footloose

screwed up

2010-07-15T14:36:00.002+08:00

i've screwed up once, screwed up twice.. now i'm screwed again... Don't i ever learn my lesson?! (though the messes are irrelevant to each other) but in general, all these shit started by being too nice, too generous.. Guess i can't cope with the fact that after being nice, i do not get reciprocated and in fact i get ripped off and taken for granted.

I vow to learn to love myself and not let anyone take me for a ride anymore. My new journey will start on 1 Aug... I hope i don't screw it up the fourth time...

Venezia, Italy

2009-12-01T14:52:00.006+08:00

A trip from Milano to Venice takes only 2.5h by train. But Venice wasn't having too good a weather when i arrived. We headed to San Marco by foot which was a mistake. It took us more than an hour. We should have taken a gondola.. let them sing and sway me there in style.. After that we tooka water taxi to Murrano to see Mouth blown glass.. The master demonstrated to us. The guide says it takes about 10-15 yrs to master the skill thoroughly but they are lowly paid though.

Venice is unique.. There are no cars on the road. But they have their public transports which are boats and boat taxis.. Very pretty place but at times it looks like rome and milan with lots of bridges and rivers. I need to go there again just to sit in the Gondola and having him sing for me as he row his gondola.. Then i would feel i have completed my tour in Venice.. Haha!

San Marco Square

Having a break in style @ Quadri

cape town

2009-12-01T14:18:00.006+08:00

i arrived on a summer but was a winter weather.. cold, wet and extremely windy.. And due to the bad weather, table mountain was closed... Sigh...

It was by God's blessing that i get to go Cape town so I didn't just rot in my room. We took a tour and we went to Seal's island. the ride there was a terrifying viking ride. The sea was extremely choppy and I was so sure that the boat would capsize and send me into the ice cold water. I even located where the life vests were. Occupational hazard. But we got there in one piece and saw thousands of seals.. just that my stomach didn't feel too good. :(

Then we proceeded to cape point where we saw the light house and then to cape of good hope! It started to pour just after we took photos, leaving the nasty and impatient caucasian caught in the rain. :)

There after we went to visit S. African's penguin.. They seemed fake cause they didn't move much. I was hoping to see them waddle and jump into the water, like how animal planet shows them all the time.

Last stop was to the Cheetah Outreach, a non profit organisation. And i took photo with an adult. My heart was pumping, pumping.. timid me....

Seal Island

View from Cape Point

Light house

Table Mountain

Paella

2009-10-26T15:27:00.003+08:00

Paella with clams, Serrano Ham, and Chorizo Sausage
Serrano ham is so adored by the Spanish that it is often served on its own, accompanied by nothing more than a glass of sherry.
Savor it here as a flavorful accent to this scrumptious rice. If serrano ham is unavailable, the more readily available Italian prosciutto makes a good substitute.
Serves 8
25 minutes preparation + 55 minutes cooking
Difficulty: medium
Ingredients
1/2 cup (4 fl. oz) olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
4 oz chorizo sausage, crumbled and with casing removed
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups (18 oz) rice
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
2 large tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and chopped
4 1/4 cups (34 fl. oz) chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon powdered saffron
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
One 14-oz can clams, drained
8 oz serrano ham, cut into thin strips
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Lemon wedges, to serve
Preparation
Heat the oil in a paella pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onion begins to soften.
Add the garlic and cook for several minutes more. Drop in the chorizo sausage and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Mix in the bell peppers and tomatoes, reduce the heat to low, and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Stir in the rice, increase the heat to medium, and sauté for 5 minutes. Pour in the broth, turmeric, saffron, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 15 minutes.
Add in the clams, ham, and parsley and cook for a further 7 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.

More paella recipes http://www.spain-recipes.com/paellarecipes.html

Secrets of good paella

1. Use a wide, shallow pan
Here in Spain, Paella is cooked in a wide, shallow pan with two handles. This pan is designed to let the rice be cooked fast, which traditionally happens over a wood-burning fire (although the Spanish, modernists than they are, all use gas nowadays). Traditionally made of rolled steel, the pans are sized from about a foot (25-30cm) all the way up to three feet (a metre) or more. They are never deeper than about 2 inches (5cm).

Paella recipe tip:
A frying pan is just fine! Get your shallowest pan, and just ensure that the paella remains shallow in the pan. Paella is a dry dish – get the rice too deep, and it will be too moist. You can even use a flat-bottomed wok if you have one, which helps if your are cooking on your stove and the cooking ring isn’t wide enough, because you can compromise by cooking the paella just a little deeper than would otherwise be preferable.

What size pan should I use?
2-3 people: 10-12 inch (25-30 cm)
4-5 people: 12-14 inch (30-35 cm)
6-8 people: 18-20 inch (45-50 cm)

How on earth can I fit a big pan on the hob?
Above the smaller of the pans above, you can’t of course. There are special paella burners available that are very popular in Spain. Also, many of today’s cookers have a wok ring, that’s wider than normal rings. Whatever you use, it is important to apply an even heat across the bottom of your pan. Up to about 12-14 inches, it is possible to cook on a normal hob (you can move the pan around during cooking to spread the heat a bit). You could always buy two smaller pans. Or, see the paella recipe tip below!

Paella recipe tip:
If your pan is too big for your hob, when you’ve added the rice to your paella, remove it from the hob and cook it in a preheated oven at 350F/180C/gas mark 4 instead.

Types of pan
Paella pans are cheap and cheerful. The rolled steel pans go for a few euros here in Spain. They are also available in enamelled or non-stick finishes, which although more expensive and less traditional, require less looking after (see below).

Paella recipe tip:
Rubbing your rolled steel pan with oil after use and not scrubbing it when cleaning (a wipe will do) will ensure it develops a nice black natural non-stick coating after a few uses. Use it for any frying you can in-between paellas and it will soon get there.

2. Don’t use long-grain rice!
The whole point of a paella is to soak up all the lovely flavours added before the rice. Spanish medium/short-grain rice can soak up to three times its volume in liquid, and its fat stubby shape has a starchy centre.

“Bomba” rice is often preferred. Here in Spain, they take their rice very seriously and there is even a DO (designation of origin) mark for rice from the Calasparra and Valencia regions.

