Jetstar-raising

Lotsa Jetstar trips coming up.... Just ended my Thailand trip to Pattaya and Bangkok, next up, Penang in Jan 2010 and KL in Mar 2010.... starting to get hooked by these budget travelling! You dont need to spend too much on air fares and hotels.... Everything budget pricing... and the best part? You get to take a break a few times a year! This beats taking only 1 expensive break a year as it helps to rejuvenate one from all the work's stresses and worries. This means Europe, Africa, Americas are all out of my planning scope for 2010. However, I've always have a soft spot for Australia, provided cheap deals come along the way..... Till that time comes, I'll be on the look out for more Jetstar's cheap destinations!! keke..

Managing Expectations

Over the past few days since i posted the entry 'Bloody Year End', I've been doing some soul searching. That entry, which i have deleted, was filled with anger and frustrations on the relationships between people, between friends.

All of us make friends along the way. Some of this relationship lasted just for 1 day. Some that are truly fortunate may last for decades. And sometimes, we take these relationships for granted. For me, I usually tried my best to join as many gatherings as possible with my various groups of friends: The Yuppies (my sec frens), my uni frens, my CKS frens, my army frens, my present colleagues etc. The groupie which i've devoted most of my time to is The Yuppies. Afterall, 17 years of friendship is hard to come by. But with so many groups of friends, it is understandable that the amount of time i can devote to each group will reduce, especially for The Yuppies. As my social circle expands, so will my time with them dilute. I feel that this is alright. I have attended all the birthdays, x'mas and CNY celebrations, not because i felt responsible to, but because I want to. But of cos, i cannot join all the other gatherings.

I have been asked, sometimes jokingly, why i have not been meeting up with some groups of friends. It's tough to stay in contact sometimes. Work load is increasing by the month. I did receive complimentary words at work from my bosses for my hard work and initiatives. Such gestures helped lift me up a lot, especially when impounded by work due to 3rd parties issues. But just when i'm slightly feeling relieved, I do not know why, friends will usually give me craps during this fragile moment of my time where i was surrounded by my stresses and need to concentrate. Comments like, 'You no heart, so long also no contact' or 'I'm tired to call you out again' keeps banging me throughout this year from various parties. But when i do make an effort to arrange and meet up, these frens sometimes do not attend either! Or it could be they do not like my plans to meet up etc. But I do not recall me having to say similar things to them... only recently when my pressure point is beginning to tip the scales.

I've been talking about managing expectations at work, but I feel like I've failed to manage the expectations of my frens. Some frens feel that meeting up is the only way to keep a close relationship. Some will always be there even if we dont meet up so often. Frenship is a tricky issue to manage. How do I manage their expectations of me? It's seems to me that when i've tried my best, there are always some who feels I'm short of trying.

I foresee some frens must be thinking: I have no more expectations of you. This, will be very sad. But, taking a leaf of yet another fren, maybe I should not be too bothered. It could be a case of people changing perspective of things while others have not. A clash of ideology usually will create eruptions. So in the end, no one person can really be blamed for any distancing of relationships.

showerers, beware!

the past 1 month saw me losing 2 pairs of underwears... in the GYM!

This is a sickening beahviour of an unknown stranger. The underwear i have lost were dirty ones which i have worn for the enitre day! Why would anyone in the right mind wanna take my dirty underwear!?!

The underwears were stolen when i went into the shower cubicles. I hang the undies on a hook just outside the shower curtian, and after shower, it was gone! Definitely not because it fell onto the floor. Definitely not because the cleaner picked it up. I've checked with the cleaner and search the entire area. Definitely not because the person showering next door took it cos it was vacant when i went in and when i was done with showering!

What a pervertic behaviour! I was so angry that i wrote to recommend installation of hooks within the cubicle itself. This has got to stop! I dont want to lose 2 pairs of underwear every month!

this almost sound fiction.... anyone who knows the animae Rama will know that granpa who steals female undies... this is unbelieveable.

TCM, the way to go.

the past 2 months saw me experiencing several abnormal health symptons... Giddiness, gastric & tummy pains, muscle twitchings etc.. went to see the doc so many times these 8 weeks (i think around 5-6 times!) But still, it seems the root of the problem was not solved... until last night.

