Back From the Dead??

Dusts self.......*cough* *cough*

Hot Hot Hot!

This warning was issued by the Hong Kong Observatory today.

It looks like such a happy logo, don't you think? Like something you'd see on the window of a shop selling ramen or something. I seriously AVOID leaving the house while the sun is out. You know, today the temp was registered at 34 deg celsius. But i think the intensity of the sunrays here is so very strong. Oh and it gets super bright too. Sigh.... last weekend, I went to the market. Guess what? I actually ran there and back. Ya, and yours truly have not been doing much, if not any, running.

While this warning is on, however, we are also put on the typhoon alert 1. You'd think that from 1 it'll go to 2 and so on till it gets to 10 right? But the warning starts at 1, goes to 3, jumps to 8 - at this point Alam doesn't have to go to work, then 10! That's a full blown hurricane. So wierd.Typhoon Nuri is predicted to hit HK direct this time, predicted to be much worse than the one that hit us a couple of weeks back. No matter what, I have my masking tape ready in case the alert jumps to 8.

I'm so, i don't know, excited? for lack of a more appropriate adjective that I had dreams about suddenly jumping out of bed and having to plaster the windows but my masking tape went missing!! Needless to say, I woke up hyperventilating.....sheesh!

Happy National Day Y'all!!

I just made Alam spend the past hour or so singing National Day Songs. Heh.... I miss it, I really do..... Singing National Day songs I mean. Don't tell people ok? That and the extra holiday schools get on the 10th of August. When I was teaching, I'd sit with my kids and sing at the top of my voice. The best part? I got away with it! hehehhe.... We'd start from "We have a vision for tomorrow....Just believe...Just believe..." and work our way to "This is home truly.... Where I know I must be...Where my dream wait for me...Where the river always flow..."

I just so enjoy singing these songs. Surrounded by kids wearing red, frantically waving the plastic flags in your face, you just cannot help but feel a wave of patriotism wash over you. It is during this time, and when the Majulah Singapura is sung during the National day parade that I feel extremely proud to be a Singaporean. Seriously.

This year will be a first as Alam and I celebrate National Day out of Sg. We have mixed feelings about it I guess. For me, it is also the first time I am not actively celebrating it (in school) I reckon there will be some celebrations at the Sg Embassy here but a bunch of adults singing such songs and waving plastic flags really don't appeal to me..... plus they'll know it's me contributing the terrible voice.....

Anyway, as I'm typing this, it is just past midnight, so HAPPY NATIONAL DAY EVERYONE!!!

Incidentally, on SG's National day, we're in HK.... on October 1st, HK's establishment day, we'll be in Sg...hehee..... October 1st is also hari Raya mah....

Huh???

I was back in SG a couple of days ago and had the luxury of spending sometime with my baby sister. We headed to town one day and was sitting at Coffee Bean, which is Halal now by the way, while waiting for my appointment at inuovi cosmetics. We were just sitting watching people go by... I realised that there is nothing really different between the crowds that throng the malls in HK and in SG. All are clad in designer labels, all carry arm candies of which the most popular seem to be LV. But I must say that SGeans definitely dress better than their HK counterparts. HKers tend to be more 'adventurous' when it comes to dressing, they bat no eyelashes when seeing someone in a dress that has more ropol than Ramlah Ram's or someone who has pink hair or someone who wears luminous pink shoes ( I saw this myself at City Super yesterday). I know that if the same pink shoes were worn in SG, the person wearing it would hear no end of sniggers, would receive no end of 'what were you thinking?!!' stares. I guess, HKers are more open like that.

Anyway, back to Coffee Bean, so, we were people watching when this woman caught our eyes. She was in a fitting top, almost exposing her bosom, with skin tight black pencil skirt and heels and was carrying an LV Galliera. She had funky short hair and my initial reaction is wah lau! So stylo! That is until she came closer and I saw her face..... ALAMAK!!! Tua kerepot nak mampos lah! I mean, she was definitely 55, at the very least! But hey, if you can still carry off that kind of outfit at THAT age, then by all means lah kan..... but this one cannot lah... She really looked like Mak Enon (Remember her?).

So while I was having this internal conflict and all, my baby sister spoke and we had this conversation....

BabySis: Kak! Did you see that old woman???

Me: I know!!! Wah Lau eh!!!!

BabySis: Why she so old still want to dress like that?

