What a month..

Let’s see how I should begin this. This was probably the most hectic, emotionally charged month of 2009. Thank goodness it’s already November and that December is a day away!! Somehow the Christmas spirits are still not rubbing in yet. Maybe after this semester, when I’m finally relieved of all my college related work, I’d probably be more in the mood.

(Caution: Very long post!)

At the beginning of the month, I went back to Hong Kong with my mom to celebrate my Pohpoh’s brithday. I haven’t seen Pohpoh for such a long time. The last time I went back to Hong Kong was probably in 2004. Pohpoh looks so different now- thin and frail. She can’t remember much about us now, unless being told or reminded (she has Alzheimer’s). But whenever I call her Pohpoh, she’d smile so sweetly back at me. Then we would hold each others hands and she’d pet my hand and smile contentedly back at me.

Us with Pohpoh on her birthday! Aunt Connie did the calligraphy for this painting. It means Prosperity and Longevity. Her teacher added the drawings of peaches on it, which symbolically means longevity.

This whole trip made me miss Gunggung so much. I’m like Gunggung’s pampered little granddaughter. When he was still alive, he’d give me anything that I wanted just because he never want to see me sad. Ha. But sometimes things will just not turn out the way it’s meant to be. I remembered whining about wanting to have grapes, but since it wasn’t washed, mom and aunt didn’t allow me to have any. Seeing my sad face, Gunggung secretly slipped some into my tiny hands. Erm, and then I ended up in the hospital that night, being treated for food poisoning. I was only three, too young to be bothered about getting sick, and as long as I’m being pampered, it’s all that matters. Now at 23, I don’t have my Gunggung to pamper me anymore.

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Alright. How about some awesome possum photos of my HK trip of two weeks now?

The orangey paste in the middle is tarako paste topped with seaweed, which I'd added. Savourily delicious.

Let’s begin with breakfast. Every morning, our kakak will make us yummy,  and not to mention, typically HK (I just like to say this!) breakfast- soupy noodles with sunny side up, luncheon meat and some vege. Sometimes it’s macaroni with chicken broth.

After breakfast, my mom, aunt and I will usually go roaming about the streets of HK. It is very essential to bring my aunt along for some street side shopping as she’s super mighty powerful at bargaining. For instance, I saw a bag that I’d like for the longest time at Temple Street, and the uncle was only selling it for HKD90 (RM40).

For me, it’s really a good price, since I have to fork out at least RM60 for something like this, but not as great, back in Malaysia. But my aunt went: “mmg-sap dak mm dak ah? mmg-sap dak la!” (How about HKD50? Let’s make it HKD50!) In the end I got the bag for just HKD70 (RM30)!! ?

The best way to go ‘hang gai’ in HK is via MTR, as it’s fast and saves you lots of time (but not $$) so that you’ll have more time to shop and eat! Alternatively, if you’ve got plenty of time, you could opt for the cheap as chips (HKD2.40 per trip!!) and scenic way, which is via the double decker tram! I fell asleep while riding in one, and when I woke up, we’ve yet to reach our destination! Okay. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded, but I was hypnotized by the constant chimes of the tram that goes ‘ting-ting’ and heavily sedated by my sinusitis medications (I’ll get to that later).

It was the food and fun festival of the year at Lan Kwai Fong, with stalls of gourmet food, wine, free flow beer and trannies!

Don't you just love the colours?

Beers are served in plastic jugs that you can hang around your necks looking like St Bernards. If you happen to look dodgy enough, the trannies might even approach you, tell you all about AIDS and give you a pack of condom. Apart from that, there’s also a Toys ‘r us zone where I met up with Mr Monopoly and Elmo!

There’s this one thing that shouldn’t be missed while you’re in HK – The Ultimate Roast Goose Noodle from Yung Kee Restaurant.

Located next to Lan Kwai Fong (Take MTR to Central, exit at D2)

In HK, we call this Siew Ngor Laai Fun. Everything, from the roasted goose, right down to the noodles are far from ordinary. Laai fun’s a type of thick, round translucent noodles made from sticky rice with a springy texture. Laai fun, thick stemmed kailan (it’s sweet!) and succulent roasted goose in a bowl of luxurious soup base; having Siew Ngor Lai Fun is like having a little bowl of treasure with mega tantalizing flavors! To achieve mouthgasmic of the century, dip roasted goose in plum sauce!

Oh, and yes. Chau Daufoo (Stinky Tofu). Don’t ask. Just eat it.

There’s something very, very important that I need to share with you guys if any of you are considering going to HK.

Must.

Eat.

Gwai Leng Kou.

See the tortoises? >:D

If you plan to eat the way that I did – lots of ‘heaty’ and fried food stuff (I had a lot and the pictures above were probably just 0.01% of what I’d had), make sure you have some gwai leng gou (herbal jelly) to Cheng Yit Yuhn Fai (Clear the “heatiness” in your body and nourish your lungs) if you don’t want to spend HKD400 visiting this uncle…

….and fall asleep in the tram instead of taking in the scenic view of HK streets.

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And that was only the beginning of my most hectic, emotionally charged month of 2009!!

Just two days after Mom and I returned from HK, my brother crashed our family car.

That left us with no car. The car workshop lent us a Kelisa, but the two rear doors were faulty and couldn’t be opened at all. I had to wind down the window on the inside to open the driver’s door from the outside to get out of the car. Whenever we try to go a little bit more than 60km/h, little Kelisa sounded like it’s going to explode! Omgwtfbbq! Don’t even talk about overtaking! I’m not trying to sound ungrateful or unappreciative here, but we live 45 minutes away from the city and we work and study in the city and to get to the city, we have to use mega big-ass highways like KESAS and NKVE, sharing it with bigger-asses container trucks and lorries as well. They are freaking scary to be driven next to! If they ever have their tires exploded and freaking lose control of the vehicle (it happens only so often!), you seriously will never know what hit you because you’re already in heaven! They have motorbike lanes, wtf they should have Kelisa and Kancil lanes too!

Yeah. So we weren’t happy with the situation. Actually, I don’t know about the others, but I am not happy. So, I went back to Penang with my mom and drove our aunt’s car which has four fully functional doors, the kind that I don’t have to wind down my window in order to let myself out of the car.

Damages. I’m too tired to talk about them.

Here’s what my dad has to say. With pictures, no less.

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