company junk trip

from left, me, Ben, Bonnie & APAC boss, Joerg Zobel

Last Friday, was our company junk trip.  We all left for the junk trip at 12:30pm, you can opt for not going but if you did, you've just gotta stay in the office and work~!

Some of my friends think that this is absolutely a great company to be working for, well, I sort of think the same.  Put it this way, which employer would let all the staff have half a day off and then pay for a couple of junk trips for everybody?  Not that many I would guess.

Anyway, we arrived at Lo So Shing Beach (Lamma Island), played some beach volleyball, dipped in the sea for a bit, had a few beers and some form of food, karaoke sessions and a fall into the speed boat... hehehe

looking alright there...

Bruised! Around the knuckle of the right thumb.  The forearm felt bruised as well, just not visible that's all.  Should not have played beach volley ball at this age, especially it's been a couple of decades since I last played!!   Having said that, it was really a lot of fun.  Chasing the ball, doing the serve, falling over... fun fun fun!

I still remember we had to take tests for PE when we were in the girls' high school.  We had to do running, jumping, throwing, basketball, volleyball, soft ball and all!!  And those were not the only sports I did (not good at them at all though), I also was a gymnast (school team), trained at least twice a week; went swimming with my brother every Saturday, rode a bicycle everyday and played badminton quite often as well.  So, I was fit, skinny.  Now, if I walked up 20 steps quick I'd start panting!  But swimming is OK, cycling should still be OK, Yoga is OK, dancing to the right music with a few pints of Guinness is OK as well.  Hehehe

Anyway, we had an awesome time out of the office and hey, don't get jealous, let me know if you want to join the company hahaha

Google Translate

It should indeed say, "Restaurant", but...

And I thought to myself, "thank goodness!  at last, translation made easy!!"  Well Adrian was really disappointed at first try...

I started a blog in Chinese and of course, being my lovely husband, he would like to know my thoughts.  He's a Brit, and a Brit who does not read any form of Chinese.  So he thought of using Google translate... the comment was, "what have you been writing, my dear???" looking at me like he had to try and get to know me from scratch.

I have posted an announcement of the start of this blog here earlier, it is called New Blog.  This is the translation to the first post called "Two Blogs" (this is how I call it, not as translated below):

Two blog

My first blog on Blogspot, the called me ... and all around me ... most written in English. At that time, and her husband separated, it is one of our communication platform. Sometimes written in Chinese, have to give his translation (written ororal use), or he will give me that unhappy face. Although the face looks funny, it is not easy to translate, but the reason for that nauseating, I will not refuse him. With this new blog, had wanted to put a link just idly even, but think again (hope we can do this action), as the release of the Chinese here, the English remain inme ... and all around me ... where would it not perfect? ​​seems very professional. .. In fact, it is just fun Exhibitions it!

Helloooooooo~~~~ You call that translation?????   How????

Here's a proper translation:

Two Blogs


My first blog in Blogspot is called me... and all around me..., it is mostly written in English.  At the time when my husband and I were separated, it's one of our communication platforms.  Sometimes when it is written in Chinese, I had to translate it to him (written or dictated), or he will give me that unhappy look.  Although he looks funny putting on that face, and translating is never easy, but for that rather blushing reason, I won't refuse him.


With this new blog, initially I thought of simply posting a link and that's it, but on second thought (hope to do this more often), I may as well post Chinese posts here, keep the English posts in me... and all around me.... Just perfect, isn't it?  Seems very professional... in fact, it's just for fun.


Comments of any kind are always welcome!


And the above is almost word to word.

Pulau Tenggol - part2

Of course, you may wonder what we'd be doing spending 5 days on a tiny little island with no shopping, no TV, no spa, no internet.  Nothing much I would say.  We'd wake up, have breakfast, jump into the sea.  Most of the time Robin would ask us to tag along when he brought the divers out to the different dive sites.  Get back to the resort, have lunch, then snorkel again, and then come back, shower, dinner, take a walk on the beach or simply sit down and interact a bit with the other guests.

A lot of divers would visit this island but we think, even if you're only snorkeling, it's still phenomenal.  Although you don't get to see the many beautiful creatures in the deeper waters, you'll still be able to see some beautiful things that is just less than 30 meters away from the shore.

Some might ask about the food.  Well, the kitchen is run by a young mother (her 3-year-old is the only tiny human being on the island), the food tasted very good, and they were generously portioned.  It almost felt like home.

