Hi hi!!! I'm back!! I just arrived last Saturday afternoon after 2 weeks holiday in Hong Kong and South Korea. How was it? It was AWESOME!!!
My holiday started 1 day late though, due to typhoon in Hong Kong -_- I kinda had the feeling it was going to be cancelled as my flight was supposed to arrive on the day of the typhoon at 3PM. And that typhoon was predicted to hit in the afternoon. So yeah.
Because of that, I only had 3 nights and 2.5 days in Hong Kong. Disneyland had to be cut out -.- but my friends who've been there assure me that I didn't miss a thing as the one in Japan was way way way way wayyyy bigger and better. So that comforted me a bit hahaha... xD
When in Hong Kong we visited the harbour, Fa Yuen market, Ladies market, Ngongping Village, Tai O fishing village and Temple St market. We sacrificed Disneyland so we could visit those 2 villages. I thought, only 2 days in HK, if I went to Disneyland, I wouldn't be able to see much of Hong Kong at all! So far, everyone I talked to said I made a wise decision *wide grin*
Those places except Temple St market made quite an impression on me. Fa Yuen market was good for us who don't like to bargain, the price there can only be haggled a bit. This market has clothes, souvenirs, fresh fruit and food stalls too. I bought some stinky tofu, pig insides, fish balls and some other skewers.
Ladies market however, is no good for my heart. I was so scared every time I named my price! My heartbeat raced each time we bargained. So, no, not good for my heart lol
The price there, unfortunately, needs to be haggled. For example, I bought this big bunny keyring that Asian girls put on their purse nowadays, the fluffy one, in that market. The stallkeeper said 120HKD. That's 20AUD!! So I said no. She then gave me the calculator and told me to name my price. I hesitated for a loooooooonnnnnngggggg time before saying 60. Then she said, no, 100. I kept saying no, and she kept dropping it until 60HKD @__@ At the end of it, I was dumbfounded. I was speechless and still felt cheated even though I got it at the price I named.
In another stall, I wanted a fridge magnet. The seller said it was 55AUD. And again asked me to name a price. I didn't know what to bargain it for, then my friend said $35 for 2. The seller got personal and yelled, "I said $55 for 1 and you ask $35 for 2???". Then we ran away from that stall. But later on, we actually bought the same thing 2 for $40 :/ you get what I mean?
However, they do have good range of stuffs to sell. Souvenirs, tshirts, umbrellas, even bed linens. But yeah, you have to haggle.
Ngongping Village was a good place to spend time in. Aside from the lady at the ticket booth who was very rude even when unprovoked, my day in Ngongping was very enjoyable. The view from the cable car was amazing. It was worth the money I paid for the ride. The temple and monastery were great too. Just keep in mind there are a lot of stairs to climb. And wisdom path was PREEEEEETTTTYYYYYY! it wasn't 10 minutes walk per the sign said, more like 15 minutes. But it was very pretty! Nothing there apart from the wooden sticks, but go there for the view. We almost got lost on the way back, so keep an eye on the signage.
We pretty much ate all our way in Tai O 😂 we had giant squid, grilled dried squid, tofu hua, and I can't remember what else. It's like traditional market street, the dry one though. But we arrived late arvo, so I'm not sure if it's like that in the morning too.
Temple St market was so so. More cheap Chinese products there I think. I didn't buy anything there, but from memory the price was very reasonable compared to ladies market. Maybe you can haggle a bit, but not that much. However, I think the stuffs here are old stocks. They were looking pretty dusty.
We took 4:40 AM bus to the airport the next day. We arrived at the airport even before they turned on all the lights :l
Overall, Hong Kong was quite enjoyable. It was hot though, we arrived at the end of October and it was still hot and humid. My leggings was wet with sweat so quickly @_@ food was good, even though not as cheap I was hoping it to be. AND, I was very surprised to find that only a number of people can speak English! Even just to ask for directions, once I spoke English, most of them just waved their hand and left. I tried with the youngsters too, and they didn't even know the place when I showed them the instructions from Google Map! They had to google it themselves using Chinese and then Ohhhhh it's that one.... -__-
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Picture Perfect
Last night I was flicking through the channels and came across this TV show on SBS (PS: I probably only watch SBS like few times a year. It's a pretty boring channel to me). Anyway, what caught my interest was, I was 98% sure the girl who was talking was an Indo, AND she was talking about her flat nose. I was so sure then she was Indo. Later on they showed her name, and yep, Indo 😆
Anyway, she was saying how everybody was always commenting about her flat nose and they started to touch her nose a lot. Then, her mum started pinning a clothes peg on her nose everyday after school in an attempt to lengthen it.
