Zynamic Gala

Sweet Temptation

2008-01-14T00:22:00.000-02:00

Cant get enuff of Tequila?? Hehe.. now u can get ur dosage b4 the sunset.

Colleague Jimmy-boi got this from thailand. I wonder is its ingredients are alcoholic, but it indeed taste like Tequila! Wat a straight shooter to kick-start the week! Hiakzz Hiakzz...

Time to go again

2007-12-16T19:38:00.000-02:00

Its time to go again, packed n leave.
Tucked the emotion neatly away and say goodbye to the sunny, bouncy city.
With a jolly mood, and a longing wish, i m returning to the familiar, warm, cosy city once again, knowing that there will be a open arm waiting for me. Ya.. there's a place called home, and i can smell it now even from a thousand miles away..

Vyvy, take care of yourself and be strong! Enjoy the samba-land and i shall see u soon in SG.

ZITS!!!!

2007-12-14T18:11:00.000-02:00

I m too free and i m literally popping zits all day.
Yikes.. There are so many breakouts on my chin recently and its hateful!!
Life sucks, esp when ur skin is as dry as a nun's gusset! AND with zits!!! =S

It never fails to bemuse me..

2007-12-13T11:05:00.000-02:00

.. the vicissitudes of the weather here.

It is just the onset of summer. The capricious weather is as worse as the Highness's whimsical mood. Last few days were hot like hell & the temperature even went up to 40 degree celcius. Just when i thought the cold spell is finally over, the temperature plunged again. First it was the ominous dark clouds, then without any warning, rain started dropping. The overnight shower simply swept off the heat n leave me trembling on my working chair like a nobody-kid now. A 72 hrs straight downpour? Geez.. its gonna be depressing. (i shall overcome it thou)

I can feel the festive mood welling inside me, compounded by the whole xmas theme on my pc, the glittery christmas lights along the streets, the oh-so-tall floating christmas tree at Lagoa, the christmas tunes from radio station(come to think of it, why dont they hv an exclusive station that plays only xmas carol? i m so gonna tune in to it days n nights), and definitely the gushing excitement of being able to see the people i miss so much soon!

The office secretaries organise an advance xmas party. Nothing big, just a small BYOFood gathering AND the 'secret friend' gift exchange. Thats how it works. We get to pick the name of our 'secret friend' written on a paper note from a pandora box weeks ago, and then everybody could start go gaga over the xmas present shopping ritual. And then in the party, someone will start the ball rolling by describing his/her secret friend, and everybody will make a guess of who that 'secret fren' is, followed by gift exchange. My secret friend is Jeane, whose bday is one day before mine. Wat a coincidence.. we happened to pick each others name and we exchanged our gifts. =D

The Prig announced his upcoming one month vacation. Oooh... all of us agreed thats the most worth celebrating reason! CHEERS =D

The Prig

2007-12-12T15:27:00.000-02:00

The Prig: Ooh.. let me introduce. This is Z. One of our main buyer. Z, this is X, our project deputy director.
Z: Nice to meet you.
X: Nice to meet you.
The Prig: Wat a pity, Z is leaving the project this week. To 'Come' back to her country. (Pardon French guy's English)
X: Oooh.. why? You dont like Brazil? (Looking at Z)
Z: no.. no.. of coz not. i love Brazil. but.. well.. its company decision, so i just hv to go.
The Prig: Ohh.. She doesnt like French guys.
Z: (Smile charmingly towards X) Hee. no.. i like French ppl. I just HATE proud and snobbish people. (Give The Prig a derisive smile.. turn gracefully n walk away)

See.. I m NICE but some people just like to ask for it!!

The high..

2007-12-11T16:03:00.000-02:00

Imma as happy as Marry freakin' Poppins now, despite the stuffy nose and undesirable body aching.

Reason being...

First i got a sweet sms from Mr hooligan.

Next , i received this cute ecard from my beloved dd.

Then i was treated to a great lunch today at Outback.

No saint could be mean after being pampered by their signature ribs on the barbie, blooming fried onion, spicy kookaburu wings, gold coast coconut shrimp and the delectably sinful chocolate thunder from down under. No..no.. not even a bulging stomach could spoil the mood.

And then this!!! A nice orchid table arrangements which i have just the right spot on my desk for it. =)

Thanks a zillion to the u-noe-who. Lets juz say u certainly knows how to make a gal's day.
Well.. it might be a lil' later than expected, but now.. thats the high i m seeking.. got it?

Seeking for a hug

2007-12-10T21:22:00.001-02:00

If there is an island in the earth called frequent sicka, i could absolutely be the queen there.

juz recovered from the world most serious sorethroat and now I m officially carrying a blocking nose and a leaking bowel. At one moment i have to breathe thru my mouth like a puffy fish, and the next moment i m running up n down for toilet like a nuts.
Arrggh.... now u got me.. a suffocated fish on the dry land..

Desperately in need of a hug now. A hug that gets me high, high enuff to fade all the uneasiness away..

I need my McDreamy

2007-12-01T20:00:00.000-02:00

Went to the beach at Campoinhas.
The soothing seawaves and and the cooling seabreeze hv the magic of bringing all the stress away.
Wat a captivating scene but it only makes me miss u more.
I know how much u love the sea yet I couldnt bring the calming seaview neither the smell of the ocean back..
I can only whisper in my heart and hope the seagulls can bring across my blessing to you who is a thousand miles away.

=( Enchanted is out in SG.

Wont be able to get back in time to catch it. I need to get my dose of McDreamy!!

Oh boi.. need u remind me of that melt-me-in-my-shoe Patrick Dempsey's smile??

Okie.. i shall juz bear with it for the moment and catch him more on my Laptop.

Bye.. ppl. Time for Grey's Anatomy Season Four.

Oh ya.. before i forget, its finally December. Xmas is just round the corner. Imma in the mood to get a silky lil' dress, and dance the xmas nite away wif a special someone. Will the wish comes true?

Banana - Laxative or Costive?

2007-11-30T08:44:00.000-02:00

Its gonna be a nice day watsoever.

I got a red apple from vyvy early in the mornig and then the cute lil' boxes made by Carmen's daughter. Oh my, i m such a blissful damsel wif u gals ard =D

Well.. this is totally unrelated, but somehow gotta share my ponder here.
Vyvy is having her first constipation in her life.. ever since she took the banana(s) from the mkt last thursday. So... we were just jokingly pointed out aint bananas help the body to detox, Suely overheard our conversation and gave us an astonishing look.

"Oh no gals.. you all should not eat banana. Banana is bad.. Banana makes you to tighten not to let go!!"

Oops.. in my whole life i thot banana is the best natural laxative other than papaya??!!
I decided to do a survey among the brazilians and to my surprise the result is doubtfully assertive. So now i m totally confused , does banana act as a laxative or a costive?

Silicone No More

2007-11-29T11:39:00.000-02:00

Traffic to Rio is really bad..

Every morning we are stuck in the traffic congestion on the bridge which links up Niteroi and Rio. Boss often jokes that there is already plenty of 'jam' and all we need is a loaf of bread then we can hv our breakfast in the car.

When the traffic situation is dat bad, we need to find some entertainment. Saw this billboard commercial advertisement on the way to office. Kekeee.. gonna buy tons and tons of this club social biscuit back if its really effective. ö

too sweet to be true?

2007-11-28T10:15:00.000-02:00

"Don't be afraid of me, don't be afraid to open up to me.

Give me a chance to care for you, love you and protect you.

Give me a chance to make you happy everyday.

Give me a chance to be by your side no matter what happen."

When a guy look into ur eyes and tell u this in the sincerest tone u ever heard,

isnt is just too sweet to be true??

On my way to lunch...

2007-11-27T14:36:00.000-02:00

..this cute lil' christmas tree caught my eyes and stopped me from proceeding my track. U noe me.. i dun hv much resistance towards anything kawaii.
It is abt 24cm high, just nice to bring a touch of xmas to my boring working desk!

I shall be spending my xmas eve in Taiwan this year, and i m soo looking fwd to the trip. Have you start planning for your xmas too?? =)

Mysterious Bruise

2007-11-27T12:15:00.001-02:00

Grrr...... woke up in the morning and saw this on my right hand.

Totally no clue when & where i got this from? Another X-file series?!!

The worst sorethroat ever

2007-11-26T21:58:00.000-02:00

It just wont go away!!!!!!!
It has been like wat?! A week ored??
And Geezz..... i start to think its more than a sorethroat!! It must be some evil throat biting virus, trying to build their cosy sleazy nest inside my throat. WAAAH!!!!!

Suely, my brazilian colleague decide to roleplay as my personal GP.
Except for a stethoscope, she got everything a doctor needs - the prettiest smile and the gentlest tone one could ever imagine.
My sweet GP prescribed me some pills and lozenges for me, and i half-heartedly surrendered under her charmingly smile and that sincerest caring look in her eyes. Lets just hpe those green pills do help, then i could finally swallow my own saliva with that heart-piercing pain NOMORE!!

Saturday Luncheon

2007-11-24T18:06:00.000-02:00

Went lunch with some Brazilians colleague at the newly opened bistro located in the famous Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum on Saturday.

That gotta be the longest luncheon i ever attended. The whole lunch took me 4hrs!!! From twelve thirty to four.. We spent one hr sitting in the restaurant waiting for everyone's arrival, the next two and the half hr eating, drinking, laughing and chit-chatting( Well.. when i said chit-chatting, i actually meant THEY are chit-chatting in Portuguese, while Ivy and I listened in ~~complete puzzle~~ awe), and when everybody finally decided they had talked their hearts all out, filled their stomach all full, drank to their bladder almost burst, we called for the bill AND spent the next half an hr waiting for the waiter swayed gracefully across the room to hand us our damages. By the time, i reached my lil' apartment, its already dinner time nono.

ARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!! I m deadbeat by now and i can assure u.. its even tiring than shopping non-stop for four nice consecutive hour. Picture to be loaded soon.. i m in serious need of rest now. (X_X)

Post entry Update:

Here're the pictures i promised, u go!

I hate it when u makes me cry..

2007-11-24T10:16:00.000-02:00

I hate it when u say thing so bluntly , that it brings my tears back..
I hate it when after all these years., u are still the one who touches my heart..
I hate it when I went round and round the carousel, u are still the one that stays ..
I hate it when I m overseas, I lose all the protective shell and get emotional easily..
I hate it when u ask me to look into my heart coz I dun want to know who I’m gonna see…

In Rio again

2007-11-23T21:44:00.000-02:00

Guess it does make sense when people says absence makes the heart grow fonder.
After six months, Rio seems to be a better place than previously. Perhaps it's just me and my emo.. I mean, afterall I'm here for a short assignment for 1 month, and the whole trip seems more like a business trip rather than few years exile now. Haha.. I m not saying I had a bad time previously, but you know.. its just DIFFERENT.

Touched down on Wednesday nite and we went to office on Thursday morning. It wasn't a tough task for me as I cant get to sleep due to jetlag. Stayed awake all nite long watching the sky turned from nite to dawn without anyone sharing the beautiful scene thou..

The traffic situation is getting worse. We have to leave for work earlier and reach home later due to the terrible traffic congestion along the bridge across Niteroi and Rio. More and more people shifted to Niteroi as its safer and simpler, a better city to stay compare to Rio. Absurd i know it is, but i suddenly felt COE & ERP system could be a smart system to be implemented afterall.

Got Ivy, a colleague of mine coming along with me this time. She will be here for 2 yrs to accomplish her expediting task for the newly signed project. Hence part of my job is to familiarize her with the environment and prepared her for the seemingly adventurous 24 mths ahead. I had gone thru this period before and i can pretty much understand how she must hv feel. It wasnt easy for me when i first came to this absolutely mysterious samba land. Culture shock, homesick, language barrier, work related problems and so on.. Haiz.. i can only spend a month with her, pretty limited things/experince i can actually pass to her within this short span of time. Hopefully she could adapt to the new environment soonest.

Flying yet again..

2007-11-16T22:38:00.000-02:00

=( Just got back from HongKong-the fragrance harbour, yet i was told to fly to Brazil within the next few days.

It has been a hectic year with hell lot of flying.. As good as it might seems, the past few months were actually quite exhausting. Like the captain who hates the sea, I actually kinda hate traveling despite the fact that I have spent most of time involving constant movement.

Lets just hope the coming year i can spend more time here with my dearest family, friends and Zico, and also more blogging. I hv got so many pictures piling up.. so many stories to tell and i just dunt hv a hella one/two hr to blog. Thats kinda frustrating and sad to say i gotta signed off here.

xoxo and take care till we see each other again.
Love, Zee

Hee..

2007-11-04T22:01:00.000-02:00

.... no more dreadly and dull straight long lock, hehe.. i m now officically blessed wif lightly bob short hair on my tiny lil' head.

Ask me how does it feels?? It feels like a weight has been taken off shoulder!

Looks chic, less shred but the only cons: Now i gotta report to my 'Groomer' as often as Zico does. In fact, this is my second cut within this month, I bidded farewell with my long hair last mth, and this time rd, got it trimmed to even shorter length. =) aha, i think i kinda addicted to cut it short now!

Dashing to Fragrant Harbour Soon!

2007-11-02T15:26:00.000-02:00

Anybody got any good restaurant/street stall to recommend?? Well, of coz a list of factory outlets will be greatly appreciated too =Þ
Am heading to HK next week, oh boi.. just the thot of all those HK-style delicacies makes me drool.

My first visit to HK was like.. mm... a decade ago?? That was during uni time and i was literally a poor student wif no spending power at all. But this time rd, haha.. i shall make sure the air ticket worth-to-e-MAX!!

Back from Beijing..

2007-10-25T03:42:00.000-02:00

Finally back from my BeiJing trip.

Suddenly realise Singapore is wa......aaaaay too HOT!!
How i wish i could bring the autumn back with me.
Shall update more on the trip.. erm.. i promise.

In the mood of melancholy

2007-10-09T23:19:00.000-03:00

作词：邢增华作曲：巫启贤编曲：吴庆隆歌

很想给你写封信告诉你这里的天气
昨夜的那一场电影还有我的心情

很想给你写封信却只是想想而已
我已经不能肯定你是不是还会关心

爱与不爱都需要勇气于是我们都选择了逃避
爱与不爱都需要勇气于是我们都选择了逃避
或许你不相信我很满意这样的结局
或许你不相信我没有一丝的埋怨和悔意
虽然你是我的最初
虽然你是我的最终
虽然你是我的唯一

Attended Eric Moo's concert last Sat, pretty much like a trip down the memory lane. Not very familiar with those XinYaos, but some of his popular songs during the 90s are pretty touching still. This is one of my fav.. Funny but truely, reminds me of K.

Cocooning

2007-07-11T17:17:00.000-03:00

I feel like my muscles are now all turning into fats...i haven't been able to exercise at all! Argh.

I feel like I'm imprisoned in the room. The sun is beaming out there, and the heat is sweltering.
I've taken to holing myself up in the room. The good thing is i hv been leading a very systematic life these few days. Wake up at 7am, sleep at 9pm. Take three meals a day at regular timings and instill eyedrops promptly.

Besides not being able to goto work, having some spare time of your own while everybody else is quite a blessing actually. I did so many things yesterday which i had been contemplating for months:

1. Woke up at seven am and had breakfast with my darling mum.
2. Bathed Zico. ( Well, mum did the job while i m just helping by looking. =P)
2. Finally got myself a queen size mattress and dumped the old single size mattress. We all deserve a good bed to sleep the night off and recuperate for a better tomorrow!
3. Went shopping w/ mummy and got her a new handphone.
4. Shopped for my new bedsheet/mattress protector/quilt/quilt cover/pillow/pillow cases & etc..
5. Had dinner wif dad/mum/dd/zico.

