And so the boyfriend is finally moving away from Pasir Ris, away from the evil landlord and landlady, away from that house where internet connection is never readily available even though we paid $420 for the room, and where there is no usage of aircondition allowed.

Seriously, $420, without aircondition and the place is so damn hot? And they only switch the router when they are at home. So at all other times, if we need an internet connection, well, too bad for us.

Nevertheless, there are things that I will miss when we move away from the east:

1. White Sands! What? I’ve grown used to this heartland mall, okay.
2. The library being in White Sands, instead of outside, like Jurong Point 
3. Cottage Pies only available at White Sands
4. The soon-to-be-opened Donut shop at White Sands
5. How near it is from Bugis (where my school is)
6. The fresh air
7. The double bed in BB’s room
8. Fat fat miaomi 
9. Studying with Xin at Pasir Ris Library / White Sands McD’s.

But BB’s moving back to Hall means a lot more good things too:

1. Ever-ready internet connection!
2. More cooling place (although more mosquitoes too)
3. Jurong Point! (Haha)
4. Familiarity
5. Friends (who stay in the west)
6. Nearer to Jurong East (where I depart for JB)
7. Holland V doesn’t seem so far away anymore! (Yay, Lis!)
8. Bukit Timah also doesn’t seem so far away anymore! (Yay, XY!)
9. Yummy beef hor fun from the coffee shop at Pioneer Rd North
10. We can make as much noise as we want!
11. Campus Calls on BB’s phone!
12. FTP! More movies! Haha. Oops.
13. Being near BB’s mom (who is here for 2 weeks and staying at NEC)

A lot more good things! And I can’t believe that it’s all going to happen on Thursday! Yahoooo! I can’t wait to pack up and move

*thinks for a while*

Okay, maybe not the moving bit. Haha. But it’s okay, good things will come only after you put in effort. So I shall look forward to stretching my muscles, running up and down long flights of stairs while moving things, and perspiring! Haha!

Yay yay yay!!

0230 Finish reading Haruki Murakami’s Wind Up Bird Chronicle, sleep
0510 Wake up, shower, get dressed
0530 Breakfast
0605 Board bus to Singapore
0615 Legs start to ache because I have to stand
0710 Reach Jurong East
0720 Board bus 66 to school, fall asleep on bus
0820 Wake up and find that I’ve missed my bus stop
0825 Take MRT from Farrer Park Station to Little India
0840 Reach school, revise for HR Information Systems Exam
1000 Exam begins
1300 Exam ends, and I feel like I’m in a daze
1330 Accompany Xin for eyebrow trimming at Bugis Village
1410 Head towards City Hall by MRT
1415 Shop around with Xin at Raffles City
1445 Elise arrives, we have lunch at The Soup Spoon (Raffles City B1)
1530 We leave the restaurant with stomachs 2kg heavier and walk around
1700 Xin and I leave for Tampines while Lis goes home
1730 I meet up with Gerald and BB
1735 I get movie tickets for Transformers
1740 The boys have dinner at 避风塘 (Century Square B1)

Some pickled vegetables appetizer

小白菜 (small white vegetable? haha)

Claypot beef brisket with carrots

Gerald’s roasted duck la mian

BB’s Seafood fried noodles

1810 We finish dinner and pay the bill. No Service Charge! $37.34 in total
1815 We head to Century Cineplex, which is really cold (and we got frozen)
1820 The movie begins. Yay!
2045 The movie ends! We love the movie! We love Transformers!
2050 We love Optimus Prime! We love Bumblebee! Buy supper at Macs
2052 We head to bus interchange, and take bus 81 back to Pasir Ris
2057 We are still talking about Transformers through SMS
2125 We reach home, and I am still thinking about Transformers
2200 Showered, eat one quarter of a watermelon, feel like I’m full of water
2230 Whine about feeling full. BB downloads Transformers desktop wallpapers
2245 I decide to blog about my day. And about Transformers
2255 I am thinking that Transformers is the best movie of 2007!
2256 Have decided that Harry Potter can go and kiss his own ass
2310 I love Transformers
2315 I finish blogging. And I am still loving Transformers!

Yesterday, BB and I decided to have dinner at Chinatown, instead of going to watch Surf’s Up, as originally planned. So we went to our usual place, Beijing Folk Restaurant (at 35A Keong Saik Road) and had our usual 3 dishes:

Shredded meat with spring onions with Chinese crepe

Seasoned vegetables soup with fatty meat and Chinese glass noodles

Shredded sour-spicy potato

Yums. If you guys want authentic Beijing food, do give this restaurant a try. Tell the lady boss that you saw this on SgChinese forum, and ask her for a 20% discount! The portions are really huge, and for 2 persons, we paid $26, plus BB packed the leftovers to bring home for supper. Hehe. Like I said, the portions are really sooo huge!

After dinner, we took a long stroll – we ended up places that I never knew existed! Here are some photos:

ebay Singapore office!

 We were walking along, and then we stumbled upon the new 佛牙寺 (Buddha Tooth Relic Temple)! This temple costs S$53 million to build. *cue gasp*

Looks like something right out of a Chinese period movie, doesn’t it? (Minus the green ‘Sago Lane’ signboard, the dratted streetlamp which spoilt my picture and the red no-entry sign haha)

Pardon the low quality photos – I used my handphone (Vodafone Sharp 802-SH). I am also too lazy to select photos, so I am just going to dump the entire lot in here, mostly captionless.

On Level 4 (btw this temple has 2 lifts!)

Level 5 – The 10,000 Buddhas Pagoda

The walls around this place was just lined with these 10,000 Buddhas!

Corridor

Orchid garden

Looking out the window – the CBD

We left soon after, and did not go to Levels 3 and 2. It was getting late!

Can you see the moon?

The entrance

After leaving the temple, we walked down the road and saw an Indian temple, and a mosque. Haha. Isn’t that strange?

We walked towards Raffles Place afterwards, and finally ended up at Raffles Place MRT, where BB headed east, and I headed west. Felt sad to end the night, cos I really had a good time strolling along the streets with BB, hand in hand.

Can’t wait for our next date

Looks like I didn’t fulfil the target I set for myself, on finishing my travel blogs about Beijing during Chinese New Year. Haha. I know it’s been a long time since I got back from Beijing, but hey, I’ve been busy with work and school! So yup, pardon me!

