With a flick of the fingers, it's coming to the start of a new year! How time flies.. Let us leave all the bad memories of 2007 behind and welcome the fresh new year with open arms! It's definitely gonna be a great year (okay that is what I say every year but it hasn't been proven accurate yet). And my new year resolutions are:
-more and i mean more travelling experiences before school starts
-everyone to be in good health and stay happy
-get in touch with all the long lost friends
-find that soulmate
-get a furry friend
Alright, and before I forget! My mantra for the new year: Say yes to any dates. Unless the guys have obvious drug problems or look completely brain dead at first glance. No-no to those. And that's the way, take it slow..

The last few days of this year are really eventful prolly because of the festive season. Christmas day saw me and the primary school friend at Night Safari. I was astounded to find out that the entrance fee increased by 4 bucks, totalling to 32 bucks with the tram ride. Despite the unreasonable price of the ticket and the 'camouflaged' animals in the dark, I had a great time nevertheless. Love it when the tram moved a little faster and cool fresh wind brushed past the hair, love the stillness of the night, love looking at animals' eyes which bore right into mine, and for the company. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the x'mas present and will organise a gathering real soon. I miss Qifa-ians! Oh and, stupid stupid me wore shorts and brushed against some harmless-looking plants with hooks that caused a big patch of super itchy rash at the back of my thigh. It's getting more itchy by the day.

Because of this little handicap (I wouldn't even consider it as a handicap, they're just afraid that they will get my rash), the trio didn't allow me into the kitchen on Friday when we were supposed to be cooking sushi for dinner. So I only helped out with cooking rice and noodles, cutting seaweed into slices, slicing sushi, peeling potatoes, washing dishes and all the teeny weeny stuff. And tadah..

It's a huge spread! The teriyaki chicken and salmon were delicious - compliments to the main chef Nix. But we were too bloated by then to enjoy the food properly. Thereafter, we played mahjong all through the night and by 7am, I lost about $10.50. But luckily we decided against playing with real notes. Good for me! (: During the evening, my family including future sis-in-law, Jiafeng went to Harbourfront to attend the wedding of my cousin Stanley and cousin-in-law, Kelly. Okay, and I shall cut some talking!
With the pretty bride..

the cousins




and part of the family.
May your marriage be blissful and happy. (:





Greetings to all! First off, a very Merry Christmas to my family and all the friends out there and of course, also to you guys who are reading my blog right now if you don't consider yourself my friend. =X And now, I'm gonna provide some inputs for 2 movies so you can have a better idea of which movie to watch. Don't waste that penny.

Alvin and the Chipmunks - they are so cute and so so silly. I see some of myself in them. Haha! It is basically about 3 chipmunks which are able to sing and talk and how each of them are cute in their own little chipmunk ways. Love love love Theodore. For those who love chipmunks and happy endings.
I Am Legend - I thought it was some LOTR league kinda show initially but no. It is a sci-fi horror film that shows how humans turn into blood-thirsty vampires after this scientist thought she'd found a 100% cure for cancer. This cure had a disastrous effect on humans and lucky for the few who are immune to it. The built-up tension for this movie is just too much, so much so I got tired from being tensed all the time. And I found out that I was screaming together with Will Smith after everything suddenly turned quiet and only my voice prevailed. For those who love jumping in your own seats and thrills.

After reading my movie reviews, I don't think it is informative enough. But anyway, it's up to your discretion! Have a happy christmas everyone~ Do the sleigh bells thing. And.. the first person I see on christmas day (:





I'm feeling the ache for you but stay happy, my friend. (:





Day 3 - 15th Dec
We wore the same top on the last day we were at Pattaya, how coincidental! <3 And our 3 hours' journey to Bangkok began.

Our hotel this time, CK Thai Bali Suite was located at a remote place which required around 10 - 15 minutes walk from the main road. Our room looked scary and it was really freaky, I will tell you why in a bit.



