myLife

2009-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

A silent curse pinned to your back, shall see your soul burns till its black

You obviously tried to find a fault, though its as hollow as a vault

Shattered glass for a broken reflection, jumps into you as it cracks your face

Prayers now give no more protection. You shall never find your place

Heard your words, the universe cries, as time and space soar through the skies

Tears you will shed just like the sand, but the hate for you will come to an end

For any other lies untold, you'll sear your lips and burn your throat

Your vulgarities that fills the air now cuts your skin and singes your hair

Hideous thoughts and warped desires, boil and erupt till you turn blue

Words that you spat now burnt by fire

May your friends and lovers no longer be true

Materialistic flashes and grim tall tales

Brings you no power as your life fails

A mother's legend, a father's lore

Your stupid act shall haunt no more

Dim lights under a full moon

Regret and horror is coming soon

Whatever you harnessed that gives you power

Shall desert you now within the hour

Your mind sealed within a shell, your spirit knocked to and fro by a ringing bell

Blood in your left eye, smoke in your right

Screwed by your mind's darkness, cast out of the light

Till the day you change your way, YOUR PROBLEM SHALL ALWAYS STAY

2008-06-25T01:18:00.000-07:00

I love this life

I hate this life

I made this life

I'll break this life

I live this life

I'll change this life

2008-06-17T02:09:00.000-07:00

3 marvellous days in a row. Just let me give a quick breakdown of it ;)

* watch out for the boat with the orange, grey and yellow spinnaker/jenniker. That boat is Katana and there are a couple of pictures with it inside!! :D

Sat:

Had an unofficial catamaran race from Changi to Manamana East Coast. There were all together 10 to 11 boats competing. It was really fun although there was not much wind. Many boats were stranded near the naval base so they had to be towed back out to their original course. It took everyone around 2 to 3 hours to reach East Coast. After beaching our boats, un-rigging them and showering, it was a sailors' chill out and socialising session at this really relaxing alfresco seaside cafe within Manamana's compound. There was a lot of eating, drinking, chatting and joking going on and it actually lasted all the way to like after 9pm. Occasionally, some of us will break away for a while and walk together to some other place just for some fresh air and stuff. For me, I walked to the cable-skiing park with this other sailor. Seeing the facilities and crowd there, I was extremely thankful that I was no longer a cable-skiier . That place has become so........run down........its as if someone bombed the lagoon there or something.

sailing out of Changi

some of the sailors who had to be towed out of the naval base's waters

the male shower room at Manamana. Extremely new and really artistic, kind of gave me a Gaudi feel. lol

all the catamarans in a row @ Manamana

Sun:

This was the 2nd half of the race. All the boats had to sail back from Manamana to Changi. This time, there was practically no wind except towards the end of the course. Nevertheless, we still managed to have some good fun. Because the race back to Changi started later in the day and took a longer time due to the lack of wind, many of the sailors were exhausted by the time they reached Changi so most of them left soon after unrigging their boats and showering. Still, some stayed behind to chit chat for a while over some beer before leaving. Only a handful including me, stayed behind to have dinner together. It was still really fun though :) Needless to say I was sunburnt from being out at sea for too long.

rigging up of yabadabadoooo

catamarans in their 'naked' glory :p

Katana!! :D thats my uncle next to me by the way and yes, I know his hat looks weird. Its actually two caps piled on top of each other

launch off!! Can you see Katana in the left picture??

Mon:

Natalie had an early birthday celebration by having a poolside bbq party. It was really fun and basically lasted from 6ish all the way past midnight. The food was good, the drinks were superb, the atmosphere was great and the crowd was of course a fun and varied bunch.

fruit punch (background) and Melissa's special Sangria (foreground)

Melissa busy at work, she is a great chef by the way

chocolate candles. Interesting...................... and no you can't actually eat them

glorious FOOOOOOODDDDDD!! and some drinks :p

group shots ;)

2008-06-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

I need to get out

I need a change

And I need it

NOW!!

2008-05-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Twilight Sailing

Saturday was my first time experiencing a twilight race. It was fun actually, although I was constantly feeling stressed during the competition. In the end, First Light ranked 5th out of the 7 boats competing. We finished the race only about a minute plus after Relax Lah.............First Light's sibling boat. As a penalty for losing the race (coz we didn't even clinch 3rd prize), the skipper (unc Kok Hwa) and the helmsman (me) were made to chug down a cup of beer during the Sailor's BBQ dinner. They were going 'Come on!! Drink up boy!!' lol. It was quite a fun experience if you ask me. The penalty for being a first-time twilight sailor was also downing a cup of beer (I fell into that category too). So it was another round of beer chugging with some of the 'virgin' twilight sailors. 'Friendly' penalties and protests were lodged and pinned against individuals after that with more laughter and beer downing :)

The crew of 'Relax Lah' downing beer as a penalty for mooning the crew from another boat called 'Simba'

Went to Jason's bday party after that at Pasir Ris chalet. It was fun.....met some new people and all, but I was super tired a couple of hours later. Thank god Geryll had a car so he drove me, Dora and Jonathan back home. Whew!! It was like 4ish when I came back.........

Keppel Marina

Inside the Carribbean (Lica's place)

Had a superb brunch at Keppel Marina the next morning with my mom, koko Po Kwang, Lica and Tomoko.........I just discovered a rather swanky bar there and am sooooooo going there soon;)

2008-05-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

Gee............why do I have the feeling that I am wasting my life away??
Oh right........because I am!! SIGH!! I am like doing NOTHING productive........haven't been wakeboarding, haven't been studying much. Been sailing though...thank god for that. But that is like sooooo not enough...................

SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I better buck up by next week and stop being such a lazy bum.........before I end up being stuck in the mud with dirt all the way up to my eyeballs :(

2008-04-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Bangkok

I never thought that I will ever say this but its true. I came back on Sunday and I simply can't wait to go back there again. I'll probably choose Bangkok over Tokyo anytime for food, fun and not to mention cheap buys. Will go more into the details when I get all my pics sorted out. Stay tuned!! ;)

2008-03-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

Its a damn cold night...................So many of the good things from the past that simply added happiness and meaning to my life have disappeared. Past inspirations and dreams all blown apart and away. Past ideas and hopes all shrivelled up and stepped upon. Past comfort now rendered questionable. Everything has to change because nothing is the same anymore. Im past having heartaches since 2006. Nobody understands why I have this underlying issue all the time. And they never will.

The past and all its riches are gone. I can't look back or feel anything about it anymore. But I have a future to carve out. And I am damn well gonna push it in the direction of the ultimatum that I have set for myself since I was a little boy.

2008-02-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

This post is specially created for all my cousins who are living overseas and were therfore unable to make it for cousin Mark's wedding.

Mark's Wedding

10am-11.30am: Ceremony at aunt Catherine's house- The bride and groom came in 45 mins late for I don't know what reason. I opened the car door for Mark, something that was suggested by everyone in the house after which I got a nice hongbao for. It was a really casual ceremony with only a handful of family members so nothing much was done except some chit chat, watching the bride and groom feed each other and muching on some tangyuans and a simple 'pang tei' ceremony.

12pm-2.30pm: Exchange of vows at Four Seasons- Everyone at the house soon found themselves scrambling to get to Four Seasons Hotel to meet up with the rest of the family. Of course Mark and Su Yeon were the first to leave. By noon, everyone was seated and the exchange of vows began. We first sang some hymms, then we watched Lica and Ryan (the flowergirl and pageboy) walk down the aisle followed by Mark and Su Yeon. There was the exchange of vows, exchange of rings, lighting of the candles to re-affirm the marriage and the signing of the marriage papers followed by more hymms and finally, lunch. After the gorgeous lunch, it was the full 'pang tei' ceremony. I have to admit that I was never close to Mark unlike some of my other cousins.....but I had another hongbao from him just by shaking his hand during the ceremony!! :D Everyone left the ceremony after that to get ready for Mark's 'big night'

Mark's wedding dinner was at the St Regis. I have to admit that I was extremely excited as this was a newly constructed 'branded' hotel and residence. BUT, upon reaching the hotel, I realised that it was EXTREMELY so-so. I mean, even hotels like the Conrad were better. For a 'branded' hotel that created so much hoo haa, it was of quite a disappointing standard from my point of view. The toilets on the 2nd floor were quite impressive though. They were covered in marble (or was it granite?? eep!!), heavily scented with a spicy scent from an aroma therapy candle near the sink and speaking of the sinks, they were all in a modern and transparent design with individually rolled hand towels placed in stacks at their base. Anyway back to the dinner, there were 2 hosts throughout the night making the announcements and all. One made it in English and Chinese presumably for Mark's side of the family. And another in Korean, presumably for Su Yeon's side of the family. Dinner was quite so-so too. For a 6 star hotel, the food quality was really washed out. There was of course the cutting of the wedding cake, the pouring of the champagne and so on along with some heartfelt speeches from Mark and his friends. The dinner ended at around 10 smthin. Long story short. It was a wonderful night :) Just that the food kinda sucked. And umm.....thats all. How is that for an abrupt ending??

