Our White Christmas I – Beijing (22nd – 25th Dec)

December 25, 2011 5 Comments



Elkan is excited. He is looking forward for another white Christmas. He has been bugging me for the snow. He was only 4 when we took him to the snow mountain in Korea back in 2008. Amazingly, he remembers those snow encounters clearly – more than the recent 2009 Japan and 2011 Australia holidays. This year’s holiday travel brief is simple and obvious, Elkan wanted to play snow and Harshad wanted to climb the Great Wall. We decided to spend this year’s Christmas holidays in Beijing and Harbin. Another good news for the group – Santarina Kalinda is spending her Christmas with us in China! The more the merrier!

Our first stop was Beijing – the city with the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. To date, China is ranked 3rd (after Italy and Spain) with a total of 41 World Heritage Sites (and another 52 sites under pending).

We spent 4 days in Beijing. We visited 4 key World Heritage Sites (The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and the Great Wall of China), 2 Olympic icons (The Bird Nest and the Water Cube) and 2 prominent shopping sites (The Village and The Place).

This is going to be another memorable trip (with many “firsts”). At the Great Wall, we had our first scary chair-lift rides up to the fortress. I was petrified by the shaky chair-lift. Not to mention our first thrilling Toboggan down the hills.

Outside the Bird Nest, we experienced our first nerve-breaking walk/dance on frozen lake! Honestly, we had no idea if it was safe to walk on the ice. It felt thin and dangerous. We could see the water underneath the ice sheet. Anyway, we repeated the same dangerous “ice-walking” stunt on the big Lake Kunming at the Summer Palace a few days later where Elkan was jumping and rolling carelessly on the icy floor.

In the coming days, we will be experiencing our first “overnight soft-sleeper” carriage. For some of us, this will be our longest rail travel ever – covering over 1,200km on rail on a 14-hour train from Beijing to the snow mountain at Yabuli, Harbin. (In total, that is almost 28 hours on rail, covering 2,400km.) This is also the gang’s first taste of -25˚ winter. And many more “firsts” yet to be discovered.

Beijing is a popular and familiar city amongst many. Therefore, I shall let the pictures tell the story.


Here are our Top 5 favorite Moments in Beijing:

NUMBER 1 – THE GREAT WALL AT MUTIANYU (慕田峪长城)
Located 45 miles away from Beijing, Mutianyu offers some of the best scenic views of the Great Wall. It is also “quieter” and less crowded than the more popular “Badaling (八达岭)”. To enjoy the view and avoid the crowds, it is worth waking up early in the morning and heads for the Great Wall.


NUMBER 2 – THE SUMMER PALACE (颐和园)
A beautiful summer retreat for Empress Dowager Cixi, UNESCO declared the Summer Palace “a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design”. To date, It is the best-kept existing royal garden in Beijing. It is a beautiful composition of man-made structures and nature. The pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges form a harmonious relationship with the natural stone walls and lake. It is truly a living space of outstanding aesthetic value. This is a living museum to witness the great Chinese landscaping.


NUMBER 3 – THE FORBIDDEN CITY (紫禁城)
Home of 24 Chinese Emperors, the 500-year old Palace is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. It is also the world’s largest surviving palace complex, consisting of 980 surviving buildings with 9,999 bays of rooms. (Number 10,000 is a scared number exclusive for the Emperor only). Today, it is an empty Palace with little artifacts. Many national treasures were stolen during the Japanese Invasion and civil wars. Some of the iconic treasures are now displayed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.


NUMBER 4 – THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN (天坛)
Larger than the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. It is also the place where General Yuan Shikai, then President of the Republic of China, performed a Ming prayer ceremony at the temple, as part of a wishful effort to have himself declared Emperor of China.


NUMBER 5 – THE BIRD NEST (鸟巢) & WATER CUBE (水立方)
Iconic structures of world records – The Bird Nest and Water Cube were made popular during the 2008 Beijing Olympic. To maintain the structures and attract crowds, the Bird Nest is now converted into a Snow Theme Park while the Water Cube has now becomes a Water Theme Park.

