Thoughts beyond my life & my travel - Bel

I just read the headline of this news and I'm a bit sad that a hospital has to introduce a private alcove for people leaving babies there. The first impression I got was "Is that an encouragement for people to give up their babies?" I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing but it's a bit sad to hear that. That reminded me that some mothers actually gave away their babies to the foster homes in China. Maybe the drop off is not too bad? I just hope those mothers will pick their babies up after having a second thought.

Shopping in the outlet stores may not be as comfortable as the chained or branded stores. The wholesales stores here stock a lot of outdated pants and jackets that you might think only nuts will buy those. But you just can't deny that you can treasure hunt some best buy items sometimes. My friend bought me a DKNY jacket a few years ago and yesterday I found this black Jacob top priced at HK$29 only. I plan to have another treasure hunt for my mom next time.

I don't feel like cooking when I feel unwell. Instant noodles are not my favourite food, but I still always try out some new, some that are fast to prepare and hope for better options. I know it looks like instant noodles but I persuade myself it's something different, Maybe because of the power of packaging, I bought this and tried it out. Not too bad imagine that I don't eat cooked salmon at all and I actually ate it with fish fillet, too. 

I hate to feel sick and to be sick. But the flu season hit me finally and luckily I didn't lose my voice yet but I'd better to be a good patient this time. Here's the cough syrup. That doesn't look as bad as the black one and it doesn't taste too bad, too.

Fairy tales always tell a story of a prince and a princess who will end up living happily ever after. The "Undercover Princes" TV programme depicts an interesting life of two princes - one from Sri Lanka who looks for a wife in Brighton, England, another one is Manvendra Singh Gohil who is a gay prince in India who wants some openly gay experience in the UK. So maybe the modern life of the princes are a lot different from what we imagine. The Sri Lankan prince didn't have any luck in night clubs on a Saturday night. The Indian prince seemed to be quite popular in a gay bar but he wants to find something more. This reality show is way more interesting than a model contest. I heard that Manvendra plans to adopt a child to carry out his responsiblity as a prince. I hope that it will come into a reality. There is no doubt that he's such a brave prince.

Can you become a volunteer to help with the relief work? The reflief organizations always look for * health professionals, such as doctors, surgeons, nurses, etc * engineers on water sanitarization * sometimes a cook! Say Red Cross for example, they need you to submit an application form and conduct an interview with you to let you understand more about how the relief work is like. If you're found suitable, trainings will be provided for you to learn more about how to set up those tents, medical supplies and sensitive cultural issues, etc.   International Red Cross sends out SMS to Red Cross in different countries each time they need help and co-ordinate with the replies.  Red Cross' first relief team arrived in Haiti 2 days after the incident and two volunteer doctors and some volunteers from Hong Kong arrived around 10 days later. But volunteers can't stay long. Volunteers are rotated after helping out for a month. Red Cross expects their relief work lasts fo...

I'm glad that I was able to wake up early on a Saturday morning to attend a seminar on disaster management. Hong Kong is a very safe place and the worst "disaster" ever was a big fire in a commercial building which killed around 20 people. It's still sad but technically we don't need any foreign aid and it's not a disaster according to the UN and WHO definition. But it doesn't mean that we don't prepare for it. All speakers were great but the presentation by a volunteer doctor was the most impressive. He was deployed to Haiti for a relief project. The case study, vivid pictures of the scenes and patients together with the story telling of his own experience were really intriguing and outlined how hard the "mission" was like. I was so moved that I almost cried when they played an interview video with the volunteers.It's also great to learn how organized they are to prepare logistically for those relief work. I had some reflections on...

A friend of mine asked me how I felt about Tiger Woods coming back to the games. There is no doubt that he's great player and it's good news for the audience to see a great player. Of course, he has already been labelled as promiscious and he can hardly be reborn as a good man again. I remember I watched his TV interview a long time ago. He talked about being influenced by his wife to be very competitive. Now I just wonder whether I can believe a word that he says. Nevertheless, if you look at the bright side, he started off the Masters not too bad. At least he might have practised a lot and shows that he takes the games seriously. I might admire his golf skill but not him as a person.

I tried to stick to healthier diet with regular intake of vegetables, fruits and dairy products. But as a human being, I need comfort food like a delicious cake once in a while to satisfy my palate.  This tiramisui cake was my pick in April. What about you? 

I suggested my friend to take a walk to the infamous Wing Lee Street after lunch in Soho. But we're a bit disappointed when we got there. The street has become so well-known to Hong Kong people after the film, Echos of the Rainbow , won an international award.  The building is old, may give people lots of memory but is not too special. Nevertheless, It's quite a "tourist" spot for the local people right now. Many of them enjoy taking pictures of old building, the signage, the stairs and even the laundry lines. Stop by and share how you feel next time you're around the area.

I had a little chat with my niece who told me that she didn't like the lunchbox that her father made for her. What did he make? Stir fry beef with pineapple, served with rice. Oh, the little girl doesn't like pineapple but it reminds me an interesting coversation with a friend of mine about pineapple. It's about a novel way to taste the pineapple. So I bought this pineapple at a supermarket today and challenged myself to cut it off. It's easier than I thought but there are a lot! I think it takes days for me to finish them off. But there is no doubt that it tastes better than the canned one.

Everyone has a great camera these days and you can see people taking pictures with their phones or cameras everywhere. My friend's 3-year-old daughter wanted to take pictures of us. That's her artistic shot!  It's me and her parents in front of a herbal jelly shop. Maybe she can be a better photographer next time.

"The lives of others" is the most amazing movie I've seen recently. You should have thought the movie is about how innocent people were being watched and scrutinized in East Europe but actually it outlines how a dedicated socialist has become a good man protecting a playwright who partnered with some friends to release suicide figures to West Germany. What a great man who risks his lives and his career simply just to save the others' lives. It will really be a joke if Nicholas Cage is gonna re-make the movie in English and make himself the key role. It's probably hard for us to relate him as a good man like HGW. The Lives of Others [Blu-ray]

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a popular book and I thought about reading it but I know I couldn't do it as the story should be so sad. Till today I watched the movie version on HBO. I didn't expect the daughter has Down Syndrome and there are some twists in the story. My memory was quite wrong as I thought the story was about a daughter who had leukemia and died the otherwise. I also got the impression that it's based on a real life story but it's not. I will be more touching if it's a real life story and one of the characters wrote the novel herself.

Try this out and you will find yourself speakers Cantonese like native speakers. I found those "pronounciation guide" pretty accurate and maybe some of the phrases are useful to you when you travel or meet some new friends.

That's the moment of winning! It was also the moment when almost everyone in the stadium cheered out loud! Despite that it's a shield championship only, I'm still happy that Hong Kong could beat the big guys in the Russian team.

Experts say that one of the reasons that people love facebook is that many young people use facebook to seek their own identity. Whether it's true or not, that reminds me those "intruders" at HK Sevens. Their goal was just being in the playing field for a couple of minutes before they're caught by the security guards. Do they want to find their own identity or they just want to "beat" the security guys? But audience seem to enjoy seeing these intruders rather than the Lion hip hop dance, the official performance.