Gwentini

2011-02-24T18:24:00.001+08:00

Yuuhoo... Crossing over to https://gwentini.wordpress.com/ =)

2011-02-05T21:54:00.004+08:00

I totally love this lunar new year coz for once I dun have to work on either 初一 or 初二!!! Plus, we got to have four days of rest! Super happy! =)

Anyway, my relatives were here today and my mom asked me to make some ice cream for them to try. And, I did carrot ice cream (hmph!?) coz I thought it will be interesting to have some carrots since its the Year of Rabbit. Oh well, it turned out quite weird so I did some vanilla ice cream as well.

Carrot and Vanilla Ice Cream

Though all my relatives said both tasted alright but I know they are just being nice. Thanks for trying out my ice cream! Hohoho!

2011-02-02T22:29:00.005+08:00

My last creation: Honey Milk Tea Ice Cream

Have a creammmmmmyyyy Lunar New Year!

PS: My mom just broadcasted about my latest hobby and all my relatives want to try my ice cream! BUUTTTTTT, it will be quite impossible to get whipping cream when all the stores are closed for tmr and the day after. :( And my relatives are coming on Friday. Tsk tsk! HOOWWW?

2011-01-23T23:47:00.008+08:00

Flavors of the Week:

Apple Pie Froyo & Grape Sorbet

Yup yup, I know I should just make one flavor a week but the apple pie froyo was quite a screwed-up and I felt so lousy that I have to make another frozen dessert to make myself feel better. =)

=) Look good but I dun like it at all! My parents like it but I think they were just being nice.

This is one of my favorites so far. =) Yum! I decided not to strain out the fruit and skin of the grapes and it turned out great! I totally love the texture!!

2011-01-16T21:33:00.003+08:00

=) Striking off the first thing on my new year resolution.

Now, I need to focus on the next two things on the list:

I. LOSE 8KG!

II. Plan my Mexico trip. =)

I want to visit you: La Antigua, Guatemala =)

2011-01-13T19:29:00.007+08:00

Flavor of the Week: Vanilla!

Happened to find the vanilla beans at the Ion supermarket! So, I must try making vanilla ice cream! Recipe from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I used 1/4 cup of sugar! But it's still slightly too sweet for me.

Churn as usual! =) I made one litre and when its done, I scooped out half of it. My mom always like it plain so this is for her.

Snicker bits *winks*

I added 2 chopped snicker bars, 1 big packet of m&ms and half packet of Hershey chocolate chips! Guess I added the m&ms too early. Boohoo! I dun like the colour of the ice cream now!!! :(

=) Looks how nice the vanilla ice cream look! Loooovvvveee that you can see the tiny vanilla seeds. And the "Paddlepop"! After awhile, I actually quite like how rainbowish it looks. *smiles*

2011-01-08T22:50:00.003+08:00

Flavor of the Week: Orange Frozen Yogurt

I need to finish up my other half of the Greek yogurt I bought quite some time ago so I squeezed some fresh orange juice and blend it with the yogurt. =) And off it goes into the ice cream maker!

May not look yummy but it is!!!! =)

It tastes like frozen Yakult to me. *heart*

2011-01-03T11:20:00.006+08:00

Happy 2011! =)

Guess I am getting old. I am no longer interested in getting myself sardined in crowded places on important days like New Year Eve or worse, gulping down tongue-burning drinks to get myself super dizzy moments later. But at the same time, I want to spend time with people who matter to me the most! =) Oh well, firstly, I don't really have lots of friends and my family does not have the tradition of having NYE dinner together... So, I just want to spend time with Junxian... You know, I just want to end the year with Junxian. No matter where... Just with him, preferrably hugging him tightly.

But he had family dinner to attend and though he was kind enough to invite me along, I felt abit awkward as it would be just his family plus me. AWKWARD. Good thing was his dinner ended early and he dropped by my place thereafter! And he stayed over for the night too which I totally love! So thats how I spent my NYE. =)

Its quite scary to know I am turning 27 this freaking year!! Like seriously, I am super old to people in their teens and I kind of haven't achieved much in life. Tell me that there are tons of people like me out there so I won't feel bad about myself.

I made a few new year resolutions, hopefully I can strike off the first one on the list by end of the month. Wish me luck. =) And here's my overdue photos on my milk tea ice cream! =) I used whipping cream this time round and everything tastes so gooooooood now! YUMMYYY!! And yup, I will no longer post the recipes I used coz just in case I might start a business on ice cream in the near future. Stay creammmmyyyylyyyy happy, my friends!

2010-12-18T23:06:00.012+08:00

It took me awhile to realize we are just two weeks away from the new year. *shocked*

I could still remember vividly Junxian and I went shopping for diaries/notebooks for the new year last December. Overall, I think this year is alright. I spent too long looking for a job and ended up in one that I do not like. And now I have to search looking again. I hope 2011 will be a GREAT year for me, striking off the top of my to-do list for real.

Flipping through my diary, here are some of my Achievements in 2010:

1. Learnt how to put on fake eyelashes in January
This is such an important skill I managed to learn! Now, I can't leave home without fake eyelashes! Haa! Awesome!

2. Celebrated one year anniversary with Lovelove in March!

3. Received my first payrise after wayyyyyyyy tooooooooo long in May

4. Went skydiving in Russia
Hopefully I can get my AFF license within the next 2 years. *fingers crossed*

5. Another awesome trip with Yanmei and Lingju to Russia, Hungary and Croatia!!

6. Learnt oil painting in August

7. Went for my first Brazilian wax in October! Haa!

8. our trip to Korea in October =)
Lovelove planned most of the trip! Thank you love! Great food, great weather, great time spent!

9. Pick up ice cream making as my weekly hobby in December!

Hmmm... From what I see, my personal life was actually quite good this year. Hope I can keep it this way next year as well... And I LOVE YOU, LEE JUNXIAN! Thanks for always being there for me! =)

2010-12-18T19:34:00.006+08:00

Flavor of the Week: Banana Nut Crunch

Sounds yummy enough! I got the recipe from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz but improvised it alittle.

Ingredients Used

4 medium-sized bananas
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup of sugar
1 3/4 low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
chocolates with macadamia nuts

I am supposed to bake the chopped bananas for 40mins but since I do not have an oven, I kind of pan-fried them. Throw in one tablespoon of butter and some sugar. The recipe states 1/3 cup but I just poured some sugar randomly.

I stirred and tossed it for like 5 to 10 mins and scrape the bananas into a blender. Add the milk and vanilla extract. No sugar. =)

All ready. Chill it overnight for best results!

I chopped up the chocolates I bought and used it as a mix-in! I actually wanted to buy chocolates and macadamia nuts separately but its quite expensive. Chocolate bars rock!!!

Overloaded with creamy lovesssss!

Freeze it for a few hours to firm the ice cream up!

Look yummy isn't it?

My mom and dad said its nice. My brother and Junxian said it tastes funny. Doesn't taste like bananas. Obviously, I think its nice. But maybe it can be sweeter. I think I used less than 1/4 cup of sugar.

2010-12-12T13:47:00.004+08:00

Ice Cream Flavor of the Week: Ferrero Rocher =)

As usual, warm the milk with nutella. I use much more than the recipe instructed coz I dun want to use too much sugar.

Whisk the egg yolks along with some sugar

Pour the warm milk into the egg yolks then warm the mixture till its smooth and creamy. =) And thats it! Cool it in an ice bath and chill it for one hour or two before churning.

To make the ice cream more yummier than ever, crush some ferrero rochers and mix them into the ice cream machine

Looking good!

And here you go! My family loves this!

2010-12-06T23:50:00.000+08:00

=) Weirdly, I have been looking forward to weekends so I can make ice cream. Yeah!! So last Sat, I went to the supermarket and bought some strawberries and Greek yogurt, the two main ingredients for my Strawberry Frozen Yogurt!! YUMMY!!

It is relatively easy to make but I do not have a blender so I have to mash the strawberries using a citrus juicer and manually whisk the yogurt with the strawberry mix. Anyway, I bought a Philips blender on Sunday. So, do expect me to make more fruity ice cream like pineapple and kiwi!! Yeah!!

My strawberries all cleaned up and hulled

Melt the sugar along with the sliced strawberries

After mashing it up, add the yummy Greek yogurt

Whisk and see it turn into a wholesome pink of goodness...

Churn it as usual and here you go: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt!!

Looking abit gooey but it is filled with chewy strawberry bits and I love the Greek yogurt taste! *love*

2010-11-30T17:49:00.005+08:00

AH-HA!!

Now I know. =) After churning, the ice cream will be like the softie ice cream. And have to freeze it to make the yummy, scoopilicous ice cream! =)

2010-11-30T14:49:00.009+08:00

My Latest Toy!

Kenwood Ice Cream Maker

Since I am on leave these two days.. Starting my new job tomorrow and did I mention I just screwed up my bioclock!? Alright, since I got nothing much to do, I spent my free time trying out my new toy. =)

I tried to make Chocolate Ice Cream!

I know it looks rather disgusting. I have no idea whether I should blame the climate here or did I pour too much of the ice cream mix cos I am really bad at measuring or am I too impatient to wait for my mix to chill properly... It turned out like the softie at 7-eleven. I am referring to the texture not the taste. I think it tastes much much better! *winks*

So, I just freezed the softie-like ice cream in the freezer and I think it turned out fine. =)

It is actually very scoopable and tastes quite yummy. =) But of course I might be just optimistic so I need some honest feedback man.

Then, I tried to make Orange Sorbet!

Working the magic

And it turned out alright this time round. Still abit wet. But think I need a few more times to know how to work this out. =)

2010-11-24T11:35:00.003+08:00

=( I am feeling rather lousy about myself now. The fact is I am bored. I really need to plan for something. It is sad to know that there is nothing to look forward to for next year. I really want to visit Mexico next year but due to some issues, I can't find anyone to go with me. And this is damn sad. Now, I am reading up on Mexico cos Lingju said if I can wait, she don't mind joining me to Mexico the year after. But somehow I feel disheartened to read about how dangerous Mexico is. I know it is dangerous. But when this is the only comfort I thought I can find and when I can't find any, it sucks man.

Or maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/central-america/travel-tips-and-articles/76202

2010-11-18T23:09:00.000+08:00

=DDD Seoul!

How to get there:
Only SGD580 inclusive of tax, we flew via Cathay Pacific with a stopover at Hong Kong on 15th Oct 2010 in the late morning and arrived Incheon International Airport at 9pm.

15 Oct 2010, Friday

Hotel Stayed: Hotel Echae
Comments: Small but cozy (KRW 80,000 per night)
URL: http://www.hotel365.co.kr/Lodg/OnePage.asp?acode=A5000345

Though we haven't booked any accommodation, I roughly have an idea which hotel I wanted to stay. First choice is Hotel Pop and second choice is Hotel Echae. We went to the airport reception and asked her to call Hotel Pop to check for vacancy. Sadly, it was full for the night. So we went for the second choice which is located in Sinchon. We did not make any calls cos the receiptionist was quite busy so we just head straight to Sinchon (Line 2 - Green) via the airport bus (KRW 10,000 per pax).

I had a map of the location of Hotel Echae from Google Maps and roughly know where it is. We were lucky in a way cos there was only one room left and we decided to get it anyway. =)

Its a bit small but its Friday night so we were grateful! =)

=) Looks not bad! =DD

Haaaa! City of Wonder-ing

We went out to explore the streets abit and we saw Krispy Kreme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dun you want to sink your teeth into these?

Yummy rice cake on the street stall!

We looked around and saw Hotel Jade (100m away from Echae). It was one of the few 2 smiley hotels I chose (I rate with smiley faces with max 3 smiley but no hotels I looked on Hotel365.co.kr get 3 smiley. So 2 smiley are good!). We asked for vacancy tomorrow and whether we could leave our luggages with them... It was tough coz all these love hotel staff don't really speak English. But we managed to gather that they have vacancy for the day after. So thats where we would be staying the next day. Yeah!

16 Oct 2010, Saturday

Brunch at Bonjuk (Super big bowl of Ginseng Chicken Porridge)

Junxian mentioned that there is a flea market near Hongik University so we went there to take a look.

Some pretty cafe nearby. =)

After wandering around, we went to visit the Changdeokgung Palace.

We were rushing for the English tour but it was over by the time we reached the palace. So we went for the Chinese tour instead. The palace is really big but too empty for me. =P I definitely prefer the one in Jeonju!!!

Next, Lovelove brought me to Kwang Jang Market for dinner! It was crowded with locals and we just knew we came to the right place for local cuisine!

Fried pancakes!

One bibimbap please!

Its all veggies but its very fresh and yummy!!! =DDD

After dinner, we were looking for the night markets in Dongdaemun and Namdaemun but there wasn't any crowd and we knew we were at the wrong place. So we went to Myeongdong instead! It took us awhile to get into the right streets where everything is happening at the same time! =P Look for the Migliore Mall and you will be in the right shopping streets! And I went crazy shopping for facial products! =)

Hotel Stayed: Hotel Jade
Comments: The room was spacious, though a bit dark! But we get to choose the room we want and we can reserve it lo! (Stupid Hotel Pop!) I lovvvveeee the ROUND BED! =DD Only KRW 80,000 per night
URL: http://www.hotel365.co.kr/Lodg/OnePage.asp?acode=A5000361

Super nice bathtub!!!

17 Oct 2010, Sunday

After checking out, we went straight to e'Zen Hotel nearby (200-300m away from Jade). Lovelove said he remembered he read good reviews on this hotel and it was on my 1 smiley face hotel list so we went to check for vacancy. Since it was Sunday, the rates are much cheaper.

We had a horrible lunch at a shop along Sinchon... =( The soup is really tasteless. BAHH!!

After lunch, we went to check out the shopping street at Ewha Woman's University.

There is this awesome cinnamon pancake along the street by this old uncle. Its just KRW 700 each, if I remember correctly! We tried a number of the street food... Oh, must try the sausage and rice cake on a stick at Myeongdong! Super yummy! Lovelove took photos of all the street food but he have yet to edit his photos. Tsk!! =P

We bummed about and headed towards N Seoul Tower in the evening! It was totally out of way and we have no choice but to walk to the cable car station!! We are quite pok and lousy with directions and since we can see the N Tower itself, we just tried to walk towards it regardless of any obstacles. I think there is a much easier way to the station but we climbed up the hill and then walked a long distance before we reach the station. Haa! We wanted to go to the tower before sunset but by the time we made it there, it was dark already. Boohoo!

Waiting for our turn to get onto the cable car!

N Seoul Tower

There is this tiny teddy bear museum at the base of the tower. =)

Nice random shot by Love! =)

"Lock of Love" at N Seoul Tower

When I saw this, I was so excited and I want to get our own lock of love. Lovelove thinks it was lame but I dun care and start to shop for a lock at the souvenir shop. Somehow after awhile, or maybe its the cold weather that made Lovelove tipsy, he went along with my idea and went looking for a nice lock for us! As I am a cheapo, I got the cheapest tag available. The normal padlock costs like KRW 20,000 which is atrocious lah! Do remember to bring your own padlock, you people in love!!

