More Hong Kong Summer Rain Photos

The black rainstorm signal was hoisted yesterday around 05.35 pm...which means that we have to stay in a safe place (e.g. the office). SC and I were too impatient to wait for the signal to be removed, so we braved the rain and went home anyway.


My bun-in-the-oven and I took extra care, walked extra slowly and carefully...we reached the train station safely and when I reached home...whoa...there's almost no more rain at all.

All I saw was a beautiful scene of the almost sunset through my windows, which were still sprinkled with raindrops...

It was too pretty not to photograph.

Beat the Heat - Cooling Body Powder

Love summer...the bright sunlight even after work...the blue sky...pretty colors and dresses...but...the heat! Oh, the heat!

I sweat all the time, especially now that I'm having a-bun-in-the-oven, I feel hotter than ever (but not in a good way ^_^'). I sweat walking from MTR station to the office, heck, I even sweat standing still waiting for elevators!

The result? Irritated skin, highly irritable bitchy version of me :(

For the irritated skin part...I've found a handsome solution. Remember this?

My favorite body powder for summer. Prickly heat...itchy, irritated skin, excessive sweat, begone! If you're in Hong Kong, get it from a local pharmacy, it costs only HK$12 ^_^
Plus, the bottle is so so so pretty!

If you don't want the minty scent...and prefer something...prettier...

I love this classic "Two Girls" brand...again, pretty, vintage-ish bottle...with mild lavender scent, they also have this in rose. Only HK$18 from Bonjour ^_^

...with regards to the highly irritable bitchy summer personality...can't help it, it's the hormones! ^_^

Lunch Time Shopping

Bought this dress from Zara sale today lunch time :D

Love the color, love the neck, love the comfort and relaxed fit....and it's HK$199.


...too bad the "clothes hanger" talks too much.

He said I could only buy this if lil' SC moves/kicks while I put the dress on me.
What a nag!

Party Prep

Tomorrow we'll have some people over for a fake high tea at our place.
Our place looks like THIS!

What a freaking mess.
But naturally, SC doesn't care :D
He managed to secure a corner to do what he thought was the most important thing for tomorrow's gathering...

...what the heck was he doing?

Marking a set of monopoly deal cards.
He wants us to play tomorrow :S
Probably in the middle of that mess.

To our guests...good luck! ^_^'

Welcome to My Messy Flat

Some of my friends had been to my flat...most of them have seen my flat in its best behavior. Some of my blogging friends have seen my flat from some blog posts...
All cute, pristine and tidy.

But does my flat look like that every day?
Thank SC for stealing some shots of me doing an actual food photo shoot at home (he was in charge of holding a home made reflector, but he figured he could multi task).

Look at all that junk on my dining table!

Piles of unopened mails and old magazines...used cups, candies, snacks, water jugs, a week worth of laundry on my dining chairs, and who knows what's underneath that pile of crap.

:D

Just keeping it real, baby ;)

New Addiction: iPhone Phototaking & Photoshop CS5

I could spend hours and hours and hours fiddling with my photos...and I had so much fun playing with these iPhone snapshots ^_^

Every day after dinner, I'd spend my whole waking hours...my ass planted firmly on my computer chair, very reluctant to even take showers, not to mention doing houseworks or exercising. Only my fingers get a bit of a exercise...I should change this habit :(

Thanks for reading my meaningless entry.

PS. Doesn't Hong Kong skyline look gorgeous after the rain? Hmm, maybe not with my ugly, non experienced editing :( sorry for ruining nature. Opps

SC's iPhone (Girly) Guilty Pleasure

Don't we love boys who are secure enough with their manliness, they don't mind being a little girly? Maybe.

So which girly game does sc play during his 30 minutes commute?
It's Sally's SPA!

He gives "people" manicures...

Relaxing massages...

....and facials :D

Shhhh. I am sure sc won't be too happy knowing that I shared his little iPhone guilty pleasure with you guys.
It'll be our little secret, ok?

Hong Kong Photography Madness

How many DSLRs are there in this photo?

This was taken on a weekday night in front of Harbour City Plaza, Tsim Sha Tsui. Photogs swarmed the place silly trying to capture the pink and purple Christmas decor. I am not really into the decor, but observing the photogs and their objects gave more than enough amusement for me.

Thrifted Goodies from Sham Shui Po

I love nothing more than strolling around old districts of Hong Kong...scoring great pictures and more importantly...feeding my shopaholic soul with thrifted goods!
Look at this baby....

