Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 5 – Christmas Eve, Stockholm

December 25, 2013 Leave a comment

Our 9-day Sweden adventure was coming to an end. On our last day in Stockholm, I got all of us an unusual and special accommodation – on a boat hotel, Rygerfjord. We had a very big 6-bedder cabin at the lower deck of the boat with our own private shower rooms and toilet.

It was another “first-in-life” experience for all of us. Tracy was dumbfounded when she first saw the dark, narrow, small and steep metal ladders to our cabin and she yelled, “where is our hotel room?” Elkan was thrilled with his new imaginative world. It was like living on a battleship with all the ladders and portholes. It wasn’t too fun for Harshad as he had difficulty manoeuvring in the small tight toilet. For me, I had a backbreaking time trying to move our trolleys up and down the narrow ladders.

We spent a quiet Christmas Eve in Stockholm. The sky was grey and it was drizzling the whole day. The streets were exceptionally quiet and many shops were closing early. Many people were down at the shopping malls grabbing their last-minute Christmas gifts. It can be quite a lonely place if you are alone. Everyone’s running home for his or her Christmas Eve dinner.

We spent our day shopping and dining at Stockholm Central. Thanks to Scott’s brother-in-law, Kace, he recommended a very famous and good fish-&-chips restaurant (Lisa Elmqvist) at Saluhall not far away from our boat. It was very crowded with locals and it was worth the effort to come all the way here for the fish! Simply fresh and tasty! One of the best I had so far!

By nightfall, we returned to our boat hotel to pick up our luggage bags. There, we had our little Christmas Eve dinner before we headed off to the airport. The weather wasn’t looking very good. Friends from Singapore and Hong Kong sent travel warnings and regards to me. A big storm was brewing in London tonight. Next stop: Christmas Weekend in United Kingdom – London and Edinburgh!

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Family, Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 4 – Kiruna, The Ice Hotel

December 25, 2013 3 Comments

Kiruna is a mining town 1 hour south of Abisko. Here, you find the world’s largest underground iron mine. However, it isn’t the mine that brought us here. Kiruna is home to one of the world’s famous and most original attractions, The Ice Hotel. We decided to stop by for a day to visit the hotel.

Originally, I wanted to put all of us in the Ice Hotel. The original ice room was fully booked out and the warm “wooden” cabins cost USD450/pax! It was just way too expensive for us. However, the hotel staff was kind enough and told me that I can visit the ice rooms for a small entry fee.

When we arrived at Kiruna, it seemed like a white ghost town. There are only 18,000 people living and working here. We stayed in a small hotel at the town center, Bishops and Arms Hotel.

Strange but true – the first human being I spotted was a young lady from Singapore. She was chatting with my taxi driver to help her to call another cab for her entourage. This is what I love about the Singapore accent. It helps us to identify and connect with one another. I immediately approached her and offered our taxi but she has a big group. It was so good to bump into another Singaporean out here in the northern county of Sweden. There is never a trip when I don’t bump into Singaporeans. We are everywhere, at any time!

By 4pm, all the shops closed and there was no one or car on the street. We were the only ones wandering on the streets. Being too long in Hong Kong, I found it difficult to adjust to this new no-man’s land. It felt like a mock-up town in a Disney theme park. We managed to find a pizza joint where we had some really good food!

At 5pm, we called a cab and it fetched us to the Ice Hotel. The 20min 12km ride to Jukkasjärvi cost us 550sek (about SGD106/way).

When we arrived at the Ice Hotel, I was a little disappointed by its entrance. I was expecting to see a grand ice palace like the one we saw in one of James Bond’s movies. The entrance was an odd looking arch with lots of wooden structures beside it. Where is all the ice and fanfare, I thought to myself? Having visited the gigantic ice and snow festival of Harbin, the Ice Hotel looked so small and tiny. In my honest opinion, it’s not worth the money or effort to fly all the way to Sweden to stay at the Ice Hotel; unless this is part of a bigger travel itinerary or you are already residing in Sweden or the nearby countries. I feel the underwater hotel suite at Conrad Maldives is much more worthwhile, exotic, unique and spectacular!