Our "Lock of Love"!!!

BIG KISSSSS!!

Then we went up to the tower which oversees the entire city. =)

Since the N Seoul Tower is somewhat near Myeongdong, we went there for dinner!

Our first BBQ dinner!!! Its really really nice! =D

We were quite full but we decided to order the pancake as well. YUM!

Hotel Stayed: e'Zen Hotel
Comments: BIGGGGGG! We took the Premier one since it is real cheap on a Sunday night. (KRW 65,000 per night). Though the receptionist does not speak much English, he was extremely helpful!
URL: http://www.hotel365.co.kr/Lodg/OnePage.asp?acode=A5000239

18 Oct 2010, Monday

We left our luggage with e'Zen Hotel as we were catching the evening flight to Jeju. Actually there are luggage lockers at the subway... So maybe it was a good idea to bring our luggage along with us since we were visiting the Noryangjin Fish Market which was on the way to Gimpo Airport.

Alighting at Noryangjin metro station and following the exit sign that leads to the fish market, walk straight all the way until you see some stalls selling veggies. Follow the line of veggies stalls and go down to the underground passage and it will lead you straight to the fish market.

Please remember not to go to the second storey to have your lunch. We went up to take a look and the price they charge was quite expensive. What we did is after walking around the market to see what we like to have for lunch, we approach a stall and order and they will bring you to the restaurant at the first level and you tell the cook how you want your food to be served. You will be charged an additional KRW 3,000 for their service. We ordered some middle-sized prawns, octopus and some abalones! =D I think its only around KRW20,000! AWESOME DEAL!!!

We also ordered the spicy soup which is like the best I have ever had!

Since we have some spare time left before our flight, we dropped by at Gangnam-ju. According to Lovelove, it is an artsy-fartsy place and the shops are at the higher end. There are lots of cafes in Seoul and we have yet to visit one so we chose Coffee Smith coz of the nice interior outlay.

I usually dun eat the cream but it goes really well with the jam and waffles!

Tongtong loveloves waffles!

Yummy!!!

24 Oct 2010, Sunday

We took the bus from Jeonju and arrived at the bus station around 1pm. We took the metro and went straight to Jungno-gu 5 as we went to explore another side of Seoul other than Sinchon. We found Hotel Pop without much problem, left our luggages with them and headed to the nearby Insa-dong.

We walked past Tapgol Park and went in to take a quick look. =)

Had a light lunch in Insa-dong

Ssamzigil

There was a long long queue at this stall and we, the curious Singaporeans, of course joined the queue.

"Shit" Pancakes! (NOT NICE!!!)

Dinner at some BBQ restaurant in Myeongdong! =) Tasted quite good ohhhh...

We chose the signature BBQ chicken and added rice and cheese. The combo was super awesome! =DD

Hotel Stayed: Hotel Pop

Comments: Though it is very popular among the locals, they have a very dumb policy. No pre-reservation. Usually, we will make our payment at the hotel (This means the rest of the hotels in Seoul but not this one, apparently) and leave our luggage with them. But over here, they let us leave our luggage with them but they refused to let us make the payment. This means, if we are unlucky, since the check-in time is like 10pm or 11pm, if we go back to the hotel at night and there are no rooms left even though it is damn fucking obvious we wanted our room since we left our luggage and we actually wanted to pay first, we are screwed. They are like how fucking DUMBBBBB!!!

Basically, we were lucky on this night. But we were left with the Hello Kitty room. Its my stupid dumb idea to stay with Hotel Pop for another night since we think since we were lucky enough to get a room on a Sunday night, it shouldn't be a problem on a Monday night. We were sooooo wrong. The Koreans fuck all day and night regardless whether it is a weekday or not. Our bad for being a harmless tourists. They are just plain morons.

The fact that they are located at Jongno-gu, there aren't many decent looking hotels along the streets. Anyway, the last night we stayed in some lousy hotel opposite Hotel Pop. =( Boohoo! So unfriendly!!!

URL: http://www.hotel365.co.kr/Lodg/OnePage.asp?acode=A5000369

25 Oct 2010, Monday

Not much photos for today. We had a yummy Japanese lunch in Jungno-gu.

We visited COEX Mall but there was nothing much. Just a normal shopping mall. There is a Hyundai Shopping Centre that reminds me of Takashimaya. =) Then we went to Myeongdong to get the Krispy Kreme for Valerie! =)

Three stories of super yummies!

sWeeeeeet!

We spent the rest of the night around Doota where there are a couple of shopping malls that open till 6am!! The weather was sooooooooooo cold that I have to run every time we get from one mall to another.

We had our dinner at the first restaurant we saw so Wendy cant take the cold anymore!!! ARRRGGGHHHHH.... Freezing to death while Lovelove was "taking" the cold. He is crazyyyy....

Anything hot tastes good when you are cold!

When we went back to Hotel Pop, they delivered the bad news and we have no choice but to settle for the nearby hotel since it was like 2am already. =(

Oh, ignoring the bad aftertaste, we had an awesome trip together! =) There were a few hiccups but come on, thats life! =) Even my super well-planned trip to Turkey/Greece/Egypt had two hiccups! Haa! LALALALA-ILOVEYOU!

2010-11-17T23:31:00.003+08:00

Jeju-do

Monday, 18 Oct 2010

How to get there:
We took Eastarjet evening flight from Seoul to Jeju-do for only KRW 30,500 per pax! DIRT CHEAP, can?! Junxian rocks! =)

As usual, we did not get our accomodation booked at all and we did not plan anything yet. By the way, we both think that Lonely Planet Korea sucks! Quite alot of inaccurate information given lo! Especially for Jeju! The impression I got of Seogwipo from Lonely Planet was generally positive so I actually decided to stay in Seogwipo for the first night. There are airport buses that go around Jeju-do and we just randomly gave the bus attendant a hotel name in Seogwipo so she can tell us which bus stop we should alight. Oh well, anyway, there's really nothing much in Seogwipo so I strongly recommend that if you are going to Jeju-do and you are not staying with the 5-star hotels, go the new Jeju-si and stay in Picasso! =) New and at least you can say you are in a town rather than a Korean village in a 1970s Singapore. My bad!

After our late dinner, we went for a walk around the town. It looks rather creepy than romantic cos the streetlights are dim and there is pretty much no nightlife on a Monday.

Tuesday, 19 Oct 2010

We woke up rather late and we did the usual packing coz we most probably want to stay in Jeju-si for the night. We left our luggage with the hotel and went for our lunch recommended by Lonely Planet. The lunch turned out great anyway! =P And its really really way too cheap already. Tsk!!

Using characoal for the BBQ

1 kilogram of meat!! (Just KRW 30,000!)

Love BBQ-ing for us! =)

SUPER YUMMYYYY!!!

Raw crab meat! =P

Since there is really nothing much in Seogwipo, we headed to Jungmun-si to visit the Cheonjeyeon Waterfall. We tried to take the public buses but since we are going to another town, we actually have to take the domestic bus and then change for the intercity bus. Too troublesome right? Not like there are alot of humans living in this island. BLEAH. We took cab instead which is quite a good idea considering that we had a late start (it was like close to 3pm after our lunch). It took about 10mins to reach and costed around KRW11,000.

Pretty awesome righhhht?

Next stop, Teddy Bear Museum.

The world's most expensive teddy bear! =)

I know Lovelove must be thinking this is how lame but Goong is one of the only few Korean TV dramas I watched so I HAVE TO GO THE TEDDY BEAR MUSEUM LAHH!!

I love Kim Jeong Hoon!!

Box you!! Haa!

It was like 5pm when we are done with the museum and damn, the sky is getting dark already. =( BIG BOOHOO FOR AUTUMN! And it just reminded me why I always prefer to travel during summers despite the hot weather! We wanted to visit another attraction but we kept missing the intercity bus! By the time, we got onto the next bus, the sun has already set. :( And since it is on the way back to our hotel, we decided to go back and get our luggage then head to Jeju-si.

Hotel Stayed in Jeju-si: Picasso Hotel

We were damn damn lucky! We alighted at T.H.E Hotel and Lovelove did his usual "I got one good news and one bad news. Which one you want to hear first?" thing. He said the place we were at wasn't mentioned in Lonely Planet at all but there are plenty of hotels around! I was like in the "Boohoo... how?" mood and as usual very hungry. Love read out some of the hotels he can see and asked me to choose. We both think Picasso sounds alright and followed the bright blinking logo of the hotel. =) We saw the nice photos of the rooms outside the hotel and some "Congrats" flower stands. We were thinking since the hotel is new, it cant be that bad and we were right. The room we chose the Deluxe one (we think, since its all Korean) and it costs only KRW55,000 per night. The room was great. Especially when you compared with the room we had in Seogwipo. Tsk tsk.

We explored Jeju-si while looking for nice restaurants for dinner and this is the one we ended up in.

The dumplings were really nice!! =)

I thought I ordered spicy noodle but ended up with cold noodle. I like it but the minty veggies spoiled the taste! =P

Lovelove's soupy noodle

Wednesday, 20 Oct 2010

We did some research last night on which trail to use for Mt. Hallasan and due to my lack of stamina, we decided on the Eorimok Trail.

On our way to the base. =) (Cab fare around KRW 14,000)

At the beginning of the trail

The maggi mee trail! Why can I get a free ride up!?

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! Finally got it over with the tough climbing part of the trail. But by now, my legs were really tired already! =P

The Erimok Trail wasn't the most pleasant route I have taken. I demanded a break every few minutes. No wonder Lovelove thinks we were totally not gonna make it to the "top". But he was really very encouraging and nice to me. Even offered to take my bag and all... and still managed to be a hundred steps ahead of me and went back down to stay with me. *sweet* I am pretty sure he can make it to the top of the 8-hour trail using only half of the time if I am not around. Bleah!!!

Reached! Altitude of 1.7km

the must-eat cup noodle, my reward for not giving up! =D

We took the Yeongsil Trail on the way down and the scenary was much better as well. =)

Somewhat end of the trail. We still need to walk like 2km to get to the main road. Luckily, there is an empty cab on the way down. So my legs said thanks. =)

Reward Time!!! =)

Spicy Seafood Soup

Abalone Porridge

Thursday, 21 Oct 2010

We reserved online with YEHA Tour for the East Tour the night before and was half expecting them to ignore us. We tried to call them but well, they have strict operating hours. They picked us up at T.H.E Hotel on time, which is probably the only good thing about this "tour" agency. I have to say, this is one of the worst day tours I have been to. Their so-called tour guide only passed you a printout of the details of the tour and thats pretty much his work. Hey, I can print all these online if I want and probably can find more details than there is on this printout. So why you think I sign up for this tour in the first place? I think it is much much better if we just get a cab and bring us around Jeju to places we really want to go at our own leisure time and most probably at a lower price!

I still don't understand why I need to pay for so much for so little. Tried to email them to complain but obviously they don't give any shit about me which is plain rude. Please, don't sign up with YEHA. And YEHA, I hope you can close down soon, evil puny irresponsible corporation. BAH! Please note, you will be paying for an extremely expensive bus ride with less than perfect itinerary and non-existent English-speaking Korean. HMPH!

First stop: Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak)

I love you!!!

We were given one hour to climb the peak. Though its nothing compared to Mt. Hallasan, my legs were still aching from the hike the day before. GAH!! That's the Haenyeo House at the eastern base of the volcano!! If we were not on the day tour, I will definitely suggest going down and get a lunch or something!! =(

Second stop: Jeju Cultural Hanok Village

Lunch: Black Pork BBQ

Nothing compared to what we had the day before! Tsk tsk!

Third stop: Haenyeo Museum (total waste of time)

Fourth stop: Manjanggul Caves

Final stop: Dongmun Market

This is yummy. But the best is still the ones in Seoul! =)

We actually brought along our luggage with us and we thought it would be a good idea to explore the old Jeju-si. We asked the "tour guide" on where we can stay in Jeju-si other than YEHA guesthouse. Overall, he can't really recommend anything. The fact is the new Jeju-si has more good hotels than the old Jeju-si. I have no idea why he refused to tell us this when he actually lives in Jeju. Having no pre-arranged accommodation, we alighted near YEHA guesthouse, hoping to see a wide range of hotels but we could not. There are a few hotels dotting around but they dun really look decent to me.

In the end, we took a cab back to new Jeju-si and hope to find the hotel we walked past the night before. We remembered it was quite decent looking but have no idea where it was. Anyway, we tried and could not find it so we went back to Picasso but it was full for the day. SAD!!! We ended up in Hotel Greece, well all I can said is it is better than the one we stayed in in Seogwipo.

As we weren't that hungry yet, we visited the Loveland. Not surprisingly, it opens till past midnight but surprisingly, there are lots of locals visiting the Loveland.

Desire

Oh yeah. =)

The Loveland is quite small so we took an hour to walk around the park and headed back to Jeju-si for dinner... =)

Supersize BBQ chicken with cheese! YUM.

2010-11-08T22:52:00.002+08:00

I just finished reading "The Sweet Life in Paris" by David Lebovitz and I must said I pretty much liked it!

Quite surprised that a dessert chef can write so well! =) Well, since this book is a finalist in the Best Literary Writing category for a 2010 Cuisinart/International Association of Culinary Professionals award, I think he is damn zai!

Looking through the other books/cookbooks he has written makes me want to be a chocolatier or a glacier (the French word for a person who makes ice cream for living and not the English word for that big chunk of ice I climbed in Norway).

Like seriously, who will mind eat chocolates and ice cream forever!???? And guess what... about HOMEMADE chocolates and ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??? I WANT TO CRY ALREADY!!! Sign me up at Le Cordon Bleu please!!! Desserts only!!! =) Maybe it's about time I go watch Top Chef: Just Desserts. I can drool all I want!

2010-11-03T22:43:00.000+08:00

Back! Super love it!!! This trip is mostly planned by Junxian and I think he did an awesome job!!!! =) I shall start with my favorite city in South Korea and that's Jeonju, the land of bibimbap!

We got to know about Jeonju when Junxian found out about the free shuttle bus services on http://english.visitkoreayear.com/english/main.asp. There are free shuttle buses to/fro Jeonju and Gyeongju so we can only choose one. Since I love bibimbaps, I chose Jeonju!! =)

How to get there:

We flew from Jeju to Gunsan via Eastarjet on 22nd Oct (one flight a day) at 51,500KRW per pax and took an one-hour bus from the airport to Jeonju. There is another bus that goes to Gunsan so do check first before you happily hop on the bus. And do note not to miss the buses and the buses are arranged as per the flight arrival timings. If you miss it, you have to wait till the next flight.

Where to stay:

Arrived at the intercity bus terminal, you can see there are many hotels dotting around the bus terminal. Junxian had shortlisted a few hotels and within a few minutes of walking, we found the hotel we both wanted to stay. According to hotel365.co.kr, Hotel Blue One is the second best hotel to stay in in South Korea!!

The receptionist speaks little English but we chose the Premier room for only 60,000KRW which is awesome! For once, we can check into our room immediately instead of leaving our baggages at the counter and check in only after 10pm or 11pm.

Big TV screen and choosing Premier, we can play Wii!!

