Catching Up on Pictures I Forgot I Had

While waiting for some friends to arrive at Geylang Lor 9 Beef Kway Teo, I took a picture of my lonely Coke. The next three shots are of my pleisseurs at Haagen Daazs. Cute, delicious. But not nearly as satisfying (the glutton in me) as that Sunshine Cafe Sunshine Burger. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.  But still delicious. Went with Kenny & Felix for a romp in HD.  

Waited for Xav at the Singapore Art Museum. Took some kookily awesome pictures. I love the staircase, if you couldn't tell.  There was also a wedding that night, so I snuck a picture of the reception. So cute! Singaporean weddings are always on the weekend, it seems. I'm glad that this one was so lovely though. 

Treated myself last night for some Korean food (dol sot bibim bop -> which didn't come with rice because they're nutchnuggets and forgot to add). I love sesame oil. I think...I think I'm in love with it. 

I sort of love greens with sesame oil and sesame seeds. Like. Love.

If you don't understand why I went for the Sunshine burger, let's just say, I showed this big bang theory episodeto Daniel, who knew where to take me after my open gym session on Tuesday night had been canceled.  And we had a great chat with Andrew, the owner. Hooray!

I was also strangely excited when I got outside this morning and saw what a beautiful day it was. I even called my family to say hi because I was feeling so good - almost elated. I don't know. 

Merry 2009! I can't believe it's the end of the year already. And now I have to grab a cab to Changi Village or else I'll be late because they requested that I lug around my laptop tonight! Poo! 

Last Day of 2008

Well usually today is a half day of work, but because I had some important work to do, so I am staying a bit late. I'll be leaving soon enough to join some friends at Changi Village for some New Year's Eve camping out. I'm terrified of Singapore mosquitoes. I don't know why they love me so much. I hope that they don't eat me today. Seriously.

I love Hush Hush by the Pussycat Dolls and think this DJ Fisun remix is great! You have to download it in order to hear it, but yeah here is the linky! 

Anyways, before I run off and be awesome, I have been reflecting on how astounding my 2008 has been.  I graduated from college this year! I moved to Singapore! I speak with some sort of weird mix of Midwestern/Hoosier accent (that is unplaceable by most people) that sounds remotely of Singlish (so my parents tell me). I know what Hokkein is, and I've tried all these foods that I never knew existed. I mean, Asian food is Asian food, right? Well, not exactly. I didn't even know the difference between Malaysian and Malay people. Seriously. And I learned a few important things in Chinese, such as how to count to ten and maybe even tell someone to go away. Haha!

The economy took a huge hit this year. America voted its first black president. Everyone knows who Chuck Norris and Sarah Palin are. Britney Spears is back on the board! Angelina Jolie had twins. Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen published a book that I want but have yet to find in Singapore. 

I never watched Ellen Degeneres (de Generes?) back in the States but it's all I watch in the mornings while getting ready for work. Oprah was replaced with Martha Stewart in the following half hour after it. I think maybe if I saw a Singaporean celebrity on the street, I could do the "looks familiar" thing. 

I bought a phone per the recommendation of my friend Chris, and once I showed it off to another friend Wes, he bought one too (I'm still weirdly excited about that for some reason). Nokia e71.

Hedwig took me around Singapore, and in return I took lots of pictures of him. I never knew how much I would miss congee, but I miss my dad's ginger/secret ingredient(s)/pork congee so much.

I even had the best Singapore burger last night. with Daniel. Seriously. At the sunshine cafe. Look:

Nice sized beef patty, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato and portobello mushroom. Secret sauce. Secret location. Delicious french fries. Fresh watermelon juice. I will be back. Facebook group link.

I have a lot of other pictures that I could upload right now. SO MANY THINGS HAPPENED IN 2008. 

I made so many friends. I met so many people. I learned so much. I think my capacity to love grew. Just a little bit. :)

My 2009 resolution is to stay strong, keep happy, and keep telling my family & friends that I love them. Maybe shed a few pounds. Maybe stop biting the nails. Again. And maybe even to grow up and stop taking Flinstone's Children's Chewable Vitamins and move on to adult stuff. That may be just too much though. Scratch that.

