Christmas 2008
23/12/08 15:25 Filed in: Christmas Letters
Dear family and friends,
How quickly the year went. It's Christmas already!
We continue to adjust to life without dad. It's been a year and a half since he left us. From time to time, it would occur to me that it's been a while since hearing dad's voice or talked to him. I would have loved to tell him what I've done since he left. I guess that's life. I have to tell you, this part of life sucks.
Relatively quiet year for me. Only 4 trips, as opposed to 7 last year. Two of these trips are personal ones.
We went to Taipei to spend Chinese New Year this year. This is the first time we've spent Chinese New Year in a country other than Singapore or Australia. It was a different experience. Quite interesting to see how Taipei celebrates Chinese New Year. Only down side was the weather. It rained pretty much all the time we were there and was quite cold. I think if it was sunny but cold, it would have been much nicer. Still, we had fun. I always have fun when staying at my favourite hotel in Taipei. My sister and I went to the Jacuzzi at the top of the hotel (41 floors high). It was open air, so immersing in the water with just the head sticking out of the water was fun, but did we pay for it when we got out of the water! 🙂
In May, we went to Shanghai for a week. I've visited Shanghai about 10-11 times now and this is the first time I actually went there for a holiday. First time I actually went out to sightsee during day time! I actually took photos of Shanghai during the day! Shanghai, in May, was HOT! Air pollution was quite bad (see photo below - that's the sun above the buildings). You can't see any blue sky. The air pollution I think gave my sister May headaches, which was a bit of a shame. It was her first visit to Shanghai. That aside, staying in my favourite hotel in Shanghai was always enjoyable. You can see that as long as I'm staying in my favourite hotels, I am easily pleased.
The travelling seems to have done some good for mum. She is a lot better these days. Sometimes she even manages to crack a joke.
I had to go to Taipei in August for work. This time around, I couldn't stay at my favourite hotel for the work portion, because my client specified that I must stay at the hotel of their choice (Grand Hyatt). On my first day, I made a complaint to the General Manager of the hotel. Now my letter of complaint is being used as a case study for them. Gee, the things I do to improve hotel standards. J I did go back to stay at my favourite hotel for a couple of days after the official engagement with the client was finished. I was pampered by the lovely ladies there (see my room below), of course. I was happy again.
We were supposed to have a cousins reunion (after 27 years) in KL in November. Everything was organised, booked and all ready to go, when my sister Amy fell and broke her leg 4 weeks before the event. Needless to say, the event didn't go ahead and we'll now aim for sometime next year. It would have been the highlight of my year. But, again, such is life. On the other hand, with the economic situation deteriorating steadily at the time, I wonder if it wasn't the Big Guy upstairs looking after us by forcing a postponement, seeing the exchange rate was at its lowest during that period.
Since the reunion was postponed, I ended up going to Shanghai again, for work. Stayed at my favourite hotel there, so no complains. The staff there, even those who don't know me, were very nice and friendly. So while I was bored stiff with the work part of the trip, I could relax and have some fun after work, which is always nice.
The best part of these last 2 business trips, was the photo taking. I stopped over Hong Kong on my way to Shanghai in November. After all these years, I finally decided to just take the trip up to the Peak and took a panoramic view of Hong Kong. It was very windy and cold but I'm glad I finally did it.
I took some nice photos of Shanghai too.
The weather was much better. You can actually see blue sky. This is the view from my room (compare this to that taken in May):
Amy still has another 5 weeks or so to go before she can put full weight on her leg.
On a personal high, I was lucky enough to win through to the District level of the Humorous contest in Toastmasters. That roughly equates to a 'state level' contest, so the standards are usually very high. I didn't place but happy to have gone that far in the competition.
That's pretty much the highlights of my year. The rest of the time was work, work, work. In fact, today is the first day I "finished" this project I have been working on for the last few months. It'll probably pick up again in the new year, but for now, everyone is winding down to go on holidays. Pretty boring if you ask me.
Other notable highlights: got an iPhone and Apple TV. iPhone is very cool. So cool I managed to make it the STFMPP (Standard Ting Family Mobile Phone Platform) in our household.
Viewing the photos on the Apple TV is remarkable! Never thought my photos would look that good! Must be the high definition mode.
Getting a Nintendo Wii for Christmas - the design concept of the machine sounds quite good. Looking forwarding to trying it out. It's my excuse to do exercise. But from what others have been telling me, it seems everyone who owns one loves it and everybody who has tried it wants one! If you have one, let me know and maybe we can play over the internet.
Bought a new coffee espresso machine last week and have been enjoying brushing up on my barista skills after completing a course 2 years ago. Next time you visit, I'll make you a coffee.
That's it for me for 2008. Hope this letter finds you safe and well.
Your friend,
Bevan
