Finance

I am doing my Finance module this term and learned quite a lot about investment risks and returns. The whole idea is to put money in some assets/investments for a period of time and let the money grow. The interest rates offered at banks for our savings are at all time low, much lower than the infaltion rates, so putting money in the bank will only depreciate the value of our savings. The money I have in the bank today will be worth lesser in a year, and even lesser if the interest rates are going to be lower than inflation rates for the whole time. So, what do we do? We have to invest and with investments, risks of losing part or all our money will be involved. The recent stock market performance has caused many people to lose money and I am lucky that I did not hold any stocks this time. I had lost quite a lot of money in the last Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. I have been burnt so bad that I really do not have anymore courage to touch on stocks now...

At the moment, I do not have any investments except for 1 private apartment in Hong Kong and 1 in Singapore that are bought with mortgage. Hubby thinks that investing in properties is the safest kind of investments but is it true? Comparatively, investing in properties may be safer than investing in the stock market or the forex market but nothing is risk-free. There are many people in Hong Kong who have been burnt badly from speculating properties and some are still stuck with their devalued apartments. Some of these apartments will never go back to the prices that they were bought at the peak.

When we were back in Singapore over the Easter Holiday weekend, hubby and I went show-flats viewing. The private property prices have dropped >14% this quarter compared to the prices of the last quarter of last year but I still think that the prices are high...However, we are thinking of buying the unit next to our new apartment to expand into a 6 bedrooms unit for all the members in our extended family to live in together. Just hope that we can get it at a good price and make our dream come true. :)

I won!

We had a golf game today at Shenzhen with my colleagues as a going away party for Nomu who is going to be repatriated next month. It's a standard ritual for the Japanese to have a golf game in the name of the one who is going to be sent back and the repatriate gets to play for free. I don't usually join the golf games but since I have known Nomu for many years and I had played with him when we were both in Singapore, I thought I would play a last game with him.

There were 15 players for today's golf game and we were separated into 3 groups or 4 and 1 group of 3. There were 3 main category best score prizes, 1 for the 20s, 1 for the 30s and 1 for the 40s and above. Then there were 4 "longest drive" mini prizes and 4 "nearest pin" mini prizes. I played in the 2nd group and I played really well today even though most of my driving was not so good. I managed to win the 1st "longest drive" and also won in the 30s category. Not bad huh? Actually my score was not fantastic, I was just lucky that the rest of the players in the 30s category was worse than me. The winner in the 40s category won with the score of 88!

Saturday Hong Kong style

The view from my bedroom window after the rain...

I can see all the way to Hong Kong Island!

I am sitting on my freshly-made bed (thanks to hubby) and looking out the window on this lazy Saturday. The air is clean after a wash from the heavy rain this morning. It's one of those few fine days when I can see all the way across to the apartments on the hills of Hong Kong Island. I like this kind of weather after the rain, the air is cool and everything is cleaned.

I had the room's aircon checked this morning by Carrier for foul smell coming out from it and the technician told me that I need to have the unit cleaned soon. Then another technician from PCCW came to fix up the wireless router and upgraded my broadband plan to a 18M one. Going online should be much faster from now and we will also be able to go online outdoors at all PCCW wifi spots.

After the 2 technicians left, hubby and I went to the Chinese restaurant downstairs and had tim sum for brunch Hong Kong style. We read the morning papers, sipped tea and had our favourite tim sums. We ordered a little too much though...the food could have fed 4 but the bill came out to be only HKD145. Great deal! Will be going back there for a meal again when mum and D come over next month.

HKUST

I was at the campus of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) last Saturday with hubby for his masters admission inteview. I was amazed with the beautiful view of the sea from the campus. It was a rainy day but if it was bright and sunny, I think the view would have been even better. I could see some people wind-surfing despite the weather. Oh~How I miss campus life!

Hubby's interview went well and he will be starting his studies from September this year. I wonder if I can go to the campus with him on Saturdays and do my own studies there at the canteen or the library. I love the view and the fresh air!

Highlights of the trip home.

Back in Hong Kong again after an enjoyable Easter weekend in Singapore but caught a cold after coming back...so could not find the energy to blog...feeling much better now though.

Anyway, the trip home has been quite enjoyable because we managed to visit Jurong Bird Park on Good Friday afternoon after picking D up from his "basketball practice" at AMK Hub. It has been about at least 8 years since we have been to the park and the additions were quite fun. D and I fed the lories at the Lory Loft where the birds fly free. Hubby and N were scary cats :p It was quite an experience and we would have enjoyed more if not for the pouring rain...Oh well, it's Singapore! Hot and wet!

