Mumbai? Bombay?

Rejoice~ The school holiday is finally over!!!
*phew, a sigh of relief*
i know i shouldnt get too excited...Well, if you had 70children travelling on your recent flight (that's like almost one third of the total passenger load) then you know what i mean by that.

Just came back from a flight to Bombay. I know it's no longer called Bombay "The name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995, but the former name is still widely used by the city's inhabitants and a number of its famous institutions."

But still.....

The only thing i look forward to when i do an Indian flight is the nice hotels they put us up in.

I know it looks really nice to have this really huge empty space (it's really huge!!) in the middle of the hotel but it's still such a waste of land....

With the massive hotel size, you would expect the person who design this place to put two lift lobby at either end of the hotel.

Hell No.

There's only a lift lobby catering to the hotel guests.

And guess what? My room happens to be HERE!

Yesh! My assigned room, of all rooms!!!! had to be smack right at the extreme end of the other side of the lift lobby.

Lucky me.

In fact, moi had to walked pass 28rooms before i reached mine's.

The funny thing is: Crew always get the most "desired" location. Our assigned rooms are usually:
1. Located at corners, far away from the life lobby (in my case)
2. Near to fire exits (might be a good thing though, in an event of a emergency)
3. really "NICE" view of the outside surrounding
In fact, the hotel is so near to the airport that moi can see planes landing every couple of minutes.
I guess i shouldnt complain much.
Like come' on: we are staying in 5 stars hotels!!!
I peek out of my window and saw a group of children playing soccer on a wet and muddy field (if you can call that a field).

They look happy.Unfortunately, i didnt have the time (or maybe i'm kinda scare?) to venture outside the walls of the hotel. Some of the people here live in extreme poverty and it's a common sight to see mother carrying their baby, or small children walking around begging for some money. It makes me really sad when i see them. Maybe i'm just hiding myself from the reality of their everyday lifes.

Lunch was at the hotel restaurant. My colleagues all had the buffet lunch except me. I had a really bad experience (food poisoning) when i had the buffet the last time. Instead, I ordered the murg chicken tikka with garlic naans. The portion is not really huge, just a few pieces of chicken with two garlic naans and it costs moi S$20!!!

It doesnt even taste good. Darn, i should have just give the money to the poor and eat instant noodle (which probably taste so much better and cheaper) -_-

With nothing to do, moi was testing out the lens of my camera.
Im totally impressed! All these photos were taken at the exact same spot in my hotel room.
I think it has 14.6X times digital zoom or something. Really powerful~
Makes me feel like a spy, especially when i started to zoom in on the slums nearby.
i could zoom right in and see women cooking food and stuff. HEHEHE

Sighz, we use to stay in Hyatt 2 years old, before we shift to this new premise. I miss the hotel there. The rooms there are so amazing, even the bathroom has like this area for you to step in, and they had this flowerhead thingy on top of the ceiling, and when you on the tap, the water will fall from above....i dunno how to describe it fully but it's really one of the better hotel i ever come across....

Counting down to the days till my leave starts (6th JUL)...and spending two weeks in Sweden.
But first, doing a 5days amsterdam flight (again) on thurs.

my trip to Malmö, Sweden

Just 4hours of sleep in Copenhagen hotel and moi is up and ready to go to Malmö, Sweden and visit Tom's family.
The good thing is: The Train station is just 5mins way from the hotel so i have no problem of losing my way.
Inside the train station~
The ticket cost like 60 Danish kroner/one way.
It's not a problem if you don't speak Danish. In fact, majority of the Danish do speak English.
The train crossing over from Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmö, Sweden over the Öresund bridge. The journey takes less than 35mins.

Reminds me of the song "Bridge over troubled water"

Moi alighted at the Malmö SYD SVÅGERTORP stop, just a stop before Malmö Central.The sight that greet moi when i got off the train.

Tom's family was already on the way to pick me up from the train station. At the point in time, moi was still feeling jittery about imposing on his family. However, my initial skepticism quickly worn off as all his family members gave me a huge hug and a warm welcome.

First stop: To the Beach!

With Tom's sista, Lucy and his mommy.Tom's mom mentioned that it's a family tradition to have an ice-cream when at the beach.
(Not that i'm complaining!!) heehee
So each of us have a soft serve~ Super duper delicious
The most famous building in Malmö is probably the Turning torso. (At the background)
From wikipedia: Turning Torso is a skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden , located on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The Twisting Torso sculpture is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being.After the nice ice-cream and the nice walk along the coast of the beach, it's time to head to the house.

