Korea & Hong Kong vacation Dec 06 - Part 2

You will start seeing some pictures and videos that I have taken from this post onwards. Not all of them but some worth mentioning on the post.

Day 2 – Korea, 24 December 2006

Rise and shine at 7am and breakfast starts at 8am. It’s such a bad start for the day with unappealing breakfast. Hotel Robert served toast with jam, some cold cuts and plain porridge with Korean dish, same dishes as last night’s dinner. Oh, and hey also serve yucky coffee….. I didn’t have much and the coach left for sightseeing at 9am sharp.

1st sightseeing stop. Suwon Fortress.

It is about 1 hour drive from Incheon. Suwon Fortress is a UNESCO heritage site. It was built by one of the Korean kings in ancient times out of filial piety and he built a fortified wall (similar to Great Wall of China) along the boundary to protect it. This wall is actually to guard the tomb of the king’s father. But this father never made it to the throne and thus when the son succeeded the throne from the grandfather, the son built this fortress as the resting place for his father.

2nd sightseeing stop. Everland Theme Park.

It was almost 11.30am when we arrived at the theme park. This is one sightseeing I always dreaded. Because I don’t play all those roller coaster rides ! I’m scared ! And because it’s X,mas Eve, it’s definitely going to pack with people to the brim.

Everland Theme Park is in fact the largest in terms of size that you can find in Asia. It’s an outdoor theme park and I’m going to spend 6 hours out in the cold !!!!!! Luckily, throughout the whole afternoon, there wasn’t much wind.

We had our first tour group photo taken at the entrance. Rosa led us in as admission tickets to the park are included. True enough, it was VERY VERY crowded. Everywhere is infested with people. We had to purchase the BIG 5 ticket as it is not included in the package. It cost us W25,000 (approx. S$ 42.50) per person. With this ticket, you can take any 5 rides. The ticket in fact consists of 3 categories. Pay as you play, Big 5 and unlimited. It is actually a waste of money as I do not take any rides. In addition, when you look at the horrendous queue at each ride, you will give up. The minimum waiting time at each ride spanned between 30 minutes to 2 hours !

In the end, we took a chair lift ride to the lower portion of the theme park, spent 30 minutes waiting to watch a 5 minutes stimulator movie. Then, we had lunch. All the restaurants, even roadside snack stall were snaked with LONG LONG queue. In the end, we ate Korean fast food (burgers and fries). I guessed fast food means people eat fast so finding seats will be easier.

After a full meal, we strolled the whole theme park thinking what we can do with the rest of the tickets. We chanced upon THE VIKING and Alvin decided to give it a try. In terms of size and height of swing, it’s the largest I ever since. While waiting for him, I have my ice-cream in Korea ! See that person waving, that’s him on THE VIKING !

Those speciality shops sold so many cute animal hats that I couldn’t resist trying them on and made Alvin took pictures for me.

There’s a X’mas themed parade marching off at about 2.30pm. It was pretty massive with the number of floats and people involved. The whole parade took about 30 minutes. I managed to ‘choop’ a place of the slope so managed to catch a good show.

We wandered around the park again waiting for 4.15pm. This is the meeting time with the rest of the group as Rosa had booked our Safari World ride for 4.30pm. Rosa had actually wanted to bring us to go Safari World when we entered the theme park at noon. But the wait was 2 hours, so she pre-booked the seats for us at 4.30pm. By the time, we reached Safari World, we were told that those waiting in line has to wait for at least 3hours by now ! Gosh !

So, what’s so good about this Safari World that people are willing to queue 3 hours for a 10 - minute ride?

It’s the only place where tigers and lions in captivity can stay together in harmony. And also the rarest breed of animal – a pair of Ligers (pronounced as Lai Ger). It took the Koreans 12th tries to breed a tiger and a lion. This is their off spring. I tried to give a short commentary on the video but the children’s screams covered my voice. Watch out for Liger when you heard Rosa’s voice !

Then, there was also bears that were trained to ‘say hello’ and another one to do the ‘Gong Xi Gong Xi’.

