The Three Act Play

It was the Saturday after my birthday so I grabbed my best girl and we went drinking! It was always my intention to divide my birthday drinks into three though I almost thought the final act wasn't to take place. It had been a very stressful week and was additionally asked to do overtime for 6 hours on that Saturday. It was all very unpleasant. But thank god Kristen and I felt equally in need of letting our hair down after a very strange day in the office. All you need sometimes is just one good girlfriend who knows what's been going on and who's as ready to flush out work bullshit with alcohol as I was, if not more.

We went to a little basement bar where we'd been once before with a bunch of friends. We weren't sure what the vibe would be like. Luckily it was just what we were looking for. A quiet bar that night, but with a live band. The two waitresses that worked there remembered us from last time and gave us a couple free shots. One was their own making, which was an espresso flavoured vodka shot dropped into a glass of Guiness. They said something about it being a wake up call.

After the band finished for the night we chatted to them. The singer/guitarist was Taiwanese Aboriginal, the bass player and drummer were two Japanese guys who'd met in the US. They were a blues band. What an odd mix. But they were great.

My first of my three part 30th birthday celebrations in HK were just as I had expected. By the third part I had left it all to chance and accepted whatever befell me. Like I keep saying to myself and people around me, Taiwan has been a really strange experience and continues to do surprise me. A taste of what's to come in life in my 30s? Let's have it then.


L: What we saw when we left the bar. R: A reflection of the singer on glass.



Top left: Kristen and I. Top right: Japanese drummer and bass player from the band.
Bottom left: In the cab. Bottom right: At the lights.

Onwards and Upwards

It was a nail-biter to the end. The clock was counting down. Our meeting was delayed further and further into the twilight day. Half hour went by. Another half hour. And another. And we're still waiting. The room was then freed, but we experience technical difficulties. Ten more minutes. Then another ten. Anxiety intensifies. Only 50 minutes before the band goes on stage, and I am still at work preparing for a screening that will last exactly 49 minutes and 42 seconds.

The lights dimmed in the HD projection room. I gave up hopes of going out and seeing a band on the night of my actual 30th birthday, sitting there alone in that meat locker between the editor and the director. Afterwards we hashed out ideas for a tighter storyline which was very productive, but I couldn't help feel a little deflated.

It was just after 9pm. The night was still young. Off to the brewery we go!

Going to the brewery after work for a quick bite and beer with 5 co-workers in tow couldn't have been simpler or more effective. Too much food was ordered. But I couldn't resist all the dishes popular with Taiwanese people, being a Taiwanese person myself. 3-Cup Chicken, Drunken Prawns, fried tofu, octapus salad, duck blood and rice cakes. Just a few of the gourmet dishes we had.

Impromptu was the name of the game. I had expected to be drinking a beer listening to a UK band on tour in Taipei and picking up, but instead I was in a warehouse in a brewery having a great time, eating and drinking. Little did I know then, but someone at the table had bought a can of silly string for the occasion, and I was to be set upon by pink mucus on the way out. I loved it! The surprise attack was complete. I chased down the main perpetrator like we were a couple of school kids. Finally I panted my threats of keeling over.

So that ends the evening, or so I thought. Just to finish my weird and wonderful day, my cab driver who looked about 47, asked twice for my number during the ride home. So artfully he asked between in takes and chews on his beetle nut that I was fishing for the door handle before the cab came to a complete stop. And consequently, I left a pair of earrings I had received as a birthday present in the passenger seat.

I try not to be glum. I missed out on the band, but made it to the brewery. I got silly-stringed for the first time in my life. I got a lovely pair of earrings. Some dude asked for my number.

I look forward to Saturday night, when I'll be having my third and final round of birthday drinks to mark 3 decades in this Adventure.

The Never Ending Journey

Landed on Saturday at 1030am. The comfort and ease of catching the Airport Express into HK station was a great start to the trip. As the MTR traversed towards my destination, the clear blue sky and pillows of white clouds released me for the weekend. From HK station it was only a short ride to Yosy's place, but that cab ride continued to heighten my delight. Hong Kong is tall and modern, yet its narrow streets and hills make it a city of its own making and character.