Dinner consist of bread, sausages, smoked salmon, roast beef, ham etc. Easy and fast to prepare. In fact, Tom's mommy told me that all these are bought from the supermarket and are ready cooked.

It probably takes like just 15mins to whip up the feast.
And lemme tell you, it was really really good. I think i ate the most at the table. KEKEAfter dinner, we head to the living room where Tom's mommy placed a tray of Swedish sweets.
The Chokladboll was super good. I had like 4 of that during my stay there.
Tom was so jealous when i told him that.
I'ts his favourite!
He told me when he was young, his mom would just allow him one Chokladball each time. So what he did was, he went to the fridge and quickly stuffed one into his mouth and then pretend to hold another one in his fingers so his mom would think that he just had one.. So sneaky~
But you gotto hand it to him.

Tom's mommy told me that the rectangle sweet with a green strip in the middle is call a vacuum cleaner in swedish. Haha, i know it's funny...i mean why called it a vacuum cleaner?
One thing about summer in Europe is that the sun rises at 3am and go down at 11pm. That's like almost 20hours of sunlight a day.
~incredulous~

The next day, Lucy and i went down to Malmo central.
I think Sweden was experiencing a sudden heatwave over that couple of days because it was like 30degrees when i was there.
In fact, i almost feel like i'm back in Singapore.
(I mean not quite, cos it's not as humid as Singapore.)
I just had to visit H&M shop. (Why don't H&M come to Singapore?)
Bought a couple of tops that's just perfect for the beach.
BTW, if you people are complaining about the increase of the Singapore Goods & Service tax from 5% to 7%, then the sales tax in Sweden is gonna knock your socks off!
25%!!!!!

nice building structure

Tom's parents came to pick us up from the city and brought us to the park.
I told you, it's really HOT!!

In fact, we saw half nekkid guys walking around the city area and women in bikinis cycling around....

Beautiful flowers in bloom

I must have look really silly to Lucy when i pointed at these fluffy creatures and shouted
"Ohhh, LOOK!!!! cute little baby Duckies!!!!"
"These are baby geese" Lucy said.

Ermm, ducks and geese? Are they different?
Omigosh...did i just ask that bimbo question?? *faint*Lucy then point towards the "REAL" duckies
Aint ducks suppose to be ugly and dull in appearance?
READ: UGLY DUCKLING!!!
These ducks are so beautiful, with many shades of green, white, blue and brown.
Im confused @-@I guess that the trouble when you grow up in a city-kinda environment, like Singapore. You hardly get in touch with the natural environment, where animals just roam around in the wild, or take a walk in the park, have a picnic in the park and stuff.

Worse of all, you can't even differentiate a goose from a duck?
Geez, i might as well just bash my head against the wall. -_-

Behind their house is a garden which is lovingly tend by his parents. My favourite is probably the raspberries bushes.

I made a mistake of thinking they were mini strawberries. But they were not.
Looks alot like strawberries though

Tommy's mommy plucked a bowl of raspberries for me...
Awwww~ im so touched
Tom's parents went to the market and bought a bag of new potatoes and some dill for dinner. The "new potatoes" as mentioned by Tom's mommy are only available during the summer time. The potato's skin is very thin and delicate and the flesh is particularly flavorful.
Even i can tell the difference! It was so good that Tommy's mommy helped moi bought a bag of potatoes to bring back to Singapore.

I was such a glutton and moi forgot to take some pictures of the food (and the new potatoes) that Tommy's mommy prepared.

After two wonderful days in Malmo, sadly..it was time for me to head back to Copenhagen.
i'll be back soon...in fact, come july, Tom and myself will be heading up to Sweden for almost 2weeks! And to attend his brother's wedding.

I could hardly wait!

Muffin top!

Haha... moi learned a new word from the newspaper today~~~~

MUFFIN TOP!!From wikipedia:
Muffin top (or muffin top girl) is a generally pejorative, slang term used for a person, usually female, whose flabby midsection spills over the waistline of his or her pants in a manner that resembles the top of a muffin spilling over its casing. This generally occurs when an individual wears low rise or hip-hugger pants and midriff-baring tops.
However, the muffin top isn't exclusive to low-rise jeans. Any jeans that are too tight at the waist can cause a muffin top. In addition, low rise jeans of the right size usually will not create a muffin top.

Hmm...i think i'm a fashion victim of the "Muffin top" as well!! Muffin top originated as AUSTRALIAN slang in mid-2003 and was first popularized by the Australian television show "KATH & KIM".
In fact, Australia's Macquarie Dictionary named "muffin top" the word of the year in 2006. And the American Dialect Society named it one of the "most creative" new terms that same year.

