Let's Mix It Up - HK The Videos

I usually do a day by day photo log of our trips, so to mix things up a bit this time, instead of posting all the photos chronologically, I'm going to try and do them by category. 

First, here are the videos - 

Getting the ferry from Kowloon over to Hong Kong Island where the shopping areas are.

On the Central - Mid Levels Escalator. Hong Kong Island is pretty hilly and mountainous, this is where you'll find Victoria Peak, so it's not surprising to find a ton of slopes and staircases. And yes, escalators. 

Birthday lunch at Fortnum & Mason. Lobster pasta. (Okay, it was a fancier name than that... but that's what it was.)

A Symphony of Lights - as seen from the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, looking across Victoria Harbour.

It was mega unimpressive. Didn't realise the light show had begun. And didn't know when it ended! LOL. Still, it was a nice night to be out. The weather was great for snuggling up together on the outdoor steps to watch the lights. 

And finally, the view from the plane as we arrived home.

I'll be back with more! Stay tuned :)

Self Love and A Pretty Great Start to the Year

Hi guys, thank you for all the birthday love! 

We had a lovely time in Hong Kong and of course you know fotos will be coming soon... or whenever I get around to it. 

Meanwhile I've been spending a ton of money - but I'm going to cut myself some slack cos it was holiday spending!  The most recent thing I unboxed was an advent calendar that I got on sale (cos I mean, it's January right?) from Signature Market (a Malaysian company). They sell snacks and traditional Cantonese soups and nuts etc., and have an in-house wellness brand called Plant Origins. And you know how I feel about dem essential oils and lotions and potions, no? You can watch the unboxing in this Instagram post. (It was easier than gathering up all the stuff and taking a picture for you... besides, the nebulizing diffuser has gone home with BIKSS.)  

I did find this 👆 picture HERE.

The other thing I did this year, before leaving for HKG in fact, was get in touch with an insurance broker and got my long term healthcare plan put in place. The government has a basic scheme for all citizens that we're automatically enrolled in, but given the rising cost of healthcare services and the price of medications and other elder-care adjacent needs, it's been projected that one will need WAY MORE than what the basic scheme will provide. So that was done and I'm feeling very adult about it. 

I've also been for another round of blood tests to check that the statin I'm taking is working and not causing any problems with my liver enzymes. The results came in last night and I'm over the moon. I've never seen my LDL this low. We did an ESR test to check for inflammation too, and that has also dropped way down to single digits. Never before. So it's quite evident that it was the high LDL levels that were contributing to the high ESR. (Yes, that's a legit thing... it can be the case, but it's not always the ONLY reason ESR can be elevated.. and now you know.) 

My backache has reached new heights. Or rather, was preventing me from reaching down low. For a good 2-3 months I couldn't bend over. The boss doctor thinks it's tight hamstrings. I could see physio. Or I could stretch 'em myself. Or do what I did in the end - I went to a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner, got acupunctured (aka dry needling) and had some (dry) cupping therapy... and today I could actually bend over to remove my underwear, pull on my pants and pick up my shoes without being in excruciating pain ... instead of the usual way, which involves a balancing act of reaching downwards (and wishing for longer arms) while keeping my back straight and performing an awkward plié.  

Does TCM really work? It did for me. How does it work? Who the heck knows. But do I feel better now? Yes. Will I go back for round 2, as advised? Yes. I know a lot of the voodoo around TCM has to do with 'chi' and opening up channels of the meridians and whatnot. I'm not so sure I believe that mumbo jumbo. However I do think there is something to be said for nerve stimulation (acupuncture) and suction cups drawing blood vessels up towards the skin and stimulating fascia release and inducing slight trauma in order to attract better blood flow and oxygen carriage to areas experiencing chronic pain. It's the same logic I ascribe to 'gua-sha' and even my regular monthly massages. Knead, scrape, push, and pound areas of the skin and muscle in order to cause just a teeny tiny amount of 'damage' to the muscle tissue, which then encourages blood flow - the human body always wants to push more blood to trauma sites in order to flush it with oxygen and all that other healing and restorative stuff.

In fashion news, I have been helping a friend of a friend rehome 4 huge ass bags of clothes. In the process I adopted a cashmere peplum open front cardi, a brand new - with tags still on - (how do people buy things and NOT wear them?? I'm always so excited to get them laundered and on me RIGHT NOW!) lantern sleeve wrap jacket, and a black vintage dress with full prairie skirt and lining. The only problem is that the detachable straps have been lost and I've got to go get me some pretty bra straps to hook on to it. That's not a huge hardship at all. I just have to get online and look for something I like. 

The peplum cardi with layered open front lapels

So even tho I've been spending money, I kinda scored a bunch of freebies too! LOL

And now it's time for bed. I'll be back with fotos! 

