(Above Photo – A handmade Christmas Gift from Kalinda)

2008 has been an eventful and lousy year for many. It is the year when many unprecedented events took place – The Biggest Snow Storm in Southern China, The Worst Hurricane of Myanmar, The Massive EarthQuake of Sichuan, The Chinese Olympic, The Mumbai Bombing, The Financial Tsunami, The Elected Black President of USA, The Tibet Riot, The Chinese Milk Scare and The Fall of Asian Leaders (Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, Thailand and Taiwan).  It is also the year when we witnessed a weakest USA and a strongest China. A year when we have to constantly remind ourselves that lives are indeed fragile – and we were helpless at nature’s worst moments. It is also the year when we should wake up and remind ourselves about those dubious donation scandals of many churches, temples and foundations. It is also the year when we learnt the hard lesson how investment can go surprisingly wrong – when you least expected.

For me, it has been a "Vintage Year" – it is the year when I saw change took place. From Shanghai to Hong Kong, I bid farewell to a good team of friends in China and started my new life in Hong Kong. It has been a dramatic year in my career. With a positive mind and the help of my Shanghai team, I bridged the business seamlessly over. Over in HK, I was truly blessed with a new team of capable "angels", we achieved the impossibilities within a short span of 6 months. It is something I am very proud of. We achieved a couple of "world firsts" in the world of Duty Free. And for the first time in the agency’s history, our relationships with our clients and performance reached a new peak!

Despite the first half (transisition) of 2008, many painful changes were actually for the better. Alicia is happily married and is now enjoying a fantastic career. Clare has a great home, great career and blissfully married. Lisa just got engaged! And my old pal, Calvin Mao – he is now a happy father! Not to forget my favourite Rebecca, she is now a successful manager in her new job – and I heard good words about her – even in Hong Kong. For Tracy, she scored a couple of "excellent ratings" for her works in GTR.

In Hong Kong, I enjoyed a dynamic second half. My family is happily settled. Elkan is enjoying school and looking forward to go school! Except for the small cozy house, we are overly happy with our new home (yes…looking for a bigger unit next year). Lots of visitors in Hong Kong (double of Shanghai’s) and we were indeed thrilled with their presence. Our friends and family members are also doing very well – Echo and Francis added a new kid in their house, Johnny (& Ming) is a father too, Scott is finally attached with beautiful Yiyi, Joanne is running Caffine well, Juliana and Duuk are to-be-parents, Yixi, Gareth and Hovman got their ideal jobs, Yei is getting hitched with Summer finally and my family had their first rare group tour to Taiwan and Hong Kong! (Mmm..same as my in-laws too!)

2008 has been a difficult year but overall, I became a stronger and better man after all the uncertainties and big changes. It takes a lot of courage to face change. Indeed, chao filters losers and winners. And I am happy that we have been very successful winners in this chaotic times.
 

A very special date between 2 friends happened 15 years ago. That day was 24th Nov, 1993, time 825pm.

Felicia and I were just having our dinner at Marine Parade when we decided to go for a stroll at the nearby beach. We came to rest at a bench and started chatting. The sun set and the stars lit the sky. Must be the food or the weather that time, she dropped a big amorous bomb that night. (Haaa… many of you know the script!). Since then, we have been …you know.. anyway… here we are… happily married in our 8th-year.. and yes…been "hitched" for the last 15 years.

My goodness, Elkan is already 4! But this is the 1st time we are celebrating this special day with our son. (Yeah, even I have to repeat 3 times to my boss about the reason for my leave!) No candle-light dinner or under-the-bed-surprise gifts, just a day off with 2 of them – as we have decided to save the good money for more road trips with our friends and family in the coming months. Our Anniversary today is certainly more noisy… 3 really good friends, we spent a good relaxing afternoon at the beautiful Disney Hollywood hotel. (I must really do exercise – I can’t outrun my little boy!) The weather is fantastic – blue sky and cool November breeze with a great sunny spotlight (Elkan!)

In 2006, I wrote 94 blogs and received 16600 visitorships.

In 2007, I wrote 97 blogs and received 24385 visitorships.
This year, I wrote 106 blogs and received 37377 visitorships.

