The Line Between Good and Evil

September 16, 2012 Leave a comment

(Photo taken: Honghum Train Station Taxi Stand, Kowloon, Hong Kong – 2 Falun Gong banners hanging side by side communicating contradicting messaging. The line between good and evil is often so thin. Just like the same lines between love and hate, fame and shame, life and death, peace and war. Which side are you on? Perhaps the only line that is constantly widening today is the one dividing wealth and poverty. Below photo: Sleazy Porn Shop and religious Buddhist Shop at Tsim Sha Tsui)

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong

Leehom Wang Music-Man II Concert 2012 (王力宏火力全开 – Hong Kong)

September 15, 2012 1 Comment

Asia’s most suave-looking, multi-instrumentalist, multi-music-styles Mandopop star, Wang Leehom (王力宏) is here in Hong Kong for his second Music-Man World Tour Concert 2012. Noted as one of 2012’s most impressive Mandopop performances by the Taiwanese media, Leehom charmed his fans with 2.5 solid hours of powerful dance hits, over 30 sentimental ballads, raps and impressive multi-instrumental performance. Hong Kong Coliseum is the birthplace of his first solo concert 10 years ago. Wang paid tribute to his loyal Hong Kong fans.

It isn’t the stage design or fancy attires that rocked tonight’s concert. In fact, I thought his entrance attire and style reminded me of Michael Jackson’s decorated army suit. So, don’t expect any fancy pyrotechnic displays or lazer-light shows. The only one thing which impressed me was the floating piano. Wow, that is totally unexpected and spectacular!

Throughout the night, Wong tried very hard to connect his songs with a mushy storyline about his messy tale of “love”. Some found it creative while I thought it was really cheesy. Who cares, his female fans were giggling and enjoying his every dedication of “fan-love”. I lost count on the number of “I Love You” he said on the stage tonight. With his suave, hot body and clean good-boy look, it is no surprise why his screaming fans are mainly females – both young and old ladies. He is really a natural charmer.

Really, Wang Leehom doesn’t need all these “cosmetic”, “special effects” or “cheesy scripts” to woo his fans. He is a multi-talented musician with a great, crystal clear, soulful voice. Tonight is’t his best “live” singing but every song of his stole our hearts. My favorite moment was the part when he performed a-cappella with his pre-recorded clones. Like Jacky Cheung or Jay Chou, Wang’s concert is a must go. 95% of his songs are timeless everlasting hits. Unlike other singers’ concerts when the audience drifted away in some unpopular hits, there is never a dull and unfamiliar moment at Wang’s Music-Man II Concert. (Enjoy the video highlight below!)

Filed under Life in Hong Kong, Music

Move it, Action! (Video Highlights from Macau)

September 12, 2012 Leave a comment


Thanks to Stephanie, she captured some of the best candid “Action” moments here! Enjoy the video!

Filed under Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Action Heroes Conquer SinCity!

September 11, 2012 Leave a comment

Alright. Budget cut. No fancy overseas trip this year for our team building. We decided to plan our Team Building Day somewhere closer to home. We couldn’t think of another better destination. Certainly not Shenzhen or Lama Island. Macau seems to be the perfect choice. It is Asia’s most flamboyant SinCity and I am sure there is a place for Action Heroes like us.

At first, I was skeptical about this destination for team building. It was just a short 1 day + 2 nights trip, how is it possible to achieve any decent team bonding? Surely not card-counting over blackjack tables. Or pimping our younglings. Thanks to Chowpo, Mayee and Kelly, they made Macau as exciting and meaningful as our last team building trip! Thanks to the generosity of the team, Felicia and Elkan were able to join me in our team building trip.

First stop – Macau Tower. This is where notorious Edison Chen broke the world record attempting the world’s tallest bungee jump back in 2006. Nope, we were unable to attempt any record-breaking stunts (thanks to the budget cut, we can’t afford the HKD3,000/head jump). Instead, we suspended ourselves, like puppets out on the ledge 233m above ground. The only things which prevented us from doing our own free-fall were two 1cm-thick ropes. It was a walk of faith. We could trust no one but the ropes.

Elkan, being the youngest and smallest-sized in the group, was instructed by the guide to lead the SkyWalk. Having no concept of fear, he was like a hyperactive monkey out on a leash. He was screaming in ecstasy, jumping and running freely out on the ledge.

