Travel Tips

I broke the news on the relocation to my Dad, sis+bro-in-law and my in-laws. Only my sister was happy and excited for us. Our parents' reaction couldn't be far more removed from what we expected. Instead of congratulating my husband on landing a good job on expatriate terms, they expressed their dismay and disbelief that we would choose to be expatriates in another country where bad air and small apartments were the norm. I felt bad for my husband and did my best to encourage him after the disastrous revelation. Afterall, who loves letting their parents down? We did some soul-searching after that and concluded later we probably did not measure up to our parents' expectations since our goals were different from theirs. Well, to let you understand the mindset of a Chinese Singaporean a little better, let me just say that you're deemed a successful person if you:

1)Score good grades and make it to the top local university,
2)Marry someone of equal calibre after you graduate,
2)Produce 2.5*adorable but gifted kids shortly after marriage
3)Live in a private condominium or large Goverment built apartment,
4) Own a large family SUV,
5) Have an excellent career and
6) Preferably have a maid or two to pick up after you.

We've tried our best to fulfill all these criteria (afterall, hubby and myself are by-products of an obedient nation of good citizens) but we don't think we want to spend the rest of our lives chasing after these goals. Already, we've received enough flak from our family/church/social circles for not having kids and for doing other things that most Asians would consider irresponsible and unfilial. Travelling to the Arctic Circle/Doing 220km/h on a highway in the rain/Diving with Sharks in the Andaman/Going for our Masters/Doing a Marathon/etc . Having done that, I can simply say that these are simply milestones that came to shape our personalities. Because we did these, we became more confident, knowing who we were on the inside and what we want out of life. But the bad part was that we thirst for even more adventure. There was more to be discovered beyound our little island home and we couldn't wait to explore. I'm not saying that we will go for more extreme adventures but we want more challenges in our career, our education and in every aspect in our lives. Sadly, if this means letting down our parents, this is something that we will have to deal with. I hope we reach a reconciliation somewhere.

One of the pains of relocation, I discovered is letting go. Letting go of the people you love, the things you love, the regular rhythms of a familiar life. It is impossible to export everything to your new home, even if they give you a ship container! Well, the only things we're taking with us is our cat ( the poor dear is to be micro-chipped), household items ( not the furniture since the new apartment is already furnished ) and our sports equipment (the trek bikes). Hubby might have to leave his 300kg tourer behind and is understandably upset. But that's not half as difficult as dealing with your loved ones. I am spending as much time as possible with my Dad and my sister. Hopefully, they will visit me when I am there.

We did a road trip from Singapore to Ipoh on the bmw rt 1100. It's our last trip on the bike and we wanted to remember it for good measure. Hubby is hoping that this will not be the end of his bike riding days. Already, he is in contact with BMW.HK and will go on a joy ride(!) with them soon. With or without his bike.

For the first time in my life, I had to think of budgetary means to get in touch with my love ones and friends when I leave the country. Prior to this, phone calls home were provided for the roving corporate personnel. But those priviledges seem to defunct for the expatriate. So video voip seems to be a good solution. Somehow snail mail, emails and even IM can be cold and perfunctory for me. Guess I will have to start exploring Skype, Yahoo and MSN Messenger Video Voip . I hope it's not too difficult to use, a bigger challenge I suspect, is how to teach the parents how to use these 'new fangled' things.

I've started learning Cantonese. And I have to admit, it's more difficult than I thought it would be. Trouble is, I'm Peranankan so the franca lingua at home is Malay and English with an occasional smattering of Hokkien. I've struggled with Mandarin all my life and admitedly learnt enough of it just so I can enter university ( It's compulsory over here to take a second language ). Needless to say, my spoken Mandarin has since degenerated to an embarrassing level, I only speak the language in times of desperation and it is limited to these phrases - Where is the toilet? How much is this? Waiter, the bill please! Looks like I had better expand my vocabulary and soon. Currently, I'm downloading free Cantonese lessons from itunes Here's a list of other good websites I've discovered:http://www.cantonese.ca/

Video Voip works surprisingly well, even in places like Starbucks and Macdonalds(Singapore). Yes, it's possible to surf for free in Singapore, just as long you sign up at Wireless@Sg ) Chuckle, Msn Messenger (video) works better than I thought;p

Hubby told me yesterday that he's made up his mind to bring the bike to Hong Kong and the impetus for this? A clean billl of health from the darn mechanic. The bike will be shipped over, contacts will be made with a trusted bmw mechanic over there and lots of documentation will have to be made with the local authorities. Oh yes, and it cost S$250per month to park at the condo. All these so that hubby can have a joyride with bmw.hk bikers. Somehow, I just don't get it!

