twilight glow of the sky...

happy and thankful

2011-08-15T02:19:00.000+08:00

Not too sure if I've managed to show my heartfelt gratitude to my family and friends... but I am indeed very thankful to all these wonderful people in my life.

The past few months have not been easy for me... as work had been very challenging... that it had impacted me in many aspects of my life.

So I'm thankful for my family for being understanding about my extended period of being away from home... and for putting up with me for the moments when I appear tired, grouchy, easily upset...

I am also grateful to my all my best friends for being accommodating to my schedule as I only get to be home approximately 7 to 9 days a month for the past 5 months. To be honest... I do count myself lucky that I get to be home almost every single weekend... though there were many moments when I just felt so tired that I don't feel like going out... much less to meet up with any friends.

These 2 weeks back home means a lot to me as I really enjoy reconnecting with the people back home.

I really enjoy being able to attend gakkai activities on weekdays and not just weekends...

I like the spontaneity and freedom to arrange ad-hoc lunch or dinner dates with friends without the need to check my schedule whether I'm back home or not...

I treasure the facetime that I get back in SG and not just rely on msn, facebook or even whatsapp to keep in touch with my friends...

And I like being home to have access to all my stuff instead of being limited to whatever I'd packed in my suitcase...

Having said so much... I am thankful to the colleagues and friends over in MY who had been really lovely to me... spending time with me over dinner... taking time to bring me out for meals on weekends when I don't go home... and for taking the effort to send me back to my hotel as it's kind of inconvenient for me to get a cab back to the hotel. I also enjoyed the friendship(s) developed with fellow expat colleagues as we bond over the countless dinners that we shared when being away from home.

Very soon... I'll resume this jet-settling lifestyle... but in the mean time... I will relish the time spent at home... the time spent with my SG friends... and the time spent on Gakkai activities.

普通朋友

2011-08-15T01:55:00.000+08:00

Got reminded of one of my favorite David Tao's song at KTV the other day when browsing through the top hit.

Sometimes I think I'm so used to those moments of "I just can't be your friend"... that I can totally feel the lyrics.

At the same time, it also reminds me of a time when a friend once told me that he's not keen to go down the path of being friends when he's clear that he's interested in a particular girl... cos once you're friends... it's tough to change the relationship status. Hence, that's why he's now married to that lovely lady.

As for me... it's tough being a girl as I feel restricted in being overly open about my feelings... and it's tougher personally as I hate taking risks... particularly when being open may mean the end of a friendship.

So I can only croon about these feelings when I go karaoke anyway... can't wait for the next round of KTV given I've got a free bottle of whisky at partyworld... woots...

countdown to everland...

2011-07-09T00:02:00.000+08:00

Sheepo's been overworked... underpaid... and feeling unappreciated for so many bl**dy months that it's time to take off and get a long long break anyway...

So yes... sheepo's counting down to her Seoul-searching trip.... and hopefully pay pilgrimage to Everland - Sheepo's hometown... *lol*...

Time really flies anyway... from the hibernating trip in Shanghai... it's amazing that more than 6 months have gone by already... and I really can't wait to fly there in SQ.

To be honest... I've got mixed feelings about this client...while some are nice... there are so many other nasty ones that turns me off in even considering about paying for their services.

So yes... even if I'm going to pay a premium... I'm so going to fly there in SQ.

thanks for listening

2011-03-16T00:32:00.000+08:00

To my few good friends (you know who you are)... thanks for listening to me and make me feel much much better over the last week... I really appreciate our friendships and time spent together. :)

the expat in KL again

2011-03-16T00:12:00.001+08:00

This time round, i'm not staying in KL central... but somewhere within Subang...

The good part is... I get to fly home every weekend... and there's a really nice mall next to my hotel.

The bad part is... I have to live out of a suitcase since I check-in on Monday and check-out on Friday... and the only people that I see are people on my project and occasional KL friends (when time permits) on weekday nights while I'm in Subang.

In any case, it's safe to say that I will not starve staying in this hotel as there are many lovely eateries within the mall... so much that I really really wish I have my SG friend(s) with me to dine with me every night.

While it's tempting to stay for the weekend... there are many things going on in SG that I need to be home every weekend.

Quite glad that I made it home my first weekend for a really great IWD event in the day... followed by drinks at Robertson Quay... and a spontaneous decision to head down to Mono to be a 'special guest' for a ktv session from 11pm till 3plus in the morning. I also had a great Saturday brunch at 1Caramel with a really close gal pal from work, followed by drinks at Clarke Quay (at Vintry, PumpRoom and Lunar) with my besties at night.

As for the next few weekends, I've got the following things to look forward to:
- lunch with the uni clique at boathouse
- dinner with the shanghai trip buddies and a gf at oyster bar
- lion king musical

Can't wait for these weekends to arrive!

a lesson to learn

2011-03-15T23:48:00.000+08:00

While attending an event back home on last Friday, I received news about the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan from a friend via meebo. Thankfully, my friends in Tokyo are safe and sound. However, I know that there are many other people who may have lost their lives or lost their loved ones all within a day and I sincerely pray for the survivors to have the strength to live on and rebuild their lives.

Over the past few days, the world witness the strength and resilience the people of Japan have shown... and how every single person and corporations have rallied together to help their own countrymen out. Similarly, other nations have also stepped forward to show their support to Japan... to which many credits to Japan's past goodwill to these nations.

While I hope that we'll never have to face such disasters again... we can never be sure when mother nature gets out-of-control in future. Hence, this is truly a lesson for us all to learn from Japan and to also learn to treasure our time on this earth.

切歌

2011-03-15T23:12:00.001+08:00

My past few encounters with this song had always been at the ktv... and the chorus just sticks in my mind after each k-session when my friend sings it... think I'll attempt to sing it the next time I go k. :)

用力唱一首歌忽然被你切歌
這歌詞很像我旋律夠曲折多麼適合
就算沒有音樂的伴奏
唱到聲音都啞了
我會記得你曾是我最愛的情歌

hibernating in shanghai...

2011-01-17T01:48:00.001+08:00

Day one in Shanghai (28 Jan 2010)
The plane touched down in Shanghai earlier than anticipated... TM's buddy Han was supposed to pick us up from HongQiao Airport... but given we've arrived ahead of time... we had to wait for him at the airport.

Anyway, I find it interesting that both the Shanghai and LiJiang airport had staff who would check our baggage tag at the trolley belt area to ensure we're the rightful owners of the luggages. :)

TM and I took a quick break at KFC where I discovered that the airport has free WI-FI services... and I promptly sent out an email to inform Yi-Ge that I've arrived and to confirm that I'll meet him directly at the restaurant for dinner that night.

After taking a sip of my drink at KFC, Han showed up... and soon we were on the way to the Han's sister's family home. As the two buddies caught up with each other on their own individual vacation, I spent my time starring out of the car window and reflect on the differences between Li Jiang and Shanghai.

Soon we arrived at the home as it was located in some private estate relatively near the airport... and next to some of the international schools in Shanghai.

The really lovely estate that Han's sister's family home was located at...

My lodging for the first two days in Shanghai (courtesy of Han)

Later in the afternoon, we took a cab out to 古北. As I was kind of hungry (which is something pretty regular on this trip), we made a stop at Dunkin Donuts... where I had a sausage donut and a blueberry filling donut, and a cup of nice fragant hot rose tea.

I was then introduced to an underground shopping mall where I was told a lot of Japanese would shop at for their A-quality imitation products. After a quick stroll through the underground shopping mall, we went on to a DVD store which was located near the mall... I got myself some DVDs... and had to stop myself from buying more DVDs as I was quite concerned about my baggage limit.

As it was still quite early and I had some time before my dinner appointment with Yi-Ge at 陆家嘴 - financial district of Shanghai; I tagged along with the buddies to Carrefour where Han did a major stock-up on his chewing gum supply. TM followed suit and also bought some chewing gum. As the two buddies bought mainly the round bottled ones... I opted for 3 square bottled Mentos chewing gums to distinguish mine from theirs. TM then wanted to find some chips that they used to munch on when they were based in Shanghai 8 years ago... he couldn't find them since it's been so many years that the chips firm probably discontinued that particular flavor and packaging.

I then quipped in that I wanted to find mango-flavored Pocky sticks that my analyst told me about. I soon found a shelf with not just mango flavored ones... but also strawberry, blueberry, banana, macha... there were also many interesting flavors of Pretz... but I only bought the Pocky sticks.

Finally we went to make payment at the counter where we picked up a 喜羊羊与灰太狼environmental bag since TM and Han's bags weren't big enough to store all the purchases. Snapped a picture of TM with the bag as I thought he looked really funny carrying that bag.

I then took a cab ride all the way to 正大广场... along the way, I admired the many skyscrappers in Shanghai. Thankfully the ride was a pretty smooth one... and I got to the shopping mall 30 minutes ahead of time.

The mall was pretty impressive with many floors of retail outlets ranging from H&M, Uniqlo to Zara. I quickly popped by Popular as I wanted to get a thank you card for TM since he had been pretty gracious about letting me tagged along on his vacation... and crashing in on his bonding time with his buddy. =P

When I was done with my shopping, I made my way up to level 9 where the restaurant 小南国 was located at. Turns out that Yi-Ge had already arrived at the restaurant... and I had a good time updating him on whatever that had happened to the various folks on our previous project... and progressed on to talk about my vacation and his new apartment in Shanghai.

The food at the restaurant was really excellent and I believe if I ever pop by Shanghai in future, I'll definitely pay a visit to this particular restaurant!

After dinner, we took a walk along the Bund where I could see the grand colonial architectures over on the Pu-xi side. The night view of the Bund is really beautiful and it's a shame that I didn't had better camera equipment to take a shot of the impressive view.

We headed back to the shopping mall area to join the long taxi queue... thankfully it moved relatively fast, and I was soon on my way back to Han's home... it took me almost an hour before I arrived at the estate... and unfortunately, I got held up by the security as they needed to ascertain that I was a guest staying at Han's place. :(

The beautiful night scene of Puxi

Finally, I was back at the home... and I have to say... it's really great having the room to myself... with no additional noise to keep me up! Though I do feel bad that TM has to sleep in the living room as there are no spare guest room for him to sleep in. This really made me think back of the time when I crash in at KX's apartment in NYC... as KX was really sweet to let me have the bedroom while he take the living room sofa. Hehe...

Day Two in Shanghai (29 Jan 2010)

I woke up around 8.30am the next day... and after showering up... I had my breakfast (bread with nutella)... and then we headed out to take the shuttle bus service that took us to 古北. Many of the rich chinese aunties living on the estate also took the shuttle bus to go out and do their grocery service.

When we got to 古北, we made a stop at Coffee Bean to grab our morning coffee... before we took a cab to the Expo. As the cab got near to the Expo, many touts were trying to sell their Expo tickets to us... and each of them would claim that it's going to take us an hour to queue to buy tickets if we don't buy from them. *lol*... turns out the queue to buy tickets was so short as compared to the queue to enter the Expo Pavilion.

Amongst the many exhibits, I was most impressed by the moving animated calligraphy. The first opening video was quite interesting too. The rest of the exhibits were just so-so to me... hehe...

The moving calligraphy...

After spending almost 2 hours in the Expo... we finally made our way out and as we were a little hungry, we went to buy some fishball sticks from the make-shift snack and drinks store located outside the Expo Pavillion. I also got myself a bottle of the Kirin brand strawberry flavored milk tea. It tasted really nice... such a shame they don't export the seasonal flavored milk tea to Singapore. I miss the mango flavored one the most!!

From the Expo, we took the subway to the People's Square. The People's Square subway station was located conveniently beneath Raffles City Shopping Center. The two guys decided to have lunch at Carl's Junior and I didn't had any violent objection since I was quite hungry.

After lunch, we made our way to the nearby shopping street - Nanjing Road. Although there were many shopping malls, I wasn't in a shopping mood...

From Nanjing Road, we made our way to the Bund area where this time round, I got to see the Pudong financial district landscape from the Puxi side.

Pudong

Technical errors reflected on the Aurora building... the night before, the graphics was actually working pretty well...

After the skies turned dark, we decided to make our way back to Nanjing Road. Along the way, I had my blackcurrent oreo flurry from Mac while the guys ended up having pork floss buns from Breadtalk as TM wanted to know whether the buns tasted the same as the ones in Singapore.

Finally, we were back to People's Square and I took a train to Xintiandi to meet my senior Mike for dinner. Mike gave me a call when I was on the train and I told him I was a station away and I would make my way to the restaurant to meet him.

I guess I should have done my homework and checked the map before heading out... but I didn't... so I had to make use of the station locality map to figure out the nearest exit to the dining venue. It took me about 10 minutes to get to Xintiandi and when I got there, I wasn't too sure whether I had arrived yet... so I checked with two policeman whether I was near the place... at that very moment, Mike called out to me and so I didn't had to get any answer from the policeman.

Our dinner was at 香港采蝶轩, a restaurant well-known for its cantonese cuisine. I was pretty impressed by the restaurant decor. It was very posh but not too intimidating.

The menu was pretty extensive and so I decided to let Mike do the ordering. After checking on my dietary requirements (which is I eat pretty much everything except Sheepo)... Mike ordered many dishes which includes the grilled salmon (which was very delicious) and the wasabi mayo prawns... the other dishes were delicious but I really cannot remember them by now as I was probably busy talking to Mike to really pay attention to all the dishes... haha...

Our dinner conversation ranged from his current work, his experience staying and working in China, his family background to my work and my travel experience in Li Jiang. It was almost 9pm when we finished our dinner. As Xintiandi was filled with mainly F&B establishments... there wasn't any place for me to shop at after dinner ended... haha... plus, Mike wasn't familiar with the area as he just started staying in Shanghai. So we decided to call it a night and walk to the train station together.

From Xintiandi, I took the subway train to the Hongqiao train station. When I arrived at the Hongqiao train station, I realised it was a major train terminal with trains coming from all parts of China and thus there were tons of people at the station. The first taxi stand that I walked too had a massively long queue... so I decided to head to the opposite exit to joined another queue which was relatively shorter. It was probably almost 10.45pm when I finally got back to the house. It might have been slightly earlier IF the cab driver didn't get lost. Haiz...

I was shushed by TM when I exclaimed that the cab driver got lost... and it was only the next morning that I learnt why he shushed me... cos Han's brother-in-law had returned ahead of his family to the house.

Day Three in Shanghai (30 Jan 2010)
I woke up around 8am on day 3. As the toilet was occupied, I walked from my room to the kitchen to get a cup of water... this was when I met Han's brother-in-law in my morning dishevelled look. =(

I was quite embarassed... but I just shook his hand and mumbled nice to meet you as TM introduced me to him. After I got my cup of water, I quickly headed back to my room and waited for Han to finish using the toilet. By the time I was done with my wash-up, Han's brother-in-law had left the house.

After breakfast, TM told me that he's going out to Starbucks with Han. So I said okay... and tagged along with them. The walk out was really chilly and it took us about 10 to 15 minutes to get to Starbucks.

We probably spent an hour 'nuahing' at a Starbucks... before we headed back to Han's place. The walk back was even colder and I had no pockets to keep my hands covered... truly regretted not wearing my gloves out.

Soon it was time for TM and I to leave Han's place for the Salvo Hotel. For some strange reason, I felt really tired on the cab to Salvo Hotel. *yawnz*

When we finally got to Salvo Hotel, we were ushered to the top floor for check-in registration as TM's visa signature privilege allowed us to upgrade our room.

The room was quite opulent with a lot of wood and gold trimmings. There was the main bedroom area with two single beds and a TV, and a separate area with a working desk, tv and sofa.

We left the hotel and made our way to the 城隍庙 area. As TM wasn't too sure where the temple was at, he walked into one of the many gold jewellery shops to ask for directions. When he came out of the shop, he told me that we are already at 城隍庙... haha... and the shop personnel probably thought he was kidding with her when he asked her for directions.

The area looked really touristy and I soon saw the Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao shop with a really long queue for xiao-long-bao take-aways. As I wasn't too keen on queuing, we made our way to the foodcourt and had affordable but not very tasty (to me) ramen for lunch.

After lunch, we went to visit the temple... it was probably the first time that I got to see the figurines of the 太岁 deities in a temple. The deity in charge of my birth year looked really pleasant looking amongst the many figurines. =) Interestingly, I saw a couple bringing their young baby daughter to pray to many of the different deities in the temple.

When we were done with our temple visit, we walked around the shops in the area... before heading back to the xiao long bao shop since I wanted to try the xiao long bao. Initially we wanted to do the dine-in option... but the queue was horrendous... and so we headed back to ground floor to join the queue. The queue moved pretty quickly and soon I had a styrofoam box filled with 16 xiao long baos. Given it was mass-produced xiao long bao, I wasn't very impressed. But well... given it was the standard touristy thing to do... so I was glad that TM accompanied me to do this touristy thing which he didn't bother with many years ago when he was working in Shanghai.

We decided to skip the 豫园 visit and head back to our hotel to do massage.

The hotel massage parlour charges about 5 times the price for a foot massage as compared to the foot massage parlour in Li Jiang. I would have preferred a body massage but the body massage cost was exorbitant... so I ended up having a foot massage.

TM and I were ushered to a room and we ended up watching some news program while having our massage. There were many interesting local news which included snippets of drivers who got caught for drinking under the influence for alcohol and the kinds of reasons that they gave for having high alcohol content in their blood was really funny.

We headed back to the room after the massage ended and I started my hibernation mode... I probably napped for more than an hour that it was almost 7pm when I finally woke up.

We then walked to Nanjing Road to find a place for dinner. I was in the mood for Japanese food but in the end, we ended up at some Korean BBQ place. After flipping through the menu, I realise I didn't had any strong preferences for anything. So I told TM to choose... but I guess he probably felt a little annoyed since I always told him to select the food... and he told me I should choose something to eat. So I just said I wanted the sashimi and the kimchi pancake.

After two nights of expensive dinner treats from Yi-Ge and Mike, I must say the Korean meal pales in comparison. However, given we paid only RMB200 (SGD$40) for 2 BBQ meat, one plate of sashimi, one plate of kimchi pancake and one bottle of Sake, I shouldn't expect too much.

As it was still quite early, we made our way to Raffles City where I did mostly window shopping as I wasn't particularly attracted to anything.

And finally we walked back to the hotel and we headed to the bar for some drinks. The bar looks a little shabby and the live entertainment ended pretty early... so we ended up watching some korean drama on the TV while having our drinks.

Finally we call it a night and headed back to our room.

Last Day in Shanghai (31 Jan 2010)

On the last day, I woke up around 8.30am... and I simply felt like lazing in the bed... however as the hotel breakfast buffet ends at 10am... I got myself out of bed eventually for breakfast.

After breakfast, TM called the reception from our room to arranged for late check-out. Then we headed out to Nanjing Road to do some last-minute shopping. While shopping at Nanjing Road, TM managed to get a really nice down jacket from Meters/Bonwe at 40% discount for his dad and a backpack from Anta Sports (I think) for himself. He was really really happy with his purchase. As for me, I only got a silk rectangular table top for my piano... and some tiny souvenirs from a shop located in Raffles City.

Instead of having a proper lunch, we ended up buying snacks and dessert from the shops in the Raffles City basement.

Then we headed back to check out of the hotel. As TM was keen to take the open top tour bus operated by Big Bus Tour, he checked with the receptionist on where we could board the bus and we were informed that the bus stop is located near 大世界.

So we headed back to Nanjing Road... and walked all the way to 大世界 to take the bus. We waited almost 30 minutes before the bus departed from the first stop. Due to traffic congestion, the bus took a long time before it got to Xintiandi. Since TM told me to let him know when I wanted to stop and get lunch, I told him that I wanted lunch at Xintiandi.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants... which offered some set lunch menu. The food wasn't fantastic but I shan't complain too much since it was fairly affordable.

Since the bus was supposed to arrive every 30 minutes, we headed back to the bus-stop to wait for the bus at about 3.30pm. Somehow the bus never arrive on time and so it was after 4pm when the bus finally arrived... by then I was already freezing too death waiting for the bus to arrive. :(

Given the bus was an open top bus... it was extremely chilly... and I soon found myself dozing off on the bus... and at one point in time, TM even told me to get myself seated at the bottom which would probably be warmer... but I was already too tired and lazy to move myself.

After almost 2 hours on the bus, we finally arrived back at the 城隍庙 area where I wanted to do my last-minute shopping. I quickly did my shopping at a shop where even the salesperson declared that today must be the coldest day ever in Shanghai. And I totally agree with her!

As it was New Year's eve, we had a difficult time getting a cab that was willing to drive us to our hotel which was just a short distance away. So TM decided to try his luck with alternate transport option which kind of reminded me of miniature tuk-tuk but with very little space for passengers. There was only space for 2 of us to squeeze in and a cloth curtain to keep us 'sheltered' from the traffic behind.

Finally we arrived at People's Square where we took a quick walk back to our hotel and had dinner at some shao la dian. Once again... it wasn't a satisfying dinner... but I couldn't care less. I was just glad to have hot water to keep myself warm. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to collect our luggage and got a cab to bring us to the hotel.

My hibernation mode kicked in again... and soon I was dozing off on the cab to the airport.

At the airport, we went for one last massage. This time round I opted for the body massage as the price difference wasn't that great as compared to a foot massage.

After clearing custom, I did some last minute souvenir shopping before settling down at the waiting area with TM. At 11plus, we finally got to board the plane. Before the plane even took off, I was already dead to the world. I only woke up to munch on the food served before I dozed off again.

Finally I was back on home ground on new year's day.

As TM's parents had wanted to eat breakfast with him at the airport, his parents were at the Arrival Hall waiting for him as we headed out from the customs. Initially, I was thinking whether to walk over to the nearby Mac to get breakfast for myself and my aunt. Then TM suddenly headed back with his parents to say that his parents have decided to give me a lift back home before they head out for breakfast from their home area. Felt kinda bad to impose on them but I took up their kind offer and soon I was on my way home.

This concludes my vacation with TM from Li Jiang to Shanghai.

Thoughts on 2010

2011-01-10T23:42:00.000+08:00

There were many things I had initially planned on writing for this entry but I'll keep it short for now.

One thing for certain, I travelled a lot and experienced a lot in year 2010. While the travelling may seem all fun; it sure ain't fun looking at my miserable bank balance at the end of the year... :P

I've made many good friends in year 2010 while retaining firm friendships with those who matters to me. I'm particularly thankful to senior EB for always been there to hear me out on almost every single thing on my mind.

The only minor achievement I had for year 2010 is probably attaining Silver Krisflyer membership which other fellow colleagues may laugh at since it's nothing compared to PPS status...

Relationship wise... I have to admit the ego got somewhat bruised sometime in year 2010. The heart definitely hurt for a while though the mind is certain that it's probably for the better that it all came to naught...

So that's all for now on year 2010. May 2011 be a better year!

Sent from my fruity mobile

impressions of lijiang

2011-01-04T23:22:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year to all!! It's been quite a while since I last blogged... and I'm happy to say that year 2010 ended on a pretty good note for me with my visits to two distinctly different parts of China.

The first leg of travel was to Li Jiang. If you asked me whether I have ever thought of visiting Li Jiang in the past, I would have to say it never came across my mind to travel there. Nevertheless, I am really glad that I decided to ride on my friend's travel plans this time round... cos I've never had such experiences before... and it's a refreshing change for me to travel to a place with fantastic scenic views and historical chinese architectures.

Day 1 (Christmas Eve)
The trip started off with me getting very little sleep on the flight (from 3am to 7am)... and also very little sleep at the Kunming airport terminal (as I had to wait for my flight to Li Jiang from about 7am to 12noon)... so I was quite tired by the time I reach my charming little sleepy inn in Shu-He ancient town.

exterior of the inn

living room area on 2nd floor

One of the inn-keeper (Xiao-Qiao) helped me with my heavy suitcase up the flight of steps... and showed us our accommodation for the next few days. Interestingly, the bedroom door can only be secured inwardly by placing a wooden plank against the two doors and the only way to lock from the outside it to secure a lock through the two ring handles on the two doors. Really old-school.

The room was also nicely furnished with traditional chinese carvings furnitures and decorated with ethnic mats on the floor. The beds also came equipped with electric heat-mat which can be both a blessing and a curse I soon realise...

As I really tired, I took my nap while the travel-mate ("TM") went out (without locking the bedroom door!!) to explore the inn-surroundings. Later in the evening, we took a walk through the Shu-He ancient town and then we took a cab to the nearby Da-Yan ancient town which has often been described as disneyland in comparison to Shu-He.

photo taken in Da-Yan ancient town

(I was trying to snap a picture of the jade dragon snow mountain)

Although it was Christmas eve and there were many people in their festive garbs... it just felt quite surreal to me... I guess this is because it's my first Christmas away from my family and close friends... Plus, I was with a travel mate who was also not into Christmas celebrations... so well.