I finally went to visit a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medication) practioner. After an hour long consultation, I was finally diagnosed as having too much Yang in my body. This means the heaty-level is too high. This was the cause of my tummy-gastric pains and giddiness. In fact, he was pin point accurate when describing the side effects i had to only nod my head most of the time! ie: I couldnt sleep well at night due to the heat, even though a/c was on.

And after taking the 1st batch of med last night, my tummy-gastric was gone in 1 hr! I had previously taken 2 pills from the doc yesterday morning and afternoon to no effects!

On on a 7 days course. Hopefully, it will solve my giddiness and muscle twitching problems as well. Too bad TCM is not recognise for insurance claims and MC.

S.A

This Monday, i woke up feeling sheepish. I was on my 1st ever leave of doing nothing!. hahah. Intend to stay home and really do nothing on a supposedly blue monday.. but guess the future has other plans for me. I experienced severe pain in my adominal region for the entire day! oh, well, it's not that the pain persisted non-stop. It came in waves.. but after 9pm that night, it was really bad. I had no choice but to visit the doc the next morning.

The doc quickly diagnosed it as suspected appendicitis (S.A)! That was not something i would have expected! Given 2 kinds of med and went home, still feeling the pain through out the day. The Med Did Not Work!!

So Wednesday came and i dragged myself to work, and to seek another doc's opinion. He gave the same disgnosis, which disappointed me. Gave me stronger pills, and surprisingly, the pain slowly subsided! I still managed to work the entire day despite given MC.

Thursday came and I felt almost normal! I even attended my colleague's wedding the same evening! Hopefully it's not in remission and returns later to haunt me. but it was surely a scary encounter to know i was suspected of having appendicitis!

Snap Snap Snap!

I got my first ever SLR on 12 September 2009 finally! This was a very very long wait since I've decided to upgrade my Canon Powershot in early 2008.

Nikon D5000, 12.3MP, comes with 18-55mm & 55-200mm lenses, cost me less than SGD1450! This is around SGD 170 cheaper than normal retail rate (& COMEX)! However, I have yet to really explored this little gem of my yet. Was it due to the long waiting that has come to past that made me lost the spark to engage in this new toy immediately?

Not really. I've been spending the past few days reading the manuals and guide to taking photos. It's something that i normally will not do! My Canon Powershot's manual book was long gone in the dust. My iMac's instructional book is still nicely packed in its box. My iTouch's manual still in the clear box. But this time round, i really wanna find out the theory of adjusting the bits of my D5000, and the rewards were really great! I've found out how to manage the aperture and shutter to obtain optimal effects. Collecting TODAY's weekly article on using NiKon also helped. All those guides to set the correct settings for different effects.

Now i can safely say that i'm 70% confident with my 1st ever SLR snapping trip this weekend! Hopefully I can capture something really nice. This will be an important exercise for me before my long-awaited Bali trip next week!

Yupieeeeeeeeeee!

the day my shirt was ripped

what a day it is today. was sitting at my desk at work in the morning... doing some simple stretches, and all of a sudden, my shirt ripped opened from behind! the tear was at least 10cm long and occurred on the upper back area. Lucky for me, my chair has a tall back rest. Lucky for me again, i have my blazer with me. I immediately put on my blazer..

Went to the washroom for some damage evaluation. the split was huge! and there were 2 splits! Have i grown fatter? last i weighed, it was 62.3kg, far from my heaviest 65kg in Apr, 2007. It must be the brand.. Topman. All my Topman shirt has some problems here and there. But this time it's the ultimate!

I had to wear my blazer for lunch out in the heat and humid GSM... lucky i got gym wear later, will have to change into that b4 i step outta work!

muscle aches

for many frens around me, i was usually viewed as the 'healthy' one... mainly due to my frequent gym work out sessions. In truth, I exercise 3-4 times a week on the average. Also in truth, I'm not as fit as many would think i am.

Recently went for my IPPT on Saturday. I've been training on my running for the past 2 months. Well, i wasnt afraid of my 2.4km run.. i usually do quite well even with very little training. My greatest fear is standing broad jump.

For the first time since i started passing my IPPT, i failed my SBJ. i jumped a miserably 207cm, just 5cm short of passing mark. I tried at least 8-10 times of jumps until I really could not jump any further. It was so disappointing. And of cos, it affected my 2.4km run which follows... my timing of 11.04min could have been faster if my legs were not extremely tired due to the many jumps. But it was good enuff for a B grade.

