woshiyiduoyun's thoughts

养你这么大，不可以骂你一下吗

2009-04-14T22:23:00.002+08:00

classic line from my mother, in which i have no way to rebut her, i helped my father e-file for his income tax, then for no reason, she scolded me for something that was not entirely my fault n keep saying that i filed wrongly, i was trying to explain to her what i did, but she didn't wanna listen n demanded that i return home instantly.(in which i did not do so also) but after finding out from my father that there was nothing wrong with the income tax that i filed, she shoot me with this classic line:

"养你这么大，不可以骂你一下吗?"

haiz...

"KNOWING" aka Know too much

2009-04-10T13:09:00.005+08:00

saw this movie the other day at Shaw Lido cos I attended their Gala premiere of this movie which was held on 2nd April. Won a total of 4 pairs of free movie tickets to watch this movie, plus a "knowing" poster. was initially rather interested to watch this, hoping that this movie would go down the line of National Treasure, but it's more definitely not.

What the story was all about (long story cut short):

piece of paper gets buried underground for 50yrs, main character finds paper with numbers written on it, numbers predict disasters that has happened before n going to happen, main character tries to save the world.

Movie Review(My 2 cents worth):

Overall, the story was all right, imagine finding a piece of paper that can predict the future, i would most definitely use it to get rich if possible, but then the story seems too far fetched after you find out who is behind all this, and the ending? haiz. it sucks, i'm like "how can this be? is there a mistake?" somehow while rooting for nicholas cage, u would hope that he can do something about the disasters that are about to happen. but i end up with a cheated n sour after taste. this is the kind of movie that u watch once n that's it, u dun wish to watch it again because all the excitement is all shown the first time.

This seat is not for you!

2009-03-30T21:12:00.002+08:00

was on the bus earlier today, then as any singaporean who has taken public transport before, should know the seat layout of our buses. There was this middle-aged auntie who was sitting in the outer seat, the one nearer to the middle asle, and the inside seat was vacant. She was having a nice nap on the bus, then there was another auntie who wanted to take the inside seat, so she woke up the 1st auntie to signal to her that she wanted the seat. The 1st auntie gave a super grumpy look as she relectantly shifted into the inner seat, to give way to the 2nd auntie. I swear she could be staring intensively at the 2nd auntie who woke her up from her nap.

What could be going on inside her mind:
"Wah lau, i was having such a wonderful dream, sleep until so shiok, then u come and disturb me! TSK! Let u seat lah, dun say i stingy hor" followed by grumble grumble...

ok, i'm maybe being too drama le. haha

Join online Contest, get freebies

2009-03-22T17:34:00.002+08:00

Ok, i admit i'm now on this "close to insane" craze to search for online contests, either by signing up as a member/filling up personal details on a page/completing survey/send email/send sms.

Actually there's a lot of online contests out there and if you have the time to do so, you could try your luck doing so, i suggest trying out these various blogs. they list down a lot of contest available for singapore, and most of the time all you need to do is just send an email. N most of the time u are already sitting behind the computer already, it does not take that much effort to simply send an email to enter a contest. (minimum effort+cost to get chance to win free prizes)

Maybe can start off with these sites first. Good Luck!

http://contestjunkie.blogspot.com/
http://iheartcontests.at.shoutz.com/
http://www.wheregotfree.com/

sidenote: so far together with my gf, we won 2 pairs of movie passes to Benjamin Button, 1 pair of preview tix to Coming Soon, 1 pair of tickets to E-awards 2009 held at the marina bay platform. 1 pair of preview tix to Confessions of a Shopaholic, 1 pair of Shaw movie passes + Last Chance Harvey movie poster. N do hope to carry on winning more prizes. =)

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2009-03-21T22:29:00.002+08:00

Yeah! managed to catch a free preview of this movie before it was shown in the cinemas.

how u may ask?

simply by entering online contests, there's plenty of it out there, and most of the time they just need you to send an email to them with your particulars, while some contests just require u to register with them, then afterwards you can continue to keep entering their contests.

Movie review:

it was an overall okay movie, funny at times, but too predictable, u know , gal meets guy on the street, somehow the same guy will re-appear back in her life, and they fall in love, along the way there's competition, mis-understandings. I would say that this is a nice movie to bring your date out to enjoy a romantic comedy bah. Look out for the dance scene, it's hilarious. rated 3.25/5. decent enough to watch, dun think anyone will fall asleep, but then it wont become a timeless classic.

check out the youtube link for the trailer bah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0YkN37Uajw

Read this inside a book

2009-02-21T13:58:00.002+08:00

There are good decisions and bad decisions, good decisions come from experience, and experience? well, they come from bad decisions.

Spotted on TV

2009-02-21T13:53:00.000+08:00

If you chase after 2 rabbits, you'll end up with none.

There are 2 sides to a story

2009-02-17T16:49:00.004+08:00

The happier side

Mr J discovered a website that showcases free online contests on the internet, and took part in a movie contest who gave out movie passes to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". Yeah! And it just so happens that Mr J was lucky enough to win 2 tickets to the movie and needed to collect it at some place called Neil road (located around the outram park/chinatown area)

But that's not the end of the story...

The sad side

After searching around for (like 10mins) the place where Mr J has to go to the collect the tickets, he managed to find it and happily collected his tickets from the person in charge. then just as he was feeling pleased with himself, he took a look at the free tickets passes. That's when he started to curse and swear.

The 1st line of Terms & Conditions reads as follows:

1. Pass valid only on Mondays to Wednesdays.

Haiz, so in order to use the tickets, Mr J has to visit the cinema during one of the weekdays instead. sianz...

treasure is subjective

2009-01-22T22:39:00.003+08:00

Abalone is something of a delicacy during CNY, and almost every Reunion dinner has this on the table. This seafood delicacy is also not cheap, a can costs almost $30 on average, even for those brands that u never heard befer, so imagine if it is a well known brand and how much it would cost. And if u visit any restaurent, the prices are usually quite expensive if you want to have this on your plate also.

The reason why it's so popular it's because the name of this seafood delicacy, abalone=bao yu, meaning confirm win. so when u eat this during CNY, u will have a winning year ahead of you.

Almost all chinese ppl treat this like bao or treasure, but apparently there are ppl who do not know what this is or do not how to eat it.

There is this certain NETS roadshow going on at the Tampines central, all you need to do is to have any nets receipt and you can take part in their instant spin and wheel. The thing is done on a computer and you can see what prizes u can get instantly, there are watson vouchers, new moon abalone and if you dun win anything, they give you a big sweep ticket for luck also.

okay, since this is like a freebie giveaway, so there will be Singaporeans in the queue.

(maybe Mr J was also in the queue....)

The thing is there was this guy, who is confirm not a Singaporean because he does not want a can of abalone, or maybe he does not know how to eat it. This guy whom i guess is a foreigner, possibly filipino was in the queue for this instant spin and win. and when it was his turn to do so, he won a can of abalone. Yeah. then the most amazing thing happened. this is what he said to the staff there

guy:" oh, this can? i dun want this. I already have one. can i exchange it for something else?"

he shows the counter staff that he already has a can of abalone won earlier.

Staff at the counter(with stunned expression) : "you dun want this? this is abalone, you know, very good"

Guy:" I dun want this, as i already have it, what else do you have?"

Staff:" are you sure you dun want? okay, you can have this instead"

Staff shows guy the big sweep ticket.

Guy:" okay, i will take this"

Guy points to big sweep ticket, Staff remains stunned.

Staff: " or why not u exchange it with the lady behind u?"

Guy:" no thanks , I will just take this"

Guy takes big sweep ticket and leaves the counter....

(then somewhere behind , Mr J is thinking: "how can like that? give u abalone u also dun want, give me lar." and it so happens that Mr J won a big sweep ticket, sianz. And the person behind Mr J won a can of abalone, double sianz)

The Adventures of Mr J Part 2

2009-01-22T20:56:00.003+08:00

Mr J has been tasked with running some chores for the family. His dad asked him to buy some rice, and it has to be of a certain brand some more.

So Mr J went to the neighbuorhood minimart so as to purchase what he needed.

Then the following is a sample conversation between Mr J and the Store keeper.

J: I'm looking for this XXX brand of "fan", do u sell it?

Storekeeper: "fan"?

with blur look in the face.....

(pause 5 seconds....)

Storekeeper: oh u mean "mi" ah? got got...

J: Oh yes, XXX brand mi

Storekeeper: okay u walk straight and later turn left then can find already.

(reason for confusion, "fan" = cooked rice, which u cannot find in a minimart/supermarket. "mi" is the uncooked rice that Mr J is supposed to buy. It is not Mr J's fault wor, he does not go grocery shopping so often de)

sidestory: when Mr J went home, and his mother saw the packet of rice, she started asking questions like

"where did you buy from? which shop ah?"

then she started commenting like a typical auntie that

" wah so expensive ah, last time it costs only $8++"

the adventures of Mr J

2008-12-12T18:20:00.002+08:00

there was a certain Mr J who needed to withdraw cash from the POSB atm, and Mr J was at a certain XX neighbourhood, he walked by the 7-11 and reached the POSB atm, there was at least a queue of 6-7 ppl in the queue, so Mr J decided to use the other ATM in the neighbourhood instead.
Mr J then walked for around 200m to the other ATM located across the road at the petrol station, Mr J was rather pleased with himself for choosing the long way to reach the ATM, n was even happier when he saw that there was nobody using the ATM,

but when he reached the ATM, He saw a note:

"SPOIL"

plus written below the note,

"diesel must have gotten onto the card ALWAYS"

Mr J's response : " KNN, ******* "

then Mr J who needed to use the ATM urgently had to re-cross the road, walk another 200m to the first ATM and re-join the queue to get his cash.

Morale of story: There is a reason why a certain ATM has a long queue while the other one has no queue

Love and how strong you can become

2008-11-17T01:49:00.002+08:00

Saw this picture online, and wanted to upload it, to show my dear, how i dun mind helping her carry her shopping bags, when ever she needs me to bah.

i think this picture really shows what i would do whenever i go shopping with u. =)

i know it's been another tough day at work for you, especially working afternoon shift, so hope u can jia bit you and ren until your off day bah.

on behalf...

