The difference between East and West : ice-cream man!!

The ice-cream man we are so accustomed to seeing at every corner of Singapore,
zooming around in his motorbike~

And now, the cool ice-cream van in Australia....

But i guess our ice-cream man is still the best!

S$1 for chocolate chips with two biscult wafers or a S$.070 potong
vs
A$2.50 for a soft cone that taste similar to MacDonald!

Tell me about it



English: ice-cream
Swedish: glass

Finally, a gathering....

Before writing the bloggie of the day, i just wanna scream
"TOM!!! YOU #@$%*!!#"

Yesh, we just had one of our small lil argument this morning...over something which he thought was a small matter!! i'm not going to go into details here except "why am i always the one calling you back?"
probably should ignored you next time..Hmmph

Back to the bloggie:
We had our poly gathering yesterday:
Present: Kent, Darren, Veron, Jany, Tom and myself
The rest of the clique couldnt turn up due to other commitments (like??)

It has been a long while since we met up..the last time was probably 8months ago when Kent was kind enough to organise a BBQ at East Coast..
Geez, that long huh?

My polymates for three years!
i can still remember how fun it had been back then! Life was so carefree then other than the usual worries of exams, homework, $$$, BGR and other stuff. The "one dollar incident", our graduation held at Kallang stadium, the graduation night", Desmond wearing the g-string and dancing on stage (i have the photos to blackmail him once he becomes rich and famous...muahahaha), our economic lecturer (i cant stand her!! Grrrr)! Haha, so many funny moments...Sighz, before you know it, days, months, years gone by and we had known one another for 10years, a decade old friendship.

Wait a minute..Age must be catching up, man! moi sitting here and reminiscing about the past. Hmm, im starting to sound like those old pple sitting in the park, playing with their grandkids or doing taichi in the morning...Omigosh, im still not that old leh! Darn~

STOP!!
Let's talk about what we did yestie instead..we had dinner at Marche!
I need to mention this "Out of so many stalls, so many selections in Marche..why issit that five out of six people had to order the same thing i.e Rosti with sausages??!!!"
so there we were, all eating rosti...funny~~
as the saying goes "birds of a feather flocks together"..probably, people with the same tastebuds stays togther too huh?

And here are some updates:
Kent : part of the 2% unemployed population of Singapore. i.e dont be so chosy lah! What the fish is Big Four anyway? *kidding*
Darren : still in KPMG (boring)
Jany : still in Deloitte (borring..) But wait!! She's finally getting hitch! Actually, she's legally married for 4years. Her customary is set on 1st Oct 2006 and she wanted me to be one of the sistas!
just applied for leave===> hopefully will get approved
(you know arh, i got Rome flight that week leh, but im giving it up for her..my good friend getting married leh! wats more impt??)
Veron : just applied for flat with Ah Ken! This couple arh, must kowtow kowtow : 9years long team relationship! and long distance relationship for 6-7years!! steady sia! I can hear wedding bells ringing soon..keke
ME: when i announced that i'm gonna get married as well, all of their jaws literally drop to the floor..Haha, relax leh, pple~~

Tom always says i take my friendship with others for granted. Haiz, i guess it comes the time when we had all grown up, have our own lives. It really hard to arrange a gathering together. Someone is bond not to make it due to work commitments, family commitments etc. Maybe i should put in some effort and meet up with my decade friends more often. I cant imagine 10years down the road when we have our family and children. Our children playing togethr while we chitchat over high tea..sounds like a good idea..Mabbe then, it will be a good time to reminiscing about the past! In the mean time, KOWTOW to our decade long friendship!!! and may we catch up more often...

English: Friendship
Swedish: vänskap

is it worth the risk?

I must say my work is a dangerous one..

Especially when its associated with terms like 9/11, terrorism, hijack, bomb, plane crashes, turbulences, decompression and so forth

On my last flight, we encountered really bad turbulences. Its the kind where adults were screaming and every babies/children started crying simultaneously !
Chaotic~
It doesn't help when i saw this lady praying in the cabin.

I was in the cabin when the plane experienced a sudden drop in latitude. And i literally flew up in the cabin. Not once but twice! Common sense immediately told me to grab a empty seat and strapped myself in. The lady sitting next to me was gripping the arm rest so tightly I thought she would have left permanent nail marks!

