Tip 136: An observing eye and smile towards animals

There are many simple pleasures in this world. As I observe the different animals that roam freely in the neighbourhood with Haruka, I too catch the same enthusiasm that Haruka has towards these beautiful creatures of God. It started during my weekend walking strolls with Haruka when she was just around 4-5 months with an eye towards any moving object around her. I would give Tomomi a break to the Japanese bookshop, while its just daddy time with daughter. We walk around the neighbourhood with Haruka in my arm and we would see the different cute poodles taken out by elderly neighbours who also long to greet Haruka. A perfect encounter where Haruka could have a longer stare towards these cute playful creatures, giving her an amusing smile and probably shaped her friendly disposition to want to emulate the playful animals. Animals have little stress in an environment where they are shown love instead of ill treatment and its these content and joy that we can each emulate. Nowadays, children begin to lack these simple content and joy of life that children centuries ago enjoyed without the presence of material attractions, mass media and intense competition. Maybe there is a need to take the children out of their usual environment to gain an observing smile towards how animals smile at life.

In my strolls with Haruka, I would point out to her the flying seagulls in Canary Wharf, the swift squirrels in London parks who would not mind approaching for food, the loving pigeons up above the electric lines pecking each others' cheeks, the koi fish and mandarin ducks swimming around the ponds in Kowloon park, the colourful butterflies enjoying the flowers grown by diligent residents and the toad out for a hop after rain. I would make different animal sounds when we could see them to allow Haruka to remember these animals better even when she would not know a single word then. Haruka smiles as the poodles jumped to lick her cheek. Or when the squirrels seem to want to say hello. As she grew older and knew how to walk, her observation has taught her to approach only friendly animals and only reach out to the animals when they are interested to play. Often times, she would have a quick eye even when the dogs are at a distance away and would stray from our walking path to walk towards others with dogs to be able to pat them for a few minutes. We probably do not intend to have a pet until we settle down in a larger home with a garden when the children go to school. But until then, anybody can make that effort to go to that park nearby or simply have an eye towards those loving pigeons. The lessons we learn from these beautiful creature are much more than the childrens' DVD that the child watches daily.

Do you have a pet at home or exposes your children much to animals? Do you think they make a difference in childrens' lives?

(Photos show Haruka warming up to a dog at Blenheim Palace garden, Haruka approaching a cat at Mudchute farm, pigeons, seagulls, ducks and goose at Regent Park, a squirrel approaching Haruka thinking she has some food to give at Crossharbour, London, a swan at Oxford river and Haruka intruding into a family picnic at Bleinheim Palace garden).

Tip 135: Apartment swap for holidays

Paris is one of the most expensive cities to go on holiday. Besides the high cost of accomodation, you will be tempted to splurge on good French restaurants, nice patisserie at every street corner, entrance fees into nice museums and palaces or even to go up the Eiffel Tower via lift. Though, every single money spent gives you the highest satisfaction into the romantic world of Paris. Yet, you could save quite a lot if you do an apartment swap. Then, you could stay a little longer and take your time to enjoy the sights, cover more attractions and soak in the ambience. I am glad I did just that and could afford to spend 6 days of stay in Paris. I was then in London and another French executive who make frequent trips to London was wanting to have an apartment exchange with a reliable trustable person. We invested trust in another human being and gained in both having not to pay a single rent. Assuming USD$200 per night, both of us have saved a combined USD$2000! All it takes is a leap of trust and some basic tips to search for like minded individuals and check their credentials. So daddy felt a little more relaxed to splurge on restaurants and French wine, knowing he has also saved much on the cheapest train fare.















There is an idiom, "penny wise pound foolish". It is true that many times when we try to save the little, we end up risking to lose much more. For instance, inexperienced people who do apartment swaps face the risk of being cheated by hoards of online scammers. In fact, I found a few in the process as well and can share my experience and how best to go about trusting people you have not met on the internet. Firstly, to do an apartment swap, you need to use various internet community website such as gumtree or craigslist or apartment swap websites. Some websites that specialize in this task, would even allow the netizens who have done an apartment swap to rate the people and apartment they have encountered. Then, you need to be communicating with the owner of the property. Especially for European apartments, there are a host of online scammers who would post beautiful apartment photos they do not own. They would then ask you to transfer money into their account as a deposit. Most apartment swaps do not collect deposits. They do it based on trust and common sense. Some may ask you to sign a document to accept liability of anything damaged. But, others simply rely on the other to pay up if they have spent any considerable amounts. So just stay away from people who are seeking to receive money in return else just pay a legitimate hotel. Next, ask for the person's work email or work/personal website to validate his identity. This would give you some security that the person has a valid job and is generally a responsible person. The final thing is to have a back up plan. If the swap does not work, at least you know where to book your alternative accomodation plans. That way you have nothing to lose if the person does not turn up or the apartment turns out to be less than desirable compared to the photos. It seems like a hassle, but you could end up with a good experience no hotel could offer for the price of just trust and some enthusiasm. I got oriented on my trip by a local French person with good restaurant recommendations and had the same on a different apartment swap when staying for 2 days at Oxford.