Bathroom!

Hmm.. if they use another design for the bedsheets and the wallpaper, it will be perfect! Haa.

Super spacious and a sofa which we never use and two PCs is the standard!

I totally love Junxian! On the one-hour bus ride, I was sleeping like a log and when awake, dazing and eating my tangerines while my love went crazy-planning for Jeonju. Sweet right?

We took a cab (around 4,000KRW) to Gyeonggijeon, one of the main historical sites to visit in Jeonju.

We were so glad we came at the right time as it was during the Bibimbap Festival and the Gyeonggijeon was filled with many tents showcasing various traditional arts and crafts. =) It was really great coz otherwise I would think it will look rather empty and boring like the one in Seoul.

Bamboo field!

We walked along the main street and followed the crowd and made our way to the Jeonju Traditional Culture Center where there are so many events going on at the same time! I was super overwhelmed by how beautifully the traditional houses were converted to cafes, museums and shops! Walking through the streets, I felt like I went back to the past, but I was constantly whacked back to the present by all the stunning yet delicate interior designs.

A BBQ Restaurant we walked past

I can stay in one of these cafes the whole day!!

A stall selling traditional Korean teas!

Stroll abit off the main streets and you will find yourself in one of the Hanok villages. =) Some are open to public for visits and we managed to snap a few photos of their houses.

a 600-year-old ginko tree

a designing store

Following the big balloon in the air, we reached the main carnival of the Bibimbap Festival at the carpark. There were more tents selling local products at the carpark and even more showcases of the Korean cuisine at the first level of the building beside the carpark.

Various type of bibimbaps!

Bibimbap Girl! CUTE!!

And at the second level, we had our first lunch in Jeonju, and thoughtfully, it got to be bibimbap!

The Ajuma preparing the bibimbaps for us

Late lunch at 4pm!!! =)

Tongtong loves bibimbaps too!

Sunsetting

There were so many things to explore and by the time we went back to where we started to visit the Jeondong Cathedral across Gyeonggijeon, it was slightly past 6pm. It was close so we took a few photos before we moved on to the main shopping street in Jeonju, Youth Street.

We did abit of window shopping while in search of the Film Street. According to Junxian, there are quite a bit of artsy fartsy stuff on this street but we don't seem to find the right street. (Later next day, we realized we were correct but it was quite hard to spot the arts and drawings at night)

I was abit sick of Korean food since we had Korean food for every meal for the past one week. I suggested KFC and my lovelove of course will never say "No" to me! =D The portion was pathetic so we did have some meat dumplings off the main streets to fill our ever-expanding tummies.

Weird but utterly cute pose!

These dumplings are really super juicy and yummy!!!

We ended our night at this nice cafe called Haruilgi at the Youth Street. The interiors are so pretty and their snacks and kiwi smoothies are worth dying for! And the boss was so nice and gave us a little souvenir to keep. How sweet!!

Handwritten menu

Walking alley to the cafe

HAPPY!!! If there are more cafes like this in Singapore, I will be a fatty bombom in no time!

I heart the smoothie!

We took cab home and it cost only 7,000KRW! Do take a name card of the hotel wherever you go. Coz its really hard to tell the cab driver where you want to go if you don't understand Korean. And of coz we tried out the Wii when we reached "home"!

The next day, I slept till rather late coz we were up till 2am plus exploring Wii in Korean. =) Baby woke up earlier to plan the itinerary for the day. *hearts*

We walked around the neighbourhood to see if there is any other nice hotel we can stay in. The one we were interested, Sky Hotel, was fully booked. As it was a Saturday, we booked one more night with Blue One.

After we settled our accommodation, we took cab to the infamous Gajok Hoegwan that serves the best bibimbap in Jeonju! =) As usual, lucky love always bring tons of notes and brochures along so we managed to show the cab driver the name of the restaurant in Korean. Our pronunciation sucks! :(

Lucky us. There wasn't a queue when we were there. There was no one to serve you to the seats cos everyone is constantly busy serving food and clearing the tables. We managed to find a table rather quickly and placed our order. Oh, and they only serve bibimbaps.

We are early... :)

After quite a long wait, the side dishes arrived.

Then after another not-too-long wait....

OUR BIBIMBAPS!!!!

"Damn, this better be worth the wait."

"Can you imagine the bibimbap is only 10,000KRW and the rest are FREE!

Actually I cant really tell the difference between normal bibimbap and Jeonju bibimbap. They are just served in hot stone bowl... And maybe the sauce is slightly different, I dunno. After the long wait, everything tastes rather good to me! =)

Or maybe its just me. Coz when we are done with our meal, we saw an endless queue forming outside the restaurant! Its like probably 30 people waiting outside ready to push us off the chair so they can have their lunch! Scary. So I guess the bibimbaps here must be good.

The long long queue. Estimated waiting time: 1hr at the very least?

After lunch, we dun really know what to do. Actually there was a Food Fest at the World Cup Stadium as love did not mention in the itinerary, I thought he dun want to go so far. We went back to the Youth Street to do some shopping. (Later then he told me he totally forgot about the Food Fest! :P Blurblock.)

They were giving away free coupons to foreigners. Its like 12SGD per person!

So we found a nice cafe... (the night getting colder now)

and ordered some coffee and cake (FREEEEE!)

Anyway it was a lazy day for us until dinner, I suggested pizza. (You can tell, I am getting sick of Korean food already. Oops!)

Again, think we over-ordered! :P I like the cheesy pizza!!!!

While we wandered around town, love was thinking whether to go get some Joenju Makgeolli. There are a few clusters of drinking stores that sells makgeolli, or rice wine, in Jeonju and they are well-known for their traditional wine and the amounts of complementary food that goes with it. We took a cab down to one of the clusters and love chose the store he fancied the most which happened to be the shop that serves the best makgeolli, quoted by the uncle who sat at the next table. =D The uncle speaks good English and went to explain to us the food and drinking culture in Korea.

Junxian's choice =)

There are two types of makgeolli. The uncle said we might like the clear one more.

one pot for Junxian

The free food that goes with ONE pot. When you order a second pot, more and better food will be served. So on and so forth. The uncle said he suggest we could drink three pots.

The lousy fake drinker

Since I am too full (large pizza and all these!!?) to drink nor eat, I shall draw! Marker from N Tower comes in handy!

Thanks love for planning all these. Though you may think it is not well-planned enough, there's you! And seriously, it is perfect to me le! =DDDDDDDDDDDDDD

2010-09-30T16:10:00.006+08:00

Eleven days after the discovery of City of Wonder, I am at Level 18 with a boom town population of 86,413! =)

I am currently stucked in the Enlightenment Age and I can't wait to move on to Modern Age! They lock "Engineering" at Level 18 so I have to wait for my current research to completed tonight before I can start researching on Engineering. =P With that technology, I can start to build modern houses for my city and hopefully some decent looking cultural buildings. I know I am crazy to write about this but oh well... This is my little way of diverting my attention to something else instead of focusing on my pathetic work life. =/ There is no sense of achievement at work and the only good thing that is happening in my life is Junxian. =)

Oh, and do you know!! Two days ago I thought something went wrong with my game. I had like 660,000 silvers and the next moment I realized I am left with like 70,000. I was like WTF! and sent an IT log to Playdom demanding my silvers back! Now then I realized that it actually costed me 500,000 to expand my city to 27X27!!

Coz previously, it costs only 10,000 or slightly more to increase the size of my city so I have no idea it costs so much for the ultimate next level. I got to know this fact when I looked into my "Allies To Expand". It went from 0 to 35 (think previously I was too poor and have too little people to be qualified to expand) and I clicked on the "Boundary" tab to see it will cost me a million to expand to 29X29! Crazy right? I shall fill up the empty space first before I consider expanding again. So now, I dun need to add random people on facebook to increase my number of allies.

Anyway, 15 days to Korea and I hope I can finish my game by then!

*sleepy*

Tip:
One way to earn some silvers is to go to "City of Wonder"'s profile on Facebook. Alot of people will post their request to help to build their Marvels. When you help them, you will be rewarded with silvers too. =) But now that they limited the number of Marvels you can help per day to 30, another way is to go to the "Games" section of Facebook to see the news feed of your allies. You can click to get some of their bonuses.

2010-09-21T11:39:00.002+08:00

I am so addicted to City of Wonder on Facebook!! =) Let see how long will this craze of mine last. I have been playing since last Sun when I clocked 7 straight hours of gaming. =P And I have been waking up on time to check on my little town before I go wash up every morning!!!

There are so many things I want to do for my town!

1. I want to expand it as much as possible. But to do so, it requires me to get as many allies as possible.
2. Increase population! I want my people to live me pretty houses! Though I am still not very sure the theme of my town.
3. Deciding on the theme of my town. Firstly, I know for agriculture-wise, I want to go for the French town. Having vineyards and lots of brewery! But I want it to be artsy-fa(r)tsy too. Need to build more theatres and art schools!
4. Strengthen my military level! Since I like to attack my neighbours, it is extremely important to be strong in defence so I can have a peace of mind sleeping at night. Haa!
5. Research whatever I can so I can beautify my town!

Too bad Facebook is blocked in my office and the flash player is not working properly on my phone. Boohoo. =(

Meanwhile, I shall just earn some money by helping people to build their Marvels!

Tip:
One way to keep your people happy is to build some Marvels. Cultural buildings like shrines and temples can't keep the people happy for long and they look rather ugly if you have too many of them.

Build the Marvels and click on it to publish the news on your Facebook. Go to your profile and click "Help and Get Your Bonus". Copy the link and post it on the profile of City of Wonder. Over there, there are plenty of people willing to help in order to get some money! =) And usually it will only take a few minutes for it to be completed. In this way, you can satisfy your people without wasting money on ugly temples. =P

2010-09-12T18:13:00.010+08:00

A lazy Sunday with love always never fail to make me smile. =) Lovelove looks utterly adorable when he sleeps like a log. Haa!

And yeah! I am really quite excited about our trip next month. =)

Things I want to do in KO-RE-A:

1. Buy lots of facial products!

2. Get my nails and hair done!

3. Eat lots of Korean food! I want to try the Korean Royal Cuisine!

2010-08-31T10:09:00.005+08:00

Oil Painting Lesson Three:

Forgot to bring my camera last Sat so took this with my phone. :P Did a bit finetuning with the waters. Apparently, I was really really clueless that morning. Jeanne suggested to add more blue in the backdrop which turned out well. Then when I was done with the backdrop, she was busy with the other student so I just hecked it and started mixing some turquoise that turned out more greenish and I just used it to paint anyway. =)

Turned out fine which was quite a surprise as I was half doodling already. Since I got green, I realized I am really bad with getting the colors I want but the colors always ended up nice. Haa! So since I got green, dark green actually, I worked on the shadow and I lightened it as I go and worked on the surrounding...

Next week, I will try to get turquoise for real and add abit more of it in the waters. Not sure how I can get the seabed details in there and hopefully the boat! For the records, the boat is supposed to be white. Cant wait! =)

And ya, Happy Birthday to me!

2010-08-21T19:10:00.007+08:00

Oil Painting Lesson Two:

=) Utterly pleased with my work today.

Though the colours are still not perfect, I am glad I fixed the boat. It looks more right now. I am happy about the size and the shape. Will work on it next lesson!! Jeanne gave a good suggestion that I could ignore the shelter of the boat for now, we can work on it later. And this helped me alot in getting the shape of the boat onto the canvas.

As for the waters, I just got the base colours up first to get the rough idea of the colour tones... Not sure whether it is too green coz I based the painting on the hardcopy of the photo... So it turned out to be more greenish. But I like the green. It made the waters more interesting. Yeah!! *perky*

2010-08-14T01:20:00.005+08:00

I have to admit. I am sick and tired of picking up the every Saturday to find nothing I like, looking through career sites and realized I am in such a niche job category that it is rather hard for me to get into any other category within the financial industry. I am bored of doing the same thing all over again on a monthly basis and facing the same old faces for the past two years! *YIKES* And I am irked by the fact that I tried to get out of the situation but things are not turning out the way I would like it to be. I am hoping for a turning point. And I thought maybe I got it this time round. Most probably not.

What should I do? I am on the verge of giving up. =( I am still thinking of whether I should settle for something I dun really want. Which is pointless cos the fact that I stayed in the first place is because I want to leave when I find a job that interests me for real. *ROARS*

Well, the only good thing is I diverted all the negativity into painting! =) And it turned out rather alright! =) I have no idea how to paint the two hot air balloons but somehow it looked quite alright with a bit of basic shadings! And I am glad I chose yellow! Great contrast with the blue sky! Did some painting on the hills... Using the mixing knife instead of the brush, hoping to get some texture but it looks quite horrible! And I have no idea how to get grey colour without using black! ARGHHH!!

But overall, it's still looks great to me! Shall start on the main hot air balloon soon! =)

2010-08-07T23:53:00.005+08:00

Oil Painting Lesson One:

=) I showed Jeanne some photos of what I have in mind to paint and after a few minutes of discussion, I decided on this:

Split, Croatia

Actually Jeanne mentioned that waters will be quite tricky to handle but I like this photo the most among the three I chose. =) And she said it will be interesting to paint it and let me do it anyway! Yeah!!

She wanted me to start off with sketching and here's what I did after about 30mins:

I think the boat will be quite tricky as well. But oh well... I will scream for help when I get to that. Haa!

For the next 10 mins, I use paint to do a rough sketch on the canvas itself. Well... I think my boat looks really ugly on the canvas! ARGGHH... Shall work on it the next lesson on the shape and position so it will look real good as per the Golden Section. ^-^

I started off with the sky... and slowly lighten the color to close to white. I worked on the lighter part of the seas before I did the dark tone of the mountains. Next, I mixed the remaining palette with a bit of yellow and white to get the dark turquoise. Coz I can't remember the proportion of the colors I used to get turquoise, I diluted the paint with turpentine. It looked really watery on the canvas but I can't do anything about it. Boohoo! (Later Jeanne mentioned she thinks it looks good coz it is supposed to look watery and it made it looks realistic) Plain luck, I say!

This is what I have painted after 1 hour.

I really enjoyed myself during the lesson. Able to focus on painting is indeed therapeutic. And I am quite surprised I managed to draw the boat. Hopefully I can paint well!! Went to library today and borrowed a book on oil painting. Hope to look more theory and tactics on painting. *super smiley*

2010-08-01T18:54:00.007+08:00

Damn, its August already. *half-depressed*

Alright, instead of being mopey over my uneventful July, I shall look towards my next annual trip. I am looking at Mexico and actively looking for people to join me!!

The best time to travel to Mexico is from October to May but it is advisable to avoid the May–September period as these months can be hot and humid. Hmmmph, So I guess... March or April will be good?!

Ancient Mayan ruins in Guatemala

Gahhh... There are so many places I want to visit and I wonder how is it possible to choose and squeeze them into a 3-week trip! Other Mexico, I am looking at Guantemala, Panama, one of the Caribbean islands and the state of California in USA. =) I just realized I can pay Kana a visit at San Diego! Woohoo!! How exciting it will be!!

