*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

New Journey

After several months of looking and exploring options, I'm starting a new full-time job today. It's been a journey in the past couple of months after returning from Europe. I miss Europe yet I know I can't really live there for several reasons.

My new workplace is at Raffles Place. If anyone wants to do lunch or meet after work, drop me a line! So it's the embarkation of another journey and we'll see where this road leads.

Hamilton Cup

The race in Hamilton Island was awesome...to be paddling in that environment, surrounded by that breath-taking wilderness and natural beauty is absolutely incredible. One can't help but be awed and humbled at the same time by the elements - the hills that soar up on the islands, the power of the currents ripping through the water, the headwinds that hit right at you while paddling, the winds swells that whip the waters up like a washing machine, and the two tiger sharks that were spotted on radar feeding away at helpless turtles!!!

Yes, there were two Tiger Sharks spotted at the spot where all the women's crew were allowed to make their first change. Because of that, the organisers shifted the buoy to another spot. Thank goodness I didn't know about this until AFTER the race. Haha. But no worries, no one got hurt or eaten by the sharks - everyone was still jumping in and out of the outrigger canoes to make changes!

The start of a long-distance (42km) outrigger canoe race is a phenomenal sight - it's like the olden days of going to war. At the blare of the horn, about 100 OC6s power past the start line (men's, women's and mixed crews all head out together), as if ready to go to battle. When the support boats join up with their canoes after the first leg of the race, it's an even more impressive sight. Support boats (usually small yachts or speedboats) and outrigger canoes dot the entire waterway. It's amazing how no accidents happen when support boats, canoes, and paddlers are in the water all at the same time!

Anyway, so I had a whole three days' worth of paddling - the 16km (no change) race around Hamilton Island, 500m and 1000m sprints, and 42km change race. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

While my team didn't collect any silverware - we weren't expecting to anyway - we were happy to finish the race without huli-ing (flipping over) and happy that we didn't miss any of our sea changes. We also did it in a time that was better than what we expected of ourselves. It was a fantastic three days of paddling and hopefully we'll be back again!

Wanderlust

I've become some kind of traveling salesman or paid wanderer, both blessed and doomed to travel this world until I can't anymore. Funny what happens when your dreams come true.

It's an irritating reality that many places and events defy description. Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu, for instance, seem to demand silence, like a love affair you can never talk about. For a while after, you fumble for words, trying vainly to assemble a private narrative, an explanation, a comfortable way to frame where you've been and what's happened. In the end, you're just happy you were there – with your eyes open – and lived to see it.

~ Anthony Bourdain in The Nasty Bits

When I read what Bourdain wrote in the introduction of his book The Nasty Bits, I knew exactly what he meant (by the way, I would LOVE to do what he does). In fact, I had written to a friend just a couple of days back, which touched on the same subject.

"Yes, I know what you mean...there always seems to be something else to do and see. The world isn't small enough for people like us! I think having a curiosity about the world is both a blessing and a curse. That curiosity makes you a more worldly person...you become more sensitive to and aware of cultural differences...it spurs you on to want to learn more about the world, people.

Yet, this wanderlust stirs this constant restlessness which is not altogether healthy. Being 'settled' has its bliss too."

The words sum up the situation I'm facing right now with my life. How do I reconcile my love for travelling with a job that makes me bound to Singapore all the time? It's not that I don't like being based in Singapore. I do like it. It's an easy place to live in. I've tried living abroad and it didn't quite do it for me 'cos I felt too lonely. I told myself that if I'm ever going to relocate again, it'd have to be with a partner (boyfriend/husband/de facto/whatever). I figured I should have tried out being a flight attendant years ago. But since that's not a career option right now, I just have to contend with occasional holidays out of Singapore. Why couldn't Singapore be bigger????

So my wanderlust has stirred again and I'll be in Australia from 19 June to 2 July. From the 19th to 22nd I'll be in Hamilton Island to take part in the Hamilton Cup, which is an outrigger canoe race. Am looking forward to ogling at all the hotbods at the race. Hee.

After the race, I'll be in Sydney from 23 June to 2 July to catch up with family and friends. I know, it's the umpteenth time I'm visiting Sydney, but I love returning to this beautiful city which is very special to me. There's always a sense of comfort returning to a city that one knows well.

I've also booked myself on the A380 to experience what flying on the jumbo jet is like. OK, I'm not in the first-class suite but I'm after a cheap thrill. Heh.

Anyway, am always glad to go back to the land of Oz with its lovely beaches, great people, and delicious food!

Doctor Fish

I like to eat fish and I had always thought I was the at the top of the food chain when it comes to my relationship with fish. I didn't think the direction of the relationship between us could be reversed until Saturday.

Well, OK, I'm still alive but some part of me has gone to fish – a dead part of me to boot! On Saturday, I made the acquaintance of many fish of the species Garra Rufa. Out of curiosity, I went to a fish spa with two friends.

All these small fish which come from Turkey are also known as Doctor Fish. They supposedly nibble at the dead skin cells on your body and promote blood circulation. They are supposed to be able to lighten scars on your skin too. It's also supposed to be a cure for psoriasis, a kind of skin disease.

So we are made to wash our feet and our lower leg before lowering our legs into the pool. The fish then swarm around the submerged part of our leg and start nibbling away. It's a ticklish sensation and it takes some getting used to. The fish don't have teeth so they kinda suck away at your skin.

I paid $30 (including GST) for 30 minutes of fish therapy, but it's something I won't do again. It's a novel idea, but I remain unconvinced of its effectiveness. Give me some exfoliating scrub, dry bristle brush, or pumice stone any time!

A Little Less Wise

There are certain situations in your life where, no matter how garang a person you are, you just turn into a petrified mouse. Garang, by the way, is the Malay word to mean 'fierce' or 'powerful'. It can also mean 'impulsive', 'courageous' and 'foolhardy' (definition taken from TalkingCock.com).

Quiet and reserved a person I may be, I consider myself a pretty garang gal. But the one situation which reduces me to a pulp of trembling nerves is when I'm seated in a dentist chair. I've never liked going to the dentist. The sight of all that equipment scares me and I don't like seeing them being inserted into and being poked around my mouth. I hate the sound made by those instruments. I tense up every time I'm in that chair and I grip the armrest like I'm holding on to it for dear life. I guess it's an irrational fear but I just can't seem to get past it.

This morning I found myself in that dreaded chair again because I had to have my upper right wisdom tooth extracted. Initially I had thought I had to have the bottom right one extracted as well, but the dentist said I could leave that one for now as it isn't impacted like the top one was. Before this, I've never had a tooth taken out so I didn't really know what to expect.

Thankfully it didn't turn out as bad as I thought and the procedure didn't take that long either. It was, however, horrible hearing the crack of the tooth and feel the pressure of the instruments pressing on the tooth and gums. The procedure I had was considered a surgery as it involved the cutting of the gums. I asked the dentist what was the difference between surgery and extraction and she said surgery involved the cutting of the gums so as to get to the tooth that's not fully erupted. It would also usually involve the cracking of the tooth so that it's easier to take out. An extraction would apply to a tooth that's already fully erupted.

Anyway, I'm so relieved it's over even though the right side of my face is now swollen and my wound is still bleeding!

Birthday at Timbre

It was the Sassy Slumbering Girl's birthday on Friday night and we had a celebration that night at Timbre, the alfresco restaurant at the Substation along Armenian Street. The venue was chosen by the birthday girl for the life band performance that was to come on at 10.30pm.

The Sassy Slumbering Girl had gathered eight of her closest friends from uni to celebrate the day with her. It was also then that we realised we have known one another for ten years. How time flies! It was also interesting to note that everyone at the table had worked or is still working at SPH (Singapore Press Holdings).

Anyway, we ordered two pizzas and a pasta. The thin-crust pizzas weren't too bad (we had the Cajun chicken and the pepperoni) but they weren't exceptionally good either. It was just normal bar food where the main objective was to fill one's stomach. The sauce in the seafood pasta was also a tad too spicy for our liking.

One major gripe we had was the fact that diners were only allowed to have one small serving of water. Any subsequent cups of water would have to be bottled water. They also stop serving water after 10pm. The staff there also lacked initiative. We had a cake for the birthday girl, and when we requested for it to be brought out, they didn't take the initiative to provide us with small plates and forks. To provide good service, you must be able to pre-empt your customers' needs. They are obviously lacking in that.

The band that played was called The GoodFellas and they sang covers from bands like Maroon 5, Travis, Coldplay etc. The highlight of the evening, however, was when the Sassy Slumbering Girl went to perform on stage! Well, she was sabo-ed by us lah. But she very gamely went on stage and sang the song 'Love Me' by Colin Ray and impressed the band and everyone in the restaurant with her lovely vocals. My dear friend here is the best singer amongst all the people I know. When she sings, her alto voice is like flowing warm honey that's absolutely delectable to the ears. This talented woman also writes (both music and lyrics) her own songs!

The Sassy Slumbering Girl and I stayed on till the band finished their last set at 1.30am. The rest of them who were married or attached left earlier, and us two single and unattached ones enjoyed the rest of the moonlit night chatting to each other and listening to the music.

Happy Birthday dear friend and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself!

Off to Hong Kong till Sunday

Back in Singapore

So I'm finally back in Singapore and will definitely be homebound for a long time to come. My flight from Dubai touched down this morning at 7 and I had a long nap after I got home.

Now I'm faced with the task of unpacking my stuff that I shipped back from London and there's also the stuff I bought from Japan to unpack. My room is going to look like a war zone soon. I took lots of photos in Japan and may I add that I absolutely loved it there!

