The farewell festivities......

As John Denver said,

All my bags are packed ...I'm ready to go....

Well....most of my bags are packed and I'm ready to go but I have a few more days left....the bulk of the items have been packed, picked up by the movers and most probably sitting in a container on some ship heading to Port Klang. I only have 10 days worth of clothings, couple of shoes and 2 bags with me waiting for my actual departure which should be on 3rd May.

We finally moved out of the the Vantage Park apartment a week back. I'm used to moving up and about all my life so it wasn't that melancholy. However, a week before we moved out, we had our last small dinner at the house. That was quite funny coz earlier that day the table had been sold and picked up and when our guests came....it was dining a'la Japanese style.

Luckily I had my big Shinco TV box and that doubled as our dining table. The irony of it, we started our first 'dinner' do on that table box 2 years ago with Samantha and friends who came over from KL as our first dinner guests and we had our last dinner using that box as well.

As they say.....back to basics.....

Finally we gave our respective house keys (sob..sob...) back to our landlord and got our rental deposit back (hurrah!!!). Thank GOD for that!!!! It helped to pay my income tax. I managed to break even my stay here. Mind you, i should have saved so HKDDDSSSSSS after being here for 2 years but unfortuntaely....i feel that it is my duty to contribute to the HK economy. Its a win-win situation....i'm happy that I have managed to helped the independant boutique owners of HK and some friendly and pro-active sales girls got to make their commisions....they have earned it.

I'm glad at least I'm not in the red....(let's leave the credit card out of this okay....)

And so....the past week have been a whirlwind of catching up with old friends and colleagues. I was soo touched with all the efforts and gentures that some of my old close friends have made. It is a pleasant surprise when you never expected anything and suddenly...Voila!!! The faces you never expected to see, came all the way and surprise you.

Janet and Carmen...thank you girls! You came all the way and I truly appreciated it very much....Thanks heaps Kaman for arranging everything and giving me the idea that it will only be a quiet evening for us. Julie truly rocked the evening. Wished Naomi was there too. And had there been Philip, Sandra and Robert....we would have laughed the whole place down that night. This is the dream team to work with and among my FAV people in MTM....too bad they are not in MTM anymore....

This was followed with an indulgent and luxurious brunch at the Watermark with my 2 bestest 'girls', Kaman and Karen. A beautiful place, classy setting, delicious food, great company followed with a productive quick shopping spree .........Ms Wannabee is happy!!!

And so...the farewell do's shall continue till Ms Wannabes's last day in Hong Kong.....


Kaman and Karen showing off thier 'gifts'...

My and my girls....

Note to Self.....

Things to do before leaving HK:

Clear all outstanding taxes,
Clear as much credit card debt as possible,
Get a netbook (if not a laptop),
Get an external hard drive (with sdd instead of hdd).

And if there are still some balance HKD$$$$ left….

Get that aviator from that new shop!!
Get an Agnes B’ or that cute and practical looking Anya Hindmarch tote (hopefully).


The things I’m going to do when I am back in M’sia:

Get a car, maybe a small non-guzzling petrol type,
Get the whole house wifi-ed…it is the 21st century after all,
Get a new shower screen for my bathroom---am sick of washing the shower curtains all the time,
Start giving money to parents on a more regular basis..yes, must do this more often now that am earning a little bit more than before,
Give as much attention as I can to my nephews and my one and only darling of a niece…
Touch base with old friends and relatives…

In between….hopefully……..

Continue with piano lessons until I get to play that Twilight soundtrack on piano,
Resume yoga/pilates ,
Start dieting...eerrr.....exercise properly and regularly (until I can fit into that old bikini)?

Easter holiday...Being sick, packing and shopping frenzy

A week more to go and it will be exactly 2 years in this apartment. Then we’ll have to vacate this place. I’m moving to Bard’s temporarily until I leave KL and Whaisee will move to Linda’s before leaving for her Lijang trip.

At first we decided not to bring anything home but since I could not get rid of my bed..ohh what the heck…..might as well ship as much things as we could. The shipping cost??? Thanks to my generous employer, hopefully I don’t have to pay anything…,just be bonded to them for the next 5-10 years. Hahaha!!!

We’ve been having Easter holiday since Friday. I did not leave the house for the past 3 days…Amazing huh! Well…partly due to my not being well on the first and second day and then we got busy sorting out our stuff and packing our things for the impending move. It’s amazing what you accumulated for the past 2 years…..there were so much stuff that we both accumulated!!!! Clothes, shoes and books, and more clothes, shoes and book and also bags….

