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Diving in Bohol Province CONSISTING OF THE ISLAND ITSELF and 75 minor surrounding islands, Bohol Province sits right in the middle of the so-called ‘coral triangle’, which spans Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Here, in the Philippine’s Central Visayas region, you’ll find over 75% of all coral species, and the highest marine biodiversity in the world. BOHOL ATTRACTS ADVENTUREDIVE ADDICTS as well as beginner divers (10 years and up), and is routinely listed as one of the top 10 diving destinations in the world. The sea is generally calm and the currents manageable, coupled with excellent visibility. Beginners get to see a myriad of fish and coral even on their initial dives. ALONA BEACH ON PANGLAO ISLAND is Bohol’s tourist mecca; accommodation options vary from local-style guesthouses to international-standard resorts. Numerous accredited dive operators offer PADI and SDI courses, and the reef sees different dive sites spaced out over the length of the beach. A 30-MINUTE BOAT TRIP from Panglao, Balicasag Island is on many a diver’s bucket list. A narrow reef shelf (8 metres deep) surrounds the island, and over the edge of the shelf a perpendicular wall sinks down to depths of 80 metres and more. The shelf is home to a fantastic coral garden filled with all kinds of reef fish, as well as anemones and clownfish. MAGNIFICENT TURTLES ARE A ROUTINE SIGHT on any dive off Balicasag – you are almost guaranteed to see a double digit number. These turtles are gentle reptiles whose size belies the gracious nature of their movements, and they generally ignore the groups of goggle-eyed divers attempting to get close for that picture-perfect moment. DUE TO ITS MID-OCEAN LOCATION between Balicasag and Pamilacan islands, the currents at 18-metre-deep Snake Island are fierce and the waves are big. Brave this dive, and you’ll likely spot the colony of black-and-white sea snakes that live off the shoal. Snake Island also homes pelagic fish, scorpion fish and sturgeon. RESTING PLACE OF MANTAS off Pamilacan Island is another magical dive site to visit. Teeming with colourful coral and marine life, it shelters a squadron of horned manta rays, the largest of which can reach 7 metres in width. Dive here and there’s also a good chance you’ll spot dolphins, particularly if you visit from March through July.

A day out on the water, filled with friendship, food and floaties… life really doesn’t get much better. Question is, will you opt for a cruise on a luxury yacht or a classic junk trip? PHOTOS COURTESY OF Charter Junks HK, Classic Sailing HK, Hong Kong Asia Boating, Hong Kong Boats & Simpson Yacht Charter Hong Kong is renowned for its boat trips and rightly so. A day on the water is a unique oppor tunity to kickback and take it easy in the company of family and friends. You can work on your tan, get your water-spor ts adrenalin fix, play beer pong, swim out to a remote island and/ or stop off at a favourite beachside restaurant for lunch. Peak season is June to November but thanks to the climate, you can charter a yacht or hire a junk year-round. There are countless providers across Hong Kong, all offering a variety of packages for both day and night trips. The best are all about flexibility when it comes to event planning. Some occasions call for a comprehensive package where everything is taken care of – food, drink, wakeboarding... you name it. Other times, boat-only charters are the way to go – the crew leaves you to it and you are free to really unwind… and commandeer the kitchen to prepare your own meals. So, all you really need to decide is where you want to go and how you want to get there. YACHT CHARTER Yacht charter has a certain cachet about it – frankly, it’s glamorous. Here’s what I dream of: a group of friends and I hire a large, white one (don’t ask me to get technical) and sail down the Amalfi Coast in style. We’d have a chef and a DJ on board, we’d laze in the over-sized swimming pool and dive-off occasionally into the clear blue Tyrrhenian Sea. At twilight, we’d jump in our motorboat and have supper at whichever port we found ourselves at – Positano, Sorrento, Ravello. Before long, we’d motor boat it back to our floating palace and fall asleep, gently rocked by the waves. This trip would last at least a fortnight – two weeks of divine decadence, fortified by strong sea air and lashings of sunlight. In actuality, of course, you don’t have to leave Hong Kong waters to enjoy prestige time on a yacht and, unless you’re talking megayacht, you don’t have to be crazy rich to get in on the action. You can hire a yacht for a small par ty or a big corporate bash (they come in all sizes) for an evening, a day, a weekend or a long, leisurely cruise. What you get by chartering a yacht is the promise of excellence… impeccable service, first-rate food, top-notch water toys and, when it comes to addons, you’re spoilt for choice. There’s nothing like an on-board massage and a mani-pedi to set you up for a high-glamour cruise of Victoria Harbour. JUNK HIRE There’s something quintessentially Hong Kong about a junk trip. Researching the topic takes me back to the summers when my friends and I would jump a big, old wooden junk seemingly every weekend. Picked up at the pier in Central, we’d be laden down with crates of beer, a bottle of wine or two and “snacks”. We’d have arranged for the crew to cook up chicken curry and Singapore fried noodles, or we’d have scheduled a stop at Peng Chau or Stanley for seafood. In the afternoon, we’d laze in the sun, dive off the top deck for a swim, listen to music (if someone had remembered to bring their decks) and maybe get the chance to water ski. Back then, the best junks also came with a Banana boat. Simple pleasures. Nostalgia aside, the Hong Kong junk experience is now leagues better. Whether you’re looking for an all-inclusive experience staffed by a qualified and friendly crew, or a boat-only charter, you’re covered. Sure, you can opt to bring your own food but you can also go fully catered, choosing from a tempting range of food and drink. These days you can also expect a full menu of add-ons, from jet skis to SUPs, and most junks (they come in white as well as traditional teakwood) are fitted with a high-quality sound system, so you can party the day or night away. Whether you plump for time on a yacht or junk, there are any number of packages and tours on offer, allowing you to take full advantage of Hong Kong’s fantastic waters and coastline. Top destinations include Clearwater Bay, Deepwater Bay, Joss House Bay, Shek O, Stanley, Tur tle Cove Beach, Tai Tam Bay, Cheung Chau and Lamma. Be sure to opt for collection and drop-off in DB! WHAT OUR CHOSEN PROVIDERS HAVE TO SAY “A day or evening out on a junk gives you a unique experience to enjoy the scenic beauty of Hong Kong’s city harbour and surrounding islands. People can relax and unwind in the calm waters, while enjoying the company of family and friends. You can indulge in activities such as swimming and kayaking. It’s an excellent way to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a day of fun and relaxation on the sea.” Sharon McEneff, Director Charter Junks HK “If you go around most yacht clubs and ask any sailor how he/ she got into the sport, you'll invariably find they know/ knew someone with a sail boat – as I did I. So, it can be difficult to get into big boat sailing. Yacht charter is a great place to start: it can provide the raw beginner with an opportunity to step into the sailing world and give it a try.” Wayne Robinson, Founder Classic Sailing HK “Hong Kong has an extraordinary 1,178 km of coastline and 265 islands. Get out on the water and explore." Paco Goetschalkx, Managing Director Hong Kong Boats “Every day is a boating day!” Michael Li, Cruise Manager Hong Kong Asia Boating “Yachting offers a wonderful feeling of freedom. We disconnect very easily from our busy city lives when we are on board with friends, enjoying good F&B and music. Yachts are also well-equipped with fun water toys, everything from jet skis to wakeboards, so there’s plenty to do. Hop on board to enjoy a happy, active and relaxing day away from it all.” Paco Chan, Marketing Executive Simpson Yacht Charter

