we love tulips!

today darling and i went to GBTB (gardens by the bay) for Tulipmania! 100,000 tulips were imported from netherlands and planted in GBTB's flower dome. 

some information: tulip is the 3rd most popular flower in the world, after rose and chrysanthemum!

it was a weekday afternoon and there were so many pple. i cannot imagine if we go there on a weekend. 

first we had a late lunch at verandah, a restaurant located in GBTB. 

and now, prepare for picture overdose of the tulips!

a perfect conclusion to the day: dinner prepared by darling!

不会相差太远啦 hor? :p

Desaru day 2

finally i went to try out the water theme park. fen was the hardworking photographer taking photos of me. nzj was the honest bystander looking at me enjoying myself. 

this ride is known as the lazy river! where the river always flow! 

i am not splashing water at the guy in front. i am splashing water at myself.

this is the best shot of the day! haha.

ok enough of water theme park. we shall go to the swimming pool.

i love nzj's bright blue swimming trunks. same colour as the bright blue floor of the swimming pool.

weather was hot and sunny. ideal weather to have a nice cool dip!

i think i put on weight again after reservist. hahahahaha.  

after that we went back to our suite to wash up and prepare to check out. and our next destination is johor premium outlet! i honestly can never imagine myself driving there! this short getaway has really made me more confident. i drove in taiwan and i drove in malaysia! woo hoo!

we are here! all thanks to nzj's IPAD and of course nzj's instructions! *shopping mode on*

before we go and shop our hearts out, we need to eat lunch first to gain energy for shopping. i strongly recommend Absolute Thai. great service and delicious food! and the food gets served very fast! but please dun order the coconut soup. it is super spicy and it will leave an extreme spicy aftertaste in your mouth after you have a sip of the soup, and is a bit unbearable.

this whole fish cost 40 ringgit! very worth the money!

the green curry taste super awesome!

the mango with glutinous rice reminds me of the mango with black glutinous rice we had at satay king.

the glutinous rice is sticky, chewy and warm. the mangoes are cold and sweet. wonderful combination! we have been eating really well in malaysia! no wonder i grew fat. :p

after lunch we started our shopping spree! we did not buy much. nzj and i bought a nike top each. i must give special mention to mr xuehong, because he did not buy a single thing! the shopping fanatic actually left johor premium outlet empty-handed?! really a bit hard to believe. hahahaha. 

xuehong feeling down that he did not buy anything.

the happy boys! haha. 

we travelled back to sg via the tuas 2nd link. it was very smooth travelling back to sg, as compared to the 1.5 hours of hell that we experienced when travelling to johor via woodlands checkpoint. 

and so that concludes the 2D1N desaru trip. 

to be honest, i don't think i will go there again. cos really nothing much to do over there. hahahahahaha. and i also wun go to johor premium outlet again. 这些地方去一次就够了。 

2D1N Desaru Trip

because my family is not around at home, and i feel particularly lonely, hence i planned a 2D1N desaru trip together with brotherhood! it was a pity that hw couldnt join us because he need to finish a 2000 word essay.

and i did the super unimaginable feat... driving in to jb! admist all the incidents that singaporean cars got hijacked, or the riots due to elections, i still dared to drive in, and it is my first time driving in! i admire my own guts. and i also admire fen's and nzj's guts for following me. haha. 

on saturday we set off at 1040 am. the jam was pretty bad at woodlands checkpoint. it took us about 1.5 hours to clear the singapore and malaysia customs. we were supposed to go to city square mall at JB Sentral to get our data sim card so that we can use gps to get to our desaru resort. but i made a wrong turn and we hor-lan-ed to this place called 'Southern City'! 'Southern City' is an amazing place that has a Giant hypermart, many eateries and many shops selling data sim card. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。hahaha. 

so we had lunch at one of the eateries. we enjoyed the friendly waiters' service. food was pretty decent. 

my penang char kway teow. fen ordered mee goreng and nzj ordered nasi goreng. we also shared a bowl of delicious mutton soup. 

after lunch we bought our data sim card, and we also did grocery shopping at Giant. and then off we go to desaru!

all thanks to gps, we can always go to the places that we want easily. nzj is the trusted vehicle commander again (previously was at taiwan), and mr xuehong as usual is the entertainer or when he stops entertaining us or we stop chatting with him, he dozes off to sleep. hahahaha. 

it was really quite a scenic drive to desaru, with the beautiful greenery and plantation on both sides of the road, and the majestic bridge.

the only downside is that there are a few potholes along the way and i have to swerve left and right to avoid these potholes, at a speed of 120 km/h, also making sure that i do not swerve into the vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. pretty exhilarating. :p

and finally we reached! :)

we stayed at lotus desaru beach resort. 2 bedroom suite, for 450 ringgit per night. 450 ringgit is around 185 sing dollars. compared with a deluxe room at mbs for 300 sing, it is pretty worth it right? but then again, you cannot compare lotus desaru with mbs. hahahaha. 