You simply can’t use “normal” rice (long-grain, “American”, basmati, pilaff etc), which can’t take on-board all the lovely juices from your meat and fish, deep-flavoured pimenton and delicate saffron.

Paella Recipe Tip:
If you can’t find a Spanish variety of rice, risotto rice will do just fine (Italian arborio, carnaroli). Don’t get hung up about it! Paella is a forgiving dish.

3. Make a simple stock from what you’ve got
Don’t be put off if you are in a hurry and can’t make stock – do you think the Spanish always make one? I can assure you not! Water is fine if you are in a hurry or don’t have an extra pan for stock.

Having said that, I watched some fisherman make a paella for a family party of 40 on a beach in Pedregalejo, Malaga, a few years back and they spent longer making the stock than the paella.

If you are using chicken, duck, prawn, mussels etc and have some wings, shells and shellfish steaming water left over from preparing these ingredients, bung them in a pan with and simmer for a few minutes – it would be criminal to lose those flavours and will take you just a little extra time and effort to do. The resulting stock will add a deep flavour and the dish will be more wholesome for it.

Paella recipe tip:
Always add the liquid first and the rice second when cooking paella.

4. Don’t let the meat and fish dominate
Paella is a rice dish. Paellas are made with all kinds of ingredients in addition: Interestingly enough though, the traditional Valencian paella doesn’t usually contain seafood (except in tourist areas), containing duck and snails (probably due to being made inland in the rice paddy fields). However, a typical Spanish paella will contain some combination of pork, chicken, mussels, prawns, squid, chorizo, squid…

All these gorgeous ingredients notwithstanding, the point is that rice must dominate. The ingredients should be cut small enough to cook well and not “stick out” from the mixture. Be strict with yourself when adding the extras or you’ll make a common error.

Paella recipe tip:
For every 100g of rice, don’t use more that 100-150g of meat and fish.

5. It must be yellow, but be careful what you use
Maybe it’s because the Spanish flag is yellow and red and the paella is their national dish. Whatever, it is always bright yellow. The traditional way to make it so is to add saffron, which you can buy in strands (crush a few with a pestle and mortar) or already powdered.

Saffron is expensive though, and often a big, big spoonful of pimenton dulce (sweet powdered red pepper) is used, which while a bit more orange than yellow, also imparts a lovely flavour. Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to add that spice beloved of Indian cooks, turmeric – your paella will be dominated by this flavour, which is completely alien to the dish.

Paella recipe tip:
Here in Spain, they very often don’t use saffron at all! The Spanish simply use yellow food colouring. So don’t be worried if you don’t have saffron. Copy the Spanish and don’t be a purist! Alternatively, why not use a little of each, if you don’t want to spend the pretty high amount needed to buy enough saffron needed to make your paella yellow enough?

6. Level the paella, and never cover or stir it when cooking
Especially if you are cooking over an outdoor wood (best) or charcoal (fine) fire, it is important to keep your paella level. The point is that the rice must cook quickly and evenly. Also, don’t be tempted to cover or stir it – the rice will cook through evenly due to the shallowness of the dish and stirring will release the starch, making the paella sticky.

Paella recipe tip:
If you’re cooking over a real fire out of doors, make sure that the pan is close to the coals or wood, or it won’t get hot enough. You can use stones to position it in the right place, and adjusting them before lighting the fire with a pan full of cold water will ensure that the pan will be level when the fire is lit.

7. Let the ingredients cook properly before adding the liquid and rice
The sofrito – (”sofreir” is the Spanish verb for “fry slowly”) – is the mixture of ingredients other than rice and stock. This is always cooked first, and must be allowed to develop and deepen in flavour before adding the liquid then the rice.

In a paella, the sofrito is your mix of onion (only ever used a little if at all, interestingly enough), meat, seafood, tomatoes, sometimes beans, nearly always pepper, vegetables and so on. It is always, always prepared in olive oil, and must bubble and reduce over a lazy half hour first of all.

Paella recipe tip:
Your meat should be nearly fully cooked by the time the rice and stock or water is added to the dish.

8. A paella should always take about an hour to cook
Don’t be daunted by timing a paella. It always, always takes three simple steps, and the timings are the same. Just remember 20-30 minutes for the sofrito, 20 minutes for the rice, and 5-10 minutes standing time at the end. An hour in total.

Paella recipe tip:
While you should cook your paella over a medium heat, five minutes of high heat when the rice and liquid are first added (to get things bubbling fiercely) and a minute of very high heat at the end (to caramelise the bottom of the pan into a sticky, gooey, slightly overcooked bit, which many Spaniards maintain is the best part of the whole dish) will give you the most authentic results.

Now you know the principles, go ahead an pick one of or recipes or improvise. You know all you need to in order to make a wonderful paella!

Maldives II

2009-10-26T14:37:00.004+08:00

Maldives second round. This time round I went to half day island hopping. The first stop was to Huraa Island.. An island that was destroyed by Tsunami. Not much reconstruction was done. And there was nothing much to see there except a few souvenir shops selling tee shirts, wooden handicrafts. The next stop was to Paradise Island. The water is clear and has white sandy beach BUT it's flooded with China tourists.. Major turn off.. Had a short snorkel session there as it was very hot and no life vest was issued. Luckily I had my personal snorkel mask.. The snorkel session was nice.. :)

1st encounter with snow in Switzerland's Mt Titlis

2009-10-17T09:27:00.008+08:00

From Zurich, the journey to Mount Titlis at Engelberg was about 2h. On the way there, we passed by Lake Lucerne, Lucerne and Zug. Zug is the smallest town in Switzerland and is a low tax region, thus many wealthy people make their home there. Many companies also are located there. Zug is where Pilatus is.

Also to note, the captial of Switzerland is Bern but Zurich is where most banks are located.

And... Mount Titlis is beautiful!! It stands at 3020m, 10,000 ft.. I wouldn't mind going Zurich again. Rhine Falls and Top of Europe await me...

Scarecrow for Halloween!

Lion Monument in Lucerne. It commemorates Swiss guards who were massacred during the French Revolution.