Dubai was like a big construction site and I didn't think much of the city. My main reason for going there was to visit one of my best friends who has just relocated there. Anyway, now that I'm back home for good, I have to start looking for a job. Friends out there, please let me know if you hear of any job openings to do with writing or editing or perhaps some marcomm stuff. Any form of help is appreciated!

Anyway, photos to come. Eventually. Too many things to do right now.

Christkindlmarkt

The Christmas markets in Germany (known in German as the Christkindlmarkt) are lovely! There is such a festive mood here, but I'm not really feeling very festive myself. I'm finding myself less and less capable to cope with loneliness. Yes, the things I'm seeing are lovely, but with no one to share it with, it just becomes just another nice place and rather meaningless. Still, I'm grateful for the chance to see all these. It's freezing cold in Germany though! Bbbbrrrrr.......

I went to Nürnberg yesterday, today I went to Innsbruck and tomorrow I'm just going to walk around München (Munich). On Wednesday I make my way to Würzburg to meet a friend. Then on Saturday I have a long train ride from Würzburg to Milan via Stuttgart and Zürich. I stay one night in Milan and the next day I fly to Tokyo via Rome.

I can't wait to get to Tokyo to meet up with my friends who are flying up from Singapore. I really could do with some travel companions.

Photos will come when I arrive back in Singapore!

Leaving London...Again

Am leaving London later this afternoon. Will be on the road again. If I don't get to write again until I'm back in Singapore, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

City Gal Turns Little Bo-Beep

What happens when a quintessential city gal tries her hand at being Little Bo-Beep? Nothing very much, except she gets bored after having to watch them graze for three hours every day and making sure they don't go beyond the ditch that separates them from the dangers of the road just ahead. She also gets out of breath after having to run around chasing and herding sheep to make sure they're going in the direction she wants them to.

Like an animal behaviourist, she also begins to gather observations from watching sheep. Here's a summary of her report:

1) Tending and herding sheep can be rather tiring work when you are new to it - you end up having to run around quite a bit.

2) It is rather boring, so perhaps take a book to read. Just make sure you keep glancing up once in a while to make sure none of the sheep have gone stray. Or just take the time to reflect and muse on life while admiring the scenery around. But really, there's only so much one can muse on.

3) The true meaning and origin of 'herd instinct' becomes very apparent. One sheep moves and the rest follow. It really sucks when they do not move in the direction you want to – then you’ll have to start chasing them back, e.g. the sheep going through the bushes.

4) You have to stand at the back of the flock and then herd them in the direction you want them to go. If you want them to go in the opposite direction they are facing, then in front of them and back them up. They’ll turn away from you.

5) The older lambs tend to form a group of their own after awhile and they graze together. It’s so cute…they’re like a youth group! They are about a month old and old enough to eat grass. They play with each other by headbutting each other. It's really adorable. Occasionally they look for their mother and suckle at her udder. In the photo below, four of the lambs were grazing together. Then one of them, in the background, went to look for its mother to get some milk.

6) The lambs that are a few days old follow their mother around because they can only feed on milk. They’re too young to eat grass. The lambs and their mother locate each other by their bleep. Somehow they’re able to distinguish. It’s very amazing when you see a lamb calling out to its mother and you see the mother going towards it and vice versa.

7) Once a lamb kept following a female sheep around because it had lost its mum for awhile and it wanted some milk. The female sheep’s actual lamb was there too. The lost lamb tried to suckle but got pushed away by the female sheep. Interesting how they know that’s not their child.

8) When grazing, the lambs get tired more easily so they often sit down on the grass. They look like little balls of white cotton in the green patch. The adults never sit. They just have their heads down all the time and are eating away at the grass like lawnmowers. In the photo below, you can see the lambs in the foreground and the adults in the background.

New-born Lamb

On my first morning at the farm, I was pleasantly surprised to find a new-born when I went to the sheep pen. Usually lambs aren't born at the end of the year, but there's a horny male sheep (named 'Jackomino' aka Little Jack in English) which is sowing his wild oats whenever he gets the chance. The male and female sheep aren't separated, you see.

When I first got to the pen, I didn't actually spot the lamb. What I first saw was blood on the mother's legs and I was thinking, oh my god, what happened??? Then my eye glanced towards the right, and there I saw this baby lamb still wet from the amniotic fluid and I saw the placenta lying near to it. You can see it in the photo if you look closely enough (middle bottom).

A close-up of the new-born lamb still having its eye closed. It's so sweet, isn't it? This one has some spots on its body...just like its mum!

The mother nudges the lamb to get up. It was really very cold, and the lamb was lying so still for a long time that for a few moments I actually thought it was dead...frozen to death!

But thankfully, the lamb was a healthy one and its mother didn't reject it. Soon, it was up walking and suckling milk from its mother's udders.

More sheep tales to come.

Making Salami

First you have to tie strings round the cow's intestines. The intestines have to be about an arm's length and string is tied into a knot at one end. The other end is left open to put the mince pork through.

The mince pork is put through the salami machine.

The assembly line. You have to make sure that the filled cow's intestines are very taut.

I'm helping to poke holes through the filled salami to make sure that any air inside is squeezed out. Air inside the casing is no good as it will cause the meat to rot.

Hanging the salami to be cured and dried.

The source of the salami eating its last meal!!!!

Another Update

Before anyone thinks I've disappeared from the face of this earth, I thought I'd better post a short update.

Quite a lot happened after I left the farm. I had fallen ill on the last day at the farm. I don't know what it was that I ate, but I ended up with a terrible bout of food poisoning. On the last night of my stay in the farm, I was vomitting throughout the night and I had the runs the next morning.

The worst thing was that the runs continued for about ten days, which meant that I was in Turin and Bologna and I didn't even get to eat anything. I tell my friends it's like being in a black comedy - a foodie in Italy who's not able to eat! I stayed in Turin for four nights but I could wasn't really eating at all. I survived on sugared water and some plain bread, so I was really quite weak. I didn't have the energy to walk around and also the weather in Turin was cold and rainy. Rather miserable really. I then made my way to Bologna and had bought train tickets to Florence and Rome and then back to Germany while I was in Turin. I had also arranged my accommodation for all those cities. Anyway, all that came to naught as I decided after my first night in Bologna that I couldn't travel anymore. I wasn't getting any better with the medicine I was taking and I was seriously thinking there was something wrong with me.

In the end, I made my way to Nuremberg where I stayed at a friend's place to rest for three nights. I was spending half my time in toilets so I decided that it was better to rest somewhere. Travelling just wasn't fun anymore as I was sick, weak and tired. Plus the weather was crap. Not that the weather in Germany was any better than northern Italy but really all I wanted to do was rest. Staying in hostels to rest wasn't the most ideal situation in what wasn't already an ideal situation!

I went to see a doctor the day after I arrived in Nuremberg. It cost an arm and a leg - 70 euros! Faint. I would have gotten the same service for 9 euros back in Singapore. While in Nuremberg I decided that I really wanted to be back in London which was a place I was familiar with and where I had more friends. I was feeling pretty miserable by then. Thanks to a friend who was online at the same time I was at a Net cafe, I managed to find out about possible flights to return to London from Germany. So on the spur of the moment on a Tuesday afternoon, I booked a Ryanair flight to fly out of Frankfurt Hahn airport on a late Wednesday night.

Wednesday was a long trek. I left my friend's place in Nurnberg at 11am. Took the U-bahn to the Hauptbahnhof and had to take a train to Wuerzburg and then transfer trains to get to Frankfurt. I got off at the wrong Frankfurt train stop. Instead of stopping at Frankfurt Main Hbf, I got off at Frankfurt Main Sud. So after making some inquiries, I had to get back onto the S-bahn and make my way to Frankfurt Main Hbf. After arriving there, it was another difficult search to find the bus which would take me to the Frankfurt Hahn airport. The airport is a regional one and is a 1h 45min bus ride from the Frankfurt Hbf. After asking the tourist information, I managed to find the bus. And from there it was another bus ride to Frankfurt Hahn. The flight itself took only an hour. I arrived in London Stansted at about 0030 local time. By the time I got the back into Central London by bus it was around 2am.

It was a lllooooonnnggg day, but I was never more glad to be back in London. Seeing signs in English and speaking English at normal conversational pace seemed to be such a relief.

I also managed to catch my cousin who was holidaying in London and we hung out together for a few days before he flew back to Singapore on Tuesday night. I've also been able to catch up with friends and ex-colleagues and go back to eat at my favourite spots! Yes, I'm back to eating normally again...thank god!

My wallet got stolen while in Borough Market on Saturday. Such a bummer. I lost quite a lot of cash, my Singapore credit cards, my UK debit card and Singapore driver's licence. I'm so jinxed!!!

Anyway, will be hanging around London till next Saturday then I fly to Germany to meet a friend and her boyfriend. After Germany, I'm flying to Japan to spend Christmas and NYE! I can't wait!!!

In Italy

Hi, just a short update 'cos Internet connection time is precious!

I left London and went to a farm in Italy near to a city called Carmagnola. Carmagnola is in the Piedmont region and its capital is Turin (Torino in Italian). I worked on a farm for a week herding unfenced sheep, bringing out the pony, donkeys and horses, and mucking up horse stalls.

The most fun part of the working farm stint was making salami from scratch! Saw a pig being slaughtered - a very bloody affair. Anyway, I spent my 29th birthday on the farm making salami on 14 Nov. Yes, it's my last year of having the '2' in front of my age. Anyway, I hope being surrounded by food on my birthday will mean I'll never ever be for want of food!