After some map reading, we realised that our hotel was a little inaccessible to all the places that we wanted to go. But that didn't get us down. We walked out to the skytrain station and I was so so surprised that they were still utilising the farecard system that Singapore had once adopted a long long time ago. They are falling behind times! Thereafter, we went shopping a little at MBK and I felt that the apparels there were a little expensive. We had a super cheap Japanese lunch and I was quite satisfied with my tempura. Anyway, we headed for Platinum Shopping Mall after lunch via taxi (air-conditioned) and kudos, the fare was cheaper compared to the crowded train! But still, transportation is expensive and totally crazy there. The drivers out there have my utmost respect because it takes a hell load of guts to drive around in Bangkok. The traffic is just crazy - how the cars change lanes without any warnings and lots and lots of tailgating but no accidents (i was half expecting a domino-effect kinda accident but much to my disappointment). Taking a taxi during a traffic congestion is just like taking a roller coaster ride. I'm glad we didn't spend any monies on theme parks.

We went into a shopping frenzy at the Platinum. There were about 5 levels of shops selling a wide range of apparels and accessories. We gave ourselves an hour to comb each floor but after what seemed like 3 hours, we were still at that same level where we first started. And it was just purely shopping until nightfall. The guys got hungry after hours of carrying shopping bags, so much so that they stopped beside a roadside stall and bought 2 sticks of satay-looking like thingy. Chris tried one of them and said it was the tongue of some animal whilst Nix puked out the other. Extreme gourmet! We had dinner at A&W and then retreated to our scary looking hotel. And the stuff that I bought on our first day of shopping..

Day 4 - 16th Dec
Rise and shine! It was another day at the Platinum and I totally lost it. There were so much stuff left to buy for the others back in Singapore and it was just crazy. I got quite stressed up and I sweared never again to ask what others want before I take off next time. =X After Platinum, we went to Chinatown to shop for some dried food and we had shark's fins plus bird's nest soup at this Chinese restaurant. My first time to trying bird's nest and I felt quite guilty for both the bird and the shark.. Chris bird's nest had blood in it. That was just gross! We headed to Suan Lum Night Bazaar and the rest of them were gonna help me get my last minute shopping done since they had already bought all the stuff that they needed. But before we started walking again, our legs were screaming sore. So..



Foot massage! Yes! It was heavenly but a little painful at some parts of my feet when my masseur was pressing it. I'm not a very healthy kid afterall. The masseurs were all quite cute and they provided really good service although the 4 of us had some communication problems with them. After the massage, we were all ready to go for some crazy shopping again! I think we shopped until it was around 11pm when the other 2 went missing. But when Chris looked really tired I thought it was time for me to stop. Yes, I could've gone on and on. After meeting each other again, we took a taxi and went to 7-11 to get some microwaved food for our dinner/supper, ate together and watched dawn of the dead together. I love it. Not the show, but the company. If you were to offer a million dollars to get one of these friends from me, fat chance okay. Even a billion dollars won't make me sway. But if you manage to pluck a star from the sky for me, I will gladly perform an exchange. (:

As you can see, the amount of stuff I bought for the second day was horrid. I was at a loss at how I should squeeze everything into the luggage what with so many new bags. Just when my head was throbbing of fatigue, nice nice Chris offered to help. So we got down to work and were making some progress at around 1+am when the room blacked out all of sudden. -total silence- It was freaking scary as we hurried over to the key and began slotting it in and out of the card reader. After the lights came back on and after all the packing, I got superglued to the teevee for a while, then listened to some noises for some time and finally fell asleep.

Day 5 - 17th Dec
We got up at 5.30am, I had barely 3 hours of sleep and all of us sleepyheads were in the taxi to Suvarnabhumi airport once again. Amidst the palm trees plantation and the clear blue sky, I felt so alive and was really glad that I have met these happiness pills somehow. Upon arrival at the budget terminal, bro wanted me to buy some alcohol (each person is entitled to 1 beer, 1 whiskey and 1 wine). And since Qi and Chris weren't planning to buy any, bro asked me to use their passports and get more. So I did.

