And of course the blog is also dedicated to my daughter Jennifer as she was the one who set it up to begin with and has her own Hollingsworth Penny Saver Travel skills as evidenced by her trip last week where she scored 753 dollars in Southwest flight vouchers by agreeing to take a later flight that only got to Florida a couple hours later than intended. Good work Jen!

NOW BACK to the BLOG

Instead of leaving at 2 PM with Susan on the swanky Singapore Airlines, I took the economy route using Jetstar, a low cost subsidiary of Australia’s Quantas Airlines.

I had been tipped off to JetStar by John Walsh, a friend of Jim and Gretchen Haggerty’s whom I’d met a couple of years ago at his vacation home at Ross Mountain, near Ligionier, Pennsylvania.

John is a consultant in the water treatment business living in Charlotte, NC but he had also impressed me with his novel travel approaches, many of which would leave Hollingsworth Penny Saver Travel in the dust! For example, John and 10 family members had traveled to Madrid over the Christmas holidays in 2017 for only 375 dollars each, round trip from Charlotte.

Ironically again while writing this blog, I looked back in old emails and found this one from John Walsh when I contacted him in December of 2017 (not a typo) asking for travel advice to Asia just in case Susan and I took a vacation here, long before we even thought she might even end up working in Singapore!

It’s a rather long email and I cut and pasted parts of it but I include it here because I continue to follow many of John’s travel tips and thought they might be useful to others.

I even stopped by to see John when he was visiting Ross Mountain this October when we knew we were going to Singapore and that’s when he mentioned JetStar and gave me other tips such as using Google Flights, which is also a great website to sort airfare options, including monthly price charts. In reading this email I see that we just followed some of his advice, doing almost the same things he did in Cambodia last week.

“December 17, 2017

John,

I don’t know if you remember me but I met you at Ross Mountain when Gretchen Haggerty brought several of us to play golf and eat.  

While we were eating I sat next to you and was fascinated by some of your stories, especially on travel tips!  As I mourn the Steeler’s unbelievable loss to the Patriots I was wondering if you had done your planning on the Asia trip you were working on and if you could share any of the iteniary or details.  I’m thinking of planning one next year or the year after for my 35th Anniversary or when my wife retires as I did earlier this year. I know your trip was going to be a surprise for your wife or family so I will not mention it if I happen to see you again.

I appreciate any info you have and there is no rush but my email is jdhollingsworth713@gmail.com and my cell is 

412 953-6105.  

Thanks and have a great holiday.

Jim Hollingsworth”

John’s reply email:

“Hi Jim-  Marla and I watched the ending to the game and share your pain.  

Actually we just returned last Sunday from the trip and will share a few items now and then will share more later.

We went from Charlotte to Singapore, arriving late at night where we stayed two nights.  Generally our rule is two nights in the arrival city is enough to tour the sights and have a chance to acclimatize to the time change (12 hours).

The second stop was Siem Reap, Cambodia.  We stayed their three nights and used the first full day to tour Angkor Wat (starting at sunrise) and then the second full day, a tour of the countryside, a school and then a private boat ride to see the floating villages of the largest lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap.

The last stop was Phuket Thailand for the beach.  We stayed there 4 nights.  And toured the islands by boat when not at the resort.

There are a myriad of choices in Asia.  We did a similar trip to Thailand which included Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Another possibility is Vietnam where we went Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and then to a rapidly developing island Phu Quoc.

We have spent months and months travelling and living in China and have contacts and recommendations there.

So several suggestions:  Start reading Tripadvisor, BBC Travel etc to learn about the countries you want to visit.

We typically go for 10 days and start with a major city, then go  to see sights in the countryside, and then rest up at a beach.

Obviously, a more leisurely pace might be more to your liking.

Travel overseas doesnt need to be expensive.

Monitor www.theflightdeal.com for inexpensive international flights.  Charlotte to Singapore was $685 roundtrip.  (MARTHA DID YOU READ THIS? JIM H INSERTION).

We are taking the family (10 of us) to Madrid for Christmas and New Years on Delta Airlines for $375 per person roundtrip.  I use www.booking.com for accommodations because they have good reviews and usually a free cancellation policy.  Use Tripadvisor for activities and restaurants.

Personally I enjoy researching each trip. There’s plenty on the internet to get you started.

So hopefully this is a good starting point for you.  Please let me know how I can help further.  JOHN”.

———————————————————-

John Walsh, If you read this, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help. It is really paying off! I had forgotten about http://www.theflightdeal.com and just looked at it for some tips during our visit to Bali coming up on March 1!

___________________________________________

OK, back to Hong Kong:

I first had driver Kenneth Oon drop me at Chiangi Airport in Singapore, which I may have mentioned is often voted to be the World’s Best Airport!

By taking JetStar to Hong Kong instead of Airlines I saved over 500 dollars and arrived a couple hours earlier than Susan.

I also learned that it was worth joining the JetStar club as I’ve already recovered the cost through discount vouchers and savings on bags and extra legroom seats, etc.

Speaking of extra legroom, I paid a few bucks extra (like 12-15 dollars) to sit in the first row with no bulkhead in front of me, no one crowding or sneezing on me, being able to get off the plane early and on it late, etc. So while perhaps not a Hollingsworth Penny Saver Travel move, it was well worth it.

Also started reading a book “Bad Blood” that Susan borrowed from a co-worker. Not quite done with it but excellent true story about a Silicon Valley start-up!

