A Lovely November – Day 2 – Morning freeze and Dinner with Rita and Billy!

Dear Readers,

Morning Freeze
I woke up FREEZING. Was it really ‘winter’ in HK so soon? I got dressed for breakfast, wore my jacket, and was freezing in the hotel restaurant during breakfast. 

Which….was quite alright, except for one thing that really boggled me. — They put the bacon in this steamer, no wait..hmm…it’s not an obvious steamer, but it is a tray, that is heated, and has this glass cover thingy and I suppose some steam too, to keep the food warm I guess?     ”It wasn’t the usual food tray covers” would be the best way to describe them. Anyhoo, so bacon, ham, sausages? All soggy! Bargh! In hindsight - it was good thing for me because I avoided eating them all week.

Because I was freezing in the restaurant, I refused to be a victim, and I couldn’t allow myself to catch a cold because I couldn’t get my parents sick, so I wore a longsleeve undershirt, my tank top, my green knit sweater, my jacket and my scarf …and headed outside for lunch. I even put my MSN status as “FREEZING IN HK!”

Once we stepped outside the hotel? I was hit by a gush of warm air. Man…I’m such a loser!

hahaha, this is another example of what happens when I live a sheltered life. (BUBBLE!!!!)  If I didn’t step out of the hotel, I would completely think that it is subdegree temperature outside! What is with hotel airconditioning?!?!?!? Everyone around me was wearing a cotton-tee, and there I was with my pink scarf!

Cantonese Immersion
Anyhoo, Shatin is a really nice part of HK, it is nice and quaint, and interesting. It also brought out my huge cantonese insecurity though. We were buying a SIM Card, and I was asking the lady if I could choose my phone number (because you know, I am so particular when it comes to numbers)  Basically, I have to press all these buttons and choose a number, DAMMNIT the lady did it for me, and I got a crappy number. But anyhoo, she was blasting off in Cantonese, like blahblah *TSK TSK* ho mafaan la la lalalalaa, and I was staring at her blankly, like what the heck did i do? And later Mommy said, “she told you she was frustrated with reading instructions, and you should ask her boss”

My jaw literally dropped like, Wow, how the bleep! did I miss that!

Portions are also ridiculously huge in HK. Random point.

Dancing while walking
Mommy gave me a HK map, and booked me on the shuttle to TST Regal Hotel. And with this trusty map, I found my way to the pier side, and had a nice 20 minute stroll to Ocean Terminal. You know what, I don’t usually use my MP3 player in Bangkok, but it is really fun and handy to have.

While waiting for Rita, I was listening to “Give it Up” by KC and the Sunshine Band – and alright, I was doing a mini-grapevine move in front of the shopping square. I always do this I suppose? How can someone listen to music and not move and dance along to it? 

I guess if I ever lived in HK, I would have to learn to live with just tapping my feet…because this dodgy African man (I’m not racist btw, I’m just describing how he looked like please!) walked up to me smiling like,

Dodgy man: Are you waiting for your friend?
Stacy: Yes, my husband actually! *switches to more sober depressing music*

Reunion with Rita and Billy
Shortly after creepo approached me, I saw Rita and ran into her arms. So that’s right, he was standing right there. Rita was my husband.

We had dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant that had a nice view of the harbour, and Billy joined us too! Dinner was great, but the highlight was catching up with the both of them. I like it the way it is now, seeing Rita once every 6 months, it comforts me And this time, I got the chance to talk to Billy more, and I am so happy for Rita, because Billy is a really nice guy.  Heather, Andrea and Rita! All three of you are attached to such wonderful men!

Lovely running Rita!

The nice waitress lady...everytime she took the photo we saw her hand shake...hahah this was the best shot

I have to dig up some old York photos and compare how we looked before as to now. I feel we are women now Rita! It’s hard to describe really. It’s like we look the same, but not at the same time?

November 4th was a fabulous day for me!
Stacy

Kuala Lumpur – Day Three -

Dear Readers,

Only in KL did I realise that us Chinese people have names like, MK, CK …PK…which initially I found quite strange. I asked Dad, oh maybe its a malaysian thing because I have a friend KL (who is from KL) then my dad pointed out that its a chinese thing for example we know someone called YF, and his childhood friend KL, and then there was a whole list of people with names like that. Sometimes the small things in life just go un-noticed.

My day three was very ’sabai’ as we say here in Thailand. Aka. easy going. Had breakfast – they served nasi lamak! Hurrah! but i just had a half a spoon of rice (very good) and an omelete. Afterwards we had 4 hours to kill, and I wanted to buy Mom a few magazines, (in Thailand, all the fashion mags are in Thai, I like Singaporean and Malaysian editions because they cater to asians and are in english) so I planned to go walk to KLCC by myself to buy them.

