A Mind of My Own

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I am utterly bored by Chinese wedding dinner styles but won’t have a say in mine although it is mine. Because of face. Just that one word. I don’t think there is a need to show off the wealth since I can jolly well put all that money into better use such as good renovations and a further honeymoon place to have fun.

Unfortunately, the elders won’t be that easily convinced especially when the son is the eldest in the family. ARGH! Another reason why I dislike Chinese wedding dinners is because they always start late. As in 1.5 hours after the stated time on the wedding card.

Last night was the first time I saw people arriving only at 7pm. The card stated dinner would be starting at 7pm. DD and I arrived at the place only to see his tired friends resting at the sofas just outside the Grand Ballroom of Orchid Country Club.

They had been helping the groom in the morning and were busted for the rest of the day. The dinner eventually started at around 8.30pm. For my wedding, I will not care about late comers if I am forced to hold the traditional wedding dinner style. You jolly arrive on time.

The wedding album was another thing altogether. I liked the outdoor shoots as they were taken in China. I like the forest-like shots and the stream shots. Unfortunately, Singapore doesn’t have that kind of nature except for that Bukit Timah hill stream that is too tiny. I don’t want lalang shots for sure. I don’t want fake backgrounds of forests and stream shots either.

I don’t even know when I’m getting married either.

This is madness! I thought that November would be a good month for me to start on National Novel Writing Month and that was why I finally decided to join. However, I didn’t anticipate that I would be taking up a part time job, attending a Korean Fiesta, visiting Night Safari and attending a wedding dinner within the first week of November.

I make it sound as it they take up a lot of my time. Actually, traveling will take up most of the time since the buses can’t be trusted despite what the newspaper said. I have waited for buses as long as 30 minutes for a feeder bus.

I got this part time job all thanks to The Young Businessman. Frankly speaking, I like how flexible my time is now provided I remember to check and key in my appointments into my trusty Samsung Omnia.

8.30am: Wake up.

9am: Type NaNoWriMo

9.45am: Chop ingredients for soup.

10am: Type NaNoWriMo

10.25am: Keep the dried clothes.

10.40am: Give up trying to complete NaNoWriMo

11am: Prepare to go VivoCity for Korean Fiesta.

12.05pm: Reach VivoCity and unsure which organiser to look for to retrieve the tickets.

12.20pm: Just sit at the benches at the amphitheatre without the tickets.

12.30pm: Korean ambassador gave a speech.

12.45pm: Singapore Minister George Yeo gave a speech.

12.50pm: Show started with excellent drumming from the girls.

1.20pm: Show ended with great breakdancing and drumming from the girls.

1.25pm: Sat at Coffee Bean with HF while she lamented the lost of her mobile.

1.30pm: HF’s younger siblings arrived.

1.45pm: Went to the family car to check if the mobile was stuck between the seats. No success.

1.50pm: Walked around VivoCity to check out the mobile phones.

2.15pm: Went to IMM to look for someone familiar working at Singtel.

2.45pm: The girl was on a break. Thus, went to Burger King for a lat lunch.

3.15pm: Looked for the girl again.

3.45pm: Finally settled on a new mobile.

4.15pm: Finally settled on the payment after checking the details.

4.45pm: Arrived home.

5pm: Bathed.

6pm: Prepared for meeting HF and RK to visit Night Safari for the Halloween special.

7.05pm: Arrived at the MRT to wait for HF.

7.10pm: HF arrived.

7.20pm: Reached Chua Chu Kang MRT.

7.22pm: Checked the bus going to zoo.

7.30pm: Went to Wang to have some light meal.

7.50pm: RK finally arrived.

7.55pm: RK bought some mineral water.

8pm: Waited for the bus.

8.30pm: Arrived at the zoo and walked towards the Night Safari’s entrance.

8.35pm: Squeezed through the crowd taking photos of the ghosts, draculas, vampires hanging near the entrance.

8.45pm: Queued for buying the tickets.

9.15pm: Finally bought the tickets.

9.20pm: Queued for boarding the Halloween horror tram.

10.15pm: Finally boarded the tram with The Joker.

10.30 - 10.45pm: Got scared by all the horrors.

10.50pm: Alighted the tram and started walking around.