2008-11-09T21:57:00.003+08:00

this post is written on behalf on my lazy pig who is too lazy to update.
besides eat, sleep, pak tor-ing and work have taken up more than 24 hours already.hehee.

here i come...
this post is again after dunno how long then got update, sounds familiar? if u notice the trend, it's usually blog for a while, then wait, got things to do then didnt blog, then wait got more time leh, blog bit le. so in other words this blog is not exactly closed down lah, just very very very dusty, maybe got bit cobwebs, then the dust is super thick also, haha.

Happy 3mths Anniversary!

2008-08-09T01:32:00.004+08:00

Hi Dear, i think you'll be seeing this a short while after i type this.

I just want to take this opportunity to say that I Love You! and I am very happy that we lasted our 3 mths already. Of course we will have our many many other anniversaries to celebrate as well. =)

Okay, the basic idea is that i formed a heart shape using sparklers, then i had to light them as fast as possible so that the whole heart shape would be lighted up. The reason why i choose to use sparklers is because my dear commented that she like them. haha. N this was a simple enough reason for me to use them.

Step 1: lighting the sparklers.

Step 2: trying to light the sparkers as fast as possible using the sparklers that i have on my hand.

Step 3: Ta Dah! the end result! which is a very nice picture of the heart shaped sparklers! (and of course the photographer took a very nice picture of my creation lah, hahah)

step 4: the heart shaped arrangement of the sparklers after they have all fizzled out. =)

Random snippets from Taiwan

2008-07-13T22:04:00.002+08:00

This was spotted at the Kaohsiung airport toilet before we departed back to Singapore. And this picture was taken inside the above one of the urinal there. They like have various other messages but i found this one to be the most funny.

haha. since when ren yan ke wei = give a dog a bad name and hang him.

what people should not do during a movie

2008-07-12T15:21:00.004+08:00

1.chatter non-stop during the course of the movie

2.using their cell phones during the movie, then got the light staring out of their phones, like they are telling the whole cinema that they have this new and latest model.

3.Seat too upright in the movie seat (no offense to tall people here) but it would be better if tall people can lean back a little on their cinema seats so that the person behind wont be watching a pirated dvd( aka those secretly taken videos in the cinema that shows head popping out in the bottom of the screen)

Sidestory

Place: The Cathay

I was catching Hancock with my dear at the Cathay, it was an okay movie experience until the end of the movie and we left the cinema and travelled down the escalator. the exit of the cinema was on the 5th floor and because there are likely to be a lot of people using the washrooms on that level. We went down to the 4th floor to use the toilets there.

The moment we reached the 4th floor, there was this whole group of young people whom i guess they are around my age or so. There were like around 3 guys 2 gals like that, and out of the blue there was this guy in yellow who suddenly turned around and said to me:

"Hello, can you dun keep kicking my seat during the course of the movie, It's very annoying, you know when i want to enjoy the movie. I tried to give you hint that I was already not happy with it but you still continued."

Everyone was stunned, including that big group of young people, who were like also wondering was was going on.

I was stunned for a moment as well, as was my gf. We were like wondering what was going on. then I realised that this was the same guy who was sitting in front of me with his head popping out of the bottom of my viewing angle. I think i may have accidentally knocked with my knee into his chair a couple of times during the movie, while i was adjusting my position during the movie. but i still dun recall like purposely kicking his chair to annoy him.

In order to avoid any further complications, i quickly said a few words of apology and left the 4th floor.

I dun know if this guy was being too sensitive or what, but i still feel that this was a weird situation in which i was like minding my own biz and some stranger comes up to you and says that you did something to him just now, in which you reply with a blank stare and wonder whats going on.

Korean food @ Square 2

2008-05-28T14:56:00.008+08:00

Next up...

Korean food.
(somehow i think my blog will become a food blog with all these pictures of food.)

We went to try this korean restaurent by the name of Seoul Yummy.
It's located at Square 2 above Novena mrt there, next door to Velocity.

Thats my gf with her saba set.

And this is my stone grill thing beef and rice. (anyway i still have no idea what the proper name for this thing/dish)

This is supposed to be some pancake thingy, which i still have no idea wats it called. haha. we added this cause we had some $5 voucher n we could use it only after we spent 30 and above, so we added this item in order to enjoy the discount.. It's okay bah, but not exactly mind-blowing special or anything.

Close up of the Saba set, It does not look that great, but i assure u that it tastes better than what i ordered below.

Stone grill beef rice thing. looks great on the photo with the steam n everything but tastes so- so only. haiz... i was expecting i guess a different taste bah, as in a more vibrant taste, but the beef was a little dry n the rice was a little tasteless, so i wont be ordering this the next time i go back le.

Singapore Arts Festival 2008

2008-05-27T22:55:00.013+08:00

I saw this arts performance at the Tampines St 11 round market(yes, the design of the market is really round like a doughnut, dun believe you can come my house to take a look de) there, which is near my place on sunday. I later found out that this guy was french n such, but i didnt know about this until i saw the newspapers later on.

I guess it is always nice to have these arts performances near the heartlands, to expose the heart-landers to arts from other cultures and up their level of artistic appreciation. (okay, i still think it's a decent effort to do so even though singaporens will mostly bo chup or dun care bah)

This is the name of the perfomer and the name of his act. I guess a picture speaks a thousand words. so it would be easier to use the pictures below to explain what his act is all about.

He saw the little girl and proceeded to get down from his piano before getting into a short dance with the girl. the little girl was initially stunned but later on you could tell that she really enjoyed the performance.

This guy is a real charmer, he was busy entertaining the little girl as above, and the crowd really loved his act.

Okay, the guy placed his piano on wheels so that he could play on the move, there's a controller at his left foot there where he could use to control where he wants to move his piano about. So he would move and play his piano at the same time, entertaining the people around him. I still think this is a brilliant idea, which really showcases the arts on the "move" part. =p

Honestly, i didnt know what he was playing or what ever( i suspect most of the ppl there also have no clue as to whose music pieces he was playing) but then i guess the impt thing is to let ppl enjoy his performance bah.

moving on...

okay, now he spotted another member of the audience whom he has to entertain le.

approaching his target...

okay, maybe this time the little girl is too young to understand whats going on, but then i guess she could somehow enjoy the performance bah.

This is the best way to cultivate the young which is by immersing them in the arts even before they know whats going on. =)

now he is preparing to leave his the market already.

This is the classic one, he does not need a horn or anything to tell people that he wants to move, all he needs to do is to play his piano and ppl will naturally give way to him. and look at the side of the photo, he really caught the attention of the uncles and the stall holders.

Sony Viao laptop

2008-05-27T22:20:00.002+08:00

the legendary pink vaio laptop....

haha, we searched high and low for this....

we were all ready to purchase it as IMM but then the sales-person told us that they didnt have this colour. haha, then we had to go Jurong point to try our luck, and yes, we finally found it.

Chicken Rice Balls @ Jalan Bersah

2008-05-20T22:32:00.007+08:00

Okay, i dunno if anyone else has ever tried this. I was introduced to this dish and stall by my dad, who is a regular at this stall. He used to grow up in that area, near Rangoon road where his relatives opened a mini mart. I have some vague memory of this mini mart, as his relatives will always usher me to their toys section de. haha. i think i was like 3 yrs old at that time bah.

My dad always used to takeaway for us the Chicken rice balls and even bringing us to eat there whenever he is free. He used to tell me that he will buy them at only 10 cents each last time. and he keeps telling me that the owner is a chinese sinseh who gave up his job to sell this dish as he does not want it to be a lost art. N they will even chit chat a little when my dad goes there to eat de.

(omg, how long was that ago?)

above, the legendary chicken rice balls. They cost slightly less than $10 for a 2 person set meal with your choice of steamed or roasted chicken and 2 chicken rice balls each per person.

after our long journey trekking across the roads in order to reach here, cause we took public transport. It was pretty worth it, as my gf gave her thumbs up for approval. she said the chicken was nice and not dry like what she tried at some other place.

The stall used to be along the main road of Jalan Bersah but they shifted to this current location which is the coffeeshop at the junction of Foch Road and Beatty Lane, or behind the Hoa Nam building which has an OCBC branch there. It is very well hidden and they only serve from 9.30-4pm or until they are sold out for the day. but usually they would close quite early cause they sell out very fast.

The reason why it is very difficult to make these chicken rice balls, is because they need to roll the balls when they are hot. then i heard many people quit after starting work here because they cant take the heat while rolling the riceballs.

then they also have a branch near toa payoh, which was opened by one of their relatives, but the above stall is still the main one.

Ben n Jerry's free cone day

2008-05-11T21:55:00.015+08:00

Singaporeans are Singaporeans, there will always be a queue for free things. All you need to do to attract Singaporeans is to put the words FREE in on your shop front, n you can be sure there will be a crowd gathering around, and if it is something very popular like Ben n Jerry's then there might even be a queue.

Before i begin my post, i have to state that i never queued for Ben n Jerry's free cone giveaway before. So with that mentality in mind, i decided to give this a try since we were in the area. (and I also need to thank my Dear for queuing together with me, Thanks Dear! =D) It was approximately 10plus when we reached White Sands, there was no queue or anybody there at that time, so we decided to grab some breakfast to pass some time.

This is what we had for breakfast(not bread-fast, hahaha, she knows what i'm referring to de =p), got some dim sum, french toast n tea from Kopitiam, it's nothing fantastic, cause there were not much choices at White Sands.

This is what the queue looks like at approximately 1130, 30 mins before the free giveaway. typical singaporeans.... (okay, i'm one of the typical singaporeans as well)

okay, timecheck: 1145 , 15 mins before free giveaway. the queue gets longer n longer. we're at the camera position, the left side got another line of ppl joining the queue.

Then at 12pm sharp, the Ben n Jerry's staff will come out and countdown somemore.
10, 9 , 8....3, 2, 1..
so interesting.....

Then the queue started moving le. Yeah!

ok, this artistic shot was taken when i asked her to hold the leaflet against the Ben n Jerry's words. hahah. shamelessly proclaiming my photography skills.

okay same thing, we are situated where the camera is, n slowly approaching the Ben & Jerry's counter. then at the same time, the staff will will show you the flavours available so that u can make a quick decision at the counter.
N also they will ask you for your kind donation to charity. n of cos, we got donate lah.

Yes, free cone day, come n get your free cone! Read the sign, queue to get your free cone.

Okay, at this pt, we were like almost next in line for the free cone le. like 3-4 ppl more to go. They have like 3 staff on duty to serve the ice cream, so it's quite fast de.

plus its like one scoop n here you go.

