Chinese family's favorite activity - food!

Skating in 南生圍



The last natural reserved in Hong Kong, we skated through the path around the wet land, lots of water birds.

History means nothing?

I once saw a successful Hong Kong guy (by the definition in Hong Kong, being successful means he has a business and made some money), proudly said to the TV camera crew that "I have never spoken a single Cantonese word to my daughter until today".   He looks content and proud that he has abandoned the culture/language, successfully groomed his daughter to be a westerner who can only speak/read English.  This interview is, of course, conducted in English - the irony is that he speaks English with thick Hong Kong accent.

Every time I think about his face and attitude I feel sick to my stomach.  What type of environment praises people who despise his own culture.  Wish him best of luck with his parenting choice. 

Staunton

Staunton is the pub at mid level, just by the escalator.  It is close to the office, close to everywhere, we tend to meet friends there a lot.  One evening we were gathering in the pub again and I saw the table under the stairway is empty, I quickly came over to took a seat when a man from another group of 4 or 5 also reached the table almost at the same time.  I squinched my eyes and said "I saw this table first and got here before you" in a growling voice, he said "but your friends are not here yet, mine are.  Why don't we share the table".  I agreed and we started to chat.

Long term Hong Kong dweller (definition of long term is like more than 20 years), he is the supplier to the duty free shops in the airport.  Although 90% of what we pay on the price tag is going to the rent, he said the business is still profitable.  Yet he and his associate still cannot work out why women spend 500 USD for a jar of La Mer whereas the blind test shows that the over the counter Olay cream is just as good.  Nevertheless, he is happy that people spent money on that sort of stuff.  He told me that he couldn't understand jewelries either.  He once bought a set of jewelries on the duty free catalog shopping on the airplane, gift to his wife because he hasn't been home for a few weeks.  Gift well received, kiss on the cheek, thank you exchanged.  A few months later, he bought another set of jewelries on the airplane again and this time, his wife went blistered.  "This is exactly the same as the last one, and I didn't even like the first set!". 

Great guy to chat to, we were talking about what is the most valuable things in life if expensive jewelries and sports cars are simply a joke, he said, the number one is integrity and the second is friendship.   

Gordon Visiting Hong Kong

 

 

Gordon is Jon's Mum's friend from Gisbourne. He used to be a pilot working for British Army in Hong Kong, aged 88, he is coming back to see his friends and the small island his parents and grand parents were born. He showed us those black and white pictures in the album published by the Hong Kong British Army veterans, one of those is a airplane being lifted up by a crane at the harbor, he explained "I crashed that babie into the sea and the poor guy had to get it out!".

Hair Length

Not updating my blog for more than a month, quite a few changes in my life recently, and have been pretty busy to cope with my new routine.  We moved away from the affluent, expat area in Mid-Level in Hong Kong island and moved to the grass-root, traditionally considered working class, gangsters fighting, prostitutes standing at the corner area in Kowloon.  It is in the heart of the business, tourist frequenting district - cheap food, shops, and every day life stores. 

It is very different from Mid-level where only English speaking Expat lives (of course, Some Chinese love to live there as the symbol of status), I think the Maids are speaking better Cantonese than the Madam in most households.  The expats are not interested in local culture, language or food, hence they have re-created (or the market has created the shops to cater for them) another English speaking neighborhood. 

Yau Ma Tei, where we moved to, is completely opposite - all shops are doing things selling stuff making foods for locals.  Not the best quality of air nor the view (our apartment has pretty good view though, we can see far out to the west end of the Kowloon peninsula and get some sea view when the air is clear) but it is full of life, full of actions - I have not yet tired of walking around this area day or night.  It is right next to an independent movie theater, and temple street where the famous clay pot rice is.  I can walk to Kowloon park swimming pool where the boy club sometimes showing off their oiled bodies under the sun (Jon and I sometimes giggled behind their backs).

The commute to work is much more pleasant because the train is very reliable (I used to commute by bus back to mid level, believe me, you wouldn't want to walk the hill after a days of work in the hot summer evening). 

Oh my hair has never been this long in my life, the good thing about it is that I don't need to wash it every day because it takes too long to dry.  I think I save a lot of water and shampoo.

Being a Vegetarian

I find it is very powerful for being a vegetarian - basically, you have less options when considering what to eat and hence you eat the same food/restaurant over and over again.  Also, no one can bribe you with the offer of great steak anymore.  Not too bad.

My experience of veggie restaurant is that people are generally very nice, dinners are very polite and quiet.  The waiters always tell you something is very delicious, you have to have it - it turns out not as good as they claim most of the time.

Brisbane Photos

Mum and I spent some time to find the dress for myself to wear in Alex's wedding earlier this year - cannot be too bright and flamboyant that attracts attentions but cannot look too boring.  It turned out nice, keeping a photo here because I don't know when I will wear it again.

