Happy New Year!

2008 has come to an end. It has been a great year for me, with lots of fun at work, with friends and family and full of travellings. I will miss 2008 greatly.

Life is full of ups and downs. For all that has happened in 2008:

Forgive all wrongdoings;
Be thankful for all our blessings;
Learn from our mistakes;
Remember the tears and laughter.

I welcome 2009 with a happy and open heart, and looking forward for a bigger, better, happier year ahead.

Here's wishing everyone:

Happy New Year 2009!!

May 2009 brings everyone more luck, joy, laughter, money and fun!

Flashback 2008

I took a look at my calendar this morning and realised that it's end of the year again!!! This is not the first entry that I posted about how time flies. I can't believe that in just a few days, we'll be bidding farewell to 2008 and welcoming 2009.

Flashback of my year 2008:

January 08 which started off with a wonderful countdown in HK. Then we have the heavy snow storm in Shanghai which made me walking like a penguin to work.

I escaped the snow storm in February 08, landing back in our warm home country, Malaysia. CNY celebration was good, and to top that with our own political sex scandal and Edison Chen's sex scandal made it even more interesting.

March 08 wasn't a very eventful month, but I visited Shanghai Flower Port with Hooi Hooi, EC, Deisy and Winston. At least there was some memories.

April 08 was my wonderful Macao Venetian trip where I also enjoyed Jay Chou's concert. A great month which I wished I could re-lived!

May 08 was an eventful month, where I had a great vacation at Yangshuo, full of water and mountain and hot air balloon. Benny visited Shanghai as well and we had fun. This is also a disaster and tearful month in China, where the Sichuan earthquake struck and killed thousands.

June 08 - I started my low carb diet and started going for slimming session. It worked. I bought new pants, 1 or 2 size smaller as a result of this. Happy! Blogger Carrie also visited Shanghai and we went out shopping for a day.

July 08 is where I grew a year older. Again, an uneventful month, not because I was older by 1 year, but because it was a month full of work and no play.

August 08 was great. It was the Beijing 2008 Olympics and I also went back to homeland for a week of great food and family happiness. This was also the month where I dyed my hair back to basics - black!

September 08, one month after the Beijing Olympics, I visited Beijing. The environment was great and I was really impressed with clean and beautiful Beijing. I conquered the Great Wall (not all of it but at least I made it to the end!)

October 08 was a month full of travelling. I went to Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou with Deisy and Jay in the beginning of the month and ended the month with a Nanjing trip with EC, Nicole, Wendy and Keng Fei. It was also the month where I skipped the company trip to Dalian because I was exhausted with travelling.

November 08 was too good, too short! I went to London with Hubby's business trip and had a really great time there. Love it! It was one of my best trip of 2008 and I have only spent a small amount of money for this trip because we saved on hubby's air ticket and accommodation.

December 08 - present.. sitting at my desk, shocked at how fast time flies. I just had my department dinner last week and the same dinner that happened a year ago was like something that happened just yesterday. Boss got drunk again, a dejavu of 2007.



Now this is really scary. Time flies, but I am glad year 2008 was a fruitful and eventful year for me. It was also a year full of economic downturns. Financial crisis hits and will last throughout the next year. We are currently in the Great Depression II. Because of this, I am trying hard to reduce spending and thus will not have a splendour 2009 countdown. It's gonna be an uneventful 2009 welcome party for me for I will be staying home this year. Now, I am just looking forward for 2009 CNY holidays... where I will once again escape the brutally cold weather here and head back to warm homeland.

My Christmas Eve Dinner

My X'mas Even dinner was not a romantic candle light dinner at a fancy restaurant, nor an expensive countdown dinner at some fancy bar or hotel.

It was a special dinner specially prepared by my Dear Hubby! He was on leave and spent the day shopping and preparing to cook for me. 

He cooked green pepper beef, stir fried choy sum, chicken herbal soup and made some red bean soup for dessert.

It was a really good dinner and it has been a long, long time since I last had a dinner prepared by my Baby. Yummy! Though it was no fancy dinner, it was the best X'mas eve dinner I've had in years! Love my Baby!

