In further efforts to catch up on last year's posts, here we are again.

After the Korea trip, life went back to normal. I had family visitors from home, and then I flew home twice, once for SailorJeow's wedding in July and once for GAIst's. Around that time they disbanded my team at work and I was at risk of losing my job ! But then I was kept on (phew) and rejoined the local team. Blessings in disguise and I got to work in a team which I had been very interested in. At the same time, having worked my previous two roles I was very well placed to do the work here, as I had a lot more contacts and knowledge that could be put to use as well as transferable skills. It was however a prerequisite to say goodbye to two colleagues as well and the move happened in July.

EstBear came to visit in HK, and then of course I went to the Kylie concert as well. (Think this is about June). It was interesting and my first time at a concert held at a convention hall. All this time of course, there were bouts of dieting and I was busy losing weight. I think I hit a year's low sometime in September. Due of course to a combination of late nights at work and careful watching of my food. I do not think I exercised as much as first, but slowly there was a combination of youtube videos and exercises which I tried to do every few days. Surprisingly I received more than 150 birthday wishes on my facebook, I think that is a new record which was all very sweet. Funniest thing was that around this time I discovered a dead cockroach in the kitchen and I joked that it must have died of hunger as I had no food in the apartment at all. In fact I have since switched off the fridge !

A bunch of high school friends came to visit and we had a lot of fun catching up. My sister came to visit again and I think we had a lot of fun going through Big Bang Theory. (this is in September by the way). Work started to be really crazy and it was due to of course it being near the end of the year and I was doing several persons' work. Think I managed to get a weekend off and went up to China for a hot springs trip with some friends off a Groupon. With a lot less mahjong playing instead I was off on more weekend sports games either playing squash with GAEyeung or badminton with the usual MrTam. By the time early November rolled around, RaeBear, DinoBear, WoobyBear, SharBear and more came around to attend RoxBear's wedding. It was fun just going around but gosh, did we eat a lot. I think I definitely laughed when WoobyBear announced he had gained 4 kg during the week he was here.

Finally at long last I made it to my block leave in November. Not having had anything planned at first, then I was joined by GABish, MrTam and their friend MsWin and we all went to Hualien for a few days. The main point here was to visit the alpacas that GABish loved but it was a good time and we had time to visit the Taroko gorge and other seaside places. After about 4 days, I flew to Tokyo to join my mom and sister of a last minute trip. They were there courtesy of cheap AirAsia tickets and I had time to join. It being the autumn season, there were beautiful foliage everywhere and we even had time for two day trips out of the city as I was getting bored of the city. We spent a day in Yokohama where the weather was gorgeous and there were theme parks, and malls and lovely walks. We also spent a day going up to Niko, travelling around old temples and even braving the local bus system to spend a couple of hours at the local hot springs !

I had another break in December where I went home just to hang out and I also went home for the Christmas weekend ! It was my first time back in 4 years for Christmas and one very big reason of course was that it was NickyBear's wedding. One of the big things to look forward to all year ! The wedding was great and I also participated in the morning traditional events. The reason why it was greated than usual was because I got to meet with all these school friends some of which I have known for 20 years ! There were also many that were back from overseas for the wedding and holiday season, from Denmark, Germany, Australia and Singapore, to name a few. It was also very relaxing to spend some time with the family during the holiday season.

All this time as well I had been taking French lessons, starting from early in the year. As of now, I have completed four semesters, two exams and will start Level 5 in a week's time.

2011 was a very happening year in which a lot happened. Perhaps 2012 will be even more happening.

I hope so.

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Tradition states that the first post of the year always states the resolutions of the year so let me start off with the results from the previous years.

2006 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2007 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2008 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2009 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2010 : Achieved 8 out of 10.
2011 : Achived 8 out of 10

While the 2011 results seem to confirm a declining trend, it was a surprise that for the first time since 2006, the unmet resolution was not the weight loss resolution ! This year managed to lose14kg off my peak weight, and I am currently at -10kg for the year after very terrible holiday food consumption.

The resolutions unachieved were the investment resolution and the run resolution. The investment one I guess was not too clear in the first place and sort of fizzled out after a very busy year at work. As for the run resolution, somehow just did not happen. After I mised the HK marathon due to rain and Guam holidays, I did not even run much at all until late in the year as part of the weight loss initiative and as well as preparation for the 2012 HK marathon.

However here is hoping that we will get back on track with the latest 2012 resolutions !


