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May 3, 2009 Leave a comment


Photo Taken: Causeway Bay MTR Station – LG new Touch Phone with interactive floor screen (projection from the ceiling).

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

The Siren is back!

May 3, 2009 Leave a comment

It is always a joy to have Yiyi with us in the Karaoke Room. She has a great voice and an even greater look! Best of all, she keeps Elkan, Scott and me happy! On a formal and serious note, she really can sing – Both English and Mandarin songs (male or female)! I wonder where Scott found such a beautiful Siren… Certainly not at the local Starbucks.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

Swine Flu Scare

May 3, 2009 Leave a comment

Swine Flu is finally officially in Hong Kong. 3 days ago, all the face-masks were sold out. And last night, we all received an sms from Smartone Vodafone – "the government has upgrade the warning to Emergency". Today, we saw a big difference outside. You can tell the local are taking good precaution. Many people on the streets, in the trains are all wearing face-masks. (In HK, the people who wear face-mask belongs to 4 groups of people – Those who are protesting. Or those who are sick. Or those who want to protect themselves. Or those who are going to Court.) Even the taxis are operating with half-opened windows. The lifts in my estate are sanitised twice an hour!

Apr-Jun has always been a lousy period! SARS happened during this period. And last year this time, we had the big Myanmar hurricane and the Sichuan earthquake. Let’s hope this Pig Flu is a small crisis. For once, Mexican Wave is not welcome anywhere else. Imagine you have the bird flu, the sars and swine flu all active at the same time!

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

Kallang Roar in HK

May 2, 2009 Leave a comment

We were eating MOS Burger at MEGABOX this afternoon when we heard the familiar roar "Go! Singapore! Go!" Out of curiosity, we dashed out and watched an ice-hockey match between Singapore and Beijing. Sitting on our left was a group of Chinese and Hong Kongers and on our right was a group of Singapore Ang Mohs. They were yelling and cheering for Singapore. It was an exciting (and a very evenly matched) match between 2 groups of Under-12s. The atmosphere was fantastic and the mood was very high! Harshad (my Indian colleague), Hong Fei (my Malaysian colleague) and I found ourselves cheering for Singapore! (Urghh… I should bring out my air-horn and those infamous Hokkien/Malay slogans!)

The final score – 5-3. The young lions thrashed the Chinese flat! It has been quite a while since I last cheered for Singapore sport. Except this time, I am not at the old Kallang Stadium… I was cheering in a Hong Kong shopping mall, doing the Kallang Roar with a bunch of Singaporean Ang Mohs…. . So incredible! The Singapore Fever is here again!

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

Labourless Weekend

May 2, 2009 Leave a comment

I have been absent from my blog for the past 2 weeks. (This morning, Cousin Yei sms me and asked if I was busy). I have been really busy and sick…Not the swine flu – but there was a strange "diarrhoea virus" in my household. It all started with me – I had 3 days of extreme diarrhoea and doctor said it could be the bad Yakult that I drank. There were a lot of bad bateria in my tummy – it was so bad that I went to the loo at least 20 times in one night! Then, this virus hopped around the family – right after me, Felicia and Tracy had the same shit. (Elkan? He is lucky this time!)… I didn’t know diarrhoea can be air-borned.

Finally a long weekend – thanks to "Labourless Day" – I am free to take the family and friends out! (Tracy flew out last night to Taipei for a short weekend holiday!) This morning, I brought Hong Fei and family and Harshad to the Hong Kong Park – to test out our very poisonous photography hobby! (And we bumped into my client, Kenneth!) Later in the afternoon, we went to Megabox (and we bumped into another client, Auntie Sandy!) Haaa.. what an odd coincidence!

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

Men’s Disneyland – China

May 2, 2009 Leave a comment


Photo: Scott’s new Chinese Sport Car.


Photo: The new "High-Flier" Sign.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

The Other Side of Reality

May 2, 2009 Leave a comment

Last weekend – Scott, Joe and Harshad went to Southern China. I thought it will be another business-cum-drinking joy nights..but it turned out to be a very meaningful trip for me.

Harshad and I stayed over 1 more night in Guangzhou and we were told by a local friend that there is a RMB30/night hotel. It isn’t a love-motel, it was just some local 1-star hotel for those who just sleep and leave. Thus, we decided to explore this option – since it is only RMB30 per night!

It was an eye-opener for me. The stairs are dark, the walls are dirty and the hall stink badly. There is no reception table – just a man sleeping behind a caged room of bars (like a jail cell) – he opened the door and led us to our rooms. When he showed us the room, it reminded me of those kampong houses – cracked floor, decaying ceiling and lizards crawling around the room. No aircon, just a black dusty ceiling fan. I checked the toilet – it was dark and stuffy. It was one of those old untiled squat toilet holes (like those I saw in jail). Next to the hole is the shower area. Yeah, I bet there is no heater too. The bed is old and torn – I bet there must be a zillion bed bugs in there waiting for me! We politely rejected the hotel manager and left the hotel. My god, how could anyone live under such condition!

Later that evening, our friend invited us to her house. It was sad for me. Her house was as bad or if not, worse than the hotel room. It was deep inside the back alley – no street lamps – I have to turn on my iphone so that we have some decent light to lit the path. Her flat was on the 4th floor – the stairs were dark and narrow. This is one place where my imagination will run wild – I felt so unsafe and scared. It looks exactly like the scary movie "Dark Water" or if not "The Ring".

Once she opened her door, Harshad and I saw a couple of rats running across the room! Her room-mate had left the window open – the rats came in to look for food. It was really pathetic! I can’t help but felt so so sad for her. I looked out of the window – everyone in the neighbourhood is living almost in the same condition. It was the norm for them.. but for me – it was as good as staying out on the street (maybe Singapore street is cleaner and brighter too!)

On our way back to Hong Kong, I can’t erase what I saw the night before. It did affected me deeply somehow. It was a different type of world. A world that my grandparents had lived and never want us to revisit. In the harsh reality, there are still many people who are still living under such "norm". It is times like this that made me realise how fortunate I am. According to her, there are much more worse living conditions that we normally don’t get to see. For how many can we help?

For me, it doesn’t matter how many people I can help. I will start with one..and slowly move on to the next. The Guangzhou trip isn’t just a trip where we meet business friends and got drunk-happy. I saw a new chapter in my life – It was hardship that I never get to experience or see as a child. And I do appreciate my life a lot.

Filed under Wahbiang

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