A brand new life!

It’s our church practice to have special blessings for expectant parents on the last Sunday of every month and we got a surprise from my gal friend in church today!

We were sitting at the far back in the same section as her and we were wondering if she will go up for the blessings. To our disappointment, she and her hubby just sat down without any signs of going up. BUT! Just before the priest give the blessing, she and her hubby went up!

Hooray!!! A brand new life is being formed safely snuggled in the comfort of mommy’s snug tummy as I’m typing this. We are happy for her! And I think her excitement is the most obvious, think the Daddy-to-be seems to be acting cool. Haha.. he seems so clam and cool but I can detect that tinge of excitement and is so pleased that he’s soon going to be a tiny precious’s Father!

Congratulations Max & Lynn! Take good care, eat more healthy food and BB, don’t bully mommy huh!!

Hubby and me having got married for more than a year now and definitely longer than the expecting couple of course got a few questions asking when is our turn. =P Unfortunately or otherwise, we will have to wait for a few more years wor. Since we are starting our bachelor’s degree next year. Not sure when hubby will start his but mine is commencing in Jan 07, and for 3 years, I will be busy with assignments, tests, homework, lessons, group discussions and also presentations?

Don’t think this is a good time to have a child now. Of course, I know that it’s not a definite no to having a child and studies at the same time. I know also that if and when the time comes, we will manage. But then again, it’s adding so much stress to ourselves. With the school fees and BB together, I think we will be too stressed to handle all at the same time not to mention the financial drain it will be on the both of us.

Most importantly, I want to be able to have the time to spend with the BB and not just letting my mom or someone take care all the time.

So, yes, BB have to wait. Though I yearn for a BB to be growing in my tummy and to have a BB to cuddle, to love, to complete our family, this is not the right time yet leh.

I know hubby also yearns to have our own ‘love fruit’ but for the sake of our future, we will have to shelve this till a few years later.

After mass, as usual, we had lunch with the Emma and some others. This time, it’s not at the horrible coffee shop near CTK, we went to AMK, S11. I wanted to get a plastic lid that I saw in action city, I thought there was a branch in AMK hence went there. But sucks to my memory, that shop has closed down. This lid hor, I feel it’s quite good leh, once you put it over the cup (any size, as long as smaller than the lid) it sorts of like create a vacuum! And the lid is quite strong, I could just use the lid and lift up the whole cup when I tried it in Action City in Marina last nite!! (There was just 1 piece left but I din like the design so decided to not get it last nite) But no shop = no lid lor. I will try to go to J8 to take a look and see if I can get my hands on 1 of those. Very useful I feel. At least the next time when I go to the pantry to take water, my lid will not keep falling off the damm cup!!!

We then went to get some household items and also daily necessities at the “Red Tomato” and some neighbourhood shop which sells things at a low low price instead. I bought a new shampoo (Silkpro) and also a new 2-way cake (Silk girl) to try, running low on these 2. Hmmm… How come all the “silky” things? Wanted to try the Ascience shampoo actually but the sales person says may not be suitable for my hair. So ended up with silkpro. I'm quite nervous about this shampoo coz now that hubby and me are doing yoga on almost every morning, we do work up a sweat and I wash my hair at least twice a day now. And I'm quite afraid that my hair will turn out to be messy and dry.. Hope this shampoo won't.

Came home to rest and then later this evening, we will be heading to my parents’ place for dinner. Heard she has cooked the “Xian Chai Ya soup”, Duck in Salted Vegetables soup. It’s a dish by itself and I like it. Think hubby does too. I hope mom has cut plenty of chili ready. The duck tastes best with chili!

But we are more craving for her chicken curry rather than this duck soup. Will try to physo her tonight it next week! Haha…

Speaking of next week, it’s again another busy week for us… *sigh*
Yoga, Dinner @ PIL, Obligation Mass, Kickbox, Household chores, Wedding… Yups.. there goes my week nights again and it also brings an end to my another soon-to-be-coming week!!

P.s: Remember that Cannon Ixus I was drooling over early this morning? I asked for it as Bday and Vday present for next year. So all I need to do now is wait! =)

Playing Hide and Seek.

OBIL went on a 3D2N cruise with his GF yesterday and he asked hubby to drive his car back instead of parking it at the harbor front car park which is a smart choice. Can you imagine how much it will costs to park there for that long a period?!

Since I went for kickbox this evening, hubby went back home for dinner and I think my family in law enjoys car rides. FIL quite cute I feel, he brought the whole family on a cruise. To Geylang to see the Hari Raya Lights and also to Little India for the Deepavali lights too. Along the way, they passed by some famous pao shop and MIL bought a pao each even for me though I was not there. I must say my PIL are quite concern about us. Most times, they will buy something or take some food for us if there are access.