The next day, we went to the Marina Barrage and it was a really beautiful sunny day. The water playground was wonderful, even mum couldn't resist the lure of the refreshing water fountains and went in!

Then it was lunch at my favorite prawn noodles stall at East Coast Road. The broth was still as good as I remembered it to be...*yum yum*.

Going home like a tourist

It's a beginning of another work week and I am already looking forward to the end of it. Luckily, this week is going to be short, we are going to have 4 days of continuous holidays because of Good Friday and Easter. Yippee!

Hubby and I will be going home to Singapore and I am thinking of a short trip to somewhere...but where? It will be great if we can get a caravan like the one in the picture on the right and go on a road trip. But sadly, this kind of lifestyle is not to be found in Singapore...It takes less than an hour to drive around the whole country!

Anyway, I am thinking of a trip to the new Marina Barrage, the new reservoir downtown. The trip will probably be a whole day out for us? And I am also thinking of the Jurong Bird Park where we have not been to for ages. I always feel like a tourist whenever I go home. I have afterall lived away from home for the past 4 years. Other than visiting touristy places, we also have an appointment with the bank this time to arrange for a mortgage. Finally, the apartment we have bought exactly 2 and a half years ago is scheduled to be completed end of this year. I am looking forward to celebrating Chinese New Year in the new apartment next year.

Easter Celerations

It's going to be Easter soon, so most of the shopping malls are having Easter decorations, including the photo above which was taken at Elements. It's a chandelier made of pastel coloured Easter Eggs! I thought it's really pretty, so I took a picture of it. Hong Kong celebrates all sorts of festivals and special days. There will always be a reason to celebrate and to sell something some more. Now, every shop in town is selling egg-shaped chocolates.

The mobile phone love affair

It's finally Saturday and I had slept for more than 10 hours. I feel rested at last for the 1st time this week. I'm not sure if trying to accumulate sleep over the weekend works but I have been having this routine for the past I can't remember how many years.

I was on the train yesterday evening from Shenzhen to Mongkok after a day at the Shenzhen office. I was on the 1st-class cabin hoping to get away from the over-bearing noise in the rest of the normal cabins, but the lady in front of me was on the phone non-stop throughout the whole 40 minutes journey. She was like calling her son to remind her son to call his dad to fetch him from school, then she was calling a colleague or a friend, recommending her to call somebody else for posting, the she called the person who she was referring to and told her that her friend would call her soon, then she was calling an old relative who is living in an old folks' home and convincing him that she will visit him soon and maybe also arrange for a transfer for him, then she called her son again to check if he had made arrangements with his dad, then her friend called her back to update her on how the recommendation went....I got really exhausted from listening to her conversations. I really hope that I didn't have to but she was talking so loudly, I couldn't help it. I should really start listening to songs on a MP3 or something the next time I travel on the train.

We went to eat at the fish soup restaurant near our home for dinner and there was this lady next to me who was talking on the phone the whole time she was eating her dinner too! Luckily the restaurant had the TV on and I didn't have to listen to another conversation which did not matter to me. I don't understand why do the Hong Kong people talk so loudly all the time and their habit of talking on the phones in public areas. I wish they will have the same etiquette rule as in Japan where they will need to switch off their mobile phones on trains...

The Reader

Went to watch The Reader last night with hubby using a free ticket from being a member at The Grand Cinema. I had 3 other tickets which I forgot to use and had expired, so this time I was quite determined not to waste it. The movie was rated category 3 because it has nude and sex scenes. However, it was really not an erotic movie that will turn you on but rather a very thought-provoking and emotionally intense movie. It was a good movie, though.

So, how thought-provoking? Well, I really wonder if a 15 year old boy will really find a 36 year old woman sexy? I am in my thirties, so I am wondering if there are teenage boys out there thinking that I am really hot? If so, will I even feel flattered? In the movie, Hanah seduced the boy Michael and dominated their relationship. She made him read books to her before they made love and little Michael was eager to oblige. Well, Michael was a growing teenager and he was horny, you might think but he had actually fell in love with Hanah and was totally heart-broken when she left him mysteriously. I was intrigued by the emotional struggle of Michael. Hanah was his first love, she had given him fond memories during the Summer when he was 15, but he later found out that she was involved with the holocaust of the Jews when she had worked as a guard at one of the camps. That was the emotional struggling part.

Then, I couldn't understand about the shame of being illiterate that Hanah was so determined to keep as a secret. She would rather be imprisoned for life than to disclose her illiteracy. I guess I will never understand because I am privileged to have been educated well. Thank God.