第四次去首爾公幹

Seoul is wonderful for travelling in May. The flowers blossom and the sun shines brightly. I feel so good (even when I have come back). This time, the trip is a bit different, as it may be my last business trip to Seoul under ABN AMRO entity. If merger will be successful, who knows whether I will still support Korea. So, my Korean colleagues and I have the feeling of "saying goodbye" after this encounter.

This time, I have a guest joining me. This is good for both of us. But we missed to do a few things: having the grill eel meal and going to JJ @ Grant Hyatt. Anyway, we experienced many wonderful developments in Seoul and were surprised at how Seoul is trying hard to make itself an international city.

If I don't have the language barrier, maybe I would enjoy working in Seoul. Anyway, I think I am a pure Hong Kong person who loves to breathe the Hong Kong air so much.

Goodbye to my friends in Seoul!

Barclays? RBS? BAAB?

There is so much news about my company these few days.
Merging with Barclays will bring us to the World's Top 5.
Merging with RBS will bring us to the Top 4.
But job cuts will be sure.
Asia may be less impacted due to less overlapping of business.
Singapore may be affected more.
The name of my company will vanish, though.
The Dutch will feel that their identity is lost.
It's like losing HSBC in Hong Kong.
My company just celebrated "100 Years in Hong Kong".
People originally guessed the name to be Barclays Axx Axxx Bank (BAAB)!!
So innovative.
The combination of British + Dutch reminds me of 八國聯軍.
Last year we also had big Re-org, with slogan "One Bank, One Team, One Goal"
Now, some colleagues joke that the "One Bank" is a forward-looking view of having One Bank in the whole world.
But somebody also jokes that "One Bank, One Customer".
People seem so excited about the merge.
No bad mood yet.
Nobody seems to be afraid of "layoff".
For me, if I am afraid of it, I still have one way out. Ha ha.
Will new projects be on hold? No one can be sure.
Will audit approach / standard be changed?
Will my boss need to downgrade himself to accommodate the Barclays' guy?
Will I still support Hong Kong, Korea & Japan in the future?
Will I still be able to buy mutual funds at good rates?
Will I get better mortgage / medical plans?
Um, yet to be found out.
My team-mate is so mad that he does google search all these days to check the Barclays' security team head. I don't see him doing any current work. This guy is CRAZY. He only stopped when I asked him not to SPAM my mailbox.
He is lucky that our boss is in Singapore. Otherwise, I don't think he dares to do so.
But why am I having so much work on hand! That "lazy" guy affects my working mood a lot! What a bad team-mate. He used to blame a team-mate of leaving the seat or sneaking out too often. But, 有口話人無口話自己!

Equestrian 2008

My husband is working on this!

My encounter with Fuwa (Friendlies) 我與福娃

MSN Live.com 個 blog 好似易用啲...

http://kittyame.spaces.live.com/

MSN Live.com 個 blog 好似易用啲...
尤其是放相,上載和編輯caption的工具都好似較好用

H&M Craze

H&M has come to Hong Kong. Here comes a link for dressing up a model in style.
http://hm.mvm.com/hm_ctx/jsp/sim.jsp

教你讀名牌

Useful Web site:
http://bbtraveldiary.blogspot.com/

Back from Phuket! Phuket is Back!

Banyan Tree Deluxe Villa
"奔欣"Tree 套房

More photos!

2/3 done

Finally taken 8 courses. 4 more to go. The tension becomes less after adapting to the way of lectures, courseworks and exams. Will need to decide what to major in, either Risk Management or Financial Engineering. If chances allow, may take double major. Seems that most classmates will try to graduate this year. I may make it next year due to several reasons and limitations.

HKU FBE Prize Presentation Ceremony 2006

My photo with Acting Dean of Faculty of Business and Economics, Richard Y. C. Wong 王于漸





A group photo with some other Master classmates and students

Muji & Uniqlo

Muji & Uniqlo come to City Plaza! 東區終於有啲潮啲的日本鋪頭!

我的師弟結婚了,大個仔啦!

原來我最近take的Spreadsheet Modelling的lecturer竟是我師弟IS的舊同學(即都是我師弟). Oh my God! He is already an assistant professor and I am still a Year 2 student for Master degree! 哈哈.