11.45pm: Got reminded by the staff they were going to close.

12mn: Took a few more photos before leaving.

12.15am: Queued for the taxi.

12.45am: Reached home.

12.50am: Bathed.

1.20am: Sleep.

It will be my last if possible. I was so looking forward to it but when we arrived, there was a major anti-climax. Party World at Oriental Plaza was a disappointment. We had problems trying to select songs due to the remote issue. It took us 15 minutes trying to get it to work each time.

I felt disappointed that when I called for booking, I was greeting in Mandarin. So, only Chinese go for KTV sessions? Apparently so. We did manage to select quite a number of songs to last throughout 4 hours. I doubt that we’ll go back there unless there are no other places.

Party World near Maxwell Road wasn’t selected due to the weird timings. I mean, who on earth sings from 7pm to 11pm? Or 11pm to 3am? Don’t people have to have dinner before that? Maybe I am wrong about 11pm to 3am but 7pm is too early since most people knock off at 6pm. I don’t like packages that fix the time slots.

I went to Asian Civilisations Museum on Children’s Day. The irony. It’s been a long time since I last had some kiddy fun. After meeting DD at Raffles Place MRT, we crossed Cavenagh Bridge. Anyone knows how to pronounce Cavenagh?

The naughty kids pushing one another into the river.

Entrance of ACM. They have yet to take down the poster about the Vietnamese exhibits. A real pity to have missed those.

A weaving loom. I think it’s used by the Vietnamese.

The lion welcomed us just as we walked in.

Buddha is that huge!

A vase that reminds me of hearts.

I find the place interesting as it showed me the cultures and the influences that each Asian country tries to differentiate but yet the essence is there. The beliefs of certain objects to ward off evil and the cultures overlapping each other despite the attempts to be unique. I hope to see some Japanese and Korean cultures to be included too.

More photos of my trip can be found here. It isn’t complete as there are quite a number of the exhibits that were too huge for my camera to capture. Why not visit ACM yourself to soak in the cultures and understand the origins?

I like to travel. To visit as many places as possible while I’m still able to run, climb and walk. I have visited Bangkok, Bali, Batam, Brisbane and Genting Highlands. Ah ha! Finally a place where it doesn’t start with the letter B. Sounds like Sesame Street to me.

Living in Singapore, we may be exposed to various cultures but the atmosphere is different when you attend the Songkrat in Thailand, Mardi Gras in Brazil or buffalo fighting in Vietnam. Experiencing the festivals is a way to see how they live and enjoy life.

Watching buildings and sceneries is another reason why I like to travel. The skies seem to be bluer than in Singapore. The animals seem to have more land space to roam in the zoo. Trying to understand the language can be tricky as some of the places I have been to, the people may not understand English but it’s part of the fun.

I have yet to see the pink blossoms in Japan, swim with the dolphins, touch the Great Barrier Reef (unfortunately, it’s out of bounds due to pollution) and many more. Planning for holidays is half the fun. It’s the visiting and looking at the structures and experiencing festivals that completes it.

If traveling with tour guides isn’t your cup of tea, why not try Tiger Airways after you have planned your itinerary?

Tiger Airways is currently celebrating its 4th anniversary by having a special birthday fares starting from S$0.04 to various destinations.

Tiger Airways is Asia Pacific’s true low fare airline. It offers passengers not only one of the lowest possible airfares in the market, but safe, reliable and convenient point-to-point air travel as well. Tiger Airways now flies to more than 27 destinations across 9 countries in Asia-Pacific on a fleet of brand new Airbus A320 aircraft.

I went to Sengkang Swimming Complex last month. This is a long delayed post. Oh my. Well, DD wanted to go swimming, so, we went to this newly opened pool. It was raining heavily from 9am. I was so antsy as it may mean that I won’t have the chance to take a look around the new complex!

Thankfully, the Sun God decided that he had to take over and the sun shined from 11.30am onwards. On weekday, it is a good place to be with since the pools won’t be too crowded until you can’t do a thing despite paying the entry fees just to get in.

Indoor pool for swimming and teaching.

Kids playpool. Most of them love to play with the water pipes.

A round pool that I don’t understand what its purpose is. Yet.

The water slides. Way smaller than in Wild Wild Wet and other pools where space is bigger.

