Ha Ha... Had another special guest at my place this week. Hans dropped by again on the way to Jakarta. We went to two of my favorite places, Mount Faber and Skyspace, on Friday night. That's really a great night. We just drank and chatted. Seems we were going to recover whatever lost in the past 6 years. ; ) It's a pity that I had exams on yesterday and need to left for Shanghai at midnight. Anyway, we finally remembered to take pictures this time and would definitely see each other again soon.
Ha Ha.. We have one SPECIAL guest at our place these 2 days. Our best friend, Chika Sonobe, is here visiting Singapore and Malaysia during her break from the Peace Boat. We know each other for more than 2 years when she was working in Singapore at that time. Then she decided to take up this special challenge to work as volunteer on the Peace Boat. After that, she continues this challenge to travel around the world with this boat. From the stories and pictures she has shared with us for the past one year, I can tell that is really a very special experience and I guess that's also what keeps her with this task for more than one year. Anyway, she is a RANDOM person also. So it's not surprising that she just drops us an e-mail one day before she flies to Singapore. That's Chika and Singapore is maybe her 3rd or 4th home after Japan, Peace Boat or Malaysia. Enjoy the next trip around the world then. Chika!! : Q
Went to Jakarta this Wed and Thu for visiting some potential distributors over there. This time, I went with another 2 colleagues who were exhibiting in Jakarta. Actually, I have visited Jakarta last Oct also and I only remembered the terrible traffic there as it took me 3 hours to reach town from the airport. This time, it's slightly better as it ONLY took us 2 hours plus. Anyway, the first lesson I learned is I can only arrange maximum 2 appointments per day in Jakarta. However, we visited a very nice and special restaurant, Pondok Laguna, on Wed night as both my colleagues recommend this restaurant a lot and I also found the food very nice and interesting. They serve the local Indonesia food and the most special dish is the deep fried fish. It seems to be one of the most famous restaurant in Jakarta as quite a number of people know about that. If you have chance visiting Jakarta, really got to try this special dish at Pondok Laguna.
Was working on my assignment in my room and realized that the big full moon is just outside my big window now. Don't know why I just went to open my big window (I seldom do that becuase of the traffic and dust outside) and look at this full moon. Mid Autumn Festival is actually a very big festival back at Taiwan as this is the day for family reunion. However, I spent all my last 4 Mid Autumn Festivals in Singapore actually. So I felt a urge to call back home immediately and talk to my parents. But to them, it seems just another day. That's actually good for me. Otherwise, I would start my prolonged home sick again. : ) Anyway, the moon is very round and big this year and Happy Mid Autumn Festival to everyone.
Met up with one friend from Taiwan yesterday. He would be posted to Europe for at least 6 months very soon. During the conversation, he mentioned that he may want to stay over there for a longer period of time, because he is a bit tired of traveling for the past 5 years. It makes me start thinking what I want my future to be. I do plan to go back to Taiwan one to two years later. However, my biggest concern is I might not be able to adapt to life especially working life in Taiwan. One of the options for me is to start up my own business then I may not encounter those problems, but it is not easy. I can also look for jobs and I believe it is not that difficult based on my background and experience. However, if I want to stay in the same industry, I might be going into the international sales position like him as that's my strength. That means frequent traveling would be a must if I really want to do a good job. Then what's the difference between staying at Singapore but go back quite frequently and staying at Taiwan but not around most of the time. Besides, he made me feel that he wants to settle down after all these years, but seems traveling is part and parcel of life for international sales. I don't think anyone can get rid of that if he or she wants to continue this career path. Maybe his case is just a extreme one as he has been asked to change the focus markets a couples of times in the past 2 years. I can understand the bad feeling of trying to adapt to the new environment again and again. Maybe that's his biggest concern and I may not run into the same situation if I really go into it as he is really the extreme case. Anyway, I also just swifted my focus on work to international markets. At least, I got one to two years to try and find out if that's what I really to go into.