Am now in Turin, and am going to head to Bologna in a few days. After that no plans yet. I'm just winging it as I go along. Actually it's a very stressful way of travelling but oh well, c'est la vie! I just haven't been organised enough!

Leaving-do

I had my leaving-do last night with my colleagues at a pub called The Perseverance in Holborn and I just had my farewell lunch at a nice Japanese restaurant. It's strange to be leaving after five months of working in London. I've made several good friends at work and I'm a little sad that I'm not staying longer to know them better.

On the professional side, I've found it interesting working in the London office of the company I was with back in Singapore because I got to learn more about the ELT (English language teaching) market in Europe. Learning about the work culture in another country has also been interesting.

So another chapter of my life has come to an end. But the end of one is the start of another and I'm looking forward to that.

Packing Up

Very short update from me:

1. Was in Bath on Saturday. Went on my own since I couldn't find any travel companion. Spent the day walking around the city. My third time there but still a nice getaway from London nonetheless.

2. Spent Sunday helping my flatmate move to her new place. Didn't do anything much after that except to spend some time in Kensington Park reading a book and just watching the world go by. Very chill. Found a Spanish bistro in Bayswater that made the thick, molten chocolate that I absolutely love. And they had churros too!!!! That really made our day. Slurping on that potent chocolate was just pure bliss. Happiness.

3. One of my best mates from SPC (Singapore Paddle Club) arrived in London on Monday for a week's long visit. Haven't seen her in ten months as she's been working on a cruise ship and travelling over the high seas to the world's loveliest beaches since February. Was so nice to see a good friend from home.

4. Busy packing up all my stuff and having them shipped off this Saturday. Am leaving London in about two weeks!

Salisbury Weekend

Darn...company policy to block out certain websites (many websites in fact...Facebook, Flickr, blogspot, Couchsurfing etc) has disenabled me to upload my photos to Flickr and hence post them on the blog. So no pictures from me for awhile.

Anyway, went to Salisbury for the weekend. Saw the cathedral with the tallest spire in the UK. Paid homage to Stonehenge and went to see some old castle and cathedral ruins at Old Sarum.

Spent Saturday night at the Salisbury YHA. It was a nice big house with a big cedar tree right in front of it. It looked so homey! My flatmate and I slept in a 8-bedroom dorm. I really like these hostels.

Nice and relaxing weekend away from London. And now back to the grind of a new work week.

Silverware for Souvenirs

As you can see, I had a very memorable and rewarding weekend of racing in Nottingham in the British Dragonboat National Championships (full results below). The cups belong to the club but I get to keep the medals. This is a great souvenir for me.

I love travelling around to different places to paddle and even though I didn't get to see Nottingham apart from its regatta centre, I had a great weekend. I always enjoy racing and I just love the adrenalin rush of being at the start line, getting ready to make that dash down the stretch of water, and in those few minutes you feel like your heart's going to burst, your lungs are screaming for air, your blood can't pump through your veins fast enough, yet you're filled with that desire to win and beat other teams. Well, at least I hope everyone in the boat has that burning desire to win. More often than not, it's that desire which makes that little bit of difference between the winners and losers when two equally strong teams are pipped against each other.

Nothing makes it more satisfying when your boat crosses the line first and when the whole team has fought a good battle. The camaraderie and team spirit that permeates the whole atmosphere is fantastic. Friendly rivalry exists between teams and when a good race is fought, winners and losers come and pat each other on the back for a race well fought.

I LOVE THIS SPORT!

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Premier Open Competition

200m - 3rd
500m - 2nd
1000m - 3rd


Premier Mixed Competition

200m - 1st
500m - 1st


Premier Women Competition

200m - 1st
500m - 1st


BDA League Awards

200m - 1st
500m - 2nd

Parisien Philistine

OK, culture vultures will beat the crap out of me and the Skinny Epicurean when they learn that we did not visit a single museum during our time there. I mean, nine days is a decent amount of time to at least pay homage to Mona Lisa. Ostensibly she wasn't our top priority as we preferred paying homage instead to markets, restaurants, boulangeries, patisseries and other eateries around Paris. After having our fill, we walked it off by wandering around the lanes and alleys of this lovely city which is best explored on foot or bike.

The pictures below are potentially incriminating pictures which I hope culture vultures will never use as evidence against me as cause for arrest!

An absolutely to-die-for gelato from La Pozzetto in an area called Marais. The pistachio, hazelnut and chocolate combo was so richly flavoured it was just heavenly. I couldn't stop smiling as I ate it.

Sinking my teeth into a sugar crepe made by an eccentric crepe maker who takes his own sweet time making crepes even when a long line of people are waiting.

The diva's eating her macha millefeuille at Sadaharu Aoki. Do not disturb!

Many thanks to the Skinny Epicureans for the pictures!

Back in London

Am back in London! Got back last night and am now swamped with work and lots of matters to attend to in the month of October. Pictures to come later...hopefully! Am much going be extremely busy from now on because I'm planning to pack up and leave London to head home.

Well, I've realised that London isn't the city for me due to several reasons. I've got to tie up matters here and plan a bit of travelling before I return home so that's all going to take up a lot of time from now on.

This blog will probably be very silent henceforth, but will try and put occasional updates!

Au Revoir, Paris

So all good things must come to an end - I leave Paris tomorrow for Munich where I'll drown myself in beer during the Oktoberfest and stuff myself with sausages.

The past eight days in Paris have been an endless stream of eating - going from one place to the next in search of the next eating spot on the Skinny Epicurean's eat-list. She, the very organised person, brought along with her a list of food places we should pay homage to. I'm so thankful to her for planning every day's agenda and itinerary! Thanks, dearie!!!

The main things on her agenda were patisseries and boulangeries 'cos this dear girl loves baking. Suited me fine 'cos I love desserts! It's a sinful indulgence but oh well, this IS Paris. Worry about the calories later.

Thankfully the Skinny Epicurean is great at reading maps. I'm hopeless - even with a map I can still get lost. When I travel on my own, I just go by the 'feel' of the place, which sends me in circles quite often but it's fun too 'cos I end up discovering little places I never intended to go to.

Anyways, while I head off to Deutschland, she goes back to Singapore the day after tomorrow and I guess she'll have lots of stuff to regale our other foodie friends back home. Get this - we are in Paris and we haven't even stepped into one museum!!! Ostensibly, food is the main agenda for us! Paris has been kind to us too - the City of Love has blessed us with good weather what with the sunshine and not-so-butt-freezing-cold temperatures.

Many thanks, too, to Umami and family who have been the most generous hosts. Her little daughter is an absolute delight to play with! The girl's a real charmer with her apple pink cheeks and cherubic face.

So I say goodbye to the land of fantastic food, cheeses, wines, pastries, breads and will next say hello to the land of sausages, pork knuckles, beer, beer, beer and beer.

*Burp*

Paris Je T'aime - Part II

Oooh, it's so wonderful to find myself back in Paris again after not having been back for seven years. Last time I was here, I had just finished my 2nd year of undergrad school and was backpacking on my own in Europe at that time. Everyone thought I was crazy to do it alone and I remember my mum saying she was given flak from her friends for allowing me to do it. Not that she really had a lot of say in it! Haha.

Anyway, it's great to be in this lovely city. It has an innate charm about it and it seems impossible to eat badly in this city. I love it how the French, unlike the English, adore their food!

With the Skinny Epicurean, us two girls have been eating our way around Paris and we're absolutely pampered at Umami's place. We're so thankful to her and her family for their generosity in hosting us!

Skinny Epicurean and I went to Taillevent for lunch yesterday, and it was an experience for us as it was the first time eating in a Michelin-star restaurant for the both of us. More details of that to come.

But anyway, now it's time for breakfast and another day of walking and eating around Paris!

And oh, forgot to add that I love the charming French men! There was a very cute waiter at the restaurant yesterday!!! :p

Paris Je T'aime

It was a great weekend of racing along the Thames River. Paddled 22 miles from Richmond to Greenwich. Great atmosphere amongst all participants, paddle boats of all kinds were on the river, some people dressed up and it was just awesome. Loved it!!!

I felt like a tourist attraction myself especially when we paddled past the Westminster part of the Thames, passing all the icons of London - Big Ben, the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, Oxo Towers, Tate Modern, Tower of London, Tower Bridge etc. We paddled past a total of 28 bridges and people on the bridges cheered the passing boats on. Awesome.

Sunday I went to Hampton Court Palace by myself and spent most part of the late morning and half the afternoon there. Lovely palace gardens and the exhibits are fantastic. Very good and informative piece of English Tudor and Georgian history. Definitely worth a visit and it's worth taking food for a picnic in the gardens too! Well, that pertains only to when it's sunny of course!

Anyway, am off to Paris tomorrow! And I haven't even packed!!! My Eurostar train leaves at 7am so you can imagine that tonight will be a bout of maniac packing for me!!! But nevermind, I'll catch up with sleep on the train. Heehee.

Last Minute Entrant

Am participating in the Great River Race tomorrow. Someone from the Thames Dragon team pulled out at the last minute and I'm going to take his place. Got the call only last evening - 48 hours before the race! Anyway, I'm really excited 'cos I really wanted to do this and it's going to be really good fun paddling along the Thames River and seeing all the sights of London! But it's a competition too, so I must paddle hard too and try not to get too distracted by the sights along the river bank!