Bala Article

There are many articles published by friends in FaceBook but it is very obvious those were translated from Mainland Chinese - some phrases were giving it away such as "Shocking", "Moved", "Speechless" - I don't remember those were used that frequently in Taiwanese Chinese.   The contents were overly melodramatic and unsophisticated.  A typical example is the title would say "Russian President Putin made a speech that shocked the whole Chinese Population" - if you click into the article, you will probably find those statements were not made by Putin but you did read it from some other magazines.  It is also very doubtful that Putin's speech are translated to Chinese word by word and read by the whole China - I don't think even President Xi's speech was that popular.  This whole story is completely fake and being put together just to attract careless readers.  Nothing is true nothing is authentic - the publisher can get paid if the article attracts web traffic hence they are very used to make up disturbing headlines or pictures.

Please do not share articles if you are unsure about the origin - that's really annoying.

PS, Bala is a how Taiwanese call "Guava", the phase is used to describe time-wasting, useless item, song or people.

Toilet Problem in Hong Kong

I hate it when running into the lady's in Hong Kong and found that the toilet seat is wet.  You can tell that is because the lady who was using the toilet before didn't sit down but semi-squat so that her precious bottoms are not touching the seat.  I am pretty sure she was taught by her mother not to sit in public toilet because of the fear for gems and virus.  I was told the same.  However, now thinking about it, the wet toilet only encourages next user to squat (you need strong legs to do that, not a problem for yogi).  The vicious cycle starts - no one can actually sit and relax and the toilet seat gets filthier and filthier.

Thank Goodness many toilets are now equipped with alcohol dispenser so I can clean the seat and (I purposely make some noise to squeeze the alcohol spray and make sure people outside the stall can hear that I am cleaning the seat).   If there is no alcohol provided, I will pad the seat with toilet papers before sitting down - after all, sitting on someone's piss is not a pleasant thought.  Please Chinese Mothers, tell your daughter to sit down on the toilet when going pee.  If that's not hygienic, let's make it clean and nice, there is nothing wrong to do a bit of dirty work and start a clean toilet.  Besides, I think the lack of community sense and selfishness are more harmful than gems on the toilet seats.

I also hate the white tissue papers Hong Kong people love to use everywhere, at the beach, at the hiking trail (wiping their shoes?!?!?) and discard the used tissues anywhere but the garbage bins.  Mmm, I am not sure they are being cleaned and sanitized, I think that's pretentious (you are hiking and you care about how clean your shoes are???) and stupidly environmental unfriendly.  I refuse tissues, I prefer to wipe my nose with my shirts (or Jon's).

Good Bye Worm Farm

We gave away our worm farms (one vertical and one horizontal) because we are going to move by end of this month. The funny thing is that the worms live in the horizontal farm are darker, thicker and stronger. The ones live in the tower block (vertical worm farm has the 3 layers) are pale and thin, a bit like human beings in real life. We shall start another worm farm once we settle in to our new apartment.

Where is your wallet?

I am super paranoid about my wallet, belongings, bank account, internet access, etc. I think that's simply unbelievably dangerous to let anyone get hold of those. I regularly check all accounts online and check any abnormality. When going out to any sporting event, I only take 1 credit card, 1 cash card, 1 Hong kong ID card and some cash, all in a dirty zip-log bag (looks dirty because it has been used many times over the years, they only get replaced if broken). On Wednesday the national day, we first went swimming with Uncle KS early in the morning. So early we had to leave our place by 7am. Hiked for 30 minutes to get to the natural pool by the hillside. That was the abandoned reservoir - the clear fresh water running down from Ma On Shan and collected into a pool - the dam cleverly creates a 40-50 meter long pool. We swam for hours then rushed to our skating meeting point in another station in New Territory. As we arrived in Tai Po Market station, there are so many people around (some said because of occupied central hence the mainland tourists can only visit the shopping malls in New Territory). I then checked my pocket and couldn't find the plastic bag anymore, not in my back pockets, not in my front pockets of my running shorts. I started to go through my running rucksack, nothing in the internal compartment pocket that's where I normally keep the keys and money (very hard to access even if pickpocket can unzip the rucksack). Not in the bottom of the bag, I started to panic and concluded the plastic bag is lifted. I then quickly called the credit card company and bank to cancel those, only need to deal with the Hong Kong ID, which is also the pain. I still have the travel card, just bad that I don't have any cash for a while. We then walked around the station to sit under the tree putting on our skates getting ready to leave - I am still trying very hard to think when was the last time I saw the plastic bag. While putting on skates (it takes Jon forever to put on all the protection gears) Jon asked me if I check the waterbag compartment (the water bag compartment is to hold the camel bag from which the long tube is extended to front, so that you can re-hydrate without stopping, very convenient if going trail running). I then remember I tugged the plastic bag into the water bag compartment and thought it is very very secure because the opening is so secret that no one can see where to unzip it, and no one would think the money is in the water bag compartment, including myself. 

Protesting in Adimralty

Jon and I went to check the students demonstrating nearby Central and Admiralty the government complex for the past few days.  This is the first time Hong Kong people are setting money making aside and showing that we are all in a community.  Some reporters are saying these demonstrators are freaking nice, which is true.  Most of the kids/middle age man/woman/old people are quite - some offer homework assistance, tutoring, free legal consulting (if you get arrested), free mobile phone charge.  Students help collecting garbage, recycle different materials.  Everything was nice and clean, very orderly.  It is just very hot and humid, you start sweating even sitting still.