The friendly artists and designers were still touching up the interiors when we walked into the Ice Hotel. Every year, The Ice Hotel interviewed and selected some of the world’s most original and unique designers (with the most refreshing ideas, no experience in ice needed) to design and build its suites. The hotel (celebrating its 24th year) was only 80% completed (all the ice here was harvested from the pure waters of the Torne River). We were still able to visit some of its “legendary rooms”. There were mainly 5-6 types of ice rooms – namely the snow room, ice suites, art suites, the northern light suites and the deluxesvites. The snow and ice suites looked very basic with one icy bed and 2 icy couches. We sat on the bed; it was smelly (stench from the thick animal fur) and hard. I didn’t find it comfortable or even romantic. To me, it was a fancy art gallery. Forget about the bathroom or toilet, there wasn’t any in these type of rooms (only the Deluxesvites come with personal sauna and toilet). Privacy was questionable too as I didn’t see any solid door. Only curtains (like the ones in dressing rooms). Maybe it wasn’t fully complete at the time of our visit, that was why it felt a little bare.

The art suites were much more impressive. Each room had its own unique theme and design. At the entrance of each room, there was an ice signage marking its creators and the title of their work. I spent a lot of time here photo-taking the well-sculptured interiors. Very impressive indeed.

We ended our tour at the world’s famous Absolut Ice Bar. The bar was brightly illuminated in blue hue. There was a big giant icy deep-sea “humpback anglerfish” at the side of the bar counter. The bar was big and can hold up to 50 people. Harshad and Tracy had their drinks from glasses made of ice. The bar was very quiet at the time we visited. There, we met our Singaporean travelers and exchanged tips on our previous Aurora Borealis encounters. On our way out of the Ice Hotel, we witnessed a small and quiet wedding ceremony at the lobby.

The next morning, we wanted to visit the world’s largest iron mine but it was closed on Sunday. It was daybreak and the town was eerily quiet. We went to the Kiruna Church where we met very friendly locals who offered us free hot tea and buns. They were so friendly that they allowed us to take photos of the church (something that I wasn’t allowed to do in Rome, England and Australia).

By 3pm, the sky set and it was dark again. We made our way to the train station. It will be another 18-hour train ride back to Stockholm where we take a one day break before we fly off to our next adventure.

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Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 3 – We saw the lights!

December 24, 2013 4 Comments

“Guys! I think I caught the Northern Lights in my photo” yelled Tracy. Harshad, Elkan and I were making a snowman outside our cabin when we heard those words. We looked up in the dark sky, we saw nothing. I thought Tracy captured one of those many light pollutions from the nearby towns.

You can’t blame me for my skepticism. It has been a long and tough journey for all of us. It takes more than a clear sky to see the Aurora. Sighting the Aurora is like catching the rainbow or the shooting star; one cannot predict their appearance. One needs tons of luck to be at the right place and at the right time to capture it. We have been fruitlessly waiting and watching the dark sky at our mountain cabin for 2 long nights. Aurora forecast from Alaska has been disappointing too. We were told we were in the wrong time window to catch the lights. The staffs at the National Park told us that they haven’t seen the lights for a couple of days too. I told Harshad, we have done all the things we should do (picking the best possible location and the right season); now it’s in the hands of God.

Tracy showed me the photo in her digital camera. There was indeed a very faint green trail of cloud in her photo. It was blurry and it didn’t look like those light reflections from the nearby buildings. I quickly went into the cabin, setup the tripod and aimed my Canon DSLR at the direction where Tracy spotted the green trail.

Just before I fired off my first shot, Tracy ran to me excitedly with her second shot! It was a much clearer shot. It was the Aurora Borealis! And it was coming down from the mountain right in front of our cabin!

“We found it!!!!” I yelled frantically! “We finally found it!” I jumped like a little boy. The excitement was overwhelming. Elkan tailed me and kept shouting “Daddy, daddy, I want you to shoot one for my iPad wallpaper!”

I ran out of the cabin with my gears and set my tripod in the snow. And I fired away a series of long exposure shots to capture the lights. The first few shots came in beautifully! At that very moment, I thanked God and Mother Nature for answering our prayers. The Aurora flashed across the dark sky for almost a good 1 hour! There were a couple of minutes when it was very bright and illuminating. It was simply amazing!