I can't remember what the host asked her after, but she replied, saying that beauty in Indonesia is related to financial security. There's this perception that if you're pretty, then you will have good financial in the future. I. E. Marrying a rich guy. She said, even her mum was telling her when she was in school, "You have to do well in your studies, because... You know.... ". Which she responded, "Yes, mum, I know. I won't be marrying a rich guy". And her mum would be, "Yeah... He he he... "
The show was called Insight, and the topic was Picture Perfect. It was pretty much talking about plastic cosmetic surgery to young people. It's an Australian show and the audience were a mixed of races of young people, both females and males who live in Australia. What made them do it, and would there be anything that could prevent them to do it?
This girl hasn't had any cosmetic surgery, but she believes that if she had one to lengthen her nose, then she would be very happy. She said, once she went to South Korea, and a random girl said to her, "I think you need a plastic surgery". She took out her tablet, took her photo and asked which part she wanted changed if she had surgery, and she said nose. Then the girl cut a nose out of her favorite actress and put it on her photo to replace her nose. She said it looked weird, but she was happy and excited about it.
The host then asked her, would there be anything that can make you change your mind about how you look? To not considering plastic surgery? Her answer made me laugh, but also made me wince. Her answer was, "Yeah.. If I don't go back to my home country. If I just stay here".
She said that everytime she went back to Indonesia, their first comments would be, "You're getting fat! " or "You're getting uglier! ". They didn't ask her how she was going or how was her study, they commented on her look or body.
When I heard that, I was laughing. I wasn't laughing at her, but because I was happy that it isn't only me who receives those comments when I go home. I still remember the first comment my 11 years old cousin said to me when I first saw her last time I went back home, I was in a formal dress about to attend a wedding reception all dressed up and with make up on, she said, "Big sister, your tummy is so big!" -___-" really? You haven't seen me in a year and that's your first greeting to me? And I remember my trip to Bali with the whole family, and there was once in the car ride that my uncle said to me repeatedly that I was fat. FYI, I wore size 8 or 10 back then. For sure I wasn't skinny, but I wasn't fat. For the whole ride, I was thinking of ways to change to my other uncle's car (and whatsapping my oz colleagues about it. To which she horrifyingly replied "YOU ARE NOT FAT!!!!" The good thing is, living in Sydney makes my skin color go fairer. So most of the time I was complimented on my skin color.
But yeah, if an 11 years old girl could comment on my tummy the first time we met after a year, no wonder the adults can say negative comments about how people look without batting an eyelash. If their comment is legit, I. E. The person is really fat and needs to lose some weight then it's OK. It's good for them. But if they are just not crazily skinny or not crazily pretty, then don't say they're fat or ugly.
But all these do happen back home. And other countries of course. When I go home, on every first meetings with extended family, I'd be toughen up my heart and skin a bit and be worried about what they would comment on. Luckily, living in Australia does give me that "I don't give a damn" or "whatever" attitude. So even though I do get pissed off listening to those, it doesn't make me hate how I look. And plus, size 8 or 10 is really not fat man!!! 👊👊👊
Anyway, she was saying how everybody was always commenting about her flat nose and they started to touch her nose a lot. Then, her mum started pinning a clothes peg on her nose everyday after school in an attempt to lengthen it.
I can't remember what the host asked her after, but she replied, saying that beauty in Indonesia is related to financial security. There's this perception that if you're pretty, then you will have good financial in the future. I. E. Marrying a rich guy. She said, even her mum was telling her when she was in school, "You have to do well in your studies, because... You know.... ". Which she responded, "Yes, mum, I know. I won't be marrying a rich guy". And her mum would be, "Yeah... He he he... "
The show was called Insight, and the topic was Picture Perfect. It was pretty much talking about plastic cosmetic surgery to young people. It's an Australian show and the audience were a mixed of races of young people, both females and males who live in Australia. What made them do it, and would there be anything that could prevent them to do it?
