New Addiction....SHAIYA

Got myself addicted to another online game lately, the MMORPG:

SHAIYA

Official website - http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/

Its not tat I have given up on MapleStory, but I had problems loading it and running the game at times...and was quite often disconnected from the game.

So, I tried Shaiya some time in March and found it pretty refreshing to play a new game.

Well, if u like online gaming and wana try the game. Just go to the official website above, register a login and download the game onto your computer. But just before u start the game and create ur character, decide whether u wana join the Light or the Fury side of the battle. U can add me as buddy if u join the Union of Fury :) My character nick is RinLore.

Hope u have fun with the game!

Sakura, Orchard - 3 April 2008

After lots of coordination with the girls, we finally met up for dinner buffet at Sakura, Orchard last Thursday.



Sakura, Orchard is one of the few Halal buffet restaurants I know of in Singapore (introduced by my WTL colleagues) and it serves an international spread of delicacies. The buffet costs S$27.80 per person, the food is fresh and good...yummy...and its definitely a good gathering place with frens.

Check out their website below and head down to try their good food. But remember to make reservations if u are going down with a big group of frens.

http://www.sukigroup.com.sg/website/sakura.htm

Indulgz - 27 March 2008

I brought Gwen out on Thursday to pre-celebrate her upcoming Birthday. Specially made reservation at Indulgz coz we had previously wanted to eat there but could not find seats.

Indulgz was mentioned in Xiaxue's blog and come highly recommended. In fact, I went with Amrita once before and we find the food rather good. Visit to their website bah: http://www.indulgz.com/

Got Gwen a nice 21 yr old Bdae Gift! Instead of the traditional key/locket pendant necklace, I let Gwen choose her own gift and she selected a gorgeous ring! Weird to buy a ring for a girl??? No lah, just a fashion ring mah...not wedding band, crazy!

"Gwen's Bdae Gift (Ring) and Freebies"


"Gwen's Bdae Ring - photo taken by Gwen"




We ate a hearty meal at Indulgz which consist of the following delicious dishes:


(Picture below: Top to Bottom, Left to Right)
1) Breaded White Button Mushrooms
2) Strawberries & Cream Smoothie, Peach & Mango Smoothie, soup and starter
3) Deep-fried Camembert Cheese w Indulgz’s Mixed Berry Compote
4) Indulgz’s Lobster Bisque with Crabmeat Soup
5) Indulgz's Menu
6) Our desserts
7) Baked Honey Garlic Chicken
8) Elvis Pop with Ice-cream
9) Indulgz's Signature Butterfish Steak


Besides their signature dishes "Deep-fried Camembert Cheese w Indulgz’s Mixed Berry Compote" and "Indulgz's Signature Butterfish Steak", I must really comment on this special dessert which I discovered at Indulgz - Earl Grey Panna Cotta!

If u drink tea or is a tea lover, u should have tasted the Earl Grey Tea. This flavour of tea brings a sort of dryness in ur mouth which blossoms into a unique fragrance/aroma that soothes ur body system.

This special dessert incorporates the flavour of Earl Grey in the smooth soft cream/mousse. Some pieces of strawberry and green apple are used to infuse sweetness and sourness into this dessert.

"Earl Grey Panna Cotta"


I find this dessert unique but it starts dry-ing up my mouth after finishing half the dessert. But its alright since I have a drink with me too. :) U shld try it too if u visit Indulgz.

Virgin Prawning Experience - 21 Mar 2008

Ever heard of PRAWNING?

Fishing means catching fish...well, Prawning of coz means catching prawns. And similar to fishing, we use a rod to catch the prawns one-by-one.

Sounds interesting???

I went prawning with Kim and Kris 2 days ago...how did we end up there?

It was Good Friday and we din have to go to work. So, not wanting to stay home and rot, I asked if they wana go East Coast for a stroll on the beach in the morning and maybe take some pics and compare it to Gold Coast's beautiful beach.

Sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately due to some turn of events, we ended up making a detour to Pasir Ris to pick up some things. But not before we bought breakfast from Burger King at ECP...sounds real silly huh? Coz we took a wrong turn into Burger King's Drive Thru and was too paiseh not to order something...and since we havent had breakfast then...so we just bought food lor.

After we finished the errand at Pasir Ris, we were lazy to return to ECP (remembering the queue of cars when we left) and decided to head for Pasir Ris Park instead. On the way there, we passed by this road which leads to some fauna farms. It is actually the same road tat leads to the fauna farm which I went with Charmaine during her school trip. Tats where we found our prawning place, up along tat road. I dun remember the name of the place though...sorry, u have to find it urself.

Anyway, the cost of prawning there goes like that:

Per Rod
1 Hour - $15
2 Hours - $25
3 Hours - $30

Seems a bit expensive coz u can probably buy a lot more prawns from the market for tat price but for a sport or hobby to pass time...its actually quite fun.

I took some pics there, even got some of Kim and Kris but decided against putting them up on blog in case I get hantam to death by them...hehehe....here are the others:-

"Big Prawny"


"Me with the rod"


"Staring at the line for hours...."


"Our catch of the day - 8 prawns!"


"Live prawns in running water before cooking"


Result of our prawning:
Kris - 7 prawns
Kim - 1 prawn (baby prawny)
Me - 0!!!

Yah, I suck at prawning. In fact, I gave up after trying for 1 hr. Then I took out my PSP and was playing it while Kris and Kim continued prawning. We spent 4 hrs there with 2 rods, cost us $80 to catch 8 prawns...ooooo, expensive prawns cost $10 each! LOL!

It was fun anyway, should try it if u never did.

Equinox - 15 Mar 2008

Another overdue post from me as I was kinda lazy to download the pics and blog.

My 2nd visit to Equinox was with Amrita last friday (not yesterday), to pre-celebrate her Bdae.

For those who dun know where is this Equinox restaurant...well, its situated where the "old" Compass Rose was previously. Here is their link:-

http://www.equinoxcomplex.com/main.html

They serve a mixture of Asian and Western food and of coz there are a variety of sides, desserts and drinks to choose from, including liquours.

Was a great dinner which of coz cost a bomb...think abt $140+ for 2 pax (Hmm...cheaper than Draculas...but Draculas have performances).

Luckily, Equinox have a breathtaking view to match the great performances in Draculas.

"View across Padang, Boat Quay and towards the CBD area"


"View across Peninsula Plaza, Funan and towards the lively Clarke Quay"


"The beautiful Durians? Fly's Eyes? - the Esplanade from aerial view"


"View of the Esplanade, One Fullerton and the Fullerton Hotel"

Oily Oily....Ewwww

Today is Tuesday...the NO homecooked dinner day. Was fortunate enough to knock off on the dot and was wondering wat to buy home for dinner - fast food, hawker food, cook maggi mee???

Then I recalled the Bacon & Eggs which I cooked for the first time during my Gold Coast trip....yummy! Suddenly, just decided to whip something up for myself on the stove tonight. (Hehe....I am no cook....but well, at most I will only be poisoning myself!)

Knowing there is no bacon at home, I substituted with canned cocktail hotdogs, eggs and char mee. No use in writing my cooking recipe here coz there is nothing special abt this dish. In fact it is much much much more oily than I intended...think I put too much butter in :P



Sadly I wasnt able to cook a sunny-side-up egg which I did in Gold Coast...wonder if it has anything to do with the frying pan. Anyway, my dinner was settled and tats wats important.

Talking abt Gold Coast...I missed the TV shows there. Although some shops in Gold Coast are open till 9pm plus (and I mean retails shops, not just eateries), I spent most of my nights in the apartment watching TV.