We left the park at 6pm. By then, the sun had set and it was total darkness in 15 minutes time. We had BBQ for dinner tonight ! The marinated pork chop was SO DELICIOUS that we couldn’t help but keeping asking Seven to top up for us.

Enroute to hotel, the group stopped at 1 of the ski shops to rent their ski suits and ski equipments for their ski next day. Although, Rosa will be giving 4 hours to ski, Alvin and me decided not to do it. By the time we learnt the ropes, it’s time to pack up and go. Furthermore, the price of rental (which is optional) is not cheap either. It costs W75,000 (approx. S$127.50) per person for the rental.

We checked into Daemyung Resort which is near the ski resort which we will be going the next day. This is such a contrast to yesterday’s hotel ! A spacious bathroom with big towels ! The floors are heated because the triple rooms are Tatami – style. I had a good time walking around the room barefooted as the warm floor made the feet so comfortable !

Korea & Hong Kong vacation Dec 06 - Part 1

Hello !!! I’m back – from a good 8-day break to Korea and Hong Kong.

Lucky I’m back on 30 Dec and I had 3 good public holidays to do up all the laundry as well as to pack away my shopping !!! Hee hee hee…..

But seriously, I actually spend more on shopping in Hong Kong than Korea.

I’m going to tell you why, plus many many more of Korea !

In fact, Korea is not one of my must-go destination and so I didn’t even bother to go through the tour itinerary until the eve of departure. It was Alvin’s friend who keeps egging him to join his family for this holiday that we go along to Korea.

Nevertheless, I try to put down as many facts I can remember and my personal opinions too. Hope you manage to find some interesting stuff down here.

Let’s start off now !!!

Day 1 – Korea, 23 Dec 06

It was a transportation day basically and we are at the airport at 6am. The airport was very crowded and packed with people. It was then that we realised that we didn’t have any Tour Leader as out group is small (25 persons) and so, the Tour Leader of the Taiwanese group (from the same company) has to do the check in for us – unwillingly. We spent the next 1 hour sitting there waiting for him to check us in for our Cathay Pacific (CX) flights. I guessed we are the ‘step children’ of his responsibility and we are only cared of after his Taiwanese group is done. True enough, I was right.

Anyway, we boarded the plane on time and I was disappointed with CX. It was a 3 – 3 – 3 configuration in a 737 Boeing. The seat pitch was narrow and that was enough to put me off. I never expect such a small plane. Oh well, maybe because the flight is full and so I felt claustrophobic. Nothing fantastic on its entertainment but this is not important as I was very tired so I slept most of the time to Hong Kong (HKG).

We transited in Hong Kong for 2 hours. Enough time for me to go and have a decent meal and to find out where exactly Wing Wah is located in the HKG airport. Wing Wah has this very famous egg rolls that you can die for and both Alvin and me couldn’t resist the egg rolls. There is one time that we almost finished the whole tin within 3 days !

Time to board the connecting aircraft to Seoul, hoping to get a much bigger (leg space) aircraft and to my horror, the aircraft is even smaller ! It’s a 2 – 3 – 2 configuration in a Airbus. The meal was usual. Luckily, the cabin meal includes an ice-cream. Somehow, it traded with some extra points that I’m going to deduct for CX as a premium full service carrier.

Nevermind, we reached on time and touched down at Incheon airport. Incheon is not part of Seoul. It is a separate island or state by itself. This airport was built and was in operation in 2002 because of the World Cup. Korea is one of the organising country. We collected out baggage and went out to the arrival hall to look for our tour guide. One young Korean man was seen waving the signboard of the name of the Singapore travel agency’s name. I thought to myself, so lucky we got a Korean star – lookalike tour guide?

Ha ha….he turned out to be the ‘xiao di’ (little brother) of the tour. Our tour guide is a lady, her name is Rosa. She is of Chinese parentage and she is locally (korea) born and bred, thus she is able to speak both fluent mandarin and Korean.