Trading software pro by day, footballer by night, or at least weekends, Matija Maretic would bask in the glow of backstopping his DBFC team to the final of the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens – if it didn’t ache so much. Elizabeth Kerr reports. PHOTOS BY Richard Gordon - www.richardgordonphotography.com & courtesy of HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens Matija Maretic has a dad bod. That applies to the 46-year-old father of two (to a daughter, 11, and a son, three) literally and figuratively. The native of Croatia credits his ability to play in May’s HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens to the HIIT workout group DB Dad Bods keeping him fit during COVID, as well as able to be home by 7am to per form dad duties. “That started during the pandemic when gyms were closed. It was difficult to do with the mask on, but a couple of guys managed to organise it and keep it going,” he begins. “It’s five minutes from my house on the beach. I do the 6am so I can be home to get the kids to school. I think that helps keep me in shape.” Matija is sitting in a Central eatery at lunchtime in early June, looking tanned and youthful – just now recovered from his May 26 to 28 Soccer Sevens ordeal. “I was going to retire three years ago, I was already 43, but this year…” he trails off with a shrug. Out of town on business, he missed try-outs for this year’s tournament but, as a veteran, Discovery Bay Football Club (DBFC) coach Tim Bredbury cut him some slack and let him try-out late. He made the cut, but the central defender had to be content with playing wing as a back-up. “There’s a huge Brazilian guy and a huge Nigerian guy, both 10 years younger than me, in that spot now,” he says with a resigned laugh. As fate would have it, the team’s semi-pro goalkeeper got slapped with a three-game suspension by the Football Association two days before the tournament. “So Tim calls me up those two days before and says, ‘Matija, we have a problem. We just lost our keeper and I have no time to find another one. Would you be willing to step in?’ The last time I played keep I was 15.” Serendipity. Matija backstopped Ampcontrol Discovery Bay – aka the DBFC Masters – to the final. DAD WITH A DAY JOB Football is in Matija’s blood – he’s quick to point out Croatia’s stellar World Cup per formances over the last five tournaments – and he’s been playing since he was a kid in Pula, across the water from Venice. It’s a hobby, but he still needs it to be a challenge, which is why he gravitated to the DBFC almost as soon as he and his wife landed in Hong Kong seven years ago, and DB about six months after that. “When we moved to Hong Kong our daughter was two, and we lived in Central for a bit,” he says with a wave. “But with the pushchair and all the gear and the people, we thought, ‘Oh my god, this is a nightmare’. Then a friend invited us for a barbecue in DB, and we were all, ‘Oooh, we could live here’. Central is not kid-friendly. Here, it’s easy for kids to get to school; my daughter can go by herself. It’s much more convenient and very international.” The road to Hong Kong was circuitous. Matija left Croatia in 1994 for Car thage College to study physics and mathematics in the United States, and then spent five years in Milan. “I started a company, Marvelsoft, software development for financial markets, that was eventually bought by a French firm, which is why I moved to Paris.” He was there for 12 years before the company opened a Hong Kong office for its Asian operations. Matija isn’t a pure developer, and he’s not a pure researcher; lab work doesn’t appeal to him the way real application of his software does. “I didn’t want to do any post-grad studies either,” he says with a grin. “I tried a summer internship but realised it was not for me. Locked up in a lab all day? No. I need people around me.” PLAYER WITH THE DBFC MASTERS Which is what makes the DBFC ( www.discoverybayfc.com ) a nice fit too. Matija had to scale back playing time in Paris when it became too much of a commitment with a newborn (at the time), but the easier going, very international DBFC format suits him just fine. “We play seven-a-side, which is actually a 25-year-old tradition in DB, going back to when they were building the airport. There was a French and British team who played each other, now it’s more international. We play Thursday nights and we don’t talk when we have a beer after. Black shirts on one side of the pub, white on the other. It’s very competitive,” he finishes with a laugh. The annual two-tiered Soccer Sevens this year featured a main section, with pro teams from Fulham, Aston Villa and Leicester City alongside those from Singapore Football Club, Yau Yee League and, of course, the Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC). The Masters teams – for players over 35 – included the HKFC, Rio Cricket Athletic Association, the title sponsor Citi All Stars and Ampcontrol Discovery Bay. Matija points out that this was the DBFC Masters’ tenth go at the Soccer Sevens, and that they have an excellent track record. In 2018, DBFC players won the Masters Cup and in 2017 and 2019, they were runnersup for the Masters Plate. This year, the team secured sponsorship from a group of fellow DB residents to enter the tournament as Ampcontrol Discovery Bay, and until the final on the Sunday, they only allowed one goal in five games. Though Matija earned some football cred in 2018 when he stopped a penalty by former Aston Villa striker Carlton Cole, he chalks his 2023 success up to his defence. “I think Tim told them, ‘Matija’s not a keeper. You better protect him’. And they did.” With the tournament a wrap for another year – Wallsend Boys Club ultimately beat the DBFC in the final with a golden goal in the play-off – Matija can relax for the summer. He’s looking forward to six weeks in Europe – a work trip back to Milan followed by a vacation with his family when they go meet him. It will be one of their first trips since COVID put the kibosh on travelling. Not that Matija noticed. His son was born in 2020, so he had intended to spend more time at home anyway. The vacation will also give Matija time to consider 2024’s Soccer Sevens. Will he be back? “In a week I lost three kilos. I was exhausted, and it took me four days to get back to normal. And it was super-hot. I vowed I’d never do it again,” he says with a chuckle and a sigh. “But next year Tim’s going to call me and ask me to come for a try-out and I’m going to say, ‘Why not?’ It just depends on whether or not I keep in shape.” That’s what the DB Dad Bods are for.

