Jung Typology Test

today we took the Jung Typology Test and these are the results:

banne and i were Idealists Counselors (Mentors)

jayjay was an Idealist Champion (Advocate)

karina was an Artisan Composer (Entertainer)

kathy was an Artisan Craftsman (Operator)

explains so much, don't you think?

Bruschetta

after eating more chinese food than i ever thought possible, i am now in the look out for food that has absolutely nothing to do with china. that means no dimsum, no noodles, no raw vegetables garnished with oyster sauce, none of those.

so it was a delight to have finally eaten at Pizza Hut once more. and lo, a new menu item! presenting, the Bruschetta (bru-sket-ta).

with all the yummy goodness of slightly crushed tomatoes, basil leaves and olive oil. the Pizza Hut version has lots of garlic and mushroom. fine with me. the best bruschetta i have ever tasted was from my favorite La Tegola Restorante. eating bruschetta at La Tegola's Busay branch -- with a view of the whole city below you -- is one of my finest culinary experiences.

here's the recipe.

home, finally

choy sum, yum yum

this is my absolute favorite dish here in HK. it's also one of the simplest to prepare. it's actually just Choy Sum (Chinese Flowering Cabbage) in oyster sauce. i find that it is best to eat it with chopsticks.

got online and found the recipe.

Kung Fu Kid

i got dodong this traditional chinese shirt. it has matching pants. it's quite pricey at $150 (i haggled from $179). but check out the embroidery.

can't wait to try it on him. wahahaha...

now this is just horrific

(Photo AFP)

Hong Kong news is going crazy over this story. for a Filipino, i am shocked that something like this could happen. after all, i come from a culture that can well be described as "happy" and "light-hearted", statistically anyway. i cannot imagine that someone literally will go mad and kill everyone in sight. you can say things like, "Mapatay tika!" in Cebuano, but nobody will believe you mean that really. at best it's just you being all melodramatic and hyperbolic.

i have 3 explanations in my head:
1. the killer is an otaku. now i have many otaku friends, i work with a couple in the office. truth be told, i don't feel particularly insecure around them, they are good company actually. so i don't think the killer's otaku-ness did it for him.
2. the killer is mentally ill. for this, we shall wait for the psychiatric assessment results.
3. Japan. ah, the country of shame-phobia. much can be said about this, at the risk of offending the Japanese people. (actually, much can be said of the Filipinos at the risk of offending me.) statistically, Hong Kong and Japan in fact are quite high up in the rank of suicide rates per country. i have two theories about this: too much order makes life boring and being far-removed from nature. (the former is actually a corollary of the second.)

in any case, i am deeply sad and horrified by this incident. i dread the day that someone will invariably attack me or any of my loved ones in the streets. nothing can be done but to pray for the victims. but most especially, for the killer. my thoughts go out to him. that is still somebody's beloved child right there.

Beijing 2008

now, there is no reason why we must jeopardize the success of the Olympics because we have issues with China. China is China, and the Olympics is Olympics. two absolutely different things. so relax, let China have its way with the games. should be fine really. having 5 mascots is a bit... hmm.. unorthodox, yes.. but you know.. at least one is a panda.

note really cute kid in green shirt. he spoke Mandarin (i could tell!!!), which means he came from the Mainland. teheee...

Mong Kok

Mong Kok is the busiest place in Hong Kong. i thought Causeway Bay was something, but Mong Kok! in one night, i spent almost a grand buying beautiful things for my beautiful pips back home. it's like a money magnet! everyone has one single interest in mind: make you fork over whatever amount you have been religiously keeping in your wallet. in Lady's Market, there's a lady who wanted to sell me little magnet souvenirs for $39. i walked away, and she shouted, "OK, $10 la!!" haha.

Mong Kok also has yummy food. of course! it doesn't ever want you to get hungry, else you might want to go home and stop shopping.

where do all these people come from? they walk and walk and walk and never seem to keep still. everywhere else in Hong Kong, pedestrians have to wait for vehicles to stop so they can cross the street. not in Mong Kok. cars pile up to wait for people to clear the way.

chinese fast food. hehe..

if you are in a budget and you are staying somewhere in North Point, take my advise: Take any tram that heads to Western Market ($2). disembark near Prince's Building in Central. walk the footbridge towards Star Ferry in Central Pier. take the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui ($2.20 upperdeck). near the Peninsula Hotel, take the Number 2 or Number 9 bus and disembark at Mong Kok station MTR ($4.40). there you go, Mong Kok for less than $10!

best time to go is around 3PM. you should arrive there around 6PM. eat dinner and take lots of pictures. you will feel your legs giving up on you just about when you get back to HKCC. go to the viewing deck to recharge. with a view like this, you should be OK in no time.

enjoy!!