Washing Machine Blues

The washing machine in my flat broke down last night - finally. I say 'finally' because it has succumbed to the constant abuse by one of my flatmates. My other flatmate and I keep telling her NOT to bang and hit the washing machine every time she starts it up, but she never listens. She keeps hitting and slamming the door until it starts spinning. She doesn't get it that it just needs some time after the 'Start' button is hit to start up.

So the perpetrator used the washing machine the night before last. And I'll bet it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I tried to use it last night and found that it didn't seem to spin after filling with water. Great - I had clothes stuck inside and the door remained locked due to some safety mechanism. I left it for the night hoping against hope that it might sort itself out in the course of the night. But of course, no such thing happened. In the morning, it was the status quo. I desperately wanted to get my clothes out. I tried turning the dial to 'Stop' (thankfully it did) and thank god the door unlocked. My clothes were dripping wet as the water wasn't drained from the machine. I had to wring my clothes as much as I could before hanging them. Still, it left a big pool of water in the living room and I had to wipe up as much as I could before going to work. What a great way to start the day.

I shot an email to the property agent first thing after I got into the office but I still haven't heard from him. He's hopeless. I hope he gets it fixed soon. But he's a really useless property agent!

What I hate about London is that property agents and landlords have the upper hand because it's their market. Rental property is always in demand and 'cos of that, we, tenants, always end up being the ones getting the shorter end of the stick. We're suppose to be the clients, but we're treated like shit.

My tenancy agreement has got 35 clauses protecting the landlord. It has only 5 for the tenant. Is that skewed or is that skewed?

I hate this whole renting thing. I never want to do it again.

Transport Strikes

Great - Tube workers are staging a 72-hour strike from 6pm today. I take the Tube every day to and from work.

I told you before, right? I heart London public transport!

Give me Singapore efficiency already!

Sunday Dinner Spread

We had a fabulous homemade dinner on Sunday. While still lounging around on Devil's Dyke, Yukiko texted Olduvai to say she had bought some mussels and would like us to join her for dinner if we didn't already have dinner plans. We were planning to have a homecooked dinner anyway, so it was just perfect. The more the merrier! Seriously, eating alone is just depressing. Companionship and good conversation are all integral to a good meal.

Our dinner spread consisted of mussels, baked pork ribs, mixed salad dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, baguette and dessert.

The mussels were SO easy to make. The tedious part really was identifying, one by one, which mussels were still alive by having to tap them and making sure they clam up. Then we had to scrub them individually as well. Mind-numbingly boring task. But after that was done, all we had to do was put them in a pot [fyi - Brits call it a 'saucepan'], put in 200ml of white wine together with some garlic cloves, chopped tomatoes and a bunch of basil leaves. Cook for about 4 minutes and it's done!

The mussels were really fresh and it tasted fantastic with the fresh flavours from the wine, tomatoes and basil.

Olduvai's baked spare ribs were great and satisfied my meat craving.

Our dessert platter had the absolutely divine Duchy's chocolate tart. It's seriously good with its dark bitter taste and the buttery shortcrust pastry. I ate far more than I should, but what the heck. The strawberries, grapes and English plums were the healthy desserts. And lastly, some Stilton and Gongozola cheese - but we kinda passed that over in the end 'cos the chocolate tart was too tempting.

Needless to say, we were completely stuffed!

Devil's Dyke

On Sunday, we decided to take it a little easier by going up to Devil’s Dyke for a picnic. This time it was just Olduvai and myself as Yukiko had a lunch appointment. So us two gourmets trotted off to the supermarket and got some food for our picnic.

Then we took Bus 77, an open top bus, to our destination! The open top buses are used only in summer and what a treat it was! I felt like I was going on a tour! I love feeling the wind in my face and the sun on my skin in such glorious weather!

For our picnic, we had a baguette, Stilton cheese, green grapes, roast chicken drumsticks, salad, two apples, and tuna pasta with butter beans (made by Olduvai). OK, we didn’t eat ALL of it – as much as we would have liked to, we couldn’t! And of course we didn’t dump the food – we had other uses for them, details of which will appear in the next post. Anyway, we also bought the Observer – the Sunday edition of the Guardian, a newspaper we both hold in high regard for its quality of writing – for our reading pleasure up on the Dyke.

The views we were accorded of the West Sussex countryside were gorgeous! Cows and sheep dotted the green open pastures that spread for miles below us. There were other holiday makers there as well to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery. But there was enough space for everyone without it feeling too claustrophobic.

There were many people paragliding and Zorbing there as well. It was fun watching the paragliders take off and land. The one I photographed here was rather inexperienced, and once airborne, didn’t quite know how to catch the wind to stay high in the sky. He gradually went farther and farther down and ended up right smack in the middle of a farm down below. Poor guy. We wondered how he was going to make his way up again!

A herd of free-ranging black cows were grazing close by and two got up close and personal with some of the people. I had never come so close to cows before. But I didn’t really want to touch them as they were very dirty! Their faces were full of snot and there were so many flies buzzing around them! I’m not that into bovine creatures anyway, except when they're on the dinner table. Hee.

Anyway, a very lovely afternoon spent in quiet and soul-nourishing surroundings.

Beachy Head Coastal Walk

Got my fix of countryside and exercise! I hate not being to do much outdoor stuff in London. But thankfully last weekend I managed to get my fix at Beachy Head. Olduvai, her friend Yukiko and I did a long coastal walk from Beachy Head to South Downs. We walked for a good 12.8km along the towering chalk cliffs that hug the southeastern coast of the UK and were treated to fantastic views of the sea shimmering in the sunlight, undulating green fields, and open fields where cows and sheep grazed. LOVED IT.

Had a pub lunch before the long walk. The gigantic guiness, steak and mushroom pie was fantastic! I've been eating way too many pies in the UK for my own good. This pie was made with shortcrust pastry - that's the way I like my pies to be made!

Then one of the waitresses came round with a whole plethora of sauces and dips. I was very thrilled. Haha. I went for the mustard seeds, some mint sauce and some chutney. OK, doesn't really go but just felt like something sweet. I wished I could have tried a bit of everything though!

Beachy Head Lighthouse

Wind-swept flowers

Along the way at Birling Gap, I treated myself to ice cream. Heehee.

We started way beyond what you can see from this photo. We were dog tired at the end of the day, but what a fantastic day it was!

Finally we reach the South Downs where other walkers are heading to their cars and for us, the bus to take us back to Brighton.

Saw a green phone booth near the bus stop at South Downs. Was amused 'cos it's the only green one I've seen so far in the UK!

Temporary Thames Dragon

Took part in a dragonboat race on Saturday 21 July organised by the Thames Dragon dragonboat team (the team that I'm joining). It was held at the London Regatta Centre and in the background you see aeroplanes parked at the London City Airport.

And here you see, moi, the temporary Thames Dragon.

A Little Bored

Hmm…it’s been awhile since I last posted. Actually there hasn’t been much to tell really…I haven’t been doing anything very exciting. Last weekend I went outrigger canoeing on Saturday morning, spent a bit of the afternoon in Camden market with a friend from the dragonboat team where I saw the weirdest people around in London. All that goth!

It’s crazy – there was this bald middle-aged man who had tattoos all around his head, face, neck and torso and had his nose, eyebrows, ears, and nipples pierced. He was wearing a black fish-net long-sleeve shirt (if it can even be called that) with a black patent skirt. Yes, you read correct, SKIRT. And he wore platforms boots which were – no kidding – about 25cm high. They were the tallest pair of platforms I had ever seen. Honestly, I don’t know how he walked in them. He was kinda stomping around in those huge-ass footwear. I mean, you can all sorts of people dressed in weird get-ups in Camden, but this one really takes the cake – for now. I’m sure I’ll see more if I go to Camden often enough. Though interesting to see all the people dressed up in goth, it’s not my kinda thing, so I doubt I’ll go there very much.

Then headed to the O2 arena to have a look. Nothing very much there except for restaurants with massive queues – all pre-concert goers. Scissors Sister was performing that night so we saw lots of gay and lesbian couples. I wouldn’t bother going there for dinner. Eating somewhere beforehand and then heading to the concert would be a better option. And the restaurants there don’t seem fantastic either.

Sunday morning saw me at dragonboat practice at the London Regatta Centre. After practice, went to have dimsum with a teammate and some of her friends. The restaurant, Lotus, is located at Crossharbour DLR station. Food was pretty good and it was cheap! For £7 each (albeit with a 10% discount) we ate a lot! Definitely want to go back again for my dimsum fix.
Then it was back to home to do household chores like laundry and cleaning up of the place.

Meanwhile, work’s been fine. I think work’s less stressful here. No complains there! If only it came with more pay…

Gosh, I feel like my life is so unexciting. Need to find more free and less expensive stuff to do in London! But at least this weekend I have a weekend at Brighton to look forward to. Going to visit olduvai again and we already have our weekend menu planned! I just love how organised we are when it comes to eating matters. :p

Contactable Again

Got my phone fixed - I brought it to one of the dodgy stores along Oxford Street run by Indian Ah Bengs which offer "Mobile Unlocking" services, mobile repair servies and sell fake mobile phone covers. I'm now £50 poorer 'cos of that expensive step I took. Broke the LCD screen. The new screen's colour resolution is not as good as my original Nokia's but oh well, at least my data and everything are still intact. But the screen costs more than what I had paid for the phone back in Singapore!

Why do such things always happen when I'm bordering on the poverty line??? Damn Murphy's Law.

Uncontactable

This morning i accidentally stepped on my phone while I had it lying on the floor while charging and it's now dead! :(((((((

Argh - i have to try and get it fixed or get a new one. But i think there's no hope of resurrecting it...it looks bad. So to all out there who might need to contact me by phone, just email me if anything. I'm going to try and get a new phone by today or tomorrow or over the weekend.

