A lucky day to get a "lucky" bag

Today is a super lucky day for me for sure.

The new business meeting started off well with our new boss this morning, though it lasted for tow hours......

After the meeting, i received my latest internet order. It was actually a surprise gift for ah lun. After two weeks of finalizing the design, the final product has arrived my office in good condition. It turned out really great and it is even much better than what i have expected.

Before lunch, i received a call from the MD, and he said a small amount of bonus will be given to everyone in our team. It's definitely a great news when you did not expect to receive a bonus in such a difficult time.

My day was ended with a belated birthday dinner with my eldest sister, Kitty. We had a big big meal at California Pizza Kitchen, one of our favourite restaurants.

After the meal, we did a little bit of shopping, and i realized the "Lucky Brand Jeans" has opened a new store at LCX. and the 20%off discount offer will be valid within this week. So Ah Lun bought me a leather bag and a pair of ear rings. I swear I will not drop any more ear rings he bought for me.

Day 4 - 29 March 2009

I miss Hong Kong on Day 4 already. We had a great sleep until the meeting time at 11.30am. We were heading to Maxwell Food Centre to have Chicken rice, laksa, etc before we leave Singapore.

We spent the rest of the day along Orchard Road, one group shopped at Gap and one group shopped at Charles and Keith (second time).

Shopping was never-ending for girls, and we made a long stop at Bengawan Solo Cake Shop at the airport, and everyone was shopping for souvenirs crazily!

Day 3 - 28 March 2009

We played the ball games in the pool before we checked out. We were much noisier than the kids, without doubt!

Flora had to leave earlier because she had to work on Sunday, so we said good bye to her at the ferry terminal. The group of 9 then went to have Chilli and Black Pepper Crabs along the east coast. Joyce ip was very messy because she did not suck up the chilli gravy, and the sauce was all over her hands and palms.

We checked into the new Ibis Hotel and I am glad to win the "Room Challenge" because I could have my own bed instead of sharing the twin beds with 3 girls. How lucky am I!!!!

Day 2 - 27 March 2009

We were so tired on Day 1, and no pictionary games were played in mid night. On the other hand, we all went to bed at around 1am after such a long day.

Five of us went to Snorkelling to see Nemo, Joanne and Anton had the spa treatments at Banyan Tree because Angsana was full, while Cat and Flora spent the day at the pool side. Ah yea did not do much because a great auntie of hers came along!

We had the pictionary games on that night, and again Cat went to bed early despite we were terribly noisy! We found out that we played many of the cards already, and we have to re-draw many times to find challenging topics. What a group of professional players!

Day 1 - 26 March 2009

The long awaited trip had finally come and we managed to get onto the plane together. It's good to see Donna arriving in the very last minute.

We were greeted by ah yea at the airport, everyone was so happy to see ah yea and all the yummy snacks for the next 3 days. They are chips, chips, chocolates, soft drinks, chips, bread and kaya paste.

Moving a group of 10 people was not an easy task! It took us ages to find the esculator, the train station, etc. Finally we killed time at Ya Kun at the Tampines Mall. In fact, there was also one outlet in the airport. haha! We just like the fact of leaving the airport.

1 day to go! no, it's actually 12 hours to go!

Finally finally finally the second overseas trip is around the corner! It's excited to see my countdown widget today because there is only ONE DAY TO GO!!
I do not know why, i feel even more excited this time.
No matter what is the weather like or no matter where we go, i know the trip must be fun!

禮儀師之奏鳴曲

Departure - What a touching film! No wonder it has won the Oscar's best foreign langauge award this year. With my Grandma's departure last week, the film in fact again stirred up my emotions. Death is an inevitable topic when we get older, and we have to learn how to live with this and how to treasure the people we love before we depart.

My eyes are still swollen this morning, after all the tears very late last night, and i read another article about the film at HK Headline this morning. What a coincidence. Enjoy the article and the film, i you have time.