I go to work by foot since no bus is running.  One of the projects is in the building next to the legislative council building where the protest is going on.  Busy streets are free of any vehicles - people in group are drifting from one direction to another, people sitting down on the road, banners everywhere saying that we want to have the true election, the sun is shinning in absolute quietness - it is touching - I think I won't forget about this for a long time.

Chances are slim for anything to change but it is necessary to show the opposition voice.

Hiking in Lamma Island - end up drinking in every stop!!

 
 

Definition of success

How to measure achievement and being successful?  I think measure of GDP is totally meaningless - Mainland China has crazy GDP growth that is the envy of every other country but the inhabitants cannot wait to get out (and smuggle their money to somewhere else).  Why does GDP have to grow?  I think it is more important to do good to the environment, reduce your impact to the planet.

What does an expensive new car mean to you?

I am sorry that you bought yourself a brand new car, you practically lose 1/3 of its value the moment you receive the key from the dealer.  You will be the slave of your brand new car for the next 1 year because you will be so worried wherever you park the car - it might get stolen or enjoy any food in your car - it might stink up the seats.  Not to mention the environment damage produced by the car factory and shipping.  You might argue that you are getting this for the sake of your family's safety hence the expensive car - I suppose there is no safe car if you drive it into the wall no one is safe in the car.  You might argue the expensive car is more fuel efficient - I suppose the carbon footprint of making a new car is enough to zero out all the benefit the efficient engine can give you in the first 5 years.

Please admit it that you buy a flashy new car and post how much you pay for it because you want to show that you are better off then anyone else who cannot afford the same car.  But it only means you are better off it doesn't mean you are a better person - buying a new car doesn't make any financial sense and create lots of damage to our fragile environments. 

Swim across Sun-Moon lake

This is the 3rd or 4th time I joined this event - swimming across the lake in the mountain at center of Taiwan.  The distance is 3.3km, not a great length, your sense of distance is distorted in open water.  It feels much shorter!

Jon and I were active swimmer - we stop hiking in the summer but go to the beach almost every weekend instead.  We normally do 1 or 1.5km in the pool or an hour swim in the sea.  The distance looks pretty far (when you are standing on one end looking over), but it was actually quite enjoyable.  The water is clean and cool - so different from the sea, the view is great the only problem is it is extremely crowded.  Imagine 30,000 people try to get into the water, it takes hours to queue.  Everyone is given the fluorescent orange swimming cap for safety reason, I guess the life guard can see you easily, so you see the swimming channel is filled with the bright orange dots from one end all the way to the other.

There are so many people and we have to wear the a buoy (another silly safety regulation only in Taiwan), the getting ahead swimming past all other fellow swimmers is just like playing rugby.  There is no way we get into the rhythm and swim fast, we had to constantly push and kick people away to move ahead.  At the end we got really fed up with this and decide not to get ahead anymore. Instead we stopped at every stop on the left to eat a piece of chocolate- there is a raft every 50 meters, serving food.  We were riding on the buoy, resting my chin and paddling forward slowly. 
The swim was uneventful - very easy and relaxing, it was the getting out of the mountain with 30,000 people is exhausting, we were trapped in the bus for 6 hours for a 3 hour journey, then 2 hour train back to Taipei and 1 hour to home.

After the long trip back home, both Jon and I felt that our chins are sore - like allergic reaction.  It took us a while to realize it was caused by our slow swimming at the end, we rub our chins against the buoys for too long.

How to make Bourgie Blossom

Our bougainvillea is growing bigger and bigger but she has given up producing any flowers.  The reason is that we have been taking care of her too well.  She needs to suffer to the edge of collapse, she would then feel the need to reproduce and blossom.  The internet article (google knows everything!) suggested to dry her for days then water, prune her branches or even bend them into circles (letting her grow tall is not desired), she will then feel the stress.

Building Site

The building site next to our apartment has been building for years - you see 5 or 6 people coming to work 8am sharp to do the work.  Including Saturday (the estate agent lied to us saying they don't work on Saturday).  The strange thing is in this super property bubble Hong Kong, this lot is in the prime location but has been in construction for years!?!?  We suspect the land owner might be using the loss over years due to delay in deliveries to write off the capital gain.

Partying Tokyo

Every one looked so normal and calm at the first party - soon deteriorated...  I remember I did the bee wiggle dance in the second bar, telling everyone where the pollen is. 

Spending the long long weekend in Tokyo to sort out some bank account issue and visiting friends.  It is quite nice to escape from the overly crowded Hong Kong for a short while - Tokyo is so clean, calm and relaxed. 

The taxi driver came to pick us up to Haneda airport - 4am in the morning, his white shirt is absolutely wrinkle-less and gloves were snow-white.  The taxi is spotless - Jon felt that we are being treated like the Royalties. 

Properties Investment

My friends probably all know my passion about properties - I am always looking around for farmlands, flats to buy.  I partner with my mum with a few properties investment projects in Taipei, so far we have been pretty successful.  In addition, I am almost famous as the "slump queen" in Tokyo 23 wards.   I am also looking to buy in Hong Kong if the yield is reasonable despite of the crazy prices. 

