Krabi (1)

Had tremendous sunlight overdose the past 3 days or so and was unsparingly bitten by omnipresent mosquitoes. But... Krabi was fun! i guess cos we had unexpectedly good weather, not-so-many fellow tourists and good company. Though beaches were a little overhyped, I still enjoyed driving/kayaking/speedboating through the many many limestone cliffs/islands all over Krabi. Such amazing works of nature :) I was rather upset at having forgotten to bring along my specs for the trip, but it somehow made me more used to my daily disposables, so i suppose it was a blessing in disguise. This trip will also bring back yummy memories of sweet thai pineapples, close encounters with daring monkeys and... my virgin attempt to snorkel :P

Haven't taken many pictures with myself in them in a while. still trying to exchange trip photos with friends, so in the meantime will blog with "non-ppl" pics. First, beach photos... Though I visited several beaches, you realize after a while that your pictures all start to look the same.....

The famous Maya Bay at Ko Phi Phi Ley, where The Beach was filmed. It was one of the nicer beaches, cos the sand was really quite fine and pristine here. You could even sit in the shade beneath the limestone cliffs on shore.
Beach at bamboo island. Only after taking this pic did I realize that I might have inadvertently intruded on a Caucasian couple... they weren't kissing, but up to your imagination what they were doing.
Another picture at Bamboo Island. The waters were really clear here...
Ao Nang beach, about 5 min walk away from the resort where we stayed at.

And so I was 'rebellious' and did all the things I was 'forbidden' to do... but cos weather was great (too sunny, actually) and activities seemed safe enough :) Ah... it's back to work tmr morning though, so had better turn in like now.

*Gone Krabi-ing*

Happy holiday to me! I'll be back on Tues night :)

11 months into work, I think I finally feel like I'm finally 'one of them'. I mean, I guess I have been on good terms with all my colleagues all this while, but only recently did I feel like I'm actually starting to know them well enough to be a little 'bad' to some of them ;) Or like do naughty things... tease ppl etc. Not sure how this happened though, but I'm really happy it did. Have also taken to tou1 lan2ing in other ppl's workstations sometimes ;) Work-wise, I am also starting to take things in my stride-- even when I do things wrongly, not as well as I would have wanted to (getting upset as a result) I've learnt how to control emotions better... And for better and for worse, I've recently become a little more gungho in making my opinions known.. just a little bit. But when I get a little outspoken, I get amusing comments like...."wah, cannot tell Shi Min is like that...." Yeah lah, I know I look very meek. :P

3 days countdown to my trip to Krabi! No one believes me that I dun have a swimsuit, esp cos swimming/snorkelling is pretty much what you can do there... Hai. Shall attempt to dig up my 5-yr-old swimsuit and hope I still fit (too late to jian fei), else I'll really end up alone on the beach while the other two are somewhere in the middle of the ocean marvelling at sea creatures... :(

Listen to your mum

Ting ma ma de hua is another mummy-inspired song by Jay Chou. I've stopped looking out for Jay Chou's new cds etc since perhaps a year ago but i'm positive I've heard this some time back. Never really bothered to find out title of song till I borrowed sis's DVD to watch... and ta-da... rediscovered this song and cannot resist playing it again and again :) However, it's one of those songs that few ppl can master and disastrous for KTV. You can watch the MTV here! (a little blur but it's free)! Thought it was kinda silly to have Jay Chou and the little boy waving their hands (somewhere in the middle of the MTV) for nothing... and wonder if his beigy flowery jacket was really given to him by his mum... if NOT he should have replaced it with something less obiang :P Nonetheless, really liked the deco of the room, what with astroboys, teddy bears, interesting posters and toys. Also got to see what Jay Chou looked like when he was a kid (towards the end).. He resembles his mum...and hey! from prob age 2 onwards, he already had his look.... :P

Lazy Thursday

My day started late today. Wanted to get the family to go watch Shrek 3 with me, but it only opened today, implying crowds at the box office, thus sis voted against it. As such lazed about the house the entire afternoon. Finally managed to pick up my JLPT 2 notes towards lunchtime, only to be distracted by a DVD movie my sis borrowed from the library. Surprisingly, this 1987 movie (Qiu1 Tian2 de4 Tong2 Hua4, i suppose the title rings a bell since there is the TV serial Korean by the same name) starring Chow Yun Fatt and Cherie Chung was highly enjoyable. And touching. It apparently won Best Picture some time back in the 1980s. Set in NYC in the 1980s, it actually took me quite a while before I figured out where the film was set, hai, quite lousy. :P Though some parts of the romantic drama was kinda predicatable, still really liked Chow Yun Fatt's character -- a fobbish Chinese "ringleader"-type of figure. Hilarious during the typical fob scenes but really endearing at the more 'tender' moments. Tis a pity he seems to have taken up more ornamental roles in those big-name-director/Hollywood productions these days.

