Encounter with the Unknown

This afternoon in office, I went upstairs to send some documents and the secretary halted me to tell me stories when I asked how was she feeling.

Since she came back from Shanghai in June, she had been plagued by health problems. Almost half of her tour mates suffered the same. One guy went into a coma immediately after he came back from the trip. Another person was involved in a car accident as soon as he gotten home from the trip. Several travel mates were in a daze for a few weeks.

A lady who shared a room with 2 others while being in Shanghai bumped into the unknown. She wore sweaters when she went to sleep. The next morning she woke up, her sweater was laid by her bedside. She was puzzled and asked if her room mate made fun of her and took off her sweater as she was sleeping like a log. The room mates denied having done so.

Someone told me this story before. A friend actually almost suffocated in her sleep when the unknown tried to pull off her sweater over her head when she was asleep. The sweater simply couldn’t come off her head easily and it was left hanging there till she cried for help. The moral of the story is – wear loose sweater if you were to sleep in any hotel room!

Okay. Back to the secretary. She was hospitalized for a few days sometime in August for suspected stroke. One after another, other symptoms of different diseases came to her all at once.

While in the hospital, she kept smelling stench of something rotting (Mr Stinkee Poo didn’t visit her, if you must know). When her daughter and husband came to see her, she kept saying she smelt something foul and wondered if there was a garbage truck nearby the hospital. The husband and daughter could not smell anything, other than the usual heavily chlorinated smell of a hospital. She told her daughter to come near her body to smell the supposedly rotting smell but the daughter couldn’t smell anything.

After a few days in the hospital, she went home. Still feeling unwell, she was prone to losing her temper. She started to be anti-social and any normal chattering sound of people talking would irk her. She felt a strange heatiness attacking her body all the time.

When she was sick that weekend, she attended a cell group and her pastor was in the midst. As they pray together, the pastor sensed something was wrong. Before she went home, the pastor reminded her to come again the following week for another session of prayers. When she left, the pastor checked with the others did they smell anything funny while praying but the others did not. Strange.

The following week, she wanted to go to church but since she was still feeling weak and her husband went outstation, she didn’t go by herself. Another week passed and she wanted to go to church even if her husband again was going outstation for a job. She told herself, no matter what, she would make it to church.

When she was ready to get out from her house, her neighbour was having a party and they placed the canopy right in front of her house, blocking her car.

Another week passed and she kept telling herself she has no time to lose. During the week approaching the weekend, her aunty passed away. Since she was feeling totally unwell, her mother did not ask her to attend the funeral. She was determined to go to church no matter what.

It was then, she was hit with a severe tonsillitis. The following day, her tongue swelled up and she could not even swallow. Medication did not do her any good. She couldn’t even talk and she was crying in pain. Her husband came back and took her to the church immediately. It was already the third week since the pastor told her to come back to church.

She was sitting in the car while her worried husband went to talk to the pastor. They brought her in to the church and conducted a prayer to cleanse her. It was then she vomited everything from her guts and the stench was of rotting corpse. However, only she and the pastor could smell the rotting smell but not her husband.

She is feeling much better now.

She recalled visiting a memorial of a famous figure in somewhere in Suchou or Nanjing. She couldn’t remember where. She said they were brought into a hall and was instructed no pictures to be taken there as a sign of respect for the dead. Since she doesn’t understand Mandarin – the whole tour was conducted in Mandarin, she took picture of the statue sitting inside the memorial. It was then it hit her. She remembered taking a picture of the statue but what came out from the picture were blinding flashlights and there was nothing else.

That was why I didn’t dare to take pictures of skulls while I was at the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh as respect for the dead. I think sometimes, these spirits, already passed on due to terrible massacre, do not need the unnecessary harassment from the living.

When I heard of this story, my skin crawled. It was about 4.30 pm and the sky turned dark.

I remembered another colleague telling me about a friend who went to Bali some months ago and came back with a bulging tummy. It was not because she had a one night stand and got pregnant, seriously. Her stomach gotten bigger and bigger by the day as if she was pregnant. Upon seeing this, her friends advised her to go see a doctor. The moment she went to the hospital, the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her except for this unidentified growth which is not tumor, after biopsy. From the scans, they found three growths carved with faces of men. The doctors couldn’t believe their eyes and they asked where had she been the past few months. They acknowledged this as something out of the norm. She could have done something to provoke the spirits in Bali.

Not wanting to take chances, the doctors immediately perform a surgery on her and took out 5 kgs of the growth which was green in color. Till today, they couldn’t verify what that thing was.

Sometimes, I guess, we have to learn to respect where we are visiting by doing some reading up prior to a trip, especially places in Asia. Asia is a mystical place and filled with diverse mythologies, religions and many wars histories. I guess we just have to learn to understand them and try our best not to do anything disrespectful while going on vacation. There is no such thing as it won’t happen to me because I don’t believe in it. There is always one way or another of things happening whether you believe in it or not.

Guide to Online Dating

A friend told me of the guys she met from an internet dating website. You know what they say about guys and girls on the internet. The guys are usually poorer than what they claim to be and the girls are usually older than they actually are.

Well, this post is not about the woes of internet dating. This post is about the pictures you placed on your profile in internet dating websites in order for others to check you out.

Out of curiosity to check out the members of the opposite sex, I signed up at one internet dating website and began my search. “Woman searching for Men age 33 to 36 with photos in all regions.”

Out came 34 pages of men with photos (If you notice, I didn’t mention the word – eligible and I will let you know why) and there were 510 profiles to choose from. “Plenty!” I heard you say. Listen to my story first.

When I saw the pictures posted, I just don’t know what to say. I don’t know whether to laugh at them or sympathize with them. To put it nicely, I was very amused.

I could see some people made the effort to have their photos taken in studios. At least they turned out to be decent. Some put their vacation pictures, which I think are quite alright. The not-so-decent ones – you could see them in pictures with their top taken off, some could not afford a decent hair cut, some put on pictures meant for obituaries, etc.

To those who were still wondering why nobody would want to date you even if you had paid money to the dating website, do not worry. Here are some of the examples of pictures that you should not put on your profile. If you still insist on putting, don’t blame anyone else but yourself for being dateless.

I simply don’t understand why some of these men would want to put such pictures on their profile. To illustrate, I couldn’t simply put up their pictures here. I might be sued for slander and libel. To protect their anonymity, I decided to put my non-existence drawing skills to test.

