MARCH 10, 2008

by Katharine Schroeder

This article is the continuation of a report on the trip that Jackie Chan took to Australia in March of 2008. You can read the first part here.

We had come to Canberra, Australia to bring Jackie’s father Charlie home for his final rest. The experience had been both physically and emotionally exhausting, and now it was over; Baba had been laid to rest beside Jackie’s mom, Lee Lee, and it was time to move on.

The original plan for this trip was to return to Hong Kong after finishing our work in Canberra, but it seemed that Jackie had other ideas. He knew that some of us had never been to Australia before, and he wanted to give us a holiday and show us some of the sights before returning to work. He knew, he said, that it had been a long and arduous few weeks and he wanted to give us a treat. And what a treat it would turn out to be.

Jackie hired a bus to transport our group and the vast amount of luggage to Sydney. As we began our three hour ride, everyone was very quiet; lost in their own thoughts, it was a kind of calm after the storm. As we drove past rolling hills dotted with grazing animals and on towards Sydney, our spirits began to rise. Soon everyone began talking and sharing jokes and stories; the excitement about our trip to Sydney was taking over. Jaycee took out his laptop and we watched some of his vast collection of video clips; most of them were quite funny and everyone gathered around his computer, laughing. We made a quick stop at a fast food restaurant to buy some snacks, and soon the inside of the bus smelled like French fries and fried chicken.

The view out the bus window.

After while it quieted down a bit and as usual, people began to doze off. Jackie stretched out between two rows of seats, a suitcase filling the gap the aisle made in the middle of his “bed.” As I watched him arrange himself and then immediately fall asleep, I was again amazed by his ability to sleep anywhere and in any position. It looked frighteningly uncomfortable, but his peaceful face and soft breathing reassured me that he was comfortable.

While my colleagues slept, I went through the hundreds of photographs that I’d taken in the past few days. Some were quite sad, but others reminded me of a few of the humorous times we’d spent together. If you've ever been through the planning of a funeral, you know that despite the sadness, there are always happy moments when you talk about good times you had with the person you've lost or you revert to humor to relieve some of the stress.

As I scrolled through the photos, a few made me smile. One such photo, which I won’t show you, shows a colleague sporting a big blob of acne medication which Jackie had carefully placed on her nose. You see, if Jackie notices the beginnings of a pimple on anyone’s face, he will immediately run to get his pimple medicine and dab a blob of cream on the outbreak. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen Jackie chasing someone with his pimple stick in hand, yelling “Stand still!” It is not unusual to see three or four of us wandering around with little round blops of pimple cream on our faces.

On another photo I could see little specks of black, the result of dust getting into my camera when I changed lenses. This reminded me of Jaycee’s habit of hiding behind doors and in hallways, waiting to shoot a blast of compressed air, which is supposed to be used for blowing the dust off of photographic equipment, right into your face. It’s harmless, but it is very startling and no matter how many times he did it, it took the victim by surprise. Jackie, on the other hand, is fond of using a spray can of water for his attacks. It’s true what they say: Like father, like son. Both of them are quite mischievous and playful; nothing brings them more joy than to execute the perfect practical joke on their unsuspecting victims.

As the sun began to set, we arrived in Sydney and after checking into the hotel, we trooped upstairs to our rooms. I was sharing a room with Mabel Cheung, the talented woman who directed Traces of a Dragon, the story of Jackie’s “lost family.” Mabel had become quite close to Jackie’s dad after spending several years working on the documentary and had accompanied us on this trip. She’s a fascinating woman; highly creative and thoughtful, and she was a good friend to Baba.

After settling in and figuring out how everything in the hotel room worked, we went to Jackie’s suite to relax and figure out what our plan would be for the evening. Jackie was watching The Discovery Channel on his television, and we joined him to watch a program about the melting of the glaciers and the dire consequences of global warming. Jackie has a passionate interest in the devastation of our environment, and he shared his feelings while we watched the show. He talked about filming at a landfill in China a few months ago. He had been quite alarmed by the amount of garbage that was produced by one small town and said that he couldn’t even conceive of how much trash was produced by a big city. Jackie does his share to help conserve natural resources, and if you visit our corporate offices, you will see that the staff is encouraged to help as well. At each work station we have a stack of paper that has printing on one side, and if we need to print something for internal use, we will use the backs of this paper. Each staff member has his or her own drinking glass and we don’t use paper cups or individual bottles of water. Our notepads are made from the unused side of paper that’s already been printed on. These may seem like small things; our company is not that big. But Jackie feels that every little bit helps. You can see his philosophy at work with the Build a School for a Dollar project, which has raised over US $60,000 in less than two years – mostly one dollar at a time.