Any of you done an apartment swap before? Any positive or negative experiences to share?















(Photos show the many sights at Eiffel Tower on clear blue skies. Its simply not just another tower like Tokyo Tower. Photos show views from the first and second level which offers different stunning vantage points of Parc Du Champ De Mars and Jardins Du Trocadero. Also the long queue to enter and the lift experience being a slanting diagonal ride).

Tip 134: Instill love for music and musicians

There have been many parenting literature that advocate parents to expose young children and even babies early to music. It was in 1962 that an article in the Time magazine reported that researchers found that babies speed up their heartbeats as they respond to music while in the womb. As they grow up, this interest towards music continues in a baby to investigate where the music comes from and to develop good mood with certain types of music. Babies in fact may get too used to different tones and sounds that they are nearing a phenomenon I coin as sound overload, being not too different from information overload where the listener need to establish what is valid and good music. There is musical sound from everywhere such as the T.V., radio/CD player, computer, billboard, lift and cell phone that the baby may begin to prefer machine music and loud music than music from other musical instruments. I try to point to Haruka whenever the opportunity arises of the different musical instruments people play and give her some time to observe them playing.

Its interesting that Haruka does have the attention span to stand still sometimes when I let her observe a music being played. At an age when she is adorable and cute, many musicians would find such a sight of an observant infant student to be most welcoming and delightful. They would smile at Haruka and this further creates a good feeling for Haruka to stay longer to observe. Haruka used to dance more when I ask her to in the presence of music, but not so much as she grows older and decides what she likes to do instead. Not sure how all these will take her on her path to music discovery. I reckon that any time spent observing and listening is a good skill to be acquired since most children these days prefer to be attracted to the different colourful toys, electronic gadgets, TV and computers. Some studies suggests that being exposed to music and later to give musical lessons to children may enhance intelligence and academic achievement, build self-esteem and improve discipline. It is certainly too far ahead to have academic goals for Haruka, but I am doing my small bit as a daddy to pause whenever possible to let Haruka observe the different beautiful things around her. Music is certainly one of them. Of course, mummy would wonder the rationale of standing in front of a street musician under a London bridge for 10 minutes. But, I am sure if Haruka is interested, there is more good than harm. Its certainly a more refreshing activity than just learning to press the CD player button to listen to music.

Do you think these days that music from the TV, CD player and computer seem to be heard more frequently than music played live by a musician? Do you think it matters at all to a baby?

(Photos show Haruka being entertained by a friendly group of violinist and flutist playing upbeat classical music at Covent Garden market, London; Haruka at the red carpet premier of the film Australia with a team of jazz musicians, singers and dancers; a smiling Korean harp player at the Rose lounge of Sofitel St James London hotel; Haruka and Tomomi posing beside an Oxford folk musician playing a horn fiddle accompanied by British folk dancers at a fair in Oxford city; and a video of Haruka jiggling to some good music amidst her tight winter clothes receiving the applause of many later).

Tip 133: Photos for the sake of blogging

I came across a blogpost with the title, "What do you do for the sake of blogging?" It is very amusing to read the many responses of bloggers from all walks of life, being gung-ho to snap photos for their blog. Nowadays, everyone have a digital camera by their side and whenever there is a good story idea, the camera is out. It can be a food review, a humorous signboard, an event or a beautiful scenery. Photos do make the blog more interesting. The urge to want to post photos on the blog also improves the photo taking experience to churn out more quality photos that can be reviewed by our children and loved ones. Ultimately, a good blog, full of photos of your family experiences with your children is a nice present to pass to your children. It can also be a treasured memory held by daddy as he looks back at his life as a daddy, the many places he has been with his family, the ups and downs, his thoughts and his efforts. I did not have many photos of my childhood, but I am now attempting to do more for my children. Glad that there are readers to my blog who are encouraging me along the way.