Since I’m feeling bored now (tried to write my essay for school, but the hot weather is affecting my mood), I thought that I might as well try to finish one more off. 

Day 8 (15 Dec) 

BB and I managed to book a package the previous day, while we were at the Temple of Heaven, with a local tour group for our trip to the section of the Great Wall called Badaling. The only reason why we decided to book a tour at all, was because it is terribly inconvenient to try to get there on your own – it’s a long coach ride from Beijing, and there is no public transport there; only tour buses. It cost us RMB 150 per person. A pretty reasonable price, we thought, as it covered transport from home to the meeting point, the coach tickets, the entrance fee to the Great Wall, lunch, a trip to the 13 Ming Tombs, some temple in Beijing, and transport back to Beijing.

We had to get up very early in the morning. We had bought some breakfast the previous day, so we packed it all in our bags with some packets of milk, and waited for our transport to pick us up.

It was a minivan, which went to several places to pick up some others, before going to the meeting place at some hotel near the Temple of Heaven. A tour bus was already waiting for us there. We quickly settled our payments at the office of the tour agency, and boarded the bus.

First stop was the Tian’anmen Square – the package included a trip to watch the flag raising, which we already did about a week ago! So we remained on the bus to catch up on our sleep. Hehe. Once that was over and done with, we set off for Badaling.

There was a tour guide on the bus – let me say this once and for all: He is bloody irritating!

This is he.

He just wouldn’t shut up during the entire 2 hour ride, and he also continued to yak for the rest of the trip. Now, I know that it’s his job to talk, but please, for heavens’ sake, say something that makes sense!

He simply went on and on about some non-existent myth about an ancient creature and its powers of blessings if one carried a miniature jade statue of it everywhere, or had a big one placed in the home. Now, why did he carry on and on about this mythical creature? We understood later.

But now, moving on.

During the bus ride, he suddenly told us that we had to pay an extra RMB 100 for a tram ride up the mountains, to the 4th fort of the 8 forts at Badaling. WTH?! How come no one told us about this before we booked the tour, or even before we boarded the bus? It was plain that they meant to cheat us. When asked if it is optional, he said that there is no other way of getting up there because there is no through pass from the first fort to the last. Fine. So we paid up.

We arrived at the entrance to the Great Wall (not as soon as I would have liked), and it was freezing! We did not bring a thermos of hot drink, but I wish we had thought of it! Because a tiny cup of coffee at the shop there cost RMB 30! WTH. That’s equivalent to SGD 6, which is the price of a cup of Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks, when actually it’s just a cup of kopitiam coffee.

We skipped the coffee, obviously.

Here’s the scary tram ride. The rails on which the tram climbed looked really flimsy, and it was like, on stilts. I was really scared, you know. And seriously, who could give me any assurance of its safety? I bet maintenance of the rails were, at best, once a season. Haha. But nothing happened to us, and I am thankful. Haha.

Soon enough, we were climbing the Great Wall! So here’s the barrage of photos, mostly captionless because it makes no sense to caption it. Hur hur.

Hello Kitty! Haha~

Steep slopes are tiring to climb!

The thin air up on the mountains made me short of breath!

We made it to the end of the 8th fort, where there was no through-pass again. Some parts of the wall had actually collapsed and had to be re-built. Badaling’s 8 forts were among the best maintained, apparently, and most popular amongst tourist. But I know that there’s another stretch that is apparently, less touristy and better. But I forgot the name. Haha! Nevermind.

It was really cold up there. We tried to call Justin from the top, because we thought it’d be cool to call someone, Haha, but somehow we couldn’t get through Afterwards, we walked backwards, and went down the mountain.

I’m on the Top of the World…!

It was a little foggy at some parts, but generally, skies were clear!

After looking at tourists passing by for like, 5 whole minutes, we finally found someone who looked like he might likely know how to use a DSLR and actually have proper aiming. So we got to take our couple photo at the Great Wall! Hehe.

And meee! Can you see me up there?

A funny pic which I forced BB to take for me. Haha!

The rickety tram ride, on the way down

Scary…

And we saw black bears! Haha! I don’t know what species they are, but they lived in the mountains in that area, and the people caught them and put them in this enclosure. So sad! But then it wouldn’t be tourist-safe if the bears were roaming around, right?

We spent only about 2.5 hours at the Great Wall. BB and I both felt that it was too short and too rushed. We wondered why they rushed us through, but then we found out. They were rushing us off to the damned jade centre. What’s that, you say?

Basically it’s a place where tour guides bring visitors to buy jade at rip-off prices, of which the tour guide gets a cut of. Apparently it’s common over there. I mean, we don’t have to buy if we don’t want to – that’s all fine and dandy, but what irks me is that we spent 2 hours here, and only 2.5 hours at the Great Wall!

Of course, over here, the jade statues of the aforementioned mythical ancient creatures were abundant in stock. I can’t really remember the prices now, but I know that I wouldn’t pay such those prices for those things. Then again, I wouldn’t even have considered buying any of it at all! Haha!

Photos were not allowed in here, but BB managed to sneakily snap a few.

After this, they still had the cheek to bring us to another place to get further ripped off buy more things! This time, it was a place selling Chinese snacks. Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything – BB said that we could buy some, but I was too boiling mad and I insisted that we didn’t buy anything simply because I didn’t want those bloody tour guides to get any thing from my purchases. I was already so hungry – imagine that – and they still brought us around to bloody shop!

I nearly keeled over due to extreme hunger, brought about by all that walking in the cold weather. Anyway, after that, we were led to this restaurant – if you could even call it that. Before we entered, the other tour guide (a female) told us that the food was very bad in that place. We don’t have to eat if we don’t want to.

Can you believe it?! I wanted to lash out at her and ask them, “If the food is so bad, why did you bring us here? We paid for lunch!” WTH. We went into the restaurant, and found that they didn’t do ala carte orders, so we had to eat whatever food the tour group was allocated. The food must have been prepared early in the morning and left out in the cold winter air, because by the time it got to us, it was chilled. Yes, we ate cold food, like it came right out from the fridge. The only hot thing was the soup that was served to us. Which tasted really bad too. I ate a bit just to curb the hunger, and BB promised me we would eat our fill at home later.

