Day Trip

Last Tue, we made a trip to JB. We used to drive there so often 5 years ago... so regularly that on some evenings we would just get in to have dinner after work.

What triggered this visit was the intention to replenish my skincare products.

I've switched to Vichy Normaderm after our last trip to KL. One of them was running out & I thought of replenishing & getting other products of the same range. Since I bought it more than 35% cheaper in KL, thought we could get the same in JB.

As we didn't dare to drive in, we took a bus. The new JB checkpoint is much more convenient & the walk to City Square is a hassle-free one.

For this trip, since it's a short 1, we just moved around within City Square. Had lunch at Kinsahi Japanese Restaurant which used to be our favourite restaurant as it's cheap & good. Previously it's only in Pelangi but now they've got quite a few outlets including 1 in City Square. But standard has dropped, except for their grape smoothie was still as good, & the prices increased, so guess that would be the last time we patronised them should we go in again.

After lunch, we had dessert. Always treat ourselves to Baskin Robbins ice cream (pistachio almond is our fav!) whenever we're in Malaysia:)

Vichy products are only sold at 2 locations in JB & thankfully, 1 of them is City Square's Watsons. However, the range I was looking for was mostly sold out & seemed like the prices had increased too though still cheaper than in Spore. Good that there's a 20% discount storewide so we paid almost the same price as in KL. But sadly, I only managed to grab 2 products:( Saved a good S$30+ on these 2....

Glad to see quite a few new stores there (new to us as we haven't been there for years) like Etude House, Skin Food,...

Replenished my Tea Tree Emulsion cleanser which is much cheaper there (savings of S$6!). Also bought a Peach Sake BB Cream which isn't even selling in Spore yet. I've asked when back & was told it'd only be sold here in mid Dec. I guess it's also cheaper, @ S$18+, than in Spore.


Had an early dinner @ Kim Gary Restaurant. It's funny that we've never dined in there before given that we've been to KL many times. Not in Spore too.

This shall be our regular restaurant when we go to JB:) Cheap... approx S$7 for a generous set meal.

Hubby's set meal - sausages + fried chicken & spaghetti with garlic sauce. His egg was without yolk!

His yolk's actually in my bowl of mushroom rice! Hubby gave it to me... hee!

Though only a 3-quarter day trip, it's a fruitful one for us (yes, esp for me:P).

Hubby is happy with his only purchase, a pair of shoes from Seeds @ S$20+ after a 70% discount.
As for me, on top of those skincare & cosmetics products, hubby bought me 3 pairs of shoes! :D

We shall go in again. Not sure when though as we've been really busy settling stuff regarding our new place.

It's Christmas Time in the City

Yesterday we went shopping in Orchard. Also bought some small decors for where we're staying now to make the place more Christmassy. :)

On Mission

These recent months, I've seen a few programs about celebrities going on trips to do charity/voluntary works.

I've gone on a similar trip as well. That's 10 years ago & a mission trip to Chiangmai organised by my ex church... a really eye opening 1 for me.

A visit to the slum in Chiangmai city on the day of our arrival.
Tip given: to walk through the area in high alert mode as security within was very low. Also not to peep into the squats as strangers were usually not welcome.
Looking at the living condition, I really couldn't imagine if I were to stay there. We're so blessed.

The 1st day's activities were pretty light as by the time we arrived & settled down, it's already in the afternoon.

On the 2nd day, we had a crash course on Thai culture - what were the to-dos & taboos.. & spent some time in learning some basic words to get us around. The most interesting part gotta be the practical "test". We're split in small groups & being brought to a wet market. Each group was given a fix amount of bahts & a list of items to buy that were needed to prepare for the evening's dinner. So we had to use the newly learnt language to get the required items & if it's more than the amount we're given, we had to bargain. It's fun & a great way to learn a language. It's also useful for my subsequent work trips to Bangkok when I shopped ;)

Besides paying visits to some pastors/mission schools/missionaries... to know more about the mission field in Chiangmai & to pray for them, we travelled to a few interesting places ....

At the Agape Home.
It's an orphanage but not a normal one. This was home for those children with HIV/AIDS. Their parents had either died of HIV/AIDS or were unable/too ill to take care of their children. And some were abandoned babies. Precautions we took - cover all open wounds with a plaster. We could carry the babies but had to be more careful of their movements & not to be scratched. We truly admired the founder & the baby sitters who had so much love for these babies.

We went to the Street Kids Home. These kids, age ranging from 4 to 16 years old, were abandoned by their parents. Some were even formerly sold to syndicates which used them to beg for money on the streets.

We're travelling up in songthaew (meaning 2 rows) to a church in a minority tribe.... if I don't remember wrongly, it's or related to the Miao tribe.