今天聽了一篇很好的道

殷兆威牧師今天的講道很好,很感人,亦很能刺激我們思考.
他既能帶出今天的主題,就是在驚濤駭浪中如何去感恩,亦道出一個個長者基督徒在病榻時所表現出的信心和忍耐.好讓我們年青人能學習並懂得欣賞和尊重長者.
原來聖經中亦指出了很多信徒之間的人際關係問題或教會管治的不合一,我們可從聖經中借鏡如何去處理意見的分歧,亦要知道大前題是上帝會在我們中間帶領和掌管我們.He will lead our way.這正正便擊中我教會現存的最大兩個問題:就是年輕新進長執破壞了教會的規律和諧,以及因主任牧師的緣故所導致的分黨分派.教會長執在討論的時候好像缺乏了肢體之間的愛心,亦忘了聖經的教導,往往只順從人的意思去行,用世俗的管理學問和知識做決定.
最近知道很多人被抑鬱病嚴重影響生活,原來這病將會很快變成香港人口第二號殺手.導致抑鬱的原因有很多時是因為人和人之間的關係變得緊張,如處理不當,會變成心理病.讓我們學習去愛別人,關心人,讓都市化的香港仍有綠洲.

今天很唔開心

今天早上接到教友的電郵,告知我以前的一個主日學學生於今晨跳樓身亡.這段新聞更登在蘋果日報的要聞版呢.
其實他在小學時代已常來主日學,亦很勤力和聰明,但人緣卻一般,常被人誤會.
但當他進入中學後便因要讀書而減少到教會. 後至會考更完全沒再到教會. 他曾告訴我回教會是很浪費時間的. (雖則他是住在教會旁邊)
但怎也想不到他原來在會考中只有13分而更因壓力問題導致患上精神病,真可惜.
要為他的家人和妹妹禱告.

在日本極紅的雜誌Model

蛯原友里Ebihara Yuri
http://www.jap.co.jp/ebihara_yuri/

1. Can Cam 專用Model


2. Shiseido Anessa 防曬廣告Model


3. Samantha Thavasa Deluxe 手袋和首飾Model&Designer

4. Fran 朱古力條廣告Model

5. Finepix F30 相機廣告Model

又被人利用

New class starts. The module needs us to form groups to do homework. Lecturer asked us to form groups of five. My usual group may turn out to have 5+1, and I know that another group may only have 4, so I want to join that group. However, even without my consent, the cheap classmate by default thought that I would join his group and told lecturer that we wanted to have 6 persons due to synergy blah blah blah (bull shit) and include my name in his group! The cheap guy will ride on others' success and get the marks for him to pass the course! I really don't want to talk to him at all.

What I can say is: cheap, Cheap and CHEAP!
God, please help me to get away from Satan! Please save me!

Branded Bags

1. Louis Vuitton
2. Samantha Thavasa / Vega
3. Porter
4. Rabeanco
5. Koji
6. Arnold Palmer
7. Tite

Brands 4 - 7 are at good price and quality! Good value for money.

Cute stuff

Cheap people

I learnt two cheap guys recently:

1. A master classmate
- an ex-colleague
- he joined our group project once and then sticked to us forever
- relied on others to get marks
- no contribution in group assignment
- pretended to be knowledgeable
- disturbed others during lectures
- could not follow lecturer's progress and asked about fundamental things while lecturer was teaching new stuff
- very thick skin
- even asked me to help look at his own assignment (and I found that he has not given a thought to the assignment at all)

2. A new colleague
- thought I was the secretary / admin staff when he came for interviews
- pretended to be gentlemen, but actually was a salty-pig hand
- always touched on females' shoulders unnecessarily
- not capable in doing his work and asked irrelevant people how to do his work

I don't know why there are so many cheap people these days! Let me learn how to deal with them. If I succeed, I think my people skills will improve much!

ABN AMRO Van Gogh Banking Branches

Taipei Branch

Shenzhen Branch

明洞餃子 Myeongdong Gyoja

The Seoul office is just next to the Millenium Seoul Hilton hotel. So, we usually stay in this hotel. Given that Seoul Hilton is so close to Myeongdong 明洞, I visited Myeongdong every time. It is an exciting place for ladies, as you can quickly know the Seoul fashion trend by looking at the shops and the people. Also, they have some hawkers selling cheaper stuff e.g. accessories.

You can easily find the following stuff: necklace, hair clips, watches, belts, bags, shoes, sunglasses, socks, pantyhose, etc. In the Migliore department store, you can get all kinds of business shirts, skirts and coats. They like to wear dark blue, beige and white clothes a lot. Knitted wear is so common for summer time.

Other than Migliore, people can get variety of goods from 明洞衣類. Also, the Amore Star shop is where you can buy Laneige cosmetic products. The underground shopping mall in the Myeongdong station also sells cheaper stuff. I highly recommend a stall selling corn-taste small buns.



For food, there are not many choices. I heard that 明洞餃子 is very famous. I think it is true, as there are long queues for all the 3 shops inside Myeongdong. Since I was on my own, I could get a table easily. In my first visit, I thought dumpling (mandu) should be the most famous food so I ordered that. However, it was not that good. After some observation, I found that most people were eating noodle instead of dumpling. So, in my second visit, I ordered the noodle that was shown on wall. However, again, my decision was wrong. The one I ordered was cold noodle while others were enjoying the hot dumpling soup noodle (kalguksu). Too bad! I must go there again to try the hot noodle!