Recently I have a second thought about property investment.  Properties investment has become the only place investment can go and the honest money cannot find its way to solid infrastructure improvement to increase productivity.  Large percentage of the GDP comes from rich men's selling to/buying from.  This is absolutely absurd.  Germany keeps the housing market stable and people can focus on more meaningful growth.  Why are we so greedy that the hot money has to rush into the property market without control.  There is nothing I can do but at least I can decide not to join the game.

Although property is still the only investment that can fight inflation successfully - holding cash is nowadays looking more and more silly - I should spend them all in expensive holidays or designer handbags while I can, but sorry I don't like either of those. 

What are the investment choices?  Jon has come up with some interesting ideas - buying into the co-op farmlands in New Zealand.  It is normally very costly to buy and manage a farm by individual.  What if we pool small investors' funds into a capital that allows a professional team to run a dairy farm?  By doing so, the land right is owned by individual investors, the land is much more unlikely to be acquired by some rich people and turn it into a private apartment block complex or factories.  In addition, we are holding the asset rather than currencies. 

I wonder if I can go visit my cow "Daisy" one day in south island. 

Veggie Challenge

I am on my Vegetarian Regime again, but this time no breaks over the weekend.  It is not too bad so far - I still cannot resist fish.  Jon just complained once (he still doesn't like Tofu). 

Occupy Central

Some Chinese State Own business operation in Hong Kong promised their employees 500 HKD if they don't go to the "Occupied Central" gathering.  The operation will expense this payment as benefit??

Death of Charlie

Charlie is called Giant Taro, Elephant Ear or Alocasia - grow everywhere in south east Asia very strong can thrive in any tough environment.  We killed it by putting Charlie in the death corner of our living room.  First Dragon (leaves dropped nonstop for about 6 month followed by root rot), second Non-name (attacked by mealy bugs then Joey's aggressive bug elimination measure - he is now looking like a plastic plant after we spray him with insecticide which we vow never to use again), now third Charlie. 

I smell the funny rotting smell for a long time thinking that must be just the worm farm but last Saturday morning we found the huge trunk of Charlie near the soil is totally soft.  Where ants have built a colony and mealy bug infested the leaves at the same time.  We moved Charlie away from the death corner to the balcony and Jon convinced me we have to deal with Charlie now. 

Charlie is almost 6 feet tall with a 30 cm diameter trunk - how to get him into the garbage bag with the contaminated soil is really a problem.  We need a saw and hammer - I ran into the kitchen and found Mum's meat cleaver (when we first moved in, that's Mum's gift to us) and handed the cleaver to Jon, he then used it to chop up Charlie into pieces that can be bagged and chunked into the garbage bins.  Including the soil - we are not sure what has caused Charlie's death. 

I insisted to tip the garbage lady, she came around every day 10 pm, we ambushed her trying to give her some money for her extra work - she refused to take the money which makes me really uncomfortable.  Jon thinks it would be ok if we tip her at end of the year - maybe it is enough to let her know we appreciate her work :-(

It is rather sad to see Charlie go, we probably will get some police attention if this blog titled as "We lost a family member and we chopped it up into pieces with the meat cleaver Mum gave us as the house warming gift and the garbage lady is the accomplice".

Totally Unacceptably Bad Movie N+N Film (2)

I posted my comment (described in my previous posting) to the N+N film's FaceBook page. I understand I have attacked the artist - she might take it personally and I did get hit by some comments. The comment said that I am arrogant and I have insulted the artist and the professional judges by saying this film is like high-school-student's project.

Um, I admit that my comment is hostile and obnoxious. Nevertheless, I do think I have stated the truth. The film has made all possible mistakes a film maker can possibly hope to avoid. In one scene the little girl should be the center of attention but her pet turtle slowly creep out of the screen in the bottom left corner. The grand father hastily grabbed the creature to pull it back to view. No one cared about the girl but curious what has happened to the turtle. I am sure you have seen that in any home video, you set up the camera on a tripod stand and tell your 4-year-old sister to start acting. At some part of the film, you can see the little girl's speech was dubbed - the words are flowing out faster than the movement at her mouth! However, I have to admire the light technicians, it has been very consistent. Good job there.

Anyhow, the commentator was totally angry at my attack but ignore my other points, such as the film has not had a story line let along of passing any meaningful message. This film can make people emotional especially those who have lost or will be forced to move due to development. But nothing is black and white, why isn't the artist trying to show a more balanced view of this political issue so that we all can think why Hong Kong is where she is now. What makes me angry is those young kids (or old folks) going to the movie and holding a bamboo stick thinking "oh yeah, I have done my bit of helping social justice" and no one feels the film has not presented the adequate argument, explained historical background and delivered the un-biased discussions.

Perhaps this film was made to please the crowd - it is better to see it as the outlet of the angry villagers than anything else.

