Perfect Friday Getaway @ Singapore

SheZai held a celebration at Swissotel Singapore to celebrate the occassion of our 7 years together last weekend. We booked a hotel room for one night and enjoyed the hotel facilities along with dinner at its restaurant. They have just upgraded the room so it was quite lucky of us to get a newly renovated room. Just Fabulous! Once we arrived, straight to the hotel pool we went. The mini waterfall massaged our back as we stood underneath it. Gorgeous scenery.



At the balcony





Welcome Apples
i-pod dock
Super-delicious chocolates complimentary due to Easter



Coffee machine in room

Eccentric design
Room Service
Exploring the compounds


After swimming, we had dinner at the in-house restaurant called El-- Market Cafe. We had a terrible terrible dinner experience there that we felt like writing in to the manager. First of all, they had this CRAB promotion going on which we were unaware of in the first place and you can see all the ugly sides of Singaporeans. I mean, really really Fugly. Yes, the buffet served black pepper crab, chilli crab, Sri Lankan crab, soft-shell crab, crab roe, etc etc, anything you could imagine with those crustaceans. Errkhh. What irks me is that these nyonyas and apeks seem as if they have never eaten crabs before and they queued up like super Kiasu fuckers for the crabs like there's no tomorrow and if not eating those crabs might give them the cooties and leave them dead and rotting in hell. Hah! We were both really furious! The chefs also took so long to replenish the crabs, that these ugly people are willing to stand there for half an hour to one hour just for ONE serving of crab!! Other dishes also took so long to replenish that there was this one English Foreigner who didn't give 2 hoots and walked around the buffet with a plate in his hands, just eating off the buffet table. That was classic. Good for him! Apart from that, they served only PLAIN water. My God. For the price that we paid, we expected at least some ice tea, coke or juice for that matter! To make matters worse, the glass they poured the drink in was DIRTY. There's like kerak-kerak, evidence of not being washed properly. We've had enough, we're gonna write in to the manager. In the end, we did not eat any crab at all, not that we are really salivating for it anyway. Never going back there ever again.


Oh well, the night was still young after dinner, so went to town to catch a midnight, "Virgin Territory". Hahaha! Gosh, it was super CRAP. A light-hearted romantic comedy, set in those medieval times, and really really crappy dialogues and scenes. When we got back to the room, the bed was so heavenly that we slept soundly all the way till 11am. We didn't realise it was an hour to check-out. And i foolishly thought that it was still 5am coz the drapes/curtains were really heavy and thick that they blocked out every single speck of sunlight, thus the room was still in darkness. We got up, thought of breakkie at O'Briens but took a cab straight home.
Once home, we packed for Wild Wild Wet and joined the cousins there for a whole afternoon of water splashing fun in good company. The rides are the same, and i nearly drowned in the wave pool if not saved by my hero Hubby and Yutt. Thank God. Later that night, we chilled at One Fullerton Starbucks till 1am and headed on home. Great weekend!
As for last night, I gave my family a treat at Straits Kitchen Grand Hyatt. Again, luxurious spread of buffet. Many different types of mouth-watering cuisines.

So you see, as for today, I'm detoxifying myself with lactose after my run. Get rid of all those decomposed items on my intestinal walls and colon. hahaha!

Cheers to a long and fantastic weekend!

Hon's always too busy to blog, (even though he bought tons of new sneakers, Tsk tsk tsk). So i'll just razzle dazzle you with the insides of my mind, don't mind me. I have, more than others, a rather long weekend. Took leave on Thursday and Monday (ain't it typical of sick-of-work me, hah). Hon's still working long hours today and I got an appointment at 9am to see the doctor for I have booked a special women's health screening package. I took leave just to relax and go for a check. You see, apart from all that paranoia going on about exercising and health going around in my brain, i can't help it but have this nagging intuition at the back of my mind... Am I really healthy? Thus I took up the package at Mount E which includes:

Medical history Full physical examination Urine Examination Blood Grouping

Simple Haematology Stool examination Electrocardiogram Chest X-ray

VD Screening (RPR) Hepatitis B screening Medical review by doctor Biochemistry (Glucose, Uric, Triglycerides, Total Cholesterol)

Kidney (Urea, Creatinine) Liver (SGPT) Test and cholesterol screening Pelvic examination and Pelvic ultrasound

Breast examination PAP smear Rubella antibody screening

The last 7 tests are specially for women. I can't procrastinate any longer. I have been wanting to go for a health check. And finally i took some time off to do it. It lasted for 4 hours, everything. Estimated cost $240.

