It's been a year...

Time for an update. This year has passed by so fast and yet it took so long to come to an end. The economic crisis sure had its fun toying with my emotions and resulting in the Very Dark Eyebags that now have their own zip code and HKID!

So how have things progressed? Sometimes I think it's mainly been going downhill (and those thoughts mostly plague me during late nights in the office when the rest of the world is asleep and I'm still jamming away trying to insert charts that I'm not sure are really readable, next to 5 other similar tiny charts in font size 5 on a crowded word page!)... but most would say I've had an excellent year, so shut up and stop complaining

Anyway, when I wasn't inundated with work, I spent quite a bit of time exploring the various little outlying islands (right smack during the H1N1 frenzy!). I like the smaller islands like Cheng Chau and Peng Chau. I don't like having to take a boat there because I am chronically seasick, but I do like the lazy hazy feel of the islands. Rather like a backwater Penang.


And despite a bustling chaotic CBD being just a half hour ferry ride away, islands like Peng Chau seem oblivious
More photos to come.. I'm just too sleepy to finish this up properly now

Where Eastern Winds Meet Western Winds

When winter comes and the smell of frosty cold freshness is in the air, it's hard to remember you're in Asia.

Asia to me is humidity, 30 degrees, and air conditioning. Everywhere. Even within the confines of elevators, although my mum is now convinced they are shutting down that luxury in elevators as cost cutting measures grow rampant throughout the world.

Anyway, this is no deep and insightful post on life in Hong Kong. I just wanted to pen down how nice a day it is, when it's cold outside (well, not that cold.. it's about 16 degrees) and I'm sitting on my bed with the curtains flung open to let in every possible bit of golden sunshine. I've got a warm laptop on my lap (which will do as a nice warm lap cat or dog replacement) and banana loaf from the bakery down stairs. I'm swaddled up in any number of throw rugs and quilts and listening to the quite hum of traffic as cars trundle up and down from mid-levels to the peak and back.

This is the simple life in Hong Kong and I love it!

I don't wear brands, not because I can't afford it...

It's because I wouldn't know it if it were staring me in the face!

Little girls growing up in the ranks of Malaysia's low to mid-class aren't meant to be able to tell their Fendi from their Gucci from their Prada. All girls, no matter how young, old, rich or poor in Hong Kong own at least one guinuine (or fake) Gucci bag. But one must learn fast to keep up.

I still recall the days when a Coach bag was beyond reach. Until I reached out for the price tag one day and realised I could probably afford a few and still have more than enough for a Vivienne Tam dress and would not starve to death. How the mighty brands have fallen when you reach a certain stratosphere of society. Nevertheless it is a vicious climb to the top and when once I used to dream about buying my first pair of Nine West shoes with my hard earned money, I now have a cupboard full and am eyeing instead a gorgeous red pair of Valentinos, at a 500% premium to my once upon a time coveted Nine West pumps. Nine West has become Bata Coach has become (well I don't really know a cheap bag brand) and the road to Nirvana is a Chanel Maxi Bag (because I'd rather not waste my time queuing for a Hermes Birkin). Besides Chanel Bags only appreciate in value, a better investment than say Mortgage Backed Assets these days...

But the more I learn to tell the difference between my Bottega and Balenciaga the more I long for the unknown nameless boutiques back home where I pick up all my cheap dresses and don't feel guilty tossing it after a couple of wears. Or perhaps, its more a yearning for identity and uniqueness and that little something that still makes me quirky because I'm wearing something you can't identify from a High Fashion Catalogue.

Summer has come and gone

And I am back for just a bit...

Typhoons are hitting us left and right, reminding us that the summer sun has gotta take a rest and soon the windy chills of winter will be upon us. Time for me to dig out those boots and scarves.

Even though it's only been 4 months of summer, it feels like a whirlwind of events. Vacations, junk boat parties, a truckload of friends and family passing by Hong Kong, too much eating (and sometimes too much working) and then an entire financial meltdown... and now the summer is gone

I've been here for over a year now, and things still surprise me and there is so much of the unknown. I should let you in on the little secrets I have discovered in Hong Kong, like where to get the best foot massages and the best Bak Kut Teh restaurant in the world (if the world were Hong Kong)... but all in due time (i.e. I'm too lazy now to write more)...

The winds blew June this way

It almost feels like a whirlwind has hit (and in light of Burma and Sichuan, I mean it in the best possible way).

There is so much to tell you about Hong Kong in the last 4 months since I disappeared from the writing world, but I don't know where to start. Maybe I've forgotten how to write. You tend to when you spend all your weekday hours cooped up in the office and all your weekend hours exploring all the crooked alleys and hidden staircases that Hong Kong has to offer.

I will/shall post something soon. Just you wait and see. But for now, I'm blissfully happy not having an audience. Just you.

The North Wind doth blow...

... all the way from China.

It was about 5 degrees today.

I recall when I signed the dotted line on my contract, I was promised that the temperature never falls below 10 degrees in Hong Kong. I think they're blaming this one on global warming.

It kinda feels like I never left London now as I run out of my building right into freezing cold rain, then run back inside again and ask the porter to kindly hail me a cab as little Malaysian girls aren't built for anything below 20 degrees. The wind, the rain and the cold make you wonder how this is still Asia or Asian...

I have a new heater in my room. I'm calling it R2D2 because it looks just like R2D2. It blinks and rotates too.

It's almost Chinese New Year. What I'm more anxiously waiting for is Spring to come. Oh and a chance to go home next week.

Baby, it's REEEEALLY cold outside. Can I count on you to keep me warm?

Another day another night

I just got back from another Saturday night out, from party to party, drink to drink, senseless soul to senseless soul.

Do you sense the cynicism in that? I wasn't even in the mood to dance.

Went all the way to Tai Koo Shing to catch I am Legend in the only cinema that wouldn't force us to sit in the front row. Tai Koo Shing looks so much like Singapore, it's freaky. It's food court which it strangely a very Singaporean Food Republic, complete with Bread Talk, Hot and Cold drinks station and Teppanyaki Express made me feel sort of right at home. Just that everyone spoke Cantonese.

Had desert at the Western Market which looks like a miniature of Pasar Seni (one of my childhood Sunday afternoon favourite hangouts).

Anyway, Hallowe'en photos below have been updated. Time to fall into complete inebriated sleep.