Thoughts beyond my life & my travel - Bel

I don't know when it's become a practice that my ex decided to block me in whatsapp or stop sending messages to me via whatsapp. Instead, I got SMS or emails instead. Does it imply that whatsapp is too intimate a language platform for someones who have had a relationship? Well, when you stopped by a place you went with your ex, you probably want to say hi, or provoke some feelings. It may not be a sensible idea though. Till the day before, I got a "hey" from my ex and I was speechless. I didn't want to say anything this time. I got hurt from getting to know "being blocked" by someone I like in whatsapp before, and I didn't want this story happen again! May the world be in peace. Everyone is happy in the year of 2014.

I took an adventure night listening to stories of meeting scams. I'm sure everyone might have encountered scams at least once in a lifetime since we all get so many "junk" and "not-seem-to-be-scams" emails. Nevertheless con artists still find their own ways to "cheat" and "locate" a target. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of people, con artists have a strong will, and can survive after trying one target over another and over another. They can lie about being penniless and ask for a meal from a stranger on the street, or beg for a ticket home where is 20 hours away, or even lure a foreigner to a restaurant, charging him a handsome amount of money. Bravo! Young and attractive looking women are always the key to success. Beauty is the weakness to many men. I received a few emails from friends who told me that they were having difficulty and needed cash. I could only relate the message to them bewaring these spam mails. I have never tho...

It was my first adventure to join a volunteering event through a volunteer meet up group. This time, it's a bit different as the elderly have suicidal thoughts. I went through a simple training with the others and be prepared for this different experience. The social worker warned us to let them know if we felt uncomfortable after the visits. We're a group of 3, all come from the meet up group without any experience of encountering elderly who are so sensitive and emotionally not stable. Mind you! They are not harmful to people. They don't seem to be poor and their living conditions are not bad at all. They are just sad or depressed because of the chronic pain or loneliness they suffer. They've found themselves "useless" to society or family. We stressed that they have contributed a lot to society and many people love them. Their stories were very touching, sometimes leaving us speechless. We feel blessed to have the opportunity to visit them and at the ...

What did a middle-aged man and woman talk about in a fast food restaurant? A candid conversation! It was a Cheung Yeung afternoon that many people go up the hill to visit the graves of the ancestors. I bet the couple had more serious "business" to talk about instead of following this tradition. I totally had no intention to overhear such conversation, but I could imagine customers at the corner could hear it well with no problem. I guess when one is really angry, one does not care about talking about all of her family secrets in public. I could see the woman feel frustrated when her husband betrayed her and embraced the youth of another woman. "Many people say I'm pretty than her. How old is she? You want her because she's younger?" The man did not say a word. I kept looking at my tablet, dared not looking up to check the face of the "couple". Does he feel ashamed? Does he simply want to reconcile the relationship? Why was he willing to be...

I finally made a "trip" to the library today. My only purpose was to look for travel guides on Bangkok. Travel blogs and travel apps are widely present on the internet space. They are very useful for researching on a new place, but I still prefer a physical travel book that organizes the information in a systematic way. I can spend a week searching information online, but glancing through the information of a good travel book simply takes a couple of hours only. There are quite a lot of book choices in the library, but the good Chinese books, based on their layout and content, are all written by Taiwanese authors. That is really sad! HK publishers no longer invest in travel guides? They only compile the magazine write-ups into a so-called "travel guide" and try to make a profit out of it. What I like the Taiwanese guide books is that they have a thought on how to come up with useful topics for travelers, not just a couple of pages for hotels plus another 2...

It's a strange feeling when you bump into your old friend and realize that she has changed her hair, changed her boyfriend, had a big jump along the career path and even re-located to somewhere far from where you live. Then I'm thinking - why do I stick with the same hairstyle, the same apartment and the same job. What's going on? Am I lagging behind or do I refuse to move forward? Life is so unpredictable. While some of my friends quit their jobs and devote their social life to families, others just focus on career and aim at moving up the career ladder. I probably lie in the middle, seeking stability for having time to enjoy quality of life, pursue personal development and give back to society. It is unavoidable for us to compare ourselves with people around us. According to the social psychology theories, people always see themselves "better than a average person". That may give us a motivation to work hard and stay competitive. While I tried to stop to c...

