Today is Porsche Day!

Hey Hey,
Just came back from the Porsche Experience, and it was a nice experience..
Drove 3 different type of fast cars.. They all handle really well.
1st was Ford Focus RS. .
2nd was Porsche 997 Carrera.
and finally the new Porsche Cayman S.

Before all the driving was the safety brief and introductions to circuit driving. Halfway thru the briefing, it sounded all so complicated and lots of things to take note etc... I thought i would be so busy being safe than enjoying the experience.. But it all turned out to be rather good...

3 laps each in a racing mode.. with instructor next to me watching my every move, will correct me if i ever did something wrong.. 0-60mph is about 4 secs!! (Yes, it was me driving it)... Oh yea, there are 6 forward gears in porsches, today i was allowed to use till 4 only.. becos the circuit is not that big.. and, at 4th gear, i was only able to bring it to 110mph, (178km/h) even though i feel that there are ample room for 130mph for 4th gear. Wow i can imagine how much u can do with 5th and 6th gears!!

Today not only did i get to drive my dream brand cars, i also learnt a lot of driving techniques with particular racing driving.... Hard on accelerator, hard on brakes, only brake on straight roads, overtake without using indicators!! ehaehaheaheahe...

Thank you my love for the gift (so what is for next year?), and Priya for attending this event with us, i hope she enjoyed the passenger ride.

Summary: It is nice to drive the porsches.. but would it be worth it to buy it as a road car? Muy opinion will be waste of money, if you cannot go beyond 70mph.. and it is a 2 seater... unless if we get the Porsche Cayenne, at least the speed and space is a good reason to buy it.

After the 3 hrs drive up to Mallory Park Circuit, i think it is worth it, do it again? Perhaps not, becos i rather buy my own and drive it in a circuit as many laps as i want to. :)

HI People...

Just a quick update... Well nothing much really other than it has been busy with work work work.

Been to a little girl's birthday party last sunday, ( Siobhan ) and my oh my, lots of kids and food!
For the 1st time i actually gave Isabelle and Kien some lovely attention, quite a lot actually.. eahehaehaeh.. Spent most of that day, playing ard with these 2 kids, and in a way looking out for them.

These 2 kids amazed me. They sometimes behave in a manner which makes me wonder if they know what i m talking about. BTW they are under 2 years old. After spending a few hours observing them and interacting with them, it seems that we got closer, as a friend, uncle, brother whatever.. we just got closer.. no longer "hey stranger"...

Why did i say that? at the end of the day, when we were about to go, i was wearing my sandals and Isabelle, saw me putting on the right side, immediately took the left sandal and passed it to me. Amazingly nice!!

I love kids... can't wait for our children to start playing with us, but not yet... step by step, priorities are different at different stages of life.

Next... cars... remember the porsche experience thing?? Yess.... its the 30th soon and we will be going back to the Mallory Park Circuit again!! Wooooooo... can't wait for the heavy acceleration!!!

Will keep you posted.. Laterss...

Day 10: Business Class!!

Up on the plane we were given even better attention. With a champagne to welcome you the moment you sit down, and a dinner and breakfast menu which you can select. the 3 courses for dinner were served one after the other, lots of leg rooms, leg rest, almost 180 degrees recline seats, a goodie bag, better blankets, a nice booster, personal TV and even the headphones have noise reduction function!!

To be honest, a taste of business class has made economy feels like a ride on a cramp bus. Hmmm... we definitely would love to travel in business class or even 1st class now!! Well, probably not now... in the future... definitely!!

The business jets feature 44 comfortable lie-flat seats that can be operated fully automatically. The 62-inch seat pitch and a seat back that reclines down to 175° ensure that you will be well rested when you reach your destination. All passengers have access to a DigEplayer, an interactive, portable audio and video player with an extensive, regularly changing selection of movies, music and information.Moreover, since all the seats are equipped with a laptop connection point, passengers who prefer to work during the trip will have ample opportunity!

Day 9: Time For Good Byes And Hugs

Always the dreaded time of all holidays - the day to say goodbye.

It has been a quick 9 days at LA and our hosts, Auntie Cathy, Auntie Hannah and Uncle Titus has been very hospitable and kind during our stay at their place. Would like to thanks them here and no words can describe our gratitude during these few days.

This morning we started our day with Macdonald's breakfast!! It seems like Ansy really like the breakfast served in US Macdonalds. ehahehaehae...

