jiveturtle

Rather than eating the left overs from Christmas Day, we went for the "traditional" hot pot for Boxing Day dinner. It was great, especially in the snowy cold weather to keep ourselves warm for those wintry nights. You just can't a good hot pot Chinese stlye. More photos here .

Looks like Amelie has been good enough this year to get some presents. Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas to everyone I know and love! Hope you all have a wonderful festive season with family and friends! More photos here .

With Christmas coming, I always like to buy Christmas lights and decorate the house to make it a little more festive. I came across these green Christmas tree lights to put around the window and thought they looked quite nice. Also got some blue snoflake lights too which you can see here . Amelie likes Christmas a lot, with the lights and presents. Hope she has been good enough this year for Santa to bring her presents!

Snow have been getting heavy for the last couple of days, perhaps we will get a white Christmas afterall! But its a pain trying to get out and about to do the shopping and hear lots of stories on the news about people being stranded. But Amelie and I still love the snow! I wonder how much we'll get this year? More photos here .

First day of snow! Seeing the white flakes falling from the sky makes me so happy and giddy! I couldn't resist to go out there in the early morning and build something for Amelie. She loves the snow too. Let's hope we'll get a white Christmas! More photos here .

After the hearty breakfast with char-siu, I headed to "our" temple, Wong Dai Hsin with Grandma, to get some guidance and pray to say thank you to Wong Dai Hsin for all he has done for our family. For that, got these joss-sticks for praying. Hope Wong Dai Hsin liked them.

My last day in Hong Kong, and my Grandma gets up really early to go to the local market to buy some of this freshly roast Char-Siu pork to go with my instant noodles for breakfast. What a way to start the day! Even my aunt sneaked a few pieces before she left for work in the morning! Thank you Grandma!

I love the relatives on my maternal side. Kind, caring, fun, easy-going, hard working. Some of the traits which I hope I have too in myself. Being with them just brings smiles to my face, and helps my outlook on my life. This meal was one of the many meals we had together where I felt warm, happy and lucky that I am part of this family. I would not know what I would be like if it was not for them all. Tonight's menu included something which I have not had since I was 11 years old, roast goose! It was awesome and the flavours and smells help brought back a lot of memories of when I was a child in Hong Kong and being with this wonderful family. Thank you all, ever so grateful for all of you for being a part of my life. More photos here .

After the great Japanese lunch, we went back to Grandma's flat to catch up and rest. While at Grandma's place, decided to get the camera out and take some shots. One of them is this one of the view from the living room window. Apartment blocks in Hong Kong are very very tall. My Grandma is on the 30th floor, so I thought it would be a nice view of the area around Ngau Tau Kok. What do you think? Do you prefer the scenery of a city life or the quiet countryside?

For lunch, after praying at Grandpa's resting place, we set off to a local Japanese restuarant which Grandma likes very much. I went for the roasted eel in teriyaki sauce with rice. It was really really nice, and could have had another two bowls. Grandma's favourite dish was the barbecued squid. We also have pan-fried dumplings, beef rice-don, and my Aunt ordered her favourite sushi rolls. Really enjoyed that meal! More photos here .

When in Hong Kong, I always get my favourite potato chips, Calbee BBQ flavoured potato chips. I don't remember when how I got hooked onto this, but I guess it was when I in Hong Kong for three month long holidays when I was a child. From then on, I just can't resist them. Amelie has also taken a liking to Calbee too, shame that they don't sell this in the UK Chinese supermarkets now. They always seem to be out of stock. Calbee forever!

After the vegetable stall, we came across the the roast meat stall, and it was a beautiful sight for us carnivores! Hmm...crispy roast pork, roast duck, char siu roast pork and chicken wings...yummy! More photos here .

Getting ready to go see Grandad at his resting place, my uncle and I went to the local wet market to pick up some fruits and flowers for praying. I took the opportunity to take some photos of the local atmosphere. Here is one of the vegetable stalls selling all kinds of leafy roughage. Nice. See more photos here .

We had a great meal in a small restuarant near my Uncle's home. The food was and plenty and tasted great. We even ordered some of these coconut milk drinks, filled with aloe and jelly. Although it was a little too milky for my liking, it was quite nice. The favourite dish of the evening was the chicken curry and the stir-fry vegetables. Thank you uncle and aunt! More photos here .

My Uncle took me around some places and came by this relatively old building (circa 1882). This was where my mum and her family used to live when she was young. The apartment with no windows was where they lived. For nostalgia, I took some photos around the place to show to my mum when I get back to UK. More photos here .

Taking Marco for walkies for the first time. I never really walked a dog before, but my first experience I liked it. I love dogs (not for eating by the way!) and hoping to get a dog for myself too. But it has to be an average sized one. I don't really go for the small toy type of dogs, they just look like rats to me. More photos here .

On my way back to UK, I stopped over in Hong Kong for a few days to stay with my relatives there. This is where I met Marco, my Uncle's rotweiller dog. He's been quite blue recently, because he lost his younger brother Nicky and misses him a lot. I hope Marco can pick himself up again and be happy again. Take care Marco! More photos here .

My last few days in Taiwan, my friends and colleagues decided to take me out an all-you-can eat barbecue. I love these places, the atmosphere and of course the food. Sure, we had to cook the food ourselves, but it was fun and amongst friends, it was great too. I think we went through maybe 16 to 18 plates of different cuts of meat, seafood and vegetables for the barbecue. I enjoyed it very much and would very much hope to do it again! Thank you all to Dennis, Derek, David L, Gavin, Gene and Vanessa! Lets do it again some day! More photos here .

My colleague treated me to these two wonderful cakes. I liked the chocolate one more, but both was very very tasty. Thank you Cindy for this treat!

After work one evening, decided to go for a walk somewhere, so instead of getting off at my usual stop, I stayed on the MRT to go to Freedom Square, Chiang-kai Shek Memorial Hall (formally known as Zhong-zhen Memorial Square) for some photos. I haven't been here for a while, and not much has changed, well apart from its name of course. But I did feel a little relaxed when sitting near the flag pole and resting my eyes around the scenery. More photos here .

Just a quick post to say happy birthday to these two. Hope you both had a great day! More photos here .

While in Taiwan, have been making a habit of buying and drinking fresh juice with my colleagues at work. At this particular juice shop in Nan-gang (南港), we saw this border collie (my favourite breed of dog) and couldn't resist taking pictures of it. It seems rather friendly and playful. It even let me put his little toy on its head to take a picture! More photos here .