Our next stop was the 13 Ming Tombs, or rather, just one of them. We stopped by only a while, and there wasn’t much to look at. Years before, when I went with my family, we went to a different part, and it seemed pretty nice. Not so much this time though.

I like this picture

Grass growing on the roof!

We headed back to Beijing after that, and I was really restless in the bus. I wanted to go home, rest, and have a good and hearty dinner after being so badly starved the entire day. But nope, we had to make one more stop. It was some dubious temple which was, according to the equally dubious tour guide, the temple where the Empress used to pray. It didn’t look like it to me. A smallish temple, with eager staff showing us around presumably to cheat more money out of us, it seemed to me like they only wanted us to purchase something else at the end of the temple tour, probably something that would ‘protect us’ or ‘ward off the evils’ etc. Whatever. We didn’t buy that shit, and we took our leave.

We walked to a nearby bus stop and then took a taxi home! I was never so happy to reach home. Haha.

Some pictures taken at the bus stop.

And of course, when we got home, Pipi was there waiting for us! Yay! Hehe. BB brought her out for her walk (to poo poo) but I didn’t go because I was too tired!

My beloved Pipi

OK! I’ve finished with the Great Wall! Haha. I told BB that I’m not going to climb that monstrosity again any time in the next decade. Hur hur. Very tiring, okay! And also, being angry with the tour guide really sapped all the energy reserves I had!

We had a good time relating all these to his Dad later on. Fun fun fun. I miss talking to his parents! Okay lah, I can’t really talk to them cos 语言不同 but that’s alright, they can talk to me! Hehe!

Read the full set of my Beijing Travelogue

Mood:  (loved to dizziness)

Yesterday, to celebrate Vesak Day it being a Public Holiday, BB and I spent a day doing stuff together. I really enjoyed myself because I got to spend time with him doing things that did not constitute rotting at home, sleeping, or cleaning up his room. Haha!

Our first stop was Tampines IKEA! I was telling him, I want this, that, everything, for our house next time. Haha. I think IKEA-ing with your significant other is just so fun! And you learn a lot about their likes or dislikes too. Haha. For example, I learnt that BB doesn’t like beds like this:

This happens to be the exact one I like, but he says that he doesn’t like beds with those ‘boards’ at the foot of the bed. But I like! He said that I have to cut two big holes for his feet to poke through. Haha.

I wanna have babies soon, so I can buy cute kids’ furniture. Haha.

Anyway, we saw something really cute outside the Cafe.

Haha!

These ‘parking lots’ are for trolleys, but parents have used it, instead, to park their prams and strollers! Haha! Cute.

BB has the “IKEA syndrome” where he’ll want to buy everything he sees. Pans, table lamps, cushions, etc. I keep reminding him that he doesn’t “need” it, he only “wants” it. Haha. Actually I think most people have the “IKEA syndrome” when they go to IKEA. Haha!

We ended up buying only a picnic mat, and a cushion for BB’s chair.

IKEA doesn’t give out plastic bags (I applaud them!) with purchases anymore, so we carried our new stuff home (after we shared a small meal of a hotdog and a root beer from the hotdog place outside). BB used his new cushion on the MRT seat, on the way home. -.-”

(ETA: BB just told me that it’s not root beer. It was lemon tea with 7-Up, a mixture which sad to say, I drink very often but whose taste I still can’t recognize. Haha!)

We dropped by NTUC at White Sands on the way home, and bought stuff for our picnic! Bananas (which we forgot to bring later), lettuce, tomato (we bought only one, and the vegetable-weigher gave me a funny look), and honey-baked ham. Hehe. We also bought bak kut teh (肉骨茶) herbs and condiments (those that come in a packet) and pork ribs, for our proper dinner-cum-supper when we got home. Haha. Oh, we also bought a chicken pie and apple turnover for our picnic, from Cottage Pies at White Sands. I love the smells of freshly baked pies

Headed home after shopping, and then we watched Episode 1 of Heroes, and had a short nap. And then I prepared the sandwiches! And woke BB up.

And off we went… to Tanjong Rhu! Haha. This is actually behind the Singapore Indoor Stadium. There is a nice park there. It’s near Cosy Bay, if you know where. And actually, it’s quite near Dunman High School (BB’s old school)! Hehe.

Oh, we took a bus from the Interchange opposite Kallang MRT, and BB saw some birds sitting atop a bus. So he took some pics, which he said, were “better than expected” because the birds suddenly decided to fly off, and he managed to capture a picture of them during flight!

There is a bridge leading from the area near ‘Jumbo Seafood Restaurant’ to ‘Cosy Bay’. I like the bridge. It looks quite pretty. I think I’ve always liked bridges. Except the Causeway. Haha!

We met Nice Doggy #1 who scampered up to us.

And her owner.

I don’t remember this picture being taken. Er. Goldfish!

We then headed over to the huge “grass patch” and settled down there, watching dragon boaters training, people jogging past, the appearing-and-disappearing sun beyond the dark clouds, and people with their doggies.

Nice Doggy #2

And uh… Nice Doggy #3! Hahaha! Isn’t the girl cute?

Sunset

I like these condominiums. Makes me wish I lived there too.

And finally, Nice Doggy #4. Who was really friendly.

And slobbery. Haha! She drooled on BB’s legs! Haha.

But she’s my favourite dog of all the ones we met yesterday! She has a big tongue. Haha. BB says its cos she’s big so she needs to lose more heat. Haha. She’s very friendly. Did I say that already? Hehe. Those people at the corner of the pic are her owners. A nice Indian family. I like this dog! Someone gimme a golden retriever too!

We went home on Bus 12 after that, and we passed by all of BB’s schools! Dunman High, Temasek JC, Tampines JC… Hehe. And also St. Patrick’s, which was BB’s hostel during his JC years.

BB cooked bak kut teh for our dinner. Yums. Hehe.

The people staying at that flat must think that I’m a completely useless girlfriend, because everytime BB cooks, I don’t help out. In fact, I’m the one supposed to be cooking, not him. But then, they also don’t know that not only am I a bigger hindrance in the kitchen when I try to help out, I also actually am a hazard in the kitchen.

