Old Trafford Here We Come!

Hong Kong Jan 09 - Part 2

So Okay, I've been putting off completing the archiving of the X'mas/New Year trip to Macau and Hong Kong. I had tons of fun that time. Will just do a quick wrap up before me and Daisy go off for our long belated honeymoon. Yup! We're going on a honeymoon!

Anyways, Hong Kong was about food mostly. The food is good, and it doesn't help that food in HK is cheaper than in Singapore. But I wont be posting more shots of Dim Sum, don't worry. Hong Kong is also about maids congregating at Victoria Park.

It's also about great roadside munchies; Daisy's favourite being curry fish balls.


Also, if you've watched Hong Kong dramas/movies, you'll find vistas of terraced cemetaries. Kinda let you feel like Chan Ho Nam in one of those triad movies. Dunno what I'm talking about? Too bad for you then.

There are also plenty of "Missing" / "Lost" posters in town. From people who are really missing...

To "forget about it la" kinda missing pets.

But I tend to like the extra-ordinary, like going on a hike along the mountains of Hong Kong. The Dragon's Back Trail, anyone?

Starts off along wooded trails that can be kinda creepy if not for the occasional ang moh hikers you chance upon once in a while.

The trail eventually winds into the open hilltops that span the length of Hong Kong island.


I'm not sure if you could see it, but the trail seemed like it was never going to end! Up the side of one hill, down the other. Repeat for 9 peaks!


Yep, it's tiring all right! But the view from the trail, I assure you, is breath taking.


And the view gets better. With the cool sea breeze, it's a great feeling altogether.

Really glad we took the time to try something different.

From the Dragon's Back Trail, we ventured to Big Wave Bay and Shek O.

Sipping a beer at Big Wave Bay, I somewhat expected to see Grace Lam in some kinky action behind one of the big boulders on the beach. Also don't know who Grace Lam is? Then, really too bad lah.

Anyways, one trail I definitely do not look forward to hiking is the one tranversing Lantau Island to get to the giant statue of Buddha.

On the cable car looking down, we could see groups of hikers slowly making their way across the hills. The end of the cable car journey is the massively crowded Ngong Ping 360 themed villlage. (One tip on getting Cable Car tickets is to buy it a day earlier. Saved us 2 hours of queuing)

I've always met friends on trips overseas. This time is no different. Guess who we bumped into? Haha! Jensen and ShuZhen! Yeah, silly Liverpool fans, haha!

It's a good thing the Buddha is a Manchester United fan. Oh yeah, baby!

Lantau is also famous for silky smooth dou hua. Refreshing stuff.

Being a food lover, I find eating the roasted goose at Yue Kee a highlight of the trip.

It's located at some super ulu place. Somewhere in Sham Tseng actually. But boy is it good!

Salivating right now.. Another famous HK makan institution is Under Bridge Spicy Crab. We ordered the mildy spicy version that day as Daisy decided I was not to be allowed to eat spicy food. Will elaborate more later.

But I'll fefinitely go back to HK and order a properly spicy version of this dish; the spicy crab. Unlikely to be as good as the dishes at Mellben Ang Mo Kio but interesting nonetheless.

Having read of a toilet themed restaurant opening a few years ago, I sought it out and found it somewhere in Mongkok.

I would grade the experience as fun and interesting haha! Food is ma ma dei but it's the experience that matters.

Even our cups are in the shapes of urinals!

All that postings about food is making me real hungry right now. Already looking forward to going back to HK for makan. This time, I'll be more controlled. Back in January, I ate so much I suffered major indigestion. Feeling nauseous for one whole day, I finally had bouts of vomitting late one night. Daisy had to rush me to Ruttonjee Hospital and I had to have my butt jabbed by a lady doctor.

Luckily I was discharged a few hours after that but wasn't allowed to have a properly spiced Under Bridge Spicy Crab. But I recovered enough to celebrate the New Year at January the 1st 2009.

As well as my own birthday on January 2nd.

I love Hong Kong. Will definitely go back there again.

Yup, I believe I'll be seeing Hong Kong again pretty soon.

1st Year Anniversary

One year ago today, I tied the knot with Daisy. Right about this hour, we were probably in church exchanging vows.

I take you, Daisy, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times
and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the
days of my life.

I love you, Daisy.

It's been a great one year. Never knew time could ever fly so fast. Seemed like only yesterday. I was watching the Video Montage I did for the wedding reception and it really brought back a lot of memories; happy ones.

