Travels

Sharing you the instagram collective from March 2012.

Taking the dogs for their Sunday adventure.

At the infinity pool of the oasia hotel #oasiahotel

An apple a day… Or maybe more! #oasiahotel

Good Day Singapore #oasiahotel

Having my nails done. What a royal escape from the city at #oasiahotel

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Lounging at the pool… Gonna get in soon #oasiahotel

Sunday Lunch!

Vegan ice-cream! Didn’t know healthy could taste so good! #marchphoto #foodporn#instagram @aphroditechic

Made Vietnamese spring rolls yesterday with @watsonssg @sugar7733 @euniqyou@cookyn @reneoct @hollyjean @moonberry @sunkisstiffy @yongwei318 @luvverlyn

My salmon fish ready to be oven baked! @watsonsg

Never knew that cold wild rice can be so yums! @watsonssg

This pork is delicious! Stewed for 2 hours in sake! @watsonssg

Love how easy this dessert is! I’m definitely going to make it again! @watsonsg@euniqyou @sugar7733

A little piece of heaven @watsonssg @cookyn

Tea at TCC #foodporn #marchphoto

Pizza dinner at sebby’s new place

Dinner here again recently

Gonna pack this along for my trip! #marchphoto #instagram @watsonssg@blackmores

Lunch with @reginachow_sg #instagram #marchphoto #foodporn #sinful

One of my desserts at dinner yesterday with @sushiwu and @jolene. If only my girlies can come along with me! #foodporn #marchphoto #pscafe #friends

@sushi came to see me off! #vacation #marchphoto #friends #airport

In Luzern! In love with the weather here! #marchphoto #switzerland #travel

#chapelbridge in #lucern … Seems that I always end up here when in #switzerland#marchphoto #travel

Best #thaifood in #zurich #switzerland #travel #marchphoto

Frozen on the top of Europe #marchphoto #switzerland #travel

Good morning #switzerland I’m gonna miss you. #marchphoto #marchphoto

In #amsterdam ! #travel #marchphoto

At the largest train station in #netherlands #marchphoto #trav

Inspired and bought a copy of #annefrank diary at the place she hid to re-read. The last time I read it I was 13! #amsterdam #travel #marchphoto

They have curry sauce in #macdonalds #netherlands ! #marchphoto #travel #foodporn#instagram

In #hilversum which is a suburban town. And #amsterdam ‘s media centre. #travel#marchphoto #instagram

Overdose of my favourite #pancakes #amsterdam #marchphoto #foodporn #travel#instagram

#vermeer has gorgeous #paintings! After seeing most of his works, he’s now one of my favourite #artist #delft #netherlands #marchphoto #travel #instagram

So many gorgeous #flowers and they are really huge! #netherlands #marchphoto#travel #instagram #keukenhof

The #flowers at #keukenhof are so gorgeous that they seem almost fake in photos!#netherlands #marchphoto #instagram #travel

I’m not doing this today. Someone else is… #amsterdam #coffeeshop #marchphoto#travels

#vangogh does nature much better than he does humans. I love his almond blossoms! #art #painting #musuems #amsterdam #travels #marchphoto #instagram

So serene. #vangogh #art #painting #marchphoto #travels #amsterdam #instagram

The man himself! #vangogh #amsterdam #travels #art #painting #marchphoto

What’s #holland without #windmills ? #travels #marchphoto #instagram

Freshest fish and chips ever! #holland #marchphoto #travels #instgram #foodporn

Learning how wooden #clogs are made. #holland #travels #instgram

Baked goodies at the Scottish farmers market. #scotland #travels #marchphoto#foodporn #instagram

#edinburgh #castle is just a stone’s throw from my hotel #scotland #marchphoto#travels #instagram

This are probably the earliest photos you’ll see of my recent European trip. I haven’t even had time to sort them all out yet but I really wanted to share with you about my little trip to the town of Interlaken in Switzerland as well as this cute little ribbon sweater sponsored from Lovedressy.

Interlaken is a small city in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland. It is founded between two alpine lakes and surrounded with famous Swiss mountains! It’s basically the place to be in if you want a base to do any sort of outdoor sports like gliding, skiing, sky diving, sailing, sledding, etc.

I was there in March which was the beginning of Spring where the flowers are beginning to bloom and the weather becomes quite unpredictable. On most days I’ll have this cupcake sweater from Lovedressy on even though you might not see it in all my holiday photos because I might layer another jacket over.

This cupcake sweater with it cute bright pink ribbon prints caught my eyes the moment I surfed through lovedressy website. It makes such a stunning top for holiday photos! The top is an import from Korea and is definitely of superior quality.

I would probably wear it on it’s own with denim shorts or a little pastel skirt if I was in Singapore but overseas, this top was great for layering and it definitely stood out in a European crowd. I love it! Not only did I wear it in Interlaken but I even wore it up the alps!

