So half of the year has gone by. Lots have happened I guess, including the usual suspects - CNY, travels, work, birthday. A couple of maybe unusual suspects which sort of included travels too? But all in all nothing too exhausting. Doing this in point form this time round. 

1. Unlocked a new traveling group (of sorts - basically the usual 3 plus Stel’s sister), and off to HK we go. Covered the details separately but was a good trip. 
2. CNY at home and Bangkok as usual. Pace is getting slower and slower by the year and I think there is just one day each year that we covered a new place (which is usually another shopping mall or night market which Bangkok is no short of). But hopes of maybe another family trip is hanging in balance, more on this later.
3. Promotion came. I ranted quite a bit on this last year so I won’t say much about this because I was adamant that this is late (so my thoughts on this had been posted next year). In fact I told everyone that life goes on because frankly I have been doing this for a while, and I even added a third team under my care since the beginning of the year, so there was literally none of those added workload thrill/panic. Other than the fact that I am now looped into more emails that I previously have no sight of. And also forking out a rather significant part of the eventual division promotees lunch being the highest ranked promotee of the year. 
4. Taipei was a surprise. In fact it got me thinking that such short weekend trips are very feasible (even if they are a tad tiring because I usually go for early flights to the destination and late flights back, and the next morning I’m back in office or something), I’m also at a point in life where such spendings are comfortable, and I don’t mind returning to these North Asian cities often because I genuinely liked each of them for different reasons. 
5. Korea was the first designated long trip of the year (even then it was just 5days leave) and it was actually my first solo trip in a while (not counting KL), which was a bit surprising. Pair it with two excellent flights which is now part of the fun for me and you have a very enjoyable trip. Still much left to do (and eat) there and I am hoping to return not as a solo trip the next round. 
6. Meanwhile back home the family were forced to make changes, coz landlord is taking back the house and much like what I did a few years back, finally the sister bought her first property. Honestly don’t know why it took that long (haha actually I guess I do, guess who I took after). But they were in a rush to get it ready, would have gone back to help but I had Taipei and Seoul lined up so I ended up redeeming two economy tickets (with the help of Spontaneous Escapes) to make a surprise trip home over Good Friday weekend, by then they had completed the move so the idea was just to break in my new bed and room. It ended up more than that because one fine day the madam missed the last step while coming down from upstairs and ended with an injured hip which eventually required a hip replacement surgery. And I happened to be back during the first week after her fall and she hadn’t registered the seriousness yet, but at least I get to see her for a bit and helped out a bit. She’s better now but with old folks sometimes it just take a bit of injury for them to transform into a frail state and you can see the wind go out of her, which I was quite sad about knowing there’s nothing much I can do about life. Maybe it will finally force us to confront the fact that these two are really getting on the years and we need to think of long term caregiving strategies. 
7. KL solo trip in May. KL is now my 后花园 too and I make it a point to go at least twice a year, mainly because I wanted to check in and make sure a friend doing okay. Otherwise the food, the prices, what’s there to not like about it? 
8. Shanghai trip represented my first foray into mainland China. Will cover this and the motivation for the trip in a post trip reflection post (which will be backdated, hahaha) but very thankful for the last minute travel partner and while his antics are annoying sometimes lol no love lost and my attention is shifted to other Chinese cities now. 
9. 6x6=36 and into the second half of the thirties I go. Closer to the big 40 as compared to 30 which sparked a whole lot of changes for me at that time. Nothing dramatic this time round though still no idea how life will turned out, nor do I have it all planned out so we will just have to wing it. 

Second half of the year will still be filled with travels, and I also wonder if work will be slightly different. Because I have been getting hints that it may. And maybe making a move.