Four Sydney trips, more to come

In the short time of 5 months, I've been to Sydney for four times. Unbelievable isn't it? And I have another Sydney trip in December. I hope there's still 'people' there that I can meet up with. Haha..

In my first trip which dated way back in May, I visited my friends in UNSW. It is actually the first time I went overseas to meet up with friends. It was such a great feeling. I still remember the way we hugged one another tightly when we met.

My second trip, about two months later, I meet up with the same group of friends again. This time we're more adventurous, thanks to this friend, Calvin who introduced me to various places in Sydney, from the back of his car. We went to this particular site, but I don't know how to spell the name. It is supposed to be one of the site where MI2 is filmed. (Huh?) Then we had this really sweet chocolate desert in the chocolate shop. And we saw loads of great cars, but none beats the Lamborghini that is parked outside the shops. Plus, it's in my favourite color, yellow!!

My third trip? Due to miscommunication of our mobile phones, I ended up hibernating in my hotel room and leave the next day. Great experience! :P

Fourth trip happened just about two weeks ago. This time we didn't do much, just having supper in Chinatown and then off to my hotel room to gossip. Haha...

Although all my Sydney trips are short, it's sweet. Meeting up with my good friends really helps cover for the loneliness I feel back in Singapore. Being in a new country, and being away from there most of the time, didn't give me much time to make friends. That is why I don't mind going Sydney time and time again..

Waiting impatiently for my next trip...

Dubai trip 231005-281005

My shitty Dubai trip.

On the first night we're there, my friend, C, stepped on cat (or dog.. I'm not sure) shit. Second night, my friend, C again, stepped on camel shit. On the third night, that stupid pigeon shit fell right on my shoulder while I was walking along the Gold Souk. Maybe because I laughed too much at C, that I got punished. But one thing is for sure, the shits are smelly. Darn smelly.

First night, dinner at this Indian restaurant. Chicken tikka anyone? I guess it's too spicy for me that I didn't really enjoy it.

Second day, went for desert trip. Cool. The four-wheel drive actually when up and down the sand slopes. Everyone in the car was screaming happily for the first half hour until both my friends started to feel sick with the motion. They almost puked in the car. But I am all for it! I don't mind doing it again. Then I tried sand boarding and camel riding. Even tried out the black color outfit for ladies in the region. Well, you know, those all covered up outfit. Then we have camel riding in the evening, arabian-styled dinner and henna painting. All under the stars in the desert.

Third day we were supposed to go to Burj al-Arab Hotel but it was postponed to the fifth day because we will not be able to make it for dinner in the city if we went to the hotel. So after dinner we went the spice souk (spice market) but it was all closed because it's Ramadhan. So we walked to the Gold Souk (where I get that bird shit on my shoulder). The whole stretch of street is filled with gold. Every where I look is gold, gold, gold. Too bad I'm broke.

Fourth day we had to work so we decided not to go anywhere or do anything but hibernate in the room until it's time for us to work.

Fifth day woke up early in the morning, (the day before we came back from work about 2am) and off we go to the souk madinat jumeirah, which is the complex next to the Burj al-arab hotel. Beautiful I would say. The interiors and the architecture, I would say it's different from what I usually see in other countries. Open spaces, small light wells on the ceiling, complicated floor plan which spiderwebs most of the shops. I'm impressed, but definitely not a wow. We went to the beach next to the Burj al-arab hotel, and the scenery is spectacular. But the hotel actually looked quite short. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me because of the relatively fat-bodied structure. None the less, one item on my wishlist is ticked off (although we didn't manage to enter the hotel because we need reservations and pay a lot of $$$). At least I'm still able to say that 'been there, done that'. Haha..

We had this really great lunch in the chinese restaurant in souk madinat jumeirah. Surprisingly the food is real good. Or maybe it's just because all of us has been deprived of chinese food for the past few days. Been having curry and spices the whole trip.

So, what can I say? Lovely trip, except for the shitty encounter C and I had.

My Dream Car(s)

I just got home from drinks with a few of my friends. Had a really good time.

Anyway, the main topic is not about drinks, it's about my dream car :0) my friend sent me home in his new beetle (I called it turtle car.. don't ask me what model, I just know that it's the newest) and it's a convertible! It has always been my dream car, and I told myself that I'm going to own one in the future (in the very near future :P). And my friend is such a dear that he drove it with the top down.. such great feeling, plus today it has been raining whole day, the weather is just perfect for such ride! Plus, he allowed me to take picture with his car!

Another of my dream car is the mercedes benz.. yes yes.. it's SLK 280. I didn't know that I would be able to 'meet' my favourite benz model when I was in Paris two months ago. But it was such a beauty, looking at it in real life, and in magazine, it's such a different. It is just the same feeling when you look at a painting that takes your breath away. I just stand in awe of this powerful man-made machine. I told myself, I'm gonna own that one day too...



Isn't dream a great thing?

What I did, saw and ate today.. (I pierced my belly..)

