Finally, the Stress-Free Part of Vacation

Wow.  Can’t believe it’s been more than two weeks since I last blogged.  Sorry for leaving you all hanging after the family feud in India.  Compared to the craziness with Bob’s family in India, Hong Kong was totally stress free.  

I loved spending time with my dad, who is no doubt the coolest guy in the world.  He is almost 70 years old and is still full of energy.  He loves hiking and biking.  When we had other plans, he went ahead and hung out with his friends on the road biking or on the mountain hiking.  There was no pressure whatsoever in how we spent our time.  We were free to do whatever we wanted to.  We went hiking with him one day and we all had a great time.

Another highlight is a trip to Macau on April 30th for our third wedding anniversary, which was a gift from my father to us.  He booked the ferry tickets and one night of hotel for us to celebrate our marriage.  It was Bob’s first time being in Macau.  We walked around town, visited touristy sites, stayed at a very nice hotel, and had a wonderful Portuguese dinner to celebrate.  

 

We had pork, mussels, and sangria.

 

See how crowded the street was on May 1st, which was a holiday in China.  The streets were flooded with tourists.  

 

We went to the famous place for Portuguese egg tart but it was closed both on April 30th for their regular day off and May 1st for the holiday.  We had to have the second or even third best which was to just buy one from a random place on the street.

 

Macau definitely was a very memorable trip.

We also traveled to China this time.  This would also be the first time Bob had ever been to China.  My dad partnered with others to open a restaurant in Guangzhou China so this was our first time going there trying the food.  I was also looking forward to getting a massage there in Shenzhen as massages are very cheap.  We had one hour of foot massage and two hours of body massage.

We had very good Hunan food with a dish of stone pot fish:

We took the metro to my dad’s restaurant:

I gotta say the food was very good.  This is the shrimp toast that we had:

On the way back from China, we waited in line for customs.  I overheard an officer ask a woman from Mainland China a question, “Are you pregnant?”  To give you some background, Hong Kong has been inundated with pregnant women from China who come to give birth as Hong Kong provides a better condition for labor and delivery.  Hong Kong has been trying to prevent this situation by limiting the number of pregnant women from entering the city.  When I heard that question, all I could think of was that I could punch the officer if I were asked that question.  Plus, who in the world would answer “yes” if they really want to just come in and stay there to give birth?

Since we only had ten days in Hong Kong and were traveling to Macau and China, we barely had enough time to go shopping, visit with friends, or see relatives.  We did do all of those, but not nearly enough.  Before I met Bob, I would spend three weeks in Hong Kong and felt that I had a lot of time to just chill, play, and rest.  After we got married, we feel obligated to go to both places and my visit home has significantly cut short.  I am not complaining.  It’s our new way of life… But I would really love to be able to spend more time with my loved ones.  Fortunately, I saw my two grandmothers several times and got to visit with my 106-year-old great aunt.  Last time we visited Hong Kong, it was ten months after we got married.  My great aunt and my grandma at the time were asking why we still hadn’t had babies.  My grandma even joked that Bob shouldn’t go back to Hong Kong without a baby to show her.  This time, nobody asked any questions because they learned not to ask.  And my great aunt is no longer lucid enough to even keep track of who is who.  It just makes me sad that we have nothing to show for… I desperately want my beloved grandmother to hold my child… Although she’s still in great health, she is 95 years old after all.  I don’t really know if she’ll ever be able to meet my future children.  

We also spent quality time with my childhood best friend.  She has two daughters, one six years old and the other one three years old.  She and I hadn’t really talked on the phone in the past year as I was in my daze of fertility treatment and she was busy making money to support her family including her mother with dementia.  So this time we had a chance to sit down and talk a bit about what Bob and I have experienced in the past year.  One very interesting phenomenon is, none of my friends in Hong Kong with whom I have shared about the possibility of using donor eggs and donor embryos were fazed by these alternative ways of having a baby.  They discussed with me about their thoughts and all of them have the same thoughts as I do, that we would go the donor egg route before we would try donor embryos or adoption.  I am just surprised at how educated and how open my friends have become.  

Another highlight is my snake soup.  I know you may stop reading this blog after you read this, but I love my snake soup.  I grew up eating snake soup and I have to have my snake soup every time I go.  Unfortunately, Bob is very scared of snakes.  Poor guy.  He was traumatized sitting in the snake shop watching me eat my snake soup.  It’s a step forward from last time when he just stood outside of the shop refusing to go in.  Kudos to him. 😀

We were determined to catch the egg this time.  We are proud to say that we tried to do that once in India, once in Macau, and once in Hong Kong.  Imagine DTD with my dad next door.  EEEWWWW.  Too bad we didn’t get to do so in China.  Sad to say that we lost that egg since my period came a few days ago after a disappointing 20-day cycle.

