You know its January when gym is packed and barely any work days!

January 2012 has officially closed. But you always know its a new year when the gym is packed and every machine is taken! 


I hardly worked in January hence it was a good month. Got back from vacation on Jan 9th, went to Taipei for meetings the week of Jan 16th then to Bali Indonesia from Jan 20-25th.  These kinds of months are good ones.


In Bali, we chose to stay in the 'traditional cultural hills/rice paddy fields' area called Ubud. Its a few hours from the Denpasar airport but definitely beautiful.  The wood work, craft and Balinese architecture is stunning.  They build sharp peak roofs to capture heat, but the design is simple yet tasteful (not as simple as Zen).  I know what our house will look like one day!


Besides the fact that our hotel driver's mobile ringtone was Justin Bieber, Ubud is truly a serene place. We stayed in Villa Sarna, a family run hotel of only 7 villas.  Home cooked breakfast of Nasi Goreng, and prompt service yet reasonable prices.  On the way, we stopped for famous Balinese style crispy pork. YUM but fatty.  We then took a cycling day tour from Mount Bakur down through Ubud's local temples and homes and rice fields.  Also paid 50 rupiah to try Kopi Lowak (coffee beans outputted via cat's poo, then heated and smushed).  Its extremely smooth; apparently costs $30 USD per cup elsewhere!  Ginseng coffee is truly special so we bought some of that after our coffee tasting.  Realised how many different people travel to Bali to 'find themselves' or to go somewhere relatively Westernized... we traveled with some GE European executive stationed in Shanghai.  I'm in awe how global some folks truly are!


So, Ubud has stunning scenery, and we got lucky that it was quite warm but not too hot (25-30C).  Barely any rain despite the forecast.  Then we enjoyed a Balinese dance performance in Ubud town after some fabulous Indonesian curry and satay.


The next day we were planning to go scuba diving but we hummed and hawed about the 3+ hour drive (one way) to Padang Bai or Amed or USS Liberty shipwreck. Ugh we're lazy. If you add two dives, that would be the most exhausting 'vacation' day ever!  We've dived over a dozen times but its becoming more trouble than enjoyment. 


So instead we hired a driver for the day to take us first to Sanur ('snore' is the nickname per Lonely Planet).  Beaches were decent not great, lots of retired Europeans seem to live there (especially Dutch since Indonesia is a former Dutch colony). Had a nice lunch in Sanur town, then drove off to Kuta beach. Intentionally I avoided hotels in Kuta since this is the Aussie party town where previous terrorist bombings occurred.  The beach was downright AWFUL and disgusting.  The town was sooo commercialised, traffic and pollution were terrible.  


We walked and stopped for snacks along the beach from Kuta to Legian to Seminyak (increasingly upmarket and cleaner beach as well).  Its about a 7-8km walk.  The breeze and view in Seminyak was amazing!  We enjoyed a small bite/drink at Ku De Ta (hip lounge for foreigners on the beach), then went nearby to Sate Bali for satay and delicious seafood.  Didn't get a chance to walk around Seminyak town but may be next time we'd stay near there.  Long day after 1.5 hours drive back to Ubud!


The next day we spent in Nusa Dua at the Conrad Hotel.  I was impressed but it looked like any other luxury seaside resort.  Nothing very 'Balinese' about it except maybe some food or the spa decor.  That evening we enjoyed fresh seafood at Jimbarah Beach overlooking the sunset before boarding our flight back to Jakarta.


All in all, a relaxing, relatively longer few day break.  Stephen had just started his new job before Chinese New Year, so had to get back for 2 more days after CNY!


Other recent happenings include family visits for red pocket hand-outs and lunches, taking up tennis again, outstanding Australian Open 2012 Final between Djokovic (winner) taking almost 6 hours to beat Nadal (after almost 5 hours to beat Andy Murray in semi's) and trying to settle back into routine.  I made a resolution to try to minimize business travel. hmm - tough so far.


Now we're trying to train for a half marathon. We'll see how that goes!  Nonetheless, I bought Nike Free runners "barefoot ride".  Concerned its not quite enough support. Have to run 4x per week...so far so good!  Wish us luck!

10 years together, Happy 2012 and Enter the Dragon!

A new year calls for a fresh new font for my blogs.  There ain't much good font choice on blogger.com!