Dad again was such a sweetheart, WE walked to KLCC this time (didn’t want to get ripped off again, and also I wanted to see how it was like walking on the pavement.) It was a brisk 10 minute walk, a bit sun-foo and thats why I really appreciate Dad. I passed by an elementary school called Lai Meng – like Leon Lai. Took a photo to show Doug. (Doug take a look!) Not that he is a Lai Ming fan, more that its just a random thing to show him. Then I saw ZOUK.

ZOUK. Wow how I would had loved to go party there. I remember 2 years ago around February- Carolyn, Ling, Crystal and I were talking about going there for the weekend. I’m so sad that the trip never took place, and I thought about that when I was walking by. I’m sure we would have had a blast there.

The missed opportunities, and forefeited memories.

KLCC had so many sales, but shopping isn’t fun without Mom, and also I didn’t want Dad to wait so long for me, so I went into Cold Storage, bought my 7 magazines and went to meet him. While we were walking back, we were crossing the road when the light was “The green walking man” and a motorcycle cut passed us and skimmed me by this much. Dad was quite upset, and as I saw my life go by in somewhat slow motion, I noticed that the motorcyclist was malay, wearing no helmet, and sitting in front of him was his baby daughter, about 1.5 years old, sleeping in her onesy. This mental image has really impacted me for some reason.

We got back to the hotel and rested for 1 hour. Then we headed to the airport.
Can I just say that, the airport is a LONG WAY from city centre, it is an incredible 65km drive. And as we were driving pass so much greenery and vast landscapes, I couldn’t help but think of Singapore, and how so much life and structure is built in a land area of 42km x 21 km. Amazing.
I really miss that place.

(this is a photo of Selangor Race Track, where F1 is held, I want to take Greg here next year)

The airport was a complete racket. That’s all I can say without sounding like a prissy elitist snob.
Reaching Bangkok, I was so comfortable and happy to see Mom again. And I could just tell from Dad’s face that he really missed her (and during our trip he talked about her alot and said he missed her alot)

Summary of Day Three + Entire Short Trip:
On the plane, Dad told me that he had such a great trip with me, and how this is such a good memory for both of us to keep. He told me how he distinctly remembers when he took me swimming when I was 7 and how I was his chubby and super happy go lucky daughter. And that how I’ve grown into such a fine young lady. It was a very sweet and tender moment between us, and I love him dearly.

This trip, Dad did so many things for me, granted on the scale of things they may seem very small, but the smallest gestures are the most meaningful. I know that my Dad really loves me and does whatever he can to make me happy. Working with him 24/7 sometimes I forget that about him, and so I’m thankful for this trip. – It allowed me to realise this strong message again.

I’ll end this post on that sweet warm and fuzzy note.
Forever thankful for the love from my family,
Stacy

Kuala Lumpur – Day Two -

Dear Readers,

A recap on my 2nd day in KL:

I woke up feeling extremely fresh, – not working on a work day is AMAZING. We went for breakfast and I had Roti! Yay! I can never find good Roti in Bangkok, so hurray for that. The waffles pancakes and french toast were yuck.

We had an extremely good business brunch, and right after the meeting, I found myself daydreaming about living in KL. If the business partnership there is successful, maybe we can open an office here, and we can buy a house there with Malaysia’s My Second Home Campaign. Daydreaming…because I would do anything to get out of Bangkok.

After our brunch, I KNEW that Dad just wanted to lounge in the hotel, rest and enjoy the hotel. Ugh, I don’t like that, I’m in a different city, I want to go out there and experience it! Dad knew my sentiments and I was suprised when Dad said, Okay let’s go shopping!

AmAZING!!!! So we took a cab to KLCC – which is 800m from our hotel, and somehow we paid 9RM for the cab ride. WE GOT RIPPED OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So shocking.Later I went to ask the concierge about the pricing.

Malaysian Taxis
Malaysia has 3 classes of taxis – the red-white cabs that are proton – 1980s make is the cheapest, with starting meter of 2RM. The big van ones – proton 1990s can fit 6 people and with starting meter of 4RM. The inbetween one…to be honest I forgot. I think they are purple and yellow, and I suppose the starting meter is 3RM. They charge 10 cents for every 100m. Crazy stuff.

KLCC
KLCC is quite nice, i saw Mikimoto! and Gap. But, shopping is shopping. and I was extremely disappointed with the restaurant list. I wanted to find a nice place to have lunch, but Dad and I went during lunch hour and it was completely congested. I thought that maybe we could go watch the Dark Knight together. The line at Golden Village was…LONG….around 50 people. And again Dad surprised me by saying, “Do you want to watch? we can line up if you want.”

