Will you marry me?

March 10, 2013 Leave a comment

Photo taken: Harbour City Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui – Last Friday night, I was out with my ex-architectural classmate Shuying and her mum (143rd & 144th HK Visitors) when we witnessed a marriage proposal. A man dressed as a mascot (小叮当）was posing with strangers at Harbor City Pier. A group of girls came along and posed with him. Out of the blue, the mascot turned around, held a bouquet of roses, kneeled down and proposed to one of the girls “嫁给我吧!”. A light-hearted stunt that took the girl by surprise. The on-lookers cheered for the man. Of course, she says “yes”. A very bold and creative wedding proposal. (I was about to get my friend to pose with the mascot. Good thing we didn’t disrupt his plans.) Below are some of the best wedding proposals on youtube. Enjoy.

 

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

A Jar of Love – Possibly the World’s Longest Valentine’s Day Card

February 19, 2013 Leave a comment

No words can ever describe the emotions I felt when I opened this special jar of love. This Valentine’s Day, Felicia made me a very special gift. It is an extraordinary card like no others. Awaiting the verification by the official Guinness Book World of Records, my wife may have possibly made me the world’s longest Valentine’s Day card ever!

Painstakingly and devotionally , Felicia created a 20m-photographic card of our love journey. Each metre represents one year of our togetherness. 2013 marked our 20th Anniversary. From our very first photo taken in 1993 to the most recents ones taken during our last Christmas Europe holidays in Dec 2012, Felicia digitally arranged and stitched every photograph chronologically. From our schooling days to my army days, our wedding days to parenthood, from Shanghai to Hong Kong – every chapter of our lives unrolled right in front of my eyes. Inch after inch, photo after photo, both us sat quietly on the bed, rewinding and reliving the best moments of our lives. If only we can measure the length of love we travelled, 20 metres will never be enough. I will never forget the words Felicia wrote at the beginning of the scroll. It says, “Love Begins…when Bobo loves Jojo”. This will be one scroll we will be extending year after year, inch after inch.

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore

Levitating Kitchen

February 15, 2013 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: Having fun at the Canon Kitchen Showroom, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong)

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Life in Hong Kong

Wahbiang’s “Gathering of the Year”

February 12, 2013 Leave a comment

Today – We had one of the largest Wahbiang gatherings ever! A total of  33.5 pax (14.5 kids and 19 adults)! We were just short of Joanne (away in Batam) and Tracy (away in Cebu) to complete this gathering! Why 14.5 kids? Well, we just found out that Jimmy and Serene are expecting their 2nd child! Congrats to both of them! Just like what Karen said on WeChat, this may be Wahbiang’s “Photo of the Year”! (We should switch off the TV – the kids were all looking at the screen instead of the camera. Hahahah…)

Thanks to Duuk and Juliana who played such great host to our growing clan, we had such an enjoyable time together! Food (steamboat and the side dishes) was excellent! The Lo-Hei tossing moment was unforgettable! Zach and Juliana were sprinkled with good fortune sesame seeds! This was also a very special CNY gathering, we celebrated MC and Yifu’s birthday. Meijie and Joey received their last pre-wedding hongbaos. For one very rare occasion  the children didn’t give the adults any headache. Unlike the last Eunos gathering, the kids drove the parents crazy! This time, the kids played in an orderly manner – all thanks to mountains of toys at our host’s house. What a huge difference it made!

From the post-gathering messages on Wechat, everyone enjoyed themselves. Hopefully, we didn’t trash up our host’s home too badly. Now, the clan is looking forward to Meijie and Joey‘s wedding on 17th March! Surely, this will be the last Wahbiang Golden Bachelor’s matrimony of our generation. Time to plan a big B-Party for both Joey and Meijie!

Filed under Life in Singapore, Wahbiang

CNY Reunion in Sentosa

February 12, 2013 2 Comments

It has been 6 long weeks (the longest break ever) since I posted my last blog. Apology for the long absence away from my blog, I was too overwhelmed with work and new projects! Mostly, it was work, work and more work (tax was record high and bonus was terribly lousy this year).  Nothing really special or remarkable happened. Over the past few weeks, I attended a lot of business dinners and a short weekend trip to Macau. The only heart-stopping moment was when my landlord sent me a notice to increase the rent.