Arriving at Yosy's new apartment building was like arriving at a boutique hotel. As I walked through its front door a man walked past. He was casually yet smartly dressed, wearing sunglasses and talking on his mobile phone. And gorgeous. I was liking Hong Kong so very much, and it was only the first hour.

Yosy and Ted lives on the 35th floor. The views from their apartment was amazing. Their apartment was equally impressive containing all mod-cons. Though not a huge place, it still boasted a kitchen that even Martha Stewart would be proud of. Which means I was positively drooling (they had a normal oven, a steam oven, dishwasher, 4 gas burners AND a built in grill).



I was reunited with Yos and Corrinne, two dear friends I had made in London. This was the first time we'd all been together in two years. Corrinne had moved back to Melbourne for a stint, then relented to her travel bug and Yos's current location at that time and the two lived and worked in Singapore. After Yos met Ted, the two married and moved to Hong Kong about a month ago. It was a perfect arrangement to spend my birthday in Hong Kong and have both Yosy and Corrinne to celebrate with me.

Lunch on Saturday was at a small, local claypot joint. Corrinne impressed us all with her fluent Cantonese and even ordered me a milk tea and coffee combo drink. Let's just say it was interesting. After lunch we made important visits, to Zara and H&M. Two clothing stores that are close to many women's hearts and quite obnoxiously not available in Taiwan. We like to pay our respects and homage to them.



A quick cool dessert of mango ice cream, fresh fruits and birds nest jelly refreshed us and we headed back to Yos's to ready ourselves for the main event: dinner at Aqua and drinks in Lan Kwai Fong.

I had chosen to dine at Aqua not because of its food, but purely for its location which boasted one of the finest views of Hong Kong. It was a short ferry ride from Hong Kong to Kowloon. From our private glassed room on the corner of the 29th floor restaurant overlooking the harbour, Hong Kong Island was lit up in candied-coloured lights. Its festive mood matched mine and I couldn't be happier with the setting and company. I had two additional friends join us for dinner, Kelvin who I'd first met in Toronto and Felix, a friend of Kelvin's I'd first met in Taipei last year who'd moved to China earlier this year. Three ex-colleagues would have been present also, if we hadn't miscommunicated and they hadn't changed their flights to arrive the week before! The girls were missed, both by myself and the boys I think.






Despite missing their presence, I had the good fortune of typhoons from two weeks ago delaying my friends' travels in Asia. Ant, an ex-colleague from London and his friend Louise are currently on a backpacking trip and circumstances aka natural disasters allowed us to all be in Hong Kong at the same time. Ant and Lou joined us for drinks afterwards in Lan Kwai Fong, possibly one of the rowdiest drinking arenas I'd ever been. It reminded me of Temple Bar in Dublin. Small narrow streets with pub after pub after bar after pub. And plenty of white folk which enforced that idea.



We first went into the Russian ice bar for a shot of vodka each, then it was followed by jellied shots from Australian bar. Later in the evening, as we stood on the street, a man approached us with a box and offered us its contents. We peered in and saw giant novelty syringes. Curious. The syringes were filled with a burnt yellow/orange colouration. Definitely curious. The man then enthusiastically explained they jellied shots and that these were on the house. We laughed thankfully and all grabbed a syringe each. Beside us were a group of people attending a pyjama party. In their pyjamas. Further down the street were girls dousing each other with beer. And the last memory of the crowd of the night was seeing famous a Hong Kong radio DJ wearing a black T shirt and black leather skirt and boots (he is a man), walking with three women linked to his arms. He only has two arms.




Corrinne and I walked back to Yosy's place at the end of the night. It wasn't a far walk, but our heels were giving us great grief. Ending the night in a comfortable bed on the 35th floor of central Hong Kong took the grief away in a jiffy.

Sunday lunch was a late affair. But we'd kept to our plans of eating the famous roast goose at Yung Kee, famous for, well, its roast goose. It's roast goose cooked in the same way as Peking Duck, though the meat tasted far more tender, the flavours were rich without being overly powering, and the plum sauce to dip into was superb. I also ate salted pork and preserved egg congee which is a Hong Kong staple and it was just as tasty as I'd expected it to.