1. Lose 10 kg. (Lost 14 off peak. To be clear, resolution is to lose ten from here on.)
2. Travel to 2 countries (non HK / Malaysia)
3. Save more than I saved in 2011
4. Complete 4 levels of French courses. (Going really well)
5. Keep home clean and laundry to be done timely.
6. Complete 2 half marathons plus 1 more extra run. (Target one half marathon at 2hours 15 minutes)
7. Make more new friends.
8. Do well at work.
9. Keep up blogging instead of the phenomenal fail this year where nothing was posted in H2.
10. Strengthen family bonds.

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This is running very late !!

After the the Guam/Taiwan trip, there were a flurry of things to be done. Loads of planning with MunBear who was finishing his work rotation here meant having to meet up to discuss where to go and what to do. Luckily MunBear is a similar kind of traveler, willing to try everything, willing for hardship and interested in doing and seeing stuff rather than big city shopping. We worked out a rough plan at first and then finetuned the details. We would spend about 2 days in Jeju before taking a ferry up to Mokpo and driving eastwards and northwards before going back to Seoul. We used the Korea Tourism Website a lot in those days and it was easy to plan a route complete with GPS pictures and length of time required between each destination. The hardest part was actually booking the car, as we had to return the car to a different city and that is not easy to do ! In the end though it was solved because I had MsSong help us out and even then it was a very long conversation in Korean.

Halfway through GATrac decided to join us which was great since it decreased the costs of car rental though the room rental worried me a little. She could also have her moods which may bust the whole trip down the valley of unhappiness. But her being easy on the details meant we did not have to change anything we wanted to do.

The first problem came on the flights though. GATrac decided to fly a day earlier through Shanghai to save money but her connecting flight was cancelled. In the end, MunBear and I went to Jeju first and familiarised ourselves with driving (it was easy for me as I had just driven in Guam and Taiwan) on the wrong side of the road. When GATrac finally made it half a day earlier she was so relieved to be there. Haha. One of our first stops was to stop at a beach side rock formation to gawk at the rocks and try seafood being taken out of the sea right in front of us. it was that fresh ! Other things we did on Jeju including feasting on the famous black pork, visiting the villages, lava tubes, and climbing the Sunrise Peak to see the sunrise. Though our mornings started early, we were all tired out as we walked a lot and did a lot more in a day that one would usually do on tour.

One serious problem we faced was that all our ferries to Mokpo were fully booked ! Something we did not count on. We managed to get ferry tickets to Busan but that would mean cutting out most of the Southwest and more importantly we needed to change our car booking ! The friendly ferry person helped us sort through this after a lot of sign language and we took an overnight ferry to Busan. It felt a little like Titanic even though we were second class passengers meaning we were in a four bunk cabin. There were areas we could not go, but it was fun and my first time as far as I can remember sleeping on the sea. We arrived in Busan very early and rested a while before trudging to find the car rental. And we could not find it. It took us more than an hour to find the office which had sneakily changed places before picking up GATrac from the train station. But by then we were set.

More fresh seafood we had before finding lodgings at Haeundae. We walked by the beach in the sunset and had a great barbeque dinner before resting our tired selves in a huge Spa at Spaland. Complete with 27 saunas and many different pools of different temperatures. The next few days we slowly made our way northwards along the coast and visited tombs, temples, museums, villages, old schools and cities, all the while feasting on great healthy Korean fare. Among some of the best things we did were going to visit a Penis Park (literally a park of phallic sculptures) and riding a railbike hidden in the valleys and mountains of East Korea. We made our way through the historical Gyeongju before spending the night in Pohang, home of the steel industry. Then up to sleepy Andong in the heartland and then the fishing village of Samcheok. After the scenic Jongseon in the mountains, we arrived at the Northeast port of Sokcho. This was a place where you could see into North Korea and there were evacuation plans and lighthouses and barbed wire on the beaches ! It was also home to the best and yummiest crabs in the world.

We spent a few hours taking a cable car and then climbing to the peak of Seorak mountain before spending a few romantic hours on the famous Nami island. This was my second time here as I had been to Jeju and the norther parts of Korea 3 years ago. Nami island was just as I remembered it, fantastic scenery, appropriate village decor, and remnants of Winter Sonata everywhere. We spent the night in Chuncheon munching on the famous dakgalbi. We were now very close to Seoul and we did one more detour to the largest botanical garden in Korea where it was like stepping into many pieces of heaven stitched together. Rivers, tiny chapels, model trains ran among many different themed gardens and it made a fantastic place to rest your soul. When we finally entered the city of Seoul, we spent a few hours at the Palace and the National Museum before retiring to have a 20 course dinner at the Cultural Korea House followed by an hour long cultural presentation.

