Know how I always insist Seth is quite the (cute) loser by following his sister everywhere and doing and saying everything that she does? And also how Kiks is the drama mama? This video proves my point:
(Sorry for the rubbish quality. I accidentally arranged the video setting to ‘compact’. Sucks.)
But Seth, if you do read this when you’re all grown up, please know that I love you in your own way, loser or not. <3
Wheee, I’m back in Hong Kong again from Singapore. Spent a short weekend back home cos tix to HK from SG was way too ex ($560 on Cathay!) so Matt paid for my quick weekend back. As thrilled as I was to see him again, I really dreaded the flights. I’m REALLY not a fan of flying. Why can’t I just spend the 3 hrs 40 mins on my couch, not being to move (to compensate for the lack of space in planes) and get to SG? And I promise to just make one toilet trip from my couch during that 3 hrs 40 mins. Why is that not good enough?!?!
I counted that I’d flown 44 times during the past year. That equates to one plane ride every 8.3 days. And I wonder how many hours was spent in air. Actually, the hours spent in air are fine. At least you’re getting to somewhere. It’s the getting to the airport two hours before that I hate hate hate. Such a waste of time!!
Ok, I shall quit whinging and settle our Xmas holiday instead so I can look forward to something new! Not sure if I’m gonna see the boy in Nov… 
If I don’t, it’ll be another 6 weeks till I see him. Did I mention LDRs suck?
But that said, it does really make the times spent with Matt much sweeter. And his bad habits don’t get to me as much. Seat up or down, dirty linen on the floor or laundry basket… I guess I don’t get those problems as much yet. Of course I’m happy to put up with such bad habits if that means getting to live with him but I’m just trying to look on the bright side here! We’ve been together 19 months now and 15 months are spent apart. I find it amazing sometimes how we do it…
The past weekend took off on a bad start but I’m so glad it got better halfway. We had a small squabble and honestly, it was his fault. It was! Hahahaha, I admit most of the time, I’m the one who stirred shit up but this time round, it was really his fault! So anyhow, I gave him the cold shoulder for a while. But he apologised after. Like, REALLY apologised. Which was really sweet cos most men I know try to go about in other ways to make their apology known but never a straight-forward “sorry”. But Matt did and he said it several times and he hugged me tight and told me he understood why I was upset.
Aw, this is probably one of those situations where you do get closer after an argument.
Ok, back to a hectic work week(s) and my first wisdom tooth extraction this weekend! I’m very, very scared.
So I was just messing around Polyvore and couldn’t help but created a look I’ll be happy to spot this fall (wheee, I can finally say that without sounding pretentious cos there is fall here in Hong Kong, unlike Singapore!)
Top from Dries van Noten
Cardi from Undercover
Pants from Alexander Wang
Flats from Chloe
Belt from Ann Demeulemeester
and bag from Burberry?
Not quite possible this fall! Have to grow some funds first!! Well even when I do have the funds, I’m actually more keen on the armchair and gorgeous vintage-looking stove. So prettyyy! But well, if it’s for the house Matt and I hope to build in future, not quite possible as the boy definitely wants those state-of-the-art kitchen fittings and snobbish stuff like that. Damn.
Maybe I can have a little girly corner in the kitchen then. Mmmm…
At the risk of sounding old, nothing, honestly nothing, beats spending quality time with the people you love most in this world.
During the short weekend I was back in Singapore before I embarked on the tiring work trips in Taipei and Shanghai, Matt suggested we have a small barbie at Che’s place so we could have the yummy meat and sausages he got from Brisbane. Alas! That boy went a little crazy at the wholesale meat place in Jurong when we went with Gor in the morning. So much for using up the Aussie meats…
The boy also bought a set of kiddy golf clubs for Kiks and Seth (actually, I think he meant it more for Kiks, knowing how biased he is). Che had a putting green area right next to her patio so the kids went a little crazy playing ‘golf’. The typically ambitious Kiks had to yell to everyone “I got it! I got it!” every time she pushes the ball (yes, not hit) into the hole with her club.
