Bangkok 2015

I only knew Bangkok had winter season when I did some research before going there for 4 days. We booked a package on Expedia which was cheaper than individually booked.

The weather was super cooling with strong winds in the day and around 21 degrees at night so it was so awesome to walk around the night markets.

Hotel Muse is quite nice. This is the view from the pool.



Day 1:
I went to take measurements to make a whole suit which I thought was quite expensive for Bangkok standards but oh wells, at least it turned out really nice. They were really fast too.
Dinner was one of the cheapest and best meal at the food street at Thong Lor. I must have mango sticky rice and coconut juice once we touched down.



Thailand tourism campaign: Kingdom of Lights. We walked to Big C for some grocery shopping and I bought my travel size stuff.




Day 2:
Breakfast at Crepe and Co, Thai milk tea crepe cake at Central Embassy was quite good, then platinum mall for some cheap shopping, Siam, Siam Paragon. The usual. And we bought LeTao cheesecake which was ultra amazing.



Dinner at Eat Me restaurant



Scallops



They ain't kidding about their black truffles. They shaved the black truffle in front of us. OMG look at the flakes.



Drinks at Speakeasy bar, a rooftop bar in our hotel.

Day 3:
After my second fitting in the afternoon, we had brunch at Terminal 21 foodcourt, also super cheap and good, then it's night market time at artbox, food and more drinking at night.







Day 4:
The morning was kind of a slow epic. We did it and woke up quite late. Street side wanton mee for breakfast, Jap for lunch and last minute grocery shopping, then I went to collect my suit before checking out of our hotel. I kinda liked the hotel though. It was a pleasant stay, nothing to complain about and everything was fine. Maybe except the TV which didn't work well.

It was my first time doing a Thai massage. They use more body weight and did major muscles, it was less focused. Bali massage is more delicate, more of fingers and focused at certain muscle group but it was too gentle. Both are cool though I liked the Bali massage a little bit more.

After that we da baoed Four Seasons Duck and my favourite mango sticky rice to the airport and ate them all delicious food while waiting for our flight.

Somehow I felt this trip to Bangkok was super enjoyable than my previous time, especially the moments when we had more than enough food but we kept on eating and eating. Maybe it's the company, maybe it's the food places we went, or maybe it's just everything together.

Out of the blue

These few weeks have been crazy. In fact after October it's just one surprise after another and I barely had time to breath or do my own personal stuff like watch my shows or finish my comics.

Things just happen out of the blue and knock you out of your routine life
People getting married or attached; sudden training overseas, me being stuck in a foreign land for a day without resources; people getting retrenched; me scoring an interview but no more leave; sudden Bangkok trip; suddenly my taobao stuff came back; suddenly I have 2 hours off etc etc...

From time to time I was really worried because resources are really stretched and there's nothing more to squeeze but everything generally fall into place. Principles of equivalent trade. There's some to gain and some to lose, like my epic trip to HK. Lost one day of leave and extra expenditure, but had some crazy nights.

This month my boss's on leave for half a month and then I'll be on leave until next year! Woohoo! First Bangkok then Japan. I'm really looking forward to the snow and the onsen, my third time this year.

Interview at P

Redundancy

Redundancy.

That's the word that my company use for political purposes to express retrenchment, being let go or fired.

The last two weeks of November has been crazy. Thursday we heard the news of CMB cutting people. 3 of my colleagues in UK has been made "redundant". It was a shocker since they said that trade is still one of our strategic priority and the colleagues that were retrenched were so wonderful. It all happened within one day, they were called into the office and asked to pack their stuff and do some handover. I felt really uneasy but my manager has already told us to be mentally prepared.

The week after, our head called us into his office, then he started explaining. I was super nervous at that time, when he said those who are made redundant are not in the office today. In the Singapore office,  5 of us were affected. 3 were told to leave while 2 were re-deployed. I think our morale was super low at that time because it was really nerve-wrecking for us. Even one of the colleagues said it was her first time experiencing this in 30 years in this company.