This girl hasn't had any cosmetic surgery, but she believes that if she had one to lengthen her nose, then she would be very happy. She said, once she went to South Korea, and a random girl said to her, "I think you need a plastic surgery". She took out her tablet, took her photo and asked which part she wanted changed if she had surgery, and she said nose. Then the girl cut a nose out of her favorite actress and put it on her photo to replace her nose. She said it looked weird, but she was happy and excited about it.
The host then asked her, would there be anything that can make you change your mind about how you look? To not considering plastic surgery? Her answer made me laugh, but also made me wince. Her answer was, "Yeah.. If I don't go back to my home country. If I just stay here".
She said that everytime she went back to Indonesia, their first comments would be, "You're getting fat! " or "You're getting uglier! ". They didn't ask her how she was going or how was her study, they commented on her look or body.
When I heard that, I was laughing. I wasn't laughing at her, but because I was happy that it isn't only me who receives those comments when I go home. I still remember the first comment my 11 years old cousin said to me when I first saw her last time I went back home, I was in a formal dress about to attend a wedding reception all dressed up and with make up on, she said, "Big sister, your tummy is so big!" -___-" really? You haven't seen me in a year and that's your first greeting to me? And I remember my trip to Bali with the whole family, and there was once in the car ride that my uncle said to me repeatedly that I was fat. FYI, I wore size 8 or 10 back then. For sure I wasn't skinny, but I wasn't fat. For the whole ride, I was thinking of ways to change to my other uncle's car (and whatsapping my oz colleagues about it. To which she horrifyingly replied "YOU ARE NOT FAT!!!!" The good thing is, living in Sydney makes my skin color go fairer. So most of the time I was complimented on my skin color.
But yeah, if an 11 years old girl could comment on my tummy the first time we met after a year, no wonder the adults can say negative comments about how people look without batting an eyelash. If their comment is legit, I. E. The person is really fat and needs to lose some weight then it's OK. It's good for them. But if they are just not crazily skinny or not crazily pretty, then don't say they're fat or ugly.
But all these do happen back home. And other countries of course. When I go home, on every first meetings with extended family, I'd be toughen up my heart and skin a bit and be worried about what they would comment on. Luckily, living in Australia does give me that "I don't give a damn" or "whatever" attitude. So even though I do get pissed off listening to those, it doesn't make me hate how I look. And plus, size 8 or 10 is really not fat man!!! 👊👊👊
Friday, September 9, 2016
Sacrifices and Taking Things for Granted
My dad is going back home this Saturday. I never have told my parents, but every time they are here, at the last week of the stay I try not to go out and have dinner at home.
I guess if I say it directly to them, they might feel happy. People are always happy when they know other people are making sacrifices for their sake or go out of their way for them.
It reminds me of few years ago when I had my bestie still in Australia. Back then I used to work on the weekends, so I couldn't hang out much. She was always out during weekends with friends. There were times when she went out without asking me to join because she thought I was working, or because she just didn't think of it, or simply because there was no more space in her flatmate's car. Sometimes she went to restaurants I had been craving to go too, and places I also wanted to go.
Every time that happened, I got upset and we had a fight or cold war (Thanks to Facebook, I got to know where she went all those time. Now that I think about it, some of those fights wouldn't have happened if Facebook didn't exist :/) She was stubborn and I was sensitive. The cycle went on and on, even until I quit my weekend job. I still am a sensitive person, but after the last few years I realise that nothing really last forever. So don't waste your time and energy to fight, they are going to leave soon anyway. It is not worth fighting for.
But back then, I wanted to make a point. I guess I wanted myself heard, that she knew that it was making me upset. I didn't want that one day she would say, "I didn't know you were upset. You should have said something". Well.. not that I could keep it to myself anyway, I am after all a very expressive person and can't hide my emotion at all. I guess, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't taken for granted.
Nobody likes to be taken for granted, right?
I guess if I say it directly to them, they might feel happy. People are always happy when they know other people are making sacrifices for their sake or go out of their way for them.