For the some of the other adults (I was forbidden to mention any names), fears and anxieties sipped in. High life at the top of the world wasn’t as glamorous and indulging as they expected. I was thankful for this experience. I witnessed the weaknesses, strengths, courages and transformations of my team. And how they overcame fear with courage and determination. It was this moment when all of us stood as equals, watched each other’s back and walked the talk together as one united team – under the rain on the pinnacle of Macau. Bravo!

After our successful (disruptive and noisy) stunt outside the tower, we went a storey down to the 60th floor to enjoy a sumptuous lunch at 360° CAFÉ – Macau’s highest revolving restaurant. It was certainly a much more relaxing and cozier way to enjoy Macau. I am sure David, Wing, Mayee, Clara and Stephanie fully agreed with me. Opps, I wasn’t allowed to mention any names.

Our next stop – Casino Wine and Gourmet on the 59th floor! We grouped ourselves into 3 teams. Each team was given a bag of chips. We were given 1 hour to win as much chips as possible. The team with the most chips win! There were 3 casino tables in the room. For each station, we were asked to taste different types of wine or cheese. Through tasting, we have to bet our chips on the right answer to win! It was certainly not an easy task for the Asians. (Harshad and  I cried “Kelong”!! This game is 100% setup for the Guai-Los to win!). My team decided to focus all our resources on one particular table which gave us the best winning chance. Our strategy paid off! The team of Hongkies, Singaporeans and Indians won the English-French team by a big margin of 9,000 dollars! Sweet!

Our last stop just before dinner, we “chilled out” (literally) at Asia’s largest Ice World at Venetian. Under -15 degrees Celsius, we braved through the 45-minute exhibit. It reminded me of the Harbin trip we had last Christmas except this time, I was in shorts and sandals. Even with the blue overcoat, it was freezing cold! For a minute, the team packed ourselves in a small igloo. It was so warm and cozy inside. The igloo actually worked!

Dinner was at a Brazilian restaurant, FogoSamba where it offered “eat-&-drink-all-you-can”. The “eat-all-you-can” offer didn’t really appeal to me. After 5 servings of roasted meats, I decided to call it a day. It was just too stuffy and oily for me. For once, I complained having too much meat and I went to get more vegetables to balance off the meaty meal.

It was a superb team-building day. Overpacked with activities but the programmes were all very very interesting, refreshing and meaningful. Felicia, Elkan and I took the 1030pm ferry back to Hong Kong right after dinner. Thanks David and the organising team for planning such a wonderful trip for the company and my family. I look forward for another great year. And next time, we shall conquer Mount Everest/cage diving/dance with the crocs and bet on the different Indian curries and durians. Just let Harshad and me do the planning.

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

Ball Time!

September 9, 2012 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong – Elkan dragged all of us out to the park for a mini football session. He outran all of us. I was panting and aching after 30 minutes of running.)


Filed under Family, Life in Hong Kong

Eat, Play, Love – with Felicia and Elkan

September 9, 2012 Leave a comment

10 good days. Sweet, yummy and delightful. Felicia and Elkan packed our small apartment (and my big tummy) with so much love and joy. It will take a couple of days to readjust back to my lazy monotonous expat life.

Felicia spent her first night in Hong Kong cleaning up my messy apartment (and granted me a “visa” to celebrate Harshad’s birthday across the border). When I came back the next morning, it was a completely different apartment – everything was so sparkling clean and tidy. My table was stacked with new copies of 8-days magazines and Singapore newspaper. She brought so many yummy ingredients from Singapore. Over the past 1 week, she cooked many of my favourite Singapore dishes – Black Carrot Cake, Ice Glass Jelly Drink, Almond Jelly, Hokkien Fried Noodles and Mee Rebus. One one hand, she was asking me to lose weight. On the other, she pampered me with all my favourite high-carbo food.

While Felicia was taking care of my tummy and heart, Elkan was terrorising my mind with his endless pranks. He was the complete opposite of his mum. I couldn’t keep up with him anymore. He tore the places apart with his loud noise and messiness. He was so into the recent pop songs – Gangnam Style, Last Friday Night, Part of Me, Price Tag, Whistle, Payphone). Poor boy, he is too tall and big to share bed with Felicia and me. He volunteered to sleep on the couch. The living room was littered with his toys. He “invaded” all my new gadgets (AR Drone, Jawbone Jambox, Sphero, Gopro) and “confiscated” a couple. He blasted our quiet mornings with his shower-time concerts and he “vandalised” the glass walls of the shower room with “invisible” soap-drawings (only visible under hot steam). He drew hearts and scribbled love notes on the walls – for us to discover. Creative, lovely and cheeky.

