Sunday, July 19, 2009

Trip to Kaohsiung (17 – 19 July)











17 July 09
I did not take any annual leave on 17 July as I had to attend a company function. The event finished at around 6pm and I had to bring an important document to JC office before I went to Taiwan.

I then returned home to pack my luggage. In fact, I still have to send out some emails before I went to the airport. At the end, I nearly missed my flight… but luckily, I made it.

When I arrived Kaohsiung and passed the immigration counter, it was almost 00:00 at the midnight. I knew that Kaohsiung JC’s President and my two members who went there earlier on the day were waiting at the gate.

Finally, I met them and I felt sorry that they had to wait for me so late at night. It was raining heavily and I just thought I could go back to the hotel for a rest very quickly. Yet, the President would like to take us for food and drinks!!!!! I like eating and dining in Taiwan but not that late at night, haha. More and more members from Kaohsiung JC joined to welcome me. They ordered so many dishes, just like they did not have dinner.

At around 2 o’clock, President and members of Kaohsiung JC suggested to go to karaoke!!!!!!!!!! I did accept the invitation even though I was extremely exhausted. It was my first time to go to a “night club” for karaoke. Many “pseudo-models” (o靚模) like young girls entered the room. President selected a few to stay in the room. To be honest, I was a bit afraid as I did not know what they would do. I found that the “teen models” were like assistants who helped us pour tea and select songs from the computer. They dressed up in a very sexy way which made me feel very uncomfortable and I felt deeply sorry to them as I thought they should be staying at home and doing homework. They just should not work in the karaoke at this age.

18 July 09
When we returned to the hotel, it was around 5am!!!!!!!!!! After washing my face and unpacking my luggage, it was nearly 6am when I saw the beam of the sunrise. I was informed that Jayceettes’ good friend, Kaohsiung JC’s senior member – Sandy (仙姬) would like to have lunch with us. 12noon to pick us up? Then we could only sleep for 3 hours??? Haha

When Sandy told me that we might not be able to get changed at the hotel before the anniversary banquet, I was very shocked as she was going to take up for a boat trip after lunch. That was arranged by the President. Anyway, Sandy guaranteed that we could go back to the hotel for dress up. We took only 30 minutes to get ourselves changed to a party look while the whole banquet was delayed because of us. We three were treated like super important persons. The President practised for a long time for his English speech that was dedicated to HKJTT.

For me, my speech was only prepared on my way to the restaurant. Therefore, I was really happy when one of the Kaohsiung JC’s senior members gave me very positive comments to my speech. He said I was having very good氣度and it was a good speech. At least, my mandarin did not make a bad break to the event.

We enjoyed the food, chitchat, “hot” show at the function. I was even invited by the performer to play magic. It’s very interesting. The most highlighted part was gift exchange session. Do you know what President gave me? It was a GUCCI handbag!!!!!!!!!!!! So shocked and very happy! Now, I need to think about what I will present to him when he comes to Hong Kong in October.

In Hong Kong, typhoon no. 8 was hoisted and so many JCs and friends sent me sms… I was a bit worried how I returned to Hong Kong…

19 July 09
Again, we were not able to “escape” after the banquet. We joined the first karaoke function afterwards and knew many friends from other chapters in Taiwan. We sang a lot and laughed a lot. We thought we could return to the hotel at around 2am but then… we were “forced” to join the second karaoke. At the end, I was so tired and President let us go back and take a rest. Yet, he asked his member to buy us “midnight supper” (宵夜 – 豬手noodle) on the return trip. It was nearly 4 o’clock when we reached the hotel. I could not imagine that we three had to “enjoy” the food so late at night before we could go to sleep.

I woke up at around 8am as I took the 11-ish flight. When I left the room, Winnie and Tracy were still having a rest. I asked President not to come and say goodbye to me as I thought they must be very tired after the late night karaoke. I tried to take express train by myself. Before that, I bought a “taro ice” (芋園刨冰) as breakfast. It was delicious.

It was still early when I reached the airport while I spent some time to buy souvenirs for Board members and project teams. Lastly, I needed to go on board while it started to rain when I knew typhoon was “leaving” Hong Kong. Just 15 minutes after I reached Hong Kong, there’s no more typhoon signal. Isn’t it amazing?

I did not need to go to Victoria Park for the Carey Bag charity sales as the exhibition was closed down due to typhoon!

The trip ended here. I enjoyed it very much though it was a short trip. I am once again very glad that I have met all the sister and friendship pact chapters in June and July. If you wish to experience the passion of Taiwanese, please join me to visit Kaohsiung friends next time.

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