The Sartorialist

Spotted at Hong Kong Cultural Center.

fat chance he's gonna see me, so i'm putting this out there. bwahahaha..

picture by Glenn A. :)

Discover Hong Kong

print on tarp. hang on HKIA.

junk boats are old Chinese vessels that used to flock Victoria Harbour. now, they are up for charter so people can have booze parties in them.

listen to this and fall in love once more

Vineyard Music - Intimacy

you know how it is that God chooses husband and wife to describe the relationship between Christ and his church? if take we this literally, this CD should be the wedding souvenir.

love songs... :)

jung man dim gong'a?

i am trying to learn Cantonese from Cecilie Gamst Berg, a Norwegian Cantonese teacher (she also knows Mandarin). i have downloaded all Naked Cantonese to my iTunes. i absolutely love Cecilie!

as you may or may not know, all my teammates, except for one, are Hong Kongees. they incessantly converse with each other in Cantonese. our clients are also Cantonese. they will start talking in English only when they see the consternation on our faces. needless to say, we miss out on all the jokes and small talk.

Hong Kongees are infamous for discouraging foreigners from learning the language. nonetheless, those who don't know English will talk to you in straight Cantonese.

so now i am trying to learn the basics. and i think i may be able to get by in dire circumstances when English may never be an option. of course, i have a feeling i will forget everything i learned next week.

a couple of hours ago, i went to 7-eleven to buy bottled water and green tea. after punching in my purchase, the cashier asked me something which i made out to be, "Do you want a plastic bag?"

I said "m'saai.."

There you go, my first Cantonese conversation. :D

Gei hou... gei hou...

Pig Lights

really great find!!! you can crank them up at the side to recharge their battery. :)

Black Rainstorm

From the HKO site:

Black Rainstorm Warning Signal Special Announcement issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 6:40 a.m.

The Rainstorm Warning Signal is now Black. This means that heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 millimetres in an hour, and is likely to continue.

Because of seriously flooded roads and inclement weather conditions, you are advised to take shelter in a safe place and stay there. Parents, students, school authorities and school-bus drivers should listen to radio or television announcements on schools. Do not attempt to travel until the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal is no longer in force and traffic conditions have improved.

Please listen to radio or watch television for traffic conditions and further announcements on the rainstorm.

no work.. la~

a tram of our own

this tram travels along North Point. not sure where it is heading. i love it. feels like a piece of home.

to non-Pinoys, it should read, "Because your promise matters". to all Pinoys here in HK, God bless you all!!!

Beware....

because it is not just a slippery floor. when you least expect it, it will eat you alive. you will get lost for days. relatives will look for you. and they will never know that the slippery floor swallowed you alive.

beware...

The Peak

it was a little foggy up there. felt like Baguio.

Central, Philippines

i am beginning to suspect that when England ceded Hong Kong to China in 1997, part of the condition was to turnover Central to the Philippines. or else, a tripartite agreement that each nation has rights over Central.

a sign on Prince's Building. hmm...

way to go, LCSD!

this was near Victoria Park... if you want to go to the toilet, LCSD wants you to enter a garbage can. hahaha!

Cute kid wearing Mario One-up Mushroom

to this kid's dad: if you don't want him anymore, i will take him!!! but he has to wear this very same outfit everyday of his life.. teehee...

The Vine Christian Fellowship

this is the church i go to here. i actually found it in the internet. it's a pretty solid evangelical church that's mostly English-speaking. it has a really modern flare to its services -- church announcements are shown in beautifully edited video clips called The Vine News. and check out the walls of the venue, quite cool.

today was Communion Sunday. bread was whole slices of cake passed around. you have to actually break them to get a piece.

official site here. i really thought the direction provided in the site was sucky. but turns out it was pretty easy to find the place.

if you get terrified with directions like me, here's the place in Google Maps:


View Larger Map

there is only one Delifrance in that area. ride the elevator at the top of the escalator leading up to Delifrance. Press 2. Voila.

Lunch with Eliz

Eliz Yim... Systems Analyst, durian connoisseur, softball player, all around jockey club girl, world traveller, hong konger, mentor par excellence.

stay happy! :)

more avian sadness

readers of banne's blog will remember she has been doing some sad posts lately about birds. first, there was her ruminations on that annoying song Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. then she did the same thing on Isang Pipit. on both posts, it was quite clear that our culture has been portraying hopelessly suffering birds for a long time now. rather different from the usual Tweety Bird portrayals (but even Tweety is perpetually tormented by that nasty cat).

well, check this out, babe.


i saw this pigeon near Victoria Park this afternoon. it does not have a left foot. the cut was quite clean -- straight and quick. that proves that the bird was in fact tortured by some crazy knife-wielding person.

think about it. cry.

i am thinking of starting some kind of organization against this cruelty. :(