Christmas in Singapore

The last time I went for Christmas countdown in Singapore was 1994 (if I remembered correctly). Wanted to countdown in Singapore again this year but it was raining whole afternoon yesterday so decided to go today instead. Went there mainly for the street deco and lightings.


Arrived Queenstreet at 12PM, went to Bugis Village for some shopping first :) I told myself not to buy any more clothes as last week already bought some. I could resist all the blouses and dresses @ 10 dollars but just before I left the place, I bought myself 2 blouses @ 16 dollars :D

Done with 'real' shopping, went in to Bugis Junction BHG for some window shopping (things are more expensive there).

Merry Christmas arch @ Bugis Junction.


Merry-Go-Round tree.


Diamond tree by Lee Hwa Jewellery, in front of InterContinental Hotel.

Later in the evening, took MRT to Orchard road.

Mery Christmas arch @ the junction of Orchard MRT station.




Cake Christmas tree.




Deco of Shaw House shopping center.

The night view @ Orchard Road was prettier.











Cupcake Christmas trees.

The lantern cars reminded me of Chinese Mid-Autumn (Lantern) Festival, except these were Jesus, fairies and sheeps.










Jesus mails.








Went home early around 9PM to avoid jams (human and traffic) late at night.

Orchard MRT entrance.




Not too crowded at the MRT ticketing machines.

Reached home and collapsed on bed at almost 12AM. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~ I'm going to enjoy my long holiday till the 5th Jan!

Team Building @ Klana Resort, Seremban

It started off with a rush. I set my alarm wrongly so it didn't ring at 6 in the morning. I woke up at 6:45AM and I supposed to leave my house at 7AM! I quickly washed up, loaded everything (luggage, gifts, and other stuffs to be used during the Christmas Dinner) in the car, and drove off to Seremban.

The location map on its website is very clear, I reached the place slightly after 8AM, met with the manager who arranged our team building activities, Wendy. She arranged everything for us according to what we have agreed, and even prepared a meeting room for us to keep our luggages and other stuffs while waiting for the maids to clean the rooms for check-in.



After our morning tea, the group formation took place. We were split into 3 teams, I was in the red team (Spartan!). Before the actual team building activities, we had some warm-up through ice-breaking games. The small ice-breaking games made me panted :p



The first activity for our team was Flying Fox. I always know what to expect from Flying Fox, but when I looked at the ladder and the rope at the top of the building (4 storeys high), I got scared. I kept telling myself I must do it because it was going to affect the whole team. I climbed the ladder step by step without looking up and down, tried to reach for the next step by feeling with my arms and pulled myself up. Finally reached the platform at the top of the building. The team building instructor was waiting there. He checked my safety equipments, and kept telling me to relax and breathe. He then told me to sit at the edge of the platform, I told him I would close my eyes and just push me down. And there I went, right down to the other side of the park. Felt terrified for a second, then I actually enjoyed it. The feeling of being freed. It wasn't as scary as I thought.

Next acitivity was Rapalling. We all thought that would be tougher than Flying Fox because we got to climb down from 5th floor, and we had to control with our hands and legs (not free-fall like Flying Fox). We walked up to 5th floor by stairs. Another team building instructor was there waiting, next to the window. Again he checked my safety equipments, and told me to go near the window, step 1 leg out of the window at 1 time, stepped on a tiny platform outside the window. A rope was attached to the hook in front of my waist, I was instructed to hold the rope with my left hand in front, and right hand behind of me. Then I had to slowly release the tension of my hands holding the rope to let myself down slowly. This wasn't scary once I trust all the safety equipments that were attached to my body. I couldn't kick and release like what others do (as what the instructor shown us during demo), I was more like running on the wall while I released myself down to the ground.

Followed by Obstacle Race, I think this was the toughest as this activity was not merely on strength and courage, it was more on team work and brainstorm. The obstacles were set along the journey we were supposed to complete, and there were tons of rules we had to follow. We had to cross a pavement with stones with the correct 'rythym' (1 leg only or 2 legs together). We had to go through a big tyre hanging vertically without touching it (not even our t-shirts and pants). We had to walk on a tiny hanging plank without touching anything/anybody. We had to carry one of our member on a long bamboo stick to achieve something. And lastly was the commando crawl. I think we couldn't complete it without some hints from the team building instructor :p It was sweaty and dirty, but fun!

The Treasure Hunt in the afternoon was something different. The Treassure Hunt I heard normally have clues and lead to more clues, and finally get the answer. The Treasure Hunt we had, is merely looking for answers. We were given a hand-drawn map with coordinates, another paper with the destinations coordinates, and a blank answers sheet. We were supposed to identify all locations on the map, and look for a 4"x4" square zinc plate with something drawn on it at each identified location (may it be on the tree, on the wall or roof), and draw them on the answer sheet.

It was really a day full of rushing. After the Treasure Hunt it was almost 5PM. We social committee members gathered in the temporary meeting room to do our final preparation for the Chritmas Dinner at night - wrapping the lucky draw gifts. After 1 hour, everything was done, I rushed back to the room to bathe and get dressed because the reception for the dinner was 6:30PM! But all the rushing and hard work was worth it - seeing everyone had a wonderful night in the wonderful ballroom.