Totally Unacceptably Bad Movie N+N Film

After watching this film N+N, my first reaction is angry. This story can be potentially made into a very good documentary that actually makes people think deep but you have made it into a boring film trying to stir up emotion. Besides, the acting is really bad (is this because the artist didn't have enough funding to get proper professionals?). Why propaganda - sentences like "government is useless" or "corporations are taking advantage of ordinary people" are said more than once in the film, why state the obvious is it because audience are all needing your education? The young artist should have done better given her experience in stage directing. That makes me furious. The film basically destroy my hope that film industry in Hong Kong in the 21st century could have something original and interesting after the blooming activities last century. If the internationally recognized artist from Hong Kong produced a film in this high-school-students'-project quality forgive me for being blunt, what can I hope for? I do not think I am confident enough to watch another Hong Kong film.

Indeed Hong Kong is pretty dry in terms of culture and creativity, I suppose there hasn't been a sense of community, historical legacy because most of the population migrated to Hong Kong only recently. But the story, if we can ever say the film has a story, passes no message. Throughout the film I see a granda and a grand daughter hanging out mostly in the most crowded parts of the city and go back to their spacious country house so that grand daughter can have the space to ride a tricycle. I guess most people would like to have this life style - enjoying the convenience in the city and comfortable country house. The old man's home is going to be torn down - he can no longer take the best part of both worlds and that's why the movie was made?

At the end of the film, it says this film is dedicate to those who lost their homes because of development - so I finally grasped the message that the story is about against development. But please bare with me for a moment, may I know where the artist and the crew are living now? 50 years ago, it is most likely to be someone else's homeland, which was torn down and re-built. Against the development is layman's ideology. The high speed railway might have reduced the carbon emission given that train is most effective form of transportation. It could bring benefit to other part of the world, of course, anywhere outside of Hong Kong is not the artist's interest - at least I do not see it in her work.

My suggestion to her is that she should go back to school and perhaps take some philosophy lesson and learn how to write a convincing argument in a logical manner. Do not give me the excuse that I am an artist so I do not need solid training in academia environment. I think that's exactly what Hong Kong needs - we are trying to find the solution to problems, rather than arousing emotion to gain popularity.

The Hundred Year Old Man

Jon and I are thinking what are our hobbies - worm farming, gardening, hiking (when the weather is not so hot), swimming, yogaing (that's me only, Jon thinks Yoga is purely waste of time), kite surfing (that's Jon only, he quit his London job migrated to Auckland in order to surf), roller-skating (um, I force Jon to do it) etc., etc. I think one thing we both enjoy is moving going. Our favorite cinema is the Movie Center in Yau Ma Tei - featuring all sorts of independent or foreign movies. That is very convenient because both of us do not have much appetite to Hollywood films. The Hundred Year Old Man is a Swedish film - Allan's attitude to life and demeanor can be echoed from quite a few Swedish friends I have. I think they are very cool and serious about themselves, very difficult to relax to make fun of themselves in public. Practical, focusing on getting the solution to every question never waste time. Very driven for perfection and cannot tolerate deviation. Allan's life is composed of a series of co-incidents. He is not ambitious to become anything else - in the film, you almost do not sense he has any human desire (apart from wanting to have a drink all the time). He was "fixed" by a racial biologist in very early age, hence he didn't have desire for sex and thought it wasn't such a bad thing after all - (he obediently let the doctor chop his balls off, perhaps it is a Swedish joke or something). In some aspect, apart from being a nice person Allan is quite boring. His only passion is to blow things up, which started a series of events that made him to meet with all sorts of conductors and dictators in Europe around the WW2. Perhaps the film is not able to penetrate into Allan's personalities, we are all viewing him through a piece of colored glass. Not a bad film, entertaining yet has a thread of sadness in it - perhaps it would be better if Allan still has his balls and can have his family later.

Super Hot Weather

The weather is terribly hot in Hong Kong it is practically not possible to do any hiking/walking under the sun after 8am. We mostly go to the beach or swimming pool to train for the 4Km swim scheduled at the end of August - the Sun Moon Lake crossing. As the result, I am getting very tan. My back and bums are totally ridiculous, milky white skin and chocolate brown skin are separated by a clean cut line - this reminds me that the very same bathing suit have been with me for almost 20 years. Wow.

Meet up party

We went to a meetup party last night just for a change (instead of staying home watching telly drinking beer) we decide to go out and drink some beer in the heat. The meetup group was organized by a young Belgium guy, specializing in helping people to start up companies in Hong Kong. I thought we will meet some brilliant entrepreneurs and great ideas. The meeting place is in the dodgy area in Wan Chai, right across the street from the girlie bar. That's not important yet we saw kids only. Very very young, students, young professionals, or someone who is already running a company for a few years. Some very brilliant people but most of the kids are pretty clueless - what I should do and where to find a great business idea. No vision and experience, perhaps it is the desired quality, otherwise no one is brave enough to leave the comfort zone and do a start up. I was quite frustrated and a young dude came about to chat - he is still a teenager! With braces so I said to him "Nice braces and how old are you?"

One more picture from the skating SunnyBay Disneyland Hong Kong

Jon's first time out with the skating group - he wore helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards whereas I normally only wear wrist guards. He thinks it is nice to see other people wearing full projection in the group.

Rollerskating in 33C

We must be out of our minds to go skating under the heat - the skate started at 2:30 and we came out of the air-conditioned train thinking this is definitely not a good idea. It turned out alright, once we started moving we enjoyed the breeze near the sea and tried every opportunity to move under the shade. This weather is really challenging.

