I can never say no to sambal kacang and ikan bilis. It goes with everything. It isn't the healthiest, but it makes everything so tasty. E's helper remembered that I love it. When she fried up a batch for the family, E packed a bottle for me. Yayyyy! Hehehehe.
Hoarded the bottle in the fridge. It's precious, these homecooked things. There was a day that began at 5am and ended at 8pm. All I wanted to do was to get home and have a hot shower. There wasn't any plan for dinner. I didn't even want to stop by anywhere to get a take-out. I figured I'd just boil up eggs or something.
When I felt more human and took a look at the fridge, I grinned. There were leftovers. Yay! I never mind leftovers as long as they have been properly kept. There was a small minced pork patty and 80g of white rice. That would do nicely. I didn't feel like boiled eggs, so I seared a sunny-side up. I was hungry, but not that much till I needed a full portion of food or wanted to boil up a bak zhang.
Took out the sambal kacang and ikan bilis, added a dash of sambal belachan too. LOVE. There, that was dinner done at 9.30pm. The small portions wouldn't cost indigestion or affect my sleep. It really wasn't too shabby, and absolutely delicious. I was very pleased with it.
This year is the 25th anniversary of Baybeats. Gawwwd I feel old. I've been catching Baybeats since 2003! The programming team went all out this year, and we see it in the awesome line-up. Four days of great music! I'm still reeling from the sheer gloriousness of it all.
All the shows are free, courtesy of the Esplanade. I love this music festival and its ethos. However, we would need to register for many of these shows, by way of crowd control since the indoor venues have a capacity to adhere to. Getting those tickets was such a pain. The backend was so laggy, full of glitches and problematic. Anyway.
I didn't think I would catch that many shows. But I watched more than I thought I would. I didn't stay for the whole set, and ran between stages. What fun! I began the festival quietly and softly with Soft Pine (Thailand) and Kin Leonn (SG). The haze was manageable, and there was a gorgeous sea breeze wafting in at the Arena (Outdoor Theatre) for all the nights.
Then it was Typecast (Philippines). I haven't heard them for eons. It was a really fun set. Even I knew the closing song of the set — 'Will You Ever Learn' (from 'Every Cloud and Moss', 2007). I really wanted to like Bugs of Phonon / 聲子蟲 (Taiwan); I appreciate the layering, but they were a bit mehhh and very low energy. Then their drummer kept missing the beat, in all the songs. Walao. How could a drummer not catch it in a band like this? Tsk. I managed to catch the start of Solitude in Bliss (Thailand) before zipping into another show.
I caught a bit of David Boring. The band has been around since 2013, but they haven't been too active since their first album 'Unnatural Objects and Their Humans' in 2017. The post-punk, art-rock and no-wave band released a new album 'Liminal Beings and Their Echoes' in mid January this year. I dunno how indie bands can make music in Hong Kong now. Look at what is happening to the city's booksellers and bookshops every now and then. I suppose if they veer away from politics, they can. But who knows what would run afoul the National Security Law? Anyway. I didn't stay for too long, because their music gets repetitive, and I can't deal with vocals like this. . And tonight, the drummer is behind the synths; he couldn't catch up and that made for a bad anchor.
It was very nice seeing friends and old acquaintances. There was plenty of young bands, experienced acts and loads of fabulous music for this four-day festival. Here are my two favorite bands of the festival... ... ...
Dabda (South Korea)
It was by pure chance that I heard the band two years ago. Their genre isn't my usual. But I was looking for music to put into Choya's playlist. She likes this sort of sound. Dabda's first album 'But, All The Shining Things Are' was released in 2020.
The math rock / dream pop band describes their music as 'pastel psychedelic'. Yes, Choya likes them. I obviously didn't get the lyrics since I understand no Korean. But I get the music. Dabda was really good. Great energy and showmanship on stage. It was really enjoyable. The drummer was awesome live.
Boris (Japan)
OMG OMG. WHAT A SHOW. I can't believe this band has been around for 20 years! It's their 20th anniversary, and they have a mad tour schedule. They named this the '20th Anniversary Tour: 'Pink' (2005), "Do You Remember Pink Days?" '. Hell yeah.
There's much to be said about their work ethics and how good they are. Formed in 1992, this experimental rock band plays music in a genre that I love. This is the very first time I saw them live. What a treat! I knew the band when they were three members. I didn't know Nagata, the previous drummer who left in 1996. Since then, it has been just three musicians — drummer Atsuo Mizuno, bassist Takeshi Ohtani, and guitarist/keyboardist Wata (Yoko Mizuno). I only just learnt that Wata and Atsuo are married with a daughter! But they're so private about it.
And the sound is HUGE. I saw all the amps and grinned. They blew our faces away. Loud, atmospheric and soul-reaching, prog rock is something elAse. They're also doom metal and experimental rock.
There was an encore — I was hoping they would play it, and they did —'Korusu 殺す'(from 'Volume 4: Evil Stack Live', 2020).Boris closed the festival at the Powerhouse. They played for 1.5 hours. WOAH. It's unprecedented for a Baybeats show to last this long! (Most bands play 45 minutes, max. I only recall Amberlin to play an hour in 2009.) This was a full-on show. I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I am so pleased to close out my Baybeats2026 with Boris. 🖤
My godson #2 turned ONE. The parents threw a party for him. They put in so much effort into it. Bouncy castle for the kiddos, and loads of food and drinks for the adults. There was a grill station that churned out loads of meats (chicken, pork, beef of a rib-eye and a tomahawk), veggies and lobsters. They also had to consider food to feed the kids with as well. L was pleased that her back-up plan of McNuggets didn't have to be used.
A prata station fed many adults and the kids! Springleaf Prata does this mobile tawa station really well. Freshly made and piping hot prata is such a treat! It was absolutely divine. I had an onion prata and it was soooo good. Apparently chocolate prata was a hit today. The station ran out of dough within two hours, and had to officially close. LOLOLOL
Godson #2 was in a rather swell mood. He was happy to simply hang out, and have his dinner among the festivities and chatter. Godson #1 was spotted but plastered himself in the bouncy castle and didn't really want to come out. Ahahahah. He only came out to get hydrated, have a tiny bite of prata, and to give Choya head rubs. The other humans didn't matter, except for his playmates. Okaaaaay, at least he would be knocked out in the evening and bedtime wouldn't be a fight.
Choya was just pleased to be lounging around. She walked around for a bit, checking out the scene and sniffing at things. She found spots to chill out at. She liked being included. I do like having this Smol Girl come along, especially when her temperament is this chill at parties.
