California : San Francisco

a glimpse at San Fran tells you a few things. it’s a city built on a hill to which my dad
said, whoever wants to build houses on non-flat ground should really take a study here.
we worked our butts off climbing those hills and I suddenly have a respect for SF
drivers for being able to park their cars. the people here are extremely chatty I've found
out. conversations here and there in elevators, while lining at a foodstall, while re-
applying makeup in the washroom. they like their small talks. Come night time,
twinkling lights dominate the entire place.

what they don’t tell you about SF is the absolutely fickle weather. and the fog. here I
was all ready for some sunshine and sundresses and when we got there, it rained, fogged
up, shined a little and then rained again. nevertheless, the animated backdrops of red fire
escapes, mosaic murals on walls, interesting characters along the streets and generally
the infinite amount of signages everywhere made up for it. 

fresh of my mind

im torn between posting pictures of my Spain or US trip first. .it's barely been 48 hours
since i reached Hatfield and already the whole post-holiday-blues is kicking in. but im
pretty sure its will be flying itself away by then end of the week. more sleep should do 
it. more sleep and picture reviewing. 

on a much brighter and much happier note, we have reached three years. :D:D :D  went
looking for our old msn conversations to cheer up and smiled myself silly reading 
them.

the next day


Check out their disgruntled faces at the top of Sky Park, Marina Bay Sands.
Warning: it's not worth the 20 dollars to go up there, half the area is closed for
hotel guest only and the view isn't all that spectacular - because there's tonnnees
of construction still going on. nothing like construction to spoil extremely nice things

Xiao'an took us to Relish - quaint, quiet and cute. and i love any place with brick walls.
ah. brick walls. Nicholas tried the bleu cheese and poached pears burger and he
absolutely loved it. I thought the portioning was slightly small tho. Everyone on this trip
seemed to think that i ate a lot. If you think i eat alot, well, you haven't met my sister.
or my church friends. they are monstrous.  MONSTROUS.


And finally! a trip to Chris Lee's Chocolate Research Facility. A few months ago, i
attended the Design Forum in KL where Chris Lee's gave a presentation. He is one
funny guy. and a great designer as well. So what a trip to Singapore without trying
some of his 100 flavours of chocolate? i bought Tom Yam, Parmesan Cheese, Apple Pie,
Maple Syrup & Longan with Pumpkin Seeds. the tom yam was.... BAD. SERIOUSLY.
BAD. BAD BAD BAD.

two weeks ago

The trip to Singapore this time was, well luxurious. Hahah. First,  took a flight(with extremely scary turbulence) down with En & her friend Nicholas. Second, we
stayed at En’s boyfriend’s place which was a trip on it’s own. I half think that it’s
because of places like Xiao’an’s house that the rest of Singaporeans has to stay
in flats.  We stayed in the guest house which included Jacuzzi baths, late night
TV shows and a bomb shelter.

we walked around the bay area and into Fullerton. I love how they've turned the
architecture of the buildings into the an interior space. All these windows that you
see are actually on the inside of the building, overlooking the hotel lobby. We spent
a fair bit of time sitting down and looking up. Ouh. Nicholas checked out the toilets
the minute we walked in. hahah.
Xiao'an house incorporates a lot of Balinese influence hence the water features,
timber flooring, plants all over and what nots. One of the coolest features was the
bathrooms. yes. i have a thing about bathrooms. the pond runs in and about the house
and actually into one of the bathrooms. so when you're showering, you actually have
fishes swimming right next to you. literally
checkout their huge cat fish. biggest i've ever seen. the head itself is prollie the size
large frying pan. freaakkky. ouhs and. looks. FRIED MARS BARS! awesome sticky stuff.

en contemplating a grey denim vest from MNG or studded gloves which in the end
she convinced herself not to buy. YAY EN! hahahha :) Dinner was at a secluded
Japanese place called Chako. A Japanese lady and her daughter are the only people
doing the cooking it so you can imagine the wait. 2 HOURS. and my portion ended up
in the toilet bowl at the end of the night. :( which brings me to telling you about Klee.
Klee is a bar - no menu, all fresh fruits and 27 types of liquor.So you tell the bartender
what fruits you like and what type of liquor and she'll make a drink for you. and of
course i didn't know how  i was extremely low tolerant with alco and got a glass
of champagne, and tadah, all that Chako food down the toilet bowl. mehs.


on another note altogether, the countdown has started. three more weeks till i leave
for London. i don't quite know what to feel actually. it's pretty scary. and that's all
i'll say to till i actually figure out what i'm feeling about this whole thing.