Lucky thing is, I only need to retake my SBJ the next time. and the next time will be nex Wed during my ICT! Need to start training asap... But my whole body is now in great pain! I've not experienced severe muslce ache for a few years. I've always been working out here and there to prevent such a scenario from happening. However, this time was different. I was experiencing pain almost immediately upon completing my 2.4km run! and the pain was excruciating the next day, my entire leg (calves, trunk, tighs etc). Lasting from Saturday until today, and potentially will extend a couple of days more, this is my most severe pain for sure, especially I was already well toned b4 the IPPT!

Looks like i'm not as fit as I tot I was.. haiz. better start training harder!

the year of travel BBBBBBbssssss

2009 can be considered a year of many Bs, mainly due to the many 'B's destinations I will be visiting. Reviewing 2009 trips plan (oh so many.. keke):

April 2009: Kuala Lumpur / Melaka Trip. Ok, no B here. but it was my 1st holiday trip of the year, and it was to celebrate my 29th birthday! Great time relaxing and doing nothing much in KL while we makaned all the way in Melaka

June 2009: Batam. My 1st trip to Batam. Stayed at the fabulous Harris Resort which has lotsa activities! Tried cable ski for the very first time! My advise, bring a pair of lousy used gloves. The force exerted on your palms could cause u blisters! great BBQ dinner by the pool, with live entertainment where staff gathered all present to a sing and dance session. Shiok!

Sept 2009: Bali. Bali is one of the world's most famous island with its sandy white beaches and clear blue seas. can't wait!

Dec 2009: Bangkok. Bangkok is starting to turn into my most visited cities! Thsi will officially mark my 7th visit to the bustling capital of Thailand! That's just after Kuala Lumpur where I might have visited around 8 times! Oh and not forgetting 6 times each to Mumbai and Delhi, but those were biz trips, not counted.

See, lotsa Bs.. too bad other more exotic Bs are not in, like Bolivia, Boston etc.. Potentially planning another trip in end Aug 2009.... this year could potentially be my most travelled year (holiday travels i mean)! keke.

iras call-up

i received a call from an unfamiliar number yesterday. I picked up the phone and on the other side was a lady saying: 'hi, this is calling from IRAS'. My heart sank. I quickly raced thru my past records in my head: have i paid my tax? Or have i missed out on any declarations?

turns out this lady was responding to my 'recently submitted' resume. 'Are you available for a temp position at IRAS?' she asked. I was stunned! I've not updated my resume since September 2007! It will be a horrific task for me to even try and locate my resume. She claimed that my resume was submitted online in July 2009 for this position. When i told her that is impossible, she laughed in disbelief. I told her that i'm in my current job since 2007, and had not applied for another since.

Her response was, it was an online resume submission, so it will not be possible for those who are not sincere in applying to submit the Word doc. Both of us were bewildered by this. With a laugh, we both hang up our phone.

My colleagues, who by now have guessed what was going on while i was on the phone, told me that it could be someone trying to use my resume to apply for a job.

Or was it a ghost?

life is fragile

within a span of 4 days, 2 people i know passed away as they lost their battle to cancer. the first was a neighbor, RouLin. on the 15th July 2009, i received an sms from my mum on this update. the first reaction was of shock. She was of my age. We went to the same tuition class when we were primary 6. After primary 6, however, we did not keep in touch. that was 1992. I've heard about her only via my mum once in a blue moon. To think that 16 years down the road, i will meet her again at her funeral at the void deck. She was a beautiful young lady with a successful career. during the funeral, the pastor told her history. apparently, she had a finance degree but she went on to do a law degree and was working with her new employer for slightly over 1 year prior to her death bed. Her diagnosis of stomach cancer was in Nov 2008, but she went through chemo by herself w/o informing her family until a stage she could not keep it from them.

At the funeral, frens and relatives and neighbors gathered with grief faces. i've not seen a more sombre funeral. Perhaps it was due to her young age, everyone was feeling that her lose was really a great pity. it was at that time that it struck me life was really fragile and precious. Death can happen to anyone, successful or failure, young or old.

My deep heart lingered for the next 2 days as i tried to focus on the more positive things in life. Then came this morning at work that i found out that a colleague had just gave in to cancer. Mr Anthony Sim was a very friendly mentor to most of us, partially due to his seniority. He was the oldest member in my firm. he had such memorable laughter that he won the Most Gregarious Laugh last year during my company's x'mas event! always friendly and smiling, this grandfather was also generous. he would bring his home grown big fat banana for us. and it was the best banana you can ever have. thick red and sweet, nothing you can find in the stores.

