a loonie birthday

the night started out at the bottom of the "V" of the "Y"
that is otherwise known as archipelago brewery at circular road.
some deep fried finger food and plenty of crazy drinking later,
we followed a very-high-but-still-walking birthday boy over to zouk.

a loonie birthday

the ian-at-zouk though, was pretty much gone.
he'd stopped shouting at the top of his voice,
and he didn't move around much either.
the poor boy. haha

a birthday spent with your closest friends,
getting silly-drunk
and knowing that they're there to watch your back (literally).
hope you had a great 24th my dear!

the night we murdered yogi

so...i got up to something rather out of the ordinary last night.
the phone rang, and out of the door i went,
to aid ah hock in committing a murder.
yes. a murder.
apparently, there's a bunch of people running around singapore
bearing cards with the faces and addresses
of the targets they have to kill.
it's like, reality murder idol or something.
nothing overly dramatic though - no bloodshed and all that...
they're just armed with water guns or, in our case, a syringe.

we had a stake out at tampines sports hall
where our victim-to-be was having his floorball training.
as luck would have it, we actually are acquainted with our target.
singapore is THAT small.
an hour passed and our target was more interested in hitting a ball with a stick
than coming out of the hall to get killed.
so like all good murderers-to-be,
we walked to maccas to get some fries.

training ended just as we finished with our food,
so all we had to do was to be inconspicuous,
wait for the target to get out through the doors,
before hock crept up on him with an evil grin,
and shot him in the neck
while i filmed the entire murder.

the night we murdered yogi

poor yogi died a most tragic death haha

we (including the dead and his girlfriend) went to yishun next,
to attempt a second murder (of yogi's target).
unfortunately, the lady and her family pretended to be asleep
and refused to open the door
even though we knocked till our knuckles hurt
(admittedly, it's 11.30pm).
ah well, someone'll get her...eventually. heh.

*video of the kill should be up on hock's blog soon muahaha
(and i apologize for the shakiness) =P

can't not eat "ji pa" in taipei! (even if the brand is kuku-G)

was still nursing my conjunctivitis when i left for taipei,
and i went on board contact lens-less
so it was all a little blurry.
but i didn't bump into anyone, or anything,
so all's good.

still, touched down pink-eyed,
and the 2-hour bus ride to the hotel didn't help my aching body.
traffic jam all the way,
no thanks to it being a friday night,
and also to the anti-ah-bian protests that were going on.

managed to make it to the shi ling night market though,
and it's quite interesting to see a sea of red-shirted taiwanese on the train,
all pumped up from their rallying.

the shi ling night market didn't disappoint.
we stopped by the hawker centre nearby first,
to fill our empty tummies with local delicacies
like frog egg drinks and orh lua with funny pink sauce.
didn't buy much as we trooped down the shopping strip,
mainly coz we're rather tired
and we spent too much time looking for the ji pa (fried chicken).

can't not eat "ji pa" in taipei! (even if the brand is kuku-G)

still, it was an interesting first view of taipei
and i'll definitely see more of it (and actually do some shopping)
the next time i'm there.
-----

the boy was in transit at chiang kai shek airport
when i was sleeping in the taipei hotel.
thought that was fairly amusing.
he got my macbook a lovely new traveling case
from the apple store in the states.
it's black and custom-fit,
slim and still with space for accessories,
and it has a lovely velvety inner lining.
so sweet he called me twice from the store,
just to make sure he got the right one,
and also coz he couldn't decide on the color haha

ok. end of blackperiod paragraph. quit puking. =P

well fed and watered...

last weekend saw a bai-ka me celebrating birthdays in style =P
edmund and hoven (no, they're not gay) held a joint dinner do at
the awesome lei garden,
followed by way too much champagne at loof.
it's the first time i bought a bottle of bubbly! haha

well-fed and watered

-----

i went to the doc's for the fourth time in a week,
after i touched down from beijing this morning
and got the stitch removed.
the wound's looking very pink and raw,
but at least it's not bleeding anymore.

and true to my china curse,
my sore eye got worse in beijing
and the doc says that i've got a minor case of conjunctivitis.
yucks.

for someone who's not been to the doc's in eons,
i seem to making regular trips to the clinic these days.

september 11 tomorrow,
and the boy left for the states this morning.
ick. =(

first day's check-out dive, dinner & fish-feeding frenzy

the maldives - a picture perfect holiday

i've been looking forward to my maldives flight ever since i saw it on my roster
and it certainly didn't disappoint.
my very own villa on bandos resort island,
lovely flowers just outside my door,
and a rocky road out to the gorgeous beachfront.
what more can a girl ask for?
(other than better weather and that special someone to share it with heh)

first day's check-out dive, dinner & fish-feeding frenzy

went for the check-out dive at the house reef
after the morning storm passed us by.
it felt so good to be diving again!