Okay, finally it's our turn at the counter. time check: 12.30pm, surprising le the queue was quite fast and the staff were very efficient, it was like, "what flavour would you like? then here you go, Thank you" I think a customer can be easily served in less than 20 seconds bah.

Yutang posing with her Chocolate Fudge cone in front of the Ben & Jerry store.

Me and the 2 free cones, i got a chunky monkey cone, which was not as nice as the choco fudge de. hmm. so next time i know what flavour to order le.

Mini Bowling

2008-05-09T13:09:00.011+08:00

After the Ferris wheel ride, we decided to explore around the building to see what else they had to offer in terms of entertainment. We went to the cinema level to take a look then traveled down to take a look at the new bowling alley. Certain parts of the bowling alley was still under construction but part of it was open for business.

Anyway, the most interesting thing that we saw was the mini bowling below.

It is actually located on the far left side of the bowling alley, with the words Highway 66 Mini Bowl.

As you can see above, it is mini bowling with 2 lanes, half the length of the normal lanes, the pins are mini, the lane is mini, the ball is mini. Basically everything is mini and cute. (it is designed to attract small kids so that they can pester their parents to pay so that they can play here)

Then we saw this little cute boi boi playing over there, as you can see above, he is eagerly waiting for his ball to return so that he can throw it again. the ball is also very small, think slightly smaller than a handball that type.

Yeah, he managed to get some pins down!

So cute right? (waiting for something to happen)

This is how he throws his bowling ball with the expert guidance of his parents.

Not as good as the previous throw, but we dun think he knows anything that is going on, he just picks up the ball and throw. then when the ball returns, he throws it again. (then sometimes the dad would get so bored that he would throw the ball himself, instead of letting his kid throw, haha)

Close up of the cure ah boi and his cute bowling pose.

Yutang and me posing in front of the sign.

Ferris Wheel @ E!hub

2008-05-08T00:15:00.017+08:00

(okay, after several attempts at testing out the photo uploading tool at blogger, think i finally managed to get a hang of it this time round, so now the order is correct one, from the top scroll down to see the order.)

Ferris wheel? what ferris wheel? think many people would not know about this new Ferris wheel thingy bah, or even this place called E!hub. It's actually the new extension of Downtown east where they built this new building with a cinema, supermarket, bowling alley, restaurants inside. Think of it as a new shopping centre bah, only much smaller with not many shops for u to wander about. Then in this new extension, they built a very colourful ferris wheel which is know as the Cadbury Ferris Wheel. Why do i say it's colourful? you should take a look at how many light bulbs they attach to this thing lor, from the outside as well as the inside, it's just a huge collection of lightbulbs. But it really looks quite nice lah, i must say. It is not very big also and it's not that cheap also, it's $6.50 per person. but they have packages also, like $11.50 for 2 people and $16 for a family of four.(I think, i'm not that sure about the group prices) So if u have more people taking the ride together, it's supposed to be more worth it lor. The whole thing is indoor as well so u dun have to worry about the weather or anything.

We didnt know that they have this new extension or anything, but we wanted to check it out after seeing it on the bus. Later we found out that it was only the 2nd day of operations for the Ferris wheel. Kai xin! so we're actually one of the lucky few who had a chance to ride it after it opened. It was a weekday evening, so luckily got not many people also.

My gf holding up the tickets to get a shot of it with the Ferris wheel as background, while queuing up to take the ride. we tried several shots to get a clear picture, but i think this was the best that we could get. -_-

We also took a pix while inside the queue, we asked a kind uncle to take the pix for us. the above photo was actually the 2nd picture taken cause dunno why the uncle didnt focus the camera properly when he took the 1st picture, so there was his wife in the 1st photo, then we asked him to take another photo for us instead lor. (we thought he wanted to take a photo of his wife instead lor, ahahah)

Shortly not long after, it was our turn to board the carriage le, then we requested to have a whole carriage to ourselves. haha. the staff there let us have our way cause got not much people on that day anyway.

Inside the Ferris wheel, my gf Yutang above. =p

okay thats me inside.

We simply started clicking away while inside the carriage. Zhi pai here(self taken photo) n

Zhi pai there also. just keep taking photos lor. =D

This is what a carriage looks like when u take a picture inside the ride.

My gf and the Ferris wheel, we went outside the building to get a clear shot of the whole Ferris wheel.

Thats me posing in front of the Ferris wheel.

Overall it was an okay ride but a little expensive. We took like 3 rounds then we came down from the ride already, We bought the $11.50 tix so it was like $2 per round and it was not a very big round anyway. but what the heck, this was all for fun and it was a nice experience!

Hongkong Cafe visit

2008-05-04T16:51:00.002+08:00

This is the pomelo dessert we ordered, it was not as nice as we expect it to be, she says we can get the same thing for like $2+ at ah chew located at liang seah street. it costs like $5 here with a scoop of ice cream on top.

I ordered this mixed baked rice which she commented that it tasted nicer than her baked chicken rice, hahaha. mine had a chicken thigh meat, prawn, mussel, n some salmon.

She ordered a baked chicken rice which is wat u see above, she felt that it was so-so only, nothing fantastic n then the chicken drumstick was too big for her to eat with also

We went to the HongKong cafe located at the 2nd floor of White sands for our dinner. I was like telling my gf that this cafe is quite nice de, as in got ming xing jie shao one. so we proceeded to try the food there lor.

Singapore flyer part 2

2008-05-04T01:04:00.005+08:00

yup, another self-taken photo but this one was taken near the riverside at the Esplanade there.

yutang posing with the menu. =)

n she also say the pig very the cute

haha, she found the menu very nice thats why we took some pix of it.

okay, after the experience on the flyer, we had to make a trip to Plaza Sing as i booked tix to watch midnight eagle, and since we didnt have time to take public transport there, we took a cab and even take cab there also got story lor.

At first, we were like waiting inside the queue at the flyer that side then got a cab drove in to the taxi pick-up point to let his passengers alight, and just when i thought that uncle going to drive away cause he didnt seem interested in picking us up as customers mah.

then the taxi uncle(okay he seems like he is in his 30s bah, but i dunno wat else to call him, taxi uncle sounds nicer, than juz taxi driver) lowered his window and asked if we were going to the city, cause he wanted to make a short trip,

Ok, i told the uncle we going PS, then he was like thinking a while then say okay. then after we board the taxi, he started explaining that he want to make a short trip cause he want to change shift le and go home watch champ league soccer between Barcelona n Man United. then he ask if i will watch later, i say not sure. n for a moment, we were like just chatting like old friends like that, the conversation went something like this.

taxi uncle: "later tonight got big match, thats why i want to change shift le, can go home watch the match, will u be watching the match later mah?"

me:"not sure bah, dunno if got time or not, u support who ah?"

taxi uncle:"man united lah"

me:"haha, i also support the same team, ho sei lah, go man u!"

taxi uncle:"but actually hor, i support money, tonight win big then go collect big money tomolo ah"

me:"okay , can. huat ah!, good luck ah!"

disclaimer: i cant rem the actual conversation that took place. but basically this was roughly what happened lah.

then all this time, during the conversation we were like chatting like old frens and my gf was like puzzled, like how come i know the taxi uncle and we like chat until so friendly, haha.

then not long after, we reach park mall le, then the taxi uncle made an illegal cutting of double white lines to stop us on the drop-off pt opposite park mall there (it's actually a traffic offense to drive across the double white lines, dear, u can take a look next time u are on the road, or remind me to explain to u bah)

then he even say, :" only for u cause u are man u supporter then i stop here"

then i was like " ok ok, thank you, n good luck for tonight"

ok we then went over to PS for the movie which was actually quite long, at least 2.5 hrs, and since it was already past 12 n she didnt want to go home so early, we walked to bugis n ate beef noodles. pictures are above. the food was not bad lah, esp the soup which we felt was very nice, both of us were like drinking away, then i even asked for a second helping of the soup.

then we walked around bugis area to pass some time, where she showed me the steamboat restaurant which she went the other time n say very nice, n hint to me to bring her there again (hint, noted!) n went to mac to like grab a drink and rest a while.

n think after we like had enough rest, we walked to the esplanade to hang out by the riverside, think it was around 3am by that time.

and soon we both got tired and decided to go home le.

n this is how we spent our first night together, haha, rather eventful!

memories from the Singapore flyer

2008-05-02T22:50:00.009+08:00

Ghost face no 1 =p

Ghost face no 2, hahha. =D

more self taken pix....

yup, this time she is the camera-women.

this was taken after we got down, inside the Yakult discovery trail, it's just some mini garden with a lot of ferns n such located below the Singapore flyer.

the Singapore skyline as viewed from the flyer.

Esplanade as seen from the flyer.

more nice view from the top of the flyer, btw they will have an announcement when u reach the top of the flyer, telling u that u have reached the top le.

ECP as seen from the flyer

The view of the Tanjong Rhu golf course from the flyer.

This was taken on the bridge leading towards the flyer, we simply stopped there to take pictures cause we prefer to take the flyer with some other people, instead of the initial choice of ppl to take the flyer with., so we decided to waste some time taking pictures on the bridge to let other ppl go first on the flyer. but later we realised that if we were slower by 5 mins, we could have taken an empty capsule, and it would just be like a private booking of the capsule. but suan le, anyway, it's not as if we are complaining much about the ppl whom we took the flyer with, they are actually nice ppl who helped us take a picture for us.

yutang and me, this is just one of the many zhi pai photos. =p

we asked the other ppl inside the capsule to help us take this picture. =)

view from inside the flyer. we took a lot of photos but not all of them turned out nicely. sad...

(side note: the formatting is a little strange one, i dunno why, i try to add photos, but they cant seem to end up in the order i want them to be, sianz, so the best way is to scroll from here to up then can view the sequence properly one)

okay. we visited the Singapore Flyer on the 23rd of April 2008, the view is not bad, but it is rather hard to take pictures cause the camera cant focus on the background clearly esp if u take the night ride. but if want a cheapskate view of Singapore, then i can suggest go Mount Faber, the view also not bad, but most importantly it is free. hahahaha.

but the most impt thing about the Singapore flyer would be the fact that it is the place where i asked my dear to be my gf, and luckily she agreed, hahaha.

