Happy Birthday to ME ....

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to Mee ..e .ee, Happy Birthday to ME......

祝我生日快乐，祝我生日快乐，祝我生日快乐儿，祝我生日快乐。

Itz my birthday again. My family had chia me to lunch on Friday at the Shangri La Hotel and we later went shopping at Takashimaya. Actually, got nothing to buy but very relaxing lor. I "nua" all day eating, shopping and then sleeping.

Today is the actually day, I am now 34 years old ... shh shhh... 1 more year and I can purchase a HDB flat on my own. Yeah ....

Today, I decide to "nua" all day again. Maybe will go shop shop, walk walk and then makan around for 1 day. Ha ha good life. 老人说：生日不可以太超劳，不然一整年会很劳碌。So today, I must take my own sweet time and do nothing for the rest of the day.

OK. Will tidy up my things and do 有的没的things tomorrow. If I can get my energy to do it.

HA HA HA .... MUCK MUCK ...

Next year, on 14 January 2008 （十二月初七）, I am celebrating my Chinese Birthday. That day, got 2 hard boiled eggs to eat and pick 4D number some more. My grandmother's tradition. Hee heee...

Updates ... oh my

Yar I noe, I didn't update the blog for quite some time. Yar I noe, I haven't update the details on the Beijing trip too. Yar I noe, 2 months had passed without any updates from me.

OK. Now am going to update what had happened during the past 2 months. One word ... "BUSY".

Had just finished Keat Hong CO performance with the Hong Kong Music Lover CO in Esplanade. It was my 1st performance in the Esplanade and 1st time with an overseas CO. Really treasure the experience and the friends made during the practices for the performance and the makan session @ Lau Pat Sat.

So for the past 2 months, I was busy practicing my erhu. On top of that, I was not feeling well too. I experienced sudden pain in my tummy 1 night and was sent to TTSH A&E department. I thought it was my lupus again but doctor had found kidney stones instead. Have to go for X-rays next month to double confirmed the presence of kidney stones and I was supposed to fast and cleanse myself of food (I was given laxatives to go toilet for 2 days before the x-rays).

After Keat Hong's performance, I now had to prepare myself for Ngee Ann Polytechnic CO performance, which will be on 13 January 2008 in SCH. NPCO had been my alma mater CO, so no matter how tiring I will still support them, even though I would much prefer to be an audience than a performer. Well, the kids are not letting me a chance on that anyway.... so I can only dream about being an audience.

Well, that's the update for now. I noe I noe, I will update the Beijing trip soon.. real soon ...

That's all folks, am going to zzzzz..... tomorrow I need to wake up early to attend a training. So must sleep well tonite otherwise will fall asleep during the training.

从新加坡到北京

是的。I am going to Beijing .... yeah flying off on Saturday 1am, ie tomorrow midnight. Was looking forward to this trip even though it was a rush rush affair.

We managed to get hold of free accomodation and discounted SQ tickets (S$650 without taxes on Singapore Airlines to Beijing compared to normal price of S$900 without taxes). Father is coming along with us ... heh heh .... our banker ....

Visit to the 万里长城 is a must!!! Next will be 王府井，故宫，颐和园. We are going to eat 北京鸭 and 饺子 too. Gosh makes me hungry thinking of these :D

Alright. Will keep you updates on the photos and places we visit ... soon ...

Come back for more later ...

My bed Pi-Chia

I was suddenly thrown down my bed this morning. Gosh, can't imagine I can sleep until my bed broke down. This bed was bought about 10 years ago and it lasted quite long leh...

Luckily, I was able to "repair" my bed and hopefully it can last another 10 years.

Hmmm..... maybe it is time for me to get a new bed.

Macau and Hong Kong - A Close Encounter with …

FOOD... ... Mmmm ....

Went to Macau and Hong Kong 2 weeks ago with my sister for a mini-break. The weather was very hot and humid and glaring sunlight made our trip very tiring.

There isn’t much sceneries in Macau. Macau is a gambler’s paradise, so a visit to the casino is a must, but we were not allowed to take any photos in the casino. For your info, the minimum bet at the lowest level of the Grand Lisbon will cost you HK$100 (ie approx. S$20).

In Hong Kong, the main target was shopping and island hopping. We wanted to visit the islands of Hong Kong, but the weather is too hot and we can only make do with Lautau (Tai-Ao), Peng Chau and Cheung Chau. We gave Lamma Island a miss as there is simply not enough time, next time ….

But the food in both places were great (I like the egg tart and fish ball containing cheese). Take your imagination to the wildest to taste and smell the food, I can only offer the look ... ^_^

Here are some of the food taken by us in Macau:

These are taken by us in Hong Kong:

Well it wasn't all food and no exercise. Eerrmmm ... we walk a lot and shop a lot. As the weather is hot and humid, we sweat a lot too. The photos at the URL below are evidence of our "hard work".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plainwaterleo/sets/72157601389474561/

There is a hike in everything, except my SALARY!!!