When i found out about his death, it was already 2 days late. he passed away on 18th July 2009 in the morning. Some of my colleagues went down this afternoon to his funeral. the atmosphere was quite different from Roulin's. mainly due to his age and that he has lived a full life. everyone was pleasant and smiling.

however, there was still a sense of loss in me. 2 back to back deaths involving cancer is intimidating. another colleague is now away from work to nurse his mom from cancer as well.

All these events pierced hardly into me. Sometimes, when life is good, you tend to overlook on things around you. I need to learn to appreciate those around me more. Maybe I shd start to venture outside my box from today. Maybe I shd get a full body check up.

No one knows when is each's expiration date. one can only try to make each day a great one while still breathing.

RIP Roulin and Anthony.

control control

perhaps due to some stresses, my ability to control my temper has reduced recently. hopefully i've not offended too many ppl around me yet. apologies, apologies if I have offended you (unless u really deserves my scoldings) :P

nokia versus iTouch

i so wanted to get an iPhone, but now with my new iTouch, i get to experience wat iPhone is (almost) like... and my nokia phone is nowhere near it's usability!

Advantages over Nokia
1. the wider screen
2. the better sound quality. Music just sounds soooo much better on iTouch
3. the multitude of applications and games you can install for free
4. it's interactive touch screen (granted, nokia's new models come with touch screen as well)
5. it's very wide and generous screen
6. it's super compatible with my iMac

Although iTouch does not have camera or voice recording function, it's still a dream to have it. next year, just wait for 1 more year b4 my contract with M1 expires. Then i will join Singtel for the iPhone package! cant wait.

my humble pre-birthday celebrations

hmmm.... the yuppies managed to host yet another great and fun celebration for me on Good Friday itself. we had potluck at JH and VVN's place, and i played WII for the very first time.. it was really great fun! Good to have one at home.

I made apple crumble, and it ended up as my birthday cake. hahah. so from now on, all Yuppies birthday, the birthday girl or boy has to make his or her own cake! Great fun..

1 week to go b4 my birthday... received so many greetings via FB.... also got iTouch as a present.

Thank you everyone!!!! So exciting, going to Malaysia for my birthday celebration!

me a grass fragrance person?

Just completed a test, with results I dont really agree:

You are the Grass-Fragrance type:

You have very strong will, not dependent on others, and gives an impression of being a lone-ranger. You are extremely curious and sensual, living a clear-headed, modern life. At first glance, you place yourself on a pedestal, and are difficult to get along. But once others talk to you, they know you are easygoing. And when the relationship develops, they realise you are affable. You have an androgynous charm, which makes you popular with all genders. But you don't like your weak side to be seen. You might look cool on the surface, but beneath it all, you are really passionate. Only people who know your true self can maintain a long-lasting relationship with you.

Rude Hawker

Just been abused by a rude hawker last Sunday. Went to Clementi hawker center for breakfast. wanted to buy fried carrot cake. There was no one there in the queue. I went to approach the hawker who was busy cooking... he didnt even bother to entertain me at all after standing there for a while. When he finally saw me, he hushed me to his assistance who has all along been facing her back to everyone. Before I could place my order, she told me off in a rude vocal: "We got many orders, need to wait at least 15 minutes!" Then she turned her back to me again without checking whether I mind the wait.

What a rude hawker! The store number is #01-42 and they sell Fried Kway Teow, Fried Oyster and Carrot Cake. Dont go there!! (will try to upload the pic i took of the store front soon)

lucky drew me

wow.. I've not been really lucky with lucky draws.. but today I won a 8GB thumbdrive!

Took part in a Safety Crossword Puzzle quiz.. we got over 10 of us from my firm participating... I got the 10th prize while another colleague got the 5th prize, a 2GB MP3 player.. Happy with my thumbdrive cos it was sold out when I tried to buy it at the IT fair earlier this month...

happy for the simpliest reasons. hehe..

healthy living.. it's all about discipline

Recently, i've been hit by the healthy living bug... well, not yet a health freak, but starting to take notice of things around me.

I've been starting to abstain from oily unhealthy food as much as i can, removing the fat underneath the duck skin etc.. then again, i just cant bear not to eat the skin.. haha.