My colleagues had it even better, she was happily drinking her coke light in the galley when all of a sudden, she was lifted up into the air (as well as her coke)..next thing she know, she was drenched in coke light! Obviously, she was not amused!

Just as it came out of nowhere, it was over in less than 30seconds. Before i know it, the plane is cruising smoothly back to Singapore.

penny of my thoughts:
The chance of dying in a plane crash is 1:1,000,000
that might seem low. But the chance of u surviving the plane crash is practically ZERO!
at least (im not saying 100%) you might walked out of a car accident with a few bruises, none worse the wear.

What if someone decides to hijack the plane with intention of banging into some tall building again?

When you are 30,000 feet above sea level, there's basically nothing you can do except pray for a miracle.

And what about my loved ones? the pain is never gonna go away if something happen to me. Why am i risking it!!

Its not that the money is good mah. (obivously better than working in my previous accounts job drawing a measly $1900) But is it worth the risk of losing my life?

I remembered once, when i was sitting with my senior for landing. The tech crew must be pretty new in the job because the landing was REALLY REALLY bad. It felt like the plane just dropped onto the runway. I made this comment about what a bad landing it was.

My senior replied "there's no such thing as a bad landing. Every landing is a good landing. At least the plane landed" I thought it was such wise words.

one colleagues of mine mentioned that its not good to fly for too long.

Problems like harder to get pregnant, dryness of skin, exposure to the cosmic radiation and blah blah blah

Maybe thats why i heed my senior colleague suggestion to wear a girdle.
I wanna have babies, man!

But i bucked at the idea of comsuming Eu Yan Sen's bird nest every night! Hey, u know how expensive that's gonna cost??!!! Im not Fann Wong earning tens of thousands of dollars doing endorsements or advertisments!!

I guess every job have its risk (like every dog has its day)
Just have to keep yourself safe and pray that every flight is a good flight!

Just remembered, don't try and be a hero, looking for some karate legend in the freezing mountains of Aomori with the this dumb idea that "Japan look so small on the world map that we thought we would be able to find him straight" Duh~

That will be putting your life and your intelligence at risk!(pun intended)

My first trip to Taipei!!!

Many find it hard to believe!

After two years of flying, its my first time to Taipei!
"you gotto be kidding" they said

and The Great Old One must have felt guilty about this.. which is why i'm finally rostered for a Taipei flight with a really long stay there! 2 full days to be exact.. woo hoo~
(2days only??!! i know it doesnt sound like a really long stay..C'mon, what do u expect? 5 star hotel, paid holiday. company's time)


DAY1
took the MRT to Wufenpu Garment Wholesale Area (五分埔）located near to Kunyang station 昆阳站 ( Since it's my first time in taipei, moi was happily following my colleagues around)
This place is huge! its similiar to Far East plaza or Hereen(but open air) with many small shops selling different things ranging from casual clothes to branded apparel and accessories, shoes and much mush more. And i must say Abercombie and Fitch is cheap here!! I bought this ultra ultra short Abercombie mini skirt (which Tom forbid me to wear unless i'm out with him) for like just S$35! And its the real stuff, man!

Night time
Taipei's night markets are unique, like the city itself
The 3 major night markets in taipei are
1. Shilin (士林夜市）
2. Raohe （饶河夜市）
3. huaxi （华西夜市）

Sad to say, we only managed to go to Shilin night market. It's the largest night market in town and a popular evening destination for local residents and foreign tourists alike.
It consist of a food section and a shopping section. The Shilin Fried chicken steaks located in Tampines Mall Basement probably orignated from here. But eating the real authetic Shilin Fried chicken steaks in Shilin..
Awesome~~ 好好吃

And its the first time i had fermented toufu (臭豆腐！)The smell is unbelieveable and that's putting it mildly

And if you are in Shilin food section, remember to try the "little biscult wrapped in big biscult (大饼包小饼 ) The little bisults have "salty" fillings of crushed peanut or spicy curry, or a sweet filling of taro paste. They are pan-fried until crispy, then pressed and wrapped in a thin pancake, creating a wonderful conbination of soft outside and crunchy inside! (Actually , i copied this from "Travel in Taiwan" magazine. i only found out about this snack when i came back from Taipei）Darn~ 讨厌


DAY2
lunch time~~ my colleague brought me to this Shabu Shabu joint near Taipei City hall station

Shabu Shabu??!!!


