Hong Kong

So it has been quite some time since I've updated my life here in Hong Kong. I've really been enjoying myself. and I have my friends to thank for.
So living in Wan Chai only lasted for just a little over 2 months. It was such a convenient location and close to everything and everyone. July, I was moved over to Mid-Levels Central for a month. But that whole month I was coughing like a bitch. By now, I have been hanging out more with my friend Paris whom I met at the Beijing airport when i first landed. We started going on dates...the first date was the dinner in Elements and movies (Fast and Furious 5). He took care of me while I was in the mid-levels.

Then came August and now September...

August I was shifted back to Kowloon City (Back to Alice's place) until renovations are completed in the final place I will be living in (Tai Kok Tsui). Paris helped me move and was also nice enough to let me store 2 suitcases and a bag of shoes at his place while I keep one suitcase and a carry on with me at Alice as those are the things I would use more often. To tell you the truth, I think I have fallen in love. He is genuinely the greatest guy and someone I feel so comfortable around and can share things with. I just hope he feels the same way about me!

August 18th to 29th, I went back to Toronto to visit everyone and to attend Michelle and Chun's wedding, and be the bridesmaid for Dana's wedding. I was so busy gong around while in Toronto. I have an amazing brother. Placed insurance on his Integra Type R so I can drive around and lend me his BB to use so I can get in touch with people and people can get in touch with me. Got to see almost everyone!

My birthday fell on Mid-Autumn Festival this year, so I almost had to spend it alone. My new friend Carmen cancelled her plans to have dinner with me. She treated me to Pizza Hut. Later that night I met up with My new friend (a friend of Jane's) at Centrak LKF. She didn't want me to be alone on my birthday either so her and her friends had drinks with me at Joyce is Not Here.

That Friday, like every Friday and most weekends now, I met up with Paris. He's been away on conferences in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and New York. The Friday of my birthday week, he surprised me with a birthday present (cool speakers for my iphone) and apologized for not being there to take me out. He's so sweet!

Good news, Since August, we hired two people to take the work load away from me. This new guy Chris helped take the Asia overseas accounts while I focus on marketing stuff and the non-Asia overseas account. New girl Sze, is my assistant. Yes, I have an assistant who reports to me. She helps me communicate with the factory via email and prepare documents. She also looks after things while I'm away. Great girl and love working with her.

This weekend was fun and adventurous. Why...I spent Friday at Paris' place as always, but this time chilling with his boys Paul and Ben! Saturday I had to work half day, met up with Paris to have a late lunch and house shop with him. Then headed back to his place before meeting up with Paul and Ben to have dinner and drinks. We went to Vivo for dinner and headed to a bar to have drinks afterwards.

Today, Paris and I had quite the adventure. We went to Mui Wo which is on one side of Lantau Island. The plan to to hike it to Discovery Bay, but the path ended in some place called M...Kok Tsui..Population, I think less than 10, we only saw 2 people and their three dogs. Had to walk back after 2 hours to Mui Wo. But I enjoyed the time spent with Paris. We had dinner at a Turkish restaurant and bar and then headed back. We were so tired. I fell asleep on his shoulders (like I always do). He's my big teddy...love hugging him!

I think my traveling blog may end here as I will be having new adventures that I may just share on Facebook through status updates and pictures.

Peace out!

So let's see...Yes, April was my multiple moving days. My last day living in the Victoria Towers in Tsim Tsa Shui came to an end on April 7th. After that, I spent a week in Kowloon City at Alice's place. Then I moved to my current place...in the heart of Wan Chai, just 2 MTR stops away from Central and Party central. Good thing is I'm now temporarily close to my friends. Why temporarily you say...After June, I will be shifted off back to the kowloon side (which I heard is called the "DARK" side of Hong Kong. My mom's friends just want me to be closer to work.

I feel like I'm under Witness Protection because all the moving around. But its cool, I get to get a feel of the different areas in Hong Kong and see where I like it the most for future reference.