Love the emblem, love the gold details, love the wrinkled leather, the handle...

...and the checkered lining. LOVE!
The vendor must have sniffed my oozing enthusiasm, she refused to give me even a single cent of discount. Damn! I should act cool, pretend to leave, etc...next time, but it's gonna be hard.

What else did I get?

An old playboy magazine. Ohhhh...I love the covers! Not too much skin, with just enough vintageness. I wish I could get some posters....

A lovely Marilyn inspired shot inside, and look at that font. Love that font.

That reminds me....I am in Hong Kong, so I gotta get something local too.

An old penthouse from 1989. Look at that sweet innocence, just enough touch of sluttiness, don't you think?

...and...

It isn't 80s without a good dose of big hair.

A very fruitful trip....let's see where I'll go next week.

My Halloween Non Costume

Are you a costume party person or a party pooper?
I shameless me won't hesitate to dress up in costumes. I am a sucker for costumes and parties.

So, what did I finally wear for Halloween?
Did I go as a slutty chef?
Slutty hello kitty?
Slutty char siew bao?
Slutty devil? witch?
or simply a slut?
Ehm, none of the above.

The procrastination resulted in....wearing whatever I had in the shade of black and grey...borrowed some of sous chef's rocker earrings and accessories...and quickly, desperately slapped on a devil red ox horns headband (from last year) on the last minute, for the sake of wearing something remotely Halloween. I was the epitome of a halloween cliche.

How about make up?
Some cool, realistic looking scars?
Blood or black tears?
Nah....

Just black and sparkly liners plus red lips.
...and I was already late to meet my friend for a Halloween photo taking spree.

Off to take pictures of some outrageous monsters....

Click on below picture to check out what kind of scary characters appeared that night in Lan Kwai Fong. Glad to see that the city still knows how to partee!
Should you be afraid of the crowd and steer clear of LKF?

Nope. The crowd wasn't that bad, the police managed the crowd very well, close to the point where it was almost no fun ^_^

Next year, I planned to be taken in photographs, not taking. I shall search for the perfect costume earlier (yeah, yeah. same promise every year).

What Should I Be This Halloween?

Someone with killer abs?
Someone with manboobs?
Someone with saggy ass?
Someone with a beer belly?


Sigh, apart from the killer abs, everything else sounded like coming to a Halloween party as myself.

What's yours gonna be?

Foul Mouthed Sales = Good Service?

During my first visit to Hong Kong, I found that Hong Kong salespersons are rude beyond belief.
They don't only quietly give you a once-over and then proceeded to look down on you...some even tell you not to touch the stuff they're selling and wouldn't hesitate asking you to f*ck off.
Some are rude to people of certain race (sadly, while aiming to be Asia's world city and all...), some don't discriminate and are rude to everyone :p

These days, I find that sales services here get much better.
Shops which belong to big chains, such as Baleno, Giordano, etc...provide impeccable service. The sales staff always exceeded my expectations...and they make it look really sincere (Let's face it. Some customers are royal pain in the ass....and salespersons are human too!

My recent experience was really....interesting, to say the least.

This is a small shop within a mall in Kowloon, selling boys clothing. It was almost closing time, but the sales girl welcomed my sister and me with all smiles. In smaller, no-brand shopping malls, not every salesperson/shop owner speak fluent English. Our girl, however, could communicate with us really well. We love her for that. We asked for things in giant sizes (yes, according to Hong Kong sizes, we are giant) and we sent our poor girl running to and from shop-warehouse a few times. She did it without complaint, always with a big smile, and she was even apologetic for having us wait for her a few times.

We were very happy.

Then we started negotiating some prices...

When we asked for lower prices...her reply was...
"Noooo....my boss will f*ck me!"

We thought she said "fired", but she repeated her sentence a few times.
"I don't wanna be f*cked, you know..."
"If I sold to you at HK$xxx, ohhhh....I am so f*cked!"
"My boss is gonna f*ck me"

OK, we started imagining her being f*cked by her boss...and depending on how the boss looks, it could be one heck of a scene.

Were we offended?
Funnily, we weren't. We were totally amused and fascinated. She said the word "f*ck" as if it was the most natural thing in the world. My sis and I started to wonder if she really knew what f*ck means.


We were joking and chatting...until the moment we were paying, and she didn't have enough change for us. Naturally, she went..."SHIT! I have no change!"
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT!!!!! Would you mind waiting? I'll go get some change, so sorry to keep you waiting."

