I am forty. Already. And, I am growing up! Not physically but intellectually. I feel so. But, this does not mean I am growing by myself. I am growing by the guide of my academic mentor, here in Hong Kong. This is a great finding. I have something left for growing! I am happy to find this. Thank you, HFL.

Finally identified which type of sick that eczema was. I went to Baptist Hospital again and saw as doctor. He let me know this is Pompholyx (dyshidrotic eczema, vesicular hand eczema), that is an allergic eczema outbreaking in warm and wet climate. He gave me a tube of steroid with tablets of anti-histamine. I checked the ingredients in them and found everything in the chemical compounds is different from what other doctors gave me here and in Japan. He also gives me a warn that this should still go on for two weeks or so and that I need some patience not to touch spots. He is a good doctor; patience is the key to find a good man from bad others.

I am still suffering bad eczema around the arms and hands. This began just after mango ice cream and became worse after enjoying a fried rice-noodle. A lady at the department secretary kindly let me know people here in Hong Kong have same symptoms around winter season. It is survival to live here.

Finally, I found the Chinese dish that fits with my appetite. Today I asked a lady at the Restaurant that I almots everyday goes toto make a very hot dish of boiled cabbage and pork without spice. What a nice dish you can enjoy like this way! This is really innovative a dish; very mild and delicate soup coming out of cabbage and pork. I enjoyed this with two small bowls of steamed rice. It is a first day here to enjoy Chinese cuisine sinec my embargo on.

This very early morning, that is the midnight, Hong Kong faced with quake. But, I didn't notice any swing on the 23rd floor. Hmmm... Did it really happen? Maybe, I am quite used to quake in Japan. That is the reason I was so unaware of such historic event here. Actually, last March my house near Kyoto swung for a while, but I wandered some air through open windows let curtains swing inside. I was so adsorbed in writing a paper. Its due was on the date of March 11st in the West Coast standard time. Anyway, today I realized Hong Kong is not an exception of free land from quake.

It's cold this winter. Literally I mean it. Lyon is icy, Zurich is in snow, even Rome suffers blizzard. All cities in South Europe experience strange weather under bad economy. I should thank God to be here in Hong Kong. Today, I found water lilies blossom in a pond of a garden near my home. We go into early summer here. It's really amazing me. In TV shows, cities in snow let me freeze but outside so warm to sweat.

It's very tough to survive food in Hong Kong. I always go to a Chinese restaurant and try finding Shanghai cuisine that is the only dish I enjoy here. Finally, everyday I choose almost same dishes every night. Today, I went to an American-style cafeteria that is somehow close to Chinese cuisine. I asked to bring me pork chops and found something different from what I expected. It was a baked and steamed huge ankle of a pig... But, it was tasty in the standard of Hong Kong. Days of survival still are going on.

Around this week, not a small number of people suffer bad somehow light flu again around me in Hong Kong. I have no idea this is serious sick, but many people cough often. Is this a second season of flu? Anyway, hope nothing worse happen in January.

These three consecutive days, I enjoy cloudy but clear sky around Tin Shui Wai. Shenzen is visible to me through a window in my room. I can see each automobile come and go on a bridge between two towns here and there. Maybe a small number of cars lets us enjoy this clearness in air to allow a comfortable situation that is good to me on the throat. A flu season ends up and it is hard to find somebody cough around me. I enjoy walk around the park here for some one hour after lunch and go back to work. This is really good a day, it is.

Why not invest your money into very reasonable estate in Hong Kong that is haunted estate of past owners who passed away due to accidents? I happened to find some cheaper apartments even in the center. They are much lower than the surroundings. An only reason is abnormal death of owners. These haunted houses are very attractive to long-term investors in estate. Who cares of haunted ones, if you lease them to others? This is a good deal for real estate agents who are expertise in foreign investment. You should google with terms: haunted estate hong kong.