However, this is probably the only photo you can find of me in my cupcake sweater in the alps. I practically froze just taking off my warm fluffy winter layers to snap this picture! But doesn’t it look super vibrant against the white background on the top of a snow covered mountain!

Here are some closeup shots of the cupcake sweater so you can see how good the material really is! At Lovedressy, they have a wide range of dresses, tops and other lovely outfits. Here are a couple more really cute tops that I love from them.

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Okie, I’ll admit that it’s clear I love ribbons. Anyways, Lovedressy will be launching a new collection at http://lovedressy.blogspot.com on Monday, 23rd April so don’t miss out!

Whenever we do visit Cameron, the will always be one main flower stops. Rose Center or Rose Valley and this time we went Rose Center. If you are a flower lover than you’ll probably want to check this place out as well. My mother was simply blown away by the sheer number of blooms in this terraced hill.

Of course other than roses, there were a multitude of other flowers and plants. When I was there, the plants were very well-maintained and beautiful but I heard from a pal that recently went that the place has been poorly maintained and the flowers aren’t thriving as well. I’m not sure if’s it’s just the season or was I just lucky.

The whole place is on a hillside so if you do venture there, be prepared to climb! Mum is pretty unfit and was tired out by the time we were 2/3 up the hill. Eventually she did make it all the way up, motivated by the many flowers.

There is also an entrance fee of RM5 per pax and when you finally make your way to the top of the hill, there is a lovely view of the surrounding. I could bring up a book and stay there all day!

The cool climate helps to keep these flowers so beautiful and also makes the climb up a little less stressful. Don’t bother buying the seeds to try planting these flowers in Singapore because chances are they won’t turn out as well.

You could however, buy cut flowers. The flowers (especially roses) are pretty economical and would make a great gift for your love ones. Just remember to snip off the thorns because sometimes the seller who are so used to doing wholesale here, would not remember to snip off the thorns.

Other than flowers, there were vegetables (I liked the cute cherry tomatoes) and lots of insects and birds. Nearing to the top of the hill, we even spotted eagles! On the whole quite a good and leisurely hike.

Here is a general guide to roses and the meanings of their colors should you want to buy some for a love one.

• Yellow Rose: Joy, Protection against envious lovers, Mature love
• White Rose: Purity, Sanctity, Secret admirer, Mysticism
• Red Rose: Sacrifice, Immortal love, Health, Memorial, Passion
• Pink Rose: First love, Innocence, Healing

Orang Asli literally translates as “original people” are the indigenous people of Malaysia and they are generally known to be forest dwellers living in the rain forests of Malaysia. We took a little trip down to one such village in Cameron Highland, Malaysia. The village we visited was not exactly the normadic type but they still very much live off hunting, gathering, rice growing and using what ever forest product they can get as their main form of supplies and trade.

They generally look like Malay but I was told that if you look closely you can tell that their features are a little more wide set and rugged and they tend to be on the stocky and short side. We spent a large part of our morning at the village playing with the kids. The little girl in orange told me that she was pretty skilled at making toys out of bamboos and her dad uses the bamboos to make pipes for blowdarts.

We went back to the main areas of Cameron Highlands for lunch and the parking there was quite tough! Luckily Akiee is an excellent driver! He parked on an incredibly steep slope . To give an added layer of protection that the car wouldn’t slide down, he place a rock behind his wheels. When we got back to get the car, he was wedged in by two cars (front and back) and partly obstructed by a bus that double parked! It took forever but it was amazing that he managed to squeeze the car out of that lot!

We randomly went to the first store we saw for lunch and food was pretty good. Unfortunately, the chicken tom yum soup we ordered must have had a strong seafood stock base because I had a terrible rash after the meal and it made the rest of the day pretty uncomfortable for me.

Mummy was excited about shopping for produce and gardening pots, plants and tools to bring back to Singapore. I wasn’t too interested mainly because I had a bad case of rash that took awhile to subside even after I gulped down a handful of anti-histamines. I did however, have a really good home made strawberry popsicle from one of the stores that made me feel a tiny bit better.

This is gonna sound kinda weird considering how often as I am prepared to drive up to my neighbor country, Malaysia, but I have always been hesitant to drive to JB. I have no qualms about driving solo to Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh. However,when it comes to Johor Baru, I get cold feet. Thousands of Singaporeans go to Johor every single day and many drive over just to stock up on groceries or pump cheaper pertrol over the weekend. Somehow I have the impression that Johor Baru is more crime filled than the other towns and have generally stayed away. So Clara and I got really excited when Rapheal offered to drive us over for some yummy lok- lok and went back to get our passports on super short notice!

For those who have no clue what lok-lok is – It’s food on wooden skewers that are either boiled in a steamboat or BBQed then dipped in satay or chilli gravy for consumption. I usually stay away from lok-lok because the hotpot they use to cook the food can sometimes cause me allergic reaction as they cook mostly seafood. However, this one that Rapheal brought us at Taman Sentosa seems to specialize in the BBQ version of lok-lok. It was superbly awesome! The rest of the guys also had “abalone” wanton noodles which was supposed to be very delicious as well but I gave it a miss. Both Clara and Rapheal had their fill to last them till the next trip they make back to Singapore from Melbourne!

