Well, I’ve came here for almost 10 months, but haven’t quite blog about our adventures thus far, thought I’d start with this recent one. Lantau Island, that’s where we stay is pretty well preserved. If you’ve seen the various photos I’ve posted on my Facebook, you would be surprised that it’s Hong Kong. That’s also one of the reason why we are living there instead of in HK Island. You feel less hectic and more at home here than in HK Island itself. More laid back. Even the escalators are slower in comparison (swear I’m telling the truth cause I switch from fast mode to slow mode when I commute within my office and home).

There are alot of hiking trails (we’ve completed 2 so far), beaches, mountains, Island hopping (we’ve done 2 as well) and geological park. Back in March when the weather was finally warmer but not too warm, we took a bus from Tung Chung to 長沙灘 (Cheung Sha Beach). It’s a short ride on a windy road via Bus 35 (the one that goes up to Po Lin Monastery). It only takes 20 minutes from Tung Chung to Cheung Sha Beach.

Kids were delighted as usual since we get to break free from the usual shopping mall visits. We went there with our family friend, of which their kids are same age as ours (their best buddy here).

The beach was rather empty to our delight. We were informed that locals don’t normally flock here. They’d go to more commercialised beaches like the ones in Cheung Chau. Only the angmo will come here, and this area are usually populated by the foreigners that wants a laid back life and mainly those working in Airport.

I wouldn’t say that the beach was fantastic if you compare those back home in Malaysia, but definitely much cleaner and less muddy. I’d rate this above some parts of Port Dickson & Morib in terms of cleaniness.

For once, Vyktore enjoyed the beach so much and I was so delighted that he finally did. All this while he’d just sit on the mat and eat his snacks. Never want to get himself there. He claims that it’s dirty. But during this visit, he totally enjoyed the waves and rolling about on the beach.

There’s also facilities for you to clean up after the beach bathing which is well maintained. Changing room is also available. Don’t need to wrap the towel around you and change discreetly in the public hehe..

Here are some photos taken that day.

We will definitely return here again for beach bathing weekend.

Faythe loves to make origami by referring to the origami book we’ve bought for them. And there’s this particular origami that makes puppet animal (just the animal face) that she has remembered the steps and do not need to refer to the book anymore. She’s been folding many of these to give to her friend, and while she was at it, this was Faythe & Vyktore’s conversation:

Faythe: Mommy, I’m going to make 2 more origami puppet for my friends.
Mommy: OK (while I was folding clothes)
Vyktore: I also want jie jie
Faythe: OK..what animal you want? Cat dog or panda?
Vyktore: I don’t want, I want dinosaur
Faythe: But this one cannot make dinosaur. I can only make cat dog or panda.
Mommy: Maybe rabbit?
Vyktore: I don’t want…I want dinosaur (sounded impatient)
Faythe: That might be difficult
Mommy: Hmm maybe pig
Faythe: Ah..can also. Vyktore you want pig?
Vyktore: No!! I want dinosaur. I want carnivore animal ONLY. I want T-Rex
Faythe: Cat is also carnivore you know. Cat eat fish

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter when Faythe answered him back so quickly and she was quick enough to turn the situation back. She really tickled me with her wittiness. Yes, cat eats fish, I totally forgot about that.

Vyktore got upset and stood up from the dining table and wanted to catch Faythe because he refuse to accept that cat is a carnivore.

Recently I started going to gym as I’ve put on some weight over the cold winter and I could feel my pants as if it’s gonna burst any sooner O.o.

The good thing about here is whenever I go to gym, I can bring both my kids along and let them play at the playground in the Clubhouse, which is just next to the gym. Hence I don’t need to leave them at home alone (No No) or hire a caretaker to take care of them for that short 30mins workout. And they love to go there anyway. It’s a place where they might bump into their schoolmate.

While taking the escalator to the gym, this was our conversation and suggestion from Faythe:

Mommy: We need to go gym more often, you see I’m fat already. *Pointing my finger to the spare tyre*
Faythe: It’s OK Mommy. If you wanna be thin, just follow what I do. Eat what I eat. Don’t eat what I don’t eat. Then you will be thin like me.

If I do as she says, I think I’ll be constipated and dried up in no time OR I’ll be double of my size cause her diet mainly consist of pasta/spaghetti with cheese (fatttening), pizzas (oo, also fattening), less fruits & veg (that’s where the constipation comes) and all the chocolates that she can ever eat (sure deadmeat if I indulge in this).