We headed for the mountain, hoping to catch more of the lights. We took a 20-min chair-lift up to the 900m-peak. It was very cold out there in the mountain but the excitement of sighting the Aurora made us forgot about the coldness.

The moon cast a strange planetary-terrain at the top of the mountain. There, away from the town’s light pollution, the stars shined brightly in the clear dark sky. I took a couple of long exposure shots and they were out of this world. It was like hiking on the moon.

I posted a few photos online and they yielded over a hundred likes on Facebook. Many friends asked me about the Aurora Borealis and how to capture them. You still have lots of chances to catch the lights from now till March 2014.

Here is a list of tips for those who want to catch the lights:

1) It is all about location – We have read and researched on many publication. Iceland, Northern Alaska, Northern Norway and Northern Sweden were the best places to catch the Northern Lights. These places are within in the Artic Circle. We chose Abisko because it was the driest spot in the region. We want to be at a place with the least overcast and far away from the city light pollutions. Clouds are bad for Northern Lights sighting, it blocked out the phenomenon during a good Aurora night.

2) It is all about timing – 2013 Oct – 2014 Mar is cited to be the best time window (when the Aurora is in its most intense burst) in its 11-year cycle to sight the Northern Lights. In fact, the Aurora is there all the time. But during this period, the lights are so intense that you can see them clearly with your naked eyes.

3) Scanning the sky – It is difficult for the human eyes to detect them. Most of the time, the Aurora looks like a pale green mist in the sky. Scan the dark sky with your camera. From our experience, the camera sensor detected the Aurora much accurately than our human eyes.

4) Northern Lights Photography – To get a good clear shot, you need a steady tripod, a DSLR for manual bulb-setting, a remote control for shutter-release, extra camera batteries, a headlight (for navigating in the dark and to see the camera buttons) and a decent wide angle lens with an aperture of 4.0 and below.

I shot the Northern Lights using a 16-35mm lens with an aperture of 2.8 (shutter-speed of 15 – 20 seconds). To avoid having too much pixelated noises in the photographs, I selected ISO 200 and lower. As you will be shooting under Bulb setting, it is important to pre-set your lens to manual focus and adjust the lens’ focus on a foreground subject (be it a tree, a house or a tent). It will be very dark and your lens won’t be able to auto-focus on any object out there. If you don’t have a DSLR, you still can capture the Northern Lights with the point and shoot camera but those shots may be very faint and noisy – due to the camera’s auto-high ISO settings. And most importantly: REMOVE ALL LENS FILTERS FROM THE LENS AS THE GREEN LIGHTS WILL REVEAL FILTER RING-MARKS ON THE PHOTO. Many of my shots were spoilt by the filter marks. By the time I realised, it was too late. (For more tips, go to: http://www.alaskaphotographics.com/blog/how-to-photograph-the-northern-lights-with-a-digital-camera/)

Always include a foreground subject in the shot so it helps to illustrate the scale and enhance the perspective of the Aurora.

5) Dress Warmly – During the shoot, you may find yourself out in the open. The Aurora can last over an hour so you must be properly dressed to keep warm. Come with a good gloves, snow jacket /pants and a pair of snow boots

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Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 2 – Abisko

December 24, 2013 5 Comments

We took an 18-hour train from Stockholm to Abisko (1,329km). It sounded like a long ride but time flew surprisingly fast on the train. We ate, slept and even took a hot shower in the train. The Swedish train is very well-heated, clean and comfortable. (We were walking around the train in our summer tees and pants!) Despite its small and narrow sleeping compartments, the train offers clean bed sheets, pillows, drinking water and shower towels for the travelers. I am amazed by the quality of the public shower room. It was so clean, warm and spacious. Imagine having a nice hot shower inside a moving train heading cold icy Artic Circle!

On our way to Abisko, we saw the longest and most surreal dawn/dusk outside our windows. The rising sun illuminated the sky pinkish peach and set in deep twilight blue. There wasn’t any afternoon sun. Just dawn and dusk. It was magical.