Mwahahahahahahahaha…

Mood:  excited! *bounce bounce bounce*

Yay! We are finally going to Escape Theme Park! Haha. After the botched attempt on BB’s birthday (they don’t open on weekdays), we finally get to go today! Haha. I’m now at BB’s place at Pasir Ris, waiting for him to finish work at 12 noon. Haha!

Okay, since I’m in a good mood, I shall blog a little.

Last Saturday,we had an shopping-and-makan outing to JB! By ‘we’, I mean Me & BB, Lis & Xun, and Xiangying & Junior and Jonathan (Junior’s godbrother). Woo hoo. I was super excited that I couldn’t really sleep the previous night. Ha ha ha. Left home pretty early, so I had to wait for them for a while at the JB immigrations. The queue was very loooong.

So I stood there, amongst the crowd, reading my book, Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes. I tell you, the book is absolutely chilling. What made it so scary was that it put into perspective the emotions and the chaos at the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings. What we have read in the news likely made us feel sorry for the victims and their family, but probably not much else. This book made me feel like crying while standing in a crowded place. That’s how ‘good’ it was.

Anyway! After about 30 minutes, all of them were out already, and we proceeded to get cabs to Aeon Tebrau City! Yay! Haha.

We first walked around a little, and then headed to this place called Vivo Cafe for lunch. The food isn’t good at all, so please skip that place if you’re even considering it! Haha! Some of the food we had:

BB’s uber sour apple green tea

Xun’s slightly sour lime sorbet drink, I think?

My very salty chicken lasagne

BB’s Fish fillet baked rice

Uhh. Some pizza. Haha!

And some non-food items:

Haha!

Lis and XY shopped quite a lot on that day, but I only bought 2 things! *good girl* Haha! Here are my buys!

Girl dress with pink flowers from mna and cropped corduroy jacket from Padini!

Jacket was a gift from BB. Thank you BB! *muacks!*

Details on the dress

To see the some of the stuff that XY bought, click here. She actually bought a lot more. Haha! Lis bought blouses and work pants and skirts, but she didn’t post any pics. You can still read it here though. Okay! Happy girls! He he!

After that, we went to Plaza Pelangi! Haha. Shopped some more while we were there. Actually both my buys were from Plaza Pelangi. I forgot until I started typing about this part. So nevermind. Hur hur.

BB bought the Mont Blanc Starwalker EDT

I like it too!

Random photo which BB took (I dunno where it is)

After Plaza Pelangi, we headed over to Tebrau Hawker Centre for seafood!

Can you see the hot pink shirt? That’s Junior! Haha!

Sambal stingray

Drunken prawns, which were unfortunately, not too fresh

Chilli crab, which were unfortunately, not spicy enough

Oatmeal crayfish and Butter crayfish! I like!

We also had baby squid but the photo is not here! And also 2 types of veggies.

Here’s what our table looked like! Haha!

I love the fried mantou.

Sad to say, this stall from which we ordered wasn’t that fantastic. Next time we’re going to try Hiang Kee! It’s supposedly the best one there

After the seafood feast, they headed back to Singapore, while I took a long and lonely bus ride back to Bukit Indah!

Okay! Moving on! The next day, I had to wake up at 4:45am to go to Singapore  Zoo for work. Yes, you read that right. It was for the May Day 2007 event at the Zoo, and Singtel set up a booth there to sell Hi-Cards and handphones.

To prove that I actually did go to the zoo:

White tigers!

At the entrance! Haha!

Work at the Zoo was horrible. Inexperienced staff, horrible weather (sunny, alternated with rainy weather) and horrible location and hours (we started at 8am). There aren’t any eateries within 5 minutes walking distance. Horrible! Was glad when we finally wrapped.

Got this pair of white Scholl sandals for Mommy’s Day

A bit clunky, but Mom says its super comfy!

Daddy came for a couple of nights, on Wednesday, en route to USA. He’s going for a conference. Dunno if he’s landed yet. But I think not. The journey had to be broken up because it was so long! Here’s an outline of his travel itinerary:

Surabaya to Singapore (stop over for 2 nights)
Singapore to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Chicago
Chicago to Kentucky

On his way back to Surabaya, unfortunately, he has to fly the same route, but with no break in Singapore. He’ll be on transit for 4 hours at Changi, and then fly straight back to Surabaya.

While Daddy was home, we went out for dinner at this restaurant nearby. Food was okay, but nothing spectacular.

Veggie

Salted egg fried crabs! Quite a unique taste.

Tofu

Pork with steamed buns

End of our meal *stuffed tummies*

Hehe!

Last night, at BB’s place, I took photos with the neighbour’s cat, who strayed into our house! Haha! She’s super fat and furry and grumpy looking. I love her! Her body also very soft, and she lets you carry her and she doesn’t scratch. Woo hoo!

I think she looks like Piggy’s long-lost furry relative! Haha!

Okay! Now I really must go get ready to go out! Will blog about Escape soon!

Mood:  (PMS-y although period is not due)

Blogging by order of Miss Lee! Hope you feel ‘entertained’ by this entry okay? Hehe! Well, I know I’ve been neglecting this blog. I’m just so lazy to blog! Too many things to blog about. Hehe.

I started school, attended the Singapore HR Congress 2007, made 2 new friends at school (Jasmine and Baoxin), went out with Lis, BB, Gerald and Leslie for dinner at Plaza Singapura, celebrated Mom’s birthday, started teaching tuition, celebrated BB’s birthday, and stayed at BB’s new room at Pasir Ris (he’s moved there because he has attachment there for the next 3 months, and Boon Lay is simply too far away!)

So. Because I am too lazy to blog in detail, here are some photos:

On BB’s last day of exam, we went out for dinner with some friends! Lis and I met up first, for some shopping and bla bla bla. The usual things that girls do in Orchard. Hehe.

Something really funny happened at Boon Lay MRT:

2 girls were going up the escalator at the MRT station. Let’s call them Clever Girl (CG) and Blur Girl (BG). Train was already at the platform. CG runs towards the train as the doors were going to close in about 10 seconds. After getting onto the train, CG suddenly realises that BG is not in the train with her. Meanwhile, BG was outside, wondering where CG went. CG looks out of the train door and realises BG is outside.