Everyone settling down.


Food~












I was too busy preparing and shopping for this event, didn't have time to shop for a dress for this dinner. Lucky we have something called the online boutique. Easily, I bought my dinner dress from Irenelim Fashion.


Also bought a pair of earrings from Ryl (and had someone to delivered to me to Seremban :D).

It was a busy, body-aching, yet fun filled night. It was fun to be part of the social committee to organize all the events. We hope for more events next year!

My fellow social committee members who I had lots of fun working with.

New hair cut for the new year

I always wanted to try a new hair style, after years of long (rebonding) straight hair. It's not that I'm bored with long hair, but just wanted something different. The more I browse for clothes in irenelim.com, the more I like the hair style of one of the model. I was in JB for a long holiday, so one day after my spa treatment in Cres, I walked to the hair salon next door, full house. Walked to another hair salon at the other corner, also full house. Wah why so many people went for hair cut/treatment/color the same time as I wanted to? I really wanted to have the new hair cut so I just went to a nearby neighbourhood salon and showed the hair stylist the photo. 1/2 hour later, I looked into the mirror, I saw this. Hhmm, somehow it wasn't what I expected. And the worse thing was, the longer part of my hair was much thinner, so it really looks like jelly fish :( (Lesson learned: Don't just simply walk in to some neighbourhood salon for a stylish/modern hair cut)

When I returned to KL, first thing I did was rushing to APT and get a professional hair stylist to get my hair 'fixed'. Thank god, it turned out so much more decent.



I love my new short hair. No need to tie up during class, no more strands falling into my food from the back of my shoulders, no more spending hours blowing dry my hair to make it straighter, felt so much cooler and lighter. More importantly, happier.

Kinsahi Japanese Restaurant

I love to eat Japanese food even after I decided to become a vegetarian. Some might think there are not much choices for vegetarians in Japanese restaurants, but I just love the feeling after eating Japanese food (if I have to eat out), the non-greasy, fresh feeling.

Last night was the first time I've seen vegetarian menu in a Japanese restaurant.


The menu full of choices,


and each dish is marked whether it contains egg. Suitable for vegans.


Although there were all kind of fish, prawn, and crab choices in the menu, I prefer not to 'indulge' in those fake meat, so I ordered a vegetable claypot soup and a vegetable fried ramen. After taken my order, the waitress asked whether I'm a vegetarian, I said 'yes', and she told me while keeping the chopsticks and plates in front of me that they serve separate dining set for vegetarians. How professional they are... (Shoba you can dine safely here :p)






But what a pity, vegetarian menu is only available in their Plaza Pelangi, JB branch. Hope they expand their business and vegetarian menu to Selangor soon.

Modern Yoga vs. Traditional Yoga

Just done my evening practice following the YogaZone DVD. This is the first time I follow a westerner Yoga DVD (albeit I have abundant at home bought by mum). It's quite different from the classes I attended so far. It's unlike the traditional sequencing that we have Sun Salutation, Standing, Prone, Sitting, Reclining poses in the 1-hour class; it's unlike the traditional practice that we have Forward Bend, Back Bend, Balancing, Twisting, Inversion (optional) all in the 1-hour class. It's titled 'Yoga Sculpting' - first half session (20 minutes or so) of upper body sculpting, second half session (another 20 minutes or so) of lower body sculpting. It mainly worked on arms and thighs (as these are what I'm feeling sore now).

I know that some prefer a class with a specific purpose, or target, such as firming the abs, shaping arms and thighs, etc. I personally prefer to have a complete set of working on all parts of the body, and not forgetting to work on the internal organs and glands. I always have a specific target for my class, and I incorporate these poses into a traditional sequence. Mainly because this is what I was trained to be. However, I don't reject other teachings that is not conventional, as the more we learn, the more we absorb as knowledge, and we can judge what is best for us.

Now that my muscles are aching, this evening should be doing something for relieving aches and pains :p

Making sushi is not easy!

Still enjoying my holidays at home in JB.

Since I didn't have any plans today, I bought some necessary stuff for making sushi, and tried making some for dinner tonight.

Went to Jusco and bought:

Bamboo mat;


Rice vinegar;


Shoyu;


seaweed wraps and japanese cucumber. I didn't buy the japanese rice because I think it's too expensive, just use normal rice will do :p

Thanks sis for bringing her sushi recipe book. (She doesn't cook, I wonder why she bought it)




I boiled the rice as usual, then add in the rice vinegar (1/5 of the water used for boiling the rice) + pinch of salt and sugar.

I sliced the japanese cucumber and prepared some egg mayo (hard boiled egg, smashed it, then added some mayonaise and stirred well).




Following the instructions in the recipe book, I placed a piece of cling film on top of the bamboo mat, placed the seaweed wrap in the center of the mat, spread the rice on the seaweed wrap, placed the cucumber and egg mayo in the center, then wrapped it.


First one was a failure because I didn't leave some space at the end of the seaweed wrap and the rice got squeezed out.


Subsequent rolls, were either too much or too little rice, all turned out not nice, but still edible :D


The rice was a little too sour, shall put less vinegar.
The knife wasn't sharpen to the max, so I 'distorted' some of my maki while cutting.

It's ok, try again tomorrow. Ganbatte.