FOXTEL in Gold Coast (equilvalent to our SCV) have some really good shows tat has either never been broadcasted in Singapore or was shown a long time ago but is no longer showing here:
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? (just love this one...LUV IT!!!)
- South Park (cool...wat other show can u hear so much vulgars)
- The Flintstones (Fred just gets on my nerves sometimes)
- The Jetsons (hmm...almost forgotten this show exist)
- The Family Guy (Stewie baby!)
- The Simpsons (all time favourite)
- The Powerpuff Girls (still as lame as ever)
- Camp Lazlo (erm...dun quite remember wat this is abt)
- Ed, Edd and Eddy (a show abt 3 freaks?)
- Kids Next Door (really enjoyed this, its a super cool cartoon!)
- Scooby-Doo (good old scooby)
- Samurai Jack (2D...no matter how I look at it...its 2D)
- Fraggle Rock (I din watch this but the commercials kept playing and it irritated me like hell)

Hmm...mostly cartoons?! Well, I am still young at heart :P

Gold Coast - 1 to 8 March 2008

Its a week since I returned to Singapore. Am trying hard to return to my routine life but it seems a bit difficult.

Lately, I have been feeling sleepy at 11pm plus and wake up in the mornings at 5am plus. I gather its becoz I have gotten used to being 2 hours ahead of Singapore time when I was in Gold Coast. So my body probably tuned itself to wake up at 7am plus (Brisbane time) and retire at 1am plus (Brisbane time). I also feel rather lethargic and restless...missing Australia a lot...think I am suffering from some withdrawal symptons :P

But finally this morning, I managed to sleep till 9am plus. Its either coz I was really tired from going out last night or my body is finally relaxing and falling back to routine.

Now, a little recap on my Gold Coast trip - theme parks, beach, sunshine and babes!

Much as I like my trip there, think I prefer Perth's serenity. Gold Coast is a tourist hotspot and so u pretty much see holiday makers and tourists everywhere. And everything is expensive there...coz they are catering their products and services for tourists. Its really typical tat they think tourists can and will afford to pay higher prices....seems like 砍菜头.


Reached Brisbane International Airport at 9.30am (Brisbane time) on 1 March, met up with my fren P and headed straight for Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast via the pre-booked shuttle service: http://www.viator.com/

First incident we encountered for our trip - Flat Tyre! Haha...actually its the first time in my life that I encountered a flat tyre. Its kinda funny coz we din know there was a flat until some pedestrians started waving at us and pointing at the tyre. Then all of us got out of the shuttle and the driver called to get a backup shuttle...which unfortunately was not available. So, some of the guys helped the driver changed the tyre. I think the driver was really lucky that there were guys on board...imagine a whole shuttle full of ladies....


By the time we reached the apartment, it was already past noon and a good half day gone by. We chose the Condor Ocean View Apartment in Surfers Paradise which is economical and located fairly near to the Main Beach of Gold Coast and where most of the activities and shops are.

www.condorapartments.com.au/

"Condor Ocean View Apartment"



Am not going into day-to-day details of my trip (will probably bore all of u to tears) but will just write on some memorable stuff and places.


Architecture and buildings in Surfers Paradise are relatively new and not as pretty as in Perth but I was still captivated while walking along the streets. Check out the scenery:

"Surfers Paradise Streets"



Some way down along the coast, there is the Q1 Tower which is a well known 80-storey high 5 star luxury apartment in Gold Coast (website says tat its the tallest building in the world). From the side, it kinda resembles the Bell Tower in Perth but I forgot to take a picture from tat angle. You can pay a fee to go up the QDeck at level 77 & 78 to the highest point above Gold Coast for a stunning 360 degree view.

http://www.q1.com.au/

I remember a joke I heard in Dracula's (will mention abt this place later) abt the Q1 Tower. Tourists would pay the exhorbitant fee to go up the tower just to take a bird's eye view of Gold Coast...its pretty and breath-taking from up there. Then they decided to insert some coins into the binoculars machine (ok, I admit I dun know wat are those call) and look all the way down exclaiming "Hey, I can see the ground area from here!".....HELLO?!!!...."you" was just down there!!! (hahaha...I love this joke)

"Q1 Tower"



I took some photos of the Clock Hotel in Surfers coz it reminds me of the Clock Tower in Perth City...yeah yeah, I kept mentioning abt Perth...but well, I cant help comparing k. Anyway, the building is real pretty in night light.