We don't have a professional camera, it's just a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX36, in a waterproof bag.  And these are some of the photos that we took: -

anemone - closed but we can still see the clown fish swimming in it!

another anemone, try to spot a different species of anemonefish in it.
see it? at the center top of the photo, the white stripe is on its back, the pink anemonefish

a pair of pink anemonefish, a.k.a. pink skunk clownfish, in their anemone home

look at the landscape

the amazing colours

a giant clam, just about 18" wide

the clearest photo that we have taken of a clown fish - very shallow water, approx. 1 meter deep, with the sunlight.

a beautiful giant clam - the most beautiful we've ever seen!

see the yellow, blue and white little things?  they are Christmas tree worms

this is the fish that wouldn't leave us alone, it was getting very close and even if it was so close to getting hit by our flippers it still would not leave us along!  Adrian thought it was not quite as friendly as it looked so we swam back to the boat.  However, according to Robin, they are in fact very playful fish!
Funny how 2 big persons getting scared because they were being circled by an A4 size fish... hahaha

this is Robin, the cheeky DM

a blue starfish, we've seen a few of them, spans just about 1 foot

the beautiful sunset

There you go, I don't think much needed to be said.

And we have decided, by the end of our second day, that we will return, for sure!!

My crocheting project - floral handbag

It was time consuming, a lot of different techniques but all in all, it was good fun.  This will be for my mom, and there'll be another one for my mother-in-law -- order placed by husband before I was even 10% into this project!  Of course, the deadline for the next one will be before Christmas hehehe

It took me more than a month to complete this but of course I spent about a week abroad on business and didn't bring it with me to work on.

First I started with the flowers - all 5 different types of them!!  11 different colours!!  5 different types of yarn!! Goodness!!  And material cost is less than a hundred HK Dollars...!!

Dang, I'm good!!

New blog

I've started a new blog, a blog in Chinese.

It is here.  Or you can click on the link at the bottom of my own intro here (on the right pane).

I maybe biting off a bit more than I could chew here considering I have not even had the time to blog here regularly.

I love writing but I love writing in Chinese on paper, for real... Chinese input is just too slow.  But I'm going to give it a shot anyway.  Let's see how it goes.  Some contents might be repeated but it really feels different when I write in my own language.  I'm sure, for people who can speak/write more than one language, feel the same way too.  

spider woman? naaa... just monkey....

photo taken by the beautiful Ms. Cat Mok!  Thanks, pretty!

The hair dryer was a lot heavier than normal today, in fact, last Thursday too.  Why?  Well, because I'm restarting sport climbing, after, slightly more than a decade!! 


It was introduced to me by a very good friend and I fell in love with it in an instance.  I still remember the first session I had -- I got home with crippled arms!!  I didn't even have the strength to scoop some soup out of my bowl!!  My mom ended up helping me!  I literally used up every bit of energy in my arms. 


Now I stopped for more than a decade because I did not have any support then, well I was young and thought that doing what the other half asked me to do or not to do was alright even though that was something that I really enjoyed doing.  It is different now.  I've got Adrian and I have his full support in the things that I do even if that means he won't be able to see me for a day.  He's such a wonderful man!

Back to this sport climbing thing, it's just climbing on some climbing walls, not on some real cliffs, I used to call it indoor rock climbing.  But it's obvious that it's called sport climbing now.... It's safer, more convenient, it's like an instant noodle in climbing.  No need to prep your trip and plan your route long before you climb.  You just turn up after work, in front of some climbing walls, with a couple of friends, and there you go, you can start climbing!  Ain't that wonderful?

Well part of the reason why I enjoy doing it is that it's not too physically demanding -- no jogging, running, sprinting, walking uphills... ya, ya.  I'm not a big fan of aerobic exercises maybe my heart and lungs are damaged goods haha  that's why I practice yoga and the only aerobic exercise that I enjoy is cycling.  hehee...

O ya, I get one special bonus doing it as well -- I got to know some very healthy youngsters (who loves outdoor activities and the challenge), they are soooooo different from the good old Hong Kongers that I know!!  Amazing!!