Ha.. i thot I can hear a collective gasp:" Thats sooooo normal!"
True enuff but all these are simple chores i have been missing for years-- some quality time spent with family. Suddenly a week of rest seems like a nice way to break the monotony of working life!

So bored!!

2007-07-09T13:36:00.000-03:00

I am given one whole week outpatient sick leave. However, i am doing absolutely nothing at home. My dad will start lecturing whenever he see me watching TV while Mum will start nagging the moment i on my laptop. I cant do my reading either as i cant focus well especially near-reading.

So the only entertainment i have is playing wif Zico, which i think he is getting too much of me and he is sick of my presence now. He doesnt want to play catch animore and all he want is his afternoon nap. =( Went out yesterday fisrt time after surgery. Had dinner and ice-cream with Kate, Bear and Alan. Even thou lighting in the shopping centre was still too glaring for my eyes, no doubt i need to stick to the sunglasses indoor like a f*ck-up celebrity-wanna-be, I just cant tell you how WONDERFUL it felt, to be able to see clearly without the aid of any hard or soft lenses. Almost felt like having granted a 2nd life. Well, a miracle which costed me a few thousand buck thou.

Oops.. mum is coming, gotta go! Some photos to share:

LASIK surgey - Day 2

2007-07-06T22:48:00.000-03:00

Woke up wif a better vision, my right eye vision is much clearer then. and that was certainly a boost of spirit!

My left eye with astigmatism was scheduled for operation early in the morning. The procedure was similar as yesterday. However, the doctor had to draw marking in my eyes using a tiny pen pre-surgery. The thot of having someone using a pen poking into my eye sounded pretty eerie but its actually painless. I was quite nervous and scared still but mentally prepared. Hence the whole surgery seemed to be shorter and more bearable. this time, doctor no longer crying for bleeding. That certainly eased my thumping heart. I remained absolutely still thruout the whole surgery as instructed and was quite relief when the doctor finally blurted out the word 'DONE!'

Whew.. the toughest part already past! Now i can sleep well and eat well even though i have to take extra care of my eyes. There shall be no rubbing of the eyes, no eye makeup, no water, shampoo or soap near the eyes for a week and absolutely no swimming for at least two weeks. However, there shall be no more fumbling of glasses in the dark, no more uncomfortable contact lens, and no more blurry harry when i go for swimming!! Thats kinda cool, isnt it?? Both my eyes can see clearer now! Life had nvr looked any better than this, Wahaha!!

LASIK surgery- Day 1

2007-07-05T17:09:00.000-03:00

The day of my LASIK surgery finally arrived, i was a lil' nervous yet excited at the same time.

The operation was scheduled at 2:30 and I have to report to SNEC one and a half hr before surgery. I went straight the the LASIk center registration counter where i was told to make payment. hopefully this would be the best money i ever spent!!

The nurse first took photos of my original/pre-surgery pupils' sizes. I was told to lay still on a bed which the operation gonna take place later. The photography section was done in a blink of eyes. After that the friendly nurse instilled 2 drops of eyedrops into my right eyes in order to dilate my pupil in prepartion for the surgery. I was then told to go have my lunch before the operation. 1/2 an hr later i went back for another 2 drops for the same purpose.
Soon, my name was called again and the nurse checked the dilation of pupil. She was satisfied with the results and the surgery was abt to begin. The hurse helped me to clean my eyelid, and gave me some anaesthetic eyedrop. I had to don a cap, a gown and shoes cover before i was brought into the laser room where the doctor was waiting.

I laid down on the same bed where i had my pupils' photographs taken. The doctor warned me not to move my head nor drop my chin and keep loking starigh up at a red light. The actual surgery was actually quite quick but i felt like forever lying down there. I can barely figure out the details but i remembered the super uncomfortable feeling when the doctor put the eyelid retainer between the lids. Probably those with bigger eyes will experiences less pain =P. Thurout the surgery, i can hear some "zzzzzz" machine sound while the laser is working. could also hear the doctor reapeating his words: 'Wah.. a lot of blood.. a lot of blood.. haiz.. so complicated..' The more i heard te scarier i became. I also smelt burning at the end of the surgery. My only thoughts: Can i just jump down from the bed and run away from the room??
Why backside itchy hiong hiong came for the surgery. now then u know u r asking for torture urself lar. =( Oh no.. tmr still got another eye to go thru. sob.. sob.. sob...

Dunnoe how many minutes had passed before the doctor announced my freedom! I was toled to blinked rapidly and sat straight slowly. Already i could see out of the eye which had just been operated on. Kinda incredilble!However, vision was still blur and i was told it wiill gradually stabilize to a better result.

After removung the cap and gown, i was given a drink while the nurse gave me a bag which consisted two types of eyedrops. an antibiotic type and a lubricant type. There wass also a protective eyeshiled which double up as a sunglasse, which i had to wear for the next 24 hr and also during bed time for the following week. I was told not to rub my eyes and also instilled the eyedrops timely as intructed.

After a final check with the doctor, i was given the 'OK' to go home. I was warned not to stare at anything for too long, blink my eyes every 5 to ten minutes, do not take any naps before 11pm tonite. I had to keep on watering my eyes to prevent inflation and dryness.

All and all, the surgery is rather minor and painless, however its not very comfortable either. I am doing fine and able to blog now within 2 hrs post surgery. Tmr i will hv to report at 7:30am and that will be another rd of suffering. However, I am looking forward to having a pair of eyes with a clean bill of health. =) Cheers!!

King of Fruits

2007-07-03T23:25:00.000-03:00

Went for durian feast at Serangoon Teck Chye Terrace with colleagues after work.

Teck Chye Terrace is a tad hard to find for someone who is not familar with that part of Singapore. It’s on the junction of Boundary Road and Upper Serangoon. Near the Paya Lebar Methodist Church. However, its definitely not a new name for foodies. This is also the place where the Channel 8 Drama Series - 'Holland Village' was filmed.

The shop is called Durian 24, owned by Jimmy's friend. The proprietor once took part in a Mediacorp TV competition with two other durian sellers to see who was the best in identifying the different types of durian & he won hands down. There were different types of durian sold in this shops: " D24", "Cat Mountain King" & etc. There were other fruits such as starfruits, mangosteens and cherries available too. We were given some free Lychee thru the courtesy of the proprietor. =) For those who like durian cakes & durian puffs, you can find emicakes outlet here too.

For the unintiated, durian is actually a tropical fruits with heavy, thick-skinned, brownish-green, spiky shells. Mainly planted in Southeast Asia, each individual fruit is divided into few compartments, each containing a few sac of thick, creamy pulp with brown seed, with an aroma that is legendary. Those who loves it call it 'King of Fruits'. The litany of legends and myths surrounding what Malaysians call the "king of fruits" is long and colorful. The durian is said to be an aphrodisiac: When durians fall down, sarongs fly up, goes a Malay saying. For those who cannot accept its strong smell and ugly look described it as smelling like garbage, moldy cheese, rotting fish or worse still: a bunch of dead cats. Thailand durian is good for beginners who cant stand the 'pungent smell' but for the real connoisseur, nothings beats the native durian grown in Malaysia's dusun(aka orchard).

It had been years since i last tasted durian. I aint a durian lover but this kind of gathering always bodes well for the tastebuds. Besides, my colleagues are all good people which are great fun to be with. Hence, regardless of the ulcers in my mouth and the lasik surgery scheduled 2 days later, i braved myself to the durian buffet spread.

We ate the most expensive 'Cat Mountain' which is so called the best durian. The colour of the durians were golden yellow while the texture were creamy wet and sweet, the taste however decent but nothing to rave about. I still remember the good old times when my families and I used to eat durian by the roadside stalls. Those durains seemed to taste nicer and richer in terms of flavor. Those are the best durians i had ever tasted, perhaps what i hv been pining for is a taste of nostalgia. I can also remember after a hefty durian feast, mummy would insist that we fill the empty shell with water, add a pinch of salt and drink it. She would explain that by doing so, the shell which contains "anti-heat" properties that would help cool down body heat. It is believed that durian makes the body feel warm. Another weird but useful tip: Rinse your mouth and hands with water poured on the durian shell. This will neutralise any bad after-durian binge smells.

10 of us had about 5 durians before going over to Lim Tua Tow restuarant which is located 2 doors away. The food were generally too salty and too heavy after our durian feast. The attraction of durian is fatal. We were drawn back to Durian 24 after dinner by the durian smells and started our 2nd rd durian buffet. We also dabao some back homw and all of us vowed to return next week to relish the sensation again before this durian season draws to an end. If you have not sampled durians before, I highly recommend that you do. You will either love it or hate it. No two ways about it. Whatever the consensus, one must admit there is nothing quite like the durian – "king of the fruit".

Getting a pair of new eyes

2007-07-02T00:55:00.000-03:00

Haha.. m back!!

Been busy practising geisha stare -- stop men in their stride with a single look! Why???? Coz i m getting a new pair of eyes soon!! Well.. to be precise.. i m expecting a perfect eyesight in the next few days. Keke.. after soo many years of talking, i finally went for lasik consultation last week and the operation is scheduled on coming Thursday and Friday. Wish me luck!!

Found this cute tiny cakes from GOBI on my desk after lunch =) Its easy to bring a smile on a gal's face, isnt it?

Home finally - Food Orgy

2007-05-30T23:59:00.000-03:00

Arr.. after 35 hrs of flying and transit, I m HOME finally!!!

March straight to the food mecca at EastCoastLagoon Food Centre. Hv been drooling over ECL's & DK's supper entries for the past month. Hiakz.. hiakz.. hiakz... now is time to savour some genuine food therapy to conquer the jet-lag!

Hohoho....Eating definitely holds the accolade of being my official favourite pastime. Eastcoast Lagoon Foodcentre boasts a tropical setting complete with outdoor umbrella seating, timber trellises and lush landscaping. Wat betta place to enjoy ur food while overlooking the beachfront and enjoying the seabreeze.

Without further ado, Makan time!!!
All-time-favourite: Oyster Egg (aka Or-Ning: oyster fried with egg, no flour added), dip it with the chilli sauce, ooh SHIOK!!!

How would i forget the chicken satay with peanut sauce?? Mmmm....The burst of flavours which nvr fails to tingle my taste buds.

Main course of the nite-BBQ stingray covered with sambal chilli. Eat it with special chilli made with small prawns & onion aka cencado. Hot & Spicy-wat a blast!!

BBQ squid are good too,

try also the fried prawn cake, highly recommended by the stall's Auntie.

Leng Heng BBQ Seafood & Claypot Deluxe

East Coast Lagoon Village Stall No. 6 (Near the beach)

Opened 3.30pm till 11pmClosed on Thursdays

You must be wondering how I can devour so many different types of food at one seating. Well, the trick is to order various dishes and then share your food, so you get to try everything. =) Super duper full now.. i must hv eaten like a hungry ghost =P How nice to be back again..

Hi from Champs-Élysées

2007-05-29T19:32:00.000-03:00

I had a full 15 hr in Paris in between flights connection. With a shopping list in hands (requested by friends & colleagues), Jimmy & i set off to downtown.

A special day trip ticket which allowed unlimited travel on metro & bus could be purchased at EURO 17.05. Our first stop: Galeries Lafayette - a 10-story department store. The high-fashion displays and grand architecture of Paris' resolutely old-world Galeries Lafayette are perhaps the main attraction for visitors to this famous store. One can find almost all the Paris leading collection of chic and bold international fashions here. Let me warn u first, definitely not a lenient place for ur thin credit card and purse. FYI, foreigners are entitled to 10% discount at most of the stores here, and dun forget to ask for the necessary documents in order to claim back the 12% VAT refund at the airport!

Almost broke, we continued our journey to Champs-Élysées, an avenue that stretch from the Concorde square to the Arc de Triomphe, which is well-known as the most beautiful street and the most famous shopping area in the world. There are tons of international big brother brand flagstore and chic restaurants/cafes along the streets.

Shopping craze ended at LV Paris flagstore and we all decided it was time to pamper our stomach after a long day.The mussel lover would find an inexpensive home away from home at Leon de Bruxelles, a chain of restaurants, but unlike any chain you've seen before. The food was of good quality, the prices were reasonable and the atmosphere were fun. You'll find mussels cooked in umpteen styles - Provencal, white wine, Chef's surprise, to name a few. There's a great selection of Belgian beers draft. To the convenience of customers, one could find the suggested beer to go with listed in the menu by the side of each main course.

I guess its pointless to tell u how good it tasted. U just got to try it urself!

Mussels' aftermath--

All rite, time to catch a nap and prep for the next flight!

Time to Go Home

2007-05-28T16:45:00.000-03:00

Dear readers, imma leavin' Brazil and heading home now.

Will probably blog lesser but i will try my best to drop a few line here n there.

Subscribe to my RSS reader if u dun wanna keep on coming back for nothing new.

See ya soon in June!

XOXO, beijos!

My luggage.. nothing left in this apartment which i have been staying for the past 1 yr(on n off). Seems like lotsa things to carry back, but the heaviest of all is the invisible baggage that weighs one down. I nvr mentioned this but i was a runaway soldier. I ran to Brazil partly due to memories and people tat i dun wanna face. And now.. i going back again.. hopefully leaving all the haunting past behind.

One thing that keeps me going all these days..

Things gonna be better =)

I dun mean to see ya naked

2007-05-28T09:42:00.000-03:00

'AWWWWWW!!!!'
'PONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

An ear-piercing screeeeeaaam + a door-slam at less than in inch from the tip of my nose. Erbbbbb... I m deaf + shocked + stunned for a good 10 seconds or more.

I can register the image of a round, shapely and maybe smooth butt in my pupils a minute ago and then kaboom a pink color wooden door just shut the full monty behind. WTH!!! I din mean to see ya naked anyway, watever u hv i oso have. Imma aint a pervert who enjoy watching you doing ur big proj in the loo!

I have lost count of how many times i encountered this situation since i came to work in Brazil's office. I dunnoe WHY this particular lady in my office can nvr remember to lock the door properly before she start to undress. Sometimes i wonder, are you really dat rush?? If that is the case, why must u wait until the last minute then looking for the loo??!! The worst part is: it isnt my intention/fault to disturb you in your midst of ur system-clearing project. You are the one who din lock the door in the first place, y still shouted like there was an alien-invade. I m pretty sure I m not the only one who knocked at ur door. You shud hv seen that happen since it is not the first time you left the door unlocked! Duncha think you are being inconsiderate and if I were to have a faint heart, i would have suffered from a heart attack by ur life-threatening scream.

This happened in Singapore too. Once, I was looking for the restroom inside the cinema just after the show. There was only one ladies restroom near the exit. The moment i pushed open the door, a gal inside screamed and slammed the door in front of my face, attracting all the attentions of the leaving audience. I felt like to hide into a hole immediately if there is any in front of me.

There was also this incident when i was on my flight to Chile. The lavatory's light was green so i pushed the door open, and hell... i caught a brazilian gal with her pants half-pulled. I was kinda awkward but the Brazilian gal was kinda polite. She came out in a minute, fully-dressed this time, smiled at me and apologised.

I dunnoe if this happened in the Gents too. Anyway, people, the point is: try not to wait until your tank is fully loaded before you start looking for a place to release. Even if you are in a rush, please do remember to lock the cubicle's door. By doing tat, u can take your own sweet time, indulging in ur private moment without worrying any unwanted interruption. You dun want to embarass yourself neither do others, BE CONSIDERATE! Also, try to look underneath if u can see any hanging feet before u push the cubicle door, just in case.

Arpoador Beach & Azul Marino

2007-05-26T21:53:00.000-03:00

My last Saturday in Rio, Met up with Marlin who was also in town for lunch.

