Christmas comes early (Day 72)

Day 72 (24/12) -- Dim Sum lunch with colleagues at Lei Garden at IFC


Presents from family and friends under my white "Christmas tree": presents brought over by Wen, all the way from Singapore! Oh, and there's a pressie from Soks from Japan too... :-)

Christmas gift (Day 71)

Day 71 (23/12) -- Ping got herself a Christmas gift. No, not the bag, that's a free gift. It's a whole year's worth of gym membership at any (non-premium Fitness First) club + 3 personal training sessions. Let's see whether the gift gets used much...

Anyway, there's a bet on: if Ping makes it to the gym more than 8 times a month, for 3 months, the personal training cost is entirely waived.

New iphone app: Photo Funia (Day 70)

Day 70 (23/12) -- Interesting app, right? :-)

That's the laksa and teh-peng from yesterday's picture, in case it isn't obvious enough... haha...

And today is Ping's 70th day in HK... and it is also Dong Zhi... Called back to greet parents and Toon Ma said fishballs can substitute tang yuan... that's where Ping and Wen both get their wacky genes from... haha...

Laksa and Teh-peng (Day 69)

Day 69 (22/12) -- Found a bit of Singapore right in IFC!

Breakfast and lunch in the bin: it dawned upon Ping today that winter makes one exceptionally hungry...

Visitors Batch 2: Kah Hwee and Leeli (Days 65 to 68)

Day 65 (17/12) -- Leeli's birthday treat, 10 days late... at a Brit pub... Soks came along too, and took a pretty nice shot of the 4 of us, but I don't have that picture...

Day 66 (18/12) -- Dim Sum lunch at Majestic Seafood

Yuen Long jaunt
Rewarding ourselves at Shamrock, Jordan... the highlights of the meal: roast goose and braised tofu

Day 67 (19/12) -- Macau day trip

At the ruins of St Paul
Leeli at the Venetian

Kah Hwee, the desert queen

Day 68 (20/12) -- We actually back-tracked just to catch a glimpse of this "funeral for the financial sector", a rather creative protest by investors affected by the financial crisis. We went to Maxim's Palace at City Hall after this.

My visitors cleaned up my house before they left! Friends don't get much better than this! :-)

More good food, compliments of the company (Day 64)

Day 64 (16/12) -- The monthly good food day is here again... this time, it is a 2++hour meal at the French Window... atas place with the "usual" seaview...

Main Course of M9 Wagyu Beef Cheek:

And the day was rounded off with drinks and super delicious mini-burgers at the company's Christmas party, at H2:

Oh, and did I mention that Batch 2 of visitors are here already? :-)

Catch-up with Carol (Day 63)

Day 63 (15/12) -- It was a good time of catch-up with an ex-colleague, over delicious roast goose and frog legs and sweet sour pork, at Yung Kee... cool! :-)

Not cheap, but good stuff...

Feasting with Soks (Days 59-62)

Days 59-62 (11/12 - 14/12) -- Soks arrives in HK, my 1st non-Dad visitor... and the start of many more to come...

Dad's favourite Jin Long proves a winner again, with its value for money set dinner... and Soks treated! It was good cousin bonding time over food and family stories... :-)

We ate alot more than these pictures show... but somehow we were too busy eating to take photos... Until we reached Sai Kung on 14/12:

Time Warp (Days 50-58)

Days 50-58 (2/12-10/12) -- This is evidence that Ping is really starting to settle into HK life: no weekday pictures were taken at all during this week+!

Ping's Saturday routine: wake up, send clothes to laundry, eat at a cha chan teng, go explore HK! :-)

Oh, and usually catch a movie at Causeway Bay too... Narnia was particularly good. Lessons learnt:
1. Don't wish yourself away
2. To conquer the enemy outside, you need to first conquer the enemy within
3. "For Narnia!" -- sometimes, you don't have to have assurance of victory, just assurance that you are fighting for a just cause and serve a kind and powerful King... He will personally walk beside and coordinate the victory...

