Just one more

Not too far from the little quaint library, there's the oldest garden in Macau- St. Francisco Garden. It has century-old stone balustrade, where Laine & I heaved ourselves up to sit under giant, shady trees. Around us, there were old folks, sitting on the benches, reading the paper and chatting loudly.

Further up the garden, we discovered another quaint little building, but this time, cylinder shaped in pretty pink and white.

I was completely overjoyed! The little cyclinder building was like a little magical castle. It was so pretty and so charming.

This lovely round tower was built to honour the combatants of the First World War but today houses the Headquarters for the Association of the Handicapped.

Whimsical inspiration

In Macau, I fell in love with this little library. I first saw it when Laine & I rode the bus back to the hotel. It was night and there were people inside the building, reading. The next morning, I told Laine we simply must go search for the little library. But we had no idea where it was. And I could only quietly keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

While traipsing through Macau Square, we decided to have tea which was Portugese egg tarts at the famous Nata Coco's bakery. I tell you, the egg tarts were simply divine. Up till today, I'm still dreaming about them. The pastry was soft, buttery, light and airy and the egg custard simply melts in your mouth. After tea, we walked to the main road to take a cab back to the hotel. Suddenly, Laine exclaimed and pointed frantically,"Oh there it is! Your library!" But alas, it was closed (as it was a Sunday). Still, I was delighted to take photos and walked around and have a closer look at the quaint little library.

Yesterday, I googled and discovered the quaint little library was built in 1958 and is shaped octagonal. I even found a photo which showed an octagon table inside the building.

Imagine a bakery inside this little building. That would be absolutely marvellous! I could have a tall octagon glass display in the middle of the shop where customers could walk round, admiring delicately iced cupcakes, fairy cakes, little-tiered cakes, cookies piled neatly in small pyramids. And by the wall, there'd be little tables for little tea session. It'd be my small whimsical bakery.

Sigh! I can only dream on...

Post-HK blues

It's tough shifting back to your everyday routine when you had a gloriously wonderful holiday. Since back, I've been dreaming of the delicious dimsum especially chili squid, Yung Kee's roast duck, superbe egg tarts and the many delectable pastries.

Unexpectedly, I'm missing Laine badly. The other night, I dreamt her telling me something very important. I only managed to spend half my holiday with her as she had to leave for a business trip, a few days before my holiday ended. Funny how insignificant so-called friends in KL seem now. Laine will always be the only friend who completely understand me, without ever trying.

My most memorable moments in Hong Kong are those not captured on camera. WHen your camera battery runs out and you do not have a camera to capture images, your perceptory sense are heightened.

Best moments of my trip:

1. Watching towering buildings at Hong Kong Central lit up, one by one, while enjoying the cool sea breeze at Harbour City. It was if Tinkerbell fairy flew from one building to another, lightly touching each building with fairy dust from her magic wand.

2. Marvelling at the amazing array of baking tins and cooking equipment in shops at Shanghai Street, Kowloon.

3. Sunday and Public holidays transform the bustling, cosmopolitan Hong Kong Island into some kind of Maid Land. Goodness, I was alarmed to see the whole of Hong Kong Island swarming with hordes and hordes of maids on practically every street, park, staircase, pavement and walkway during the Chung Yeung festival public holiday on October 12.

A thousand steps to clarity

Yes, everyone. It was Hong Kong. The last photo was a dead giveaway. Who wouldn't have guess it was Hong Kong with the guardian fu dog and the famous Bank of China in the background?

I went to Hong Kong at the invitation of my good friend Laine. We've been friends for years and ever since she relocated to Hong Kong in 2002, she has repeatedly invited me over. Initially I was reluctant as I was never comfortable around her boyfriend who is one intensely private and quiet person. However, last month I sensed Laine had some serious issue she'd wanted to get off her chest during our online midnight chats. Out of the blue, she invited me and automatically, I said, "Yes, I'll come over."

In Hong Kong, I've walked thousands of steps, judging from the number of hours I walked (9am-8pm). Walking has always been my favourite thing to do, especially when traveling solo. For years, I've followed a book on creativity - The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, in which she recommends a 20 minute daily walk to refill and refresh the creative self.

I do the daily walks whenever I can. It has helped me gotten unstuck from work and life daily problems. Last week in Hong Kong, I walked into a different realm. I came back, feeling as if I've shedded my pre-Hong Kong self completely. Now, I feel shiny, new, lighter and freer.

Also, my daily life has taken a new routine. Since the trip, I've taken a strange liking to drinking coffee in the morning and being concentratedly focus at work in the morning and late at night.

A solo trip is a life-changing experience. Just getting away from your current situation allows you to take a step back and see what's going on in life. Slowly, you'll let go of a life you've been hanging on stubbornly, even though it hasn't been doing you any good.