I was super worried because one, I'm really a new comer and two, I think my role is quite redundant and three, my head didn't seem to like me very much. 2 of the impacted were my good friends, and some were wonderful colleagues. Should I be relieved I wasn't made redundant or should I panic that the company is too practical?

Anyway right on point, I received a phone call for an interview at P&G. I really hope I can get a better package than my current one. 

A short epic hk trip

I had the most epic trip to Hong Kong last weekend on 15th Nov to 17th Nov.

My first work trip in this company, I was very bored of Hong Kong but nonetheless it's great to get away from the office for a while and stay in a hotel. I was put up at Courtyard at Shatin, nice hotel but faraway location.

As usual, I arrived on Sunday afternoon and straightaway went to Mongkok for Cha Chaan Ting, Dim Sum, then went to Causeway Bay for some shopping and more eating and souvenir buying.

Epic 1: I met up with Reika and LJ who happened to arrive in HK that night, we had dinner. And cheese and wine after that and I got a little high and spilt a little bit. Reached back to the hotel past midnight to be ready for the training the next day.

Epic 2: I arrived at the training center to find out the training was tomorrow. I was quite pissed coz I didn't have any clothes or cash but luckily extending the hotel stay and changing the flight was very smooth. That means I had a whole day to myself. And I didn't bring my phone charger but the hotel was nice to provide me with one.

Epic 3: I msged Reika with my limited battery and luckily they woke up just in time and after our heavy dim sum lunch we walked from TST to Mongkok, stopping by Australia dairy on the way. We walked so much

Epic 4: After dinner at a nice char siew rice place with Nic (Reika's friend), we decided to sing K and booked a place at 9pm and they said we could sing till 5-6am for around $30. LJ ordered 3 freaking towers of beer and I wanted to go home at 11pm, 1am finally at 2.30am, with 2.5 towers of beer downed and I was super tipsy. I slept at 3.30am with the lights on and had to wake up at 8am for my training.

Epic 5: After training, I had to catch the 8pm flight so I straight to the airport and found out that I was upgraded to premium economy. The first time in my life I got upgraded by the airlines. It was the best thing that came out of this trip. The seats were so comfortable and I could recline till almost sleeping position. Noise cancelling headphone, big pillow, big screen but no premium meal.

I am so pissed that my boss made me pay for one night of hotel by myself and I had to take one extra day of leave.

fatter body thinner wallet

For the past month the haze had restricted my outdoor activities like running or swimming and somebody said that I actually look fatter within a month. And I could feel it too. I have been eating too much and exercising too little to burn all off.

Also, I have been spending way way way too much, on food and the whatevers. 

TV 250

TV shelf 84

Staycation 100

Food and drinks 300

Asics running shoes 136

Taobao 100

Hong Kong 200

Which ultimately adds up to $1000 plus for the past month. I seriously need a tighter grip on my wallet. Some expenses are necessary investments, like running shoes and tv etc. The major attributes are food and drinks;  if I manage them better, it would be two birds one stone - my body and wallet. 

I took my new Asics shoes for her first spin on Monday and immediately took on my Ippt today. I'm so in love with these shoes my Asics GT 2000 3, in black yellow and onyx. 

Her performance were great. My 2.4 was the fastest in many years: 11.30 mins. I was 2 points away from getting Gold, if not for my lousy 44 sit ups and the stupid machine. But hey, Silver's not that bad. Maybe I'll train my sit ups and get gold next month. 2 more points to $200 more. 

Staycation!

It was kinda my first staycation from Sunday to Monday (Tuesday was Deepavali). The previous one was actually during JC prom night which I don't have much of an impression.

Carlton hotel was our choice because of it's location and price and it was not too shabby. We were allocated to the new premiere wing which expanded 5 years ago so most of the stuff were relatively new. After check in, went to the gym, then we headed down for dinner at Saboten and walked around until the shops closed.

We bought cakes to feast together with some ice wine and rose. The ice wine was fantastic as usual, the rose was a little too hard on the tongue. We wanted to go somewhere to club or chill so we walked to MBS to find Avalon was closed and walked back to sleep.