Christmas is here! And we are having our little Christmas shopping and dinner at Sanlitun and The Place. Tomorrow morning at 5am, we will be setting off for our long-awaited white Christmas at Harbin and Yabuli. It will be a 14-hour journey on rail. This is going to be exciting and I am expecting a couple of surprises! (And I am sure the ladies and my baby prince will be shivering in the cold!)

Merry Christmas to all my friends and families! Stay tuned for our Harbin photos.

Filed under Family, Life in Hong Kong, Travel, Wahbiang

Who’s that girl?

December 17, 2011 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: Erenhot Airport, Inner Mongolia, China – Not the typical runway models. We saw a lot of mannequins standing along the runway at the Erenhot Airport. Maybe to frighten off the birds. Or worse… to distract the pilots during taking-offs and landings???)

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-35˚ at Mongolia

December 17, 2011 Leave a comment



This is my most exotic and extraordinary business assignment. When my friends and colleagues heard about my Mongolian assignment, many thought I was crazy. Some envious ones came to “congratulate” me. And a few even think I won’t survive the harsh winter – losing my ears, nose and balls. Despite my aerophobia, I convinced myself that it is stupid to miss such a rare business opportunity to visit such an exotic country. The name Mongolia sounds so exotic (I am not talking about the beautiful fair Mongolian beauties).

This is the land of the nomads, home of the world’s greatest conqueror “Genghis Khan” who founded the largest land empire in human history. This is also the world’s lowest density populated country where you find 1.5 inhabitants per sq km. It is the world’s 19th largest country with only 3 million people (yes, lesser birthrates than Singapore and Hong Kong). And not to mention, it is a land of the most extreme climatic conditions. This is the coldest time of the year to visit Mongolia. Day temperature drops as low as -35˚ and -45˚ at night.  No wonder Ulaanbaatar is also the world’s coldest capital city (annual average temperature is -1.3˚!).

My adventure began at “Erenhot” – a quiet Chinese border town along the Chinese-Mongolian Gobi Desert border. On the plane, I saw nothing but a vast white desert. It was so beautiful. It wasn’t snowing or foggy, it was sunny and clear. It may not be so cold, I thought. Seconds after I stepped out of the airport, I experienced my first freeze-attack. Water in my nose froze and my face turned numb and unbearably painful. I couldn’t last more than a minute out in the cold. Gosh! It was dry and brutal – not the kind of “cold” that I used to experience on the snow mountains.

Crossing the Chinese-Mongolian border, we saw a lot of dinosaurs statues. Lots of life-sized dinosaurs scattered along the long quiet road. It is amazing to find such an exhibition here. (There are more dinos than real people here!) This is also known as the “Dinosaur City” because Erenhot is the home of many world famous dinosaurs. The Eren Basin, site of the dinosaur fossils, lies 8 kilometers outside of the city, where many other fossils are buried, and where many of the world’s most famous dinosaur fossils of the late Cretaceous have been found.The town holds the biggest and best-preserved dinosaur fossil collection in Asia.

We spent 8 hours at the Mongolian border. I was pleasantly surprised to know many Mongolian speaks good English. I was happily taking photos of the place when a young pretty Mongolian girl came by. She was pretty but what happened next shook me. She gave me a hard punch on my chest cos’ I was blocking her way. (Good thing I was wearing thick winter clothes cos that was a very hard punch). She must have mistaken I was taking photos of her. Damn it.

Nightfall and the temperature dropped sharply. It was too cold for me to handle my DSLR camera. We were done with our job at the border and we took the 12-hour Trans-Mongolia Railway, crossing the harsh Mongolian Plateau to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. It was an unforgettable ride traveling with the Mongolians! There were many traders on board. They filled their cabins with goods from China (toys, clothes, food, Christmas trees etc). It was packed and very noisy. There was no heater on board, we tucked ourselves warmly on the small cabin bed. (Good thing I brought a lot of chocolates and snacks to keep myself warm. I am not a fan of vodka, goat milk and mutton.).  It was full-moon that night. Under the moonlight, the white snow dunes outside looked so beautiful and calm. Twilight was mesmerizing.