Dear, i know you will be reading this later, so i want you to know why i choose to ask you the question on the Singapore Flyer, because I want you to feel proud enough to tell your frens that i asked you to be my gf inside the Singapore Flyer. =)

some pictures....

2008-05-01T11:00:00.005+08:00

the new router up and running...

I went sim lim to hunt for a new router last sunday, i saw that there were still selling the Linksys model below, which i thought why buy the same model when u already bought it a few yrs back, so i decided on another brand. i wanted to buy an older model but many shops dun stock it so bo bian buy this Netgear model lor. if u look at the lower left side of the photo, it's a 108mbps wireless router, then i found out that all laptops only support 54mbps, then if u wan to use the new speed you have to buy an additional add on which cost like another $30+. i just bought the above router at $78 and just use lor.

Technical explanation: 108 mbps means 108 megabits per second, which means that the internet signal can transmit data at that speed, as compared to 54 mpbs. which should technically and by right be faster.

this one is my old router which just broke down that last week, the wireless internet function light just wont light up n wont work, but then normal internet by LAN cable is okay.

it has served me well for the past 3.5yrs, so now R.I.P bah.

ok, after many posts of complaining...

2008-04-27T11:16:00.005+08:00

above: Yutang and me. =D

sorry gals, i'm taken/reserve/booked n dunno wat else, so pls go find some other guy outside.

(okay, hahaha..... I know it's a little lame and I also seriously doubt any other gals would be reading this but still.... just for the fun of it, i decided to type the above sentence)

I was going thru my old posts, cause my gf was reading it also, then i realize that i dunno use how many posts to complain that i'm single, v-day blues, n dunno wat else. Its like very standard one, every yr, nearing v-day , got some posts that i will simply say that i will lock myself at home. hahah.

so i felt it's only fair that i use one whole post to label my new status bah.

Dear, i think you will see this also, so i wanna say this. I LOVE YOU! =)

Wireless internet @ home

2008-04-27T10:58:00.002+08:00

okay, anyone who has visited my house would know that i have a wireless router at home, which i set it up by myself sometime in 2004.

(yes, i'm very proud of myself, opps, bhb.... hahaha)

i was using it on thurs nite to upload photos on facebook, it was working fine until fri morning when i decided to turn it on, the wireless internet function of the router broke down. wth. but the normal LAN cable internet access works fine. I tried to connect my laptop to the internet using the LAN cable, however it would not seem to work. spent like an hour trying to get it fixed. turn off modem, turn off router, reset router, re-install router software, reset comp, reset settings, turn on this , turn on that, u get the idea....

but after some time, i decided that this was a lost cause, n decided to declare my router, as non-wireless enabled. anyway, wats the pt of having a wireless router with no wireless internet access, it defeats the purpose of having one in the first place.

so have to go sim lim n buy new one, wat a waste of $.

i think i'm food flavoured or something like that

2008-04-23T10:53:00.002+08:00

okay, think i shall update my blog more often, since i'm on leave.

apart from that xiao qiang incident, there was another one 2 weeks ago, this one at the round market where i stay, i was there to have my sunday breakfast. N after having my weekly dose of wanton mee. then i decided to get a drink, a cup of tea in fact. so i went to queue for it. and just when i was about to join the queue, there was this uncle who stood up from where he was sitting and approached me in a menacing manner. i did not know what he gonna do to me, then he suddenly sweeping my back. n i was puzzled as in what was going on, then the auntie who was sitted on the same table as the uncle explained that it was a lizard. at around the same time then i saw the auntie trying to step on it to kill it.

i'm sorta of like thinking how come this kinda stuff happened again, just after the xiao qiang incident. then i thanked them n proceeded to order my drink.

yes, n of course i took a shower when i got home.

job search v2

2008-04-23T00:31:00.002+08:00

yes, i'm gonna start another job search, i just hope that this time round it will be faster.

i'm completed my contract over at HSBC however technically speaking, i've not yet left cause my contract is up til 28th april, but i've got 6 days of leave in which i need to clear, so in other words you can also say that i'm actually on leave.

did send a couple of resumes to frens working at citi n barclays but no news so think need to find myself liao.

Yes! I got what I deserved!

2008-04-22T23:44:00.003+08:00

I signed up to be an EnergyOne gym member last year, it was the period in which i slacked at home for some time, the actual duration of slacking can shock some people, but nevermind, it's over already.

In case anyone is not aware of which gym i'm referring to, it's actually the one inside Safra. They have several places in which u can visit but they are basically located inside the Safra clubhouses around Singapore.

I paid like $200 for the entrance fees and 3 mths membership, n later on another date, extended my membership until the end of 2007 for last year.

Then i went to take my IPPT at the gym in early Oct, n it was at Safra Toa Payoh, i just wanted to try what it was like to take the IPPT in the gym. plus i heard it was supposed to be easier. Anyway i needed to clear my ippt as i was no longer a student n did not enjoy anymore IPPT immunity anymore. (IPPT immunity means that there is no need to take/clear IPPT when you're a full time student studying)

n somehow by some stroke of luck, (i have to clarify that i did train a little, just enough to pass, as in run on the treadmill after i signed up for the gym membership n not totally out of the blue go take IPPT one.) i managed to clear my ippt on that day. then i went to ask at the counter, ask what incentives they offered for NSmen who pass their ippt at the gym, the counter staff told me got free gym membership(worth approx $200) for non gym members n 3 mth gym membership(worth approx $90) waiver for ppl who already had a gym membership.

i took up the 3 mth waiver , signed a form n handed it over to the staff there. i also managed to meet a hall mate on that day, but that's not the impt thing in this post.

Then since i was able to pass the ippt this time round.
i decided to clear my ippt again for my next window. so i booked another time slot to take my ippt and this time it was also at Safra Toa Payoh, n it was already late Oct.
n the same thing again, i cleared my ippt again, signed a 3 mth waiver form n passed it over to the staff there.

Fast forward to April 2008, i received a letter from the gym, asking me to make payment for April 2008 to June 2008. I thought it was strange, so i went to the gym to make enquires, i told my story to the staff at the gym at Safra tampines, who then took my details and passed it over to their membership dept to check.

I received a call from a lady of the gym, who told me that the waiver could only be done once per year. i then told her that they should do the waiver for me cause they did not reject my application both times when u submitted them. i told her to appeal for me and she say she will and that was the end of the call.

then 1 week later, i got another call from another different person from the gym, who wanted to tell me that the waiver is un-successful , i told her that i was busy and would appreciate a callback, she did call me back, but i was busy again and did not answer the call.

I proceeded to call them again on sat, but i only got thought to a voice message saying that their inbox is full.

Then i had enough, and proceeded to write a letter to them. explaining the situation to them.
Basically I argued that they should waive for me cause they accepted my waiver form twice and did not reject any of them. then i also say that they could have replied to me saying that the waiver can only be done once a year or even reject my second waiver form, in the form of a letter or notice between Oct 2007 and Apr 2008. but i tell them say i only receive a letter asking me to make payment, which i felt very upset with.

I attached my IPPT results for last year, and sent them by normal mail to their membership dept.

Then today i checked my email, and i saw that they had replied and told me say that they had approved my waiver request.

Yes! Finally! I really feel that this is something that i deserve lor, as in i take the ippt as requested by the army, i pass the ippt then u come and takeaway the privileges that come along with my hard work, which i believe is looking for trouble lor.

anyway i'm just glad that i resolved this issue with them.

the boring-ness of my blog

2008-04-13T11:56:00.002+08:00

eh, pardon my blog posts if they sound a little dry, I have not been blogging for some time (if u refer below, the time between the posts are really very very long) and my creative juices are not flowing as well. It could be due to "old age", yes, I'm considered old in the office (the average age is around 21-22 there in case you're wondering) But most likely it should be due to the fact that I have not blogged properly for some time.

And if anyone really wants to know, my cousins found out about my blog, and teased me about the woshiyiduoyun part and calls me xiao yun for that matter. And now even my aunts also know about this, so i'm like "yah i got have this particular blog and i'm not willing to make any additional comments with regards to the naming of my blog"

stupid xiao qiang

2008-04-12T00:49:00.002+08:00

okay , this incident happened on tuesday. I visited this Pasir coffeeshop for lunch with colleagues. it is located along pasir panjang road there near the AVA animal control there. i was eating my lunch with my colleagues, when suddenly there was this xiao qiang which crawled onto my pants while i was half eating my lunch, i saw it crawl on my lap then i quickly stood up and tried to sweep it away. then my colleagues were like "huh? wat happened ?" that kinda look, n i guess many ppl inside the coffeeshop also wondering wat happened. then finally the xiao qiang fly away so at least the ppl around me knew wat happened, but there was also nothing much i could do, chase after that xiao qiang meh? then i bo bian, after sweeping away xiao qiang, i still had to finish my half-eatne lunch. sianz....

HSBC enjoyit! treats

2008-04-12T00:19:00.002+08:00

okay as part of being a HSBC staff, they do offer treats every month, i remember that my 1st mth there i got a movie tix, it's one movie tix not 2 okay....

i honestly didnt know that the tix were valid for a yr, i gave them away to a fren cause i thought they were only valid til the end of nov. sianz... dun remind me.

as for dec, we had some snacks for christmas and there was a lucky dip to determine wat voucher u will get. i got a $10 Carrefour voucher but i do have frens who got a $10 Kinokuniya voucher(which to date i still have not used it yet)

okay, then we shifted our office to a god-forsaken place by the name of comtech. sianz...

for Jan 08, they gave us Gloria jeans coffee voucher which is lying somewhere inside my bag, cause no time to go, or no chance to go (should i say)

then for Feb, they gave us this bottle of sparkling juice which is also lying in my house, un-touched....

for the mth of Mar, they gave us one free tix n $4 tix to watch movies such as 10000 BC, Step up 2 n Horton, n this time i forgot to claim my free tix, sianz...
but anyway the movies were shown at suntec n they had like at these lousy timings also...

then this mth is the best, they gave us cakes to eat but the best is the 2 hrs off. ahahah

we can claim 2 hrs off for this mth, i thinking of how to use that cause next week's my last week already...

i might as well have a sign hanging above my head...

2008-04-06T23:14:00.003+08:00

okay, i have a feeling that there is a very big "i" sign hanging above my head, cause i always get asked for directions one. maybe i cant see it but i'm sure it's there somehow.

i can at least count 4 times in these few weeks already.