What I noticed is that the lifeguards were very busy with people who run around despite the floors being slippery, mothers who attempt to let their kids with arm floats or belly floats go into the adult pools, adults attempting to step upon the kids slides, etc.

My lifeguard friend said it is because of serious accidents that have occurred in other places, kids running despite being told not to and ended up with gashes on faces, some with bones seen after getting deep cuts even when told not to do dangerous stunts and more.

Overall, the swimming pool slides are for fun, thus, use common sense. If the recommended usage of the given float is pasted on the boards all over the pool, use. You don’t want to be sent to the hospital just because you didn’t listen.

This trip was a long one in the making. Originally, there was supposed to be 4 girls, NL, ES, HF and me. Unfortunately, the delay took more than a year to get to this trip. NL couldn’t take any leaves at all in August. We asked RK if she would be interested in a massage trip in Batam and she nodded her head immediately.

With 4 girls confirming the trip, we looked around for hotels that included the spa package with accommodation. Finally, we settled on Harris Resort Batam even though Holiday Inn had a package. It just didn’t feel worth the price for a 2D1N stay. RK’s beloved offered to help us book. Sweet!

After the calling back and forth with RK and the Five Stars Tour, we managed to get a spa slot at 11am, Batam time. It was freaking early as we had to take the 9.20am ferry. That meant meeting at 7.30am for breakfast before collecting our tickets.

I went with RK since she lived nearby and we were the first to reach followed by ES and her dear hubby who took the effort to wake up early to send her off. Aww. HF was the last to arrive as her alarm failed. We settled out ferry tickets and proceeded to the gate.

Although the crowd was choking the gate, we managed to find seats in the air conditioned portion and talked all the way until we reached Water Front City terminal. There, we queued up at the wrong counter as the Harris counter sign was hidden by the queue. They need a bigger sign board.

With our passports settled, we queued up for the free shuttle bus. When the bus arrived, the crowd moved and an auntie with 2 of her family members rushed from behind us to board the bus. They were obviously late for some appointment.

We took the small van as they only have a bus or a van. The ride was short as we didn’t realise that the resort is so near to the ferry terminal. Since our rooms weren’t ready, we went to our spa after requesting that we wanted 2 connecting rooms. With the request completed and our room numbers confirmed, we headed across the pools to the spa.

The spas were located on the rooftop and I liked the nature feel to it. It wasn’t a good idea to request for a room for 4 as it didn’t come with an attached shower. We ain’t gonna walk around wrapped in sarongs when there were so many guys having their spa and male workers too! We stuck with 2 per room.

Image via Wikipedia

The body scrub did smooth our skins. I was the only one who chose Hot Stones massage while the rest did the aromatherapy massages. During the scrubbing, I fell asleep. It was that comfortable. RK and I showered off the scrub and waited for the massage. My massage was good as the masseur did a lot of massaging my shoulder ache away. When the hot stones came, it was a little warm. By the 3rd time, my skin felt as if I was on fire. I thought my arm hair was being burned!

However, it was worth it as I would inform her that it was hot. After it was over, we proceeded to the bath tub for our milk bath but it didn’t look like milk bath. More like herbal bath as we saw some black leaves. The water spurts were at intervals and it didn’t feel like being in a jacuzzi at all. It was also horrifying to see the water level being drained away the longer we stay in the tub and it wasn’t even overflowing either!

Image via Wikipedia

When I finally stood up to shower off, the water level was less than half of the tub. My body felt oily all over but smooth despite my attempts to use the given shower foam. RK and I asked if ES and HF had the same experience with their milk bath but they didn’t have the water level being lowered.

We went to check in since we needed our lunch. The room was fantastic. It was spacious and we opened the connecting doors. There was also a balcony over looking the pool. After admiring the room, we went on to have our lunch at 3pm, Batam time.

Thinking that the pizza was big enough, that was from the way the waiter used his hands to mimic how huge it was, we ordered 2 pizzas using our entitled vouchers. When the pizzas arrived, the pan was huge but the pizzas weren’t that big. The dough base was think, and crispy almost to the point of biting down on a biscuit.

The waiter asked if the pizza was big enough when we were done, we replied, “Too small.” He was helpless as he couldn’t do much about it. We ordered drinks and felt the soft drinks were way over priced. There wasn’t any need as they provided iced water too!