It reminds me of few years ago when I had my bestie still in Australia. Back then I used to work on the weekends, so I couldn't hang out much. She was always out during weekends with friends. There were times when she went out without asking me to join because she thought I was working, or because she just didn't think of it, or simply because there was no more space in her flatmate's car. Sometimes she went to restaurants I had been craving to go too, and places I also wanted to go.
Every time that happened, I got upset and we had a fight or cold war (Thanks to Facebook, I got to know where she went all those time. Now that I think about it, some of those fights wouldn't have happened if Facebook didn't exist :/) She was stubborn and I was sensitive. The cycle went on and on, even until I quit my weekend job. I still am a sensitive person, but after the last few years I realise that nothing really last forever. So don't waste your time and energy to fight, they are going to leave soon anyway. It is not worth fighting for.
But back then, I wanted to make a point. I guess I wanted myself heard, that she knew that it was making me upset. I didn't want that one day she would say, "I didn't know you were upset. You should have said something". Well.. not that I could keep it to myself anyway, I am after all a very expressive person and can't hide my emotion at all. I guess, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't taken for granted.
Nobody likes to be taken for granted, right?
Monday, August 1, 2016
Another Random Blabbering Post
It's COLDDDDD!! When will spring come? I really can't wait!
For the past few years, winter in Sydney has been pretty warm. My home is cold last year too, but going to work, going out for lunch etc wasn't that cold. This year it seems like the coldness has been saved for 3 years and released all at once.
On another note, it's August already! It is scary how fast time flies. I always wonder if Earth rotates faster and faster as it ages. But then again, how come the clocks all know about it and adjust their ticking to it? Could they be communicating somehow? I hope they don't, coz that means time has always been the same and I just have more things to do compared to before and I can slow it down if I cut down the list of things I want or need to do.
My mum went home yesterday. So only dad is still here in Sydney. I wonder how we go. I wonder if he will attempt cooking XD will he do some of the housework? I don't really mind, as long as he doesn't complain we don't clean it up enough. We're pretty relaxed on this, especially with the weather this cold, it's good enough I manage to drag myself out of my blanket every morning.
Wallace Huo and Ruby Lin were married yesterday in Bali. I told my bestie, "You should have gone to the wedding venue pretending to be a reporter! You would have got a Hong bao filled with 660 yuan and we can divide among us two" lol XD She laughingly said, "I should have! And I bet if you were working in that venue, you would be begging to work on their wedding day!". That's true, I would have PAID to be working on that day lol. There goes my actor crush lol, but I'm actually genuinely happy with this pair. Both are my favorite actor and actress and both seem nice. And both are past marriageable age. I'm always happy when a couple are both of older age (or should I say mature?), jd ngga ambil pasaran orang laen lol. But I might change my actor crush to Hu Ge now that Wallace is now married? XD just kidding :P
Have a good day!
For the past few years, winter in Sydney has been pretty warm. My home is cold last year too, but going to work, going out for lunch etc wasn't that cold. This year it seems like the coldness has been saved for 3 years and released all at once.
On another note, it's August already! It is scary how fast time flies. I always wonder if Earth rotates faster and faster as it ages. But then again, how come the clocks all know about it and adjust their ticking to it? Could they be communicating somehow? I hope they don't, coz that means time has always been the same and I just have more things to do compared to before and I can slow it down if I cut down the list of things I want or need to do.
My mum went home yesterday. So only dad is still here in Sydney. I wonder how we go. I wonder if he will attempt cooking XD will he do some of the housework? I don't really mind, as long as he doesn't complain we don't clean it up enough. We're pretty relaxed on this, especially with the weather this cold, it's good enough I manage to drag myself out of my blanket every morning.
Wallace Huo and Ruby Lin were married yesterday in Bali. I told my bestie, "You should have gone to the wedding venue pretending to be a reporter! You would have got a Hong bao filled with 660 yuan and we can divide among us two" lol XD She laughingly said, "I should have! And I bet if you were working in that venue, you would be begging to work on their wedding day!". That's true, I would have PAID to be working on that day lol. There goes my actor crush lol, but I'm actually genuinely happy with this pair. Both are my favorite actor and actress and both seem nice. And both are past marriageable age. I'm always happy when a couple are both of older age (or should I say mature?), jd ngga ambil pasaran orang laen lol. But I might change my actor crush to Hu Ge now that Wallace is now married? XD just kidding :P
Have a good day!
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