Coz I am too stubborn for my own good, I know FIL will offer to drive us back home if I went home for dinner, hence I choose to go kickbox. I simply refuse to step foot into OBIL’s car. I rather take public transport than to take his car.

Hubby is darn lazy and I think he’s being such a baby! He actually asked FIL to come to pick him at home to go for work for today and tomorrow! I can’t believe it, he’s already a grown man and he still ask that his dad to come fetch him and all! And my FIL actually acceded to his request! Kind of make me feel that he’s like a young child who cannot do things on his own. And this is making me loose respect for him.

This morning, FIL came to fetch him and I badly want to avoid him. Hence, I tried to leave earlier so that I won’t have to tell lies of why not take a ride.

But timing and his eyes so sharp lor. He saw me as I was walking down the stairs and he horned me! I quickly say that I’m taking the bus and that hubby was waiting for him and left. Since, there’s only 1 way out from our place to go to the main road. I know for sure that I will bump into FIL (at the bus stop) again if my bus don’t come. Indeed! My bus din come on time, and I saw the car slowing down near the bus stop.

Thankfully, I had the cow sense to sit with my back facing the road. Heng ar… Avoided him.

According to hubby, FIL did ask why I din want to take car ride and all. But he manages to cook up some story la.

I really am being too stubborn for my own good. But in my own opinion, I am just merely sticking to my own principles lor. Since he make trouble for me, the less things I have to deal with him the better and definitely, I don’t want to be in his favor!

Honestly now, I cannot remember when I starting having all these negative opinions on OBIL. Was it from the time I knew about his treatment of YL or was it from the time that he said those things?

I know I should not be judging him for his actions and speech and all. But the mention of his name irks me. I think of all the things that YL had to go thru coz of him, I think of the comments that he told PIL in front of us and this really makes me dislike him all the more.

How? I need help. I S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y need help!!! But I know, this “help” cannot be coming from hubby. Coz they are siblings, whatever hubby says, I disregard more than 80%. I need someone who is more partial more neutral so that I CAN pay some attention to.

Definitely no use talking to my Godma, we ARE on the same side, the SAME opinion of OBIL!

Asshole OBIL!!!

my Our creations.

Decided yesterday before Mass that we should spend Monday in our cosy home and I badly wanted to try my hands on baking using our oven (not sure if it's toaster over, but looks too big to be one). So manage to physo hubby to do that. Baking! After all, we had so much fun in Wiselyn's house the other day and I think we can manage that at home too.

So, after mass, we went off to "Poon Huat" in search of our ingredients. We had a small tiff yesterday as we were both not sure of the way and typically, we both pointed in 2 different directions. Since there were droplets from up there, I was keen to go under some blocks and walk underneath. Hubby on the other hand, want to walk along the main road....But finally, we manage to get there.

And look at all these! Just from Poon Huat alone ok! Maybe coz we spent so much, there was a free gift.
A box of Curry Powder. *fwah!* Big deal lor.

Which I promptly gave to my mom. Since I'm not going to cook curry chicken in the near future.

Reasons being:
1) Kitchen is open concept, don't want the smell to linger
2) Hubby says my curry is probably and most possibly not nice.

So finally, with all the ingredients on hand, I pulled out THE blender which we received as a weding present (from Trina and her bf) FOR THE FIRST TIME and set to work.

There are enough ingredients to make 3 different kinds of cookies and that's what we did. Our first attempt and we made 3 kinds! Adventerours hor?! *hiak*hiak*

Well, there were instructions to follow and ALL the things were listed down. Hence, I thought, it's gng to be easy as ABC to do it. Well, baking with hubby who seems to be as excited as a small boy seems to be fun. He helped me wisked the flour, eggs, butter, margarine and whatever else that needs to be wisked and also to measure flour. While on my part, I prepare the rest of the ingredients. Like chopping of almonds? Measuring butter? And most importantly, reading instructions and giving instructions!

We made Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients wise, it's quite simple.
(A)
100g sugar
110g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
100g butter
60g margarine
1 tsp liquid glucose (which I replaced with honey)

(B)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

(C)
200g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

(D)
100g pecans, chopped (which I replaced with almonds)
100g chocolate chips (being a lover of chocolate, I added more of this!)

Method
Cream (A) lightly. Then add in (B) and cream till smooth.
Add in the sieved (C) & mix till well blended.
Lastly add in (D) and mix till well incorporated.
Drop a teanspoonful of dough into a greased baking pan.
Baked at 170 degrees for 15-18 mins.

And if it's successful, it should look like this. Now, minus the plate and add in some virtual lighting and compare it to our end product. Does it look remotely similiar? I think it does bares some similiarites even though you got to use your imagination lar.