Did some very last minute shopping to spend our US dollars and trying to get Daisie's mum's requests.. Thankfully managed to get them and went home to pack and left for the airport.

At the airport, whilst trying to check in, a Northwest counter guy refused to allow us to do a priority check-in and told us to queue up and after much fuss, he decided to check us in. Minutes went by and suddenly i was told that i m not allowed to fly into UK, becos i was on a visitor's visa for UK, i was required to show them proof of intentions to leave UK after this US trip.

Well i have the air ticket as proof, however i need to login to my email to retrieve them. So i asked the counter guy where is the nearest place to have internet access, and he said no where close (really beginning to piss us off). So a little bit of commotions and discussions (15mins later) he managed to get his superior to allow me to travel back to UK, and issued our boarding passes.

Checking the borading passes, we realised that the reserved seats that we had booked ( the 1st row of seats just behind the business class, which is very roomy. ) has not been given to us, instead of seat 10 a and b we were given 29 j and k. This must be not our day, we thought.. so i went back to the same gentlemen and gently remind him that our seats were reserved about a month ago via a phone call, and is this a misunderstanding, his reply was : "Your seats are 29 j and k, the one by the window with another seat next to it", i said u dun understand, we were given the reserved seats 10 a and b by KLM. His reply after that was, "Your seats are 29 j and k, the one by the window with another seat next to it, ok?"

Furious but maintaining our cool, we walked away and headed for another counter, and spoke to a nice lady whom explained the whole situation to us in a very polite way and told us that, maybe if we go to the gate and have a word with her in 60 mins time and she will see if she can sort out some better seats for us.

A bit disappointed we were planning to write complain letters to make ourselves heard by KLM, we thought we will not gonna have better seats becos according to Northwest, this is a very busy flight. Nevertheless, we went to the gate and waited for the nice lady to appear. 80 mins passed and we found out that our flight has not arrived yet, 30 mins delay, and the best part, our nice lday has not appear. We thought oh well, a scammer and thought nah... we gonna be stuck with our cramp seats. Little did we know...

"Can Mr Allan Tan and Miss Daisy Wong come to the podium please?" we heard over the PA sound system, so we went over to the podium... gave this stern looking woman our boarding passes and was told that we have just been upgraded to business class. Wow!!

to be continued...

Day 8: Universal Studios!!

Today is supposely our last touring day for this trip and we ended up with a spectacular finishing with the reknown Universal Studios!!

Travelling to Universal Studios is a bit of a distance from home and we had to wake up really early so that we can beat the morning traffic and take the Metro. The Metro is actually really easy to use and very accessible if you want to travel from one end to the other in LA. We were glad that we had Uncle Titus to bring us to the Universal Studios.

At Universal Studios we learnt how they did the various stunts and blasts and also the mechanical and computerised graphics effects, that makes the difference.. A couple of joy rides and unfortunately a few attractions were not opened, like Jurassic Park and Fear Factor Live.

Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves at the Universal Studios. We then headed home to pack our lugguage and prepare ourselves for UK....

Day 7: Venice Beach And BBQ

We headed for Venice Beach, as Auntie Cathy suggested the night before. I spoke briefly about Venice Beach as it was recommended by a friend that you haven been to LA if you haven been to Venice Beach. So Auntie Cathy tookthe extra effort of checking about Venice Beach and managed to find out why it is called Venice Beach..

Nope, this time we did not go too near the water as we do not wish to get wet. So a slow stroll by the beach was good enough.

We also had a stroll by the Venice Canals.. took lots of pictures and saw quite a number of nice houses..

Towards the evening, we had a BBQ and wrap an early night to prepare us for tmrw's trip - Universal Studios!! WOOOOOOOO....

See you tmrw!!

Day 6: Sunday Church And Yi-Por's Jokes

Sunday, was a very light and relaxed day for us. We went to a sermon and headed for dim sum with Yi-Por's God daughter, "Cook" jie-jie.. (pardon, dunno how to spell it).

The dim sum to us was ok, but they have a specialty which seems to be the major attraction, i mean, at least my love like it a lot!!

After the food we went to Yi-Por's house to chill a little. Have some fun and chit chatted about the good old days back in Hong Kong. The whole crew, Daisie's mum, Auntie Hannah, Auntie Karen, Auntie Annette and the rest of the group.. Sang some songs and the best part of the day was to listen to Yi-Por crack some jokes and some chinese tongue twisters... Unexpectedly fun day with an 88 years old lady... who must have found a weak spot in my heart.. ( reminds me of my 2 late grand mothers. )

It is unexpectedly to see her to be still very strong and full of laughter at her age, especially when she is most of the time in pain. Amazingly strong woman, i mean, this is the 1st time i have seen her but, my instinct tells me that she is a very strong and determined woman.