** Their eyes meet **

The train door closes, leaving BG stranded outside. And of course, CG had to get off the train at Lakeside to wait for BG.

The End.

No prizes for guessing that BG is actually Elise, the blur girl, who has indeed very slow reaction. She just stood there and watched me helplessly while the train door closed. I think she was shocked. Hahahaha! Super funny. Hehe.

Anyways! We went to the Sanrio shop at Takashimaya Level 3! I saw a Hello Kitty bag! I want it! Argh!! But BB said no! It’s really pretty.

Me, while waiting for the food Cafe Cartel @ PS

Lis trying to act as cute as me. Okay lah, pass! Haha!

Me again. Hahahah.

Lis again! Hahahaha

BB looks very sian (after 200 takes)

Lis, Gerald & Leslie

Gerald is feeling stuffed by all the food!

BB and me

We love Cafe Cartel bread!

This will go into museums one day. Muahahahaha.

Lis and me! It was damn difficult taking this shot cos we sat opposite each other.

———————————

On last Saturday, we (Mom, Serene and I) went to IMM! With BB too! Yay. We treated Mom to a simple lunch at Ajisen (cos it was her birthday the previous day).

Mom and Serene each had a Volcano Ramen!

My Cha Shu Ramen!

BB’s Veggie Ramen!

Serene and I shared this for Mom for her birthday present -

It’s the Lancome Blanc Expert NeuroWhite Advanced Clarifying Hydrating Milk (Made in Japan) 125ml/4.2oz which we bought from StrawberryNet (whose service sucks because of their Customer Service personnel, Kitty Wong – she’s damn rude. It also seems like she’s the only one on their team who is corresponding with customers – they should take her off!)

Anyway. After lunch at Ajisen, we wanted to head to Daiso to buy some little knick knacks for the home, but instead, we went to Lee Hwa (it wasn’t planned) and Mom ended up buying 4 diamond necklaces for us sisters. Haha! Gonna collect the necklaces tomorrow. Hehe!

And then we went to Daiso, of course. They have new Hello Kitty stuff! I shall go check it out. Ho ho ho.

———————————

Tuesday was BB’s birthday! Yay! I love my BB! Haha. But mushy declarations aside, I have to say that this year’s birthday surprise was not at all well orchestrated.

I intended to bring him to Escape Theme Park. Actually, we did go there - only to find the park closed on weekdays! *roar!* Do you know how frustrating it was? We were both so excited! But it’s okay, we’ve made plans to go next weekend instead!

So anyway, on Tuesday, instead of having fun at the Theme Park, we went to the Pool centre at Downtown East and played pool! I truly suck at it. Thank you very much. Haha. But it brought us great amusement – I lost count of the numerous times that I took a shot and the white ball hit nothing at all. Haha!

Anyway, no photos up till dinner time because we both didn’t have any cameras or any functional HP cameras with us on the day!

After playing pool, we had Sakae Sushi buffet for lunch, and then went back to his room to nap! Hahaha. Quite loser-ish, but I will make it up to you, BB!

For dinner, we had steamboat at Beach Road with Justin! Yay! We spent both our birthday dinners with Justin this year. Hehe…

But we forgot to take photos with Justin again! Argh!! What is wrong with me! Bleh.

Hmm! This year’s special birthday cake made by Maya of LickTheFrosting! Thanks babe! The cupcakes are yummy and gorgeous! Look at the Bee she drew for BB! I’m super happy with the cake. So you can say that I’m a very satisfied customer!

Vanilla cupcakes topped with cheese cream for my Birthday Bee!

The photos really do the cake no justice. It’s better than it looks! It just melts in your mouth. And the vanilla taste is strong (I like) without being overbearing. Plus, the sweet cream cheese is so fragrant. I just wanted to lick the frosting off all the cupcakes! Haha! Maya makes a multitude of different yummilicious cakes, so if you’re having a party, be sure to contact her for your cakes!

My Birthday BeeBee!

*I love you*

BB: Although your birthday surprise didn’t really happen, I will make it up to you okay! We’ll have lots of fun at Escape next week! I’m really looking forward to it! *muacks!* Despite all that, I still had a good time with you, because I simply love spending time with you.

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It was also my classmate Trang’s birthday on Tuesday (so we celebrated it for her in class on Monday).

I like this semester’s class. Because everyone has pretty okay command of the English Language, it means that the lecturer can move at a pace that is non-glacial. Haha. Previously, because of the 3 Chinese girls, the lecturers went really slow. It’s not their fault, but it really bored me to death.

Okay! I think I’ve pretty much summed up the major events in the last one week or so. Haha. Or rather, that’s all the photos I have. Haha!

I’m a happy girl. I’m a lucky girl. I feel really really happy these days (despite exams coming, haha).

Been meeting up with XY and Lis every week, and it feels just like the old times. I realised something about friendship – friendship takes work. In fact, every relationship does. And to make it work, you need to put in effort – to stay in touch, to meet up, to stay updated with one another, to give encouragement, to console, to care. It’s all about effort and sacrifices! And girls, if you’re reading this, I’m really happy that we are putting in the effort to meet up! Cos I love you girls! Being with you girls means great laughs, great times, great food! Haha. And it’s really a great feeling of comfort to know that I have friends like you to lean upon!

We’ve been swimming, eating, shopping, watching movies, bitching. So nice. I feel less lonely when I have friends. It draws me out from the anti-social world of work and studies only. Oh ya, recently we watched Freedom Writers at Lido – on the day that we kinda like a belated birthday celebration for me last week. Hehe. It’s damn good! We all teared.

*During a touching scene in the movie*
Daphne tears, and pulls out a tissue. *sniff and wipes tears*
Xiangying nudges Daphne and whispers “Can I have tissue too?”
Elise nudges Xiangying, who then turns back to Daphne: “Elise also want.”

Haha! Super funny. Oh ya, that day was a happy day for me. We went to school to meet Elise and also 顺便 meet up with Jiaming for his birthday celebration.

This is a lame video of Jiaming cutting the cake that we bought for him from Bread Talk, which is super cute, btw. Hehe! I like the cake alot. It’s yummy too. But XY and Lis don’t really like it, I think. Haha! Cos they ate like 2 bites. Or maybe they were really full. Haha!

