Today is the 2nd day after getting back home, having serious hay fever since I disembarked at the Beijing Airport. It was terrible that the symptoms broke out so quickly at the airport and I was sneezing and my nose was watering crazily, and it was an hour before my next 10-hour flight to Vancouver - someone on the plane is going to be really pissed off. Needless to say, I had a terrible 10-hour flight (luckily I stole loads of toilet paper from the washroom before boarding), couldn’t sleep at all. The girl next to me was probably scared seeing the toilet paper that I kept in my hands and at one point, I had to plug both of my nostrils with the paper to stop my nose from dripping. Still feeling bad right now, sneezing like crazy. Oh well.

The trip was very satisfying. I got to go to Tung Ping Chau (remote island off Hong Kong) with mom to see some really exotic landscape (mainly rocks along the shore). $260 HKD includes accomodation, 3 meals, and roundtrip ferry! Went to the Hong Kong Wetland Park to check out some birds and some gardens. Got to go to the renovated Ocean Park with Wendy to see one of the world’s biggest water tanks in the aquarium. But the highlight had to be the 6-day trip to JiangJiaJie in China - it was so packed with activities that I actually felt overwhelmed. I broke my lens again first day of the trip, lol. The front element came off again, but luckily I was able to borrow some tape from a Chinese restaurant and got it fixed temporarily. I broke the UV filter the last day of the trip though, my back pack fell off the bed to the floor, and the glass broke! That’s another $20..

I had quite a few “first times” during the past 3 weeks..First time

• Seeing a dead motorcyclist along the road (I was in a tour bus) and his wife was facing down crying, realizing from deep within my heart how fragile lives can be. Hope his wife will be okay.
• Seeing in person one of the best panorama views in China - floating gardens at the YuanJiaJie Scenic Area, where they took the scenery and used in Avatar.
• Witnessing the worst Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan. I was having lunch with Vincent in Hong Kong when I saw the news that showed how the 20m tall tsunami consumed the lands in Sendai/Japan. I had a true sense of terror, further confirming that the world is indeed going to end.
• Truly worried about Wendy’s safety (in terms of her getting injured) as the day she landed in Tokyo was the day the earthquake struck. Thank god she wasn’t in Sendai! I wish I was there.
• Realizing that eating Gwei Ling Go (Tortoise Jelly) can cure the peeling skin around my nose! I took 10+ of them when I was in Hong Kong my nose had never looked so good! I got to look for getting them here in Van.
• Getting ripped by a drug store in China. Paid 1800RMB for 3 boxes of drugs recommended by this guy that knows Qi Gong. He said that my liver is weak and has toxins and the Qi Gong that he applied to me (really felt it!) plus the drug will cure me in a month. Actually I don’t know if the drugs is going to work, will see.

Getting back to work tomorrow…argh.

Been back to Vancouver for a couple days, trying to adjust to the time differences/jet lag, have been feeling super tired/lack of energy for the last few days… Also spent time cleaning up the “mess” caused by the kitchen reno… had to rub off a lot of stains on the hardwood floor, lots of vacuuming as the entire living room was covered with dust, also reorganized virtually everything within the living room as now that I lost a huge closet (took over by the fridge), I had to throw away lots of stuff that I had been keeping in the closet..

The last week I spent in Hong Kong was really fun. Wendy and I went to Chime Long in Guang Zhou (China), spent a night at the Chime Long hotel (new year fireworks was visible from the hotel room!), watched a circus show, visited a really huge zoo, and had fun at a world-class amusement park (with some really crazy roller coasters!) It was really a trip packed with fun, and it wasn’t too expensive as well. Other than that we went to a few places that we’ve never been to in Hong Kong, like Sheung Wan, and Tai O. In Sheung Wan there were a lot of old historical buildings (people still living in there) and I took lots of pictures; at Tai O (at the Lantau island, 2-hour ferry ride from Hong Kong) we walked around the area on foot, it was really interesting as life style there was really simple and people that were living there were really slow paced and chill. Lots of great photo opportunities as well. The entire area was next to the water, most of the homes were floating homes that were built on top of some wooden poles and platforms. We saw some interesting street vendors selling preserved fish, guts, and other dried stuff..also some local snacks like the 雞蛋仔 (lined up at a booth for half an hour to get it) and 天癸汁 (tasted like plum juice..quite refreshing).

I don’t feel like working at all….:( but there’s no choice.