After dinner at Le Petit Paris (which I think is overpriced french food), we continued exploring the ancient town for a while before taking a cab back to Shu-He. While strolling back to our inn, we realised that the sky was filled with a lot of stars... and so TM whipped out the iPhone to show off some fancy app that can map out the constellations on the sky. Unfortunately I couldn't really see the stuff on the phone since it was held at such an unfriendly level (read: Sheepo's too short to see something that's held too high up for her to view...).

Back in the inn, we met up with the driver whom we were going to engaged to drive us to the various scenic spots of Li Jiang and we then discuss the travel plans for the next two days over at the fireplace in the front yard. As we had to leave the inn early in the morning on the next day, we decided to call it an early day.

TM went to bed first... while I settled in my snug and warm bed for my Facetime with the girls. Really happy that I could at least see the girls on christmas eve even though I was thousand miles away from Singapore.

Day 2 (Christmas Day)
Breakfast was an early affair at 7.30am... and we left the inn with the driver at about 8am.

The first stop was at some chinese temple with an excellent view of the mountains...

Then we proceeded to the next stop which was to get a view of the Yang-tze river bend. As the river water level was kind of low, the bend was not very visible to me.

A panaromic shot from the location where we were supposed to view the Yang-Tze river bend...

Finally, we made our way to Li-Ming to take on the Thousand Tortoise Trail. Before that, we had dinner at one of the many eateries at the foot of the mountains. TM was given the task of ordering food... which is a pretty unusual way cos there was no menu to choose the dishes from... instead we just had to pick and choose the actual veggies and raw meat on display. TM opted for pork as the eatery-owner stated upfront that a live-chicken would be slaughtered if chicken was selected. *lol*

Personally I found the food to be a tad too salty for my liking... but TM likes it... so well... goes to show we have very different palate when it comes to food.

Once we were done with lunch, the driver and Xiao Qiao brought us to the start of the Thousand Tortoise Trail. Personally I was really really glad that I travelled as light as I could... as there were so many steps before we could even reach the first peak!! TM took a really long time to climb the steps with all the heavy camera equipments on hand.

One of the revered natural forming structures which is supposed to resemble a couple's embrace... TM was of the opinion that they looked like they're smooching each other...

To be honest, I was a little concerned whether TM was alright along the way up the trail given TM's childhood heart ailment... so every now and then, I would ask, "Are you okay?"

Actually there was one more part of the trail that we could have taken... but as I didn't wear my ankle guard... and my ankle was feeling kind of sore... TM didn't want me to attempt the additional trail... So we decided to make our way down...The way down was just as tough as going up as I could feel my legs shaking with every step I take down the trail. Soon it was TM's turn to ask if I were okay since I was obviously experiencing discomfort walking down the trail.

Finally, we were back to our vehicle and on our way back to the inn. It was almost 7.30pm when we got back to the inn. The driver had specially arranged a bbq and invited both TM and I to join in.

However, I was feeling really exhausted and unwell when I got back to the room... so I opted to stay in the room to rest while TM enjoyed the BBQ food and drinks with the people from the inn. I had a difficult time trying to sleep as the walls were really thin and I could hear the conversation from the front yard.

It was almost 10pm when they finished their mini party... and I finally fell asleep... as mentioned earlier... the electric heating mat can be a blessing and a curse simply because it gets overly warm in the middle of the night... and I would be awaken by the heat halfway... so I end up with interrupted sleep... haiz...

Day 3 (Boxing Day)
After an exhausting day up the trails... we started out day 3 slightly later at 9.30am with breakfast in the house. To be more precise... TM had breakfast without me as I decided to take my time to do my own things in the morning... and so when I went down for breakfast... TM was already done... leaving me to have breakfast on my own.

At 10am, our driver arrived and we were on our way to see outdoor show Impressions of Li Jiang that is directed by three famous directors (including Zhang Yi Mou). However before we could get to watch the show, we had to pay 80RMB for the Li Jiang conservation fee... and another 80RMB just to enter the grounds...

The show ticket was retailing at 190RMB for normal tickets... however as we were kind of late... TM and I opted for the VIP seats (260 RMB) so we need not jostle with the crowd for good seats. Turn out we were one of the few rare ones at the VIP seats... and the usherers did a good job in keeping those normal seat folks away from the VIP seats everytime they tried to cross the barricades to sit in the VIP area.

Personally I like the concept of the show... but I can't say I'm totally wowed by it. I just think it's impressive by the sheer number of participants and it would have been better if the mountain top wasn't shrouded by thick clouds... halfway through the show, tiny snowflakes fell from the sky adding additional flavors to the show... TM was too busy taking photos to note the snowflakes initially... until I said it's snowing. So yeah... I had my white christmas albeit one day late.

When the show ended, we met up with our driver who drove us to another part of the park where we could take the newest ropeway cable car up to the top of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The ride up cost 170RMB per person and I think it's worth every single cent. :)

Initially, TM and I didn't think that we needed the oxygen cans that most folks purchased on their way up the snowy mountains... however the moment we got to the top... TM went to buy the oxygen can at the cafe and started utilising it pretty quickly when we step out into the snow.

Halfway up the steps... I could feel the altitude sickness hitting me... so I had to feebly ask to use the oxygen and took a short break on the steps.

My white christmas one day late!!

I only have individual shots of myself in Li Jiang...

So this is the only one photo that I have of me and TM...

There were time when the tips of my fingers came into direct contact with the metal surface of the oxygen can in the cold... and so TM seemed quite alarmed as he exclaimed that my fingers were turning blue! I had to quickly warm my fingers up as they were really numbed by the coldness caused by the metallic surface of the can.

When we got to the highest point that we could possibly go (the pathway to the mountain peak was snowed in and cannot be taken by anyone), we proceeded to the area where some operators were offering a slide ride down the snow on huge rubber tyres for just 20 yuan per person. As my shoes had very little traction on the snow... this was also the area where I found myself slipping on the snow every now and then... *lol*...

When we got back to the cafe area... we got our drinks... and just when I thought we were ready to leave... this was when TM started feeling really unwell again... so I had to run into the cafe to grab another can of oxygen as we both depleted the first can of oxygen supply. Once TM felt better, we then took the cable car ride down to the car-park area to meet up with our driver.

It was about 4pm when we got back to the inn... and so we simply nuah in the room for about an hour or so... to back up our photos... check emails... zuobo... before heading out for dinner at one of the many restaurants in town.

Not too sure what got into TM during dinner time... but I was definitely the main and only suaning target throughout dinner time... Doesn't help that I was feeling really PMS since the day before... so I definitely was not in the mood to be a suaning target.

After dinner ended, I had to head to Da-Yan ancient town to meet up with my cousin. To be honest, TM was really nice to accompany me as it would be really late and dark for me to walk back alone to the inn if I went out alone. However, as I felt miffed by certain things that TM said throughout the evening, TM was given a silent treatment on the cab since I have nothing better to say.

It was a good catch up session with my cousin over some snacks at KFC... and I met up with TM once I was done with my catch up session. Funnily, when I boarded the cab, my mind went blank as I try to recall the name of the town that I needed to get to... *lol*... so TM had to tell the driver where we were heading to.

Day 4
Day 4 started out a little late... just like day 3. For some strange reason though... I realise there was no hot water coming out from the tap... and it was only later that we realise that a pipe had burst and affected the flow of hot water... urgh... meaning no hot water bath in the freezing cold!!

When we got to the dining hall breakfast was not done yet... and so TM and I idly sat at the door steps of the main guesthouse building under the sun while listening to some jazzed-up chinese melodies on TM's iPhone.

After breakfast, we proceeded to explore the Shu-He ancient town thoroughly...

Pictures taken in Shu-He ancient town

Interesting pub name...

After about 2 hours of walking around town... I told TM that I'm hungry... but TM exclaimed that it has only been 2 hours since breakfast... and so we decided to go for our foot massage first before settling lunch at Da-Yan ancient town. By the time I had my lunch, it was already almost 2.30pm?

Highlight of our lunch - roasted sliced pork... yum yum...

After lunch... we decided to visit the Mu Residence in the Da-Yan ancient town... so we tried to make use of the maps and sign-boards situated at different parts of the town to direct ourselves to the residence. As I had lunch really late... I started to feel slight gastric pain due to the late lunch... thankfully the pain went away after a while.

It took us quite a while before we located the Mu's Mansion as we got confused by the map directions along the way... But I'm glad we finally made our way as the Mu's Mansion was quite a sight when viewed from the Lion Mountain. Personally I'm reminded of Kyoto when I saw the lush greenery and the splendid architectures of the residence.

When we were finally done with our walking tour... we decided to head back to Shu-He ancient town.

As it was the peak hours when we left Da-Yan ancient town, we had a difficult time getting a cab. The cab driver that picked us up was overly chatty for my liking... in fact, he was probably the only taxi driver that we encountered in Li Jiang that would engaged in a conversation with us... the first thing that he asked was if we were on a honeymoon... TM promptly said no and quickly added that we're just colleagues... the concept of travelling with a platonic friend is probably something that the cab driver couldn't understand... personally I don't know to be amused by TM's reaction or by the cab driver's insistence that we should be more than just two colleagues...

Before long, the conversation switched to one whereby the driver asked if there's gender equality in Singapore... and he concluded that there's no such thing as gender equality... that male is more superior than female. I was probably rolling my eyeballs while doing my best to ignore the conversation. As I kept silent through most of the conversation... the cab driver thought I didn't understand mandarin till TM said I do understand mandarin.

Luckily we got to Shu-He ancient town really quickly... and that was the end of the ride.

I did my last minute souvenir shopping while TM got a CD of the Li Jiang #1 hit song (some di-da song that is played every where we go)... then we headed back to the inn to keep my stuff... and headed out again for dinner at one of the restaurants that served roasted pork. Dinner was not too bad as I quite like the roast pork while it's pipping hot and the steamed bamboo rice was really delicious too. The veggies were a tad too bitter for TM's liking. We then ended off the meal with a beer while listening to the live band music...

As our flight out from Li Jiang was at 8:40am on the next day, we decided to call it an early day and headed back to the inn slightly past 9pm.

I had a really hard time trying to fall asleep that very night... and it didn't help that the cats in the neighbourhood were having a good time with one another that they kept me awake through the night... Urgh... so much that I can only think of Song's favorite retort, "Go get a room"...

It also didn't help that TM was dead asleep and snoring away (adding to the noise that keeps me awake)...

Last few moments in Li Jiang
Finally it was 5.30am... and I got myself out of bed to get dress and prepare to leave the inn for the airport.

The driver came slightly past 6.30am and we bidded farewell to one of the inn-keeper who wake up just to see us off and lock up the main gate...

The ride to the airport was a bumpy and dark ride... the car highbeam was switched on throughout the entire ride... TM commented that it's one thing to know how to drive... and it's quite another thing to know how to drive in such conditions...

As it was really freezing cold... I was amazed by the number of school children bundled up in their winter wear... walking along the road way to school... gosh...

Finally we were at the airport and we were finally on board the plane to Shanghai (with a short-stop-over in Kunming). Although I was quite tired... I couldn't really get much sleep on the plane... and so I ended up watching some bo-liao Bollywood movie that was screening on the plane (they didn't allow me to use my phone on airplane mode). After 4 hours on the plane, we were finally in Shanghai!

wonders if it's going to be a winter wonderland

2010-12-12T13:42:00.000+08:00

Tis the year for travelling... I've made my way to Chicago for training... and then to Tokyo for a vacation... before staying in KL for a short stint... upon returning home to work, I was given a short business trip to Manila... followed by some training in UK and with additional time for sight-seeing in London itself.

And now to close the year off... I'm going to be in China... visiting places I've never seen before... and travelling with a friend whom I've never travel with before. Before I get into that... let me just clarify why I made this spontaneous decision to travel.

After receiving a few "Please take your leave this December for vacation" emails... and realising that my project will most likely hit its peak only in January... it set me thinking maybe I should go on leave before the madness begins.

Of course... with my parents moving into their new place this month... technically... I should be taking leave to help them with their unpacking and stuff. However, being the usual 'unfilial' daughter... I just felt like getting myself out of Singapore. (Disclaimer: I will be helping with some parts of the BIG move before I go for my vacation lah...)

So I started the search online for air ticket deals on Thursday... which throws up some of the following options:

1. Hong Kong / Macau - not too keen cos I just went there last year...

2. Taiwan - bestie is travelling in Taiwan with the bf for two weeks... would love to go too but I'm not invited to be a light-bulb... so enough said... plus... I'll be paying a premium for the period that I intend to travel. It would probably be cheaper if I go for a tour package I think.

3. Bali - given it's the rainy season... I'll be stuck indoors than going on the beach... so nadah... I don't fancy going Bali alone either...

4. Malaysia - the family's not a FAN of me going to Malaysia... so enough said...

5. Australia - I need to rent a car if I'm going to visit Australia... which the family would disapproves of... since I'm quite a lousy driver... haha

6. Korea - Same thing with Taiwan... feel like saving the miles and flying there when I can get clothes for the right season that suits Singapore weather. In any case, the family's a FAN of visiting korea... so I can get them to travel there with me sometime next year I think. Plus... it's also cheaper if I go with a tour package.

On Friday itself... I was still thinking of whether to continue my search for a vacation location when I decided to check on my friend's vacation planning progress.

Turns out that he hasn't book his tickets yet and well... technically he did ask if I wanna join... (though he might have meant it jokingly)... haha... and so I said I was considering about going. With my project manager's official approval for the leave plans, I told him he can go ahead to book the tickets.

So with the air-tickets settled... we've progressed to booking our lodging for our China trip. So far the hotels we've booked seems really nice... :) Definitely much better than those that I stayed in London. Hehe...

I've also reached out to my Shanghai office friends... and fortunately Donald (whom we've termed as Yi-Ge) is free to meet up for a meal and drinks. Really looking forward to meeting up Yi-Ge anyway since it's been almost one year since he left Singapore. Time to update him on all the happenings after he left Singapore.

I probably may also meet up with an acquaintance Mr M. if he has no business trip around the period that I'm visiting.

In addition, I also dropped my cousin an email to inform her about my vacation plans as she's based in China. Sometimes she travels to Shanghai for business trips... so we can meet up if she's going to be there.

Alrighty... that's all for now.

Pet peeves...

2010-11-23T19:29:00.000+08:00

Most friends would probably know by now that a major pet peeve of mine is any friend who gets too absorbed with their phone (either calling or messaging) when they're supposed to be spending time with me. Most would probably recall the episode of how peeved i was with mr mushroom in NYC that I blogged about in year 2008.

In any case, while having lunch with EA (who happens to be related to mushroom), I started telling her about another pet peeve of mine which I termed as the msn cliff-hanger...

To cut the story short... It's simply any one who pings you out of blue and leaves the conversation hanging after you bothered to make an intelligent response... While I am not expecting Nobel Prize worthy equivalent sort of dialogue to take place... It does make me wonder why I even bother to respond to the person in the first place when the person has no intention of really conversing with me.

There's also another thing that I can't stand is when people starts a conversation with *yawnz*... And more than often, you realize the person only pinged you because he or she had nothing better to do... And then the person tops it up with the cliff hanger... Seriously... Do I look like the sort of person who would entertain you just because you're bored!!!!

No wonder I get so tempted to block and delete such folks off my msn.

Sent from my fruity mobile

Lord of the Ring...

2010-11-11T23:41:00.000+08:00

On my recent visit to London, I popped by Bvlgari at the Heathrow Terminal and got instantly attracted to the B.Zero1 ring... Initially I wanted to get the version with black ceramic... but it didn't look that great on my finger... so the salesperson introduced me to the plain version which I really liked alot.

Typically I don't buy things on a whim... but for some reason... I just decided to buy it on the spot. When I stepped out of the shop happily after making the purchase, I then realise if I don't start running... I'm going to miss my flight cos the gates were closing for my flight! So yeah... something that is also not very typical for me... cos I am usually at the gate at least 30 minutes before boarding starts...

In any case, the ring size was actually intended to fit my ring finger.

To cut the story short... a friend suddenly commented to me over dinner last week that I shouldn't be wearing on my ring finger. So I tried it on my left hand middle finger and found that fitted the finger though not as comfortably as it would have been with the ring finger. Nevertheless, I was still able to remove the ring with a little tug. However, when I tried it on my right hand... that's when I knew I did something silly... cos it got stuck... *dum dum dum dum*...

And probably due to the many things that I tried to do to remove the ring that very night... I ended up causing tissue inflammation around my middle finger... removing the ring from my swollen fat middle finger was next to impossible.

Hence, I went to see the doctor on the following day... got some medication... was advised to give it some rest till the swelling goes off... before I attempt to remove the ring with lots of soap and water.

In any case... I'm still living with that ring on my finger simply even though the swelling has gone down as the skin has not recovered fully. Not to mention, attempts to use soap and water to remove the ring has not gone too well so far.

I may have to attempt another technique that I learnt online when the skin is fully recovered. However, for this technique, I'll need somebody to help in this case... as it involves winding dental floss round the finger to constrict it and allow the ring to slip down the constricted finger.

If all else fails... I'll just have to wear the ring till the day I feel that I am ready to get it cut off... as I've stated explicitly to a friend... I rather cut the ring off than my finger off when he joked that I should cut the finger to get the ring off and attached back my finger.

The doctor did assure me that he had experienced cutting Cartier rings anyway... so a Bvlgari 3-band ring is nothing to him.

If I've any particular thoughts on this episode... it's like an alternative version of Lord of the Rings... here I am with my object of desire but I'm desperately trying to get it off my finger. Hah...

an energizing evening...

2010-10-27T23:10:00.002+08:00

To be honest... going back to work after two long weeks of break is not easy... especially when I'm still feeling kinda jetlagged and tired... in fact, I almost decided not to go for a SMU senior-clique dinner gathering yesterday as I felt really tired... but I'm glad that I made up my mind to go in the end.

Met up with senior EB at the basement of Raffles City as I know about the new pathway to Esplanade which would be a shorter route from the train station to Marina Square.

Although we were supposed to meet at 8.15pm... it was 8.30pm when both of us got to Marina Square and surprisingly we were the first to arrive.

Turns out that our guest-of-honor Mr. M for the night took the long route via CityLink... although he was also at Raffles City initially. Then Crappy V arrived minutes after M did.

I was pleasantly surprised anyway when V gave me a souvenir from Paris cos I wasn't expecting anything from him... Felt kinda paiseh that I didn't get him anything from London... cos he also visited UK around the same time as me and so I didn't think of getting him anyway. Just too bad that we couldn't meet each other as he had to leave for France a day before I got myself to London from MK. Muahaha... so much for saying he'll be my PT-BF when we are in London. =P

In any case, we decided to go to MOF instead of Imperial Treasures for dinner as I had enough of chinese food after attending 1 wedding lunch on Saturday afternoon, 1 wedding dinner on Saturday evening, my granny's 85th birthday lunch on Sunday and a wedding dinner on Monday evening...

Mag and Wil came shortly after... and soon we were having really funny conversations... such as when Mag said she specially left work early for us... and so V and I replied that we could drive her back to work later after dinner... haha...

And when Wil mentioned about customer complaints... EB joked that the following statement can be read as a compliment too...你好...你给我记住 (to be said in a threatening manner)...

After dinner ended, we decided to go to Mac for drinks as the restaurant closed relatively early and we still wanted to hang out a little later... EB and I decided to test out Facetime on our phone as there was WiFi at Mac. However it took me quite a while before I got connected to the WiFi... but it was pretty cool when we got Facetime on... :)

V even bothered to test out how well it works by walking out of Mac with my phone... haha... =)
He left his phone behind in Mac and I jokingly told EB that I should dial someone up with his phone...

It was truly a fun night with an energizing bunch of fun seniors... I'm glad that I didn't skip the dinner gathering... :)

when okie isn't okie...

2010-10-27T22:28:00.000+08:00

Realised I've a habit of giving monosyllabic answers when I'm not happy. So yes, there are times when okie doesn't mean okie, alright?

In any case... I'm also a tad annoyed with myself I guess... since I got myself bothered over something that's deemed as nothing. :(

Enough with the unhappy faces anyway... not when there were many happy and funny things that I had originally wanted to blog about it from yesterday evening... alrighty... on to my happy blog entry.

loving the iPhone...

2010-10-14T04:36:00.000+08:00

For the longest time, I didn't want to commit myself to any data plan contract... but I'm glad I did with my recent purchase of the iPhone.

Twice, I had the occasion of being out of home without the gym group exercise schedule in hand. With my iPhone, I could quickly go online to check and make my plans on which gym to go to for my yoga or body-balance classes.

The games (some free and some that I bothered to pay for) have been really entertaining too... I'm so addicted to pocket frogs at the moment anyway...

As for IM, I'm currently using Meebo... and I think I'm so used to sending messages on Meebo that even when I receive a normal sms... I'll hit 'send' at the end of each statement... and send out more sms-es than required. Oops...

I also managed to download some apps that would probably be useful to navigate my way around London for this vacation. :)

So yupz... I'm loving the iPhone... :)

on weddings and babies...

2010-10-04T00:36:00.000+08:00

Suddenly... it's the time when I find myself bombarded with news of friends getting married. In fact, I've got a grand total of 5 wedding invites for the month of October... and I'll be attending three of the celebrations cos one takes place while I'm in London... while the other simply clashed with another wedding invite...

Oct 23 is actually quite a hot date as I know of 4 couples who are having their wedding celebrations on the day itself... so I got into a discussion with the PF on wedding dates cos he also has many wedding invites in the month of september and october. Predictably... there are probably going to be many people getting married on 20.10.2010... and i then said the next hot date for 2011 would probably be 20.11.2011... which he jokingly asked if I planned to get married on that day... so I said, "my personal belief is married in haste, repent at leisure... 20.12.2012 is probably a better date... *lol*... of course... after 2012... it'll be a long time before we see such patterns in date... so PF said... the next date would probably be 02.02.2020... and I'll be really old by the time that date arrives!!

Anyway... interestingly... one of my cousins actually registered her marriage on 20.06.2006... and she was even interviewed on TV then...

Then I met up with EA on Saturday for a belated birthday celebration with her. As I was at Raffles City on Friday evening, I dropped by Thomas Sabo to find a suitable gift for her... something to mark her pending motherhood... and so the salesperson suggested getting a pram charm... which I felt was really apt... :)

Really glad that EA love the present... hehe... hopefully there will more BB Hoo(s) in the family... then I can add more baby charms to her bracelet.

Sometimes I find it amazing how women in the past give birth to so many kids... and manage a big family... one fine example would probably be my grandmother... who gave birth to 9 or 10 kids (cannot recall whether I had two additional uncles or one additional uncle who passed away at young age) over the span of 17 years... but of course... my grandmother was fortunate that she had a really filial and capable eldest daughter who took on the mothering role and helped to care for her younger siblings.

These days... whenever I tell people about a colleague whose sister gave birth to triplets... the instant comment is... can close shop/factory liao... haha... indeed it's very unlikely that people would want to give birth to so many kids... and there are many people who don't even want kids at all.

As for moi... coming from a family that adores children... I think the ideal number is probably two or three children... hehe... and I'll make sure that they learn the right things from my darling nephew Jerry who's such a caring and sweet child... and if they are boys... I promise I will definitely train them to do household chores and not leave their poor sister to do the chores alone!!

Why I should stick with going to ...

2010-10-02T01:07:00.000+08:00

Last month was an unusual month as I went ktv on three consecutive weekends.

The first was to k-box where I had to deal with Mr. Amnesic...

The second time was to Partyworld and everything went really well...

The third time was to k-suites after a lovely dinner at Chikuwa-Tei. It was actually all fine at the suites till somebody started playing a fool by throwing the semi-hard cushion at me while I was singing with a microphone in hand. The mike hit against my right front tooth due to the impact of the cushion that headed for my face.

It was such a bad hit that the side of my lovely tooth got chipped off... And obviously I got really upset and traumatized... :'(

Concluded that I should consider sticking with partyworld in future since I never had strange stuff happening to me when I frequent them in the past.

In the mean time, I should also consider filing a suit against Mr. Voon for causing me so much trauma and distress... And he's also responsible for finding me a BF if I remain single due to my chipped tooth.

Sent from my fruity mobile

On gentleness...

2010-10-02T00:50:00.000+08:00

A few days back, the analyst said I had an operator voice when I made a phone call to a very important client... She added that I sounded very 'wen rou'...

And just a couple of hours ago, I met a friend at the association... And she had a similar comment that I look very gentle today...

Hmm... Is it time to reflect on whether I've been too 'un-gentle' all these while?

Sent from my fruity mobile - signature is inspired by a particular senior of mine

Blogging from my new phone

2010-09-28T08:47:00.000+08:00

Sheepo has finally succumbed to the iphone temptation...

Got the 16gb phone from singtel shop@bugis on last Saturday.

While the deal wasn't fantastic, it helped having the capitaland mall vouchers to offset $550 of the phone and AppleCare cost.

So far the phone experience has been pretty alright. And so the purchase feels justifiable. :-)

Sent from my iPhone

time to stop indulging...