After the show was over, we talked about what to do next. We finally decided to take a walk down to Darling Harbour and hopefully find some place where we could have dinner. It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel to the Harbourside Mall, and along the way we kept our eyes open for a restaurant, but we never did find a place where we wanted to eat. Soon we arrived at Darling Harbour and after admiring the beautiful waterfront with the lights of the city twinkling in the background, we went into the enormous mall to look around.

Here's a panorama of the harbor at night. Click to see a bigger image.

Mabel, X Lee, Irene, and Maggie outside the Harbourfront Mall.

X Lee, acting natural.

Fire dancers at the harbor.

It was night time, so while we were walking to the mall from the hotel, no one recognized Jackie. However, the inside of the mall was brightly lit and full of people, so it was a little more difficult for him to stay anonymous. Often one or two of us will walk right in front of him and this usually works well to enable him to move about freely. Several times as we walked through the mall, people would do a double-take and we’d hear this type of exchange:

“Was that Jackie Chan?”

“No way. What would Jackie Chan be doing walking around a mall in Sydney?” 

“Hmm. But I swear, it looked just like him…”

We strolled through the mall for a while, window shopping and chatting, and suddenly Jackie spotted a sign for a bowling alley. “Let’s go bowling!” he exclaimed. He ran ahead to check out the situation while the rest of us rubbed our empty stomachs, thinking “Let’s go eat dinner…” After looking around the bowling alley and discussing the plan, we decided to continue our quest to eat and hold off on the bowling. Jackie said that he wanted to eat Italian food, and moments later we happened upon the Al Ponte Ristorante, an Italian restaurant which had beautiful views of the harbor. I went inside with Jackie and while I pretended to look through a menu, Jackie took a peek into the dining room to see if there was an area that was somewhat private. There was, and after the staff pushed two tables together and set everything up, we all sat down together.

In all of Sydney, Australia, I don’t think we could have found a better place to have dinner, nor a more suitable restaurant staff. To say that our group was rambunctious would be an understatement, and we were certainly a challenge because of our many unusual requests. However, our waiter, Davide, was wonderful – he had the patience and sense of humor to deal with a dozen excited and hungry people who had a million questions and unique dining habits (everything that’s ordered is placed in the middle of the table and is shared by all of us, for example). After Jackie and Jaycee surveyed the wine menu and ordered some wine, Davide brought a selection of different appetizers and when the wine arrived we settled in for what would turn out to be a long and delightful evening.

While we waited for our dinner to arrive, we spotted a beautiful grand piano and immediately Jaycee sat down to play a few notes. We discovered that both he and I knew the classic duet “Heart and Soul” and we played a dozen variations of it until the groans from the others ("Oh my God! Not 'Heart and Soul' again!") finally convinced us to stop.

X Lee listens while Jaycee plays.

During dinner, the restaurant owner came over to introduce himself and welcome Jackie to Sydney. Domenic is a charming and gregarious man who was born and raised in Italy and who takes great pride in his restaurant. He and Jackie hit it off immediately and by the end of the evening, we had officially adopted him as our "Papa Domenic." Much to the delight of everyone at our table, Domenic treated us to a special desert wine, which we drank with such enthusiasm that they eventually ran out of it. He also brought us a selection of desserts, which Jackie dove into with gusto. Although Jackie’s diet consists mostly of healthy foods, he just cannot resist desserts. If you put cake or ice cream in front of him, he will instantly turn into a 10 year-old kid with absolutely no self-control.

Jackie with Papa Domenic.

Jackie with the very friendly restaurant owners and staff.

Getting in position for a group photo.

As you probably know, we take a lot of photos. At one point during the evening Jaycee took my camera and changed all the settings, telling me that it would look “really cool” with this particular combination of shutter speed and f-stop. Well, as you can see from my pictures, Jaycee’s theory isn’t quite what I thought it would be. When we looked through the photos, I complained that he’d ruined all my pictures.

“Look at these photos! They’re ridiculous!” I complained to him.

“No they’re not. They’re artistic. Anyway, you didn’t hold the camera still when you were taking them. It’s not the settings, it’s you.”