2008-01-31T05:58:00.000-08:00

I am like really loaded up in my head right now. There are just so many things that I have to do, learn or brush up before I get all comfy with life again.

Around more than half the stuff are regarding school work. I have to:

-pray I did well for my PVL fresh test and ELH test 2
-study hard for the PJM quizzes and UPE final test tml
-study hard for next mon's PJM test 2
-study hard for PVL exam on the 16th of feb and REL on the 20th of feb
-submit 2 ELH, 1 UPE, and a couple of REL essays and assignments left outstanding tml
-submit the re-edited ELH project slides to Mr Goh by tml

And regardin outside stuff. I have to:
- have more confidence in sailing when out on the wire on board Katana
- have more confidence and strength to jump in and out of the wakes on both heelside and toeside during wakeboarding, time to learn some new stuff too
-eat more greens and fruits to get rid of the horrifying rash outbreak on my body
- AND A GAZILLION THINGS MORE: ALL PERSONAL AND STUFF!!

Alright I better leave now, must finish up all my work and revision.....................

2008-01-12T06:07:00.000-08:00

Finally went wakeboarding again after like 2 months!! Unfortunately it was cut short from 4 hours to 2 hours because of the heavy rain. Besides me, everyone else had not wakeboarded before so it took them some time to gain their balance and stuff, although most of them could not get up on the wakeboard.....yet. But oh it was such a fun experience and I am extremely glad that all of them really appreciate wakeboarding. I can't wait to bring them out to sea again :D

A little message to those who were out at sea with me today:)

Anna & Dora : Mahmut says you try too hard but im sure you guys can stand up by the next session :p

Yan Yi : Jelly-welly just like me. lol. Mahmut says that we are like jelly legs. But of course im sure that you will do just fine the next time.

Wei Jiang: You managed to get up!! Thats really good. Hopefully you can sharpen up your 'balancing' the next round.

Jin Shun: Pity that you couldn't go out coz of the rain. But you shall go on the wakeboard first the next time all of us go out.

2007-12-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

Possible Wakeboarding Fund
: Addressed to ONLY the friends of mine whom I always go wakeboarding with and those whom I will be going with soon :) I don't mean to sound selfish or anything lol. I just urgently need to hear from them first. PLEASE SEND ME AN OFFLINE MSN MESSAGE AFTER YOU GUYS READ THIS!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! :D

Ok everyone, my dad will not be able to bring us wakeboarding at Punggol for a while coz he hurt his leg again.

Thinking of it, we might have to start some sort of savings thingy if we have to go dutch coz wakeboarding is expensive. Obviously we won't have to pay if an adult/parent is with us but what about the times where its just us alone??

We have 2 options for now:

- normal wakeboarding at Punggol
Weekdays: $90 per hour
Weekends: $100 per hour
4 hours in a row: $330 (weekdays) or $350 (weekends)
Closes at 6-7pm I think
Closed on sundays I think

1 boat- max 6 ppl (no diff in rates regardless of whether there is 1 person or 6 ppl)
So I recommend we herd up 6 ppl everytime we go.

- cable-skiing wakeboarding at East Coast

WEEKDAYS
1 Hour - $32
2 Hours - $48
4 Hours - $70
8 Hours - $115
*1 Round - $7
Subsequent hour 16/hr (Rates apply only on purchase of 2 hours pass and above)

WEEKENDS/ PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
1 Hour - $42
2 Hours - $64
4 Hours - Not Available
8 Hours - Not Available
*1 Round - $9
Subsequent hour- $22/hr
Students enjoy $5 off usual hour passes upon presenting their student pass
*Student rates apply till 7pm not available for night skiing

So there it is. I think cable-skiin should be a last resort only if we are desperate maybe?? Its usually crowded too so I think its best to go there on weekdays or weekday nights perhaps??

2007-11-27T01:40:00.000-08:00

BRAT

2007-11-20T01:25:00.000-08:00

Don't tell me how to live my life and stop commenting on it. So what if im an only child?? Im not spoilt. You wanna know what spoilt is?? You wanna know what a materialistic person who spends money like water is like?? You wanna know what a problematic unreasonable person is like?? I CAN show you what its like. Just open your damn mouth and tell me so.

My character is not like that. But if you want to generalise me as that type of person. Then im happy to be like that JUST FOR YOU :)

I DO care and feel about those who are less fortunate. But stop trying to make their problems MY problem because I have a life to live too. And I don't have time for this. Do you honestly think that I care if someone is like dying at the other end of the globe?? Yeah I do I guess. But its not like I can do anything about it RIGHT??

2007-11-16T01:02:00.000-08:00

Ok ok, I know this entry is a lil late but at least its here right?? :)

Sat 7th of Nov: The afternoon was basically spent wakeboarding. Geryll and Joel were the 2 new ppl on board the boat in addition to the usuals (me, my dad, nat & tiff). Wakeboarding this time wasn't so condusive coz the waters were really choppy. Everyone of us like fell really hard all the time. My dad thought he burst his lung when he fell chest down, I smashed my nose when I fell face down and Tiff, Nat, Joel & Geryll weren't so lucky either.

The birthday dinner (it was my actual birthday btw) was at 7.3o at MYSG of course. I had a Spanish inspired dinner with like tapas for starters, paella for the main course and a free flow of alcoholic drinks like sangria, bellinis, margaritas, long island iced teas, electric iced teas, archipelago beers and so on. All thrown into a private alfresco patio done up in a lounge setting with candles and latin music. It was fantastic and I sincerely want to thank unc Paul for helping me make this party happen.

After dinner and stuff, unc Paul gave me this watermelon with a hole drilled into it and a straw poked through. Assuming that it was watermelon juice, I just took it and started gulping like a fish. It turned out to be pure vodka. I was stunned but it tasted quite mild actually. The watermelon was then passed around to everyone to take a few gulps. After all the vodka was drained out into our tummies, the watermelon was cut and the flesh hollowed out for everyone to share. It was superb.

Finally it was the cake cutting ceremony after an hour or so of chatting and lounging and drinking. The cake was a fabulous chocolate torte from the Hilton. I couldn't finish it though coz I was busy guzzling down glasses of electric iced teas. I had like 5 glasses of those in addition to a few glasses of sangria, a bellini, a margarita, some beer and long island iced tea and the vodka in the watermelon. lol. After more hours of chatting and lounging (and drinking), Geryll and the notsofunnians except Jing Zhi and Kenneth decided to go to Plush. I was asked to come along but I had to turn it down (despite some protests) coz it was already past 12 and I needed to wake up early the next day for a catamaran sail clinic at Changi the next day.

Yay im finally 18!! This is like one of the best parties I have ever had!! (I say that every year) And I want to thank all my friends for coming over!!

Thank you especially:

Dora, Natasha & Yan Yi for the Brazillian Music CD and Starbucks thermal tumbler

Geryll, Hong Yi, Jing Zhi, Yee Seng, Kenneth & Eng How for the Pierre Cardin wallet

Joel for the Valentino eau de toilette

Nat, Mel , unc Paul & Tiff for helping out with the party planning and the Brazillian dinner and dessert at Macaron

Adele for the really nice little designer cakes (that I forgot to bring back from the restaurant :o) aaahhhh!!!!!!!!!