But there’s more……since we are going to ship our things back, we decided we might as well fill up the whole container. Whaisee and I decided to buy a few kitchen items that we could ship back as well. Household electrical goods…costs cheaper here compared to home.

And so we each got ourselves some basic kitchen items….I even got my mom one of those deluxe size rice cooker that can feed 20-30 pax. At least when we have family gatherings, she doesn’t have to use 2-3 pots. The cost? 1/3 cheaper than home. Whaisee got herself one of those super-duper food processor and mixer. And each of us also got our coveted pressure cooker. Much cheaper here…really!!!

In between a couple of stops at Dermalogica and Ikea in Causeway Bay, by some miracle…we found another gem of a shop. It was an optical shop. This was the highlight of my day. I got myself a new pair of glasses….not just any glasses but a Prada, something which I have been eyeing for the past few months! Am in cloud nine…. Not only that, Whaise got a 2 pairs of matching Aviators for her and hubby. It was soooo worth it!

Excellent service, very very reasonable $$$$....this shop has just got another loyal customer…..

Ms Wannabe!!!!!!

A productive shopping day……..
Ohhhhh what an adrenalin rush!!!
Ms Wannabe is fully cured from her ‘ailments’........

Modelling around HK

Fancy ice cream anyone???

A couple of weekends back, I met 2 interesting blokes. They were friends’ of friends and holidaying in Hong Kong for the first time. Thanks to Bard who included me in…we had a fun weekend showing them the beaten tracks of Hong Kong.

As usual…we started the day with a hearty dim sum breakfast. There were no specific agenda or game plan so we decided to try the tram route all the way to the southern end in Shaokeiwan. After an hour of tram ride, we headed to the Museum of Coastal Defense…very interesting place with exhibits that dated back from the past few hundred years.

I saw a few things that one only sees in films…a huge cannon (more tan 10ft long!) and a real medium size torpedo. Yeah…a real torpedo!!! Surprisingly…the whole area was guarded by vigilant, serious looking middle aged female guards….

This is my first time going out with ‘real’ photographers. I guess this time…these 3 guys could pass off as ‘real’ if not ardent photographers. Good thing I left my super compact handy camera back at home. It would look really 'toy-ish' and embarrassing compared to these guys’ super duper hi-tech DSLR cameras…they spent every minute ticking away!

Zainal is the photographer sifu (master) and there were Joe and Bard, the protégés. And yours truly…Ms Wannabes became the model du jour. Poor guys…they had to make do with me since I was the only rose among the thorns.

Yeah….…. I'll be lying if I say I didn't like the experience. Have to admit it was really fun posing, smiling and pouting in front of the camera. Throughout the 2 days…I kept hearing technical photophraphy jargons from the sifu to his protégés while they took pictures…shutters, aperture, tv, speed…bla, bla, bla…..

Apart from Shaukeiwan, we also took them exploring our fav spot near Shek O (Deep water Bay). They loved it! Despite the fog and graying mist………the natural beauty of the place……took our breath away. Now they know that Hong Kong is not just a scattered mass of concrete jungle…..

We continued the next day exploring Mui Woo in Lantau with Rahim joining us this time. Each rented a bicycle and after some wrong turns finally found the Silvermine Waterfall. The light drizzle on rain drops did not stop us at all.



Again, it’s the photo taking time…under the patient tutelage of the sifu, the guys were snapping away at waterfall…trying to capture the speed of the fall, the splashes, the flow of the water in all its glory….. Even Rahim got the bug and started snapping pictures using his brand spanking new, multi touch-screen mobile phone/camera.


And of course….I was the highly sought after model of the day again……Haha!!!

Over that weekend…..I think….I have also learnt one or two tips on photo-taking:
- When taking photo of a couple (male and female), the basic trick is to focus on the female;
- When capturing sunlight on water….look for the ‘bintang-bintang’;
- Use high speed when capturing water flow, lights…
- Bla, bla, bla……..

There were more but I wasn’t paying attention nor was I interested in all those jargons.

I was happy to just sit and smile prettily and leave the photo-taking to the experts…

Thank you guys!!!!!!!!

Bard (partner in crime, fellow model)
Zainal (the gentleman sifu – such a gentleman to escort me home in the middle of the night)
Joe (volunterred to be my ‘manager’ and a fellow ocd)
Rahim (that quiet, patient and enigmatic guy)





City slickers in the village

Picturesque village scene

Leaving my trail...