I used to find Olivier Martinez one of the most handsome men on earth after I watched Unfaithful . It was until last weekend when I saw the movie again. I was not attracted to him at all. Maybe my mind has gone through so much changes over the years, changing my perception. Talking about perception , I actually find the male lead in this TV episode is quite appealing. But when I reflect on the change of perception, I try to relate it to the psychology concepts I just learnt. People do change because of situational depositions, couples do need to work hard to match with the pace of the perception change of one another. To maintain the relationship simply takes a lot of effort. As the economy evolves so much over the years, there is no doubt that our thinking and perception have been fast evolving, too.

Has the rule of dating become more casual? Definitely but is relationship that loose like being shown in the programme "Love in the Wild". Young contestants were paired as couples who had to stay on the same beds during the competition. Two people just get to know each other and they share the intimate days and nights. Some didn't find connection between each other but they want to stay on as they will have advantages throughout the competition. Other guys hold hands with the girls or kiss the girls even they lay eyes on another girls. It doesn't quite makes sense to me. But it's a dating show. Does it mean the rule of dating changes and the line of ethics is being pushed way way backward? Such concept is even beyond "one night stand". I feel like I shouldn't have born in this decade as I still hold the traditional ethics that dating should rule the old school.

I was compelled to join a lavish lunch, but it's nothing compared to a simple meal in which I enjoy alone or with close friends. Are we being influenced by the "lifestyle in the US" in which people consume beyond what they earn? Is Hong Kong becoming more and more materialistic? To be honest, I have a more happy moment if I can enjoy a few chit chat and a gentle workout than having an exquisite meal. Can life be easier without being influenced by the people around us?

Did we not learn a lesson from history? I read the news about the "massacre" in Egypt that reminded me what happened in China many years ago. We keep learning through histories, through someone's mistake and our mistake, nevertheless we can't avoid the fallacies that things can happen again. Maybe that's why people might bump into the wrong guys all the time. A psychologist lecture triggered my thought somehow, change blindness disables us to see the whole picture as we focus on a single thing or bear a rigid belief so deep. Maybe when we "witness" the history, our focus was upon the power instead of the horrible picture that we've seen. Blessing to all who feel angry and sad about this craziness.

Every time I looked down from my building, I saw this lovely roof garden with nice plants and wooden furniture. But I never saw people sitting there enjoying the sunshine except last night. The noise from a gathering kept me awake most of the night. I know it's a Chinese New Year celebration, but as it approached 11pm, 12am, 12:30am, the whole neighbourhood could still hear the girls laughing so loud and chatting. I could hear the sound from below, and here I could spot a party down at that "secret roof garden". Since most buildings are old, the windows are not sound-proof. It's quite unpleasant. I could relate to why the neighbourhood are against bars setting up in this quiet area. I moved up here because I couldn't stand the noise down from the main street as well. While the neighbourhood has changed from local food stores to art galleries and high-end furniture shops, the expensive rent in Central also made the owners to move their restaurants over her...

A few friends gathered to have hot pot tonight. Wonderful gathering and wonderful talk the whole night. The more I ate, the more I drank. It's a happy night after all. A friend revealed that she just had an operation, but the tumour was very tiny. She felt very blessed and very lucky. Another friend burst out, "Can I not hear bad news about friends having cancers?" For sure we prefer another news told by our friend that his wife is pregnant, but we do start to accept the fact that the ageing problem is deepening in the coming years. Why do we always say the young people are care free? It is probably because most of them are healthy, pain free and do not have any health concern or burden. I visited some elderly a few days ago. Some of them live alone as their children had moved out or migrated to the US. They do not go out a lot or have any particular hobbies. Even though they have to encounter some medical problems like bunions, high blood pressure or weakening of the...

