阿猫和女儿
1991年从复旦大学毕业后，我飞往圣克鲁斯（San Cruz）攻读加大博士学位。我仍然记得那天我下飞机时，对旧金山机场外复杂的高速公路系统感到惊讶，当时旧金山湾区已经是硅谷了。我在学校附近的一个美国家庭安顿下来，那是圣克鲁斯西崖区的海景房。满月的时候，我可以从家庭房间里看到月亮照耀太平洋像一面巨大的镜子在反光。院子里种着许多果树（例如李子，枇杷），在秋天，我经常把它们捡采起来与朋友分享。圣克鲁斯（Santa Cruz）是一个海滨小镇，以冲浪闻名。它在旧金山和蒙特雷半岛之间沿着著名的加利福尼亚一号高速公路。UCSC的校园位于红木森林覆盖的山丘上，俯瞰着海洋。
我最喜欢的消遣是在红木森林里骑山地自行车，森林里的空气是如此新鲜，有时从海滩上吹来的海藻和海洋雾气弥漫。我通常在周末骑半天车来放松身心，欣赏美丽的巨大红木。在日落时分沿着圣克鲁斯海滩散步是另一种不错的锻炼方法，在一天结束时享受海风拂面和听海浪拍打岩石的声音。冬季，太平洋上的日落特别多姿多彩，许多鸟类在晚霞中的海面上飞来飞去，尤其是当鹈鹕聚集在悬崖岩石上捕鱼时，它们发出嘈杂的叫声。我经常从圣克鲁斯码头步行到自然桥州立公园。
从UCSC毕业后的很多年后，当我和家人一起度假时，我再次在那个颇受欢迎的海滩散步上遇到了博士导师Mike，我5岁的女儿Cindy穿着著名的香蕉虫衬衫（UCSC的吉祥物）。现在的圣克鲁斯（Santa Cruz）成为了硅谷新富人的幻想退休小镇。
伦敦，小编拍摄
我最喜欢的城市景点是圣保罗教堂，伦敦塔和海德公园。周末，我经常徒步游览这座城市。除了博物馆和教堂，城市周围的大学城和皇宫也是周末旅行的好地方。伦敦代表了欧洲最好的景点：丰富的文化，美丽的人文和保存完好的建筑。我还发现，当英国人以不同的口音说英语时，英语的听音要悦耳得多，他们使用的停顿有序，表达很有意义，也很容易听。这类似于普通话。当北京人说话时，听得更有意思。
除了深厚的文化底蕴和旖旎的城市风光外，中国城的美食也非常地道，港式点心广受欢迎。欧洲人通常会花更多的时间和金钱在外观上，他们倾向于穿得合身，身体健康，举止优雅。当然，深厚的文化传统对人类的外表至关重要，精神上的丰富比单纯的土豪更为重要。但伦敦的天气仍有改善的余地，伦敦的冬天寒冷潮湿多风，每天早上从我的公寓到地铁站的短途步行都变得很艰难。
香港有两点独特之处：美食和远足小径。您可以食用来自中国不同地区和世界其他地区的食物。其他亚洲食品（例如泰国，日本和越南）也是不错的选择。西贡和鲤鱼门的海鲜是我吃过的最好的，港式点心饮茶充满了选择和及时新鲜的制作。在周末，我通常在清晨吃港式点心饮茶，然后在新界或某个外岛远足。我最喜欢的小径是Maclehose小径，小径上的海滩和山丘整洁，通常要花一天的时间才能完成长径，然后在西贡享用美味的海鲜晚餐。这是我周末在香港生活的典型习惯。我去过香港的大多数徒步山径和香港外的岛屿，我喜欢坐离岛渡轮和欣赏沿海岸的风景。
由于我的女儿需要上小学，我们最终决定搬回美国。2015年，我们搬到了华盛顿特区，我计划在那里工作几年并最终退休。华盛顿特区主要是政府事务，有许多庄严的公共建筑，所有这些政府部委和各国使馆都设在这里。它与巴黎之类的欧洲城市非常相似，拥有许多绿色和开放空间，这些建筑物采用的是古典风格（例如希腊风格），而且不是很高。波托马克河贯穿整个城市，该河在一年中随着水位的变化而变色。哥伦比亚特区有四个不同的季节，天气像北京。樱花节是著名的，并在春季吸引了许多游客。国家购物中心有很多博物馆，我去过其中很多博物馆，在这里呆了6年之后，但还有很多博物馆还没有被发现。
从小看到大，已成为美丽的少女
MY MEMORY OF THOSE GREAT CITIES
To those cities that I lived in the last two decades：
I am lucky to have lived around the world during last two decades due to work and school. I often unintentionally compare those days of my life in these great cities, as times went by those happy moments just keep on coming back.
