My Son Clark James Tia

The first thing I did when I arrived in the airport was to hug my little boy CJ to see how heavy he has grown. Since the 9th of September 2005, the day he was born, I was fed news about how fast he has grown, how chubby he was and how intelligently he was for his age of coming to 4 months. And been so far away from him and also with the regular flow of emails of his photos, it has increased my desire to meet him. How I longed to touch and kiss him, my first TIA child. After 45 years longing for a child I finally have my dream come true.




We named him Clark James, after Superman and Double O Seven. One is named Clark Kent and the other James Bond. We wished him to grow up strong like Superman and also smart like 007. CJ is indeed growing very fast. Already he is strong enough to stand on his feet. He is adorable and very chubby and who wouldn't fell under his charms. He has a very wiry smile and would make google sound as if he is dropping a hint or two about the IT company.

This trip we were planning to have him and Chu moving to Hong Kong to stay with me. However due to some hiccups to his travelling papers, he is unable to come along. So Chu stayed behind to look after him and the trip was re-scheduled to Mar 2006.

We have so much fun together the ten days I was there to the point that Chu hinted not getting any attention. I bought him a new pram and new toys to add to his already growing collection. He was the centre of attention and all the visitors have something nice to say of him. How proud Chu and I were of CJ!

The night I left to return to Hong Kong, CJ came down with a fever. We were all so worried and as it was at night we could not bring him to see the doctor until the following morning. He was diagnosed with urinary track infection or UTI and the poor boy was crying with discomfort. The doctor issued anti-biotics to last 10 days and carried out regular urine testing to confirm his response to treatment. We were relieved as after a couple of days he responded well to treatment and all was well again. I was sleepless in Hong Kong for a few nights worrying about his condition and making calls daily to check on his progress.

Two weeks later he was coughing again as he went about the chores of growing up..

See you again in March 2006, my son...

Relocating to Work in Hong Kong.

The year comes to a close much faster than anticipated and it is time to make the trip again to my home in Cebu. This time I will be leaving from Hong Kong airport instead of Singapore airport and flying Cathay Pacific airlines instead of Qatar airlines. You see I finally got my overseas posting to work in Hong Kong. YES!!!
For the whole of 2005 there was talk in the air that Regin has finally decided to start a new company in Hong Kong, what they called, an International Procurement Office. As part of the plan for this office, the Technical Department for Asia Pacific will be relocated there. That's me and as there is only one technical person in Asia Pacific, I will be the one shifting there. I got the envies of everyone in the office. And there were the looks of gloom among the other colleagues as they read the move to Hong Kong as a sign of no confidence. They sense that sooner or later the Singapore office will be closed.
On the first week of Oct 2005, my three bosses Leif, Peter and Johan and I met up in Hong Kong to view the office. Peter has already found the premises and signed the tenancy agreement. We discuseed on the fitting out and Peter awarded the contract. Leaving the works to be carried out I returned again three weeks later to review and accept the fitting out works. In addition I also started looking for a flat to stay.
When everything is arranged, I finally moved into Jade Plaza on the 8th Nov 2005. For the rest of the year till end Dec 2005, I take the time to put up the office furniture systems, the telephone and broadband internet systems and also the IT systems. Unfortunately the head office announced a delay and the company will only take in the rest of the staff on the 15th Feb 2006. During this time I would make a trip to Bangkok and then for my Christmas holidays in Cebu.

It was quite amusing to stay and work in Hong Kong. What I find the main difference with Singapore is that the people are all rushing about, appears very busy and moving too quickly along the tight and narrow streets. They talked aloud and hinted impatience and cut you out too soon. But what I cannot forget is on the 17th Nov 2005, just barely 9 days after landing on this island, my flat at Jade Plaza was burglered costing me my valuable notebook computer and some jewellery. Till today I still cannot learn to trust the people here. Generally my feeling towards Hong Kong people is that they are quick witted, very competitive and very tricky. But I do not deny the fact that they are extremely hard working, most people taking up two jobs and they will come at 5.00 pm to rush up any last minute jobs before they call it a day.