There is something about Hong Kong

When my boss reminded me of my last ill fated Hong Kong trip, it was then I suspected, perhaps there is something in the stars that forbid me to enjoy leisure time in this island. I have been to Hong Kong umpteen times for work and for that measly two times I was there for leisure, something bad must happen. Sigh..

I took some days off after my meetings to explore Hong Kong properly with Yong two summers ago. Not only I had to rearrangement my meetings since everything was shut down for a day due to the typhoon, my beloved grandma passed away that very weekend. And till today, my heart still aches with regrets for not being there to see her for the last time.

This time, I took my mum to HK for a 5 days 吃东西买东西 trip but turned out, it was only so for the first 3 days. The rest of the 2 days, we transformed into merlions and puked out all we ate before. I fell sick first but recovered quickly after a night rest. But my poor mummy probably caught something from me and with weaker immune system, could not stop vomiting for the rest of the trip.

When night fell, and I was still in the bathroom, patting her back as she vomited once again, I made the decision to get the doctor in. My jaw dropped when the duty manager informed me that the starting charge for a doctor call was HK2000 (S$400). !*&^*!&# But the kind DM advised me to grab a cab to the nearest hospital which was just two streets down.

And so, we ended up spending our last evening in Hong Kong at the A&E. Well.. hardly the kind of holiday we had looked forward to.

But the optimistic Yr2010 me felt that I have learned much from this. It was through this unfortunate episode I realized that I have never seen my mum so vulnerable, weak and sick before. And I have never needed to take care of her so completely. To have her rely on me solely for her well being. It was a surreal but humbling experience. And it got the neurotic side of me over-thinking of how much she has aged and how I should put in even more efforts to care for her. Likewise for Dad.

After the terrible ordeal, she slowly got better the next day, enough to endure the flight back to Singapore. And today she is her usual strong self again.

Self centered me did a not very self centered thing by calling her at least three times through the day just to make sure she is okay.

Nonetheless, I am glad I did the trip. I did spent quality time with her and learned to take care of her more than ever before.

Will follow up with photos and foodie reviews in the next post.

PS: By the way, how much do you think A&E in Singapore public hospital charge for Singaporean? $60? $100? $200? These are the answers from the little survey i did around the office today.
Guess how much I paid as a foreigner in Hong Kong A&E HK500 (S$100). Nett. Inclusive of all tests and medications. And if you are a Hong Kong citizen? HK100 (S$20).

So much for subsidized medical fee, Mr Khaw.