Well, not so happy about the new hire....She only stayed two weeks. But I got to do lots of things...continued with my yoga training and got my facials done. (bad mistake, now I'm paying back my credit card for the sessions. Lesson learn. Beauty hurts..your wallet.) The fact that Hong Kong has made my skin sensitive...facials were needed.

April passed by pretty quick...I hung out more with my friends since I'm now closer to them.

Now comes May....

May is just the beginning of truly enjoying myself but also going through emotional break downs at work because of the shortage in staff and my boss not around because of a surgery.

I'm really starting too like it here in Hong Kong and have been enjoying the experience here. I have been blessed to have met and been re-acquainted with such wonderful people. They made me appreciate the life here in Hong Kong.

I still can't believe it has been over 7 months, just over half a year since I've been here....

The past...some of my past still haunts me. I still cannot get in touch with someone who has kept his words for something and now I can't get a hold of him. I am not going to eat this up!

February 20th and 21st....

I met up with my friend Kelvin and his friends to head up to ShenZhen for a massage and shopping at the Fashion Mall. Kelvin and his friend Noel were visiting from...T.Dot, where else! =P

The massage I had was alright. I had better ones from my previous times in ShenZhen. We ate at the spa and then headed off to the fashion mall to shop around. They helped me bargain some Tom Ford (something) shades for RMB 180 and a jacket for RMB 350. But apparently we could of gone lower.
We shopped for a long time because we took longer in some stores bargaining. Got back to Fan Ling to have McD's...my second time eating there in Asia (first was in GuangZhou with my friend Alan). Then headed home to call it a night.

The following day, I was at work, but after work, I met up with Kelvin and his friends again to have drinks in TST (near my place) before he headed back to T.dot the following day.

The rest of the week is pretty routine...work, work, busy, busy, interviews, lots of things to do, late nights....but when Friday came....it was different.

Friday Feb 25th-Mon Feb 28th:

Feb.25.2011:

After work I met up with my friend Alan at the MTR station near my place. We met at 8pm. He was staying over at my place while in Hong Kong since I'm alone at home. We dropped off his luggage, then took a walk to Mong Kok for some dai pai dong food. After dinner, we met up with our friend Nikki (who now live close by my place in TST) at a lounge in CWB area.

Feb.26.2011:

We originally had planned on going to Ocean park or to see the Big Buddha, but I locked us out as when we went back to grab something. So we waited for the lock smith to let us in. While we waited, we had breakfast/lunch. I had quite the moment locking us out.

When we finally got inside, there was no time to go to either places, so we went to Dialogue in the Dark instead. We both had quite the experience living the life of a blind person for 75 minutes of our day. It was quite enlightening. I would recommend this place to anyone whose visiting Hong kong. Its right off Mei Foo MTR.

After wards, we headed to have dinner and then watched The Rite with Anthony Hoptkins. I had some girly moments, but it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Plus i had company at home!

Feb.27.2011:

We spent all day at the Big Buddha. We took the 360 up to the top. We took the Crystal one. It had the glass floor. I manage to make my way up all the steps to see the giant Buddha up close. Then we took a 1 min walk to the wisdom path. We climbed up a small hill and met these two monks. One of them were talking to us about faith and what not. By the end of it, on our way back to the 360 to make it for the last trip down, we both asked each other if we gained any wisdom...lol.

We headed back to have McD's for dinner and just chilled and watched TVB shows. The following day I had to go to work and Alan had to head back to Pan Yu to see his mom and aunts before heading back to T.Dot!

This weekend was quite the weekend. It was different and one of a memory of experiences. I had a good company!!!

The rest of the week was back to routine. Routine kind of sucks, but I added some cardio and yoga to it. I pinky swear with Alan that I will get back into shape by the time I return in August. And I always keep my promises.

Pictures of my weekend:
Me and Alan @ Dialogue in the Dark

On the 360 making our way up to see the Big Buddha

Big Buddha himself

I had quite the adventure this past 2 weeks starting from Pan Yu with the family, followed by a 7 day trip to Nepal, and ending it in ShenZhen for a massage .
I did so many things that I'm just going to give a summary of my events. You can see the pictures for more details if you want.