There were 2 Abisko train stations and we alighted at the wrong one. We didn’t realize that until we called our hostel. Harshad and I were walking around the station to search for our cabin. It was freezing cold and there was no taxi or bus to bring us to our hostel. We were given 2 options by the hostel: Walk 2km in the freezing thick snow or wait another 3 hours for the next train. After assessing our current situation, we decided to wait for the next ride.

One thing I have learned from this trip – Never travel with trolleys to snow country. Dragging those wheel-trolleys across thick snowy path can be a teething back-breaking and frustrating experience. Never underestimate even the shortest distance on the snow. The distance between the train station to our cabin was only 500m. By the time I arrived at our cabin, I was panting and had exhausted half of the day’s energy.

We had a very big, double-storey mountain cabin by the Abisko National Park with unblocked view, facing the Baltic Sea and the mountains. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy on our first night and we couldn’t see any star. We unpacked our stuffs and Felicia cooked us a very sumptuous dinner (using our own electric hot pots and food we bought earlier at Stockholm).

The next morning, we decided to make full use of the short daylight to explore the National Park. The snow here was powdery soft and thick! While hiking along the snowy canyons at the bottom of the mountain, we found ourselves stuck in the thick snow. At one spot, the snow was a meter deep and I was struggling to get my feet out. It was comical to see us moving like this. And certainly, we couldn’t wander far. Walking in such condition drained our energy faster than we thought.

The frozen river and waterfall were spectacular. On our way around the canyons, we saw a group of people climbing the frozen waterfall. I wanted to try that but it was fully booked out.

We saw a lot of animal footprints on the snow. We couldn’t make up what were those. It could be the track of some of the wild animals that live in the National Park; the reindeers, dogs, wolves or brown bears.

Later in the evening, we took a 12km dogsled ride across the National Park. It was another amazing “first-in-life” experience! We got to harness the dogs to the sled! It was a funny sight to see how Harshad and Tracy struggled to get the dogs to its position. (Apparently, the dogs only understand Swedish and that’s why they couldn’t understand what Tracy and Harshad were saying!)

During park mode, the dogs were extremely noisy (like a sport car engine). Once the sled took off, these dogs went silent and ran amazingly strong and fast! We were travelling along the narrow and winding forest trails at a pretty decent speed of 25km/hour. Our driver was yelling the “go, stop, left, right” commands in Swedish to the lead dogs. The entire dog-sledding trip took 2 hours with a 20min coffee/campfire break in a tent. This was one exhilarating ride! Simply unforgettable!

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Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 1 – Stockholm

December 21, 2013 Leave a comment

The idea of this trip was conceived 3 years ago when all of us dreamt of seeing the northern lights. And here we are 3 years later, stranded at an isolated train station in Abisko. We actually alighted at the wrong train station and next train will only come in another 2 hours. Not bad for me, I found myself a nice cozy warm corner to type this blog. This trip is full of surprises starting from the minute when I booked the wrong plane tickets for Harshad. Every turn has been an enriching “first-in-life” experience like no others.

This is our longest and biggest trip ever, in terms of money, time and distant. In a span of 15 days, we will travel over 27,210km, covering 5 different cities (Stockholm, Abisko, Kiruna, London and Edinburgh).

I have spent a bomb gearing up for this trip. I bought a new Canon 16-35mm wide angle 2.8ft lens, 6 new Canon batteries and 1 battery grip, 1 carbon fiber Gitzo superlight tripod, 1 weatherproof Sony Action Cam, 1 weatherproof LED lantern for the night walk, 3 A3-sized waterproof/anti-condensation zip-lock bags, 1 weatherproof Bushnell binocular, 1 weatherproof Vanguard camera trolley, 2 portable electric pots, 4 sleeping bags for the family and a couple of snacks to last us out in the snow.

By the time we finished packing, we have a total of 14 luggage bags! Dragging 14 pieces of luggage bags was no small feat (even though it sounded quite manageable with 3-4 luggage bags per person). It was a nightmare for all of us to drag these heavy bags up the cab, on the train and in/out of hotels. No regret as all these equipment comes handy for us.