Let's see... Stephen and I had a restful and full non working week in Toronto for Christmas. As usual, all about babies and kids adds more joy than adult only dinners.  No big news except it was unseasonally warm at first then snowed and very cold!  Watched "The Artist" with mom for her birthday. It was black and white. And a SILENT movie. Makes you pay attention.  Apparently it won Directors Guild awards and may even win Grammy's!  It was good but not that good in my view.


Happy 10 years and Happy 2012


On Jan 1st, we headed out to Vancouver, had brunch in my old 'hood Yaletown with old friends, then drove up to Whistler. I must say the sea-to-sky highway is far broader and faster now due to the 2010 Olympics (our last trip being in 2009).  Less than 1.5 hours in a shitty low end rental car!  The conditions were shitty on average; very rainy in the village and lots of avalanche blasts at the summit.  Day 1 was clear and we trekked all the way up 5+ lifts and t-bars to Blackcomb Summit.  Usually this back country area has the absolute best powder but it was hard packed. And PAINFUL. Good thing I didn't fall off the T-bar 4x like our last trip (you may laugh, but this is a very very long and steep set of T-bars. not for amateurs :( )  At the end of the day, unfortunately with so many runs closed due to bad conditions, we mistakenly ended up on a double black diamond (very difficult) run.  Stephen tumbled and luckily his board released.  I was slowly going down - then a crazy skiier kid rammed into my leg. I got a serious charley horse and couldn't walk well for the rest of the week!  luckily days 2 and 4 were much better; day 3 was rainy as shit.  Base is ~200cm / 80" by now...that said Tahoe and Salt Lake City got no snow at all (they're golfing in Tahoe) so lots of the other visitors changed last minute to Whistler!  All in all a fun vacation as Denise and Rob also joined us.  


We also celebrated our ten year (dating) anniversary. Since one of our first 'dates' was at Whistler, I suppose we went back for nostalgic reasons. The Village is fun but not that fun. Time for somewhere new next time on the slopes!  Korea? Europe?  All the working folk in Whistler are AUSSIE as well ... they don't recommend OZ for boarding though! 


2012 brings about other news besides charley horses and wet snowboarding conditions.  Stephen started his new job! He's head of institutional research at a very famous company in Hong Kong. So now he has to take MTR subway all the way to Causeway Bay (not walk 12 mins to Central anymore... god forbid, 25 mins door to door!) :)  Wish him luck in his new role!  We also played in a tennis tourney at a friends' club recently to celebrate the Australian Open. And caught up with friends after their travels or holidays. Also made it to Shenzhen for a visit with their government and vice mayor to discuss education, R&D and industry opportunities in South China. Very formal - so glad i wore a suit that day!  There were also monumental elections in Taiwan whereby President Ma (Beijing favorite) won by a narrow margin, something like 51% vs. 46%. I heard its more the business/economic focused campaign win rather than idealists....


Enter the Dragon


The most important holiday season in Greater China is upon us - Spring Holiday (Chinese New Year, Chun Jie). Besides China and Taiwan have massive travel to hometowns and a full week off, there is red decorations abound, jammed airport lounges and more-than-usual number of pregnant ladies hoping for a Dragon baby (my colleague she had her baby two weeks early, doh ! )... also I have to give out red pockets to my team at work, and also received some as well. This is serious money and so are "lucky draw" at company annual dinners.  For instance, I heard a client's dinner had A-mei performing (she is super famous Taiwanese singer).  And another one had grand prize of a BMW car.  Ours included mobile phones, ipads, and again - some serious cash prizes! 


We're off to Bali Indonesia tonight for the holidays since HK only gets 3 days (not a full week. We get Xmas but Taiwan/China do not!). Its 25-30C daily but rain in the forecast. Yikes!  Also we plan some scuba diving. I've dived more than a dozen times and in reading my dive history, saw decent views but always seemed disappointed. Fingers crossed!


Gong Xi Fa Cai!  Xin Nian Kuai Le!

39th blog of the year

I need to add one more blog so 2011 volume is at least equal to my 2010 blog frequency (never mind its 12 months versus 4 month last year)....! 