2010-09-22T23:58:00.001+08:00

Lately, i've been indulging in too much good food... which is definitely not good for the waistline... and my wallet... =(

Firstly, I had a sumptuous hotpot meal with my aunts at Jpot on Saturday evening. Given I was feeling generous... I paid for the meal that night with my citibank card ($81 after 10% or 15% discount)...

Then, I dined at Da Paolo (parma ham with rock-melon, crabmeat pasta, sparkling wine) with a friend for the first time on Monday evening. After the delicious dinner, we headed to The Daily Scoop as I had a craving for their ice-cream (I ordered Peach Bum and Strawberry Shortcake while he had Simply Chocolate and Rum & Raisin).
Damage done to my wallet - $66 + 5.20 = $71.20

The very next day, I had a good catch-up session with my former team lead and former project buddy at Prego... my main course was the fillet mignon wrapped with bacon... and given the amount of discount I got from my Feed at Raffles card... it was simply value for money as the bill came up to only $74.74. As this was an overdue treat from me... I paid for the meal on Tuesday.

Total damage = $223.91 in a span of 4 days... and that's excluding my other normal expenses...

think it's really time to stop indulging... and just dine at normal kopitiam for the next few weeks... =P

my second tiny win...

2010-09-22T23:39:00.000+08:00

after winning a pair of movie tickets last week... i received a sms two days ago... informing me that I've won $50 top-up from some NETS promotion... so yup... free ride for at least 2 weeks. :)

guess while some people win big stuff in life... i tend to win the smaller stuff... but well... better than not winning anything at all. hopefully this winning streak will continue.

emotionally charged...

2010-09-22T23:34:00.000+08:00

today just feels like an emotionally charged day...

it's like getting overwhelmed all of a sudden (though i know better that it's probably a culmination of many things)...

think i really need a break soon... break from work... break from commitments... break from the many things that I need a distance from...

well well... 3 more weeks and I'll be flying off soon... hopefully things will look up soon for me.

all the single ladies...

2010-09-18T12:37:00.001+08:00

Got totally blown away by my friend's sister who sang all the english pop songs so well last night... from Mercy to Single Ladies to Womanizer... she was just so good!

It was my first time going to KTV with this bunch of friends and I must say most of them were pretty good singers anyway.

The girls were so determined to find songs that I don't know how to sing... and so I set a restriction on Chinese songs... at the end of the 4 hours session, they found 4.5 songs that they knew and I don't know. Not too sure how much kick they derived out of the exercise... but I'm glad they got very challenged and determined to find all the possible songs that I don't know how to sing.

It was also the first time that I saw so many english song on the selected song list... but I think we all had fun singing last night!

If you're wondering why the title is all the single ladies... that's because on the way to KTV... the four single ladies were driving to vivo... and a friend suddenly highlighed that recently her mum left an article on her table... stating that smart, pretty girls have difficulty finding boyfriends... *lol*... (I have to say... it feels kinda true given that in the car, we have 4 attractive and smart ladies who have been single for quite a while).

Then she went on to say that research have shown that men are more likely to cheat if they earn lesser than their partner... Similarly, smarter guys are less likely to cheat (though Sheepo thinks it's because they're smart enough not to get caught)...

So we concluded that we should find guys who earn more and who has better IQ.

a streak of good luck...

2010-09-18T12:29:00.000+08:00

left home kinda late yesterday morning... at about 8.45am? While waiting along the road for a cab to appear, there were three people ahead of me... one got a cab fairly quickly... while no cabs appeared on the road for a while.

Finally one cab came... and strangely he ignored the other two people on the road and stopped at where I was standing... so i got my cab to work.

In the office, the client had a mooncake-tea-party at 4pm. We were then handed post-its to write something about ourselves for people to guess the name. Out of 20 people, there were 3 who tied with the most number of correct entries. I was one of the lucky ones... haha... a colleague was very surprised that I managed to guess his name correctly... and he even asked me how I managed to guess it was him... so I said it was my PM who said he's most likely to do such crazy things (I jumped off a cliff).

In any case, the prize was a pair of movie tickets from GV. Gonna stash it away till I feel free enough to queue up at the theatre to exchange the tickets. Else I'll give it to my brother who gave me that pair of GV tickets that I had utilised last week.

girl-bonding session...

2010-09-16T23:32:00.000+08:00

Met up with one of my best girl-friend tonight for dinner.

Due to bad traffic, she was really late for dinner... and since I was hungry since 6pm... I decided to order a plate of sushi to munch on while waiting for her. It was probably past 8.30pm before she arrived at Sushi Tei.

We got our favorite sashimi salad and dragon roll... and soon we were on the roll... talking about all sorts of stuff... from work... to promotion... to our common friends... to her recent car accident (so glad that she's safe and sound!)...

From Sushi Tei, we went on to Mykii for desserts and we had a hot lava cake and an apple crumble for dessert.

Amazingly... we didn't realise how fast time past... that it was almost 11pm when we walked to her car (which was parked sooooooooooo far away)... that poor girl walked such a long distance just to meet me... *touched*...

Hopefully it won't be too long before we meet and catch up over good food again.

long distance...

2010-09-15T22:54:00.000+08:00

While taking a break after a long discussion with the client... I chatted briefly with a colleague while waiting for the managers to return to the room to continue on our internal discussion.

To be honest, I try not to probe into people's personal life... but since we chatted briefly about her BF during lunch today... I decided to ask how long they've been together... (apparently 2 years)... and how they got to know each other since she studied in UK previously while he's still studying in the States... (they met while doing some internship in China).

After mentioning that they got together after knowing each other for 1 month... she quickly said that it sounds a little flippant to enter a relationship so quickly. Personally I disagree as the length of time versus the quantity of time spent together during the period of time matters more.

In any case, she said the decision was probably hasten by the fact that they knew they were going to be apart once the internship ended.

Which made me think of the movie that I watched over the long weekend - Going the distance. Haha... but of course the difference is that in the movie, the characters were initially agreeable that they don't want to enter a LDR before they realise how crazy they were for each other.

Watching the movie also made me think of my US roommate... back then she and the BF were like at the opposite ends of the states (she was in Atlanta while he was from SF)... so I'm quite happy to know that both of them got married recently after they had spent at least 2 to 3 years being in different states.

Alrighty... that's all for now.

dinner at colbar

2010-09-15T22:35:00.000+08:00

Was supposed to head to Eunos for a youth meeting... but as I was still at the client site at 7-ish... and the discussion wasn't going to end any soon... I decided to message the youth leaders that I couldn't make it for the meeting.

Finally, the managers decided conclude the discussion and that we were to continue on the next day... so I made dinner plans with a friend who happened to be working in the vicinity.

It was almost 8pm after I was done with my meeting and my friend picked me up from my client site. We both concluded on what we didn't want to for dinner - Japanese food (cos I had it for lunch the day before while he also had Japanese for lunch yesterday and today) as we exited from the car lobby. And soon we were on AYE... he started throwing out ideas on places for dinner... from some Mexican restaurant to Holland Village to Dempsey Place and finally I suggested going to Wessex Estate as I wanted to dine at Pietrasanta.

So we got to Pietrasanta only to realise that all tables had been reserved. =(

Thus, we headed to Colbar which was near Pietrasanta for dinner.

To be honest, after hearing so much about Colbar... both of us felt that the food was nothing spectacular.

I ordered the pork chop chips and mushroom... while he had the roast chicken chips and mushroom.

My pork chop serving was pretty generous as I had two pieces of pork chop while his roast chicken looked kind of pathetic... so I gave him one of the pork chop since I didn't want to overeat.

Personally, I quite like the Wessex Estate as it is kinda rare to find a place in Singapore that gives one the feeling of being away from all the hustle and bustle of city... since the car was parked a distance away... i enjoyed the stroll back to the car.

Hopefully, the next time that I'm back at Wessex Estate, I can get to dine at Pietrasanta.

the human jukebox

2010-09-14T23:02:00.000+08:00

Prior to last Thursday ktv session, I had made plans with another bunch of colleagues to go ktv... and so today during lunch... we're all set for the session on this Friday (as none of them were willing to wait till I come back from London next month)... in any case, they've assured me that there should not be any alcohol ordered during the event... phew...

As we were having lunch at the nearby mall, we ran into two clients who happened to be having lunch at the mall too. We then stopped by to grab some yogurt before heading to my colleague's car with the clients who wanted a ride back to office.

One of the clients suddenly said that we should go ktv together... and she declared that I am a human jukebox... haha... and another colleague said she should keep track of the number of songs that I'll be singing this Friday... the client said it's better to keep track of the negative results since I'm likely to know many many songs.

Looking forward to this Friday's ktv session anyway... should be fun since we're also going to have a korean-dutch colleague and a french colleague joining in the singing.

travel fatigue?

2010-09-13T22:53:00.000+08:00

Normally, I would be very excited over planning for vacation... but strangely enough... the upcoming London trip isn't really generating much excitement within me...

Perhaps it's because I don't have any close friends there... cos for the past few trips... I've been going to places where I've got lots of good friends to visit... and so there's something to look forward to.

Nevertheless, it's time to stop procrastinating... will have to book my ticket... get the ticket extended... then book my accomodation... and figure out my itinerary.

Alrighty... that's all for now...

the LONG weekend...

2010-09-13T00:50:00.000+08:00

After a long night spent in Kbox... I should have been very tired... considering I was up since 6am on Thursday morning... and I only got home on Friday morning - 6plus am...

However, my body clock is quite strange... as I was very awake by 8.30am... with the usual hangover sensation.

Decided to check out the movie timing... since I had planned to catch Going the Distance... and then I popped by Vivocity around 10plus in the morning to get the tickets since I had to exchange my movie vouchers for the tickets.

At about 2pm, Mr Amnesic picked me up from my home... and we encountered a carpark jam at my estate cos it's Puasa and many people were leaving the nearby mosque at my estate.

We got to Vivo just in time for the show... to be honest, the show wasn't quite what I expected (guess that's what happen when one fails to read the reviews and check the ratings from the censorship board). I was probably thinking of "He's just not into you" when I knew that the lead actor and actress were Justin Long and Drew Barrymore.

But well... it's still okay... just that I think I would probably prefer to watch such a show with my gal pals... haha... my bad... since I chose the movie...

After the movie, Mr Amnesic got a call from home to settle his own dinner... so we left Vivo to find somewhere else to dine at. We settled for a korean bbq dinner at Ju Shin Jung... which is one of my favorite korean restaurant... however, as I was still feeling the after-effects of too much drinks... I didn't had much appetite.

When we left the restuarant, we encountered the second carpark jam of the day... as many punters were leaving the building at that time. After clearing the jam, i got a lift to my bestie's place.

At the bestie's place, Ms 33 could instantly tell that I went for some BBQ dinner... guess the BBQ smell was just too overwhelming.

There were two objectives for the gathering anyway: 1. to come up with the gatecrash defense strategy (i.e. as Mr Amnesic termed - the evil plans)... 2. to play wii.

We managed to come up with the plans quickly... I'm definitely NOT the evil one... Ms 33 was the one who wanted all the blood and gore... geez...

And then we started playing Wii... maybe I was really tired... and so I didn't do well with the rhythm and dance games. Left Jes's place around 10-ish... got home... and decided to watch one or two dvd... before I call it a night.

On Saturday, I woke up at almost 1pm... slacked for a while... then made my way to the gym to do my regular hatha yoga. After yoga... I made my way to granny's place for a quick dinner... before heading to Iluma for my second movie for the week - Inception.

Personally I like the movie concept a lot... but I guess I was watching it from a superficial manner and so I didn't bother analyzing the details as much as many of my friends did after watching the show.

It was almost 10pm when the movie ended... and since he hasn't eaten dinner, we decided to leave and find a place to dine at. He initially suggested 1-Altitude but I wasn't too keen as I definitely wasn't dress for a chichi bar. Then I suggested Wine Company... which he initially agreed to... but eventually he made up his mind to go to Brussel Sprouts which was in Robertson Quay. As I spotted Clarke Quay in a distance, I said why not Clarke Quay? So we both ended up at Clarke Quay... and after walking around, he wanted to try Coriander Leaf... as I said I haven't been there before but I've heard good reviews... but the restaurant last order was over... so we walked back to a Spanish Tapas restuarant that we initially spotted and agreed to return to it if there was no other better choices.

At the restaurant, we ordered two tapas and a jug of Sangria... The tapas place was nothing quite like La Bodega (which I went to twice when I was in KL)... and the food wasn't that fantastic... thankfully the live band was pretty okay... and so we still had a pretty okay time chilling out at the tapas place.

Sunday morning was spent at FY's place. Flo got us breakfast from Tiong Bahru market while the rest of us started doing the Exam-encouragement-guidance souvenir for the students... our production line was fairly efficient as we managed to finish making 41 souvenirs by 1pm.

After the morning gathering at FY's place, I headed to the gym for a workout... before heading home.

Dinner was at Aunt Chris place... with my cousin, his wife, and my darling niece. Poor little darling had a fever and wasn't feeling well... but I guess the sight of my aunt's dog cheered her up immensely and soon she was in a really good mood... plus, I took lots of photos with my brother's polaroid mini camera.

And finally my long weekend is over... time to get back to work again.

A night of amnesia...

2010-09-13T00:08:00.000+08:00

Went to celebrate a couple of friends promotion on Thursday evening. The first celebration took place at Harry's where I opted for a cocktail... and munched on mainly the finger food.

From Harry's, i cabbed to a wine place for the second celebration. As I had filled my stomach up with finger food earlier... I wasn't hungry... so I didn't place order for the main courses.

And in their typical fashion... my bunch of friends started doing the bottoms-up feat for every glass of wine in their hand. Not exactly the best thing to do... as I started having the feeling that I could throw up any moment if i drink any more wine.

We were probably the last few people to leave the place... after EH settled a bill that almost came up to $1000.

Outside of the wine place... we suddenly made a decision to go orchard cineleisure kbox... and soon we were on our way to kbox. Obviously my regular cab-pool buddy wasn't thinking at all when he agreed to open one bottle at Kbox... for the 4 of us. True enough... at the end of the singing session... half the bottle was still untouched. This is probably one of the most expensive singing session for moi... since I paid half the bill at the end of the night.

Another two friends popped by our room as they were also at Kbox... and they joined in the singing now and then whenever they dropped by the room.

Maybe because I hardly go to Kbox... (I'm more of a Partyworld regular anyway)... and maybe I drank too much... I had a difficult time searching for the songs that I wanted to sing. It took me a long while before I managed to locate the songs that I wanted.

Within minutes of entering Kbox, I came to the conclusion that Miss Sunshine was so gone as she spent more time sleeping at kbox instead of singing.

At about 3am or so... TY left on his own accord... and around 4 plus in the morning, the two friends who joined us now and then, dropped by our room to say that they will be sending Miss Sunshine home... thus leaving behind me and my cab pool buddy in the room.

To be honest... I wasn't too certain how drunk my cab pool buddy was... cos on one hand, he could sing the lyrics accurately from the screen... however when he kept repeating, "how can the whole group abandon us in the room"... I had an inkling that maybe he is very drunk.

Another tell-tale sign of his drunkeness was probably that he kept declaring how comfortable he was to continue staying in the room... even though it was already 5 in the morning... and every song that i sang... he would say it's too new for him... gosh... and he even suggested that we finish up the half bottle that remained on the table when I knew for sure that was no way we could drink that much.

In fact, it was probably almost 6am before he was willing to leave Kbox with me to go home (after I declared that I needed to be home before my family member wakes up)... On our way out to the main lobby... we took a while to find the correct exit... according to cab-pool buddy... it felt like a maze... and he even questioned my sense of direction (which turned out to be correct anyway)... When we got to the lift... he could even tell me that he watched the movie already when he saw a movie poster in the lift... and then he dropped my laptop on the floor... Urgh...

When we got into the cab... he started asking me about what plans I had for the weekend... and when I mentioned about going for a movie as I needed to utilise my two free movie vouchers... he said he can join me for the movie.

When we got to my place, he wanted to walk me back to my apartment... and so he told the cab driver to wait for him... and he exited the car with me. However, I quickly made him go back into the cab (which was the best decision made on hindsight) as I figured he was too drunk to send me to my apartment.

Guess I shouldn't be too surprised on the next day that it turned out he didn't remember about wanting to join me for a movie... and he even told Miss Sunshine he didn't go home with me (which probably goes to show how forgetable I am... =P )... he didn't even remember how much he paid the cab driver... and he also cannot recall how come he had so many big notes in his wallet (courtesy of moi... who paid him for half the KTV bill)... so for sure... he had absolutely no idea how he was behaving in the room... *tsk tsk*... for all his out-of-character behaviour... I should have just abandoned him in the room after all...

Miss Sunshine also had a case of amnesia... she couldn't recall how she got to Kbox from the wine place that we were at... *lol*...

While EH (who didn't join us at Kbox) couldn't recall who paid the bill at the wine place... (when he was the one who insisted he had enough on his credit limit to pay the bill with his credit card).

Another friend also suffered from amnesia too... as she cannot recall how come she was put in charge for some event during the drinking session at the wine place.

It was truly a night of amnesia... and I'm not sure if I should be glad that I was the rare ones who retained the most memories from such a long night.Sometimes... not remembering too much might be a good thing after all.

For the record: my family was awaken when I got home... and thankfully I'm not grounded... =P...

too busy to worry

2010-08-24T23:00:00.000+08:00

Arrived in Manila yesterday evening only to learn about the hostage-taking tragedy when I switch on my computer to read the online news.

To be honest... it still feels unreal that such a thing would happen... but I was kept so busy at work today that I had no time to be worried about my safety.

Feeling kinda drained after a full day of work... can't wait to get over it and return home for a good rest.

Alrighty, that's all for now.

Dinner and Dance

2010-08-22T00:43:00.000+08:00

Finally had my first proper Dinner and Dance this year after spending 4 years in my firm... although I was given 2 hours off from work to get dress up... I ended up getting home late due to a client meeting that ended at 5pm.

Within record time of 1.5 hours... I got my outfit ironed... hair done... and make-up on my face... and quickly zipped out of my apartment as my cab-pooling colleague was waiting for me to share cab to the hotel. At least my colleague was nice enough to compliment me when he saw me. I had to admit to him that I feel like I was going to fall flat on my face anytime in my Aldo 3-inch high heels... haha... looking good definitely comes at a price.

At the hotel, I was surprised to see many people turning up in costumes... concluded that the firm truly has lots of sporting folks... it was definitely a cam-whoring occasion.

As I had tried the food at the sampling session with the organizing committee people, I didn't really indulge in the food. Instead, I was entertained by the action going on the stage... and I spent a lot of time going around to socialise with all my friends from previous projects.

Although it's called Dinner and Dance... my dance took place at butterfactory instead of the hotel... I was lucky enough to get a lift on a swanky BMW to get to butterfactory... instead of queuing for the cab after the event ended. It was interesting as we had many different level of people at the club... from the analysts to consultants to managers to senior managers and even the senior executives!! Woots... I didn't pay a single cent at butterfactory with so many senior people in my party group. *lol*

Despite being on the VIP line... I didn't feel anything like a VIP... cos I still had to wait a while to be entered... At the Bump room, there were so many people in the club that the servers took a long time to bring our drinks to the table. Soon we were toasting each other with drinks... and grooving to the music... Sure enough, there were also plenty of cam-whoring moments going on.

This is probably the first time at Butterfactory that I spend so much time at the sofa area instead of the dnce floor... cos I realised with my bling bling killer heels, there was no way for me to dance without falling on my face. Not to mention, my feet and calves were aching... so I didn't enjoy the dancing as much as I would like.

At one point, I had someone knocking into me and I had some whiskey sloshed onto my brand new dress... urgh... when I went to the ladies to get my dress washed... I had a girl complimenting me on my heels in the ladies... she even told her friends how much she liked them... *lol*

It was also in the toilet that I realised I lost the scrungee that was holding my hair together in a bun... so I had been literally letting my hair down in the club for a few hours.

By 3.30am... I was so tired that I was just resting on the sofa and watching the people dance... Finally my cab-pooling colleague was ready to leave the club... and so we bade farewell to the remaining energetic bunch... and made our way to the exit. Embarrassingly, I had to cling on to him for support as we walked down the steps to get to level one... cos I was feeling so tired, sleepy and more importantly I was definitely not walking steadily on my pair of killer heels.

After my cab-pool buddy informed the driver about our two destination points... the cab driver was pretty concern whether I was drunk... which I wasn't... I was just plain tired... he even offered me plastic bag which I didn't need at all. Very soon, I dozed off as the cab hit the highway to get to my home.

Luckily, my cab-pool buddy for the night always send me home in his car after company events... and so he could direct the driver to my estate without waking me up... the cab driver was quite surprised when my buddy said he was exiting the cab with me since the original plan was to go to two destination points. Guess my buddy realised I was too tired to get myself home... and so he accompanied me to my doorstep before heading home in another cab.

Still remember two years ago, I was so knocked-out after getting buttered that I don't recall how I remove my contact lenses (all i knew was that I didn't had any lenses on my eyes when I woke up the next morning)... This time round, I was so tired that despite removing my contact lenses properly... I managed to lose one side of my lens without realisation... probably dropped it in the sink after I was done cleansing the lens. I also ruined my expensive dolly-wink lashes while attempting to clean them... not exactly the best thing to do when one is sleepy.

Conclusion: Fantastic D&D... but no more killer heels to butterfactory in future... :P

a quick entry before i sleep

2010-06-30T01:03:00.000+08:00

While I'm still on the topic of phones... here's a reminder to myself.

never buy a phone for mum... especially if it's just being launched... and more so if it's a motorola phone.

got her the dext... and the price got slashed ridiculously low in less than 2 months...

it's actually a pretty okay phone with the functionalities that she wanted... and since her contract ended... and she had to quickly use the $50 voucher anyway... I topped up the remaining amount $198 for her to get the phone early this year.

since i'm not born with fortune telling ability... how am I to know that it will become a free phone now with 2 years contract on the very same phone plan that my mum got?

so the mum would now and then say... haiz... her colleague all ask her why she bought the phone when it's now a free phone... duh...

if i were her... i probably tell them... if i can predict everything... i won't even be working in this firm anymore.

the expat back home

2010-06-30T00:35:00.001+08:00

In any case, most friends would probably realise by now that I'm back in SG for good.

While it was kind of surprising to be released from a project within a day... (I must add it would have been a shock if I didn't wanna go home, but because I love home so much... it came as a surprise to me), I quickly emailed the scheduler back home along with my CC to make sure they have jobs for me when I returned to office the very next week. For a while, my CC was really concerned why I was released so quickly... haha... he must have thought I screwed up somewhere somehow... but of course, I didn't create any major screw-ups. However, it sure wasn't nice to be released so abruptly as it created quite a fair bit of inconveniences for me.

In anycase, for someone with OCD as declared by my bestie and some of my colleagues... it sure wasn't easy to get everything packed within 1.5 hours... as I've a tendency to want to repack if it isn't perfect... haiz...

I guess I could have had more time to do the packing but well I had to attend my farewell lunch and I ended up returning to the office only around 2pm... went around to bid farewell to the good friends in the project... and finally left the office (got caught in the rain, shucks...) to take the cab back to my apartment around 3.00pm...

After some frantic packing for 1.5 hours... I had a suitcase, a laptop trolley case, a handbag and 2 handcarry bags that contained all my clothes, shoes, toiletries, books etc. I also had a Cold Storage environmentally friendly grocery bag worth of food stuff. Which isn't too bad considering that's like 7 weeks worth of stuff. Kinda sad though that I had to discard so many toiletries in the apartment cos I sure didn't had any ability to pack them into my bags... and urgh... I actually left behind my precious stash of Tazo teabags... as well as my medications.

I left the 2 handcarry bags behind with the concierge as my friend said he will picked it up for me and send it home... and the food stuff which he also helped to picked up were given to another girl friend.

After about 2 weeks back at home... I feel like I never really left home anyway. Got right back into work within breaking a sweat... and now I'm so settled in at my new project.

Of course, there are times when I crave for certain food that I like back in KL... but well... there will always be alternatives here in SG to settle these cravings.

And I make sure I still keep in touch with all the good friends that I've made over in KL. With emails, msn, facebook... you can keep people updated on your life till they don't wanna hear anything about it...

Can't say that I miss the expat lifestyle a lot... maybe because I'm too down-to-earth? I'm actually happy to rely on taking the bus or train everyday cos our public transport is actually very reliable... I can do without the free buffet breakfast since I never really enjoyed it in the first place... the daily allowance is nice but it's not a lot that I am willing to give what I have back in SG... dining out every single day is bad for my waist anyway.

So yes... now I'm happily taking a bus to work every day, attending as many gakkai events as I can without relying on people to drive me, eating at food court (yong tau foo, chicken rice, mixed vegetable rice) on almost every day, going to the gym whenever I can and spending lots of time with my family.

Will relish my time back home till I get sent overseas again... :)

the expat in KL...

2010-06-06T21:02:00.000+08:00

Apologies for the lack of frequent updates to this blog... Most days I don't feel like switching on my laptop after I get back to my apartment from work. As for weekends... I'm either rushing around like a mad chicken if I'm back home or I'm just too lazy to do anything if I'm in KL.

