Fate Brings Family Together

May 13, 2011 2 Comments

It was strange how Fate brought family together. On my last day in Singapore, I was messaging my Cousin Bin that I couldn’t meet up with him. He replied and informed me that my Canadian uncle and auntie were in town. I told him I was heading back to Hong Kong and may not meet up with them – perhaps when they come to Hong Kong end of May. 4 hours later, Elkan was pestering me to bring him to the airport. I gave in to his request and we walked to the taxi stand – there, I saw them at the taxi queue! What a sweet, happy surprise! They were very surprised to see me and we will meet again end of May in Hong Kong. Thanks to Elkan, we were at the perfect place at the perfect time. (Photo taken by Elkan)

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore

Another Sad Goodbye

May 9, 2011 1 Comment

It is one of those sad goodbyes when we kept tears in our hearts. All 3 of us share the same type of life. We are lonely in our own ways. But our jovial personalities helped us overcome all these. Elkan loves us a lot. He enjoys “family hug”. Whenever Felicia and I are walking on the streets, he likes to pull both our hands together. He is always reminding us to be lovely, dropping us love notes from time to time.

We hate to shed tears during goodbye. Because tears can be brutally more contagious than yawn. Today was another familiar scene at the departure gate. It wasn’t my son’s tears which broke my heart. It was his innocence, sensitivity and maturity that moved me.

I saw that coming. In fact, I tried many times refusing Elkan to send me off at the airport. I even tempted him with toys and other distractions. He insisted sending me off. While we were in the airport, he just wanted me to play with him. “Daddy, give me maths questions or anything we can do together.” In the end, we were folding paper planes and throwing them across the concourse. He was very happy.

When it was time to go, Elkan fought hard not to cry. He showed me an expression that I only see in adults. Big watery eyes, putting on a sad smile. There was no need for words. We hugged tightly. I left. Between the thin glass wall which separated us, Elkan wanted to tell me something. But I couldn’t hear him. He quickly condensed the glass wall with his warm breath. On the misty screen, he wrote “I love you Daddy” and waved goodbye.

There were we. Father and son…standing by each other, separated by a wall of glass. I felt so so sad. Unable to watch his teary eyes, I walked towards the immigration counter with red teary eyes. The officer saw what happened. She gave me a smile and offered me some kind words.

Perhaps God has a special way to make us cherish each other. My absence builds strength in my boy, my wife and myself. We appreciate the simplest form of enjoyment – as long as all of us are together as one family. No material gains would bring this depth of happiness. We recognized the true value of family. Yes, this may not be the usual typical “everyday family life” but every second bring joys to our hearts. All these reunions and separations taught us the importance of kinships and love. And I have the best wife, best son and best life. I love you guys very very much.

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Singapore

I Love SG

May 9, 2011 1 Comment



Simply beautiful – My Family, my Friends, my Singapore, my Home. Sad to say goodbye to my loved ones again. Looking forward to come back home soon.

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Singapore

Back to Infinity and Beyond

May 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Yes, I am back in May again. This time for work, for casting a vote and celebrating Mother’s Day with my 2 mums and aunt. This is my shortest May visit ever – 5 days in exact – but this is one special visit of many “firsts” (voting and our dip in the infinity pool) and wonderful gatherings with my friends (Danielle, Wenxu, HongFei, Sherry, Kalinda, Juliana, Duuk, Meijie and Gareth!)

This is the first time I exercise my rights to vote. Yesterday morning, we went back to my old neighborhood to cast our votes. It has been almost 5 years since I last visited my estate! So many new roads and amenities. I saw many familiar faces and they have aged so much. I saw the uncle who used to sell sugar-cane drink at the hawker center at the voting center – but he was in a wheel-chair looking frail. From a distant, I took a glance at my flat. Sure miss those days back at home. We have been renting out that space for the last 4 years.

Right after my voting, my ex-business buddy Richard (and Chin) drove by and brought us to eat my favorite Bak Ku Teh pork soup at Joo Chiat. Later in the afternoon, I met 2 good friends from Shanghai – Johnny and Ming were in town – and we met over a short meal at Bugis.



My original plan was to bring Felicia and Elkan to Bintan for a short weekend getaway. But thanks to my company’s special corporate hotel rates, I managed to get us a good (and big) city-view room at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. As we are staying at the Sands, we decided to celebrate our Mother’s Day lunch at the hotel. I was right, my family and guests love the pool and the SkyPark! They visited us last evening and we showed them around the hotel. We have free access passes to the SkyPark and the Infinity Pool – we were just right in time to catch the 270-degree panorama sunset view on the 57th-floor.

The “Infinity Pool” is the main reason why we are here. This is the world’s largest pool at 200m high! Elkan, Felicia, Qiqi, Meijie and I had such a great time at the pool. It is 100% visually-stunning! The “infinity pool”, the city landscape and the many many hot bods and chicks! The experience is beyond words.

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore, Travel, Wahbiang Tagged with , ,

Our Election Day Dinner

May 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Here we are, having our late night dinner in our room, waiting for the final results for Singapore Election 2011. A super slow and frustrating result announcement by Channel 5 (we got most of the results via Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo news!).

Filed under Life in Singapore

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