On the way up to Mount Titlis

Playing a fool with snow, under -15 degrees

view from foot of Mount Titlis

Roma, Ibiza, Barcelona

2009-09-28T15:49:00.010+08:00

Roma

Rome is indeed a shopping haven! Bought a Miu miu bag.. :) But the Italians are not really a helpful bunch. We nearly missed a train to town of Pisa cos the railway station is very disorganised and not many people were willing to help. They would tell you they do not understand English. I hope they mean it.

On the train to Pisa, we passed by a sunflower field.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Ibiza, Spain (San Antonio)

Check out the BIG names!

BBQ chicken at Itaca. Yummilicious!

Sangria
Sunset from Cafe Del Mar

Supermarket full of boooze!!
And we decided on Amnesia, where Armin Van Burren spun

I wanna migrate there!

Barcelona

Gaudi's Casa Batlo

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

yummy paella

Gaudi's Park Guell

Inside Sagrada Familia

Conclusion:

Love love Ibiza for the clubbing! And in general, i love food in both Barcelona and Ibiza.

Korea.. disgusting korea

2009-09-02T13:49:00.002+08:00

Visited Korea again. Had more time there and was pretty excited. But it was an utter disappointment..

Fashion is outdated. I went shopping at Myeong Dong... Clothings were ugly, untouchable and boring. But most importantly, there are extremely overpriced. Sales staff are rude and aloof.

People are boorish and rude. To get to where they are headed, they just bang into you. Kid you not but i had a few grazes and bruises from their pushing.. Amazingly uneducated bunch of loud-speaking ppl. They really made me trip there disgusted..

I still don't understand why people bother to go Korea for holiday and honeymoon.. Or maybe they also regretted going.

6th Bangkok trip

2009-07-08T13:27:00.005+08:00

It's harder to find someone who has never been there than to find someone who has been there..

But this trip, i focused more on the food than the shopping.

And these are 2 shops that i feel everyone MUST go..

1st is Nam Sing @ Chinatown.

The Claypot Dong Fen with crab only costs B300 and it's awesome!

Sharkfins is extremely tasty too and costs only B500.

I ended my feast with a bowl of birdnest. Only B200.

2nd is Hachi Ramen @MBK

There are 2 stalls. One is 2 stalls away from MK, the other is a few doors away from Mac.

The fried rice and tom yam kung ramen is to die for.. :) :)

Shopping wise, I loved 3rd floor of Platinum.. Cheap cheap, good good!!

:) :) :)

Moscow (Russia) and Houston, Texas

2009-06-09T11:54:00.006+08:00

Russians are rather aloof and cold. They would not help a lost tourist. No smiles, no thank yous but loads of Vodkas. Was said that Russian Vodkas are smooth to drink even if it's neat. Nothing piercing like Absolut Vodka. I didn't manage to try.

Reds Square
St Basils Cathedral built by Ivan the Terrible

Russian stacked dolls signify unity in a family

Houston, as compared to other states in USA, has more blacks and Vietnamese. Due to its proximity to Mexico, many signs, menus etc have Spanish as well. FO Justin mentioned that it is possible to drive to Mexico but Tim says it's dangerous in Mexico. Perhaps my next visit to Houston, i would try to convince more people, especially the guys to go along.

And now.. more visuals.. :)

Houston

NASA

Actual control Station @ NASA
Mock ups

The many tiers of freeway in Houston
NASA was a disappointment for me. I wanted to see for myself the interior of a space shuttle. But there wasn't. There's a more exclusive tour called Level 9 tour which costs nearly $90. But due to limited tickets, we didn't manage to visit that. But am not sure how worth it it is though.

We drove to Houston outlet too. It has Gap, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Coach, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Nine West etc etc.. Due to time constraints, no photos were taken.. :)

14may2009

2009-05-25T11:14:00.003+08:00

It was simple but yet so parfait!

Gerry and gang came late as usual.. But we all met up and had a good time talking nonsense.. They surprised me with a Ferragamo Keychain which i so love.. :) But the sweetest thing is their THOUGHT of baking me a cake.. But as they partied till 6am the day before, they couldn't wake up to bake it but still, the though meant a lot to me.. And also, i know they rearranged their schedule just to spend time with me... I'm very very blessed.. Really great bunch of girls.. :)

Paris

2009-05-09T14:32:00.005+08:00

I went there for a vacation for 5 days.. Way too short. If I could I would rather not be back..

Eiffel
Arc De Triomphe
Wonderlicious French Breakfast
Sacre coeur
Musee Du Louvre
Notre-Dame

Cairo cum Alexandria

2009-05-07T17:07:00.004+08:00

Cairo, my much awaited trip. Was glad there were ppl who were just as excited as I was so we went on a tour together..

Tilt head.. photo can't be rotated

Fort at Alexandria. Made of remains of the Alexandra the Great's Lighthouse and new materials..

Sphinx

Update..

2009-05-07T13:56:00.002+08:00

I know I have not updated for a long time.. Ok.. I shall start to update.. Patience.. :)

Hong Kong and San Francisco

2009-03-05T12:10:00.005+08:00

Had an awesome time in both places. The last time i visited Hong Kong was in 1996. It has changed a lot and the food still taste as good. My sis took time to bring me out to eat roasted baby pigeon, desserts and wanton mee.. I think i have put on a few kg.

For San Francisco, we met a couple of sick people there but I like the bridges and the scenary they had there. It was very magnifient looking! Shopping was good but 70% of my shopping was for my friends and my family.. When I came back i realised I didn't buy much, except for Bath and Body Works. Arghh..

Now for the pictures..

Cable car ride to fisherman's wharf

View of Golden Gate Bridge from Pier 39

View of The Peak

DIM SUM!!

Tram

Stanley Market and Stanley Place

beautiful substitute @ Au Petite Salut

2009-02-05T21:41:00.002+08:00

Have been praying for a Paris flight but prayers have not been answered yet. But I was invited to taste some good and genuine French cuisine as a substitute, by Momo @ Au Petite Salut, located at Dempsey. It turned out that food was way awesome and champagne went totally well with the meal I had. Maybe company of Momo helped a little but seriously, the location doesn't feel french at all.. I still wanna go Paris before 1st June!! ;(

stop and think

2009-01-18T14:57:00.001+08:00

when asked what's timothee doing in Maldives alone..

his answer: better be alone than with a lousy partner

Let me come to yr rescue!!

