Scholar Orchids

If two people speak with one mind, their words will have the fragrance of the orchid" - confucius


The China Society gave a talk last nite on the Chinese Cymbidium, which we know better as the orchid. More accurately, a type of Orchid - The Scholar's Orchid. The first half had Aileen Lau pointing out Cymbidium's significance by their appearance in the various chinese artefacts of paintings, porcelain, textile, etc from ancient times to now. Okay.. so this has about as much novelty as someone pointing out dragons and phoenix motifs in chinese arts.

The second part of the talk covered by Dr Tim Yam was more informative although he approached the topic from a technical aspect - what are the characteristics of the 4 classes of Cymbidium, how to assess and appreciate the parts of the plant, the conditions for cultivation. Apparently there is a really serious group of hobbyists and breeders of Cymbidium. There was ever a prize-winning pot that fetched as much as USD$650,000 (!).
Incredible!

Someone asked if it is possible to cross breed the Vanda Miss Joaqium with the Chinese Cymbidium and we found out that it would be impossible by conventional methods, and quite hard as it would be like cross-breeding a cat and dog! To us the laymen, we think they are all the same, just orchids!

The talk was held in China Club, on the 52nd floor of Capital Tower. The decoration is in oriental elegance and is awesome, not to mention the view too. It is a restaurant really, rather than a club but you have to be a China Club member to dine there. China club =X= China society (=X= : not equal). The food is exquisite. Nothing like the heavily-handled stuff dished out by My Humble House.

After the talk We had dinner with the Hunters, a Scottish couple in their 60s-70s, who are outside of their home country for most part for tax reasons. One half discovered cancer recently and claims that she is only having an infection and that the doctors in Singapore have cured her completely. Thankfully she is going for chemo.

The other half is having trouble walking and moves like a penguin. We suspect he is having Parkinson but he says he is seeing a physio-therapist. Both apparently still in denial and have not informed their children about their conditions. They are such a lovely couple and very dependent on each other, We feel worried for them too. It is quite unimaginable to us what it would be like for the other if either one of this couple is gone.