My new toys :)

Finally I decided to buy something for myself :)

I bought it online last Saturday since there was no stock available in the store. Didn't expect that the goods would arrive so fast!!! I received it today!!! Wow! So efficient. Only 4 days and it came all the way from China.

I was hesitating whether to buy or not since few months ago because I already had one, the first edition and until now I still can use it, only that it was too heavy and no camera. It became slower too.. Since I often travel, so I thought of buying this. It is small and easy to carry. I bought the WI-fi only and the smallest capacity (the first one I bought was 64gb and I didn't use it much, that's why I decided to buy the smallest one this time). At the same time, I bought the cable to connect the SD card to this thing. It will be convenient to transfer the photos while traveling and post it online immediately.

My fave quote :)

When purchasing online, they offer engraving service for free. So I chose the two lines as per shown in photo, to remind myself to live life to the fullest - over and over again... :)

After coming back from work, my son was much more exciting than me and he couldn't wait for me to finish bathing. He helped me to unpack the box eagerly. See how exciting he was!

He told me, "Wah, it's first time leh for me to unpack the box like this. In the future, I'll unpack many many more boxes, which is Gundam." Then I told him, "I thought you have unpacked so many Gundam already??? Forgot ya?" He then kept quiet and smile smile..... :P

Exciting unpacked Mom's new toys :)

Thaipusam 2013, Singapore

Warning!!! Some photos are not suitable for pregnant woman. Better skip this post and read it after you give birth :P

Although I've stayed in Singapore for more than 11 years, it is my first time to see the Thaipusam festival there. And since I'm not a Hindu, I have no idea what it is all about, therefore, I've taken the explanation below copied from Yoursingapore.com for your info.

Thaipusam is a highly symbolic Hindu festival celebrated by Singapore’s Tamil community. It is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. Celebrated in honor of Lord Subrahmanya (also known as Lord Murugan), who represents virtue, youth and power to Hindus and is the destroyer of evil, it is held during the full moon in the 10th Tamil month, called Thai, which falls in mid-January each year.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

In Singapore, the Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning where devotees fulfill their vows with a 4.5 km walk from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple along Serangoon Road to Sri Thendayuthapani Temple on Tank Road.

Devotee carrying Kavadis

The first batches of devotees usually carry milk pots and wooden Kavadis. A Kavadi consists of two semicircular pieces of wood or steel which are attached to a cross structure that can be balanced on the shoulders of a devotee. It is often decorated with flowers, palm leaves and peacock feathers. The milk they have been carrying is then offered to Lord Subrahmanya at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple.

Piercing tongue w/ skewers and carrying spiked Kavadis

From behind

Some devotees also pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a garlanded wooden arch across their shoulders. Devotees carrying spiked Kavadis, which require elaborate preparations, leave the temple in the later part of the morning and continue till night.

The festival is not just an exclusively Indian affair; several Chinese devotees and people of other races also come to fulfill their vows on this day.

Click here for the link of the video.

The festival is a visual spectacle and it often brings traffic in the city centre to a standstill, with a colorful procession full of chanting and dizzying rhythms of Indian drums. Watch the video above!!!

In preparation for carrying a Kavadi, a devotee has to prepare himself spiritually. For a period of about a month, the devotee must live a life of abstinence whilst maintaining a strict vegetarian diet. It is believed that only when the mind is free of material wants and the body free from physical pleasures that a devotee can undertake the sacred task without feeling any pain. The devotees are normally accompanied by friends and family members who cheer and offer support, usually in the form of prayers and chants. Witness the sacred ritual of Thaipusam when in Singapore, a true act of faith

Small children were spotted to participate happily - even a baby :)

 I took the photos and the video above today. Although the wordings were not written by me, hope you enjoy it :)

Chocolate Theme Day

It's the first theme day of the year :) and we were the lucky one who chose it on the first month of the year... hahahaha.... (My boss who chose the lucky draw month :P)
 

Can you guess it right???