They joined our company’s team-building trip at Macau. Thanks to David’s generosity, he paid for all our accommodation and food at Macau Galaxy. Felicia and Elkan attempted the SkyWalk with the team. Elkan and Felicia were the first ones out on the ledge – 233m above ground. I was so proud that my boy didn’t chicken out. He was fearless (perhaps no concept of danger). While some of the older adults were struggling with the height, he was jumping and swinging freely on the ledge. We had a great time at Macau with my colleagues. Elkan made new friends (dumping his best buddy Harshad). And yes, he terrorised almost all the pretty girls and old men in the group.

On our last day at Macau Galaxy, Elkan asked for a dollar coin. He said he wanted to make a wish. To my surprise, he made a noble wish. Closing his eyes and praying sincerely, Elkan wished for “I wish for happiness everyday”.  A very wise, “sustainable” and priceless wish, I thought. I expected him to wish for an iphone or something short-term. His wish is certainly far better than a toy or a passing fad. I patted his head and gave him a big warm hug.

Our 10 good days are coming to an end. Felicia and Elkan are packing now. We are heading out for breakfast and leaving for the airport. In another 6 more weeks till we eat, play and love again.

Filed under Family, Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Lost and Recover – AR Drone 2.0 Over Sea (Hong Kong)

August 23, 2012 Leave a comment


Footage taken by AR Drone 2.0 HD Camera – I was on the boat, flying the drone about 20m over the sea. The wind was pretty strong. In less than 1 min (about 50m away from me), I lost total control of the drone. Good thing that the drone hovered steadily over the water. However, the wind blew the drone further and further away from the boat, towards the trees. To conserve battery life, I disconnected the camera recording. It was difficult to reconnect to the drone unless I get boat to sail closer to the drone (which is quite impossible). After a few minutes, I lost total visibility of the drone.  It was hovering within the thick vegetations. I thought I lost the drone forever.

Miracle happened! After about 2 minutes of lost connection, the signal came back and the drone was up in the sky! I managed to land the drone on the beach 150m away. My colleague and I have to swim to the beach to recover the drone. Amazing recovery!!! My good old drone cheated its 2nd watery death.

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Life in Hong Kong

Hyper-Activation Day!

August 22, 2012 Leave a comment

We had our first “Action-Day” yesterday. It was our first team-bonding session to kickstart next year’s creative goals. 2012 has been an awfully hectic year for many of us. With more new young faces (Hoyan, Clara, Tommy and Crystal) joining our team, we picked an unusual conference venue – on a boat!

The weather was fantastic! No typhoon or smog, it was all sunny and clear blue sky. What a great way to mix work and play! On second thought, I might prefer the more cozy air-conditioned 5-star hotel conference room. I have no idea that it was so physical-demanding. (Honestly, I thought it was simply hot bikinis, yummy BBQ food and napping on a hammock!) First stop – the “Leap of Faith“. While leaping off the 3m tall deck, I landed terribly on my big tummy. No tsunami waves but I suffered a painful water slap on my chest. I heard roaring laughters louder than the ocean! (Terrible colleagues!) Next, the 400m swim to and fro the beach nearly killed me. Guess my lazy bones couldn’t take this kind of “hard work”.

Nevertheless, I saw many “courageous” and unusual acts by my colleagues. Valerie took a dip into the water – despite not knowing how to swim! David and Mayee leapt off the deck despite their “height phobia”. Tracy, Kurt and Kelly struggled to keep their balance in their first wake-boarding trials. Harry impressed the girls with his suave wake-boarding moves. Tai-tai Chowpo maintained her stylish look despite all those hard physical workouts. New Tommy boy and hot “mama” Clara bonded well with the team. And Harshad sunk the banana boat and conquered the demons inside his heart. All is well!