2009-01-16T14:34:00.002+08:00

From Yahoo! news... WIsh i was there to render help to Lee Hom.. :(

An Eva Air plane which was supposed to fly from Beijing to Taipei Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday afternoon received a bomb threat just before its takeoff. 230 passengers were intercepted by the control tower and requested to get off the plane for security checks. Among them include Taiwanese artistes Lee-hom Wang, May Day, S.H.E and Valen Hsu.

The Eva Air flight, which received a bomb scare, was delayed for three hours and only touched down safely at Taoyuan International Airport at 8pm. The captain did not explain about the delay, so passengers, including the artistes, only found out about the bomb threat after they got off the plane.
"I take the plane very frequently. I will pray every time I board a plane and leave the rest to God!" Wang said. "I have no idea what happened. I thought I will be able to arrive in Taipei earlier with a direct flight. Everyone alighted from the plane in an orderly manner, and the cabin crew and airport staffs were very professional."
Popular girl band S.H.E said they were really nervous when the plane returned to the airport parking apron just before takeoff. The delayed flights ruined their plans to attend a company's event in Taiwan. "Our checked in luggage were unloaded for security checks. The plane was fully inspected and they even brought in police dogs to sniff around."
Hsu complimented the air stewardess onboard for their calm composure in handling the crisis. Though doubts arise when she was asked to leave the plane, she was glad everyone is safe.
According to reports, all passengers were brought to a small room for security checks. To everyone's relief, it was a false alarm.
Eva Air's spokesperson says they will get in touch with Beijing to gather more information on the bomb scare incident.

Lesson learnt: Take SIA. :)

How destructive can an ABNN flight be??

2009-01-14T17:24:00.003+08:00

Came back from MAA ytd and i had very bad gastric pain coupled with diarrhea. today, doc said i have gastric flu.. I feel like shit. And for once, i hv no appetite to eat. I feel disgusted when i see food.. How weird is this feeling. I'm feeling very weak too.. :(

And.. still wondering..

to go zouk later?
to go for flight tmr or report sick and risk disrupting my MEL flight..

decisions decisions..

My new ambition, inspired when i was in Zurich

2009-01-10T14:15:00.005+08:00

I've got a new ambition. I aspire to be a taxi driver in Zurich. They use VW GTI. Haha!

On the way to Zic Zac for lunch.

Frost on my boots..

Bvlgari

Maldives & the rude ass in Wala wala

2008-12-22T11:33:00.005+08:00

a rainbow in peeking out from the horizon

had a set of totally crazy crew but we only have such short time there.. :(

after touched down, i went to wala wala. Was hungry when i arrived so i hastily requested for a food menu from this Indian waitress. And this rude ass server's reaction was: 'NEH!!' while pointing at the drink menu. Apparently it was hiding beneath it. But i don't think it calls for such a rude yell of 'NEH' Maybe cos she's an Ah neh but still?!?! It's ok, wala was quite quiet. I can choose to spend my money elsewhere. I told another server to inform the manager about her rude behaivour and we walked away. They just looked at us walking to another pub. We walked to Baden. Excellent service by this Nepalese lady and awesome Pork Knuckles!

Roma

2008-12-04T09:18:00.011+08:00

Great set of crew (including most of the tech crew) except for a lazy & poor social skilled GS. So if not for him, i would say it's perfecto!

Summary of my itinerary there: Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Patheon, shopping street, vatican city and colosseum. I still have yet to cover leaning tower of Pisa. Hopefully the cables holding the tower stay strong till i'm there!!

spanish steps

Trevi Fountain

Vatican City

Me, kar Yan, Patrick and Lynette

Inside the church

Colosseum

Inside Patheon

Bought a Zara Kids jacket and a bag for myself. :)

Flying past Himalaya (or lookalike)

Back with out dated photos

2008-11-27T10:23:00.006+08:00

yeah.. Am back.. Had a superb rest on tue and am feeling awesome! *wink wink*

before Perth and rest, i attended Kailing's wedding.. Was seperated from my batch ppl and was seated with the 'seriously alcohol deficient' peeps.. I managed to escape unscathed and was watching Edalene and JM toasting non-stop. It's nice to be an on looker esp after recovering from a bad bout of cough and flu..

These drinks were not for the newly weds but Edalene and JM..

And here, Johnson looks like the groom.. lol

Celine, Gwen the Rein-dears

2008-11-20T22:22:00.004+08:00

Ho ho ho!

X'maz coming.. Gwen and I, we've decided to be... Reindeers, or we shall be called the rein-dears..

:)

pork knuckles's good!!

2008-11-18T12:31:00.004+08:00

went to Baden, at Holland V for dinner with neighbours and their frens. We had several rounds of 1 for 1 of erdinger though it was way pass happy hour.. The cheese sausage and pork knuckle were finger licking good!! According to 2 German pax i talked to onboard, Baden's pork knuckle is considered very authentic.

ooh.. more pork knuckles please!!

Lahore (Pakistan)

2008-11-15T14:06:00.008+08:00

the day before my flight, was Meet and Assist Night..
Before i met gerry and zap zap, i was with a mother with infant. lol

The room i rotted for 3 days..

Shalimah Gardens. Built by the same fella who built Taj Mahal. Apparently maintenance plays a huge part in preservation.

Sherlyn, Amira and I. This is where the kings would sit to enjoy the dance and music. behind is where the dancers danced

Lahore's market street

Houses in Lahore in the olden days

Masjid Wasir Khan. Sherlyn and I were too lazy to take out our shoes as it's very dirty inside. yeah.. we're spoilt. :)

memories while in lahore

2008-11-14T14:00:00.002+08:00

was stuck in my room, with no complete human intraction. As usual, bout of depression came over me again. I watched a movie, Lost in City. There was this particular scene where this guy died and the wife mourned and sobbed over his departure. It kinda dawned on me will there be any crying and missing me except the few obligatory ones, my husband, my family members? As mentioned, obligatory ones, thus the social norm expects them to cry and feel upset. But how truly upset are they? What is it they really miss about me? How long will they be truly upset? 3 days? 1 week? 1 month? Maybe that's all. Then i decided to take this bleak thoughts away and try to think on the lighter side. Perhaps being stuck in this country, away from ppl who matters to me (but again, do i matter to them?) makes me depressed so easily. I then looked at departure in another manner. If i depart from a relationship, how upset were they? Many times in the show they would say 'I'm sure XXX (name of the person who departed) wouldn't want to see you unhappy'. But i think i'm a little perverse. I need to know if they felt unhappy. I guess it's cruel but it gives me a sense of wanted-ness in this complicated world. Then i thus conclude that i'm overly emo and have an over desire to be loved and wanted. Am i being satisfied in this manner? If i am, would there be this post to start with? Now i argue within me should this post remain a private or public? Cos i don't like ppl to know i'm unhappy and how complicated i am, with some perveted thoughts in me. But this is the real feelings that i have now. Why should i hide it?

on the road of discovery..

