Tired

Haven't done much in any of my blogs, I am just tired, physically and emotionally tired. If you are a Christian who is reading this post, please pray that God will give me grace to sustain me through this busiest time of the semester and the trip we are going to take next week to D.C..

Two years of being a mom

My little girl is two today. The day when I went to the hospital early in the morning to have the C-section is still fresh in my mind, but that was two years ago. I still remember vividly asking why she was not crying after the doctor took her out, her temperature was lower than they wanted, she was not breathing at first, the doctors fixed those. Then the nurse put her on my neck (yes, on my neck, because my arms were tied down for the operation) so I could see her. I remember thinking "that's the face we have longed to see for so many months, that's my daughter, she is so pretty."
It seems like being a mother is an instinct, with all the hormones going crazy, I am sure some were responsible for being super protective of my new born. She was cold, so the nurse brought her to me to do some "skin to skin" holding. Yep, she warmed up, but I was soaked with sweats! That didn't matter.
God, I thank you for our little girl, through her, you have given Dan and I joy that is beyond words.

This makes me proud!

The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal released the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom today.
"Once again, Hong Kong ....lead(s) the pack." Singapore follows, and these are the only two Asian countries in the top 10. (For the press release, click here.) Yes, that means Hong Kong enjoys the most economic freedom in the world. China only ranks 111 (and falls in the mostly unfree catagory.) The U.S. shares the #9 spot with Australia and New Zealand.
The authors generally examined data for the period covering the second half of 2004 through the first half of 2005. To the extent possible, the information considered for each factor was current as of June 30, 2005. (See FAQ for how they rated the countries.)
The 2006 Index of Economic Freedom measures countries against a list of 50 independent variables divided into 10 broad factors of economic freedom. Low scores are more desirable. The higher the score on a factor, the greater the level of government interference in the economy and the less economic freedom a country enjoys.

Donald Tsang (Chief Executive, HKSAR) and Edwin J. Feulner (President, The Heritage Foundation)

The old Kai Tak International Airport

The night scene of Hong Kong is breath-taking, especially if you were flying in from the old Kai Tak international airport (1924-1998), it is like vertical columns of diamonds piling onto one another.

(click on photo to enlarge)
Talking about the old Kai Tak airport, the landing approach using runway 13 at Kai Tak was spectacular and world-famous. If you typed in "Difficult and Dangerous Airport Approaches" on your search engine, you are bound to find "Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport" mentioned all over the place, (click here to see a sample of such results).
We have a pilot friend whom have flown into Kai Tak before, he said they specifically taught you how to land in Kai Tak in pilot training school, it was considered one of the ten most difficult airports to land in the world.
To land on runway 13, an aircraft first took a descent heading northeast. The aircraft would pass over the crowded harbour, and then the very densely populated areas on Western Kowloon.
This leg of the approach was guided by an IGS (Instrument Guidance System, a modified ILS) after 1974. Upon reaching a small hill marked with a checkerboa rd in red and white, the pilot needed to make a 47° visual right turn to line up with the runway and complete the final leg.

(click on photo to enlarge)
The aircraft would be just two nautical miles from touchdown, at a height of less than 1000 ft when the turn was made. Landing the 13 approach would become even more challenging when crosswinds from the northeast were strong and gusty during typhoons.

(click on photos to enlarge)
From a spectator's point of view, watching fully-loaded Boeing 747's banking at low altitudes and taking big crab angles during their final approcahes was quite the thrill. Depite the difficulty, it was nonetheless used most of the time due to the prevailing wind direction in Hong Kong.
Despite its challenging approach and mountainous geographical surroundings, there were relatively few accidents at Kai Tak, only 8 accidents in its 74 years of operating history, and only one of those was fatal, other were either caused by human error or were weather related.
Our pilot friend said there were so few accidents provided the difficulty of the landing, because any pilot who had to land in Kai Tak would be trained specifically to do so. In fact, he said, "I often would have headaches after I landed in Kai Tak."
I have personally flown in and out of Kai Tak many times, I have witnessed Japanese and American tourists screaming on the plane upon landing, thinking we were going to crash, and when the tires of the plane touched the runway, you'll hear huge roars of joy and lots of hand-clapping. Those were quite amusing to see.
Information source: click here

I miss you, Meme

Meme, you ceased to exist for three months already. I miss you very much. You were in my dreams last night. You were young, jumping down the stairs with your long ears flying, like you could conquer the world. I think of you often, sometimes with tears.
Kioni and I looked at some of the photos that you and Kioni took, she reconized you, I wonder what she was thinking when she saw her young self and you. Hope it was something sweet.
Oh, Meme, I long to touch your soft fur and giving you big hugs. I even long for your begging of food, believe it or not. But honestly, I don't miss the hair you left behind anywhere you went, though.
My sweetie, I love you and you will have a special place in my heart forever.