hotpotless

as far as i can remember - our family had steamboat for reunion dinner on lunar new year's eve every year. this year is the first time we're not having it. due to the recent passing on of my grandmother, we were encouraged not to have steamboat for dinner as it symbolizes reunion.so the mum whipped up a couple of dishes. the food was delicious but somehow it lacked the 'feeling' of a reunion dinner.as usual we went to the grandma's place (or rather now we refer it to the grandpa's) for dinner on the first day of the lunar new year. we're missing a couple of people this year. the first uncle decided to skip dinner due to the previous clashes he had with the rest of his siblings over family matters. the second aunt decided to go for a holiday in Australia instead since we're not really supposed to celebrate CNY this time.i was getting a little sentimental when i started thinking of how the grandma will be busy cooking for the family at this time of the year. i realised that i will never get to taste her cooking ever again...

hong kong day 6

last day in HK! started the day really early in the morning. woke up at 6am and took my luggage to the HK BB office before going up to the Peak with Lian. although it was soo foggy - i felt soo warm! i was practically sweating when climbing the slopes.while walking around the streets in Central, we saw a protest by a certain investor which was apparently NOT happy with CitiBank!there were a couple of security guards there but did not do anyting to stop her protest - this is the freedom of speech! you'll never be able to get this in Singapore!finally got the chance to eat at Yong Kee - the verdict: NOT WORTH THE EFFORT AND MONEY. any other restaurant can beat it. oh and this is the famous century egg and the smell was totally overpowering~! (ok not too much of a century egg lover that's why)finally time to go home! i like airport express :)NOT looking forward to work the next day boo hoo!!

hong kong day 5

back at this Tsui Wah restaurant - i don't like the food there!! grr...BUT i was very happy to find the authentic "咸柠七" - salty lemon 7-UP (even though Sprite is used here) :) i love the taste of it!!at night we met up with subz for dinner at this Mongolian restaurant. food was ok but i liked the idea of selecting the ingredients which you like, combine it with your own concoction of sauce and the chefs with cook it for you.

hong kong day 4

this morning i brought the guys to Luk Yu restaurant - the place where i had dim sum with LL and MT just 2 days ago! i had wanted to sit downstairs cos we didn't have this chance the other day.i was disappointed that they didn't have that fish maw dim sum which i really liked as their menu changes daily. i didn't think the 3 of them enjoyed the food as much as i did - guess i should have let them take me to Lin Heung instead! i wanted to try Lin Heung, in fact i always wanted to go there! i made the wrong move this time! :(bad weather hit us and we were taking shelter and i spotted this reflective ceiling above us - i like this shot! :)

hong kong day 3

finally the rest of the gang are here. we went for claypot rice dinner at temple street despite NV's concerns about the recent acid attack which happened there. we told him he can hold an umbrella above his head if it makes him feel better. heh...

Mel's Indonesian friends also joined us for dinner.after dinner we met CKing at LKF for drinks. this trip we met up with so many ex BB people. they've all left and kept asking when are we going to leave BB too =_=|anyways, before we knew it, our table was half filled with people we don't know - they were all friends, friends of friends and friends of friends of friends of Mel - haha. she explained that it's the Indonesia culture to bring more and more friends to such gatherings and it doesn't matter that all of them didn't know each other. :) was quite an eye opener because i felt like it was Facebook coming to life.