Since there wasn’t much else to do, we decided to play in the pool with the free ball. It was fun using the ball to splash water onto each other using as much force as possible. It was like dodge ball only, using water. The game lasted about an hour before HF decided that she was hungry.

We proceeded to wash off and ordered room service as we felt that the BBQ and buffet dinner was too expensive since none of us eat much. Dinner arrived just as all of us had completed our baths. ES loved the Cabonara Spaghetti and the fish chilly sauce. The omelette was too salty but the salad that came with it was great. Thankfully, the carrot soup was bland enough to balance the salty omelette.

ES suggested Mahjong to spend the night but the set and table weren’t available, so we request for confirmation from the reception who never got back on the availability because the person renting it was happily using it through the night. There is only one Mahjong set and one Mahjong table for rental.

We tried again after breakfast while waiting to kill the time but only the set was available. The table wasn’t. We couldn’t even borrow the Mahjong paper because the person didn’t seem to understand. Ultimately, we didn’t get to play Mahjong to pass the time, we played Big 2, Dai Dee. The night before, it was more exciting as we had forfeits. RK was the one who suggested a change of the forfeit and she was the 1st one to do it. Evil, ES took photos as proof. And NO! None of you will get to see them!

After checking out, we had about an hour plus to kill the time. Thus, we used the vouchers for a free bowling game per person. The game was way cheaper than playing one game in Singapore. We played 2 games but kept having troubles with the bowling balls being stuck in the gears. The guy had to sort it out for us more than 5 times.

Finally, we changed lanes in the middle of the second game. The monitor for one of the lanes was spoilt while the lane’s TV screen had too much flickering. We continued our games while I didn’t score any strikes, I did get a couple of spares. We kept hitting the pins to display goal posts too. The bowling balls got stuck a few times in the new lanes too.

I think the bowling lanes were under utilised and hence, the problems. We didn’t even have to wait for anyone to complete their games either. The guy was kept busying with our cries for help with the stuck bowling balls and pins.

It was time to leave Batam for Singapore. We had a great time being crazy in Batam, especially in our rooms.

I finally made it to the Garden Festival at Suntec City with DD. The queue for the tickets counter wasn’t that long since it was 3pm. When we were near the front, this auntie from behind us just cut through us and smiled all the way to the counter. The usher didn’t say anything and just told us to go to the counter next to her. If the counter was full, I would have yelled at that auntie and usher.

Having gotten our discounted tickets using NTUC union card, we proceeded to go up to level 6 where the Fantasy Gardens begins. Without further ado, I shall introduce my readers to the welcome pillar.

Warning! Mostly images and may slow down loading.

Rather bland, I must say but then again, if too flowery, it would destroy the rest of the garden designs.

The theme of the gardens at level 6.

Giant bee.

This grasshopper loves the violin.

The shy ladybird.

Chelsea Sunset arch. I love it because it contains Stargazer Lilies. A whole bunch too!

I was wondering what this was when I was near. However, after stepping back, I saw a face but still couldn’t figure whose face. Using my camera, I realised that it was Marilyn Monroe! DD wondered what she was doing there at the festival.

DD immediately said that this was designed by Singapore without looking at the label. You know why?

These were the crabs that made the kids go wild and crowded around the area. I had to stand and raise my camera at an awkward position and swiveled it so that I could take this shot. I love S5 IS!

A serene view of a Chinese water village. Live kois were reared in the display pond too.

Three deadly plants that digests anything like ants, mice and insects. I so wanted to get a small plant to get rid of the cockroaches mainly.

Did I mention that I like perky ones?

I like to relax too.

DD love the pair of Dutch clogs. I wonder why.

For more photos, check out my album. My overall experience at the festival was tiring because I had to capture the photos of the displays fast as soon as the crowd had moved because the next wave would immediately cut in and I would be capturing people’s head and hands covering half the photo. It took some techniques with my wonderful S5 IS.

I did however, plonked myself in front of another person taking photos of a display. Oops. DD asked why I had to do that. For such festivals, it’s always best to visit in the morning instead of afternoon as people will be taking afternoon leaves just to avoid the crowd too.