Pom tried to connect to the kids with high fives. Hur hur hur
And sorry to digress a little but can you just look at Kiks’ legs here?!?!?!
Phwoar. That girl will definitely grow up to have legs to kill for. Attagirl!
In no time, Kiks started calling my pals her friends and showed them her room while Di Di just followed the obvious leader between them. Hehehe, I know I call him loser all the time but he’s really the cutest and sweetest thing, adoring his sister so much. It’s really lovely to watch them play. 
Then Daph arrived and showed us her beautiful pics of her recent trip to Milan and Florence. Envious!! Belle couldn’t come cos she was in Paris for her pal’s wedding but we all did our jobs by reminding Kiks of Annabelle.
And then all these while poor Matt was at the pit doing his typical Aussie thing. Guess a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do right!
Can’t wait for the 16 days of leave in Dec to catch up with my friends again! Xmas pressies!! Fun fun fun. Meanwhile, Matt and I are still trying to finalise our Xmas/NY trip to somewhere. That boy wants a sunny Xmas (what happens to a cold, wintery Xmas…) so we’re looking at probably a beach holiday. Not sure where yet but I have a feeling it doesn’t matter cos I can never get enough of beach holidays and his company.
Anyhow, the next day was family day! While Matt went to the gym, Mummy and I shopped around Ion. I usually prefer and need to shop alone but I couldn’t resist Topshop, since there isn’t one in Hong Kong (I’ll gladly trade H&M for Topshop!), so I dragged Mummy in and gosh, I never realised what a good shopping companion Mum makes! She’s patient and gives good advice (she had a longggg sewing background) and is actually willing to go through every piece of clothing in the racks with me! Loves her!!!
After that, I tried to get us a table at Marmalade Pantry as I really wanted her to try the sticky date pudding but ugh, waiting time of 30 minutes and we didn’t have that kinda time to spare as Matt and I made arrangements with Che to bring the kids to the driving range in the arvo.
Except for Matt, it was all of our first time at a driving range so we were all clueless. But it was really fun cos Che, Raymond and I were all so bad that it was so hilarious. We tried to see who could hit beyond the 50m mark and I cheated by changing to a club (the one with the fat head?) Matt passed me. I think we all tried to ignore Matt’s impressive 200m hits and chose to soak in our own little pool of ignorance instead. Hahahaha
The kids? It was considered great if the balls could go beyond the little piece of net. Hehehe. Even though my pals insist Seth is a natural, judging by the way he held his club without anyone of us telling him what to do. Maybe Seth’s not so blur after all!
More than an hour and S$10 later (free parking!!), we all headed off for Mummy’s yummy home-cooked dinner. I love spending my time like this. Makes me all fuzzy inside.
And oh, my fave pic of the weekend:
And speaking of getting old, I better go catch some zzz now while I’m feeling the tiredness. Probably only caught 2 hours of snooze all in all last night, no thanks to a mind that refused to rest and a bunch of bloody noisy gweilos on the rooftop of the shorter building next to me so the merry-making they made bounced off the really-close walls of all the surrounding buildings. Times like these that really reminds me I’m living in HK!
The last thing I should do is updating my blog but ah well, I’ve been extremely isolated the past few weeks and I need to ‘talk’! All these work trips are taking a toil on me physically and socially. I’m trying so hard to fight against an upcoming flu with all these sniffles, itchy throat and hot-ish forehead but the mind is strong! So hopefully, I get to go to work tomorrow. (Yes, today is a public holiday in HK. Hate me!!! Kakaka)
But I really needed this day off. Returned from Shanghai last night and towards the end of the trip, my throat was killing me and migraines are making a revisit lately when the last time I had them was probably seven years ago! Must be the 16-hour work days…
And I needed to update here cos the thing about business trips is that you feel very cut off socially. My sorta work trips, that is. You meet loads of people but it’s all business talk. And you return to another hotel room (albeit that they are nice rooms) and yesterday morning, I woke up in my hotel room in Shanghai and it took me a couple of seconds to remember that I was still in Shanghai and the same thing happened this morning in my bed in Hong Kong.