We also tried making the "Nutty Slice Biscuits".
Ingredients call for
(A)
4 egg whites
130 sugar
pinch of salt

(B)
120g flour
30g rice flour

(C)
50g pistachio
100g walnuts
100g almonds
60g glace ginger (I only used almonds, but lots of it!)

Method
Whip (A) till stiff. Add in (B) & mix till well blended.
Add in (C) & mix till well in corporated.
Pour into a greased & lined loaf tin. Make 2 loaves of 17x8x6 cm.
Bake at 175 degrees for 40 mins
Let it cook and then keep in the freezer for at least 6 hours.
Cut into thin slices about 2mm thick and then bake it again at 150 degrees for 15 mins or till crisp.

The end result should look like the pic on the left. While ours looks burnt and definately not right! Don't know where we went wrong too!

Of course must remember that the photo was taken professionally and with perfect lighting. But having find those excuses for myself, the cookies is really erm... 100% not right.

Will try this again another time but this time, I will use loaf tin instead of the baking tray!

And lastly, we also tried our hands on this Almond Coffee Macarooms. The picture on the book looks so good, just like some cream cookies and since hubby love coffee, I thought we must try this.

The ingredients and method looks easy enough.
Ingredients for the coffee flavoured cookies
(A)
85g ground almonds
125g sugar
1 tbsp rice flour

(B)
1 egg white

(C)
1 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp water

Coffee butter cream
150g icing sugar
40g butter
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tbsp water

Method for cookies
Mix (A) till well blended. Then add in (B) and mix till well combined.
Lastly add in (C) & mix till well incorporated.
Placed into piping bag fitted with plain nozzle. Pipe inot tray lined with baking paper.
Baked at 170 degrees for 15-20 mins or till golden brown.
When cookies have cooled, sandwich coffee butter cream in between 2 cookies and serve.

Method for coffee butter cream
Mix icing sugar and soft butter till well blended.
Add in coffee powder and water.
Mix till well blended.

Well, we managed the coffee butter cream without a hitch. It was so easy. Especially with the help of the blender, everything that needs to be wisked, blended or mixed is done within minutes. But we had problems with the coffee cookies. And I know why.

I mis-read the instructions. I added too much water! What a boo-boo..
*sigh*

No coffee cookies for hubby this time, but since the instructions are sooo simple, I shall attempt it once again when I am free.

Then after all these baking, it's the washing up and cleaning to do.. what a day.

But it was fun! I can vouch that my oven is working fine too. Next time, we shall try our hands on cupcakes. There's this nutella cupcake that I got from my friend's blog that looks very very interesting!! I wanna try soon..

Sometimes, baking is addictive!

Long weekend

Happy Deepavali, everyone!!

Finally! The much awaited long weekend is here.

And, we did not laze around doing nothing for this long weekend. In fact, just today, we did a whole load of things!!!

Early this morning, we went bright and early to MacRitchie Reservoir for Yoga togher with some friends (want me to name you? haha... you know who you are!) we have made from the Style Weddings forum. Hubby and I cycled there and we were 20 mins late! And to think that we stay the nearest from the reservoir! *Bleh* After a good sweating session, we had a very healthy breakfast lovingly prepared by Alex and his wifey. We just pulled our yoga mats together and it kinda forms a pinic mat just nice for the 6 of us! As usual, when the few of us gets together, we yakked and laughed. But, too soon, it's time to head home. So, with cries of "see you this evening!" Hubby and I cycled home. We still have a few things to do before the day is over.

As soon as we finished our chores, we took a rest. Napped till the early evening and then we "boing" outta bed and get ready to go and meet more of the forummers in Bishan J8. The reservation was at 6.30pm and a few of us made plans to meet earlier . Again, so concidental, met Clement and his wifey, Wiselyn on the bus. Chatted on the short journey there and soon, we find ourselves seated in Oilo Dome, Bishan. The manager of the store was very nice to us, she already has our tables ready and from the time we said we wanted to make a reservation for 12, she gave us her full attention from the special menu that she had for us. I'm really quite impressed with the way she handled our tables to our requests and all. Towards the end when we are paying our bills, though some do not have the relevant credit cards, she gave us all 10%. Woo Hoo!! I'm happy!

Does our smily and happy faces says it all for the gathering? It was a 100% success for all of us! For most of us, we made at least 6 new friends, the rest, well, at least 10 others! haha But! Don't be fooled by all the laughter and smiles. The brain of the gathering, Alex and his wifey, Carol decided to have a quiz for all of us. The 1st quiz was what we know about ourselves and then about our partner. Gosh! Some of the questions, I din even know the answer myself, how would I expect hubby to know? But nevertheless, when we changed answer sheets, we all had a good laugh and went, "since when did you do this? How come I never knew?" haha.. It was really really funny. Then came the 2nd quiz. This, we can work in groups of girls and guys. We, girls had to answer some tough questions abt "male" questions and vice versa.