hong kong day 2

early rise and shine and met up with MT and LL who happened to be in HK for Stephanie Sun's concert this saturday. LL brought us to this old style teahouse called Luk Yu for dim sum.i quite enjoyed the food there and it was a great start of the day. i had originally wanted to visit Macau today but realised i didn't have enough time as we ended dim sum at around noon.since i had nothing to do, MT and LL have decided to ditch me after breakfast so i spent the next 2 hours doing the most boh liao thing - 'star watching' at the Tseung Kwan O bus station!! wahaha..saw a few familiar people but couldn't put a name to their faces except one - who was 锺嘉欣. good to see her since i like her shows :) quite a funny thing to do at my age i know!!went back to the hotel to continue reading my book and take a nap before meeting KC at Mongkok for dinner.we ate this satay beehoon thingy which didn't taste like the Singapore satay beehoon at all. the taste is similar to that of 沙茶酱 which i usually do not fancy but it tasted good tonight. i supposed it's really who you eat with and not the food? KC and i have known each other through TKD when we were kids and now he is back in HK to work.i was told by KC that this small little shop over here pays a monthly rental of HKD 160,000, that's about SGD30,000! it is the MOST expensive shop (per square meters) in the entire HK and Kowloon combined. it sells roadside snacks like curried fishballs and siew mai - you can imagine how much is their profit given that they are able to afford such exhoribitant rental charges!i tried to find a bus which would bring me across the tunnel back to HK island from Kowloon but i was not successful. instead i witnessed an accident which left this woman injured - i gathered she must have fell down from the stairs of this double decker bus from the position she is in. i hope she is alright now.

hong kong day 1

for the first two days i am staying here alone. it was recommended by a HK friend. well not too bad for just SGD115 a day.the hotel was clean, compact and had everything i needed EXCEPT bedroom slippers =_=|...this is the view from my hotel window and to be honest a view into someone else's kitchen is not something i was expecting. i am constantly amazed at how HKers seem to be able to integrate residential and commercial spaces just like that. but hor, i stood at the window for a very long time trying to spot my 'neighbours' in action - like cooking or washing etc but i didn't see anyone leh!went to the local wet market for a walk - i concluded that the level of hygiene CMI, haha.'pissing shrimps' - a local delicay apparently but i think it looks kind of disgusting??met up with some friends for dinner at IFC. SV and i.CC and i. this is only the second time we've met although we've known each other for almost 3 years!it was a nice and light dinner of congee and XO fried cheong fun at this restaurant called 正斗.

the best has yet to be

me bestie from primary school!! after 16 years we finally met again!! it felt like we never lost each other - i like this feeling :)just came back from this mini primary school gathering-dinner feeling very satisfied. but i realised in 5 hours time i need to be at the airport and i haven't done ANY packing.

hmm...

in any case, HK, here i come AGAIN for the Nth time.

you think, i thought, who confirm??

at the end of the day it's all about who likes who better... it applies to both work and life. :) if you had already screwed up your relationship - do not waste time trying to unscrew it because chances are - *sings* it's too late to apologise... it's too late....

find another hole and make sure you screw it correctly right from the beginning. heh...

facebook

oh man, facebook is probably one of the best invention on earth! a longg lost primary school bestie found me in the facebook universe! AN and i used to be soooo close when we were young but never saw each other again after primary school graduation - what a shame!! 16 years have past since i last saw/spoke to her!!

we've arranged to meet up this wednesday - it's AMAZING.

very very very happy. :)

SAM opening ceremony

a couple of folks from my department received invites to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) opening party last night. undoubtedly we attended because we were fundamentally concerned with the development of the contemporary arts scene in Singapore and NOT because we wanted to check out the drinks. (although i did see a few sulking faces when we saw a table full of punch when we walked into the party heh.)

after the boring speech, we heard a champagne bottle pop - =Dafter 5 glasses of champange... we were ready to start our tour in the museum.

there were just two art pieces there which i liked and more importantly could understand what the artist was trying to express. all the words you see in this picture are related to a female's life and they are made out of human hair!

the complete art piece was about the life of a female - the factors/stages she has to face in her womanly life...to bring home the bread and juggle with looking after her kids etc. let's just say, 女人我最大!this art piece was trying to depict the mechanised learning scene which we face as a country. on one side you have books containing all sorts of knowledge we are 'supposed' to acquire and the learning catalyzed with the help of a machine, finally with everything 'drilled' into our heads.and this is our attempt at creating a contemporary art piece - the theme was 'lack of space'. the ever growing population in singapore is making the lack of space a very real issue. we have to share our very limited space with people from other countries!! hah..(in this picture we have singaporeans, malaysians and indonesians) - good intepretation!!love overcomes all barriers!we ended the night with a really nice thai dinner in a nearby coffeeshop which i thought it was really quite good value for money!!