I don't know why i always get myself into such freak accidents. Argh. Feeling heartbroken and totally handicapped by the no-phone situation!!!

I Heart London Public Transport

YEAH RIGHT!

You'd never believe how arduous a journey it was to get home last night from dragonboat practice. I live in the west of London but practice is in the east in Zone 3 at the London Regatta Centre. I already think it's a trudge in itself without having it to be compounded by this:

First I have to take the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) from Royal Albert to West Ferry. At West Ferry, I alight and get another DLR train to Bank. Then I have to walk a million miles from the DLR platform to the Central line platform at Bank to take to Oxford Circus. At Oxford Circus, I change from the Central to Bakerloo line and walk another million miles to get to the Bakerloo platform. It takes forever to change lines. It's like walking through some labyrinth.

OK, so I get on the train. Then it suddenly terminates at Paddington 'cos apparently some idiot was walking along the tracks between Kilburn Park and Queen's Park station!!! So basically the Bakerloo line was suspended because of some crazy person.

I was like ""£^"*&£###$^&^£"*!!!! So I had to get off at Paddington and find another means of getting back. Thankfully Bus No.6 goes to where I am. BUT this No. 6 that I took didn't go all the way to Queen's Park. So it stopped somewhere and I had to get off again, cross the street and wait for ANOTHER Bus. No. 6 to come along! I got home only at 11.40pm when it could have been about 45min or a whole hour earlier!

And this morning, trains couldn't stop at Oxford Circus (where I usually alight) 'cos of some fire brigade investigation! Great.

Welcome to London.

Back from Spain

Back from Spain! The later part of the trip turned out to be a lot better and I had a really good time in Tarifa. Took two day-trips out of Tarifa. Went to Tanger (the 5th largest city in Morocco and only a 35min ferry ride away) and to Cadiz, a city which is a 2-hour bus ride away.

Now that the fun is over, I'll be starting on a temp job on Wednesday. This is going to be a two-month stint. After which, I guess I'll travel again. Will need to think where now to avoid any last minute booboos!

Anyway, photos to follow in the next couple of days. To start, here are three I took in Torremolinos. The only three I took actually, 'cos there weren't many things worth photographing. I really hated that place. Was a real shithole. It didn't help that the hostal I stayed in wasn't very nice...the room didn't have its own bathroom and there wasn't enough hot water in the shower. I was miserable. Was almost tempted to fly back to London earlier!

This is one of the streets in Torremolinos that leads down to the beach. It's lined with touristy shops and cafes which sell mostly British food. I swear there wasn't even one restaurant serving tapas. Every single one was selling fish & chips, roast chicken, and pizza etc. Like I came to Spain to eat all that crap???

A very festive looking Sangria I had in Torremolinos. The only I had in Spain actually. I turn red SO fast when I drink alcohol that it's really embarrassing. So i try to avoid drinking when I'm out...will only drink in the confines of a home and with close friends!

Grilled sardines are apparently a specialty of southern Spanish food. It's just lightly salted and grilled over charcoal. I must say this was good!

Off to Malaga, Spain

It's a really last-minute trip taken on the spur of the moment. We were like, "OK, let's go to Spain! Which part? How about the south coast for some much needed sunshine? OK! Check for cheap flights on the net. Let's head to Malaga!"

My friend and I booked our tickets only last week.

To the land of tapas, paellas, sangria, Zara, Mango, Pull & Bear, Camper, beaches, hot sun, hot men etc!!!

Back in London on 28 June.

Brighton

Hello everyone, am writing from Brighton at the moment. It's a nice, seaside town south of London and I arrived here yesterday to spend the week here with good friend, olduvai.

Brighton's a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of London. It's much quieter and it's lovely to look out to the sea from olduvai's room.

Anyway, this is just a short note for now...more later!

One-Way Ticket

Hello everyone, I'm now writing from London after arriving here last night local time. And now for the second part of the change I'm making in my life – I've relocated to London for awhile on a working holiday visa. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing at the moment but it's just going to be very different from Singapore that's all. And I think that's what I need for the moment. It's not going to be all smooth-sailing, but it's going to be different.

I don't deny I'm scared...who wouldn't be? Leaving the security of home and venturing into a foreign land with no job waiting and few friends. It's having to build a life all over again. But it's something I've always wanted to try and I know I'll regret it for the rest of my life if I don't give this a try. I mean, what's the worst that could happen, right? Just go back to Singapore and find another job if I don't like it.

I bought a one-way ticket for myself. Well, I redeemed airmiles accrued through work travel in the past three years. I didn't have enough miles to get a return so I just opted for a one-way ticket instead and paid $111 in tax for the ticket. It's probably the only time in my life that I'll ever get a one-way ticket. It is quite liberating to do so. Haha.

Thank goodness the immigration officer didn't make things difficult for me. One girl at another counter had a very tough time with one immigration officer. I think she was also trying to enter UK on a working holiday visa. I also had to have a chest x-ray done. They were screening for TB. Anyway, clearing immigration was a real bitch. The queues were horrendously long and I took a total of about 1hr 20min to clear immigration. And when the plane landed, it waited on the tarmac for about 15min for parking space. All in all, it took me about two hours from landing to get out of the airport. Fantastic introduction to English efficiency.

I'm not sure how long I'll remain here for even though the visa is valid for two years. But I can only work one year out of the two. The rest of the time I'm supposed to be travelling, which is what I want to do anyway.

But I have no concrete plans as yet and I'm taking a play-by-ear attitude to things. I'm now staying with two very good pals, Joe & Keith, who have kindly offered me couch space in their living room for the moment. Thank you my dears!!! They're staying very near Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Chinatown so it's a really nice place.

So the dimsumdolly is now conquering London! More tales and pictures to come!

Officially Unemployed

Eeeeeekkks!!!

Health is Wealth

A really unlucky streak has seen me being down with a cough for almost a month now and on Sunday I sprained my left ankle while missing a step as I stepped off the road pavement. Argh. I stupidly thought the ankle would heal on its own and that the pain would go away. Obviously it didn't.

So finally I went to a Chinese sinseh along Upper Paya Lebar Road and got the ankle fixed back into place. By this time, my left leg had already become slightly shorter than the right and the bones in the foot were slightly out of place. He told me I shouldn't have left it for so long and that I really should have gone to get it treated straight away. OK, so everyone please learn from my mistake. Now the foot is being bandaged with some Chinese herbal medicinal paste under it. I'm not supposed to let my foot get wet - so that means putting a plastic bag around it when I bathe. And that also means no paddling! Boohoohoo.

Because of my cough I've already been out of action for almost a month. And now this. Sucks big time.

Indexing

I've been attending a three-day course on indexing and it has really opened up my eyes to the work that indexers do. I used to think that indexing a book was really easy - all you needed to do was find that particular word on that page and note down the page number. But no, it's not that simple. It really requires a good command of the language and good understanding of the subject matter and the intended audience of the publication. In addition, an indexer needs to be just as meticulous and detail-oriented as a copyeditor.

If a word appears on that page but is only mentioned in passing, the page doesn't have to be indexed. Conversely, if a word doesn't yet the concept of it is talked about in the pages, these pages have to be indexed. So a lot of judgment calls to be made and thankfully, indexing is not something that can be done by computers. Computers can only aid to make the job easier, but indexing still requires the human brain to play around with words.

There really is a fine art to indexing! So next time you flip through those pages at the back of a book, do make a mental note of all the hard work that has gone into it!

Sick of Being Sick

That same stuffy nose and persistent cough which plagued me two months ago is back to haunt me. Gosh, it's so not fun with the blowing of the nose and the wheezing cough. Because of it, I slept the entire weekend away. Very depressing for me since I almost always spend weekends paddling in the lovely outdoors...paddling to Sisters Island and St John's etc. I feel like my muscles are now all turning into fats...i haven't been able to exercise at all! Argh.

I went to see a doctor at Eu Yan Sang clinic so I've been taking Chinese herbal medicine. The good thing is that it's in powder form and placed in sachets, so it's really easy to take around. When I went on Monday, the cough wasn't there but now it seems to have hit me with a vengeance. Think I need to pay the doctor another visit. :(

p.s. Don't ask me how I managed to finish all the food at Novus!

New Beau

I don't normally let on too much about the romance part of my life, but I just found a new love! Ooh, I'm so happy...he's so good-looking, very modern and sleek. And as many of you know, I like my men intelligent. This one's great - has an elephant-sized memory and thinks so fast! I'll never ever worry about him forgetting anniversaries or any errands I might ask him to run. Also, normally people look horrid in white. But he seems to wear the colour very well. Anyway, I'm totally in love with my white knight!

And oh, his name's Mac. Family name: Book.

Update from Australia

Hello from Sydney! I arrived in one of my favourite cities on Friday and it feels like I've never left the place. Sometimes it's just so nice to come to a place there's such a nice feeling of familiarity and I don't have to think about which new places I have to check out and going through the process of figuring out maps and transport systems.

Before Sydney, I was in Surfers Paradise, Evans Head and Brisbane. Surfers Paradise certainly lives up to its name - the weather was sunny and gorgeous, the ocean beautiful, the surfer dudes hunkalicious with their bronzed bodies. Woohoo!

I was staying in a two-bedroom apartment with four other teammates. Our apartment faced the beach and we girls were just totally in love with the apartment!

