Batam

A short getaway to Batam to energize ourselves for the upcoming academic term really does wonders. 4 days 3 nights of taking in the beauty of nature, enjoying the sea breeze, amazing seafood and pure indulgence. A perfect hideaway to escape the city. I'm missing that place already!

Best of all, the whole trip was part of an amazing deal we found online, so it really didn't take much of a toil on whatever's left of my savings.

Cultural performances...



When was the last time you spent lazy afternoons playing chess and scrabble...

We visited 3 shopping centres at Batam with another couple (Jesslyn and Nicholas).... Shopping there isn't worth raving about. But they bought A LOT OF STUFF! Marco and I pretty much settled for window-shopping, cafe-hopping. and hours and hours of great conversation... We had the chance to talk about everything that's been bugging us (thesis, career, school..)... and I really appreciated how we were able to do things without having to worry about time and nitty gritty errands.

The seafood there was amazing though. I'm so craving for the calamari and chilli crab there.

And how could we miss A &W! Amazing rootbeer float!

Cheap steak!

One of my favourite moments in Batam was dinner at the Sunset Beach Restaurant. We were seated at this hut, looking out to the sea, enjoying the seabreeze and yummicious food, while arguing over silly things like whether there were crocodiles in the waters beneath us...

We had wanted to go for a swim at the resort's swimming pool, but it was down for general cleaning. But guess what!!! The manager took us to the private jaccuci/ sauna room, and treated us to a full-body massage for free in a private hut! The massage was damn GOOD okay. It was so refreshing. And I felt so pampered! The whole experience actually kinda motivated both of us to work hard and earn more money in order to afford more of such indulgences. I'm definitely going back for the massage, seriously.


Another day was well-spent doing sea sports like parasailing, canoeing, and go-karting!

There isn't much nightlife to talk about in Batam. So we spent our last evening having a quiet retreat by the beach. A romantic dinner of grilled meat + seafood with a cup of Baileys to top it off! I was totally dreading the return to Singapore actually. It was utter bliss to be able to slow life's pace a bit and enjoy the simply pleasures of life with someone special.

Oh well. it's time to face reality. Back to school! Too much partying and travelling in Canada for a whole semester is not good when it comes to finding the motivation for this semester. It's like I can't remember when was the last time I really mugged. Oh well, I got to get my momentum back!

The Birthday Trip

As some of you may know, the wonderful boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Bali for my birthday, and told me only a few days before we were supposed to depart! How nice of him!

(YES i know i'm lucky =)] Apparently, he "made friends" with my dad by messaging him like a month or 2 before my birthday and they exchanged messages, to get approval for our trip!


For someone who needs to pack her lugguage at least a week or two beforehand, it got me pretty "gan jiong", because I take ages to plan my wardrobe! This time, the planning was harder, cos my wardrobe screams pretty frocks and flowery tops and skirts, which totally doesn't fit the Bali beach theme! I had a few days to make myself seem like beach babe! so I bought this cute flower hairpin, a tankini, a retro AA sunglass. And thanks to the recent Cotton On sale (50% !!!!!), i bought loads of pretty tops there!!! like 5-$10 ones!!! super pretty happy.
I'm super lazy to write long captions. haha.

Made this diary for our Bali trip..

Really happy at the airport, in shorts!! I think its the first time I boarded a plane in shorts! but it felt super weird to pack jeans into my lugguage- I'm going to the beach for goodness sake!



ppppppppppsttttttt: didn't he look super "toot" in secondary school? haha! Look at that china-doll haircut!! He looked like that when I first met him!!!
And even though it was time to like go to our boarding gate, greedy me still insisted on having waffles at gelare cos ITS TUESDAY!!!


This is how you collect lugguages at the airport. Someone would like take all of them out and line them beside the lugguage conveyor belt. The airport was surprisingly erm, not pretty. And Marco commented that they have shopping-centre-like tile flooring.

Haiyo!!! This is damn chaotic. I think I stood there, frozen for 3 seconds when I stepped out of that airport! This is only one portion of the crowds of people there. We had to walk from one end to the other end looking for our names!! its super scary! Its like our new year countdown party or something lah! haha =) The hotel actually had a driver, drive his car to fetch us both only!! Felt so superly pampered!

Tadah! We reached into the hotel at 10 something at night, changed into our Cotton-On shirts that I bought and headed out to countdown to my birthday! the shirts are only $5 (*goes crazy*). Dinner was like how super good...AND CHEAP! And I had a drink or two...

