Massage And Karaoke Night

A group of ladies ventured over to Fun Feet in Happy Valley where they were pampered, poked and prodded with either a relaxing foot massage or a shoulder massage. It was a great chance for ladies to catch up, chat and laugh as some endured the pain of having their shoulders whacked to release the tension while others fell asleep as their feet were massaged. .

From there a brief dinner was followed by hilarious fun at a local karaoke bar where the ladies lined up a variety of songs to ignite their vocal cords late into the night. They also met local barfly ‘Dave’ and helped him sing (although he was really good!) through several of his songs. The night was filled with laughter and craziness allowing everyone to open up and belt out a song … possibly torturing some of the locals in the process. It was certainly an event filled with fun. If you would be interested in attending a second karaoke night, please let the Social Coordinator know.

Social Events This Week

Just a reminder for our next Drinks Drop In, this Wednesday 29th February.

It will be held at Elaine’s apartment in Pok Fu Lam. There is paid hourly car parking.

It will be from 7pm-9pm, Elaine has said that all drinks and nibbles will be provided, thank you Elaine – just a $50 donation on the door for HKLC chosen charity, Small Group Homes.
Please RSVP to the Social Coordinator (hklcsocial@gmail.com) if you will be attending.

We would also like to remind you the monthly dinner meeting is taking place on Thursday this week. It is now too late to RSVP, but we hope you responded in time and look forward to seeing everyone there!

At the first of the March dinners we are lucky to have Rennie Fensham, a beauty expert, coming to
talk to us about managing hair and beauty in the humid conditions of
Hong Kong in preparation for the humidity cranking up here. She will
also be open to any hair and beauty questions you have on any theme.

Who wants to join us for a trip to the theatre?

There are a couple of shows coming to Hong Kong in the next few months which some Members have expressed a wish to go to, so I am writing to you all to see if anyone else would like to join them!

The first one is Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo “The Trocks”
“The multi-award winning international dance phenomenon Les Ballets Trockadero de Mont Carlo returns to Hong Kong in May 2012.  Known affectionately by their worldwide fanbase as The Trocks, the all-male company of 14 perform classical ballet excerpts – both male and female roles – to dazzling and hilarious effect.  Celebrating both the beauty and the essential absurdity of classical ballet, The Trocks’ combination of pure comedy, extraordinary technical prowess and genuine love of ballet has made them a global phenomenon since they formed in New York in 1974.  For more than three decades Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo have been taking the world by storm, performing at some of the world’s most prestigious venues and arts festivals, in 30 countries and over 500 cities.  They return to Hong Kong with a fabulous new programme – including Swan Lake Act II and Raymonda’s Wedding- a truck load of costume changes and lashings of diva attitude. Dancing a fine line between high art and high camp, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will be performing an exclusive one week season at the Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, from 15 to 20 May 2012.

“This is the funniest night you’ll ever have at the ballet” – Sunday Times, UK New York’s Sensational All-Male Comic Ballet Company”

The dates are 15/5 – 20/5, tickets range from $350-$850 (we usually settle for the $350 as the theatre isn’t that big that we don’t get a good view!)

The other show is Annie
“From its Broadway beginnings to the classic film musical, this heart-warming rags-to-riches story of plucky young Annie’s adventures, from the hard-knock New York orphanage to the luxurious home of billionaire businessman Oliver Warbucks, is a tale that has been told all over the world for decades and won numerous major awards.

Direct from a UK tour, this production features a spectacular cast of colourful characters including Su Pollard as the dastardly gin-soaked Miss Hannigan, and David McAlister as the kindly Daddy Warbucks and everyone’s favourite little red-headed orphan, Annie.

With a memorable score featuring such hits as It’s A Hard Knock Life, Easy Street and the legendary Tomorrow, fantastically visual choreography, a side-splittingly funny script and of course the adorable dog Sandy, it really is no surprise that ANNIE has become one of the best loved family musicals of all time.”
If anyone would like to go as part of a social outing with HKLC, pls let Karen (hklcsocial@gmail.com) know 
a) the show/s you would like to go to, and
b) your preferred dates, and I will book the majority date.

Upcoming February Social Event

RSVP to our Social Co-Ordinator, hklcsocial@gmail.com if you are interested in coming along to either of these events.

Kowloon Walled City with Jason Wordie

An adventurous group of Ladies Circlers woke early Saturday morning to head over to Kowloon for a walking tour with local historian Jason Wordie.

Starting at Lok Fu MTR we were shown the evolution of public high rise housing pioneered in Hong Kong before heading to Hau Wong Temple to learn about its relationship with the original Kowloon Walled City and Mandarin scholars. We got to see the last navigation marker for the old Kai Tak airport approach – a fading checkerboard painted onto the face of a cliff.