2008-11-13T14:58:00.006+08:00

only to discover that i don't understand myself totally... having a tsunami of different feelings over different issues i'm facing.. I wish i was simpler and easier to understand myself.

Nagoya neh!!

2008-11-10T20:47:00.005+08:00

cold cold in Nagoya neh!!!

;egendary automated stacked parking

a strike..
me lootsa result of missing 24 h of sleeeep.. ZZZzzzzzz...

I AMSTERDAM

2008-11-03T11:58:00.005+08:00

arrived to a -1 degree weather. Was huffing and puffing out smokey as i talked and i felt like i was in a freezer for the next few days.

Despite the chilly weather, i went to North of Amsterdam and visited the town of Edam and tasted some cheese there. Then i went on to see windmills. It was uber cold as it was extremely windy. At night i visited the Amsterdam Red Light District and saw the girls in the aquarium, skimpily dressed in winter.. Fwah.. Don't they feel cold? Anyway most curtains were drawn.. An exercise to beat the cold i suppose. I walked past several coffeshops too where cracks are available, legally..

A WC in the middle of walkway

Next day, i went to Van Gogh Musuem.. I'm touched by the brotherly love between Theo and Vincent. Then i went on the Sex musuem.. Erotica!!!!

Look at the toilet seat covers carefully. Both are actually POV (point of view) from the bowl. Interesting!

greedy mee...

2008-10-29T11:23:00.006+08:00

the 3 me wants....

am feeling spanish today...

un

dos

Cartier Trinity Ring

tres

Chanel 2.55
(oh, an accompanying wallet sounds good too.. )

Estoy esperando pacientemente (I'm waiting patiently)

7 days in porky-free lands

2008-10-24T11:56:00.009+08:00

Am back from Dubai and Istanbul.. In Dubai, i ventured to a new mall, festival City. There's a Marina just outside the mall and it offers a nice view of the sunset.

my new pair of boots from Dubai

The next stop was Istanbul, aka Con-men land.. Everyone there seem to make a living out of conning.. We were conned when changing Euro or USD to Lira, when taking a taxi back from Blue Mosque, booking a tour and also when buying dinner at MacDonalds.... But i got to go Blue Mosque. Was heart wrenching to see that its former self was obviously a Catholic Church. I got a little emo and I stood in the middle of the courtyard and prayed.. But when i was back, Pauline assured me that that was nothing but a physical structure. It's the people who are the churches. Praise Lord and i felt better instantly. :)

Dunno what's the green plate abt but the colour doesn't go with the buildings.. bad bad colour co-ord

Ayasophya

When our set of crew touched down, we made an elegant dash to the food court for some good minced pork noodles and char siew noodles! Yummy! :)

photos here

looted pictures

2008-10-08T15:50:00.003+08:00

cam-whoring in changing room

Am a thief.. stole the above from Gerryfooo :)

Ooh! So FUN!

2008-10-08T11:23:00.006+08:00

TresspassingintoSentosaCove..Fun!:)

I'm on dual time!!

2008-10-07T14:30:00.006+08:00

got a dual time watch finally!!! nice & so useful. a press of a button & i switch between SIN time & the destination's time. Cool for me, the lazy bum. :)

Weekend filled with weddings!

2008-10-06T13:53:00.005+08:00

Back from Bangkok nightstop (where i happened towork with Jason's gf, Doreen) and went for 2 wedding dinner; Alex and Jazz, followed by Pamela and Steven..

Alex's wedding...

Pamela's Wedding...

The 3 of us have not taken a photo together for soooo long!

Pamela's gown is beautiful

The beautiful couple. :)

Auckland with Sondi!

2008-10-02T12:26:00.004+08:00

I think it's unanimous our favourite place gotta be AKL's DFS, Gucci.. We were in the small shop for quite a while. Of course, some form of harm was done but it was worth it cause Gucci's quite a bit cheaper there for us than in SIN. So end result? 1 bag each. :)
When Sondi and I went to withdraw cash for our bags, we were given a stack of $20 notes.. It looked like we broke our piggy bank for the bags.. We are an embarrassment..

These $20 notes add up to NZ$2000

We had dinner at a Korean 'Streamboat' Buffet.

The next day i went to town again on my own and bought a cheap cheap pair of Wooly boots!! :)

Multiple events, multiple posts

2008-09-23T11:49:00.005+08:00

Met Gerry in Perth.. We wished we had more $$ and time..

picture can't be rotated.. Turn yr head instead pls.. ;)

a dress i bought.. the one and only to be exact.

More Perth with Gerryfoo and I here

That night was Flora's farewell party.. Wonder when can we hang out like that again.. :(

Sherval slimmed down a lot. Me wan like that toooo.. :(

3 attention seeking Calafares! Hmph!

PBs (except girl in white next to Flora) at our time but short of Ed and Janis..

More group photos

And..... Off to Zouk after the dinner!

