The best way to spend a Saturday in HK

There's no better way to spend Saturday in busy HK than with good friends. Today, I woke up at 9, had a Filipino breakfast with my cousin Grace Exconde. She cooked tuyo (Google tells me that's "dried herring") and we ate it with kamatis, sibuyas, itlog na maalat and rice. (Incidentally, there is a website you can visit for Filipino recipes: http://www.pinoycook.net/.) After that, we took the mini-bus to Central where we parted. Ate Grace proceeded to Global Sources' trade fair on intimate apparel. I went to my favorite outlet shop to get this dress I saw last week.

It was time to go to Arnold Juan's flat in Tung Chung for lunch. The way there was a "big drama". When I got off the train, I hopped on a red cab and instructed the driver to bring me to "Kin Tung Rd". The driver said "Ha ha.." which translates to "Yes". I was already imagining my lunch when ... To those of you who are familiar with Hong Kong, just imagine my horror, when the cab driver asked "Ha ha... Tsim Sha Tsui?" Oh my God! I do not want to go to TST!!!!! I was imagining missing my lunch and paying HKD300 in cabfare! I called Arnold in panic and, fortunately, he knew the Cantonese name of his apartment building! I mentioned it to the cab driver and, I am happy to say that he understood. Finally, we were on our way!

Arnold invited Jane Feliciano, her infant son Joaquin, Gia Guiang and her parents who are visiting from Manila. By the way, it is truly a small world. Gia's dad is good friends with Blue Florescio, my former boss. Yes, the one who gave me my first job.

We had more Filipino food: sinigang na hipon, sisig, baked chicken (not really Filipino), fried fish, kamatis with sibuyas. Yummy! That gave us the energy to play tennis and then a few rounds of boxing. Yes, we did all that thanks to Arnold's Wii.

Wii is a great invention. No more tendonitis for those video games enthusiasts. Wii is so much more fun. It is interactive and you get to exercise, sweat, burn calories while having fun. We had pretend tennis racquets. Arnold promised that next time, we will have proper boxing gloves as well! I am pretty sure that my body will be aching after 24 hours.

Typical of the HK lifestyle, my day did not end just yet. I did some shopping in the Tung Chung Mall and then I took the train back to HK where I met Ate Grace and Fely Ordanesa and her daughters Fiel and Ivy. We had very good food in the Union Bar at the IFC at the invitation of Tita Fely. (Fiel Ordanesa is one of those successful young Filipinos working in HK. She is with Morgan Stanley.)

Me, Fiel, Ivy, Fely and Grace

The conversation was mixed. Some serious. Some fun.

When we got home, I packed for my trip to NY. I am going there for a banking seminar. But, what's more exciting is that I will be seeing Aimee Alampay-Kowalak, her husband Jeff, and their beautiful newborn baby Nico (Nico, you are as considerate as your mom... coming out in time for my visit. Thanks!), Chesca Silva, and Joy Mendoza-Lopez. More on that visit when I come back next week!