Well, I got reprimanded when they saw me with all these alcohol cos' the prices amounted to $546. Thought they didn't have a budget. =X I began packing up my wardrobe for the whole afternoon instead of catching some rest and donated tons of stuff to the Salvation Army at night. The feeling of giving and knowing that someone might smile at the sight of receiving the stuff that you once possessed is overwhelming! And there's more to come.. I sat a roller coaster ride home.

Tuesday - 18th Dec
The trio and I decided to meet up to have dinner as Nix was craving for the seafood buffet at Swissotel Merchant Court. We decided to play pool at Clementi first but only managed to play 2 rounds cos' Chris was late~ And then to Swissotel! The raw fish was pure bliss although I can't understand why the 3 of them got a little crazy over the durian paste. I heard someone vomiting durian paste back in the toilet. And the chocolate marshmallow was just yummy! We didn't take any pictures partly because all of us were too hungry. The food was irresistible, we couldn't wait to gobble them up. We were superly full after the meal and Chris sent us to Nix's house for mahjong. We played until wee hours in the morning with Nix's brother and gosh, I didn't wanted to work the next day.

Thursday - 20th Dec
It was a public holiday but I went for work in the morning at the railway station. It was quite alright but stressful as usual. Then went back to the office and did some work until 1.30pm before heading to Cineleisure with the colleague to have lunch and check out the problem with my Ipod. I got super tired and decided to go back home to catch some rest and tadah, I overslept again. I was supposed to meet the polymates 6.30pm at The Cathay but I only woke up at 5.45pm. But anyways they were cool with it. We celebrated Bee's 20th birthday and parted about an hour later cos' I was gonna meet the trio for some mahjong at Qi's house. We played until 6am in the morning and when we got to the hawker centre downstairs, it was freezing cold. The weather is just crazy nowadays. Yes, and I skipped work.

Happy birthday Bee!
P.S: Thailand and the happy '3' friends appear in my dreams every night..





Day 2 - 14th Dec
We got up early in the morning to catch the ferry to Ko Larn a.k.a Coral Island. And I'm amazed at the number of stray dogs in Pattaya, they are practically everywhere. I went to stroke one of them and it was wagging its tail cheerfully.. *heartaches*

In the super slow ferry to Ko Larn.

Love the ocean to bits.



We got really excited when we saw those hyper water activities on its blue crystal clean waters.

Banana boat - our first water sport at Ko Larn. Funny how I didn't step onto this part of the island years ago when I came. Our super young driver (hardly 15 years of age) for the motorboat was cruel. He made our boat capsize twice and we drank lotsa saltwater. But it was so hard to climb back up to the boat when we were in the water!! On the second capsize after everyone clambered back up onto the pencil-like boat with the driver's help, we conspired to push him into the water. Nixon did just that. And he got back at us for that - we suffered our third capsize!

Next up is Jet Skii! It was like fighting a battle against those monstrous tides and waves with Chris being the driver. But he almost flung me out of the jet skii a couple of times. He is a crazy driver but it was still tons of fun!

Then the trio decided to accompany me for parasailing cos' I was dying to play that. It was around 500 baht, a little expensive but I think it's worth it! Chris decided to join me after much consideration while the duo only wanted to sit in the boat and see us fly. We had to take a bike to get to somewhere like a fishing village. I love the ride cos' it was pretty scenic and the fact that 3 persons could ride on a bike couldn't be much experienced in Singapore. After we reached a super ulu place, we took a motorboat to a nearby kelong and that's where the fun began. There were no customers at that time besides us and I was the first to being strapped on a parachute. And whooooosh! Adrenaline pounding in me like never before..



The sky and me. I'm flying without wings~

I was screaming like mad when I landed into the water cos' I saw a huge stingray-like fish swimming at where I was gonna land. But otherwise, the view was simply exhilarating.

