it's just not fair


meeting someone, falling for someone,
discovering that you can live with that someone,
that he might just be THE one.

then finding out that you're not the only one he's treating special.

meeting someone, being friends with someone,
knowing that he's a "good catch",
that he will always look out for you.

yet missing that special connection.


the ways and means God toys with me.

mussels in brussels


hamsterdam the second time round,
and i had everything all planned out for immediately after i touched down.

a quick shower and a skip and a hop on to a bus,
to begin a day-long tour to belgium.
we started off in antwerp,
finally getting there after a long and restless bus ride
that the guide spent pecking relentless on my tired eardrums
with her sharp and booming voice.


there was a festival going on in antwerp,
so there were balloons aplenty and a little pasar malam in the square.
the architecture there is amazing -
the towering buildings,
the glitter of the statues on the guild houses,
the looming clock tower of the church...


lit two candles in the church.
world peace.

out and about, spending precious minutes exploring the town,
we stopped to take away coffee from a busy sandwich shop.
we ordered mochas,
the guy said ok!
we got espressos instead.
a bench on the sidewalk became our spot
to make the coffee more drinkable (lots of milk and sugar).
i finished it in a gulp.


we also had a taste of the best fries in the world:


there were many many sauces to choose from,
so we left it up to the owner of the shop.
he decided that we look like his special spicy mayo,
so that was what we had and it was YUM.

onwards to brussels which was an hour's drive away.
we stopped for a photo-op at the atomium,
and were fascinated by the world's biggest iron atom.


the journey from there and through the little streets of brussels
was a whole load of "on your left, on your right, far away, behind that little tree" etc.
we took whatever photos we could
and gave up on even remembering the names of what we shot.

the most exciting moment was when our driver had difficulties maneuvering
our bigass double-decker bus through one of the narrow roads
lined on both sides, and at corners, by many cars,
and a squealing police car got stuck right behind us all the way through
and we could see men handcuffed in its back seat.

felt a bit like we were in a movie!


brussels was having a music festival or something
so i took a shot with the stage before moving on to more important stuff
like the manneken pis.


the world famous peeing boy that everyone flocks to take a peek at is TINY.
plus he wasn't naked coz apparently, they dress him up,
and change his outfit everyday.
responsible parenting indeed.

of course, once that was done,
all we cared about was filling our rumbling tummies.
we settled down in a cafe,
and attacked a big pot of mussels
before i went on to devour a rabbit
that will never hop again.


washed all that down with a belgium waffle
coated with a generous helping of chocolate sauce.
*burp*

the rest of the tour was even more "to the left to the left"
so that was that.
antwerp, checked. brussels, checked. YAY.

the next day started with pancakes and a cuppa,
following which i wandered the streets in searching of a globe,
and fell into a garden of flowers...


spent the rest of the afternoon in the van gogh museum,
leisurely admiring his amazing work,
and rounded the day off with a delicious slab of ribs at castell.
i amsterdam.

woman of leisure


been spending my days and nights
eating, drinking and merrymaking
when not working like a dog.

a night of randomness,
of driving from adam road to holland,
hunting for pulut hitam to satisfy chen liping's craving.
of bumping into louis-san and supermarket shopping together.
of french onion soup and lemon-orange tart making class back at normanton.
of a little dose of qian
and of reuniting with gingerbreadman and kangadick.






a day in the sun and in murky waters,
in a bikini and in board shorts.
in a boat and in lifejackets.
in heaven and in pain.






pictures above all courtesy of mun's slr

gracie's birthday tea at house.
yummy beef stuff and yucky cakes.
too much champagne and
a fugly dempsey fountain thing.
photos, food and cheers.




a piece of my life in still.

clearing my backlog of photos


i'm back from lausanne
where i had four whole days with my little sissy
and we ate and ate and ate.
photos when i've got them sorted out.

a while back, the girls (and one boy)
came over to my new place coz we had nothing better to do.
we spent the night by the pool/playground,
ate cheesecakes and cheese tara,
and took a lot of photos in the reading lounge.


a while back, i watched the simpsons movie.
and took photos with the crew:


a while back, i went on a roadtrip in london.
we rented a car with (thank god) gps,
still got kinda lost many-a-times
(i think would have been better if sharon or i had driven),
and went to see piles of stones.


what the fascination with stonehenge is, i still don't know.
those stones can't talk, can't move, and you can't even touch them.
but can taketh pretty pictures there
coz the sky's nice.
i can find sky anywhere.

we got lost some more after that
before reaching bath
which is such a lovely lovely town
that i wanted to be wife of bath
(but with only one husband).


the "famous" fish and chips there is nothing to chirp about though.


i wanted to lie on a patch of grass
and laze till the sun goes into hiding.

on to take a peek at windsor castle after that,
since it's on the way back to central london.
the castle's magnificent
but we could only gawk at it from outside
coz we only got there after opening hours.


no royal sightings, unfortunately.

thanks to miss gps, we got back safe and sound,
went for a hearty meal of favorite bayswater duck rice,
and a good night's sleep
before more duck rice the next afternoon,
and a shopping day out with sharon
that yielded a ridiculously pricey
but will-bring-much-happiness loot.
yay.