In any case... I decided to write a short feature of my 'expat' lifestyle in KL.... based on the following topics...

Transport
Despite having the perks of getting to cab to work and back... I personally think that the cabs here are way too dodgey for my liking. Unless I pay three times the price for an executive cab (which are generally cleaner, nicer and newer)... else... I have to put up with really old (occasionally dirty and sometimes strange-smelling) cabs and drivers who doesn't go by the meter. Urgh...

On weekends... my personal preference is to walk if it's to KLCC... or take the LRT if I'm going to any places that are conveniently located near the LRT stations.

Of course, it helps if I have people to pick me up on weekends... and then I get to go to non-touristy places.

Apartment
Although I live in an "executive suite"... the apartment building is kind of old... with gym equipments that break down pretty often. The kitchenette is equipped with a hotplate stove that takes way too long to heat up and cook food. The tiny fridge also takes a long long time to freeze the ice (only realised this yesterday when I needed to 'ice' my aching ankle). There is no flat-screen LCD/Plasma tv in my apartment... just a really old and small CRT TV... thankfully though, they do have a Sony DVD player which works just fine for me.

Nevertheless, I still think the apartment location is not too bad... I'm about 5 minutes away from a LRT station... 10 to 15 minutes away from KLCC (depending on how fast or slow I walk through the nice KLCC park)... the doorman(s) here are pretty nice and friendly - the moment they see me in the morning, they know I need a cab to my client's place... the chambermaids do a really good job in tidying up my apartment every single day.

Dining options
Breakfast is provided at the apartment (I've got breakfast cards for two... feel free to drop by and visit me... with breakfast on the house). However, I hardly get to enjoy it... cos I value sleep above breakfast... i.e. I'll sleep... and snooze till I only have enough time to wash up.. .get dressed... and take a cab to work.

Lunch is usually a simple affair at the eateries near the client site on weekdays. Sometimes we'll go to the mamak store (called Aji)... where the food isn't really to my liking... too spicy and greasy for my liking. Some days, we'll walk to the alley where there's a roadside store selling steam rice and soup... which is more to my liking... but it's really hot at the alley so the colleagues might not like to dine there... other days, we may end up at the restaurants like Nandos or Kenny Rogers... or even Sangeetah which sells really good North Indian food. Of course, we can also opt to drive out to Weld or Pavilion for lunch... Weld has a pretty good Japanese restaurant (Non-Halal!!) which serves excellent katsu-don. Yum yum...

Dinner is really dependent on how much time I have and what I'm in the mood for. As highlighted above, the hotplate stove takes way too long to heat up... I'll probably starve to death before the food's done. Hence, on days when I feel like being healthy... then I'll opt for salad (bought from Cold Storage at KLCC).

On days when I feel like having something hot... I might just stop by KLCC or Ampang Park for dinner. If it's KLCC, then I'll most likely be at the following places for dinner:

Du Viet (I like their beef pho)
Koryo-won (korean food... which I think I'll enjoy better if I go there with more people)
Little Penang Kafe (penang food)
Signatures Level 2 Food Court (nothing spectacular at the foodcourt... but it's definitely easier on the wallet to dine at the food court)

If it's Ampang Park... I'll probably be at Old Town White Coffee... cos I don't fancy eating Mac... and I think Manhattan Fish Market is only so-so...

Of course, there's also the option of room service... but the menu's not too extensive... so I personally prefer to stop by KLCC for dinner.

Dining out on weekends is dependent on the crowd I'm with. So far, my best meal is Klang Bah Kut Teh... but it takes like more than an hour just to get there... hopefully there will be more people who can drive me out for good meals!!

Shopping
One place that I do the most amount of shopping is probably KLCC... cos it's the nearest and easier place to do shopping. It probably helps that my favorite bookstore - Kinokuniya is there... just discovered that I get discount at the bookstore if I get the Isetan card... time to really consider about applying for the card!!

There are two supermarkets at KLCC... one's cold storage... the other's isetan... personal preference is Isetan as more non-halal options and loads of Japanese (overpriced) products. Unfortunately, as I don't drive... otherwise, I'm sure I can save more money if I shop at other supermarkets.

Other shopping places I've been to so far are:

One Utama (which I didn't get to do any shopping as I only had time for dinner with senior once)
MidValley + Gardens (been there a couple of times... but usually for dining too!)
Bangsar Shopping Center (really posh place... but I was there for dinner once)

There probably are more places to explore in KL... but so far I'm still in my lazy mood... and I've been restricting myself to the places that I'm familiar with.

Alrighty... that's all from me for now.

in case you're wondering...

2010-05-22T21:55:00.002+08:00

yes... i'm still alive. seriously... contrary to what many people say... KL isn't that unsafe.

a healthy dosage of common sense and a higher level of awareness for my surroundings should pretty much guarantee everything to be okay for me.

would love to continue blogging about japan trip... but I realise that my trip photos are saved in my other laptop... haha... so I've no photos to trigger my memory cells and continue with the blogging.

and if you're wondering why there's no pictures of moi in KL... that's because I didn't bring my camera to KL. the battery life is too terrible... and I'm still contemplating whether to buy a new one or not.

Tentatively, I've got the following two models in mind:

The first in mind is Canon Ixus 130... cos it's small and compact with some interesting functions.

The second in mind is Canon Powershot S90...
Not too sure if I'll get the camera next month during the IT Fair... because I've been spending a lot of money shopping online. =P

Just less than 2 weeks ago... I placed orders for the following items:

A pair of boots from Liz Lisa

And also a top and a hair accessory... no pictures cos internet speed at my apartment is BAD... so I can't load the webpage properly to capture the picture.

This morning I did some more online shopping... got myself 3 one-piece (dresses) and some layered vest from Liz Lisa and some other brands such as Jayro and Cecil McBee.

Hopefully I can resist the urge to splurge next month and seriously save money for the camera... and maybe a trip to Shanghai or Korea or Taiwan this end of year.

Alrighty... that's all from me for now.

Day 3 - To Hachioji and Ikebukuro Butler's Cafe (31st March 2010)

2010-04-15T23:54:00.000+08:00

Due to the long commute from Shinjuku to Hachioji (where I was supposed to meet a friend)... I decided to leave Hakone early morning to get myself back to Otsuka. Come to think of it... I should have carried my friend's present out with me when I made my way to Hakone... and then leave my backpack at the train station locker... however, due to lack of good planning... I ended up having to leave Hakone early so as to go back to Otsuka to get my friend's present.

Before leaving Hakone... I went for my last hot spring dip... checked out of the hotel... and had breakfast at the train station bakery.

Breakfast was a nice croissant sandwich and a cup of tea (JPY 600 = SGD$9+). I'll probably get more stuff out of that amount that I'm paying if I'm in Singapore... but well... I'm in Japan... so my sense of economy gets kind of screwed.

After breakfast, I took the train out from Hakone-Yumoto to Odawara. From Odawara, I took an express train to Shinjuku. At Shinjuku, I changed for the JR train (Yamanote line) to get myself to Otsuka. Oddly enough, when I step out of the Odakyu train station at Shinjuku, there wasn't any gantry to re-enter for the JR station. In fact, the Yamanote line was just right outside of the Odakyu gantry area. Hence when I got myself to Otsuka, I had to tell the station master that I had travelled from Shinjuku and he deducted the appropriate fare from my Suica.

Back at the Otsuka house, I quickly drop my stuff... grab the present... check my email (after borrowing the laptop from Yuki for a while)... and left the house promptly at 11.30am. At the Shinjuku station, I got a little lost as I couldn't locate the train line that departs for Hachioji... thankfully, I spotted the correct platform... got on the escalator and boarded the train that took me to Hachioji just in time for my 1pm appointment with my friend. On the long train ride, I entertained myself by watching a movie with my multimedia player.

At Hachioji, I waited a few minutes for my friend to arrive and I was really happy when I saw her at the station. She still look as cute as ever... and it's amazing that 5 years has past since we last met each other... and yet it feels like it was only yesterday when we were both working hard together for the Youth Cultural Festival.

From Hachioji, we took a bus to the Soka University and on the short bus ride, we simply chatted and caught up with each other's life for the past 5 years...

It was a great experience visiting the Soka University... although it was my first time at the university... I felt as if I was visiting a really familiar place. Maybe it is all due to the souvenirs that I've received in the past that contains pictures of the university. =)

As it was really cold in Hachioji, the sakura wasn't in full bloom yet... kind of disappointed as I was told that the grounds had the most lovely sakura. Nevertheless, I soon found myself staring at one of the most beautiful sakura tree in the campus... it was lovely that I had to whip out my Diana camera and take a photograph of it... and true enough the photo turned out to be as lovely as what I had seen for myself.

Walking around the grounds, I saw many students busy decorating the grounds as the new school term would open on the very next day. I also saw new students being guided around by their seniors... and I even found a Singaporean friend amidst the group of foreign students... and it turned out that she had enrolled for a year. Wow!! That's something that I thought I wanted to do... but I guess I never had the resolve to go about it. Need to seriously start thinking about all the dreams that I have and how I should go about achieving them!!

Soon it was time to bid the grounds farewell... after I was done with visiting almost every inch of the campus including areas that my friend had never stepped foot on. We then took a bus back to Hachioji where I grabbed a really really late lunch (at 4.30pm!!) at a croissant store that my friend highly recommended. It was my second croissant for the day... but it was a much tastier one!! With a hug and a goodbye... I left Hachioji and took a train to Shinjuku... and then transferred on a train that took me to Ikebukuro.

I got to Ikebukuro earlier than anticipated... and saw a missed call from Yoshi. He was surprised that I was already at Ikebukuro... and so he told me he'll see me at 6.30pm. So I did some window-shopping and when I got a phone-call from him... I headed to the exit to meet up with him. I must say, I am really good at figuring out my directions... as I found the exit pretty easily. =)

As usual, Yoshi looks happy to see me... haha... and soon we were making our way to the butler's cafe - Swallowtail. Along the way, he started asking me if I still remember the term for female otaku(s) that he taught me last year... and we kidded about him being in a "dangerous" place. As we got near the cafe, we saw a bookstore "K-books" which sells a lot of those adult-theme manga... and Yoshi asked me to pose for a picture with the bookstore as the background. Then we proceeded to the cafe which located at a basement.

Upon arriving at the cafe, the butler started rattling off in Japanese... and I have to say... I have absolutely no idea what was going on. Yoshi only gave a simple explanation that they were welcoming me to the Cafe and that they hope I treat it like I was at home. Then they carried my bags in... and put it in a basket right beside my table... and place a piece of cloth to cover the basket. Then they handed me an English menu... and a Japanese menu to Yoshi. I got slightly confused by the menu... and thought I was supposed to pick out items that I wanted to eat. Turned out that there was only one set dinner... and the food items listed were all the items to be served. Then I had a list of tea to choose from... and so I opted for Earl Grey tea. Yoshi also ordered a bottle of Sakura champagne.

Tea was then served in very elegant teaware... mine was a rose-print teaset... while Yoshi had a different looking teaset from mine.

At the cafe, we were told that no pictures were allowed. In fact, everytime when Yoshi whips out his phone to find the english translation for some Japanese word that he wanted to tell me... the butler would step forward and request him to put the phone away. In any care, I've found an article online (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060424f1.html) which has a picture of the cafe taken in year 2006:

I have to say, the decor is pretty similar to what is shown above... but I have to add that the cafe was actually quite spacious... with many seating areas which are separated by pretty looking lace curtains.

Most of the customers were mainly female... Poor Yoshi was probably the only male customer for the longest time in the cafe till another couple arrived and sat at the table next to us.

The dinner set arrived in a pretty looking bento set. The bento set had three layers... the starter, the "main course items" and the dessert. Besides a pretty case, the food was also pretty looking. Both Yoshi and I agreed that the dessert was probably the nicest thing in the cafe.

We also enjoyed the sakura champagne and after we were done with dinner... we were told that there was one last dessert item - ice-cream. By then, two of us were already very full... but we managed to finish the ice-cream anyway.

One of the butler then spoke with me and asked which country I was from. As usual, I'm the sort of the person who would put my hand forward to shake anyone's hand... and it turns out that I wasn't supposed to do that to the butler... oops... haha...

When dinner ended... the butler carried my stuff to the main door again... and we departed with extra souvenirs from the shop as they were celebrating their 4th year anniversary.

As Yoshi had another party to attend, I said goodbye to him at the train station... and I reached Otsuka at about 9pm. Maybe the alcohol clouded my judgment... cos I took quite a while to locate the right route back to Ryohei's house. Hehe...

Back at the house, I then realised I had a missed call from Karen and I called her back... turns out that she didn't know Yoshi was bringing me to the Swallowtail... else she would have worked doubly hard to finish her work on time just to join us for the trip to the cafe. We then made plans to meet up on the next day for dinner.

As Ryohei was back home when I got back to Otsuka... he started gesturing to me about something which I have to admit... I really don't know what he was gesturing about. He got pretty exasperated with my lack of ability to guess what he's trying to expressed that he shook me by my two arms... *lol*... Yuki then explained that he's saying that the hot water bath is prepared for me...

Aww... so sweet... haha... felt so bad that I had no idea what he was trying to tell me... and I have to say... his big actions in trying to communicate to me that the hot bath water was ready was really funny.

So, I took a bath in the jacuzzi that night. When I was done with my bath... I went to Chi's room to see if I can borrow her laptop. Turns out she was watching a Japanese movie... and so I ended up staying in her room to watch Happy Flight in Japanese audio + Japanese subtitle. I must be pretty good at deciphering the subtitle that I don't think I missed that much of the dialogue. This probably comes from practice of watching Sheepo animation in Korean audio... *lol*

It was pretty late when we finished watching the movie... and then I got back to the living room and used the laptop to answer some email.

Masa who always return late... likes to hang out at the living room to use his laptop... and so I simply stay up late till he's done... before I turn off the lights to sleep. It was probably almost 2am when I went to bed. *yawnz*

Day 2 - Hakone!

2010-04-09T23:29:00.001+08:00

Once again... due to a myriad of reasons... though main reason is probably because I'm just plain tired... I set off really late from Otsuka to Shinjuku and finally got myself to Odawara.

Didn't realise that the Odyaku train from Shinjuku to Odawara wasn't going to be like those nice JR Shinkansen trains that I took previously from Tokyo to Odawara.... and so upon boarding... I realise I was going to have a difficult time eating my bento on the train... haha...

Got to the hotel before 2pm... and then I realised... it was going to take me more than 1 hour just to get to the Little Prince Museum from Hakone-Yumoto. Leaving me with not enough time to take the river cruise... haiz...

Nevertheless... I was very determined to see the Little Prince Museum... and so I took the train from Hakone-Yumoto to Gora Station... and at Gora Station... I switched for the bus at bus-stop number 2 that would take me to the Little Prince Museum.

Personally I like the museum exterior more than the stuff inside... as majority of the things in the museum was in Japanese... I could only stare at the pictures and tried to make sense of the pictures... in any case... no pictures are allowed inside the museum... so that's why I took a lot of photos outside of the museum.

At the souvenir store... I saw sooooooooooooooo many things that I liked... haha... yes... I am a BIG fan of the Little Prince... finally I had to convince myself that I have no space for that many things. So I bought a hard-cover coloured illustration Japanese version book of the Little Prince, ear-rings, a small figurine and little prince envelopes.

It was almost 4.26pm when I left the museum... leaving me with only time to get back to Gora... to take the cable car up to Souzan where the last ropeway was departing from Souzan to Togendai. On the ropeway... I saw Mt. Fuji from afar... as the sun was setting... all I can see is the shape of the mountain. Pretty contented with the sight from the ropeway though I hope there will be a day when I can get to climb the mountain.

At Togendai... I took a super long bus ride back to Hakone-Yumoto. (Updates: I have to add that the lush greenery that I saw on the bus ride from Togendai to Hakone-Yumoto in the previous year looks a little different this time round as spring has just arrived and so the greenery isn't very green). The bus-ride was freezing cold despite being in a bus with heater... I practically ran from the bus-stop to the Yama Soba restaurant.

Guess they must be used to having foreigners dining at the restaurant... as they promptly gave me an English menu... where I saw one of the highly recommended noodle was the curry udon/soba. As there was no more udon... I had no choice but to go with soba. The bowl of soba was huge... with pretty generous servings of pork in the curry.

After dinner, I returned to the hotel... collected the keys to the small hotel room... and then I changed into the yukata provided before heading to the onsen.

As the saying goes... pay peanuts... and you get monkey... this time round... the price of the hotel room (without a meal) is like 1/3 the price of the hotel I stayed at last year (with 2 meals provided)... and similarly the number of hot spring is also 1/3 the number of hotsprints I had at the previous hotel.

Nevertheless... a hot spring is a hot spring... the moment I descend into the hot water... I was in onsen heaven... strangely... I felt so relaxed that I can sleep inside the onsen... haha...

After soaking in the hot spring... I went back to my room... did some reading... and finally fell asleep.

day 1 in tokyo - 29 march 2010

2010-04-09T22:24:00.001+08:00

After a super long flight from O'Hare (with thankfully no screaming babies)... I finally arrived at Narita Airport only to encounter a nightmarishly long queue at the immigration counter...

Saw many PRC(s) in the queue... of which some were old grannies who didn't know how to fill up the visitor arrival cards... guess the tour guide wasn't doing her job well enough to ensure that these old folks are well taken care of.

Finally got out of the queue at almost 3pm... and made my way to the luggage belt to pick up my luggage... given that I was stuck in the queue for about an hour... my suitcase and back-pack were taken off the belt and left on the floor with many other suitcases.

Spent some time re-packing my belongings before I move on to find the Softbank 3G card rental counter. Although there was only 3 people ahead of me... precious time was wasted waiting for my turn... finally someone opened another counter and I was served fairly quickly.

Once I got hold of my 3G card... I quickly made my way to the basement floor where the JR office was to get the Suica + NEX card which was only for short-term visitors. It was a really good deal... only 3500 yen for a 2000 yen value suica and a 3110 yen value NEX ticket. =)

In a state of confusion... I went into the Keio station instead of JR station... *lol*... then I was pointed to go to the JR station instead.

Finally I was on the train from Narita to Shinjuku. Embarrassingly enough I didn't know that I was supposed to lift the barrier up in order to keep my suitcase in place... till I saw some girls lifting up the barrier to keep their suitcase in place on the train.

As the weather outside looks gloomy... and I was not really in the mood to appreciate the sights and sounds of the train scenery... I distracted myself with my Artemis Fowl story (digital version on my ds-lite).

Once I got to Shinjuku... it took me a few escalators before I found the correct platform for Yamanote Line to Ikebukuro - Otsuka.

At Otsuka station... I met Yuki (Ryohei's housemate) who basically guided me from the station to the house... it was literally and figuratively an uphill battle as I struggled with my hot pink 4 wheeler suitcase (which probably weighs like 26kg), a back-pack and a handbag.

The house was amazingly big... with enough rooms for 8 people to stay in. After a quick tour... I unpack my stuff... and proceeded to get a shower at the first floor toilet.

The first floor toilet is very spacious... the first door that opens up reveals a washing machine to the left... a sink to the left with many cupboards... and towels hanging on the right. Then the second door opens up to a jacuzzi and a sauna. Thankfully I was pretty experience and adept with the control board for the heater... and I finally got hot water out from the shower.

After I was done with showering... Yuki had finished preparing dinner with Chihi. I decided to grab a quick bite to fill my stomach up first as dinner with CAS guys was going to be a late night affair. While washing up the dishes... Ryohei came back... and I have to say... he still looks the same... though this time round, he's more reliant on Yuki to play the translator role... than when we were in CAS with no one to act as his interpretor.

I left the house for Shinjuku... and met up with Shinji who was asked by Yoshi to pick me up from the station... we then proceeded to a classy restaurant (name of restaurant was called Mu-mu Nishi Shinjuku) located on 49th floor of the Sumitomo Building in Shinjuku area... and shortly after... Tsubasa, Yoshi and Yasuaki turned up at the restaurant. I have to add that the building didn't look impressive... but the restaurant had really nice ambience... and restaurant offers a really good view of the Shinjuku nightscape.

I had a really good time catching up with the guys. Felt quite bad that I didn't prepare more gifts as I wasn't expecting to meet so many people this time round. Next time, I'll definitely come prepared with lots of gifts.

Finally the dinner came to an end... and we walked back to the train station. (I have to add that I stupidly left behind my gloves in the restaurant... and so Yoshi accompanied me back to the restaurant to get my gloves. Then we re-grouped with the other guys at first floor later.)

Back at Ryohei's house... I met the other housemates... and finally I call it a night...

my dream camera...

2010-04-09T21:39:00.000+08:00

I'm in love with this camera... it just has this retro feel to it... nice... =)

However, rationality dictates that I don't need a camera... at least... I don't have a purpose for a new camera yet...

So I'll save my money and wait till my next big bang holiday before I buy a new camera.

random travel thoughts...

2010-04-08T22:57:00.001+08:00

Always check the weather temperature to the last minute... else you'll be walking around with just one leather jacket in the freezing cold.
Murphy's law dictate when I don't travel with my external HDD... the laptop will go crazy... haiz...
I go crazy at outlet malls... trust me... I end up with more shopping bags than anyone else during this trip. Though I need to qualify that a good 25% of the stuff were for my family.
I am thankful to whoever that came up with the 23kg x 2 baggage limit for US trips. This is one trip where I come so close to the limit!!
All directional 4-wheels suitcase is god-send... I'm grateful to whoever that came up with that invention... simply brilliant. This comment applies to my new 4-wheels laptop suitcase from Muji.
Vending machines dispensing hot tea gets my top vote for best invention of all times... similarly convenience stores that has a rack of hot tea gets my vote for having the best initiatives...
I love my travel pillow... I love my travel pillow... I love my travel pillow... (you get the idea...). Though I wished I had the nice comfy ones from Muji... instead of an inflatable pink-white stripes travel pillow.
I also love my brand-new comfy foldable slippers... super useful in a cold house and on the plane.
Don't ask too much... just follow... the correct guide that is. I got to see the best Sakura view in Tokyo all because of an acquaintance that I got to know during training in Chicago.
I'm too used to travelling alone that having a companion (whom I am barely acquainted with) is not an easy task for me... but I have to admit... there are always good points in having one more person who can share out the load/food... etc...
I actually missed playing the piano... so I'm happy to play the piano at my friend's house in Tokyo. However, I did feel bad to put them through my bad playing... haha...
Prepare... prepare and prepare... lots of gifts... when going to Japan. You never know when you run low on presents for people who have been nice to you.
Care and concern comes in many forms... thankful for all the love, care and concern received during this trip.
It's good to be blessed with a sense of rationality... so that I don't buy too many things that I can't cart home... the credit card bill is already scary enough... I don't need to make it worse...
I love Japan for many things... but home is still where my heart is... super glad to be home when I'm sick... at least I feel I recover faster on home-ground.

how to unsingle yourself?

2010-02-01T23:17:00.000+08:00

haha... not too sure if i've got an answer to the question... but today i was asked by senior if i've made any efforts to unsingle myself after one month into the new year...

I have to admit that i haven't really been making effort in this area... mostly because there are so many other things requiring my attention at the moment. Anyway... it's not like I've been meeting new people... far from it... I see more old friends than anything else... which is probably not a bad thing considering that I've a bad track record for keeping in touch with people when I get overly busy.

I've also been slacking in going to the gym recently... but well... at least i've got a good reason for not hitting the gym... as i've been down with a pretty bad case of flu that my last PT session also made me feel like dying.

Took one week break away from the gym... spent the weekend catching up on my beauty sleep... and I really really felt much better.

Now i'm just hoping that this March, I'll have the chance to recharge myself in Japan... but if I don't have the chance... then I think I should really apply for a week leave and either stay home to rest or fly myself to Taiwan for a break.

Bought myself a new book this weekend and I hope to get started on it soon too... =)

Alrighty... that's all for now.

puppy love...

2010-01-02T02:20:00.001+08:00

Just two days ago, I homevisited a student of mine... she's a really great gal who's full of life... and I had a wonderful time interacting with her... =) Interestingly for the first time in my homevisit, I actually got to discuss about puppy love with my student (who turned out to be very sensible about this puppy love affair anyway).

Not that I've that much experience in this area... but I've gone through lots of crushes... made lots of stupid mistakes when it comes to puppy love... nevertheless, it makes up great memories for me as I recall about the days of going out for group dates... having a friend who actually arranged a group movie date for me... etc... Of course... now that I'm so much older... the term puppy love doesn't apply to me anymore. Haha...

Anyway, I've always been candid about my single status... and hence, not too long ago when I was having a conversation with an acquaintance as he mentioned about his relationship with his gf... I shared with him that in the past few years, I have been comfortable with my single status as I felt this is a good time to do the things I like without any worries about not spending enough time with someone else. More importantly, this is also a period of time where I relish the various opportunities that I've got to polish my own character and personality.