Me: Ya man! So not age appropriate kan?

BabySis: Dia tak takut kena rape ke?

Me: ???

BabySis: Old woman pun can kena rape tau kak.......

Me: ???

Hahahha..... that's Farah for you.... sometimes she says the funniest things. maybe because she was fasting. Is it Far??

AL - FATIHAH

That's my father in law, the late Hj Lamion bin Ahmad Ishak. I think this picture is essentially what my father in law was to me. Someone who had plenty of knowledge but never stopped learning. He'd spent hours going through the papers, going through every detail of whatever was being reported that day. He always had things to tell me, anecdotes to relate, ideas to share. After getting to know him, he learnt a thing or two from me too, mostly about food lah. Anything I brought him to try, he was game. Even when he was already not doing too good, he was still trying to learn how to use the chopsticks. I truly envy the tenacity and the enthusiasm he had when it comes to learning something new.

He was also truly diplomatic in ways he handled any situation he found himself in. Never one to raise his voice, at least whenever I observed him, he was the epitome of calm and grace. That was one of the things that I really liked about him and I am glad that Alam inherited that from him.

But the one thing that I will always remember about him is how much he loved his wife. I cannot even begin to describe how he loved her. Throughout this whole week after his passing, I have come to a realisation that everything he did was for her. I got the impression that he gave up living because he did not want to trouble her anymore.

Also in this week after his passing, a few things have come to light, some nice and some well, not so good. All that is important now is that he has moved on to where there is no longer pain from his renal failure, no longer pain from selfish human beings and no longer pain from the heartache that he suffers when seeing how some people called family behaves.

Ayah, you are in my prayers. Semoga roh Ayah dicucuri Rahmat. Semoga Ayah ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman. Semoga Tuhan mengampunkan segala dosa Ayah. Amin

Say A Little Prayer For Him

It is 8.15 pm and I'm sitting cross legged on the floor near gate 61 at the HKIA. I had thought a couple of days ago that I was done going to the airport. At least untill I go back for raya lah. I have not even sorted out my photos from the previous SG trip which incidentally ended 20th of July. 4 days ago..... and now 4 days later, I'm back at HKIA, waiting for my flight which has been delayed to 10.10pm back to SG.

Why am I heading back to SG so soon? Not for pleasant reasons I'm afraid. My FIL has been warded and the prognosis is grim. Docs say it is not looking too good for him. His bp is low, his pulse is erratic and the worst part of it all is that he's unconscious. It saddens me that I know for a fact that the person he would want holding his hand and sitting by his side is not there. I have watched a couple of shows and documentaries that has ascertained that people in comas can actually hear what is being said to them. They can hear it in their subconscious. I think this particular person should not be thinking of herself and other asses , she should be by my FIL's side and talking to him, comforting him, encouraging him although it might seem futile.

I'm pissed as hell that this particular person is not worried that any breath that my FIL takes might be his last. Why wouldn't she want to be with him? Does she not love him? I mean, seriously, if alam was sick, I'd rather stay home and be by his side than go to work. Oh! wait a minute! I can stay home and take care of him, I'm no longer working! But I digress......

I'm also pissed as hell that the flight has been delayed. The person checking us in was also an ass. Instead of apologising for the fact that the flight was delayed, she very nonchalantly said,' So the flight delay until 10.10 ocrock'... In broken English no less......

I pray that my FIL hangs on till we come. I hope I don't meet this particular person because in my mind, I have a really strong desire to push her. Not a pretty picture. As I've declared, I'm leaving Ms Nice in HK.......

Please say a prayer for my FIL ok?

My State of Darkness

I just don't like to get dark. I just don't. This summer sun has made me very dark. I hate it. I wrote previously that Mr Sun is no friend of mine, now I'll show you...

The lighter patch of skin there is where my watch was. No flash was used to take this picture.You tell me lah, 5 shades darker or not???!!! I can't even bring myself to show you the face. So melengit! I hereby announce that I will only leave the house at night.

Summer Love? Not So Much.

It's summer here in Hong Kong. For the past 3 days, the sun has been shining so very very brightly that I think it needs shades itself. I was prepared that it was going to be hot. I WAS NOT prepared however, that it would scorch. As a result of which, yours truly is now a horrid shade of DARK. My arms are supertanned. The part covered by my watch, is a good FIVE, yes you read FIVE!! shades lighter than my current colouring.

