The chill day

Ooh it comes to my last full day in HK! The last day for any more ‘damage’ to be done, really.

How quietly and swiftly the days go by and the final day of your holiday sneaks up on you unawares. Finally I WILL have to start packing or organising my suitcase to check if I really can fit all my new wares in and more importantly…do i have any space for more!? Very crucial isnt it?

Weather report: Hong Kong is still cool and foggy. Yesterday it was actually pretty chilly at 17 degrees looks like today will be no exception.

Yesterday we wandered around for some shopping but nothing caught our eyes so we settled into a scenic coffee lounge called Sevva toward late afternoon (with a great view of course) and had delicious duck foie gras pate for tea. Stena was our guide for the day. It was really a chill day with nothing on the cards and by 630pm we were back at the hotel (waited 30 minutes in a taxi que at Central!) begging for a nap.

Ron, Dylan and Ai Wee at Sevva

Outside on the deck @ Sevva

Im not exactly proud of my pose in this picture - but I wanted to show everyone the lovely view from the deck.

Horsing around. This is what 30 minutes in a taxi queue does to people.

At 11pm, my other half and our friends were ready to hit Dragon-I, a swanky club in Lan Kwai Fong. I, however, had to make do with surfing pictures OF the club on the internet website and ‘enjoying’ my own company in the hotel room – I wasnt feeling very up to clubbing as I talked about in my previous post. My poor hubby must have felt guilty midway through. He appeared back in our hotel room at 1.30am (I thought wow! so early! must have been a drab night!) but he had just wanted to come back to *amazingly* give me a back massage and ‘put me to bed’! My eyes were almost squinted shut with suspicion. I harangued him (gently lest I offend him) with questions – any hot chicks at Dragon-I? You sure there was none? Not a single ONE? Why did you come back here all alone halfway? Thats weird…etc etc etc.

After 15 minutes he headed off to Dragon-I again and I began my ‘troubled’ sleep.

Into the 3rd day in Hong Kong

Its 9.06am approximately and yes I am up and blogging in the tranquility of our hotel room which belies whats going on on the outside. The view of Hong Kong outside is hampered by pretty gray clouds and fog though – the weather was quite chilly last night. I have been waking up pretty early each day…maybe waking up in Hong Kong promises abit more excitement than other parts of the world that I’ve been to.

I give myself a pat on the back for covering the few usual hotspots which I’m used to, going slightly mad in H&M yesterday and Island Beverly the day before. Today yields another day of shopping adventures and I wont let feeling ill stop me!

Last night we were treated to pretty good and cheap Hot Pot in Sheung Wan called “King Kee” – did I mention cheap? The amount of sliced beef we ordered probably sacrificed a whole cow for the 13 of us. It resulted in me overeating and suffering from indigestion later that night which subsequently gave me a panic attack because I was alone in my hotel room and I thought I was about to faint. My blood pressure dropped and I felt breathless for a while that I had to lie down. It wore off in 5 minutes and hubby came back after 30 minutes to offer me a back massage. Saved!

After a half a day of shopping and eating, we needed a break. Lunacy of actions as a result. From L to R: Me, Stena, Ai Wee and Christine.

Our group at a HK Char Chan Teng in Central - dont know the name, sorry! From L to R: Dylan, Ai Wee, Christine, Ron, Me and Stena

Us after digging into the Hot Pot dinner. We all look pretty satisfied with ourselves

Stena and I at Hot Pot

Me and my pot pot @ Hot pot!

Today we have evil ambitions to head for more shopping followed by a big party at a well known club tonight called Dragon-I. I have never been there but I anticipate alot of hot chicks parading around in sexy designer wear and false eyelashes. I’m way too old for that, unfortunately, so my husband will have to do his eye washing and be content with that!

I was watching an old rerun of “Friends” last night. It was after Chandler was married to Monica. Joey stood at their apartment window and kept making body signs to a hot chick in the building opposite. While Monica was seated on their couch, Chandler forgot himself and said excitedly “I want to see that Hot chick too!” but halfway during his run to the window, he remembered Monica on the couch an he made a quick u-turn back to the couch exclaiming to his wife “THERE you are!”

This reminded me of my husband, except he would be unrestrained and unabashed in checking out the Hot Chick first before the u-turn to the couch! OUCH!

I love Hong Kong! (Updated with pic)

Once again we are in the city of max efficiency, yellow and red taxis, cool weather, funky people and wonderful food! Ron and I looked at each other and felt…we are home! Second home, I mean. Everything down to the beeping of the taxi meters were familiar. Its been over 8 months since I last visited and nothing much has changed, which is fantastic!