Nothing beats the sweet, rich flavours of these classic French desserts. Photos courtesy of Adobe Stock CRÊPES WITH ORANGE MARMALADE & AMARETTO SAUCE Serves 4 - 1tsp cornflour - 200ml orange juice, - freshly squeezed - 1tbsp orange marmalade - 1tbsp amaretto - ½ lemon, juiced - 10g unsalted butter, cubed Start by making four pancakes; place them on a plate to keep warm. Then make the sauce: whisk the cornflour with the orange juice until smooth. Warm it in a pan, stirring to thicken for around 2 minutes. Add the marmalade, amaretto and lemon juice and cook for a few minutes more. Gradually add the butter, whisking until you have a glossy sauce. Dust each pancake with a little caster sugar and top with the marmalade amaretto sauce. Fold into four, and top with a bit more sauce to serve. CRÈME BRÛLÉE Serves 2 - 5 large egg yolks - 50g golden caster - sugar, plus extra for the topping - 426ml double cream - 100ml whole milk - 2tsp vanilla essence Heat the oven to 180˚C. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl for 1 minute. Pour the cream, milk and vanilla essence into a pan and bring almost to the boil. Stir the hot cream into the beaten egg yolks; scoop off and discard any foam. Next, place 4 ramekins (175ml) in a roasting tin at least 7.5cm deep. Pour hot water into the tin to come about 1.5cm up the sides of the ramekins. Fill the ramekins with the hot cream. Put them in the oven and lay a baking sheet over the top of the tin so it sits well above the ramekins covering them – leave a small gap at one side to allow air to circulate. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the mixture is softly set. Leave the ramekins to cool for a couple of minutes, then put them in the fridge to chill. When ready to serve, sprinkle 1½ tsp of caster sugar over each ramekin, covering them completely. Spray the sugar with a little water, then use a blow torch to caramelise it. Serve when the sugar coating on each brûlée is firm.

Harvey Law Group driving innovation and shaping the global immigration landscape This time last year, Harvey Law Group (HLG) began receiving first approvals from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) Programme for Experienced Pilots. After many months of legal research and planning, HLG was convinced this was a real opportunity – we did not let the growing rumours that it was simply unfeasible deter us. Through hard work, HLG can now show a decent track record in assisting pilots (about 70% success rate). We proudly assist hundreds of experienced pilots and their families worldwide to obtain unconditional green cards via the EB-2 NIW programme, allowing them to live and work in the US. HLG recently celebrated its 100th approval. This is a milestone we are incredibly happy with, yet it has not always been smooth sailing. We have had some very experienced pilots denied, and while we care about the success stories, we care more about the denials. Through patience and perseverance, we have managed to assist some of the clients originally denied to refile and obtain successes as a result. Applying this programme to pilots is so new that we are always kept on our toes. We need to (i) be quick to adapt and adjust to changes in the industry; (ii) put clear and flexible internal processes in place to ensure that lessons learnt are shared across the firm efficiently; (iii) question ourselves on a daily basis to favour innovative solutions; (iv) continue to educate ourselves; and (v) think of various ways to educate the USCIS officers reviewing our clients’ applications. Communications we have with USCIS officers (who are not lawyers) demonstrate how complex the law is, and it is often our job to educate the officers, and to explain to our clients how we can help address concerns that officers may raise. There is no general USCIS guidance for this: each client case is considered individually. If we have learnt one thing in the past year, it is that this is not a one-size-fits-all programme. We have managed to convince officers to change their mind after giving further explanations, which is always encouraging. For the past six months, we have also observed public recognition of our work, with more pilots coming to us after having made an initial submission themselves or via other lawyers. In such cases, we often need to work backwards to identify gaps and issues in initial petitions to try to overcome the issues, but if we can salvage the situation, we will. We also now need to monitor how priority date retrogression impacts our clients. Until recently, priority dates were current, meaning that this was not a concern for pilots, but this changed at the end of 2022. Priority dates for immigrant visas issued under the EB category is currently February 15, 2022 – this effectively determines the applicant’s place in the queue for obtaining permanent residency, even if the national interest waiver has been approved. Retrogression like the recent one is infrequent, yet it is not unprecedented. The recent retrogression is largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted immigration operations and slowed down visa processing times. It is however important to understand that priority dates in the USCIS Visa Bulleting do not necessarily reflect actual waiting time since they can shift forwards or backwards, by a few weeks or months. Therefore, when one sees the May 2023 Visa Bulletin showing that the final action date is February 15, 2022, one cannot assume that the waiting time is 15 months. The pilot shortage in the US is here to stay and so far, we do not see the attraction of this programme diminishing. Founded in 1992 by DB resident Jean François Harvey, Harvey Law Group (HLG) has quickly evolved into a leading multinational law firm with a worldwide reputation amongst discerning businesses, individuals and governments across North America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America. For more information, call 2116 1333, email HLG at contact@harveylawcoporation.com or visit www.harveylawcorporation.com .

