Elaine pre birthday luncheon

Birthday gal!! The trademark pose : Guan Yin niang niang

Elaine with her new Fendi bag.



Elaine looking cool


Elaine in a 200 over BEBE dress, with Boon.

Today, Ah boon, M1 add is in the ST times.

I went shopping.......

...during lunch break. I went to another market called Metro. It is situated 5 minutes away by walking from our apartment (10minutes for you, because your leg "spoilt" already :p).

Wonderland! To my surprise, the Metro is much more "posh" than Ragab and Sons that I used to frequent.

Ragab and Sons supermarket = Small size Sheng Shiong Supermarket in Singapore. Cheaper, more crowded, less organised.

Metro = NTUC Fareprice. More organised, cleaner, has more recognised brand but generally more expensive.

As you can see from the receipt, the things here are not really cheap. The American apple cost me 11.91LE for 3 apples nia. Almost every fruits here in sold in kg....this apple is at 18.90LE/kg.

Mamee instant noodle is 2.45LE/pack (not 5 packs like in Singapore), damn expensive lor.

Chicken luncheon meat (sorry, still can't find pork one) 2 different brand at 10.95LE and 11.75LE.

The air freshener I bought is for your wardrob..(spelling problem lah, but I don't care)

On my waty to Metro, I saw this...accident!!!!!??? No lah, this is a normay way for Egyptian to park their car: They like to kiss the backside of the car infront of them....actually reminds me of what Rocky do sometime.

Egyptians are one of the worst (if not the worst) driver here. My Egyptian friend told me: "If you see no accident anyday, something is wrong!"

-VINcE

You are looking at a dark color photo I took with my handphone. I want a black colour background for my handphone but it doens't come with it. So I off all the lights inside our room at night and snap a photo. Weeee! Now I have a black color wallpaper liao! Clever right? :p

Not so clever actually lah....can just cover the lense lor....but still creative hor. :p

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Our Spanish neighbour Rosey knocked on our door yesterday. She wants help to fix her TV.

(Wow, how she know I expert fixing the TV ah?)

I think her apartment is looking better than ours but a bit gloomy.

After half an hour of checking, I finally got it fixed. The satelite cable was pulled out from the receiver when she was rearranging the TV set and she also messed up the channel trying to fix it by herself.

She complaint to me the way Egyptian built their house....hahah, I know I will have to hear a repeat when you are here.

She invited you to join her for salsa lesson when you are here. She's a sweet lady and I think both of you can be good friends.

-VINcE

Sony Ericsson K850i Cyber-shot

My next target: K850i .

Go for its good photo quality and nowadays photo organising is made so easy with bluetooth and memory expansion slot. It should be a good partner for my HP laptop.

I owned 2 pioneer model of Sony Ericsson phone before. Love the developement and they are the first to put "joystick" control pad on mobile phone. Generally good battery life and excellence user interface.

Starhub sell it for S$288 for normal 2 years mobile plan after S$100 discount. I will get it in September instead. Price drop drop drop!

I am going to ditch away my slim and nice looking but lousy performance Samsung D900H.

-VINcE

Banking Madness

I just returned from HSBC. Failed to open a savings account again.

As I have predicted, I need to make more than 2 trips to get it done.

I guess insanity is a required skill to blend into the system here, if you are too sane and wish everything will be as smooth as in Singapore, you will go crazy.

I use the HSBC Egypt online form to send them a request to open a savings account, I got a automatic reply saying that the staff will contact me in few days.

2 weeks later....I got a call from them...in my dream.

So I decided to visit the branch this morning and brave myself through the jungle of uncertainty and time wasting.

First, the security give me the wrong queue number to the wrong counter even I told him short and clear " I want to open savings account".

Then, my first application was rejected because I don't have company letter to verify my residential address. The staff told me "Get a letter from your HR"

I went back to office and drafted my own letter and let the HR staff to verify and sign, because I asked for the letter and they give me the leasing contract instead. :(

Then I went back to HSBC "happily", and returned "more happily".

The staff this time checked everything, and tell me "Signature not the same". They want the bank record signature from the authorised person in the company. Why they didn't tell me the first time?

One thing good about the bank, the staff provide a friendly service and was apologetic.

If this is for credit account or checking account I can understand. I just want a bloody personal savings account and I can't and wouldn't run away with 10LE bank money.

This is the guideline to those lucky foreign souls who bump into my blog and decided to open an savings account in Egypt.
- Get a proper company letter: Exact company name and address as in the bank record
- Specify your rented apartment address in the letter.
- Get an authorised signature as keep in the bank record. So, in another words, I don't think you able to open an account if your company do not have a corporate account in the bank.
- Go there early, usual banking hours is 8:30am until 5pm
- Ask the security when he give you a queue number : " I don't want to rob the bank, I only want to open a savings account. You sure you give me the right counter queue?" Anyway, I realised that for HSBC, you will go to "Customer Service" section to open your account. Don't ask me why.
- Be very alert, watch out for your queue number on the display board. It will only display once in like 2 seconds and the next number will be called. I missed my queue...I was sleepy :p The display board is poorly located. Some are behind pillar.

Well, wish me luck, tomorrow I will go to the bank again. They told me the account can be reay in 5minutes.

Ya right, my whiteboard still haven't fixed yet since last week when my office assistance told me....ok 5 MINUTES!

Si Beh Sian lor.....

-VINcE

Braving myself to move on

I went to the bank today to open a savings account. As I have expected, I need to make another trip and probably more to get it done. Too many nuisance process and requirement and too un-effective here in Egypt.

I also went to the mobile service company to check out the process of getting a local mobile line for you.

I will get the contractor to do some final touch up on our apartment before you arrive.

Last night I dragged myself out to do some grocery shopping to fill up the fridge. Water supply is not stable these 2 days....I left the tap water open and when I return the whole kitchen was flooded. I was hungry, tired and devastated. I regroup myself and patiently clean up the mess and cook myself some fried rice. I know I need positive vibe to carry on, I need to fill my stomach and get enough sleep. Because I'm the only hope when you collapsed. I shoudn't request you to be stronger, I am the one who need to be stronger, because I am a man. I need to be stronger to keep things going and to take care of you.

I didn't sleep well for the night. My body is aching. But I will be fine, you know I am tough enough.

Love you, -VINcE

My new House Design - By My daddy

5 Star Porto Marina!

From 1st to 3rd April, I stayed at the beautiful Porto Marina. A 3 day 2 nights stay is only 700LE. The room rates can go up to 7 times the normal rate during the summer. Anyway, I stay for free because it was a business trip. :p

The room. Very clean and cosy.

Huge flat screen TV. The room also come with wireless internet. Full day access is 22USD.

My sea view room. This photo is taken outside the balcony.

Another view. Far left is the beach area

Venice style canal! Gondola ride is available but too bad I do not have much free time.

-VINcE

Sand storm hit Egypt last night.
Around 2 am, I was awaken by howling winds that smash against the wall and windows.

The time now is 1:10pm, the sky is yellowish...everything is yellowish.

The visibility on desert road is very low, all business travels are halted. I was there last week, luckily the sandstorm did not hit us earlier, or else I will be stranded at Alamein.

Now I know why my boss is MIA today....

Email alert is sent out today, large scale demonstration will be held today, in protest of deterioration living conditions and inflations. All the employee shall stay away from the hot spot.

I shall leave early today.

-VINcE

Rocky Finally Eat Doggie food!!!