Come July, there will be a hike in everything, every service in Singapore. GST hike, CableVision increases their basic subscription, NETS increases, electricity and water prices also increases, hospitalisation bills will also increase, etc, etc.

Everything, except my salary, my bonus (oh come on, bonus may not be there).

Itz getting more and more expensive to live in Singapore ....

So SAD ....

Updates on Kuala Lumpur trip

Yes!!! I am back from Kuala Lumpur (KL) since last Monday. It wasn't as fanastic as I thought it would be, because the weather is extremely hot and heaty and it always rains in the afternoon. But still enjoyable.

There were 4 of us (my mum, 二舅母, sis and me) and we took a very comfortable bus ride (aeroline - double deck bus) to and fro. They even provided us with food and free flow of coffee and tea.And the best thing is there is a toilet on the lower deck.


We started off at 9am and managed to reached KL at 2.30pm. Got gartok by a taxi driver who took us a long way when we suggest to go by meter. Cost us RM$20 to reach our hotel when it was RM$10 if we bargain. Should have bargain man.... sign !!! 二舅母 says treat this as a experience lor, and we got smart, whenever we go to KLCC from our hotel, we just state RM$10.

After resting a while in the hotel, we went Bukit Bintang to grab a late lunch. Thereafter, we shopped in BB Plaza and Lot 10. A thunderstorm started while we were shopping in Lot 10 and we had no choice but to stay indoors for few hours and had KFC for dinner. Later, in the night, we went to Jalan Alor, the hawker street to see what it is like but we didn't get any food because we were too full.

(Managed to take a picture of KL Tower at Jalan Alor Hawker street).

The 2nd day, woke up very early to have breakfast because we had to go to KLCC to queue for the tickets to the Petronas Twin Tower Skybridge. Managed to get the tickets but we selected the latest timing (6.30pm) so that we can view the night scenaries of KLCC. It was beautiful.

(Tickets to the Petronas Twin Tower skybridge)


(Inside KLCC shopping and view from the skybridge)


(Tower A and Tower B)


(2 different side views from the skybridge)


(Day view of the Twin Towers)


(Night view of the Twin Towers)

The rest of the day was spent walking thru Jalan Ampang in search of Ampang Yong Tau Foo, but too bad, we can't find any.Instead we went to a food court to have Yong Tau Foo and claypot rice. Nice and cheap food. Then we had a try at their LRT / MRT. The experience is not good, their LRT/MRT are not linked and it is more expensive than a taxi ride for 4. After visiting the skybridge, we went to Madam Kwan for dinner. Heard a lot about this Madam Kwan but their food is so-so only. At that kind of prices,I think the food in their food court is nicer. Anyway, it looked nice lah, ok.

On the 3rd day, I had planned to go Putrajaya (the Malaysian government administrative office), but considering the weather condition and 2 old and tired ladies, we decided to give it a miss. Instead, we went to Berjaya Times Square to shop and eat. Hmmm... ok lah for shopping and eating there. Nothing much, except it is a big mega mall with a lot of empty shop spaces. That night, Mother and 二舅母 had complimentary dinner at the hotel, and sis and me went to Jalan Alor in search of food again. Ha Ha Ha... We ate laksa (RM$4) and bought satay (RM$7 for 10 with lup some more) so that we can eat along the way to Jalan Petaling (Chinatown).

Their Chinatown sold mostly wallets, bags, shirts and pirated stuff. As we were not really interested in these, we just skim through the stalls. We were actually looking for 小吃, but there doesn't seem to have any. Instead are stalls selling dinners. In the end, we sat down at a stall and ate claypot rice (again :D) and BBQ stingray for dinner (total RM$16 + RM$3.60 for 3 cups of drinks).

On the last day, we woke up a bit late, since the bus leaves at 3.30pm and itis still early. Sis wanted to go back to Chinatown because she heard there is a shop selling hand-made biscuits there. As Mother is a slow walker, we psycho her to stay in the hotel to rest, and the 3 of us rushed down there to buy the biscuits.

After buying the biscuits, we had our morning coffee and tea at this stall and the boss has kindly pose for us. Very nice coffee and tea but itz a bit too sweet (RM$2.40 for 2 cups)

We packed up and checked out of hotel at 1pm. Then we waited for the hotel complimentary shuttle service to KLCC. There are only the 4 of us in the shuttle bus and the bus driver had kindly agreed to let us off at Corus Hotel instead, since we are boarding the Aeroline bus there. Such great service... BTW, we stayed at Swiss Garden Hotel (which is opposite the Hainan Huay Kuan) and it cost us RM$1,270 for 3 nights stay in a 2-bedroom suite. Very 划算 leh. Each person only S$145 for a 3 nights stay.

There is complimentary coffee and tea while waiting for the bus. The departure time was delayed and there is traffic jam in KL resulting in us reaching Singapore 1 hour later. We were lucky to bump into our cousin at HarbourFront and we long bang her boyfriend's car back. Hee Hee ....