Happy Mooncake Festival

Mr Koh and I went to the Chinese Garden in an attempt to see if there are any decorations or lightings up for the impending mooncake festival.. haha! Our plan was to not pay any cent.. and loiter around the lake to see if we can see anything for free.. haha!

Surprisingly, it was pretty dark when we reached! We reckoned there wouldnt be any lantern exhibition this year as it would normally have been up a week before the actual day of the festival...

I wondered if there was a power trip or something, as it seemed unsually dark as we entered the garden.. Though it was dark and all, there were throngs of people entering the Chinese Garden.. They must have thought that there would be some lighting of lanterns too..

Nevertheless, I was pretty excited, coz it has been a very very long time since I last stepped into the Garden.. Been seeing the garden almost every other day from the MRT train (when I went to NTU last time), but never got the chance to go there.. haha.. The last time I came here was more than a decade ago...

It looks beautiful at night, and I bet it looks even better in the day~ =)

We started strolling aound, and to our surprise, we saw a few of our NTU classmates... Saw Songqin, Huiren and the girls... Such a concidence! We are all staying in the East, and we actually meet each other in the West that very night.. haha! They had actually planned for a night of fun with laterns, sparklers and mooncakes.. how fun!

They gave us a lantern to play with, and offered us mooncakes too... haha! How unexpected~ =) Our relaxing stroll in the park suddenly became eventful.. hee..

Like a happy family!

I got a lantern too! =) which has a '福' on it.. haha.. How funny~ wasn't '福' more appropriate for CNY instead of mid autumn.. haha.. neverthless, it's still something positive! hope it brings me good luck~ haha..

Carrying it like a lil girl.. haha...

I walked around with the lantern.. attracting occasional stares from passer-bys.. but since it's almost pitch-dark, I guess ppl can't see me well too.. haha! And it brings me back to the good old days... =)

And we walked to this Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum set in the Garden.. But it was closed when we reached, so we couldnt get to see any turtles too.. haha.. except for those on the wall... =P

There were drawings of the different kinds of turtles and tortoises... Reminds me of my 2 suagus at home!

This breed (which I'm pointing to) looks just like mine at home.. haha..

Mr Koh joins in the fun as well.. haha... Seems like all the turtles are all attracted to the lantern and are heading to its direction.. haha!

Final shot to end the night~ =)

Though it was a hot and humid night, but that didnt dampen our moods.. haha.. I had fun carrying laterns, felt like a little girl again~ How can we enjoy the festivities without lanterns and mooncakes?

Now I feel like making my own lantern =P

My first time into F1 circuit!

Hahaha... I still can't believe how lucky we were... seriously! We were contented to even catch the f1 cars zoom past from outside last year.. haha... and this year, we were prepared to do the same, in fact! I remembered peeping at the cars from outside, and it was thrilling enough just to hear the f1 cars zoom past us.. I love fast cars... very much! Never, never did we expect, that we would be entering the circuit later that night..

So this year, we made our way down to marina area, hoping to catch a glimpse of the F1 cars, like how we did it last year... haha..

Posing with one the GATE 3, pretending that we were about to enter the circuit.. haha!

Very disappointed! The event organisers blocked all the fences.. leaving no gaps for the onlookers to peep! =P show a little bit will die meh? cover until like that.. haha...

We combed the perimeters of the track, hoping to find a good spot to catch a glimpse of the cars... haha.. and finally, after searching high and low, we managed to find this little spot on the marina square bridge uncovered.. I'm surprised they left this part open to public.. haha.. but it was a pathetic space anyways..

So, Mr Koh started whipping out his tripod, getting ready to snap whatever he could see... haha.. He was busy fixing it, while i was staring into space, waiting for another trial run to start a few minutes later..

Suddenly, a man walked to my side silently, and showed me 2 F1 walkabout passes.. I was puzzled initially, thinking that he wanted to sell me the passes or something.. haha.. but nope, to my surprise, he handed the passes to me.. I couldnt really recall what he said to me.. but his actions sort of meant that he wanted to give them to me and Mr Koh (who obviously didnt know what was going on).. hahaha.. The man left silently again, haha.. after giving me the passes.. and I was elated.. haha! shocked for a few seconds and was ultra happy when I realized that it meant that I could get into the circuit NOW!