*happier*

2010-07-20T15:58:00.011+08:00

Flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg: Rossiya Airline
Comments: Somehow I cant remember anything about the flight. I can remember the dinner at the airport and the moment we reached St. Petersburg to arrange for taxi to the hostel. I guess it was not that bad. =)

How to get to SVO Airport:

We took the Grey Line from Chekhovskaya Station towards Altuf'evo Station to Savelovskaya Station. Took the AeroExpress Train (RUB300) from Savelobsky Station to Sheremetyevo Airport Terminal 2. As we were taking the domestic flight, our flight is at Terminal 1. So we took the free shuttle bus which is located at the basement (Follow the sign or ask the reception. The guy speaks good English and was quite friendly too). The journey time is about 15min and it departs every 20min.

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, we approached the book-a-taxi counters and got some quotations. It is quite affordable for 3 of us to share a taxi than taking the public transport so we went for it.

Hostel Stayed: Apple Hostel
Cost: USD23 per pax per night for Private Triple
Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: 4th floor and no lift!!!

The flight touched down at 830pm and by the time we reached the hostel, it was around 10pm. Mind you, it is bright and shine then and the sun sets at 1130pm! Some hiccups over here coz originally we were to stay in St. Petersburg for 4 days coz I wanted to skydive in St. Petersburg but as I could not locate any dropzone in St. Petersburg, I switched to Aerograd Kolomna in Moscow and changed my reservation with Apple Hostel to 3 days instead. Everything was in black and white as they did reply me that they are alright with the change. When we arrived, they told us that the Private Triple room we reserved is "under renovation" even though I saw that they had our original reservation. So I believe they somehow overlooked the changes we made even though they replied and gave the room to someone else.

So instead they gave us the 10-bed Females Only dormitory. The thing is, when we made our payment, they did not mention anything about this. The receptionist only told us about this when she was about to show us the room. We felt quite fucked up and Lingju was really angry about it. Not getting what we reserved and the failure to mention such important information, we agreed to ask for a lower rate for our room. The owner, Irina, was agreeable with our demand of getting 50% off our original rate so we made peace.

Thats how we ended our first night in St. Petersburg, the gateway to Europe, as according to Peter the Great.

17 May 2010

Breakfast: Baked potatoes
Destination of the Day: Hermitage

Having only 2 full days in St. Petersburg, we headed straight to the main attraction in the city, Hermitage. We took the metro and alighted at Nevsky Pr. Please note: Do not get the 10-pass card if you have intention to share it coz you can't! Once you tap your card, you have to wait for another 10min before you can tap again. We did not know and went for the card when we realized we can't share, we went back to the counter hoping they could change it into the tokens for us. But the lady don't speak English and was extremely rude. Apparently every one at the counter was rude coz when we were asking to change the tokens, the lady at the other counter was quarreling with one of the guy in the queue. So much about being closer to Europe. I got a feeling I prefer Moscow to St. Petersburg already.

The first thing that caught our attention once we were back to the Earth's surface was the Kazan Cathedral. It looks like a parliment to me and the interior was really really pretty! After spending half an hour in the cathedral, the next attraction we saw was the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It looked quite similar to St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow but we cant wait to get closer to it!

The interior is the most detailed by far in all the churches we visited in Russia. All the pictures on the walls are not painted but arranged by small colored tiles that looked like mosaic when you look closely.

We slowly made our way to the Hermitage and was disappointed to know it closes on Mondays (overlooked on my part)!!! Well, so we popped by St. Isaac's Cathedral before it started raining rather heavily.

We ended our day by having a considerably delightful dinner recommended by the guy at the hostel.

Wendy was blown away by the meat pancakes! NICE!

18 May 2010

Destination of the Day: Hermitage for real and Petrograd

We woke up quite early for Petrograd as we know it opens at 6am. We reached the Peter and Paul Fortress at around 830am and went for the earliest waking tour.

In the afternoon, we rushed back to Hermitage and was pleased to know that it was the International Museum Day! Well, we don't really care about the "special day" but on this special day we got FREE ENTRY tickets!!! =D *yeah*

19 May 2010

Our flight to Budapest was at 330pm so we had the morning to do some random sightseeing so we went to Strelka which is well-known for its magnificent city view. We took the bus instead and soon realized it is a better choice to see St. Petersburg by bus than metro. Plus, it is cheaper to travel via bus and the bus stops are generally closer to wherever you want to go than the metro stations. Double thumbs down for the metro in St. Pet!

We had an easy morning and said our byes to Russia while we headed towards Hungary.

2010-07-19T00:16:00.005+08:00

RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA!!!! WOOHOO!! =)

Open Jawed Return Flight from Singapore to Moscow and back from Munich to Singapore:
Emirate (via Dubai) for only SGD1229!!!

12 May 2010

We arrived the capital of the Russian Federation around 3pm at Domodedovo Airport. As we were cashless, we were looking for money exchange or ATMs. The rates at the airport were not so good as expected but the ATMs were also charging high fee for withdrawal. One tip: Go for the Barclays ATM that also allows you to exchange Euros! =) The rates were quite good and try the ATM nearer the Aeroexpress coz the ones located at the luggage belts were not working or maybe they ran out of rubles.

Hostel Stayed: Chocolate Hostel
Private Triple with breakfast for EUR22.50 per person per night
Rating: 4/5

How to get there: Walk towards the Macau restaurant and turn left. Walk towards Golden Apple Hotel. If I am not wrong, turn left when you see Golden Apple Hotel. Walk along the right side of the road and look out for the BIG black door at the pale yellow building. There you are! Oh, get the map at the airport coz once you are out, ermm.. you are on your own. =)

Vintage AeroExpress

We took the Aeroexpress train (300RUB) and arrive at Paveletsky Station where we took the Dark Green line to Tverskaya station. We bought the 10 ticket metro pass (240RUB) and we shared it among ourselves. =) I believe it was the peak hour when we arrived at the metro station cos I have never see so many people squeezing into a train like that before.

The second oldest metro system in the world: Damn long escalators... At least 4 storeys deep.

I know we always complain about the aunties that rush into trains before letting the people inside alight first in Singapore. Wait till you see this in Russia! ITS SUPER DUPER CRAZY! EVERYONE ACTS LIKE THIS AND THIS CAUSES A STALEMATE! Seriously!!! Coz everyone refuses to give way on both sides, it seems like everyone cannot get in or get out!!!! I was carrying a 10kg luggage and I hold onto it as if it is part of my left arm or it can get ripped off any time. I remembered a mom actually wanted to alight but her kid is somewhat stuck in the midst of the crowd, she has to pull her kid out. It is a horrible sight cos no one refused to help or they cant really help. We were just 3 stops away and every stop is like a battle cos we do not want to stay too far from the exit but we do not want to get pushed off the train every stop.

Crazy. And the train operator ain't so friendly cos he would just shut the doors up when there are clearly people alighting and getting onto the train. But the locals are used to it and found ways to block the doors from closing. TERRIBLE! This is what happened when no one cares about anything else other than themselves and everything just becomes inefficient. We were horrified.

By the time we reached the hostel, it was like 7 plus. And we just decided to get our dinner and probably to get some food and water for tomorrow. After dinner (KFC!?), we went to explore Pushinkaya a bit and stumbled upon this super pretty grocery store called Yeliseyevsky that looks like a concert theatre! =D

I can't stop taking photos and admiring the grocery store! Like how pretty this place is! How I wish there is one like this in Singapore! Then I will find all excuses to go grocery shopping every day! Haha!

13 May 2010

For breakfast, we have some pastry at a nearby cafe. We had concluded that Russians ain't that good pastry chefs but their baked potatoes are scrumptious!

Looking fat already! Haa!

Yummy baked potato with three toppings!!!

Having rather terrifying metro experience the day before, we opted to walk to Red Square since it is just one metro stop away.

Red Square

It's lot of space and how I wish I have time to do some oil painting huh!? =)

St. Basil Cathedral

It just happened that it's a public holiday and Kremlin is closed for the day. SADD!!! So we walked to Moscow River for the 1.5hour river cruise (400RUB). I think its pretty worth the money coz we got to see the city though 1.5hour is pretty long..

Us on the cruise!

Statue of Peter the Great

With sunset at 1030pm, we have plenty of time left. So, we took the train to Arabskaya to get some souvenirs and dinner at My-my!

Our dinner was really great! Anyway, skip the appetizers and go straight to the main courses! =) Their soups are really good too! And my favorite is their cheese pancakes!!!!!!!!!!

Do take note that you have to pay for everything. Coz we wanted more chocolate sauce so I went back to the dessert counter to get some. YES, they don't speak English at all but she signaled me that I need to pay so I went back to my table to get some cash. Good thing I left the chocolate sauce at the cashier cos before I know it, a security guard came after me to ask me to pay! Like seriously, I will. Just give me some time can???

15 May 2010

After our skydiving excursion the day before, Yanmei needed to get her tooth fixed. As we only have one full day left, we could not afford to waste a day visiting a dentist. AND after being in Moscow for two full days, we can conclude Moscow is a relatively safe place. So Yanmei went to get her first Russian dental experience while we visited the infamous Kremlin.

Lenin's Mausoleum

Cathedrals in Kremlin:

We had our dinner at a nearby restaurant. Here's my carbonara:

Don't go there. Though the food is good yet cold!, the service sucks big time. Well, guess it will take me forever to get used to it. BUT, they are actually better than the waitress from Munich! What can I say... When you serve worse than Russians, there must be some problem with you. HMPPHHH!

Thereafter, we went to see the Church of the Saviour.

Statue of Alexander II

=)

16 May 2010

Our flight to St. Peterburg is at 7pm so we have some time to spare in the day and we went to the flea market aka Izmaylovo Market.

Actually there is nothing really special in the market. All the stalls sell similar souvenirs but I guess you can get them at a lower price as compared to the shops at Arabskaya. Nothing caught my eyes and I struggled to find stuff to buy! Eventually with Lingju's deal-searching superpower, she bought a decent looking Russian doll for SGD6!!! Its so cheap I bought one too!

If you ask me, I think it will be better to get your souvenirs in Moscow than St. Petersburg. Plus, I can tell you right now for sure that the people in Moscow are much friendlier than those in St. Petersburg. Um-hmph, friendliness is not really in Russian vocabulary.

2010-07-16T13:43:00.004+08:00

Tokaj (22 May 2010)

During my research on the day trip in Hungary, I shortlisted a couple of towns to visit but I decided on Tokaj cos of its dessert wine. The whole region is declared a World Heritage Site and it is the origin of Tokaji aszu wine, the world's oldest botrytized wine! =)

Keleti Train Station

So we went to Keleti train station to purchase our tickets on the day itself. I was expecting the cost of the ticket to be 10-12 euros per way but it was much expensive (8200HUF for return ticket which is about 50+SGD). And to make things worse, the next available train is at 12noon. The whole train journey will take about 3 hours and the last train from Tokaj back to Budapest is at 6pm!!! HMPH! And the wine day tour I booked with Tourinfo Tokaj will take 3 hours! So when you do the maths, you should realize that there is any time left to explore the town the way we wanted initially.

When we finally reached Tokaj, Yanmei needed to use the washroom so I initiated to walk to the Tourism Center first so we can get the wine tour going. I assumed the Tourism Center should be around the corner since it should always be the case.

The signs to the Tourism Centre were minimal and it took me a good 20min of speed walking to reach the town! Like how dumb!! Lucky for me, I got this nice cyclist guy who was willing to wait for me and led me to the right direction. If not, there is no way I can make it in time! I talked to the lady at the centre and she happened to be the "guide" of the wine tour. So she drove me to "pick my friends up" while I smsed them I reached the Tourism Center and will be on the way back to look for them in a car.

All things aside, we managed to start our tour at slightly past 3pm and the rest is history! =)

With the winery owner

We visited three winery and had a walking wine tour for the second one. We managed to try the Aszu wine of 6 Puttonyos!!!!! It is the best and the sweetest of all Aszu wine and it will easily cost up to a few hundreds dollars for one small bottle! TSK!!

It tasted really good! =) I LIKE!!!

I think I can stay here forever...

The last stop was another winery where they served us some traditional Hungarian food, breadscone (kenyérlángos) that looked really like pizza to me!! =D

YUMMMYYY!!!!

On our way back =)

Though the day trip to Tokaj was really short. Three hours to be exact, I think it is still quite worth the trip! The dessert wines were really great and it made real nice gifts! All I could say is I learnt my lesson and will definitely plan ahead and have all the train timings in my hand before I set off so I can have more time to sightsee the town a wee bit more.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." - St. Augustine

2010-07-15T16:32:00.003+08:00

OOOOOOOMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling so bored at work. Not that I have no work to do but, gosh.

I need something or someone to divert my attention.

Boohoo.....

PS: We finally have new PCs at work! =) 19" screen! How coooooool! Now I understand why people love BIG screen.

2010-07-10T02:35:00.006+08:00

Just watchd Despicable Me with Lovelove! =D

I think its damn funny and it really brightened me upppp!

I really love the minions. May I have one too? The one-eyed one.

2010-07-10T01:41:00.004+08:00

Flight from St Petersburg to Budapest
Airline: Polish LOT Airline
Safety: 5/5
Punctuality: 0/5
Size of aircraft: Puny

Comments: There was the cheapest I can find for this route. The next choice would be the national Hungarian airline which will cost close to 1000SGD for one way. This, though have to stop over at Warsaw, costs only 300 odd. Oh, and its the smallest aircraft I have seen in my life, just 3 steps to the plane. And they serve only sandwiches and wraps. I was expecting a meal. Bleah!

We arrived in Budapest on 19 May 2010 with an one hour delay and we found the weather unusually cold. Russia was warm so we were expecting a warmer weather over here. We were picked us by the guy, let's name him Pete, from the apartment at the airport and he told us that they had heavy storms for the past one week and we came right after it. We could tell the weather might take a few days to clear up but the good news was at least it won't rain again, not when we were still there.

Hostel/Apartment Stayed: Apartment Opera from Budapesting.com
Cost: EUR19 per pax per night
Rate: 4/5
there's free WiFi but no phone. In comparing to staying in hostels where you can ask for help... You are left nm your own once they passed your the keys. Well... there was no one to tell us when's their holidays and when's the shops close forever.*sulks*
Comments: we got the airport transfer free as they changed our apartment at the last minute. We were supposed to be staying at Astoria Residence which a lot of people raved about it on Thorntree. Hmph!!

Gift from Pete. Rather thoughtful of him!

It was probably 9 plus when we arrived at our apartment. The room was quite spacious. We were sharing the apartment with an Italian guy who works in Budapest. We had our dinner in this Chinese restaurant nearby. Damn. Cant remember the name (maybe its called Red River or something in Mandarin) but the food is plain horrible and quite pricey too.

20 May 2010
Next morning, we headed straight to Buda to visit the Castle Hill and Royal Palace. As per Pete suggested, we walked towards the Chain Bridge since he mentioned it would be best to see the city via walking. And he is right. The city is small and it only took us about 10-20 mins to reach the bridge.