Wikipedia says : Shabu-shabu (Japanese: しゃぶしゃぶ), also spelled syabu-syabu, is a Japanese variant of hot pot While similar to most dish prepared nabemono style, it was cooked on table instead of cooked ahead. The dish is related to sukiyaki in style, where both uses thinly sliced meat and vegetables, and usually served with dipping sauces. However, it is starkly different in taste; shabu-shabu is more savory and less sweet than sukiyaki. It is considered a winter dish but is eaten year-round.


My happy colleague enjoying their shabu shabu~~

NOTE!!!!!!

1. Don't be deceive by it's look..
This is pig's blood with glutinous rice!!!!

*puke puke*
and mio happily mix it into my hotpot..

Im still having nightmares thinking about it..

2. Your knowledge of Mandarin must be good..their menus are all in chinese!!! How to read??!!... Not simplified chinese characters also

How could u go to taipei and not pay a visit to Taipei 101 (台北101), the official world's tallest building in the categories of highest structurally, highest roof, and highest occupied floor!! Two doubledecker elevators are able to take visitors from the main floor to the observatory on the 89th floor in under 39 seconds. (nope, i didnt go up to the 89th floor.. plan to do it with Tom in the future and kick him off from there..muahahaha)


(yesh, i know it looks lame to do the angle shoot thingy..I thought it looks cute when my colleague took it)

To the Bakery shop to buy breakfast!
Check out their selection of bread!!!
interesting huh? My colleague who tried it said its actually very nice..

Taipei is definitely a must-go place..good food, great shopping, friendly people! cant wait to roster there again...*pray hard @_@

But first, i must brush up my chinese..Darn~ or我要study chinese or whatever..
Yesh, i know..i'm a chinese! and chinese speak mandarin..But somehow or rather, they cant understand what im saying..Is it me?? hmmm..

English word : Bread
Swedish word : bröd

"why do you need another bag?!!"

what's with women and bags/shoes/accessories/cosmetics/facial products/body products etc etc?
We can't seem to get enough of everything..

SHOPPING..
somehow or rather, we alway manage to convince ourselves we need another pair of shoes, another bag, more clothes, this cute MAC pink lip gloss (like we need another lip gloss to add to our dozen other lip gloss..duh~) or that Osim's Uzap (but i gotto admit Fiona's figure is HOT HOT HOT...even i'm convince that it will help me zap zap away my fats )

We are big time suckers, man..

maybe that's the difference between man and woman.

Man shop when they need to
Woman shop when they want to
Man knows specifically what they have in mind
Woman go around looking for things to buy
Man go into a shop, take it, pay for it and step out of the shop in 5mins flat
Woman goes in, look around, try it out (in diff colours and sizes, mind you), think about it, walked around the whole day THINKING ABOUT IT, and then come back before the shop close and buy it
and many many many more.....

and how many times have we went window shopping and came home with tons of purchases, feeling at the top of the world, happy like little girls with lollies in their hands.

and how many times have we walked around looking for something to buy just cause our hands were feeling empty. Even carrying a small little paperbag made us feel so proud. Its like we need to buy something or anything just to make our day.

Shopping Therapy, we say
Weirdos, the guys exclaimed

and as Tom said when i told him i bought another bag
"Another bag? why do you need another bag?!!"

Guys just don't get it..yawnz

they will never understand the adrenaline pumping through the brain, the excitement, the thrill of getting something new..(ermmm, a bit out of context, but you know what i mean)

and this is my cute little bag (abit too small for my liking though)..i could hardly close the thing after stuffing it with my waterbottle, wallet and handphone (yupz, im a big bag person..i love big bags!! the bigger the better, can stuff umbrella lah, my soduko book, my tibits, shawl, waterbottle, camera and blah blah blah blah..muahahaha)

Yikes! Whats that black little thingy hanging there? you wondered

that's my cute little 魔鬼!! bought in Taiwan!!

Close up......

Apparently its suppose to protect 保护 me from evil spirts out to harm pple (as what my colleague explained to me)

They have different 魔鬼 for different usage.

Like some of the 魔鬼 are for pple who's looking for love, or luck or whatsoever.. Actually it look kinda look like the voodoo doll or those 打小人 thingy..

Haha..but if it can protect me. who cares!

Better be safe than sorry, peace of mind

Btw, im looking for sponsorship for my osim's Uzap
anyone wanna contribute to the "piggy bank for Uzap"? C'mon, you just got your Progess package leh!

English: bag
Swedish: påse; säck; bag