Waking up...

It is always amazing to see a city wakes up and gradually living up to its reign. To see that, you need to rise slightly earlier than most people and grab a bite in a local restaurant. I never fail in doing that in Hong Kong. Waking up at 6am and have breakfast once the sun has surfaced, and taking time to slurp my porridge and drink my milk tea. It must be hot and you must see the steam to get the assurance. Not forgetting the duality of "Char Leong", crispy in the inside and soft in the outside. I will always eat it with lots of sesame and peanut sauce! The restaurant that you go to must also be somewhere well-hidden and laden with locals.

In this tiny little restaurant, I saw some really interesting characters. A man walks in and the moment he steps out, the restaurant staffs quickly made a comment about him. Calling him "your cousin", which I believe is referring to the mainland Chinese. A wise man stood up and says, we're all Chinese afterall. But the lady at the cashier counter pointed out, "one parent, but with two different children" It's already been 10 years, haven't they got it yet?

Well, at this very short moment, I have just witnessed the sentiments that exist at the grassroot level. When will all humankind finally accept that we are not that different afterall? What I mean is, can we look deeper than skin colour, nationalities, cultural backgrounds and accept others for who they are, looking for similarities rather than differences?

San Francisco Blues

I'm back again to this one of my favourite cities, in a country where the rest of the world seems so unimportant. My last trip here was in end of February, where the air was much chillier. I started my day with a less upbeat mood despite hearing that there is a crazy sale going on. It must be the effect of having to live an extra 15 hours due to the time differences. As usual, I would like my breakfast as my first meal of the day. So I wanted to go back to this old diner called Tad's for a hearty American breakfast. To my disappointment, Tad's is now closed. My first unhappiness of the day.

With no stomach for anything else, I settled for my usual retail pilgrimage to most of the mainstream American labels available here. As usual, it is always fascinating looking and smelling the items displayed. My favourite is still the Urban Outfitters. It's like a sanctuary, full of interesting urbanites' necessities, to play with, to wear, to listen, to read, to sit, to look, to decorate, or simply to buy. I was quite surprise myself having to finish my list of shopping in less than an hour! As usual, they're always stuff for my friends and loved ones.

Interestingly, there's an Art Show going on in Union Square by the Art Society of San Francisco. It's like a deja-vu with local artists and I instantly recognise the "WOW! artwork" by someone known as Douglas Perkins (if I remember correctly). His sculptures made an impression on me, during my last trip. I also admire the photography art with interesting perspectives of images of San Fran's most discernible architectures.

I also walked a long way and found Chinatown at Bush Street. Before that, I also discovered a retail outlet called "avant card" equipped with the most interesting cards I've ever seen. I remember a few quotes in some of the cards that say, "great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people" , "we don't remember days, we remember moments" and "beautiful people are accidents by nature but beautiful old people are works of art". Very nice.

As I walked passed Chinatown, I headed to my right along California Street as I wanted to see Bay Bridge, where Oakland is at the other end of it. Coincidently, I found the Transamerica Pyramid and the Church of Scientology opposite of it. I quickly realise that I'm already in the CBD area and since Bay Bridge is not in my view anymore, I decided to head back. My second disappointment is the closing down of Cody's Book, next to Virgin Megastore. No choice, but to head to Borders and no prize for guessing, that Harry Potter made a grand display at the shop windows and entrance.

Another thing I must say is that Breakfast at Tiffany's or Audrey Hepburn is so accessible here. I can find all its nostalgias in those shops I visited. I bought myself BAT's soundtrack for US$8 minus the tax of 8.5%. My heart melted when I saw the display of Audrey's biography titles arranged on the rack. I only own two of them.

I yearn for solitude as I would love to finish the 2 books I brought along and Off the Edge magazine. But it's so impossible where I can only do things short-lived-ly here. I wonder whether this is due to the very consequence of American economic system. I found myself always wanting to be out there for a retail therapy, if not, a window one.

Compassion

Yesterday, I took a stroll at Orchard and purchased a copy of Marie Claire with AJ on the cover. I browsed through the history section and spotted a book I have always wanted to read, The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang.