Our friend Vicks said….Surely this is not your honeymoon trip? We laughed and said…at least its not Pangkor! Well by God’s blessing, we may be able to continue on our trip to our final honeymoon destination in Tahiti toward mid-month (typhoons and other factors notwithstanding), so I’m keeping my fingers crossed! If this really comes through, my blog would be reallly colourful, I promise!

The weather here is cool and lovely, slightly windy at times with some intermittent drizzle but that doesnt stop us from hitting the shops (borrowed hotel umbrella in tow!). When we passed by the shops in the taxi, I was elated (and excited) to note there were “FINAL SALES” displayed in shop windows. Well that could also mean that most of the good stuff are gone and leftovers are icky and the new arrivals are not discounted. Oh well!

Last night we had a romantic dinner (I felt quite ill so I didnt really enjoy the succulent roasted pigeon or venison saddle – whichever part of Venison that is!) and we left rather quickly after dinner. The cuisine was Italian, and service was great. The ambience in Grissini’s (located in Grand Hyatt, Wanchai) was romantic and there was a good view of the Hong Kong skyline. The giant neon signs on the building screamed “KUNG HEI FATT CHOI” and other words in chinese, which i assumed said “Kong Hei Fatt Choi” too!

The view from our table at Grissini's.

Now on to porridge in causeway bay with hubs. I love Hong Kong!

Have a great day everyone and God bless!

Vern Vern Vern…

Its been too long. Too long. Too long to start off my February blog post and return from hiatus with a sorrowful air.

I just opened “Pandora’s Box” again at the risk of tears rolling and whaddaya know? The tears are rolling. Stupid Facebook reminded me again about Lim Yu Vern’s page, so I thought I’d leave a message for him there. Looking at his pictures I feel its too long since we last spoke, since we last heard his voice and saw his silly antics. I have to wait what seems like a lifetime before we meet again. I can imagine him making friends in heaven with other kids that have passed away…maybe the 17 year old boys from the Dragonboat tragedy. It helps to imagine this stuff…it makes me feel better thinking he is making himself at home there and doing all kinds of stuff he never got to do on earth.

Our wedding has passed and Vern wasn’t there – physically, at least. But somehow I get the feeling he knows whats going on with his family and friends down here, from up there.

If I were to let myself ‘go’…I would rail and wail and wring my hands and say…Oh Vern, why did you go??? So fast, so cruelly, you were gone. You are gone, but the pain stays.

But no, I’ve got a tight rein on my emotions – publicly at least. I can empathise with the dragonboat tragedy kids’ family. Just another day, just another outing, nothing to bat your eyelashes at, no hint at all that your life and world will be changed forever, and that horrible day is forever etched in your mind. Luckily, it only rears it’s ugly head when I let the guard down.

No Vern, you never will be forgotten – maybe only pushed to the back of the conscious mind due to our human defense mechanism. I hope you havent grown too much in heaven into a man already – how will you be by the time we meet again? Will we pick up where we left off? Will you be the Vern we know and more…?

See you in my dreams Vern….

Bliss

The wedding is over! The adrenalin pumping day did not see the bride or groom nervous at all, and everything went as smoothly as can be except a minor hiccup with the guest list, and a slight delay with make up.

I wont go into details right now – im busy recuperating from the tiring day all day yesterday and the accumulated lack of sleep for the past week. Finally some rest and peace and quiet!

I’m really happy that our wedding went well and there were some pretty good feedback and I think considering all circumstances – it well really well. A big thank you to our wedding planner Michelle and her husband James for the excellent coordination work, of course!

Ok, time to take 5.

The young boy

Are all young boys innocent? Now, I mean that in an ‘innocent’ way, not in the perverted manner.

I caught a lift today in Pavilion shopping mall and as usual, let the others out of the lift before I went in, and as I walked in, the doors closed so quickly and hit my left wrist right smack on my watch. It hurt alittle and I was alittle peeved to see who closed the doors on me. A young boy muttered “Sorry! Sorry!” and sank to the back of the lift.

I nursed my wrist a while and looked at him. I noticed the boy was very young and skinny – approximately 16 or 17 years old. Not very tall, not taller than I was. He was dressed in sales assistant clothes, the typical black slacks, white shirt, tie and name tag. The one thing I noticed quickly was that he had a hairlip or cleft lip.