The Murderer

When anyone sees this picture, I doubt anyone would click on you. I presumed you took this picture on the day that your bitch (the dog) died and probably you just got out from prison and hastily wanted a shag but cannot afford to pay for one.

The Psycho

Only Albert Einstein looked good in this haircut. Anyone who tried to emulate Mr Einstein’s hairdo without a remarkable scientific findings is doomed to fail to get a date. With this hairstyle, probably you would die shagging a blow-up doll.

The Taliban

With this goatie and massive beard, there is a high possibility that one might mistaken you as a member of the Taliban. Nobody would want to go on a date with you and risks being frisk at the entrance of night spots.

Ah Piao in Pink

Unless you are really macho, take good care of your skin and crown as the undisputed metrosexual guy – no guys are allowed to wear pink! Or if you are a budding Hokkien singer trying to make it big, probably you may be excused but this picture can only be used on your Hokkien CD cover, not dating profile.

Hairy Rambutan

I know having a hairy chest is associated with virility in bed. Probably you would score with girls who look for FUBUs, but not girls who look for genuine relationship. Wait a minute! What real relationship??! This is what online dating is all about anyway! It’s all about getting laid! (and yes, don’t tilt your computer – the picture is really taken side ways)

Pouty Lips

Nobody should pout their lips unless they are as sexy as Mr Bee Stung Lips’. At age 36 – if you are still trying to imitate Marilyn Monroe’s famous lips, nobody would take you seriously.

There you have it. The don’ts for putting up online picture. I guess a recent picture of you on a vacation would be fine. No monkey faces. No topless picture. And for goodness’ sake, don’t try to be sexy if you are not.

Disclaimer: This post is merely for entertainment sake. The subjects mentioned may or may not exist and if they somehow represent a living person, it is purely coincidental and I feel very sorry for you being dateless but at least now, you know why.

P.S. FUBU means F*ck Buddy.

U Stin Kee Poo!

A staff in my office has a terrible case of bad breath.

Once, I just came out from the toilet and this person, let’s call him Mr Stinkee Poo came to see me. The moment he opened his mouth and started talking, I thought I smelled shit. I was alarmed and thought I didn’t wipe my ass properly. When he left, the smell lingered for awhile and then, it was gone. It was then I realized the shit smell came out from his mouth and not my ass.

Some colleagues who went out with him in his car once, had to roll down the window when he started talking. One colleague used her pencil to try to block her nostrils but was in vain. I wonder what he ate or did he not drink enough water? The moment he opens his mouth – it’s like you are talking to a rotting corpse.

As I am typing this, he’s talking to my very meek and gentle boss – Mr Beep Beep and I could even smell his “shit” about 10 feet away. I think if you were an ant, you probably thought you were locked in a gas chamber, waiting to be gassed to death.

I hope Mr Beep Beep has a nose block today. He seems to be unfazed by the stinky breath. Someone please give him a mint!

Gawd. I am gonna puke. Wa kiam tam pok beh sitt keee! (Hokkien: I almost pass out.)

Living in Fear

After returning from my trip, I was shocked by more and more news of crimes happening around my housing area in Selayang.

Every phone call seems to convey bad news.

I got a call from the Monk telling me he was almost mugged by four guys in two motorbikes. He was walking to his car in broad daylight on a very busy street in Selayang when he sensed someone was following him.

When he stopped and looked, two motorbikes were trailing behind him. One of the motorbikers was shocked when the Monk suddenly looked at them and sped off. The other motorbike approached the Monk closer.

The Monk knew that, the moment he opened his car door, the motorbikers would strike. The Monk engaged in defensive stance. The motorbikers stared at him and then looked at his lap top bag. A fleeting moment passed and the Monk was relieved when the motorbikers went away. He quickly got into his car, locked his door and drove away.

He called to warn me to be careful if I were to go anywhere near the busy street in Selayang. He was very shocked that it happened during broad day light and a big guy like him could also be a victim of snatch thief.

On the same day, the secretary to MD was robbed at her condominium. She got back home at around 10 pm and was unloading things from her car with two children in tow and a maid. Out of a sudden, a stranger came out from the condo and started to tease her children. She was very scared and quickly brought the children back to her house. The maid came downstairs to collect things from the car and she was robbed by the same stranger. Fortunately, he took only the bag with milk powder inside.

Ed called me on the same weekend to inform us that, our friend who stays near my place was robbed when she came home one night. She opened her house gate when a Honda CAV9966 stopped behind her Kenari. Four men came out and one of them was armed with a wooden rod. She started screaming and the men came after her golden bracelet. It was a lucky thing that her neighbours heard her screams and came out to help. Upon seeing this, the bastards took her car keys and her handbag and sped off. It was fortunate that she was not harmed.

A maid who was sweeping the floor in the kindergarten opposite my house was almost raped. She screamed at the top of her lungs and the rapist ran away. The owner then took her to lodge a police report.

Just two weeks ago, when I was away, I heard a disturbing news of one 9 year old girl being raped and thrown off a condominium near my house. Her body was discovered by the security guard who highlighted the maintenance department chief. They called the police. Even though the police station is situated along the road of the said condominium, it took them 30 minutes to arrive after the distress call.

It shows the lacksidle attitude of our enforcement. The criminal might still be around the area if the police had acted swift enough.

A few years ago, when a friend was robbed in front of the now-defunct Embassy Club, she was told to lodge her report as “tercicir” (lost) instead of being robbed. She refused and wanted to lodge a snatch theft report. The police warned her that it might take longer than usual for her to reissue her driving license and IC if she didn’t compromise.

Since she would be going overseas soon and didn’t want this to hinder any process, she relented but with a very heavy heart. She was extremely angry. Not to mention, she was kicked from one police station to another just to make this report even though it happened on Jalan Ampang, they asked her to lodge the report in PJ and only to be sent back to Jalan Dang Wangi. Imagine the stress of losing all your belongings and being kicked like a ball from one place to another.

A few months ago, when my house was burglarized twice the same week, I lodged a police report. The police told me, it’s not uncommon. He even told us a house near ours were just burglared the other day. And yet, they didn’t do anything about it to curb the problem. So, should we just sit at home and wait for this unfortunate thing to happen? And surrender to fate because it’s happening all the time and deem acceptable??

