First Snow In Beijing

The first snow fell on Beijing on the first day of November. What a breathtaking sight when I woke up and looked out of the windows and saw the ground, tree canopies and roof tops covered with snow. Not just a little snow, but lots of snow! Totally beautiful. I've experienced 3 Beijing winter but never had the luck to see any snow. The entire city looked so different, so much more lovely and surprisingly, "warm". Perhaps I am romanticising this too much. It reminded me little of winter in Sweden actually. It has been a long time since I left my footprints on "virgin snow" - untouched by any other living being except myself. That felt totally great. And how could I forget the fun I had throwing myself on thick layers of snow making the print of an angel. Angel of me.

I just saw some snow slipping off a tree. *grin*

Is it possible that the mere mention of a country's name reminds you so vividly of its signature cuisine that it irks you? My own experience? Yes.

There have been many advertisments about Korea or Seoul recently on the only miserable news channel, i.e. CNN, that we ever watch. They literally made my head turn. I simply can't tolerate the flashing images of the city sights and Korea's signature gourmet dishes. Olof said I was exaggerating, but why do I care? He doesn't reside in my gastronomical abode, so certainly he wouldn't understand how these images made my stomach churn. Should I count myself lucky that I have, so far, not ended up regurgitating my dinner?

You might wonder why and how do I develop such a distaste for Korea's food? I ain't no clue either. My only intellectual guess is I might have been a cabbage in my previous life and was shamefully turned into a kimchi.

A tsunami of homesickness came crashing on me recently. Not that I particularly miss my friends and family more than usual, it was the gastronomical part of me that suddenly yearn the cheap hawker eats. Ba Chor Mee, Chai Tao Kway, Yong Tau Foo... Manz, I drool like an old fat dog just at the mention of them.

Equally tormenting, however, has been my loss of appetite recently. Nothing really seems to tantalize my tastebuds anymore. Not even my once-upon-a-time all time favorite desserts! Mummy said I can quench part of my gastronomical lust by replicating the eats at home. Yeah, she is right, to a certain extent, except I do not know where I can find Tao Gee for the Yong Tau Foo! For me, at least, it is the key ingredient in making or breaking a good Yong Tau Foo.

My week-long vacation with Älskling in Seoul was lazy, relax, AND hungry! I was half-starved most of the time. Not because he was ill-treating me, but my distaste for korean food. Simply the sight of korean kimchi or BBQ meat irked me to the point of nausea. Yes, it was that bad. My break from fast-food fasting happened during the trip too. I actually took to the comfort of McNuggets, without the yummy, typically Singaporean curry dipping sauce though. Holy cow!

I was glad that my Älsking enjoyed most of the trip. If he's happy, then I am too, except that I do not think I will be stepping on the soil of this country any time soon. No way. Simply no way.

Oct 4th 2009

This is the big day! Even though it IS a big day for me, I am surprised that both China and South Korea have public holidays to celebrate my birthday. After all, I am not that famous (yet), heehe...

China started already on Oct 1st (when we took off from the airport in the morning) and celebrate for 6 consecutive days. I don't know why they talk about 60 years celebration, since I am only 30 this year, but perhaps they added Sam's and my ages together?

We arrived in Seoul in the afternoon of the Oct 1st. South Korea started to celebrate on Oct 2nd and kept going for 3 days. They call it "thanksgiving" and I am the one to say Thank you all! Hello Seoul, I love you!

On a day like this, being famous is not really the most important thing. Perhaps it is the least important of things. What really matters is to be among family and friends, to spend time with my loved ones.

I am happy to spend not just one full day, but six full days together with my lovely wife. I cannot imagine life without her. She is always so sweet and smart at the same time. It doesn't really matter what we do, as long as we spend time together. Smuacks!

My wonderful mamma and pappa and my best and only brother can unfortunately not be here today. They mean a lot to me. I have no cell phone coverage in South Korea (different mobile technology over here), but luckily I could have an IM conversation with mamma to hear that they are all well.

The older I grow, the more I appreciate every day I spend with people that are a big part of my life. Something to keep in mind for the next 30 years... As usual, I look forward to life, full of excitement and surprises. All of you out there, take care and have a good Oct 4th!

With the country's biggest birthday bash looming, the urgency to leave its borders feels all the more pressing. Even with just rehearsals and practices, people's lives have been affected. In the days leading to THE big day, traffic restrictions and other immigration controls have been heightened. For example, from 16 Sept 09 to 18 Sept 09, some roads are cordoned off for the whole day or a certain period of time during the day, subways do not stop at certain stations, etc. Commoners, like myself and my colleagues, are inevitably affected by these measures. Some companies are releasing employees earlier, shops are cutting short opening hours, and customers, predictably, will stay at home and amuse themselves with home cooking and lousy TV probably.

But getting out during this period of time proves to be an expensive affair. We were, unfortunately, too late (and too lazy) to book our tickets using mileage in advance.

"Any seats left to Tokyo?" I asked
"No," came the reply from the customer service officer.
"Fukuoka?"
"No."
"Osaka?"
"No."
"Bali?"
"No."
......

This conversation was probably the most"rejecting" I have had in my life. So what do we do now?

1. Spend the money and get our arses on a flight out
2. Be good, stay in Beijing, and try to enjoy the celebrations here

Can we take a vote from the masses, please?

Who is the person on earth you trust most, next to your wife? The doctor, I suppose. Eye doctor, family doctor, sleep disorder doctor, and many ... many other doctors.