I MISS GUMMY VITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sansie

Chilling on a Sunday

Hi Tinkles,

On Sunday I went with my friend Xav in the afternoon to the Singapore Art Museum . For lunch I had a Foccacia Chicken Avocado (Panini) from Dome, which is right next to the Museum. The service was great, and I was IMing with Daniel while waiting for Xav (who managed to come at 530). Sigh.

Oh yeah. Xav learned where the SAM is. About two blocks away in the Singapore National Museum, which is where he was looking for me. D'oh.

Anyways, we went in and went to the Korean exhibit. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to have any photography inside the galleries. I left all the books at home, so I'll fill in the details another time, but there was one particular work that amazed both of us. What appeared to be a 2D painting actually was a block which had spaces carved into it; these spaces were in the shape of people. From the left, there is a woman in a jacket. Then another woman covering her head with her hand. Then a man leaning against a wall. Then a woman sitting on a (half) wall. From a standing point, it seems as though they are either just flat paintings or actually popping out from the block. When you come close you can see that it's actually carved out from the block itself. If you look while walking, the optical illusion is that the people are turning with you. The girl sitting on the wall follows you with her eyes. Xav told me he half expected it to be just like a horror film when the eyes would open. Thanks a lot. So much for no nightmares.

The Korean exhibit wasn't half bad, to be honest. Unfortunately, they don't even mention the Korean exhibit on their webpage (Current Exhibitions ). The other exhibitions were interesting too. I'm not much of a minimalist-lover, sooooooooo yeah the Korean exhibit had a lot of pizazz! I didn't realize how often SAM changes its exhibitions. I will have to stay in the loop for a while. And I still use my Purdue ID to get my discount. lalalala naughty.

Afterwards we went over to my friend Kenny's house where a bunch of friends just hung out. We talked about martial arts. Apparently, Xav is good enough to teach people Wing Chun after only one lesson with someone else. I laughed at him. Ridiculous.

OK Love you a lot. -tickle- (scream) HAHAHAHA!

A Christmas Story

Supposedly, Singaporeans work a half day on Christmas Eve and of course, Christmas is a holiday. I never thought of it before, but in the Middle East you don't get time off for Christmas (this concept initially shocked me, and then I came to terms with it).  However, because my friend Tim was coming back from camp, I skipped work in the morning on Thursday and then Kenny H., me and Tim ended up back at Kenny's house to make some trifle. 

Unfortunately, pudding doesn't really exist in NTUC (the local food store), so I had to improvise and use flan mix with chocolate pound cake (layered with Korean strawberries, which smell amazing). After trying to whip the whipping cream, we ended up making butter because we whipped too long. Oops!!!! Next time I make a trifle, I will have to buy all the ingredients at Paragon (where American products are sold). Bah! The cake turned out just ok, but the strawberries seriously were amazing. Because the custard was just made up of two cups of milk, the bottom layer got saturated with milk. :( I should have used whip cream with the flan mix). 

Then we went over to Xav's house carrying the goods. We did a gift exchange, and though I forgot to take mine home, I bought a Kanye West CD (not, as Mink & Alvin tell me, an "album" - rawr!)

Well after eating lots of lots of food (no wonder my pants feel tight this morning), I went to work. I had to do some research, but it ended up taking lots of time because it probably wasn't the best idea to go through my drama while researching. No worries though! We counted down to Christmas (practicing for New Year's Day!). I got a bit of work done (maybe 40%, but acceptable). 

Then Christmas morning, I woke up and ate a pizza for lunch with the remants of the previous night. Just working a bit more until Xav and I went to go eat dinner with Tim. OMG SO AMAZING. It came in a little clay pot - sesame oil chicken. DROOL. 

(I am, however, going for Geylang's Lor 9 Beef Kway Teo tonight with Felix & Kenny H. and wildly excited about it!!) Then after sending Tim back to Pasir Ris, we all went to karaoke. I sort of lost my voice for today, but lots of cereal and a nice soupy lunch should make it better. Wait...I don't really trust soups in Singapore (MSG). Poo. 

