The Ceremony - Bali

I always enjoy writing about friend's weddings. The highlights are always different and the ceremonies all unique. Each incomparable and each special in their own way. The redeeming factor of the wedding was the Groom's inability to understand the thick Balinese accent of the celebrant, mispronunciations and pardons ensued but after much faltering they finally got to the most important part "I now declare you husband and wife".

They say a picture speaks a thousand words - here's a couple thousand for you.

The Stag Party - Macao

You can always count on engagement announcements to tug the proverbial heart strings. For friends and family of the couple, it usually comes as no surprise with news of romantic proposals nothing but a formality. Once the wedding date has been cemented the last thing to be decided upon is the Stag, Bachelor, Buck Party. I often wonder who conceived the idea of the Stag. Was it the single man clinging on to his last moments of freedom or the friends standing at the departure hall of single life. It's been over 5 years since I had the pleasure of partaking in my first Stag party, and I can honestly say, that they only get bolder and more reckless as we get older. The entertainment become more outrageous, the costumes more demeaning. and the duration longer. However, this all correlates to more fun and more memories.

This trip would be no exception - the playground would be Macao, the theme would be Australian 80's sport stars and the highlight, the groom leaping off the world's tallest bungee. 5000 HKD would finance accommodation, travel, jacuzzi boozing, dinner, table at Cubic and group headbands. The ferry on the way home was not kind, provoking my already brittle stomach. Thank goodness for the "sea sickness" bag.

"Chan! Chan! Chan!" - Stag Party

(The Thriller,) In Manila

In response to the global economic downturn, organisations were forced to streamline operations and go through the unfortunate process of culling the labour force. Financial institutions went through countless job-cutting exercises, with wave after wave of announced redundancies; it would seem nobody was safe. It was seen as an exercise to 'cut the fat' and remove those positions that were no longer profitable/beneficial to the business. The East was not sheltered from the massacre, businesses needed to justify costs and the same people who previously approved headcount were soon having to draw the bottom line. As a result, the famous Lewis and Albert household came to an end in 2012 Q4. This is the house where many new chapters have started, where guests would visit routinely and where nights were immortalised. It was also the same place where I started my Hong Kong adventure.

Albert would later move in with an American-Born Filipino who kindly offered to give us a weekend tour of his local hometown, Manila. I was quietly excited as this was my first time to the Philippines and had heard good things. Our Friday afternoon flight had been rehearsed on many occasions, pack an overnight bag, leave work straight for the Airport express and get to the gate 30 minutes before departure. This, for the most part was routine. 

The problems started when our flight was delayed, passengers eventually boarded and we were soon in the air, I slept most of the trip. That was until I was abruptly awoke by the crackling of the PA system. The captain revealed that "unexpected delays in Manlia" had forced us into a holding zone . He also mentioned that planes were being diverted to the nearest airport and that our aircraft, CX913 had approximately 30 minutes left of fuel before we too would be forced to make the diversion. Fortunately for us, we managed to land (we later found out that the President was flying in that evening, hence the unexpected delays"). We landed almost an hour after the scheduled arrival time. At least we had made it!

We checked into the hotel where our friend's driver was waiting for us, he informed us that we would be going to the Skybar to hook in with the others who had arrived on an earlier flight. To say that the weather in Manila was torrential might have been an understatement. The rooftop bar with it's tarpaulin canopies were collecting water and periodically bucketing them onto those below. We quickly retreated to the comforts of a drier, more indoor location. The evenings were atypical, the days were spent lounging about pool side at the hotel or at the country club. It was a taste of Filipino High Society with the customary Jeepney ride. One of the highlights of the trip was the 5:30 am continental breakfast, suffice to say we never slept hungry.

(Crunchy Peanut butter at breakfast buffet = Loving life)

E-Reading

For the longest time I resisted the electronic reader fad. Either the romantic, or the psychopath in me that believes a bond is built during the process of a book. Looking back at the last few reads, some books are more weathered than others, some with dog-eared pages, some with notes scribbled, some with water marks, food  crumbs and even hair. Ok, those last few points potentially reinforce why you probably don't want to keep books around. I was recently given "The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear". Now this is a big book, there are times where you could be excused for thinking that this is a phone book on first sight. The sheer logistics of carrying this book around forces you save it for at 'home' reading.

So I decided to go for the impersonal Kindle, a device so sleek and incognito that it shrouds the user in an air of mystery, is it 50 Shades of Gray or The Iliad? Neither actually, currently reading 'A Confederacy of Dunces' both via hard and electronic mediums. In any case, I feel the person loses the tag of being well-read and immediately assumes the "gadget lover" moniker.