I think the questions are more like general knowlegde about the males than anything else and I think it's not very fair coz the questions are soooo tough. While the guys had to answer questions pertaining to us, girlies. Don't think they find it tough coz overall the guys team did better than us.

We just stayed in Dome till almost 12.30AM before we called it a night and go our separate ways home. It was really a nice gathering. And I dare say, everyone enjoyed themselves.

Maybe, we should have another gathering nearer to Christmas??

2 very big pears

Had dinner at my mom's plc a few nights ago and she said my sisters want to eat pears, so she go and cut but well, my sisters were either in the room or watching TV programmes, I din hear anyone say anything about eating pear and thus retorted back. "Where got la, it's u say they want to eat leh and no cut for me, so unfair!"

And last nite, she called me to go and find her at the bakery and she gave me these.

Wah lau!

The pears darn big leh!! I cannot hold 1 tightly with just 1 hand leh!

So went home happily and cut 1 of it. Really very big, very juicy and very very sweet.

Nice!!!

Hubby says it's sour (but I already cut very deeply in, so that he won't taste the parts of the seeds!)

DANG!!!

What's this?

I saw this on the table when I came home a few days ago.

Looks like a nice little birthday card or so I thought. Then I remembered hubby and me don't share the same birthday.

I realized hubby has already opened the envelope with gee and there's nothing inside this little envelope. I studied the handwriting for a while and realized I don't know anyone who will mail us things with such nice handwriting.

But hor, whoever this person is, is definately not very familiar with the northern area district, coz my postal code is wrong and yet, it still can be delievered. Meaning our postman also is clever or their eyes not very good la.


Found the inside, which is sort of a post card then I realized it's a Wedding Inviation!

It took me a while before I recongnise Terrence. Haha.. groom to be ma, very dashing in his suit so cannot recongnise him. I've never met his gf, soon-to-be-wife before, so I'm excused for not knowing her on first sight.

The card is nicely done, I like it. Very artistic and unique.

But my goodness, their wedding is in City Harvest Church!! Gosh.. That is sooooo darn far leh!! All the way to Jurong. Tat's gonna take hubby and me 3 hours to travel to and fro on Sat.

But, then again, far also have to go lor, not much choice, I've never been to City Harvest Church, it's too rock for me, I feel, I prefer the traditional way of worshipping but then since this is a wedding, the service will be on an even happier and happening kind? I'm not sure, will update after we've gone for the wedding..

Time fly, fly, money fly fly lor....

wah lau eh..

Win lor!!!

I SERIOUSLY think I have 2 BILs who have some kind of problems!

Hubby called home (his parents home) last night. Well, OBIL picked up the phone, so naturally hubby told him to relay the message that we are coming home for dinner but we will be late as we are going for mass first.

Then we hanged up after that lor.

And you know what happened?

During mass earlier, the family (I don't know who, but I suspect it's FIL) called us, a grand total of at least 10 calls put together!! I had 8 calls alone!!!

Wah lau eh!!

What's so hard about relating the FULL COMPLETE message!!!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

My Little Blue Chair

Haha... This year the only present I got is a little blue chair. Although its not the same as the one my wife throw away, but it is still a useful little blue chair. We did not go anywhere to celebrate, we just went for our usual yoga class, and we ate at a difference coffee shop this time. I think that can be consider as something special. Though there is not celebration, I am still happy after the whole day. I dont need a birthday to make me happy, I am happy everyday. Maybe one thing about yesterday was that there were more people wishing me happy birthday then my other bday :)

Happy Birthday Darling!

It's Darling's birthday today!

So sad lor, cannot celebrate his actual birthday with him. *sigh* All thanks to the Excel rehearsal that I'm in. I've already applied leave and it's been approved for today. Then coz of this rehearsal I got to cancel leave.

Then it din help that this morning we had a tiff. Because of a darn cockroach! It was crawling towards me and while I stared hard at it willing it not to come any nearer, it have to come nearer. Darling just sat there and ignore me. In a fit of anger, I burst out and lashed at him.

Not a very good morning to his birthday leh. Then also no present for the birthday boy coz I really had no time and no idea what to get for him.

Thank goodness, we went for an early birthday celebration last nite. Went to Bukit Timah, Mad Jack for dinner. Hmm... food is just so so only lor, price is quite reasonable. Atmosphere ar... hmmm... too many I-don't-like-people-of-a-certain race there. Plus it's also abit out of the way for us.
Verdict: Don't think we will go back.

P.s.. Don't I look pretty?! haha

In....hale... ex...hale

For the past 2 mornings, this is what we had been doing after we woke up at the crack of dawn!