Koala

Ok, we need to put some normal picture to my blog. Jon once commented it is really hard work to get Joey look normal in any picture. I didn't do it on purpose, it is just hard for me to relax in front of Camera.

Python

I think I can be a good actress one day. Another picture in my favorite place in Brisbane.

Feeding Joey

The zoo is the highlight of my trip to Brisbane.

Mustache and Nail

Jon left his shaver in Brisbane and needed to have a clean face for ID photo taking. I gave him my disposable shaver as the emergency measure "It might not be as sharp as real one but it should work, hey it is brand new I haven't used it for my legs or armpits yet". "Joey it is not working at all" "Um, the blade doesn't move along your face but it should work" "No it doesn't" - after some time we found that the transparent plastic cover is not removed. My nails are extra hard and strong, my nail clippers are all super sharp and robust. "Do you need the clippers they are in my makeup bag" "Not really, I chew my nails off" "Wow, I hope you can show me how you do that to your toe nails" "No, I use the kitchen scissors when you are not home".

Smart Phone

I refuse to be a smart phone owner for years, I am still using Mum's old Nokia (state-of-the-art phone in 2000) - it is solid, I have used it in Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan. If it still holds together, I think I will use it for another decade. Those who are walking and swiping their smartphone on the street do get on my nerve. There is really no need to save that 10 seconds by checking your phone while walking. And your friend probably won't ditch you because you didn't respond their text messages right away. Jon simply pushed them away - he was running around the loop at the peak and some kids were walking and checking their phone not paying attention to him approaching. I sometimes wonder if Jon is going to be attacked or ambushed if he keeps going that way - um, I don't run with him anymore. Dad didn't understand why kids are all using smartphone until Carol explained to him that they are using it for social networking such as Facebook or Line their friends. He then turned to me saying "why you don't have smartphone? Does that mean you don't have any friends?" He wanted to buy me one immediately.

Undies Paradise

I have been using Jon's old undies for cleaning, drying, as the entrance mat from the balcony to the living room, use it as the placemat, use it as the insulation materials in the kitchen, hand towel, tea towel, shock resistant materials when kids came around (I wrapped the French window door handle with it to prevent kid from colliding the handle when they jumping on the couch).

I had to force Jon to send the rest of his summer undies to the Undies Paradise because they can barely cling on to his waist.

Continue fighting with Mealybugs

No name after spraying, he looks un-harmed and leaves are all shinny. But all other living beings in the pot are gone. Be ware, do not touch any plants in the park or public area. Who knows how much insecticide they have to use to keep them clean like that.

Bourgi is our favorite plant, she has almost doubled in size after we re-pot her. No name's mealybug problem is not getting any better, I spent almost 20 minutes every morning drinking coffee and cleaning the bugs from No Name. Charlie is also infected - now my work has doubled. This morning I found that the ant is transporting a female mealy bug. Searching the internet, only to find that the ants can herd mealy bugs. They will move them around and collecting nectar produced by them. This is only a matter of time the mealy bugs get to bourgi (the new plant we got 2 months ago and re-potted). Something has to be done. We have no choice but to go with insecticide. No systemic is available, the garden center girl recommended the cheap and effective synthesis pyrethroid. She re-assured us this is safe and easy to use, just like using Raid to kill cockroaches and mosquito at home. Jon was not too happy about it, he really wanted to go systemic (which is the chemical that is water soluble which is then absorbed by the plants - insects that sucking the saps would then be poisoned. However, systemic seems only available to large scale commercial farming like rice growing. I insisted to use the spray at least to keep the mealy bug under control, even it is temporarily. We put No name in the shower and heavily sprayed the insecticide over him, including the soil. It didn't smell too good and we found a paralyzed cockroach facing skyward wiggling its legs cannot flip over. Insects are super sensitivity to Pyrethroid even if by walking through the sprayed area. It is neuron toxins which excite/confuse the bugs. Low toxic level to human but we decided not to use it every again. It was a bad decision.

Queuing in Singapore

I spent 2 months working in SGP for a client earlier this year. Singapore is a highly organized society, even the tree on the side of road looks smooth and sophisticated. Perhaps they all went through the military training and travel around the world. My company applied the short-term work VISA for me and I went though the immigration trouble free. The next step is to collect the ID card and I agreed to go to the VISA office at 8:20am for a meeting - thinking I can easily go back to work afterwards and maybe go buy a cup a overly sweet and hot milk tea (I got really addicted to the south east Asia style milk tea, I need one cup every day) before the daily meeting at 9:30. I arrived at the office about 10 minutes late, I was received by a receptionist and given a ticket displaying my appointed meeting time and the time I arrived. I then sat down and wait, thinking it won't take long at all. I was so wrong - I waited for about 45 minutes and nothing happened. I went to the reception and asked why the delay - he checked my ticket and explained because I was 10 minutes late, the VISA office won't delay anyone who's arrived on time to serve me. My case will only be processed if there are anyone missing their appointment hence the wait.