Following your other half around the world and signing up as a ‘trailing spouse’ sounds like a lot of fun but in reality, at least at the start, it’s a tough job. Trisha Hughes reports ILLUSTRATIONS BY Sarin Ale Never underestimate a woman’s ability to nest. Like many of the women in DB, I’ve moved house several times in my married life and I like to think I’ve become very adept at it. But arriving here, I discovered that moving continents for your man is another thing entirely – the initial settling-in period can be more than a little overwhelming. While our spouses head off to work to star t a new job and make new friends, we begin the daunting process of setting up house, settling our children into new schools, accessing and connecting to the internet, subscribing to Netflix and getting out and about. Let’s face it, those first lonely trips to Mongkok are as arduous as an Indiana Jones expedition, complete with map, water and provisions. Watching yet another outdated episode of Game of Thrones can sound considerably better than being squeezed and pushed up and down escalators, while looking for the B2 exit at Prince Edward. But as I stayed home alone or cocooned myself in the IFC, the big question I kept asking myself was where is that confident woman who could leap small buildings in a single bound? I may have travelled but I’ve never trailed, I shouted to the rooftops. But even I could hear the doubt and uncertainty in my voice. RELATIONSHIP ISSUES What many couples forget to prepare for is the most important change of all: the one their marriage goes through. A key stress factor is social isolation during the initial phase of relocation. This isolation often leads to couples putting too much pressure on each other when they have no friends to spend time with or confide in. Fights can spring up at home from the most mundane situations and finger-pointing just muddies the waters. Many of these problems are first-world issues but nonetheless, they can create opportunity for relationships to disconnect. Here are two simple strategies that can help: Stop trying to find the time for a lengthy catch up. The simple things are enough to keep your relationship connection going. Meeting your partner at the airport, when he gets back from a work trip, gives you 30 minutes to chat before the kids dive in for their time. You can also put your tiredness aside, and take 30 minutes to go for a walk together after the kids are asleep. And try turning the phone off for 30 minutes. There is nothing more exasperating when we are sharing an issue of importance than hearing the other person’s phone ring or beep a message, or seeing them look away to check their phone. This creates disconnection, a significant feature in today’s relationship breakdowns. Pigeons took 30 hours to get the message to a recipient in years gone by. You can wait to check your phone for 30 minutes. Never forget that a lot of us are here in DB out of love for our par tners, although it’s very different from the love potions in fairy tales where you drink and everything becomes magically perfect. This love takes work but the end result far outweighs the hurdles along the way. OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME Being a trailing spouse is like stepping into the great unknown, full of uncer tainties and ambiguities. Exciting and exhilarating on the one hand, it can be a mineshaft full of doubts on the other. Most of the time, we fly by the seat of our pants... hoping that we’re making the right decisions. How do I make new friends? Where do I shop? How do I get around? Our friends back home think we’re leading a glamorous, romantic expat life but they’re only seeing a very small part of the picture. What they don’t know is that with the excitement comes a great deal of stress brought on by having to adjust to all the changes. Stress manifests itself in so many ways and then morphs into anxiety. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that all trailing spouses struggle with the loss of our support system back home and without it, our stress levels increase. At the worst possible times, homesickness raises its ugly head to hinder our settling in process and empty our day of all happiness. No one told us how it could be so debilitating and no one told us it could blindside us on a daily basis. Strangely, in our loneliness, the most reflexive thing most of us do is shut ourselves away. I am guilty of the very same practice and it’s the foremost and unhealthiest thing we can possibly do. Studies show that lack of social connection may present a greater risk to our wellbeing than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. Psychologists have repeatedly stressed that a sense of social connectedness is one of our fundamental human needs. One of the biggest things holding us back is fear. Fear of meeting people, fear of getting lost, fear of failure and the fear of generally messing up. We all process change in different ways. And adjusting doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and some of us are more adaptable than others. DB SUPPORT SYSTEM Without a doubt, we need friends to help us overcome the loneliness obstacle and to do that we need to build a support base in our new home. Beginning my expat life in DB, I realised almost immediately how lucky I was. Cer tainly I felt lost for a time but not to the same degree as I would have, had I found myself living in the city, in Mid-Levels or Happy Valley. The resort’s small scale means it’s relatively easy to start forging friendships. Start up a conversation with a neighbour in the plaza, or on the ferry and chances are you’ll bump into her again within a couple of days – you won’t even need to pluck up the courage to text her and arrange to meet. What’s more DB is at heart a transient society, which means many DB women have been in your shoes – these ‘settled’ trailing spouses have valuable and practical perspectives they are just itching to share. Make the most of this! Sometimes all you need is to talk to another person about the worry bouncing around in your mind and almost magically, by getting it out of your head, you start to wonder what you were so worried about in the first place. Everyone tells us that a good way to start that process is to join clubs, and again DB has plenty on offer. In my first weeks here, I signed up for everything from tennis lessons to book clubs, and did indeed make some friends in the process. Added to which, DB is, of course, a hotbed of social media sites and forums, all set up with the precise aim of connecting people. As a newcomer, I found looking at the DB Matters, DB Mums and DB Mothers & Friends Facebook pages a great way in. There’s no easier way to get a feel for the community’s passions, concerns, charities and pursuits. The Around DB Facebook page and website, it has to be said, is still my go-to for local news, events and activities.

