Rob and I had a unique Hong Kong experience on top of a day of frenzied electronics shopping (that netted a new Dopod 585 smartphone for me) -- we had dinner at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.

I took advantage of the reciprocal privileges the RHKYC has with my club, the Seattle Yacht Club. It's a lovely clubhouse on the Hong Kong side overlooking the harbor towards Kowloon. They're actually a lot like SYC in the sense that it's a very nice club with history, but RHKYC is still a boating club for families (they even have a pool, bowling alley, and playground). I saw lots of kids and families there. It was nice but not at all stuffy, and the staff was very friendly to us.

Dinner in the Compass Room (their more formal dining room) was quite good. I had New Zealand oysters (good, but not as tasty as good Puget Sound or Hood Canal oysters) to start, a bowl of pigeon consomme with abalone (very subtle and nice), and grilled kangaroo -- a first for me (it was mild, tender, and tasty). Good wine (Penfolds bin 707, think) and some dessert (which escapes me now but that I'm sure was good) topped off a good meal.

This was the first time I've exercised my reciprocal visit benefits. I'm excited to try other clubs now, maybe in Hawaii?

Thanks to the RHKYC for your great hospitality.

I'm home again after twelve days on the road that took me to Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. It was a good trip to three amazing cities with my good friends Rob, Christopher, and Andrew (all MS colleagues.)

I've already mentioned my newfound love of Kuala Lumpur. I also rediscovered Hong Kong on this trip. I haven't been in HK since my honeymoon eleven years ago (before the handback of HK to China).

It's still an incredible place. The crowds and the energy are still insane, but the development of the area was even more incredible. Since my last visit, there were huge new bridges (Tsing Ma, Kap Shui Mun, and Ting Kau), a new airport, a new Disneyland, and countless new skyscrapers and major civic buildings. KL, Shanghai, Beijing, and the other Asian cities are all upstarts compared to this grand dame of Asian tiger cities.

While we didn't have much time in HK, it was a great visit. The Grand Hyatt is beautiful, with stunning views of the harbor (see above for the view from my room). Dinner at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (see an upcoming post) was really a nice experience as well. And, it's still a fun place to shop, especially for electronics (ask Rob about his MP3 player purchase experiences.)

I can't wait to go back.

I'm sitting in the Microsoft office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia right now. It's on the 30th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers, the second tallest building in the world. I just finished my last meeting/talk for this two week trip. It's been a busy time, starting in Beijing first and then winding up here in KL.

I did the keynote talk at Hack in the Box, a computer security conference here in KL. The talk went pretty well and seemed to at least not make people hate us more. I actually got a few comments that started with "I don't normally like Microsoft, but..." which I view as a success.

KL is a very cool city. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it's beautiful, vibrant, and very exciting from what I've seen so far. I haven't had much time to check things out between the conference and meeting with customers, but I hope to go out a little tonight and tomorrow before I get on a plane. I'm pretty impressed with KL compared to other Asian cities.

Anyway, time to go. More blogging later.

I'm probably the last person in the world to know this, but the Disney Imagineers hid Mickey Mouse images, shadows, outlines, etc. all over Walt Disney World (WDW). Apparently, when Epcot was being built, there was a controversy over whether Mickey would be reserved for the Magic Kingdom exclusively or if he would show up in other places. So, some rebels decided to start hiding Mickeys in Epcot and the other parks.

These can be in many forms. I only found a few including the shadow above in a mural in Animal Kingdom. More often, I found the three circles that signifiy his head; for instance, along the bottom edge of the bells hanging from the pagoda in the Japan pavilion at Epcot, the decorative cutouts were Mickeys.

Anyway, it was fun to search for them as I walked through the parks. Maybe you'll have better luck finding them than I did.

Here are a few guides if you want a leg up:
HiddenMickeys.org Hidden Mickeys (the book) WDWInfo

On this trip, in Orlando we stayed at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel for the first time. This was easily the best hotel experience we've had at Walt Disney World (WDW). The other Disney hotels are crap, as far as I'm concerned. We've even stayed before at the Grand Floridian, supposedly the best hotel in WDW, but aside from the public areas, it's just a glorified Motel 6 with crappy sheets, dirty rooms, and nothing to offer.