We went to Azul Marino, a small seafood restaurant by Arpoador beach. Arpoador is the border between Ipanema and Copacabana. The name comes from the rock formation, that gives you a wonderful view to both neighborhoods. Ipanema Beach is renamed Arpoador Beach once you go past Rua Francisco Otaviano. Arpoador Beach is a favorite with surfers, and there are spotlights for night surfing. The restaurant-Azul Marino is situated on the beach lane- Rua Francisco Bhering which is open for pedestrians only (see map).We parked the car some distance from the restaurant and took a stroll along the beach.The most captivating part is the seaview in front of the restaurant, listening to the seawave, the laughter of the beach bums, and the music played by the buskers made the food taste better than ever. We would like to take the alfresco seat but the pigeon flying over our heads seemed rather unfriendly. We had to give up the option not wanting any extra ingredients dropping from the sky while we gobble up our meal.

Complimentary entree was fish broth. We ordered casquinha de siri (stuffed crab meat) and some fresh oysters for starters. High on the hog!!

Main courses were Moqueca de Peixe(Fish Moqueca) and grilled seafood platter. The moqueca was nice but not as fantastic as the one we had in Siri Mole. The grilled seafood platter was okie but half of the hotplate was filled with fruits & vegetables. Felt kinda cheated by the menu's description. Nothing to rave about.Dessert choices were somehow simple and limited, the fruit salad with vanilla ice-cream looks good thou. =)

In short, its was a close but no cigars, I dun feel the 'Oomph' from the food but the ambience was definitely a highlight esp to aesthetics sucker. It will make a good choice for lunch after a suntanning session at the beach.

My greatest satisfaction?? Hahaha.. wat else but oggling at the beautiful beautiful Ipanema Gals for the whole afternoon! I wonder why they could still wear the skimpy bik- even durinng sucha a cold weather. o_O

Molest!!

2007-05-24T09:30:00.000-03:00

I dunnoe if i were standing at the high risk spot, or I'm the one that falls into the high risk group.

Jimmy and I were doing our weekly marketing at the fresh market. I was standing at the exact same spot where the lunatic woman's attack took place few mths ago. I was wearing my not so perfect jeans while looking at the big round melon and it happenend!!!

"PIAK!!" a steady sturdy PAT on my butt!!! I was pissed and stunned at the same time. I raised my hand and turned my head in the next nanaosecond, all geared up to give whorever the ham-sup-low (aka shameless detestable despicable maggot!!) a big slap on da face. Then an innocent baby-like broad smile on a wrinkled face appeared in front of me and suddenly my anger disappeared and i found my heavy hand awkwardly hanging in the air; pretty much like the scene in Matrix. The wrinkled face belongs to a short skinny old folk(i cant tell whether is a HE or SHE) who apparently was not having a clear mind. You can tell he/she did not know what he/she did to me was wrong and.. his/her smile.. that genuine, undisguised smile on that pickled face melted my heart and all my anguish and insults magically vanished like vapor. Its kinda weird, one second ago i was as mad as a hatter and the next moment i was as calm as a hurricane's eye. Just the other day, i was commenting on Walter's post, abt how contagious a smile can be, and then it happened on me.

However, still having the phobia from the last loony's ambush, my inctinct reaction was to hide behind Jimmy immediately. Everybody including the fruit stall's owners were laughing at me and the naughty old folk. And wats next, i found myself grinning foolishly too. Keke.. wat a day...Wat to do, i cant blame him/her because he/she has a mental problem, Jimmy said i got a blur blur look which makes me an easy target, Boss said maybe my butt looks like a magnet to the molester's hand, AND i said: Hey, Duncha think u can grab my arse without getting slapped juz becoz u got a baby-like smile. Mind u, I bite!! Grr~~

Path to the Sky

2007-05-21T12:18:00.000-03:00

Weekend was again wonderful AND over-indulged in food. =P

Saturday, 5 of us drove up to the mountain for our weekend excursion. This time round, Edward suggested 'a place near heaven'! Keke.. Boss jokingly commented he did not wanna go to Heaven, becoz its a place full of Saints, and Saints aint fun at all. Keke.. if given a choice, if there is really a place called 'Heaven', would u wanna go???

Alrite.. back to our excursion, we drove all the way up to the mountain thru Petropolis. Since none of were prepared for the long traveling time so as our stomachs , we stopped by a bakery at Petropolis for a leak and and a feast. =P

Journey continued to Noguiera, (a town near Petropolis) with 5 full stomachs in the car: less grumbling but more snoring.. Poor boss for being our driver! However, when the journey reveals its destination, its absolutely worth it! Welcome to Le Siramat! It is a Mountain Resort situated at the top of Caminho do Céu, literally means 'the path to the sky'. It's a beautiful place, and I strongly recommend it to whoever is after a calm and relaxing retreat with magnificent views on the valleys below. We were all in cloud nine because we were literally surrounded by clouds!!

The view and the weather worth a zillion dollar but the food were fairly passed. The trouts were are too dry and the serving sizes were too little. I still prefer the one that we had at Araras. The Spanish wines however were a refreshing experience for the tastebuds.

In order to satisfy our very much disappointed tongues, we proceeded to our foodhunt again on Sunday. After hearing much about the infamous Satyricon- a must visit Mediterranean Seafood restaurant in Ipanema, we decided to bear the risk of burning our shallow pockets. It was a well-known restaurant which frequent by the Stars (eg Madonna) & political big shots. Turned out- Madonna choice was so-so. The food was nice but not really fantastic. with the money tat we paid(US95 each) , we are definitely looking for better taste and more creative dishes. Okie okie.. dun blame me of causing u hungry again.. I already tried my best to refrain myself from posting another picture-heavy post. Yes.. believe me, i really DID!! =P

Tanaka-San

2007-05-18T13:44:00.000-03:00

Antonio, a waiter tat we got to know from our favourite hangout joint, work two shifts a day. He works in Farani in the evening, which we normally go for dinner at; during the day, he works in another Japanese restaurant in downtown which is called 'Tanaka-san'.

Jimmy & I was thinking where to hv lunch at, and we decided to try out this place since Antonio has since been highly reccomended this restaurant. According to him, this is the ever-first japanese restaurant in Rio!

Situated near our office in Rua da Assembleia, Tanaka-san welcome its guest with a small door leading to the 2nd floor.

The restaurant was nicely decorated, and the ambience was good. We were happy to see one Japanese chef standing behind the sushi counter, concentrating at his work. The sashimis displayed in the freezer looked promising indeed! We chose to sit upstair as downstair was already half-seated. One can choose from Rodicio(all-u-can-eat) or ala-carte. Being two hungry ~~gluttons~~ connoisseurs in nature, we opted for the Rodicio which is R$50++ per pax. (USD 25 or SGD 38++)

Lets started with some entrees and appetiser. A sake is not be missed for a complete sashimi meal!

then came the sashimi springroll: a crispy layer outside the sushi rice with sashimi and a little bit of mayonnaise as the inner ingredients.

the next dishes to come was the beutifully presented salmon roll with rice croqutte:

now its turn for some real deluxe, *drumrolling* deng deng deng... the long waited sashimis(SSSSS):

do i need to say more, the glow & the color of the sashimis speak for themselves..

wanna try sth special?? tuna sashimi dipped with sesame seed and teriyaki sauce. The aroma of sesame seed mixed well with the teriyaki sauce, giving the tongue another level of tantalizing effects. Not extraordinary 'nuff?? Tried this!!! Spicy tuna special - tuna sashimis with a tint of red chilli to spice up ur tastebuds:

Not 'nuff of salmon YET?? This one was my favourite: Sliced salmon with sliced lime and minimal teriyaki sauce with sesame seed. Perfect ending of a sashimi feast!! Giving u a freshening sensation without destroying the original taste of sashimis.

There were some others variety to choose from but there were only two of us! Our desires still craving for more, but our stomaches could not afford to accommodate more foods. Thats the reason why i think all of us need a portable stomach. You know, sth that can be taken out, cleared and put back, continue serving for our craves!! =P

I shall not elaborate more on how excellent, how tasty and how ingenious the chef combines different raw materials with the sauce. Words is soooo redundant suddenly and if i may juz add-this is a meal full of wat u people called multiple oral orgasm! Ooooo......... i gotta need more!!

Museums Alive!!

2007-05-17T16:49:00.000-03:00

For travellers who come to visit Singapore, do you know that besides being a shopping paradise, this little island actually has some unique heritage stories to share with you?

For local citizens who stay and live in this small yet intricate country, are you aware that there are actually more places than the zoo and birdpark to kill your weekend?

Here is a great chance for everybody to know Singapore more from a different perspective -International Museum Day 2007 (IMD'07)!

IMD'07 starts from this coming Friday, 18 May 2007. IMD'07 promises more than 80 activities and events spread over 24 museums over 10 days. Unlike other commercial events, most of the activities are FREE or at very low cost. The idea is to make heritage and culture more accessible to everybody, especially the heartlanders and the masses.

There will be lots of fun things to see and do at IMD'07. You can hop on free museum bus tours, wiggle to exotic middle eastern dances, form a group to participate in the Heritage C-Race, dine with your favourite toys plus of course the ever popular MIA Night Tour. Those who are into art collecting and trading can find out all about the art markets in Singapore and Southeast Asia. There is something for foodies too, with the Eastern Surprise Food Trail which combines culture with cuisine! Who said heritage and culture is boring and unapproachable?? It shall nvr be the same if you join in the fun this coming Friday!!

Bring your families and friends along, make it more meaningful as a special gathering! More details are in the official IMD'07 website here.

Want to know more? You can also check out Yesterday.SG for more information.

Perfect Pair

2007-05-15T07:23:00.000-03:00

I hv been looking for a substitute jeans as te current pair of mine is getting too rugged and baggy. Jean shopping is a nitemare. Esp for an in-between-size like me. (LOL. Lionsault, betcha gonna say i m always the one being sandwiched again) In case u r wondering, i'm in between sizes 6 and 8(UK), sizes 25-26(Asian) and sizes 4 and 6(US). I thot this nitemare might juz end in Brazil, but reality is always cruel, i 'm again stucked in between sizes 34 and 36(Brazil). You can probably imagine my frustration when trying on two pairs of jeans during a fitting session, wondering whether to get the tight-as-skin pair or the more comfortable but slightly baggy pair. My legs are to blame, definitely, because they never increase in length, despite my hips hinting desperately for them to grow more proportionately in alignment with the hips expanding in girth.

The search for the perfect pair of jean started since the past ten years or so, when i started to realize how essential it is for one to get the perfect flattering pair. At some point of time, i thot i found the almost perfect pair, only almost. Soon i will pick on the colour, the cutting and after a while i will just settle with it while continue searchign for THE perfect pair again. Also, old jeans are dangerous, u get addicted wif the comfyness, without realizing it can seriously ruin ur finest outfit.

Searching the perfect pair is an art. An art which u could only master after many years of experience.. Searching the perfect pair is a journey which one need to go thru.. A journey which be smooth and effortless for some; yet bitter and wearying for the others. The irony, hunting for the perfect pair is somehow similar to searching the perfect soulmate of life.

You walk into a shop which seems pleasant 'nuff to make you feel comfortable, start looking for the perfect jeans for you. You select many different styles, even if you think they may not be flattering, and bring them into the dressing room at the same time so that you can compare them. You put them on in the buff, walking ard, looking into the mirror, building the connection with 'em possible candidates. Sometime u find the exact colour, but not in the right cutting; sometime the cutting seems well-suited but the prices are too steep. And finally when u find the perfect jeans with the correct colors, perfect cuts and incredibly affordable price tags, there juz dun hv the right size for you. So you are left with no choice but to move on.. move on to the next shop.. continue the steps and have your finger crossed that you are that near to THAT perfect pair made in heaven, that perfect pair which makes ur butts looks perkier, ur legs seems slimmer n longer... I always believe there is bound to be a jaw-dropping jeans for every figure. Just like everybody will eventually find the missing puzzle in their life.. u meet someone whom u hv a hitch wif, u brave urself and try on to see if there is any possibility to develop a stable relationship, there are times u thot u found the prince riding on the white horse, but you soon realize being a princess might not be the life that u r looking for. So u continue searching till u find the frog prince who might not be appealing at first sight but you two juz hit it off immediately.. Love comes in assorted forms, assorted genders but thats another story.

I m still pussyfooting ard for the perfect pair: one versatile low-rider which is suitable for dressing up and down, will not ditch me when i grow out of shape, provide me the perfect hugging-effect as always. If u had find urs, i must say u r a lucky one!! If u hvn, may i juz say: dun give up & god speed in ur hunt!

To the special someone in my life

2007-05-13T10:59:00.000-03:00

I'm sorry for my disobedience. Thank you for being the forgiver.
I'm sorry for my defiance. Thank you for being the reminder.
I'm sorry for being unattentive. Thank you for granting me my life to see the world.
I'm sorry for taking things for granted. Thank you for being there always despite my rebeliance.
I'm sorry for being away during this special day. Thank you for letting me go despite the unwillingness to let ur gal venture away from ur shelter.
I'm sorry for being restless, thank you for being my angel over the unchartered sea.

My sincerest wishes to u, the greatest mum in the world:
May you stay healthy and happy always.

'M+M' Wedding Party

2007-05-13T02:59:00.000-03:00

I always like Mauricio. Being a cheerful Brazilian in nature, he has been the one offering me some great support @ work when i first came to Rio. Marilea, on the other hand is my pretty colleague, a witty lady who loves to talk and share her view AND her greatest contribution of all - never get bored playing my aunty agony's role. Both of them are wonderful souls tat i get to know in Brazil. The happiest thing was, the double 'M'-Mauricio and Marilea was finally tying the knot after 2 yrs of courtship!!

Weddings are always sweet pretty and utterly romantic. Even for a diehard disbeliever in marriage- like me, despite being jaded and skeptical sometimes, I realised that deep down the dreamy wishes of little girl on a star light star bright night are still yet alive. So yes yes, yet another wedding to smile and celebrate! Thats especially so after my wonderful 1st Brazilian Wedding dinner experience, i was actually looking fwd to another party-come-live opportunity!

Very much different from the traditional wedding, the double 'M' wedding celebration was more like a family & friends gathering. The party was aptly celebrated at Frank's parents' house -which is a huge, greenish mansion very much looks like a garden resort itself. Oh yeah? did i ored mention its poolside parrtee, sizzlin' HAWT!!It was a smackin' crazy fun nite!! The guest were all decked in their smart casual evening outfit, popping champagne and sipping caipirinha at their bubbliest mood. I think I got intoxicated with the mad vibes that went round.The boozing got us mad and the Jack Johnson's playing at the background sounded so out of place. Haha.. u shud noe by now the Brazilians (well so do I) could never pass off preening for the camera and so here's how the pics turned out despite the not-so-good quality due to the lightings and my humble photography skills. was ecstactic to share their joy! Best wishes to u guys-'Double M':

The only killjoy: The cobblestone road aint so friendly to my killer boots and i tripped on the way to the car, tat appened in a split of 5 sec but boo!! it was discouragingly ungrand. And guess wat, i m not even half-drunk! Luckily there isnt anyone ard. And our dear Senior PJM Mr KC managed to steal the limelight away from me by acting up Merlion(aka vomiting) by the bush.

A toast to rose champagne and a lovely time away from the hustle and bustle of the world. For a moment, the jazzy ambience took me away to the stars in the sky.. now, all I needed was a bed and some fluffy pillows.. Nitie nitie.

For ur viewing pleasure:

I aint Hobbit u noe!

2007-05-11T07:40:00.000-03:00

Some of you might know i stay in a studio apartment in Rio, its actually paid and rented by the company. I love the beautiful seaview outside the window, i heart the convenient location of my apartment and i simply cant complain more of the ideal space which is perfect for a single bachelorette who doesnt have a maid to make up her room.