As why we had a ‘xiao di’? It was the rule by the Korean government that every overseas tour group must have such a helper. This rule was created after the war in the 1950s to help those soldiers to gain employment as they have no skills. Their job on the tour is mainly to help you with the luggages; guiding you going on and off the coach; make sure you are always full during every meal by refilling your bowls; and most importantly, taking pictures of you and sell you the pictures at the end of the tour. They do not have any allowances nor receive tippings. Their main income is from the commission of selling your photographs at the end of the tour. So, the more you buy, the more commission he has. Definitely there are no more such soldiers working on tours anymore. This job has since been taken over by university Korean students part timing during the school holidays or freelance photographers. So, our ‘xiao di’ is a 21 years old Korean uni student whose name is Seven ! He was given this name by a Taiwanese tourist who said he look like one of the Korean singer also named Seven.

It was cold and the temperate in the evening was about 6 degree. According to Rosa, this is not cold in Korea, just normal winter temperature.

Off we go for the included dinner. They served hot pot (steamboat) with rice and some condiments of vege. The hot pot serves 4 persons and in tt, you can find assorted vege and thinly sliced pork. Then the condiments consists of giant ‘tau gey’, seaweed, radish, some other green veg and kim chi ! I tried the kim chi and was surprised it was not salty and spicy although it is red in colour. It is so different from Singapore which is usually very salty. I like it very much and finished all of them by myself.

After a warm meal, we checked in to the hotel in Incheon city. I was utterly disappointed with Hotel Robert. The room was dark and dim. The bed caved in when you layed on it. We were provided with 2 small towels almost in grey colour (sport towel size) and I asked the house keeping to bring me towel again as I presumly thought they have forgotten to give us ‘proper’ towel. It turned out that Korean (local) hotels do not provided big towels. All their towels are that small ! So, no choice lah….. we make do with the tiny towel. Lucky we were there for a night !

Holiday ... ...

Again, I'm putting up this post while waiting for the washing machine to complete its wash.

I gonna wake up at 4.45am later. I'm going off for a winter holiday ! Hopefully it's a snowy one and so it's truly a white christmas.

I'm really looking forward for a holiday but not looking forward to the destination ... ...

We'll catch up ...

Ah Hao R.O.M

It was my brother-in-law's ROM yesterday. It was also his birthday. It's such an idea to fix your wedding date to your own birthday as there is no way you will forget and make your other half angry. Hee hee.....

I became the last minute photographer as they have not appointed anyone to take pictures for them.

This is the bride. Er......ah hem....the one on the left. The right one was once a bride.....but 4 years ago.....


She doesn't wanted any flowers much to the dismay of my mum-in-law. BUT she has a Precious Moments pillow to hold the rings ! See.....so cute !!!!!


When it was almost their turn, my bro in law started his nonsense like acting to have a stomachache, headache, all sorts of craps....just like his brother 4 years ago....But when they were solenmising in front of the solenmiser, I can see he was nervous....Kudos to the bride who executed calmness throughout. Possibly because the man knew that's 'the end of his day' moment where the woman knew 'HA ! you are now under my control' moment.

Everything ended within 5 minutes and this solenmiser is no good. She just blah blah blah the usual stuff and didn't even offer to let the newly wed took pictures in the room....I was quite displeased and gave her the 'look'. It may be a ritual for the solenmiser but it's such an unforgetable moment for each couple and she should has been more sinsitive and nicer. Anyway, we continued to take pictures outside the R.O.M.....This is my family - in -law....


But alas ! The rain ruined the late afternoon. It became to rain heavily when the couple was about to proceed to Fort Canning Park to take some more pictures. And all of us ended up stranded outside R.O.M not knowing what to do as dinner was scheduled at 6.30pm. We idled for at least 1.5 hour.

Well, no matter rain or shine, this little couple was beaming brightly the whole evening ! Presenting the Newly Wed !

Genting Highlands

While waiting for the washing machine to complete its wash, I've decided to post up this blog.

Just returned from a whirlwind trip to KL and Genting Highlands about 1.5 hrs ago. This is not the 1st time I went to Genting Highlands. But this time, I've decided to put in that extra effort to 'see' the place better and more thorough.