In addition, having grown up in a family where I've got a doting dad, generous brother and cousins who shower me with so much love and concern... not to mention, having lots of great guy friends who take such wonderful care of me even though they're not my bf... I don't really know whether I can find that special person who can measure up to all these wonderful guys in my life. Haiz... guess I'm just spoilt by all my favorite guys... haha...

Alrighty... enough of blogging... time to catch up on my sleep. Yawnz...

no more clarkess kent... i hope...

2010-01-02T01:57:00.000+08:00

After receiving some 'constructive criticism' from my brother... I've decided... no more clarkess kent days.

Hence I added one more New Year Resolution which is to at least put on minimal make-up every day... and to make an effort in dressing up... instead of dressing down.

Of course... this new year resolution requires a lot of effort and moolah... but well... I guess I do like dressing up... just that it's easier to dress down on majority of the days and dress up only when the occasion calls for it.

Nevertheless, as my brother puts it... consistency is the key. I must look consistently good... haiz... a little stressful... but well... I'll do my best to look consistently good from now on. Haha...

Alrighty... good luck to me on achieving this New Year Resolution.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T01:53:00.000+08:00

Just a quick blog to say that I had an enjoyable start to the new year.

As usual, my new year begins with a trip down to TBSC for the New Year Gongyo Meeting. When I was younger, I would head down to the association with my parents... but as I grew older and started staying with my aunt, I attend the meeting with my aunt now. Nevertheless, it's a really nice feeling to kickstart my year with a vigorous and full of life-force daimoku+gongyo. =)

Don't really remember much about what I did for my past new year day one... but this year for sure is a little different as I made a trip down to the hospital to spend a brief few minutes with my dad... it's great to see him looking better anyway... hopefully he'll enjoy speedy recovery. =)

I also went to the gym... and seriously... I hope I can make it to the gym at least twice a week for this year.

After gym, it was ktv session with the senior clique... haha... as usual, i'll get lots of mike-time... and croon lots of my usual favorite ktv-friendly songs. This time round, the ktv session was a little different as we did it in the afternoon instead of our late night ktv session. After a few hours of singing, we headed to a Japanese restaurant at the basement for a delicious meal (I ordered a main course while many of them simply got full from eating the many side dishes). Finally, we headed to the coffee club for drinks and dessert...

Think this is one of the rare time that I spent so much time with a group of friends on a single day ever since I started working. =) It was great fun hanging out with this fun and wacky bunch of friends anyway... and hence I really think I had a good start for year 2010.

an entry to close off the year

2009-12-31T08:18:00.002+08:00

I'm glad to post in this final entry for year 2009 that my dad's operation went well.

To be honest, I did feel a certain sense of dread prior to the operation as it was such a high risk operation that he had to go through. Seeing him in the ICU for the first time after the operation didn't really chase that sense of dread away. Probably that was because of the experience in TTSH many years ago where I saw the last few moments of my aunt in the ICU... she looked so frail as she was hooked up to so many machines... and it really saddens me that I didn't even had the chance to hear her last words as she had slipped into unconsciousness when they sent her to the ICU.

Just like to make a note that I am indeed very grateful for the amount of prayers and warm wishes sent by family members, gakkai members and friends. The power of prayers were so immense that my dad spent only a day in the ICU... a day in the high dependency ward and now he's in the normal ward awaiting to be discharged very soon. =)

Personally, next year will probably be a really challenging year as I probably have to spend time taking care of my dad when the duty calls... in addition, I have also taken up additional responsibilities within the association as well as within the firm... so apologies is required in advance to all my friends if I am unable to meet up that frequently as before (okie okie... I know I hardly meet up with my friends that frequently in the first place).

Wishes for the new year:

Good health for myself and all my loved ones
To attain great victories in all aspects of my life

Cheers to all! Happy 2010!!

counting down to x'mas...

2009-12-19T22:21:00.000+08:00

Truth be told... I'm not overly excited with x'mas... It is the long deserved break after christmas that I am looking forward to.

Due to some personal family reason, I am taking one week worth of leave instead of working during the last week of the year. It is quite a rare occasion for me to take one week worth of leave and not travel out of Singapore... but well... I'm hoping to get a good rest during this one week break as well as to spend it with my loved ones.

Next year will probably be an even busier year for me given that I've gotten myself committed to a lot more other stuff. Nevertheless, I am indeed contemplating if I should start cutting down on my level of commitments to helping out with company events etc... after all, it is time to start putting aside time for myself. =)

Vacation plans wise... I'm hoping to spend some time in Chicago and Japan again next year. Crossing my fingers that I can get to see cherry blossom in Tokyo in April. It's also time to start curbing my excessive spending in the next few months so as to ensure I have ample amount of shopping money when I hit the premium outlet mall, do my shoe-shopping in DSW, stock up on my make-up supplies from Benefit etc, and snap up all the fashionable stuff that I can find in Tokyo.

exchange policies...

2009-12-04T01:30:00.005+08:00

I'm such a fan of Kinokuniya that this year I even requested for my friends to give me kinokuniya vouchers for my birthday...

In fact, I make it point to visit Kinokuniya every single time I drop by Takashimaya or Bugis Junction... and there isn't a single month that goes by without me buying anything from them.

Hence, I have to admit that I was really disappointed by their Return/Exchange Policy when I attempted for the very first time to exchange a particular manga on last Saturday afternoon...

Before I talk more about Kinokuniya's Return/Exchange Policy... let me first relate about another experience that I had at Page One (Vivocity) earlier this year.

As most of my friends know, I got crazy over wanting to complete my Hana Yori Dango manga collection this year. Hence, when I popped by Page One and I saw a few copies of the manga series at Page One... I quickly grab hold of a few copies that I thought I didn't have at home.

It turned out that 2 out of 5 books that I bought that night were actually copies that I already had at my other home. Hence, I quickly dropped an email to the Page One customer service to check on their Return/Exchange Policy. Thankfully, they said that so long the manga are returned within 7 days in good condition (even though I had already removed the shrink-wrapped packaging), I can get the manga exchanged for other books. I was immensely pleased with their speedy response and flexible policy that I got the books exchanged and bought a few more manga from them.

Now, back to Kinokuniya.

Reason for wanting to return the manga was because after flipping a couple of pages... I realise I really didn't like the manga that much. Plus... I always make sure that I keep my books in pristine condition... and hence I thought they might have a similar Exchange policy like Page One.

However, I was informed that Kinokuniya only allows for exchange of manga when it is returned in its original condition (i.e. no removal of the shrink-wrapped plastic covering).

So now I'm stuck with a manga that I don't really like... and I definitely wasn't in the mood to buy many manga from them that very afternoon.

Come to think of it, I would probably refrain from buying any manga on impulse from Kinokuniya in future since I'm unlikely to get it exchange for something better.

コイバナ! 　恋せよ　花火

2009-11-16T22:36:00.000+08:00

Currently, I'm collecting this particular manga series... the japanese title is コイバナ! 　恋せよ　花火.

In English, the title is Koibana! Koiseyo Hanabi.

Reason for liking this particular manga is because I really like the manga artwork style of the author.

As for the story line... it's as usual... a little unbelievable... but hey... it's just a comic book... no need for too much realism.

Now, I'm just waiting for book 6 to be translated and published by 東立... don't really know when that'll be... I'll just have to wait patiently.

the changes over years...

2009-10-28T00:42:00.000+08:00

While I don't actively maintain a diary as I prefer typing to writing... I still keep a diary which contains certain memories of my secondary and jc days. I also have another diary which I bought in Pittsburgh last year when I had nothing better to do but to write in a diary... but hey... that's quite another story which you can refer to if you have access to my limited access sheepo bloggy blog.

Somehow all these written memories and blog entries help me to reflect on my past.. and the changes that had taken place over the years.

I'm not ashamed to say that I was never a popular person back in my school days. Though I must add I do have close friends who were there for me even when others 'slandered' my character. I am really thankful for having good friends who believed in me during that testing period of my life.

When I reflect back on my past, I think the misconceptions about my character and behavior were due to certain misunderstandings that I never had a chance to clear up. People who really know me for who I am... would realised that I never cared much about getting ahead of others... in fact, the last thing I'll do is to screw up someone's chance for a leadership position just so I can get it.

Seriously... even the mere act of helping to do some tasks made certain people believe that I was trying to usurp their leadership power. Personally, I'm tempted to label them as being paranoid. Well, if I had really desired the position of being a chairman or president, I would have requested to be considered for the position in the first place. So yeah... it sucks when the things that I thought I was just helping to do got misconstrued as my deliberate attempt to undermine their positions.

Thankfully... things changed for the better when I entered university. One thing for certain, nobody ever accused me of undermining their positions or usurping their leadership power... *phew*... And I'm quite thankful that I didn't had any more episodes of people spreading malicious rumours or gossips about me.

Over the years, I've managed to build up good relationships with many people in my life... and I'm very thankful to have these people who are always showing me care and concern whenever I'm down.

Personally, I believe the positive changes can be attributed to my faith over the last few years after I started practising my faith seriously in my university days. Interestingly, my experience is in accordance with the Buddhist concept of oneness of self and environment. Upon reflection, I have to admit that my outlook in life have changed significantly over the years... and I have become a much more positive person in recent years. Even my immediate environment seems so much better than what I'd been in during the earlier stages of my life.

Hence, everyday I'm filled with gratitude for the wonderful people I meet in my life... the environment that I'm in. More importantly, I am filled with confidence that I can overcome all sorts of negativities and obstacles in my life with my faith and the support of the people in my life.

p/s: I didn't intend to seem overly religious in this blog entry... but well... I just got inspired to write as today, I'm struck by how fortunate I am to have people who are really really nice to me. Cos last week, I was feeling so down that I simply had to pray hard for the wisdom to overcome my obstacles and negativities. And today, I feel a lot more positive after meeting someone who gave me really good advice and offered me his support if I need it to overcome my current obstacle. =)

happy lomo moments with Nemo

2009-10-11T21:57:00.000+08:00

Yesterday... I swung by Chunz's home to get my twilight books... and I had the chance to put my diana to good use on Nemo...
Both Chunz and I had a hard time getting Nemo to stay still for the photo as he thought we were going to play ball with him... after a few attempts... we finally got him in position for photo-taking.... haha...

Amongst all... I like the one where I finally managed to get a close-up on him... haha... Wen thinks this picture reminds her of The Dog... and I think so too... haha...

Anyway... with Chunz wedding coming in Jan next year... I better learn how to take nice photos with the Diana... so that I can put the camera (and the appropriate lenses) to good use on her wedding day. =)

the big day...

2009-10-11T21:48:00.000+08:00

The big day of EB came and went by so quickly in a flash on Friday...

As most people know... my services as the 'sister' and wedding emcee was secured a long time ago... and so on Friday morning... I woke up super early (with only 2 hours worth of sleep)... did my make-up and made my way to the bride's home by 6am.

By 7am... the groom and the gang of brothers arrived at the bride's home... the sisters had specially prepared 8 questions for the groom to answer... a short video clip of the song 'Nobody' for the groom and brothers to dance to... a short MTV clip of '你是我的花朵' for them to croon to... a contract drawn up by the bride for the groom to read out loud and to sign his life away to... and finally the task to put on her shoes... before the groom finally gain the hands of the bride.

Then time was spent commuting between the bride's place to the groom's place and finally back to the bride's home... and I finally got the chance to put my lomo camera to use under the nice bright sunlight in the outdoors...

The brothers brandishing their swords in bright daylight...

The couple getting into the car at the groom's home carpark...

The couple arriving at the bride's home carpark...

In the afternoon... I had some time to return home to put together my script... re-do my make-up... and by 6.20p.m. I was at the hotel rehearsing the emcee script for the first time with my buddy.

To be honest... I was really very tired and so I had a few moments of boo-boo on stage when I mispronounce some words... and said somethings wrongly... but I guess everybody were too busy enjoying themselves to bother with a CMI emcee...

The most amusing thing that happened during the wedding was probably Song and Jon who had to share an angbow packet cos both arrived late together only to discover that Jon had no red packet with him to put the money in... such a gay moment... hehe...

After the wedding dinner came to an end... some of us headed to Bellini Grande to catch up over drinks... and I finally call it a day at 4a.m.

Really happy to see the senior married to such a wonderful girl... and I'm glad that I was able to be of help to the couple on their big day. =)

The Ugly Truth

2009-10-11T21:06:00.000+08:00

Despite being out late on Friday... and getting back home only around four in the morning... I managed to wake up in time to get out of home for a 11.40a.m. movie at Plaza Singapura...

No regrets paying 10 bucks for an early morning movie (okiez... 11.40am is not early morning... but it sure is early to be out of home on a saturday)... cos I found myself laughing from the start to the end of the movie... I like the interaction between Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler as both of them had great chemistry on the screen... really sizzling hot at times. =)

Of course, it does seem a little unbelievable that a hot girl like Katherine could be single... but well... it was fun watching how Gerald coach her on what guys really want... and seeing how they finally got together (predictably).

A short but sweet visit to Macau...

2009-09-27T20:15:00.000+08:00

The trip to Macau is like a whirlwind affair... we got to the hotel around 3pm... took some time to check in... and then we spent a good 30 minutes soaking in the lush settings of our hotel room...

Really love the bed... and the many pillows on it... haha...

The sofa set in the living room was in the same colour theme as the bed...

By the time we left the hotel... it was already 3.45pm... it took almost 30 minutes on a cab to get to the Historic Centre of Macau where we first visit the ruins of St. Paul's...

Then we made our way around the many other sightseeing spots of the historic centre...

such as the St. Dominic's Church...

and the Lou Kau Mansion...

We were quite charmed by the quaint looking buildings in the historic centre and we had a good time putting our lomo cameras to use...

Then we had dinner at some eatery in the historic centre... before taking a bus to the Maritime Ferry Terminal to catch the bus back to the Venetian hotel...

Back in the hotel... we went to check out the casino and I lost the amount that I had set aside for gambling... haha...

As I'm not much of a gambler, I decided to leave the casino and explore the shops along the canal districts of the building... Finally, I returned to the room to enjoy a good soak in the bath tub...

After getting a really good night's rest in the comfy bed... I woke up at about 9am the next day... took some last minute photos of the room... as well as my pretty diana lomo camera...

After we checked out of the room, we had lunch at the foodcourt which served really pricey food... (think double the amount of Food Republic)...

Then we did some shopping for about 2 hours... where I bought an outfit from Sisley and some more cookies and portugese egg tarts from the bakery...

The portugese egg tarts were so tasty that I wished I could buy them back to SG to share with all my friends... but of course, common sense dictates that it will probably turn bad within half a day without refrigeration (since it takes me about 2 hours to get to the HK airport + 2 hours before boarding time + 3.5 hours of flight time)... so I'll stick with buying the cookies (which probably has added preservatives based on the expiry date) as souvenirs.

We got to the Ferry terminal at about 2.25pm... and for some strange reason... the staff at the terminal started rushing both Ms. 33 and us to quickly run for the ferry... even though we bought tickets for the 3pm ferry ride back to HK Ferry terminal... haha... so we had a good run for the ferry... and got back to HK 30 minutes earlier than anticipated.

At the HK ferry terminal, Ms. 33 had a cool relaxing drink at KFC while I bought a burger to munch on... then we slowly made our way to the taxi stand... and took a less than 5 minutes ride to the Hong Kong Airport Express Station... Actually we could have walked there... but well... we were just too tired to drag our suitcases with us to the Airport Express Station.

Finally, we got to the airport... did some last minute shopping where Ms. 33 bought a LeSportSac bag at 50% discount! As for me, I got two tiny packets of Kee Wah biscuits for Max and CS who specially asked me to buy them biscuits from HK...

Dinner was a quick affair at the foodcourt... I got a ramen set from Aji-sen while Ms. 33 bought some fried chicken set from Popeye's... then we were on our way home via the Jetstar asia plane (with lots of leg-space compared to Tiger!!).

revisiting HK... after 5 long years...

2009-09-27T19:40:00.000+08:00

My first trip to Hongkong was in year 2002... I went for a one week vacation in HK - my first ever vacation funded by own earnings from a holiday job...

I still remembered the shopping and the food... and then in year 2003, I had a sponsored trip to Hong Kong again... as I was representing the school for the business case competition... though I didn't get to shop much... I remembered enjoying all the good food (despite having a terrible cough for that one week)...

So this time round... I'm back for more food... and more shopping... hehe...

Day 1 in HK

To kick-start the trip... I met up with an old friend who hosted my team during my 2nd trip to HK along with his soon-to-be wife, the two of them brought Miss 33 and me to Sportful Garden for lunch as I requested to eat dim sum.

One of the most interesting item must be the yuan-yang custard bun... at first I thought the yuan-yang was referring to coffee and tea... but it turns out the yuan-yang was referring to chocolate swirls around the bun...

After a lovely lunch treat given by Aves... Aves and Coey showed us the way to the Langham Shopping Centre where H&M was located at. They then left us to do our shopping in H&M...

Besides shopping in Langham, we also did some shopping in Argyle Center which kind of reminded us of Far East Plaza in Singapore... It was almost 7pm when we finally made our way back to the hotel...

Then we went out again to Tsim Sha Tsui... took a bus to the Star Ferry Terminal... where we got a pretty good view of the Central night scenery.

Then we boarded the star ferry to get to Central...

Then we settled for dinner at IFC - Tasty Congee and Noodle Wantun Shop... cos we were too hungry to find other places to dine at... while Ms. 33 opted for the more economical shrimp dumpling noodle (approximately HKD$38)... I went for the 滑蛋河粉 which was about HKD$95... hehe... it tasted really good!!

Day 2 in HK...
After a long tiring day... we decided to sleep in later... and it was almost 11am when we left the hotel room...

We took the train to Admiralty... then switched to the train line that took us to Sheung Wan.

From the Sheung Wan station... we tried using the map to figure the way to the lomography store... where I bought my Diana Instant Back (HKD$740) and two packs of instant mini (HKD$135) which were actually overpriced... should have just bought them from any other stores outside... =(

At the shop, Ms. 33 got tempted into buying the Diana Mini... Actually she was quite keen to get the polaroid cam... but it turns out to be quite expensive... so she decided to get the slightly cheaper diana mini which could take both square and rectangular shots.

Once we were done with the shopping, we made our way back to Sheung Wan MTR station... along the way, we had lunch at some unknown small shop selling all kinds of congee and noodle dishes...

I don't quite remember what Ms 33 ordered... but it was served in a claypot... and it had more ingredients than expected... stuff that she didn't eat... *lol*...

As for me, I opted for something that I figured couldn't go-wrong... 皮蛋瘦肉粥... and true enough... it was a safe option... just a tad too salty for my liking... otherelse than that... I thought it was pretty okay.

After lunch... we headed to Citygate for more shopping at the so-called outlet shopping mall... I must say... due to the lack of fantastic discounts... I wasn't attracted by the stuff at the mall... the only thing that really caught my eye was a pair of Stuart Weitzman shoes... which was retailing at about HKD$800+ I think... with lots of self-discipline... I left the shop without buying the shoes... haha...

In the end, all i bought at the shopping mall was a pair of Puma capri pants and a pair of Nike shoes...

From Citygate, we took a train back to Central... did a quick walk around Lan Kwai Fong... where we conclude people walks up the slopes to drink... and then roll off the slopes after they get drunk...

At Lan Kwai Fong, Ms 33 had a sudden brainwave of wanting to take the tram up to the Peak... unfortunately, I did not really share the same amount of enthusiam as I figured it was a long walk from where we were to get to the tram station... and unless we cab there... there were no other public transport available to bring us to the tram station quickly.

So we dropped the idea and took a tram to Causeway Bay instead... at the Time Square, we stepped into Gucci and then Zara (where we met some really snotty salesgirl who turned me off)... and walked out empty handed... since there wasn't any fantastic discounts and the salesperson attitude really puts me off...

Then we met up with Roy at 8pm under the big screen at Time Square... and I decided to dine at the Sun Japanese restaurant... It was a really delicious dinner... and I had a good time catching up with Roy.

After dinner, we headed to Langham for dessert... along the way, we made a stop at Yau Ma Tei as Roy decided to show us the way to get to 恆香 lao po bing store from Yau Ma Tei... then we walked through the shopping area of Mongkok before we reached Langham for dessert.

Amongst the many different dessert that we ordered that night, my favorite is the mango pancake... =)

After dessert, Roy then walked us back from Mongkok to Yau Ma Tei where our hotel was... hehe... although he was feeling very tired... he decided to walk back from Yau Ma Tei to his home in Mongkok...

Really happy to have met up with Roy in Hong Kong... and I look forward to seeing him in SG this November.

Day 3 in HK
From our hotel... we made our way to 恆香 to buy our laopobing... and stopped by some restaurant for our final dimsum breakfast in HK...

Seriously, I have to give Ms 33 credit for attempting to communicate with all the service personnel in cantonese... as for me... I'm too lazy to even try despite knowing some cantonese phrases to survive in HK... haha...

As I was feeling kind of greedy... I ordered too many dishes than what we could finish... so we ended up 'ta-bao-ing' a char-siew-sou and a turnip puff...

After making our way back to the hotel room, we realised we got locked out cos it was almost 12noon... the system was configured to disable the keycards after 11.30am I think... haiz... so we trudged back to the hotel lobby to reactivate the cards... got back to the room to re-pack our things... then checked out of the hotel.

I was almost ready to hop on an available cab outside the hotel when Ms 33 exclaimed that we haven't bought the facial masks from Sasa... so she dashed in... and grabbed a few boxes before dashing out.

After that one available cab drove off... we had no luck of getting any cabs from the hotel doorstep... so we crossed to the opposite and got on another cab.

After telling the driver that I want to go to Hong Kong-China Ferry Terminal which was on the Tsim Sha Tsui side... I figured he should know the way to the terminal.

However, after he drove off for a while and got into a jam along a highway... which seems to be heading towards the Hong Kong Island... I had a strange feeling that he was going to drive us to the other ferry terminal on the Hong Kong Island...

True enough, he was driving us to Hong Kong Island... geez... and he told us that there are no ferries to Macau from the China Ferry Terminal... and since we were already stuck in the traffic to Hong Kong Island... we had no choice but to continue with our journey... *irritated*...

Anyway, with some research done via google... i concluded that the driver had lied to us... geez...

Whatever it is... we ended up at the Ferry Terminal located at Sheung Wan... where we bought our Cotaijet tickets that would bring us to Taipa Ferry Terminal... Finally we were on our way to Macau...

different standards...

2009-09-09T22:38:00.001+08:00

Went clubbing last Friday night... while it was crazy fun... I also noticed some behavior that makes me question what's the point of being attached if one behaves like he's single when the gf is not around...

First up... I saw an acquaintance at the club... at that point in time... I was busy trying to get hold of the PUK code to unlock my phone (long story... it's a classic case of too many things pressed on top of my phone which was in my bag... )... hence I didn't walk forward to greet him... plus he was busy chatting with a girl... so I didn't think too much about it.

After unlocking my phone... I hit the dance floor with my friends... and then I saw this acquaintance again. So I tapped him on the shoulders... and greeted him. He kind of mumbled a greeting and left the dancefloor pretty quickly with a girl... shouldn't matter too much to me... except that the girl wasn't his current girlfriend who happened to be my primary schoolmate. Of course... being with another girl is no BIGGIE... but the dancefloor wasn't too crowded for him to have to hold the girl's hand and to lead her out of the dancefloor. Not to mention, he was dancing pretty closely with her prior to my greetings. While I don't really wanna jump to conclusion... but his behavior was really not what I expected of a 'happily attached' guy.

Second example was a pretty close friend. I kind of know that he's attached for quite a while... just that I never had the opportunity to meet the girlfriend. Hence, when I saw him dancing very intimately with another girl on the dancefloor... I couldn't help but think that must be his girlfriend. However, I was told otherwise by friends who had met the gf already... So wow... once again... it's hard to imagine that it's normal to have to dance so intimately with a normal friend... I mean my normal guy friends don't dance that way with me when they're attached... geez..

So I guess... this is where my standard differs from these friends. I don't think I can behave in such a manner if I'm attached... well well... hopefully the girlfriends won't mind their boyfriends being the way they are.

I love cats...

2009-08-15T03:25:00.000+08:00

While most people professes to be dog-lovers... I say I like both cats and dogs a lot.

The liking for cats started when I started staying in Queenstown a decade ago... (gosh... I feel so old now).

There were many adorable looking cats in the neighbourhood back then... and I had a lot of fun playing with them... hehe...

Last Sunday, I spotted this particular cat having a really good nap at a sheltered area near my current home... hehe... and I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the cat. =)

the kiddy thomas train ride...

2009-08-15T03:18:00.000+08:00

I took the Thomas Train ride at 6 Flags over Georgia... all because my nephew was a Thomas Train fan and so I was very inspired to take the train. Haha... The ride definitely kiddy compared to the exciting roller-coasters that we'd experienced at the theme park... =P

the bag that i wanted to buy in Tokyo...

2009-08-15T03:13:00.000+08:00

I was actually very very tempted to buy this bag... but due to lack of luggage space... and limited funds... I resisted...