We were already being victimized by the thefts and burglaries and yet, we had to go through the same process of victimization by the police. When the friend lodge report with the police and being asked on the race of the perpetrators, she was snided for being a racist. Even after 50 years of Independence, I was very disappointed that the minds of the people are still not liberated.

If I remember correctly, there was an article in the Star a month ago stating; on the contrary to most people’s beliefs, 80% of the crimes are done by “our own people” trying to imitate the way the foreign workers speak, particularly the Indonesians.

So, why are the police still pointing fingers at foreigners when the victims lodge police report identifying the race of the perpetrators?

It is not important whether which race did more crimes. The multi-racial community in Malaysia must realize that – irregardless of races, a crime had been committed and it had to be dealt with utmost urgency and justice. The crimes did not only affect one community – it affects all.

After the break-ins a few months ago, I haven’t been really sleeping well since. Sometimes, I would wake up late at night and run downstairs to check if all doors are secured.

The criminals are getting bolder and bolder by the day. The police must brush up their lack of sense of urgency to restore some degree of confidence (if any) to the public and make Malaysia a safe place to be.

Back to the Real World

I was tied up with work in the office the past few days. Reports for meetings, letters writing, arranging for flights, stamping of agreements, etc.

With my colleague, we came up with a new nick name for Mr Clear River – my boss. Now, we call him the Road Runner or Beep Beep. Whenever he comes to office, he would bug me – Beep Beep and expects me to do work as fast as the Road Runner could outrun the Coyote. He keeps on beeping on me since I got my ass back to work. It feels good to be in need. Hahahaha.

Morons at work are invading our breathing space again.

Our much “loved” and ever “efficient” travel agency – hired a new staff some six months ago and till today she is still incompetent and clueless. It doesn’t help either that the Godfather’s wife (the Godmother?) wrote us all e-mails to “warn” us to be patient with the new staff.

Isn’t it cool to work with the Godfather? If you are inefficient, we should always be patient with you. After all, patience is virtue. Everybody now – OHMMMMMMMM….

Yesterday, I called this 6 months-not-so-new staff, let’s call her Sotong – to ask her to reschedule a manager’s trip from Moscow to Kuala Lumpur.

She came up with this flight itinerary for him.

BANGKOK TO KUALA LUMPUR Dept 21 Nov 0845 Arrive 21 Nov 1155

MOSCOW TO BANGKOK Dept 21 Nov Time 1820 Arrive 22 Nov 0705

Do you guys manage to spot the wrong in this itinerary?

She is supposed to connect flight on 22 Nov and not 21 Nov! DUH!

I called her to @#$%^&^% her but in a nice way.

Today, I called Sotong again regarding another booking and again – her stupidity strikes. I refused to remember what had transpired because it was ridiculously stupid. I was at my wits’ end. I really wanted to tell her this.

Me: Do you have a knife over there now?

Sotong: Yes… err.. why ah?

Me: Can you please do all of us a big favor by stabbing yourself to death?

Wishful thinking! I seem to have much patience now – more than I could have imagined. That probably explained why I was in such good spirit when I was in Shenzhen – Hong Kong – Macau trip, despite having to deal with the now-famous-Katak.

I wish Dogbert could help to exorcise the demons of stupidity out of this woman!

Mr Yum Kong treated all colleagues some orange swiss roll just now. When he passed a piece of the swiss roll to me, a colleague said – HOME MADE ONE!! Then laughed like a hyena.

I phobia terus!

Remember the terrible diarrhea I had after eating his home made lemon cheesecake?

I decided to tell him that I had terrible diarrhea after eating his home made lemon cheesecake. You would have guessed what he retorted.

“Nobody else had problems! Only you!”

The tea lady was hospitalized and there was a fellow colleague who also had terrible diarrhea but was too nice to complain! I didn’t want to break his heart further.

This sums up my working week and its only Tuesday! It’s good to be back to office to be entertained by demented people.

Dirty Money

Day 7 – Shenzhen

Saturday was the last day we would be in Shenzhen so we wanted to make the most of it. Since the pool money was not sufficient to buy 3 entrance tickets to Splendid China, I mentioned to Sure Win that Katak should stay in the hotel, watch some nonsense on tv and drink tap water till we go home on Sunday morning. Hahaha.

Of course we didn’t let that happened. We are nice people, too nice in fact till I couldn’t believe myself.

We had simple breakfast consisting of chu cheong fan, a bowl of beef noodles and the bland paos with 3 cups of soya milk. It cost us only 13 yuan for everything – I can’t believe it’s this DIRT CHEAP! Even luck is on our side when we were freaking broke. I still have 400 yuan left and I made it clear that the money is only meant for myself.

Sure Win brought a USD100 bill with her so we decided to go to the bank to exchange the money. Unfortunately, her USD100 bill had little stains on the bill and could not do so. Alarm was written all over her face as she didn’t have much cash on her either.

I had no choice but to take out my emergency USD70 to exchange for some yuan. While waiting for Sure Win to change the money, Katak still managed to laugh and slapped me on my back saying – “We are so desperate! This is the first time traveling like a beggar!”

I wanted to slap her on her face and tell her, it’s because of her, we had to be reduced in this state. I have money to last me till tomorrow and she didn’t and had to use our pool money. Don’t make me go there again.

I ignored her trying-to-be-funny remarks and gave her the silent treatment.

Rule #7 – Don’t ever bring stained or tainted money (Dirty money) when you travel overseas.

I text my family to let them know I would be back tomorrow. I got the news that the traffic in KL was horrendous because Anwar is having a meeting. Anwar? Having a meeting? This should be the BERSIH rally that got the whole blog community buzzing. I hope nobody gets hurt.

To save some money, we walked to Splendid China from our hotel. It was about 15 minutes walk from CityInn. The weather was just nice and we didn’t sweat much. This is the first time I go on a trip without breaking a sweat, even if I almost broke my back and legs walking it.

To sum Splendid China – I would leave some pictures for you to see. I was too tired because of yesterday’s shopping and also, in no mood to really see this place after yesterday’s episode.

I had the honeyed cra-apples. We couldn’t finish it. The three of us shared one stick.

The highlight of the visit is probably the live horseman show depicting the battle of Genghis Khan. It was quite good.

Here are some of the random shots taken in Splendid China.

I saw this fat rooster walking about this village house searching for food and decided to make it subject of my photos.. since Sure Win didn’t want me to take her pictures.