The last two days were spent shopping and looking at Korean goods, visiting another spa, getting a massage, and basically just soaking in Korea. Korea to me is like Australia, a healthy sunny happy place. I loved it. And now I know it so much more. It was a very satisfying trip to make and took 10 days. Perhaps someday I will have time to travel down the West side as well.

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On the way back from Guam, we had the same transit at Taiwan, so some of us took the opportunity to visit the Taipei International Flower Expo. Although it was a huge area, I must say that the place was a little disappointing, mind you the expo had been going on for almost 3 months and only had about a month to go, so perhaps, the flowers were a little tired of visitors. Haha. We also met up with one of our old friends GAPet who is now working in Taipei and we had dinner together with other Taiwanese colleagues as well. After spending one night at a budget hotel there, we took the train to Taichung and our journey really began.


After a little fiddling with the GPS, it was time to go. It was very sunny and we took quite a while navigating through tiny rural roads and then twisting mountain roads. Boy I was glad that I had experience driving on the right side in Guam because driving in Taiwan is also on the right side. But the view when we were up in the mountains of Taichung was great. It reminded me a little of Camerons Highlands as many many hostels or hotels here were intentionally built in a Western style so you would find cottages, or Bavarian castles like in the picture above all around the mountain. We had high tea at that castle and stayed at another cottage higher up the mountain.

The mountain itself was famous for livestock so we went to this tourist farm, which allowed visitors to ride horses, pet sheep, see dogs running around and herding sheep and other 'farmy' stuff. The next day we also went to the Sun Moon Lake which was famous for its beauty in the mountains. And true enough driving around the lake was a great experience and very relaxing. There we also took the cable car up to this theme park in the mountains. It was a park built around the 9 kinds of indigenous people living in the mountains of Taichung but also had the mechanical rides as well as huge flower gardens. Walking in the crisp air, with flowers everywhere, it seemed like a dreamland. It was a good transit !

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The wedding itself was held on a very nice and sunny day. It was amazing to see all the great chapels that the hotels would have on the best spots of the beach especially for people to come and get married. Blue skies and white clouds made the whole thing perfect and lovely. In our spare times before and after the wedding, we would drive around the island, and explore the few curios the island had to offer. There was not much, mind you, but being my first time driving on the right hand side of the road was also a fair experience ! We ended our trip with a beachside barbeque complete with a show with dancing locals, fire blowing and coconut wearing girls.

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Kapow and a whole month just flew by.

With the Chinese New Year festivities happening and me being on my ownsome (family wise) in Hong Kong, I took the time to hang out with friends and play a lot of Mahjong !! Thanks to JinBear's family who came for CNY, I had dinner with them and also took the time to go with them to visit the temples on Lantau Island. Though I have been there before, it was great to be able to go to the private meditation rooms and see what they looked like on the inside and also have a great vegetarian meal. As the weather was freezing, I slept in a bit on the second day of the new year before meeting up with GANay to watch the fireworks from the office and going for dinner later. It was a pleasant surprise to bump into so many other friends there that night though I must say fireworks were kinda boring, and held little significance to me. After dinner, we even joined GASte for drinks, which led to a crazy but immensely fun night at Shore.

Woke up really early to make it to MrAl's house at To Kwa Wan, where we made our way to MrSim's place for two hours of poker. For me at least. That was because I had to rush to Tsuen Wan to play mahjong ! I think they played poker the whole day long ! When I reached MsDor's house, I was berated for being late but we played for 12 hours ! And it was one of the most successful Taiwanese mahjong sessions that I have had. Even had a couple of games which MsDor herself has not eaten. Wahaha. I am really getting the hang of it now.

