will i am's delayed diary

Work gave me a chance to visit China in mid-April. It was my maiden trip to the 'motherland'. Never had I considered travelling to China on personal trips. Due to a recent investment my group chairman made in a Chinese IT company, my company was roped into some engagement activities. So for a whole week before the trip, I had to compile pre-sales materials, and some of my colleagues had to help out with the translation. Truth be told, it was practically useless for me to be in an IT product conference in China since I could not read nor write, much less do a presentation in putonghua . And yet, I was flying there with my GM to be a 'unqualified vase'. LOL. And at the last minute another colleague actually pulled out with a doctor's letter claiming sinus problems. Alamak . Regardless, I proceeded with the flight tickets and visa. Two other colleagues would be flying from Singapore. My ticketing department got us 'great' tickets from Cathay Dragon where ...

Gosh, look at the time! I've neglected my blog again. Rainy Day reminded me that I need to post Transit Tom from Chek Lap Kok Aiport. I gravitated towards his arms like tudung -clad girl to a K-pop boy band member! Sat next to him and fired up my Nexus 5! Love the proximity. And he has such a hunky jaw line with good, tanned skin. Yummy! Hope to get back to my regular posts soon. They are wayyyyyyyyyyyyy overdue!

Since I was in Singapore for a week before I flew, I only had the weekend to pack for my great Canada vacation with KH. Wasn't really sure what I needed, so I just randomly dumped clothes and supplies into my luggage bag. Hopefully it would suffice. For the flight, KH chose Cathay Pacific. My first time flying with them actually. Based on company entitlement (well, he gets a two year bond as a result), KH could have flown business class, but in order to accompany me, he chose premium economy instead. Such a sweetie. Our flight was at 1730 to Hong Kong where we transited for a couple of hours before proceeding to Vancouver. The flight number was very auspicious, CX888. With the extra leg room and cushier seats, the twelve hour flight wasn't so bad. Just ate and slept and ate and slept. By the time we had arrived at Vancouver International Airport ( Yay! ), it was 9:40 PM the same day, kinda 'gained a day' flying East. Took a cab to the Westin Bayshore Hotel. D...

XUX , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Believe it or not, I have some leftover cuties from my HK trip, so before I forget, here they are. And here's an example of their personalized car registration plates. People can be so creative! MOMO , BEN BEN And oh yeah... Yoshinoya seems popular over there. I see it more than McD. And KFC is so rare! One more thing-- SASA . Everywhere also SASA! Here one, there one. It's like a bad case of syphilis! Will be back to my regular programming tomorrow or the day after. Stay tuned!

Dragon's Egg , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. On our last day in HK, we busied ourselves packing ( almond biscuits take a lot of space! ) and finishing our cherries and pomegrenates. By 11:30am, the cleaner had arrived. The landlord also called for some final instructions on the checkout. Because our flight was at 8:30pm, we had to find some place to loiter. But it was challenge since we had a whole lot of luggage to drag along. Taking a chance, we relocated to Times Square . I scouted the building to find a suitable place to squat. Found a food court in C!ty Super with ample space. Unfortunately, come lunch time, we had to justify our presence there. We ordered food whenever we got strange glares from the cleaning staff... kinda like paying rent. Bored as we were, we took turns roaming the place. Nine floors of shopping and I bought nothing. Haha. For lunch, mum and I shared a bowl of ramen from Ganpachi and a box of sushi. At mid-afternoon, Mr. Singh picked us up and sen...

Flower Shop , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. One of the reasons we came to HK was to see how the locals prepared themselves for the coming Chinese New Year. And the bulk of the action happens at the Prince Edward area. Once again, my brother fell prey to the inclement weather and grounded himself at home again after coming out all the way. Flower Market Road was really lively and super-crowded! Most of the real estate had already been taken up by the plants and there were plenty of customers jostling to buy flowers for their homes. The baby stroller was very unwelcome there. People gave angry stares and some even remarked that the market wasn't 'a place for kids'. Goodness. Among the more popular items at the market were narcissus ( came by the crates! ), Phalaenopsis orchids, nipplefruit ( got to love the name ), yellow chrysanthemum, kumquat trees, peach trees ( I did not see any pussy willows at all ) and various red flowers. Flowers didn't quite appea...

Fringe , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. On Friday night, we were at a lost where to go the next day. After much deliberation, we decided on the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens . A wholesome family activity is it not? LOL. Took the MTR to Lan Kwai Fong, an area full of pubs and clubs. Another salient feature of the place is its topography-- steep gradient! Hiked up to Upper Albert Road and saw no garden in sight. Asked a pinoy waitress: "Botanical gardens? Not here. Wan Chai. Oh wait. The place with the birds? Up there!" Goodness! We had to trudge up some more. Seeing us sweat in the cold morning, a taxi driver wound down the wound down his window and told us that there was an easier walk, but since we were already nearly there... might as well continue. I nearly fainted. Turns out that the garden is built on the northern slope of Victoria Peak is 100m above sea level. Being a Saturday, some pinoy maids had their day off and spent it with their friends ...

Shopping Street , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Note: A photo-intensive post. Please expect a slower loading period. But I'm sure you won't complain due to the increased number of cuties in this post. Shopping was next on our to-do list in Hong Kong. Munched on some toast from ToastBox ( the only place that serves Milo I suspect ) before hopping on the MTR. Exited at Tsim Tsa Tsui to go to Harbour City Mall . Quite a mistake, an atas place to shop, but at least it had free WIFI. For some reason, the whole mall was decked out in a chocolate theme. The main concourse had a giant chocolate fountain flanked with giant bars of chocolate, while at other places giant donuts and chocolate strawberries. Even the benches were replaced by chocolate eclairs and chocolate bunnies! Trying to escape the brand names, sis brought us to Cheong Sa Wan for more down-to-earth shopping. Unfortunately, it was another mistake. Wrong stop. Wandered around for more than an hour in the rain. Th...