And why am I still sitting at my work desk at 4pm Friday Dec 23rd?  Oh ya, 3+ months of expense reports piling up at year end.... I. WILL. FINISH. THESE. Or never see the money reimbursed.


Happy Christmas!

Winter Solstice bigger than Chinese New Year?

Apparently Winter Solstice holiday (shortest daylight of year, Dec 22, 2011) is more important to Chinese people than Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). Not sure I believed this when my Aunt mentioned it. However they do let us out of work by 4pm that day (of course, I left at 6pm:( )


Anyway, Stephen and I were invited to join the Tsang-Ho clan from my dad's cousin's side in Po Lam for Winter Solstice dinner. The food was fabulous, from a roast pig, to all variants of pork chops, veggies, mushrooms and rice options.  All of this only a few short hours after my Office Christmas Lunch at Langham Hotel - The Bostonian (Seafood buffet with amazing salmon, fresh crab, lamb chop, etc).  Damn it was a rough eating day yesterday!


On a more sombre note, my other aunt and my grandma's sister need your prayers as both have health challenges at the moment.


As we look back on 2011, we have been really blessed with countless trips around Asia and  North America, new jobs and good friends, and a conveniently located and comfortable home.  Most recently, we went to Sanya (Yalong Bay) in Hainan Island of South China.  It was a good, warm get-away not too far from Hong Kong.  Look forward to flying to Toronto tomorrow for a week then to heaven-on-earth - Whistler Blackcomb !


Wish you all a very happy and wonderful holidays!

SMOG: To Beijing... and straight back!

Beijing pollution is so bad unless there is strong wind.  Last Tuesday, Dec 6, as CNN reported, hundreds of planes including my own, flew into Beijing airport airspace, but then turned back (mine all the way back to Hong Kong!).  We simply could not land due to severe smog and pollution.  Wow - in all my years of flying, I've never gone there and back (total 10 hours) in one go.  It scares me when the pilot announces he's "going to go for it" despite being warned to turn back to HK mid way...


I made it there on Wednesday eventually, had several meetings then went to Spice Spirit (a Sichuan food chain) with colleagues.  They didn't serve any beer besides Bud Light (I'm serious), so we gave them some cash to go outside to buy Tsingtao :)  On Thursday, again more meetings followed by dinner at Banana Leaf Thai in Zhongguancun. At -10C, my hands almost froze off but thankfully I wore boots and heattech top.  I wandered around aimlessly in circles after eventually making it to the restaurant (it turned out behind a mall with which I am most familiar).  The food was so-so but there was a live filipino band that comes around singing to each table -- in any language too! Impressive.


Back in Hong Kong life, we are thinking about our first year and starting to relax more.  We also may move homes if the right unit comes available in Kowloon - where the food is more plentiful, better tasting and faaar cheaper.  For example, we had (reverse) sticker shock after a hearty dim sum lunch at a pretty nice restaurant in TST for only $108HKD (about $13 USD)!  When you dine with locals once, your standards are higher on taste and much lower on price.  I like that!  In fact we often travel "across the water" to TST and Mongkok for meals and food because the taste is simply better (at least for Asian fare).


This weekend, we're planning to hit Sanya (Hainan Island, China), which is China's Hawaii. The latitude is near tropical and its the southern most point in China. Maybe some golf, swimming, R&R and resort-ing.  I really wanted to do Chengdu but time just isn't enough.


On a personal front, my friend is moving back to NYC from Hong Kong soon so we had a good bye Korean BBQ for her :-(  Also I've been matched with an MBA student from Russia in the Women's Foundation Mentoring Program, and meeting wonderfully accomplished women along the networking journey.  Truly humbled.  Finally, we look forward to seeing some friends and family before flying to Toronto for Christmas on Dec 24 then off to Whistler on Jan 1.  Can't wait!


Have a wonderful mid Dec week everybody!

JETLAG & CHEAP Austin buffets

Hi again everybody... i'm getting old.  My ability to fly overseas and back in one week has declined significantly.  I'm encountering serious jetlag after a week in Austin and Toronto.  Its probably my 7th trip (i lost count) in this year alone. 


On a sad note, my company had layoffs a few weeks ago so it was critical that I fly back to HQ to check-in with friends and colleagues.  