幸福摩天輪——《禮儀師之奏鳴曲》
2009-03-25
《禮儀師之奏鳴曲》的第一個鏡頭，誤打誤撞成為納棺師的大提琴樂手本木雅弘，在大霧中駕車緩慢前行，滿懷心事在想：「回鄉兩個多月了，還是渾渾噩噩，前路如何走下去？」 從優雅的音樂天堂，瞬間墜落至和死人為伍的地獄！本土雅弘演繹那心慌意亂的小男人，叫你捧腹大笑。可憐一直同甘共苦的妻子，不甘被蒙瞞，獲知真相後含羞離去，老同學甚至當街責罵他丟臉，就連他細心服務的死者家屬，也在靈堂內恫嚇小朋友，若不好自為之，便淪落得像他，被逼做此厭惡性工作！ 本土雅弘卻隱隱覺得，即使在最噁心的環境中，在瘋狂的哀號之中，納棺師那待死屍如至親，那沉穩而細膩的動作中，恍如親手拉奏的一曲大提琴離別曲那樣，寧靜致遠，蘊含了超越生死的大愛。 你最鄙視的職業，卻正對你的親人送上崇高的敬意。沒有切膚之痛，就無法破解忌諱和偏見。終於，老同學在母親離逝時冰釋前嫌，妻子也在淚眼之中，看清了丈夫澄明的內心世界。 電影對白不多，複雜的心情，全靠身體語言去表達。我在電影後半段已流淚看的。本木雅弘最後向父親獻上的「離別曲」，也是一塊無言的石頭書，充滿了壓抑的愛。 《禮儀師之奏鳴曲》的啟示是，電影何須千軍萬馬、大卡士？但無論一個人，或整個電影工業，常會像本木雅弘那樣，在霧中前行，迷茫而不知方向。這時，觸摸一下自己的內心，就是最佳的指南針。

潘麗瓊

尋根之旅

It's inarguable that this is the best time to visit Europe this summer beacuse of the favourable exchange rate. However, it's been a while that we cannot confirm the final destinations until today.

This is the first time i know Ah Lun is very knowledgable about my "so-called" home country - Spain. He said he is amazed by the special architecture by Gaudi in Barcelona. (You never know when and where Ah Lun absorbs this type of information given that he is not studying arts or architecture?!! Making me feeling ashame of it) Anyway, this is a great step in firming up the itinerary of our summer vacation.

Considering my sister's advice, we will also go to Provence, France, to see the lanvender in summer, because it is just next to Spain. Then we will go back to Paris to see some of the famous sight seeing spots.

Wow, we get so excited just talking about it. My next step would be doing research on the air fare between HKG and Paris.

Paris

Provence

Barcelona

Talk of the Town: 港男 vs 港女

I knew i have missed out the last two episodes of 星期日檔案, so we watched those clips in you tube tonight. The programmes were very interesting and nicely done. I agree there are more and more sick women and men in the society, and I am afraid their wrong values will be passed to the next generation. This would be very devastating!
I am glad that i do not find Ah Lun a 港男 and he does not find me as a 港女. Enjoy the programes here if you missed them too.

南丫島一日遊 - 笑話一則

Meiling: 我們今日行山行了一整天, 真健康啊!

Ah Lun (以好認真的態度)回答: 應該比索k好些少!

Meiling (!!) : $@%&*@F**K

行樓梯正行得上氣唔接下氣的我, 真的笑到有窒息的感覺.

南丫島一日遊 - 隨拍

南丫島一日遊 (鴨子獨照)

Hong Kong Flower Show 2009

原來它的名字是"秋英", 好"英"的稱呼, 乃今屆花卉展覽的主角......

好大的太陽花!

2009 Business Trip #2 - Manila (Day 3)

There are not many attractions in the city of Manila. Fort Santiago is one of the most popular sight-seeing points. This is the so called "Walled City".
The oldest stone church in the Philippines, where Dicky Cheung get married last month.

City view from the water promenade of Manila Bay.

The first hotel in the Philippines, Manila Hotel, which is a 5-star hotel founded in 1912. A perfect filming location for Wong Kar Wai's film.

2009 Business Trip #2 - Manila (Day 2)

I am just a perfectionist, i really enjoy seeing all the goodie bags are in "PERFECT" order. I am so obsessed with the absolute tidiness, even though i know the guests will disrupt the tidiness in a split of a second.

Glad to see the audience are interested in our video.

People here in Manila are very helpful and cheerful, not to mention our business partners in the EK Manila Office.

Nice view from a fly over - on the way to shopping mall, Greenbelt

People always bring ice cream as a souvenir, so I tried the ube flavour of this famous ice cream brand, Magnolia. The flavours are great, but it is not very smooth though.

A well decorated cake shop in the shopping mall. The cookies are nicely done! In HK, they must be sold at hkd30-40. The shop here just sells them at HKD10 each, no wonder i am buying THREE. They are very lovely.