Our first stop is the capital city of Sweden, Stockholm – Home to some of the world’s most famous and notable museums like the Nobel and the Abba, Stockholm city is spread across 14 islands with many scenic parks, bridges, design galleries and beautiful bright buildings. It reminds me of Venice except Stockholm is much bigger and more artistic and “designer-centric”.

I love the streets and interior furnishings of Stockholm. Clean, earthly, natural and simple. I love the Swedish; they are very friendly, helpful and good-looking. My cousin Yei was right about the Scandinavian beauties, the girls here are extraordinary attractive. Even Felicia and Tracy agreed on this point.

We parked ourselves at a very cozy 466-year-old hotel (Hotel Anno 1647) overlooking Stockholm City Hall. I got a big nice room to house all 5 of us. The hotel’s location is superb! The hotel was just 15-min walking distance to most of Stockholm’s city attractions. The shops and subway station were less than 100m away.

We spent 2 days exploring the city, exploring museums and shopping lanes. Like most European cities, the gems are actually hidden within the narrow alleys. There are lots of interesting shops and window displays. This is what I love about strolling and getting lost in European cities – every turn a new surprise.

Here are our top 5 highlights at Stockholm:

NUMBER 1 – THE VASA MUSEUM
This is my favorite museum. The Vasa shared many similarities with the ill-fated Titanic. It was the largest warship built at that time and it sank during its maiden voyage. For over 300 years, it sat at the bottom of the ocean until it was rediscovered and salvaged in 1961. Tons of efforts were made to put all these together. Today, the original 69m-long vessel is being exhibited at the Vasa Museum and it is one of the most popular attractions of Stockholm.

NUMBER 2 – THE NOBEL MUSEUM
Put together by the Nobel Library and the Swedish Academy, the Nobel Museum celebrated the greats works of its past winners. It is very small museum but it showcases many great works/words of wisdom by legendary people from the past and present eras.

NUMBER 3 – THE ROYAL PALACE
This is the official residence of the Royal Family of Sweden. With over 600 rooms, it is the world’s biggest royal residential palace. We visited its Treasury, the Hall of State where we saw the Silver Throne, the underground Tre Kronor Museum and the Guest Apartments. It is grand but not one of the most glamorous palaces I have been. Some of these rooms are old and plain. Maybe it is time for a small little renovation. Photography is a no no in many areas. Just be careful with your camera. No touching on the glass showcases too. Elkan was caught and warned by its security.

NUMBER 4 – OUTDOOR CITY ICE SKATING
Tracy, Elkan and I had our rounds of fun at the city’s ice skating rink. It is one of those impromptu moments when we just put everything down and had fun! For 30sek, we rented a pair of ice-skating shoes for 1 hour. This is another “first-in-life” experience for all of us – our first ever outdoor ice-skating!

NUMBER 5 – SIGHTSEEING ROYAL CRUISE
We boarded a 50-min sightseeing cruise where the boat took us along the key water channel of Stockholm. Along the riverbank, we saw many iconic houses for the rich and famous (holiday homes for Abba, the royal families and the local tycoons). With only 850,000 people staying in Stockholm, it is a very quiet, beautiful, peaceful, safe and comfortable city to live in.

Next stop – Our long 15-hour ride from Stockholm to the northern tip of Sweden, Abisko! And hopefully, we will be able to catch the magical Aurora Borealis (Named by the French scientist in 1621, Aurora is the name of the Roman Goddess of Dawn and Borealis is the Latin God of the Northern Wind! We certainly need tons of divine’s blessings in this. We can have the best planning but without Mother Nature’s luck, we might just end up here fruitlessly waiting in vain. Crossing my fingers now!)

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Bags of Joy – It’s time for Christmas

December 8, 2013 Leave a comment

It has become our little Hong Kong Christmas tradition when Felicia will create something special every December. This year, she put up another creative and unique Christmas Tree on our little wall. Made of old shopping paper bags, Felicia cut and pasted the bags on the wall. Now the tree is lit and the weather is cold & cozy, it is time to play some lovely Christmas songs and have ourselves a merry merry Christmas!