Seems like I don’t have much choice but to go gym more often. Lets hope I can shed off those extra kgs easily.

Throughout my life, I’ve only watch Concert for 3 times. And out of these 3 times, all 3 are Jacky Cheung’s concert. Not that I don’t want to watch other singers’ concert, but the timing was not right. When Audrey and Huey Fong came to HK to visit us last year, we found out that Jacky Cheung was having a concert in Venetian, Macau. All the tickets were already sold out when we learned about this, but later we found out that he added 2 more days and tickets were on sale!! We quickly grab 3 tickets and off we went to Macau on 29th Dec.

This is in fact my 2nd time watching JC concert with Audrey. The last time we went together was during our 20s!! And obviously JC never fails to amaze us. Although he’s 1/2 a century old (that’s also the title of his concert), but he’s even more energetic and charming than previously. Like he say, the older he is, the more good looking he is LOL. All his moves and dances left us in awe. He also paid tribute to his late godmother, Sum Tin Ha. His love notes are forever so touching and he sang them beautifully. He is no doubt a great singer.

There’s a heavy usage of graphics in this latest concert and I read that he choreographed the entire concert himself. Excellent job!! The stage moves from up to down, turn horizontally, split vertically. Then he came with a helicopter while singing and ending the concert with fireworks. Whoa, we were left amazed. He even did a short clip of himself in cartoon from young to old accompanied by his notes.

Come next weekend, I’ll be going for the same concert again, but this time in Hong Kong itself. It will be his final league after performing the same concert for over a year since 2011. I’m really looking forward to next week and this time round I hope I get a better view.

Here are some photos taken during his 100th 1/2 Century Concert in Macau. Oh BTW, if I’m not mistaken, the videoclip of him and Shu Qi was filmed in Macau as well, so watching the concert at Macau itself was indeed mesmerising.

]]> http://jazzmint.net/blog/2012/05/my-concert-life-with-jacky-cheung/feed/ 0 http://jazzmint.net/blog/2012/05/wordpress-3-3-2-review/ http://jazzmint.net/blog/2012/05/wordpress-3-3-2-review/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 00:52:11 +0000 jazzmint http://jazzmint.net/blog/?p=2042 Continue reading →]]> Some friends asked me what are the difference within WordPress 3.3.2 and the previous version. So I thought I’d share some of my personal review with readers  before you decide if you want to switch to the latest version.

I did an upgrade from a very old version, V2.1, so it was a major upgrade and I had to do it manually as auto upgrade is only available for version 2.5 above (if I’m not mistaken). I also prefer to do manually so that I can go thru the steps and know what I’m doing. I’ve read that some automated update had problems. Hence I definitely prefer a manual update, at least I don’t need to spend so much time troubleshooting if it screws up.

Pros:
There’s a word count while you are drafting your post, which works perfectly for those that write paid post. You no longer need to copy the post to MS Word and do a word count. Brilliant!!

The functions & options are split out on the left side and can be easily accessible e.g. Appearance, Plugins, Tools, etc. And each of them comes with a further level of breakdown. Makes it alot easier to find your WP functions.

While you are drafting your post, you also have the option to select what to display on the screen via Screen Option. With this your screen looks less cluttered and you only need to display what you need/want to see. Awesome, I love the clean sleek look.

Plugins update are a breeze. On the page where plugins are shown, you can easily choose to update those by just a click of the mouse. You no longer need to go and search for the latest version and then upload it via FTP.

Themes are definitely more advance now and there’s a lot of customization that can be done. Customization can be done in WordPress itself, that’s the most beautiful part. Simply love this .

Cons:
Insert photos is a chore now. My usual way of inserting photos (load via FTP, then copy the URL and add into the post) now takes longer for each photo because WP will attempt to verify the existence of the photo before allowing you to upload it. I think each pic easily took about 10sec more. So if you are uploading alot of pics for that post, it’s gonna take you ages.

I also notice that once you upload a pic, if you did not press ENTER previously to have additional lines below, you will not be able to do so after inserting a pic. Not sure if this is a bug. And if you try to insert another pic without looking at where your cursor is, chances are the whole post can be wiped out and only the new pic that you have just inserted is showing on the screen!!

You can’t turn off comments for your post. Maybe I haven’t figure it out, but so far there’s no option where I can turn off the comment. Thumbs down cause I do not want people to comment on paid post. *** UPDATE: this can be done, but only in Quick Edit Mode. How weird..maybe it’s a bug

New:
Under Appearance, there’s this thing called Menu. This is totally new to me and I have not figured out what’s this for.