Of course we didn't mind. My sis and I almost laughed out loud....what did we think of the service? It's excellent! One of the best we've experienced, despite the Fs and the Ss.

I contemplated taking her picture with us, but decided not to, and I had to blur the name of the shop....cos we don't want her to get f*cked now, don't we?

Chillin' Out in the Park

Hong Kong doesn't have enough of these beautiful Chinese style parks.
Trees and plants everywhere, a "lake" full of fish and terrafins with gorgeous Chinese gazebos.
Soothing.
Calming.
Relaxing.
They're the much needed sanctuary for this busy city.
The more "sophisticated", "ultra modern", "high tech looking" parks which have been sprouting everywhere, with not enough trees, flora and fauna, frankly didn't work for me.
Please build more old school park, pretty please...

Just like this little park in the heart of Tsuen Wan...
where the senior citizens...

work out.

do some "research".

or simply dig chill.

Typhoon Koppu Signal 8

When I got home from work (a little earlier due to Typhoon Koppu signal 8)...the container terminal seemed quite, serene, and a little creepy with black, grey and white sky.


The clouds were moving so fast, almost like fast forwarded.

I was elbow deep with ingredients, busy cooking dinner when sous chef shouted "Hey! Do you want to photograph the traffic congestion?"
I surely did. Quickly ran to the window grabbing my camera on the way.
Despite being in a hurry (there were pots of stuff boiling on my stove), I took some shots, so please forgive the crappy pics. At least you got an idea how everyone crammed the expressway wanting to go home.

At night...I just realised that I've never paid attention to the container terminal being all dark. It's normally busy 24-7. I was in awe.

The next morning....signal 8 was still hoisted, it was all hazy hazy outta my window.
The sky quickly cleared as the government announced signal 3 and I brushed my teeth preparing to go to work.

We hate overnight T8.

Babydoll Shirt Dress That Scored Me A Seat on A Train Ride

I've been offered a seat again!
How nice it is to see how kind people in Hong Kong are...

but...

I was wearing the blue version of this babydoll shirt dress, carrying a few bags worth of loot, minding my own business...and a guy, who was seated in front of my eyed me for a while, then stood up and offered me his seat.

Mortified, I refused to seat (it would've been easier if I just took the seat). An auntie who was standing beside me gave me a careful once over, squinted her eyes for a few moments, and then offered another older auntie behind her to sit. This older auntie gave me a once over, shot me a look full of pity, and insisted that I should sit. I said no again.

The younger auntie finally said to the older auntie "Won't you just sit? She's a young girl (thanks!), she can manage standing up!"

Oh gosh....a dress that caused a full drama involving 3 or more people on a train ride?

I'm never wearing it without a belt ever again!!!

So I've belted the orange version this morning and hope there'll be no more MTR seat drama. I threw a pair of shades to combat the damaging summer UV rays.

Shirt dress = FCUK sale, HK$1xx (forgot the exact amount, I have both blue and orange)
Shoes = Argyle Center, HK$79
Belt, Bag & Shades = H&M, all below HK$200

There Is Still Kindness in Hong Kong

When we get very bitter and think there's no more kindness in this world (or in Hong Kong)...

Think again.

On my MTR ride last weekend, my fellow passengers and I spotted a lady looking at the train floor really intently, as if looking for something. The other passengers, including myself, were wondering what she was looking for, we looked at her with a huge question mark on our face.

She said in panic "I lost a ring".

Instantly, we were all helping her searching for her ring, people who were seated lifted up their feet, people who were standing moved their feet around to see if they stepped on the ring. You probably wonder if any of us would take the ring if we found it. I guess it depends on the size of the diamond on the ring (jokinggg). Give us more credit. One of us spotted the ring, others gave the lady a way to retrieve her ring, she got her ring back.

Everyone smiled happily for a moment, and then we continued to live our bitter life. ^_^

Cool Girls Play Video Games

I am not a cool girl.

As I previously mentioned, I don't play video games, and even if I want to, I just can't.
There is no single cell of talent in my body and soul for video games.
I suck. Big time.

To pay back sous chef's company when I watch my Monday and Tuesday girly drama series, I decided (after a few days of nagging from sous chef) to give Left for Dead, the zombie game, a try.

