Hong Kong Holiday!!!!! Dec 24th-Dec 31st 2008...Macau Dec 28th....Taiwan Trip Back Home Dec 31st-Jan 26th 2009...

I shall be revealing where i'm going...hahahaha..(i said i would earlier in the week!) I 'm going to spend Christmas in Hong Kong and the NYE (new year's eve) in Taipei..(Taipei 101 to be more specific!! hahahaha) Cool heh?!! But the currency is killing me!!!!!! The Aussie dollar has lost much in its value n i'm losing out BIG-TIME...but what to do..i can't very well cancel my holiday now!!

Anyways, anyone has any recommendations on where to go,etc in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan?? It's my first time to Hong Kong n Macau (well, actually i've been to Hong Kong before but that was like before the age of 10 and i can't hardly remember anything from then!) so tips from anyone would be very helpful indeed! I've been doing my research already n have a rough idea of where to go to but still any suggestions from anyone would be helpful!

Also, if you live in Taiwan, i'd like to know u! If you have the spare time let's meet up! Cos i'll be going down to Neiwan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohshiung, Taitung, and maybe Illan..i'd like to meet people there! Yep, it'll be my first Taiwan ROUND-ISLAND tour!!! I'll be taking the Taiwanese bullet train (which has the same tech as the Japanese shinkansen!) and then taking the old Taiwanese Railway up the East Coast back to Taipei...i can foresee being pretty free in Taipei so if u have read my blog b4 or just passing thru n interested in meeting up, let me know!!

I'd like to meet up with new friends in Taiwan given the time i have there!! It's been 4 yrs since i last visited Taiwan n all my cousins are really big now, all in uni,etc..hahah..i hope to be taken out by them! And then there's the high school n primary (not to forget uni) classmates i hope to meet again after so MANY years (longest being more than 10 yrs!!!!)..i just hope we end up meeting each other...(although i doubt i can meet everyone cos there's already been hiccups now..but i know i have tried my best in any event even if i don't meet them)

Anyways, suggestions n recommendations n people wanting to meet me in Taiwan? hahaha..

PS: Rem the last time in 06 when i was spending christmas in sydney n my mom in hong kong n my brother in london? well, this time, once again, with me being the more oriental one, i'll be spending it in hong kong whilst my brother (whose always been 'western') will be in Paris for Christmas! Its' so cool how I'm always the oriental one (my qipao addiction *hint.hint*) whilst my brother represents the 'western' aspect of our family..heck...even our holiday destinations are like that!! hehehe..

Updates 8/12: Anyone know or can help me find a good cheongsam tailor shop in Hong Kong or Taipei?? It'd be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! PLEASE..i have a couple but i would like to know anyone whom has a recommendation personally cos the shops i have written down now were found on the internet..hahaha..also i got one 車仔麵 recommendation, i love it after having fallen in love with it in melbourne..anyone know of any good 車仔麵店@Hong Kong???

Foodie Blogs...

I've been reading and surfing food blogs recently, mainly those from Malaysia, but also those from people residing overseas, like me. I've absolutely become hooked! The pixs are all SOOoooooo delicious that it makes me super super hungry!!OMG! The Malaysian bloggers have shown me what delicious food Malaysia can offer...i mean i'm from Penang, so i'd know (being Malaysia's food capital) but there are so many nice food n places i didn't know existed in other parts of Malaysia!!! hehehe~

Anyways, i had started researching on food blogs initially because I am going for a vacation during this Christmas and next January, my first vacation since going bck to Penang (and KL and Melaka) for CNY earlier this yr and I wanted to research on my food options by gathering what other people had recommended in those places...and thats when i became addicted to these food blogs...i've linked them at the side of my blog so if u haven't had a look yet, pls do!! You'd be drooling with hunger once u see all these glorious foodie pictures!!!

PS: I am keeping my holiday destination (or should I say destinations>hehehe...) a secret until sometime later in the week..then later anyone is welcome to give me suggestions on where to go n where to eat or if u live there, even to meet up n be my tour guide!! hahahah~~

White Ribbon Campaign n World Aids Day 2008:-)

November 25th, besides being my Birthday, is also a very special day for me. It is the International Campaign by Men to End Men's Violence Against Women. (As a huge big-time feminist) I am very very VERY GLAD that on my birthday, there is such a significant commemorative day on an issue closest to my heart, that, of women.

I especially like how its about MEN taking responsibility in confronting so-called 'women's issues' which is something that the West is to be commended for. Such things like the breast cancer campaigns where in recent yrs i've noticed a marked increase in men's involvement and participation in is simply joyious. It annoys me to no end that whenever 'women's issues' come up, men used to take a backseat and not actively participate in them, thinking it only concerns women when the biggest perpetrators and cause of women's suffering and violence is, no surprise, men.

An instance and something which is a combination of both my passions, the WW2 and Japan issue, and Women's Rights Issue , is the Comfort Women issue. In Japan, at rallies and demonstrations, you can see a sea of women and hardly any Japanese men taking part in them. This, despite the fact that more than 60 years ago, it was Japanese men, well their forefathers, and NOT Japanese women whom raped and abused the countless numbers of Asian women in the Occupied Territories of Japan. It seems like as long as it doesn't affect them, some men, albeit, a decreasing minority, simply do not care about 'women's issues'.

Of course, until it affects them! This is why you see some guys are so homophobic cos the tables have been turned and all of a sudden its the men whom have to endure the occasional perverted gay guy perving up their trousers or the threat of being sexually assaulted by another man. Only THEN, do some guys care, but then again instead of saying its a MALE ISSUE they say its a GAY ISSUE...Stupid n Selfish Brats!..hehehe

anyways, there goes my annual feminist rant..hahaha..how could i end the year without a feminist post heh..hehehehehe...

Anyways, on to the other issue....this year marks the 20th Anniversary of World Aids Day which started in 1988 (Dec 1st every year)..i've been reading that the HIV infection rates have been increasing every year and its shocking..i read somewhere online, what-oh-what would i do without the internet, that the HIV population in Malaysia is something close to 10% of the population and i'm like WHAT?!! Its got to be wrong that statistic...(although if anyone rems, i did a very personal post on World Aids Day last yr on someone quite close to me dying of AIDS..yes AIDs finally had a face to me..) And the rise has been attributed to all the 'old' causes of drug needle sharing, unsafe sex amongst heterosexuals and unsafe sex amongst gay men. In fact, if the rates of infection continues to rise within the homosexual male community at the current rate, it'd not be long before 10-20% of the gay male population would all be HIV positive in less than 10 yrs time..

I heard in Thailand, this is ALREADY the case with something like 10% of all gay men being HIV positive.. a truly shocking figure if u think about it!!

Please please please protect urself people AND your partners...cos u simply don't wanna die for a fuck..it simply isn't worth it:)

World Aids Day: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/
White Ribbon Campaign in Australia: http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au/
Office of Women, CW Government: http://www.ofw.facs.gov.au/about_us/index.htm