The Girl Next Door

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T15:52:00.003+08:00

Removed my tagboard due to all the spamming. What the heck is blogwalking anyway?? But you could still leave your comments as Anonymous, don't have to log into your gmail a/c.

2011 is overwhelming and trying.

Best friend got married (yay).

Career direction is in a mess, accepted more responsibility which I liked and found it to be challenging, job title still the same though and everyone's asking me about it. Its difficult to answer questions like "what, you've not been promoted?" I wish people could exercise more sensitivity, but I learnt that what I wished for, is really my own business, people don't have to realise it for me.

Relationship with hubby strengthening (I hope), there was an episode last year which led to a very big fight but we're like doves now, lovey dovey.

Went to places that I could only dream of when I was little, covered Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, and Paris.

1st 3D2Ns trip without hubby, with colleagues to Penang.

New year's resolution is more or less the same each year, slim down, look pretty, and definitely travel more. It kind of meant that I didn't fulfil anything this year coz I'm putting on so much weight, probably 5 kg this year and I don't do makeup or dress up anymore. Hair is in a mess, look like muppets. LoL~

No travel plans laid out for 2012, just Bangkok in February and Lombok in March. Can't wait. I'll be taking the plane alone to Bangkok and spend a day in the city, heading there to meet hubby there, excited to do grown-up stuff alone.

I'm hoping to do a Bali or Phuket after March, can't find traveling partners to do a long holiday with me though I would very much like to visit Spain and Italy in 2012.

Have fun everyone. I'll be at a dinner at Laguna tonight, boring dinner with annoying friends but I still love them very much everyday.

Linkin Park - Rolling In The Deep (Adele Cover - Live)

2011-12-31T13:15:00.000+08:00

I have Rolling In The Deep stuck in my head! Linkin Park's rendition is not bad!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T14:40:00.001+08:00

Christmas, the best time of the year! Everyone's in shopping mood, we're all joyous and filled with love, we're all eating lots of food and wine.

Loving the festive season!

On 17th we had a pre celebration at baobei's place, we had steamboat, very Chinese way to celebrate the ang mo occasion! Lol ~

And then on 23rd, I bought tickets for Crazy Christmas to surprise hubby, his 1st local musical and he looked like he enjoyed lots. We usually watch Shakespeare's play with my sis and I think it's a little boring for him.

He gave me 2 presents, downgrade from 3 last yr. But nvm, it's very sweet if him.

I specifically told him I didnt want anything this year, but he still bought something for me anyway, have to say that he's good in buying presents for me, while I'm really bad at it, I usually don't buy him things.

On 24th, the guys gathered at Alvin's plc to celebrate bb's 2 yr old. How time flies, it is a joy to have a little one in our group.

We had steamboat again! Nobody wana cook turkey, or rather nobody owns a big oven. Steamboat is the best, cheap and easy!

Later today I'm going to have dinner with my wives!

Loving everything! Have lots of fun people and have a great new year ahead.

Bangkok hotels

2011-12-07T21:23:00.001+08:00

I wonder if anyone has stayed in Banyan Tree Bangkok or Four Points by Sheraton before.

Four points by Sheraton
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g293916-d1816035-Reviews-Four_Points_By_Sheraton_Bangkok_Sukhumvit_15-Bangkok.html

Pros :
-near suhkumvit mrt, easier to reach since I'll be taking the airport express alone
-near healthland spa
-infinity pool
Cons:
- need to change trains when I'm travelling to Victory Monument & Saphan Taksin

Banyan tree
Pros:
- its banyan tree :)
- can go straight up to vertigo
- along the dark green train line

Cons
- 15 min away from train, hubby don't want to walk

I can't decide which to stay !!!!!

2011-12-05T08:39:00.001+08:00

I saw Xmas gingy at MBS!!! So cute!!!

Can't tell if it's just a normal gingerbread man or gingy from shrek. I took a picture anyways, 3 pictures in fact, hubby have really annoying shakey hands, so only 1 picture turn out to be clear. Irritated!

Fine palate

2011-12-01T08:31:00.001+08:00

Went to fine palate with sis last weekend. There isnt much people there! Yay!

Went to Food For Thought first but waiting time was 1hr and they wouldn't open up the outside section during lunch hour, stupid!

Fine palate is such a nice cozy place. Price $20ish. I think 15% off with standard chartered card.

Would go back there for Breakfast Cook Up!!!

Depressive

2011-11-21T23:29:00.001+08:00

Stressed myself out too much lately and I don't have enough fun hence I'm depressed, empty and lonely :(

Dislike.

Kose eye cream

2011-11-20T01:05:00.001+08:00

Just bought this! Retailing at $82 in Singapore, I hope it will help my perpetually tired looking eyes!!!!

Voyage De La Vie

2011-11-17T00:19:00.001+08:00

A while back, I somehow had the chance to watch Voyage De La Vie, and somehow had the chance to visit Jon in his changing room, the show is awesome, Jon's cute, the evening was great, and I'm happy to have met him :)

Florence/Pisa - Day 7 (31 Mar)

2011-11-16T23:21:00.001+08:00

We slot a day for Pisa, everybody goes to Pisa from Florence, we shouldn't miss it too. I had Lucca in my plans since it was a short train ride away, only 25mins, but in the end we were a little tired and went back to Florence instead.

Pisa's an hour away from SMN station, plan your train ride in advance and it could save you lots of time. Some trains take a detour to other towns and it'll take hourrrrs to get to Pisa.

You could do the tourist site in half a day if your only purpose is like mine, take stupid touristy pictures and thats about it.

Me arriving at Pisa Centrale Stazione doing an unnatural pose.

First stop. GELATO~ NICEEE, its at Piazza Garribaldi if I'm not wrong. Cross Ponte di Mezzo, La Bottega del Gelato is nearby at Borgo Stretto! I'm super good researching when it comes to food :)

Walking and walking to go to Piazza dei Miracoli. We lost our way for a while, probably 15mins but all was good we were on the right track pretty soon. It wasn't all that difficult with signs all over the place.

Finallly! Everything is leaning because of the ground they were built on. Its actually not just the Leaning Tower, Duomo and Baptistery were all leaning a little.

I don't know if he's a good poser or I'm good at capturing pictures. LOL. I guess a good mix of both.

My picture with the leaning tower is not as nice as I'm standing on flat ground. Hrmphhh

Lunch at a random place. He ordered linguine I think? And I ordered Fungi Risotto. Luckily they were both quite good and were cheap! Cons of sitting outside: food turns cold within minutes!

La Kopi after lunch! Him ordering our cappucino at the counter. I don't like talking to waiters/bartenders/sales people etc. I'm not good with strangers.

Us on Ponte Solferino

Wanted to visit Santa Maria della Spina, its a tiny gothic church, but was closed :(

Headed back to Florence. Rested in our B&B for 2 hrs or before heading to Piazza Michelangelo, its on a hilltop which oversees the town. You could get there by taking a bus just outside SMN station, take either bus 12 or 13, its a 15-20 minute ride to the top. And guess what, silly us, we're the only ones who paid and bought bus tickets!!!! Duh!

The fake David!!!!

I love my Lumix~ Wanted to wait for sunset and take a picture of the night view but it was kind of boring and cold up there. Nothing much to do.

So ya, thats the view of Florence for you~

Estimated Total Spending:

Train - EUR11.60 x 2

Gelato - EUR5 or 6

Lunch - EUR 14

Dinner - EUR7.10 (i think we shared a mcdonald's meal + cup noodle??)

2011-11-16T21:43:00.003+08:00

i missed blogging.

i got lazy for a while and i think i'm going to start blogging again. i want to continue doing my overdue honeymoon blog posts.

it's so annoying that i'm staying at home 50% of the time, and the remaining 50% at my in-laws, kind of hard to blog with pictures.

i missed talking to myself here.

2011-09-29T01:39:00.002+08:00

Nothing much is going on these days, I've a fractured sesamoid bone on my right foot, found out in august. Specialist said could be due to high heels and it'll take v long to heal.

Just sprained my left ankle. So now my left and right foot are useless.

Ah brown, my sweetest cat, is very ill. I have a very bad feeling about this, it feels like she's not going to pull through this but I hope she keeps on fighting for us. Life and death is part and parcel of life but she's only 9. We love her and I pray that her liver is not failing, I pray that it's just a nasty fever and it'll go away soon.

2011-09-13T20:26:00.002+08:00

Married for a year now, nothing has changed. In fact he's sweeter now, people are asking if he stopped doing things for me after wedding, actually no, he didn't stop doing sweet things.

We had a huge fight last year and I'm glad we have each other in our life. I don't know how many people has dated for 11 yrs and are still very loving, but I think what we have here is hard to come by.

2011-08-04T23:33:00.003+08:00

I stole this from my sister, who stoled from Steve Jobs

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

2011-08-04T18:55:00.003+08:00

Heading to penang this saturday, I hope G Hotel is as amazing as it looks on web!

And then heading to Lombok next march, hoping to get some sun and snorkelling.

Nothing from aug to mar, what's your travel plan?

2011-08-03T22:50:00.003+08:00

I'm bored with life.

With my life and with life itself.

I think my life is not purposeful. I'm struggling to find a meaning to it for the past few months and I got really upset finding inner peace.

Conformation is driving me nuts. Someone told me I have to change my mindset but how do people cope with being normal ?

2011-07-31T23:46:00.003+08:00

The laundry club at sengkang rivervale mall is terrible terrible terrible!! Sent my coat for washing and it came back without a button, not only they pushed all responsibility away, I didn't even receive a word of apology.

Counter auntie insist that she's just a collection counter she dont do the washing so it's not her problem.

Branch manager, Michael, asked us to read their T&C and said we went there for laundry service and they washed the coat for me so they've provided the service, buttons not under their care.

I'm not seeking for monetary compensation or refund but they least they could do is to say that they will be careful the next time and say SORRY.

Extremely irresponsible management style!

2011-06-19T22:45:00.001+08:00

I'm sad because it can never be meaningful anymore.

The hole can never be filled. Not in this lifetime.

2011-06-11T00:13:00.002+08:00

I love my shoes !!!

Hazardous

2011-05-12T20:04:00.000+08:00

The worst blister I've ever seen in my life!

It's freaking huge and disgusting and it took 4 days to subside.

Now I am patiently waiting for the dead skin to peel off naturally. And no, I didn't pop my blister.

Florence - Day 6 (30 Mar)

2011-05-08T18:55:00.006+08:00

Brought forward my shopping trip because apparently there's a strike going on. I met a girl on the train and she told me about it. Not all trains will be stopped but I'm lazy to go ask around in Florence, sometimes the language barrier makes me don't feel like talking to anyone.

Our daily breakfast in a local cafe. Our B&B gave us cards to use for breakfast in the cafe. You get to choose a small bread, fruits or another small snack, juice and coffee. Very nice breakfast compared to Rome!

People standing at the bar for a quick coffee before starting their day. They seem to know each other well. But I don't feel like an outcast there, the waitress is really nice and smiley.

Headed to Montevarchi. Directions here http://i-lurvecats.blogspot.com/2011/05/girls-love-florence-because-there-is.html , I wont be repeating. It's really a suburban area! Not much cars around, and we waited sooo long for a cab.

I met a Korean family and we shared cab together. We got there early and the store wasn't open yet. Weekday opening hours are from 10.30am to 7.30pm. Not too sure of weekend hours, you can check the prada site.

Take a queue number and remember your number. If you see something that you want to buy, tell the sales assistant your number, she'll key your number into the palm top. After selecting a million items, head to the cashier tell her your number and she'll bring all the items out. You can reject the item at the cashier if you change your mind about it.

Anxious shoppers. When the door opens everybody went in, don't have to queue.

After 2 hours of shopping. The Korean lady and her mother bought 4 bags full of stuff. Actually I think the selection was okay only. I can't find anything more to buy. Nearly bought a white leather bag but I don't want to regret it later coz of the high maintenance.

Heading to The Mall. When I first reached Rome, I thought you can walk across the tracks when there's no trains, hahaha, but no you need to take the underpass or proper walkways.

Regional trains are quite comfortable, they're not old chu chu trains.

Beautiful landscape in Tuscany. But we can't imagine living in the countryside, we'll die of boredom.

Dot.com cafe. My friend told me the hot chocolate is really good. So do try it! He only told me when I came back to Singapore :/

I thought food prices would be a ripoff because if you have money to buy branded you obviously have money to pay for expensive food, plus there's only 1 cafe at The Mall, eat or die! Surprisingly, prices is affordable, in fact same as Florence loh.

Finished shopping, waiting for SITA bus and got bored. I didn't buy anything, not a fan of the brands there http://www.themall.it/ I went there for Ferragamo but didn't see the bag I wanted there, nearly bought a sexy red clutch but I've no use for it. Hubby bought a Gucci belt and Armani top there. Like that only. I wouldn't recommend unless you like the brands there.

Journey back to Florence took about 1 hour. NOT GOOD if you have motion sickness, the winding roads in the countryside made me so nauseous. If you have motion sickness I recommend you to take a cab back to Rignano station and take the train back to Florence.

Sun was so strong and hubby looked baked! Went to Ristorante Accademia at Piazza San Marco. Food's really good but we waited 20 mins for a table. Book a table in advance, most diners seemed to have made a reservation except us.

Mozzarella “Burrata” with smoked salmon on toasted bread. I love mozzarella burrata!

I think this is the “CHIANINA” Roast beef ??? I forgot, but delicious anyway.

Pork chop “CINTA SENESE” with aromatic herbs i think This is so good!!!! The pork is so tender. The fat melts in your mouth! I'm drooling as I blog this!

We were dead beat and I couldn't finish my food. Waiter asked how was my food, I told him it's really good but I'm so tired I don't have much appetite. He walked off and said "never trust the ladies" and when he returned with the bill, he passed it to me and said "bill for the lady".

Baaaa so embarrassing that I can't finish my food!!!

Anyhow, food's really good I would have gone back if we stayed in Florence longer.

Estimated total spending, I don't have my notebook with my now and I couldn't remember how much I spent

Train to Montevarchi - probably 10 euros for 2
Cabfare in Montevarchi - 3euro per pax per trip =12 euro
Train to Rignano - probably 10 euros for 2
Lunch - less than 20euros
Cabfare in Rignano - 3euro per pax per trip = 6 euro
Dinner - about 45 euro

Girls love Florence because there is Space and The Mall

2011-05-07T17:08:00.008+08:00

Someone on tripadvisor asked how easy it is to take a public transport there. So I thought this post would be bloody useful here!

It's quite easy to get to Space outlet and The Mall on public transport!! I went to both places in a day.

Space Outlet is located in Montevarchi
Take a train from Florence SMN station to Montevarchi station, the train I took takes 36 mins to get there. The train runs like once an hour I guess? But some trains take a detour to other stations so may take 1 hr. So it's best to get on the train with the shortest route.