I did notice a familiar face, an ex-colleague taking his children out for the festival. The wife was rather charming and she smiled so sweetly.

This outing got huge. Usually, I would manage to get only at most 6 people confirming their availabilities. It was a huge surprise that I have 12 confirmations. I nearly fell off my chair when I read the email. Happy is WishBoNe.

Since HF and the rest have not been to The Cathay at Handy Road, we decided to go for Billy Bombers. At 2pm, NL sent me an SMS saying she was down with flu and cough. Naturally, MC wouldn’t be going either. Sad is WishBoNe. At around 4pm, RK SMS me that her SO was going since his work got canceled. Happy is WishBoNe. The total number came to 11. We were to start dinner at 6pm. Usually, the group arrived late but whenever we purposely put an earlier time, everyone arrives just within 15 of the said time.

CD was the last to arrive due to her cycling trip at East Coast Park. Her friend drove her from East Coast Park to Balestier, Bukit Timah, Lord knows where else, then to Newton and finally, Orchard Road. She wanted to tell him to go to a particular exit as it was faster but she wasn’t sure and kept quiet until she reached. Some people cannot accept road directions. Best to be quiet about it and learn the hard way.

Since all of us were done with dinner except her, we decided to go to another place and discussed for 5 minutes and came up with 2 options. TCC Orchard and KTV just near The Cathay. Another 5 minutes of choosing either venue and we finally decided on TCC. That’s when we found out that TCC is near PS, thus, saving us a trip to somewhere else along Orchard Road. That was 7.30pm.

CD had half her sandwich at TCC. We all got drinks after the waitresses at TCC helped to arrange the tables to accommodate all 11 people. A tight squeeze but we managed. With only 2 guys in the group, it wasn’t that difficult.

It was 8.30pm when we finished our drinks at TCC. Since the night was still young, we discussed if we should go to another place. Another 10 minutes of throwing up options and we decided on Marina at Keppel Bay. Only JC has a car, so the group had to be split into 2 cabs. I don’t know how the rest split up but since 3 of us knew the way, the ones who knew would take the cab with those who didn’t know the way. RK, RK’s SO and me took JC’s car. Happy is WishBoNe.

When we arrived at the place, the carpark was full and a valet helped JC but he didn’t know how to operate the doors for her 2-door Peugeot. I can’t remember which model but it’s one of the early adopters for auto-door in private cars. The rest had arrived earlier and the staff informed us that all the restaurants were fully booked due to weddings. We chose an auspicious date alright.

Since we had arrived and most of us had never been to the place, we took some time to walk around the place that we could access. I took a few photos and realised that I need more practice in night shots.

After walking around the place with TCC being the only available place to us, we decided to go have ice cream since ES was craving for it since dinner. Walking would be a breeze in the cool night but I wanted to take a ride instead of walking. So, we took the car with RK’s SO, the sweet man, gave the valet service amount to JC.

We arrived at Haagen Dazs at 10.30pm and asked for the seating arrangement for 11 people. After waiting for a few minutes, the rest had arrived and we got our seats. We ordered 7th Heave, waffle with ice cream and brownie. The flavours for 7th Heaven: Mango Sherbet, Cookies and Cream, Rum and Raisins, Belgian Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Green Tea and Berry something.

The white smoke is the dry ice in case you don’t know. We chatted until 11.30pm. From pool stories by RK with her job as a lifeguard to ghost stories and disturbing couples making out cars late at night when ES’ hubby and RK’s SO were young. Cheeky men.

ES’ hubby used to drive out late at night with his best mates with their cars mod with speakers that blasted out music at high volumes while parked in between the cars. They would even wave hi to the car owners left and right. Other antics included hide and seek in the 7th month at some haunted house. 1 seek, the rest paired up to hide.

Finally, we wrapped up the night and this time, JC sent HF, CD and me home. I saved a lot of transport money. Thanks JC! I have enjoyed my night. Been quite some time since we had such a huge gathering since our graduation. KY failed to turn up nor returned our calls. Wondering what she is up to.

Thus our night venues:

• Billy Bombers at The Cathay
• TCC just outside Dohy Ghaut MRT
• Marina at Keppel Bay
• Haagen Dazs at VivoCity

4 places in a night. Oh boy.