While we were having our meal, there were lots of touts selling all kinds of merchandise. One of which was the paper wish lantern or the Kong Ming lantern. There were so many people releasing them in the air that we decided to buy and release one as well. It’s probably illegal so don’t go trying it just because you read it here!

We didn’t write our wishes or even had a lighter with us (totally impromptu)! After igniting flames using the car lighter, it took awhile before the lantern was ready to be release. We kept cheering it on to fly higher! Partly because it was a beautiful sight and partly because we realized how silly of us to release it in the middle of town with a petrol station nearby, even though that was what everyone else was doing! Luckily, all went to plan, and up it went in to the dark night joining other lanterns with wishes into the sky.

Good morning! Or is it good evening? Really depends on where you are as you are reading this post. I’m awake on a cold Tues morning here in Amsterdam typing this post on my bed with my comforter up till my shoulders! The church bells are ringing in the distance and as I look out the window of my attic ( yes, I’m staying in the attic of one of the old dutch houses by the canal in the heart of the city) the city is just about to bustle. It’s such a beautiful city to wake up in and I feel happy and rejuvenated by the spring air. I can almost imagine myself living here permanently and being inspired by this vibrant water city to write every day.

I’ve been pretty bogged down by work and stuff back in Singapore so I haven’t blogged constantly and have ended with a huge amount of backdated posts. So while I’ve a little time on my hands, I’ll try to make it a point to log in and do a little catch up work on my blog. If you want to have a glimpse of what I am doing currently, my instagram, twitter or facebook feed is you best bet. But here on my blog, you get slightly slower updates but in complete details.

So here I am still blogging about my Chinese New Year period. I was away for the most part in KL and then when I came back to Singapore I spent it mainly with family and friends.

Chinese New Year ang pow exchange is still done quite traditionally at my parents. Oranges, good wishes and then exchanges of ang pow, all done while my parents sit and I kneel. It’s a little formal but the tradition holds a lot of meaning for me cause it’s a time to receive blessings and to be thankful.

I also hurried over to Sushi’s party so I could see my Godson Leo. He’s all dressed like a little Japanese boy that day.

This little one has grown up significantly has already started walking! Sushi did such a good job raising him and I’m proud of her and of Leo.

I couldn’t stay long at the party cause I had a few more that day to attend but we did meetup at her place again that night for a little gathering with the rest of the girls. I missed Sushi’s mum awesome curry and fried beehoon that Clara and I wiped out at the end of the night!

It’s been awhile and since we were in KL for Chinese New Year, we decided to host a house warming party for our new place even though it’s currently more like a vacation home for us. Regina and JW drove down from Singapore to attend! JW’s main aim was to go rock climbing at his favorite Camp 5 though! LOL

We met for lunch before proceeding to my place.

There were so many people and we were all busy preparing food that I don’t think we got everyone on photos! LOL! I had to get half of the photos from AC again! I was baking muffins, making vanilla cheese for my baked apricots and pears while AC was trying out home made pizza recipes.

Leih Men  and Andrew were taking charge of the BBQ pit that day especially since Leih Men is supposedly the King of BBQ and is really good at setting up charcoal BBQ! We marinated the chicken with A & W Root Beer BBQ Sauce which sounds really funky but tasted pretty good!

Between Rock Band, mahjong, pizza making, BBQ and taking different groups of people up 3 floors to view the house, there really wasn’t much time to rest! It was really really exhausting!

Everyone tried their hand at making their very own pizza! It takes a lot of strength and skill to knead and roll the dough! AC is the expert and Shen Han was the next best instructor. Jw had to roll the dough out evenly cause we wanted thin crispy crust.

In between the pizza making we kept running out of the house or to my 3rd floor balcony to catch constant fireworks throughout the night! We managed to catch a couple of good ones when my neighbors released fireworks on the road just outside my house. JW’s cara was covered in fireworks paper! It’s actually kind scary how near they were releasing huge fireworks just outside my place! It’s the sort you see at the National Day parade and not the small kiddy ones! Throughout the whole CNY season there were fireworks every night and I would just pull a chair at my balcony to watch. It became so frequent that I could distinguish the type of fireworks based on the sounds and not having to actually see it!

It’s the sort of festive spirit that you don’t really get in Singapore.

As the night got late, we shifted the party to the balcony on the 3rd floor and lit the whole place with candles. It reminded me so much of Bali. Chatting with friends over moscato and all sorts of alcohol, it was nice to just chill out. JW didn’t join in cause he was fast asleep on the couch downstairs!

It’ll be quite awhile before I can take another vacation to KL but it’s nice knowing that there are such lovely people there waiting to meetup whenever I do get to visit.