Getting to Austin is a pain, via LAX, where they simply don't welcome foreigners.  And the connections require you to walk outside to another terminal.  But I caught up before U.S. Thanksgiving holiday with colleagues in Austin.  They took me to a much better Vietnamese restaurant near the old office/airport.... with great pho, broken rice and bun.  However we opted out of the all you can eat (stir fried) buffet...which was only $6.99US!  (can you believe how cheap that is??).  Dallas airport was a zoo on the way to Toronto as well.


In Toronto, I stayed with my parents for a few days which was nice.  Had to work the first few days but then caught up with old friends, new babies and attended my nephew Adam's baptism.


Also, there is almost 10ft of snow at Whistler Blackcomb, and the mountains are open!  Can't wait to go there after New Year!

HK is not stroller friendly... that 25/F furniture mall would be impossible

At least they try.  


In Hong Kong, there are inconsistent pockets of wheel chair and stroller friendliness. There are ramps here and there, and suddenly 10 steps.  Or twenty MTR subway turnstiles and one wide entrance one.  At Sheung Wan station, there is an elevator that at least transports passengers up (but not down to platform).  And on Hollywood Road, its (mostly) flat until you hit super steep stairs.  Same at our apartment; some ramps but suddenly a step or two.  Wierd.  Its basically an escalator and stairs city!!  And taxi drivers are extremely defensive about their seatbelts working (even though its highly inconsistent!).  However within malls like Harbour City and Elements and IFC, apparently the changing and nursing rooms are quite nice.  But somehow, people manage, usually with many hands and families traveling in groups or with domestic helpers.


Nonetheless its been a joy having my sister Christine and her four month old baby Adam visit us this week in Hong Kong.  He's such a joyous smily baby (even when constipated), sleeps through our dinners out or at the peak, and he can be held by anyone willing to help Christine out for a few minutes :)


Last week, Stephen and I went to Ap Lei Chau where Horizon Plaza is a 2F/F furniture mall, scattered with a Lane Crawford, Prada and Diesel outlets. We started at the top (Tree Cafe) looking for a bedframe, did EVERY floor and exited with a few pairs of pants about 3 hours later in the dark :(


I am in Taipei for two days and back in HK on Thursday night.  Can you believe its only Wed!?

More to life than work?! And weird Beijing environmental policies...

14 months into my HK life, I realize there could maybe be more to HK life than work (call me slow... or just busy).  Stephen on the other hand has been incredibly busy with work dinners.  And for once I am NOT traveling last and this week!


Starting with the APEC conference back in Sept, I played volleyball (once), increased the frequency of my Mandarin tutor sessions, began advising VC backed start-ups (Astia), joined The Women's Foundation TWF as a mentor for young professional women, attended several MIT and Sloan alumni events in Hong Kong and joined the Beijing Energy Network (grassroots group of weekly speakers; I attended the electric car talk in Raffles City Beijing).  Ivy and I attended the charity fundraiser event at Renaissance for TWF where there are certainly provocative speakers like the Vice Chair of HK's Democratic Party who is banned from Mainland China for 20 years.... thought provoking whether or not you agree!  I tried to bit on some awesome auction prizes but got outbid. Ironically, it being a women's fundraiser, the men in attendance tended to win the silent auction... hmm... more competitive?


Did you know Beijing has a policy that one can only drive their cars 4 days per week? But the traffic has gotten so much worse! and on environmental pollution measurement, they don't measure the small particles which is basically sand flying around BJ.  Yikes!  Finally electric vehicles like Nissan Leaf are selling like hotcakes in US where its more trendy to be green, but really not taking off in China. I reckon its because its still a relatively new luxury to own a car, and people do want the comfort of a larger one.  Not to mention so few charging stations!  Japanese, German and US are still far ahead with respect to electric car technology... Anyway food for thought... met some very interesting US Embassy folks, lawyers and Dow Jones journalists however at this event....


BUT most immediately rewarding is the great, comfortable fall weather for hiking around HK and running on Bowen Road again!

"When in Rome..." (eat PORK)

"When in Rome..."


Chicken meat is scary in Hong Kong and China.  There are chickens everywhere and typically people opt for chicken curry (over pork or beef) for example. However I'm convinced the preparation of chicken by most chefs here is questionable. Both at a renowned Crystal Jade Shanghainese restaurant in IFC and recently at Sala Thai in Elements Mall - the chicken thigh meat is questionable!  Don't eat it!!  At least thankfully I didn't get sick (but claire and stephen got sick at crystal jade).  On the other hand, chicken breast is hit or miss (too easily too dry). 