After lunch we strolled around Hong Kong a little bit more and embarked on the travelators that go on forever. This is the world's longest outdoor escalator, officially known as the Central-Mid-Levels Escalators. Mid-Levels is an area that boasts higher rent for its elevation and views, and we passed an open inspection of a residential building on our way up. The queues for this viewing was large to say the least, it was as if it were a queue for tickets to a concert or night club. It reminds you of how little land/housing there is in Hong Kong and that they are actively filling in the harbour to make more land. Eventually, one of our cab drivers told us, Hong Kong and Kowloon will be connected by landfill roads. Not bridges and ferries.



We stopped for an egg-tart break once we had enough of the escalators and jealousy of the rich in Hong Kong that lived in this area. It was time to head back. At Yosy's, we relived our night and days in Hong Kong over champagne the boys had bought for me the night before. The girls also presented me with a pair of beautiful earrings from Bali as a birthday present. Corrinne and I then said goodbye to Ted and Yos and their newly wedded bliss and we made our way back to the airport from whence we came.

At the airport I said goodbye to Corrinne who was returning to Singapore. I was to return to Taipei. It was a perfect weekend but I was sad to be leaving behind friends. Yet again.



Hong Kong. The world's Chinatown.

Aqua
29th Floor, One Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Why In God's Name Would Anyone Jump Off A Bridge?

Please spot the (a) insanity and (b) stupidity in the following exchange:
Person A: "Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's jump off a bridge."
Person B: "That sounds like fun. I'm in."

Sitting here, looking back, analyzing with the benefit of hindsight, I am astounded and confounded that anyone intelligent (meaning me) would think bungy jumping a "fun" activity. It is an act against nature. It is an act defiant of logic. It is a crude mean of entertainment and with utter clarity I scorn at its imbecility. I don't think I shall ever understand why I was so eager to participate, so happy to throw myself off the side of a bridge and have enjoyed the event so much.

But the brevity of the jump does make you ponder whether it was worth it at all. Within minutes I was back on top of the bridge, all endorphins and adrenalin evaporated. Yes I flung myself off a bridge. But I'm back now aren't I? Nothing to show for the seconds of exhilaration I'd experienced except a certificate stating so. Only by reviewing the videos and the photos later, did I begin to appreciate more of what had happened. Thankfully these replays fed my recall and helped crystallize the many stages my emotions went through in mere seconds.

Interestingly, I received this article in my inbox just two days after my jump, from a friend who had no idea I had bungy-ed over the weekend. It purports a list of "Must Dos" before one turns 30. This article, in my opinion, is written in the foulest, patronising, band-aid waving fashion, by some young barely-20-just-graduated-from-university- this-is-my-first-real-i-am-clueless-yet-i-tell-those -about-to-turn-30-something-about-how-to-live-life-even-though-i-haven't-lived-my-own-yet kid!

Let's see what it says. The idea of obtaining a fake ID (#30) doesn't appeal to me very much. Attempting to convince someone that you are younger than you are is just really,really sad. It was fun to do when you were under age, not the other way round. How about #25, showing up at a gay bar when you're not actually gay? Oooooh that's scandalous! I'd hate to think any gay people were hanging out in non-gay-designated areas.

I like #6. It's my favourite. It instructs you to "move out of home and live in a share house", like it is something you do off-hand, for fun, without a thought any sense of responsibility on either side. Akin to your best mate challenging you to jump off a bridge. And you do.

Correct answers: (a) Person A, (b) Person B

I Jump Off A Bridge

Watch me jump off a bridge.

A Woman of Action

I am planning a 30th birthday celebration that will involve planes, another country and one night.

It should satiate a little my need to travel. To add to the mix a meal at a classy (read expensive) restaurant in a fancy hotel, a partner or two in crime (or three or four if I've been a good girl) and a pulsating time doing the foxtrot at a dancehall (perhaps the contemporary version of would be better, but I wouldn't complain if indeed the foxtrot was back in vogue by then) then I should be a pretty happy camper for having lived on this planet for 30 years.

Any excuse to hop on a plane really.

And if I should die on the way (pardon my morbid thought, I promise the thought will end well, oh pardon the pun) it shall be with a smile for I know I was on my way to having a wonderful time.

Now isn't that just nice and dandy and full of sunshine and lollipop?