Piano virtuosos Stephanie Fung and Foster Henderson bring new meaning to the phrase ‘like mother, like son’. Elizabeth Kerr reports PHOTOS BY Richard Gordon - www.richardgordonphotography.com Foster Henderson is not your usual nine-year-old. Not only does he regularly finish first at classical music competitions, he has zero interest in pop music and most other nine-year-old pursuits. On this afternoon at Pacific Coffee near the Discovery Bay ferry pier, he’s carrying a Spider-Man tote bag, which he chose because, “It came from Taobao and it was the… least horrible thing they had.” Okay. So not a Spider-Man kid. “No,” he states flatly. A Marvel kid? “No.” DC? “No.” Does he watch TV? “Yes.” Okay, we’re getting somewhere. What do you like to watch? “Spy.” When he’s not watching the box, practising piano and violin in school (at home), or hanging out with beach buddy Nicholas, Foster says he enjoys reading, particularly David Walliams. “Billionaire Boy. Code Name Bananas. Gangsta Granny. I’ve read that, like, six times,” he rattles off. “Oh, and The Long Walk to Freedom.” As in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. The passion for classical music is starting to make sense. A FAMILY AFFAIR Foster has clearly got a mind of his own, much to the delight of his father, Toronto native Tim Henderson and Hongkonger mother Stephanie Fung, a concert pianist, judge, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) accompanist and private instructor. It’s just weeks since Foster was dubbed Grand Champion at the Gasca International Music Competition in Tokyo. With COVID mostly in the rear view, the field is once again open for live competitions. Tokyo was one of the first experiences like it for Foster, who was also one of only two competitors playing two instruments. “I liked it very much,” he says. “I played Debussy’s Arabesque No. 2 for piano, and for violin I played Concerto No. 5, third movement by F. Seitz. I was first runner-up in piano and champion for violin. I won ¥40,000. I think I want to get an Apple Watch, but I still don’t know.” That’s more like it. Sitting at a table by the window, Tim joins the conversation, refusing to be an outlier. A sporting goods and product development pro, he’s been living in Hong Kong for 25 years and moved to DB with Stephanie before Foster was born. The couple met online. “You don’t have to mention that,” Stephanie says before Tim dives into a proud tangent. “It’s been fantastic. I’m so lucky to have Stephy in my life…” he begins, when Stephanie cuts him off. “This part you can leave in,” she says with a laugh. The trio made a work detour to Nagano just before COVID, then rode out most of the pandemic in Thailand before resettling in DB in 2021. “It’s a great place for kids. It’s safe, it’s full of families and likeminded people,” says Tim. “Lots of people like to whine about any number of issues but all in all I can’t think of a better place to live in Hong Kong.” MUSICAL PATHS DB’s also perfect for the family because Tim can work from home, and Stephanie can continue teaching her large roster of local students ( www.stephaniepiano.com ) – like the twins who just got music scholarships to Eton, thanks in part to her. After getting bitten by the piano bug as a kid Stephanie knew she wanted to play for life, but had no idea how to parlay her passion into a career. “I had no brain for science or math, and even my public exam results hinted that I should be in the music programme,” she recalls. Her traditional, business-minded parents were a hurdle, but fortunately an uncle and her grandparents rode to the rescue to support Stephanie’s music studies at Baptist University and then the HKAPA. She earned three scholarships to Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and since then has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Edo de Waart) and with the legendary bandoneon player Walter Rios. Foster’s musical path has been easier. He’s taking classes at the HKAPA as the family considers his musical education, and his taste for piano came by osmosis. “When I heard mummy teach her students, I enjoyed the sound of the piano and I thought I might like to try it,” he says. “So I asked if she’d teach me.” The same thing happened with violin. Given the choice between going to a choir performance and a violin concert, Foster will choose violin but the piano is his first love. “I like piano because I find it the most challenging of the instruments I know,” he says. “I like to play Chopin on the piano and Vivaldi for violin.” HOOKED ON CLASSICS Foster’s been playing violin for about 18 months to the piano’s four years, and he only ever plays classical music. With his shaggy brown hair and big dark eyes, he looks a bit like a K-pop star. Say that and he throws down a first-rate side-eye. “I like classical,” he states firmly, which begs the question of parental brainwashing, but both mom and dad are quick to quash that idea. “I’ll listen to everything. I started listening to all kinds of music in high school and I still do,” says Stephanie. Tim adds, “Believe me, I’m a rock ‘n’ roll guy. I love that ’60s and ’70s thing. I’m always trying to…” “Manipulate me.” Foster cuts him off. That gets a chuckle but Foster stands his ground. He’s not kidding; he simply finds the repetition of pop – and rock, and jazz, and hip hop and country – un-engaging. Next up for Foster is July’s AIMA International Music Competition in Taiwan, where he’ll play Debussy again. Stephanie will be tagging along with another one of her students competing in the same event. To the untrained, music competitions sound frivolous, but as Stephanie explains it, they’re a vital teaching tool. “It’s just like sport. You play a match every week, you swap strategies, see how others play. It’s the same for music. When he competes, Foster’s able to see other kids from around the world, and understand there are plenty of great players his age out there. They show him how you need to keep working hard if you want to keep improving.” At this stage the competitions are important for Foster because he’s nine years old, and he’s unsure if music is going to be his life. He’s looking forward to the summer break and a trip to Disneyland, but everything else is still to be decided, and neither Stephanie nor Tim are going to push. That said, Foster has admitted to being curious about the flute. He looks scandalised when told rap-pop superstar Lizzo plays flute – and includes it in her concert performances. That stops him in his tracks. “And Jethro Tull,” chimes in Tim. Okay, so maybe not the flute.

