Hong Kong Apr 08 (2)

Though schedule was pretty tight, we still managed to squeeze out some time for shopping. To the extent that the two 'girls' opted shopping over an informal dinner with the rest one night hehe. I suspect that contributed to our 'bad reputation' cos the next day in the bus when my CEO asked for a map and I said I only had a not-so-gd one dunno who joked, "only showing the shopping areas ah"... *bleah* Is it such a crime to go shopping when official duties are over? Not really what. Sigh must learn to be more discreet next time.

Oh well, in any case, here are some of my shopping finds!

Clockwise from top left: Jasmine tea leaves that came prettily packaged in white tin box; lovely green and grey striped scarf that I found at the Esprit outlet (that I really have no use for but cannot resist buying); Lesportsac pouch with geometric print (this is the real thing, for once...); strawberry choc from Japanese snack chain Okashi Land; Green tea powder from Genki Sushi.

Hong Kong street snack called 鸡蛋仔. It's really just some kind of waffle shaped like a tray of eggs, then vendor folds up the whole sheet and tucks it into a brown bag... Not very yummy actually despite the long line, but fun to nibble on.

One of many life-sized Olympic mascot lanterns found at the promenade area near ferry terminal at Kowloon...

The rare occasion I decided to try strike a fun pose... :)

No time for a full post -- but I realised yest night when trying to produce some notes of meeting (I took notes, but not with intention of reproducing as NOM. Unfortunately was told to help with minutes for that session a day later) the importance of namecards at external meetings with unfamiliar faces....! Usually I hate to give out namecards (inferiority complex haha) and so sometimes due to reciprocity I dun collect them... but I am now suffering the consequences. Cos have to put together attendance list to go with minutes, am trying v hard to name two faces captured in a photo taken during one discussion session. Errr though I can console myself that I got the NUMBER of Hong Kong officials correct, I have NO IDEA who two of them are. Aaargh. I shall resort to circulating pic to colleague to seek help.... :( This is so embarrassing...

Hong Kong Apr 08 (1)- Work

The work trip to Hong Kong was a very educational one. Though the main purpose was to attend a housing conference for which our Minister was one of four keynote speakers, the delegation also toured various housing projects/ offices/ parks (respective stat board reps attended things relevant to our fields) Our various hosts from Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong Housing Society were all very hospitable and friendly; and were very willing to share what they have done, esp on the issues of rental and elderly housing. Particularly for elderly housing, Hong Kong seems to be quite a few steps ahead of sg, esp in terms of facilities and range of support services for this growing group of individuals.

Since work work is confidential and sometimes boring to other ppl, I shall instead talk a little bit about other work-related but not subject-specific things I discovered:

1) Work trip for big shots and medium shots basically means you work throughout the day; even after day's outings are over and everyone can technically retire to their rooms. And so perhaps only with the exception of a tiny fry like me with no working laptop (phew...), rest of the laptop-equipped ppl on trip were probably clearing mails, typing notes of minutes blah blah way into wee hours of the night. And so while colleague was clearing emails on laptop, I was amusing myself with reports of Olympic torch snatchers on BBC/NHK..... (experiencing 50% guilt 50% relief)

2) Punctuality is a golden rule for work trips. Though I must say that I am a pretty punctual person, I've learnt that small fries always ought to appear like 15 min b4 stipulated meeting time; else you will most certainly end up being last persons to arrive even if you're on the dot. Hai... This aspect me and hy dun have much 形象 left, since for some unfortunate reasons we both arrived last twice... And the 2nd time our CEO even suaned us for being like 3 min late... OOPS.

3) Logistics sucks... Though I was a free-rider on this trip, I quite empathised with the logistic guy from MND who had to take care of every single detail from group check-in to helping with last min flight changes etc... It's a skill I dun think I can ever really master... :(

4) Networking lunches/dinners are not really my cup of tea. Well, actually I had the good luck of sitting beside some really cool individuals (like the quite high ranking kind who maybe deep down wonder why got such tiny fry at same table but yet tries to engage you and dun make you feel uncomfortable); there were also some eeky ones who just bochap you and concentrate on the impt ppl at table (ok lah, it's understandable). The socialising part aside, two good things that came out of these though were i) reminder and renewed motivation to be updated on current affairs & ii) Lotsa delicious Chinese food!

Lastly, some random work-related shots:

Unlike in Singapore, public rental housing blocks in Hong Kong typically have names instead of block numbers. Apparently, these huge characters plastered to the side of the blocks also serve as a resting point for little sparrow guests :)

The magnifiying reader machine that allows elderly to magnify tiny text in books. Quite cool right. Apparently, you can also change the text cum background to different colors too; cos according to demonstrator some elderly cannot detect certain colors too well...

Cameramen awaiting arrival of Chief Executive Donald Tsang at a cocktail reception to celebrate HKHS's 60th anniversary.

Cute choir kids performing at the above ceremony. The lil boy on the top right looks so demure but shuai4 hor... :P