Replica of the trio's good old days at Zouk

Vulgar Gerry was there too

more photos here

Into the ocean

2008-09-14T19:27:00.004+08:00

A song my friend and I like a lot.. Those were the days i would wait for her to pick me up in her cute Rush and rush to work, listening to this song and also finding an excuse for why we were late, again and praying our handphones would not ring. :)

Into the Ocean
Blue October

i'm just a normal boy that sank when i fell over board my ship would leave the country but i'd rather swim ashore without a life vest i'd be stuck again wish i was much more masculine may even i could learn to swim like 14 miles away now floating up and down i spin colliding into sound like whales beneath me diving down i'm sinking to the bottom of my everything that freaks me out the lighthouse beam has just run out i'm cold as cold as cold can be be

CHORUS
i wanna swim away but don't know how somtimes it feels just like i'm fallin in the ocean let the waves up take me down let the hurricane set in motion yeah let the rain of what i feel right now come down let the rain come down

VERSE 2 where is the coast guard i keep looking east direction for a spotlight give me somthin i need somthin for protection maybe plot some junk i'll do just fine the jetson sunk i'm let behind i'm treading for my life believe me how can i keep up this breathing not knowing how to think i scream aloud begin to sink my legs and arms are broken down with envy for the solid ground i'm reaching for the life within me how can one man stop this ending i thought of just your face relaxed and floated into space

CHORUS

now wake under the sun and calculate what i have done like jumping from the bow yeah just to prove that i knew how yeah its midnights late reminder of the loss of her the one i love my will shall quicklly end it all myfront end then need to fall into the ocean end it all into the ocean end it all into the ocean end it all goodbye goodbye goodbye

CHORUS

Time for dinner.. :)

Athens & post Athens chill out

2008-09-11T10:02:00.009+08:00

Had a few nice crew (Stella) on board.. After we touched down, we bathed and went to book our Santorini tour, Acropolis, Plaka, then to Church of St George without any rest. It was freaking hot.. About 35 degrees..

Theatre of Dionysos

Hadrian's Arch

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Don't really like Acropolis and those historic places.. nice view from the top but a little boring.. The next day we went Santorini!!!

I didn't buy much things there as Mango and Zara were closed on Sunday.. So all I got for this trip is....................

My malay feet, chinese toes.. ;)

photos of Athens and Santorini

And i met up with the UOB peeps again! :)

kiss me!

Happi belly, belly happi!

Hear me SCCCCCcccrrrreeeaaammmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!

Drunk 'Captain' Desmond Tang

Happi Birthdae Bra dder ALAN!!

2008-08-27T13:29:00.010+08:00

Wine drinking buddy, Desmond

Flora, my ex boss.. We both pray that i'll have a Paris flight sooooooooon...

Eddie's tarantulla, living amidst his acnes.. Haha

it seriously looked like a teenager's bd celebration held in some chalet.. But venue was at Hee Hee's place.. Really really nice to see all my ex colleagues, many of them i can call friends..

Butt grabbing session with Manisha, our future Bollywood actress

Oh, and these are my 2nd trip to Jo'burg.. :)

Photos of Lesedi Cultural village

New Delhi

2008-08-18T14:00:00.004+08:00

Back from New Delhi with severe craving for meat.. Was quite an upsetting trip due to the extreme humid weather, pax incessant requests for fluids, high cost of food in the hotel vs low allowance. Thank God, the least the co. did was to give me a good room with very cosy bed linen and huge TV screen with HBO, CNA, and olympics broadcast, that enabled me to rot in the room for some time..

Photos of trip to Sarojini Market

Perth & night out straight after!

2008-08-14T12:29:00.012+08:00

Perth is cc-ccc-cccc-colddd!!! I was way under-dressed!! So, we chose a restaurant that has a real fire place. Warm and nice!

After i touched down, i met up with ex colleagues.. I missed all of them soooo much!

we went for 7th month dinner and there was ge tai.. Haha! No!! It's the disgusting Dragonfly!

Alan and I. He's single, sweet, nice, attentive and genuine.. Anyone??

Jason, my 'son'.

MTV for the oldie; He ain't heavy.. He's my brother... Haha! I was told i lost weight.. Yipeee! Thus.. Brandon the weighing machine.. Verdict? How would he know how heavy i was before???

Finally, the move to go Zouk and all was good..

My precious off days..

2008-08-11T18:07:00.006+08:00

Zappy Alina

salted egg crab

sleep, laze, booze, club, eat.. Things that i do best were done over my days off.. :)

Taipei revisited & maiden trip to LA

2008-08-08T20:09:00.013+08:00

I had 2 clear days in Taipei but we stayed at Monarch Hotel at Tao Yuan. It's an hour away from town. We chilled out, we shopped at XMT and Shiling as usual..

Some of the shoes i bought in Taipei

Then we headed to LA, California (Anaheim Hilton @ Orange County), where we nearly had 1 3/4 clear day. I ditched the idea of heading to Disney Land though it was a 8min walk away cos i figured i'm not ready to pay about SGD$80 to see a few characters parading down in Mickey, Minnie, Pluto costumes, knowing they are just human inside afterall. It's too sunny too.. Perhaps when i have a Narita again, i might try going to the one there. Worth noting is that everyday at 9.30pm there'll be fireworks. It's not a miserable 5-8min show. It lasts a good 15-18min. So, forget about rushing to watch NDP's firework. *Yawn*

Shopping's good in LA. We went to Brea Mall.. Abercrombie & Fitch, Coach, Bath and Body works, Victoria Secret, Mac Shop, 2 deptartmental stores; Macy's and Nordstrom.. One day is not enough.. But if it's 2 days, my money will not be enough. Either way, it's bad.. :(

When I went back to Taipei, i suffered from shopping overdose. I didn't shop much or hey, could it be cos i'm dead broke? Most likely.. So 2 of the gals wanted to go Hello Kitty Cafe and i just followed.. Food sucks, expensive too! Good to go just once and that's it.

My previous trip to Taipei i missed out on some Taipei local food and i tried some this time round. Ai Yu= Norm drink ( maybe i tried the wrong stall) Legend Bubble Tea= Nice and fragrant! Chou tofu= killer after taste.. Even a couple of hours later, i could 'smell M'sia Longkang smell around me.. Puke..

Photos here

Ohayo Tokyo!

2008-07-30T23:43:00.009+08:00

Another standby call up and I was off to Narita. The flight to and fro was painful but this shall remain a positive blog.

that's all i got after changing S$300..

It's an expensive city.. A ride on skyliner (Japan's metro) to Shinjuku costs about S$28 (one way)!

Food is good but in small quantity & I'm so drawn by their display of menu that i keep ordering a lot of food lar! Their menu are mostly in the form of 3D models. Looks reeeeeeal tempting! *Drooling* How to resist? Gosh..

