The Great Affair Is To Move

12 DEC - 21 DEC 2015 /

It's alr 2018, but I just have to post this video log I did up for the Europe trip I took with adeline exactly two years back hahaha WHYYY SOOO SLOWWW you might ask - well, the idea of recording memories in the form of moving images only rubbed off on me from Sis back in 2015 (my first vlog was actually of my Bali trip in that same year!) but somehow, I managed to drag off the whole thing for two full years before feeling like Im ready to take on this mega editing work

There were 186 videos to filter through (close to 50 minutes of raw footages) but it had been a nice trip down memory lane as I went through the videos one by one - like how we were at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland playing this bumper car and adeline went "can you control ???! you're not driving ... we're just kena getting bumped" HAHAHA and how when I entered the first gallery room in the Louvre Museum I was so enchanted by the gold intricacy and lavishness of the royal palace I was like "我觉得我欣赏不完"

Hope you enjoy this 2mins video!! The full one is actually 10mins long, but this one I post up is of those clips that haven't been negotiable and I hope in the year ahead I document memories well and experience them even better (:

Shall do up a 2017 highlights post over the weekend, xx

Vietnam_Part Two

Needless to say, both of us got really charred shoulders and SUPER DUPER muscles aches from the Sapa trek so much so that I forgo the dress I brought along (with every initial intention to pose pretty for the seas and sand dunes in it) Also, going up or down a couple of stairs were enough to make us groan like old ladies (we practically slimmed down overnight thankz to the trek) 

Checked into The Cliff Resort & Residences after a four hours drive from Cam Ranh International Airport - our car drove past beach resorts just next to each other and we were like "omg we should have chosen this for our accommodation instead!!" (everything looked so pretty from the outside you know) until the driver turned left and The Cliff came into view I GOT DUMBFOUNDED this place was definitively more high-end than the other pretty beach resorts we were just gushing over a while ago, it got to be the superlative resort in that area and I questioned myself "do we really need to stay in such a darn good place"

^ Forgive me, I folded my shorts coz it was too loose lol bitch much ?????

Obviously, our sand dunes photos damn phail and the terrain was so painful to walk on with fine sands prickling at your ankles from just the smallest picking up of winds (we could have taken the ATV but we did not) but it was nice choosing souvenirs at stores prolly a twenty minutes walk from The Cliff (yes, we chose to walk even tho we had every excuse not to coz MUSCLE ACHES) And then, Sis probably would have enjoyed the walk along the coastline and the walk into the sunset ... with her bf hahaha

OUR LAST STOP - It was alr 2pm by the time we arrived at Saigon via Vietnam Bus Tickets (five hours drive from Mui Ne to Saigon) Strong bkk vibez in Saigon - we had the nicest vietnamese food at Den Long (10/10 would recommend this place) the food actually tasted as flavorful as it looks in the pictures (: And the shopping scene there had been much more existential than I thought it would be - not as cheap as bkk, but the styles they carry were more varied and unique and less wholesale! And there's a PMQ equivalent here in Saigon called The Cafe Apartments - the kind of hipster place you would defo want to check out for the food and shopping ~ More shopping at Icon68 which hadn't really been intended for, but it was too early to be back at our dorm and yet we needed some place to wait out the storm SO WHY NOT

[x] shrimp and pork spring rolls
[x] potato pork cakes
[x] grilled chicken sauteed w/ 5 different seasonings
[x] seafood fried rice
[x] vietnamese coffee w/ condensed milk (cold)

Our last day of the trip had been a short one - mostly doing touristy things like shopping for souvenirs at Ben Thanh Market (be prepared for prices to be jacked up tenfold SIAO ONE JUST BARGAIN), taking pics in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, and writing postcards from a McD nearby before mailing them out at Saigon Central Post Office (omg it's a beauty and for someone who loves sending postcards to friends from overseas, this place ranks damn high on my to-go list) But apparently, their efficiency is very much in question for none of my friends have received their postcards after like three weeks ever since I mailed them out ????? Anw I had been keeping a lookout for nice postcards to write on since day one (not those run of the mill kinds you know), but omg you wouldn't be able to find any anywhere except at the Central Post Office and the small indie shops in its vicinity, so now you know where to go for really nice postcards! (But alas for my friends, I still wrote on those run of the mill postcards)

MUST GO IN MY OPINION - 
☺ Sapa Trekking
☺ Den Long Restaurant
☺ The Cafe Apartments
☺ Saigon Central Post Office

VIETNAM  AUG 2017 - VLOGGED!

xx

Films At The Fort 2017 / Grease

19 AUG 2017 / Sometimes, I wish there are subtitles for accent-noobs like myself so that I wouldn't have to concentrate so hard on the words spoken and can instead focus more on the nuances in expressions and the plot in general. That said, Grease (1978) had been a joy to watch, if not for its upbeat song-dance choreography, then for the audiences' uncanny ability to catch the right beat and clapped along! In fact, Grease wasn't our first choice - Xy wanted to watch Top Gun coz Tom Cruise whereas I wanted to go for Life Is Beautiful ... So yeah, we decided on Grease in the end if this makes sense to you HAHA

xx

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Bangkok Scootin'

