A gathering that I waited for 6 years

Finally, I met up with Hans last Sunday after more than 6 years. He is one of my favorite seniors and we were very close back in uni, but we do not have chance to meet up again after he left for study in Thailand & USA as well as work in Europe. In the past 4 years in Singapore, we did try to arrange a gathering whenever he came back to Asia, but we just can't make it even I stayed in Bangkok for one week at the beginning of the year.

Anyway, after the long story, we finally met again here. : ) It's really great to have Hans and his mother here. I also have the chance to enjoy the delicious seafood and the nice view at skyspace again . Luckily, they only stayed for 2 days. I would be running out of places to show them soon. : Q

It's a pity that I forgot to take pictures this time. Would definitely take more pictures if we meet up again either in Singapore or Bangkok. Got to remember this precious moment.

March of Penguins

Watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Cindy and Ruby last week at Taipei. That cost me NT$290 (about S$15) for a movie while it's only S$9.5 here. So I decided to save all the other movies after back to Singapore. Then I realized there are quite a number of nice and new movies around, especially March of Penguins which I missed in Taipei this June. I'm so lucky that they brought in this movie that I wanted to watch so much at that time but didn't have time because of work.

March of Penguins is actually talking about the life of Emperor Penguin, the biggest penguin in the world. They live at the south ice dessert and gather once every winter to start their love songs and dances to continue this species. They have to travel from the edge of the ice dessert to Oamock where all the Emperor Penguins gather for this important process to continue the life. They will find the partner for the year and start the process of bringing in new lives.

There are a few scenes that shocked me a lot. First is how 2 penguins find each other among thousands of penguins. To me, all of them look the same, but they can just find "the one" there and start sharing the difficult process of bringing in new lives. The way they interact with each other is so admirable to me as they really see each other the partner. Second, after the mother lays the egg, she would need to go back to the sea to eat as they have been out of the food supply for a few weeks after they left for the journey. So the father has to take care of the egg while the mother is not around. That is also a difficult process as there is high possibility that the eggs would be freezed if the mother does not pass the egg fast enough to the father. The freezing temperature would kill the life inside the egg immediately. Life is so fragile at that point of time.

The father and the baby would have to wait for the mother at the freezing ice dessert for her to come back to feed the baby. Sometimes, the father might not be able to stand through the server environment and two lives would be gone like that. Normally, by the time the mother comes back, the baby has come out from the egg. They can just easily recognize each other as they know that's their families. Then the father would pass the baby to the mother and starts his journey to get the food. That's also the period of time that baby penguins grow up to face the server environment including the freezing temperature and the other animals. Sometimes, the mother would lose their baby if the baby is not strong enough or got caught by the other animals. They may steel or rub other's baby as they can't stand the fact that they lose their baby. This is like human beings also.

A lot of things on this world are sharing the same fact and logics. Sometimes, human beings are just blind because they can't see things clearly from their naked eyes. However, I do realize one thing that I would want to have my own baby one day and maybe I would start improving myself for the better of my baby which I fail to do it now.

The Trip Back HOME

Just came back today from my 10 days trip back HOME. I had a very busy and tight schedule for the past 10 days but all I can say is "it's great to be at home". I actually arrived on last last Sat evening. My parents picked me up at the airport and my 3rd aunt & her daughter along the way. Then we went back to my grandpa's(mom side) place straight away. Lucky me that I got the chance to taste the bamboo shoot again as that might be the last few weeks of the whole season.

Then I went to visit my eldest cousin and my 2nd nephew on the following Monday. He is so cute and I like his eyes so much. His eyes are so bright and I feel that he is talking to me when he is looking at me. Only then I realized why and how my 2 cousins are really "addicted" to their sons nowadays. I actually brought some shusi over for lunch with my cousin. She is brest feeding and both of us only realized that any food that the mother takes would affect the baby immediately if she is breast feeding. My nephew performed some emergent act (shitting) right after he got faded. So another lesson of that day I guess. : )



This trip, I went down to Taichung to visit my 4th uncle and my elementary school + piano teacher as well. It's my first trip down to Taichung after graduating from Uni. It has been a long time when I met up with them the last time. I found Taichung is a very good place especially for retires. It is very convenient and the streets are just like Taipei to me. Besides, the cost of living is lower and there are a lot of nice food and interesting restaurants around. The food that I missed the most is the pork bou and the herbal jelly near Tong Hai University where I visited quite often during my AIESEC life. Other than that, my teacher and my cousin also brought me to some very nice restaurants. If possible, I really want to spend a couple of days over there to visit every single restuanrants or coffee shops. However, it is too hot for me as I'm used to the "indoor + aircon" shopping environment in Singapore.


Another surprise of that week is my teacher and her husband decided to visit us at my grandma's place at the north-east point of Taiwan 3 days after my trip down to Taichung. It only took them 2.5 hour to reach my grandma's place from Taichung. That's the reason why I said Taichung is actually not that far, right? : ) Then there happened to be a live concert at the beach nearby. This live concert is very famous among the youngsters because of the pop and rock-n-roll music. Five of us (my teacher & her husband, my parents and me) decided to pay a visit to this great event but after a short while we decided to leave as there were too many people.

The last highlight of that trip is the KTV session I had with my good friends. There are supposed to be 6 of us in this gang but Tina is in US, Ariel is in China and Minchuan is missing somewhere. : ) It was so good to sing those old and familiar songs with good friends around. Besides, I love the food at Cashbox. That's one of the best in Taiwan. : )

So these are what I did this trip. 10 days are actually not so enough for me to meet up with all my friends, classmates and relatives but it was very refreshing. I got to keep this refreshing feeling for the following 6 months as I might only be able to go back again for the next Chinese New Year. So Take Care Everyone!!

8th Aug - Happy Father's Day!

8th Aug is a very special date to me. It's not only the Father's Day in Taiwan but also the day that I left for Singapore 4 years ago. Sandy and I took the same flight by Cathay and left for our traineeship on 8th Aug 2001. I always felt not so comfortable about this date as I left my father for my traineeship on Father's Day. Though I don't think he would mind this so much, I always felt that I should spend the Mother's Day and Father's Day with my parents.

Finally, I made it this year for the first time. I'm back at home for Father's Day and prepared a big dinner for my Daddy. : ) Though I'm not so sure if I can really go back to Taiwan next year as what I plan, I would definitely be back for all the following Mother's and Father's Days. Time to spend more precious time with my parents.

P.S. Can't believe the last picture I took with my parents was at the end of 2003 during my cousin's wedding. Got to take more but I like this one quite a lot. ; )

陶吉吉 David Tao

Happened to take the same flight back to Taipei today as David Tao (陶吉吉), one of the most popular artists in Taiwan. He is not only a great singer but also a composer who did came out quite a number of great songs. He came into the cabin at last and dressed a bit strange to me. Normal people might not wear a baseball cap and a big jacket when taking flight. I was thinking he actually attracts more attention by dressing like that though it took me about 5 minutes to recognize him. However, if he wears like normal people, I might be able to recognize him within 1 minute. I think he values his own privacy a lot. The cabin crews tried to ask him for photos or signatures but I think he refused. Anyway, it's cool to see him in person and I waited until everyone rushing out of the cabin. At that time, he happened to be standing behind me. Quite a nice and handsome person I would say.