You can read it at XY’s blog or Jiaming’s blog. After that, we went to IKEA for meatballs! Yay! Heh. Then Jiaming went to teach tuition, and we went to watch Freedom Writers at Lido.

And yes! Talking about being happy, of course, my BB makes me happy too. On Wednesday (4 April), it was our 1st year anniversary.

On the night before, I was like, at home all alone, having my dinner in front of the computer (as opposed to in front of the TV when Mommy is at home with me, haha) and chatting with BB, Justin, and some other friends. Then around 11-ish, I decided to finally go and do my dishes! Haha. So I went to the kitchen, and after that, I was walking back to my computer, and suddenly the door bell rang!

Let me tell you that my door bell is damn loud. I jumped, literally. I was super scared. Who would call at our house so late at night? I was afraid that there were thieves or robbers, just trying to get my attention, get me to open the door, and then they’d rob me!

There was this tall guy at the gate. I was damn scared. Then suddenly the guy said, “BB.”

Hahahaha! It took a while to register. It was dark, and I couldn’t see either. So I took a long time to confirm that it was really him! Hehe. It was super sweet. He crossed borders just to come and see me. He said he wanted to get a florist to send me flowers at midnight, but there are no midnight flower deliveries! Hahaha. Nevermind lah. I was just so happy to see him! Hehe. No flowers, got BB, even better. Hehe.

We spent our anniversary with our son Piggy Romeo, our guinea pig. Haha! And we went to eat supper. Lalala. I love my BB. Hehe. I had to go to school the next day, though. How sickening can that be? I worked on my birthday, and had to go to school for a full day for our anniversary!

Anyway, we went out for dinner in the evening, at IMM’s Aji-tei. Yums. I feel so sweet inside cos my BB managed to surprise me for our anniversary, hehe. After dinner we walked around IMM. Went to Challenger, and he bought me a pair of headphones with microphone, so we can Skype! Now, we don’t talk on the phone very much, cos the IDD phone bills would kill us. Haha. And I don’t have a working microphone at home, so he got me one.

And then we went to Daiso! Hehe! Bought a pink laptop cover, and a basket for my cosmetics and barang-barang.

I’m a simple girl. Simple things and small things make me happy As long as you put in a little effort, I’ll be happy. I just love spending time with you.

Oh, just now BB was damn funny. I’m in his room right now, using wireless to log on to the internet. And I was talking to my friend Weichiang, on MSN, and it’s like this long-running joke between WC and me – I always send him MSN kisses. Haha! Before you start thinking I’m damn weird or that I’m a slut going around kissing people, just let clarify that WC is my primary school friend from my first school! Haha!

Anyway, BB heard the *muakks* sound, so he checked his computer, cos he thought that I sent it to him. But he didn’t get it, and he asked me, “Who sent you a kiss?! Or who did you send a kiss to?!” Haha! And he was like, “How come I don’t have?” and he asked me to “stop acting cute with other guys” and said that he’s going to disconnect his wireless so I cannot send people any more kisses. Hahahaha!

I’ve great friends, and a funny and loving BF… Lalala. Kisses to everyone! Haha!

It was my birthday yesterday; my 24th 19th birthday. The first time that I’d spent my birthday away from home, and away from my family. Yes, the first time in my entire life. Previously, I’d always spend my birthday at home, having dinner with my family. It means alot to me to have my loved ones around me, celebrating yet another year in my life. However, due to the fact that everyone is far away and busy, and the below reasons, I didn’t have the usual birthday dinner at home. Flashback: Last Year.

A couple of days earlier, I’d decided to take up an 8-week long job with Singtel, cos: (1) it’s 8 Sundays, and couldn’t miss out on that, (2) birthday plans fell through, but that’s okay cos I can always celebrate with the girls another time. So yes, I spent my birthday working!

Doreen said that this is what it’s like when we grow up. Everyone has to work, birthday or not. Haha.

I started my birthday with wishes from BB, Justin, Elaine (who sent me a card which I got on the eve of my birthday), Debra, Gerald and Mian Mian. I was in JB at the time, so the wishes were made over MSN and SMS! Heh. Daddy sent me an e-Card just before I went to bed! I was super touched. So sweet, the e-Card. He’d already sent me a real card about a week before, from Changi airport, where he was transiting during his flight from Bangkok to Jakarta. I went to bed soon after I read his card, and read a few pages of my novel (Jon Katzenbach’s Hart’s War).

[edit: Oh yes, Calyn SMS-ed me too! I received it around 3am while I was actually asleep, hence the forgetfulness. I'm so sorry darling, I left your name out! But of course, your wishes mean alot to me too! Hehe!]

In the morning, instead of the usual birthday mian xian (rice vermicelli), Mom cooked instant noodles for me. We were out of vermicelli! Haha! It’s alright, I still got to eat some sort of noodles, which signifies longevity. Hehe. Quite amusing, though! Mommy wished me a happy birthday, and I had a kiss from her, and after that, it was off to work!

Xiaoli was supposed to work with me, and and as always, her parents drove by to pick me up, en route. Yali was in the car too! Heh. I got 4 birthday wishes from the Choo family! Woo hoo. Yali and Xiaoli presented me with a cute li’l bag from Crabtree & Evelyn (which contained yummy handcream within), as well as a really sweet card, which I was super duper touched to read. Yali is my first and best roomie, my ex-colleague at Bestari Kindergarten, as well as one of the first friends I had after moving back from Jakarta! I’ve always known Xiaoli, of course, but this year, I began working with her at Singtel, and we got to know each other better! We talk, complain, bitch about other people, bicker, argue, tease and ‘insult’ each other endlessly. Haha. Getting to know Xiaoli more actually improved my friendship with Yali, cos now I’m closer to her sis too! Hehe. Both of them are fun and crazy girls, in their own ways. And I love ‘em to bits.

On my way to work, Daddy SMS-ed me, and then he called me! So he wished me a total of 4 times! I’m so blessed – who gets 4 birthday wishes from their Daddy every year? Haha.