The Opera House
The overall vibe was positive. You can really feel the difference between Hungary and Russia. Somehow, the people here look friendlier. But of coz, after being in Russia for a week, who wont feel this way? I read somewhere that Hungary has one of the highest suicide rate in Europe. But I really can't feel it. Maybe they just express in the most extreme way.

Chain Bridge

Strolling across the Chain Bridge from Pest to Buda, we took the less-than-5-min funicular railway to reach Szent Gyorgy ter.

The first attraction we went striaght to was Matthias Church. It looks really magnificant but I din manage to capture the view well enough. You got to be there to see for yourself. =) For the interior of the church, we were pretty much overdozed with churches in Russia so we were pretty immune to them already.

We also purchased the tickets to the Fishermen's Bastion which we soon realized it as a mistake coz there was nothing much other than a lookout terrace towards the Danube. There was a cafe nearby that offers the exact awesome view for free! Just that you need to order something and make sure you do. The waiters were pretty persistent to ensure we order when we were just tired and half brain-dead to decide what drinks we want. =P

Yummy Peanut Butter Coffee

Tongtong totally lovvvvvves it!

We also explored the Buda Castle Labyrinth when my camera battery went flat. My fault for having high expectations in my camera. I thought the battery would be able to last the whole day. Obviously I was sooooo wrong. Lesson learnt. The Royal Palace felt like Krelim in a way and as Lingju was down with cough, we decided to take it easy and rest early for the day.

21 May 2010
We started our morning early for Hungary's infamous thermal bath at Szechenyi Spa Bath. =) It may seem far from the map but the Yellow Line was really fast and the journey took us only 15-20min.

I was expecting grandpas playing chess while having their thermal bath. Maybe we were late (we reached there around 8+ though the spa opens at 6am!!), we only saw two grandpas playing and by the time I got my camera out after trying almost all the indoors and outdoors baths and spent 15min in sauna room... they were gone!

After our refreshing and chilling thermal bath, we managed to drop by Gundel restaurant for their signature dessert, Gundel palacsinta... (YUMM!)

... before we head towards Hero's Square.

How to get to Split, Croatia from Budapest, Hungary
Hmph, just realized maybe Hungarians are gloomy after all. Especially those who works in the train and bus station. My initial plan was to take train via Zagreb to Split as I cant find bus detail online during my research. My alternative plan was to take train to Zagreb and take overnight bus to Split if there is not direct train to Split. (I WAS RIGHHHHHTTTT!!!!)

Apparently, we went to the bus station (recommended by Pete - super wrong move) hoping to get our tickets to Croatia on the first day. But we were too late cos the ticket counter closes at 6pm! We tried again on the second day and the extremely unfriendly ticket salesperson from Eurolines mentioned that there is no tickets to Croatia in May. Only during peak period from June onwards. Pete mentioned about Orangeways. It took us awhile to realize Orangeways sales counter was opposite the main bus station and headed our way there. BANG! Long queue and by the time its our time, the lady just told us blandly that they dont have route to Croatia until June!!!!!! *CRIESS*

Total waste of time! :( We could have went shopping lah!!!! So I say, plan ahead and fuck impromptu! I hate worst case scenarios like this.

Anyway, eventually we went to the train station the next day for our Tokaj wine trip. We got our ticket to Tokaj (though damn late! Might prevent this problem if we stays in a hostel so we can get the train timings beforehand!) AND the train tickets to Split via Zagreb.

For your info, you have to go to two different location to get international and domestic train tickets. For domestic, it is easily spotted at the basement of the station. But for the international tickets, you better ask around. Coz its like you need to pass through all the cafes on your left and walk all the way in to locate it. And remember to get your queue number. The machine was hidden somewhere nearby too. Its like treasure hunt. Hmphhhh.

2010-06-25T18:16:00.000+08:00

Day 2 in Dubrovnik, we were all set for diving. Seriously, I was quite concerned about the cold waters. I wondered how I can convinced myself to jump into the waters. Well, I just did. Antos, the owner of Blue Planet, came to pick us up at Hilton Hotel located just outside the Old Town. In just 15mins, we arrived at Dubrovnik Palace Hotel. =) He introduced Marco, our diving master of the day.

It was really cool coz the dive site is just metres away from the swimming pool. And once you jumped into the sea, you are good to go! Unlike going to places like Tioman, you need to take an hour of shaky boat ride before you can finally dive. Marco reminded me of Bruce Willis! =) He looks so grandfatherly yet he is so strong and tough!

After wearing the divesuit along with the jacket and boots Marco gave us, I feel that I am ready for the cold waters. We are totally well-covered so my only concern is my ability to dive. He showed us the equipment which is tech-advanced in comparison to the ones I used at Tioman. The weights are in-built into the vest and they even have the easy-release buckles. You can easily tell that the equipment they have are so much newer than the ones at Malaysia.

Before we know it, we carried our 12kg oxygen tanks and jumped right in. The waves are strong and I felt abit helpless in waters. I had difficulty going down the first time and with Marco's help, I managed to get into the underwater world. It was really exciting to dive in the turquoise blue seas... Marine life are quite comparable.. There were plenty of fishes but half of the time I was struggling with my buoyancy. In the end, its Marco that came to our rescue (Lingju and I)!!

And did I mention he is 60? He was like how zai lah! There was one time when I kept sinking and Lingju kept going up and there is only one him and he got to save both of us at the same time. He literally had to babysit us all the way till we reached the shore. =(

But he was so kind that he offered to give us a refresher course after lunch before our second dive. =) Being more familiar with the seas and the equipment, I did better in the second dive at Little Afrika. Oh, and we dived for 90mins for the second time while we did around an hour for the first dive.

The best part after diving is definitely the HOT JACUZZI!!!! After we washed our equipments and suits, we ran straight to the open-air jacuzzi to warm myself up! So so nice lahhh... But, probably I am not the diving type. I hate the feeling of having to depend on my life on an oxygen tank... I rather depend on a bag of parachute. Haa! But it was a great experience to dive in the Adriatic Sea. =D Oh, I still need to go visit the Blue Cave huhh!!

2010-06-24T20:00:00.000+08:00

Dubrovnik

The apartment we stayed in was Ragasa 2. Hmmm.. It was harder find a nice apartment in the Old City. We found it via CroatianVillas.com but I definitely wont recommended this cos it is quite tiny and I dunno. I just dun really like it. But it is located in the Old City and as it is co-owned by Ragasa 2 restaurant, they provides decent breakfast. It is quite affordable, just SGD40 per person per night.

My first impression of Dubrovnik is quite bad. We arrived at the bus station and was surprised that the Old Town is very far away. According to the very mean description from the apartment owner, we can make our way to the old town. Good thing there are a number of buses (1A, 1B, and 1C) to the main gate of the old town so we (Lingju and I) chose the bus. I find it quite ridiculous to take a cab when there are direct buses. And come on! We are on budget lo. If you want to take a cab, probably it will be a better idea to get a tour package. You can get your bus ticket at the kiosk nearby as it is more expensive to get the bus ticket on board.

Pile Gate

When we finally arrived at the old town, we realized it is a castle! =D *eyes brighten up* Yeah.. Going to live in a castle! The first thing we looked for is a map but there isnt one! (BOOHOO!) We saw this "tourist center" near the gate and went in. Everything over there were overcharged and you have to pay for maps!???? I went to the "information counter" and asked for a map and the guy said I can purchase one. The main purpose of me getting a map is to know how to get to the restaurant. So I asked him for directions and he gave me this card-size map. "AWWW!!" so nice of them! HMPH! Later then I found out the real tourist center is located much farther in and rather hard to locate. Seriously, whats their problem?

Since we did not sleep well on the bus, we decided to take it easy for the day. Meanwhile, we went to look for day trip for the day after tmr since we still have a free day. There were many choices but we narrowed down to two: (1) Visit the Elaphite islands and (2) Sea Kayaking

SEA KAYAKINGG!!!!??? Nope. Coz we are going to dive the next day so we thought sea kayaking might be too taxing for us. WRONG CHOICE! *cries and starts hitting whoever that says Elaphite islands are pretty and all*

After settling all these administrative stuff, we strolled around the old town and visit the City Walls. Hmph. No one mentioned that it is a one-way thing and once you start, you cant stop… You have to walk literally around the town! *cries*

Though the walk around the City Walls allows you to look at the city from a different viewpoint, it gets quite boring after awhile. BLEAH!! Plus, to complete the 2km walk, it took us a good 2.5 hours.

This is surprisingly good!

And to reward ourselves for the great effort, we had pizza! =DDD I was at the verge of going on a diet but the fact that a small bowl of salad costs more than a LARGE pizza for three made me changed my mind. Good thing I did! The pizza tasted really good! WOOHOO! And the chicket fillet with fries was real good too. Or maybe we were really starving by then. Ha! I was starting to wonder how the gelati and pizza will taste in Italy since its counterpart is doing rather a good job now! =) YUM.

The next day, we went diving with Blue Planet. You can read my blog entry via the link at the "Footprints". Hohoho.

And for the last day, we went for the day trip to the Elaphite islands. It was plain atrocious. Like how boring and similar each island to each other, and to know we have a whole day on the day were too painful to bear. There was really nothing to look at and the only saving grace are the gelati...

Yup, it's relaxing but for us, we need things to look forward to in order to feel excited. So, I hope no one will go through the same shit I've been through and opt for SEA KAYAKING. BAAAHHHH. Or travel all the way to Ston to hunt for the finest oysters sound much much more interesting than Elaphite islands. TSK!

2010-06-23T23:28:00.000+08:00

Alright, I shall stop being lazy and get started before I plan my next trip to KOREA! Woohooo!!! =)

So, I shall start with my favorite city of the trip - Split, Croatia. Obviously, everyone knows Dubrovnik and yup, it was even argued to be the most beautiful city in Europe!! (Hello, Santorini?) But everyone who went to both Split and Durovnik will agree that Split is so much better than Dubrovnik! For one, it is less touristy and the city itself is cozy!

Accomodation

If you are looking for hostels in Croatia, I would recommend private apartments. Choices on hostelbookers and hostelworld are limited so go try out clicksplit.com. I got mine from that website and I am very pleased with it. =) Its called Indianred Apartment and the owner is Nikola.

He picked us up from the train station and even bought us breakfast! How sweet! He even showed us all his favorite hangout places and restaurants in Split. The studio apartment is just EUR24 per person per night!!! And we have our own balcony! Plus, the location is really good too! Just like 10min walk from the Old Town itself. Awesome awesome!

We were pretty much deprived of the sun after a few cloudy days in Budapest. It also felt great to be close to the seas again... Somehow I think I will surely come back to Split again. =)

First Stop: Brac island

We din sleep well on the overnight train but we cant wait to hit the beach. We get the next ferry to Hvar and there we go! If I could choose again, I will definitely shift the trip to one week later so that we will arrive Croatia in June. It would be the beginning of the peak season so there would have more ferry timings to choose and we could stay on the islands longer.

Brac was really pretty. :) Turquoise seas and sandy beaches... But too bad we were not in the right attire cos we could not check in early since we arrived at 7am! Anyway we simply strolled around in seek of the infamous Zlatni Rat beach.. Gotta say it looked better in picture. Impossible to be overwhelmed unless you are seeing it from a bird's eye view. But still, I knew I fell in love with Split already.

Dinner was served back in Split at Fifi restaurant, recommended by Nikola. I gotta say, their fishes over here are damn fresh.

Simple grilled fish with olive oil are superb. Mmm.. their fried stuff were so-so and their buttered rice were plain tasteless. Nikola dropped by to pass us the keys and we headed home early slightly after 9 to catch our much needed sleep.

Second Stop: Hvar island

Ferry tickets could be bought on the date of departure so we woke up rather early to get the first ferry to Hvar. Do get your day trips settled before arrival cos we had problems getting one. Almost all agencies need us to book one day in advance and as we were based in Split, we could not wait for the next day.

Anywayhow we settled for a private day trip with our own driver and itinerary for HRK300 per pax. The agency was located near the harbor and its probably the only agency that sells horrible looking clothes as well. They do have Blue Cave day trip but its full for the day too. (*cries* I must go back and I will make sure I stay one night at Hvar since it is much nearer and easier to travel to Vis...)

Good thing we went for the day trip else we do not have much stuff to do in Hvar. The driver picked us up after our lunch and brought us up to the hills so we could take a panoramic view of Hvar town and Pakleni islands! =D Oh, and the driver whose name I could not remember speaks rather good English! =) Though I could say he is not a professional tour guide, it was still good to have our own driver to show us around the island.

He brought us to the smaller towns in Hvar where we got ourselves some homemade honey (again!) and visited a nameless church that was built in the shape of a ship!!! LIKE HOW COOL LAHHHH!!! (erm.. I could not find it online too. Any wise soul please enlighten me?!)

I am a camwhore when it comes to travelling so I think these two photos made the day trip so worthwhile! =D Ohhh… And did I mention how cheap the gelati are in Croatia? Its like SGD1 per scoop and the gelati taste so extra yummy when you are under the sun with cooling wind blowing on your face!

Back in Split, we had THE BEST MEAL of the trip, seafood risotto, grilled sea bass, spaghetti with mussels… Everything tasted soooooooooooo good! I could not find the name of the restaurant but it is located in the Old Town, along the narrow street where Poseidon Restaurant is.

YUM!!!

THE BEST!

The banner hanging outside the restaurant

FINAL STOP: Split

We wanted to go to Vis, but the ferry journey itself was like 2.5 hours each way and if we chose to go Vis, we will have only 2 hours on the island itself as there is only one timing back to Split for the off-peak period. Feeling rather disappointed, we decided to go for a hearty breakfast in the Diocletian's Palace at Luxor restaurant located just in front of the cathedral!

Sipping steaming hot coffee

We have been looking for availability at the diving centers in Split and the neighbouring islands to dive at the Blue Cave. Since we have no choice but to call off the idea, we decided to give our luck in Dubrovnik instead. We emailed a number of diving centers in Dubrovnik using a booklet given by a diving center in Split and we were so lucky to get a response from Blue Planet within 5 minutes! (Yup, Nikola recommended this restaurant to us as we were looking for places with free wifi.) A few more emails and we were good to dive!!

After having an extremely long brunch at Luxor, we went on to visit the palace. =D

We followed the self walking tour guide from the tourist center (rather unfriendly receptionist) and did some intense last minute shopping in the city as we were to leave Split for Dubrovnik the next morning. We went back to the same restaurant for dinner cos we knew we will definitely miss their seafood risotto! YUMMMMM!

Overall, I love Split cos of the weather, the seas, the easygoing livestyle the people have. The people here woke up to work at 7am and leave work around 2 or 3pm so they can spend more time with their family! Though… I am not very keen to wake up so early every morning, it is great to know you can meet your friends after work and you have plenty of time to spend with them! =D The people are quite friendly in general, except those who were working at the tourist centres or bus stations. OHHH, and the washrooms here are FREE. Haa. Coz we have to pay near to SGD2 to visit the washrooms at Russia and SGD1.50 for Hungary… And the washrooms are not even well-maintained!! So not having to pay for washroom is GREAT!!

Our apartment!