Want to say a heartfelt thanks to all our friends who have part of our lives together all these years.

Rest In Peace, Yasmin

And may perpetual light shine upon your soul

We will miss you!

Get Well Soon Yasmin

It's in the news that Yasmin Ahmad had a stroke and is in ICU. I pray that she has a speedy recovery. You can do it, Yasmin!

Yasmin Ahmad, whom I've only met once, directed movies like Sepet and Muallaf. We met her last year while she was in Singapore promoting Muallaf, the movie Malaysia may never get to see. Not sure if it's been screened in Malaysia yet though.

If there was one word that I'll use to describe her, it'll be COURAGE. If you're a Malaysian, and have watched some of her movies, you'll fully understand what I mean.

Her are some of her 'mini' works. (you may have seen the funeral one)

Sexy Monroe

My work requires me to stay back in office till late sometimes. And 'sometimes' can sometimes be 'most of the time'. To keep me entertained at night, I installed a nice wall mounted audio player by Philips.

Last week, my ang moh boss decided that I should have a better companion in the office. He sent Marilyn to keep me company.

For two days, I get a shock everytime I open the room door.

27

Daisy's Birthday Weekend!

Had nice drinks at Wala Wala with former university mates on Saturday night. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera along, so no pictures. On Sunday, we invited a couple of Daisy's colleagues for lunch. Both of them were from Kuching and the only reason we're having them over was to eat Kuching laksa, haha!

Somehow, 2 more of her colleagues appeared as a surprise birthday celebration. She was surprised cos' she did not expect them. I was surprised because I have already laid out 4 bowls of laksa. Luckily, I made extra gravy so it was just a matter of boiling more bee hoon. Phew!

After lunch, we they had a little 'recreation session' of Wii Tennis. If that wasn't enough, they even tried their hands at Boxing. Violent women, these civil engineers...

After a round of Raving rabbids, we adjourned to the mahjong table for a friendly gaming session.


I had rotten luck this afternoon. Don't wanna talk about it. Luckily, we did not play with real money. Still, sigh...

Dinner was with Daisy's parents at Imperial Herbal Restaurant and Tcafe. That means another birthday cake!


As usual, Daisy gets a hongbao and a present. Well, I can't remember if she gets hongbao every year, but definitely a present from her parents.

Now, wonder what it is?

A brand new Nokia N97! Actually, her parents bought it for me, but it's just too ridiculous to get a present on your wife's birthday, so there's no way I'm accepting it.


Important thing is, Daisy seem to like her new N97!

Happy Birthday Dear.

*Muahz*

Sporty Day

We had a "Sporty Day" last Friday afternoon. The Alexandra Agency Sales Management Team went to Bedok Reservoir for some serious water sports action adventure.

If you could somehow believe it, we were kayaking! Cool, relaxing fun!

Next up, we tried something more physicaly taxing; dragon boating!

There is a reason why the professional racers have bulging muscles. Dragon boat racing is real hard work!



The weather was great, and the camaraderie was perfect. Some of us still had some energy left to smile (and jump) for the camera at the end of the day. Thanks everyone! It sure was a lot of fun. You guys were are the best :-)

The Modern Middle Kingdom

I've lived in Singapore for 10 years. I never once saw it as The Modern Middle Kingdom as Mr M calls it. Makes for an interesting read, his blog post.

Having written a long commentary as part of this post, I decided not to publish it instead. Suffice to say that many others have had their say about the various issues faced by the two countries. Hence, I reserve all other comments.

Manchester United - 08/09

Been a great season. Would have been greater had we also won both the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. But a haul of FIFA Club World Cup, Carling Cup and Premier League champions is amazing by any measure.

So we've finally sold Christiano Ronaldo. I remember being in NUS and wondering "why the heck did we pay £12.2 million for boy from Portugal who's barely 18 years old?". All that cross-overs that achieved nothing in his first season only served to compound fears of Manchester United going down the drain in those years. But the boy wonder grew into a monster of a football player and the rest is history. £80 million is good business deal for someone who wants out anyways. Looking forward to exciting new players.

I dislike the fact that next season's kit might be used for 2 years but the with the sponsor's logo changing after only one year. This authentic looking poster was supposedly leaked by Nike. Poster itself is nice, but difficult to make a judgement call on the stripe.

Especially with this photo also appearing online. Hmmm...

Casa Sarina

Went for Tommy's housewarming last Saturday. Nice pad. Very nice, indeed. Good for living; good for entertaining guests.

Congrats bro!