And just a week ago I was in Taipei and the week before Singapore? I enjoy the occasional work trips but this back-to-back thing? All I can say is: Phew! It’s over (for now)!
So yes, I wanna be all well and dandy cos you know what, I’m desperate for some human contact tomorrow in the office and that I have loads to catch up on.
Back to the oranges, strawberries, vitamin C, garlic pills, water and raw garlic. Yes, raw garlic. Yum.
The day after China’s National Day, I went to my old neighbourhood to check out the Tai Hang Fire Dragon. I stayed in the area for three months with Angelia before I found my current pad. When the festival was happening, I was still too clueless to know what was happening. I guess I was in that transitional period where I was still a little resistant to local discoveries!
Anyhow, Lye and I met for a yummy dinner at Ziti’s, a hole-in-wall restaurant that makes really good Italian food. I miss the place so much! I used to get takeaways or deliveries all the time and I attempted that after moving to Mid-Levels but they claimed they don’t deliver beyond Wan Chai. My devastation!!!
(FIY, on the MTR route it’s Tin Hau (my old neighbourhood) to Causeway Bay to Wan Chai to Admiralty to Central (where I stay now). In case you’re getting lost with my citations of the different Hong Kong districts.)
After dinner, Lita joined us and we continued to wait around (standing!!) for a good 90 minutes (or did I exaggerate here??) before the long-awaited fire dragon made its rounds.
The fire dragon is made up of joss sticks so it’ll go around the neighbourhood till the joss sticks burn out. This is the info I found on the festival:
“The Tai Hang Fire Dragon has its origin in 1880. At that time, Tai Hang was only a small Hakka village and the villagers, most of them fishermen and farmers, led a simple and peaceful life. The tale started when the villagers once killed a serpent in a stormy night, but the next morning, the dead body of the serpent disappeared.
A few days later, a plague spread out in Tai Hang and many people died of infection. Meanwhile, a village elder saw Buddha one night in his dream and was told to perform a Fire Dragon Dance and to burn fire crackers in the Mid-Autumn Festival. The sulphur in the fire crackers drove away the disease and the villagers were saved.
Since then, every year the Tai Hang residents would perform the Fire Dragon dance for three nights during the Mid-Autumn Festival in memory of the incident. The Fire Dragon is altogether 220 feet long with its body divided into 32 segments, all of which are stuffed with straw and stuck full of incense sticks. So it is known as the “Fire Dragon”.”
The crowd.
I love traditional Chinese banners like this.
The next time I update will be from Taipei! I’ll be there for a week before heading to Shanghai for another week. Please let me go through October in one piece! So much to cover in this busy month for work… Wish me luck! XOXO
Che just posted up some pics of the kids and gawd, the ones of Seth really got me cracking into laughter:
He was looking for his daddy.
And look at his pout!!! He’s learnt well from the master (Kiks).
Well done Di Di!!! No more blur blur face.
And then watch the video here. Bloody hilarious! Silly Di Di. Let your sister bully you…
Can’t wait for the third one! Can’t wait for the third one!!!
Last Thursday, on 1 Oct, was the China’s National Day! We had the day off and Lita, Karlye and I went to Ray’s place, which faces the harbour, to catch the fireworks.
Firework displays in Hong Kong go on for quite a while! Cos China is the manufacturers of fireworks anyway so it’s cheap for them! I especially like the hearts and smiley faces fireworks:
And the magnificient finale!
Hehe, as usual, you hear the “Wow!” and “Ohhh” in the videos. Hahaha
Now that Che had passed the first trimester of her third baby, I can finally say it:
I’m going to be an aunt again!!!
When Seth was one, I told my sis jokingly: “Eh, time to have a third one. Seth is growing up and not cute anymore.”
Hur hur hur hur.
Wheeeeee!!
But we dunno the gender yet. I’m quite excited by either a boy or a girl (maybeeee I’m slanted towards having a boy a teeny weeny more) but Matt obviously wishes it’s a girl, seeing how much he dotes on Kiks.