Last sunday when Xiao mei and i were walking from Central to Marina Square, the moment i step out of central got 2 jap/kor ladies asking me for directions on how to go to boat quay/fullerton, as i was not very familiar with the clarke quay/boat quay , i struggled for a while, as in stun there for a few mins thinking of which way to go, but i think they sensed that i was not very sure so they decided to ask someone else bah.

Part 2: as we were about to cross the road towards Funan there, i got stopped again by a couple of chinese tourists, who called me "xiao huo zi", i stunned again. this time they asked for directions to boat quay, luckily i passed by that area earlier n could easily point out the general direction for them. n they even asked me where my "zu ji" from in which i replied from Fujian.

Part 3: saturday morning
I was on my way to purchase macdonalds, and after i finish getting them from Harbourfront then as i was walking back to my car, i got stopped by another tourist couple(German i think? their english dun have the other french/brit slang one), who asked me on how to get to the Botanical gardens, i told them it would be easier to take a cab there as compared to taking public transport n i told them that it would cost approx $20 bah. (rite? i 'm now not very sure abt how much taxi really cost after the price increase)

Part 4: today evening
after running on the treadmill at the gym, i walked out of the gym to catch my breath in which a couple approached me on directions to visit the football field in which i simply pointed to them the direction of the car park and asked them to walk all the way down that road.

Okay, pls let me know if u see a big "i" sign hanging above my head, thanks. haha...

People who make your day

2008-02-17T22:38:00.002+08:00

There are always people who seem intent in ruining other's people day. I dunno why.

But fortunately there are always some other people who will bring a smile into your day.

I was at Golden mile food centre on Sat, dropping by after work to grab a bite. was driving alone n turned into the busy carpark, took a turn inside to find for an empty lot, and just as i was gonna turn out to find parking space into another car-park, i spotted a family who were just getting ready to leave, I stopped my vehicle to wait for them to vacate the lot so that i can park.

Then surprisingly just when the uncle was about to leave the carpark, he waved at me and showed me his parking coupon, i quickly lowered the window and accepted the coupon from him. Wat luck! the uncle was kind enough to give me his still usable parking coupon, i quickly thanked him and proceeded to park.

It is not the monetary value of a gift but the intent when people give them.

These type of people are the kind of people who will make your day.

i attract the wrong ppl

2008-01-28T22:40:00.000+08:00

i was minding my own biz when got some strange 30 plus aged guy started to chat with me, i had just finished my gym session and about to eat my dinner, i just placed my bag down n about to walk over to order my food, then got this person started talking to me, since i did not want to appear rude, i replied back, he asked me if i just finished jogging, i replied as saying that i just finished my gym session. then he started commenting abt how he was in 2 minds abt going to exercise or eating dinner, then he asked me if i got gold for my ippt but i just replied say dun have just pass only. shortly after, he left n i went to order my food.

Nvm, since i thought it was a casual chat.

Then while i was finishing my dinner, the same guy came back in jogging attire n started to chat more with me, i was like stunned but pretend to be friendly, so continue to casual chat with the person, he started to ask questions like got gf or not, then asking wat i do during my free time, i tried my best to answer as casually as possible. i thought he was like gonna walk away after the chat but he suddenly ask to exchange hp no, i also dunno why i simply gave him my number
(on second thoughts, i should have simply faked a number n gave it to him)

Luckily soon after i finish my food, i asked him that he not starting his jog meh, since it was getting late, maybe he got the hint n left.

okay, i still dun understand why i attract the wrong people, haiz.....

3 mths break from blogging

2008-01-12T18:38:00.000+08:00

time really flies, it has been 3 mths since i last entered anything into this blog, n i'm beginning to wonder if i really need this blog at all,
cause usually it has been a straight forward affair for me nowadays,

wake-up
work
watch tv
go msn
sleep

n the cycle continues.

n it has been 2 mths plus that i've been working at HSBC call centre, i still feel my pay is quite low, n currently just hanging on to see if there's light at the end of the tunnel, meaning at the end of the 6 mth contract, any perm position plus pay rise? else it would be rather difficult to see myself carrying on.

Judy & Malcolm

2007-10-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

I was at City Hall mrt deciding my next move after my interview at Dhoby Ghaut. Either I go to Raffles City and queue for donuts, or I can visit the temple at Bugis( sudden need to improve my spritual well-being ).

I was approached by 2 Ang-moh (okay, Tourists for that matter) on the platform to the east of Singapore on directions on how to get to bugis street. Looks like my destination is Bugis. So I decided to accompany them to Bugis, along the way I found out that their names were Judy and Malcolm and they were from New Zealand.

They decided to part ways from me at Bugis street even when i offered to show them to the temple that i was going. Well, it was an interesting experience of being a temporary tour guide, even if it was just for a couple of mins.

Well, i wish them all the best and happy holidays.

it's just a co-incidence (this is wat i'm telling myself)

2007-09-21T12:31:00.001+08:00

went for a citibank interview last friday, position applied for: Treasury operations, contract based, 3-6mths convertable to perm depending on performance. this job lobang was arranged by Kelly services, a job placement agency.

The interview went on smoothly(in my own opinion) with the line manager even asking me when i can start, so naturally i had high hopes of landing the job after the job interview ended. The line manager did mention that she would contact kelly again.

so i went home n waited for "good" news, okay, as the days passed by, i felt strange that there was no news either from citibank or kelly, so i decided to send an email to ask for more info regarding the job application to kelly, but there was strange-ly no reply.

so i decided to call kelly to find out more, then the receptionist told me that the agent in charge of my case went on urgent leave for a week. (such a co-incidence, rite?) then now i realise why there was no reply from the kelly 's side. Later i was referred to another agent who told me that she would look into it.

the final word i received from kelly was that there was also no reply from the line manager at citibank, so the only thing i can do now, is still to wait. =(

sigh....

The latest food fad

2007-09-18T23:29:00.000+08:00

Okay, this is actually my 3rd time buying donuts. This time it took less than 30 mins as i visited the Suntec outlet instead of the Raffles place one. The moment i joined the queue, the person in front of me left the queue (haha, yes! shorten the queue!) then before i knew it a whole bunch of ppl at least 8 joined the queue behind me, (heng ah, i came early)

Finally tried the hazelnut milk chocolate, which my fren waited for an additional 10 mins the other time when i queued with the 1st time at the Raffles place outlet. The queue at the Raffles place outlet looks scarier when they chop up the queue.

And i must say that the double chocolate is very very sinful but so so nice... haha, esp when u re-heat the donuts.

side-note: i prefer the cheese donuts from Dippin Donuts at Vivocity, cause their cheese donuts got the cheese flakes ontop as compared to Donut factory's "thin" layer of cheese on top, and if i remember correctly the donuts at Dippin are slightly cheaper than Donut Factory.

What I ordered vs What i was given

2007-08-15T23:51:00.000+08:00

sorry for the long delay in updating this blog, been lazy(very lazy lately)

Visited the Pizza Hut Restaurent at Tampines Mall last week:

The service was very slow, i dunno if it's due to the lack of manpower or anything, but u can see a long queue outside the restarent but with many empty seats inside,

This is wat i ordered:

1 Large Cheesey Bites Fondue Pizza $26.90
1 Student Pasta Perfetto set, which consists of a Pasta, a soup of the day n a Pepsi $5.95

what i paid in total: $32.85
(after 10% service charge and 7% gst) $38.40

This is what i got on my table:

2 Regular Cheesey Bites Fondue Pizza $20.90 *2 = $41.80

(Not my fault, i ordered a Large one, they made a mistake when they served me some Large normal Pizza and then they gave me 2 Regular sized Cheesey bites Pizzas, even when i told them that i ordered one Large only, the waitress still told me that 2 regular Pizza = 1 Large Pizza, so i just take and eat, but in the end, we could not finish the Pizza and had to take-away the 2nd Pizza)

1 Basil Crayfish Pasta $14.90

(not my fault again, i asked the waitress what kind of Pasta i could choose with the Student set lunch, she say any Pasta, i instinctively ordered the most expensive one)

1 soup of the day and Pepsi $3

1 Garlic bread $3
(courtesy of the Manager who gave us this since they made a mistake with the order and took very long to get the order correct)

1 Fish-O $4.20
(Some NTUC member promo, spend $30 n get this free, it's just something like fish fingers)

Total cost of food on table: $66.90 (after tax n service charge : $78.30)

Over-view: a very worth it meal due to their mistake,(otherwise how would u be able to eat so many stuff on the table and only like pay half the price)

Down-side: waited approximately close to 2hrs , at least 30 mins queuing outside and 1hr of waiting for the Pizza, spent the last 30 mins eating. super waste of time.

terms and conditions as follows

2007-07-03T23:07:00.000+08:00

saw a banner, asking u to get a trial pair of contact lenses, when i asked more, they said u have to make a purchase then they give u free contact lenses to try. was brought to a shop located on the 2nd floor of Tampines mall. The staff quickly ushered me to have a quick eye check with the machine, and proceeded to persuade me to buy their contact lenses. As i had astigmatism, i wanted to try lenses for astigmatism. I was later informed that they do not stock the contact lenses i needed, but they still requested that i put a deposit with them so that they could get their stock. This is the part where i felt very ridiculous, i told the person that i'll be willing to leave my contact details, and they could kindly contact me once they have stock. but they insisted that i leave a deposit with them, because it was their COMPANY POLICY, they kept trying to ask me to leave a deposit, but the thing is i'm not getting anything from them on that day, so why should i leave a deposit with them? I left that shop later with a rather disgusted look on my face. What kind of customer policy or company policy is this? It is not as if i'm not interested to buy your stuff, i'm just not willing to put my $ down for nothing. Even when i visited G2000 to get clothes, all i had to do was to leave a note saying that i'm gonna reserve the following clothes and i'll be back later to pay for them. And i do not even have to pay a single cent to reserve them.

eslite

2007-06-24T22:47:00.000+08:00

After 101, we also had time to visit eslite book-store, this is their biggest outlet in Taipei, think of it as a mega kinokuniya occupying several stories and almost all stocking chinese books.

pay $ to go outdoor

2007-06-24T22:17:00.001+08:00

after u pay NTD 100, u climb a flight of stairs, up to the 90th n then to the 91th floor, where you will find the outdoor observatory, which is the same view but without the glass panels n such. where u can get to sit down n enjoy a 10 min presentation of how the taipei 101 was built. but in my own opinion, i think there's actually nothing much to see, just blank empty space with iron grills all around you, "after coming out of the aquarium, u visit the prison, something like that"

(btw, this is also where mayday held their concert)

89th floor

2007-06-08T22:27:00.000+08:00

This is where we posted our postcards from the "sky", which i feel is a really novel idea. but the strange thing is that our postcards actually arrived a few days after we arrived back in Singapore, i sorta expected the postcard to be waiting for me at home the next day or so, i posted the postcard on thursday but i got it sorta like tuesday the following week, i got home on saturday nite though.