Not really AT-THE-CRACK but to me, it's close to that already. Waking up at like 6am when I can spend another perfect hour in bed seems so tiedous to me leh.

But hubby and me decided to make an effort to do some or rather almost an hour worth of inhaling and exhaling exercises to kick start our days.

Yep, we've been practicing Yoga for 2 mornings in a row already. It's quite tiring to wake up so early, sometimes, we can even yawn when we are doing our postures! win hor?!

But I do not deny that by doing Yoga, it really helps to keep me fresher and more energetic throughout the day. I thought Yoga is for rich tai tais and daughters of those rich and weatlthy coz it seems such an expensive exercise. But hey, joining from the community centres are cheap. The mat is a one time investment ranging from $19.90 to like $30. I think that's manageable.

But, during those lessons, we just learn the postures, there is not enough time to have a workout based on Yoga. I'm having problems in class, some simple postures and I cannot do it, it's like when the instuctor says "left leg" I'm right leg. Either my concentration or hearing or having some problems with my left and right side of my body lor.

Hubby is so sweet, he corrected me and helps me with my postures. Just a day or rather morning with him yesterday, I find myself improving already! I can do this posture better now, without loosing my balance too much! Hubby calls this the "arrow" I have no idea what is the actual name of it, but certain moves does remind me of pulling the Bow and Arrow lar.. haha..

And I can even manage the Sun salutation posture better now. This is the one with the "left leg, right leg" that I cannot manage well. Now I'm getting the hang of it leh. Yeah!!

I though Yoga won't make me sweat.. BULL!! After just 2 sets of the sun sulation, gosh, we are both sweating BUCKETS!

Not sure, for how long we can continue to do it in the mornings, but we will try. Think another reason for us to try is coz in the class, not much time to practise, it's learning new postures, hence the instructor did tell us to practise at home either in the morning or in the evening when there's no food in the stomach.

We shall try to continue with our exercise!

Phuket Trip Day 3

Our third and final day in Phuket.

2 sleepy heads woke up at 8am when the alarm went off. We’ll be hitting Phuket Town today. The couple we met at FantaSea told us, we can take a bus to the town for 20 baht instead of taking the taxi which will costs like 250-300 baht… (Carrot heads again!). So we were keeping a lookout for that bus then we realized our hotel has complimentary rides to and fro Phuket Town so we made our reservations yesterday with the receptionist. Pick up from hotel lobby at 10 am and then pick up at the drop off point at 3pm later on in the day.

Took a leisure breakfast and then waited for the transport to Phuket town. It’s now then we realized that there is this couple that we seem to be bumping into all the time! We were on the same bus to FantaSea on Wednesday. The same bus back. The same time at the pool. The same bus to Phuket town and the same time back too! Woah… coincidental hor? Not to mention, after coming back from Phuket Town, we again met them at the beach, same corner of the beach. And again met them in the SAME shop in Patong Beach that very same night again!! Haha… I must say the guy is a looker leh! Hunky material, long eyelash, deep commanding voice and then with a sexy build ok! He likes to wear tight fit tees so can really see his build and he is complete with powerful looking arms. Great body and looks! Haha…

Think I digress too much… back to Phuket town shopping centre. Quite a disappointment. The centre is not very big. We easily covered the place in less than 2 hours. But since, our bus does not pick us till 3 pm, we just took our own sweet time in exploring the place. And, when we reached there at about 10.30 am, the shops were not even opened! We had to go to starbucks to while the time till 11am leh. Was kinda excited at the prospect of shopping but what a bumper when we had to wait and then realized there isn’t much to shop there. *sigh*

We know we have to buy some snacks or some gifts home for our family at least. So went in search for the prefect presents. Searched high and low, can’t find anything suitable so in the end, we bought boxes of cookies, some local snacks back. I also manage to get 2 pairs of shoes for myself! =) The kind that are in fashion now, pointed with open toes. Nice leh and some more so cheap! Would have gotten more pairs if not for the fact that they don’t have it in my size and the heels are simply too high. So just made do with 2 pairs. Better than none lor.

Had lunch in 1 of the restaurant there. 2 bowls of tom yam soup mee and a fruit salad + a drink. So cheap... 170 baht only. Wah lau… really cannot find food in a restaurant in SG for this kinda price.

Not bad leh, after doing all the necessary hor, we still have time to go for a swensens Fondue before heading to the car park to wait for the bus to come.
Once we were in the bus, it started to pour again and when we were driving up and down the hill, I was so scared. I can really feel the pressure moving and also the cars were driving so close to each other!

But as we near our hotel, the rain stopped. And we finally made our début entry into the sea!! It was really fun. The waves were soooooo strong!! Gosh. Even though hubby and me were like jumping and trying to catch the wave, there were still some times when I was caught by the wave and pulled under! I began to feel what a horrible and scary thing is to be engulf by water and I cannot even begin to imagine how it must have felt in that few seconds during the Tsunami for those were caught. Seconds must have felt like minutes to them!

