RB's mom finally returned from Hong Kong. Not on talking terms quite yet. But RB knows he must initiate. He also knows that he must find a shared solution with his siblings.
He also started thinking of making a prototype of his massage ball! Yeah!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Mediation?
Remember that dinner over which RB's mom got very upset about him considering having her immigrate to Canada? Well, the 80+ yr old friend who happened to be there, felt obligated to help mediate the situation.
RB is meeting her for dim sum, while his mom is hiding out in Hong Kong. She honestly told him that she understands where RB is coming from and should live his life how he sees fit. However, she was unable to say this truth to his mother.
RB realized, or rather confirmed his suspicion, that his mother hears only people agreeing with her. No one has dared to be impolite or mean to say otherwise. He must do the difficult task of confronting her.
RB is meeting her for dim sum, while his mom is hiding out in Hong Kong. She honestly told him that she understands where RB is coming from and should live his life how he sees fit. However, she was unable to say this truth to his mother.
RB realized, or rather confirmed his suspicion, that his mother hears only people agreeing with her. No one has dared to be impolite or mean to say otherwise. He must do the difficult task of confronting her.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Rethinking bamboo & Massage Ball design
RB was rethinking his decision to partner with the bamboo friend, since he realized it was would not utilize his talents or time well. It was also risky due to the lack of organization and uncreative.
He also drafted a very nice 3D design of the massage ball. MM was very impressed!
He also drafted a very nice 3D design of the massage ball. MM was very impressed!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Support for MM's interview
MM had an interview coming up on Wednesday, and RB was awesome and provided lots of support all weekend, despite his own family difficulties.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Year of the Dragon
RB made no progress with his mom. He still got to enjoy his cny by having lunch with his younger uncle, and then dinner with his father.
His father was okay with RB's engagement and even gave the advice to ignore his mother...does this ex-husband know his ex-wife well?
His father was okay with RB's engagement and even gave the advice to ignore his mother...does this ex-husband know his ex-wife well?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chinese New Years Eve
RB's mom continued to ignore him and hid in her room. RB ended up having dinner with his brother, and his mother spent it hiding in her clinic alone. Apparently, this is how she spends each chinese new year.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Unforeseen plans
RB had dinner with his mom and some friends. During the dinner, the friends asked what RB's near future plans were. He mentioned that he was considering bringing his mother to Canada.
RB's mom became very upset and angry and pin-pointed that she did not want to immigrate and that it must be because he had plans with me. She accused him of abandoning her and she started to give him her famous silent treatment.
They did not end up going to Guang Zhou for chinese new years after all.
RB's mom became very upset and angry and pin-pointed that she did not want to immigrate and that it must be because he had plans with me. She accused him of abandoning her and she started to give him her famous silent treatment.
They did not end up going to Guang Zhou for chinese new years after all.
Chinese New Year celebrations begin
RB travelled back to Guang Zhou to spend chinese new years with his uncle. Hopefully, his 7th uncle could convince his mom to go too!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Home with Mom
RB returned to Shen Zhen to his mom's home. Took it easy. But also already began thinking about what to discuss and do with his bamboo friend. He knew he needed to work out the expenses with him if they were to partner up.
It was his sister-in-law's birthday and they had dinner together. Unfortunately, due to a preceding conflict, his mother ignored her the entire time.
In a conversation with MM, he admitted a bit of fear with respect to confronting his mom. MM assigned the small task of beginning his training on being a more proactive "counselor" by honestly, but kindly pointing out to his mom, the unpleasant effects of such an ongoing conflict. Results? To be continued...
He also went to visit his "7th uncle".
It was his sister-in-law's birthday and they had dinner together. Unfortunately, due to a preceding conflict, his mother ignored her the entire time.
In a conversation with MM, he admitted a bit of fear with respect to confronting his mom. MM assigned the small task of beginning his training on being a more proactive "counselor" by honestly, but kindly pointing out to his mom, the unpleasant effects of such an ongoing conflict. Results? To be continued...
He also went to visit his "7th uncle".
Monday, January 16, 2012
Return to HK
RB arrived in HK and stayed over at his aunt's place for a few days. He was to help her with some personal financial/legal issues. Briefly, she tried recruiting him into Christianity, but to no avail. His first day back, however, was largely spent sleeping to recover from the time lag and long flight.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Brief stay in Japan...'s airport
RB had a 10 hr lay over in Japan. Unfortunately, due to the cheapness of the flight ticket, it was at night, so there wasn't anywhere he could go. He slept a little bit, chat with MM when she was in the Vancouver airport a couple times (that was MM's favourite time in the airport).