Why?

Because the 2nd Intergrated Resort (IR) located on Sentosa island was awarded to Genting Highlands.

Immediately after the announcement was made, I have concluded several factors why the IR was awarded to Genting Group. Besides political and economic reasons that Genting edged over the other 2 competitors, Genting also has many experiences and is successful in transforming the image of a gambling 'city' to a city of entertainment.

Right from the beginning at the foot of the mountain, clean wide roads are carefully laid with concrete dividers separating the 6-lane sloppy roads. Half way up the mountain and as the road gets steeper, the road split into 2 way, the left hand side of the mountain became the uphill road and the right hand side of the mountain became the downhill road.

We checked into out hotels and I decided to join the guys at the casino to have a look. After a while, I've decided to make my way to First World Plaza for shopping. Along the way, you cannot miss a F & B outlets. In fact, you can find from cheap to expensive ranges of F & B outlets or restaurants well-connected from Hotel Highlands to First World Hotel. There is no way you can get hungry and definitely there is at least one F & B that fir your budget and preferance.

Next, the entertaiment part, there the outdoor theme park. Nevermind if it rains or the fog becomes thick, there is an indoor theme park with rides too. Oh, not forgetting the indoor games arcade and oh yes ! my favourite - shopping ! Though the variety is not that much, but it is quite enough for me to browse through for 1 - 1.5 hrs. The Avenue of Stars concert auditorium. Liu Ji Chang was there to throw a concert on Saturday and apprarently many VIPs also checked into the hotel to watch his concert. The well-known ones are Lin Ching Sia, The founder of Shaw oeganisation, etc, etc. And there is also a Ridpley's Belive It Or Not Museum, Cinema and I FOUND A SPA ! It's located at the lobby of Hotel Genting, tucked right in the corner and you will miss it if you didn't put in that extra effort to find it. It's called M spa. Though it's a little pricey, but it's a good getaway for an hr or so of peace from th hustle and bustle of the happenings surrounding me. It is also a good place to 'hide' away from the people out there. As you know, the whole Genting Highlands if full of people !

M spa consists of a male and female spa, hairdressing facilities, a spa cafe and a gym. The interior was very cosy and the treatment room was big. I did a massage to spend some time away and the masseue was good.

Oh yes ! I also realised the whole Genting Highlands was well connected. You can just walk via all the sheltered connectors and make your way to any of the 4 hotels and theme parks, F & Bs effortlessly. You can never lost your way as there are huge signboards along the way and at every turns.

Beside there are tons of people around, probably because it's the school holidays. I find that Genting has successful created a place where there is entertainment for everyone. And I believe, they will do the same to the Sentosa IR with the same concept in mind.

With the strong supportive help from our government, I believe the Sentosa IR is in good hands and we can safely wait for the 'good show' to start rolling in 2010.

Pork Knuckles

Went for a dinner with my colleagues this evening at Marche.

Ever since we had a new staff joining us, we seemed to line our own calendar of (makan) events much more frequent. And there are more to follow up in the coming new year !

Oh no, at the rate I'm going at, I think I'm going to grow horizontally very fast. Looks like I have to make it a ritual to go to the gym or jogging 4 times a week.

But look at this, can you resist the German pork knuckle?



It doesn't taste good the last time I tried it. But this time, WOW ! It was just simply fantastic. Crispy skin....tender upper lean meat with a thin layer of juicy fats..... It so irresistable !!!!!! I called it the 'ang moh sioh bak'.

Just Sebastian Tan

Hee hee... my friend is not going to like me...

See this !!!!



I was so kan-cheong that it is going to run of tickets that I quickly grabbed them this evening at Sistic.

It's the mini concert in January by Ah Beng ! As the sitting capacity is quite small, I scared I cannot go (though there are 4 shows spanning 2 evenings) so being the kiasu singaporean - I MUST GET THE TICKETS NOW !!!!!

My boss is also fan of his beng-ness and so my boss, my mentor, one colleague and myself are going to watch his concert ! It's free seating and the maximum capacity at Recital Studio is about 200 persons.