Then this weekend will be just getting together with the friends, laundry, chores, etc. :)

Subway Deliciousness

I know Subway in the US, but I have to tell you about the most delicious sandwich I've ever had (and ordered twice). I went to go see Ip Man, which is the story of the master of Bruce Lee and how he started his Wing Chun teachings. It stems from the Japanese Occupation of his district in China. Anyways, it was a FABULOUS MOVIE, but I'm not quite sure that they'll be showing it in the US or not because it is entirely in Mandarin. I rarely rave about movies, but I think that this is one of my favorites of 2008. The fight scenes are totally awesome. So I was very specific in my instruction to Kenny S. on the way that I like my Subway sandwiches. 

Subway Club (Roast Beef, Ham, and Turkey) on Honey Oat with Lettuce, Onion, Tomato, Black Olive, Cheese and of course, Bacon. Toasted. Give me chocolate chip cookies. And sprite no ice. 

Best sandwich EVER. I had it again on Sunday while waiting for my friends at City Hall. YUM YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8.5/10

Long and Short Weekend!

I finished Brisingr and was sorely disappointed! I thought it was the final book, but I was wrong!!!! I'm so upset! I bought that book for nothing. It took me forever and it cost me 30 bucks!!!!

Anyways, yeah so my weekend consisted of the book, a new Korean drama called 18 vs. 29. It's about this girl who has amnesia after getting into an accident. She wakes up thinking that she is 18 instead of 29 (and married). It's really cute! Of course, it gets drawn out at times. I think that I shall finish it sometime this week. Tonight I'll be working on a few projects - and tomorrow.

There were a lot of things that happened this past weekend, but yesterday I met Mink & Alvin and wandered around the City Hall area then Orchard - and then Geylang for Beef Hor Fun. OH GOODNESS YUM YUM!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we're meeting at Clarke Quay for some nightlife after gymnastics. Tomorrow will be a lot of finishing up unpacking for the office! Our new office is so nice!! It used to be a law office, and you can totally tell! Anyways, we'll be here for the next two years, but yeah I have to write some food reviews on http://yum.sg.

Love, M

Banh Beo and Missing the Family as the Hols Arrive

I've been waiting SO SO LONG and searching SO SO MUCH for Bánh bèo in Singapore, but I refuse to believe that it is available. WHAT A SHAME!!!!  All I've seen are the Pho Ga and Pho Bo as well as the usual Goi Cuon and Cha Gio. Whatever. 

I had lunch at KFC today and unintentionally sat next to two Vietnamese women gossiping. Women are the same everywhere. Oh Vietnamese! It was nice to hear again, even when they have the cộng sản accent.  Well, northern at least. Whatever. I can't say much, but I'm told that my Viet accent is more of a tizzle of American, Northern, Southern and maybe bizarre (but correct) word choices.  My Vietnamese is slipping away from me, so whenever I hear it in Singapore (even if I don't have the guts to ask them where to find banh beo), I am delighted!

Anything else? 

I'm ravenous all of a sudden (even after eating my KFC and box of pretzel sticks). Well, not so sudden - just today. I wonder what it means. The weather right now is a bit poo. Very very vaire cloudy. 

Full Frontal Snogging =/= Perfect Snogging -->; Tinky, I was so upset that they changed it and thus, refuse to watch it!! But let me know how it is. At least no one will be throwing peanuts or M&Ms while we gibberjab at the horrendous interpretation of the book. Honestly.

Anything else? I miss Mommy a lot. For obvious reasons. OK, OK you too Daddy. And maybe my Stinkytushtush as well. And Co 7. :) And the JMS family. Thanks for always being there for me. I wish I could drive on ice again...sort of I miss driving, and I miss snow. 

HONEY CRUNCH MUNCH MUNCH yum!

Guess what!!! Apart from the pounds to kg --> English --> Systeme International, just now I was so presently surprised to find a sticker on my can of Diet A&W! (Yes, I am drinking zero calorie things, but it doesn't seem to be helping much, but it maybe just preventative I suppose) "Why?" you may ask, and the reason is this: the sticker was covering the nutritional facts of the soda.

"So what?"

Well, I got to see American nutritional acts after stripping the Diet A&W OF SINGAPOREAN-NESS!!!!! OHWLWLWLALALALALA!!! I know, I must be deranged, but I am so happy to see a piece of home that I never thought I would see again. Everything here is in kcal. Translation: I have no idea what sort of nutritional facts I am putting into the body. Yes, from AP Chemistry with D Bake I KNOW how to do the conversions, but unfortunately, I just can't be bothered. I still do simple addition/subtraction but conversions are beyond my calculations inside my head.