So, I arrived in Hong Kong airport where the train cars and lobbies were festively decorated for Chinese New Year, which this year is “The Year of the Pig.”

Since Susan is a Hilton Honors Member, we booked our hotel for the weekend and for Monday and Tuesday at the Conrad Hong Kong and I took the Hong Kong Express Train which went downtown to Hong Kong Station and was only a 5 dollar cab ride away.

We were upgraded to a nice harbor view and to the Executive Lounge with free cocktails and breakfast. Since Susan was due in a couple of hours, I went to the Executive Lounge in the 59th floor which conveniently was only a stairway or elevator up from our room on the 58th floor. It was a bit cloudy or smoggy but got better during our stay.

As I waited for Susan and received some touring advice from the staff, a woman next to me mentioned a couple of places also such as Victoria Peak and as we talked it turned out she had her own recruiting firm and had actually placed the head of BNY Mellon’s compliance function in Asia who was located in Hong Kong and it turned out that Susan had a meeting scheduled with him while she was in Hong Kong. So it is a small world and you ever know who you will meet or the connections you may make as you will hear about a couple more times during this trip.

(Sorry grabbed a free brownie that rubbed off on the business card.)

When it became light the next day we found that we also had a nice harbor view from our room.

Saturday January 19, 2019

After a nice breakfast in the Executive Lounge, based on conversations I had with one of the Conrad staff members, we took a short cab ride to the Man Mo Temple near the Central Wan Chai area of Hong Kong. We had thought about taking the train but were told that it was kind of uphill and the taxi was cheap so that’s what we did and when we saw the hills we were glad we didn’t walk. Below is some history on the temple and some pictures. It was very interesting so we are glad we went. I didn’t try to light any incense sticks so the temple is still intact!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Mo_Temple_(Hong_Kong)

As we walked around the temple we were trying to decide where to go next. I had been recommended to go to a restaurant but it was early so when we saw a sign to the Sun Yat Sen Museum (a name we’d heard of during world history classes as the founding father of the Republic of China.), we turned right and headed to the museum, unfortunately up some very high hills!

The museum was quite interesting and also included a separate exhibit on Chinese Warlords.

After leaving the museum we made our way toward the Yat Lok BBQ Restaurant that we heard was pretty tasty. As we weaved our way down hills toward the restaurant we discovered there was a very long escalator going UP then hill that we wished we’d seen earlier. Unfortunately there was no escalator going down either but we did pass some nice shopping streets.

The restaurant turned out to have a Michelin Star and was jammed but we got right in and enjoyed pork and goose, some of which were hanging from the ceiling. Both were very tasty!

After a lot of steep walking we made our way back toward the Conrad but fortunately I spotted a taxi stand and after waiting for about 20 people we made our way back just in time to change for dinner with Susan’s co-worker Shamus Cahill and another attorney Stephen (“Stevo”) Lee.

1. We joined them for a nice ferry ride from Hong Kong Island, where our hotel was, to Kowloon, which is on the mainland across Victoria Harbour. Once a separate city, it was acquired by Britain in 1860 and returned to China with the rest of the colony in 1997. It is now a shopping, arts and entertainment district.

We made our way from the dock in Kowloon past the famous Peninsula Hotel where we had had tea in 1992 and next to the Jimmy Chen tailor where I had a suit and blazer made back in 1992 during the EMBA trip. As late as 2011 I was able to wear the blazer with its fancy buttons after losing 65 pounds but unfortunately it doesn’t come close today although I haven’t thrown it out yet and with all these steps (10,000 plus this day) hope springs eternal!

I later found out that Susan’s Aunt Jane Mueller, who is reading this blog faithfully, visited Hong Kong with her sister Helen and actually stayed in the Peninsula and went to Victoria Peak where we went the next day.

Jane, thanks for the nice notes and for sharing your memories!

Shamus and Stevo took us to a nice bar at the Wooloo Mooloo Steakhouse on the 21st Floor of THE ONE shopping mall work with great views of Victoria Harbor and the nightly laser light show at 8 pm. The drink prices were actually very reasonable so I recommend it to Meg and her roommate Holly and friends to take the Ferry or underground train to this building to watch the light show when they are in Hong Kong in April. Here is the website. They also have one in Singapore we may have to try.

https://wooloo-mooloo.com/single_venue/prime-tst/

After we watched the laser light show we took the MTR train back to Hong Kong Island and had a great dinner at the Peking Garden Restaurant where we had Peking Duck, rice, etc. Thanks for that recommendation Shamus and Steveo.

https://www.google.com/search?q=peking+garden+hong+kong&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS733US733&oq=peking+ga&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l3.10872j1j9&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#istate=lrl:iv&lkt=LocalPoiReviews&rlimm=

o

January 20, 2019

On Sunday we left the Conrad to take the Hop on Hop Off Bus around Hong Kong. We have tried them in several cities to get an introduction to the main sites.

We first drove around many buildings on Hong Kong Island.

Our first major stop was to take the tram to Victoria Peak. Our timing was great as we beat most of the crowds and the weather was beautiful! There were many good photos but for brevity (right…) here are just a few:

After Victoria Peak we continued on the Hop on Hop Off Bus past the South China Sea. Next we went on the other side of the island to Stanley Market, which we fondly remembered from 1992 and 1978. Back then we were able to buy 5 dollar Polo shirts and even purchase Susan’s “puffy white coat” for like 7 dollars that she still wears to this day walking our dog Bella. (Oh yeah she used to wear it when we were back in the frigid Pittsburgh weather rather than 82 degrees in Singapore!). Even though we used to make fun of it, even Jen is wearing it now to walk our dog Bella (27 years later) and it is still warm, “so attractive” and florescent!

