Free time in a travel-less age

6 months in ...

Gardening. Fed by endless Singapore Home Gardening Facebook posts.

Courses. From flower arranging to data analytics to financial services. Getting very familiar with the websites of onePA, SMU and WMI. Encouraged enough to contemplate CFA ... but do I really want to calculate compound interest and variances of returns ?

Exercise. Definitely getting more cardio now with my new found passion for trampolining ! More effective than any exercise I have tried in the last few years !

Investing ... damn those China edtech stocks- but you can't win them all 

What I thought I would do that I didn't: take long walks; sort out my hard copy photos: read newspapers for hours by the pool. Basically, certain things you didn't prioritise before aren't going to get more attractive when you have more free time.

Scenes from a more leisurely pace of life

Breakfast al fresco at the Singapore Polo Club, reading a newspaper lightly flapping with the breeze.

... and No More Corporate Rat Race

Ms Bear has made the momentous decision to leave full time employment. 

23 years in banking has been good to me with steady financial gains, career progression, business class travel to major cities in the world, 3 years working overseas, and I made a lot of great friends all over the world. 

I have also accumulated an enviable collection of corporate logo'ed computer bags, backpacks, tee shirts, and assorted conference loot to fill several shelves. Don't laugh - I am still wearing the high quality Hanes cotton tee from my first banking employer's community services program that's almost 20 years old.  They don't make them like that anymore. On the quirkier side, does anyone want a Y2K commemorative snow globe ? Is anyone reading this old enough to remember Y2K ?

There's a lot I will look back fondly on, but a more flexible way of life beckons and now, I finally get to gleefully don that other Zara tee shirt I bought a few years back in anticipation of (semi-)retirement. See pic.

So what to make of this blog ? It started as chronicle of our home renovation (now 14 years old), followed by foodie travel posts that aren't possible to drum up in COVID times. So from now on, musings of transition from full time work and perhaps financial matters will feature, always with dash of humour. 

What happened in the meantime ...

It's 6 years since we last posted !

We have

(1) Adorable Doggie no. 2 Creamy who has become the irritating younger adopted brother to Koko.

Creamy was a name bestowed by the breeder in Australia. We could have changed to it something more than a mere colour description ... but it grew on us. Creamy continues to fascinate us in how he is so different from Koko in having a quiet temperament, picky eating habits and aversion to strangers. We mollycoddle this new member of the family who joined us in December 2015.

(2) A job came and went

Good and bad parts, too boring to cover here 

(3) We said goodbye to a dear family member

(no words) 

(4) We became good buddies with our lovely neighbours who are a great support network when we need it.

(5) Mr Bear gallivants and Facebooks the world in his food equipment related consultancy job, even more than I do ! We have suitcases galore of every capacity and colour.

Two Bears and a Puppy

The TwoBears got a Puppy on 15 December !

His name is Koko and he is a 3 month old sable-haired Tibetan Terrier. But from Brisbane, not Tibet !

He is an adorable rascal and loves to splash the water out of his bowl right now. He likes playing with empty plastic bottles rather than the expensive toys we got him, and has a new fascination with dried crunchy leaves. He loves to be with people and hates being left alone in his doggie pen downstairs at night.

He howls for at least 15 minutes after being put to bed, but that's better than the all-night whining we experienced in the first few days. I am amazed the neighbours haven't complained !

We've also had some wetter than expected bathing attempts, where the floor got as much of a wash as Koko did !

The last picture is of him and his mom Shelby back in Australia. "I'm alright in Singapore, Mom ! I'm getting to know the dogs in the neighbourhood too, like Sam the dachshund, the weird quiet Westie next door and the large dalmatian that gets walked in the evenings".

Ms Bear's mom (Mdm Bear) is not too pleased about wet dog prints and extra floor washing though, but our Indonesian helper seems to have taken to her new friend.

Lastly, yes, it has been a long time since the last post !

Bird's eye view of villa plot

The yellow pin points to the spot where our Bali villa will be built. It's proof from Google Earth that it's still there ! :) The image was dated 15 Oct, so hope a bit of construction has taken place in the month since then. Once we get more pictures from our agent, we'll happily post them here.

Update from 2 years later: The villa has its own blogsite http://kejoravilla.blogspot.com/ and we've been hosting paying guests from all over the world since March 2011. It survived the earthquake this year in good shape and we have been making frequent trips to enjoy our personal paradise.

Che's, Hong Kong

World famous baked char siew buns at Che's, 4/F,The Broadway,54-62,Lockhart Road,, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. 6 of us finished all but 2 (what a waste !).

The teochew dumplings in the basket below were delicious too.

Just 2 out of many tasty dishes during our Sunday yum cha session !

Pret a Manger, IFC, Hong Kong

Favourite breakfast place in HK ! Love the breakfast baguette, generously sized coffee and yoghurt drinks.

Had breakfast there 3 days in a row, and that was a great start to each day.

Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong

A picture says a thousand words. Apparently the red and black theme is a hallmark of Robuchons worldwide.

Three of us ate lunch at the counter: foie gras with eel, foie gras in chesnut soup, duck confit, sauteed lamb. You'd think that would be decadent enough, but we surreptitiously observed the guy eating alone next to us scoff down caviar and lobster.

That's Hong Kong !

Wu Kong, 13th floor, Times Square Food Forum Hong Kong

Har-roe ! Hairy Crab set menu for HKD 380 !

Shark's fin with roe

Glutinous rice with roe

Dumpling with crab meat

The crab itself

All washed down with ah balling in ginger to heat us up after the "cooling" meal.

The nice lady made the crab eating a bit easier for us ...

Peking Garden, Alexandra House basement, Hong Kong

Could've been crispier.

(Shortest review on this blog !)

Tsui Wah Restaurant, Wellington Street, Hong Kong

Tsui Wah is an institution. Drinks at Lan Kwai Fong are simply made to be be followed by a meal of luncheon meat instant noodles, milk tea, condensed milk buns and other Hong Kong delights.

But during our trip last week, we skipped the alcohol and went straight for Kagoshima pork cartilage instant noodles, apparently a Top 10 menu choice. The pork was succulent, the noodles springy, and it all went well with the fiery chilli oil.

Top pic - mobile phone quality of what we ate under the glare of fluorescent lighting.

Bottom pic (from their website) - shows HK has some pretty good food stylists !