Our race went well. Even though we were second last, we were basically doing our own race. We managed to achieve what we set out to do, i.e. to finish the race below 4 hours and to make all our sea changes. There was a lot of encouragement and spirits were high. There was no negativity and it was just a fantastic feeling when we finished it. You would have thought we had won the race when we crossed the finish line as we all were beaming and cheering. The driver of the support boat we were in said he was very touched to see how our women's team never gave up and was so positive throughout the race. He has been doing involved as a support boat driver for the past seven years, but he said it was the first time he has seen a team that's so positive throughout the entire race. That was such a nice thing to say and it's so touching!

For a first race, I think the ladies did really well! Eight out of 10 of us were racing for the first time. And compared to the Australians, we are so tiny! Many of the other women paddlers look like men from the back! They were so muscular and tall compared to us. Even me, a big Chinese girl, am small in comparison. I like being in Western countries 'cos I can feel like I'm average-sized...maybe even slim! Anyway, I'm so proud of the ladies!

The days after the race were spent relaxing and having fun. Five other ladies and I went to MovieWorld for a day of fun and screaming on roller coasters! I had many doses of adrenalin rushes as I went screaming my head off on all the roller coasters. I screamed so much that I ended up with a sore throat which lasted several days. Haha.

From Gold Coast, we made our way to Evans Head, a small town in the north of New South Wales. One of my teammates is Australian and her sister lives not too far from there. She was visiting her sister so the rest of us followed her. It was a very nice change from the big city. At first we wondered what we were going to do in a small town where the main "shopping centre" is just two rows of shops. The town only has 8000 people and it was a complete change for us big city dwellers.

Like one of my teammates said, it was like being in a twilight zone to find ourselves there. Like being in a reality TV show...city girls being planted in a small town to see how they would survive! Surprisingly, we liked the change. We took everything slow, drinked wine slowly, slept in the afternoon when it was hot, went for a surfing lesson, went kayaking along the rivers, took leisurely lunches and dinners, chatted the day and night away etc. And surprisingly, time passed. It was nice to take things slow for awhile. But we all concluded that we can't stay here for long as it would drive us crazy after with the lack of things to do.

From Evans Head, we made our way back to Brisbane where we spent Thursday night. We drank a lot of wine on the last night together. We drank and chatted the night away. Definitely a good way to end the road trip. We had a lot of fun during the past few days together and it's a memory I'll always treasure for the rest of my life.

So while the rest made their way back to Singapore from Brisbane, I flew to Sydney. This past weekend was lovely. I didn't do much really. It was just a very relaxing weekend that's all.

Saturday i was out with a friend and she brought my sister and me to this island called Scotland Island. It's a small island in one of the bays in the north shore. There was nothing on the island except for private homes. The homes were really nice. We didn't know anyone on the island but we just went to have a walk around the island. It'd be lovely to own of these homes which overlooks the waterfront of the bay. But I'd still prefer a home which faces the beach. There's nothing like the sea and the sound of the waves lapping onto the shore!

It took only 40min to walk around the island. We then took the ferry back to Churh Point where we parked the car. We had lunch there and after that we drove to Narrabeen Beach, one of the northern beaches.

In the evening, my sister, aunt, two cousins and I went to Darling Harbour to have dinner. We went to a Moroccan restaurant called Sumac and the food was pretty good. The restaurant is by the harbour so we kind of sat along the waterfront.

I went to one of my favourite restaurants in Sydney's Chinatown to have dimsum today with a very close friend who lives in Sydney. Of course I was on cloud nine after leaving the restaurant! Good friends and good food - nothing can top that!

Today was also the 75th birthday of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the bridge was closed to traffic so that people could walk across the bridge from the north shore to the south. It was really crowded! I had to take the train across (my aunt's place is in the north shore) to the city so I saw all the crowds.

After having afternoon tea with my friend, i made my way back home. I was chatting online with a friend in Singapore just now and she asked me what programme i had on for the night. I said "nothing". It might seem weird, but I actually just enjoy being at the house with my aunt and cousins and just watching some TV and going on the Internet. I also enjoy playing with their dog, Biscuit, a very lovely and cute gold retriever. I miss Rex. After I got home, I got my cousins to go cycling with me! I'm the cousin who makes them go exercising all the time! Haha. So we went cycling along the road their house is on. It's a very long road and it made for a very good cycle. So yes, that's what I enjoy - some exercise in the evening, playing with the dog, followed by a homecooked meal, some dessert, watching some TV and then going to bed. I'd rather do this than go to a pub or disco.

Anyway, the week ahead will just be meeting up with friends and very soon I'll find myself back in Singapore.

The Land of Oz

Yes, I'm putting on my red shoes, putting on a blue and white dress and going to be with my my friends the Lion, the Tin man and the Scarecrow in the Land of Oz!

OK OK, the truth it's not that magical and I'm not going to meet any wizards or wicked witches, but the magic is going to lie in the beaches and waters of Gold Coast and Sydney!

My teammates and I are going to Gold Coast for an outrigger canoe race which will take place this Saturday. There will be a men's and a women's team. This 42km race is going to be a change race, meaning we will be changing paddlers in and out of the canoe. The men's team will have 9 paddlers while the women will have 10. At any one time there be 6 paddlers in the canoe. The remaining will be on the support boat (this will be a small yacht) waiting for their turn to get into the canoe.

So when you're supposed to go into the canoe next, you're going to be dropped off into the sea by the support boat some distance away from the canoe. Normally about 2-3 paddlers will change out at one time. So you have to tread water for awhile and wait for the canoe to come to you. When the canoe comes, you grab on to the side of it and get into the canoe as fast as possible while the one that was in your seat before would have just jumped out a few seconds ago. The moment you get in you start paddling while the one that just jumped out waits for the support boat to come and get them.

Ooh, I'm so excited just thinking about it. Eight out of the 10 women in the team are taking part in an outrigger canoe race for the first time so it's a mixture of excitement and nerves that all of us are feeling. I fly to Brisbane tonight and will arrive Friday morning. We'll then be taking a bus to Surfer's Paradise where we'll be staying.

After the race, five other teammates and I will be going on a road trip for a few days. It'll be an all-girl affair! Woohoo! It's beginning to sound like one of those Hollywood movies you know. Have some hot men waiting for us, please (think Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise). Heehee.

After the road trip, I'll be making my way to Sydney for the second part of my trip while my teammates will be heading back to Singapore. I haven't been back to Sydney since June 2004 and I'm really looking forward to visiting the city again and seeing all my friends. And of course, I hope to chomp on some good food while in Aust. I've already got a dimsum lunch lined up on 19 March with some pals!

Oooh, I can't wait!!!!!!!!

Belated Update

Ah, it's been a long while since I wrote a half-decent entry. I've missed writing. And yes, I've had friends bugging me about my lack of updates. Things have been crazy at work and I haven't had the time or mood to write. To keep my friends up-to-date on what I've been up to for the past 1.5 months, let's do this in point form.

1) Jan 15 - I watched John Legend in concert at the Esplanade! Went with my buddy Van Tan and we were completely bowled over by the oh-so-sexy and smooth vocals of John Legend. He's mean on the piano too! That guy's HOT.

2) Jan 16 - Went to KL for the company's annual Asia Sales Meeting. Stayed at the Marriott right smack in the city centre. But I hardly had the time to go out and wander about. Went drinking every night during the five nights I was there. I had never drunk so much in such a short time. Went to the Beach Club with some of my colleagues. It's like some Mecca for tourists, or more specifically the sleazy male tourists. There are so many prostitutes there and it was an eye-opener observing them pouncing on the men the moment these men step into the club.

By the way, Feast Village at the basement of the Marriott is really nice. Love all the restaurants there which are done up so nicely. There's Luk Yu Chinese restaurant - the offshoot from its famous HK branch. While having dimsum for lunch there with three other colleagues, we spotted HK actor Kenny Bee. Of course, all food at the Feast Village is halal. Other cuisines available are Thai, Korean, Lebanese, American, Indian (Vaansh), and Malaysian (Enak). But of course the really yummy street fare is found outside of the swanky hotel. Unfortunately I didn't have time to go sniffing out all these good food. I was basically stuck in the hotel for the most part. I only managed a 1.5 hour visit to Sungei Wang on the morning of the day I left KL. Managed to buy a pair of shoes for 25 ringgit. Cheap! But my golly, I really didn't like the weekend crowds at Sungei Wang. It gave me a headache.

3) Jan 21 - returned to Singapore after a long bus ride from KL. What could have been about a 5-hour bus ride straight to KL turned out to be an 8-hour one. No thanks to the bad planning by HR who had arranged for a detour to Malacca to have dinner. Come on, I'd rather just stop by Yong Peng to have dinner. A request by me to change the plan to stop at Yong Peng was rejected, claiming that reservations have already been made at the restaurant. I don't understand why can't they could have just called to cancel. It's not as if the food has been cooked! And I don't understand why others didn't make the same request when they clearly didn't want to stop at Malacca at all when I asked them! Argh. Singaporeans just accept everything they're told to do. It's annoying.

4) Jan 22 - Bought my red iPod Nano! I love my new toy!

5) Jan 23 - Flew to Beijing for work. Had a slight cough as I made my way to Beijing. The cough got worse when I arrived in Beijing, what with the cold, dry and polluted air. I was coughing my lungs out in the next couple of days I was there. I had to go and see a doctor. Apparently there aren't any private clinics and everyone just goes to the hospital for illnesses whether major or minor.