“I know how to hold a camera,” I said. “You’re the one who just said they were artistic. Did you or didn’t you intend for them to look like this?”

“Well…um…”

With that, I sighed, returned my camera settings to the way they were.

Photo with Jaycee's custom settings.

Another strange picture.

And another.

Camera returned to normal:

Jaycee with Jackie's business partner Irene.

With JC Group secretary Maggie.

??

A view of the Al Ponte Ristorante, taken from the waterfront.

By the time we were ready to leave, it was after one o’clock in the morning. Domenic and his staff made it very clear that we were welcome to stay as long as we liked, and he even joked that he would leave us the keys, adding “just please lock up when you go.” Jackie was so happy with the food and the service that he made a reservation to come back the next night. So we said goodbye and our noisy but merry group shuffled its way back to the hotel. While we walked, I spoke some Mandarin with Jackie, who, being a gracious and polite person, complimented me on my efforts and then gently suggested that I “try saying it like this.” He would demonstrate the correct pronunciation and tell me to try to think of my sentences as little songs that have rhythm and tones. I followed his example and was enthusiastically congratulated, even when we both knew I hadn’t gotten it quite perfect. I appreciated Jackie’s kindness and encouragement and as I’ve said before, Jackie would have made a great teacher.

Enjoying our walk back to the hotel.

A quick stop at a convenience store. The clerks kept asking Jackie if he was really Jackie Chan.

Back at the hotel a few of us continued our First Night in Sydney Celebration at Jackie’s suite. As well as knowing many magic tricks, Jackie knows a lot of interesting hand/eye coordination games, and he spent the next hour or two playing them with X Lee and Maggie while at the same time trying to teach me what to do. Although I consider myself reasonably well-coordinated, I am humbled by Jackie, who is amazingly dexterous and has incredibly fast reflexes. I felt like a bumbling fool trying to follow his instructions and repeat the hand movements that he showed me. Luckily, Jackie is a patient teacher, although several times he smacked my hand and scolded me to “pay attention” because I was laughing too hard to follow his directions. Finally we said goodnight; it had been a long day. Since we were on holiday, there was no early call time for interviews or filming, so we all went to our rooms to enjoy a long and refreshing night’s sleep.

View out the hotel window.

The next morning we all met in Jackie’s suite to discuss what we would do for the day. Jackie hired a mini-van and driver to take us around the city to see some of the more famous attractions. Once we were all seated in the van, we began our first order of business – eating. It was already past noon and we were all hungry, though none of us had any idea where we would eat. We drove around for a while until Jackie spotted a tiny Thai restaurant on a tree-lined street a few blocks from the hotel. The restaurant was empty, which was a good thing because it afforded Jackie the privacy to eat without being approached for photos or autographs. After we ordered, I got my camera out and took some photos. I have never known a group of people who love being photographed as much as my colleagues. Since most of them have been around cameras for many years and they all work in a creative field, they delight in posing and hamming it up for the camera. All I have to do is say “act natural” and they will strike a pose which would make any professional model jealous (and is, of course, anything but “natural”):

After I finished eating, I went outside with my camera to take some photos of the pretty scenery on the street where the restaurant was. I was joined by Jaycee, who proceeded to take my camera and change all the settings again, telling me that if I used this method, I could take photos without raising the camera up to my eye. He said it was a great way to take photos without having to focus.

“Why in the world would I want to take photos without focusing?” I asked.
 
“Well, it’s a good way to get photos of people when they really are acting natural,” he replied. “When people see that you’re taking their picture, they always pose.”

“Oh really?” I asked. “Imagine that.”

He laughed and said, “But seriously, you should try this. You can just whip the camera out and shoot. Or hold it near your hip and no one will see you taking their picture.”

I tried out Jaycee’s method of taking truly candid pictures, and you can see the results here.

This was supposed to be a photo of Jackie, but since I was holding the camera at hip level, I missed him completely.

Needless to say, I immediately put my camera back to its original settings.

We got back in the van and headed toward the Royal Botanic Gardens. Along the way, the driver, who was also a tour guide, described everything we passed in minute detail. He delivered his speech in loud and boisterous Mandarin, and we all sat obediently listening as he talked about the history of the buildings, the significance of the street names, and (I think) the scientific designation of each and every tree and plant we passed. Because he spoke so fast and with such a strong Beijing accent, I could barely understand what he was saying, so I sat back and just enjoyed looking out the window.