So, if you doesn't want to miss the handsome Ah Beng, go get your tickets soon !


And I'm also going to support another idol, Hossan Leong !

I got his ticket to his stand-up comedy. Hope it's nice.....the more local flavour the better.... ha ha ..... His is my 'ang' favourite actor but dun know why leh, he refused to go wif me. So, I go wif someone else lor !



I will be seated on row 5. Super near the stage lor.... Looks like I'm going to see all his facial expression very clearly this time...

Yeah ! I'm so happy !

Jack & the 'Tau Gey'

Returned from a local musical not too long ago and I insist to put this up now to share with all of you.

It's a local production featuring my theatre idol, Sebastian Tan - as Jack.

Picture credit - Sistic's website, www.sistic.com.sg.

It mirrored the basis of the fairy tale story of Jack & the Beanstalk - but with a local twist !

It was hilarious ! Feifei, Fifi and myself was laughing loudly and quite hard for a number of occasions. They kept bugging me to buy them 'clapping hands', programme books and CDs and in the end, Fifi bought the CD.

As the cast are doing autographs for those who had CDs and programme booklet. I kept bugging Fifi to queue and get their signatures, especially Sebastian Tan ! And I have the excuse to go near him to take pictures of him ! - & the cast also lah ...

Fifi was waiting to get her CD signed while I kept snapping him away on my camera phone.......


He was signing Fifi's CD... ... ... ...


While Fifi continued to queue to get the signatures of some of the casts... ...I've moved ahead to have a better view of them and snapping pictures with my camera phone again !



Due to popular demand, the musical is extending to 23 Dec. So, if you like to catch it, buy your tickets NOW !!!!


Sebastian will be throwing a mini singing concert at the Esplanade recital studio in January. We saw the poster at the Drame Centre. Isn't him good-looking?


Here's a close up. He is also Fifi's new idol now.

Travel Club @ North West

To all the young people that live in Singapore !!!!!!

Join us at the Launch of Travel Club @ North West

Date : 9 December 2006

Time : 5pm - 7pm

Venue : Essential Brew Tea Cafe & Restaurant,
269 Holland Ave (Holland Village, front row) S( 278990)

Guest of Honour : Dr Teo Ho Pin, Mayor of North West District, MP for Bukit Panjang

If you are interested, please RSVP to Sinti_sim@pa.gov.sg.

Bring your friends along !!! !!!!

Sign up as a member and get to enjoy destination talks, exclusive adverture and discovery trips, & many more !

The Travel Club @ Northwest is a new initiative by the Young Executive Committee (YEC) of the North West Community Development Council. The Travel Club aims to promote youth bonding through travel experience; understand the economic and multi-ethnic and cultural differences between countries and learn and appreciate our nation through travel.

I hope to see you there !!!!!!

Crazy Horse Paris Cabaret Show

A number of us caught the first of its kind of cabaret show last Wednesday. It was a complimentary show - all thanks to my boss.

We had our annual brochure launch on 29 Nov at the Crazy Horse Paris located in Clarke Quay. As our guests are all from the travel trade and airline partners, my boss thought it will be a good idea to throw in a big discount offer to our guests. To our surprise, the management decided to give complimentary to all our guests who wish to watch the cabaret show for the same evening.

It is known as the L'Art Du Nu (Art of The Nude) direct from Paris. All the dancers are direct import from Europe. They are half naked, dressed in G-strings only. Ther are lights cast on the dancers to create an artistic and visual effect.

picture with credit to Crazy Horse Paris (www.crazyhorseparis.com.sg)

If you are there wanting to see 'everything', then this is not a show for you. As the lights shone on the dancers, you can barely see anything but you will still b able to see spmething.

Personally, I prefered those segments in groups. The music are faster and to see the dancers' coordination is indeed entertaining. On the other hand, solo performance pale in comparison, probably we are too tired. We nearly fall asleep.....

It a good experience and I believe once is enough. It is not something you will pay to go again for a second or third time, even if I have paid to go for one for the first time.