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

Sat:
Had an EARLY BIRTHDAY dinner with uncle Paul, Nat, Mel and Tiff at the Brazillian Churrascaria after church. It was amazing. Basically there is this self-service salad bar where you can get a free flow of veggies and carbs such as salad greens, beans, mixed rice and potato salad. And after you are comfortably tucked in with your food, the waiters will come around every table slicing different cuts and types of meats and sides from a giant skewer INDIVIDUALLY for everyone. The restaurant boasts 40 different cuts and varieties although I only counted 8 that night (excluding the roasted pineapple, smoked fish and new potatoes) To top it up, uncle Paul got for us a bottle of Argentinian red wine after that for the sake of making the meal more complete. It was terrific!! :)

After dinner, we drove down to Robertson Quay to have dessert at this new establishment called Macaron, which was under Les Amis. It was an extremely interesting place although its sister outlet Canele seemed more popular. Let me just provide a quick rundown of the desserts that we had there.

Rose Bombe (Tiffanie)- rose petal ice cream with frozen raspberry jelly and almond nougatine encased in a rose meringue

Raspberry Granite (Natalie)- includes milk choc foam with homemade hazelnut praline and hazelnut nougatine

One,Two,Tea (Melissa)- raspberry espuma with milk choc tea parfait, chocolate tea cream and a cocoa bean tuile

Dark Chocolate Parfait (me) -orange caramel with dark choc cream and lime aioli topped with a toasted chocolate brioche

And of course after eating, all of us had to take a stroll. So we had a nice and leisurely walk down by the river. I am extremely thankful to unc Paul and the girls for doing all these for me :)

an example of some of the stuff that you can get from the salad bar

grp pic :)

Nat enjoyin her wine :p

an artwork featuring REAL macarons, sponge fingers, cake and icing at Macaron

Macaron's interior

the Rose Bombe in the background and the one,two,tea in the foreground

the Raspberry Granite

one,two,tea broken open :D

and thats their dark chocolate parfait :D

Sunday:

Took the MRT to Tampines station to meet unc Kok Hwa before driving down to Changi for sailing.......as usual. Scott, Alice and Campbell were already at the club when we arrived so they helped us a bit with the rigging up of Katana. An hour later, we were all ready to go. So unc Kok Hwa was the helmsman for the day while I was doing the crewing. But just when we picked up speed when sailing in the direction of Pulau Ubin, we made a wrong move.......and capsized. No, actually turning turtle will be a more accurate description. Unc Kok Hwa fell straight into the sea but I was left dangling in mid-air coz my right leg was caught on this strap. As I was struggling to like get out of this position, I could feel the strap cutting into the back of my calf. Anyway after I fell suit into the sea, these kids and Campbell who were on another catamaran jumped in to help us. The club's rescue team and so on also came along with Scott and Alice. After like freakin long, all of us managed to tilt the boat back up. But not before its left hull slammed down straight onto the side of my head. Oww!!!!!! We had a friendly race with Scott and this french guy after that where I went out on the trapeze (and injured my little toe) at the Loyang area before returning to shore to wash up and heading to town for dinner.

an old pic of Katana (middle catamaran)

Mon:

Went to school today as usual before heading with about half of the class to Kenneth's house. It was an amazing place with an incredible resort feel. Stayed there for a while before going back to school for lecture and an I.S meeting.

High Oaks- Kenneth's place

inside the clubhouse

2007-11-02T02:26:00.001-07:00

Ok.........so here is my post on the recent Halloween party that I was at. I was so excited the night before coz when the clock struck midnight and crossed over to the 31st of October, the wind suddenly started howling, followed by rumbles of thunder and soon, a storm was tearing throughout the area. In my head, I couldn't stop saying...........Happy Halloween everyone. For today and just today, spirits have come out to play. Enjoy it while it lasts!! :D

Anyway back to the party.Basically I left school as early as I could so that I can help Melissa out with the preparation and stuff. Apparently Tiffanie had invited 11 other ppl besides the original group of people meant to be at this Halloween pool party. How shocking!! Plus they were all girls so the only guys at the party were me and Ricky. lol .Still had a great time though. Me and Melissa assumed the roles of the party planners and yes everyone we did quite a decent job. After dinner and everything was done, Tiffanie suggested a night swim. Although I brought my boardies and trunks along, I felt that it was time for me to leave coz I had school tommorow. So I packed up, said goodbye and left. Brief right?? Not really actually, I am juz keepin my story short and sweet :p

glow in the dark cobwebs. What can possibly be better??

tiff puttin on some make-up to achieve her 'undead' cheerleader look

voila!!

food........glorious food

me n mel

gross names were given to the food to fit it into its desired spooky theme

moonbathing by the pool

yes??

2007-11-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

Halloween last night was great and I am extremely thankful to those who helped me make the party possible (you know who you are ;) ). I will be blogging about it soon but for now.......let me steer your attention to this 'interesting' incident that just happened recently.

Well.........what can I say about these 3 brits?? They are disrespectful, rude, insensitive and probably harbour the thought of 'white supremacy'. How ignorant. No wonder Britain is thought to be experiencing a 'cultural erosion'( not true actually). For those of you who don't know the story, feel free to visit decayonnet.blogspot.com. He has the full details of this typical 'I am a white so I am above all races and cultures' story.

I am not a racist, nor am I generalising the British coz that will make me no better than Mr Bo Davis n crew (those ppl in the pics). Plus I was staying in London for quite some time a few months ago and I can safely say that the UK is a great place and that the people there are actually really nice. I myself stayed with a British family for a while and they are possibly the best people in the world that I have come across so far.

But yet again, you have homo sapiens like these 3 who not only disgrace their people and country, but have the nerve to actually say that they will not be treated this way if they were ASIANS. Wow, what a 'clever' way of getting out of a tight spot. Plus that Bo said that the scathing responses that he got from posting the video on YouTube were INTERESTING. I am speechless. I wonder if these guys feel any guilt or remorse but judging from their brainless act, I think they are probably too dumb to do that.

I am not sure where exactly in the UK they are from but I heard from some sources that they are from Liverpool. Oh well, guess they just helped establish a bad name for their fellow Northeners.

I am missing one pic of their 3rd member. But I guess its not very important now is it??

2007-10-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

2 sailing days in a row on Sat and Sun on board Katana (the new catamaran) That really made my weekend!! :D I was doing both the helming and crewing on board (as well as the rigging up and down of course). It was rather fun although more difficult compared to a single hulled boat. Since we were all still beginners, we were constantly being supervised by Alice and Campbell. Wanted to ask Scott if he could crew with us on sun but he was overseas:( oh well..............

Thats my post for both sat n sun :) Go figure out what it means.........if u wanna.....lol :D

2007-10-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

3 eventful days in a row last week, so i'll juz blog them all at one go ;)

Friday
Class ended at 8pm on friday so I had to quickly rush out of campus after dismissal to get a cab to MYSG for dinner. Apparently, Chisato was back in Singapore for 4 days so unc Paul decided to throw her a dinner. It was so good to see her!! The last time I talked to her was like........6 years ago?? She has a son now with her Indonesian husband and apparently, she is not allowed to speak Japanese to him coz her mother-in-law wouldn't let her. What a tyrant. So basically those at the dinner are as usual Nat, Mel, Tiff, Unc Paul and me.......Chisato and her son Liew (I think its spelt that way) as well as Tomoko and Lica. We had such a pleasant time together :D

grp shots with Chisato and lil Lica

Liew

random shots and more group shots :)

Saturday
Went for lunch with unc Paul, Nat, Mel and Tiff at River Valley. Got some junky tit bits at nearby 7-11 after that before dropping Mel off at Kim somethin road coz she was givin this 19 year old girl PAID tuition on English Literature.....which was why she couldn't join us for wakeboardin :( How sad. Anyway after all that, we got lost........how nice. But we still made it to the club on time. Our skipper and boat were already waitin for us so we wasted no time in changin and jumpin on board before driving out to sea. Wakeboardin was terrific. We did it for 3 hours only this time though but we still learnt a lot. I finally could board smoothly on heelside and toeside without hesitating or falling and even learnt how to jump!! Unfortunately, my camera like went crazy after a while so the only possible shot that I could get out of this outing is of me (coz I was the first person to wakeboard). Had dinner after that at this amazing German restaurant called Werner's Oven. Their cheese sausage with sauerkraut and mash was so good and their kale was so substantial while their weissbier was simply refreshing. Yes I know I love food a lot.........but thats juz me ;)

