Victoria Grace Nation

So less than 24 hours after my arrival to Hong Kong International Airport, I was once again on the flight heading to Singapore. The plan: 3 days, 2 nights there, no sightseeing, no private tour, just being in an Exhibition Hall for most of the day. I had forgotten my camera so there’s a lack of pictures, I only have what I can salvage from the others, which really isn’t a lot since we were there for reasons other than play.


This is a chapter of my trip which I like to call “Quick.” The few days came and went, with lack of pictures and activities I really have nothing to blog about.


The 3 hour plane ride consisted of me listening to music, napping and catching short shows on the airplane tube. The time that I didn’t spend in the Exhibition Hall was when we went to eat, we went to a few “famous” restaurants but sadly, they were no good. The Hainanese chicken was at par with what I can have here, except for the soya sauce that came with it that was mind-blowing. The only thing worth talking about is the salted egg yolk crab. I was too tired to even notice the names of the restaurants and since most of the people I was with were Chinese, I never caught the English names. Sorry!


Other than that, I did manage to walk around Singapore Chinatown which is called “Ox-cart water” in Chinese and Kreta Ayer in Malay. This is due to the fact of the simple location of Chinatown, where their main source of water was transported by an ox-cart back in the 19th century. Yes very creative and original, I know! I had gotten pretty sick by the last day and wasn’t really feeling up for the quick walk-around before my flight back to Hong Kong. At some point, I had almost passed out on the street, found out later I had some really bad bacterial infection that had spread through my upper respiratory tract as well as the upper part of my body.


Singapore hasn’t changed at all since my last trip there around 12 years ago besides the newer construction sites they have up, like the Singapore version of the London Eye, which is apparently bigger than the London Eye. The people there are still very friendly and helpful. During my taxi ride to the airport on my last day, the taxi driver who spoke English, Mandarin, Cantonese and a bit of Malay introduced the city to us and talked about the taxi system in Singapore, he even talked about the Feng Shui of Singapore and the famous Feng Shui Master that influenced some of the architectural work in Singapore. I must say Singapore is one of those places that deserves a quick tour around, their peculiar laws are strict, yet it works. They are a country that thrives on conserving the environment (hence the cleanliness) there are extreme penalties to littering. Chewing gum is banned in the country,except for medicinal use. Just like Taiwan they have their men join the army for 2 years or be faced with severe consequences. My friend left Singapore as a child and he now can’t go back until he’s 45 because if he ever steps foot on Singapore soil he would be captured and put in the army for 2 years or be jailed. LoL.


The country’s main language is English, but due to the diverse group of people, most citizens speak a number of languages that include Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil.


Wow this blog is boring. I’m going to go post some of the pictures I managed to get.

Alright I’m back, somewhat rested and ready to go over my month long craziness, or what people would like to call “a trip.” As mentioned before I was 1 minute away from missing my flight, although I did finally make it safely on the trip as well as getting a free pass on my overweight, oversize luggage.


While scrambling down the terminal at the wee hours of the morning like one of Kevin McCallister’s family members, (see “Home Alone“) I got approached by a young Caucasian man. He was probably in his mid-20’s, dirty blond hair, fit the perfect description of a backpacker. I had ran past him in the empty terminal when he coughed and said “Miss!” I had stopped for a brief moment thinking I had dropped something. When I turned around he was red in the face and stuttered, asking me where I was going. I told him I was catching a flight and I was going to miss it if I stayed and talked. He looked sort of embarrassed, stuttered a bit, and told me to hurry off then if I was in a rush. Hmm I wonder if I missed a chance of getting his number due to the fact I was running late. Oh well!


Okay so I get on the plane right? Trying to get myself settled in for the long-haul flight and just finally feeling the exhuastion from the days before as well as the late hours, when I realized the murmuring babies around me. Horrified I noticed not just 1, but 2 babies in close proximities to my seat. Even before the plane started, one of the babies started screaming it’s bloody head off. “Oh joyous! There goes my possible 9 hours of drug induced slumber.” So it so happens that both those babies belonged to the same women…they were twins and they had to be split up due to baby bassinet issues. Things didn’t seem to be settling down with one baby crying, then the next and it seemed like the young woman who was accompanying the Mother of the twins were ready to cry as well. Of course me being the brilliant one, I talked the mother into switching seats with me so she could be close to both her babies and I don’t have to be surrounded by babies on both sides and can sit on the other side of the plane. Only problem? I would have to sleep in front of one of the baby bassinets, meaning there would be quite a stir if the baby woke and the mother had to come and tend to the baby. Oh well can’t have it all eh?