Monday morning we checked out, ate some awesome burgers at Overeasy and watched Spectre before heading home.

Ok this staycation sounded a little boring. Haha. I actually quite enjoyed it though. I think it needed more alcohol and maybe some games or loud music at night.

Big Aunt

My big aunt passed away on Tuesday morning. From what I heard, my cousins were cleaning her up and putting her on her bed and then it just happened. Many were glad that she was relieved of her pain and suffering and I'm also glad to see her the last time on that Thursday night.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer since March after a doctor's check-up and she was too weak to even attend my grandmother's funeral. She was admitted to the hospital since July or August and my parents visited her almost every week. I think she enjoyed talking to my dad a lot because she requested for him to go over last Thursday night, even though she was feeling a little weak, She just wanted somebody to talk to and listen to her. My dad said she was almost hallucinating already, like my grandmother a few days before she passed away.

At our age it seemed like we face more deaths than births. I had 2 deaths in the family this year, just 4 months apart and it's time to start counting the number of years left that we have with our loved ones. It's quite scary to think that it's the time of your life that your family leaves one by one.
We are not spared from the brutal truth: nothing lasts forever.

1 day of stress

These few weeks have been such a whirlpool. I had to settle so many things and so many decisions to make. My heart is pounding really hard this 2 weeks.

Hearts aside, I have finally settled my Japan hotels and some of the itinerary and the stuff I wanna buy.

I have also settled the big TV in my room, complete with 2 Kallax shelves that I bought; One brand new from Ikea and one second-hand good condition. It was such a hassle. I had to drive all the way to Lavender to collect the TV, and after 2 weeks drive to Ikea to buy one Kallax, then to the seller's home to collect the other to discover that the Kallax couldn't fit into the car in any way and had to take it apart on the spot. Luckily the seller had kept the allen key.

So after my butler helped me carry the 2 shelves up I had to send him home and I dented the car rear bumper at the car park. I hate it when something happens to the car because one little dent could cause so much money. I was so stressed I kept thinking about it throughout the night and couldn't sleep properly. I tried to selvage it but couldn't get it back in place and luckily it only costs $100. But still it's $100 for a stupid accident. ARGH.

Saturday I visited a house at Tampines and it was pretty amazing. After that it's Chirashi date again with thick juicy slices of fish and lots of shopping at Orchard. Sunday was Crimson Peak, which was pretty scary at some parts and then sushi at Itacho, llao llao, and playing at Takashimaya.

Crimson Peak is a really beautiful movie, by one of my favourite directors. The colour tones and accents, the asymmetrical shots, realistic gothic props, the dramatic backgound music really blended well together with the rest of the actors to create a perfectly classic masterpiece.

Super happy weekend for me. Super fulfilling.

Teddy

I got a Teddy Bear.

Thanks to the wonders of technology

4 times in 2 weeks

The last 2 week have been crazy.

Wednesday - Timbre and Victoria Concert Hall

Monday - Finally caught The Martian after my quick dinner at Cine, a lil shopping at Crate and Barrel

Tuesday - Chirashi Don at Manzoku, Teo Heng then Mojito at Switch

Wednesday - A little shopping at Ion, dinner at Ambush, drinks at my house and went out for a spin

Clubbing with Daddy

The best way to de-stress: loud music, dancing, alcohol, good food, exercise.

Daddy is waiting to enlist into army and he is also choosing which law school to go into. We went to Red Dot Brewery on Thursday evening when the haze was almost 300 and to 28 Hong Kong Street and Operation Dagger after. 

On Saturday we watched a lousy Zac Efron movie (but he thought it was good) and felt like clubbing because it was a DJ-themed movie. HA. I was craving for Saboten so we walked to 313 but the kitchen was closed. Chir Chir was still opened so we went there instead. After a satisfying creamy beer and fried chicken, we wanted to get a bottle before clubbing but no alcohol sales after 10.30pm. -_- what a lame rule. I brought him to the $19 for 2 martinis for starters and we headed to another bar Jekyll and Hyde for really delicious drinks. It might be my next favourite cocktail bar! 