Sunday
Did the usual in the morn. Breakfast with me family and visitin my grandma and grandaunt. Went to the sailin club a lil earlier in the afternoon after that coz unc Kok Hwa was crewin for Scott on that day as there was an ambassador's cup catamaran race. The stupid club was idiotically packed that day coz of the event so I had to rent a locker to put my stuff inside. How pinching. Anyway, me n my dad took out a Laser and Laser Pico respectively to sail since the wind was good and bcoz we wanted to see if we could catch a glimpse of the catamaran race out at sea. My dad went out all the way to Pulau Ubin while I sailed along the shipping channel between Loyang and Changi beach. The wind was good at first but it got really erratic after that, so it was almost impossible for me to return to shore coz everytime I was nearin it, the wind would change and blow me away. I was sooooo pissed. Oh. Plus when I returned to shore, I cut myself on Katana's wires and ended up christening this brand new catamaran with my blood.........how nice. Thankfully, unc Kok Hwa came in second in the race. The winner was James. This really pro and olympic standard sailor. But second was good enough for all of us, especially since its unc Kok Hwa's first time crewing on a catamaran. He wants me to be his helmsman in the future. I can hardly wait :D

the club after the race........I think loads of sailors were congregating at the main building coz there was free booze there . Of course I wouldn't let such a golden chance fly by me so I got myself a margarita before leaving

2007-10-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

The third continuation people......I will TRY to post the final one as soon as I can :)

Day 13: UK

Ahh.............Back in London. How refreshing. It was a cold morning which was really nice coz I was startin to get really cross with Spain's extremely sunny weather. I think too much heat had gone into my head back there. Anyway, we went to LSE coz Grace had some appointment there before walkin to Primarks at Oxford Street for some cheap buys. There were loads of really nice and affordable clothes and accessories there. The amazing thing is that they all come from rather respectable soundin brands such as 'Cedarwood State', are of good quality and are cheaper than Giordano or Bossini in S'pore. I couldn't really spend much time there though coz I had a sour stomach and needed to grab a bite a.s.a.p. So we left and headed to Chinatown for some crispy noodles before walkin back to LSE (which is at Holborn) to check out Grace's medical screening. After everything was settled, we walked back to Passfield for a quick rest before makin our way to the British Musuem which was juz like 1 street away?? It was closin by the time we got there so we juz browsed around its souvenir shop before goin to Trafalgar Square. The musuem has an extremely interesting ceiling, so I made sure I snapped a few pics of it before I left ;) Trafalgar Square was not as lovely or clean as I thought it would be but it was good enough for me, so I juz walked about snappin pics here and there. There were some I think middle or high school teens that kept waving to someone from their bus. And I was so stupidly blur that it took me like a couple of mins to realise that they were actually wavin at me. For what reason?? That one I don't know. But they seemed to be quite a nice lot, smilin and wavin and givin me the thumbs up and stuff. Unfortunately, I was so stunned that I juz turned my back on them. Quite a rude gesture from my part come to think about it, but I was juz so unamused back then. After everything was done, we decided to visit the famous Hare & Tortoise at the Brunswick which is just opposite Russell Square station, for dinner. Its this little eatery sellin Malaysian, Singaporean and contemporary Japanese food and it was always so crowded durin lunch and dinner time that even an hour of waitin wouldn't get you in there. And that was exactly what happenned to us. So after half an hour of waitin outside in the cold, we decided to take-away instead and bring our dinner back to Passfield. I had a fabulous Penang Prawn Mee while Grace had a Curry Laksa Bee Hoon. A huge portion of delicious food for only around 5.5 pounds per dish, no wonder the eatery is so popular.

Passfield Hall's frontside and the view from our room window

the musuem's fascinating ceiling

Trafalgar Square and a light show event

Trafalgar's surroundings

the Brunswick. This interesting mixed development complex juz opposite Russell Square station.

Day 14: UK

Went to the British Musuem first thing in the mornin (after breakfast of course) and saw the free exhibitions and write-ups on Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Pre-Roman Italy. It was so interesting. I could spend the whole day there actually if I wasn't so pressed for time. Gave the Egyptian one a miss though coz I never really favoured Ancient Egypt as I always viewed them as rather creepy. Took bus 168 bound for Hampstead Heath to Primarks coz we were all a lil lazy to walk and did some shoppin there again. I bought these 2 really nice sweaters and a white belt for only 15.5 pounds!! That would be arnd s$46 which is a steal considering their brandin, quality and design. I juz love the products there coz they are so cheap and yet so good!! There were like these shower creams for sale for only 1 pound ( arnd s$ 2.9) and their names juz make them sound so crisp and divine (I wouldn't buy them though coz they sound a lil too feminine to me but oh still so nice names). Lilac Crush, Pink Sorbet and Coconut. I was really impressed at the way the names make them sound so captivating except Coconut which sounded rather plain, I would have gone for the name Coconut Cream or Coconut Butter instead. If only they had like an Ocean Blue Sorbet, that one i'll buy :) Went to Pret a manger aft that to grab some takeaway food to bring to the nearby Hyde Park for a nice lunch by the lake. It was a great day!! Strong winds, dark skies, a cold air temperature and sprays of light, fine rain every now and there. The perfect London weather. Not like my first day in London from Singapore where I almost died because of the stupid heat!! It was to Buckingham Palace after lunch. Not much to see there but still interesting. There was this group of German university students there whom were so noisy that I was openly annoyed with them. That was until one of them approached me and asked if I could take a pic of them. I grudgingly agreed and stood up. There were so many of them that I almost fell backwards trying to include all of them in the pic (I was standin on elevated ground with my back towards the stairway which was goin down). After a few pics were taken, all of them thanked me and started clappin and cheerin for me. Weird but a nice gesture I guess. Thats when I realised that they r actually a really nice bunch of ppl who happened to just be a bit too noisy. Sigh........I guess I have to be a lil less judgemental in the future. Anyway, after all that, we made our way by the Tube from Hyde Park Corner to Notting Hill to visit the Portobello Market. But it was closed . So we juz strolled around and took in the sights of this lil classy London district before buyin some dark chocolates at Tesco and some cutleries and plates at the Woolsworth nearby. It was a mad rush back to Russell Square aft that coz we wanted to go back to the Hare & Tortoise for dinner and we were dying to beat the dinner crowd. I ran ahead and guess what?? I made it!! :D I felt so fulfilled. It was to Waitrose aft din to buy some cream and strawberries followed by Russell Square's Tesco Express for this really cheap choc cake. We were plannin to make this really great dessert that we learned from Aunt Alison. A simple choc cake or roll doused with thick fresh cream and littered on top with fresh English strawberries, simply orgasmic. The Tesco cake tasted bad though. It was really sweet and had a rough texture. But I wasn't surprised coz it was not exactly small and was topped with frosting and choc curls for only 1.82 pounds. Obviously quality had been compromised.

aww............so Londonish

The British Musuem, exterior and exhibits

the gardens adjoining to Hyde Park

Hyde Park and its lake

me at Hyde Park. It was a very windy day

some questionable vegetarian sushi for lunch at the park. Followed by this yummy hoisin duck wrap which i didn't take a pic of :(

