VIEW FROM OFFICE WINDOW

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Spent four days with four time Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis here in Hong Kong.  He was in town to do a promotional gig at one of the malls and even though we were in the midst of a typhoon, we did manage to get around and see a few things.  This photo was taken at my house when he came to dinner.  Such a great guy,  so easy going and really so honest and full of knowledge.   We're still in touch very often.   One of the nicest persons on the planet to call a friend.

This will be a very interesting week for me and it has nothing to do with skating or ice rinks,  well not entirely but almost.   Probably the  most famous diving champion of all time,  Greg Louganis, will visit Hong Kong for four days and we've been in touch continuously for the past two weeks.  I will be showing him our fabulous city for two full days and then while he's doing his appearances for 2 days, will meet him for lunch or dinner.  On the 26th he flies off to London to join the US Team as their mentor for the Olympic Games.   Greg is one of those unique celebrities who is so grounded and down to earth its hard to imagine hanging out with him.   I look forward to this,  hoping we have lots of fun and maybe even get to visit him at his Malibu home when I go back to the US in December for my annual Xmas holidays. 

SUMMER IN CENTRAL

My office is located on Duddell Street in Central, which is the main business district of Hong Kong.  Our offices face the green trees that surround the Governor's mansion,  so the view is really restful. I can also look upward toward the Peak.  We're within a short distance of Hollywood Road, Lan Kwai Fong and Soho, so lunchtime is usually a short walk and a selection of restaurants you wouldn't believe, from incredible Pizza (Paisano's) to middle eastern,  Mexican, Lebanese, Italian, Thai, Indian, American Deli, and this list is never ending.  Weather this time of year is fairly hot, always above 30c and sometimes a lot of heavy rains which I love. I can drag out one of my Burberry raincoats which I love to wear.  My dog gets her 6am walk with my helper Dennis and  again at 4:15pm each one lasting about 90 minutes.   The dog is worn out when she comes back into the apartment which is always cool (and my electricity bill is high).  I usually get visitors fairly often and this week Jeff Chan from Hangzhou will come down for 4 days to learn about being a site manager for one of my China projects.  That will be followed by Lion Zhen from Shenzhen who used to work for me in Hangzhou as my doggie nanny.  I love having my former staff to come and visit cause they're all a great bunch of people.   David Liu has just returned from Israel where he's taking classes with the Batsheva Dance Company.  He and his partner Darren Olivero own the apartment I live in. 

Next week I will do my long overdue complete body check which includes a CT and PET scan, followed by a medical procedure which requires me to stay in hospital overnight and after that depending what the results are I am either going in for more work or be out free for another year. 

Thats the update from Hong Kong on 15 May, 2012 at 8:19am.

Summer has arrived in Hong Kong and its already hot and humid and lots of rain and thunderstorms on the way.  I am busy working on a huge project in northern China and possible one or two down in Philippines as well.  Other projects in China coming soon as well I think.   Visitor from my rink in Hangzhou arriving today and that will be great. Love to see all my staff from there.  We all had so much fun together although the rink isn't doing too well since I left.  I think the mall management is confused on how to promote and manage the rink so they put one unqualified person after another in there and they only made things worse.  Sad really because staff morale is at an all time low and they all remember what it was like when Alex and I were there.  Oh well,  not my problem but I feel sad for the old staff still there.

My Big Manila Trip

Well I flew down to Manila on March 1st to have a look at the Mall of Asia's ice rink after more than 7 years of use.  It was in fairly good shape but is in need of a spruce up in the support area and perhaps a new barrier.  They just got a new Zamboni 500 so all is well on the mechanical side of things there.  The management and staff of the rink were so helpful and generous with their information and I thank them for that.  I am truly amazed at the mall itself. Its the 3rd largest in the world and there isn't much you can't find there.  The place was packed even at noon.   Right next door their new 14000 seat MOA Arena is almost ready and will also have a portable ice surface for shows and competitions.  l learned that the old Megamall has been torn down and being replaced with a brand new building and Olympic ice surface as well.  That will mean Manila has 3 ice rinks two of which are Olympic size.  Philippines has always had some of the best skaters in SE Asia and their team of coaches are quite dedicated to turning out fabulous talents. 

SWING ON ICE - CITYPLAZA ICE PALACE

While I was still GM of Cityplaza Ice Palace I asked 3 time Olympian David Liu to put together a fun summer show which he did with champion swing dancers and a great cast of skaters.