Weekend Update ~ Typhoon Nuri, Get Smart and the Olympics Closing Ceremony

Had a long weekend thanks to Typhoon Nuri which hit Hong Kong directly on Friday. The Observatory issued signal 8 from 7:40am, and then a signal 9 in the late afternoon. It was rather scary actually when the rain and the wind came slapping my window and I felt my flat moved! A wave of nausea swept over me as I was studying by the window and I had to lie down. Many damage buildings and fallen trees were reported and a man went missing at sea. He had gone surfing with his wife despite the warnings and was taken away by the enormous waves. The wife was fine...And the most interesting part was that the wife didn't stop him from doing such a stupidly dangerous thing! What were the both of them thinking? I would definitely have stopped my hubby! Not unless I want him to die...

Saturday was a beautiful day. The typhoon had washed away all the pollutants and the sky became exceptionally blue. The air was fresh too! I wish I had a car to drive to the suburbs...it would have been such a fine day for a long drive out of the city. We went for a movie instead at the Grand Cinema @Elements again. This time we watched Get Smart, totally a no-brain comedy which was just the kind of entertainment I needed. Oh yah, we found out that all the seats at the Grand Cinema are vibrating seats! I guess we won't be watching movies anywhere else from now.

The Beijing Olympics is finally over and the closing ceremony was rather disappointing. David Beckham was part of the cast from London but all he did was just came out from the top of a double-decker bus and kicked a soccer ball which was handed to him by a young Indian-looking girl. Then an excited Chinese worker from the ground rushed to picked up the ball and hugged on to it for dear life. *Roll my eyes*

After 16 days of hype and excitement about the Beijing Olympics, it has come to an end and I really wonder what has China gained from organising this game? 51 gold medals, their best game ever but is China a better place now? Do I want to stay in China? The answer from me is still NO. 40 billion dollars have been spent just for this Olympics Games and I personally think that it is not the way to show China's affluence and power to the world. I may be wrong but so much more could have been done with that money for the massive rural poor people in China. Why are we donating to China when she has that kind of money to spend on the Olympics Games? If China wants to show its affluence and power to the world, she should concentrate to raise the standard of living for all its citizens.

Looking forward to London 2012!

Eventful Week

It has been an eventful week. First it was typhoon signal 8 for almost 12 hours on 6th August(Wed) and everybody get a full day's off from work and school. I have this love and hate relationship about typhoons in Hong Kong. I love it because I get a day off from work but I also hate it that come next day, all will be chaotic at the warehouse. I also need to report to my bosses in Japan about the situation and also come out with a contingency plan for the deliveries to be made to customers. This time, thanks to some hardworking warehouse staff I have, about 20 of them came back to work overnight after the typhoon signal came down in the evening. Deliveries for both days (Wed & Thurs) were made the next day without any delays. :D

Hubby and I stayed at home the whole time the typhoon signal was up, looking out the window checking the skies. We both thought that this typhoon seemed quite mild from where we were but there were news about many damages and casualties. After the typhoon signal came down we went to a cocktail party at Lan Kwai Fong only to be welcomed by a sign saying that the party had been postphoned. So there we were, Wednesday night in the unusually deserted LKF without a party to go to... In the end, we had dinner at Yung Kee Restaurant which is famous for its roasted goose. Surprising even to us, it was our first time at Yung Kee after being here in Hong Kong for more than 3 years. It usually has a long waiting queue and we are never patient enough to wait in line for our food, so this time, thanks to the typhoon, we got our teeth into the famous roasted goose without having to wait at all! It was delicious but very fattening, I must say. I gained 1.4 lbs after dinner that night...

On 8th Aug, it was the Beijing Olympics opening night. I met some friends for dinner after work and didn't get home until about 9:30pm, so I missed the 1st part of the show. Hubby was really impressed by the show, saying that it was so Zhang Yimou style. We were waiting for the Singapore team to march out but couldn't figure out what kind of sequence they were following. Definitely not in alphabetical order because when the countries Malaysia and Hong Kong came out rather early. In the end, hubby checked the Olympics website and found out that the countries were arranged to march out according to the number of strokes(笔划) in the 1st character of the countries' Chinese name in simplified Chinese characters. Singapore is 新加坡 so the word 新 has 13 strokes and came out quite towards the end. Malaysia is 马来西亚 with only 3 strokes in its 1st character so Malaysia marched out quite early. Get the idea? Anyway, after the whole event, there was an immediate re-telecast of the opening acts again so I didn't miss anything. It was really an impressive display. The massive casts, the costumes and the choreography was impeccable. 中国厉害！

On 9th August, Singapore's 43rd National Day, hubby and I went for a NDP dinner party organised by the Singapore Association in Hong Kong. We had the whole Satay Inn Restuarant booked for the occasion and we watched the NDP 2008 live on Channel Newsasia. It was a great night. I thought the show was great, not losing to the Beijing Olympics opening show except that we have fewer casts in the show. The venue was special, being on the floating platform at Marina Bay, surrounded by waters. And the NDP song this year was really good, brought tears to my eyes... And the fireworks were spectacular! Much more spectacular than the Beijing's fireworks! Yeah~Singapore!

The Consulate-General was the guest of honor that night and we got to meet many fellow Singaporeans. Many of them were wearing red and white, the Singapore's national colours and I have never felt so patriotic in a long time since the old school days. We stood up when the National Anthem was sung and I was reminded of the National Pledge that I had so conveniently forgotten. *Ashamed*

The food that night was of course authentic Singaporean foods such as the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bak Kut Teh, Satay, Roti Prata with Chicken Curry, Laska and many more. I gained another 2 lbs after that meal... :-(

Beijing getting all cleaned up!

Yesterday was a self-declared half day at work for me. Once in awhile doing something unethical actually feels great! :D

Met hubby at Simply Life (our favourite restaurant at Festival Walk) for lunch around 2pm and went home straight to have an afternoon nap. Now that's SIMPLY LIFE!

Anyway, I was reading the South China Morning Post yesterday and there was an article on the Olympics about how many garbage collectors working for small-scale recycling companies are being driven out of the capital because they are thought to be eye-sores. Beijing cannot afford to have foreigners see those shabbily dressed common residents anywhere near the Olympics venues! Those poor souls are driven out without any form of compensation and are told to come back only after the Olympics. Why? It's not good for the image that China wants to portray to the whole world to see. No! China do not have shabbily dressed garbage collectors who have been making their living out of finding recyclable items at the many garbage dumps inside the city. And all the citizens of China are smart-looking, speaks good English and walks graciously with a book on their heads! That's the image they wants to portray and they have been training their people hard! Those who cannot match the image? Out! Out they go, together with pests. That's how China is cleaning up her capital and cities hosting the Olympics.

It's disgusting, isn't it? Get real! Be truthful! The whole world already know what China is like and no matter how "cleaned up" China is for the sake of the Olympics will not change people's perception of China. At least for me, it's true.

Suspension of visa-free China trips for Singaporeans

At present, Singapore ordinary passport holders who travel to China for 15 days or less do not require a visa; only those who spend more than 15 days need to produce a visa. But starting 1 July, Singaporeans who travel to China for 15 days or less will also require a visa. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it has been given the assurance by the Chinese authorities that the suspension is only a temporary measure. According to the ministry, the visa-free facility for travels of 15 days or less "would be reinstated after the Beijing Olympics", although no exact date has been given. - CNA/ac
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/342799/1/.html

This must be one of the most infuriating news this morning...What temporary measure? For what? To give people more reasons to boycott the Olympics? What are they so afraid of? What about those of us who are working in Hong Kong and needs to travel into China frequently on short business trips? This is ridiculous...