I've also changed my work out routine... instead of weights focused, I'm more cardio inclined now. Running on the treadmill at least once a week, plus 1 yoga session a week, with reduced weights work out from 3 times a week to just once now. Maybe i'll get fitter with lesser body fat? :P

my 2009 1st quarter creations

made 4 cakes of 2 flavours...

1st: cheese cream sponge cake with fruits. Same flavours but 3 different designs

2nd: chocolate sponge cake with chocolate creams and berries. Gonna make another one with exactly same flavour but different design soon!

fortunate traveller me

It just dawned to me that I've actually travelled to so many places even before hitting 30 years old, over 100 various towns and cities world wide!! So fortunate am I that I've even travelled to more Chinese cities than my Chinese friends, and more Indian cities than my Indian friends. I might have even visited more Malaysian cities and towns than my Malaysian friends! I remember once when I was studying in Australia when my local OZ fren told me he's never been to so many places compared to me downunder.

Singaporeans are such frequent flyers that sometimes we don't realise how fortunate we are. Even in times of recession the NATAS fair still is doing so well! We just need to travel to another country!! I guess this addiction is understandable. I'm also one addict myself... based on the targets I set myself last year to visit at least 4 places I've never visited. I've done that with Malacca, London, Helsinki, Espoo and Chiang Mai. This year can't be that ambitious.. maybe 2 unvisited destinations? :P Planning a potential of 4 overseas trips this year.. wosh! sounds a lot.. but mainly short trips... Shall have a big one early next year during CNY? fingers crossed.

Worst Army Experience

I was recalled for a silent mob sometime in Feb this year. It proved to be the worst army experience ever!

Called at 1.45pm, told to report by 3pm. Thank you for the last minute information. Recalled for me should be 2hrs in advance. Rushed down and then ferried to the manning area to set up. Set up was so bad. SAF got so much $$ but not enuff to get decent PC. Our tablet kept hanging and we had to apologise for the cock up! Talk about SAF not owning up to their errors. M hour being 5pm, means we can leave only at 1am. Then head to the equiping centre where we just waited. The reason? Cos it was too late and no public transport. So they wont release us until the next day. Crazy. I heard from internally there was a timing cock up! Supposed to be having M hour at latest 4pm, most prob ard 12-2pm. For their cock up, we have to suffer! No bunks, no shower, just sat and lay on the concrete flooring... in a multi-story carpark!!! Most of us couldnt even sleep! I rather leave camp and take a cab. Ops, i think they are afraid of people wanting to claim for cab fares!

We waited for the sun to raise before we were allowed to book out at around 9am. So tired I had to take the next Monday off to sleep at home. Most of my fellow camp mates do not have such luxury and slogged back to work with only 30% operating capacity.

Then I found out that I was paid for my service from 2.55pm to 11pm on that activation Saturday!!.. so furious I wrote in to complain... Finally they changed.. Read below's email and u will understand why I became more furious after reading that! And to think the gals tot we guys were fortunate for receiving that miserable $100 of Relief Package (fyi, this year I no receive cos I got it last year!). Please bear in mind that we guys have to burn our weekend for errors on SAF part sometimes. Come to think of it, for all the errors and time wastage and burnt weekends, that should work out to roughly $10 or less per day for my sacrifice. Not a bad pay really, considering SAF's standard.

Dear Dian-Hao

National Service is a duty to the Nation. NSmen are given service pay for each day of NS Training, including Saturdays & Sundays. While this cannot fully compensate our NSmen for their commitment and contribution towards NS, service pay serves to recognise each day of contribution made by NSmen.

For oyur recent NS Training, your NS Unit had since amended your attendance to 21 Feb 09 (1455hrs) - 22 Feb 09 (0800hrs). As the total duration is less than 18 hours, your Service Pay for this NS training is still calculated based on one day ($ xx.xx).

Since you did not suffer civilian income loss due to this NS Training, you will not be able to claim make-up pay from MINDEF. Make-up Pay is the difference between your civilian income loss and your service pay for the NS training.MINDEF understands that it is not possible to fully compensate our NSmen for the sacrifice they have made to NS, we appreciate and recognise their contribution through various ways such as granting of NSmen Tax Relief and in the form of additional allocations in asset enhancement schemes such as the GST Credits and Growth Dividends.

We thank you for your feedback and look forward to your continued support of NS.