However, there is juz this small lil' flaw which i cant stand with any further- why would one design a shower room juz huge enuff for a hobbit?? and where in the hell will people buy a house with such a tiny shower room????

See.. this is the plan view of my shower room, a pathetic space of 0.8m x 1.2m which even I (a shortie) could not stretch my hand straight. (Hey, its not even a sweet square/rectagular area) Okie.. so why does this cute lil pettite shower room annoyed me soo much?? All the sorrow caused by the stupid protruding door knob!!

It has been the 3rd time within this week i knocked my elbow on the doorknob while hving a sweet time scrubbing and massaging away all the sleepiness n tiredness. Can u imagine i was like humming n singing in my favourite tune, hving a high time stroking my smooth n fair skin, and here it came a huge, gigantic 'BANG', followed by a numbing sensation and soon a tragedic 'Awwwwww.....................' surrounding the four-walled space in the middle of hualala-ing water splash, waking up all the other tenants who is drifting happily in th lala-land.

Hey mind u!! Its not a light bang like 'pom' but a cold,hard,steady big 'POOOOOONGGG' can!! Dun be surprise if u see a single-handed lil' devil jumping ard one of this day, as i think my right hand is paralyzing. Eww.. how un-kewl its gonna be, a small red devil wif only one hand?? I cant handle the heavy devil-fork wif my left hand. =( Single-upper-limb image is only suitable for irk-evil-uncute-sloggish- pirate head!

So people, the lesson du jour: dun ever buy a house wif a small shower room. You dun wanna risk ur hand i assure u, yuck!

'303' Day

2007-05-10T07:18:00.000-03:00

Hoho.. 18 degree!!! The weather is sure acting up these days. It was still singing sunny summer during the weekends and yet the temperature started dropping after yesterday's rain. With a cool breeze, grey skies and the smell of the first drops hitting the ground, how i wish there is a bowl of white porridge with some You Zha Gui(aka fried doughstick) to start the day with!*Bling* *Bling* *Bling* checked my the clustmapr counter juz now. Guess wat, a wickedly cool '303' visitors on the previous day!! Hurray, it might be peanuts for u popular bloggers out there, but hey, its a pretti kewl thing for me!! *Chirping!!* (With me doing some backflip stunt and some twirls ard at the backgrd!!) Second thot, Somehow it doesnt really tally wif the Neocounter stats, but wat the heck, who cares. Thank YOU all the visitors from all over the globe =) and yea.. i mean YOU, who is reading this now.

Some of you reader might notice and frowned over the fact tat i dun hv a RSS feed embedded in zynamic-gala. Miss Loi, a full-time private tutor in Singapore specializing in O-Level Maths who owns 'Joss Stick': a blog which helps students studying for O-Level Mathematics in Singapore had kindly pointed this out and given me some FOC tutoring to encounter this prob. (Thank u so much Ms Loi!) I shall try this out later and hopefully my old-age programming knowledge still leave some trace inside my solidified brain to help me figure it out.

Switched on my office pc, bringing with it the 2nd ever exciting news: FINALLY the office Internet Explorer has been upgraded to IE7. I m soo spoilt by Firefox & IE7 tabbed browsing function which i find myself terribly handicaped without this function integrated in IE6 and below.

Watmost, its ored Thursday counting down to Friday, definitely looks set to be a good day =)

Happy Hour

2007-05-09T17:00:00.000-03:00

4:30pm in the office. Wat would you be doing?

For me & my colleagues?? Hehe.. We had this..
this.. this..this..this..this..and this...(the longest sandwich i ever seen. Its called Pao de Metro, literally means: Bread of Metro, the bread which looks like their underground public transport -Metro service)Its Office Happy Hour!!Wats happening??

Our friend Roy(a Dutch-born-Indonesian, who married a Brazilian) is leaving the company and moving back to Holland with his newly-wed-wife. We had a small farewell party for him.All the best to you Roy! (P/S: Dun bother to search, i m not in the photo, hehe.. i m the great camerawoman aka keropokgal!)

Mid-day musing

2007-05-09T12:07:00.000-03:00

My newly invented 'Handy Fashion Tip':

Ever wonder wat to do if ur pants were too long and u started sweeping the floor like one of the volunteer cleaner on the street?? And ya, u do not hv any needles nor threads nor scissors within a good 5km2 of reachable distance.

Hehe..... grab some of the excess paper clip and improvise!! Wahaha.. i m soo proud of my new fashion statement. Okie. i m a weirdo, i reckon!

Back to my budding wisdom tooth, why do I need another molar tooth while I hv been eating well n growing fine for the past twenties yr with only 24 teeth?? Now then i got this new tooth, meaning I m now having higher risk suffering from teeth problems. On the brighter side, I m soo obsessed and thrilled by the idea that some part of my body is finally growing again, i juz cant help 'feeling' it now n then wif my tongue. Playing with my tongue quietly and subtledly (and subconsciouly) has now become my favourite past-time. Hope my wisdom tooth wont come out crooked by all the uncontrollable disruptions. =P

The only perk of hving a budding wisdom tooth - now i got another excuse return to SG. Told boss that i need to go back for dental appointment. Guess wat he said: every three out of five shops on the street are dental clinics in Rio. Wat for going back to SG? Erbb.....

Come to think of it, there is sth i always wanna blog on. An interesting phenomena i hv been noticing since i started working in this country. Brazilian are very 'dental-conscious'. It is always the 'office-restroom-peakhour' after every single meal. The everyday ritual is the must-do-3-step: floss, brush then gargle!

We hv BYOB in SG every 1st Wednesday of the month. Here in Brazil, the local practise BYOB-Bring Your Own Brush everyday. I hv seen ppl bringing their own toothbrush/toothpaste/dental floss to shopping centre & restaurants, rushing to the washroom for a clean brush after each meal. I guess its either dental hygiene is a country-wide passion just like football to 'em OR the dental fees are too high that everyone has learn his/her lesson to take care of his/her own teeth. Some restaurant/shopping plaza's restroom even hv dental floss and antiseptic mouth rinse provided. How kewl isnt it?? It is a good personal health and hygiene practise afterall.

Have you brush your teeth today?? Smile and say CHEESE!!

Takuya Kimura is my long lost brother

2007-05-08T07:53:00.000-03:00

This 'celebrity look-alikes' thingy has been spreading on the blogosphere for quite a while. Was pigging ard last nite while hving some fun with it.
Ooops.. do I look like a guy from certain angle?? Or prob Takuya Kimura is the one who resembles more of a gal ??

Tried out another photo, turned out i got some ebony's blood in me too?? *puzzled*

Well... if u too eat too full and got nothing to do, check it out n kill some time too!

Sunny Sunshine Day

2007-05-06T16:52:00.000-03:00

After yesterday big feast on the Bahian seafood, we all hv a craving for some meat. and yeh.. some real RED meat! *Groo.. Groo... Groo... Stomach grumbling*

Today lunch was at Itaipu - a small town in Niteroi. A brazilian colleague recommended us to a new Churrascarria restaurant-Rincao. For the uninitiated, a churrascaria is a Brazilian Steakhouse. Churrasco is the cooking style, which translates roughly from Portuguese for 'barbecue'. In churrascarias, normally rodizio service is offered. Customers pay a fixed price and the servers come to your table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of meat, be it beef, pork, filet mignon, lamb, chicken, sausages or any other sort of local cut of meat. The servers bring an offering of food to each customer at several times throughout the meal, until the customers signify that they have had enough. For those who prefer some salad or vegetables to go with the meats, there is always a wide spread of salad bar provided too.

Food was marvellous!! The meat are nicely done and served right out from the bbq rack. Juicy, tender, filling and watmost the price is kinda of reasonable. All -u-can-eat priced at R$23.90, which is abt USD14. (Beverages and desserts non-inclusive)

Weather is good. sunny yet breezy. Time to get some sun-tan on the beach, tciao!!

Precious.. My Precious STONE.

2007-05-05T21:25:00.000-03:00

Famous for its rich soil, filled with minerals, gems and precious stones, Brasil is the perfect destination for those who appreciate not only mesmerizing landscapes but also precious stones. Brasil is undoubtedly one of the major producers of precious stones with a large diversity found in its soil. For example, Brasil has the major emerald producer in world, together with Colombia and Africa; many exquisite stones such as Imperial Topaz and Tourmaline are also found here.

Like the saying goes its a waste not to visit the Vatican if you were in Rome. Even though i aint a big fan of gems or stones, i joined the MEN's Legep trip to Barra de Tijuca - the crazy shopping trip for precious stones. We set off as early as 9am as the factory only open in the morning on Saturday.

Apparently i were the only one who had not been to Legep, all the MEN have been here for at least two years. Wow.. i was really impressed by the quantities and varieties of natural stones available here. Bettcha Izel would love to see this!!

Legep specialised in Amethyst, there are a lot huge Amethyst in different grades. Besides of stones, they also have handmade keychains, bracelets, necklace and all sorts of souvenir choices. Sotong me forgot to bring cammie, the pictures above were taken using my Nokia N6101. More pictures in Edward's camera and i shall grab them from him soonest. Why in the hell its not my purse that i forgot to bring ??? So needless to say, i juz burnt a big hole in my pocket in exchange of another 2-3 kg of luggage weight. And yep.. its all souvenirs for u guys!

Went to Nativo for lunch, one of my favourite Bahian Restaurant by Barra Beach. Had some really really really fantastic Acaraje and Fish Moqueca, and a good Concha y Torro white wine. Pictures wif Edward, to be up soon!!

My neighbour Vera had been looking for me for the past weeks. She is kind lady who always leave soem chocolate/plants/ notes at my doorstep. Went over to her place in the evening. She just bought a kitty, named after Keanu Reeves. A fat fluffy ball which resembles a lot like Mr Hooligan's fav icon - Garfield. Oooh boy he is sooo adorable, isnt he??

Went to Plaza Shopping with Vera. Need to buy another luggage for all my stuff. Spotted this at Plaza and decided to bring it home within 5 minutes. A quick catch!!

Side Track: Met a cute hunk in one of the fashion shops, and he gave me this chic newspaper-boy-cap even though i refused to give him my cellphone number. tsk tsk tsk.. sweet encounter!

UPDATE ON 17 MAY: Here u goes the pic i promised! Finally got 'em from brother Edward. Enjoy!

budding wisdom

2007-05-03T21:45:00.000-03:00

Was playing with my tongue and suddenly discovered a budding wisdom tooth on my uppper left gum!! Oooh NO. signs of gettin' older. Hopefully i do grow wiser with the growth of this third molar tooth. Have heard many terrible stories abt the impacted wisdom tooth, with my fingers crossed, pray hard that i do no hv to zonk out on medicine nor extract my wisey wisey molar.

Saddest news of the day: Was told to postponed my return date till end of the month- 2 weeks later than my planned date. My luggage bag was all nicely packed =( sob.. sob... There goes my end May HK trip. Btw, think i betta tell HR to upgrade my air tickets, high chance of developing economy class syndrome for sucha long hr flight. Really freaked out after reading the case on the recent 29 yr old deceased female. All work and no play makes us dull boys/gals. Work isnt everything, health is more important. Live life to fullest and enjoy while u can.

My Looo....oong Weekend

2007-05-02T10:33:00.000-03:00

Well.. the initial plan to Macchu Puicchu, Peru was cancelled as my traveling kakis do not hv the proper travel documents, but still my long weekend is one hell-o-a holiday!! Eat, drink, partee, chill, and rest, accompanied with 5'S'- Sun, Sea, Sand, Seafood and Shopping!!

Started on Friday nite, we went to Copacabana, the star gourmet delight - Marius Seafood Churasscaria Restaurant, some-said the best restaurant in Rio. There are two Marius restaurants located right next to each other: Marius Carnes (Meat) and Marius Crustaceos (Seafood). For those who crave a juicy steak, grilled to perfection, Marius Carnes is a typical Brazilian, good quality churrascaria, which translates as the perfect place if you are a meat lover. With an exquisite and interesting decor, the restaurant overlooks the Beach and offers more than 30 different grilled meat dishes. There is also a superb salad bar with colorful, tasty vegetable combinations. After many years of success of this all-you-can-eat rodizio system for meat, the owner start thinking.... why wouldn't it work for seafood? And thus was Marius Crustaceos born. All my colleagues had been there hence i m the only who was anticipating eagerly. We started off with a trip to the buffet, helping ourself to the feast of antipasto, cold seafood such as prawns, oysters, and crab, as well as warm seafood favorites such as paella, pasta with seafood, and popular dishes from Bahia including moqueca and vatapá. But the prime catch was the lobster, prawns, tuna steaks, cod fillet, salmon and crab which the waiters brought to our table. The food was okay, but my colleagues claimed that it was one of the restaurants which hungry crowd queueing to enter this palace of seafood nite after nite. Their food used to be superbly done previously. The service was great, and the waiter even peeled the hairy crab and crayfish for me. The price however was a tad overpriced maybe becoz its a well-known place especially for tourist. A dinner in Marius Crustaceos cost R$135++ per pax, which is ard USD 60. I would not have come if my bill wasnt picked up by someone else =P. So if you go, make the most of your visit: go hungry, don't eat bread or any other useless nibbles, linger, and don't be shy to ask for your favorite seafood.

Address: 290 Av. Atlantica, Rio de Janeiro 22010-000, Brazil
Tel: +55 21 21049000

Saturday went shopping with Jimmy, bought all the slippers, coffee powders, peanuts candies and coffee sweets pre-ordered by colleagues, friends and familes, now the onli prob is to find a slot for all these in my over-stuffed luggage.

Sunday nite, hehe.. managed to get boss to bring us to Siri Mole & CIA - the best Bahian restaurant in town. I had been wanting to try out their moqueca(Baiana style seafood stew), my favourite Brazilian dish. And all the goo-gaa turned out to be worthy!! The moquecas are outstanding, perfectly balancing the coconut milk, palm oil and fresh cilantro that give the rich flavor to this signature dish. Not-to-be-missed-dish is their casquinha de siri(baiana style stuffed crab shell) and acaraje(bean rolls with fried prawns), great choices of starter!! I shall let pictures paint the words. If you happened to swing by Rio, make sure you visit this award-winning restaurant.

Monday went dress-hunting in Rio. There are very nicely design cocktail dresses in Rio: sexy and sophisticated! Even thou i hv been here for 1 whole year, shopping in Rio still nvr fail to impress me. First of all is the excellent service of the sale assistants. The shop assistants are alway smiling and helpful even if you din buy anything from them. Then is the eye-dropping shopping adventure! I was hanging ard in a shop downtown, hving trouble deciding on the colour of a dress i spotted, then my attention was drawn by a sweet young gal with only bras on, asking for assistance. It was actually nothing especially since i went thru the 'sea of breast' in Niteroi Plaza. However, there were only three sale assistants in the shop, one was at the cashier and the other gal was busy with customer. The only sale assistant available was a young handsome guy. He seemed rather used to the situation and immediately went fwd to help the young gal pulling up the zip and tying the ribbon. Well.. juz i was envious in green with his job and then came another beautiful tai-tai with absolutely NOTHING on her torso except an half-worn dress came out from one of the changing rooms. I could see my mouth opened widely when she waved the guy over to help her reached the back of her dress. Haiz.. if i were a guy, i would be more than happy to hv this job!

Labour day on Tuesday. Boss brought us to his new found chinese restaurant at Tijuca. While I m not a fans of chinese food except for my mum's cooking, the food here was not too bad, at least now we got another option for dinner.

Went chilling out at Campoinha beach after lunch. An afternoon with seabreeze, spectacular sceneries, icy cold beers and fried tapioca. Thats basically summed my Labours day long weekend, and urs??

How many have you seen?