Last Day of Business

I went to my parents' hawker stall with a heavy heart this evening.

It's the last day of the stall business today. After a good 5 years of doing 'zhi cha' at Holland Market Hawker Centre, they have decided to hang up all the woks and pots. The business has not been doing well for the past few years and the deterioriation of my dad's health, they decided to call the day's end.

My brother and I were brought up through the flame and bustle of a 'zhi cha' stall. My parents (& uncles and aunties) are in this business way way before my cousins and ourselves are borned. They have been moving around places to places all this while and this is the 2nd time I had this feeling. The other time was the sale of the coffeeshop that was co-owned by all brothers and sisters of my father. The feeling of lost and not knowing what's next was unbearable for my parents as they are those people that 'cannot sit around not doing anything'.

However, on the bright side, they deserve a good rest after so many years of working. We have grown big and independent so now it's time they should have a good rest and live the rest of their life to fullest, not worrying no income to feed 2 children.

My in-laws and family and myself went down this evening to give our last support as everyone is going to miss the delicious cuisine. Ironically, there was no ingredient left and this mean we got no food ! Ha ha ha, in the end, we made do with whatever was leftover and some good dishes were still served.

Nevertheless, my parents are going to take a good rest and scouting for a small stall to run a smaller 'zhi cha' stall to pass time and make some income for daily butter and bread. But many good dishes will surely be missed by many people and one of them is definitely ME ...... .....

My Birthday Blessings via SMSes

These are the blessings sent thru sms from my friends ......

Sunny

~ Happy Birthday ! Happy 30 ! A ha ha.....

Shikin

~ Welcome to the 3 'o' club. Happy Birthday !

Adeline

~ Happy birthday to you! May all wishes all come true. Have fun today. Cheers

Michael

~ May I here wishes you a very Happy Birthday. Good Wealth & Good Health

(my bro...he really know what I need, walth and health...ha ha)

Wai Theng

~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY ! enjoy your day, hv fun :)

Lay Hong

~ Happy Birthday! :)

Fiona

~ Galfren, here's wishing u Many Happy Returns for your BIG 3-0. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Muacks and hugs!

Kelly

~ happy happy birthday! may u b happy n beautiful for many many years to come...

Joanna

~ Happy Birthday! Welcome to 30s club before me...heh!

(hers coming soon...... :>)

Jian Ming

~ Congrats. u r now officially 30yrs old ! happy birthday!



From the above, you can see how happy some of my friends are when I entered the big 3......coz I'm one of those that birthdays fall retty late in the year....which means I can still laugh about I'm still in my 20s when they are all already 30. So, you can see how happy they are when I join the 3-0 club......

:<

My BIG 3 - 0 Day

I was awake at 9am with the strong sun shining on me. I thought I was going to laze around at home the whole day to watch DVDs. But Alvin also took leave, on the pretext, it's my birthday, and I ended up accompanying him whole day, not the other way round.

I grab a slice of my Tiger Roll. Birthday must eat cake mah....


We had prawn mee for breakfast before heading to HDB Hub as Alvin has something to check with HDB. After which, he insisted we must catch a movie at The Cathay. We had a 1 for 1 Deal promo sometime ago that was valid on during weekday off peak. S since both of us were off, he said we must watch a movie. So we watched the Andy Lau's new movie at $6.50 for 2 persons.

He decided to visit Vivo City after the movie as he never been there before. And today is a weekday, the crowd should be okay. But how wrong we are ! The carpark was packed with cars, the malls are bustling with so many people. He was so wowed by the massive space and the shops they have. This is also the first time that I combed all 4 floors of retail/fun spaces, although this is my 3rd visit. We ended up with nothing but tired feet. In fact, we actually stole a break at Macdonalds (over at Harbourfront) before completing the mission (of visiting every part of Vivo City).

By then, I was too tired and we decided to head home to rest before gogin out for dinner. I WAS REALLY TIRED as I dozed off in the car and crawled into bed almost immediately. I took an hour and a half nap. It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to nap on weekday !