CNY itinerary:

Jan-29-2011:

Boarded the 1:30pm boat to "Lian Fa San", PanYu to meet up with mom who had already arrived there on the 15th. It was a 2.5 hour ride. I got there at 4pm and took the free shuttle to White Palace Hotel drop off point where my uncle came to pick me up to head home to Nam Chun Lian Guong. Had dinner and just chilled and played with my cousin's son.

Jan-30-2011:

Went to get a head massage and hair washed with my cousin. Then walked around PanYu's "See Q" with mom to shop around.

Jan-31-2011:

Met up with my friend Alan; who was also spending his CNY in PanYu with his mom.
We went to GuangZhou to see the Stadium where they had the Asia games. Took some pics and moved on to our next destination; one of GuangZhou's famous temples. Took some pics, preyed and made a wish by throwing a coin in this pot/thing. We took the cab over to Peking Road to do some shopping and when it got dark, walked through one of the streets where they had the "Fa Gai" going on for CNY. I got dared to wear bunny ears for the year of the Rabbit, so Alan bought me rabbit ears and devils horns for himself, but i was able to get him yo wear my bunny ears for a picture. Dropped by another temple we saw while on the street and ended our night at this hotel/spa for dinner and breakfast.

Feb-01-2011:

We had lunch at the hotel/spa (you can stay over night there). We couldn't figure out how to get to this mountain Alan wanted to go to, so we headed off back to PanYu to walk around the "See Q". Alan needed a haircut for the new years, so we both went to a place he had gone with his aunt. For RMB 50.00, I got a head massage and hair wash, full body massage and a haircut. How awesome was that.
We walked around some more and then went to find the restaurant Alan had went to with his family close by his Aunt's place. Alan made a wrong turn so we ended up walking further away from it. But it was alright...it was an adventure never the less. We found the place and had quite the feast with a bottle of beer.

My brother also was arriving today. Mom and uncle went to GuangZHou to grab him while my cousin came to get me back at the "See Q". Alan was a gentleman. He brought me back to the "See Q" and walked me to find my cousin before heading back to his Aunt's.

Feb-02-2011:

CNY Eve
We chilled around the house and then headed out in the late afternoon to GuangZhou to walk around. With Mom, Simon and cousin, we ended up taking one of those "Pearl River" site seeing cruises. We took lots of pictures. The lights of GuangZhou was just mesmerizing.
After the boat tour, we dropped by a "Fa gai" and walked around for a bit until we got hungry. We headed back where mom made noodles for us to eat. At midnight, we lighted firecrackers to celebrate CNY!!!

Feb-03-2011:

CNY day
So I have not had quite the sleep bc of firecrackers going off all night and morning. At 10am, we lighted another firecracker and then had a family lunch to celebrate the New years. Everything my aunt made had a meaning for New years. We had wine to go with the lunch. My cousin-in-law told us that stores are open on new years, so we (mom, Simon, cousin-in-law and my aunt) metro'd it to GuangZhou to walk, eat and shop around for the whole afternoon.

Feb-04-2011:

I had lunch (firecrackers were still going) and went out with my cousin and Simon to book tickets for Simon and mom to go to Fugian to meet up with Dai bak at the "See Q". Got back at 4pm ad grabbed my luggage to head back to Hong Kong. Cousin dropped me off at White Palace Hotel pick up point to go back to Lian Fa San to take the ferry back to Hong Kong. I arrived back to Hong Kong just after 8:30pm and my friend Mafee just happened to be around the area watching fireworks (which I saw when we were porting). So he helped pull my heavy luggage back home and we headed out for dinner.

Pictures of Pan Yu trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=272771&id=507127372&l=eac9fed088

Feb-05-2011:

Take off to Nepal. First stop to my trip was a night in Kathmandu. Fight was at 6pm but we were at the airport close to 4pm bc Alice and Philip's flight to New Zealand was earlier than ours.

