Life won't be complete till you have the best chocolate souffle

Again, I made a short business trip to June. I'll post the leisure activities I did; the touristy post about fun stuff: food, new attractions, food and lots of food.

Ala Carte Buffet at Zhou's Kitchen. Yes, eat all you can, and they serve you. Neat concept, and the food is really fresh and plentiful too. [Chilli crab; the person in our group's favorite dish of all time]

[imagine a whole lot of food pictures. Totally unnecessary because this is not a food blog]

Why; of course I had to go there after the rave reviews on one of the food blog I found.
My search for good chocolate; one may never understand.



Banana Split Waffle.



and the best chocolate souffle ever. It was order alongside Banana Split, Chocolate Chip Cookie but we finished it in 1 minute, not joking. I had 2-3 bites.



Cute glassware which says Drink me! I had Frozen Eighties Chocolate; yes, chocolate again.

Everything chocolate! Max Brenner, please come to Malaysia.

Went to Simlin Square @ Bugis. Was amused by the lightings. What a colorful life. It may spark an interesting one-shot story. For now, one thousand words is represented by this photo.

Went to Marina Sands, and this is the new Casino. I'm amused (easily) by Singaporeans/Foreigners lane, just because. By the way it's free entrance for foreigners, but you have to pay $100 levy if you're a Singaporean/PR.

Wafer chocolate ice cream. Pure awesomeness at $1.
Told you I never get sick of chocolate.

moments money cannot buy

Strangers, we're not.



Bonded over homemade capati and egg fillings.

Mrs Wariyam, retired school teacher of Raja Perempuan Ipoh, 65 years old.
65 years old, usually drives wherever she goes.
Has a planned trip to Bangkok with her mother.

It was nearly a Susan Boyle moment for me. It made my 2 1/2 hours train trip fun.

Never knew Melaka's Nyonya Cendol was this good. No more food court cendol for me.

As we were waiting for our chicken rice ball, we kept ourselves amused with this toy chicken that makes this really odd crow-like sound. Those sounds that you don't want to hear in the middle of the night kind of sound. [pic] my dad by the way.

they tell you to travel light

But you know it's impossible.

I've always have this problem with bringing really small, just-fit luggage bag when I travel with the idea of not buying anything so it would be just nice, after all it's only two nights or a week max.

And then you find yourself at the end of your trip, you struggle to zip up because suddenly you end up with new stuff and old stuff that you probably didn't use. You flew it all the way there to contemplate whether to leave that so you can fit in your new purchases.

I don't know about you, but I experience it every single time. Yes, I have been traveling since I was 11, and 10 years later I'm still very much a poor planner. I'm one of those people that suck at rolling clothes to save space.

One a.m. Suitcase is still empty. Clothes still hanging wet outside (apparently moonlight works too. not. lol) Tomorrow starts early, appointments to go to, items to collect, stuff to pack.

Yay! Excited about Taiwan! This is the land of F4/LeeHom/JayChou/FunnyGameShows! ;)

I love reading horoscopes

Well, it's never entirely true or false, it sits on the fence; trying to warn you and it makes you feel good about yourself. Like a fairytale; except they left out the word: reality harshness.

Life is like fairytale (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel all mashed up into one) You will have more than one encounter of the fire dragon, evil stepmother, poisonous apples and definitely more than one Prince Charming trying to sweep you off your feet, you either fall into his arms, or fall flat on the floor; in great hope that you don't get a concussion.
****

Speaking of which, I'm back from the Land of Morning Calm- no, I did not come in contact with the H1NI, and no, I'm still in one piece (last time I checked, no nuclear radiation as yet). Morning Calm, named after the Chosun dynasty (the last ruling dynasty). If you say Chosun (in canto), it means Good Morning too.

Oh, other than that, I was in the midst of a strike (riot), 14,000 crowd in a room, hot and spicy street food, finally get my hands on those infamous BB (Blemish Balm) cream, had a load of Kimchi, cute Korean securities (just probably well dressed men), and sunset cruise, oh, 1 meter away from Jang Nara. What else? Hmm, I can't say it was what I imagined. Korean dramas, are well, drama afterall; but it's beautiful; summer is fine, I enjoyed shopping, eating ice cream in the hot sun, enjoying fabulous views from the top of the world and subway rides- and meeting new friends. ;)

If I didn't know any better, I would call S. Korea, the Land of Bridges. In Seoul itself, there are 18 bridges, and it was built in 20 years. Before that, it was literally nothing because of the war. Now, I guess they can't stop building bridges- and funny fact is that the border between S. Korea and North is about few hundred meters, before it was around 4 kilometers. Now, young soldiers could care less about what both leaders think of each others- they do bond- by throwing Choco pies at each other.

The most polite strike ever, with a group of Ajumma throwing rice bowls at the police in front of the KB star building.

Shopping at Myeondong.

One for the album.



New friends from Austria (left) at Namsan Tower, Korean (Marketing) students that helped us with the directions. :)

Street food. Dubboki!

Golden in colour: Building 63 (Yuk-Sam), and HanGang [sunset] Cruise.