It is so good to be home. Time flies, my last home trip was more than 6 months ago (back in June last year to attend my late granny’s funeral). This year, my parents decided to spend CNY in Singapore. This is the biggest family reunion we had in years. Leon and his wife and baby flew back from Xiamen to spend CNY with the family. Instead of the traditional house-visiting, we spent the 1st and 2nd day of Lunar New Year together at Sentosa. The family booked 5 rooms at Festive Hotel. That saved us the hassle of traveling to visit each other’s house – our rooms were just meters away! We left the room doors open – the adults were chatting and eating from room to room. The kids loved it too – they were playing hide-&-seek and were running from room to room, spraying water guns all over the places.

Apparently, there were other families like ours, spending their CNY Reunions at the hotel. There are so much things to do at Sentosa. On the 2nd day, the kids went swimming at the Hardrock Hotel’s beach-pool. I accompanied dad and mum to visit the Sentosa Flower Festival. Sentosa was super-packed with people, there were long queues everywhere (hotels, casino, tram-stations, restaurants and tourist attractions). We have to wait for more than an hour for our CNY dinner. Despite the frequent downpour, many Singaporeans and tourists came to gamble on the first day. The casino was flooded with fortune-seekers who wanted to try their luck on the 1st day of CNY. Dad and I took less than 40 minutes to recover the $200 entry fees (for two of us) plus an additional $300 winnings. What a great way to start this CNY – bonding and winning!

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore

The Walks of Love

December 26, 2012 Leave a comment

I missed those days when we spent time strolling in the park. This afternoon, we went to Victoria Park to play football with Elkan. There were many people at the park – couples, maids, young family with their toddlers.

I was enjoying a peaceful and quiet time at the park when an old man broke the silence, he yelled rudely, “Try harder. Take a step out. Stop telling yourself you can’t do it. Being here in the outdoor is good for you!” He was trying to get his wheel-chaired wife to step out of the chair. Step by step, he was pushing her, shouting at her to move on. I can see the strain on her face. She struggled at every step. Not once, she replied him. She just kept trying.

At times, love comes in the most unexpected form at different steps of our lives. The old man didn’t sound lovely but I guessed this was the way he cared for his wife. Perhaps, he was trying very hard to keep her strong by using those harsh words. When she almost slipped, he gave her a hug and helped her back to the chair. His stern look instantly became gentle. For that one moment, I saw the love in his eyes for his wife. That expression was unforgettable. He broke into laughter and held her hand… “See, you can do it.”  A heart-warming love story just played right in front of our eyes. And it was a very touching moment.

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong

Missing All of You This Christmas

December 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Maybe we have been away for a long time. Christmas is so different without the company of friends and family. It is so much quieter this year without the presence of my wahbiang buddies, Singapore family and that noisy HK indian buddy. So many of them are away on holidays (Joanne in Phuket, Cousin Yei & Echo in Shanghai, Chester in Japan, Leon and family in Xiamen, Harshad and Tracy in Bhutan, Yifu & Family in Hong Kong) with their friends and families. I guess this is a pretty lonely and quiet Christmas season for many. I received more “I miss you” messages than “Merry Christmas”. Just finished my late wee-hour greeting chats with Echo and Aunty Amy, we certainly need to organise a big gathering next year. For them, too, it has been a very quiet Christmas.

On Christmas’ Eve, I tried to connect everyone to gather some noise and “festive moods” on mobile through WeChat. Not ideal but this helps to connect the whole clan together. Thankfully, I managed to gather all my family and a handful of my friends. (I shouldn’t have deleted my Whatsapp but I won’t bow down to intrusion of privacy! So, Chester, Kalinda, Karen and Juliana – please install WeChat!). I asked everyone to send me their Christmas moments (be it a card, photo or even a voice memo!) Thanks to all, I managed to receive lots of amusing voice memos and many beautiful happy photos. It is always a great joy to see Wahbiang’s Annual Christmas Gathering (since 1992!). While the adults are away and mellowing down, our kids are making the gathering bigger and filling the void with their laughters and noise. Like what Felicia said “Someday when the kids are going for their own Christmas parties, will leave us the same old Wahbiang gang.”