My colleague brought me to Renmin Hospital and goodness, I felt like I had stepped back in time to Singapore in the 70s. I didn't see any computers at the reception desk, there were beds lining the corridors, the building was so old, and the place was just horrible. Singaporeans really have it good. Anyway, the bottom line is this: Don't ever get sick in China!!!

6) Jan 31 - Flew back to Singapore after having cut short my work trip in Beijing. Was supposed to stay till 6 Feb, but because I was so sick, I had to come home earlier than scheduled. The medicine I got from the hospital didn't help and by Jan 31 I was really feeling so weak and sick from coughing non-stop. The moment I stepped back on Singapore soil, I felt better. The cleaner and warmer air in Singapore certainly made a difference in my condition.

7) Feb 1 - Spent the whole day in bed and coughing away.

8) Rest of Feb - Recovering from cough...went to try TCM instead after Western medicine didn't seem to work. TCM really helped! I really believe in Chinese medicine...I think it's much better for colds and coughs etc. The use of herbs as medicine is much better than the drugs used in Western medicine.

In the past two weeks, I've also been getting back into paddling...I have an outrigger canoe race coming up next Saturday March 10 in Gold Coast!!! Ooh, boy am I excited!

9) Feb 19 - Ate at the House of Hunan at Novena Square. It's part of the Tung Lok group of restaurants. The food there isn't fantastic and basically I don't think Hunan cuisine (known as Xiang Cai) can quite match up to the sophistication of Cantonese cuisine. The service was good, but frankly I wouldn't go back there again.

10) Feb 24 - Met up with some food bloggers at Tampopo for lunch. The food there isn't fantastic. It's famous for the pork from the Black Pig...some special breed of pig famed for its meat. Read ivn's review here.

11) Feb 25 - Got myself a new mobile phone, the Nokia 6288. Another new toy. This is only my 3rd mobile phone. Last time I changed phones was Nov 2003.

12) Sick and tired of work - can't wait to go to Australia next week for a much-needed break from work! Going to KL and Beijing doesn't quite count as a break!

OK, that's it for now!

I'm Back!

Hello everyone!

I'm back and blogging again! Had to sort out some technical issues so that's why I wasn't blogging for awhile. I felt like I was being given a gag order when I couldn't write.

More updates from me soon, but just wanted to say I'm still around! :)

Why Ladies Today Are Still Single

Got this from a friend...

=================================================

1. The nice men are ugly.

2. The handsome men are not nice.

3. The handsome and nice men are gay.

4. The handsome, nice and heterosexual men are married.

5. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men, have No money.

6. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men with money think
we are only after their money.

7. The handsome men without money are after our money.

8. The handsome men, who are not so nice and somewhat heterosexual, don't think we are beautiful enough.

9. The men who think we are beautiful, that are heterosexual, somewhat nice and have money, are cowards.

10. The men who are somewhat handsome, somewhat nice and have some
money and thank God are heterosexual, are shy and NEVER MAKE THE FIRST MOVE!!!!

11. The men who never make the first move, automatically lose interest in us when we take the initiative.

NOW, WHO THE HELL UNDERSTANDS MEN?

"Men are like a fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it's our
job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into
something you'd like to have dinner with."

My New Baby

OK, not that new actually 'cos I got it end Nov, but just that I didn't have a camera to take a photo of it at that time. Last month, I also bought myself a Canon IXUS 850 to replace my IXUS 400 which decided to malfunction after being with me for three years.

So anyway, I got this hybrid (carbon blade and wooden shaft) outrigger canoe paddle from Xylo, an outrigger canoe paddle manufacturer from Australia. It didn't come cheap - my paddle and camera set me back $1000! I feel the pinch. Ouch. But I've been using my own paddle ever since and I've been enjoying my paddles a lot more! :)

Happy New Year

OK, I've been really lazy with this blog of late, and I really should start off the new year on a better note.

But first, just a little on 2006. Overall, it was a good year. I got to do two things I've always wanted to do - see the Terracotta Army in Xi'an and take a cruise down the Yangtze River. I was also lucky to be able to go to Boston on a work trip. I learnt how to steer a dragon boat and an outrigger canoe. I ran a half-marathon. I made new foodie friends. I matchmade a couple! The low of the year was of course the death of Rex, my collie.

New Year's Eve was a rather subdued one spent at home with two of my oldest friends, tiggie and fatgirl. They came over to my place and we baked cookies just for the fun of it. Pictures of the cookies to come! We baked way into the night, until about 2am! What better way to start off the new year than with food, right? We also opened a bottle of Shiraz when the clock struck midnight. From my home, we could see some of the fireworks coming from Marina Bay. Very pretty.

Earlier in the morning of 31 Dec, I had gone outrigger canoeing. We paddled to St John's and because one part of the island is a restricted area and we paddled past it, the navy apparently got all frazzled up and decided to send the police coast guard to check up on us. Apparently, they thought we were trying to smuggle ourselves in from Indonesia. The six of us had our personal particulars taken down by the police coast guard. Geez.

Anyway, no resolutions made yet for 2007 but I really should draw up a list and rethink my life. Meanwhile, Happy New Year to everyone!

Of Wine & Men

Hermitage at One Raffles Boulevard is the latest kid on the block of wine wholesalers. Only three weeks old, it is conveniently located at the basement of NTUC building – good for the yuppie crowd they’re trying to target.

The place is spilt into two levels with the upper level used to house the bottles of wines and the lower level has several tables and chairs where people can sit around to sip wine. It’s very pleasant with its wooden shelves and panelling and sleek, modern black furniture.

I went for a wine-tasting session there on Saturday afternoon. It was actually a wine-tasting cum speed dating thing organised by a friend of mine. But really, all I wanted to do was drink and wasn’t in the mood to make any conversation whatsoever 'cos I was so bloody tired after paddling for about 1¾ hours just awhile ago. (My teammates and I had paddled to Kusu, Lazarus, St John’s and Sisters Island again! Was a great paddle!)

We tasted one sparkling wine, two whites and two reds. We also tasted four types of cheeses. One of them was my Brie, a cheese that I like. The sizes of the cheese we were given were really disappointing though. They were the size of 1cm cubes. Pathetic! They really could have been more generous. The wines were OK, but I wished, Soo Hoo, the owner of the place could have said more about the wines and taught us how to taste the wines, and maybe write tasting notes. We were given a sheet of paper with a small write-up, but I thought he could have gone further with the tastes and smells we should be looking for.

I had asked a friend to come along with me. She later told me that she spoke (we didn’t get to speak to everybody which was really fine by me!) to one guy who didn’t drink anything 'cos he said a friend of his was sentenced to a few weeks imprisonment just the day before for drunk driving. For god’s sake, if you’re coming for a wine-tasting session and you’re afraid of getting drunk, leave the car at home or just ask for a bucket to spit the wine into. DUH!

Another complained to her that he was disappointed the wine wasn’t free-flow. Hello? This is a wine-tasting event not a wine buffet. *roll eyes*

Another was so sleepy and groggy that he looked as if he was going to fall asleep anytime. OK granted, he said he had been working from 5am – 1pm, hence the tedium. I don't think gulping down wine really helps in staying awake though...

One complained that Singapore’s VERY boring. I had to argue against this statement by saying that there ARE things to do in Singapore. It’s just a matter of looking for them. In my opinion, people who say Singapore is boring are the boring ones themselves. I don’t understand these people. To them, I guess visiting new clubs/pubs equates to ‘having things to do’. I suggested sports to Mr. Singapore-is-Boring as a way of filling his time. Mr Singapore-is-Boring goes on to say, ‘Oh, it’s so difficult to do water sports when I stay in the West 'cos all the water sports are in East Coast.’

Well well, you just haven’t been looking hard enough, mate! I have teammates who stay all the way in Jurong West yet they can make it for dragon boat and outrigger canoeing practice. I don't live near Sentosa yet I can make it there for practice at least twice a week. It’s only a matter of how much you want to do it, Mr Singapore-is-Boring! I could think of a million things to do if I had more time and money to do so. I think people who say such things are so bloody lame.

Anyway, this is my first and last time going speed dating. It's just so tiring having to introduce myself and reiterate what I do ten million times. I happened to sit with another girl and at any one time there would be both of us and two guys at the table.

Once, one of the guys said 'Oh, since you work as an editor, your English must be very good, right?' And being too tired to act falsely modest as any good, demure Chinese woman should, I just went 'Er, yah' in a very deadpan, nonchalant manner. (But of course I'm hardly demure even at my best. Hahaha)

Oh you should have seen their reactions to what one might consider my social faux pas. That was a truly comic moment I tell you. The guy who asked the question said, 'Aiyah, when people say such things, you're supposed to say "No lah, not really. OK lah."'

Whatever. I would have retorted that it was a rhetorical question he asked, but I doubt he would have understood the term 'rhetorical question'. OK, as you can see, I'm in a very bitchy mood now. Anyway, I left it as that and I doubt I left a very good impression. Hahaha.

No more speed dating thank you very much! Anyhow, it's a cesspool of men here!

Weekend at the Beach

After my home and office, Sentosa's Tanjong Beach is probably the place where I spend most time at. I reinforced this fact over the weekend. After an early evening paddle on Friday - I steered (under instruction from a more experienced teammate) to Sisters Island and back - three of us girls stayed behind as we planned to spend the night at the beach. The plan was to camp out, wake up at 7.30am, then go for a 5km run from Tanjong to Siloso Beach, then go for the usual Saturday morning paddle.