Well, I went to SimLim Square today to accompany my housemate to buy her new phone. Then we went browsing for cds, programs and microphones. Halfway I was searching for cds, I saw two monks, exchanging remarks (IT-related remarks) between themselves and whether they should buy those webcams and stuffs. (Cool? I told myself never to look down on monks anymore..)

Then I went to Far East Plaza to pierce my belly.. WEE... PAIN!! well, actually not pain.. hahaha


Went to Borders in Wheelock Place (did I spell it right?), bought the whole collection of Harry Potter books and The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Wonder when will I be finishing all the books.

Dinner at Coffee Club in Takashimaya. Had this really cheesy country pie and strawberry and fruits chocolate fondue. Don't think I'll be eating for another week.

Have to go take my shower. Cheers..

By the way, Happy 21st Birthday, Joshua. :o)

Zurich, Switzerland

21.08.05-25.08.05 (ZRH)

It is a beautiful place, I wonder why so many people say that it is a boring place...
On the first day, I went to the old city, where all the old buildings are, the biggest clock-face tower in Europe is there (St. Peter-Kirche), a late-Gothic church called Framünster with five large stained glass windows by Marc Chagall (I didn't manage to see the windows, when I was there, it was already closed - too late), Grossmünster - the symbol of reformed Zurich (to me, it looks like KLCC, maybe the KLCC architect get his idea from here) and of course, the ever famous, Bahnhofstrasse area where I did my chocolate shopping that costs me a bomb!
I also managed to visit two buildings built by prominent architects of our time, the Corbusier-Haus by who else but Le Corb himself, and Bahnhof Stadelhofen (Stadelhofen Railway Station) by Santiago Calatrava.

Pic1:largest clockface in Europe
Pic2:KLCC lookalike?
Pic3: Corbusier-Haus
Pic4: Bahnhof Stadelhofen by Calatrava
Pic5: Bahnhofstrasse

After all that walk around the city, it's dinner time in Zurich.
Fondue... a Swiss delicacy, tastes like heaven. A must try if you're stopping by Switzerland... I had it for two nights in a row. So you can start imagining...

Pic: Cheese Fondue, wiener and rosti

Waking up early on the second day, my friend and I decided to take a train to the border of Schaffhausen and Zurich, to experience the rushing water falling from the height of 23m. Rheinfall is said that an average of 600m³ of water rushes over the 150m cliffs each second. It is the either the excitement of seeing such a huge waterfall or the fact that we're out of our bed early in the morning after a late night the day before; that made us took the wrong train. Instead of going to Winterthur where we need to change to another train to go to Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall, we ended up in a station called Bulach (a place out of nowhere, let me assure you). And we wasted about 1 1/2 hours before we reach our destination. So my advice is, if you can't read or speak their language, don't simply jump into any available train (even if it's on the correct platform). Double check and double check again.

Pic: Wrong train!

But the view is worth the extra 2 hours of train ride. It was breath-taking. Standing at a platform that are just feets away from the gushing water, I felt the beauty and power of mother nature. It is just a 'wow'. Go and see it for yourself. Words would not do it justice. I took loads of pictures there. It is such a shame that I do not have enough time (I have to catch the last train) to take the boat ride across the fall and to the central cliff, where visitors can climb that and look at the water falling right in front of them.


Pic1: Cows enjoying the sun
Pic2: Rheinfall
Pic3: Cruise along Limmat River

When I'm back in the city, it's way too early for dinner, so we went for a 1 1/2 hour cruise boat that takes us along the river Limmat. All I can say, "beautiful view". Although most people would say, Switzerland is most beautiful during winter, but she is still gorgeous at summer time. And by the way, this summer, Zurich has this 'teddy bear' celebration of sort. I was at first intrigue by the amount of painted human-size teddy bears by the roadside, but the vast amount of it across Zurich just overwhelms me. Every bear has different theme, and the theme depicts what is happening at that particular street or area. I find it cool, but I didn't have any snaps of it, because it's just too many of them.

And yes, I ended my final night with fondue in a secluded (but packed) restaurant. What are the odds of two Malaysian girls, staying in Singapore, having fondue in Zurich, talking to two men, one Finnish, and the other ex-German now a Swedish, and plus, served by a waitress from Beijing? I called it globalisation...

Previously blogged in my old website, (but this time, with pictures)
angelicwitch 040905.2158

Nanjing - the best trip ever!

09.10.05 - 12.10.05 (NKG)

I have been blessed to do a 4days Nanjing (NKG) with my team, plus a few others crew and pilots that are very nice. This trip is the most memorable of all the flights I have done so far.

Upon check in, we gathered at the lobby discussing with the tour guide about the program for the next day. Right after that, a few of us decided to take a shower and head off to the massage parlour. But it turned out, about 10 of us went for it. Massage was great, I fell asleep throughout, although I was teased for not enjoying it.

Walking out of the massage parlour, someone suggested dinner, so all of us, and 3 others joined us in this really 'not so good service' restaurant. We did not order much, but the portion was so small that we wanted to order another round. The waitress was like, "it's gonna take a long while" and start making funny faces. Anyway, we didn't let her spoil our mood. So we buy more food on the way back to the hotel from the stalls.