However, the key is that the Swan is not managed by Disney; it's a Westin and managed mostly independently (apparently, employees need to abide by Disney personal appearance rules (e.g. no facial hair, no piercings, etc.) but not much else. As a result, it meets the higher standard you can expect from Westin, including the Heavenly Beds with feather pillows (big, big difference from most hotel beds).

The restaurants were also mostly great. In particular, we loved Pallio, their Italian place. Michelle had an insane pasta dish (the name of which escapes me) with little wonton-like pouches filled with farm cheese and black truffles in a rich wine sauce, and my grouper was amazing. More important, their bartender, Chris, is easily the best bartender I've ever encountered. The martinis and Manhattans I had were perfectly balanced and chilled with just the right amount of ice chips floating across the top.

Across the river at the Dolphin, Todd English's bluezoo was also very good, although frankly the hype was so high that it was almost impossible to meet expectations. (Do try the clam chowder and the clam flatbread though. Both were great.)

One note: avoid the restaurant Fresh at the Dolphin. The food wasn't "made-to-order" as advertised. It was just an expensive buffet.

In any case, I have no reservation recommending the Swan if you're visiting WDW. It's a solid hotel, and it's on the Disney transportation system, which is a huge convenience. I don't think you can beat the combination.

(Note, if you're visiting Universal Studios, I'd recommend the Portofino Bay Hotel. It was quite nice and had cool suites for families with kids. I've also heard the Hard Rock is good, and it's even closer to the park.

Once again, we made our pilgrimage to Florida. After a few days on in St. Petersburg Beach with Michelle's folks, we went to Orlando. While last time we stayed at and visited Universal Studios, this time we stayed at Walt Disney World (WDW).

I've always been amazed by Disney properties. At their best, they're amazing. Great attention to detail, sometimes super customer service, and just an incredible world. This trip was no exception. It was especially fun with the boys being older since they really got to enjoy the place (even though they don't like the thriller rides or even many of the loud movies).

We went to all the major parks. Animal Kingdom continues to be a snoozer (although the boys liked The Boneyard, a dinosaur dig themed playground). MGM was similarly a bust for the kids aside from Star Tours. The Magic Kingdom, of course, was great.

However, Epcot turned out to be the surprise favorite of the guys, mostly because of the newly revised Innoventions pavilions. My geeky kids loved all the hands-on activities; this is a huge improvement over the old Communicore with their outdated technology. The Japan pavilion was a hit too, although I'm pretty sure that's just because of the great Pokemon, Transformer, and Yu-gi-oh selection at the Mitsukoshi department store there.

Michelle, being a Disney expert from growing up in Florida, had the system down and managed an excellent vacation. We went at opening each day, playing through noon or so. Then we'd head back to the hotel, have lunch, and hang out a bit. Then we'd head back to the parks in the late afternoon. This strategy kept us out of the crowds and the hottest parts of the day; combined with the fact that Florida schools were already in session, we rarely waited in line for more than ten minutes ever. Very nice.

The only really odd thing (aside from the fact that virtually all the other guests were fat, fat, fat -- especially the people visiting in the water parks -- scare me) was how heavily Disney was pushing their Disney Vacation Club. There were booths and signs everywhere. It was a bit off-putting, frankly.

Despite this push, the visit was good and the kids had a great time. Say what you will about Disney, but they do a great job.

I kinda slept in a bit today, getting up at 11:00a. The four hour time difference, the hella long flight (after getting up at 3:30a), and the blacked out room made getting up early to tour around a bit of a non-starter. I can't remember the last time I slept in that late; usually the kids won't allow it.

I went up to visit El Morro, the huge fort that protects San Juan harbor. It's pretty amazing, but unfortunately the power was still out, so it wasn't open. After a nice lunch of a local pork dish at El Patio de Sam and some shopping, I headed over to the Bacardi distillery for a tour and a little tasting.