Other than beef noodle soup in Taipei, I also suggest you stay away from the beef in Asia. If its imported from Australia, it could be good but keep in mind, it was frozen (I prefer fresh food)!


So when in Asia, eat pork.  Simply put.  Thank goodness I love pork!


On an unrelated note, IKEA has a foothold on the entire bed ecosystem of parts (in business talk).  Their king size frames and sheets are 2cm too narrow for non-IKEA mattresses!  Damn you!  Ah. Sleeping on the floor for a while now as we hunt around for a bed frame.


Also Hallowe'en is huge in Hong Kong, not by the number of trick or treaters (there are zero), but because everyone dresses up on the weekend.  Too bad we didn't participate!  I'm going to next year!!!


bye!

Last beach day of season...

Two taxis, a boat, an hour's steep hike. Lovely breezy 25C sunny weather. It is indeed quite a trek (four hours to be exact) to the most lovely beach in Hong Kong: Tai Long Wan (big wave bay) located in Sai Kung.  We took a taxi to Sai Kung ($200HKD) then a New Territories Green Taxi to Wong Shek Pier ($90HKD). Then paid an old po-po/grandma $20hkd each to drive 6 of us on a small boat for 15 mins to Chek Keng, the hike start.  From there we walked a very steep 2km towards Ham Tin beach including a stop for instant noodles, fried eggs, vermicelli and fresh organic peppers. Oily but tasty. Their toilet was a dungeon literally though. From Ham Tin, this time around it was PACKED of tourists. Then another 15-20 mins hike up rocks with climbing ropes, then down to Tai Long Wan, where we played in the big waves, slept on the clean beach and just relaxed before the trek backwards home... long day!  Usually there are old ladies driving their boats directly to Sai Kung to Ham Tin but the waves were just too big.


Upon returning to Sai Kung (mad traffic) Stephen and I ate at Paisano's which was rammed with foreigners.  Their crust is nice but toppings sparse except oddly for too much cheese (typically costly in Asia), and far too little tomato sauce.  I'm sore!  Our new mattress was a welcome retreat once home.


Now today - another week at work. But i'm glad to be in town and not traveling for once. Have a great week everybody!

Din Tai Fung in Taipei 101 = so so

There are tons of Din Tai Fung xiao long bao (steamed bun with soup) restaurants around Asia, Australia and in Toronto also.  But I went to one location in its native city of Taipei, and supposedly the newest location tonight with a few colleagues - in the B1 basement of Taipei 101. To be honest - it was average. I think thus far the best tasting location is in Hong Kong Causeway Bay. On the topic of soup dumplings that originate in Shanghai, they were the worst there actually (stomach aches yuck).  At least on the 'plus' side the tung choi (water spinach) is back in season!  In general Taipei restaurants are cleaner with better service than in Hong Kong or China (but maybe only in the Xinyi modern area).

This week is the last week of business travel for some time (I hope!).  Can't wait to breathe easy this weekend and next week :)

it was my grandma's birthday this week and soon my grandpa's birthday too. I wish I was home to celebrate with them :(

Have a nice Wednesday everyone!

Homemade wonton and gyozas... took the plunge with the mattress!!

We did it. Spent a fortune on king sized brand name mattress. Stephen is convinced the top 3 mattress vendors mix up all the brand names and model numbers so you can't read reviews; but there are globally only a handful of different models. Oh well. We're knowing suckers. Now onto the expensive sheet sets, mattress covers, bedframe and re-organizing our home to accommodate this new king(dom).


Anyway also found wonderful non frozen locally made wonton and gyoza wrappers at Wellcome Superstore (24 hours, Causeway Bay near Ikea). They taste better than they look the photos - steamed was way better this time; last time the wrappers were thinner so fried gyozas rocked. Unfortunately the won ton wrappers were gigantic so some were envelope-like!  All in all, I really enjoy making wontons and gyozas from scratch!


To add to our shopping misery, we caved and bought an air cleaner which is totally needed given the bad air and non stop air con in HK.

