china's venice


made full use of my long stay in shanghai
and visited the old water town of wu zhen.
the three of us decided to catch a bus there instead of going for the tour,
and saved ourselves many many renminbi.

the two-hour bus ride made my butt sore,
and the annoying cheena music the driver played gave me a headache.
it was super hot and humid when we got to wu zhen,
and we started off with a very oily meal at one of the restaurants.


doesn't sound like too good a start,
and i'd like to say that it got better
but, even though the sights were something less often seen by us city-dwellers,
the sweltering heat and the much-too-long stay in the town
made us really tired and it got rather boring after a while.

but there was freshly ground zhi ma hu that tasted pretty good,
and was probably the highlight of my trip
(spoken like a true greedy pig).


the old streets were lined with wooden houses
that people actually live in,
and though it was usually cooler inside,
there was a musky, unaired stench that kept me away
even though there were aunties playing mahjong in several of them!


there were little bridges and leafy trees lined the waterway.
we learnt a little on the history of wu zhen,
and visited various cultural exhibits like the bed posts of yore,
special wu zhen cloth-making and the way the people dress,
and walked into an old library and medicine hall.


we had damn a lot of time on our hands
since the bus left us there for more than five hours,
so we took a leisurely boat ride to wile the time away
and keep from having to walk even more.



ended up in a little tea house after the boat ride,
sipped luke warm chrysanthemum tea
and chatted about nothing for two hours
before it was finally time to get on the bus
and head back to good old shanghai (and our comfy beds).

as a parting shot,
here are photos i took of the people of wu zhen:


i like to snap at old people.

our new pad


we will be moving into a noisy matchbox soon,
and our current home's all messed up right now,
filled with boxes and things all piled up waiting to be packed or discarded.

i will miss this old place,
and all the space and quiet that comes with it.
but i'll be glad to be rid of all the old stuff -
this really is a good time to do some major spring cleaning.

mum dug out all these little notes that fawn and i wrote/drew/scribbled
way back when we were tiny tots.
and it's hilarious looking at crazy drawings,
baby writing, and all sorts of little girl sweetness.

we unearthed a postcard written on the plane:
to: the house
hello home...we are on the way to LONDON.
don't worry we will be back in two weeks.
meanwhile, don't let strangers in. we love you!"

the new place's tiny and we're going to try keep things simple,
with as little clutter as possible,
so we're gona have to be less garung guni.
i like. so zen(n).

anyway, here's a glimpse of the matchbox,
and pictures of some facilities it offers:


doesn't look too shabby i guess.
and hopefully, we'll soon get used to all the noise.
if anyone needs a traffic update on my stretch of the PIE next time,
just give me a ring
(preferably one with diamonds, or the tiff&co. rose gold mesh, thanks).

to want


what you cannot have

and not be able to do a thing about it.

history boys


i'm wild again, beguiled again,
a simpering, wimpering child again.
bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am i.


i couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep,
when love came and told me i shouldn't sleep.
bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am i.


lost my heart, but what of it.
he is cold, i agree.
he can laugh, but i love it,
although the love's all me.


i'll sing to him, each spring to him,
and worship the trousers that cling to him.
bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am i.
-----


guess who i saw when i was in london?



IN THE FLESH! UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL!
i happened to be at leiscester square,
and the world premiere of the fantastic four happened to be held there.
i squeezed through the throngs, just to get near the front.
jessica alba's gorgeous.
i will probably turn lesbo for her.


oh and i met another superstar in london:



this one i got the privilege of actually having dinner and coffee with.
(and he's coming back soon! woohoo for minmin!!!)
-----


the family went out for deedee day dinner
(i am queen of alliteration).
we tried out friends at serangoon garden
and weren't very pleased with the lousy service.
good thing the food fared slightly better,
and i name the ham and bacon aglio olio spag a winner.



we had haato again for dessert.
they have a branch at serangoon garden.
i had haato with the girls on saturday night too.
i can be haato mascot muahaha
-----


oh and on friday night,
i met spermwitheye, and psycho gingerbreadman:



we totally bonded =)

sunshine after the rain
coming to you from normanton


a cosy friday night after i got back from london,
minmin drove over to my place,
terrorized my parents and turned prince william into a queen:



headed over to normanton after,
stopped by a petrol station to grab smokes and milk,
and hiao-ed with the uncle.



yay petrol kiosk uncle said we look very young.





then the boys came home...











i watched wicker park (yay) and hostel (yucks).


a nearly-day-long saturday downpour,
the girlies were reunited,
and another crazy normanton weekend ensued.


in fact, we're haven't left.