most of the crew met up at meal times,
for tons of bread and a wide selection of food
at one of the several resort restaurants.
that first night, we headed to the jetty to feed the fishes
after we'd had our fill of dinner.
the batfish were huge and swallowed huge chunks of bread,
and we laughed at the antics of the shoal of millions of little silver fishies.

the next day was DIVE DAY!!!
another avid diver, joyce, and i started the day early at 8am
and ended up making three dives that day.
among the many colorful underwater creatures we saw
were a 2-and-a-half-metre nurse shark sleeping in a cave
(we went so close to it we could almost touch it!),
and a baby manta ray who made a special appearance
after making us wait while being swept about
by the strong, cold currents on manta point.
the baby manta looked so angelic,
swimming so serenely in the waters *swoon*

made 3 dives and saw a baby manta ray before the storm came in

couldn't dive the next day coz we're not allowed to dive 24hours before flight,
so we spent the rest of our time soaking up whatever sun there was,
and enjoying the peaceful island life.

being hyperactive, i decided to try my hand at snorkelling,
and of course, got myself cut by corals in the process.
i didn't think anything of it,
until a black-tip shark swam past me.
it was only when i headed back to shore after 15mins
that i realized i was bleeding and that it looked like a pretty awful cut.
so off to the medical centre i went, with blood streaming down my leg
and blobs of fats (who knew knees had fats?!) sticking out from my wound.
the nurse and the doctor made "ick" faces when they saw what they had to deal with!

snorkelling's more dangerous than diving

no anesthetic coz the jab'd supposedly hurt more than anything else,
so doc proceeded to cut off my protruding fats (free liposuction!)
and gave me a stitch that hurt like hell.
i think i'll just stick to diving from now on *hobble hobble*

gracie sent me an mms that i couldn't read when i was there,
and i laughed my head off when i checked my inbox after i got home:

only gracie will do such a thing. as pecked always says: "so cute"

she took it at an MRT STATION
with millions of people looking at her
and thinking she was absolutely mad.
wahaha PRICELESS!

i can't wait to go back to the maldives next month
for 3 more glorious days of sun, sand, sea, fish,
and more diving! WOOHOO!

rsaf openhouse

a day above all

spent half my saturday at paya lebar airbase
tanning at the rsaf openhouse.
the sun was blazin'
and left me with a rudolf-nose and a v-neck t-shirt tan.
eek. haha

that aside, i had a great time
with my personal guide who came to join me
after his impressive F16 D+ solo aerial display
that left many little boys telling their parents:
"i want to fry aeropranes!"
heehee

rsaf openhouse

was lucky enough to cut queues (heh)
and be given joyride tickets by one of his friends
so we took to the air in a fokker 50
and enjoyed a view of singapore few get to see.
it's all well worth my sunburn =)

the subway, harrod's and maccas

we're londONErs!

the last time i was in london was after my 'A' levels
on a family trip round europe.
what i seriously missed out that time,
was the wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth and totally irresistable
roast duck and crispy pork (sio bah).
strange as it may sound, london has the best duck in the world!
oh, i'm still drooling just thinking of it.

my colleagues brought me to this place in bayswater,
a quaint chinese restaurant named gold mine
and boy oh boy, what treasures i tasted!
the soup was just perfect for a chilly london afternoon,
the vegs were not-too-oily, not-too-salty,
the chilli was the perfect accompaniment to the meal,
and of course, the roast duck and crispy pork were TO DIE FOR!
*swoon*

wendy and i took the train to knightsbridge after lunch,
to try walk off the heavy meal.
we did a bit of window shopping,
ate krispy kremes,
and spent a lot of looking at wealthy arabic women buying
all sorts of hideously expensive bling bling in harrods.

the subway, harrod's and maccas

i was craving for some maccas
so "da bao-ed" some back to the hotel for a late dinner.
ang moh countries do the best quarter pounders with cheese!
mmmmm......

we headed out bright and early the next morning
for a touristy fix.
energized by yummy egg and bacon croissants from the cafe next to our hotel,
we hopped onto our open-top bus
and began our day's journey with "the big bus company".
i met quite a number of people along the way!

all them famous people came out to meet me

politicians, royalty and sportsmen - i'm so popular!

yeah, i was really touched =P

st paul's, big ben, london eye, tower bridge,
westminister abbey, my friend blair's gates
a cruise down the river thames,
topped off with a long stroll down oxford street.

touristy sights, marks&spencer, delicious duck.

we were all over london
and i can't wait to go back!

mimi's birthday

a tad late, but here are photos
from mimi's 24th birthday bash.
we had dinner at pete's place (oh i just love that place)
and then went to butter factory for a hothot night:

mimi's birthday

it has been proven that mark cannot look normal in photos.
heh
HAPPY 24TH MIMI *muacks*!!!