Our first stop was at Lyne Park on Rose Bay, where we took a walk and enjoyed the splendid view.

Irene, Maggie, and X Lee act natural.

I have no idea what Jaycee is doing.

Jaycee takes Jackie's photo.

Here's the result.

Jackie checks the shot.

Photo by Jackie.

Jackie spotted a family of ibis (or ibises) and asked me how close I thought he could get to them. “I bet not very close,” I told him. “They look nervous already and we’re pretty far away.”  “Watch me,” he said, and began a slow, smooth approach towards the birds, which glanced at him suspiciously, but then ignored him. I watched with amazement as Jackie nonchalantly moved closer and closer until he was standing nearly in their midst. When the plastic bag that he had bent down to pick up and throw in the garbage fluttered in the breeze, the birds decided that they’d had enough of this strange species in their presence and wandered off. “Not bad, huh?” asked Jackie when he returned. Yes, not bad. Jackie’s a man of many unusual talents.

Jackie approaches the birds.

A quick stop to pick up some garbage.

Getting closer...

Must act nonchalant.

Success!

Time to throw away the garbage.

As we walked along the waterfront path, we saw an enormous tree with branches that spread out in every direction from quite close to the ground. I asked Jaycee if he like to climb trees and told him that this was a perfect tree for climbing. As an answer, he swung himself up and proceeded to go right up the tree like a monkey. Jackie spotted him and immediately followed and soon the both of them were perched comfortably up in the giant tree. I asked them to stay put for a minute so I could take some photos to show you:

Jaycee climbs the tree.

Jackie's turn.

Once they’d come back down to Earth, we got back in the van, where the driver continued his oratory on I’m not sure what. He talked and talked and I tried desperately to follow what he was saying, but I failed miserably. One thing he did say - which Jaycee translated for me – was that we’d just passed by some cliffs where the most number of people commit suicide each year in Sydney. Hmm. Well, maybe I wasn’t missing as much as I thought. When we arrived at our next destination, Jackie saw my confused expression and he laughed and said, “You want to know what he said? Buy a book about the entire history of Australia and you’ll find out.” 

Well, I did buy a book, but I’m finding it difficult to track exactly where it was that we went, so forgive me if I misidentify any of the places. It’s an occupational hazard of traveling with a group of people who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, and English – sometimes all three languages in one sentence.

Our next stop was….somewhere. I just don’t know where. We took a walk along the cliffs overlooking the water and climbed up on rocks and took lots of photos. The weather was magnificent, although it was a little hot, especially after hiking up steep paths and climbing up onto rocks to take pictures. One particular rock caught Jackie’s fancy and he wanted all of us to climb up for a group photo. One by one he lifted (yes, lifted) all the women up onto the rock. When he’d lifted the last person up, he gestured to me to come over to him, but I told him that I’d stay down and take the photo. He said that we couldn’t have the photo without me in it, and I asked him who he thought was going to take the picture. A solution immediately presented itself when I noticed nearby the two people who had asked Jackie to pose with them for a photo a few minutes before. I asked them if they’d mind doing us a favor, then handed them my camera and Jackie’s camera. They were happy to help and so I climbed up to the rock (by myself, thanks) and here we are all together:

X Lee took a photo of Jackie and me helping everyone climb down from the rock.

Here are some more photos from our walk:

X Lee enjoys the sunshine.

Jackie takes a panorama while Jaycee assists.

You can't tell from this photo, but the rock Jackie was standing on was very high up. Jaycee hangs on tight to make sure Jackie stays upright.

Jackie washes his hands using his own unique method. He fills his mouth with fresh water from his bottle and then creates his own fountain for washing.

After our hike, we returned to the van and drove to another park that had spectacular views of the harbor. On the way, the driver played a CD of classic pop songs (in English) which many of us knew, and soon everyone in the van was singing along, albeit some better than others. It was such a lovely thing; all of us from different places and backgrounds, all joined together by these songs.  As you probably know, Jackie sings constantly and it turns out that Jaycee is the same way. They love to sing, and both of them sing everywhere, all the time.

Jackie leads everyone in song.