I managed to download all the songs from my computer to my mp3 player, had one meal, and played Nanny for the baby that slept in front of me, before I drugged myself with a light sleeping pill. All in all, the 7 hours of half ass sleep was probably a lot better than I had imagined. The only problem was the weird looks I got on the plane when people walked by my seat. They first looked at the sleeping baby with a smile, looked at me, then the sleeping middle aged man sleeping and drooling next to me. At this point they seem to frown a bit probably thinking “how’d this young girl marry an old guy like him and popped out a cute baby like that?!” Okay I kid, the guy wasn’t THAT bad, just your average middle aged Asian guy.


I arrived at Taipei International Airport by 5am-ish Taiwan time. It was still fairly dark outside, while I walked down the yet again empty terminals to my waiting gate. I had 2 hours to kill before my next flight, so I took my sweet time in the restroom washing up, brushing my teeth and putting on some makeup so I’d look presentable enough for my family who would be waiting for me. Okay it’s really for my Mother considering she hasn’t seen me in a month and I wanted to make an impression on her. So it wouldn’t have been all that bad if it wasn’t for 2 things:


1) The washroom wreaked of piss even though when I walked in the cleaning lady was walking out and signing her name to the “I did my job and cleaned this washroom to the best of my ability” Checklist. Riiight. It stank.

2) Half way into my makeup application, actually right when I was about to put on my eye shadow, I realized the travesty that had befallen on me. I had forgotten my eyeshadow!


Okay my life was entirely over at that point. I abandoned all notion of makeup application, grabbed my carry-on luggage, dragged my cashmere jacket as well as my laptop bag and headed to the closest Duty-Free store that was open. I had no Taiwanese dollars on me nor did I have any American dollars. All I had was my credit cards in my wallet and drastic times call for drastic measures, I was going to use my Visa no matter what it cost me. So I perused through the selections of makeup, walking past Christian Dior, MAC, Bobby Brown, and heavily contemplating if I was really going to prove myself in being all woman about this and make some irrational purchase decision.  $80USD for a small eyeshadow not including the exchange rate as well as all the hidden fees….was it worth it? I was ready to take the leap when a brilliant idea popped in my mind! I had my MAC Mineral Skin Finish compact with the highlighter in it! Meaning I can smudge a bit on my eyes, give my eyes a bit of a sparkle and last the few hours before I find myself a cosmetic shop in Hong Kong. Perfect!


So the rest of the time I sat in the lounge area, went on my laptop, blogged and watched the sunrise. The lack of people in the high ceilings rest area was a nice change from the packed airplane. I slowly took in the change from dark to light. The sun slowly rising against a backdrop of blue with puffs of cottony clouds. The lounge area started filling with people as the minutes rolled by. I got weird stares for taking pictures of the lounge area which badly needed a face lift.
Boarding time came and I happily hopped on the plane knowing that in 2 hours I would be strutting down the arrival runway and into the arms of my family. I was happily minding my own business in my seat waiting for the flight to take off when a young man came on the plane, obviously late. His seat was right in front of me, surrounded by an entourage of what appeared to be his friends. We made eye contact and he smiled, of course being the polite person that I am, I smiled back. Okay let me tell you, bad idea! This guy had dark cropped hair, tanned skin, lanky, mid-20’s, obviously of south-eastern Asian decent. Some might say he was cute, but I wasn’t looking for a love connection.


Throughout the 1.5 hour flight, the guy kept turning around to look at me and whenever our eyes met, he would smile. It was cute, until the 20th time it happened, then it just annoying. I thought I’d ignore him and sleep, nope he actually turned around and watched me sleep. Creepy? Oh very much so. But ignorance is bliss, so I pretended like I didn’t notice. RIght when the plane was about to land, he turned around again and caught my attention by holding out a business card. Holy shit, this guy had given me not only his phone number, but his e-mail, friendster, address, and any other  possible contact information. I took it apprehensively, thanked him and tried to look busy the last 15 minutes of the flight. I got out of there as soon as I can.


