Hungry Ghost Festival (August/September) It is time when gate of Hell opens and all ghosts will come to earth. People would offer roasted pork, steamed chicken, and fruits to ghosts. They would also burn paper offerings to dead in streets. It is also said that people should not walk or respond to anybody calling them when walking in street at night.

Mid-autumn Festival (September/October) Mooncake is gift you give to your friends and relatives at festival. Apart from that, salted sausages and star fruit are other popular gifts. It is happiest for children because they would enjoy walking in streets with their lanterns. 'Wax-boiling' has become very popular but government in Hong Kong has made it forbidden after many accidents from burning wax. Of course people would make use of chance to look at full moon on day on their balconies or just at home. Traditional mooncakes are made with sweet lotus seed paste with one or more egg yolks. Modern mooncakes come in various styles. Tastes like green tea, red beans, hams and nuts, or even mooncake ice-cream are all available. Just name it and you may find it. Chung Yeung Festival (September/October) There has been a legend from East Han Dynasty. A man was told to leave home and go to a hill top of date to avoid a disaster which would kill all lives there. So he left home with his family and drank chrysanthemum wine as he had been told. When he came back after day, he found that all livestock were killed. Since then, after almost 2000 years, it is believed that it is a day when people should leave home and show their respect to their ancestors on day.

I drifted back into market research telling myself that I would just do more interesting social survey work. I started with a company who only did social surveys and was told there was plenty of work available. I think I had about 3 jobs from them over 6 months. When I was doing a sex survey for them in Perth I bumped into another interviewer. She told me that company she worked for were about to start a big social survey where same families would be interviewed every year for next 3 years. I phoned area manager next day, we hit it off and things seemed to be going well. After a few months area manager asked me to apply for position of deputy. Believe it or not, as deputy manager I was still paid by hour. I actually had more hassle, made less money and had less flexibility than working as an interviewer. I still had to go out interviewing and would get home in evening to a pile of faxes and phone messages, when I just wanted to relax.

I lasted around 6 months as deputy. I rationalised that I had tried studying, tried a promoted post, I wasn't that ambitious and no employer seemed prepared to offer me a decent job, so I would have to be realistic and just plod on as an interviewer. Well that lasted for around a year then area manger was forced to retire at 65 and new manager wanted to greatly reduce my work on annual social survey and force me to do all other sorts of surveys I wasn't interested in.

I was wracking my brain about what on earth I was going to do to earn a crust. I had started thinking that I would like to start a travel business. It was a growth market, I wouldn't need any employees, and I could work from home. The Internet was really catching on (this was 2002) and I thought that it would allow me, to gain some market exposure, even as a small fish. I also thought it would be wonderful to work in a field in which I had a great personal interest. I signed up with a flight supplier as a travel broker in August 2002.

That was almost two years ago. I am still working as a market research interviewer and business is slowly growing. It's been an ongoing dilemma to me, whether to give up interviewing and just concentrate on business. At some points I have been doing market research six days a week, so really have not had much time or energy to devoteto business. However I have been loathed to give up steady income. By same token if I don't focus on business then it will never really take off.

My initial business was Europe a la Carte. I thought that there was a niche in market to assist people who were looking for something different to traditional package holiday, put together a tailor made trip to Europe. It is possible to do this yourself on Internet but it's pretty time consuming. I reckoned that there was a significant minority of people who would value some assistance with planning and booking their trip.

From enquiries I received I began to realise that there was demand for cultural and activity holidays in Europe. The sister site, European Cultural & Activity Tours, was started in January 2003. May aim was to build up a good selection of holidays offered by small specialist suppliers throughout Europe.

I have to say that I am extremely lucky that one of my sons is really good on computer. He has designed my sites and databases. My other son has also helped me with newsletters and photos.

I have begun to get more bookings and last week I had my first repeat customer. I have learnt a lot in last two years about IT, Internet and marketing. I have tried my hand at writing articles for websites.

I have had some interesting trips to meet up with suppliers and visits to areas that I promote. I have worked really hard but I haven't really minded that as I have, on whole, enjoyed work. I am working toward my dream of having a profitable business in a field I find fascinating. I believe that I have found what I want to do now that I am grown up!