It was an extraordinary day for all of us – burnt bodies, aching muscles, laughters and tears! It wasn’t the food or the boat that made this day special. It was the strong bonding of this team and the things we did together that made this day special. Most of us returned to office today with aching bodies (back, neck, shoulder, head…) For once, we arrived early and no one is complaining. Time to get the head cracking for creative concepts. Enjoy the photos.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

AR Drone 2.0 Test Flight (Splash & Crash)

July 30, 2012 Leave a comment

Yesterday weather was terrific! Blue sky, good sunny day! I decided to take my AR Drone 2.0 out for a test flight. The last 2 test flights weren’t ideal as I had only 1 battery (which lasted about 12 minutes). This time, I armed myself with 4 batteries. This will give me at least 45 minutes of good fun.

It is challenging to find an ideal space to fly the drone in Hong Kong. There isn’t much open space in the city. Too many people. Too many buildings. I have thought of going up to the Peak but was worried about the strong wind condition. Also, it will be almost impossible to recover my drone if it falls over the hill. There were at least 2 times when I am so tempted to fly the drone out of my balcony. My common sense stopped me. It is too early to retire my new toy.

There is a new waterfront promenade near where I stay. The new Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park (opened June 2011) is just located beside the Central Fire Station, facing Victoria Harbor. Lots of big space. Perfect for my test flight.

The waterfront promenade is awesome! It is very beautiful and quiet. There were people suntanning on the green,  couples jogging round the park, families angling by the sea and photographers waiting for the golden sunset. The place was pretty peaceful until I came along with my noisy drone. It was like a big irritating buzzing mechanical bee flying above them.

I certainly attracted a lot of unwanted attention. (I don’t really like such attention cos’ I suck in piloting this toy.) There was a small group of people surrounded me when the drone took off. I tried to be as discreet as possible – just in case my drone landed on some poor man’s head, I can disappear easily. Anyway, it was pretty easy to spot the “pilot”. Who in the world will look at the sky while playing the iphone in his hand?

The AR Drone is amazing. It makes flying so simple (via an iPhone or Android app)! Elkan mastered it within 2 minutes! It comes with auto-stabling sensors that balance the drone in mid-air. Landing the drone is no-brainer. The auto-landing function slows the drone down for a smooth landing. The AR Drone comes with 2 cameras (HD front-facing camera and normal VGA underbody camera) which transmit realtime video to the phone screen and record the flight footage into the phone memory. Depending on the WIFI range, it can fly up to 100m high and 50m radius. In the event when the drone loses the WIFI signals, it will hover in midair until it reconnects with the controller’s signals. WIFI signals are pretty unstable out here in the city. My advice is to keep to 50m range (in public places) as there are quite a lot of unexpected interference.

I was flying good with my drone. There were a couple of times when I flew the drone 30m out in the sea. It was pretty difficult to record a smooth aerial video due to the strong wind condition. The drone was swaying side to side and I have to pilot it back.

Yes, accidents do happen. I crashed my drone into the water fountain. Guess the sensors went wild near choppy waters and I lost total control of the drone. Thanks to the foam-body, it floated back to me. (Did it survive the crash? Watch the video below.)


For those who are thinking to get the AR Drone. It is a little costly (SGD380) but I say “Buy it! It is worth the fun!” And it gets addictive along the way. Now, I am buying more parts for my night flights. And yes, more juices (batteries) and no more reckless water stunt. Till my drone lasts.

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Life in Hong Kong

Dumplings Mates

July 30, 2012 Leave a comment

It has been almost 4 months since Harshad visited our apartment. Usually, Harshad visits us when Elkan is in town. Last evening, out of the blue, Tracy decided to invite Harshad to our house for dinner. She was preparing a big feast in the kitchen. Okay, not really a “big feast” but she was preparing Harshad’s favorite dish – Dumplings! Out of curiosity, I asked, “What’s the occasion? Harshad’s birthday is not here until end August…” Being Tracy, she replied candidly, “He just won an award. Let’s celebrate for him.” 

When Harshad turned up at our door with premium desserts, he was pretty surprised. In his usual greeting “Wow…What’s up guys?”. I snapped “Cos’ you just won an award and now I have nothing but dumplings for the whole weekend. Thanks, buddy!” Looking at the many many dumplings leftover in my fridge, I guess I am going to have dumplings for the next few days. (Congrats my buddy for kicking start the award season in Asia! Great Stuff!)

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

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