a mountain (of workload) to clear

before i get to the other side of the world, that is, Europe for my long-awaited holiday

work and school is highly stressful... lots to do before i can chill (literally)
have fallen sick and i'm thinking i won't be able to do the marathon... because that could potentially take away the only last breath that I can save to push through my final week here

almost there... to the merry lands of munich, barcelona and london where snow awaits me

can't wait!

there ain't no mountain high enough...to keep me from getting to you

what i've been busy with....

making colourful fondant!














































... and easy, yummy pizzas




will be heading off to bangkok and jakarta for work tomorrow. my first time in indonesia! excited!!!

I went to Phuket

on the very next day after my last day at work. It is another sunny island, with much better beaches and scenery for relaxation, in Thailand for a (well-deserved, so I say) break.


My friend and I stayed at the Centara Karon Beach Resort and it far exceeded our expectation for the price we paid. We actually booked a promo fare on the Air Asia website and the return flight+3-night accomodation, which includes a really yummy buffet breakfast, at $270 per pax, taxes all in.













The breakfast area and the hotel lobby.

Karon feels like a peaceful, quiet area compared to the boisterous Patong. You still get a fair share of pubs, shops and massage parlours but safe from the aggressive vendors and over-exposed girls. The Karon beach is less crowded too so I do feel really free and relaxed there.

We also took a day trip to Phi Phi islands on a speed boat. We stopped at various spots/bays around Phi Phi ley and Phi Phi don, for breaks and to snorkel. That was my first snorkel experience and unfortunately, it wasn't fantastic. Most probably due to the lousy equipment? (heh) Water kept seeping into the nose cover and I kept having to lift my face above the surface to dry the cover. I will definitely try again... The view though, is really breathtaking and it makes you wonder at nature's marvels. It is such exposure that touches the hearts of city dwellers--like me--and pushes us to do more for Earth's conservation.












Maya Bay and a traditional Thai boat near the shore of the Monkey Beach

what i will do when i am retrenched....

eyes glistened with tears (awww...), the boss announced that come tomorrow, they will roll out the retrenchment plans announced in a memo sent last week. we had come to this point, even though they have already taken measures such as cutting our pay by 10%. 25% of us will be affected. that means, there will be 1 retrenched among every 4 of us. oh well, what has to come will come. and i guess i will embrace whatever fate i belong to since it's really beyond my control. 

and i'm surely going to enjoy my free time! besides the typical sending out resume or going for interview kind of activities, this is a list of things that i will do to keep myself busy (of course, with some financial constraints):

budget

go swimming everyday 

buy toto/lottery (should i?) 

live the work-while-backpacking dream in europe

free activities

go jogging everyday

go for my prepaid massage/facial packages

go library to read

doing household chores (and make my parents happy) 

redeem credit card points to go shopping 

sign up for trial memberships at gyms/spas 

drive my father's car (oops) 

 

......

do you have any more creative suggestions? 

spring is here!

did you realise the UNIQLOCK on the sidebar is different? yes Spring is here! it's warmer, sunnier and happier! 

though here in Singapore we are feeling it a bit differently - more showers and humidity. 

oh whatever... may your days be bright and shiny :) 

(pictures from last year's Denmark trip) 

new year resolutions

ooh just realised that i made less than 50 entries in 2008. okay, one of the 2009 resolutions shall be MORE BLOGGING!

i'm proud to say i have been quite good at keeping (or achieving) some of my resolutions, 2 being: getting a driver's license and completing the half marathon. of course, there are also those that i need to continue to work on...like changing some bad habits that i'm too ashamed to announce here. hehe

well, i foresee this new year being the year of changes and choices! must be more active in making a difference in my life, instead of waiting for things to happen... :D i want to travel more, play more, rest more...

many close friends are going to enter a new phase of their lives, and i'm going to be really busy helping them with their weddings. that said, i spent the first few days of 2009 ,and the rest of the week as well, busying with the first sunshine babes' hen's night and wedding ceremony. getting married is really a huge task!

anyways, have a happy new year! may seem to be a challenging year ahead for all, but i'm sure all of us keep a positive outlook and take a proactive approach in life, it can only get better!!!

my dreams

some friends asked me recently what my dream wedding will be and i realised i have no idea.

while many at my age are getting ready for their impending wedding ceremonies and family planning, i am not ready for that stage of my life.

over the years of education and a short career life, there are many things that happened that made me see the individualistic, task-oriented, competitive side of me. this is the side of me that is still driving me to seek my "ideal" job.

i'm already quite fortunate to land myself a job that allows me to mix pleasure with work. ten years ago, who would have known such a position "trend researcher" exist? but i guess the grass is always greener on the other side, and i continue to look for my greener pastures and my pot of gold under the rainbow. *dreamy look* (and prince charming is still not on my list of priorities..hmmm)

if i have my way (and better writing skills), i will want to be living the life of these men:
http://www.janchipchase.com/
frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/