OH NO! I look drunk!! haha =) you guys know my alcohol tolerance is like how super low lah!!

But anyways, I like the feeling of being a little tipsy on my birthday, especially since I don't really party in Singapore. heh.

28/5/08Next morning, woke up and went out bright and early for our free tour of Bali! What i really enjoy about the trip was that most of the time, we travel in small groups!! We were expecting a huge bus, but it turned out only to have 2 more other people on a small van! =) Like if we wanted dinner, the restaurant would like come and pick us both up and send us to our restaurant! so nice right!!!

We had trouble remembering to tip everyone though. eeks.

They got these interesting signs in front of houses stating how many like adults and children they have in each home.

Some homes are really pretty! I think they got like temples in each house, and they pray like 3 times a day or something! Some women just stay home to prepare offerings like EVERYDAY...

I think I was quite taken aback when I realised we would be visiting a volcano in Bali! I know I'm like so sua-ku, but heh, Bali's certainly not famous for this right? I don't even remember what the volcano is called! I just know like it was super breath-taking! Definitely one of my favourite moments in the whole trip! And it was super windy up there! Kinda like Genting! I was freezing in my shorts!

We went for a swim in the hotel pool! very nice! they had like sand in some parts of the swimming pool, and in the middle of the pool there would be a place to play beach volleyball and there's even a little stall in the pool- so you can like drink cocktail while in the pool! How heavenly right!

Having heard that we should not miss the stunning sunsets in Bali, marco and I headed for this place by the beach to have dinner! =)

Quite an experience I would say! A little more pricey compared to the cheap food you find all around Bali, but it was sooooooooooooooo worth it! Its still cheap by singapore standards!!

Thinking back, I think being overseas with him really was a test of our relationship.

I wouldn't say we survived and experienced the whole trip without any quarrels, but I'm really glad most of the memories were really blissful!

I'm missing bali already! ESPECIALLY THE FOOD!!!

Bali anyone?? =)

some random photos to share

Here's a photo of me at 3am in Changi Airport with my lugguage.
it weighed a surprising 15kg! it must be the food and sweets i brought along for the kids...
But after shopping there..
[erm.. tell me i didn't buy a lot...]
this photo was taken just halfway through the trip...
and filling up my extra bag with new stuff (i bought like 7 pairs of shoes for me and my family)
i was certain i would exceed the lugguage weight limit
so i began to throw away old clothes!
haha. luckily my luggage weighed 20.4kg at the end of the trip- not overweight!
This was a photograph taken of my hand at the end of painting one day.
i took extra long baths there to get rid of all these everyday!Towards the end of the trip, the leaders brought us to this place called Dead Fish!
its an old creaky place, which was really scary because it was kinda dangerous
my friend almost fell down 3 stories cos the place was really sqeezy and one bad step could send you down to...

THIS...Eeks!

Cambodia

YOYOYO!
I'm BACK!!
it feels good to be back in modern civilisation, seriously.
though i must say cambodia is a lovely country - peaceful, serene and friendly.
its a place where people smile at you when you smile at them on the streets, where kids wave at passing cars, a place with simple pleasures, nice people.
i'll miss the tuk-tuks
the squeezy vans
the kids that clamour for your hugs, wave excitedly and say hello when you arrive and leave
the kids that cry when you say goodbye
the kids at are so easily contented with so little.
i cannot forget the mosquitos that dive ever so often into my food
the grasshoppers that jump around me as i sit in the hotel
the houseflies in the van
though i can't imagine myself living in cambodia for longer than i already have.
i miss singapore food, i miss modern entertainment, i miss technology!
photos coming up!!!

its the first time i alighted from a plane like that! i didn't even have this in mongolia! haha. so the whole group of us singaporeans were busy snapping away at this "rare experience".

can you believe this is the international airport?
Ooh, this is the room i shared with a friend! the boutique guesthouse was really pretty, much better than expected! its a project by the organisation we're helping, so we got the guesthouse at a special rate! the place's not fully renovated though..pictures of the lovely countryside...

and the things i love most about Cambodia- all the street kids, village kids...

its saddening when you learn about the stories behind these children- children who have been abused, sold for 100 US dollars, discarded.

this little kid i'm carrying is HIV positive..heard she only has a few more years to live and i couldn't help but grieve at the thought. left with a heavy heart.. :( i think i'll go back to Cambodia very soon to take more presents to the children, to give them more hugs, more love, and a little more attention..

i can't help but feel really blessed. and really fortunate.