OHHH.. And the housing here are damn cheap. I think the apartment I stayed it only costs a few hundred grands to buy a house here! And as the driver at Hvar said, "Everyone in Split owns a boat. Its like owning a bicycle." I can imagine how cheap a boat is. So most probaby I can afford a small yacht and I will stay in it and fish all day! Okay, I want to learn how to sail now!!! So I can own a boat in Croatia!! DAMNNN COOL LAHHH...

2010-06-15T15:42:00.004+08:00

Munich on a Sunday

Mmm... that's our last day of my trip and I could say is at least we knew about it. It's kinda bad. I would strongly recommend whoever that is "lucky" enough to be in Munich on a Sunday to get your flight ticket changed and get onto the next plane available.

We had 10 hours to spare and decided to venture out. Wrong move indeed. There was really nothing out there. *sigh* all shops were closed and people were really just window shopping, planning what to get when the shops are open the next day.

I still don't get it. Yes, restaurants were open though the people working were relatively unfriendly to us cos we are Asians... why can't the shops be open? At least I can get some last minute retail therapy and I ensure you I'll be a happier Wendy.

We wandered around the main square, Marienplatz, and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. Anyway, it provided one of the worst service I have ever experienced in my life. Not sure whether it is just racialism or not, all I could say its the food could not justify the bad service. I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it had the sign "Paulaner Munchen"...

Okay, the food is not bad. Oh well...

The only highlight of the day was we found out other than the airport, you can also find life in the city at the railway station. Spent probably an hour over there and somehow managed to buy a purse for my mom at Accessorize! Hehehe!

Thus, my tiny conclusion on Munich on a Sunday is GET THE NEXT PLANE OUT! and if you have to, the next best alternative is to stay in the airport? Seriously. It was totally not worth it to spend 45mins each way to visit the city. You get everything you need at the airport. There is a supermart there so you can get your Ritter Sport chocolates. Or maybe you should venture out too and try your luck. Probably its the stupid restaurant and the overpriced Ritter Sport at the railway station that spoiled my day. You might be just luckier. =)

Yeah. I HATE MUNICH.

2010-06-13T23:20:00.005+08:00

Finally.

Got my new phone and netbook today. Woohoo! =)

I was feeling abit disgusted by the fact that I HAVE to get a new laptop rather than I actually WANTED one. But the moment I switched on my ruby red Fujitsu MH330, I feel slightly excited. So far, it serves well. I like the small screen and yeah, I like the fact that I can use internet at my own comfort in my room again.

And of course, my lovely HTC Desire! =DDD

I totally love it! And hopefully I can switch over to M1 without much problem on 21st June. So happy that I managed to get such a good deal for the phone. And thanks lovelove for the gift. Woohoo!! Oh, I must first get the screen protector. =)

2010-06-07T22:22:00.006+08:00

Yallo! I am back!

Since I feel rather odd to be using my brother's com, I shall do something useful. =P At least to me! Hmm.. I shall start blogging about my trip! =) YUP. Just in case someone likes to go sky diving in Moscow, you will have a better idea with this.

The place I went sky diving is called Aerograd Kolomna. Its about 110km away from Moscow and I shall share with you on how to get there. Seriously, coz once you leave Moscow city center, you have lesser luck in finding people who can speak English so do get phrases such as "XX train station" written in Russian in BIG fonts.

It was 14 May 2010 and the first thing I woke up after brushing my teeth was to call Aerograd Kolomna to check on the weather and see if it is good to skydive. I tried to reserve a place to skydive but the person from Facebook said that there is no need to reserve and asked me to go straight! Anyway, we got the hostel receptionist at Chocolate Hostel to check the train timing for us so we roughly know what time to reach. We also got her to write the name of the place we want to go which turned out to be an important move!

Anyway, I LOVE THE MOSCOW METRO LINE coz it looks like a sun and its like how cute and complicated! =) Anyway, we took the metro and reached Komsomolskaya station (Red Line). Please get out from the Red Line metro. Coz it was so complicated, we always took some time and got lost in the metro station before we found any extremely long escalator that leads us to the surface of the earth. Anyway, we got lost and went to the Brown Line exit and took some time to realize there are 3 railway stations at that particular metro station.

So if you get out from the right exit (Red Line), you will see Kazansky Railway Station that looks like this:

The next Russian word we realized we need to know is KASSA which means cashier. We took quite some time to find the ticket counter! We went like running madly in the railway station as we knew the next time to Kolomna leave in 15mins and there is no way we can get on the train and pay on the train coz there are security guards at all entrances spotting for people who tried to entry without ticket.

The ticket counter is located rather inconveniently for people who are in a rush. If you are facing the railway station, its on the extreme right. There are a couple of counters but only Counter 19 and 20 are for buying tickets. The others I supposed its for enquiries only. And do not expect fast transactions. We tried to convince the lady we want the 11.15am train but she refused as she thought we could not make it. (Well we did not, though we tried like mad)

We got the 130pm train but we tried to chase for the 1115am train coz a very fierce and extemely nice railway security guard let us in and hoping we can get onto the train. She was like waving to the right when Lingju and Yanmei were like chasing the wrong train. Haa! It was really funny coz the train we are supposed to chase started to move before we started running.

Anyway, I just want to say Russians may sound fierce but they can be extremely helpful even with the language barrier. The lady asked us to be at the station 30min before the departure time so we wont miss our train. She even brought us to the berth just in case we hop onto the wrong train. Yup, she was telling us all this in Russian and somewhat we got what she meant. =D
Oh, and we got our one-way ticket to Kolomna for 250RUB and the ticket back to Moscow at 215RUB separately. We wanted return ticket but it was impossible for us to get one so it will be good if you know whats "return ticket" in Russian too.

So, you got your railway ticket to Golutvin. Please note that although there is a stop called Kolomna, do not alight at that stop as it is not a major stop and there wasn't alot of cabs when we were there. 2 to be exact and the cab driver ripped us off and charged us 600RUB even though I know the norm should be 300RUB. Anyway, we did bargain to 450RUB (girl power!). Yup, after 2 hours plus of train ride, you arrive at Golutvin and you should not have a problem getting a cab as it is the end station with a shopping mall nearby.

So a 30-min cab ride should lead you to Aerograd Kolomna (I got the full address and name in Russian). Walk all the way in and I hope the fierce dogs are not there anymore till you reach the plain green field. Yup, just grab anyone there and they should bring you to a counter where you fill in form and make your payment and you are good to go!

The man who tandemed with me is called Audrey (pronounced ON-DRAY) and he speaks really good English. I think he is really experienced and ask for him if you like. I would! My photographer is Sergei. Hmm.. I think he is alright but my friend got the super-pro photographer who I did not catch his name. He is the one who can skydive so close to you and let you hold his foot! Like how cool! Ask for him, ya!? I think they should know who he is. =)

It was cloudy when I reached. To be exact, it was starting to drizzle. I checked with the girl at the counter and she said it is still good for skydive and they have one every half an hour!!!! until 9pm. (That's summer, do arrive earlier!)

I am so glad I did skydive with Audrey at Aerograd Kolomna coz apparently, the national team skydives at the dropzone as well. We happened to meet them reviewing their video while waiting for my own video to be ready. =D

I am soooo sooo glad that Lingju went skydiving with me as well coz it is always more fun to do something together with someone than alone! And of coz she knows what I was talking about when I said it is totally not scary at all and I want to do it again. We even agreed to get our AFF together, if possible! Woohoo!

I enjoyed the first few seconds of the jump when we were doing somersaults before we have the 60 seconds of freefall. The freefall felt like floating in the air with a strong facelift and I jut cant stop cheering! =) I want to do it again!!

2010-06-03T08:54:00.000+08:00

Today someone or rather something important in my life decided to leave me forever.

My laptop which I din even bother to name died this morning at approximately 2am. Aged slightly more than 5 years, it has been my key to the world. Quite surprised it could live so long, but still felt rather sad that it is gone without much warning.

Bought a month before my university life starts, it accompanied me through all the long-night presentation preparations, project meetings, entertained me during seminars. It managed to survive 5 months of cold weather in Sweden. Though its adapter needs to be changed twice, it worked fine for the next 2 years. And I have to admit, I am not the most caring owner.

It contained all my memories and knew all my secrets. But I guess it's time for it to go. Rest in peace, my friend. You definitely did your best to live so long.

2010-05-08T12:18:00.005+08:00

乱上加乱，何不顺其自然。

Anyway, I decided to stay. For now. And maybe I should just focus on my trip that will be kicking off early next week! Woohoohoo!

THREE DAYS!

Today: Lazing with lovelove!

Sunday: Diving Refresher Course at Outram Secondary (Damn, I nearly forgot about this!)

Monday: Something special and nerve-wracking event

Tuesday: Well, get ready for some great fun with two of my besties!!!

2010-05-05T22:12:00.004+08:00

我是不是太贪心了呢？

一点都不自足。。找工作时烦，找到了工作还烦。到底我在烦什么？

道理上，还有六天就要出国上山下海玩游世界大冒险了！应该乐得不行的嘛。。。

可我却一直有些心事匆匆的也。

直到现在，我还是希望有更好的工作降临到我的面前。

我已告诉自己不要再想了，可是潜意识的我却做不到。

怎么办？

2010-04-24T19:17:00.003+08:00

17 days to go!!!

=) I have been rather busy with something else that I totally forget to be excited over my upcoming trip! Which happens to be just about 2 weeks to go. WOAH!

Sad to say, the something else I am busy with is still not done yet. I am quite running out of time but I will not give up until end of the month. Still have a week to go and maybe I will get lucky. No matter what happens, at the very least I finally realized what I want in my life. So, now that I know, I can work towards it. =)

Alright, shall take this time to pack my bag! HEE!

2010-04-20T11:42:00.003+08:00

I wonder if I have some problem with my head. It seems like if I want something badly, I cant focus on anything else.

*pours hot milo over head, hits head with the mug and dashes out of glass window*

On the side note, I might have found the book to bring for my upcoming trip.

Just a Little Run Around the World by Rosie Swale-Pope

Product Description from Amazon:

After her husband died of cancer, 57-year-old Rosie set off to run around the world, raising money in memory of the man she loved. Followed by wolves, knocked down by a bus, confronted by bears, chased by a naked man with a gun and stranded with severe frostbite, Rosie's breathtaking 20,000-mile solo journey is as gripping as it is inspiring. Rosie's solo run around the world started out of sorrow and heartache and a wish to turn something around.

Heartbroken when she lost her husband to cancer, Rosie set off from Wales with nothing but a small backpack of food and equipment, and funded by the rent from her little cottage. So began her epic 5-year journey that would take her 20,000 miles around the world, crossing Europe, Russia, Asia, Alaska, North America, Greenland, Iceland, and back into the UK. On a good day she'd run 30 miles, on a bad day she'd only manage 500 yards, digging herself out of the snow at -62 degrees C, moving her cart inches at a time.

Every inch, every mile, was a triumph, a celebration of life, and 53 pairs of shoes later Rosie arrived home to jubilant crowds in Tenby, Wales. Rosie's incredible story is a mesmerizing page-turner of the run of her life. It will wake up the sleeping adventurer in you; it will inspire hope, courage and determination in you; but most of all it will convince you to live your life to the full and make every day count.

The reviews so far are pretty good. =D Hope it could ease the pain of waiting for and transiting on planes, trains and overnight buses.

21 days. Still hopeful, still awaiting for my good news.

2010-04-17T00:55:00.006+08:00

I love my lovelove!!! =D See what he bought for me on Thu!

YUMMY DURIAN PUFFS AND CAKES FROM GOODWOOD PARK HOTEL!!!!!!!!!

Looking tall and delicious already!

I totally lovvvvvvvvvvvveeeee the oreo durian cake! Gosh! This is definitely worth the weight gain! HAAAAA!!!!!

And do you know this is like the first surprise he gave me! :P Finally, I felt the AWWWWWWWWWW-ness!!!! And yup, that's the highlight of my week.

Happy Weekends!!!!!

2010-04-04T23:00:00.010+08:00

37 days!!!!

Tons of stuff to do. And hopefully I will receive some good news soon.

Oh! And I just checked the weather! Its quite warm right now in Russia. Yeah! 12 degree!

2010-03-21T13:31:00.005+08:00

Happy Anniversary!!! =)

Bouquet with an AWESOME balloon from Lovelove

Carebears men all crowded around the flowers. =D

Super pretty cupcakes from Lil' Missy Cupcake

All thanks to Valerie for sharing this with me! =D And Carrie for the cupcakes! She really did exactly what I requested. Yeahhhh!! And glad lovelove loves them too! =D The alien looks really cute lah!!

Totally in love with you!!!!

2010-03-18T13:10:00.006+08:00

Dumbest Traveller Ever

I really think I deserve this title man. Okay, coz I am done with the planning of the upcoming May trip... so I decided maybe I could spend some of my spare time researching on Munich since we (or rather I) have set aside 12 hours to explore the city. I had a rough idea of Munich: I know it is quite a boring place but shopping shouldn't be a problem. And of course the BEERS. AND RITTER SPORTS are dirt cheap over there! =D

While I was looking at the platz to shop, I stumbled upon this website (or maybe I am lucky enough to realize this now rather than later!) that mentioned about the shops being all closed on Sundays. You are restricted to a few supermarkets and grocery stores in town!!

HMPHHH!!!!! *sulks*

This is like not the first time I made such a lousy mistake ahhhhhh... Just last year, I planned a Mon-to-Fri itinerary for Bangkok when the Chatuchak Market opens on weekends only! Now, Munich on Sun!! *slaps self*

Anywayyyyy.... I just found out there is a Ritter Sport outlet in Berlin!!! ONE AND ONLY ACTUALLY!!!! =) Make me want to go to Berlin to get it! HOWWWWW I WISH!!

2010-03-15T00:22:00.009+08:00

58 days to go! =)

Russia:

~~1. Pending Confirmation to Change Departure Date from 15th to 16th May via Rossiya~~
~~This one is really troublesome... Cant find any general inquiry email so shall give them a call tmr on this.~~
Called the London Representative Office today as referred from the St. Petersburg office as they do not serve foreign language services. Got the change on phone. All done in 7.5 mins! And its GBP4 per pax for the change. Hmph, just that they promised to send me the confirmation of air ticket via email in 10mins. Will check that when I get back to work tmr. =)

2. Skydive in Kolomna
Somewhat confirmed. They said they cant confirm as it really depends on the weather on that day... So I planned to call them before I head to Kolomna from Moscow to avoid disappointment. *fingers crossed*

~~3. To change no. of nights stay in St. Petersburg and Moscow~~
~~Moscow is done. Will email St. Petersburg one tmr... =)~~

** Should be all. Organized trips in Russia are expensive. Think we can do it ourselves.

Hungary:

4. To email Tokaj Tourism to confirm wine day tour
To do so in early-May before departure

Croatia:

~~5. Hostel in Dubronvik~~
~~Shortlisted private apartments done. Pending confirmation by end of this week =D Awesome!~~
Booked by Lingju. Go to Croatianvillas.com. Their villa selections are pretty good and of course with great pricetags!

