Loop Cutting

I felt I was hit by a truck this morning when I woke up. Last night, I went to see loop cutting until midnight and my brain wasn't working at all for the whole day.

I think highly of those night shift contractors now. It is really a tough job and is not for everyone.

哭笑不得！

My brother came home with a $600 cheque from those Tax Refund boots in the malls. That was after they took $200 off him as successful fee. I thought that was still a pretty great deal!! Simple and easy!

Thus, I thought I would be smarter and get Personal Tax Summary myself from the Tax department so I can get the full amount without those Tax Refund boots taking those administration fee.

WRONG! 大錯特錯！！！
They found out I OWED IRD money!!!! :( :( :(
Now I had to pay :(

A domestic day

He came with me to visit her because I was too apprehensive to go by myself. However, I was very surprised to see that she recovered not only physically but also mentally well. I was inspired by her courage/faith and admire her being so optimistic after such big trauma.

I am really happy for her and glad that I went to see her after being putting it off for a year.

爸爸看到柿子是：哇！
媽媽看到葱油餅是：天啊！

Inconceivable

The receptionist came to my boss and asked both of our names to be shorten because she couldn't fit them in the business card. My manager decided to change his from 4 to 3 words and altered "Leader" to "Manager". I had 6 words (the longest in the Alliance) which I never managed to remember 95% of the time and now 他大筆一揮， I am Traffic Optimisation Manager!! :o :o :o

Who do I manage? The hardest person - Me :p

莫名其妙，陰錯陽差，就升官了！！偷笑偷笑！！暗爽暗爽 :D :D
不過我名片不太敢拿出去，怕會被人吐口水吐死！！
Inexplicable!! Inconceivable!! I was promoted!!
However, I still don't dare to give out my business card, because I am afraid that they are going to spit on me....:p

The consequence of firing an Asian Engineer

As the economic is getting worse, I decided to do something about it to secure my job. Thus, I sent this link to my office with a subject of "The consequence of firing an Asian Engineer"

My section manager replied with
"I considered myself be warned"

Traffic Jam

----- Text message------
"Traffic is so BAD! Big carpark in motorway! Not moving! Can you ask your sister to do her job and fix it?"

"Maybe I should ask her to stop doing her job"

Morrisville 101

It was nice to see where he grown up and listened to all the childhood stories he had. I know that there is an infinite gap of his life I wasn't involved and I will never be able to know it all. However, being there and seeing him talking about his strong memory related to the place with strong emotion made this one day visit very special.

I wish one day he could see mine. I know it would mean so much to me.

Valentine

"Wow...yours is so long!"
"WHAT???"

"The rose!!!!"
"Oh...Of course! of course!"

有心機的女人

I am feeling threaten and suspicious of her intention. It sounded too much like an excuse to spend time with him alone when really, it was MY idea to give her the ride home rather than his.

Jealousy! Jealousy! Jealousy!

Oi!! 手給我放乾淨點喔！！！！
這女人，心機好重喔！
居然跟我玩陰的！
我要小心一點，看好屬於我的東西！

What's wrong this time?!

When you don't talk to me, I worried. I am afraid that it's all going to happen like last time and I will get hurt again. I have fell once and I can't image to go through that again.

I have been so fragile because you haven't given me enough faith/commitment that you will stay around. I don't know what to do so please excuse me for giving up doing anything in order to simply protect myself.

My PC is in ICU

My PC is in a coma :( My bro has tried to CPR it, but without any success so far. Is it time to let go and give up hope?

Should I plug the tube and call it?

Spectacular Summer

Summer is great! The day is long and people are more energetic or maybe it is just me :p

I have been back from my holiday for 1 week now and I certainly enjoy Auckland summer. The first weekend after I came back to work was a long weekend and Chinese New Year. I caught up with old colleagues for a lovely dinner and saw a spectacular firework at viaduct on Friday. Then, on Saturday, I continued my big mission of uploading photos using dial-up speed. Oh the good old day! In the afternoon, we eventually got out of the house, went to the beach and visited friends. I bounced idea with them and received many good advices on my career. Then we went for a nice bush walk in Wairewa until the sun went down - 9pm!

The last day of the Rat, I was "trapped voluntarily" into going for a morning bush run :o. Then, the rest of day was the Chinese New Year Even Dinner preparation and eating and more eating. My stomach was so full that I was very satisfied in the end of the evening :)

"Wow! There is going to be some firework!" I said excitedly when I saw there was a Light and Fire Show on the programme

"Oh yeah?" He pretended it was a dull idea "What do you think it's going to be like?" He asked uninterestedly

"Errr....like you?"
"Oh! You mean it's going to be SPECTACULAR?"