We arrived at the park and when Jackie and Jaycee spotted a small playground, their inner children took over; they couldn’t resist the temptation to play. It was charming to watch them on the swings (was it my imagination or were they competing to see who could swing higher?) and then on the teeter-totter. Both of them were enjoying themselves tremendously, and when they were done Jackie commented that he’d never had the time to do these kinds of things with Jaycee when he was little. I told him that it was better late than never and pointed out how much fun they’d just had; no point dwelling on the past. It is quite obvious that Jackie and Jaycee share a mutual affection and have a comfortable and loving relationship.

Jackie looks surprised because his t-shirt was tangled in the swing when he jumped off!

On the teeter-totter.

Next up on our tour was the famous Bondi Beach. Although we weren’t prepared for sunbathing or swimming, we could stroll along the boardwalk and take in all of the scenery. Bondi Beach is very popular and there were a lot of people there, so Jackie was being recognized more and more. A few times he asked us to walk in front of him so that people would be less likely to notice him. Most people who did recognize him were respectful of his privacy; it was obvious that he was on an outing and not with a film crew. He was only stopped about a half dozen times and asked to take a photo or sign an autograph, which he graciously did. When we went to the food stand to buy drinks, Jackie was so impressed with the beautiful hair the owner’s son had, he took some photos. After we left, the owner came running down the boardwalk to give Jackie a t-shirt and a cap – he was so excited that Jackie had been at his shop!

 
Jackie takes a photo of the owner's son.

Checking the results.

Here's Jackie's photo.

The owner with his son and a gift for Jackie.

Jaycee enjoys an ice cream on the boardwalk.

During our trip, Jackie took a lot of pictures, and I in turn took a lot of photos of him taking pictures. I thought it would be interesting to show you Jackie taking a picture and then show you the picture that he took.

Jackie takes a photo...

...and here's what it looks like!

Jackie photographing Maggie...

...and here's Jackie's photo.

This time it's Cindy's turn (Cindy works at our Beijing office)...

What do you think of Jackie's photo?

Bondi Beach
Photo by Jackie.

One day at the office about a year or two ago, Jackie handed me his small point and shoot camera and told me that it contained some photos that I might want to use for his online diary. After I posted those photos (with a credit: Photos by Jackie Chan), many fans wrote in to say how much they liked seeing photos that Jackie had personally taken. I told him this and encouraged him to take more pictures, which he did. However, he really wasn’t in the habit of taking pictures, and so “Photos by Jackie Chan” were few and far between. Then a couple of months ago, Jackie did an advertisement for Canon. Part of the campaign was that Canon would give Jackie a camera and he would take the actual photos to be used in some of the advertisements, and then keep the camera. Since then, Jackie takes his new camera everywhere with him and he takes a lot of photos. He had just fallen out of the habit of taking pictures and the gift from Canon sparked his interest again. Since our visit to Sydney was a sightseeing trip, he was constantly taking photos, so we have plenty to share with you! You won’t be surprised to learn that Jackie is very creative when it comes to using his camera. He takes time to set up shots and carefully arrange things to his liking. When he was taking a photo of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, for example, he patiently waited until a ship was passing by, and then took the photo.

After leaving Bondi Beach, we drove to the Royal Botanic Gardens. On the way, our driver/tour guide continued his narration, enthusiastically answering the occasional question asked by Jaycee, Jackie, or X Lee (since they were sitting closest to him). I really wish there were words to describe to you the passion and zeal with which our guide delivered his descrīption of every point of interest we passed. If you’ve ever been at a political rally or watched a candidate speak on television at a convention, you are familiar with a certain type of top-volume, hand-waving, impassioned speaking. This is how our driver narrated our ride; screaming for all he was worth into a loud speaker so we didn’t miss even one word. Although we were sometimes amused by our guide’s exuberance - Jackie had a hard time hiding his smile and we tried not to make eye contact with each other lest we start to laugh - everyone was quite respectful of him. This was a man who possessed a vast knowledge of the city of Sydney, and he loved to share it.

Our van.

Soon we arrived at the Royal Botanic Gardens, which has some of the best vantage points for viewing the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, designed to resemble the wind-filled sails of a ship. We spent some time relaxing under the trees and of course taking more photos.

Notice Jaycee sneaking into the photo.

Jackie photographing Jaycee.

And here's the picture.

Jaycee's turn.

And here's Jaycee's photo of Jackie.

Photo by Jackie.