Give me anything.... whatever...

If you've been watching TV recently (or just keeping your eyes open in general, since these ads are all over the place), you prob would have noticed the two silly telly ads on a new local product- Anything (carbonated soft drink in 6 flavors) & Whatever (6 non-carbonated types of tea). My mum has been getting rather irritated with these ads (You can watch them at their official website here) , and calls them "wu liao", but i guess the concept behind this product is somewhat interesting. According to the managing director of the company, he came up with this concept cos ppl always say they can have "anything" or "whatever" when asked what drinks they want. I think I can somewhat empathise with that. However, I tend to think that most ppl DO NOT really mean it when they say they can have anything/whatever. Like, they have these few drinks in mind, or these few beverages they always drink, but am prob not dying for anything in particular. Anyway, just for the novelty of it, my colleagues and I went to NTUC after lunch to get a few cans of these beverages (It's buy 5 get 1 free now at NTUC!) and I tried a Whatever. I believe I got White grape tea, but thought it tasted kinda bland. The can has very general ingredients (so as to keep under wraps the identity of the drink) but I was just curious... Doesn't like AVA require detailed nutritional info etc to be displayed on the can? Seems somewhat unSingaporean :) In any case, I think such unpredictability is a little too much for me. I do not like buying cans of things whose contents are a mystery... If I'm craving for something, I'll need to tikam (for a long time if I'm unlucky) before I can get the drink I want. Somewhat of a torture if you just want a familiar favourite drink eh.

Flower jargon

Someone from the WWW just came to my website and identified two of my 'flower' pics! That was pretty cool :P To be informed of the scientific names of my plant subjects. Was also told by this Mr/Miss Botanist that the 'orchid-like' flower I snapped in HCM City is actually not an orchid, but a Trumpet Vine. Upon looking at my own flower pic again, I realized the difference. When on my National Orchid Garden tour, our guide told us a simple (and usually accurate) way of identifying an orchid. He said something like orchids usually have this lower 'lip' petal that looks diff from the rest of the petals. Which is true-- my flower pic didn't have that extraordinary 'lip-like' petal. :P

To the Botanist who left those comments on my blog... Thanks for those educational titbits. Haha though I wonder if you were so mortified to see the flowers either unidentified or incorrectly named that you thought you should educate this ignorant girl a bit.. :P Do you work at the Botanical Gardens?

Confessions of a mini shopaholic

The Great Singapore Sale has started! And I've bought 6 things in the past 2 days. Oh dear. Sale will be on for almost 2 months...! i will need to avoid the shops from next week onwards... else will really go broke. Sales are evil cos they cheat ppl into thinking that the merchandise is worth buying when in the absence of one, you might not have bought the item(s). I really tried to be more discerning when shopping and conscientiously considered the above when making all my purchases. Sadly that still didn't eliminate that many candidates from my list haha. To absolve myself from the sin of extravagance, I consoled myself that these were all pretty value-for-money purchases, and that I'm just buying everything at one go now... and that if i didn't buy these things at the START of the sale, they would all be gone (or i'll be left with display pieces) if somewhere later this or next month I decide that I do want to get them... :P Aiyah, in any case, my life is so unhappening... need to pamper myself from time to time.....

For your frivolous info, here is an incomplete and biased list of ongoing sales I can recall off the top of my head (as at now and might not be 100% accurate :P) ...