 

There were sad and happy moments. I had a marvelous time with my visitors. I have met these many precious ones – Kalinda, Shin and Dendy, Serene, Duuk, Juliana, Gareth, Ivy, Joanne, Hovman, Meijie, Uncle Alvin, Kevin, Sherane, Uncle Asty, Chester, Amy & Benny, Leon, Scott and Yiyi, my sister, Qiqi and James, my parents, Stella, my mother-in-law and soon… Chups. And I have sad moments bidding farewell to these whom I missed so much – Francis, Echo and family, Rebecca, Calvin, Alicia, Cousin Yei and Summer, Johnny and Ming, Clare, Steven, Daisy, Lisa, Nick, Franklin & Sally and Hong Ai.

It is also the year when I traveled the most – to London, Taipei x 4, Vietnam, KL, Cebu, Nanjing, Hong Kong x 20s, Macau x 3, Shenzhen x 2 and Beijing – not forgetting Singapore x 3 and Shanghai x countless.  

It is also the year of unusual world events – Big snow in Shanghai, Beijing Olympic, Sichuan Earthquake and now the world Financial Tsunami. It is also the year when I moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong. It will be the year when my team scored the best marks for Ogilvy!

Indeed, it is a very very special year.

Here is the list of my 3rd Year Blog. I have bold those that I love so much. Click on them and it leads you right to my archive.

2008
October 21        My Mother’s 60th Birthday!
October 21        A Surprise (22nd) Visitor
October 21        Bye Stella
October 18        Elkan’s 4th Birthday
October 16         Elkan’s Present Has Just Arrived
October 15        Morning Drama
October 12        Francis’s New Girlfriend
October 05        At the Peak with Eric
October 05        Elkan’s Morning Ritual

September 29    Sex & The City
September 28   Beijing Milk & Jam! (Updated)
September 28   Meijie, Macau and Hong Kong
September 15    My New Toy
September 14   A Special Day of My Life
September 07    Bay Watch
September 07    Crowd Wooers!
September 07    Bad Celebrities of Asia
September 05    6 Days in Taiwan
September 04    The August Stars

August 26          Brother 风 Came & Gone
August 22          Brother 风 is Here
August 18          48 Years Later….
August 18          Belated Gift for Meijie
August 12           A Teary Goodbye
August 11           9th August Reunion – Day 1 & 2
August 09          This Night in Beijing
August 06          48 hours to Beijing Olympic
August 06          My 1st Number 8 Typhoon

July 28              "The Days" Movie – Boi is in Town!
July 27              Exclusive Lane!
July 20              Water Boy!
July 20              Dazzling Saturday
July 20              0824 on Fire!
July 20              Stormy Week
July 20                Goodbye "Hai Yue" (Back-dated Blog)
July 13              Leon Meets Elkan
July 13              My Daily Mornings…
July 13              Blah..Blah…Bra???
July 13                My 1st Week and my 1st Visitor
July 02              Running a new race in Hong Kong
July 01                My last 36 hours in Shanghai

June 29               Goodbye Shanghai
June 29             Hotel 13th
June 16             Elkan’s 1st HairCut (by himself!)
June 15             This Week in Pixels
June 15             My 33rd Big Day
June 15             Happy Father’s Day
June 09               An Amazing Gathering!
June 08             House Hunting

May 31              Birthday Lunch
May 25                My last Month in Shanghai
May 19              Black Week in China
May 17              Tracy’s 29th Birthday Dresses
May 04              iPhoto – Fun Shots from my iPhone
May 04              Belated Birthday Gift for Gareth!
May 04              Muah Chee!
May 04              Our May Day Outing
May 04                Turning Points Ahead

April 20             A Beautiful Sunday
April 20             Toilet Creative Copy
April 20             A New Member
April 14             Room-mate Needed
April 14               Mini Curtin Gathering
April 07             The Mist
April 07               My 54th Visitor – Serene Chia!
April 04             Funny Meanings
April 04             Elkan is Back!
April 04               Refreshing Taipei

March 21            Historical Nanjing
March 12            Beautiful Cebu

February 23       My new MBA – MacBook Air
February 23       The Last Day of CNY
February 10       My Big CNY Feast 2008
February 10       Dad’s 60th Birthday Ride
February 07       Joe Chua (1975 – 2050)   

January 30         Shanghai – Snow City
January 27        A White Sunday Morning
January 27        A Weekend of Bowling and Reunion Dinner
January 27        Snow Shanghai
January 22        Big Joe Meets Big Ben
January 09        A happy and foggy dreamy birthday
January 08        Elkan’s Coverlooks
January 02        Elkan’s 1st Commercial Shoot
 

