2012 年唯一的期望

找到我要的幸福。

一个喧闹中的平静和方向。

안녕하세요, Return to Kimchi Land

An average Singaporean travels 3.4 times a year, with city-destinations within a 7-hour flight range topping the charts. The usual (culprits)? China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea. And since we have the annual NATAS fair to drive attractive promotions as such, how can my dearest Boon not get hooked?


So, for our precious annual trip this year, I visited (freezing-our-butts-off) Korea for the 3rd time running.


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Honestly, I never had a pleasant memory attached to this country, or rather Seoul as a city since I've only ever been there. Probably attributed to the fact that we follow tours ALL THE TIME that require us to follow a grueling wake-up-at-SEVEN-AM routine. Annoying thing is, despite my pleas, B still followed a tour this time round. GRAH!

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Anyhow, Jeju Island has this really unique place called the Trick Art Museum.
Everything's painted on, so I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

Classic.

Love the feet-sticking-out shadow effect (smells)

 !!! And he still smiles..

The missing piece of perfection in Da Vinci's.

He must be rebelling in heaven, hoho!

You can touch it, but you can't have it!

Go Figure! :)

After studying so much about Ames' Room, I FINALLY get to experience one!

We had much fun playing around in there, but this is probably the only attraction worth visiting in Jeju Island. Apparently they did try to open one in Singapore, but it failed... prolly due to the exorbitant rental cost!

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The rest of the days were spent wandering around Seoul for (what else?)

Food Glorious Food..... 

Cheerful Omma at the street food stall.
Boon thinks I'm addicted to rice cakes in Korea... Half truth.

What you will find in a Korean luggage bag. 

They supposedly bring this everywhere they go, just so a meal doesn't go by without their precious KIMCHI!

Hippies' Kimchi Baked Rice Cake. Not a bad concoction!
(Taken @ Pomato)

The really obscure Kimchi (Fish) Roe

Chicken with Tang Hoon and Rice Cake. Similar to the Chinese 大盘鸡.
Had this in a little restaurant at Insadong.

Famous Korean BBQ!!! Mwahhaaha. It's everywhere, and anywhere.

Quaint restaurant @ Insadong...

... that serves the weirdest looking puke-inducing bowl of alcohol.
Quite an experience, I'ld say!

Random sweets that look too sweet for human consumption.

Real Korean food at a local wet market, I think it's the Kwang Jang Market..
I think. =\

What is added in the hotpot. And I always wonder what that black thing is. Sausage anyone?

Sochu - Some weird tasting pure alcohol. Do not try on the rocks.

Korean pancake. Oily and mediocre.

Everything (including meat, fishballs, vegetables) are allll Kimchi flavored alarming RED. This was taken our final night there so it really made my stomach flip.

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Ok, time to sign off. I'm going for a food hunting tour over CNY so that will be real exciting! <3

작별

I miss Bali...

If there's actually a destination I can visit over and over again, that'll be Bali :)

First we enjoyed the fancy Nusa Dua,

During my 2nd visit we partied hard in KUTA (!!)

And now..... time to experience the arts centre, 

Ubud.

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Our beautiful villa booked by Esther :) @ Barong Resort.

Our private pool (which was cleaned everyday) though we only stayed-in the first night -.-
We even had our own cleaning crew, so what's there to complain about?

BIG, Clean and pretty toilet which is sadly also animal (frogs) friendly... but being a toilet freak this one kept my stay really satisfying :)

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DAS FOOD. Murni Warung was brunch-ish dining by the waterfalls - pardon me our cameras ran out of batt before the food came - good relaxing meal to kick off our stay. 

Food's average but they make it up with the ambience.

But being the true-blue travelers, Bryan and Est brought us to eat the REAL "holiao" - Naughty Nuri.

REMEMBER: Your Nuri must always be naughty enough 'cos there's heaps of imposters around!

Didn't really like the much talked-about Bebek Bengil (Dirty Duck) but they're alcoholic cake was super YUMS. I sneaked one out in our take-away box, in a failed attempt to "surprise" boon for his birthday.

Became more of a joke, with that icing plastered to the cover.

Babi Guling - Rollin' Pork - is perhaps the most retro sounding dish that makes my throat dance the cha-cha whenever I visit. Do not fret, it is super sinful and filled with pork oil and pure fats.

But man, is it heavenly......... (drools)

Just have a look at this guy's face and you'll know I'm not kiddin.

Okay, enough of the food for the lack of it is making me severely depressed.

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So recently there's been much talk about this happening place near Bali called The Gili Islands. Sounded interesting, so we decided to visit.

Basically Gili comprises of 3 islands - namely Trawangan, Meno and Air. Both Trawangan and Meno require deep-sea diving, so we visited Air, the only island conducive for shallow-water scuba.

This is how it looks on commercial...

But in reality...

This was what we got.

It's not that bad, honestly, cos there're still living, swimming things in the sea and the absence of the monstrous sea urchin is a huge relief. However, I read somewhere that some freak weather changes caused by a certain ENSO has effectively destroyed the first 20m-depth of sea life....

So, there's still not much there.

Then again, we only visited Air, so maybe Tadawang or Meno have more stuff?

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WATERBOM - It's da Bomb man!

If there's ONE PLACE in Bali you can't miss, it's Waterbom

You can call it a water theme park, but it promises exhilarating FUN for your company. (I sound like the damned commercial already!)