So okay I’m walking down Hong Kong International Airport towards arrival when the guy from the plane caught up with me. He offered to take my carry-on and when I politely declined, he just took it out of my hand and started walking with me. Shit…this is going to be a tough situation to get out of, especially when I haven’t fully slept my usual 9 hours. He started asking me personal questions “Are you married? Where’s your boyfriend, is he here to pick you up? Are you staying in Hong Kong or transferring to another place? Where did you come from? Whats your name?” Of course I vaguely answered everything and maybe told a few tall tales for the sake of stalker prevention. This lasted for about 5 minutes before I saw a ladies bathroom coming up and I excused myself, grabbed my carry-on, thanked him and disappeared inside. His name was Norbert or something, he was some student travelling from San Francisco back to the Philippines and did a couple of transfers. Oh well not interested. I still have his info, I’m contemplating if I should at least be nice and send him a thank you e-mail….hmm…


Got my luggage pretty quickly, went through the non-existent line of customs (got to love the resident custom system in HK, swiped my id, scanned my fingerprint and I was out of there!). My mother was there waiting for me, as well as my god-father, and other family members. I had exactly 24 hours before my flight to Singapore. First on the list was to eat with the family, the next was to buy some eye shadow!

I thought it was just me, but seriously I feel as though that a lot of men in China are absolute slimeballs! So during my flight back from An Fei Province into Shen Zhen International Airport, I ran into a little issue with this guy in China. I’ve always had issues with both men and women staring at me all the time, but the problem is 100x worse in China. I have no idea why people stare, I mean it would make sense if I was some 5′10, goddess like creature, but frankly, I’m not. So I was on a 2 hour flight and due to the fact that I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep during my trip to An Fei Province in China, I tried to get the most of the snooze time on the flight, before I had to endure more travelling.


So the plane lands in Shenzhen and even before the plane reaches the ground completely (let alone stops completely) people were taking out their cell phones and calling their family and friends to pick them up. Needless to say I was somewhat scared that I was meeting my death real soon. The social norm in China is quite different with what I’m use to, but I’ll further delve into that in another post. But yes back to the perverted men of China. So as I was saying, everyones buckling out of their seats even before the plane stops and the narrow walkway of the small plane was congested with agitated Chinese folks all waiting to get off and onwards in their busy lives. I really have no idea why, since the doors weren’t open and people were just standing there blocking everyone else. But tiny ol’ me was pushed and forced into the human congestion and I somehow ended up standing in the single filed line. There was a huge Chinese man that sat a row ahead of me, adjacent to my seat. He was big for a Chinese guy, looked like a Northern folk with a crew cut, thick accent where his R’s rolled nasally in a deep baritone. He sat next to a woman that was obviously his significant other, she had massive curls on her head and light overly dyed auburn hair. I only noticed the man when he obnoxiously coughed and snorted hork that was stuck in the back of his throat as well as loudly yawning to a point that every single person 6 rows upfront would turn and look. He was rude.


So I stood their politely waiting for the queued up line to go. The obnoxious man was still sitting as his seat and it seemed as though my boobs were at his eye level. Okay so he turns his head and he gets an eyeful of my scarf with a bit of my lady bumps. Normally any guy would just look the other way when they realize that the owner of those bumps had caught the innocent contact. But no….his eyes lingered for a few seconds too long as his eyes slowly moved north and took in the rest of my body, my neck, my jawline, than my face. His beady eyes lingered on my face for a solid 2 minutes while I tried not to look at him. I can feel his eyes burning into my face. I was relieved when the people in front of me started moving. He actually left his wife and started following me. Once I got into the airport I got out of the school of people and waited on the side to wait for the rest of my group. My Mother met up with me later and she forcefully grabbed me and spun me around back into the crowed of people as she spoke into my ear “Do you know that man was staring at you like he was undressing you with his eyes and raping you like a raggety old doll back on that plane. I could see him 4 rows down! Why didn’t you do anything? Why is he following you?”