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World’s most beautiful swimming lagoon

December 3, 2013 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken – A man-made swimming lagoon out in the sea at Maldives)

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The Most Romantic Paradise of Asia – Maldives

November 29, 2013 17 Comments

There is never a more perfect 20th Anniversary gift for Felicia! Thanks to my lucky star, I flew my loved ones to one of the world’s most beautiful paradises – Maldives!

It was supposed to be a sweet surprise for Felicia but my cousin unintentionally leaked out the big secret during a family reunion dinner 4 days before the trip. It drew big smile on Felicia’s face when the secret was out. There were mixed reactions from Elkan and my daddy. Elkan was excited about the ocean bungalow and swimming with the fishes. My daddy wasn’t too keen about the destination as he was unfamiliar with Maldives and questioned why do we need to fly half the world just for a simple beach holiday. He frowned when I told him that we may not be able to buy beer as Male is a strict Islamic city. I loved his expression at that moment. I was looking forward to see his amazement when we touched down at Maldives.

Thanks to Cathay Pacific, there is now a direct flight connecting Hong Kong to Maldives. Our flight took 7 hours and we arrived at 9pm. Maldives was 3 hours behind Hong Kong. As it was nightfall, I parked all of us at a nearby budget airport hotel. Flight tickets to Maldives were relatively affordable, it was the accommodation, food and cross-ocean transport cost that caused a big dent in my travel budget. VAT in Maldives is a high 18%. I paid about HKD6,000-HKD8,000/room per night for lodging and HKD900/pax for speedboat transfer. Is it worth the money? I will give a big YES – provided you are there at the right season, on the right island with the right company! The best time to visit Maldives would be during its driest season which is between late December to early April. Avoid June to Sept as you don’t want the wet weather to spoil your expensive dream trip. There are over 1,000 islands across Maldives, therefore it is of paramount in your selection to choose the right island. Every island promises a different experience, ignore the big hotel brand names and choose wisely.

Maldives deserves its reputation as the Paradise of Asia. Friends who have been to Maldives used to tell me that you don’t need a fancy top-end camera to capture stunning photographs. They are right. The sun, white powdered beach, blue sky and turquoise water of Maldives are so unreal. There is no place for Instagram filters or Photoshop. Its colours are so vivid and it is like being teleported into the movie world of Life of Pi. Seamless horizon of the blue sky and smooth calm water, it brings a new level of zen in you.

My dad who was skeptical and complained about the unnecessary extravagant travel cost was speechless when he saw Paradise the next morning. While waiting for our speedboat transfer to our first island, dad was busily snapping photographs of the jetty and its turquoise clear water. He was amazed how clear the water was at the jetty. The thought of no beer didn’t exist in his mind anymore. That smile on his face was priceless!

In total, we spent 3 nights at Maldives. Picking the right island was a challenge for me. It was more difficult than my last Europe trip planning. Every island is so beautiful. In the end, I picked 2 different islands located at the nearby North Male Atoll region.

Our first stop was at Angsana Ihuru. It was part of the Banyan Tree resorts and I will highly recommend this place to all my friends. I booked 2 private beach jetpool villas with our personal private beach front. The sea view was truly beautiful and breathtaking. Super white powdered beach, shallow crystal clear water and spectacular house reefs. Our resort guide was a young Malaysian lady. I told her she had the best job in the world! Isn’t it marvellous to work on this island?

Everything was so calm and peaceful in Maldives. It was the perfect spot for a lazy afternoon siesta. Dad was floating on the shallow water and Elkan was snorkelling, chasing after the fishes. Felicia was relaxing on the swing. I was walking around the island, capturing the beautiful sights.

Angsana Ihuru houses one of the best house reefs in Maldives. Located just 30m away from our beach villa, we immersed ourselves in a rich, vivid colourful world of coral reefs. During our snorkelling, we spotted lots of fishes, sharks and sea turtles. There was no need to scuba-dive to see all these magnificent creatures. They were just right outside our doorstep!

Later in the evening, we took a ferry across to Banyan Tree island where we saw many wild eagle rays by the beach. Every day without fail at around 5pm, these eagle rays come by the beach for a free treat. The staff at Banyan Tree drew them close with fresh cuttlefish and gave us a short induction about these gentle creatures.