My face, is sunburnt. I don't have the good fortune of turning a healthy red when tanned, I just go straight from brown to black. Well, oklah, not black, just horrid dark. It's terrible. Even now, I can feel heat eminating from my face. What's worse, all this excess heat is making me sick. I'm down with flu, fever, cough, the works. I hate it! Then, as if to rub salt into the wound, the aircon in my bedroom is blowing hot air! I think the coolant's all gone.

Whoever say summer's a great season must really enjoy getting burnt by the sun. I hate it. If I had the moolah, I'll up and go to, say, Aussie or New Zealand to ride out summer.

Mr Sun, you are no friend of mine. I will only be going out at night to ensure minimal darkening process. Autumn, quickly come.....

My First Attempt

I am fooling around with Photoshop in between vacumming and mopping the floors in preparation for my darling girls to come....

First I took this photo... Ya I know, the photo, very boring. Then I tried to photoshop it.... it turned out like this...

So how? I thought it was ok.... Now if only I know how to remove my double chin without ending up looking like I have a damned huge neck!

Tsk! Tsk!

A little knowledge is surely a dangerous thing. Especially when it comes to matters of life and death. Please lah, do homework why don't you? Not everything is as simple as it seems. Don't be a lemming. Just because some lemmings do it, doesn't mean it's good. It's so irritating, minds that never think. Simply make decisions based on what others say. Simply irritating.

It's Back!

We like this Chinese Muslim restaurant on Wan Chai Rd. Since we came here, we've been there many many many times. It has a shiok selection of dishes. Very authentically chinese. We were told it was Shanghainese cuisine. No problem lah, the food is fantastic anyways. Recently, they decided to chnage the menu and make it a Cantonese restaurant. Changes are good right? NO. The food was terrible, they had this dish of fried beehoon, canto style, but it was just like beehoon fried in kunyit. So the tak sedap. We stopped going. Apparently not only us. Many of their customers also stopped coming.

Last weekend, we happened to pass the restaurant and saw that the old menu had returned! Hooray!! So we went in and had the Shangahinese Fried Noodles and the Spring Onion Chicken. So sedap! Yummm.....

We had half a chicken. The restaurant took it to mean quite literally and they even served us with half the chicken's head. It was halved right down the middle!! Things like these really gross me out. My alam dearest took the half head and put it under a bowl so that I would stop getting grossed out. So sweet he is....:-)

The Halfway Mark

It will be 6 months come this 26th since we have taken that leap of faith. Many things have happened since. In fact some things are still happening. Alam and I have adjusted to life here in HK. Though we surely miss comforts of home all the time, things here are not too shabby. Of course we didn't have the luck or luxury of getting a home here that has 9 bedrooms and 4 maids with 2 cars and chauffeurs to boot, but what we have is cosy, to say the least. It's small, which means I don't have much to clean up. My only regret is the small kitchen which means Alam and I can no longer be cooking together, something we love doing. Speaking of cooking, I have been cooking almost everyday. I'm not too bad at it. Alam is still healthy and bouts of diarrhoea have not been caused by my cuisine. For Alam, life is pretty much similar to what it has always been, work work and more work, it's just geography.

I thought now would be a good time to take stock of things. I've had my rest. I've had my catching up on me time. It's time to dust myself off and DO. I've started by housekeeping my blogspot and multiply. Updating the new stuff and deleting the old. Strengthening old re-kindled friendships, which is amazing, and throwing out toxic 'friends'. I'm surprised at how full of shit some 'friends' can be. Alam says I'm naive like that. Talking about re-kindled friendships, I realise that I have friends all over the world. Literally. These friends have made a life for themselves and not too shabbily I might add. There's a doctor in London, a securities specialist in Canada, a Queen's Council in Australia, an editor right here in HK and more... ironically, these people who have travelled the world and are such high flyers are so humble and are NOT a pretentious lot. Unlike what I have been exposed to in my wonderful world of teaching. Sigh.....

Well, As I've said, it's time to DO.

1. Take Cantonese Lessons
We had an electrical failure episode a few nights ago which could have gone so wrong if we were bad at charades or if Alam didn't have Canto speaking colleagues. After that was sorted out, we decided that I HAVE to go learn.