I’ll be adding more to this list once I get use to the new version and discover more. So do come back and check if there’s further update .

I woke up on 28th April with a hope to bring change to my country, Malaysia. It was a rainy morning in Hong Kong. But as the organiser has said it loud and clear, the show must go on. It will only be called off if there’s Typhoon, Signal 8.

Days before the event took place, I found myself wrestling with my thoughts. I finally succumbed to the fact that I must be part of this historic event. And not just sit at home to watch the post Bersih 3.0 footages while I quietly regret in my heart that I have not done my part for our future, my children’s future and the future of all Malaysian. I was trying to convince my other half to join as well, but he procrastinated and in the end I tasked him to take care of the kids at home while I walk the talk.

Bersih 3.0 HK Edition meeting place as at Causway Bay, SOGO. I met up with Peggy (that so happened came to HK for holiday) earlier to have a quick lunch. Then we walked towards SOGO entrance and it was only 1:45pm, but the crowd was noticeable from far. Everyone were clad in yellow, the Bersih official colour.

The organiser expected about 100 people turn up at the event. But the final count apparently, there were 400 people!! Amazing!!

Everyone look very excited. Some travelled as far as from Southern China to participate in this memorable event. They couldn’t get their permit on time, but nevertheless made the effort to come all the way to HK. Someone was seen selling the Bersih T-shirt and they were quickly snapped up by rally’s participants. Obviously some were busy snapping photos for each other. People from all walks of life was there. It was as though we are going for a carnival instead of a rally.

At 2:00pm, we moved forward to a cordoned area that the police has prepared for us where we stood there and sang our National anthem with pride. I’ve never felt so proud singing this song together with our fellow countrymen. Then the leader came and gave a speech about today’s rally. Why we are doing this? It is not about politics. It’s about a clean and fair election. It’s about the people’s voice to be heard. And though we are many miles away from Malaysia, it doesn’t mean that we would not be bothered about what is happening back home.

One of the things he talked about that touched me was when he mentioned that alot of people whom has migrated overseas challenged why they need to care about Malaysia and what is happening since they are not there. But that is so wrong. Doesn’t mean we are not there we will not be affected. Don’t forget our parents are there. Our siblings are there. We still need to pay tax for our house in Malaysia although we don’t pay our income tax there. So we do need to care!! And someday, we will return home, when the time comes. But for now, let us continue to fight for the rights of our brothers and sisters at home.

It was a very long talk. He finished his speech in English, then someone shouted, Bahasa please. So he started repeating his speech in Bahasa. Then someone requested for Mandarin version, and he quickly obliged. And of course, we must have the Cantonese version since we are all in HK. And finally, someone requested for Hokkien version, and he did!! Everyone laughed when he spoke in Hokkien. We are truly a multilingual country. But no matter what language we speak, our voice must be heard that day. That a fair and clean election is what we demand for.

At 3:00pm, we lined up to form a long line and started marching. Together with us was a team of police officers, deployed to ensure our safety and assist the rally itself. They led us all the way from Causeway Bay right up to the Malaysia Embassy at Gloucester Road at Wan Chai. They stopped the cars and let us pass by the roads leaading to Wan Chai. From time to time we were reminded to walk inside so that we won’t be hit by cars. We chanted “Ah Shuir Hou Yeh” to the policemen for being so supportive, unlike the ones back home that layed barbed wires and refuse to let our countrymen to sit in at Dataran Merdeka.

As we walk, we sang our Negaraku. We sang Setia. We chanted “Hidup Bersih”. We chanted “Hidup Rakyat”. We chanted “Bersih, Bersih”. We chanted “Malaysia Boleh!!”. It was these moments that remind us that no matter where we are, how old we are and who we are at the end of the day we are all united as 1, 1Malaysia. And together we will rally for a better tomorrow.

One of the man was the leader that guide us with the chanting. At one point of a time, he ran out of his voice and we all laughed. But quickly someone took over and it continued. That was how strong the spirit was.

We finally reached the Malaysia Embassy after walking for 45mins and the guards were standing there, refuse to let us in. The police requested us to spread the crowd within the left and right of the embassy and ensure that we were not blocking the road. Again we sang Negaraku. Then the leader read out the memorandum that they want to pass to the Consulate. Some of us wrote our name on the memorandum as well.