After paying NTD300 and taking the super fast elevator, we arrived at the 89th floor, it's an indoor observatory fully airconditioned, with glass panels all around you, you can actually rent a RFID walkie talkie that explains the sights around you as you explore this place.

Taking the lift up the world's tallest building

2007-06-06T10:54:00.000+08:00

This photo is supposed to uploaded later, but i could not resist putting it here, so that u can compare the difference between going up and going down, it actually takes a much longer time to travel down than to travel up. i dunno why, but it could be due to the mechanics of the whole system and such.

A display proclaiming the elevator as the world's fastest elevator travelling at the speed of 1010m/s. taken on the 89th floor.

This display is shown in the lift when u take the lift up the building. The lift is super fast, and it only takes 37 seconds to travel from the 5th floor to the 89th floor. The downside? you have to pay to take this lift, it costs NTD350 to take the lift up to the 89th floor, but with the special student discount, we paid NTD300 each. (after conversion, approx S$14 per head)

Taipei 101 food court

2007-05-31T23:12:00.000+08:00

The food court is the most affordable place in taipei 101, the shops are all just like paragon, all selling branded goods and over-rated. How i wish i could work here, so i could eat here everyday, haha. The portions are huge, and the food is very nice, this is where i tried the best tasting ramen ever, the soup was super sweet, the ramen had abalone slices and scallop somemore. cost? NTD120.

on the way to taipei 101

2007-05-31T23:02:00.000+08:00

This was taken while on the shuttle bus to taipei 101, it's actually closer than you think from the city hall metro station.

Zhong Zheng Ji Nian Tang

2007-05-31T22:22:00.000+08:00

You cant really get a feel of how big the thing is until you have actually been to the place,but if u look closely at the bottom left hand side of the photo above, notice how small the people look relative to its actual size. The whole place is just so freakin big, you'll be stunned at the sheer size of the whole place when u are there.

inside the happy family hostel

2007-05-31T22:10:00.000+08:00

long qing with a super big banana that she bought at kee lung, little did she expect that this would be the start of her nightmare with the banana.

kee lung

2007-05-28T22:17:00.000+08:00

See that big pot of rice, it's called you fan and it's glutinous rice with mushrooms, not bad but i regret not trying the pork thick soup. which i will make a note to try the next time i go back to taiwan.

miao ko, or entrance of the temple, this is where i was "lost" ; "lost" as in i did not know wat i wan to eat, after looking at 2 rows of food stalls n there are more down the corner, u would be "lost" too. too many choices until u dunno wat to try, it does not help that u are not familiar with their food culture n would regret choosing soemthing that looks nice but tastes bad.

Kee lung train station

This is the port city of kee lung where we stopped by next after visiting jui fen, n yes, we took the bus, and there was this super pushy cabby at the bus stop while we were waiting for the bus who wanted us to take his cab, he keep offering his services despite us refusing his offer time n time again.

jui fen (part 3)

2007-05-28T21:56:00.000+08:00

Soon fatt says that this is where the inspiration of Sprited away came from, with the rows and rows of red lanterns lining the narrow flight of steps.

We shifted inside after realising that it was too sunny outside, the view is not bad lah, but i still dun think that it justifies the cost of my drink.

Okay, we took a break at some tea house which charges as much as starbucks for a simple cup of coffee or soda, which i feel is a little rip-off lah, n they even have a strict one person one drink policy, which means no sharing.

more scenic views from jui fen.

jui fen (part 2)

2007-05-25T13:59:00.000+08:00

This is where we stopped next for another meal: fish ball soup, they use different types of fish for the various fish balls that u see in the pic, such as the xue yu wan, sha yu wan n the taste is totally different from wat we are used to in singapore.

jui fen (part 1)

2007-05-22T22:51:00.000+08:00

This is where we bought the super nice tai yang bing. i bought 3 boxes and there were almost all gone a few days after i got back.

obaasan with super outstanding hairstyle. apparently she rather well known and took many pictures with a lot of ming xing.

okay, i'm the brave soul who went to try the shell thingy.

i cant remember wats this called, it's just some spiral shell thingy, roasted over the grill toppled with chilli sauce. n it does not taste as nice as it looks.

Bing tang hu lu, the gals were simply anxious to try it, luckily i didnt try as i dun think i would like the taste at all bah.

our 1st choice of xiao chi. popiah skin with peanut shavings n ice cream, not bad, it's actually nicer than it looks.

This is the start of the jui fen street, it's a very long street with most of the stalls selling food, so u can actually eat the whole day here.

taken while on the bus up

2007-05-22T21:57:00.000+08:00

on the way to jui fen

2007-05-22T19:13:00.000+08:00

taking the bus to jui fen, somehow with the way we are travelling, i feel so like a taiwanese, except for the fact that i cant speak chinese that fluently and dress like them.

Taipei Raiway station

2007-05-22T14:23:00.000+08:00

Rui fang station. This is where we alighted from the train and took a bus to Jui fen.

The gals posing for pictures inside the Train. Yes, the train is nicely air-conditioned, i was expecting some lousy rickety ride with natural air with the usual annoying train sounds aka Malaysian Railway style, but surprisingly the ride is quite comfortable.

At the platform, waiting for the train. posing with a bento bought at the train station. The thing u have to be on the lookout is the platform berth on which the train will stop. Each platform has several berths aka berth A, B, C, so u have to be on the lookout for which berth the train will stop, picture us chasing after a train because we see other people also running after a train, and we just followed them likewise. not knowing if that train is the train that we have bought tickets to. Combine this with the fact that there are many platforms and many berths for the train to stop, it's really not easy to try their railway system unless you are brave enough. (not encouraged for the faint-hearted)

Inside the Taipei railway station, on the left is Jun Pei, on the right is Shu Hui. both posing for pictures in front of the really old-school ticketing office. the board above is labelled with departure times for trains to almost everywhere in Taiwan, and yes, everything in Chinese (Traditional Chinese not simplified Chinese)

The big escape

2007-05-21T22:01:00.000+08:00

Okay, this is when we checked out of our hotel and went to stay at a hostel, the master plan was to get 2 rooms for 4 ppl and try to squeeze 8 ppl inside without the hostel owner's knowledge it's a long story but lets just say that the master plan failed and we ended up paying for a bed each.

Wu fen pu

2007-05-21T21:29:00.000+08:00

We were starving after the fliming and went to Wu fen pu next, and our next meal is the famous lu rou fan, everywhere u go, u will find this simple dish of rice with lu rou sauce.

Wu fen pu is a whole sale clothes market, u will find narrow alleys of shops selling many clothes, we split up with the gals as we knew that we would only waste each other's time if we went shopping together, it was easier for us to shop as most of the shops were those selling ladies clothes, and it was easy to spot a shop selling guys clothes, look n see if the clothes were nice, pay $ and leave. the worst thing is that they dun allow u to try their clothes, so u had to just compare them with the clothes u were wearing. the most interesting thing about this place is the narrow alleys, just when u thought that only scooters were allowed into the place, here come a delivery truck that is about to squeeze into the alley. After a night of shopping, we took the metro back to ximen and back to our hotel, that was our first time on their public transport system, little did i expect that i'll be taking the metro almost everyday.

more wo cai

2007-05-21T20:59:00.000+08:00

thisis Hebe signing autographs for people after the filming of Wo Cai, Jacky Wu has already left by this time, he dissappeared so fast, i could not even see his shadow, haha. My fren brought her notebook for Hebe to sign, the above photo is Hebe's autograph, please use your imagination to figure out the letters H-E-B-E. i'm using mine too.

wo cai wo cai, wo cai cai cai

2007-05-18T01:43:00.000+08:00

We attended the fliming of wo cai wo cai wo cai cai cai in the afternoon. We reached the backgate at around 1.30pm, and had to wait for someone inside to open the gate for us, when we were brought in, we saw at least two other groups of Singaporeans there. How to spot a Singaporean in Taiwan? just look at their dressing, the Taiwanese are more jap influenced and are more out-landish in their dressing, while Singaporeans are more conservative and simply just dress in t-shirt n jeans. We watched on while the crew prepped the stage for the fliming, waited for the super "big star" which was Jacky Wu to appear. He was the last one to appear and the first one to leave, okay? but overall i must say, it was a very interesting experience to watch the filming of one of the longest running taiwanese variety shows, we always watched this show in camp during national service because it was one of our only source of entertainment.

it's a small world

2007-05-18T01:30:00.000+08:00

This is johnsen, we took this picture at Miramar shopping centre food court where the ferris wheel is, He's my freshie from Science, and we just happen to meet at the shopping centre in Taipei, he said he saw someone wearing the science wind-breaker and wondered who that person was. and when i was queueing up to order my food, i turned around and i saw him. it was really very qiao. He was travelling with his family and was going back soon , while i just started on my holiday. (btw i was not the one wearing the wind-breaker, okay? it was Shu hui)

funky decor

2007-05-18T01:12:00.000+08:00

This was a unique place where our guide brought us to see, this is actually a restaurent where the ouside decor was designed by a girl and (by right) it's quite well known lah, at times, it reminds me of the design of Parc guell by Gaudi. (i must admit that i didnt know anything when i went on this trip, like where we'll be going, or how we going, the gals were the ones who planned everything, we just followed)

tourist trap!

2007-05-17T01:21:00.000+08:00

This is a very big tourist trap. i'm sure everyone who signed up for any tour whould have to stop by here as part of the tour requirement, inside you'll find super pushy sales girls (who claim to be yuan zhu min of taiwan) n will keep forcing you to buy their products like honey, ling zhi n some cosmetic products, with the lousy sales tactic
"i'll give you this best offer for now, you buy from me this big tube of cosmetic cream, i'll give u 2 of these little bottles of cream, other people dun have, only for today, n for now if u buy from me"
In the end, no one bought anything. haha.