When they took my blood, i cringe at the sight of the needle poking my arm, and thought, am i gonna get through with this? Urgh! Then the nurses ushered me to have a breakfast at their cosy little pantry, filled with bread, jam, tea and coffee, complimentary. When it was my turn to see the doctor, my heart was pounding. Duh! It was my first time having a Pap or even more so have someone else touching me. It was over in a minute and i heaved a huge sigh of relieve. It wasn't as bad as i had imagined it to be, believe me, you wouldn't have guessed what grotesque picture i had of the equipment shaped like a metallic hand of sorts clawing its way inside me. *hahaha!* Married ladies, it's important to go for your PapSmear every year. This is to detect cervical cancer. *feeling teacher teacher*.

The disgusting part was the stool examination. I had to bring my stool example in a container. And i tried all sorts of digestives the night before, prunes, fybogel, etc. Haha! Stool=shit. Yup! Dizzzzgusssting!

I have an appointment with my doc again next week to discuss my medical results in thorough detail. Hope i'm healthy.

After it was all over, my feet were smiling themselves around Orchard Rd. I felt a tinge of satisfaction knowing that my body, physically and mentally, is in great shape. Then I can get on to joining, hmm... dance classes? Yoga? Cardio? Tai Bo? Pilates? Gym? What is becoming of me? I'm just living life to the fullest. =)

P/S: A full speed ahead weekend catching up. Rendezvous with Hon for one night of celebration at a hotel tomorrow, watching a soccer game SG vs Aussies on Sat (grandstand seats, thanks to Hon). Maybe cycling, swimming and movies on Sunday, and Monday will be waiting for our plans as we have the day off for me and Hon. Superb!
P/P/S: Me and Hon is so crazy over Ne-yo's Go On Girl music video. The way he moves his head. Haha. It's Guy Power for you guys out there who have your girlfriends step all over you. Go read the lyrics!

The Rainy Season = Flu Bug = Good Reads at home

My cousin Raudha has kindly lent me these magnificent books to read during my free time. I've always wanted to read Sophie's books hearing how good an hilarious they are from many different women of many different backgrounds. A woman will always be a woman. THANK YOU ADAH! I'm halfway through "Can you keep a secret". Am gonna read the undomestic goddess next and see how it relates to the blonde bimbo in me. Hahaha.

Step Up 2 is a feel-good dance movie. Disregard the story line and you'll find yourselves moving to the beats like an ulat gonggok. 4/5? Yeaaaaa.. maybe.

Oh yar, finally, I can swim!! I've always wanted to learn but my breathing technique and hand leg coordination is always always wrong! Then came last Sunday where Hon and Kak Mai taught me how to swim.. and i did it! I swam around 5 laps and can breathe normally.. unlike the past where i'll struggle like a fish out of water... or.. more like.... a Whale out of water. Looking forward to more swimming sessions on Sunday, apart from my weekly jog on Saturdays. I have my aim..... *dreams*

Hon is always working weekends every month. But next weekend, he's on leave, so we're going for a couple getaway, away from it all, to pre-celebrate our 7th year anniversary (25/03/08). Keep the fire strong and alive, romanticize, know what i mean. ;)


Me and my husband. Happy as always. Even happier after marriage.