He almost missed his flight back to HK because the clock he was looking at was set an hour late. Luckily he heard his name being paged!
He almost missed his flight back to HK because the clock he was looking at was set an hour late. Luckily he heard his name being paged!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Hawaii Day 4: Food truck hunting & Haleiwa
Since MM fell asleep earlier last night, she woke up earlier the next day than RB. She went and grabbed a coconut flavoured mocha from a local chain, Kimobean. It was sooooo good, even RB approved of it, when she went back to wake him up.
They popped by the hotel's "business center" and looked up where good food trucks were. MM encountered her brother on gchat and he demanded a coconut bra. So be it.
They then took the #8 bus to the Ala Moana mall and had breakfast in the foodcourt. A poke ("poe-kee") bowl from Bangaa Bangaa with wasabi sauce, and 3 char-siu buns with scallions and hoison sauce from the chinese bakery.
They then hunted for a #52 bus route map, only to find that the info center and city hall were out. They improvised and spied some others at the bus stop checking out a map...and followed them. Bwahaha. The #52 bus took them right through the center of Oahu to the north shore. RB fell asleep on the bus, and missed the rundown, sketchy-looking inland town of Millilani, and the first food truck spotting of the day: Blue Shark parked next to a gas station.
As they approached Haleiwa, the famed area for shrimp trucks, they passed Mack's, Giovanni's, Hono's, another I forget, and another seen in the pics below. Although they weren't hungry yet, they tried shrimp scampi (mini) with garlic rice from Giovanni's, since it as most famous, most popular that day, and cheapest. Shrimp scampi turns out to be just like chinese shrimp and garlic stirfry, except that it was mildly overcooked. The garlic over the rice was very good though. All very greasy. There was also a shocking number of flies hovering over the garbage bins. All the tables were sticky. It was definitely roughing it out there.
Haleiwa (ha-lay-ee-va) turned out to be a small stretch of old rickety wooden buildings of a village. To balance all the meat and carbs they were eating, they shared an acai smoothie. Acai bowls, btw, are immensely popular in Hawaii. MM found a coconut bra for her bro at a souvenir shop.
They headed north to Haleiwa beach, where the waves were huge...up to 1.5 meters high. The waves were soo scary, MM totally chickened out of swimming. RB thought it looked kinda fun and went for it. He froggy swam against the current, and sometimes it was difficult to tell if he was making any progress. Upon leaving to change back into dry clothes, MM and RB finally noticed a giant sign forbidding swimming at this beach due to the "strong current". They scurried away asap, looking as innocent as possible.
There was just enough time to check out the Dole Plantation and so they stopped by on their way back. They got on the last train tour (scammed at $8/person).
Upon returning to Ala Moana, transfer point, they took another bus to Hawaii's best burger joint - Kua Aina Burgers. It was kinda raw and mushy. Wasn't as good as Big Kahuna's. The fries were the thinnest they've ever had...they got dry and crunchy really fast. Mildly disappointed though it was still good.
Returned to the hotel, had instant noodles, and took a night walk down Kalakaua and to Waikiki beach. A lot of homeless beggars appeared at night. One illegal flame thrower was on the beach practising, and they found themselves at the end of Kuhio and walked back super tired and fell asleep.
They popped by the hotel's "business center" and looked up where good food trucks were. MM encountered her brother on gchat and he demanded a coconut bra. So be it.
They then took the #8 bus to the Ala Moana mall and had breakfast in the foodcourt. A poke ("poe-kee") bowl from Bangaa Bangaa with wasabi sauce, and 3 char-siu buns with scallions and hoison sauce from the chinese bakery.
They then hunted for a #52 bus route map, only to find that the info center and city hall were out. They improvised and spied some others at the bus stop checking out a map...and followed them. Bwahaha. The #52 bus took them right through the center of Oahu to the north shore. RB fell asleep on the bus, and missed the rundown, sketchy-looking inland town of Millilani, and the first food truck spotting of the day: Blue Shark parked next to a gas station.