smartypanties


the family spent an afternoon at the istana a few weeks ago,
and didn't meet the president.
instead, we sat through an award ceremony,
and watched my sis receive her psc scholarship.
the awardees put up a rather amusing skit,
and a few touching songs that left many in the hall tearing.
we also met and took photos with two very tall ministers.


nabnab also left for switzerland that night
to much fanfare at the airport.
it seems like it wasn't all that long ago
when i was the one heaving all those bags
and heading off alone for my studies.

after we got rid of her,
the cousins went upstairs to breeks for a late-night snack.
and fawn, if you look at the photo on the bottom right corner of the previous collage,
that's van, sam and kane attacking a massive chocolate/cookies and cream creation.
muahaha

i went off to osaka a day after that,
and spent a whole lot of time at namba
which is this huge shopping area
and, according to the japanese stewardess,
quite a dodgy many-lupsup-karaoke/many-drunk-cheekohpeks place.


it was so brightly lit and vibrant at night,
and i saw, for the first time, vending machines that dispensed tickets
for bowls of ramen!
i wandered around till i got hungry,
then popped into a quaint little restaurant
for some delicious hotpot udon.


walked my dinner off and did a little shopping after that,
and tasted a yummy chocolate crepe
that was just perfect for dessert.


like amsterdam, many people ride bicycles here
and there were bikes everywhere!
on the way back to my hotel at the close of the night,
i also walked past a yakitori stand,
and a pet shop where i fell in love with a little pup.


the guy at the pet shop doesn't speak english,
so we had a lot of difficulties communicating.
but he let me cradle the sweet chihuahua
and i wanted to put her in my bag and bring her back. =(

most of the next day was spent in namba again,
coz i decided not to check out the universal studios
or gion since they were both pretty far out.
i had lunch in another jap restaurant,
and this time, had refreshing soba and tempura.
bought my muji cabin bag after that
before taking a train back to the hotel


met up with three japanese girls in the evening
who very kindly played hostess
and brought me to check out the tenjin festival.
if i'm not wrong, this is a festival to celebrate the sky god.


there were many people wearing japanese traditional costumes
and i was so tempted to buy one and join in the fun.
pasar malam-like stalls lined the streets,
little tykes tried catching fish with thin paper nets,
and food stalls aplenty sold stuff like doraemon/pikachu puffs
and other japanese-y delights.




we went back to namba for dinner
and i had a taste of the food osaka is most famed for:
okonomiyaki and takoyaki.

yum.

i'm off to lausanne tonight,
to courier stuff to my sis
and spend a few days gallivanting with her.
yay!

sometimes, it still hurts


worse than any physical pain.

amsterdamn!


touched down, checked in, showered,
and onto the bus i went.
time waits for no man/woman.

i went on the super grand tour that kicked off
with a visit to de zaanse schans -
a windmill village with quaint green houses.
we popped into the home of a clog-maker
and were shown the art of whittling wood into footwear.


my tour guide held a tulip-umbrella (ella ella eh eh eh) up
so we won't get lost.
she looked like a flowery mary poppins.

from there, we bussed on to a little farmhouse
where cheese is still made the traditional way.
there were rows and rows of cheese for us to sample
and i bought back a block of old cow cheese.

moving on to the old fishing village of volendam,
we had a fish and chips lunch by the waters,
sat on a long, slanting slanting bench,
and hopped on a boat to bring us across to another village, marken.


at marken, a little old lady dressed in traditional attire
opened her house to us and showed us a typical old-school dutch home.
it was little, like the lady.
a languid stroll through marken
brought us pass many quaint green houses
with lovely gardens and beautiful window displays.


from marken, we drove on to the city of delft,
"a well-preserved town steeped in history",
and visited a delft factory to learn how delft blue pottery is made.


on the way to madurodam after that,
we went by the hague and caught glimpses of the houses of parliament,
the peace palace, and various embassies.

i prefer seeing all those "important places" in miniature:


the tiny town of madurodam is so small it's amazing.
the amount of detail that went into creating this miniature world
must have given many people headaches and bad eyesight.


i fifyfofum-ed my way through the exhibits
and managed not to crush anything (too badly),
or scare the tiny townspeople away.


of course, one of the main attractions of madurodam
is the miniature singapore airlines aircraft:


i wished that there were real, mini people sitting inside,
whom i can frighten by staring into the windows.
"omg i saw an eyeball fly by!!!!!"

vivid imagination caused by severe lack of sleep

the bus ride back to amsterdam isn't anything to talk about,
but my journey to the dark side after that is!
or should i say bright side? since i went to the famed red light district!


sorry to disappoint but scantily-clad, flabby and ugly women
shouted at me fiercely when i tried to take photos of them.
i managed to catch one of them posing at a window,
but you might lose your appetite (and everything inside you) if i post it up.

the next day i spent wandering aimlessly through the streets of amsterdam,
getting out of the way of bicycles - a major mode of transport here
(so major they have 3-storey bike parking complexes).


the flowers were gorgeous though there weren't any tulips in bloom,
and yes, there really are shops selling magic mushrooms and weed
and all things high.


i ended the day sitting at a little cafe by the river,
sipping my cappuccino, munching on profiteroles,
and watching the world float by.

another amsterdam coming up in a couple of weeks
and i've got a road trip to belgium (antwerp and brussels) all planned for then.
woohoo!