Day 2 Taipei (morning)

2007-05-17T00:39:00.000+08:00

Okay, i'm not the photographer for these next few pix.

Zhong lie tang, where we saw the changing of the guard, an elborate ceremony where the guards had to march n perform rifle drills, u get the feeling of ndp when u see them do their stuff.

Rose garden.

Our whole group (minus me the photographer)

We got rather excited when we saw some people doing fliming there, when we got closer to see who was the ming xing, then i think it was the manager of the ming xing who told us it was so n so. N after finding out that we dunno who the ming xing was, we sianz half cause we dunno who the person was. so we simply walked away n went to take other pictures.

This is supposed to be the summer residence of CKS, but is now converted into a park. expected lots more but nothing much to see actually.

touchdown plus 1st meal in taiwan

2007-05-16T21:39:00.000+08:00

Ah zong mian sian, this is supposed to be a very famous chain of mee swa stall. there is no place for you to sit, you can only stand and eat your mee swa. and i can tell you that it is really piping hot, the ingredients inside are also very tough, so we had a little difficulty in chewing.

er mei street

outside the Ximen metro station.

Somebody posing for the new spiderman movie at Ximending. our biggest complaint is that the person is too skinny.

this is junming with the ou ai jian. it's almost like our oyster omelette just that theirs is a lot more starchy with a ketchup-like sauce. we also ordered some fried rice, thats when we realised that their rice is different from ours, theirs is more jap-like kind that kind of rice.

touchdown.... posing for pictures at the airport.

off to taiwan

2007-05-16T13:20:00.000+08:00

1st time taking budget airline, 4hrs flight to taipei, should be quite fine. let me show u the bottle of mineral bottle i bought on the plane. that little 330ml of water costs S$3. okay?

words of wisdom(facts actually)

2007-04-25T20:14:00.000+08:00

a help-sheet is only useful up til and during the exam. the moment/second the examiner says please stop writing, your help sheet is virtually useless.

the amount of stuff u can bring into an open book exam is un-limited, but how much time do u actually have to flip through the stuff?

why study? (overheard somewhere: most successful businessmen are college drop-outs, maybe i should aspire to be one too.)

i should stop betting on soccer

2007-04-22T15:24:00.000+08:00

bet on 3 n 4 goals for the Man U vs Mid match, turned the tv off at half-time with the game tied at 1-1, thought that my bet was safely won during half-time. watched some prison break on my laptop then turned livescore on, only to see thgame still at 1-1 with less than 5 mins to go, kept clicking refresh. but still no change after full time. promptly went to sleep in disgust. damn it.

assignment, assignment, online assignment

2007-04-11T23:18:00.000+08:00

when will this lousy cycle end?

it started from last week, it was worse then.

test, test, online assignment, project, assignment.....

well, u get the idea....

wat a lousy sem....

on another note, Machester United produced their best performance of the season when the thrashed Roma 7-1,
yes, 7-1.
make no mistake about it, Manchester united were really dominant in the match. it was really pass there pass here, then GOAL..... it was that simple.
it was 3-0 within 19th mins,
4-0 at half-time.

long awaited entry

2007-04-10T20:18:00.000+08:00

there's some problems with my laptop, i cant log in to blogger from my laptop.
btw to daryl, it's not my fault that i dun look my age. haha.

For the benefit of those...

2007-02-01T23:14:00.000+08:00

who wan to know more about my trip to spain, please kindly click on the following link.
i dunno why but blogger only shows recent posts n i'm not tech-savvy enough to modify it, =(

Spain 22/12/06-31/12/07

do science ppl have a look? do engineers have a look too?

2007-01-31T23:59:00.000+08:00

was stopped by some insurance ppl just outside my fna tutorial class. there was this lady who stopped derrick and "correctly" guessed that derrick was from engin. m she also "correctly" guessed that i was from Science. i dunno how she did that, but it seems as if the words "Science" is branded on my forehead. the lady claimed that she graduated from Arts, but she might be just bluffing us, but who cares, rite?

even auntie also wan to bully me

2007-01-31T23:45:00.000+08:00

okay, i may not be bowling well, but why must i face off with an auntie with 27 pins handicap?

n i only have 10 pins handicap.

to cut the long story short, anyone who is familiar with a bowling league, will understand that bowlers face off one on one, with each game total worth a pt.

There was this auntie, who throws her ball so simply and strikes just as easily.
and she just so happens to be my opponent for tonight.

okay, i lost to an auntie tonight. n i cant be bothered to defend myself anymore...

saying goodbye to Spain

2007-01-19T23:01:00.000+08:00

after being in Spain for so long, it was time for me to return to Sunny Singapore. and how i missed all the local food.

wanton mee, chicken rice, hokkien mee, carrot cake n etc...

okay now i can almost understand how those exchange students feel when they stay overseas.(well almost) except for the fact that they stay overseas for longer periods of time.

Las Meninas (Maids of Honor)

2007-01-19T22:52:00.000+08:00

After Cuenca, we proceeded to Prado museum where we saw Velázquez 's greastest work, Las Meninas (Maids of Honor). and its true that if u roll up a piece of paper and look at the painting, you will see that the characters in ther painting become sort of like 3-dimensional, which is really very amazing.

Cuenca

2007-01-18T23:26:00.000+08:00

Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses), the most famous attraction of Cuenca. you will see this on every Cuenca t-shirt.

Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Gracia

This is a photo of (almost) all the teenagers on the trip, and i have been using it so far as my MSN display picture. The reason why i say (almost) is cause there were like 3 other teenagers from another family, but strangely, they dun mix around with us, it was mainly because their mother always carried a stern look around, so no one dared to approach the mother or their children.

Cuenca is located about 160km away from Madrid, n you can get there within 2 hours of driving and also this will be the last town that we will visit in Spain. It is another UNESCO world heritage site. It may not be as big or have that much sights as compared to Toledo, but the scenery is still breath-taking.

back in Madrid

2007-01-17T19:25:00.000+08:00

After Toledo, we travelled back to Madrid, that's when my brother got very excited when our guide told us that Santiago Bernabeu was located near our hotel. As a Real Madrid supporter, there was no way that he could miss this. And so after dinner, we took the Metro for 2 stops(MRT system of Madrid) to the stadium. It was a strange sight to see 4 blur Singaporeans buy tickets on the Metro, and travel on the Metro. We were always very mindful of the people around us and the surroundings(due to the fact that EVERY travel guide advised us to be on the look-out for pick-pockets) We were lucky to meet a nice Security guard at the entrance of the Metro who directed us to the correct line to take. There are actually 8 lines of Metro in Madrid. N i do NOT wish to find out where i would get to if i took the wrong Metro line, especially in a place where I cant speak their native language. You should see how excited my brother was to see the words "Estadio Santiago Bernabeu" and how he touched the hallowed grounds of the club he supports.

Toledo

2007-01-16T21:02:00.000+08:00

This was taken when the local guide brought us to some shop, where they displayed a huge variety of swords and such. was tempted to buy a set of small swords but was discouraged from doing so by my superstitious parents; who believed that it was "unlucky" to have swords inside the house.

This is the old entrance into Toledo, where the people had to cross the bridge to reach the city.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

This is where we saw one of the world's best paintings. (According to our guide, this is the world's rated #3 painting, i tried to search for information online, and all i found that this was( and still is) a very famous painting, but i cant find the rating for it as claimed by the guide)

This is how the nuns make the Mazapan(an almond pastry that is the speciality of Toledo)

An outside view of the cathedral.

This is said to be the crown that was worn by Isabella.

This is the ceremonial altar, weighs at least 20kg and is made purely of silver and gold.(i cannot imagine the actual cost of this whole thing) According to our local guide, it is only used on one day in the year for a religious ceremony and is then kept inside the church for the rest of the 364 days.

Inside the Cathedral of Toledo, where a hole in the ceiling was specially designed to allow sunlight to come in and shine on the facade.

Toledo is actually the ancient capital of Spain, it was the Capital before it was moved to Madrid. Toledo is also famous for it's swords and you can see many tourist shops displaying swords.

Cordoba

2007-01-16T00:34:00.000+08:00

Somebody defaced the English translation of this information booth of the Mezquita. =(

More group photos from inside and around the Mezquita.

This is the Patio de los Naranjos or Court of Orange trees, located at the entrance of the Mezquita.

Next stop: Cordoba
The most famous icon of this city is the Mezquita. It's pronounced as Mes-qui-ta not Mosquita or Mosquito, okay?

It used to be a mosque, until the city was conquered by the Christians and converted into a church. The Spanish rulers liked the red and white tile arch structure so much that they retained the archs while building the church inside.

Sidestory: after visiting the Mezquita, the guide gave us some time to shop around the area. N the guide reminded us to be craeful of pick-pockets and gypsies. N my brother took his advice too literally. There was this particular gypsy lady who went around the area asking people to spare her some change. The lady 1st approached Mr Ong(One of the people on the trip with us, he was travelling with his family), who gave a stern face, but guess what happened when the gypsy lady approached my brother?

haha, my brother shouted "NO" (rather loudly) at her, n the gypsy lady got so frightened, that she promptly run away. Well, I guess she did not expect a tourist to do this kind of things to her bah.

Still in Malaga

2007-01-15T22:58:00.000+08:00

My dad posing in front of the big Picasso poster.

along the streets of Malaga.

the 1st 2 photos are showing the Cathdral de Malaga. We were supposed to visit it but it was close for the Christmas holidays, so we ended up taking a short walk around the Cathdral. Malaga is also the birthplace of Picasso. (yes, THAT famous painter) i didnt know this little snippet of information til the guide told us and i saw those Picasso posters hanging everywhere in the city.

Malaga photo-stop

2007-01-13T21:20:00.000+08:00

What the horse could be thinking:
"You got a problem with me?"

Flamenco

2007-01-13T20:44:00.000+08:00

This was one of the optional tours on the Spain trip, we each had to pay like 30 euros to watch the Flamenco performed by the gypsies. The price included a free drink.(how much can a drink cost?) N if u add carefully, the cost for a family of 4 is actually 120 euros or SGD 240.(you can feed like around 8 people for that amount of money at a decent restaurant in Singapore) The whole performance lasted like an hour and a half, i wont say that the performance was horrendous but more of an okay experience. You can see and feel at the same time; that they were really putting in effort to put on the performance as they were all panting after all the continous tapping of the feet. The price is slightly on the high side but i guess this is what happens when you visit Europe, everything is expensive.