After that Daddy wants to dance! CLUBBING! LOUD MUSIC! DANCING!
OMG I have been wanting to club for so long and I feel so alive again. The music wasn't so bad this time round but it was crowded.

I smoked seriously for the first time in my life. I don't know if I'm doing it correctly because I don't feel anything. It just left a tobacco bitter taste at the back of my tongue which I hate and I'm probably not going to smoke anytime. Seriously, what's with wasting money on cigarettes?

Took a cab and arrived home at 4.20am in wee hours. Had a really great time. 

Bali

I had to clear my core leave for this year: 7 consecutive workdays and nobody was free so I randomly booked a trip to Bali myself: 17 Sept to 21 Sept

My first time in Bali! I didn't really plan much, I just knew that I wanted to visit Ubud and the beach area so I booked the hotels to stay alone and just see what's there to see.

Arriving at the airport and after haggling with the taxi driver, the trip to Ubud is around 30SGD.
I walked around so much in Bali.

 I checked out Yoga Barn, the famous yoga retreat in Ubud just 15mins walk away from my hotel. This place is amazing.

 I signed up for an 8pm Vinyasa Flow class which was really awesome. I have not practised yoga for so long. My body was so relaxed and stretched after the class. There were all foreigners and I talked to a lady from Cyprus who stayed there for 5 days already.

 It's the Ubud Water Palace which I accidentally chanced upon. There were no signs anywhere I just went in because there's a starbucks in front.

 Omg this is the famous pork rice set called Ibu Oka. Everyone must go there to eat. It's so good.

Monkey forest which looks like a set from Indiana Jones movie. So many monkeys running around. Then this ang moh lady who had itchy fingers grabbed the tail of one monkey and it became aggressive and went to bite the lady's leg. The lady was smiling all the way and thought it was cute. Crazy.

After Monkey Forest I went for a higher level of Vinyasa Flow class and it was as awesome. Almost all the guys in front could do all those difficult poses. Who said guys don't practise yoga. 

I could do the crow pose!

At night I chanced upon this awesome restaurant/bar Spice by Chris Salans and the manager/chef is a Singaporean! This crispy pork belly took 9 hours to prepare and just melts in your mouth. I finished it in 3 minutes. It was so damn good and cheap. The passionfruit mojito was also delicious.

This chocolate cake is one of the best I have tasted in a while. Soft and no overly chocolatety with jackfruit sorbet for only $5. I would go back to Ubud for this.

After 2 days in Ubud, I took the kura kura bus to Seminyak, the beach area and this burger below is from Sisterfield's.

My room at Courtyard Seminyak! It was at the corner so the toilet was extra big. There was a walk in wardrobe and rain shower. What not to like about this? (maybe only the price)

 I usually don't take selfies but the beach was too beautiful.

Sunset

 I walked all the way to Potato Head Beach Club and found a nice spot by luck. 2 really good drinks and 1 pulled pork sandwich.

The next day were more walking and beaches. 

And tanning

I wanted to end my day by watching the sunset at Ku De Ta with 1 drink.

And that became 2 drinks

 Sunset

Highlight of the trip: I was chilling and waiting for the sunset with my second drink when this lady asked if I could share the table and I agreed. Then she started talking to me, asking me where I was from etc. I found out that she was from Jakarta, moved to Singapore for a while and now she and her husband moved to Bali for good, although her husband flies regularly for work. She then introduced me to the manager of Ku De Ta without knowing my name. We talked about car situation in Bali, housing and family issues. When her 2 bank RM friends came, she said she want to celebrate and opened a bottle of champagne. When the bottle popped, all the surrounding people, mostly ang moh, were staring at us with envy eyes and the ang moh lady in the opposite table gave me a thumbs up LOL. She then proceeeded to order edamame, lobster gyoza and oyster dumplings for us and I had 3 glasses of bubbly champagne.

In the end we exchanged phone numbers and she wants to meet me if she comes to sg and I will meet her when I go to Bali as well. LOL. Crazy and fun evening to end my trip.