Lai Hung Yin(Ms)
Customer Service Officer
MINDEF Shared Services -
NPCFOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

-----Original Message-----

To:SAF
Subject:Make-Up Pay Claims

To whom it may concern,

I would like to refer to my recent silent mob call up on 21 Feb 2009. On the http://www.ns.sg/ website, it was indicated that my call up lasted from 1455hrs to 2255hrs. The following queries I have that I would like to understand:

Since the activation was on a weekend, my employer will not be making any claims to SAF?The $xx.xx was the Vocation Pay i was entitled for my being called up?

I belonged to the advance party team where we received the 1st call at 1345hrs. I reached and reported to Jurong camp at 1455hrs. However we stayed at the recall centre until 1am as the M hour was 5pm. We were then transferred to Maju Camp for equiping and only allowed to leave the camp at around 0830hrs the following day. However, these timings were not captured in the system.

Based on the MUP, I was entitled $xx.xx for my service from 1455hrs to 2255hrs on 21 Feb 2009. This was an 8 hours time frame, which is inaccurate. The more accurate timeframe should be from 1455hrs on 21 Feb 2009 to 0830hrs on 22 Feb 2009. This will reflect a 17hrs 35min time frame, which (based on the $xx.xx for 8 hrs) will mean a MUP of around $xx.xx.I believe this is a system error. However, if this is not, then it would be unfortunate that SAF would incur the extra time of their working NSmen without being fair and justified with the MUP. Because of this unexpected overnight call up, most of us ended distracted and tired for work the next day.

I hope to receive your response soon.

Thank you.

my 15 days of cny 2009

Christmas has its 12 days. CNY has more at 15 days.. and this year's 15 days of CNY has been different and especially nice.

The 1st 2 days were in my previous entry, so i shall start wtih my 3rd day. I stayed up really late till 1.30am just to reply my work emails. According to my animal horoscope, it is auspicious for me to start work on the 3rd day. Since me on leave dat day, so no choice reply at home. Day 3 was a peaceful day where i drove my parents for a nice and simple breakfast in Jurong West.

Day 4 was office day for me. the office was almost empty as most were still on holiday. time jus zoomed by.. same as with Day 5, which is a friday. The weekend was peaceful.

Day 8 was the 1st Monday of the new year, where most ppl reported back to work. and I got my 1st angbao from work that day courtesy from Jessica. Thanks!! The next 2 days were spent in anticipation for Day 11's CNY LoHei by the firm. Anticipation was natural as our boss has the practice of giving very big angbao. Last year's was $288!!!

This year's LoHei was at Nobel house. It was a nice event, not as great as last year's dishes though.. but it doesnt really matter... the most important part of the lunch was when the bosses became the Fortune Gods!! I will not say how much this year's ang bao was.. but it was a sweet surprising moment for everyone. :)

The next day was another great day. My 1st ICT of 2009 was short and sweet. Dinner at PF's place with my 1st KFC meal of the Cow year. Then came the gambling. Not an avid fan of gambling, we played blackjack for around 1.5hrs where i lost $16... after resting for a while (the length of a Hancock movie), i joined my fren with majong... combining power with CF, we both won an astonishing $150!! My 1st win in so many years!! hahaha.. but the drawback, i slept at 6am.. so straining....

Last day of CNY, day 15... My dept had a LoHei at Beng Hiang.. Nice place with great food...

wat a nice 15 days of CNY

photos will be uploaded onto www.deroldee.shutterfly.com

My 100th Entry: Happy Bull Year!!!

My 100th blog entry!!! and i've becoming lazier and lazier in updating my blog these days. haiz...

Since x'mas 2008, i've been on holiday mood, taking (and clearing) my leave. The super long weekend for CNY helped to uppe the holiday mood as well. Took 2 days off to make it a 6 days break!

Rented a Ford Lazer 1.6L car for 5 days... and practically drove all over SG!! Upon collection, I drove my parents to the Salvation Army, BT Timah, Seng Siong and Woodlands to buy cheap and good seafood. The day ended at Holland V with XO Bee Hoon. Damage done by my parents' wallet? over $300. They couldn't stop buying especially at the seafood warehouse!! There alone burnt up $200!!

Day 2 saw me driving to Bedok for lunch. That was followed by a durian treat and dessert at Red Hill hawker. With not much time to spare resting at home, we headed for ABC market for dinner and then to Alexandra Food Centre for a cuppa nice and rich avocado drink.

