Dragon balls!!!

. 22nd - 25th Apr .

Will be off to the land where I can find my favourite dragon balls aka tau sau piah! Perhaps I would even be able to find my fav hair stylist - Richard who went Penang few years back?? Cant wait for the stay in G Hotel, breakfast at Toh Soon Cafe, Penang char kuay teow and many many more!!

Hungry!!

Bali or rather Ayana Resort and Spa

Had the chance to go to Bali for a 2D1N site recee trip with the bosses. It's actually for the Marketing KOM in Oct but as THE BOSS is in charge of venue thus I got to tag along for the discussion and negotiation.

. AYANA Resort and Spa Bali .

. Club room .

We were urshered straight to the hotel upon arrvial and after an hour on the laptop checking and replying emails, I went around the resort for a quick recee on my own. Oh the weather was freaking hot, plus I was wearing jeans!! As we had to proceed to another hotel for a meeting later, we had to be dressed appropriately (no shorts or too casual). The other guests must be thinking "why is the gal wearing jeans on such a hot day AND in BALI??"

Despite the blazing sun, I was determined to explore the resort as much as I could as that was the only "free' time I had for this trip.

. Infinity pool .
. Wave hitting the rocks near the Rock Bar . Pool at 3BR Villa .

. 1 of the 2 wedding pavillion .

Sad to say, I gave up the chance to try to awesome looking Rock Bar as a proper restuanrat (serving mains and not snacks) would be more appropriate for dinner. Let's hope I'll get the chance in Oct!

. The only bar on the cliff - Rock Bar .

. View of resort's jetty .

Doubt I've ever been this sick...

Perhaps it started with the ulcer, but Mummy kept insisting that it's because of my late nights with the laptop. Nevertheless, the body protested and had me stayed in bed the whole of yesterday.

Sick to say, the pain medicine that the doc gave wasn’t easing my headache and body ache and I had to even pop my own painkillers to reduce my fever…

Ah damn the flu bug… Gotta remember my daily dose of Vit C.

On another note, it seems like I’ll be missing the Friday gym classes for the next 3 weeks due to sick (this week), work (2nd week) and Penang (3rd week). How “great”!!

Ulcer, ulcer go away...

A quick search on the net states that remedy/ cure for mouth ulcer : aviod spicy and hot food

Thai food = clear tom yum goong served in hot pot, deep fried stuffed wings etc for Thur's dinner...

Now...this explains why my ulcer is not healing since Mon! :(

p/s: should have stucked to our monthly Mac's brunch instead of falling into the temptation of hot & spicy shaker fries which resulted in the "birth" of the ulcer.

What's fair?

I’ve always believed that the world is unfair.

Circumstances at work have yet again reminded me about this awful fact.

Will I see the gain from the “no pain, no gain" saying?...

Shanghai, oh.. Shanghai...

If nothing goes wrong *fingers crossed*, I shall see myself in Shanghai from the 8th - 15th May for a work trip. With the Shanghai World Expo starting on the 5th, I will take this opportunity to visit the Expo too! However, 1 "big" problem which I'm currently facing is the hotel accomodation if I were to arrive there earlier / extension on personnel expense.

Hotels are raising their rates during that period - 1 of our affordable corporate hotel has doubled their rate! Well, to be fair to them, their usual rates are really attractive so I guess the Expo is a good time for them have the cash register ringing all the way too...

AHH.. how how?? I want an affordable + nice (aka boutique style) hotel!!!

Food blogs - no no

Reading food blogs in the night is a big no -no especially when you only had yougurt for dinner...

This resulted in 4 pineapples tarts and a couple of hae bee hiam rolls popped into my mouth :p

Plus many more "I want to try this.. this... and this..." restaurants being noted down.

A conference with mixed feelings

(initial) Relunctance - knowing that I'll be the only one doing all the logistical arrangements for the 110 pax and worried that should anything wrong happens, the blame will be pushed to me. However, the thought of gaining the experience of handling a conference from beginning to end made me moved on. It also helps that we get to fly buiness class to Beijing! :p

Fun - having dinner of Peking duck with the SG colleagues. It's really about the company you're hanging out with. I really enjoyed the dinner. It was so different from those wine drinking dinners we had 2 days back. Give me Qingdao beer anytime!


Cold & sick - it was so cold that my hands were numb and red and I didnt had the mood to take much pictures at the Great Wall and Forbidden City. During the last 2 days of our own extension, I fell sick (vomitted and fever) and didnt had the chance to explore more of Beijing and missed out on the snow!!

1 week before the event, I posted "that which does not kill us makes us stronger"... Should I be asked to be involved in next year's conference again, I'll say "Bring it On!"