6. Diving in Vis
Yanmei is working on this. Seems good on her selection and a refresher course before departure is rather thoughtful too! =)

7. Day trip to Plitice Lakes

8. Insurance for the trip itself

Well.. There are still some strings to tie. But roughly, we are done. YEAH!

2010-03-12T16:18:00.005+08:00

Updates on Cindy (Wendy's Left Ankle)

Bu shuang thinks Cindy looks weird.

Boohoohoo!

2010-03-10T13:55:00.003+08:00

=) Wendy the Fighter

Just finished The Survivors Club and did the online Survivor Profiler test. And guess what, out of the five main Survivor types (Connector, Realist, Thinker, Fighter, and Believer), Wendy is a Fighter!!!

I am really surprised by the results. Well, though I know I am not a Connector who is deeply devoted to my family and friends nor a Thinker who got the street smarts and common sense and definitely not a Believer coz... well... I dont really think about God every second of my life. Hmm.. But I think if I am in danger or left all alone in the ocean, I will surely turn to God for help. So I thought I would surely be a Realist since I have the habit of being calm when everyone else panic. But it must be everyone else... If there is someone who is calm and controlled, most probably I will put my trust in them and hope for the best.

Anyway, my top three survivor tools are: Adaptability, Purpose and Tenacity which I think are self-explanatory.

=)

2010-03-09T00:08:00.002+08:00

Boohoo! I sprained my ankle. :(

2010-03-04T22:59:00.004+08:00

Dear March,

May this month be a great month for me. I shall live my life with positivity and serendipity. =)

I have been rather busy, recently, with something else other than travel planning. Oh ya, got our visa! It looks pretty!! Though, not sure why they need photos of us when they did not use it on the visa! SAD! I thought I can see my own awesome photo on my passport. Hehe! I always like to keep passport photos of myself of various periods of my life. Its like snapshots of my life. Well, you can also see how fast/slow you age and probably do something about it. Haa!

Well, I guess the general mood this week so far is rather confusing...Alright, shall not dwell in it. BLEAH!!!! Anyway, good thing is 17 days to our first anniversary! And 69 days to my lalala trip.

2010-02-27T01:56:00.003+08:00

Currently Reading:

It's been awhile since I find something interesting enough for me to read while walking home. Yup, not just the 2-hour back and fro commuting time every workday.

Amusing facts on how to survive a plane crash would be rather practical since I will be taking airlines that I've never been with, ranging from Emirates to Rossiya Airline (What?). More on that later...

Got to wake up early tmr to collect our Russian visa! =) Checked how to get there via gothere.sg and it seemed like to me the best way to go there is to take train to Orchard and then a 7-min cab drive to the Russian Embassy. Lingju was right. It is really located at the end of Nassim Road. And its crazy to walk from the nearest bus stop which is like 1km away! And maybe I will take a stroll back to town after that. Shall take that as a morning exercise or something...

Good night, you random people! =D

2010-02-14T01:07:00.011+08:00

Oriental with Lovelove

Finally went to Oriental with love last Friday. =) Got the manager to serve us and I am quite impressed with their service.

We ordered, or rather, I ordered the Lovers in Paris cocktails... =) It tasted quite good and it comes in a pair, one for his and another for hers. Red one is mine!!! But i think purple one is so much cooler!!! And it comes with free tapas too. YUM!

And then we got a pleasant surprise.

Happy Valentine Day to all!

2010-02-10T20:54:00.005+08:00

Dip & Squeeze =)

Check out the new design of Heinz Tomato Ketchup packet!

The new packet holds 3 times the sauce than the usual packet we see.

The best part is you can choose to squeeze out the sauce or dip it from the packet.

Awesome!

2010-02-07T21:43:00.005+08:00

Hello February!

Oh well... I really hope I can have like one achievement every month... So for this month, I want to lose some weight. =) Went to this doctor in Lavender who claimed that the pills he gave me can make me lose like 2kg in a week. HMPH! Well, he said I dun need to lose weight fast so he will just give me a moderate kind. Hope so! Hmm... Its my second day on the pills and yes, I lose a kg but it could very well be water loss. Hehe! So I shall just pop and wait.

Probably I can squeeze one more in: To be punctual for work. =) I have been aimming for this for the past two weeks and I think it turned out to be quite good. I can see that I arrive at work much earlier than before 9 out of 10 days and I am really proud of myself. Hope I can keep up the good work and be on time for the month of February (and of course for every month thereafter...)

UPDATES on the upcoming trip: 94 days to go!

All things are going quite well. We will be applying for our Russian visa this Friday since Lingju will be back this Thursday! =) We hope they will be efficient and give us back our passport by end of next week as Lingju got to be back in Shanghai thereafter. :P

I am moving on to the Croatia leg of the trip. Just confirmed our accommodation in Split! It is a private apartment located in the Old Town and its just 50SGD per person per night!!!! And we get to have the whole house to ourselves! Should be quite safe, I hope. Got the apartment from ClickSplit.com. Looked like a decent website. =)

Only pending stuff are:
1. Skydiving confirmation in St. Petersburg
2. Accommodation in Budapest
3. Trains from Budapest-Zagreb-Split timing
4. Diving in Split and the rest in Dubrovnik....... (to work on it soon!)

Not very interesting stuff but I think I am just too obsessed in getting the itinerary ready! I just dun like stuff to be in pending status. Highly annoying. :P Oh well.... I am just bored. Need some positive changes in my life. Shall think about this real soooooooooooon.

Lastly, a picture of Plitvice Lakes, Croatia:

2010-01-26T22:58:00.005+08:00

ARGH!

I have finished my part for Russia early last week. The only pending stuffs to do are just the visa application itself AND the confirmation of skydiving!!!

I have been looking for aeroclubs that do tandem skydiving in Russia, preferrably in St. Petersburg... But if its not possible, I can do some adjustments so we can do it in Moscow. Although from what I saw so far.... there are quite a number of dropzones. BUT, no one replied to my enquiry!!!!! =(

The closest I can find is this: http://www.kamchatkatracks.com/tours/t119.htm which are only for experienced skydivers.... Oh well, I mean, I can understand since you will be landing near active volcanoes and hot springs.... Dun really want to burn myself!

Please please... Give me luck. I really can't wait for another year.... I need to do it before I am too old and scared!

2010-01-24T22:00:00.009+08:00

Maggie Moo Is Coming to Town

Although I have never heard nor tried Maggie Moo's ice cream.... The photos look yummy enough! I hope it will be as good as or better than Ben & Jerry's?

(from left: Strawberry Skydive, Cotton Candy Ski Jump, Peanut Butter Galaxy)

I dunno... They just look too colourful to be ignored. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY! =D

2010-01-19T16:44:00.004+08:00

Stumbled upon this article at www.travmonkey.com and yup, I am bored so instead of listing 101 Things to Do… I shall form my very own WENDY-SO-WANT-TO-DO-THIS list.

Anyway, there are like so many things I want to do but I decided to narrow down my already-shortened list to these 7 stuffs!!! And yes, the seven things that managed to make my heart skip a beat or two while I imagine myself doing so are:

1. Sky Dive
Leap out of a plane sky diving over Lake Wanaka, New Zealand.

9. Learn A New Language
Learn Russian in St Petersberg, Russia.

22. Tomato Fight
Grab a tomato and throw for your life at the tomato throwing festival - La Tomatina, in Bunol, Spain.

36. Ride The Trans-Siberian Express
Tackle the huge seven day train journey on the Trans-Siberian Express through Russia.

88. Visit An Iceberg
Pay a visit to an iceberg in chilly Greenland.

93. Go Zorbing
Throw yourself (zorbing) down a hill suspended in a transparent PVC sphere in New Zealand.

101. Learn About Yourself
Learn just what it is that makes you tick by spending some time traveling alone.

2010-01-17T21:46:00.004+08:00

Ready to Fly!

Tickets bought! =) Flying via Emirates to Moscow and coming back from Munich for SGD1229!

Hmph, was cheaper a week ago. But didn't expect Moscow is that popular! So, lesson learnt. Get it when you see something you really like! I also bought the air tickets from St. Petersburg to Budapest via LOT and Dubrovnik to Munich via easyJet. =) Super burnt my cards... Shall hold on to the rest of the purchases coz just in case I need the credit to buy stuff for the upcoming Chinese New Year! :P

2010-01-11T00:47:00.004+08:00

Highlight of the Week:

I finally learnt how to put on fake eyelashes!!! =) It took me awhile to realize it is wayyyy too expensive to go for eyelash extension every month AND I had been doing so for the past three months!!! ARGGHHH! Anyway, now that I switch to the wallet-friendly fake eyelashes, I could save almost SGD500 every year! Wooohooooo!!!

Random Photo of the Day:

Mr. Ginger Breadman being packed/secured in lovelove's luggage.

2010-01-05T02:32:00.003+08:00

Argh.. its 230am already! Apparently, I really have an obsession in planning. Ha! Was working on the Hungary leg of the upcoming trip. Hush hush! I am less efficient than last year. Hope I can get the full itinerary up by end of this month so we can start getting the air tickets. :P

Anyway, I uberlove my travelmates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ROCK!! =)

2009-12-29T02:24:00.006+08:00

Back from Thailand! =)

I have to say, I really enjoyed the trip with Junxian! =D It is totally different from the May 2009 trip, for once I do not care about where to go, which heritage site I must take photo with (tourist me!), what food to try for the first time of my life, oh well... the entire itinerary in general! With love, I learnt that its about who you are travelling with and not just where (I love you girls too, Yanmei and Lingju!). Plus, with Ginger Breadman who joined us on 21 Dec (finally! something furry from love), awww... what's not to love when I can hug love and furry cute stuff both at the same time!! =)

I am so happy to have Junxian all to myself for the past 8 days! 24/7! HOW NICE!!!!

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

2009-12-16T21:17:00.004+08:00

Wendy goes Wendy's!

I always wanted to try Wendy's for the obvious reason! =)

So yup, we went to Wendy's yesterday (and it just opened on Monday!) and the queue was quite long. Firstly, I still feel damn weird to eat fast food in Lau Pa Sat. And the restaurant was really puny! I dunno. Maybe its the air-con or the ambience, it was just different from what I expect from a fast food restaurant.

Everyone working in Wendy's looked extremely busy, the tiny place was crowded with people... AHA! I know whats wrong. They didn't play any music at all. Hmmm.. Not sure whether that made much difference but all I remembered was queueing for say... 20mins. We were lucky cos we were there earlier like 645pm. By 7pm, there was simply no corner to stand in the restaurant.

Oh, and you can really see how slow Wendy's is. Well, when there is no music and you are just queueing and doing pretty much like nothing, you will try to notice everything else around you. Guess the workers dun really know each other well enough and they need some time to get used to the flow of the work process...

As for the food..... Hmmm... I think it is better than Burger King and McDonalds for sure. Well... I am not really a fan of fast food so... I guess it is good enough for me. But if you ask me whether I will visit Wendy's again, the answer is "No" for the Lao Pa Sat outlet.

Open outlets where fast food restaurants should be, get a bigger space, turn on the air-con and audioplayer and Wendy's is good to go.

2009-12-07T22:59:00.007+08:00

I shall make 7 Dec the Offical Yearend Wendy-Evaluation Day! Yes, its coming to the end of the year again and as always I would like to ask myself what I have done this year.... And hopefully I am living my life to the fullest. Well, at least do something crazy like getting a tattoo so I have one more item on the list (thats what I did last year!). Haa!

Alright, here wendy goes again.

Achievements in 2009

1. Found my love!
Finally! eight and an half months into the relationship and we are (I think) still going strong! I dunno, at least I know I am still sooooooooooo crazy in love with him, still wanting to see him every day.... =D And his smiles can never fail to make me melt! He is the one that made 2009 awesome!

2. Went for my very own self-organized trip!
Spent like forever to plan for this trip but it was all worthwhile! Plus, I really enjoyed planning this trip so.... come on! Lets go for the next one! There are many first-times during this trip. Go horse riding in Turkey, donkey riding in Greece, and camel riding in Egypt! Managed to step onto the ancient pyramids and soak my feet into the sandy beaches of Santorini. And of course survived an Egyptian Air flight which is more nerve racking than a roller coaster ride. =) Oh oh, and how can I forget my awesome travel buddies!?? Or yes... And the night we spent counting the number of shooting stars we saw in the white desert where we were so close to the nature....Hmm, enough said!

3. Learn hot yoga and exotic dancing!
Yup. Though my body is still not that flexible, at least I can do my body waves! Haaaa!!! =)

4. Pick up reading
I have better idea on what kind of books I prefer to read (travel writing, hmm.... thats about it? or random topics like Mt. Everest)... Well, at least I wont waste my time staring at my own reflection while commuting to work. Yes, back and fro.

GAH! Think thats it for now. Meanwhile, I shall think of moreeeeeeeeee...

2009-12-03T22:36:00.004+08:00

Couchsurfing Reactivation

Got to check my hotmail today and realized that my couchsurfing account has been deactivated since... oh well... I have not logged in more than 4 months! Haa!

HMPH! And so happen that I am currently reading a travel book on couchsurfing by Brian Thacker (LOOK TO THE RIGHT)!! Seriously, its quite a funny book! =D And of course, reading about CS made me want to try out CS again!!! Maybe I can go couchsurf with Yanmei and Lingju in Budapest. Would be pretty interesting huh!

Oh ya, so i reactivated my account and made my couch (or rather my dad's black leather sofa) available for surfers! But of course, that if, they don't mind spending almost two hours of their precious time travelling back and fro to my couch. Hmph, in a way... Thats what many Singaporeans (ME! ME!) do on a daily basis.

2009-12-01T00:00:00.003+08:00

Baby bought me cake from awfully chocolate coz he knows I havent tried them before. Oh well... since they only sell cakes as a whole, we got ourselves a 6-inch pure chocolate cake!!!

Looks yummy right?

Serious diet after this!!! =D

2009-11-23T23:05:00.005+08:00

We baked some cookies last weekend. =P Oh well, I meant we attempted to. Maybe I can blame the microwave oven! Hmmm... The convention oven does not seem to work. We cant get the right temperature so ended up microwaving the dough...

Our ingredients: Ready-to-bake pack and M&Ms!

Microwaved cookies! Look pretty nice ya?

Anyway, its our 8th monthiversary! And yes, I am still madly in love with him. How come?

2009-11-17T00:41:00.007+08:00

Krispy Kreme TIME!!!

Two Days Old Donuts! =D

All thanks to Joe's brother's girlfriend, I managed to get my hands onto these sweet yummy sinful little things!!! Apparently, I was getting so impatient that I missed my dance class just to get the donuts! Haa! (Serene said they taught quite a few dancesteps that Sunday and I just hope I can catch up this coming week!)

Me, having my first bite at the bus stop!

Love went to collect the donuts with me! Hehe!!! Trying out my new Samsung camera on the bus! :P Totaly in love with love!!!

2009-11-09T22:24:00.005+08:00

I found something I like! =D

LG BL40

Seriously, I dun care about the specs. Haa! Oh well... My only concern is the price. Went to Singtel, M1 and Starhub (websites) to check out the price of this phone but hmmph... I cant find the phone model. Lets hope by the time my current plan (with lousy Starhub) is up next June, it will be affordable! Hehe!!