Day 3 was another packed day. Driving to Bugis to pick my sis up from gym class, then followed immediately by lunch at Seng Siong Jln Bahar. Nex up, a nice and scenic drive to my granny's place in JB via the 2nd link. The drive was better and smoother than I've expected, and we reached there in just under 35 mins. 2 hours of shopping at nearby Giant before we went to my granny's place for the reunion dinner. The day ended with sparks of fireworks at the stroke of mid-night. nice..

Day 4 was a lazy day, with relatives visitng my granny... we left for SG in the mid afternoon and arrived home just in time for a quick shower. ANd then we were off to our 1st ever reunion dinner outside!! We dined at a steamboat rest at Bugis... the food was not really fantastic, but it was an experience nonetheless. After a very full dinner, we had to walk off the calories. A visit to Mt Faber the Henderson Waves did the trick. The more than 1km walk was sufficient to make all of us sleep a soundful sleep.

Day 5 was a late day. Breakfast was at Jurong Point as it was the 2nd day of CNY.. and most shops were closed. This was followed by some more grocery shopping.. Lunch was a Casurina Drive for the nice pratas. Filled to the brim, we went for a walk at Lower Pierce Reservoir. This was followed by a scenic walk at the Marina Barrage where we witness tonnes of water being released into the sea. DInner was at Subway at Downtown east before we embarked on our tree walk from Alexandrea Arc.

Day 6 was the most relaxing day. Drove out for breakfast at Jurong West old market before the car was finally returned.

Total car rental cost? $450. I think the total petrol cost came up to $ 120. So it was around $114 per day for the car, and it sure did save lots of trouble and brought everyone closer together during this period.

A new Year, hopefully a better year ahead for everyone!! Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

my 2008 blockbuster holiday... ...

my annual blockbuster holiday saw me flying off to the neighbouring country of Thailand. The land of a thousand smiles was warm in inviting me, and i've not felt such great for a long time. Days seem to whizz past and there was no boring moments. I reckon I've spent around $1200 with all the shopping and makan and massages.  With so many activities going on, this trip, however, will truly be known as the Great Thailand Makan Trip!!

First on my plan when i reach bangkok was to tailor some shirts and a pair of trousers. Then it's makan and makan and makan!!! Time jus flew and then it's time for my domestic flight to Chiang Mai!

Chiang Mai, the 2nd largest city in Thailand, is a pleasant place. The December cool weather made the stay even more accomodating. My room with Holiday Inn was upgraded (I supposed due to the recent riots, the holiday must be quite empty) and I've got a pleasant view of the city outskirt.

Staying in Chiang Mai for 4 nights, I've been to a flea market every evening!  It was just plain walking down the streets of crowded people (just doesnt feel recession at all).  The cummulative effects of these 4 walks?  Countless bottles of deliciously refreshing mandrain orange juices, 1 t-shirt, 2 bags, and lotsa road side local delicacies!!  And oh yea, I managed to chomp down a couple of bugs in one of the nite markets. hehe.. and they dont taste as disgusting as they look!

This is truely a relaxing and free and easy trip in Chiang Mai.  Joining 2 day trips to Doi Ithanon and Chiang Dao Mountains were basically the main highlights of my Chiang Mai stop.  Di Ithanon is Thailand's highest peak, over 2500m high.  We were lucky enuff to have clear blue skies when we arrive there, but nonetheless, it was still brrr brrr cold!!!  Due to the cool temperature, the flora there were jus amazing.  the lush greens and waterfalls made the entire nature reserve look like a post card picture!

Chiang Dao caves are limestone caves where we get to see the various formations.  nothing much except the surprisingly hot temperature!!  It was just sweaty, slippery and humid in the cave.   Not exactly pleasing walk..   A visit to the 5 minority tribes followed where the locals would rushed forward to sell their crafts. 

Returning to Bangkok, the weather seemed to cool down somewhat.  The count down party preparations can be seen everywhere in the city.  Being lazy, i was back in the room by 11pm... However, i did not miss out any sparks of the new year... at the stroke of midnight, fireworks began spilling the dark skies with dazzling colors from the view and comfort of my room!! what a way to enjoy the spectacular view!!

Time truly whizzed by extremely fast for this trip.. so relaxed and so in control....  the 9 days of fun will definitely etch a wonderful memory for me.  Chiang Mai is definitely worth revisiting... anyone interested? :P

Photos can be viewed at www.deroldee.shutterfly.com