Seeing her gives me a very encouraging message - Always be strong and have faith in whatever you do. Never give up and never stop laughing.

What a day! Oh yea, thank you Auntie Karen for all the programming books and discs, they will come in handy one day.

Day 5: Sunset Blvd And Hollywood

Woke up early today becos we were going to have a long day. Had breakfast and headed for Auntie Karen and Yi-Por's house. On our way there, Auntie Hannah, one of our hosts decided to show us her workplace, which is according to her is the largest single cemetery in the world. It is also considered to be the largest and most beautiful memorial park in the world.

The scenery were nice and indeed it has got a very huge compound, bigger than you could imagine. On the top of the hill, you could see a large part of Los Angeles, and i fully understand why it is so expensive and rationale for why people want to have their final resting ground to be at Rose Hills.

Soon after that we went to meet Auntie Karen and Yi-Por, and as proposed, we went for a quick lunch and went to Hollywood for a quick picture taking and touring..

Lunch was amazing at one of downtown LA's best/freshest seafood place. The food was simply divine! And thinking about it again just makes me hungry!! Yummy!!

Straight after lunch, no time was wasted as we headed for Sunset Blvd where we managed to see some Hollywood stars!! Yeah... the stars on the on the floor!! No, we did not managed to see any celebrities there.. just lots of wannabes... heahehaehaeh...

In the evening we then went to a Japanese Restaurant for a full-blown all-u-can-eat buffet!! Everything was so fresh, the oysters, salmon, crayfishs, prawns, lobsters, vege, desserts and so much more. I wonder if i have gained weight so far!! Not a care in the world.. Food glorious food!!!

Day 4: The Sun, The Sand And The Sea!!

Heard lots about the California beaches.. Seen them on TV on Baywatch, and many other movies.. heard from friends and strangers.. And today is the day where we gonna have a taste of the Pacific waves!!! Cowabunga!!

Had some burger lunch at Jack in the Box down Laguna Beach and headed for the waves at Dana Point, Salt Creek Beach.

Finally the time has come.. with my super-see-thru blue BBall shorts on, i was prepared to faced the pacific waves. Out i went and woooooow, the water was cruelly cold (18-20 degrees C?), and the waves were rather strong, for an Asian man.

As you can probably see the pictures on the left, the wave absolutely rolled over me. And i went on to swim out to where the surfers are... I must be crazy!! Why? Read on..

Summary for the Pacific Experience:
It is not that easy to take on the Pacific waves without a wetsuit. Becos the water is far too cold for a normal person to stay in it for too long, i must admit that hypothermia almost hit me if i haven swam back to the shore. And with the waves and current so strong, i was pulled back to the sea when i was closer to the shore. It actually took me quite a while and lots of effort to try to reach the shore. And i ended up about 50 metres away from where i entered the water.

I won't say it is a near death experience, but should i have been in the water for a bit more longer, something dramatic might have happened. I rest for a full 15 mins before i could get back up to try again.

My advice for 1st timers: get a wetsuit and dun go too far until you are comfortable with the temperature and waves/current.

Day 3: Downtown Disney Land

Disney Land:
"Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy."

Fantastic time... No matter what age!

Firstly we went and explored the Disney shops whilst we planned our excursion... so many things to do and not enuf time (u know what I mean?!)

Ansy and Huppy went on most of the rides whilst Auntie Hannah and I stayed on firm ground and laughed. Why would anyone wanna experience some crazy ride!?!?!? well, not me! atleast not the really scary ones! Hehehe... we managed 2 get Ansy on the Hotel ride!!! And I went on the most scariest ride in my life - Space Mountain.... Umm! I had my eyes shut all the way and missed all the beautiful stars according to Ansy! Oops nvm!


The shows were really good esp. "Honey, I shrunk the audience"!!! The 3 gals had the biggest scare in a long time and laughed uncontrolably!!

With the day drawing to an end and the parade in full flow - today was a memorable day....

Day 2: Up/Downtown LA... Family gathering

Woke up early and embraced ourselves 2 face Uptown LA at Whittier... Ummm - not much happening - even the museum was closed!