go qix go!

just two minutes into jogging i felt my heart burning, i couldn't take it. i was weak and unfit. it was just 300 meters away from where i had started and thoughts of giving up were already going through my head. i quickly drove those thoughts outta my head - i walked then i jogged then i hopped and i walked again... i did anything and everything i could to bring myself further away.

i miss the times where i was healthy and in good shape. where i will do weights, cardio and tkd everyday for 6 days in a week. where the doctors will take my pulse rate and could tell i was an athlete right away and praised me for being so physically fit.

I NEED TO GET MY ACT TOGETHER!!! I NEED TO GET BACK IN SHAPE!!!

friends... HELP ME! stop me from eating junk!! :)

go qix go!

my LBN

我的老板是月亮，
初一十五不一样!!!

fyi: LBN = Lao Ban Niang

graph

a client sent a colleague of mine this graph that day haha and i thought it was quite cute! :) does it look more like a turtle or a dinosaur?? hmm.. in any case i think this client has too much time on his hands. lol.

super ripped off!

last night we brought the brother in law's parents who are in Singapore to Long Beach restaurant for a seafood dinner. Long Beach has always been our prefered choice when it comes to hosting friends/relatives from overseas.

the food was good as usual and everyone was happy, but when we got the bill we were horrified! - it costed $400++ for a 7pax dinner! when we looked carefully at the breakdown of the items, we realise we were charged $124 for four cray fishes.

this is RIDICULOUS!!!

how can four cray fishes cost $124? it's not like this is our first time ordering this dish at Long Beach. the restaurant manager told us these are "live cray fishes from the pacific ocean" - look at my face - do you think i fucking care?!

it's totally unacceptable.

i was terribly disappointed with what went on - i felt a sense of betrayal more than anything. we as a family have been patronizing them for the past what 20 years?? it has some of my bestest childhood memories but was destroyed all because of this unfair transaction.

sigh. the dad was so upset that he tore the bill into half!

simple things that make me happy #1

the empty train at 620am.

the baby niece

BBB

Busy But Bored - this is the lingo of the year.

A or B??

well let's just say i am not in the best of mood because of certain things. but i don't know if i was more affected by matter A or matter B?? ... too bad!

let's just say sometimes i don't mean what i say and often times i dont say what i mean. haha!!

owell.

excessive, compulsive behaviour?

wahaha.. i think i've lost control over myself - i booked another air ticket to HK on top of the other THREE !! so that's what?... 4 holiday destinations in 2 months? hmm...and i think it's going to my 13th visit to HK this time? or is it 14th?...

happy new year 2010!

this year's new year's eve was spent at home, with family and a new addition - the baby niece! it was the first time the baby niece came to her grandparent's place and i guess that was something special? :)

the only entertainment that night was wii in which the brother in law was totally addicted to it. the dad was not impressed with wii - he thinks it is "not realistic one"...(he scored the lowest in wii bowling haha)

on the contrary, the brother in law thinks "it's amazing how realistic this game is" and he was trying all sorts of techniques like curve/hook balls. haha but the dad said to him: "can you score 192 in real life? cannot right? so this game is not realistic one!" -- let's just say the the dad was NOT happy with his wii bowling score hahahaha...oh and i got kicked in the ass by the mum in wii bowling!! boy, she's good at it!

as for today - 01.01.10 -- I AM AT WORK!! but i'm not complaining (yet) since it pretty much just requires me to SIT and STARE at the screen. hah. looking forward to a good year ahead and wish everyone lots of luck and love!