"Clock Hotel - reminds of the Clock Tower in Perth"



An attraction in Surfers tat u gotta go if u visit is the INFINITY. Its located in the Chevron Renaissance Centre at the heart of Surfers.

"Chevron Renaissance"


http://www.infinitygc.com.au/

Infinity is a sort of fun house which brings u on a journey through a maze with 20 environments filled with special effects, lightings, sounds and music. Other than amazing, I dun know how to describe the experience. There was a picture taken of us but I din wana buy tat pic coz I looked rather fat in it....T_T such a waste...a wonderful experience with no pics for memory sake.

"Infinity"



Besides buying grocery from Woolsworth and cooking in our apartment, we had our occasional meals outside...kebab wraps, sandwiches, pasta, japanese food, ice cream, etc. Also went to this Hog's Breath Cafe which serves tasty Western food in hearty portions.

"Hog's Breath Cafe"


The interior of the cafe is decorated with interesting posters, banners and other stuffs. And wat caught my attention was their Salt & Pepper containers...in Corona bottles! Haha...great idea huh ^^

"Salt & Pepper in Corona?"



The BEACH! Yeah, its pretty just like those in shows...with fine sands, clear water, blue sky and plenty of sunshine. And of coz babes and hunks in their skimpy bikinis and swimmers, if u are interested to look ard.

"Surfers Paradise's Beach Scenery"


I got a little "bo liao" at the beach and started burying my legs in the fine sand and slowly extracting them...LOL! Yah lah...bo liao mah.

"Feet In Sand"



Then of coz, we went to the theme parks! There are 5 theme parks in Gold Coast: Dreamworld, WhiteWater World, Movie World, Wet N Wild and Sea World. I din wana go to all 4 as tat will be a total waste of money. So, we chose the affiliated Dreamworld and WhiteWater World. Got a package to enter both of them, so its cheaper than the single fare. Check out the rides!

http://www.dreamworld.com.au/

http://www.whitewaterworld.com.au/

"Dreamworld"


As I din wana bring my camera along on the rides, I only took 1 pic at the entrance of Dreamworld. Yah, its pathetic...but at least I had fun inside and din have to keep a lookout on my belongings which were safely kept in the locker.


Now the best part of my visit has got to be at Dracula's!

Dracula's is a FAMOUS Cabaret Restaurant in Gold Coast. It is situated near Pacific Fair (a nice shopping arcade which we went twice during our stay) and is a HOT FAVOURITE for both locals and tourists. Heard tat their performances are changed/updated quite regularly to keep audiences entertained by their new ideas and jokes (abt 3 to 4 months once). This is to attract customers to revisit the establishment.

http://www.draculas.com.au/

"Dracula's - Cabaret Restaurant"


Dracula's is a MUST MUST if u are into fancy dining filled with entertainment, making u burst with laughters and smiles...maybe occasional scares too. Photography is not allowed inside, so no pics to show here.

What u must note though is tat...it is rather pricey to dine at Dracula's...costs abt A$70+ per pax for entry (which includes appetizer, main course & desert) and drinks are excluded and chargeable...and since the show/performance is from 6pm plus to 10pm plus...think u will be filling up tat glass of urs quite often.


Last note before I end this entry (this entry took me 3 days to complete as I kept putting it on hold...lazy lah).

Here is a pic of the spray on tattoo I got there! Its all for the fun of it but sadly it only lasted 2 days coz I dun have any powder to put on it after bathing.

"My First Tattoo"



Well, tats all folks! Till the next time I travel....which I think will be in May on my firm's trip to Hanoi! Yeah!!!

Countdown to Holiday!!!

Counting down......about 24 hrs to my flight to Gold Coast, Australia!

Hurray~!