I gave Mr Koh the passes and he too, was shocked.. We hurriedly waved and said thank you to the stranger who gave us the passes... HAHA! It was a pleasant surprise.......

Without wasting any more time, we hurriedly made our way to GATE 3, where we took our very first picture earlier... hahaha.. It was not a very short walk, but we finally reached there after 15 mins.. hehe! I was dripping perspiration.. and it sure didnt felt good.. but who cares, I got the PASS! It felt even better hanging the pass around my neck! =) felt like some VIP that night... haha..

WE'RE IN THE CIRCUIT... goodness~ I wouldnt have bought the passes if I had the money... haha! really... It was unbelievable..

We walked along the perimeters of the circuit.. and the usual esplanade and marina roads were immediately transformed! Floodlights lit the night and it was exhilarating being so near the cars... haha..

This is my favourite picture of the night.. taken by Mr koh.. Anyway, this is not an F1 car, this is some other racing car during the other test trial.. haha.. they are not as noisy as the F1 cars..

This is my favourite team.. haha! You can try guessing which team this F1 car belongs to.. haha.. answer will be revealed later..

After walking around for some time, we decided to head up to the esplanade rooftop to see if there's a better view to watch the F1 cars do their stunts..

The view was surprisingly good.. and it's windy too! The weather that night was very humid and hot.. heard it was 30 degrees celsius~ My jeans were soaked and I needed aircon badly.. haha.. But since it was breezy up there, we decided to stay there longer till the test run ended...

Posing with our free passes to end the eventful night =)

All these couldnt have been done without these passes~

I've finally been to the F1, unexpectedly! Something which I think I would nv have gone to, if not for these passes... HAHA! Once again... Thank you strangers =)

Anyway, I'm a McLaren Fan... I shall keep my fingers crossed and see if they will win the race this Sunday.. haha!

Jiaxin's new best friend~

Dearest Jiaxin has found her new best friend.. haha.. Her purplish pink spectacles that is.. =) Looks pretty cute and funky right? Poor girl is long sighted.. but not to worry, her eyesight will gradually adjust itself and be back to normal..

Kiddy rides now are ridiculously priced.. I must say this again.. haha! $1 for a 2-3 minutes ride leh..... During my time, it was only 20 cents for a 5 mins ride can.. haha! goodness..........

Must keep these evil creatures out of my children's sight next time! =P

Biggest Candy Floss =)

Was totally amazed with the Candy Floss sold at Suntec Comex some time back.. haha! It was gigantically humungous.. I was dumb-founded.. haha! Brings me back to kiddish times.. haha..

Huixian and I went down to the ground level to buy one to share, while Mr Koh and Weiting were busy meddling with Mr Koh's newly bought net book some levels above....

Big right? It's twice my head size.. hahaha... or maybe more!

Some guys even asked us where we bought the candy floss while we made our way up the escalotor.. haha! It was attention-grabbing!

But then, this sweet little thing melts very quickly~~

Meet up with Mr Chua and the gals~

It was one of the very rare meet ups with our A maths teacher who taught us in Cedar, he has since moved on to MOE, but is still vv much in touch with the teaching scene.. But he is one of the teachers whom we will still keep in contact with.. haha! after all these while.. He is a maths 'genius'.. in my opinion... haha.. who goes for PHD in Statistics???? A local Singaporean somemore, I take my hat off to him..

We had a good dinner at Sushi Tei at Tampines 1, and the rest of the evening chatting about life.. haha.... gone were the days we worry about our A maths grade.. I was always failing my A maths nevertheless.. all the way to prelims! kudos to myself.. haha..

Now, we were talking abt work.. and since he is also in the public service, most of the topics revolved ard the public service.. haha.. finally someone understands my lingo =P I'm considering teaching.. really considering.. haha!

Anyway, we were too engrossed with eating, and forgot to take a group shot with Mr Chua at the restaurant.. haha.. instead, we cam-whored in Fanny's new car.. haha.. She's earning big bucks now~ everyone's grown up!