There wasn't any big celebration but it was good to be able to spend such an important day with the person important to me. I think this is good enough whether what we have done.

Happy Birthday ! ! !

Officially, it's my BIG 3 - 0 birthday NOW !!!

Coincidently, my boss's birthday was 22 Nov, mine 23 Nov and one of my colleague, 27 Nov. Since our birthdays are so close to each other and to spare everyone in the office of the cake - eating marathon, we decided to throw a party on 22 Nov! And it was on the way to collect my boss specially tailor-made cake, mentor and me made an impromto visit to a party shop, hoping to get a 'Happy Birthday' tag, we ended up buying many other things and the whole party became such a mini Mardi Gras.

Look at the table, we had so much food !!!! Can you imagine? 2 roast duck, 1 kg roast pork, 2 curries with Delifrance baguette, rojak, popiah, pan-fried dumplings, fried rice, fried noodles, fried hokkien prawn mee, bak kua, red and white wine, fruits, ang ku kuehs, cakes, and cakes, and more cakes, still cakes !!!!!! All thanks to boss and his good friends who send birthday cakes on his big day.



Do you like this cake? We specifically made - to - order for my boss. He has a liking to those traditional cream cake and we purposely make sure the cake is in his favourite colour, both outside and inside.



Purple has become his favourite colour after a 'shifu' said its his lucky colour. But pink is no way his favourite colour. He just like to eat those traditional cakes especially the pink colour part. He is now so into hokkien song, particularly 'jit kee sho ho sua' (1 small umbrella). So, we put a pair of umbrella on his cake ! Nice, right?

Are we getting too much into party mood? Or you are trying to be younger as you grow older ??? Dick Lee also threw a flamboyant birthday part when he turned 'half a century old'. Though, we are not there yet, some may come soon, some are coming much later (hee hee), don't you agree with me? The older you get, the younger you want to be....


Our birthday presents from our lovely colleagues. I got a gigantic Ang Pow !




Presenting - The mini Mardi Gras Masqurade !



The party ended minutes after 2pm and i cannot help but feel proud of the efficiency we had. We transformed the conference room back into the original state within a short time.

So now, I eagerly opened my gigantic Ang Pow..........


See what my colleagues got for me? Shopping vouchers ! PINK COLOUR one !!! They really know me so well.... hee hee


Fifi visited us late in the afternoon thinking she can escaped the cake marathon and how wrong she is.... She was smacked with the purple cake immediately she came. Ha Ha... in fact she help to finish that very last slice of cake that was supposed to be for my boss's 2nd round.

See what Fifi and Feifei got for me. I got a pair of 'blink blink' earings and a matching necklace. Fifi remembered I told her before that I can't wear fake metal earrings as my ears will get infection. So, they got me Perlini Silver. So thoughtful of them !



My mentor was trying to camouflouge the green hats after the party and so she tried by experienting to tie red garlands around the green cones. Green hats were never worn by men as there is a saying for men - 'wear green hat' means your wife is cheating on you with other man. Therefore, we decided to do something to the green hat as we intend to have a X'mas party later in the year.

Take a look at the finished product. Do I look like our X'mas tree ?


It was such an enjoyable birthday party although it was about like 2 hours but it has been one of the most memorable birthday I ever had. A truly 30th birthday !

What's going on???

The conference room in my office has transformed into a party room within minutes.

What's going on???

Stay tuned !

My 2ND Birthday Present

This is my 2nd birthday present !



NOT THE TABLE LAH !

It's the suede/velvet dark brown jacket I'm wearing. It's from my boss !

So nice, I like it a lot !

My 1ST Birthday Blessing

Always beautiful and blessed ..Happy Birthday

From : "havoc road people" Your 'good" neighbourhood

Hee hee :>

Kong Bah Pau

Just learnt something today.

We had an 'urgent meeting' after 6pm on last Friday evening. We were all scratching our heads what to have during the birthday party we decided to throw for our boss on this coming wednesday.