2. Exercise
We have decided that while we are not putting on more weight - thank goodness- we should try to lose the excess weight - and we have plenty! - that we have. So, we will be walking on saturday mornings at Victoria Park. Oh, and I am seriously considering joining a gym.

3. Cook Complex Dishes
I'm going to try to up my cooking game. Not sure how but by God, I'll surely try!

Those are my priorities at the moment. I'll revisit these in say, 3 months and I'll give you an update. In the meantime, I'm gonna go look for matresses. My lovelies are coming to town! Can't wait! Oh, and KL cannot come fast enough! Gah!

Guess Who?

Guess who's coming to town? I'm so excited! I hope all goes well!

Gastronomical Getaway.....Again!

Where almost everything is Halal. Where almost everything is familiar. Where almost everything is still affordable. Where almost everything can be picked up off the streets. Where almost everything cannot be found here. Where our eyes will glaze over in the sheer bliss and satisfaction of great food. We will be there soon. Not soon enough! HK Independance Day, come quick!

Mum's Day

I still remember when I was young, when my siblings and I, armed with $2 each would go in search for our mum's day presents. I reckon at that time our mighty $2 could get us plenty. We'd end up wiyh funny funny gifts for her, once my brother got 3 packets of scouring pads and wrapped it up nicely. Another time I managed to find a bottle of Nescafe that came with a free gift and so felt so accomplished that I had TWO gifts instead of 1. heheh.... We never thought to pool our money to get her a more expensive gift. They were good times.

Now, we're all grown up and many Many many things have changed. God only knows how Mak felt on that Sunday. Only Farah was with her. My brother was, as usual, not around. I am not in SG, so it's a first for everyone that I was not there to orchestrate the whole Mum's Day Affair. It was very difficult for me. I was really wishing that I was with Mak. Apparently, from reliable source, she was upset that I didn't call her to wish her a happy day, but of course she didn't know that I had ordered a fruit basket and a bunch of flowers to be delivered to her. She was in tears it seems when she got it and called me immediately to say thank you.

It's difficult for everyone. I wish I was celebrating with little people who call me mummy but that's just a dream.

It's probably also difficult for my sayang. He is going through wild emotions with what has happened with his mum. I know it's so hard to have a mother and yet don't seem to have one...

Well...

Mak, thank you for being a wonderful, strong, amazing mum. Thanks for calling and checking up on me when I was sick. Thanks for being my walking recipe book. Thanks for all the advice( although I don't listen to half of it! ). Thanks for being there when I needed you to be. Thanks for understanding that I needed to leave and having the faith that I will never forsake you. Thanks for being my mak. I love you.

My Poison

There's really magic in a nice hot steaming huge mug of caramel machiatto when you're feeling blue. I'm so fortunate that I live so close to 2 Starbucks that when the icky feeling hits, I just head down to one of them shops and get me some coffee loving. As you enter the place, the wonderful and seductive aroma of coffee tickles your nose and when you inhale the aroma, you just get a natural high. Usually armed with a book, I'd get a venti, non-fat, sugar-free caramel machiatto and if lucky, get one of those oversized super duper comfortable sofa, I could spend hours there......

A Little Escapade

It's settled. Alam and I will be visiting the most 'westernised' chinese city in China come Labour Day. Looking forward to a little US time away from Alam's work. A little getaway. Perhaps this is the much needed 'uplift' I need. I dunno, Have been feeling blue these days. I know I have plenty to be thankful for, but it's just human nature to want something they can't have.... Especially so when you are surrounded by people who have it so easy... Sometimes I feel so hypocritical when I smile and tell them how happy I am for them when I secretly want to lash out and yell and ask them, 'WHAT ABOUT ME???!!!??'

I think Alam is just the sweetest person on earth. He's so strong,even if he doesn't realise it. I just don't know what I'll do if he was not my pillar. I know he deserves so much more and for that I'm just so sorry....

Lily Phase - Out

I have gotten all the available colours for the lilies at the friendly florist near home. So today after chucking away the wilted pink lilies, I went to see what was available. I fell in love with these.


I don't know what they are called, but aren't they just lovely? This whole bouquet, I got for HKD$50 which is SGD$9.10. The bouquet is HUGE ok! Seriously. In SG, you'll just get 5 stalks of statice for SGD$10. I just had to excercise PLENTY of restraint. Also, not for the fact that I only have 1 vase now, I would've bought more to put in all the 3 rooms that I have, In fact, would probably put in the powder room as well. So worth it. I so love love love.