For those of you who don’t know my dad, this is a BIG THING. He is just like me, hates queues, hates busy places – actually he is more tolerant than me. But at all costs I always want to limit his stress levels.

We ended up going to coffee bean for cheesecake! Then sitting there, we decided to give his friend a call to take us around town. His friend is a cab driver, reached KLCC in 30 minutes and took us around.

I don’t know if it was planned or not, but Uncle David (cabbie’s name) took us tum tum juen de gok fa yuen (i have no idea how to write that in chinese – it means around the merry go round)

He decided to take us to see all the monuments – Batu Caves, KL’s Mosque (the famous one), Istana and the Tin Hau Temple (天口temple）and….CHINA TOWN!!!

Tin Hau Temple and the Batu Caves. I didn’t climb up the 271 steps because 1. I was a bit car sick, and 2. I was wearing heels.

Us in ChinaTown. Hurrah for Daddy!

This was our dinner: Steamed Fish Head (HUGE). Veggies, oyster omelete and noodles (noodles were very below par)

For dinner we had fish head, as we were touring, Uncle David said he could take us to eat things like char kwai teo (sp?) and yong tau foo, but we ended up here instead! I was super craving things like claypot and yong tau foo, but I saw Dad extremely happy eating in this restaurant, so it was worth it. Plus, we had a super light dinner which is always good.

Summary of 2nd day: KL is small, and I don’t have a feel of where people live. I’d love to live in a big house in the city, but I didn’t see that, only condos. I didn’t have a feel of the city culture (despite seeing the entire city centre twice). I loved how everyone speaks cantonese and english.
I loved the lack of motorcyles – driving looks peaceful. and I also loved the space. But I guess as everything, the grass is greener on the other side.

Never contented perhaps?
Stacy

Kuala Lumpur Trip – Day One -

Dear Readers,

I actually had a dream telling me that I shouldn’t open with “Dear Readers” – but anyways thats besides the point.

Dad and I went to KL for a business trip, July 30th – August 1st. It was my first time in Malaysia and I had a good time. Here is a recap on Day One:

Travelling on AirAsia is always an interesting experience. When I lived in Singapore, I travelled Jetstarasia and AirAsia, and I could ‘dahaan’ because I’m just one person. Our last minute trip to KL gave us no choice to take AirAsia.

As I was saying, always an interesting experience. Dad and I found a seat together, it was a 7am flight, and just as we were taking off, i felt a pang of hunger, and asked Dad if we could ask our contact in KL to take us straight for brunch because I was starving. Then I zonked out. At 830 dad woke me up, and he bought me a sandwich because he was worried about me. So sweet!

When we reached KL, it was amazing, we had to WALK DOWN STAIRS. Then we had to walk under some sort of hanger, and then follow a rectangular route to the immigration terminal. All I have to ask is, how come people follow the route, when they can easily cut through and walk straight to the terminal. People are so obedient. I’m a rebel. haha. But, since i was with Dad, I just followed the crowd.

We were picked up by our business contact and his wife, extremely nice people. The drive around KL was great, and I was sitting in the car thinking wow there is so much scenery, and its so peaceful.

Our hotel was very nice too. Once we got back, Dad was active and wanted to go swimming. I went sunbathing instead, read “His Dark Materials: Amber Spyglass” for 1 hour (30 mins on my back, 30 mins on my stomach, haha) and then went for a quick dip in the pool. The strangest thing about the Renaissance is that the Sauna and the Steamroom facilities are on the floor below (the swimming pool) – not only that, it is INSIDE the gym centre. So I walked in the gym centre with my book, in my bathrobe and slippers. I felt so lazy.

Dad treated me to an 80R +++ dinner pax. Can you imagine 80 +++ (THREE PLUSES). So crazy. Anyways if we ate dinner on Friday, we would be able to get a buy 1 get 1 – but only if we bought some Renaissance card.

Here are some photos:

View from our hotel room- this is what I said to the receptionist at check-in. “Hi Stephanie, I’m travelling here with my Dad, this is his 3rd time staying here, so I’d like to ask for a few things. Because its my dad and I, could I please have twin beds, also we would like a non smoking floor, and Stephanie, if you could, I would very much appreciate if you could help us have a view of the Twin Towers.” I am the most demanding person, but yay!!!

Chocolate fondue fountain!! The chocolate was a bit too bitter for my liking.

See how I’m eating healthier, no rice! And Look at the baby cray fish. Dad was nice to help me open them.

These are desserts that did not pass my approval. So disappointing. This toffee was very much like tong yuen (汤圆) (glutinous rice balls) eeeeeeeeeeeee…. we stuck to ice cream.

Summary of Day One: KL is a great place, and I wouldn’t mind living there.

Stacy