I took the train with the shortest route(36mins), these are the station stops:

1. Firenze S. M. Novella
2. Firenze Campo Di Marte
3. Figline Valdarno
4. S. Giovanni Valdarno
5. Montevarchi-Terranuova

Upon reaching Montevarchi, head to the taxi stand. If you have 1-4 persons, cab ride cost 12euros one way. 5-6 person will cost 3euros per pax per way. It's 10 mins away from the station. Arrange for a return trip back to Montevarchi station because you cannot get any cab at Space. I shared with other shoppers so it didn't cost us too much.

The Mall
If you intend to go to both places on the same day, catch train to Rignano Sull'Arno-Reggello station, its about 20 mins train ride away.

These are the stops
1. Montevarchi-Terranuova
2. S. Giovanni Valdarno
3. Figline Valdarno
4. Incisa
5. Rignano Sull'Arno-Reggello

After exiting the station, facing the tracks, to your left there's an underpass. Take the underpass to get to the taxi stand. It's not a prominent underpass because hubby and I got lost there. And we met 3 other groups of tourists who can't find the taxi stand too. The stand directly outside the Rignano Sull'Arno-Reggello station is not a taxi stand, I think it's a local bus stop. You can have to go through the underpass.

Get a cab to The Mall. Prices same as Montevarchi. Its 5-7 mins away from the station.

Returning back to Florence
You can take a SITA bus from The Mall, or take the train back to Florence. SITA tickets can be purchased beforehand at the SITA bus terminal in Florence or at Dot.com cafe in The Mall. My friend told me the Hot Chocolate is good there. He told me after I came back so I didn't get a chance to try it. Food prices there are ok, not a ripoff.

Take down the numbers in case you can't get a cab at the taxi stand.

Montevarchi driver

The mall driver

2011-05-06T00:53:00.004+08:00

I like what Xiaxue blogged here

http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/2011/05/vote-wisely.html

ITE Warehouse assistant also can come and contest, is he worth a vote, is he worth $15,000 a month?

If people vote NSP because they want Tin Pei Ling out then they probably don't have a working brain.

I'm really sorry to have to say this.

But NSP team is weak, Spencer Ng, tried to kiss 16 year old girl when he was teaching. Abdul Harun, grad from ITE, now a Warehouse assistant. I have no confidence my country will progress with people like them.

Spencer Ng still can contribute lah, don't ham sup can liao.

But ware house assistant?! Seriously? How can he deliver a message in parliament? How to speak for residents when he can't even speak or spell properly? Siao lah, no QC.

I'm pissed off again. Good night.

WP's Pritam Singh at Nee Soon GRC rally, May 1

2011-05-05T08:13:00.003+08:00

I watched this video and I don't like him instantly. He talked abt minority community and education system, he said only 1+% of the malay students received scholarship and he wants to do something about the system.

Why do I feel that he's trying to get votes from the Malays ?

Is he implying that the system favors majority ? Is he implying that minorities are less capable of getting good results? What an insult and so not fucking true. He, himself, is already a good example that minorities can do well in life.

Franking speaking, we hold the same textbook, we have the same teacher conducting the lessom, who can you blame if the minority community has a 60% passing rate for O levels. Come on, be fucking fair, majority of the students studied their ass off! If you got bad results then put in more effort, simple as that. Nothing is wrong with the education system hindering the academic progress of Malays and sikhs. If I burned midnight oil, I deserved to get good grades.

I am pissed off !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niTqwXorzQY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Gina
Sent from my iPhone

Florence (Day 5 - 29 Mar)

2011-05-02T00:42:00.007+08:00

Last day in Rome! I really like Rome, a lot of history and culture and attractions to visit. I'll be back someday for sure to visit the rest of Rome.

Heading out for Old Bridge Gelato for the last time! It's 30 mins away. Lol. But we love it so much!!!!

Deliciously! I would have gone back everyday if I know it was this good!

Dragging our luggages to Termini, about 10-15 min walk.

Taking the train.... Platform number will not be stated on your ticketless pdf.

Check the Number plate on the digital big screen and it'll tell you which platform to go to, dont worry if the destination is not where you're heading to. Destination on the big screen is the LAST STOP, your stop may not be the last stop thats why it's not showing on the big screen.

I didn't know of all these and was worried that I may have bought the wrong ticket. I seeked help from a police officer, he was right beside me, smoking and chatting with his colleague and this is all I got from him "I am not information counter" I really feel like saying fuck you to his face. He is so freaking unhelpful!!!

Number plate is AV9406, proceed to your carriage earlier so that you can leave your luggages at the head of your carriage, there's limited space, if you board the train late, then you'll have to put your luggage over your head, something like in the airplanes. But it's hell carrying a 20kg luggage over your head.

No need to validate your ticketless pdf, just print out your PDF file and show it to the inspector. He'll key the PNR code into his palm top.

Alternatively, you can check on the notice boards for the train's timetable, look at the DEPARTURE board, it is a really huge piece of white paper categorized HOURLY. So taking the above picture as an example, you should be looking at the 11:oo section, then at 11:30 you should see Venezia S.Lucia and the platform your train will be at. Check out the schedule the day before, so that you'll not panic when you see somany trains parked at the platforms.

Met a SG couple chatted a little, talked about how much we missed SG and how sucky the service is compared to SG, talked about the cities we're heading to. It's nice to meet someone from home.

Arriving at our B&B La Residenza dell'Orafo. I highly recommend this place, it is so near Florence SMN station about 5 mins walk, quiet at night, clean, extremely nice staff, fresh fruits & choc in your room daily, free wifi, intl tv channel, and they have a kettle in the room!!! This is extremely rare in Europe! And oh, there's a supermarket downstairs and you're 30 secs away from Macdonalds and 10 mins away from Duomo.

Check out their glowing reviews here http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187895-d1740292-Reviews-La_Residenza_dell_Orafo-Florence_Tuscany.html however, they have limited rooms so book early!

We got a free bottle of sparkling wine. So sweeet of them!

View from my room. It's a busy street in the day but windows are very soundproof!

Wasn't feeling very well so we ate chinese food right below our B&B. It sucks, don't go there, not authentic chinese food. Fried rice was ok, but very salty. He ordered seafood noodle soup, it stinks and they used spaghetti, not yellow noodles.

Limoncello, only 4.95 in the supermarket for such a big bottle. I bought 50ml at a touristy place for 6.50!!!

We didn't do much in Florence and didn't take much pictures, will blog about my daytrip to Montevarchi soon.

Total Spending:
Gelato - $3.50
Macdonalds lunch - $7
Dinner - $20.70

Rome (Day 4 28 Mar)

2011-05-01T23:03:00.011+08:00

Finally it was Vatican! I was really looking forward to this. Booked a tour with 7 Hills Tour, cost us EUR45 each but totally worth it.

Massive flood of people.

Famous spiral staircase

It was a really cold morning!

Laocoon. Michelangelo's inspiration came from ancient greek sculptures, which were mostly destroyed.

3D ceilings. This is amazing!

They were flat, painted to look like 3D!!!

Raphael's room.

He draw Da Vinci, Michelangelo and himself in the painting!

The one with a scar looked like Sylvester Stallone. Our guide pointed that out, hahaha.

The amazing Sistine Chapel. You have to visit this place!!

Angels on the pillars were painted to look like 3D models.

Legs painted to look like its dangling down. Amazing. Michelangelo painted the ceiling himself.

Drinking water. We drank. It's safe to drink. You have to be careful, because not all water are drinking water!!! They'll indicate if its safe to drink or not. Very important! The tap water is not like Singapore's, Renato, my B&B owner told me not to drink from the tap.

St Peter's Square.

Swiss Guard! Uniform the same since ancient times!

Getting a cappucino. Eur2.50 i think.

Picture not very well taken hence the bad stitching.

Holy door. Open once in every 25 years.

Everything inside St Peter's is built to look smaller and cosier.

The nave.

Michelangelo's pieta. It looks sad.

Mosaics. Stupid hb said mosaics are overrated. If you like them, I heard Ostia Antica has lots, it's 30 mins away from Rome. I will go there in my next visit.

Climbing the cupola. I had to take several breaks. Once you start climbing, there's no way to turn back down.

Finally!! But its so cold up there.

The rude seagull on st peter's head. You can recognise him by the key in his hand

Lunch at a random cafe. It sucks. Lasagne and Beef Stew.

Guess what we're queuing for?

Gelato. Hehe. It's SO GOOD. You simply have to try Old Bridge Gelato, it's just opposite the walls of vatican. Direction is TOWARDS the entrance of Vatican Museum. EUR1.50 for the small cup, you can choose 2 flavours.

Went to the colosseum at night. It's so pretty and we couldn't resist a picture :)

Total spending (estimation for food, i forgot how much we spent)
Vatican tour -$90
Lunch - $20
Coffee & Hot Chocolate - $5
Gelato - $3
Gastric medicine - $10

On GE again

2011-05-01T02:58:00.003+08:00

Aljunied voters will regret choosing WP: MM Lee http://sg.news.yahoo.com/aljunied-voters-will-regret-choosing-wp--mm-lee.html

Some people told me MM Lee is threatening voters, I read the article and I feel him totally, I get what he meant.

I DO NOT THINK IT'S A THREAT you freaking stupid people out there.

We have a very good case study isn't it? People voted for Bush, people voted for Obama and USD is now 1.225. Hurray to online shopping. And who's suffering? The citizens. Who's sleeping under the bridges? The citizens.

We will be the ones suffering if we make a bad choice. 5 years... alot of things can happen.

行情不好then no more pay increment, no more bonus, more retrenchment. 2008 my bank has no headcount, 2009 my bank didn't give out bonus/increment, 2010 we got some bonus and an ok increment, 2011 we got more bonus and increment. It really sucks to go through times with no headcount no increment.

Opposition wants to use $60billion for a small change. PAP took a decade to accumulate that amount. It would mean we will need another decade to accumulate that amount, and probably another 3-5 years to regain investors' confidence :(

People magnify the flaws of PAP, but to me, the good they did makes the flaws insignificant.

I'm not saying to vote for PAP, but I just hope people analyse a little. Vote because you believe and trust the candidate, not because you hope to see PAP fail, it is not justifiable, I suggest you reflect on your life and do more charity work to gain karma points.

2011-04-29T00:22:00.015+08:00

I do not discriminate gays and I don't think it is an issue in Singapore.

I feel that as a politician, you cannot have an intention to promote homosexuality or religion. Period.

And now, the topic has been brushed off as smear tactic/personal attacks?! The host said very clearly "Vincent Wijeysingha the 1st gay mp" and pointed towards the person below the stage.

I would be a parent eventually and I do not think Dr Vivian is smearing at all, why should he be bashed this bad just because YOG exceeded budget. We have guests coming to Singapore, do we really want to shame ourselves? PAP could have easily hide the fact but they reported this honestly.

I really liked Vincent until I saw this video. I would be very worried if I were a parent! I just felt uncomfortable. I don't want mature men to poke my son's backside.

As a citizen I question your integrity, if you mentioned you will do something about the 377A(the code that criminalises sex between mutually consenting adult men) to your gay community, you stand firm and fight for what you believe. And now your leader come out and say no body is pursuing gay agendas. Its either you're lying to the gay community or to the voters.

Operationsmile :)

2011-04-28T17:27:00.003+08:00

http://www.areasontosmile.com.sg/

Do your part for little children. Volunteer work is not my sort of thing, they only small thing I can do is to donate some money whenever I can.

2011-04-28T15:15:00.000+08:00

Bored and unhappy.

2011-04-27T23:11:00.007+08:00

Some people simply hate the PAP for the sake of hating, oppose because they want to be rebellious, oppose for the sake of opposing.

I'm worried because some voters seem to be irrational.

Walkover in Tanjong Pagar GRC, why? Because the team was unable to submit nomination papers on time?????!!!!

And MM Lee got flamed, netizens were saying he should donate to the opposition team? Dont know what it means. And should just let them submit the form? Are you freaking kidding me?!

Everybody gets up early and start preparing when we have something important to do the next day isn't it?! This is what we cultivate from young what, next day got exam today must sleep early so that tomorrow can wake up early and won't be late for exam.

You have until 12 to submit and you're freaking late, were you even serious about the election? So why should the office accept the papers???? Mr Chiam See Tong's team submitted the papers on time, didn't he? He doesn't look to well to me, but was out there parading and taking pictures. How can anyone be late?!?

Singaporeans are born to be kia su. Go airport early, sale must go on 1st day, got concert must queue overnight, and you tell me late for nomination day.... the most important day of your whole career life! And yet some netizens think its okay?

Singaporeans who think that it's ok to be late should really wake up.

I don't know if 10yrs later our SGD will be like the USD, from a steady 1.75 to 1.23 now.

Some youngsters are saying PAP did nothing and earn so much, NO, you cannot say that. We came a long way, from a fishing village to a what we have now. We could still be a fishing village if our leaders didn't do a good job. Look at the rest of the Southeast asia. The ruling party must have done something right. Its not fair to say they did nothing. In fact they did a lot, we cannot discredit them for the good things they did .

I'm super disappointed people oppose just because they want PAP to fail.

I've politicians that I thought was good from PAP and SDP, I also have politicians that I dislike from all parties, what I'm saying is you should vote for the politician you truely believe in.

You cannot vote to spite PAP, it's not right because you're putting your country at stake. You must have a honest voting reason in your heart.

Be serious, be mature.

2011-04-27T18:54:00.002+08:00

Went to Melben the other day. It's just the 2 of us. Waited like 1.5hrs before we can touch the crab!!! Will remember to call the next time!!!!!

2011-04-27T01:06:00.001+08:00

Some days i lost all my confidence, feels small and insecure. Today is that someday.

2011-04-25T08:52:00.007+08:00

Random stuff:
- GE 2011 is worrying :(
- I miss my hubby
- I need to buy just 1 more bag from Prada, anyone heading to Europe these few wks ?
- I'm so tired I need to sleep now.

1 and only bag post.

2011-04-25T00:05:00.009+08:00

I want to retake a picture of my buys but both my cameras are at my hb's place. Its just annoying to be running between houses and you leave things here and thing, and sometimes I forget where I left them.

Ok so I googled for pictures online. I'm really free these few days thats why I'm blogging so much, hb's on reservist and I'm back home now. We share a computer when I'm at his place so it's kind of difficult to hog the computer.

My new wallet, which is still in its box. I told my baobei that I'm waiting for my current LV wallet to spoil first before changing, in fact I told everyone that, and all the replies I got are "your lv wont spoil one".... ok i'm just too lazy to change lah ok. there, i said it :P i'm sooo lazy i don't even cut my hair or shape my brows, so ya, the wallet is gonna sit in her box.

