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click to enlarge I almost stayed at the Shamrock years ago. After eloping with my former husband, we trekked from our graduate dorm in the New Territories to the bustling density of Kowloon in search of a short honeymoon. One of the hotels we looked into was the Shamrock. The Shamrock is an old school Hong Kong [...] click to enlarge When I was looking into the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo for an earlier blog post, I came across the Imperial in Hong Kong. Could they be related, I wondered? My uncle stayed at both the Hong Kong and Tokyo Imperials in the 1960s, so I was naturally interested in these hotels. It didn’t take [...] Historic Bars of Chicago So after I went on and on a couple days ago about how I don’t drink much, now I’m writing about Chicago bars. You see, the same day I blogged about drinking in Havana, I received a review copy of this great new guidebook–Historic Bars of Chicago by Sean Parnell (Lake Claremont [...] click to enlarge Yesterday the New York Times published an article about how Hong Kong’s old walk-ups are experiencing a grand restoration. Millions of dollars are being poured into these old apartments to give them a modern, comfortable feel. With all the demolition of old buildings and construction of sterile, glass monstrosities in Hong Kong, this [...] Drinking agua con gas in Havana, 2004 I’m not much of a drinker. In fact, it’s so low on my radar that I’ve missed out on many a cultural tradition because I haven’t ordered a drink. I visited Singapore with my parents months before my first marriage. We rambled up to the Raffles Hotel, joining hundreds [...] Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood After all the tragic Chinese stories I’ve read–many of them memoirs–you’d think I’d become immune to the sadness and chauvinism in these books. But it never works that way. This week I read Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood (Algonquin, 2010), which just came out in paperback. Hopgood was born to a poor [...] click to enlarge No one was more disappointed than I when Mel Gibson went off the deep end last decade. When my family got cable television in 1983, one of the first movies I watched during our free month of Cinemax was The Year of Living Dangerously. Most Americans probably remember Mel Gibson’s rise to fame during [...] click to enlarge What a beautiful poster. Blue skies, purple mountains, green pastures. I took this same Yangzi River cruise shortly after my first wedding 15 years ago. I kind of wish Butterfield & Swire had arranged it, though. My parents, uncle, then-husband, and I boarded the boat in Chongqing (Chungking) in Sichuan province after indulging in [...] click to enlarge Of all my posts, I think I’ve centered only one on Chicago. I’ve lived there now for 10 years. Oh, and I was born and raised there, too. I never appreciated my home town when I was younger. For years I only thought about leaving Chicago. But when I think back to those days, [...] click to enlarge Back in the days when Northwest was known as Northwest Orient (starting from the early 1950s), the airline became the first in the US to use an all-turbofan jet fleet. Thus the slogan: Northwest Orient: The Fan-Jet Airline. Maybe that’s why Northwest struggled. But seriously, 20 years ago this August, I boarded a Northwest [...] |
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Copyright © 2010 Susan Blumberg-Kason - All Rights Reserved |
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