Wujiang Campus

Last Monday, I went to Wujiang （吴江）to visit the new factory campus. Wujiang is about an hour drive from Shanghai, but it took us 2 hours because the driver did not know how to get on to the Yan An elevated highway... damn!

We reached there, and the whole piece of campus area was huge! Something like 20 football fields! The place was still under construction and safety procedures wasn't really that good. We were not given a safety helmet until we went into the office area. Hey... I was darn worried something might fall on me while on the way in.

Here are some pictures taken at the place. We currently have 3 businesses which will be housed in this campus.

Excuse me for my sideways safety helmet. I think it's the helmet... I can't seem to get it straight.

Thats Gordon, Jane, Todd and Scott Lee, standing beside one of the Club Car's frame. It has been a good trip. I will need be back there again sometime after operation starts.

For Love or Money

I was watching episode 32 of TVB’s Gem of Life (珠光宝气). My Hubby really beh tahan Jessica (Ada Choi) and her mum’s materialistic character.

I told him that maybe Jessica is really in love with Martin despite his age (he is older than her father!) and she did not marry him just for his money. My Hubby says bull-shit. All young women who married old fugs are just in love with the money rather that the old man. Moreover, Jessica planned everything out just to get close to Martin.

Now I come to think that this is really the general perception that everyone, including myself have. Whenever we see a young woman with a wealthy old man, we would have instantly concluded that she is for the money.

Could there be any real case where the girl is really in for love? Or is it just money all the time? Could it be that she fell for him because she adores him for his maturity, his intelligence, his sense of humor, etc. Or could it be lust?

Hmmm… I do not know. So far, I have not come across any old man whom I would adore for the above qualities. Not even for the money.

Anyway, I also beh tahan Constance (Gigi Lai) for being such a goodie-goodie gal in this drama. Come’on! Why care that your sister marries your boyfriend’s father?

I can’t wait to see how this drama ends. I hope TVB will have a good and meaningful ending for this. Oh... on the other hand, I am also watching The 4400 series. All four seasons of it. This is really, really good… it’s a combination of Heroes and Lost. Very mysterious and intriguing. Can’t wait for the ending as well.

My Idol is Back!

My idol is back and she is hotter than ever!!!! I loved her since 'Baby One More Time'.. She's gone through ups and downs, and everyone thought her career was over when she performed badly at VMA last year.

But now she Did it Again! Has anyone seen her 'Womanizer' MV?? Gosh!! Completely naked and hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!!! And her new single 'Circus'... oh my gosh!!! Indeed... my biggest Idol!!!

Yes... and I'm talking about no other than.... BRITNEY SPEARS!!! 

London 08

November 2008, I tagged along with Hubby on his business trip to London. We left Shanghai early Tuesday morning and took a 13 hours flight to London. Thank God it was an empty flight and Virgin Atlantic had a pretty good service and in-flight entertainment.

I was really excited when we finally touched down at London Heathrow Airport. The weather was still fine at this time and this was my first picture taken in front of the airport while waiting for our taxi.

After checking into our hotel, we went out to explore the area around the hotel and to also to find out the way to More London Place, Hubby's work place.

Stumbled upon this little shopping area called Tooley Street Shops. 

We walked further to the back of the shop facing the Thames River along the Queen's Walk and saw the HMS Belfast. As we walked further, we saw the Tower Bridge!

I was so excited! This place is so, so, beautiful! I was in love with the bridge and couldn't stop taking pictures of it. The weather was getting brutal and windy and Hubby insisted that we leave immediately. We walked back to the hotel, had our dinner and took an early rest.

Day 1 of my adventure began with a walk along the street behind our hotel. Came across the Tate Modern. Didn't go in as I was not an art person and I guess nothing would be of interest to me in here.

I took a bus to the Tower Bridge area, alighted and took a slow walk across the bridge, admiring every single bit of it. Truly beautiful!!!

Next, I went to the famous historical place, Tower of London. This is indeed a small castle in the middle of the city! I bought the tickets, rented an audio guide and explored this place. Spent a couple of hours in there.

In this place where the Crown Jewels exhibition sits, but we were not allowed to take any photos in there. It is indeed an interesting place to visit.

Again, picture of the beautiful Tower Bridge taken from the Tower of London. Simply breathtaking!

Next, I took the bus to Chicheley Street and saw the London Eye. 