Buckingham Palace and the marchin of the guards

Notting Hill

an interesting way of display innit?? At some pizza joint in Notting Hill

Hare & Tortoise interior

Day 15- UK

Today was one of the more relaxin days.......Basically went back to Aunt Alison's house at Claygate to pick up the stuff that we left behind. We first made our way to London Waterloo as usual and bought 2 day tickets. One for unlimited rides from Claygate to any London terminals and one for unlimited rides from any London terminals to Claygate. After we bought the tickets, we realised that the next train that stops at Claygate leaves in 2 minutes and is at Platform 3. We were at platform 10 or somethin so I was like RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had to cross 7 platforms in like 1 1/2 mins!! We made it though without breakin a single sweat even though I was wearin a jacket coz the weather was so cold and dry. Sigh........why can't we have such nice weather in S'pore?? Bad luck I guess. So anyway, we boarded the South-West train which was terminating at Guildford. Claygate was one of its stops though along with a few others like Clapham Junction, Hinchley Wood, Surbiton , Effingham Junction and London Road. So Peter was at home and helped us with the packing when we arrived which was greatly appreciated. We gave him our gifts after that includin a wallet that aunt Rose and Grace got for Phillipa as a belated bday gift from the Champs-Elysees, a blue picasso scarf from Barcelona for aunt Alison and a stack of assorted canned terrines that I got for the family from the village behind the Sacre Coeur in Paris. We left aft that and made our way back to the station. While waitin for our train, I decided to take a quick detour to the nearby Sommerfields to buy this Lyon's Chocolate Swiss Roll which we were goin to have for dessert tonight and a Mars muffin, which I wolfed down in the train on my way back to London. In London, we went back to Passfield and dumped our stuff before takin the Tube to Camden Town. It was quite a horrid place from my point of view. Interesting but horrid. It contains shops like those found in Far East Plaza which are spread out on a seemingly former industrial wasteland settlement filled with loads of people who either look like thugs, goths, voodoists or secret society members. Now I know why Andy said that it was shit. Its like the total reverse of Surrey in the worst possible way. After constantly being on guard and visiting its many street markets which are interesting although it still gives me the creeps, we went back to Passfield for a simple dinner. Instant Korean U-dong with some minced pork and veggies cooked in the dorm's kitchen and a dessert of chocolate roll topped with fresh strawberries and smouldered in double cream. How heartwarming :D

Camden Town and Camden Market *shudder*

me lookin retarded :p

dessert's rundown:

cake- Lyon's Chocolate Roll (pre-packaged) from Sommerfields

strawberries- fresh English strawberries from Waitrose

cream- reduced fat double cream from Sainsbury

Of course it wasn't as good as aunt Alison's one. But she got her chocolate roll fresh from a baker at Weybridge!! But it was delicious enough though. The cake was dry but cocoa-ish and the buttercream inside was excellent. Rich, oily, smooth and sweet . Everything buttercream should be ;)

Day 16: UK

I was so desperate to see the sea that we booked 3 tickets online the night before to go to Brighton (yes I know that I saw the sea less than a week ago in Spain but I wanted to see it again!!) Anyway, we woke up at 6.45am to catch the Tube from Russell Square to London Victoria where we boarded the 9am bus bound for Pool Valley station in Brighton. This cute (but a lil nerdy) university girl sat next to me in the bus and soon, she was fast asleep. I wouldn't really complain if not for the fact that after a while, she was leaning so much to my side that her head was pressing me right below the shoulder. It was a really heavy head too and the sunlight that was shining in reflected on her blonde hair and went straight to my face. It was a royally awkward and a tad annoying situation. After a while, I was like 'Ok I know she is cute and I don't want her to have a bad impression of me, but if she doesn't get her head off my arm on the count of 10, then I will do it for her' Thankfully, the bus hit a bump at that moment and she woke up, moving her head in the process of course :) 2 hours later, we were in Brighton and 10 mins aft that, we were at Pool Valley station, our stop. Went straight to the beach coz it was like juz a street away (yeah I know many good things are juz a street away durin my trip lol) and walked towards Brighton pier. The pier was interesting, it contained loads of stands and stalls selling ice cream, confectionary and seafood and a huge room which contains an arcade, a jackpot corner and the toilets. We walked along the beach after that and I wandered off in front to do some exploring while the other 2 lazed behind. The beach is an interesting one coz its a pebbly beach unlike the common sandy one. This means free acupressure everytime you lie down and no need whatsoever to brush off any sand bits on your body when u get up after that (coz there is no sand) We spent almost the whole morn and afternoon on the beach except for an hour or 2 when we wandered into the shopping streets further inland. There is this really amazing shop there that creates all types of chocolate artwork and confections such as massive rocky roads and solid chocolate ballet shoes. Lunch was a very Brighton fish n chips by the sea as usual comprising of freah haddock soaked in batter and deep fried, thick chunks of homemade fries and mushy peas sprinkled with salt and malt vinegar. After lazin arnd and explorin the beach some more, we took the 4.30 bus back to London. The evening back at Passfield wasn't so good. Lets just say we were cooking in the dorm's kitchen again when the fire alarm went off. It was really noisy and blared through the entire building. Everyone started running out and many emergency switches were activated so u have stuff like the rollers coming down automatically at the reception area and so on. Worse still, I thought it was us who triggered it (and a few others). The fire brigade came and so did the police makin loads of noise as they whisked in. It was juz so nerve wreaking. I was like 'Uh oh........we are in serious trouble' I know it sounds trivial but it was a major MAJOR scare for me. When we left the building and made it through the courtyard towards the main entrance of Passfield, we found swarms of people from Passfield outside. One guy was even in a singlet. Thank goodness it wasn't us who triggered the alarm but some girl on the 3rd floor who burnt somethin and started fanning it. Whew!!

an ad for London Ink. A British version of Miami Ink perhaps??

the gorgeous English countryside south of London

Brighton's Pool Valley

morning on the beach and pier

sail boats!! Can I take one out??

beach chairs. Sit on one and risk paying I dn't knw 5 pounds perhaps??

interesting...................

what?? I was sleepy. Too much sun.........again

further inland, Brighton's shopping streets

afternoon on the beach

some cool beach attraction thingy

me lunch

seabirds on the coast

seaBIRD on the coast. How..........cute. As in ugly but adorable cute. More of the ugly actually. Blee............

Brighton beach........what a nice place. I wanted to do some wakeboardin but i forgot to bring my boardshorts :(

sailboats at sea in the horizon. Beautiful isn't it??

2007-10-15T01:27:00.000-07:00

The second continuation everyone. I know its a bit late but I was a lil busy recently. Enjoy!! :)

Day 8: France-Spain

We left our hostel extremely early in the morning to make our way to the airport. It was an uncomfortable scenario because it was so dark and cold. Plus my luggage was super heavy. There are no escalators in the Parisian metro so we had to carry up and down all our baggages which weren't exactly light. Sigh. Anyway, after takin the metro to some train station, we hopped onto this shuttle bus bound for Orly airport where we took an easyjet flight to Barcelona. It was an hour plus flight I think. Upon reachin Barcelona, I looked out of the window and saw the arial view of this seaside city. It was so cool. I couldn't stop thinking of sun, fun and loads of fiestas!! After we left the airport, we took this train (where pickpocketers unzipped my bag, thank goodness they didn't take anything coz all my valuables were safely tucked in my pocket) to I think Sants Estacio, we changed to a metro to Lesseps, where our dorm was. The Barcelona metro was surprisingly clean and modern compared to the tube in London and the metro in Paris. When we reached Lesseps, we were shocked to realise that our dorm was under renovation. We thought that we have been cheated of our money. It turned out that they had built an annex behind the original building. After checking-in and settling down, we had this really incredible (and cheap) Spanish dinner at this cafe near our dorm. We took the metro again after that to Passeig de Gracia to take in the sights of the city before headin back to our dorm for the night.

leavin Paris early in the mornin. The sun had not even risen yet :(

arial view of Barcelona's beachside district

our dorm's entrance. Stupid thing was tucked away so we had a difficult time finding it

Lesseps

our fantastic Spanish dinner. Paella Valencia, spanish style tortellini with cream, salt cod with fries and grilled cuttlefish with fries :D

Casa Batllo at Passeig de Gracia

Passeig de Gracia. Apparently we saw a huge poster somewhere of Monica and Penelope Cruz modelling for Mango

see how clean, modern and spacious Barcelona's metro is (just above) compared to the London Tube( top photo) and the Parisian metro (middle photo).