Unfortunately we believe Stanley Market has lost a lot of its charm. While there are still some bargains to be had, a brand new luxury complex was built with high end brands etc., so it isn’t quite the same. KikiDespite our not being enthralled and not finding a suitable “puffy coat” we did end up staying long enough to miss the bus so we took a 20 kilometer taxi ride back to the hotel but saw some more sites on the way.

Monday January 21. 2019

Susan went to work in the Hong Kong office and I had another day left in the Hip on Hop Off Bus so I took it around the city and then again over to the Kowloon mainland on a ferry to see it during the day.

j

While on the bus I also noticed a sign that reminded me of our days in Hong Kong back in 1992 with the EMBA group. When there we went to some nightclub that was open late and I recall a hot looking Asian “party girl” named “Bebe”’ that some of our class hung out with and probably took pictures with her. I took a photo of this sign and sent it to my classmate Bob Sterdis and told him “So sad.  Look at what our party girl Bebe has gone into!”

Bob replied: “You got a great memory from the Hong Kong trip.  Glad we were able to keep our boys out of trouble there.

And for Matt Phillips, Marlee Deluca, Jen Hollingsworth, Jim Haggery,David Greiner, Scott Krebs, Diane Blanton and other Penn Staters, yes there another “Happy Valley” that you may want to visit.

After a few more buildings I took the long Hong Kong Ferry around the harbor. Note our Conrad hotel in the white building to the left of the dock in the penultimate (like that word John Rowland?) picture.

t

That evening I was to meet several people from the Hong Kong legal department at a Happy Hour arranged by Ning, an attorney who Susan works with closely and who did a very nice job arranging after-hours entertainment for us while in Hong Kong.

For example, her invitation for Monday , January 21 was for a happy hour at 6:30 at “Oolaa.”

So, I googled it and took a taxi to Oolaa which I saw was an Australian chain and it was in the Wan Chai area near where we went to the Man Mo temple which was 3-4 miles from the BNY Mellon office. It seemed a bit strange to me but the taxis in Hong Kong are very reasonable and I got there a bit early like 6:20 PM. It looked very nice but they didn’t have a reservation but the manager told me where the happy hour section was and that they didn’t usually take reservations there. So I sat down and ordered a beer and an appetizer.

It didn’t really phase me that no one was there from her office, even at 6:45 ad I figured that Susan’s “promptness” skills (formerly called “Mueller Time” in her single days of being fashionably late)had likely impacted the office already. But after contemplating ordering another Stella I saw an email asking where I was and I said “here” on the patio area, where are you?

Turns out they were not at “Oolaa” but at “Oolaa Petite” which was across the street from the BNY Mellon office in Hong Kong. The manager at the “real” Oolaa was very helpful walking me to a taxi area and also letting me know there is also an “Oolaa Express” that does catering so I became pretty familiar with the Oolaa operations in Hong Kong and highly recommend them especially at Happy Hour where the prices are much lower than in Singapore where the Happy Hour prices are like 19 dollars for a beer but go to get “1 for 1” pricing.

So I took the taxi to Oolaa Petite where the crew was having a nice time outside and quickly supplied me with another Stella. After giving Ning what I thought was a good natured tip about being more precise in her invitations, we had a fun time! And Ning, if you read this, I was just kidding and appreciate all you did for us during our visit. They even got me a seat for my ailing ankle! As I recall the names and diverse country background of those in the photo from left to right are: Chris Wong, former attorney from Malaysia of Chinese descent now in operations), Fion Yim (attorney from Hong Kong in charge of network issues), Susan Hollingsworth (asset servicing attorney from Chicago and Pittsburgh) Jim Hollingsworth (Seated, former tax attorney, world traveler, hole in one golfer, Panama Black and Blue Marlin angler, happily retired on a fixed income and “kept man” born in Germany but who traveled the works as an “Army Brat”), Grant Suttie, tall guy in back from Scotland, Warrick Pride from Perth Australia and Ning Chin, attorney from Malaysia and social event expert organizer.

BNY Mellon Hong Kong office across street with moon overhead.

Following a couple more Stella’s donated by a visiting BNY Mellon person from India, Warrick thankfully walked us back to the Conrad Hotel. Thank you BNY Mellon people for the nice time!

Tuesday January 22, 2019

Susan went to work and I slept in a BNY Mellon Hong Kong office across street with moon overhead.

Following a couple more Stella’s donated by a visiting BNY Mellon person from India, Warrick thankfully walked us back to the Conrad Hotel. Thank you BNY Mellon people for the nice time!

Tuesday January 22, 2019

Susan went to work and I slept in and went to the Conrad pool.

I considered heading over to Macau, the former Portuguese Island that is now a gambling Mecca, but Susan was pleased when I used the last part of my two day Hop on Hop Off Bus to again tour Kowloon , do some shopping and have a good massage.

That evening Susan and I met for drinks in the Conrad Lobby Bar with Ning, Fion and the head of the BNY Mellon Asia Legal Department, Gary Da Silva. We had a nice time hearing about Gary’s legal career as well as his prowess as a drummer in a jazz band and his trip to a Star Trek conference, including photos with William Shattner who played Captain James T. Kirk in the series. Gary was also looking very svelte from his recent eating and fitness efforts so I was taking notes! We spent some more time with Gary in Toyko so I enjoyed meeting him and hope to see him again over the years.