We finally reached Ulaanbaatar. Traffic jam was bad and the air quality wasn’t good (due to the coal-generators outside the city). It is a modern city with a lot of big malls and hotels – shopping and food are no problem. We tried exploring the city during our free time but I gave up as I could not endure the cold wind (my body, feet were warm but not my face). It was difficult to walk on the streets as the pavements were coated with a thick layer of ice. We saw people walking and gliding on the icy walkways. People on the road were looking at us as we were visibly over-dressed – like ninjas. The Mongolian dressed little as they have accustomed themselves to the harsh weather.


Overall, this is a rich and eye-opening experience for me. And yes, I want to come back to Mongolia again – not on business but to discover the other parts of this vast Nomadic land. And certainly not in winter.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Largest Apple in the World

December 12, 2011 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: Inside the Apple Store, IFC Mall, Hong Kong – It is the largest Apple Store in Asia. And this just might be the world’s largest Apple Logo.)

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Life in Hong Kong

Lazy Moments

December 12, 2011 Leave a comment


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Heads-up, Red-dy for Christmas?

December 11, 2011 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken: Little Red Hats – Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong)

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2D Christmas Tree

December 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Felicia was scratching her head that day. She saw our super tiny apartment and asked me where she could put up a Christmas Tree. Since Shanghai days, Felicia has been taking care of all our Christmas decos at home (See snapshots below). This year, my very creative wife painted us a 2D Christmas Tree with 3D snow balls and ornaments. The tree was just right above the shoe-cabinet by the main door with all the presents stacked underneath it. What a clever usage of space! And a big thank you to Kalinda – you never fail to surprise us with your beautiful Christmas gifts. Let’s celebrate a white Christmas together in 2 weeks’ time! See you soon!

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

Bottles-Up!

December 11, 2011 Leave a comment


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My Colourful Visitors – Grey and Violet

December 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Meet my 2 very colorful and lovely “family” from Shanghai – Little Francis “Grey” and Little Echo “Violet” (my 133rd Hong Kong visitor). I couldn’t recognised these 2 kids! When I left Shanghai in 2008, Violet was just a month old. Just like her mum and granny, Violet possesses strong characters and good genes. She is curious, cheerful, sweet and spicy. What a charming 3-year-old girl! She speaks fluent Mandarin – much better than Elkan and her brother. Grey on the other hand, is an amazing replica of Francis! His eyes, his moves and his personalities are just like his daddy – strong, daring and independent. The kids had a great time together (terrorizing the adults with their loud noise and limitless hyper-energy!).



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Meet Fiona – My 1st and 131st.

December 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Meet my 131st Hong Kong Visitor, Fiona Shen. She is exceptional! (She is one of the few Singaporeans who worked at Apple HQ in Cupertino, California! No, she won’t tell me anything about iPad3 or iPhone 5!) We have known each other for 25 years. She is one of my closest primary school girlfriends. And she holds the record for being my first…. (It is not something that I am proud of… but it is something which I can never erase from my mind.)  Trust me, it was pretty physically and mentally intense.

Well, meet the girl who gave me my first slap.  I was only 12 when I lost my virgin “slap” to her. It happened at her house, in front of all her guests during her 12th birthday party. I accurately accidentally shot her eyes with a rubber band just minutes before she was about to cut her birthday cake. It musta hurt like hell, if not, she won’t gave me a “love mark” that lasted this long. It was a terrible attack. She walked over, gave me a big slap on my left cheek and ran to her room (shut the door). Her guests and parents kicked me out of the house. Ouch! It all happened within 5 minutes and when I left her house, I have no idea what hit me.

Well, we still joke about that incident at every Primary school gatherings. And thanks goodness, I didn’t develop phobia for woman. I just hate rubber bands and birthday cakes since that day. (That reminds me why I have never got any more birthday invitation from Fiona since…).

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong

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