We had two weeks to prepare the event. We came out with 2 games for the rest to enjoy. One is guessing the no. of M&Ms chocolates inside the 3 jars, and another one is guessing the brand of the chocolate that they taste - 5 different types of chocolates with 10 choices available. It wasn't easy as we bought a seldom buy imported chocolate from US. Kekeke...

We also collaborated with Chefs to prepare dishes related to our theme. We had Cocoa Fish (baked fish with lemon topped w/ cocoa powder) - it turned out very nice though. Lots of people loves it.

Roasted Chicken w/ BBQ Choco Sauce - the name sounds weird, but the taste was good, only that a bit sweet hahaha.... And as a side dish, we had mashed potato w/ Coco Crunch cereal at the side. :) Chef also prepared a very delicious mushroom soup. Love it so much!!!

Most importantly was different varieties of chocolate pastries ^^ We had Blackforest Cake, Tiramisu, Chocolate Eclairs, Chocolate Fondue, fresh waffles w/ chocolate ice cream, fried banana with chocolate sauce and a fresh mixed Milo Dinosaur!!! It's a blended Milo with ice and ice cream, topped with Milo powder on top! It was sweet, but refreshing!!!

Everything went well!! Most of my colleagues participated in this event. They all tried to find things to do. It's a great team work for all of us. Without everyone's help, this thing won't go smoothly. Hehehe... Keep it up all!!! Boss has also expressed her 'Thank You' message to all of us in her email. Your welcome Boss!!!

Bouncing ball

Yesterday night after work, I was meeting my hubby and his 2 friends for dinner.

I wrote about one of his friends before that his life had changed from salted fish to abalone (sian yu bian bao yu), but not long after that, I heard from hubby that his life has turned back to sian yu. Let's call him A.

I'm not really sure what was going on, but he had to surrender his right of the Chinese cooling tea to the previous Boss and he needed some time to find another job and started as a worker all over again. At that time, hubby would sometimes meet him, talk talk, and encourage him. Good that he could accept the reality and did not give up as he has 2 young daughters, a maid and himself to feed. Luckily 1-2 mths later another Boss from his previous working place asked him to go back, and now he works at that place.

As for another friend, I had not met him for few years. He also had a big problem in his life that made him hiding and isolating himself for at least 1.5 years. He had financially difficulties due to previous gambling habits and went into depression. Only about 3 months back, hubby said he ran into him nearby our house. They sat down and drank coffee. He had finally turned over a new leaf, again. He was a bit different in speech, talked slowly (perhaps he had been too quiet for some times). One more thing different was, he told my hubby that he has been baptized as Christian. He used to be Buddhist before. He did meditation, went to temple to pray and so on. But with new religion, he has bravely come out from his difficulties and it's a good news for all of us no matter what religion he has now.

And yesterday it was my first time meeting him again. Let's call him B.

We had dinner in one old restaurant. Me, hubby and A arrived first. Fifteen minutes later, this guy arrived. He looked fresh and bright. You couldn't believe what he had gone through if you looked at his face now.

A ordered chicken rice and steamboat with beef, mixed meats and vegetables. We ate and chatted. Three of them often talked in Hokkian (Chinese dialect), and although I've been married more than 10 years and live in Singapore so long, I still can't really understand the language. And previously, during our gathering dinner, B was the one who always translate the Hokkian to English to me. This time, he did that again. Hehehe....

When started eating, B asked me a question, 'R, do you have interest to go to church? My church is very fun!' I was stunned for a while for his straight forwardness. After hearing that A immediately told him off, 'You ah, can believe in ur religion, but please la, don't drag her into it...' Hahaha... I could only laugh... They are very close, that's why they can speak freely. Then B continued, 'R not like u la.. She maybe like to go to church bla bla bla...' I could still only laugh :D

B used to be a joker and he is still now. So i know his character and didn't take his words seriously.

He was a supporter of opposition party. There was once before he got into depression, he asked my hubby out to attend the opposition party rally that was held at stadium next to our old house. He also went to see the result of the election together with hubby in the middle of the night. Hahaha.... I can't believe, even until now he is still supporting the opposition party eagerly. Fyi, there will be By-election nearby our area since one of the MP resigned due to his marriage affair. That's why we had this topic on our conversation.