People can just order one noodle but can ask for unlimited kimchi and rice! People first ate the noodle and kimchi. After they finished the noodle, they just added the rice into the soup and mix them. Wow, they are not wasting anything.

This shop has one very good design. As I need to share a table with a stranger, they have installed a partition between me and the other customer. So, I can get privacy but at the same time can see other customers in the restaurant.

My Tokyo trip (2)

About shopping

Years back, I spent quite some money to buy Hello Kitty stuff in Japan. I also liked to visit Ueno 上野 to buy some market / household stuff. Before I set off for Tokyo, my husband had warned me not to spend money on useless stuff. I bare this in mind.

This time, I tried to look for reasonably-priced good-quality stuff. I bought the followings:
1. Burberry towels and handkerchief (can also be used as a small cotton scarf)
2. Ultra-light umbrellas


3. Porter bag for my husband (ace-company.net/~coolcat)






4. Samantha Vega bag for myself (www.samantha.co.jp)









5. Majolica Majorca cosmetics (www.shiseido.co.jp/mj/index.htm)

6. Anna Sui bracelet (+ phone strap as a gift)
7. Some clothes from Suzuya Japan
8. Hello Kitty x Anna Sui towel + Charmmy Kitty stickers


Originally, I planned to buy Burberry Blue Label bag / Agnis B bag. However, the prices were not as cheap as what people told me. Also, for Uniqlo clothes, there were only a few good choices but they were not cheap. I used to think that Japan department stores have summer sale from July to August. However, when I was in Tokyo near end of August, not many shops were offering discounts. The Sanrio shop at Ikebukuro used to have very lovely Hello Kitty stuff. But this time, the goods were just so-so. In the past, I mainly took JR Yamanote line 山手線. This time, as my hotel is close to Metro station, so I tried hard to take Metro as much as possible. This is really new experience for me.

My Tokyo trip (1)

I have not visited Japan for 4 years. This time, I spent 1.5 extra days to walk around Tokyo. I got to places like Korakuen 後樂園, Ikebukuro 池袋, Omotesando 表參道, Harajuku 原宿, Shibuya 涉谷 and Shinjuku 新宿. The hotel and my company's office are located at Roppongi 六本木. I also visited the future BCP site at Ariake 有明, which is close to Odaiba 台場.

It's my first time going to Omotesando Hills 表參道山 and Roppongi Hills 六本木山. These are pretty new shopping malls. I also tried a 居酒屋 at Roppongi which has a Western-style setting. I am so happy to see the Tokyo Disneyland on my way to Narita Airport.

The Japanese data centre is quite different from the Hong Kong ones. Their raised floor and rack doors are designed differently. Also, seems that FM200 is not a commonly-used fire control system in Japan.

我的日本與韓國

I suddenly need to visit both Seoul Office and Tokyo Office in 2 consecutive weeks. It was so tiring for me as I did not fly directly between the 2 offices. I had to fly from Seoul to HK and then fly from HK to Tokyo the next morning.

It's my 3rd time in Seoul office and people were so warm to me. Also, I got exposure to their day-to-day work and I learnt why they are always so busy. They always tried to bring me out for lunch or even dinner / drinks.

It's my 1st time in Tokyo office and comparatively, they did not have much interests in visitors. Also, people were from different nationalities and there were so many expatriates who could speak fluent Japanese!

Funny thing is, the ladies in both countries will brush their teeth after lunch. For Tokyo office, whenever you use the ladies' toilet, you have to push on the "Flushing sound" 流水音 button. Don't ask me why. Maybe this is an etiquette to other toilet users. [Update: I later saw a similar thing but the kanji is 音姬. There was an english translation saying that the sound can muffle the toilet sound.]

In terms of office facilities, the most impressive thing was about drinks. Seoul office offered all kinds of bottled soft drinks in the fridge. Also, there were lots of hot drinks. In Tokyo office, they have a free vending machine that provides cold and hot drinks including CC Lemon, Coffee, Tea, Green Tea, Cocoa etc... I think there were more than 30 choices just in one machine!

These 2 trips gave me some time to escape from Hong Kong and can rest before school starts on 8/28. I have not visited Japan for 4 years, but frankly speaking, Tokyo is more or less the same to me. I am a bit surprised that the Japanese are dressing so casually to work! I was cheated by those Japanese drama! Seems that the Korean business clothes are more elegant and stylish.

以前有拔尖計劃就好

如果以前有此計劃,我便可較早大學畢業...
今年有512人是會考6A或以上.
當中有25人更得到10A呢!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber - the most famous plaza

  

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Medieval shop

  

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Bear Shop

  

Rothenburg ob der Tauber main plaza

  

Heidelberg Schloss