I was really flattered (ha) when both Gary and Ray Parpan told me I was “one cool dude” when I posted this photo of me in my 10 dollar Walmart beach shirt! But I’m still working on becoming as cool as a drummer in a jazz band!

Ning and her husband Christian (from Germany) and Fion Yim and her husband John (from Cork, Ireland) met Susan and me for a special dinner at the Dragon Noodles Academy.

We had some great meals including Peking Duck and Clay Pot Chicken that Susan had the honor of cracking with a mallet.

From left: Christian, Ning, Fion, Susan, Jim, John.

Nice photo of Susan with Fion on left and Ning on the right at the Dragon Noodles Academy.

Fion and Ning with their trinkets from Wendell August Forge showing the City of Pittsburgh and some of its bridges.

I sent Fion and Ning this article about Pittsburgh’s 446 bridges.

https://www.google.com/search?q=number+of+bridges+in+pittsburgh&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS733US733&oq=number.of.bridges+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.9429j0j4&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Then Fion sent me this one about the longest sea bridge in the world connecting Hong Kong with MaCau!

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/hong-kong-zhuhai-macau-bridge-travel-tips/index.html

So that dinner ended our great stay in Hong Kong! It was a lot busier and noisier than Singapore but very vibrant and we are glad we returned and thank Ning, Fion and their spouses and Gary Da Silva and the rest of the Hong Kong BNY Mellon team for making us feel welcome! Now to Toyko in the next blog post! Jim Hollingsworth

End of blog entries for January 18-22 Hong Kong

Back in Singapore preparing to go to Hong Kong, Toyko, Kyoto and Osaka!

January 2-4, 2019

Our Japan Airlines flights from Chicago to Toyko and then to Singapore arriving after midnight on January 4 were good. Since Japan Airlines is a One World partner with American and I usually use an Aviator Mastercard, my last trip had given me “Platinum” status so our Pittsburgh flights to Chicago were upgraded to first class and I now earn more miles and am eligible for free domestic upgrades and use of some international airport lounges so I hope to take advantage of that when I return to the US or try to use dividend miles when I can! Kind of getting spoiled with this business and first class but want to enjoy them while we can!

Japan Airlines Business Class.

When I first drafted this section of the blog I was going to just comment that the trip back was pretty uneventful and I was going to start reporting on new activities occurring in Singapore and as we prepared for other Asia destinations such as Hong Kong, Toyko and Cambodia. But then as I started covering those days and some mishaps with injuries and lost and found items, that led me to filling out so many notes pages on list items that I even saved those on a separate report. And then I remembered that there had been some list and found drama even on the January 2-4 return flight to Singapore.

So, rather than report on all the lost items and injuries at one time, I will try to intersperse then by date as they happened or are happening (although as I continue to learn my lessons maybe they will totally stop? Doubtful but we will see.)

So I will report on the incidents using the format of Date: Lost Item # (this will be cumulative), and Story:

And since this venture started late in October and the first injury and lost item started in November 3, I will recap that also since some of you may have missed that report in one of my initial posts.

Date: November 3 2018

Lost Item#1

Aviator MasterCard

Location: Marina Bay Sands Singapore

Story: After a great day touring Singapore on November 3, 2018, my 4th day in the country.

Injury #1 Ankle

Story: Fell while walking after leg fell asleep at Marina Bay Sands Restaurant while watching a laser light show. Ended up at Singapore General Hospital with sprained ankle but was in and out seeing a doctor, getting an x-ray and medicine and paying 121 Singapore dollars (90 USD) with my MasterCard that I use to pay for everything including many automatic charges in Pittsburgh like cable tv, cell phones etc.

MasterCard lost and never found after paying the bill at Singapore General Hospital payment window. I keep monitoring it online and no unauthorized charges have appeared so I never reposted it lost or stolen.

Date: January 4

Lost item #2; Iphone:

Location: Japan Airlines flight Toyko to Singapore

Story: After we arrived from Toyko in Singapore just after midnight and were waiting at baggage claim I reached in my pocket to call our driver Kenneth Oon who was waiting for us and realized my phone was missing. After having the baggage guy call someone who was on the plane I gave them both my seat number and Susan’s as I had switched seats with her during the flight. After initially saying they couldn’t find it, I had the food fortune of them calling back and saying they found it stuck in a seat. They brought it out after only a 20 minute delay and when I tried to tip the guy who found it and the baggage guy neither wound accept anything. I felt greatly relieved as I use the phone for everything including all the pictures and text for this blog! After enduring some rolled eyes and comments from Susan and self-chastising, I assured myself that my absent mindedness, forgetfulness, lack of focus or stupidity was a “thing of the past.”

This lasted until we got to our apartment…

Date: January 4

Lost Item: Ainope Portable Charger, Case and Cable

Location: Japan Airlines flight Toyko to Singapore

Story: For Christmas Jennifer bought me a nice charger for my iPhone that could recharge the phone several times before the charger had to be recharged itself. I had never bought a new battery for my phone even after Apple gave some discounts because I didn’t want to lose my photos and hadn’t figured out how to download them to my computer so this was a real godsend! The charger was about 2 inches by 3 inches and was very sturdy and came in a slightly bigger case that held a charging cable and even had a small compartment inside so I started using it as a wallet also where It kept my Singapore ID card, my bus pass, my Citizens Bank debit card and even some money. It even fit in my front pocket but was a bit bulky. So while on the plane from Toyko I took it out and I think left it in one of the seat pockets.