I was quite fascinated by this certain tribe who uses witch craft to climb a ladder of swords, overlooking this pagoda.

You don’t really need to visit other parts of China anymore when you get to see this replica. It’s quite intricately done.

After walking for a good solid 5 hours, I didn’t want to walk anymore and decided it’s time to hit the road and back to the hotel to pack.

We went to the shop that sells cheap and good food along Shennan Road for dinner. I don’t know how to read the sign board – but you may try this shop when you go to Shenzhen.

We went to the Metro station to get some food for tomorrow’s breakfast and saw they sell chicken claws as snacks at the convenient shop. Yucks! They even sell pork knuckles as snacks! I didn’t snap a picture of the pork knuckle as the shopkeeper was looking at me suspiciously. Katak, despite having zero money on her, still loitered from shops to shops to touch or look at the goods offered. Both of us shook our heads and felt sorry for Katak for being so hopeless.

The flight back to Kuala Lumpur was a bumpy one. Katak asked me if we need to complete the immigration form as handed out by the stewardess. I said, “It’s up to you!” and quickly pretended to sleep. We landed in KL on a Sunday, and it was a relief to be back after so many chaotic moments. I enjoyed it nevertheless and I am sure most of you enjoy reading the posts (especially about Katak) as much as I enjoyed trashing her… I mean, writing them.

Robbing the Bank

Day 6 – Shenzhen

We woke up early to start the day. Our initial plan was to go to Splendid China and the Cultural Village. Since the girls worried that Lao Jie might be too packed on weekend to do last minute shopping, we decided to bring forward shopping at Lao Jie to Friday instead and saved the weekend for Splendid China.

We went to have breakfast at Da Ju Yuan and then, went to the bookshop at Book City. Sure Win heard that the prices of the books in this Book City in Shenzhen cost about 50% cheaper than in Malaysia. It’s funny to think that the government of Malaysia, despite encouraging its people to read, imposed high taxes on imported books and expects the people to pay through their noses to acquire knowledge. Probably they are worried that we know too much to question their administration – well, seriously, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out they are up to no good. Let’s not talk politics here.

Since everything is in Mandarin, I had no choice but to goof around a little at the bookshop, taking pics of more and more Bad English examples! This is a book shop for Pete’s sake! Yet, there are wrong spellings everywhere that I couldn’t possibly keep track with my 2G memory card.

Sure Win almost carted the entire bookshop home if I didn’t stop her! CDs were cheap as well. I got my original Gwen Stefani’s at only RM20! And bought Lisa Ono’s as well since it’s only 38 yuan for 3 CDs!

Katak and us parted ways at the bookshop. She didn’t want to explore Shenzhen and was only interested to go shopping at Lao Jie. Sure Win and I were relieved. I think after yesterday’s episode of her went missing in action and remained totally oblivious about other people’s feelings, we all knew better she would better off to go on her own. She asked if we would like to keep the door access card but we were smart enough to have requested for a second card yesterday night after she did the disappearing act on us.

As she happily left for Lao Jie at about 12 pm, we were still contemplating where to go next before we splurge at Lao Jie. We wanted to get to Da Peng but it was about an hour journey there by bus or cab and it would cost at least 200 yuan just to get a cab to Da Peng. Da Peng has an ancient fortress which I find would be a good photography material. We scrapped the thought as 200 yuan would be too pricey and we might be exceeding our limited time.

We decided to go to OCT East instead. We took a bus tour line 1 and paid 10 yuan for a 40 minutes journey. Journey to OCT East was an uncomfortable one. The driver kept jamming the breaks indiscriminately. It was as if you were sitting on a horse. The driver was super sleepy. He would take a few winks of sleep whenever he stopped at the traffic lights. I couldn’t wait to get out from the bus as I was worried for my own safety. He had a scowl on his face. But he is quite cute though. Typical clean cut, fair looking and young Chinese man. Hhmmphhh…

Sleepy Bus Driver

The bus conductor is a lady. She was polite enough to strike a conversation with us and asked us where we were going. After exchanging some pleasantries, we looked outside the window of the bus to check out Shenzhen City.

Since it was a long ride and there weren’t many passengers, the bus conductor sitting idly and started to dig her nostrils in front of me. I think she did it for a good 10 minutes. It made my nose twitched and I felt like I wanted to dig my own nostrils too! I am not kidding. Here’s the proof. This is not a very good picture as I was discretely taking her picture.

Digging nostrils as national past time

When we gotten down at OCT East, it was rather quiet and deserted. I understand that it was an investment place for foreigners on another mega park in Shenzhen consisting of beautiful rocks, windmill and waterfalls, etc. It was not fully ready yet but they already start charging 120 yuan as entrance fees. I believe this would be the next attraction in Shenzhen.

Since we were saving up for some serious shopping later, we didn’t go in and did what our friend did when she was in Disneyland – stand outside OCT East and took some pics! Hey! It’s not ready yet! We would go in if it’s fully functional!

After walking about for 20 minutes, we decided to take the bus back. The bus on line 1 leaves every 30 minutes from 8.30 am to 10.30 pm and will pass by some major tourist attraction points. It was such a hot afternoon that everyone in the bus dozed off. I too dozed off but I kept trying hard to stay awake in order for us not to miss our stop at Lao Jie.

Shopping at Lau Jie is really jaw dropping cheap. We were greeted by price tag of 35 yuan for 2 pairs of shoes and couldn’t believe our eyes! Since it’s already 3.30 pm and we didn’t have our lunch yet, and we weren’t some shopping freak like Katak, we decided to feed ourselves first.

Nice Duck Rice

We had a simple late lunch of duck meat. It’s quite delicious. By 4 pm, the shopping frenzy started. I got my sister a few pair of jeans, some shirts for my brother and the mechanic and my dad. So far for this trip, I just gotten for myself a Bruce Lee T Shirt and two CDs while the rest of the money were splurged on my family members and friends. What to do? No size! Sigh! Sure Win managed to get a nice pair of Le Coq Sportif at 70 yuan and some clothes.

By the time we were on the train to get back to CityInn, we were drained! I somehow had a nagging thought that Katak would be up to no good. Never underestimate a woman’s instincts.

When we got back, we found that Katak had returned to the hotel by 4 pm. She claimed she was broke till the last penny that she had to use half of our pool money – not for emergency – but for her shopping as well! I couldn’t believe that she actually took the pool money to buy extra clothes which she might not need!