I bought this but in brown. So good to go with jeans or shorts, I can attach the shoulder strap and wear it slinged! I thought it'll be light since its nylon but it's still giving me shoulder aches. I don't know what to do with the shoulder ache because I've been buying really small bags already and it's not helping. I don't even bring makeup/bottles/umbrella out loh!!! Some nights I even apply yoko yoko to sleep :(

Sling bag for my future trips. I've always wanted a sling bag and this fits my criteria. Roomy, can put 2 passports, wallet, camera and tissue. Perfect for me but perhaps I wont have the chance to use this anytime soon. No holiday plans for the rest of the year.

New bag for work but still sitting in her dustbag. I think it'll be heavy plus I'm lazy to unwrap, pull out all the protecting paper. Mafan.

Super cute Miumiu bag, still in her dustbag, dumped aside. Hb was asking why I don't want to use my bags.... I'm just too lazy to take the bag out transfer my stuff inside lah, I hate to transfer here and there. I bought the mini one, hb said the regular one looks big on me, and I think it'll definitely hurt my shoulder.

And then I bought this from Kate Spade for my trip so that I can have a small bag to bring to Europe. So cute and ah ma, I like!

This post is called the 1 and only bag post because I won't be buying anymore bags for a long time. Maybe $50 ones, but definitely nothing more than that, we spent too much on the wedding and holidays and it's time to start saving again, flat is expected to be ready in 2014 :) No more YCK next time, hello Punggol :)

Rome Day 3 (27th Mar)

2011-04-23T22:49:00.012+08:00

Walked a different route. Instead of walking to C.Pretorio, we walked to Repubblica to take the metro. Its fun to walk a different route and you see different things along the way :)

I saw a garden full of oranges. Seems like mandarin oranges to me.

If you enlarge the picture and look at the digital board, it says 4 minuti, it's like in Singapore they tell us the train is coming in how many minutes.

Went to Castel Sant'Angelo. I thought it would be interesting because we thought we can see weapons from the ancient times. But no leh, never see any.

Some doors really give me the creeps.

Look at the bottom left picture. I wonder if it's cannonballs from the ancient times or put there for show only.

Rooftop cafe. Didn't look at the menu though, I was saving my stomach for lunch.

I was so cold I looked pale.

Got hungry and ate some biscuits. No energy to stand so I squat. Go excursion must bring food!!!! Otherwise will be hungry!

Spent like 3 hrs there and left. It wasn't quite worth it. I should have gone to the capitoline museum instead.

Lunch at Mondo Arancina. These rice balls are siciliy specialities but apparently quite famous here. Ask the person for recommedations :) I met an Italian girl on the plane and she was from Sicily, and we got excited talking about Arancina. Yums~

Hb's one is with ham and mozerella.

Mine with minced meat. They're sooo good. But we our small stomachs can only fill 1 ball :( It cost EUR 2.20 each. Cheap and tasty!

They don't have seats inside, so you have to stand around and eat your rice balls. And that's one of the fun part, it's just so different from what we experience in sg.

Enlarge for their address!

Gelato after Aracina!! Pear flavoured with bits of pear in it. It's so much cheaper here at this estate, wasn't touristy, cost EUR1.50 only.

Headed to Spagna area again because I wanted to visit this cat shelter at Largo Argentina. Queued freaking long at macdonalds, queued so long and the lemon tea is not nice! Its so warm and stuffy in there because air cons are not on. It's an environmental law I think, cannot on aircon until mid-may.

Went to the Cat Shelter at Largo Argentina. Its just very me to visit places with cats, like a few years back I went to this cat cafe in HK http://i-lurvecats.blogspot.com/2008/09/hong-kong-day-5.html I like being around with animals.

Bought a bag there for EUR10. Its weird to give a 10 donation coz it's not a lot of money so I bought a bag for future picnics :)

Walked all the way to the Capitoline Museum. Sat there, people watch, peck each other and then it got really cold and windy.

I think the road was closed. People were all walking on the streets.

My ninja boy said his neck was cold.

I wrapped myself up too. Walked with all the rest of the people on the street, it felt really good to just do nothing.

Alrighty, that's all. Skipped dinner because hb wasn't feeling well and we went back to the B&B to sleep. We slept at 9pm from day 1 to day 3. I think day 1 we slpt even earlier like 8.45??

Total spending:
Lunch 4.40
Gelato 1.50
Catcat bag 10
Coffee 2-3

VAT tax refund

2011-04-23T16:29:00.006+08:00

In continuation of this entry http://i-lurvecats.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-personal-tips-for-travelling-in.html ... I think VAT refund is something very impt too, $$$$ leh!!!!

You can either:
1) Stamp chop at airport - Refund at airport - Mail at airport OR
2) Refund at city - Stamp chop at airport - Mail at airport

I claimed my refund in the city, in case I want to buy more things plus Paris airport charge Eur3 per Tax Refund Cheque.

However, you have to leave EU in 3 weeks, starting from the day you collect back your cash. Because they need to receive the STAMPED form within 3 weeks, and you can only have it stamped when you leave EU.

I've read netizens saying that if you require refund in cash, you'll get a lesser % back. Not true, I got back everything stated on the Tax Refund Cheque, which is 11.something % nearly 12%.

If you choose to get a immediate refund in the city, ask the store for the nearest Refund Point, they'll know the nearest Refund Point and will give you a brochure to read about it.

Refund Point look like a small money changer shop, look out for Global Blue/Travelex stickers or boards saying IMMEDIATE CASH REFUND or something along the line. You will need to have your Passport and credit card with you.

In the event that if they don't receive the Stamped Cheque, they will charge your credit card with the amount that you claimed PLUS a EUR10 admin fee for every Tax Refund Cheque you've owed them.

And this comes to my next point, take a picture of the stamped cheque at the aiport before you mail it out, customs won't photocopy for you so the only way is to take a picture as some sort of proof.

I mailed out my form, and it struck me that WHAT IF THE FREAKING FORM GOT LOST IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have NO WAY to trace back if the damn mail get lost somehow! But its too late for me, I thought of it when I came back to Singapore, so now I can only hope that my Cheques wont go MIA :(

If you shopped at Paris Printemps, you can claim back cash in the department store too.

At CDG airport T2C, the Refund point and Customs is 2 different counters, I always thought you chopchop and get back your money at the same place.

For my flight timing, there was no queue at all, took me 10 seconds to stamp chop the refund cheque, customs officer didn't check my purchases, they were busy watching movie on their monitor -.-" My colleague Alvin experienced the same thing too. However my other colleague Serene queued like 1 hour because Heathrow customs checked everybody's their purchases.

Best to go earlier, claim money then go spend it all away~ Haha, thats all, happy shopping!

Rome - Day 2 (26th Mar)

2011-04-20T23:03:00.014+08:00

Daily breakfast at CernaiaSuite, we eat in our room since this is not a hotel they don't have a proper cafe.

Breakfast was standard, croissants, biscuits, juice and coffee. Their cappuccino is so delicious, very thick and smells aromatic. He must have used really good beans. I hate it when some coffees have this 'sour' taste.

I don't like croissants so I was practically eating Cup Porridge every morning in Rome.

The mini lift in the building. This is not uncommon I guess? The places I stayed in the other 3 cities use the same kind of mini old school lift. If you're not a mini person like me then its best that you load your luggage in, and take the stairs up. We load 2 luggages in and I sat on the luggages and went up. LOL. Fun.

Going out~~ This is at C.Pretorio metro station in Rome. If you stay at this area, please walk from the Termini Station!!! Its a flat walk from there.

Colosseum!!!!!!!!!! Right in front of the Colosseo station, you can't miss it! Tons of people there, it was the school holidays and all tourist attractions are filled with students :/

We headed to the Palatine Hill first. We had the Roma Pass so we skipped the lines. If you see a really long line outside, they are probably queuing to buy the tickets, don't join the line with them if you have a Roma Pass. Squeeze pass these people, go to the gate area, then you'll see a sign for Roma Pass holders to get in.

It got windy so I put my coat on.

It's strange to see a cat feeder in a tourist attraction. I wonder if she had an annual pass or what?

Tree without a top.

Panoramic View of the Roman Forum. I'm using Lumix LX 5, they have a program to stitch pictures. Super wasted!!! I didn't really use this function much :(

Ang Mos lying on the grass to get some sun. They sit or lie on the grass everywhere!

Roman Forum was impressive. How did people from 5th century BC build all these stuff?? It's a small place and in the ancient times, that area is like a marketplace with temples and government buildings. The Rick Steves podcast will explain more and take you around the Roman Forum, you have to download the map on itunes too. I relied on him quite a lot for my trip.

http://www.ricksteves.com/ae/ae_menu.htm

It was past lunchtime so he got hungry. Nothing to eat so he bought a Hotdog sandwich and Coke from a cart, freaking chop tourist money lah, cost $10!!! The sandwich don't even come with lettuce or mustard or ketchup ok!!! You have to ask for the sauce then they'll put it for you, super cut cost!!!!

So please bring your own drink and some tibits there, don't let these people chop your money. The sandwich sucks anyway, tasted stale, bread was so dry and hard!

Same as the Roman Forum, if you have the Roma Pass, walk pass the long queue and head inside to the gantry for Roma Pass holders.

You only get to visit 2 attractions for free, and you get a discounted rate for the 3 attraction onwards. Roman Forum + Palatine Hill + Colosseum is considered as 1 tourist attraction.

The underground is now open!! But you can only go if you pay for their guides. You get to see the area where gladiators prepare for their match. We didn't go though.

Whats that on my picture? The round blue thingy?! Is it because my lens is dirty?

If you don't want to walk too much, you can rent this bicycle thingy. Can put 6 in that mobil. So cute.

Vittorio Emmanuel II. You can take the sky lift up for a small charge.

Gelato again. Bought it randomly off the street, not very nice leh. A little lacking in taste.

Every inch of Rome is bursting with tourists. We're waiting for service to end so we can go in to the Pantheon.

Grabbing coffee at Piazza S. Eustachio, a litte square near the Pantheon. It's called cafe eustachio or something like that one. Not bad, recommended by Renato.

Walked around for a bit more and headed back. Still not used to Italy's timing. The typical train platform in Rome, uscita means exit.

Grappolo d'Oro along Via Palestro. Lobster Linguine is a must try!!!!! I ordered the fried one, its something like cordon blu chicken. Not too bag either.

Total Spending:
Hotdog bread $10
Dinner - $46 if I'm not wrong

My personal tips for travelling in Italy & Paris

2011-04-20T14:14:00.016+08:00

1) Water - they cost $1 nearly everywhere. The 1 litre bottle cost 20-30cents in supermarkets, so we bought those and store in the hotel, refill 500ml water bottle every morning and bring it out. Juice in supermarket cost under $2

2) Passes for tourists - Musuem pass will allow you to skip certain queues and save a lot of time for certain attractions. Transport passes will probably be cheaper if you plan to take the metro or buses alot. Venice Vaporetto pass is redundant to me, we didn't buy coz we walked everywhere. My colleague's tip is to board without paying =.="

-Roma Pass www.romapass.it/?l=en
-Paris Museum Pass http://en.parismuseumpass.com/
-Paris Visite Pass(which we didn't buy and thought was good coz we came from CDG and depart from CDG) http://goparis.about.com/od/transportation/qt/paris-visite-pass-fares.htm but buy it when you arrive at Paris airport, not when you reach city.

RER train from CDG to Paris cost - 9+ for 1 single ticket
RER to versailies - unsure if it's 3+ or 6+
RER to disney - unsure if it's 3+ or 6+ ( i mixed up the pricing with versailies)
Single metro ticket in Paris - 1.60
10 metro tickets in Paris- 12

I dont remember the exact price because hubby paid for the tickets. Prices are in Euro not SGD.

3)Eurail pass - It isn't neccessarily cheap, do a comparison on Trenitalia first. Buy the MINI fare tickets on trenitalia, MINIs are the cheapest rate, it's something like a promo/discounted rate, so you can't amend the date/time after that.

4) Toilets - Peeeeeeee whenever you see a toilet or when you're in a cafe/restaurant! It's so hard to find toilets in Italy!!! In Paris, there are mobile public toilets on the streets, just pay and you can pee.

5) Construction of metro lines - Rome metro line A (red line) and Paris RER B to CDG airport are undergoing some construction. Check for train availability and timing. I nearly missed my flight because I didn't know the train wasn't going to CDG.

6) Strikes - Check for dates!!!!! Ask your travel agent, google, ask the locals when you arrive! I wanted to travel to Montevarchi on 1st Apr, luckily I met a girl on the train and she told me there is a strike on that day and that line may be affected!!!!

But don't worry, their strikes are very organized. They have to seek approvals before going on strike. Not all departments can go on a strike together, example: musuem ticket seller on strike doesn't mean security guard on strike too.

7) Cover charge - Cafes/Restaurants charge a $2 - 4, called a cover charge or coperto in Italian. Something like a service charge, you can say you don't want to pay. No biggie to me, but just don't make a big hooha there.

8) Budget air - check out Ryanair or Easyjet, can be cheaper than trains. I bought 2 air tickets from Venice to Paris for a total of 98. They are free seating though.

9) Podcasts - I didn't want to get a guide for all the musuems and churches so I downloaded Rick Steves' podcast on itunes, freaking useful !!!!!!

10) Vatican City - Do not sting on a guide, you NEED to have a guide to explain artworks to you. He will be informative and keep you interested. Mine's from 7 Hills Tour, 45 per pax.

11) Food - Not everything is nice there, research first. I've tried a few on Tripadvisor web and Lonely Planet guide book and they were really great, talk to the locals, flip guide books! Those that I randomly ate on the streets wasn't good at all!!!! Even geleto joints also must research, I'm not kidding!

12) Convenience food - Bring cup noodles/porridge there. I didn't like croissants so I ate cup porridge everyday in Rome. I brought 5 cup so lasted for 5 days only =.=" Our bodies can't get used to the switch in timing for the 1st few days and he was having gastric problems, so cup noodles/porridge came to great use. Pizzas and pastas is way too having when your gastric is acting up.

13) Wine - if you like wine, visit the supermarket! They're so cheap!!

14) Airport lounge - if you're taking emirates and transitting in Dubai, apply for Citi Premiermiles card. You receive Priority Pass along with it can you can rest in the Marhaba Lounge in dubai, complimentry food & drinks, comfortable chairs and couches. You're entitled to 2 access a year. Nevermind if your annual income doesn't hit the minimum requirement, they gave it to us anyway :p Check www.prioritypass.com if you're transitting elsewhere.

15) Eurostar - Try not to miss your train! My frd told me he boarded the next available train and didn't make the proper changes through the office because according to him, no one will check. However, there are inspectors on board of all the trains I took in Italy and they are checking everyone's tickets and keying the unique code into their palmtops!

