Sorry for the lack of updates. Dad, mom and a handful of my siblings came by to Hong Kong for a weeklong visit, so I’ve been quite busy parent sitting and ensuring that they have a nice time here.  My brothers went to the China Sourcing Fair last weekend that was held at the Asian Expo stadium. Compared to other trade fairs, this was kinda tiny with only around 3 halls if am not mistaken. However, we spent the whole day here last week, to my boring chagrin:

Anyway, aside from going to the trade fair, we also had some gastronomic adventures while they were here. Of course, like all Chinese parents, my parents think I’m too thin. So in return, they’ve been feeding me aplenty. The kilos that I’ve put last week is just unbelievable, and for sure, I’ll be using the rest of the days trying to lose the excess kilos I’ve put on during their visit. Sigh. That way, I can still look great at a wedding I’ll be attending in Singapore in a few more weeks.

Now, right by my house in North Point is the famous Java Building whose 3F houses this seemingly famous restaurant — recognize this name? It was actually featured before in Time if am not mistaken and it’s always full. Always!:

Reservations are highly encouraged. If you do not reserve, you’ll be waiting for hours for a seat, IF you even get any. Every day, there’s a huge crowd waiting for a seat outside this restaurant, I kid you not. Whereas all the other stalls are not doing as great, the seats at this restaurant are ALWAYS packed. See below for a swift taste:

 The bamboo shells mussels is a must-order. It’s totally fresh that you can feel the juice popping when you place a piece in your mouth. Just the right saltiness and tenderness for you to savor, and relative to all the puny shells you’d get in other restaurants, these pieces of shellfish meat were just huge.

My mom loved the eggplant and ground pork combo while the fried noodles was merely mediocre despite the large portions. It tasted slightly sweet and though I was impressed by the portion, we couldn’t bring ourselves to finish it. With so many good food around the table, heck, why waste your tastebuds with this blah dish?

Personally, the lettuce with minced pork was a personal favorite. Ever since I was young, I’ve always ordered this healthy, meaty dish. The lettuce was green, fresh and crunchy. And though the dish lacked the hoisen sauce that would’ve been a great sweet complement, it was still passable and the greens well-balanced the saltiness of the meat.

Famous on this restaurant is their fried rice with duck meat and XO sauce wrapped in dark lotus leaves. As with all the servings, the portions were huge but the taste itself was not as flavorful as I would’ve liked. Of course, compared to the plain ol’ white rice, this was way better. However, I seriously didn’t get what the fuss is all about, so much that the first time we visited, they ran out!

The golden fried chicken is my brothers’ favorite. They found the meat tender and just the right amount of crunchiness. My dad greedily ate most of the chicken skin though it’s so unhealthy for you. Personally, I felt it was great but it wasn’t THAT wow-omfg-this-is-orgasmically-ooooh great. It was good, but again, what the fuss?

The spare ribs coated with salad sauce was good there.  It’s like sweet and sour pork, except it’s covered with mayo and salad sauce.  Not bad la.

Overall, it was a terrific meal and we’ve come back for seconds. The price is also oh-so-reasonable which I like like like, and the service is wonderful. The servers in general do not speak Mandarin or Englih, but there’s a guy in an afro who understands English and gave us a seat on time (thank you!), so there’s really no complaints. Given that, I will be back!

Aside from the usual parent sitting activities, the week flew by like a blur. Of course, there was the usual grind at work where the environment is becoming more and more taxing especially since this week, we again saw our company featured negatively in the news (big sigh) so people are getting more and more paranoid of losing their jobs. But since we cannot do anything about that, let me just move in another topic.

For example, yesterday was great.

After seeing my parents off, ventured over to SOHO to Takeout Comedy where they held their 36th comedy workshop. There, owner and standup comedienne Jami Gong, was giving a free comedy workshop. From 2pm-6pm, he gratuitously shared with us his passion for standup comedy. Some of the key takeaways I distinctly remember from the workshop were as follows:

“Keep your comedy PG-13. While other comediens say fuck or bitch or shit a lot, this strategy cannot last in the long run. Making people laugh without resorting to swear words is much more creative.

“Don’t hack. Don’t plagarize other people’s jokes. It’ll just bite you in the butt.”

“Standup comedy is hard, but it’s also fun and can also help you become a better public speaker.”

“Keep it personal and KISS – keep it simple, stupid.”

Guest speaker is Michael, and here he is in other previous show. Very witty 25-year old man and better watch out for him because if he continues on, I won’t be surprised if he makes it:

Afterwards, hung out for half a glass of wine, then dinner and then clubbing at Billion.

Now, am I getting old or is clubbing getting old?

For some reason, though I appreciate my friend’s invitation, I don’t really appreciate being in a club where you’re in the mercy of an inexperienced DJ who keeps on spinning tunes that make you go, “Huh? Where the hell did he get that sound from?” So at Billion last night, it was a hit-or-miss. One time, it’s a great song, while the next song was just totally, “WTF?!”

What I found to be quite interesting was that in Hongkong, clubs here have their fair share of sleezebags. While in Taiwan, nobody would dare touch you and kept a safe distance at first, I find guys in Hong Kong too quick. For some reason, many think that buying you a single drink means that you give them the license to feel you up and touch you.

Guys in Billion were no exception, and not that I have anything against Middle Eastern guys, but heck, that place is populated with some young Arabs who just don’t understand what “NO” means.

“You have beautiful hair,” one of the said young man said to me last night as he came by to me drink in hand. “Can I dance with you?”

I usually agree when a guy asks nicely, but for some reason, I was not in the mood to dance with anyone. However, when given a compliment, one must acknowledge it. “Thank you,” I simply said.

“No really, you’re beautiful,” he shouted against the music. My god, is this the best line you got? Then he came and touched my hair. “They’re so straight. Are they natural?”

Now, nothing pisses me off than a guy who touches my hair. My crowning glory is long, super thin that they feel like silk and straight. Unless I’m lying in bed with you and have passed the kiss test, you do NOT touch my hair, especially a sleeze bag in a bar.

The guy pulls me to the dance floor and wants to dance with him. I ignore him and dance by myself as he looks on. He tries to dance closer and I dance further away. I wanted to go back to my friends, and didn’t feel comfortable dancing with a complete stranger who touched my hair.

He is persistent. He gets closer and wants to dance.

I dance farther away and tell him I don’t want to dance. I stop dancing. I politely tell him I’m tired and want to rest and go back to my friends.

“I’d like to get to know you better,” he says as he asks for my number. “Is there any way I can get ahold of you?” He mentions that he’d like to invite me to lunch.

I don’t want to give him my number so I say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t give my numbers to guys I meet in the bar.”

He then asks to dance with me again. I say no.

Then he grabs my hand and tries to pull me at the dance floor and starts dancing. I tell him nicely that I don’t want to dance and just stand there. “One more dance only,” he begs.

“No thank you,” I patiently replied. Now I can probably be persuaded otherwise, but I hate hate hate men who just don’t know the meaning of no. He kisses my cheek goodbye and goes away.

Then 2 seconds later comes back and tries to dance with me anyway. WHAT THE FUCK?

I brush him off this time. He’s getting creepy and tell him sternly, “No.” Then I go back to the company of my friends. The guy spends the rest of the night dancing around our group trying to find his next victim. I don’t think he likes rejection. Sigh.

It’s guys like these who make night outs a total mess. Guys, when girls say no, they’re not really being polite. They really don’t want to be with you and are NOT interested. No begging, pouting or sulking will not get the stubborn us to say yes.

Anyway, so Sunday is rest day, and now that I’ve kept you guys updated, time to study lo! Take care and enjoy the rest of your great weekend!