It was a great dinner. The food was good too. A suggested us to have a drink before going back home. So we stopped by at one pub and sat outdoor, ordering one pint of Hoegaarden for each of us.

B continued his jokes. He just started working and he told us what he has experiences in these short 3 months time. He has to handle queries from different people and there were so much funny stories that he shared. I couldn't stop laughing. It was really a releasing stress session for me.

He really has turned back to himself again. Seriously, we all glad to see him to stand up again. His lives were just like a ball. It bounces up and down all the time.

A is also like that. He looked very tired and stressed last night. Heard that his maid is going back to Indonesia. He was worrying about his two daughters, who were taken care by his maid most of the time. Just hope he can overcome his problem soon and be happy again.

We finished at 10 plus and went back home. I was tired but happy. Hope everything goes smoothly to all of them. Start to work soon... Have a great day!!!

A gift from Bhutan

Last Friday, TG, my Bhutanese friend, who was a driver when I traveled there, called me up and said his friend would be coming to Singapore on Saturday and he was asking me what I want from Bhutan. I forgot to tell him that I wanted Druk 11000 hahahahaha..... I said, errr... nothing leh... So he decided to give me two packets of Bhutanese tea.

Yesterday, he called me again and asked if his friend has contacted me and passed his gift or not. I said, "No, not yet. If he has passed it to me, I will surely message you." It's been 3 days and his friend had not contacted me yet. He started to worry. Hahaha...

A while later, I received sms from Karma, his friend. He introduced himself and told me that he had left a voice message for me this afternoon. I was wondering, which voice message he referred to? I don't think I have a service of leaving voice message in my hand phone. Then, he said, when I'm free, give him a call.

I was quite busy yesterday evening as my colleague was on leave. But after receiving his sms, I called him right away. Found out that he and his Bhutanese friend were just finished from their training at one of the hotel not very far from where I worked. And I was asking them if they had any plan after this? If no, I would like to meet them up in Chinatown MRT, bring them to have a walk and feel the atmosphere of the upcoming Chinese New Year. At the same time, we could have our dinner there. They agreed. Suddenly I felt so happy. Seemed like the two Bhutanese that I was going to meet up, brought the air of happiness directly from Bhutan hahaha....

So, I was rushing with my work and not finished yet. Will continue the job this morning hehehe... I left the office and headed to Chinatown, which was only 1 station away. We met up in front of OG Dept Store. He came with someone called Tashi. Karma and TG has known each other for a very long time and used to work at the same place before.After we met, Karma immediately passed the tea from TG. I thanked him for his kind help.

Both of them wear the office work attires, both brought the laptop bag with them. So I brought them to the other side of Chinatown where the place was more crowded. As we walked, we had a chat. I found out that it's actually their first visit to Singapore. They came here for training for 5 days and only started it yesterday.

They flew on Saturday. Due to the snowing in Thimphu, their flight was delayed for 5 hours. They reached Singapore at night and reached hotel at about 10 pm. They were so tired and took a rest at hotel. On Sunday, they went to Little India. Right away went to Mustafa Centre, a 24-hr department store, founded by Indian businessman. They sell everything. The price are good too. They mentioned that it was the place where Bhutanese will shop in Singapore. Hahaha... I didn't know that...

They also went to VIVO city, a shopping mall in Harbour Front, nearby Sentosa Island, for shopping again. I asked them what they ate. Did they try any Singapore food? Tashi said, what is Singapore food? I told him about Nasi Lemak (rice cooked with coconut milk, with condiments like fried egg, fried ikan bilis (small salted fish), fried fish, cucumber and sambal chilli). He didn't seem to know that.

Interestingly, he was asking me if there is any McDonald and KFC here. Hahaha... Ya hor, I forgot!! There is no fast food or junk food sold in Bhutan. I don't know if they should be happy or sad. Then I told them, it's everywhere!!! But they visited Little India and Vivo, they couldn't find any. I explained to them that usually, when you go to shopping mall, the junk food or fast food restaurant are usually located in Basement, while food court in upper floor. Maybe they were busy shopping, looking at the shops, that's why they missed out that! Hahaha...