And oh! Matt’s gonna be a first-time uncle too!! Rob and Kristy, Matt’s big bro and sis-in-law, are expecting a boy! Both babies are due around the same period, next Mar/Apr.
This reminds me that we’re all growing older! But the kinda joy that babies and toddlers bring… That’s irreplaceable.
So finally after 18 months of being with and knowing Matt, I finally got to see the place where he grew up in.
It was really sweet to have the boy picked me up at the airport in the wee hours. And did I say how much I love sitting next to him when he’s driving? Ah well, I know I did but gawd, I get so STOKED every time.
The boy was whistling.
So the first conversation we had in his “oldies’” (that’s what Matt calls them) car went like this…
Me: Is this an automatic?
Matt: Yes.
Me: Oh!
Matt: And no, you can’t drive it.
Me: Oh.
Charming.
So anyhow, everyone’s been asking me how was the trip and I really have nothing but good memories of it.
However, the truth was, as some close friends knew, I was pretty hesitant to go. Firstly, it wasn’t cheap to fly to Brissy from Hong Kong. Secondly, I wasn’t sure if I had enough leave. Third, I knew Matt would be pretty busy catching up with friends, family, the stag night, wedding, clearing up his room and a two-day first-aid refresher course!
Both Matt and I were afraid I would either be demanding on his time or disappointed that he couldn’t spend much time with me and at that point of our relationship, I really didn’t want anything unhappy happening again. So I was extremely uncertain.
Then the usual grab-all-opportunities mentality in me set in and I decided on a whim to just go for it. No regrets. Just go for it but keep your expectations low. It helps there was an Emirates promo to fly for SG but still, it all came up to around S$1,000. And… 24 hours of flying all in all. CAN DIE. Can I just say again how much I hate flying?!
I managed to spend a night with Matt before he left for Brissy a day after I arrived in SG for the stag night while I played major catch-up in Singapore. And after 12 hours and 5 groups of pals, I took a long train ride from Bukit Batok back to the far east to see Molely for a bit. After not talking to him for the entire day, I called Matt on the train ride to see how was the stag night (or rather ‘day’ as the bunch of Tim’s friends hired a bus and drove along Sunshine Coast) and he replied to all my questions in Mandarin.
Me: How are you?
Matt: Wo hen hao! (“I’m good!”)
Me: Did you have fun?
Matt: Wo you. (“I did.”)
Me: Did you drink a lot?
Matt: Yi dian dian. (“A little bit.”)
Then it got too noisy and I told him I talked to him again, which I didn’t get to until the next morning.
Me: You had a lot to drink last night huh.
Matt: No lah, not much!
Me: Yes, you did. You spoke to me in Mandarin during last night’s conversation!
Matt: Huh, we spoke?!
Me: … (I rest my case)
OK. I digressed too much. Should just show some random shots taken in Brissy before I fall asleep…
View from the garage in Matt's house
When we got into Matt’s house from the airport, I, of course, couldn’t see the view cos it was pitch dark. All I could see was that they had an unobstructed view of the scenery but I didn’t know how beautiful it was until I woke up the next morning. I was seriously taken aback when I saw the view in daylight. Yes, like seriously.
Matt’s mum was really sweet to drop me off at the city so I could explore a little while waiting for Matt to finish his first-aid course. I went to Sportsgirl and was next in line to pay for stuff until I decided to be good and think about them. (What did you know! I ended up spending all of only A$70 for the entire week ok!!!)
Then I continued walking and walking and ended up at the museum across from Queens Street Mall.
It was spring but gosh, was it almost scorching hot when I was walking across the bridge! Since it was free and I was bored, I went through the museum to find out about Queensland’s history. Hmmm, pretty interesting stuff… Then I walked back across the bridge and stood in the middle for several minutes with great tunes playing on my iPod. It was such a lovely few minutes that I forgot that I haven’t felt that way for a long time. I stood there on my own, smiling to myself. I miss that.