Anyways. Kinda depressing to go to work early on the morning of my birthday. And we worked at Boon Lay bus interchange! *faints* So hot, can die! Really. The searing heat is unbearable. And I have 7 more Sundays to go. Think of the money, think of the money.

Received SMS from XY and Lis while I was at work! Thank you, babes! It made me smile. For awhile, at least. Hahaha! Oh yes, and from Serene too. She was still sleeping when I left for work, so she didn’t get to wish me! Hehe. But thank you also for the pretty necklace that you gave me!

Time passed slowly at work, because we had ’supervisors’ watching us. Bleah. I’ve never been watched so closely throughout the years that I’ve been working for Singtel. Working with some people really spoilt my entire day, but thankfully I had Xiaoli and her friend, Xiaoyun (yes, haha these are their real names haha!) to accompany me as well.

After work, I went to withdraw some cash from the OCBC atm, and felt kinda depressed that BB had yet to message me – he said he wanted me to pack food for him on my way back to his place, and said that he would SMS me. So I was just waiting listlessly for the SMS to come in. I SMS-ed Doreen while waiting – I had yet to receive her birthday wish also. I messaged, “You forgot my birthday ah. ” And then she called back! She said she’d sent me an MMS after midnight, but I didn’t receive it! Oh well. I guess it’s delayed, or lost. After hanging up, I waited and waited some more for BB’s SMS, then BB suddenly appeared in front of me!

Haha! I’m so loved! And BB brought me another present too – Justin! Heh. I cannot explain exactly why I was so happy to see the both of them, but I shall try! Well, it figures that I’m happy cos BB is my most loved one. But I was super duper happy to see the both of them maybe because Justin is the first friend of BB’s whom I got to know, way before we got together. And Justin is really a special friend to me too, cos he’s seen all our ups and downs, and we’ve had many many many many happy moments together, the 3 of us. All the steamboat sessions, the first Holland Village outing, moving house and the Chinatown dinner after BB left for Beijing last summer, the Changi boardwalk outing, the sunrise adventure, staying over at Justin’s place, playing with his guinea pigs, bla bla bla. So many! Hehe.

We went to Swensen’s at Jurong Point to have dinner, and they gave me presents! I have The Hospital DVDs, and Yanzi’s new album! Haha. Both were what I wanted. Hur hur. But I didn’t expect them to get me The Hospital DVDs. I only asked for Yanzi’s new album. We were MSN-ing:

Me: BB, I give u idea for my bday present ok! I want 逆光! Hahahaha!
BB: ………
Me: Hahahahaha! Aiya like that u don’t have to think so hard ma, and u know I will surely like it!

Hehe. I’m such a nice girlfriend. Hehe. But BB just had to ‘pack’ the CD among packets and packets of tissue, so that I wouldn’t be able to guess what the present was. =.=”

So. I digressed. I got a card from BB and Justin too! Lalala. I like how they summed up everything in like, barely 4 sentences. Haha! Guys. The difference between girls and guys: Yali and Xiaoli wrote huge amounts of words in their birthday card to me, and BB and Justin wrote about 4 sentences in total! Haha! But both were equally sweet lah. I love all my darlings!

Back to Swensen’s. I had grilled fish with sambal (without sambal, haha) and BB and Justin had a fish baked rice and MegaBurger respectively. Haha! Then Swensen’s presented me with a firehouse icecream, with a candle! Hehe. The guys sang me a birthday song. Very happy leh. And I made a birthday wish! *Shhh. Secret*

Went home afterwards, feeling very loved cos BB managed to surprise me, and Justin came down all the way from Bishan to eat my birthday dinner with me.

Back at BB’s place, Gerald and Mian Mian wished me again, and presented me with a piggy handphone holder thingie. I don’t know what it’s called, actually. Haha. It’s like a bean-bag thing. Haha! Super cute. Looks like BB. Oops. Haha! I read Rach and Uzyn’s messages on my blog (thanks for remembering!) and then we had a cake. BB had bought a cake for me earlier on, but we couldn’t cut it at Swensen’s. Actually we could, but then they already gave us an icecream. So we did the cake-thing at home with Gerald and MM.

They sang me birthday songs in English and Chinese, and then I made the same wish again. Haha. I told BB that if I wished for the same thing twice, it will be stronger. Haha! Okay so now I’m pretty sure my wish will come true! Hur hur hur!

Okay, is it bad luck not to cut your own birthday cake? Because after I made my wish and blew the candles out, BB took over. He cut the cake, and served everyone. I forgot to even perform the mandatory one cut on the birthday cake! Oh no

Nevertheless, it was a long day that started right, became bad (cos of work) and ended perfectly. Thank you to all who remembered, and for the pressies (though you all really didn’t have to – except BB – haha! Old already, no need presents to remind me that I’m old!). Okies. That’s all.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, I’ve finally decided to continue on my travelogue. Haha! Been too busy since early January, working and studying. My weekends are spent working, while my weekdays are spent in school or studying at home. And you know, blogging about your  travels really does take up a terrible amount of time, and effort too. So this CNY break, I resolve to finish blogging about Beijing! Hehe. 

Day 6 (13 Dec) 

On the sixth day of my stay in Beijing, I fell terribly ill. Actually, I was feeling ill during our visit to the Zoo, already, which would’ve been more enjoyable had I not felt so weak. But, determined to enjoy everything during my stay there, I still had fun at the Zoo anyway – only that BB had to put up with my whining a little. Heh.

So we didn’t go out on the sixth day. I rested at home, and BB fussed over me, feeding me medicine, water, and food. I think I slept quite abit, and finished reading a book, too.

Day 7 (14 Dec)

We went to the Temple of Heaven, which was kinda far away from BB’s home. It was near the Chongwen district, which was on a different Subway Line than the one we usually took. So BB said that we should take a bus instead.

(All photos in this entry are courtesy of BB and his Nikon D70)

History

(Click on picture for larger image)

(Text below taken from this noticeboard)

The Temple of Heaven was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would worship heaven and pray for bumper crops.

The northern part of the outer surrounding wall is semi-circular in shape while the southern part square, a pattern symbolic of the ancient belief that heaven was round and the earth square.

The double surrounding wall separates the temple into two parts – the inner and outer temples with the main structures in the inner one, covering a space of 273 hectares in all.