Just because of this scene from Seducing Mr. Perfect. But the night cruise doesn't exist; the last cruise is at 7:30pm. Our new friends just didn't believe how well versed I am about the Korean wave. Even the tourist guide was telling me it was unbelievable how big the impact was. Government campaigns would fail, but not the drama power.

60 floors and 3 basements. 63 building is the tallest national art gallery in the world. It has restaurants, Seaworld, Imax theater.



Jang Nara, Me in a fabulous "guess how much" dress. xD

I have a total of 1,500 pictures or more; and I don't know where to start. Next time, 7 days 5 nights is for shopping only trip. I'll have it on my flickr later on.

Places to go: Eh, flight is tonight?

pic credit: dallas news

[I've been waiting so long to say this] In less than 48 hours , I'll be striking off another one on my Places to go list- this remains special to me as I have waited 12 years for this trip.

Somehow, I'm always patiently waiting, and the best has yet to come; which I think is good; because the best has yet to come.

It's a different feeling this time, maybe it hasn't sunken in yet; all these mixed feelings I have; I'm always expecting, oh boy do I have high expectations or what, but this time maybe I've decided to not expect too much this time around, because disappointments are caused by your own unrealistic expectations.

In whatever you do, there's always ups and downs, but more of those if you keep having unrealistic expectations; and I'm always the victim of it and it does anything but good for yourself; affects you in whatever you do; your self esteem, confidence, relationship- the whole nine yards.

Dale Carnegie said, "It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about."

Wait wait wait, I'm still on the same topic. I don't want to bore you out; oh wait, I just did.

Funny part is, my dad called, and asked me, "Eh, is the flight tonight?". I bet there will be more things to laugh about along the trip.

Oh, and I'm typing this with "hot from the oven" deep purple metallic painted nails. Hmm...

Places to go: Boston

Have ever feel attached to something, some place that you have never set foot on? Like you can feel it in your fingers, and toes curls up, well, almost as orgasmic as Bubbly can ever make you feel.

List of the places that make me feel that way:


Japan (Was there 2004!)

As opposed to Japan-is-kawaii-overrated, it is not. Immerse yourself in modern meets traditional culture. Use the first four days to do all the obligatory temple visiting, dance and plays and tea ceremony, then the rest of it (as below):-

Go to Fujinomiya and check out Mount Fuji- plan a summer climbing trip, cycle around town, take silly photos with purikura-style, go for "real" kaiten sushi, and chef [hand] made sushi, go to Kyoto for Geisha hunting, drink cold ice blended Starbucks during winter, jaywalking and get reprimanded by the police, go to Tokyo "Asakusa" temple during New Year, go for delicious authentic Unagi, Osechi on the first 3 days of New Year, wear kimono, Skinny Dipping ala Onsen!




Coffee in a bowl at Joe's Garage, Arrowtown, New Zealand (Also 2004, where they shot the scene where Princess Arwen saves Frodo from the evil dudes)

Bungee Jumping, Kawarau river - The 1st Bungee Jumping site in the world, 43 meters.



Horseback riding in Sydney Australia, Melbourne, St. Kilda' flea market, and Victoria Market(awesome plums!), and wine tasting in wineries.


Short interruption! You've got to listen to this!

David Choi (Super talented) and Paul Dateh.

What's next?
(I can feel it in my bones! ) ;p

Catch Shin Seung Hun live! (can't wait!)

by Augustana

going loco on lomo

I'm not supposed to be chirpy on Monday, apparently it overflowed from last Friday. But really, gay is good. ;)

Saturday; I decided on a trip in June. Too excited to describe how elated I am. We're talking about one of the many places I wanted to go since I was 12. And I will be paying for this trip- well almost.

Sunday; I decided to become a Chairman and I'm set to build my Presidents' team. Super excited about that too. Ask me about it.

Monday; 3 months to the trip, I decided to go loco on lomo; I'll be joining the artsy fartsy lomo group by getting my own. :) I can't wait to take pictures like her.

Cheers to a great week!

up in the skies and landed on the island of gods

and so it began...

back to work

updates soon.

in the meantime, read about Walter Spies.

the convenient way to fly

onboard.

stay tuned.

we all run onto islands in the sun

let's together say, finally! =p

our ride to crab island (Pulau Ketam)

we all know jamie "dislikes" (an understatement) kids.
click here. and she tried her best to smile. good job.

meanwhile, Kristina is extremely excited (duh) xD

the crab jumped too!

major ps-ing.
watercolor, and fake clouds. ;)
p.s: man thinking, "posers"

and we wonder why Jamie refuses to take that jacket off.
it's frickin' hot, btw.

this is how the shop houses look like.

back in 1970... well, i wasn't born yet.

painted in red and put right in front of the houses.
according to the locals, it's to reflect and protect it from evil.

it was the chinese ghost month.
you can tell how long i procrastinated.

bicycle for rent + free lessons (apparently)

we pushed our way up.
who in the world can cycle through that, i salute them!

remember liu xiang in Olympics?
this is a parody by liu xiang-wannabe.

perfect for a hot day at the island.
100 plus and lala chien (egg+ lala)

crab noodles. guaranteed silence during meal.

you've got to have a souvenir t-shirt.
I love Pulau Ketam, which we took because it our lecturer's initial too, Mr. P. Kamalanathan. xD

go to the website: here.
the star article: here.