Jiayou~ Let's excel in whatever we do ya......... Cedarians!... are women of substance~ hahaha..

I'm proud to tell people that I come from Cedar Girls~ =)

Kite Flying~

Been wanting to fly a kite for quite some time.. So on one fine Sunday evening~ we headed down to the open field near compass point and fly our newly bought kite.. haha! It was bought from the nearby community centre, and it costs $5! not exactly cheap... haha.. but as I couldnt find my old kites in my store room, we had to buy an overpriced one.. =P

Presenting to you~ Our very first kite.. hee!

Our very laopok old school kite.. hahahhaa! Looks very insignificant in the sky... and had some problems trying to soar to the sky too.. *fly kite, fly~*

Mr Koh was very focused in trying to make it fly... at least sustain for a few minutes.. haha! but maybe coz of the kite, or the lack of wind that evening, our lil kite failed to perform.. haha! at times, diving to its 'death' prematurely.. haha..

It has some short-lived glory moments though.. haha.. A few~

We realised that it might be due to its design, material and other factors that made it hard to fly up high.. haha.. So we sadly left it in the bin after the session...

Nevertheless, we had fun running around like mad bulls trying to make the kite fly up the sky.. haha! With me carrying my barangs barangs with me.. imagine that.. it's quite comical.. haha! Auntie Lim.. classic~

However, we weren't disheartened at all.. in fact, we were more determined to make a comeback again! Soon~ =)

What a lovely Sunday evening! A good way to shed those fats too.. hahaha...

Happy Birthday Lifang!

We celebrated Lifang's birthday few weeks back =) It's always a happy event catching up with pals... knowing how they have been getting along so far.. There's always so much to talk about.. the past, present and future.. These bunch of pals have been through thick and thin with me throughout my JC life.. haha~

It's amazing how work has changed our lives... We have all headed into different directions in life, but we will always chuckle and laugh in unison when we talked about our JC life... School life seems a lil far away now~ but we definitely remember everything abt it...=)

Our birthday girl! =)

Seetoh can't wait to sink her teeth into the gigantic burger.. haha!

A group shot at Billy Bombers =)

We then adjourned to KBox to sing our hearts out.. hahaha! As usual, we selected all the songs which we used to sing 6 years ago! haha.. how old school can we get? =P But it was fun.. living in our own world for a few hours.. hee!

We love to SING! *lalala*

I miss school~

Post Taipei Trip~

I didnt head back to work after my trip, as I've taken another day's leave to rest and recuperate before I charge to work.. haha...

And of coz, to celebrate the return.. and to make sure I enjoyed myself fully before I head back to the dungeon, we went for Suki sushi buffet! =) hahaha.. Student price somemore.. =P

We realised that we couldnt eat as much as we used to already... hahhaa... perhaps we are getting a lil older and our stomachs has shrinked? But of coz we still made sure our money's worth! Hiong hiong stuff food inside our mouths... =P

What's with the stare? *eat!*.....

While we waited for our movie.. haha! our first 3D movie.. Final Destination 4... in my opinion, was a major letdown!

How ugly... hahahhahaa... Surprisingly, it wasnt very uncomfortable wearing it throughout the movie... haha... Images really did look more 3D than normal.. =P Gore became gore-er...

And after the movie, we strolled around orchard and lazed around cafes munching donuts and sipping coffee.. haha! Live like a king and queen =)

Sadly, it was back to work the next day... =P

My Taipei Trip (Day 5): Final Installment

Finally, Day 5 arrived........ I was sad... really~ sad coz I'm leaving Taipei... Definitely not enough and I wished our trip was longer.. haha! The few days in Taipei was very eventful and enjoyable.. weather was wonderful (though I would prefer the temp to be lower)..

We woke up very late that day.. haha! coz we don't have very ambitious plans for the day.. Just a final half a day in Taipei to enjoy~ We walked around XMD and went to their famous Tamago Ya (Japanese Restaurant) to have our brunch.. haha!

It started pouring and stopped few minutes later.. funny weather, but luckily it only happened on our last day.. haha!