Now... off to Taipei and Beijing this week again.  But our guests shall be more comfortable enjoying our current double bed!  Have a great week everyone!

Mattresses in Hong Kong are so expensive!

Ikea cannot be the ONLY place in town for beds. So we were convinced that normal branded mattresses were available in Hong Kong. Yes they are (Simmons, Sealy, and King Koil, plus some more Asian local brands like Slumberland).  But man - these mattresses cost a fortune!  Plus there is usually the Japanese and U.S. models. The Japanese styles are shorter (like 190cm length) and bed is too firm for me.  And they're into space saving, non-pillow top thickness.  Like 8" height.  Does it really save that much more space? Are ceilings lower in Japan too?  The U.S. models can be much longer but the prices are easily 3x the North American prices.  Now the big jump from our Full/Double sized bed to Queen seems not worth it; we should have upgraded before shipping our furniture over to Asia.  That said, no chance in hell a King sized bed will fit into our elevator or flat (actually we didn't measure).  But the more elbowing in bed, the more we'll have to pinch pennies and jump take the plunge.  A ten year investment in a good mattress seems worth it, no?  We got so disillusioned that the hydraulic storage leather bed/headboard seemed very interesting...

Happy 3 year anniversary and 25th birthday to Stephen

Forgot to mention in my last mad 'diary'- like blog that we celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary and Stephen's 25th birthday in late Sept. Good times although suburbia isn't really my thing :)

Good bye Steve Jobs, Hello Yangshuo, Cebu, Hillary and joint Toronto visit

Dear Friends - I have been terrible at keeping up with my blog. First and foremost, Steve Jobs, the legendary innovator behind Apple's amazing story, Pixar and disruption of the music industry, passed away from pancreatic cancer a day after the IPhone 4S was announced. He told Stanford Grads in 2005 to Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, and with our careers, Don't Settle.  The world shed so many tears and so did I. What a loss and in time to stick it to Bill Gates for copying Apple's OS decades ago.

Two months have passed since we headed off to Cebu Philippines for a one-night two day trip to Mactan Resort in Lapu Lapu for my birthday.  Awful beaches and mediocre food, but a great nearby getaway with spa, pool, jetskiing and snorkeling!  Great weather too; not too hot. Wifi and lazy lounge chairs as well. Only 2 hours by flight away, we managed to have a great b-day dinner with friends then scoot off on Sat morning until Sunday night!

https://picasaweb.google.com/118026906425264328225/CebuPhilippinesAug2011

Somewhere in between the stock markets crashed again. Sad for our new investments in HSBC.

Anyway the rest of August my two close friends Claire and Domina moved to Hong Kong. And we got did fabulous hikes to Sai Kung beach which was surprisingly far better than in Cebu! And the stream of visitors continued with my MBA classmate Alice and her sister, Stephen's cousins from France, my cousin Lily from Toronto, his uncle from Toronto, etc. Fun times!

In September, we took a weekend trip to Yangshuo, a gorgeous karst mountain range in Guangxi province near Guilin (this is the home province of my father's family). Local tour guide (Mulan) was hired and we rode bikes about 50km (flat) through rural areas. The weather was humid but we enjoyed wonderful locally chilis and food, rice picking hats, outstanding views cormorant fishing and random local shops for snacks.

https://picasaweb.google.com/118026906425264328225/YangshuoGuilinAreaGuangxiChinaSept2011

For the rest of the month, I was in North America, first in LA for work then San Francisco as an APEC delegate with Hong Kong for the Women & the Economy Summit. At this amazing conference, we got to hear Hillary Clinton and Sheryl Sanberg (Facebook) and Christine Lagarde and Yang Lan speak how Women's full participation is good for economic recovery.  Met a lot of great people from public and private sector from all around the world!  Then it was all work after that before meeting Stephen in Toronto.

It was our first trip back to Toronto together since moving to Hong Kong. A lot of babies and family events which is nice but totally different from Hong Kong life. Seems too short. I am so glad to finally be back at home in HK after an immediate trip to Taipei to speak at a work conference. Then getting really sick after throwing up from a fancy Hakka lunch meal. Thankfully I recovered quickly!

Miss everyone and sorry that my blogs are becoming more factual and less insightful.

Typed from my new mac book air!!! thanks Stephen!