After graduating from college in Shanghai in 1991, I flew to San Cruz to pursue my Ph.D at UCSC. I still remember the day I get off the plane and was amazed by the complex highway system out of San Francisco airport, where San Francisco Bay area is already the Silicon Valley at that time. I settled down with an American family near the school, it is an ocean-view house on the west cliff part of Santa Cruz. When there is a full moon, I can see the Pacific Ocean shining like a giant mirror from the family room. Many fruit trees (e.g. plum, loquat) grew in the yard which in the autumn I often pick them up to share with friends. Santa Cruz is a beach town, famous for surfing. It’s along the renowned highway one California highway between San Francisco and Monterey peninsula. The campus of UCSC is on the hills covered with Redwood forest, overlooking the ocean.
My favorite pastime is riding my mountain bike in the redwood forest, the air in the forest is so fresh, sometimes mixed with smells of the seaweed and ocean fogs, blew up from the beach. I usually ride half day on the weekend to relax and enjoy the beautiful Giant redwoods. Walking along the Santa Cruz beach by the sunset is another good workout at the end of the day to enjoy the ocean breeze and sound of wave hitting the rocks. The sunset in the Pacific Ocean is especially colorful in the winter, with many birds flying around the coast, particularly the pelicans make loud noise when they congregate on the cliff rocks fishing for dinner. I often walk from the Santa Cruz Wharf to Natural Bridge State Park. Many years late after my graduation from UCSC, I run into my Ph.D advisor Mike again on that popular beach walk when I was on Holiday with my family, my daughter Cindy of 5-year old wears the famous banana slug shirt (mascot of UCSC). Santa Cruz now becomes a fancy retirement town for the new rich from Silicon Valley.
I got a job in New York City after finishing my Ph.D in 1997. NYC is quite a big city for a country boy like me. I remember that I arrived in LaGuardia airport early night, I was impressed by the bright city lights of Manhattan when I crossed the East river on the taxi. I believe that NYC is the best city in the world in terms of its size and diversity. Besides the museums and central park, I enjoyed these great restaurants in the city, the Chinese restaurants in the China town and midtown offers very authentic food. The architecture in NYC has a long history, from modern high-rises to old churches, all of them are the best of its kind. In the weekend, Coney Island is just a subway ride away. I also tried the free bus to Atlanta City to donate some money to Casinos. I am not into shopping though NYC is claimed to be best town for shopping in the world, lots of brands have their flag shops on the fifth avenue. I did not hear anything about Trump during my time in NYC, maybe either he or me was famous enough yet at that time. NYC looks better with city lights on, I can see the shining Chrysler building from my high-rise apartment window at Murray Hills in the midtown. My favorite pastime is walking around the city on the weekend, from midtown to uptown to downtown. Rockefeller center is my favorite hang out place for coffee and people watching.
I then was rotated to London office of Credit Suisse after 6 months training in NYC. I took the business class flight of British Airway from JFK to Heathrow. For a country mouse like me, all these experiences are brand new experience to me. I begin to realize it is nice to be a rich person. I was provided a fancy apartment in Sloane street at Knightsbridge, which is close to Hyde Park, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. London is very classy and exquisite city, the whole city is like a museum, full of history, constantly reminding me of the glory of British empire. The street and buildings in London are so well maintained despite its long history and age, full of taste and culture. I start to understand why the British people are so proud of themselves, I guess they have good reasons.
My favorite spots to wonder around the city are St. Paul church, London towers and Hyde Park. I often check out the city on foot on the weekend. Besides its museums and churches, the college towns and royal palace around the city are also good places for weekend trip. London represents the best of Europe has to offer: its rich culture, beautiful people and well-preserved architectures. I also found that the English language hears much better when the British people speak it in different accents, the punctuation they use makes much sense to express themselves and nice to listen. This is similar to mandarin Chinese; it hears better when the Beijinger speaks it. Besides the deep culture and majestic city views, the food in China town is very authentic, Hong Kong style DiSum is popular. European in general spends more time and money on their looks, they tend to dress well in style, and their bodies kept fit and manner is polite and elegant. Of course, the steep culture tradition matters for how a human look, spiritual richness matters more than pure “new” money tycoons. The weather in London has room to improve though, the winter in London is freezing cold and windy, the short walk from my apartment to the tube station becomes a hard one every morning.