05 MAY 2017 - 07 MAY 2017 /

So, adele & co. had left all the planning of this trip's itinerary to me (my full-time work for one day and one night) and there had been so much I wanted to see and eat and do, it was unlikely that we would cover all in prolly two and a half days. And there were some places the rest weren't that interested in - like the airplane graveyard, and we gave up some cafes like theCOMMONS, the Audrey Group cafe & restaurant, and even the popular ones like After You just so we could do more SHOPPINGGG and this particular melted cheese scallops damn elusive, I need to make a reminder to myself to go find them again at Talad Rot Fai Ratchada (this is the new one near Thailand Cultural Centre MRT; we only went to the original one in the suburbs - Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin) And purely FYI - 'talad' means 'market' and 'rot fai' means 'train', so these are basically train markets which open mainly at night and during weekends.

Besides the shopping (which really is THE highlight of this trip - since this is actually the first time all four of us are exploring Bkk proper, I almost never just whack everything), two other highlights got to be the husky cafe called True Love @ Neverland, as well as the Chocolate Ville. The former is a private space where we got to be surrounded by the most handsome Siberian Huskies, and not to forget their commander - MoMo!! (which I think totally steal their limelight hahaha) The dogs don't really warm up to people (almost as aloof as cats), but they don't go around barking loudly which made the whole experience better (in fact, I read somewhere these huskies are one of the friendliest breed) And Choco Ville has food tastier than I expected (spicy too! - I like), with a truly chillax vibe. The only pity has got to be that I didn't take my photos at like sunset hours (which will defo lend a more dreamy feel to the whole place), but at least another place checked off the list!

BANGKOK MAY 2017 - VLOGGED!

xx

(high time I go find a job while I get my HK post & video up + learn driving!!)
(and I promise to go back to blogging more normally)

NDP 2016

16 JUL 2016 / Sooo national day came and went, and I feel like this year's parade was unlike any others. Number one, we didn't even sweat at all thanks to this dome roof thing which also conveniently blocked out most of the outdoor fireworks display huh. Number two, less tacky performances which translated to sibei chio LED displays and 3D projections (the unicorn's everyone's fav!!) and for once, the funpack actually scores on the cool factor even tho there's fewer items inside like free vouchers helloooo (not like I use them anw) and number three, we got to sign a couple of songs which I believe was unprecedented ????? Yes, we should have done that earlier and it totally reminded me of how Uganda mentioned about the lack of sign language translation in national news here when apparently it's very common in some other countries. I think this segment had been one step closer on our part to becoming an inclusive society, I think.

All in all, it's a really cool and well-curated show and I actually enjoyed it (: Kudos to the whole team behind this year's parade for bringing forth something different! Compiled the videos I took that night and on a sidenote, Im quite addicted to doing up videos as of late Idk if that has anything to do with the vlog trend but oh well.

One day while my light is glowing
I'll be in my castle golden
But until the gates are open
I just wanna feel this moment ~

H A P P Y  51st  B I R T H D A Y 

S I N G A P O R E

<3

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Underwater World

I actually have a number of backlogs to write about and Im just gonna pick up from where I left off in dayre. After this post, there's still this cousin's wedding, NDP preview, Shape Run & my convocation to write about OOOPS okok let's go!

15 JUN 2016 / Prolly two months back Pq and I decided to go visit Underwater World one last time before it closes down for good. I actually don't have much recollection about this place (save for the moving walkway in this tunnel thing) but seriously, I can't even remember who I went there with when I was really small - was it a school trip or did my mom bring us all there ??? Anyhoo, adult ticket prices went from $29.90 to their opening price of $9 OMGGG I find that really meaningful

It was damn crowded that day we went (well, June was the school holiday period tho) and coz I was at grandma's before meeting Pq (overseeing some HDB reno works), I actually brought her along since it's really really boring for her to stay at home all day long. So glad for Pq's patience coz grandma can't walk fast, and at least Pq's there for her when I was snapping away on the phone hahaha. Anw, while pq was queuing for the tickets, we got acquainted with this centenarian omg what's the chances of meeting one ??? 

ONE MIN VIDEO I DO UP USING MY IMOVIE ON DA PHONE

coz I suddenly dk how to edit vids on the macbook hehe

Actually, it's not easy to bring grandma around coz she usually whines about being tired and all after a while and would just wanna go back home. But that day right, even tho we walked a long way to JE mrt station and took the train to Buona Vista before walking to the Circle Line and took another train to Harbourfront and (gasp) took the monorail into Sentosa ANDDD this feeder bus to Underwater World itself (Wtf this sounds like a real journey manz why didn't we take the cab in huh) SHE DIDNT ONCE MENTIONED ABOUT BEING TIRED hahaha maybe coz it's the first time I brought her on an outing without the aunties / cousins. I was still thinking how if she wanted to U-turn back home, omg I would feel damn bad for wasting Pq's leave. That didn't happen tho, I would say it had been a relatively successful trip \m/

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BALI 2015

Ya know what, I should've just let Sis do all the video compiling (HAHAH waste my time)

Enjoy, I think it's dope x

Bali lovin' : Ubud

Gonna make this a quick post!