As you may notice, I have taken many photos of Haruka and us as a family during our weekend trips. I have videos too, but have not posted them. What you may not know is the time spent to call out to Haruka to get her attention. She is now a little more understanding as she have seen the photos on the camera and video and know the tiresome efforts of daddy to produce something good for her entertainment. So, after 1 minute calling her name, sometimes Haruka does entertain me by looking straight at the camera. Also, daddy is always eyeing for a good shot. I would place Haruka on different edges or corners to capture the best scenes knowing she is now sitting straight up and would hold still. Haruka is a very sensible girl who understands danger more than daddy. Of course, mummy would scream at such sights. Then, there is the longer time spent in a particular location for too many photo taking that mummy begins to get hungry and impatient. So, daddy will need to have the skill to quickly snap photos and still be able to complete as many trips to different locations, while ensuring mummy and baby has enough rest and food. But, the proof of the pudding is in a blog where one can review photos and understand the joys and efforts of daddy. Its hard to express these in words all in 1 day. Yet, you can possibly scroll down the whole blog of years of blogging in 1 day.

Do share with me what you have done for the sake of blogging. Oh yes, I did not mention the time when I snapped photos in a British museum in between guard patrols. Photos of that out soon.

(Photos show the Chi Lin Nunnery next to the Nan Lian Garden. The temples are constructed by binding wood frames together without nails based on Tang Dynasty design. Photo of food is from a Taiwanese restaurant along Jordan road showing an oyster noodle and dessert of ice with yam and sweet potato balls).

Tip 132: A gift ready always

An encounter today made me reflect on the usage of money as a form of exchange. We have been taught either in economics courses or even in basic school education that money is far more superior than barter trade. Modernity that we enjoy today can only be achieved with the convenience, efficiency and power of money creation. Yet, has money reduced human communication and devalued the personal touch and contributions of people?

I was heading to Chun Yeung street near to Java Street market (closest MTR station is North Point) to get a working trouser cuff sewed. This area has very traditional chinese vendors and stalls. I approached a lady who sits at a booth with a sewing machine to check if she could sew the ends of the pants since the thread came out. She said HKD$20. I said I was quoted by another stall the other day for HKD$10 for 1 cuff. She said alright, she would do it for HKD$10 if it is only 1 cuff. I actually bought too many apples earlier and had a bag of apples with me. So I thought of returning the gesture of giving her the bag of apples since its too many for me anyway. Plus, charging only HKD$10 means she is being kind to charge the local price to me. I said thanks so much, let me treat you to some apples. She said no need. After 5 minutes she completed sewing the cuff of my trousers so nicely. Then, she said in Cantonese, "wow, are you treating me?". I said, "Yes, but I am going to pay you HKD$10 as well and you can treat your friend". (A friend with a child was standing next to us chatting with her earlier). She suddenly felt so touched by my gesture and probably thought the gesture was timely to offer her friend a gift she did not had the time to buy. She refused my payment and said, "Please keep it for the order next time". I insisted and left half of the money and made a friend.

It does seem unnecessary to be getting into conversations when you are paying a paid transaction. At least, the Japanese would prefer to keep a distance as someone is expected to do a job and the price has been named. Its inappropriate to be giving a gift to someone else if you do not know that person, or have spent enough time with the person to understand what type of present is most suitable for the recipient of the present. But, its this distance that is making our society less personal than it should. These then have ill effects to accountability and making decisions to cater for the needs of the people around us. In other words, it renders members of the society to be more selfish and self-sufficient. By simply going an extra mile to get a gift handy always and strike a conversation out of the ordinary, we attempt to make this place a better place. And who knows what you could get in return.

Do you pack extra small gifts in your bag in case there is an occasion for giving? I know a pastor would have balloons ready to make balloon sculpture that could lighten up other peoples' lives. Come to think of it, these are almost cost-free ways to build bridges with others and connect with the society. I can't make a balloon sculpture, but that did not stop me from my nice encounter.

(Photos show Nan Lian Garden next to the Diamond Hill station, is one of the best Chinese gardens in Hong Kong built in the classical style of the Tang Dynasty. A gold pagoda is featured almost like the gold pavilion temple of Kyoto, Japan together with many bonsai plants and age old rocks.