God is a DJ

One man brought love back into my life for a few brief hours on Sunday night. He left at 4 in the morning. He's name was... Tiesto.

(cue female vocal, cut to thumping bass then let the lazer show begin)

Tiesto is the world's number #1 DJ and there is no disputing that fact. Queuing up in the line on Sunday night with thousands of other anticipating fans was nerve-wrecking for me. I would've pre-bought tickets if I wasn't so lazy to buy them online. It was a sold-out show and who knew how many tickets they were holding at the venue for last minute bandwagon-jumpers-on. In the queue with roughly 1000 punters, I was thoroughly surprised that within 30 mins I had three tickets in my hot, shaking, little hands. Perhaps that's Asian efficiency for you.

Returning later in the night with my two work buds, I was buzzing with adrenalin. The crowds were filing into the warehouse space, in a part of town not known for anything fun or even lively. The Nangang area traditionally had many cemetaries I've heard, so that was probably why there are many temples and other semi-spiritual alters I see all around, tucked between old residential buildings, appearing haphazardly, repeatedly. Spooky to walk around the empty streets at night to say the least, eeriely incandescent in red and gold (colours of good luck) and incense filled.


L: Warehouse, with light projection on wall. M: Classic DJ pose. R: We love Tiesto.

As we filed up the stairs into the thumping warehouse like disciples being called to prayer, my heart was pounding. We pushed through the crowd to get closer and closer to the front where the DJ stood on his raised platform like a priest at his pulpit and... ok, we've all heard the religious analogy before... but I cannot put it to you how much this experience lifted and warmed me. I felt love in that warehouse that night. From him, to me. And from me, to the world.

It was pure, pure, joy. And I was NOT intoxicated in ANY way.


L: The 8000 people crowd. R: Tiesto waves goodbye after his awesome set.

How's that aye? I've impressed at myself that I was able last till 4am without a lick of spirits or a whiff of anything else. Aha! I am still young aren't I?

The Anticipation


The Finale

The Next Generation

The question of children has popped into my mind recently. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it earlier. I know friends and relatives my age or a little older who have had kids. I know of their traumas of raising little ones, and the great joy they seem to give the parents and other related family members. I have also been made aware in a general sense, of the difficulties a woman faces when she gives birth in her 30s.

I am approaching 30, in less than 5 months. Yet this is the first time I’ve really considered the problem. Is it a problem? To answer this question, one should really consider the source and ask, do I want children? I’ve never been the kind of little girl to talk about how many babies I would have when I grow up. It was never something I thought about, let alone aspired to. What is the purpose of having children anyway? Little power trips of being able to create someone in thine image? Surely in this day and age, children are somewhat redundant.

Let me explain. Traditionally children often died in early childhood due to disease, famine and other horribles we’ve eliminated today. So in order to ensure someone was around to look after the farm and look after you in your old age, you bear children, and many of them. The idea of having children also ensured your name would live on. There is a great human propensity to continue our genealogy, part of our genetic makeup, the Darwinism of it all. Through the thousands of years of revolution this desire or need for offspring has become embedded into our culture. It is not a necessity to have children these days, yet it is still not the norm for those in meaningful relationships to not consider the idea of having children. It is still expected by society that as a result of the union of two people, children will be presented sooner or later.

But what do children offer today’s couples? There is greater talk of the Me Generation that suggests the people today of child-bearing ages are less concerned with providing for the family but more with providing for themselves. And that means satisfying all of their own needs in life first, hence marrying later, and hence having children later, if at all.

I have yet to decide what my future will be with regards to children. The medical profession will advise me that I am approaching the latter stages of my prime child-bearing years. While I am unfit mentally and financially right now to consider having children, I guess I must for my body’s sake. And though I may not want children right now, I may want them a few year’s down the track, for what ever reason I decide is fitting. And if this is so, I need to think hard about the risks and sacrifices I may take, both then and now.