2007-05-01T08:20:00.000-03:00

Came across this list of World's Top 100 Wonders @ HillmanWonders

Pyramid of Egypt
Great Wall of China
Taj Mahal India
Serengeti Migration Kenya/Tanzania
Galapagos Islands Ecuador
Grand Canyon USA
Machu Picchu Peru
Iguazu Falls Argentina/Brazil (checked)
Bali Indonesia
Amazon Rain Forest Brazil/Peru
Ngorongoro Crater Tanzania
Great Barrier Reef Australia
Angkor Wat Cambodia
Victoria Falls Zambia & Zimbabwe
Forbidden City China
Bagan Myanmar
Karnak Temple Egypt
Teotihuacan Mexico
Banaue Rice Terraces Philippines
Bora Bora French Polynesia
Acropolis & its Parthenon Greece
Potala Palace at Lhasa China
Jerusalem Old City Israel
Qin Terra Cotta Warriors China
Chichen Itza Mexico
Petra Jordan
Nile River Cruise Egypt
Easter Island Chile
Cappadocia Turkey
Colosseum of Rome Italy
Fjords of Norway
St Peter's Basilica Vatican City
Egyptian Museum Egypt
Borobudur Indonesia
Valley of the Kings Egypt
Hong Kong Harborscape China
Sistine Chapel Vatican City
Alhambra Spain
Louvre Museum France (checked)
Canals of Venice Italy
Versailles France
Carlsbad Caverns USA
Mecca Saudi Arabia
Kathmandu Valley Nepal
Metropolitan Museum of Art USA
Mt. Everest China & Nepal
Antarctic Cruise Multinational
Temple Emerald Buddha Thailand (checked)
Hagia Sofia Turkey
Pompeii Italy
Kashmir Valley India
Prague Old Town Czech Republic
Golden Temple India
Amalfi Coast & Drive Italy
Meenakshi India
Chartres Cathedral France
Mezquita of Cordoba Spain
Damascus Old City / Umayyad Syria
Dubrovnik Croatia
Uffizi Gallery Italy
Rio Panoramic Views Brazil (checked)
Golden Pavilion Japan
Delphi Greece
St. Basil's Cathedral Russia
Abu Simbel Egypt
St. Mark's Basilica/Campanile Italy
Florence Cityscape Italy
Kremlin Russia
Varanasi & the Ganges India
Li River Cruise China
Shwedagon Stupa Myanmar
Sahara Desert Multinational
Leaning Tower of Pisa Italy
Baalbek Lebanon
Mont-St-Michel France
Topkapi Palace Turkey
Carnival in Rio Brazil
Stonehenge England
Angel Falls Venezuela
Yellowstone USA
Santorini Greece
Petronas Twin Towers Malaysia
Matterhorn Switzerland
New York Skyline USA
Marrakesh Morocco
Eiffel Tower France (checked)
Ladakh India
Niagara Falls Canada & USA
British Museum England
Burj Al Arab Dubai, UAE
Yangtze River Cruise China
Yosemite USA
Ayers Rock Australia
Hermitage Museum Russia
Chambord Chateau France
Lijiang / Shangri-La China
Neuschwanstein Castle Germany
Banff National Park Canada
San Francisco USA
Portofino Italy

Only a pathetic 5!!!! I still got a long way to accomplish my 'wonders' list. How abt you??

Call me Tuna

2007-04-27T18:33:00.000-03:00

I wonder if this is wat we called 'Karma'.

I m a huge sandwich lover. i love bread more than rice or noodle. If u know me in person, u can probably see me munching sandwiches for meals, in between meals, right after meals.

It muz be Karma-came-to-fruition-day. Hv u ever seen how the tuna paste being sandwiched between the baguette? That's exactly my situation now. I m the tuna paste in between two slices of fat & spongy breads, which was being squueeeezed until oozing out.

Why cant the managers communicate among themselves. If they dun want to talk face-to-face, they can always use phone, sms, msn, emails and hey even post it up in their blogs (provided they hv one) . Why must I be the messenger????!!!!!!!!

This is the email i rec from Manager C--

Dear Zeon,
please print out hard copy of attached form and get Manager K to access Section C(i) and sections D & F. He should then sign off and e-mail back to me. also please remind him to confirm that he will do the same for xxxx by next week 3 rd May07, Ask him to get all forms signed and e-mail back to me.

Regards,
Manager C

Doesnt he know that an email can send to multiple receivers???? Doesnt he know there is such thing called 'cc' ?????? And who am I to direct Manager K to do all these???????
And yet I thot 'Communication' is the 1st Chapter we learn in Management Lesson?

Now you know why we need all these delivered to Brazil??--

A parcel I received in the office today, thru UPS:

Jimmy too got a bag of goodies hand-carried from Singapore to Rio:Lets take a peep at wat's inside>> Salonpas pain reliever-patch, panadol and herbal tea... AND ... RED LABEL!!! Mmm.. i think Black Label will be betta?

Reason being: We're vomitting blood and bleeding internally constantly under the 'HARSH' environment of the poor management!!

THE proj is coming yet again!

2007-04-24T08:24:00.000-03:00

Date of my departure hasnt been fixed till today. For reasons being that i have this plummy project to coordinate. Now this project is gonna be out of my way, things are more or less finalised and i can finally book my return ticket.
However, i got the news that THE mega project has made its way to the drawing board AGAIN!!! THE project is nonetheless the project dat almost drove me nuts few months ago. Wasting my time in preparing the bid, fighting wif the Hungarian Ah Lau for almost a yr which then the customer decided to shelf THE project- make me boil still when i think of it. Betta reschedule my return tix to an earlier date, juz dun feel like to put my hand into that mess again!

before i continue grumbling, thank GOD for creating omelette. Gimme a nice one for breakfast, and i'm now as happy as a lil' gal again =)

Titan & I

2007-04-23T07:12:00.000-03:00

Just realized i m a good multi-tasker. Or betta to say, my 'nose' is the one excel at it! How can a nose do sneezing, blocking.. and running.. at the same time???!!!!! My voice sounds so nasal and i think i frightened the neighbour's kids this morning. =P

Today is public holiday in Rio. No need to work on monday hence no Monday blue for me. Went out for an early morning jog along the beach.. that was cool.. with the 6am breeze blowing against ur face and skin. Exercise does help, doesnt't it?? But still holiday sucks when u r down with all the flu symptons. (>_<)

I think i m becoming overtly-attached to Titan, isnt a very good sign huh.. The thing that I touch and breathe and smell most on a daily basis - alright, no smell maybe - is this IBM company provided thinkpad which i brot to Rio. I still got my own Fujitsu-Lucia lying @ home back in SG. I m suffering' from that tied-to-the-apron-strings syndrome with my lappie. Arrg.. beyond hopes! And no.. i m not gonna get rid of it till i finish this entry. =P

Haha.. now u guys know how boring i m when there isnt trip planned for a long weekend like this.

My First Brazilian Wedding Party

2007-04-21T14:24:00.000-03:00

Attended Bruno and his wife Viviane's wedding party yesterday nite after work. Boss got stuck in the meeting hence we set off rather late. Took us a good two hours effort to find the party location-Garden Party II as the traffic was bad and we were not familiar with the route. I was badly sick with nose running like tap water but it was real fun looking for the road sign as if we were participating in the amazing race.

Wedding was scheduled at 8:30pm but we reached ard 9pm. Most of the invited guests had arrived in their best suite and gown. The ceremony was held at an outdoor pavillion under the starry sky. Decorated by my favourite white Cala Lilies-simple but stylish.. well. simple put.. the setting was just LOVELY.

90% of Brazilian are Roman Catholic. Most of their wedding ceremonies had been patterned after the modern religious ceremonies, so was this one. Guests seated at 9:15pm sharp, waiting for the Groom. Led by the Preacher, the groom and his mum walked down the aisle first. Then each pair of 'Padrinho' aka witness walked in one by one. This is what the Brazilians do in their weddings. Instead of bridesmaids and groomsmen, they invited couples or match their 'Padrinhos' into couple. These couples are normally the bride or groom's relatives and best friends, they can be husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, brothers and sisters, cousins, or friends, etc who will be sitting in front together with the bride & groom during the ceremony. In this wedding there are 10 pair of 'Padrinhos' altogether. Sucha a grand way of entrance. =)

Then came the flower boy and flower girl holding the bridal bouquet. The cute lil' boy was very nervous thru-out the whole way, his expression is too cute to be described by words. =P

The bride arrived 10 minutes late escorted by her father. Can you imagine if that happened in Singapore? Everyone would be worrying and feeling sorry for the groom. But here, it's expected. A Brazilian wedding ceremony will consist of the Brazilian bride being late at least 10 minutes after the groom has arrived. But the Brazilian brides are not allowed to be more then 30 minutes late for the ceremony. The wedding dress is not meant to be seen by the groom before the wedding as it is considered to be very unlucky which is also common in most other countries

The preacher started his blessing. The blessing was in Portuguese, it sounded so nice and touching even thou i dun understand a single word.

Its then time to exchange the wedding band. Another pretty lil' flower girl brought the wedding rings in a nicely-decorated basket. It is important not to drop the wedding rings, this is considered to show that your wedding won't last if this happens when the Brazilian brides and grooms are at the altar. Rings are used differently in Brazil, they are still on the fingers of course but when you are engaged you shall wear it on your right hand. Only when the the Brazilian brides and grooms finally get married, then you shall tranfer the ring to your left hand's finger.

After exchanging wedding rings, the bride and groom then exchanged vows and signed the wedding certicate. Ceremony was short and simple, but it was really special and beautifully done. I love the bride's gown especially the long veil. It was Sooo lovely dat it made me feel like to get married immediately for the sake of the gown. Ha!

Guests then proceeded to the buffet area where the party was held. Brazilians party bound to have food and drinks. So as a wedding party! There was a crew of waiters serving fingerfoods and beverages. Most of the Brazilian Wedding parties serve only finger food but some do serve full course dinner. We chinese normally give Red Packet to the newly wed, but in Brazil the couple would generate a wishlist online with furniture shop or household item provider. Guest would then purchase online the items chosen by the couple before atttending the wedding party. In case you are curious, generally people are willing to fork out R$100-R$200 to purchase a single or a few items, OR chip in to purchase a big ticket item.

Guest will mingle around, chit-chat, taking pictures while enjoying the foods and drinks. A cute traditional custom on the Brazilian wedding: The bestman cut the groom’s tie and sold pieces of it to the guests to help alleviate some of the wedding/honeymoon cost. =)

The party started about an hours later. There is a dancefloor with DJ's spinning some Samba and techno mix. The dance is different as is the music. The bride and groom dance the pagode, which is a form of samba. This dance is often played at Brazilian wedding ceremonies. Aftermaths, guest joined in, letting their hair down, dancing till drop.

Brazil has some of the most vibrant customs of any country in the world, and the Brazilian wedding ceremony is no exception. Brazilians love to party, and look upon weddings as an opportunity for a personalized Carnival. With its soulful mix of Indian, African, Japanese and European roots and traditions, this multi-faceted melting pot has always represented an exotic, passionate, tropical paradise, between the passion of Carnaval and the Amazon. A Brazilian wedding . . . rich in treasures, tropical outdoor pleasures, and so much more. It was sucha a rollin' good time, i sure enjoyed myself! Best wishes for a life filled with love and happiness for Bruno and Viviane. Felicidades, Amor e Paz!

Pointless Scribble..

2007-04-20T12:27:00.000-03:00

For obvious reasons the news of the last couple of days has been dominated by the bloody rampage at Virginia Tech. The bit about there being no restrictions on the purchase of assault rifles eg the AK-47 is highly baffling. It's one thing to sit a thousand miles away and scratch our heads at the happenings yet the fears are real for friends who stay in US. I can understand the feeling perfectly after a year in Rio. Luckily, gun is still not so accessible to the citizens. You might be able to get one, but its most likely not thru a legitimate way. Aint it scary if you were to wake up one day finding ur neighbour holding a gun at ur head while you pick up the morning milk delivery? Isnt it irony when u make out to the world that u would kick up a storm defense against terrorist yet allowing the potential massacre from happening in ur own land?? Wat a terrible world out there!

How often do u complain?

2007-04-20T07:24:00.000-03:00

How often do you complain about your life, your work, your social status and your wealth? Do you rant about your monotonous routine and swear on your wearying job? Do you vent on how boring your relationships are and how wicked your superior is? How frequent or do we ever love the fact that we are alive, have a shelter over our head, have food to keep us warm and energetic, have work to keep us occupied and paid?

Pardon me for the 'Carrie-esque' questions above. The after-effect of too many dosage of Sex and the City. These questions struck me when i saw two homeless ladies on my way to office this morning.

Our car couldnt move an inch, together with the many cars in the middle of the road due to traffic jam. Despite the amount of cars and people looking, there were two black ladies changing their clothes by the roadside sooo naturally as if there wasnt any pair of eyes watching. I bet they are mother and daughter. Mother first got herself into an old, rugged T-shirt, she wasnt wearing any bra underneath. Then she helped her daughter to get change. Daughter is at her teenage years, but acted like a dim-witted child. I assured you, a nude ebony teenager's full-blossom torso exposed in front of your eyes under this situation wasnt sexy nor arousing at all. In fact, i felt an indescribable uneasiness and sadness.

After putting up an similarly torn T-shirt on the daughter, mother took out a small comb,started to brush her daughter black, curly locs just like any other mother do. Soft and gentle, with love and tender.. I believed she wanted to give her daughter the best that she could, but all she could do is to be with her. She couldnt even give her proper place to sleep nor a decent place to wash up. Heart-wrenching, and all i can feel is a twinge in my heart. Wat an irony... to think I was worrying over the issue of how to doll myself up for the wedding dinner tonite when some people dun even hv a proper clothing to wear. Shame on myself for being sucha vainpot.

There are plenty of homeless in Brazil. I ask myself wat can i do to help 'em but i dun hv an answer to my question. Give 'em food and money, that isnt a way to cure the root. All of a sudden, i feel endowed and glad for being where i am and for wat i have. Life has been good to me and i shall stop myself from ranting any further. My frens, be gladful and be contented. Wish all of u a good day ahead.

Till then , xoxo.

I'm sick...

2007-04-19T07:56:00.000-03:00

..of being sick. My voice is still as sexy.. my persistent cough and stuffy nose still plagueing me, luckily i m not burned with fever anymore - in another words, i m ill and haggard AND not HOT animore. =(

when ur folks told u not to talk to strangers - they're prolly right. talk too much and u might end up losing your voice. juz like me. Yet i m still chasing all the vendors like there isnt tmr, making tons of call daily.. arrgg, i hope i hv not scare 'em away by my 'telible holible' voice. Wat needs to be done got to be done. i juz wish to quickly finish this fast n go back to my wee home.

Fortunately.. all these blowing nose, sneezing and coughing do not really can dampen my excitement! Keke.. there is a wedding part-eee to attend tomorrow, hoolaalaa.. my first Brazilian Wedding Dinner!! Cant wait to see how its gonna be!!

Now the onli prob is wat to wear??!! According to PP and the rest, dresscode for Brazilian Wedding Dinner is super formal: guys gotta wear tuxedo or at least suits & tie, where ladies gotta put on their best nite gown. A paradoxical nightmare come true - a full wardrobe yet absolutely nothing to wear. Dun u scoff, i'm serious. My wardrobe in the apartment is full of summer wear n casual oufits and some working suits, not even a piece close to. I cant even remember if i brought any dress with me this trip back to BZ. Stupid me, shud hv at leat brought one of the lil' black dresss over. Hmm... now my wardrobe is in dire need of a grownup chic crossover, seeking classic timeless additions. But how?? time is running out, Oh God, pls gimme a cinderella's fairy!!

Stimulants...

2007-04-18T18:04:00.000-03:00

oh i m in need... in need of some real ping pong piang stuff.
Why did i study so much to do sucha freakin' dumb dumb job??