Picture on left: As we walk away from the restaurant.

The second day.
With the tour guide, 10 of us went to the Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum, some place where there's this turtle sculpture being trapped by a huge stone (which is supposed to be some king / prince's tomb -my mandarin not so good, couldn't understand what the tour guide was trying to say). And then lunch! wow.. the lunch, and the service was fantastic! we ordered about 15 dishes and we finished all of it. Haha, I'm talking about a bunch of hungry people here. Oh yea, before lunch, we spend some time (and money) in this jade factory. I bought this lion looking thing (those things that businessman like to put outside their door) that costs me SGD$300. Haha, but it's well worth it. It's beautiful. Come over to my house in KL during Chinese New Year next year to have a look. *wink

After lunch we head off to this tower where you can see the most of Nanjing's skyline and the Yellow river. The sunset is beautiful. Then, we went to another shop to spend more time and money. This is an art shop, selling those crystal balls painted from the inside.

Pic: Crystal Ball shop

Oh well, I spend about 20 bucks there (again). But it's so cute I couldn't resist. Better than someone who spend about SGD$2000 on a painting of 18 dragons. (If he's reading this, he's going to kill me.. :P) Forgive me, but I just could not resist blogging down that amount of money spent.

Dinner time, because I did not join the rest for the garden and 'princess-emperor' photo taking, I had dinner with two other crew at this restaurant that is holding a wedding dinner. (very noisy and loud, the games they play, a bit weird. Not that I'm condemning, maybe it's just their culture). But the food is good and we had 4 dishes and 1 soup and it costs each of us SGD10. Aww, where to find such good bargain back home?

The third day (is a 'not so good' day for me).
I forgot to bring my camera!! We went boating around the Confucius Temple. Other than that, I don't quite remember what else we did. Oh, yea, shopping at this really small alley for jades and teapots. And a really GREAT lunch and dinner package. We called it our deluxe lunch and superior dinner. Haha. We really ate like kings for these few days we're in NKG. And the best thing is, each meal only costs SGD10. Heaven! We ended our night with massage and DVDs shopping. What a trip!

Pic: Our superior dinner! Half the dishes were taken away already, only half left!

The next day, we have to check out about lunchtime and head for work. Taking pictures in the lobby with our uniforms and so many people were looking at us. But it was such a great experience for all of us that we didn't bother. And also taking pictures in the plane during lull period. GREAT!

This trip will always be compared with my future trips, and although I think this is the best it can be, I hope there are more to come!

If Only

If only…

When I was 5,
If only I have walked slower on the way home, my grandfather would not have to run after me by the roadside everyday.
When I was 7,
If only I know the meaning of friendship, I would not have lost one of my best childhood friends.
When I was 8,
If only grandfather did not die, I would have more fond memories of him tricking me into doing silly things.
When I was 11,
If only I had made myself look better, I would have gotten more friends.
When I was 13,
If only I am a little bit more sensitive, I would know that grandmother is suffering, and she wouldn’t die.
When I was 14,
If only I have been a better sister, guiding and encouraging my brother, he would not be doing the things he’s doing right now.
When I was 15,
If only I know that gossips exists behind my back, tears of betrayal could have been avoided and I do not have to harbor so much anger.
When I was 16,
If only I did not succumb to pressure of my peers, I would not get myself a boyfriend.
When I was 17,
If only I have studied a little bit more, I would have gotten 10 straight As instead of 7As.
When I was 18,
If only I am a little friendlier in college, I wouldn’t end up alone during lunch break everyday.
If only I have not cried homesick during my first semester away from home, my parents would not bring their company back to KL, and that disaster would not happened and I would have been able to study abroad.
If only I have been a better daughter, my parents do not have to worry about me so much.
If only I have chose the correct subjects and study harder, I could get a scholarship to Canada.
When I was 19,
If only I have not taken architecture, I don’t have to suffer endless nights of staying awake trying hard to complete the assignment.
If only I have not run for the president’s post, I would not become a president, and the responsibility will not take away my pride and friends.
If only I am not an architecture student, not a president for the student council, I would have more time to support my family morally and financially during the worst financial crisis that even happen to us.
If only I not so selfish, I do not have to hurt three guys in six months’ time.
When I was 20,
If only I have paid more attention in class, tried harder in designing, I might be able to get a better crit to help in my portfolio.
If only I could accept the fact that I am not able to continue my studies, I would not be depressed for the whole year, trying hard to achieve the unachievable.
Now I am 21,
If only I did not take up this job, I do not have to be scolded at least two to three times a week.
If only I could find someone or something that could turn back time, I would do everything right, once again.
If I am given a second chance, I am willing to sell my soul to the devil.

New Home for My Thoughts

Yes, I have finally given up maintaining my previous blog site that requires me to deal with java everytime I want to update my blog. I guess with this new blog, I will be able to blog at least twice a week. (well, at least I hoped to do so)

So, this will be the new home for my thoughts. I hope it is not too much of a trouble for those of you who has linked me to my old blog site to re-link. *wink. Thanks.