Entries for July, 2006
July 16, 2006
[ And she was off to the races.. ]
posted @ 07:04 AM by fel
An interesting day, unlike any other Sunday I have spent in Singapore. A friend of mine invited another friend and I to the Emirates Derby as his company had bought a table in the corporate box area. I've never been to the Singapore Turf Club, let alone any horse race, so it was certainly a new experience for me! No money won (I'm not a gambler, I never have any luck with these kinds of things thankfully as I have enough vices as it is!) but I certainly had fun, cheering, and being glutton enjoying the delicious buffet spread and free flow booze
Oh and I didn't win the best dressed competition either, mainly because I didn't wear a hat! No offence to those who won, but it appeared that the bigger (and gaudier!) the hat, the higher the placing 
In other news, we had our company sports carnival yesterday, and our department won the volleyball.. yay
I now have a little trophy sitting on my cabinet; I've decided to use it to store my match box collection heh..
Currently feeling: tired
posted @ 07:04 AM by fel
An interesting day, unlike any other Sunday I have spent in Singapore. A friend of mine invited another friend and I to the Emirates Derby as his company had bought a table in the corporate box area. I've never been to the Singapore Turf Club, let alone any horse race, so it was certainly a new experience for me! No money won (I'm not a gambler, I never have any luck with these kinds of things thankfully as I have enough vices as it is!) but I certainly had fun, cheering, and being glutton enjoying the delicious buffet spread and free flow booze
Oh and I didn't win the best dressed competition either, mainly because I didn't wear a hat! No offence to those who won, but it appeared that the bigger (and gaudier!) the hat, the higher the placing In other news, we had our company sports carnival yesterday, and our department won the volleyball.. yay
I now have a little trophy sitting on my cabinet; I've decided to use it to store my match box collection heh..Currently feeling: tired
July 20, 2006
[ Fear Factor: crickets vs frogs? ]
posted @ 06:22 AM by fel
So, my company has organized a FEAR FACTOR challenge thing to raise money for charity, whereby you nominate people and then pay $2 a vote, top 10 people with highest number of votes will have to either:
a) eat fried crickets OR
b) kiss a frog - its bloody huge!!!! (they brought it around the office eep)
It started on monday, they have released the preliminary results so far - I'm in the top 10!!!! but deadline is tomorrow... and fate will be sealed tomorrow too...
sigh sigh sigh ... so how, fried crikets or kiss the frog? ...and no, I highly doubt that the frog will turn into prince charming!!!!
Currently feeling: working
posted @ 06:22 AM by fel
So, my company has organized a FEAR FACTOR challenge thing to raise money for charity, whereby you nominate people and then pay $2 a vote, top 10 people with highest number of votes will have to either:
a) eat fried crickets OR
b) kiss a frog - its bloody huge!!!! (they brought it around the office eep)
It started on monday, they have released the preliminary results so far - I'm in the top 10!!!! but deadline is tomorrow... and fate will be sealed tomorrow too...
sigh sigh sigh ... so how, fried crikets or kiss the frog? ...and no, I highly doubt that the frog will turn into prince charming!!!!
Currently feeling: working
July 30, 2006
[ Shanghai-ed ]
posted @ 04:00 AM by fel
Touched down on Thursday late, late night after a week in Shanghai. My first trip to China! Went with a work colleague, and met up with various ex-work colleagues who have made the plunge and moved to Shanghai.
So, mostly work-related trip (during the weekdays), but of course, managed to fit in various items of leisure:
- Tourist Traps! namely:
--> People's Square.
--> Yu Yuan Gardens (Old Town). Super super touristy!! but delicious xiao long baos, literally translated "little dragon dumplings", which are delicious little pork dumplings with soup inside the dumpling! an absolute must-try in Shanghai.
--> The Bund, along the Huangpu river. Worth discovering by day, and by night.
--> Nanjing Road.
- Shopping! Actually, we spent most of our money tailoring clothes at DongJiaLu Fabric Market (which is now located at LuJiaBang Road, the Lonely Planet guide needs to be updated, we walked 20 minutes from the address stated in the guide!!!!). The tailors are a bit rough, especially when they are measuring you up, but they are fast (turnaround time of up to one day!) and cheap. A total of 3 suits, 1 dress, 4 shirts, 1 skirt, and 1 halter top was the damage, but affordably so - 1 suit will set you back around RMB300-450 (approx SGD60-90), and you choose the material and customize your own design, if you so desire. A definite drawing point to visiting Shanghai again... next time I will get a QiPao (Cheong Sam) made...
