Mere Hong Kong (more HK)

A few more photos to share...

The Bird Garden... lots of birdies for sale!

The flower market

View from "The Peak"

Hair-raising gondola ride down from the Buddha on Lantau

Swallows' nests in the apothecary

We hope that everyone is enjoying the transition to fall as much as we are here in Cambridge! It's that time of year when brisk winds whip up the fallen leaves to give you an occasional thwap! in the face when out for a walk... I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon enough.

12 Days in Hong Kong

Mike was invited to present at the Synthetic Biology 4.0 conference held at the Hong Kong University of Science at Technology earlier this month, so we went a bit early and traveled around the impressive metropolis for a week.


Hong Kong was a fascinating experience for the senses, and very easy for the non-Cantonese speaking Western visitor. HK was a British colony fom 1860-1997, so many things (including signs, menus and public transport announcements) are in both Cantonese and English.

A short list of favorites from the trip:
- Attending Diana Krall's first concert on her China 2008 tour
- High tea at the Peninsula Hotel
- Nighttime view of the harbor... from our hotel room!
- 25-minute dramatic gondola ride up to the Buddha on Lantau
- Riding the funicular up to the Peak
- Shopping shopping shopping
- Dim sum at Maxim's in City Hall
- Walking through markets and the Graham wholesale district
- Hiking on Lamma followed by a very fishy lunch (yum!)

The DNA Age

Here is a NY Times article describing the Personal Genome Project. My boss, George Church, is the project leader and a subject.