(I mean since there's only so much I can still remember hahaha)

We stayed at The Sawah Villa for one night and boy, ONE NIGHT WAS ENOUGH. Our experience there was horrible not so much as referring to their service etc. (in fact I find their service good!!) but came night time, our room was infested with insects UGH not small flys alright, it's those kroach-like thingy :( So we two moved all our things into the toilet (it's another compartment in the room with dressing table, bathtub, outdoor shower area and basin so it's actually really spacious) and camped there the whole freakin' night. It was so bad coz we weren't able to keep the insects out of the toilet area as well :( And then Sis insisted on going back into the room so she could sleep on the bed I spent so much time persuading her not to coz I didn't want to open the door and let more of those insects in omggg and then she cried coz I refused to let her sleep on the bed HAHAHA I told her to sleep in the bathtub OMG you might think Im mean but I said she could have the whole bathtub to herself + I will wipe it clean for her + buy her Artease sandwiches when school reopens LOL so many promises I couldn't keep coz ya know why - it was my turn to cry while hitting those insects with my slipper / wetting tissue papers and towels in an attempt to block out the door gap (which didn't help of coz) so she offered to wipe the bathtub, after which I gave up exterminating insects at like one or two am (physically mentally emotionally tiring) and joined her in there so I could catch up on a little sleep. But seriously, who could sleep well with insects all around FAKKK THAT NIGHT WAS UNBEARABLE (a super-dart of a grasshopper decided to join the party in the morning) and then when we got back to school HSS Artease was /poof gone. 

What I wanna say is:

I thought I was a nature lover, but apparently not after all.

AND WATER RAFTING WOOHOO ;D It was a two hour thing and I laughed the whole way through OH MANZ I MISS IT SO MUCHHHHH okay so glad I didn't back out of it coz my period came the day before and it was real heavy and all so actually I was like UGHHHH the whole time I was there as well hahaha I couldn't even begin to describe how disgusting it felt (not intending to anyway) but when our guide pull me down the waters and got me all wet I was like fuck it, just enjoy only (LOL does this sounds about wrong??) The first time he pull me off the raft Sis still grab on to my legs so at least I was mentally prepared (can you imagine that scene??!) He dragged me in the waters to this waterfall spot walao the waters hit down on me reallllll shiok actually. The second time was really no warning whatsoever I gagged and drank a few mouthfuls of river waters and was basically struggling to even breathe but he could transport me somewhere else and made me wade back to the raft alone WTF and there was this time our raft hit a rock which caused everybody to fall back at an almost 90º angle LOLLL so the Korean couple seated in the first row was really struggling to get up and the Chinese mother-daughter pair in front of us just lied down on our legs comfortably hahaha there was this all-Singaporean clique nearby who laughed so hard at us, and all those splashing competitions with them haha good times (Y) On a sidenote, the Korean couple was the sweetest thing I ever saw!! The guy was really protective of his gf the whole time omg 羡煞旁人 and he looks like some freakin' one I almost wanted to cry lol

Sooo we were scheduled to fly back on 5Aug but our Jetstar flight got cancelled and no way we're gonna return to Sawah Villa. Initially we just wanted to camp out at the airport but freakin' hell we booked one night at Harris in the end (very near the airport and quite cheap too) coz WEAK hahaha at least we had a good night's sleep (: and I got to bathe and change my pad, double (: hahaha sorry ah, if too much info. Anyway, even with a new flight booked there were delays everywhere so imagine the amount I could claim from insurance /smirk. Basically, it was a lot of photos editing while waiting it out at the airports. I was like "eh wait, I post this on instagram first!!" even right before we needa board the plane teehee. 

Actually there was this one hiccup after we checked out of Harris. Sis thought terminal D was like a counter D of sorts (it didn't occur to me too and we need to transit at Jakarta for our new return flight) so we went to the terminal for international flights. Imagine our horrors when we learnt that we should be at the terminal for domestic flights when the departure gates opened coz why hello terminal D(omestic) ?????????? So we thought we missed our flight and I swear I saw Sis teared up LOLLL I was like okkk pretty sure the other terminal had their flights delayed too (I mean they closed the whole airport right not just one terminal??) but I couldn't be reallyyy sure so yeah ..

My Bali trip for you (:

Below is my amateur effort at compiling videos hahaha plz take a look ok

I will post the one Sis is currently doing up if I like it enough lol