Thats all for now. Will add on if I think of anything else.

Rome - Day 1 (25th Mar 2011)

2011-04-18T23:02:00.017+08:00

01:20 Changi Airport (SIN) 7hr 25min
04:45 Dubai International Airport (DXB) Terminal 3

09:20 Dubai International Airport (DXB) 6hr 25min
12:45 Fiumicino Airport (FCO) Terminal 3

My seafood meal, tuna sandwich only. Lol~

It was a long flight!!! Longest flight of my life and I really dislike taking planes, I always have this stupid fear that the plane will crash, and it just freaks me out. I dislike sitting at the same position for a long time, I can't even stand colouring hair or rebonding.

Waited at Marhaba Lounge for 4.5hrs. Didn't 'wait' exactly lah but he ate some stuff while I catch up with my sleep. The chairs there are freaking nice to slp!

Dubai T3 is just so confusing, have to take escalator up, then take escalator down :/

Rome airport was hmmm Chui. Nothing fantastic. And it took us quite awhile to clear customs. But it was all so easy to get to the train station, just follow the signs! It's everywhere. We happen to walk pass the Tourist Information Point and collected our Roma Pass there. Wise move man, we saw the queue at Termini Station the next day and it was so long!

Leonardo Express runs every 30 mins. Buy your tickets at the ticket windows and VALIDATE your ticket before boarding the train. The validating machines are in YELLOW, you can't miss it because you have to walk pass it before boarding the train. Validating means hmm like punch card, slot your ticket in, and the machine stamp chop date and time. Inspectors will check your ticket on the train.

Journey downtown takes 30mins only, very fast.

My B&B CernaiaSuite recommended by Alvin. It's a really basic place, clean, breakfast in our room, free wifi, but no international tv channels, we paid EUR80 a night.

We made a wrong mistake to take the metro to C.Preterio. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Walking from Termini is definitely the only way! It is longer to walk from the Termini station, but no stairs, just a long flat road!

My friend didn't tell me, so we took the Metro and metro means underground, means we carried our bloody luggage up and down the stairs!!!! Freaking heavy!!!!!! The first person I asked for direction wasn't too helpful, I asked if he could speak english, he told me espanol, so we decided to figure the way ourselves, wasn't too difficult, road names are everywhere.

Finally reached after a loooooong journey from Singapore.

Took a quick shower and headed out. I love the cold thats why I'm not wearing my jacket. This is the big door to my apartment, for safety purpose, there is another door inside, and another door upstairs. Felt safe to be there. I've heard people saying Rome is a noisy place, but on our street, it's quiet at night, and there are military guards nearby guarding something something (i forgot) so it felt really safe at night.

Getting a quick bite. You tell the person how big you want your pizza to be. It a reallly huge slice, hmm 2 A4 stick together like that lah, then u show the person how big you want it to be, the waiter will weigh it and charge you accordingly.

Our big pizza and coke cost us EUR5 only! Cheap!

Explored the area a little and went to Basicilla.

Zebra crossings are bullshit stuff because drivers don't follow the rules and stop for pedestrains to cross, they simply ignore you. It's really stressful to cross the zebra crossings there. I guess the drivers' aims is to kill 5 tourist a day!

We walked and walked and found our way to the Trevi fountain! Haha. Remember to request for a map from your B&B/hotel and you won't be lost. It's very easy to walk around in Rome!

Full of people loh!!!!!!!!!!!! My goodness, super packed!

Its so hard to take a nice picture there :(

Toss a coin and you'll be back :) I'm very sure we will go back someday!

Look at the massive crowd.

Walked pass a Gelato shop and request to try. I tried one flavor, and when thony request to try another, the lady got pissed off, she told us 'NO TRY', we bought a flavour and went off. Different culture, Singapore can try.

Him with his Lemon flavour, it was good! Very sour. Haha.

Walked from Trevi fountain to the Spanish Steps. Seriously I don't understand the hype, its just a flight of stairs what!

Went home and zzzzz after that. Dead beat after so much walking. We must have walked 3 hours or so!

Total Spending
Leonardo Express tickets $15 X 2 = $30
Pizza and coke $5

Spent 35euros, not too bad coz we prepared slightly more than 100 a day.

2011-04-15T20:40:00.005+08:00

Seth Rogen from Green Hornet is such an ass.

So glad he won't be returning since he said Singapore is not a place people would come?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqFTyr25z7c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Going away for 3 weeks makes me love my country more, I mean I already love it to begin with but we just appreciate what we have more now, I met a fellow singaporean on my way to Florence and we missed sg so much!

-Everyone has a chance to go to school until our unis are exploding.
-We don't have crazy shooting rampage here, when we are stressed we go shopping, not shooting.
-3am here still feels so safe, tiko pek kopi tiam uncle still drinking beer, anything those uncle can help. Uncle gangsters all v righteous one.
-We don't speed pass zebra crossing at 70km/hr hoping to kill 1 or 2 pesdestrians each day.
-Our culture is changing and more people are giving their seats up on mrt, some still pretend to slp but seriously the improvement is significant.
-Most of the citizens have a flat, small but it's still a roof over our heads. We rarely see people in their 20s opting 'begging' as a career choice.
-No spits or poo every 5 steps u take
-Nobody pee at mrt stations. My mrt only smells like sweaty school children.

I think some americans are such racists!!

2011-04-14T18:30:00.003+08:00

2 bags full of items but half of it not mine. I told hb I won't buy things for people next time, didn't expect small items to add up to quite a bit of weight!! Wallets are all with boxes so they're all quite heavy. Poor hb have to carry !!

My buys. No more bags for the next few years. I'm someone who can live without bags, and I usually don't spend money on bags, but they are so cheap in Italy, so can't resist the temptation.

I still think saving money for holidays is still a better choice. We experience new things overseas, and discover our strengths and weaknesses, be it bad or good experience it is still something new and interesting to me. Looking forward to our next holiday next year when his annual leave resets. I promise to blog about my trip really soon!

2011-04-13T02:37:00.000+08:00

Going Back to work tmr but I still can't slp!!! My body's still on euro hours !!!!

2011-04-04T05:01:00.001+08:00

Next Sunday this time I will be On the plane back to sg :((( time flies!!! Tmr would be our 11th day, the thought of ending our holiday saddens me.

2011-03-27T14:47:00.009+08:00

Already the 3rd day.

We didn't do much here in Rome but very happy. It's like a dream come true. I love the cold weather. But I hate the food. The dinner I had yday was nice but salty, €46 for 2

Cover €3
mineral water €3
lobster lingunine €22
cutlet with ham and mozzarella €13
Sub total €41
tax €5
total €46

Hubby had a ridiculously expensive hotdog bread outside colosseum. Cost €10 with coke. WTF!?!? Other places selling at €3 only!

The first evening we had pizza that sells by weight, cost us €5 only, inclusive of coke.

Shops close really early. By the time we finished our sight seeing in the day, missed a few turns while finding the best coffee recommended by Renato and q for toilet, it was already 7.30pm, rushed to the stores just in time to see them close :(

Hubby's out from toilet and we are heading out now. It's already 9am! So late!

2011-03-24T22:19:00.002+08:00

Flying in 3 hours.

I really dislike taking aeroplanes.

We are only in March now and I'm thinking of next year's holiday. Maldives :) before it disappears into the ocean. It looks really beautiful.

2011-03-22T11:16:00.001+08:00

Whopppie...... 3 more days!!!!

Like finally!!! I have been waiting for half a year!!!!

2011-03-19T10:46:00.002+08:00

Received a EUR200 ang bao for my honeymoon.

Thank you. I really appreciate your kind gesture.

Minimum Travelling Expenses for 17 days

2011-03-14T16:38:00.008+08:00

Expenses for big moon all done up. $10K is the minimum you need if you don't want to stay in hostels. My friends stay in hostels with ensuite bathroom and they said they're surprisingly clean! But hubby don't want, so we will be staying in B&Bs, recommended by my Dutch colleague.

My sister's friend travelled for 17 days, and spent $1800 only. But she's only 21, she stayed at a hostel without a heater, if you're old and unadventurous and prefer somewhere decent, EUR 80 is the minimum you'd have to fork out. Hotels are so expensive in Europe!!!

Food, I allocated EUR100 for 2 pax daily. From what I gathered from colleagues, it'll cost me EUR30-40 per meal(for 2 pax), so I guess its about there lah. In fact Kebabs are cheap street food. I love Kebabs in SG, those over there shouldn't be bad too?!

Hubby wants to eat the best steak and best mussel in Paris =.=" He did his research already, I don't want to scrimp and save on a holiday but think it's crazy to pay EUR60 for a steak, but he wants it! Insane!

We're not too sure if the Roma Passes are required during this rainy season, but we bought it anyway, just in case queue's long.

For the Vatican Museum + Sistine Chapel, we booked a 3hr tour for EUR45 per pax, but a tour here is essential because of our lack of knowledge of the art pieces.

So here goes my expenses.

2011-03-14T16:19:00.001+08:00

Us after bff's wedding. I really like him in suit. So yummilious!

2011-03-11T17:05:00.001+08:00

Bei's wedding on 5 Mar. I hope she's enjoying herself in states now! Lucky girl, I want to visit states someday too!

2011-02-27T22:41:00.001+08:00

Babies. I'm afraid of them.

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-15T01:10:00.003+08:00

Our first V day as husband and wife.

I didn't want to spend too much money on V day so he picked a restaurant called Host this year, $168++ per couple, after taxes it's nearly $200.

Still very expensive considering that the quality of the food isn't very good.

These days, spending $300-400 on a Vday meal isn't a top priority to me anymore. Married people only want to snuggle everyday, that'd be enough.

When we were outside the restaurant, I asked if he wants to go grab a pizza instead and he looked a little disappointed, so we went ahead with Host.

Food on Host later because the lazybug prohibits me to upload pictures from my new camera - my Vday present :) Hubby's really sweet, he charged the battery so that I can use it immediately.

Panasonic Lumix LX 5, I've been wanting it since LX 3 but I'm not the type who splurge on things. I've been wanting to buy LX3 for years, and even more when LX5 was launched last year, so last year I told him to share the cost with me, and we can have a new camera for Europe. He said ok, but I'm forever broke last year (because of my cats), and tadahhh I received it as a gift now.

He's so good with buying presents. They're always the stuff I like, he really pays alot of attention to what I like. Like last Jan, I told him I liked a particular Tiffany&Co necklace, and he bought it for me in Sept, I think it's really sweet of him to remember stuff like that.

- You're perfect, almost.

2011-02-10T18:50:00.001+08:00

Happy 人日!

2011-02-07T10:51:00.003+08:00

CNY is a wham and a bam on our faces!

Ah ma and my aunt said we're FAT!!!! Omg! I mean we knew it, I weigh myself everyday, but hearing mean remarks is like a wake up call man! This cannot go on!

Hb is worse, literally everyone, EVERYONE said he put on a lot of weight.

We need to do something with our diets! It's making us fat!

I have a low threshold for weight gain. HATE the extra weight, makes me look pudgy. Shit!

2011-02-02T00:30:00.001+08:00

"Every woman on this street constantly tells me that I have the perfect husband. They do. Gaby says that she wishes Carlos was thoughtful like you, Susan wishes Mike had your sense of humor, Bree says she's never seen a better dad.
How many people go up to you and tell you you have the perfect wife? Take your time... I know how our friends see us: You're the hardworking nice guy, and I am the bitch. I am the one who's constantly emasculating her husband. I'm the one who can't wait to get away from her kids and go back to work.
For almost 20 years, all I’ve heard is how incredibly lucky I am to have a guy like you. So, if I don’t constantly brag about how great you are, it’s only because I don’t want to be reminded of how much I don’t deserve you."
-Lynette Scavo, Desperate Housewives 709

Lynette makes me sad all the time.

2011-01-31T17:09:00.002+08:00

I am glad we are where we are now.

Talking to myself

2011-01-31T15:40:00.003+08:00

I'm sooo silly.

I was reading my e-tickets and I thought something looks really wrong.

Suppose to fly on Friday night, March 25, 1 am.... after matching against my calender I realised instead of going to the airport on Friday, I should be at the airport on Thurs =.="""""

Hubby asked me to book Fri night... and I booked Thurs night instead. Arghh.

Euro's not in favourable to us now, I regret not asking the hotels to debit me earlier! I still have €1400 unpaid! I'm praying it won't go any higher!

Booked almost everything except Vatican, Train tickets to Verona and Disney. I still can't decide if I should head to Verona for a day trip. Everyone says I should stay in Venice, but there's nothing much I want to do there.

I pray for good weather and good rates for my holiday!!!

It's quite irritating everyone is asking me to buy bags for them. Even people whom we're not in touch asked. He didn't even want to reply to my RSVP for my wedding! Now he's asking if we can buy something for his colleague, its not even for himself!

Very troublesome to lug 2 28inch luggage around + backpack + plus our own purchases. Got some smart people told me to ask hubby to carry them, HELLO my hubby is not your slave hor!!! I even have requests to buy 2 bags for them. Who is going to pay if we exceed our baggage allowance, very insensitive people. But anyway we've rejected requests like that. SIAO.

Small items for close friends is ok, but bags for people whom I'm not close with ?! Wait long long loh!!

VAT refund is another troublesome thing. Do you give back the VAT return to your friends? If I opt to claim via credit card, I have no cash to give back them what. And do you return the funds only when they're credited? I read some horror stories, they waited a year for the return?!!?!? Cash is so much easier, but then again I read long queues and get back lower amount, I'm not interested in long queues!!!

Zhen mafan!

I don't know about the holiday man. Excited but sian at the same time, plan too much, read too much, killed the excitement. Plus I heard Paris' itinerary would be packed. I'm doing Italy, hubby's doing Paris. I think he's not very good in such things...

2011-01-27T10:49:00.002+08:00

Sense of belonging in company = 0

Appraisal not done yet, keep delaying.

At work everyday nothing to do, volume is so slow I'm blogging at work now

Low pay, low morale!

Only plus point is I can go home on the dot

2011-01-26T10:34:00.003+08:00

It's quite annoying that everyone's asking me when is my turn to have a baby. I'm on mc, people will ask if I'm pregnant. I've craving for specific food, people will ask if I'm pregnant.

My goodness.

I don't know how many times must I reply to them, we do not want to have a baby now.

And when I tell them that, they start saying, oh don't say too early accidents may happen.

Arrr... kill me please.

I don't know man, I love playing with babies but having my own is a different thing.

The money involved, the time, the energy, the amount of love, I don't know if I can ever do that. It's a natural thing to have children, but to me, it seems like I can never be a good mother. And I don't want to be a mother until I'm feel settled, until I feel like we can be great parents.