Okay that’s not even the worst part, so now I’m walking down the airport to the baggage area with our private tour guide (a local) on one side, my mother on the other and a friend of mine in front of me trying to hide me from this guy who kept staring and following us. They all saw how outrageous he was staring at me and they wanted to get me out of there. That creepy guy had the nerve to fish out his phone and tried to take a picture of me while I was walking. My friend actually snapped at him and it was like he couldn’t even hear or see, he just kept staring and following us. It was almost as bad as the time 2 Chinese men in suits caught me outside my hotel room and they came up to me, rubbed their bodies on me and asked me what I was doing and if it wasn’t for my Aunt with her fucked up,I’m a crazy psycho perm who came out to my rescue me, I would have been toast.


Men in China I tell ya, it’s like they can do whatever they want when they get horny! FUCK.

So I got back to the land of the overly rude Chinese people last night. I spent my Christmas this year in quite the worthwhile fashion, scrubbing public washrooms and praying for world peace. =D I’ll get into that further once I’m back at home. Weather’s moderate here with slight winds, it’s teh perfect weather, nice and crisp. So glad I’m not back at home where it’s in the negatives and what looks to be a severe winter wonderland with a few feet of that funny white stuff.

So it’s New Years tomorrow and my options are either I spend it with one of my Uncle’s at some huge show/event thing with red carpets and flashes of cameras everywhere, or a quiet dinner with my paternal family, without my Daddy (whose going to some New Years cruise with his buddies) or a quiet dinner with my Mother and some friends. Hmmm…

So I’m due to depart Hong Kong (for the upteenth time this month) New Year’s day, but I’m trying to extend my stay here. Unfortunetly they’ve blocked off the whole week of January, so I’m waiting for a later date, there’s just too much stuff I haven’t finished doing here yet, like the dentist for one thing.

Hold your breath, I’ll come back with some major blogging come 2nd week of January.

Happy Belated Holidays & Happy New Year Children

With Love,

Victoria

Quick update, I’m at Changi International Airport in Singapore, waiting for my flight back to Hong Kong.  It’s been a hectic few days, I’m tired and I’m officially sick. I am thirsting to be online like some java addict. Save me. I forgot my camera in HK so very minimal pictures. Report back as soon as I can.


-VG

So it’s 10:40pm, I finally checked my e-ticket, because every responsible person should do that, but VERY responsible people would check PRIOR to bording a plane. My departure time was 12:05am, NOT 13:45 which was the Elapsed time of my flight. I was still in my house in the suburbs, and my presents havent been delivered to my neighbours yet, and it’s shitting rain like Diarrhea Falls or something. Okay don’t panic as I kept telling myself, while I calmly and yet sternly made an announcement that we were LEAVING. Of course having had told EVERYONE my flight was at 1am, there really was no rush. I had too much pride in me to suggest defeat and utter failure on my part. Ok I finally cracked in the car and we bolted down the slick highway.


I made it to the flight counter 1 minute before closing! No wait if I had shown up not when that lady saw me, I would have been fucked! Lights were already being shut down and signs were being brought back. I was scolded and some man speed typed my information into check-in. Apparently one of my lugguge was oversized and they had to charge me an extra $140, but since I’m too late they had to just let it go with a dissapproving look. Alright so I’m going on this flight!


Securities made me strip down to my socks. My jacket was gone, my shawl, my boots, my millions of bags. I was ready to turn on the Full Monty Soundtrack and start collecting bills in my g-string. Ok ya wishful thinking…on THEIR parts.


12hours later and after 2 crying twins that sat close to me and a screaming toddler, I’m here! In Taiwan. There’s 15 more minutes before I take my next flight to Hong Kong International Airport. I just spent the last hour witnessing the sunrise in Taipei. It’s beautiful, but it’s not showing up on my crap camera (pix will be posted later).


so I thought I’d freshen up in the bathroom and put a bit of makeup when I realized I forgot my eyeshadow and the brush! FUCK! Do you know what this means?!?!? This is bad. I was so desperate I almost went and randomly grabbed a likeable, versatile shade from Christian Dior and swipe in on my Visa knowing they’ll charge me 3x the amount with all the different rate conversions. FUCK. Okay breathe..I’ll figure something out when I get to HK. I have 24 hours. I’m going to go take more pictures for you guys now. Oh right I got hit on when I was in Vancouver International Airport. LOL. Weird.

