Tuesday, December 27, 2011

12:52 PM

Oh my goodness, I can't believe my last post was on the 30th of November. I've never been a hardworking person anyway, so let's just say I've become ten times lazier after coming home. Lazier to do anything useful, really. Life is so good and laid back at home, I don't know how I'll be able to switch back when I go back to Melbourne. I was thinking about that two days ago and I shuddered at the thought of life alone. I don't mind travelling and having a good time alone, what I mind is studying and doing all the chores by myself... ugh.

Which is why I hope that I'll start going back to what I call "The Melbourne Ting Wen" as soon as possible. Before the start of my holidays, I told myself that I'll make full use of every second and every minute. In retrospect, yeah right, AS IF. Anyway, I don't think it's too late. I've still got around two months in Brunei and hopefully I'll be able to spend the remaining time wisely.

December was a blur - I don't really remember what I did. Where did all the time go? What I do know is that most of the time was spent on playing Sims 3... and then I went to Hong Kong with my family for about a week, and we came back straight to celebrate the Winter Solstice festival and Christmas. Yeah, that was two weeks of feasting. And you know where the food goes to... (yeah I should start working out)

Anyway, the Hong Kong trip was awesome. I had a great time with my family. Dad, being the food lover that he is, did a lot of research before going and we were lucky enough to have tasted some of the most amazing food I've ever eaten. If you love food like my family does, Hong Kong is a must place to visit. I'm talking about barbecued and roasted meats, dim sum, egg tarts, coconut tarts, porridge, milk tea, french toast, street food... The food is always great everywhere you go in Hong Kong. It's that good. The weather was pretty chilly too, kind of like autumn-winter in Melbourne.

Other than the food, I also had a great time from a photographer's perspective. I especially liked going to see the Big Buddha and going to The Peak. I saw lots of things that were photo-worthy and there were lots of opportunities to snap a shot. The place is really bustling with energy. Having said that, one thing I didn't particularly like was the amount of people there. It's crowded everywhere, literally. You have to line up to do everything, which isn't that bad, but when people cut lines... Yeah, the people there are really rude and ill-mannered. And there were tons of tourists from China. I don't think I need to say anything more about them. People bump into you and don't even bother to apologize, some talk rudely, some don't look at you when they're talking to you... and I don't think "excuse me" is in their vocabulary. Overall, a really big disappointment for Asians. This made me appreciate Melbourne more because the people are super friendly and polite, no matter who they are addressing. Singapore and Melbourne are not even that crowded. It's quite scary. Compared to Hong Kong, Brunei can seriously be classified as a dead country.

Anyway, that's just something to take note of if you want to go to Hong Kong. It's not that serious of a matter, unless you're really sensitive. My family and I just shrug and laugh it off. I guess it'll be the same in China. I don't see myself setting foot on that piece of land ever.

Christmas was same old same old. I didn't have time to put up the Christmas tree this time (or I was lazy) but we did have presents and turkey!


Whew, that was a pretty long read, eh? I guess you have more things to say when you haven't been blogging for a month. Ha!