:P

L plate

i'm officially taking the L plate off the car, putting on instead the red-triangle-in-a-yellow-square plate instead. i'm finally a certified driver!

for the past 10 months, driving lessons gave me an excuse to leave the office on time and a reason to wake up early on weekends.

so, i have decided that i should continue to set time aside to learn something new. i'm not sure what yet but i have some things in mind already. spanishkoreanjazzguitarkeyboardmusicwritingandmanymore.

i think the only issue will be $$.

last but not least, i should really spend some time learning about photography. was looking through the photos taken in Seoul. not great. i actually prefered some of the photos taken using the Canon powershot than the Nikon D60! i haven't quite gotten the hang of the D60 like I have with the powershot. Also, need to learn more about technical stuff like the exposure, shutter speed etc.

shall leave you a few of my fave shots in Seoul: Freshness burger! i've never visited this famous japanese burger joint in tokyo. i knew i have to try it when i saw it at KINTEX in Seoul.






























the verdict? fresh and tasty! ;)

not travelling for the time being

mmm ... just realised i haven't blogged in a while... but if you have been paying attention to the twitter and dopplr column on the left, you will know i have actually finished shanghai and been to seoul and back already!


update about the nanjing massacre memorial hall: i didn't manage to get in.


the place was supposed to be closed on monday but for that week they changed it to tuesday because monday was a public holiday so they expected more ppl to be able to visit. problem was i think it wasn't made known to many ppl! the website didn't put up the notice. many locals were waiting at the door. a old man and his family (you can see them in the picture below) was trying to make an appeal, saying they made a trip from faraway province just to see the memorial hall. sorry, too bad. sigh.





















but anyway i think the architecture of the memorial hall is stunning! glad to at least have seen it...

caught in the Mid Autumn Festival long weekend in China,

travelling with a huge mess or mass of ppl is no joke. after i reached the shanghai train station, i was simply overwhelmed by the number of people moving at the same time.

managed to get train tickets by booking myself day tours at a local agency - i'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. Eg. i'm staying in this hotel, booked by the agency, that doesn't do proper housekeeping, for one. But it's also a good way to experience the "local way of life".

The first thing i realise about them is they are pretty self-centred. For example, when it comes to photo-taking, they are rather insensitive towards others. After taking their picture at a certain hotspot, the photographer will walk towards the person to check the picture so that they "chope" the position if they still need to retake. This simply blocks everybody else and creates alot of unnecessary frustration.

oh well... finally done with all the day tours and will be going to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum tomorrow. more longer days ahead. seeya soon

ogenki desuka?

i wasn't expecting to go to this one but because of some mysterious forces i'm going to Tokyo again! and on the A380!! booked myself a seat on the upper deck, shared with the business class. this time round is purely for work but i can't wait to eat the delicious food and hit the stores again (even window shopping is good enough)

Ha Noi/Hoi An: my biggest overseas haul EVER

Hoi An is a great place for making clothes and shoes (we made 2 pairs each for USD22)! i cannot imagine how fast they worked over 1 night. if only we had more time (and more cash) to spare there, i would have made some pretty dresses and jackets as well!

i'm back!

i'm still in the "i wish i'm still there" kind of mood. Although it was only a short 4-day trip, it was just enough to tune my bio-clock to europe time. that's why i'm still happily awake and feeling hungry at 2.24am. luckily i'm still clearing my leave! no need to day dream in the office tmr...

i think i have been too pampered by the business trips - hotels, proper meals in cafes and restaurants (proper = appetiser, main course and sometimes coffee/dessert), cabs - that i've forgotten how it's like to travel like a backpacker, especially in europe. this trip brought me back to earth and i love the spontaneity (though sometimes bizarre) of backpacking!

this time i stayed in 2 different hostels at odense, birthcity of Hans Christian Anderson, and copenhagen. Boy, was i nervous to meet my roommates for the night, especially because i'm staying in a dorm with all strangers for the first time. I had the weirdest time in odense. my roommate was this 65 year old auntie from Mon, an island south of copenhagen, who doesn't speak a word of english. i thought we had already establish a common understanding that we can't communicate due to the language barrier, but she kept wanting to talk to me! eventually through handsignals and some doodling on paper, i gathered that she needed some help to use the computer/internet at the TV room. ok, i thought i could help her. so after we went down she gestured towards the computer, asking me to use it! she thought i might want to use the computer! OMG. then she brought me to sit down at the sofa at the side. we sat down and i was totally bewildered. there was this group of danish guys watching soccer on TV, staring at us, wondering what we were doing. i asked her if she wanted to watch TV, and she shook her head. WTH. By this time, i'm totally tired and i thought i've done my best to interact with her, so i just told her i'm going back to the room to sleep. back in the room, immediately i climbed up to my bed at the upper deck. i think i must have felt rather insecure bout this old lady and my fear of height didn't quite help either, i woke up almost every hour of sleep.