In any event, after we got home on Wednesday morning, January 4, I realized it was missing.

The next day I called Japan Airlines lost and found and reported it missing. Luckily they had found it but it was in Toyko. So they put it on the plane landing in Singapore just after midnight on Friday morning and I took the mass transit train to the airport on Friday and picked it up – all contents intact! Once again I reprimanded myself but related this to the same incident where I lost my phone but wasn’t too worried about it because I was turning over a new leaf! Until Janaury 11 that is…

January 4, 2019

After several hours of sleeping in Singapore we caught up with some news including finding out that it was a good thing we weren’t in Thailand due to heavy flooding, but we do plan someday go to Bangkok (two hour flight)and perhaps a resort area such as Phuket (90 minute flight) or historic Chang Mai where they also have an elephant preserve. I think my youngest daughter Meg and her graduate school roommate Holly may go to several Thailand places when they visit us during early March so we hope to share notes.

In the the evening on January 4 we made our way across the street to the quiet more historic Emerald Hill Road where this time we tried Que Pasa, the wine restaurant. This place is nice but is not to be confused with the Que Pasa we encountered in Kyoto which I plan to discuss on the 27 January blog day.

Saturday January 5

After still being a bit groggy from jet lag we ventured by bus to a fun area called Robertson Quay which is on the water and has a lot of restaurants but is a bit quieter and I think a bit more classy than Boat Quay or Clarke Quay, which are also nice but more crowded and expensive. My friend Tom Blythe really enjoyed Robertson Quay when he lived in Singapore a few years ago. We had bit of trouble getting there as we took the right bus but in the wrong direction but had fun seeing some new sites.

Once we got to Robertson Quay we had a nice Mexican dinner at Super Loco.

Monday Jan 7 – Tuesday Jan 8

Susan returned to work and to her long workdays both at the office and with evening calls back to London, New York and Pittsburgh while I continued to recover from jet lag (but not as bad as the first time!), did some reading and started swimming and walking a bit more. I found out that Singapore was starting to get ready for the Lunar New Year (aka “Chinese New Year”) which this year is “The Year of the Pig.” It lasts a while but is primarily celebrated in Singapore on February 5-6 when Susan’s office is closed.

When the office is closed we plan to go to Siem Riep Cambodia, tour the Angkor Wat temples and stay at the Sojourn Villas Resort recommended by Tom Blythe who stayed there a few years ago when he was on a temporary 4 month assignment in Singapore when he was the VP of Tax for Jabil Circuits near Tampa-St. Petersburg Florida. (Sorry had to wet (or is it whet?) the appetite for a future blog…).

I met Tom Blythe a few years ago at some MAPI tax meetings and he and I did a joint tax panel discussion on “Communicating with the Audit Committee”

While I really appreciated his keen tax knowledge and advice, what I really liked was getting to know Tom socially as I played golf with him at Mission Hills in Florida shortly after retiring when I also visited Sharon Cassidy and Scott Creveling during my “Mooch Tour” where I stayed with friends for free or for free golf, etc.

I really liked Tom’s housing and travel advice (“You worked hard over the years and deserve flying Business Class to Asia”) which has been invaluable to me, so thank you Tom!

(And now a switch to more serious stuff and life lessons as thinking of Tom got me started on the next epistles.)

CAREER LIFE LESSONS FOR YOUNGER BLOG READERS

While I probably just gave it, I’d like to reiterate some advice for those younger blog readers (and I know there are many of you out there!) who are getting ready to begin a career or those who are in the early career stages or even those who have been working a while and are getting more responsibility or opportunities to network within or outside of your organizations.

1. Seize opportunities to connect and get to know others within and outside of your normal job when possible.

2. Join other organizations related to your work area and volunteer for leadership positions. Sure, some extra effort is required on your part, perhaps even in your “free time” or within your “balanced lifestyle” time but the benefits can be enormous both professionally and socially.

3. Even though times are tough, document the benefits you receive from outside group participation and let your boss know about them. While you can’t go to every meeting or seminar, proving the value of these contacts can help keep the benefits coming even in hard times.

4. As you become more experienced share your knowledge and let others also network either with you or on their own.

For example, I was asked by my former bosses Jim Bodfish and Ralph Denney to join Tax Executives Institute when I only had five years of experience. For a while I just thought it was some old guys getting together for drinks and dinner but as I got more involved and saw my bosses bouncing ideas off of colleagues at other companies and me meeting more senior people when I volunteered to be a Committee chairman and obtain outside speakers, it helped me develop in my career and I stayed friends many others for years and rose through the ranks to become President of the Pittsburgh Chapter, Vice President of Region IV of the National Chapter, Distinguished Service Award Recipient, etc. Again while this took some of my free time, the benefits weren’t in the titles or in getting to travel a bit. The benefits were in getting tips and experience to do my job better and progress in my career and in getting ideas that literally saved my company millions of dollars, a large portion of which I do not believe would have been realized by me or others without the networking within or outside the company.

I experienced similar benefits over the years in uncovering tax saving ideas and best practice ideas through membership and leadership positions at MAPI, FEI and AISI.

For example in AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute) on numerous occasions my co-worker Michael Monteith and I would find out other company planning ideas and audit experiences that again saved millions, some of which happened from casual conversations following formal meetings.

The same results happened in these and other groups with Mike Prendergast, John Dougherty, Rich Snyder, Scott Creveling, Scott Krebs, Mark Hoover, Cindy Clemens, Lisa McShea, Mashawn Lorenz, Gary Walsh and other co-workers.