One of the girls had roasted a kampung chicken with mixed herbs, cooked brown rice, made guacamole and brought nachos, and tossed some garden salad with balsamic dressing. A bottle of Cabernet Merlot blend was the cherry on the cake for our gourmet camp-out. We even had an iPod plugged into small speakers for some nice jazzy music to complement the sound of waves lapping up the shore. Desserts were sugar plums, kiwi fruits and apples. Oh, there was chocolate too. Hee.

After being so stuffed from dinner, we decided to be healthy and walk off our dinner. From Tanjong Beach, we walked to Sentosa Cove to check out "the world's most desirable address" (that's how it's marketing itself). Nothing much there at the moment. There are already condominiums up and people living in them, but we couldn't get past the security post guarding the residential area as the security informed us that there's a big-shot living in there. It's amazing how many obscenely rich people there are in this world. Anyway, it took us 1.5 hours to walk there and back at a leisurely pace. I thought we had done enough to walk off our dinner.

We then pitched our tents. We had two big tents that we set about 10 metres from the water. At 1.30am, another teammate of ours came to join us after her company dinner & dance. So us four girls slept in the two tents, under the stars. We were really lucky it didn't rain!

Next morning, we dragged ourselves up at 7.30am and went for a 5km jog. Upon returning from the jog, about 20 other teammates had arrived for the regular Sat morning practice. Everyone was shocked that we had actually gotten up to run. Obviously no one believed we could do it! But I'm so happy we stuck to our programme and didn't give in to the temptation of sleeping in! The waters that morning were really choppy and it wasn't exactly a very fun paddle with choppy waters.

Anyway, camping out at the beach was good fun! We intend to do it again sometime!

This morning I was at the beach again. The morning was so gorgeous that we couldn't not take the opportunity to canoe to Sisters Island. I steered again and from Sisters Island we went to Lazarus and Kusu Island. We encountered some really rough waters and strong currents at some points and it was actually pretty scary when we were being hit head-on by the currents. The canoe just couldn't move. My crew really had to pull real hard and my steering skills were really put to the test. Yikes. It's at such times when you really feel extremely small against Mother Nature.

Both times I steered on Friday and today were good lessons for me in learning how to read and understand the waters. Partaking in sports where you're up against the elements really gives you a more profound respect of what nature is capable of. Of course I was steering under instruction from a more experienced paddler, otherwise I'd never dare risk going out there. Being a steer brings with it much more responsibility in that you'll have to ensure the crew's safety by steering and reading the waters well.

Often I think it's just much easier being a paddler and I shouldn't bother with learning how to steer. But I guess my desire to learn comes from the fact that learning how to steer makes for a more complete and versatile paddler. The club also benefits from having more people knowing how to steer. The best thing about outrigger canoeing is that no one situation is the same. Every time you're out, conditions are always different, be it different tides, different boats coming your way, weather conditions and wind direction etc are always different. There's always something to learn each time you go out. That's what I really love about the sport.

So there's my weekend!

Official Results

Gun Time: 2h:34m:52s
Chip Time: 2h:31m:1s

Placing in entire field:
2916th place with 3249 finishers behind. About 47% of finishers ahead.

Placing in gender (Female):
663rd place with 1151 finishers behind. About 36% of finishers ahead.

Placing in division:
131st place with 323 finishers behind. About 29% of finishers ahead.

Facts

Who's who
Of the 6165 who finished, 29% were female and 71% were male.

Opposite Sex
For the record, you were ahead of about 48% of male finishers. (Oooh, I love it when I beat the boys! Haha!)

Half-Marathon

“Why do I do this to myself????” Those were the thoughts that crept into my mind when I woke up at 3.30am this morning and got ready to leave for Bishan Stadium to catch a shuttle bus to the Esplanade. The Esplanade was the start point of the Stanchart run.

I had signed up for the half-marathon (21.1km) in end August, having had grand ambitions of training for it. But those grand plans fell through – I was paddling a lot but I hardly ran as I didn’t feel like running at one point in time in September and October. This is the first time I’ve run in any mass running event.

I arrived at the Esplanade at around 5.30am where I met up with a couple of friends. There was an excited buzz in the air and all the runners were rearing to go. The full-marathoners were flagged off first at about 6am. This was followed by the half-marathoners 30min later.

Before completing this half-marathon, I had never even run a distance more than 7km at a stretch. On hindsight, it was really quite insane to take something like that on without having trained for it. But I guess my regular exercise in other sports helps. At least I had enough stamina to last the distance. I maintained a slow and steady pace throughout and I told myself that my goal this time is not to stop to walk, no matter how tempting it is to do so. I managed to do that and am really pleased with myself.

I started off running with my friend who was maintaining the same pace I was for 8km. After that she had to walk as her knees were hurting. I went ahead without her, keeping at that steady running pace. I finished the half-marathon in about 2h 32min (exact time not known yet at time of writing). For someone who didn’t train for it, I guess it’s a pretty decent time! It helped too that we had good weather for running. It was cool and cloudy – unusual for Singapore! Thank god for that, ‘cos hot and humid would have killed me.

It's actually very motivating running with others. As I don't usually run with any music plugged into my ears, I motivate myself by setting small goals for myself at every step. If running alone on a road, I set visual markers for myself to reach. This time, I targeted a person in front of me and told myself I had to overtake him/her. Once overtaken, I aim for the next person. That really kept me going.

I should have heeded the advice of the running booklet to put petroleum jelly on the inner thighs and arms to prevent abrasion of the skin when running. Now I have bad abrasion on my inner thighs. I have to walk like a duck now. Next run I do, petroleum jelly will be my best friend.

In all honesty, I never thought I could do this. I’ve never been much of a runner and running isn’t my favourite sport. But I guess like many other things in life, it’s something I have to try once. For many people who take part in such runs, it’s more of a personal challenge than anything else. In completing the half-marathon (everyone who completes it gets a medal!), I feel a great sense of achievement and clichéd as it may sound, it’s true that often you’re actually a lot more capable and can achieve a lot more than you think you can. After awhile, it’s more mental than physical. Mind over matter. One thing I’ve realised in sports is that it really helps to build mental strength and character which can also be applied to other areas of one’s life.

So what will it be next year? Half- or full-marathon? Don’t know yet! But if it’s going to be a full, I’d better start training for it early. That’s just a whole different ballgame altogether!

Flaming Lamborghini

Thank you everyone for all the birthday wishes and presents! Monoceros gave me the Postsecret book today! I'm so happy! Love, love, love the book!

Dinner last night was at Kinara, a north Indian restaurant along Boat Quay. We had butter chicken, fish tikka and a spinach and ricotta cheese curry. The food was OK. Edible, but I've definitely had better curry. The garlic naan was pretty good though. It was fresh and soft and had the right amount of garlic.

After dinner we headed to Fez Bar (located just above Kinara) for the pub quiz night. My friends and I just enjoy pitting our wits against others as we are such competitive women (being competitive paddlers)! Ahaha! But no, we didn't win the quiz 'cos it was quite tough. Mainly 'cos a lot of the questions were of stuff before our era. And one round was about weapons! I mean, who gives a damn about weapons??? We told the quiz master that we want a round about clothes and shoes in future. ;p

Anyway, one of Fez's operators made me down a Flaming Lamborghini. Oh man, you should have seen that thing. He had stacked up a few glasses with the bottom one filled with a very potent mix of various kinds of alcohol. But just the bottom one filled was bad enough. And with a flick of his lighter, the entire glass tower burst into flames and I was given a straw to suck that very potent mixture down at one go.

Well, I managed to down everything in a minute and the next 1.5 hours saw the alcohol working into my system and going to the toilet twice to puke...

BUT I was still very sober; mainly 'cos I had thrown up everything. Wahaha. That's going to be my first and last Flaming Lamborghini. That thing's evil!

Left...

... 27 and picked up 28 today. Years, that is.

And I'm all set to party with my girlfriends tonight! Woohoo!

Second Place

Great weekend of racing. Us ladies did quite well, coming in second in the Minor Final. So we got some metalware! It's great paddling with the ladies and feeling that connection in the boat where everyone really wanted very much to win something.

Anyway, a few updates to come on eating places but have to get back to work first! Flying off to Beijing on Friday. Yucks.

Singapore River Regatta 2006

If you don't have anything to do this weekend, you might want to consider dropping by Boat Quay to catch the dragon boat races at the Singapore River Regatta. It's the last dragon boat race for the year!

Jinxed

I must be really down on my luck during this period of time. The stars must somehow be misaligned for me.

I drove to Vivo City last night to watch a movie and when I went to get my car at the end of the movie, I was faced with a car that would not start. I've NO freaking idea what happened, there was no reaction whatsoever from the engine when I tried to turn on the ignition. This happend at 11.15pm. Just great.

Anyway, I had to leave the car behind in the carpark. I caught a taxi home. As of this point in writing, I think my car is still sitting there. AA (Automobile Association) refused to turn up 'cos I'm not a member. My dad's one, but he wasn't with me. Anyway, he's sorting it out now. I'm so gonna join AA now.

Maybe I might have forgotten to turn the lights off. But I think I did remember turning them off. I don't know. Can't remember! Argh!

Rest

The body finally caved in today and told the mind to sleep in for once. Too many late nights and early mornings does this to you. On normal Sunday mornings, I would be at Tanjong Beach by 9am and paddling till about 11am, after which it's lunch with my teammates either at Coastes or at Seah Im Food Centre. By the way, the Tiger Prawn Pizza and the Beef Burger at Coastes are really delicious. Chilling out there with some comfort food is a nice way to spend Sunday.

I was supposed to crawl out of bed at 7 this morning, but when the alarm went off, I didn't s