How did I suck?
First attempt (lasted a few minutes):
- I had absolutely no idea where I was or where I was going
- My brain could not coordinate two operating buttons (one controls where I go, one controls where I look)
- The whole time, I simply pointed my gun at the ceiling, wondering where was everybody
- There was absolutely no difference between me being in the game or me just holding the control without doing anything

Second attempt (15 minutes after first attempt, lasted a few minutes):
- I still had absolutely no idea where I was or where I was going
- I learnt how to look and walk a little in the game
- I spent most of the time getting stuck in a corner of a room, when everybody else were killing zombies outside (smart move)
- I discovered that my brain operates differently from sous chef's. When I pressed the button down, I thought I was moving my gun up. He operates the other way around
- I managed to shoot a couple of zombies dead, by pure luck
- I only spent 70% of my time pointing at the ceiling, the other 30% was spent pointing/looking at the ground

Third attempt (next day after 1st and 2nd attempt):
- SC taught me a critical point = look before moving
- I learnt how to look for SC in the game
- I walked/run better in the game
- I didn't point at the ceiling/floor that much
- I knew how to "grab" guns/stuff from the table
- I managed to shoot a couple of zombies, still by pure luck, pointed and shot my "gun" randomly
- I still had absolutely no idea where I was and what I was doing

Moral of the story:
I think SC learnt a valuable lesson:
Don't ask her to play, she is hopeless

I am not a cool girl, and proud of it :p

Monochromatic Night Life

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'd know that I am not a monochromatic kinda girl.

However, talking about my night life...it's not only monochromatic, it's colorless hehe. I normally reach home before 10 and am in bed by 12. Yes, I am lame and proud of it ^_^


When I was young(er), I love going out late at night with a bunch of local friends.
Where did we go?
- Karaoke
- Cafe
- Pubs

What is it about night life that I like/hate?
- Alcohol? I am not much of a drinker, never liked the feeling of getting drunk and never tried to get anyone drunk
- Pretty people dressed in their best gear? Yes. Love people watching
- Loud music? In not for dancing, I hate screaming into my friends' ears
- Gossiping with friends? Love. Even if it's bitching about the same person over and over again.
- Hunting for boys? I am more of a rabbit than a tiger.
- I love love LOVE dancing. But none of my friends does...so I didn't get to go out dancing often, apart from attending dance classes (which isn't considered a "night life")

Last weekend, I was invited to a birthday party which starts at 11 pm.
Whoa, that's like 1 hour before my bed time...but it was cool. It's been a while since I went outta my door after 10 pm, other than getting a tub of emergency ice cream from 24 hr convenience store.

How do I doll myself up for the occasion?

Anything different from my normal beauty routine?
Yep.
- curled my hair with a bit of styling cream
- liquid foundation instead of 2-way cake
- concealer for my eye bags
- a little shading for my nose
- a little highlighter for my cheekbones
- grey sparkly eyeshadow instead of using the blush as eye shadow
- some gloss on my lips
- black eyeliner instead of light brown
...and...


- mascara + sparkly fake lashes

I was dressed in monochromatic shades of black, white and gray, but in the end couldn't help but adding a touch of red on my ears.

Did I enjoy the night? Yeah. I was pleasantly surprised. Played some local drinking games and went home just a little tipsy ^_^

Top = Bay, London, 2 pounds
Cardigan = Fa Yuen Street Market, Prince Edward, HK$39
Tights = Kwai Chung Plaza, HK$45
Shoes = Vincci, KL, RM39
Necklace = Kwai Chung Plaza, HK$49
Earrings = Argyle Center, Mongkok

Scarf or No Scarf? Outfit Phototaking Ritual - Morning, Noon or Night?

I used to take pictures of my outfit after work. Because...frankly? I can't afford to spare even a few seconds of my weekday mornings to take photographs of my outfits.
I'd be late every day, and reprimand/warning letters aren't exactly love letters ;)

The challenge with taking pictures after work?
- Outfits get ruined by sweat/stains of food from lunch/slouching in front of computer whole day
- Make Up = gone with the wind
- Hair = all limp and oily

Thus, I tried waking up 10 minutes earlier so I can do things slowly, with a few seconds to spare and take photographs of my outfit (time is limited, this is why you see the same poses & backgrounds again and again, I can experience more on weekends, but I'd probably choose to sleep or play hehe)

I wore two different versions of this outfit:
1. With commute-friendly flats, no scarf (too hot)
2. With heels - in the office, with scarf (surviving office AC)

Top = Oh gosh, where did I buy this top?
Skirt = Cotton On
Heels = Argyle Center
Flats = Kwai Chung Plaza
Belt = Orange, Jakarta
Scarf = gift from a friend