Geography

Only today I realise that Russia is the biggest country in the world. Canada is the second.

This map is right in front of me every day but it's only today that I took a good look at it.

I know Russia is a transcontinental country but never did I know that it extends all the way from (Europe) Norway... Finland... Ukarine... Turkey... to (Central Asia) Kazakhstan... Mongolia then (Asia, or East Asia) China... & finally North Korea. It's very close to Japan & the US (Alaska) too. And I used to think it only connected to Finland, Kazakhstan & Mongolia.

I am so ignorant..

After I returned..

Hubby & this cute lil balloon welcomed me at the airport

I thought he got me flowers again when I saw he hid his hands behind. True enough, I received a stalk of lovely blue rose but the lead was actually the balloon.... he never fails to give me small surprises every now & then :)

Woke up 11ish the next day & I craved for buffet, as if I didn't have enough in Bangkok with the daily buffet lunch (not that I've much choices... there were only foodcourt & the buffet restaurant in the exhibition premise). But it's totally different to have it alone & with our loved ones.

So we had hi-tea @ Equinox & indulged in a great time after the 4-day separation.

I like how my SE K810i performs in the dusk

K: "Huh..?? I thought you said peel longan for me?"

V: "I am ah Baobei... just now disturb you only lah...hehe.."

Next stop: Central Mall.

Our first visit & we're not impressed. We don't fancy shopping malls that span vertically.

Sidetracking... I bought a white short-sleeve shirt dress @ Central Mall & am so looking forward to wearing it. But before I could even put it on for once, the dark brown color of the collar & sleeve rims ran so terribly that the whole white dress was stained. According to mum who tried to wash it for me yesterday, once she soaked into the plain water (without detergent), the color spread immediately. I AM SO SAD.

Sunday... attended the baptism service of Vince's uncle (owner of our bridal car). Then went to Justina's & had my regular mani/pedi @ Far East Plaza. Just these activities took up the whole day.

Bangkok Trip

On Tue (11/9) I reached Bangkok at noon, then at the hotel more than an hour later. My intention was to get everything settled quickly (including a swift hello to Alain & others) so I could do some shopping... though I had no particular item in mind to buy. As the next day would be the exhibition all the way till Sunday (10am - 6pm) plus this time round I stayed at Shangri-La by the Chao Phraya River (not near shopping area), I would have no time to walk around after work.

However, dear Alain wanted to meet for a late lunch at the lobby lounge. I wasn't hungry but thought there's work stuff to be discussed. So I just took a drink while they ordered some food & it turned out to be just casual chatting. Anyway, even if I knew beforehand it wasn't for work, would be rude to decline. Fortunately it lasted only an hour.

To avoid traffic congestion, I chose to take the skytrain to MBK as the station (Saphan Taksin) was conveniently next to the hotel. A wise choice indeed as I reached in 20mins... the journey could have taken 1 hour if I were to go by taxi. And for the subsequent days, skytrain had become my only means of transport between hotel & shopping malls.

So I officially started shopping at 4pm & when I was done @ 9pm, I got the following......

• 3 pairs of fake lashes


• 2 tubes of lash glue


• 1 bag


• 3 shirts (for hubby)


• 3 pairs of pants


• 4 blouses


• 2 G-strings

............ & S$250 spent.

In 5 hours I'd combed MBK, Siam Centre, Discovery Centre & the numerous big/small shops & boutiques in Siam Square. I bought all the 3 pants in a shop.. 2 of the same design but in black & in beige. Like said before, it's difficult for me to find pants that suit me well. So I was amazed that those I found in this particular shop fit me perfectly. And they are not ex, @ S$36 each. Glad I didn't buy 1 similar pair of black pants just a day before I left for Bangkok that costs $90+.

Wed, we left the exhibition site half an hour earlier... it's so quiet that we're convinced we wouldn't miss anything by leaving earlier & reached hotel about 6.15pm. Since I had a lil more time, I went to MBK, Discovery Centre again & then Siam Paragon. Bought a top from MBK's Tokyu, shoes from Discovery Centre & FANCL Perfect Slim drink Ex from Siam Paragon, with a cost saving of S$28.50 (S$43 in Bkk, S$71.50 in FANCL Spore). Also stock up on the 'female necessity' from Watson's. Each save more than S$2 & I bought 5 or 6 packs. Lastly, a Kanebo-Kate Designing Eyebrow palette, from Watson's too.

Thurs I left the exhibition at 4pm as I gotta change the top I bought the previous night. Realised it's too big when I tried again back in hotel. No more shopping for me.

And what about the exhibition?

They took turns to doze off. Me? Kept myself occupied with chips & drinks. There weren't many visitors at the exhibition.

Killing time.... Pascal is a very funny & playful man.... and never left me alone during the exhibition.

Evidence! He's making fun of me again.

