Ka Bel

He made me laugh. He made me think. He humbled me.

Like my friend Ina, it may take a while to refer to him in the past tense.

I will surely miss Ka Bel.

Happy Hong Kong People

Last Friday was different.

The sky was a bit dark. It was damp. Scattered drizzles and rains here and there.

And I had to rush to the bank to withdraw and pay a hefty amount of bills.

The line was loooong. And to top it, HSBC just had to separate Personal Accounts from Business Accounts and PowerVantage. Lucky for me, I was in the Business Accounts line and it was shorter and a bit faster (if a slug were to outrace a sloth.)

But while I was about to complain (even if I didn't have to), I was stopped by the unusual atmosphere in the area.

People were glued to the two huge screens situated in the middle of the bank. They were watching it intently. And they WERE smiling. During and even AFTER they have seen the news on TV.

The strongest JIF or Clorox would fail wretchedly in wiping that smile off their faces.

And I remember it was the Olympic Torch Relay in Hong Kong that day.

And I smiled amidst the whole whatever of Darfur, the Olympic-related slavery and Tibet.

It is not an everyday sight - Hong Kong people smiling.

172nd Post

I am so happy I can't post.