So, there're some life-turning changes in my life since I came back.

I've ended things with Mr. J as I realised I couldn't be possibly happy with a boyfriend who hates traveling and discovering life apart from partying, drinking and clubbing every weekend. Subconsciously, I resented his apathetic self which has absolutely no interest in life beside clubbing and partying every weekend. We lead completely different lifestyles. Our lives don't complement each other. In the end, I got increasingly irritated and weary at trying to fit my life into his noisy and crowded life.

Though he is compatible with me in every way- emotionally, physically and intellectually, I could never be happy with a man who just want to have fun all the time. We never did anything together. The only thing we did was clubbing, where I had reluctantly dragged my feet there. Just so I could be with him. Though he has told me repeatedly that he saw his future with me. I know better than to hang around and wait for things to change. It was glaringly obvious that he hasn't shown me my place in his future.

Hong Kong was my turning point. It wa's either I stay with him or I move on to my larger-than-life goals. The long, labourous, solitary walks taught me in order to keep momentum in my life, I've got to move.

And move, I did.

Back

I'm back and good from the trip.

Take a closer look at the photo and see if you can instantly guess where I was for the last 7 days. :)

My legs are supertoned from walking countless steps and backbreaking super inclining pavements. My tummy bloated from eating very high MSG content but yummy rice and noodle dishes almost everyday. My low maintanence free-sprited self slowly morphed into a high maintanence hissy princess towards the end. More stories to come later.

A trip anywhere is good for the mind and spirit. During my flight back, I was filled with a strong resolve to do all things I've always wanted to do in my life.

Yes, travelling is good for the weary, disillusioned and cynical self.

All set to jet

I'm all ready to board the plane tonight. Can't wait to be at the place-which-I-shall-not-name-for-now.

Just when I'm about to leave the country, "haven't heard from you for a long time" clients have asking me to work on their projects. And that's precisely why I'm getting away from it all- work stress and incessant client badgering.

Wouldn't it be lovely to go away for a long, long time? And come back with a wealth of experiences, stories and a well-stock memory bank of images that you can only experience on a solo holiday.



Onflight reading supply - unwrapped Vogue mag and Jungle Lipstick by Candace Bushnell and my golden starry notebook (in case I'm hit by a sudden writing impluse)

Zonked out from hypersomnia*

I took a nap yesterday evening at around 5 o'clock, only to wake up at 6 this morning, realising that I've slept a total of 13 hours.

Insane! And I wasn't even tired or anything. I'd only wanted a quick doze to refresh my tired eyes from reading "A Personal History".

My mind hasn't transited from Sunday. This morning, I cheerfully walked out of the house, wondering why my bag felt magically lighter. Only when I'd wanted to make a call, then I realised I had forgotten my handphone and my silver, starry notebook which I scribble important notes.

After 13 hours of sleep, I'm strangely exhausted, lethargic and in a rather foul mood. It was a case of too much sleep. Paradoxically, I feel completely unrested and ungrounded, as if my mind is all over the place. It was a first-hand experience in somnambulance and vertigo. I don't ever want to live through my day like in this dazed, confused and hazy state again.

* Lesson learnt - There's such a thing called hypersomnia; which is a sleep condition opposite of insomnia! Hypersomnia means excessive sleep.

Gearing up

I went bag-mad today. In preparation for my trip to the place-which-I-shall-not-mention-for-now, I bought 3 bags. Two fabric bags from the very talented Rina Matsui's Flowerdrum; which holds a monthly sale at Bangsar Utama.

The minute I walked into Flowerdrum's workshop, I saw a beige sling bag with olive green floral pattern. I just fell in love with the design and the colour- I had to have it although the bag does not have a zip to secure the opening. The only snag about Flowerdrum bags is most bags don't have secure zips or velcros, but the fabrics are just so gorgeous. Besides the sling bag, I bought a funky pink hold-all bag which I don't really need. I'm one for supporting locally grown brands.


The sling bag which I fell in love with


Love the hot pink colour

After purchasing these gorgeous Flowerdrum bags, I drove to KLCC in search for a proper traveling bag. As I checked out the shops there, I had absolutely no idea which brand to buy. I'm so out of touch with the hip-and-so-in-now brands.

As long as the bag fits on my hip just nice and has nifty compartments to store a passport and a million other things when traveling, I'm perfectly happy. So I found myself the perfect sling bag at the Travel Gear shop. It's an unknown brand. Anyone heard of Eagle Creek? Noooooo. I can hear you all say. But it's just the right size, has cleverly designed compartments, a back pocket and front flap and even pen compartments. All it matters is- I like.

Half-regretted buying a boring black one. This brown with pink zips looks nicer here but black is easier to match. Gotta be practical sometimes.