While waiting for our food to arrive, we started taking pictures.. haha.. The decor inside the restaurant was pretty nice.. There was this vv elegant chandelier hanging from the ceiling.. and the tables and seats were all vv clean and neatly arranged =)

Finally, the food came.. This was what we have for lunch.. haha! A scrumptious lunch before we bade goodbye to Taipei........

Mr Koh ordered his Unagi Tamago Rice...

While I ordered my Pork cutlet Tamago rice.. hahaha... got curry sauce somemore..

*Super yummy~~*

We had cheesecake as dessert too... Super satisfied! =)

We loitered around XMD after brunch and made some last minute purchases like local products and foodies before making our way back to hotel.. to get ready to check out..

*sobs*

Bye bye Good Ground~ Though room was a lil small and a dark.. It was still liveable.. haha!

Next, we lugged our luggages to Taipei Main Station, as we wanted to take a train to Taoyuan, and make our return trip to the Airport an unconventional one.. haha! Instead of taking a cab, we opted for the more adventurous and tiring alternative.. haha! It was tiring..... Considering my luggage was pretty heavy, loaded with all my purchases.. haha!

But thankfully, Mr Koh helped me with my luggage while we ascended the countless stairways along the way.. haha! Thank you very much~

Towkay Koh with all our luggages... haha!

Inside the train.. which felt like a coach actually.. haha! I've never been on such a train.. really~ The only train I rem taking in Singapore is the MRT... oh wait.. I think I've taken a similar kind of train in Japan a decade ago.. haha....

A comfy 30 minutes ride to Taoyuan Station...

Reminds me of the railway station at Tanjong Pagar... I guess all railway stations look about the same..

Then, thinking that since we are already at Taoyuan, the airport should be a stone's throw away... we started to search for a bus that goes to the airport.. should be easily done, we thought to ourselves...

We were not very correct.. haha! In the end, we resorted to asking the locals for directions.. We approached a friendly uncle (a shop owner), who gave us very valuable directions to this bustop, where we could catch a bus which goes to Taoyuan Airport..

I'm really glad that during our trip, we had very helpful and friendly locals who directed and led us to the places which we wanted to go.. haha! Without their advice, we might not have been able to visit so many places... by the unconventional 'non-touristy' ways.. haha.. Sometimes, I felt quite local... haha..

We had a nice can of coffee... to perk us up for the long bus ride ahead.. =)

It was around an hr's ride.. where we passed by some really interesting places.. We passed by some farm fields, local shophouses, motor showrooms and alot more.. Things which we couldnt have seen at the more commercial places in Taipei.. The ride was like a finale sight-see session for us... =)

*hurray! We've finally reached Taoyuan Airport....*

Now now... which is our flight?...

At the check-in counter...

As you can see from the beautiful orange rays on us... It was almost sunset.. and before we board the plane, we have to eat something before we faint.. haha!

We had sandwiches and some beverages at Starbucks! haha.. We wouldnt even eat sandwiches in Singapore's Starbucks.. it's way more exp!

And so..... We were cooped up in a small space for 5 hrs.. and we could only entertain ourselves this way.. haha! A bag of potato chips that exploded in my bag became the joke of the night.. haha! It really exploded... with a loud 'pop'.. Thankfully it's didnt alarm anyone.. It was hilarious.. I was just joking a moment ago about how manufacutuers would take into account air pressure difference on board.. therefore, the bag will only look bloated, but will not burst.. Haha! well for this brand of chips, they apparently overlooked that =P And gave me a hilarious scare in the air...

After 5 long and eventful days in Taipei... We finally came back.. haha! Not that I don't miss anything at home, but I simply enjoyed every minute of my trip.. =) I've tasted good food, seen beautiful sceneries, experienced a diff kind of Taiwan (as compared to my last trip 2 yrs ago).. and of course, I enjoyed Mr Koh's company throughout the trip.. haha! (though I know he'll have recurring nightmares of the hellish shopping)...

Don't know when I'll go back to Taiwan again.. Maybe in the near future? or maybe with my kids, or maybe when I'm old and frail.. haha...

It was a great trip and I had fun blogging about it.. I've now come to the end of my Taipei posts, till then.. tata~~~

I miss Taipei too!