Been so busy! But I’m leaving, back January 1st. Call off the Search Party and the SWAT Team. I’ll be back to regular posting come January 2nd. Until then…Tootles!

oh right one more thing…

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years!!

Here’s my grueling month at a glance:

December 8th - Arrival of overseas CEO’s, Chairman’s, etc for a week
Meaning: meetings upon meetings, working under a microscope
December 9th/10th - Departure to HKG. I’m technically leaving early morning on the 10th, but since I have to be at the airport by the 9th, I’ll count it as both.
Meaning: 24 hours in 4 countries
December 11th - Arrive HKG early morning
December 12th - Depart HKG for Singapore International Airport (2 days of being in a convention & exhibition hall)
December 14th - Depart for HKG
December 16th - Big family reunion dinner
December 18th-23rd - Vacation to Northern China with no central heating and it’ll be snowing in the rural mountains
December 24th-27th - Visit my Great Aunt at our Grandpa’s Buddhist temple in very Rural China
December 28th - Back to Hong Kong
January 1st - Leave Hong Kong for Taiwan before I come back home
January 5th - Back to Work

Toronto, Ontario is a place filled with memories I would sometimes rather leave dormant. But there are sure people there I know ready to party!


As of yesterday, it’s been officially announced that a friend of mine whose currently working there is flying me out there. All expenses paid, and for when, and how long, is entirely up to me. So let’s paint this glorious, tear jerking picture now, 5 days, and 5 nights at a swanky service apartment in the heart of Toronto. For those 5 days it will be Party Suburbia with my Toronto friends, and getting dressed up, fine dining with the friend that’s flying me out there and a good independent tour of the city, all on my own, with nothing but a map, $20 in my wallet and a Rolodex of plastics (for major shopping needs of course!)


My friend will be working during the day, so most of my time would be me, doing a bit of sight-seeing around the city and possibly catching lunch with some old friends I haven’t seen in a while. I have family-friends there, but I think I’ll keep my presence there low key this time. The friend that’s inviting me out to Toronto is some associate of a company, decking out in all his custom-made suits and expensive cuff links. The company he works for has put him up in one of the city’s most luxurious accommodations.


What will be guaranteed on this trip would be myself and my ex’s sister, Bella Bella Sexy Mama spotted at the city’s hottest clubs, dancing and frivolously partying the night away. I’ve always envied her, her seductive waves of silky brown hair, her hypnotizing stare and a smile that’s more contagious than SARS itself. She is one of those people who you don’t want to mess with, but if you’re in her good books, you’ll get one of the best treatments you can ever get from anyone. She’ll treat you like gold.


I’ll also be checking out a concert that my long time friend is puting on. He’s the lead singer of this popular band, about 6 feet tall, broad shoulders, naturally built, a mass of brown rockstar hair that gets the ladies in the crowed going. Judging by his physical demeanor he looks the part of an intimidating, iconic, sex symbol, but out of the spotlight he’s the biggest jokester ever! I remember him baking with my sister and almost setting the house on fire.


One of my last trips there was with my sister and we stayed at a family friends. We had our own room, bathroom, everything. We were treated like royalty, it was great! It was one of the coldest winters they had in ages, even Niagra Falls had frozen over! And then there was the one summer where i went with my Aunt and Uncle, we were accompanying my cousin Kobe to Kingston (Queen’s University) so we stopped over at Toronto and we stayed at a family friend’s penthouse or some other in Toronto. I remember going to some run-down looking Japanese Restaurant on Yonge Street and had one of the most amazing Japanese food I’ve ever had in my life. Did I mention we had fried ice cream as well? =D


The whole idea of taking this trip excites me, but nonetheless, I should take my priorities into considerations. The people I know over there are fully in the crazy category. *Cough* Like my bloody ex and his over protective wife*Cough* But we’ll see…

Kate Spade bags, Brooks Brothers shirts, Forever21 clothes, Jessica Simpson pumps, Denim jeans, Faith Connextion shirts, more BCBG things to add to my endorsed closet! ACK. What to do?!?!?! o.O


Then the possibility of a little 3-way rapefest?! A poor girl being stuck in the middle of another country?! Geez
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