Showtime

Since I have not been gainfully employed, I have been catching up on reading, movies and the likes that I have missed due to work commitments. I have come to realise that life is all about trade offs. No work-more readings-got time-can bake! Especially with no kids, I can afford to be indulgent and sit through dvd after dvd after dvd, just getting up when Bang or nature calls. As you can probably imagine, HMV has become somewhat a choice destination for me these days, what more with ORIGINAL dvds costing only hk$99! Some older titles go for even hk$49 which is sg$9!! My contraband dvd cost more than that!

Our last trip to HMV, which incidentally I can walk to from my home, like walking to the mama shop like that, found me and MBB going bonkers. We ended up spending about sg$200 on about 8 dvds, 2 music cds, his United and my Cosmo magazines. Like many things here, this is much cheaper than in sg.

Anyway, the point of this is that I'm now hooked on this.

It a brilliant show with well written script that is delivered with such dry dark humour that will escape you if you are not astute enough. I love it! It's about this suburban lady who was widowed and has turned to dealing pot to ensure she stays in her expensive house and drives her expensive range rover.

The series touches openly on homosexuality, infidelity, sexuality, coping with grief and loss, respect, human dynamics, human facades and drugs too. Of course.

The language is vulgar and dialogue on point. Hence the ban on it in sg. It's so appaling it's brilliant!

The last episode of season one ended up with the main character, Nancy ( the pot dealer ) meeting the dad of her son's friend and liking him a lot. As she sees it, he's the only sane one amongst all her plastic surgery endorsing, weed smoking and money is everything friends. BUT, as it turns out, he's a DEA agent! How's that for irony?! For the uninitiated, DEA is Drug Enforcement Administration, like our CNB like that lah.

Well, I'm off to get season 2 y'all!

The Sun has Come Out

It has been so cold that when the sun came out last weekend, I was happily basking in the glorious heat. I felt like a cat... hehe... When we first came out here, we were happy to be feeling all the cold but as it eventually got colder, I began missing the sun. So, when the sun came out and beamed into my bedroom, I was just happy to just lay there.

The forecast says that for the next 5 days temperature will range from 18 to 11 degrees but sadly, it has been 13 the whole day today.....

I hope the sun stays, please don't take my sunshine away.

Fresh Seafood

The seafood here is very fresh and quite affordable. It's so fresh that fish and prawns are still flipping and flickering as they display it for you. The crabs and crayfish are still trying to climb out of the baskets they are put in. Actually, the longer I stood there and looked at this futile seafood escape, I felt quite sorry for them and momentarily considered going vegetarian.

So I walked the feeling off. We had gone to the market that morning looking to buy prawns. I was going to cook nasi lemak and prawn sambal. After getting my pack of flickering prawns, I was thinking, how on earth was I going to cook the prawns while they are still alive and kicking and all?? MBB assured me that by the time we get home, they'd be goners anyway. Oklah, or so I thought....

After putting away all the barang barang I had gotten at the market, I started on the prawns. I pored them all out into a big bowl to de-shell them. As i picked one up and was about to pluck it's head off, it's little feet started moving!! Then some of the ones in the big bowl also started to move the long strand on their heads. Oh, I wanted to die......

I yelled for MBB to put the prawns back into the freezer. He just smiled and gave me a very amused look. So no nasi lemak and prawn sambal till the prawns are good and dead!

No Rain

That song by Blind Melons comes to mind. I need a favour. Please let there be no rain today and tomorrow. Please let there be some sun today and tomorrow. Please let there be peace today and tomorrow. Please let us have today and tomorrow. Thank you, much is appreciated.

Needs

I need to go plant shopping. I also need to find a pretty throw to well, throw on my sofa. It's a leather couch, so it gets cold.

Anyone??

On a Happier Note

Happy Birthday To Me!!!!

May all my dreams and wishes come true....
Amin...

Something Not So Nice

I know I get upset and angry quite easily and when I get angry, my mean streak shows. As I welcomed the new year in a different country, a different world, I made a pact with myself to try to substantially reduce this horrid streak of mine. My arguement was that I was in a different place, emotionally, geographically so why not right?

I also found myself in a better place in my faith. That and the fact that it was freezing calmed me down somewhat. I was less agitated and my temper was sweeter. I was more tolerant, more patient, more forgiving in almost every aspect of my life. This, I'm glad to announce has been going on up till 2 days ago.