Maybe someday I would like to be a mother, but someday is not today or tomorrow or next month.

2011-01-20T12:33:00.002+08:00

I've put on so much weight, omg! Feel like a fat pig now. Short people can never put on weight because we start to look pudgy with the extra weight!!! I don't know what to do, too lazy to start running, may have to quit the weekly chicken wings, bubble tea and teh c.

Itinerary's annoying, have to make changes again :( I have been making quite afew changes. Waste time! I like doing stuff like that but no time! No computer also, have been using my sis laptop but sometimes I don't have a proper place to sit and then I'll get all lazy.

Btw does anyone know if it will be too packed if I combine colosseum + capitoline museum + vittorio Emmanuel monument all in a day ?

Initially my plan was to do vatican + capitoline museum, but someone on tripadvisor said it's too much in a day. baaa, headache!

2011-01-19T23:07:00.003+08:00

I busy, no time to blog.

Busy planning my itinerary!

Busy reading reading and reading! This is the first time I read soooooooo much for a holiday!

2011-01-13T17:43:00.001+08:00

My cute little boy.

It's been a year, he's still wearing his collar :(

2011-01-10T14:50:00.004+08:00

Bought a romper from Wardrobe54 a while back and it was horrendous.

Measurements were off and material is different from what is stated on the website.

It was stated, 76cm - 82 cm chest size, but it came as a 88cm. If a website were to stated 76-82cm, anyone would think that it's stretchable and girls from 76-82cm can wear it.

But no, Wardrobe54 told me it may not neccessary be stretchable!

What I received was just cloth sewn to look like a romper. Cloth as in you know, bed sheet cloth cannot stretch at all that kind of cloth loh!

And when I ask why is it not suede, this is what I got, no idea what she's taking about, I think she meant the item is Suede. Suede, my foot!
"We refer to the item and the make is correct at suede. Apologies that the refund / exchange is not applicable as the item is verified and sent correct."

Item was definitely misrepresented! After a few emails, she exchanged it for me, but still no refund.

It's so annoying because I have to wait 2-3week or even longer for the new item, they don't keep in-stocks plus it's chinese new year, factories will be closed.

I don't have confidence in that online shop anymore, although they eventually allow me to exchange but their attitude is quite unpleasant. Not apologetic at all, and defensive!

This is suede, but look at my own pics. And how loose it is! I'll definitely not buy again from them in future even when the exchanged item comes as stated!

2011-01-03T15:00:00.002+08:00

Had a bad encounter with M1 today.

I called back to request for an extension of my $150 handset voucher and was rejected by the guy who spoke to me.

He kept saying that my voucher expired in Dec. I know I know, thats why I'm calling what!!!

I ask if he can put a note in the system for my request and he said no, voucher expired in Dec. He just kept repeating this sentence lah.

Fine, so I told him it's ok, I don't want to recontract anymore, hanged up, and he called back and ask if I want to terminate my line.

WTF, he stupid or what? My contract hasn't end and he ask if I want to terminate and pay the $300? WTF! I think he called back on purpose to piss me off.

The reason for not using the $150 voucher initially was because I was waiting for my contract to end to port to Singtel because all along I didn't like M1's services, plus I felt that they didn't really care about retaining exisiting customers unlike Singtel that has bundle plans and bill rebate schemes.

Now I'm thinking of recontracting with M1 because I'm broke plus I can't bundle and take the mio plan now. Ok just as I'm writing this out, I realised I would be able to do it soon =.=" the person said my singnet contract ends 18 oct 2011, at that point of time I thought still got 1yr 10 mths, now that I'm writing it out, its just this year! LOL~ Retard!!

I mean, what I experienced today simply proved that M1 really needs brushing up with their customer service skills! I didn't like them to begin with and they had to piss me off!

Sucks lah!

Spooktacular 2010

2011-01-03T00:14:00.002+08:00

It was a sentosa halloween event.

Very fun and scary.

I miss all the fun.

Styleweddings: Most Beautiful Couple Dec 2010

2010-12-23T14:21:00.002+08:00

And because I spent so much on our wedding photoshoot, I sent my pictures for things like that :)

It's just for good fun.

Styleweddings, Most Beautiful Couple for Dec 2010 - http://www.styleweddings.sg/cms/articlenew.aspx?Editorial_Id=822&SubCatId=7&EP=N

Italy Day 1 to 6 (Draft)

2010-12-15T22:48:00.002+08:00

This is my draft itinerary. I don't think it's packed right? I don't want to rush here and there like tour groups.

Does anyone know how long should I spend in Uffizi/Accademia, I don't know if I should combine it with Montevarchi.

2010-12-09T22:49:00.002+08:00

Just as I thought I've buried everything...

My friend apologised and apologised. Every apology felt like a knife slicing through me.

Again and again. I don't know what to say and I started crying.

3 tissues later I'm here, and my eyes are swollen.

Kiki the princess

2010-12-06T21:09:00.004+08:00

It has been an emotional turmoil for me and sis.

Wed we walked into The Animal Doctors and saw Dr Chionh Su Lin. Symptoms are similar to stump pyometra.

We did a blood test and it wasn't good, results were close to the time she had pyometra. Xray result was ok, size of kidney looks normal.

Admitted her in so that they can monitor her condition to see if she have more pus discharge and feed her with her antibiotics.

Vet was guessing that Kiki had split ovary. Meaning Dr Vanessa Lin removed the womb + ovary previously but missed out the split ovary. In cats, if it's not swelling, you can barely see it. Apparently in surgeries, vets could only remove or treat what is obviously not right eg, swelling, pus.

They went ahead and do an ultrasound. Nothing strange could be seen. They saw something there, but it could be her colon.

During her stay, Dr Chionh did another blood test, test results improved tremendously this time. And she got really unsure about the surgery. Because it seems that Kiki look much brighter now.

Since vet is unsure, we don't want to insist that Kiki should do the surgery. Afterall we are not experts.

She suggested that we take Kiki home. So Kiki went home on Monday (6 Dec). She was under alot of stress there, not drinking, not eating, beating nurses and hissing vets. Not cooperative at all =.="

Today (14 Dec), she definitely looks ok now.

But what is the cause of her sickness? Did the antibiotics slowed down the infection? IF its stump pyometra, it can only be treated by surgery, not medicine.

There's nothing much we can do expect to monitor and hope that it's nothing serious and it wil not come back again.

Shortly after she came home, Baby got admitted, for skin problem :(

2010-12-01T10:41:00.003+08:00

My kiki is sick, she looks really bad, she's not moving, not eating at all, no idea what is wrong :(

Was at AMK vet yesterday and Dr Teng attended to us, Dr Vanessa Lin is gone, she's at TPY now. Dr Teng seems really inexperienced.

Kiki is definitely not well and he didn't even suggest blood test until I suggested it first. We decided to seek 2nd opinion elsewhere. He suggested for us to monitor Kiki, and if we want he could prescribe antibiotics?!?!? WTF?????

You don't even know whats wrong with my cat and according to your diagnoses you said nothing is wrong with her and yet you can prescribe antibiotics????

It'll be a horrible day ahead, I just know it.

Called Dr Ling but she's not taking in new clients anymore. Called Dr Christopher Tham and realised that his clinic is closed on wed. Called Cathy Chan, on leave till monday. Called Hsu Li Chieh, appointment fully booked. Settled with Chionh Su Lin but all her appointments are fully booked and we would have to do a walk-in at 12, waiting time from 1 to 2 hrs.

There are no vets in Singapore. ARC is just too expensive for me, wanted to head there last night but they charge $99 for consultation (from 8pm to 11pm) and $270 for blood test.

I can only afford half day morning leave today, but only to waste my time staying at home because Dr Chionh starts her consultation at 12 and I gotta get to work by 1.

There's really nothing I can do now except to pray and hope.

Because.

2010-11-26T12:58:00.002+08:00

Because I'm cynical, that's why I know some people apologise because they're scared. Not because they are ready to repent.

Because I'm flawed, that's why I know when to forgive. But never to forget.

Because I'm weak, that's why I will be strong.

Because I'm a woman, that's why I'm bound to be on the losing end.

Because I'm waiting to go home, that's why I'm blogging.

Because it's nearing 1pm, that's why I'm logging off now.

Yiruma - River Flows in You

2010-11-24T00:10:00.001+08:00

This is such a beautiful piece I felt the need to share.

Weekends should always be fun and happy

2010-11-15T00:02:00.005+08:00

16 Oct - Thank you dinner for helpers

2010-11-08T15:50:00.010+08:00

Organised a BBQ for my helpers. Truely grateful and blessed to have these people in my life. The older I am, the more I appreciate having this bunch of friends in my life. Because not everyone do things willingly for us, sure they grumble and complain, but at the end of the day the helping hands and listening ears are always there.

Jen's sister is writing her FYP - thesis on Best Friend. We told her sister we have Best Friends instead of just 1 friend. She asked us how can we have so many best friends, how to differentiate BFFs with normal friend. I guess BFFs are people whom we want to keep for life.

These are our best friends. They paid for their own JM dresses when they knew I was broke, they planned my hen's night, they gave me their AD itinerary, they reminded me of things that I should be doing, they helped and go through my itinerary with me, they ran the show during my actual day.

Thank you for everything. Life wouldn't be as fun without these people in my life.

I think event organizer should always buy the charcoal, I asked Kenny and Gary to buy charcoal and they were late because they were choosing charcoal at Giant!

Gary promoting the bag of charcoal, telling everyone this brand only need 1 matchstick to ignite the charcoal.

And true enough, it's really worth the money. It didn't take us long to start the fire, its long lah, but not as long as using normal charcoal.

I bought more than 8kg of food and I forgot to take pictures of all the food I've bought. Angry.

Played with Jia's camera, can do 五连拍, 十连拍, 十五连拍 so fun!

This is what happens when you have annoying friends, its supposed to be me and ade only.

My loves~ The only regret I have is not there for the grad trip to Sabah 3 years ago.

My other loves. Actually they were my first love.

When I said I want to take pics with MY friends ah gu and jai ran away. Pulled them back because they're obviously MY friends. Hubby and I have this theory, like if we ever split, people like jai and ah gu will belong, ade weiting will belong to him.

His friends. Missing alvin, weiting, and david.

Random shots

I forgot what we were doing and this girl approached us, asked if we could go over to their pit with chocolates to wish his frd happy birthday. She's gathering random people to do it, it sounds like fun so we agreed. She thought we were young thus she picked us. HAHA, so wrong!

That is the birthday boy. He's 23 i think? I'm 27, bf and friends are 29, so much older than them.

Later, the birthday boy came over to our pit, thanked us and gave us his chocolates. I love doing random things like that!

Camwhore again~ LOOOVE!

Thats my pumpkin bag! Bought it for halloween!

$2 from Daiso~

My 1 mth old hubby~

And my boss always wonder why am I always tired on weekdays... because I played so much on weekends! Week after week I have different activities lah~~

Wedding Albums

2010-11-06T13:38:00.006+08:00

This is for bride-to-bes browsing pre-wed albums for their researches. I secretly enjoyed looking at at albums when I was preparing for my own wedding so I hope people will enjoy my album too.

The preparation is certainly nerve-wracking but enjoy the journey because once it's over, you'll miss it. It's kind of like a bitter-sweet journey for me. Now, it's mostly sweet :)

Pre Wedding Album by Expressively Joho (Amos Leong)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=234127&id=651413806&l=f2e43c7e5e
- Pictures taken by Amos Leong
- Makeup by Angel Chua

Pre Wedding Album by Di Gio
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=234076&id=651413806&l=5e9e1e230e
- Pictures taken by Henry
- Makeup by Elson

And why do I have 2 Pre-Wedding albums?
Kind of explained here http://www.wedding-travel.com/three%E2%80%99s-the-charm.aspx

2010-11-05T13:27:00.000+08:00

So freaking true

10 Shocking Secrets of the First Year of Marriage

2010-11-03T15:53:00.001+08:00

just sent sis off to melbourne.

she's heading there alone to crash at her frd's place to celebrate her 21st birthday.

i cried at the airport =.= so drama mama, cannot stand. but i'm sad that she wont be here for her 21st :(

and this is her first time traveling, to somewhere so far, and will be gone for so long :(

The first step to my Big Moon

2010-10-25T19:48:00.006+08:00

Air tickets finally booked. 17 days of Big Moon.

Flying on Emirates, initially my plan was SQ but it cost so much more, a few friends suggested Emirates and boy, it is cheap! SGD2522 for 2 pax! But the tradeoff is the transit in Dubai. We should be spending the 4hrs eating, window shopping and slacking in the VIP lounge, it should pass very quickly.

Thank you fatfat for making this happen. Now, we wait for March to come :)

Singapore to Rome, Italy
Fri 25Mar11 01:20 Changi Airport (SIN)7hr 25min
Fri 25Mar11 04:45 Dubai International Airport (DXB)
==Transit==
Fri 25Mar11 09:20 Dubai International Airport (DXB)6hr 25min
Fri 25Mar11 12:45 Fiumicino Airport (FCO)

Paris, France to Singapore, Singapore
Sun 10Apr11 21:50 Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG)6hr 30min
Mon 11Apr11 06:20Dubai International Airport (DXB)
==Transit==
Mon 11Apr11 09:35 Dubai International Airport (DXB)7hr 20min
Mon 11Apr11 20:55 Changi Airport (SIN)

1 month wedding anniversary.....

2010-10-24T22:57:00.009+08:00

Knock off right on the dot to have dinner with the hubby. He tried to reserve a table at Morton's but they were fully booked on a Monday night until 9.30pm. So off we went to Au Petit Salut instead.

Had dinner with frogs as my escorts. They were hopping everyone on the outside of the restaurant. There was a pebbled slope with flowing water and grass, so I guess it made a good habitat for the frogs? I was quite scared and the waiter ensured me they've never hopped into the restaurant before, he don't know why but it hasn't happen before.

I didn't like the bread served. I can't remember if they were warm or not, but they were hard as rocks. I'm picky with bread, they have to be warm and soft.

Ambience was ok. Lots of frogs croaking, wanting to mate. LOL~

Crab and avocado with salmon roe, mixed herbs and balsamic dressing. I prefered the crab and avocado from Il Lido, you can taste the sweetness of the crab.

Here at Au Petit Salut, the crab's taste wasn't as strong.

Pan seared duck foie gras served with roasted apples, red onions and Xeres vinegar. The roasted apples were delicious, a little too sour for me because I don't take sour food, but still absolutely great.

Foie gras, always good everywhere, except Trader's Hotel.

Pan seared beef tenderloin served with polenta stick, olives, tomatoes and romaine lettuce, red wine sauce. I ordered Medium Well, it came out to be Well-done. Hubby ordered Medium, it came out to be Medium Well. Our steaks were both overcooked. And we start lamenting on how we should have reserved a table at Morton's earlier. We were supposed to celebrate our 10th yr anniversary at Morton's on 12 Sept 2010 after our wedding, but we were so busy after checking out and we didn't have time to have dinner at Morton's.