I am part of the Me Generation. I want to achieve things in life without the burden of raising responsible youths, citizens of the future. I am still yet to know the role I play I this society and without that, how can I possibly consider bringing another into my orderless world? Furthermore, the argument that there are countless unclaimed children in this world makes it feasible to not bear children of your own. Celebrities have almost made this fashionable in recent years, and while I am not saying because celebrities adopt you should too, adoption is being given new profile and extra bonus stamp of legitimacy by these “role models”. In the ultimate expression of the Me Generation, these celebrities for what ever reason chose to adopt, must have also considered the advantage of not taking 9 months+ out of their careers, of not worrying about the changes to their bodies pregnancy causes, of not worrying about the extra hard work of returning their bodies to pre-pregnancy perfection.

Is this the reason why turning 30 is such a terrible pitfall for women? That it signifies the end of the most youthful time of our lives, that we must face harsh realities even though we aren’t ready for them yet? Talking and thinking about children realistically puts us into a context that we’re not used to and frightened of, particularly if you are a single girl with a so-so career. Something to think about.

This is a very unpolished piece. I lost my momentum midway and kept restarting it. But I've kept this minimumly edited, partly as a request (you know who YOU are) and partly because it's been sitting for too long in the draft pile that I'm sick of it. Maybe you can offer advice on how to improve it.

Finally We Meet, Mr Tiesto

Tiesto is coming to town! Tiesto is coming to town!

Here is an opportunity to throw away pretenses of aging, don the true spirit of youth and re-enter the dance arena for a night of music and euphoria.

Tiesto is on his world tour and will be in Taipei on Sunday April 13th, tacked on after his gigs in Korea on Friday 11th and Japan on Saturday 12th.

I'm a little worried the man will be worn out from his hectic schedule. Will he be able to bring it to the table on Sunday? I am making the effort for his arrival. Despite my recent disaster at Carnegie's, the pull of Tiesto is greater than leaving the lax muscles in my rapidly out of shape body lax. I've been wanting to see him live for many years, and the cruelest part is that he's played several New Year's EveS in Sydney at the best parties when I was still living there yet it was never to be. Until now. On a Sunday night on some small island's city, and not even in the city centre but some venue off on the city fringe, on the rather dull side of town (incidentally 10 mins from my place and 5 mins from my work). Will he be motivated to give it his all?

A Revelation

I am older than most of my colleagues. I am fairly sure of that. I'm not 100% sure, but I am fairly confident. Those who are older than me I could probably count on one hand. Maybe two. But I wouldn't need my feet.

I actually had a girl, all of age 25, tell me she's worried she's starting her career late.

We can't all be child geniuses.

The Way We Were, Or Never Will Be Ever, Again

My birthday in Toronto, September 2006 was woeful.
My birthday in Taichung, September 2007 was non-existent.
My birthday in Taipei, September 2008 will be my 30th.

This year I've decided to do a series aptly titled 'On Approaching 30'. It is a special number. Whether we pay attention to it or not, that big hyphenated 3-0 evades our life cycle and clearly stakes a claim as a noted marker of one's life.

The idea of turning 30, turns some people off. Stereotypically, women fear it as the slippery slide to old age and lost attraction to the opposite sex. The end of one's golden youth and beauty is a frightening thought indeed. But deeper than that, isn't it also a loss of one's confidence and perhaps also a look back a youthful life misspent with nothing but drunken memories and hardly forgotten regrets? It is a miserable time indeed.

But surely there's another way of looking at this. I've been aware of this phenomenon, this natural tendency dread the inevitable passing of time that this attitude just simply won't do for me. Father Time keeps on marching and we shall march in step with him! So instead of bemoaning the big 3-0, welcome it. Why worry about turning 30 when there's 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 to think about. And more if you're lucky. Are you going to get more depressed with each decade or look forward to each anniversary as a chance for a big fabulous party?

In the grand, grand scale of human years turning 30 is just a drop in the ocean these days. Turning 30 should be a happy celebration of having gained some wisdom from those stupid 20s years, possibly jumping from one job to another not knowing how to establish a career, perhaps having serious relationships that only faultered in end because your two lives only soared in two different directions.

After fooling around in your 20s, you come to know what you want in your 30s. And you know what you need to do to get it. You breathe a sigh of relief that you've had the benefit of hindsight and now can figure out the better if not best solution for your problems.

I say all of this because I am approaching 30. I am single, I have no assets, I am starting out again on my career path. Now can you see why I have to be so damn positive?