She was left penniless – and she even asked the traders in Lao Jie whether they accept credit cards or not. She wanted to buy more things if they have the machine! Hello? This is Lao Jie! Everything is traded in cash unless you buy from the shopping malls! The locals were nice enough to tell her, no, they don’t have the machine. If she were to encounter this in Hong Kong, probably the traders would ask her to swipe her own ass crack.

It’s a lucky thing that from China to Malaysia, there is no air port tax imposed separately. We paid everything when we bought our flight tickets. I asked her – if there is an emergency, what would we do if we do not have enough money? She said she still has some Malaysia Ringgit and asked if she could use them. I was so disgusted by her ignorance. I think we all should know that the trading of Ringgit overseas was prohibited since the Ringgit peg in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, no thanks to George Soros. If she doesn’t even know who Albert Einstein is.. I think she should just stay home and don’t go out to avoid giving problems to people.

I was left speechless by her irresponsibility. We still have another day to go and we would need the pool money for the whole day’s outing. I was frustrated that she took this matter lightly, as if it was all a joke. She even said, if we gave her pool money of 1,000 yuan, she would have no qualms to spend them all.

Sure Win and I were dumb founded. I could not roll my eyes in disgust anymore as they had already popped out from their sockets. To avoid myself from committing murders in China, Sure Win quickly took our sweaters and ushered me out to have dinner. Katak took 12 yuan from the pool money to have dinner and proudly announced it. Too bad she didn’t choke on her dinner.

The Duck Tongue!

I didn’t have much appetite but we have yet to try the delicacy in Shenzhen – the duck tongue. Sure Win ordered it and I took one bite but couldn’t bring myself to swallow it. I had mostly spicy beef and fried rice all to myself. As we ate and getting annoyed listening to the Scottish dude playing his bagpipe, we contemplated which bank to rob tomorrow.

The Invisible Woman

Day 5 – Hong Kong/Shenzhen

I was barking at people in office because they couldn’t deliver what I wanted. When I went to confront the person in charge, I was shocked that he was selling “bak kua” like the “bak kua” seller in Macau. The peddlers would hold a piece of BBQ minced meat in one hand and scissors in another, cutting the meat into small pieces for customers to try. I scolded him for not knowing how to set his priorities while he remained oblivious.

Then I woke up. Must be too much scenes from yesterday’s outing. We tried to sleep our weariness away as we didn’t plan to go to Lantau Island but was unsuccessful. We woke up at 7.30 am and took our own sweet time at the bathroom and packing.

Katak looked agitated and dropped strong hints that she wanted to go back to Shenzhen that instant to indulge on a shopping spree.

We walked about the streets of Hong Kong for the last time and to look for breakfast. At almost 9 am, there were not many shops offering food and the street was somewhat deserted. We wanted to go back to Eat Together for some good food but it was not opened. We ended up having breakfast at the most expensive place. I don’t know what the name is, but this place is somehow famous too.

We tried their recommended noodles – the “Che Chai Meen” but it was somewhat bland. I think my usual cintan noodles -and-throw -everything -inside dish whenever my mom is not at home tastes better. The noodles didn’t somewhat absorb the flavor of the meat or vegetable and hence, it was tasteless. The wanton is good though. typical succulent minced pork with whole fresh prawn. Yum! The tab came up to HKD230. Yes, you see it right. That is RM115 for breakfast! I think the most expensive breakfast I had was in Mandarin Oriental for its delicious dim sum and that is a 5 star hotel, mind you.

Anyway, no regrets since we don’t have anywhere else to spend our remaining HKD, we decided to eat a good meal.

I dreaded the thought of taking my 70L backpack to Shenzhen. I hope this time, we don’t get lost again.

It was a smooth ride from Hong Kong’s Kowloon to Lo Wu Interchange. When we got down at the station Lo Wu Interchange, Sure Win helped us to return our Octopus Card to get our deposit back. I was relieved that the place was quiet and peaceful and is not chaotic as described by friends who had been to Shenzhen via train.

My contentment short-lived when I heard a sound of loud stampede running towards us; as if there was a herd of buffalos running for their lives from predators, as what you could see on National Geographics. The sound got louder and louder. My jaw dropped at the sight of a group of people running towards us. Was there a fire?? Was there a robbery? A terrorist threat? I stood there with my mouth agape.

I gestured Katak to step aside to let the group of people pass first. It was a relief that the group of people in a hurry suddenly detoured and headed to other lanes to the immigration counter specific for mainlanders and Hong Kong Residents only. I was glad that we were in the “alien” lane. Phew! To illustrate, here’s the cartoon version.

When we got to Lo Wu, Sure Win went to the money changer and changed all her Hong Kong dollars into Renmenbi. While waiting for her, a Chinese dude approached me.

Him: Na li you de huan ling chien?

Me: Errr… (then pointed to the foreign exchange)

Him: Da mei you ling chien.

Me: Err… (totally lost).

Fortunately, Sure Win came to the rescue.

Ling chien means small change. DUH!! I thought it was supposed to be called “san chien” as spoken by Malaysian Chinese. I added a vocabulary to my limited Mandarin that day.

When we got back to Shi Jie Zhi Chuang, I was already anxious to go back to the hotel to unload my heavy backpack. Our friend, the chronic shopaholic aka Katak, took her own sweet time, doing rounds in all the shops found at the train station while holding onto her trolley bag and small backpack. This woman could really shop.

This time round, I couldn’t help rolling my eyes to show my utter disgust as I find she did not have any consideration for other people to indulge herself for mindless shopping. I told Sure Win I would go back to the hotel myself. Sure Win shook her head in disbelief that Katak is suffering from chronic shopaholic syndrome and tagged along with me back to the hotel. Seeing that we couldn’t be bothered to wait for her, Katak reluctantly followed us back to the hotel.

What a relief to be back in Shenzhen! Despite it’s bad English!

At the hotel, Katak did the unbelievable again. She paid for the three night stay including an extra night deposit as security with her limited cash. When she told us she paid cash and expected us to pay her back, we looked at her and asked; has she ever heard of a thing called the credit card?

She was bewildered and rushed to the counter to take her cash back and used her credit card. DUH? Gawd… memang katak. Sure Win and I were speechless.

Once she got her cash back, she was already itching to go shopping. She was all bouncy and giddy and hurried us to drop our bags to get to Lao Jie immediately; Shenzhen’s version of our Petaling Street.