After Chinese New Year however, it was back to work with some really bad news for my teammate MrThai. He tore his ACL skiing in Japan and had to be wheelchaired to his flight home. It was good for him to rest at home, but he spent the next three weeks at home before going to Thailand for an operation. In the meantime, I was crazy busy at the office as everyone went back into full work mode again. The only thing which kept me sane in this time were some games that MrTT downloaded onto my iPhone against my weak protests. In a fit of competitive mode, we tried to finish various games before the other person, and I must say, I have NEVER EVER played so much games in my life. I would spend my time on the bus, mealtimes, and even in bed, playing the games and trying to figure out puzzles or trying to make my fingers coordinate enough to win a game. I have never been good at this, as I have never played much computer games or video games for that matter, so it was a very humbling experience. Though now that I have completed a few titles, I am more confident. I think the key was that it was not so much playing the game that was fun, it was more fun to be competing with someone. MrTT knows that, so he waits for me to start a game at the same time that he does, so I still get the urge to play. Otherwise, I would just ignore the game, as I have a few games he had previously downloaded but finished before giving them to me.

The next big excitement is of course that we are now all going to Guam for MrTT and GABish's wedding !!!! Quite an exciting time and everyone who is going have been busy visiting the dentist, going for facials, buying new clothes and so on. Myself, I made a new suit (gray) and also made 2 new glasses as well as a pair of sunglasses. Very over the top, but gosh, spending money is too easy. I think I will not have to make any more glasses for 2-3 years !! I will also be stopping by Taiwan on the way back from Guam for a few days and that would also be interesting as it will be the first time for me in Taiwan as well ! So I kill two destinations with one stone !! Not to mention my April trip to Korea with MunBear !!! Tickets are booked for that as well, and when I come back from Guam, we will finalise our schedule and car booking !! And yes, I will be driving in both Guam and Taiwan and Korea and they are all left hand drive countries. Interesting............

During the marathon weekend as well, GATTY, SailorJeow, SailorIT, GAKS, GAYH, MrSC, MrLaw were all here in HK. They made it really fun and we all went on a little yacht to Sham Tseng for roast goose. This is becoming a yearly event ! Some of us even played Mahjong on the ride to ward off seasickness. Too bad it was really cold and rather wet, and the visitors from Malaysia and Singapore were freezing ! Haha. SailorJeow and I even made time to try the fusion chef's menu at Bo Innovation, which was surprisingly simple and yummy. Nevertheless, it strengthens my own belief, that fusion is not for everyone. I found it a bit lacking, and rather preferred full flavored French food instead of simple Chinese fusion, even though many courses were interesting as they were presented with much fanfare and is part of what they now call molecular gastronomy.

Speaking of French, I started my French classes in January and after a month of classes am really enjoying it. The grammar makes sense, and it is like magic how Eric, our teacher makes us speak sentences. Vocabulary is challenging of course, but I am definitely learning faster in class compared to my self learnt Spanish. It is a great thing to be learning and just like my Korean, this is really fun and is something that I want to further. After completing the PRM exams earlier in December, I really want to concentrate on languages in the next two years.

MrTT's bachelor party is tomorrow and I shall be flying off to Guam on Saturday !! Hurray !!

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Tradition states that the first post of the year always states the resolutions of the year so let me start off with the results from the previous years.

2006 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2007 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2008 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2009 : Achieved 9 out of 10.
2010 : Achieved 8 out of 10.

Let me not waste time and instead list out the 2011 Resolutions !! Drum roll..........

1. Lose 10 kg. This is a perennial failure. (Hope to achieve it this year. I was close, at one point losing 8kg, but have gained 3kg back !)
2. Travel to 2 countries (non HK / Malaysia)
3. Save more than I saved in 2010. (could be hard !)
4. Improve investment strategies. (one of the more interesting goals this year with good results already)
5. Complete 2 levels of French courses. (bonus would be more Korean and Spanish)
6. Keep home clean and laundry to be done timely. (very serious)
7. Complete 2 half marathons plus 1 more extra run. (hopefully with a faster time as well)
8. Complete a year of Sunday School teaching.
9. Make more new friends.
10. Do well at work.

That settles it.

In a year that included trips to Japan and China, where I got promoted and switched teams, moved apartments, ran two half marathons and studied Korean, Chinese and Spanish, got another three alphabets after my name, pulled out 4 wisdom teeth at the same time, it was a pretty exciting year !

But now for this year. After SZBear and mom came over for the Christmas and New Year, it was some of the coldest days of the year ! We were freezing and running from the shower into clothes. But pretty fun. After a very slack last few working days of the year, the first few weeks of the new year has been absolutely crazy filled with work. The bright part of course is that, now I can practise my trading skills since mom has a trading account. That can be interesting and in fact has been very much a learning process and has helped me get more discussion topics with MrSng.

Chinese New Year will be very early this year and is just two weeks away. Who knows what will happen in the year of the Rabbit ?

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