The Adventures of Abby

The expats, exchange students, interns and locals who love to party, love to party on October 31st. Those who don’t, go anyway. It’s a chance to stand out in a city where crowds are the norm and an excuse to wear self-indulgent outfits with no shame or abashment. If none of the above, at least a chance to see a parade of bizarre, occasionally unsightly costumes where people are normally so fashion-conscious.

Two places to mention: Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai, both in Hong Kong island. No, this is not the off-the-beaten-path guide to Hong Kong’s Halloween, if that can even exist. (more…)

Another unintentional hiatus by me. Way to go, Abby. Update coming soon hopefully, let’s try to get back on track.

Ever since college, I dreamed of living in an apartment in the city. It was exciting to me, the thought of having to take an elevator to and from home, getting fast food because it’s convenient, and looking out the window at night to see the lights.

I grew up in a small town in Manila — simple, quiet and generally slow. Sundays were always lazy, there was nothing but trees to block your view of the sky, nights were dark and buzzing with the sound of cicadas. We were always in the suburbs, and it was lovely.

But I suppose I got my wish. Hong Kong, especially the places where I’ve lived, is the definition of a busy city. Sunday is probably the busiest day of the week, the average view is more building than sky, and nights are filled with the sound of construction, party music, or the army of vehicles driving by right in front of your apartment.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the city, but I realized why I liked it so much. It wasn’t about comfort or convenience per se. It’s about what it symbolized for me — independence, a faster lifestyle that hopefully meant I was taking charge of my life and career. Was it all in my head?

I still love the city, but oh do I miss the suburbs. Like they say, you don’t know what you have till it’s gone.

It was just like any other day, except that I was a bit nauseous. Little did I know that that Friday morning, May the 13th, was to be the start of over 3 painful weeks ahead. Superstition aside, of course.

This was how much medicine I had to take. And this isn’t even all of it:

Two things I’ve learned about doctors in Hong Kong: One, they don’t normally give you enough medicine for a full course of treatment, just enough so you have to go back for more (I hear it’s so they make more money, but I dunno!). Two, as you can see from the picture, they give a lot of medicine here. Each visit, I was given 4-5 different types!

So what exactly did I have? (more…)

First, let me say again for the record that I’m a Bible-believing Christian. But like most Christians, I didn’t believe in the May 21, 2011 rapture according to Harold Camping. I say that with no joy or hint of mockery to Camping’s followers.

People quit their jobs, dropped out of school, used up all their life savings for this belief. Over US$3 million were reportedly spent by those who believed on spreading the message about the rapture. But before you call them ‘idiots’, let’s think about that info for a minute.

When people heard of the prediction, I imagine that there were 3 major reactions: Acceptance, curosity (which may lead to one of the other two), or rejection. Considering their actions, the people who accepted it obviously had their reasons for doing so, or they wouldn’t have risked it all like that. I never followed Family Radio, but after doing some research it does look like Camping made some very strong arguments.

Those who were curious most likely did their homework and eventually decided whether to accept or reject it, either that or they just decided not to care. We who rejected it also have our many different reasons — some educated, some not. But what we have in common is that we all made a stand, we picked a side.

My point is, we all have our beliefs. Whether it’s about rapture, doomsday or what brand of ketchup is best, we all make our choice based on what makes sense to us. This isn’t to say that I think all beliefs are correct (this is just not possible), but my point is, I don’t think anyone should be ridiculed for their beliefs. This world isn’t simply divided into ‘smart’ and ‘stupid’.

Now that the prediction has failed, I think we should just move on. No gloating, no mocking, especially since some people lost so much over it.

If you ask me what I believe in, it’s that no one knows when the end is. But no one knows when their death will come either, so either way, I think we should all have a stand on afterlife, and a reason to truly, truly believe it. If we don’t, it’s time to start looking.

So I’ve been looking around in case moving in to a shared flat is a better option than staying at a serviced apartment. Making new friends, having an actual kitchen, and actually having space to walk in the apartment doesn’t sound like such a bad deal.

After poking around and signing up for a few flatshare-ad services, I got an email from a someone who introduces herself as a Chinese lady, married to a British man, living in Hong Kong for work. This is one of the rooms she’s offering:

The price she set wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t a bad deal at all. So I ask for more information, and ask when I can go in person to check it out. And this is her reply: (more…)

Behold, this dish — skillfully made by my aunt as she and other relatives visited for the Holy Week.

This is Ginataan (literally “made with coconut milk”) a very Filipino dessert with sweet potato, yam, taro, plantains, tapioca pearls, jackfruit and glutinous rice balls. Probably sounds weird to you now, but unless you don’t like sweets, this is satisfaction guaranteed.

Just last week I was trying to explain the dish to my BF. I knew I wasn’t doing it justice with my explanation, but I remember wishing more than anything that I could have some.

And now I’m home for the weekend! Yesterday, eating this, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy. As awesome as Hong Kong is, the lifestyle and the experience, it’s never gonna beat the sheer bliss of being at home with family, eating good food like this.

Man, if only I could go home every weekend!

There are three main reasons why last Friday night at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens games was epic.

Reason #1: We got 2 HK$1250 tickets a day before the event, and 4 more tickets on the day itself. All of them, we got for free. I don’t know about you but free stuff is always good, and getting free stuff for your friends is even better! Did the free tickets really make the night more enjoyable? You bet your crusty keyboard they did!

Reason #2: For me and I’m sure many others, it wasn’t really just about the rugby. Sure, 99% of the people there were watching the game. I’d say at least two-thirds of the crowd actually knew what was going on. But the best part about being there that night was… (more…)

I consider myself to be pretty versatile with food — I’m not picky, I’m pretty open-minded, and my tummy’s rather tough. When it comes to spicy food however, it’s always matter over mind for me, so while I do have a tolerance for it, I usually go for the milder options. Before I go on, I am a Bicolana by blood, but it seems that my tongue has no respect for the heritage!

Two years ago, I had my first taste of Szechuan food at San Xi Lou restaurant here in Hong Kong. I went there with colleagues and one visiting from the US, who made it a point to visit that particular restaurant. Of course, I didn’t really understand the fascination for what I felt was a subtle form of masochism, but again, I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to food. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago at a house party with friends, I was trying to figure out how not to lose my drink in the sea of white Styrofoam cups people were using. I figured, why not write my name on it? The ink rolled on easily, but soon enough instead of writing an “A”, I’d drawn what was the beginnings of a squished, loopy little girl.

A while later, I ended up with these.

Yes, I know the girl looks nothing like me! D’oh!

I think whatever skill I had has rolled back into this basic style mostly involving circles, silly faces and other basic shapes. I’m terribly out of practice. I do miss drawing though, and my friends were encouraging too. I recently got my old drawing tablet from a friend who visited Manila and picked it up for me. I have it here and tonight, so while watching Castle S03 E13 (woohoo! ♥) I tried doodling more. (more…)