The next morning, dad woke us up at 5:30am to watch sunrise. We took many beautiful photographs by the beach and at the jetty. By noon, we checked out of Angsana Ihuru and headed out for our second island resort – Sheraton Full Moon Maldives.

Sheraton Full Moon Maldives offered us a different experience. I booked 2 water bungalows on stilts, overlooking 200m of 1m-shallow-deep crystal clear water. One of the biggest draw to this resort was its close proximity to the water. You can simply jump into the ocean from the resort. Water was very shallow at only 1m deep and it was safe to swim underneath the bungalows. However, there wasn’t any corals around the bungalows. The seafloor was covered with dead white broken corals. Nevertheless, there were a lot of stingrays, eagle rays and reef sharks taking shelter underneath our bungalows. Just make sure you don’t accidentally step onto one of the dreadful stingrays.

4 days 3 nights was just perfect for all of us. By the 4th day, I was resting by the deck, watching the sharks and eagle rays with lesser excitement. Time passed by slowly. I was like living in another different world, on a different pace and leading a very different life. It wasn’t boring at all. Doing lots of self-reflection and cherishing my loved ones beside me. No matter how much it cost, it’s worth it. This is no doubt the best and most memorable travel gift I gave to my wife, my dad and my son ever. Counting down to our next stop: The aurora borealis.

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Quirky CARacters of Hong Kong (Updated)

November 20, 2013 Leave a comment

While I applaud Hong Kong’s Transport Department for giving drivers the freedom to register their own Personalized Vehicle Registration Marks (PVRMs), I find it very amusing at some of these personalised car plates.

Many times, I encountered comical, senseless, uncreative, shamelessly self-glorifying PVRMs. Yes, there are the IRONMAN, BATMAN and all the possible egoistic labels such as FIERCE, HANDSOME and TOP GUN. Some are simply poetic and romantic. These PVRMs aren’t cheap, ranging from HKD5,000 and up. For example, a driver bided HKD220,000 for the plate that says “LOVE YOU”. For the same amount, some nutty driver chose to name his car “ET”. Just this year, a PVRM by the name “1888” was auctioned for HKD3m and “1 LOVE YOU” was auctioned for HKD1.4m! (For more reference, you may go here to check those fancy names and the price-tags the drivers paid: Click Here.)

Many drivers love to state the obvious. I once saw a taxi naming itself “TAXI”. And just a couple of weeks ago, I spotted another taxi naming itself “HK CAB”. And tonight, I found another 4 amusing car-plates in the same carpark! They all stated the obvious. A doctor flaunting his wealth (yes, we all know doctors make good money) and a Man King (it is kinda obvious a King is a Man and a Queen is a ________!) plus a very CARtoon label. I was hoping to spot one car that says “GOD” or “GHOST” and I wondered what could be inside the car.

One thing is for sure, spending so much money for PVRMs is certainly much more satisfying than paying for Singapore’s COEs. It is a mutual win-win, the drivers get to choose the name they want for their cars and the transport department get to make some good and easy money too! CARspotting can be so fun and rewarding in Hong Kong! For all the rich, vain and quiry CARacters of Hong Kong. And many thanks to my dear friend Olivia and Chowpo for catching BATMAN & IRON MAN for me respectively!

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong

Meeting 周潤發

November 8, 2013 Leave a comment

It was rare that 3 separate teams dined out together. It was even rarer that we decided to walk 800m to IFC Mall for lunch. And it was the first time we had team lunch at this restaurant. And of all these rarities, we had the rarest encounter with a Hong Kong legend – Mr Chow Yun Fatt! He walked past our group and Chowpo waved at him. He walked toward her and the group asked him politely for a photo. He gave us a straight look and said no instantly. He then put his arm around Chowpo and ushered her to a quiet corner and snapped a photo with her. We were so envious of Chowpo. Just when we thought he was going to leave, Mr Chow revealed his candid humour. He smiled and gestured to us to come quietly forward to take a personal shot with him. In the end, he patiently took 10 close-up shots with every one of us! When the commotion got bigger, he looked back at Chowpo and joked “it is all your fault!”. With that, he smiled and left the scene quickly. What a smooth charmer!

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Life in Hong Kong

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