Mealybugs

I have never dreamt that I will be battling with indoor plants' bugs daily. I refuse to use any insecticides hence I was patiently brushing away those little disgusting bugs wrapped in silk on my croton. We first discovered spider mites on Harry (Acreca Lutenscens - I give all house plants names). BTW, the croton is called "no name". I washed Harry's leaves weekly to control the spider mites - they are so tiny invisible to naked eyes but you can see the white dots at the back of the leaves, which are the little silk purse they created to protect their colonies and eggs. That weekly cleaning persisted a few month but spider mites are not getting any less - I eventually gave up. After all, Harry looks reasonably happy. We have to live with the bugs as long as they are not killing the plants. No name is in the corner of the living room initially then I discovered there are loads moldy spots and white silks around its branches and the back of the leaves. Some yellowish skin tone bugs are moving under the mold - um that's our first encounter of mealybugs. Weekly cleaning didn't do any good. I was getting very impatient - spraying soapy water, brushing vinegar, non of those worked. I found a almost empty bottle of mosquito off spray and thought if I diluted it with lots of water, that might drive away the annoying bugs. I did and the leaves and stems of No Name turned black. Really upset, I was really upset and going on and on about it, Jon got really annoyed with me "For God's sake it is only a plant!" so he ran to the kitchen got a pair of scissors chop the blackened stems off No Name. Saying if I said another word about the dying plant he is going to chop off another stem. Auntie Yee advised we should not over water the plants and it is better to keep the plants. We move No Name to kitchen where there are plenty of sunlight and breeze, stopped water it for weeks - a couple months later - no name is growing new leaves! Charlie (another big plant) in the living room where No Name used to be is getting mealybugs - I just discovered. Searching the internet for remedy, this time I was using the robbing alcohol to kill the mealybugs one leave at a time. Hope this is not going to infect Borgi (she is our favorite plant in the balcony).

Escaping worms

The worms were running out of the worm bin because the temperature was too high inside the bin. The composting occurred too rapidly since we blended the kitchen scraps into "worm slush" as advised by some worm farmer in Australia - this is aiming to control fruit flies (so that the worms can get to the food faster than flies laying eggs) and speed up the compositing. But the compost rot too quickly generating heat. Worms were all running to the corners to escape from the heat and some even escape from the tab where the worm tea dripped from. We had to remove the compost into a separate bin and the rotting sweet potato really smells bad. At least the worms are cooled off now.

Reading Instruction

I think it is because I grew up reading comics, I learnt to jump from one picture to another to understand stories. I obviously apply this technique a lot when I read. It works pretty well to read Chinese Novels, I can flip through the pages by scanning words diagonally and pretty much grasp the basic idea for a paragraph. Reading English takes me more time to comprehend - if the article is interesting I might be patient enough to go through it word by word. But a lot of time, I only glance over them. That happened again when reading the instruction of the 3M magic hook installation and removal. I managed to get hold a mosquito net in Taiwan (no one sells them anymore in Hong Kong). The mosquitos manage to wake us up around 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, really do not know how to control them as I refuse to use chemical spray. We need to hang the mosquito net without drilling nails into the wall, the 3M hooks they claim can do the job sounds just right.

I installed the hook, never tried to remove them. Hence I was just reading the removal instruction hastily when we need to re-position the hook (yeah, we put the first hook on the wall without thinking too much). "Ok, Jon, pull the tape handle, no, no, not 45 degree outward but straight down" "Like this?" "Yeah, you are doing good" The tape between the hook and the wall extended from 4cm to roughly 20cm long and the hook was still on the wall. "Um, Jon it says it will extend to 20cm and ..." "Ouch!" The hook was suddenly released from the wall because the sticky tape has thinned out so much, it was dragged down by the elastic band and hit Jon's thumb. That really hurt - I hasn't been able to finished the last bit of instruction - please hold the hook on the wall with the other hand while pulling the tape down.

KANO the movie

The only interesting bit of this movie is to understand life in Taiwan under Japanese rule. The rest is like comic. Anyone who had experience with Japanese Manga that's sports related will be able to understand what I meant. A group of hot-blooded youngsters vowed to win the championship - and they worked on it and they always did it. Everyone was in tears whether they made it or not. I am very confused what this movie is trying to say. The passion for baseball? The director wants to blend in the history of Taiwan, the soil, the land, the people into the story but concoction is just not as splendid. It is also a 3 hour long movie, coming out of the theater, I only felt tired and it is very hard to echo the compassion and energy - the story is simply too thin and the acting... As I described before, I think it is really like reading a comic. Correction - Kano is a remake from a comic, that's why it is so unreal. But I still don't like it.

Sesame noodles

After going to grand dad's tomb in the morning, we had lunch in Jon's favorite restaurant in Taipei in the afternoon after returning from the cold rainy mountain, starved. Jon has demonstrated his sesame noodle eating talent, he ate 3 bowls in a row. The interesting difference between Taiwan and Hong Kong restaurant is that, in Hong Kong, the waitresses are all too eager to collect plates and clean up the table. They even intrude our conversation, reach out to take the bowl/plate the moment I put them on the table. Not a word, not feeling apologetic. In the noodle shop, the cleaning lady came over with a bucket (again so not possible in Hong Kong). It is close to 3pm their break and she is of course eager to clean up the table. She looked at us smiling and asked "are you having enough?" as if we are her kids (um, that's really how I feel). We said yes and she started to clean the table. Another amazing difference is that we asked the waiter who delivered the noodles to us if we can eat the chicken we bought from other shop, he was like "of course, please go ahead, every one does that". Wow - hard to believe any restaurant in Hong Kong will let you do that.