As they approached Haleiwa, the famed area for shrimp trucks, they passed Mack's, Giovanni's, Hono's, another I forget, and another seen in the pics below. Although they weren't hungry yet, they tried shrimp scampi (mini) with garlic rice from Giovanni's, since it as most famous, most popular that day, and cheapest. Shrimp scampi turns out to be just like chinese shrimp and garlic stirfry, except that it was mildly overcooked. The garlic over the rice was very good though. All very greasy. There was also a shocking number of flies hovering over the garbage bins. All the tables were sticky. It was definitely roughing it out there.
Haleiwa (ha-lay-ee-va) turned out to be a small stretch of old rickety wooden buildings of a village. To balance all the meat and carbs they were eating, they shared an acai smoothie. Acai bowls, btw, are immensely popular in Hawaii. MM found a coconut bra for her bro at a souvenir shop.
They headed north to Haleiwa beach, where the waves were huge...up to 1.5 meters high. The waves were soo scary, MM totally chickened out of swimming. RB thought it looked kinda fun and went for it. He froggy swam against the current, and sometimes it was difficult to tell if he was making any progress. Upon leaving to change back into dry clothes, MM and RB finally noticed a giant sign forbidding swimming at this beach due to the "strong current". They scurried away asap, looking as innocent as possible.
There was just enough time to check out the Dole Plantation and so they stopped by on their way back. They got on the last train tour (scammed at $8/person).
Upon returning to Ala Moana, transfer point, they took another bus to Hawaii's best burger joint - Kua Aina Burgers. It was kinda raw and mushy. Wasn't as good as Big Kahuna's. The fries were the thinnest they've ever had...they got dry and crunchy really fast. Mildly disappointed though it was still good.
Returned to the hotel, had instant noodles, and took a night walk down Kalakaua and to Waikiki beach. A lot of homeless beggars appeared at night. One illegal flame thrower was on the beach practising, and they found themselves at the end of Kuhio and walked back super tired and fell asleep.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Hawaii Day 3: Diamond Head & random exploring
RB & MM started their first fully rested day together by trying a cheap and nearby restaurant...largely persuaded by MM's hunger and a little old lady insisting they check the place out. They tried their first "hawaiian" fusion food: loco moco and spam.
Loco moco was a perfect meld of meat and rice, a warm gooey comfort food to rival mac-n-cheese, and was the ultimate deconstructed burger.
After finishing breakfast, they could not help but notice the large chinese influences in Hawaiian cuisine. For example...
They then took the #23 bus to Diamond Head, a closeby hiking trail up a crater.
It had a number of stairs, but was nothing for the extremely fit pair...cough cough choke choke.
They made it to the top...which was just an old military lookout bunker. Nice views though...lots of pretty beaches and giant mansions and solar panels and seriously giant mansions...
When they came back down, MM could not resist her first food truck...and bought another hawaiian favourite: shaved ice. It was disappointing...as it was essentially a snow cone, but in a cooler looking cup.
Then RB meticulously read his bus guide and brochures and figured out which bus we needed to take to get back to Waikiki. The first bus that came, was unfortunately the wrong one...a #3...but RB was overcome with a fit of spontaneity and threw MM onto it! So much for planning. They ended up at some transfer point north of Diamond Head, in the middle of a slightly run down, old and small suburban street.
They walked down a few blocks, and examined the stores, which included various eateries. They settled on a crepe shop...and MM ordered a crepe, solely based on its witty name and a weird craving for mushrooms. It was delish. Whilst in the shop, they got directions to head to the botanical garden.
They then promptly ignored the directions, explored the local
Goodwill (nothing good), and then hopped on a #1 bus, heading exactly
opposite. And got off when things looked dangerously far...into some
area in Hawaii Kai.
They found a large shopping plaza and they eventually figured out that they were at the Koko Marina.
As a pleasant surprise, they found the cheapest sushi take out they had ever seen. Everything in Kozo Sushi was about 1/2 that of Toronto's sushi! RB's eyeballs were huge and he salivated and was instantly in love. They had a a light snack to celebrate their lucky find.
They
hopped back onto a #1 bus, heading what they thought was Waikiki. And
got off when they realized they were waaaaay off.
Luckily, they were
within a few blocks of the giant shopping mall, Ala Moana, the central
bus station. On their way to the mall, they explored a local Korean supermarket. They bought a papaya and instant noodles. The papaya had yellow flesh when it was ripe...it was sweeeeet. MM also picked up a japanese version of Gatorade...except that it's older and better tasting, aka Pocari Sweat. (Okay, not better named though...)