I'm walking on water. Haa! Got a little tired on the way back to Pattaya. So while the rest were swimming back at the hotel, I was sleeping on the bench since there was a super cooling breeze and no sun. Then the 3 naughty people grabbed each of my limbs and flung me into the swimming pool. Grrrr. Qi and I went to the steam room after that. It was HOT. But you will feel super refreshed after you get outta there. (: After a short rest, we went to Mike's Shopping Mall for dinner. We had a very unappetizing-looking pizza but it tasted alright. Then we decided to get some alcoholic drinks after dinner and proceeded into a 7-11. But the Thais were having an election and they banned alcohol for around 3 to 4 days. As a result, many of the pubs stopped selling alochol but there were still women around. And trust me, transexuals are everywhere and you can see angmoh men committing infidelities anywhere as well. Back to the alcohol topic, I'm quite surprised at how much the Thais respect their King. It's really commendable. Nevertheless, we still bought alcohol even after a Thai pointed to Chris that 'Alcohol is not allowed' sign.

That ended the night.
Note: If you can't see the pictures, there's probably a glitch in blogger. Check back later!





I'm back from the Thailand trip! It was awesome having no restrictions, no curfews, no naggings, and yes to whatever I wanted to do! They were the bestest days I've ever had this year, and the happiest. Oh but before that, the colleagues ambushed me during work last Monday. Boss came to me looking solemn and told me that she had to speak to me. Then she did a little shaking-of-head action and that got me so worried cos' I thought I'd screwed something up again. But when I followed her to the meeting room, everyone including big boss were there and there was a really huge marble cake baked by the courtesy of Anita (she knows I love her marble cakes) plus lots of curry puffs and a birthday song. I was struck dumbfounded by this little surprise party and so so so thankful to all of them who went to the expense for me!

Yes, and back to the topic of the Land of Smiles. The people there lived up to their name. They were all helpful, friendly and extremely smiley, not as scary as you think they would be (the stereotypical thinking of every Thai being pervertic monsters who kill, kidnap and rape females should be changed).

Day 1 - 13th Dec
I couldn't sleep. The next thing I knew, my parents were already driving the 4 of us to the airport at 4 freaking a.m. While checking in at the budget terminal, Qi and I saw a mutual long lost friend who was taking the same flight as us. The world is so small oops.. or rather Singapore. After catching a long 2 hour coach from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Pattaya, we got lost after alighting from the coach. We were supposedly walking towards the direction of our hotel - Aiyara Palace Hotel but it was a good 10km away under the blistering heat, the polluted road and our huge luggage. So we took a taxi (the non-airconditioned kind) and sorta got cheated for the high price quoted by a taxi driver. Oh well, we were quite desperate to get outta there anyway.

Our hotel was beautiful. Everything looked new, clean and tidy and our rooms were huge for a Superior!


After getting some rest, we had an unsatisfying lunch at a nearby coffeeshop and then headed to Ripley's Believe Or Not at Royal Garden Plaza. It was even better than amusement parks I swear and the four main attractions are: 1. Believe It or Not Museum, 2. Infinity Maze, 3. 4D Moving Theatre, and 4. Haunted Adventure. Let me take you through the pictures and you will have an idea of what each category is about.

Believe It or Not Museum

We're sitting on the biggest chair ever but you can't see the size of the chair because our photographer is lousy =X

Do a little wriggle of your fingers at the empty space where strings should be for a harp and you'll find yourself playing the harp like a pro.





The man who walks down the stairs via head.



The mirror which made us laugh like idiots.

Shortest and tallest men respectively.

4D Moving TheatreWe had a hell of a time in there! The motion picture featured was 'The Log' and it's like a crazy roller coaster ride. But short of that, 'heart drop' kinda feeling when the train we were supposed to be sitting in went free fall! Absolutely thrilling.

Infinity Maze
We couldn't take pictures in there but I managed to get this from some blog. Hee. Infinity maze was spectacular. We had to wear socks which cover our shoes and gloves as well so we wouldn't scratch the mirrors. You'll have to find your way out for every room and in the midst of doing that, there will be different lightings, atmosphere and settings for each room. Fantastic. We looked like the modern kinda Charlie Chaplin doing some desperate mimes.