And over the years my many bosses such as Mike Prendergast, Ralph Denney, John Mills, John Rowland and Gretchen Haggerty understood these benefits and let me and others continue to participate in organizations and attend meetings and seminars even when times were tough.

While there is a lot to me said for original thinking, remember that not all knowledge resides with you or those within your company!

You more seasoned blog readers obviously know these things and also know that often it is the senior person in a group that often gets the conferences and networking opportunities. And groups are sometimes limited to heads of a department. I profess to sometimes hogging some of the meetings and nice venues and I apologize when I did. But I also know there are benefits to sometimes taking more than one person to kick around ideas or to just let them go in your place or get them involved in subgroups or in other ways.

And to you less experienced people, don’t be shy about asking to become more active in outside meetings or conferences or asking if you could attend some internal meetings your bosses go to so you can better help them, help the company and help your development. During a performance review or check-in with your boss maybe float the idea of attending more meetings whether or not you are asked about your future plans. Just assure your supervisor that you will not let the additional work interfere with your normal duties.

While not every contact “pays off” you never know when they will. I’m proud of the fact that some of my former staff such as Mark Hoover, Cindy Clemens and Janelle Gabbinelli continue to move up in the ranks at TEI, encouraged by Scott Creveling.

(Wow, I think I forgot that this was supposed to be a fun travel blog, not a retirement speech? But this can be what happens at 35,000 feet on the way back to Singapore on Tuesday January 29. Or perhaps I should have saved it for my book “Hollingsworth Stories.” But that book is also supposed to be about some of my more comical mishaps over the years. So what the hell – it is my blog anyway so you can take or leave that advice or roll your eyes and skim over it as many of you have done to get to this point!) Now, onward!

January 11 – Honesty in Singapore!

Ok, back to the Hollingsworth mishaps you’ve been waiting for!

Date: January 11

Lost item #4

Ainope Portable Charger, Case

and Cable and cash and credit card and bus pass and ID card.

Location: Singapore Clarke Quay Cafe Iguana and Jumbo Seafood

Story: After the end of our first week back I suggested that Susan and I meet at one of our favorite Mexican places “Cafe Iguana” on Clare Quay which is next to Jumbo Seafood where we had the chili and black pepper crab with her coworkers last year. We had a very nice dinner with margaritas (which may have been part of the problem that arose later.)

Susan was going to the place from work and I took the subway MRT train to meet her. Unfortunately I googled the wrong Jumbo Seafood so ended up at Boat Quay instead of Clarke Quay so I ended up with about a half mile walk. But it was fun as I’d never seen Boat Quay which was a very busy nightlife touristy kind of area that Susan had told me about before. As she noted the prices were fairly high and lots of workers were trying to get people to stop in their bars or restaurants for happy hour. Here are some sights as I walked around the water to Clarke Quay which in the last photo is across the water toward Susan’s building in the background that is pyramid shaped and lit up.

Ironically as I got near the restaurant on the other side to the MRT station where I should have gotten off the train I ran into Susan who had taken a train from near her office.

So we made our way to Cafe Iguana where we first sat at the bar and were later moved to a nice table near the water.

Following dinner we went up the escalator to the bathrooms near Jumbo Seafood. They had some nice automatic massage chairs outside so I remember putting in a 2 dollar bill while I vibrated and waited for Susan.

We then made our way to the MRT station which was perhaps a quarter mile away and then a bit further into the station where we got ready to use our train cards to go through the gates and that’s when I realized I didn’t have my case that held my charger and cables and my train card and my apartment card and several hundred dollars as I’d just gone to an ATM earlier in the day. After a few moments of looking and panicking I realized that I’d likely left it in the massage chair where it had either vibrated out of my pocket or I’d taken it out because it was not comfortable. Susan was obviously not happy but she told me to stay while she went back and looked since she was faster and my ankle was still bothering me from the Injury #1 and Lost Item #1 incidents on November 3, 2018. So while she looked I leaned against a railing trying to think how it happened and because I was tired.

After about 10 minute a guy stopped by and asked if I was “OK” and I said yes just a sprained ankle and that my wife was looking for my wallet.

After another 10 minutes Susan texted me (yes I had my phone) and told me the case wasn’t in the recliner and that she was going to Cafe Iguana and Jumbo Seafood to look for it and report that it was missing.

THEN THE SINGAPORE HONESTY AND GOOD DEED MOMENT!!

After about another 15 minutes while Susan was still looking and I was still leaning against a railing in the MRT station I heard a voice: “Sir, what is your name?” I said “James Hollingsworth” and then two young women with glasses that looked like they were in their early 20’s handed me my Singapore Dependant Pass (remember that is how they spell “dependent”) with my photo on it and my case with my transit pass, apartment card for Pan Pacific Serviced Suites and every dollar of the money I had in it.

I was very happy and tried to give them a 100 Singapore Dollar Bill (worth about 75 USD) but they refused to take it and headed to their train. They told me they found it in the recliner and had tried to turn it in but the restaurants were closed.

I texted Susan and we made our way back catching the last train in our apartment direction just after midnight. We were so fortunate that the women had found it and we thought even more fortunate that they happened to be using the same train station and that they recognized me on their way to the train! So it seems that I sometimes have bad luck (or maybe bad actions or inactions) followed by good luck!