Am flying over to hk shortly to check out the apartment and see if there is any space over there to do my training. I am not hopeful. So far, I've learnt from him that organic/health food is scarce and expensive over there. Upon returning Hubby nearly went berserk at the local store and nearly bought a war-worthy stockpile of muesli. He lamented next about the local habit of going to restaurants at least thrice in a week to eat a full 10 course meal and the strange looks he got when he brought unpolished rice to eat in the office. Sigh, I guess life is not easy for a health nut over there? This means I have to make serious adjustments to my diet over there as well. I guess both of us are probably the only idoits in the world would lament about the food in Hong Kong !

Off to Hong Kong with Hubby to check out the new digs. Apparently, we are living the surburbs ( New Territories ) so the maipo marshes and the Hong Kong wetlands are within easy reach for me. The birder in me is rejoicing. I thank God I'm not the shopping type.

I'm in Hong Kong right now and I have to say things are looking better than it seemed. The apartment is alright and though it is located in the suburbs, it is linked to the city via the KCR (kowloon canton rail ) line. More importantly, for the triathelete-in-training, there is a public stadium near by and exclusive lanes for cyclists. ( Woohoo, watch out Lance Armstrong! ). My trek tri-racer will glide on this wonderful lanes. There is also the condo pool (indoor and outdoor) but since it is mainly filled with octogenarians, I will check out the public pool beside the stadium so that I can do my training laps. Honestly, the last thing I want is a wrinked butt in my face and a slap.
Afternote: Training is difficult here in the summer. Though I wake up at 615am for my runs ( the sun rises early here ), doing more than 10km is sheer torture at 36c and 80% humidity. My training has reduced drastically since I got here.

Since I can't train, I retreated to the cool haven of shopping malls. Just like in Singapore, the retailers are over-enthusiastic with air-conditioning. It might be a steamy 36c in the outside but in the malls, it's always a constant 18-21c, a little too cold for some. I might some exciting discoveries about the food scene. Apparently, hubby is a little off-tracked on the organic food scene. The green movement in Hong Kong is alive and well and even bigger than in Singapore. Not only are there organic stores here, there are farmer's markets and organic supermarkets ( See link here) I am now completely enthralled with this new organic supermarket ( the biggest I have seen in Asia! ) called threesixty in Central, Hong Kong. The food there is reasonably priced and specially marked items are cheap ( Columbian coffee can be had for S$2 ) . Besides the supermarket, there is a organic food court upstairs spilling over with a delicious array of international dishes. The chestnut cake there is really delicious, as does the organic rotisseries chicken.
Besides threesixty, there are franchised shops in the MTR line selling reasonably priced fresh vegetables, they're oddly named Green Dot Dot. S$4 can get a family-sized package of choy sum.
And this is just the start, I will visit the organic farmer's markets next.

Despite my desire to start training, the weather makes it nearly impossible so I birded with a vengence. Not that it is any easier in this hot weather, but you tend to ignore the terrible weather when you see a beautiful bird. To start off, I went to the Hong Kong Government Information Service to get my field guide (Birds of Hong Kong and South China (Viney and Phillipps, 1994). It was an interesting trip to say the least, not only did I get to see the inside of a goverment building, I got to witness how anally clean those civil servants were! All lift buttons were covered with plastic and wiped with a sterile solution every time I touched it. That's not all. The person who sold me the book, carefully put on gloves before he opened the cash register and gingerly handed me the notes. Suddenly, I felt that an unhygenic virus carrier. Darn, didn't I wipe my nose accidentally after touching the hand rail in the train? I had better checked my temperature later. I left in a hurry after buying the book and went to the Hong Kong Park to recupperate.
Afternote:I had a fantastic time birding in the Wetlands, Kowloon Park and Hong Kong Park despite the bird flu scare. It's fine for me as a photographer since I shoot them from far. The biggest treat for me was the Alexandrine Parrot, they were gorgeous creatures flying free in the Kowloon Park.