And the healing's almost complete...

Rush hour (Day 49)

Day 49 (1/12) -- Time flies, it's already December 2010... Ping is getting used to the morning crowd at the MTR... in fact, it is not an unpleasant ride at all... and empty trains come along to suck up excess people if need be... it's pretty cool... have been trying to take a picture of the lolipop MTR staff (people who hold up "stop" signs to signal when the train doors are about to close), but have not been successful so far...

Opps, "stole" Wen's jeans... (Day 48)

Day 48 (30/11) -- the truth came out after the "witness" line up via whatsapp... sigh... it was an accident! :-)

More furniture shopping (Days 46 and 47)

Days 46 and 47 (28/11 and 29/11) -- Ping is spending yet more time furniture shopping, can't believe how much time has been spent on this already... just one tv rack and one wardrobe left now...

Brainwave! An open concept wardrobe as showcased by Ikea...

But no, Ping was too cheapskate to buy either the tv rack or the wardrobe... it's back to asia expat...

Over"seas" Trip (Day 45)

Day 45 (27/11) -- A Saturday of exploration, from North Point Pier to the New Territories...

Healing (Day 44)

Day 44 (26/11) -- Ping is learning that God sometimes works in ways we don't think of... He heals and restores in His time... initially was hoping that the burn will just fade off, but the more lotion applied, the tougher the burn felt... till it started peeling off to reveal smooth baby skin beneath...

View over a meal (Day 43)

Day 43 (25/11) -- one of the perks of this job is the monthly big expensive meals the team goes for...

(Wannabe) Chef at work (Day 42)

Day 42 (24/11) -- a healthy, delicious meal, again thanks to the thermal pot... Mum, see this! :-)


Brave attempt at cooking fish head soup... and brave colleagues who downed the whole bowl of soup despite the fishy taste... haha...

Some things don't change (Day 41)

Day 41 (23/11) -- Princess Wen asks if this hot pink thingy is nice... with technology, there hardly seems to be any distance...

Breakthrough in church-finding (Days 39-40)

Day 39 (21/11) -- Cool day, and divinely placed! Happy... :-)

Day 40 (22/11) -- playing around with the iPhone for the photo encouragement note to pastor... thank God for simple-to-use technology and for the chance to serve...

Life goes on... (Days 36-38)

Days 36-37 (18/11 and 19/11) -- not much change, right? pretty concerned about the scalded hand... praying for a full recovery...

Day 38 (20/11) -- Eating from a pan (to avoid washing a plate)... Veg again, Mum! :-)

"Family Dinner" (Day 35)

Day 35 (17/11) -- after yesterday's fiasco big treat, Ping wisened up and brought Dad to a North Point neighbourhood restaurant in a half shut-down building... and Dad beamed at both the price and food... oh, and I'm sure at the company too... haha...


Mid-way through dinner, Wen whatsapp-ed her "contract" with Mum... and we had a nice family chat there and then... Technology is quite cool...

Tribute to Dad (Day 34)

Day 34 (16/11) -- Time spent with Dad in HK and the fruits of Dad's labour in the form of the nicely done up house! :-)

As a thank-you meal, treated Dad to a nice meal at North Garden (Central), in a nice private room, but Dad was grumbling at the cost... and he kept wondering if we could go out to the public dining area... and he was only reasonably satisfied with the food... told him he can bring mum here the next time! :-)

Happening week of the Big Move (Days 30-33)

Day 30 (12/11) -- Random social lunch with colleagues, "cos boss not in town", they say...



Dad busy at work trying to make my place look decent...

Day 31 (13/11) -- Dad's favourite meal of his trip... see his satisfied expression in the photos? The fact that he even allowed me to take so many photos says it all...

Unfortunately, this is also the place where Ping scalded her hand... another post for another day...

Day 32 (14/11) -- it's goodbye to the by-now familiar Shama and hello North Point...

Day 33 (15/11) -- Dad diligently at work... it's incredible how a dad can be so giving... :-)