Ok, I'll give you an example of the RIDE.

Superbowl....

BOOMERANG

SMASHDOWN

(freaking 60 degrees 8-storey slide)

and, last but not least.......

CLIMAX

(gotta love the person who did the namin' for this rides though, haha)

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Anyhow this trip was a real fun with my lovely drinkin' golfin' hangin' buddies & nicely planned by Esther ^.^v

Till the next trip again....

(my hair is all over the place but it's our only grp pic -.-)

Back to School...

As part of my new job, I'm supposed to be in-charge of something called, Corporate Social Responsibility. Or maybe, corporate community work?

Anyhow, we worked with a secondary school to kick-start this programme with laboratory visits to teach (exclamation mark!) chemistry (oh-my-gawwdddd). Just in case you haven't noticed, I hate teaching, and I hate chemistry even more. Pfft.

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Surprisingly, It didn't turn out that bad! You see, I just learnt there are two key qualities a teacher should possess.

1. The ability to project your voice like a loudhailer
2. To control young crowds and be stern. (I kinda overdid the stern part)

So teaching isn't that tough, given that the teacher-in-charge chose the creme of the crop for us.. the most well-behaved students in school. :)

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Haha, but seriously, it's no simple feat. You can't speak to them like Adults, cos they're really just beginning their teens, and you can't speak to them like kids, cos they are too intelligent for that.

AND THEY ASK YOU CHEEKY QUESTIONS! Like... is your company the only one selling this product?!!

-_________________-''''

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So I salute all teachers out there, who brave through daily storms with our young minds.
Who manage to inspire amid all the perspiration.
Who love students they don't really know.
Oh, who climb stairs and work in non-airconditioned environments.

And darling, I will not mock at your profession again. ;)

Bintan Getaway

I detest getaways with rainy days.
All you get to do is stay home, watch the mini-telly and WAIT. GRAH!

Anyhow, that's what happened in Bintan. It rained, like, 80% of the time and the only time I had out at sea was to do the water sports. Which was lucky for him, cos it scared the livin daylights outta me. -.-"

Banana boat, I'm sure everyone's familiar with. They'll capsize you at the shallow end of the sea........ and I hurt my tailbone =(

Great Big Mable (?), a seemingly harmless ride. NOT! U constantly feel like there's g-force pushing you off the ride and you're gonna fall off the mable (?) at high velocity... or something like that.

Ladies, pls seat in the middle 'cos you need the guys as heavy weights at the sides. 

You can find a video of this thing in action here 

http://www.invodo.com/SportsStuff-Great-Big-Mable-Towable-Ski-Tube/p/1RXGYI8R

Flying Fish, if properly executed, is apparently the most exciting ride in the pack. 

Luckily for us, the operator must have seen the 2 girls frightened out of our wits and added a big... (not gonna say fat).. huge guy in the middle.

He was like an anchor to the machine, so it didn't "fly" up as it was supposed to do this....

*GASP!*

Spirited Away

They say movies are a reflection of life, and a perfect way of escapism. While the West have their fancy Hollywood - and since big honchos like Dreamworks only intend to invest in India - I guess the best bet for Asians in our part of the world is a mixture of American pop culture and Taiwanese plus HongKong drama?

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I've been hooked on Sex and the City Season 1 - 6 recently and it's been a little surreal watching these New Yorkers being so comfortable in their own skin.

Then I face Singaporeans who are unwilling to venture out of comfort zones, unsatisfied with the current situation. And for the fear of Lord, I realize I'm becoming one of them CONFORMISTS.

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The Asian media goes frenzy over issues like family ties, blissfulness in marriage and the whole "you complete me" emotional blackmail. In Singapore you get all the propaganda about a perfect Asian life that goes by the tune of "married with 2 kids, nice car plus a house".

Everyone in my neighbourhood has that, if not more - but they still seem grumpy, unsatisfied and anxious about everything from the weather to lychee seeds.

Perhaps the brunt of the worry comes from "MARRIAGE"?

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I think I'm caught in a Limbo between the Western perception of happiness and Eastern societal expectations of a couple. Here in Singapore everyone I know seems to be reaping the emotional benefits of getting married... security (commitment), sense of belonging and somewhere to actually call Home.

But perhaps that's just not me?

Valentines' oh sweet Valentines.

Boon & I never had the habit of giving presents (aside from the rock-hard cookies I stuff down his throat), so this Valentine's we decided to make it special by having a little gift exchange.

NB: My precious gift to him cannot be shown here due to copyright restrictions. :)

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Bouquet of Champagne Rose reached my office at 11am in the morning - the receptionist was a lil puzzled wondering who's Olivia Wang? And being one of the typical aunties, she gave me a stern look... just missing the *tskkkkk* heh :P

Dinner was at a Mexican Dining Place, Rascals Gone Dining, along Purvis.

They made the whole place pretty and romantic on the night itself, will nick the pics from Boon sometime soon. Loved the ambiance, but over and above, my partner was fantastic. He's not a fan of romantic-ness or fancy dinners, and this time I insisted, so he obliged. And I thought that was very sweet!

His hand-made gift and Angry Bird... My colleagues and I have decided that Mr. Angry Bird appears too unhappy and we're having a hard time mimicking his expression, so we made minor changes ^^

Edit: I was just reminded how blind/oblivious I can be in a relationship.... so although this might / might not seem special to you. It's significant enough for me to blog about! :)

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Lastly...