It first sparked an interest on me when Iris, a credible journalist committed suicide upon finishing the book. The massacre really haunted her so deeply that death was her only escape, I suppose. I am able to empathise with her situation when I read the introduction briefly and read the captions of the photos in the book. I almost vomitted my dinner and was very disturbed by the saddistic act that some, really took pleasure upon. How disgusting and inhuman of these people.

I still have not gathered enough courage to purchase this book or will I ever read it? I don't think I have the strength mentally to endure the suffering of what the 600,000 people of Nanking had gone through, half of them parished.

I hope, all we have learnt from history is that, we need compassion. I trust that with compassion, we will not stop becoming human.

I'm at the Prime of Life!

Being at this age is an ultimate achievement concerning my comfort level of self-acceptance. I was once a person who never felt good enough in whatever I do, but now, all I can think of is, I'm doing the things I know best, getting recognition out of them and what's more, satisfying rewards! I never felt so good at work and with my social life until now. It is as if I have gained so much of centred-ness and balance that everything is so rhythmatically ochestra-ed to form the most perfect tune.

This flow of good fortunes, I would say, is mostly attributed to the ability of having good control over life (by knowing your passion and having a clear picture of what you want in life), having the opportunity to pursue what I am passionate about and freedom to lead a life outside of work stress. I hardly feel like working as I am travelling and experiencing different environment all the time!

I really wish that people around me will soon reach this state of life as I am experiencing now. I know a few who has reached this state way before me and I would like to learn about sustainance to prolong this level of happiness and self-loving. I think it is very important but it does not come easy...

Melbourne, Victoria

Melbourne is my favourite city of Australia. I was there yesterday and my trip was a fruitful one. I met up with a family member, chatted over fish and chips at the Crown Casino.

I also spent the day, walking from Crown to DFO, next to Southern Cross Station where I did some shopping. I am very impressed with Melbourne's contemporary and Victorian achitectures that co-exist harmoniously. I walked along Bourke Street, had lunch at QV Centre, Melbourne Central and headed to Swanston Street to cross the Yarra River to reach Crown. It was a big circle I made. I always crave for the Japanese hand roll ( I would recommend Sukiyaki Beef, definitely!) whenever I'm in any Australian city. It's really delicious and it's very Australian I thought.

I am certainly looking forward to another Melbourne trip for which I plan to conquer The Edge, which is part of Eureka and visit the Immigration Museum. Already, I have missed a rare Guggenheim exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria. What a waste, truly.

Midsummer Night : A Friend's Night

We celebrated a friend's self-coined "Midsummer Night" with full of girly fun and sisterhood love. It all started with checking in to a beautiful boutique residential hotel in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur. We chatted a bit, ordered some Italian pasta and sandwich while waiting for the rest of the gals to arrive. When 5 bosom buddies finally get together, we tend to have giggles and occasional in-your-face comments, sometimes honest, sometimes sarcastic but most of the time, it's purely for teasing fun.

With our eagerness to paint the town red (in our case, a good indoor session of drinking, chatting and music), we know we need to have a nice dinner somewhere. With countless suggestions and ideas, we ended up having Fisherman's Cove in one of our favourite place, the Feast Village@StarHill. Each of us has a satisfying main course of seafood pasta and fish, where it is famous for. We headed back to the suite but needed to buy some white wines along the way.

The organiser suggested a place in the hotel itself, a gourmet shop apparently a decent Italian joint with food, sinful yet delicious desserts and endless storage of wines. We wanted white as we told the shop owner, an Italian origin. He recommended a bottle of sparkling white and a great bottle of Alsace's Gewurztraminer!

After 2 bottles of whites and downing a Chivas on the rocks, I completely switched off but according to the gals, I appeared to be very happy and continued the night as if I was fine. When I woke up, I realised that, I vomitted a few times and some undisclose-able incidents happened...

It is also a night where HK celebrates its return to the People's Republic of China for 10 years now.