Came back to Singapore only to realise that the bag costs SGD$500... gosh... I should have just bought it in Tokyo at almost half the price!!

my last day at the clinic in Japan...

2009-08-15T03:08:00.000+08:00

This is a picture taken at the clinic in Japan... I was too paiseh to take a photo of the cute looking doctor... so I only took a photo of the clinic interior. Hehe...

before i sleep...

2009-08-12T01:28:00.003+08:00

Oh yes... before i sleep... let me blog about this before I forget.

I got a free ride to my chionging buddy's wedding dinner on National Day itself. While I appreciate the free ride (which comes with another complimentary return trip home)... my senior -Crappy V who happened to be from both my beloved university and not-so-beloved high school... first complimented me on my outfit when I got into the car before adding on to say it looks kind of cosplay. *tsk tsk tsk* Concluded that no amount of compliments can wipe out that one single comment of 'cosplay'. [FYI: I seriously don't think my outfit looks cosplay at all...]

And if you're wondering why I referred the groom to be my chionging buddy... that's because Crappy V introduced me to another guest as the junior who's part of the groom's chionging clique. Though the actual number of times I've been chionging with the clique is only about 4 or 5 times with a few occasional KTV sessions???

In any case... the cosplay comment did inspire my senior to request for a change in AstroBanana's wedding theme... to yes... a cosplay wedding theme... and somehow... the conversation led to discussion on Astro Girl costume, banana costumes (think Bananas in Pyjamas)... momo-peaches (which was inspired by the name of the chinese restaurant we were at)... and fruit-'s'-platter... *lol*

Come to think of it, we were probably one of the noisiest table at the wedding due to all these crappy talk... haha...

On a side note, it was definitely an interesting wedding dinner to see both the bride and groom performed piano duets together during the wedding cocktail. It was so sweet and makes me very inspired want to do the same if I ever get married. Haha... In any case, I did volunteer to coach Eric Banana and Astro Girl if they want to perform a piano duet at their wedding.

Not that they would want to do the same thing... In fact, I've a very strong feeling that they will do something very original and it's going to be something that befits their name 'AstroBanana'. Can't wait for the wedding to come. =)

I've already requested to join the attacking team... though the option remains open for me to help out with the defenders... haha... which probably might garner me an ang-bao or two on the wedding day. =P

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

2009-08-12T00:41:00.005+08:00

I'm definitely not in the mood to blog about the Japan holiday. Not to mention, I don't really have time to write a lot lately. So I'm going to take a long break from writing about my vacation till I gets back into the mood. Hopefully, the mood will return when I depart for my next short get-away in another 6 weeks time!!

If you're wondering why I'm blogging after such a long break... well... it's because today, I had the pleasure of catching a movie with my good ol' movie buddy. Come to think of it... most of the movies we had watched together recently were in big groups... so today is one of the rare spontaneous moments when I decided to take a break from work and just go to the theatres to watch GI JOE.

I have to say weekday movies are a really good deal as the tickets are cheaper, with less crowd to contend with... and definitely a higher chance of securing good seats.

Action-packed is probably the only word I have for the movie. Despite the bad reviews by movie critics... I quite enjoyed the movie. Haha... perhaps I'm just easy to please (okie okie... I can hear people saying 'my foot... what easy to please?!?').

It's hard to say if it's worth watching on a weekend... but for a weekday movie... I think it's pretty alright. Plus... such movies are only worth watching on the big screens to really enjoy the effects. =)

Anyway... Lee Byung-Hun was quite cool in the show... and I was quite impressed by his spoken English (if that's his real voice). Hopefully, we will get to see him again in the sequel... =)

Alrighty... enough of blogging... time for bed. *yawnz*

Day 6 in Hakone – Kyoto (8 July 2009)

2009-07-14T00:37:00.001+08:00

Being very determined to get every single cent value worth of the Hakone Free Pass, I woke up super early to soak in the onsen… eat my breakfast… and then I left the hotel around 8.10am for Hakone-Yumoto station so that I can do the complete round trip before I leave Hakone for Kyoto.

For morning onsen… I got to try another different hotspring as the previous night’s hotspring area was available only for the gentleman’s usage in the morning. Many of the ladies were up just as early as me to use the onsen… and I spotted a few ladies who even brought their toothbrush and shower kit down to the onsen. After soaking in the hotspring for 15 minutes… I got myself ready for breakfast.

At the dining hall, I found western style breakfast offering as well as Japanese food. After surveying the grounds, I opted for some scramble eggs, bacon and sausage… a small bowl of yogurt with orange, kiwi and blackberry sauce… a glass of orange juice… 2 mini croissant (which were really delicious!!)… takoyaki… and I was so full that I couldn’t eat anymore even there was so much more other food to sample.

Despite the drizzle… I decided to stick with my plans of doing the Hakone complete round trip… so I made my way to Hakone-Yumoto… took the train to Gora… got onto the cablecar to Sounzan… then on to the ropeway to Togendai. However, at Owakudai (where I had to swop to another ropeway to Togendai from Sounzan)… I was greeted with bad news… the river cruise was closed due to bad weather… Argh… So I could either take the ropeway back to Sounzan… and reverse my path back to Hakone-Yumoto… or proceed to Togendai and take the long bus ride again.

So I went with option 2 and proceeded on to Togendai… where I found the station to be shrouded in mist… in fact, I felt almost as if I’m walking on clouds when I got out of the station… which is a pretty interesting experience. Then I took the bus back to Hakone Yumoto. Along the bus journey… I got to see the Little Prince Museum again from the outside… as well as the Venetian Glass Museum which was very very pretty looking. Haiz… concluded I should have just visited the museum instead of doing the round trip.

Finally at Hakone-Yumoto, I bought some bread to munch on… before I boarded the train to Odawara and then on to Kyoto.

The train ride to Kyoto was very lovely as I got to see more lush greenery… mountains… sea… and different architecture… and at about 2.20pm, I arrived in Kyoto Station.

At the Kyoto station, it took me a while to figure the directions to the hotel (Kyoto Granvia). When I got to the hotel lobby, I was checked-in very quickly and before 3pm… I was already in the room using my laptop to communicate with Kent. After setting a time and venue to meet Kent the very evening, I left my hotel room (which is actually right next to the lift after I made a request for it)… and did some shopping at Isetan before I took the train to Inari to see the Fushimi Inari shrine.
The shrine was very peaceful and quiet in the evening with just a smattering of visitors… while touring the grounds, I also saw some people who were exercising in the area… which makes sense since that place has so many flights of steps… gosh… I really tire myself out after walking the grounds for more than 45 minutes. I finally left the shrine around 6pm… and went back to the hotel to wash up before I left for Shijo where I was supposed to meet Kent.

Dinner with Kent was at a ramen restaurant and besides ramen… we also had gyoza… the food was really good and I thought it was priced reasonably if you compare it to the price that one has to pay for ramen back in Singapore.

After dinner, Kent orientated me around the Shijo area… showed me some of the nice shops that I could venture on my own the next day… and then we headed to our next stop for dessert.

We ended up at Coffee Precious Moments where the coffee is served in huge metal tins (kind of like those in the HongKong café). Besides coffee, I also had the Montblanc which was little too creamy for my liking.

After we were done with the drinks… we walked back to the subway and I was back at my hotel. If there’s anything I love about the hotels in Japan, it must be that they provide pajamas and very nice room slippers… my bedroom in Kyoto Granvia is a really big room… with space for two beds… a sofa set… flat screen tv… study/dressing desk… and lots of floor space. In fact, I think it was just as big, if not bigger than the room I got in Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The hotel bathroom also had facial wash and make-up remover… hence I was very impressed…
The only thing lacking was that they didn’t have a iPod stand… haha… so I cannot play my own music.

The view from my room was average as I was facing the train tracks… but it didn’t really matter to me as the room was very comfortable. I conclude that the hotel was worth every single cent paid!!

Day 5 in Tokyo – Hakone (7 July 2009)

2009-07-14T00:34:00.001+08:00

Prior to leaving Tokyo, Karen helped me out to check the timing of the various shinkansen trains that I needed to take from Tokyo to Odawara and from Odawara to Kyoto and from Kyoto to Tokyo.

As my ankle hasn’t recovered fully, I decided it will be best to see the doctor in the morning before I leave for Hakone. Hence, I set out to see the doctor around 9.15am… and I got to the clinic around 9.30am. The treatment took about 30minutes and I had the clinic director attending to me this morning instead of the cute doctor. Haha… The director started asking me about my travel plans and so I told him I’m going to Hakone and Kyoto… Before I left the clinic, he told me he had a present for me which was some cooling masks to apply to my ankle.

After leaving the clinic, I went to the JR ticket booth to get my seat reservation tickets for the shinkansen trains. I stupidly forgot to reserve the trip from Tokyo to Odawara… but I managed to book the subsequent two trips… haha… which was why I ended up at the ticket booth again later in Tokyo.

Once I got my tickets, I quickly bought lunch from this nice bento shop that Karen had bought dinner for me previously on Sunday. Once I was done with lunch, I then set off to get myself to Tokyo Station from Shin Koiwa. When I got to Tokyo, I realized I didn’t reserve my ticket… so I thought I better go and get the reserved ticket… on hindsight… I shouldn’t have bothered cos there were non-reserved seats available on the train and so I could have just boarded the earlier train to Odawara.

On the train to Odawara… I managed to catch a nap on the train… but I sure wished I had my travel pillow with me.

Lots of leg space on board the train...

Once I arrived at Odawara… I got myself a Hakone Free Pass at 3,900 yen and used it immediately to get myself from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto on the blue Hakone Tozan train. The train ride took approximately 15 minutes.

At Hakone-Yumoto, I located a shuttle bus that was supposed to bring me to my hotel for 100 yen. If I knew the area better… I should have just walked to the hotel cos the shuttle bus didn’t bring me to my hotel directly… i.e. I still had to walk a little distance to get myself to the hotel.

At the hotel, I quickly left my stuff with the reception and set off for the Hakone-Yumoto station again. The walk to the station took less than 15 minutes and along the way, I got myself a nice coffee ice-cream cone to cool myself down.

Scenery along the walk from hotel to the station...

From Hakone-Yumoto, I took the red Hakone-Tozan train to Gora… to be honest, I didn’t really pay attention to the scenery when I was on the train. This was because I was busy studying the train-cablecar-ropeway-bus-cruise schedule. In fact it took me a couple of stations before I realized that the train didn’t simply travel in one single direction… there were times when the train moved forward… and then when it arrived in another station… it would switch directions again… very very confusing.

Once I got to Gora, I quickly located the bus that was supposed to take me to the Little Prince Museum… it was a pretty long bus ride… but the scenery around Hakone was really lovely with all the lush greenery and pretty mountains… I really like it in Hakone. =)

The little prince museum...

When the bus arrived at the Little Prince Museum, I saw many workers at the museum. I then realized it was closed for renovation… Argh… Then I took out the brochure and saw in fine prints that the museum was closed for renovation since May and will only be opened on 18th July. Shucks… anyway… I guess I should have checked before I left the hotel… but well… the fine prints were in Japanese anyway and my level of Japanese is basically almost non-existent… so I wouldn’t have noticed it till I got to the museum.

Read the fine prints...!!

In the end, I wasted about 50 minutes in my misadventure to get myself to the Little Prince Museum and back to Gora. Come to think of it, I should have visited the Venetian Glass Museum while I was in the area of the Little Prince Museum. However, I thought I might have a chance of completing the entire round trip around Hakone… so I decided to head back to Gora to take the cablecar to Sounzan (the ride was approximately 8 minutes).

Shops at Gora...

From Sounzan, I took the ropeway to Togendai. The sights from the ropeway was really fantastic… and could have been even better if the weather was better… in fact, on a good day, one can spot Mt Fuji from the Owakudai stop on the ropeway. All in all, the journey took about 30 minutes (inclusive of waiting time and time to change to a different ropeway at Owakudai).

The lucky cow at the ropeway station...

Finally, I arrived at Togendai… but it was already 5.10pm and the last sight-seeing cruise had left already… Once again… it was bad timing on my part cos if I had visit later in the month of July, the last sight-seeing cruise actually leaves at 5.30pm. Haiz…

Sights of lush greenery on the bus ride...

So I had to take a long bus ride (approximately 40 minutes) from Togendai to get myself back to Hakone-Yumoto. When I was at Hakone-Yumoto… I was so hungry that I had to buy a croissant to fill my stomach for a while. Then I took a quick walk back to the hotel. The reception staff was so efficient that my luggage and laptop were already in my bedroom when I got back.

My dinner ticket was for the 7.45pm slot (the other slot was about actually 5.45pm!!) and so I had about one hour to soak in the onsen before dinner.

I quickly changed out of my clothes and put on the yukata provided by the hotel… and proceeded to the onsen.

At the onsen, I read the list of instructions and quickly observe them. Firstly, the shoes/slippers have to be put aside in a cupboard… and all clothes have to be placed in the basket placed near the entrance area. Once all clothes are removed… get a small towel and proceed to the shower area. According to the instructions provided, one must not stand while showering… instead, everybody would be seated on the wooden stool as they shower.

The moment I was done with showering… I quickly tried the indoor hotspring… and it took me a couple of dips before I got accustomed to the temperature of the hotspring… and it was instantaneous hotspring heaven for me… haha…

Besides an indoor hotspring… there were two other outdoor hotsprings… (a big one and a Jacuzzi style smaller one)… I promptly went out to try the big outdoor hotspring followed by the Jacuzzi style. I must say, I really really like the Jacuzzi style one a lot!! Oh yupz… another rule is that the small towel must not be dipped into the hotspring… it is a BIG taboo to do so. Hence , I had to be very careful to not let my small towel touch the hotspring.

After soaking myself for a good 20 minutes… I went in to soak in a small pool with freezing cold water… then I took a quick shower again… and went to get dressed for dinner.

The hotel that I stayed in was actually a resort-spa… and so they had many sample facial products for customers to use… so I could try their different facial foams as well as facial toner, moisturizer etc… really nice!!

Dinner was a pretty fanciful event… there were so many courses that I lost count of the number of items that I tried… The waiter serving me tried his best to communicate to me in English… so I really appreciated his effort.

One of the many things served during dinner...

After dinner, I went back to my room as I wanted to see if the latest Japanese vampire series was on… as I didn’t know the timing of the show… I tried my luck and switched on the tv around 9.30pm… but it wasn’t shown on any of the tv channels… so I left my room to soak in the onsen again.

When I got back to my room around 10.30pm… the vampire show was already showing… i.e. I missed the first 30 minutes of it. The lead actor is a 15 year old chap and he looks really really cute… anyway, the reason for wanting to watch the show was because there were so many promotional posters around Tokyo on the show that I simply cannot miss it.

After watching the show, I went to the hotel lobby to use their laptop as I finally realize that the free internet service refers to the internet access at the hotel lobby… and not internet service from my bedroom. Given my first day of experience in Hakone contained so many misses, I was determined that history would not repeat itself when I’m in Kyoto. So I quickly did my research on the places I wanted to visit in Kyoto and planned out my itinerary accordingly. I also dropped Kent a message to meet up for dinner in Kyoto. I finally call it a day when I was done with my research.

Day 4 in Tokyo (6 July 2009)

2009-07-10T01:09:00.004+08:00

Day 4 in Tokyo... was supposed to be a day of fun and magical experience in Disneyland or Disneysea... but sad to say... I ended up being stuck with limited options on places to go... since I was supposed to observe the RICE rule for a newly sprained ankle.

The weather was actually pretty bad for going out anyway... cos at about 9am... it started to drizzle... and went on raining till 12noon before the rain subsided.

I left Karen's home around 11.00am... and a 10 to 15 minutes became a much longer walk to the clinic.

When I got to the clinic... the doctor who attended to me first started talking to me in Japanese... and so I asked him if he speaks English. Since language was a barrier for the two of us... we resorted to sign language... and I also used my DS-lite japanese-english dictionary to find the right phrase for 'I sprained my ankle'... and I wrote out the japanese characters of the phrase and showed it to the doctor.

The clinic was packed with mostly old folks... and there were at least 4 doctors on duty in the clinic... when my turn came... I was brought to one corner of the room where the doctor started asking me questions about my injury... like when it happened... how it happened etc... so once again... I pulled out my DS-lite dictionary to find the right words in Japanese.

After the short questionaire... the treatment begun. The treatment was like a 4 step process... first there was an electronic pulse device strapped to my leg... I could feel a current pulsing through my ankle... Then, next was the icing treatment... a huge ice-pack was strapped to my leg... and my ankle was very very numbed in a few minutes time... after icing my leg... some ultrasound thingy was applied to my ankle... in fact some blue gel was first applied to my leg and then the device was moved in a circular motion around my injury to spread out hte blue gel. Finally, my leg was bandaged... Anyway, the doctor that attended to me was pretty cute looking... his nose kind of reminded me of Andy Lau. To be honest, I was expecting the treatment to cost a bomb... so I was pleasantly surprised to realise how affordable the treatment was (only 2,000 yen!!).

Just as I was about to leave the center, the clinic director told me to return then next day... and I wasn't too certain if I will return to the center since my plan was to go to Hakone on the next day... so I told him I might not be able to come back... and so he told me... please continue to ice the injury.

After leaving the clinic, I went to get lunch at a tempura shop near Karen's home.

Then I slowly walked to Lawson to buy my Ghibli Museum ticket... (Lawson is the only convenience store in Japan with the machines to buy the tickets). After fiddling with the machine for a while... and trying my best to make sense of the Japanese characters on display... I finally managed to place order for the ticket... luckily the store attendant came to my assistance... and helped me to complete the order and printed out the ticket for me.

After leaving Lawson at about 1.30pm... I then took a train to Shibuya as there was still time to do some sight-seeing before I go to Glibli Museum (my ticket was for entry at 4.00pm).

At Shibuya

At Shibuya, I wanted to see the Hachiko... the scramble crossing... as well as shops like 109. Probably the reason why I wanted to see these stuff was due to the fact that one of my favorite DS game - The world ends with you - has Shibuya as the setting for the game. However, as I could not walk too much... I limited my activities to checking out the area nearer to the train station.

Hachiko!!

Ooze in Tokyo!!

From Shibuya... I took a train back to Yoyogi... and transferred to the train for Mitaka.

At Mitaka... I took a bus to the Ghibli Museum. It's a shame that I cannot take photos in the museum... otherwise... I would be happily snapping away.

I love all the animations and the displays in the museum. As the latest movie is Ponyo on the cliff by the sea... a section was devoted to Ponyo. However, my favorite animation is Howl's Moving Castle... so I love the section where photos were taken of the Alsatian town of Colmar which is the inspiration for the setting of the animation. Many of the momentos in the souvenir shops were mostly Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service.

I was very very tempted to buy the soundtracks... but as they were priced specifically for the Japan market (read: too expensive for cheapskates like me who is only willing to pay SGD$20 at max for a CD)... I decided to resist and look to other things to buy.

In the end, I settled for a small porcelain item of the character 'Baron' from The Cat Returns... and some other items from the store.

I also went to the cafe where all the items are served with Ghibli Studio dining ware... as I am a fan of strawberry shortcake, I got myself a huge slice of the cake at the cafe.

Towards the end of the museum visit, I went to the Saturn Theatre to watch a short animation which was in Japanese... didn't understand the words spoken but I could roughly tell what was happening in the cartoon. The animation was about some school children who put together a ship... and somehow water started to fill the classroom and soon the ship sailed out from the classroom into the big sea... the kids then captured a huge whale in the open sea and that huge whale likes to laugh a lot... haha... and finally the animation ended with the whale bringing the children to safety as they were caught in a thunderstorm and strong currents out in the sea.

Very enjoyable visit and it makes me feel less bad about missing out Disneyland.

After leaving the museum... I headed back to Karen's home and got myself pack of sushi from the store near her home. Back at her home, I started packing for my subsequent 3 days visit to Hakone and Kyoto... and watched some japanese tv program before calling it a day.

Day 3 in Tokyo (5 July 2009)

2009-07-10T00:27:00.003+08:00

After a long day out on Saturday... Karen and I left her home only around 12noon on Sunday. As I was slightly jet-lagged... I woke up early on Sunday and re-arranged the stuff in my luggage... after I was done with my luggage... I checked my email... update my 'finances'... and had takoyaki for breakfast (karen's treat!).

We went to Kinshicho 0101 as Karen said she has a friend who can get me 10% birthday discount at the shopping center. So I ended up buying a Agnes B Voyager bag that previously cost about 20,000yen for only 11,370 yen.

I also bought a layered outfit and a chiffon skirt bag at one of the shops in 0101. The total bill came up to about 5,700 yen as the items were all on 50% discount.

After Karen left to attend her church service, I went on to Shinanomachi as I wanted to visit the SGI center(s) in Tokyo. When I got out of the train station... I immediately spotted shops selling all sorts of SGI related things. One of the shops even served complimentary coffee and pie to all the visitors. =)

From the shop... I slowly made my way to the SGI Josei Toda International Center... actually it would have been nice if I could enter the main center... however due to the H1N1 situation... it would not be advisable for me to go to the main center since I've been to the States for almost 2 weeks before I arrived in Japan.

At the International Center, I took a commemorative photo which was printed out quickly and presented to me as a momento. I also received a postcard with Sensei's stamp on it... A huge pack of gifts made by Japanese members was given to me so that I can bring it back home and give it to the Singaporean members.

To be honest, I felt quite embarassed to go to the center empty handed with nothing for Sensei... but well... I really didn't know if the center would be open for me to visit and more importantly... the past few weeks had been pretty crazy in terms of my schedule and commitments which means I do not really have the time to prepare anything for Sensei.

In the end, I sat down to write a letter for Sensei before I left the center.

Maybe I was plain tired or just too careless, hence I missed a step when I was walking down the flight of steps in the center to the ground floor. Instantaneously, I felt a pain at my ankle area... but as I was still able to walk... I didn't think too much about my injury.

From the center, I proceeded to the Min-On Culture Center which incidentally was having an exhibition on pianos. Many lovely precious pianos were on display... and all of them look so exquisite... it was interesting to see all the pianos from different eras... and to get to hear the sound produced by each piano... really amazing that the quality of sound improved along the years... Haiz... and the souvenirs were so lovely that I really wanted to buy them all!!

From Min-On Culture Center... I walked back to Shinanomachi to buy some more souvenirs before proceeding to Shinjuku. At Shinjuku... I didn't really shop much... probably because I had way too many things with me... and I wasn't in the shopping mood anymore.

Shinjuku

Then I went on to Harajuku where the shops were a lot more interesting... and the kids there were soooooooooooooo fashionable. Very interesting sights and sounds in Harajuku... unfortunately... it was also then when I started to feel the pain in my ankle and decided it was definitely time to head back to Karen's home.

Harajuku

Karen was quite surprised to see me returning so early... and so I told her that I had sprained my ankle. When I removed my shoes... I then realise that the ankle was definitely very swollen... which explains why I was in a pain whenever I took a step on my left feet. Karen immediately prepared ice-packs for me to ice my injury. Then she went out to buy medication, bandage and ankle guard for me... as well as dinner for me. Seriously... I felt like a little kiddo when she fussed over my ankle... and I also felt bad to cause so much trouble for her. As there really isn't a concept of GP in Japan... I had to specially go to a clinic that treats bone and joint injuries. Hence she googled for the nearest clinic... and wrote down the address so that I can give it to the taxi driver.

After my leg was bandaged... I felt so tired that I promptly went to bed before 10pm... and that ends my Day 3 in Tokyo.

Me and my swollen ankle... sobz...

Day 2 in Tokyo (4th July 2009)

2009-07-08T23:44:00.006+08:00

As expected... Yuki and Yoshi were late... and so instead of meeting them at 7am... I only got to see them around 7plus... almost 8am.

Both of them brought along their other halves with them to the market... reason being... their other halves knew the market better than them... haha...

Initially, I didn't intend to queue up for the sushi at Dai-Wa... however, the moment Yoshi arrived with Eri, the two of them led Karen and I to Dai-Wa straight away. So the four of us ended up at the queue for the sushi. Afterwhich, Yuki and Kosuke turned up... and Yuki joined in the queue... while Kosuke chose to dine elsewhere since he had eaten at Dai-Wa very recently.

The long queue for sushi...

The queue moved fairly quickly... however, as there were 5 of us and it won't be easy to get us seated together... we splitted into 2 camps... I went in with Karen to the room on the right... while Yuki, Yoshi and Eri were seated in the room on the left.

The chef who served Karen and I was a very friendly man... he and Karen chatted as he sliced the raw fish and prepared the sushi set (3,500 Yen per set) for us. Seriously... after such a fantastic sushi meal in the morning... I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with common sushi anymore.

Fantastic sushi!!

After breakfast ended... we had some time to kill... so we walked to Jonathan's for the drink bar... and sat there till the official shop opening time (10am). Yoshi had a meeting to attend while Eri had work to do... so they left but before they left... Yoshi promised to meet up later in the afternoon.