We then got back in the bus for a drive around the inner part of the city. While we drove, Jaycee and I talked about photography, something that he has a passionate interest in. He talked about a man whose work he admires and who he has learned a lot from. This man is a photojournalist and his work has taken him to some of the most dreadful places on Earth. Jaycee’s eyes sparkled and his whole body became animated while he talked about the inspiration he derives from the man he refers to as his teacher. I told him that I was learning new things about photography every day; that taking photos of his father had taught me a whole new side of photography. There’s a big difference between taking photos of landscapes, children, and puppies and taking pictures of Jackie at press conferences, on film sets, and on charity trips. I also told Jaycee that I was inspired by X Lee’s creativity and that X is very honest in his opinions about things, so I trust his judgment when I ask him to evaluate my work. Speaking of pictures, I should tell you that Jaycee is a lot of fun to photograph. He’s completely unselfconscious and doesn’t mind doing any ridiculous thing you ask him to do for a photo. And if you don’t ask him to do something specifically, he’ll come up with something himself. He’s a very funny guy.

Some photos of the city:

When our tour of the city was concluded, the driver took us to the Harbourside Mall where we’d been the day before. I asked someone why we’d come back here and was told that we were going bowling. Bowling? What about a nap? Honestly, Jackie has more energy than anyone I’ve ever met and he takes advantage of every single minute of every single day. So we walked back through the mall and upstairs to the bowling alley, which was completely empty. This bowling alley was very different from any I’d ever been to; the entire place was bathed in soft neon lights, almost like glow-in-the-dark. It looked like the inside of a space ship or maybe a lava lamp. After we got our shoes and bowling balls, we got right to it. I will spare you any detailed descrīption of my own bowling ability. Suffice to say that it had been many years since I’d been on a bowling team and I couldn’t seem to aim the ball properly anymore. I either threw a strike or a gutter ball. On the other hand, Jackie was a master. I knew that he used to bowl and I’d seen his trophies, but I never imagined what he’d look like when he was actually bowling. Well, turns out that he looks just like a professional bowler. His form and execution are perfect and he has a singular technique which serves him well; when his ball hits the pins, they virtually explode into the air because of the power and force behind his throw. I sighed and wondered if there was any physical activity that this man could not do well.

After one game, I returned my bowling shoes and told everyone that I was going to take a walk around the mall for a while. I don’t think Jackie even heard me; he was so engrossed in his game. So I left and wandered around the mall, buying a few souvenirs, then went outside and sat at the waterfront. It was just before twilight and the whole area was glowing with the resplendent late-afternoon light that is particularly beautiful at the end of a cloudless, sunny day. I took some photos to show you and then put my camera away. I sat admiring the view, breathing the fragrant air, and wondering how I got from teaching primary school in America just three years ago to sitting outside a mall in Australia waiting for Jackie Chan to finish bowling.

Here's a panorama shot (yes, I also like to take panoramas). Click to see it bigger.

After a while I went back to the bowling alley where Jackie and the others had just finished their last game. Together we walked over to the restaurant and met several guests that Jackie had invited to join us for dinner. Waiting for us with a big smile on his face was Davide, our waiter from the night before. Domenic was also there and he greeted us like we were members of the family.

After another delicious dinner, we moved out onto the balcony which overlooked Darling Harbour. The weather was cool and breezy and the sky was clear. The lights of the city twinkled and reflected on the water; it was breathtaking. We spent the next several hours talking and enjoying the hospitality of Domenic and his family. We were told that Domenic had driven 40 miles round-trip earlier in the day to go get some more of the dessert wine that we all had enjoyed so much the night before. Jackie was quite touched and he hugged Domenic so hard I thought he’d break him. It was in the early morning hours that we finally said goodbye to everyone and headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow would be our last day in Sydney and so we all said goodnight and went to our rooms to rest up for the conclusion of our trip.

Here are some photos from our evening at Al Ponte Ristorante:

Jackie tries out his toothpick/fork balancing trick.

Steady...

Not much luck with this trick tonight.

Jaycee gives it a try.

Even Domenic tries!

Jackie gives up on the forks and moves on to coins...

...and rubber bands.

Jackie has many tricks up his sleeve.

Jackie told Domenic that this was their special bottle of liqueur and that the next time he visited Sydney, he expected the level in the bottle to be the same. Domenic promised he would save it just for Jackie.

One of Jackie's dinner guests was Olympic gold-medalist swimmer (and Sydney native) Ian Thorpe.

The article about the conclusion of our trip to Sydney will be posted here soon.

©2008 The JC Group.  All Rights Reserved.

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