2 days ago I received a call from a friend, telling me of a situation that has arisen back home. As the story unfolded, I felt a lot of hatred and disgust and loathe for this person. I mean, how jantan are you that you choose to attack me when I'm not even in the same country?? How man are you to criticize me when you were so busy trying to suck up to me when you perceived that I had power?? Do you realise that you are doing to this friend exactly what you did to me last year when the other man left??

Let me tell you this. Why are you so afraid to have me back? Why are you trying so hard to make me look bad? Whatever your reasons, and I know you have plenty, well, excuses more like it, I DO NOT CARE. Practice what you preach. Take up the challenge. May the kids benefit while you're at it. Don't just be all talk lah. But I know that that is all you are. TALK.

Let me just tell you. It is the likes of you that give Malay men a bad name. You hide behind the religion. You hide behind you supposedly dignified exterior. I think my landlord's dog has more dignity than you lah.

I am trying to wipe out hate and revenge from my heart because it makes me a small person and impedes me from moving on with my life and I have been successful up to 2 days ago.Today, I am willing to sacrifice my resolution. Just for you. I will move on with my life, I know. But as surely as the sun will rise, I am sure that I HATE YOU.

My Little Greenies Part 2

Remember my little greenies that gave me a sense of comfort when I was feeling down? They're gone!!!!! We left them there when we moved with the intention of picking them up later as we were only checking out on the 6th. So when we went over today, which is the 5th, to collect my little greenies, I was so sad to find that they are gone!!!!!!!

I can always buy new ones I know, but those 2 were growing so well.....

Nothing

I IS TIRED!!!

My Little Greenies

Since I came to HK, I have been slightly depressed as you can imagine, what with being away from family and my cat and being jobless and all. Well. My depression got a little worse when we had to move to a super duper teeny tiny studio apartment. Once or twice I caught myself thinking, I left home for this???

But on my way home from someplace one day, I passed a florist and got me 2 of these little greenies. I put 1 in the bathroom and 1 in my kitchen/bedroom/living room/dining room. Since then they have really done well and have grown into really pretty and very very green pots.

I find them seriously comforting though I just cannot explain why...

Smoke Signals

Every Tuesday and Friday, some very pretty fillipino ladies will come to change bedsheets and clean my room.They are very very nice people and we had lengthy conversations but I'd rather not be around when they do come around to do my room. You know what I mean. Today, like clockwork, they show up at 10 and started their rounds. So that was my cue to make myself scarce.

Armed with The Innocent Man and me spanking new British wrap courtesy of MBB, I headed towards Starbucks at Times Square. I thought a cup of caramel macchiato would do wonders for my groggy head and runny nose.

As I left my building after checking that temperature for the day was 10 degrees, the wind hit me in the face and literally took my breath away. As i drew some air and exhaled, 'smoke' came out from my mouth. You know the kind you get when the weather's really cold? I got that! So the excited nak mampos, i was busily exhaling to see more 'smoke' coming out of the mouth! Ya Allah! I called MBB and to my excited squeals, his reply was, "Okaaaay........." Sungguh tak excitingable!!

When I came back a few hours later, I opened the window and leaned out the window and continued to make my smoke..... hehehehe....

Ok dah.

SAHW

It's 8.15am and MBB just left for the office. Given my newly knighted title of stay at home wife, this would be the time when I'll just roll around in bed with Grisham or switch on the google box and catch whatever is on. Having worked since I can remember, this new title surely takes some getting use to. Not the title per se but the implications that comes along with it. I now have plenty of time to myself. I have been catching up on my sleep, my reading and now that my YELLO has arrived I have been presented with the opportunity to catch up on my pictures upload and my blogging. Sometimes I wonder why on earth do I blog and who is so bloody free to actually read my entries but I digress......

I have yet to get busy with housework and cooking and stuff as we have yet to move to our new pad so I'm basically being very indulgent and doing things that I have not had the opportunity of doing while I had a job. I now have the opportunity to lepak at Starbucks and read over a venti caramel macchiato without feeling guilty about the piles of books that have not been marked or that stack of essays that has yet to be graded. The catch is, my kakis aren't here, so I'm pretty much left to my own devices. I've yet to hook up with my friends here but as you can imagine, the're working too.... Life's little twists.....