It's so commomly used that the word "muffin top" is one of hundreds of new words and phrases, along with "wag", "size zero" and "hoodie", that have entered the language and are listed in the Collins English Dictionary's 9th edition, available on June 4, 2007.

Meet the family

I'm getting really flustered with my blog skin. -_-"

Moi and "IT" is playing a game. Moi will be clicking the REFRESH REFRESH icon, and "IT" depending on the mood will either load my blog skin fully or NOT!!
#&!%#!$?#

My blog is suppose to have a pink and black background!!
NOT SOME STOOPID WHITE BACKGROUND

UGHHHHH
*click refresh refresh and refresh*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moi flying up to Copenhagen, Denmark tomorrow. Since I have almost 3 clear days there, I will be making a trip down to Malmo, Sweden (which is abt 20mins train ride) and staying over with Tom's family for a couple of days.

Feeling jittery right now though i hate to admit that to Tom. It's the second time moi is meeting the his family and TOM is not coming with me to give me support!

ARGHHHHHHH

I know i shouldn't be feeling this way. I mean, come on...
this is my future in-laws i'm talking about. And they were all super nice and so hospitable when i was there for Christmas two years back. In fact, when they heard about our engagement, his parents called and send their congrats. A few days later, we received a congratulation card from the whole family.

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

I guess mainly because Tom will not be there with me. It feel kinda weird and i don't wanna impose on them (eventhough Tom had assure me countless times that his family will love to have me over and Lucy, Tom's sista, promise to show me around Malmo)

I have no idea how to address his parents either. In Asia, it's accustom to address them as Uncle or Auntie. Apparently not in Sweden.

Moi: Can i called them Uncle or Auntie?
Tom: No...
Moi: How about Mr and Mrs XXXXXX?
Tom: Cannot lah
Moi: Then how should i address them? (confused)
Tom: You don't have to
Moi: .....
(talking with Tom always leave me more confused than ever)

Moi also requested him to write down the directions from my Copenhagen hotel to Malmo, Sweden (You know, just in case). And Dear Tom was like "There's no need to write down. You just go down to the train station, buy a ticket from the counter and alight at the first stop after the bridge"

That's IT?

But you know how women, or should i say ME?, is with maps and direction. What if i miss my stop and travel all the way up to Stockholm? Nooooooooo...
Maybe i should ask him to write on a piece of paper, in swedish
"PLEASE HELP THIS WOMAN HERE TO GET FROM COPENHAGEN TO MALMO SAFELY... AND IN ONE PIECE"
Heh heh, so not funny~

Sighz, all these worrying~
perhaps i should just relax, go over and enjoy myself "Come what may"
or take the easy way out? (just kidding, TOM!!!)

Wait for my Sweden photos!! I will be back on the 13th...

Dare to be different~

Took this photo on my recent Frankfurt trip~
A big pat on the back for the car's owner who came up with this innovative way of parking his car. It helps that the car is pretty compact. I mean, two seater car, super cute & compact and....
IT'S A hatchback!!

What more could a girl like me as for? ^^

Did a wiki search to find out more on the make of the car:
"smart Fortwo" - smart is a brand of microcars and superminis based in Böbblingen, Germany. The name of the company, part of DaimlerChrysler, was changed from Micro Compact Car GmbH to Smart GmbH in September 2002. The original idea behind the very short "smart car" is that the vehicle is easy to park. It is short enough to allow it to be parked "nose-in" where a conventionally sized car would have to parallel park. The length of only 250cm allows as many as three of the vehicles to be parked in the space normally taken by one standard-length car

I wish this cutie car will come to Singapore.

Girl, Let us rejoice! No more parallel parking!
YAAY~

grow old with back pain

I think i'm getting old~

My lower back has been feeling weird lately. Kinda experiencing a numb sensation everything i bend forward.
Moi attribute it to helping passengers carry their super duper heavy baggage into the overhead compartments
-_-

Tom says it's definitely NOT slipped disk.

Moi went to do a Google search on slipped disk,
SYMPTOMS OF SLIPPED DISK includes
*Numbness, tingling, weakness, or pain in the buttocks, back, legs, or feet
*Numbness and tingling around the anus or genitals
*Pain down the back of each leg from the buttocks to the knee
*Pain with movement, straining, coughing, or doing leg raises
*Difficulty controlling bowel movements or bladder function

Ermmm, i have 2 out of 5. So what does that mean?