Why Gold Coast??? Well, I was afraid that if I visit Perth for the 3rd time, my frens might call me crazy and wonder why I dun visit other parts of Australia.

So here I am painting my nails while blogging and trying to keep my excitement down.

Work???

I have been trying to clear work before my leave (unfortunately havent been able to clear all of them though...). Am expecting work overload when I return too. T_T

BUT ~ I dun wana think abt it now *throws work aside to enjoy holiday*

Lots of Laughters

The past week had been another busy week but wat was very special abt it was that there were lots of laughters involved. ^^

Its rather amazing tat one can find so many anecdotes and jokes in one's life if he/she bothers to look at things from a different angle.

Here's a few which i can remember...

*****************************************************

The price of MacDonald cone ice cream has gone up to 60 cents from its original 50 cents. I still remember a time when the price went down to 25 cents and it was one of the cheapest ice cream u can find outside.

Anyway, I went with my parents, bro and his family to have dinner at Pizza Hut last Sunday. Only cost us about $40.00+ for 5 adults and 2 children after using some discount coupon. Was initially going to have Venezia ice cream as dessert...but cheapo me suggested having MacDonald ice cream instead.

When we started grumbling abt how the price has gone up by 10 cents, my bro said "maybe we can ask them to 'level' the ice cream so that there is less ice cream and they can charge us 50 cents..."

@_@!!! LOL!!!

Then I licked my ice cream cone...from this......

(picture of this ice cream cone is taken from the MacDonald official website and edited for the 2 pictures below)

......to this...then I joked "hey, u can bring this to other pple and try selling them at 50 cents! Haha..."


or maybe like that...

a 'levelled' ice cream cone for 50 cents?!!! LOL!

*****************************************************

Did OT one of the days until 10pm and rushed work with some colleagues. We decided to call for a taxi as the taxi fare is claimable anyway.

So my colleague called the taxi hotline and put the call on speaker.

"......your taxi will be arriving in...



......and I heard "527 minutes!!!"

So, we gotta wait for the taxi for more than 8 hours!!! Hahaha.....ROFL....

*****************************************************

This is a rather embarrasing incident for me. Was working as usual when I squat down to pick up some files and I heard "pzzt!" - My pants TORE!

Aiyo...have not felt so embarrased for a long time. The tore was along the seams at the back of my pants and it went way up, such that my colleague can even see my panty (paiseh wo!). Luckily my other colleague have emergency sewing kit, so I was saved from further embarrasment of travelling home with a torn pants and free show on the colour of my panty.

-_

TV & DVD Player

Finally! My new Flatscreen TV and DVD Player!


19" Flatscreen Sharp Aquos - S$499 from Best Denki




Akira DVD Player - S$61 from Live!Powerhub



I have been struggling without a DVD player for days (spoilt!)...arghh...so many dramas to watch...in addition to tat, my room TV has gone bananas...so it is time I changed both anyway.

Been eyeing this 19" Flatscreen Sharp Aquos since the start of this year but only decided to buy it this week. In fact, I went to the Best Denki outlet at Compass Point one of the night this week after work to specially take a look at the range of Flatscreen TV available. The service there was horrendous!...actually it was non-existent. I paced around the TV section and nobody served me...even when I stood in front of the TV tat I am interested in...none of the salemen there even bothered to approach me! I ended up walking out of the shop, a little pissed and exhausted from work. I actually wondered if they din serve me coz I am a woman and they probably din think I was really interested in buying any electronic gadgets there.

Lessons learnt:
1) Never go shopping after work if you are exhausted;
2) Never shop/buy things from Best Denki - Compass Point; and
3) When buying electronic/IT products, get a guy to go buy it with u.

So, in the end I went shopping with my bro at Best Denki - Bishan Junction 8 yesterday and got my flatscreen TV! Thanks bro for the gift! ^^

The Akira DVD player is the smaller gift I got for myself. Decided not to go with the more expensive brands just in case they cannot play certain discs.

^^ Sooooo happy now....all set to "K" my dramas already!