Day 9: Spain

Had this to-die-for Spanish breakfast at this lil eatery near our dorm juz one street away. Went back to wash up before takin the metro to I think Liceu, or was it Drassanes before walkin to La Rambla where we took this really hard to find open top bus for a tour around the city. We saw many great sights like the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona FC and Casa Mila and made mental notes on which sights we will be visiting tommorow. During our journey, this inquisitive Spanish family came out to their balcony and started waving at us. It was an adorable gesture so we just smiled and waved back although it pained us as all of us were slowly being grilled by the harsh Spanish sun (face was sunburnt, so it was difficult to smile). We got off at this quaint village after that which was on some highland and did some window shopping and architecture admiring before tucking in to a sumptous lunch consisting of Catalonian bread, chorizo paella and deep fried octopus!! It was just amazing. We also went to this hill-top 'palace' which was right next to the village after that to check it out. It turned out to be an art centre with an great view of the city. We took the bus again back to La Rambla which passed by the beach and marina which was fantastic. I made a mental note to visit it a.s.a.p. After coming back to La Rambla, I made a quick visit to some subtropical-like cathedral when I passed by this busker who was playing the guitar so well that I bought his Spanish Rumba cd for 10 euros. Just before we returned to the dorm a couple of hours later, we stopped by this minimart to buy some bottled water. Apparently they were also selling cheap tetra-packed wines. Sigh..........I felt like juz takin one pack of red wine and makin a Sangria for myself :(

a Spanish breakfast....coffee, chocolate filled croissant (the spanish ones are more moist and sticky), apple muffin and a fuet sausage sandwich

the marketplace at La Rambla with loads of sweets on display. The sweets there are about 2 1/2 times bigger than the ones in Singapore

the main square of the village.....with a Mexican flag hung on one building.....how odd

modern art on display in the village

leather belt maker in the village

the village's various courtyards and winding streets

lunch!!

the 'palace'. Thats me in the last pic:)

Barcelona skyline from the hill top

the art centre's interior

passing by the beach vicinity and marinas

recognise this brand?? Its at Vivo!! They don't have this particular product for sale though in Singapore ;)

the resort-like cathedral with ducks in the courtyard

tetra pack wines!! Sangria anyone?? I can make a really good one......I think lol

Day 10: Spain

Went to Casa Batllo in the morning. Its architecture inside and outside was simply divine to the eyes. Goudi is now officially my top inspirer......for now. We passed by his Casa Mila after that but it was so crowded so we gave it a miss for the day. Took the bus again to the Sagrada Familia and did a little prayer there (with loads of photo-taking) before rushing off in the nearest metro to Glories to see its bazaar. The bazaar was closed on that day though, how sad. So we made our way back to Lesseps before walkin to our last sight for the day which was Park Guell which had a great view of the sea in the distant horizon. Dinner was at this Palestinian restaurant at some street recommended by this Japanese lady who has been stayin in Spain for 20 years which was conveniently just almost across the street from our dorm.

Casa Batllo.........inside, outside, topside etc. Along with a McDonald poster of it

the breath-taking interior and exterior of the Sagrada Familia

Torre Agbar at Glories

the view of the sea in the horizon from the upper platform of Park Guell

interesting works and goudi's house- Park Guell

front facade and stairs- Park Guell

some of our Palestinian dinner's dishes. Bread with hummus and cheese and falafel with fries and loads of relishes and dips

Day 11: Spain

Yay!! I finally made it to the beach!! We took the metro from Lesseps to Barceloneta with this Italian couple before walkin to the Platja de la Barceloneta. We basically spent half a day there juz chillin out and tanning before headin back to Glories for its bazaar. Thank goodness it was open. We browsed around before headin to Passeig de Gracia, Catalunya and La Rambla for some shopping. I finally found Clockhouse!! I have been searching high and low for it since I flew in from Paris. I knew that it was here somewhere coz on my first day in Spain, I saw this man carrying its bag. Since these 3 shopping districts are only a few stops away from Lesseps by metro, I figured that Clockhouse must be somewhere around there. And I was so right!! Whopee!!

the wonderful beach!! It stretches for miles and miles..........

Day 12: Spain- UK

It was our last day in Spain. We basically went to Goudi's Casa Mila (La Pedrera). It was mind-blowing!! After a long time inside, we made our way to the 3 shopping districts again to look around and some stuff. I went straight to Clockhouse to get some tops:) After an early dinner, we headed for I think the north station and took a coach to the airport before takin Ryan Air back to London Luton. We had such a bad experience at the airport that I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, back in London Luton, we took a chartered bus bound for London Victoria stopping at a few stops such as Marble Arch an Baker Street. It was 2am in the mornin by the time we reached London Victoria and we were constantly approached by those illegal cabbies there. Thank goodness we got into a licensed cab eventually before headin to our dorm Passfield Hall which was near Russell Square. Halfway during our journey, we passed by this place called The Dorchester which was swarming with parparazzis. I saw this blonde girl being surrounded there and figured that she was a celebrity. True enough, it was Kate Moss :D

Casa Mila. Interesting architecture and interiors ya??

2007-10-04T19:27:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone........this is the first continuation of my trip......enjoy!!:)

Day 5: France

Sigh.......we woke up extremely early and left the hostel soon after breakfast and washing up. Seeing the city so early in the morning in a cold and silent but beautiful surrounding reminded me of the song Les Matins De Paris. It was unforgettable. Since the nearest sight to us was the Monmarte, we decided to visit it first. It was a nice place with a good view of the Parisian cityscape surrounded by a quaint village on the hill top. The only problem was that there were loads of Africans at the entrance of the Monmarte and they constantly stopped and harassed everyone to 'help' them with some of their artwork which actually looked like black magic strings. If you try to walk pass and ignore them, they will grab you by the arm and tie their strings around it. Say 'No' to them and they will say 'No, no you must do it!!' What a pain in the neck. Anyway, after touring the Monmarte, it was to Les Halles coz Grace wanted to do some shopping. Near the Les Halles was the Pompidou Centre. An interesting place although I didn't spend much time there due to time constraints. After shopping at Les Halles, it was time to visit the Notre Dame, our last sight for the day.

les matins de Paris.....me chuchote en secret.............

Monmarte's village

Monmarte, along with its surroundings and the cityscape seen from it

The Pompidou Centre

Les Halles

the surroundings of Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Day 6: France

Went to the Monmarte again this morning to buy some knick knacks and canned terrines. All of us were approached by those Africans again but mafia aunt Rose who happened to be fed up by the way just stepped in front and blew them off. Basically it was just major sightseeing for the day. We visited the Opera House, the Louvre Musuem and the Eiffel Tower which all turned out to be so awesome. Although it was my second time in Paris, I still felt as amazed as ever. The Eiffel Tower was the most interesting sight coz there were loads of rugby fans dressed in kilts there and doing all sorts of funny actions (France was chosen for the rugby cup 2007). There were so many of them that the special forces were called in lest a major fight erupts. Those fans seemed to be the perfect people to be labelled as thugs. However, most of them were actually quite friendly. They chatted with passer-bys, helped the elderly nearby with some stuff and started singing and dancing when the bus that I was on passed by them. I even have a video of them on my camera...........somethin which not only did they not mind, but loved. They started jumpin and holdin up their beer bottles and so on when they realised that they were being filmed. It was such an interesting sight. Unfortunately, I can't put up the video of them on my post due to some difficulties. But if u want me to show it to you, I will be happy to:) After this lil Eiffel scene, it was to the Galerie Lafayette where I discovered this really amazing clothing brand called Clockhouse nearby. After everything was done, it was back to Anvers.

