Since it was confirmed that my older son would start his first job in HK earlier last year, we decided to plan a year-end overseas trip to see him since he might not be able to take long leave.
The dates were from 22 Dec to 01 Jan so that he could join us for both long weekends as he had limited days of leave. We decided to bring my in-laws along and break up the trip to spend the Christmas period in Macau for 4 nights and the remaining 6 nights in HK from 26 Dec.
The trip went well and I am glad to report that we had a lot of quality family time together over many sumptuous meals, activities or just hanging out together in the room discussing the latest season 3 of Single’s Inferno K-Drama. We cherish the moments of laughter and bonding over special events like the escape room, the 4 hours three Michelin stars Robuchon lunch and walking the streets of HK.
Exactly a year ago between Christmas and New Year, we were also together in France travelling to Paris, Marseille and Lyon and cooking our meals while overwatching the great harbour view from our apartment balcony. That was just before my son graduated from Oxford a few months later.
It was our boys’ first time in Macau to discover the casino city. We rented an MPV car transport from the HK airport to the Sheraton Grand Macau hotel. There was only a limited number of sights to see as Covid had hit them hard and some attractions had closed permanently. Other than gambling, there is not too much to do. The Christmas Day 40-minute night lights bus ride around Cotai was a highlight for the final night we were there. The following morning, we took the direct HK ferry from the Cotai ferry terminal on 26 Dec.
There is so much great food to enjoy in HK too. A simple meal could be had as I experienced during my daily morning walks around the hotel in nice chilling temperatures. We went to the Peak in the tram car and even did some trekking at Aberdeen. My wife introduced us to some hip bars around town as we went for drinks after dinner. These will be useful for my older son as he just completed his 6th week of working in HK.
Very soon, it was time to say goodbye to my son as we returned home on the morning of New Year’s Day. We will see him again in about a month as he heads home for the Lunar Chinese New Year holiday for a short break.
I went back to work on 02 Jan energized as we moved into the next phase of our business planning. 2 new colleagues joined our small team and we had our first 2024 team meeting. We will be preparing for a social media viral marketing campaign next week as most people will be back in the office by then. We plan to use the professional LinkedIn platform to introduce our company to the world to tell them what we will be doing, purposeful sustainable investing. We will also spread the word via our social networks and Whatsapp chat groups.
It will be an exciting week ahead as we discover the possibility of viral marketing to help us get new Accredited Investor leads. We can then selectively sieve out the higher probability names to make introductory calls to an expanded network of interested Accredited Investors. This will help us build up a list of potential investors when we launch our funds in Q2 as well as gather market intel on funds pricing and gauge funding demand.
The sky is the limit and we will all give it our best shot to make it a success. This will be my final career push as I reach my work-life finishing line. Wish me luck!
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