We stayed the night at the Hyatt in Kathmandu.

Feb-06-2011:

Headed back to the airport and spent half the day waiting for our plane to fly over to pokhara.
We finally made it to Pokhara and checked in at our hotel which did not have a name. Well we couldn't find the name anywhere.
In the afternoon, we headed to a community where the Mongolians lived. I got to learn to Knit a rug for a bit and passe our treats to the kids there.
Nearby was Davis Falls. We took pictures of it and was told during Monsoon season, the water rises to our platform and flows all the way to India.
Headed back to our hotel for dinner and called it a night since we had to be up at 4am to watch the sunrise.

Feb-07-2011:

Got up at 4am and headed out at 5am to one of the mountains. We were the second group to arrive up to find a spot to watch the sun to rise. Took way too many pictures of the same thing. We were there until 9am. to which we headed back to the hotel, had breakfast and took a nap. After lunch we headed out to boating to a small temple on I think a man made island and then boated across to land to walk around the village shops. We saw a sushi place but did not go in.

Feb-08-2011:

Took the coach to head off to Chitwan. We drove along the mountains and next to us was this beautiful river so clear and surreal.
Made it to the Jungle Safari Lodge in Chitwan's National Park region in about 4 hour just in time for lunch. We got to walk around a bit before taking a cow ride to explore a neighboring village and feed the elephants after we had our lunch.

Feb-09-2011:

This day was a scary and bumpy adventure.
First off we started the day taking one of those long boats where we sit one behind another. I sat at the very back with the person controlling the boat with a long stick behind me. We were so close to the water and alligators. Let's just say I was kinda hyperventilating (to exaggerate the event). Saw a peacock and at least 5 alligators all sunbathing except one was so close to us. We were pointed to the alligator holes along the mountain sides. I was so happy to get off that boat.

Walked towards an elephant development camp. Saw two baby elephants feeding and an aggressive baby trying to get close to its mom.
Then we headed back to the lodge to have lunch.

After lunch we went on the elephant ride. They took us through Chitwan National Park where we saw deers, Rhinos, Wild boars and Monkeys. It was a bumpy ride. My legs were getting sore from not knowing where to place my legs. They were dangling half the time. When we finally were done, I got to feed the elephant snacks before we headed back for dinner and called it a day. Chitwan was such a chillaxing area to stay in.

The next day we were headed back to Kathmandu to see the temples.

Feb-10-2011:

We headed back to Kathmandu to see the temples there. While on the plane, we were able to see mountains.

We passed by some shops that sold poultry and Goat meat (even the heads were on display). We stopped at a temple that was on a mountain/hill. It had 300 steps, but we took another way up that wasn't too many flights or didn't appear to be too many. Saw monkeys, but we had to be careful b/c they were dangerous and sneaky lil critter. If not careful, they can snatch things from us. Saw one pick up a drink box from the waste box and open it up to drink the remaining juice.

Took lots of pictures of the structures and monuments. Even the famous four-eyed structure that we see everywhere. It is said that the four eyes watches over the city or village from all sides. When it got later, we headed back to the Hyatt to drop off our things and relax and pack before heading to bed.

We had a few more stops at temples before having a nice Nepalese dinner and heading to the airport bound home to Hong Kong.

Feb-11-2011:

My last day of this adventurous and relaxful trip to Nepal. We had a full day up until 8pm where we headed to the airport to check in and fly back to Hong Kong.

We started the morning with breakfast as always, dropped off our luggage at the lobby so they could be loaded onto the bus. Our first stop was another temple. This one had the same 4 eyed monument but much larger and centered a bunch of buildings (like a yard). When start off walking clockwise checking out the shops and once we found the entrance to walk up onto the monument, we had to walk counterclockwise. I don't remember why, or did not understand the reason behind it b/c we had a new local tour guide who did not speak English; only mandarin.