------

P.S. I might have forgotten to post this before leaving for HKG:- A trio of perfume dupes that I got from a local store - I never thought I was partial to rose as a fragrance, but it turns out all the ones I'm drawn to have some kind of rose top note in them. So I decided to give these a try, based on their descriptions. From left to right, these are scents inspired by :

Delina by Parfums de Marly, Very Good Girl Glam by Carolina Herrera, and Trésor Midnight Rose by Lancôme.

2026 The Year of Living

While planning our trip to Hongkong (yes, we're off to Hongkong tomorrow!!!) we were discussing the likelihood of getting Fortnum and Mason stuff at their HKG store. BIKSS was there last month and the prices are something like DOUBLE what we paid in the UK, he tells me. Is it really worth it? I mean, if I wanted to buy a chunk of stuff I could just order online and have them ship it to me. It's £40 to have them ship to Asia but then, if I really wanted pistachio and clotted cream biscuits, I guess we could group-buy to defray shipping cost. 

But do I need cookies? Really? (The answer is NO.) And tea? And creamed honey?

Now on the topic of tea ... if it's really a thing I wanted because I enjoy the flavours... then what's stopping me from getting a tub or two anyway, even if it's pricier? Even at double the UK retail price, it would still be HALF of what I would pay for a tea at Starbucks. And evidently I have no qualms about sitting down with a hot cup-o'-tea when I'm out with friends. So really, why shouldn't I enjoy the flavours I fancy in the comfort of my own home, any ol' time I want them?

So I have now given myself permission to buy the things I enjoy. Instead of trying to always JUSTIFY spending the money on things I 'don't need'. And here are the things I have decided to enjoy! 

At the start of last year I told the boss I was gonna spend 2025 travelling. He graciously allowed me all the time off I wanted. But that meant I suffered in terms of money earned as well as all the output that went toward said travel. 

This year I'm back to only taking the 'regular' amount of leave days, but in order to have something to look forward to every month, I've committed to buying jewellery. Here me out. I love bling. But I love that gold appreciates in value even more. So since I don't have a chunk of cash to fork out for a gold bar right now (or ever will, I don't think), I'll just set aside a couple hundred bucks a month for buying bijouterie, specifically of the resaleable variety. You've seen some of the stuff I bought before... here's the latest addition to the collection-

Linked hearts in 22k Gold. 

The other thing I did was have afternoon tea with the sister yesterday to celebrate my birthday. At an over-priced tea house. Not something old me would have done. But new me had a good time and I enjoyed the food tremendously. And then off we went to Bacha Coffee. Because at $2.66 per serving it's still less than half the price of a store-bought coffee. And I enjoyed the first ever Bacha box that was gifted to me so much that I have now deemed myself a Bacha gal. Because why not. 

Oh, and on the topic of FnB, we have decided NOT to visit Disneyland HK because I'm not sure hearing my favourite characters speaking Cantonese wouldn't ruin my memories of the very American Disneyland (and rightly so!) that 10-year-old-me remembers from my visit to the original "happiest place on earth" in California. Besides, I don't recognise HALF the characters that are popular right now and are being featured in their current line up of shows.

So instead, we're going to spend all that ticket money on having lunch and tea at the Fortnum restaurant. We didn't have afternoon tea there when we were in the UK cos it was just way too expensive. The prices in the HKG store are about 40% cheaper. Now if only the stuff in their retail store was cheaper too! 

The time for that fancy ring / outfit / cup of tea / morning brew is NOW. I could be dead in a year. Who knows. So here's to living in 2026 like I've never lived before! 

Have a wonderful 2026 everyone! 

Christmas Eats

The annual Betty birthday cum Christmas eve open house got split into two this year. Betty decided she was done with the massive all-in-one do, what with my friends and her friends all descending upon my home in a too-many-people-at-one-go event. And honestly, it's fine with me. My annual Christmas eve potluck is basically just for whoever doesn't have plans and wants a place to hang out. It's a place to catch up with old friends, get re-acquainted with people they might have met at my other parties (or perhaps just the last Christmas party) and to meet new people and maybe learn about someone else's life, see things from a different perspective. 

This year since Betty wanted NOT to have a massive Christmas / birthday do, we decided to have a small group hang out the weekend before. Which was also kinda nice cos one of our friends is never available on Christmas eve, so this way she could join us for her birthday dinner. It was a lovely gathering of 7 and we had a chance to catch up on what everyone's been up to. 

Betty's Blackforest Birthday Cake

Then there was the Christmas eve affair which turned out to be just the right size for mingling and having meaningful conversations. 20+ people like I used to have in the past was just too mad for me. This time I had a mere 10 guests. Much more manageable. A lot less stressful.

A Christmas gift from the company I work for. We had a fair bit of fun breaking up the bark.

Christmas day dinner was had at the sister's house. 

I was glad for a log cake that WASN'T chocolate. This one was strawberry and matcha... 

And we played White Elephant! 

My gift was toothpaste! LOL. 