I seriously need some stimulants.. well.. juz for my BRAIN.

My Man In Black

2007-04-18T08:57:00.000-03:00

This is what I call the REAL bodyguard!!

Keke.. my favourite security guard in the office has been promoted. He is the one who save me from the mad women (-_-)

He looks so suave in his brand new uniform!! PP u muz see this, our baldie is sucha head-turner today!! Somehow i feel the photos did not do justice to him, he looks much cooler in person.

Now u noe y i hv a fetish for baldie and macho guy. they r juz CUTE *grin*

The rest of the security & reception team --

An arc of concentric colorbands

2007-04-17T09:33:00.000-03:00

I saw RAINBOW this morning!!!

Kid u not, its a special rainbow. Not those half broken rainbow can... Its a full bow rainbow i saw this mornin' =) It was complete and vividly bright at both legs.

Mm.. I m those who fall asleep the moment i get into the car's backseat. However this morning, i was wide-awake somehow. And here it appeared, right in front of us. My heart leaped when we stumbled upon the seemingly perfect colour bridge. It was drizzling and the sky was cloudy, but this did not affect the astounding beauty of the full bow. Rainbows are one of the most beautiful spectacles nature has to offer -- so beautiful, in fact, that they've inspired countless fairy tales, songs and legends. The
science behind the rainbow is so simple, the phenomena is yet so wonderful and breathtaking that it makes all your trouble melts like lemondrop.. A flock of bird flew past the colorband in a straight line, making a picture perfect morning for 4 of us stuck in the 4-wheel box. Beautiful things always come at the least expected moments..

Sorry readers for not being able to take any picture. I was stunned by the natural beauty and when i regain my consciousness, we already drove past the arch. However, i shall share this piece of entry with all of you, wishing you a beautiful day ahead with your pot of gold waiting at the end of the day.

Romantic vs tacky?

2007-04-17T09:32:00.000-03:00

While hunting for dinner yesterday nite, we parked the car rite in front the restaurant where a pair of couple was creating quite a scene on the passenger path.

A 40++ uncle was trying to blindfold his 30++ gf/wife. Apparently, uncle had some romantic hanky panky thot on his mind, probably got the idea from the evening soap opera. Gf/wife was kinda irritated by clumsy uncle who tried so hard to tie a white towel (who the hell in this world will use a rough towel to blindfold his gf??!! Pls lar.. use sth more delicate can..) over her eyes. One can sense her impatience and unhappiness clearly from her tone and expression esp when she almost sprained her leg trying to figure her way out..

Ha... if you only you can imagine the scenario. All of us were laughing real hard and it certainly made our day. Our bad.. our bad.. but its real hilarious man.. Successful romantics are idealists,the sentimental dreamers,the imaginative and the fanciful artist that love look like an art form with all the romantic things they do for their special someone; and the lousy one.. arggh.. tahts when rosecolored dreams turned tacky when came to glorious reality.

And only in Brazil you can see this.. Brazilians are so straightforward in expressing their passion of love, no shame or shy when come to showcasing their act of love in public. You can easily spotted a couple from far because they are either hugging like a unseparable Siamese twins or french-kissing lovingly on the street like there isnt tomorrow. This happens in anywhere, anytime: while waiting for the redlight turning green, while queueing up for the cashier, while waiting for the bus or even while driving on the streets. However, this is the first time i saw people transorming the movie tricks into real romantic stunts-blindfolding his partner for a evening surprise - on a street. Being an incurable romantic, some sympathy pts is given to uncle's courage and adventurous attitude, but i do pity his gf who was the guinea pig of his primitive try. Need some fine-tune on the settings and plottings, i muz say.

I bet u will say: All this showy stunts could only happens smoothly in the movies where the actors and actresses remain handsome and pretty 25 hrs a day. While cooking up further romantic ideas, probably we shall juz start wif sth simpler. Yes, love is an emotion but it's also an action. I guess many of us including myself have never really put love into action. Regularly ask yourself, "What am I doing to keep love alive?" Then, commit to doing something every day that will make your partner feel good. Say "thank you" a lot, send a loving e-mail, buy flowers, light some candles at dinner, plan a surprise weekend and so on.. Romantic is sth very personal, everybody has his/her own definition. Some might prefer a surprise now-n-then, some might be into adventurous outting, or some might do fine with just lazing under the star.. No matter what kind of romantics your are.. put ur feeling into the real dough. Action is a way of keeping us conscious of how blessed we are to have our partners in our lives. So y not get some spice for ur lovelife, go turn urself into a lil’ puddle of romantic comedy-loving mush today!! (^_*)

Happy Birthday to Zynamic Gala

2007-04-16T18:28:00.000-03:00

I juz noticed that this blog has hit its one yr anniversary. A year old... Ivy, my dear, I break the '9-mths-curse'!!

Look what i found on 'The Daily Watsoever'. Zynamic Gala is featured on the paper!

Hurray, 16th of April 2007, marked the official one year anniversary of this lil' devil. Thanks all for sharing and reading.. Lets put our hands together and pray for a betta yr ahead!!

Sailing Forth

2007-04-16T09:15:00.000-03:00

Drizzling Monday morning but thing certainly looks brighter than ever!

A parcel of surprise

2007-04-14T14:07:00.000-03:00

Was juz ranting on my bad health recently and deng deng deng deng i receive this speedpost parcel from SG this morning.

A box of Panadol Extra and some vitamin C supplement. No name, no addressee nor any sort of notes. Its a surprice parcel and I hv no clue of who the sender is. Regardless of which kind soul out there, if u r looking at this post, i m expressing my deepest gratitude to you. I m fine now with no more fever. I lost my voice but worry not, i m gonna find it back real soon! Thanks for the concern.

Gals are funny animals. We tend to touched by all these lil' acts which u guys might find it too dramatic or showy. For me, I m glad there is someone who care but it would be juz pure gratitude, if only the kind acts were shown by the people I love or care abt, then that is where happiness steps in.

Prob age is catching up.. or prob thats becoz of peer pressure. Everybdy ard seems getting married within the next few years, and i ve been asked when is my turn coming. Beside giving evrybody a bitter smile, i cant find other words to say.. When i was a lil' gal, i believed tat the happiest day of my life would be my wedding day, and now.. its not tat i cease believing, it just dawn upon me that to find a soulmate that i can spend the rest of my life with seems the biggest challenge i hv ever met.

Fren A: Its abt time.. just get urself out from the shelf and married off ur butt.
Fren B: Dun u tell me u hv no woo-ers or BFs. Forget abt ur criteria lists and get realistic!!
Fren C: Treasure the man in front of u! U'll nvr know, give it a shot.
Fren D: Dun think too much, just go sign the paper and u will know hows married life is.

Arrgg.. as if i m going to become an old spinster soon. I m still in my twenties.. aint it my time to focus on my career and embark on my next big thing in life? but somehow.. i can hear that lil' voice in the deepest corner of my heart, yearning for a stable and looking-bright relationship leading to a blissful marriage. But how do i tell if he is the right man for me? if I were at one time in love, what has changed that precipitated my falling out of love with that person? how do i find the spark back or izzit natural for the spark to go away and i might feel not in love anymore but Im just in a different stage of love? The main point is, if i cant sort all this out, wat right do i hv to jump into the marriage cruise and how far u think the ship can sail off?

There are so many doubts in my bombing head, and i juz cant seem to get 'em cleared. How i envious those who can be so sure of what they want/need in life and then fight hard for what they think they deserve.

The infamous Layers Meme

2007-04-13T08:10:00.000-03:00

This has been spreading like fire in blogosphere and I finally kena it.
And.. i m not goin' to curse you, Munak-san.. on the condition that u shall find a way to ship/freight/smuggle/squeeze me into ur luggage during ur trip back to Kenya in September. (^_*)

Layer One:On The Outside

Name : Zee the little Devil aka Zeon Chong
Birth Date : 7th August (Prezziee.. Prezzie.. big or small .. i sweep all)
Current status : As free as a birdie (chirp. chhirp.chirp.)
Eye Colour : Hmm.... Let me take a look in the mirror... Izzit Black or Dark brown?? (Hhmm.. its in pretty Mocha)
Hair Colour : Black (in nature.. wif traces of copper brown highlight)
Righty or Lefty : Natural Leftyy forced-to-be Rightyy and dying-to-be Leftyy

Layer Two :On The Inside

Your Heritage :Hakka Cina. I'm a chinese, a chinese, a true-blue chinese! I m proud to be a CHINESE!
Your Fears : Losing the ability to laf, to lurve, to give and to appreciate
Your Weakness : I have a prob at saying 'NO' and rejecting others. And I'm tellin' u its BEYOND critical.
Your Perfect Pizza : Not really into pizza, but a crispy, thin Spizza Pepperoni will be great once in a while. *DROOL*

Layer Three :Yesterday, Today , Tomorrow

Your Thoughts First Waking Up : its either 'OMG....do i really hv to wake up?' OR 'Wat a beautiful day!!' then 'WATS BREAKFAST FOR TODAY??'
Your Bedtime : *Ahem* i can drift into slumberland anytime & i m super duper mega proud of it. Can i consider this as a super power?! *ponder in depth*
Your Most Missed Memory : A starry x'mas nite THAT yr. Those late nites strolling and chatting heartily under the stars in NTU campus. U think we'll go walk the campus trail again one of these days?

Layer Four : Your Pick

Pepsi or Coke : None, i hate carbonated drinks. My type of drinks-water, the source of beauty!
McDonald's or Burger King : I m big BK's fan!
Single or Group Dates : Ei.. well.. it deps. A grp date will be fun!!
Adidas or Nike : My take on PUMA!!!
Tea or Nestea : Tea. Tea. Tea. I m a tea lover.
Chocolate or Vanilla : Irrks.... put away the vanilla thingy - I'm a die hard chocoholic. =P
Cappucino or Coffee : Excuse me, sir? Can i hv my tea served instead? I dun drink COFFEE. but i admire its fragrance and all coffee's arts.

Layer Five : Do You..

Smoke : *FROWN* of cozz..............NOT!
Curse: KNS. does dis count?
Take a shower : Huh???!!! Anyone doesnt? At least once a day.
Have a crush : on SEAFOOD!! Oh.. i can hear my stomack grumbling now.
Think you've been in love: YES!! wif my family n my Zico.
Go to school : Not anymore. Thank GOD!!
Want to get married : Ei... maybe.. if i found my Mr Right.
Believe in yourself : Most of the time, YES
Think you're a health freak : NAH...Not even close

Layer Six : In The Past Month
Drank alcohol : Yeppie
Gone to the mall : Yeppie. of coz man, i m a mall sucker. Speaking of dat, i need to hv another shopping dose soon.
Been on stage : ??!! Not dat i remember.. Does singing in my bathroom count?
Eaten sushi : Tons of 'em!!
Dyed your hair : Nope. i want my shiny black hair back!

Layer Seven : Have You Ever..
Played A Stripping Game : Nope. Not yet thou... tsk tsk tsk
Changed Who You Were To Fit In : Well.. I do adjust myself to fit in, but not losing myself.

Layer Eight : Age
You're Hoping To Be Married : before 30? Oh.. i dunnoe. Lets nature take its course.

Layer Nine : In a Girl/Guy
Best Eye Colour : anything, black or dark brown is prefered.
Best Hair Colour : No preference, as long as its natural color. I dun like guy who dye his hair.
Short Hair or Long Hair : I dun really admire guy who keeps his hair long. Dun u think BALDIE is sooooo sexy, keke!

Layer Ten : What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago : Sipping water.
1 Hour Ago : MSN-ing.
4.5 Hours Ago : Working.
1 Month Ago : Hv fun in SG!!
1 Year Ago: In preparation to come to Brazil.

Layer Eleven : Finish The Sentence

I Love : everything dat is beautiful.
I Feel : happy when my effort is being recognised.
I Hate : headache.
I Hide : my grief.
I Need : YOU!!!

Layer Twelve : Tag five people..

Oooh....wat to do.. i gotta 'pay it fwd'.

1. PP - hehe.. i found sth for u to blog.
2. Roger - where r u???? Still ALIVE??
3. Christina_YY- my new fellow blogger fren.
4. Wendy - yo gal!! write us sth funny!
5. Gracie - Sweetie, get the tag rolls. =)

Ladyluck is shining..

2007-04-12T22:07:00.000-03:00

.. on ME!!

Hurray, its really my day man!

1. Got my long overdue March oversea allowance which i totally dun think i'll be getting it since i had been spending the past mth in SG. Haha.. - its a pretty hefty sum.. shh. Probably i shud go get one of 'em Chloe handbag huh.. On a 2nd thot.. well.. i shouldnt hv splurge on branded stuff.prob i shall save it for better use instead.
2. Lunch @ Severyna - dished some real tasty Northern brazilian cuisine. Thanks to ECL for the food meme. now i got some pretty decent excuse hunting for good food together wif my Brazilian frens. Guys n gals.. be patient, i m going to feature it as soon as i make up my mind on which 5 restaurants dat i fancied most.

3. This is the BIGGEST thing today! Imagine the at first super duper mega angry (not at me) Brazilian Manager P.E who worked with me for the 1st time, came to my desk - gave me a good handshake and a firm pat on the shoulder, with a pleasing praise after our meeting. Ahh.. i can tell he was impressed. Felt so great that my effort wasn't wasted and being recognized.

Ohh.. by the way.. i think i m losing my voice.. i sounded so sexy with the rough coarse voice that mum cant even recognise when she phoned up juz now.

Try this out- Your VisualDNA!!

2007-04-12T14:31:00.000-03:00

This is kinda interesting =) Go read my VisualDNA!!
Create urs today @ Imagini.

I found the elixir!

2007-04-09T15:28:00.000-03:00

Hohoohoo.. i m as fit as a bull again =)

Heng i still managed to dig this lil' flu remedy out from Mum's Doraemon Bag. MuakZZ!!

Nvr tried this thing b4, just 2 satchet of this powdery thing can really do wonder, and surpriseingly it tastes so nice *yum yum*

No more fever, no more body ache, i can start thinking of wat to eat for dinner now!

The next stop??

2007-04-09T12:25:00.000-03:00

Yea. got tagged by hot mama again.
A bit overdue but i shall post sth still - "Where do you wanna go next?"

There is a country on this earth where i have been wanting to go!! If somebody would be kind 'nuff to sponsor me, haha.. I would love to set my foot on the wild Safari land - South Africa.

Covering a huge swathe of land, washed by the Atlantic and Indian oceans, South Africa has enormous wealth above and below ground, making it one of the richest natural storehouses on the planet and undoubtedly one of the most beautiful country in the world. Its such a big country and one would really have to spend months to travel and savor the whole baeuty of this unique land.

Being the Home to the famous big 5 - Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo, what atrracts me most is definitely their wildlife.. An overland trip or a guided safari in Kruger National Park will be great! Kruger is one of the premier game-watching destinations in the world. Approximately 145 mammal species occur in the park. It is possible to see all the classical African big game, including elephant, black and white rhino, hippopotamus, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, warthog and many antelope species. Large carnivores include lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and spotted hyena. There are also many smaller mammals species which are equally as enticing. I m getting excited thinking of the big lions sniffing at the tip of my nose!!!

The other not-to-be-missed tourist attraction is its capital, Cape Town. In this beautiful city even transient visitors can't help but devote a few million brain cells to storing images of its grandeur: its striking Table Mountain backdrop, its glorious beaches and enchanting vineyards, its rugged landscapes, its strange and wonderful plants and animals. Among all, the famous Cape Point which is an 8000-hectare (19,770-acre) narrow promontory of land jutting into a stretch of open sea popularly believed to be the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The peninsula, situated 60km (37 miles) southwest of Cape Town, is characterised by towering sea cliffs, the highest in South Africa, which reach a height of 249m (817ft). Criss-crossed by spectacular walks and trails, the area also features whale and penguin watching, tidal pools, over a thousand species of indigenous plants and a variety of mammals, such as baboon and buck. Popular activities around Cape Point also include abseiling, parasailing, horseriding and surfing.