The Opera House, inside and outside

The Louvre

The Eiffel Tower

rugby fans on the street near the tower

special forces called in

some nice building (i forgot its name) lol

inside the Galerie Lafayette

Day 7: France

We went to the Monmarte........again. Coz aunt Rose wanted to get a painting in the village there. Thank goodness those Africans weren't there (we came extremely early so they were prob still sleepin durin that time) We then boarded the Metro from Anvers to a place which I think was called Petit Pont. Durin our journey, this 14-15 year old kid whom I think was Italian came onto the carriage that I was in, turned on this giant radio that he was carrying, and started rappin and doin some hip hop moves and stunts. It was very professional but pitiful because everyone knew that he was doin it for money. He was not the only one, when he got off at some station that was a couple of stops away from Petit Pont, there were a whole group of them there. All around the same age. Apparently, this is their way of busking. Its a pretty cool move though. Anyway, after we got off the Metro at Petit Pont and walked to some bus pick-up point, we boarded the bus on the Orange route (Montparnasse route) to the Luxembourg Gardens which was so damn hot that I was almost reduced to a roasted pig. The damn bus took so long to come back aft that to pick us up to some other sights so we decided to head back to Petit Pont to have a nice and relaxing french lunch instead. We went to a few other places to shop after that before goin back to the Champs-Elysees for one last long Parisian stroll to commemorate our last day in Paris (we were leavin for Barcelona the next day) before rushing back to Porte de Choisy to meet up with aunt Pauline for a fantastic Cambodian dinner!!:)

procession at the Champs-Elysees

some fountain cut into a row of buildings near Petit Pont

the Luxembourg Gardens

2007-09-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Ok, here are the first 4 days of my trip. I'll post the rest soon :) I'll try to upload some videos too if I can.

Day 1: Singapore -UK

After a 14 hour flight aboard British Airway's World Traveller (economy) class, I finally reached London. Yahoo!! 'Good Morning London' was the first thought that came into my head when I left Heathrow Airport. It was a cool and pleasant morning. We took this estate car (which turned out to be unlicensed *shudder*) to aunt Alison's house in Claygate, Surrey. A satellite town west of London although its within the London calling zone. After we reached the house, Peter warmed up these chocolate filled croissants and we all had a quick breakfast in the kitchen before bringing Frodo (or was it Fredo??) and Rosy for a walk in the nearby woods and countryside. It was wonderful. We were constantly flanked by blackberry bushes every now and then. I heard they taste amazing coz they r organic, wild and not to mention....free!! Haha. It sounds like a perfect Enid Blyton setting according to Melissa. Anyway, after the walk, we went back to the house and showered before walking to Claygate station to board the next train bound for London Waterloo. The day had grown so hot by then that I was sitting at the station in juz a pair of jeans n tees (had to take my jacket off or i'll melt), panting and eating elderflower ice cream. Peter was like 'Stop complaining you're from Singapore' and I was like 'Yeah. That is why I hate the heat!!' We basically visited Oxford Street and High Holborn in London where Grace had to drop some stuff at LSE before taking the next train back to Claygate for dinner. Andy and unc David weren't present coz they were driving in from Switzerland. According to aunt Alison, they were in the Champagne country (France) the last time she called them. Dinner at her place is excellent. She has a big family and usually has guests so her dining table is usually full of people.

At the dinner table:
Me_Aunt Rose_Grace_Aunt Alison_Peter_Phillipa and Graham(Phillipa's bf)

London highway

aunt Alison's house

In the countryside. Thats Peter leading the way

me coming in second ;)

woohoo........Rumpleteaser!! :D One of their cats.

blackberries....both ripe and unripe. The unripe ones kind of look like raspberries

the countryside. Thats Frodo n Rosy above

in the woods

London Waterloo

London city

if I was younger, I would have died of a heart attack

High Holborn

Day 2: UK

It was a much cooler day. Aunt Alison gave us a lift to Hampton Court Palace. There were some really great sites in there. My favourite were the Tudor Kitchens and the gardens. We missed out on the mazes though coz the palace grounds were massive. I only found that out from Andy when I got back to Claygate. Aaaahh!!!!!!!!! Anyway, after our palace tour, we took a train from Hampton Court station to Guildford to do some shopping. It was a nice place. Not my cup of tea though. Just a little clean satellite town of London with an upper-middle class population and malls as well as shopping streets everywhere. There was no bazaar that day though. How sad. After buying some artwork and an hour or 2 of window shopping, we headed to the station and took the London Waterloo bound train back to Claygate. By the time we reached aunt Alison's place, Andy and unc David were already back from France.

At the dinner table:
Me_Aunt Rose_Grace_Aunt Alison_Unc David_Peter_Andy_Phillipa and Graham

Guildford

Hampton Court Palace's 'backyard'

backgates of the palace with statue

lesser chambers of the palace

gardens of the palace

this is the hq of some club within the palace grounds. How interesting.

front view of the palace (not so amazing)

I think this used to be a moat. Now its just a huge patch of grass

me with an audio guide:)

the 'atrium'

back view of the palace (very impressive)

the palace's 'vineyard'

Hampton's wine cellar

the Tudor Kitchen and how they made their meat pies

Tudor Kitchen continued

Day 3: UK

Took the train again from Claygate to London Waterloo. Walked all the way after that from the station to Grace's church passing Westminster Abbey. The service was alright but it kind of reminded me of Trinity (my old church which I didn't like). We went to St James Park after that for lunch before walking to the Big Ben to take in its sights. Took the tube after that to Knightsbridge for a quick visit to Harrods. It was such a cool place but I was so mad coz the security guards there made me carry my backpack frontwards (standard S.O.P in case u make a wrong move and end up breaking their stuff). After a quick visit to Leon's appartment to collect sm of Grace's books, it was back to Claygate again for dinner.

At the dinner table:

Me_Aunt Rose_Grace_Aunt Alison_Unc David_Peter_Phillipa_Andy_Graham and

Christopher (Andy's friend)

Egyptian Room- Harrods

Food section- Harrods. In case u haven't noticed, that is a real shark being sold in the pic above:)

Westminster Abbey

the church I went to

cottage in St James Park

me by the Thames. Those are canoeists in the water F.Y.I

Day 4: UK-France

Oooh!! Had such a screwed up morning. I don't wish to talk much about it coz it was quite nerve-wrecking. Anyway, we left aunt Alison's place for Luton Airport to catch our flight to Paris. Apparently, there was a major jam on the highway due to some roadworks. Grrr........But at least we reached the airport in time. It was a 40 min flight from London to Paris. Took the Metro from the airport's station when we touched down to Anvers where our hostel was. It was really tiring lugging our luggages considering the fact that there were no escalators. Aaahhhh!!!!!!!!! After checkin in, we had a quick but lovely lunch at a cafe near our place before taking the bus to the Champs-Elysees. Went to the Arc de Triomphe there before taking a nice long stroll along its boulevard. Had to rush off after that though coz we had to meet aunt Pauline, Sebastian and Emily at Porte de Choisy for dinner after that. It was really nice seeing them after 4 years. Too bad unc Richard wasn't around coz he had to fly off on a business trip to the south of France.

EARLY MORNING highway jam on the way from Claygate to Luton

Avenue de Champs-Elysees

interesting isn't it?? (look closely if u don't know what im talking about)

newly installed trams at Porte de Choisy

Anvers

me at the Arc de Triomphe

La Defense as seen from the Arc de Triomphe

Cartier Paris!! How original :)

2007-09-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

Heey everyone!! I just got back from London on Friday. It was an amazing place. Well..........Europe has always fascinated me so yeah, it will always be amazing to me. I'll be blogging about my trip subsequently over the next few days. Hope its ok with you guys. And yes I know i've not put up my links yet!! Give me a bit more time!! :)

Anyway...somethin a bit more recent...it was Tiff's belated birthday dinner last night. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TIFF!! :D Basically Nat,Mel and Unc Paul were there as well as me, my mom, aunt R.E, Leng, unc Busco, aunt Jessie, Sierra and Mabel ( i think her name is Mabel lol).

We had dinner, followed by cake. Then unc Paul asked us to like use the sachet of mulled wine powder mix that I got for him from Hampton Court to make some mulled wine. It was quite a pleasant wine.....drunk warm with a dash of brandy and fruit like instructed on its packet. It tasted funny too though. Kind of like expired wine according to Nat n Mel. But its supossed to be a medieval winter drink so yeah.......I expected some comments like that lol. Although I was pretty shocked myself.

i think it was from Awfully Chocolate

Tiff, aunt Jessie, Nat and unc Busco

makin the wine!! :D

ahem.........this will be the end product. Lovely isn't it?? :)

2007-09-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Finally watched Bourne Ultimatum with Sarah and Daniel yesterday. It was a nice show, juz a tad too confusing towards the ending from my point of view though. The idiotic GV cinema in Vivo was soo packed and all their plasma screens showing the timings and stuff for their movies were down. So loads of people were queing up juz to enquire n stuff. Plus my 'pick & mix' candy was confiscated because 'no outside food are allowed' in the cinemas........how pathetic. Thankfully Sarah was smart enough to smuggle in some apple strings.