5-star experience (Granada)

2007-01-13T20:09:00.000+08:00

got massage showerhead somemore!

Okay, the toilet bowl like thing with the seal is actually a thing for you to clean your butt, n this was present in every hotel in Spain we visited. There was actually someone in the tour(no names are mentioned here) who mistook it for something to wash his hair with, but luckily he learned of its true usage in the nick of time., before he did something that he will regret for the rest of his life.

LCD TV hor, dun play play!

okay, my first reaction when i opened the door into the room is "wah.... So nice ah!!!"
Honestly speaking, i cant remember checking in to a 5-star hotel in my whole lifetime.

After the visit to Alhambra, we were supposed to check in to Hotel Gran Luna(which is 3 or 4 stars, can't remember already) But we had a pleasant surprise, when our tour guide told us that we had a free upgrade to Hotel Nazaries (5 stars), courtesy of the travel agency. (yeah, of course happy lah, got free upgrade got people not happy one meh?)

break from Spain posts

2007-01-13T17:42:00.000+08:00

There will now be a temporary break from all the Spain posts, as i blog about my brother's enlistment. There will not be any photos or anything, as i do not want to get into trouble with the law. okay?

It is a totally different experience when you go back to tekong as a trainee and you go back as a civilian. I guess after all that you have been through, you try to convince your brother that what he is doing is just a short stint and it will all be over soon.

When i look at the bunks and the recreation room that they show me, i could not help but have an evil grin deep down. Since BMT is approx ten weeks, they try to pack everything that you must know into these ten weeks, which usually leaves little room for free time. I can still swear "from the bottom of my heart" that in my whole stay in tekong, i have not stepped into my company's mess room at all.

I guess my brother must be feeling really un-easy in this whole NS experience, as he woke up at 5 am today and complained of fever and stomach-ache. (It may be because he was nervous) It was strange that during the whole enlistment process, he did not have the chance to meet up with his peers or friends from school. Maybe those assigned to his company today were mainly from other jcs bah.

The trainees at Tekong have a better life than back then. I can still remember my miserly $240 pay. If i'm not wrong, their starting pay is now $350. But the most important thing about staying in Tekong is .........

you get to save a lot of money(REALLY!), as you will NOT have the chance to spend money. The only way you can spend money is when you book out, which is only on weekends, how much can you spend on one week-end?

The recruits are now able to book out after 2 weeks, as compared to my 3-week confinement period, where your parents were able to visit you after 2 weeks and your 1st book out is after 3 weeks.

N if you really must know, my brother's 1st book out date will be 27-01-07. and he will be passing out of BMT on the 14-03-07.

My brother was feeling terrible throughout the whole enlistment process, most prob due to my "over-zealous concern". I helped him packed his bag, and chose a super-sized bag for him and made it as big as a back-packer. This sort of made him feel very malu as no one carried a bag as big as him, or bring as much stuff as he did. (But i did see some people using those trolley bags to enlist, haha, they think they go tekong for holiday is it?) In the end, we helped him remove some stuff from his bag and down-sized his bag, and then finally you can see him break out in a slight smile.

I know that he will most likely not be able to see this message, but i would still like to wish my younger brother all the best for his tekong experience.

Alhambra (Granada)

2007-01-11T17:15:00.000+08:00

a group photo of everyone of the tour group.

Palacio de Generalife or Gineralife (the Muslim Jennat al Arif, "Garden of Arif," or "Garden of the Architect") (No, it is not pronounced as general-life, but ge-ne-ve-lift) This was the Summer palace for the Sultans of Granada.

A view of the city of Granada from the Alhambra.

Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) where the centre fountain is surrounded by 12 stone lions, but currently there are only 11 stone lions as one of the stone lions was taken away for re-storation works. the courtyard is also surrounded by 124 white marble columns.

The honeycomb roof inside the Sala de los Abencerrajes (Hall of the Abencerrages) where there is a story inside this hall. Rumour has it that the Sultan spotted a male with his queen, but he was not sure who the exact person was. He only knew that the man belonged to a particular family of the city, so he "invited" all the males of that family and promptly beheaded all of them inside this hall.

Patio de la Alberca (Court of the Blessing or Court of the Pond) where you can see the reflection of the surrounding buildings in the calm waters of the pond.

Alhambra which means "the red" in Arabic. It was a mosque, palace and fortress to the Sultans that ruled from Granada. Granada was the last Moorish stonghold that fell to the Christians. It is a UNISECO world heritage site, and to protect the Alhambra, they limit the amount of visitors that can enter into the place each day.

Gaudix

2007-01-09T22:37:00.000+08:00

This is how they expand their house or cave for that matter, they just have to use their tools to dig and they get a new room extension just like that.

After Alicante, we proceeded to Gaudix where we visited a cave museum (it's actually where Fransico and his family stay and they just allow people to come and view how they stay and live inside) About half the population of Gaudix stays inside these "cave houses" . Due to land constraints, they can only expand their houses into the hills, hence the cave houses. The one we visited actually belongs to Fransico and his family, who have been staying inside for at least 30 years.

Castillo de Santa Barbara

2007-01-09T21:58:00.000+08:00

This is the most notable feature of the Alicante skyline, the guide discouraged us from visiting there as he says there's nothing to see there as he went up there before. But I must say that this is purely just the view of the guide and we just take it as it is.

Marina of Alicante

2007-01-09T15:15:00.000+08:00

This is the marina of Alicante and as you can see in the background, there are many yachts parked there, and these yachts belong to the rich people that live in the region. you can also get a nice view of the mediterrian sea from the marina.

on to Alicante

2007-01-09T15:05:00.000+08:00

We did not stay long in Valencia and proceeded to Alicante(located along the east coast of Spain) for a night's stay. We stayed at the Kris Alicante hotel, and although it was only a 3-star hotel, it was the ONLY hotel(of all the hotels that we stayed in) that offered FREE internet access for its guests. That was where i updated a little on where we went so far in spain. The photo you see above is taken from the hotel room, which offers a nice view of the mediterrian sea.

Horchatería El Siglo

2007-01-09T14:18:00.000+08:00

Horchatería El Siglo is one of the more famous restaurants in Valencia. It was started in 1836 which makes it 170 years old. As you can see from the photos, our tour guide is explaining what the traditional Valencian women usually wear. Their speciality is the horchata (or the spanish soya bean milk drink as our guide calls it) which is made from tiger nuts. It looks almost the same as the Singaporean Soybean milk drink. The only difference is that it's much thicker, served cold and very very sweet (as compared to our soya bean milk drink but to the Spanish, the sweetness is just right, as they are used to that level of sweetness) The drink is suppose to bring many heath benefits and is said to be a favourite among the local people in Summer. (sidenote: okay, i'm also somewhere inside the photos as these pictures were provided by Mr Ong who was travelling with his family on the same tour also)

Here are several links that reccomand the same restaurant. link1 link2 link3

Spanish Lottery

2007-01-09T14:05:00.000+08:00

The Spanish are also avid lottery fans, as you can see many Spanish queuing up to buy the lottery. because a big draw is coming.
Who says only Singaporeans queue up for the $10 million toto draw?
Just look at the Spanish!
I would join the queue and buy some if only I could understand thier language and no less how they play their lottery.

Cathedral de Valencia

2007-01-09T13:43:00.000+08:00

This used to be a mosque until El Cid came and conquered Valencia from the Moors. It was later converted into a cathedral as with many of the city's mosques.
The Holy Grail is also said to be kept inside, (Yes, THAT Holy Grail!!!) but nope, we didnt have the chance to visit it due to time constraints.

City of Arts and Sciences (Valencia)

2007-01-07T22:15:00.000+08:00

This is the L'Umbracle or the Garden.

This is the El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe or the Science Museum.

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias or the City of the Arts and Sciences is a fine representation of modern achitecture. It consists of the El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía or the opera house and the L'Hemisfèric or the Imax cinema, Planetarium on the left and right respectively.

The first thing that my brother went to find? the public toilets. haha. which was located underground near the L'Hemisfèric.

Paella

2007-01-07T21:47:00.000+08:00

This dish is called Paella. It's supposed to be the most distinctive dish of Spain. It originates from Valencia and is made with saffron and rice. The original dish is served with rabbit meat, but to cater it to international tastebuds, they gave us the seafood version. For you to have an idea of how large the pan is, you can see that it takes at least 4 people to surround the pan completely.
This big pan actually serves up to 40 people, and after everyone has had their fair share(plus second servings here and there), there is still some rice left in the pan.

Valencia FC

2007-01-07T15:51:00.000+08:00

This is the Estadio Mestalla (Home of Valencia FC). the pictures are like that cause they were taken while the coach was entering into the city of Valencia. I used to quite support them quite a few seasons back when they came back from a huge point difference to claim the La Liga title. Vincente was their star player back then, now i cant remember what other star players that are still with the club.

Montserrat (Barcelona)

2007-01-06T23:47:00.000+08:00

We 're supposed to visit the main shopping street of Barcelona known as Las Ramblas, but since it was Christmas so all the shops were closed n out guide brought us to Montserrat instead. located 45 mins drive away from Barcelona is Mountserrat. it's a monastery located on a mountain and you can enjoy the wonderful landscape from the top of the mountain. the Monastery is also famous for its choir but they were also celebrating their christmas holiday, so we didnt get to hear the choir. Legend states that there was a vision of the Virgin Mary here. so they decided to built a statue of the Virgin, the statue is black cause it is supposed to be smoke-stained. Nowadays, they cover the staue with hard plastic covering n only allow people to touch the globe through a small opening. according to unconfrimed sources, you're supposed to make a wish before you touch the globe on the Virgin's hand n then your wish will come true. The other statue is of St Peter, you have to touch the right foot, although i dunno for wat ever reasons also, but later i found out from my fren's girlfriend that they have the same thing in the Vatican city n everybody touches the right foot of Peter also.

Mountjunic hill (Barcelona)

2007-01-06T00:35:00.000+08:00

We went up Mountjunic hill of a birdeye's view of Barcelona city n the harbour which faces the Mediterranean Sea. If you look closely at the top most photo , you can see the Sagrada Familia somewhere in the centre right of the picture.