So where next? Downtown LA...

Buses were easy, $1 will bring u from one end to the other - however it's not literally down the road (bout 1.5 hrs)!

Weather was fab with the sun beating down upon us... hydrate hydrate hydrate!

We arrived and 1st impressions were good... Beginning to orientate ourselves and picking places to explore from a pathetic little map, we ended up in the library!!! Well, we checked our emails and had our toilet breaks. So we continued our journey to the proposed destination of Little Tokyo.

To get there, we used 5th street and boy, bad choice - it stank (urine/ammonia/vomit/bodily excretions!) Apparently, it was the street which has alot of homeless people... But we got thru it, after about 10mins and brisk walking!

*Stomach grubbling* We arrive at Little Tokyo - what a difference - even the air smells nice! We decide to go and try some authentic sushi (made in US of A)!!! After that it was shopping time at the Japanese Village Plaza.

We had to leave Downtown at about 4:30pm to arrive home for 6pm... so whilst walking back to our bus-stop (choosing to by-pass 1st street instead of the smelly 5th one!), we passed Grand Central Market - Very trendy! We fitted into the scene by ordering some local smoothies!

We arrived home and then went out to visit my God Grand-Parents... Went to a Shanghai restaurant close 2 their home... Chit chatted and slept well late!


Clockwise from left:
Ansy, Auntie Hannah, Godma Cathy, DnA, Gong-gong and Por-por.

Day 1 of LA Adventure:

You should have seen the views over the Canadian Mountains... The word to sum it up would be "spectacular"...

At last we have landed... DnA and Ansy arrive at LA airport... "Bring it on!"

What's the first thing we do?!??! Yip, hit the Starbucks 4 some caffeine - we have so little time but lots2do... and it should be our UK bedtime!

Let the adventure begin...

Porsche Driving Day! Well Supposed to..

Hey hey...
Today is Porsche Driving Day, and we drove down to Leicestershire for a good 3 hours.. Weather wasn't that amazing with the heavy rain in the morning part.. 1145am, 15 mins away from the actual Porsche Experience, we went on to find the registration place. Finally found it and was told that they have no Porsche today!!!

"WHAT!!!?!?!!" We drove 3 hours down and there is no Porsche today!!! After much explanation and clarifications, it turned out that they had sent us the cancellation letter to notify us of a change of date. ( we did not receive it at all! )

Well, nothing can really change anything at that very moment so, we decided to postpone it ( 30th Sept ), and as a compensation, they offered us 2 passenger "joy" ride in a Subaru WRX or Ford Focus RS.

We thought well, WRX does not sound too bad... so we accepted it and went on downstair to collect our gift.. The most amazing thing happened!!

"Sorry, the track is closed down temporary due to an accident on the track. Come back in 30 mins time." We were like, ok, we got to wait for this joy ride too!! Not really our day is it??

30 mins passed and i was still trying to persuade my love to go on and try the joy ride.. now for those of you who doesn't know her, she doesn't like joy rides.. she cannot sit behind as a passenger at the back. So there i was trying to get her to enjoy the ride.. she finally agreed and went for it...

I went 1st and it was ok... taking corners at 70mph and 110mph on the straights.. it was ok... i flimed the 4 laps on a camcorder, but couldn't get it on the computer... but next time i will do it digitally..

My love went on next.. and when she came back, the 1st thing she said was, " I am going to puke soon!" opsss..

And so for the rest of the day, she was not feeling that well... all becos of that joy ride!! hehaehahehae... I drove the returning trip back home..

Well guys, sorry to disappoint you.. but do stay tuned on 30th Sept..
I see u when it comes.. GTG now.. See u in America!!

Snails Cooked!

Today is the day we cooked the snails!!

As per blog post a few weeks ago, we cooked the snails the way Gordon Ramsey did it. Whilst cooking the fragrance of the sage and parsley was fantastic!!

Added to a bowl of salad, the snail mixture taste rather good. Our 1st impression of the taste of snails:

D - it taste funny.
A - it taste almost like gong-gong (aka Strombus canarium). A bit tasteless.

Overall conclusion:

We shouldn't be trying home grown snails for a long time.. only becos its not that tasty... the time and effort could be use somewhere else..

But it was a great experience, having to farm for your own food. And yea, there were some thoughts on keeping snails as pets, but they are not really that interactive, so it would be rather boring keeping them as pets!! hehaehaehaeh...

Maybe you can try snails farming and cooking too!!