The breakfast at my hotel, Courtyard Seminyak is really awesome. Fresh fruit juices and coffee, Indo cusine, noodles, all sorts of eggs, american breakfast, sorts of bread, waffles, fruits, ice cream ARGH I'm getting hungry. They were all so good. I would definitely stay here again!

I ended up bursting my budget. I spend around 1.1K for everything. Hotels were majority costs, esp the Seminyak. Overall, Bali looked a little bit like Thailand and the people are really friendly. Service were excellent, drinks were cheap, but not as cheap as I expected. The beach area were a little bit boring though. I would go back there with friends next time, or maybe when I need a break. 

GE weekend

Thursday

Got a really bad haircut because Chloe's on leave and coming back on the day I'm leaving for Bali so there's no time. It really hits me how Chloe is so good with my hair. Heh. But after a few days it doesn't look as bad.

Friday

Election day and public holiday! Went to the gym in the morning and voted in the afternoon.

Saturday

Pool time and somebody overslept so I went on my regular routine. Stayed at home the whole day

Sunday

Gym, then stayed at home the whole day.

This weekend was super hazy and it's getting worst. Today (Monday) was the worst. I can smell the burning firewood in the air, feel the ashes in my hands and so many people are coughing. I really hope I can go Bali in a sound mind and body. 

Anyway I have been talking to a young doctor-to-be and a few other students. Sometimes I don't know if the new generation is too different or I was like that when I was their age. 

Pandora's Box

I seriously think I'm going crazy. Either I'm really bored or I'm really becoming psychotic. I can't even find my focus now. After July I have ventured into territories that I would never thought I would, become a real drama queen inside my head, revisited old habits and now what? I keep overthinking.

I think June just pushed me over the edge and released this Pandora's box inside me. Or has it become an occupational hazard that I inherited from my manager, to look into the details of things and analyse as an engineer. It's a very deadly combination and it's never ending.

Now I'm going to take things as it comes. Whatever happens, happens.  Whatever doesn't, doesn't.
I don't owe anyone a living and neither does anyone owe me. Principle of equivalent trade.

drama mama

Dear Ernest,

Why are you acting like a little girl? I mean seriously, get your shit on man. Stop being so drama mama. People have different mindset and everyone has their own choices to make and they can do what they want. If you want to mentally torture yourself with something impossible, go ahead. It's not like the end of the world or something. It's just a minor setback to your long life. You seriously need to move along dude.

well being trade offs

The principle of equivalent trade. It has to be it every time.

I'm currently on my peak state of physical condition. I have not been so fit before in my life and it's not going down any time yet. I have not been sick for the past few years. I have a stable job and income now so that's going very well. While my health and physical well being is near to the best of my life, my mental condition is plagued by waves of self-loathing and depression. 

It's always this time of the year when I get a little bit emotional and I don't understand why I can't seem to get the things I want. Is it the alignment of the stars that made it this way? I know how my mind is structured but I can't seem to escape the overlapping emotions that stack up at random times. Sometimes I feel like I'm a dying star inside, just waiting to supernova anytime or I just want to cringe and hide somewhere safe in a cave, away from the reality of urban life. 

I think it started after my grandmother passed away. Previously, every time I visit her, seeing her or talking to her will always put my mind at rest and seemed that every problem can be solved or I have solved the problem myself unknowingly. I totally have no idea how to do that now.  

I think I need psychological help. I think the reason for these mental torment is because I have been over-obsessing with things and the only way I can get over it is to find something else to be obsessed about. It's like OCD and I can't help it. Like I keep waiting for my neighbor to come online and chat but he never did, so I felt frustrated because I feel like I am talking to myself. And I have been doing that lately. Nobody replies to me nowadays. 

On a side note, my right eyelid had been twitching non stop and ears had been itchy for the past 2 days. I seriously have no idea what's going on. 

Night Fest weekend

This weekend was one of the rare weekends that I have activities from Friday to Sunday

So Friday was the first time drinking with the colleagues, old and new, at 5 bar before dinner at Lao Pasat. It had been a long time since I drank and it was really enjoyable.