After our few minutes there, we went back to change and bathe then go dinner. After we reach the streets, it started to drizzle again! What horrible timing, so we detour back to the hotel to get the big brolly! Then I saw the bikini that I was aiming for in one of the shops and it was very cheap. But in the end we din get it coz it was a waste of $ since I won't wear it in SG and seriously I will not wear a bikini to go to the pool... feels uneasy for me. Over in Phuket it's different, ppl who have lousy figure also struts around in a bikini so I won't feel tooo conscious.

Finally have the chance to make use of our complimentary drink at the bar. The hotel has 2 bars right outside and bleh... not nice lor. Me not a fan of cocktails la. Ended the night with 2 take away smoothie for us to enjoy in the comfort of our hotel room. We sat the balcony looking at the sight, enjoying the drinks and each other company. BLISS!

Had to pack everything up for the trip home the next day. Din feel like coming back yet. Still want to stay for another day or two. It's really really relaxing and peaceful there.

And check out our loot for today!

Think, we bought the most things today!

Phuket Trip Day 2

Woke up early for breakfast at the hotel. The place was not packed and food also ok lor. The usual American breakfast and things. We ate our fill and then took some photos also. Haha… seemed to be addicted to taking photos recently.

Then we went to roam the streets of Phuket. We went in the other direction as yesterday… Just that few minutes out and we bought some T-shirts from the stores. 1 for hubby, 2 for my sisters and 2 for me. The store holder wants to make a carrot head out of me leh. Asking for like 1700 baht! Wah! Really think I carrot head leh. So began the bargain process and then finally manage to reduce the price down to a total of 950 baht. It’s still quite expensive as compared to some other stores. But we are happy with the price liao so ok lor. Settled.

We din stay out too long in the streets, it was simply too hot and too many irritating locals calling out ‘tuk tuk’ and others. We went back to hotel after that, took another swim and then wait for time for our massage.

At 2.20pm, the massage palour sent their car to come to pick us up. Good service hor? The massage palour was at the other ends of the Patong beach street. The massage was a good 2 hour, 1 hour on just the foot and then another hour for a full body massage. It was bliss and I tell you, feels so good! And my body feels sooo good and refreshed after that 2 hours of massage. All this for only 850 baht each leh! Wah… how to find it in SG?! Plus, we were give pick up and also sent back to our hotel.

We din want to go back to hotel, so we asked the driver to drop us at the head of the street and we walked back slowly. Just this drop off, again, I manage to get something leh. Very happy. Haha… bought another bag. This time it’s even cheaper. Only 199 baht and was given a 20 baht discount voucher but din have the chance to use at all coz nothing to buy from there liao.

Went into a street and there were lots of food stores there and we had our dinner there. Cheap cheap lor. A meal for the both of us, with Tom Yam soup, rice, beef, a veg and 2 drinks was like 265 baht. Complete meal leh. Feels so full after the meal also. Hm…think, I don’t really like Thai food coz none of it taste right to me except for the Tom Yam soup and rice… haha… Bought some snacks at the mini mart then we head back to the hotel to wash up from the oil that was on our body. Went down to the beach to enjoy the breeze and also the water and night view. It’s really so serene there. But the waves are just as strong since yesterday when we saw it, the strength of the waves does not seem to have reduce. Even when it’s low tide, the wave rushing up to the shore licking at our feet and we can feel the sand rushing out from under us. But very soon, we felt very sticky and go back to hotel already.

We spent the night watching ‘Discovery Channel’ on TV, eating snacks and then falling asleep at the very early time of 11++ pm. I always find it a waste to sleep early when on holidays. There’s so much to see, to do, to try, to eat and to experience! Hiding in the hotel room seems such a waste to the limitless things that we can do! But hubby disagree, he rather hole up in the room then to be outside coz he says, there’s still lots of time to be doing all those over the next few days. And more ever, Phuket is 1 hour slower behind us as compared to SG, so the actual time he says is already after midnight!
So it’s an early night for us after I have taken a picture of all the things that we bought today.

Phuket Trip Day 1

These few days in Phuket are simply wonderful! Lazy days filled with the sun, the sand, the beach, shopping, food and not a care in the world! Perfect!!!

The weather in Phuket is slightly wet now. Our our first day, the moment we arrived in the airport at about 8.30 am Phuket time and after clearing the customs and getting our luggage it’s close to 9am, we were trying to locate our airport transfer guide and within minutes of locating her, we were told that there’s another 4 more people joining us in the transfers hence got to wait. We don’t mind that at all but while waiting, the weather changed. From bight sunny Phuket, it poured. And it was pouring cats and dogs! All within that few minutes. The sky did not give any signs of changing and it just Thunder Thunder Lighting Lighting and then the flood gates opened. WOAH… Our first taste of the waters from heaven in Phuket.