There’s an art to hanging artwork – here are some expert guidelines to follow when decorating your walls. Imogen Clyde reports PHOTOS COURTESY OF Adobe Stock The first thing to realise about ar t is never choose it to match your decor. Buy a canvas because you love it, not because it is the perfect size for a bedroom wall or because the colour scheme complements your newly decorated living room. That said, ar twork must complement the surrounding decor: hang a large contemporar y Chinese canvas in an otherwise Western-style home and it will look out of place – regardless of how beautiful it is. So if there’s no place for a par ticular picture in your current home, bite the bullet and put it into storage. This can actually be a blessing in disguise: if you display the same piece year after year you will stop appreciating it – it’s a good idea to rotate pieces regularly. HEIGHT AND ARRANGEMENT Artwork should enhance rather than dominate a room and how you display it counts. The easiest way is to focus on each painting individually, using a large canvas to make a big statement on a large wall and keeping smaller works for smaller spaces. Be sure to choose a wall space that is proportional in size and orientation to the art you want to display. For example, a very high, narrow wall in a bathroom may be a good place to hang a vertical arrangement of three framed pictures, but not a good place to hang an over-sized, panoramic painting. Use small pieces between windows and doors, and think about proportion. Hang small pictures in too large a space and they will look lost. With larger pieces, allow room for people to step back and admire the work. If you have the space, for instance in the hallway, you can hang a miscellany of art – watercolours and maps, prints and oils – side by side. Work this type of gallery display out on the floor first, by laying pictures side by side like a jigsaw to see which fits best where. Pay special attention to how different sized pic tures relate to each other: large, predominant pieces should be balanced with smaller, minor pieces. And make sure there are equal amounts of space between each – a good rule of thumb is to space pictures 8 to 10 centimetres apart. When creating a grouping, your safest bet is to choose an odd number of items. This way, there’s a picture in the middle and a mirror image on both sides, which ensures your arrangement looks balanced and complete. Position the most prominent piece in the centre and work outward. Hanging artwork too high is one of the most common decorating mistakes: the centre of the image should be at eye level, between 150 centimetres and 165 centimetres up from the floor. When hanging multiple pictures around a room, where doorways and windows separate the pieces, don’t try to level the bottoms or tops of frames – level the middles. To display ar twork at eye level in a living or dining room, where people are usually sitting, hang the pieces at the eye level of the sitter. If you are displaying art in a group, then the centre-point of the group should be at eye level. A common problem when hanging ar twork above a sofa or sideboard is that it’s not in proportion: having pieces that are too small or too large will make the whole arrangement look off. Make sure artwork is at least two-thirds the size of the sofa or sideboard. For example, a 275-centimetre-long sofa should have a 180-centimetre-wide expanse of art above it. If you are using artwork to frame an architectural element or a piece of furniture, you should hang pictures within 25 centimetres of the object. While blank walls are a natural choice for displaying ar twork, there is another option. You can prop ar twork on the floor against a wall, on shelves or atop a piece of furniture for a casual display. This allows you the freedom to quickly change up the arrangement, without damaging your walls. Try layering pieces to add more dimension to the display: a house looks like a home when artwork and accessories are layered. FRAMES AND LIGHTING What you hang on your walls is of course up to you, but make sure each piece is professionally framed. Remember that the frame is the foil not the focal point (it shouldn’t overpower the artwork) and always spend that little bit extra on non-reflective, anti-ultraviolet glass. Select a frame that complements not just the painting but also the surrounding decor. As a general rule, small pictures need to be displayed in a dark-coloured frame and with a generous mount – this will help bring them into focus. Large pieces require a large, wide frame but can look more sophisticated with a thin mount. Consider hanging canvases unframed on the stretcher – this allows the viewer to focus solely on the artwork. When you’re hanging multiple disparate pictures together, whether in a grid or on a free-form gallery wall, make sure they are all framed differently or you will ruin the eclectic ef fect. With a collection of one type of art, say black and white prints, you can use matching frames. If you want a less permanent display, invest in wall-hung gallery rails. For a professional look, you need dedicated gallerystyle lighting, for example a system of track lights or spots recessed into the ceiling. Alternatively, mount a spotlight atop each piece. The angle at which light hits a picture is crucial so experiment before you install a fixture permanently. Position target lamps obliquely for the best effect— an angle of 40 to 60 degrees to the perpendicular will cut down on glare. Low voltage tungsten bulbs work best but place them some distance from the artwork to avoid heat damage. Just about anything looks good on the walls as long as it is well-framed and properly lit. For a five-minute masterpiece, all you need is a stretch canvas, brushes or rollers, a paint pan and either latex or acrylic paint. Or frame up a favourite fabric, vintage poster or photograph. Wall displays should never be predictable or static, they can be constantly changed, rearranged and improved.