It's coming to the end of my 6th semester in MBA, which means that I should have worked on 12 assignments up to now. However, this is the first time that I handed in before the deadline. The deadline is actually this Sat, 17th Sep, but I handed in yesterday becuase I would be in Kuala Lumpur these 2 days. It's actually nothing big deal but just want to memorize this moment that I did finish it much earlier this time though I don't think this one is good enough. Anyway, I got one more to go this weekend and got to hand in next Monday though the dealine is next Saturyday becuase I would be in Jakarda and KL next week. Guess my traveling life really starts.
I normally would do up a planning for every month before it starts. It includes my work, study and some personal stuff. Just more or less confirmed the one for Sep and realized that it's quite different this month. I had a bit of shifting in terms of work focus. So I would need to travel quite a fair bit from now on. Got to be in KL almost every week, Jakarta next next week, and Shanghai in Oct. It's kind of a new start for me in work and up to now I found it quite interesting and challenging still. Though it's really tiring to travel like this, it seems to be a must for me to achieve my target. Hard work dose pay out in the end and hope things can come though like my plan. Just realized that I have limited time left before I turn into the next stage of my life. Got to make good use of this precious time I got here. Work hard and enjoy Life at the same time
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. : QIt'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.
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.
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 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. ; )
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.
It is the "BIG DAY" for my best friend, Jean. Sandy, Grace and I promised to be the "SISTERs" for her. We need to reach her place by 7am. So we got up 6am in the morning to get ourselves ready. This is a very interesting and happy day with so many stories.
First, Grace got some problem with the clothes she prepared to the wedding. So we tried to dig out something from my wardrobe. Amazingly, my paints and shoes are just nice and fit for her. Guess we two do not need to bring too many clothes over when visiting each other next time. : ) After that, we rushed out to catch a cab to Jean's current house. We reached there on time and started to discuss with the other three "SISTERs" how to play tough games with the "BROTHERs" and tried our best to make the whole process of marrying the bride an unforgettable experience for the groom. To be frank, this is our first time. We three didn't really have a good idea about the whole thing. Luckily, there are 2 very experience sisters prepared everything already. However, the groom and brothers were late "purposely" to tried to get us out of job because we have limited time for all the games as they need to catch the registration session soon. Anyway, this was a very interesting experience and we can see that the groom is really trying very hard to get through us but please us at the same time because we are the important "SISTERs".
After that, we went to their church for the registration session. That is normally for relatives and very close friends. We are very honored to be invited and witness their vow. That was a very touching moment as I can see they really love each other and they are so happy to be with each other for the rest of the life. Jean, I am really happy for you. : )
Here comes the 3rd part of the day. We went to another church for the wedding session. This is my first time attending friend's (at the similar age) wedding and it's my first church wedding. It is a very different experience as that was a very well planned wedding with all Jean's church friends' help. From the program, the presentation that the bride and groom prepared. I can tell that they really spend a lot of time on this. All three of us were so touched that we cried when we saw the presentation they did for each other and the happy & satisfied smile on Jean's face. Though it's a tiring day for the bride, she was still so happy. Congratulations! Jean and James! Hope we would have another gathering for your first baby soon. : )
P.S. James is really a very good salesman for Lexus. That bridal car is so impressed when he drove us back on Friday. The look and color are so nice and the facilities insde are also very good. Ya.. Ya.. I know that is the very premium brand car. All I can say is that James really made me set Lexus as one of my targets. I love the 2 seaters SC430 with the Blackish Red
Jean, one of my best friends and my ex-colleague, is going to get married tomorrow. We have known each other since Aug 2001 when I joined Systech. At that time, we had 4 girls: Grace (Hong Kong), Sandy (Taiwan), Jean (Singapore) and I, working in the marketing department for the 2 major products in Systech. We were the youngest group in the company and the most noisy one also I think. : ) That was a very enjoyable period of time as 4 of us working very hard together and that was also the period of time I started my current mission. We went to Crystal Jade, one of our favorite restaurants, for lunch today. It's like back to 4 years ago. We went out together, ate together, had fun together and enjoyed together. That was a very good lunch with the good food and good friends around. Also thanks for Grace's latest gift from Hong Kong Disney Land. Planning to visit Hong Kong this year and enjoy my first ever trip to Disney Land. 
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. 
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.