2nd part of Adrian's birthday celebration

Well, the first part, I haven't blogged yet hehehehe but the 2nd part was soooooo good that I have to blog it immediately after a nap that followed hehehehe

Well, I treated him with our 2nd Champagne brunch (we had our first one in Macau, in Aurora).  I brought him to Cucina in Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel in TST.  It was on the 6th floor and we were sat by the window with Victoria Harbour in sight, bright sun light, a bit foggy but I would still class it as a good day, by HK standard hahaha

not the best but good enough by HK standard, well the sun made it up

Although I haven't been a great fan of champagnes but I like the idea of having a slow morning/afternoon out of the house and a bit of booze and a lot of good food.

There was the very popular Hokkaido long leg crab, oysters, lobsters, great salami and ham and super delicious soups.  Also, the dessert line was almost perfect, and Adrian has had 4 coffees (I had to forbid him from ordering the 5th!!)........

All in all, it was great and I was thinking that we should do this when Steve & Rosana comes over to HK the next time and when Mendy & Chris come back to HK in June.

At about 3:30, we left the restaurant (though the brunch ended at 2:30, we stayed until the afternoon tea started.... baaaaad~~) and went home for a well deserved afternoon nap -- had to get ready for the rugby game tonight! 

And, now, we're off to our rugby game!!!

Grey's Anatomy

I know Adrian wouldn't agree with me but Grey's Anatomy is very good, not as good as House but IT IS VERY GOOD INDEED.


And my favourite character is actually Doctor Yang, and I must emphasis that I'm not racist, she's just, or the character is just, the most real Chinese woman ever.  I know, I know, it's just a character, but it's what I want and try to be most of the times. I'm not saying that I'm fake but a lot of times, you have to start with something nice to tell ppl off... it's Asia, it's a sin to say what you want to say out loud... hahahahahahaha

相爱不难，相处才难！

老公的爸妈圣诞和新年来了香港过。 好恩爱的一对。

看着他们的相处，我很希望我们将来老了以后也可以一样恩爱 -- 不贪心，不必有他们100%的恩爱指数，有80%我就心满意足了！

很多的智慧，关怀，包容和爱，很多很多。。。　多到可以把几个大西洋填满吧？　那种互动，在传统的华人社会里，真的像稀世珍宝一样，难得啊难得！　我就没幸能在我爸妈身上看到，除非，爸被爱神附身。。。　除非，除非。。。　有一天爸爸被鬼吓到不见了两个魂吧。。。　呵呵呵。。。　我好坏哟！　可是我爸妈那两夫妇就是一对冤家！


爱把两个人放了在一起，那才是开始。。。　两个人的相处（或角力？）的开始。。。　


怎麽样的相处模式才能让一段关系无惊无险地过渡４０个年头以上呢？　
要有多少的爱才能成就这样的夫妻关系呢？　
要有多少的智慧才能成就这样的夫妻关系呢？

每天晚上看电视的时候，他们都会依偎在一起，像一对小恋人一样。。。　这简直太神奇了吧～～～？？ 　我从来没有见识过类似的事件发生在我爸妈的身上耶！　可能就像公公所说的一样吧，“因为我是完美的”　(because I'm perfect)　因为据了解婆婆的性格有一点难搞，就像所有女人一样。　
更难能可贵的是他们的幽默感，如果缺少了这个能为生活注入不少色彩的能力，恐怕英国小镇的单调生活早就把他们闷疯了吧？　如果换了是我的话，三个月，三个月我就会自己去疯人院报到了吧。　说到底疯人院会比较精彩吧？　哈哈哈！！

dying young

I've been watching repeats of some HK movies on TV.  It's quite sad that most of the times, at least one or two actors/actresses are dead.  Sometimes, 2 out  of 3 main actors.  Though dying young, they were good at what they did, really good, by Asian standard.

Rouge -- both of them died

This is just one of the many examples.  Well, good example from Hollywood, The Dark Knight -- Heath Ledger, I only watched this move in a cinema after he died... felt so so so strange.

I'm sure everyone knows at lease one star like that... an unforgettable one, that will always live in his/her work.

They were once, very very shiny stars and they, are simply irreplaceable. 
It's like, the more they shine, the more their early death weighs...

I don't know, just want to say that they change how a movie should look, or meant knowing that they are already dead whilst I'm watching it.  hmm...