Design of the packaging of most Japanese products are so beautiful that you just purchase without thinking.. Needless to say, i spent more than what i earned.. :(

BUT, it's worth it cos............................................

me bought a camera there!! My new baby costs S$360 only!!! WTF!! It's a S$239 discount as compared to purchasing it in Singapore!! I.T. fair in Singapore? In my opnion, it's........... DEAD LAME..........

Narita photos here

Did my nails today cos they look battled.. They now look gorgeous and so blink blink..

Johannesburg, S. Africa

2008-07-23T14:26:00.014+08:00

The notes are so beautful but a pity they didn't stay long with me.

It was a stand-by activation and I was so not prepared. I do not mind the location but it has foiled my plan for 27th Jul, PVD.. I still have a glimpse of hope. Well.. Just keep my fingers crossed.

It's winter time in Joburg. Nice and cool weather to venture around. But as most crew had been there and done that (with the hug-a-cub tour, lion, rhino tour) so only Vivian and I wanted to go for sightseeing but the nature of the location made it dangerous for just the both of us to go for sight seeing. So we just hang out with Winnie, Xing and Yen in East Gate Shopping Mall or casino at the hotel.

Me with naked David. It is said that he has the most proportionate body. But his dick is not really to proportion or if not, he isn't very well endowed isn't he?

Food wise (my favourite update) is prefecto! The steak is so nice that you do not need any sauce to go with it. The meet is so sweet, juicy and tender! On average a 200g fillet mignon costs about R200, S$30. Yummy!

Nando's grilled Chicken with lemon and herb sauce. Too small to fill my stomach.

Beef fillet at Tribes with mushroom sauce.

Calamari At Smith and Woollensky

Ocean basket. King prawn, calamari, pacific cod and chips accompanied with a bottle of easy to drink white.

Tiu tiu!! Tiu tiu!!

2008-07-19T12:48:00.006+08:00

Rushed to Phuture and met up with Jimmy and Alex. More would have joined if not for their retreat the next day. Well, I had to go cos i finally have a Fri & Sat off!!

Most importantly, i saw this piece of wonderful news there.. Woo hooooo!!

Tryin to find some kakis.. I'm back from Shanghai that morning. But a pity that Gerry has to go Delhi and can't go with me.. :(

Hey pals.. Long time no see!

2008-07-14T08:22:00.008+08:00

It's been a long while since we gathered.. Much has changed, much has remained the same but all are good. :) Cheers to our up and coming Dr Wong.. Jin's coming home with a PhD in Computer soon leh! But he maintains that should my PC be feeling lousy, do not look for him. I thought his new-found title is a good news for me, the IT illiterate.. Apparently not.. ;(

So.. regarding my trip to Beijing.. I stepped into China 11 yrs ago and i hated it and many said i would change my mind, but my conclusion remains the same.

Was put up at Radison Hotel (heard that Hilton is way better).. I had a little excursion on my own to Carrefour.. The air there smells foul and sour and i have no idea what causes the smell. Guess it could be because they sell fresh meat there. The residents are weird too.. To get their way around, they just bump into you. That's their way of saying 'excuse me' i guess. So yah.. Guess that's the cultural diff.

But there's one thing good.. Cheap stuff.. We ate quite a bit in a rather swanky looking restaurant.. Peking duck, vegetable, double-boiled soup, fish, ma po tou fu etc etc and it only cost a measly RMB$50.

To see my schedule

Milano - Saldi

2008-07-09T12:21:00.015+08:00

Am back from pasta land! It was great.. We arrived on the 1st day of saldi and we stayed at The Chedi.. It was Duomo for the 1st 2 days.. (Tram No 12) No Venice or Pissa at all. It was Prada, Gucci, Bottega, Mui Mui and then the same shops at different outlets only..I walked past Duomo Cathedral.. It was magnificient, awesome, breath-taking! But i didn't have the chance to enter as when I was making my way to the entrance, it poured heavily suddenly. Maybe next time. :) Can consider making a trip to San Siro too. It's where the stadium is. (Tram no 16 from Duomo)

Pasta Updates! Pastas are generally very tomoto-y.. PUKE!! Felt nauseous after eating lar! Pizzas fare better in my opinion.. Cos Italian pizzas only have tomato puree at the outer circumference of the pizza, which is just after the crust. This means great tasting pizzas with no tomato taste. Also, it's very very cheesy and they are generous with the toppings.. Pizza hut and all other pizza outlets in SIN, please forget it.. The gelares are so va va voooom too! I had one at Duomo.. Euro$2.40. But it's nice, esp during summer time. :)

After the barcelona shuttle, we went to Portobello's iper (ee-peh). It's huge and got lots of pasta sauces and cheese.. Alas, they DO NOT have any cheese pasta sauce.. I guess it's a modified kinda pasta then.. Their cheese are fresh cheese. They are packed in a way that some look like freshly fishballs and toufu.. I really have no idea how to buy them so i left them as it is.. Moscatos are dirt cheap there.. The most expensive is only Euro$6+! I bought one.. Shall wait for the UOBians to taste it together.

More photos here

Picked up a few phrases here and there..

coffee - caffe
tea - teh
hello - bonjourno
pomodoro - tomato
ananas - pineapples
bye - ciao
dear - bambi(bum bi)
thank you - Gracia
wine - vino (wee no)
Saldi - sale
discount - di sconti
finish - finito
Chocolate - (cho co la ta)

Things i bought. Missing from picture (H&M's top which costs only euro$4,47 after a 70% discount)

Sandy & Mark's wedding

2008-07-09T12:11:00.003+08:00

on 28th July @ Hyatt

The couple

Me with the pretty bride.. :)

Update!

2008-07-02T22:14:00.005+08:00

Just received my schedule.. So updating countries visited again. BTW, I'll be heading to Taipei and LA and I'm so blessed to get to go there. There'll be more time spent in Taipei so i can eat those food I missed as I was too full the previous trip, shoes I didn't get to buy! Taipei, LA, here I come!! *beaming with pride*

Taipei yo!

2008-06-28T10:07:00.007+08:00

It was an easy trip there. Only 4.5 hours of flight time. We were accomodated at Sheraton Hotel at Chung Hsiao Tong Lu. It's very posh looking and it has got an uber beautiful toilet! It was much better than Hilton Adelaide, anytime.