OK overly excited and now I look back and see how dumb I am. Simple mind, simple pleasures!!!!!!

I am currently munching on Kellogg's Honey Crunch Corn Flakes (definitely amazing) 5/5.

The office is going to be packed up and shipped downstairs today --> we're moving to another floor!! The office is seriously so beautiful.

BY THE WAY: THEY'RE MAKING ANOTHER X-MEN MOVIE: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Linky

LOVE YOU BABY!
Buns

Food Happiness

Yeah, I finally realized that my food blog was seriously draining my monies because I love to go for more expensive foods for my food blog. Sigh. I took down the blog, but I imported all the posts into this blog. No worries!

I'm currently munching on Quaker Oatmeal Squares.

Love you! Sans

NINJA TURTLES > Godzilla

A big shout out to Bryan for picking me up again! I was a bit sad today after meeting one of my friends from Purdue because he reminds me of all my friends & family back home who I miss terribly. But Bryan and I had a great conversation that included ninja turtles, godzilla, bunnies, a snake, lots of turtles, butterflies, birds, and maybe some droppings!

I'm listening to David Archuleta's Crush. And going to read Brisingr until I feel a little bit more eye-droopiness.

Had dinner at Sakae Sushi with Wes, and lunch with Felix at Geylang for some AMAZING BEEF KWAY TEO (HOR FUN). I am going to try to eat there at least once every 2 weekends!!!!!! DELISH!!!!! (Geylang's Lor 9 Beef Kway Teo)

It may not look like much, but baby, if you ever come to Singapore, you will love it as much as me.

Love,
Sans

Brisingr & Friends!

Well Friday after a long day at work, I went out with some friends to KARAOKE. I LOVE KARAOKE. OK for anyone who knows me, I'm poo on the mike, but I don't care because it's so much fun! We snuck some McDonald's into the room, but you know what was sooo delish? Yes? You wants to nose? There was longan with pineapple chunks inside. DELISH!! Then again, they don't beat MamaBear's longan stuffed with minced shrimp, taken with avocado and topped with plum sesame sauce. But beggars can't be choosers, as my friend Chris likes to say! :)

Friday night got home (because my friends are so nice to me) first, and I watched a Korean film (shamefully, My Friend Tutor). I'm not much of a romantic comedy person, but I totally fell in love with the main actor. Unfortunately, he is married. And 11 years older than me. -sob-

Saturday woke up and lazed around a bit. I talked to Wes and ERIC (!!!) on MSN and didn't want to be such a lazy bum, so I got up and went to Orchard for some lunch at Taka (I have a weakness for japchae there) in Basement 2. Then, I ran over to Wheelock Place for some quality time with Brisingr. I've been waiting quite some time to buy the book, and I knew that I was going to buy it "today". The bonus was that the paperback version just came out, so I even saved money! Hoorah! The ants go marching one by one...

Then I got really really bored after wandering aimlessly (I was quite post-makkan-syndrome after I sat down for a snack at Coffee Club in Taka), so I called Sham, who happened to be a Far East Plaza. I ran over there, then found a neat little store (unfortunately for male clothing only...) and then we wandered around to Wheelock Place (again). Felix came over, then I found out that I had left my Sakae Sushi card at home (boo) so we had dinner at Cineleisure.

I bought some char siew pau at Cineleisure, but I'm becoming more and more disappointed with anything that isn't from Tanjong Rhu Confectionary. Boo!

Then we went to see The Day The Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves. I was sort of like. Bleh. I thought it would be more biology related, but I was disappointed. It was weird and very direct, and two hours later I came to the conclusion that it really wasn't that great of a movie. But I got to eat some butterscotch popcorn out of it, so no worries there! :D I came home and let my eyes droop while I scourge the internet for knowledge until I kept half-sleeping. Then I fell into a deep sleep until 1130 ^.^ heehee

Today I'm going for lunch with Felix and then dinner with Wesley. Codename: Chipmunk.

OK My laundry just beeped to let me know that it's done. Toodles!!

I'll be reading Brisingr/doing laundry this morning because I'm such a good girl. bloop!

