CNY2017: 2nd Day

Dear Pipsqueaks,

Another early wake just to meet up with my mom's side at granny's place 7am sharp. Of course, that was such an unlikely time for us since we were easily 45mins away, so we had to wake up at 5.45am. Urgh. Let's not forget that I slept around 2am...

But so, we forced ourselves out of bed to leave the house at 6.15, and picked up my favourite "fantuan" - which literally translates to rice ball. It comes in both savoury and sweet, but I always prefer sweet. With a cup of hot milk tea...yum!

Then, we spent the next 4 hours on the road driving to the very south tip of Taiwan. I don't remember it being such a long time, but I did sleep most of the way...

After a delicious lunch, 20mins on the ferry and 10mins scooter, we arrived at our stay for the next 3 nights. Honestly too tired to head out but we couldn't miss the sunset, so we rode out to the well known viewpoint to wait for the sunset.

Sunsets are always beautiful. Now, going to play some dice with the family!

PS. The 2nd day of Chinese New Year is when the daughters return to their home to spend some time with their family. This is when grandma is most happy =)

CNY2017: New Year's Day

Dear Pipsqueaks,

With an 8am call, I was downstairs ready to go by 8.30am only to find out mama hasn't finished preparing breakfast and le sister was still asleep. So I watched TV for an hour before anything was actually happening. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to help out in our tiny kitchen. It's just the belief that every kitchen can only accommodate one chef, so better I just stay out of her way for her to go turbo. At least I helped with the washing...

After we finished breakfast, we began our traditional walk every New Year's Day - a visit to the 4 temples. The literal translation is "walk spring", which to others and in ancient times be treated as a walk to greet other family members and friends. Just a way to start the new year. There are tons of other traditions we do during this holiday season, which unfortunately I doubt I'd be able to completely pass on to my children. I note a few every year, but just the food preparation itself is enough for a full term university course. Don't even start on the rest!

Anyway, the walk ended at a cafe shop (we would normally never go to this one except all the previous 5 were closed), and we clocked in at 7000ish steps. That was enough for us to call it a day...at 1.30pm.

Of course not. We quickly went home and packed for the trip down south. It didn't take me long to do mine since I came in a luggage, but the rest of them...all I can say is, I've found a group that'd match the 'mou-ness' of my housemate. 'Mou' meaning to take an excessive amount of time to do something. So we didn't leave the house until close to 5:45pm. I even hung the clothes and took out the trash while waiting. This is when I thank the inventor of the modern TV so I could be at least somewhat entertained.

The drive down to midlands was surprisingly clear despite all the road reports of 30km/hr speeds. We even stopped by a rest area for dinner and still managed to reach around 8pm. Not bad eh for a new year's day drive that normally takes around 3~4 hours.

When we reached the old house, you could see how the weeds have grown into the drive way down into the valley. The place, which used to house the family business, has been in this obsolete state for more than a decade. Around the same time when grandpa passed away, if I remember it right. I suppose that's what happens when the head of the family leaves? The rest loses their sense of unity, even if it's only by a slight. That's enough to widen the already existing gap caused by the family business.

All the change could be seen by looking at this family house. This amazing 4 floor, 14 rooms, 11 washroom, and 5 living room space family house was a proud product of my papa's creation. I still remember the first time we visited when the building was in construction. Every corridor hinted a new adventure. And how each space was connected to one another, it really made a house into a home.

It was a magnificent view during its golden days. Like a fortress, it holds well many of my childhood memories. Many firsts here. But like us, this home aged...and not in a good way. Cracked tiles, broken doors and clogged pipes. A sad condition for something that had once been such an inspiring place.

Maybe it's a good thing we're going to revamp the whole valley. It doesn't deserve how it's being treated now, so better let it go. At least the memories remain cheerful.

A quick chat with my cousin, we called it a night at 2am. Early wake tomorrow to meet up with mama's side of the family.

Happy New Year!

CNY2017: New Year's Eve

Dear Pipsqueaks,

You can't imagine how many things need to be done for the new years in my house. By the time le sister and I had walked out for our first meal (which was about 11ish), my parents were on their way back home already. They were hands full with groceries and a whole bunch of stuff. And you guessed it, mama had sent out a list earlier on the things she wanted us to bring home on our outing. Our run-in was another chance for her to remind us all the things that still need to be done...GREAT. All while we were still hungry.

But luckily we ran into them. We found out that our top two choices for brunch were not open. Go figures, but okay. At least we didn't waste time walking all the way over there to find out. We re-routed to the market and had dumplings there instead. Surprisingly delicious and totally something to try, this shop is on the 2nd floor of the Ren-ai wet market. They have 4 kinds of dumplings and all made onsite. Don't mind the coloring - it's natural coloring from the ingredients. Worth the try if you're in the area.

(San Bao - a combo of all their dumplings!)

CNY2017: Pamper Day

Dear Pipsqueaks,

Not sure why that is, but every time I come back, my sister and I just have SO many things to do that we could be out ALL day. One of the must-dos is getting a hair treatment in. A friend-recommended, Happy Hair Professional was one of the salons with the best service I've been to. They served drinks upon arrive, locked storage for your items, a separate quite room for hair spa, and a scalp scan to check how clean your scalp is. Not to mention the hair treatment packages they offer. They even have a package that's similar to a mixture of Thai Massage and guasha for the head. I actually fell asleep twice during the treatment, which never happens. So yes, great service. And they have blankets for you to keep warm if your cold in your seat! I would definitely make another appointment there during my next visit home - totally recommended.

(my super pampered hair!)