On our final day, we went to the cemetery where both of my grandfathers rested.  It was good to introduce Bob to them.  This is the view looking out from grandpa’s place:

We also had a very nice dinner at grandma’s house:

On the way to the airport, it was raining cats and dogs.  In fact, the rain was so heavy that we experienced what they called amber rainstorm, red rainstorm, and black rainstorm.  You can read up about them here.  The two car accidents that I had in my life were both in the rain.  So needless to say I was extremely nervous.  At one point, we couldn’t see out of the windshield because of the rain water that was kicked up by these huge trucks that passed by our car.  I. Was. So. Scared.  My dad was brave and just maintained his composure to send us safely to the airport.  Also very grateful that he drove home safely.  Our flight was an hour delayed.  My lovely brother came to pick us up at 11:30pm.  My lovely mother welcomed us home with a very clean house with clean floor and clean bathrooms.  My family is just lovely.  

It hasn’t been too hard to get over our jet lag.  We slept through the night every single night and I went back to work okay.  However, every single evening I couldn’t keep my eyes open… I would doze off at 7:30pm every night.  Hence the reason you haven’t seen an update from me.  Finally I got some energy to write today.

I know the following is about India and not Hong Kong.  But I have got to share this.  We wanted to buy our future child something last time we were in India, but never actually did it.  So this time we were determined to find something and here is a shirt for our future child:

 

It is my hope that I can put this on our baby in the very near future.  

Oh, and I think Bob and his parents are still on speaking terms, so that’s a good sign that they will eventually totally reconcile.  

 

 

 

Leaving

In a few hours.

I don’t look forward to the long flight to Hong Kong, but I am thrilled to be able to meet my dad at the airport for about an hour before we board another plane to India.  Our layover is about two hours twenty minutes.  I have been praying for the plane to arrive early so that we can have more time with my dad.  I haven’t seen him in 18 months so every single minute counts.

We’ll be arriving in India after midnight.  The hotel is about 15 minutes away from the airport.  We stayed there last time so nothing should be too surprising.  I get asked this question a lot, “Are you not staying with your in-laws?”  Nope.  Still not there yet.  My in-laws have a really nice flat, spacious with nice furniture.  They even have two bathrooms.  However, their bathrooms are still those that don’t have a shower stall.  So after you shower, you have to wipe down everything, which defeats the purpose of a shower as you’ll start sweating like crazy.  I lived like that when I was a little kid.  No thank you.  Plus I am not ready to see my in-laws 24×7.  So hotel it is.  I am willing to spend that money for some peace and quiet.

I look forward to that all-you-can-eat breakfast at the hotel.  It was delicious last time. I am surprised I did not become a big fat lady after 9 days of that at the last trip.

In about 30 minutes, we’re going to head out to the safe deposit box at the bank to store my engagement ring and my diamond pendant there.  Bob is totally against the idea of me wearing my engagement ring in India.  He said it’s not a good idea unless I want to get my fingers chopped off.  Last time we had a long layover in Hong Kong so I handed my mom my jewelry so I didn’t bring it to India.  This time, I can also hand it over to my dad at the airport but there is a possibility of a flight delay.  In that case, I would definitely have to bring the jewelry to India, risking losing my fingers.  Plus… Bob doesn’t want his mom to see the diamond that he bought for me.  So I’ll part ways with my precious engagement ring for three weeks.

Bob has been looking for a job.  He has had many phone interviews and some onsite interviews.  No offer yet.  But I am so happy for him that he gets to practice his interview skills so that when THE job rolls around, he will be very skillful in his interview skills that he can shine through during these meetings.  He also has an onsite interview with a big company scheduled when we come back.  

On the TTC front, today is 11 days past ovulation?  My chart is still a little wacky as the temperature spike was a little weak.  Cervical fluid was not very obvious and my cervix’s height was very difficult to tell if ovulation took place.  I guess two months after a chemical I shouldn’t expect everything to be back to normal.  I get asked a lot what I will do and when I’ll proceed to the next step.  I thought about writing Dr. E an email asking her what she’ll do differently next time if we cycle with her again.  I just thought about it.  I haven’t written her yet.  Mentally and emotionally, I am still not ready yet.  I continue to do well though.  One of my friends is going to transfer her frozen embryo in a couple of hours for a second child.  I want nothing but the best for her.  I want this embryo to stick and I want her to be successful.  I don’t think I’d think or feel the same a couple of months ago.  The Lord is good.

One last thought from last week.  There was an insurance agent who came by and explained all these insurance policies for things like cancer care, accident indemnity, and short-term disability.  I was particularly interested in the short-term disability one since the plan pays you cash up to a certain amount during an event such as maternity leave.  After discussing it with Bob, we decided against it.  One reason is that we’re still out of one job so money is tight.  Another reason is we don’t know when we’ll get pregnant.  So paying into a plan not knowing if we’ll benefit from it is a bit much.  If I were fertile and could plan like those people who get pregnant the second they lay eyes on their husband, this would be a great plan.  Oh well….  We just have to save up money again for when I get pregnant and give birth.

Okay I’ll write an update when I have a moment in India.  See you all soon!