the bedrooms:

make a guess who took the master bedroom and who took the room with two single beds? 

living room:

also have a small kitchenette, a dining table, and two toilets. the suite has two balconies. one balcony at the living room, and one balcony at the master bedroom. 

we went to check out the water theme park and it was too packed with kids. so we went to swim in the pool instead. after the swim we came back to our suite to bathe and get ready for dinner!

dinner was at sungai rengit, famous for lobsters!

you can see this iconic lobster structure when you reach. 

after researching on blogs, we wanted to go to Jade Garden, which is really famous.

highly recommended by adrian pang and michelle chong leh! mai siao siao. but to our utmost dismay, there happened to be a wedding dinner at the restaurant! i checked with the staff whether can we get a table but she said the whole restaurant is booked for the wedding. super disappointed. xuehong said we can clash in the wedding pretending that we are the groom's classmates. hahahaha.

so we ate at this restaurant called 海景轩 instead. also recommended by a blogger.

lobster in superior broth! yum yum! this plate cost 140 ringgit. about 57 sing! but i think is considered cheap already, compared to singapore. 

sungai rengit is a pretty cool town that is well equipped with different shops. we spent some time walking around, and bought cakes from a confectionary, tau sar biscuits, coffee powder. nzj was contemplating buying fast food from marrybrown but in the end he didnt. 

ok that's it for day 1! i had a very good sleep on the queen size bed. just to clarify, i slept alone, all by myself, on the queen size bed. hahahaha. 

greetings from bhutan!

that is not a boy. that is my little sis. :)

now i am getting more used to braces. and one of my students told me that she also went to nus to do braces, and on the same day as me, and she was just at the cubicle beside me. hahahahaha. 

yesterday i ate har gao, siew mai, egg tart and even 叉烧酥! but the 叉烧酥 is very soft and fluffy and i ate two! crystal jade dim sum is not bad! 

POTD

there was a time when teenage mutant ninja turtles met the power rangers. 

enjoy the bhutan trip!

i woke up this morning at 4 am to send my dad, mum and two sisters to terminal 1. they are flying off to bhutan! 

initially all five of us wanted to go together but i can only go during the june holidays, but over at bhutan it is their rainy season. 

hence they will be going there today, and coming back a week later. 

goodbye! enjoy the trip! take lots of photos!

(look at how colour coordinated we all are)

Thank you Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of manchester united, announced his retirement yesterday. 

once the news of his retirement was confirmed, tweets and facebook posts started pouring in, recognising his contributions and achievements. 

as a manchester united fan, of course i am sad to see him leave the club. but still i am happy for him because he retired on a high note, leaving behind a legacy at manchester united.

thank you Sir Alex Ferguson. 

now the next thing is, who will be the next manager? 

the braces!

reached nus faculty of dentistry at 2 pm for the long awaited braces treatment. 

i was seated on the dentist chair, and my orthodontist was doing all the routine checks and cleaning up of my teeth. 

and then she showed me this:

orthodontist: choose a colour for your braces. 

previously i would have chosen a loud colour such as pink or orange. or the glow in the dark ties. but now i am going towards the low profile track, so i chose the transparent one.

orthodontist with a grin: if you want transparent, you cannot eat curry, you cannot eat laksa. it will turn yellow. 

my eyes bulged in shock and horror and i think she noticed that. hahahaha.

orthodontist: normally people will choose silver or grey. this two colours are the most standard and low profile colours. 

ok!!! she knew what i exactly wanted! in the end i chose silver. :)

it wasnt as bad or painful as i thought during the whole process of putting on the braces. 

but it feels very gao3 wei4 with the metallic "stickers" on my teeth. and very gao3 wei4 when eating. :(

Project Smile

last friday my orthodontist (braces specialist) only put in the metal brackets and rubber separators into my teeth. 

tomorrow, she is finally putting in the wires, on the upper row teeth. 

now let me bring you down memory lane, from 2007 until now, on how my teeth has changed...

August 2007 - at xinwang marina square

Feb 2008 - at bugis

May 2009 - at some ice cream shop in citylink mall that had already closed down

July 2010 - teachers' investiture at ntu

Dec 2011 - our "honeymoon" at hokkaido

Aug 2012 - inside my dad's car. darling just cut away her long hair.

October 2012 - my wisdom teeth extraction at nuh. from then on is smile without opening my mouth because of the lobang in my upper row teeth.

10/11/12 - running man proposal! i was so happy that darling said yes and i kept smiling widely, thereby showing the teeth with a lobang.

January 2013 - gardens by the bay

January 2013 - at toa payoh hdb hub. we got our unit in woodlands! 

my orthodontist sms-ed me this afternoon to tell me to have a good meal. hahaha. i will eat some sinful food for supper later! :p

IRIS II

awesome show! 

have been watching this for the past week. finally finished watching the last episode today. there are 20 episodes in total.

from the last scene of the last episode, it seems that there will be IRIS III! :)