CNY2017: Doctors' Visits

Dear Pipsqueaks,

Definitely one of the longest 'first days' back ever in the history of visits. The day started around 5:30am when my mama came knocking on the door to wake me up. Yes, you read correctly - 5:30am. Why? Because le sister arrived back from Vancouver. Half awake, I rolled myself out of the comfy bed, brushed up and was down in 5mins. Didn't even care too much about what the heck I was wearing as we're going to the hospital for a follow up after the airport.

The only thing was that my parents actually picked out the wrong person at the waiting area thinking it was my sister. Can't believe these two! How can they not know which is their daughter?! Sigh. Anyhoos, I told le sister and she gave them a piece of her mind for thinking she was that larger girl in the front.

By then, it was about 8am and still loads of time before my doctors' appointments. We decided to hang out by 7-11 as the area the hospital was located in was just too confusing. Kind of like Sunway, this Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is a few buildings in their own territory of land. They have research and technology buildings as well as medical training facilities. Just a huge medical park basically. Not to mention, they simply did not make any plans for transport - we literally jammed all the way in and out of the medical park. I wonder if they ever thought about how ambulances are going to make it to the emergency through these jams?

CNY2017: Arrival

Dear Pipsqueaks,

The day started very early - for me anyway - at 5:30am. Not to mention I only got to bed around 1am. But yes, I had to wake up to wrap all the chocolates in the fridge so they'd stay cold enough until I reach Taipei. Didn't want them to melt out of shape, would we?! After finishing up with packing, I literally had 5 minutes to change into my clothes before heading down to meet Mr. Goh aka my taxi driver.

I like my taxi driver. He's a morning person so he's quite cheery when he sees me for these morning flights. We'd chat for a little while, then he'd let me doze off into my own little world - either listening to music or taking a short nap. It's never for long though because he takes his driving very seriously. We left my place around 7am, expecting to arrive around 8am with the morning traffic. You know when we arrived? 7:38am.

It only took me 5 minutes to check in, and by 7:45am, I was wandering what to do to kill 1hr15mins before having to board my flight at 9am. Which of course wasn't the real boarding time - try 9:30am. So yes, I made a loop around KLIA2, and to my surprise, most shops were already open for business by then. Quite unusual in comparison to the 10am-10pm hours in the city. Anyway, I was already carrying too much, so I wasn't in the mood to buy anything else.

Ready for CNY2017

Dear Pipsqueaks,

Can't say I'm ready for CNY but I'm definitely ready to bring the load of snacks to my parent's house! The collection has been taking up a floor in the fridge and a box in the living room - they need to be EATEN! And not by me because them dang sugar levels. Anyway, it's been...OMG! It's been more than 6 months since I've spent some time with my parents and le sister?! What in the world...though I did briefly see them on my way to Vancouver for a wedding in September. But that can't count. I've gotta do better than that.

Which is why I'm only going to be attending 6 tournaments this year:
- All England Open (Birmingham)
- Sudirman Cup (Gold Coast)
- Indonesia Open (Jakarta)
- World Championships (Glasgow)
- French Open (Paris)
- Dubai Finals (Dubai)

Selamat 2017

Dear Pipsqueaks,

I'm not going to start by saying, "it's been a long time since I last updated here!", because that's lame! Not going to start the first post of 2017 that way, and I certainly want to stop writing that. I need to find time and space in my mind to just sit down and write write write. Just yesterday, a friend had asked me about blogging, and the weirdest thing happened. I found myself talking non-stop about how amazing it is to blog, why she should do it, and how to set up the blog. I suppose that's what passionate people are like?

Yes, I'm passionate about blogging! Can't you tell? Okay, if you can't tell that I've changed to a whole new template, then you're a horrendous subscriber! Well, actually it's not completely your fault. I just haven't written anything for so long...brain becomes a bit scared to go full out. That's also not healthy because it just means my brain is STUCK! I don't want it to be stuck...so here I am! New look and feel which will hopefully bring me back to writing-mode.

So before I move into 2017, I want to highlight a few things about 2016:

• attended Thai friend wedding in Bangkok
• moved into a new area - new condo
• met up with baddy girls Monica Mui and Alice Man in Singapore
• hosted my friend Alice Man (hopefully she enjoyed her mini-KL getaway)
• played tennis for the first time in YEARS at Lake Club
• took a photoshoot session in Taipei
• included Cheng Wen Hsing into our Tuesday baddy group
• visited Macau and Hong Kong with the parents and le sister
• celebrated my birthday in Rio
• attended Bon/Steve's wedding back in Vancouver
• got a new windshield for my car
• watched 21 movies
• assisted at 9 tournaments last year - 11 weeks of work travel
• participated in my 3rd Olympic Games at Rio2016
• managed two successful dinners - Kunshan & Dubai
• delivered 99% of all promo activity requests from hosts/sponsors
• spent New Year's countdown in Hokkaido

Yup, definitely accomplished and experienced a bunch in 2016. Wasn't an easy year - I combed through my calendar and all I could see were what I labelled as "Work Reflections", which were mostly a recap of an incident at work that I just needed to write down to forget. Ironic eh? Writing it down to forget it. But hey, it works. Best part is, I can't even remember most of those incidents by looking at their titles - that normally doesn't happen as I do brag at times about my amazing memory of all things experienced. Yes, not always the most important things, but I remember them anyway.

So here we are in 2017. What the heck does that mean? It means, I've started my new approach to life. I've taken up bullet journaling - and I can't wait to go back to Taiwan for Chinese New Year because the bookstores are full of colorful pens to write with and stickers to go into my book; started to exercise more regularly and watch my health; and most importantly, take myself less seriously and learn to enjoy life. Whatever it offers.

Anyhoos, time to hit the gym. It's taken you a good 10 minutes to read this so time to move your bottoms too, peeps! Let's not just start strong - continue strong! Together.