It is becoming a tradition in our household. Thanks to Felicia, she put up a new “Christmas Tree-Wall” at my tiny apartment this year. It reminded me of our wonderful Europe trip – a Eiffel Tower Christmas Tree! It blinks every night. Another special mention – I got her to design this year’s OgilvyAction’s DIY 3D Christmas Card (and big thanks to an old friend Timmy for sponsoring the production!). Thanks to all my lovely clients and friends for taking the effort to make the cards and sent me those photos! (I am so glad that my friends received the cards on time – sorry, we have been away for our tour.. we sent them out late!). 

While this is the season to get together with your loved ones and spread laughters, joys and love, it is also the time of the year when we reflect on what we accomplished and learnt for the past year. While we are celebrating this special day, do remember there are so many more unfortunate people out there who need our constant attention and help. Do spend some time and teach our children the origins of this special day. It is more than “gifting”. It is all above giving. That is the best gift we gave as parents. It is a tradition and values we must build in our children. Be thoughtful, be kind, be selfless and be good.

Now, we are looking forward to the return of Aunty Bay and Uncle Harshad. It is no fun celebrating and unwrapping our Christmas gifts without them. For the least, Elkan can wait till their return. After all, there are 12 days of Christmas and we have a brand new world to celebrate! It will be a happier 2013. I can hear wedding bells and birthday songs.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I miss you guys so much.

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Singapore, Wahbiang

爱心早餐

December 25, 2012 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: 爱心早餐 by Felicia – It is a breakfast so full of love!)

Filed under Family, Life in Hong Kong

Tranquility (Reflection – Water City II)

December 24, 2012 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: “Tranquility” at Shangri-La Hotel, Hong Kong Park)

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Life in Hong Kong

On the road back home (Updated)

December 18, 2012 Leave a comment

I am writing this travel blog on our last 12-hour flight back to Hong Kong. It is going to take me at least 1-2 days to recover from the jet lag. There are so much to unpack and so many gifts to distribute. There are also a lot of travel photos and videos to sort out and edit. Not forgetting the piles of works waiting for me back in the office.

This is one of those rare moments when I get to spend quality time on the road with my just Felicia and Elkan. We were on the road for 12 days. 5 cities, 23,000km – We spent a total of 27 hour on the planes, 23 hours on the trains, 70km on foot towing 50kg of clothes / gadgets / souvenirs / maps / food supplies. Sounds like a pretty fun adventure. It is!

Looking back all the photos and videos I have taken throughout our 12-day tour, it has been an amazing trip for 3 of us. We have discovered and experienced so much (the snobbish Parisans, the warm Italian and the chatty English and the custom-free border crossings within Eurozone, the complicated tax refunds etc). I guess it helps to travel in a different time zone. Amazingly, I didn’t receive any phone calls from work. I guess my colleagues and clients have been very nice this time.

Our world revolved around Elkan. It was both hassle and fun to travel with him. I guess it will take him many years to fully appreciate all these trips that we have been taking him. Afterall, he has just turned 8. Elkan and us see things in very different perspective. Felicia and I awed at the great marvels, what he saw were just old buildings. He was picking up histories and stories as we moved from one destination to another. Often, he surprised us with the questions / imaginations that went on in his head. It was good to have him on the road with us though he can be a very restless, lazy and untidy traveler. But again, he was just a little boy.

Our health took a heavy toll on us. We fell ill on our first night in London. It took me 3 days to recover from the jet lag. I was down with fever and backache for many days. Felicia had sore throat and was coughing throughout the trip. Elkan suffered severe rashes around his lips due to the dry cold climate. Nonetheless, our spirits were high. We didn’t even let the unpleasant pickpocket incident affects our moods. Our deepest heart-felt gratitude to all the encouragements and good-wishes we received from our family and friends on social media – it is always good to know your friends and loved ones are constantly around us digitally and spiritually.

The only thing we missed badly is our usual travel companion (Kalinda, Tracy, Lionnel and Harshad). We wished someone can babysit our hyperactive boy when we were enjoying our peaceful stroll in Rome. And we wished we had more family photos taken at all the landmarks. I have deleted so many blurred and poorly composed photos that were taken by strangers. We miss the noise and fun with our friends. They made quite a difference.

This is going to be a pretty busy week before the world supposed to end on 21st Dec. Anyway, the spokesperson at the Vatican City put up an official press release that the world will not end this year and ask its devotees to celebrate Christmas. It is not up to the Mayan to call the shot. Not yet, He said.

Dear God, thanks for this wonderful road trip. It is everything. (Enjoy the video)

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

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