I didn't like the polenta sticks. They tasted like smelly oil. My suggestion is that they change a fresh pot of oil before deep frying this. Absolutely low quality food.

Hubby's Warm melted 70% chocolate cake served with 64% dark chocolate sorbet and red currant jam and pistachio nuts. Again, I didn't think this was up to standard. Chocolate didn't flow out.

My Crème Brulée infused with fresh Madagascar vanilla beans. Wasn't too bad.

I insisted this is our 1 mth anniversary, he insisted this is our 10yr 1 mth anniversary. Haha, it doesn't matter lah. We were happy to be out on a romantic dinner date. I asked if I'll get dinner on the 2nd month, he kept quiet. Earlier I told him I want surprise, and he said surprises are expensive =.="

Overall, I think Au Petit Salut was average only. I don't see warm and exceptional service from the team. But one of the waiter wasn't too bad. I am definitely a little disappointed with the food, bread, steak and the side dish for the steak could be better. I should have ordered the cod fish but the waiter recommended the steak.

I will remind myself not to order steaks in italian and french restaurants. If I want steak, then I should only go to Morton's and nowhere else!

2010-10-22T14:25:00.002+08:00

Currently addicted to

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

So glad I have a hubby that sits beside me, look at the pictures and discuss fashion with me :D

Cute.

Kukup 2 Day 1 Night trip

2010-10-19T22:54:00.011+08:00

2 weeks after my minimoon, I went for a weekend getaway with my colleagues.

Booked from http://www.mykukup.com/ it was a bad experience, do not book with Jesline and brother.

The package cost S$85, according to them it includes Lunch, Teabreak, Dinner, Supper for Day 1. Breakfast, Lunch for Day 2. They will send a minivan to pick us up anywhere in Singapore.

So we all gathered at 8.30am, at Woodlands. Minivan is supposed to pick us up at 9am.

We waited and waited and waited. No bus. 9.30am, 10am, 10.30am, no van. It came at 11am. We called and chased and probed, they told us the van make a wrong turn at checkpoint and went back to Msia. Got such thing???? Woodland's road is not a circle leh. You exit checkpoint, the road is built to take a left right? The driver said he'll come out again in 15mins, that was 9+.

The owners say they can't do much, will call the bus company and send another bus here.

Finally at 11am.

Seat cover was dirty. I accidentally touched it, it was sticky. WTF.

Slept a little on our way there. Reached at 1.15pm. Last time my colleague go is take speedboat one. Duno why we take bus all the way. We found out why later. Our houses are mainly closer to land and it can't be reached by speedboat. That is why we took bus all the way.

They led us to an eating place. Asked us to put our bags outside the room. SIAO AR! Later passport and money lost, who's going to bear???? So we left our bags on the floor right next to our table.

Food was average. We still feel hungry after lunch :/There was 12 of us, I think they served food for 10.

Our "caretaker", an auntie brought us to our house. It was a long and hot 15mins walk, I begin to have a headache when I reached the house. Bed sucks, it's really old and the spring in it has spoilt, it's sunken in.

Mangrove swamp behind our toilet. The toilet was the squat type, except there isn't any piping, they dug a hole. You shit, you pee, you bathe, everything drops right into the water. You can see your pee going straight through the hole hitting the water below. When the tide is low, it stinks badly!

After settling down. The fireworks man came and sold us fireworks. We spent about RM215 on fireworks. Auntie said it's a waste of money. So much money spent on fireworks. True actually, but we dont get to try this in SG.

The big living room. KTV sucks, most discs are either fake or old, or spoilt The house next door has bigger tv and Jay Chou discs.

I started to feel sick after the headache, flu and cough came and joined me shortly :( I think Kukup is full of bacterias.

Dinner was prawns, stingray, otah, fish balls, sausage, corn and vege. Again, we didn't feel full after our dinner. Damn sad one loh. Previously YY and HX stayed at other owner's place and they ate and ate until full full one. We ate at about 8pm, by 10pm, everyone was hungry =.="

By dinner, my cough was so bad everyone was worried and I had to sleep early. They were very nice to let me take the big bed, gave me extra pillow as bolster, offered me whatever medicine they can find in their bags and let me shower first.

Played fireworks before I bath. These things are scary, do not go anywhere near them. The girls were all running for our lives because the fireworks looks so hugh and near us. Its like we could get burnt anytime. Hahhaa, must have looked really stupid running away so fast.

Walking to the fireworks. We all ran back to the house after it started popping. So scary!

These are the smaller ones. Was running for my life and didn't take pic of the big one.

We weren't given supper like what the itinerary said. Angry and hungry.

Nevermind, next morning woke up to eat breakfast, angry again. nasi lemak size is like my palm size, with few ikan bilis and kueh, and diluted milo. Its very sian because our next door neighbour had soya bean. Same owner loh, but different auntie to prepare our food.

All of us were so sian about it. YY and HX go one go economic bee hoon, buffet style dishes to pick, nasi lemak and soya bean, and their chalets are facing the sea one, not facing smelly mangrove swamp!!!

We were really unhappy with this trip, from the late minivan to food, to accomodation. Talk to the owner, in the end he gave us a $15 dollar discount each. We felt like we have wasted our time coming to this place and will not return again. The owner said he didn't know auntie didn't give us soya bean, this is his business, shouldn't all guest eat the same food??

And auntie said we didn't request for breakfast so she gave us nasi lemak. You didn't ask, how we know can request.

Off to the kelong.

Sick and fat and ugly.

The pier, 10mins walk from our chalet.

Kelong is opposite the pier only.. Felt disgusted that people shit and pee at the other side... and they share the same waters.. imagine your poop floating to the kelong and the fishes eating it... I know it doesn't make sense because your poop will disintegrate in the water, but still :/ yuck

Went back to the our chalet, my headache came back. Had to take a pill and take a fast nap before lunch.

Leaving the chalet. Finally.

Tons of mudskipper there.

Filled with trash, everything they also throw in water.

What an irony.

Our return bus. And guess what the owner said... the bus will be a bus for 12 pax, yesterday they gave us a bigger bus because they couldn't find a small one.

So... does it mean that they couldn't find bus for us thus the delay??? And they made up some crap story saying that the driver took a wrong turn and went straight back to customs???

The shit van that is SO HOT, everyone was sweating like mad! And its so tiny!! We saw another tiny van with like 18 passengers packed inside. Shocking!

Conclusion of the trip:
I guess I'm not a kampong girl, I hated the smell when the tide is low. Its so bad we all gag. Its better if you stayed facing the seawater.

And for the meals, I'm the sort of person if you state it out then I must have it no matter I need it or not. It's just a matter of principle. If you didn't give me, I'd think that you're cheating me. But the owner had very good attitude throughout.

I think this place is full of virus, went on 2 days mc after that, was really sick and bf disallowed me to go anywhere with him anymore.

A few colleagues fell sick that week too :/

Minimoon Day 6 - Phuket (19Sept)

2010-10-17T02:17:00.011+08:00

Is it true that all good things will come to an end?

6 days passes in a flash. I found myself missing Pavilions before leaving the premises.

Slept a little longer on the plush bed, and my stalker took pics of me when I was sleeping.

Woke up slowly and head to have breakfast. The breakfast menu! This is good, but I preferred Mandarin Oriental's breakfast. Extensive buffet line!

Loving the layout of the jars. They look so pretty.

Vege soup again, I'm addicted. I had 2 bowls!!!!

Cheese~ My love. Always love blue cheese but they don't have it there.

Living in total privacy. I'm pretty sure there are other guests staying there because my villa is near their bar, and I hear laughters in the evenings but always not much people at breakfast.

We love poached eggs. But we dislike hollandise sauce.

Chicken congee. This is so good.

His food. Fattening! Their way of cooking bacon is different, they deep-fried the whole strip, and its extremely crispy.

After breakfast. Waiting for buggy to send us back to the villa for our last tanning session.

Buddha protecting the grounds.

My love.

This is called the Devil Tree. Strange right.

Met a huge bee when we're returning to our villa. Scary loh.

Our daily activity is to get as much sun as possible for this trip. I even got new freckles because I didn't apply sunblock on my face... errr because I dont want my face to look super white while my body look so black. Stupid loh now got new freckles.

Hitting the pool for the very last time.

Its really strange here, we often see random smoke. Don't know whats all that smoke.

After about 2hrs of sun, it started to rain HEAVILY. So upsetting.

And while it rained, we layed under the pavilion to listen to the rain and cuddled under a huge warm towel. He was really sweet to make me hot tea while I layed there reading the Relais & Châteaux book. Gave me lots of ideas where to go and where to stay the next time. But well, they're all really pricey places so gotta scrimp every penny to travel again.

We went back to the house when the rain stop. He took a short nap while I watched tv. I love how simple life is residing in The Pavilions. And then I got an annoying sms from Jetstar saying that our flight has been delayed from 10pm to 2am. We were in shock, no idea what to do if we check out at 6.30pm, its just way to early! So I decided to talk to the receptionist and tell him our situation, at the same time worried that they will charge us 50% more if we asked for a even later checkout.

And guess what, to my surprise, the receptionist was so kind, he understood my plight and extended the checkout to 11pm. It's about 20-25mins to the airport, and the driver knocks off at 12midnight, so 11pm is the latest they can extend, we need to check in at 12midnight so it was just nice. Was extremely grateful they were so understanding and professional in handling issues like that. So we arranged for a airport transfer costing us THB900.

The evening sun came out after the rain.

Him, stoning, just taking in the sun, the view, the comfort of the bed.

The spa called us to remind us that we still have a complimentry foot massage, so they sent 2 ladies to our villa and attended to us. The foot massage was so good I nearly fell aslp. Bf said it's very different from his past experiences, those usually left him in pain.

Dinner was pizza again. Lazy to travel out so we ate in and watched a DVD on tv together. We are gonna miss everything so badly.

This was a lovely sunset we would miss dearly.

Conclusion of my trip:
If it hadn't rain, it'll be so great. But I went during monsoon.

Snorkeling was wonderful in Phi Phi, but I didn't have the chance to walk around the island. And it was a pity that it rained and water visibilty wasn't as clear as we wanted. But it was quite an experience. I enjoyed looking at the fishes, following them. Fed them too but regretted instantly, as it's best not to alter nature's food chain. I wish there were corals. I saw a bit only. Mostly died.
I would think that Krabi is a better place. Cheaper and yummier food, nicer people, less sleazy, more peaceful. If you're looking at HAPPENING then it'll have to be Phuket.

The Pavilions was amazing. I'm so glad we stayed 3D2N. Bf's the one who suggested the extension, my intial intention was to stay 1 night only because it was so expensive. Service was wonderful, from receptionists, to drivers, waiters, masseuses, general manager. They were not stingy with smiles and warmth. The only small mini thing that I wish could be better was the view from my pool. On their website there isn't any view obstruction at all. But mine had trees blocking part of the view. But seriously it doesn't bother me much.

And now, I'm addicted to pool villas. LOL~ Ever since the minimoon, all I do is to surf for holiday destinations, more beaches and pool villas to come for sure. I may be aiming for Hua Hin next year. If our plans to take PADI in vietnam falls through then it could be Hua Hin in June.

:)

5 more months......

2010-10-14T23:27:00.005+08:00

I was watching Kwa Geok Choo's eulogy on youtube and I felt really sadden by god's decision to take her away. But then, 89's really old and it's just nature, nobody can do anything about someone so old passing on.

The old couple's love touches me deeply.

Some citizens/netizens was doubting their love, saying things like this is a well-played act for the next election. Some said they knew MM Lee will definitely not tear because he don't love her, he didn't not tear when he delivered the eulogy.

Downright nasty. Tongues wag, if he tears, people will say those are fake tears, some people always have negative things to say, I think they should see a therapist if they have so much pent-up angst in them.

I wonder why don't people just leave if they dislike this place so much. You can always go to Malaysia if you don't have a lot of money. It's nearby and still stay close to your family and friends. And if you have a lot of money, you can go to the UK. But like I've said, people always have negative things to say, I'm guessing if they uproot to UK, they'll complain about the 40% tax and jobless drunkards sponging on taxpayers.

Hello, they loved and was married for more than 60yrs. How can you people say love do not exist in a 60yr marriage. You keep a dog for 10yrs, one day your dog dies, you'll also feel the pain right!

How well do people know MM Lee? How can you condemn someone's love when you were not there witnessing their love for the past 60 odd years?

For goodness sake, this couple secretly got married when they were young! Only couples with raging passion would do things like that!!!!! Their love is another side of MM Lee that we don't see, he's usually stern, smart and serious on tv. And this soft side made me very sad because we had to see it this way.

Did you see on CNA how late Mrs Lee said Lee was a handsome young man and Lee chuckled.

This brought tears to my eyes, MM Lee in this video, the way he looked at her for the very last time, the way he sent her kisses for the very last time. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/kwageokchoo/videoarchives.htm (A celebration of the life of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew, as her family say their final "goodbye".)

Not everyone express grieving through tears. Sometimes when you cry, reality sets in, it really does mean that the person is gone, forever.

A life is lost, I cannot understand how the human mind cannot be kinder.

Minimoon Day 5 - Phuket (18Sept)

2010-10-13T22:57:00.011+08:00

I remember being excited to have my 1st breakfast at Pavilions. Lol~ 1st meal of the day must be good! You can choose to have breakfast at the restaurant or in your villa.

Of course we went to the restaurant, the view was lovely because we were on a hill.

My villa number - 18.

Make up room VS Privacy. Cute!!!

Open concept restaurant. Nothing blocking the views of the lush greeneries. You can see the sea and some other villas too.

See just how private this place is! Perhaps some of the couples chose to dine in their villa. Or perhaps we're the early birds.

Him scooping soup for me ♥

Cheese platter. I super love cheese platters!!!!!

Besides the buffet, they have a menu for western breakfast.

They had parma ham there! Nice!!! The Vege soup was so good I had 2 bowls. Ordered Egg Benedict with smoked salmon. The smoked salmon was a bit odd to me, ate a bit only.

He had hotcakes with 2 sausages.

Waiting for our buggy to come. They're really prompt and fast, we didn't have to wait long for it.

Our villa.

Walking inside.

The house.

After breakfast, of course it's swimming and tanning time. Our favourite past time, we simply love to laze under the sun doing absolutely nothing.

Its really nice to blast the house in soothing jazz and blues while we lay under the sun. Swopped their ipod with mine to listen to some rock too.

Started raining for a bit. And while it rained, we went into the house and watch The Kardashian sisters on cable.