正能量！

看吧~ 我在发放正能量的样子哩~~ 是的！头发是会飞起来的~~ 呵呵呵呵呵呵呵~~~

我以前都不用脸书的... 那时候，离开澳门的时候，在朋友们的要求下，才决定和老公共用一个account。 也因此跟很多失联的朋友/同学从新联络上 -- 不小的收获哦！ 说实在，真的让我有一种整个人都充满着正能量一样。 超爽！！


最近，发现某一部分我认识的人，我在意的人，很奇怪地，都同时在他们的人生里遇到了一些让人烦恼的事情。  希望你们能接收到我发放给你们的正能量，变得更有勇气去面对一切挑战哦！ 像九把刀说的，"人生就是不停的戰鬥！" 


大家！ 用力地加油哦！我也会一起加油的！

我的家人朋友們, 我最親爱的你們, 我的小宇宙還有很多很多的正能量存貨哦, 有需要就别客氣哦! 來! 拿去! 喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔~~~~~~

Homemade Wantons!

I craved for wanton last night, after my Yoga session and a scroll in Page One.  I figured I'd cook them myself since I've got some minced pork in the fridge.  So I went and hunted for the prawns and wanton wrappers.  Got the prawns but no wanton wrappers anywhere (well I only looked in 3 supermarkets, not a lot)!!!  So I have decided to pay for the prawns and go home and make my own wanton wrappers.

I googled a recipe, and started right away!!

Flour x 150g, egg x 1, water x 2 tbsp, salt x 1 tsp, mix them up and make the dough (knead until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore), leave for 30 minutes (cover the bowl with a damp cloth).

Then, while waiting, mix the minced pork and prawn in a bowl (stir them up in one direction until it's very sticky). Of course, mix in the salt & pepper as well.

Then roll the dough (split them in a few portions) into very flat sheets, as thin as possible, best if you can see the light through the sheets. Cut them in to 6cm x 6cm squares (actually, any shape you like as long as it's just as big).  And them, wrap!!

Well, depending how big you like your wantons, wrap as much filling you want.  I like them small, about half an inch diameter.

TADA!!!

You can fry them, cook them in chicken/fish broth, have egg noodles with it, bla bla bla...

Dang！I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo good!

How many books do you read a year?

5? 10? 50?
Me, just about 20 I guess...

How many books do you intend to read a year? 

5? 10? 50? 100?
Me, n or as many as possible.  Unfortunately I don't earned enough to buy so many, I haven't got so much time to read so many (for some reason, I can't read on a moving vehicle any more, that's killing me), and the books I read just get thicker and thicker.

For me, I intend to read a book every 2 or 3 days.  But that's just wishful thinking.  I remember I used to read one book a day when I was in high school.  I would visit the library everyday, and just pick up the next book card from the drawer that I left off a day before.  Sometimes, I could read up to 2 or 3 books a day.  But now, I can only manage 1 a week.  @__@

I only read Chinese books back then and are still what I read most, but I do read a bit of English books occasionally and once in a blue moon, Japanese comics. 

What do I find in books that I read?  Mmm... brain work out, heart work out, sometimes, lacrimal gland work out.  Naa, it's a lot more than that.  You'll only find out when you start reading.

My latest piece - 開心 (Open Heart, means Happy)

1st Anniversary!

View all

Get your own

Yup, in a day, it's gonna be our anniversary! We celebrated it a couple of days earlier because Adrian won't be able to get home early enough to have dinner on the day itself... What to do, he's an important man... hehe

Feels strange and, what a year it has been!!  One down, a lifetime to go!!!

I'm almost a genius!

Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

Ya ya, I took another IQ test this morning, after the one called Mensa Workout that I've taken last night at the Mensa website... I only scored 22/30, I think 2 of those that I didn't get was because my English is not good enough... eeeeeee!!

Well, looking at the Score Guide from the one I've taken this morning, I have an IQ or 141... And then I was told that I have to add some 5 - 10% on top of my score because English is not my native language (I wonder if there's anything in Chinese out there...).  That would make me... erm... a genius then!!! WAAAA~~~ I could be in the same category as Einstein!! 

I'd never thought that I could possibly be a genius!!  But, they say, IQ is less important than EQ these days.  I think that's just about right, coz being a woman, I usually don't make use of my IQ when I shop, eat, fall in love, drink... etc. etc.  and my EQ must be somewhere on another planet when I get angry... I think some of my friends, who know me well enough can tell.

Conclusion,  although I have an IQ of a genius, because I don't really have very high EQ, that makes me... errr.... just A NORMAL PERSON!!   But I'm going to tell my mom and dad about my IQ anyway, just to make them proud -- having a daughter with an IQ of almost a genius could make them quite happy hahaha!!