On Boxing Day I had dinner at a recently-opened Chinese hotpot restaurant with Betty and another friend. It's our annual Capricorn Christmas / birthday dinner. (I have another annual 'January Babies' dinner next Sunday with 2 more Capris from primary school!)

I was quite happy to opt for a meatless dinner after all that festive feasting.

And today I hosted an OFW (Filipinos who work abroad are called Overseas Foreign Workers) party, comprising the sister's family, mum's caregivers (CG1 and CG2 - who is no longer working with me) and their caregiver friends. CG2 came back for a visit and to spend the day, and my sister wanted to be here to visit with her. One of CG1's friends is caregiver to one of mum's friends from the old neighbourhood... so we invited both caregiver AND the lady she cares for. I'm glad the older lady wanted to come. She had a longish chat with my sister, reminiscing with her about mum. I thought that was nice. CG1 also had two of her closer friends over so it was as much her party as it was mine! 

Parties are all about desserts... amiright? This is a traditional Filipino dessert aka diabetes in a box. 

Layer graham crackers, condensed milk mixed with heavy cream, and mango slices. Keep going like a lasagna till you reach the top. Put in the fridge, and prepare for heaven in your mouth. 

Someone brought over a dozen fruit tarts. By the time we were done with the food hardly anyone had space for dessert. Guess who's gonna be eating fruit tarts for the next week. 

And now it is all done and dusted. I didn't think I was going to have a "full" Christmas roster this year but boy was I wrong! Turns out it was a busy Christmas season after all! 

Compliments of the season everybody! 

London 9 and 10

This is it. The last post of vacation pics. Thank u for staying the course... here are the final moments of our time in London! 

Before the brother passed away, in his last text messages to me he said to go to Greenwich while I'm in London, cos wouldn't it be fun to stand on the G Meridian? I didn't plan to... but I ended up going anyway.

BIKSS wanted to try an Irish spice bag. So we went to The Ring. It wasn't serving food... but we got a drink and came back in the evening for dinner.

Upside down pots for ashtrays. Cute.

And there it is. I enjoyed it so much I looked up the recipe for the spices and made my own when I got home. I keep a bottle in my fridge.

Later that evening we headed to Covent Garden... And I treated BIKSS to some Venchi Christmas chocolate ice cream. It had a bunch of spices and fruit bits and nuts in it. Delicious. Expensive. But delicious. 

Covent G was busy with people... I don't think many people were actually shopping, but it was a lively atmosphere, there were buskers in a few places, and it was quite festive! 

And this is my favourite part of Covent...

I've only ever heard/seen this on TV / in the movies. So this [Christmas song being sung in the square in autumn/winter weather] was simply delightful.  I don't think I'll get to experience it again anytime soon. Sadness indeed! 

We spent some time looking around inside the Royal Opera n Ballet.. 

After Covent Garden we walked to Seven Dials to grab a quick light bite for dinner

And then we sat around and watched the coppers keep the pedicab drivers in check.. making sure they didn't block the roads and walkways etc.

For some reason I had to attach this pic 3 times before it would appear on the blog. These are Uzbekistan Beef Manty from Oshpaz Dumplings. Try saying that 3 times quickly. LOL

Then it was back to the hotel cos we were exhausted having come back in from Tromso early that morning.

The next day we headed out to brunch at Duck and Waffle. We didn't have a reservation but they found us a seat nonetheless. I wasn't sure we were gonna make it, so it was more of a "let's try our luck" situation.

Duck and waffle for me, full English for BIKSS.

And yes, I am Asian, and we do lots of duck in Asia, but this beats all of the duck I've eaten in my lifetime. Truly, the best I've ever tasted. Tender, tasty, just the right amount of bite.

The decor in the restaurant was fun too - while it's not Harry Potter themed, it IS 'wizard' themed... so whether this is a copyright breach, I leave it to you to decide. It definitely didn't bother me. Enjoy the videos.

After lunch we ran over to the Royal Exchange, missed the turn, spotted Leadenhall Market (but didn't go in cos we were pressed for time) turned back, got to the exchange and picked up MORE Fortnum and Mason cookies and teas. And a box of honeys. And now I am never going to have honey any other way except creamed! Spreadable honey that doesn't drip. What magic! Then we chucked everything back in the hotel and packed our stuff, checked out of the hotel and left our bags at concierge. 

Took a bus across London Bridge to go to the Sky Garden. I mean, sure the view was lovely. But it was super crowded, over rated, and aside from being that high up, the interior garden was a bit crap. All that talk about greenery in the midst of winter? Rubbish. 80% of the plants looked like they were dying if not already dead.

I'm glad we didn't have to pay to go up there. I did get some nice fotos... BIKSS took a few of me against the scenic London backdrop. 

And since it's not far more till the 25th of Dec, here's both of us wishing everyone in Blogland a very Merry Christmas!