Language

Yes, I know that I eventually need to sit down and learn some Arabic before I go (because I think that it's a courtesy and ...fun to try to speak another language), but before I do, I want to establish "highly effective habits". I met someone about a month ago who really touched my life, and I remember that he told me to read this book. I will before I meet him again, though I refuse to believe that I need the aid of "self-improvement" books. I feel great about my life. I wouldn't want anything more (except lots of money and maybe a cute boyfriend). Sigh. Neither yet, don't worry, Mom.

Anyways, I religiously check the news everyday (perhaps from this feeling that I am so detached from my "old" world) and interestingly enough, feel that I cannot communicate half as well with people who are not in tune with the musings of the world.

For instance, the Mumbai attacks really affected me. I feel sort of lame for admitting it, but I feel as if a piece of my very soul has suddenly left. I am really not one to cry, but I was close to tears once I saw gruesome pictures (yes, I did this willingly) of people strewn around dead. Graphic, but I feel looking at the pictures, placing myself in the photographer's shoes, is necessary to better understand the world around me.

Recently I have been looking at lots of photos (I look at Boston.com's big picture: LINK every day as well) and putting myself in the photojournalist's shoes. It affects me more and more every day, and I'm feeling more and more raw in terms of emotions and perhaps even thoughts.

Anyways, the basis of this (wow. sorry for the tangent) post is to say that instead of reading the news in English, I will begin to read international news solely in Spanish and French because I'm quite upset with myself that I am really struggling trying to keep these languages at hand. Vietnamese will have to be solely with conversation with my family & some friends, but Latin was a challenge until I remembered something invaluable! I will get my daily dose of Latin in the form of...



wait for it...
wait for it...






WIKIPEDIA!!!!!

LoVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

Sans

Monday - Wednesday

After sleeping like a log for about 5 hours, I got up and found out it was raining. So we weren’t sure if we were still going to go for the picnic or not. So what ended up happening was:

1. We went to Marine Barrage. WK & I got picked up by Sticks, and we ran around like loons. Positively amazing. And I made them pose in all sorts of gay ways. Fun!
2. Saw that the rest of the crew was already setting up while we were at the top of Marine Barrage. Called them on the phone and pretended to be stalkers. “Pretended”.
3. Ate a bit of food. I had bought a chocolate log cake from cedele.
4. Walked around a lot in my rainboots (overkill, but fun!)
5. I guess the whole reason why I’m blogging about Monday at all (despite the fact it was a public holiday – Hari Raya Haji) is that I had so many good talks with different people. The barbeque was all right, and I was a bit confused at the end due to some drama whatever.
6. All in all, I had a great time and made some good friends :) - hooray!

Tuesday after work I went out to meet SS, JT & PM (and Bobby) at McDonald’s at Lido, and then I ended up at Changi to play with some kittens. :)

Wednesday after work I headed out with EA for some Indonesian chicken again at Dhoby Ghaut, met up with PM & Friends at Ben & Jerry’s at Dempsey. Then PM and I went out for some Char Siew Pau (Banh Bao) and Dim Sum (Har Gao, Chee Cheong Fun and Siew Mai). SIEW MAI SO DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!! WHOAOAOAOA LALALLA Bunnies love char siew pau.

Saturday in Bali

I woke up super lazy and didn’t want to get out of bed. After lots and lots of nagging, Eden and I went to look at the swimming pool. There were lots and lots of overweight women who like to squeeze themselves into little (thankfully) one piece bathing suits. My eyes were burning. Anyways, there were two (Russian) blonde girls who hit the pool who were quite scantily clad, but I had the last laugh when I saw three large, extremely hairy men come by and sit next to them. Lovely.

Little shelter by the pool.

Awesome chess set by Sateria.


Eden ordered chicken (very nice):

I ordered lobster for lunch at Sateria, but when the order came, a plague of flies suddenly rushed down upon my table, and I was upset enough to demand (ok, ask politely) if the restaurant could send it to my room instead. Then I ravished the lobster. La!