Rather than looking at the specs, I shall zoom into the main disadvantages of LG BL40:

Single-handed use not too comfortable due to the extra long form factor - oh well... I love the extra long form look. Shall ignore this.
Video recording output is pathetic - alright, shall use get a new camera to take video
Piano black surface is a fingerprint nightmare - Piano black surface!!!! =)
Memory card slot is under the battery cover - hmmm... I can live with that.
Web browser has no Flash support - can live with that too.
No video streaming over Wi-Fi (such as the mobile YouTube) - and that.
WisePilot satnav app is only a trial version - No idea what that is. So yup, I cant complain about something I dunno.
No sign of any social networking integration - errmm.. I DUN CARE!

I LIKE! =)

2009-11-01T00:40:00.000+08:00

This is so sick!

2009-10-30T23:02:00.011+08:00

Whats up man? The whole thing about how difficult the PSLE mathematics questions really puzzled me so I decided to search the so-called toughest question for this year PSLE Mathematics paper. I really thought it would be tough.... but seriously, even with that mentality, I managed to solve the question under 5mins.

Ermmmm... The thing is, it is not even tough. I am quite sure I would be able to answer it when I was 11. During our era, don't we learn algebra when we were Primary 5? And by Primary 6, we were supposed to be very zai in it and use it often to solve all questions since it will save lots of time in comparison to drawing boxes?

To me, from what I remembered since young, a question is classified as TOUGH means I will work on it use the remaining 45mins of my time during exam, after finishing all the other questions. Usually there will be one or two tricky questions which I cant answer the first time I see it. So I will move on to the other questions so as to prevent myself from feeling demoralized. Even if I cant solve it, I will show all my workings and most probably, if I was wrong, I will still get a mark or two for that question. So, overall I should know I can still get my A*.

As long as the extreme tough questions (definitely not this!!!? Whats up with the parents huh?) does not play more than, say, 15% - 20% of the paper, shouldn't it be alright? You can still get your A* if you get 50% of the tough questions... You must be smart for a reason, no?

And those parents huh..... No wonder their kids cant answer the so-called tough questions. They themselves are obviously not very smart. I mean, I never kaopeh to my mom about my final exam papers and of course my mom wont check the papers to make her own judgement on whether the questions are too tough or not... These parents are really crazy.

THE QUESTION:

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken.
Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim.
Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates.
The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4.
How many sweets did Ken buy?

THE ANSWER:

(Part 1)
Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken.
Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim.

Jim has C + S and Ken has C + S

(Part 2)
Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates.

Jim has C + (S-12)
Ken has (C-18) + S

(Part 3)
The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7

Jim:
(S - 12) = X
C = 7X therefore: 7(S - 12) = C

The ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4

Ken:
S = Y
(C - 18) = 4Y therefore: 4S = (C - 18)

Now, you got this:

7S - 84 = C
4S = C - 18

4S = (7S - 84) - 18
4S = 7S - 102
3S = 102
S = 34

How many sweets did Ken buy? 2S = 68

Very difficult meh?

2009-10-29T01:18:00.004+08:00

最近找到了一个新的嗜好：睡觉！

以前觉得睡觉好浪费时间。。。不过，我真的也太失眠了吧！所以我决定好好的奖励自己。如果没什么特别的事，我就应该早点回家补充睡眠。。。最好一天能睡达十小时！哈哈哈！既然俊贤没空陪我，那我就乖乖地回家做一个宅女吧！

诶，我在想呀。。。无所事事时应该做些什么呢？

1. 学怎么制作雪糕

或则，

2. DIY 服饰和首饰

应该蛮好打发时间的嘛。。。真开心！　

2009-10-22T22:01:00.003+08:00

NEW SKIN!!! =D

Trying to look young again.... At least cyberically.

2009-10-22T02:18:00.001+08:00

A merry-go-round coat rack for the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam

2009-10-18T20:04:00.006+08:00

我选择了前者。

我依然认为能选择爱他是一件快乐，幸福的事。 =D

2009-10-06T22:47:00.004+08:00

我真的有点累了。

一直寻找不到平衡感。

难道在爱与被爱之间，只能选择一个。

不能同时拥有两者？

2009-09-28T23:36:00.006+08:00

Slight Changes!

Russia is still in. But the rest are out! Simply because it will cost a bomb on the visas (for all the four countries!) and all the various administrative costs! Plus, doubt I can do all these alone. Ha!

So we are going to.................

Croatia!

and Hungary! (Yes!!! My final missing piece in Eastern Europe!)

Time to get an awesome camera!

What about this?

2009-09-15T13:13:00.006+08:00

The reason why she had her tattoo done 9 months ago was to remind herself to love her life. It somewhat inked a new start of her life, a good way to say goodbye to 2008. She looked forward to 2009. She knows that it will definitely be a good year for her because even a mediocre life would be much better than a devastated one. She never cried so much; she never know the real feeling of helplessness until then.

But Wendy got lucky and gained more than she bargained for. Well, not really Lady Luck, but more to a person called Jerlyn who she never even meet yet and a wee bit more to an emotion defined as Loneliness. Oh ya, of course. And to that special person that plays a small part in her life movie who led her to realize that she is not that bad after all.

Wendy always love to plan; feel the need to plan. But she decided to live for the moment since the present moment is always inevitable. Well, being Virgo... She unconsciously drifted back to her needs for consistency, predictability, and stability. Hey, but ain't these what she chose to leave behind? Ain't their differences that attracted her in the first place?

I am not done with you yet.

This blog will be in coma until Wendy feels better about life. Lovelove.

2009-08-18T00:19:00.014+08:00

=D Been awhile!!!

Anywayhow, I am going to Macau and Hong Kong at the end of this month! Yeah!!!! I really dun want to stay in Singapore for my birthday and I am so lucky to find cheap tickets to Macau through Jetstar! Return air ticket inclusive of tax is just

103SGD per pax!

Great deal right? Coz baby can't get alot of leaves so we will be flying off on 28th night and be back in home on 1st Sep early morning!

I have never been to Macau before and cant wait to go with baby!!! =D Though a brief research kind of revealed that there is nothing much in Macau other than greyhound racing and lots of yummy food to buy back for gifts, we still have Hong Kong! I shall assume 2 full days should be sufficient for shopping and lots of eating! Just hope for good good weather since its the monsoon season! :P

GAH!! I need a shopping list! Weeeee!!!!

2009-07-31T16:37:00.002+08:00

Just finished reading "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner.

=D And I am happy! Oh well... I really think it is a damn interesting and funny book to read. I have quite a tough sense of humor and I always think that it is hard to convey humor through words but Weiner did it really well. As stated on the cover, it is about his search for the happiest places on Earth. He travelled all around the globe, visiting the happiest nations such as Iceland and the Netherlands as well as the moodiest places like Moldova.

I picked this book randomly in the library and chose it simply because I like the way "Bliss" looks on the cover. Of course, I always want to know how to be happier. So other than wanting to discover the "Where" in the happiness quotient from this, I hope to find out the "How" as well.

Every country he wrote about taught me something about happiness:

For instance, under "Iceland", I learnt that happiness is a choice. The extreme cold weather will definitely make anyone moody due to Seasonal Affective Disorder, but Icelanders chose to drink and be happy while the Russians chose to drink and be grumpy.

And under "America", he wrote about the American's perpetual pursuit of happiness (Guilty!) which led to the unwillingness to commit. Similarly under "India", he mentioned that we keep postponing happiness. The present moment is inevitable and we can only experience happiness now.

Perhaps, I should stop searching. Perhaps, I can choose to be happy. And I choose to be happy now. =D

2009-07-27T00:24:00.004+08:00

Met up with Lingju and Yanmei to discuss on our next upcoming trip. We are looking at next summer. :) It was really a great meet-up! We chatted and talked about our previous trip and all the funny and interesting moments... We all laughed till our abs ached!

Anyway, we did decide on the destinations! And surprisingly, we did not have much trouble agreeing on the countries to visit!

Russia

Mongolia

Tibet

Bhutan

Yes, super zen.... I am so going to lose weight for this one. And I will definitely bring all my skincare products so I wont repeat my silly mistake again! And sunblock.

Till then, there are alots of preparation for this one. Visas, special passes and hmmm... physical training!! Extreme backpacking, I shall assume.

Buzzer Beat

2009-07-24T00:24:00.004+08:00

:) I found a nice Japanese tv series, Buzzer Beat!

Actually I decided to download it coz of Yamashita Tomohisa... He is extremely cute and I really think he looks like a Jap-version of Wu Zun. Yup, its about basketball but seriously, it is so much better than the Taiwanese tv series... At least Buzzer Beat shows real basketball shots and they focus more on the game than allowing the actors to act cool which is really a big turn-off.

Anyway.... I realized the main female lead is also very cute! And I fell in love with her already.......... My newest crush, Keiko Kitagawa! =)

PRETTY!

2009-07-21T17:22:00.004+08:00

Last Day in Cairo, Egypt (2 full days are sufficient)

30 May 2009

Yup, coming to the end of our trip. Having a bad day the day before, we were pretty ready to go home. We concluded that Turkey has the friendliest people, Greece has the nicest atmosphere for romance, and Egypt.. Well… The Pyramids! But really, other than the Pyramids and the White Desert, there are nothing much left worthwhile. I would definitely visit Alexandria or Luxor along the Nile River if I got more time to spare. :P

On this day, we woke up slightly later and visited the Citadel, a World Heritage site. Quite a disappointment, actually. We got ourselves a driver (some weirdo that kept saying "Welcome to Alaska (I think its Cairo in Arabic) !!!") for that day. He first bought us to some honey store cos we knew Egypt is well-known for its honey and we hope to get some for our family and friends. :)

Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Outside the National Military Museum

Statue of Muhammad Ali

Afterwhich, we went to Al-Khalili (souq), hoping to buy some souvenirs and sadly cant find any. I did have much expectations for this coz the reviews were all quite positive online… but all shops almost sell the same stuff and you don’t need to walk to whole street to know that. I was hoping to find a pyramid softtoy/cushion coz I think it will be really cute to get one, no?? Nahh… There was only camel softtoys which were really ugly! Come on!!! Be creative and give me my pyramid plushie!!! Boohoo!!!

As we had quite some time left, we decided to walk back to our hostel to take a better look of the streets. Wrong choice. The streets were messy and people were trying their best to get your attention so they could hard sell their stuff to you. We walked a few streets, attempted to ask the policemen for directions but they speak no English. Eventually, we gave up that dumb idea and took a cab back.

To end our trip well, we decided to enjoy the night typical Egyptians do by eating the famous ice-cream store (1.50SGD for 2 scoops!) at Talaart Harb Street and catching a midnight movie (5SGD). We watched Terminator Salvation and it was quite a not-bad show that at least managed to brighten up our rather-disappointing day.

Oh well.. Looking back, it was indeed a great trip. It was my first time travelling with my friends after graduation. Our friendship got stronger after three weeks. We knew each other better and yup, we are planning on our next trip already! Haa! Destination: Not decided yet. But surely, I will do the write-ups on my trip earlier next time coz darned! It was rather taxing you know! Haa! Glad I finished my write-ups. Cheers!

2009-07-21T16:21:00.004+08:00

Bahariya, Egypt

28 May 2009

Package: White Desert 2D1N (600EP or 160SGD per pax)
We got this from our hostel but on the way to Bahariya, we talked to some tourists on board and realized that we definitely overpaid for our package. A Japanese guy said he got his package (just 1 full day in the White Desert) for 150EP!! Another Korean couple got theirs for 400EP (they have an English-speaking guide with driver while we only got a driver!)

Anywayhow…. The first day was good coz we were with just the driver. Oh, the guide's name is Sammi. He is fat, arrogant and fricking annoying lor! The second day, it was supposed to be a day tour in Bahariya but this fucking Sammi got us into this hostel that I could hardly call it a hostel and served us horrible and pathetic lunch! :( We phoned back to Ali and complained that we wanted to get out of Bahariya immediately! He got us the next bus back and it really sucked coz it was like our second last day in Egypt and what a dreadful event to spoil our mood.

We negotiated with Ali and managed to cut the package fee to around 110SGD. Though we still overpaid in comparison to the rest, at least we put our message across - we can't tolerate bullshit. Sucky, right? Hmm.. Apparently this is the cheapest I can find online. Perhaps you can try your luck emailing the hostel about the White Desert package they have before you pay for the hostel. Hai yo. :(

Alright. Moving on…

The Bahariya Oasis is approximately 300 km away from Cairo (3-hour bus ride) and the least technologically advanced Oasis in the country. The bus is surprisingly in decent condition and it was not as bad as we thought it would be. The only problem is…. The pitstop. The washroom. Terrifying is the word to describe it. I wish I don’t have to use it but… knowing we will be in the desert the rest of the day (meaning no toilet and shower at all), I went into it. The number of flies were countless. And they were mingling in the middle of the washroom. You have yet to see the real thing yet. Being mentally prepared for the worst, I braved my way in! The moment I saw it, an urge to puke overwhelmed me and I turned away, attempting to do so. Gosh! Tears were in my eyes due to the overturn of my stomach fluid… Lingju looked at me and gave me that is-it-that-bad look. Yes, it was!! Anyway, I did pee in the end, trying to keep my balance while squatting and holding my breath and bag and looking upwards. Eeeeww….. Sorry to disgust you. Ha!

Sammi greeted us when our bus arrived at Bahariya. He drove us to his place and had lunch over there. (According to the itinerary, we were supposed to have lunch in a restaurant. Obviously, he was cutting ends over here!) He introduced the driver to us. I cant remember his name but he is a nice chap.

In the jeep

Black Desert

The beginning of White Desert

The desert has a white, cream color and has massive chalk rock formations that have been created as a result of occasional sandstorms in the area. As our driver could not really speak English, we have to figure what we were seeing through the only map board that was located at the start of the White Desert Nature Park. Photos ahead!!

Campsite

It was like 6pm when we settled down on the campsite. The driver set up the tent against the jeep. I was really expecting the normal tent, you see. I was like oommph-ing when I saw him setting this carpet-alike "tent" and he mentioned there are foxes at night in the desert. :P

After he was done with the tent, he went on to prepare our dinner while we sit around and enjoy the scenery. :D

Sunset!

Dinner! Everything tastes good when you are hungry!

You are not being forgotten!

The whole White Desert Safari trip was really great. It is a must since its just a few hours away from Cairo! And the scenery is definitely unforgettable. It was great to be so close to the nature and yes, we did see some baby foxes at night when the food was getting ready. Though there is no way to shower… even pee-ing in the desert is an unique experience. Haa! We were quite shy at first cos come on! We got used to it after the first try! At night…. The beautiful starry starry night! Three of us lied down on our mattress and facing the stars and chatted…

It was soooooooo fun coz every now and then, we will go… "blah blah blah blah… Shooting star!!!!!" I saw 3 shooting stars that night! And its really nice! Haa!!! The sights of the shooting stars and the starry sky itself were priceless. Not to mention, the naughty foxes that came near to our mattress to check us out.