We had no time to spare as time in Taipei was short. We rushed to Xi Men Ting after a wash up and we were so dead hungry.. We rushed to have fried chicken, squid and mushroom. Then we had Ah Chung Or ah Mee Sua. Most of them like it but not me. It smells like a new taxi's fake leather smell. It was quite a turn off for me.

We didn't shop much in Xi Men Ting so we proceeded to Shiling night market. The Taiwanese are very polite to all. Locals and tourists alike. I felt so at home in Taiwan.. Tried the Enormous Zha Zi Par there. It was double the size of what Singapore sells and it only costs NT50 = S$2.50! It was soo huge i could only manage to finish half. Then Genevieve and I shared a bowl of Mango ice.. YUMMYYYyy!!

Really nice cos the fashion is similar to ours, the Taiwanese are sincere and friendly, the food suits our taste and it's cheap! Next trip there, I'm gonna try Legend Bubble Tea, Ai Yu, and Choa Bing. :)

stolen picts

2008-06-25T12:42:00.006+08:00

I died while trying to resuscitate 'him'.. Resuscitated this plastic shit for 5 times.. It was darn tiring. But i killed him more than rescuing as i broke his ribs several times in each attempt. Ouch

Countries Visited

2008-06-25T01:14:00.004+08:00

Not a very fantastic one.. If you know of one that allows me to write description and also easy for this IT idiot here to use, pls let me know. Much appreciated

Adelaide

2008-06-24T22:59:00.005+08:00

Am not able to comment much on Adelaide as I was only there for less than a day..but it's a quiet place where not much sky skrapers could be found..

We didn't go much places as we arrived Adelaide, Hilton hotel @ Victoria Sq at about 9am.. After having an expensive yet not delicious and pathetic range of buffet in the hotel (buffet consists of bread, croissant, fruits, cereals and milk only and it costs AUD$24). Moreover, it was winter and food we had didn't exactly warm our stomachs. I was too tired so I washed up and slept till 2pm and had lunch at China Town, just 5min walk away. Food isn't cheap in Adelaide. Then we proceeded to Coles, a local supermarket. We left the mart at 5pm as they were closing. I turned in at 8pm.. Too tired.. zzzzZZ

Typical gate found in Australia's China Town

Food bought in Coles.. Am so excited about the Macoroni Cheese Pasta sauce. I hope it's good.. Not available in Singapore! ;)

My past few weeks..

2008-06-16T21:26:00.009+08:00

Last Sat we finally managed to appear all together at Zouk. Nice but songs in Phuture was not that danceable and drinks weren't good enough to make me high.. I still adore trance but trance's crowd has deteriorated so much in Zouk.. I miss the day I went Clinic with Janis, Eddie and Brandon. Good trance DJ, good trance lovers.. Anyway.. some random shots i took over the weeks.. Clubbing photos not here yet as I don't like to club with cameras.. So waiting for Gerry to post them. Anyway.. the 3 random photos..

My samsonite Suitcase which I got them at a Damn Good Price..

Cookie showing her anger... Bit off all flowers.. *gosh*

A truck i saw.. Very interesting name for a transport company.. But i'm quite sure i'll never hire them.. *Click pict to see enlarged photo*

(In case u can't see the name.. It's 'KNS Transport Company')

Impt life lessons

2008-06-01T11:25:00.007+08:00

It's part and parcel of growing up. To the fact I've overgrown i think.

Got my hand carry and cargo bag from Samsonite.. Got them at a really good price. *beaming*

2/3 completed

2008-05-26T22:26:00.007+08:00

completed 2/3.. No more mandatory heavy make ups= 30 mins more to sleep! Yeah! I'm a great Mathematician!

It's GSS.. Good chance to check out winter clothes.. :)

Labour Day!

2008-05-01T21:14:00.008+08:00

It's public holiday! But yesterday's attempt to club at Zouk failed miserably. Nvm.. Sat we get to drink so maybe we can adjourn to somewhere and club. So convenient! Was dead bored and decided to go to Cafe Del Mar to bask in the sun. Very hot! Ooh!

No training today means no heavy make up! So good to head out and bask in the sun with only sunblock on my face.. Breathe, skin! But realise my eyebags are getting worse.. Not from late nights but early mornings... :(

Below are some photos.. 1st is my latest survival kit. Namely: BIG makeup bag from Watsons, fine hair net, Lancome's lipstick #139, Lancome's 14 hour foundation #2, Goodlook sculpting lotion and hair spray (cheap cheap!!), ah beng comb, U pins, Lancome's Lipliner, Lancome's eyeliner, Loreal blusher (also cheap cheap) and finally, Face Shop's eyeshadow. Last 2 photos were taken today @ Cafe Del Mar.

Self discovery :)

2008-04-15T19:58:00.004+08:00

I had just been certified that I'm a true blue Bluey.. I initially had hoped to be a Brownie but when the make up was on me, I knew I had to be Bluey. It makes me look much more awake. :) Am surprised that blue looks fine on me. Had always thought I'm an earth tone person.

I need time to adjust to the new look.

A whole new world..

2008-04-11T22:11:00.009+08:00

Started training 2 days back and I'm still trying to get used to it. It was like a scene taken out from the movie 'Stepford Wives'. Everyone greet in a manner similar to the women robots in the movies. I couldn't adjust myself and i secretly snigger at what they did till it dawned on me i'll be like them soon. Gosh..

I've never been anywhere near being the best student but things taught are sooo interesting to me! I feel very sleepy and tired but I was able to concentrate still. Am so amazed of myself! :) But it's reaching by 8.30am that stresses me so much.

Met Lauren and Shoba and they look so different. But I'm happy to see 2 familiar faces. :)

Shall update how my learning goes soon, i hope.. My timetable is packed.. So packed. Tired but full of anticipation. :)

Genesis

2008-03-07T11:12:00.001+08:00

This is the beginning of a new chapter in my life, thus a new blog to start to record my new beginning.

For the inquisitive:

footloose

adjective
1699, in literal sense of "free to move the feet, unshackled," from foot + loose. Fig. sense of "free to act as one pleases" is from 1873.