24 Happy Hours

June 16, 2012 4 Comments

Just when I least expected… I received one of the most special birthday gifts of my life – presence of my loved ones (My 139th and 140th new HK visitors – Chester and his friend)! Thanks for making my day so special and unforgettable. I am touched by your blessings and love. Just like what I wrote in my last blog post – “It is never about the gifts I received. It is about the people I love and miss most. It is their presence I long for.” Thank you very very much!

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong, Wahbiang

You are the best gifts of my life

June 15, 2012 Leave a comment



Thanks to all the great birthday wishes I received last year, I had the happiest and the most fulfilling year of my life.  Looking back at all the past year’s blog postings and photographs, I was blessed by all the love showered by God and my loved ones back home. Be it work, love or family life, it has been a colorful and amazing year for me! Every day is a new gift for me. There is always something new to look forward to.

Despite away from home, I had many great reunion times with my wife, son, father, mother and friends. From my last birthday celebration in Gold Coast to icy cold Christmas at Harbin, I have visited many new places with my favorite travel-mates (Kalinda, Tracy, Meijie, Felicia, Elkan and Harshad). Many friends flew in regularly (brothers like Gareth, Francis, Jimmy, Desmond, Meijie, Cousin Bin and Yei) to light up my lonely weekends. 2 visitors I missed most are my dad and mum. In their presence, I felt like their little boy. For some strange reasons, I miss their nagging. It is a great feeling to roam the streets with them, have dinner together and live under one roof. Thanks to my mum, she has been imparting family recipes to me during my past visits back to Singapore.

Whenever there is reunion, there is goodbye. I have a love-hate relationship with both Changi and Hong Kong airports. Despite so many years and countless farewells, I admit it is not my strongest attribute. I still find saying goodbye difficult. Especially to my son and wife. (mmm…also my dad and mum too!)

Thanks to all my friends in Hong Kong, they made me feel at home. My clients and my colleagues are wonderful friends. Not to forget that I have the 2 most faithful and supportive souls around me everyday – Harshad and Tracy. Gosh, I see both of you every minute of my life for the last 3 years (okay, maybe not for Harshad.. Sorry that I abused you badly at work.) Back in Singapore and Shanghai, I have a group of friends that I can 100% count on. They are always there whenever I need them.

Looking back at all my birthdays. It is never about the gifts I received. It is about the people I love and miss most. It is their presence I long for and not the presents they give.

It is my birthday today and I want to say a big thank you to all of you. Thanks for filling my days with so many colorful memories, tons of whatsapp/QQ/Facebook messages. You are one of the key reasons why my blog exists! Thanks for being there with me during my low and high periods. Thanks for being there with me virtually, physically or sometimes durianfully. Thanks for understanding me so much (in fact, I don’t quite understand myself as much as you do). And thanks for remembering my birthday (even though quite a few of you sent me greetings 2-3 days earlier..including my mum!) You are the best gifts of my life. And thanks for another 365 happier days.

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong, Life in Singapore, Wahbiang

Wish you can read this.

June 10, 2012 Leave a comment

Wish you can see this.
The great assembly of your loved ones.
Your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Your siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Your friends and neighbors.
We are all here by your side.

Wish you can hear this.
Your loved ones calling out to you.
In tears and joys.
Our deepest gratitude and respect.
Reminiscing our good times with you.

Wish you know this.
The unity of your dividing family.
The deep love we have for you.
Your triumphs. Our celebrations.
For the great legacy you left behind.
Your words, your spirit. Your kindness. Your strength.
Lives on forever in our hearts.

Wish you can be here.
To cook our favorite Chinese New Year dishes.
To spend time with our children like the old days when you cared for us.
To remind us to be good and live a good life like you did.
To let us celebrate your birthday once more.
To keep this big family intact.

Wish you can forgive me.
For being late to say goodbye.
For not being with you at your final hour.
For not telling you how much I love you.

 

(4th JUNE – 5th JUNE 2012 – Over the weekend, I was very worried for my granny. Desperate and despair, I took a night flight out of Hong Kong to Singapore on Monday. The next morning, Felicia, Elkan and I boarded the first bus to Muar, Malaysia. We were on our way in when Felicia answered a call. Her expression told me everything I need to know. Auntie Amy was on the other side of the line. Felicia handed me the phone. My heart sank. I was late for my granny. 3 hours late. My hopes to see her one last time were shattered. It was a dreadful and painful slow ride to Muar. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I sat quietly alone, trying to hide my emotions from my little boy. Elkan was the antidote to our sadness. He kept us distracted with his sunny smiles and hugs. Goodbye Popo. Thanks for hanging on for me. Sorry I was late. )

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts

Granny

June 2, 2012 2 Comments

It is a dark weekend for all of us. Yesterday afternoon, I received a bad news from my cousin, Leon. My granny in Muar fell into a coma and is dying. She was in perfect health when my families gathered in Bintan last year. She has always been cheerful, bubbly, and energetic.

To keep our families from worrying, my mum kept my granny’s illness a secret. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer a while ago. My mum, aunties and uncles didn’t want her to occupy too much thoughts about her health. Depression and negativeness would make worse for her illness. Thus, they tried all ways to keep her spirits high and happy. Somehow, this formula worked. For a long while, my granny was in high spirits until recently, the cancer cells prevailed and took over her frail body. She eventually collapsed into a coma yesterday.

I called my mum yesterday and she told me to be strong and happy. “There is nothing to be sad about. Don’t worry about granny. It is her time for her to move on. She has had a great life and she wants us to be happy too. We should celebrate her passing instead of grieve.” My mum reminded me how short life is and we should live a great life like my granny. She has been a tough lady, bringing up 9 children all by herself. She is blessed with 17 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Her words and strength moved me to tears. Trying hard to hold my sadness and tears, I couldn’t find my voice to answer her. My mum almost couldn’t hear me further, as I was choking in tears. Thinking the line went off, she hanged up the call.