Me and my sister st Seoul Garden

A Silly Adventure

Last weekend, sleep was abrupt. Since we hit the town late on Saturday night, we only had 3 hours of sleep before waking up at 7am on Sunday to visit the MacRitchies. It was funny and the most challenging trek for all of us. To summarize, we trekked for 10+ KM, if not more, from 9am to 1pm. Well, let me tell you a story. The weather had spared us in the morning as we geared up for our jungle trekking. Grey clouds could be seen but we thought nadda of it. Without a map, without stretching or warming up, and without a hassle, we started off from macrithie reservoir's carpark (which was at the bottom right of the map). Our route was towards the left of the map. Our main aim was to visit the HSBC Treetop Suspension Bridge which was at the top of the map. And so we happily and joyfully trek along the boardwalks of Macritchie reservoir, taking pictures along the way. I LOVE nature photography. Still an ameteur though. Soon after we came to a lush greenerised forest. This is where the "fun" starts!

The Trailing Map

Just getting started
Nice scenery






Why do i keep hugging Hon's tummy? Haha!

See the boardwalks along the perimeter of the reservoir? Imagine how big the area of the reservoir is, then imagine walking the perimeter of it.

Some wildlife I managed to capture on camera.
Lizard thingy
Monkeys
Some croc-look-alike thingy
Tortoises
Basking in the morning sun, this tortoise is ready for a dip into the water. 1....2....3...Here we go!

Wee! *Splash!*
So here starts the jungle trailing. The paths are usually covered with stones, rocks, mud, algae, dead leaves, puddles of water, etc, etc. Gotta be rugged to go in there. Get your shoes dirty, you know what i mean.

Now look, we don't do topo, ok. Furthermore, to add on to that, there aren't any CLEAR signs of where to turn, where to head to, or where to rest. Blindly following the trail, we turn left or right at our own risk, not knowing where it leads to. The next map is always kilometres away. So we have no idea whatsoever where we were going. After about 5 KM, we became restless as we are now stuck in the middle of thick forestation. Everywhere we turn, trees. Everywhere we step, dead leaves and muddy rocks. By this time, the clouds were playing tricks on us.
Kak Mai can even run on the muddy footpath. Try to spot her. Yes, it was exhilarating to run in the forest, indeed! Let your mind play games with you, bring you to a place away from it all, a.k.a, think Leonardo De Caprio of The Beach in the forest running scene.
Finally, one of the very few signages.
Yes, we were aiming for that Treetop Bridge.. Now where are we? Oh Gosh, it's another 3KM!
A viewing tower that oversees the landscape.
After climbing up a very very very steep hill, we finally reached our aim. We arrived! And just in time too, coz it was raining cats and dogs on the spot! We got wet and didn't give a damn.
See how wet this is? I did not get a chance to capture us on the treetop walk though, as it was really slippery and i was holding on tightly to the ropes and handrails. A very nice experience. My knees turned wobbly as i looked down over the vast canopy. It was really quite high. Aim Achieved!!
The start of the walk.
OK, so as satisfied as we all were, the other challenge was to find our way back to the carpark, ala last pitstop of the trail. We let our blindness in direction guide us, and lo and behold!! What's this? The road? The city? Vehicles?

Instead of making a right turn, we took a left, and so "ya ya kachang" as Honey puts it, we were lost, again. Haha! We realised soon after that we were only at Venus Carpark, somewhere near the top of the map. We have a long way down, another 5 or so Kilometres more, or 3 hours more, if we were to walk back and follow the given route. There was silence. Then one question was asked, "Are we gonna walk back along the trek?" Everybody's expression was priceless. They have this "Errrrrrrrr" look on their tired and exhausted faces, including me. The obvious answer was.. I dun think sooo.......


"Alaaaaaa... Let's take a bus back to the carpark lahhhhh.. since we are so near the bus stop already. If we take bus, only 5 minutes. If we trek back, 3 hours. Which one do you want?"

And so, doomed with guilt, we hopped on the bus and for 6 bus-stops, we enjoyed the cool air-conditioning and convenience that Singapore has to offer. THE BUS.

We were laughing all along! We planned to go back someday to finish our so-called "Tak Tercapai" Hike. But this time, starting FROM the Treetop Walk. It was a fantastic workout, a magnificent experience, although mission failed. We would have lost in Amazing Race. All because of Bad Topo. Hahahaha! We ended our trail here. Trekking anyone?

On another note, I've cut off my locks again to a short bob, and redyed the strands. Neat is nice.

Happy Women's Day!! Until Next Weekend! Taa!