It has turned to Summer! Really warm, today. I walked for an hour around a park and a stadium near my hotel. Although weather becomes nice, I have never anticipated a disaster. This noon, I asked a Shanghai Soup Noodle in a menu at a cafeteria, which was not a typical Shanghai cuisine. It is a kind of Cantonese Style after Shanghai cuisine. This is a small disappointment today. Next, this is worse than that fake Shanghai cuisine. Again, I went to enjoy dinner at the same cafeteria. I asked sweet meat and egg plants, and a fried fish. The latter put me on a dump. The reason is simple. Born! That small born is torturing me on the throat. Ah! It was a huge mistake to have chosen this on the list. I would not like to have pork so that I tried this one. Fish is sometimes risky to consume in safe.

It's really cold a winter we face here in Hong Kong. Flu goes down around last week, and the number of people who cough on streets is smaller. A discovery of a dead duck in the N.T. was positive on H5N1, but nothing happens here in this region. Maybe, the cold but humid weather eases air of pollution so that people are somehow strong enough on reaction against virus. No news is good news, anyway.

I am back here to Hong Kong. This is the second day of Lunar New Year. I enjoyed several dishes which are served during this season of celebration. Dragon dance is nice to see. But, weather is bad. Rainy. Well, it's good to the throat on me.

This noon, I enjoyed snake soup in the Taipo Market, close to the Chinese Univ. I enjoyed a clear soup in Shanghai, but this dark soup here tastes very rich and tasty. In front of the snake cafeteria, there is a bucket which is full of skinned snakes in white. On the decks inside, you can find many bottled including spirit and snakes. We enjoyed a set menu of clear soup, meat soup and snake rice. You should try snake dish here in Hong Kong in winter!

Tonight, I went to a nearby restaurant. I enjoyed sea cucumber soup with rice cakes. This is a Shanghai dish. Today, I enjoyed a full course of Shanghai cuisine.

Tonight I found two stars in the sky! It is a first time to see not a single star on the North Pole. Thanks a God, finally I can enjoy clear sky here in Hong Kong. I jogged a bid at noon and enjoyed a snack under blue sky. For dinner, I enjoyed Shanghai cuisine again.

I really love Shanghai cuisine that includes clear soup based on chicken or fish. Tonight I enjoyed the chicken on field boiled with pumpkin. What is the chicken on field? That is frog! I love to eat frog everywhere. In France, I enjoyed frog soup. In Vietnam, I found fried frog that was nice to taste. Shanghai frog is marvelous to eat. I don't know why people in Hong Kong rarely choose this dish. Don't you try frog for your dinner?

I found the reason hygiene control is difficult here in Hong Kong, finally. People living here don't wash hands after toilet! Alas, Jesus Christ! Confucius should have taught them to wash hands after doing so. I could not figure out why I have diarrhea after working in the university until I red a news article that says people in China don't have a custom to wash hands before eating. This is the hint. Hmmm ... TV spot commercials urge them to wash hands or cover the mouths in cough, have masks in cold. I have never watched these fundamental instructions in TV programs in civilized countries. It's nice for me to learn the essential difference between China and other countries by long stay in Hong Kong. In Mainland, it should be much worse.

By the way, I found another article that says the British don't wash hands after toilets. Haven't they strengthened this bad feature of China? This is an enigma of hygiene level in Hong Kong, India, Egypt, and others once under the Union Jack.

After that so bitter tea medicine, my throat has got clear, but I feel so dull and hurt on the right shoulder. It seems on a way better ahead, I believe.

People around here in the boarder to Mainland look calm on the news about death of a Chinese mainlander due to avian flu. They enjoy usual life; they don't celebrate new year, just waiting for lunar new year ahead. The key to manage the disease is this duration of lapse between two calender systems. Hope nothing should happen before mas move on the lunar new year beginning.

Yesterday, a Chinese bus driver died after found positive of avian flu in Shenzhen that is just three minute ride from here, my home, Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong. The Chinese authority has covered this fact for ten days after its discovery of the victim in Candon. Here, in NT and Kowloon, many people show bad flu symptom, cough, fever etc. I also got a bad cold even after anti-flu vaccination. We must be cautious of the developing situation here in South Asia on this epidemic disease.