We took a train to Lao Jie and it cost only 5 yuan per person. Once we gotten out from the train, there were hordes of people walking about. The price tags for the goods in Lao Jie were beguiling. 25 yuan to 30 yuan for a hand bag! 35 yuan for boots! Our eyes were blurred by the numerous price tags as we kept walking. Remember to mind your belongings when you were there.

Katak did her famous disappearing act again and I told Sure Win that we gotta do something about this. I couldn’t stand Katak for walking in and out of EVERY SINGLE shop. I wanted to go shopping on my own. Sure Win chose to go with me. When we finally saw Katak bargaining for some belts, we told her that we will see her at the Metro entrance at 5 pm sharp.

Sure Win and I walked about Lao Jie to check out the buildings surrounding it as well as delicacies offered. There seemed to be food skewered on sticks like fish cakes, squids, octopus tentacles, chicken claws, etc everywhere.

We then headed to less crowded area to shop and were lucky enough to have bumped into 50 yuan (RM25) for 2 blouses deal. It was so dirt cheap that we didn’t even have to bargain. I started to pick some blouses for my sister and cousins while Sure Win picked some for herself. Jeans came as cheap as 50 yuan for two!

We were quite happy with our purchase that we made way to the Metro entrance at 4.53 pm. As expected, Katak was nowhere to be seen. While waiting for her, we sat at a café overlooking the entrance and had some mango dessert. It tasted so much better than the one we had in Hong Kong (costs HKD12) and this cost only 5 yuan and ate some lotus roots and beef balls as well at 3 yuan each. By 5.30 pm, our patience was growing thin and she was nowhere to be seen. I am very positive that she couldn’t and shouldn’t have missed me! There is NO PERSON in Shenzhen as BIG as me! Their biggest waist size for women is 32 inches!!!

I told Sure Win to sit while I went around to look for Katak. I even went upstairs because I had to go to the loo. When I got back, Sure Win said she saw Katak went into a CD shop just a few seconds ago. I quickly rushed to the CD shop in front of us and Katak did her Houdini act again! She escaped into thin air!

By 6.15 pm, after waiting 1 hour and 15 minutes, the ever calm Sure Win lost her patience. We took the train back.

Katak was already at the hotel just a few minutes before we arrived. It’s a miracle that she – yet and again slipped past us at the Metro Entrance without looking at us. She claimed she was there at 4.40 pm waiting for us and we didn’t show up. I told her 5 pm! Now I am convinced that she; other than being partially blind, she is partially deaf as well.

Katak, delighted with her purchases; squealed gleefully like a 3 years old girl, showing us her purchases, totally oblivious that we were very, very upset with her.

View from our dinner place

We were not interested. I suggested dinner and Katak said she had eaten. But we suspected that she wanted to save her money for her shopping. She just ate some 1 yuan bread at Lao Jie while “waiting” for us.

During dinner, Sure Win was still grumbling about Katak’s oblivion and ignorance. We consoled ourselves and patted our own backs for being saintly patient and toasted the night away with a mug of Paul Laner.

Rustic Charms

Day 4 – Hong Kong/Macau

After a tiring day yesterday, today we woke up early to catch the earliest ferry to Macau. We left the hostel at 7.15 am only to find ourselves lost trying to find Canton Road, where China Hong Kong City Building is situated. We walked from one end to the other and due to blistered feet, I was a little bit whiney. (A little bit only ok!)

When we reached China Hong Kong City Building, where we supposed to go to get our ferry tickets to Macau, tickets were sold out for the earlier trips. The First Ferry goes to Macau every half hourly. We settled for the next available trip at 10.30 am. It costs HKD277 for a return ticket. Probably, it is advisable to pick the tickets a day or two earlier before departure time to avoid such blunder.

Since we had more than two hours to kill, we sat at the café and ordered breakfast. We were disappointed that we didn’t get to Macau to have authentic Macau breakfast of Portuguese egg tarts.

It’s a miracle how Hongkis could eat so much and never seem to get fat. I saw a girl ordering a plate of fried meehoon and a bowl of congee. She washed it down with milk tea and yet, she is as thin as a stick insect. Okay, I am exaggerating. She still looks good. I find Hongki can really eat a lot without getting fat. I am so damn jealous.

We slept throughout the entire journey to Macau. It was an hour journey to Macau. The moment we got off the boat, we were greeted by the chilly air. It was freezing cold!

The immigration counter at Macau was packed to the brim. We quickly hustled ourselves at a lane. 10 minutes later, another swamp of people came. Most of them are elderly people who came in tour groups as you could see them in their yellow hats or purple sweaters, depending on which travel agency they were with. There were arguments everywhere as some people were cutting queues. I began to see the ugly side of people who were impatient to get to Macau and wondered what the fuss is all about? Then I realized – the Casino! There were so many gambling kakis. You could tell from their faces – lan tou kwais! Hahahaha.

We waited almost 45 minutes to get our passports stamped, partly due to the immigration officer who took his own sweet time. He didn’t have any expression on his face other than being utterly bored and somewhat disgusted.

Mdm Katak lost her immigration card but she was lucky enough that the immigration officer didn’t even bother to ask for it when she left the Hong Kong immigration counter. Or else, I think we would have left her there and then for her lack of common sense.

When we got out from the immigration, it was close to 12.30 pm. We wasted too much time at the immigration counter. There were hordes of people haggling to ask if we would like to hire them to take us around Macau. We politely turned them down and headed towards the bus stop. We were advised by the information counter to start our visit at A-Ma Temple. We took a bus no. 10 to A-Ma Temple and it costs only HKD2.50 per person. The bus driver was an unsmiling person but he answered every question we threw to him politely. A passenger even joined us in our conversation when we saw people carting away big bags of goods from a major sale at a local shopping mall. They had a year end sale and quilt covers came cheaper by at least MOP400.

There was nothing much to look at A-Ma Temple but it was said to be the starting point of trade which made Macau the most hustling and bustling harbor in the yesteryears. We took pictures quickly and started our walk.

We came across Pastelaria Koi Kei – the famous pastry shop in Macau and started to splurge. One Portuguese egg tart cost MOP6 (RM3)!!!! So bloody expensive. It was good. But I find the Portuguese egg tarts in Malaysia from King’s Bakery are equally tasty and they cost only RM1.20 each.