After lunch, we went back to Kuta. We were offered drugs (no, thank you) like Mussrooms (LSD), marijuana and cocaine. Nice. We went to look at the beach (which was devoid of surfers) and saw a nice big fat man in a tiny (yellow pokka dot bikini) speedo. “He’s a champion,” said Eden. A tattoo artist also interrupted our movie about Kuta, and then once Eden was like we’ll get back to you later, he was started cursing us about how people say that and they never actually come back. Well, duh. Then I scolded Eden for leading these tattoo artists on. He even cursed our very stay at Bali. Whoa. Harsh. I then got a lovely Bali massage for about US$8 for an hour while Eden went shopping for his girlfriend. We kept walking around checking out the cool shops:


Then, upon arrival, I ordered dinner and tiramisu. Again. :)

Sunday: Last Day :(

We meant to wake up in time for the sunrise on Sunday, but it didn’t really work out. Oh well. We went to the pool instead a few hours after waking up at 6:15 AM. But alas, it rained, so we just hung out in my room and watched MTV. Eden left for the airport. I just hung around because my flight with Lion Air wasn’t until 12:30 AM on Monday. I read three kingdoms and just sat at the bar sipping on watermelon juice and strawberry juice. I sat at the pool reading until it began to sprinkle (again). Boo. Then I ran into the library and was trapped while it poured. OH well.

I ate spaghetti bolognese for dinner all alone :(. I rate it a 2/5. Edible, but not happiness.


At last I return to Singapore at 4 AM on Monday morning and talked again to the friend who was kind enough to get me through Thursday morning’s wait for the airplane. THANK YOU KH!

And thank you to Eden for making this trip hilarious and amazing. You're one of my best friends.

Love,
Sans

Friday's Big Adventure!

Eden and I were good children (and due to a constant ringing phone and someone nagging someone else to WAKE UP) we made it in time to go to the hotel store to buy some swimming trunks for Eden. However, they asked us for about US$50 (for a PIECE OF UNDERWEAR! SERIOUSLY!) and I said that we can’t pay more than $15, so they were like….ok bye. Haha. Oh well. There were a lot of fake luxury goods (LV, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, etc.) that I was surprised to find in a nice hotel establishment.

So when we got to the lobby, we sat down and were approached by a Mr. Kantin representing Pandawa Marine Adventures. A driver drove us to (sorry, redundant) Tanjong Banoa, which is THE place to be for watersporting. We stopped by a small stall to buy Eden’s undies. LOL not really undies, but the ones you have to wear under board shorts, which are just UNDIES (haha) - for about US$8. Chi-Ching!

Then we renegotiated terms with the agent from the night before (Mr. Yeoman) and the manager of Pandawa to get two trips on the jet ski and one fly fish (because the weather was bad for parasailing – they told us that we would be landing on the rocks if something went wrong due to the wind that morning) for 400K rupiah ($40 USD). They told me that I was getting it at a steal – Mr. Kantin was like – you are so good at bargaining! – because usually it’s $80 per person.


The flyfish was cute. I didn’t want to do it initially (when I heard about it in the hotel room) because I thought it was literally fly fishing. Yes, the lovely art form of how to fly fish blah blah I know but while in Bali, what would I do with the precious fish. WRONG! Fly fishing is this huge inflatable thing that you stand in while a boat drags you. Initially you are lying down, but somehow (due to the laws of the Universe I suppose. Physics also.) there is a lift and you are raised into the AIR! All we saw was the sea because we were facing the opposite direction from the boat. I seriously thought I would fall out of the thing and gripped so tightly on to the “handrails” which were more like pieces of hose. Oh my. The whole time I was telling myself that even if I fell, at least I had a life vest :p.





Then we took the jet skis. They were legally obligated to have an instructor riding with you on the jet ski (in Singapore, you have to have a license in order to jet ski…much to Fpoo and my disappointment). At first I was a bit reluctant to go quickly, but my instructor was like ok you go fast and I will steer. So I had a great time with the throttle (even though my instructor was like slow down occasionally ^.^). I had a major wedgie when I got back though.


We waited about 10 minutes for the second trip, and Mr. Kantin was SO nice and bought us some Cokes to drink (because we had no cash left …boohoo). Eden threw a back tuck and spotted me for one. It was really difficult to set on the sand, so he had to really push me :(.


The second trip I was more confident and definitely had more fun riding on the ocean. Eden was a maniac and kept “bouncing” on all the waves. Crazy. He told me later that he was laughing a lot on the trip because there was an instructor with a very large lady in front of him who was struggling to get his arms around her in order to steer. LOL!



