ASIANish

Wow, the first blog post in a month! The large part of why I haven't blogged is because I've been preparing for my own engagement! (although, one week out of that month was because I had acute tonsillitis *cough, cough*)

The hardest part about planning the engagement was trying to do it, right under the nose of Eleanor. The only times when Eleanor wasn't around was when she went to work. Although that theoretically provided me with 8-9 hours, 5 days out of the week, I still didn't feel like I had a whole lot of time.

The Plan

Ahh, the many ideas that I came up with (e.g. the Napa plan, the Thailand plan, the Malaysia plan). All of which seemed beautiful in my head, but almost all ended up with major kinks that foiled each of the plans. After a month of brainstorming and research, I finally had it figured out.

We love to eat, and sometimes we love to splurge when we eat. So the ruse was to go to a swank restaurant, just because we hadn't been to one since I've been back to Hong Kong. Afterwards I would suggest a nice romantic stroll at the Peak, to see the beautiful Hong Kong night sky from one of the highest points on the island. Then we would head back home, where the apartment would be decked out with decorations, and I would play a specially prepared video of our story. Finally, the moment of truth.

Plus, I needed it to be a weekday because obviously it would be a bit more surprising, and more importantly I needed Eleanor to be at work so I had enough time to run all over town and get all the decorations, etc. (it's difficult to hide things in a 550 sq. ft. box of an apartment).

The Day of the Engagement

Friday, August 29, 2008 - 8:00 AM. I wake up just in time to see Eleanor off to work. The moment she leaves, I begin cleaning the apt. I started early because I had to make sure I had enough time to get everything done.

10:00 AM - I head out of the apartment to buy the decorations for the apartment: candles, rose petals, and lucky paper stars. Surprisingly, Hong Kong doesn't have many candle stores or sell candles at all for that matter. So I had to travel 5 stops north (13 km) on the train to Sha Tin (沙田) just so I could buy candles from Ikea.

10:30 AM - I arrive in Sha Tin, but it's not clear where Ikea is. I get lost for 30 minutes until I finally make my way to Ikea.

12:30 PM - I finally get back to the apartment with a backpack filled with candles, rose petals, and other miscellaneous decorations. Time to decorate!

2:30 PM - I leave the apartment and head to the florist. Once I arrive, the large red rose bouquet is waiting, along with 3 full vases of mixed flowers and an extra dozen long stem roses. The hardest part about ordering flowers in Hung Hom, is that most vendors don't speak much english. So I ended up having to use a lot of hand gestures (pointing, counting, indicating directions, etc.) Luckily I pre-ordered these, so I just had to walk the florist back to the apartment.

3:30 PM - After wolfing down a small lunch, I head back out to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), to pick up a cake from Eleanor's favorite bakery Panach and a nice champagne, Moët & Chandon.

5:30 PM - I'm all done decorating, I've showered, and I've changed into some nice slacks and shirt. I've also hooked up my MacBook to the TV, and "The Video" is all queued up.

The Jelly Bean Tree: Video

The Jelly Bean Tree is a story of all the things Eleanor and I enjoy. There is some truth in the story and some parts are wildly made up. If you watch it, you'll notice that Eleanor and I love hippos, jelly beans, dark chocolate, eating, sleeping, and playing.

The 10 min. video took 3 months to develop, so it was not an easy undertaking. I wrote the story, did the illustrations, and selected all the music. The hardest part was finding the time to work on the video. I could only work when Eleanor was at work, or late at night when Eleanor went to bed; and although typhoons were cool to experience, it meant I had one less day to work because Eleanor didn't have to go to work. Thankfully, I found some kick ass software, PulpMotion Advanced, that helped make the process easier and made the story look super special.

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Awry

7:00 PM - Of course nothing ever goes to plan... Eleanor wanted to come home after work before going to dinner (8:15 PM reservation); so she could freshen up and change into some nicer clothes. Since it was outside of my original plan, I was even more stressed and nervous than I had been earlier.

The Moment of Truth

7:36 PM - I waited for her by the door, and when she walked threw she found the entire apartment decked out with roses, tulips and lilies, 20 lit candles and colored lucky stars mixed with rose pedals laid across the tables, counters, and floor.

I think she was surprised because the first thing she said was, "What day is today?"

Then, I walked her through the candle lit path covered in roses and seated her down on the couch in front of the television. I handed her a large bouquet of flowers and asked her to watch the video I made her. As she watched the Jelly Bean Tree video, she laughed and giggled, and near the end, she was so touched she began to tear up. At that point, I knew I did a good job. As the video was ending, I reached over to grab the ring in the box, got on one knee, said a few words, and asked her to marry me. Without hesitation she joyfully said "Yes!"

Felix Restaurant @ The Peninsula Hotel

After Eleanor changed, we quickly hurried out to the restaurant. Luckily we made it to the Peninsula Hotel just before 8:15 PM. The Peninsula Hotel is a landmark in Hong Kong and is internationally recognized.

As we were walking through the Peninsula Hotel lobby, a string quartet was playing. We then proceeded toward the Felix restaurant entrance on the ground floor, and were shown to an elevator. The elevator was very nicely decorated, and as we approached the 28th floor, the lights on the ground illuminating the elevator rotated and changed colors, and slowly dimmed changing the mood from bright and modern to soothing and romantic.

The restaurant occupied the entire floor. The interior was contemporary, and it was very spacious (which is unusual for Hong Kong). The entire south wall was made of glass, showing off the spectacular view of the Hong Kong harbor. We were seated by the window off to a quiet corner. Immediately after we were seated, to our surprise the waiter brought us a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne, courtesy of Roger and Ange! (Roger always says that champagne makes an occasion more festive; he was right!)

Although the menu had many different items on it, we decided to have the six-course tasting menu with wine parings.

• Sea Conc, Avacado, Tobikko
  Shaw & Smith Souvignon Blan 2007: Adelaide Hills - Australia
• Butter Lettuce, Ginger, Kumquat, Radish
  Gini Soave Classico 2006: Veneto - Italy
• Golden Snapper, Garlic, Lemon Thyme
  Isabel Estate Vineyard Pinot Gris 2006: Marlborough - New Zealand
• Lamb Done 2 ways with New Potato
  Qupe Syrah 2005: Santa Maria Valley - USA
• Fresh Squeezed Lemonade on Ice
• Hazelnut, Honeycomb, Dark Chocolate
  Mas Amiel Muscat 2006: Rivesaltes - Languedoc-Roussillon - France
• Coffee, Peninsula English Tea, & Petit Fours

Needless to say, we were quite toasted by the end of the night. In the end we didn't make it up to the Peak, but all in all, I'd say we had a blast.

Who said Hong Kong isn't romantic?

Celebrating with CLo in Stanley (赤柱)

The next day, we headed out to Stanley (赤柱) which is Hong Kong's famous beach town. We met up with our long time college friend CLo who surprised us with a nice post-engagement celebration. Stanley is a very nice town, and I'd highly recommend visiting it, if you're ever out in Hong Kong.

Video: Tour of the Apartment

Video: Felix Restaurant @ the Peninsula Hotel