Mark Kirkham of Soteria Trusts outlines everything you need to know to safeguard your family’s future. Imagine living the dream in Hong Kong, your hard-earned success reflected by owning multiple high value assets and properties. Next, imagine the unthinkable happens and that it’s too late to do anything about it. Dying without having a valid Will in place will plunge the wellbeing and security of your family into uncertainty. The peace of mind and long-term benefits gained by acting now and making sure both your financial and non-financial affairs are all in order, are beyond measure. So, join us in this enlightening explorat ion and take the first step toward safeguarding your family’s future. YOUR ASSETS AND JURISDICTIONS Take into account the complexities and nuances of different jurisdictions, and you’ll soon realise you need to have a Will in place for each country you hold assets. The benefits of having a Will in each jurisdiction you hold assets in are: • Easier, faster and cheaper probate. • Your Wills won’t be revoked due to contrary rules in different jurisdictions. • A local Will does not need to disclose assets in another country. • A local Will is written under the laws of that country. THE BEST WILL FOR YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES If you are single, then a Single Will is the one and best option for you. However, if you are married, you can choose to have either a Joint Will or Mirror Wills with your spouse. • A Joint Will covers the estates of two people in a single, legally binding document. When a partner passes away, their estate is automatically left to the surviving person and cannot be updated. • Mirror Wills are two separate documents: two people create almost identical separate Wills and leave everything to each other (or their chosen beneficiaries). This allows the Wills to be updated at any time (unlike a Joint Will). GUARDIANSHIP If you are an expat parent, it is crucial to have not only an ironclad Will but to ensure you’ve formally nominated a temporary guardian for your minor children. Failure to do so could result in your children being taken into care while awaiting the arrival of any permanently appointed guardian from overseas, such as a family member – a distressing and easily avoidable scenario. TIME FOR A WILL REVIEW Making a Will is more than a once-in-a-lifetime activity; it should be reviewed regularly. Whether there’s been a new family member, marriage, divorce or relocation, making sure your Will is legally binding and updated is essential for protecting those closest to you. When creating a Will, you can trust Soteria Trusts to protect your family’s interests. Careful thought and planning go into their services so that it’s easy for you to plan for the unexpected as well as provide clear direction for those you leave behind. Mark Kirkham is a long-term DB resident and CEO of the Business Class Group, of which Soteria Trusts, the group’s fiduciary and asset protection arm, is a part of. Contact Soteria Trusts at www.soteriatrusts.com or enquiries@soteriatrusts.com . Ask about the 50% off Wills promotion, or visit www.soteriatrusts.com/will-promotion .

Mozzarella, tomato and basil bring out the best in each other – enjoy this classic Italian combo two ways! PHOTOS COURTESY OF Adobe Stock TOMATO, MOZZARELLA AND PESTO SALAD Serves 2 - 50g pine nuts - 80g basil - 50g parmesan - 150ml olive oil - 2 garlic cloves - 200g mixed heritage tomatoes, sliced - 1 large shallot, sliced into thin rings - 6 salad leaves, shredded First make the pesto (250ml): Heat a s mall frying pan over a low heat. Cook the pine nuts until golden, shaking occasionally. Put into a food processor with the basil, parmesan, olive oil and garlic. Whizz until smooth, then season to taste. Put the tomatoes in a bowl with the shallot rings and season with a large pinch of salt. Leave for 10 minutes for the tomatoes to release their juices. Arrange the tomatoes (and their juices) over two plates, then sprinkle over the shallots and assorted leaves. Put one half of the mozzarella in the centre of each plate, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Top with the pesto, and serve with crostini. EASY PIZZA MARGHERITA Makes 1, serves 2 - 150g strong bread flour - ½tsp instant yeast - ½tbsp olive oil - 50ml passata - Handful fresh basil - 1 garlic clove, crushed - 125g ball mozzarella, sliced - Handful shaved parmesan - Handful cherry tomatoes, halved Heat the oven to 240˚C. To make the base, put the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast and a pinch of salt. Make a well, pour in 200ml warm water and the olive oil and bring together with a wooden spoon until you have a soft, fairly wet dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Roll out the dough to create a thin, round pizza base about 25cm across. Place on a floured baking sheet. Put another baking sheet in the oven on the top shelf. Next, make the sauce by mixing the passata, basil and garlic together. Smooth the sauce over the pizza base with the back of a spoon. Scatter with the mozzarella, parmesan and tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and season. Put the pizza, still on its baking sheet, on top of the preheated sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp. Garnish with basil leaves and olive oil, and serve immediately.

Play nice in New Orleans. Photos courtesy of Adobe Stock EVERY DAY IS A MARDI GRAS in New Orleans but the city pulls out all the stops during the official, month-long carnival which starts in January and ends in February. You can expect massive floats, outrageous costumes and a glimpse of weirdly wonderful West African/ Roman Catholic rituals. If New Orleans is all about eating, drinking and celebrating, Mardi Gras is the best time to visit. ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE CITIES in the world, New Orleans is known for its old-world character, year-round carnival atmosphere and ‘be nice or leave’ motto. Louisianians, who live in The Big Easy, have a certain way of doing things, and it’s easy to join the party, whether you’re into live music, Creole cooking or the magical mayhem that is Mardi Gras. THE HISTORIC FRENCH QUARTER delivers a full-on Paris-meets-the Caribbean vibe, complete with buskers, fortune tellers, sketch artists and travelling performers. Stand-out French-inspired buildings include St Louis Cathedral; the Cabildo, which houses a Louisiana state-history museum; and Presbytère, where there’s a permanent exhibition on Mardi Gras. A MULTI-CULTURAL MIX OF MUSIC spills out on to the streets of New Orleans at all hours of the day and night. Head to Frenchmen Street, where back-to-back bars and clubs deliver live music on tap, everything from rock, metal and hip-hop to folk, Cajun fiddle and, of course, jazz. Preservation Hall on nearby St Peter Street is your best bet for traditional New Orleans jazz. CITY PARK HOMES ALLIGATORS and is deliciously wild – an only slightly tamed version of the surrounding Louisiana wetlands. Three miles long and one-mile wide, it’s bigger than Central Park in NYC, and dotted with towering oaks and weeping willows, gardens, waterways and bridges. As you wander, stop off at New Orleans Museum of Art and its surrounding sculpture garden. AN INTRODUCTION TO CREOLE COOKING starts with a po’boy sandwich – roast beef or fried seafood, plus tomatoes, lettuce, onion, mayonnaise, hot sauce and pickles, all stuffed into an almost- French baguette. Hunker down in a neon-lit diner off Bourbon Street and po’boy it up with an order of Louisiana gumbo (meat or seafood stew) on the side. PADDLE-WHEEL RIVERBOATS ARE AS ESSENTIAL a part of the New Orleans landscape as the streetcars cars that have rumbled down St Charles and Carrollton avenues for 150+ years. Book a brunch or dinner cruise on the Mississippi River for unique views of the city, with live jazz and Creole-style dining thrown in.