We were given a free half-day-city-tour of Phuket Town. The guide spoke mandarin. Good! Good! We are all able to converse easily. She brought us to a shop where snacks and cashew fruit drinks were sold. I don’t really like the taste of the drink, it’s a bit sour and sweet at the same time. But it’s supposed to be good for health. Was thinking of buying for my mom… but based on our previous experience in BKK in the honey shop… we decided to wait and see and not spend our $$ so soon. I din buy much there, only bough a packet of mango slices for Godma and also some tom yam soup spices for Trina since she likes to cook and also she likes Tom Yam soup. Great for her lor. =) She went to HK and bought back soooo many snacks for me the other time.

Our next stop was to a T-shirt warehouse or rather factory. There was 2 or 3 T-shirts that I like, the designs are quite catchy and cute. Material is good too. It’s not those cheap cheap and thin materials. But it’s rather thick and sooo cheap. The white T-shirts are only $99 baht! The colored ones are slightly more expensive at $129 baht. The only thing is, I do not wear tat kind of T-shirts. Hubby also decided to not get any for his brothers hence we din not get any pieces at all. But I saw a bag that I like and I got that, it’s not very cheap but I think it’s still worth. =) Only $270 baht leh... which means it’s about $12 SGD. Cheap and nice lor. =)

After all these shopping alone just on our arrival, we finally are making our way to our hotel, Ban Thai. Our first impression with the hotel? G-R-E-A-T!!! We love it!! It has a resort and zen feel to it. The decorations are tastefully done, without being overboard and it’s done in our favorite concept and colours! The staff there are polite and helpful too. On arrival, we were each given a peppermint hand towel to wipe our hands and if necessary our faces lor…haha… and also offered a nice cooling barley drink. Somehow seems to be nicer than those that is being offered here leh. Or is it my brain and taste buds playing tricks with me?

Finally we got the card access key to our room which we will call home for the next few days. We were given a room on the highest floor (which is on the fourth level). The distance from the lift to the room is very very far, many turns and long corridors.
When we opened the door, we were both wowed over by the room. It’s perfect! We love the decorations in the room too. It’s sooo cozy and comfortable. There’s also a balcony attached to every room and all overlook the swimming pool! Gosh. The view even though looks into the balcony of each other is still very nice. Lush greenery and pools of water, each balcony is also fitted with either a leather sofa or some wooden chairs and a table. The suite rooms on the ground floor has it’s own small section of the pool where the rest are not able to go in unless you climb thru the tile barrier. The rest of the rooms is walking access to the swimming pool. I feel the pool is well equipped. There’s 3 different section where guests can go for Jacuzzi and also a poolside bar is opened daily till 7pm. NICE lor…
We were also given a complimentary drink from their various bars… quite a lot to chose from and we almost forgot to use the ticket till our last nite!

Once we have taken a swim, bath and threw our things all over the room, we decided to head out in search for lunch. And guess what we had? Macdonalds. Dang!!! Of all the things available there, we had to eat Mac?! Gosh… I console myself by saying coz too many things to eat, don’t know where to start and was too hungry, hence we just go for the most convenient thing. The Mac was like just outside our hotel! After lunch, we went for a walk at the beach. My goodness. The sun there is horrible. It’s scorching hot!! Even more scorching than SG. We both stand at the beach eating our Hagen Daz ice cream all the time saying ‘No’ to the taxi drivers, the jet ski, the don’t know what water sports, the deck chairs, the manicurist… This IS irritating. The locals don’t leave you in peace. The moment they sport you, they come over to you and ask you jet ski? Parachute? Chairs? Etc… argg!!!

We were standing in the shade ok?! Without our bathing suits on, how to play all these?? And for goodness sake, it’s like 12pm in the sun… ask me to lie on the chairs for sun tan?! No way!!! But the Ang Mo there seem to love it leh. Most of the ppl on chairs are Ang Mo… think they adore the sun coz they don’t have much sun in their country… But being Singaporeans, we see the sun on a 365 day basis. No need to get so eager to experience the ‘warmth’ of the sun in Phuket I feel.

After enjoying our ice cream and beach breeze, we head back to hotel to rest for a while to get ready for the FantaSea show+dinner later in the evening. Woah! It’s like a theme park! It’s called “Palace of the Elephants”! There’s like game stores, souvenirs of all sorts being sold there. Of course it’s not cheap la. But still nice to browse and look thru lor. Street performances before the show and all sorts of things. We were already taking our own sweet time before going for dinner, browsing thru the stores. Went for the buffet dinner. Hmmm… Food is not fantastic but the sight that greeted us when we went in was fabulous!! Gosh.. It’s sooo grand looking. High ceilings, all done up in gold, some statues of I don’t know who, lots of food and just simply grand!