Hahha, and during late afternoon, we head out to have our teabreak. Bf was feeling lazy but I insisted to have tea! They're really good. Yums~

Done with tea. Waiting for the car to send us to Layan Beach. See, our life is so relaxing there. It's 5 mins drive from The Pavilions.

This is a different beach, no party-goers, no touting businesses. Beach chairs are provided by the management so you dont have to pay to use them.

Such a peaceful beach. Weather is nice and breezy. Not overly hot.

The vainpots.

The free beach chairs. Not much. But there isn't much guests to begin with. Its just us, and some other locals.

Spotted a couple taking wedding photoshoot. So glad ours is over! Everyone told me they had most fun during their wedding photoshoot. It's not like that for me. Simply torturous.

In his eyes.

Such beautiful skies.

Sun started to go down and the skies changed into a pinky/orangey shade. Very lovely.

It turned dark by 6.45pm, and it was time to go off for dinner.

Parin, our driver told us he can send us to Macdonalds, but since it is out of the area, the hotel will charge THB400, I was really craving for western food but really lazy and nuah to travel out, and Macdonalds don't do delivery in Phuket, so he suggested that we call for pizza. Hmm, true, pizza is western too. Haha.

He's a really friendly and warm person. Full of genuine smiles on his face, and told us his gf works at Karon area, and told us Karon is a better area than Phuket. I dropped a compliment for him because I really felt his sincerity and warmth.

The receptionist helped us called for the pizza, very very helpful. I told him I just want a regular hawaiian and he suggested that we take a meal, it's more worth it. The staff there really go all the way out to personalize the service and made us feel special and welcomed in the premises.

On top of the pizza, we asked for a late checkout because our flight was at 10pm the next day. And the receptionist gladly agreed, and told us it'll take about 20-30mins to drive there, and he planned what time should we leave for the airport, and what time will they pick up luggage from our villa. I was so grateful that they extended the checkout until 6.30pm. He even told us not to worry about dinner, got fast food there at the airport ---> i will continue to talk about this another day, when i blog about my last day in phuket.

Camwhored while waiting for our pizza to arrive.

Finally~~~ Ate pizza while watching our dvd. Love the couch. It's huge, so suitable for cuddling.

Anyway, this whole set, 1 regular pizza, 1 paste, 4 wings, 1.5 litre pepsi cost THB300+ less than SGD15 only!!!!!!!!!

Freaking cheap!! Saves us alot of trouble, no need to step out for food :)

Minimoon Day 4 - Phuket (17Sept)

2010-10-10T20:36:00.016+08:00

Moving to The Pavilions~~

Went out for Burger King breakfast~ Never had the chance to do it in Singapore.

Its actually quite dirty at Patong.

Very salty Burger King breakfast. I had a pork patty!

Beach chairs, you have to pay to use them. I really dislike the idea. It's the same in Bali. When I first went to Bali, I still thought it's a free thing from Tourism Board.

Paragliding. Didn't do it. It's really unsafe here in Patong. A worker will go up with you, and when it's time to land, he'll maneuver the parachate. Parachute is smaller than Bali's too.

Cost THB1500 for 1 round if I'm not wrong, thats freaking ex!!! I paid about that amount to do a few activitites in Bali loh!

We had some time after breakfast. We didn't want to hire a cab to Pavilions, because according to the receptionist at Seaview Patong, it'll cost us about THB1000 to go there, depending on our haggling skills.

We decided to call Pavilions and ask how much will there limo service cost. And wahhh, when I called at 10+ they were so happy to hear my voice and told me my villa is ready what time will I arrive. It's really great to feel such warm gestures from them.

Arranged for their car service at THB1000.

Reading Discover Italy because we still had time.

Bf decided to go down for a swim without me.

I was bored.

Yipppppie, car is here, was sooo excited!!!!! Laan was our driver.

Had cold towels, cold fruits and drinking water in the car. NICCCE. It was a 40min drive from Patong. I think I fell asleep abit.

Laan told us The Pavilions is perched on the hill. I was reeeeally excited!

At the entrance, Laan announced "Welcome to The Pavilions" wah like movie like that. Hahahha, they planted rows and rows of bamboos in the premises. Felt really surreal.

They had welcome flowers for the lady. The GM came out to have a little chat with us too, great personalized customer service.

A buggy was arranged to send us to our villa. My 1st time taking a buggy!!! A bit scared, LOLx. Coz we went uphill then downhill so a bit scary loh.

The 310sqm villa~~~~ WOOOOTZ, I got so excited I kept snapping pictures NON STOP!

The living room~

Hallway connecting to our room.

The room directly facing the pool.

The extra comfy king size bed. Gosh I lovvve their bed!

Our 12 x 4m pool, you can swim in it. Different from pools in Bali.

Makeup room, leading to bathroom.

Complimentry red wine for honeymooners.

Sink for the Mr and Mrs.

The large bathtub!!!

Shower room.

The kitchen with full cutlery.

Prices for the private bar. Milk is free. Haha.

Welcome fruits. Errr, nothing fantastic lah.

Ipod with 600+ songs in it, nice to blast it in jazz. Love it.

The small outdoor pavilion which is kind of like a reading place for us. I think you can do your massage there.

Bf can't wait to enjoy the sun.

Swimming like a fish. I swam everyday in the villa. Love the privacy!

View from the pool.

They provide complimentry tea break everyday. It's just a phone call away. Someone will take you to the restaurant in a buggy. It's too far to walk.

Finally can use internet!

We were both suffering from the lack of internet. Lol, modern people need to use facebook one loh!

Tea break! Very yummy! But not much variety.

The very cosy area. Its like a library/internet area. You can read in here too.

Borrowed some DVDs so we can watch them at night. Complimentry for all guests.

Very lovely restaurant area.

In the evening, we had the driver take us to the Laguna for a short walk and dinner. This is a really big area, with 7 resorts in this compound inclusive of Banyan Tree and Sheraton. Very high end resort I'd say.

We were mildly flattered, haha, a sales staff was checking our age because she wants to promote their membership. She asked if we were at least 24yrs old. I guess she doesn't want to waste time on students.

Spotted a pretty glass chapel by the lake.

Walking towards the chapel

Someone just got married earlier :)

Clowning around~

He likes to do stuff like that, really.

Serenity. It just doesn't feel like Phuket here.

He saw the bird and told me No Shoot Bird. Whahahahha, does that even make any sense???

Driver took us to this place to have dinner, and left. There's 2 restaurants, supermarket and a bakery there.

We don't have much choices and settled for the cheaper restaurant.

Food's not too bad!

Bought some groceries from the supermarket, got the staff to call Pavilions for us to ask for the driver and went back to the villa.

We were really spoiled there, everywhere we went there was a driver to attend to us. But they only take you around the vicinity. Any further you'd have to pay.

At the lobby waiting for our buggy. They had residential cats there, cute!

Back to the romantic villa and I started taking pics again :) After that we cuddled and watch a movie together. It was a nice and relaxing feeling, to cuddle, to soak in the tub and to fall asleep together in the oversize bed together.

NOTE: The Pavilions is not a family place, only guests 16yrs and above are allowed to stay there, they advertise themselves as a romantic getaway place, so yah, no kids in the premises, no kids running around in restaurants, great for honeymooners or lovers who want to spend time lovey dovey mushy together, how perfect is that :)

Wedding & Travel

2010-10-10T16:10:00.002+08:00

And here's our article.

Fact's a little out, we engaged Amos before we had the photoshoot with Di Gio, but doesn't really matter.

Money spent, pics out there, I'm happy :p

http://www.wedding-travel.com/three%E2%80%99s-the-charm.aspx

Minimoon Day 3 - Krabi/Phuket (16Sept)

2010-10-09T13:22:00.008+08:00

Rise and shine, everyday we woke up so early during our holiday. Went down to have breakfast and head to the pool for some sun before we leave for Phuket. Arranged for the car to pick us up at 2 pm, cost THB2200 for the ride to Phuket.

My potential stalker, FAILED. Spotted him immediately loh. He joined me at the pool shortly :)

Love relaxing under the sun and listening to my songs.

After 2 hrs of sun, we headed out for a aroma message at Ao Nang Princeville hotel, its just opposite our hotel. Place was clean, massage was ok. Cost THB350 per pax, it was advertised as THB400 but I asked for a discount :p He really isn't the massage kind of person so we only had 1 massage throughout the whole trip, sian!

I am not too sure if I'll miss Krabi. Phi phi is a nice place for snorkeling but essentially there isn't anything to do in Krabi. I prefer Bali, nicer beach! Cheaper watersports, cheaper tour.

Ate lunch before we continue our holiday to Phuket. Food is good and cheap. But everything is a little too salty for me.

Taxi prices.

Delicious and salty beef noodle!

I love the rice in Krabi :) They're delicious. I think salty food tends to taste better.

On our way to Phuket. Didn't expect the ride to take SO LONG. It took like 3 hrs?? If you are thinking of driving to Phuket with a GPS please don't, I don't think it's a good idea, it's not like a straight expressway like North-South Highway, and some of their signs are written in Thai. It's not exactly tourist friendly.

Anyway another car company quoted me THB3000 for car rental with GPS, no driver, dropoff car at Phuket Airport. Too much of a hassle since I can get a driver at THB2200, drop me straight at my hotel somemore.

FINALLLLLY. At Seaview Patong Hotel. It's right at the end of Patong Beach, my driver took some time to find it.

Paid about SGD62 a night. Hotels are really cheap there. This is a decent room with cable vision!

Prepared for honeymooners.

I really like that they prepare a beach bag with 2 towels inside. You can head to the pool or beach easily wtih their bag.

My room facing the big pool.

Went out to look for food after that. Went to a reasonably priced restaurant and we were the only customers there. I chose that because I desperately want to eat Mango Sticky Rice and all other restaurants were so westernized, can't find local desserts one.

I really don't like Patong Beach, it's a messy, sleezy, dirty place.

Everything is so expensive there.

In Krabi, you pay THB149 for a pizza or Tom Yam soup. In Phuket, it'll cost THB300 and above.

I bought a cute Hello Kitty calculator in Krabi for THB180, and it's selling at THB500 in Phuket.

Never going back to Phuket. Bleah.

2010-10-05T20:31:00.001+08:00

I was very sick yesterday and hubby popped by my place for a short visiting in between his appointments.

Thank you for being so sweet.

Minimoon Day 2 - Krabi (15Sept)

2010-10-05T18:43:00.011+08:00

Snorkeling trip was at 8am, van to pick us up from Phra Nang Inn.

We must have woke up at 7am that day and went down for breakfast.

I was really nervous and excited about it, I've been looking forward to it for the longest time. My Bali Snorkeling was not a good experience. Bf ditched me and went off alone.

Waiting for the speedboat. It was a 15 mins drive from our hotel to this snorkeling agency.

Saw a cute kitten there, so tiny~~~

The sibling. Sunbathing, lol~

The speedboat fits about 20pax? I don't know if it's due to monsoon or what, but the waters are really rough and bumpy. I was ok, didn't feel seasick, maybe it was travelling at a very fast speed. But the couple who sat in front of me weren't as lucky. Some waves are so strong, all of us felt like we were taking a rollercoaster ride, those sat in the front even screamed.

Maya Bay. We got there early, before the crowd hits in, it was beautiful.

Checking out why is the rock dripping water.

Tourists starting to flood in slowly.

Walked a 100m barefooted to the toilet, it's disgusting. We had to walk through some grassy and muddy area.

Imagine going to the toilet w/o slippers! Gross!!!!!!!

Filled with china tourists.

Left after 30mins or so to the next place.

I think we snorkelled here.

Bird nest cave.

There are tiny fishes actually, but couldn't see from my picture :(

The snorkeling was ermm... I don't know.. it was quite an experience.

Bf was really sweet. He held my hand throughout, pointed out corals and fishes to me. He tried very hard to ask me to relax but I was still very scared so we didn't swim too far away from the boat. I was so scared I kept clinging on to him, he wasn't wearing a life jacket, and I could have killed him. When you try to survive, you unknowingly cling on to someone and push him downwards. I made him go up and wear a life jacket after he told me I have to relax because I was putting all my weight on him.

Went up to the boat, he wore his life jacket, I vomitted. I think I was too scared and excited, but I went down again after vomitting.

There's a Msian family who brought 2 kids along and they annoyed us to the max, they insisted on feeding the fishes, this would mean that all fishes would be lured to them, and they freaked out and started kicking everyone else near them. Bf and I really dislike those kids. They were really rude people too, the kid almost fell on the boat, I held on to him so that he wont fall and I got a rude stare from him, the father didn't even thank me.

I figured we really dislike children. If I ever have kids, I will make them learn their Ps and Qs, won't let them grow up to be spoilt brats.

Very salty lunch. Everything in Thailand is salty, I dont know why.

Not very happy, recovering from the vomitting.

After lunch we had some time on Phi Phi and I laid on the sands to get some tan. Its was really nice and relaxing, to just do nothing and lay there.

Had to leave for our next destination, Bamboo island I think? And it started to rain really heavily :(

We waited for the rain to turn small, and we swam out to the sea for some snorkeling. This time I felt more secure, but visibility wasn't too good due to the rain. What a waste. Fed the fishes and it was fun. But I'll never do it again, by right you're not supposed to feed or touch them, well, guilty as charged, I did both and I felt bad for spoiling the nature.

I got bitten by sea bugs and it was so painful!!!! Felt like little cuts. I couldn't even see the wounds at some area. I thought I got bitten by fishes, but Jia and Chong said its sea bugs. I heard sea mosquitoes are the worse.

Went back to the hotel and took a nap again. Hectic day leh! Skipped massage as bf wasn't too keen. We even had a small argument on it. I want to do massage everyday but he's just not a massage/spa person, to him it's not impt, to me thats the whole purpose of this trip. And he won't allow me to go alone though the place is just opposite our hotel, it's another hotel called Aonang Princevile.

Anyway dinner the next day, we decided to settle for the most popular restaurant. Prices are more ex than 1st day's dinner, portion smaller too. Cost about THB900

Ordered Pineapple rice, 2 prawns, stir fry beef and a mixed fruit juice. My driver recommended me Wang Sai Seafood, but it's very far to walk there, and we were lazy.

Bought pancakes on the street because we overheard Singaporeans praising it.

Banana choco pancake for THB20. It was ok to me, but bf likes it.

The tiny store.

I think I really like snorkeling. My 2nd snorkel was not too bad, felt emotionally stable, I'd definitely do snorkeling again and again.

Minimoon Day 1 - Krabi (14Sept)

2010-10-05T10:09:00.019+08:00

We took a 6 day trip to Krabi and Phuket after the wedding. We left 2 days after the wedding and it was mad crazy! Sunday we checked out at 4pm, had an appt at Marina Square, then rushed home to collect our father's jackets so we can return everything to Di Gio, then when down to wheelock to collect my free ipod nano, bought mooncakes for my family.