Haunted Adventure
The 3 cute little friends were staring at this stationary gruesome frankenstein after I told them that his eyes were following me when we walked past him. The smart me went further away from him when the curious 3 went closer. Then he suddenly came to life and scared the hell outta them. HAHAH! Anyways, the haunted house was scary! I screamed until my throat went hoarse and I screamed until I was so tired. Poor Chris. I bet he was half deaf when the walk ended. But it was freaking scary la! Someone kept squeezing my shoulders and until after we got out of the freaky room did I realise that it was Nixon who was doing that all the time. -_- But overall, the 300 baht spent was well worth!

Thereafter, we went for some seafood at the red light district of Pattaya. While walking and looking out for our ideal seafood restaurant, there was a striptease club right beside me. And out came a woman who was scantily dressed, drawing the attention of many innocent onlookers like us. And yes, the curious me tried to peek into the club and gosh.. -see no evil- Then we chose this open-air seafood restaurant which overlooks the sea. Beautiful. A perfect way to end the day.







To be continued..





Knowing which day you are born is really a luxury as it is. Having people who remember your birthday and sending their birthday wishes to you is simply fabulous. And having those who want to celebrate your birthday with you so that you won't be alone? They are god-sent.

I had to go to office yesterday cos' I promised the boss that I would help her for train check-in at Fullerton Hotel. While I was trying to clear my work in the office, a colleague walked past and dropped this on top of my pile of work..

That really made my day! Although the colleagues didn't celebrate my birthday like how they would for a full-timer (have afternoon tea, sing birthday songs, etc), but it was good enough knowing that the boss also remembered it. She got me chocolates from Royce (really hope that it's the one with the champagne)! Then after our work at the hotel, colleague Joan insisted on treating me to tea at The Courtyard - a little like a cafe in Fullerton Hotel with huge squashy armchairs. Sweet sweet Joan.


Those are the chocolate mudpie and tiramisu I had together with my cafe latte. For a moment, I thought I was in paradise.

After work, I met up with a few lovely people who wanted to make my birthday an enjoyable one. Really love them. We went for dinner at Pizza Hut and coincidentally bro and his gf were having dinner there as well. It was bro's birthday too! (: After we parted, the four of us headed to Qi's house and she drove us to Holland Village to have a few drinks. Got myself a shooter - waterfall, a foc apple margarita, another bacardi 151 on the rocks.. and later on as we went to Nix's house for mahjong, a bottle of hoegaarden. I think my liver was crying bloody murder last night.

But anyway, many many thanks to the bro and Jiafeng for the cake and the birthday song in the middle of the night. I was really touched to tears. And happy 20th birthday to kor kor too may you be more shuai every year~ Hahah! Then then then, next on the list would be my addictive happiness pills. Thank you so much to Christopher for worrying about the dinner even when you'd encountered some unfortunate not-your-fault kinda incident in the camp. But I really really really appreciate it. And to Qi and Nix too, for coming to make my day. I just can't express the gratitude I have for you guys. You guys are the sweetest drugs on earth. (: Next, to the colleague Peter who rushed back to office just to wish me a happy birthday, I received that and to the boss and Joan for the gifts.. To the wonderful polymates for the crazy kbox session! And to whoever who sent me the birthday wishes (received some pretty innovative ones that really made me smiled), may you have a wonderful year ahead!

I had a splendid day.





So excited! It is Fuhua's Band first ever concert at 5pm later at Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre, the place where I graduated with a diploma. Sad to say, I'm only gonna be an audience and not one of the performers. Gonna see how the young ones are doing ever since I last heard them at the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging Competition. I remember the tears we shed together, that joy and satisfaction when we achieved a common goal and the blood during tough trainings. I really miss those times and those people, all etched in my head. Miss playing in that band, and those I've lost contact with..

lovely clarinet section..