Beijing Conference

Finally, after a month of preparation, the conference ended pretty well! Having to coordinate a meeting for 110 pax is no easy feat and I’m glad that my hard work paid off. Be in a toast/handshake or a simple thank you, it was really nice to feel the appreciation from those who saw the effort I've put in.

Of course, there were certainly more things which could be improved – starting everything early (sending out of items, arrangments for car pickup etc) and to declare shipment 100% correctly or risk having it stuck at customs (esp in China).

It was indeed a good learning experience!

Constantly reminding myself...

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche

2010 New Year Resolutions???

I've never written any New Year Resolutions before and nope, this post is not going to have me writing the list for 2010.

Last year, I specifically requested a particular Xmas gift from Sis. And now, with that present on hand, 2010 will be a year for me to learn and improve my dealings with the people in my life!

Reading 1-2 chapters before I head the sacks daily, I realised that I'm trying to apply those points to my life the next day. And seriously, there's so MUCH for me to improve on! *hides*

Be careful what you wish for...

2 yrs back - "Oh, I won’t hesitate to remove my 2 other wisdom tooth too when necessary ;p"

1 colleague had her wisdom tooth removed recently and I said over lunch that I feel like removing my other wisdom tooth too, esp when there was a slight swell around the gums these few days. Lo and behold, the gums started to swell on Mon and experienced pain when chewing on my right side. Went for an Xray on Tue and scheduled the extraction on Wed - 2 days before Xmas!

A minor surgery was done (cutting the gums which was partially covering the lower tooth and drilling was also involved *gasp*) and with that, I was on soft diet for 2 day. "Thankfully" I was able to go back to normal diet on the 3rd day which is Xmas day/Grandma's bday! Mummy cooked up a feast of chix rice, wasabi prawns etcand the greedy me still ate 2 bowls of rice, seating through till the 2nd round as I needed more time to chew. Haha

3 weeks since the extraction and my left tounge is still numb. Read online that the senses might be back to normal in days/weeks/months/years or even NEVER! *Fingers crossed*

2 years later - I didnt really like the experience this time as compared to NDC. There was no calls from the Doctor to check on my (numbness) situation ever since I told him about it when I went to remove my stiches 2 weeks back..*roll eyes*

Work is...

• scary when the people you work with are (too) smart in this 'game'
• funny when people let things happens the way it has become
• sad that I have to put on a plastic mask when dealing with certain people
• fun when I laugh and bond with my lunch khakis

p/s: 英雄難過美人關 - so true!! just that the men in our company are not 英雄 la...

An invitation to Hong Kong!!!

Received a phone call from an hotel representative today and at first I thought it was a sales call to arrange for a meeting. However, she said that she’ll like to invite me to HK as the HK Tourism Board is arranging a familiarization trip - Cathay Pacific will be sponsoring the air tickets and their hotel will do so for the accommodation!

However, I knew that this invitaion has to be approved by my direct supervisor, followed by our dept’s VP and also the legal dept. Our company has always been very strict about compliance issues and I know that this has only a 10% chance of approval.

Anyway to cut the story short, it was rejected from my direct supervisor even before she asked what the purpose of the trip is. She gave reasons of compliance issue etc etc...la la la

Why I am so not happy over it:

1. You didn’t even know the purpose for this trip and you rejected it! After I told her that it’s an initiative from the HK touisim board, she gave another reason which goes “Oh… anyway we’ve selected the country’s hotel already etc etc ”

Don’t give me the crap la!!! This is not a invitation for site visit to the hotel, it’s from the HK Tourism board to introduce their country lor!!

2. I received a call that night and got to know that someone asked our vendor for F1 tickets!! Oooic..... so....

Invitation from a tourism authority = not compliance
Asking vendor for F1 tickets = compliance?!?!!!?

Well, I guess the bottomline is, it's always the case of who's invited and how that person is going to make the “invitation” compliant...

com⋅pli⋅ance 
–noun
1. the act of conforming, acquiescing, or yielding.
2. conformity; accordance: in compliance with orders.
3. cooperation or obedience: Compliance with the law is expected of all.

**Definition of Compliance from Dictionary.com**

Day 4: Osaka

After having breakfast in the hotel, we proceeded to the Shinkansen (JR) station to make our way to Osaka.

Along the way on the high speed railway, we saw the Mt Fuji which was awesome and I had my camera clicking away. Unfortunately, Mt Fuji was not on our itinerary for this trip. Will definitely visit it someday! The train journey took about 3 hours and we upon reaching our Osaka hotel (Comfort hotel), our luggage which we sent over at Narita airport has safely arrived. We rested for a while before heading to Dontobori where all the Osaka’s food awaits us! We didn’t try the Kani Doraku and went for street food - 2 servings of takoyaki balls and yakisoba which we enjoyed by the Dotonbori canal. After filling our stomachs, we walked along the canal and realized that we've reach the end of the Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade which is also very near our hotel! (we acutally we took a train from Shinsaibashi to Namba).