Taiwan 2009

It's so nice to be home and rested finally after travelling for 2 weeks. Even though it's a short visit, I did enjoy catching up with all the gossip and caught up with family and friends.

I also had my special birthday in Taiwan. It was truly a special day with lots of love and best wishes. I started my day at midnight with a lovely birthday card which I had been carrying since I left New Zealand. Then I went to sleep. When I woke up and turned on my Facebook, I was surprised at the number of birthday messages all around the world :) My parents then took me out for lunch and I had an international phone call before my beauty nap. My birthday cake was really yummy too. All those nice gestures from family and friends made my day.

Thanks everyone who made my special day more meaningful for being in my life.

Bangkok, Ayuthaya

I wasn't as impressed as Myanmar with Bangkok. The humanity made me tired easily. However, the shopping was so good that I almost run out money. In fact, I did :p and I had to exchange some of my back up money so that I had enough money to take the taxi from the hotel to the airport. By the time I arrived the airport, I only had 100 Baht (5 NZD, 3 USD or 100 NTD) left in my wallet :o

Shopping results:

• 1 hat
• 1 pair of sunglasses
• 1 belt
• 1 skirt
• 2 bags
• 3 pairs of shoes :o
  
• 7 T-shirts/tops; and
• some more souvenirs

After shopping for 2 days with the gang, they all left Bangkok and I was back to travel alone. It took me a while to get used to it. I felt lonely and was frustrated when I couldn't gain help easily from the locals. There were less people speaking English in Bangkok than in Myanmar, surprisingly and I didn't 'pick up' other travellers for companion.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the day I went visiting Wat Phra Kaew and the Palace was the New Year Day. Wat Phra was free but the palace was closed due to people lining up to sign the book to wish the king for a long life. I strolled among the old Bangkok and Chinatown without realising it was getting dark. By the time I felt like dinner, I had no energy, so I grabbed a tuk-tuk and it became my best story in Bangkok. Most people heard about those dodgy tuk-tuk drivers and their gem shop scams, but they (tuk-tuk drivers) obviously weren't aware of "Anita" Scam which I got a tuk-tuk drive from Chinatown to Wat Pho for 7 Baht!!!

The next day I went to Ayuthaya and biked around this ancient city. The sun was hot and every temple charging higher entry fee from foreigners! I have to admit that I sneaked into few because it was getting ridiculous and expansive to pay every single temples :p I didn't have lunch until 4 o'clock in the afternoon when I was absolutely exhausted. Even though the sunset was magnificent and I felt so guilty that I didn't make it to the Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) for the beauty, I just had enough for the day. Home and bed was all I wanted and needed.

My last day in Bangkok was visiting the Weekend Market where had like 130, 000 stalls. I only stayed for the morning as there were just way too many people to bare for me! Then, I visited the Jim Thompson's house.

Maybe it's Bangkok or maybe it's Thailand, but I was amazed on a number of old white man with Thai girl. Is it because of the language? I have to admit that every time I heard Thai people talking, 我骨頭都酥了 (my bones were all went soft) . I was also surprised to see a number of PDA (public display of affection) and lady boys. I am still confused about how this lady boys phenomenon can be so acceptable in a what I see a conservative culture - being in Asia and Buddhism country.

Myamnar - Lake Inle, Mandalay, Yangon, Bagan

I was worry that after getting so comfortable in life in the last few years, I would have felt backpacking too scungy. However, as the plane landed in Yangon International Airport, I got this familiar adrenaline rush and I knew immediately that backpacking is still in my blood!! :D

The trip has been a beautiful experience. The people here really touched me and every now and then there would be something that touched me so much that I had tear in my eyes. I really like the people and it is not just because they always called me pretty :p but also they were so sincere and honest. They might be poor in material wealth, but they are so rich in their pure good hearted kindness.

My soft spot toward Myanmar people went through 3 stages though. First stage, I just loved that they have no harming intention towards others but purely friendliness.

• There was no electricity at night at some places, but I felt safe walking in the dark alley in a foreign village alone as a single female traveller with stranger men sitting next to an open fire on the side street, with reddish chewing tobacco in their mouths and saying "Hi" to me (I had to admit, it took me a day or two to realise that they had no bad intention to me. All they wanted was just to say Hi and made me feel welcome).
  