For those who love food and wine, SA is juz the right place to go. South African wines are among the best in the world, and with the top estates located in the scenic Cape, one should nvr miss a visit to 'em vineyards. Foodwise, For teh daring diner, SA offers culinary challenges from crocodile sirloins to fried caterpillars to sheep heads. However, those who prefer to play it altogether safe will find that most eateries offer a familiar global menu - anything from hamburgers to sushi to pad thai to spaghetti bolognaise.

Sounds like a perfect holiday isnt it?? I m seriously contemplating the next wa-wa-wuu getaway!

Some fast fact of South Africa
Full Name: The Republic of South Africa
Capital City: Pretoria (official); Bloemfontein (judicial) and Cape Town (legislative).
Area: 1,233,404 sq km / 476,217 sq miles
Population: 43,800,000
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +2 ()
Languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Tswana, Sotho, Southern, Swati, South Ndebele
Religion: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and traditional religions
Currency: Rand (R)
Electricity: 220/230V 50Hz

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

Okay.. according to the rules i shall tagged another 5 blogger- who shall then write abt their next dream vacation and continue the tag within 7 days, here i go:
1. Ivy - who is rather free these days, hehe
2. PP - who loves to travel
3. Coolinsider - who yearns to hv more travel opp [well bro, knowing u r kinda busy @ work recently, u can so this whenever u hv the spare time ;) ]
4. Mashi - who is another globetrotter
5. Czenfan - to encourage him to start blogging again!

Title : Where Next ?
Proposition : Where do you want to go Next, OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY, for tourism, work , study, whatever.
Requirements: Find some info about the place, itinerary etc, pics if possible so you get MORE Traffic coming in, and maybe some people can find somewhere to go to. Excludes your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, ie Singapore,Malaysia,Brunei, a country that borders yours.

Another requirement is to insert the last 15 people on the list who had participated in this tag list: ( Add urs at the top of the list, keep only 15th link)

Zeethedevil wanna go wild in South Africa
eastcoastlife of Singapore yearns to go Switzerland
This Singaporean Melayu in Europe aka Azrin going LANSING MICHIGAN.
Shoppingmum to Europe
Angeleyes off to Bora-Bora
Giddy Tiger snorkelling in The Maldives
Jess to Europe
Mybabybay wants to go Round The World
Samm will go to Japan
Bernard dreams of New Zealand

Mission completed! Whew~

Simple Pleasures that makes Home Sweet Home

2007-04-07T07:15:00.000-03:00

I can nvr be away from home for too long. The past 1 month back home have been really awesome.

There are soo many lil' pleasures i enjoyed dat makes home, off the top of my mind:

1. Homecooked meal and mum's special birdnest. OMG.. i miss dat!
2. Falling asleep in my own bed, nothing beats your own nest.
3. Dodging in warm safe arms. I miss those warm hands and cuddles.
3. Gossipping & exchanging fashion tips wif e gals. Hey, i love u all!
4. Rolling with zico- tats my expertise afterall. hiakz hiakz hiakz..
5. Shop till i drop in the familiar shops n stalls. Oh boy, i luv 'em colorful shoes dat i found @ Far East Plaza.
6. Wide choices of breakfast such as Dim Sum, Nasi Lemak, Roti Prata, Wanton Mee, Char Bihun... i can go on & on.. but i m left wif bread/ham & cheese here. =(
5. Chilling out @ Wala-wala, sipping Hoegarden n gulpping the vongoles.
7. Magazines and books, how i miss 'em english n chinese words.
8. Being able party till late nite and flag a cab home without worrying abt safety.
9. strains of YES 93.3FM and Class 95.0FM on the radio. These chinese & english pops keep me groovy all days long. ;)
10. the air of homeland. tha familiar language AND the familiar faces.

it's juz GREAT to be home!

Summery Good Friday

2007-04-06T19:36:00.000-03:00

Woke up as early as 4:30 am this morning. Arrhh.. Blame that jetlag.

Fed my hungry stomach and went on housekeeping my lappie. Too many junk stuff, i would betta do an overhaul b4 it starts failing on me.

Did lunch @ A mineira- a famous franchise buffet restaurant in Sao Francisco wif colleagues. Wide spread of buffet with various choice of Brazilian food, juz the rite place to indulge in some good food and beers.

Swang by Prainha aka 'Little beach'. I enjoyed the sea breeze n the beach view despite the summery hot sun. How good can life be? I found myself smiling contentedly.

Received a cute SMS from Big C. Wishing me a Gd Friday for i'm now 11 hrs younger than i were in SG i like dat!

Hoppy Easter

2007-04-05T16:06:00.000-03:00

Finally touched down. Keke.. guess wat!! i got upgraded to business class during the Paris-Rio sector. Hohoho.... its definitely heaven n hell! Feeling good even after twelve hr flight - thanks to the genius who invented the lie-flat seat.

Saw this Lindt Gold Bunny at the Airport Duty Free Shop.

Bought two for the neighbour kids and one for myself... Its Easter coming again!

My apartment was full of dust after a month vacant. Spend half an hr cleaning and tidying up before going to Sendas (supermarket downstair) for groceries shopping with Jimmy. Sendas was full of people doing last minute shopping for the holidays. Its fun n smile-inducing looking @ those beautiful packed easter eggs hanging on the overhead racks. There are so many of them: big and small, modern and traditional -- I felt like a kid once again- hopping in joy and amazement.

Mmm... Life in Brazil is starting again. This time rd, the song of life sings at the right cue and it feels right too =) Wish me gd luck!

Box Wine??

2007-04-04T12:21:00.000-03:00

French man are too addicted to wine and hence came out with these carry-wherever-u-can tetra-box wine?? Saw this box-package Merlot and Chardonnay in my hotel room barfridge. Wow.. now wine-sucker can enjoy their sip more than they can imagine: picnicking, backpacking, skiing, fishing, even the airline might consider this. Got rather curious and decided to checkout its website on the internet.

Apparently this is more than convenient packing and marketing strategy. Claimed to be the state-of-art design, it is highly eco-friendly. French Rabbit -packaged French Wine was launched end of 2005. These are wine from the Languedoc region of France, produced by Boisset family, one of the larger wine export and distribution companies in France. Boisset got its start from rather humble beginnings as a negociant in Burgundy in the early 1960s, and in the three decades since has become a powerful force in the French wine industry. Instead of using the traditional glass bottles, they've developed their own version of a drink box to sell their wine in, and the results are pretty interesting. The box weighs just about four percent of an ordinary glass wine bottle, meaning it would take 25 trucks filled with bottles to equal one truck filled with empty Rabbits. The package itself is made from polyethelene, aluminum foil and paperboard, so it's 100% recyclable, and its collapsible, which reduces waste volume by about 90 percent. The twist-on cap makes using cork a thing of the past. French Rabbit together with American Forest have came out with this 'Plant A Tree' project. For every four French rabbits sold, one tree will be planted by American Forests.

While it may seem strange to drink wine from what amounts to an oversized juice box (I myself din try it), but reviews have been rather positive since its launch. Interesting, isnt it? Available in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Family Reserve White and Red, you can now purchase online.

Last fling in SG - Tea Bone Zen Mind

2007-04-03T18:48:00.000-03:00

Been wanting to introduce this little Tea Cafe to my frens n readers. Get to know this place a years and a half ago when it just opened. Since then , it has become one of my favourite chill out place in the hustle bustle CBD area.

'Tea bone Zen Mind' Teahouse is located just a stone throw away from Raffles Hotel. For those taking MRT, its about ten minutes walk from cityhall station. Wat makes this cafe stand out from the others? heee.. follow me... and u shall be convinced.

Situated on the second floor accessed via a discreetly signposted stairway, here we are at this little hideaway space. Cozily cloistered in a corner away from the hustle and bustle below, yet conveniently close by. Owner's Carrie has a fine and refine taste which makes her customer fall in love with this teahouse almost immediately. Stylish, unconventional and yet traditional, a place worth coo-ing all over. The whole concepts of the restaurant is so consistent that even the little details such as the W/C is taken care of.

More than 50 types of tea available at your choice. Old-fashioned and properly made home brews like ginger tea, red date tea and their well-known Eight Tresures Tea aka Ba Bao Cha. Japanese style Green Tea and MoCha... U name it, they hv it. Let alone their unusual snacks like Taiwanese dried fish and wagashi.

Signature Tea: Ba Bao Cha, White Tea, and Mocha.

Signature Dish: Tea Wings ( Chicken Wings cooked in Tea - healthy and delicious, tanalising ur tastebuds in a unique and refreshing way), Tea Egg (Diff from normal tea egg, the tea fragrance penetrates into the half-cooked egg-yolk, qith the jelly-like egg white and the warm gooey egg yolk-heavenly done!), grilled cuttlefish (smell pungent but taste otherwise), green mango (my fav: sourly sweet snacks with low cal.) & etc.. too many to form a list here.

Price wise, its a tad up-market if u juz wanna pop in for a quick drink. However, its definitely worth the money if u intend to spend a long lazy noon sipping away the hot weather.. Tea is refillable and you can take ur own sweet time enjoy a quiet afternoon wif least interruption. Cant find a spot with enuff panache for a afternoon tea? Be it apreciating fine tea, chilling out with frens or recharge yourself, this is the place not to be missed.

Why i like this place? Beside its discreet location and its whimsical decoration, i have to salute to their impeccable yet unobtrusive service. One will first served a wet-towel just for freshening-up, follow by a small cup of warm water with lemon. This is extremely appreciated especially in a hot-humid afternoon. I also love the efforts they placed while preparing the tea. Each tea is served with matching serving vessels, pots and cups, matching delicate snacks are served in accordance to the tea, aiming to bring out the best taste for the tea-lovers. Only gripe: their operation hr which seems only cater for bum and tai-tai. ( from 11am to 7pm) I m glad I get a chance to pay it a visit b4 i leave for brazil tonite. I m soo gonna miss this place!Click here for more pix.

Where is it?[Map]

Address: 38A Seah Street (S) 188379

Operation Hr: 1100 - 1900 daily

Evening and Sunday - for advance booking & reservation only

Tel: 6333 5400

Samba beckoning

2007-04-01T12:17:00.000-03:00

I am flying again...
Another tendering job in Brazil require my expertise.
Ticket already booked, leaving tuesday nite.
Haiz.. there are so many friends i hvn meet up with, so many fav food store i hvn visit, so many errands yet to clear from the to-do-list. Hate this last minute arrangement, i m not prepared at all. Its like life is not within my control anymore.

Went BBQ at Arandar Country Club (beside Downtown East) on Saturday. Wow.. we had lobster, crayfish, king prawns, stingray, cuttle fish, satay and otah!! Not to forget the premium spicy sambal recommended by Alan. Jimmy's neighbour - an SIA inflight supervisor who juz came back from Germany brot us some German sausages and Pork Knuckles. Food wise, it was definitely the most luxurious BBQ gathering i ever attended. I wont say we had a lot of activities but it was a good time getting together.

Sunday was another busy day. Finally got a chance to visit the much-talk-abt Dim Sum restaurant. - Redstar Restaurant at Chim Swee Rd. Their Dim sum is still served off push-carts in the traditional way. Food is good, especially the egg tart. However, one hv to chase after the dim sum ladies and dim sum carts, for chances are they either miss passing by your table, or by the time the carts reach you, the items you want are all gone. The service aint very good esp during the peak hr ( 12noon to 1pm on weekend). The taste of the food however can compensate that.
They start serving dim sum as early as 7am till 3pm. The customer flow is fast, so generally you do not hv to wait longer than 15 mins. No reservation on Sunday hence do come early to avoid disappointment. Price is rather reasonable, suitable for a Sunday family gathering.
Address[Map]:
HDB- Chin Swee Branch Office
Blk 54, #07-23 Chin Swee Rd (S)160054
Tel: 65325266 (no reservation on Sunday-First Come first Serve)

Brought Zico to WestCoast dogrun, the ground condition was too muddy for a good doggie flip.
Instead we played some fetching and went down to Holland V for Laksa. Zico got so jealous and he couldnt stop barking when i gave this handsome King Charles a gentle stroke on his forehead.

As u would hv guess, me n my weekend chill-out joint - Wala wala again. I'm juz so desperately hooked by their Hoegarden Draft & Wala-Wings!

Thats pretty much of my weekend. How abt urs?

Happiness...

2007-03-31T17:45:00.000-03:00

... is a warm waffle delivered juz in time when u r in desperate hunger.

Green Apple Day!

2007-03-29T23:12:00.000-03:00

Did i mention that: every now and then, we have this fruity day when all staff will be given a selected fruit of the month.
Today I got this beautiful, big, green apple on my desk, which is greatly to my favour! =) I seriously think i m a freak, i hate red apple but i just cant have enuff of green apple.

According to research: Green Apple is a good source of potassiumm , folic acid and Vitamin C. It is fat, sodium and cholestrol free. Green Apple is easy to digest and it contains malic and tartaric acids that inhibit fermentation in the intestines. It also contains pectin, a soluble fibre that encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract. Green apple also acts as a liver and gall bladder cleanser and may aid in softening gallstones. Unpeeled green apple provides its most plentiful nutrients just under the skin. To prevent browning, rub the cut surfaces with a mixture of lemon juice and water.

Benefits of Green Apple:

Cleans teeth and strengthens gum
Eating 2 apples a day will reduce cholesterol level up to 10%
Has an antiviral property and detoxifies the body
Prevents constipation because it helps digestion
Improves immune function and prevents heart disease and some cancers
Due to its high level content, apple is cooling and moistening and aids in reducing fever
Grated apple when mixed with live yogurt may be helpful in cases of diarrhoea
Steamed apple sweetened with honey is beneficial for a dry cough and may help to remove mucous from the lungs

For dinner, went down to Selegie for Soya Beancurd aka Tau Huey.

'Rochor Original Beancurd' operates everyday and claims to have the best Tau Huey in Singapore. Located at short street, a small lane diagonally opposite teh Cold Storage @ Peace Centre.

During its peak, the crowd was so full and teh people dun evn mind to take the seat beside the drain.

Its specialty is Tau Huey(soya beancurd) and Tau Zhui(soya milk) but they also sells other items such as: egg tart, curry puff, fritter dough aka you tiao, butterfly and so on.. which go well with the beancurd and soya milk. Smooth, white curds made from soya beans are served in a bowl with syrup. It's a popular dish for breakfast and as a dessert in Singapore and Malaysia. You can eat it cold or hot with other ingredients like peanuts and jelly. For me, I love to mix my Tau Huey(soya beancurd) and Tau Zhui(soya milk) in a bowl and eat it together with You Tiao(fritter dough) - deep-fried dough which is totally unhealthy but absolutely tasty!

Address [Map]: 2 Short Street S 188212

Graze-ing thru the nite

2007-03-29T06:57:00.000-03:00

Set against rustic backdrop of undulating grounds and tree-lined paths and green canopies, Rochester Park is definitely one of the hottest dining and lifestyle spot lately. Been clamouring to explore this place and finally here came an excuse to check out this mysterious wining-and-dining hub.

Its D2's bday and we decided to pay a visit to this park, situated near Holland V, just beside Buono Vista MRT Station, an area which exudes the aura of an unhurried world. There aint many restaurants in Rochester Park and I quickly set my mind on the most-spoken Fusion restaurant- ‘Graze’, an offspring of the award-winning OPIA (the famous restaurant in the 1st in Asia boutique hotel designed by Phillippe Starck - ‘JIA’ @ Hongkong), brot to us by young enterprising Singaporean - Ms Yenn Wong who made her name by making success in both establishment in HongKong.