I was finally assigned to post in Hong Kong office of Credit Suisse in 1998. My BA flight went through these crowded residential buildings and landed at Kai Tak Airport in the night. I was put in a service apartment in mid-level before renting a place there. Hong Kong strikes me as the strange mix of old and new traditions (cliché to say the mix of west and east, or the urban city and nature). I assumed it will not last too long before I move on to other places, however I stayed on in Hong Kong for almost 15 years where the best time of my life is mostly consumed there. Hong Kong is a small place compared to the big cities, it is a very compact and crowded city with most of its financial business centered in Central and late in West Kowloon. I had my ups and downs in my career in this vibrant financial center over the years, I lived in mid-level, south side of the HK island, Park island and Olympia. As an island, ocean view apartment is common here. I always lived near the ocean, no strange.
There are two things uniquely good from Hong Kong: the food and hiking trails. You can have foods from different parts of China and the rest of world. Other Asian food (e.g. Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese) are also excellent choice. The seafood in Saigon and LeiYuMun is the best I ever had, the Disum are full of choice and timely made. On the weekend, I usually have DiSum in the late morning and then hike in the new territory or some outpost island. My favorite trail is Maclehose trail, the beach and hills along the trail are pristinely clean, it typically takes a day to finish the long trail, then have a nice seafood dinner at Saigon. This is a typical routine for my life in Hong Kong on the weekend. I have been to most trails in Hong Kong and islands outside Hong Kong, I enjoyed the bumpy ferry ride and beautiful view along the coast.
I moved to Singapore in 2013 to take a job with Temasek. Singapore is truly a well-planned garden city, full of rain forest and flowers even in the city center. It is about half size of Hong Kong, mostly flat land and built up. It is near the equator and sunshine is plenty regardless of your apartment is facing south or north; the weather is hot and humid through out the year. The air conditioners in most buildings kept the temperature very low, almost chilly. The former prime minister Lee said it is easy to keep people awake and work hard under a low temperature. I often sweat a lot for first few months in Singapore as your body adjusts to the new environment. It is much slow city compared to Hong Kong, people are more satisfied and well taken care of generally. Singlish is the terms referring to English spoken locally with strong accent, some of words are also unique to Singapore. Besides mall hopping and checking out various restaurants, there is really not much to do in the tiny island. We usually fly to Indonesia or Thailand for beach holidays, it is not far away from shanghai either if you are home sick.
Singapore food is influenced by Chinese, Malay and India traditions. Lots of good India restaurant and curry, my favorite is lamb biryani (a rice dish with curry and goat meat) and, my daughter likes the mushroom prata. Chinese food in Singapore is not really authentic in my taste, I am not a fan of the pork rib soup with lots of black pepper or those chicken rice bowl. Overall Singapore restaurants are not comparable to HK for Mainland Chinese. The east coast park is a good place to take a long walk by the beach or ride bike with your family. Singapore is so clean everywhere; people often label it as sterilized city.
As my daughter need to go to elementary school, we finally decided to move back to America. In 2015, we relocated to Washington DC, where I plan to work for a few more years and retire eventually. DC is mostly about government business with lots of stately public buildings where all these ministries and embassies are housed. It is very similar to European city like Paris, with lots of green and open space, the buildings are in classic style (e.g. Greek) and not very tall. The Potomac river runs through the city, the river changes color during the year as water level changes. DC has distinct four seasons, with weather like Beijing. Cherry blossom festival is famous and attract many tourists during the spring season. National Malls have lots of museums, I’ve only been to a dozen of them, many yet to be explored after been here for 6 years.
America is about nature as my daughter told me when I asked her about Asia cities and DC. This is exactly true; we often go hiking in nearby parks. Shenandoah has lots of beautiful trails hidden in the Appalachian mountain. The leaf foliage season in late Oct is a favorite time to hike these mountains. Kayaking in the Potomac river is nice in a summer morning though we were caught in a few thunderstorms during kayaking. As we enjoy the nature, we felt we are closer to ourselves, more peace and tranquility at heart. It is time to enjoy life while making money is no longer a priority.
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