• People gave me a free ride and got me a cheap taxi.
  
• Random locals/kids just loved to come up to me, talked to me in English and made sure I was okay.
  
• 5 o'clock in the morning, a local horse cart man walked with me to the temple to make sure I wouldn't get lost.
  

Stories like those above really touched me and made me feel so grateful for their kindness. They were poor and they worked hard to earn their living, but they love smiling and singing and most importantly they haven't gone bitter with all the hardship in life. They might not have a lot, but they are so rich in having a simple happy life and having the virtual to be kind.

However, my second stage towards Myanmar wasn't so pleasant. I went bitter after I felt that I couldn't trust people's story and price. I turned hard hearted after a bargaining exercise in Lake Inle. A set of transitional cloth started with 22 USD and I started my bargaining with 5 USD. In the end, the woman agreed to sell me for 10 USD as I walked away from the shop. It really killed me to turn down the deal. I felt awful, but at the same time I lost the trust in people. I hate dishonesty, so having them had such flexible price made me feel really irritated. In Mandalay, young kids were so eager for tourist money. They swarmed towards us with souvenir or wanting to be my guide and hoping in return for some tips. I did give tip for their incredible tourist knowledge, but I refused to buy anything. I could have bought some from one kid and helped one with some lucky money, but I couldn't have helped them all.

They all spoke English well and can also speak simple Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese and so on. It seemed that it's all from the same textbook as their questions were all standalised

"How are you?" "My name is ..." "What's your name?" "Nice to meet you" "How old are you?" "Where are you from?" "Do you have any brother or sisters?"

However, they also came up with similar inconsistent stories such as having no mother or no father to gain my sympathy. It really broke my heart to see those kids struggling with life and they had to learn and lie to earn money. I was quite hard hearted even it broke my heart every time when I had to refuse those eager kids with innocent smile. I didn't buy anything from anyone in the first 7 days except an donation to a school. A young man started a school teaching village kids English and Computing for free. I was touched by his ambition and passion, so I made a donation. I couldn't help all the children by buying their necklaces, but I believe education will help them more.

I was glad that I ended my trip in Myanmar with the third stage. I realised that no matter how much I dislike the money eager attitude from some of the people, everyone I came across were still sincere. Venders and kids were disappointed when I didn't buy or didn't gave a bigger tip, but they wouldn't turn bitter or angry at me. They were still friendly and sincere. They changed my mind and touched my heart again. I remember a teenager boy said to me, "Next time when you come, I'll show you the one thousand Buddha and my school. Also, I'll buy you an longi (traditional skirt) as a gift". That was after I refused to give him more tip for showing me around for 3 hours. (His friend got 5USD when I only gave him 3USD).

I did buy some sand painting and necklaces in the last 2 days. Yes, I could be gutted and thought I could have got it for cheaper. It's true that I might cut the price lower to 7USD or even 5USD. However, it's only few dollars less for me, but for them 3 or 5 USD meant much more. Really, those 3-5 USD is nothing for me, but for them it's life! Once I let it go, I was once again in love with the Myanmar people.

Thank you for those who I came across, looked after me and made my trip in Myanmar so memorable :)

Orange Flower

Thank you for the orange flower, shoes, rides, end of month drink, One Tree Hill sunset, drop off and pick up, massage, sleep-in, zoo, looking after me and generally just being you.

Do you know that...
Hippos a.k.a my favorite- River Horse can open their mouth up to 150 degree! They can also go under the water for 5 mins! Alligators can hold their breath for one hour!! Feeding giraffe is cool! They have such long gray tongue. Asia elephants are smaller than African elephant and one of the elephants in the Auckland Zoo is called Burma! The best animal of the day has to be Unclecarlceros.

Mountain Crawl

This time, we went soft! We only 'climb' One Tree Hill, Mt. St John, Mt. Hunbson, Mt. Eden and Big King. It was a fine hot day and it's again nice to catch up with friends and enjoy a bit of urban/nature walk.

I am exhausted after the walk and I can't wait to be in bed to rest.

Needy

It started as few silly teeny-weeny trivials such as rides or shoes, and then it became a much bigger underlying issue - needy!

God! I love counselling!

That empty and guilty feeling came back. I forgot how awful it could be and I thought it would never happen between you and me, but it did.

Thank you for being sorry and quickly super glued me back :)

After so many years, he is still cheating on her. Can I or should I do anything about it? Is it my place to say anything?

I feel quite useless.