Yuki stayed on with Karen and I... and the three of us headed to Ginza. After walking around some shopping center in Ginza, I realised that the clothes and bags were generally expensive despite the items being on sale. After all the premium outlet shopping and clearance section shopping in the states, the sale in Japan isn't that exciting and thus I wasn't too keen to buy anything.

After we got out of the shopping center, Yuki led us to a pastry shop Quil-Fait-Bon... the decor at the shop was interesting... and made me think that I'm at the sea-side with its white walls and blue ornaments around the shop. The shop was famous for its tarts... which is adorned with lots of fruits. As Yuki needed to leave and meet her wedding planner... Karen and I decided to dine at the pastry shop... we ordered a peach tart and a strawberry shortcake to share. The bill for the pastries and drinks came up to be approximately 2,500 Yen (>SGD$43)... which is kind of pricey if I convert the amount to SGD... haha... but I certainly wasn't thinking in SGD anyway.

Really nice pastries!!

From Ginza... we made our way to Ueno and I visited the Ueno Park. Wasn't quite in a 'cultural' mode on this very day... so I skipped the museum visits... and went shopping with Karen at some place near Ueno. Bought myself a dress (which incidently is made in China...) which comes with a matching scrungee... After some amount of walking about... we settled at Starbucks to rest and relax... Subsequently Yoshi joined us at Starbucks and started to research on potential 'Butlers cafe' that I can visit... unfortunately... the one that he knows of is closed for renovation... so we headed to Akihabara instead.

At Akihabara... I was educated by Yoshi on the types of otakus... the girls that fantasize too much... gay-gay comics... haha... it was simply hilarious to hang out with Yoshi at Akihabara.

We also indulged in taking neoprints...which is a form of art/technique to me... and I haven't quite master it... Yoshi and Karen were such naturals at it that they had interesting expressions and poses for each and every shot that we took. Interestingly the neoprint machines can actually send the photos to Yoshi's mobile mail... so besides the physical copies... we had 2 digital copies. Nice...

Yoshi got hungry... and bought a can of curry to eat at Akiharaba...

After taking the neoprints... we went to an electronics shop as I wanted to see cameras as well as to get the replacement ear-phone buds for my ear-phones... at the electronics shop... Yoshi educated me on why certain cameras are being used by the Otakus... haha...

The salesperson at the electronics shop amazed/impressed us with his level of English. He spoke it so fluently that Yoshi felt ashamed standing next to him... haha...

While we were making our way out of the shop... we saw an interesting netbook with a really cool touchpad... yupz... the touchpad actually had moving animation that follows whatever movement that is made on the touchpad.

Prior to dinner, Yoshi asked if I was interested to see a Gundam machine... so I said yes. The machines turned out to the Gundam P.O.D (panoramic optical display)... basically there are 8 pods set up at the arcade... 4 people will belong to the Earth Federation... while the other 4 will be on the opposing faction - Principality of Zeon. Personally, I think it's the coolest arcade game ever... and it mimics the feeling of being within the mobile suit... and you can actually communicate via headset jacks to request for assistance etc. However, as three of us were squeezed into a single P.O.D to see the game in action... it wasn't a comfortable position for Yoshi to play the game... so he didn't do too well in the second match.

Once Yoshi finished his two matches, we took a train to Roppongi area to meet up with Yuki for dinner at Ichinoya - Unagi. Actually, I had wanted to eat yakiniku... however as we didn't make reservation in time... it would be almost 11pm before we can get into the restaurant for the yakiniku. So Yoshi made sure that we got a table at Ichinoya... before we left Akihabara.

Given it was almost 8.30pm when we got to the restaurant... I was very very hungry. So I told Yoshi I would go with the dual layer of rice and unagi... which turns out to be a really huge serving... besides my main course... Yoshi also ordered side dishes which were really delicious.

As you can see... the shop is really all about unagi...

After dinner ended... we walked to Mori Tower where according to Yuki has the best view of Tokyo City. I agree with her... the view of Tokyo was stunning from the top of Mori Tower.

Interestingly... as the Tanabata Matsuri Festival was coming soon... they had an area devoted for people to write their love wishes to be tied to the bamboo shoots. There was also an exhibition area of people writing down their marriage proposal words... turns out that a lot of the entries were from women proposing to guys to get married. Really forward-thinking...

It was almost 11.45pm when were left the Mori Tower and returned home on different train lines...

A super long day for me... but a really fun-filled one. I am glad that Karen, Yoshi and Yuki had time to entertain me today... =)

Day 1 in Tokyo (3rd July 2009)

2009-07-08T23:04:00.004+08:00

As my plane was slightly delayed in Chicago... my arrival time in Tokyo got pushed back by approximately 30 minutes. As the train to Shin Koiwa from Narita Airport departs on an hourly basis... I had about 1.5 hours to clear the custom... collect my bag... figure out how to buy my train ticket... and figure out which train to take to Shin Koiwa.

Perhaps I was just plain tired after the long plane ride... and I was really hasty in wanting to get off the plane as soon as possible... I left my brand new travel pillow on the United Airline flight. Another reason for not noticing that I had left the pillow behind was due to the United Airline seat cover/pillow/blanket being blue and my travel pillow being in a similar shade of blue... so it got lost in the sea of blue...

Besides losing my pillow... I also lost the lovely handphone accessory that my brother's gf bought for me from Korea... yepz... that anna sui look-alike hand-mirror accessory. Haiz... not exactly the best start for my holiday.

Despite having one of the best train systems in the world, I think there is still room for improvement at least in the area of the bridging the gap between the train and the platform. One thing for certain, I really had a hard time getting my luggage on and off the train from the platform due to the gap and the height difference between the train floor and the train station platform.

On board the train to Shin Koiwa... I met a girl who studied in LSE... and we had a conversation that lasted for 2 train stations... as she needed to change to another train. After she left... I relied on my trusty iPod to keep me entertained till I arrived at Shin Koiwa.

At Shin Koiwa, I quickly located the exit where I was supposed to meet Karen. However, before I could get myself out of the train station... I had to carry my luggage up the flight of steps. And now, I'm already thinking of how am I going to carry the stuff with me when I'm heading home... gosh...

We took a longer way to get to Karen's place in order to avoid the crowd which would have made it more difficult to push my luggage to her home. Finally, we got to her home which is a really pleasant area... Phew... one good thing is she stays on level one... so I don't need to lug my stuff up another flight of stairs.

As we got to her home around 6.30pm... I had approximately one hour to pack out my toiletries... and to take a quick shower before we leave for my dinner appointment with my Japanese friends.

Don't quite remember where the dinner venue was due to my brain being in the switched off mode and I practically relied on Karen to lead the way to the restaurant.

Poor Yuki was waiting alone at the restaurant as the rest of the folks were late. As the menu was entirely in Japanese... I relied on Yuki and Karen to order the food.

Don't quite remember much about the meal... all I know it was really tasty... but what I enjoyed most was to see all my old friends.

The next person to arrive was Ryohei... who told his client that he had to attend a blind date (gokan) in order to get out of the client site... and he had to return to the client site straight after dinner with us.

Finally the remaining people arrived - Yoshi and Yazuaki. As usual, Yoshi was in his humorous mode... and I was really amused by him throughout dinner. He invited along his 'close friend' whom he later declared as his 'girlfriend'. Apparently the girlfriend had just flown back to Tokyo from Hokkaido... and I thought she looked really cute!!

Present from Yoshi... haha... my picture menu...

It's a shame that Mr Animal could not join us for dinner as his project is going through a rough phase... haha... else he would be just as entertaining as Yoshi... =P

As I wanted to visit the Tsukiji Market the very next morning, all of us didn't stay out too late. Thankfully both Yoshi and Yuki had time for me the very next day... and so we made plans to meet at 7am at the market itself.

And that marks the end of day 1 in Tokyo.

chicago!!

2009-07-06T22:59:00.004+08:00

I got back to Chicago on Tuesday afternoon... as the flight was slightly delayed... I was really worried that I will not make it back in time to Tes's apartment. Luckily, her fiance was home early enough to pick me up from the train station... and then he sent us both to downtown... while she went for her lessons... I went to the Taste of Chicago to eat more food... and did some shopping at Macy's.

On Wednesday morning, Tes made breakfast for me... and later in the afternoon, we headed out to town... where we did some shopping at ULTA (which is kind of like Sephora to me but they sell stuff like hairbrushes as well as really pretty looking hairdryers!!)... ate the popcorn from Garrett Popcorn... had a quick lunch at MacDonald's... then I proceeded to take the bus to the Museum of Science and Industry as I wanted to view the Harry Potter Exhibition.

Really nice popcorn... so nice i bought a packet for Karen when I flew from Chicago to Tokyo...

The HP exhibition required timed ticket... so it was only at about 3.55pm when I finally get to enter the exhibition. From 2.00pm all the way till 3.55pm... I happily made my way around the other exhibits in the museum.

The HP exhibition is a must-visit for all HP fans. I love the costumes that were shown... and the mandrakes that I could pull out as they made screeching noises!! I had a really great time shopping around for momentos to buy... there were so many things that I would love to buy... but somehow they feel overpriced to me. So I ended up with the HP scarf... hehe...

I finally got back to downtown around 6.30pm... did more shopping with Tes till 8.30pm... and then we had dinner at Connie's Pizza as I requested for Italian food.

The minestrone soup was fantastic and it had 2 huge meatballs in it... my seafood pasta (cannot remember the name of the pasta) had so much ingredients in it and was very very tasty... the pizza was also really nice... but we were all too full to really enjoy the pizza which arrived last after our main dishes. Tes and Andri treated me to dinner and I felt kind of embarassed as they had been really lovely to me... fetching me here and there... and going all out to ensure that I had a pleasant stay in Chicago.

TThe superb minestrone soup!!

On Wednesday morning, I woke up around 7.15am... while I was showering... Tes watched the morning news and found out that UA system was down due to some glitch and that O'Hare was filled with people who are trying to check in their bags... and people whose flights had just been cancelled.

Thankfully mine was not cancelled and there was no indication that it will be delayed... but all the same, I had to leave Tes's home asap as I might be stuck in the long queue at the check-in.

The airport had less people than seen on TV... probably it was because they finally got the system up when I arrived at the airport. Many reporters were at the airport as they wanted to interview people who were impacted by the glitch.

I managed to check-in my stuff in less than 30minutes (much lesser than the time I took in Singapore!!)... did some shopping within the airport and spent about 3 hours waiting for my plane flight as it was delayed by approximately 45minutes to an hour. Finally, I was on the plane to Tokyo!!

Monday in Atlanta

2009-07-02T15:26:00.005+08:00

Monday in Atlanta... turned out to be a day where I spent a lot of time on bus #12 and the marta.

PMK gave me a lift to the SGI center on 14th street early morning... it's my first visit to the center and I'm really happy to see that they've finally moved to a really convenient location.

Went in to do 30 minutes of daimoku + morning gongyo... chatted briefly with the staff at the center... and I made my zaimu contribution... which wasn't a lot of money as they only accepted cash or check. I only had my credit card with me and very little cash... so whatever little cash I had... I gave it as my zaimu contribution.

After leaving the center, I took a long leisurely stroll to the Marta station... it was approximately 30 minutes walk away from the center. Although it was a pretty warm day... there was still some light breeze... plus it was nice feeling to walk along the familiar streets... felt almost like I was back in my good ol' exchange days.

I've fond memories of this place... =)

Along the way... I realise that my bag strap was almost detached from the bag. And soon, the strap broke off. Luckily I had a spare plastic bag with me to put my bag into the plastic bag. Phew...

At the train station, I bought the breeze card and took a while to figure out how to get myself into the station with the card. As I got confused by the sign on the train... I thought I boarded the wrong train and got off the train at the very next station. Turned out that I was on the correct train... just that they didn't change the signboard. Haiz... Hence, I was late for my lunch meeting with Kai.

Despite the short lunch meeting time (as Kai's lunch break was an hour long)... I think it was a pretty fruitful gathering as we manage to share thoughts on work... religion... life etc...

After lunch with Kai, I took the train back to midtown... took bus #12 back to PMK's apartment as I needed to change my bag and get hold of PMK's pair of shoes which I had helped to pay for the previous day and had found that the shop had charged me more than it should have been... and within 30minutes... I was back on bus #12 to cumberland mall.

Did some shopping at cumberland mall... and then I was back on bus #12 to midtown... and back on the marta to Dunwoody as Wen asked me to at the Perimeter mall.

Dinner was a really nice meal at Maggiano's... I had the lobster ravioli... and shared a big plate of mussels with Wen. We then proceeded to hang out at Vi's place for a while and watched the Big Bang Theory together. Finally, we drove to Krispy Kreme to get my favorite lemon donuts... and then I was back at PMK's apartment. =)

Hopefully, I won't have to wait another 3 years before I see Kai or Wen again.

sheepo's having a good time!!

2009-06-29T13:52:00.003+08:00

The past few days have been pretty much a 'whirlwind' affair.
Training was relatively alright... and I particularly enjoyed the last two days of training.

To sum up briefly what I did over the last week:

Monday - Attended training all the way till 9.30pm... (actually the event from 7.30pm to 9.30pm was an internal simulation competition).

Here's a picture of the training center scenery...

Here's a picture of my favorite breakfast!!

Tuesday - Attended training till 6.00pm... went to the nearby mall... which turned out to be pretty disappointing... had dinner at IHOP... the strawberry pancakes were very satisfying.
(I went out in a rush... so I didn't have my camera with me to take photos of the meal at IHOP)

Wednesday - Hit the premium outlets straight after training ended... about 16 of us squeezed into one huge limo (think it's a hummer version)... and I splurged on clothes from Kenneth Cole... bought lots of stuff from Coach (a bag, a belt, a pair of shades, wristlets, badge lanyards)... got a wallet and a wristlet from Kate Spade... spotted a really nice laptop bag at samsonite and bought it instantly. I also popped by Carters to buy clothes for the little kiddos at home.

Took the picture of the limo that was parked behind the Hummer Limo...

Thursday - Attended some networking event which ended up as a sit-down buffet dinner as we got entertained by someone from the Global IT office whom I think should just make a living as a stand-up comedian. At the end of the event... we all got a book and a headset+microphone (they bought it from Staples) each.

Took a picture of the Fox River... prior to attending the networking event...

Friday - Training ended around noon time... and I received yet another book from class. Think the book would be pretty useful... as I found the training to be really good. Attended the closing event till 1pm (sobz... my team didn't win the competition) and then headed to the cafeteria promptly to grab a quick lunch. Had an awfully long ride to downtown due to heavy traffic condition... it also didn't help that the limo driver had to drop by 2 other locations before arriving at my hotel. I had a really good time in the evening... (which I will blog in greater detail later).

Picture of the Hyatt Hotel bedroom... a world of a difference from my training center room...

Saturday - Ate a buffet breakfast at the hotel... then I made my way to the airport. Think I was too kiasu... ended up waiting about 1 hour 50 minutes before I boarded my plane. The plane ride was exceptionally smooth... and I got there 20 minutes earlier than expected. Due to some mobile network issue... my sms to PMK was sent hours later after I arrived at the airport. Luckily, PMK left home once she saw online that my plane had touched down at the airport... and so I didn't had to wait to long at the airport for her. I did approximately 4 hours of shopping at the North Georgia Premium outlet... and I probably spent like $125 per hour that I was there. Once we were done with shopping, we headed to a house party at Sandy Spring... the owner of the house had decorated the home so beautifully... and I had a pretty enjoyable time at the party even though I was really tired. (More details will be provided later)

Sunday - PMK, Vi and I went to the 6 Flags Over Georgia on Sunday morning... it was my first time taking the roller-coaster... and I finally concluded that the ride is less scary than what it looks... (more details on the rides will be provided later). I enjoyed myself so much that I think I will really love to head back in fall to go to theme park with PMK and Vi again. After spending about 4 to 5 hours at the theme park... we went to Costco and DMK to do some shopping... and then we did dinner at a szechuan chinese restaurant... before heading to the theatre to watch transformers...

So far, I'm really enjoying my vacation... and I'm looking forward to meeting more friends later today!!

First day of summer in chicago

2009-06-22T10:34:00.003+08:00

Seriously... if it wasn't for the news... I won't know that it's the first day of summer in Chicago today.

Anyway... had a pretty long plane flight from Changi Airport to Narita Airport to O'Hare Airport... followed by an hour long car ride from the O'Hare Airport to the training center.

Had a couple of unfortunate moments so far... like joining the wrong queue when checking in my luggage at Changi (yeah... I was in the queue for about an hour!!)... having my backpack slamming into my face when I was trying to retrieve it from the overhead baggage cabin... and ruining my favorite skirt when I attempted to use the room iron on it.

Hopefully tomorrow will improve.

Alrighty... pictures will be uploaded if I have the time tomorrow.

Hotel Granvia Kyoto

2009-06-13T02:21:00.002+08:00

Tentatively, I'm thinking of a 2 nights stay at Hotel Granvia Kyoto.

Quite a shame that I don't have any travel companions with me to Japan this time round... cos the room is really really nice based on the reviews I've read so far...

However, I'm still not ready to make a reservation... cos I'm visiting at a off-peak season and there should be plenty of rooms available... so it shouldn't really matter when I submit my reservation.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I can find good rates for this particular hotel. =)

One More Week!!

2009-06-13T02:05:00.002+08:00

Yes... one more week... and I'll be flying to the States.

As the saying goes... third time lucky... not too certain what sort of lucky events I'll meet when I'm in the States for the third time. In any case... I better make sure that I keep myself healthy... and to take good care of myself... so I won't fall "prey" to the H1N1 virus.

Really looking forward to the US+Japan trip because...

I'll be meeting up with a really dear ex-colleague in Chicago. We've planned to do one-day of shopping in downtown Chicago together.
I'll be hanging out with a good friend in Atlanta for a weekend... not too certain what she wants to do... but I'm fine with a rest and relax mode in Atlanta with her.
I'll be having dinner with my fellow 'grad trip' traveller in Atlanta... he promised to find a good dinner location.
I'll be also having dinner with another fellow 'Gakkai' friend whom I got to know in Atlanta. Probably one of the nicest guys that I got to know in Gatech anyway. He knows where the good food are since he brought me to a really nice restaurant previously for my farewell dinner.
I'll be attending my Analyst School gathering in Japan - Tokyo... with all the wonderful japanese friends whom I got to know 2 years ago...
I'll be staying with Chubby's good friend when I'm in Tokyo and I think it'll be nice to get to know another new friend.
I hope to see K in Kyoto cos previously before he left for Japan... we were supposed to meet up... but due to an unfortunate family event, I had to cancel on our dinner appointment. Thus... it's been a really long time since the two of us met in year 2005. Coincidentally, the last time that we went out together was when he accompanied me to a Japanese Orchestra concert at Victoria Concert Hall.

As you can see from the list of reasons above... it's more people-driven than anything else.

Previous trips to the States were more to enjoy the sight-seeing, shopping and musicals. This time round... I've pretty much removed 'musicals' from my list of "to-do(s)" due to lack of time. Sight-seeing is kept minimal... shopping is well... unavoidable... haha... since I do want to refresh my wardrobe.

What I really relish about this trip is probably the fact that I'm not depending on anyone for companionship this time round... if my friends get too busy... I think I'll be prepared to venture out and explore on my own. =)

the daily scoop...

2009-06-13T01:39:00.003+08:00

Many things in life requires effort to maintain...and my friendship with "Splitty" is probably one that is maintained with more effort on his parts...

To be honest, I have to say that sometimes I tend to be so "self-centered" that I don't really reach out to the people in my life. Hence, it was a pleasant surprise to receive a mail from Splitty sometime in May... wishing me happy belated birthday and a suggestion to catch up over dinner. (Makes me feel so guilty that I check that I have his birthday noted in my calendar again... just in case.)

Due to our crazy work schedule, it took us a few weeks before we finally met up on Thursday for dinner at City Vibe (Clementi). Dinner was a pleasant but late event (as I was stuck in Chai Chee till 7.40pm and I only got to Clementi around 8.30pm). The initial plans was to meet up with Chubby for desserts after dinner, Chubby had some other matters to attend to.

Nevertheless, we went ahead with our plans to visit the Daily Scoop for ice-cream after we were done with dinner at Uncle Sam.

This was my second time visiting Daily Scoop for ice-cream... vaguely recall that the first time was with Splitty, Chubby and Xena. As we got to the shop past the closing time, we had to get take-aways. After buying our ice-cream, we managed to find a "seating" area within the center to enjoy our ice-cream... and chit-chat for a while more.

A really pleasant evening spent with a really sincere friend. Hopefully the next time we meet up won't be too long from now.

happy birthday to moi...

2009-05-16T00:53:00.002+08:00

As usual... birthdays are meant to be spent with good friends and family... really glad to have just spent my evening with a few of my favorite people.

I had initially wanted to have dinner at Ma Maison... but we ended up dining at Sun with Moon... which is also one of my favorite Japanese restaurant. We ordered a main course each and some side dishes to share out... and ended up feeling very 'stuffed' due to the main course. Haha... but it would have been really fun if we could have ordered the way we did previously at YH's birthday celebration.

After dinner was dessert at the coffee club. I must say that the dessert was made sweeter with news of an old pal getting attached... hehe... congrats buddy!!

Anyway, Sheepo will like to thank the following for spending money on her birthday even at such bad economic recession period:
- Diana F+ camera (Brother)
- A floral dress (Mummy)
- A Swarovski crystal pendant and chain (Cousin + Cousin-in-law)
- $$$ (My aunts and my dad)
- Dinner treat (Buddy + Senior)
- Kinokuniya Vouchers (the party gang and their other halves)
- Upcoming dimsum lunch treat (my smu besties)
- Upcoming lunch treat (my rv besties)

Feel very very loved. Thanks!!

in pursuit of 流星花園

2009-04-28T22:32:00.002+08:00

During the last long weekend holiday... i made a trip home... and then I realised that I am missing so many copies of the '流星花園' manga collection. I first bought a few copies from the collection many years ago and failed to continue the collection due to lack of fund (i.e. not enough pocket money). Of course... now that I'm a working adult... I can afford my hobby once again.

Unfortunately, my trip to Kinokuniya on Sunday wasn't too successful as they only had a few copies left... vol. 25, 27, 28, 30, 37...

so now I'm trying my best to fill in those gaps... which is like a few books between volume 1 to 10...
some more books between vol. 11 to 20... and of course... the remaining volumes which I didn't have from vol 21 onwards.

hopefully I can complete the collection one of these days...

my hobby is getting more expensive...

2009-04-28T22:25:00.002+08:00

Concluded that my new found hobby is getting more expensive as I took the first roll of film to the colour lab located at adelphi this afternoon. The damage to my wallet was $14.90... just to develop the negatives and scan the photos into a cd-rom. *ouch*

Gosh... think i'll be better off buying a dedicated negative scanner... and save on the adhoc scanning fees in future.

Pretty tempting to buy a roll of 120 to play with... but in the mean time... i better stick with 35mm for my test shots as i'm still familiarizing myself with the camera.

making friends with Diana...

2009-04-19T20:07:00.005+08:00

Yes... this is my new friend... Diana F+ - Mr Pink...

Not exactly the easiest thing to use... after many years of digital photography... it's hard to take a few steps backwards to figure out a camera that requires you to adjust the lens aperture... switch on the flash... decide whether you want a panoramic view or a normal view... determine the right amount of distance... *yadah yadah yadah...*

In fact, lomography is really good at getting people to spend money... but well... since I've already gotten started... cannot complain too much. Anyway for those who wants to know how much Mr Pink costs... it's retailing at HKD$820 (approximately SGD$160)

Along with the camera, I've got the Diana Fisheye Lens. The retail price is HKD$390 (approximately SGD$76). It's supposed to create the 'fishbowl' effect... which should be fun... Taken a few shots using this particular lens... my grandmama was even one of my models when I attempted using the camera yesterday.

The next accessory that I got is the Diana 35mm Back (which costs the same amount as the Fisheye Lens)... which helps to convert the camera into one that is suitable for the 35mm roll of film. The original back is meant for 120 film... which isn't exactly the most convenient format. Of course, if I am more adventurous... I would probably try modding the camera... however, at the moment... I'm still trying to figure out how to use the camera to take 'decent' photographs (note: decent equals... photos with the correct amount of exposure... and my subject matters do not come off 'headless'...)

I'm almost done with my first roll of film... as they say... the first few rolls are unlikely to turn out well... crossing my fingers that I can get a few nice shots out of that single roll of film.

Anyway, this is another camera that caught my eye... it's a Diana... but not a Diana F+ (i.e. I cannot attach my flash unit on it). It comes with a ringflash which is kind of cool but bulky. This set currently retails at HKD1404... which is like SGD270? Kind of pricey... but i like the colour combo of red and white... very patriotic colours too... haha

Think the instant back would be useful... but it's quite an expensive accessory to buy at the moment... Think I'm better off asking my brother to lend me his Polaroid camera (apparently he bought one with the GF... and the camera is currently with her). This accessory will set me back by HKD$740 - SGD143. Might as well buy a brand new Polaroid camera. =(

Leave is approved...