1) m)phosis: 50-70% sale.
2) ZARA: No sale. Boo.
3) Mango: 10% off
4) BHG (formally SEIYU, goodness knows why they changed to such an awful name): think 20% off, but >20% on selected items
5) Esprit: 10% off only if you have Citibank Credit Card
6) G2000: Up to 50% Sale. Think additional 20% off if you have DBS credit card
7) Little Match Girl: 20% sale storewide
8) Pazzion: 30-50% off older collection
9) URS: 10% off (+10% if you have UOB Card)

Hehe, shall look out again when I go walk walk in Orchard after Japanese class :)

Heavenly chocolate fondue

went with colleague to a HDB-organized food event at Swiss Culture Restaurant earlier this evening. It was a pretty good bargain cos for $20, we got a soft drink, creamy pumpkin soup, cheese fondue for appetizer, black pepper steak for main course, chocolate fondue for dessert and a tiny glass of tiramisu for dessert-after-dessert. Cheese fondue was yummy, but the chocolate fondue really won me over. The chocolate was just so good that I couldn't resist drinking spoonfuls of it.... a fellow diner at my table followed suit :P Ah... so sinful. To be fair, I haven't really had choc fondue anywhere in Singapore before, so there might be better places that I'm unaware of... but if I were to choose one thing to have here, I'll definitely vote for the chocolate fondue :)

Two good movies

Priceless (Hors de Prix)
Caught a light-hearted "romantic comedy" starring Audrey Tautou (who acted in Amelie) this evening. I think she holds an uncanny resemblance to Kirsten Dunst, but maybe like a dark-haired version. You can watch the trailer at the above website, though if you're French-illiterate (like me) you prob wun really be able to navigate much there... Anyway, thought the show was quite entertaining... and you get to see all these expensive items that the super rich can afford.... so it was kinda eye candy too :) Makes you wonder how many ppl really get married/ attached for love?

The Painted Veil
This i watched some time ago in two parts on my flight to HCM City- half on the way there and half on the way back. That I liked it so much despite having my movie "cut" into two says something doesn't it? Excellent dialogue and acting... (I loved this bit whereby Naomi Watts character tells her mother, "The idea that any woman should marry any Tom, Dick or Harry regardless of her own feelings is simply prehistoric"). Feel that the characters in the movie really develop and grow on you... Even the disgust I felt for Edward Norton's character turned into some kind of affection towards the end.... haha. I shall get the VCD when it's available; it was on screens some time back in Jan :)

Was in a rather foul mood this morning, due to various little things that have been bothering me. And then was late for my morning aerobics class thus decided to take taxi to Simei... which led to Dad commenting that I had poor time management blah blah. Then coupled with his 'There are huge waves and it's tsunami season at Thailand- you should not be going there' last night, I somehow lost it and said something hurtful like why do you have to interfere with everything i do... then hurriedly left house. If there's one thing I did right after coming back to Singapore, it's probably signing up for an aerobics/gym membership. Find that exercise purges like bad thoughts and destresses and felt quite a bit better after the hour-long workout. Then regretted losing temper in morning, cos after all parents are just concerned. Sigh, but am feeling too proud to apologize. Sometimes we keep hurting ppl who matter a whole lot to us, but yet we can't bring ourselves to say sorry. Then you secretly hope that they are aware that they are actually very impt to you...

NParks tour

Day 2 of MND Induction programme and was brought round Botanical Gardens in work clothes and heels (ouch) by NParks representative. Was pretty educational and even got to tour their herbarium... preparing plant specimens is no simple business! And, did you know that our $5 note features an ancient Tembusu tree that can be found in the Botanical Gardens?? haha. maybe you already know that and I'm just ignorant. :P Saw this tiny leaf near their 'cool house' in the National Orchid Garden. It's so cute. Love the curls and the pretty veins on the furry leaf itself. Then while in the cool house I saw some tourists and decided to be friendly. So I asked where they were from. Was pretty surprised to hear 'Iran', cos I didn't have the impression that we get many tourists from there. So I tried to strike up a conversation and told them that Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) came to my uni to give a talk before. But somehow they couldn't get my English so didn't really manage to carry on with conversation.... Nonetheless, I mo ming qi miaoed got grabbed to be placed btwn two big-sized ladies in their picture. Felt like a zoo exhibit for a minute, but whatever lah :) then disappeared to rejoin my own group after picture. I don't usually get the luxury of having such random lil experiences on a proper work day :P