i'm glad i only had such encounter once! the night at the copenhagen dorm was much better. there were 1 japanese tourist and 2 canadian sisters. All of them happened to have just quit their last jobs to come to this trip. The canadians have been on the road since March and they will not be going home until May! When I told my father bout this, he commented that "they (ang mohs) are like that... they only settle down later in their lives". well, the first thought that came to my mind was why couldn't Asians be like that too? why can't I be like that?

yeah, you get the idea... on this short trip, i had some reflections on my current state of life and how i may want it to be in the future... guess this's one of the advantages of travelling alone, you get more time to THINK about yourself.

so that's one of my stories from the trip.. too bad i didn't take a picture of my Odense roommie. But i've got nice flowers blooming from denmark for you!

i'm back!

a picture for those who missed me :) taken at Tai Ping restaurant, where Jay Chou goes for its Swiss Sauce Chicken Wings!

i feel so exhausted now after the Hong Kong trip. it's really difficult to balance work and play during a business trip, especially in HK where there's so much to see and eat!

Covering an exhibition alone is no joke. I am suffering from severe shoulder and neck aches from carrying the load of the trims from the APLF exhibition. Yet there's no time to rest! There's so much more to do at the office!!!!!

Enough of scaring myself, I'm proud to announce I'm going to a REAL holiday next month, at last. Though it's no beach or spa holiday, I'm sure it'll be a clean break away from work finally.

Hanoi, here I come!

i'm back

from wintry scandinavia.

Not yet snowing but the ambience was already very christmasy.

the client also invited us to their xmas dinner! it was held at this farm which catered for events. before we entered the premises, they served eggnogs at the door. for main dishes, they served traditional swedish food - lots of fatty fish and meat and alcohol - which we couldn't take very well. They served lots of shots, which they down after singing a song. As usual, we taught them how to yummmmm-senggg.

it was a good experience altogether. i'm really glad i had this chance and it was worth it to give up the indian trip for this i guess?

one thing could change though - the TG flights. i wish the company would change the policy of taking thai airways, if i should get a chance to fly europe again. hehe

merry x'mas! hope u all get good presents ;)

time for some updates:

i apologise for the lack of entries. quite alot has happened in the past month. so, what have i done?

- travelled to shanghai. not my favourite city, but i think i need to go back again to explore more on foot. stayed too much in pudong, where the exhibition centre was. as much as i'll like to see the local wholesale markets, i'll never get enough of uniqlos and h&ms.

- completed 10km standard chartered run. managed to reach my target - not stopping. clocked timing 1h20mins. motivated to 'upgrade' to half marathon next yr! haha.. for now, at least... one of my new year resolutions

- had my second company d&d. didn't win any prizes (damn...) but it was more enjoyable than last yr's, especially since i'm in the organising committee. it was held at the beautiful mandai orchid garden, a break away from the city. it stopped raining just in time for us to explore the garden. lightning at night caused a little interuption to our program as it fused some circuit somewhere but we had a good emcee who tided it over very well.

btw i'll be going to the land of h&m for work next week 14-19dec. hope i'll have time to do some xmas shopping over there. if not, maybe someone lucky may get a jar of (melted) snow for present?

horn OK please

i'm still trying to figure out what this phrase mean. It's on the back of almost every vehicle. horn to signal ok? ok to what? horning is definitely the universal language used on the road. the drivers just horn non-stop. horn to signal i'm turning, horn to signal i'm stopping, horn to signal i'm overtaking, horn to signal i'm crashing into you, horn to ask how are you... i'm going to kiss your butt.

there's also the 'Stop Signal' signage. is it supposed to emphasize the light signal? so that the vehicle behind will know to stop in time?

i'm surprised English instead of Hindi is used for these signs. are they actually meant for foreigners who are new to the local traffic system?

with some divine intervention,

i'll be going to shanghai 17-22November to cover the Luxe Pack exhibition.

:)

back from mumbai

the most vivid imagery of Mumbai in my mind, will be of the young kids begging by the streets, waiting for us outside the hotel, pounding on our car windows.

the most irritating thing that happened to me was, my comfort food - dearest chocolate bar was stolen from my own hotel room!

the most charming thing was the interaction with our taxi driver, Popol. he's illiterate but he knows how to improve his life and plan for the future. he drives a good air-conditioned taxi (a Tata sedan - not very common in Mumbai), he owns another car which he lets his brother drive, he also owns a new model of Sony Ericsson 6-series cybershot. he picked up a good deal of English from his 12 years experience of driving. Most important of all, he sends his kids to school.













the cutest thing is Shahid Kapoor(above). his latest movie 'Jab we met' was just out in the box office and he was all over the place - posters, TV, papers... Bollywood rocks!


p/s. btw i did manage to get out of our hotel district. by cab, though, not rail. downtown Mumbai isn't too far actually. but traffic at peak hour can kill. glad i brought my preserved plums. the immigration at mumbai airport can kill too. do take heed when ppl tell you to reach the airport 4h before your flight. glad we did.

Men at work

for more tastes of tokyo, see here