Sausage roll

We were traveling around NZ last X'mas - staying in the holiday park - brought our own sleeping bags and use the communal toilet, shower and kitchen, etc. Great way to travel.

Camping and Hiking

Camping with Mum's TaiChi group then go for a 1000 meter climb from 1800 meter elevation the next day. Mum is totally a city person, she dislikes plants, animals and anything that smells, dirt/sand decorated, or alive. Her only contact with nature is those animal corpses and produces in the wet market. I was completely taken aback when she told me that she is into camping now. We drove to meet Mum and planed to camp with the Taichi group. Their camp ground is sheltered! There is water and electricity, uncles and aunties took almost the whole kitchen with them. There is no even a mosquito. Jon said to Mum that he thinks he eats better when camping with Mum than home. We ended up building our tent inside a room to keep mosquito away. It is a holiday park Taiwanese version. Mum cooked lots of foods - that's reason everyone likes to take mum with them when traveling. When it is time to sleep, I went to check Mum's tent. She brought with her a small suitcase, it has her blanket and pillow she uses at home. Her friends have got the mattress ready - all she needs to do is to lay down and hide under the duvet. That is actually very cute because Mum looks so tiny. During dinner, Master Xiu explained us what is TaiChi - it is something that cannot be described or explained. The moment you tried to do it, you are wrong already. (Funny thing is after we returned home, they had a Saturday morning lesson obviously it is about how to be soft, Master Xiu taught them how to be pushed and not moved. Mum came home and said to me, you try to push me, Ok, I can really not move her at all. Few hours later, we ran into Mum's TaiChi friend in the festival, she also said, you try to push me now!)

Body surf

Last year when Grace and Mum came, we all went to Shek-O to show the kids some beautiful beaches in Hong Kong island. This is the result of body surf demonstration - Jon's head went straight into the sand under the wave, blood streaming down and he asked me if he is ok. I said you are just fine but when he walked into the changing room everyone was staring at him with the shocked face.

Sharp Peak

We went for a 2 day camp hike in Sai-Kung. Sharp peak has been one of the mountains we always wanted to hike but never did it with heavy backpacks (it is only accessible via 2 hour walk). We left our bags at the bushes then started the walk. Very treacherous and steep at some parts, the ground was lose, stones falling apart. Real hiking boots should help - we hike in running shoes all the time. We walked for about 16Km over the past 2 days with our light camping gear (no food no water, only a tent, sleeping bags, mattress, pillows, swimming gears and changing clothes, etc.). It felt like tons when hiking in hot and humid weather, especially uphill. We finally got home exhausted the next day and weighted our bags - it is only 10 and 7 kg!

Signing

We signed the paper last Friday during my lunch break. After the ceremony, I went back to work and Jon went swimming.

Worm farm

Our worm farm in the balcony.

Winnie the Pooh

Being a joker for everyone's entertainment I bought this hat for Jon's Rugby 7 outing, it is almost a rule that everyone has to dress up if you would like to get into south stand where young kids throwing beer at each other. Jon's got quiet a few pints and we decided to walk home from LKF. He was in the hat and said to people on the street "Where is the honey mate".

Picture taking

The funny thing about these pictures is that I bent my knees trying to be in the center. Hey I swear I didn't do that on purpose.

Helmet

Um, I was being made fun of wearing a helmet in this picture - my thick hair.

Skating in SGP

I was shipped in Singapore after Chinese New Year for about 5 weeks, in order to find something to do during the weekend, I again joined the local skating group. The lots are fun bunch, we started skating around 6pm and skate into the night while it is much cooler. stop for ice cream and soda, meeting other skating groups, etc.

Putting together

Few weeks after moving in - all furniture are second hand. We see no point of chopping down more trees for brand new wooden furniture while the second hand ones are just as good. One less item to the landfill is probably the best thing we can do to the environment living as a city dweller. __________________________________________________ We are still sleeping on the floor today, keep putting off the task to find a proper bed. The guest bedroom is pretty completed though.

Worm farm

Last year when we moved into our new flat, Jon had taken the responsibility of finding the kitchenware and furniture; I was responsible for the logistic and negotiating the prices. Jon would go round taking picture and sent them to me while I was at work. This is the kitchen rack stuff he found in IKEA. We are happily using it still. __________________________________________________________ We were crazy about house plants when we first moved in, and vowed to find a tree for our living room. We started with the small IKEA plant like that in the picture. Jon got it home and we watered it for 3 days before realizing it in fact plastic.

吾年未四十，而視茫茫，而髮蒼蒼，而齒牙動搖

Skating group in Singapore - the weather was just too hot and humid, we started around 6pm and skated into the night until 11. ________________________________________________ This is quoted from a famous ancient Chinese literature, translated into "I am not yet 40 years old, and have blurred vision, and have sandy white hair, and teeth shaking". This is pretty much how I feel today.