From there we explored the beautiful park that has now replaced the once ambiguous and seedy shanty town that was the walled city (and one of the largest Heroin producing drug dens in the world) in the 1980′s. Jason stopped at various locations to give us a fascinating history into the evolution and change to occur in the walled city and what it would have been like in times past.

One of the only parts of the original walled city to be preserved was the yamen (magistracy compound) fortunate enough to survive all incarnations of the walled city as it was never built over, respected as a legacy to China. Other interesting artifacts such as cannons and the south gate stones were also on display here. Sadly all the original walls were removed using prisoner of war labour during the Japanese occupation to be used for reclamation to expand Kai Tak airport.

We walked through the Chinese Thai district of Hong Kong which used to be flown over every 2 minutes by modern jets such as the 747 until the airport was relocated to Lantau.

Finally we ended the walk at Sung Wong Toi – one of the most important chinese artifacts in Hong Kong. It too had a fascinating history as to how it ended up where it now stands.

Most of the ladies circlers stayed for lunch at a Thai restaurant where we were spoiled with an abundance of food – Tom Yum Goong, Pad Thai, Fish cakes, pork neck, green curry chicken and an array of other dishes.

You can view more photos from the walk in our Facebook photo album here.

On behalf of Ladies Circle I would like to thank Jason for sharing his knowledge with us and presenting such a fascinating fact-filled walk.

A third walk with Jason is planned for March. If you are interested in coming along, please let us know as it is a great way to discover more about the history of Hong Kong off the beaten tourist track and catch up with other circlers along the way.

Social Lunch – Oolaa

February Dinner Meeting

Ladies sat down for an informative dinner in February.

We welcomed Sonja Kronhart from Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) who gave us a short talk on who they are and how they help disabled children develop both physically and mentally through the opportunity to learn to ride horses. A couple of our ladies already volunteer with this charity, but they are always looking for more volunteers as it requires many hands to assist with each individual rider. If you are interested in volunteering, please talk to our community coordinator Julia.

After our meal Jeanette Robson gave a very informative talk on wines. She walked us through the differences between cava and champagne – not just by cost, but also processing, look, feel and taste. Can you tell the differences between these two glasses?

She also presented a taste test to show how the flavours and seasonings on food can have a drastic impact on the wines we are drinking. Chili, cheese, and sweet were among some of the flavours she addressed.

Everyone found the information very informative – did you know flowers can hinder the taste of wine if they are in the room where you are drinking?

Everyone came away with a few new ideas on how to enjoy and host wine.

The monthly raffle raised $3160 and our second hand book stall raised $1000. Thank you very much to all those ladies who contributed books and who brought second hand books. This brings our Small Homes total to  $36291. Well done ladies!

Upcoming Golf Event

The next Ladies Circle Golf group outing is scheduled to take place on Monday 27th February at Deepwater Bay.

We’ve been lucky enough to make another group booking, and as those of you who played last time will know, this is a very sociable event, and great fun!. We have the whole course to ourselves for the morning for up to a maximum of 27 players, and this is followed by a set lunch for everyone in the clubhouse. It’s a very good deal at a price of HK$631 per person, which includes 18 holes of golf and lunch. We’ve got 15 players signed up so far, but it would be great to get a few more, so if you are interested, then please contact Jackie or Caroline (hklcgolfconvener@gmail.com), for more information.

Second Hand Books …

At every dinner meeting we try to offer a range of second hand books for sale. At $20 a book, all money raised goes to Small Homes. There are a wide variety of books currently on the table with fiction, non-fiction and kids books all available.

Here are a few of the books on offer this month…

Wicked Appetite – Janet Evanovich
Live to Tell – Lisa Gardener
The Gathering – Anne Enright
The Confession – John Grisham
Theodore Boon – John Grisham
[Kids] The Adventures of Captain Underpants – Dav Pilkey
[Kids] Spooky Surprises – Karen Dolby
[Kids] Magic Tree House – Numerous titles

If you have books you would like to donate to the second hand book stall please bring them along so we can add them to the collection. You never know what other people might enjoy reading.

Please feel free to browse the books by the main entrance when you come to the next meeting.

January Dinner News

January saw the turnout of 34 people to our first dinner of the year. We welcome the new year with a barbeque themed dinner and a talk from Round Table on the upcoming Pedal Cart event.

After dinner we had a talk from Detox Diva Jennifer Sheppard. She gave us an overview of the good, the bad and the interesting detox methods available in Hong Kong along with a taste of a detox shake for those brave enough to taste it.

The raffle on the night raised $2360 and the second hand books raised $440 which meant we collected an additional $2800 for Small Homes. Well done ladies!

The main prize for the raffle was a Detox treatment valued at over $2000 kindly donated by Jennifer. Jane was rather startled when she realised she had won the prize.

Make sure to watch the site to see how she goes with her detox.