To
cap off their long day of random discoveries, they went to the Big
Kahuna restaurant, which MM thought was a fusion place, but it was more
of a bar. The waitress was unable to understand why we didn't order
alcohol. Her closed-mindedness was nicely overshadowed with a most
awesome Hawaiian burger and mahi mahi.
MM, still tired from her long flight, fell asleep by 10 PM, while RB stayed up until midnight, planning their next trip with their growing collection of free brochures.
Loco moco was a perfect meld of meat and rice, a warm gooey comfort food to rival mac-n-cheese, and was the ultimate deconstructed burger.
They then took the #23 bus to Diamond Head, a closeby hiking trail up a crater.
 |
| Tunnel leading to Diamond Head |
It had a number of stairs, but was nothing for the extremely fit pair...cough cough choke choke.
They made it to the top...which was just an old military lookout bunker. Nice views though...lots of pretty beaches and giant mansions and solar panels and seriously giant mansions...
 |
| Waikiki beach...around the pink building...just to the left of it. |
 |
| Looking chill in his (fake) polarized shades. |
When they came back down, MM could not resist her first food truck...and bought another hawaiian favourite: shaved ice. It was disappointing...as it was essentially a snow cone, but in a cooler looking cup.
Then RB meticulously read his bus guide and brochures and figured out which bus we needed to take to get back to Waikiki. The first bus that came, was unfortunately the wrong one...a #3...but RB was overcome with a fit of spontaneity and threw MM onto it! So much for planning. They ended up at some transfer point north of Diamond Head, in the middle of a slightly run down, old and small suburban street.
They walked down a few blocks, and examined the stores, which included various eateries. They settled on a crepe shop...and MM ordered a crepe, solely based on its witty name and a weird craving for mushrooms. It was delish. Whilst in the shop, they got directions to head to the botanical garden.
 |
| Crazy expensive char siu! |
They found a large shopping plaza and they eventually figured out that they were at the Koko Marina.
As a pleasant surprise, they found the cheapest sushi take out they had ever seen. Everything in Kozo Sushi was about 1/2 that of Toronto's sushi! RB's eyeballs were huge and he salivated and was instantly in love. They had a a light snack to celebrate their lucky find.
 |
| Turns out this is a chain. Found another one near Ala Moana mall. |
 |
| Dragon roll |
Somewhat un-trusting of the bus system, and also their ability to find a
decent route map, they walked back to the hotel. It was surprisingly
close - only about 10-15 mins away.
MM, still tired from her long flight, fell asleep by 10 PM, while RB stayed up until midnight, planning their next trip with their growing collection of free brochures.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Hawaii Day 2: Meets up with MM
 |
| View from the airport |
RB napped until noon, and woke up, bussed to the Honolulu airport to meet MM. Perfect timing - he found her within minutes of her landing and picking up her baggage. They meet, kiss, hug, kiss some more. MM noticed he wore a very bright yellow shirt...it helped make him visible amongst the crowds.
RB had purchased 4 day bus passes for them both. Only $24 USD, much cheaper than renting a car!
They bussed back to the hotel, where MM dropped off her luggage and checked out the view. She showed him how prepared she was...she even brought a neck chain to secure any items during swimming. [dramatic pose]
The two of them explored Kalakaua and Kuhio, and then had fresh udon with tempura. Soooo yummy. They caught the middle of a hula dance performance, but was so sleepy, returned to the hotel and MM fell asleep. RB found a grocery, and picked up 2 oranges and a french baguette for snacking.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Hawaii Day 1: Safe arrival, and Sweet Hotel View
RB arrived in Hawaii, on schedule...well...a day earlier than MM...due to confounding time zones and MM's complete inability to make sense of them. He left Hong Kong at 3 PM on the 6th...flew 15 hours, and arrived in Honolulu, Oahu at 9 AM...still on the 6th...?!?
He was promptly ripped off by the airport currency exchange.
He found the hotel, becoming quite the expert about the Bus system really, and reported to MM the great view.
 |
| Not bad for $79/night...the cheapest MM could find after much surfing. |
His stomach also effectively led him to a ramen restaurant on Kalakaua, which makes what looks like the precursor to instant noodles. He saw a number of street performances that night. He also explores Kuhio avenue, locating all the nearest restaurants.
He made detailed plans for MM to follow to meet up with him. (He seemed worried he'd get lost and made not one, but two alternative plans for MM to get to the hotel in case of his being lost. Teehee, MM isn't worried.)
Somewhere in all this, he managed to fit in lots of napping. An excellent start to a vacation.
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