Saturday was Japanese dinner with choir peeps at Chijmes and night fest. I just love highballs and Prive's desserts. We watched the fire performance and wanted to eat some neh neh pops but it was sold out.

Sunday tea with Ethan and shanghai gang.

Overall a good relaxing weekend before going back to work on Monday. Sianz.

SG50 weekend

It's SG50 this year so we'r awarded with a 4 day holiday to celebrate our Golden Jubilee!

Friday

Went to the gym, did nothing much. except to finish my comics and shows.

Saturday

It rained in the morning and I was having second thoughts about swimming because the pool is going to be so cold but I did anyways. I wanted to see the aerial display but it was over so I wanted visit the free museums so I headed to the library first to get some books, then walked a big round to MBS to the art-science museum to find it closed because it was past 6pm and they had stopped people from getting in. It was a really warm and humid day and air-condition became my savior. I had 2 scoops of ice cream (for charity) at MBS before heading back home to finish my Knights of Sidonia.

Sunday

MBS with the guys early in the afternoon to catch the really wonderful aerial display. The sound of the roaring engines of the jets is just excruciating and gets me so tense and excited at the same time. The speed they are travelling and the difficult aerial maneuvers created a thrilling movie. Lunch at Crystal Jade and they had chicken rice and chilli crab XLB for SG50! What a weird but delicious combination.

Fantastic Four wasn't fantastic at all. It was such a dark and depressing movie instead of the family-oriented comic that it was intended. I guess the director or the producers were trying too hard to replicate Batman. In my opinion the previous 2 movies were comparably better than this. The beginning were good though, halfway through it just went downhill.

Ant-Man, on the other hand, was so much fun and enjoyable. I watched it some time ago.

Anyway I bought Garrett's popcorn to munch on while watching NDP in the comforts of my home. Ah I feel so patriotic this year. 

SG50.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Dependence

Argh.

I super hate it when my plans depends on somebody's replies and they take their own sweet time. That's right. I'm an impatient person.
Or maybe I should just make plans on my own and go ahead with it, no matter the person's response. I need to be more independent.

Hide Yamamoto

I have only met Michelle twice in my life and the third time I met her, she treated me to the most expensive meal at the most expensive restaurant I have gone in my entire life. She is easily the richest friend I have.

A turn of event, I didn't join her company but I introduced another capable friend to join so she wanted to treat me to properly thank me for some of my help. When she chose a Japanese restaurant at Marina Bay Sands and Issey specifically asked me to dress up, I knew it's not going to be just another simple dinner. In fact, I arrived early to do some recon. There were only 4 Japanese restaurant in MBS. Waku Ghin and Hide Yamamoto are the two crazy high-end fine dining restaurants, HY California and Bay Sushi are the casual ones. For Issey to say "dress up", my heart was pounding with excitement and my mind whirling around what crazy meal I'm getting into. 

Hide Yamamoto. Michelle is a regular at the restaurant and she knows the chef and his specials,  like the first sushi tuna roll with dried mango bits which is not on the menu. She just kept on ordering while Issey and I chatted a bit and I was so afraid she was going to over-order. 

First up, appetiser which was ok,

This platter of sushi is out of the world. I have no idea what she ordered but every bite is orgasm

THIS CHAWANMUSHI. Black truffle egg flan with sea urchin and snow crab. I simply cannot take it. I cannot believe such chawanmushi exists. The smooth and melts in your mouth orgasm, bursting with thousand flavours of the sea, forest and sky. 

Really fresh tiger prawns teppanyaki

OMG this truffle claypot rice with i-dunno-what-amazing-things-inside. 

Hotate sushi

Beef sirloin and Foie Gras teppanyaki. I simply cannot describe.

Swordfish, Snapper and Tuna Otoro sushi, Avocado and crabmeat in the background. That was after 3 rounds of Tuna sushi.

Peach Melba with Sake ice cream and almond for dessert

In addition, we ordered 2 bottles of sake 4 times, until one of the sake ran out of stock. Total 8 bottles.

I stole a glance at the bill. It was $1400++ for 3 person. 

I just cannot.