As a SAHW it means I have no work which means no money. Now this aspect, I don't like. If I'm dysfunctional, it probably will take my self worth away. Fortunately, I'm not THAT dysfunctional. We had a sit down discussion about my working or not while we are in HK. I thought I'd give myself 3 to 4 months before deciding if I was going to be bored out of my mind and would desperately needed to get a job. MBB says he'd rather I stay home and take care of him and that we will be able to live comfortably PROVIDED I be tres careful with my budget.... that means, not so many bags and shoes ok? I guess I can live with that.... for the time being. By the way, I have already bought a pair of UCB ballets and a spy bag!! Haahahhh....

Anyway, if I wanted to work, I can actually go and teach at the Singapore International School but I thought of doing something that has got NOTHING to do with teaching. I was considering becoming a mailto:barista@Starbucks or becoming a tram driver or mailto:waitressing@shadowman or something like that lah.

Another thing that bugs me is that if we had stayed in SG, I would be driving my RAV4... but that can still happen when we go back lah. AND... given how things have developed back home, I am so bloody grateful we decided to make the move to HK. I cannot imagine what I'd need to do if we were still in SG. The pressure at work plus the stresses of handling home would probably drive me and MBB nuts! Speaking of which, I just have to say, just when you think nothing worse can happen, it does! and it'll just render you speechless. THAT'S another story for another day.....

But all things considered, I'm truly thankful for my life.....I do not envy my friends who are at work right now. Also very thankful that work is going well for MBB. May life get better from here on. Cheers!

YELLO

It's here! My yellow lappie is here! I named her yello! Ok Ok I know, not very clever the name but I love it! No more dependancy on MBB to bring his laptop home. Yaayness! This laptop is supposed to be a birthday present, but since I got it waaay earlier, let's see if I can wrangle another one out of him... hehe.... But given that I'm not working ( read: mo money ), might be a bit difficult to get him a really great present lah..... how like that?

But I can now finally update my pictures.... so exciting... Ok people, be prepared for an onslaught of visual delights.....heheheh

It's Raining Men....

Well, not exactly men lah, but it rained today, the first time since I came to this land of the Cantos. It got really cold, when it rained just now. What with the wind and all. I think temperature was about 12 deg celcius. Cold right? So yours truly,was freezing her butt off although she was wearing her layer of babat. Heh. We were out when it began to rain so we thought we'd get out of the rain by popping by the first Starbucks we saw, but so did the many other people who were out so, there were no seats available.

We went to Ikea today. Pretty much the same things available, which was such a delight to me because I knew I could then get my cheap crockery for the new place. If ignored all the Cantos around me, it almost felt ike I was at Alexandra...

We went to Kowloon yesterday. I enjoyed the ferry ride. The ferry had very clever seats where the back rest can be moved so that you can be facing front or back depending on the direction the ferry was moving towards. Sounds complicated? Nevermind, when you come here, I'll gladly show you.

When we got to Kowloon, I was almost shocked to find that there were just SO many people. I thought HK Island was crowded but Kowloon in the TST area was just packed! I think, if I had come to Kowloon first when I first came to HK, I would have turned around and high tailed my way back home. The people in Kowloon were unfriendly and not nice. I find that the people on the island are much much nicer.

But we did meet someone really nice. We had lunch at this place called Shadowman Cybercafe. The owner is this friendly old man from SG. He came over and chatted with us. We exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch and oh his food was fantastic as well.

Then off to MongKok we went. It's like a huge pasar malam. They are quite blatant with their fake stuffs. A bit confused also. they had Coach designs with Gucci stripes....hehe.... anyhow, I got me a Longchamp Bag, my designated pasar bag.... There are many many Billabong stuff, which I think Yun will love lah. They also have many shoes that I think Farah will go gaga over. I just can't wait for her to come.

Anyhow, all in all, my one day in MongKok didn't turn out to be too bad..... maybe round 2 will be better?

A Little Victory

WE GOT THE APARTMENT!!!!!!!!!

I'm so bloody happy I tell you! Today we went over to Dan and Reika's place, over tea, we got to know one another. Dan's actually a financial journalist. He's the Deputy Editor of Finance Asia. How cool is that!! He's married to this very chio Japanese lady so being posted to japan is making her very happy....But what is waaaay cooler is that we got the apartment. The rent's HKD18000 but it is inclusive of EVERYTHING! Quite worth it lah. It even comes with a cleaning lady....! It's a load of our minds to finally have found a place that we actually like and is actually big enough for us to literally roll around. Heh. At least when we receive guests, there'll be ample space for them too. I cannot wait for my 2 little darlings to come over.