In honour of Hong Kong’s great trail running evangelist, Will Hayward and a few friends have brought the city’s total to an unofficial five with The Tinworth. Elizabeth Kerr suggests you start with the four Lantau sections PHOTOS BY Will Hayward & Jono Woodhouse Professor William Hayward, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Lingnan University, looks precisely the way you’d expect an avid trail runner to look. The tall, wiry, Christchurch native is well over six feet and it’s easy to believe he’d almost glide over the so-called Big Four. He’s done them all, twice, but not in any kind of time that would be considered “within” an acceptable window. One day. Right now, Will’s busy stumping for the fifth Beatle of Hong Kong’s trails: the Tinworth Trail, named for fellow Kiwi Nic Tinworth, who singlehandedly raised the profile of trail running (or hiking) in the SAR. Nic sadly succumbed to a brain tumour in 2020 at just 44 – proving that year could be worse – so Will and the runners to whom he meant so much wondered what the best way to memorialise him would be. The right answer is sometimes the most obvious, and so by exploiting Hong Kong’s elite ultra-marathon location status Will & Co decided to create a fifth trail. The Tinworth is now that fifth, second only to the 100km Maclehose in length, at 90km, followed by the Wilson (78km), the Lantau (70km) and the Hong Kong (50km) trails. Describing the Tinworth Trail ( www.tinworthtrail.com ) as “by the community for the community,” Will extols its vir tues as the slightly weird brother that Nic would have approved of. OFF-TRAIL TERRAIN So if you’re on the Tinworth Trail, where are you going? The route star ts in the northeast corner of the territory at Sha Tau Kok, runs southwest through the New Territories, hops the bay and picks up in Lantau. “You can cross the water at Shum Tseng. There’s a famous roast goose restaurant there. Take a minibus to Tsing Ying, do one stop to Sunny Bay then start running again. We are not making people swim across the bay,” Will says with a chuckle. The Tinworth then continues southwest to Tai O, and boasts a 5,000-metre positive elevation change over its 90 kilometres. Will claims it can be done in roughly 17 hours. “You can do it in one go or over a year. We don’t care.” Notably, only four of the 90 kilometres treads the same ground as the Big Four. “The Tinworth’s not a government trail. Sometimes they gussy things up and make it kind of nice and install concrete steps,” Will says. “There are a million trails out in the woods if you know where to look, and Nic loved the muddy, scrambly, howdo- I-get-up-there trails, so we have a few of those “shiggy” sections. It’s a bit more challenging, but not impossible. People seem to really like those.” Like the other four trails, the Tinworth is a collection of existing trails strung together, but unlike those it hasn’t been given a bureaucratic seal of approval. Will doesn’t pretend it’s anything more than a website built by a group of runners, hikers, race organisers and Strava users putting their collective experience to work to build something new. There’s a little bit of “you should be able to get from here to there,” involved too, as Will describes it. “When I was musing about it, the first thing I had to do was convince a few others this might be a good idea. So there was a group of us who explored different trails. Then it was a matter of sure you can design a trail, but how do people follow it?” The Tinworth has only been “open” since November, but so far, so good. Early feedback suggests those who’ve tried it (most have heard about it by word of mouth) have enjoyed it, and they’re enjoying its hidden gem cache. Of course, its unofficial status means there are no brightly coloured ribbons or signposts or arrows guiding walkers and runners along the way. “We used technology to solve that problem,” says Will. “The website has a map and a GPX link. That’s a spatial topographic file that you load onto your phone or your smar twatch, and it will tell you where you are on the trail, and help you navigate. And it works with satellite, so anyone with a smar twatch will be fine if there’s no cell reception, which is rare. Coverage here is terrific.” The Lantau portion of the Tinworth comprises four of its 10 sections: Sunny Bay to Discovery Bay Neo Trail (6km, 524m up); Discovery Bay Neo Trail to Pak Mong (7.4km, 321m); Pak Mong to Yu Tung Road (10.2km, 783m); and Yu Tung Road to Tai O (13.7km, 288m). Highlights include Tiger’s Head, Lo Fu Tau just off the path, a 700-metre climb out of Pak Mong, and the Tung O Ancient Trail. “We wanted to stay off the Lantau Trail as much as possible,” Will says. “We’ve done that reasonably well. The Lantau Trail is basically the southwest. There’s nothing in Discovery Bay and nothing in Tung Chung, so we stayed on the north side. It starts at Sunny Bay, passes Disneyland and then you star t climbing the hill between Sunny Bay and Discovery Bay. It’s a little more overgrown, and has great views – over Penny’s Bay. Then it climbs Tiger’s Head and comes down to Pak Mong, up towards Sunset Peak and joins the Lantau Trail for about 800 metres. But that’s it.” The last part of the Tinworth, section 10, is pretty famous. It takes you past the Tung O Ancient Trail, which would have been the main trail for villagers for centuries. “It’s mostly concrete now but it’s a lovely walk along the coast where you can see the airpor t and the bridge,” Will enthuses. Yes, he knows the Tinwor th brain trust could have simply extended the last leg to Fan Lau and clocked a nice round 100 kilometres, but the idea was to make it accessible and welcoming. Each leg ensures hikers and runners pass public toilets, shops, food vendors, and always offers a way home via public transport if for any reason a run needs to be cut short. “Fan Lau is the middle of nowhere. There’s no way out. Every stage has a start and an end point and we thought it was impor tant to finish somewhere you can get out. If you want to go on to Fan Lau more power to you,” finishes Will. “One thing that came out of COVID was people got into the outdoors and found they enjoyed new challenges. They’ve tried the Four Trails. I’m pretty confident they haven’t done all of the Tinworth.”