2007
December 31     The last blog of the year
December 31     Make someone smile everyday
December 31     Elkan’s 5m Encounter with the Lions
December 31     My 50th Visitors
December 27     12 days of Christmas @ Shanghai
December 27     And the award goes to…
December 09     Wahbiang Christmas 2007 – "Award Gala"
December 09     Auntie Amy and Cousin "F4"
December 01     "Yo! Bend it like Beckham!"
December 01     Design Bazaar (18-19 Nov)
December 01     Beautiful Peak
December 01     My 47th Visitor – Hovman Goh

November 18     EveryDay Elkan
November 11     Weekend with Cousin Alvin
November 11     The Montblanc City
November 11     An Unlikely Duo
November 04    Dinner by Kal & Feli
November 04    The One We Miss So Much!
November 04     Hot Chicks on Wheels!
November 04     My New Properties in Shanghai
November 03     My 24th Love

October 21        The Clown Festival
October 21        Elkan’s 3rd Birthday

Mid-Autumn Festival has been always a special day in my life. Like Christmas, it has a special place in my heart.

Mid-Autmn Festival used to be a big and important gathering at my late-granny’s place – when all the adults and children gathered. The elders played many rounds of mahjong and the children (my cousins) roamed the dark streets with their own lighted lanterns. It was the only "official" day of the year when children were allowed to play with matches and fire. (My elders were very strict with us back then – they allowed us to hold joss-sticks but never allow us to lit up a candle.)

The streets where my late-granny stayed were dark and deserted. Once the sun set, a group of us will gathered and planned our "adventure". We will explored the "unknown" back alleys of the neighbourhood. We will purposely avoid all the main roads where they were brightly lit (our excuse: too dangerous, got cars). The fun and exciting part about Mid-Autumn Festival isn’t about the awful unhealthy oily and sticky mooncake – but the "exploration of the dark alley" with our humble candles and paper-lantern. (Haaa…rule of the night – must bring extra candles – those cheapo candles lasted only like 10 minutes max).

Of course, the adults will never knew where their little rascals have gone to. I remember one year when I led a few neighbourhood kids to explore the dark, smelly and rat-infested drain system. We walked and walked…along the algae-banks of the canals.. (Singapore has a very extensive underground canal system – like the underground CTE expressway – it cut across streets above us. Most of the time, we were very amazed at the exit point. Our expressions were typically like this "Ooooh…so this is a short cut to the Parkway Parade" or "this is the hidden passage to our school".

Of couse, these "shortcuts" and underground routes stayed deep in our heads. When we needed a quick escape from any neighbourhood rich brats or when we were running late, we will ran and jumped into these "system". Pretty safe and smooth. And no ERP for sure.

Sadly, during my late-granny’s final years (between 1994-1999), the gathering got smaller. Only the 4 of us (my parents, my sister and I) came to spent this day with granny. The kids in the neighbourhood had grown up..and many of their grandparents had passed away (gone were their gatherings too). The street of Koon Seng was deserted and quiet. There was hardly any sign of festive mood – even my cousins weren’t there anymore.

Granny and dad (as usual) took out the foldable table out from the storeroom. Both of them placed the table just right outside the gate. Under the dim yellow lights, granny setup simple offerings for the Gods. (A red cup of joss sticks, a plate of mooncake, a plate of green pomelo and some cups of rice wine.) My sister and myself will light up "old lanterns" (recycled from past years) around the compound – ground-floor, 2nd floor, gate, swing, barb-wire fence…

No, my sister and I were young adults then… No more running the streets or drainage with lanterns. Just seating there, enjoying the peaceful night with many beautiful lanterns illuminating the dark quiet sky. Very nostaglic, I would say. Very fond memories.

Granny, mum and dad said nothing those nights. Year after year, it became an unspoken custom for my family. Our family and my granny will spent this night, sitting by the swing, enjoying the floating lights. It was beautiful and special. Even till this very day.

1999 Mid-Autumn Festival was the last night we spent at her house. (Still remember I dragged the wahbiang clan along with me.)

It is this kind of night when I miss my family, my granny and my childhood. Now, I am spending this special night with my wife and boy in Hong Kong. Yes. It is a very special festival for me and my family. It was also the day we chose to register our marriage.

 

Happy Mooncake Festival to all. Miss you again, granny.