(out of point but) we have sister rings.


we played mahjong last night and i won money (woohoo!).
gracie's now reading feng's graphic novel,
feng's having cookies in bed,
louis just left to get jenn, and brunch (hopefully),
nicky is mia,
i need a shower.


we had a big "amazing disappearing black wallet" hunt
earlier on at 10 in the morning.
feng's ocd saved the day,
and there were hugs all round.



a very relieved louis.
fengmin doesn't have to pay rent next month (right).


you know what caused the loss?
this:



see, strip shows are not advisable.

somtimes, old is best


old friends,
old clothes,
old books,
the old flame.


they understand me,
they know my history without me having to explain anything.
they share my present.
they made me me.


a lazy sunday with the family,
deprived of a much-needed swim.
parkmall furniture buying,
da paolo pizza, lasagne, salad, scone and cake,
haato ice cream, waffles and scrabble.


then a quick, angry, late-night drink with doopz,
soothed by the phone call after.
sometimes, i crave the past,
that familiarity, that warmth.

i thief from jenn


i wish i could be every little thing you wanted, all the time
don't give me up
don't give me up tonight


oh rah.
-----


my parents and i hunted down a hidden treasure.


we ate yummy ice cream (mango, lemon sorbet, rum & raisin and sesame),
had crispy waffles,
sat for hours nursing a pot of green tea,
fed mosquitoes,
read magazines,
and enjoyed some peace and quiet
at haato.



many thanks to pecked - number one gprs system in the world,
and hen, who intro-ed this place to me.
i foresee us spending more time there.
-----


the day started out bright and early for me,
and i hardly got any sleep last night.
spent the whole day at work. booo.
thank god i was in a crazy mood and work was fun -
i was newspaper auntie and ice cream "ring ring" girl.


it is so bloody warm today.

it's over


the day, that is.
and i don't think i made too much of a fool of myself.
i'm glad you contacted me,
and that i got to send you birthday wishes,
at the start and at the close of the day.


sometimes, just sometimes,
i wish things hadn't ended this way.
sometimes, just sometimes,
i wish you'd spent yesterday with me.


oh what a terribly silly girl i am.

i've succumbed


i have finally jumped on the facebook bandwagon.
i am no longer toot.
i am now very cool.
we cannot really be friends until facebook says so.
quick add me so that you'll be cool too.

sunday madness


since we were in raffles city,
and were there early,
we decided that it was time we got a taste
of the donuts that have been the talk of town.


we thought we'd be the first in line (it was 9am!),
but they weren't opened yet.
we asked and were unfortunately misinformed by one of the staff
that they will raise their shutters at 12.30pm.


so we tu-ed and went for breakfast,
sat at starbucks and spoke about
how some species are taking over the world,
and gave evil eyes to people hogging the newspapers (until we got our paws on them).


when we finally went back down to the basement at noon,
the queue had already formed and it was two sections long.
i had a lot of time to plot the death of the wrong-info staff.



we squatted very unglamly every now and then,
paid no heed to stuck-on-the-wall signs,
and provided the rest in the line with better entertainment than channel 8.
then frika came out to join in the fun,
and jenn went a little mad...



she worked his mane into various styles,
turned him real gay,
and hung him to her waist.
then, he sprouted wings,
and she gave him a makeover:



we were whiny and tired and more than a tad crazed
by the time we crossed the great black sea
and got to the first section of the queue.
finally, after a two-hour wait,
we got to the front!



donuts donuts many many donuts!
we walked away smugly with our 6 orange boxes,
sashayed past people in the queue,
had din tai fung with 72 donuts,
and headed over to normanton to take photos of our loot.


i think donuts look better than they taste.
the mocha and peanut butter ones were quite yummy though.


i was then forced to play mahjong coz they needed a fourth,
and with beginner's luck and some help from nicky,
i won 6 bucks. woohoo!



louis came home and saved me from another round of dongnanxibeh,
so i went for a swim
and frika had a chat with sperm and the other animals in the house.


now jenn's going to adopt a tiger
and name him tikka
and tikka and frika are going to be best mates.
yay.

chicken nut bread


i ken nut sleep.


the bad thing about waking up at 4pm,
is trying to go to bed at 2am,
and still be up tossing and turning at 4.30am.


i need to get my body clock back on SIN time.
i need to eat less.
i need to exercise more.
i need to go for physio, my shoulder's hurting me.


the birdies outside my window should shut their beaks -
who the hell has lengthy conversations so early in the morning?!


"ok little lion...i'll talk to you later"
sometimes he returns to haunt me
and i let my guard down.
just for a little while.

my brush with (almost) royalty

turned out the blairs were staying in my hotel
during their visit to joburg.
we had to wait for their motorcade to depart
before our lowly bus could move on and send us to the airport.

only caught a glimpse of tony
as he came out of the hotel and got right into his carriage.
cherie, however, had to walk past our bus
to get to her jag......


(i am quite lousy a paparazzo)
my window was opened and, since she looked up,
i said hello when she went by me.
she smiled and hello-ed me back =)

in other news, gracie and i were brave and tried the new whatever drink:


we got something that tasted like terribly sweet green tea.

i brought frika to mee pok yesterday
and introduced him to gracie, milan,
and half of the people on the upper deck of bus 14


so cute.

i brought my mac to the doc's
and was told that applecare won't cover the cost of its operation
and i'd have to fork out, or try to get insurance to pay,
the more-than-one-thousand-dollars that will be needed.
bad apple!
my mac'll have to bear with its horrible scar for now.