There are many diseases that we might not have heard of, and sadly, there are no cure at the same time. It's hard to imagine a toddler who needs to undergo a number of surgeries, but children who have tourette syndrome may have to encounter a lot of challenges in social life. They make different "tics" and random noises due to the brain disorder. They simply can't stop them and feel embarrassed when they twist their eyes/neck/hands or say something out of their control. Front of the class is an inspiring movie about a real man called Brad Colin who has tourette syndrome and struggled to become a teacher since a very young age. He succeeded and even was awarded teacher of the year in Georgia. A BBC programme also explores how the teenagers with tourette interact with others in a camp. It is a full day learning, and we should feel how lucky we are to be a healthy person every day. We have been blessed. It also reminds me that some friends I know might have a very...

It is a Chinese tradition to buy brand new clothes and shoes for the Chinese New Year, especially for kids. I bought this new clothes for my "kid". She still looks the best in purple, but she looks fresh and spirited in blue!

The moment of truth about the onion wine I made. After the "wine tasting" session this Sunday, I decided not to make another bottle. Well, I like red wine, I like onions. They just do not make a good pairing. It's totally fine for drinking it, but the taste is a bit exotic for enjoyment. Good try!

I haven't seen this movie but the storyline inspired me to read the story of Mark O'Brien, a disabled writer who was paralyzed from neck to his legs and survived on an iron lung. Despite his disability, he was always curious about his sensual feeling and decided to look for his first intimacy encounter at the age of 38. It took great courage to make the first step. For Mark, it was more difficult as he needed to ask his helpers and friends to make all the arrangement. Though he was nervous, he had a strong mind to make it happen. It was a life-changing experience for him, but his disability was so severe that he could hardly find an encounter with someone whom he liked. It was an eye-opening trip when reading his story written by himself. He exposed his feeling in front of everybody with no fear. His body was so fragile and his mind was strong, yet vulnerable emotionally. After all, disabled people are human beings. They have needs and emotions like us. They need access...

After fighting cold for a few years, I felt like a reborn today. No better than feeling healthy and relaxed! I tried out another recipe that was at the back of my mind long time ago. Again, it's very simple, and I made some modifications since I didn't have a couple of things at the kitchen. But it still came out surprisingly delicious. Try it out! You can just pan fry the ribs on each side slightly. Add onions, cabbage and potatoes after that, then tomato paste and chicken broth. Cook it for over half an hour at least. You then add kidney beans and tomatoes. I added some red wine before it served and enjoy that with spaghetti and a glass of red wine. It tastes fantastic! It r eally made my day, especially on a Sunday.

I love red wine and I love onions, so I started to have a thought to follow this simple recipe when I read it in a newspaper one day. Don't be shocked! It's called "onion wine" but it's just simply putting sliced onions in a bottle of red wine for 8 days. First, you peel off the outer skin, slice it into 8 pieces. Then put it in a jar filled with red wine for 8 days. It's done! Take the onions out, and you can enjoy around 50ml onion wine every day. The portion is 3 red onions for a bottle of red wine, or 2 red onions for 500ml. I bought a 900ml jar today and 2 onions. But I realized that the onions were so big and filled up the jar already, so I put 1.5 onions with around 400 ml red wine. Now I have to wait till next weekend to see what happens. The onion wine is an ancient Chinese recipe that is said to be good for sleep, eye sight and frequent urinating, etc. I don't know whether it works but it won't harm! So stay tuned! I'll g...

It was the first work day in 2013 but I chose to take a day off. It happened to be a scary day to start with as the electricity was off till around lunch time, due to the maintenance work. I charged my macbook and had some hot water prepared overnight. I got food that I don't need to cook. I know it's not the end of the world but I felt I was "physically isolated" as I couldn't went down to the street easily. As a matter of fact, I was lucky that I was connected to a virtual world by means of internet via personal hotspot. But I still felt a "loss" without the magic of electricity and heat. It was quite a miserable feeling and you do not feel people care if you're alone or you are sick at all. It felt like days before I realized that the electricity was back. I probably need a stronger mind set if it's the end of the world instead of just a power off.