Then we headed off to two other temples or more like "town squares" that had many monuments and museums. The first one we went to had the building where the famous Nepalese girl lived in. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to see her b/c she did not come out. It is said that when she is 12, along with other girls, they would be placed in a room where they were forced to watch goats get slaughtered. The girl who did not cry was the chosen one and was to remain in the building until she turns 23 to which she may return home to see her family. We are not to take pictures of her, but during a special festival, would she come out, greet everyone and take pictures with them. There was a palace turned museum there guarded by these scary lions and the monkey god. The whole time we had to keep our bags in front of us since to get to the squares, we had to walked a bit from the streets in where the bus is unable to drive through. The last square we went to was smaller, but had similar structures and another Monkey god guarding a building.

Last stop was this amazing Nepalese restaurant hidden within this gorgeous building (an antique feel of a plaza). The place was small, but the food was good and we got to watch different Nepalese dances.

After dinner, we were off to the airport and within 4-5 hours, I'm back in Hong Kong! =*(

• *Sniffles. Trip and holiday is near an end.

We got back to Hong Kong at 5am in the morn so the three of us (Cat, Ivy and myself) headed to Alice's house (she was in New Zealand and Fiji) to crash.

Nepal pictures:

Day 1-4: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275259&id=507127372&l=ab87e0c3ca
Day 5-6: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275317&id=507127372&l=0c54146b3b
Day 6-7: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=276098&id=507127372&l=c54961779d

The following day (Sun Feb 13), Cat, Ivy and myself headed to ShenZhen for a well needed massage in the afternoon. We had a 3 hour massage. The massage therapist I had was pretty strong. She definitely got all my knots out on my upper back. I also had to "Gwat Sa" (sand scratch for direct translation) to get rid of the wet and dry fire/air that was in me making me not at a healthy state. Man it hurt. The pain ached for 3 days. It was a good and bad pain all at one time.

Spent Valentine's day alone for the first time in 11 years. It was all good. I met up with my new gf Tong Tong for lunch. She was heading to ShenZhen for a massage too but I already got mine so we parted ways. I did some exploring and shopping along Prince Edward and Mong Kok before calling it a day.

Started work on Tuesday and it has been busy; worked until 8/9pm everyday. It's Friday and I'm going into work tomorrow. I've also been conducting interviews. Hopefully we can find some good people to take over so I can start doing more Marketing things.

Ahh..this week has gone by so fast. I've officially been in Hong Kong for 5 months. Time really does fly.

Work has gotten really busy. Lately I've been taking on a lot of things, take over items while my boss is away on business trips. It gets very tiring, but good news is, I'm staying in Hong Kong another year.

I try to make the most of my weekend, even if its just chilling at home doing nothing. Nothingness is such a rare moment for me.

Last Friday I had the day of because I had to attend a a meeting for two different tours to get the details and itinerary for both trips (New Zealand for Uncle Philip and Alice, and Egypt for me and Cat). After the two meetings, I decided to take a stroll in East TST. Found my way on the "Avenue of Stars". A platform along the coast of Kowloon Island where the stars have signed their name on the ground just like Holleywood. I found A few stars I recognized, like Jet Lee, Andy Lau, the legendary Anita Mui and Bruce Lee himself. It was also a lovely day that day.

BRUCE LEE:

After the walk, I headed home and called it a day. Went in on Sat to catch up on work.

Yesterday I went into work again, but met up with my new friend Maffee to go indoor rock climbing. They call is Indoor sport climb, so at first I didn't know what it was but was up to trying new things. Last time I rock climbed was at least 2 or more years ago when Kevin Dang took me and Ronald after work on three occasions. I started off OK, a little scared, something that happens when you get older. But managed to surprise everyone on my third try. I managed to get to the top. With some guidance from new friends Elaina and Corey (an American and an Aussie).

At the top (3rd attempt @ climbing, but 1st attempt on this wall):

Today was semi packing day for Egypt since I will be gone on the 28th to Pan Yu to see mom. Although mom has brought me more clothes, I can still finish packing the rest when I return from Pan Yu. There's nothing wrong packing the night before, as long as I remember to bring everything I need.

Getting excited to see mom...just 5 more days!!!