Can't believe that I managed to take such beautiful photos...(if I may say so myself)

Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints……yeah….that’s what I have been doing the past couple of weeks and the next few mores left….leaving my trail…

Let’s see…we had a glorious spring weather a couple of weeks back and we used it to the fullest! There was one Saturday that we went inter-island island hopping from Central to Peng Chaum then to Lantau and Mui Wo and back to Central.

A bit of hiking in Peng Chau, smooth and windy but no sea-sickness ferry rides, a sumptuous lunch with a friendly and not so bad looking American host Gerry, enjoying the quaint old villages in Mui Wo on our rented bikes and ending with a hearty seafood dinner…..it was a great day with a pleasant spring weather and of course…..enjoyable company.

After a short bout of beautiful spring sunny weather, last weekend was a bit of a damper. It was foggy and grey the whole weekend! And so…it was indoor camping with movie marathon……I think we must have watched nearly 10 movies? Come to think of it…can’t remember much what we watched but it was pleasant time indeed.

And of course….there was that endless feeding and eating throughout the whole time …from a delicious home-made gulai darat and sambal durian and cili….fluffy lempeng kelapa (with real kelapa muda soft bits and pieces), nasi goreng kampong and finally…. closing down the weekend with another dinner at Sri Siam in Soho. And I finally after a long time craving….i get to enjoy my creamy red rubies…...

Burp! excuse me :)-

The hustle & bustle of HK Harbour seen from the Central Pier

A hundred year old Banyan Tree in Peng Chau

This is not a longkang okay...but it looked prettier in real life

Its low-tide and shell picking time. It is also competition for best looking ???

Living by the sea...in every sense of the word

As picturesque as it is....i wouldn't want to live here during the typhoon seasons

(1) Views from my place on foggy & misty days

(2) On beautiful clear days

The Full House - Korean Love Comedy

This was a famous Korean drama about 3 or 4 years back which I did not get to watch fully. Eventually…somebody kind enough took the trouble to download the whole series for me. Thanks so much Dr Lee Wang Wang Ph.D (as she always introduced herself back then…dunno what it is now….she’s relocated back to UK, bless her!).

After sitting in the cd pockets for the past 3 years, I eventually took out the cds and started watching from last Saturday nite. And I wonder why I didn’t start sooner. It was sooo enjoyable to watch!!!!

I especially love the girl meets boy, they hated each other on sight, then they are stuck together by accident or unavoidable situation like in a ‘marriage of convenience’ kinda situation and after a while…..the hatred turn to love and the much-loathed person turn to be the most significant other in the other person's life.

That is one of the most common and popular recipe for a love story from the Sweet Dreams stage up to Mills and Boons. Who wouldn’t resist a good laugh and happy ending….

What we’d love more is when both protagonists are good looking people as in this story, the main actors (males and females) are really gorgeous and easy on the eye. I don’t understand Korean but whoever did the English subtitles did quite a good job resulting in a captivating, engaging and entertaining scripts. This really brought out the romantic in me.

Love conquers all and hopeless romantics like yours truly will swoon and sigh happily at the end of the story………

Ms Wannabee is still looking for her own 'love story'........

Momsy in town

My mom was in town for the past 10 days and to keep her company ...I have been working only sporadically in the office. Have been on leave for quite a bit these past 2 weeks.

Being away from the office that long was very nice indeed and coming back to work today is a big yawn........ However, being coop-up in the same place with my mom, though beloved she maybe…..was more than I could bear.

Don’t get me wrong! I do love her but most times….she really tried my patience to the limits! Sometimes or I should say…most of the times now…we have a role reversal…she’s the daughter and I’m the wise and ever patience mother. Guess I’m the ‘chosen one’ after all. My friends were greatly amused by this….

But then again, this is good re-orientation for me since I’ll be heading back home again soon.

There will be no more going out on a whim and staying out as long as I like. It will all have to be reported: my ins and outs, my activities, where I’m going to and whom I’ll be meeting, how long it will take and what time I’ll be coming back….

URGH!!!!! It’s a little bit disconcerting but no worries….I’ll get used to it again. And if it gets really worse…I can always move out.. Yeah, I wished…………

And so…. despite the shaky starts (couldn’t help but scolded her for picking up the wrong luggage at the airport which inconvenienced everybody tremendously, the clashing outfits and ill-fitting shoes, the endless chatters, same ol’lectures and repeated stories of our various family members (which I have been hearing over and over again till I can throw up!)…..it was kinda entertaining to have her around (for a limited time).

I did behaved myself, we had an ‘okay’ (I won’t say great) mother/daughter bonding time together and thankfully, there were no major emotional outburst or soapy dramas.

Thank you Lord!