He looked abit scared – maybe because I was looking at him. His hairstyle was typical of a teenager, and he had small chinese eyes. I thought: this could have been my brother. I asked him “You work here?” He nodded. I asked him where? He answered ‘Parkson’ quite abruptly. I smiled at him, in case he thought i was about to scold him. He didnt really look me much in the eye, and he looked rather nervous. I was so preoccupied that I missed my floor – I didnt recognise it.

The lift opened at the foodcourt level and he rushed out abit like a scuttling rabbit. I followed him out – since I was there, I wanted to get fruit juice. I spied him out of the corner of my eye…he walked away very fast and disappeared. From the back, he really could have been my brother….but one thing about Vern – even if he was scared a stranger spoke to him alone in a lift, he would not let it show, in fact, he would prolly give his best “i’m tough, dont mess with me” look even though he was nervous inside.

tears again welled up in my eyes. my emotions sometimes get the better of me. But i cast it out in Jesus’s name and told myself…Vern has gained – and instantly I felt better.

I found a few new old pictures of Vern yesterday while sorting through old pics for our wedding childhood montage.

Vern CNY 2008 - 15.5 years old

Simple Vern

Stone faced Vern. This would be the face he would use in the Lift today.

When he doesnt want to be photographed...

Wedding bells are a-clanging

The tide is slowly becoming more furious. Not the tide maybe, more like the current. Undercurrent. (Notice the lack of apology here?) haha…well OK, the sad and torturous maxis mobile broadband has seen the end of its days in the apartment – the end of its tether. We are happily on streamyx broadband now and finally we actually get to watch videos on youtube. Too bad its our last night in the apartment – Murphy’s Law, unfortunately. Why? Because it took TM more than a week to send someone over to install it.

The BIG day is sneaking up on us faster than I can say “I do”! Every conversation I have with someone has the opening lines of “how is the wedding prep going?” I can see everyone is equally concerned for the well being of the event.

Well, the well being of the event is balancing precariously on the tip of a prism at this moment – its between make or break! Everything seems to be in place, but yet not. There MUST be things left to the last minute, we are the mother of all last minute idiots, unfortunately, we made no exception when it came to our wedding.Like right now, my ears are saturated with pleasing, romantic yet catchy yet meaningful songs – a selection of thousands whittled down to 40. No songs of war, famine, murder, travesty or heartbreak, please!

Are 40 gooey songs enough? No one will be sober or bothered enough to notice if we re-play 40 songs over again, will they?

OK I admit, I keep going on with the songs because I am putting off that arduous task of sorting the guest list – prolly the size of a small ‘kampung’. The nightmare starts there.

Overseas friends are filtering in loyally, all psyched up for the party sesh and the festivities. The ‘once in a lifetime’ tagline is really being milked to the last drop. Its a really lovely feeling to have your close friends with you to celebrate your big day (and for some, of biting the dust). “There goes another one!”

Oh what will I do with myself after the wedding is over??

mobile broadband = jalur lebar mudah alih – what wonderful direct translation

OH – an apology is at the tip of my fingertips! but as my sifu and loyal blog reader has commented – no apologies are necessary. its just as if my body has come kind of blog-apology tick – maybe its a sort of OCD-ness I may have.

I was loathe to come online at all seeing that this Maxis Broadband mobile connection was really a painful experience. whats worse than a really really slow internet connection? You have to literally get up and go do something else before a page loads. Then there are times where there is no connection at all. While I’m watching TV, I can see a frustrated internet-is-my-life geeky man next to me (my husband) frequently going into the Maxis internet access page, connecting and disconnecting in vain hopes the connection might re-establish itself magically. Then the laptop lid is slammed shut in irritation and the his eyes drift to the movie we were ‘watching’.

I made a mental note to complain like crazy on my blog before i went to bed last night, and i rehearsed what I wanted to say in my mind. (The chinese tea i consumed with my Pau Xiang Bak Kut Teh dinner did nothing to lull me into sleep and kept me awake til 3am!) But, what do you know? Today’s internet connection is somewhat bearable! I could even load my blog posting page. Does Maxis use their satellites to read our minds too now?

My nomadic existence continues on. But I am getting the hang of apartment living. It makes me feel alot closer to my husband, who is usually only within a radius of 20 ft of me and not holed up in his computer study room (he could have been on a different planet physically and i wouldnt have known). Shouting across rooms also works now, rather than intercoms/paging we use at the other house in order to summon someone for dinner downstairs. Its just so convenient!

The only thing is getting used to using lifts everytime you get in and out of the apartment. all the way up and down 34 stories. as the apartment is relatively newly built, not everyone has moved in yet and the lift usually comes within 30 seconds of being summoned and almost 99% of the time you ride in it alone. And you need those security key cards to move up and down so we spend quite alot of time in the lifts taking our guests in and out, just cause the intercom doesnt work yet.