Housed within a classic pre-war B&W colonial style bungalow, credit has to be given to the Aussie designers who made good use of the garden pavilion. With the romantic candlelit pathways and the water features all around the compound, the whole settings humbly created a attractive and inviting air to the guest. Its contemporary style reminds me so much of PS Café, another well-known Aussie-Meet-Tropical Restaurant @ Harding Rd. (Well… I shall talked more abt PS café next time, I promise!) One can either choose the small, casual indoor dining or set ur foot to the well designed garden pavilion for a captivating alfresco dinning experience. Those who came for drinks and snacks will definitely like the idea of its outdoor lounge featuring a large screen with 70s & 80s B&W classic movie playing mutely. It caught my eyes immediately and I m darn sure I shall be back juz for this.

While the place itself is aesthetically gaze-worthy, the menu is also equally graze-worthy. The menu created by Aussie Chef Matthew Lawdorn-who is also the mastermind behind Opia featuring not only an extensive list of appealing simple, home-made fare but also a bbq menu of choice cuts and seafood. For small eater who enjoys a wide variety of choices, one should try their ‘Grazing menu’. Oh my. Did I mentioned already their newly-designed weekend healthy and hearty breakfast/brunch menu?? I gotta jot it down in my weekend to-do-list.

Not wasting any seconds, lets start dishing the sleek nite out!

For entrée, King Prawns 3 ways (@ SGD18) is a must try for Prawn lover!! Tiger Prawns prepared in 3 different ways (chilled, pan-tossed and tempura-fried), served with coconut coriander sorbet. Suggest you eat according to the sequence mentioned above, I personally find that’s the best way to savor the best of 3 completely different style of cooking.

Being a seafood lover, and the outdoor ambience is so conducive to bbq food, we chose the Asian Seafood House Platter(@ SGD90) from the BBQ menu. Comes with the freshest selection of crab, prawns, oyster, scallop and sea-bass with special prepared chilli-paste by the side, served with green salad, fries and corn on the cob. All tasted heavenly and special note has to be given to the oyster. I am soo totally in love with the oyster! It is so fresh that just a few drops of lemon squeeze is good enuff to bring out the flavor from the sea! Oh my~~~ Its so worth-dying for!!!

No dinner is complete without a good bottle of wine! Our server suggested Aussie white wine - 2003 Brokenwood from Cricket Pitch (@ SGD 86 per bottle). A perfectly smooth and light wine to celebrate the evening of joy!

The waiters served dessert soon after we finish the main course. They fetched out a nicely set Lava pudding Plate with a twinkling candle while humming the bday at the same time. It was a surprise as none of us ordered anything yet, the thoughts was kind however the pudding aint a complimentary gift on the house, we found out that its included in the bill later =P. The warm Graze B&W chocolate lava pudding (@ SGD18) are oozing full of warm bittersweet from within, served together with B&W chocolate by the side. It melts in ur mouth and melted away ur hearts at the same time. It could be the million-dollar-worth dessert for those with sweet tooth but to me, it’s a tad too sweet. Generally it’s still worth trying.

As the name suggest, ‘Graze’ it’s a place for a cozy and sleek dining experience, encouraging its customers to take their time and enjoy the glassy lawn in the airy ambience. We decided to check out the whole place after the nosh. Besides serving delectable dishes, Graze also hosts a gourmet store selling home-made conserves, imported cheese, chocolates and boutiques wines and beers.

Upstair of the indoor dining area house an indoor lounge bar – Mint. Fitted with a DJ booth playing cool music, adjourned with comfy sofas, flo stools and otto mans, and a unique bisazza mosaic bar with floral motif, offering a list of unique blends and cocktails.
I have this special likings of their adjoining terrace, where there is a large sofa bed and banquette seating overlooking the garden from the top. Perfect for a relax lounging! According to the bartender, they also offers a wide range of cigars for those who enjoy piping a smoke or two.

I requested Apple Martini (@ SGD 18), which is not in the cocktail list, Soro - the bartender kindly prepared it for me. It smells great and tasted heavenly, perfectly added a pitch to the joyous evening tune. Then Soro suggested us to try out his newly invented – Peach Cosmo (@ SGD 20). It is nice but not really my glass of choice.

To sum it all.. this is definitely a memorable evening with commendable food, wine & drinks. Ambience and service wise, Graze is definitely top of the list-of-choice. However, its not a every-day dining type of place as the bill could be rather intimidating. Average expenses with wine is SGD 120 per person. No harm indulge once in a while for some special occasion though. Remember to call up for reservation as it could be rather packed during weekend and certain days during the week. Best to take a cab down as teh parking space is kinda limited.

Address[Map]:
4 Rochester Park S139215

Tel for reservation:
6775-9000

Opening Hr:
Breakfast - Sun: 9am to 3pm
Lunch - Sat: 12pm to 2pm
Dinner - Tue-Sun: 6:30pm to Midnite
Bar - Tue-Sun: 6:30pm to 1am,
extended to 2am on Sunday and Public holidays eve.

Fiesta Latino - Sway by the beach

2007-03-25T23:58:00.000-03:00

Viva Viva.. Theme of the day - Fiesta Latino!!

All the GOs are in bright tops and white bottoms, its gonna be the ever first beach performance in Bintan Clubmed. I m fortunate to witness and participate in their virgin beach show!

An extravanganza with vibrant clothings and flirtious dancing, With all the drinking, dancing, swaying and limbo-rocking, its definitely one of the best party i ever attended.

This is my 1st ClubMed experiences, and i assure u, its not gonna be the last! I think i had fallen in love with this ClubMed concept, aha.. dun be surprised if i were to quit my 9-5 job, joining this fun-loving big family one day. Not a bad thing to be a beach bum while getting paid ha! One thing I like is the interaction between the GOs and GMs. It really makes the guests feel at home, tats for me, at least. Gonna be back back for more soonest =)

I m in ClubMed!!

2007-03-24T23:58:00.000-03:00

Hihi.. Guess where m I now??

HOT HOT HOT! I m in sizzling hot Ria Bintan ClubMed =) Muahaha...

For the uninitiated, let me give you a bit of background on this concept village resort. Clubmed actually started off as a French corporation, which is seen by many as the pioneer of the all-inclusive-resort. Each resort provides an extensive list of services and activities in one single package. This includes lodging, food & beverages, use of facilities, sports activities, games, and shows.
ClubMed staff are called "GOs," or gentils organisateurs (gentle organisers). Clients are "GMs," or gentils membres (gentle members). The resort is known as a village. The resort manager is called the chef de village (village chief).
The unique feature of Club Med is that the GOs and GMs play, dine, drink, and dance together every day and night. Grand spread of Buffet dining (usually on tables of eight, mixing GMs and GOs), daytime sport tuition and evening show with extensive audience participation are part of the holiday experience.
Ria Bintan which is 55 mins away from SG, has now become a popular vacationing style and a conveninet getaway for S'porean or tourist from all over the world.

This is my first visit to Bintan and also my first visit to a Club Med property. The experience is definitely enjoyable and memorable. Upon arriving at the village, you will first greeted with a warm welcome by the staff and given a bracelet which is good for free drinks and bar food throughout your stay. At Club Med, guests choose how they spend their day. You can fill up your schedule with action packed sports and adventure, or you can simply lie on the beach staring out onto the breath taking turquoise surf. I, myself, opted for some adventure. After grabbing some snacks, i headed straight to a good squash game. Then came lunch with a wide variety of food to choose from. After a short rest, did some Pilates in the fitness centre before lounging on the beach. Bintan Beach, which fronts Club Med, is almost heaven-like. The waves are nothing like I've seen and the color of the sea is in mesmerising turquoise color.

When lounging got a bit too dull soon, and I bravely took up trapeze. This is one my most memorable experiences. I was so nervous as I waited in line for my turn to attempt my first try hanging in the air! The tension was greater when i was told to climb up to a vertical stair of approx. 2 floor high. When came my turn, I reached out and grabbed hold of the bar, almost hanging off the edge of the platform. I was a bit shocked at the speed in which I glided toward the other end of the trapeze. I did my flip (fail =P) and landed comfortably on the net. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that everyone should enjoy while at Club Med. I felt like a kid again. Watmost, the quantity of exercising was almost equal to all the activities i did for the past year, haha.. another step towards my slimming goal! Then.. its time for some swimming b4 dinner.

The performance put up by the GOs after dinner was awesome!! The Circus theme really live up to its name.

I esp love the part put up by the kids from mini club. It must be a fun experience for them kids! For couples with kids, Clubmed provided both activities for the adults and the kids. One can hv some hanky panky rolling good time, rekindle the passion of love while leaving the kids in the good hands of them GOs. At the end of the day, you will be surprised at the excellent performance the young kids put up. How the hell they managed to learn all the tricks within a day! The nite was still young! A Surprise pool party was held outdoor.

Unveiled by a fireworks show followed by free-flow of champagne and desserts, tete a tete among the couples and mingling ard with the GOs and other GMs. Then we were ushered to 'Bagus Bar' for lucky draw, magic show AND there you shaky bum - welcome to the dancefloor!
Whew!! Best if you can come down to experience it, Shall tell u more abt my adventures tmr. Nite, cheers!

New Toy!

2007-03-21T12:12:00.000-03:00

Check out my new toy!! Nokia E65. =)

Just another Sunday

2007-03-18T23:16:00.000-03:00

Supposed to go Bintan this Sunday, however the trip was cancelled last min.
=( would have gone to EastCoastLife 1st blogger's Popiah Party.

Brought Zico to WestCoast DogRun. I noticed he was kinda scared while other doggies approach him. My bad my bad... should hv bring him down to socialize and networking wif his fellow doggies frens more often.

Caught 'Music & Lyrics' @ Vivo. GV Vivo is definitely one the better cinema these days. Esp heart the spacious leg room. The movie is juz a so-so, can skip it if u hv betta choice.

Signed up M1 broadband package @ SGD38. Comes with a rather handy plug and play modem. With a download limit of 5GB per month(pretty good for moderate user like me), one can basically enjoy 3.8Mbps broadband services island wide. The good thing is now you can surf anywhere even without wireless network.
Trying it out now.. so far so good. =)

Indian Karma

2007-03-17T21:09:00.000-03:00

My department have this monthly bday celebration thingy, organised by Steven who was inspired by Brazilian culture after his business trip last year.

We have nasi lemak and chicken wings for breakfast. =) Haha.. my first packet of nasi lemak (Coconut Milk Rice with Anchovies Sambal) since my return! Then came the bday song and blowing the candle session for the March baby. Em.. the chocolate mousse cake with crunchy hazelnuts flakes from Four Leaves was sinfully tantalizing! Oh my.. i noe i m going to put on weight for sure. =P

After work, joined my colleagues for lunch at a indian vegetarian restaurant at Little India, Serangoon. See, we need to work half day on Sat, dats y we hv to pamper ourselves for the hard work. =P

If you have a yen for the exotic Indian food, you probably would love the heady Indian experience immersed in the bustling streets and wafting smells of Little India. Almost every street here has a restaurant or 'eatery house'. We went to Ananda Bhavan, recommended by Steven, our very own food connoisseur. This is my 2nd visit to this small restaurant. The shop is small but tiny, you can smell Indian spices the moment you step into the resaturant.

Entree:

Appam - round cake of rice flour and sugar fried in ghee, with perfectly tissue-thin crisp edges and soft, fluffy centres. Taken with orange sugars and coconut milk.

2 pcs @ SGD2.60

Masala Salmosa - Triangular pocket pastries filled with cleverly spiced masala.

3pcs @ SGD2

Main Dishes:

Maharaja Masala Thosai - crepes filled with a mixture of potatoes, capsicums, green peas, coriander leaves and beetroot, served with five types of condiments such as onion and tomato chutney, coconut chutney, mint chutney, vegetable kurma and sambar.

1 pcs @ SGD2.30

Paper Thosai - A large, thin crispy thosai(spongy rice flour cake) which you get the mouth-melting benefit of pastry; while actually filling up your tummy with some good protein. A mother’s perfect food!!!

1pc @ SGD2.40

Paper Masala(no picture) - Paper thosai with masala filling.

1 pcs @ SGD3.00

Ananda Bhavan has been serving a mix of North and South Indian vegetarian cuisine for over seven decades. There are currently four outlets, all located along the Little India belt. Popular with locals and tourists alike, the Ananda Bhavan restaurant chain prides itself with serving wholesome food without the use of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and preservatives. There is no reuse of cooking oil either.

Address: Blk 663, #01-10 Buffalo Road

The Chain Gang

2007-03-16T05:30:00.000-03:00

Promise EastCoastLife to get the link rolls..
Here you goes --

It was started by Mack Collier of The Viral Garden.

**Instructions**
Write a post, copy and paste the list from below into your entry. Make sure the links are active and correct. If your blog is already on that list, remove it because your post isn’t about self-promotion. Don’t worry, because if your name is on mine, it’s on others and will spread. Add your favourite deserving blogs to the top of the list (not compulsory). Publish the post. People will notice the incoming links, and hopefully write their own z-list posts.
The result will be that we all get more links pointing to our blogs, and more readers - and a higher Page Rank!
Key Points:
1) Create a new post on your blog.
2) Copy and Paste the entire list of blog links below
3) Add any blogs that you want to include near the top of the list. (Optional)
4) Include the blog where you first got the list from, on the list in your post.
5) Do not include your own blog links on the list in your post.
6) Make sure that all links are copied intact.
7) Publish the Post.

My Adds:
jBlog
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X-Ray

2007-03-12T18:53:00.000-03:00

Went to see my company doctor. I have been coughing way before i came back to Singapore. It isnt very serious cough but its kinda irritating. I cough whenever i feel cold, it might seems fine for a few days but the cough nvr really subside. It keeps coming back especially if I drank/ate sth cold.

Dr Yong sent me for X-ray at One Raffles Quay. He took my blood as well.. I hate it.. I bruise easily & thats wat happens everytime after injection/blood taking.

Hopefully there isnt anything wrong with me...* Cough.. * cough..

Zico just had his haircut today, isnt he suave??

Another Red Bomb

2007-03-12T02:05:00.000-03:00

See.. i told u Piggie year is a rollin' good year!
Especially auspicious for those couples who intend to get married.
Attended another wedding dinner on sunday nite, this time round is my great pal mogutou & fellow high school classmate Jinghan's big day.

Khai came pick me up at 5pm. The wedding dinner was held in JB, Johor Jaya.

Reached JB rather early, we decided to eat sth b4 the dinner. Went to this small restaurant "Tang Chau" aka Tang Dynasty. Tried out their thick toast and french toast.

Simply love this cute little devil voodooo doll from Khai.

Dinner ended at 10.30pm but we only managed to reach home by 1am due to traffic jam. I m soo exhausted by now... nitie nitie

Nite Out @ Mono

2007-03-11T11:05:00.000-03:00

Had not been clubbing since forever.. Attended colleagues SY & Sharry joint birthday bash @ St James Power Station on Saturday nite.

This was my 1st visit to the St James. Stayed in Dragonfly, the Canto style club for a while. The liveband and the singers are rather good. However the crowd are quite crowded and one can find a mixture of uncles and aunties, yuppies and poseurs everywhere, wannabe bengs and lians, ang mohs with their orchard towers pick-ups.....

Above Dragonfly is Mono, which features the all-time fav Karoke theme. A good place for those who love to sing in an open bar(2nd floor) or in unique themed rooms(3rd floor). SY and sharry's bash was held in one of the ten themed room on 3rd floor.

Party Party Partyyy.. Was so ecstatic to catch up with the all the old n new faces.
A rollin' crazy nite ended at 5:30 this morning.. I m damn tired by now. zzzzZZZ.