Just got home from the JiuZhaiGou 6-day trip, in Hong Kong now. The trip was pretty nice, saw some crazy views from top of Mt. Emei, some really clear water at JiuZhaiGou, and checked out some shows during the nights with quite a few really talented performers. I got sick 4 days into the trip since it was super cold, I think I caught a cold on day 1 but it didn’t develop until day 4. Luckily, thanks to this cold meds I bought at the JiuZhaiGou airport, the cold magically disappeared.

Bought two really good books from the airports in China. Books were really cheap, like $2-3 Canadian could get you a full colored, 300 pages book, couldn’t resist not to get some. One of them is kinda like world geography, talks about all the cities and countries around the world, with their flags and info and stuff. The other one shows the prettiest places around the world.

Some shit happened during the trip though. I lost the eye cup for my Olympus camera, and the lens cover for my 12-60mm lens. Not really sure where I lost them, probably due to the fact that it was so crowded in China and somehow these parts came loose when people around bumped into me. I was able to buy a new eye cup at the Olympus service centre in MongKok (Hong Kong) for $190HKD, and a no-brand 72mm lens cover for $30HKD. Sucks.

Today I came across some stores that sell kitchen/bathroom hardware, so I checked out some nice faucets and ended up getting this really nice one, for $1888HKD. I already got one from Ikea but it was kinda too short, I’ll return it and install this new one when I get home.

So today I discovered that I’ve been over-paying Telus (local phone line provider) for my not-so-often-used landline (with 0 calling feature). I’ve been paying $30/mo after tax for ages, but then today I realized that there are WAY cheaper VOIP services out there (yes I’ve been living in the stone age). AIC Telecom charges $10.95/mo, and it includes loads of calling features like call-waiting, call-forwarding, voice mail….etc. So knowing that I’ve been ripped, I called AIC up today to sign up right away. I’m going to keep my phone number which is going to take 2 weeks for the switch according to what the woman said. I guess I’m cool with that. I have to purchase a “VOIP modem” though, for $68 + tax. Well no choice, but still better off considering the features I’m going to get, plus 200 minutes of free long distance calls to Hong Kong too Only draw back is that the wall landline outlets will render useless, even though I can pay $35 to have them “activated” for use with the VOIP modem, which I’m not going to since I’m cheap, lol. Anyway, I’m going to pick up the VOIP modem tomorrow, and see how it goes…

Another shocking news is that Wendy is coming back from Hong Kong a day earlier, hehehhee…

I’ve been feeling pretty bad for the entire week since I landed in Vancouver on Monday, totally underestimated the power of jet lag… I’ve had no jet lag at all when I landed in Hong Kong, was able to sleep properly and having no problem getting up and such. Strangely for this entire week I’ve felt like a dead fish, had no energy throughout the day and wasn’t able to sleep at all at night. Got up at 5pm today, and didn’t feel like doing any work at all. Am I having jet lag or just getting sick?

Apart from that, it was cool to be able to spend a week in Hong Kong. Was able to see my family and relatives, my girlfriend, and then got a chance to goto XJapan’s Asia Tour =D It was really a dream-come-true, once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. Having been their huge fan since about 8 years ago, having watched most if not all of their performance on VCD/DVDs, having listened to most of their songs to the extend that all the lyrics and tunes were memorized deep in brain, I had never imagined that I’d be able to watch them live. Click here for more photos from the event.

The trip was actually quite tight in schedule so I wasn’t able to meet any of my friends (and I got kind of sick near the last couple days), which sucked but oh well….life sucks in general anyway. Oh, I also had fun taking photographs at various places in Hong Kong, going to places that I’ve never been to before - the tall banks hi-rises in Central, the Legislation Building, taking a traditional Ferry across the Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central….etc. It gave me a strange feeling to see all these things that had actually been there for the entire time when I was still living in Hong Kong however didn’t have a chance to get to them - I felt like I was a tourist, which was great.

One thing that I felt really bad about was that my grandma broke her leg 2 days before I had to leave. She’s 90 years old now and when I was at the hospital the next day she broke the leg, she was acting really weird, almost like between the state of being unconscious and normal. I felt really bad looking at her in such state and I really hope that she will recover ASAP…

I’m still packing up even though I’ll be on the plane in about 12 hours. I don’t think I’m going to bed tonight so that I can sleep on the plane…it’s a 13-hour flight afterall.

Also watching the XJapan 2009 Countdown Live at Akasaka Blitz. The show can be watched here. I’m watching 09 now (there are 10 videos) and they are playing their new song I.V. (ending theme for Saw IV) It’s nice to hear something new from them, and a new piano solo from Yoshiki. The bass solo in this song is AWESOME.

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