Monday I had to quickly pack already. I wonder how people can leave for Europe right after their wedding, it's just so hectic and crazy.

We landed there quite early, I think 8.30am, flight was delayed for 30mins, Tiger sucks.

Hired a car for THB600 to Ao Nang. It's similar to Bali, there are counters offering their taxi service, no need to compare rates, they charge the same price. Different areas will have different rates.

My sis bought me Havaianas for my trip. Uber sweet!

Checked in at Phra Nang Inn. Waiting for our room to be ready.

Got hungry and went out for breakfast before meeting out driver. Headed to Wanna's Place I read that their food is cheap and there's free wireless there. But I don't know why can't use their wireless leh, in fact we can't use it in both Krabi and Phuket, strange. It worked in Pattaya though.

Him, clean freak must clean glasses. And he prefer not to use ice from restaurants.

Checking into our room after breakfast. Room's really tiny. But we paid S$132 for 2 nights so we can't complain much. Room is clean, no mosquitoes, free drinking water, I'm easy when it comes to hotel.

The only downside is the toilet is just by the corridor, people can hear you loud and clear if they walking along the corridor.

I couldn't care less if people hear me, but bf keep asking me to talk softly because people can hear us. I think bf is the picky one because he's used to staying in lavish hotels during his business trips.

See the bathtub at the corner? You can soak inside and watch tv. No HBO though. I love the relaxing lavender milk they provided, smells really good.

Driver was really punctual, I still don't know his name, Nongra, Nongha? I don't know, thai names are difficult.

I found this car company online and decided to just use them because of the cheap prices. If you need a driver in Krabi, you can contact pj_carrent@hotmail.com they take 1 or 2 days to reply mails, substandard english, but they're reliable, cars are clean and new. I was driven around in a Honda Accord.

Tour of the day, Hot Springs, Emerald Pool, Tiger Cave, estimated time from 10.30am to 7pm, cost us THB2500. Trip is supposed to start at 9am but I had a feeling that our flight will be delayed, so right about it!

I think we took 1 hr to reach the Hot Springs. Remember to bring your own towel there.

Weather must be about 30 degree, and hot spring's temperature is 40-42 degree.

About 200m walk to the natural hot spring. We paid THB 90 each to get in.

The area is super tiny, I think it can only fit 10-12 pax at one time. Luckily we went after a tour group left, so it wasn't too bad. We got ourselves a comfy spot and enjoyed the hot water.

It felt a bit yucky to get into the pool. You will step on rocks and pebbles, dried leaves and twigs. Didn't like the feeling of it. And there isn't a proper place to put our slippers and towels, we just left everything on the ground. Its advisable to bring a bag along so you dont have to leave your towel on the ground.

We asked our driver if we should bring our towels, he said I think so. Then a few days after the trip I realised, to Thais "I think so" meant a definite Yes. It doesn't mean "hhmmm uh huh...okkk... maybe... I'm unsure.. duno leh..." It just mean Yes.

The water flows down to a bigger pond. I didn't go down, looks dirty plus water looks deep.

See the greenish algae on the rock? I think it's algae, I'm not too sure.

Damn hot after hotsprings. I'm glad this is all natural. Not like those hot springs hotel in Taiwan where you step into a tiny bathtub. This is just something different not you can experience here in Singapore.

Next, we headed to the Emerald Pool, cost THB200 per pax, apparently they charge locals THB20 only. This is a national park, like Macritchie reservoir.

I'm not happy because the weather is so hot, and the damn pool is 800m away!

Yuck, green mosses. So disgusting.

Here we are. Emerald Pool. A total waste of time, I've submitted my review to Tripadvisor. People say the water changes colour at different time of the day. I say it's disgusting because there's algae everywhere, bottom of the pond is slimey. It's green because its covered with disgusting algae.

Water is cool here, I didn't get down, I made bf get down. Haha.

We left after 10mins.

And then on our way out, we passed by this Sra Keuw pond. It's covered with a thin layer of oil film. Yuck. Water is very still, I suspect it's a good breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Its a long and difficult way out, have to go through obstacles. You have to walk on the tree stumps, it's muddy below.

Left the lousy Emerald Pool and went to the Tiger Cave.

Its 1237 steps to the top.

Saw Ji Gong, it's donated by Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. Hahahha, its written there.

Its a steep way up. It was drizzling and we were quite determine to make our way up to the top.

Got bored. Resting.

And then, when we got to 269 steps. Bf decided to stop. He said it's too steep for me to continue and he don't want me to fall =.=" Actually I'm quite ok to continue one.. so I suspected he's the one afraiding of falling. HAHA~~~

Stairs were really steep and narrow. I wear a size 3, and the steps are half of my feet size.

So we walked around that area, saw a valley downhill area, but we didn't dress appropriate so I didn't want to continue. It's just not very respectful though I'm not a religious person.

On our way out, we saw monkeys robbing people's icecream and packed lunch. Be very careful, those monkeys are very fierce.

I did something stupid in the car. The portable fan got stucked in my hair.... I'm always clumsy and stupid when I'm overseas. The 1st time I used it the head flew out, and bf told me not to hold it so close to my face in case it flew out again and hit my face.

I ignored him and somehow, the fan got stucked in my hair. He pulled out my hair strand by strand, and then he dismantle the fan and refuse to let me use it again.....ROARRR.

Driver took us to Krabi town and ask us to take a picture here, he say its very nice must take picture. But we thought it's so-so only leh.... Krabi town is a dead town, nothing one. Bought a cute Hello Kitty calculator at THB180, I saw it later in Phuket selling at THB 500 loh. Everything is ex in Phuket.

Ended the tour early and head back to the hotel for a short nap. We were both so tired, woke up so early in the morning.

Dinner at a seafood place. Due to the low season, all the restaurants are very empty. Its a good thing to travel during low season. But will have a bit of rain loh.

We ordered Tom Yam Soup, a snapper, prawns, mussels and vegetables, cost us THB800 I think?

Head back to the hotel and slept early because we have a Phi Phi Island tour the next day.

Booked from the hotel THB1100 per pax, lunch and tea break included in the trip.

There are many agencies along the street offering you tours, Low Quality THB800, High Quality THB1500. We asked the agencies what is the difference, the lady said its the service. Don't know what it meant though.

Conclusion for Day 1: Day trip in Krabi is just not worth the money, I only enjoyed the Hot Springs. I didn't bother with Elephant trekking tour because I think thats animal cruelty. If you book from an agency, it'll cost a bit more and you'll share a van/bus with other tourists. We prefer private tours. Spent THB3080 for the day trip, learnt from Swee to state the prices out, it may be useful for friends heading there soon.

That's all, will continue my Day 2 soon. Tata

2010-09-29T22:10:00.002+08:00

Just saw my express highlights.

Boring-est shit ever. From Clip productions. I really dont like it, its soooo boring.

Probably the games are too simple.

But then its really really really shitty. I felt like I've waste 1 Europe air ticket for nothing. $1310 I can stay 2 more days in Phuket, I can buy an air ticket to Rome already.

Half of the video is on tea ceremony. How boring is that? To see me serving tea to all the relatives, honestly who wants to see that?

Made me SO moody.

I may have things to complain about AD pics, I don't know, we'll see.

2010-09-28T13:57:00.007+08:00

Regrets on my wedding

1. Not spending enough time with my guests, I felt like I spent ALL my time on Anthony's guests. I wanted to mingle with his guests so that they won't think that Anthony's wife is not a friendly person. But time flies without us noticing, I ended up neglecting my guests, it's a huge regret, really, because one of my close friend told me he didn't feel involved.

2. Forgetting to tell my VG what we do not like. We didn't tell him (or rather both of us forgot about it) we didn't like seeing tea ceremony in our express highlights. And according to my sis and Deqiang, the love declaration part was cut short, and a lot of time spent on the tea ceremony. And the whole express highlights was boring. Till now, I've not seen it myself yet.

3. Forgetting to emphasize to my PG how impt my wedding bands were to us, and asked him to take pics of it. It was a mad rush on AD and I forgot to emphasize that to him. I *think* he didn't take any pictures of it. I can't blame it on him, all along my principle is "it's your wedding, don't expect outsiders to remember the details, you have to remind them" I should have reminded him, but I forgot.

What to do with regrets?

There's nothing I can do except to embrace it with a smile, and move on. Afterall, it's still a lovely wedding and we're happily married now :)

Somehow, these things seem so minute and unimportant now.

My 27th Bday

2010-09-27T17:41:00.005+08:00

Sept 6, he took leave. Didn't expect him to do that :)

Morning we sent my mom to Kim's to alter her dress. Then he dropped us back home and he went home.

I thought he went home to take a nap as usual. But he was preparing something for me.

He was disappointed it was raining and spoilt his surprise picnic.

We still went ahead and decided to lay mats under a shelter instead. We had potatoes, corn, lamb racks and pork chop.

From our favourite butchery. He cooked the whole noon just for me :)

These were really good, not overcooked, he might actually be a natural talent in cooking.

Him cutting the meat for me.

Wanted to end this with a simple movie date, but I was really tired and didn't feel like watching a show so we headed to town.

And then, he said there's still dessert for me. I was stuffed by late evening already. He made me close my eyes, and I thought he's bring a cake out for me.

Tadah. My dessert :)))))))

Ended up at Paragon coffee bean for a real dessert.

Such a lovely simple birthday this year.

No lavish dinner, no dressing up, but I loved how he put in effort to bring me out for a picnic.

Thank you baby.

My Hen's Night

2010-09-25T13:51:00.013+08:00

4th of Sept, 1 week before my wedding, was a fun and memorable day.

Lian put together my hen's night and I really appreciate her for that, and some of the things she told me cheered me up a lot, was feeling stressed and down before my wedding.

Thank you girls for making this such a fun night.

Went to Double O and act young. Took this while waiting for bei and qi.

Playing with my camera. I want to buy a new camera.... sigh... I think pinky's dying on me soon.

Finally arrived :) And not long after bei and qi arrived, everyone left and I didn't even know, I was back facing them, and they left me and Jai alone =.=" Probably head out for briefing.

Getting all ready.

::loves::

And then, they made me drink. I'm really not a drinking person because I pee a lot, so it's just annoying to keep drinking and then keep going to pee!

Jai's the photographer of the night.

All dressed up means that I have to start playing the tasks, all 10 of them.

Task 1: Sit on an ang mo's lap and ask him to sing a song for me. This guy sang a traditional danish song for me.

Task 2: Find 10 guys to paint my nails for me in 5 or 10 mins(i can't remember), else have to drink.

Going around telling people it's my hens night would also mean that I'll get toasts from strangers. I'm not a good drinker but I'm a sporting person, so I drank half. Stomach damn full loh.

Task 3: Sell tibits for $10 each. I have 2 packs to sell. These 2 guys were really great and onz. Thank you very much.

I think I did a Task 4 at this table. Dance with a guy but I have to dance ugly. But I don't know where's the pic.

Task 5: Arm wrestle a guy. If I lose, I'd have to drink. So I told the guy tonight is my hen's night, I have to win! So I won. Haha. He bought a jelly from me too, at $2.

Task 6: Sell jellies. I found this to be difficult. Asking for $2 is like asking for the sky, I wonder why?

Task 7: Smack a guy's butt and tell him he's looking good. Done, smacked! Haha.

Task 8: Lit cigerette for 3 guys using a cigerette. Easy peasy.

Task 9: Find 3 tall guys and give them massage using toilet brush. Haha.

My surprise of the night ~ Whom turn up to be irritating coz he ordered drinks for to sabo me.

Task 10: Find 5 babes and ask them to give me a kiss!

Impromptu task: Hunks to kiss me. Lucky them! Lol~

Shots.

Cheers, I always love shots.

But then... err... just look at my expression. I didn't really like it. I guess lian didn't like it too.

Then comes the waterfall. Annoying asshole.

He apparently loves the toilet brush alot. Fel loves it too.

And the surprise cake. Thanks wiveys. Always love cakes on my bday :) Last yr was the famous durian roll, I remembered.

Gayboy.

No idea if they're boxing, OR, she's boxing him and he's crying.

Big and messy hair is my trademark. It's forever like hay.

Everyone seems to be having fun.

Presents. Love it loads.

Peekaboo.

Can't bear to use it.

Thank you very much for the very very fun night. I love you all loads :) Life wouldn't be the same without my friends.

2010-09-17T18:09:00.002+08:00

Our minimoon is absolutely great.

We didn't have an itinerary, so the trip is so relaxing. IS, because I'm still here, from Krabi, to Patong Beach in Phuket and now staying at The Pavilions, my last stop.

We're on top of a hill now, no rowdy people, sleazy massage parlours unlike Patong. There's free internet access so here I am.

Will update my blog with tons of pictures when I'm back, starting from my Hens Night to Birthday, wedding and to minimoon.

XOXO,
Gina

2010-09-02T23:08:00.003+08:00

Its very sweet when friends do things like that for you.

Certain things that she tell me; the way she express her care and concern - things like that are priceless.

How they made me smile and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside is priceless.

2010-09-01T16:00:00.002+08:00

As much as I try to be happy, I can't.

I feel affected by other people's mood. Things they say. Things they do.

I feel that people around me are beneath what I expect from them, and they, unfortunately, disappoint me.

Greatly.

In a very sensitive and unhappy zone now.

2010-08-30T23:10:00.002+08:00

My colleague bought a 1 litre pack of Teh Botol back from Batam for me, yippppie~

Super loveeee. Drank like super alot in Bali. This is just sweetened tea, but I love it, yums.

I'm in a love-hate relationship with my colleagues basically, and I'd be going to Kukup with them in Oct. Very touched by people who change their holiday plan for me, very sweet to see food on my table because some knows I don't eat lunch when I'm on Dubai shift, but still annoyed by things they say sometimes.

2010-08-30T15:41:00.004+08:00

11 days to my wedding.

Boy, I'm nervous now.

A couple of things undone, and I'd probaby scrape them off my TO-DO-LIST to relieve stress, I don't want minute things to dampen my mood and destroy the event.

* Wrist Corsages
* Guest book
* Ang bao box ----> Don't know if I should use the ugly cheena box from Megu
* Things to buy for gatecrash
* Prepare ang baos for JP, younger cousins, brothers
* Shape the bushy brows
* Finalise AD schedule and minimoon itinerary
* Mom to buy her dress

Rehearsed for my march-in last Saturday and I was freaking out even though there isn't anyone in the event hall.

Totally have no idea what's left to do right now. Feeling very disorganized and stressed out.

Have to go down to Di Gio multiple times to collect album and collect gowns this week, go to my BTO selection, pick a dress with mom, collect our pre print ROM certificate.

I wish I have more time. Bleah.