We did another blunder. We bought the pastries and biscuits way too early and forgotten that we still have 3 more hours to walk about. It was so silly of us not to know there were many other Pastelaria Koi Kei on the way to St Paul’s ruins. We could have bought it there and didn’t have to carry the big bag all over Macau, snapping pictures with one hand. Unless you hire a tour guide van, I think you shouldn’t purchase anything till you leave Macau.

I thought we still have time till 5.30 pm but was shocked that Ms Sure Win bought the 5.30 pm ferry back to Hong Kong. It was too late to complain anyway. My mistakes for not communicating clearly. We tried our best to make the most of the 3 hours we had left.

It drizzled when we walked past the Moorish Barracks towards St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church. Rule no. 4 – always bring an umbrella or raincoat! I always bring umbrella for trips but this time, I totally forgotten about it.

We decided to have lunch at a small eatery near the church. We didn’t get to sample many things and only ate the beef noodles and the pork chop bun. The beef noodles’ potato was delicious, so was the pork chop bun which I failed to take picture because it was gobbled up the moment it reached the table.

The rain amicably stopped by the time we finished our lunch and we headed on to the La Senado Square. I love it here! There were so many people even if it was a Wednesday. Most of them are foreigners and it’s impossible to take pictures without people in it. Since we did not have much time left, I made sure we go to the St Paul’s Ruins or else, we would not have been to Macau at all.

When we were at the Senado Square, our chronic shopaholic Mdm Katak disappeared into the watch shop and never resurfaced. Both myself and Ms Sure Win were just standing in front of the watch shop chatting while waiting for Mdm Katak to do her window shopping or what-not. It was indeed frustrating that we were already running out of time and she still went window shopping.

We waited for about 20 minutes and decided to walk around Senado Square to scout for her. She didn’t appear till another 10 minutes later and she said she went to the other side to look for us.

I refrained myself from rolling my eyes in disgust and wanted to offer her my spectacles since she couldn’t even spot me – probably the biggest sized person in Senado Square at that point of time. We were standing right in front of the shop and she could somehow manage to slip past us.

Rule No. 5 – Remember to bring a leash if you have a chronic shopaholic among the group.

We were looking for ways to get to St Paul’s Ruins without realizing that it was just a few minutes walk away from where we stood. The map made it look as if it was such a bloody big place. We went to hail the bus and was told, St Paul’s ruins is just behind Senado Square! Geez! How embarrassing!

When I think back now, I find it’s quite ridiculous of Mdm Katak for not informing us that the structure was there where she claimed she went loitering looking for us. Memang katak! I think she didn’t even know that St Paul’s ruins is the major landmark to identify Macau and she just walked past it without noticing.

Rule No. 6 – please do some homework before traveling. It doesn’t pay to go with the flow at times.

To benefit those who are traveling to Macau soon, this is the order as recommended by Macau Map is as follows:-

A-Ma Temple – Moorish Barracks – Lilau Square – Mandarin’s House – St. Lawrence’s Church – St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church – St. Augustine’s Square – Dom Pedro V Theatre – Sir Robert Ho Tung Library – St.Augustine’s Church – “Leal Senado” Building – Senado Square – Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple – Holy House of Mercy – Cathedral – Lou Kau Mansion – St. Dominic’s Church – Ruins of St Paul’s – Na Cha Temple – Section of the Old City Walls – Mount Fortress – St. Anthony’s Church – Casa Garden – Protestant Cemetery – Guia Fortress

I have made a decision to visit Macau again in near future as we didn’t quite get to explore the entire place. I am charmed by the old rustic buildings in Macau and the perfect blend of cultures from East and West. It would be a good place to take good pictures.. if only I could have more time.

We rushed back to the ferry and went back to Hong Kong. To ease the pain of our sore feet, we went to Sweet Dynasty along Canton Road for their supposedly famous tong sui. The mango pudding or the mango tofu, which I couldn’t recall reading about it anywhere. Ms Sure Win said this place is a good place for the famous dessert as recommended by the internet. We were utterly disappointed.

The dim sum were worse. They were so hard that I think if you fed them to the dogs, they might get choked. Looking at other people’s tables, we were curious that everyone ordered their supposedly famous fried rice.

I have only one word to describe the fried rice: salty. I should have practise my limited Japanese with the Japanese couple sitting next to us whether the fried rice is any good. And to make the matter worse, one plate costs HKD66!!

I couldn’t help noticing a guy sitting across me. He looked like V in V for Vendetta even without the mask. He refused to eat anything when his dinner companions asked him to order. He just look at them eating and didn’t have anything for himself. Now I understand why.

I made a request to drop by Temple Street or the Goldfish Street to see the market set up but the girls were reluctant. Mdm Katak was more interested to go to Ladies’ Market to shop till she drop and I wanted to experience the night life at Temple Street – I heard of the sidewalk opera singers and fortune tellers.

We ended up going to Temple Street (nobody dares to mess with me!) and didn’t somehow managed to spot the opera singers. We only saw one fortune teller guy having brisk business.

The Temple Street traders are like the gangster triad. They don’t give a damn about you and they were utterly rude and ridiculous. Ms Sure Win wanted to get some shirts as she didn’t pack many clothes and expected to make some purchase. The attitude of the traders is an utter turn-off. We ended up buying some shirts from one elderly gentleman who was polite enough. We didn’t even bargain as we believe we should give business to people who genuinely wanted to do business and at least courteous.

We scrapped the plan to go to Goldfish market and went back to the hostel. It was a very tiring day – traveling via train, ferry, buses and cabs, the waiting at the immigration counter, filling in immigration cards for umpteenth times till we could remember our passport numbers and carrying the bags of pastries all over Macau and Hong Kong.

The girls hesitated on the idea on whether or not to go to Lantau Island tomorrow. I didn’t insist since I barely had any strength left to walk that much anymore. I think most of all, I didn’t want to encounter another episode of unwarranted rudeness from the locals again. Most of the locals are reluctant to explain to you the way and some don’t even look at you when you place orders at the restaurants or the stalls.

The girls already started to miss Shenzhen for its cheap food, great hospitality and good place to stay. And I miss home.