The inner temple is also partitioned by a wall into two groups of buildings.

The north structure is the “Altar of Praying for Bumper Crops”, with the “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests” as the principal building used to pray in spring for a bumper harvest in the year. The south structure is the circular mound altar used to worship heaven at the winter solstice where the principal construction is a large round marble terrace named “The Circular Mound”.

The two altars, connected by a 360-metre long raised walk called the “Danbi Bridge” are arranged in a line forming a north-south axis 1,200-metres long, and flanked by century-old cypresses in a spacious area with a formal and solemn environment.

To the inner south of the west celestial gate is the “Fasting Palace” where the feudal emperors observed abstention* before the rituals. In the western part of the outer temple is located the “Divine Music Office”, which was in charge of the teaching and performance of the ritual music.

In the Temple of Heaven are situated such main buildings as the “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests”, “The Hall of Heavenly Emperor”, “The Circular Mound”, “The Imperial Vault of Heaven”, “The Beamless Hall”, “The Long Corridor”, as well as “The Echo Wall”, “the Three Echo Stones, the Seven Star Stones and Nine-dragon juniper”.

Built first in 1420, a masterpiece of the Ming and Qing architectural art and a precious example of China’s ancient architecture, the Temple of Heaven is the largest architectural group for worshipping heaven in the world. In 1961, it was listed by the state council as “one of the key monuments under the state protection”. In 1998, it was recognized by the UNESCO as “one of the human heritages of the world”.

* Instead of the word abstention, the word used here should be abstinence. Because abstention refers to the act of withholding or abstaining (usually of votes) and abstinence refers to the forebearance from any indulgence of appetite. (from Dictionary.com)

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The long walk leading from the main entrance of the Temple of Heaven to the secondary entrance (which is where the actual group of temples are)

It was a sunny (but cold) day, causing my eyes to be almost non-existent. Boo. Slitty eyes.

The secondary entrance

It was possibly the sunniest day during my 2-weeks in Beijing.

In the vast gardens surrounding the Temples, there were old folks singing Chinese opera. It was like a community centre for them! It wasn’t bad at all, the sounds of activity, in fact, it quite added to the flavour of the beautiful place.

How can there be so much greens during winter?

It’s almost like winter never came, if you ignore my winter garb.

More people singing, and acting, and dancing, and knitting, along The Long Corridor!

The Long Corridor

Me and a really old cypress tree

Woo hoo. So fat. The tree. Not me! Haha.

More trees. I like trees! Leafless trees, to be precise.

Finally, we reached the temples. Seriously, there was too much land surrounding the temples! It was like a neverending walk!

I love the reds, golds, blues and greens of the intricately painted patterns on the walls and on sills and doors. I love the carved stones and marbles, the tall pillars and the tiled roofs. I love peering into the temples, looking at the statues, and the things they used for prayers in the past. I love the grand entrances and the brass door “knobs”.

Another pathway lined with trees

I can’t tell which part of the temple is which Hall, so… here’s another picture of another Hall in the temple. Haha!

Oh, I remember! This is just outside the Circular Mound!

The floorings are original! Preserved since the Ming and Qing dynasties! I felt so happy to be walking on these tiles, where the emperors and his entourage must once have walked.

Me, acting retarded, with another water-dragon-head: 水龙头 hahaha! It means water-tap.

In the olden days, these dragon heads spewed rain water which collected on the raised platforms, during the rainy season. I blogged about this before, in the entry about the Forbidden City.

Concentrate on the gorgeous view and not my scrunched-up slitty-eyed face, please. It was sunny lah, okay. Try opening your eyes in the face of the sun. Bleah.

Near the exit to the Temples, we met an old man, who was writing calligraphy with water, on the floor. His calligraphy was really beautiful.

It’s not as easy as it looks! You may write beautifully on paper, but writing with a ‘brush’ as big as a baseball bat is a whole different story!

I was so very tired at the end of the day, and was whining (again), because we had to walk a very long distance to the nearest bus stop. We entered from the North Gate, and exited from the South Gate. I didn’t want to walk back to the North Gate, and insisted to BB that I wanted to take a taxi. But he said that the next bus stop was “really nearby”. So we walked, and I was so tired, and then I was angry with BB cos I didn’t want to walk anymore, so I ran away from BB.

Can you see me? The one galloping away with the blue bag. Haha. So unglamorous, I know. But it was hard to run properly and elegantly in clumsy boots and huge fluffy and puffy parkas, okay? Eventually, he caught up with me, and we laughed. Haha. And we also finally took a taxi to Xidan for a late lunch. Or was it dinner? I was too hungry and tired to care. Haha!

After our late lunch, I took the airport shuttle bus to the airport, to collect an item that I had left behind in HK Airport! Haha. They were super efficient. I faxed a letter of authorization to the Cathay Pacific office the previous day before 2pm, and my lost item arrived in Beijing Airport on the very same day, on the flight that landed at 8pm! I was very very impressed! Haha.

BB didn’t go to the airport with me. Instead, he went home and took Pipi out for a walk. No sense spending 16 yuan per person to go and collect an item which I lost, when I knew the way to the airport and back myself.

It was also the first time I went around alone in Beijing. After collecting my stuff from the Cathay Pacific office at the Beijing airport, I took the airport shuttle back to Xidan. And then I walked around in Xidan for abit, looking for a new pair of gloves. I dropped mine somewhere in the Temple of Heaven earlier in the day. Hehe. So I got a new pair of pink gloves for myself!

After that, I took the Subway from Xidan to Muxidi, and walked home myself. It was abit scary, because I had to walk through some narrow roads, though BB and I take that route to and from the Subway station every day! I was also a little worried that I’d get lost. But well, I found my way home just fine!

Later that night, BB went out to buy groceries, and I was home alone with his grandparents. I don’t think we spent that much time apart on any of the other days I’d spent in Beijing, as compared to this day itself.

The day didn’t end so well, there was a major upsetting involving some other people, which I don’t want to talk about, but I think we survived it pretty well.

More often than not, I think back on this day as a reminder to myself that we won’t be defeated so easily – our relationship isn’t a fragile piece of paper that can be written upon by others who wish it.

Read the full set of my Beijing Travelogue