They do a nice job here; the tour is complimentary as are two drink tickets. They have a big pavilion where you can enjoy nice rum drinks and taste all but the highest end Bacardi rums. Unfortunately, the new visitor's center was damaged in the storm and closed; however, they still had a nice tour showing the distillery, teaching people when the use the different Bacardi rums in different drinks (e.g. Bacardi light for dry drinks, Bacardi Gold for sweet drinks, Bacardi Limon anywhere you'd use vodka, Bacardi O anywhere you'd use gin, etc. The tips are on their website too.) The gift shop was a nice surprise too; unlike most factory gift shops, the prices were very reasonable. The rum, in particular, was a super value compared to buying it at home. Even better, they had several varieties that aren't available or are hard to find in Washington. Picked up a bunch of those...

After my little tour, I hopped back in the car and drove out to Mayaguez, home of the University of Puerto Rico. This is a 2.5 hour drive. This is the first time I've driven somewhere I don't speak the language, significant since the road signs are in Spanish. As a little tip for those who would do this, learn the cardinal directions in the local language if nothing else. "Exit" and "Only" are good too. I got to my hotel without too many issues despite the fact the stupid website had the location of the hotel completely wrong. When I unpacked my suitcase, I discovered all my clothes were extremely damp after having been in my trunk all day in the super humid (although not raining!) weather. Had to iron everything to dry them out.

Once again, I was mislead by the hotel advertising as once again, "high speed internet access" means they have fast access somewhere in the hotel. Once again, it was one computer in their "business center." This business center was just their sales office with an extra computer. I'm hooked in via dial-up in the room now; no fun.

Oh well, time to review my notes for tomorrow and go to sleep. Big day of grilling college students tomorrow...

Once again, I'm on the road for work. This time, I'm in Puerto Rico for a little recruiting at the University of Puerto Rico. I arrived in San Juan this evening on the tail of Tropical Storm Jeanne. Fortunately, it's not raining or blazing hot, but it is muggy as hell. After living in Seattle for 14 years, I'm a wimp now around humidity.

The flight was long, but uneventful. Between Seattle and DFW I was sitting between two soliders from the Stryker brigade at Fort Lewis who were returning to Iraq for their last 45 days on this tour. I hope they come home OK. After a surprisingly good lunch in the DFW airport (super great shredded bbq beef sandwich and green beans cooked to near goo with ham), I found myself on the plane next to a so big he was four inches into my seat. Fortunately, the gods of travel were smiling on me; the exit row aisle seat behind me was open and the flight attendant took pity on me. Score one for luck.

I had good directions (I thought) from the airport to my hotel (the El Convento, a converted convent in Old San Juan), plus I had my GPS unit. What could go wrong? He he he.

So, the streets in Old San Juan are not especially well marked. Plus it's dark, being night and all; on top of that, huge areas are still blacked out with no electricity. Every few blocks there would be some scraggly guy trying to direct traffic, presumably to help people find parking spaces for tips or to direct cars toward bars or something. I swear though, it was the same guy all over town. I was totally confused.

After taking a huge tour of Old San Juan, I finally blundered into the hotel and managed to get checked in. Thank, God, it wasn't raining hard or I may never have found my hotel.

A big glass of rum with lime juice made everything OK. At least there's power here. I wound up having dinner in the hotel since the few places I wanted to try were still powerless. It was OK, but the campiranas (rum, lime, and simple syrup I think) that Michelle recommended made everything just fine.

The "Highspeed Internet Access" touted on their website is apparently this shared PC in the library. Not enough to sync my mail, but enough to spam my blog.

Anyway, I'll tour around San Juan a bit tomorrow and then out to the UPR campus is Mayaguez. I may stop at the Areceibo radio telescope for a little geek tour since the Bacardi factory tour is closed on Sundays. Damn it. Hopefully, it won't be dumping rain tomorrow.

Time for bed.