Expensive City

Day 3 – Hong Kong

We started our day early to go to Ocean Park after having typical Hong Kong breakfast of chu cheong fan, yow char kuai, congee with century egg and yin yong. We took the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) on the Tsuen Wan Line at 8.15 am. Not a very smart move considering it was morning rush hour. But the crowd was manageable and everyone seemed to queue up like programmed robots. Most of them had their faces buried in the free newspapers. It’s good to see Hongkis having this habit of reading in the train like the Japanese.

Once we reached our station, the free newspapers were being returned in order for someone else to read it. I find this is a good way to recycle and keep people informed all at the same time.

We got out at the Admiralty station and headed to the bus stop, taking number 629 double decker bus to Ocean Park. It costs HKD10.60 (approx. RM5.30) one way to go to Ocean Park and HKD208 (approx. RM104) to get into Ocean Park. Fucking expensive!

We joked about not going in and only take pictures outside Ocean Park to show that we had been there minus the cost (to follow foot steps of our thrifty-suspected-nun friend who took pictures only at the entrance of Disney Land Hong Kong). We should have done so as the girls did not want to even go for the adventure rides. We only go for the hot air balloon, took the cable up to check out the jelly fishes aquarium, the shark aquarium and the other big aquarium and caught the sea animal show.

Restlessness was written all over Mdm Katak’s face, unlike the face I saw last night at the Ladies’ Market. She would walk on and on like a walkathon runner – into each and every stall. If I didn’t complain about my aching feet and Ms Sure Win showed a disinterest face, I think she wouldn’t have stopped.

After 3 hours or so, we left Ocean Park and caught the same bus back to Admiralty Station. Since we were early and had nothing else to do, we went to scout for food. Hong Kong is filled with rather intimidating-looking tall buildings. As we walked aimlessly in Queensbay Plaza, we observed the crowd of office workers. Most of them donned pretty looking clothes, very chic. The men wore mainly suits with ties. Everyone wore make up. Unlike me in my office. No make up. No perfume. Sometimes, I don’t even comb my hair.

We walked wherever the swarm of people were heading for lunch and ended up at the 2nd floor of an open area where people ate from lunch boxes like what we usually watch in Hong Kong series. There is a bakery and a kitchen on the second floor of Queensbay Plaza. We lined up where the beeline of people was, and the waiter took our order swiftly. I could say this was the highlight of the entire Hong Kong trip, fitting into the crowd of working class, having a quick lunch at the park.

After lunch, Mdm Katak started to feel rejuvenated, not because of what she ate. It was because we were right in the middle of a shopping mall! If it weren’t for the expensive prices, I think we would probably spend the rest of the day in a shopping mall in Hong Kong.

We then, walked about and followed signboard towards the Peak located near Central. It was almost a 20 minutes walk from Admiralty Station where we somehow wound up in Queensbay Plaza. Central is merely a station away from Admiralty Station.

We bought tickets for the tram (HKD33) and Madame Tussard’s (HKD120). If you buy both, you get a discount of HKD23. So we ended up paying HKD 130 for both. I was quite excited to take photos with the celebrities and stars. The waxed Kelly greeted us in her showbiz suit ala Moulin Rogue style. Waxed figure of Jackie Chan stood at the entrance to wait for patrons to be photographed with him.

One can’t help feeling super old when most of the waxed figures you could identify in the gallery were dead. Example? Princess Diana, Saddam Hussein, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Ghandi, Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, etc. Mdm Katak didn’t even know who Albert Einstein was. You should get the drift by now on why she is called “Katak”.

We spent less than an hour on the Peak and Madame Tussard’s. Even though it was Tuesday, we couldn’t find seats in any coffee shops at the Peak. I imagined if we visited this place on weekend, it would be hell. The crowd hustled their way to get a seat at the tram on the way up. Nothing much to be awed about really. If you had been to Penang Hill via tram, you know what I mean.

After taking the tram downhill, we took a bus no. 15C going towards Tsim Sha Tsui, with no particular plan at hand. When we got down at the jetty, we found that we could actually go to Lantau Island at the jetty. It was already close to 4 pm and it doesn’t make sense to take a ferry there now as the place would close by 5 pm and the journey would take an hour.

We scrapped the idea of going to Lantau Island on the spot that day and took the Star Ferry to Wan Chai. I think the ticket cost only HKD2.20 – the cheapest so far in our travel in Hong Kong.

There was a tv crew filming an advertisement when we arrived. A lot of curious onlookers crowded the area to check out what is happening. I didn’t bother. I was in need of a caffeine fix and glad to find that the McDOnald’s in Hong Kong – Mc Café serves variety of coffee and I had a latte.

After the coffee break, I wanted to drop by Watson’s to get myself some plasters. My shoes were killing my feet with blisters. Rule No. 3 – Never ever try to be adventurous to wear new shoes when you are traveling. Always stick to your trusty old Reebok.”

I made a huge mistake. I shouldn’t have told Mdm Katak I am going to Watson’s. I got my plaster and a bottle of honey green tea in less than 2 minutes. Mdm Katak walked about the small store and didn’t want to get out. Ms Sure Win went to next door to check out rates at the internet café. We waited for more than half an hour for Mdm Katak to purchase a full size Clinelle facial wash, face mask and blemish spot cream. I told her, there is also Watson’s in Malaysia selling Clinelle. While waiting for her to ease her addiction to mindless shopping, I took a picture of the sunset in Wan Chai.

After Mdm Katak reluctantly bid farewell to Watson’s, we went on our way to the Arena of Stars. It was a 10-minute-walk from Wan Chai’s ferry dock. By the time we reached Arena of Stars, I couldn’t feel my feet. There were blisters all over as if I had just undergone a gruesome triathlon. I have never exercised so much before in my entire life.

We walked about admiring the famous skyline and waited for the laser show at 8 pm. We had two hours to kill. Both the girls continued to walk about while I sat on the bench to watch people. After an hour of walking about and myself, staring into space and spotting the same woman jogging to and fro a few times in front of me, we decided to have dinner at nearby Sogo before returning to watch the laser show.

The laser show was jeopardized by presence of haze. We saw weak laser beams penetrating the thick haze.

The Hong Kong skyline at Arena of Stars is a picturesque sight to behold though. It’s windy and sometimes you get to see old junks synonymous with Hong Kong passing by or over commercialized big boats, providing over priced dinner to tourists while cruising along the spectacular skyline. What I totally love about Arena of Stars is – it comes free.

Third day ended with Mdm Katak window shopped – combing every shoe shop in Mongkok, leaving none un-entered and myself, cursing silently in my heart.