This is where the famous Glico Running Man sign and other neon lights shine up the night. Took some touristy pictures before walking down the shopping arcade and back to our hotel as Mummy was rather tired.

What I did @ Melaka

So what do you do when you visit Melaka again after 13yrs?

I ate ALOT...

Upon stepping into Doris auntie's house, we felt that the long journey of 8 hours was all worth while. We gorge on kutupat, habeehiam, asam fish, wine + ginger soup, chilli fish the moment we hit her dining table! And she's one of a cook!

We made reservations and even a trip down to select our dishes 1 day before our "group" dinner @ Aunty Lee. Jon-boy said that as compared to other Perenakan restautnts in Melaka, the food is pretty good. But be prepared of the unwritten "rules" - the cook will determine the size of the dishes; ayam bulaek is in the menu BUT even if you order in advance, and if they dont serve it to you on that day, it means that they do not have enough manpower to prepare the dish; the cook will fiinsh serving 1 table before preapring the next table order - this is pretty ok, as it means that all your dishes will be served out promptly; reservations is a MUST! Total bill - SGD 100 for 8 pax - super worth it as the food is fresh and sedap!

I visited the famous Jonker Walk ...

A weekend pasar malam which sells pretty much the same things stall after stalls. And they do have quite a number of cool chill out bars /cafes in the alley. Gonna check them out on my next trip.

I paid my respect to Uncle Johnny & got to know my cousins better...

I had a quick (cousin-ly) chat with Daphne and she shared with me that she's starting a new job the following week but has yet to tell Doris auntie *a small secret between us* Also, I cant wait to attend Jon-boy and Linah's wedding next year!! Linah is a very nice girl and I really feel the happiness for them.

All in all, I had a good time there and is looking forward to my next trip up!

What I ate in Malacca

Saturday
Late lunch - kutupat, habeehiam, asam fish, wine + ginger soup, chilli fish & prawn
Supper - delicious wanton mee, chicken wings, fried oyster ommelette

Sunday
Breakfast - fried beehoon/kuay teow, big paulunch -
Lunch - Bei Zhan
Dinner - Peranakan @ Aunty Lee - delicious! asam fish, sambal kangkong, chincalok ommelette, beef rendang, curry chicken, toufu, fish maw soup, chendol
Chinese dessert @ The Jetty

Monday
Breakfast - duck noodles, fried beehoon/kuay teow
Lunch - chicken rice
Dinner - porridge steamboat

Tuesday
Breakfast - big pau and char siew pau

Speed dating for me ; )

I once said that if I'm still single at the age of 25, I'll go for blind/speed dating. And I actually did so yesterday! This high tea cum board games is organised by SDU-SDS and it started with SK asking me if I wanted to join; sensing that she's kindda interested to go, I agreed to it since it's my "plan" to do so too when I hit 25.

Surprisingly, it's was quite a big event with 180 turnouts @ Holiday Inn. We were first assigned to 3 different clusters (by age grp) and 8 pax each table. The emcee warmed everyone up by playing some mingling games 1st followed by the high tea which you start to talk to the people at your table. After the high tea, we started playing the board games and had to move between 3 tables for 3 different games.

All in all, it was a eye opening experience especially so if you go with an open mind as it's not all about desperately searching for The One. In fact, I had a good time chatting with the ladies at my table + knowing people from the different working industry.

Passed a few contacts, won a voucher for 2 to Settlers cafe and that was all about it! Too shy to ask for numbers la... :p

Received 4 calls which came around the same time (9pm-ish) today and I think I'll not answer any unknown numbers for this week.

Day 3 (morning): Shin Yokohama

We had a night stay at Shin Yokohama before moving to our next desitnation - Osaka. Hiroko auntie booked us a room at 新横浜国際ホテル which was walking distance to the train station. The night stay cost SGD 238 and it was the best hotel among the 3 we stayed for this trip :p

Dinner was at Tenya which is apparently a fast food chain all over Japan. Haha... Mummy LOVE the tempura there so much that she cant stop raving about it whenever she view the picture. Now that we know its a chain, we fret not in having to go all the way to Shin Yokohama to have a 2nd taste!

As it was only a night stay, we shopped around the shopping centre which is located beside the station and didnt had the chance to visit the famous ramen museum. Anyway that wasn't really my concern as my pirority was to get my hands on Ramen Jiro in Tokyo!! kekeke