To celebrate this little victory of ours, MBB is taking me to Kowloon this weekend. We are on HK Island so we're gonna take the Star Ferry across. I'm rather excited about that. Will post pictures once my new-yellow-birthday-present-lappie is delivered!! That's right! I'm getting a new laptop for my birthday..... yahoo!!!

Wheels on The Bus Go Round And Round

Remember that nice big place we found in Causeway Bay? We were invited to bring our references and the lady of the house had wanted to see us and so yours truly thought she had it in the bag...... So I was jumping for joy, calling home, telling Farah the good news.... feeling sooooo very thankful..... all this at 10am.

Fast forward to 6pm. MBB called to say that the ang moh fella had received a generous offer from someone to BUY his flat and that we were no longer in the running to get the flat!!!! I was devastated!! Such is how volatile the property market here in HK.

I had thought we were done with the searching. Sigh..... now we're back to square 1. MBB and I had a talk and we decided to consider serviced apartments. Searched the net and found some promising ones..... We shall see how that turns out.....

Till later...

Krispy Kreme

While we have Missy Donuts, Donut Factory, Munchy Donuts back home, I now have Krispy Kreme!!! It's really as nice as Has says it is.... the original glaze, the vanilla glaze cake, the new york cheesecake all very very the shiok..... it's just that right now, i dunno where my stupid camera cable is missing.... dunno where lah.... must be in one of my 5 bloody huge and heavy lugggage....so i cannot upload pictures for all to drool......

And Starbucks is everywhere here..... the other one is pacific coffee, you know the coffee place with the big red armchairs in Citylink.... so the many many here tau..... so every other day I get my caramel machiatto...... nice....

I still have not visited any of the touristy places here, Disneyland included.... see lah if some people want to surprise me on my birthday....... this hint can only be directed to the only other person who is with me in HK lah kan.........

HK....So Far..... Errr, no pun intended....

I'm currently holed up in a teeeeny tiny place aptly called cozy studios. It's alright I guess for temporary lodging except that the previous tenant was a super duper heavy smoker and the smoke dah melekat in the curtains and aircon..... Quite the choking. To make things worse, they DO NOT have my vicks inhaler. They don't have the Vicks brand here. Fortunately, Mdm S has agreed to send me a vicks care package soon. Thanks darling!! What would I do without you.

I'm getting very very frustrated with the rental situation in Hong Kong. The prices are EXORBITANT! I mean, terrible..... they are asking for $4k for a place the size of a 2 room flat in SG, I mean, you tell me lah..... teruk tak???? Today we went to see an apartment at this place called the grand promenade. It's a brilliant place. It's on the 62nd floor!! Imagine that! My ears actually got blocked while going up the lift...It's small but new and bright and has a fantastic view. But the rent's HK$20k .... which is about 4k sg.... it's completely unfurnished. so not a good deal at all.....

In the evening we went to see this place at Causeway Bay, right next to a fire station. the building's a bit old but it's right smack in town and the place is relatively big compared to anything we've seen so far..... The owner's english, he and wife are going to tokyo so looking to rent out the place. I like it. It comes fully furnished, internet ready, cable enabled and the rent's HK$15K. which is not too bad considering the deal..... good vibes about this place. hope he likes us enough to lease it to us...

Speaking of good vibes, or rather lack of it..... at one of the places we went to visit today, we were greeted by police and the body of a man who either jumped down or fell off.... no matter what, I told MBB under no circumstances are we even going to consider THAT place......

After being here for 2 weeks, i dare say that Hong Kong is very much like New York...Not that I have ever been to New Yorkl ah but from whatever I have read about NY and seen on tv, there are many many similarities.... In both places, the steet sides are always shaded coz the buildings are so tall.... both places have Times Square, Radio City, Soho, Central many things lah....

So, if we do get the ang moh's place, I'll be living right smack in the heart of town. Something to really look forward to.....

By the way, friends and family, who loves and misses me, please feel free to send care packages consisting of spices, ready to use mixes, kicap manis...... all these I will welcome with big open arms....