2009-04-15T22:03:00.002+08:00

Today I applied for my 2 weeks of leave which will be taken after my training ends in Chicago.

Not too certain what I can do in those 2 weeks... and more certainly... I don't think I've got such a big budget as compared to my previous trip. Whatever it is, I hope to get a really really good break from work. If there's free accomodation at any friends' home over in the states... I'll just bunk in and slack my days away.

Anyway, I hope to put my new Lomo camera to good use over in the states... should have more scenaries for me to take... compared to Singapore. =)

Kind of tired at the moment from work... as I haven't taken a long break since my last 'big-blast' vacation in the states last March 2008. Time to start my count-down to training in Chicago this June!!

chicago...

2009-04-12T11:35:00.002+08:00

The first state that I landed in North Am is Illinois, Chicago... however, I didn't get to explore much of it since I was just transiting at O'Hare Airport.

Kind of looking forward to exploring Chicago this June (if nothing gets in my plans that is). It'll be my first time experiencing summer in America... after trying out winter and spring (twice for both seasons)... I think my shopping trip to America would be very much more interesting this time round since I get to see clothes for a different season.

Starting to make a list of shops that I'm going to shop at if my leave plans get approved:
- Charlotte Russ for their girly dresses
- Wet Seal for their accessories (i wanna get more hairbands!!)
- Coach for more bags
- H&M for more updated working / social outing clothes
- Forever 21 for 'younger' looking clothes
- Express Fashion for my Editor pants

So yeah... this time round, if I'm going to be in the states... it'll be a time to devote myself to shopping. Wouldn't mind watching a few broadway shows if i could... but i really don't know if i've got the budget for it... haha... i'm sure to want to spend some money on really nice meals.

On top of Chicago... I'm thinking of a stop-over in Tokyo. Seriously having a mental view of the decreasing numeral digits of my bank account... so it's time to really start planning how much I intend to spend and how to finance all the stuff that I wanna do and buy.

shopping for the purrrrfect present...

2009-04-08T22:38:00.002+08:00

With about one more month to my birthday... I've been thinking of what to get for myself...

Haha... been spending time looking at the lomo cameras... so yeah... toying with the idea of getting one for myself.

So far, I've set my sights on the Diana - Mr Pink... and I'm thinking of getting the accessory so that I can use 35mm film with the camera.

Anyway... see how it goes... if my brother bothers to help me out to buy it in HK... then good....

Else I'll just wait till September and fly myself to HK to check out the lomograph shop over in Sheung Wan which looks pretty cool.

꽃보다 남자

2009-04-05T19:46:00.004+08:00

If you're wondering what's with the korean title... wonder no more... haha... it's the brand new 'Hana Yori Dango' in korean version. With 4 cuter and younger guys (than those fellas acting in the first Taiwanese version which I didn't like at all)... yours truly is very very hooked on the show.

Personal favorite guy is the guy standing on the right... correction... my favorite character in the show to be more exact... since I won't know what's the actor like in real life...

So what's there to like about this character... well... he's like the prince charming... who studied in Juilliard... his grandfather was a former president of the nation... and he spends a lot of time saving the damsel (i.e. main leading lady) in distress... He even proposed to the main leading lady in the show with a ring that was supposedly given to his mum by the grandma (unfortunately, he got rejected)...

Yeah... I'm a sucker for guys who can play the piano well... but seriously... I think the actor is faking it in the show... since they never show him doing the actual finger movements... haha... it was just somebody's hands doing the move... while he sits there behind the piano.

Enough about my favorite character... anyway... I think the story is pretty well-paced... and probably has a huge budget to it since the actors and actresses get to travel to other countries to do their filming... while some of the 'classic' scenes from the comic was retained... there are some adaptations made to suit the 'korean' settings. Even the names have been changed... haha... and they sounded pretty okay... better than giving japanese names to taiwanese faces... =P

Anyway, think this is probably one of the the sweetest photo taken... muahaha... I'll like to take such a photo with my favorite character!! =P

work...

2009-03-26T22:28:00.005+08:00

after looking through what my clients do at work... i suddenly figured that there's a reason why i chose to be in this line after all...

despite the long commute to-and-fro my home and the client site... I must say that this is one client that really really interests me.

maybe I just like the retail business a lot more than public service... haha... and given that the client sells stuff that I like... that's a bonus... now all i really want is that staff discount card... =P

anyway... need to really up my skills and do my best for this piece of work... time is running short... and being under the scrutiny on a daily basis is not easy... so yeah... I really really have to perform to the best of my abilities every single day.

jiayou!!

taking a deep breath...

2009-03-11T22:41:00.002+08:00

lately, the pressure's mounting on me as I attempt to close one project, transit one project and start a brand new project.

closure of a project - nothing new to me... since I'm onto my third phase closure and i'm doing just about the same things. The only exception is that this time round, I have no bandwidth to do the manual labour of printing, photocopying and binding of the hardcopy deliverables. Thus I have to outsource the work to the mailroom staff... phew... that's like 10 sets of deliverables... approximately 5000 pages worth of data. Pretty glad I don't have to personally do everything myself.

transit one project - also nothing new to me... since this is the second time i'm on loan to this particular project. the pressure on me is to ensure that i finish as much work as i can and make sure that the handover is done successfully... cos i really have no time to come back and follow up with stuff once i leave this project.

start new project - now...this is really new... i'm taking on a very different role from what i've done previously. In fact, I'm finally not the smallest in rank. Kind of stressful to dig for material to kickstart this project... although the project officially starts next monday, I've already got deliverables due on Friday afternoon.. Yeah... when I haven't even finish the two projects above. Not too certain how the next few weeks is going to be like... but I know I need to be in tip-top condition to handle all issues that come my way.

no time to take leave... since my leave's not likely to be approved... so i can only take deep breath to keep myself relax...

jia you!!

a final entry before i go to bed...

2009-03-06T00:35:00.003+08:00

What I really like best about my group of girl friends is probably our sense of humour.

Very recently, I met up with CY for lunch and thus CY arranged to meet another friend for tea at Ya Kun after our lunch at Subway. As CY is our 'resident match-maker' and she's been wanting to intro this particular friend to YX for the longest time... so I told the girls that I got to meet the guy that CY wanted to intro to YX. *lol*

GE made a funny comment that very instant which I cannot recall what it was... it was along the lines that she wouldn't want someone else's left-over... *lol* Anyway, to set the record straight... no sparks flew... and I don't even recall his name... in fact, the conversation in Ya Kun was mainly between CY and him... I was just a listener that very afternoon. =P

HW's response was also pretty funny... she went like "you've met yx's future bf/husband-to-be!"

Which was why... with reference to her comment... I sent out an email to the gang saying I've met up with yet another of her potential bf/husband-to-be... cos there's some guy that a friend intends to intro to YX and I happened to have met him a couple of times before.

Haha... well... we'll have to see how things goes then... Stay tune for more details if ever a date is set up for YX... =P

Oops... not too certain if she'll appreciate me blogging these stuff. =P

the age-gap conversation

2009-03-06T00:07:00.005+08:00

Went out for lunch with some acquaintances two days ago. Then I realised that one of them had gotten married recently. Of course, if i had been actively logging into facebook and bothered to check out how's everybody doing; i would have realised it a long time ago. Seriously... who has time to do all those stuff??? Especially when I've got sooooo many 'friends' on it who updates their facebook like every other second??? Anyway... enough about facebook... back to the topic of the acquaintance who got married.

The more interesting thing was that the age-gap between her hubby and her was like approximately 6 years. Well... this may not be interesting to anyone since there are couples with bigger age-gap than that. So, what interests me was simply the fact that she started dating him at the age of 16. And they've been together for more than 8 years... which is like wow... considering that my past relationships can be counted at best in weeks... if not months... but never years. Okie okie... side track... back to the acquaintance...

Instantly, I did some mental calculation and realised that hmm... 16 + 6 = 22... so when he was in university... he would have had to tell people that his gf is still a secondary school student... *lol* sounds kind of paedophile... but it's not like she was only 13 or what... so... anyway, pretty happy to hear such stories of enduring loves. =)

That very night, I happened to meet EB and Crappy V for dinner as I needed a break from work. Hence, I told EB about the 6 years age-gap story when Crappy V chose to 'misheard' me and exclaimed... "wah you've got a bf who's 6 years older than you?!" When I said no, he then adds, "Oh you mean, you've got a bf who's 6 years younger than you?!" Geez...

After dinner, when we were decided to go easy on our wallet and have dessert at Mac; Crappy V and I realised that we once attended the same pathetic secondary school (but not at the same time cos he's like 5 years older than me).

As he did a brief teaching stint in my school after his A levels before his enlistment, he thought he might have been my PE teacher for a short while. Hence, he started asking me which class i attended etc... EB then remarked that the conversation is starting to sound like the conversation we had earlier on about the age-gap thingy - haha... which is kind of true... considering that when he was in K1, I wasn't even born yet... and when he's in P6, I just entered my primary school... when he was a part-time teacher in my secondary school, I was just an ignorant sec 2 student... *lol*

All in all... an enjoyable night with two of my seniors... haha... and I look forward to our next ktv session... hopefully it'll be soon... =P

Jason Mraz Concert

2009-03-05T23:50:00.002+08:00

Just a quick note to say I had a blast at the concert tonight... it started a little later after 8pm... but once it got started... it was really fantastic as he sang my favorite songs right from the start...

Halfway through a song... the band members appeared along the row where I was seated... quite a pleasant surprise... though it would have been great if it had been Jason Mraz standing right there... =P

Sad to say... the concert came to an end shortly after 10pm... no encore... but well... i was pretty satisfied since he sang so many of my favorite songs tonight... it's time to start saving for his next concert. =P

Salsa, i like...

2009-03-02T20:42:00.002+08:00

I was toying with the idea of learning something new... and so when the company's rec club organised a Salsa workshop sometime last month... I decided to join the 1.5 hour workshop.

Found the workshop to be pretty fun... and so I went ahead to take salsa lessons at a particular dance studio that my colleague goes to.

So far, I've attended two Beginner-1 lessons... hence there are three more lessons to go before I can progress to Beginner-2 lessons.

Found the instructor to be very good as he is very very strict with fundamentals. And yupz, I learnt a lot more stuff since the initial salsa workshop... Can't wait for the next lesson to happen on Saturday!!

Bangkok - the concrete jungle...

2009-03-02T20:36:00.000+08:00

The last day in Bangkok was a super hot day... thus, I only bothered to snap a few shots before running for shelter in the next air-con shopping center that I can find. In fact, the only reason why I bothered to take some of these shots was because I wanted to take a photo of the hotel (Baiyoke Sky) that we were staying in... so after taking that shot... I decided to snap a few more photos of what I thought were worth taking... hehe... and if you're wondering what's worth taking in the street shot of people... hehe... that's because I wanted to snap a pic of my bestie... yes... that's her pretty back in that shot. =)

Hokkien Huay Kuan

2009-03-02T20:26:00.001+08:00

Spotted the Hokkien Huay Kuan during my day visit to Jonker Street... it was probably the nicest looking Huay Kuan along the street... felt an immense sense of pride and belonging when I saw it as I'm a Hokkien...

Hehe... and if you're wondering... yes, yours truly speaks Hokkien rather fluently. =)

I quite like the dragon carving on the door sides of the Hokkien huay kuan entrance... the entire place was so richly decorated with symbolic creatures that gives it a lot more character compared to its surrounding shophouses/associations.

Tiger decoration on the right wall next to the entrance...

Dragon decoration on the left wall next to the entrance... as well as dragon decor wrapped around the pillar that was really impressive. =)

sights and sounds of Malacca...

2009-03-02T20:15:00.000+08:00

Decided to create a collage from the photos that I took during my very brief visit to Malacca early this year... this part of Malacca has indeed changed a lot since my last visit during my secondary school days in RVHS... which was like almost 12 years ago... gosh... I feel so old now... =P

the song that i kept repeating on my iPod today...

2009-02-26T00:07:00.002+08:00

As I work in a project site with many people in the same room... I would simply plug my earphones and listen to music so as to drown out my surrounding noises.

I decided to create a different playlist to listen to as I do my work this afternoon... so I started scrolling down the list of artistes to select some of my favorite singers and one of which was 吳克群. After a while, I found myself changing the setting to repeat this particular song over and over again... cos I really like listening to it... anyway, here's the MV of the song 明天過後:

I find the lyrics very sweet and meaningful. It's the kind of song that I hope my future bf/hubby can sing the song to me. Hehe...

吳克群-為你寫詩

2009-02-25T23:56:00.003+08:00

On 13th Feb, I decided to tag along with my senior EB to YH's early birthday gathering... reason for tagging along --> I happened to like the dinner venue Sun with Moon (Wheelock place) & more importantly, there was a KTV session after dinner... woohoo!!

During the ktv session... where many BBM moments happened between YH and CW... this song probably caught my attention most... because EB and Annie started to change the sweet lyrics to morbid lyrics... *lol*...

Anyway, I had a great time that night... as the bunch of them provided lots of entertainment (which doesn't just include singing). =)

He's Just Not That Into You...

2009-02-22T22:08:00.008+08:00

Spent a leisurely Sunday with a couple of friends at Orchard Cineleisure and Takashimaya today... First stop was to watch the movie 'He's just not that into you' and followed by having high tea at the Royal Copenhagen Cafe. It was a really great day away from home and away from work...

Anyway, I decided to blog about the movie as I think it's not too bad. =)

One of the couples that I like from the movie must be Neil (Ben Affleck) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston). While Neil doesn't think there's anything wrong with their unmarried life (after 7 years of relationship), Beth wonders if she should simply call their relationship off as she really wants to get married. I guess it's tough to walk away from someone whom you've been with for a long long time but I do applaud her for the courage of leaving him when she realise that things wasn't working out the way she wanted. One of my favorite scenes from the movie must be the proposal towards the end of the movie which was unexpected but very very sweet. It was really those 'Awww....' moments when I watched that scene.

Scarlett Johansson acted very well as a temptress Anna - she was very sexy and very hot... the pool scene was simply sizzling... and possibly every guy's fantasy scene. The character Anna is also one whom I feel like slapping some senses into her... I mean... why would you want to go after a married guy when you can get a better deal elsewhere? Geez...

I think it was pretty tragic how mistrust led to the split of the two characters Ben(Bradley Cooper) and Janine (Jennifer Connelly). One would have thought that she would give up on the marriage after Ben confessed about his extra-marital affair so it was really sad to see her working so hard to salvage the relationship. The irony of all must be how she decided to get a divorce when she realised he had been lying to her all these while when she found the hidden box of cigarettes among his clothes.

I really love the pairing of Mary (Drew Barrymore) and Conor (Kevin Connelly)... which was very sweet... very predictable... though it would have been nice if Drew Barrymore had more screen time. The most memorable quote from the movie given by her character must be "I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting."

Justin Long acted as the character Alex who's always dispensing dating advice (as written in the book) to Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) who's always reading the wrong signals from guys. He's like a reality check for her naive beliefs in the lines fed to her by the various guys whom she dated. Couldn't help but hit my hand against my forehead whenever she gets desperate in front of the guys who chats her up. As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction... so I won't be surprise to know if there's really someone like Gigi's character in real life.

Of course, it's predictable that they finally get together... but well... they do make an interesting couple so I really enjoyed watching the various scenes that happened between them. =)

Probably I won't rank this as my all-time favorite movie but I did have a good time watching the movie. I like how they managed to translate some of the topics from the book into the different plots presented in the movie. It's interesting to see the relationships 'fleshed out' in the movie... and how the different characters linked with one another in a similar fashion to 'Love, Actually'. Of course, it helps that the movie is filled with such a star-studded cast who gave really great performances in the movie.

While YX felt that the movie was too long... I felt the length of the movie was pretty alright. One of the flaws in such movie is that the lack of character development due to having too many characters and inadequate screen time. Nevertheless, I had a good time watching this movie and discussing the plot after the movie ended with my friends.

bangkok adventures

2009-02-19T22:39:00.000+08:00

This blog entry is long overdue... considering that CNY is over... V-day is over... no more public holidays to look forward... I should have gotten this out a long time ago...

Anyway, the trip to Bangkok during the CNY long weekend holiday was quite an adventure... and the overall experience can be summed up by the following pointers:

Hot and humid weather particularly on the very last day...
Pesky and irritating taxi drivers (just some, not all) who would either offer a 'too good to be true' rate with strings attached or offer a high rate by claiming that his meter is spoilt
Great service (most of the time and I'll say the best is probably at the Nail Parlour place in Siam Paragon)
Lots of shopping deals particularly on the last day when we did shopping at Pratunum center... next time, I'll just spend more time at Pratunum.
Lots of great food (1st night supper at Pizza Company pizza, A&W root beer float + curly fries, Tom Yum Goong, Mango and Sticky Rice...)
Fun time with the besties... (shopping... gossiping... playing on my ds-lite together... squeezing together in one big bed)

Anyway, the trip was really enjoyable that I've planned for another trip to Hong Kong with Miss 33... but this time round, we'll be flying jetstarasia instead of tiger airway.

I'm so not going to take tiger airway if I can in future... should be glad that I've got shorter legs than my two pals... but still... the lack of seating space was quite miserable even for me...

Quite happy that I got to try out the pizza at Pizza Company because ever since I read the business case on the pizza company... i've always wanted to try the pizza there... hehe...

Hopefully, there'll be more of such girl-pal trips in future.

of singlehood...

2009-02-19T22:38:00.000+08:00

Wanted to blog about this topic on what else... but V-day itself... however, I was really really busy the whole of last week... so yeah... this is a belated entry.

The funniest comment or incident that I've heard prior to V-day must be YX's retort to (possibly well-meaning) colleagues who quizzed her on her singlehood status... (the essence of her retort is tough to be captured on this blog entry... but trust me, it was really really funny hearing her utter those words out). Anyway, her comment to them was just because they're attached/married, doesn't mean they're happier than her. In fact, she even questioned if they are truly happy when they're attached/married. *lol*

There's probably no way to equate singlehood with anything in particular since it's just a status that we hold and has absolutely no bearing on our feeling. Regardless of our status, it's more important to live each and every day with meaning.

To quote the clique's general comment towards singlehood, 'Being single is good what... more time to do things that we want.'

So yupz... I'm glad to be single and to have the freedom to travel whenever I want... and to take on new interests as and when I feel like doing. =)

the Fattening & Permanently Munching trip...

2009-01-18T22:39:00.003+08:00

Yes... i've just returned from Malacca... and I concluded that it's an extremely fattening trip for me as I was permanently munching away the moment I stepped foot in Malacca. Anyway, here's a write-up on the happenings during my trip...

The Singapore team (i.e colleagues and moi who are based in the Singapore office) set off at about 8am on the "Luxury" coach. Along the way, we had a stop-over at Yong Peng where I bought my ramly burger. It tasted below average to my disappointment. =(

After the short break, we continued taking the coach to the Equatorial Hotel in Malacca Old Town where we met up with the KL folks at almost 1pm. They had been patiently waiting for our arrival since 12noon. We took all our stuff from the Luxury coach then boarded the Malaysia chartered coach. We reached A' Famosa Resort at about 2pm and quickly had our lunch at the golf terrace area of the hotel. Obviously... the food was cold and not very palatable... but well... beggers cannot be choosers... and as I was starving... I ate whatever I could there and then.

The rest of the day involves a lot of listening on my part as different presentations were made to brief us on the milestones achieved... project pipelines... the goals for this FY etc..

I did present a little towards the end of the day as we had some group activity which required us to brainstorm on ideas to make us more engaged with the firm... hehe... I would like to think that I gave a pretty good presentation. =P

Dinner was at Ole Sayang which is a peranakan restaurant. As we were running behind schedule, I was really really hungry by the time dinner came (which was approximately 8.30pm)...

Food was excellent!! It was so tasty that... I didn't bother to take my camera out to take photos... it was simply... "Charge!!"

I love the pineapple prawn curry... the chicken dish (no idea what it's called... but it had really fantastic gravy and the meat was sooooooooo ever tender)... the assam fish (i think it's assam)... etc... Dessert was chendol and it was simply yummy... I was very tempted to reach for the second bowl... but I had to stopped myself from doing so.

The only disappointing thing I had was probably the Honey Lime drink which tasted more like sour plum drink. Haha...

After dinner... we went to Jonker Street and shopped at the night market. As Jane and I got detached from the group as we were busy checking out the stuff at the market... we proceeded to shop at our own pace without realising that the rest of the group was at the Geographer's Cafe. So yeah... after my wonderful presentation which involves requesting for "alcohol" budget... i missed out on the drinks that night.

All the same, I had great fun shopping at the night market... and I ended up buying two vintage tee-shirts at a pretty good price while my junior bought two cute looking pairs of sandals from the very same shop.

As we made our way back to the meeting place to board our coach... we almost met with an accident while attempting to cross the road between a car and a pickup. Luckily Jane walked really fast... while I stopped myself from walking in between the car and the pick-up in time... otherwise... either of us would have been sandwiched by the car and the pick-up as the pick-up suddenly slided back and hit the front of the car... gosh... and the poor car driver couldn't do anything as the pick-up quickly drove off after the back of the pick-up banged the front of the car.

Thankfully... the rest of the night went by without any mishaps... and I got back to the hotel at about 12midnight... and I went to bed around 1.30am... *yawnz* It was indeed a tiring day... so I slept all the way till my alarm rang at 8.30am.

Went back the Golf terrace for breakfast in the the morning... where I had the sense not to eat much as i knew i had to reserve some space for other food...

We checked out at 10.30am... boarded the coach and arrived at Jonker Street again at about 11.30am. In less than 45 minutes... I managed to grab some pineapple tarts... eat my hainanese chicken rice balls... and do some window-shopping before making my way back to the coach.

Lunch was at the Portugese Settlement. Thought that the food tasted average... when I compare it to the dinner we had the night before. The funny thing was that after something flew into my cup of drink... my friend was convinced that his cup had some larvae in it... haha... so another friend went like, "I can see the larvae waving at me" even after the cup of drink was replaced with a 'cleaner' one.

When lunch ended, the final stop with the KL folks was at the Tan Kim Hock shop. Didn't bother to buy anything there except for a pack of seaweed which was my aunt's request. Turned out I bought the wrong one... haha...

I shared a bowl of durian chendol with Jane... and that's like the second bowl of chendol I had in Malacca... within a span of 2 days. =) Of course, there were the durian lovers and those who couldn't tolerate the smell of durians... so we started teasing Jon that we're going to serenade him with our durian-breath singing. After all, he was the one who started the conversation of wanting us to do group singing on the bus.

The coach dropped us off back at the Equatorial Hotel and sent the KL folks back to KL.

I then did some last-minute shopping at the Mega-mall next to the hotel... and well as shopping at the Makota Parade.

Bought 3 anime DVDs... some bread... 2 scoops of ice-cream in a huge cone from Baskin Robbin... and then it was time to board the coach back to Singapore.

I seriously need to diet for the rest of this upcoming week before I go to Thailand for more good food.

twilight glow of the sky...

happy and thankful

普通朋友

countdown to everland...

thanks for listening

the expat in KL again

a lesson to learn

切歌

hibernating in shanghai...

Thoughts on 2010

impressions of lijiang

wonders if it's going to be a winter wonderland

Pet peeves...

Lord of the Ring...

an energizing evening...

when okie isn't okie...

loving the iPhone...

on weddings and babies...

Why I should stick with going to ...

On gentleness...

Blogging from my new phone

time to stop indulging...

my second tiny win...

emotionally charged...

all the single ladies...

a streak of good luck...

girl-bonding session...

long distance...

dinner at colbar

the human jukebox

travel fatigue?

the LONG weekend...

A night of amnesia...

too busy to worry

Dinner and Dance

a quick entry before i sleep

the expat back home

the expat in KL...

in case you're wondering...

Day 3 - To Hachioji and Ikebukuro Butler's Cafe (31st March 2010)

Day 2 - Hakone!

day 1 in tokyo - 29 march 2010

my dream camera...

random travel thoughts...

how to unsingle yourself?

puppy love...

no more clarkess kent... i hope...

Happy New Year!

an entry to close off the year

counting down to x'mas...

exchange policies...

コイバナ! 恋せよ 花火

the changes over years...

happy lomo moments with Nemo

the big day...

The Ugly Truth

A short but sweet visit to Macau...

revisiting HK... after 5 long years...

different standards...

I love cats...

the kiddy thomas train ride...

the bag that i wanted to buy in Tokyo...

my last day at the clinic in Japan...

before i sleep...

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Day 6 in Hakone – Kyoto (8 July 2009)

Day 5 in Tokyo – Hakone (7 July 2009)

Day 4 in Tokyo (6 July 2009)

Day 3 in Tokyo (5 July 2009)

Day 2 in Tokyo (4th July 2009)

Day 1 in Tokyo (3rd July 2009)

chicago!!

Monday in Atlanta

sheepo's having a good time!!

First day of summer in chicago

Hotel Granvia Kyoto

One More Week!!

the daily scoop...

happy birthday to moi...

in pursuit of 流星花園

コイバナ! 　恋せよ　花火