I'm participating in this MND Induction Course today and tmr; and will get to visit the National Orchid Garden tmr with like 30 other relatively new recruits from other stat boards under MND... today was fairly unexciting but hope tmr will be better. And it had better not rain again! Weather's been really weird- when it's not scorching hot it pours...
***
Finally visited a non-chain Japanese restaurant (2nd one after my resolution earlier this year to sample 'independent' Japanese restaurants) at Cuppage Plaza just now. Food was decent but sadly I still can't decipher many things on the menu. Shall return next time to sample other items. Also had sake ochazuke but strangely all the chazuke I've tried in Singapore can't seem to measure up my first (Teaism) ochazuke back in Washington D.C..... but the funny thing is, I believe the Teaism branch (aside from using fresh salmon) actually uses an instant mix for its ochazuke! But i think cos it's like very salty and flavorful I love it :) Perhaps the real thing's not really supposed to be like that... Later adjourned to Cathay Ben and Jerry's for my all-time favorite Dublin Mudslide. I actually try not to eat Ben and Jerry's in Singapore cos it's exorbitantly expensive. $4.50 for one tiny scoop when back in Berkeley I can get a whole tub (and eat it anytime I want) for the same price! hmph :( very bu gan yuan.

good thing that this past week has been relatively less busy for me and I was able to gradually recover despite the blasting aircon at work. So i went from croaky coughs and blocked nose on Tues to almost full-recovery on Friday! i feel so happy to be healthy again. Also spent the first half hour of Fri filling my workstation wall (I sit at the corner) with more pictures, and when I gave one colleague another sunflower pic, she reciprocated with a tiny sunflower bouquet later in the afternoon! totally made my day. somehow felt like i ought to treat myself post-recovery and after working relatively hard for things i don't feel much for.... so splurged on hair yesterday evening and went shopping all afternoon today. hehe. Great Singapore Sale why aren't you here yet. hai. Time to 'buck up' a bit next week... cos have done nothing much at all this week at home; skipped Japanese last Sun and neglected study since my mock test before leaving for Vietnam; and have been sleeping as much as I can... though it feels GOOD to be lazy once in a while, must exercise both mind and body again soon!

Suddenly fell quite sick over the weekend, what with a bad cough and persistent fever. Not sure what caused it, but glad that i'm much better today. This episode also made me realize that falling sick is never a 'personal affair', esp not for me in Singapore... even when you try to hide your illness by secretly taking pills from past consultations, it's easy to get found out by parents... and i guess i was suddenly sick enough for them to be sufficiently worried! Work also gets affected when you go MIA. Had better take better care of my health from now on!

Flowers!

I somehow manage to take pics of flowers on every trip; and this trip is no exception :)

Cheery sunflowers in bloom... You prob wun be able to guess where I took this pic -- Changi Airport Terminal 2! I didnt know they had a neat sunflower garden tucked away in one corner...

This picture's a little blur -- but I think you can still see the animal. Well, we were on our way to Ben Tre Province to take our boat ride and stopped on the way for a toilet break. This toilet strangely had many pretty orchid-like flowers outside... While we were happily snapping away, my tour guide plucked one flower and started, to my horror, peeling away the petals and stigma... But before I knew it, he had transformed the flower (shown below) into a cute white rabbit! I instantly fell in love with this flower-rabbit... hai. if someone made it just for me I'll be happy for a few hours... :P

The original flower. Dunno what kinda flower this is, but it's probably an orchid? So pretty... :)

Faces of Vietnam

Aside from Vietnamese women dressed in flattering figure-hugging ao dais, I also came across many "ordinary" folks- hawkers along the streets, people toiling away in handicraft workshops, friendly waitresses in restaurants... though communication was still a prob in many instances, I felt that most people I met were all quite friendly and helpful. Was particularly impressed by how many Vietnamese working in touristy places spoke Japanese! (some even better than English). Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did taking them :)

This was snapped in a hurry while on my tourist van. And the expression of hardship on the lady's face still makes me feel a little unsettled whenever I look at this pic. According to my mum, those huge fruits on the ground contain our atap chees (those white chewy things you get in your ice kachangs)...

Rice paper production in action. Lady was really skilful and nothing tore... I still can't figure out how something so thin can be so "untearable"! These wet sheets were later put under the sun to dry...
Lady packing coconut candy into packets... Every single candy is wrapped up in white wrappers by women with superbly nimble fingers... This 'coconut candy factory' was on one of the islands tourists were conned to go to haha. Basically the tour guide brought us on a Mekong River boat trip-- a not-so-picturesque boat journey spanning one whole afternoon and island-hopping btwn 4 rather obscure islands on the river. But since you've already paid for it, why not just be happy and make the best out of it? :P
Worker polishing a piece of lacquerware-art. There were many such lacquer-art on sale in HCM City.... and I never expected the production process to be so arduous and labor-intensive till I got to witness for myself what went on behind the scenes... This man was quite friendly when I somewhat guiltily asked for a picture... just cos you know... i'm like "capitalising" on ppl's hardship by taking a picture.