As I was saying, the weather in Phuket changes very fast. It was still scorching hot when we left the hotel for the FantaSea. But the moment we reached there, it started drizzling and by the time we have exchanged for our tickets, the rain started to get heavier and though I have my jacket with me, I was not keen to be caught in the rain. So what did we do? We bought an umbrella from one of the stores. Not cheap for a small brolly leh. We thought the big one will be troublesome on the way home in the flight later so get the smaller one. Looks quite cute with a cute elephant printed on it. But quality is not fantastic lor.

Hubby and I enjoyed dinner, sampling their food and we made friends with another couple who was from Belgium! We had a very enjoyable time eating thru dinner and chatting with them. They told us about Europe and their country and we told them about Singapore. They are heading to Hong Kong after Phuket and they came from BKK. So good! Such a long holiday. As I type this in SG, I think they may still be in Phuket or preparing to head to HK lor.

We took such a long time for dinner that we din have time to roam the stores again since we need to go in for the show which starts at 9pm. They don’t allow cameras inside leh! So sad. So have to queue to go in, queue to surrender our camera, then queue to find our seats too. It’s very efficient the way they handle the crowds. There are of course stations where the tourists can take photos with the animals or the performers. We din ask how much but since it is an attraction, then of course it’s not gonna be cheap lor.
We found our seats easily too. Good view of all that is happening also. We really enjoyed the show very much. The performers are good and there’s also visual and sound effect. I specially like the scene where the stage opens and water came down to stimulate rain. Looks very real leh! The show was only 1 hour then later have to queue to take back our camera and also to go back out. Woah… the loads of people who turned up for the show! Luckily there’s also transport back to the hotel so we din have to worry about how to go back hotel. We were one of the first few who hopped into the bus and after the bus was filled, we realized, we were the only Asians. -_-‘’ The trip back to hotel is very fast. Traffic in Phuket is not so scary as in BKK but the way up and down the hill kind of freak me out leh. With each climb or decent, I can feel my pressure raising and lowering. It’s horrible!! Almost like a roller coaster ride except that we are in a vehicle! I think I said silent prayers whenever we have to go thru those ways… Once back in hotel, we bathe (again!) and then called it a night. We woke up soooo early and my eyes are very tired after the whole day of ‘seeing’.

We are ONE!

Know what big today is?? It’s a very important date and day for Hubby and myself leh!

It’s our FIRST wedding anniversary! October 1, 2006!

Time flies so fast and without us realizing, we are already married for a year.

Things are looking well for the both of us. We are both happy, settled and enjoying married lives. Of course, there are things that have made us disagree with each other and also lead to arguements. But overall, everything is blissful.

Being Sunday, hubby and me went for mass as usual. I'm very touched, some of our friends still remembered our wedding anniversary and wished us well. It's a simple well wish but hey.. it shows that they remember and that is the touching thing.

Then Hubby and me went to Pine Gardens to collect our cake. I din know that hubby really ordered the triple layer chocolate cake for our wedding anniversary! It looks good and tasted heavenly! I like. But the chocolate is really very very thick, after 1 slice each, I felt as though my throat is scratcy already. Dare not eat too much if not sure sore throat!

We both rested for a while and then we went to Manhattan Fish Market @ Dhobby Ghuat for dinner. I have been craving for their food for a while now and we went there to celebrate our wedding anniversary =)

Walked and roamed around abit. Nothing much to buy lar since we just came back from Phuket but nevertheless, hubby still manage to get 2 shirts for himself while I get 2 pairs of bedroom slippers. I know I'm being kaisu la.. but hor, not easy to find cheap and comfy slippers leh.. so since I found it, might as well get it once and for all lor.

Took the bus home and it was a lucky and bless day for us, we din have to wait very long for the bus to and fro home! The ride was pretty smooth also no heavy traffic nor too much jerks! Spent some time watching google boxy and then for shower.

Recently coz we went to Phuket, we were not wearing our wedding bands but instead was wearing the pair that we bought eons ago (this pair much cheaper, no stone no nothing, hence we thought safer to wear it out lor, kiasee ma). Since we came back, we were still wearing it haven't change back... so hubby made his marrige vows to me again and slipped on the actual wedding band on my finger and I did the same too. =)

It was a peaceful, good, quiet and enjoyable day with hubby.

No big celebrations, expensive dinner nor presents but yet, we really enjoyed ourselves in each other company and it's the peace of spending time with each other that I really treasure most.

Happy 1st Year Anniversary, Hubby. I pray that there will be many many many more years to come.

I Love You.