Olof had the experience of trusting his precious eyes to a lasic surgeon to return him his perfect eyesight. Doctor, certainly not McDreamy, said after the surgery that it was a success and he should regain perfect eyesight within a few days. Then things started to go wrong. Olof began to experience "unusual" (only because we found out later that the discomfort he experienced was not supposed to be usual) discomfort in his left eye. His right eye, as it should be, began to clear up and could see perfectly well without any effort. His left one, on the other hand, not only did not clear up but continued to be very blur. Be them short or long distance objects, his eye simply couldn't focus. A couple of days later when he could finally open his eyes without irritating them too much, a closer look at his left eye revealed what seemed to be a gap in his cornea. We called the doctor and asked if this is something to be worried about. He said no, and told us to come back at the stipulated time for a follow-up check up. We obediently (now I would say stupidly) listened to him, only to find out at the check-up that the surgery indeed went wrong. The cornea was not replaced properly, resulting in a fold and hence the blurred vision. Remedy? Stretch the cornea to cover the gap.

"Don't worry," he said. "Cornea is very elastic and can be stretched a million times with no problems."

Very comforting. No apologies whatsoever was given.

After the make-up surgery, Olof's left eyesight never became perfect. But it was never that worse to warrant another surgery either. So essentially, it was left half-fxxx.

Why rake up the history, you might ask? That's because I went to a gynecologist today to do a blood pregnancy test. I have tested like what 5 times of home pregnancy tests at home and all came back negative. YET, I am experiencing some pregnancy symptoms. The gynea called me in the afternoon and told me the blood test returns negative and added I should be put on medication to induce menstruation.

People who know me know that I don't always take "no" for an answer. I trust myself more than the most sophisticated medical equipment in the world. I did my homework too, of course. Researching on the vast internet for probable cases like myself, I found so many women out there who were in the same boat as me - as in all tests return negative but were pregnant actually. Their (incompetent) doctors, too, told them to medicate and hope for the best next month.

So... time and patience will tell it all. I'll wait until Aunt Flo comes before I rule out that I am pregnant.

Rainy in Koh Samui

Today is day no. 3 in Koh Samui and the weather has not been very kind to us since we arrive on Monday afternoon. There was always an air of rain out there and the fear that any fun out in the sun would be cold blanketed by those approaching grey clouds.

We have put ourselves up at Samui Pier Resort - one is that is located in the north of the island and quite close to the airport. By my accordance and my comparatively (against Olof) expensive taste, this resort will get only an OK from me. But it has received what I would call rave reviews on tripadvisor. Not that it is lousy, but it wasn't as good as I had thought.

We booked a deluxe room at THB1,800 per night, without breakfast. The resort is radared with its own WI-FI internet so guests can literally go online anywhere within the its perimeter. Guess where I am writing this blog now? Right my room door. I dragged one of the beach chairs outside our litte hut in and only then can I get some decent connection speed. So internet connection wise, it got a point minus from me.

Room. I guess I can't expect to get lobster if I paid the price of a shrimp. The resort has most of its room on the ground and perhaps only 3 or 4 family suites which have 2 storeys. We got a squarish hut next to the kitchen. At first I was worried we will hear pots and pans clanging early in the morning, but it turned out to be ok, mostly because there are not many guests around. Our hut is furnished with a queen bed, wardrobe, TV cum writing table, mini Hitachi fridge and two beach chairs just outside the hut. Bathroom is quite spacious equipped with hot shower, although it is hard to think who would want a hot shower in this 30-degrees weather. It was certainly not a 5-star bathroom. I would perhaps give it a 2.5. For room cleaniness, I do not have too much to complain nor too much to complement, except that I do not fancy having co-guests - ants. Before you even dare say I am too pampered with the luxuries of life to withstand an ant or two, it wasn't just a handful where you can get rid off with a one-time extermination mission. There are plenty of them, even on the bed! Imagine having some creepy crawlies sleeping with you, crawling all over you while you are in dreamland? Goose bumpy huh?

The view from our room is nice. We get to see the sea and two piers. Yes, we are sandwiched between two piers. The good thing with being so close to a pier is easy access to other small islands. While the others have to be chauffered from other hotels to the pier, we just have to walk 5 mins to get there. The bad? Perhaps you already guessed it. Before the motorboats leave for their destinations with excited passengers or when they return from trips the happy and sun-drenched city elopers, the smell from burning petrol and rumbling noise of the super motors are not quite pleasurable for two guests who long for fresh air and quiet. The waters along this stretch of the beach is also not quite conducive for swimming. With very poor visibility and boats coming in and going out, I just don't have the urge to plunge in. Then we realised that Koh Samui is actually more of a hotel/resort island with nice beaches and hotels, but not so much for beach diving and snorkelling. Taking a boat out into Koh Tao, Koh Phangan or Ang Thong Marine Park is mostly the choice, if not de facto, of tourists who want to see fishes and corals.

And so we did. We signed up for a snorkelling trip yesterday to Ang Thong Marine Park. Unfortunately, I did not quite enjoy it, mostly because I got two times a mask that did not fit my face. Water came into my mask all the time and filled it up as soon as I dipped my head under water. So I was more busy clearning water from my mask all the time than having a good swim with the fishes. Plus, the snorkelling site was FULL of tourists. In China, they call it aptly "cooking dumplings". You can hardly maneuver in the water without bumping into somebody else's legs or hands or worse, you see a gay man wadding right in front of you in his white triangular, almost transparent, underwear. What was more emotional for me was to see how much destruction the marine lives have endured. The corals were nothing colorful to speak of, nor were the fishes I saw during the few brief moments when my mask was cleared of water. It was nothing quite like what I saw at Perhentian many years ago when I first dived.

It is still drizzling. Olof is off for the theory module of his open water diving course. We signed him up this morning for an open water diving course with Coral Grand Divers. They are reputed to be quite good. While I am not doing the course, I will be going for the pool dives and eventually the boat dives with him in the next 3 days. I reckon I need to refresh my rusty skills.