At first the guard refused to open the door for us to pass the memorandum and spike off some concern among the group. Then we started chanting “Buka Pintu” to request them to open the door and finally they did. The Consulate quickly grab the memorandum and the guard closed the door. They were so afraid that we would start a riot. But seriously, we are there for peace, not for riot. If we wanted to start a riot, we would have done it along the way. And at that very moment as well, someone announced that they started shooting tear gas and water cannon in KL and we all jeered as loud as we could, condemning the act of our police and FRU units back home. Why has it gotta end with such an ugly sight despite a peaceful rally.

The rally ended at 4:00pm and we all thanked the police for being there with us. They’ve done a great job to ensure our safety. And someday we hope that police back home would do the same as the police in HK. Those would be the days where we will not live in fear of racial riots and rally. Those would be the days where police and citizens would rally together for a good cause. Those would be the days of a true democratic country. I would live to tell my children that I was part of the historical event that lead us to a true democratic country. And let us all hope that, that day would come soon.

Here are some photos taken on that day.

More photos are uploaded on my Facebook.

I’ve also downloaded a bunch of themes to play with over the last week since I’ve decided to upgrade to 3.3.2. Looks like I’ll be busy for the new couple of weeks trying to figure out what theme I should use for my blog.

Till then, Happy Labour Day everyone!!

Frank started to be a marathon runner a few years ago. As a dear friend of his, I’ve always been supportive no matter what he does, although I was quite worried. Worried about his health and sudden change. Through many ups and downs, his effort has finally paid off. At the time when I left for Hong Kong last year, he started Running Lab at Tropicana City Mall. And he’s turning into a marathon star of late, appearing in radio and TV.

Two weeks ago, he told me that he would be participating in Comrades Marathon, the “down” edition, in aid of cancer research. One of the 2 representing Malaysians for the world’s largest, oldest and perhaps one of the most gruelling 90km ultramarathon race called Comrades Marathon, taking place on 3 June 2012 at South Africa.

When I heard about this, I was amazed and proud of him. Frank was once a cancer patient, diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma at the age of 12. Been thru alot of excruciating pain and fought cancer off with all his determination. And being an ex-cancer patient, he has decided to run for a good cause and benefiting CARIF (Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation).

I’ve had friends that died of cancer. Friends that recovered from cancer. Friends who lived to tell us the horror of cancer. For many years, there’s no cure found, but research needs to continue, in the hope that someday, we will have cure to this. If it’s not for my generation, probably for my children’s generation.

I have pledged my support to Frank and CARIF by purchasing the “special edition” T-shirt for TURCR (The Ultimate Race for Cancer Research). If you would also like to pledge your support, here are some ways you can contribute:

1) Purchase the “special edition” t-shirts at RM60 each, available end of Feb 2012. T-shirts are available at CARIF and Running Lab, Tropicana City Mall.

2) Donate. Cash or cheque (payable to Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation) can be deposited at CARIF or Running Lab, Tropicana City Mall.

3) “Like” and share the official Facebook page at The Ultimate Race For Cancer Research (www.facebook.com/TURCR)

If you are a Maybank M2U user:
1. Log in to your M2U account
2. Select Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation as the Payee Coropration under ‘Zakat & Charity’
3. Enter the donation amount you wish to contribute/cost of the t-shirt
4. Send an email to info@carif.com.my indicating your name, contact number, address, date and amount of donation/preferred size of t-shirt.

If you have PayPal:
1. Log in to your PayPal account
2. Enter info@carif.com.my at the TO column
3. Enter your email address, donation amount you wish to contribute/cost of the t-shirt
4. Click Purchase of Services
5. State ‘The Ultimate Race for Cancer Research’ in the message column

You. Me. Together We Can Beat Cancer.

Lastly to my dear friend, Frank, all the best to you in South Africa. You will do us (Malaysians) proud.

]]> http://jazzmint.net/blog/2012/04/frank-making-history-for-a-good-course/feed/ 0 http://jazzmint.net/blog/2012/04/new-cigars/ http://jazzmint.net/blog/2012/04/new-cigars/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:37:18 +0000 jazzmint http://jazzmint.net/blog/?p=1993 Continue reading →]]> Since we moved to Hong Kong, hubby has not splurged much on cigars due to the fact that each one can only carry 3 cigars into the country. He still has alot of cubans in his humidor and he hasn’t try any new ones of late. While I was browsing the internet the other day, I saw some padron cigar which I quickly sent him the link to have a look. But not sure if he’s considering getting a few to test it out.