Matt met me soon after and we walked to his second bro’s, Steve, snazzy office to hitch a ride home. The two brothers look so alike! On the walk there, Matt went a little raving mad and started to yap some Hokkien vulgarities at random Caucasian passer-bys. I dared him to do it at the Asians and that managed to shut him up a bit. O_o
The next day, Matt’s parents and us drove out to Sunshine Coast and I fell right asleep on the way there and back and Matt was convinced it was his dad’s country tunes that put me to sleep. We had BBQ beef burgers by the beach for lunch. Sighhh. Seriously, life was so simple and blissful this time last week. :/
On Currimundi beach at Sunshine Coast
Matt and I lied on the sands for just 20 minutes and it was unbearingly hot I had to jump into the freezing waters twice. Well, not exactly ‘jump’ but more like waddled until hip level and cool myself down by patting the cold water onto my body. The weather was crazy hot for spring but the water was freezing!
And the sun in Oz is really scary. Just 20 minutes and I got quite a tan on my body! And Matt, erm, burnt, of course.
That night, the boy also drove me out to fulfill my Cold Rock cravings (they’re everywhere in Brissy!!!) and took me to check out the night view at Mt. Cook. It was rather spectacular but the boy forgot his jumper so we couldn’t stay out of the car for long cos the winds were crazyyyyy. Anyhow, I didn’t know it was a cheesy thing to do (to go to Mt. Cook at night) until I told Matt’s friends about it during the wedding night cos they couldn’t stop chuckling and I was wondering what was the deal about. Hahaha! It’s like the Mt. Faber of Singapore where young couples go there to make out and stuff. But well, I’m a tourist after all!
For the few times that Matt had to meet up with his pals, I was happy to stay in. I tried to orchestrate a meet-up with Jeremy in the city but oh gawd, it’s just impossible, given the timings, locations and the lack of efficient public transport. We gave up and was like, “Aiya see you back in SG!”
Most times, I just sat by the patio with the doggie at my feet (I didn’t know you get such bliss from a doggie resting itself at your feet!) while chatting with pals on Matt’s new MacBook Pro.
I also finally met Matt’s little sis, Gemma and it was lovely that we could hit it off. I guess the interests girls share are always the same, no matter where you come from! And it’s pretty cute seeing Matt and his sis tog. He bitches about his sis (like my bro does!) but aww, the affection he has for his sis is so obvious! It was sweet to watch.
Gemma and I.
Matt and I always have this habit of checking other mixed-race kids to see which parent they look like more and we were doing that when Gemma, he and I were waiting for our Thai takeout one evening when Gem teased: “Eh eh, what are you guys doing huh??” Hahaha, oops. I forgot brothers have to keep that macho side of them in front of their sisters.
Another thing that I love watching was Matt with doggies. He loves Akira so much that he could sit there for ages just patting and scratching her. I know it’s so cheesy but I swear I melted a little inside me.
(Akira’s on the left. On the right is Steve’s doggie. Matt was spinning him around…)
The vacation ended with a very yummy dinner at Steve’s place by the fire place. Steve made some pork roast stew by covering it with hot charcoal?? I had so much that I almost passed out but oh gawd, then there was the sticky pudding Matt’s sis-in-law made. Passed out some more. Soooo goooood.
Just missing the big brother, Rob.
So, I finally got to meet all of Matt’s family members and some of his pals and I didn’t realise how much that meant to him. It’s such a new feeling for me but it does feel damn good when your partner wants everyone in his life to meet you, doesn’t it?
We were sulking like hell last Sunday night when we were packing to leave. Matt went a little crazy at Woolies buying loads of meat to bring back to SG. But that poor boy forgot to pack in a tub of honey and peanut butter and had to throw them out when we went to the gate.
But ah well, he managed to bring his bag of golf clubs AND a 10-ft surfboard back to SG. I packed light and Emirates had very generous luggage allowance. But my poor mum’s reaction when she saw the surfboard. I asked the boy to bring his 5-ft or even 7-ft instead but he just insisted on his 10-ft. -_- Poor mummy.
It was such a simple but yet so memorable trip. The parts I miss the most? Me on my own with Akira at my feet looking out at the spectacular view outside Matt’s house and just being able to cuddle with my boy to sleep.
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