Little boy squatting by the road beside a scale at his grandma(?)'s durian stall. There were several informal stalls selling fruits etc when we were on our way back from Ben Tre Province, the place some 1.45 hr bus ride south of HCM city, where we took our boat cruise...

Vietnamese women taking a lazy afternoon nap in a wholesale Market in Cholon, Vietnam's Chinatown. Erm, thought it was rather odd that they just sprawled out like that....

Soldier at the Cu Chi Tunnel demonstrating how soldiers could disappear into the extensive system of tunnels underground. This was one of the 'holes' and seriously after he placed the wooden plank over his head there was no trace of him at all. Amazing how resourceful and innovative ppl can get during times of war. Somehow this guy reminds me of a plumper version of Julian Cheung... and his silent upward stare (at tourists photographing him) makes me a little uneasy... cos he feels so submissive.

My HCM "motorcycle diaries"

Ho Chi Minh City has to be the motorbike capital of the world... Nothing there fascinated me as much as local folks zipping around on their motorbikes... day in day out... everywhere... rain or shine... Given HCM City's status as Vietnam's "economic powerhouse", witnessing some 10 times more motorbikes than cars on the roads (or more) was truly surprising to me.... Cars certainly appear to be a rare commodity- the occasional 4-wheeled vehicles i see around are either taxis, tourist vans/buses or public buses...
Motorbikes have such a HUGE presence in HCM City that the gas stations are primarily motorbike gas stations... 'carparks' frequently only have entrances only big enough for motorbikes to enter... Local markets even sell ready-made hats/face masks to gear motorcyclists up for the weather/pollution etc. No doubt motorbiking seems like the most convenient and cheapest way to get around...but it sometimes appears really dangerous too -- with 2 or 3 passengers on one motorbike being a very common sight. But perhaps it's also necessary-- ppl really don't seem very well off and you probably have to make do with what you can afford. On the other hand, I couldn't help but feel that motorbiking can be a good bonding experience-- for couples/ families/ friends.... there's this element of navigating treacherous roads together? I for one would probably cling on to the person in front for my dear life if put on one of the motorbikes for my very first time.

Tourists also dun have it easy... Crossing roads have never been as challenging for me...! there are pathetically few formal pedestrian crossings and frequently motorbikes do not adhere strictly to traffic rules... From time to time these tourist security guards will bring you across the road, but most of the time you'll have to rely on yourself. well i do believe that motorcyclists actively try to avoid pedestrians but sometimes they only manage to stop when they are like 30 cm away from you... So to sum it up getting to the other side can be harrowing at busy times of the day even if you make it over unscathed! It also doesn't help that I sometimes had a squealing mum clinging on to me :P Prob not too great an idea to bring your toddler or grandma.

After so much blabbering, I shall let the pictures tell the story :) I actually took quite a few pics, but cos most of them were taken while "on the move" from my tourist van many turned out blurry. These are some of the better and more interesting ones...

Colorful motorbikes on sale in a shop...
The "garang baby" model -- kids are frequently placed in front of the motorbike and this is one example... The kid in this pic even has a veil over his head, i guess to filter out the polluted air..Garang baby No. 2... Actually I feared for this kid's safety... The lady (presumably the mum) is riding with one hand... I really take my hats off the Vietnamese. dunno how they manage.
The "Sandwiched Baby" model... Another place to put your kid is in btwn two adults... The mother-carrying-newborn shown above is not very common... I saw many kids sitting in btwn, or better still... standing in btwn on the seat!People also somehow manage to transport all kinds of things on motorbikes - Our CPU warrior being an excellent illustration. Seriously -- travelling at high speed while holding on to a not-so-light CPU with the other hand... certainly takes lotsa skill.Last but not least, motorbiking in foul weather. It drizzled a little on the 3rd morning and while in my van I saw many motorcyclists stopping along the road to put on ponchos and other rainy-day gear. I couldn't help but wonder what happens to the millions of motorcyclists in the city during heavy downpours...?

Shi Min is off to Ho Chi Minh City tmr afternoon for a 4-day respite with mum! haha and proudly declaring that I have yet to even pack... am too lazy now to do anything now after a busy week at work.... should be fine lah cos it's just a short trip and it's not like winter or anything. hopefully trip will recharge me a little... and hope to get some interesting shots too :) will be back Tues!