The birthday 'boy' himself suggested to have all traditional food. So we started suggesting having 'ang ku kueh', 'huat kueh', 'kueh neng ko', 'bah ku teh' etc, etc. Suddenly, we have the urge of having 'kong bah pau' and the temptation doesn't go away. So boss decided to ask his sis-in-law to prepare it for the party. We'll so excited about it !

Monday, went back to work and boss suggested no 'kong bah pau' afterall.

He said, 'It's always served at those 'HDB chinese party'. It's inauspicious.

Seriously, I really don't know and we nearly created a taboo. This is a very important lesson learnt. We have to be mindful especially when going to celebrate elders' birthday. You can just be chided for ignorant and worst, upset the elder instead of making him/her happy.

Nevertheless, we have changed to whole 'kong bah pau' party to Pizza party. Boss suggested california Kitchen Pizz. Never eat before.... He saif they served Peking Duck Pizza, 'Lup Cheong' Pizza, 'Bah Kua' Pizza, ai yo ..... can someone help???? I can't wait until Wednesday already........ all the pizzas sound so delicious......

Come to think of it, I haven't eat 'kong bah pau' before when I attend funerals leh????

Just now, while checking emails, read WT's email and Thanks to the pointer by WT's mum, otherwise we really nearly blundered the party ! She pointed out the above and no wonder my boss 'cancelled' the 'kong bah pau' party.

My 1ST Birthday Present

It was such a pleasant surprise when I check my email just now.

I have been lazy, sticking my butts to the sofa to watch DVDs throughout the whole weekend.

I received my 1st birthday present through email. C'mon ! It's not an e-card. Although it is something you can't touch, but it's something you can hear !

My mentor got inspired by a picture of me in a Turkish costume and decided to compose a piece of music out of it. She's actually using it as her homework for her music lesson. The piece surrounds 'ali baba' and 'mediterranean' flavour.

So amazing ! I simply just loved it. I just don't believe it's her 1st attempt to compose and arrange a piece of music.

I'm very touched. This is definitely the best birthday present I ever received for the past ** years !

Too bad I can't get it upload anywhere. I would love to share it with all of you. Well, I'll find a way.

I deeply thanked her for the time and effort she had put in (although 1 stone kill 2 birds, hee hee). This is definitely not an easy feat for someone who is doing it the first time.

Thank You.

And which 'swee' picture of me that gave her the inspiration?


Presenting you an ocean of Turkish 'Delights'......hee

fOOd !!!!!!!!!!!!

Since today it's Friday, I've decided to hop to Tiong Bahru Plaza to have a stroll.

An indoor 'pasar malam' has set up and you know what they are selling?

FOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favourite traditional food, many of them.





Then I suddenly saw a many people crowding around a stall. Being a 'kay poh', I also walked over to join in the crowd. Oh ! They are selling durian pancake, REAL DURIAN !
No wonder so many people can't wait to sink their teeth into it. And then I realised it is from the superb durian mua chee from Taka B2.


I couldn't resist and must buy my favourite traditional snack - Tu Tu Kueh. The aunty kept trying to sell me her slef-claimed super good coconut filling. I have to frown to show her my displeasure and finally she stopped promoting. I only like peanut Tu Tu kueh, you see....


While I saw waiting for my Tu Tu Kueh, I couldn't help but kept looking at the adjacent stall selling sausages.....look at those cute baby sausages.......


I really feel like buying a box to eat.....

Help !!!!!!!!!!!! Can someone help ????

Maserati

Saw this Maserati along Upper Cross Street today.... So cool !

Slurppppp..................

Queuing Cups

This is what happens all the time when our Wah-jie went on leave.

Wah-jie usually comes to the office much earlier and she will put the water to boil so that by the time we are in, we had hot boiling water to make our coffee and Milo.....

However, she is on leave today and will be on leave too for the next 2 days.

Therefore, this scene will repeat again for the next 2 days. The water seems to take ages to boil ! I'm gonna change the boiler.

Hip Hop Parking Gals

Just saw this from Hossan Leong's website.

I thought it was funny and so I'm gonna share with all of you.

The famous Dim Sum Dollies - Parking Pontianak !