The road was like this all the way up. When we reached, one of the guys wiped his face with tissue & turned out to be brown. We then realised it's the same for all of us! Apparently our foundation that day was the soil.

I was teaching the kids some songs.



Game time.

Our last stop was Mae Hong Son.
Crossing rivers & bridges to the Shan Village, located in the mountain, just next to the border of Myanmar. The community there was made up of Burmese refugees.

A closed school

You won't believe that.... this was home for the lil boy & his mum.

Another one.

Seeing the condition of these homes, even the shabbiest one in Spore would be a haven to them.

Trekking down to visit more people

We organised a 'carnival' for the villagers. That night, we brought much happiness to them especially the children.

When we're leaving, all of them formed a line to bid us farewell.

This place, comparatively in a much better condition than those we visited, was where we spent 2 nights. The whole place was made of straws including the flooring & elevated by lots of bamboos. The arrangement was all guys in 1 room & all girls in another. But straws didn't block out any sound at all, so much so that when one of the guys snored, all of us could hear it so well that as if the noise was right next to you! And when 1 walked past, the noise of the straws travelled the entire place. And it's sooo cold! But we're all thankful enough to have such an experience.
(* Both of us were busy playing with a very cute lil kitten)

A group pic before we left

In these 10 days, I've gained lots... & somehow that year's Christmas, which was 2 weeks after we returned, had an added meaning too.

3 Weddings in 1 Month

3 Oct, Cousin Kelvin's (Daddy's youngest bro's son) wedding banquet @ Hyatt.

30 Oct, J's (ex-colleague from PwC) wedding banquet @ Furama River Front. All pictures are with another ex-colleague, who's taking ages to circulate.

1 Nov, Cousin Ann's (Mum's 5th younger sis' eldest daughter) wedding banquet @ M Hotel.

Our wallet has gone on a "crash diet".. 3 ang paos in a month. Hmmmm.

A Lovely Evening

Capella Singapore

On Tues, we had our 4th Anniversary dinner at Capella Singapore, in Sentosa.

This is 1 of the bungalows built in 1880s during the British colonisation which now become a luxury hotel after restoration & extension.

Free parking! We're happy that the first thing that greeted us was a good one:)

The Knolls, where we had dinner. This obviously not taken by me as it's already 80% dark when we arrived.

Hubby was "studying" the menu while I was snapping away...

Tried to capture the nice view before the sun set - the pool & the South China Sea

My hot honey with lemon slices. The waitress offered me this drink when she knew I was having a bad throat & cough. She even replenished the honey for me. We're very impressed by the personalised service & even more when we realised that it's complimentary.

The attentive waitress volunteered to take some pix for us & even told us where to stand to get the best view. But it's too dim to see the pool & the South China Sea.

Hubby's order - Sliced Beef Bistecca. Appparently it's a good choice & a generous portion was served.

My order which was a wrong one - Chicken Makhani. Thought it's some Western cuisine :(

Very good service. We actually wanted to order desserts together with the main course but were advised by the waitress to take our mains first & see if we still could take in desserts thereafter. Not pushy at all. And it's like a private dining as each table (6-seater) is sectioned & you have a choice to keep the doors opened for the breathtaking views. Interesting.

We chose the Dessert Tasting that allowed us to select 4 types of desserts from the menu.

After desserts, we're invited for a tea sampling session. This invitation is extended to all their dining guests every evening.
We had Straits Chai - a spiced & very perfumed tea. So good after a meal. I like!:)

At the end of our dinner, we're billed for only our mains, hubby's Kilkenny & the dessert. Besides the assortment of bread, my continuous supply of hot honey with lemon, the rich serving of belinjau cracker with belachan dip throughout dinner & the spiced tea were complimentary.

After dinner, we took a stroll around the hotel.

At the outdoors of Bob's Bar. Too bad I wasn't fit for any alcohol that day. But hubby promised to bring me back there for drinks;).. in the late afternoon perhaps, so we can enjoy the picturesque view while chilling out...

A long flight of stairs in white. We imagined the classic scene of a bride gracefully walking down the stairs to her guests... Hee...

The evening would even have been better if we could be there earlier & if I wasn't ill.
But it was still a very lovely one with hubby :)

It's our 4th Anniversary!

4 years of marriage & we're still honeymooning stage :)

We'll have a small celebration this evening. Looking forward to it!

After The Move. I.

So we moved out of our 1st home end of Aug. The handover of keys was on 3 Sept, took place @ the lawyer's office.

Shifted in to Aunt GS' on the same day we moved out.

Then exactly 2 weeks after we stayed @ Aunt GS', we're on the move gain. I wasn't very comfortable there mainly due to the location. It's sure near town, in Upper Thomson, but there's a shelterless walk of about 10mins from their house to the bus-stop. And the room was a lil small for the both of us & our belongings.