It was an unbearable night.  I couldn’t sleep well, kept thinking of my granny. I was browsing all the old photographs of my granny the whole night. Just realised I didn’t have a lot of photos of her. She visited us in Hong Kong 2 years ago. And that was the last time we met and chatted. Every time we meet, she will always remind me to live life fruitfully.. stay healthy and be happy. (And I did – all these years – trying to balance my life, keep them colorful for my family and loved ones.) Sadly, these farewell shots at the Hong Kong Airport Express are the last I took of her.

Granny, no matter how bad and uncertain life can be, I will live positively, strongly and happily like you did. I miss you so much.

 

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts

Little Towkay at his first flea market

May 28, 2012 1 Comment

BLOG BY FELICIA (27th May 2012)

It has been a tiring but happy day for me. I got a flea market booth at a new mall called Scape. Located just behind Orchard Cine Leisure. There were booths from the ground floor to the 4th floor. Ground floor booths are mainly selling new stuffs. While the 2nd to 4th floor booths are for resale of preloved clothes, shoes, bags and toys. We got a spacious corner on the 4th level. In less than 15min setting up, we got our first sale! Sold 2 pairs of sunnies!

This is Elkan’s first flea market experience. In the beginning when customers were browsing the clothes, he came to me and ask: “Mummy, that t-shirt so old! Can still sell?” …. the customer smiled at us and left….. So I explained to him what he should avoid saying especially when customers are around. Or at least whisper in my ear.

Later in the afternoon, Elkan started to get bored as the sale slowed down, so he started playing with his iPad. He was playing a heated game of ping pong with Kenneth and Karen (my sharing partners for the booth sale). Not a wise choice as those 2 are supposed to be the “key salesmen” of the booth.

Towards the evening, Elkan got bored again and started doodling and drew very nice $2 price tags and started shouting out to the crowd: “$2 clothes here! $2 clothes here!” So unlike me, quiet and shy. He was so bold and such a natural!! And he attracted quite a bit of attention. Other booth owners were taking pictures of him and also started shouting like him too. The flea market got livelier and was bustling with shouts from different booths.

We managed to sold lots of Joe’s collection of Transformer toys! A guy was happy to find our very old but well kept box of Risk board game! Shrek soft toys were more popular than Pooh bears! Poor Elmo was molested by so many customers but still not taken. I suggested to Elkan, maybe he should hug it and walk around the whole floor and shout: “Elmo for sale!!” And he did that! I hear people saying: “So cute!!” but still Elmo came back to us. Nevertheless, it was a good try and Elkan was enjoying himself. He even made friends with other booth owners, getting their names and guessing their age. They let him stand at their booths and shout $2 bucks sale driving crowd to our corner!

The sale ended at 8pm. We were quite exhausted. After packing up quickly, we had a nice dinner over at Orchard Cine Leisure before heading home. I think I may try get another booth soon to clear more stuff and Elkan will be my very good sales kid! 

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore

And when he danced…

May 15, 2012 Leave a comment

I am so glad to be back and just in time to catch Elkan’s debut stage performance at the Singapore National Library last Sunday (Mother’s Day). Being the only boy (and shortest) in his hip-hop class, Elkan rocks and shines on stage. This is the first time I watch him dance on the big stage, in front of an live audience. (Elkan is shy and dislikes showing us his dance moves at home!) And when he danced, Elkan was a different person. He was so confident (his expression, his moves) and he fired up the stage! I completely lost myself in his suave hip-hopping moves.  This is the perfect Mother’s Gift performance for Mummy Felicia and his favorite grannies. Indeed, Elkan is a natural charmer amongst these beautiful roses! I can’t wait for the official DVD.

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore

Happy Mothers’ Day & 60th Birthday!

May 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Our little and simple Mother’s Day celebration with 5 mothers (including 3 grandmas). We decided to give Auntie Amy a surprise by bringing forward her 60th birthday celebration. (Watch Video below – Enjoy the 2 moving Mother’s Day viral videos 2012)


Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts

Kinectic Kids

April 10, 2012 2 Comments

(Photo Taken: Kinect Dance Central Challenge, Plaza Singapura, Singapore – So cool! My boy Elkan was dancing on the big stage with 4 cute girls! The kids were the crowd magnet at Kinect Try-Out Event at Plaza Singapura. Elkan danced 4 rounds on the big stage and won himself a Kinect Dance Cap.)

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore

Happy 10th Anniversary (24th March 2002 – 24th March 2012)

March 24, 2012 3 Comments

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts

Back to Monkey Hill 2

March 18, 2012 1 Comment

My wife and boy were in town for a week. We didn’t go anywhere as I was down with sickness at home. Weather was haywire too. Last week, temperature dropped from 25 to 11 degrees. Most of the time, it was gloomy and wet. There were many places I planned to bring them (like watching the circus at Macau, theme-park at Shenzhen and a short weekend trip to Xiamen), guess we have to postpone these for the next trip.  Being bored at home, our little monkey, Elkan was pestering us to bring him out. We went hiking at the Monkey Hill.

Elkan wasn’t happy when we told him we wanted to set him free at his new home. He didn’t really like the monkeys (well, I don’t think the monkeys like him too!) We took the forest trail. Crossing dams and streams, this was quite a pleasant hike. The forest floor was littered with red brown leaves and mini mushrooms… it felt like an enchanted forest. So cozy Autumn.

Filed under Family, Life in Hong Kong

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