Update: Loving the back-lit e-paper, not loving the fact that I can't read during take off and landing aboard airlines.

My first day

The very first thing my boss says to me: 'Oh, we weren't expecting you this week'. Hum.

Currently reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. 

Malaysian Islands

The end is in sight. The contract has been signed, the background checks are taking place and my visa is being processed. All that remains is for me to enjoy the last few moments of unemployment. It's been a love, hate relationship over the last six months. Relief, guilt and anxiety the most recent of emotions that overwhelm me; it has been a love/hate relationship. I look back at the list of achievements over the last six months. Dabbling in cooking, ukulele, Cantonese and yoga, but nothing concrete and nothing that I can take away. It's always the case, you expect this much, you demand that much and you might achieve more, or less. With my remaining time, I decided to check off something on my bucket list. Open Water Diving Qualification. So that's what I did, I went diving.

With a bias and the longing to be in Malaysia it was decided that the islands of the Perhentian and Redang would be an appropriate location to submerge into the underwater adventure. Our dive instructor was Jon from the Perhentian Quiver Diving team (Thoroughly recommend these guys for any Open Water Training or even for a cold drink). We stayed at Senja Bay, which wasn't exactly what we expected (Think, piss weak air conditioning, mosquitoes and frogs inside the room). After meeting other Kecil Island patrons, this appeared to be the standard in terms of mid-range accommodation. 

Back to the diving! It was a good mix of theory, closed water and open water sessions. Each morning started with a breakfast buffet, morning theory, the occasional roti, mid-morning confined water skills, lunch by the beach, afternoon theory and an open water dive. Evenings were a relaxing combination of BBQ seafood, the 8:00 pm movie, light banter before lights out by 12. After 3.5 days we were qualified to dive down to 18 metres, Beginner's PADI Open Water.

Given that the last 6 weeks in Hong Kong had been gray, wet and humid the weather gods had treated us well in the Perhentian. In fact, it had been nothing short of spectacular, blue skies with wisps of cloud drapped over a moderately temperate island. As expected, out time here flew by and after starting the advanced module we were soon on a 50 minute speed boat racing towards our next destination, the Redang Islands. Here we dived, ate relaxed, and explored. That, in a nutshell is what about all we did! 

We arrived back in Kuala Lumpur one week later feeling like a blob of golden goo. Tanned from the gentle sun and relaxed from the lack of worries. Our final night was spent gorging ourselves on Malaysian delicacies and street cuisine all while the Malaysian public awaited the election. I'm too old to be working ...

Tokyo

If you find yourself starting a sentence with the words "I remember" or "Back in my day" it is fairly safe to say that you're old. Long gone are the days when I use to look at thirty year olds and wondered if their thirty years of existence was everything they imagined it would be. So here we are, with our generation slowly leaving behind the twenty-something age category and starting off our freshmen years in the thirties.

Let's compare eras . The year was 2003, we were deep into our university degrees with little end in sight. Endless hours of Calculs, Signal Processing and Computer Science courses had forged what would be a friendship that stands until this day. Commemorated by tactical use of designated drivers, night rides and taxi pooling Sydney Birthdays ended up at nondescript venue, with plenty of classmates, sometimes a bar tab and if we were lucky KFC or Superbowl to round up the procession.

Ten years on, it's a little different. Market turmoil and reactive budget cuts have left me unemployed. Still, it's Albert's birthday and we're grabbing our overnight bag and rushing off to the Airport Express. In under four hours we will be in Tokyo to celebrate a 30th Birthday.

We arrive in Tokyo on the Thursday evening. It's Lewis and myself. The entire journey has been his reiteration of the previous weekend in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and how I "should kill myself for missing out on the best weekend in his life, ever". Our first evening is spent in Asakusa. Unfortunately, we would soon realise that we have no Yen and that both our accounts have had overseas withdrawal limits set to 0. We ended up at bar and managed to make a decent night out of it surviving only on credit. The highlight was undoubtedly meeting the owner of the bar, a Japanese born expat now living in Singapore. I quietly sip Grey Goose and politely nod as he introduces me to his mistress, talks passionately about Japanese Taxes and offers advice on how to buy mines in Asia.

Friday evening and the rest of the group arrives. Most weekends trips follow a standard template, most people leave early to mid afternoon, it's rare that everybody is on the same flight due to work schedules. Rendezvous is usually at dinner or at a bar, the night generally forks off in two directions. Club or hotel. Due to the nature of the trip, we ended up at a club. The rest is a combination of good times, room service and a very tired Monday morning. Currently reading When Genius Failed.

"I wonder if you know, how they live in Tokyo" - Terikayi Boyz