The wedding is creeping up so quietly and subtly. The event we’ve started planning more than 9 months ago is finally looming up. I should feel some anxiety but so far am still quite calm. There are always last minute things to arrange so i’m going to leave the worrying to the last 3 days before the event! I should be getting back to my ‘work’. to be continued…..

And my nomadic existence wears on

Hello people – again a apology first for the lack of blogging. Wait, before I surrender, I have a legit excuse this time! I have moved on from a hotel to an apartment and there is no internet connection here (yet) just cause its a new place. But my dearest other half couldnt wait for Monday for the internet tech support to arrive so today he went out and desperately got the portable maxis broadband thingy. Slow but we’re connected! yay! I’m sure its not fast enough to support his gaming this whole week so I’m hoping to have him ALLLL to myself this week (little does he know it of course – plus the fact that he has slid down to prolly my number 9th out of 10th fan – he’s not reading my blog much anyways).

So whats been happening this past week? We all getting out of the holiday mood yet – coming slowly down back to earth too?

For us, the clock is ticking – slowly but surely toward our wedding date. We are extremely fortunate to have our wedding planner be super efficient and honestly I havent had much to do except buy my shoes and plan the guest list. I am leaving the rest entirely up to God.

I have this annoying habit lately of waking up at 5am each morning for the past week. I toss around abit (i’m suffering from mild backache) and go back to bed in about 40 mins and wake up again for breakfast. My bodily functions are pretty much haywire of late – and it has the habit of keeping to routine. I do not want 5am to be the routine. Does anyone have a cure for this?

I was in Pavillon earlier today and they are ALREADY selling chinese new year knick knacks! Some shops in the Curve were already playing Chinese New Year songs! Talk about milking it. Not like the ‘tung tung chang’ background music does anything to stimulate my browsing into actual shopping and buying. Sheesh. If anything it drives me out of the shop!

I finished 2 novels lately, and they were “The Alchemist” but Paulo Coelho and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” bu Steig Larson. I had always (as I said on my last post) wondered what the fuss about the Alchemist was all about. It really is a neat and cute little story, and it was sold as compared to the Little Prince by Antoine Saint Exupery. I DID enjoy it, I did find it unique and on the magical side. A story told without pomp and circumstance and it really was quite lovely in a small, solid, package. It is recommended.

For Girl with the dragon tattoo – different genre entirely. More like a mystery/crime story. It had me hooked in some parts. Interestingly it was translated into English and was originally written in Swedish. Nothing fantastic though – just so so entertaining. I had thought the title to be somewhat beckoning and again, I was in a hurry.

I am now ploughing through something slightly heavier, much more epic (a story told in the 1100’s) where the story revolves around the building of a cathedral. I had 5 minutes to choose a book from Borders before my legs gave way, and they dont seem to have a best seller list?? Will review it later….

Til my next post!

Judge and be judged

I am experiencing a cool, nomadic lifestyle.

Popping from home to home (in laws to my parents) then back home then back to a hotel now and later to an apartment until our big day. I can only thank heavens that my bowel routine and schedule is not screwed up – you know how debilitating that can be!

I was at the Curve having a bit of a coffee break to fill my tummy and glanced upon someone surfing for ‘playboy’ in a popular cafe in the Curve. I bet he thought he was in a safe corner and no one could see. Well, woe to me, I saw. I averted my eyes and my first reaction was “EUUUU” as you would feel when you saw a disgusting worm or a pool of vomit in your path. Well at least do it in the privacy of your own home!!! But i must stress here that any type of pornography is SIN.

Then I had nasty thoughts about that man. I looked at his appearance he looked like a shy type, a proper type, but behind that face was a dirty B******. I was doing an invisible head-shake to myself as he passed by and left the premises, thinking that he must be extremely perverted.

Then a thought came to me. I was judging him. Based on that one thing I saw, I had already assassinated his character and left it for dead. Was I right to judge him? In the bible, it says, Judge and You will be Judged.

A quick reference to the bible says:

Matt 7:1 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (NIV)

But the next verse is bone-chillingly scarier:

Matt 7:2 – “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (NIV)

So folks – I guess we have something here! I was reading the bible last night, and Jesus’s commandment was repeated several times in Luke. “Love one another….love each other”.

Sometimes to love every single person is very hard isnt it?

But dont you think the world would be a much nicer place if everyone loved each other?