We decided to tell everyone that we were cousins (meaning that no one believed us) because I didn’t want anyone to know that I was a single girl. That would have just been really bad. Anyways, one of diving guys (who was totally ripped) had a big tattoo of “HUG ME” across his shoulders. We laughed about it for a while, and when he came back he was like: You guys are very beautiful! You look good together! But then another man said, I am beautiful too! And then HUG ME said “No, you’re a black stone,” and everyone laughed!

Then we returned to the hotel and had two lamb chops in El Patio (because I think I piqued Eden’s curiosity when I told him how delicious it was, regardless of the fact that they don’t ask you how you cooked you want your meat to be.

Then we went to our rooms and took naps. Eden wanted to check out the touristy place, so we went to Kuta, which is the “party place” (which I suspect started because the beach there is mainly for surfing). There were lots of shops selling touristy things (including…wooden…yeah my parents read this, so I can’t put in the word, but you know what I’m talking about). A lot of Balinese people tried to sell yelling out to us in Japanese, Korean and Chinese (Eden, being half Japanese, half Singaporean-Chinese, spoke 2) and asking if we were from Hong Kong. I just laughed and ignored them. Eden kept saying “No, thanks” over and over (so polite, eh?)

We were lame tourists and ate at Pizza Hut. Eden tried to chew on something that turned out to be a piece of a ziptie, and instead of demanding a free pizza or at the very least a free dessert, he asked for a blueberry milkshake. How clever (selfish).

We played a game of pool and Eden won. We also went to Seven Eleven, but quickly left after an irate guy (who I think was Middle Eastern, and Eden swears is Italian…who happened to LOOK MIDDLE EASTERN) who shoved the glass door open, and it fell to pieces. We went to buy our soda somewhere else!

Once we got back to the hotel, I ordered my favorite weakness: tiramisu.

Eden ordered fried banana & rum raisin ice cream:

Bali Trip: Thursday's Arrival & Adventure

Well my flight was at 6:20 in the morning, so I had to be at Changi airport by 4:20. I just packed everything over night and went a tad early to the airport, chatting away with one of my friends who was kind enough to keep me company.

So then I got an entire row to myself, and I was so pooped that I managed to fall asleep before the plane even took OFF!!! HOW AMAZING!!!! Then I woke up as we were about to land almost 9 AM.

Then I went to the taxi stand and paid 95,000 Rupiah (RP) to get to Nusa Dua – Melia Bali. Which is about S$13 for about 20-25 minutes of driving.


On the drive to the hotel.

I checked into the hotel and went to my room to sleep.

The lobby of Melia Bali!

While waiting for my rooms to be confirmed, I took random pictures of the lobby.

I went to a restaurant in Melia Bali Villas & Spa called “El Patio” and had “Australian lamb chops” with French fries. Not bad!!



I HEART MANGO JUICE!

Lamb chops! :)

Then I went back and took another nap. Sleeping was sort of a waste – I should have at least fell asleep by the pool or something, but I was pooped!!

The hotel had so many [real] orchids everywhere! I loved it!

Here is a picture of the "Library" of Melia Bali Villas & Spa

I woke up in time to go to meet Eden at his arrival, and we went back to hotel to just get settled into our rooms.

Then just before dinner, I showed him the hotel and made him walk a lot while we figured out where everything was.





We had dinner at the restaurant on the Nusa Dua Beach, called “Sateria”. It was quite an interesting experience because there was a traditional Hindu dance at the time, and Eden was a bit immature and started to sing like them.



But from then on out, “Ketcha ketcha ketcha” because the punchline to almost anything we said for the rest of the trip. LOL! We had salmon pizza, which was not bad! In fact, I am craving for pizza right now. :(


Then Eden, being the responsible boy he is (and proving how irresponsible I am), took out a bunch of pamphlets about jet skiing and awesomeness, and I made a few calls to bargain for some jet skiing time and parasailing. Ten thirty on Friday morning. Awesome!

Slept like a log!!

Bali Trip

HELLO!!!

Well I don't have time to write about everything that happened (but I shall). So I'm going to post a few pictures to keep you on the edge of your seat before I publish what actually happened, but the pictures will give you a better idea.

Love,
M