Challenged Brian Goode aka Brain Good (my x-boss in the RCT) to it because he's one of the smartest person I've ever known... After the test, he said, "... not sure what happened, only 156."  @___@

The Curious Diary of Mr. Jam

The Curious Diary of Mr. Jam is a blog that I follow on a daily basis ever since I first read Mr. Jam's articles in The Standard.  The stuff that he writes is really funny and so are the comments that follow.  I can understand why -- Great minds think alike.  hehee  And then I started posting comments on some of his posts -- can't help it, they're just so interesting sometimes you just want to be part of it.

Yesterday, Mr. Jam himself posted a comment on my blog...!!!  If you've noticed, no one really leave any comments in this blog, I just know so far, this blog has had more than 12000 visits and that's because I put a counter here.  Otherwise, I would think that only Adrian and a few of my closest friends read what I write.  Depressing?  Not really.  I think it's a very good way to improve my English and at the same time, practice typing.  Also, I don't only write in English, I sometimes write in Chinese and Japanese as well (that's very rare because Adrian would always ask what I have written -- that means translations needed... which I still find quite difficult to translate from Chinese/Japanese accurately) when I think that only Chinese/Japanese could express what I really wanted to say.

Right, back to Mr. Jam's comment.  It's really encouraging.  So I sent him an email to thank him and told him my surname (he asked, OK.).  And to my surprise, he found one of my photos taken at a charity ball organized by the International Ladies Club of Macau and with my consent, he posted it on his blog.  I'm really flattered.  Haha! 

Maybe I should start to wear make up to work?  Naa~~ then I'll have to wake up at least half an hour earlier... Not a good idea.

My crocheting project - Bloom & Blossom

I started work approx. 4 weeks ago.  The office is in a building at the beginning of Canton Road, right next to Harbour City.  Everyday when I go home, I have to walk pass all these super brands before I could get off the street (it's not like they're not there in the morning, they're just not opened yet, so I could hardly notice their existence).  On the first day, I spotted this white crocheted handbag in one of the shops, gosh, it was soooooo beautiful!!  Ya, of course, it costs just about HK$15K, of course it's beautiful!  Err... well maybe not all the expensive ones are beautiful (especially the ones that are covered with logos and monograms...) but trust me, this one is.

And so, I thought, well, it's crocheted, with a bit of leather handles & trimming and all... I can live without the leather trimming and handles and...  I just like how it's crocheted.  There I was standing outside the facade of a super brand, making the decision to crochet myself a nice looking bag.  hehee

I decided that it shouldn't be white (it's gonna be summer and ppl are gonna get sweaty and the bag is gonna end up greyish or something... or when I have curry, it will get spotty).  So I went down to the wet market in Jordan, there's this stall that sells some simple yarns.  I picked the pink one (would have picked another colour if they had anything nicer than pink...), paid HK$18 (should be more than enough for even a tank top).  Went back to the apartment and started crocheting away...

One week later, it's 60% done, with a lot of trial and error -- that's what you have to do when you don't have a pattern to follow... Adrian and I went down to Sham Shui Po hunting for the handles, zipper and the yarn for the trimming.  It took us all afternoon, exhausted but we got what we wanted.

With just a bit of trimming to go and a zipper to attach, I went off the Shanghai for a workshop.  Left it home with Adrian.  Mind you, Adrian was surprised that I didn't bring it with me and finish it off in Shanghai.  C'mon, I'm there with my new colleagues, I don't want them to think that I'm a weird, anti-social new colleague that came from Malaysia -- a place that does not need this thing called sweater, hence no one needs to know how to knit or crochet...???

Anyway, I returned to HK exhausted, but I just couldn't resist the thought of using a handbag that I've crocheted for the first time!  Well, I did have something like a bag crocheted when I was a kid but it was nothing serious like this one.  This one, I am going to use it, in HK, on Canton Road, in my office, with many many many colleagues in the sportswear retail industry (some might have some hi-fashion background!!), maybe 2/3 times a week!!  So this is bloody serious!

I completed the project last Saturday (total cost of material: HK$98), this is how it looks now... I've been using it since Monday (well Tuesday didn't count coz I was on a sickie)...

Bloom & Blossom

This is one side, if you compare with the picture below, it's got slightly different buds...

This is the other side, can you tell the difference between the two sides?






My colleagues has given me a special title, The Knitting Lady (織女)... hmm...