On our first attempt, we visited Trinoma. Since it’s quite a huge mall, we had our hopes up. After aimlessly walking around in the mall for less than 7 hours, mission failed. We were able to find some gowns inside Landmark but it didn’t fit our bodies very well.

For our second attempt, we heeded the advice of mom’s friend. According to her, she was able to buy 2 gowns in Debenhams of Shangri-La. With that thought in mind, my mom and I were quite sure we’ll be able to find “the gown.” It was difficult to stay focused, we kept getting swayed from our purpose. Before we knew it, we were already trying on blouses. When we realized what we were doing, it was already too late. We were inside the mall for 5 hours. Going home knowing that we failed again was depressing.

And to think shopping is supposed to be fun for us girls… Yeah right. All we get are aching leg muscles, back pains and an empty wallet.

First off, I got dengue last two weeks ago. Actually, I thought it was just persistent fever that kept coming back when I did something stressful. I’ve had on and off fever for almost 4 days. My temperature was between 39 to 39.5 degrees Celsius. It’s a good thing my brother asked me if I wanted to have a checkup with the doctor. We went to Hi-Precision Diagnostics at Retiro (really high-tech lab with online results that you can get within an hour!) to see the doctor, Dra. Lalaine Macatangay. She asked me to have a blood test to see if I had dengue. After giving blood samples to the lab and waiting for 1 hour for the results, the doctor said I had dengue due to the low white blood cells and platelets count. She advised me to rest and take lots of water. She prescribed Vitamin C and Hydrite tabs for me to take. Thank God that I wasn’t confined to a hospital since my platelet count only dropped by two points each day which wasn’t alarming. We just had to go back to the lab everyday to check my platelet count until it went back to normal. (Extra info about dengue can be found here.)

Then came my birthday week. My nephews and sister came to Manila to spend halloween/all saint’s day vacation, if you can call it a vacation. I didn’t have the chance to bond with them much though since there was still work (damn government!). Sigh, seems like only yesterday when they were just babies pooping in their diapies… Next thing you know, they’ll be pooping in their adult diapers! (Some fun facts about baby poop here. )

Then tragedy struck. The global economy is so bad now that even the current company I’m working for (for almost 3 years) decided to layoff employees. I wasn’t included in the list, but most of who were in it, were my friends. Though I only got to know them better for a short while, they were part of my everyday life; sharing stories, gossips, laughter, and bugs (of course, what are friends for!). I miss them…

Wednesday, February 27, 2008. I woke up at 8:30 in the morning; did all my morning deeds; prepared and placed my things in our luggages. By 10AM, my Aunt’s driver had arrived to come pick us up. Traffic was not that bad. We got to the airport at around 11AM. There were a lot of people waiting to depart Manila, most of them came from China. When we got to the airport, we were expecting to check in our baggages already, but we had to wait 1 hour, sitting on a steel bench with no back support. What a great way to start an adventure! And so hours pass and the life at the airport was it’s usual busy but dull old self, and how I was wishing for time to go faster since we were already hungry and my tummy was already chanting “Food food food”. At last, it was time to board the plane (Exciting!). We left the country (Good riddance!) at around 3PM and the flight was uneventful, soon we were already on a landing approach to Hong Kong’s international airport (Hurray!). When we got off the plane, I could immediately see the improvements done to the airport, it was like seeing it for the first time again (Wow..*Drool*). And of course, after doing TONS of research, I immediately felt at home but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a backup plan in case I get lost, and so I went and bought this “Octopus” Card for HK$150. It’s a really nifty thing to have around when you get lost since it allows you to ride all the different modes of transportation in Hong Kong (Except for taxis) and you can also use it as a cash card in convenience stores in case you get hungry WHILE you’re lost. Being the natural born adventurer, we quickly found our way to the hotel where we will be staying at, THE HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS in Causeway Bay. The hotel was quite beautiful and elegant considering it was only a ONE star hotel. And so after settling in our stuff, we hurried to Tsim Sha Tsui to meet my friend. When I met my friend, she looked thinner than before (How I wish I were thin too..huhuhu), then we invited her to dinner and then she gladly gave us a tour of all the restaurants in the area. After a while, we made a choice and we went to eat at a restaurant that serves chinese seafood dishes (You think I’d have grown tired of chinese food considering that they’re plentiful back in the Philippines). But lo and to my surprise, the dishes were unique, nothing like what we have in Manila. They tasted good and after gobbling down 4 dishes, we were full to bursting (Burp!). All in all the dinner cost us HK$300++ which roughly equates to Php 1500++, not bad for a meal that feeds 4 people. After dinner, we took a short walk with my friend around Tsim Sha Tsui. Time goes by really fast when you’re enjoying yourself and soon we found ourselves returning to Causeway Bay.

Thursday, February 28, 2008. Hurray! It’s Disney Day! …to be continued.

On other news, it’s already the 4th of January but I was still able to get a holiday gift. It was from my special buddy’s sisters. Thank you Ja and Je, for the mouth-watering gift. They gave me this:
Looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it!

Here are 8 cute little kiat kiats… for luck.

Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year To All!