Yesterday, our Dear Tom bought this Salonpas patch from Guardian Pharmacy.
(cos i keep complaining to him about my back problem)
This patchy thingy is so my parents time. I used to laugh at them when i was small cos it's so ugly. And it has this weird medicated oil smell.
Look who's having the last laugh now.

A box cost S$1.75 at leading pharmacy.
Well, at least it's white in colour instead of those beige brown plaster colour. Dear Tom was kind enough to help paste it on my lower back.It takes about 5minutes before you start to experience a slight cool tingling menthol effect on your skin. There's a warning that says
"DO NOT USE PATCH FOR MORE THAN 8HOURS".

I wonder why.

I DID use it for more than 8hours. I mean you tend to use it before you go to bed right? And it will be so silly to set your alarm for 8hours, wake up, peel off the patch and go back back to sleep again.

I kinda like the slight cool tingling menthol effect. Cos it keeps my mind of the back pain! HAHA
I did sleep better too.

It's all about the chocolates!

There's something wrong with my blogskin!! ARGHHHHHH
It doesn't load up completely!!!
Is it just me or do u pple have the same problem?
Sighz...need to change the colour of my font to a darker shade so u pple can read better
Hope it doesn't stay like this for long -_-

ANYWAY~

When moi first started flying, i used to cart back tons of tons of chocolates from Frankfurt.
AND I'm talking about 40-50packs of chocolates per trip!!

They have a greater varieties of chocolates. Chocolates that you can't get your hands on in Singapore. The best part? They are all so affordable!

But after awhile, the novelty kinda wears off. My family and friends are getting so sick and tired of them. Even my brother had asked moi to stop buying them. HAHA

Nowadays, when i do a Frankfurt flight, I'll only buy a couple of chocolates home.
Yupz, buy them just for the sake of buying them. (yesh, it's a silly reason)

Even then, It's still like 20 to 30packs of chocolates!
My cargo bag was weighing a hefty 36KG!!! on my last Frankfurt flight.
Filled to the brim with all the chocolates and sausages!!

My colleague was telling moi "Aiyah, no need to buy so much Giotto and Hanuta back to Singapore cos there's this shop in Vivo selling them."

REALLY?

Yesterday, Tom and moi went to Vivo to catch "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's end"
(I find the movie a drag. Bleah~)
We passed by the Candy shop that sells Hanuta and Giotto. Moi decided to pop in to check out the place.I got a serious shock when i compared the prices of the chocolates.
To me: It's totally insane and ridiculous

For example:
The Hanuta chocolates that i bought in Frankfurt for around 1.80euros (S$3.60) each.
At the shop, they were selling them for S$7.90.
Alrite, u guys might think..."Hmm, it's not so bad. Just double the price only mah. Have to consider their overhead expenses and freight charges"
Then i spotted the Giotto in a corner. Likewise, they cost around 1.80euros (S$3.60) each in Frankfurt.
The price tag in that shop?
Freaking S$13.50 each!!!!!!
I mean, Oh come on, that's like 3times more!!

DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THERE ARE SUCKERS OUT THERE WHO ARE GONNA PAY SO MUCH MORE FOR THESE!!!

No doubt that this shop is the ONLY PLACE in Singapore that sells these type of chocolates
MONOPOLY rules!
But STILL!!! It's so absurd that moi wanna scream MURDER!!!!

In fact, on my next Frankfurt flight, I'm gonna buy tons and tons of Giotto back to Singapore.
Then i set up a makeshift stall OUTSIDE that candy shop and LELONG them out to people
"LELONG! S$5 each!! BUY 3 and get one free!!!"
It doesn't matter if I'm not making a profit (but have to break even lah, Idiot!)
It's to prove a point!!
(ermm, i can just imagine myself being dragged away by the security guards, screaming my head off)

So Moi was telling Tom when i saw the staggering amount : I ABSOLUTELY refuse to pay so much more for these chocolates when i could get them so much cheaper in Frankfurt!

Tom : Yes, but if you're not flying and doesn't know that these chocolates are so much cheaper in Frankfurt, would you still buy them?

ME: .......

Other varieties of chocolates that are cheaper in Frankfurt.
FYI: MERCI cost around S$7.00 at leading supermarket
SEE!! I seriously don't understand why chocolates must be so damn expensive in SINGAPORE!!! Just cos they are imported products??
*roll eyes*

It's so unfair!!

Come to think of it, when moi eventually stop flying... and i suddenly have this tremedous craving for Giotto chocolates...Do i have to eat back my word and buy my Giotto for 3times the price at this candy store?
OMG *faint*