- Massages! Only managed to fit in two; a Japanese shiatsu massage at Dragonfly and a Chinese massage nearby the hotel. Whilst I fell asleep during the relaxing shiatsu massage, the chinese massage (tui na) had me gasping for air, it was that intense - I'm still in pain now.
- Eat and Drink! I had a pre-warning that the food in Shanghai wasn't fantastic, and to prepare for the oiliest and saltiest food on the planet. My friend wasn't wrong. A lot of the dishes we sampled were literally swimming with oil. I generally like my food very salty, however even I found the food there to be a little over my salt tolerance, or else completely bland - yes, the tastes were to either extreme! I must admit though, we did have some rather delicious eats. Some of the places we visited:
--> M on the Bund. I would say this is one of the most well-known restaurants in Shanghai, so expectations were high. Unfortunately, it was overrated although the view was lovely on the clear night that we patronized the M. Reasonably priced (for Singapore standards perhaps!), but don't expect world-class service.
--> New Heights, at Three on the Bund, for brunch. Lovely view as well, right next door to the M. Food was lovely too, surprisingly!
--> Face Bar. Nice chilled out place, definitely more happening than its sister bar in Bangkok. Housed in an colonial style building, littered with Buddha sculptures and lounging beds, very nice for relaxing evening out.
--> XinTianDi, various bars. Full of expats, and over priced drinks. Felt right at home
--> Impala (or something like that...). Delicious Spanish tapas, and extremely reasonably priced wine.
So despite having to work, we made a good attempt at seeing the city.. although, I am convinced that I have to make another trip up there as still much to discover!
Currently feeling: tired
posted @ 04:00 AM by fel
Touched down on Thursday late, late night after a week in Shanghai. My first trip to China! Went with a work colleague, and met up with various ex-work colleagues who have made the plunge and moved to Shanghai.
So, mostly work-related trip (during the weekdays), but of course, managed to fit in various items of leisure:
- Tourist Traps! namely:
--> People's Square.
--> Yu Yuan Gardens (Old Town). Super super touristy!! but delicious xiao long baos, literally translated "little dragon dumplings", which are delicious little pork dumplings with soup inside the dumpling! an absolute must-try in Shanghai.
--> The Bund, along the Huangpu river. Worth discovering by day, and by night.
--> Nanjing Road.
- Shopping! Actually, we spent most of our money tailoring clothes at DongJiaLu Fabric Market (which is now located at LuJiaBang Road, the Lonely Planet guide needs to be updated, we walked 20 minutes from the address stated in the guide!!!!). The tailors are a bit rough, especially when they are measuring you up, but they are fast (turnaround time of up to one day!) and cheap. A total of 3 suits, 1 dress, 4 shirts, 1 skirt, and 1 halter top was the damage, but affordably so - 1 suit will set you back around RMB300-450 (approx SGD60-90), and you choose the material and customize your own design, if you so desire. A definite drawing point to visiting Shanghai again... next time I will get a QiPao (Cheong Sam) made...
- Massages! Only managed to fit in two; a Japanese shiatsu massage at Dragonfly and a Chinese massage nearby the hotel. Whilst I fell asleep during the relaxing shiatsu massage, the chinese massage (tui na) had me gasping for air, it was that intense - I'm still in pain now.
- Eat and Drink! I had a pre-warning that the food in Shanghai wasn't fantastic, and to prepare for the oiliest and saltiest food on the planet. My friend wasn't wrong. A lot of the dishes we sampled were literally swimming with oil. I generally like my food very salty, however even I found the food there to be a little over my salt tolerance, or else completely bland - yes, the tastes were to either extreme! I must admit though, we did have some rather delicious eats. Some of the places we visited:
--> M on the Bund. I would say this is one of the most well-known restaurants in Shanghai, so expectations were high. Unfortunately, it was overrated although the view was lovely on the clear night that we patronized the M. Reasonably priced (for Singapore standards perhaps!), but don't expect world-class service.
--> New Heights, at Three on the Bund, for brunch. Lovely view as well, right next door to the M. Food was lovely too, surprisingly!
--> Face Bar. Nice chilled out place, definitely more happening than its sister bar in Bangkok. Housed in an colonial style building, littered with Buddha sculptures and lounging beds, very nice for relaxing evening out.
--> XinTianDi, various bars. Full of expats, and over priced drinks. Felt right at home
--> Impala (or something like that...). Delicious Spanish tapas, and extremely reasonably priced wine.
So despite having to work, we made a good attempt at seeing the city.. although, I am convinced that I have to make another trip up there as still much to discover!
Currently feeling: tired