Which means before we could get settled down, next move was in the plan. And it's no joke to have to carry 10 boxes of belongings amongst others (yes, TEN boxes along with a big luggage & many other loose items. We've underestimated ourselves as initially I thought we could do with just 5-6 boxes during these 4-5 months) up the long flight of stairs & then down within 2 weeks especially we didn't wanna cause any damage to their wood flooring.

But we did gain something during those 2 weeks. We got to know Aunt GS better as there're nights we chatted till past midnight. Wouldn't have the chance if we weren't staying with them.

Where we're staying now is an interesting place. It houses Uncle CH's China girlfriend, Con who's moved out of her place & us, who're homeless for a few months. Ivan onced joked "Welcome to the 避风港!". Haha.

But it wasn't that easy for us to move in. It's a flat passed down by Vincent's late grandparents which is now under the care of their children (Vince's uncles & aunts). For the last couple of years, the flat was like a dumping ground, keeping all kinds of big & small items by everyone. Which was why we didn't take it into consideration when we're looking for a temporary place to stay. Then recently, Uncle CH spent some money to renovate & refurnish the place for his girlfriend, who's just moved to Spore, to stay. Con took the 2nd room. The 3rd room naturally became a 2nd storage including an old divan set previously used by Vince's grandpa, 2 drawer chests, a wardrobe & many miscellaneous stuff. So firstly, with the agreement of all uncles & aunties, we made arrangement to donate the mattress to a halfway home & the town council to dispose the divan. Then we cleared the store room so we could shift as many items from the room to the store as possible. But obviously the 5-door wardrobe & the 2 chests couldn't be accomodated & they're all stuffed with things & also, they're in very old condition. Thankfully, the walls were painted, windows were changed & there's air-con. So we just gotta think of some DIY ways to try to make it more livable yet being able to keep our loads of stuff with a smaller area due to the old furniture.

After clearing the room except these 3 'antiques'

The new look after a small scale makeover.
The white 3-drawer chest was quite a catch from Ikea @ only $89 for short term storage.

Tis our cozy lil room for 4-5 months.

The favourite item in this room is this piece of cloth I bought from Spotlight. It conceals a small wooden & cloth drawers we took with us from our old home. Wanted to dispose it after transporting our stuff but glad that we didn't. It serves a good purpose now to store the miscellaneous items that we use regularly.
But I'm so over the yellow wood kind of furniture, this cloth was hence bought.

And we retrieved our mattress & TV from the warehouse

Situation like this, we'll go to Ikea for some fast & cheap solutions.
Spent a few hundreds & just 3 days in getting the room ready:
- curtains from Ikea $57
- fabrics from Spotlight (to conceal the old furniture) $80
- clothes hangers (with rollers) $70
- drawer chest from Ikea $90
- table lamp from Ikea $20
- toyogo boxes $50
- retrieval & delivery of mattress & tv $50

We really thank God that we got helping hands along the way.. most primarily, we're thankful that the place was revamped just in time. Then Con volunteered to help us with the move from Aunt GS. And when hubby's overwhelmed by all the assembling of racks & cabinet, Ben came to our rescue & he's really good at it.

So now, we're like staying in a hostel with a few housemates & it's the very first time for me. Besides some getting used to, it's certainly a better place to stay for the next few months.

What an experience..

Mum's 七十大寿 Celebration

End Aug, mum celebrated her 70th Birthday amidst the busy packing which got a lil overwhelming as it's getting nearer & nearer to the move. I'd say it's quite a good break from those packing chores.

Dinner was @ a Chinese restaurant in The Chevrons. A bit far but food was generally ok. And had the chance to catch up with the cousins & got some juicy news.. hehe ;)

Crab coated with salted egg. Nice! The crab claws were big & stuffed with fresh crab meat:)

Movie

We've been going for movies every weekend. Sometimes 1 show, sometimes 2.

This afternoon, we watched 500 Days of Summer at GV Grand. I was chewing pop corns for more than half of the movie. Shortly after I finished the pop corns, I dozed off ! And I've never slept in cinema before....

Then I woke up, just in time to catch the last bit of the show. I must have looked funny, if the gal next to me did notice, there I was busy eating pop corns half the time, the next minute when I wasn't eating, I fell asleep... hmmm.

Glad that the movie was free.

Last Sat's wedding dinner @ Hyatt

Was a nice one... a rare get-together for us all @ the youngest counsin's wedding dinner.

A pic with the cousins & sis :)

Group pic. This crowd is only less than one-third of the complete family.

Hubby was actually on standby for recall that day but thank God that it's not activated. So glad that hubby could attend the first wedding dinner with me (my side of relatives). 1 Nov will be another first with my maternal relatives :)