They told me, the first thing in their mind to eat once they reached any country in the world, was to eat McDonald or KFC. It's the other way around with me. I'm sick of McDonald and KFC. Hahaha.. Usually I will prefer to eat local food. Unless if it's too expensive or the food not nice/clean, then I have no choice.

We walked around and brought them to Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Too bad, it was closed when we reached. I didn't know the temple closed so early, at 7pm. So they could only take photo from the outside. When Tashi looked at the name of the temple, he was asking me, "Was there a Buddha tooth relic inside?" I said, "Yes, but you can't really see it as it's protected behind the glass and covered with many gold." The second question he asked after that, "Is the tooth relic fake???" I said, "No la... It is real. If you don't believe, tomorrow you can come here again, before 7pm, and have a look for yourself." Then he said he knew that is the temple in Srilanka which has the Buddha tooth relic, but never heard that Singapore has one too. Hehe...

Across the temple, there was a famous hawker center selling chicken rice, called Maxwell Food Center. It was renovated few months ago and now have been back for business. It was 7.15pm and I was asking Karma if he was ready for dinner and he said, yes. So we crossed the road illegally and found a seat.

Singapore is famous for its Hainanese Chicken Rice. There were few stalls selling the chicken rice, but there was only one shop that had people queening up. So Karma and I queued together while Tashi chopped the seat. We order the portion for three persons and bought drinks. While we ate, we chit chatted.

It's been quite some time I didn't bring any friends from overseas out. Last time there were many friends who came Singapore looking for me to meet up and have dinner. But perhaps most of my friends are having family and when they traveled with family, it would be inconvenient to meet up with friend. They might be too busy with where to go next, what to shop, etc. I usually meet up with friends who often come to Singapore, so there is no need to introduce them about Singapore. Hahaha...

So when I met Karma and Tashi, I was so happy. They had many questions to ask. I loved that. And I tried my best to answer them hehehe...

After dinner, we waited in front of the temple, until another Bhutanese, who is studying his Master degree here, came. Karma had another parcel to deliver, which was for him, a guy called Drakpa. He came directly from his school and took quite some time to reach Chinatown. He also waited at the wrong door of temple (He waited at the back door while we were standing in the front door). However, he managed to come.

Then we walked back to MRT. Karma looked very tired after a day of intensive training and couldn't wait to go back to his hotel to take a rest. Tashi looked forward to meet me again, in case I managed to visit Bhutan again in the future. We exchanged our contacts and yeah.. hope to see you again guys!! Thanks for delivering the gift from TG to me and hope you enjoyed our little time in Chinatown.

I reached home at 9.30 pm. I opened up the small package given by TG. It was wrapped with handmade paper, a special characteristic of buying goods in Bhutan. I love how Bhutanese are so environmentally friendly. They used the recycled hand made paper to wrap the thing you buy in store, and they didn't use plastic bag, but they gave a kind of cloth made bag. Unlike in most Asia countries, you'd receive plastic bag everywhere you shop, which is not environmentally friendly at all.

Bio Tea from Bhutan

Oh,one of them is ginger tea!!! It will be suitable for the cold weather! After taking photo, I opened the ginger tea pack immediately and boiled the water, poured it into a cup, added a teaspoon of honey and had it right away. After eating the chicken rice chilli, I felt itchy in my throat. So this tea was really suitable to warm up my body and eased the itchiness in my throat. Kadinche-la TG!!! You're so thoughtful!!

I have passed a jar of Indonesian tidbit and two pouches filled with candies for him and his two daughters. Just a small present from me. Hope all of you like it too.. :) Btw, I couldn't sleep last night due to drink the tea late at night hahaha... But at least I managed to wake up on time this morning.

This morning weather was very cooling. In office, since the coffee machine was spoilt just now in Cafetaria, I ended up soaking another bag of ginger tea to my cup, added some sugar, and drank right away. Hm.... It soothes my throat and it feels good. I feel energize now!! Another busy day to go! Have a great day everyone!!!