And to top it off when we arrived at our apartment, the receptionist told us that the women had ready called and left a phone number saying that they had found it and noticed the apartment card with its phone number on the card. I didn’t get their names but I think I may write a note to the newspaper for their Good Samaritan section that I noticed they publish on occasion such as when someone found a couple’s 3,500 dollar winning drawing ticket in a train and tracked down the owner using the train’s video cameras. So thank you ladies and thank you Singapore as I wonder if this would have happened in many other places! (And, spoiler alert – it didn’t happen with Lost Items #5-7 in Hong Kong that I plan to report on in the Hong Kong Blog for January 23, 2019.)

January 12

Bedrock Steakhouse

With my newfound wealth after losing my wallet and recovering it I decided to treat Susan to dinner at Bedrock, the nice looking steakhouse just below our lobby to our apartment. We had always been curious about it as the smells wafted through the building but we were reluctant since the steaks were like 109 Singapore dollars each, which translates to 81 USD. But we bit the bullet but split one and had a large dessert. Both were great but we really liked the atmosphere and our smiling waitress Jennifer whom we told we’d introduce to our Jennifer when she visits on February 26 to March 1.

January 13-17

While Susan worked I visited the bowling alley in the mall next to us and hit a few eating places and returned to my weight training at The Pit but spent most of my time making travel arrangements for our upcoming trips to Hong Kong and Toyko with side trips to Kyoto and Osaka. This will do it after the pictures until the next blog about those trips! Jim Hollingsworth

My brother John had been having excruciating back pain and his wife Kathleen took him into St. Margaret’s Hospital where he spent a couple days and then was transferred to physical therapy at Health South Harmarville where ironically he spent the end of 2017 in physical therapy. He did well for a while but they did another MRI and determine that his spinal stenosis had gotten much worse and in fact should have been a candidate for surgery a year ago. So his great wife Kathleen spent much of her holidays visiting John and dealing with doctors. More later but here is a photo of John at St. Margaret’s Hospital on December 24.

On December 25 we had a very nice family Christmas, much of it made possible by Jen for all her decorating and helping people with presents. I got the one I wanted, replacing my broken chair in the den. Here are some photos including one of Susan holding a drawing of her beloved Golden Retriever Lizzie who passed away in 2018. This drawing was from Meg’s former sorority roommate Sydney. The last one is the dashing Grant Friday who has been my secret mentor on the House Committee, keeping me in line preserving the Longue Vue traditions during any of our remodeling projects. Thank you Grant! See you in April on the golf course or at Vine Club.

On December 27 John had back surgery at UPMC from an experienced neurosurgeon Dr. Gertzman. Kathleen had spent all day waiting for the surgery and recovery and I got there just before he went to a room. He seemed to be in good spirits seeing me in the hallway and cracking jokes when describing me as his “much older brother” to the nurses. He was later transferred back to Health South Harmarville but unfortunately his recovery has been very slow and he was just moved to Manor Care to start additional therapy before he tries to get up their 17 steps in their house in Millvale:

I applaud Kathleen and John for their patience and perseverance and ask for every blog reader’s prayers and best wishes for a full recovery.

December 29

I made a 60 mile (100 kilometer) road trip to Grove City Pennsylvania to Wendell August Forge to buy some Pittsburgh Bridges ornaments for some of Susan’s coworkers and our favorite people in Asia such as my trainer at The Pit in Singapore.

Along the way I called my former co-worker Scott Creveling who went to Grove City College and did a nice job keeping me out of trouble doing tax accounting and helping me immensely with fighting off outsourcing efforts by accounting firms trying to “help us” do our jobs. Scott and his wife Jan now live the wild retired life at The Villages near Ocala Florida, deciding between 100 activities and clubs each day. I had the privilege of staying with them a couple days last spring.

I also tried to meet with Rich Snyder who lives in Grove City and says he is enjoying teaching full time at Grove City College after retiring from U. S. Steel last year. Unfortunately for me, Rich and his family were In Buffalo NY visiting his wife Lorraine’s family. As I will note later, I really appreciated that Rich made the trip all the way from Grove City to visit John at Harmarville.

December 29 – mini USS Tax Reunion and dinner at Diane Blanton’s

I want to thank Marilyn Zawoyski for organizing a happy hour and dinner for several USS Tax people at the Enix Brewing Company at 337 East 8th Avenue in Homestead PA. Here are some reviews.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS733US733&hl=en-US&ei=yMpBXMnZIIiQvQSOsI_oAQ&q=breweries+in+homestead+pa&oq=breweeies+in+Homesrwad&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.1.0.0i13l2j0i13i30j33i160l2.14286.37346..39050…13.0..1.405.9578.0j46j8j0j1……0….1…….5..35i39j33i10i160j46i67j0i67j0i10j0j46i10j0i20i263j46.aoBbQ–5Jcw#istate=lrl:iv&lkt=LocalPoiReviews&rlimm=13583145671373688599

We had a great time there and the attendees were:

Jim Hollingsworth

Marilyn Zawoyski

Linda Weissert

John Dougherty

Amy Dougherty

Shirley Musselwhite

Nancy O’Toole

Like I said we had a nice time as the beers were good as were the flatbreads and salads so we recommend going! It turns out that Linda Weissert is also a good friend of Kumar Nandan’s and they are in some kind of cocktail society so we sent Kumar a photo. Here are a few others.