I walked further up to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Took a lot of pictures here and a spent some time sitting by the river, admiring the beautiful scenery. London is really beautiful.

I head on to Covent Garden and went for some shopping around that area. Didn't spend too much time there as I need to get back early to meet Hubby and his friends for dinner. 

We had dinner at the More London Place, overlooking the beautiful Tower Bridge again. I was mesmerized. I really love that bridge!!! That night, I was practically knocked out on my first day and had a good 10 hours sleep.

Day 2 started off with a late morning. I took the tube to Chelsea to visit my cousin sister, Tieng. This is the first time I met her daughter, Elizabeth. She looks like her dad.

This is the neighbourhood around her house. It is a really nice place and very expensive too. The nearby Sloane Street is full of designer labels boutique; Prada, Gucci, LV, Jimmy Choo, Chanel, Feragamo, Dior; you name it.

After lunch with cousin Tieng, I made my way to Buckingham Palace. I cut across Green Park. This park is really serene and beautiful. I managed to catch some squirrels around too. 

Here are some pitcures taken around Buckingham Palace. Since it's only open to public during summer, I didn't get the chance to go. This is as close as I could get.

My day continues down to Picadilly Circus area. I walked around, admiring London's beautiful  architecture and then head down to Chinatown nearby.

London's Chinatown is almost full of Hong Kong restaurants. Not a very huge area of coverage, probably 2 streets of chinese restaurants. I didn't take dinner here as I was still alone and wanted to wait for Hubby; so we only came here for dinner the following day.

I then proceeded down to Leicester Square. Just beside this place, there is a small lane leading to the National Gallery.

I followed that lane and reached the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square right in front of it. The entrance to National Gallery was free but I did made some donation to help keep it free of charge. I was in there for less than 20 minutes. Again, I was no art person and nothing in there interest me.

Looking down from Trafalgar Square, I could see the Big Ben lighted up. At this place, I met up with Victoria, a girl from Ukraine. She was in London for her TOEFL exam. We chat a little and walked down Parliament Street to see the Big Ben in lights.

Here is Big Ben standing in front of the Houses of Parliament. It was really beautiful. 

Again, we could see the night view of London Eye across the river. I bid Victoria farewell as she need to head back home. I too, need to head back to hotel to meet Hubby for dinner. I walked down to the street behind London Eye and managed to capture the beautiful eye at night. Here, I took a bus at Chicheley Street and head back to hotel.

Day 3 is a slow and easy day. It was rainy and gloomy too but that didn't stop me from getting my butts out to the streets. I went to the Natural History Museum. 

And what was in the museum? Dino-bones!!! Now this is kinda interesting and I spent some time in here.

Next, I travelled down to the famous Harrods at Brompton Road. Window shopped a little. It was really crowded in here for everyone's doing their christmas shopping. Reminds me of China with the amount of people in here.

I didn't spend much time here and head back to hotel because Hubby will be off early today. I went to Borough Market nearby the hotel and found it to be rather interesting.

Borough Market is a really colorful market and I was glad I made a visit. Me and Hubby head to Chinatown and had dinner there.

Day 4 started of at the Covent Garden again, where me and Hubby had a hearty English breakfast.

Me at the famous London red telephone booth.

There are so many shops around this area and we did spend quite sometime walking around this area.

The weather was cold and wet, and Hubby wanted to do something 'indoor'. So we took a tube to Bond Street and walk along Oxford Street until we reached another famous Selfridge & Co. Did some window shopping again and it was full of Christmas promotional items.

Picture taken at Marble Arch, located at the junction of Oxford Street and Hyde Park.

Marble Arch was almost our last stop before heading back for dinner. Time to pack as we will be heading back to Shanghai the next day. Time flies. 

I didn't want to leave London but I have not choice. Should have left for Heathrow earlier as we didn't have much time to shop at the airport. The flight back to Shanghai took 10 hours and it was a really pleasant flight again with almost all empty seats. Who needs business class when you can have 4 seats to yourself and sleep like a baby.

By the time they woke us up for breakfast, it was dawn. Beautiful skyline. Managed to take a picture of it. We touched down at Shanghai and it was like... ok... 'Home sweet home' ;)