Dinner with the group on Thurs night @ Mandarin Oriental's Sala Rim Naam. I've been there with Vince but we took the outdoor terrace seats instead.

Opposite me was George's (in checked shirt) wife, Orga, & it's her first visit to Asia. She's a very very friendly Brazilian who tried to speak French (mixed Portuguese) with me for the entire night. They're surprised I could understand, though not all of the sentences she said (which were A LOT). George acted as the very-limited-English interpreter whenever I appeared to be lost in space.

After the traditional cultural dance

On Fri, I went directly from the exhibition to airport in the afternoon & flew home. Yeah!

Weeks 36 & 37

Hubby attended his company's event on 7th Sept. They're given half a day off... so they could have ample time to prepare..... how nice. Though I started to get busy since the beginning of September, managed to take half a day to be with hubby.. that's a last minute decision as I saw my work was moving ok.

Seldom see my honey in suit. He looked good!

As for me, I took the chance to catch up with friends. Was to have dinner with my primary school classmates, PY & Esther, but Esther's dad passed away a few days before our meeting. So it's just going to MG's for some drinks before meeting TM later in the night for another round. But TM dropped a rain check at the last minute. I gotta be understanding as his dad just passed away in end July (yes sadly... the passing of another dad) & his mum's needs are of course the top priority. Since I was all prepared, I went ahead to meet MG & we had quite a bit of catching up. As hubby finished much earlier than expected, I only managed to have a short one.

Settled quite a few things during the weekend, including getting a new phone. My line was due for a 2-year upgrade & we happened to come across a good deal which was on for only a few days - $184 for a Sony Ericsson K810i. I was considering this phone 2 months ago (which eventually got the S500i instead) because of its 3.2mp camera but the thought of having to pay $500+ stopped us from buying. Been using it for more than 2 weeks & I'm a happy girl! So far it's the best among the string of phones I've had for the past 1 - 2 years... no lagging, good reception, clearer pix, .... Hope this will stay with me for a long time.

I like it in Golden Ivory

After a busy day in office on Mon, we cozied up & had an intimate dinner @ Ma Maison (their HQ is in Japan) in Parco that serves Japanese-western food before I left for my Bangkok trip. This used to be one of my fav meet-up places for a few years, be it personal or business lunch, as I like the English cottage interior & ambience. This is a great place for dates especially for lunch as there aren't many restaurants that are romantic enough in the day yet won't burn a hole in the pocket (they serve set lunches @ around $13).
By chance we enjoyed a 20% discount on total bill as every Monday is ladies' night (even Vince as a male got the 20%... not bad right? hee..).

Taken from the internet

Great buy of the month

On the eve of national day, we went for the midnight shopping at Suntec/Raffles City. It's an unplanned program as we didn't even know of it beforehand.


Out of the few items we bought (honestly I can't really remember what are they now but we went a lil berserk that night over the National Day sale everywhere), guess this should be one of the great buys, if not the best:


It's on a 1-for-1 sale storewide. And I got another watch of the same value. The watch is still selling at the same price now but of course without the 1-for-1 offer.

Interest

Modifying our car has been hubby's passion. Perhaps I should say beautify because all that's been done only concern the appearance of the car (except for the speakers). He doesn't see the need to enhance its performance (phew!).. at least not now. At present stage, being able to drive 黑仔 is already more than we ask for.

Spot the difference?

See below for answers.

1) 6" sun shade on windscreen. Did it on the first Sunday in August at this shop in Ubi (opp TP station) which also did the car sticker for our Rio. The guy is favoredly called Johnson & well-known for doing Jackie Chan's car in one of the movies years back.

2) "Mugen-inspired" door visors. Purchased online (I think?) & DIYed by hubby.

3) Sports rim & low profile tires, up 1 size. According to hubby, it's for practicality too (more stable when cornering).

4) Covered the chrome strips, front & rear.

Still learning to appreciate hubby's interest. He's noticed I'm more & more receptive as compared to the first few times I came in contact with his ideas (with our Rio) & didn't understand why one must "zeng" his car.

Now I even discuss & comment with him about other cars. He's always been so supportive of my likes, it's just right for me to reciprocate.

Well, next in the list might be changing the head & tail lights to black altezza lights... that's if it's (1) approved & (2) available for our model which so far we can't find any (guess only for sporty cars?).

Long Silence

Reasons for my disappearance :

* This 10-cm thick of info was the result of extensive online & hardcopy (newspapers) search.

* Read all of the above.

* Wrote summarised reports on Southeast Asian & each individual ASEAN countries.

* Did slides for the completed reports.

All done in 10 days.

Left for Bangkok on 11 Sept morning as we had a big booth at an (extremely boring) exhibition.
Thank God I didn't need to be involved in the preps at all.
Back on 14 Sept night.

Am now rushing the remaining segment (maritime/logistics) & some statistics. I hope I can get by this week quickly, yet I wish today is still monday so there's more time to do my reports. Sigh.