Marilyn, thanks again for organizing this event. You did a nice job and I’d like to pattern my retirement like yours but it will take me a while to be as physically and mentally active as you are. I knew you continued to play golf and take golf trips but then I found out you were a Mahjong player and winner at a tournament a couple of years ago. I had never heard of it till you told me so I was really ready when two women in the movie Crazy Rich Asians played it. I’m sure you would have given them a run for their money! I’ve always enjoyed working with you since I found out in 1987 that you were a fellow Math major and then was really pleased when you took our offer to move and work in Slovakia in the Tax area there. On the golfing side I also enjoyed the Frostbite Open days when we played in 3 degree weather and snow in early February. (I always wondered why we spent 9 holes and 5 hours in those conditions but it was for a good cause. Thanks Lou Prosperi for organizing the outing all those years!)

Marilyn continued to amaze me this year when she told me she ran a 5-K in Pittsburgh’s Great Race and finished first in her class of runners! Keep up the good work and I hope to see you in April. Here are a couple of photos from the race. I left off the scoreboard showing her finishing first in her age category as no one would have believed she was in that particular category.

The tax group Marilyn organized met at 4 pm and finished around 6:45. So, in keeping with the torrid Hollingsworth pace, I also had another dinner at our food friends Diane Blanton and Michael Farabaugh’s house at 7:15 in Fox Chapel the same evening, along with Susan’s legal counterpart from PnC bank, Joan Zangrilli and her husband Dave. This of course was the day before we left for Chicago but I think we were packed.

We had a great steak dinner along with a few bottles of delicious Brunello wines from Italy. My co-worker Janelle Gabbienelli and Dr. Jeff Wilson from Longue Vue had introduced us to Brunellos earlier so this was a nice send off for us to head to Chicago and then back to Singapore. Thanks Diane and Michael!

Dave

Michael Farabaugh and Susan.

December 29 – Off to Chicago

As a special Christmas and wedding Anniversary present the kids gave us a flight and hotel in Chicago to spend our “ceremonial wedding anniversary” on December 30 in downtown Chicago so we could attend the annual New Years Eve Party hosted by Chuck and Andrea Jarik at their place on Astor Street. Many of Susan’s long time friends from Chicago such as Ray Parpan and Shirley Staffan (or is it Ray and Shirley Parpan?), Debbie Clark, Freddie Date and Kirt Hayes, Forrest and Nancy Lombaer and Jack Palka also attend along with friends of Jacqueline and Julianna Jarik.

So this was a great treat as we first stayed on December 29 at Susan’s sister’s Betsy and Bob Jaeschke’s in Wilmette and met them and her brother Kurt Mueller snd his wife Anne Mueller first at their house for appetizers and then dinner at Gusto’s in Wilmette.

On December 30, our anniversary, and also that of John and Amy Dougherty, (congrats!) we first visited Susan’s parents Carl and Nancy Mueller at Susan’s childhood home in Wilmette and then we drove downtown. Susan’s father’s cousin Jane had sent a nice box of French Butter cookies to Nancy and Carl.

On December 30, Susan and I celebrated our 34th anniversary (hard to believe I know) at a nice restaurant on the river, Chicago Cut, courtesy of the kids as Jen and Meg had eaten there earlier this year. It was delicious! (For those of you who are bored with my stories you also know that in addition to our ceremonial anniversary we also have our “real” anniversary on January 1 so then we celebrated our 68th).

We also had a comedic waiter, Matt, who had strained his neck sleeping in the wrong position but he said he’d be happy to wait on Meg or all of us when she starts her auditing position in Chicago late summer or early fall. So thanks Jen, Meg and Mark for a great present!

On December 31 we had lunch at Harry Caray’s downtown. and then made our way to our next abode at Ray and Shirley’s who live in Dearborn near the Jarik’s. I don’t think the Bloody Mary with shrimp and bacon or the Pretzel burger will be on my nutrition plan but it was New Years Eve!

Shirley and Ray checked us in and we all headed to the Jarik’s where we participated in the annual trivia photo contest to identify celebrities but I know I did not contribute much except for identifying some sports stars like Jordan Spieth.

While we had a pretty great 2018 we wish all a better 2019!

Meg and Jen were off to a nice start as they had saved up for several years to go to Sydney Australia and sent us this New Years video from Sydney Harbor where they celebrated several hours earlier at the Royal Botanic Garden across from the Opera House. (Click to play fireworks in Sydney Harbor!)

After a relaxing New Years Day at Ray and Shirley’s we headed back to Singapore on January 2, 2019, my brother John’s birthday! Shirley and Ray thanks for the hospitality and we look forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh perhaps at another Jimmy Buffett or John Puckett concert!

Just before leaving we received this nice birthday photo that Rich Snyder took of John, recovering from back surgery at Health South Harmarville (now known as Encompass Health Rehabilitation in 2019).

I write this blog on an airplane from Hong Kong to Toyko where Susan is on business and I’m on “trailing spouse” duty this Thursday and Friday 24 and 25 January before we spend the weekend in the historic cities of Kyoto and Osaka Japan after the last 5 days in Hong Kong.

John looks pretty happy here but is still recovering, now at Manor Care in the North Hills of Pittsburgh. I can’t thank Rich Snyder enough for making the 60 mile trek from Grove City to keep John in good spirits on his birthday! Rich had gotten to know John over the years and became a true friend, listening to John’s stories and jokes, having him up to Rich’s cabin in the Tionesta woods, etc. so thanks again Rich!!! We also thank Gordon Haw who has also been visiting John!

This will be the end of the blog up to 2 January, 2019. More to come as we travel and work through Asia! Like I said at the beginning I’m trying to post this from the bullet train from Toyko to Kyoto so I hope this works! Jim Hollingsworth