Went to Candy Empire after that and stayed there for like 1/2 hour perhaps?? All of us were so spoilt for choices that in the end, we had to like force ourselves to leave or we might actually buy down the whole shop. I got this amazing candy bar called Voodoo Bar which is basically a white chocolate cookies and cream rocky road bar, and a pack of double-coat Tim Tams.

Had to leave after our 'candy shopping' and a quick dinner coz I had to meet Pam and Grace in town to watch Ratatouille. It was such a cute show. Pam was like..............'wow I wanna go to Paris now' and I was like......'i'll be there next week ya know??'. lol :)

Anyway......I was at the sailing club again on sunday with my relatives..............as usual. There was no wind unfortunately so I juz canoed and swam. Went for a Catamaran sailors' bbq after that..........apparently all I had was a bun and some soda coz the food was like bad n stuff.

one catamaran sank coz a hole was ripped in one of its hulls.........how cute

back on land..........at least no one was hurt........can't say the same for the boat though

thats cousin Pam.....and me of course :)

2007-09-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Tiff- the best wakeboarder among all of us

Went wakeboardin today again with nat,tiff,mel,unc paul and papa. It was great!! We met at 11am for an early lunch before stocking up on snacks to bring on board the speedboat. Apparently mel bought a can of oil-soaked tuna as one of her snacks.How gross is that?? We had 4 hours of solid wakeboardin(we took turns of course) with loads of sleepin and snackin. lol. Anyway..........less words and more pics:)

unc paul

papa

grp pics

mel

nat

n me;)

2007-08-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmmm..............it was raining again today :(

Walked over to Sau's house this mornin and hung out there with him n Ying before goin for a Tim Sum lunch at CHIJMES with their grandparents and aunt Poon. They spoke so much cantonese there that I almost wanted to learn it, but its not my dialect and I feel that I should speak my dialect first before learnin another dialect. That way, it is more 'original' :)

The 3 of us took a walk at Raffles City after that and I bought this super effective anti-frizz cream that Ying was telling me about. We parted after that coz they were headin for Bugis and I needed to go down to the sailing club to meet up with Grace and unc Kok Hwa. Sarah and Daniel were supossed to come along but because of the weather and the STUPID fact that First Light's engine broke down, they decided to come some other time instead. Will bring both of u there again when im back from London I promise ;)

But oh u guys missed out sooo much!! The wind was great, at least for a while when we hit the Loyang coast, it was so strong that the boat couldn't stop tilting :D I decided to focus on trimming the main sails and Genoa today so Grace did the helming. It was sooo great!! We also had this divine banana cream swiss roll on board. That really made my day. Had dinner at Charlies after that before picking aunt Rose up at Holland V.

'Kiss Me Again', we r thinkin of buyin it if we sell off First Light

yes I know my hair sucks!! Im havin it thinned tml

on board First Light, as u can see, the boat couldn't stop tiltin today :)

this is so cute, its Charlies way of servin iced drinks. Their ice is actually pre-frozen in their glasses

foolin with napkins after lunch. Sau made a tuxedo collar.................

..............and Ying made a bra. lmao

2007-08-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

rain rain go away

come again another day

You're pissing me off again

rain rain go away

How do you like my version of the song?? Hmm..........let me see why is the rain which is actually my kinda weather pissing me off.

Bcoz of the rain, it was extremely difficult for me to leave my house this morning, and even more difficult for Sarah and Daniel to do so since they live so far away from town. We were supossed to meet at either Orchard or Dhoby Ghaut and watch the Bourne Ultimatum after that and stuff. But because of the rain, we had to cancel everything.

Hopefully it doesnt rain for the next couple days coz im like packed with loads of activities that I wanna do before I leave for London. And I can't afford ANYMORE cancellations!!

2007-08-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Woke up like freakin early this morning to rush to the immigration centre at Lavender to register for a new passport. Its mon today btw. Stupid post is somehow dated as Sunday.

Was at the sailing club again yesterday (its a ritual). However, the idiotic engine on First Light broke down so we couldn't bring the boat out for a spin. And there wasn't much wind so we couldn't have an 'engine-free' sailing. So.....in the end, unc Kok Hwa told me to bring David out for a spin on a Laser. I used a Laser Pico though coz a Laser would be too small for the both of us. Anyway, after a few seconds of blissful sailing, the wind like died on us. So I had to constantly turn back so we wouldn't like drift into the shipping channel and get like run over by some ferry or tanker. OK.............So we were slow, with not much wind, so the boat couldn't drain fast enough. While 'inching' back to shore, I realised that we were kind of sinking (coz both of us aren't exactly light). That really kicked me off. In the end, we were quite desperate to reach shore so david started paddling with his hand(not much help) and I started blowing on the sails(even less help), I even suggested tying the boat's rope to david and making him swim to shore to quicken up the half-sunken Laser Pico's pace. Its like the worst sailing day i've ever had so far. Hopefully the engine on First Light functions on thurs when im bringin Sarah and Daniel out.

Anyway.........had a nice bbq dinner after the idiotic sailing saga and some swimming.

Leng, Amelia, Pamela, Me(face half blocked) and David

Unc William( almost completely blocked), David again, Unc Kah Soon, my dad and in the foreground, Unc Kok Hwa's butt. lol

freshly harvested mussels from the jetty grilling......smells good. But too bad I don't eat mussels

how 'free- range' mussels look like and their cleaning process

oh I love this toy!! Its unc Kah Soon's ItBike, a kind of water bicycle. The boat on the far right in the background is First Light.

ahh........a nice sunset

me, cousin Pam and Angela

2007-08-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

Finished my last exam on 'Agency Practices & Real Estate Marketing' yesterday. Whew!! Now im free. Had a late lunch with Sarah-Ann and Daniel at My Secret Garden after that. Apparently we tried this new mocktail that was made of lime juice and watermelon syrup poured into a glass with its rim coated with salt. It was really interesting. And Sarah couldn't stop saying how happy she was because her steak tasted so good and coz she had her triple choc cake and 'Berry In Love' for dessert. Apparently good food makes her happy.........sigh.........the pleasure of being easily pleased is such a bliss. How I wish I was like that.

We went to VivoCity after that to like hang out and do some window shopping on books and clothes before watching Hairspray. It was fantastic!! Although the promotional poster looks a little crummy, it was a great show. Very.........'inspiring' :D . Had dinner at Marche after that.

2007-08-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Went wakeboarding with Nat, Tiff n Papa on tues for 4 hours straight.........It was great. My legs are aching badly now though.

Sigh...........I've got to..........

-study harder

-gym more

-pick up a new skill

-read up on Barcelona

-crew more with Michael and the rest on Catamarans

-sail more

-do more wakeboardin and water-skiing

-hang out more a.s.a.p with Ying n Sau (half siblings)

-binge eat less

-buy some new clothes

-meet up with Sarah-Ann

ETC

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh..................................I feel so STUCK!! MY LIFE ISN'T MOVING IN ANY DAMN DIRECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I still haven't finished my RER project. Presentation is tommorow and yet some groupmates have not given me their parts. One of them is even uncontactable.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

2007-07-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, if anyone of you ever reads this.........Please note that my life is far from perfect, or happy, or comfy, or whatever you guys make it out to be. Please stop chiding me all the time for being ungrateful or cold. Please stop comparing me with the others all the time. Please stop thinking im truly happy or positive because its the thought of how i'll be leaving it all behind soon thats keeping me going. And please stop showering me with smoked glares, feighed ignorance (I ain't exactly chopped liver) and sharp tones, I can't exactly swallow them much longer.

On second thought, don't bother trying. Its not like you're capable of it anyway. Im leaving for a better place when the time comes. Thats whats keeping me smiling.

2007-06-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

hey to whoever out there reading this. I felt xanga was too stifling so im startin a blogspot accnt instead. Nobody knows abt it...........yet. But if u r readin this now, then well, good for you. Yeah , like whatever